by Cheree Alsop
She met Devren’s gaze. “This is going to hurt.”
He nodded and looked away. Liora could hear the shallow breaths of the other crew members. Everyone was anxious about their new captain. Liora didn’t know if he had hidden his wound to give them a strong front to believe in during the attack, or if he was just stubborn and had a death wish; either way, she vowed to do everything she could to help him.
Devren gasped when Liora flushed the wound with antiseptic.
Liora could have sworn she had lost all ability to be empathetic. After growing up half-Damaclan and the trials that brought, her chaotic childhood, and captivity in Malivian’s ship of circus horrors, Liora had wondered if she had any ability left to care for others at all.
But when the captain winced and bit back a cry of pain at her persistence cleaning, Liora’s heart turned. She couldn’t take the agony in his dark eyes. The pool of blood around her knees and the way he held himself perfectly still so as to make her job easier filled Liora with the emotions she had long thought banished by utter cruelty.
She cleared her thoughts and pushed.
Relax, Devren,” she thought toward him.
The captain’s eyes widened and he stared at her.
Let me cover it for a moment.
He hesitated, then nodded.
Liora let her push expand to the pain that overshadowed everything else in his mind. It pulsed at the edges of her touch, bright red, throbbing, aching. Liora pulled back, drawing the pain with her like taking a breath.
The pain flooded through her side with red-hot agony. Devren’s tight muscles relaxed, allowing her to work more efficiently. Liora’s hands shook slightly when she finished cleaning the wound. The stinging, burning sensation in her side made her nauseous.
Using the needle was worse. The prick of the curved metal and the slide of waxed thread through the wound gave the feeling of pulling her skin as if she performed the stitches on herself. Sweat made her borrowed shirt stick to her skin, and it took all of her concentration to keep the needle from slipping through her fingers. As soon as she finished, she quickly packed gauze against the bullet hole and wrapped bandages around Devren’s waist.
Liora gently eased away from Devren’s mind, allowing the pain to return to him a little at a time so as to not overwhelm his system. When she released her hold completely, she met his gaze.
Devren’s dark eyes were clear and filled with surprise as he watched her. Satisfied he wasn’t going into shock, she rocked back on her heels and would have fallen if not for Duncan’s quick hold.
“Easy, girl,” the older officer told her. “Come sit. I’ll take care of the captain.” His expression said he guessed more of what had happened then he let on.
When Liora was seated by the door once more, Devren let Officer Duncan help him back into his chair.
“Captain, I found an asteroid about two clicks away,” Hyrin reported. He glanced over his shoulder at Devren.
Liora could read the crew member’s worry for his captain. It touched her how much the crew cared. It felt more like she was seeing a family interact than the barking of orders and military-like mentality she had expected from a starship under the Coalition’s command.
“Good job. Find us a landing spot that hopefully won’t tear the rest of our hull to pieces,” Devren replied.
“Will do.”
Devren turned gingerly in his seat. “Officer Duncan, Officer O’Tule, open the door. The threat should be over by now.”
Liora watched Duncan and O’Tule work to cut through the door seal. The handheld blow torches they used did the job, but slowly.
“Can I help?” Liora offered when the feeling of being stuck in the bridge forever became more than she could stand.
“Yes, thank you,” Officer O’Tule replied. “It takes a lifetime to get through a sealed door, and I can’t imagine the state of what we’re going to find on the other side.” The green-skinned woman spoke so quickly Liora could barely keep up with what she said. “It’s one of those tasks that goes on forever as though we’re never actually going to make it through, but yet the more we cut, the more we’ve melted, and eventually, hopefully, we’re going to break the welding down and make it to the other side. It just takes so much longer than I have patience for!”
She handed Liora her small torch and left to retrieve another from the supply cabinet set into the far wall. Liora stared after her.
“Keep the flame small and concentrate on one area at a time,” Officer Duncan instructed, bringing Liora’s attention back with a warm smile as if he knew how overwhelming the tiny green woman could be. He pulled the tool he held down slowly, cutting a smooth line through the sealed door.
Liora followed his instructions.
As they worked, the monitor beeped. “Captain?”
Devren pressed the intercom button. “Go ahead.”
“We’ve cleared the ship of hostiles. Bodies are being piled in the cargo hold to be jettisoned.”
“Good job, Lieutenant,” Devren said with a relieved smile. “Tell the men I’m proud of them. Captain Metis would be, too.”
“Is the captain not there?”
“He was a victim of the attack.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” the lieutenant replied. “I’ll let the others know.”
“Thank you.” Devren released the button and eased back.
Liora and Duncan cut through the final seal and the door slid open with a sigh.
“Finally,” a voice called out.
Tariq, the human officer Liora recognized from the Osprey Kirkos, entered in a huff. He shoved his black hair back from his eyes and his light blue gaze sparked with annoyance.
“Two dozen injured, our captain and two officers dead, and Officer Caston barely hanging on,” Tariq said. “Then you seal me out so the Chief Medical Officer can’t ensure the health and wellbeing of the bridge crew? Ridiculous.”
“I didn’t want the bridge to be overrun with rebels,” Devren told him with the patient tone of one who didn’t need to explain himself, but chose to anyway.
Tariq rolled his eyes. “Good thing you weren’t shot.”
“He was,” Officer Duncan replied.
Devren gave the older man a weary look.
Duncan lifted his shoulder. “She took care of it.” He gestured to the patch of blood still on the floor.
Tariq turned slowly as if afraid of who he would find. When his gaze met Liora’s, outrage took over his expression. The impartial side of her noted that he would be extremely handsome if it wasn’t for the look of hatred in his eyes.
“You let a Damaclan patch a bullet wound?” he demanded. “You’re lucky she didn’t kill you!”
“She saved my life,” Devren replied, his voice level.
“And mine,” Straham said. Tariq glared at him and Straham spun back around to face his monitor.
The medic gave Liora a flat look. “And you just happen to know how to fix bullet holes? That seems a little ironic, don’t you think?”
“Leave her alone, Tariq,” Devren warned.
“No, seriously.”
Tariq stepped closer to Liora.
Her muscles tensed. After all they had been through, her nerves felt fried; she had no qualms about sending the officer to the floor if he dared to attack her.
“From what I see, you’re the reason we’re in this mess in the first place. What was the Osprey Kirkos doing limping around in space? Your captain might as well have been waving a flag and screaming, ‘Attack us!’.”
“Malivian isn’t known for his common sense,” Liora replied levelly. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s why we were attacked in the first place.”
Tariq’s eyes narrowed. He glanced at Devren. “You’re risking us all by keeping her here.”
“What do you want me to do, jettison her?” Devren asked.
Tariq’s lifted eyebrows were agreement enough.
The command in Devren’s voice left no room for argument when he s
aid, “Go back to the med wing. If I need your assistance, I’ll ask. For now, we both have work to do.”
Tariq opened his mouth, then shut it again and spun on his heels. He stormed past Liora and paused in the doorway.
“Fine, but as soon as we touch down, I expect you in medical for an evaluation.” Liora could feel his burning gaze. “Don’t trust her as far as you can throw a haffot.” With that, he disappeared down the hall.
Devren turned his attention back to the monitors.
“Duncan, notify the crew of touchdown.”
A few minutes later, Hyrin said, “I’m setting her down in five, four, three….”
The huge rock loomed past the window. It looked like a misshapen dinosaur egg left to crack within the endless reach of space. The crevices and craters grew the closer they drew to the surface.
“Two, one.”
A last-minute exhale of exhaust gentled the Kratos’ landing.
“We’re secure,” Hyrin announced.
“Duncan, summon the repair crew. Tell Lieutenant Argyle to concentrate on the hull. We need our shields back in full before we leave this rock. Hyrin, send a report to the Coalition and let them know of our losses.” Devren glanced at Liora. “I’d better make my way to medical before Tariq tears this ship apart from the inside.”
He rose without showing any sign of the pain Liora knew he felt. He paused beside her chair.
“Will you walk with me? We have some things to discuss.”
Liora stood without speaking and followed him into the hallway.
As soon as the door slid shut, Devren’s expression changed from carefully commanded calm to fierce anger.
“What were you thinking back there?” he demanded.
Put on the defensive, Liora snapped, “I thought I would save your life.”
His hostility threw her off. Her senses were threadbare from the push and she wasn’t prepared for a verbal attack. Her thoughts were sluggish despite the need to defend herself. “You’re the one who would rather pass out than tell your crew you need help!”
“Their captain had just died,” Devren replied, his chest rising and falling with his outrage. “They didn’t need another wounded officer at the helm. What good would that have done them?” He shook his head. “That’s beside the point. You threw yourself at a group of armed Revolutionaries. You’re just lucky they didn’t try to shoot until you were on the other side! It was reckless and completely unnecessary.”
“Unnecessary?” Liora stared at him, shocked that was the reason he was upset. “If I didn’t do something, you and Officer Straham wouldn’t have made it as far as medical. They’d be jettisoning your bodies into space with the rebels. I did what I had to.”
Devren shook his head. When Liora turned away, he grabbed her arm. The tightness of his grip surprised her. Instead of breaking free, she spun back around. “What is your problem?”
“The problem is that I just saved your life, and I don’t need you throwing it away like it’s a piece of garbage,” Devren nearly shouted.
“My life isn’t worth a captain and crew getting decimated over,” Liora replied.
Devren blinked and let go of her arm. He glanced back at the closed door to the bridge, then at Liora again.
“How can you say that?” he asked.
“How can you not?” Liora replied. She gestured to the body of a fallen rebel near the door. “Thanks to Malivian, your crew got attacked and your ship was nearly destroyed.”
“They’ll attack any ship,” Devren pointed out.
“Only if they have something to gain,” Liora replied. “They might not have attacked an Iron Falcon out of the blue, but they couldn’t pass up the Osprey Kirkos’ hull of treasures. The entire Macrocosm knows of Malivian’s horde. It’s his own fault he ran into a Crow after a transport. He couldn’t get his shields up in time. I just don’t know why they came back after a Coalition starship reached us.”
“It’s their own fault they got greedy, although we barely made it out alive.” Devren motioned for her to continue with him down the hall. “You need to value your life. I’ve never seen anyone throw themselves at an attack like that.” He glanced sideways at her. “I don’t know if it’s you’re training that’s made you brash, but we work as a team here.”
“Must be nice,” Liora said quietly.
Chapter 4
Devren led the way through the sliding doors into the medical wing. They entered a white-tiled wide room with a low ceiling partitioned by clean white curtains. The sterile scent of sanitization agents touched Liora’s nose. She glanced around at the cloth-spread tables and trays that pulled from sections in the walls. She had never been to a medical ward that was so tidy.
Tariq gave Liora a look of annoyance, then ignored her presence entirely. He motioned for Devren to sit on a table while he and several other medics worked on a man with several nasty burns across his body.
“The explosions caught the tertiary fuel pump line,” the man was explaining. “We had to do everything we could to get the fire put out before the others caught.”
At Liora’s searching look, Tariq slid a curtain across and blocked the man from view.
Shielded from the sight of the others, Devren let out a small breath and eased himself onto his back. Liora took a seat in the chair reserved for the medic. It meant something to her that Devren held up such a strong front around his crew, yet he didn’t mind letting down his walls when it was only her. She didn’t know what that meant. She stored the thought in the back of her mind to examine later.
“How did you do it?” he asked after a few minutes had passed.
“Which part?” Liora replied. “The fighting or getting on Tariq’s bad side so quickly?”
That brought a chuckle from Devren. He winced and put a hand against his bandaged side. “Tariq has his own issues. Don’t bother trying to figure them out; it’ll take a lifetime.”
“I heard that,” Tariq called from the other side of the curtain.
Devren closed his eyes and asked in a softer voice, “How did you get rid of the pain? My control was slipping. I thought I was going to pass out and then suddenly it lessened enough that I could stand it until you finished.”
Liora didn’t know how to answer. The question was dangerous for both of them. If Malivian had ever guessed her abilities went beyond pushing, she would never be away from him. As it was, she knew it was only a matter of time before the Hennonite came back for her. Taking her would be an entirely different story.
The curtain slid open before Liora was ready to form a reply.
“Let’s see what damage she’s done,” Tariq grumbled as he slipped on new gloves. He didn’t bother to look at Liora. “Maybe next time you’ll remember that your best friend is a medic and stop asking the first creature you need for help.”
“Is that really necessary?” Devren asked.
Tariq gave him a bland look. “Yes. It is. Do you even need to ask?”
He picked up scissors from the tray a gray-uniformed medic brought him and proceeded to snip through the bandages Liora had carefully wrapped.
She couldn’t help herself. “Don’t make the bleeding start again.”
Tariq speared her with a look. “What did you say?” he asked in clipped tones.
“Tariq, really,” Devren began.
Liora met Tariq’s glare. “I said, don’t make the bleeding start again. If you’re such a good physician, you’ll know that once a wound has started to clot, it’s best to leave it alone to ensure its ability to heal properly.”
“You’re asking me to assume that you did the job correctly,” Tariq replied. “I don’t base the lives of my friends on the word of some Damaclan.” He pulled hard on a particularly stubborn piece of bandaging when he said the last word.
“Tariq!” Devren protested.
“Sorry,” Tariq replied. He gave Liora a look that said he blamed her for Devren’s pain.
Liora gave up arguing and let him work. While it u
pset her pride that the human felt the need to second-guess her bandaging, she couldn’t blame him for being concerned about his friend. They were strangers, she reminded herself. Less than a day ago, she hadn’t known either of them. It was hard to remember that when she saw Devren in pain.
“Hmm,” Tariq said from the other side of the table.
Devren glanced at him. “What does that mean?”
Tariq sniffed, then answered, “It means she did a fairly good job.”
Liora’s eyes narrowed when she met his gaze across the table.
“Alright,” Tariq gave in. “The stitches are perfectly spaced, the wound was cleaned well, and I’m assuming the bullet was removed in one piece?”
She nodded at his question.
Tariq dropped his gaze back to the wound. “She did a good job.”
Devren stifled a chuckle. “Was that so hard to admit?” he asked.
“Her work is adequate.” Tariq’s voice lowered. “But you still can’t forget we’re talking about a Damaclan.”
“No, you can’t forget. You’re the one who insists on talking about her like she isn’t here.” Devren sucked in a breath when Tariq pressed new bandages against the wound. He continued in a stifled voice, “Liora’s heritage has no meaning to me other than I’m grateful she’s handy in a tight situation.”
“She could decapitate you in a closet,” Tariq pointed out.
“So could a cleaver,” Devren replied. “Should I avoid cleavers, too?”
Liora fought back the impulse to laugh at the ridiculous conversation. It amazed her. She hadn’t laughed at anything in a very long time.
“It would probably be good for your health,” Tariq said.
“You’re mistaking my meaning on purpose,” Devren replied. He sat up gingerly so Tariq could wrap the wound easier. “The cleaver is only dangerous if the one handling it has the intent to kill. I’d hate to think that Jarston is deadly just because he chops our rations with a sharpened blade.”
“Yes, but you’re talking about inanimate objects, not—”
