This post is mostly raving.

<snip>
“So how the smeg can we hope to beat him?”
“We lure him here…he’s going to be the only one in all of Jerusalem who knows how to operate a starship…if he learns of it, he’ll want to come out here himself to salvage it andwith only a few guards, far less than we’d face at his palace…”
“Then what?” asked Jamie.
“…that…we’ll work out when he gets here…see what weapons and equipment you can salvage…”
</snip>

Jacky shuffled a bit in place. He did not like that sentence one bit. "we'll work it out when he gets there." What a horrid thing to say about Romans with bazookoids.

Jacky needed someone to talk to. He looked over the group, and he grew glum as he realized he could talk to almost none of them. Jay was too leader-y. Too down to business. Too experienced. Cass wasn't much better-- Jacky feared her. Everyone else he barely new.

Dave. Yes. Dave. Dave was new. Jacky felt as confused as he did when he was new. He was perfect. Jacky stood next to Dave.

Now what?

Jacky hadn't engaged in a genuine conversation in weeks, possibly months! Virtually no idle chit-chat! His social skills were poor before, but now? Worthless. The only person he could talk to, connect to, feel comfortable around was...

Oh god. Jacky could not believe it when he had realized it, but he had no other alternative. With no real relationship with anyone else, and the remaining humans dead, Alex Solvay was his best friend.

No! Jacky thought. What about Molly?

What about her? He then thought. He hadn't seen her in ages, and she'd never been in the right place at the right time to get sucked into these horrible adventures with them. That was the final irony, wasn't it? Molly, the girl with the thirst for nonstop adventure and danger, was living the life Jacky wanted so badly. Likewise, Jacky, who sought nothing more than a nice conversation and some rest, was trapped far in the past.

The past. Wait a minute.

"Where did we put the time drive?" Jacky asked.