|
Till Death Us Do Part 2002 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-eight
years after Episode IV – A New Hope “No! Lock down the power outage and
shunt the feed into reactor one.” Ryath Centaur looked on as Nias Derril once more ran through the emergency reactor start
with the engineering crew. Whatever he privately thought of the man, he had
to give him the credit he deserved. However he did it, Nias
always seemed to know when one of his ships components was about to fail.
Having observed him closely over the last few days, Ryath
was beginning to think the man was supernatural. Once more the reactor came
online and once more Centaur stopped the clock. “Three point
five minutes. Impressive.” It was a statement, not praise. Nias shook his head at Centaurs words. “Not good
enough. We need it down to a minute. Any longer and the ablative armour will
be Bantha curd.” He turned around to his
engineering crew and seemed to look them over. “Jonas, take shunt four, Karen
take shunt three, Gun, take shunt one. The rest of you, cycle positions and
we’ll try it again.” Ryath shook his head in disbelief and
waited once more as the reactors were shut down, ready for another trial. “He talks to the ship like it’s alive. Me and the “He drives the
bridge crew hard, but they follow. He
has an…unorthodox style. How they can stand to be under his command
I don’t know.” Jan laughed lightly and looked across at his friend. “He’s had that
bridge crew since his wife died, what do you expect? Besides, I hear he hit
the minute mark today.” Centaur snorted. “Forty three
seconds to cold start two out of three reactors? If I believed in them I’d
say that was a miracle.” He turned to face Jan, his face becoming serious
once more. “I really need to know if I can trust him in combat. I need to
know how good a commander he really is. None of us know what he’s had to put
up with on the Jan nodded, understanding completely. “As I understand
it he watched his wife die, named a ship for her and volunteered for a
suicide mission on the off chance he might do some good. He’s either insanely
obsessed or truly dedicated. I’d say a bit of both. He knows his stuff when it comes to
ships. My brother was a captain and it
took him years to train to that level.” He frowned for a minute, remembering
his deceased elder brother and looked back at Ryath.
“In fact, he really does talk to the ship.” Ryath nodded in agreement. ”Unnerving,
isn’t it.” Jan smiled a sad smile, on the verge of breaking a
confidence, unsure to continue with the sad tale. “If you only
knew.” Ryath checked around the room,
confident that they weren’t being monitored or scanned. “We have
time. Tell me.” Jan took a deep breath and began to unravel the tale. Nias sat silently in his cabin,
located to the rear of the command bridge. Not as sparse as his office or as
friendly, dark paintings hung on the wall, only appreciated by someone who
could see as Nias saw, think as Nias
thought. He crossed his legs and rested his arms on his knees. Opening up his
mind to the world around him, he calmed his thoughts and drifted. A small light flicked on in his brain. Reactor Two had a minor shielding problem he could fix
tomorrow. The telemetry on the scanners showed a point six five lag, which
could also be repaired tomorrow. Gravity plating on deck five was showing a
three-point degradation, which would be replaced. On and on he went through
the repair checklist, the crew manifest and the computer systems. When he was
sure that everything had been checked he tuned his mind to the main computer
core and went into the deep memory. She was awake; he could feel her humming with energy,
primed and ready to enter battle. He knew this ship would protect him till
she had nothing else to give. He knew
the secret that bound them together. Slowly she became aware of his presence;
slowly she tuned her thought patterns to his. “You have
returned to me again my sweet.” He smiled and returned the greeting. “And you have returned to me. It has been
painful being away from you for so long. I fear that the coming battle will
be one from which neither of us will return. Are you prepared? Did they treat you kindly in my absence?” He felt a mental nod as her thoughts once again
communicated with his. “You say the one
called Lord Raven knows?” Nias nodded solemnly at the mention
of his friend Lord Raven, or as Nias knew him
better, Daemon Garr. “It was
necessary. Explanations had to be
made, funds had to be appropriated.
Some highly illegal equipment had to be transported secretly. Does
that worry you?” She shrugged mentally. “What is
there to worry about? What’s done is
done. I chose this existence to cheat death and soon I will become the
bringer of death. But I do it only for
you my beloved, only for you.” Nias nodded, understanding what she
had to do to justify what she had become. He had deliberately turned the Star
Destroyer into a repair yard, the polar opposite of its original design. Now
he had returned it to its former role, one of defence and destruction. He only hoped she would be able to do the job. “I will do it for you. I will destroy, I
will wreak vengeance and when all is lost – I will die for you. Again.” He nodded. Yes
you will. Of this he could be sure. “You mean he had
his wife’s memories imprinted on the memory core of the computer?” Ryath seemed aghast at the news and
sat down heavily, picking up his drink. Jan shook his head. “That’s what
Raven told me. He took what was left
of her body and used everything he had to keep her alive for as long as
possible. Then he grafted her brain to a cybernetic link and connected it to
the ships computer. Ryath sat still, his face
expressionless. “That’s inhuman,
totally inhuman. What right had he to do that to her.” “She gave her
permission. She was alive when they
removed her brain. She didn’t want to leave him so they did what she
asked. She loved him.” Nias disconnected the neural link and moved back to his bunk.
A thin tear slipped down one cheek as he prepared himself for sleep. Tomorrow
would be a heavy day and he needed rest. Soon he was asleep, aided by a pill
and a glass of water. The
small security camera moved slightly on its mounting, the lens focused on the
sleeping man. Secretly buried medical sensors came online and scanned the
sleeping form, stopping at the face, examining the contents of the moisture
resting on his cheek. Deep within the bowels of the ship, shielded by
high-energy plating and multiple redundant force fields, Till Death Us Do Part 2002 short story by Louis Turfrey Thirty-eight
years after Episode IV – A New Hope Histories – What special ability
gives Nias Derril such control over the ISD Constance? Now we know, it’s
the soul and mind of his dead wife Constance, grafted into the memory core
of the destroyer. Setting itself up
for future stories, this Louis Turfrey tale
is a continuation of many stories past, and a bridge into more to follow. Cast
of Characters Nias Derril Ryath Centaur Jan Lomona Jonas Karen Gun |