Laura was guided to the Captain's ready quarters by a surprisingly short soldier holding a rifle unlike any she'd seen before, all the senior guards had them. She was one of the few who had both the name of the ship and the silver skull printed on her chest, and despite her black vacsuit, and three bars of rank she was light hearted and quick to smile, even chatty.
“Can I ask what that skull means?” Laura asked as she walked along side the other woman.
“It's the mark of the ship, Chief Vega says it was chosen by the first Captain of the Triton for the squadrons aboard. There used to be two entire wings of fighters on this ship, could you believe it?”
“I've served on a ship not much smaller than this, only we were always pulling sixteen hour shifts with a skeleton crew. We had to abandon the outer sections and run everything from the core.”
“Was it the First Light?”
“It was.”
“So you served with the Captain's brother, Jonas. What a family.”
Laura paused for a moment, remembering the back story Jake had given the crew about Jonas, that he was his long lost brother, and smiled. It was a good white lie for the crew. “He was a good man. It didn't last long, but I've never served anywhere else like it.”
“What do you think of this ship now that you've been here for a day?”
“The crew have been nice, respectful. It's strange seeing military mix with mercenaries and civilian recruits, but I see it working. The ship is a lot bigger than it looks. I've never been on a Sol Defence ship before, I can see why people jump at the opportunity. They use space really well,” she said, eyeing the broad hallway with its dark polished floors.
“These are engineering access hallways. They're evenly distributed throughout the ship so large components can be moved quickly. This ship was made for long combat in space, the cloaking and wormhole systems were modifications added later.”
“You know a lot about the ship for a soldier,” Laura commented as they stepped inside the lift car.
“Steph, I mean, Chief Vega gave every fully qualified team member access to the ship's history and blueprints. I've been doing some extra reading since I've been thinking of leaving.”
“Do you mind if I ask why?”
“Not at all,” Liz smiled at her. “I was a teacher before the war started, so it's a force of habit I guess.”
“What do you like more, teaching or military?”
“Honestly? I miss teaching, and now that Regent Galactic has pretty much taken over Aucharian territory, it's time to rethink some things. My cousin lives up closer to the core worlds and they were already hit by the AI virus pretty bad. They're rebuilding there, so I'll be getting on a transport and moving in with her until I can find a position. If there were children aboard, even teenagers, I'd stay on the Triton, but there won't be. I'm glad in a way, this isn't a place for anyone to grow up.”
“It's too bad you're moving on. It looks like you've made an impression here,” Laura said, looking down to the three bars on the other woman's cuffs.
She looked at them and smiled. “I'm good at directing people and pretty diplomatic when I have to be but the thought of going into a firefight is still terrifying after two years of military service.”
“I'm sure they'll miss you.”
Liz sighed. “I'll miss them too. Even some of the people I've just met. Good things are about to happen here, but I think I'll do better helping younger people think their way through adolescence. That's a whole other kind of battle.”
They arrived on the bridge and Laura tried to take it in as they made their way through. There were really two control centers layered one atop the other. The one for the ship and it's general operations, and another beneath the main bridge that was just as large but for the purpose of directing traffic outside the ship and on the three main flight decks. She had never seen anything like it, by her estimation it would take a crew of at least forty five to crew both levels of the command deck.
At the moment, however, there was a skeleton crew of eight. Even from the short time she'd spent on the ship she knew that the officers weren't far off. All but the Chief of Engineering and Deck Chief had quarters on the command deck within a thirty seconds' run from the bridge along with their immediate subordinates. If everyone is drilled up to a fair standard it would take a whole bridge crew less than a minute to set up and be ready for anything. The skeleton crew could take care of most occurrences until then.
“Here we are,” Liz said as they came to the ready room hatch. The armoured door was pulled out of its jam by two heavy arms. “The Captain said you could walk right in.”
“Thank you Liz, good luck.”
“You too. It was good meeting you,” she smiled before stopping to talk to Alice for a moment, who was sitting in the command chair.
Not for the first time Laura was given the chance to think. She had been put up in the only guest quarters that had been cleared by the security team. There were two rooms plus a bathroom, more well furnished and carefully decorated than anything on a military Freeground ship. The walls in the bedroom were covered in navy blue draperies of all things, the bathroom had a combination pulse and water shower. The main room was set up for four people to sit comfortably and socialize. The furniture was gilded with carved wood, the padding was deep and comfortable.
Before she could sleep the night before her thoughts wandered to Jason and what he must be thinking. She hated leaving him behind, and part of her, a very small part, hoped he didn't follow. I have to give him the chance to choose for himself. He can follow me or stay with the Fleet and continue his career. Laura had thought to herself. What he'd choose was a near certainty, but if he didn't know where she was, what she was doing, then there was little chance of him finding her anytime soon.
She had started mourning Ayan, her best friend, while she was in a coma in the Silkstream IV and the decision to wake her out of that coma wasn't the easiest she'd ever made. Jacob Valance had a great deal of respect for her wishes. When she first arrived he embraced her, which was what she expected. He told her who he was and what had happened to Jonas right away.
Jake knew there was no time to waste and her precious cargo wouldn't keep for long. While Laura was still reeling from hearing that Jonas was dead and that Jake was a framework with a large portion of Jonas' memories, he told her that he'd like to be Jonas for Ayan if she didn't have much time left. There were messages Jonas wanted passed on to Ayan, and if it gave her comfort, eased her passing, he wanted to be what she needed him to be.
The seriousness and caring she saw in him as he proposed it was what convinced her. Ayan had said her goodbyes to Laura before slipping into the coma, and when her friend began to wake she walked out of sight to give time to Jake and Ayan.
The outward similarities between Jake and Jonas were eerie. It really was like Jonas and Ayan had been reunited, and for that she would be forever grateful. Her best friend had the best send off she could have hoped for, and when it was all over Jake was in a deep melancholy. She could see it as he walked out of the Silkstream.
Upon seeing his crew his expression hardened, he wore an impenetrable emotional carapace, even through the memorial later that day. His Chief Engineer and Chief of Security took care of everything. She only wished the rest of Ayan's friends could have been there, that her mother cared enough to have supported them in their quest of Jonas Valent after her first efforts were thwarted. In his own way, she knew Jake loved Ayan. The power of Jonas' memories over him was plain, at least in that respect.
It was only eleven hours later and she had no idea what to expect from Jacob Valance. He came in from a door to her right, she could just see a meeting breaking up behind him in a small observation room with a long table running down its middle. “I'm sorry, the evening briefing went long,” he apologized quietly. “I'm taking a page from Jonas' book, he knew how to run a ship.”
She was already sitting down, looking out through the transparesteel wall to the bright nebula surrounding the stellar nursery like some cloudy nest. “That's all right. It gave me some.. ” she stopped for a moment then smiled at him weakly. “time.”
He didn't sit at his desk, but leaned against the transparent section of hull with his hand on the back of his high desk chair. “Something the Triton needs. We're taking a month to repair her, do some testing and train the crew properly. More if we can manage it,” he was so quiet. Not at all what she expected from the man she and Ayan had watched from security video feeds and public appearances in the Hart News Archive.
“I think we all need some time,” she sighed. “What you did for Ayan yesterday was very kind.”
“It was selfish. Beyond passing Jonas' message on to her-” he didn't continue his line of thought, only shook his head. “There was no need to deceive her.”
“Do you have Jonas' emotions?” she asked quietly.
He nodded without hesitation. “I'm aware that they're his, but when I saw Ayan it didn't make a difference.”
Laura looked into his eyes. There was a sadness there she'd only seen in Ayan. He turned to look out towards the nebula. “You love her, don't you,” she stated quietly.
“Just in time to say goodbye,” he whispered back.
“That's why what you did is such a good thing. She had her career after the First Light, I was lucky enough to share that part of her life with her. There was another part of her that never stopped looking for Jonas, and when her health failed so badly that she couldn't work, she only had that dream left. That's the only reason why I'm here and I have only you to thank for making that dream come true at the very last moment. You should be proud of what you did Jake. Now that Jonas is gone you're the only one in the universe that felt that way about her, so it's only right that you got a chance to say goodbye. Where those feelings come from doesn't matter anymore,” she wiped a tear from her own eye, it was still hard to talk about.
He turned around. “You're right. I'll be honest, I'm having trouble,” in that moment his mannerisms matched Jonas.
She smiled at him. “That's what friends are for.”
He walked around his desk and sat down on the edge closest to her. “Thank you,” Jake said quietly. “I remember you and everyone else on the First Light, you know.”
“Good. Those were hard but good times.”
“That's how I remember them.”
Laura shook her head and wiped another tear away. “God, I'm so sick of being sad. I want to be happy Ayan's at peace, to move on and figure things out for myself like I'm sure she'd want me to, but I keep getting dragged down. I wish Jason were here.”
“So you two are still together?”
She chuckled and retracted the gloves of her vacsuit to reveal a platinum band studded with a row of six inset diamonds. “We've been married six years.”
Jake smiled at her, genuinely. “Congratulations, I know I'm late, but congratulations.”
“Thank you. I have to talk to you about that too. I want to send the Silkstream back to Freeground space unmanned.”
“So you'd like to stay here.”
Laura nodded. “Until I know what Jason's decided. I'll send it to the area the Sunspire is patrolling. Oz and Jason are aboard. He knows that if I go back they'll put me in the stockade for life.”
“You have a home here if you want it,” Captain Valance invited. “So does Jason, Oz, and anyone else from the Sunspire. For purely selfish reasons.”
She laughed quietly and nodded. “I was hoping you'd say that. Jason's got to be furious, but I think as soon as he sees the Silkstream he'll set a course to rendezvous with us, whether Oz is willing to leave his command or not.”
“He's in command of the Sunspire?” Jake asked, surprised.
“Along with a Fleet Intelligence oversight Officer. Last I heard having someone checking his orders was driving him nuts, but he's doing well. They converted her back into a carrier with a full squadron aboard. They're running missions in the Blue Belt.”
“So they have a tight leash on him. That would drive me crazy.”
“They're afraid he'll take the whole ship and go after you. Ayan's mother and a few other people with some pull in Fleet were hot to send people your way until Regent Galactic threatened Freeground with reprisals if they interfered with you.”
“Now that's interesting. Why am I so important?”
“That's something Jason's been trying to find out behind the scenes for weeks, but Regent Galactic has so many walls up it's hard to find anything at a great distance.”
“After this training time is up I'll be on their most wanted list I'm sure, but I can't be sure of what they want so badly that they'd threaten Freeground. Maybe when Jason gets here we can puzzle it out. From what I remember of him, I'm sure you're right, he'll be here as soon as possible. I would like to see Oz again as well, but I'll understand if he doesn't want to give up command of the Sunspire. When did they re-dub it?”
“After the ship was rebuilt and launched as a mission carrier. The shadow ship program is officially coming to a close. Wheeler's responsible for that.”
“Well, I'm taking a risk, but I can give you the coordinates of our position over the next month.”
“I'll include them on the Silkstream under an encryption code Jason and I use privately. When she's in range of the Sunspire she'll broadcast.”
“Good, if you need help getting the Silkstream Four ready for launch, just ask Chief Vercelli or his Assistant, Paula.”
“It's pretty much ready now.”
“What about that big calculator you brought with you? It's still in medical.”
“Minuteman? You can tie him into the ship's systems. Since he doesn't have an artificial intelligence he won't be affected by the virus you ran across. The Silkstream doesn't need it. Ayan only brought it aboard to help her.”
“I would have never thought of using a tactical and operations computer to keep someone alive,” Jake said quietly. “She was amazing.”
They were quiet for a moment before Laura cleared her throat and straightened in her seat. “There's something else. I'd like your permission to train with the crew. Before starting Special Projects with Ayan I was the energy field specialist on the First Light. I couldn't help but notice that your ship wasn't using her shield systems nearly as well as they could when you were in the Enreega system.”
Jake grinned at her and extended his hand. “Join any department you want. I know Liam is overextended in Engineering, he'd love to have you.”
She shook his hand and smiled back. “Thank you Jake.”