Chapter Text
Surviving was far easier said than done. After the initial shock of the crash landing and of being stranded faded, Jack got straight to work, repairing his radio and receiving message about a meeting being held on dry land, roughly South West of his drop pod in the shallows.
Constructing a sea glide, he took off in the direction of the island, arriving to find it floating, held up by these weird gas sacks that honestly made him feel like he was being watched. Making his way onto shore, his legs almost gave out, so unused to walking on sand - and, truth be told, walking in general, his lifepod didn't exactly have enough space for a workout.
He scanned everything in his trip across the island, finding many new plants, small crab like creatures (that didn't seem to like him, and frankly, the feeling was mutual), and, eventually, a rusted and destroyed survivor's base, though given its state, Jack doubted anyone had been there for a long time.
He blinked, and a knife was pressed against his throat, as an arm wrapped around his neck, pulling him back.
"Who are you? State your purpose!"
Jack clamped his jaw shut, feeling his adam's apple bob against the knife's blade. After a too long moment, the man realized his weapon was too close to jack's jugular, letting some of the pressure release.
"I'm Jack Wynand, I was aboard the Aurora, I just want to find the other survivors, I know there's more, I got the message on the radio!"
A second passed, then another, and the man finally removed his knife, letting go of Jack and taking a step back. The man looked him up and down with a judgemental stare, and Jack did the same - just to make things even. He had short, dark hair, dirty stubble on his face, and a tattoo on his hand reading AD.
"...And you are?"
The man huffed. "DeWitt, Booker. I was on the Aurora. Got the same message as you."
"Great, so there's at least three of us, you, me, and the officer that sent out the broadcast!"
Booker frowned. "Just be quiet and follow me. Don't make a nuisance out of yourself."
Well, seeing as Booker had a knife and wasn't afraid to use it, Jack kind of had to do as told, following Booker away from the abandoned base, through a cave, and down into a crater, opening up back into the ocean below. There, on one of the sandy shores, sat a PDA.
And as Jack leaned down to pick it up, a face appeared in the water, and he was pretty sure his heart skipped a beat. He shrieked, louder than he thought possible, throwing himself back, as Booker dove forward to attack the man in the water. He did, to his credit, get the first hit. He did, also, get socked back by the much larger man, giving him the chance to rise from the water and pull off his rebreather.
The only way this man could have been more different from Booker was if one of them was blond. The newcomer, this giant of the deep, towered over them, with hair so long it trailed past his hips, a strong hooked nose, and the greenest eyes Jack had ever seen.
But after a moment, his shoulders slumped, and he took in a shaky breath. "Sorry," he heaved out, "I didn't get you too bad, did I?"
Booker rubbed at his nose, blood dripping down, though it was mercifully unbroken - judging by how tired the new man seemed, it definitely hadn't been anywhere near the strongest punch he could managed. "I'm fine. Had worse."
"That's not how-" Jack started to say, then bit his lip, "nevermind."
The man took a few steps away, dropping down and leaning against a wall, his two high capacity oxygen tanks slipped off his shoulders and onto the ground, a third and forth sat against his waist. Jack took a quick look around, a question on his mind.
"Where's your seaglide?" Booker asked before Jack could open his mouth.
"Huh? Oh, couldn't make a battery." The man tipped back his head against the rock.
"Where did you come from? You look exhausted," Jack finally said, and the man nodded.
"Out that way, four hundred metres down roughly, a lot closer to the bow of the Aurora than here. I, admittedly, severely underestimated how many tanks I'd need to get to the surface, but two airbladders came in handy to get me the rest of the way."
"Christ, I was two hundred down, thought that was bad," Booker remarked, letting out a low whistle.
"It is," the man assured him, "I'm just lucky to have diving experience."
"Wait," Jack cut in, "you came from all the way over there? And you just swam here, all on your own? With four oxygen tanks weighing you down?"
"You make it seem like a big deal."
"It is a big deal! We used seaglides!"
Booker cleared his throat, holding up the PDA Jack had dropped in his fright, "as interesting as this is, we have more important things to think about."
"Oh yeah, with at least four survivors it'll be easy to get off this planet," Jack made the mistake of saying, only for the PDA's recording to say that Second Officer Keen and CTO Yu had been lost at sea. His eye twitched. "I'm sure three is still doable."
"Make that two," Booker turned on his heel, "I work alone."
"With that attitude, you'll die alone too," the tall man spoke, and Booker stopped to glare at him.
"I'm sorry, who asked you?"
"We're on a totally unfamiliar, alien planet, with fauna and flora we've never seen anything like before. That message mentioned a leviathan class predator, brings a lot to mind, doesn't it? The creatures here are far larger than the ones back home, far more suited to what they do, so let me ask you this: are you ready to die a gruesome death, all for nothing, or can you hold back your pride for however long it takes to get out of here?"
Booker huffed, but he stayed put. An improvement, Jack thought.
"Oh! I'm Jack, and this is Booker. What's your name?"
"Jan," he said, pronouncing the ‘J’ like a ‘Y,’ though despite his more Scandinavian sounding name, he spoke with a Greek accent. He opened his mouth to say something else, and Booker cut him off.
"Well then, Jan, I suppose we'll have to find a good place to base," the man effortlessly mispronounced Jan's name - on purpose, Jack could see - and the man in question winced.
"But I go by Delta," he ground out through his teeth, pushing himself to his feet. "Because some people struggle to say my name right."
Jack had a bad feeling he was going to he requently locked in the middle of an argument between these two.
They ended up basing in one of the grassy plateaus, combining all their blueprint fragments to create a base builder. While Booker scouted for danger, and Jan started to study the fauna and flora around them for later use, Jack made the base, creating four multipurpose rooms, one for each of them to use and the final as a general area, connecting them with tunnel segments, forming a sort of X shape. Luckily for Jack, Booker and Jan made sure to choose opposite rooms, staying as far away from each other as they could.
It took a while to get an actual conversation out of the other two men, a few days before they all managed to gather in the main area for a meal at the same time. Booker had gone the whole day without any snide comments at Jan, and Jan had managed two days without reacting, even in the slightest way, which was improvement as far as Jack was concerned.
"So, what did y'all do? Before this whole... thing, I mean," he asked. "How did you end up on the Aurora?"
"I was military," Booker spoke first, quickly, like he was competing with Jan, who tended to go more slow and steady. "After I retired from that, I started doing private security. Alterra had worries, so my company was hired to keep an eye on things. Pretty simple."
"Wow, I bet you have a lot of stories," Jack remarked, and Booker smirked.
"Just a few. What about you, big guy? Have you done anything with your life?"
Jan glanced up from his PDA, where he was typing something. Scans only went so far, so he'd been making more expansive documents of the things on the planet they'd encountered so far.
"Oh, I was a marine biologist."
Suddenly, everything made sense, and Jack beamed, "that's so cool! Did you get to work with any animals up close?"
"Mostly just sea slugs and anemonies and the like. I also have a few degrees in various types of engineering. Just gave me the chance to get work wherever and whenever it was needed," Jan spoke with a shrug.
"You must love this planet," Jack leaned forward, and Jan shuffled back.
"I mean, it's alright, I like it, but I just want to go home."
Booker scoffed, "no doubt less than we do."
Jan didn't respond, returning to his files and his food, but still acknowledging Jack, "what about you?"
"I wasn't up to much, I was an apprentice, and it was my first job. Not exactly how I hoped it would go," he laughed it off.
"Well, you'll have something interesting to put on your resumé," Booker joked.
And then the Aurora's drivecore detonated.
Radiation suits were easy to make, and the group started gathering what they needed to go to the Aurora and fix the problem causing all the radiation. With the warning of a leviathan class creature, they made sure to get ahold of a stasis rifle, and for getting to where they needed to go, they brought a repair tool, a laser cutter, and a propulsion cannon. Fire extinguishers were a given, of course, seeing as the ship was aflame, and they all kept knives, lights, and scanners on them. Finally, they were lucky enough to get the blueprints for a seamoth, which they built, allowing Booker to drive and Jack and Jan to hang onto.
Honestly, Jack was pretty confident about their odds.
At least, that was until he heard the roar, as a giant creature came rocketing up to them, with Booker making a quick manoeuvre out the way of it. Jack glanced to Jan, who tracked the leviathan as it turned, letting out another roar, pinpointing them and shooting after them again.
"How many buses is that?" Jack asked Jan.
"How big are buses as standard?"
"Don't marine biologists use buses as a measurement?"
"No, that's just for conveying size in a general sense. But to answer your question: probably an amount."
"What do you think, Delta, some fifty metres?" The radio from inside the seamoth crackled within Jack and Jan's helmets, joining the already connected communicators. It was a smart idea on Booker's end, meaning they could all communicate even when underwater.
"Between fifty and sixty, yes." It roared again after another dodge, turning and following. "Interesting."
"Are you gonna share with the class?" Jack yelped, the creature coming a little too close to one of his legs.
"It's echolocating - not just that, I think it's completely blind."
"We need to lure it away. Jack, are you ready with the stasis rifle?"
He clutched the rifle closer to his chest, worried he'd lose his grip on the seamoth. "Uh-"
"We've got you, don't worry," Jan assured him, and Booker hummed his confirmation over the radio. "Steady your breathing, stay calm, keep track of yourself and your oxygen levels, that's the core of diving. You can do this, I know it, and so do you."
"What if I get swept away?"
Jan shook his head, taking a clip from his belt and attaching it to Jack's, keeping them tied together.
"You won't." Jan's hand sat on his shoulder, the comforting weight reassuring him, as Booker turned the seamoth again, dodging another attack, and Jack raised the stasis rifle.
He wasn't exactly experienced in guns, but Booker had given him a pretty intense course in using the stasis rifle, and as Jack focused, he found himself following the older man's instructions. When the time was right, he began charging it. With one last dodge, Jack fired, as the leviathan opened its jaw and-
The shot hit right in the mouth, stopping it right then and there.
Jan squeezed his shoulder, clapping him on the back, "great job, you did it."
"Let's please just get to the Aurora before my heart gives out," Jack gasped, and Booker chuckled.
"As you wish. You did well."
Getting into the Aurora was easier from there, and Booker and Jan pulled the seamoth up onto the dry part of the structure to keep it safe from the leviathan.
"Definitely blind," Jan concluded, "horn probably for ramming, mandibles for grabbing, suprisingly fast, but bad at turning."
"Hey, Delta, has anyone ever told you how useful you are?" Booker asked, and Jan blinked.
"Is this another snipe?"
"No, I mean it. You're more analytical than some of the soldiers I thought side by side with."
"I'm really not, it's just because it's a sea creature. I'm terrible with other stuff, especially people." Jan started to walk away, and Jack barely caught the final, "I barely noticed that the wife wanted me dead until she tried."
"Wait, what?" Jack looked to Booker, who didn't catch what Jan had said. He sighed, trailing after them as they trecked up the pathway.
Booker did most of the fire extinguishing, as Jan handled the laser cutter and propulsion cannon, leaving the repair tool to Jack, though he quickly found himself the designated lookout, keeping an eye on the two types of creatures that they found on the ship, a small water bound parasite, and the slightly larger crab like beastie that had harassed them back on the floating island. Jack didn't know which one he hated more. Jan on the other hand kept picking them up, and Booker seemed more interested in stabbing them.
"I'm going to scan the PRAWNs," the latter said as he diced up another small parasite with his survival knife, "they'll come in handy with the leviathans."
"Have you ever piloted one?" Jan asked, curiosity in his voice as he took one of the fire extinguishers from Booker.
"No, but it shouldn't be that hard. I'm a fast learner, after all."
"Don't PRAWN operators have to go through a pretty intense course so the power doesn't get to their head?" Jack spoke next, and Jan nodded.
"Yeah, makes you feel invincible, it's hard to ignore even after the training."
Booker was half way down the corridor when he heard that, stopping and turning to look at them. "Why do you say that like you have experience?"
"Probably because I have experience?"
Jack could swear he saw Booker's eye twitch, no matter how far down the hallway he was from them. "You know what? That works out, now go deal with the drive core."
He was stomping away before either of them could reply. Jan shrugged, walking in the direction of the drive room, Jack not far behind, singing a little song about how they were going to get cancer and die.
"He didn't seem happy," Jack mumbled, and Jan tilted his head around to look at him. "That you knew how to pilot a PRAWN. Or anything that you do, really."
"I think Booker is the type of person who has been through a lot and doesn't really know how to deal with it," Jan replied, shooting the fire extinguisher at the flames in the doorway, letting them access the large room. "You just have to try not to let it get to you."
"How? He's always upset about something, and he makes it our problem."
"I guess it's just one of those things you slowly learn to do. I mean, I'm still no good at letting the things he does slide."
"I mean, yeah, he mispronounces your name every time he chooses to use it."
"A lot of people do, it's not that big of a deal anymore. Jan shrugged, briefly checking his oxygen tanks before he tipped back and into the pool. "People are just like that sometimes."
"It's got to get tiring eventually, right?" Jack asked, following Jan into the water to fight off the little parasites.
"It's a little annoying, but there are worse insults. It's like being called stupid by a child, it hurts way more when you're a kid too. I used a nickname because of it, but nowadays there are better things I could be worrying about." Jan started to repair the breaches he could easily find.
"Like leviathans and not starving to death?"
"Exactly."
Jack went quite for a moment, milling over his next words before he finally admitted, "I miss my parents. They were so worried about this job, but I promised them it would be fine. They probably think I'm dead."
A quiet sigh came through Jack's earpiece. "I know, but that's exactly why we have to survive this place and find a way home."
"How can you be so sure we will?"
"There's no use catastrophising, son, not when we have enough working against us."
Jack looked up. Son? That one simple word, utteredly so fondly, it made his heart clench, made him want to cry out for his parents more than ever.
"Thanks Jan," he said instead, because wouldn't that be embarrassing? To burst into tears because an acquaintance spoke some words of comfort. If it wasn't for the Aurora's crash, he probably never would have met Jan or Booker, and that felt unfair, why did so many people have to die for him to meet the two people he was living with now?
They finished fixing all the breaches in relative silence, meeting back up with Booker and heading out to where they left the seamoth without asking what the veteran had been up to in his absence. They were lucky enough to leave without the leviathan noticing, and returned to their base, proud of their progress.
And as Booker and Jan mulled over the PRAWN blueprint, Jack returned to his quarters, closing the bulkhead behind him so that, if an argument did break out, he wouldn't have to hear it. He almost didn't bother taking off his radiation suit before climbing into bed, all his energy sapped from the excitement of the day, and as he lay there, drifting off, his mind tingled and he heard an ethereal voice.
"What... are... you...?"