“She did, and thanks for that, by the way,” I half bowed to Minh from my seat. “Didn't turn out the way you expected it, did it?”
He looked almost panicked, and I realized that until that moment only he and I knew he was the one who informed command of my identity and got the ball rolling. “I knew you were good, but not good enough for this kind of effort. I thought they'd promote you and put you to work somewhere you'd feel useful again.”
“You're the one who popped the lid off our little covert fun?” Oz asked, wide eyed. “Did you tell command about me too?”
“No! Just Jonas and myself, I swear! I had no idea they were already tracking us down or that we were doing so much better against the cadets in training than the AI or training staff. I thought we were just bumping in and messing around, embarrassing a few trainees, especially since no one cancelled the exercises once they started. How was I supposed to know that they were watching and throwing their advanced trainees against us once they realized the AI we were replacing was deactivated?”
“Well, since we're getting our asses kicked out there, Fleet is interested in new solutions,” Oz said, pointing to the large view port. “That's why the Sunspire is here, it's not just a refit, she was so badly damaged that the primary generators weren't salvageable and they had to force the hull to regenerate by energizing it as soon as it got here. Ayan couldn't talk about what happened, but I could tell it was worse than bad and it wouldn't be long before everyone on Freeground would know about it.”
“The Admiral told me there was a lot more going on out there than Fleet was telling the public about. I think, in the bigger scheme of things, who told who what is pretty insignificant. When it's all said and done I'd rather be in a position to do something about the problems facing Freeground than be directing trade traffic and resupplying ships. I was born here. The only people I've known are all here.”
“I was born here too and have three sisters who wouldn't leave if their lives depended on it. They might drive me crazy, but I know I always have a bunk waiting,” Oz said, nodding.
“Someone's got to protect my restaurant. It may as well be me,” Minh added with a shrug. “My sisters can take care of things while I'm gone, and it's hard for them to scream at me while I'm light years away in a fighter cockpit, if that's where I end up.”
“Well, let's get to work then. I have a lot of catching up to do. I have to learn about the ship systems, find out who I have and who I need to bring aboard, set out the crew assignments, then we have to start drills, and then there's everything I'm not thinking of.” I turned to Minh then. “Can you get everyone set up with quarters tonight? Make sure they're settled in and tell them there will be a meeting at ten tomorrow morning in the Mess Hall.”
“Sure, but the main mess hall is open to space right now. Won't be very comfortable.”
“Do we have another space available?”
“We have the common room at the rear of this deck. That should be big enough.”
“Good, that's where we'll meet tomorrow,” I turned to Oz and smiled. “Do you think you could talk to Ayan and review the roster with her? She'll need an engineering staff, a repair team, you'll need pilots, I'll need a bridge crew and you'll need security personnel.”
“All right, and what will you be doing?”
“Everything else. I'm hoping to have all the essentials ironed out tomorrow afternoon so we can have our first drill before the day's out.”
“Well then, we should get going, I have crew members to track down.” Minh said, standing up and heading for the door.
“I have an Engineer to find. From her reputation I'll probably find her half way inside one of the main systems.” Oz shrugged with an amused smile.
“One more thing. We shouldn't tell anyone that Minh here was the one who helped Fleet Command put two and two together. I know I'm past it, but we don't need the extra trouble.”
After they left, I walked to the view port. It stretched the length of the main room in my quarters and was a meter and a half tall. I looked out at the work crews, all so efficient, getting the Sunspire ready for God knew what. Was I going to be her next Captain? First Officer? Or would I be a footnote in the Fleets history as the man who could handle a virtual command but cracked when there were real consequences? I shook my head and called out to the ship's computer system. “Sunspire control, this is Trainee Captain Jonas Scott Valent, am I clear to enter operational data?”
“You are clear Captain Valent. Please upload critical mission data,” a strong male voice replied.
I held the data chip I was given by the Admiral in front of me. “Scan and record all operational data from this storage unit.”
“Scan complete. Do you have further orders Captain?” The computer asked after a moment.
“Forward roster to Terry McPatrick, Minh-Chu Buu and Ayan Rice. Leave general instructions that I am not to be disturbed until five AM tomorrow morning, set ship wide wake alarms for the same time.”
“Acknowledged and completed as ordered.”
“Thank you computer. Now could you give my personal assistant AI, Alice, access to your database, display controls and communications system?”
“Processing.” The computer replied, and as I expected, Alice giggled through my ear piece. “It tickles!” she said as the ship computer came on once again. “Complete. Command and control circuitry remains isolated from Alice AI.”
“I never have any fun,” Alice pouted.
“Thanks again computer, that will be all.” I said, dismissing the voice interface. A holographic representation of Alice's head and shoulders appeared suddenly in front of the sofa. I jumped back so fast that I nearly knocked the table over. The representation of her was a black haired, blue eyed woman about twenty and her head was two meters tall. “Don't do that! My day's had enough surprises without you popping out of the floor as a huge floating head.”
“So I've noticed,” she said with a grin. “I suppose we should get to work.”
“You know me too well. Let's take a look at those systems.”
Chapter 4
Even the Sunspire Casts a Shadow
With Alice's help I pored through most of the details I needed to assume command. I knew there was no chance I could retain all of it. I didn't think anyone could after having such little time to commit it all to memory but Alice learned how to prioritize the information. I was sure she'd be whispering in my ear in moments of hesitation while I tried to remember a name or other detail.
I wasn't the first captain aboard the Sunspire to have a personal AI either. Captain Grace Cameron, the last person to command the Sunspire, carried an AI much like mine but that's where the similarities ended. She was a career officer, worked her way up through the ranks the hard way through nearly thirty years of service, and had commanded the Sunspire for six years before being killed with most of her crew. Before I knew it I fell back into my chair, reading the report detailing how six hundred and five crew members and the captain were killed.
The Sunspire was in the Ukonis system, some three weeks hyperspace travel away from the station, with the fifth battle group. They were on the run from Triad Consortium ships and after several days of trying to win free from gravity traps and scrambling posts that kept them from entering hyperspace or generating a wormhole entry points back to the station, they found themselves separated from the battle group and trapped. To Captain Cameron's credit, she tried everything before making a last ditch effort to break through by openly attacking the smallest group, blocking the path of two destroyers and a gravity generator. I was absolutely astounded as I watched the tactical replay.
Looking at the Sunspire I would have never guessed it could be so quick and agile in space. It managed to use one destroyer as cover and survive its barrage of beam weapon fire while hammering at a section of the ship that must have seemed non-essential at first to the enemy crew. After several minutes of close fighting, taking a lot of damage and sacrificing most of her
fighters, the Sunspire broke through the closest destroyer's heavy shielding, disabled its main stabilizers and overloaded its port side engines. Without full control, the destroyer couldn't stop itself from colliding with the gravity generator ship it protected.
It was daring, requiring sacrifices I didn't know I could have made in her place. The Sunspire was just about to make her escape when the remaining destroyer, Enforcer 2117, launched several dozen missiles. The Sunspire's fighter screen was down to two ships and most of her gun emplacements were either damaged or destroyed. There was nothing they could do to stop the attack, and as the Enforcer 2117 turned away and jumped out of the system, I realized what was about to happen. The missiles they couldn't stop were never meant to hit the Sunspire, but rather, surround it and emit a massive electromagnetic pulse.
Anyone not already within the field surrounding the Sunspire's main generator was killed instantly and most of the ship's systems were devastated. Ayan and four of her engineering staff survived because Captain Cameron had just enough time to command them to climb into the centre of the ship's main generator while it was still running.
According to Ayan's report they were adrift for a week while they got basic propulsion back online. They hid the ship in a stagnant asteroid field for five more weeks while they repaired the secondary wormhole generator. I thought about Ayan and her remaining staff for a long time after I finished reading her report. I couldn't imagine being defenceless, left for dead on a ship filled with the corpses of my crew mates for weeks, knowing that any moment we could be discovered and killed or captured.
I went to bed late that night thinking about the good humoured, fun loving Ayan I had grown to know in simulations as Sunspot and what she must have gone through. Weeks relying on just her vacsuit for life support with no gravity, little light. By the time I was asleep I saw nothing but dark hallways and corpses drifting in and out of the dim light emitting some faint unseen luminescence. I woke up and looked at the time. I had drifted off for less than an hour then tossed and turned for the rest of the night, sitting up occasionally to dictate more details for Alice to add to my action plan. “So noted, now go to sleep or I'll convince the ship computer to flood your quarters with sleeping gas,” she scolded after the fourth or fifth time.
The humour helped lighten my mood a little and I tried to stop going through all the past events of the day, reports, and plans I was in the middle of making.
It must have worked, because when Alice woke me up it was a few minutes before five in the morning. “There is someone at the door for you, I think it's urgent.”
I sat up groggily and tried to clear my heavy grogginess. “I'll take more sleep at any price.”
“They brought coffee.”
“Thank you Alice.” I said with a dry mouth. I reached for my command and control unit and snapped it on my wrist. The status lights came on and I dragged myself out of bed to stand in the middle of the bedroom. “Cleaning cycle, then apply uniform for Trainee Captain, vacuum suit version, two millimetre thickness, with extra material in sensitive areas.” I commanded. The small projectors in the wristband vibrated the air over my body, shaking off dirt and dead skin, reducing all the matter to particles finer than visible dust. Then I passed it around my body so it could spray on the uniform with blue extremities, shoulders, legs and a green coloured core. I always hated the colour of the trainee uniforms. It only took a few seconds for the material to finish bonding to itself and I stretched to loosen it from my skin.
“Please let them in Alice,” I said as I realized that I hadn't even asked who was at the door.
The pressure doors decoupled and parted to reveal Ayan who patiently waited with a tall, sealed silver coffee mug in each hand. Her roster image didn't do her justice. She was diminutive in stature, and her face was heart shaped with wide cheekbones and bright blue eyes. She had changed into a trainee's uniform like my own, which made it plain that she had been relieved of overseeing the refit while she was on my roster. Her engineering kit was slung around her waist, filled with all the tools and advanced devices of her trade, some of which I didn't even recognize.
She smiled and looked at me for a moment before flinching and avoiding my eyes, smiling even wider. Offering me a coffee she said, “I think you need this more than I do. Can I come in?”
“Only if you tell me what's so funny.”
“I'm sorry, I must have caught you sleeping sir, your hair is a little out of place,” she replied, trying to keep from laughing. She was obviously trying to ignore my crow's nest with great difficulty.
“If you'll excuse me,” I expressed with exaggerated politeness before stepping into the bathroom. “There are days I think it would be just as well to go bald,” I said to myself as I did a serviceable job of fixing the mess. I chewed an oral cleaning tablet and stepped back out.
Ayan was sitting in the recliner, thumbing her way through a report she was viewing on her personal holographic projector. “Feel better?” she asked.
I nodded. “Sorry about that.”
She smiled up at me and turned off the mini-projector. “No worries, you should see me in the morning. It takes a good twenty minutes for me to look even close to human.”
I sat down on the sofa and took a sip of coffee. An uncomfortable silence settled in almost immediately. She stared at me over the rim of her mug for several more protracted moments before saying, “You're different. From what I expected, I mean.” Even though she was being very quiet, even shy, there was still a lightness to her. As if even though she was dealing with the unexpected, she was right where she wanted to be.
I didn't know what to say and before I could come up with anything she put her mug down and went on. “I'm not what you expected either.”
“It's not that, I just read the reports on the Ukonis System last night.” From the fallen expression on her face I realized I had said exactly the wrong thing.
“Not you too,” she said quietly.
“We're lucky to have you back, very lucky.”
“Luck had nothing to do with it. Ensign Richards recognized what those missiles were and before we knew what was going on the Captain ordered the engineering staff to take cover because she knew we were the only ones that could. A moment later, there was a flash and everyone was dead, the entire ship shut down and just a few of us were left, huddled into the heart of the ship in the dark. What isn't in the report is how it's been almost four months since then, and even though most of us lost everyone we knew, all our friends, some of us are almost over it.”
“Anyone who's gone through that has to have a lot to deal with. It can't be easy, everyone knows that.”
“But do they have to treat me like I'm made of glass?”
I didn't know how to ask her how I was supposed to treat her without making things worse, so I didn't say anything as she stood up and started pacing the length of the room.
“That's why, when I came back I jumped into the first simulation that I saw Oz, Mira, Ronin and you in. You were friends that didn't know what I'd just been through. To you I had only been away for awhile, on duty, nothing out of the ordinary. I could try to be myself for a while and if I felt low I could just hide it behind my avatar or take off the simulation node. My one candle in the dark, and now you're all here and you know who I am. What I've been through.”
I started to say something, but she wasn't finished. She turned towards me with tears in her eyes, yelling.
“I went to the common room last night and looked for someone I could recognize. Oz was there and he was talking to Ronin, who I never met before, but there was something about him. The way he was joking around, how everyone within five feet of him couldn't stop laughing. I recognized that crazy voice I knew so well in the scenes even with the disguiser, and when I went over to meet him, Oz whispered something in his ear and all the laughter was just gone. Instead of meeting Ronin, the crazy pilot, I met Minh-Chu, who had been told all about poor little damaged me and was very concerned. Eve
ryone was staring and trying not to stare at the same time. No one knew what to say and all I wanted was to be myself with the only friends I had left.”
I stood and started crossing the room towards her. I remembered what it was like when everyone thought you would break if they looked at you wrong, or said the wrong thing. Even Minh was overly cautious when my family was killed. The therapists didn't have the answer for my grief. “Time and patience. Be with positive people,” they would say. What I needed was to break down and have someone show me it was all right to have a moment to feel, to be human. I needed someone to show me I still had someone. For me it was Minh and his eldest sister, Kim-An. I didn't know if Ayan needed what I did years before, but I took a chance and duplicated Kim's solution.
“No, don't you dare try to fix me! I couldn't take it from you,” she said, backing away.
I stepped forward and pulled her into my arms, crushing her to me. She was stiff at first but accepted the embrace before long. Her tears came quietly, her hands gripped my back and I felt a little selfish deriving some satisfaction at being there for her. We'd spoken through avatars for hours numbering in the hundreds, late into the night after simulations had concluded. I'd show up for my shift tired the next day, but it was worth it. As we stood there after her tears had gone, swaying slightly, I knew every sleep-deprived day after was well worth it. “Now who's a big mess?” I asked her when her grip had loosened and the silence threatened to thicken.
She couldn't help but laugh. “No one other than my therapist has done that since I got back, thank you.” She squeezed before we both let go.
I sat back down on the sofa, her on the chair. When we both had our coffee in hand I smiled at her. “I'll make you a deal. I'll treat you like my Chief Engineer and friend if you help me get the crew through this scenario so we might have the chance to sign up with the military officially.”
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins Page 5
