The nurse from earlier came back and injected me from behind with something. “These little guys will knit the bone just fine Captain. Just don't put any pressure on the arm for the next ten minutes and don't mind the itching.”
“Thanks Tim,” Ayan said, smiling at the nurse before he walked off.
The nanobots were already busy at work, and I was just about willing to trade the furious itching in my forearm for the pain of leaving it broken. “Holy hell, he used an emergency combat grade injection,” I gasped involuntarily.
Ayan looked at me wide eyed. “There's a difference?”
“Oh yeah. They use these on infantry during firefights or pilots when they've been injured and can't be replaced.” My face twitched in an involuntary grimace. I went on with gritted teeth. "The nanobots work ten times as fast. You were never trained with them?”
“Sure I was, but I've never actually seen someone use them. We were always able to use the normal kind. You get a little tingle while they work.”
“I bet Doctor Anderson ordered this.”
“That's what you get for not staying still,” Ayan said, shaking her finger.
I hadn't even realized it, thanks to nerve blockers, but the bones in my arm had already been set and looked normal. “I think I'll sit down long enough to let him use a subdermal regenerator next time.” I said as the bone-deep itch started to subside.
“Little guys work quick though, have to give them credit,” Ayan said, looking at my arm.
“Yup, fire and forget medicine is good that way. I've seen them sew up bullet holes in minutes.”
Ayan's mind was already elsewhere. “How is my ship?” She asked, bracing herself.
“It's bad. We don't know exactly how bad, but the top three decks are a lost cause, so are sections five through twelve of the last six decks.”
She cringed and shook her head. “We're finished out here.”
I had already made the realization while we were in the wormhole still putting out the most urgent fires, but it really hit home as she said it. “I know. I'm sure Freeground wants us back, and even if they don't, we need their help.”
“Did we complete the mission?”
I was about to answer but realized then that there was no way I could be absolutely certain. Breaking time and space open right through an object that size could destroy most of it. The second group of fighters had managed to knock out one of the gravity field emitter posts, so there would be asteroids drifting freely nearby and possibly right into it. There was no certainty though, just a good chance. “We put a wormhole right through the centre of the station. I'll have to run simulations when I have time.”
She stared at me and thought for a moment. “They had updated the reactors?”
“They did. How did you know?”
“I thought it was a remote possibility, but those reactors were four city blocks wide and very efficient. I was pretty sure they would keep them running until they were worth replacing, and they should have been good for another hundred years.”
“I would have made the same assumption, and it looks like they kept it a secret somehow. The intelligence we had said they were still there. It's not your fault.”
“Well, putting a wormhole through the station is probably a solution no one expected you to come up with, so even if the station is salvageable I'm pretty sure research will grind to a halt for a while. Now we have to patch what we can up so we can go home.” Ayan said quietly. “It just seems too soon.”
“I know, I--” I was interrupted by my communicator.
“There's a priority message coming in from Freeground Fleet Command, Sir,” Jason said over the comm.
Ayan smiled at me reassuringly. “Go ahead, I have to get to engineering.”
“Signal that I'll be a minute. Thanks Jason,” I replied.
Ayan lowered the railings on the bed and I helped her out.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me lingeringly. She sighed as I wrapped my arms around her. “And off I go to patch the ship back together.”
“Be careful down there. I think we've both seen enough of medical.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” she smiled warmly. Even with the damage, loss and dire straits, we were able to steal just a few seconds. Time enough for me to look into her eyes and soak in her soft expression.
I smiled back and then we headed off in our own directions. She took the lift to engineering, I slipped out the back door and stepped into a side passage, setting my arm command console to route all audio to my ear implant and keep any video two dimensional. With so much damage on the ship, it would take time to find a perfectly private room to speak with Fleet Command in. This would have to do for the time being.
I opened the channel and a clearance screen appeared. My arm console’s mini-scanner took a snapshot of my retina and sent a reading of my DNA from the sweat on my arm along with a current medical readout. A moment later a grey haired admiral came on screen. I recognized him faintly but couldn't recall exactly where from.
“Captain Valent, my name is Admiral Churchill. With the fleet actively combating the Triad Consortium, I've been assigned as your new handler until you and your crew have been debriefed,” he grinned openly, there was good news and that wasn't it.
“I'm surprised you're using open channels. Even though the data stream is encrypted you have to know that anyone with a little knowhow would know who's on each end.”
“The need for secrecy is over, Captain. Your mission in the Blue Belt was your last act as a shadow ship. It's time to come home and let us take care of you. I'd send a carrier to your location but everything in your area is currently engaged.”
“How did you find out about the results of our mission so quickly?”
“We received a burst transmission from the Triton, including everything they learned about Framework hardware. They've gone their own way.”
“I'd like to go after them as soon as we're ready.” I said before thinking about it.
“We might take you up on that, Captain, but for now congratulations are in order. The last transmission from the Triton before it entered the wormhole gate shows what happened to the station. The asteroid field reacted to the artificial gravity right away. That station is a complete loss. With regard to your casualties, there will be a memorial service some time after you've arrived.”
“Thank you, Admiral. What are our orders?”
“You are to patch yourselves up with the help of the Starfree Port teams and use their wormhole generator to come home. Once you arrive you'll be debriefed.”
“And from there?” I couldn't help asking. The crew would want to know. I needed to know.
“After what you've accomplished out there, you'll have your pick of commands. There are promotions forthcoming for a good number of your crew, but none of that will be official until you've all been debriefed.”
“Thank you Admiral,” I replied, somewhat surprised. “I have to get back to repairs if we want to get out of here soon.”
“Good thinking. Freeground Command is looking forward to having you home.”
“Admiral, I want to keep this crew together. Stay in command of the First Light. We're just getting started.”
He smiled. “Well, you have some rest coming. Some of your crew will want to move on, but I'll leave the option open to anyone who wants to continue service on your ship. We intend to send you right back out there as soon as the First Light is fit. God speed. Freeground is proud of her sons and daughters.”
I stood there and thought for a moment after the transmission ended. Captain Wheeler was gone. I only hoped that the information he sent to Freeground on the Framework hardware was enough to put it to use. Otherwise we'd have to continue the research or wait until it became available on the market. I found myself wishing I could chase after him, drag him back to Freeground kicking and screaming. It would be hard, even if the ship were in perfect shape. He used a wormhole gate to escape, he could be anywhere in the g
alaxy.
I opened a channel to Jason. “Any progress in scanning the information we stole from the research station? Did we get anything we were looking for?”
“We did. The Framework software is complete with implementation instructions. There is a lot of other unrelated research here as well. We hit the mother lode.”
“Fleet Intelligence will be happy.”
“Do we have new orders sir? I saw a communication with a Freeground signature coming in,” Jason asked.
I smiled at him through my communicator. “Sorry, I'll have to pass those on to my first officer.”
“Fine fine, here's our giant first officer.”
I was connected to Oz. “New orders?”
“They're in. Freeground Fleet Command needs us back as soon as possible. We're clear to use Starfree Port's gate to get back home. They're letting me keep my command.”
“Thank God. I'd hate to have to go rogue with half a ship. Looks like we won't be sleeping until we get home though. There's a lot to do.”
“I agree.”
“Any other details?”
“They'll be handing out promotions. We did good Oz, real good.”
“Nice of them to notice. Who did you get the orders from?”
“Admiral Churchill.”
Oz turned white and was visibly nervous. “He's the head of Fleet Intelligence, Jonas. If we've been moved under his command, then they're taking us very seriously.”
“That's what I'm hoping.”
“Watch what you wish for.”
Oz looked ahead suddenly and my command console beeped, showing that there was another priority communication waiting. I could overhear commotion on the bridge. “What's going on up there?” I asked.
“You better get to the bridge. A Vindyne Overlord just came out of hyperspace with a full battle group.”
I started heading for the bridge and stopped as a familiar voice came loud and clear through my ear implant. “Captain Valentine,” the voice cooed slowly. It was Major Hampon. Unmistakable. “It took me a while to find you, but considering the cost of damages, I was given extra resources. My employers are anxious to vilify someone in public, preferably a real villain. Preferably the captain that nearly cost them a Super Carrier.”
“I could imagine. I just can't believe they put you in charge of anything after how useless your interrogation techniques were. How's your nose healing?”
“Now now, no need to be testy. You're right, I'm not in solitary command. I am only a guide, a tracker. I do, however, have the power to offer you a bargain.”
Oz turned towards me on my arm command unit. “Starfree Port is turning us out. They say that the Command Carrier is demanding that the Port Authority surrender the First Light and her crew.”
I turned the audio receptors on my command unit off so Oz wouldn't be able to hear me. “What's your bargain?” I asked quickly.
“It's simple. I'll let your crew get a head start if you surrender yourself.”
“I need guarantees. My crew gets out of this unharmed.”
“I can only guarantee that your crew will get one hour to get that wreck out of the area.”
I thought for a minute as I watched the main corridor from the darkened side passage. The crew ran back and forth, getting ready for battle even though the ship was in no condition to fight. They didn't think there were other choices.
“Mooring lines are detached. We're drifting free, Captain. Orders?” I could hear Oz ask. I turned the audio receptors on my command console on and looked at him on the small screen. “Get the ship through that wormhole gate. If you see an emergency shuttle launch, ignore it.”
“What?”
“That's my final order Oz. Do it.”
“Final order? What the hell are you doing?”
“Get this ship to Freeground. That is an order Commander McPatrick!”
Oz simply stared for a moment. It was as though he knew what I was doing, what price I was willing to pay. He nodded slowly. “Yes sir.”
“Tell Ayan I love her. Don't come after me,” I said before closing all communications on my command unit.
“I take that exchange as an acceptance?” Hampon said in my ear receiver.
I started running to the nearest forward facing escape shuttle. “If you go back on your word...”
“What? What could you possibly do?”
“I'll find something.” I opened the hatch and jumped inside. I closed it behind me and strapped in. I didn't give myself time to hesitate before disabling the safety and hitting the launch button.
On one half of the visual display was the Super Carrier, on the other was the First Light. She was drifting away from the dry dock port slowly, battle scarred and barely moving. She was turning towards the wormhole gate. I could see outer sections of the hull depressurizing in damaged sections so there was less chance they'd cause problems during transit. The only way they could get the First Light moving again was to use core systems. The crew would have to abandon the outer sections completely.
“I should be coming up on your scanners now,” I said quietly.
“We see you, Captain Valent. Recovery in progress. Please release your controls to us in order to ensure a safe and efficient docking procedure,” said another voice from the Super Carrier. Apparently the task of retrieving me was too menial for Major Hampon. I released the controls and stared at the screens. My mind worked at a frenzied pace, trying to find any way out of Vindyne's clutches, but only after the First Light was clear. “Please relax as we activate the emergency stasis systems. You will not be harmed if you are in stasis when we open the hatch.” The forward screen displayed a small tug vessel coming towards my tiny ship. I had forgotten that these shuttles communicated directly with my vacsuit. It was standard for all Freeground escape vessels. I hurriedly tried to break the link between my vacsuit command unit and the shuttle controls. It was too late. I felt the stasis inducing drugs inject right into the side of my neck.
I was near panic. The thought of going back to a white cell, facing torture, endless monotony, and God knows what else was almost too much. My hand hovered over the control that would bring the tiny shuttle back under my control, but then I looked at the First Light, it was getting away. The Super Carrier was still in firing range, but my ship was almost at the wormhole threshold. Ayan, Oz, Jason, Laura and everyone else who managed to survive our last mission would be arriving in Freeground space some time after entering that wormhole, it was a near certainty. If I didn't cooperate, if I resisted, one salvo from the Super Carrier would kill them all.
I exhaled slowly and relaxed, letting the drugs work their magic.
Epilogue
This Instant
I am nowhere, less than half awake, drifting through dark comfort. My lulled existence is interrupted by a sudden, faint flash, and it is as though there are weights attached to my eyelids. I make a herculean effort to open them. It takes me a moment to understand what I'm seeing.
I'm suspended in thick brown fluid matched to my body temperature in a long term stasis tube. Outside I see Major Hampon supervising half a dozen technicians as they work to put me and two other people into stable deep stasis. I can't make out who is in the other two tubes. They're just shapes. I'm not wearing any clothing or apparatus other than a loop around my forehead.
I try to move my arms, raise my hands to remove it, anything to get a chance at an escape, but they won't budge. The drugs in the fluid I'm breathing have already taken effect and soon I'll drift off into a long, deep, coma-like sleep.
I feel helpless, angry, but know that my sacrifice means something. My crew escaped. I stare out at the shape of Major Hampon as he turns and looks at me.
Another figure steps right in front of my semitransparent prison. It's General Collins. He smiles and knocks. I can barely hear it through the thick gel. “It is a pleasure to meet you again! I have plans for you when the company finds what they're looking for, Jonas,” he yells. “Sweet dreams!” I wat
ch him leave the room with Major Hampon on his heels like some kind of sickly dog.
I'll beat whatever programming they try to imprint on my mind, and I start by thinking about myself. What makes me who I am, what's important to me. Ayan springs to mind along with the memory of the Pilot's Ball, looking at her in that long white dress and shawl as she gazed out through the observation window, blue and white light dancing across her heart shaped face.
I recall Oz escorting me to my quarters when the First Light was still called the Sunspire, introducing himself, and later gaining the rank of Commander. Minh-Chu, my long time friend, who set us all on this journey. True, Command would have found us out eventually, but he let the genie out of the bottle early. Whether or not he knew it, the timing of our beginning together as a crew was set by him. I'll miss his enthusiasm, his humour, his friendship.
Jason and Laura spring to mind together, it's as though they made a whole. Laura was always building something, even their relationship was a work in progress, though she probably didn't know it. Jason was always searching for an answer. He had the observational habits of an investigator and the enthusiasm of a natural explorer. They were halves of a whole and they'd be there for Ayan. For that I'm thankful.
My vision blurs more. Lethargy's crushing my consciousness out like a candle under a blanket. I fight harder to think back and find my father and mother, dusty old memories where their faces aren't as sharp in my mind as I would like. I grasp that moment where Father sent me off on my first long voyage, leaving me with nothing more than, “I'm proud of you.” He would never have to say more. It was something to hang on to and continually try to live up to.
He would be proud. There is no doubt in my mind. We had taken potential and made something out of it. My mother would approve of Ayan. I wish she were alive to see I had found someone with whom I felt at home.
My thoughts drift back to my crew, who would be well on their way to Freeground space. I hope that the two others I could see in pods are not part of a misguided attempt to rescue me at the last minute. I could see Ayan trying, but Oz would stop her. So would Doc. They would know that this would all mean nothing if crew members were killed or captured coming after me. There would be no way to stop Minh, but he was gone.
Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins Page 54