Randolph Lalonde - Fracture

“I need two pilots to join my patrol. I'd prefer volunteers who've had a rest period sometime in the last sixteen hours,” Minh-Chu announced.

Ashley hurriedly wrapped the towel around herself and checked her comm unit. “Crap, I've got duty in two hours otherwise I'd sign up.”

“Captain probably wouldn't like that. You're over extended as is,” Stephanie whispered back.

“I know, but, um. Do you think Panloo would be willing to do a double shift?”

“I think she just did. Ah, too late, he's leaving. He got two pilots.”

Ashley poked her head over the privacy barrier. “Jaime and Mia, they're good too.”

“Good thing. They're investigating the asteroid field.”

“God, sometimes I wish I were just another member of the squadron.”

“No you don't, a quarter of pilots don't come back from active engagements. Well, that's on most ships anyway, Triton’s crew is too new to have stats.”

“I have the math, three dimensional thinking and reflexes for it though, that's half the battle. I've also flown everything we have in sims and qualified.”

“All the more reason why I'd rather have you right where you are, safely guiding Triton around.”

Ashley made her way back to her bunk with Stephanie close behind. “Yeah, most of the time I feel like a glorified bus driver and the rest I'm responsible for trying to dodge torpedoes and God only knows what else with one of the biggest ships I've ever seen. It's like threading a needle with a chisel and a sledgehammer.”

“You know you enjoy it.”

Ashley smiled and sighed, pulling a black vacsuit with her rank insignia, seven silver wings on each cuff out of the storage compartment under her bunk mattress. “You know I do. How's security?”

“Better. Jake, I mean Captain Valance has had more time to help out and Jason's been able to make sense of our surveillance systems without using an AI. He's even getting a grip on the Triton’s operating system. The ship's starting to come to life again.”

“I hear he's pretty amazing.”

“Kind of scary actually,” Stephanie agreed quietly. “He used to be intelligence, like the top secret, dangerous mission kind of intelligence. I wouldn't have believed it but what he can do with encryption and what he's been able to figure out from the little we know about the killer aboard is amazing.”

“Oh? Do you know who it is yet?”

“No, only that he's not doing it randomly, he's only after Order of Eden freaks and he's really, really experienced.”

“All the more reason to stay here, surrounded by witnesses,” Ashley said as she pulled her vacsuit up under her towel.

“So you're actually going to stay in the bunks.”

“Well, yeah. Besides, maybe I can clear some time and set up to fly with Ronin.” She sealed the vacsuit up most of the way and put on some lipstick and eye liner.

“You mean Minh, everyone on the bridge calls him Minh.”

“I like Ronin. Find anything else out about him?”

“I'm Chief of security.”

“Yeah, so?”

“I can't use that information for personal reasons.”

“Oh come on! If you can't get the goods on your crew mates what good is being Chief? Besides, I have to know who I'm flying with.”

“Good point. You have the access, why don't you look him up?”

“He might check his Crewcast logs and see that I've been looking at him.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “You know you're not in high school anymore, right?”

“I never went. Is this what it's like?”

“Rampant insecurity and raging hormones? Yup.”

“I thought that was pregnancy.”

“Nope that's morning sickness, swollen feet, constant trips to the bathroom and raging hormones.”

“Right, gotcha,” Ashley followed Stephanie to the lift, waving at a group of pilots just coming in from being on standby for the last shift. “So, you and Frost?”

“He was over last night. Bugger refuses to take the foot medical grew for him. He won't take anything our new Chief of Medical made for him because she's nafalli. I told him she just started the whole process, that humans took care of the rest because she can only put in half shifts but he won't listen.”

“Oh, so you two are back together.”

Stephanie gave Ashley a wilting look as the lift doors closed. “He was over last night.”

“Oh, all night? Okay, I guess that's back together. He doesn't know about you and Captain?”

“No, and he won't. It's just not worth the grief.”

“I'd tell him. If it's meant to be he'll just go blow off steam and come back. Besides, you were kind of on a break.”

“Not really.”

“Well, he pissed you off.”

“That's not any kind of reason to-” the lift doors opened to admit three maintenance members laden with tools and a cart with spare parts. “well, it's not a good enough reason.”

“True.” Ashley nodded. “Just trying to be on your side.”

They were silent until they arrived on the command deck. It was obvious that important things were about to happen. The hustle and bustle of people moving between communications, conference rooms, flight control and the bridge was intense. They strode across the dark decked concourse and through the officer's observation lounges automatic double doors.

There were only a few seats left, the rest were filled with command deck personnel who were organizing transmission packets and having a bite before their shifts began. The pair looked around and spotted a small two seated table beside the transparent outer hull. On their way to their seats they stopped at a materializer where Ashley ordered a tall, steamy blended coffee and a morning meal bar for them both.

The blue topped, glossy table for two reflected the dim light shed by the asteroid field outside. Black, grey and white; the expansive, quickly rotating field of stone and ice stretched well out of sight. Some kind of gravitational source had directed it to settle into a thin, circular shape.

The light reflected towards them was from a distant dwarf star. Observation areas that faced the rear of the ship would have a clear view of it and the shadow of the planet nearest as it crossed in front every three hours.

Ashley sipped from the safety cup and sighed. “I can't believe the blends Ayan programmed into the fabber. I've never seen a hazel nut, but it's like she reinvented coffee.”

“I can't believe they call materializers 'fabbers' on Earth,” Stephanie smirked.

“It's a lot easier to say than; 'materializer' or 'energy to matter fabricator' like some people do. It's catching on too, I even heard Captain say it yesterday.” Ashley brought up the social display on her thin, five centimetre wide comm unit.

“Thirty eight messages?” Stephanie boggled. “You weren't kidding when you said you were starting to get popular.”

“There are what, three thousand people on the ship? I'd have to be a hermit not to have a few.”

“I think I got four yesterday, one was from Laura, another from March and the other two were people who were trying to apply for security positions. I've had to cut several of my security people's access to Crewcast off during their shifts. People are obsessed. I don't see the point, really. If I wanted to hang out with crew members I'd rather do it face to face.”

“Aw, don't be bitter. You'll have more than you can handle before you know it. I can see why you'd have a harder time getting to know people on the ship though, you are the head of security. People just have to notice you're not a buzz kill. Oh, and what did March want?”

“To give me crap for revoking his certifications. I told him that if he cheated on his qualifiers then there's no way he's getting out of grade one maintenance.”