"Why would the Samson be signalling? She's got three engines down and four open compartments," Ayan asked as she finished drying Jake's back. She couldn't help but notice that if she'd burned him, the skin had already healed. All the scars he had after Pandem were gone too.
"It doesn't sound good," Jake agreed as he turned and took the towel. "The vacsuit will clean up the rest.”
Ayan nodded, an embarrassed smile playing on her lips. “Sorry about that.”
“Just as much my fault, I started it,” they stared at each other for a moment, frozen, before Ayan watched Jake tear himself free from the moment. “We should get to the common room. We'll be able to see the transmission from there." He tossed the thin towel onto the bed and pushed his arms into the sleeves of his vacsuit.
Ayan stood up on her toes, took his face in her hands and kissed him. It was brief, but soft and intimate. "Feel free to start something whenever you like, luv," she winked.
She snatched up her empty spill proof mug and left. Jake wasn't far behind, with his own mug in hand.
The Clever Dream common room was really an entertainment area with a three quarter circular sofa, a high resolution holographic projection system, counters with stools so the crew could eat in comfort and a reconfigurable gaming table for a variety of distractions. The Clever Dream was made for the comfort of her small crew, and it showed.
Fin, Alaka, who was a little too large for everything aboard, Stephanie, Minh, and Victor were all in attendance with a few extra soldiers who had won the right to spend the night in the common room. Everyone was awake and most were ready for a new day. Ayan took a moment to refill her mug at one of the three materializers, and Jake couldn’t help but smile a little as he overheard her request; “Irish cream coffee, about five degrees cooler than last time please.”
Jake could see the slave software for Minh's fighter running on his command and control unit. The vessel was flying in formation behind the Clever Dream, near the rear of the other manned fighters.
"Any data riding the Samson's signal?" Jake asked as he sat down at the open end of the sofa.
"Not much," Lewis, the Clever Dream's artificial intelligence started mournfully. "I can play you the message if you like."
"Please," Jake replied.
Laura's head and shoulders appeared in the centre of the room. The hologram was so clear it was as though she was actually there, only twice her normal size. Her hair had been quickly tied into a ponytail and she was speaking from the command seat. "This is a situation update intended for the crew of the Clever Dream. Highest priority. The Triton managed to get away from Ossimi Ring Station, and tried to enter a wormhole to get away but somehow an interdiction ship disrupted the field surrounding the compressed space while we were still inside. Oz tried to hide us inside a planetary dust cloud but could only buy us enough time to evacuate most of the unarmed crew. He and a skeleton crew provided cover while we got away, disabling three heavy battlecruisers. You’re getting this because his plan worked, and we managed to escape the planetary nebula. Jake, he's enacted the ghost ship strategy. He and Jason think they can pull it off. This message can't be more than ten minutes ahead of us. I suggest you use the time to find us a destination. We're going to need a place where people can get off these ships, we’re pretty packed in and some of them aren’t in the greatest shape. I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do to get the Triton clear. There were just too many ships after us."
The transmission ended with a surge of interference.
Silence fell over the cabin occupants. Most of them stared at the empty space where Laura had appeared a moment before while Minh and Ayan started working on their command and control units. “Display the last tactical scan of the Triton,” ordered Captain Valance quietly. The image of the Triton filled the centre of the room. The dust in the micro nebula was so thick it created a haze effect. The first thing that drew his attention was the through and through puncture on one of the stingray shaped ships wings. Her upper hull was covered in a criss cross pattern of beam damage, several deep cuts thinned entire sections to a critical point. Secondary areas had taken the most damage, and several compartments were open to space. Thee mid-gunnery deck had been brutalized. A third of it had been shut down and closed off for safety. Many turrets there had been super-heated, and rendered useless. The hull had been thinned so severely that it looked as though someone had taken a giant chisel to it.
The underside of the ship wasn’t as badly damaged, but the surface had been burnished shiny by the grit of the nebula. Jake didn’t need to take a closer look, he knew what he was seeing. “They used beam weapons to thin the hull wherever they could. What’s after them?”
“According to the scan, they’re being pursued by three Caran Enterprises Enforcer Battlecruisers. Each has seventy eight percent the mass of the Triton, is nine hundred twenty three meters long, and carries an estimated crew of four thousand five hundred, not including boarding parties or specialists,” Lewis replied. “As of the time of the Samson’s departure, the battlecruisers were closing.”
Jake moved the image of the Triton aside and brought the three remaining Battlecruisers to the fore. “Why do they have Regent Galactic markings?”
“In the most recent news offered on the Stellarnet, Regent Galactic just purchased Caran Enterprises, repaying their debt and saving the single solar system corporation.”
“Of course they did,” sighed Stephanie. “If someone asked me; ‘how could this get any worse?’ that’d be my answer.”
“They have strategy on their side. A commander, or a group of commanders are working together to make sure that whole sections of the Triton’s hull are so thin that they may as well be made of glass. I don’t think Oz has realized it yet.” Jacob eyed the middle battlecruiser, it had an additional section that ran the length of the cruiser. It was lined with transparent sections and extra shield emitters.
“Why?” Asked Alaka. “Why not breach compartments and reduce the useable space aboard?”
“Because they’re not in a hurry and they’re trying to keep the ship viable for as long as they can. It’s a repo agent’s trick.” Stephanie answered. “A thin hull won’t reduce a ship’s value as much as a damaged reactor or ruined internal spaces.”
Captain Valance turned and looked through the wide porthole at the rear of the room at the distant, glimmering stars. Everyone who knew him recognized that he was deep in thought, working through the problem.
"I didn't see the ghost ship scenario listed in the training sims," Victor said quietly. “What’s Oz planning?”
"It's an old Freeground tactical simulation. Jake would know it better than I would, it was one of his favourites," Minh said quietly. "I have to get to my fighter before Laura and the rest of the ships arrive," he excused himself and quietly left the common room.
"It was?" asked Ayan.
Jake turned, shaking his head. "It was one of Oz's favourites, I just went along with him because it was always a challenge. Different days, different stakes," he sighed. "Victor, have our people stow their gear and make as much room as they can. If we're stuck out here for too long we may have to use the Clever Dream's medical facilities to take care of any injured."
Victor nodded and left the room.
"So this ghost ship scenario? I've never heard you bring it up," Stephanie pressed.
"If he’s using the strategy the way I would, all of Triton’s power plants have been shut down, life support is minimal and he's locked all the computer systems down tight. Considering the command crew are wearing stealth gear-"
"Along with most of the security," Stephanie added.