“Is it all right if we begin grouping the civilians up so we can move them to the transports Commander McPatrick?” Asked one of the security staff from behind.
Oz thought for a moment. There was no contact from Jacob, Ayan, or anyone who had gotten free of the Triton early on. “Start organizing people into familial groups if you can. Don’t let them board the transports.”
“Familial groups?”
“Don’t split up families.”
“I know, but at most I think there are a few married civvies, not many whole families.”
“If people look like they want to stick together, make sure they stay together.”
“Aye, aye sir.”
The Triton soldiers he was seeing were a far cry from what they were before the fighting began. Those who survived had seen ship board combat that made everything any of them had ever experienced pale in comparison. The fighting was beyond Oz’s experience as well. Not even Pandem was as relentless, or as painful. The memory of his particle rifle rattling against his shoulder was so vivid that it was like a phantom sensation, real the instant he conjured it. The feeling of being shot, and the emergency medical technology kicking in at the same time as the emergency stasis drugs was at the top of his mind as well. He understood Jacob Valance more clearly than ever before. The man had died at least twice, and it must have been a mind blowing, life changing thing each time. The pain was only a notification that something had happened. When the pain stopped, the real changing experience began, and for Oz it was the fading of light from the outer edges, until all that was left were memories, concerns, and parting thoughts. His sisters, nieces, nephews, and the people he was failing filled his thoughts. Oz had heard some soldiers who passed the brink say it was about letting go, falling free from the world, but for him it was like trying to keep his head above water in a black sea, putting every ounce of effort into taking another breath, grasping at the fleeting light and finally fighting the terrible numbness.
His rational mind knew his heart had stopped beating, his wounds were too great for the medical system built into his ribcage using technology developed by Doctor Anderson and Freeground Special Projects, to heal while he was moving. Medication was being administered, what he was feeling may have felt like dying, but it was actually deep stasis. It didn’t make a damn of a difference emotionally. The lights were going out and he was being pulled out of the fight. When he watched the enemy commander raise his pistol and point it at his forehead, he was sure he had seen his last fire fight.
“Sir, the Clever Dream is incoming,” Announced one of the Triton security officers nearby.
Oz looked to the rear of the hangar and could see two armed transports docking, but that’s all. “Where are they?”
“Just caught a glimpse of them sliding into the landing bay below. They should be coming up the elevator soon.”
“Someone’s jamming their signal.”
“What should we do sir?”
Oz’s eye caught sight of the fellow, he was several meters away helping to organize the civilians and the first of the liberated slaves. His armour showed signs of repair, and his rifle the scratches, dents and burn through spots on the casing that told him he was looking at one of the security officers who had been right in the middle of the fighting. He could tell from the shrapnel pattern across his shoulder that it was Tim Vernon, one of the last surviving bridge security officers. “We make sure they’re safe and clear of any interference once they’re on deck.”
“Yes sir.”
There wasn’t much chance of random interference. The Carthans hadn’t put any armed personnel on the deck yet, and they hadn’t made any demands other than the general evacuation of the ship. Jason was right, this was political. Oz only hoped that they were doing the right thing by abandoning the best ship they had.
Ashley emerged with the next group on the cargo elevator. Zoe’s head swivelled to and fro, her eyes taking everything in from where she sat in the young woman’s arms. With an excited cry that Oz could hear from where he was standing Zoe nearly leapt out of Ashley’s arms, finding her way to the deck suddenly, roughly. To his relief, the youngster didn’t hurt herself in her haste, and she ran between the legs of started survivors.
In scant seconds she made it across the growing crowd of civilians to a woman with long dark hair who knelt down to catch the eager child. Zoe collided with the woman so soundly that she was forced from kneeling to sitting. It was the sight of a glad reunion.
That was until he looked back to Ashley, whose vacant arms were slowly lowering. In the corner of his eye, Oz could see the black hull of the Clever Dream rising on one of the main elevation pads, but his attention on Ashley was unwavering. He was watching her slowly fall to pieces as she hesitantly turned away.
A few worried looks followed her as she took hasty steps to an unmarked Uriel fighter that never made it to the loading rack. Oz caught up to her behind it. At first there was no recognition in her eyes when she looked at him. As soon as she realized who he was, she made an attempt to speak that fell apart before she could make a sound.
He took her shaking hands in one of his and wiped tears away with the other. “It’s going to be all right.”
“S-sorry, I should be happy. Crewcast said she was an orphan.”
He guessed she meant Zoe, who was in the arms of another adoptive mother in a loose hem dress over Ashley’s shoulder. “Children don’t forget us easily. She’ll know you whenever she sees you. Take it from someone with nieces and nephews who grow up while he’s away for months at a time.”
Ashley’s shuddering sigh was an attempt at relief, a failed one. He tilted her chin up so he could look her full in the face. “It’s going to be all right,” he repeated.
Her dark brown eyes averted his, rolling away and finally closing. “Everything’s been changing for so long, I wish it would just stop. I don’t know what I’m doing anymore, where I’m supposed to be,” she wheezed.
Before his eyes Ashley was only getting worse. Her despair was becoming panic, and she was starting to hyperventilate. He’d seen someone fall apart before, when he was delivering the news that someone’s son, their child had died under his command. It didn’t matter how old the serviceman was, it was still a mother’s child, or a father’s son. Ashley was mourning something else, but it was just as damaging. Relentless uncertainty damaged people, it was something he knew, and he’d watched his mother suffer through it while his father as well as both grandparents served the Freeground military. His mother was committed for several weeks after his grandmother didn’t return from a tour. That was the beginning of Oz’s teenage years, when his grandfather retired from his term of service, and when he went to live with him.
It was a sequence of events that changed him forever, and for a long time it seemed like he was on unsteady ground. He reacted by rebelling, but the young woman in front of him was taking it differently. She was taking it exactly the same way his mother did. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.