trying to qualify for their positions but I suppose I could set things up so the higher ups can use them as rewards and get to know each other.”
The door opened to admit Ayan, whose eyes darted to the empty bed then to Minh, who grinned, nodded and mouthed; “He's in the shower,” before casually continuing his conversation with Jake. “So I'll have access once I take a command position?”
Ayan took a shuddering breath in and let it out slowly, trying to calm down. In the short time since he'd shown up at her apartment in Freedom Tower Minh had never seen her so nervous. She was completely distracted as she just tried to calm down.
Jake went on unaware that Ayan had entered. “I can't see why security couldn't give you codes right now, since someone has to try them out. Just don't get all wrapped up, I don't want you to get sucked in like when you discovered Sword of Rikaam,” he deactivated the pulse shower and stepped out into the room, clean and nude.
Minh watched as Ayan's eyes went wide, she blushed so furiously that her neck, chest and ears turned red before she came to her senses and spun towards the door.
“Oh, and Ayan's here,” Minh chuckled.
“I'll get you for that,” she whispered.
“Worth it,” Minh muttered back. “I'll leave you two kids alone. Get on comms with me later Jake, if there's anything I can do to help out, I'm up for it.” He kissed Ayan on the cheek on his way out.
“You can turn around,” Jake said, half in a fresh vacsuit. It was a near exact duplicate to the one he had worn on his way to Pandem. The greater weight of it was immediately noticeable, something he'd look into later.
Ayan turned, he was just checking the fit of the bottom half of the vacsuit, leaving the top to dangle from his waist. His back was a collection of burn scars, just looking at them she could see they ran deep. Without thinking she crossed the room and gingerly touched one of the larger burns. “I didn't think you could scar,” she said quietly.
He froze. Jake knew exactly which scars she was talking about, they were a result of his mad dash from the West Keeper soldiers in the Commerce building. Looking down he saw more from when he had rushed to save her. I see these clearly in my mind, there's no question I should have them and they're just here. I didn't even notice them while I was in the shower. “They'll fade,” he lied. I don't know that for sure, for all I know it's all in my head. He turned around, caught her hand in his. It felt so soft, small compared to his own. She was at the same time the woman he remembered and someone new. The differences ended when he looked into her eyes. If he hadn't have accepted Jonas Valent's memories as his own before then he would have in that moment. The woman looking at him expectantly, catching him with her gaze made him feel something new, something that did come partially from the short time Jonas had shared with her, but there was something else entirely, like a new flame that made her the most important person in the galaxy.
Her blue eyes searched his, uncertain. Her stomach was in knots, her heart seemed to beat between her ears. “Don't do that again. I couldn't take-”
Jake interrupted her, taking her lips with his and wrapping his arms around her. He held her so tightly that she was pulled up onto her toes. Ayan's arms went around his neck and everything outside of their embrace disappeared.
“You're really here,” Jake breathed as their kiss ended.
She nodded, stroked his face. “I'm not going anywhere.”
“Things will never be the way they were, I'm not the same.”
“We'll take it slow.”
He kissed her briefly and they held each other for a time that went uncounted. Ayan closed her eyes, it didn't matter that he felt different, the way he held her was barely familiar.
The way he made her feel was different than she remembered with Jonas. It was so exciting she could barely breathe at first. When he kissed her it made her head swim, the gratification and relief she thought she'd be feeling when she was reunited with her Jonas had been replaced with a feverish elation that was utterly unfamiliar.
This was not Jonas. There were pieces of him there, but the man who held her like the most precious being in all of creation was someone new. The realization wasn't as startling as her reaction to it. Instead of disappointment she felt an eagerness to know him and she was thrilled at the thought of something new. Behind it all she was a little frightened at what she might discover but that only added to the intense mixture of emotions that made her heart jump.
As he held her close she didn't feel small, but cherished, like he never wanted to let go and Ayan knew she was loved.
Epilogue
Wheeler tapped his finger on the soft desktop as he waited for a response from Hampon's direct line. The outer hull of his ship had been repaired at the Regent Galactic Mobile Shipyard but the internal systems would take more time. When the Triton focused fire on his vessel the damage was immediate and devastating. Even so, he knew that he'd crippled her far worse.
The repairs were the least of it. During the two hours it took to repair the outer hull he was in his quarters, trying to relive certain experiences he knew Collins should have had and he made a disturbing discovery. The boy Hampon appeared as a small hologram on his desktop and smiled at him. “Good evening Lucius, how are the repairs progressing?”
“Fine, I have the situation here under control. That's not what I'm calling about.”
“Oh? Can you make it quick? I have a rally on Pandem in a few minutes. It's the first victorious occasion on our new base.”
“Why did you short change me? Gabriel told me I was getting all of Collins' memories and now I can't even raise him on communications.”
“He has his own objectives to attend to, I'm sure you understand.”
“Well then maybe you can answer me. Why can't I recall anything about the Victory Machine after the first meeting he held with you and Gabriel? There are no predictions, I can't remember him seeing it, and there are other missing minutes, hours, even days.”
“That's normal for anyone. We can't remember everything, even subconsciously.”
“That's what I thought at first, before you told me all about your little hidden miracle, but then I actually tried to find any memory of him reading one of your expensive fortune cookies only to find complete blackouts!”
Hampon sighed and shook his head; “I'll be honest with you because I trust you. There were just some things that even Collins didn't want known, so he blacked out sections of his own scan after it was made.”
“You expect me to believe that? Don't forget I can remember more times than I can count when you and Gabriel were underhanded and manipulative for your own reasons. Collins was no better, hell, I'm no better, but I won't be just another one of your hapless pawns, if you can't tell me why these memories are missing I can't say that I'll be entirely on side.”
“Fine, you caught us. Of course we didn't want you to remember prescient revelations, what kind of morons do you take us for? Most of it doesn't concern you but as of a week ago there was a possibility that you would join forces with Jacob Valance and we couldn't have you running around with bits of the future in your head. Besides, there was a chance that having future knowledge embedded in Collins' memories would corrupt the scan, damage the chronology of it. Just think back to when he decided to have the scan made and you'll see that was a concern. I'm surprised you didn't discover that on your own already.”
He thought for a moment and realized it was true. There was a possibility that having knowledge of future events would damage the resulting memory scan, it was one of Collins' concerns. “You're right.”
“You see? We were protecting ourselves and you. Having a fragmented record of someone's life with a corrupted time line is just a problem waiting to happen.”
“Fine, I'd do the same thing to save my own ass, but I'll remember this. You could have been up front about it. I don't like surprises, especially when they're waiting in my own head.”
“Oh, I'm sure you'll find plenty of other surprises Collins never let us in on, things we could have never
