Jess's breath quickened as she took in the situation in front of her. It wasn't ideal. Her eyes darted quickly from one anomaly to the other, unable to decide which one to take, for one would lead to certain death but one could be her reprise.

~o~o~o~

It had started off as a fairly normal day at the Arc. There had been a anomaly in the early hours of that morning but it had been an open and shut case. No incursion, no casualties, no problem. In fact it was turning out to be quite a slow day Jess mused as she idly cast her eyes over the monitors in front of her.

Looking back Jess could recognise her mistake. Boredom combined with her lunch hour had led her to think that exploring the disused labs would be a good idea. As she used her wristband to gain access to the third lab so far she realised she had unwittingly entered Connors old lab. The Prospero lab had been abandoned ever since the events of New Dawn with not even Connor venturing inside.

As Jess walked around the centre desk she recognised the technology. It was the prototype that Connor had used that had let in the futuristic beetles. Just the thought of those things made her shiver.

In fact they made her shiver so much so that in her high heels she stumbled forward slightly, grabbing onto the desk in an effort to stay upright. As she righted herself, grateful that no one had been there to witness that, it took her a moment to realise what she had caused.

Sitting on the middle of the desk sat the prototype, a steady and entirely unwelcome whirring filled the room as it emitted from the device.

The wiring was sparking and giving off the air of a very unstable machine but even as Jess watched in morbid fascination an anomaly grew suspended in the air.

There was something different about this one though. Perhaps it was caused by the damage to the machine but this one fluctuated more than any other she had seen. It would grow impossibly big and shrink to almost nothing until it emitted such a light that Jess instinctively threw an arm over her face to protect her eyes.

When she finally opened them she was met by a sight she always prayed she would never meet. In front of her were two anomalies; one seemed to have sprung from the other much in the way that had happened just before Danny Quinn had made his return to the ARC. Jess could feel the panic coiling in her chest, this was only meant to be a quick excursion and now she was pinned into a room by two anomalies; both of which covered her exits.

As the panic threatened to rear its head she forced herself to think rationally. There was no reason why she couldn't just wait here and sit it out. The anomalies would eventually close and in a few minutes someone would see that the anomaly alert had been tipped off and a team would be sent to investigate.

She would wait.

This plan lasted all of three minutes before fate decided to make her decision or her. From the anomaly closest to Jess, a single beetle entered the room.

It was the same type of beetle that still haunted her nightmares and she supposed she should have thought of this eventuality sooner, considering that the anomaly was created by the same machine and therefore the likelihood was that it led to the same place.

Before she could employ anymore explanations a few more beetles crawled forward from the anomaly and Jess skittered away from them.

In the distance she could hear the sound of boots running down the corridor. The team must have been sent down. However, this didn't help her situation at all, the team would be unable to reach her and she unable to reach them.

Unwillingly, Jess was forced to face her options as she gazed speculatively at the second anomaly. It sat there looking almost innocent.

She could hear the door rattle and open and she heard the steady stream of cursing that was let loose when the person on the other side saw the situation.

She recognised the voice of Captain Becker. Her heart almost broke as she thought about what this would do to him.

But she had no choice.

Trying to avoid the beetles that were beginning to stream through once more, Jess tried to hold back the whimper of fear that was trying to break though as she did the one thing she swore she would never do.

She walked through the anomaly with her eyes wide and her lips trembling. Her last memory of the world she had known was the look of her Captain shouting for back up as he looked at her with horrified eyes.

~o~o~o~

The first thing she registered was the sunlight. She squinted against it as she tried with a heavy a heavy heart to figure out what time period she was in.

"On your knees with your hands behind your head. Now!"

The command with which the order had been given and the surprise of hearing another human voice meant that Jess had automatically complied.

It took her a second to realise that the voice was familiar; in fact she had heard it only moments ago.

As her eyes focussed the first thing swam into view was a gun.

Not an EMD or a taser. An honest to god gun.

But it was the person holding the gun which made Jess want to close her eyes and return back to this morning when everything had been fine.

Pointing the gun at her was a slightly younger looking Captain Becker. His eyes held no recognition and his mouth was set in a grim line.

Today, thought Jess, is going to be a long day.

…..

A/N- Hope you like the first chapter and if you do please review, I need to know whether to carry on! All the best-VE