Stephanie pressed the call button for the bulk express lift as she replied. “My working theory is that someone's doing our work for us, but for some reason they don't want to get caught. I think it was someone who was on the Triton when we took it.”
“I agree, any leads?”
“Well, I'm going to have people follow up with people she might have met in the pub or berth. One of my security people was a police officer so I'm going to work with her.”
“Good, tell me if you find anything.”
They stepped into the large express car and Captain Valance brought up the forward command deck as the destination on the two dimensional screen then pressed the ACCEPT key. So many things had become manual since the old ship AI's were deleted. Stephanie rode along with him in silence for a moment before turning to look at him. “You're taking this really well.”
Jake gave her a small smile and nodded. “It sounds like you're doing everything I would. We're both experienced bounty hunters, despite our differences in style, so I'm sure you'll catch whoever did this. Just make sure word doesn't spread across the ship. This is so strange that the whole ship would be talking about it within a couple days.”
“I don't think that'll be a problem. As long as Finn and Price have each other to talk to about this I'm sure they can keep it to themselves.”
“You're right, those two are pretty tight lipped in the first place. How are things going between you and Frost?”
“All right, I reset his intoxicant rationing so it's a little lower than anyone else at the rank of Chief, so he's pretty pissed about that but it'll blow over.”
“Think he'll get used to you being Chief of Security?”
“He'll have to.”
Jake couldn't help but chuckle. “This is going to be interesting. I'm sure Ashley or Alice will give me the blow by blow.”
“You're on duty right now, aren't you?”
“I'm always on duty.” The lift opened to the busy main corridor of the command deck. With over two thousand crew members aboard and going about their business there was a lot to manage and the front half of the command deck was the nerve center, for the most part.
“I'll see you on the bridge later, I have to get to the security office and brief my Lieutenants. I get the feeling that we're all going to have to keep our eyes open if we want to catch whoever spaced Vienna's body.”
“Good hunting Security Chief. Hopefully I'll decide whether to congratulate or incarcerate whoever's responsible by the time you find them.” Captain Valance muttered as they exited the elevator car and went their separate ways.
Two Improbabilities
“Okay, so Doc Anderson took some customized genetic material and her memories into a wormhole for thirty years so she could grow naturally. When he came out only four years had passed out here and Ayan was born again with all her memories. She also doesn't have any genetic mods past being restored to what she should be if her family had kept from tinkering with their genes.” Jason said to Minh, still trying to believe what he was seeing through the hospital observation window. Ayan was sleeping peacefully, her broken wrist and leg had been mended through nanosurgery.
Minh-Chu nodded with a broad grin as he lounged in the hospital waiting room. He turned one of the tuning keys from his ruined guitar over the backs of his knuckles leisurely. “She's real, not a hallucination. I checked more than once because that's been known to happen lately.”
“When I saw you climb out of what was left of the Gull I nearly lost my mind. Then the rescue crew pulls her out and she looks almost exactly like Ayan five years ago, only healthier.”
“And blonde. Don't forget that part. Women like it when you notice their hair,” Minh smirked.
Jason laughed and dropped himself down into an armchair. “You haven't changed either. I can't tell ya how good it is to see you.”
“Good to see a familiar face too, Jason. I hear you married Laura.”
“Yup, I was on my way to join her on the Triton when we landed in this mess. It's an all out war and we're holding out on one of the only outposts left. If they take this mountain the whole world will be under the control of corrupt artificial intelligences and some group called the West Watchers.”
“Some time to get back out into the galaxy,” Minh sighed.
“You're telling me,” Jason smiled as he watched Ayan sit up in bed. “She's up, we should get in there. She hates hospitals.”
He and Minh walked into the recovery room.
“Jason!” Ayan shouted out as she extended her arms out towards him.
He accepted her enthusiastic embrace. “You were the last people I expected them to send after us.”
“Where's Oz?” she asked.
“He's with my husband, Alaka,” said a heavy set nafalli with light brown fur and dark black stripes. She held out a scanner and took a reading of Ayan. “You continued to sleep after the anaesthetic wore off so I let you rest. My name is Iloona.”
“Thank you, what did I need anaesthetic for?” Ayan asked.
“Your wrist and leg were broken. I had nanobots knit the bones and inspected you for brain injuries. There was no permanent damage.”
“Alaka saved our butts when we first arrived. He's a hero here, saved a stadium filled with people when the bots first went crazy and has been leading a group of forward infantry ever since. Oz signed up as soon as he heard he was going behind enemy lines,” Jason filled in.
“Don't tell him he's a hero, his head is large enough already,” Iloona finished reading the results on her scanner and smiled at Ayan. “You've made a full recovery. Unfortunately you and your friend's sleep cycles are both aligned nocturnally.”
“Thank you Iloona, if being nocturnal is the worst news in all this, I'll take it.” Ayan noticed something stirring just under the surface of the nafalli's thick coat. The muffled squeaks and high pitched grunts were all the additional evidence she needed. “Congratulations,” she smiled.
Iloona put a broad paw over her pouch, bringing on a round of louder squeaks. “Thank you. I've been blessed with two boys and one girl who already enjoys teasing her brothers. She won't let either of them sleep unless she's sleeping.”
“What are their names?”
“Oh, they haven't emerged yet, so they've yet to be named. It'll be soon though, then their brothers and sisters will have their hands full chasing after them. Please tell me if there's anything else you need Ayan, I have other patients.” Iloona said with a smile before shuffling off.
“This isn't how I imagined a core world. It's not part of the central cluster but I never imagined there would be so many non-human residents. They're the ones who got a few thousand ships out of the system when things first started to get crazy, they saved about three million humans during the evacuation, then the spaceport was shut down completely and Regent Galactic started rounding any survivors up, loading them into ships and taking them off world. From what they've told me people thought Regent Galactic was here to help. The issyrians and alligians are pretty sure they were being taken into some kind of slavery and when they confirmed it Alaka and Roman started organizing anyone willing to fight here. The slave barges left and they expect Regent Galactic or the West Watch to start dropping reinforcements any day. The advantage they have is that the artificials don't attack non-humans until they pose a threat.” Jason said quietly.
“So people like Alaka don't actually have to worry unless they take up arms, they're not targets?” Minh asked.
“That's right. Alaka's probably their number one target now though, he leads assaults with a CS-30.”
“A CS-30? Isn't that a fighter class disintegration weapon?” Ayan asked as she hopped out of bed and
