A slight shudder through the deck told the shuttle was back. I figured they'd been gone about six hours at that point. They probably did so EVA work, maybe they recovered so valuables.
I stood outside the starboard airlock and looked through the little window, and after a minute or so I saw the outer door swing open and Piper and Sarah stepped through. They were still in their e-suits but both had already removed their helts, so I opened the inner hatch to greet them.
"Welco back," I announced. "How'd it go? Is everything ok?"
I was still worried about Sarah, since that ship was her ho for a few years and so of the victims were her friends.
They were already getting out of their e-suits, and Sarah spoke up first. Her voice was level, but it sounded a little forced. I was sure she was upset and trying not to let it show.
"The engines and power-plant were completely shot," she responded. "The whole engineering section blew itself to hell, probably secondary to the mine damage. I figure when the mine went off it sent a massive overload through the ship."
Piper added, "From the look of it the mine struck amidship, topside-port. Upper decks including the bridge were obliterated."
They stowed their suits in an equipnt locker next to the ladderway, then the young captain looked at and asked "How do you feel about doing so cooking? I think we could use so dinner."
She glanced at Sarah and added, "And so drinks."
"Yes m-" I stopped and corrected myself, "Sure thing. I've already familiarized myself with the ss. Any preferences?"
"Not really," she shook her head. "Sothing hot and wholeso."
The three of us went around the corner into the ss, and while I began preparing dinner Piper got out so glasses and a bottle then she and Sarah sat down at the table.
Between the antique auto-chef providing raw ingredients and the supplies I found in the pantry and the cold storage, I got to work on what I hoped would be a passable rendition of pasta with at and marinara sauce.
anwhile Piper and Sarah had a couple stiff drinks before they started talking again.
"Since the engines were scrap we moved on and had a look around the rest of the ship," Piper said, filling in on what they accomplished. "We found what was left of the captain's cabin, and managed to recover the ship's safe. It's in the shuttle, we'll crack it open later and see what's inside. We also found the ship's arsenal, which was mostly intact."
Sarah added, "The lower decks were in marginally better shape, especially the hardened areas."
Piper continued, "So we loaded the shuttle with a few crates of military-grade gear. I'll have a look through it later, see if there's anything we'll want to keep on board. The rest will be sold off."
The engineer had a swig of her drink before taking up the story, "I'm pretty sure the ship's computer is intact. It'll be worth a small fortune if we can get it out without damaging anything. That'll take a day's work though. Then there's a few intact armants that we could grab."
"We saw two pulse laser turrets that looked good," Piper ntioned. "And a missile launcher. I know where we can get a good price for all this stuff. But we're going to leave that for tomorrow."
I stayed quiet and focused on the food, but I was listening.
When they both stopped talking I finally asked, "Do you have ti for all this work? You said your regular clients like your consistency, this sounds like it's going to take at least another day. You're going to be late enough as it is."
Piper drained her glass and replied, "All the stuff we're looking to grab can fit into the holds. Once we've loaded up we'll make a level-one jump. We can afford two more days here and still get to my next delivery on ti."
After a mont she elaborated, "The Deter's jump drive is limited to level-zero if she's towing sothing. If I'd just grabbed the biggest piece of wreckage and towed it, we'd be late. If we can fill up the hold with high-value salvage then we can use Jump-1 to my next delivery and get there on schedule. From there we'll head to a world where I know we can sell the computer and ship's armants. After that we'll need Jump-1 to get us back on track, but we should be able to make our next port of call on ti."
Even though I hadn't actually trained in astro-navigation I knew enough about it to understand the differences.
Jump-0 was the slowest kind of jump, but also the cheapest in terms of fuel. And it was hands-down the safest. It didn't involve leaving normal-space, and your comms and sensors all still worked so you could see where you were and what you were doing.
Jump-1 was an order of magnitude faster, but used that much more fuel and you basically had to shift into another kind of space. Sensors and comms were offline, and transitioning between normal- and jump-space was dangerous.
There were higher levels of jump, but they were increasingly expensive and risky. They also required specialized engines and training, so generally nobody used them unless they had an extrely good reason.
As for our imdiate situation, it sounded like Piper knew what she was doing. For that matter she probably did this sort of thing all the ti.
By that point the food was ready, so I got so dishes out and served it up for Piper and Sarah. I got myself a glass of water then joined them at the table.
Up till that point Sarah seed a bit lancholy, but she grinned and teased "Not just a cook but a waitress too."
I rolled my eyes but I got the feeling her teasing was going to beco a the. At least they both seed to enjoy the al.
The three of us were mostly quiet as we ate. Apart from being hungry, my ship-mates both looked tired. And I was pretty sure Sarah was still dealing with so rough emotions.
As we all finished up, Piper said "I'm going to get so sleep, you two should do the sa. We'll get back to work in the morning."
With that our captain left the table and headed to her cabin. Sarah didn't move yet, and I stayed at the table with her.
The attractive blonde had that lancholy look on her face again as she picked up the bottle and poured herself another drink.
"How are you holding up?" I asked her. "Is there anything you want to talk about? Anything I can help with?"
She had a sip of the liquor, then grimaced and finally sighed.
"It was rough seeing the Hamrsmith all torn up like that," she said softly. "And we encountered so bodies out there."
Before I could respond Sarah continued, "I've been through this before you know? It was thirty-six years ago, my very first active deploynt. I was an ensign on the ISS Willesden, she was a supply ship. It was during the last border war. We were hauling fuel and who knows what else, to replenish so of the ships on the front lines. We got jumped by an enemy cruiser. Our skipper got a distress call out, but that was about it. I'm pretty sure they hit us with a mass driver, but whatever it was it hit the fuel or munitions or sothing and the whole ship went up at once."
I stayed silent as she continued her story, it felt like she needed to talk more than she needed advice or platitudes.
"Out of a crew of twenty-eight, there were just two survivors. and another junior engineer. We got lucky, our workstation was next to a lifepod. When the ship lit up we both dove in there. It launched automatically as the Willesden ca apart."
Sarah sighed again, "I was on that ship for two years, I knew everyone on board. And in an instant they were gone, all but and Ensign Rhodes."
"I'm sorry," I said softly. I didn't know what else to say, but I figured going through that ordeal a second ti couldn't be easy for her.
She shrugged, "It's sothing you have to accept. As much as we think this sort of life is routine, space is unforgiving. It's even worse in the Navy. Even without losing a ship, you can get reassigned any ti without warning. You have to pack up, leave your ho, your friends, and end up soplace completely new. Maybe you never see those old friends again, they get shipped one way you get shipped another. It's a ntal adjustnt, and it takes a little while. The Hamrsmith... She's nothing now, scrap tal. She's not my ho anymore. The Deter's ho, you and Piper are my crew-mates."
"It's just like being reassigned," Sarah added. "That's the reality of this sort of life. Problem is, it takes a while for the brain to catch up with the reality."
I nodded slowly, and watched as Sarah took another sip of her drink. I couldn't disagree with anything she said. When I was taken out of d-school and assigned to the Hippocrates that was an unexpected surprise. Then going from that ship to the Hamrsmith was another unpleasant surprise. There was never much warning, certainly no consultation or question of what I wanted. The Navy just assigned where they wanted , based on whatever inscrutable details factored into those decisions.
I didn't even know where the decisions were made, or who made them. Was it so bored bureaucrat in an office sowhere? Or was a computer calling the shots, assigning people wherever the algorithm determined was most-beneficial to the military?
"Are you going to be ok?" I asked as I focused on her again. "I get what you're saying about this kind of life and trying to look at it like another reassignnt, but it's still a lot more than that."
Sarah nodded slowly, "It'll take a few days. To get over the loss, the guilt, and to get used to our new ship and captain. Piper knows that too. I could see it in her eyes, she's lost people. Maybe she's lost ships and crews. That's why she put to work so quickly, she knew to keep busy."
I thought about that for a few monts. I really wasn't trained in psychological stuff, there was only a rudintary section on it in my second year at d-school. It made sense though, giving Sarah sothing to do to keep her busy and keep her mind off the other stuff. For a mont I wondered why Piper didn't do the sa for .
The answer ca pretty quickly though. Our new captain was probably a pretty good judge of character, and probably very perceptive. She could tell I wasn't as affected as the chief engineer. She might have guessed I was dealing with so euphoria and excitent about my new body too, while Sarah was probably feeling exactly the opposite about her new circumstances.
Which led to the other thing I worried about.
"It's more than a new ship and crew," I said softly, "It's also a new you. How are you coping with that?"
Sarah knocked back the last of her drink and set the glass down. She grimaced a bit as the liquid probably burned on its way down.
A mont later she stated bluntly, "It beats being dead."
She reached back and untied her hair, releasing it from the ponytail then continued, "Jenny and I must have talked for half an hour before I agreed to it in the first place. She explained my situation, gave the prognosis. She explained what she could do for , and told about the limitations in terms of what sort of body I'd end up with."
Sarah was already playing with a lock of her long blonde hair again as she shrugged, "Like I said, there wasn't really much choice. I wasn't ready to die, so I made my peace with what was going to happen. She did so sort of scan of my thoughts and stuff, then showed what she figured would be the best body for . I asked for a few adjustnts, and that was it. I agreed and she went to work."
By the ti she finished talking I had a frown on my face. "A half hour? From what I rember, it seed like seconds after we put you in there before the process started."
"It's all virtual," Sarah reminded . "Direct neural connection? Jenny can speed up or slow down perceived ti. We talked for what felt like a half hour to , but I'm not surprised it happened in seconds real-ti. She did it again when she woke at the end? There was a counter that said we had just over two minutes left, but it moved slowly while we talked for what felt like another hour."
"Wow," I felt my eyebrows going up. "So you're doing ok with this? Is that what you're saying?"
Sarah looked thoughtful for a few seconds as she idly twisted so hair around her fingers, then shrugged once more. "I'm doing as ok as I can, given the circumstances. Between the accident, the shipwreck, and this..."
She gestured at herself and sighed. "Yeah. It's going to be a while before I'm actually ok. But I'm not going to freak out or have a breakdown. Not yet anyways. If I feel like it's coming, I'll let you and Piper know, ok?"
"Ok Sarah," I replied.
She frowned at , "What about you? I get that you're happy being a girl, but how are you handling the wreck? How are you handling those ears and the tail?"
I grimaced, "Those are two very different things. I might still be in shock about the ship. I never thought of it as my ho though, and I wasn't close to anyone on board. I know that makes sound cold or callous but the short version is I found it almost impossible to open up to people while I wasn't myself. Lieutenant Voss was an act I put on to fit in, a mask I wore while I waited for the chance to be myself. Now I am myself and I'm ecstatic. Even the ears and tail?"
I grimaced for a mont, "I know they'll be a hassle. I thought about climbing back into that tube and asking Jenny to make a normal human, but the idea turns my stomach. I never even knew I wanted this, but now that I've got it I can't give it up. This body feels more '' in less than a day than I ever felt my whole life looking like a guy."
Sarah's eyebrows crept up at the end, but she accepted what I said. "Ok Amanda. I'm glad you're happy. And thanks for trying to help . I appreciate it."
I almost brushed aside her gratitude with my usual "it's my job" response, but I caught myself. It might still be my job as the Deter's dic, but it was more than that. I was worried about Sarah as a person, not just a crew-mate.
"Maybe we should follow the captain's lead and get so rest?" I suggested. "It'll probably be another long day tomorrow."
"Right," she agreed. The two of us walked to our cabin together, and Sarah added "I need a quick shower, I'll try to keep it quiet."
When we got to the cabin she saw my d-kit on the lower bunk, she probably realized I already sort of claid the lower one for myself. She didn't comnt though, she just started stripping off her coveralls.
I averted my eyes and climbed into my bunk, then pulled the privacy curtain closed. I ntioned, "There's clean towels in the wardrobe."
"Thanks Amanda," she replied.
She stepped into the washroom and pulled the door closed behind her, while I curled up on my side to try and sleep.
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