was in serious danger. He tried to withdraw from the mental image of her laying somewhere in the Triton’s infirmary, helpless, in a medical coma that could last hours or days.
The rumbling of his engines burning less than two meters beneath his feet lessened. He was reminded once again of where he was, and panic threatened to overtake him. Minh's years alone, drifting at speed in space in a compartment that may fall apart at any time had jaded him to the risks of space travel, or so he thought.
There was a constant fear that his refuge from the destruction in the Blue Belt would fly apart as it drifted aimlessly through space. It would threaten to render him senseless, and yes, there were a few times when he sat with his face in his hands, sure he was past saving, that he’d be lost for all time, and that it might be faster if he opened his drifting home to space, got it all over with. Reduced to a shuddering, mumbling, useless thing he would remain curled up on the deck for hours. The few times it happened he fell into a fitful sleep and would wake up feeling angry at himself for letting his fears get the best of him.
Later in therapy he had difficulty understanding how he could lose control so completely, become so useless. Until the moment came, until the panic threatened to overtake him, he couldn't understand how it happened.
The knot in his belly, his quivering limbs and the pressure in his head, the rising panic made it easy to understand those times. He checked his own statistics every few seconds, glancing, cursing himself for being so weak. His heart was racing, his breathing was becoming more shallow, increasing in speed.
'Minh, are you all right?' came Ayan's voice again.
He worked his dry mouth, struggling to force an answer and finally it came. 'No.'
'We'll be out of hyperspace in a moment, just hang on,' she reassured.
Minh's eyes flicked to the small portrait of her in the corner, concerned and friendly. He nodded, a reflex. 'Stupid, God I'm so stupid,' he muttered to himself, at first in reference to nodding but then he remembered who he was, what he was supposed to be; the Wing Commander. 'Can't keep myself together, how am I supposed to take care of a few dozen pilots? Jonas should have found someone else, I'm a mess, it's too soon.' Every word was punctuated with an inhale.
'I'm going to put him out,' Jake said as he brought up Minh's profile on his command and control unit. 'Try and slave his ship to your Comm.'
'I don't have access,' Ayan replied from the rear cockpit seat of the Clever Dream.
'You should, I gave it to you myself.'
She brought up the status of Minh's sleek Ramiel fighter and saw that it was just finishing its hyperspace deceleration cycle. 'I'm ready,' she said as she assigned it to follow the Clever Dream at a safe distance. It would be close enough to exit hyperspace and not collide with any of the ships behind.
'All right, just relax Minh, don't do anything you'll regret,' Jake said as he administered sedatives remotely.
To Jake and Ayan's relief Minh's life signs normalized, he would be unconscious for several minutes, enough time for him to revert to a calm mental state. 'That was unexpected,' Jake said quietly.
'I should have seen it coming,' Ayan whispered.
'After drifting alone for years, you're right. Do you think he'll be all right to land?'
'I don't know. I mean, if what he was muttering is true, that he feels naked, then probably not. Could you enter an atmosphere with his fighter moored to the ship, Lewis?' Ayan asked the ship AI.
'I know my seals and clamps will survive the heat and shear, but his fighter won't. Ramiel fighters have a soft, fabric seal that would survive the temperatures but not the stress of atmospheric entry.'
'Slick, this is Hitman,' Jake addressed through the comm.
'I love that call sign for you, it just fits,' Ayan winked.
'Slick here. What can I do for you?'
'Can your Uriel clamp onto Minh's Ramiel and enter an atmosphere?'
'Sure can. Might get a little bumpy, but both fighters will be fine.'
'All right, Ronin will be coming aboard the Clever Dream then we'll be touching down on Tamber.'
'Captain, is the Wing Commander all right?'
'He'll be fine. His command unit was damaged and dosed him with a few milligrams of Taustim. We had to sedate him to get his heart rate down,' Jake replied. Anyone who wasn't interested in disproving his white lie would never know the difference.
'Yikes, that explains what I was seeing in the squad status display. I'll stand ready. Slick out.'
'And I'll make sure Minh gets a replay of your fantastic cover story as soon as he's lucid,' Ayan added.
Lieutenant Garrison put his hands on the Clever Dream's flight controls as he watched the main pilot's display. He had forged a surprisingly uncomplicated bond with Lewis, the pair seemed to get along quietly and communicated well. Jake had witnessed one of their quiet debates already, and listening to them set the priority list for the ship maintenance was nothing short of amusing. The young Lieutenant would counter any of Lewis' objections with pure logic, giving in on some points when it made sense and sticking to others when he could. It was more a conversation than an argument, and it kept both the minder of the Clever Dream and her AI entertained. 'I'll keep the Wing Commander's secret, Captain, don't worry. Nothing unusual about losing it when you notice how empty and dangerous space is. I tossed my breakfast on my first space walk.'
'Almost everyone does,' Ayan comforted.
'Three times.'
'I don't know if that makes you tenacious or just special,' Captain Valance replied with a sideways grin.
Lieutenant Garrison couldn't help but smile as he watched the small fleet's formation and deceleration rates. 'We're emerging into normal space in three seconds, should be right in the middle of empty space.'
Jake sat down in the copilot's position and rechecked the position of the other ships and fighters. They hadn't drifted more than a few millimetres, amazing considering the condition of most of the vessels. The Clever Dream wasn't pushing herself, of all the ships it had the most thrust. If all the Samson's engines were operational it would have been the most powerful, since Jake's old ship was originally designed as a cargo hauler.
The group of ships emerged from hyperspace and just as Lieutenant Garrison had predicted, they were at the edge of the solar system, speeding past the eleventh planet, a dark gas giant that appeared marble sized in the forward viewport.
“Ayan, there’s something I should tell you before we get in touch with anyone,” Jake started. “I’ve signed the Clever Dream, the Samson, and the fighters’ registries over to you. I’ve also made capture slips for all the raider ships so you’re listed as the commanding officer during the action. They’re a day off, but that’s not unusual for deep space ship captures.”
Ayan cleared her throat, “So what you’re saying is-“
“I’m in hiding, you’re in charge.”
“You left telling me to the last minute so I couldn’t refuse.”
“Who else would I trust? Everyone who served on the Samson is wanted.”
“Minh, maybe? He served in the Freeground Infantry, and he’s your Wing Commander.”
“Right, but you have years of officer training, more years in service and at least a few people from the Triton won’t be surprised if you take the lead.”
“You and everyone else who has more experience out here will be helping me every step of the way,” Ayan told him.
“Absolutely. Unless you have to go somewhere that’s equipped with DNA sniffers, but we can figure that out later.”
“Oh, lovely,” Ayan groaned. “All right, sucking it up and getting ready to take charge.”
Jake glanced over his shoulder to catch a glance of Ayan, who was flushed to her hairline as she looked up some last minute details on her command unit. He couldn’t help but grin as he returned his attention to the tactical display. 'Everyone checks in fine. Laura says the Samson will be able to make a landing, they were able to brace all the weak points in hyperspace. I don't want to know what they had to tear apart for the metal, but at least they managed.'
'Minh's starting to wake up,' Ayan announced quietly. 'I'll update him and tell him to come aboard.'
He checked his long time friend's vitals and breathed a sigh of relief. He was back to normal, humour included. Minh managed to add the message; '’A moment spent leaning on others can lift a lifetime of egotistical weight gain from one’s shoulders.’ I feel as light as a feather, thanks guys! Mind the road.' Jake looked up at the tactical display and noticed three navnet requests appear on screen. Each came with it’s own nationality,
