Captain Valance let Liam's plan to connect the exterior solar and gravity based power systems to the command section go ahead. After that was finished Liam was able to proceed to main engineering for the first time since he had come aboard. All eight of the reactors had been shut down or disconnected from the main power grid. If it weren't for their fading emergency power the Triton would be adrift, helpless.
When Agameg Price returned to the bridge with his security team he boggled at Minister Lorne for a moment before regaining his composure. “The Aucharians have stood down and two squads have gone to the upper berth to aid with crowd control.”
“How are things there?” Asked Captain Valance.
“Not as bad as I had thought. Once Leland and his group were pressed out of the compartments and the lights came back on the situation calmed down. A few people fell through the deck where the plating was damaged and I've sent Grace to help.”
Stephanie looked a little surprised and smiled at Agameg. “Good work. So things have calmed down?”
“Yes, they are wondering when help is coming though, if they will be transported to another port so they can continue on to their final destinations. A few were bound for this system in particular, and are unsure of their fates,” he said sadly.
Captain Valance looked to the Minister, who was staring straight ahead. “Do you have a contingency plan in place?”
“We were going to use your ship and anything else that still had power to ferry survivors into the outer system until a battle group could get here.”
“How far out are they?”
He hesitated before answering. “Five days.”
“We have the TRF Peter en route, they'll be here much sooner.”
“Do you realize the debt that will incur? My people can't afford that kind of cost while rebuilding.”
Captain Valance ran his hand down his face and laughed ruefully. He brought up the scan results of Enreega's surface using the control panel on his chair. “There are two cities still burning, several sunk and two are nothing but dead hulks drifting in orbit. You're worried about cost?”
“No one's going to help us rebuild for free. Independence comes at a great cost and most of that can be calculated in credits,” he protested quietly. “These rescue ships come with a high price tag, they're in it for the cash as much as anyone else.”
“There's no market to manipulate here. Your people are dying and you have to make sacrifices to save as many as you can. How much it costs is besides the point.”
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
“You might be right, politics don't interest me and I'd probably be out of my depth if I tried to run for office. You're on equally unsure footing, Minister. Remember, you're on my ship, a captured Sol Defence vessel that's run by brutal discipline and faith.”
“Faith? You're joking.”
“My people have to have faith in each other and in my decisions. Otherwise there would be chaos. If one of us fails and survives we must have faith that everyone has learned from their experiences. Faith is at the core of this crew, if it wasn't that would leave money and fear and these days I can't afford to use either as often as I used to.”
He sat staring blankly, straight ahead, only nodding once to acknowledge what Captain Valance had said.
Jake looked to Cynthia, who had been watching the entire exchange with interest. “Open the comm ship wide please,” he asked.
“Yes sir, the channel is open.”
He stood up and looked at the Minister. “This is Captain Valance. We are beginning repairs and will be underway to the Pollanis System as soon as possible. The TRF Peter will follow if we leave before they can meet with us. We can't stay here any longer than necessary. We don't know if the Eden Fleet will return. While repairs are underway I'd like anyone who would like to join the crew of the Triton and has qualifications to send their information to the bridge. Keep it short. If you have children aboard, please be aware that this is a ship of war, and I won't want to put the young in harms way.
I can't offer you a great deal of payment, but the Triton is a city unto itself with manufacturing equipment, plenty of living space and a purpose. The Aucharian Military has been defeated in this solar system and after undergoing repairs in a safe location the Triton will be heading into the fight. We'll interfere with Regent Galactic's supply lines, liberate slaves, profit from their loss and make ourselves scarce. We will strike from the shadows, disappear in plain sight and become the three thousand souls that cost them billions.
It is essential that any Aucharian soldier who doesn't want to participate in rebuilding this ship and working towards the same goals disembark from the Triton. Return to your emergency shuttles or the destroyer docked then leave. If you aren't invested in our purpose, you don't have any business aboard my ship. Civilians who don't wish to remain may stay with us until we reach the Pollanis System.”
Captain Valance signalled Cynthia to close the channel and looked to Minister Lorne.
“You're going after Regent Galactic? That's insanity.”
“It's the best game out here, Minister. Anything with less than sixty guns won't have a chance against us and between the members of my existing crew we know the trade routes, the underground, and even a few other ships who would gladly join up if they knew we had their flank. I could start a fleet of my own if I like.”
“These people are untrained, only refugees and deserters.”
“The ship can train them, and if they don't measure up we'll leave them somewhere safe. In case you haven't noticed, this is a modern vessel with simulator visors, reconfigurable consoles and it's wider than it is long. There's plenty of room to train five hundred, maybe a thousand people at a time during normal operations.”
“You don't have the time, putting the ship under Aucharian Fleet control and collecting military personnel from the system for a crew would be much more effective.”
Captain Valance opened a private comm line. “Liam, how are our reactors?”
“I can get three online within the next four hours. It doesn't look like the other five have been activated for about eight years. I'd like to do a more thorough check on them before starting them up. I heard your speech by the way. I'll submit my qualifications right away.”
“You're hired. How is our cloaking device looking?”
“I'm having a couple of your more diminutive crew members reset the aft emitters and check the plating. It should be all set in about an hour. We won't be able to use it until we get a reactor online though.”
“Thank you Liam, we'd be dead out here without you.”
“My pleasure captain, just working on these machines is reward enough.”
Captain Valance closed the line. “With a working cloaking device this ship turns into an invisible city.”
“I'll watch the Newsnets for your execution. Regent Galactic is far more cunning than you give them credit for with more resources than you could imagine. If they can't find you they'll go after your crew through their families and friends. Then they'll force them to betray you.”
“We'll be ready.” He turned to one of Agameg's security team, a tall brown haired woman holding a heavy pulse rifle. “Escort the Minister to the brig. Make sure you search him thoroughly. Don't leave him with anything. No devices, no jewellery, and not a stitch of clothing. ”
“Yes sir,” she guided the Minister to the rear of the bridge, smiling at him.
“Go watch. Stay out of striking distance and keep your weapon trained on him.” Captain Valance instructed another female security team member.
When Minister Lorne and the two guards had left the bridge Captain Valance sighed and looked at Agameg, who smiled uneasily.
“A day that will live in memory,” said the issyrian. The fine, thread thin tendrils beside his mouth puffed outward for a moment. The only parts of his face that didn't look strange to anyone outside of his race were his lips and his eyes. The lips were thin, but much like a humans. His eyes were completely different, however. They were wide, deep or bright green depending on his mood and much larger, but their expressiveness was always easy to read. When he looked nervous they were almost completely O shaped. When he was concentrating they formed into wide slits, and when he was nervously trying to comfort someone it was somewhere in between, just like the expression he was making in that moment. The bright green tint of them told the Captain that Agameg was unsure, nervous. When the thin issyrian was relaxed the colour normally darkened, but they could also be a deep shade of green when he was tired.
“Have a seat.” Captain Valance said, gesturing to his left.
Stephanie looked up from the small control panel and holographic projector built into her chair and smiled at Agameg for a moment before it drew her attention once more. “Are all these applicants Cynthia?” she asked.
“They are. We're up to about eight hundred now including the military. Should I filter them or just send them to you?”
“I'm filtering them here. The variety of applicants we're getting is amazing. Some of them are from the starliner, others are from the escape shuttles. There are even specialists and highly educated people here.”
“Good, work with Cynthia to choose people for each department. We'll need everyone from technicians to reserve pilots.”
“Oh, if you find any washed out pilots or gamers, send 'em my way. They're crap in the cockpit, but gold in a gunnery turret.” Frost added from the security station. “And track someone down to help me here, security and tactical is a wee bit much.”
Captain Valance and Price moved to stand at the same time. “I can try sir. These systems look interesting and I've already worked with them a little,” Agameg said.
“Go ahead,” Jake invited. “How is that docked transport doing?” he asked the helm.
“They're still locked onto us.” Ashley reported.
“According to my readings they still have full life support. It looks like they're just clinging on for safety,” said the fellow at navigation.
“Or they're out of food and water. What's your name, by the way?”
“Larry Nevil. I was brought on as navigator when Wheeler got his deal from Regent Galactic. Before that I was navigator aboard the Cestrio. It was a long range customs pursuit ship that was damaged in an Aucharian attack.”
“He's one of the good guys sir,” Ashley said, smiling at him.
“Good to have you aboard. Sticking around?” Asked Captain Valance.
“Aye sir, if you'll have me. Living aboard this ship is better than living on a customs frigate or even a diplomatic cruiser. Even if it doesn't pay as well. Get a few shops and restore the botanical gallery and we'll have a real town square.”
“What's a botanical gallery?” Ashley asked with interest.
“On this ship it's a big space that used to have all kinds of plants and animals from Earth. There were paths going between them and a few different levels. I started working on it in my spare time using some of the seeds in storage. I didn't make much of a mark though, just the center part alone is huge.”
“After we get the ship repaired we'll have people work on it on a voluntary basis. It would be good for morale.” Captain Valance put in as he started looking at a security screen. “Is this right, Frost?”
“What's that sir?”
“It looks like a lot of emergency shuttles are powering up.”
“That's right sir. Hangar two is the busiest place on the ship.”
The Changing Of The Guard
Lawrence held on to his mother's hand as he watched the first of the shuttles depart. He was mesmerized by the sight of the little ships powering their engines up and lifting off from the deck. Following the directions of the Aucharian soldiers who waved their arms up, to their sides, down and all around. He tugged at the collar of the child sized vacsuit Liam had brought them while they were in the racks. The man didn't stay long, just for a minute, but he liked the older fellow, seeing him made him feel safe. His mother wore one of the vacsuits as well. “When are we going Mom?” he asked.
“We'll be on one of the last ones. Your dad is waiting for us on the Darian. ”
“Is that his ship?”
She knelt down and looked at him face to face. “No, it's a ship that helped him when he escaped from his space station.”
“Is Liam going there?”
“No, he has to stay here.”
“Why?”
“Well, there are a lot of other families who need his help. The people on this ship need him too because no one knows how it works better than him.”
“This is a ship?” Lawrence said, his eyes wide.
“Yes, it's one big ship.”
“The whole thing?” he asked in disbelief, thinking of how long it took them to get from the smelly, messy bunk rooms all the way down to the hangar deck even using the fast express car.
“This whole thing.” Shelly said with a smile. “And they're going to go help people just like us.”
“And they need Liam?”
“Yes they do.”
“Should we stay and help? Maybe dad could come too?”
“No, we need to go visit your Gran again. She misses us and wants to see all of us this time, even your dad.”
“Oh, can we come back and visit Liam?”
Shelly laughed a little and stroked her son's cheek. “You like him, don't you?”
He nodded.
“Maybe some day, but not for a very long time. He's going to be very busy and very far away for a few years. I'm sure you can send him a message when we get to Gran's though. He might like that.”
“Okay.”
An Aucharian soldier walked over to them and smiled. “We can load you on the next one. We're loading it with everyone going to the Darian. ” s he said, holding her rifle across her armoured chest.
“Thank you,” Shelly replied, standing up. “Let's go Lawrence.” She took his hand again.
They walked across the hangar around other groups on their way to board shuttles made for four, six, eight and twelve. As they drew nearer it became clear they were being loaded onto one of the larger military boarding shuttles. “I thought these would be reserved for your people,” Shelly said to the soldier as she picked Lawrence up in her arms. He was getting a good look at the big dark grey ship.
“Most of us are staying. After seeing what Captain Valance can do with a converted cargo hauler and what's left of Enreega, we want to see what kind of fight he can put us in with the Triton. ”
“Good luck. I hope things work out,” Shelly said as she moved up the line.
“I have a good feeling about this ma'am, you'll hear about us again,” she replied with a smile. “You take good care of your son and tell Tanner that Junior Lieutenant Eccleston says hello.”
“You know my husband?”
“He was my commanding officer during my tour aboard station four. I wish he was coming with us but with you two around, I can see why he's moving on.”
“I'll tell him. Take care of yourself.”
“I will.”
The last of the passengers loaded onto the boarding shuttle and Junior Lieutenant Jane Eccleston made sure the hatch was secure before signalling the temporary deck crew. “Only nine left, then we get to lock this hangar down until the Captain has a use for it again,” she said into her communicator. “Let's keep this accident free.”
“Ma'am, the Captain's on the line for you,” reported one of her soldiers.
“Put him through.”
“You're on with him now.”
“Captain Valance, I'm Junior Lieutenant Jane Eccleston. Our commanding officer has returned to the destroyer Verant, I took over.”
“Good work getting a deck crew organized. I'm impressed.”
“Thank you sir. My platoon prides itself on it's ability to improvise.”
“We received your qualifications, I'm impressed. When you're finished down there I'd like to see you on the bridge.”
“I won't go up unless you take all of us. Only three are returning to the Verant. ”
“Done. We need you. Captain Valance out.”
“Sounds like we've got a new boss.” Her communications officer said.
“Listening in again Sherman? You're going to have to drop that habit, Parsons put up with it while he was in command, but I won't,” Jane sighed and signalled another shuttle sealed and ready. “Put the rest of the platoon on the line, they should hear this.”
“Aye.” The transparent display inside her visor showed that all thirty six members of her platoon were listening in a moment later.
“I've spoken to Captain Valance. We're all welcome to join the crew,” Jane said, smiling to herself.
“Thank God, I was afraid we'd be on the run,” Said Kari.
“That's good news, too bad we lost a few,” added Frederick.
“Finally, some action!” Shouted Stephano.
“Another day, another outfit,” commented Marion.
“So we're going to actually get to work now? Not just inspect and polish for twelve hours a day? Finally,” complained Marcus.
“Having six shape shifters in the platoon probably informed his decision a bit.”
There were a number of other comments of approval and a couple wise cracks that overlapped and Jane couldn't help but grin as she watched the last pair of shuttles slowly drift out of the hangar.
“Quiet down, let's hear what we've signed up for,” Sherman said over everyone.
“I'm headed to the bridge to speak to the Captain in person. I expect he'll break us up a little, on a ship like this that's bound to happen, but we'll all be inside the same hull, fighting the same fight. I need everyone to be on their best behaviour, to do their best work. From what I've seen of the Triton, she's a mess, and we'll have to train while we make repairs.”
“Looks like half this stuff has been dormant longer than I've been alive.” Commented Nathan, her second in command. “And they added a few sections of ergranian steel that have been expanding unchecked for a while. It's going to be interesting trying to work that in. I've seen sections where the metal has grown right around cables and piping.”
“I'm going to find out what we can expect from Valent, what kind of experience he has with a ship this size, if any.” Julie continued as she stepped into an express car. There were three other people inside, one was Nathan, the other two she had seen helping on the hangar deck. “I'll update everyone once I know more, until then keep your eyes open for orders and directions from Triton command. I get the feeling that Captain Valance wants to pull things together fast. Eccleston out.” The channel closed and she looked to Nathan.
He was an issyrian just like her, and held a human shape as well. It made most people they worked with more comfortable. “There's barely any crew to speak of, glad we're here.”
“Aye, it's better than going back to the Verant and trying to make a go of that wreck.”
“Do you think he'll break us up?”
“I would. Two thirds of us are damage control specialists, the other third are security with extra training.” Julie said with a shrug.
“I wouldn't. I mean, everyone in the Platoon knows their way around repairing just about anything. Even Stephano can put a power transfer board together in his sleep and when he signed up a year ago he could barely plug in a space heater.”
“We'll see.”
“You two are headed to the bridge?” Asked an older gentleman. His wispy grey hair and well kept but his old, loose fitting vacsuit spoke of an age beyond either of the soldiers.
“Aye, our platoon is signing up. We're an emergency repair and recovery unit, thought we'd fit right in here. Junior Lieutenant Julie Eccleston at your service.”
“Good to meet you, I'm a shuttle and fighter technician. Used to work out of Station Three but got off just in time with about half my deck crew. Name's Angelo Vercelli.”
Nathan grinned at him. “I thought I recognized you. You're signing up with your team?”
“Aye, me and my second here, Paula.” He gestured to a younger, much shorter, slim woman in a similar vacsuit.
She nodded with a forced smile. “Long day.”
“You can say that again,” Julie agreed as the doors to the express car opened.
They walked across the broad hallway to the massive main doors to the bridge. As they approached heavy arms drew the thick armoured doors out and apart to reveal a sight unlike any of them had ever seen.
The main bridge of the Triton with the lower deck revealed seemed complex at first. There were a dozen stations along the walls and as many distributed throughout the room on each level. The clearly visible deep brown pathways on the floor leading to each station in a radial pattern also indicated where one would expect substations to be, where extra staff could help with regular operations. The space around the pathways was transparent deck plating, showing a tactical command center for fighters and larger vessels that was just as large and well equipped as the main bridge. Near the head of the bridge was a ramp leading down to the lower level on either side.
On the front wall there was a two dimensional display that took up most of the space there, to its right and left were doorways you could barely distinguish from the rest of the black walls. In front of the helm there was a large hologram of the Triton itself. Shaped like a large stingray from earth, it had three massive engines at the rear, and two nearer to the center of the underside. A pair of extra engines were built into the aft port and starboard ends of the ship. The overlay on the hologram detailed where work was being done, how many refugees were still aboard, where they were, and showed that a large transit ship had docked with them without permission. It's blocky hull hung off one side of the Triton like some kind of parasite and was coloured red to indicate it was an unwelcome guest.
The command seating in the center of the bridge was set atop semitransparent flooring and was five meters across. The captain's chair was in the center with two seats on either side. To their surprise an issyrian sat in the Captain's seat, looking over a holographic directory tree. “The Captain and his First Officer await you in his ready room,” the watch officer said in a pleasant tone, pointing to the door on the left. He was wearing a black armoured vacsuit unlike any they'd seen. It was sleek, form fitted with extra impact resistant sections over top, there were no visible seams and by looking at it they couldn't even determine for sure how one would remove the transparent oval faceplate. The design was simple and looked more efficient than their own, bulkier infantry armour.
The group of four walked down the short ramp that led into the bridge and followed a radial path down the side of the compartment. Everyone knew they could just as easily walk on the transparent section of the deck, but it seemed to make sense to follow the meter wide opaque paths that were plainly laid out, even though it forced them into single file.
The heavy ready room door was drawn aside to reveal a modest office. The wall behind the Captain was transparent, showing the field of stars and an edge of Enreega beyond. One of the smouldering cities was just barely visible on its blue surface. “-long to figure out the lighting system. It's measured in lumens until you set it on a different scale,” the Captain was saying as they walked inside.
“Okay, that's strange though, everything else I've run into is on a scale of ten or one hundred,” replied the brown haired woman sitting on the Captain's desk. She was half turned towards the door.
They were both dressed in black vacsuits, not quite as well armoured as the one the watch officer was wearing. The material looked perfectly flexible and fitted to their forms, only two to five millimetres thick. They were sealed all the way up to the neck, leaving only their heads exposed.
“One thousand lumens is about the right starting point for a room like this.” Commented Angelo. “I usually set cockpit lighting down to four hundred, keeps the instrumentation nice and clear.”
“You're Angelo Vercelli,” The younger woman said, dropping from the desk to stand up straight, her knee high combat boots clomped against the deck. She offered her hand. “I'm Stephanie Vega, First Officer here on the Triton. ”
Angelo shook her hand. “This is my second in command, Paula Mendle.”
Stephanie went on to shake her hand, then looked to Jane and Nathan. After introductions were made all around, she sat back down on the edge of Captain Valance's desk.
“It's been a very long day for everyone, so I'll get to the point.” Captain Valance started. “ Triton needs you, I need you. We're in bad shape and automation is failing across the ship.”
“That's probably our fault, Captain. We disconnected the power in engineering as soon as we boarded,” Jane said with a nod. “Under orders.”
“I understand, but that's not the primary cause. When the former Captain put the automation in place he had to disable all the internal security to make it workable. Now that we've started bringing some of that back on line it's interfering with the automation.”
“How long has this ship been automated for?” Asked Nathan.
“Almost forty years from what I've been able to see in the logs.” Stephanie said. “They ran the ship with a crew of about one hundred.”
“That's a lot of automation.”
“Aye, no wonder you're having trouble taking control,” Angelo agreed.
“So you see our problem. We need organized teams in place to start working on the critical systems, exploring the ship and establishing a chain of command.”
“Have you ever commanded a ship this size before, if you don't mind me asking sir?” Asked Jane.
“Have you heard of the First Light?” Captain Valance asked, looking across the group.
Angelo looked startled for a moment then took a closer look at the Captain with a smile slowly spreading across his face. “I thought I recognized you. Captain Jonas Valent. I always wondered what happened at Starfree Port.”
“Could you fill us in a little old timer?” Paula asked peevishly.
“Right. The First Light was a Freeground ship. An old carrier with an ergranian steel hull and a third of the armaments she was made to carry. They sent her out with a green captain and some kind of special crew from what anyone could determine. Under the command of their Captain, Jonas Valent, they managed to take out a carrier twenty times her size called the Overlord II before running off to repair at a nearby station. After she finished repairs, they took out another carrier and a few destroyers single handed and turned up at Starfree Port. Not long after that she just disappeared. Just a few weeks ago was re-dubbed the Sunspire and put back into service. There's a whole documentary on this now, but I remember the holocast of your tousle with that Triad Consortium Carrier and the four or five Vindyne destroyers. Man did they want you after that. What happened? I'm itching to know.”
Captain Valance soaked in every word of Angelo's retelling, trying not to look surprised at someone else knowing more about his past than he did then nodded solemnly when he was finished. “I went into hiding. I can get into the rest of that some other time. What's important now is that we get things in line, make the ship safe and ready.”
“Aye sir, after what you did with that ship, I'm with you.” Angelo said without reservation.
“My platoon will take care of your boat for as long as you're willing to take the fight to Regent Galactic.” Jane said with a smile.
“Thank you. I'm putting you in charge of all the Aucharian soldiers aboard, coordinate with my First Officer and Chief Engineer, Liam Grady.” Captain Valance told Jane with a smile. “Your objectives are to ensure the peace is maintained and that no one strays into the sealed sections of the ship. Help with the repairs if you have time, but limiting access should be more important for now.”
“Yes sir.”
“Angelo, I'd like your team to start clearing the hangars. Put anything not in use in storage and get them ready for incoming ships. I don't know what we can expect out here, or what we'll need other than clear space. If you could inventory what we have that would be good too, but it's not top priority.”
“Aye sir. I'll get my people together and we'll start in hangar two.”
“Thank you again, for the purpose of clarity I'm designating Jane as Security Chief, and Angelo as Deck Chief. Welcome to the Triton. ” Captain Valance said with a smile. It was reciprocated by everyone in the room except for Paula, who didn't look quite as sour as she did when she first entered the room.
The new crew members left, leaving Jake and Stephanie alone in the room again. “Lucky,” Captain Valance said quietly. “We're very lucky.”
“That platoon is responsible for getting the Verant operational again. That's pretty good work for a destroyer with a slagged front half.”
“Notice how they didn't say anything about the Minister?”
Stephanie thought for a moment. “You're right. I guess they like government about as much as anyone.”
“That helps. He'll be a perfect pawn.”
“What for sir?”
“Regent Galactic. I'm expecting them any minute now. If we don't have to use him when we meet up with Regent, I plan on using him next time we meet up with the Aucharians.”
Stephanie smiled at him. “I'm surprised at how lost he seemed, like he'd never been on this side of a desk.”
“Politicians, they earn their rank through popularity, not qualification. I doubt he actually did anything resembling hard service.”
Stephanie's smile subsided and she looked out the window to the distant planet.
“What's on your mind,” Jake asked gently.
“Being First Officer. On the Samson it means something completely different. I look at manuals more than anything and outside of security I have no idea what I'm doing. I shudder at the mention of engineering, that whole section of the status display is a mystery to me. I don't even know what DERA system is and we have eight of them. They take up a tenth of the ship.”
“They're diverse energy reactor assemblies and can turn almost any material or force of nature into raw power or use high yield fusion if you have the right staff. The three Wheeler was using were set to run on dense materials like uranium. Cheap but dirty and inefficient.”
“See? All I really know about uranium is that you're not supposed to handle the stuff outside a suit.”
“Stephanie, you've been working with me for what, four years?”
“Coming up on five, sir.”
“It's your decision making process I want in that chair. Everything else you'll learn through questioning and experience. Just do what I do when I don't know something, ask, delegate and make sure whoever you left in charge is making the right choices.”
“If commanding a ship like this were that easy I would have seen a few more of them out here. As it is, I've only seen maybe half a dozen military carriers in my life.”
“You'll have second chair on this one if you stick with it,” Captain Valance said invitingly. “Give it some time, use it as an opportunity to learn, lean on the people you trust.” He stood and put her hand on her shoulder. “At the core of it all, you're First Officer because I trust you.”
“Thank you sir. I'll do my best.”
“Captain, we have a problem. Five Regent Galactic ships have arrived at the system outer limits,” Frost reported over the comm. “And I'm still the only one manning tactical.”
Captain Valance walked onto the bridge and took the command chair with Stephanie close behind.
Price was already on his way to helping Frost at the tactical and security stations. “At least I had half an hour to go through the general tutorial,” he said to himself. “It seems simple enough at a glance.”
“Wait 'till you start looking a little deeper an' try doing somethin' that's worth doin' right. Then we'll see those eyes go as round as saucers.”
“You'd think you'd be rooting for me.”
“You've got a point there,” Frost said with a nod as he brought up their missile and torpedo inventory.
“Liam, how are my reactors?” Captain Valance asked through the intercom. He waited a minute, looking at the tactical screen. “Liam?”
“Aye, here sir. We could bring them online, I'd rather have another twenty minutes though.”
“With hostiles in the area we don't have the time. How about our cloaking systems?”
“They've been reset. Any misalignment or other problems have been corrected, theoretically.”
“Good. Give us some power.”
“All three reactors will be online in about two minutes. It won't be as clean as I'd like, but that can come later. Liam out.”
“Pardon me Captain, but unless I'm mistaken we won't be able to enter hyperspace, use shields or effectively cloak as long as we're docked with that transport,” Agameg Price said, pointing to the main holographic display.
“God dammit, have we been able to communicate with them at all?”
“No sir. I've been trying everything, even the hard line through the mooring point,” Cynthia reported.
“How many souls aboard?”
“One hundred seventy one sir,” Frost reported.
“Fine, take care of it Steph, we should have done something about that an hour ago.”
Stephanie was out of her seat and on her way off the bridge, opening communications to Jane and taking a pulse rifle from one of the four bridge guards. “Chief Eccleston, send two squads of armed units to the port mooring hatch. I'll assume direct command once I get there.”
Captain Valance took a closer look at the tactical display then brought it up on the main holoprojector. “There's a gravity shadow there, but the sensors aren't picking up anything else.” He adjusted the scanners to focus in on a space right behind the five destroyers and switched between different sets of readings.
The silhouette of a three tiered octagonal ship with long girders extending from each corner appeared. “That's new,” he said to himself. The holodisplay marked the main body as nine kilometres wide, each extended arm was an additional twelve kilometres.
It appeared to all spectrums of light, on all scanning systems with a sudden burst of light and the holoprojector showed the outline of a magnetic field over twenty five hundred kilometres across extending from it in all directions.
“I think we're a little out gunned sir,” Frost said quietly.
“That field, it must be how it collects power,” Price added. “It's rotating so it's facing the star.”
“Wouldn't that endanger the ships around it?” Asked Ashley.
“It's not much different from the magnetic field the Samson and most other ships generate. Only instead of redirecting small particles around the ship it collects them along with solar radiation, this ship has a similar, but much smaller magnetic scoop system,” Captain Valance replied. “With those arms it could probably project an even bigger field if it had to.”
The reactors powered up and on the secondary holographic display systems across the ship started turning yellow and green. “Ashley, pilot us towards the nearest moon. I want it between us and that ship as soon as possible.”
“Aye sir,” Ashley acknowledged with a smile.
“Are you sure you're ready to fly the Triton under full power?” Asked her copilot in a hushed, nervous tone.
“Yup, I just got certified.”
“How long ago?”
“Tuesday, I think.”
“You're kidding, right? Tell me you're kidding.”
“Shut up and watch for surprises,” Ashley said as she began accelerating, rotating the ship towards Vallestra, a nearby rocky moon.
“Incoming system wide communication from the command ship,” Cynthia reported.
“Put it on the tertiary display.”
The holoprojector on the left side of the bridge switched from its extended tactical view to the familiar image of a Regent Galactic representative complete with perfectly pressed suit and neat haircut. “This is the Regent Galactic Vessel Kraken. We received news of the tragedy that has befallen you and made haste to this system. Our search and rescue ships are deploying now, please remain where you are and wait for our teams to make contact. You will not be charged for our services, though we ask that you have your insurance information ready. If you are in immediate danger, please contact us as soon as you are able.” The hologram started repeating the same message and Cynthia muted it.
“This isn't exactly what I'd call ideal,” Captain Valance said to himself. “They might think Wheeler is still in command. So if they don't make contact in the next few minutes we might be all right if we can get into hyperspace.”
The massive ship's three layers began to separate, growing in height. Smooth, white, five segmented ships began emerging. Each one scanned as one hundred ninety meters in length with several turrets and docking interfaces. Other, more utilitarian vessels began to launch from the three eight sided hangars, heading out in all directions.
The Triton was almost behind the cover of Vallestra, its rocky blue and grey surface was looming larger on the smaller rear view projection under the taller image coming from the main holoprojector. “Stephanie, how are you doing with that transit vessel?” Asked Captain Valance.
“Just popping it open now Captain, stand by.” She replied into her communicator as the meter and a half wide airlock doors opened. Unlike the mooring port in the gunnery deck this one had a broad hallway leading to it. Stephanie felt much better with a hallway around her and eighteen armed soldiers behind.
A sweating, exhausted looking wiry woman stumbled through the hatch. “Thank God! What's wrong with you people? We docked in an emergency and your system didn't even lock onto us. We had to jam the mechanism so you couldn't shake us off!”
Stephanie levelled her rifle at the woman, it was set on high stun. There were several irate passengers behind her. “We aren't equipped for search and rescue and our power was out. We would have informed you but we were unable to communicate with you.”
“Our comms were down.”
“We tried the hard line. All you had to do was turn the intercom on.”
“Oh, well none of us did that! No one told us! Can you help us or not?”
Stephanie lowered her rifle and signalled the soldiers behind her to do the same. “Yes, but follow our orders or we'll confine you. Do you understand?”
“Nice, fine, whatever.”
“Leave any weapons with these guards here,” Stephanie directed towards Liz and a much larger male soldier. “Then follow our directions to our upper berth. It isn't much but you'll be able to get food and water out of the materializers and you'll have somewhere to rest until we can make port.”
The passengers started coming through the airlock and Stephanie helped direct them out of the transit ship. It was a flimsy vessel with a lot of transparent metal. The seats and floor looked old and misused, the passengers looked tired and wilted.
The haggard woman stood beside Stephanie as she made sure that the passengers didn't rush through the airlock. She didn't lift a finger to help, just stood by watching the disembarkation. “What was your destination?” Stephanie asked as the last of the passengers came through.
“We were bound for the Palimino when it was destroyed. A whole city ship, just sunk. Then those little ships came along and nearly killed everyone. Luckily they only damaged our engines and destroyed our communications. We were able to catch you with thrusters, though you were no help. Your ship kept veering away.”
Stephanie shook her head, unwilling to get sucked into another argument. A soldier closed the outer then inner airlock. “All right, time to cut it loose. Do you have a remote system or command code?” Stephanie asked.
“What do you mean? That ship is my responsibility, I can't just set it adrift.”
“You have to. If you don't we can't go into hyperspace.”
“What? You're not staying and helping anyone else in the system?”
“Like I said, we're not equipped for that so we're going to the nearest port and we're going to drop you off at an emergency center so they can take care of you. Now just decouple your ship and we'll be-”
“What kind of people are you? First you play keep away when we try to dock, then you don't let us in for four hours, now you want me to dump my ship while you leave the system without helping anyone else? This ship is huge! There must be room for thousands aboard! You must have a crew and medical facilities!”
“None of that is any of your business, just take it on faith that we're not ready to help and release your docking system, please.” Stephanie said as calmly as she could manage while talking over the woman.
“I can't! Weren't you listening? We jammed it so you couldn't just shake us off and leave us twisting in the cold!”
“All right. Go with the officer please. He'll show you to a bunk.”
“What? What about my ship? Are you going to do something to it? What are you going to do?”
“We'll rip it off like the scab it is! Now get your ass down the hall before I stun you!” Stephanie snapped.
The soldier grabbed the frazzled woman by the arm and nearly had to drag her down the hall.
“You can't do this! That's Transit Authority property!” she yelled before giving up on Stephanie and turning to the guard, who was guiding her towards the upper berth where the rest of the refugees were being taken.
“You handled that well,” Liz commented quietly.
“Until I threatened to fire on her.”
“She wasn't being reasonable. Can't blame her much though. Who knows what she lost in the attack.”
“You're right. I just can't wait to get out of this system.”
“What are you going to do about this ship?”
“Well, I'll seal this hall off at this end and leave it up to the Captain. He might have to send a crew out to cut it loose.”
“That makes sense,” Liz grabbed an end of the full trunk of weaponry and ammunition while her larger counterpart activated the gravity lift. It hovered a few inches off the deck and she pushed it in front of her with ease. “My uncle used to drive transit. Said it was exciting for the first week, but after that it was the most boring thing he'd ever done.”
“Did he quit?”
“I think he's due for retirement actually. He's been at it for about thirty five years.”
They passed under the emergency pressure door closest to the airlock and Stephanie sealed it behind them. Liz looked up at her and smiled. “Well, on to the next issue. I've been on stims for three hours, wee.”
“I was nearly killed on the bridge and feel like I've slept for a week ever since they brought me back from the brink. I'm sure we'll get a chance to sleep after we're in hyperspace.”
“Stephanie, why is that ship still attached to us?” Asked Frost through the communicator.
“They jammed their locking mechanism so we couldn't shake them off. Everyone's out though, so if the Captain wants to scrape it off he's clear to do so.”
“Alright, I think he's got a solution. Thanks Steph.”
The Clever Dream
Alice and Jonas sat in the darkened cockpit of the Clever Dream watching the wormhole emergence timer count down from two minutes. “I wonder what he'll say when he sees you?” Alice asked quietly.
“I hope it's something like; 'oh, hi. The more the merrier.' and not something like; 'there can only be one! Die impostor!'”
Alice laughed and shook her head. “Well, either way, it's going to be interesting to finally meet him. He's made an impression in this part of the galaxy. Must be in the blood.”
“He made a bigger splash than I did, that's for sure. I couldn't imagine a life of bounty hunting, repossessions and everything else he's on record for.”
“I could see you doing the privateering.” Alice said with a smile. “You'd make a great pirate.”
“Okay, maybe, but privateering is different that piracy.”
“Right, someone gives you a bazillion digit number that says you can destroy and steal stuff that belongs to specific companies and governments instead of you just going off and doing it without permission.”
“See? Completely different.”
“I guess. We're coming out into the Enreega system,” Alice said as the timer counted down the last five seconds and she took the controls.
They emerged into regular space and immediately adjusted course to avoid a large section of hull drifting nearby. “Check the tactical screen.”
“On it.” Jonas said as he looked over a holographic representation of the area around the planet Seneschal. He jerked in his seat as the image of the octagonal appeared along with the dozens of ships it was launching. “Holy hell! Looks like Regent Galactic is here, and they've been busy. There's a command carrier here that beats pretty much everything I've seen for volume and mass.” He looked around a little more. “Something really bad happened here, there's wreckage everywhere with various signatures, even a bunch of Eden Fleet ships.”
“I hope we missed the main event,” Alice muttered as she guided her course to a nearby moon and engaged the cloaking device. “We're down to about fourteen percent fuel, the constant attack the Clever Dream maintained while we were escaping really cost us.”
“I'm sorry my estimates were a little off after taking a tour of that strange ship's brain,” Lewis interjected.
“Don't worry, you still saved our butts, but we should start plotting a jump out of the system. I don't want to be around here, cloaked or not.”
“Yes Alice, but I think you might want to focus your targeting reticle on the ship ahead, you might find it very interesting.”
Alice looked through the targets ahead and selected the Sol Defence ship. “The Triton?” she said to herself.
“That's Wheeler's ship.”
“The Freegrounder who betrayed you?”
“Yup.”
“But it's not registered to him. My target information says it was just captured by Jacob Valance as a war prize, legitimized on an Aucharian letter of marque.” Alice said with a wide grin. “Oh my God, how did he take a carrier?”
“Oh hell, how am I supposed to top that?” Jonas said with a chuckle as he focused the scanners on it.
“You got the girl, remember?”
“Right, here's hoping that's holding true. It looks like they're trying to hide behind that moon while they take people on from a smaller ship.”
“Lewis, open a channel, make sure he only sees me,” Alice requested.
“Our cloak will be ineffective while we're transmitting,” Lewis reminded her.
Alice flipped three switches to deactivate the cloaking system. “No need to waste fuel.”
“Opening channel.”
“ Clever Dream to Triton. This is Alice Valent, requesting permission to land.”
A moment later Jake Valance's face came up on her secondary display, smiling uncharacteristically. “I can't believe it, we were just about to go. Could you do us a favour first?”
“Name it.”
“Pick that transit ship off our hull? Don't worry about it's condition, just don't expect to clip it off easily, it's hard docked to us.”
“I have fantastic aim, don't worry.”
“All right, after it's clear, land in hangar two.”
“See you there.”
The channel closed and she armed her pulse cannons.
“I still can't believe how much he looks like me. I mean, I know he's a version of me built around a materializer frame, but it's like looking into another dimension, seeing the dark version of yourself.”
“You think you're confused? Imagine the look on his face when he sees you.” She locked on to the smaller ship and angled her guns parallel to the hull of the Triton then opened fire with a burst. Half the vessel flew into pieces, the thin hull came apart like paper. She fired one more burst, closer to the Triton's hull and cleared all but the docking port away. She sucked air in between her teeth as her last pair of shots deflected off of the Triton's armour. “That's gonna scorch.” She cringed. “Good thing it's superficial.”
She flipped the Clever Dream end over end and started a long turn that brought them in line with the open hangar on the underside of the much larger ship. “Reunion tiiiime,” she announced with a smile.
“Can we enter hyperspace?” Captain Valance asked the helm.
“Our profile is clean enough sir, as soon as the Clever Dream is aboard and the hangar doors are closed we'll be good to go,” replied Larry from navigation.
The bridge was dead silent as everyone watched the main holographic projector display the Clever Dream landing in hangar two. As the sleek, black ship decelerated and touched down, the hangar doors slowly closed behind it.
They sealed. “Get us out of here,” Captain Valance ordered.
Ashley increased throttle to maximum as Larry started the hyperspace particle emitters and the Triton was moving faster than light in a matter of seconds. There was a collective sigh of relief on the bridge as the realization that they had made it out of the area sunk in.