Laura looked into his eyes. There was a sadness there she'd only seen in Ayan. He turned to look out towards the nebula. “You love her, don't you,” she stated quietly.
“Just in time to say goodbye,” he whispered back.
“That's why what you did is such a good thing. She had her career after the First Light, I was lucky enough to share that part of her life with her. There was another part of her that never stopped looking for Jonas, and when her health failed so badly that she couldn't work, she only had that dream left. That's the only reason why I'm here and I have only you to thank for making that dream come true at the very last moment. You should be proud of what you did Jake. Now that Jonas is gone you're the only one in the universe that felt that way about her, so it's only right that you got a chance to say goodbye. Where those feelings come from doesn't matter anymore,” she wiped a tear from her own eye, it was still hard to talk about.
He turned around. “You're right. I'll be honest, I'm having trouble,” in that moment his mannerisms matched Jonas.
She smiled at him. “That's what friends are for.”
He walked around his desk and sat down on the edge closest to her. “Thank you,” Jake said quietly. “I remember you and everyone else on the First Light, you know.”
“Good. Those were hard but good times.”
“That's how I remember them.”
Laura shook her head and wiped another tear away. “God, I'm so sick of being sad. I want to be happy Ayan's at peace, to move on and figure things out for myself like I'm sure she'd want me to, but I keep getting dragged down. I wish Jason were here.”
“So you two are still together?”
She chuckled and retracted the gloves of her vacsuit to reveal a platinum band studded with a row of six inset diamonds. “We've been married six years.”
Jake smiled at her, genuinely. “Congratulations, I know I'm late, but congratulations.”
“Thank you. I have to talk to you about that too. I want to send the Silkstream back to Freeground space unmanned.”
“So you'd like to stay here.”
Laura nodded. “Until I know what Jason's decided. I'll send it to the area the Sunspire is patrolling. Oz and Jason are aboard. He knows that if I go back they'll put me in the stockade for life.”
“You have a home here if you want it,” Captain Valance invited. “So does Jason, Oz, and anyone else from the Sunspire. For purely selfish reasons.”
She laughed quietly and nodded. “I was hoping you'd say that. Jason's got to be furious, but I think as soon as he sees the Silkstream he'll set a course to rendezvous with us, whether Oz is willing to leave his command or not.”
“He's in command of the Sunspire?” Jake asked, surprised.
“Along with a Fleet Intelligence oversight Officer. Last I heard having someone checking his orders was driving him nuts, but he's doing well. They converted her back into a carrier with a full squadron aboard. They're running missions in the Blue Belt.”
“So they have a tight leash on him. That would drive me crazy.”
“They're afraid he'll take the whole ship and go after you. Ayan's mother and a few other people with some pull in Fleet were hot to send people your way until Regent Galactic threatened Freeground with reprisals if they interfered with you.”
“Now that's interesting. Why am I so important?”
“That's something Jason's been trying to find out behind the scenes for weeks, but Regent Galactic has so many walls up it's hard to find anything at a great distance.”
“After this training time is up I'll be on their most wanted list I'm sure, but I can't be sure of what they want so badly that they'd threaten Freeground. Maybe when Jason gets here we can puzzle it out. From what I remember of him, I'm sure you're right, he'll be here as soon as possible. I would like to see Oz again as well, but I'll understand if he doesn't want to give up command of the Sunspire. When did they re-dub it?”
“After the ship was rebuilt and launched as a mission carrier. The shadow ship program is officially coming to a close. Wheeler's responsible for that.”
“Well, I'm taking a risk, but I can give you the coordinates of our position over the next month.”
“I'll include them on the Silkstream under an encryption code Jason and I use privately. When she's in range of the Sunspire she'll broadcast.”
“Good, if you need help getting the Silkstream Four ready for launch, just ask Chief Vercelli or his Assistant, Paula.”
“It's pretty much ready now.”
“What about that big calculator you brought with you? It's still in medical.”
“Minuteman? You can tie him into the ship's systems. Since he doesn't have an artificial intelligence he won't be affected by the virus you ran across. The Silkstream doesn't need it. Ayan only brought it aboard to help her.”
“I would have never thought of using a tactical and operations computer to keep someone alive,” Jake said quietly. “She was amazing.”
They were quiet for a moment before Laura cleared her throat and straightened in her seat. “There's something else. I'd like your permission to train with the crew. Before starting Special Projects with Ayan I was the energy field specialist on the First Light. I couldn't help but notice that your ship wasn't using her shield systems nearly as well as they could when you were in the Enreega system.”
Jake grinned at her and extended his hand. “Join any department you want. I know Liam is overextended in Engineering, he'd love to have you.”
She shook his hand and smiled back. “Thank you Jake.”
The Sunspire
“What the hell do they expect us to do?” Oz exclaimed as he paced the length of the Captains quarters main room. “It's not like I can just order the ship out of the sector and leave a big gaping hole in our defence here, not to mention toss my career away.”
Jason turned the holoprojector off after looking at his wife's face one more time. “As soon as I get her second message I'm following,” he said, crossing his arms and sitting back on the recliner. The cabin was dark, overlarge. Captain Terry Ozark McPatrick had kept the crew at arm's length. The environment of mistrust surrounding his new command was the root cause.
Lieutenant Trajenko read every single one of his reports the instant they were posted in the system. She also had her artificial intelligence summarize the shift reports of every senior officer before scrubbing its memory clear of the details. She followed Freeground's orders to the letter. Jason had gotten access to them; 'provide constant oversight to Commanding Officer Terry Ozark McPatrick and guidance if necessary. Report any violation of orders to Freeground Fleet Intelligence as soon as they occur. If any critical deviation from orders takes place, assume command immediately.' was what they said.
“You're Intelligence now, it would be hard but you might be able to explain away any charges they'd put on you if you went after her.”
Jason laughed sardonically. “Not likely. She's my wife, that's pretty transparent.”
“So you're right. But we've been sitting on this message for seven days, and Trajenko is just waiting for me to step out of place,” he ran his hand over his short blond hair. “If Fleet wanted me in command, they should have just given it to me and trusted I'd follow orders. I know what we're doing out here, how hard it was winning this much ground. I don't need some watchdog nipping at my heels every second just to make sure I hold the line. If they wanted Intelligence to run this thing, they should have put her in charge, not that she's earned the rank.”
“What can I say Oz? You're right.”
He dropped into the armchair he'd brought with him from his last command. “Of course I'm right, I've been thinking about this for a week.”
Jason's command and control unit, a graft on the back of his hand, sent a mild sensation through his nervous system. He had set his priority message indicator to feel like a drop of ice cold water hitting the back of his hand. “Looks like we won't have to wait much longer,” the holographic message projected through his left palm, so he was holding it in his hand. “It's encrypted with our personal key.”