Zoe made herself at home in her lap, and buried her nose in Ashley's hair. She'd seen Iloona's youngest children do the same several times, and thought it was nothing more than a sign of affection. In that moment she was convinced that it was something more; Zoe was drawing comfort from the act, making Ashley her own warm, safe place.
The controls finished calibrating, her verified navigational data and wormhole trajectory appeared on her panel, and the main thruster reported ready to fire.
“Is everything all right up there Ash?” Asked Oz.
The relief at hearing his low voice and calm tone ran deep. “Course plotted, controls ready, and the computer's telling me that we'll be able to move with the ship still attached to our upper mooring point.”
“Nice work, can we project a wormhole wide enough?”
She looked to Larry, who nodded. “Not a problem.”
“Ashley, you're amazing. Get us out of here.”
That took both hands, but Zoe didn't seem to mind. Ashley activated the remaining emitters and they fired a burst of energy in front of the ship, bending and twisting the space ahead into a funnel. To the naked eye the sight wasn't so spectacular, only some lensing and a slight ripple in front of the Triton would be visible. The exterior sensor screen was a different story. It was like watching a flower opening from the outside in, energies bent and twisted as empty space compressed and several pieces of debris were pulled in.
Zoe must have caught the light in the corner of her eye, she turned and stared at the holographic sensor view and watched as Ashley fired the main thruster and increased the power as much as she dared. “Let's make this place a memory,” Ashley said to herself as the wormhole finished forming and the Triton entered the highly compressed space.
As soon as their course was steady Larry got to his feet.
“Where ya goin?” Ashley asked.
“There's still fighting in a few compartments, I'm going to go do what I have to,” he said stoically as he strode for the door.
Ashley watched it close behind him. When he was sure he was several meters away she locked her controls and made her way to the room's only door, an act made more difficult while carrying Zoe. She locked it biometrically and verified that the life support systems were operating properly in that section of medical. “He can stay out,” she whispered to herself.
Zoe was watching her. What she was doing, the expression on her face, and who knew what else. Ashley looked at her, bouncing the small youngster in the crook of her arm and feigning excitement; “I think it’s snack time! How 'bout you?”
Zoe giggled as she was bounced several more times.
Ashley never thought she was graceful under pressure, and she wasn't normally good at hiding her feelings, but with Zoe in her arms false joviality became real in a surprisingly short time.
Chapter 32
One of the shipping containers was filled with supplies, and Ayan couldn’t help but smile at the sight of it being unloaded. “It’s a reassuring sight,” Laura said from her side.
“Yes it is,” agreed a liberated slave as he passed by with a group of similarly dressed people. Most of them were smiling at the sight of incoming supplies. “Time to unload the groceries,” another added.
“I’m just glad we’re on solid ground. From the looks of the ships, they must have been pretty close to sinking.” Ayan observed, gesturing towards a nearby, fat bellied hauler ship. Its landing struts were still caked with mud all the way up to the hull.
“Most of that’s backsplash from vertical takeoff,” Stephanie explained from her left.
Ayan hadn’t noticed her approach, and turned to greet her with a smile but that intent as well as the expression faded as soon as she caught the woman’s expression. She looked nearly furious. “Everything all right?”
“No, everything’s not all right. We’ve been here less than a day and you’ve got us hooked in with a crime boss who happens to be our landlady. You know who Patrizia Salustri is?”
Ayan hadn’t been angry, truly, out of control angry since she was a teenager. When she lost her temper, the world shook, the edges of her vision blurred, and it was all she could do to keep from leaping bodily at her rival. She’d never seen Stephanie in that light before, but who else was as close to Jake? Who knew the man he had become better than her? That, along with the suspicion that Patrizia, the tall, elegant, beautiful mysterious woman she’d just met could be one of Jacob’s ex-lovers was enough to crush the emotional barriers Ayan used to compartmentalize her feelings. “That’s it,” she breathed, stepping right up to the Security Chief. “You don’t have the right to put me down, fringe trash.”
Stephanie took a step back, her expression softening.
Ayan followed her, holding position, nose to nose toe to toe. She was no longer Ayan, the awe filled traveller. She was a Commander, military trained, a two time boot camp graduate, survivor of ship to ship as well as person to person combat, and she wasn’t going to be insulted, not when she was suppressing so much anger and frustration. She unleashed all the fury she had at not being able to return to the Triton and help her people along with everything else and everything but Stephanie’s brown eyes disappeared. “Are you talking down to me Chief? You couldn’t find a serial killer on your own ship and you’re talking down to me?” The feeling of air filling her lungs to the brim, of pushing all of it out with her stomach as hard as she could was like a violent ecstasy. “What the hell has got you thinking you can bust my chops about how I do my job when you’re not doing yours?” Ayan took a quick, deep breath and squeezed her final words through gnashed teeth. “You get your ass over there and supervise your people while they unload the bread I brought home today and set up a perimeter detail while you’re at it.” Ayan watched her. “In case you can’t remember the proper response, it is ‘yes sir!’”
“Yes sir,” Stephanie mewled. The woman had melted, fear and uncertainty was plain in her eyes.
“Again, before you embarrass yourself!” Ayan demanded.
Stephanie snapped to attention and barked; “Yes sir!”
“Dismissed!” Ayan shouted as a reflex.
Stephanie turned on her heel and began to stride away.
Ayan was about to let it go, to walk to the Clever Dream and hope that would be the last time the spectre of military discipline would show, but she saw the look of frustration on Stephanie’s face. Even from the side, it was instantly recognizable. What little anger Ayan had surged to the surface. “Oi! Next time you even think of giving me attitude, I’ll give your job to Leland March. At least he looks as useless as he is!”
With Laura close behind and eyes on her from every direction, Ayan marched towards the main boarding ramp of the Clever Dream. She stepped into the first officer’s quarters, why, she wasn’t sure, and Laura was right behind her.
“Wow, I’ve never seen that side of you. Where’d that come from?” Laura asked.
“Too many years on the parade ground,” Ayan rasped as she sat on the bed hard enough to bounce and lowered her face into her hands.
“Jason told me they used to call you Sunspot because of your temper, but that was just…” She trailed off for a moment before concluding; “Military. That was Commander Ayan.”
Ayan could hear Laura turn around and notice how quiet she’d gotten, and the moment she sat on the bed beside her the tears started flowing.
“Oh,” she said as she put her arm around her shoulders.