Richard smiles and replies, "Well I did tell you the other day, we are busier than ever before, I wasn't just referring to this case you know. The universe keeps rolling along, stops for no creature or event."
They head off in search of port 107.
When they arrive in the vicinity of the port embarkation desk, Ed can't believe his eyes, there amongst the group of total strangers is Jiash Weskeltov. Ed is at once, glad that she is OK and also rather surprised that she is coming on this trip. What on the two moons of Regenis 4 would she want to put her life on the line like that?
Jiash runs up to Ed and excitedly says, "Are you click! Coming on click! This trip click! Also click! Why with such click! a promising career click! Would you want click! To do this click!"
Jiash grabs Ed's hand, as if he were a cousin or old friend. Ed catches Richards face, he has a really surprised look. As if he had caught Ed two timing Jenny. Ed says, "We met on Deslax."
"I see." says Richard and his eyebrows rise, unable to conceal his surprise.
Ed says to Jiash, "I could say the same about you, but no doubt you feel the same as me and Fedioaux. Jiash eyes Fedioaux with some suspicion. Ed wonders why this strange behaviour, he goes on to explain that he wanted to find out what had happened to his mates Jason and Keiran.
Jiash's face changes with mention of the last name, she asks, "Not KY? click!"
Ed looks surprised, "Keiran Yardley, you know Keiran Yardley? What a small universe."
Jiash smiles, "Yes click! I know Keiran, KY, click! He and me do click! Altaros run click! 6 Janiars ago click! He much fun click! Like you click!" As Jiash says the latter, she throws a sideways glance at Fedioaux, as if gauging her reaction, she is somewhat disappointed however as Fedioaux watches and listens in curiosity, showing no emotion on her face at all.
Richard eyes Ed with suspicion again. Whilst Ed just wonders what is going on here, whilst the trip to on Deslax was enjoyable, he couldn't remember being that much fun to be around, at least not in the sense that Jiash's statement seems to indicate. Ed decides to leave things alone.
Fedioaux holds out her hand towards Jiash and says, "I assume you must be our other flight. As Ed has stated I will be Captain on this trip, but please call me Fedioaux. You are?"
Jiash, does not respond to the hand gesture, but does announce herself as "Jiash Weskeltov click! Of AlmoonRhi click!"
Fedioaux suddenly exclaims, "Did you two go to the same Academy? As I can recall your names being linked in some way."
Jiash grabs Ed's hand again and swings it up and says, "No we were click! Both on the click! Top 10 click! mos promising click!...."
Fedioaux finishes the statement, "Pilots list, that's it I knew I recognised you. I have seen your photo, although it does not do you justice, you look much better in real life."
Jiash says, "So does Ed click! don't you think? click!"
Fedioaux detecting some sort of trap here declines to answer that one. Instead looks at her comms band, an impressive jewelled item, which looks far more decorative than functional. Fedioaux announces that it is time they got aboard their craft, she looks to Richard for its name.
Richard obliges with "The Jasteritan"
Fedioaux adds, "Ed assures us it will be top of the range. Although you used another phrase, what was it now?"
Ed pauses to think for a moment, then replies, "Oh sub-zero, I said it would be sub-zero, its a D class you see, never flown one, but heard that they are well appointed."
Jiash says, "Your click! Uncle's crowd click! Must have plenty click! Of moolar then? click!"
Ed surprised, asks, "Don't tell me you know Mickey too?"
Jiash looks just as surprised as she replies, "Yes click! You also click! Know of click! THE Mickey click!"
Ed asks, "When did you last see Mickey then?"
Jiash replies, "Same flight click! As Keiran and me do click! He greater fun of all click!"
Fedioaux laughing, says, "Come on lady and gentlemen, we have a long flight to continue these reminiscences, but if we don't get aboard soon, we will miss our take-off window and we will not be going anywhere."
They follow Fedioaux as she walks up to the sec-id terminal, presents her comm bracelet and announces her full name. The door opens and she glides through. The high heels do not escape Jiash's attention, as she mutters, "Non regulation click! Shoes click! Wonder how click! she got to click! Captain click!"
~~~~~~~
Chapter 18 - Getting Acquainted
When the four boarded the craft, they were surprised that there was a bustle of activity both inside and outside the craft, as it was being fitted out with extra equipment, intended to monitor anything that they come across. The Captain went off to find someone responsible so she could check how long the work was going to take, whilst Ed, Jiash and Richard found their cabins. Richard said that he and Ed could meet up later.
Ed was a bit worried, that with Jiash's strange behaviour, his cabin was right next to Jiash's. He would have preferred that they were further apart. He wonders now if Jiash has changed her mind regards her declaration on Deslax, that she would quite fancy Ed if it were not for the way he talked. Perhaps she was getting used to humans now and getting over her hang up with the way we talk. Ed makes a mental note that he must be very careful what he does and says, especially as it appears that Jiash has taken a renewed liking to Ed, but a dislike of the Captain. Ed can see that he is going to have difficulties there. It is lucky that flight crews do not spend too much time in each other's company. It tends to be mainly at shift hand overs and when tricky situations are encountered.
The flight deck is deserted, nothing on, so chances are the Captain is either still negotiating a works completion time table, or perhaps finding her own cabin. Ed wonders whether he should begin the start up procedure or wait for the Captain. As he doesn't know if they are still going to meet their take off window and he doesn't know this Captain's preferred mode of operation, he'd best hold fire and wait until she arrives. As he familiarises himself with the control panels and admires the amount of equipment on this craft, some of which he could normally only dream of seeing, let alone use, Ed changes his mind about the starting up of kit. He has decided to at least fire up the ACMoS and NaviCom systems to see if their flight path has been logged. After a few moments, both are busy giving forth their knowledge, which just happens to be zilch. No flight path logged as yet.
Ed looks up as he hears the familiar voice of Captain Fedioaux, she says, "That's good, I like an officer who gets on with the job, although as yet you won't find any flight path logged. We are apparently awaiting some instructions regards the meeting place. Or that's at least what your uncle said. For the time being let's register our selves as flying to Jedhaed, it at least gets us out there." she points to the sky.
Ed busies himself, doing as instructed, logging their course. He asks for likely lift off time.
Fedioaux replies "Unfortunately we will be missing our programmed window, as this lot," her arm swings around herself, indicating generally the others working in or on the craft, "Can't quite make up their minds when they will be finished, but in any case it will be beyond our scheduled slot. I'd check with control and see if we can get something in two hours time." She smiles sweetly at Ed, then pulls a lipstick out of one of her pockets, finds a particularly shining panel and sets about refreshing her lips.
Ed has never come across a senior officer quite like Fedioaux. He likes the fact that she is not afraid to show her individuality and character. Most captains seem to conform to convention, following laid down patterns of behaviour. There seemed to be a few prepared to break the mould, but none thus far quite like Fedioaux. Ed finds it both refreshing and also unnerving.
He wonders if she has changed out of the high heels, into something more practical. He glances down at Fedioaux's feet and he is surprised to see that she is still wearing the high heels. Ed blushes, as Fedioaux turns a
nd catches him looking at her shoes. She laughs and says, "Nothing wrong with retaining your sense of style and individuality, even if you are paid to carry out a particular role, as long as you carry it out satisfactorily and to the best of your ability. Don't worry if things get serious, I always have my regulation gripper flats with me. Now how is that task coming long?"
"I'm on it Captain." replies Ed.
"Fedioaux, Ed, not Captain, remember." she replies in a soft encouraging voice.
"Sorry Fedioaux, just takes a bit of getting used to...."
Ed is interrupted as Fedioaux says, "You'll get used to it, my crews usually do. Right, have you eaten recently?"
Ed pauses then answers, "Yes, thanks Richard and I had something when we got to the space port."
"Right, do you know where Jiash is, as I haven't seen her since we came aboard? Only I'd like to sort out shifts as soon as possible."
Ed replies, "Last time I saw her, was when we went in search of our cabins."
Fedioaux smiles and says, "Oh yes we're all next to each other, I thought it would be easier that way."
Ed is quite shocked at that, the convention usually is to put members of the flight crew on separate decks or at least different parts of the craft, in-case the craft is damaged in some way and then you stand the chance of losing less flight crew members. Also Captains were supposed to have more superior cabins. Not that there was anything wrong with their cabins, they seemed a lot more comfortable than Ed was used to. In fact the whole craft seemed to live up to its reputation. Its whole sense of design and fitments were superb, just like a luxury intergalactic liner.
Fedioaux says, "Well I'm off to get something to eat, if Jiash comes here, can you send her to the cafeteria and we'll chat about shifts. By the way, when did you last fly and sleep?"
Ed pauses, he does not want to say anything really about the Cosmos 3 trip, he certainly doesn't want Fedioaux to know anything about his illness. He decides what he will say and replies, "Flew about a month ago and slept last night."
Fedioaux says, "OK no problem there, so in theory you could take first duty with me."
Ed is about to say that he could take the ship out on his own if needed, then decides to keep quiet, after all Fedioaux is the Captain. She spins round and heads to the door, she pauses momentarily, glances over her shoulder and says, "See you later, sure you don't want anything to eat? I could always bring you something back."
Ed says that he's fine. He notes a sparkle in her eyes as she turns back and heads off towards the door, her soft brown hair flicks round and bobs up and down as she strides confidently through the door. 'Never experienced a Captain like that before.' thinks Ed to himself, then turns his attention back to his task of getting a new take off slot.
~~~~~~~~
Chapter 19 - From Bad To Worse
So much for the hope of getting another take off slot in two hours time, they had to wait a whole six hours before another slot became available. The controllers said that they just happened to hit a 'peak period'. What at 10 pm? Ed had never known a peak period at 10 pm! The take off had been as smooth as silk. Two hours out, Fedioaux had decided to take a rest, planning to take over at the next shift, which given the late departure, she had set as starting at 5 am. Then Jiash would take over at 1pm. There was only one advantage of the delay, they had their final destination details, so could head straight for that destination, rather than mess about going to Jedhaed and then onward.
Richard had commed Ed to say that he had received some roasting, from Maria and Edward, for 'kidnapping their son'. Ed had offered to mediate and explain that this was his idea, not Richard's. Richard said that it was best not to get involved, they will come round to the fact that Ed was now an adult and capable of making his own decisions.
It always seemed strange to be up and about when most people were fast asleep, although normally on an interstellar craft, people were often sticking to other time zones, especially if they have transferred from one flight to another, so there was usually someone about at any hour of the day. Ed had just come back from the cafeteria, he had gone to fetch a snack and it was most strange to find the whole craft seemed deserted. Even the guy behind the counter commented on this fact. He said the last person he'd seen was about midnight, it was now 3 am. Ed regretted not having much time to chat, as he felt sorry for the cafeteria guy. He also, would have enjoyed the company himself. They did briefly exchange some notes about their last shore leave though. It passed the time as the guy fixed Ed's snack. Reluctantly they parted company.
Ed now back on the flight deck, looks at the time, thankfully the clocks were still on Regenis time and had not clicked over to UTC yet. Ed always hated it when the time suddenly changed to UTC, oh that's Coordinated Universal Time by the way, yes I know the letters are a bit jumbled up, but that's the way it is. An invention of the people of earth, but later adopted by all as a convenient universal measure of time. The convention is, that craft either stick to using UTC only, or they adopt the local time, then change to UTC once they are a day away from the planet that they have just departed. They then switch to the destination's local time, when they are within a day of landing. All very confusing, especially on shorter flights, although those tend to stick to UTC.
Only two hours before Fedioaux would be on duty. It was nice to be back on duty and out in space again. Ed took to his usual hobby of checking out the star and galaxy patterns. With that and watching musivids, the time seemed to fly by. Ed forgot to shut his z-aphmediator down before the Captain came on duty. As soon as she appears in the doorway, Ed pounces on the device to shut it down. Fedioaux tells him that it is alright to leave it on, she says that it is good to have something entertaining happening. In any case she hasn't seen this one all the way through, she seems to always be interrupted, whenever this track is on. Ed rewinds it for her. They wait until the track is over, before Ed does his handover bit, not that there is much to report, it has been plain sailing. Fedioaux recounts what had happened regards one of Richard's people and a chair. The refit wasn't quite of the quality that it appeared to be. Basically the chair had collapsed and the individual threatened to sue the company, until Richard had pointed out that essentially they were the company as the craft had been chartered to them.
Ed says his farewells and departs the flight deck. Whilst he's a bit tired, he decides he needs to wind down a bit before going to bed. He decides to see if there is anyone around the entertainment area, after all some of Richard's people may be attempting to entertain themselves, if not he could always watch a vid for a while before retiring.
When Ed gets to the main entertainment area he hears some music and raised voices. As he rounds the corner and enters the large room, he is not quite prepared for the sight that meets his eyes. Jiash is dressed in a rather sparkly costume, that a girl would wear for a night out on the town. There are three of Richard's people encouraging her as she dances. One glance tells Ed that she seems to be slightly worse for wear, regards drink. Ed is quite surprised, as she only has 8 hours before she is due to be on duty. His dilemma now is, does he sit down and join them or slink off before he is noticed. Ed decides, that it'll probably be best to do the latter, especially given Jiash's earlier behaviour. He is about to leave, when suddenly Jiash catches sight of him, she calls out, "Ed click! Come and, and join me click! Join us click! Fun fun click!"
Ed decides best not to say anything, he holds his hand up and walks away.
He is part way down the corridor, heading towards the cafeteria, when he hears the cheer, "Whoa! Go girl!" Ed continues on, then suddenly hears, "Awe click! Come, come on Ed click! Join in, in the click! Join in the fun click! Don't click! Don't be such a shirt stuffer click!"
Ed stops, turns and says, "You have spent too much time around Mickey and Keiran. It's OK to let your hair down when on shore leave, but not whilst on duty."
Jiash pouting, says, "You cl
ick! You shirt stuffer click! You Boring click! No fun click!"
Ed says, "If you are going to use our sayings against us, at least get them right, it's stuffed shirt. Come on Jiash, you'd best sober up and get some sleep ready for your shift." At the invitation to "come on" Jiash almost runs up to Ed, but in the high heels that she is wearing, her motion is pretty unsteady and she nearly falls twice. Ed wonders if he should go to her aid or stay where he is. He decides to stay.
As Jiash reaches Ed she collapses into his arms, an obviously deliberate ploy. Instead of agreeing that Ed is right, she launches into pleas for Ed to join her, she claims she has plenty of dance left in her yet.
Ed protests that she should think of her career, as she wouldn't want to be subject to a disciplinary, not only that, Ed didn't want to find himself back on duty so soon. Ed gently tries to push Jiash into an upright position. She is obviously worse for the drink, as Ed finds it difficult to get her to support herself. Jiash is collapsing back onto Ed again. He decides he'll have to accept the situation and try somehow to get her back to her cabin.
As Ed glances back up the corridor, he notices one of the men has come out of the entertainments room and is watching them. He is quite tall and sturdy in build, short hair and by the looks of the emblem on his shirt, something to do with security. The man takes Ed by surprise as he says, "You've got your hands full there mate, she's a lively one."