Captain Valance and Alice parted, and he offered her his white scarf to wipe her tears away.
“I couldn't use that,” she said, using her sleeve instead. After a moment she looked at Jonas, he could see her concentrating.
“Don't tell him about me. I'll do it myself.” Came her mental communication, much clearer that time. He assumed the earlier failed attempt was due to emotional interference.
“Yes, well, maybe we could take this somewhere more private?” Jonas said with a nod directed at the express tube.
Stephanie turned on her heel and led the way back the way she and the Captain had come. “Security detail dismissed.” She ordered to the soldiers standing around them. They turned and led the way to the large cargo elevator. “There's an observation lounge a few decks up that we haven't seen yet.”
“You haven't had this ship long?” Jonas asked.
“Just a couple days. Most of the crew are refugees and deserters from the Aucharian Government,” Jake replied. “With their home system in pieces they didn't think they had much to go back to.” Jake pointed over his shoulder at the Samson with his thumb. “That's been my core ship for the last five years. It was a gift. Turns out it served me well.”
“I almost didn't recognize it,” Alice said, looking across the hundred meter distance at the battered cargo hauler as the deck crew hovered it soundlessly up a ramp through an interior hangar door that was almost not wide enough. “What are they doing with it?”
“Putting it into storage. One of my crew detonated a one megaton equivalent electromagnetic pulse bomb on the deck beneath it. The Samson won't be running until someone does some serious repairs on her.”
“He saved my life when he set that thing off. Wheeler was just about to put an extra hole in me,” Stephanie added. “Gave us the upper hand for just long enough to get things under control.”
They stepped into the large cargo express car with a dozen soldiers in tow and after the screech of the doors closing made everyone cringe it elevated several decks in the space of a few seconds, opening up to reveal what looked like a common room. The lights came on closest to them first, illuminating two meters at a time down the two hallways in ahead. There were three sofas, a couple small tables and chairs with scuffed markings on the floor indicating emergency hatchways for escape craft and maintenance crawl ways. It looked like one of the more used sections of the ship, but was covered in dust.
“This looks like the entrance space to a berth,” Jonas said as he stepped inside. “Fighter pilots I'd say.”
“Looks like. The schematics for this deck outlines one third as living space for pilots and deck crews. The rest is an observation deck and the highest point in the hangar storage.” Stephanie said, looking at a small holographic representation of the deck coming from her wrist unit.
Alice was looking on with interest. “I'd hate to bunk up there,” she pointed at the rear wall, where the schematic detailed a part of the hangar lifting system.
“The observation lounge is this way,” Stephanie directed to the hall running left, towards the bow of the ship. “Do a sweep of this berthing. I want it cleared for the deck crew by the time they're ready to turn in. When you're finished make sure you inform the Chief his people are assigned here,” she ordered the lead soldier before starting down the hall. “We'll clear the observation lounge,” she finished with a crooked grin.
“Yes Ma'am.”
They made their way up the broad hallway, avoiding one cleaning robot that was vacuuming its way up the side of the hall. “I guess the robots turn off when the decks are dormant,” Alice commented as she wiped her finger across it's flat, round top. It was as thick with dust as everything else. “Must be nice to have them aboard though. I don't know what I'd do without the cleaning systems in the Clever Dream.”
“Your ship has cleaning systems?” Stephanie asked enviously.
“Sure does, takes care of almost everything.”
“There were days when I wished the Samson had something, anything like that. We had to vent the halls once to prove a point.”
“That was Frost,” Captain Valance corrected. “I was off ship.”
“Yeah, cleaned the dust out of the corners though,” Stephanie said with a chuckle at the memory.
“We also lost a few tools in that impromptu clean up. He still owes me for that.”
“But it was funny! Everyone got to their bunks like he told them to, but no one thought he'd actually do it. People cleaned up after themselves a little more after that. I think some of them lost a couple things they left lying around.”
“Sounds like the Samson was an interesting place to be,” Alice commented.
“For me, but I like a good firefight and Captain kept the jobs coming. We must have gone through a couple hundred people in the time I was aboard though, between people who just left after a while and others. It was a rough life.”
“So you're keeping the Triton? Going to keep her crewed up?” Jonas asked. “I am,” Jake answered mildly. “Everyone needs a bit of training except our Chief Engineer, but the computer's got the information they need to start.”
“Are you going to run them through simulations? I've found virtual trials are a great way to get a crew in shape.”
“I was just thinking about that actually. It's writing the scenarios I'm not looking forward to, and I don't know whether to do it one department at a time or run people from all of them through at the same time.”
“I'd say you should run everyone not on duty once a day during hyperspace, just for a couple hours while they're off duty. We did something similar with the First Light but time was always a problem. She was well automated but had a skeleton crew. Didn't feel like it though. Running a ship with a couple hundred souls aboard is still a big challenge.”
“I know, the Samson was easy most of the time. I had no problem staying on top of things. I'm hoping that the people we've put in charge are good at their jobs.” Captain Valance concluded.
“I'll do my best Captain,” Stephanie reassured as she checked the status of the compartment ahead on the door control panel leading to the observation lounge.
“I'm talking about our new Chiefs, you're the one I'm hoping picks up any really big problems.”
“Well, with security I know I'll be able to tell if things are going right, but with engineering and the hangar decks? It's hard to be sure,” Stephanie said with a shrug as she opened the double doors leading into the lounge.
The lights came on to reveal a furnished room with a view facing outwards from the front of the Triton. The floor in front of the entrance was decorated with a silvered skull with the words Deploy, Dominate, Disappear written around it. “Well that's a squadron motto to remember,” Alice said, looking down on it.
“I think that might just be something I'd like to keep. Maybe even duplicate in other parts of the ship,” Captain Valance said as much to himself as anyone else.
The rest of the observation lounge was much like the common room, only with a bar at one end and many more tables. There were a few weathered sofas and other seats around as well. Overall, the space looked well used and if it weren't for the dust one would expect a group of pilots to walk in any second, returning from a patrol.
“Should we leave these guys alone and see what else we can find?” Alice asked Stephanie.
“I actually have to get back to the bridge, make sure the next watch is settling in. Come with?”
“Sounds like as good a place to start the tour as any,” Alice said with a shrug.
The pair left and Jake led Jonas to the bar, where he stepped in behind and Jonas sat down on a padded stool. “Guess Wheeler didn't like this part of the ship much,” Jonas commented as he looked around.
Jake looked under the bar for a moment and came up with a bottle of scotch. “Ashton Mill brand, aged fourteen years, bottled forty six years ago.”