by A. B. Keuser
Gill had already began pulling off the tags as she moved to help Kiori with hers.
“What do you say, Goo?” Gill pretended to nudge the air as he winked at Kiori. “You want to beat me at Hearts again, since we can’t do anything exerting.”
“Sounds fun.” She slid off the bed and followed him to the exit.
“Comm me if you start to feel any tightness in your chest.”
“Yes, mother.” Gill waved his hand over his head as they stepped through the hatch and disappeared into the corridor.
Si leaned against the wall separating the CMO’s office from the rest of the med bay. “Amazing how quickly things can clear out.”
“I think we should follow their example. Any more time in that office and I’ll be sick. Quince and Mari are going to sleep for a long time yet.” She plucked at the shirt clinging to her, “and I could probably use a shower.”
“You’re not the only one.”
She noticed for the first time his shirt sleeve was torn at the top of his shoulder and his pant leg was smeared with a glob of grease. “You need a launderer.”
He laughed, his hands running along a tear she hadn’t seen near his wrist. “I think this one’s just a goner.”
“Probably right.” She led the way out the hatch,.
Dead on her feet, she swayed as they walked back to their shared cabin, her mind wandering in the silent hallways. A wave of lightheadedness washed over her and she sagged against the bulkhead.
“Sorry,” she said as Si helped her back to standing and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. “You really don’t need to do that, I’m just… I need to eat something.”
He didn’t release her. “Bet you didn’t think Obie would be this much of a hassle?”
“That may be the understatement of the millennia.”
She didn’t fight him. Letting her head rest on his arm, she allowed him to steer her back to the cabin. She was going to need to eat something soon, or her stomach was going to start digesting itself.
“Think you’ll survive if I leave you here to shower?” Si asked with a worried smile.
“I’ve managed the last fifteen years without you, Si, I think I can deal with the length of a shower.”
His smile faltered as he left.
As the door shut, she sagged to the floor. It was easier to just sit. Her mind wandered as she pulled off her boots and slowly crawled into the bathroom. She’d been running on stress and adrenaline too long, and now it was time for her to pay the consequences. She stripped off her clothes and unwrapped the gauze, pulling herself upright to get into the cubicle.
Fingers fumbling with the controls, she managed to get a stream of hot water flowing.
Sitting on the shower floor, she let the heat push all her thoughts away.
A knock on the bathroom door woke her and she blinked at the water, the staccato sound jerked her upright, sending searing pain through her side. She let out a whimper before reaching up and stemming the water’s flow.
“You okay in there?”
“Yeah… I’ll be out in a minute.”
She pulled a towel around herself, gingerly pressing it against her side. The welder mark stung—red and painful. She leaned against the bulkhead and dried herself. When she dropped the towel to the ground along with the clothes she’d been wearing before, she let out a muted curse.
“Si?” She pressed the door open a crack and found him standing there with a neatly folded stack of clothes.
“I figured you were still a little out of it.”
She took them with a weak smile and shut the door again.
When she emerged, fully dressed, her hair clinging to her back and soaking her shirt, her stomach growled fitfully. Si looked up from the tablet in front of him and pointed her toward a plate.
“Thanks.” She sat heavily in the chair and pushed the peas and mash around with her fork. “You’re not eating?” She asked as he stood from the table.
“I took care of that down in the mess.”
“I must have… zoned out in there. It didn’t seem like you were gone that long.”
He didn’t comment on the time, instead he said, “Had an interesting conversation with… Chin?”
“He’s the navigation expert the Mandalls tossed at me.” Dani ate the meager offering and missed Mari more for the blandness of the food.
He leaned against the wall, watching her. “I advised him against poking around in the navigation consoles. He’s still convinced we’re heading the wrong way, and rightly so.”
“Did you warn him about Obie?”
“Not as such.” Si shrugged and looked to his boots. “I just told him the ship was old, temperamental and probably not something he was used to dealing with. I’m still not sure what I can say without pissing her off.”
“I don’t know Chin well enough to tell you if that’ll work.”
He shrugged, picking up a stack of his own clothes and escaped into the bathroom.
The shower turned on as she finished her food and snatched the tablet from where he’d left it. He was completing her reports, like she’d asked. She pulled up the file on José and scanned through what she had written, getting to the additional lines of text. It was the usual information: how Si saw it happen, a brief nod about how long they had been friends…
José Cholla is survived by his niece, Danielle Cholla, Captain of Oath Breaker.
She read it three times before she let herself believe he’d written it, then went into the file logs and laughed at the name he’d logged the changes in as: Juan Conejo.
Setting the tablet aside, she moved to the bed and pulled her boots back on.
She waited there, trying to think of how she’d say what she wanted to say, her mind dredging up too many thoughts, none of them helpful. She finally gave up and pulled her hair into a bun that tugged heavily at her scalp and decided to read the rest of his notes. They were thorough and efficient, and made Dani feel a little stupid about some of the things she’d written in her notations.
Richter and José had received the most additions, she assumed it was because he knew them. He’d even begun a file for Jarrod Mandall, though it had yet to have any text.
“I was going to finish those later.” Si said as he stepped from the bathroom, back to his normal self, no tears or smears to be seen.
“What are you talking about? A Mr. Rabbit input these files.”
“I’ve done a bit of hopping. Jumped past the last fifteen years.”
“That’s what my dad used to call you, right? I never understood it.”
“It’s a long and complicated story.”
He stared down at her and she knew her face had given her away. “What?”
“Si…” she hesitated, biting her tongue. If she didn’t say it now, she might not get the chance before Obie decided to kill her as well. “I spent too long wishing there was a way to get you back, but time passed. Suddenly I have you back…. I don’t know what to do. The things I wanted aren’t possible, the person I was is gone. The things floating through my head over these past few days haven’t been things I should be thinking. They’re not what you want from me. Not all of what you want, anyway.”
She shifted on the bed, fidgeting with the necklace again and closed her eyes, trying to block out the anxious mix of fear and sorrow that crept into the back of her mind.
Si sat next to her, his hand closing around hers, gently pulling it away from the dragonfly. “You want to talk about how weird this is for me? I’m stuck in that cryo hell for what feels like an eternity in hindsight, wake up thinking an angel is here to put me out of my misery, only to find you when I actually wake up. You know Dan almost killed me when I promised to marry you… I’m the only person I know who’s been thrown out of their own going away party.”
“Right before you left to take over command of Obie and disappeared.” It sounded so stupid when she said it out loud.
“No wonder he was so mad. I left you with a promise tha
t was seemingly impossible to keep.” He smiled and laughed into his hand before he rubbed at the stubble on top of his head.
She thought through those last few months before he’d disappeared, and about what Adilyn had said earlier. “Mom had to keep him from going after you. He found the box.”
“That was probably a really bad idea.”
“When dad found out, he tried to make me get rid of it. He and mom fought about it like cats and dogs… and then the war went sour. The Abolitionists floundered. Dad had other things to worry about.”
“It’s been a long time. I’m not going to be upset if it was taken from you.”
She leaned over, biting her tongue to ignore the pain in her side, and dug through her bag. It was tucked behind the files and her tablet. Pulling herself upright, she caught him eyeing the exposed skin at her waist. Adjusting her shirt, she handed him the wooden box.
“Things like this make me forget I’ve been out of it for fifteen years.” He pressed the catch and slid the lid to the side, looking down at the amethyst ring inside.
“Mom said it belonged to your grandmother. I never felt right parting with it, but now that you’re back among the living, it’s yours, if you want it back. Especially after what Adilyn said earlier.”
He stared at it quietly and she watched his brow furrow. “Did you ever wear it?”
“Yeah. Remember, I was a love sick girl.” She rubbed the inside of her ring finger with her thumb. The tick had been a constant reminder of it when she’d finally taken it off, now it only happened when she let the past slip in. “I knew enough not to say anything about who gave it to me. Mom got that through my thick skull, but there was definitely a part of me that waited for the day you’d come back for me.”
“Instead you’re the one who found me.” He pulled the ring from the box and Dani let her eyes fall along the swirling metal. He pressed it back into the case and handed it to her. “I can’t take it from you. It may have been fifteen or so years ago for you, but I remember why I gave it to you. That hasn’t changed.”
She hesitated. It had changed, and taking it back would give him hope that shouldn’t exist. But the look on his face made her decision for her.
As she took it back, snapping the lid closed and moved to place it back in the bag, she would have sworn he looked upset. She turned away.
“Hopefully you’ll be comfortable enough to wear it again, someday.”
“It only fits on one finger, I doubt your ex would be too excited if she saw it there.” She felt her thumb moving automatically, and forced herself to stop.
“Especially since I wouldn’t give it to her.” He smiled ruefully. “When we got married, she knew about that ring. It was rather coveted in my family. And she wanted it…”
He stood, smiling and moved to pick up the remains of her food. “It didn’t feel right.”
“I’m not even going to ask how it felt right to give it to me.”
“I’m not sure we’re ready for that particular style of an honesty hour.”
“Si… If the war had turned differently… If you hadn’t been frozen….”
“Would I have come back for you?” He paused and took her hand in his. “I know what Dan would want me to say, I know what you’re probably hoping I’ll say, but I’m not going to lie to you Dani. And the truth is, I don’t know. I would have wanted to, but if I hadn’t been frozen, I’d probably be dead..”
“Probably.” She sighed and dropped her gaze to the floor.
“Yella” Si pulled her up, into his chest, kissing her forehead. “All we can do is live the life given to us.”
Her hands laced around his back as she pressed herself into him and let out a long sigh. She could pretend if that was what he needed from her now. He rested his lips on her forehead, breathing lightly.
She pushed away gently, bringing her face level with his. “What do we do now?”
She didn’t miss his eyes tracing along her lips. “We do whatever you want, you’re in charge, remember? I’m just Mr. Rabbit.”
“That’s only going to work in the computers. Anyone who sees you will know who you are.”
“You sure they haven’t forgotten about me yet?” Si asked with a self-deprecating laugh.
“The Pääom won’t let them. Your face is still plastered everywhere as a reminder.”
“Is that why you remembered me?”
She laughed in spite of herself. “Not even a little bit.”
He kissed her then, sending a spike of heat through her core. Melting against him, her head floated again, and it had nothing to do with the drugs.
Sex was the best way to forget… and she didn’t want to remember any of this anymore.
She barely heard the beep coming from her pocket, only registering it as his hand moved to pull the pen comm out. Kissing him deeply, she pulled away, out of breath.
Taking a few deep breaths, she answered the comm. “Cholla.”
“It’s Gill.”
“Are you guys having respiratory issues?” She felt like she was at the moment.
“No. There was a power surge, I went to check it out. Chin electrocuted himself. I’m on my way back to the med bay with him on a gurney.”
She cursed under her breath. “I’ll meet you there.”
She saw Si’s face as she shoved the comm back in her pocket. “You don’t think it was an accident, do you?”
“No.” He leaned down, brushed his lips across hers and said, “You go work on keeping him alive. I’ll see if I can figure out exactly what happened.”
He held her hand until they reached the lift. When the doors opened, he kissed her lightly on the forehead once more and headed for the ladderway.
Her eyes followed him down the hall until the lift doors closed in front of her. And she swallowed back that irrational fear. It was time to deal with the dying.
“This too shall pass.”
ELEVEN
The navigation room hatch swung open easily with a gentle push. Osiris exhaled the faint remnants of smoke—and burnt hair—that accosted his nose. The panel Chin dug through before he’d been shocked was still open, its cover lay on the floor. A long scorch mark from the arc trailed along the deck plating, leaving a discoloration that would never fade.
Squatting down, he brushed a knuckle along the mark. “Why’d you do it, Obie?”
The air crackled, her speakers on, but she remained silent. He pushed her wiring back in and reattached the panel, waiting.
“I know you can hear me, don’t pretend you’re busy with something else.” A terrible thought rose unbidden in his mind. “Or are you murdering someone as we speak?”
“I haven’t murdered anyone. In times of war different rules apply.”
He leaned forward against the console, hands pressing it away. Absently he wondered if he could tear it from the deck.
He bit his tongue, but not even that could keep him from speaking. His lips curled back and he snarled his accusations at her. “Intentional friendly fire is still murder. Sucking my crew out of the hold was murder. What you did to Richter…. You might as well have pulled the trigger and sent that laser through his brain.”
“Lieutenant Commander Reagan was an unfortunate casualty. I believe you should admit that some of the blame falls on your shoulders, as well as Danielle’s.”
“Leave her out of this, Obie. Don’t you dare blame her for your mistakes.” His words fell through clenched teeth as he screwed his eyes shut.
“As captain, she failed to anticipate mutinous actions on the part of her crew. She should have known what Quince intended and detained her, or found some other way to prevent Lieutenant Commander Reagan’s death.”
“If she’s failed at that, Obie, then I have failed nine thousand four hundred and sixty times.” He ran a hand over his face, wishing he could fix all the wrong his ship had caused. “I still don’t understand. Why did you kill them all? Why did you shove three of us into cryo only to bring us out and start killin
g off Yella’s crew? What is the damn point?” His voice broke on the last word and he sank to the floor, pinching the bridge of his nose as he considered how things had gotten this bad.
The bulkheads echoed with his last words as the hatch shut and the lock engaged echoing through the silent room. Osiris steeled himself for whatever the ship wanted to throw at him. If Oath Breaker wanted to kill him this would be her perfect opportunity—who was he kidding, she had fifteen years to do that. She wanted him to live—to suffer.
“We were going to lose the war.”
He looked up at the speakers hidden in the dark ceiling. “You can’t win a war by running away and hiding.”
“I wasn’t going to let them kill you. I reviewed the reports that came through the secured channels, Osiris. The Abolitionists were crumbling under the Pääom’s pressure. They were going to give in. We were going to lose.”
He still didn’t follow, standing, he tried to put the pieces of Obie’s puzzle together and failed. “Those reports didn’t say a damn thing about killing me.”
Again the air filled with the gentle static.
“Obie?”
“I retrieved this one from a communique sent to every captain but you. It is from the Prime Chancellor to the Abolitionist Leaders—it’s not addressed to any specific Abolitionist leader, but we both know who was meant to receive it.”
The gigantic tele-screen behind him, usually covered in a wash of stars, lit up with a ten foot tall image of a communiqué. The scanned image was skewed, forcing him to tilt his head, but the words were crystal clear. Their meaning….
His eyes traveled over the lines of text: an agreement for the cessation of military actions.
As a whole, the document was a benign outreach for peace… though none of the things the Pääom promised had been delivered. Yella had already told him the camps hadn’t been disbanded. And, according to the third to last bullet point, no one would have an SOS order in their file.
The last paragraph had sent Obie into a panic. Reading it, he knew the very word that had marked the shift her prime directive.
