“I see armour!” shouted a Sunspire soldier from one of the rubble pits. The explosion that decimated the large escape ship three days before caused a chain reaction within, unleashing enough force inside to reduce it to scrap and slag. There wasn’t a single hallway or compartment intact. Alice and most of the Warlord crew hadn’t left the site.
Stephanie ran over to the soldier. “Don’t shout out, use comms, we need to see what we’ve found for sure before we get a crowd,” she said. “Besides, it could be another one of those super-soldiers.”
Alice ran towards the pit and was stopped by Finn and Agameg. “You might not want to see this,” Finn said. “Remember what our scans found.”
Frost walked over in tall, mechanized armour, carefully stepping around the debris. “I’ve got a detailed scan, there’s a girder in the way. I’ll move it so we won’t have to cut him.”
Alice watched as Frost bent down and pried at the metal slowly. “I have to see him. He’s going to be alive, and I know he’ll want to see me.”
Frost pulled at the tip of a twisted girder, the sounds of metal scraping on metal and bending steel making most of them cringe. “I’ve got it, pull him free,” he said.
The soldiers pulled at something carefully and an outcry surged from the onlookers as they backed out suddenly, with what exactly, Alice couldn’t see. She concentrated enough to get a scan and panicked as she realized they’d pulled nothing more than a bit of his spine, shoulder and his upper cranium free.
“Don’t let her through!” Stephanie cried.
Alice wouldn’t be stopped, and, regardless of tear-blurred vision, she managed to push and squeeze her way past everyone. “You don’t understand!” she screamed as Stephanie and Ayan caught her. “We’re not human. We don’t even play by the same rules.”
“She’s seen,” Frost said sullenly. “Let her in close so she can say goodbye.”
“I’m sorry,” Ayan said through her own tears. “I know you were hoping.”
Alice pushed her off and fell to her knees beside her father. “Please, please tell me there’s enough,” she said as she touched Jacob Valent’s exposed skull through his broken headgear. She couldn’t feel anything.
“We tried,” Ayan said. “I’m so sorry, Alice.” She was repeating herself, something a lot of people had been doing around her for the last several days.
“There’s got to be something left, the top of his head is here,” Alice said. “We can heal people, especially each other.” A thought occurred to her, and she retracted her vacsuit gloves.
Alice gingerly touched the surface of exposed bone and gasped. “He’s still here, the framework did it, his mind’s been preserved.”
She touched the exposed flesh beside his spine and jerked her hand away. “Ew, that bit’s been dead awhile.” Alice put both hands on the exposed part of his cranium and tried to block out everything around her. “I’m going to bring him back,” she whispered as she felt the framework system preserving his brain. The instant she sent power into it, the few emitters left inside his skull surged to life, using all the energy she could provide to rebuild other emitters, to grow the framework system.
Alice channelled all the power her vacsuit could provide, and heard the crowd gasp and shift as oddly coloured bone began to form. She looked to her right, where Frost stood in his suit and said. “I need more, a lot more.” She pointed at a power socket on the left leg and said. “There! That! Take the cap off!”
Stephanie hurriedly pulled the cap off and Frost stepped in closer. Alice jerked as she touched the socket and channelled the energy through a circuit in her framework body into Jacob Valent’s. In seconds he regenerated, appearing freshly whole in the middle of the crowd. His regeneration was faster than she expected, much like her own framework system.
Jake struggled to remove his headgear, and Alice helped him pull it off. The rest of his face reformed, and he looked up at her, stunned.
“You remember me, right?” Alice said hopefully, sniffling and crying. “Please tell me your brain isn’t too scrambled! Look at me, and just say the first name that comes to-“
“If you’ll let me answer,” Jake said. “You’re Alice.”
She bent down and squeezed him. “Thank you for not leaving me, thank you so much for not dying.”
Applause and cheers went up as the news of Jacob Valent’s survival spread through the crowd.
“I’ll never leave you,” Jake replied, embracing her. Agameg came through the crowd and smiled.
“I thought you were dead?” Jake said.
“I thought you were dead,” he replied, cocking his head at Jake.
“I saw a feed of you getting killed by a grenade,” Jake replied. He realized then that it could have been an illusion. “Fake. There was never a counter-attack,” he said.
“After you went in?” Stephanie asked. “There was, but it was small. One armoured framework and a couple of squads of troops. We didn’t lose anyone.”
Alice withdrew and helped Jake to his feet, her eyes widening as she realized that the only armour he had was a shoulder and neckpiece. She turned and backed into him to offer some modesty. “Um, awkward,” Alice said.
* * *
“He’s alive,” Captain Gregor McPatrick said as he entered the bridge of the Triton. Crewmembers were busy calibrating systems, coordinating repair crews, and doing any number of a hundred different things that contributed to the resurrection of the ship.
Captain Terry Ozark McPatrick didn’t turn around, but let his uncle sit down on a command seat beside him. “I know, I got the message.”
“You don’t sound surprised,” Gregor said.
“Some of us had faith,” Oz said. “How is the Sunspire?”
“Repairs are going well, we’ll be on patrol in two days.”
“We could use a hand with repairs here once my people are finished prying people from the wreckage in Port Rush. Can you spare anyone?” Oz said.
“No, I’m afraid not. I need my crew at full strength and my ship with a full compliment. It’s bad enough that things are being held back by this New Years’ celebration in a few days.”
Oz stood and walked towards his ready quarters. His uncle hesitated a moment then followed. As soon as they crossed the small, secure hallway and into his ready room he turned on the other man. “All right, this is your first visit to the Triton and the second time you’ve spoken to me since you got here. What do you have to say to me in person that you couldn’t say over comms?”
Gregor McPatrick didn’t seem fazed by the sudden turn in conversation. “Straight to it, all right. You’re a coward for abandoning your post with Freeground Fleet. Several commands abandoned after you left, and I believe your example is partially responsible for the political failures at home. The wrong people were in power, and you gave them an example of desertion, corruption, and a failing resolve in the military. It’s why I’m here, it’s why there’s a ship full of outcasts with me.”
“The military was failing before I left. I was already branded as an untrustworthy commander. I left because they made everything I earned look like a farce, and I knew I would be more helpful elsewhere,” Oz replied, trying to keep calm. He’d squared off against his uncle before, but never about something so important.
“Help whom?” Gregor replied. “Jacob Valent? Your friends? Who did you want to help out here?”
“Results prove me right,” Oz growled. “Thousands of refugees down there, hundreds of people on this ship, owe their lives to Jacob, Ayan, Minh-Chu, Jason, Laura, and yeah, they owe me, too. Those are people who would still be in bondage or dead if we didn’t step in. In case you didn’t notice, our little band killed two galactic war criminals a few days ago, and we nearly broke ourselves doing it. That’s more of a difference than any group of people from Freeground can claim they’ve made. You left us and brought allies to the table, but tell me those negotiations weren’t easier because they’d already heard of us.”
“He’s right, Gregor,” Carl Anderson said from the doorway. “They were already gearing up when we arrived in the Virrig System. The British were coming either way. They knew the importance of setting up a forward position in the Rega Gain system weeks before we got here. We just advanced their plans.”
“We made sure it all happened in time,” Gregor said.
“A few hours’ difference, maybe. Not enough to say it was meaningful,” Carl said.
“Without Alice and Jacob Valent, those two war criminals would have either escaped or dug in enough to build infrastructure, and hold until more ships could arrive. They were killed, the offensive lost its teeth. The other garrisons on Tamber are isolated, not coordinating. It’s just a matter of time before we dig them out.”
“And what did you do while the Valents were off being heroes?” Gregor asked.
“He-“ Carl Anderson started, but halted as Oz shook his head.
Terry Ozark McPatrick looked to his uncle, staring him in the eye. “I gathered with the best soldiers I’ve ever known and held the line. Just like you, my parents, and the Freeground Military taught me to do. I fought for what I could protect until the day was won.”
“When you feel that someone else is in charge and you’re not powerful enough, are you going to up and leave again?” Gregor asked.
The thought made Oz chuckle. His bond with Triton was deeper than anyone but Ashley could hope to understand. “There were two times in my life where I’ve felt accepted, at home. The first was on the First Light, the second is on this ship. I’ll die on this ship someday. Whether it’s tomorrow, or after a century of service, I’ll know I’ve died in the right place.” The statement seemed to take both men aback, and Captain Terry Ozark McPatrick pressed on. “I’m glad you’re here, Captain McPatrick, and I’ll work with you, I’ll even learn from you, I’m sure. Just don’t expect reverence on my ship, or to have your opinion treated with any more weight than any other captain in this fleet. You don’t want to help rebuild the Triton? That’s fine, I know you’ll make yourself useful elsewhere. Just don’t expect to find family here.”
Gregor McPatrick looked stricken for a moment, then composed himself and withdrew from the cabin. “I’ll have your effects from the Sunspire brought over,” he said on his way through the door.
“I’m sorry,” Doctor Anderson said after Gregor was gone. “I knew there was history, it had to come out.”
“Don’t worry,” Oz said. “He had to have his shot, I turned away from everything he respects. I knew I’d have knocks like that coming when I deserted the Sunspire.”
“You seem happy here,” Doctor Anderson said. “It’s quite a ship, even in its condition.”
“We’ll rebuild. It’ll take a year with an ideal crew, longer with the people we’ve got, but it’ll happen. I believe in what Jake is doing, and what Ayan wants to build. Triton will benefit from everything they do, and then they’ll benefit from Triton.”
“You’ve done more than I would have imagined, I can honestly say that I’m proud of everyone from the First Light. You’re the root of something incredible, and I’m glad I’ll be here to see it,” Carl Anderson said.
“Thank you,” Oz replied. “That means something coming from you.”
“I only wish,” Carl Anderson said before hesitating and crossing the room to the transparent hull. Two dozen battered destroyers and carriers from the British Fleet moved past slowly in formation. “I wish it were during a different time.”
“War,” Oz said. “The ship computer has seen it too.”
“The war of our time, and that’s saying something when we’re expected to live to two hundred years or more,” Doctor Anderson agreed. “Eve has made another appearance, promising immortality and paradise to the most dedicated Order of Eden humans. I thought we were going to have it easy when reports of Eden Fleet ships withdrawing and disappearing started flooding in.”
“Now they’re recruiting humans who sign up for their cult,” Oz said, joining Doctor Anderson to take in the view. One of the largest ships, the BSF Hammer, was starting to pass the Triton slowly. “It won’t be just frameworks next time.”
“Religious fanatics, only the promises of eternal life are real,” Doctor Anderson said. “Everyone who worried about framework technology, and how it could change the galaxy were absolutely right to raise the alarm. This will be galactic war.”
“How much time do you think we have before they try to take Rega Gain again?” Oz asked.
“With the beating we gave them, and the increasing presence of the British with their allies? I think they might try to go around this system first.” The pair stood in silence, watching the BSF Hammer go by with three heavily damaged Carthan battle cruisers keeping pace. Carl Anderson finally broke the silence. “Do you think we can win, Oz?”
“Yes,” he replied. There was no hesitation, as though the word was at the ready. “Especially if they have to take a turn at licking their wounds.”
“Speaking of taking time,” Doctor Anderson said, trying to shake the melancholy. “Are you coming down for the New Years’ celebration on Friday?”
“No, we’re having something here. We’re holing up in the Botanical Gallery for twenty hours of leave. I’ll authorize a holo-uplink to the party down there. We’ll be there in image and spirit,” Oz said.
“Good, I’ll make sure I pass through here on my way down to Tamber,” Carl Anderson offered his hand and Oz shook it. “I feel like I’m in the right place for the first time in a while too, Oz.”
“It’s good to have you here,” Oz replied.
* * *
“It never stops raining here,” said Burke, expanding the collar of his grey jacket into a hood. “You’d think he’d pick somewhere sunny.”
Wheeler stepped around the corner into the alley to find Burke and Doctor Thurge there. She was dressed in a long, multi-layered coat that had a pulse module somewhere inside that repelled the rain above so it fell around her. Burke had spent his money elsewhere, or lost it, judging from his simple spacer’s attire. “It’s where I could be without drawing attention,” he said.
“Finally,” Burke said. “So, what’s next? You have a line on some cash somewhere in this mess?”
Lucius Wheeler looked from Burke to Thurge, who raised an eyebrow. “You’re still out for revenge, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Profit is easy. Getting even takes skill. It takes resources,” she replied. “You promised the latter, just like I promised my family on the Palamo that I’d avenge them.”
“I promised that you’d have a good run, an in-road. You threw them off-balance enough to put a divide between Ayan and Jake. That’s all I needed,” Wheeler replied. “Now, I’m done testing my luck for greater causes. I think I spent the last of it getting off the Ferryman before the Warlord emerged from its wormhole.”
“So you’re just going to leave us like this?” Burke reached inside his coat. “That’s bull-“
Wheeler’s pistols were out and pointed at the pair before Burke’s hand touched his weapon. “I’m leaving you just like this, and if you see me again it’ll be because there’s a damn good reason for me to get drawn back to the Rega Gain system. Right now, I can only think of reasons to leave and never look back.”
“Why did you want us to mess with Ayan’s love life, anyway? I thought it was leading to something, but now I’m just disappointed,” Thurge asked.
“For a while, some of us got to see the future,” Wheeler said. “And the future with those two together didn’t leave much room for people like us, or the Order of Eden. Now they’re broken, so the galaxy gets to be wild wherever the Order isn’t around, and that’s a lot of space to get lost in. I’m not going to leave you two with a grudge against me, though.” He holstered one of his guns and pulled a heavy bag filled with Galactic Currency from his inside jacket pocket. He threw it to Thurge, who almost dropped it once the weight of if landed in her hands with a satisfying chink. “Twenty eight thousand, more than you earned. I have a transport waiting, so good luck, and goodbye.”
He backed out of the alley, stepped around the corner, and activated his stealth system. Wheeler turned on the hover systems in his long coat and accelerated down the street towards the spaceport at the centre of Whule. “A good tactician knows when to retreat,” he said to himself. It was time to leave Kambis, to avoid Tamber and the Rega Gain system.