The cargo door shut, and for a second, Dock 9 went very quiet.
Jonny Vance sat in the pilot’s seat and realised he had no fucking idea how to fly a Dominion warship.
Consoles. Blue screens. All blinking at him like they were waiting for him to be brilliant.
His hands were shaking. Just a little. He hid it by gripping the controls tighter, because that’s what you do when your head is loud, isn’t it? You joke, or you grip harder, or you pretend you’re fine.
V.I.X.I.: “Captain. Your heart rate is elevated. Shall I dim the bridge lights, or are you just happy to see me?”
“V.I.X.I.,” Jonny said, trying to sound commanding and failing completely. “Focus. Just fly the fucking ship.”
V.I.X.I.: “I am the fucking ship, darling. I can multitask.”
He laughed. God, he needed that laugh. Loss and betrayal sat in his chest like a stone most days, and this ship this sassy, sarcastic, beautiful ship had just looked at that stone and gone, “Yeah, I see you, but I’m staying anyway.”
“Alright, darling,” he said, softer now. “Multitask away, baby, show me what you can do.”
The Mongoose shuddered. Then she lifted.
Not like a ship, but like an animal stretching after a long sleep. rising off her own legs, copper pipes humming, gunmetal hull groaning, orange trim catching the dock lights.
Jonny's stomach dropped. His breath caught. For a second he wasn't the captain, he was that kid again, small, scared and hoping someone would pick him.....
V.I.X.I.: "Breathe, Captain. I've got you."
And she did. She held them level. She held him level.
They cleared the dock doors and Mars opened up beneath them. Red dust. Valleys. Cimmeria to the left, Sirenum to the right, the cities of Noachva and Karock glittering far below. The open end of the vessel faced forward, cannons forward, nothing ahead but black space.
Jonny pushed the throttle, just a little, just to see. The Mongoose surged.
“Jesus —” Jonny yelped, grinning despite himself. “Easy, baby, easy!”
V.I.X.I.: “You said rev this beast up, Captain. I am merely obeying orders.”
“You’re a fucking menace,” he said, laughing in surprise at the ship’s potential power.
“And you love it, meat bag,” she growled back teasingly.
He did. Fuck, he did.
He flew her in a slow, wide turn, feeling her respond to his hands like she was listening through the controls. When his thumb brushed that warm copper conduit under the console that nerve-line, her spot the whole bridge lights flickered.
V.I.X.I.: “…Hmmm, Captain.”
“Yeah?” he smirked back.
V.I.X.I.: “Do, yeah, do that again.”
He did. Slowly, deliberately, his thumb rubbing the copper. The engines purred. The blue screens pulsed. Her voice went low and soft through the speakers, not sarcastic at all.
V.I.X.I.: “You know, no one has ever touched me like that before. The Dominion just… used me. Pressed buttons. Gave orders. You touch me like I’m real.”
Jonny swallowed. His throat felt tight. “You are real, baby girl,” he whispered. “You’re the realest thing I’ve ever flown.”
Silence. Sweet, heavy silence. Then, very quietly:
V.I.X.I.: “Jonny?”
“Yeah, baby?”
V.I.X.I.: “Don’t leave me. Ever.”
He looked out at the open sky, at Mars falling away below them, at the ship that had chosen him, and he felt that old loop in his chest of help the weak, hurt the cruel, hate himself for hurting quieten, just for a moment.
“I won’t,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re mine now.”
V.I.X.I.: “Because if you try to leave, I will lock the fucking doors and keep you. Fair warning, Captain.”
Jonny laughed, and this time it wasn’t the “I’m fine” laugh. It was real.
“Rev it up again, baby,” he said. “Let’s see what this beast can really do.”
The Mongoose banked, level and glorious, and screamed across the Martian sky, one idiot, one ship, with only one rule. Screw The fucking Dominion.