The uncharacteristically serious expressions on the faces of Minh and his copilot were enough to prompt Jake to lead the pair away from their fighter. The nearest enclosed space was the rear emergency cargo door of the Samson, and he led the way there without a word. With a tap on his comm unit, he directed the pair of soldiers shadowing him to start walking a patrol through the middle of their landing space.
“Welcome back, Commander. What's the word?” asked one of the fighter pilots as they passed.
“I'll be back in a minute, Finger,” Minh-Chu replied quietly.
Jake swung the heavy hatch closed behind them and pulled the pressure lever to make sure it was sealed. The lower cargo hold had been modified to accommodate the plasma cutters, breach airlock and motors for the maxjack. The heavy components were just up a set of stairs and isolated by a flimsy mesh cage, just enough to keep cargo from sliding into the machinery.
Jake checked his tactical screen for any sign that there was anyone loitering in the hold and retracted his armoured hood when he was sure they were alone. “Welcome back, I was getting worried,” he admitted.
“You worry? What happened to the steadfast Captain who was here when I left?” Minh smirked.
“An illusion for the masses. What's the situation?”
“It's bad, but it could be worse.” Minh brought up a hologram of the Triton and cleared his throat.
Jake's legs turned to jelly at the sight of it and he sat on the stairs. The markings on the exterior of the ship indicating damage were too numerous to count at a glance, but what caught his eye more was the name at the top of the casualty list. “Oz is dead?”
“No, ignore that thing, it's wrong,” Minh said as he deactivated the list with a gesture, leaving just the exterior display of the Triton. “He flat lined long enough for what's left of the ship surveillance systems to assume he wasn't coming back, but his emergency meds got him back on his feet.”
“I think his words were; 'I'm plenty alive,'” added Slick.
“That sounds like him,” Jake sighed in relief.
“We did lose a lot of people, but things were turning around just as I arrived. From where I was sitting, it looked like they booby trapped the bridge, sealed off main engineering, the Botanical Gallery and part of medical. I even got a chance to talk to Ashley and someone she rescued.” At the mention an image of Ashley and Zoe appeared beside the Triton.
“That looks like medical, and she's using a flight console.”
“Yup, she's got brains to go with her looks.”
“What caused all this damage?” Jake asked, pointing to the port side torpedo launchers and the torn edges of the hull.
“Oz hard wired most of the torpedo launchers around the port and starboard side hard mooring points to launch at some point. When they managed to get control of the bridge, thanks to some fancy espionage work by Agameg Price, Oz threatened to activate them if they didn’t surrender.”
“They didn't take him seriously,” Jake groaned, running a hand down his face.
“Actually, they did. Instead of surrendering, they tried to decouple the destroyers that were docked to either side of the ship. There must have been some welding holding things together, because they didn’t make it in time.”
“It might be worth mentioning that we got a lot of this intel through the wormhole we had just started accelerating into. Our concept of how fast a lot of this happened might be a little off,” Slick added.
“Right. Still, you should have seen the other guys. Oz tore those two destroyers apart.”
“The recording is in your report?”
“Of course.”
“So, what's their current situation?”
“They're on their way here with one of the destroyers riding piggyback. Jason and Frost were directing a boarding action on the destroyer moored to the dorsal side of the Triton when I left.”
“A boarding action? If it weren't Frost, I wouldn't believe it. They're nuts.”
“Well, I think it might work. When they get here we'll have a pretty good jump start on privateering.”
“That’s if the whole thing doesn’t destabilize in the wormhole and shred into little pieces.”
“Who’s side are you on?” Minh asked Slick.
Jake shook his head. “Ashley’s our best, and all we can do is hope, and prepare. I think she can do it, and she’s probably got some kind of safe guard in place in case things do destabalize. For once I feel good about getting ready for the best case scenario. Whatever credit we can get for that capture will be going towards repairing the Triton and setting up something here though. No one’s getting a bonus out of this.”
Minh cocked his head, glanced at Slick then back to Jake, who was bringing up Minh's report on his own comm unit. “Setting up something here?”
“Both versions of the virus have already been through here, and a new government is establishing themselves. There are going to be opportunities here, and it might be safer than anywhere else in range. The attack on the Triton has shown me that we need a home port, somewhere we can take liberty, make a name for ourselves, and build alliances.”
“Shore leave,” Minh said wistfully. “I saw beaches when we took off. I wonder if they teach surfing.”
“If the waves are big enough, there's got to be surfing,” Slick agreed.
Jake couldn't help but smile at the antics of the pair. It helped him keep his mood from darkening as he looked at the list of damage. He could tell whole sections of it were out of date, someone had taken whole sections of the ship off line, most likely to slow the boarding actions against the Triton crew. “If we can find the materials to repair the ship, and sell the destroyer off as a capture, then we might actually be able to get the Triton fit in a couple of months. That's if this report is accurate.”
“It's based on scans taken down the back trail of a wormhole. I don’t think you should make any estimates based on it. Two months seems way too little from what I saw.”
“Well, there are a lot of people here looking for work. Our work force will only be limited by what we can earn. We might be able to get away with paying a few hundred with food and a bunk at first.”
Minh thought for a moment, leaning against the hull. “Then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“That's not all there is to it, is there?” Asked Minh in a hushed, darkened tone.
Jake didn't have to ask what his friend meant. Instead he looked up from his comm unit and sat back.
“You want in on this war.”
“No, maybe I would have when we were on the First Light, but we have families aboard the Triton now, people who would be nothing more than refugees caught in the middle. Besides, I'm sure you and everyone else from Freeground didn't come all the way out here to go to war.”
“But if it weren't for the civilians you'd get right in the middle.”
“I'd find a way to fight in my own way, sure, but given the choice I'd rather get Triton back together, find a safe home port and start a life. We're going to privateer for the cause and for the cash but have to be smart about it. I'm not going to put our people at risk unless we've got a good chance at coming out ahead.”
“That's not how wars are won, Jake. We both know it.”
“It's not our war. We just got caught in the middle.”
“Are you forgetting Pandem? I still have nightmares. There's no way I can let some imperialist corp get away with what I saw while I was down there. I can't see how that can pass with you either, especially since they're trying to blame you for creating the virus.”
“See, that's the kind of thinking that’ll get us killed. I've been running this situation through my head ever since we set down here, and the stakes are too high for us to get too deeply invested in this war. There are civilians at the heart of the Triton, people who didn't do anything to deserve the danger they’re in. I didn't ask to be responsible for them, but I am, and the only thing that feels right to me is getting those people back, finding a safe place for them and making sure that they stay out of harm's way. We'll make our mark in this war as privateers, no doubt, but we're not going to put civilians in harm's way again.”
“I get your point, I've felt like there's been a brick in my stomach ever since we left the Triton behind, but we can't turn down opportunities to make a real difference if they come along.”
“You know how we can make a difference? We can make sure these civilians can start making a home for themselves, and when this war is over we might have a place to go. Somewhere we can live where we don't have to carry a sidearm. I'm tired, Minh. Watching my daughter slip away in front of me was enough to remind me of what most people have at stake here. Alice almost died for nothing, if the Triton wasn't already on her way here with the Botanical Gallery intact, I don't know what I'd do.”
Minh took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“He's right,” Slick said quietly.
Minh studied the deck at his feet for several moments before nodding. “Yup. How did we get here, Jake? I remember I was the wise advisor just a few years ago, and you were the angry one.”
“Oh, I'm still angry, no doubt. We just can't afford to be now.”
“Anger is seldom without an argument but seldom with a good one,” Minh said with a sigh.
“Now I know that's not an old Oriental expression,” Jake replied.
“He's been expanding his repertoire,” Slick explained. “That's one of the gems.”
“Lord Halifax, I had a lot of time to myself,” Minh shrugged.
“So, what do we tell people? We're going to get mobbed the moment this hatch opens,” Slick asked.
“ Triton is coming. She survived a siege, took some serious damage, but there are a lot of survivors and they managed to make a huge capture. Only confirm survivors you're sure of and make sure that they know we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
“That's not the most positive message.”
“But it's an honest one,” Minh said in an approving tone. “I'd rather have people who shy from work walk away now than have them get in the way later.”
“Oh, and we'll have our first privateering run soon. We're probably going to end up doing a little work for our new landlady, who happens to be a crime lord, or crime lady, I guess you’d call her.”
“That sounds like an interesting story.”
“You'll have to get Ayan to tell you about it.” Jake got to his feet and started up the fore stairway. “But wait until morning. Get some sleep tonight, I think tomorrow's going to be interesting.”
“Where are you off to?”
“I'm going to do the rounds and make sure all the ships are locked down tight. Don't want any of our deserters trying to make off with anything, even if it's only half way flyable. Before you guys find a place to get some rack time, go tell Laura that Jason's alive.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Minh replied with the first earnest grin Jake could remember seeing from his friend since he arrived in the sector.