“This ship isn't your Petri dish Chief, we can't afford to have problems with the hull.”
“Don't worry, most of the research has been done, the only new aspect to this is the idea of stimulating the metal in such a way that it will very slowly consume other metals and replace them. It'll happen gradually enough for the ship to adjust to the mass differential automatically and we'll be stronger in the long run, starting with the dorsal gunnery deck where we need the most armour.”
“I just don't think right now is the time to begin new things, I mean Jake is still out there and we're-” she checked her command and control unit and verified with the count down she had running there. “-nineteen minutes away from emerging from a wormhole we generated using stolen technology that we're not sure we can shield enough so our cloaking systems will work.”
“I'm sure.”
“That's something, but will it even work again? I saw what you had to do to jury rig that thing to work for us.”
“A lot of what you saw was redundant cabling. Even with the damage the Samson had to do to capture it that hypertransmitter is still in fine shape. The ion cannons they used to disrupt it long enough to take it didn't do much damage, and considering that the device is made to survive solar winds and direct cosmic interference I'm surprised they did any damage at all.”
“So you didn't think the plan was going to work?” Alice asked quietly, her frustration coming to a boiling point.
“I had a group of volunteers ready in the hangar to receive the hypertransmitter when it was pried free of the Samson just in case it was about to right itself and turn back on. If there were any problems they would have shut it down if Finn didn't do it himself first.”
“That's a long answer, Chief.”
“I gave it fifty-fifty.”
“But you let me go ahead anyway.”
“Captain Valance left you in charge for a reason. He could have left me in charge, or Stephanie, or Price, or even Frost for that matter, but he left you in charge because he believed in you. As it so happens, he was right,” Chief Grady said with a warm smile.
Alice just lowered her face into her hands and sighed. “What'll I do if I can't find him?”
“We'll find a way to go on. You have the crew's trust, that's the hard part.”
She looked at him, stunned with his reply.
He laughed softly. “You were expecting something like; 'oh, you'll find him' or 'you know him, he can take care of himself.' Well, I wouldn't insult the woman in command of nearly three thousand souls by offering empty reassurances. We both know Pandem is huge, at least a billion people live there from what I read and if there's trouble it's big, especially if he's calling for help. He just doesn't seem the type to admit he needs any.”
“You're just a ray of sunshine,” she smirked, shaking her head. “But you're right, the Jake I know wouldn't admit he needed help unless it was serious.” Her remaining eye looked at him straight on as she asked; “Do you have any real advice?”
“Do it your way. I know you were following the Captain's plan for that last mission, and it turned out brilliantly but I don't think there's a plan on file for him being captured or lost.”
Alice laughed, shaking her head. “I don't think he thought picking up a couple of friends would turn out that way, no.”
“So do things your way. Our pilot roster may be filled with people too green to trust in a real conflict but there are so many other options, especially with everything at least temporarily repaired. Start with the ones you're familiar with and branch out from there and trust your instincts. Captain Valance may have put that plan together but you finessed it into working when the details changed.”
“You're the most confusing monk I've ever met. One minute you're sending me the most real lowdown on the situation I could imagine, the next you're the most encouraging, trusting soul on the ship. How do you do it? Are there two of you in there?” Alice laughed.
“Well, first of all I'm not a monk, and second of all, I've been around a little.”
“Well, that explains everything. You're right though, I should trust myself. I got along on my own in solar systems where I was being chased by more than one badge at a time and I know pretty much everything Jonas did.”
“There you go. With the ship fit and the crew in line behind you you're ready for practically anything.”
“Oh, let's not go that far. I'm not ready to think that we won't find Jake, so let's just keep that possibility in the closet.”
“All right, but before we close the door on it-”
“I didn't come here to take command of a carrier filled with refugees, deserters and mercenaries. I came here to meet him, to find my place.”
“I just wanted to say that you'd do fine as the Triton's permanent commander. You'd be surprised to find out how many people are finding their place on this ship. Maybe yours is to keep her in one piece until he comes back, maybe it's to find a way to take charge with our help. I know you'll do well either way. By the same token I know you'll do your best to find him, so I bet he'll be back before you know it and you'll go to your quarters and get two day's sleep,” Chief Grady said with a shrug. “You'll wake up fresh and ready to move on to the next crisis.”
Alice couldn't help but laugh. “There's always something, isn't there?”
“It's a big ship, she draws a lot of attention and carries a lot of personalities around.”
She nodded as she looked back to the counter on her arm. “I have to get to the bridge, the next crisis is coming up. Thank you Chief. Sometimes I think you keep the crew together as much as the ship.”
“I met someone who was just like that on Earth and one day I told him the same thing. You know what he said to me?”
“What?”
“Go where you're needed and you'll never wonder why you're alive.”
“Smart man. Who was he?”
“Neil Vernon, one of the Cincinnati Monastery gardeners.”
As Alice walked onto the bridge and took it all in she was almost stunned with the very fact that she was still in command. The upper command center was abuzz with activity. There was a reserve officer standing by for every station in case one of the three or more people manning navigation, operations, engineering, tactical, field control, security or any of the other stations had to attend to something else or were injured.
Stephanie had a squad of fourteen soldiers spaced out along the bridge walls between stations in full black combat armour and sat to the left of the Captain's chair. As Alice made her way through the dozen or so officers on the bridge walking between stations, checking displays, calling out statistics reflecting slight changes that were made in the ship while repairs were performed and ensuring that the bridge systems were up to date with the latest information Agameg Price moved from the Command seat to his position as the lead tactical officer. “Chief Frost reports that the last of the replacement turrets are in place and they're ready for another round. That is the last of the repairs. All departments report ready,” he told her in a pleasant tone.
“Thank you Agameg. How is our flight deck?” Alice asked, settling into the captain's seat. It adjusted to her proportions as she looked down through the transparent sections of the floor to the equally bustling flight control deck, where they managed everything the bridge didn't; flight crews, any related vessels other than the Triton herself and how ships moved around in nearby space. Angelo Vercelli looked up at her and spoke in a normal tone, knowing that his voice would be transmitted straight to the captain's chair from his pedestal. “Everything's locked down, fabrication has been taken offline, we have four fighters ready to launch and our main hangar is ready to take care of any emergency landings. I even have an energy capture web ready in case we have to yank someone as they pass within a few kilometres.”