• Captain Jake strode to his Captain's chair and took a seat. In the back of his mind he thought about the many things he associated with such a chair. Memories, was what they were. General Wallace, for instance, held bad memories. The general would refer to his command chair as his "Royal Throne" and often forced his sub-ordinates to do the same. But there were good memories also. He and his twin, Jordan, had often played "Pirates and Security" as children and the most coveted role was the role of Captain. The Captain had more men, better weapons, and to top it all off, was invincible. The Captain never lost. He missed those days, actually. Yes, he loved being a captain and he loved his life as it was, but he missed the simplicity of child-hood. No wondering what REALLY killed hundreds of pirates without leaving evidence. No sucking up to an incompetent general so you could get promoted. No wondering where your twin was going when he disappeared, or where he disappeared to, or what made him disappear in the first place...

    Jake snapped out of his personal thoughts when he heard his name being announced over the intercom.

    "Captain Jake, please report to the S.C.C. General Wallace would like to speak with you."

    Jake rolled his eyes. What did the general want now?

    Jake arrived at the Secure Communications Center slightly out of breath, having run the whole way. He entered the little booth set aside especially for important communications from higher up the chain of command, straightened his gray uniform, and saluted at the blank screen before him. The screen sprang to life and there sat General Wallace in his pristine white uniform with gold trimmings. Of course the gold was added on by the general himself, and wasn't at all the standard general's uniform.

    "Captain," said the older man with disdain.

    "General," replied Jake, mustering up every ounce of respect and honor he possibly could. Yet as the word left his mouth, he knew he should've tried harder.

    "It has come to my attention, Captain, that there was another ship has committed mass suicide."

    "Yes, Sir. I just recieved the alert this morning."

    "Did you also recieve word of whose dead body they found on board, hm?"

    "No, Sir. Only that it was a retired pirate ship and that 153 people died."

    "Ah, then you should be interested to hear that you died," said the General with a grin that turned Jake's stomach.

    "I'm sorry, Sir, I don't understand," Jake said uneasily and with obvious confusion.

    General Wallace smiled even broader as though he knew some deep dark secret... And then revealed it. "Your body was found onboard. Shot clean through the throat. Of course, you're still alive obviously though, so it must've been someone else. A close relative perhaps? Maybe even... a brother?"

    Jake nearly blacked out. A brother.... He only had ONE brother: Jordan. He couldn't say a thing. Couldn't do a thing. He leaned up against the small cubicle's wall staring at Wallace's face and thinking about a brother who had run away at 14 and was never heard from again. Suddenly though, the mouth that grinned began laughing hysterically.

    "I'm just kidding!" laughed the general. He was laughing so hard his face was bright red and tears were streaming down his face. "I'm kidding. No such man was found. I only wanted to tell you that a... uhh... what was her name. Ah, yes. Major Alex has been assigned to help you investigate these two incidents. I have reason to beieve that they are actually quite serious. Why, my superior has said as much."

    Jake didn't hear any of it beyond "I'm just kidding." For after that, the images running through his mind were ones of very gruesome violent things happeneing to the General. The only reason he knew what the general had said was because he watched the replay afterwards.

    Seeing that Jake wasn't laughing, and having relayed his real message, the General signed off. But the last thing that Jake heard was, "I do LOVE a good practical joke. Poor lad though. He hasn't a sense of humor at all..."