by Rachel Clark
“The bleeding isn’t too bad,” he said confidently, moving Jordan’s hand to press against the cloth. “But I want to have a good look in my operating theater. Oberon, show Jordan where to go while I check your companions.” Oberon led the way towards the back of the barn while the doctor moved to the backseat of the vehicle to check on the other two people Sarah had rescued.
Jordan strode into the surgery and held Sarah in his arms while they waited for the doctor. He didn’t want to put her down, as fear and relief flowed through him in equal amounts. He still feared for her life, but he was relieved to hear the doctor’s assessment. Of course, he’d be much happier when they knew for sure. He couldn’t lose her now and, well, there was no way he was ever letting her go. He stood there, processing the multitude of emotions when one solidified front and center. He wouldn’t leave her. Ever. He’d do whatever he could, whatever he had to do, to make sure he was with her always. He wanted her beside him for the rest of his life, and come hell or high radiation, he would make sure that happened.
* * * *
“Hey there, beautiful,” he said as her eyes fluttered open.
Disorientated at first, Sarah went to sit up, but a restraining hand held her down.
“Don't move,” Jordan ordered, his concern for her etched on his face. “The doctor wants you to lie still for a while to give the stitches a chance.”
She relaxed back onto the pillow as his familiar voice washed over her. Calm stole through her just knowing that he was still close. Her head ached as the pain inhibitor wore off and her side had begun to burn once more, but he was here, he was beside her. The nightmare she’d been having lingered, though, and she held his hand tighter than she intended.
“Sweetheart,” he said, concern lacing his voice. “Do you need more pain inhibitor?”
“No,” she answered quickly as she sucked air into her burning lungs and tried to control her emotions.
“Sarah, let me take care of you,” he said steadily as he watched her face closely.
“Okay,” she said quietly. The nightmare images receded as he rubbed his thumb over her hand. “I’ll take some more pain inhibitors as long you as you promise to be here when I wake up.”
He smiled then, his first genuine smile since they’d begun the rescue mission.
“Sweetheart,” he said firmly. “I’m not going anywhere.”
* * * *
He watched her as she slept, his resolve solidifying as he considered his future. He couldn’t take her back to the pirate ship without putting her in physical danger and since he had little else, he didn’t know where their future lay. His only sure knowledge was that he would be by her side, wherever that was.
If it wasn’t for the medicines that he was trying to facilitate a delivery for he wouldn’t have even bothered contacting his crew again. He would've happily dropped off the edge of the universe without a backward glance. Sarah was his world now, his future, and he was never going to regret the decision.
The doctor came over to check her, but frowned as he saw her color. He pressed a tiny machine to her forehead that beeped alarmingly when it touched her skin.
“Damn! Her temperature is rising,” he said, moving around the bed quickly to adjust the saline drip he’d inserted into her skin. The medicine on this planet was ridiculously out-dated, and the doctor used methods Jordan had never seen before. His voice wavered as he asked the question he feared the most.
“What does that mean?”
“It means that she’s likely got an infection in the wound and needs antibiotics. I don’t have any suitable for humans. They’re a scarce commodity on this planet—even for its citizens,” he said as he shook his head in disgust. “Do you have any on your ship?”
Jordan shook his head uncertainly as panic filtered through him.
“Will she survive without them?”
“I don’t know,” the doctor said truthfully. “It could go either way. She’s healthy and in good physical condition, so chances are her body could fight off the infection, but it will take her longer to recover and there is always the chance that the infection could lead to more serious complications.”
Jordan nodded his understanding, his eyes never leaving her flushed face.
“We have medical supplies onboard, equipment capable of healing this injury within minutes, but her safety is at risk there. I’ve been half-expecting a mutiny ever since she was bought on board. Many of my crew live up to the pirate reputation, and I’m finding it harder to keep them in line.”
Jordan ran a hand over his tired eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he made his decision. Either way was a gamble. Here she could die from an infection. On his ship, she could die in much more violent circumstances. He tried to imagine what she would want and realized that he already knew. She was a soldier and she would rather go down fighting than succumb to an insidious and preventable illness.
“I’ll take her back to the ship,” he said, his voice clear but tight in his throat.
The doctor nodded sadly, understanding and sympathy showing on his face.
“Can you give her something to get through customs? I may have trouble leaving the planet with an ill woman with a gunshot wound.”
“I will see what I can find in my supplies,” he said as he turned and left the room.
* * * *
Sarah woke suddenly as heat rushed through her veins and her energy level increased.
“Sweetheart,” Jordan whispered. “You need to wake up so we can get through customs.”
She nodded her head, unsure why they were going through customs, but willing to trust Jordan with her life, as well as her heart. She gathered her thoughts and concentrated on moving out of the vehicle so that he could walk her into the space port. The line at the desk wasn’t too long and she vowed to herself that she would get through anything as long as Jordan was beside her.
“Well that’s a new one,” the customs officer said as he processed their passports. “The new bride is usually blushing before the honeymoon, not after.” He was referring to the twin spots of heat high on her cheekbones caused by her fever. Jordan tried not to overreact to the casual observation.
* * * *
“It was a very good honeymoon,” Sarah said in a husky voice as she laid her head against Jordan’s shoulder. Just the sensual quality of her voice had his cock leaping to attention, but the customs officer merely smiled and waved them through.
He hurried her towards the area where her ship was stored and helped her into the small cabin, almost deliriously happy when he was able to close the door. He lifted her onto the seat next to the helm and held her hand a moment longer as she gave into exhaustion and her body once again shook with fever.
He moved about the cabin, quickly making sure that all systems were functional and impatiently waited for clearance to leave. Within moments, a message flashed on the console indicating their permission to take off. Jordan wasted no time getting the ship into the planet's atmosphere and charted a course for the last-known whereabouts of his ship.
He watched her closely as she slept, his concern for her deepening as she shivered in her delirium. Once he had the ship on course, he rummaged through her cabin, looking for anything that might resemble a medical kit. He found nothing, so he walked back to her and pulled her into his arms, loosened her clothes a little, and changed the environmental settings to a much cooler temperature. He was almost shivering from the cold himself, but he relaxed a little as her face lost its glowing red color.
As they got closer to the ship, G’ntriel's musical voice filled the cabin.
“Captain, do you require assistance?”
“Yes, G’ntriel, we do. Please have the medic meet us in the docking bay,” he asked, glad to hear her voice and amazed, as always, at her perceptiveness.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible. He is unavailable, but I have another person on board that will be able to help Sarah.”
“How did you know it was Sara
h who needed the help?” he asked before he realized he already knew the answer.
“I can feel her lethargy and her pain even from here, Captain. Is she going to be alright?”
“I hope so,” he said as he cut the connection.
He landed the ship easily, quickly released the valves, and let the door swing open. A woman stepped immediately into the doorway, the medic kit held in her hand, and G’ntriel barely a step behind.
“Sarah,” G'ntriel said in a voice that had lost its musical quality for the first time since he’d met her. “Tee-ani, anything this ship has is available to you. Help her, please.”
Tee-ani nodded, but didn’t turn around, all of her attention focused on her patient. She turned to the bag and withdrew a small cylinder that she pressed against Sarah’s neck. Sarah flinched as the metal touched her briefly and then relaxed again as the medication flowed through her veins.
“Where is the injury?” Tee-ani asked, glancing at Jordan for a moment before turning back to her patient. Jordan tried to remember Sarah’s description to the doctor on the planet.
“Lower right side, just above the pelvic bone. A projectile weapon hit her. The bullet passed straight through, but it’s the infection she’s fighting right now.”
“I’ve given her a wide-spectrum antibiotic synthetic agent, but considering how heavily the infection has affected her, it may take an hour or two for the synthetic antibodies to work. She needs the original wound treated in the medical bay.”
Jordan moved to lift her into his arms, but the concerns about his crew leaped to the forefront of his mind as he stepped from the ship.
“Where’s Andrews?” he asked, noticing the absence of his first mate. He should’ve been here. It was the first mate’s duty to be on hand as the Captain boarded his ship.
“That, dear friend, is a long story, and one I’d be happy to entertain you with once Sarah is making her recovery.”
He nodded once and set aside the curious comment, hoping that G’ntriel could keep Sarah safe. Then he led the way to the medical bay. He lowered Sarah onto the treatment table as her eyes fluttered open.
“Welcome back,” he said, smiling into her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” she croaked, her throat sounding dry and sore, remnants of the fever.
“Hello. Sarah. I’m Doctor Tee-ani and I’m going to fix this wound so that your body can fight the infection faster, okay?”
“Absolutely,” Sarah whispered, closing her eyes again tiredly.
“Okay, Jordan, er ...I’m sorry, I mean, Captain. Can you pass me the cutting laser?” she asked, blushing slightly at her gaff. Jordan smiled at her, the friendly gesture trying to convey his lack of annoyance. Nobody on the ship called him Jordan, except for G’ntriel and, quite frankly, considering her skills, she was more than welcome to call him anything she wanted. Judging by his new doctor’s confident actions so far, it looked like she’d deserve the same treatment.
He turned to retrieve the laser and handed it to her as he said, “Jordan’s fine. No need for the ship’s doctor to call me Captain.”
“Okay,” she said carefully as she glanced over at the encouraging smile on G’ntriel’s face. The doctor worked efficiently, her hands moving smoothly as she cut away the material that covered Sarah’s wound and then peeled back the soiled dressing. Underneath, the wound looked puckered and weeping, angry red and white streaks surrounded the hole and the stitches pressed into the swollen flesh, giving it an overstuffed look.
“Help me turn her onto her side. I need to see the exit wound.”
Sarah grunted as Jordan slowly moved her onto her side. His hand rubbed soothingly along the length of her arm as he held her still for the doctor. Tee-ani used an array of instruments he’d never seen before to assess Sarah’s condition.
“Okay. Hold her still so that I can heal this side first and then we’ll clean up the front of the wound.”
She grabbed a small stylus, checked the setting, and then placed it carefully over the wound. Jordan watched as the skin knit together quickly, the obviously expensive medical instrument accelerating the body’s natural healing exponentially. When the wound healed completely, Jordan lowered her back onto the table so that Tee-ani could heal the front.
Sarah opened her eyes as the instrument finished the job and the intense pain that had held her face rigid receded.
“Jordan, where are we?”
“On my ship, sweetheart. You need to get some rest, so go back to sleep while I get a situation report from G’ntriel.”
She nodded and a small smile curved her lips as she fell into a relaxed sleep. For the first time in twenty-four hours, Jordan worried about something else besides Sarah dying from an infection. He signaled to G’ntriel to follow him into the hallway and then stepped from the room.
“G’ntriel, what the hell is going on? You know I can’t guarantee Tee-ani’s safety, anymore than I can guarantee Sarah’s. There are men on this ship that won’t care that she’s a doctor. They’ll only see a human female.” He rubbed tired hands down his face, his anxiety levels increasing as he worried for both women’s safety. “G’ntriel, you are the only female on board because you are stronger and faster than most of the males on this ship. Since you married Judge, none would be stupid enough to try anything, anyway. You know human females don’t have your skills.”
“Jordan, much has changed since you left the ship,” she said, stepping closer and placing her hand on his left cheek. “You love her, don’t you?” He nodded, knowing that her empathic skills would’ve noticed his deep emotion and caring for Sarah probably before they even landed onboard.
“What has changed here? How can I keep her safe?”
Just then, the biggest, meanest looking pirate ambled around the corner, grasped G’ntriel from behind, and pulled her into his embrace. She smiled in delight and then let her husband, Judge, finish telling the captain about the past twenty-four hours onboard.
“Seems Andrews wasn’t quite happy with the way you were running the ship, so he staged a mutiny,” Judge said, his voice gruff. “But, well, he didn’t find the kind of support he was expecting.” The big man grinned, his yellowed and broken teeth making his face less attractive and far more dangerous looking. “Poor fellow found himself out the airlock almost as soon as he took over. Turns out that pirates who are willing to stage a mutiny aren’t the most loyal types, if you know what I mean.”
“How many of the crew did we lose?”
“Seventeen,” G’ntriel told him, a grim expression on her face. “All mutineers. I have two in custody, but considering their age and general intelligence, I doubt they will be making any trouble.”
Seventeen! That was nearly half the crew. How was he going to keep the ship moving with so few on board?
“Where did Dr. Tee-ani come from?”
“While we were cleaning up afterwards, we received an emergency hail from a ship not far from here,” Judge said, grinning. “When we went to investigate we discovered a badly-damaged transport full of human female prisoners. The guards told us that they were criminals, but my lovely wife here could sense no such thing. We spoke to the women and discovered that they had been abducted and were probably being sent to the slave markets in the Benorian system.”
“So we rescued them, made transport arrangements for those who wanted to return home, and invited the others to stay here,” G’ntriel finished with a smile.
“Will they be safe here?” Jordan asked, his concern about the danger his crew may represent still uppermost in his mind.
“Absolutely,” G’ntriel assured him in her musical voice. “There are none left among the crew that wish to harm them. In fact, I have sensed a need in most of the males to protect them.”
Smiling broadly and taking a full breath for the first time in he didn’t know how long, Jordan felt himself relax as his thoughts strayed to the future he wanted with Sarah. Was it really possible to have a future with her now that his ship
was no longer dangerous to human females? Would she even want to stay? Somewhere she had a life, maybe friends and family waiting for her return. Could he let her go if she wanted to leave? Somehow, he doubted it, but he steeled himself against the possibility.
G’ntriel stepped forward again and touched his face with her warm hand.
“Talk to her before you make any decisions,” she said and then stepped back into her husband’s embrace and changed the subject. “Were you able to find Oberon?”
He nodded as he made an effort to push his own jumbled thoughts aside so that he could concentrate on their original mission—the delivery of medication to children who desperately needed it.
He glanced at the ship's chronometer. “We have a rendezvous point in about eleven hours. I have the co-ordinates, but we need to modify one of the shuttle pods or Sarah’s ship so that we can hide it from the planet’s radar network.”
“I’ll get to work on that right now,” G'ntriel said confidently. Judge nodded to Jordan and turned to follow his wife towards the docking bay, but turned back to grin at him once more.
“Oh, and Captain? Welcome back.”
Jordan stepped back into the medical bay and shook his head at all the things that had changed in the last two days. Only forty-eight hours ago, he’d been the captain of a dangerous crew, struggling to maintain order and protect one tiny slip of a woman. Now he had a different crew, including many women who had chosen to stay because they had something to offer to their main mission—protect and help those who needed it using any means necessary.
He sat beside Sarah as she slept on the narrow medical cot and pulled her hand into his as he lowered his head to the mattress. Suddenly tired beyond anything he’d ever known, he closed his eyes and fell into a deep slumber, his hopes for his future following him into his dreams.
