She looked tired, her vacsuit was sealed up so only her face was visible and her poncho was draped over her with the hood up. “I have to go, I'm sorry Laura,” she could barely hear her say as she leaned on a white cane heavily.
Laura sealed the hatch behind her and sent the all clear signal to Freeground Station security. “They'll have your rank for this, the Special Projects Initiative will change.”
Ayan ignored every word. “No one's going to get him. No one's taking the trip out there to tell him who he is, how important he is to us, what he's done. Intelligence won't even let me send him a message. They even blocked the ones I thought I got through.”
“Regent Galactic has threatened war if Freeground lends aid.”
“That's not a problem. The Silkstream's transponder's been hooked into Minuteman. I can change it to whatever I want whenever I want. They won't know this ship is from Freeground.”
Laura crossed the docking bay at a run and followed Ayan up the ramp into the ship. “ Minuteman? That's not even finished.”
“Yes it is. I told him to finish constructing himself and he did. It took him less than five seconds to figure out how then two hours to finish building his processing cluster. I had to deactivate the Silkstream's AI, it was slowing him down.” Ayan gestured to an unassuming, gray, one meter long case inside the small hold. It was wired into the ships computer system through several panels. “The most powerful calculator is now part of the fastest ship in the galaxy. It's a match ma-” Ayan stopped and coughed, leaning on her cane.
Laura rubbed her shoulders. She was little more than skin and bone. “I'm sorry, I know you loved him. ”
“I can't forget him Laura. So much of this work wouldn't have happened if it weren't for him, even Minuteman, if it weren't for him releasing Alice and us capturing a part of her predatory code inside the quantum core by mistake, none of that would have existed. A molecular quantum core so small and powerful it can even keep me alive a little longer.”
“What do you mean?”
“I installed a more advanced framework system and some nanobots into my body. Now Minuteman is controlling how they heal me, which fires to put out, which organs to save and how.”
Laura could only stare at her friend, imagining the constant pain she must be going through as she walked through the habitation cabin with its small table, two built in chairs and four bunks.
“I'm so tired of sitting around, pretending like every day might not be my last, feeling sorry for myself and wondering if Jonas will ever know where he comes from.”
“He wouldn't want you to do this, not for him,” Laura pleaded quietly as she followed Ayan.
“That makes him worth it,” she sat down in the pilot's seat and started warming up the ship. “I still love him. I tried seeing other people when I was still in shape, you were there. I kept measuring them against Jonas. Now we know where he is, or where he will be. I'm going. You'll have to drag me off this ship to stop me Laura.”
She hadn't seen such determination in her friend in years. Part of her was back, the part that mattered. “We love you Ayan. We don't want to see you end up all alone in space or killed in some accident.”
“No. You, Jason and Oz love me, I know. That's where it ends. My own mother won't take time out from building her precious colony to spend a few more days with me before I'm gone. In case you haven't noticed, I haven't been feeling very well lately, without Minuteman and all this technology I've got three days left at best. Nothing can save me, but maybe I can save Jonas. If he knows where he comes from, that someone is willing to cross the galaxy to tell him, then maybe that shadow of him I see on the Newsnets could find its way. Maybe he could have a better life.”
Laura let a few tears fall as she looked into her friend's eyes. “All you've built here, the team, it'll suffer.”
“The politics of Fleet Command are doing what they think is right with our work, but there's no focus, no purpose to any of it. It's not really improving anything for anyone just trying to live a normal life on Freeground. They're using it for military and leaking other technology out slowly, so the privileged get first crack at the benefits. What's any of it worth if it can't make us happier, healthier?” she closed her eyes for a moment and let out a shuddering sigh. “Please, I need to see him.” Ayan whispered. Her chin was quivering, tears streamed down her face. “One last time.”
Laura gently took Ayan into her arms. “Alright, but you're not going alone.”
“Oh thank God, I was afraid you wouldn't get here in time and I'd have to stay awake for the next week,” Ayan sighed with a little chuckle.
“You know I love you Ayan.”
“I know. Love you too Laura,” Ayan whispered. “Can I lower my nerve sensitivity now?”
“Yup, I'll take us out.” Laura replied, knowing that Ayan must have been in constant pain. It was the trade off for mobility and mental acuity.
Alarms sounded across the Freeground Home Fleet as one of the most advanced ships ever built carrying the most sophisticated combat and logistics computer known in that part of the galaxy launched from a small bay and entered its own wormhole. The Silkstream IV, as intelligence would report to Fleet Command later on, was equipped with the first effective combination faster than light drive. Once it entered a wormhole it would generate a hyperspace field around itself, altering its mass and how it interacts with the universe so it could travel many times the speed of light.
Combining wormhole technology and hyperdrive technology had been done successfully on three ships. The first and fastest of which was the Silkstream IV, a small prototype, and nothing in the known universe could catch it. At its top speed it was fast enough to cross the milky way in under two months. It would be able to reach Jonas Valent in the Enreega system within days while only expending a small portion of its fuel.
For all intents and purposes, Ayan Rice and Laura Everin were permanently out of reach. Considering they were trying to make contact with the one man they had been forbidden to reach by threat of war, Freeground Intelligence put efforts in place to cover up the incident and disavow ownership of the Silkstream IV. All but one restricted copy of its schematics were deleted the next day.
New Arrivals
The bridge of the Triton was alive with activity. Liam was showing the crew members at each post how to access the documentation and training materials for their stations. It looked like he had already educated half the bridge staff already, and had just finished working with Frost when Stephanie walked in. He looked up at her only briefly, too distracted by the massive database associated with the tactical stations. Most of the crew knew the basics of operating their stations but the particulars, the fine tuning and more detailed instrumentation was difficult to access and seemed unwieldy at first. Sol Defence ships were developed in ways that were foreign to most of the galaxy and even though operating them seemed simple and user friendly on the surface, finer details were difficult to grasp without specific training.
Unknown to Jacob Valance, anyone on board, and even Lucius Wheeler, there was a database of tutorials and operation manuals buried in the core software. Knowing where they were, being able to reference them at a moment's notice was making a difference already. The tutorials would help later, when there was more time for the crew to learn independently.
The difference between a dedicated crew member and a jobber will be pretty obvious soon. I'm going to end up taking tutorials and running practice simulations for months but at least I have a place to start. Stephanie thought to herself as she walked to the right hand seat beside the command chair, it adjusted to her height and shape as she sat down. She listened in as she checked the ship status screen.
“Whenever you're looking at a system you enter in the code one, two, three and your name and the training directory will come up. Anyone with command access at their station can bring up the information at any time. Passengers and other non-crew will only be able to access the bare minimum. Like entertainment, materializers and how to operate different fixtures in quarters.” Liam was telling Ashley, Captain Valance and the navigator.