By the time he got there the hatch was open and he fell inside. The door closed behind him and the small, circular shuttle launched with a sudden lurch.
“The hangar door is open! The maintenance bot is on his way back to the ship,” Lewis reported.
“Great! Forget the bot! Come pick us up, we're in a little pod!” Alice replied mentally. “Lewis is on his way, he should be here any second.”
“One hell of a rescue, I can't thank you enough,” Jonas said as he strapped himself into one of the forward seats. The carrier began to shrink in the distance and Alice smiled at Jonas. “I had no idea you were there. He tried to capture me and got a lot more than he bargained for.”
“Are you kidding?” Jonas said in disbelief.
“Nope, Gabriel has been chasing me in one way or another since I became human.”
There was a clashing sound against the hull and the airlock safety indicator turned green.
Alice unbuckled her safety belt and opened the hatch. To her relief they had docked with the Clever Dream.
They made their way to the small bridge. “Is this an Arcyn ship?” Jonas asked, looking around at the lush black and crimson interior halls.
“An Arcyn Starskipper,” Alice said, awfully proud.
“I never thought I'd see the inside of one of these. You've done well for yourself.”
“Yup, not bad for being on the run.”
“Fighters will be within firing range in twenty three seconds, but our wormhole drive is ready,” Lewis's voice reported through the bridge audio systems. “To say the ship is warmed up is an understatement.”
Alice dropped herself into the pilot's seat and looked down at her hand, still clutching the detonator. She looked at the depiction of the VCS Malice on the pilot's display.
“What range does that trigger have?” Jonas asked.
“Not much further I think,” she replied. “Lewis, set course for the Enreega system and start generating a wormhole as soon as you're ready.”
“Plotting now, we'll be ready in nine seconds.”
Alice and Jonas couldn't help but flinch as the port side of the VCS Malice exploded, sending large sections of hull in all directions. They watched for a moment before the Clever Dream opened a wormhole and left the chaos behind.
“A souvenir,” Alice grinned as she handed Jonas the detonator.
The Triton
The numbness in Ramirez's extremities was fading quickly and when he opened his eyes he took a moment to look around without moving. He was in a very comfortable medical treatment bed. The beige and green sheet over him was actually very nice, and he wasn't restrained.
The ceiling and walls were painted in a gradient of blue, green and brown from the middle of the medical center to the floor. Something had happened, whatever was in that injector had knocked him out cold. He wasn't dead, of that he was pretty sure, but he definitely wasn't in the brig. He rolled his head to the right and caught sight of Frost, who was snoring softly. “Psst! Frost!” he whispered. There was no response, but people didn't snore in stasis. “Hey Frost! You'll never see Ireland!” He whispered harshly.
Frost stirred. “G'mornin',” he grumbled, “you'll never see Mexico, you wanker.”
“Where are we?” He asked.
“Oh, right, you're just wakin' up. Th' medic here said you jammed yerself with an emergency stasis stick. Prolly saved yer life too.”
“That explains it. Where are we?”
“Medical bay of the Triton. Captain's new ship.”
“What happened?”
“Bloody resurrection, that's what. Wheeler shot him a bunch of times, then he turns his back and the Captain's on him. Healed up in just a few seconds, like he's made of miracles.”
“What do you mean, shot up?”
“We thought he was dead. He was burned right through in a couple places, point blank shot to the neck was the worst.”
“And he's alive.”
“Aye. Feels good ta be on the winnin' side.”
“What about the rest of the crew?”
“Turns out Wheeler's not a rich man. Captain bought 'em. They're getting paid twice what Regent Galactic was offerin' and that's not much. Don't know where they got these folks but they work fer peanuts. Bout three hundred credits a week.”
“That's nothing. Sounds like Regent though. What happened to you?”
“Metal in my skull got magnetized when Finn set off the Big Surprise. I was fine for a bit, got a headache later on then passed out. The Medic here figured it out and demagnetized me. Said I should stick around, get some rest and stay for observin'. I'm not arguin'.”
“So he's running the ship?”
“Yup, got the command codes from Wheeler and won't let him far out of sight. He keeps him strapped tight to a chair on the bridge.”
“I've gotta see this,” Ramirez said, sitting up.
A fair skinned, black haired woman seemed to come out of nowhere, walking straight for him. “So you're up. Lay back down please,” she instructed with a professional air.
He did as he was told and she pressed a control on a panel beside the bed. A holographic display came up above him and she looked at it intently for a moment. “Looks like that emergency stasis injection did have a compound that accelerates healing. Not as direct or fast as nanobots, but much more effective. No internal scarring, no residual organ damage or metallic residue for the body to process. Did you know what it was when you used it?”
“Price said it was probably for accelerating the healing process. He didn't say anything about stasis.”
“Well, I suggest you read the chart on your way out of medical. The emergency stations are all based on a Sol system standard.” She informed him, turning the medical display off. “Almost everything on this ship is. I'm Grace Templeton. Your Captain's managed to buy all of us Regent Galactic crew members, like your friend was saying. Anything to get out of my contract and stay flush.”
“Hernando Ramirez, of the Samson. You a doctor?”
“I was training to be one on a drifter station when I was assigned to crew this thing. I think I've gotten twenty hours sleep in the last two weeks. Even with over two thirds of the ship shut down sixty five people can't manage.”
“I noticed everything was closed off. Every time I tried a door it was sealed.”
“I think your Captain is looking to solve that. We're on our way to Enreega where he'll be looking to get pardons for the crew.”
“You didn't like working for Regent Galactic?”
“Are you kidding? I was born on Niba, it's a small moon owned by Regent. If you weren't a higher up in some division of the company you had to do whatever you could to scrape up a basic living. My parents lived in a three room dugout house. As soon as I was old enough to sign my life away for an education I took off. Just last year I managed to make enough money to get them a ticket and some extra cash so they could go to an outer colony. I have twenty eight years of service left with Regent Galactic though, so when your Captain offered to pay us double and apply for our pardons with the Aucharians, I was first in line.”
“Anyone not so willing?”
“Just a couple. Your guys killed one of them because he started firing shots off, the other one is cooling off in the brig. Your Captain's going to present him as a prisoner of war.”
Ramirez just looked at her for a moment. He thought himself a good judge of character, and though she had a very professional attitude through it he could see something else.
“What?” She asked, smiling a little.
“I'm just wondering how everyone really feels about the Triton being pirated and having her captain disgraced.”
“I already told you, two of us had a problem with it, the rest are just glad they're going away from Regent Galactic space. Some will even stay on and fight if they're given the chance. Everyone knows who Captain Valance is, and everyone's been in to see him since he got on board.”
“How did he find the time?”
“Well, Captain Valance has always kept his crew in good order. As long as you're on his side and doing your job he'll treat you well.”
“He left orders for you to report to the bridge when you woke up.”
“I'm clear to leave Doc?”
“I'm not a doctor yet, so technically I'm a medic. And yes, you're clear.”
“Thanks, see you soon.”
“I hope not,” she retorted with a crooked grin.
Ramirez stood and was on his way out of medical when he noticed a curtain with a stasis tube behind it. It was a portable unit from what he could tell, and was just about to open the curtain when Grace called out. “Don't!”
“You'll want to leave that be, lad,” Frost said in a mournful tone. “It's Finn. He's in a bad way.”
“We had to put him in stasis on site,” Grace told him hurriedly, making sure the curtain was closed completely. “I haven't had a chance to put his stasis pod in a secure containment socket or cover it up properly yet.”
“Will you be able to help him?”
“No, I haven't seen technology or met an expert that could. We caught him as his brain activity was tapering off, I was able to stabilize that much. I'm hoping that the Aucharians have something that can save him.”
“How long could he stay like this?”
“Years, that's a Sol Systems stasis pod. They're made to last decades for deep space travel. It's a lot like the ones used to make the trip to Andromeda.”
“That's something at least.”
“He was a friend of yours?”
“It's Finn, he was everyone's friend,” leaving that curtain closed was one of the hardest things Hernando had ever done, but he had a dreadful feeling that seeing what was behind it would have been much worse.
The trip to the bridge was a fairly straight path. It was right at the front of the ship on deck fourteen. The hallways were perfectly clean. The walls were a dark blue colour and though all the cables and piping was plainly visible they were arranged almost artfully by colour. The meaning of each colour was something else he'd have to learn, but for the time being he couldn't help but admire how neat and aesthetically pleasing the ship was despite its stark functionality.
As he came around the last corner before the bridge he saw a small cleaning drone. The circular half meter tall robot was spinning its way up one side of the hall, polishing the shiny dark grey floor. There were four arms folded neatly atop the little thing and as he approached it stopped what it was doing and moved to the side, even though there was plenty of room for him to pass by before. “Well, I guess we won't have to worry about cleaning stations,” he said to himself as he passed it.
The robot made a grunt like sound, as though acknowledging Ramirez's statement before resuming its duty.
He passed through the doorway and stopped dead in his tracks. The front wall of the bridge was a two dimensional display and there were three holographic projections along its slightly curved surface. The left was a general status readout of the exterior of the ship, the right was a map and interior status readout, and the middle one was showing a game show with three contestants batting at each other with padded poles. He walked a few steps down the ramp and took and looked over the stations. From what he could tell there was a tactical post for up to four people to his right, a similar engineering section to his left, and the captain's chair in the center with two smaller seats to either side. In front of the command seating was a circular space five meters or so across, the helm was just forward of that with another station for three beside it. There were other posts to the right and left that he didn't care to guess about. The walls were dead black, most likely to provide contrast for holographic imaging and other displays. The ceiling was a dark blue while the floor was a deep brown. Most of the seating and control stations were obviously reconfigurable, and he couldn't help but wonder what alterations would be made as Captain Valance made himself at home.
Captain Wheeler was tied tightly to one of the command chairs. There were straps across his shoulders, elbows, waist, around his ankles, wrists and he was gagged. There was a large bandage around his left arm where his dermal command and control unit had been removed. Leland March, one of his boarding team looked at him and smiled. “I'd call this a win, eh Ramirez?”
“Aye, I wonder what our new buddies with think about this.”
He glanced at the profile view of the vessel to his right and saw there were twenty one decks all told, one third of which were dedicated to launch, landing and maintenance bays and the crews that worked them.
“New buddies?”
“The Aucharians. This is a big ship, I think they'll notice Captain's upgraded his ride.”
“You think he'll keep her? He's going to need a big crew.”
“I always pictured Captain running a ship like this, never thought I'd see it myself. Where's everyone else?”
“In with Captain or sleepin'.”
“Hernando!” Ashley called out to him as she came out of a doorway at the front of the bridge. She ran over and practically collided with him. “I'm so glad you're okay.”
“Our medic just cleared me.”
She let him go and her joyfulness abated a little. “Did they let you see Finn?”
He didn't know what to say so he shook his head slowly.
“I wish he could see all of this,” she said sadly, her good mood was fading fast. “He'd have a ball.”
“They'll find someone to help him. You know the Captain.”
“They won't let me see him.”
“He's in stasis, he wouldn't know you were there. The Doc, I mean medic, will tell you when you can go visit him, don't worry.”
“Did they tell you anything?”
“He needs a real doctor and better equipment, Grace is smart enough to know that. Until then, we can only hope and pray.”
Agameg Price came out of the forward door and walked up beside Ashley, smiling at Ramirez. “I'm sorry I misguided you.”
“On the medication? Don't worry, the doc, I mean medic, said it healed me up good. No scars inside or out.”
“Thank goodness, I was afraid you'd be in an extended coma or some such. The Captain would like to see you in his ready room. I just came from there. Good change is coming.”
Ramirez glanced across the bridge and nodded. “I hope.”
That prompted a short giggle from Ashley, but her reprieve from worrying over Finn was short lived. It wasn't immediately evident, but she was a mess inside, dealing with whatever big changes were going on as well as losing someone she was becoming fast friends with.
“Captain says we should get some rest. I'll show you to your quarters,” Price said quietly to Ashley, who nodded.
“I'll see you soon,” she said to Ramirez with a weak smile.
“Sleep well.”
Ramirez walked through the bridge to the ready room. There was plenty of space for two people abreast. It felt strange, and he started to fully grasp the size of the ship, the undertaking manning it could be. The door to the ready room had been surfaced in lush black but it was still a meter thick safety bulkhead door like most of the other main hatches on the inside of the ship. The motors moved it silently out of the hatchway and to the side.
The wall across from the entrance was transparent, he could see the distorted view of hyperspace with its exaggerated blues, whites and yellow colours beyond. The thick transparent metal also caused a slight lensing effect, leading him to assu
me that it was meters thick and hardened. There was a large desk with three chairs in front of it, a small sofa to the side and a ladder to the left. At the base of the silver ladder was a small lift pad. He had never seen a ready room before, but he could only assume that the ladder lead to a bedroom and other personal space for the Captain so he could always be near the bridge. To his right there was another door, he didn't bother guessing what it lead to.
Stephanie half turned and smiled at him, the Captain looked a little more serious. “What do you think of our new home?” She asked.
“So you're taking this ship sir?” He asked.
Stephanie looked back to the Captain, who stood and looked out the window. He had changed out of his cloaksuit and wore a regular black one. His long coat and scarf hung off a peg on the wall.
“The Samson is more than half fried. Torres tried resetting her systems and found burnouts everywhere. She couldn't even start a load test. Wheeler's ship, the Cold Reaver, fared a little better but it would take weeks to get it flying again and she's not made for long trips. She's a dropship that doubles as a gunship. I've been less straight forward with the rest of the crew, I didn't want to show I had any doubts, but with you two I have to be honest.” He turned around and leaned on his desk.
“I understand these systems. If what Wheeler has told me is true it's because I'm a trained engineer with experience. The problem is, I'm the only one aboard who understands this ship and training people minimally will take weeks if we rush through it. The security and other personnel management systems are simple, thank God. So no one needs more than an hour to familiarize themselves with them, but the AI on this ship was deleted and replaced with other automation systems.”
“According to the ship logs the Triton has been running with a crew of less than a hundred with the help of automation for almost thirty years. She hasn't been used to her full potential since she was stolen,” Stephanie added.
“How many was she made to run with?”
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