A Hop A Skip and a Clone?

The throbbing in his head killed...
Fire seemed to spark down all his nerves.
A weird secondary sensation? Floating?
A rushing noise in his ears.
A sudden sense of... Falling? was that the right word?

SLAM

Ok. That hurt. Mental note. Floor hurts.

He coughed and started to shake his head as the rest of the fluid sluiced away.

Eyes opening he tried to focus...

Boots...

I remember them.

A towel dropped next to him.

"SJ. Go get pants on and go see Eowyn. She needs to update you." The voice paused. "I'll await your report."

The boots moved off, clicking on the decking.
He reached out, fumbled for the towel. Memories slowly tricking into place. A vague memory formed. Caytlyn?

The floor was cold. He knelt up. What was next? Standing. Ah Yes. I remember that. He swayed upright. He looked at the towel in his hand.

A giggle from the door made him look up.

"Its been a while hasn't it?" Eowyn leaned on the door and grinned. She strode over and wrapped the towel round him. "Come on you. Lets see what on earth you did this time."

She dragged him down the hall, grabbing a gown from the med lab storage to make him decent.

"Right. In the chair." she said.

He sat on the med chair and lent back. Eowyn fussed round and put a neural net on his head.

"Ok. Relax while we drop the databurst into your head. I'll get you some coffee" and with that she darted next door.

Coffee? That sounded good. Everything was so fuzzy. The chair sighed and puffed out scanners and probes. A dull throbbing started again in his head. He closed his eyes. Flashes of light. A sense of danger?

Out of the dull throbbing... a sharp memory. A warp tunnel. Urgent shouts. Realspace snapping back into place. A hostile fleet. Threat warnings, Warpdrive interdicted. The opening volleys shreading shields and blowing out the generators. Frantic commands... then a peacefulness... laughter? The scream of armour and hull breachings, repair generators exploding under the massive onslaught. A violent detonation... Tumbling as the pod was ejected. Proximity alerts... Laughter again? A final warning message and then the stars... and darkness.

He groaned and held his head. Hearing footsteps he cracked an eyelid and peered. Eowyn stood there with coffee.

"Sit up. Drink this. Take them. No arguing." She handed him some pills and a large coffee.

Moving gingerly he took the pills and swigged some Hot Java. The heat flooded his chest. Sighing he leaned back and drank more.

He coughed and tried to mumble thanks. After a few more drinks his tongue seemed to behave more and he managed a coherent "Thanks".

Eowyn grinned, grabbed a datapad and sat next to him.

"Well you are human. More or less. Synapsis are settling. You are going to need sleep and some time to settle. Data feed says you had an /interesting/ end." She punched his arm.

"Hey!" He paused. "urm. End?"

"Yes silly. New clone." She tapped at the pad. "Oh it has been a while. Hmm... you might need this." She grabbed at something behind his head. "Sweet dreams" She slapped the hypospray on his neck and smiled at his mumbled protest.

Warm feelings spreading... and a last sensation of a kiss on the cheek.

--

48hrs later...

A bunk. This wasn't the med center? The bunk shook. He opened his eyes. Sat on the end of the bunk was Eowyn.

"Wakey Wakey sleepy head!" She handed him another coffee.

"Sleepyhead my arse. You drugged me" he grumped.

"Shush and drink up. We're going to canteen. Get dressed and I'll see you there in 5... if you remember the way." She skipped out the room.

Grumbling he rolled out of the bunk and opened the wardrobe.

Between slurps of Java and trying to break his toes on his bunk box, he found his clothes, boots and had a quick wash.
Opening the door he peered around and looking left nearly cracked his head on Eowyn.

"I knew you would forget." She smiled, grabbed his hand and dragged him down the hall.

"Wait up! I'm not totally steady yet!" he spluttered.

"Old fart!" she retorted and darted into a elevator.

--

Sat smiling across from him, Eowyn smirked as he devoured food while she tapped at her datapad.
He paused, swigged more Java and raised his eyebrow at her.

"You really like to get into trouble don't you?" she quizzed.

"Define trouble. Its still a bit of a jumble. Things are coming back now though." He looked around, pointed and continued. "That's to ship bay. Upstairs Med Lab, Downstairs to Living spaces, Top floor is /her/ office." He paused. "Oh."

Eowyn gave a tinkling laugh. "Coming back more?"

Memories started sliding more and more into place. He looked around again at the empty canteen.

"You were the only one podded." she said. "The rest either got out or avoided the interdiction."

"Lucky me eh?" he snorted and finished his Java.

"Come on. She wants to see you. Think you remember enough now to talk to her?" Eowyn stood up and headed for the exit.

"I think so." He grabbed his mug and grabbed a refill before striding after her.

--

The office was plush. Carpeted and quiet. Eowyn pushed open the inner door and peeked in.

"Yes?" a curt voice inquired.

"He's functioning... more or less." Eowyn giggled.

"You better drag him in here then."

Eowyn opened the door fully and beckoned him in. He paused in the doorway and looked around. Tapestries, a few plants adorned the walls apart from a few viewscreens. A solid looking wooden desk and chair sat in the middle of the room. Piles of pads and some blueprints littered the desk. The chair swivelled round from the side screens.

"Don't just stand there. Shut the door and come in. You do remember that bit don't you?"

"Boots." he said. Caytlyn laughed.

"Ok. Well he remembers that." She pointed to a chair. "Sit down."

Eowyn perched on the edge of the desk idly kicking a leg.

Sinking into the chair he had sharp flashbacks of being here many times before. The Java in his hand shook, almost spilling before he could control it.

"Don't get it on the carpet SJ. Its a pain to clean." Caytlyn took a pad from her drawer and turned a viewscreen from the side to face him. "What do you remember?"

He thought for a moment. "I remember the end bit. Everything else is still settling."

"Ok. Well tell me what you think happened." She settled back and reached for her drink by the monitor.

Sj slurped his Java and sat forward.

"We were out looking for pirates. I know we got one when he engaged me at a gate at jump in. Rest of fleet was already in warp. I was late arriving and solo. The idiot locked and scrambled me. I returned the favour. Fleet reversed course and rest is pretty much history. Got his pod too. Later we moved to Amamake. We were camping. Got some reports of pirates so went scouting. Warrules found 2 of them in a belt. Asked for backup. We jumped to engage, I was first in warp, a Drake fast behind me when he called it was a trap. Lots of other hostiles appearing, A BlackOps BS and more fast lockers." He paused and laughed.

Caytlyn raised an eyebrow. "Funny?"

SJ grinned. "I remembered why I was laughing."

"And?" she asked.

SJ took another mouthful of Java, looked up and said "I was wondering how to kiss my arse goodbye in my pod".

Caytlyn shook her head. Eowyn laughed.

SJ continued. "I knew I was in trouble when I got the feed from War. He had a Widow, multiple BS and tacklers on him. It was originally just a single Fleet Tempest and an Oynx in the belt. Scanners were empty other than that."

He took another drink.

"There was 10 battleships and 2 Heavy Interdictors on me as soon as I dropped from warp. Shields and 1/4 of armour vanished in the first hit. Fired up the reppers... I never got a rep off in time. Second volley tore me apart. Covert ops and a HIC nailed my pod. After that... I think boots. Yours to be precise."

Caytlyn tapped her pad. "Sounds about right. Lost a Harbringer. Warrules. He managed to get his pod out... unlike you. A drake died too I believe. Still waiting for his report. You lost Ishtar, pod, and memories. Not that it changes much with your swisscheese of a brain."

"Oi. I resemble that remark!" SJ sulked. "And we did get that other pirate."

"So you did. Maybe next time you will avoid the faction milita?" she pursed her lips. "In the meantime. One week rest and memory training. No combat duties till Eowyn clears you. Now be good and let me finish trying to write this up and explain to the Allaince just why we need new ships." She shooed him out the door. "Eowyn. Take him and make sure he's not any more fried than his last scan."

"Yes Caytlyn. He has a new body. So at least his liver is new."

"Oh goodie. I haven't had a scotch recently." he grinned.

Eowyn smacked him on the ass with the datapad and chivvied him out ahead of her. "No scotch till you're cleared."

"And SJ? Try not to loose another clone for a while. They get expensive." Caytlyn said as the door started to close.

"Yes Empress" he quipped as it clicked shut.

Caytlyn smiled. Oh well... Maybe there was hope for him yet. At least he remembered that nickname. She finished her drink and turned back to the reports.