by Tom Jordan
The news didn’t surprise Tommy. He felt fuzzy from the meds but knew he was probably pretty uncomfortable underneath. He thought it odd he wasn’t having any breathing trouble after inhaling fumes from his damaged ship and the planet’s atmosphere. And that he could shuffle around at all. But modern medical tech could do a lot when you were trained in it, like Henning was.
Marco looked bored, but Tommy didn’t take it personally; Marco was always focused on their missions and the next objective, whatever that was. Except Tommy realized that Marco seemed to have attention to spare for Jade. He stomped out his anger over this realization as best he could.
Henning slapped his hands on his thighs. “So, gotta wait for the scans to finish,” he said. He explained that he and Marco had set Henning’s ship’s computers to run detailed scans to search this part of the planet for the debris from the other fallen ships. The scans were going to take a few hours, and Henning didn’t know why, but Tommy did—Henning probably hadn’t set his scan parameters properly. By filtering out areas matching certain rules you could eliminate regions from the scans and cut the processing time down exponentially. Tommy decided to help the team by setting his mind on that task as soon as he could think properly.
He looked at his teammates. Henning sat forward, giving Tommy his full attention. For an obviously tough guy with a military background, he was friendly and caring. Marco looked almost bored as he spun his mug on the console.
Henning was hotheaded, yet capable. Marco was practical and level-headed, yet smug. They balanced each other, and the team as a whole. But Marco’s pursuit of Jade and his obvious warmth toward her were fouling Tommy’s opinion of him.
“Ugh,” Tommy said, hanging his head. “My whole ship. Everything I had. Did you save my figures?”
“What?” Marco asked, looking over.
“My Galactic Heroes action figures! On the console! Did you get Omnibrood? The Countess? Aeon King? Tell me you saved Aeon King!”
“Sorry, mate,” Henning said, shaking his head. “I was busy pulling you out of there in one piece. And everything that wasn’t covered by the foam stuff was melted.”
Tommy hung his head and murmured, “But I almost had the whole set.”
Jade woke slowly, rolling within her warm blanket, nestled in the pleasant heat. She smiled—everything felt so comforting and luxurious. As her mind drifted to the circumstances that had put her there, she sat up with a start and uttered a curse. Wearing only her underwear, she remembered in a rush of horror that she’d not only called Marco into her cabin while naked from the waist up, but that he must have stripped off the rest of her flight suit so that she’d sleep comfortably, resulting in her present state of undress.
She hung her head and pinched the bridge of her nose while the moment’s full misery sank in. Not only had she exposed herself unintentionally, but had probably seemed like a colossal idiot acting that way while high on painkillers. How could Marco be interested in someone who’d acted like that?
But, was this situation that bad? Jade kept herself in shape as best she could within Ghost’s cramped confines—mostly through bodyweight exercises and chin-ups on bulkhead ridges—but opportunities to work out were fewer than she’d like due to the plentiful time she spent in microgravity. She wasn’t overweight, but was hardly an athlete or model.
So how would this affect her and Marco’s budding relationship? Screw it. Hopefully he’d liked what he saw. It just wasn’t the way she’d have chosen to proceed.
She wrapped the blanket around herself and put her bare feet on the textured metal of the corridor. She crossed the threshold to the cockpit, which was the same as she’d left it. Cracks longer than the span of her arms split the canopy. A fizzing particle field held out the planet’s scorching atmosphere. Jade’s holoemitters were still flaking out, and though she always kept her ship clean, sooty deposits now smudged every surface in the cockpit.
She pet Mosso’s head, glad to see the stuffed sloth was still intact and smiling. He needed some cleaning but was in good shape.
The damage to the ship, however hurt as much as the rest of her injuries. Could Ghost even get back into space? She remembered the awful sound and shudder her main port thruster had made when it powered down. She needed Tommy’s help with all of this. She also needed some distraction to avoid thinking too much about what she’d been through since leaving Gibson City, and she decided to call the rest of the team.
She picked up the earpiece where it had been left on her chair, blew some black dust off of it, and nestled it in her ear. She cleared her throat, and then offered a greeting. She heard some shuffling around on the other end of the line, followed by Marco’s voice, cool and collected.
“Saito. Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Hmm,” she said. She’d felt so nice waking up that she hadn’t thought about it. “I’m feeling well, I guess. Much better than I was.” She rasped out a tiny cough, then heard Henning and Tommy in the background. “Is Tommy up? How’s he doing?”
“Pretty good,” Marco said. “Want to come on over?”
“Where are you?”
“We’re aboard Audacity. Other side of my ship from you.”
“Okay. I’ll come over,” she said.
“Jade, Henning here. The planet is a level-two environmental hazard. The ground is too hot to walk on, but Marco left a zip line set up. Take it slow.”
“Just throw your legs over the line and have a motor pulley take you across,” Marco said. “Use the carabiner I left on the line. Hook it to your suit. The other carabiners melted, but that one’s safe.”
“Copy that. See you soon,” Jade said, frowning. She almost took out the earpiece but then added, “Please tell Tommy I’m on my way over.” She set the earpiece down on the console, since she’d be able to use her suit’s comm system.
She tied her hair back and slipped on some snug leggings and a tank top—comfortable clothes that wouldn’t bunch beneath her flight suit, which she also put back on. She unpacked her exo suit from the emergency storage in the cargo bay and prepared for departure.
After shrugging on the suit and locking her helmet into position, Jade set the control panel to open the access hatch. Lack of an airlock on Ghost of Jupiter meant the entire ship would be exposed, so she had to act quickly. After all, Ghost wasn’t a ship intended for landing on hazardous planets, but for transport between stations or starports. The ship’s air-processing system would scrub any pollutants that entered and would maintain breathable air, provided she didn’t leave the ramp open for too long.
A seam of light appeared as the ramp folded downward. The broiling air of Balenos A caused everything to shimmer, even Marco’s small ship, which was sitting right next to her own. Fine particles of ash and soot floated through the orange haze. A warning tone drew Jade’s attention to the suit’s display screen, which formed a half circle over her right forearm. She wiped soot particles off the display, surprised to see them building so quickly. The device showed warnings about temperature and advised that direct atmospheric exposure beyond a few seconds would be fatal.
“Awesome,” Jade whispered sarcastically. She’d only used her exo suit once in a precautionary test run, but was glad she’d gotten it as part of her emergency kit. It seemed to be keeping out the extreme heat of the fiery planet without issue.
Jade reached outside the ramp and grabbed the ladder rungs welded to her hull. She balanced on the ladder, hooking an arm through a support—she wasn’t taking any chances in the exo suit—and set the ramp to close as soon as she was clear. She crested the top of the ship and stood for a moment to look around. Balenos A’s flame-blasted surface stretched out as far as she could see. Lightning flashed high above the landscape of smelted rock. It looked unwelcoming, desolate, and completely alien to human comfort or survival.
Beyond Rebel Star was Henning’s ship Audacity, which was easily twice as large as Jade’s own. It dwarfed Marco’s fighter. She could make out Tommy waving wildly, pr
essed against the cockpit’s windows. She laughed and shook her head, such as she could within the exo suit. He still possessed an unmatched enthusiasm despite what they’d just gone through—what he’d just gone through. That was a great sign.
Standing atop her ship and taking care not to slide down the wing-shaped hull’s steady incline, Jade knelt and inspected the condition of the hull plates. She gasped—Ghost was gouged and scratched, as though she’d flipped him upside down and scraped his hull along a planet’s surface.
It must have been the hull’s incline that saved Ghost from destruction as the other ship was deflected off the wedge. Jade had had no other option at the time, and seeing Tommy shot down like that had made something in her snap. She’d lost it. Jade normally prided herself on her controlled, calm mind when flying, and she vowed never to behave that way again. No matter what, she swore, she’d keep control.
She was eager to have Tommy look at Ghost. She didn’t want to think about leaving her ship behind. What would she do without it?
Jade crept along the edge of the hull, keeping three limbs anchored at all times, working her way over to the cable Marco had mentioned. A magnetic clamp was fastened to the hull.
“You see it, Saito?” Marco said in her ear.
“I see the clamp. Yeah.”
“Bueno. I set it up so you’d have a direct line. Just hop on.”
His making these preparations for her was touching, and she felt attracted by his way of watching out for her. Marco had been caring and thoughtful, and was very direct about it.
“Airlock’s at the rear of the ship, Jade,” Henning cut in. “Walk straight over the bridge.”
“Gotcha,” she replied. She didn’t want to waste any more time, and she wrapped her legs around the taut metal cable. She found the box fastened to it, which had two large handles protruding from it. Each handle had a control grip. She squeezed one, and the box jerked back toward Ghost. Realizing she’d chosen wrong, she squeezed the other control grip, and the mechanism pulled her along the cable toward Audacity. Under other circumstances, she mused, this would be enjoyable, but now she kept her thoughts on keeping her thighs and hands tight. Could she even survive contact with the planet’s surface?
The rest of the team watched out the wraparound canopy of Audacity’s bridge. The ship’s skyward surfaces were covered by the planet’s ever-present soot. It even obscured the SAKHAROV stencil along the side of the hull.
The device brought her across the cable and over Marco’s ship, eventually hitting the stop at the meter-wide magnetic clamp fixed to Audacity.
Jade got her feet under her, leaving the pulley behind and wondering where Marco had even stored the equipment, and then trudged along the hull. The ship seemed even larger when walking atop it, and she took her time, wary of the fine, omnipresent ash. She reached the rear, found the handholds, and swung into the airlock. The hatch was open and waiting when her boots touched down. Climbing around this way in the exo suit was demanding, and Jade’s labored, raspy breathing was loud in her ears. Given the suit’s added weight, she was glad for the workouts she’d kept up with over the past few years.
She stepped in and, after the outer door closed and a few minutes passed for the air to adjust, the inner doors slid open. Jade’s three teammates greeted her, happy faces all around. Tommy embraced Jade in a tight hug the moment she pulled the exo suit down to her hips. She did the same, being unable to wait any longer.
“I’m glad you’re okay,” he said, pulling back. He bore his trademark smirk.
Jade delivered a light punch to his chest. “I’m glad you’re okay! I was so worried when I saw…”
“Yeah.” Tommy reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “I came a little too close to game over.”
Jade also hugged Henning—they’d been through enough in their short partnership that she felt the need to do so. Henning put a mug of coffee in Jade’s hand and squeezed her shoulder with his meaty paw.
“Great work up there, mate. You’re a monster. Without you this would have gone a lot worse.”
“Thanks,” she said, turning to Marco, who put his hands on her waist and drew her close, then kept his arm around her. She noticed Henning’s and Tommy’s eyes widen. She blushed and buried her face in the mug of coffee as best she could, noticing what looked like childish paintings of Henning’s ship on the mug’s finish.
“I guess we walked away,” she said, “but it doesn’t feel like it’s worth celebrating. We didn’t get paid. Did you recover Gliese Voyager?”
Tommy looked down at the deck. “Destroyed. Maybe some salvage if we go back, but…”
She moved over and hugged him a second time. Marco’s hand slipped away. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered in his ear. Tommy nodded against her shoulder.
A thought struck her. “Hey! You could fly with me! I have that second seat.” She figured Tommy’d need some encouragement after losing his ship, and it was the least she could do. “You would be a huge help aboard Ghost. He needs so much work right now. I probably need your assistance to even get him off planet.”
“Hell yeah! I am a pretty resourceful guy,” Tommy said. He’d brightened considerably at Jade’s suggestion. She was glad to have offered it.
“Besides,” she said, tapping his heart, “Gliese Voyager is in here. You are the true Gliese Voyager.” Her lips curled up in a goofy grin.
“Mmm, your words are true,” Tommy said. He nodded, as though considering some kind of sage wisdom. They both broke into a fit of laughter, which devolved into a set of coughs.
Henning shook his head. “Give me a break,” he said under his breath, but his tone was light.
Marco cut in, placing a hand on the small of her back. “Let’s have a seat so we can go over everything.” He nodded his chin toward the cockpit.
Jade walked along with Marco, who asked about her health and how she felt. She tried to fight back the memory of her half-naked blunder aboard her ship as he discussed the need to run another medical scan in the near future.
The team gathered in the cockpit. “Have a seat, guys,” Henning said. “I’ll stand.” He leaned against a console and everyone swiveled the seats together toward the central pilot’s seat, where Tommy sat.
Marco cleared his throat and began without preamble. “Short version is we’re down a ship and have taken some hits. But our payday is still out there.” He pointed behind him out the cockpit window, meeting the eyes of each team member in turn. “I know we aren’t happy about the outcome, but we have to complete this mission and put it behind us, and go from there.”
“Yeah, about that,” Tommy said, his hand raised, looking nervous about whatever he was about to say. “I have something to share.”
Jade’s curiosity was piqued. Tommy continued, “My scanners made a close-range sweep of the ship that was on me, just before he dusted me, and I think he was carrying the crate. So after Jade took him down, the container would have gone down too. Like, onto the planet.” His face revealed his obvious feeling that he was revealing some terrible news.
Marco jumped out of his seat, clapping his hands. Everyone else jumped. “That’s excellent news!” He ran over and rubbed Tommy’s shoulders a little too vigorously. Tommy winced. “You just made my day. I was afraid that crate was gone, man!” Marco completed his assault with a slap on Tommy’s back.
“Um,” Jade added. Her perplexed look was returned by Henning, who shrugged.
Marco looked around at each pilot. “What? Am I the only one who read the notes? Hold on.” He sat back down, pulled the chair up to a console, and activated the holomenu. “Freeborn, you have the mission files on here?” Henning affirmed that he did and told Marco where to find them.
Marco loaded the mission briefing, a focused expression on his face. His eyes flitted back and forth as he scrolled through the display floating in the air. He recited from the file. “Hardened crate, two point four by one point six meters…bueno. This is it. ‘Magnesium-titanium alloy t
reated to resist extreme atmospheric pressure and temperature and secure internal contents against any hostile condition.’” He slapped the console and pointed again at the menu. “This is bulletproof. Tommy, if you dropped this thing on world, we are about to make some easy money!”
“Nothing easy about it so far,” Henning muttered, arms crossed. Marco appeared not to listen.
“Tommy, can you find this thing?”
“I’ll see what I can do, but don’t you think we should fix up Jade’s ship first? Without it we’re down to two.”
“I would appreciate that,” Jade said.
“Sure thing,” Marco said, waving his hand and turning back to look at the crate schematics. Jade had noticed an odd trend in Marco’s personality. He was like a wolf on the hunt when he had an objective. That tenacity led him to ignore any element secondary to that objective.
After a moment, he turned off the display and came over to stand behind Jade, rubbing her shoulders lightly. He kneaded her taut muscles with skillful fingers. The contact felt good, if awkward in front of the group.
“Let’s take care of Jade first, then set up to find this crate. Sound good?”
Tommy left with Henning to track down whatever inventory could be useful to the repair effort aboard Ghost of Jupiter. That left Marco and Jade alone in the cockpit.
Marco stood before her and grasped her upper arms. He pulled her in and pressed his mouth softly to hers. Jade fell into the kiss, which was gentle and thrilling at the same time. It soothed her emotions and warmed her innermost places. She lost herself, coming back only when it ended.
“What was that?” she breathed, studying his face. He was gorgeous, like a model or movie star. She couldn’t believe this thing between them, whatever it was, was happening.
“Sorry,” he said, grinning. “I’m so happy about this crate. Couldn’t help myself. You’re okay, Tommy’s okay, and we have some big money ahead of us.”