Slaves of Cerberus

"Sir!" Michele called out. Jacob's attention snapped up from the galaxy map at the sound. "You'd better come over here."



Stepping out from his command post, Jacob rushed over to Michele's post. "What is it, ensign?" he said, leaning down to look at her screen. "A problem with the tracking signal?"



"That's the thing. There is no signal, sir," Michele said. "One second it was there, and the next it... just died."



"Dammit," Jacob said, knowing what it meant but not wanting to admit that his worst fear may have come true. "The coordinates from the last signal, ensign. What were they?"



"The Sahrabarik system, sir," Michele informed him. "Within less than a light year from Omega."



"Joker, set a course immediately," Jacob said into his communicator. "Head straight towards those coordinates, maximum speed."



Moving to stand beside him, Rooker gave Jacob a questioning look. "Sir, do you think that's advisable? In a fight against the Normandy, we wouldn't stand..."



"Are you questioning my orders, Commander Rooker?" Jacob said, snapping his attention up to his XO with a stare that made her take a step backward in surprise.



"No, sir," Rooker said, snapping off a salute and following behind Jacob as he briskly walked back to the center of the CIC. "I just hope you have a plan if we go to those coordinates and the Normandy is still there."



"I..." Jacob started to say, before noticing the flashing light from his personal console nearby. Glancing down, he saw the sender's address on the message and rushed to open it. 



The text inside was brief, only three characters in fact:



"4 = 4"



Jacob and Rooker stared at the message. "Does it mean something to you, Commander?" Rooker asked Jacob. "Something between you and Miss Goto?"



He shook his head. "No. But I have every intention of finding out what it means in person."



Watching Jacob return to his post, Rooker saw the worry in his eyes, the way his shoulders slumped now that their spy appeared to be compromised. She had always trusted the commander up until now. She hoped he wasn't going to let his emotions lead them all into a deathtrap.



It was the kind of foolish mistake Rooker was quite familiar with, after all.