Jemma
Jemma Simmons personal log, day 16.
"It’s been a week since Helen left to find supplies, I am beginning to worry about her, so is Skye although she remains confident that Helen is fine. Helen did say that it could take a while to find what we needed, if anything was actually out there. If we had our sensors up and running we could find her with those I’m sure but I’ve been tinkering and tinkering on them and I have no options. We need more supplies, everything is fried. Skye got the “Kitchen” working, I had no idea until she surprised me with dinner, a dish I had never had before, it was a martian dish, some strange animal meat, a side of slightly firm yellow paste, and an unusually shaped vegetable. It took me a while to get used to the strange meal but it was quite good. To top everything off, however, Skye had the system make a chocolate milkshake, complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top. hold on, something is happening... I think Helen might be back, I need to go see what’s going on."
Trip ducked back down underneath the dirt roof of the little hut and immediately pulled a small white curtain over the entrance, like a door. A young woman was sitting with her hand’s clasp worriedly in front of her, she stared up at Trip. The doctor put a finger over his mouth to tell her to remain quiet and she did.
She was a young, small girl, probably only 14 or maybe 15 years old with dark tanned skin and a shaved head that looked covered in the same red dust that seemed to be everywhere in the village. Despite her plain look, her eyes were a breathtaking shade of purple and they stood out from the rest of her features.
Eventually they heard the whoosh of Ward's ship as it took off, with them taking away someone else from the small village, or camp more like it. They sighed as the air became quiet again, and the girl who had obviously been having problems staying quiet spoke up. “Where are they?” She souned excited.
He turned to her and shrugged his shoulders, “I really don’t know.”
She seemed confused by this news, “You mean.. You were telling them the truth? Skye’s not here?” She asked, a bit more sadly than before,
“No, and I haven’t seen her in almost two months, I’m beginning to get worried, she’s never stayed away this long.” He turned from the woman sitting in the homemade chair and began to mix several ingredients into a silver bowl, barely registering the conversation.
“Do you think she’s okay?” The girl persisted and she was sitting on the edge of the chair, waiting for an answer.
Trip sighed and turned around, holding the silver bowl with the unknown substance, “I’m sure she’s fine, she’ll be back anytime now, she’s probably just having to lay low for a bit, now, don’t worry about Skye, she can handle herself. Here take this, this should help.”
He spooned a bit of the liquid into her mouth and she grimaced at the bitter taste, making an obvious “Bleh” face. Trip chuckled, “I said it would help, not that it would taste good. C’mon, kid, you need sleep.”
After he had escorted the young woman to a bed and checked through the rest of the people in the camp, he ducked back into his hut and, after glancing around for any spy ware, he pulled out a hand held computer.
“Any word from Skye?” He asked it,
It beeped a few times then answered in a computerized voice, “No new messages.” It explained.
“Okay, do you have anything on her position?” He tried again,
“Her last known coordinates were outside of the edge of the O-Nah system.”
Trip thought for a few minutes, debating on what the best course of action would be, “Any records of a pirate being caught at that time?” He asked even though he knew there probably wasn’t given the fact that Ward was still snooping around.”
“No. But there has been an influx of ships containing pirated identifications in that area.”
Trip sat back in the seat that the young girl was sitting in previously and sighed, they desperately needed the supplies that Skye was going to bring, also he worried about her, this had been the first time Skye was late to Tah’Reh. It just wasn’t like her.
“How long would it take me to get to those coordinates?”
“In Jupiter's designated transport or The Nenuphar?”
“The Nenuphar of course.” Then he added to himself, “With all those pirates milling about, I need something better than that bucket of rust they give me.”
“At full speed, you should be able to get there within 12 hours.”
“Alright, then that’s what I’m going to have to do.” He stood up and immediately began putting things in his hut away.
“What about the people of Sye-Heit?”
“It’s only 12 hours, contact the corp and tell them to send a substitute.”
“How long?”
“Two days tops.”
“It has been sent.”
A few minutes later Trip was standin in front of a newly uncloaked ship. The Nenuphar was an extremly high class and sleek ship, made for comfortable and safe space travel. Not only was she an incredibly beautiful ship with a thin design and black and gold exterior but she was also equipped with the newest technology.
Perfecting this ship had been Trip's hobby and main expense for over three years and his hard work had definitely paid off.
His face brightened as she uncloaked and the ramp unfolded at his feet. He walked up the ramp proudly with his arms out stretched, "Lilly, my girl, hows it going?"
The gentle and feminine voice of the ship's AI responded immedietly, "Very well, Antoinne, although I have missed you. What is the occasion today?"
"We're going to find and possibly save Skye; A mission of questionable legality, what you do you say, Lil'? You up for it?"
"I am always up for shenanigans, antoinne, you know that."
"Perfect, let's get going."
.
.
.
“What is it?” Jemma had sprinted from Skye’s room to the bridge when alarms and red lights started going off throughout the ship. She found Skye moving back and forth from console to console.
“I don’t know. Something’s wrong with Alecta and she’s not speaking.” Skye sighed and tried again, “Alecta! What’s going on? Is Helen okay?” She asked forcefully.
Jemma moved next to Skye, reading over the information that was being displayed on all of the screens. It was showing a signal, presumably Helen’s signal moving and then disappearing. Looping over and over again on every single monitor.
“Where is she? I thought we didn’t have a signal on her?” Jemma questioned,
“We don’t, but Alecta and Helen have trackers embedded in their servers so they can help each other in an emergency. And Alecta’s panicking, we need to get her to tell us what’s going on, maybe we can help.”
Jemma followed Skye through the ship as she messed with different panels, flipping switches and hitting buttons, “I though AIs didn’t do that anymore, that they have overload protectors?”
“Yeah, they do but Alecta’s an older model, she doesn’t have that.” Skye grunted as she pulled back a lever and the lights stopped strobing and the alarms ceased.
They took a moment, their ears getting used to the quiet again, “Alecta?” Skye tried, a little gentler this time.
“Helen’s signal has completely disappeared.” Alecta explained calmly, almost without emotion in her crackly voice, "I don't know where she went." There was a certain amount of pain evident even in her harsh voice.
“Okay, well, then we’re going to have to find her, okay?” Skye explained, almost as if she was trying to keep a child calm.
“I will send you the links.”
Skye nodded and walked back to the bridge quickly with Jemma at her heels, “What could have caused her signal to just cut out like that? Could she have been picked up by another ship?”
“I don’t think so, I feel like Alecta would have been able to tell if that happened.” She pulled out her hand held and opened a hologram of the disappearance.
“Well, what do you think happened?” Jemma pressed on, almost whispering over Skye’s shoulder.
“I’m not sure but I’m not going to let Helen be stranded out there when she needs us.”
Jemma nodded adamently in agreement, “I’ll go get a pack.”
“I’ll meet you on the ramp.”
.
.
.
“Uh—Captain.. It’s a smorgasbord..” The overwhelmed second in command of the Silver Tongue watched at the twenty or so ships that were surrounding the edge of the O-Nah sector.
Ward came up behind him and looked at the information, his brow furrowed, “The bounty must have been leaked by someone.”
“Yeah, I think we’ve got some competition on finding this pirate.” The second in command was concerned but the captain smirked arrogantly.
“More like insurance, scan the identification of all the ships and see who we can “Pick up” on our way out, we’ve got plenty of cells available. Invite ‘em over.” Ward chuckled,
“Yes, Captain.” The second in command saluted and began barking orders at the crew on the bridge, most of them forced to be there, unlike the second in command.
Ward made his way to his office off to the side of the bridge of the massive ship, he sat back in the plushed chair and pulled up the hologram, “Contact the Avenger for me, will ya?”
A few seconds later The Black widow’s face was in front of his, she looked irritated at the intrusion. He smiled a toothy grin and held his hand’s out innocently, “Romanov! How are you doing?”
“Great.” She said sarcastically, “I love talking to the scum of the earth.” She glared at him as he continued to smirk, unaffected by her cruel tone.
“No, doll, that’s you, remember?” He patronized still grinning.
She sighed and sat back, “The hell you want Ward?”
“I don’t know if you’re protecting her or you’re just trying to get her but this plan of yours is a little ridiculous, Widow. I expected better of you, I really did.”
It was her turn to smirk, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh really, so the fifty little desperate pirates out there just got the bounty information by themselves? What are you planning to do? Let one of them get Skye and the Girl and then take them off the ship?”
“I have nothing to do with that and I’m not trying to get her, Ward. But I’m guessing you are?”
Ward chuckled as if she just told a joke, “Right, so you just don’t care at all about those million credits being offered for the both of them?”
“I don’t need them.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot, you’re being funded by your rich wife. Right.”
At the mention of her wife, the Widow sneered at the man across from her, “It’s getting hard to keep up that slave empire isn’t it? Getting a little low on cash? Is the milky way getting in the way of your pathetic little outfit?” She growled out venomously, and then she continued, not letting him respond, “Skye may have fucked up and maybe she’s done for but I’d rather turn in my own life than let her be taken by the likes of your filth.”
Ward didn’t respond and Romanov reached over to turn the hologram off but before the image blacked out she paused, “Oh, and Ward, go fuck yourself, doll.”
Ward sat back, the grin still evident although much less bright and arrogant; he sighed and turned around to look out the window. At the edges of his view he could see a few ships wondering about in the void.
.
.
.
Skye and Jemma were standing outside of the edge of the jungle, packs on their backs and their suits zipped up tight.
“I think we can cut the time in half if we bypass this area—“ She circled a piece of the map with her finger, “Then we might be able to find out what happened.”
“And if she’s coming back then she’ll probably take the shorter route.” Jemma concluded.
“Exactly. Ready.”
Jemma sighed and pulled her pack higher up on her back, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
They entered the jungle, as they penetrated the outer brush the sunlight disappeared and they were suddenly in a different world altogether. A much darker word where there wasn’t much room to breath. The trees and the underbrush were tightly packed underneath the canopy that blacked out nearly all sunlight and dripped left over moisture all over the Captain and Jemma.
“This is just wonderful.” Skye stated sarcastically as she slashed through the underbrush with a makeshift machete.
“Yes, it will be quite interesting navigating accurately under these conditions.” Jemma stated almost to herself as she stomped down some of the plant life that was still alive even after Skye’s efforts.
“Hey, thanks for coming with me, you could’ve stayed with the Hula Girl.” Skye grunted out,
Jemma stopped for a moment and smiled behind Skye, “Yes, well, I like Helen quite a lot. I do hope she’s alright.”
“Yeah, she’s really nice, isn’t she? And she’ll be fine, she’s one tough android, trust me, I’ve seen her do some incredible things.”
“Well, if you weren’t worried then you would have stayed at the ship.” Jemma pointed out. “When did you two meet?” Jemma inquired, mostly to pass the time but also because she was genuinely interested.
“I met Helen..” Skye though for a moment, “When I was sixteen, she was traveling across the planet Zanwoh, knocking off small joints and collecting a fortune. I was stopped with my mom at the docking center, we talked for hours, she had the best stories. Helen was one of the most interesting criminals I had ever met. She wasn’t a pirate, then, more like a bank robber….”
Skye thought for a few moments about the memory before she continued, “Anyway, when I drudged up The Hula Girl from the ship graveyard, I called Helen up and asked her to come with me on my first plundering. She agreed. And she’s been with me ever since. Even when things haven’t been so great.”
Skye laughed and added, “But I guess she brought Alecta into my life so we’re even.”
“She sounds like a great friend.”
“She’s is. She’s my best friend. And a total Nerd.” Skye added with a laugh.
“She’s going to be okay, Skye. Like you said, she’s very tough.” Jemma reassured,not fooled by the captain's attempt to joke her way through her feelings.
Skye stopped and looked back at Jemma who stopped just behind her, their space cramped because of the jungle, “Thanks, Doctor Simmons.”
“You can just call me, Jemma.”
“Thanks Jemma.”