Dana Cartwright Mission 3: Kal-King

by Joyz W. Riter

“Get me out of here!” Kieran pounded on the C-FIIN clear lid from the inside. The EMTs ignored him, pushing the floating coffin along the corridor to a MAT station, where two lieutenants from Thresher, in Star Service uniforms, took over. They transferred with the medical immobilization unit directly to sickbay aboard the ship.

  “Get me out of here!” Kieran demanded again, using anger to override the claustrophobia threatening to overwhelm him. He recognized no one in the sickbay, but pleaded with the first human he could, demanding, “Let me out!”

  Instead, they touched the controls and he felt a sedative cloud his vision and numb his mind.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Kieran exhaled, almost weeping with relief when an android-nurse helped him out of the C-FIIN and into fresh clothes. He didn’t even notice that Ambassador Solon stood in the doorway until he pulled on boots.

  “Mister Ambassador?”

  The Galaxean held up the cloak for Kieran, a cloak very much like his own. “The doctor insists there’s nothing wrong with you, Commodore Jai. However, I believe I understand why you experienced the back pain.”

  “You do?” Kieran asked, amazed. “It’s gone now…well, just a dull throbbing.”

  Solon led up to the gallery to a surgical theatre, where they could look down upon the operating room as two of Thresher’s doctors performed a spinal weave. Already watching were Colonel Xalier, Prince Korwin Kord and Princess Micah.

  Kieran greeted the Alphan Ambassador and his wife warmly. “Your Highness and Princess Micah, how wonderful to see you both.”

  “We detoured to retrieve your brother, the Colonel, and the fourth of the sokem,” Prince Korwin said, while watching the surgery being performed down below them.

  “That’s Janz? So, I felt his pain. That must be it,” Kieran realized.

  “Just so,” the Prince answered. “He demanded they wait until Dana arrives, but the doctors felt it unwise to delay. I’ve never performed a spinal weave. It’s fascinating to watch.”

  Kieran had another word for it, but did not offer it. “I’ve had two,” he shivered. “You’ll have to excuse me. Xal, come with me.”

  The Felidae, in a long, tunic uniform again, fell into step beside the Commodore as they headed down the corridor.

  “You disobeyed my direct order. You have some explaining to do, but first, I’m starving.”

  The big cat’s tail twitched nervously, as they entered Forward-Nine, Thresher’s officers’ lounge.

  Kieran froze, seeing April Talon with Novem and Dec.

  “Come, join us,” Novem invited.

  Dec nervously made room for the Felidae to pull up a chair and sit on his left, while Kieran Jai sank down between him and April.

  “Doctor,” Kieran offered.

  For a time no one spoke, allowing the newcomers to place orders via the tabletop menu. Surprisingly, it was Novem that spoke first.

  “Commodore, it is very good to see you again. I wanted to thank you earlier, but it…”

  “It wasn’t the time,” Kieran nodded. “And no need… You…look well and so different.” He turned to Dec and then to April. “Doctor, can you help Dec, too? Whatever it takes? If I can be of assistance…”

  “I have already proposed certain hematological treatments,” April answered.

  “Good…very good.”

  Novem spoke to his brother, “Dec? This is Janz Macao’s brother, Kieran Jai. He’s the man who freed me from the mercenaries.”

  Kieran locked stares with Dec, admiring the mismatched pair of eyes looking back at him.

  Novem continued, “We want to find our parents. Can you help us?”

  Kieran sighed. “Dana’s been trying for a very long time. She said she found your father on Earth, but that was over fourteen years ago. However, she’s on her way here. You can have a family clan reunion.”

  “Is the King coming?” Dec demanded, fearfully shrinking away from them. “Dec is his slave. It would be…bad.”

  “I have no idea,” Kieran answered, looking to Xalier.

  The Felidae shrugged and lifted a paw. “The King has no jurisdiction here; and slavery is illegal in Republic territory. You are free, Dec. I will defend you.”

  Dec swallowed. “Would you…eat him?”

  Xalier licked his left paw. “I’m sure he wouldn’t taste very good.”

  “Where is Mac?” Dec continued.

  “In surgery, as we speak,” Kieran said, but seeing Dec’s expression he added, “I’m sure he’ll be fine. He has a history of back injuries. Right Novem?”

  Novem nodded.

  While the others picked at the remnants of their meals, Kieran and Xalier dove into theirs with gusto.

  Just as they munched their last bites, the red alert klaxons blared.

  No one moved.

  Dec became agitated, fearfully asking, “What does it mean?”

  Xalier’s tail twitched. “Some ship probably strayed into restricted airspace. There are always one or two during a conference this size.”

  Dec knew, “It is the King. He comes for his slave.”

  Just as Kieran was about to contradict, the COM speakers blared, “Commodore Jai to the Bridge.” He bowed his head to excuse himself, leaving them staring at Xalier who continued to chew what appeared to be a drumstick from a roasted fowl, bones and all, then proceeded to lick his paws.

  Dec fretted, looking to his siblings, nervously finding them unconcerned.

  Ambassadors Solon and Kord appeared shortly after, urging the group to return to The Crossroads Station conference center, without adding any details.

  Xalier offered to escort them to the MAT station, but it seemed they were not quite ready. Dec hesitated until Novem coaxed, “Dec you must come with us.”

  Xalier rose up, apologizing, “I will leave you to decide.” He nodded his snout and, tail twitching, started for the bridge.

  Commodore Jai stood beside Captain McHale’s command chair in the center of the lower circle on Thresher’s Main Bridge. Xalier arrived and crossed around behind them to stand on the opposite side, but couldn’t contain himself, hissing at the Tresgan imaged on the forward view screen.

  “I am Task, the Tresgan Ambassador, and I demand to be permitted to attend the conference.”

  “For the tenth time,” McHale repeated, “you are not on the security pass list, therefore, you are barred from admission.” The Captain groaned, “Is the translator malfunctioning? What part of no, N-O, do you not understand?” McHale looked to Kieran Jai. “Commodore?”

  Kieran leaned down and whispered a suggestion.

  McHale changed his approach, offering, “You are welcome to come aboard Thresher to discuss the issue. Perhaps we can make an exception.”

  The Tresgan squawked and terminated the connection.

  “Guess he didn’t like my suggestion,” Kieran chuckled.

  Xalier hissed again, “He’s up to something.”

  “What do we know about that ship, Mister Coe?”

  Thresher’s First Officer had his head buried in a viewer at the Science Station on the rear, upper circle of the bridge. “That ship — this is weird — it’s a refit of the Blade Class Alphan shuttle, Trident, aka Trader One, sold as scrap three years ago to Crown Enterprises. There are no Republic ports-of-call logged since she left Station Four. Her home port is listed as Polaris-Station Three, which is utterly impossible.”

  “Trident?” Kieran echoed, “That was Ambassador Kord’s first shuttle, Prince Korwin’s father’s.”

  “Renamed, Trader One,” McHale remembered it from a clandestine mission, when he was stationed aboard Lancer.

  “How many life-signs?”

  “Six…all Tresgan,” Coe reported, and then his facial expression changed. “Dagger Class shuttle coming in, too, sir.”

  “Fane!” Kieran Jai hissed, under his breath, in unison with Xalier.

  Janz came awake slowly from the anesthesia, his body numb, eyelids heavy, making it difficult to focus. Soon the pain overwh
elmed him, returning with a vengeance. He cried and writhed until the android-doctor administered a painkiller.

  “What have you done?” Macao demanded, but they ignored him.

  Dana! Please help me! I’m aboard Thresher!

  Her brother, March, stared in amazement as Dana clawed the edge of the table, doubled over with pain. Shutting her eyes tightly, she breathed through the empathetic episode, until the sensation became a dull ache. She mentally answered Janz Macao’s plea with a promise. I will come.

  When she recovered and opened her eyes, she pleaded, “I have a dear friend and a former patient at the conference. He desperately needs me. He’s been seriously injured. I must go to him.”

  August’s mismatched eyes narrowed with suspicion.

  She detected jealousy as he demanded, “Why?”

  “I am an empath. I feel his pain. It won’t stop until I go to him.”

  “Where is this friend?”

  “Aboard Thresher.”

  August looked skeptical. “You can feel him?”

  She nodded. “My DNA mutated in a very unique way, August. As an empath, I sense other beings’ emotions and distress, even their pain.” She focused her eyes upon him, countering his scowl, “You think I lie?”

  She turned to March. “Doctor, surely you understand, of all people. Once you have operated upon a patient, you have a duty and responsibility for that patient forever.”

  March did not trust her either.

  Dana sighed. “Leave me and go your way. I will contact our father and, if he chooses, he will come of his own accord to meet you. I’m done.”

  “You are a captain in Crown Enterprises. You work for me,” August reminded icily.

  “I just quit!”

  March, once again, showed concern. Either that, or her empathetic senses were just on overwhelm.

  Dana shrugged, growing impatient.

  Then she felt the ship engines disengage.

  The Captain of Kalis called down, “Thresher has ordered that we come to a stop, master.”

  August frowned.

  Dana responded, “Tell them Dana Cartwright requests permission to come aboard.”

  She gave August and March a forced, farewell smile, took up her backpack and turned away. “You can keep the severance pay,” she offered, half expecting one or the other to demand she stop, but neither did.

  In Thresher’s MAT station, Dana stepped down from the pad area and greeted Ambassador Solon, April and Novem with the Galaxean salute, but focused on Dec and offered a smile.

  Dec’s mouth gaped, “You are the January!”

  “I am,” she responded. “March and August are aboard Kalis. They reluctantly let me come.” She turned to April. “Doctor Talon, our brother, August, is severely crippled and his condition is deteriorating. I offered help, but he’s not what we would consider…agreeable.”

  Ambassador Solon nodded. “Perhaps I can convince him.”

  Dana admitted, “You are far more diplomatic than I, Mister Ambassador.”

  He nodded his head.

  “I understand Janz Macao is aboard and in great pain. I must go to him.”

  She apologized for not seeing them off.

  “Do you need directions, sir?” an Ensign in the corridor inquired.

  “Thank you, no, I know the way.” She did, all too well, since Thresher was the last Star Service cruiser docked at Scanlos, when she resigned her commission as commander. The Star Service, in its infinite genius and wisdom, wouldn’t assign her to it because she knew Captain McHale. They had too much history together.

  Janz stirred the moment Dana entered the sickbay, sensing her arrival.

  “Dana! They have me pumped full of pains meds now. I can’t feel a thing.”

  She dropped her backpack and took a scanner from a dazed, male nurse, pulling away the thin sheet, and running a full spinal scan of Macao’s back. The readings were beyond bad.

  “There’s too much inflammation right now for me to do anything. Did they give you…Fane!” She muttered an epithet demanding the nurse call a human doctor.

  Serge scowled at her when he came around the corner, demanding, “Who do you think you are!”

  “Doctor Dana Cartwright, Captain Macao’s former surgeon. This anti-inflammatory is not certified as safe for Alphans, and,” she winced, feeling Macao’s stabbing pain, “your patient is suffering. I should have you before a medical board!”

  She gave him the name of the correct anti-inflammatory drug, quoting the text of an Alphan medical journal, demanding he administer it immediately.

  Serge didn’t budge and even protested, “You can’t just walk in here and start giving me orders!”

  “Oh, yes, she can,” Captain McHale countered from the doorway, flanked by Kieran Jai and Xalier.

  Dana looked up. “Good to see you again, sir.”

  “Good to see you, ‘Mister’ Cartwright’.”

  They both had a chuckle.

  Janz Macao didn’t join in until the injector hissed against his neck. “Can you all have a reunion later... I need Dana’s undivided attention.”

  She patted his shoulder. “You’re going to need some aquatic therapy, just as Kieran had.”

  “I swam in a lithium pool. It didn’t help,” Janz complained.

  “Probably too warm. Warm pools can increase the inflammation. I highly recommend the Terrines, in the GCE. Perhaps we can arrange with the Enturian ambassadors to...”

  “They haven’t arrived yet,” Kieran interrupted.

  She sensed a form of jealousy coming from him.

  “The conference started hours ago, without them,” McHale added.

  “Without me, as well,” Prince Korwin Kord offered, coming in at the tail end of the conversation.

  Dana grinned at her Star Service Academy classmate and dear friend. “PK! We need to talk.”

  He bowed his head in her direction. “We do, indeed, DD.”

  “Do you suspect foul play?” Dana asked.

  Kieran decided not to respond.

  Xalier hissed, “With a Tresgan showing up in a Blade Class shuttle…yes, we do.”

  McHale added, “Trader One, aka Trident, just arrived with a Tresgan demanding access to the conference.”

  “Don’t let him near anyone!” Dana responded, reviewing their faces before ending by staring at Kieran.

  “I don’t intend to,” he answered, locking stares with her. “I may need to call you back to active duty, Commander Cartwright.”

  She frowned. “It is my understanding that you already had on Tonner III, Commodore. However, I may have been compromised during the mission to Arkares, and will protest all the way to the Republic President, if need be.” She sighed, “I’m too close the problem.”

  Kieran frowned.

  No one else dared respond.

  Doctor Serge demanded, “There are entirely too many people in my sickbay. With all due respect, Captain and Commodore, Ambassador and Colonel. All non-essential personnel — out.”

  McHale suggested, “Let’s adjourn to Briefing Room One and leave the doctors to their patient.” He supervised as the others filed out.

  Dana didn’t budge. She leaned over Janz Macao and pulled the sheet up over him. He reached for her hand, longing for a stronger telepathic link.

  She declined. “I’m already hurting, Janz. I can barely function like this.”

  “Just knowing you’re here makes me feel better.”

  Dana cautioned, “Promise, this time, you won’t get up. You need to rest. We can sedate you if we must. You really should be in a C-FIIN and immobilized.”

  “I’ll be good,” Janz promised, “Shalee will make me.”

  Dana patted his shoulder, closed her eyes and sent his life-mate a passionate plea.

  Don’t let him even try. The readings are just too serious.

  Dana then collected her pack and stepped out into the corridor.

  Prince Korwin was waiting. “How’s your leg? Any residual pain?”<
br />
  “Good as new, thanks to you.” She felt deep love in his demeanor and knew. “You’ve found her?”

  He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I have found the woman of my dreams. She is my life-mate now. I can’t wait for you to meet Micah.”

  “I’m so very happy for you, my friend.” Tears of joy filled Dana’s eyes.

  “I can see that you need a new N-link,” Korwin offered, “I happen to have one with me.”

  Dana laughed. “Yes, I do need one. Oh, PK, I’ve found four of my brothers. March is a doctor — though not as disciplined as I expected. August? Well, he’s a whole different matter. He’s emotionally...unwell.”

  Prince Korwin nodded, reaching in his secret pocket and offering the little N-link that Micah had given back. “This should help.”

  “Thank you,” Dana whispered, as he slipped it about her neck under her disheveled hair braid.

  She immediately enjoyed the neutralizing effect from the device. “Much better...”

  “Ready for the briefing?” he looked down the corridor to the left.

  “One is this way,” Dana indicated to the right. “I have the deck plans of this ship memorized.”

  They both laughed.

  “Does your memory bank ever fill up?”

  “Hasn’t yet,” she said with a grin.

  Only Kieran Jai was seated at the briefing room table. He bolted to his feet and bowed respectfully to Prince Korwin.

  The Ambassador responded in kind. “I’ll leave you two, if you like.”

  “Thank you, Your Highness, but please, I would appreciate it if you stayed.” Kieran motioned them to chairs.

  “Xal uncovered this,” Kieran pointed to the viewer on the wall.

  “Arkares,” Dana said, recognizing the star system,“the home of Crown Enterprises.”

  The Commodore nodded, continuing, “And headquarters of slave traders and mercenaries that the Republic would very much like to shut down.”

  Dana understood the dilemma. “How are they getting Alphan ships? Blade Class and Dagger Class ships?”

  Korwin didn’t blink. “There is no embargo against selling to Crown Enterprises. Not yet, anyway… However, this conference may vote to change that. Crown Enterprises has quite a fleet. Their ‘King’ is very wealthy.”