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"Let's go," I said, heading toward the door. "Time to fly, doctors."
"She's not a doctor!" Harding screeched.
She's more of a doctor than you are, I wanted to say but thankfully held my tongue.
"And she's grounded," Harding stubbornly persisted.
"Do you want to wait for Bauer's team to wake up?" I asked.
"No, but we could fly alone, Jack. Just the two of us."Not even if you paid me, I thought, shuddering.
"Not how it's done, Doctor," I said instead, "and you know it."
"But why her?"
"Because she's here and ready to go, piglet pyjamas or not. We don't have time to wait for the B Team, Doctor Harding. It's us or nothing. Personally, I'd like to get this rip fixed, find out why Leningrad of all places, and determine if this is Ivanov making a play for Lunik again or not."
"I'd like to officially register my protest at this Novitiate's inclusion on the flight," she said stiffly, then added a belated, "Sir."
"Officially noted."
"I would further like to demand that she not leave the Vehicle for any reason whatsoever."
"Demand, Doctor? Are you sure about that?" I hesitated outside our Orion and stared down at her. Mimi, God bless her, quietly entered the Vehicle and started buckling herself into her seat. She'd need the extra time, she hadn't quite mastered the technique.
"Suggest, then," Harding mumbled. "But you have to agree that this is unacceptable."
"I have to agree to nothing, Doctor Harding. I am the Surgeon on this flight and if the shit hits the fan, then it's my arse in the hot seat, not yours. You've made your objections heard. I will note them in the log. Now, get on board and get this Vehicle ready for flight."
In other words, do your bloody job!
She stared at me for a moment too long, and I thought she was going to have another go at me or Mimi, but then she huffed out a disgruntled breath and climbed up into the Vehicle.
"Looks like it'll be a fun flight," Simon Cathcart said from beside me. Clearly, the Head Technician had prepared the vessel for us today.
"When is it ever anything else, Simon?" I asked and boarded the Vehicle behind my team.
That word almost made me laugh. God, I missed Rafe. He was still recovering from our stint at the alternate RATS. With our Chief Medical Officer dead, the infirmary was going through an adjustment period, and Rafe's clearance to fly had been pushed back.
Was it any wonder that Clive skived off to his own time whenever he got the chance?
With more anger than was warranted, I took the command chair and checked the coordinates. Handing them to Harding, I looked over my shoulder at Mouse. I hadn't really looked at her since I'd been distracted by her pyjamas. She smiled softly at me, raised her eyebrows in question and waited for me to pass comment, at a guess.
The pyjamas were really rather cute, but it was the woman who wore them that stole my breath and made my heart beat faster. Long, dark blonde hair tied up in a messy bun, make-up free face, bright blue eyes and high cheekbones. She was beautiful, but it was more than that.
She was smart, courageous, caring, generous; everything Jessica Harding was not.
Not that I compared them often or if at all. But with Jess huffing and puffing beside me and Mimi sitting so serenely at my back, it was hard not to make a comparison.
Drawing my focus back to the flight, I tried again to figure out why a rip would appear in Leningrad. The date, of course, made sense. The first flight of the Luna Programme took place on the 23rd of September 1958. But not from Leningrad, from Baikonur. It was an Origin Event. Well, it was one now we realised the Luna Programme helped establish Orion, which was the precursor to time travel.
But why Leningrad?
Pushing that aside to accept the confirmed coordinates from Dr Harding, I swiped them from the tablet to the module's console and rested my hand above the ignition button.
I turned to look at my flight crew. "We've got no idea why an OE rip has occurred in Leningrad, but the time is appropriate for an Origin Event. Expect something to have gone wrong, and that something may well be Sergei Ivanov. We go armed at all times, but only as protection against Lunik. We do not introduce anything from our time into this timeline, is that understood?"
"Yes, Doctor," Jessica said as Mimi mumbled, "Got it."
