Jasyn saw Dace collapse against the wall, her face white and twisted in pain. Jasyn moved to help her, but there were too many people in the way. Their ship, designed for a crew of no more than twelve, had at least forty people crowded on board, if not more. And all of them were hungry, tired, dirty, and more than a little wild with freedom. The mood on the ship was one of relief, excitement, and celebration. Jasyn saw someone she didn’t know pick Dace up and take her into the end cabin, the one fitted with medical equipment. Jasyn sighed and went back to serving food as fast as the warmer could heat it.
Roz, across the cabin, sat on the floor and just smiled at the young man next to her. She’d found her brother and hadn’t let go of him since. He looked tired and nervous, but happy enough. He talked with Becka, one of Roz’s other crewmates.
The rest were doing the same, except for those fixing the door or checking the engines. Or the ones crowded in the cockpit getting the ship ready to fly. Jasyn slopped another container of soup onto the counter. She should be in there, it was her ship. She should be the one navigating it. She shouldn’t be stuck here, dishing out freeze-dried soup. She shoved yet another container into the warmer.
“Anyone here crew for this ship?” someone called from the cockpit.
Jasyn glared at the man. He saw her.
“You the navigator?”
“Yes,” she said sharply.
“Then get up here,” he said and grinned. “If we could find the rest of your crew, we’d let them fly us out of here.”
She handed the container she held to the nearest person and hurried forward. They made way for her, shifting aside in the tight quarters. She slid into her seat.
“I don’t know where you got this equipment,” the woman in the pilot’s seat said, “but it isn’t standard for this ship type.” She wore a company uniform.
“Standard on certain Patrol ships,” the man next to her said. He shot a grin at Jasyn. “Hovart told us about your pilot.”
“Are we ready to lift, Major Mulin, or would you rather sit here on this planet and gossip?” Commander Hovart spoke from the door of the cockpit.
“Sorry, sir,” the pilot said.
“Under the circumstances, I think I’ll forget it,” Hovart said. “What have you found, Lovar?” he asked the man sitting in front of the scanning controls.
“Unbelievable,” Lovar said, running his hands lovingly over the panels. “These are better than most Patrol ships.”
Jasyn started at that. Lowell had installed them, she remembered, and then he’d conveniently forgotten to have them removed. Just what had he given them?
“The fields are shut off,” Lovar continued. “There’s a big ion storm headed this way, though. This region looks like it’s in for some bad turbulence.”
“Then let’s get going,” Hovart said. He turned to Jasyn. “Your ship, you give the order.”
“Then if everything is good, let’s go,” she said. It felt strange. Usually Dace or Clark called it.
The engines rumbled to life. The pilots talked to the engineers. They ran through rapid checklists. The engines gathered strength. The ship vibrated. They rose into the air, lifting free of the tangled mat of vegetation. They cheered as the ship cleared the atmosphere.
Jasyn ran through the coordinates, calculating a course to Parrus as quickly as she could. Lovar fed her information almost before she asked for it. She altered her original course to account for the time passed and the new storms brewing in space around them. She gave the pilots the heading to the jump point. The ship veered, picking up speed. She finished entering the course. The computer blinked green, accepting it.
“Course in and locked,” she announced, then sat back, blinking away tears. Not sad, she thought. Happy, relieved, and tired. She looked at the viewscreen, watching the darkness of space, the brilliance of the stars and the nebulae. Yes, she thought, relief that they were free of that horrible planet. Relief that Clark and Dace were both here, and in relatively one piece.
They reached jump point. The ship slid smoothly through into hyperspace. The pilots shut down the sublight engines. The mood in the ship relaxed. A few days, and they would be back in civilization again. How would it be for those who had spent years, decades, on that planet? And what about those who would never leave?
“Five days,” Commander Hovart said over her shoulder, as if he were reading her mind. “Kind of hard to believe.”
“How long were you there?” Jasyn asked.
“Too long,” he answered. “What do you have on this ship to celebrate with?”
“Would chocolate do?”
“You have chocolate?” the other pilot asked, her eyes wide. “Do you have any idea how long it’s been?”
They urged her into the overcrowded lounge. She blinked back tears. They were on their way back, it was real, it was happening. She gave in to the happy mood, especially when she saw Clark coming to join her at the galley.
“Dace is out for a while,” he said into her ear as she thumbed through the galley inventory. “She’ll be fine with a bit of rest.”
She smiled and leaned against him. “Want to help me make cookies? We’ve got all the ingredients.”
He kissed her in answer. They were cheered. Jasyn pushed Clark away, blushing furiously. He laughed. She laughed with him. It felt good. Things were back to normal. Well, as normal as they ever seemed to be around Dace.