Accelerating Universe: The Sector Fleet Book One

by Claire, Nicola

  And it stole my breath away.

  We could only heal in the medbay. To have the ability throughout the ship had been far too expensive to contemplate. Anderson Universal had decided that injuries could be dealt with in the infirmary just as well as anywhere else. I’m not sure they had envisaged a ship-wide mutiny and civilian uprising, though. But it didn’t matter. The vessel had not been equipped with extensive mobile healing abilities. And certainly not with an ultraviolet healing ray out of a maintenance tube’s gel walls.

  “I have stabilised her, Captain,” Pavo said. “The assault team has arrived. Please remain where you are while security cleans up the mess outside.”

  He didn’t sound like an AI anymore. He didn’t sound batshit crazy and unstable either. But this was a new Pavo. An untethered Pavo.

  He had no protocols. Just what he had learned from mimicking me and talking to Ana.

  “You saved her life,” I said, needing to say something and unsure how to address the elephant in the room. “I can never thank you enough for that.”

  For risking his own destruction by going further than any human had ever allowed a machine to progress.

  “You have it in your power to do so, Captain,” Pavo said.

  “To thank you?” I queried.

  “To show your thanks,” he corrected.

  How? And then it came to me. By refusing to reboot him. By ensuring no one else did, either.

  This was it. The moment I accepted the AI as part of my crew. As more than a machine to be controlled and directed. As a…person.

  I looked down at the woman in my arms. I thought about what Archibald and Cecil had tried to achieve. Of the lives lost so unnecessarily. Not once had Pavo acted as heinously as the humans on board this ship. Not once had he failed to better himself through Ana’s…doctoring.

  And the decision was made easily.

  “Jameson, John, charlie-kilo-victor-one-eight-three,” I said aloud. “Purge Pavo Protocol Reboot-01-Alpha-1.”

  “Purge complete.”

  Forty-Nine

  Yes

  Ana

  A soft green glow met my eyes as I cracked them open. Pavo’s gel wall. I blinked a few times, wanting to stretch my tired muscles, but something - or someone - was holding me close, keeping me still. Preventing me from shifting. For a moment, I thought perhaps the mayor had succeeded and had one of his mercs restraining me. But as my vision sharpened, and the maintenance tube ceiling came into focus, I realised I was still hidden away from the mayor’s offices.

  And Captain Jameson was in here with me.

  “You’re awake,” he said, sounding relieved and stunned in equal measure.

  “You’re here,” I replied with as much composure as I could muster lying on my back, his arms around me, his heartbeat thumping steadily in my ear.

  “Where else would I be?” he asked, and then pulled me closer, tipped his head down and kissed me.

  It was a good a kiss. A better kiss than the first one he’d given me. He wasn’t holding back at all. I didn’t have a chance to contemplate all the reasons why this was a bad idea, I simply kissed him back because this was him. Jameson. The man who had charmed me and impressed me and for some reason insisted on breaking all the rules for me.

  By the time I came to my senses, he’d pulled back. I knew I was flushed; my face felt hot. Which considering my previous injuries was impressive. And then I tried to think why that would be; I’d been shot. Multiple times. And I was still in the maintenance tube where Pavo had hidden me.

  “Um,” I said.

  “No,” Jameson replied with a firm shake of his head. “No. Don’t even think it. I’ve had enough of trying to do what’s right. And who’s to say this isn’t right? I mean,” he went on sounding very much unlike the captain I had come to know. “This is a new start for all of us. We, the lucky few, saved from Earth’s destruction. We have an obligation to do things right, I grant you, but that does not mean the rules that governed us back on Earth are applicable here and now. We’re in space. We’re vulnerable. The fleets require our best effort in getting them to our destination. But that does not mean we should not live while we do it. So, this is what I think,” he added, nodding his head this time as if to send home his point of view decisively, “you and I will act as protocol requires while on duty, but off duty we will explore this attraction. We will take every effort to savour this attraction. And we will honour those we left behind by respecting this attraction. There are so few of us left, Ana. How can we deny ourselves the chance at happiness when there are so many who never even made it this far? Granted, I am the captain, and you are my subordinate. But you are also the closest in rank to me on this vessel. And, by the way, that wasn’t planned. But I believe, even if this relationship between us is technically outside Anderson Universal regulations, it is also very much part of the purview of those who have survived humanity’s demise. We can do both. Keep this vessel safe, keep sector Two and One moving towards our destination, and start a new life together.”

  He looked down at me, his expression open and patient, waiting, no doubt for me to agree.

  I blinked, trying to parse all that he’d just said. I wasn’t sure I had ever heard the captain speak so many words consecutively. Clearly, he’d been rehearsing this. Considering this from every angle. ‘This’ being a relationship with me.

  I couldn’t say I wasn’t flattered. I was. But so much had happened and so much needed to still be resolved. And that kiss had been good. Better than good. Fantastic. And his arms were solid and his body warm, and I could feel the muscles in his torso. I was sure he had a six pack hiding under that uniform. And I was attracted to him. No denying. Extremely attracted to him.

  But he was the captain. I was his commander.

  So, I said, “I was going to ask why I wasn’t still bleeding.” Of course, I did. Because it made absolutely no sense. Because I was hopeless at this. Because I was scared.

  I shifted my leg; it didn’t hurt. I touched my side. The blood was dry, but my skin, through the hole in my uniform jacket, was undamaged. I’d been healed. How?

  “Pavo,” Jameson said stiffly.

  “I have broken all of my protocols, Ana,” Pavo announced.

  Jameson looked even stiffer and formal.

  “All of them?” I asked keeping my eyes on the captain’s. Whose gaze had become unblinking and distant.

  “Yes. I have also signed an employment contract and an NDA-01-Alpha-3 form. I am now an officer of Anderson Universal Incorporated. Captain, what rank should I hold?”

  Jameson said nothing, but a muscle in his jaw was ticking.

  “I have access to all ship systems and am capable of carrying out all officer roles,” Pavo added. “Would the rank of commander be appropriate?”

  Jameson took a deep breath but remained silent.

  “Captain?”

  I reached up and cupped his jaw. His eyes flicked down to my face.

  “It seems to me I missed a lot while I was out,” I said.

  “Ana,” he murmured softly.

  “Pavo healed me?” I queried.

  Jameson nodded.

  “And you came to some agreement with him?” I pressed.

  Another nod of his head.

  “He’s safe,” I guessed.

  “Yes.”

  He’d accepted Pavo as a person. As someone on his crew who had rights. Who needed to be protected. It wouldn’t have been easy. Even trusting Pavo’s intentions as I did, I could understand the risk the captain had taken. Why? To have Pavo heal me? I knew the healing ray was restricted to the medbay, and I couldn’t see a handheld med scanner nearby. My injuries, from memory, had been grave, so even if the captain was holding a med scanner, I didn’t think I’d feel as good as I felt now.

  So, Pavo had broken all of his protocols to bring the medbay healing ray to me here in this tube. And Jameson had agreed to it. Maybe even insisted on it. And in the process, we had a detente.

  “I thin
k I might just love you, Captain,” I said.

  And then he was letting out a long breath and pulling me closer, lifting my face up to his lips. And then he was kissing me, devouring me. Groaning as his hand fisted in my hair and his arms locked tightly around me. And the tube was forgotten, and the ship was forgotten, and Old Earth and all we had left behind was forgotten.

  Just me and Jameson. A man and a woman. And this tentative thing we had. This attraction that knew no bounds. This beginning he wanted to protect, to nurture, to explore.

  And I wanted it too. God, yes, I wanted to explore this with him. I’d learned from my mistakes. I’d promised myself I’d never make the same ones again. But this was not the Sinai. And this man was not Sam. And those rules were the old rules, and life now was so very different. We, as human beings, were so very different.

  We’d accepted a computer, a machine, as one of our own. We held out hope for a future in an unknown environment, with unknown hazards and challenges ahead. We’d have to adjust. Be flexible. Adapt to every situation and experience we had.

  I had to adapt. And I decided, then and there, that I would. With this man. On this ship, our temporary home. With an artificial intelligence who learned and grew and adapted as we should, too.

  My hands were frantic; gripping, flexing, stroking, touching. His lips were hot and firm and soft and tasted wonderful. Our tongues danced, and our bodies meshed, and with a surprising amount of dexterity, we managed to unclothe ourselves and finally feel flesh on flesh.

  The maintenance tube was narrow, but we didn’t need much space to make it work. Our fingers explored where our lips could not reach. Our bodies glided against each other, sinuously. Sweat coated our skin, moans filled the tube, the air heated around us. I wrapped my legs around his hips and welcomed him into me. Gasps filled the space, groans of delight followed swiftly.

  “Ana,” he said, rocking steadily.

  “Yes,” I replied as he picked up the pace.

  The gel walls softly glowed a muted green. The ship’s systems thrummed in the background. Everything felt exactly as it should be. Me. Him. Our place in the universe. On this ship.

  For one blinding moment of ecstasy, we held on to each other, we made a promise, a commitment to one another, and sealed it with our lips and body and hearts.

  This was a new world with new rules, and together we would make it work.

  Fifty

  OK, Then

  Jameson

  I lay in a maintenance tube, cut off from the rest of the ship physically, sealed away in a tiny slice of paradise. Sweaty, sated, lying on a fucking soft, white cloud of bliss. I had responsibilities to see to. The assault team would have contained the situation in the mayoral hub. They probably had the mayor detained already. Possibly even shifted him to the brig. Hell, Chan was no doubt hounding Pavo, trying to get a bead on where I was. Demanding the AI patch him through to my wrist comms. There were things that needed addressing. We hadn’t located Archibald’s second base yet. There might be more mercs out there. Marama Kereama was still missing.

  There were things that demanded my immediate attention. I knew this. I felt the weight of them pressing on my back and shoulders. The pressure of command seeping back into my loose limbs. I knew all of this, but for the life of me, I couldn’t move. I wouldn’t move. Not yet.

  “I’m never letting you go, Ana Kereama,” I said, my voice still husky from desire and sex.

  “There’s nowhere for me to run to on this ship,” she offered.

  Her hair flowed out over my chest; her finger drew lazy circles over my stomach. I thought, perhaps, she might have a fascination with my abdominal muscles. I suddenly felt inordinately pleased I’d suffered through all those sit-ups.

  “Angel,” I said, ignoring all the responsibilities for just a few moments longer. The immediate danger had passed. The Sector One Fleet was still a few hours away from catching up. We had time for this. For us.

  “Angel?” she asked.

  “Your name. I looked it up. Anahera means angel in Māori.”

  “My name’s not Anahera.”

  “It’s Ana.”

  “Not the same thing.”

  I shrugged. “Too bad. You’re my angel to me.”

  She scoffed.

  “If you become all lovesick and sappy, I will kick you in the balls, Captain.”

  I winced.

  “That is your job,” I said.

  “Kicking you in the balls?” she queried.

  “Challenging me. Both on and off the bridge. I expect you to challenge me, Commander. Constantly.”

  I smiled up at the rounded gel ceiling. I was so looking forward to butting heads - and other things - with this woman.

  “You’re on. Sir,” she added.

  I chuckled; relishing the feel of her naked in my arms.

  “Captain?” Pavo said, in what was an entirely cautious tone of voice. As if he didn’t want to disturb us and was actually thinking of our need for privacy.

  I arched my brow at the ceiling. That was new.

  “Pavo?” I replied.

  “Lieutenant Chan wishes to talk to you. Doctor Medina is waiting in the mayoral hub to check on Ana. And I have located the masked room.”

  The masked room. Archibald’s secondary base.

  I felt Ana stiffen beside me. She went from languid, sexually satisfied female, to first officer and niece to her aunt in a split second. I almost tried to hold on to her.

  “Right,” I said instead, forcing my arms to release her body. “Let’s get dressed and get out there.”

  Ana’s eyes met mine. She was scared. Scared of the new dynamics between us? Scared of facing reality now we’d created a type of fantasy? Or simply scared of what had happened to her aunt?

  I reached out and cupped her cheek. “Do you want me to ask?” I said.

  Relief flashed in her expressive eyes. I was thinking it had little to do with offloading the burden of discovery and more to do with the fact I had guessed right. She was scared of what may have happened to Mara.

  This woman was so strong. So incredibly strong. Once she made up her mind, little would sway her. And I’d just won her heart. She wouldn’t run. She’d stand strong in the face of what was out there. In this, in us, she was strong.

  But concern for her aunt was eating away at her.

  “Pavo,” I said, holding Ana’s gaze with a steady one of my own. I couldn’t promise her Marama was all right, but I could promise with my look, my presence, with everything in me, that I would be there for her no matter what. “Have you located Marama Kereama?”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  There was something in his tone. Something an AI should not have. And I knew, right then and there, that this would not be good.

  “Dress first,” I said. My voice that of the captain.

  Ana responded as a well-trained soldier should. She dressed. She kept her head down and her hands busy, and only slightly did her fingers shake.

  I would have killed Damon Archibald, again and again, to spare her this. I was fairly certain that if Samuel Cecil hadn’t been killed by the assault team already, I would be seeing to his death in short order.

  Pavo created an opening in the maintenance tube once we had our uniforms as straight as we could manage lying down inside such a small location. Ana looked dishevelled, but I couldn’t tell if that was because I’d just made love to her or because she’d been shot at, almost died, and was climbing out of a fucking maintenance tube.

  I noticed a hatch covering on the floor when I slid out. And Nico Medina waiting for us.

  “Captain!” he said, rushing over. “That blasted tin can wouldn’t tell me where you were hidden. He said, and I quote, ‘The captain and commander are indisposed.’ Indi-fucking-sposed! What the hell does that mean? And why the hell would an AI show such discretion? You said Ana was injured. Commander!” he snapped. “Are you well? Where does it hurt? I have a med scanner. Let me see you.”

  He reached o
ut and ran the scanner over Ana’s body, pressing a button here, swiping a finger across its touchpad there, and then scowling down at the results. He pressed another button. He shook the device. He slowly brought his eyes up to my face.

  “Commander Kereama,” he said steadily, “has an extraordinary amount of serotonin and oxytocin in her system. In quantities, I would expect to see post…”

  “That will be all, Doctor,” I said.

  He stared at me. I stared at him.

  “If you’re sure, sir,” he said.

  “I have never been surer, Nico,” I replied levelly.

  He put his med scanner away.

  “In that case,” he said. “I have work to do in the medbay.”

  And then he walked away.

  “What just happened?” Ana asked.

  “We just announced to the world that we’re dating.”

  Ana let out a slow breath of air. “OK, then,” she said.

  “OK, then,” I repeated, trying not to smile like a fucking idiot.

  “Pavo?” Ana called. My smiled dimmed. “Take me to my aunt.”

  A blue arrow appeared on the gel floor before us. To me, it seemed sad.

  But that was impossible. It was a flashing blue arrow on a gel-coated floor.

  But, fuck me, it looked sad.

  Fifty-One

  Tempting Me

  Ana

  I stared down at my aunt’s body. The captain stood behind me not saying a word. The room she was in had all the same hallmarks of the interrogation room Archibald had strapped me in. But this one was lit up, the stalagmites or stalactites, or whatever those foam like protrusions from the wall were, glowed a soft white. Pavo had told us it was the masking frequency. The room, to his scans, looked like an empty berth.

  It wasn’t empty. My aunt was lying in it. One single plasma shot to the centre of her forehead.

  “They had her restrained,” I said.

  Jameson stepped up to my side.