Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (60 page)

“I’ll support
strike and fade tactics, but it’s not in me to kill people who
surrender to me,” Oz said.

“I don’t know if I
could shoot someone who has surrendered to me, either. It looks like
he had to work his way up to it a lot,” Ayan replied. “He was so
pumped up with rage and adrenaline, he didn’t seem human anymore. I
think – no, I know – he can’t keep that up. It isn’t in him.
Just the same, he must know he’s in a unique position with the
Warlord. Nowhere in that report does it mention that his attack is
sanctioned by Triton Fleet or the British Alliance. He really did
present himself as a terrorist,” Ayan said. “That’s going to
make anyone who doesn’t have a real killer instinct question
whether or not they join the Order.”

“I believe that was
his purpose, and, barring a few who will be even more steadfast
because Jacob was so merciless, we’re going to see a drop in Order
recruitment. We will also see a rise in our own recruitment because
of our association with the Warlord,” Hausgiest agreed. “Speaking
of that ship, the Warlord’s encrypted after-action report has just
finished downloading and I have bad news. Captain Jacob Valent
collapsed after successfully assuming control of the destroyer. Over
forty-one percent of his body has been destroyed by nanites
programmed to target unregistered framework technology. His brain is
intact, but stasis is failing. I’m readying a surgical bay and
manufacturing organs, bone, and tissue as requested by the Warlord’s
ship doctor, but she warns that this will be a difficult surgery.
Life changing for Captain Valent.”

“Life changing?”
Ayan asked.

“During the next
twenty hours, all the framework technology responsible for the
creation of Jacob Valent must be removed and replaced with normal
human transplant material. He will be as human as you are if he
survives, perhaps even more so. The Warlord and the rest of the
convoy will be here in fifty-three minutes. Doctor Messana has
requested that you be in the surgical bay waiting for them when they
arrive.”

“Why?” Ayan asked
as she got to her feet.

“She suspects what I
can see plainly; that you still love him, and more importantly in
this situation, he loves you. It is a well known fact that the
presence of loved ones can reduce pain and suffering.”

Ayan was already
through the door as Hausgiest started stating the well-known facts.
Oz wasn’t far behind.

Homecoming

Watching the Warlord
arrive in the Triton’s main hangar didn’t help Ayan’s nerves.
The holographic display in the medical bay was perfectly clear; it
was as though she was watching from a hangar window above the scene
as Agameg and a massive group of Triton crew greeted the crew of the
Warlord, but it didn’t match her hopes for the homecoming, and it
didn’t change the fact that Jacob Valent would be brought in at any
moment in critical condition.

Ayan envisioned a
joyous welcome for the Warlord on Haven Shore’s main landing pad.
The arrival of the ship and a grand reception was long overdue. There
were hundreds of people, perhaps even more, who liked the Warlord and
believed that its crew should be citizens of Haven Shore. The fact
that the ship had been responsible for thousands of tonnes of
equipment and supplies reaching Haven Shore through the Triton was an
open secret, and Jacob Valent was well liked by Haven Shore
residents.

That celebration would
be delayed. The extensive damage the Warlord sustained in her mid
dorsal section made entering an atmosphere questionable, and Doctor
Messana had to get to the medical bay as quickly as possible. She had
been preparing to save Jake for days, and she had more hands-on
surgical experience than most doctors in the fleet.

Ayan focused in on a
commotion amidst the crowd forming beside the dark hull of the
Warlord and found Alice arguing with Frost. “I’ll keep my vacsuit
sealed the entire time,” she said, “There’s no way anything
could get through.”

“We can’t let you
anywhere near him until we’re sure there isn’t a trace of the
nanobots that put him out,” he said, putting his arm around her
relatively small shoulders. “I’m sorry, lass. He’s in good
hands, and Ayan’s waiting for him up there. Triton’s running
scans right now on everything passing through her airlocks, you know
she’ll catch any nanos that’ll cause trouble.”

“Triton’s scanning
now?” Alice asked.

“Aye, so you know
it’ll be a couple hours, at most,” Frost reassured.

“Yeah,” Alice said.

“Suit sealed, just in
case,” Frost said.

“Aye,” Alice said,
nodding slowly.

Ayan felt for the young
woman, she’d done so well aboard the Warlord. Not being able to see
her father was a terrible shadow to cast over her success. “I’ll
take care of him,” Ayan said under her breath.

Doctor Messana emerged
from the Warlord in a sealed white and red vacsuit, riding on the
back of a flat bed cargo truck with three medical bots sealed in
sterilization sheeting. It headed directly for a freight elevator
that would carry the medical team to the floor Ayan was on, three
decks above the main hangar. The celebrating crowd near the side of
the ship silenced as it passed, reminded of the cost of their
victory.

The most important part
of her fantasy about the Warlord’s homecoming on Haven Shore’s
dock was Jacob. She’d never consciously thought about it, but
granting him citizenship and welcoming him personally was the central
pillar of that dream, and without that it all felt empty.

“He’s going to be
all right,” said one of the medical technicians as he moved a
trolley with a pair of sealed containers atop it towards the
operating table.

Ayan hadn’t realized
she’d shed a tear, and wiped the moisture away. “I know,” she
replied.

“I have to ask you to
activate your suit’s self-sterilization mode and to seal your hood,
Commodore,” he said as he locked the trolley in place. The surgical
table was an Earth invention. It looked like a half-bubble while it
wasn’t in use, but when there was a patient inside, it would seal
around the surgical sites on their body and use a myriad of tools to
carry out the doctor’s instructions. It was the best technology in
the solar system as far as they knew, and from the looks of the
trolleys set in a specific order around the operating theatre, they
had replacements for at least half of Jake’s organs and limbs. Ayan
couldn’t see inside the containers on the trolley, and an opaque
barrier was being tested that would transmit between Ayan and
everything from Jake’s shoulders down, so she could only see his
head when they were operating. She was more than a little thankful
for that.

Lacey and Moira
McFadden were settling into seating that overlooked the operating
room. They waved at her from behind the transparent bulkhead, Moira
offering a greeting smile, and Lacey trying her best to look cheery
and failing. Oz entered and nodded at her. “It’s going to be all
right,” he said through the communications receiver in her loose
fitting vacsuit hood. “Tell him we’re all here pulling for him.”

“I will,” Ayan
replied. The transparent metal greyed so she couldn’t see who was
looking on, and she cleared her throat, steeling herself for whatever
was to come. She wanted to be strong for Jake. There was nothing
reassuring about a weepy bedside companion.

Three medical
technicians stood beside different carts like bridge officers at
their stations, none of them making eye contact with her or each
other. The quiet made the wait even more intense, and she realized
that she wasn’t the only one who was nervous or worried. “You’re
all trained for what you’ll be doing today?” Ayan asked gently.

The nearest, a young
woman with cold blue eyes, looked at her and nodded. “Every one of
us, Commodore.”

“Then you’re the
right people in the right place at the right time.”

“Thank you, Ma’am,”
said an older medical technician beside the door.

Silence settled in for
another long moment before the doors opened to admit Minh-Chu and
several other boarding team members from the assault on the
destroyer. Between them was a gurney with a black sealed stasis bag
on it. The upper half was the right shape for a man Jake’s size,
but the lower half was flat.

“We leave him right
here until Doctor Messana gets here,” Minh-Chu said as he guided
the gurney to its place beside the operating table.

He crossed to Ayan and
gave her a tight hug. “I’m glad you’re here,” he said.
“Everything okay with you?”

“Yes. What should I
expect when they open that bag?” Ayan asked.

“You don’t look at
that, all right? It got worse in transit, but he’s still viable, in
stasis.” Minh-Chu said, holding her at arms’ length. “They’ll
take care of his body, you take care of his soul.”

“All right,” Ayan
said.

“Thank you for your
assistance, officers,” Doctor Messana said as she came through the
doors with her medical droids in tow. “You got him here, thank you.
Now it’s time for you to get out of my operating room. You can
watch from the gallery if you like.”

The medical technicians
pulled the sterile wrap off the medical bots quickly and made sure
they were ready. “You’re Ayan,” Doctor Messana said as she ran
her vacsuit’s sterilization sequence. The room shimmered slightly
as all surfaces were sterilized as well. “The captain and I had a
few chats while the Warlord was port hopping around the sector. You
came up more than once, almost always good things were said, but you
understand I need you to be a certain way for a little while. You
have to be available for him while he’s awake, be positive. If he
asks you to marry him, or have his babies, or to fetch the nearest
moon for him, your answer will be yes and you’ll mean it. No
reservations, no crap from your past or his; you just love him more
than anyone else and make sure he knows it. I don’t care if that
changes the moment we’re done here, as long as you both believe it
while he needs you. If you have any problems with that, you can leave
without disgrace and I’ll call Minh in here and he’ll get by with
his best friend at his side.”

Ayan couldn’t help
but feel a little joyful as she realized that Doctor Messana was
describing how she felt about Jacob Valent. Putting her guilt at
leaving him and her relationship with Liam aside, she still loved him
more than anyone. “It’s true,” she replied.

“Good. Move him,
shoulders higher than legs, if you please,” Doctor Messana said to
the bots. While they gently transferred him to the surgical table,
Ayan stared at the doctor, who had more to say. “Good, you should
be here then. Before we begin, I have to make you aware of a few
things. You’re already avoiding looking at the bag, that’s good.
I won’t lie, he’s in terrible shape. I don’t care what you’ve
seen on the battlefield, you’re going to ignore everything
happening to him from the neck down while he’s awake. None of it’s
happening as far as you’re concerned. Eyes stay behind the barrier,
no backing up and peeking around. If you do see something alarming,
you will not react to it. If you do react to it, look at me and I’ll
tell him something about what’s happening. Do not try to explain
what you see yourself. One more thing: when the red light goes on,
his wounds are exposed and your hood stays sealed. When the green
lights over our heads come on, you can unseal and give him a kiss for
all I care, just don’t obstruct his breathing. He’ll be awake for
a minute, and he’ll be in pain for most of that while I check his
brain and nervous system function. As soon as his eyes open, you’re
going to talk to him like it’s all wedding vows and pillow talk
because you’re the only pain killer he gets while we perform our
tests.”

Ayan couldn’t help
but smile a little at the doctor’s straight forwardness. “Thank
you, I’ll do my part.”

The bubble closed
around the bag containing Jake and Doctor Messana immediately set to
work, checking the automated surgical tools.

“What do you think,
Dad? Have you gotten the scans?” Ayan asked quietly through her
communicator.

“Ayan, turn on your
suit’s audio dampeners,” he said.

Before Ayan expected
it, the red lights came on overhead. An opaque holographic barrier
appeared between Ayan’s end at the top of the bubble and the
surgical team, who seemed to overcrowd the table. She heard something
that sounded like sawing and sloughing. She activated the dampener,
but couldn’t deactivate her fear at what was happening. “Too
late.”

“Look at what’s
happening as an engineer, Ayan,” Doctor Anderson said from behind
the observation gallery glass. Most of the people around him had
already turned away, but he looked at her directly. “Nanobots just
infiltrated his skull and are building a new one from living bone
while the old, corrupt framework system is being removed. That sawing
sound is a result of how fast it’s happening. The Triton’s
surgical table is going to build fresh tissue around the new bone
next, and in a few minutes you’ll be looking at a brand new Jake.”

Ayan took a deep breath
and nodded. “Okay, that makes sense. The nanobots from the Order
Knight hit his head first, so it would be worst there.”

“Exactly, so
everything from there on is easier if Jake’s mind is intact.”

“Are you sure you
shouldn’t be down here?” Ayan asked.

“Doctor Messana has
been studying Framework technology since she signed up with the
Warlord, and she’s had days to put a plan together. I offered my
assistance, but she already had everything well in hand. She’s the
best one for this.”

“Okay, good,” Ayan
replied.

“Time to turn the
dampener off, they’ve rebuilt Jake’s head, preserving the brain.
You’re going to hear them removing his armour next, but you won’t
see anything.”