gear. Our ships used energy weapons, so we didn't have big gun crews either.”
“Ah, they had thousands of marines outfitted with 'em where I'm from an' solid shot was preferred. Even I got to try 'em. Just imagine yourself bigger and about fifty times stronger. Not to mention a whole lot tougher. Come on up to the gunnery deck later, I'll show you how to run in one.”
She smiled and nodded. “Never know when I'll have to do a patrol of the outer hull. Thanks, I'll take you up on it.”
Frost and Stephanie led the way to the lift with Ashley and Alice behind, listening in on their conversation.
They looked around at the disused fighters, hull segments, machines and other random objects that were too heavy or large to easily transport elsewhere on the ship. Hanger one was the largest of the hangars. It was massive, stretching over five hundred meters down the center line of the ventral section of the Triton. There were fighter racks and suspension arms to the sides and along the top of the great big space, but there were only three fighters in questionable condition, leaving over a hundred spots along the walls empty. “It's a shame ta see such a space wasted,” Frost said, his voice echoing.
“I guess Wheeler never got the right crews together,” Stephanie added, looking at a two seated fighter that had been deposited upside down on the deck beside them. One of its engines was a bubbled, molten mess.
“Do you think Captain will ever get a fighter wing on board?” Ashley asked from behind.
“If he wants a bunch of hot headed fighter jocks on board, he'll get them. He hasn't said anything to me about it though. Have you heard him say anything Alice?”
“Not yet, but then it's early. He's really just started getting everything together. I don't know where he gets the energy. I think he slept two hours last night.”
“There's a lot goin' on. I hope most o' my gunnery team arrived.”
“Too bad we didn't land in bay two, otherwise we might have run into some of them. They didn't all get a chance to dock with a hard point, some of them had to land in a hurry. One even set down on top of a couple emergency fighters. Paula was hopping up and down she was so pissed,” Ashley commented, shaking her fists and jumping a few times in imitation of the short, high spirited woman.
“The mess piles higher,” Frost commented with a chuckle. “Maybe Triton is cursed to collect trash.”
They stepped into the lift and Stephanie selected the command deck as their destination on the express car control panel.
“I'm sure Captain'll put the escape and boarding shuttles to use somehow or sell them somewhere,” Ashley said as she rocked on her heels. “I just can't wait to get back to the bridge. Flying Triton is amazing.”
“I'll be in the Security office for the next few hours at least. Your gunner boys will need somewhere to sleep and we'll be making the assignments.” Stephanie said, smirking at Frost.
“Don't be too good to 'em at first. I'll need leverage to work with. The best of them will get the good digs, while the worst'll have to make due with bunks.”
“That fits, I was thinking I'd put them in the upper berth where the refugees were. It's not far from the main gunnery deck and it's already been cleared.”
“Aye, that'll work. Glad you took the security Chief post, lass. You've got a good head on.” Frost said with a wink. “Oh, an' when ye hand out bunks, give 'em a notice ta clean the space, I'll be inspectin' their space.”
The express car doors opened and they stepped out.
“Thank God you're back in one piece!” Grace called from Frost's right. She stepped in close beside him and put her arms around his shoulders. He turned into her and was rewarded with a wet, lingering kiss that was salacious enough to draw stares and glances.
Stephanie watched for a moment, her face turning red, then Grace's eyes opened to slits and met hers. The taller woman pressed more eagerly against Frost, deepening their kiss.
“I'll be in security,” Stephanie said quietly as she jerked her gaze away and stalked off.
Alice and Ashley made for the bridge, leaving Frost and the temporary medical Chief behind.
Captain Valance stood and let Ashley take the controls as soon as she came to stand behind him. “Thank you for making that run, Ash,” he whispered as he walked back to the command chair.
“My pleasure sir. We really should keep one of those dropships ready though. That emergency shuttle flew like a brick.”
“We will. Chief Vercelli is working on sorting the deck out down there.”
“That could take a while sir,” Paula called up from below. “There's no room to work.”
“I know, thank you Assistant Chief.”
The control center below the main bridge had already started clearing out. There wasn't much need for anything but a watch of two while they were in hyperspace.
Ashley smiled at her copilot, Larry Nevil, who brought up their status. “We're in hyperspace, accelerating at thirty one percent of engine tolerance. Our course is steady and straight for the next two point five hours before the next course correction, all our emitters are firing normally except for twenty three B and ninety five C. We're headed to dead space past the Wargan System, nice and close to the Gavin Five nebula.” He informed her.
She checked her controls, made sure they were locked and nodded. “Why are we headed to dead space?”
“Captain said we needed time to get the ship in order.”
“That makes sense. I guess I'm used to the Samson. We'd take on a dozen people at the most and just train them as we went along. I think I held up the crew the most when I took over as pilot. Captain had to take the controls for a lot of minor things for a while.”
“You haven't been flying long?”
“A couple of years.”
“I'm surprised, you're really good. At first I didn't think you could hack it but you learned the ins and outs faster than I did and you listen to your navigator.”
“Thank you, and why wouldn't I?” she shrugged. “You're always calm and thinking ahead. Have you piloted the Triton before?”
“Only briefly. The profile took a lot of getting used to, it's a wide ship. I prefer navigation. I can't tell you exactly why.” His pleasant demeanour changed suddenly as he grabbed her arm in a vice like grip. Larry's eyes went wide, his pupils dilated visibly, and he began to choke.
“Captain!” Ashley called out.
He started falling out of his chair and Ashley tried to catch him, to hold him up.
Captain Valance and Alice were there an instant later. “Let him go,” Alice said calmly but firmly. They pulled him down to the floor and his body went limp.
“He's stopped breathing,” Captain Valance said as he took a medical scan. “Get that command and control unit off him. It injected him with a lethal dose of-” he took a moment to read the scan and shook his head; “something.”
Alice tried to pull it off, but the thin arm computing unit held fast. “There's an AI running on this thing. I don't know what it's doing.”
Ashley looked on helplessly as the colour started to drain out of her new found friend's face. His mouth was hanging open, his eyes stared off into nothing and she prayed the Captain could do something.
Alice got the control unit off his arm with a loud click. “Got it. The AI was holding it closed.”
Jake injected the navigator right away with his own arm unit then took out another cylinder and pressed it against the young man's throat firmly. “Cynthia! Send an order ship wide for everyone with an artificial intelligence to remove their command and control units then delete the AI.”
She took her own pair off then made the ship wide announcement.
Captain Valance did the same, pulling his large black command unit off before looking back to Larry.
The Navigator gasped, then began to vomit. Jake rolled him onto his side while Alice took another medical scan. “The nanos and chemical cocktail you gave him countered the toxins and are clearing them out.”
Ashley's eyes were locked on the scene before her. Larry curled into the fetal position as he retched and tried to breathe at the same time. Alice was comforting him, but he looked like he was in a desperate struggle to breathe between heaves. He coughed and gagged several more times, producing a brown and green sludge before the retching came to a stop. He laid there, catching his breath.
“You'll be fine. Your artificial intelligence tried to kill you.”
