“That’s a tight fit for even you,” he observed, staring at the tiny opening I would wriggle through.
“No kidding. You’ve been treated to the incredible sight of my naked body from my stints in Medical already, but be a good boy and avert your gaze when my shorts peel off. All my dignity is borrowed at this point, and I’m heavily in debt.”
He laughed as I began to squeeze through. And yes, I did end up stuck again. And yes, my shorts and underwear were abandoned in my wake again. Oti passed them to me without comment, but I’m pretty certain I heard some muffled chuckles.
I yanked my clothes on quickly and hurried to Resan. I found him as I’d left him. His eyes were closed. He was absolutely still. I’d returned too late.
I crouched down, deflating with defeat. I hated the man, but I’d tried to help him. He’d saved my life. I had not been able to do the same for him.
“Damn you, Resan,” I sighed.
The son of a bitch’s lids fluttered. He focused on me. “Fuck. You again?” he muttered.
I laughed. “You asshole. I brought a medic, but he can’t get through the door.” To Oti, unseen beyond the wreckage I yelled, “He’s alive!”
“Okay,” came the muffled response. “Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll blow the door.”
Resan already had a blanket covering him. I worked fast to move the most dangerous pieces of debris from between him and the door. Then I moved heavier, less dangerous pieces to buffer the blast.
I pulled the blanket off the Dramok and crouched over him. The time had come. “Okay, Oti!” I yelled. I stretched out over Resan and covered us both with the blanket.
“You are hurting me, woman,” Resan wheezed in my ear. “Your carcass is a lot heavier than it looks.”
“Grenade blast and flying shrapnel will hurt more,” I returned. “Cheer up. The pain will keep you from thinking any amorous thoughts while I’m on top of you.”
He gagged. “Have no fear of that. That instance was temporary insanity. I’d rather fuck a dead Tragoom than you.”
“I can arrange that several times over.”
We didn’t have time for further insults. A monstrous blast shook the room. I gritted my teeth, doing my best to shield Resan’s bigger body with my own as I felt shrapnel bite through the blanket.
Nothing big smashed against us. Oti’s voice sounded a few seconds later. “Shalia? Where are you?”
I rose up on my knees, and a layer of debris slid off. Oti stood barely a foot distant. I got out of the way and he went to work.
I stepped aside, relieved to have this part over. Now we had to run through the gauntlet one last time to take Resan to Medical. Once we did that, I planned to find a nice corner, curl into it, and go to sleep. After more pain meds. Inhalable pain inhibitor mist acts a lot faster than tabs, thank the prophets. I’d need it since my back was finding its voice again. When Tep and the rest were finished putting Resan together, they could fix my complaints.
I still had plenty of explosives. I checked the charge on my percussion blaster. Just over a quarter of it remained. I needed more power in case Medical came under attack again. I sighed. Damn, I was tired.
“Shalia, could you help me put him on the stretcher?” Oti asked. “I have him stabilized for the moment.”
“Sure.” I blinked at the slight shimmer of a stasis field around Resan. He was unconscious as far as I could tell.
“He’s set for static movement,” Oti said. “I’m going to tilt him on his side. I need you to hold him there until I get the stretcher under him.”
“Okay,” I said. I hurried over to kneel next to Resan.
The trainer’s hands were crossed over his chest. Oti had put on a kind of metal brace that enfolded Resan from the waist down to his feet. I wondered if the Dramok would ever walk again.
Oti rolled the senseless Resan onto his side, and I held him still for the couple of seconds it took the medic to put the stretcher in place. I assisted him in settling the injured man on its surface and watched him secure everything. Oti stood and activated the stretcher, floating it about three feet above the floor. He closed up the trauma kit and stood, picking it up. “Okay, let’s take him to Medical.”
I led, blaster at the ready in case we ran into trouble. “Is he going to live?” I asked.
“I can’t say for sure. Besides the probable spinal injury, he’s lost a lot of blood. Impossible to tell how bad the head trauma is.” Oti smirked. “He’s a tough bastard though.”
“Yeah. He is that.”
With the worst of the barricades destroyed, our trip through the training section went much faster than before. I ran ahead to the armory after explaining to Oti that my weapon needed more power.
“A good idea, but I’m hoping you don’t need it,” the Imdiko said. “The alarms are off now.”
He was right. The sirens, so distant from Resan’s training room as to be almost mute, had switched off while Oti had been treating him. I prayed it was a good sign. Maybe the fight was over. Maybe we had won.
I hurried to the armory and claimed a fresh power pack. I emerged in the corridor as Oti floated Resan into the area. He appeared grim.
“What?” I asked, though I didn’t want to know.
“Life signs are fluctuating.” Oti nodded to the indicators on the stretcher. “He doesn’t have much time left.”
That wasn’t the only problem. I heard approaching sounds, a bunch of running feet in the debris-choked hallway before me. Nobeks don’t make noise when they move. I braced myself for trouble, bringing my blaster up to bear on whoever came through those small mountains of wreckage. I cursed myself for not securing a fresh power pack for Oti’s weapon too, but it was too late to worry over sloppy planning. Man, I sucked at this.
My knees went weak when Oses, Ebnad, and a bunch of other uniformed Kalquorians appeared. They jerked to a halt when they saw me standing there, ready to fire. I laughed and lowered my weapon. “Jeez, yell a warning, would you?”
The Nobeks in the detail moved aside to allow Tep and several other medics come through to claim Resan. It had been the medical staff making all the noise.
Oses regarded me with a real smile as he stepped forward. “You are a mess, pet. Yet you look better than anything else I’ve seen all day.”
I grinned and holstered the blaster. “I could say the same thing for you. Tell me you killed the bad guys.”
“Most of them. We’re hunting down the remainder of the attack party, both in and outside of the ship.”
“Are many dead on our side?” I asked another question before he could answer that one. “Anrel?”
“She’s fine. When we were boarded, the shuttles were evacuated, with all the fighters protecting them. We lost no Mataras.”
I heaved a sigh of relief. That meant Betra was safe too.
Oses continued. “As soon as it’s verified we’ve eradicated the boarders, we’ll bring the shuttles in. As for your first question, we have numerous casualties. Our remaining destroyers are badly damaged, but they continue to fight.”
Tep and the rest hurried by with Resan’s stretcher between them. Tep focused on his patient, but that didn’t keep him from calling to me. “Get to Medical now. I want you examined as soon as possible.”
Oses fell into step with me as I obeyed. Ebnad and the other Nobeks from security followed us. Boy, I really felt my back again. Even breathing started to hurt.
To distract myself from it, I asked, “What about the battlecruiser?”
“Manned by Tragooms. None of your people were involved. Same with the Bi’isil hunter-killers.”
I felt a little lighter hearing that Earthers had nothing to do with the attack. I breathed a sigh of relief.
Oses said, “Ebnad told me how you saved his squad and probably Medical from complete destruction. I am impressed, pet. Very impressed.”
I snorted. “I caught them by surprise is all. I swear I should have been dead several times over. I screwed up too often
.”
“Yet you made it through. You may have saved Resan’s life, something he’s not going to enjoy hearing about.” Oses snickered. “You even accompanied Oti as his guard. Oh, that reminds me.”
The weapons commander pivoted, his fist flashing out too fast to follow with the eye. Subcommander Ebnad suddenly flew backwards into another man, his nose and lip spouting blood. He staggered, his eyes big as he stared at Oses.
Oses’s glare could have frozen Hell. “You had your duty to remain at Medical and protect it, no matter what. Yet I owed you that and more for allowing Shalia to play security to retrieve Resan. If she had been killed, your life would have been mine.”
I half-expected Ebnad to start throwing punches or something. Instead, he straightened to his full height and bowed to Oses. “I have no excuse, Weapons Commander. I won’t beg for your pardon as I do not deserve it.”
Oses bared his fangs at Ebnad for an instant. Then they folded away, and he turned to me as if nothing had happened. “Let’s get you to Medical, pet.”
September 1
We have entered Kalquorian Empire space. Despite the damaged state of the poor Pussy ‘Porter, there is a celebratory mood on the ship. We are about a couple of weeks from Kalquor itself, but we are in friendly territory. Our escort of a dozen destroyers will remain at our disposal until we enter orbit around our new home.
We’re safe. We are finally safe.
The Nobeks of our ship who survived the harrowing trip walk the corridors with their chests out and shoulders back. They are proud to claim that despite the crazy months of travel between Earth and Kalquor, all the women got through. They brag to each other of how they protected their charges. I think they look forward to boasting of the challenges they won when they reach the home world.
I am privy to this knowledge because they talk to me like I’m one of them. These bold warriors shout my name from across the promenade or down the hall when they spot me.
Today I heard a Nobek yell, “Matara Shalia! You can’t leave when we get to Kalquor. We’re going to ignore the Galactic Council’s edict and invade Trag next. We need you with us to disembowel every Tragoom unlucky enough to cross your path!”
This was the second day I’d been invited to kick Tragoom ass with the ship’s Nobeks. I’ve lost count of how many said I should join their ranks and lead their squads.
I gave Oses a piece of my mind. “For crying out loud. I thought the report you forced me to write would be a matter of record, not a ship-wide news bulletin.”
It turns out the weapons commander is as susceptible to chest thumping as his Nobek brethren. Oses swelled with pride. “Everyone knows I was among those who trained you. They hear how I took an Earther woman and turned her into a potent warrior. Why would I not share your story? Idow is drinking for free these days for the same reason.”
Jeez. If barbaric, testosterone-driven Nobeks weren’t so hot – okay, if Oses weren’t so hot – I’d hide in my quarters from the whole bunch for these final two weeks.
Some days, I consider what happened. I think, holy shit, was that me who did all that? And I start to feel impressed with myself. More often, I have to give credit where it is due. Oses gave me the combat and blaster training. Larten and Idow gave me the blade training. A hell of a lot of luck too. Without any of those things, I would be dead.
Ugh. I guess I have to give Resan credit too. He kept me from life-threatening injuries when the ceiling fell down on us, putting his own life on the line to do so. Before that he trained me into good enough shape to withstand all I did, to power through the pain and exhaustion. Fine. He helped.
We’re even in that not only did he survive, but he’ll recover fully from his injuries. His spine was badly bruised, but he’s getting past that. He has feeling in his legs and feet again. He’ll someday return to full capacity, yelling at whoever he’s training or rehabbing.
Fortunately, he won’t recover in time for me to be among his victims. I accept that as all the reward I need. I can finish my trip to Kalquor, Resan-free. Ah, sweet liberty from assholery.
Despite days of confinement on the shuttle, Anrel came through the attack fine and dandy. She had her Uncle Betra, Auntie Candy, and Grammy Katrina to care for her all that while. When her shuttle landed in the bay, I was there to greet her – against Tep’s wishes since he insisted I needed to be in bed. She smiled at me and cooed happy noises when she saw me. To be recognized by my baby girl made all the horror of the last few days fade away. Sanity has been restored to the universe.
Except for the part when I had to spend a day and a half in Medical. Tep found that the whacks on the head I’d received were slowly killing me. Pressure was building in my skull, compressing my brain in what would have ended up a lethal injury. That’s why I had so much trouble with dizziness. Tep ended up doing a surgical procedure to relieve the pressure. Then I had to lay around Medical and rest while they monitored me to make sure everything would be okay.
The bruising, while nasty, was more painful than dangerous. It looked awful: one huge bruise from shoulders to ass. I had all the pain meds I needed, however, so that was okay. The lacerations covering my body took Oti and two other medics four hours to heal. I was a crazy quilt under all the blood.
I saw Resan once as I was hovered out of Medical’s lab area and he was being hovered in. He signaled our attendants to pause so we could talk.
“I’ve heard what you went through to reach help.” He glowered as if I’d done something awful.
Feeling I had, I shrugged. “I owed you for shielding me when the room fell apart. I didn’t like that.”
“No.” Resan heaved a breath. “I feel the same way. We are even then?”
“Yes. Let’s never talk of it again. Or to each other.”
That brought out his rare smile. “Ancestors, yes. I want to forget it happened. All of it.”
I understood what he referred to. I smiled innocently. “With all the hits to the head I took, I remember very little, for which I am grateful.”
“Good.” Resan glanced away, dismissing me. He waved to his attendant to continue to the lab.
The sex I’d had with Resan was the only thing I hadn’t reported to Oses. Dear prophets, I’ll take that secret to my grave if at all possible.
Speaking of sex...
My back was tender when I wasn’t sucking a lifetime’s worth of pain inhibitor out of the inhaler Tep had given me. He also warned me, Betra and Oses that I didn’t need to aggravate the injury with wild, wanton sex for at least a week. The son of a bitch is in my intimate business again, in other words. Some things never change.
At least he makes himself readily available to babysit Anrel. He and his merry clan kept my little sweetheart last night while I got in some desperately needed fun with Betra and Oses.
I was thoroughly delighted when Betra had us join him in his quarters. Delighted more to spy the swing set up over his bed.
“You wonderful, wonderful man. My back thanks you in advance.”
“My cocks thank you too,” Oses grinned as he gazed at the black strap contraption with its butt-friendly sling.
We cracked up. Then we stripped naked. I was beyond happy to be surrounded by muscular male bodies. To show my appreciation, I kissed and licked the wide chests so perfectly within reach. My hands roamed sculpted muscle, enjoying everything Betra and Oses had to offer. I worshipped them in turn, taking pleasure in hearing them sigh and moan as I touched everything. I savored them for as long as they would let me. In return, they stroked me, putting their hands all over my body.
When Betra lifted me into the swing, I was soaked with desire. Oses helped him secure me so that I was safe in the suspended seat. There were soft ties for my wrists on the straps over my head.
“Aw, come on,” I pouted at the Nobek. “I want to keep touching.”
“Don’t act pushy with me, pet,” he warned with mock severity. “You’ll be healthy enough for a spanking before this trip ends. Don’t think
I won’t give you every swat I feel you’ve earned.”
“Yes, Master,” I sighed, but my brain busily devised mischief that would earn me a nice butt-roasting spanking later.
Meanwhile, I swayed in the air with Betra standing on his bed in front of me and Oses behind. The sling was built in such a fashion that the middle section could be removed, leaving me supported by my upper thighs and lower back. The straps were super cushiony, but Oses voiced concern anyway.
“Some of the bruising rests on these supports.”
Betra checked. “I think she’ll be okay as long as there is no bouncing or anything of too vigorous activity. Rest as still as you can, Shalia. We’ll take care of all the movement.” He winked with a wicked grin on his face.
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