malicious counter-expression. “You would never leave this room if I were to tell you.”
Lucius just stared at the man for a moment before nodding and standing up. “I'll get dressed and shuttle over to the Saviour.”
“Thank you, I'll eagerly await the message that the vault is open,” Gabriel said as he left the room.
Lucius Wheeler had heard of shuttles moving between large ships during wormhole travel but had never done it. The large pair of warships shared one massive wormhole with the Malice in the lead and the Saviour beside and behind. As the lensed, stretched view of the stars came into sight he couldn't help but feel absolutely infinitesimal.
The chances of the pilot making a mistake in the hundred twelve meter journey between the vessels were slim, but the shuttle he'd gotten into was little more than a squarish service pod with eight seats and a small cockpit. The carpeting, faux leather seats, dim lighting and synthesized wood panelled walls made the thing look expensive and even a little more sturdy on the inside but he knew that if this pilot went off course even a little or twitched the controls so they came near the edge of the wormhole they'd be tossed out into open space at over half the speed of light.
If they survived the passage over the edge they would be travelling much faster in space and time than any rescue ship would bother matching. If their luck was good they wouldn't collide with anything solid or harsh enough to lethally irradiate them through the hull and they could begin decelerating. Judging from the size of the small engines on the craft decelerating to a normal speed could take weeks and he doubted that they had enough provisions for that length of time.
Even though Collins had gone through ship to ship travel inside a wormhole, that experience was like watching a holomovie in his head, worthless to Lucius for reassurance. Wheeler tried not to show it, but as the Saviour drew nearer he was nearly overcome with relief.
The sooner he could get out of the shuttle the better. The only people aboard were the pilot, her copilot, a coffin like stasis tube on a gurney and himself. He made the mistake of looking through the transparent lid of the stasis vessel and upon seeing the soundly sleeping face of Gloria he couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.
She was an abrasive woman, not one he had ever truly called a friend, but for years she had been dependable. The fact that Gabriel had given him a choice, even if only as a gesture, to save her from being used as nothing more than a body for another mind to inhabit was sheer emotional manipulation. Guilt was just another distraction and Gabriel only gave him a choice so he could somehow displace the blame for what was about to happen to Gloria. Gabriel gave me the opportunity to say I would trade her to the company and I fell for it. I could have just said something neutral and left it all up to him, but no. I had to sell her for top dollar after they officially made her the first person in my chain of command. They made me responsible for her and now if they ever wanted to persecute me for anything they could come after me for murder. I have to take a lesson from Collins. He thought he was the king of the sector and before he knew it Gabriel was on top of him bashing his head in. I have to keep a back door open whenever I'm dealing with these people, especially Gabriel. He's a freak, but he's got a wicked intelligence. God, how the hell did Collins let the freaks take over? There's Gabriel, the new and improved Hampon, a pre-adolescent body with Hampon's twisted mind imprinted, like that's not creepy. To think he almost took my framework body for his own, if I could meet Collins I'd buy him a drink for stopping that.
His thoughts were interrupted as the shuttle docked with the mooring point on the Saviour's hull and the cabin pressure equalized with that of the massive vessel. A moment later the hatch gracefully slid open, revealing one of the main hallways.
As Lucius stepped outside and recognized two of the fully uniformed bridge officers who had been sent to meet him he nervously ran his hand over his stubble ridden head. He recognized them instantly from replays of Collins' memories. They were good, well trained officers who had served him faithfully for the entire time he was in command of the Saviour.
The sensation of instant recognition was so strange. Lucius found himself disliking the way Collins used to regard them. The older commander kept his people in the peripheral, not rewarding good work and using his immediate underlings as the long stick with which to punish performance shortfalls. Collins had as little contact with his crew as possible and made sure his quarters were near the bridge so he could be completely separate from them while being close enough to attend to an emergency at a moment's notice.
Lucius Wheeler was the opposite. For the time he was on the Triton he kept everyone close. Even people he didn't particularly like got to see him personally at least once a week, at least for a moment in the hall or in the lower observation deck near the hangars. He knew everyone's name, something of their history and how they were socially tied with other people on the ship. Gloria was a huge help with that, and even though his memories of the years he spent on that ship weren't very clear, he still had memories of her. She was always trading information on the crew with him, together they were social animals who trusted each other as much as you could trust anyone on a scrappy, under used mercenary ship and until he had awoken in his new body she was more like a comrade and friend than anything else.
Everything was different, shallow until he took on Collins' memories and after that his perception changed once again. He had full access to the memories of a great, intelligent, military and corporate man who didn't see his end coming. It wasn't the first time he had a live lesson on enjoying every moment in life because it could come to a sudden, abrupt end in the very next and as a result he and Gloria crossed the barrier that lay between friends and lovers. She was different too. It was as though being in the belly of the beast, Regent Galactic, relieved her of some kind of pressure or heavy load and she was more light hearted than he had ever seen her.
It wasn't a lover he'd miss, however. It was the trustworthy friend he had found in Gloria after being with her for years. Before stepping out into the hall he couldn't help but look over his shoulder and lay a hand on the polished stasis tube. “Goodbye baby, I know you'd do the same to me if they gave you the chance,” he whispered, his gaze lingering on her peaceful face.
As soon as he was out of the shuttle four medical technicians in their loose fitting self sterilizing smocks, gloves and hoods moved in to claim his sleeping gift of flesh. Lucius didn't look back but walked between his first officer and operations officer with a passive expression on his face. I'll keep things cool and formal until I know the lay of the land. I haven't been in command of a ship with a full crew in ages, not since I was working for Freeground Intelligence. No matter what I can learn from Collins, if I want to do this my way, to do this right, I'll have to take it one step at a time.
“It's a pleasure to have you with us, Captain Wheeler,” burst the young, blond haired first officer. “I'm Major Tammerlan, your First Officer here and this is Senior Lieutenant Immain.”
Wheeler shook the young man's hand and looked him in the eye. “Thank you, I'm glad to be here.” He then turned to the young operations officer who was looking at a holographic status display coming from her left palm. Her brown hair was bound up in a bun just under the rear of her grey cap which made her look a little more serious when she wasn't smiling but when she flashed her grin he couldn't help but smile back a little in return as her soft hand shook his.
“We're glad to have you sir. Everyone's heard about how you apprehended and captured Jacob Valance before and we're anxious to see how you're going to flush him out this time.”
“Are you a bit of a hunter yourself?” Wheeler asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Don't let her post fool you,” Tammerlan started with a smile. “Off duty she's a bit of a bounty hunter groupie, sir.”
“I prefer enthusiast, Major.”
It was difficult not to get pulled into pleasantries with the pair, who had the ease of two people who had been working together for quite a while. Lucius smiled and nodded as he led the way towards the secure section of the ship, the forward hold where he'd find the main vault. “I've been out of the action for a while, so you'll have to bring me up to speed. How long has Jacob been in hiding for?”
“Well, he hasn't. The last time he came up on a report he was on Pandem and considering the situation there it's doubtful that he's gone anywhere. Our intelligence tells us conclusively that he and his crew will be going into hiding soon and there's little we can do to stop it.”
Wheeler looked at the Major for a moment, trying to read any uncertainty in his expression. “So you're telling me you know he's on Pandem and he's going into hiding no matter what. Is anyone tasked with tracking him right now?”
“Regent Galactic just handed that ball off to the West Watchers and they're giving it to you, sir.”
