My thoughts had been to repair the ship and flee, perhaps try to gather some few other survivors of my race from other worlds. Enough to save our species might still exist, if I could gather them all together. Or failing that, to die trying to take our vengeance upon our enemies.
I looked over at the fragile Terran form, still and silent inside her stasis tube. Her face was much like ours. Her fingers, her hands... The same. Across all of space I had never seen another race that looked so similar to us. Perhaps there was another way.
"I do not know," I replied as honestly as I could.
"Humph," he said. He jabbed a port into my arm, connecting a tube to it. "This will gather nanites from your bloodstream. You will be weaker and heal slower for some time afterward. You must be cautious."
"I understand."
"This may not even work," he muttered. "Even if it does, it will be painful for her."
"Can you think of another way to save her?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"Then do it."
I would watch over her, as she healed...or died.
Chapter Nine
Kim
I woke to a pain unlike anything I'd ever felt before. My back arched with the agony. It felt like I'd been dipped in lava, or acid, except that it even hurt inside me. It was like every nerve had been set on fire all at once.
Someone was screaming, and I realized as if from a distance that it had to be me. My throat felt raw with it.
Around me people were bustling, speaking in some language I couldn't understand. Something was jabbed into my arm, but the pain barely registered against the searing I already felt.
Was I dying? My mind retreated from the pain but found nowhere to hide. Even my thoughts hurt, like knives stabbing through my brain.
Then I felt a cool touch on my hand. Gently, it pressed in against the nerve center between my left thumb and forefinger, massaging there. The pain ebbed away a bit in that spot.
Those hands moved up my arm, finding more tender spots in my forearm, then higher on my arm. Wherever they touched, the sensation of agony eased a little. Changed from unbearable to something just on the edge of tolerance.
"Easy now," a soothing voice said in Universal. "This will fade. You must fight through the pain."
His fingers touched my temples, bringing their cooling relief to my mind and the smallest bit of clarity back to my thoughts. I knew that voice. It was Bran.
"I can't," I whimpered, hating the tone of my voice even as I said the words.
"You can," he replied. "You are a fighter. Prove it."
"She is too weak," another voice said. "She will not survive."
I wanted to growl at that second person. Call me weak? I wasn't the strongest person I knew, not be a long shot. But I was not some simpering weakling. I'd never given in, not to anything. I wasn't about to start now.
"That's better," Bran said. "You will survive this."
I rode the pain for as long as I could stand it, as the fire slowly faded from my veins and dropped to something that was only agonizing. My face was wet with tears I didn’t even remember crying. My hands were numb from being clenched when I didn’t even recall doing so.
“Rest now,” I heard Bran say. Was he stroking my cheek? His hand there felt cool and comforting. “You are past the worst. You will heal. Rest.”
I slipped off into slumber.
When I woke again, the first thing I realized was that the pain was gone. The memory of that agony was so intense that I burst into tears again at the thought. It wasn’t that I cried a lot. I just couldn’t help myself. What the hell had they done to me? I’d never felt anything even close to that sort of hurt.
I reached to wipe my eyes and found I couldn’t move. My hands were restrained at my sides. I tried to twitch my legs, but those were bound as well. I couldn’t move my head to see what was holding me.
My mouth was dry, my voice gone. What I intended to be a shout came out more like a croaking sound. Damn it, they couldn’t keep me tied up like some sort of lab rat! My breathing started to get faster, and I could hear my heart pounding.
“You’re awake,” a voice said. I couldn’t see the speaker, but it wasn’t Bran. “Hold on just a moment.”
Whatever was holding me down vanished. I was free. I bounded from the table where I was lying and whirled in place so quickly the movement made me dizzy. A Cymtarran was standing next to the table, tinkering with something on a console. I’d had about enough of playing lab experiment for these people.
I hurled myself forward toward him. He turned when he heard me coming, and his eyes got very round. I was moving fast by the time I collided with him. My hand shot to his throat, and then his back was against the wall, my fingers in a tight grip.
He was different from Bran. He wasn’t wearing armor, for one thing. His uniform was still golden colored, but it lacked the shimmering scales I’d seen on Bran and his guards. This Cymtarran’s hair was pale, almost a golden white, and his skin was etched with lines and ridges. If they were anything like humans, this one was old. A lot older than Bran, anyway. For a moment I felt a pang at the thought of grabbing an old man by his throat, but I set the thought aside just as fast. I could still remember the pain, and I had a feeling this one had something to do with it.
“What did you do to me?” I snarled.
“We - glurk - saved you!” He was coughing and sputtering. My grip wasn’t that strong. He ought to still be able to breathe. Or was it? I felt strange. I’d crossed the room faster than I thought should have been possible, too, but figured it was just adrenaline.
“It felt more like you were trying to kill me,” I said. I relaxed my grip just a little, letting him suck in a gasping breath.
“The pain was from the nanites taking root in your system,” he said, carefully keeping his hands where I could see them. I could feel the waves of fear coming off of him. “And from their beginning to repair your spine, and other broken bones.”
“Shit,” I said. “My back was broken?”
He nodded. “And your spinal cord severed. And extensive internal damage.”
I released him. “How am I walking, then?”
From the sounds of it, my recovery was utterly impossible. No tech I’d ever heard of could fix someone that way.
“I’m surprised by the success myself,” he replied. “I had hopes the nanites might at least stabilize you, and perhaps in time help your body heal itself. But instead they’ve reacted as if you were a Cymtarran. I’ve been studying why ever since I saw the rapidity of your healing.”
“And?” What I really wanted to know was what this all meant for me. I knew what nanites were, at least in theory. Humans had been trying to make medical nanites a reality without much success for about a century now. Clearly the Cymtarrans had worked out all the bugs. Were there little things crawling around inside me still? The thought made me itch.
“I decided to run a comparison of the genomes, since the most obvious reason the nanites might work so well would be similarities in our genetic makeup,” the old Cymtarran said. “But what I found-“
“You’re awake!” Bran said, bursting through the doorway into the room.
I turned toward him, unsure if I was glad to see him or not. He and his people had saved me from horrible injuries. I could still remember his cool hands on my skin during the worst of the agonies I’d suffered. But I couldn’t forget the pain they’d put me through. Or put out of my mind the fact that if they hadn’t come here I’d never have been injured in the first place.
“Commander Bran,” I said, inclining my head. “I feel well, thank you.”
“You were injured fighting to save me,” he replied, arching an eyebrow. “Seeing you healed was the least I could do to repay you. But if you are awake, you are needed. Your ship is being problematic.”
“What happened?” I said. Were they all right? I hoped no one had done anything rash. How long had I been out?
“After you were gone six hours, they b
egan to demand to hear from you,” Bran said. “We assured them you were hurt and receiving medical care. They were not happy with this explanation. They have just departed the area, on a vector to return to your planet.”
“Shit,” I said. “How long was I out?”
“Two of your planet’s days,” Bran said.
That made sense. They figured I was dead, and they were booking for Earth. But I wasn’t dead, so this ought to be pretty easy to solve. “Let’s go call them, then?”
“Please,” he replied. “I have brought you something more suitable to wear, if you prefer…?”
I looked down and saw my clothing for the first time. It wasn’t clothing. The ship suit I’d been wearing when I came aboard was gone, replaced with a translucent bit of gossamer cloth that reminded me of a hospital johnny. I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks. The garment - calling it that was a bit of stretch - didn’t leave much to the imagination.
Bran handed me a packet, sealed with something that resembled plastic. Was the damned male smirking at me? I couldn’t tell, but that looked like the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. If he was, I was going to plant him up against the wall next…
Chapter Ten
Bran
The Terran glared and me, and I struggled with a smile. It wouldn’t do to humiliate her when she was clearly uncomfortable already. I had too much respect for the woman to do that to her. But her face had changed color, turning a bright crimson, and the way her eyes flashed dangerously was incredibly attractive.
Attractive? Perhaps I’d been in space too long. But I couldn’t deny the sense of wonder I felt every time I looked at her while she was asleep. This had gone to something deeper than the respect I’d felt for her before. I shrugged away such feelings. It wouldn’t do for me to display them. How would my men trust me, if I was addlepated with some female?
“Idris, I trust you have somewhere for our guest to change her clothing?” I said.
“Yes, this way please.” He guided her into a small lavatory off to one side of the medical bay.
She came out a few minutes later, awash in gold. I’d had the ship’s manufacturing unit tailor a set of armor specifically to her size. Our armor was a great technological achievement. The scales would resist a plasma blast or turn aside most blows with a blade. If the wearer was injured, medical systems within the suit would attempt to aid our nanites in repairs. The system would automatically extend over the wearer’s head in the case of lost atmosphere - allowing the wearer to survive in space for a time without any other protection.
The armor was very dear, the resources required extensive. But it seemed a small gift to add to the one I’d already granted from my own body. I thought of it as a protection for the investment I’d already made. The fact that the armor hugged her body from neck to heels was an added benefit, nothing more.
“This is the same sort of outfit you are wearing?” she asked.
“Yes, Captain Kenson” I replied.
“Kim,” she replied, flashing her teeth.
“I thought you reserved that name for your friends?”
“And aren’t you?” she said. “I have a feeling you are.”
I looked into her eyes, the green offset by her red hair, clashing mightily with the brilliant gold armor. I smiled back at her. “Yes.”
“What can this stuff do?” she asked, breaking eye contact by glancing down at herself.
“I’ll inform you of its capabilities later, but for now we must go contact your ship. Follow me?”
“Of course,” she said, falling in behind me.
We left the medical room and made our way to the bridge of the Nova Song. The doors snapped open at our arrival, and the murmurs buzzing around the room vanished as I entered, the crew going silent.
That couldn’t be a good thing. The rumor mill must have been going into overdrive. If there was one truth about armies and navies alike through all of history, it was that soldiers and sailors talked. My crew had much to talk about. It wasn’t surprising to hear them whispering to one another. What bothered me was their silence when I arrived. What were they thinking?
“Status report,” I ordered.
“The Terran ship is still fleeing back to its home world,” Karen said. “We are in pursuit. They have locked onto our ship with their weapons again, but so far they have not fired.”
This would devolve into disaster quickly if either side fired upon the other. Kim seemed to sense this as well. I could feel her tension rising as Karen spoke.
“We have to do something,” Kim said.
“And we will,” I said. “Hail their ship.”
There was a moment’s pause. “No response, sir.”
“Let me try talking to them directly?” Kim said.
I nodded, ushering her forward toward the communications console. She looked down quizzically at the array of screens in front of her. She didn’t know our technology, had no idea how to use our machines. The crewman tapped the correct screen for her.
“The channel is open to your ship,” I said. “Speak to them.”
“Ariel, this is Captain Kenson, please respond,” she said. She paused and cleared her throat. “Guys, I’m OK.”
“Kim? Oh, thank god,” a female voice said over the speaker.
“Put them on the main screen,” I ordered. I turned to face the screen as it flickered from an image of the fleeing ship, and resolved to show a nervous Terran woman staring at us.
"We thought you were dead," the woman said. Her face was tight with tension.
"I'm fine, Kara," Kim replied. "See?"
The woman on the screen smiled thinly. "You look better than fine. Nice outfit."
I watched Kim turn crimson in reaction. So curious, that something as simple as her attire could embarrass her like that. Privately, I admitted I enjoyed the exhibition. I was also watching her to see how she managed her people. Clearly, her crew cared about her deeply. I could see that by their worry - and their relief. A true leader would be able to take command. How would Kim respond? The next few moments would tell me much about her.
"I was injured helping the crew here repel some boarders," Kim said. "They've patched me up, though. I'm well. They're not here to hurt us."
"Well, that's good. Earth is on high alert," Kara said. "We're under orders to report back immediately."
"I bet," Kim said. She ran a hand through her hair. "Let them know I am fine. I'm going to continue the conference here."
"Are you sure...?" Kara asked.
"Yes," Kim replied. Her voice was kind, but firm. "I've got this. At least until a diplomatic team from Earth can take over. Tell them they'll want one out here. Stat."
"You got it."
An alarm sounded from the sensor station, catching my attention. I knew every audible alarm on my ship by heart. That one wasn't good news. My eyes narrowed.
"Are you expecting more traffic?" I asked Kim.
"Not for weeks."
"Incoming ship, coming out of jump," the crewman manning the station said.
"Put the arrival site on screen," I said. "Now!"
The human's image vanished before she could utter another word, replaced by a view of the stars. The incoming point was well behind us now. We'd moved deeper into the Terran system, chasing their ship as it fled toward their home world. Now I watched, my breath held, waiting and hoping to not see what I feared would be arriving.
"What's going on?" Kim asked me quietly.
The star field erupted in a nova of colors before I could reply. I knew that ship. Their shape and style was burned into my memory. The monstrous vessel exploded clear of the supercharged particles that heralded its arrival. It was twice the length of my own ship, heavily armed and shielded.
I'd known there had to be a reason the Skree who'd boarded my ship had decided to come out of hiding when they did. My hope had been that the Terran coming aboard was the trigger for their attack. But they must have had some way of communicating with their
mother ship from a distance. They'd known help was near and coming fast.
"It's a Skree mothership," I said. Doom had found us, far sooner than I could have prepared for.
Chapter Eleven
Kim
The thing coming through the particle cloud was enormous. At first I thought I could register scale from the small cloud of fighters it launched. Then those little ships launched smaller ships, and I realized that I’d completely misread the size of the mothership. The six smaller ships it had launched weren’t fighters at all. They were each about the size of the Ariel. I swallowed hard. The bridge was silent.
“Are those your spider-crab friends?” I asked.
My speaking seemed to rouse the Cymtarrans. I wondered why the hell they were all so shaken up. I mean, yeah, it was a big ship. They had a big ship too. I’d seen these gold-plated guys fight. They were good at it. If there was a scuffle coming our way, and that seemed like a good bet, then I knew I was in good company.
“They are called the Skree,” Bran said, his voice soft and full of emotion that I couldn’t quite read. Hatred and mourning and grief and despair all wrapped into that one word.
“What’s the plan?” I asked. “You guys beat them the other day. How can we do it again?”
Something I said shifted the mood in the room. Every Cymtarran present looked away from me. Even Bran couldn’t meet my eyes. Clearly the Skree were bad news, bad enough that even my Cymtarran friends were feeling overwhelmed by their sudden arrival.
“The Skree - that’s who damaged your ship, isn’t it?” I asked.
Bran nodded.
“You were running from them?” I asked.
“We hoped that we’d lost them, and would have time to repair before they found us again,” he said.
“Well, you didn’t,” I snapped. “You brought them here. To my world.”
Was I being too harsh? Maybe, but it was them who'd brought their troubles to our doorstep. I didn't think it was too much to ask that they get their act together and help clean the mess up. Bran's expression remained bleak, though. The other Cymtarrans were silent. Was that guilt, or anger? They seemed to be waiting to see how their commander responded.
Desperate Times (Lost Planet Warriors Book 1) Page 4
