Fracture sf-5

by Randolph Lalonde

  Ayan excelled in the Junior Academy and when she entered the Freeground Fleet Academy at the age of seventeen she turned down the offer of taking a pass on boot camp since she'd done it before. It was almost like a vacation the second time around. She was in excellent shape, knew exactly what to expect and had worked harder throughout her Junior Academy career. She didn't speak to her mother once in her first year and posted marks in the top percentile of her class.

  She didn't have time for personal problems. Ayan saw the very thought of communicating with her mother as an inconvenience and a distraction. She justified her silence by telling anyone who asked about her family; 'she sees the scores, she knows where I am and that I'm beating her marks.'

  Her reverie broke as the express car she rode arrived in the hangar. Two of the technician teams had arrived ahead of her and were helping each other make sure they'd secured the armoured layer of their vacsuits properly. I never thought I would be one to avoid my problems, not after spending years away from my mother. She should have put an end to that behaviour, being the adult in the relationship. I'm doing it again with Jake. I've seen the side he doesn't show everyone and now that he's let me in a little I'm mad to see more! It makes him even more frustrating, but in the end I'm running off at the first note of displeasure. Even on the First Light we never had a row. This is our first, and even though he should bloody well explain himself and what he could have possibly meant by 'it's you!' I'm still the one who ran off before he could try and back pedal. What in heaven could he say to make that better though? What could I have possibly done to deserve that? If he thinks saying 'I'm sorry' in front of half the officers on the ship while he's on his way out the door will do it, he's got surprises in store. She thought to herself as she checked the status of the third team. They were on their way.

  “Hello Commander,” Finn approached her with a nervous smile.

  Ayan smiled back and shook his hand. “It's good to meet you in person Finn. Your work on integrating the hypertransmitter into the Triton was fantastic.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I understand you're my second in command for this trip?”

  “Yes Ma'am.”

  “Well, it shouldn't be complicated. An excuse to see the station, really, so keep your wits, make good choices and we'll have a good time over there,” Ayan reassured him. It was good to look forward to something, even if it was simple technician's work.

  “Hey pretty lady.”

  Ayan jumped and turned to face Minh, who was smiling at her with his arms crossed. “Oh hey!”

  “And this is the man responsible or getting us reconnected with entertainment networks from around the galaxy?”

  Finn nodded and offered his hand. "It's not like I did it myself, I had two teams-"

  Minh grabbed his hand and nearly shook his arm out of its socket; "Thank you. Thank you, thank you! When all this clears up I'm going to settle in and watch a whole day of Odd Span. I have one hundred twenty episodes to catch up on."

  "I've never heard of it."

  "It's a HV show about a group of people trapped on a planet where the laws of nature are broken, really good. You're invited, bring whoever you like."

  "Thank you sir,"

  Ayan laughed and shook her head. "I could never get into it, I guess I just can't get used to seeing physics not working properly, even if it is just a holovision program."

  "Can I borrow your commander for a minute?" Minh asked Finn.

  "Uh, sure. I should go meet the third team anyway. It was good meeting you," Finn nodded before walking off to the rest of the team.

  "I think you actually scared him," Ayan smiled.

  "I think he needs some R amp;R, he's pretty wound up."

  "I thought of leaving him aboard, but there aren't many team leaders and he was the only one whose had a night's rest."

  "How do you feel about leading a mission off ship?" Minh asked in a whisper.

  "Well, it's been a few years. Since before the First Light."

  "That's a few years," Minh chuckled. "Nervous?"

  Ayan took a slow, deep breath as she looked over the two teams gathered along the side of the hangar. They spoke leisurely amongst themselves as they waited for the third team and their transport to be ready. "Honestly? Just a little."

  "I was too, don't worry. Just concentrate on what has to be done and it'll all be fine."

  "You nervous? That I'd like to see."

  "I'm nervous all the time, even now."

  "Riiight, what's got you in jitters now? Debriefing coming up?"

  “Just finished debriefing two for today. We lost two people and four ships out there. Way too heavy on losses for what we were doing.”

  “I'm so sorry.”

  “I didn't expect it, but it can't be helped. Paula is meeting me for dinner, now that's got me nervous. I'll probably end up chatting her ear off about flying tonight anyway."

  "It was rough out there today, you should have someone to talk to about it."

  "I think she expects something else, but you're right, as usual. No one expected such a big fight when we got here. I'm just glad it ended well. I sort of wish I could sit down with the old crew. You know, Oz, Jason, Laura, you, Jake, but you're needed on the station, Oz is busy on the bridge with Jason, Laura's busy trying to figure out where the obscuring field is coming from and Jake is unloading slaves from the Palamo.”

  “I wish I could stick around, but I need to see that station. I also want to have a go at forming a relationship with the people over there so we can have a safe port for a while."

  "Oh, I'm not saying everyone should stop what they're doing so we can have a shindig. I hear the station's a mess, but it's huge, and I've never seen a gravity mill before, it's pretty impressive. You should check it out."

  "I'll be sure and tell you about it in the morning." Ayan and Minh took a moment to just look at the large hangar. There was so much going on. Two fighters were having particle weapons installed while heavy braces were being brought out so a larger ship could be moved. High above their heads an aft hold access point was opening to accommodate a forty eight meter long captured ship. Its hull looked like it had never been cleaned, showing the debris and common scorch marks of a ship that had seen many different environments. Past that vessel Ayan could make out the shape of another, slightly smaller vessel that had been secured inside the hold already. The rack on the port bulkhead was rotating so three fighters could be loaded into the punter well beneath the deck, and a squad of soldiers were making their way to the large doors across the hangar deck so they could help with the slaves being offloaded in the adjacent hangar. "So he's not looking at keeping the Palamo?" she asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

  “Nope. After the pummelling it took to stop that thing repairs would take months. You should see him though. All the slaves are trying to get his ear and tell him how they can help on Triton. A few are asking when he can take them home, but most want to serve. Some even want to go back to the Palamo to help strip her for parts.”

  “He's not going to?”

  Minh shook his head. “He said what he found in her hold is more important so the Clever Dream is going to start ferrying the cargo across. Ashley and I have been put on the roster tomorrow with our navigators to lead recovery crews just in case the ships we've captured don't fill us up. There are three more ships in the Palamo he's taking and a couple adrift he's marked for Chief Vercelli to look at.”

  “If I weren't taking care of the station I'd go along with you. I think we'll find an ally here if we give them a hand and considering how well hidden this place is I think it could be a good fit for us. If we give them limited use of our fabrication systems we might have a long term safe port here.”

  “Smart and beautiful, what a package,” Minh winked.

  “Charmer. What's up with you and Paula, anyway?”

  “Just a late dinner before I pass out for a few hours.”

  “What if she follows you back to you
r quarters?” Ayan grinned wryly, dimples playing on her cheeks.

  Minh waved her insinuation off. “I don't think it's anything like that, she probably just wants to get to know the new Wing Commander. Maybe berate me a little more for wrecking an Uriel.”

  “Doubtful, but you delude yourself however you must. Have fun.”

  “How are you and Jake getting along?”

  Ayan's attention was drawn by a bulk express car moving through a transparent steel tube leading up into the rest of the ship. Jake was inside, even from across the bay he was instantly recognizable. He was looking right at her, she looked back to Minh, who didn't notice the express car behind him. “Little steps back and forth,” she replied quietly.

  Chapter 12

  Evening Falls

  Jake couldn't help but look down through the transparent metal wall of the express car as it rose between hangars one and two. Minh and Ayan were down there. He looked at how at ease Minh was while speaking with her. She was more difficult to read. The armoured hood, with its overlapping plate strips was drawn down, he could see only a few locks of her curly blonde hair, but her face was hidden.

  She was standing like a soldier, shoulders squared with hips, aware and ready. He could have sworn she looked up at him as the lift accelerated upwards towards the main body of the ship but from such a distance it was difficult to tell. I hope not. Considering what she's going into I'd rather she wasn't distracted. I have to apologize again. I can't let things lay as they are. He thought to himself, sure he'd follow through despite the knot that tightened in his stomach at the very thought. He didn't apologize often, but then he didn't blurt out the worst possible thing at the worst possible moment either.

  He checked his Command and control unit for Ayan and Minh's operational status even though he knew exactly what was going on. He'd already reviewed Ayan's short negotiation with the Station Forewoman. It was difficult not to be irritated, angry at her for agreeing to go in unarmed. Having a squad of soldiers ready in a ship hundreds of meters away wasn't a very effective backup plan either.

  He looked up Minh again and was surprised to see Paula's outline join him on the Crewcast location map, then astonished as he watched them go off together. I hope he knows what he's getting into. Hell, I don't even know what he's getting into. For all I know she's a lot of fun one on one. He couldn't help but smile at himself at the thought of Minh and Paula hyper at the same time in the same place. Oh, this is trouble.

  “Sir,” said one of the slave refugees from the Palamo.

  He recognized him immediately, it was the one he'd saved just in time. He was the first to be entered into the transfer roster from the Palamo to the Triton. The young woman he'd been with was beside him, her hand in his. “David, right?”

  “Yes sir. I'm wondering if I could request a position aboard, permanently.”

  Jake looked down at the pair's wrists to ensure that they'd already received one of the provisional communication and monitoring bracelets that his security officers were passing out. David had fitted his comm unit tightly, in the flexible wrist band style while his companion, Nerine, had set hers to hang like a loose, stiff bracelet. They both had a netted embarkation bag with a tube with a standard vacsuit and a box with emergency rations.

  The fabrication deck had come through with flying colours as they generated all kinds of essentials for their new passengers in short order. The comm bands were Jake's indication that David and his companion had been through the basic orientation, so David's question came as a surprise. The rest of the passengers, a couple security guards tasked with guiding groups of refugees to the general aft berthing and eighty or so refugees were all watching him, waiting to see how he handled David's quiet request. “It'll take a couple of days for us to find places for everyone who wants to stay.”

  “I think I speak for most everyone when I say that we're staying. It's been a long time for most of us since we got fair room and board for a days' work and if the rumours are true we'll stay because of what you're doing out here.”

  Jake didn't know what to say. All eyes were on him, there were so many expectations behind nervous stares that implied a delicate thread of new hope.

  “You used to hunt people down but now you free slaves and get people help,” Nerine stated. “The feeds on Enreega kept replaying your speech until the Eden Fleet came.”

  He'd never seen anyone look so small. David was a broad shouldered man, Nerine was a young woman who seemed like the type who could gather attention and take it in stride but as they stood there, hand in hand, looking so uncertain they could have been lost children. “I do what I can.” He put his hands on their shoulders. “Right now I have room for every freed slave and I'll try to find a port for anyone who doesn't want to stay. I can't afford to pay any of you cash right now, but, like my people told you, I can give you a bunk, food, somewhere to work and a cause if you're looking for one.”

  David glanced at Jake's reassuring hand before asking; “But what do you do exactly? Where is this ship headed?” He cleared his throat and added; “with all due respect, Captain.”

  Jake smiled wanly and nodded. The question was unexpected, the answer was something he was just becoming certain of himself. “We're going after the Order of Eden however we can without getting scrapped. This is a ship crewed by refugees,” he stopped for a moment, letting go of the pair and looking across the crowd in the bulk express car. “Refugees who've become revolutionists.”

  Jake glanced up at one of the security guards. He stared back at him with a grin from within his armoured hood. It was one of the soldiers who had defected from the Aucharian military when Enreega was taken by Regent Galactic. So many of them had remained aboard, enough to provide Stephanie with her own militia of trained people. They were the backbone of the common crew and in all the reports since he'd had them aboard not one of them complained about accommodations or not being paid immediately. There had been a couple of fights between them and the gunnery crew, but both departments were restless during long hyperspace journeys or when the ship was down for repairs and training. “Take good care of these people,” Jake said to him.

  The soldier nodded. “Yes sir.”

  Jake didn't look back at the rest of the express car passengers as he turned and strode towards main medical. When the door closed behind him he sealed his headpiece. The armoured outer layer slid and chinked together before settling into place. It wasn't protection he was after, it was privacy. “Oz,” he waited until the heads up display in his faceplate came alive with a small image of Oz answering the comm from the bridge.

  “Jake! How is everything going with our new crew members?”

  “controlled chaos. They're settling into the upper and lower aft berths for now and there were profiles on all but two of them so far. Some information is old, but it'll do.”

  “Chief Grady was looking at that, he was surprised at how many of them are career spacers.”

  “I'm not. Slave ship Captains like to take cargo ships whenever they can, implant the crews and put them to work. They only go after spaceliners when they're looking to sell slaves at auction.”

  “I had a feeling you'd seen a lot of this.”

  “I have, but I've never had the opportunity to do anything about it on this scale before. Seeing these people makes my problems seem pretty small. Speaking of problems, I have to bring a couple things up.”

  “Come on up and we can have a seat in one of our unfurnished ready rooms,” Oz smiled.

  Jake walked into the infirmary and stepped into an unoccupied room near the front as he retracted his headpiece. It was like a small hospital right down to the privacy drapes and rooms for two. Iloona approached him before he signalled the door to close. “I'm all right, do you need the room?”

  Her dark and brown fur rippled down her back, a sign of worry that was uncommon for the Chief Medical Officer. Many people had difficulty reading different moods in nafalli, but Jake had gotten used to seeing the broad, narro
w muzzled race. She was concerned about how much rest he was getting, he assumed. “No sir. If you're here to see Alice, Ashley and Larry are visiting with her now.”

  “I'll be there soon,” he closed the door as she walked off. He looked down to his control and command unit, Oz was waiting for him to continue. “We're out of money Oz. All my accounts are frozen. Ayan thinks I should make some kind of broad announcement that we're turning pirate, paying as it comes, but I don't know how to handle this. If it were the Samson I'd pull into port, find a short job and tell everyone the money's coming but this is Triton. A third of the crew is armed and there could be riots. Not to mention the other news that's already spreading.”

  “Wheeler's executions.”

  “Right. Some of the people who'll stay on for room, board and the chance to make a difference might bolt at the bounty he's got out on anyone whose served with me.”

  Oz thought for a moment. “You've got a lot of people aboard who are just happy to be on a steady, clean ship that won't run out of power or food. I think your old method might be the best method. Only instead of pulling into port for work we should start looking for marks, so we can take down a supply convoy or hit an Order of Eden outpost.”

  “All right. Have Jason's people start looking for a star system that's against Regent Galactic or the Order of Eden. We'll make port and make it easy for people to leave so we don't end up with riots across the ship when we tell them we're broke. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for people who you can trust. We'll start making a list of people we want close when this goes down.”