Spinward Fringe Broadcast 6: Fragments
Jake was just about to access the navigational database when the door opened to admit Ayan, who came in bearing two tall spill proof mugs. She was dressed as simply as he was, only in the thin, snugly fit vacsuit under layer to her environment armour, only hers was white and closed, whereas Jake's vacsuit was black and he hadn't bothered to pull it up past the waist. Something that she couldn’t help but notice, judging from her wandering, widening blue eyes and dimpled smile.
'Good chat last night,' she said through her grin, her voice pitched higher than usual.
Jake nodded and smelled the steam wafting from the top of an open cup. 'Just don't spread the word that we were up all night talking.'
Ayan put their mugs down on the small dresser instead of handing it to Jake, regarding him with a confused expression.
'Otherwise Frost and whoever else he can involve will start hiding panties and other frillies for me to discover where everyone can witness.'
Ayan's eyes went wide as she snickered. 'I think I remember something like that from the Academy. Does that actually still happen?'
'Happened when they found out Silver and Ashley cuddled in the bunk room for a few nights and he didn’t make a move. He didn't hear the end of it until there was clear evidence that things had gone further.'
'So you're wishing you'd stayed last night?' She raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down.
It had been so long since Jacob had felt so on the spot without knowing what to say. She was smiling again, a crooked, playful grin, and he gave in to an urge that had hounded him the night before.
In one step and a swoop of his arm he took her into an embrace. His lips were on hers and after a muffled squeal of surprise she returned his kiss.
Ayan's arms snaked up across his shoulders and around his neck as she relaxed against him. He relished the feeling of her in his arms. Their warm kiss ceased to be urgent before long, instead it became a warm time at play.
Ayan leaned into him, on her toes as he backed into the dresser
Jake withdrew from her with wide eyed surprise.
She heard the sound of liquid dripping and realized that he’d backed into the dresser and knocked over the mug she’d left open to cool. According to the expression on his face, she guessed it was still piping hot.
She danced away a step and looked around him, where she could see that the beverage had bathed his lower back and poured down the waist of his vacsuit. 'I'm sorry! It wasn't on purpose!” she apologized urgently as she righted the empty cup. “It wasn't on purpose!' Ayan burst, running to the mini-bath and retrieving a towel.
'Was it that bad?' Jake asked, turning so Ayan could pat the liquid off his back.
'No, it was brilliant, you were brilliant. I forgot to close one of them and-'
The door slid open. Minh and Stephanie's jaws dropped simultaneously as they looked at a half stripped, surprised and uncharacteristically out of sorts Captain Valance as he had his back patted down by a frantically apologetic Ayan.
Stephanie shook her head slowly; 'I don't want to know.'
'I do!' Minh grinned.
'Well, no time for it. We have a signal from the Samson. They'll be here in a few minutes,' Stephanie informed flatly as she grabbed Minh by the arm and hauled him back towards the bridge. 'C'mon, you can question them later.'
'Why would the Samson be signalling? She's got three engines down and four open compartments,' Ayan asked as she finished drying Jake's back. She couldn't help but notice that if she'd burned him, the skin had already healed. All the scars he had after Pandem were gone too.
'It doesn't sound good,' Jake agreed as he turned and took the towel. 'The vacsuit will clean up the rest.”
Ayan nodded, an embarrassed smile playing on her lips. “Sorry about that.”
“Just as much my fault, I started it,” they stared at each other for a moment, frozen, before Ayan watched Jake tear himself free from the moment. “We should get to the common room. We'll be able to see the transmission from there.' He tossed the thin towel onto the bed and pushed his arms into the sleeves of his vacsuit.
Ayan stood up on her toes, took his face in her hands and kissed him. It was brief, but soft and intimate. 'Feel free to start something whenever you like, luv,' she winked.
She snatched up her empty spill proof mug and left. Jake wasn't far behind, with his own mug in hand.
The Clever Dream common room was really an entertainment area with a three quarter circular sofa, a high resolution holographic projection system, counters with stools so the crew could eat in comfort and a reconfigurable gaming table for a variety of distractions. The Clever Dream was made for the comfort of her small crew, and it showed.
Fin, Alaka, who was a little too large for everything aboard, Stephanie, Minh, and Victor were all in attendance with a few extra soldiers who had won the right to spend the night in the common room. Everyone was awake and most were ready for a new day. Ayan took a moment to refill her mug at one of the three materializers, and Jake couldn’t help but smile a little as he overheard her request; “Irish cream coffee, about five degrees cooler than last time please.”
Jake could see the slave software for Minh's fighter running on his command and control unit. The vessel was flying in formation behind the Clever Dream, near the rear of the other manned fighters.
'Any data riding the Samson's signal?' Jake asked as he sat down at the open end of the sofa.
'Not much,' Lewis, the Clever Dream's artificial intelligence started mournfully. 'I can play you the message if you like.'
'Please,' Jake replied.
Laura's head and shoulders appeared in the centre of the room. The hologram was so clear it was as though she was actually there, only twice her normal size. Her hair had been quickly tied into a ponytail and she was speaking from the command seat. 'This is a situation update intended for the crew of the Clever Dream. Highest priority. The Triton managed to get away from Ossimi Ring Station, and tried to enter a wormhole to get away but somehow an interdiction ship disrupted the field surrounding the compressed space while we were still inside. Oz tried to hide us inside a planetary dust cloud but could only buy us enough time to evacuate most of the unarmed crew. He and a skeleton crew provided cover while we got away, disabling three heavy battlecruisers. You’re getting this because his plan worked, and we managed to escape the planetary nebula. Jake, he's enacted the ghost ship strategy. He and Jason think they can pull it off. This message can't be more than ten minutes ahead of us. I suggest you use the time to find us a destination. We're going to need a place where people can get off these ships, we’re pretty packed in and some of them aren’t in the greatest shape. I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do to get the Triton clear. There were just too many ships after us.'
The transmission ended with a surge of interference.
Silence fell over the cabin occupants. Most of them stared at the empty space where Laura had appeared a moment before while Minh and Ayan started working on their command and control units. “Display the last tactical scan of the Triton,” ordered Captain Valance quietly. The image of the Triton filled the centre of the room. The dust in the micro nebula was so thick it created a haze effect. The first thing that drew his attention was the through and through puncture on one of the stingray shaped ships wings. Her upper hull was covered in a criss cross pattern of beam damage, several deep cuts thinned entire sections to a critical point. Secondary areas had taken the most damage, and several compartments were open to space. Thee mid-gunnery deck had been brutalized. A third of it had been shut down and closed off for safety. Many turrets there had been super-heated, and rendered useless. The hull had been thinned so severely that it looked as though someone had taken a giant chisel to it.
The underside of the ship wasn’t as badly damaged, but the surface had been burnished shiny by the grit of the nebula. Jake didn’t need to take a closer look, he knew what he was seeing. “They used beam weapons to thin the hull wherever they could. What’s after them?”
“According to the scan, they’re being pursued by three Caran Enterprises Enforcer Battlecruisers. Each has seventy eight percent the mass of the Triton, is nine hundred twenty three meters long, and carries an estimated crew of four thousand five hundred, not including boarding parties or specialists,” Lewis replied. “As of the time of the Samson’s departure, the battlecruisers were closing.”
