by Nathan Jones
That would happen sometime in the next several hours, depending on how well Ali was able to plot the final jumps in an unfamiliar galaxy. Which was why Lana felt a surge of excitement that morning as her eyes flew open, once the grogginess of sleep faded and she remembered what day it was.
She gently disentangled herself from Dax on the bed they shared in his quarters; crew beds were cramped even for one person, but in the month they'd been a couple neither of them had voiced a single word of complaint about sleeping together in such tight conditions. As far as Lana was concerned, it just meant they got to snuggle up even closer. And in spite of her boyfriend's solid muscles, he still made a surprisingly comfortable pillow.
Speaking of sleep, he was still completely dead to the world. She didn't know if it was his conditioning, long habit, or what, but he always tried to arrange things so he got the full amount of sleep he needed, and was stubborn about waking up until he had. It was sometimes annoying, when Lana woke up in the mood to do other, more enjoyable things while they were in bed together, and often meant they didn't have time to enjoy more than a brief good morning kiss before it was time to start their shift.
To be fair, it meant she always got as much sleep as she needed, too. And she had to admit it was sometimes nice to just lay there looking at his face; in sleep his handsome features were more relaxed, peaceful instead of rigidly disciplined.
But not this morning . . . she had a mission. So she awkwardly eased out of bed onto the narrow strip of floor next to it, fumbled around for her uniform, and with some impressive acrobatics managed to tug it on.
To her surprise, when she glanced back at Dax before slipping out the door she saw his brilliant green eyes were open, watching her with the same peaceful expression he wore when sleeping. She grinned at him. “I could've sworn you weren't ready to get up yet.”
He nodded soberly. “I wasn't.” At her chagrined look he hastily added. “You didn't wake me . . . I think I'm just excited that we're finally done with this intergalactic voyage.”
That might've been the closest he'd ever come to admitting he was also climbing the walls after the last month cooped up on the ship. Lana was tempted to ask what he thought about visiting the spaceport, but she wanted it to be a surprise when she told him she'd convinced Aiden to let him go.
So she just leaned down to briefly press her lips to his, savoring even that momentary contact. “See you in a few minutes for breakfast?”
Dax nodded, although she thought he looked a bit disappointed. Had he had other plans for how they'd spend their time before their shift? The thought sent a pleasant thrill through her, but she refused to let herself be distracted from her mission.
At least, until he spoke. “Heading back to your room?”
Lana paused, frowning. “Back?”
Her boyfriend nodded slowly, looking uncertain. “You disappeared for most of the night, same as you have six other times since you, um, moved in. I just assumed you wanted to be able to stretch out on your own bed and get some proper sleep every now and then.”
For a moment her mind resisted that notion; she spent spent every night with Dax, taking advantage of every chance to be together. Then part of her subconscious clicked, and she blinked and felt herself blushing sheepishly. “I'd hoped you wouldn't notice me slipping away, deeply as you sleep. It has nothing to do with you, like you said it's just nice to have more room sometimes.”
He nodded solemnly. “I understand. This bed is tiny, which is less than ideal.”
She scowled around at his little cabin. “I wish we had a bigger space . . .” She was about to suggest he trade cabins with Belix, have Fix tear down the wall between the two, and rig up both their beds into a nice big one. It seemed perfectly reasonable to her, but for some reason the words choked in her throat.
No. Lana needed the privacy of her own cabin sometimes, for when she slipped away at night. Much as she loved Dax and wanted to spend time with him, sometimes she needed a chance to be alone.
She kissed him again, resisting the urge to slide back into bed and give him a proper good morning, then slipped out the door. After a quick trip to the facilities to clean herself and her uniform and make sure she looked like a professional member of the crew, she headed straight for the bridge.
Where, to her complete and utter shock, she found two complete strangers waiting for her, manning Aiden's and Ali's workstations.
Lana bit back a scream and spun to bolt back down the corridor, planning to return to Dax for help. All the while, she cursed herself for not carrying the cauterizer her boyfriend had given her on her person at all times. But then, why would she when the Last Stand was out in the middle of nowhere, with zero chance of anyone stumbling across them between rift jumps?
The captain's voice called after her, sounding amused. “Don't have a heart attack, it's just us.”
She slowed, wondering if she should feel embarrassed or angry at being tricked. Both? When she turned, she found that the two strangers had stood and were staring after her. The man had brown hair down to his shoulders, far longer than Aiden usually wore his. A wig? He also had a prominent scar across one cheek, his nose was slightly larger, and his eyes were a muddy brown.
The woman, who Lana guessed was Ali, was even more startling. For one thing she was plain, not ugly but simply forgettable, with mouse brown hair and watery hazel eyes. Her body looked dumpy beneath an ill-fitting uniform, and her creamy skin was now slightly darker and heavily freckled.
Still unnerved by the surreal circumstances, Lana cautiously edged back into the bridge. “Is this, um, some sort of roleplay?” she asked hesitantly. Belix had joked about that a few times, a way to spice up her relationship with Dax if things were starting to get dull. Which seemed silly, since they hadn't yet and Lana couldn't see why they ever would.
The stranger with Aiden's voice snorted. “It's a disguise . . . in case you weren't aware, everyone on this ship but you is wanted. Our faces are plastered all over the allnet, all over the universe, and facial recognition devices are cheap and pretty much cover every square inch of a spaceport.”
She furrowed her brow. “What about Midpoint? You didn't bother with disguises there.”
The captain settled back into his chair, idly scrolling through text on his display. “That place is a hive of villainy . . . anyone who tried to set up a facial scanner or video recorder there is likely to get his guts pulled out a foot at a time by half the spaceport's denizens wanting to remain anonymous. In fact, Midpoint's security scans the place exhaustively to prevent any facial recognition equipment.”
The plain woman spoke up with Ali's voice, confirming her identity. “We'll want to give you a disguise too, though, just to be safe. Nothing too dramatic, but we can change your nose and inject something in your lips to make them fuller, as well as coloring your hair. Maybe we'll give you a more rebellious look and go silvery or metallic green.”
Lana wasn't sure she liked the sound of that; she may have only had her appearance for a couple months, as far as she knew at least, but it was still her. Sometimes she thought it was the only thing about her that still was, with her memories gone.
But she had a more pressing concern at the moment: the fact that this was a perfect chance to push for Dax to come along too. “That sounds okay, I guess. What sort of disguise do you have in mind for Dax?”
The plain woman froze, and the long-haired man beside her slowly turned in his chair. “What?”
Lana squared her shoulders, trying to get over the surreality of having this argument with people who looked like total strangers. “I'd like to visit this spaceport with my boyfriend, so we'll need to make sure he's disguised as well.”
Aiden cleared his throat, looking irritated. “The gunner doesn't leave the ship during stopovers, aside from rare exceptions. He doesn't have time, since he needs to see to the refueling and ordering supplies and other tasks.”
“But he's wanted to go,” Lana said sharply. “You've refused
to let him until now. So unless you have a very good reason for it, like you think he's a prisoner or a slave, he's coming with me.”
She wasn't blind to how the captain flinched slightly when she mentioned slaves; she'd heard the man passionately insist on more than one occasion that there were no slaves aboard his ship. But for whatever reason related to how Dax had come to exist, and the fact that Aiden had been made to father a child without his knowledge or consent, the captain had a strange blind spot in his reasoning or ethics when it came to the young man.
Which he displayed now. “He's not,” he growled. “But he's still a subordinate officer, and needs to obey my orders.”
Lana narrowed her eyes. “Not good enough. He's going.”
Aiden narrowed his eyes right back, and for a moment she was sure he was going to refuse out of stubbornness, maybe even spite. Although not towards her; her relationship with the man had smoothed over the last month, following the friction after she'd begun her relationship with Dax. He'd settled into the role of a superior officer, providing guidance and advice and direction for her work.
But she'd also caught a hint of something else, maybe even a paternal protectiveness. Although it was hard to know for sure, since she couldn't remember her own father. If she even had one. Seeing that kinder side of him had made her harbor the belief that he might eventually even allow himself to show those feelings, act that way, towards his actual son. In spite of the pain and bitterness of their shared past.
But if that was her hope, it hadn't happened yet.
In any case, even if Aiden wasn't ready to relent with just pressure from Lana, that changed when Ali leaned over and rested a gentle hand on his shoulder, her stranger's features concerned. That seemed to be enough to push through the man's stubbornness, and after a moment of tense silence he abruptly twisted back to his display. “He's going,” he snapped.
Over the man's shoulder, where he couldn't see, Ali shot Lana a warm, even approving smile. She leaned down to hug the captain, then bristly straightened and started for the corridor, motioning for Lana to follow. “Come on, let's get you and Dax in your disguises.”
* * * * *
A few hours later, everyone was gathered on the bridge as they prepared to make the final rift jump to Ceras 2.
Lana had seen herself in her disguise, and thought she looked silly. Not like she was wearing a disguise, of course . . . Ali was apparently an expert at this sort of thing, like she was with everything else, and had done an excellent job. But the stranger with toxic looking green hair, even more startlingly bright matching green eyes, a prominent beak of a nose, and full, broad lips who stared back at her in the mirror felt wrong.
Like when she'd first seen her reflection after waking up with her memories wiped, and hadn't recognized her face at all. Not to mention she thought she looked uglier like this. Maybe not as bad as Ali's disguise, but not great.
Looking at Dax in his disguise was even more unnerving; his short-buzzed blond hair had been replaced with a medium length wig that had a silvery metallic sheen, and his eyes were just as startlingly silver. Apparently coordinated hair and eye coloring was a trend for young adults at the moment. His skin was now even darker than Ali's, and the companion had somehow managed to make his nose look smaller.
To be fair, Lana had to admit she liked her boyfriend's hair that length, even though the color was absurd. She wondered if she could talk him into relaxing his ascetic, disciplined habits enough to grow it out like that.
But good hairstyle or not, she was having a hard time not staring at this stranger she was seated beside; even though she knew it was Dax, she felt curiously awkward. Also, she thought he wasn't nearly as handsome.
He seemed to notice her attention, or studious lack of, and shifted self-consciously. “You okay?”
It hadn't escaped Lana's notice that her boyfriend had been a bit antsy ever since she'd sprung the news on him that he'd be coming aboard the station with her. Nervous in a good way, she hoped; she knew he'd been wanting this for a long time, probably his entire life.
But at the same time, it would be the first time he'd visited a spaceport, and even for a super soldier conditioned to be cool and collected at all times, that had to be a bit intimidating.
She smiled and showed more enthusiasm than usual for his sake, leaning forward to pat his hand; she would've liked to kiss him, but Aiden had been pretty clear, and adamant, about his thoughts on public displays of affection. “Still getting used to the new you,” she joked.
Belix snickered. “You should take it as a bad sign she seems to enjoy you looking like this, gunner. She might make you keep your new look permanently.”
Lana felt her face heating and wanted to vehemently protest that. But then Dax winked at her, and she realized he understood her feelings and was playing along. Of course, being winked at by someone who looked like a stranger felt a bit strange, too.
Belix and Barix's disguises weren't nearly as pronounced. They'd simply put on some sort of high-tech eyewear that apparently allowed them to see clearly in all spectrums and in all lighting, and even gave sensor information about the things they looked at, including biometric and forensics details. Apparently it wasn't uncommon for Ishivi to go with the technological advantage, and they were playing the part.
As for the slight man's light brown hair and the elfin woman's platinum blond, they'd simply donned hoods that could apparently extend to completely cover their heads beneath the eyewear, extending into full bodysuits beneath their uniforms. Those were apparently defensive measures against the sort of biological attacks Ishivi normally employed, and were all the disguise they needed.
Although Lana couldn't help but wonder if they should be flaunting what they were like this. “Won't having Ishivi with us draw attention?” she asked instead of responding to Belix's joke.
“Not as much as you'd think,” Barix said coolly. “The Movement couldn't have won the war without our ships and especially our Constructs, so we have a favorable status in their little empire now. Thanks to that, our people are showing up more and more frequently in Deek territory, taking every opportunity to enjoy being at the top echelons of society for more than just our superior genetics. We even feel secure enough to waltz around safe spaceports like this one without Constructs for protection, which is a good thing or we'd have to dress the gunner up for the part.”
Lana stiffened indignantly, patting Dax's hand in reassurance even though he didn't seem bothered by the slight man's words.
“Ready to make the jump,” Ali abruptly announced. “I've opted for a closer approach, since that'll be less suspicious.” Lana couldn't help but think it also meant they'd have a harder time getting away if things didn't go smoothly, although nobody mentioned that.
Aiden just nodded. “Our spoofed Capitulation IFF?”
“Checked and triple checked,” Barix said, then added sourly. “Which your sex robot can confirm, since I'm sure you had her check my work.”
The captain ignored that, easing the ship forward. “Let's go, then.”
Lana felt a light tickle in her brain as they passed through the rift, the discomfort of leaving spacetime and the rules of reality her mind was familiar with, then just as quickly returning. Ali had told her she handled rift travel better than most, and she couldn't help but feel glad about that.
The display changed in an instant on the other side of the rift, showing them near a cheerful looking green and blue planet with icons marking the spaceports orbiting it. Aiden immediately turned the ship towards the larger of them, meant for commercial travel and trade, while Ali got to work transmitting their intentions to dock and come aboard.
“Station is demanding routine confirmation of our IFF,” the companion said. “Pinging back spoofed authentication information for the Capitulation.”
A heavy silence followed the announcement. This was the most dangerous part, where things had the biggest chance of going wrong. And for Lana, at least, the tension wasn't
helped by the fact that whenever she looked to Dax for reassurance, she found a stranger with eerie silvery eyes staring back at her. Sure, a part of her knew it was really him under that convincing disguise, but that didn't do much for her nerves as the seconds dragged by.
Finally Ali stirred, voice still maddeningly calm and professional. “Receiving response to our authentication ping from Station Control. Unpacking it through the isolated communications node.” That was one of the security precautions they were taking, that any direct communications were handled through a separate device that didn't touch the ship's computer or any other systems.
Supposedly, that analog protection from digital attack was foolproof.
A few tense seconds passed as the companion looked at the station's response on her display, rather than simply directly downloading it into her consciousness. Lana couldn't help but fidget nervously, wondering if the impossibly beautiful woman was deliberately dragging this out to drive them crazy.
Finally, the companion continued. “We've received a canned message welcoming us to the Ceras 2 Global Conglomerate Trade Port, and flight approach and docking instructions.”
Lana took her first breath in what felt like a minute. “So that's it, right? They bought that we're the light freighter Capitulation?”
Aiden grunted. “That, or they're pretending they did until we're well within range of their defensive turrets. At which point they'll blow us from the sky.”
She swallowed at that unpleasant possibility, and couldn't help but notice that as the captain spoke, he was manipulating the controls to put them on the course the station had given them. “And you're, um, still going to take us there?”
Belix snorted. “These station security types aren't particularly devious or imaginative, and they don't take chances that might mean extra paperwork, or getting canned if they screw up badly enough. If they thought there was something fishy about us, they would've given some hint they did. Some blustering message about maneuvering to a rendezvous with a security vessel, for a closer inspection of our ship.”