Rene laughed, a primal expression of happiness and the release of long held tension. A part of his mind gibbered at him that this was a terrible idea and it would all end in disaster but he resolutely ignored it. Besides it wasn’t exactly like everything was going swimingly as it was. The intelligent bet was still on both of them dying long before the reached saftey. Grinning like a school boy he scooped Solae up in his arms, careful to avoid the worst of her hurts, and carried her towards the doors to the cargo bay and the living spaces at the rear of the ship. A red tell tale flashed above the hatch.

“I am sorry Master Quentain,” Mia said, sounding genuinely apologetic, borderline pouty, “but the cargo bay was depressurized during lift off.” Rene remembered the burst of fire from the jumper. Doubtless it had blasted holes in the walls that had spilled the atmosphere once they reached vacumn. He paused before the door and shook his head in wonderment.

“Of course it was…”

It took Rene the better part of an  hour to fare rough patches across the dozen or so holes that had been punched in the starboard hull. Bright flashes of metal showed where the ricocheting rounds had splashed across long uncleaned surfaces. The air suit he had worn to work in the airless hold was in remarkably good condition, perhaps not surprising given the wretched state of the rest of the Bonaventure. The patches were pieces of scrap metal welded in place and then sprayed with a combination filler sealant. The yellow orange sealing foam gave the impression that the starboard side of the hold had a bad case of acne, but Rene was confident enough that the improvised repairs would hold. The upside of their graceless exit from New Concordia’s atmosphere was that the explosive decompression had carried with it most of the trash that had littered the deck, sucking the detritus free in a blazing tail of fire as they had broken orbit. It even smelled better now that most of the waste products that had been caked to the lower floors of the hold had been peeled off by decompression, though the slight smell of wastes still wrinkled his nose once Mia pumped fresh air into the newly sealed chamber.

It was with a sense of considerable accomplishment that the pair of fugitives finally made it to the captain's cabin. The term seemed rather grand for the small metal box with a single bed and desk bolted to the deck but Rene had been on enough ships to know that space was at a premium. The cabin had been emptied of most of its contents by the same blast that emptied the hold, though Rene doubted that the former captain had personal possessions that they would have been interested in.

As Mia had said, the shower cubicle was too small for the pair of them, but with a little creativity they were able to run it with the door open. Rene improvised a small damn out of towels and bedding to keep from flooding the cabin and he gently helped Solae to wash, paying particular attention to the various scrapes and contusions she had picked up. He was still giddy with relief and excitement and there was an undeniable pleasure in helping to wash her naked body. Although the fact that Mia might be watching made him a little uneasy it was impossible to hide his own excitement. Solae noticed that as well. The captain’s bunk turned out to be more than big enough for the both of them.

Rene awoke to a polite clearing of the throat. Or at least that's what he presumed it was supposed to be. The poor quality of the speakers leant the sound a staticy crackle that made it sound like the speaker had a hairball. Solae stirred beside him, eyes blinking open with sleepy contentment. Rene marveled at her beauty, fingers idly running through her golden hair.

“I am sorry to interrupt,” Mia purred, “but we will be reaching the jump horizon within thirty minutes.” Reluctantly Rene sat up and reached across to where the medkit he had brought to tend Solae’s wounds sat. He peeled open the seal and withdrew a healing salve and began to apply it to the worst of her abrasions.

“We need to decide what our next move will be,” he told her as he gently worked the gel into one of her bruises. They had been so consumed with getting of New Concordia that they hadn't had the time to think beyond that. Now that the Gids knew they had a ship, Rene didn’t doubt they were readying their own vessels for pursuit, and if other systems were involved in this rebellion, that they would spread the word of Solae and her priceless genetics to their allies.