As the research station fired its big guns crew members were tossed like rag dolls and shattered like glass under the high impact. The ship, the crew were dying, and then he remembered his ruthlessness. The idea to turn towards the largest source of damage, their objective, and use a technology developed for peace, their wormhole generator, to create a gravity well and destroy the station while making their escape.
“A bird does not sing because it has an answer,” came the last words from his best friend. He had to leave him behind, in the way of the stone and metal maelstrom that would erupt in their wake. Minh-Chu Buu was his name, and they had been soldiers together as well as civilians. His companionship was irreplaceable.
There was no time to reconsider, and they bore through the station, arriving at Starfree Port with their ship in shambles. Their objective had been to destroy framework research, to prevent it from getting out into the galaxy. The last memory was upon him then, looking out at General Collins' bearded face as he taunted him through the transparesteel of the long term stasis tube. There were two other tubes behind him. The profile of the shadow in one was that of Wheeler, he could see it even through the drug addled memory. The other he did not recognize, there was too much long hair in the way.
He balled his fists and braced himself as another wave of all consuming pain washed over him. “Every few generations there is a leap in technology so drastic the conditions of life change. This is such a time. Make sure this information lands in the right hands so it is a cure before it becomes a weapon. All your fears are justified,” the voice of Doctor Marcelles echoed in his mind.
The nature of his existence was revealed to him then, how he was built, the memory of his first breath, and the first time he opened his eyes to gaze upon the thin, smiling face of Doctor Marcelles. “I have betrayed my masters again and leaked your location to someone who will take you away from this place. She can be trusted. When you are activated again you will be able to decide which life you want. That of Jonas Valent, who will be destroyed if he cannot be tamed, or that of Jake Valance. One has a life you can only imitate long enough to learn from, the other is a slate on which you can write whatever you wish.”
“Why?” he managed to slur from the cold inspection table. There was a light behind the Doctor's head, he couldn't see the rest of the room.
“Because we should all have progeny and hope that they are better than ourselves. I have completed my work and when you are fully activated, can access the transferred memories of your human predecessor as though they were your own, yours will begin. Make no mistake my son, all that you feel is real but no matter how intense those memories may be, they cannot make you Jonas. His life is there as a platform, as a baseline to elaborate on, to grow from. He is a good man with principles, his example is important. Never fear losing yourself in his experiences, no matter how you use them. You can only ever be yourself and I believe the sum will be much greater than the parts. I must say goodbye to you now, they'll execute me once they discover I've betrayed them unless I can get away in time.”
His minutes old mouth worked to form the question. “Who?”
Doctor Marcelles laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Go to Zingara station as Jacob Valance and you will be found by someone with answers. There are other messages in the emergency storage unit contained within your framework, but they will only come if certain unfavourable conditions are met. I pray you never find yourself in such a situation. Go and be whole, my son.”
There was one more flash of pain before he woke. He was flat on his back, looking up at the faces of Alice and Stephanie. “Sir, are you all right?” Stephanie asked as Alice scanned him.
All the pain was gone. He could remember everything, as though he were Jonas Valance, but the gift he had been given by his creator was the ability to distinguish with certainty whose memories they were. Not his own, but he could delve in and feel, experience them as if they were. Emotional memories were harder to distinguish from his own, but within his mind was a firm grasp of where Jonas' history ended and his began.
He got to his feet slowly. “I'm fine,” he looked out of the express lift and saw the entrance to the bridge was open just down the hall.
The experiences he unconsciously drew from, the knowledge he had acquired from a past he didn't understand before all fit, it all made sense. He even knew why it had happened. He had met Alice. Jonas wasn't the trigger, it was Alice. The first time she brought him out of his stasis tube the process of remembering should have been triggered but she left before he could meet her, before he was awake.
She shook her head and shrugged. “My scanner says you're fine, a little heightened electronic activity, but it's gone now.”
He put his arm around her shoulders. “Ready to perform another rescue?” he asked her.
She looked up at him confused at first then smiled. “Aye.”
“Are you sure you're all right sir?” Stephanie asked, eyeing him.
“I'm better than all right. I'm ready,” his smile was broad and had a hint of something dark behind it.
Seneschal
Alice sat beside Captain Valance, he was every inch the figure Jonas was. There was something new, however. He seemed so much more alert and in the present. His orders were more certain, and she was reminded of a time not so long ago when she finally felt comfortable in her own skin.
They were in hyperspace, all the final tests had been run, their cloaking systems were all in perfect working order. What they had done with the ship was nothing short of a miracle. The crew had come together, the bridge actually looked like it was properly manned, not filled with people pretending or hurriedly training at their stations. Ashley was flanked by two navigators, one at either side. The engineering and operations section of the bridge to her right was fully manned by five, and tactical was crewed by Price and another pair of crew members she didn't have a chance to get acquainted with, since they were on day watch.
Stephanie was manning the security station, she had grown much more proficient at running that terminal thanks to practising in simulations, focusing on just her job. Keeping her in as First Officer would have been a mistake, but as Chief of Security she had everything well in hand.
Cynthia wasn't alone at the bridge communications post, she had two more people with her and Alice knew there were a dozen or more in the intelligence office just on the other side of the reinforced bulkhead behind her station.
Below, Paula, whose demeanour had calmed over the last day or so stood at the main flight deck station. Alice checked the status of her section just out of curiosity. Hangars one and two were completely clear while hangar three still had a bit of damage in one section and some cargo. Chief Vercelli had already marked it for repair after this excursion.
They had all eight reactors running. Six were fuelled by the last of their uranium stores, which could last them three weeks, while the other two drew energy from the recycled emissions material given off from the ship. Reserve power was up to full, the shield systems as well as weapon and cloaking systems were all powered up and ready.
In ten minutes they would arrive in the Enreega system, and if their emissions capture and the cloaking systems were working, no one would see them.
“Addressing the ship,” Captain Valance said as he stood and walked into the center of the bridge. He was in his long coat, the white scarf Ayan had given Jonas hung loosely around his neck, and the silver skull was clearly imprinted on the left side of his chest along with seven silver bars around the cuffs of his coat and vacsuit, designating him as the Captain. Behind him the two dimentional displays on the wall shifted and glowed with glimmering stars, solar winds, and nebulae that were distorted by the particles that made up the hyperspace field all around the ship.
Cynthia nodded, indicating that the whole ship could hear him.
“Hard days. Long, sleepless nights. I know first hand what they're like. I haven't had to learn like you have, to practice like you have, to sacrifice as you have. My burden has come in a different form. I have had to trust. In my life I have trusted so few. That is until I assumed command of the Triton, and if you knew what kind of birth I've had you'd understand. Taking all of you on board has been the greatest challenge I've ever had. I had so few incentives to give you in exchange for your loyalty, your hard work. Each and every one of you carry a gift that, until now I have given to five people in my entire life. My trust, my faith is with each and every one of you.
