the thrusters hard towards the opening landing bay doors of the Triton.
Somewhere behind the looming hangar opening an explosive decompression was taking place. Starfighters swarmed the carrier, concentrating their fire on the bridge and another designated target in the aft section. Several rounds struck the Clever Dream as well and Jason braced himself for an emergency landing.
Ayan was much calmer, perhaps numbed at that point or on autopilot herself. “Brace for impact,” she said calmly into the ship wide intercom.
Minh, dressed only in underpants dropped to the ground at the back of the cockpit, threw the fire extinguisher into the narrow hall behind and crossed his arms over his head. “Wasn't the grenade bad enough?”
The inertial dampeners whined and screeched under the strain of the sudden deceleration as the Clever Dream struck the deck of the landing bay at a seventeen degree downward angle, grinding, scraping along and slowly turning for over a hundred meters then colliding with a heavy safety barrier.
The quiet that followed was thick as Jake, Ayan, Jason slowly looked at each other. Minh lowered his arms and looked around. “Guess today can only get better,” he chuckled.
Alice ordered the bay doors closed and verified that the Triton was ready to create and enter its own wormhole. With a nod to herself she activated the projection systems and set course for the opening. The sound of more shells striking the hull in front of her was quickly followed by ominous creaks and even louder thumping, furious cracking.
Seeing that the ship would pilot itself into the opening of the wormhole she started to stand and was just about to unclip the safety line that would keep her in her seat when the entire helm flashed red. The automated navigation system failed to calculate a straight course into the opening of the wormhole as it began adjusting for the sudden failure of one of their main engines and Alice cursed to herself as she took the controls to manually directed the ship into the passage opening.
The sound of a massive impact against the forward hull was followed by a groan and creak as Alice locked the controls and sat back. There was no time to move as the inner layer of the hull tore itself to pieces under the increased pressure and she watched the breach begin to burst.
Recovery
The internal communications on the Clever Dream were down, but it didn't take them long after Assistant Chief Paula Mendle and her crew brought it into the pressurized rear hangar behind the landing deck to discover a miracle. Even with the collision and rough, urgent ride, the extensive damage to the starboard side of the vessel and the cramped situation in the ship's hold no one had been badly injured.
Stephanie watched as the refugees, all worn, covered in grey dust and muck, were led off the ship by the security officers she'd brought with her. The few people they could spare from medical were busy straight away, and before long they were under the command of a tall female nafalli.
Her spirits rose the moment she caught sight of Captain Valance. He was as ragged and as visibly battle weary as everyone else. She couldn't help but notice the holes in his stolen armour as he walked down the half open forward crew ramp and gingerly dropped down to the deck a meter below its end. Her heart sank as a woman — the woman known to her as Ayan or at least someone who could have been her sister — came down the narrow forward ramp right behind him.
Stephanie tried to put the feeling that she'd lost something aside but couldn't look away as Ayan put her hand on his shoulder before taking the last step down beside Jake. He flashed a tired, quick smile at Ayan and it was returned in a fashion that looked quick, easy, familiar. Stephanie's feelings of dread at seeing someone she suspected her Captain, her Jake, had loved and lost were only matched by her guilt at wishing the woman had stayed dead.
She shook it off the best she could and swallowed the lump in her throat. Even from a distance I can see he's smitten. Stephanie glimpsed back to Ayan, who was stepping aside so a well muscled Asian fellow could disembark. She's beautiful, a kind of beautiful you don't see out here. How could I have thought that I could compete with her memory? If Jake and I got together I'd always be trying to live up to what she was and now she makes a reappearance. Stephanie tried to turn her thoughts away from the night they spent together. I can't have him, I can't do anything about how he feels and I won't compete for him.
Stephanie looked away purposefully, looking at the hull of the Clever Dream instead of the forward debarkation ramp but not seeing, just making sure that if someone were to look in her direction they wouldn't catch her staring at Ayan. All the while she tried to put down the sense of loss that was so thick it made her queasy. I should have expected this, if it wasn't some ghost from his past it would be someone nicer, smarter or prettier than I am. Jake and I are too alike to be together, better off friends and co-workers. Stephanie sighed, her palm came to rest on the butt of her holstered sidearm. If I really want him to be happy the best thing I can do is make sure that woman is the safest person on the ship.
Ashley came down the lift behind her, closely followed by Price, and they rushed to her. “Is your comm not receiving?” Price asked her, anxious.
Stephanie checked and noticed that only her proximity radio was operating, the ship's comm relay wasn't connecting with her command and control unit. She looked to the nearest soldier and pointed to her ear. He checked his communications status. “My connection to the relay is down, but I've got you on proximity radio,” he replied to her.
She looked at Ashley's command unit and saw that hers was connected and working properly. “Okay, that's strange. Try switching to a security band.”
Ashley selected a security alert preset and was immediately disconnected from the primary communications relay. “Someone's taken the security comms off line,” she said aloud, even though everyone there knew what was going on. “Are you okay?” she asked, recognizing that something was amiss with her best friend.
Stephanie cleared her throat and nodded. “I think Captain found a few extra passengers.”
Ashley looked up the length of the Clever Dream and went wide-eyed. “That can't be-”
“I think it is, somehow.”
“She's shorter than I imagined,” Ashley commented, tilting her head. Her eye drifted to Minh, who was walking back up the ramp. “Like the new boy,” she purred.
“Ashley!” Stephanie whispered, rolling her eyes.
“What? Run around in your pants and you have to expect some staring,” her attention wandered back to Jake and Ayan, noticing that his arm was across her back. They were speaking to each other quietly as they started towards them. “I'm sorry Steph,” Ashley said as she turned back to her friend.
“It was a one time thing,” Stephanie dismissed. “Don't either of you mention it,” she continued, making a point to look Agameg in the eye.
“I didn't say a thing, not even to Finn.”
“Good, thank you Agameg,” A thought struck her then; “Why aren't you two on the bridge?”
“That's what I came down her to tell you, the bridge is gone, Panloo and a few other bridge officers are taking over control from the secondary command center but-” Ashley started to crack up, recalling the scene on the bridge. “Alice got us out but stayed to pilot the ship and the status display outside-” she shook her head sadly, mournfully. Price put a comforting arm around her.
Agameg finished Ashley's thought; “The bridge is exposed to open space. If she wasn't killed in the breach, any radiation spike…” he trailed off as Captain Valance approached.
“Who was on the bridge when it happened?” Captain Valance asked, only hearing the second half of the conversation.
“Just Alice, I'm sorry.” Price replied quietly.
“Do you know for a fact that she's dead, were you able to get a reading through the doors?”
“No but the chances of her surviving aren't good,” he offered helplessly.
He looked to Ayan. “I have to go find out. If there's any chance…”
She nodded, barely hiding her worry. Without warning she pulled him down and kissed him urgently. “I understand, be careful,” she whispered against his lips.
