Fragments

you're looking to walk. Most of you have valid accounts with banks that have managed to survive the Holocaust Virus and you'll be able to access them from any city. You can call for transportation as soon as you’re paid. You'll be stripped of every scrap of weaponry and equipment you picked up while you were on Triton, except for your vacsuits. If someone asks me whether you served aboard my ship, I'll deny it.'

'That's unacceptable! You can't just maroon us here!' A voice Ayan's Crewcast identified as Tammy Weston, a Private who worked in the Triton hangar, called out.

'Marooned? You don't know what marooned means!' Shouted Minh-Chu, to Ayan's surprise. 'This is hard, this whole situation is terrible, but he's giving you a way to leave! This is an easy door! He could take everything and tell you to pick a direction! Walk until the ground poisons your feet!' He said from the side of Slick's Uriel fighter.

She'd never seen Minh so exasperated. 'Marooned!' He spat bitterly. 'You take your coin and leave us behind. Don't look back, either! When we have the Triton again and you want to rejoin us for the warm quarters, good jobs, entertainment, good food and better company our doors won't open for you!'

'Thank you, Wing Commander,' Jake acknowledged with a nod. 'For those of you who want to stay, to work together to improve our situation. I’ve made Ayan the Master of all the ships here, and everything I own.”

The crowd was silenced at that announcement, and Ayan didn’t know how to interpret their reaction. Crewmembers who had come out of several of the vessels around them, especially the Samson, were looking from Jacob to her and back.

“She’ll contact the government here so we have a proper place to put down, to lick our wounds. The rest of your command team, myself included, will make sure we have somewhere safe to sleep, something to eat, and the supplies we need. When we start earning a gain from privateering and other efforts, then you’ll start seeing cash in your pockets. All we ask is that you give us time to get organized and that you put in as much work as you can.”

“What about the Triton?” asked someone from one of the more stable raider ships. Crewcast marked him as Garnet Ahram, a fabrication worker.

To Ayan’s surprise, Jacob hesitated.

She took the opportunity to casually step beside him. “We are sending our best scout to find out if there is anything we can do,” the chatter amongst the various crowds died to dead silence as she spoke over the general Crewcast command channel. “Judging from the most recent report from the Triton, we know that she’ll require months of repairs, during which we’ll need another place to call home. Either way, we’re going to need to make at least a temporary home somewhere, and Tamber may be the first safe refuge most of us have seen in weeks.” Ayan knew she had the undivided attention of the crowd, and despite her racing heart, she decided to be brash, and tell everyone exactly what she was thinking and what she thought she, as well as everyone else should do. “I hope that we can eventually return to the Triton, and that we can get everyone who is still aboard back safely. I can’t do anything to influence that outcome right now, few of us can, but we can work to ensure that we all have what we need to survive. Most of us are starting over, myself included, and I’m going to start building something right now. I’m going to start by getting us proper landing permits, a privateers licence, and anything else the Carthan government can give us that will provide opportunities. We have an entire combat wing of top notch starfighters, ships that we can repair and improve, and we have each other. I have been in many situations during my military career where I couldn’t dream of having so many advantages. Now if you want to leave, it will be without disgrace. Be patient, follow Security Chief Vega’s instructions, and you’ll be on your way to a major city in no time. As for the rest of you, thank you for remaining. Stay close to your loved ones, and follow directions. I hope to have us set up in a proper port shortly.”

Ayan watched Jake look over the crowd, clenching and unclenching his jaw for several seconds. As the sound of someone speaking just began to break the silence he interrupted them; 'Chief Vega! Two lines! Deserters to port,' Jake barked, pointing to the port side of the Samson. 'Loyal crew to starboard!' He finished, pointing to the starboard side.

As the orders were carried out Ayan looked back to Minh, who was taking a seat in front of Slick in his Uriel fighter. 'Good luck Minh, be safe.'

“We should be back in a few hours. Slick has an extra pair of generators loaded, should be a nice, quick trip.'

'Just don’t let one of those beam weapons get a bead on you.'

'Don’t worry, I know exactly where to hide.'

Lightning flashed, lighting the darkening landscape for an instant. 'Don’t get cocky out there you two,” Jake commented.

'If you’re that worried, why don’t you go check on him yourself in the Clever Dream? '

'We need it here for her medical bay and the materializer. It's best if we risk as little as possible on intelligence gathering,' Jake replied calmly. “That, and the cloaking systems probably wouldn’t work properly in a nebula that dense.”

“Excuses, excuses. You two just want to stay behind and snog in the Captain’s quarters,” Minh teased, closing his connection to the channel reserved for former First Light crew.

The Uriel fighter's thrusters rotated and fired, pushing it swiftly off the ground and high up into the air. 'I'll make sure he doesn't do anything you'll regret,' Slick said on the general command channel.

She watched the fighter rise swiftly and take off over the horizon. Ayan couldn't shake a sinking feeling that threatened to overwhelm her.

'He'll be fine,' Jake reassured quietly.

'There's no way anyone can know that. He's going to do something desperate and we’re backing him.'

Jake took her by the shoulders and turned her towards him. He retracted his headpiece, the horizontal armoured slats folded into each other and settled onto his chest and back. 'If he were alone I'd agree with you, but he's not. Slick is with him and he'll keep things sane.'

Ayan looked up at him quietly. He was steady, reassuring, and confident. It didn't stop a lump from rising in her throat, or tears from brimming. She deactivated her communications and the face plate to her vacsuit hood to hide the tears she knew she couldn't stop. 'Things have to get better, I hate having the feeling that we’ll never see Oz, Jason, or anyone from the Triton again.'

'I know, I hate not being able to do anything about this myself,' Jake said quietly.

'I just wish I felt better about Minh and Slick’s chances of getting in and out of there,' Ayan managed.

Jake put his arm around her waist and deactivated his proximity radio so no one could overhear what he had to say. 'Minh is good at what he does, so is Slick. They're too slippery to catch. Where’d all the positivity go?'

'I think it’s just hitting me now that we’ve landed and things have quieted down a bit. I should have more faith, I know.' she watched as the line of deserters, as Jake had called them, was slowly led past the crate of credits. Chief Vega's people handed each of them a rectangular silver coin that glinted purple when it caught the light. The line of deserters had grown to hundreds while she wasn't looking, other deserters had joined them from the other ships.

'Things are bad now, but I'll bet the best are staying with us,'

'I know. I'm actually looking forward to visiting Greydock, it's just…' Ayan sighed deeply and looked up to Jake. 'It's like all the good, all the bad, whatever it is, it all happens at once. It's hard to control things when they just seem to happen to us. I want to turn things around, start making the terms, come around to being proactive. ' She paused a moment as someone ran from the back of the deserter line to the much shorter loyal line. 'As ludicrous as that sounds considering our predicament,' she chortled.

'I'm on the same page. I think we can start by getting everything we can here. You ever negotiate a contract before?'

“Not since mock scenarios in advanced officer training.”

“Considering how you took control of the crowd and raised spirits here, I’d say your officer training stuck. We’ll be all right,” he replied with a slight smile. 'Feeling better?'

'Much.' Ayan stepped away and shook her head. 'God, I was never this emotional before. It's like I had some kind of hardener the first time 'round.' Ayan's eye was drawn to the quickly growing pile of command and control units and other equipment of every shape and size on the Samson's cargo ramp. If they could wipe the memories, they would have something to sell on the open market, if that sort of thing was permitted in Greydock.

'I like it,' Jake said quietly as he watched the slow progression in front of them. The ground was slowly turning to thick mud under the increasing weight of the rain.