The glass Jonas Valent had last drunk out of had been encased in a small glass display box. Jake Valance stared at it after setting it down in the middle of his Ready Quarters office desk. He had no idea what to do with it after placing it inside the case consisting of a simple black base and transparesteel surround. The writing on its base said; A Drink With Jonas.
As he quietly looked around the office for a place to put it, perhaps a good spot for a small shelf without it drawing too much attention but a place he'd look to often enough, the door chimed. “Come in,” Jake said quietly.
The heavily armoured door was drawn out of the jam and Alice stepped inside. Over her black vacsuit she wore her flight jacket, something that was making an appearance all over the ship with anyone who fancied themselves a good pilot. She was the first to make it part of the uniform by adding the Triton skull to the right shoulder. Many senior staff members in the engineering, gunnery and security departments had started to wear long coats much like Jakes', but either addition to their uniforms were considered luxury items, and since they were dense protective garments it took several days worth of materialization rations to create them.
Alice's smile still brought his spirits up, it was something he hoped would never change. “How was the day watch?” she asked brightly.
“Filled with good and bad news. The crew are responding to the general difficulty of the training simulations increasing ship wide as a challenge, I'm not hearing many people complaining. Our live combat drills are still getting better, and we've had thirty one people qualify in their departments to become full crew.”
“Thirty one? That's twice as much as yesterday.”
“People are embracing their roles, getting together into groups and helping each other out. Crew members who are working as a unit are qualifying for their posts faster. We should see at least two hundred more graduated members in the next three days. The bad news is that we'll still be left with half the crew not fully qualified. That's something we expected, but I also have a problem with the civilian volunteer group.”
Alice sat down and made herself comfortable in the seat across from him, she was right at home, during the evening shift the office was hers. Jake slept just above most of the time in a small sleeping cabin. If there were any problems he was just a hatch away and she had only had to call on him twice. “Last I checked half the civilians were signing up as damage control or part time security. I even saw a couple people trying out as fighter pilots.”
“That's the problem. The training regimen we're on is made to prepare the non-civilian crew for a kind of warfare that doesn't allow much opportunity to take prisoners. We both know that Triton is being groomed as a killer, every department knows it. The default disposition for everyone aboard with the exception of the civilians is to kill anyone trying to board us or anything circling outside.”
“It's working, in true condition simulations our casualties are continually decreasing despite the fact that you keep making them more and more difficult. Even in missions where we have to determine that each opponent is armed before firing the aggressive attitude is ensuring early surrenders and quicker suppression times.”
“I know, and that's good, but eventually we may find ourselves outside of a war zone. If we're all as hard as nails and ready to open fire at the slightest indication of trouble, we'll be of no use to anyone. It's the civilians that will keep us human, aware that there's a grey area to this friend or foe mentality that's built into all our training.”
Alice didn't respond right away and just looked at him, glancing at his new trophy before replying. “You're right. I'll be honest, I'd expect that kind of thinking more from Liam, but you're right. Are you going to stop civilians from qualifying for different positions on the ship?”
“No, but we should start compiling a list of people the civilians have requested us to pick up. We have a lot of room left in the habitation section in the Botanical Gallery.”
“What about children?”
Jake hesitated a moment, it was something he had been thinking about for several days. “It feels wrong to have them aboard a ship of war. I'm still against it.”
“I agree. It's going to cut a lot of people from that list though. The civvies that are requesting to bring family aboard have a lot of brothers, sisters and others who have kids.”
“We'll have to live with it, I need to know that everyone aboard made a concious choice to be here.”
“Speaking of family, is that what I think it is?” Alice asked, gesturing towards the encased drinking glass.
“It is. I didn't know what to do with it after finishing the testing, so I…” he gestured towards it and shrugged.
“It's good, I mean, it's not like he was able to leave much behind. What did the tests turn up?”
“Well, his results show natural ageing, mine show that I'm almost seven years old and a large percentage of my physiology shows signs of mass regeneration. He was the original, that's for sure.”
“Laura was saying that you're like his moodier brother,” Alice smirked.
Jacob burst out laughing and nodded. “That fits. How are you two getting along?”
“Great, if there's anyone in engineering or our civilian research volunteers with nothing to do, she gives them a challenge. I don't know what she's been up to since I last saw her before I made the switch from AI to human, but it's given her the ability to command, demand respect and delegate. The more I watch her the more I learn, even though she keeps trying to convince me that I'm the great commander.”
“You are, if I were to take you off the bridge night watch the graveyard crew would probably mutiny. I don't know what I'd do without you.”
“I learned everything about command from you.”
“You mean from Jonas,” Jake corrected with a thin smile.
“You're right, mostly, anyway,” Alice replied with a slow nod. “I'm sorry, I see more of him in you every day, even though you look a little different.”
“Now that's what you have to thank Liam and my real father for. I was made by one of the inventors of framework technology and he left me a message.”
Alice's eyes went wide, her interest was keenly piqued; “what did he say?”
“Not much, only that there's someone with more information on Zingara Station.”
“That can't be a coincidence.”
“No, I'm pretty sure he chose Zingara because he knew it would remain independent and that I would remember being there as Jonas.”
“With Ayan.”
The light mood that accompanied the revelation Jake was sharing with her drained out of him. He looked older somehow, tired, more like the Jake Valance she had first met weeks before.
“I'm sorry, it's my day for saying all the wrong things I guess,” Alice apologized quietly. “I'm guessing taking these memories on is a whole package deal, the bad comes with the good and you still miss her.”
Jake nodded. “You're right, and if I could thank Ayan I would. Somehow I still expect her to come through that door with two cups of coffee. Remembering her brings back so much, especially about Zingara Station. Meeting her changed everything.”
“You know the civilians who are rebuilding the Botanical Garden just finished making a monument honouring all the people who died taking the ship. They put an image of Ayan and Jonas at the top since most of the crew see Jonas as the last one who died in that fight. You should go down and see it.”
“I know, things have been busy. I haven't seen my own quarters for weeks. Maintenance keeps asking for permission to go in and clean up but I just push it to the bottom of the priority list.”
“You're going to have to finish moving in someday Jake,” Alice smiled wryly. “A few of the Samson crew aren't moving their stuff from the old ship into their new quarters until they see you do it first.”
“It's not that I'm not here for good. Even if Sol Defence came along and tried to get her back, I'd still try to strike a deal for Triton. My mind is always on the crew, the ship, what we're doing and how we're doing it.”
“That's not really moving in. You have to find a place to kick your heels up, pick somewhere to put all your creature comforts. Eventually you'll need some time off and it might be good for you to have a quiet space you've made your own.”
Jake thought for a moment, his gaze resting on the enshrined drinking glass. “Between you and me that's hard. On one hand the Samson was my first ship, my only ship. At the same time I'm taking on all these memories, and as much as Jonas and I would probably get along if he were still here, drawing on his experiences, catching myself doing little things he used to do just messes me up sometimes. Some psycho annalist would say I'm hanging on to the Samson because I feel like I'm losing myself. On the other hand I like how Jonas thinks, the experiences he had with his friends, with Ayan. He knew how to be with people, taking charge was his problem while I'm the opposite. Ever since I woke up on the Samson I've been in charge, it's what I had to do to survive, but being with people, feeling like one of their mates instead of their captain, well, it just didn't happen.
“Ash told me she got a big smile out of you the other day. She was on cloud nine for hours.”
The memory prompted a little grin from Jake as he nodded. “She was showing me an ad she'd found in a data burst Liam brought back from his recruiting run for Kawaii Cats. I couldn't help but wilt when I saw it. She's threatening to buy one on her first trip off ship.”
“Oh no, with a talking kitten on board the whole crew will be helpless if we run into a Regent Galactic cruiser.”
“It's insidious, it really is,” Jake laughed. “I don't want any pets on board, not just yet, anyway. This is a warship after all.”
“I have to agree, but eventually someone's going to bring a teacup poodle, or trained rim weasel aboard.”
“I know, we'll have to keep any pets assigned to people who have officer class quarters or family quarters eventually, but for now the policy has to stand. There's still so much we don't know about this ship, compartments we haven't even opened yet. No one's so much as glanced at the Junior Officers quarters and there are four hundred sixty billets there.”
“I think Stephanie's security team will take care of anything on four legs easy enough. Last I read their instructions were to detain and contain anything not walking upright. That woman thinks of just about everything where security is concerned. That is, if she isn't watching you. I don't think there's a person from the Samson who hasn't noticed a few changes in their Captain.”
“How are the crew taking it?” Jake asked, running his finger along the edge of the encased keepsake on his desk.
“Well, they don't know what to expect but knowing that you're more open to suggestions seems to help. People still channel a lot of their ideas through me though. They seem to think I have a lighter hand.”
“Little do they know,” Jake shook his head and smiled.
Alice smiled back. “Little do they know,” the pair shared a knowing look, between the two of them it was difficult to decide which had the more ruthless command style. During ship wide simulations they often switched handles, used each other's voices all in an effort to be fully aware of how the crew responded to each commander. Alice looked back to the small trophy. “So, any idea what you're going to do with your memento?”
“I was going to leave it somewhere in the office since we both use this space. I still don't know where.”
“I like it where it is. It should be somewhere everyone can see it, I think.”
“Makes the decision simple. Speaking of decisions, I've chosen a few targets for Triton to hit when we're ready. One will solve our wormhole generator problem. Price and Finn managed to find more combat damage, it would take weeks to machine the parts since they're too dense to materialize. Not to mention we don't have a machinist that's worked with the technology before. Liam is going to try and rig a solution that'll get it working until we can find a port we can buy the parts from or pursue another solution.”
“The learning curve would kill us on time if the engineering crew can't improvise something.”
“Exactly. So I'm putting a plan together using the Triton, the Samson, and the Cold Reaver along with a few fighters in a support role. I want to steal a wormhole generating hypertransmitter. The intelligence Frost got his hands on lines right up with the transmission data we're tracing.”
“So you've managed to find a transmission node? One small enough to steal?”
Jake smiled at her and nodded. “The Samson can pick it up with the maxjack if she has enough cover. There's a station nearby but if we hit fast and hard enough, distracting with the Triton we'll be able to snatch it. That's only if we can't buy the parts on a recruiting run.”
“Good chance of that. Wormhole generator parts that'll work in the Triton's existing systems are rare.”
Jake nodded his agreement and went on. “In the meantime, there are some supply routes we can hit with hyperspace layover points. I've managed to narrow the list down to military targets that run a lot of wetware assets.”
“You mean slaves.”
“It's not clear. The information we have indicates average head counts per square meter, and there are too many for the ships to carry active crew and no slave cargo. The routes and shipments are significant enough for any disruption to hurt. The loss of these assets won't go unnoticed. That presents another problem.”
“We don't have any allies to offload extra cargo to or to take anyone we liberate in,” Alice finished for him.
“Exactly. So we'll have to take on slaves first, try to take on any cargo that could help us and destroy what we can't resell. After that we'll have to find an ally fast.”
“Unless we take the hypertransmitter first.”
“With the crew still untried?” Captain Valance asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You've seen them in simulations and live drills. They follow orders, their reaction times are fast even by my standards after just a couple of weeks. They're dedicated.”
“I want to start on a solid victory, and if we go after this transmission node and come up against something unexpected we'll have turn and run early. We might not even get a chance to launch the Samson or any of the other ships, it might come down to going in cloaked and getting out if there's no way to the hypertransmitter.”
“You have a point. It's got to be pretty well protected. What are the chances we'd make it without major casualties?”
“Less than fifty, but I'm working on refining the plan. I'd still rather see what the crew can do to a supply convoy first. A softer target,” Jake said, turning on a holographic navigational chart. It flickered on and hovered over his desk. “Here, this would be perfect. Lower chance of there being slaves, but the average mass index of the shipments going through show that they regularly ship heavy materials through this point, probably munitions and supplies that are too complex or dense to materialize on site. Steal it or wreck it, Regent Galactic will feel the pinch.”
“There's still about a five percent chance of wetware cargo,” Alice pointed out.
“True, but we can't get hung up on the what ifs. This crew is together because a lot of them stayed to do some damage to Regent. We'll just have to run ship wide sims that include taking on a few thousand slaves, just in case.”
“I'll set it up during my shift. The crew won't like it, but I'm sure they'll rise to it.”
“Good, I want to be as prepared as we can be.”
“When do you think we'll hit this layover point?”
“I'm giving the Engineering team two weeks tops to get a fix in place for the wormhole drive. If there's no way they can get it done on that deadline, then we'll have to do it all on hyperdrive. Still, we won't start talking about it to the general crew yet, there might still be a couple Regent Galactic spies on board.”
“Stephanie's doing her best to catch them, she's tearing her hair out at the Intelligence department though, they just don't know what they're doing.”
“I know, we'll have to do something about that. Don't get pulled into it though, it's taking the both of us in overlapping fourteen and sixteen hour shifts to run the Triton and we haven't chosen a day watch first officer yet.”
“About that, should I give Price the official rank below me on night watch?”
“No, he's being paid as a first officer and doing the work, so there's no need to force a rank on him that'll just make him nervous. Besides, he's pulling triple shifts when no one's looking just because his race doesn't have to sleep for days at a time. If we promote him I'm afraid he'll never sleep again.”
Alice couldn't help but chuckle. It was true, the issyrians were particularly hard workers, and more importantly they were commonly curious about the ship. The only person more dedicated to her duties was Ashley. She was relatively new to piloting but she had a great feel for the ship, controls and her thirst for knowledge, her need to improve was insatiable. The young woman knew how to relax, sure, but on most nights she was deep in a simulation, piloting large ships and fighters alike into the most challenging scenarios. “So Ashley's going on her first recruiting mission.”
Jake smiled a little and nodded. “I was wondering when you'd bring that up.”
“She's key to the helm during day shift, I was a little surprised.”
“Her navigator is going with her. I'll be using another team at the helm for the next couple days. I figured it was time to give them a chance. If the worst happens I could always take the controls.”
“Do you think she can manage a small crew for a few days?”
“I left her in charge of the Samson enough while Stephanie, Frost and I were off ship. The Cold Reaver is easier to take care of.”
“You know, I wish I was around for the Samson days. I keep hearing stories.”
“It wasn't as interesting as it might sound. The Samson is far from done though. I have plans for her, the Cold Reaver and a few other ships in her class if we can get our hands on them.”
“Oh really?” Alice asked with an upraised eyebrow.
“The Triton is perfect for serving as a command center for several smaller crews on ships just like the Samson. There's no reason why we can't go after several small objectives at a time or use a group of smaller ships to help capture convoys, hit military targets that are hardened against large warships like the Triton or we could run deep recon, cherry pick targets before going in with everything.”
“I like the way you think. Makes me really wish the Clever Dream was still around. She'd be perfect.”
“I'll make sure you get an agile ship when you run missions. I don't know if we can find something like the Clever Dream, but I'll do my best to replace her.”
“Maybe I should take a look at Regent Galactic's military vessel listing. I'm sure they make something I'd like to get my hands on,” she said with a crooked grin. “I've met enough ship thieves and pirates to know a few things.”
“Then that's the first mission you'll plan after reviewing what I've put together.”