In reality, of course, Jack was merely a boy gone to war too young
Unable to cope with the realities, he turned to drink
He rarely took shelter during bombardments
Because he was too drunk to stand
And it was his captain that slew the behemoth
While Jack hid like a coward
But heroes have been made out of less
And in the end, he died well
It was in this manner that the civil war raged on for thirty years
The space pirate crew of the Aurora
Known as the Mechanisms
Had been watching all this time, fascinated
For when you're immortal
A good war is a very pleasant distraction, indeed
But it was at this point they discovered something... interesting
The Rose Reds were the most effective of the soldiers
Created from Rose's genetic material, but they were not the first
Rumours spoke of an early prototype, known as the Briar Rose
That had malfunctioned and slain everyone on the desert moon of Briar
Where she was being grown
But she was not dead
As the Mechanisms discovered
Instead, she slept
At the heart of the defence grid that surrounded New Constantinople
The grid was composed of Thorn-class gun emplacements
And was virtually impenetrable
And in its centre, the Briar Rose slumbered
Plugged into the system, her anger, her rage, her hatred and her fear
Fueling the machines and focusing their gun turrets
And this bothered Nastya, engineer of the Aurora
So she went to the closest thing the ship had to a captain
Myself, Jonny d'Ville
"Jonny, we're not going to argue about this"
"I don't understand it, Nastya
We've been watching billions die for the last three decades
And we've been having a great time!"
"Yes, I know, I know"
"And now you want to go white knight over a
Science project with a broken snooze button?
I don't buy it"
"W-well, you see, Jonny
That is because I have not been telling you the whole story
It is, uh, not actually me who is complaining
It is, uh, Aurora
Our starship"
"Fuck the ship!"
"I do"
"Ew!"
"Anyway, Jonny, I am merely informing you out of courtesy
Uh, you see, I've already told Brian to land the coordinates"
"Brian!?
That insubordinate piece of brass!"
"Yes, yes, I know, and we are on our way"
"Well. I suppose that there's no real danger
For the ship or us"
And it has been a while since we've had any really... good violence,"
"It has indeed"
"Alright
Let's go"