“I've never seen anything like it outside of Freeground,” she said quietly as she looked about to see people relaxing on the grass, strolling through the bricked pathways between the lush growth and there was even a young woman playing a beat up and patched cello in the distance. “Even there most of the parks are reserved for growing food, there isn't much walking about going on.”
“It's different here; the engineers who built this ship intended this as a comfortable area. They built function into every corner but you rarely see it. Let's explore a little, I'll explain everything,” Liam smiled at her warmly.
The pair began to stroll down one of the paths. Liam's pace was much more leisurely and she had no problem keeping up. “So, what can I do here?”
“Straight to the point even while you're taking the sights in,” Liam teased.
Ayan shrugged and smiled back. “I'm a military brat before anything else I'm afraid.”
“Well, then I feel that much better about my offer. I would like you to help me finish rebuilding the ship. To be honest I haven't been able to get more than the basics running where power generation and advanced systems are concerned. There are efficiency subsystems, secondary power generation and so many other details that I only just have under control, most of them are deactivated to be completely honest. Then there's the damage from our last engagement, we have two main engines completely out of commission. I'm sure you'll be drawn in other directions but I'll at least like to request your assistance in the rebuilding of the damaged sections of the hull since I'm using modified ergranian metal.”
Ayan looked at him out of the corner of her eye for a moment before chuckling to herself and shaking her head. “You didn't pass this by Laura or Jason or even Oz for that matter, have you?”
“No, why?”
“They would have told you there's no way I'd turn you down. I have to get a few things sorted, you understand, but I've practically already started.”
“So you'll work with me?”
“On this ship? You can count on it,” she giggled at him, catching a crew member who was just passing by surprise. Instead of simply walking on he smiled at Ayan and bowed as he let her pass.
“But only after you tell me why that keeps happening,” she whispered. “Eyes follow me everywhere and I'm not that pretty, regal or important.”
“All right, we're coming to the highlight of our tour so I'd say it's time. I don't know why, perhaps in part to grieve you and Jonas, maybe because she missed her own husband, but Laura added the files of the First Light senior staff to the ship records. She also entered a history of that voyage and a documentary from the Hart News service.”
“There was a documentary?” Ayan boggled.
Liam nodded and went on. “In the wake of Jonas Valent and your passing aboard there was a lot of mystery. It was a confusing time for everyone. Many people were killed during the taking of Triton and the Eden Fleet had just decimated the Enreega system, leaving many people homeless, hopeless. Word spread that Jonas sacrificed his life for the sake of the ship and that your former self had come across the stars to see him only to find Jacob, who carried all of Jonas's memories.”
Ayan swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. “Go on.”
“I know this isn't easy to hear, but he was with her in the last moments, according to Laura it was a good passing. We had a service for all those who had lost their lives in those first days on the Triton. We lost a lot of people in the fighting and when the Holocaust Virus first struck. We sent the fallen towards a stellar nursery, a whole nebula of stars that were just forming. As time went on people passed on the story of Jonas and Ayan, and in the eyes of the crew you became the woman that the Captain had lost. The story the crew tells new hands about how Triton was taken includes you and Jonas. In fact, the story is so widespread that when they built a monument to honour the people who originally lost their lives aboard they spoke to Laura about contributing something.”
Her eyes went wide as they passed a tree leaning into the path and the monument Liam was telling her about came into view. It was a solid block of granite, brought to the center of a circular converging point of five pathways from somewhere else in the garden she assumed. Into its broad surface were carefully chiselled more names than she could count at a glance. Atop the broad, meter tall stone was a holographic image of Jonas holding her in his arms. He was dressed in his long coat, and she was in a white gown. She stopped and stared for a long moment, a tear rolling down her cheek.
“Jake, his daughter and you are all legends here. You look so much like your predecessor that they recognize you immediately. There's really no need for you to do anything but be seen here, that's enough to bolster morale on the ship more than any words or extra leave time ever could,” Liam put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “This place is the Triton's heart.”
“This image was taken at the Pilot's Ball,” she said quietly.
“Laura wanted to tell you all about this herself, but, using her words, she thought she'd be a blubbering mess.”
Ayan laughed and wiped away her tears. “And then I'd be a blubberin' mess, an' the onlookers might get drawn in, and then you'd have a ship full of weepers and wailers.”
“You're almost getting me started,” Liam chuckled as he handed her a tissue from a pocket in his sleeve. “She was right, when you cry your whole face falls into it.”
“Oh, don't you dare,” she said before blowing her nose.
He sighed and looked into her eyes. “Now you know.”
She looked to the monument then back to him. “What do I do about this? No one can live up to a legend.”
“In this case, the truth really will set you free. Just let the story of your origin leak out and people will either get used to you more quickly or they'll have even more respect for you. In command that'll be very important. Other than that, just be yourself, in the end that's all you can do.”
“You're right. I'm still not going to be able to walk past that without nearly bursting into tears.”
“Maybe next time you can come with Jacob. He hasn't been down to see it since he gave his permission to have it built.”
Ayan stared at the granite stone for a long moment before nodding to herself. “I know Jake is so much like Jonas, but he's not, so I don't know how things will go with us, not really, but I have to be there when he wakes up.”
“We're all just at the beginning of our journeys, Ayan. No one can say how things will be, we can only do our best to make sure we're moving down the right path.”
Ayan looked to Liam and smiled. “Thank you Liam, I've got to be in the infirmary.”
“There's a lift at the end of that path, do you know the way from there?”
“I'll grab a security officer along the way and have him walk me.”
“I'm sure he'll be honoured, now go,” Liam grinned.
Beginnings
It was a sound Jake hadn't heard for a very long time. Irritating, loud, like a constant slow sawing. “Minh, stop snoring, willya?” he muttered, half asleep. His last memory returned to him then, collapsing in the hallway after rescuing Alice from the bridge. He sat up.
It was a hospital room, the decking and bulkheads looked like the Triton medical center, but he hadn't seen the room before. The offending noise was coming from his right, where Minh-Chu Buu had turned two chairs so they faced each other so he could stretch his legs out and nap. His head had fallen back so he was snoring open mouthed straight up into the heavens.
Jake couldn't help but laugh, groggy or not it was the most hilarious thing he'd seen in years. Add to that how amazing it was to see his long time friend alive and well, once he started laughing he couldn't stop. When Minh woke with a start and looked at Jake, smacking his lips due to dry mouth all he said was; “I was snoring?” The laughter was contagious and soon they were both in stitches.
Minh stood and offered his hand.
Jake took it, their grips were strong, both their hands were
more calloused and hardened than they were years before when they had last spoken on the First Light. The hand shake turned into a brief embrace before Minh stood back and shook his head. “You scared us for a while there. Iloona says you have some kind of recharge mode, where you regenerate cell damage and well, I missed the rest,” Minh said with a shrug. “Alice is in recovery, you managed to get to her in time. They repaired some older brain damage when they were treating her and it'll take her a while longer to wake up, could be a few days, but she'll be fine.”
“Best news since I heard you and Ayan were alive.”
“That had to be one hell of a bomb. Wish I had seen your face.”
“It changed a few things,” Jake replied. “I still can't believe you're here. If I had known you were out there somewhere-”
Minh waved the sentiment away with a hand; “Regret is a wall made of sorrow mortar and history bricks, a house built in such a way is destined to collapse. I thought I was as good as gone until I lucked my way out of that mess. I'm just glad to be here. If you want to make it up to me, you could put me back in a cockpit.”
“Even after everything?”
“Especially after everything,” he burst with a chuckle. “I mean, I spent years doing nothing but growing food, working out, playing guitar and playing sims. I'm so ready for the real thing again.”
Jake smiled at him. “I'll get you in front of our virtual inventory so we can build something for you. I need someone to lead my people off the deck. Just qualify first, otherwise there'll be a mutiny.”
“Yeah, have you tried that? It's harder than the academy final,” Minh said, wide eyed.
“I failed my first time out.” Jake nodded.
“Oh, well, I passed,” Minh smirked, “Just saying it wasn't easy.”
Jake laughed, shaking his head. “How's my ship?”
“Well, Chief Vega put Oz in the command chair and he's learning as quick as he can, so's Jason, but it's not good. They have to rebuild one main engine completely and replace the power provision systems on the other. Lucky there are four main engines and a bunch of supplemental thrust systems.” He was quoting someone else's status reports, Jake could tell Minh was just getting ship news out of the way as quickly as he could so he could get to something else. “We're in a wormhole though, I hear we'll be hiding out in some big asteroid field while we rebuild. I got a peek at the maintenance list when an assistant was looking it over in the Pilot's Lounge. I couldn't help it, it looked like he was about to cry, then I saw the list and I felt like crying.”
“Should I put you in the maintenance rotation until you get a rig?”
Minh's hands shot up in front of him, warding the idea off. “Oh no, I didn't get back into space so I could pick up a screwdriver.”
“All right, just get practice in the sims on a couple of our fighters and pick something. If you're going to lead a squadron I need you to be better than everyone else out there.”
“You're going to have to join me for a few scenes, and speaking of scenarios, I noticed all the leisure programs are locked. Any way you can, you know, get me a code so I can try a few? I have a few hundred on my personal comm that I could add too.”
“I'll get you in touch with the Cruise Director,” Jake said as he slowly got out of bed. He had never been so stiff in his life.
“There's a Cruise Director?” Minh turned to face the door while Jake pulled his flimsy gown off and stepped into the small pulse shower stall. It activated with a hum as soon as he closed the stiff semitransparent curtain.
Jake chuckled and shook his head. “Just kidding. I had them restricted while most of the crew were still trying to qualify for their positions but I suppose I could set things up so the higher ups can use them as rewards and get to know each other.”
The door opened to admit Ayan, whose eyes darted to the empty bed then to Minh, who grinned, nodded and mouthed; “He's in the shower,” before casually continuing his conversation with Jake. “So I'll have access once I take a command position?”
Ayan took a shuddering breath in and let it out slowly, trying to calm down. In the short time since he'd shown up at her apartment in Freedom Tower Minh had never seen her so nervous. She was completely distracted as she just tried to calm down.
Jake went on unaware that Ayan had entered. “I can't see why security couldn't give you codes right now, since someone has to try them out. Just don't get all wrapped up, I don't want you to get sucked in like when you discovered Sword of Rikaam,” he deactivated the pulse shower and stepped out into the room, clean and nude.
Minh watched as Ayan's eyes went wide, she blushed so furiously that her neck, chest and ears turned red before she came to her senses and spun towards the door.
“Oh, and Ayan's here,” Minh chuckled.
“I'll get you for that,” she whispered.
“Worth it,” Minh muttered back. “I'll leave you two kids alone. Get on comms with me later Jake, if there's anything I can do to help out, I'm up for it.” He kissed Ayan on the cheek on his way out.
“You can turn around,” Jake said, half in a fresh vacsuit. It was a near exact duplicate to the one he had worn on his way to Pandem. The greater weight of it was immediately noticeable, something he'd look into later.
Ayan turned, he was just checking the fit of the bottom half of the vacsuit, leaving the top to dangle from his waist. His back was a collection of burn scars, just looking at them she could see they ran deep. Without thinking she crossed the room and gingerly touched one of the larger burns. “I didn't think you could scar,” she said quietly.
He froze. Jake knew exactly which scars she was talking about, they were a result of his mad dash from the West Keeper soldiers in the Commerce building. Looking down he saw more from when he had rushed to save her. I see these clearly in my mind, there's no question I should have them and they're just here. I didn't even notice them while I was in the shower. “They'll fade,” he lied. I don't know that for sure, for all I know it's all in my head. He turned around, caught her hand in his. It felt so soft, small compared to his own. She was at the same time the woman he remembered and someone new. The differences ended when he looked into her eyes. If he hadn't have accepted Jonas Valent's memories as his own before then he would have in that moment. The woman looking at him expectantly, catching him with her gaze made him feel something new, something that did come partially from the short time Jonas had shared with her, but there was something else entirely, like a new flame that made her the most important person in the galaxy.
Her blue eyes searched his, uncertain. Her stomach was in knots, her heart seemed to beat between her ears. “Don't do that again. I couldn't take-”
Jake interrupted her, taking her lips with his and wrapping his arms around her. He held her so tightly that she was pulled up onto her toes. Ayan's arms went around his neck and everything outside of their embrace disappeared.
“You're really here,” Jake breathed as their kiss ended.
She nodded, stroked his face. “I'm not going anywhere.”
“Things will never be the way they were, I'm not the same.”
“We'll take it slow.”
He kissed her briefly and they held each other for a time that went uncounted. Ayan closed her eyes, it didn't matter that he felt different, the way he held her was barely familiar.
The way he made her feel was different than she remembered with Jonas. It was so exciting she could barely breathe at first. When he kissed her it made her head swim, the gratification and relief she thought she'd be feeling when she was reunited with her Jonas had been replaced with a feverish elation that was utterly unfamiliar.
This was not Jonas. There were pieces of him there, but the man who held her like the most precious being in all of creation was someone new. The realization wasn't as startling as her reaction to it. Instead of disappointment she felt an eagerness to know him and she was thrilled at the thought of something new. Behind it all she was a little frightened at what sh
e might discover but that only added to the intense mixture of emotions that made her heart jump.
As he held her close she didn't feel small, but cherished, like he never wanted to let go and Ayan knew she was loved.
Epilogue
Wheeler tapped his finger on the soft desktop as he waited for a response from Hampon's direct line. The outer hull of his ship had been repaired at the Regent Galactic Mobile Shipyard but the internal systems would take more time. When the Triton focused fire on his vessel the damage was immediate and devastating. Even so, he knew that he'd crippled her far worse.
The repairs were the least of it. During the two hours it took to repair the outer hull he was in his quarters, trying to relive certain experiences he knew Collins should have had and he made a disturbing discovery. The boy Hampon appeared as a small hologram on his desktop and smiled at him. “Good evening Lucius, how are the repairs progressing?”
“Fine, I have the situation here under control. That's not what I'm calling about.”
“Oh? Can you make it quick? I have a rally on Pandem in a few minutes. It's the first victorious occasion on our new base.”
“Why did you short change me? Gabriel told me I was getting all of Collins' memories and now I can't even raise him on communications.”
“He has his own objectives to attend to, I'm sure you understand.”
“Well then maybe you can answer me. Why can't I recall anything about the Victory Machine after the first meeting he held with you and Gabriel? There are no predictions, I can't remember him seeing it, and there are other missing minutes, hours, even days.”
“That's normal for anyone. We can't remember everything, even subconsciously.”
“That's what I thought at first, before you told me all about your little hidden miracle, but then I actually tried to find any memory of him reading one of your expensive fortune cookies only to find complete blackouts!”
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