The Tornado Sojourns (2) – Chapter 07 – Rest and Recuperation

Merionwen Strong, owner and Captain of the Tempest Class Freighter, Tornado, sat in the pilot’s seat and her friend Malena Endia sat beside her as they circumnavigated the Ariadnean worm hole, which was equidistant between the Androsin system which they had departed from four months earlier, and the populous Eikon system, which was at least three months ahead of them.

It was a long boring journey but a necessary one, and a welcome one after the danger and excitement of their hasty exit from the Tornado and the subsequent dalliance with death on the seismically unstable surface of Mangium with its extremely hostile inhabitants and in the quiet hours on the flight deck they silently reflected on their jeopardy and the timely rescue from the jaws of death by Lyris’s flying skills, and the time afterwards.

When they were safely back on board and the Tornado was leaving Mangium in its wake.

Malena immediately embraced Zerrad and the giant Gouveian Parse Sacrod scooped Merri up in his arms and kissed her.

Following the loving welcome, they received they were asked how they were and they both gave the identical answer uttered in unison

“Starving”

They were fortunate enough to have aboard Visitor Parham, who was not merely a man of the cloth who tended to their spiritual needs, because his alter ego Bagg fortified them with his culinary prowess.

 

He was strategically positioned by the mess room door as they came in and he hugged them both affectionately.

He was tall and disproportionately thin, and wore a simple grey robe.

Although he never confirmed it the crew thought him somewhere beyond fifty with his long white hair and short trimmed beard.

He was a simple man and his contribution to the rescue was persistent prayer and excessive baking so he was perfectly well prepared for the moment the ravenous pair entered the mess.

 

The mess room was crowded and filled with the noise of relieved chatter,

Engineers Pulsat and Vanzyl were busy dealing with fire damage and Lyris was piloting but there were other absentees and Merri was the first to notice.

“Where’s Shiyne?”

For the latter part of the search and during the subsequent rescue Shiyne was in the sick bay completely exhausted, having used every atom of her strength to pinpoint their whereabouts and she was there still.

The second after Bagg had informed them of Shiyne’s location both Merri and Malena laid their cutlery down and stood abruptly.

“It’s alright” Bagg said, who had discreetly put himself between them and the door again.

“She’s still sedated, so eat first and then you can go and see her” 

He then guided them back to their chairs and took very little encouragement to continue their repast.

 

After eating their fill and refilling their coffee mugs for the third time a period of questions and answers ensued regarding the time line of events and who did what and when.

But it was, for the most part, all done in a very light-hearted way especially when Malena was talking.

“We’re running for our lives and Captain Redhead’s main concern was her footwear”

“They ruined my favourite boots” she said indignantly and put her foot up on the table so everyone could see her mutilated boot.

When the laughter had subsided Zerrad said

“Vanzyl was the hero of the day, without his enhancements to the comms array we would never have found the pod”

“And without Shiyne we would never have found you two in time” Bagg said 

“Which is a good reminder that we need to go and see her” Merri said

“There’s something you need before you do that” Bagg said

“No, no more coffee” Malena said

“I wasn’t going to say coffee” he said

“What then?”

“A shower” he said and everyone enthusiastically concurred

“Harsh” Merri said, “Very harsh”

“They must be talking about you” Malena said, “I’m a shape shifter, and I don’t sweat”

 

After showering and changing they went to sick bay and sat with Shiyne for the next few hours until she regained consciousness, and an expression of real joy spread across her beautiful cerise face

“They found you” she exclaimed and tears welled up in her purple eyes.

 

They sat with her for another two hours until Terrell insisted that she should rest so they joined the rest of the crew as life aboard the Tornado got back to normal.

Terrell kept Shiyne in sickbay for three days in all, she was fine after two but he liked having her all to himself and as she felt the same way there was no harm done.

 

Shiyne’s confinement to sickbay was the reason Merri and Malena were alone on the flight deck.

Their destination was known as the Eikon cluster due to the high number of M class planets and moons in the Eikon solar system, it was a busy and prosperous system and one which would keep them gainfully employed for some time to come.

They had to take the long route as there were no hyperspace routes through that part of the galaxy due to the worm hole, which was an inherently unstable phenomenon, so there was only one option and that was to take the long way around and after nearly losing two of the Tornados personnel it was decided to err on the side of caution and give the worm hole an extra wide berth.

 

As tedious as the journey was, over the long boring three months the crew worked hard to get the ship back in shape and after Pulsat and Vanzyl had finished in the corridor it was hard to imagine there had ever been a fire.

It addition, new sensors where installed to warn of approaching hazards, thanks to the enhancements Vanzyl had made to the array, so they wouldn’t be blindsided again.

The only damage they couldn’t put right was to the buckled plates on the hull, they had been temporarily patched and would be properly repaired when they reached their destination.

 

Despite their unwelcome trip to Mangium and the additional detour around the worm hole, they reached their destination of Eikon Major three days earlier than originally expected because of Pulsat and Vanzyl’s stewardship of the 4 Plasma Turbine Pyroclast Engines.

 

They delivered the three pods of Thermalium mineral ore to the processing plant and picked up one pod of ingots for delivery to Eikon Minor and two pods of agricultural tools for Eirkos, which was an agrarian world much like the Skeet brothers home world of Shax so they were both secretly looking forward to visiting.

The Skeet brothers were born and raised on Shax in the populous Shaxson system, which was one of the last to join the Legion and it was not an easy transition or indeed a wholly welcome one.

In fact, it was a protracted and bloody courtship which involved three years of bitter war and it was that war that saw the Skeet’s swap their plough shares for Pulsar weapons and tractors for Spider Hawk Fighters.

When the war came to an unsatisfactory conclusion for the Shaxson rebels the Legion exacted a heavy retribution which lead to some of the former fighters having to turn their backs on their home worlds to escape the Legions punitive punishments and give up living on the land and live on the lam instead.

Not that the Skeets had much appetite for farming after all the action they had seen.

They had no family left on Shax by the time the war was over so even if the Legion had been prepared to allow them to live in peace there was nothing left to bind them to their birthplace, so they took to the stars.

Eirkos was a simple world for people who lived simple lives, there were no big Cities and no real attraction for off worlders, so there were no plans to stay after making the delivery in Cranack but as they sat around the mess table devouring one of Bagg’s wonderful suppers, Merri said

“After we’ve unloaded we have a couple of days spare before our next job, any suggestions?”

“It’s a shame that there’s nothing to keep us on Eirkos, it would have been nice to breathe some fresh clean air for an hour or two” Shiyne said

“Well we still could” Bagg said

“But what would we do there?” Parse said

“Well I have a brother in Montrose which is about an hour from Cranack, it’s a farmstead community and I’m sure they would make us very welcome” he said

“Another Visitor?” Malena asked

“Well yes he is a Visitor” Bagg said

“But this Brother is also my brother”

“Then we must go” Merri said, “is he a good cook like you?”

“No, his skill lies in Wine making” Bagg replied

“Even better” Merri retorted

“So that’s settled” Malena said, “After we’ve unloaded we’re all off to Montrose to see Bagg’s brother”

“And that includes you two” Merri said

“We?” Pulsat asked

“Who else?” Merri asked and Vanzyl whirled a response

“But we fix damage” Pulsat said

“You can do that on Eikon Major” she replied, “I want the whole Tornado family in attendance”

Vanzyl uttered a soft whistle like a plaintive flute, then he looked at his friend and whistled again

“Family, yes” Pulsat agreed

 

After arriving at the port on Eirkos the unloading didn’t take long and then Lyris parked the Tornado on the apron and then everyone got ready to depart.

The short heavy set Prinsloovian, Pulsat Rad, was first down the ramp, holding his rough bony head proudly high.

On reaching the apron proper he turned stiffly to address his companion Vanzyl, who was uttering a string of whirls, whistles and clicks.

“I know it, I know it” Pulsat said to his Kesslerian friend, who was a more slender and sleek form than he, and he had the hint of a smile about his pursed lips and Vanzyl whistled and clicked again and Pulsat snorted.

Pulsat was the only one of the crew who could understand every tone and toot Vanzyl uttered, as if it were in his own tongue, but that was common place for his species, there were very few races he had met on his travels that he couldn’t understand, although he couldn’t speak to them in their language, but he nonetheless understood every word that they spoke.

While they stood to one side of the ramp in conversation Shiyne drove the stroller down the front ramp and the rest of the crew followed in a group in her wake, with Visitor Parham bringing up the rear wearing his more formal attire of a full length pale blue robe tied at the waist with a royal blue cord, which was beneath a full length dark blue leather jerkin, and he carried a simple roughhewn staff which was undecorated but for a carved cruciform relief a few inches from the top.  

The Tornado’s APMTV, (All Purpose Multi Terrain Vehicle) was nicknamed the “Stroller” which was an ironic name because when Shiyne or Merri were behind the wheel it did anything but stroll.

The moment it came to a halt the group climbed aboard, Malena paused before remotely closing the ramp and the joined Zerrad in the back and the healer Terrell got in the passenger seat beside his lover Shiyne.