“Tractor system engaged,” Paula announced, watching the technicians several steps down and in front of her.
“We have them, bringing them in,” one of them announced.
Captain Valance brought up the view from the inside of hangar one on a bridge wall. He could see the needle shaped ship being pulled in sideways, there was more than enough clearance for it to make it into the hangar.
“Start getting us out of here,” Captain Valance ordered tensely.
He glanced at the tactical display. A total of five destroyers were firing on them along with one carrier launching eighteen fighters at a time. “Running out of time here,” he brought up the fighter's profile. They were all bombers, some were armed with nuclear warheads and heavy shielding. The Triton's port shields were depleting fast and there were at least two dozen large projectiles incoming, they had to be torpedo or larger class.
“Frost, intensify flak fire. We have nukes coming in.”
“Aye. Sharpen up and shred those radiological points! I didn't come all this way to get a sunburn! Loaders switch to flak! Two magazines!” Captain Valance and Alice could hear Frost shout through the shared comm channel before he muted that channel.
“The Silkstream is aboard and secure,” Announced Assistant Deck Chief Paula.
“Thank you,” Captain Valance said with a cordial smile and nod.
“Checking it out sir, taking a medical team with us,” Stephanie announced.
“Cloaking systems up!” First Officer Valent commanded.
“Let's get out of here!” Captain Valance ordered with urgency.
“Three nukes in staggered formation got through the bulk of our flak field!” Price announced.
Captain Valance didn't have time to put the order through, he just brought up the screen to increase power to inertial dampening systems and did so while reducing the tolerances. He hoped they'd be strong enough for the crew to survive the shock wave of a nuclear blast.
“More power to shields!” Alice ordered.
The first of the nuclear missiles was destroyed by flak fire, the second got through seconds later and exploded one hundred nine meters away from the hull.
The ship shook, but thankfully it was more of a rumble, at least on the bridge. For a moment half the panels and holographic displays went out completely, then they came back on. The third nuclear missile didn't detonate, why exactly no one could be sure of, it may have been caught in the blast of the second or destroyed by the fine bits of steel fired as flak from the Triton's rail cannons, no one would ever know.
“Can we leave now please?” Captain Valance asked.
“Hyperspace in three, two, one,” one of the helmsman announced.
The ship entered hyperspace then shook violently.
“Impact sir! We hit something small but it tore us up pretty bad,” Larry reported from the helm.
Both Jake and Alice hurriedly checked the ship's condition. “Damage control teams to starboard side, section thirty four. We have a breach.”
“We're on it sir,” answered one of the team members.
The navigator to Alice's right held his head in his hands. “Oh my God,” he whispered to himself. Shaking.
“Drop us out of hyperspace now,” Captain Valance said levelly. “Re-plot a course for us and get us under way Larry, Ashley. Pendelton! You're relieved.”
The Triton dropped out of hyperspace, still not clear of the Enreega system but out of immediate danger. It took a minute for Ashley and Lewis to plot a new, safe course but their second hyperspace initiation went smoothly. The third member of their team left the bridge, his face flushed and his head down.
“Estimated nine dead, fifteen casualties. Request assistance to transport them to medical, most are already in emergency stasis,” reported the damage control team on site.
“We're clear Captain.” Ashley reported, increasing to full throttle, slowly, smoothly.
Ayan Rice
Laura was there, she could hear her voice somewhere in the ship. Her eyesight was blurry at first but it cleared up after a few blinks. The bunk she rested on wasn't made for long term rest but all her tactile sensations were dulled, the world seemed faint, muted.
Boot steps sounded against the boarding ramp, on the deck, then she saw him. He seemed bigger, stronger than she remembered, wearing a newer black vacsuit and coat, the scarf she had made for him from the remnants of her shawl was hanging around his neck.
He smiled at her and knelt down low right at her bedside and she managed to catch the end of the scarf with her fingers on the way down. It had lost a few centimetres on that end, the hem was different, probably repaired after some misadventure.
His bare hand stroked her face and Jonas smiled at her warmly. “I couldn't remember you for a long time,” he whispered. “Now I can't imagine how I could have forgotten you.”
“I never stopped looking,” she managed to say. It was hard to talk, she was so tired.
“I know. You were the only thing that kept me together after Vindyne took me. You were all I needed.”
“I missed you,” she tried not to cry, but a tear slipped.
“I'm here now. I'm finally here,” his hand was so gentle, tracing her cheek back to the seal of her vacsuit in front of her ear. She didn't want him to draw it back and see her hair had gone, so with no small effort she reached for his hand.
He saw her weakly raising her arm, her hand coming towards his and he caught it gently with his own. “I love you so much Ayan.”
“My one candle in the dark,” she breathed, smiling a little. “Finally found you, no getting away from me now.”
Her Britannian accent showed more when she was tired, and she was so weary, he could barely hear her speak.
“You remember everything now?”
“Just in time,” he said, a pain unlike any he'd ever known gripping him. “I remember where this comes from,” he rubbed the back of her hand against the silk a little. “The shawl you wore during the pilot's ball. You had me speechless. I was yours from then on.”
“I had more fun during our leave time together on Starfree Port,” she whispered, smiling wanly.
“Spending time with Jason and Laura,” he continued for her.
“Nights in your quarters. You made my life complete Jonas,” she stopped and rolled her eyes for a moment before focusing back on him. “I had to come, see you one more time,” Ayan took a shallow breath. “To say goodbye.”
He knew it was true, the small ship was packed with medical miracles, everything that could be done had been. “I know. Thank you,” he leaned in and kissed her lips, pressing only gently, just briefly.
When he looked at her again she smiled, truly and fully smiled as she closed her eyes and said; “I love you.”
Those eyes didn't open again, but he sat with her for the next few hours. Laura was at his side the entire time. They kept her company as she slipped away.
Passing Into The Stars
Along the front edge of hangar one were lined up all those who had died on the Triton. In place of those who didn't leave a body to mourn over, one or more of their possessions had been laid in their place. The crew had done Jacob, Laura and Alice the honour of placing Ayan's body, wrapped in white, in the middle. Jacob laid the long coat he had originally found in his bag atop her and tied them together gently with the scarf he had worn for so long.
Most crewmembers thought the Captain mourned his brother and wife, or his long lost love. That was the prevailing rumour and no one put it down. The number of bodies was surprising. Casualties from fighting for the Triton, from the Aucharian boarding parties, the acts of a spy aboard killing an entire squad, an artificial intelligence virus killing crew members who were unlucky enough to have a medical injector equipped control unit, and the collision in hyperspace entry. Everyone remembered someone who died on the Triton, whether they had just met them that day, or they had come aboard with them after knowing them for years.
There was no podi
um or dais set up in front of the bodies wrapped in sheets of black, white, red, green or blue, representing their nationality or point of origin. Everyone lined up ten meters behind the line that indicated where a pressure door would be coming down. They were arranged in rank. Everyone behind their Chief, the Chiefs behind the Captain and First Officer. Laura Everin stood beside Jacob Valance. They were all in black, grey, blue, red or white uniforms.
Liam Grady was the only exception. He wore his blue robes cinched with a red belt. When his engineering, maintenance and damage control staff were in place he walked to the front.
“It is easy to mourn those who are no longer with us and be sorrowful,” he began. It wasn't his way to shout, everyone could hear him through the communicators they wore. “It is difficult but so much more fitting to mourn through celebration. If my time were to come tomorrow, I would want people to remember me smiling, lending a hand, or having a laugh. If my memory brings a smile or I'm part of something that is retold, then I live on in joy. There are so many people here who can be remembered in just such a way. I knew Gareth Kinsey all of three days and I need two hands to count the number of times he got a smile out of me.”
The sounds of some of his engineering staff quietly agreeing with him could be heard by those standing nearby.
“Tell those stories, I know I will. Sure, all the comments and jokes Gareth had sounded better coming from him, but they're still worth repeating. I'll do my best to tell and retell the stories because I think it's worth sharing my experiences with all my people.
I'll tell them in celebration, because we have so much to celebrate. We live on to honour these people. We are together, no one should mourn alone, not on this ship. Not on this ship. I am only starting to see it, but there is a family forming here. A family that has had hardship, knows camaraderie, loss, victory and that is worth celebrating. It has brought us together and those who had no home have found one. Those that can no longer be with us help make this home as much as anyone. Remember them, honour them by taking care of yourselves, each other and together we can make a difference that makes their sacrifice worth something.
Now I would like to say a prayer. I invite everyone to bow their heads.
May all those who are dear to us know how they are loved.
May all those who cannot follow us on our journey know they are not forgotten.
May all those who feel alone in this universe not go long without a companion.
May all those who we have lost find peace and happiness.
It's fortunate that our place of rest and repair is so near a stellar nursery. All of them will become a part of forming new life in the galaxy. They are bound for a rare, ambitious new beginning.”
The pressure door rolled down from the high ceiling and closed. Through the transparesteel everyone watched as the field holding the air inside the front of the hangar was turned off and the escaping atmosphere drew all the remains outside. Laura took Jake's hand and squeezed it. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched quietly. He squeezed back and just watched them all drift through space towards the large white, yellow and blue end of the nebula.
Laura Everin
Laura was guided to the Captain's ready quarters by a surprisingly short soldier holding a rifle unlike any she'd seen before, all the senior guards had them. She was one of the few who had both the name of the ship and the silver skull printed on her chest, and despite her black vacsuit, and three bars of rank she was light hearted and quick to smile, even chatty.
“Can I ask what that skull means?” Laura asked as she walked along side the other woman.
“It's the mark of the ship, Chief Vega says it was chosen by the first Captain of the Triton for the squadrons aboard. There used to be two entire wings of fighters on this ship, could you believe it?”
“I've served on a ship not much smaller than this, only we were always pulling sixteen hour shifts with a skeleton crew. We had to abandon the outer sections and run everything from the core.”
“Was it the First Light?”
“It was.”
“So you served with the Captain's brother, Jonas. What a family.”
Laura paused for a moment, remembering the back story Jake had given the crew about Jonas, that he was his long lost brother, and smiled. It was a good white lie for the crew. “He was a good man. It didn't last long, but I've never served anywhere else like it.”
“What do you think of this ship now that you've been here for a day?”
“The crew have been nice, respectful. It's strange seeing military mix with mercenaries and civilian recruits, but I see it working. The ship is a lot bigger than it looks. I've never been on a Sol Defence ship before, I can see why people jump at the opportunity. They use space really well,” she said, eyeing the broad hallway with its dark polished floors.
“These are engineering access hallways. They're evenly distributed throughout the ship so large components can be moved quickly. This ship was made for long combat in space, the cloaking and wormhole systems were modifications added later.”
“You know a lot about the ship for a soldier,” Laura commented as they stepped inside the lift car.
“Steph, I mean, Chief Vega gave every fully qualified team member access to the ship's history and blueprints. I've been doing some extra reading since I've been thinking of leaving.”
“Do you mind if I ask why?”
“Not at all,” Liz smiled at her. “I was a teacher before the war started, so it's a force of habit I guess.”
“What do you like more, teaching or military?”
“Honestly? I miss teaching, and now that Regent Galactic has pretty much taken over Aucharian territory, it's time to rethink some things. My cousin lives up closer to the core worlds and they were already hit by the AI virus pretty bad. They're rebuilding there, so I'll be getting on a transport and moving in with her until I can find a position. If there were children aboard, even teenagers, I'd stay on the Triton, but there won't be. I'm glad in a way, this isn't a place for anyone to grow up.”
“It's too bad you're moving on. It looks like you've made an impression here,” Laura said, looking down to the three bars on the other woman's cuffs.
She looked at them and smiled. “I'm good at directing people and pretty diplomatic when I have to be but the thought of going into a firefight is still terrifying after two years of military service.”
“I'm sure they'll miss you.”
Liz sighed. “I'll miss them too. Even some of the people I've just met. Good things are about to happen here, but I think I'll do better helping younger people think their way through adolescence. That's a whole other kind of battle.”
They arrived on the bridge and Laura tried to take it in as they made their way through. There were really two control centers layered one atop the other. The one for the ship and it's general operations, and another beneath the main bridge that was just as large but for the purpose of directing traffic outside the ship and on the three main flight decks. She had never seen anything like it, by her estimation it would take a crew of at least forty five to crew both levels of the command deck.
At the moment, however, there was a skeleton crew of eight. Even from the short time she'd spent on the ship she knew that the officers weren't far off. All but the Chief of Engineering and Deck Chief had quarters on the command deck within a thirty seconds' run from the bridge along with their immediate subordinates. If everyone is drilled up to a fair standard it would take a whole bridge crew less than a minute to set up and be ready for anything. The skeleton crew could take care of most occurrences until then.
“Here we are,” Liz said as they came to the ready room hatch. The armoured door was pulled out of its jam by two heavy arms. “The Captain said you could walk right in.”
“Thank you Liz, good luck.”
“You too. It was good meeting you,” she smiled before stopping to talk to Alice for a moment, who was sitting in the command chair.
Not f
or the first time Laura was given the chance to think. She had been put up in the only guest quarters that had been cleared by the security team. There were two rooms plus a bathroom, more well furnished and carefully decorated than anything on a military Freeground ship. The walls in the bedroom were covered in navy blue draperies of all things, the bathroom had a combination pulse and water shower. The main room was set up for four people to sit comfortably and socialize. The furniture was gilded with carved wood, the padding was deep and comfortable.
Before she could sleep the night before her thoughts wandered to Jason and what he must be thinking. She hated leaving him behind, and part of her, a very small part, hoped he didn't follow. I have to give him the chance to choose for himself. He can follow me or stay with the Fleet and continue his career. Laura had thought to herself. What he'd choose was a near certainty, but if he didn't know where she was, what she was doing, then there was little chance of him finding her anytime soon.
She had started mourning Ayan, her best friend, while she was in a coma in the Silkstream IV and the decision to wake her out of that coma wasn't the easiest she'd ever made. Jacob Valance had a great deal of respect for her wishes. When she first arrived he embraced her, which was what she expected. He told her who he was and what had happened to Jonas right away.
Jake knew there was no time to waste and her precious cargo wouldn't keep for long. While Laura was still reeling from hearing that Jonas was dead and that Jake was a framework with a large portion of Jonas' memories, he told her that he'd like to be Jonas for Ayan if she didn't have much time left. There were messages Jonas wanted passed on to Ayan, and if it gave her comfort, eased her passing, he wanted to be what she needed him to be.
The seriousness and caring she saw in him as he proposed it was what convinced her. Ayan had said her goodbyes to Laura before slipping into the coma, and when her friend began to wake she walked out of sight to give time to Jake and Ayan.
Triton – 01 sf-3 Page 30
