Jed Calvert starts again

Who: Jed Calvert
Where: In his ship the JMC Fools Gold
When: An hour before the Hymenoptera attack Earth
Jed Calvert sat on the bridge of his ship, the JMC Fools Gold wearing
the cowboy hat that he had stolen from the future version of himself
he'd seen die right before him.
People die in front of Jed quite often, and he was pretty used to it
by now. He'd had plenty of run ins with nefarious characters and seen
a lot of death, but nothing prepared him for seeing himself die.
Being abandoned in the dessert, herding alien cattle, hijacking a ship
with a strange shrinker/expander compartment or temporarily captaining
the cruiser `Myra Belle' were all memories that this Jed Calvert
didn't possess. All these things had happened after he'd been forced
off the Fools Gold.
But it was the sketchy details of this near-future that Jed Calvert
couldn't get off his mind. His future self had warned him not to
transport the moonshine, but due to his infernal stubbornness, he'd
gone and done it anyway. He couldn't even force himself out of old habits.
So now Jed sat on the bridge of his stocky and fat looking cargo ship,
knowing full well that his cargo-hold was full of moonshine rather
than the refugees that his crew expected.
He rubbed his well-worn, stubbly chin in thought. He was wondering how
long he had before the crew found out. And whether he really could get
away with it, even if it did prove to kill him a few months later.
It troubled him so much that he fidgeted around in his command chair
and sent for his yeoman to get him a whiskey.
"A whiskey? …Even when you're on duty Captain?"
"Yes gal. Hoof it git me a likker! Fry mah hide!"
"But Earth is going to be attacked in about an hour sir…"
"Then now is definitely th' bess time fo' a likker!"
The yeoman went off and brought him back a whiskey from his "special
reserve". Something that smelled like three parts engine fuel and one
part Ffionian piss.
Jed necked it and thought about their mission. Unlike the rest of the
remaining Space Corps fleet and Earth ships, they were flying away
from Earth, fleeing instead of joining the fight.
Supposedly this would be to make sure as many people from Earth live
to fight another day, but in fact meant that a whole supply of
Moonshine would survive to be drank and cause bar fights another day.
But Jed felt uncomfortable.
"Mebbe I'm developing a conscience?" he asked himself.
Then to test it threw his empty shot glass at the com officer in front
of him. It bounced painfully off the mans head and he screamed like a
girl.
"Nope, thuts not it." Jed said.
Then he stood up. Boldly as he did, everyone on the bridge took
notice. Jed tipped his cowboy hat.
"I'm hereby making a course change and altering the mission. We're
heading back to the fleet."
His crew looked at him with gawping looks of `What now?'.
"Ya'all heard me. I'm changing mah fate. Well, all our fates. We're
going back to the fleet and we're gonna help fight those Hymenopteran
sons of slimy insect bitches."
"What about the refugees?" asked the man at the comm. Computer, still
rubbing his head.
"All piffle. Ah was jest winding you all up with that. Its moonshine,
forty-nine barrels of moonshine. Ah'm gonna come clean with y'all, I
never intended to carry any refugees. I just wanted to make a pretty
penny on some rare liquor when the Earth got blasted."
As the words came out of his mouth he felt a slight relief. He'd
normally keep his illegal trades a secret from his crew and never
normally share them so publically.
But the crew were quiet, and Jed feared mutiny.
It was his comm. Officer who stood up and took a step closer to him,
then started speaking. "Captain Calvert, you have betrayed us and
abused our trust."
Jed smelled mutiny in open space. He knew that if the officer tried to
force him mutiny now, the entire crew would have Jed linched. So the
captain made a quick decision.
In a blur of movement Jed pulled his laser-revolver from his holster
and shot him.
It all happened so fast that the comm. Officer didn't realise he'd
been shot until he had fallen backwards back into his chair.
"And?" Jed questioned.
The comm. Officer opened and closed his mouth but nothing came out. He
was stunned into silence, as was the rest of the crew.
Jed turned around to address his crew.
"Anyone else want to oppose me? Eh? Eh?"
His crew were quiet and got back to work. They made the course changes
and the small ship headed to join the wall of other ships around Earth.
<To be continued…>