Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades (61 page)

“Thanks, Dad,” Ayan
said.

“I’ll be here if
you need me, but for now, just be ready to concentrate on Jake.”

Ayan turned her sound
dampener off and turned back towards the closed table. She could hear
the creaking of metal and popping of high-powered beam emitters for
several minutes. It took incredible effort for her not to scan the
room with her comm unit so she could find out what was going on.

“Okay, the bag’s
open, his armour is retracted. Cutting necrotic material and auto
suturing the sites,” Doctor Messana said. “Start putting the
bypass in place, please.”

Ayan waited at the head
of the table. She couldn’t see anything through the dome of the
table, and she couldn’t read any of the control interfaces the
staff were using.

“All right, the
bypass to his head is taking over. His brain is getting oxygen now,
but it’s not active enough to consider him anywhere near awake,”
one of the medical technicians reassured her.

“Okay, our captain
has a brand new face, you can expose him,” Doctor Messana said. “We
have four-point-three percent necrosis in his brain, so we’re going
to remove and rebuild those areas with our nanobots and then
stimulate his brain so we can see if he made it.” Everyone stepped
away from the table and the green light came on.

One of the medical
technicians came to Ayan’s side and flashed her a smile. “Time to
reveal your prince charming, Commodore.” She moved the top of the
bubble down to the top of Jake’s neck and peeled the stasis bag
material aside.

To Ayan’s surprise,
Jake looked fine from the neck up. Perfect is the word she would have
chosen. “Go ahead and touch him, however you normally would. His
head is held in place so anything you do will not affect what we’re
doing below the neck.”

Ayan took her place at
the end of the table and gingerly stroked his hair. He was warm to
the touch, breathing normally. She knew it was an illusion. A machine
was breathing for him, telling his muscles how to keep his tongue out
of his throat, and he looked so relaxed because his brain wasn’t
functioning yet.

“There we go,”
Doctor Messana said. “The nanobots are leaving his cranium, all the
bad grey matter is gone and there’s some fresh stuff behind. Time
to stimulate him and get some activity going so we can find out if he
can come back to us.”

“We have a good
seal,” one of the technicians announced as the green lights came on
overhead. “Go ahead and deactivate your hood, the rest of his body
is sealed in the surgical unit,” he told Ayan.

She did as instructed
and looked down at Jake’s face, stroking it gently. “You said
he’ll be in a lot of pain.”

“If we’re lucky,”
one of the technicians said.

“Stimulating the
brain,” Doctor Messana said. “Like my tactless tech here said,
signs of pain are good, it’ll be even better if he recognizes you.”

Jake’s face twitched
several times and his eyes squeezed shut, a tear rolling down his
cheek as he groaned. It sounded strange, hollow thanks to the machine
performing the duties of oxygenating his blood and breathing for him.
Ayan wiped it away for him. “I’m here,” she whispered.

He opened his eyes but
didn’t say a word as he ground his teeth.

“I need a name,
soldier,” Doctor Messana asked firmly.

“Jacob Valent,” he
replied, nearly screaming. “Everything hu-“ he managed before his
face flushed and he clenched his jaw.

“I’m here, Love,”
Ayan said, gently stroking his face. “I’m sorry for leaving, but
I’m back.”

“Hey! No past,
remember?” Doctor Messana said. “Jake, what was the last thing
you did.”

“Destroyer,” he
shot back, “Took down the destroyer.”

“Good! Now who’s
that woman with you?”

“Ayan,” Jake said,
his eyes focusing on hers completely for the first time. “Where am
I?” he managed to say through clenched teeth.

“You’re-“ Ayan
started answering, but she was interrupted by Doctor Messana.

“Where do you think
you are, Jake?” she asked.

“Medical, on the
Triton,” he replied.

“Okay, this is going
to be uncomfortable, but it’ll only last a moment,” Doctor
Messana said. As soon as she finished warning Jake, she did something
from her end of the table that made his eyes lose focus on Ayan for a
moment. It looked as though he was focusing on something far past
her, and his jaw fell slack.

“Doctor,” Ayan
warned.

“Done, time to
medicate,” Doctor Messana said.

Jake focused on Ayan
again, the pain in his expression returning. Through wheezes and
grunts he asked, “Where was I? It was like I was kicked out of my
own head for a minute.”

“I forced a
diagnostic of your brain, you’ll probably lose a couple of short
term memories, but we had to make sure your brain is good for long
term function. You should be feeling much better about now.”

The expression on
Jake’s face changed in seconds, the pain draining away. “Yeah,
doesn’t feel like I hurt my everything. How’s my brain?”

“Should be good for a
couple of centuries,” Doctor Messana said. “You talk to that
pretty lady over there for a few minutes, I’ve got some work to do
at this end.”

“Hi there,” Jake
said with a cocked smile. “You know you’re upside down?”

Ayan stroked his face
and stared into his eyes. “Not for long,” Ayan said. “Hello,
Luv. I missed you.”

“It’s bad,” he
said. “You’re here, sweeter than ever, so I’m probably dying or
dead. Maybe I’m dead somewhere and this is about transplanting
memories. You’re making a new Jake in some clone body.”

“You’re the same
you,” Ayan said, “same body, same mind. No transfers. Nanobots
deactivated your framework system and there was other damage, but
you’re fine from the neck up and some other places. They’re
fixing you now. I’m just here because I missed you. I wanted to
tell you I’m sorry I left you, and I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“I’m in no position
to refuse,” Jake said, raising his eyebrows and chuckling. “Weird,
didn’t feel my chest move.”

“They’ve got you
pretty numb from the neck down,” Ayan explained.

“We’ve got all the
scans we need,” one of the medical technicians said. “His head is
in great shape.”

“All right, you hear
that, Jake? The important bits made it through. We’re going to put
you to sleep now and when you wake up you’ll be ready for the
Ranger test course.”

“Want me to be there
when you wake up?” Ayan asked.

“Definitely,” Jake
replied. “Just make sure they don’t give me anything extra or
leave anything out.”

Ayan broke the rules by
kissing him briefly and said, “I’ll inspect you myself.”

He had a smile on his
face as he faded from consciousness.

“Okay, Ayan,”
Doctor Messana said. “Time for you to join your friends in the
gallery, take a nap, or whatever you like until we’re finished
putting him back together and it’s time for him to wake up.”

“He’s going to be
all right?” Ayan realized she was still stroking his face and
hesitated for a moment before backing away.

“As long as he
doesn’t mind being as human as any of us, he’ll be better than
fine. The Framework system made a real mess, so we’ll be here for
ten hours replacing pretty much everything, but he’s out of danger.
You helped us save the most important bits, the brain and the soul.”

“Thank you, Doctor,”
Ayan said. One of the medical technicians led her toward the doorway
behind her.

“Oh, and Ayan,”
Doctor Messana called after her.

“Yes?”

“I want an invite to
the wedding when you two finally tie it up. That is if you’re not
the best actress I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ll make sure you
get an invitation,” Ayan replied.

It was real. Triton
Fleet may have been headed into a war, and there was more work for
her to do than she could account for, but what she felt for Jacob
Valent was real, and he was alive, and that was enough.

The Last Two

Moira McFadden sat in
the command seat at the rear of the Sunny Shifter’s bridge. It was
an over-padded, brand new chair with no manual controls. It would
react to impulses in her brain using a low powered scanner and
provide the information she wanted using holographic displays. Her
words would provide other prompts. The system was good, she’d use
it, but it all seemed too dainty. Manual controls would be added to
the seat before the refit was done, she’d see to it.

The tour of her new
ship was a quiet one, with only five people aboard and no one on the
bridge. It was the way she liked it. The quiet time gave her an
opportunity to truly think things through. The beast of a hauler was
an excellent platform for what she had planned, and it was in
surprisingly good shape.

Remmy Sands and his
Ranger team had done such an incredible job at taking the ship that
there were only a few signs of a skirmish in the halls. She liked the
young ranger’s style. He used brains and stealth, and was
surprisingly decisive for someone who was so popular with his team.
She reminded herself to thank him for taking the ship, her ship.

“Looks good on ye,”
Shamus Frost, or Shamus McFadden to her, said as he came in through
the starboard door.

“Feels like it was
made for lounging, not leading,” Moira said as she hopped up and
down in the seat a little. There was a definite overabundance of
bounce in the cushion.

“That’s what they
feel like when they’re new,” Frost said with a crooked grin. “Not
many of us have had the pleasure.”

“You did a fine job
commanding the Warlord,” Moira said. “I never felt the fight
outside was going to get out of hand while I was on the destroyer.”

“There was a moment
there, where things looked grim, but the captain’s plan got us
through,” Frost said, “Looks like I’ll be doing a lot of
following his plans; he’s got some recovery time and I’ll be in
the Warlord’s command seat awhile.”

“He’s that bad?”
Moira asked.

“Between you and me,
he’s got to learn to walk all over again, rebuild his coordination.
Technology could help that, do some remapping, but physical therapy’s
the smart way.”

“He seems like the
type to go for the quick way when it comes to taking care of himself,
I’m surprised he didn’t go for remapping.”

“He’s got two
angels on his side, Ayan and Alice. They convinced him.”

“How is Alice, by the
way? She lost people defending the Warlord, didn’t she?” Moira
asked. She liked the plucky young woman. She’d be a hell of a
commander if she survived adolescence in her father’s war.

“Aye, it hit her last
night after Ayan told us her da would be all right,” Frost said,
walking around the six station bridge, looking at the pristine
control stations. “She’ll pull through, she’s with Jake now.
Tear jerker of a reunion, that was.”

“So, you’re going
to be first officer to your girlfriend while he’s out of
commission?” Moira asked, smiling at the prospect.

“Co-captaining,
really,” Frost said. “She liked my handling of the Warlord, so
I’m taking care of the ship, she’s taking care of the crew.”

“But there’s only
one captain,” Moira pressed.

“Aye, that’s what
her rank says,” Frost replied. “I’m technically the first
officer. We’re going back out in one week. Even got a double to
stand in for the captain when we hit our next target.”

“I don’t even want
to know who’s drawn that straw,” Moira said. “That is one man I
would not want to try and imitate.”

“Aye, he’s a
stand-out,” Frost replied with a nod.

“With a huge target
on his back. Anyone who takes him out would get a promotion and a
parade. Makes me feel like I’ve got a great big shadow to hide in.”

He looked at her from
the front of the bridge. “That you have, the Warlord casts a long
shadow, so does her real captain. I’m wondering, are you going to
be changing the name of this ship, or are we going to be hearing
tales of the dreaded Sunny Shifter in a few weeks?”

Moira laughed and
nodded. “Yes, she’ll be renamed. I’m breaking out the green,
black, and orange paint so I can put our flag on her hull, too.”

“And that flag will
be painted beside…” Frost asked, eager to hear what she’d be
calling her ship.

“Well, they’re
adding four thousand tonnes of armour, not including external
plating, which will be another nine thousand tonnes, and I’m
requesting a bunch of triple stage railgun turrets. The commodore is
helping with the designs, she says the thrust output of this ship is
so high, being a heavy hauler made to pull three cargo trains and tug
a ship like the destroyer at the same time, that it’ll still be
fast even with more armour.”

“So, that’s led you
to which name?” Frost asked, an eyebrow raised. “Union Reprisal?
Irish Temper? Gael Gale?”

“Union Reprisal,
that’s not bad,” Moira commented before continuing, “She’ll
have five mine launchers, room for as many fighters as the Warlord,
and nine particle beams. Commodore Anderson even promised that I’d
have an improved version of the Warlord’s cloaking systems
installed. So, I was thinking…” Moira enjoyed testing Frost’s
patience. “With all that, what would the best name be for such a
ship?”

“Dangerous Heavy
Thing?” Frost offered, only a little exasperated so far.

“It would have to be
a famous name, because this ship is going to fly along side another
well known ship. More importantly, this ship’s officers will be
from the Irish Union, whom the Order seem to think they’ve
conquered, and there was little chance of us surviving, so what would
suit that?”

“If you’re not
going to tell me, I’ll just leave,” Frost said, pointing towards
the door.

“Morrigan, I’m
calling her the Morrigan,” Moira said with a grin.