Dana Cartwright Mission 2: Lancer

by Joyz W. Riter

  Grant scowled, “And how would you know?”

  Dana shot a glance over her shoulder as Kieran led the reluctant doctor up the ramp.

  She slipped inside the Captain’s quarters, steeling herself for what she might find.

  Janz Macao moaned, “Who’s there?” from his bunk, his voice muffled because his face was buried into a pillow. The overhead lighting flickered and she fretted that it might fail right in the middle of things.

  Dana dropped her gear bag onto a counter near the door and spread out some medical instruments before going to the bunk and throwing back the covers to expose the Captain’s naked back.

  “No lacerations,” she mumbled, visually checking the outer skin. Deep greenish bruises, however, signaled serious injury. With skilled hands she gingerly felt along the curve of his spine, from the cervical vertebrae all the way to the lumbar. “I’m going to need more light.”

  “The backup systems aren’t working,” the Captain moaned. “We came down hard.”

  “Indeed,” she commented. “Maybe Landers can take a look at the system and jury-rig it, if necessary,” she grumbled, tapping the communicator on her sleeve, calling the order to Mackenna and Landers.

  Both readily responded, “Aye.”

  “Dana?”

  “I’m here,” she whispered, but it did little to comfort him.

  “You disobeyed orders…”

  “No, sir, McHale sent us,” she answered, as she took the spinal weave computer and centered it over three vertebrae in the thoracic section.

  Kieran Jai returned, quietly watching without comment. He knew this procedure; remembering it all too well from the shuttle crash on Earth when Dana Cartwright had treated him.

  “I can’t feel my legs,” Janz moaned.

  Dana retrieved a DIA-injector. “I’ll bet you weren’t using your safety bar,” she taunted.

  Kieran groaned, remembering how she’d scolded him for the same thing.

  “Move your fingers,” Dana ordered, and Macao bravely strained to comply with his left hand. “Move them one at a time. Concentrate on each.”

  The DIA-injector hissed as it touched his shoulder blade, the movement of his fingers slowed then stopped, and his head lolled to one side.

  “Can’t believe you still use that technique,” Kieran observed with a wry smile.

  “Standard procedure…so, tell me what happened?” She began moving the neuro-scanner along each vertebrae, punching in codes and storing settings then programmed the device for a spinal weave. It continued the long, arduous process of knitting back together the damaged nerve ganglia one at a time. “This is going to take awhile.”

  “Mine took twelve hours,” he recalled.

  “With me assisting Doctor Garcia,” Dana reminded.

  Kieran settled down on the deck, his legs folded under him, just the way he would for meditation. He recounted the story of what had transpired since Karis left Lancer, ending, “I tried desperately to keep us from crashing.”

  She nodded, without looking up. “Did you get what you wanted?”

  “You know I can’t disclose the details of an…” Kieran began, but let it go.

  “Under the circumstances, it might be good if you told me the whole truth, Kieran,” Dana said with a frown, “since we have the time.”

  Rather than answer, Kieran turned the conversation around, demanding, “What happened after we left Lancer?”

  Wearily, Dana began, as she monitored the spinal weave process. At the point in the story where Landers came to her with his admission, she motioned for Kieran to help by retrieving a medical scanner from the counter so she could take some readings.

  That done, they sank down on the deck for a few moments rest, sitting side-by-side.

  “Go on…” Kieran urged, sliding his arm about her shoulder, cradling her.

  “Miller never MAT’d over to Karis; he never checked the wiring. In fact, when I compared his report to Landers’ there were huge differences. I advised McHale, and we cornered Miller. He confessed everything, to sabotaging the trader, faking the report, and being part of a major smuggling operation. Then he named names.”

  “Who?” Kieran demanded.

  “Ken Nishada, who is now in detention aboard Lancer. Dan Nichols, Sam Ehrmann, Stan Kulak, Jay Gordon…and the Captain.”

  “There’s evidence?” Kieran wondered.

  “The life-star…”

  Kieran frowned. “Janz will claim he paid for every last stone.”

  “He did,” Dana whispered, “but they were stolen, smuggled in. That makes him an accessory.”

  “Fane!” Kieran scowled. “I’m sorry you became involved because of Neville Brandt’s lapse. I needed him aboard Lancer.”

  “So this mission was an elaborate device to trap Lancer’s officers,” Dana wondered.

  “No, there you are wrong. There really is a major problem in this sector. I was counting on Janz to help me piece together a plan to crack it. Now we don’t have a ship.”

  “No,” she agreed, “but you’ve got a hold full of something that could be sold or traded for one.”

  “We’re empty,” Kieran countered.

  “Not according to the reports I saw. You’re thousands of pounds overweight.”

  “Thousands!” He hissed, “No wonder we skimmed the ridge and dropped like a…”

  “Look at the mission team. Transporter Chief, Security Chief, First Officer, Supply Chief… They planned to turn a profit. Only Miller didn’t like the arrangement.”

  Kieran bolted for the door, presumably going to verify her report. Dana sighed and rubbed her aching muscles, wishing she had an android nurse or an assistant surgeon to monitor the anesthesia. “Should have brought a coffin…”

  The lighting system, detecting no movement, soon switched to energy saver mode and shut off.

  That left her in darkness, but for the glow from the spinal weaver, as it cast a kaleidoscope of colors on the wall, just the way the life-star did when backlit.

  Hours passed.

  Landers brought coffee and protein bars, but didn’t stay. The lighting system came on, but only at half the previous glow.

  Kieran returned shortly afterwards, but sulked silently over what he’d found.

  The lighting system switched back into energy saver mode. They sat in darkness.

  Finally, Dana took more readings and pulled the sheet up over Janz Macao’s torso and tucked it in. “We can’t move him for several hours, and he shouldn’t walk for a few days. What we really need is a C-FIIN to transport him.”

  Kieran frowned at the memory of being inside the coffin-like immobilization nodule used by EMTs to transport seriously disabled patients.

  “I wasn’t thinking. We could have brought one.” Dana turned tiredly to him. “If all goes well, he’ll still need physical therapy; or, at the very least, aquatic therapy like you had.”

  Mackenna’s voice broke the silence, coming from the mini-communicator on her sleeve. “We’re all set. Are you ready, Dana?”

  “Sorry, Mac. We can’t move the Captain.” She locked eyes with Kieran, while formulating a course of action. “You’ll have to make a second trip. Take the rest of the crew home, and then come back to pick us up.”

  “Roger that…Could take twenty-four hours for a round trip.”

  Nichols broke in, “No way. We all go or we all stay.”

  “Dan, you are not in charge of this rescue mission. Take ‘em home, Mac,” Dana ordered and cut the signal.

  Kieran made room on the deck for her to sit beside him, and slid his arm about her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  “Exhausted…”

  He guided her head to rest against his chest, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead. “Rest…I’ll watch over my brother.”

  Dana shifted and closed her eyes. “You’re not at all like him.”

  Kieran nodded sheepishly. “I told you I had younger brothers who…”

  She couldn’t find the words. “Janz
and…”

  Kieran admitted, “Jorn and Jad were the ones who let my pet rat, Puff, out of the labyrinth.” He referred to a memory he’d shared with her, while trapped under the wreckage of the shuttle.

  “Jad?”

  “Jad and Jorn… the twins…”

  Dana blinked, suddenly understanding. “Jad on the Alphan ambassador’s security detail — that Jad?”

  Kieran nodded.

  She covered her face with both hands. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought… Your brother…”

  Kieran pulled her into an embrace, trying to comfort and console. “We’re pretty good actors. No one really knows. Janz changed his name when he mated with Shalee Raja Macao of the Shonedren. Jad took his mate’s last name, too. Arthur… Jorn kept the last name, Jai. I’m the only one who has no mate.” He smiled and nuzzled her neck, teasing, “It’s never too late.”

  She scoffed, “No entanglements, remember…”

  Having his arms about her certainly felt like one.

  More hours passed before Janz began to recover from the anesthesia. Dana remained with him, kneeling beside the bunk, running scans on his back at regular intervals.

  “Where’s Kieran?” The Captain demanded.

  “I sent him to the galley to fetch more coffee.”

  Macao frowned, then pleaded, “Can I turn over now?”

  Dana checked the readings. “Not just yet…” She cautioned, “Still detecting some inflammation. The weave program is still running…perhaps in another hour.”

  Macao groaned. “Please?”

  She patted his shoulder. “It’s too soon.”

  “I can’t feel my legs.”

  “I gave you a heavy dose of spinal anesthesia. Give it time,” she reassured.

  “Dana?”

  She leaned closer.

  “Will I…walk again?”

  “If you obey doctor’s orders, and don’t get up too soon…”

  “You’re incredible. Tell me again why you quit medicine?”

  “I wanted to fly.”

  He struggled to see her face, but ended up sighing. “Where’s my brother?”

  “I sent him…”

  Macao interrupted, “You did his spine surgery?”

  “Yes, I assisted on the first, and was primary on the second.”

  “Is there anything you can’t do?”

  Dana shrugged. “Actually,” she sank down onto the deck, closer to him so he could see her from the corner of his left eye. “I can’t find my mentor in the Star Service, or my birth mothers, but that’s about it.”

  He squinted, “Your mother must have been Enturian.”

  She sighed. “As a tribrid — I have DNA from two mothers. One, Enturian and the other, was Galaxean. Station Four had a genetics laboratory doing experiments. The GCE had just joined the Republic and everyone wondered if Enturian DNA would be compatible with humans.”

  “You turned out pretty remarkable,” he offered, trying to reach out with his fingers to touch her cheek, without flexing his back or shoulder muscles. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you settle down in the cabin next door and get some sleep?”

  She shook her head. “It’s medical malpractice to leave a patient after surgery.”

  Macao blinked, “I promise, I won’t go anywhere.”

  Kieran popped his head in. “I’ll stay.”

  “You’re not a trained EMT,” Dana countered.

  “So, I don’t count? Is that it? Are you forgetting I went through this same surgery not all that long ago?”

  She frowned, reminding, “That was over a decade ago! And, as I recall, you didn’t follow doctor’s orders either.”

  Kieran groaned, “Well, you’re no good to him if you’re exhausted. And we outrank you. Consider it an order.”

  Dana shrugged off the command.

  “Get some rest,” Janz groaned. “You’ll be right next door. Kieran will fetch you if anything…”

  Reluctantly, Dana got to her feet. After taking one more reading, she cautioned, “Please, don’t move about. I’m leaving the spinal weaver in place.” She turned to Kieran. “I’ll leave the DIA-injector here. It’s programmed for a sedative. Don’t use it unless he struggles to get up.”

  “Aye, aye,” Kieran promised, giving a mock salute.

  She reluctantly left the cabin, stumbled down the corridor and fell onto a bunk in the cabin next door.

  Both men listened for a time.

  The Captain struggled to see. “You look like you could use some sleep, too. No need to stay.”

  Kieran sank down to sit on the deck, legs folded meditation style, his back pressed against the wall. “We need to talk.”

  “We haven’t talked in fourteen years… Since I married Shalee, to be accurate; because you disapproved.”

  “Janz, no! That’s not true!” Kieran protested, holding up his hand, emphatically motioning to stop. “I wanted to protect you — and Jorn, and Jad — after I joined SSID.”

  “It sounds like a disease,” Macao scoffed.

  “It is! Like consumption…”

  “Sure! Big shot Intelligence Division officer.”

  “Big target! Janz, don’t you understand? I didn’t want my family targeted.” Kieran hung his head, shutting his eyes tightly, grimacing as he struggled for the words. “I wasn’t going to tell you. I wasn’t going to…”

  “I’m a captive audience,” Janz reminded.

  “Jad is dead,” Kieran admitted. “I wasn’t going to… I was just going to pretend, but you have a right to know.”

  Macao struggled to see him. “Dead? That’s impossible!”

  “Janz…”

  “Get this thing off of me!”

  Kieran shook his head. “No, it’s too soon. Dana said it’s…”

  “Get it off of me!” Janz struggled to reach for the device clamped to his back, squirming and twisting.

  Kieran had no choice but to use the DIA-injector.

  Janz sank into a reluctant haze, though he still demanded that Kieran release the spinal programmer.

  “When it beeps,” Kieran countered, “not before.”

  Minutes passed. They frowned at each other in silence, with only the glow from the spinal weaver device for light.

  Finally, it beeped and shut itself off. In the darkness, Kieran lifted it off Janz’s back and set it beside the other medical devices Dana had laid out on the counter.

  Janz made motions, wanting to turn over.

  Kieran helped until his brother was facing up, with the blanket loosely about his torso.

  “Now, tell me to my face, liar, that Jad is dead,” Janz Macao taunted.

  Kieran backed away a step but didn’t answer.

  “I’d know if my brother was dead!”

  Kieran looked down at the deck. “Jad’s gone. I’m sorry.”

  “You’re a liar!”

  “Do I have to give you the memory? Can’t you feel the empty place? You should feel it… I felt it for weeks… Like my telepathic senses were useless. Like everyone was wearing an N-link and I couldn’t read…I couldn’t feel...” Kieran paced the length of the master cabin. “I didn’t want to feel.”

  “I still sense him,” Janz countered.

  “You sense Jorn!”

  “No! I would know if…”

  “Janz, I killed him. He drew on me and I killed him. I never dreamed he’d turn. I had to protect the Ambassador. In hindsight, I could have set my weapon to stun…I didn’t. Of course, then he would have faced a nasty court-martial, and maybe even a firing squad. Attempted murder of an ambassador is usually a death penalty. Maybe, they would be lenient and sentence him to life in a prison colony. Father would…”

  Macao’s eyes narrowed, but he choked back a retort.

  “He’s gone…It’s over. Now, you’re the problem,” Kieran reminded.

  In the deathly silence, they locked stares.

  “Are you going to kill me, too?” Macao demanded.

  “You’ve
committed crimes against the Republic and violated your Star Service oath.” Kieran reminded flatly, “I would be justified in doing so.”

  “Then why let Dana do the surgery and save my life?” Janz snarled. “Oh,” he rasped, seeing in Kieran’s eyes a glint of hope. “You have some kind of plan.”

  “You don’t honestly want to go back and test the justice system, do you? When there is an alternative…”

  “What alternative?”

  “Let me spell it out for you,” Kieran offered. “You can face a court-martial…”

  “I did nothing wrong!” Janz insisted.

  “Smuggling contraband? Covering up for…”

  “You’re mad!”

  “There’s proof…The life-star! Do you really think anyone will believe you knew nothing about the smuggling? You do have an impeccable career record, you might get leniency.”

  Macao glared.

  “So then, face a court-martial; or, you can join SSID. Trust me, Ops has manipulated more personnel files than you can imagine. You could join SSID and…”

  “Forget it!” Macao growled.

  For a time, neither spoke. They just glared at each other.

  The lighting in the cabin grew dimmer. Still, neither spoke.

  Finally, Kieran moved to the cabin door, using the last of the illumination, opening it to a dark corridor. “Something is wrong with the system. I need to go check on it.”

  “Don’t bother coming back,” Janz spit at his back.

  Kieran found by feeling in the dark on the counter, the injector Dana had programmed. He moved to the bunk and pressed the device against his brother’s neck. It hissed.

  Janz hissed, too, then fell silent.

  “I’m sorry, my brother. It’s too soon for you to be moving around,” Kieran whispered, secreting the device in a hidden breast pocket of his jacket.

  Feeling his way back to the door, now in total darkness, Kieran stepped out into the corridor, inching down it toward the rotunda, mumbling, “Need a hand beacon and a spare battery pack.” He didn’t remember exactly which cabinet held the emergency supplies.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Kieran leaned over Dana, resting the little hand beacon where it would throw light up at the ceiling of the cabin, rather than upon her. Then he went to the closet and found a blanket.