The Battle of Hollow Jimmy

by Becky Black

  "Thanks. See you tomorrow." The door closed behind Maiga, but not before she heard the startled exclamation from Wixa.

  "How many messages?"

  Chapter 14

  Maiga sat in Dr Sheni's office, feeling a little nervous. She'd met the doctor several times now, Sheni being a regular in Chullan's. She most often sat with Wixa and Jasini and the rest, talking endlessly about station gossip. But this was the first time Maiga had come to the doctor's clinic as a patient.

  "What can I do for you?" Sheni asked, turning from the computer panel she'd been tapping on. She had no records already existing for Maiga. A blank slate.

  "My birth control implant," Maiga said, tapping her arm lightly, where the small device lay implanted under her skin. "It's over two years old now. I think it probably needs replaced." Sheni picked up a scanner and Maiga rolled up her sleeve to let the doctor run the scanner over the implant.

  "Yes, you're right, it's ineffective now. Hold on there." She walked to a cabinet and opened a drawer. "Have your periods restarted?"

  "No." Maiga frowned. "Is that a problem? Does it mean that I couldn't, I mean if I wanted to, that I couldn't get pregnant?"

  "Oh no," Sheni said, turning back, carrying a small plastic box and a medical instrument. She sat by Maiga again. "It can take several months for the cycles to normalise after the device is removed or expires. Right, hold still, this won't hurt a bit."

  It didn't, much. The doctor extracted the old device, which looked like a tiny computer chip, and inserted the new one, then taped a small dressing over the site.

  "All done." She looked into the box she'd taken the device from as she returned it to the cabinet. "You know if you and Wixa should happen to run into any of these for sale on your travels, please, buy them. With all the new people on the station if I don't get more supplies soon I'll be dealing with a baby boom."

  "We'll keep an eye out," Maiga said, rolling her sleeve back down.

  "Thank you. Now, your old implant had gone ineffective, so be careful for at least a month before you rely on the new one. Just in case. Use a second method of contraception, if you need to."

  She had a tiny smile on her face and Maiga felt sure that the coffee house gossip sometimes included the topic of Maiga and Chervaz. She'd been on another dinner date with him a couple of days ago, pleasant as before and they'd strolled hand in hand afterwards. And that had made her think about getting the implant undated. Just in case… Well at least patient confidentiality meant Sheni couldn't mention that to the rest of them.

  "And don't worry," Sheni said. "For later I mean, if you did want to conceive. You're very healthy, so I can't see you having any problem with that." Maiga had no immediate plans to add to any baby boom, but, well, good to know she had the option.

  Sheni had a clerk who handled payments and Maiga smiled at him as she handed over the fee before strolling through the empty waiting area. She'd been one of the last patients in today. A couple more had been waiting with Maiga but they must be seeing those younger doctors. Wixa had told her to insist on seeing Sheni though. Always get the best, she said. The door to the clinic stood open and as Maiga approached it several people came in, making her stop and stare.

  She's back.

  Bara strode into the room. Several crew people and marines followed her, carrying boxes, which they piled on the floor.

  "Maiga!" Bara smiled. "How good to meet you again."

  "Captain," Maiga said. She wanted to go. She wanted to stay. What's Bara up to now? What's in the boxes?

  "How is your ship holding up?" Bara asked.

  "Very well." Maiga felt some guilt then. After all Bara had saved her and Wixa from being scattered across deep space by the Muaan Qacia. "Thanks to your engineers. They did excellent work."

  "Yes, Alex has a good team." She frowned though and glanced around at her people. "Wait outside," she told them. "You too," she added to the two that stood behind her, her bodyguards. When they all trooped out and the door closed behind them, Bara turned back to Maiga. "Could I ask your advice? You have command experience, don't you?"

  "Some," Maiga said, cautious as usual. More so than usual.

  "I'm finding it's a problem, to have the first officer also be the chief engineer. Alex is a fine engineer, and the engine room is where he belongs. But in a crisis, the first officer should be on the bridge with the captain, don't you think?"

  Maiga nodded. "It is rare for engineers to go into command and stay engineers."

  Bara sighed. "I really had no choice; he was the most senior man. To promote anyone over him…" She shook her head. "The only way I could imagine him accepting someone else taking the position is if it was someone from outside. Someone more senior in rank to him. He was only a first lieutenant."

  She's doing it again, Maiga thought. She's trying to recruit me again. And first officer this time, not just commander of the marines. Dammit, which part of ‘no' doesn't she understand?

  "There are many officers on this station," Maiga said with a shrug, trying to look casual, as if the idea Bara was offering her the job hadn't even crossed her mind. "You could advertise."

  Bara laughed. "Ah, in Mr Chervaz's newspaper. Good idea. Perhaps I'll visit him again."

  Maiga froze. Again? He hadn't mentioned that she'd visited him. And why should he, when Maiga affected that she had zero interest in Bara? She didn't want to appear caught up in the whole avenging pirate captain legend and she didn't want to get caught up in whatever Bara was planning here. She just wanted nothing to do with her. Maiga decided not to care what was in the boxes stacked on the floor.

  "Well, good luck, Captain. I hope you find someone for the job."

  Disappointment came into Bara's eyes at the latest brush off and she seemed about to speak again, but Maiga took the opportunity to turn and stride off out of the room.

  The men outside snapped to attention as she came out, before realising it wasn't their captain. But, perhaps they knew an officer when they saw one, even without a uniform, because they at least gave her polite nods. One said "sorry, ma'am" as he stood aside to let her pass.

  She wasn't an officer. Not any more. She didn't want to be ma'am. She just wanted to be Maiga.

  ~o~

  Sheni was finishing up paperwork for the day and looking forward to relaxing for the evening when her clerk knocked at the door to the office.

  "Doctor, that Captain Bara is here and said she wants to talk to you."

  "She's back on the station?"

  Intriguing. Well, this could be something worth telling the coffee klatch. Let's hope the good captain hadn't just come for a boil lancing.

  "I'll be there in a moment," Sheni said. Not that she wanted to make Bara wait, as doctors so enjoyed doing, it's just she moved slower than before. Oh, well, keeping Bara waiting was fun too. Sheni finished typing the last of her notes and closed down the terminal. She packed her bag with her things and only then left her office to see what Bara wanted.

  Out in the waiting room, she found Bara standing in the middle of a lot of open boxes and crates. Lon and Anishk rummaged in the boxes and occasionally exclaimed with delight, calling out the name of some drug, or piece of equipment. Bara watched them, with a smile like an indulgent mother watching children open birthday gifts.

  "What's all this?" Sheni asked.

  "Supplies, doctor!" Anishk called. "I haven't seen some of these drugs since before the war!" Sheni looked at Bara as her colleagues went on unpacking.

  "A gift," Bara said. "Salvaged from a wreck."

  "Really?" Sheni said. And if that's true she'd cartwheel all around this room right now.

  "Also, well, by way of an apology."

  "Apology?"

  "Yes. You see last time I was here I offered station residents free use of my ship's medical facilities. I'm worried that this may have affected your business. I hope you don't think I'm trying to poach your customers."

  If Sheni had been a younger woman, she'd give Bara a slap and then
a lecture about it being a practice not a business. It served patients, not customers. But she had no energy to argue.

  "As long as people get treatment, I don't mind." Since this looked like going on for a while, Sheni sank down into one of the waiting room chairs. She'd heard about the offer of free treatment, and truthfully it didn't worry her. Even if a few less patients came here when the Trebuchet was at the station, well, Sheni knew that not only would the ship not be there all the time, but in the end it would stop coming altogether. Pirates had short life-expectancies. "I haven't noticed fewer patients showing up."

  "Really?" Bara frowned and came to sit beside her. "Don't you find that rather worrying?"

  "Worrying?"

  "Well, doesn't that mean those people needed treatment, but they weren't coming to you, because they couldn't afford your fees?"

  Sheni frowned at her, "My fees are not very high."

  "And we do give free treatment to anyone who can't afford it," Anishk said, looking up from her box unpacking.

  "That's very charitable of you," Bara said, nodding at Anishk. "Of course some people's pride does stand in the way of asking for charity."

  "Captain," Sheni said, "if you can suggest a better way, let me hear it." Why didn't she just get on and say whatever she'd come to say? At Sheni's time of life she had no patience for this kind of pussyfooting around.

  "Very well, I have a proposal. Allow me to fund your clinic, pay your bills and wages and bring you medical supplies. In return you will provide free treatment to all the humans on the station."

  Lon and Anishk jumped to their feet, words tumbling out in gasps.

  "That would be wonderful."

  "Do you mean it?"

  Sheni did not jump to her feet, she didn't gasp. She narrowed her eyes at Bara. Did the captain think this old country doctor a fool?

  "And why would you do that?"

  Bara turned back to her, away from the delighted smiles of the younger doctors. Disappointment came into her face when she saw Sheni's dubious expression.

  "The people on this station deserve to be able to access medical services without having to worry about money."

  "What people deserve and what it's possible to give them are often two different things."

  "Not if I can make it possible."

  "You can make it possible, for now," Sheni said. "But you can't make it permanent."

  "Oh I assure you, doctor, I intend to be around for quite some time."

  Our newest lifer eh? Unlikely. And there were other matters at stake here. Principle. Sheni wouldn't be doing any cartwheels around the room, because nothing was going to convince her that these supplies were mere salvage. Bara did not strike her as a scavenger.

  "Thank you for your offer, Captain, but I'm afraid I have to decline."

  "Doctor!" Lon cried. "You can't!"

  "Think of the people we can help!" Anishk threw her contribution in.

  Sheni glared them into silence. She still had plenty of fire in her eyes. When they subsided, she turned back to Bara.

  "Now, I really need to go home. An old lady like me needs her rest."

  "Of course." Bara stood up, her face flushed, not used to being told ‘no', Sheni guessed. "But my offer stands. Contact me if you change your mind." She glanced at the other two. "Any of you, feel free to contact me." She nodded at the boxes and their contents that lay scattered around. "Please keep these supplies, as a gift."

  Sheni couldn't claim to be happy about that, but they did need those supplies. Well, this would be the only time they took any from Bara, she swore that to herself. So she nodded and Bara swept out of the room, the tails of her coat swirling. Drama queen, Sheni thought, and stood up when the captain left the room.

  Lon and Anishk, both opened their mouths to start yelling at once, but Sheni held a finger to her lips until she heard the door close. She counted to five.

  "Now you can start yelling."

  They did, and she let them go on, for at least a couple of minutes. At last she held up her hand.

  "For such clever people, you two are acting very stupid indeed. What that woman offered us, what's lying there on the floor, is stolen goods."

  "She said it's salvage," Anishk pointed out.

  "She could say it was left for her by the fairies, that doesn't make it true. Now, even if accepting stolen goods is something you can live with ethically, do you really want to rely on her as a supplier?"

  "She said she'd be sticking around," Lon said, not looking Sheni in the eye.

  "Really? What happens when somebody blows her out of the sky and suddenly we have to start charging all the people we've been treating for free? And when we have to re-negotiate deals with the suppliers we abandoned? And they charge us a little extra for being bastards, so we have to charge the patients even more? Can you see any scenario for this that ends well?"

  They didn't answer.

  "No, you can't. Because you're smart, and when you stop having your heads turned by the shiny goodies she's brought, then maybe you'll notice the blood on the boxes they come in."

  They both glanced at the boxes as if the blood might be literal and not metaphorical.

  "I just want to treat people," Lon said, quietly. "As many people as need treatment."

  "Then we'll figure out a way to reach anyone we're not reaching now," Sheni said. "But taking money from a pirate is not the way to achieve that. I'll let you put this lot away, and yes, perhaps it is hypocritical of me to keep it, but I can live with it this one time. But only once. Now, I'm going home for a cup of tea before my damn knee locks up again."

  Her being so tired and in pain and ratty, probably didn't help her case to them. They muttered "yes, ma'am", without much enthusiasm, and she left them to it. As the door closed behind her, she heard the sound of their voices start up again.

  Chapter 15

  "How are the shoes?" Wixa's voice came from the bathroom.

  "They hurt," Maiga said, scowling over at the ridiculous things lying on the floor.

  "Never mind that." Wixa came out; drying her hands, then tossed the towel back into Maiga's bathroom. "How do they look?"

  "Okay, I suppose." Maiga shrugged. "I never got used to those things. What's the point of them?"

  "The point of them is to make your legs look great."

  "Are you implying my legs don't look great anyway?"

  "Those shoes will make them look even better. Trust me, high-heeled shoes have extraordinary powers. They can make any man putty in your hands."

  "That sounds rather messy."

  "Only if you don't take precautions."

  "Wixa!" Maiga glared at her. Nothing of that sort would happen tonight. Much too soon. She had to go slow. Chervaz seemed the type who'd respect that.

  Wixa sat on Maiga's bed and picked up the coffee cup she had on the nightstand. She'd insisted on coming to help Maiga get ready for her date with Chervaz. A real date this time, involving dressing up in an actual dress.

  "You'd better put your makeup on," Wixa said.

  "I have my makeup on."

  "Oh! Then you'd better go and put some more makeup on."

  "Shut up, Wixa." She had on quite enough.

  "Your hair looks nice though, those clips are pretty."

  Maiga raised a hand and touched the small jewelled clips, which Wixa had brought along for her, saying she'd seen them going cheap in the market.

  "Thanks for them."

  "Your hair is a nice colour you know, you should grow it longer."

  "No." She had to be careful not to snap the word out. Wixa didn't know, couldn't know the reason why Maiga could never wear her hair long. That's the way he liked it. He liked the dresses too, that's all he gave her to wear. Even high heeled shoes. She never put those on.

  Tesla hadn't wanted her. He'd wanted a doll that looked like her. One he could take out and play with when he wanted to. He'd betrayed Ilyan and the others to their deaths, just so he could have some idealised version of Maiga.
/>   He'd have killed her in the end, she knew that. Not with his own hands of course. He'd have had one of the guards do it, or simply stopped feeding her, or pumped in the nerve gas until it reached lethal levels. She wasn't only a constant reminder of his guilt, but a constant reminder that he could never have what he wanted. She was still the real Maiga, despite the hair and the dresses.

  And the real Maiga hated him.

  "You okay?" Wixa said, looking up at her. Maiga shook herself and turned to look in the mirror. She shouldn't think about Tesla. Forget the past. Look forward. She wore this dress now for a good man, who just wanted to spend time with her. A man she already trusted.

  She put the ridiculous shoes on and looked in the long mirror again. The blue-green dress reached to her knees and the silver coloured shoes did indeed make her legs look good, longer, the ankles slimmer. A pair of delicate silver earrings hung from her ears. Wixa had picked much of this out at the boutiques on the plaza. Without her help, Maiga would have had little clue what to wear. Dressing like this had never been part of her life. Even on leave. Even with…

  No, not now, she thought as her eyes grew hot and her throat tightened. Not now. Wixa is here. She's looking, staring. But the thought came anyway. She had never dressed like this for Ilyan. He'd called her beautiful many times, and she'd thought he was just a sweet and romantic fool. Now she could see that yes, she could have been beautiful.

  "Maiga?"

  Maiga backed up and sat down heavily on the bed. The tears escaped, she couldn't stop them. Not all of the tears she'd long ago dammed up. But a trickle squeezed through.

  "What's wrong, honey?" Wixa said, sounding alarmed. She knelt up on the bed and put her arms around Maiga at once. "Come on, you can tell me."

  She couldn't and yet she wished she could. Maiga had started to trust Wixa, on many levels, including emotionally. Perhaps she could hint.

  "Just…" She paused and tried to find something to dry her face. Wixa handed over the shawl she'd come in wearing and Maiga dabbed at her face with a corner of it, the rough wool scratchy on her skin. "Just thinking about someone. Someone I never…" She shook her head. "It's stupid. I'm sorry." The tears stopped. It was stupid. Ilyan had loved her without having to see her in a dress. Would he have loved her more if he had? Hardly. He'd wanted her, not a doll.