Three medical technicians stood beside different carts like bridge officers at their stations, none of them making eye contact with her or each other. The quiet made the wait even more intense, and she realized that she wasn’t the only one who was nervous or worried. “You’re all trained for what you’ll be doing today?” Ayan asked gently.
The nearest, a young woman with cold blue eyes, looked at her and nodded. “Every one of us, Commodore.”
“Then you’re the right people in the right place at the right time.”
“Thank you, Ma’am,” said an older medical technician beside the door.
Silence settled in for another long moment before the doors opened to admit Minh-Chu and several other boarding team members from the assault on the destroyer. Between them was a gurney with a black sealed stasis bag on it. The upper half was the right shape for a man Jake’s size, but the lower half was flat.
“We leave him right here until Doctor Messana gets here,” Minh-Chu said as he guided the gurney to its place beside the operating table.
He crossed to Ayan and gave her a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “Everything okay with you?”
“Yes. What should I expect when they open that bag?” Ayan asked.
“You don’t look at that, all right? It got worse in transit, but he’s still viable, in stasis.” Minh-Chu said, holding her at arms’ length. “They’ll take care of his body, you take care of his soul.”
“All right,” Ayan said.
“Thank you for your assistance, officers,” Doctor Messana said as she came through the doors with her medical droids in tow. “You got him here, thank you. Now it’s time for you to get out of my operating room. You can watch from the gallery if you like.”
The medical technicians pulled the sterile wrap off the medical bots quickly and made sure they were ready. “You’re Ayan,” Doctor Messana said as she ran her vacsuit’s sterilization sequence. The room shimmered slightly as all surfaces were sterilized as well. “The captain and I had a few chats while the Warlord was port hopping around the sector. You came up more than once, almost always good things were said, but you understand I need you to be a certain way for a little while. You have to be available for him while he’s awake, be positive. If he asks you to marry him, or have his babies, or to fetch the nearest moon for him, your answer will be yes and you’ll mean it. No reservations, no crap from your past or his; you just love him more than anyone else and make sure he knows it. I don’t care if that changes the moment we’re done here, as long as you both believe it while he needs you. If you have any problems with that, you can leave without disgrace and I’ll call Minh in here and he’ll get by with his best friend at his side.”
Ayan couldn’t help but feel a little joyful as she realized that Doctor Messana was describing how she felt about Jacob Valent. Putting her guilt at leaving him and her relationship with Liam aside, she still loved him more than anyone. “It’s true,” she replied.
“Good. Move him, shoulders higher than legs, if you please,” Doctor Messana said to the bots. While they gently transferred him to the surgical table, Ayan stared at the doctor, who had more to say. “Good, you should be here then. Before we begin, I have to make you aware of a few things. You’re already avoiding looking at the bag, that’s good. I won’t lie, he’s in terrible shape. I don’t care what you’ve seen on the battlefield, you’re going to ignore everything happening to him from the neck down while he’s awake. None of it’s happening as far as you’re concerned. Eyes stay behind the barrier, no backing up and peeking around. If you do see something alarming, you will not react to it. If you do react to it, look at me and I’ll tell him something about what’s happening. Do not try to explain what you see yourself. One more thing: when the red light goes on, his wounds are exposed and your hood stays sealed. When the green lights over our heads come on, you can unseal and give him a kiss for all I care, just don’t obstruct his breathing. He’ll be awake for a minute, and he’ll be in pain for most of that while I check his brain and nervous system function. As soon as his eyes open, you’re going to talk to him like it’s all wedding vows and pillow talk because you’re the only pain killer he gets while we perform our tests.”
Ayan couldn’t help but smile a little at the doctor’s straight forwardness. “Thank you, I’ll do my part.”
The bubble closed around the bag containing Jake and Doctor Messana immediately set to work, checking the automated surgical tools.
“What do you think, Dad? Have you gotten the scans?” Ayan asked quietly through her communicator.
“Ayan, turn on your suit’s audio dampeners,” he said.
Before Ayan expected it, the red lights came on overhead. An opaque holographic barrier appeared between Ayan’s end at the top of the bubble and the surgical team, who seemed to overcrowd the table. She heard something that sounded like sawing and sloughing. She activated the dampener, but couldn’t deactivate her fear at what was happening. “Too late.”
“Look at what’s happening as an engineer, Ayan,” Doctor Anderson said from behind the observation gallery glass. Most of the people around him had already turned away, but he looked at her directly. “Nanobots just infiltrated his skull and are building a new one from living bone while the old, corrupt framework system is being removed. That sawing sound is a result of how fast it’s happening. The Triton’s surgical table is going to build fresh tissue around the new bone next, and in a few minutes you’ll be looking at a brand new Jake.”
Ayan took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, that makes sense. The nanobots from the Order Knight hit his head first, so it would be worst there.”
“Exactly, so everything from there on is easier if Jake’s mind is intact.”
“Are you sure you shouldn’t be down here?” Ayan asked.
“Doctor Messana has been studying Framework technology since she signed up with the Warlord, and she’s had days to put a plan together. I offered my assistance, but she already had everything well in hand. She’s the best one for this.”
“Okay, good,” Ayan replied.
“Time to turn the dampener off, they’ve rebuilt Jake’s head, preserving the brain. You’re going to hear them removing his armour next, but you won’t see anything.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Ayan said.
“I’ll be here if you need me, but for now, just be ready to concentrate on Jake.”
Ayan turned her sound dampener off and turned back towards the closed table. She could hear the creaking of metal and popping of high-powered beam emitters for several minutes. It took incredible effort for her not to scan the room with her comm unit so she could find out what was going on.
“Okay, the bag’s open, his armour is retracted. Cutting necrotic material and auto suturing the sites,” Doctor Messana said. “Start putting the bypass in place, please.”
Ayan waited at the head of the table. She couldn’t see anything through the dome of the table, and she couldn’t read any of the control interfaces the staff were using.
“All right, the bypass to his head is taking over. His brain is getting oxygen now, but it’s not active enough to consider him anywhere near awake,” one of the medical technicians reassured her.
“Okay, our captain has a brand new face, you can expose him,” Doctor Messana said. “We have four-point-three percent necrosis in his brain, so we’re going to remove and rebuild those areas with our nanobots and then stimulate his brain so we can see if he made it.” Everyone stepped away from the table and the green light came on.
One of the medical technicians came to Ayan’s side and flashed her a smile. “Time to reveal your prince charming, Commodore.” She moved the top of the bubble down to the top of Jake’s neck and peeled the stasis bag material aside.
To Ayan’s surprise, Jake looked fine from the neck up. Perfect is the word she would have chosen. “Go ahead and touch him, however you normally would. His head is held in place so anything you do will not affect what we
’re doing below the neck.”
Ayan took her place at the end of the table and gingerly stroked his hair. He was warm to the touch, breathing normally. She knew it was an illusion. A machine was breathing for him, telling his muscles how to keep his tongue out of his throat, and he looked so relaxed because his brain wasn’t functioning yet.
“There we go,” Doctor Messana said. “The nanobots are leaving his cranium, all the bad grey matter is gone and there’s some fresh stuff behind. Time to stimulate him and get some activity going so we can find out if he can come back to us.”
“We have a good seal,” one of the technicians announced as the green lights came on overhead. “Go ahead and deactivate your hood, the rest of his body is sealed in the surgical unit,” he told Ayan.
She did as instructed and looked down at Jake’s face, stroking it gently. “You said he’ll be in a lot of pain.”
“If we’re lucky,” one of the technicians said.
“Stimulating the brain,” Doctor Messana said. “Like my tactless tech here said, signs of pain are good, it’ll be even better if he recognizes you.”
Jake’s face twitched several times and his eyes squeezed shut, a tear rolling down his cheek as he groaned. It sounded strange, hollow thanks to the machine performing the duties of oxygenating his blood and breathing for him. Ayan wiped it away for him. “I’m here,” she whispered.
He opened his eyes but didn’t say a word as he ground his teeth.
“I need a name, soldier,” Doctor Messana asked firmly.
“Jacob Valent,” he replied, nearly screaming. “Everything hu-“ he managed before his face flushed and he clenched his jaw.
“I’m here, Love,” Ayan said, gently stroking his face. “I’m sorry for leaving, but I’m back.”
“Hey! No past, remember?” Doctor Messana said. “Jake, what was the last thing you did.”
“Destroyer,” he shot back, “Took down the destroyer.”
“Good! Now who’s that woman with you?”
“Ayan,” Jake said, his eyes focusing on hers completely for the first time. “Where am I?” he managed to say through clenched teeth.
“You’re-“ Ayan started answering, but she was interrupted by Doctor Messana.
“Where do you think you are, Jake?” she asked.
“Medical, on the Triton,” he replied.
“Okay, this is going to be uncomfortable, but it’ll only last a moment,” Doctor Messana said. As soon as she finished warning Jake, she did something from her end of the table that made his eyes lose focus on Ayan for a moment. It looked as though he was focusing on something far past her, and his jaw fell slack.
“Doctor,” Ayan warned.
“Done, time to medicate,” Doctor Messana said.
Jake focused on Ayan again, the pain in his expression returning. Through wheezes and grunts he asked, “Where was I? It was like I was kicked out of my own head for a minute.”
“I forced a diagnostic of your brain, you’ll probably lose a couple of short term memories, but we had to make sure your brain is good for long term function. You should be feeling much better about now.”
The expression on Jake’s face changed in seconds, the pain draining away. “Yeah, doesn’t feel like I hurt my everything. How’s my brain?”
“Should be good for a couple of centuries,” Doctor Messana said. “You talk to that pretty lady over there for a few minutes, I’ve got some work to do at this end.”
“Hi there,” Jake said with a cocked smile. “You know you’re upside down?”
Ayan stroked his face and stared into his eyes. “Not for long,” Ayan said. “Hello, Luv. I missed you.”
“It’s bad,” he said. “You’re here, sweeter than ever, so I’m probably dying or dead. Maybe I’m dead somewhere and this is about transplanting memories. You’re making a new Jake in some clone body.”
“You’re the same you,” Ayan said, “same body, same mind. No transfers. Nanobots deactivated your framework system and there was other damage, but you’re fine from the neck up and some other places. They’re fixing you now. I’m just here because I missed you. I wanted to tell you I’m sorry I left you, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“I’m in no position to refuse,” Jake said, raising his eyebrows and chuckling. “Weird, didn’t feel my chest move.”
“They’ve got you pretty numb from the neck down,” Ayan explained.
“We’ve got all the scans we need,” one of the medical technicians said. “His head is in great shape.”
“All right, you hear that, Jake? The important bits made it through. We’re going to put you to sleep now and when you wake up you’ll be ready for the Ranger test course.”
“Want me to be there when you wake up?” Ayan asked.
“Definitely,” Jake replied. “Just make sure they don’t give me anything extra or leave anything out.”
Ayan broke the rules by kissing him briefly and said, “I’ll inspect you myself.”
He had a smile on his face as he faded from consciousness.
“Okay, Ayan,” Doctor Messana said. “Time for you to join your friends in the gallery, take a nap, or whatever you like until we’re finished putting him back together and it’s time for him to wake up.”
“He’s going to be all right?” Ayan realized she was still stroking his face and hesitated for a moment before backing away.
“As long as he doesn’t mind being as human as any of us, he’ll be better than fine. The Framework system made a real mess, so we’ll be here for ten hours replacing pretty much everything, but he’s out of danger. You helped us save the most important bits, the brain and the soul.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Ayan said. One of the medical technicians led her toward the doorway behind her.
“Oh, and Ayan,” Doctor Messana called after her.
“Yes?”
“I want an invite to the wedding when you two finally tie it up. That is if you’re not the best actress I’ve ever seen.”
“I’ll make sure you get an invitation,” Ayan replied.
It was real. Triton Fleet may have been headed into a war, and there was more work for her to do than she could account for, but what she felt for Jacob Valent was real, and he was alive, and that was enough.
EPILOGUE
The Last Two
Moira McFadden sat in the command seat at the rear of the Sunny Shifter’s bridge. It was an over-padded, brand new chair with no manual controls. It would react to impulses in her brain using a low powered scanner and provide the information she wanted using holographic displays. Her words would provide other prompts. The system was good, she’d use it, but it all seemed too dainty. Manual controls would be added to the seat before the refit was done, she’d see to it.
The tour of her new ship was a quiet one, with only five people aboard and no one on the bridge. It was the way she liked it. The quiet time gave her an opportunity to truly think things through. The beast of a hauler was an excellent platform for what she had planned, and it was in surprisingly good shape.
Remmy Sands and his Ranger team had done such an incredible job at taking the ship that there were only a few signs of a skirmish in the halls. She liked the young ranger’s style. He used brains and stealth, and was surprisingly decisive for someone who was so popular with his team. She reminded herself to thank him for taking the ship, her ship.
“Looks good on ye,” Shamus Frost, or Shamus McFadden to her, said as he came in through the starboard door.
“Feels like it was made for lounging, not leading,” Moira said as she hopped up and down in the seat a little. There was a definite overabundance of bounce in the cushion.
“That’s what they feel like when they’re new,” Frost said with a crooked grin. “Not many of us have had the pleasure.”
“You did a fine job commanding the Warlord,” Moira said. “I never felt the fight outside was going to get out of hand while I was on the destroyer.”
“There w
as a moment there, where things looked grim, but the captain’s plan got us through,” Frost said, “Looks like I’ll be doing a lot of following his plans; he’s got some recovery time and I’ll be in the Warlord’s command seat awhile.”
“He’s that bad?” Moira asked.
“Between you and me, he’s got to learn to walk all over again, rebuild his coordination. Technology could help that, do some remapping, but physical therapy’s the smart way.”
“He seems like the type to go for the quick way when it comes to taking care of himself, I’m surprised he didn’t go for remapping.”
“He’s got two angels on his side, Ayan and Alice. They convinced him.”
“How is Alice, by the way? She lost people defending the Warlord, didn’t she?” Moira asked. She liked the plucky young woman. She’d be a hell of a commander if she survived adolescence in her father’s war.
“Aye, it hit her last night after Ayan told us her da would be all right,” Frost said, walking around the six station bridge, looking at the pristine control stations. “She’ll pull through, she’s with Jake now. Tear jerker of a reunion, that was.”
“So, you’re going to be first officer to your girlfriend while he’s out of commission?” Moira asked, smiling at the prospect.
“Co-captaining, really,” Frost said. “She liked my handling of the Warlord, so I’m taking care of the ship, she’s taking care of the crew.”
“But there’s only one captain,” Moira pressed.
“Aye, that’s what her rank says,” Frost replied. “I’m technically the first officer. We’re going back out in one week. Even got a double to stand in for the captain when we hit our next target.”
“I don’t even want to know who’s drawn that straw,” Moira said. “That is one man I would not want to try and imitate.”
“Aye, he’s a stand-out,” Frost replied with a nod.
“With a huge target on his back. Anyone who takes him out would get a promotion and a parade. Makes me feel like I’ve got a great big shadow to hide in.”
He looked at her from the front of the bridge. “That you have, the Warlord casts a long shadow, so does her real captain. I’m wondering, are you going to be changing the name of this ship, or are we going to be hearing tales of the dreaded Sunny Shifter in a few weeks?”
Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades Page 46
