Exiles

  * * * *

  Ford breathed a heavy sigh of relief it was good to finally be back on the Themis again. They’d had to call in the Sultan to assist with the evacuation of the base, which had nearly degenerated into a riot, when the refugees they’d liberated realised that some of the Raider’s were still alive and wanted to lynch them on the spot. He'd been grateful for the imposing presence of Vlade and Chole behind him when he addressed the mob baying for blood, not to mention Horra’s discretely positioned snipers. He’d managed to calm the crowd down by promising they would be publicly held to account and stand trial for their crimes back on Nova-7. But right now, once back on his ship, they would be integrated for vital information about the Anterian’s and refugee movements. Information that could be vital to saving lives. While not entirely true it wasn’t necessarily a lie either. In any case it had enabled him to pacify the crowd long enough to get reinforcements aboard and speed up the evacuation of the base.

  All told it had been a short bloody battle. In addition to the slaughter of civilians on the Crystal Voyager over a hundred Raider’s had lost their lives. Only eight, plus Scott, survived to be taken into custody, compared to which their combat casualties were light. Vlade, Logan and Carol had lost one apiece, plus the two lost in the transit through hyperspace, and a dozen more wounded scattered across their teams.

  They’d worked quickly to secure the base once everyone was off. Clearing the Raiders bodies away into cold storage for proper disposal at some unspecified point in the future. As soon as the AI was purged and the computers restored, they locked the base down into a secure maintenance mode. Making sure to update the default security keys, so no one else could access it, without taking on the automated defences. They also deployed a few discrete sensor drones to monitor any traffic in and out of the nebular, giving them advanced warning of Jasper or anyone else trying to access the base. It was a valuable resource with significant potential, given the mineral wealth that lay within the nebula, now the Raider threat had been eliminated. Ford was already formulating a plan for its future. At the very least the hanger deck had proved to be something of an Aladdin’s cave, with both Ford and Faiz intending to come back and press some of the Raider’s fighters, shuttles and support ships, into service for their own causes.

  They’d also taken the Amastra and jumped her back to the Scorponoid system. The plan was to reassemble the cargo train, using cargo pods they’d adapted to function as habitation modules. Use it to off-load all the non-combatants, refugees and alyssum seekers, who’d decided they didn’t want to stay on as crew members. Then escort her to a safe haven, where they could begin a new life. There was also the small matter of processing the two hundred or so new refugees they’d picked up from the Raider base and getting the civilians from Faiz's crew back to their own ship. Bryn had made a start on running training simulations for the new crew and Alaster had finished reconfiguring the Themis crew decks to accommodate everyone who was staying. The next few hours were going to be chaotic at best.

  The Phoenix and the Jay Bird were the last to return. The secondary hangar deck had been cleared of all non-essential personal and declared off-limit’s prior to their landing. A full security detail put in place, ready and waiting, for their arrival. They’d also cleared and sealed off a route from the hangar to an off-limits full security brig. He was taking no chances with the prisoners, Scott in particular. The surviving raiders shuffled off the Phoenix in single file, arms handcuffed firmly behind their backs, each with a personal armed escort rifle at the ready. Scott was the last off and had the dubious distinction of having two armed escorts assigned to him. Anna had injected him with bone stitcher’s just before they’d boarded the Phoenix and he’d been bitching about the discomfort all the way back as they rebuilt his shattered wrist. Apparently she’d ‘forgotten’ to program the nanobots to anesthetise the area being rebuilt. So it felt like he had hundreds of fire arts crawling round inside his arm. He barely had time for the pain to subsided before Bryson cuffed his arms behind his back.

  Ford stepped up in front of him and stared intently into his face. Cocking his head to one side, looking for, and failing to find, the slightest trace of regret or remorse as Scott stared impassively back at him.

  He turned to Bryson. “Take special care of this one, solitary and twenty-four hour surveillance, we’ve got a personal appointment with the Governor of Nova-7.”

  Bryson nodded and smiled before pushing Scott forward to join the others on route to the brig. “You may want to give our pilot a wide birth.”

  “Jay?”

  “Yes, apparently he avoided detection by hiding in the Phoenix’s septic tank. The one place not even this scum would think to look and he’s not had time to freshen up yet.” Bryson stifled a laugh. “Or perhaps I should say he’s a little too fresh.”

  “Understood.” said Ford catching Lucy’s eye and gesturing to her to join them, as she slipped quietly out of the Jay-birds cockpit and tried to slip away unnoticed. She looked tired and a little frayed around the edges. Her extended, unauthorised mission, in the cramped craft had taken its toll. He sighed, no matter now rough she felt about being unable to save the Crystal Voyager, taking the Jay Bird was an insubordination too far and he would have to sanction her.

  “I’m in trouble aren’t I?” she said as she sidled over and stood beside him.

  “Yes. You can’t go running off every time you let your emotions get the better of you, disobeying orders, taking a ship without permission. I could court marshal you, but...”

  “...That would make you a hypocrite, seeing as you escaped from custody and stole this ship to pursue a personal quest for vengeance.”

  Ford felt his nose twitching as a strange and deeply unpleasant odour assailed his nose. The people around him were wafting their hands in front of their faces in a futile attempt to brush the foul smell away. Jay had emerged from the Phoenix and was standing a little too close for comfort.

  “I don’t recall asking for your opinion, but I reckon the punishment should fit the crime.”

  Lucy wrinkled her nose in disgust and stared at Jay in disbelief. “What the hell happened to you?”

  Jay shuffled from foot to foot uncomfortably. “It’s a long story, perhaps I can tell you after I’ve cleaned up.”

  He turned away and was about leave when Ford called him back with a large grin on his face. “You know what? Taking a ship without proper authorisation and questioning a superior officer, I think you both deserver each other.” he turned to one of the crewmen who had been guarding the hangar deck when they’d unloaded the prisoners. “Please escort these two to Lucy‘s quarters and ensure no one enters or leaves. They’re to be confined there for the next 48 hours.”

  Carol waited till they were out of earshot and turned to Ford. “Not much of a punishment is it? Locking two insubordinate love-birds in a room for couple of days. Mind you the old Ford of the rebellion would lead by example rather than impose his authority.”

  He looked down at the deck shaking his head and laughing. Then, pulling himself together, looked her in the face. “Oh, I think they’ll find the punishment more than sufficient, when they realise the shower in Lucy’s cabin is out of order. She’ll be pulling extra shifts for a month to escape the lingering smell in her cabin.”

  “Or sharing Jay’s.”

  “Maybe, but so long as they perform their duties and follow orders, I can live with that.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Then I really will have to impose my authority. This isn’t the rebellion anymore. We’re in charge of one of the most sophisticated starships in the known Galaxy. So we need to start acting like it or we won’t last long enough to make a difference out here. We could all lean a thing or two from Admiral Faiz and his crew.”

  “Even his stuck up XO Viqaas?“

  Ford nodded. “Even him.”

  “Well good luck selling that one, although I’m sure Bryson could do a good impression of h
im, if you asked him nicely.”

  “Talking of which when Anna’s given him his medical, and he’s had a chance to freshen up, I need to see him in my quarters.”

  “Well talking of ships protocols and acting like a ‘proper crew’ you’ve got to report to medical to check for any after effects from the jump and the drugs or...”

  “Or what?”

  “Well I like to think a good Captain leads by example, but I can always relieve you of your duties and ask one of these gentlemen with a big gun to escort you there.” A big grin spread across her face as she pointed to the security detail. “Don’t you just love command protocols?”

  Ford held his hands up in gesture of surrender. “That won’t be necessary, but just remember paybacks a bitch.”