It took Chief Vercelli a moment, but he got the joke and nodded. “We aim to impress.”
“I hear you picked up a few pilots on your recruiting run.” Jake said as the front half of a fighter engine pod began to emerge from the materializer. He could feel the vibrations from deep within the machine in his teeth.
“Aye, twenty three all told. Only two failed qualification once they came aboard, they're signed up with Frost.”
“Do they have fighters assigned to them yet?”
“This one here is for one of them, aye.”
“Why isn't the pilot down here watching how it's put together?”
Chief Vercelli just looked at Jake for a moment before returning his attention to the sections of hull and interior component packages being gradually laid out in the shape of the fighter to be. “You're right Captain. To be honest we never built fighters from scratch on my old assignment. We got 'em from a factory like most outfits. I'll get him down here so he can learn what his machine's made of.”
“Good. How are the rest of them doing?”
“What? The nineteen pilots we have flying? Pretty good. Only had one tried to steal his rig. He was surprised to find that the hyperspace and wormhole systems were locked out from the Flight Control Centre.”
“I caught that in your report a few days ago. The playback of the conversation between him and Paula was hilarious. I think she really enjoyed shutting his fighter down remotely and having him dragged back with the Cold Reaver.”
“What did you end up doing with him?”
“Ashley's dropping him off outside Sheffield.”
“That one's taking care of that sort of business?”
“Leland's doing the dirty work, but she's running the show.” Captain Valance nodded.
“Will wonders never cease.”
The pair watched the mind crushingly loud ballet of manufacturing, assembling and machining continue in front of them. The other materializer was making parts for the main emitter array. The complex, dense components were taking much longer to manufacture and had to be treated with much more care than the sections of the fighter that were coming out like clockwork from the other large machine.
“I was wondering, what are you going to do with the Samson? I know she's being outfitted as a shield ship and she's got the power of a small tug, but you haven't assigned a pilot to her or put it on the patrol rotation.”
“It's driving Paula crazy isn't it?”
Chief Vercelli laughed and nodded. “Aye, she likes to have everything in order.”
“You'll know exactly why that ship's being rebuilt when she goes into action.”
“How much work is left on her?”
“Finn and Price are putting the final touches on her tonight and I'm hoping to have her out in space for some testing-” Captain Valance stopped and answered a priority call from the bridge. “Go ahead.”
“Sir, we have a transmission from the Silkworm Four. You should get up here,” Stephanie informed him.
“I'm on my way,” Captain Valance answered. “I'm sorry Chief, I'll be back to do an inspection when things quiet down.”
“Aye sir, the boys'll like that. In the meantime I'll have someone track down this pilot so he can see how his fighter's put together.”
The communications station on the bridge was surrounded by Cynthia, Stephanie, Paula, Laura and Price. As Captain Valance approached they parted so he could see the scratchy message for himself. “-it burned out our hyperspace systems so we'll be going to Pandem using the wormhole system and conventional engines. I'm hoping you have a long range patrol out in our direction so you receive this before moving on. If not, Oz and I will track you down. Love you Laura, hope to see you soon.”
“Would you like me to play it back for you sir?” Cynthia asked.
“No, I got the gist and I can review it later. Who picked this up?”
“Tanner and his copilot sir,” Paula answered. “They were doing scans along our outer radius and testing their wormhole drive. Your friend is lucky we had a trustworthy pilot out that end, otherwise it would have taken a month for his message to get to us. Will that be all?”
“Have they returned yet?”
“No, they're actually a couple hours out. They used a high compression micro wormhole to relay this back to us as soon as they got it. They couldn't decrypt it but recognized that it had a Freeground tag and thought it might be for you, Captain.”
“Thank you Assistant Chief, that'll be all,” Captain Valance said with a nod. It was that way between them all the time, absolutely business like. On the brighter side, Paula had seemed to calm down, to accept the fact that he was Captain and there was no changing her place on the ship unless she left entirely. No one complained about her attitude shift whenever Captain Valance walked onto the bridge.
“Tell me we're going after them,” Laura said quietly.
“Our main emitters are still offline, we can't make it to Pandem in a reasonable amount of time in the Triton,” answered Captain Valance.
“We can make it there in twelve days if we push the engines, that's a start.”
“The Cold Reaver is out on a recruiting mission. She won't be back until tomorrow. Besides, I think I know a way to make it there in a lot less time. I'll take a fighter.”
“No,” Stephanie said firmly in a low whisper.
Captain Valance looked at her coolly. “What?”
“Whether you realize it or not you've been the one holding the ship together. You watch the reports, skim the operations figures, visit the crew while they're working to boost morale and design entire training regimens. Even the Chiefs turn to you for a decision when they know it'll go past their sections. It's bad enough that we've been sitting here for weeks in training. If you leave people might feel that Triton has no direction, no momentum.”
“Alice has been working just as hard as I have.”
“Because she has to. This ship needs every able hand aboard.”
Jake paused a moment and just looked at Stephanie. She was showing her stern side, something everyone had gotten used to seeing with her as the Chief of Security, but there was something else. “What is it Steph?”
“It's a bad call, you leaving. That's it.”
“Well it's my call. Laura will help keep things together in command while I take a fighter and go pick up Jason and Oz.”
“I'll need your help, Chief,” Laura said to Stephanie quietly.
“Fine, but bring a pilot to watch your back with you. Grippa's available and he's cleared to use the faster than light systems,” Stephanie told the Captain with a level gaze.
“Paula's not going to like that. There are only two other pilots cleared on FTL enabled fighters,” Cynthia whispered, shaking her head.
“Too bad. Our Captain takes a fighter out, he gets an escort,” Stephanie concluded as she sprinted towards the bridge security doors.
“See you at the briefing tomorrow, Security Chief,” Captain Valance said while turning back to the two dimentional display. The last frame of the transmission was up, showing Jason Everin, frozen in time. “She has a bad feeling about this.”
“That's obvious,” Cynthia scoffed quietly.
“Thank you Jake. If I were any real use in a cockpit I'd go with you,” Laura said quietly.
“I couldn't just sit here and do nothing. I just hope that Stephanie's instincts are off for once.”
Having It Out
Captain Valance stood in the middle of the Samson's main cargo hold. He was looking at the old stasis pods he used to use for transporting his numerous bounty captures. Stephanie stood in the half light, half way up the stairs.
She just stopped and looked at him for a moment. He didn't bother turning around. In fact, he made no sign that he even knew she was there. For a moment she could see the Captain she remembered from before the Triton. His dark long coat hung over him, giving him a more intimidating, larger than life bearing. Underneath was his full vacsuit with its he
avy gloves, military class boots and black body. It covered all but his head. For a moment she really did see the man she remembered, then he looked to her with a small, warm smile.
“Couldn't sleep either?” he asked quietly.
“No sir, not a wink. I checked the status board for the senior officers and it showed that you were here.”
“They just finished load testing her systems. The Samson is one shakedown cruise away from being fit.”
“That's good news,” she finished walking up the stairs and stopped on the landing to lean on the railing there. Her black vacsuit was made to emulate his and her long coat was very much the same as well, but she had left it in her quarters. As far as she was concerned her role as the Chief of Security was to keep the crew safe, secure and occasionally speak on the Captain's or First Officer's behalf. There was a time not long before when she knew exactly how to do that, when she was certain of the answer whenever she thought to herself; what would Captain do?
Lately she found herself growing less and less certain.
“What brings you down here Steph?” asked Jake.
“You're keeping me awake,” she answered simply.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and an amused, crooked grin. “I've been right here since Alice took over on the bridge.”
She knew he knew what she meant, that he was was putting her on, trying to lighten the mood. That wasn't helping. “Are you all right sir?”
His prolonged stare told her more than anything he could say. It lasted longer than was comfortable. Jake finally turned to face the stasis tubes. The green gelatin inside caught just enough light to reflect it back onto the man's face.
Stephanie tried to stifle the irritation building up in her, to be patient. “In all the time I've known you I've never seen you uncertain. Being out here like this, training, drilling, it was the best thing at first. It's been weeks now and more than half the crew will be completely certified in the next few days but we're still not moving.”
“We don't have a wormhole generator, a real doctor and we're still low on pilots and qualified intelligence personnel,” he answered flatly, not looking at her.
“You know the chances of actually finding the qualified people you're looking for are slim not to mention this ship has perfectly good hyperspace systems. We're probably one of the fastest hyperdrive ships in the sector. It's you. What is it that's holding you back from committing this crew to what they signed on for?”
“It's not me,” he said quietly.
“Oh come on! You're smarter than I am, faster, harder, cooler headed and you're telling me that you're the last one to know that you're not yourself? The Jacob Valance I knew was a force of nature, shrewd and decisive. What happened?”
“I woke up empty!” Captain Valance erupted, turning towards her while pointing to one of the stasis tubes. “I woke up empty and for over five years I chased people down regardless of their crimes. When I got them back here I put them in a tube just like the one I was found in, made them helpless as I presented them to companies and governments without seeing both sides of the story. Some of them were in the wrong, sure, but just try to count how many we knew should be running. We knew they should be running because they were innocent, or because they were in some grey area that we'd normally understand but chose not to because we weren't willing to pass on the payday.”
“'Only fools and philosophers choose their work.' You said that. We were making a living and taking what the galaxy had to offer, which isn't much. What's got you second guessing now that it's all done and we're moving on to something else?”
“When I met Alice I could hear, see, feel all of Jonas' memories. They get louder and louder and now everything I do, all the memories I have of those five years are filtered through him. I've done so many things he would have never done. I look at these things, think about all the people they've carried and it almost makes me sick! Physically sick!”
“That's no excuse!” Stephanie couldn't restrain herself anymore. “I've been talking to Laura over the last few days and she talks about Jonas a lot when you're around. From what she says he was sure of himself, knew where he wanted to be, what he should be doing and if he didn't know how it should be done he'd go find out. He wasn't a man of hesitation and she'd never seen him wrapped in this self loathing you've got going!”
“He was a man of principle! He had morals and values that he would have never broken!”
“Then use them! You say you remember everything he did, well, just be him, at least as much as you have to! You say you were born empty and even if that's possible, you found your own way even before you met Alice. You became the hero to thousands of slaves, turned down one of the biggest paydays we were ever signed on for and kept to the rougher road. Don't make that all worth nothing by going soft, not now. I couldn't watch that. You becoming someone I don't know scares the hell out of me but if that's what has to happen for you to get on with your life then just do it.”
Jake had heard stories, watched the little footage of the First Light that was available and from what he'd seen Stephanie was right. From Jonas' memories of commanding that ship in combat she was right. Jonas Valent wasn't a soft man, he wasn't overly hard either. There was a middle ground he was on his way to finding, Ayan was part of that. There was another time, however, before the First Light, when Jonas Valent didn't know what his life's ambition was, where he was bound, when he was a glorified traffic director. The memory of going to work, stopping in to say hello to his friend Minh-Chu, then spending an uneventful day speaking to travellers from across the galaxy all came back at once. It had been there all along, the years of dissatisfaction, boredom, relenting routine and the feeling that the exciting portion of his life was already over. It was the most terrifying thing Jake could imagine; monotony.
Stephanie's anger evaporated. She had said what she had to and more. More importantly she had told him what she was really afraid of; losing him. “Are you okay?” She closed the distance between them and stepped in front of him, put her hand on his chest.
There was her softer side, something she seldom showed him or anyone. A shiver went up and down his spine. His hand covered hers as he looked at her worried expression. “You're right. I need to pick a direction for the ship, for myself. Tomorrow I'm leaving, and when I get back I want the ship and crew ready for anything. I have some bad things to make up for,” his hand curled around hers.
She gripped back. “We both do.” Stephanie stared into his eyes, they were so familiar, his gaze was so steady. Since leaving the colony he was the only man she trusted, and he believed in her. He had never demonstrated that more than when they took the Triton. It had never occurred to her, how important it was to be trusted, to have someone with so much confidence in her. At the same time he seemed so much more approachable, whatever it was that kept everyone around him at an arms' distance, kept her at an arms' distance, was gone.
She brought her other arm up around his neck and drew his lips down to hers. At first there was surprise, his lips were unmoving, before she could pull away, tell him it was a mistake and run to a quiet, out of the way place to lick her wounds he was kissing her back enthusiastically.
Price couldn't believe his eyes as he stood silently in the stairwell, looking on in dumb struck shock. When he heard the yelling he had to go see what it was all about, ensure that everyone was all right. By the time he was up the stairs it had stopped and when Jake and Stephanie came into view they were far too distracted to notice him.
He started backing down the stairs quietly and was almost all the way out of sight when he heard a loud clang on the deck. Agameg peeked up as a reflex and saw that Captain Valance had roughly drawn a flat gurney for the stasis pods out of its storage slot and was lowering Stephanie down onto it as she hurriedly opened the front seam of Jake's vacsuit.
Agameg hurriedly ducked out of sight and ran down the stairs then down the embarkation ramp leading off the Samson. The pair he left behind seem
ed distracted enough not to hear him fleeing, but he'd still worry, wondering if he'd been spotted for days.
The Morning After
Stephanie woke up early the next morning in the Samson's Captain's quarters only to discover that Jake was already awake. His bed wasn't made for two, she had slept face down on top of him and when he saw her eyes were open his hand caressed up and down her back.
“Good morning,” she said as she got more comfortable.
“We still have a couple hours before the morning briefing. You should go back to sleep.”
“Morning briefing?”
“Alice and I are meeting all the senior staff members once a day again. It worked better than a once a day audio brief.”
“Smart,” was all Stephanie said. She wanted to stay there, to avoid the complications she saw coming, the decisions she'd have to make, and she didn't want to say what needed to be said. “But you're wide awake.”
Jake's hand stopped moving just south of her shoulders. “Wide awake,” came his quiet confirmation.
She sighed. It was never like her to avoid her fears. “It was a mistake.”
His hand started moving again, stroking her bare back felt more like a gesture meant to comfort than the caress of a lover. “I wish it wasn't.”
Stephanie shifted so she could put her chin down on his chest and look into his eyes. He seemed more himself somehow, looking back at her calmly, a little sadness in his gaze showed through the dim light of the compartment. “You know Ashley thought we'd get together for months after the Teralin run. Eventually I had to tell her to stow it though, couldn't have that kind of thing turning into rumour.”
“Think you'll tell her about this?”
“Probably, unless you don't want me to.”
“It's up to you, but warn me before telling Frost.”
She turned her head and put her head back down on his chest, absent mindedly tracing shapes on his arm with her index finger. “I'm not telling Frost. We'd be in for a hell of a row and then finished. He'd probably try to shoot you and leave the ship.”
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