about my own imagination. It's a pretty cool place.'
'I could imagine,' Ashley agreed. 'If you can play guitar there. I've only seen a few people play classical electric.'
'I used to have this really nice replica,' he brought up a hologram of his electric guitar on his comm unit. 'Ignore the paint job, it's just something I was playing with,' he said, referring to the psychedelic radiating ring design.
'Wow, where is it?'
'Crushed up somewhere on Pandem, except for these,' he pulled a necklace out of his vacsuit and held it out for her. Strung along a simple silver chain were three polished steel tuning keys.
'What happened?'
'Crash landed. Not my fault either, there were people after us.'
'Glad to see you made it.'
'I almost didn't. All that was left was the cockpit and the afterburners, but that's why I like to fly a ship with a great big-'
'Hello Ashley,' interrupted Paula. She was carrying a laden tray. She shot Ashley a look heavy with warning.
'Oh, hi Paula.' Ashley looked back to Minh briefly. 'It was good to meet you, Wing Commander. I'll see ya.'
'Call me Minh, or Ronin, or something else if you come up with something better,' Minh called after her as she turned and strode back to the bar and her drink.
'Do you know her?' Paula asked as she put the tray down.
Minh took his steaming bowl of vegetable vishri lo mein and tall container of water from the tray. 'Five minutes ago, no. Now? Well, I think I've met her, but I wouldn't say I know her.'
Paula nodded curtly as she finished moving her fruit bowl and cherry juice from the tray. 'She's kind of light headed. You know, lights are on but-' she ended the comment with a shrug before tossing the tray onto another nearby table.
Minh looked at Ashley and tilted his head as though slightly confused and considered her very closely. He knew she noticed him looking out of the corner of her eye. She pretended not to be aware as she took a sip from her straw. She'd changed her vacsuit since she got off duty, the one she wore had a gold Chinese dragon drawn up her leg and back so it looked like it was climbing the dark brown fabric. Her straight black hair fell over the dragon down to her waist. She didn't wear a sidearm like most officers, himself included. Looking at her side profile, he could tell it was taking a great effort for her not to break into a shy smile.
'Minh?' Paula asked, looking over her shoulder irritably.
He looked back at Paula, shaking himself free of his surprising daze and smiled. 'I don't know her well enough to say if anyone's home.'
'Trust me, I'm surprised we've survived this long with her at the helm.'
Minh nodded absently and cracked his chopsticks apart.
'I think the only reason why she's here is because the Captain bought her from some slaver two years ago, at least that's what I hear. She was a serving slave of some kind, I'd rather not guess which kind.'
'How are things going on the hangar decks?' Minh redirected.
'They'd be better if the Captain didn't have us taking on a new wreck every half hour. We've packed every spare hole we have in storage, even in manufacturing storage, and the night crew will be taking three more in. He wants to keep them clamped above landing bays.'
'That's not so bad.'
'I'm afraid someone's going to smash right into them, with the way the fighters land and what happens if we have to take another ship in, like in an emergency? We'll only have two elevation shafts available it'll take forever to get fighters loaded into the main hangars too.'
'Those cockpits are pretty comfortable. I'm looking forward to taking a nap in one if I ever have to take one through a wormhole.'
'Sounds dangerous. Something that small maintaining and travelling through a wormhole.'
'One Uriel has enough power to run most of the Clever Dream's systems. They're nice ships.'
'But there's nowhere to move. You'd be stuck in the same position for hours, days maybe.'
'That's what the muscle stimulators and indoor plumbing in a pilot's vacsuit is for.'
'I'm eating,' Paula reminded, holding up a materialized half peach. It had been made so each half was small enough to be bite sized. 'Anyway, what are we going to do with nine ships that are almost ready for scrap?'
'They don't look like they're in bad shape from the ones I've seen. Maybe he's starting a used ship lot? I know I've flown worse.'
'You're not serious. I mean, with people after us it's no time to start a business.'
'Of course I'm not serious,' Minh smiled mildly.
'I can never tell when you're joking,' Paula shook her head slowly. 'Anyway, I don't know what we're doing out here. At least when Alice was in charge we seemed to find a direction. Now, it feels like we're just falling into things.'
Minh's first instinct was to react in defence of his Captain, to blindly state his faith in his Captain, but he held back when he noticed Ashley listening in from where she sat several meters behind Paula. He didn't know what her life was like before she'd met Jacob Valance, but looking at her and considering the trust he'd placed in her as Master of the Helm, it looked like he had made at least one good decision. She had marked Jake as her only pilot trainer in her profile after all. He'd done a good thing, freeing her, and with his actions on the Palamo, as harsh as he'd heard they were, his decisions seemed consistent. 'See a slave, free a slave,' he said loud enough for anyone listening in to casually overhear. 'Anyone who can give someone with nothing a place on their ship and win can set my course anytime.'
Chapter 13
The main launch deck of the Triton was silent. The Clever Dream was set up in the centre of the dimly lit expansive space with all the boarding ramps lowered. Its hull gleamed as though it was fresh from the manufacturer, only the new power generation and energy collection systems were in place, expanding its girth, giving its long black hull a muscular appearance. It was a long range, luxury gunship, one of the only ever built, and it looked fully restored.
Jake heard boot steps coming down the cockpit crew ramp and turned to see Alice. She looked exactly as she did when he met her on the Triton. Under her worn imitation leather bomber jacket she wore a blue vacsuit and heavy gun belt. She was armed with the duplicate of the same heavy sidearm he'd used for years. “Hi dad,” she smiled.
He rushed forward and took her into his arms before she stepped off the ramp.
There was nothing guarded or restrained about her laugh as he spun her once and put her down. “Good to see you too,” she beamed.
“Where are you coming from?” Jake asked.
“Not far. Making a few last minute adjustments before I go.”
“Already? You should stay for a while. Everyone from the First Light is here, they're looking forward to meeting you.”
“I can't, father. I have to go.”
In the blink of an eye he realized that she didn't look like the woman he'd met on the Triton. Facially she appeared as she did when she was only an artificial intelligence on his wrist, a constant companion he had programmed since he was seventeen until he was thirty four. “The neural therapy's working. You'll be on your feet in a couple of days,” he reassured.
Alice's smile faded. “I can't connect to that body anymore. Whatever unique brain structure that woman had
