“Even after everything?”
“Especially after everything,” he burst with a chuckle. “I mean, I spent years doing nothing but growing food, working out, playing guitar and playing sims. I'm so ready for the real thing again.”
Jake smiled at him. “I'll get you in front of our virtual inventory so we can build something for you. I need someone to lead my people off the deck. Just qualify first, otherwise there'll be a mutiny.”
“Yeah, have you tried that? It's harder than the academy final,” Minh said, wide eyed.
“I failed my first time out.” Jake nodded.
“Oh, well, I passed,” Minh smirked, “Just saying it wasn't easy.”
Jake laughed, shaking his head. “How's my ship?”
“Well, Chief Vega put Oz in the command chair and he's learning as quick as he can, so's Jason, but it's not good. They have to rebuild one main engine completely and replace the power provision systems on the other. Lucky there are four main engines and a bunch of supplemental thrust systems.” He was quoting someone else's status reports, Jake could tell Minh was just getting ship news out of the way as quickly as he could so he could get to something else. “We're in a wormhole though, I hear we'll be hiding out in some big asteroid field while we rebuild. I got a peek at the maintenance list when an assistant was looking it over in the Pilot's Lounge. I couldn't help it, it looked like he was about to cry, then I saw the list and I felt like crying.”
“Should I put you in the maintenance rotation until you get a rig?”
Minh's hands shot up in front of him, warding the idea off. “Oh no, I didn't get back into space so I could pick up a screwdriver.”
“All right, just get practice in the sims on a couple of our fighters and pick something. If you're going to lead a squadron I need you to be better than everyone else out there.”
“You're going to have to join me for a few scenes, and speaking of scenarios, I noticed all the leisure programs are locked. Any way you can, you know, get me a code so I can try a few? I have a few hundred on my personal comm that I could add too.”
“I'll get you in touch with the Cruise Director,” Jake said as he slowly got out of bed. He had never been so stiff in his life.
“There's a Cruise Director?” Minh turned to face the door while Jake pulled his flimsy gown off and stepped into the small pulse shower stall. It activated with a hum as soon as he closed the stiff semitransparent curtain.
Jake chuckled and shook his head. “Just kidding. I had them restricted while most of the crew were still trying to qualify for their positions but I suppose I could set things up so the higher ups can use them as rewards and get to know each other.”
The door opened to admit Ayan, whose eyes darted to the empty bed then to Minh, who grinned, nodded and mouthed; “He's in the shower,” before casually continuing his conversation with Jake. “So I'll have access once I take a command position?”
Ayan took a shuddering breath in and let it out slowly, trying to calm down. In the short time since he'd shown up at her apartment in Freedom Tower Minh had never seen her so nervous. She was completely distracted as she just tried to calm down.
Jake went on unaware that Ayan had entered. “I can't see why security couldn't give you codes right now, since someone has to try them out. Just don't get all wrapped up, I don't want you to get sucked in like when you discovered Sword of Rikaam,” he deactivated the pulse shower and stepped out into the room, clean and nude.
Minh watched as Ayan's eyes went wide, she blushed so furiously that her neck, chest and ears turned red before she came to her senses and spun towards the door.
“Oh, and Ayan's here,” Minh chuckled.
“I'll get you for that,” she whispered.
“Worth it,” Minh muttered back. “I'll leave you two kids alone. Get on comms with me later Jake, if there's anything I can do to help out, I'm up for it.” He kissed Ayan on the cheek on his way out.
“You can turn around,” Jake said, half in a fresh vacsuit. It was a near exact duplicate to the one he had worn on his way to Pandem. The greater weight of it was immediately noticeable, something he'd look into later.
Ayan turned, he was just checking the fit of the bottom half of the vacsuit, leaving the top to dangle from his waist. His back was a collection of burn scars, just looking at them she could see they ran deep. Without thinking she crossed the room and gingerly touched one of the larger burns. “I didn't think you could scar,” she said quietly.
He froze. Jake knew exactly which scars she was talking about, they were a result of his mad dash from the West Keeper soldiers in the Commerce building. Looking down he saw more from when he had rushed to save her. I see these clearly in my mind, there's no question I should have them and they're just here. I didn't even notice them while I was in the shower. “They'll fade,” he lied. I don't know that for sure, for all I know it's all in my head. He turned around, caught her hand in his. It felt so soft, small compared to his own. She was at the same time the woman he remembered and someone new. The differences ended when he looked into her eyes. If he hadn't have accepted Jonas Valent's memories as his own before then he would have in that moment. The woman looking at him expectantly, catching him with her gaze made him feel something new, something that did come partially from the short time Jonas had shared with her, but there was something else entirely, like a new flame that made her the most important person in the galaxy.
Her blue eyes searched his, uncertain. Her stomach was in knots, her heart seemed to beat between her ears. “Don't do that again. I couldn't take-”
Jake interrupted her, taking her lips with his and wrapping his arms around her. He held her so tightly that she was pulled up onto her toes. Ayan's arms went around his neck and everything outside of their embrace disappeared.
“You're really here,” Jake breathed as their kiss ended.
She nodded, stroked his face. “I'm not going anywhere.”
“Things will never be the way they were, I'm not the same.”
“We'll take it slow.”
He kissed her briefly and they held each other for a time that went uncounted. Ayan closed her eyes, it didn't matter that he felt different, the way he held her was barely familiar.
The way he made her feel was different than she remembered with Jonas. It was so exciting she could barely breathe at first. When he kissed her it made her head swim, the gratification and relief she thought she'd be feeling when she was reunited with her Jonas had been replaced with a feverish elation that was utterly unfamiliar.
This was not Jonas. There were pieces of him there, but the man who held her like the most precious being in all of creation was someone new. The realization wasn't as startling as her reaction to it. Instead of disappointment she felt an eagerness to know him and she was thrilled at the thought of something new. Behind it all she was a little frightened at what she might discover but that only added to the intense mixture of emotions that made her heart jump.
As he held her close she didn't feel small, but cherished, like he never wanted to let go and Ayan knew she was loved.
Epilogue
Wheeler tapped his finger on the soft desktop as he waited for a response from Hampon's direct line. The outer hull of his ship had been repaired at the Regent Galactic Mobile Shipyard but the internal systems would take more time. When the Triton focused fire on his vessel the damage was immediate and devastating. Even so, he knew that he'd crippled her far worse.
The repairs were the least of it. During the two hours it took to repair the outer hull he was in his quarters, trying to relive certain experiences he knew Collins should have had and he made a disturbing discovery. The boy Hampon appeared as a small hologram on his desktop and smiled at him. “Good evening Lucius, how are the repairs progressing?”