by J. Naomi Ay
“Good afternoon, Captain Taner,” she said. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yes, Madame,” I replied using the Mishnese term. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“You're quite welcome. Dr. Jerry says you need to watch your diet and exercise a bit more and you'll be fine. He'll also have a prescription for you. Have you got a doctor aboard your ship?”
“Yes, Madame, I do. But our sickbay pales in comparison. I am amazed at all the equipment you have here.”
“Spaceforce Command takes good care of us.” She smiled and turned to leave.
“May I speak with you privately, Madame?” I begged. “I really need to talk with you.”
“Of course,” she replied lightly, but a shadow passed over her eyes.
“You do remember me? I brought you a gift years ago…from Senya. He is now your husband?”
“He is,” she nodded. “And I still have those chess pieces.”
I lowered my voice. “I must speak with him.”
She studied my face. “I will tell him how he may contact you.”
“Thank you, Madame,” I bowed my head. “Which wife are you anyway?”
“Which?” she coughed and narrowed her eyes at me. “First, last, and only, Captain Taner.” This confused me. She was obviously Human. How could Senya have chosen a Human woman to be his queen? Why would he have done that? What about an heir?
At just this moment, a pale blue woman, an Andorian, wearing a Spaceforce uniform and holding the hand of a little boy, walked into the sickbay.
“Hi Mommy! Hi Uncle Jerry!” the boy called. I nearly fell off my feet. This boy was the image of Senya. His coloring was different and his eyes were his mother’s deep blue, but there was no question who he was. In fact, he looked as Senya might have looked if Senya had been, well normal.
“Blessed Saint,” I gasped.
The Captain glared at me again. “Is something upsetting you, Captain Taner?” she demanded.
“Mommy, can I go have a waffle with ice cream on it with Uncle Jerry?”
“Please?” The Captain turned from me and scooped up the boy into her arms, kissing his cheeks.
“Please, please, please,” the child begged.
“Does Uncle Jerry want a waffle with ice cream on it right now?” she looked askance at the doctor.
“Absolutely!” the doctor responded and took the boy from the Captain. “I was just thinking, just one minute ago, how hungry I am for a waffle with ice cream on it. What kind of ice cream are we getting today, Steven? Chocolate? Strawberry? Purpleberry?”
“Purpleberry!” Steven broke into a fit of giggles. “I want purpleberry, Uncle Jerry.”
“Purpleberry it is, partner,” the doctor said and swung the boy up on his shoulders. “Say bye bye, Captain Mommy.”
“Bye bye, Captain Mommy!”
I stood there in a state of shock as they left. The sickbay was quiet except for the nurse, Lynne, who was moving equipment into one of the operating rooms.
“May I do anything for you, MaKani?” the Andorian woman asked quietly.
“No, thank you, Siria,” the Captain replied. “I'm going to grab a quick cup of coffee with Captain Taner, and then I'll head up to the bridge.
“Yes, Madame.” The Andorian dipped low and then looked up at me from her prone position. To my surprise, she offered a quick curtsey to me. “Lord Taner,” she said.
I choked on my saliva.
“Let's go to the coffee bar for a moment, Taner,” the Captain spoke abruptly, indicating I should follow her out the door.
“Madame, sure,” I nodded my head and headed out of the sickbay. Immediately, we were met by a large Andorian man, also wearing a Spaceforce uniform.
“I am so very confused,” I admitted, speaking for the first time in Mishnese.
“The MaKani will not speak Mishnese aboard this ship,” the Andorian growled in a deep, thick voice.
I glanced back at him. “Okay. But, you do?”
“Andorus serves the MaKennah ka Rehnor, our King.”
“Really? Okay.” I waited while the Captain spoke with a young officer who was requesting a signature on a document. The Andorians were declaring Senya as their King? What had happened while I had been off in the galaxy innocently piloting my freighter? We resumed our walk to the coffee bar and sat down at a table. The Andorian went off to fetch us drinks.
“So Taner,” the Captain leaned across the table, speaking now in Rozarian. She smiled and seemed calmer, less abrupt, without the doctor or anyone else listening. “You left Rehnor when?”
“Nearly thirty years ago,” I replied, taking a mug from the Andorian who seated himself at the next table and kept a watchful eye on the Captain. “I took Senya to live with his uncles in Karupatani and then I left, tasked with visiting you.” I smiled congenially. She blushed.
“Why did you leave?”
“It would have appeared that I had become a traitor to Mishnah by delivering Senya to Karupatani and so I had to even though it was at King Yokaa’s behest that I did so.”
“Why?” the lady asked again, sipping from her own mug.
I paused for a moment and wondered why she didn’t know about this. Maybe it wasn’t my place to provide it.
“Senya was twelve when you did this? He had been very ill?” she prodded.
“That's right. Akan had tried repeatedly to kill him and was nearly successful. After the last attempt, the King realized we…I…couldn't protect him anymore. He was in the hospital for a very long time, then, comatose. We didn’t know if he would even survive.”
She nodded and gazed distantly across the room.
“He told you about this?”
“No,” she shook her head and smiled a little. “I remember when this happened.” Then she turned back to me, and I realized her eyes were the very color of the oceans on Earth, when looked down upon from orbit. “It's complicated.”
“I’m really confused by all this, Madame,” I admitted. “By you, by the Andorians.” I waved at the guard. “By your son. May I ask you a few questions?”
“Go ahead.” She shrugged.
“Senya? Where is he?”
“We live on Rozari. He was a doctor, a surgeon. Well, he still is, sort of.”
“Senya? Senya cannot see.”
“That's right,” she nodded. “He has sensory lenses now which he wears when he wants to see. Having a blind brain surgeon is a bit unnerving though, isn’t it? Actually, he doesn't do many surgeries anymore. He's really busy, too busy with the company and …and...”
“And? And being king of Andorus?"
“No.” She laughed a little and looked into her mug contemplatively. “They don't bother him too much. He's really just kind of a figurehead for them. It's the company and you know, the other place that keeps him so busy even though Thad and Berkan are running the company and he’s got a huge staff helping him with…”
“Berkie?” I gasped. “He's here too?”
“No. He does come for meetings every few weeks and he and Luci have an apartment in one of our staff houses, but no, he lives there.”
“Meetings?” I shook my head. “Staff houses? What company?”
“You really have been out in the outer banks, haven't you? We have a company. It's called SdK and we make medical equipment and operate hospitals and clinics throughout the galaxy. Berkan runs the Rehnorian branch. He's married to Luci. They have two little boys.”
“How is Loman? Is he still alive?”
“Loman is doing well and…and…in the same position although he is always grumbling about how he wants to retire. I suspect he will when the old king…well, you know.” She swallowed hard.
“And your little boy, Steven?”
“Shika. We call him Steven on the ship and when we visit his grandparents on Earth. Everyone else knows him as Shika.”
“It is a Karupta name,” I mused. “Prince Shika de Kudisha.”
The lady's face colored again.
&n
bsp; “Shika has been declared ineligible. He was born on this ship near Spacebase 41. That's the way we wanted it to be.”
I nodded. “And Senya? He is …”
“He is who he is,” she stared into her coffee cup. “It's really hard. I just didn't think this was all going to happen so quickly. Frankly, I've been hoping it would never happen. But I guess there isn't anyone else, and he thinks, he says, this is something he has to do.”
“Prince Akan is dead?” I asked, sipping my own coffee. “The doctor said he was killed on a spacebase in an altercation with your ship?”
“That's right.”
“Interesting,” I remarked and then remembered something from long ago. “Senya once told us that Akan would be killed by a Human girl. That girl was you?”
“Yep. That girl was me. I am sorry to be unloading on you like this, Taner.” She looked away. “Gosh, we hardly know each other and here I am treating you like my therapist. I just thought that since you are going to be Senya's Lord Chamberlain and all, you'd understand how crazy it is for us right now.”
“I beg your pardon, Madame?”
“I'm sorry.” She shook her head, and her curls bounced. She reached back to re-pin them in a bun. “You've got your own life still. They don't own you yet. Your ship will be repaired and then lucky for you, you'll be on your way again. It's not my place to ask you to give up your life to come help us out. I'm sorry for even thinking it. I just thought because Senya said you were...and there's so much work to be done and he's busy 24/7 and…what?”
“I am to be the Lord Chamberlain?”
“Aren't you? Senya said…did I let something slip that wasn't supposed to be public knowledge? Great Katie, open mouth and insert foot again. I'm really not cut out to be you know what.” She sighed and patted her hair down. Her cell buzzed. She glanced at it quickly and then rose to her feet. “Sorry Taner, I've got to go. Maybe we can talk more later?”
“Madame,” I jumped to my feet and bowed to her as she rushed past me.
The next day we were docked at a spacebase. I waited in the sickbay until the doctor signed off my release. Already the engineers had given me an estimate of more than $1Mil to repair my propulsion system. I couldn’t afford this. If I paid for the repairs, I would have no money left to operate the ship. I was late on this load of freight due to the breakdown, and I would have to pay penalties on top of it. Three of my crew had already quit. We would be dry docked for a month on this base just waiting for repairs. I thought about my freighter, my home for nearly thirty years. She was mine, and I loved her, but strangely, I didn’t care anymore. There was only one thing that mattered, and that was Senya. I was to be the Lord Chamberlain and my ship was now history.
“Are you doing okay, Captain Taner?” The nurse, Lynne, checked my blood pressure one last time. “Dr. Jerry said he'll be back in five minutes and he'll sign you out as soon as he gets here.”
“Thank you,” I replied and contemplated my next move. The Captain asked for my help. I needed to let her know that I was ready and willing to help them out.
It was then that I heard a high pitched voice squealing outside the sickbay door. In rushed young Prince Shika dressed in a SS Discovery t-shirt that read Junior Crew on the back.
“I'll tell you what, Steven,” the doctor said, following the child. “Let me take care of Captain Taner's paperwork and then we'll pretend I broke my arm and you can fix it.”
“Yeah!” the Prince replied and proceeded to climb up on an empty gurney. He reached up to play with the SdK monitor above it while the doctor went in to his office.
“Better not do that, young man,” I cautioned in the Noble Mishnese. “You might break something.”
He turned and eyed me curiously. “Who are you?” He responded to me in the Noble Mishnese with a flawless accent. I was impressed.
“I am Taner,” I replied and stood up to offer him a slight bow, appropriate for a child prince. “Who are you?”
“I am the Prince Shika de Kudisha,” he replied, sitting on the gurney and swinging his legs into the air as if to propel the cart forward.
“Prince? Really?”
“Yep,” he nodded. “But everybody here just calls me Steven because I'm only a prince on Rehnor.”
“I see.”
“Are you Lord Taner?” He asked, scrutinizing me carefully.
“I am!” I gasped. “Who told you about Lord Taner?”
“Lord Berkan.” He jumped down from the gurney and stood in front of me, fists planted at his waist. “Lord Berkan said that someday Lord Taner would come back and Daddy would make him babysit me and Petya.”
“And who is Petya?”
“He's my best friend. His daddy is Lord Berkan. Petya has white hair and his brother Marik has orange hair. Are you going to babysit us?”
“What did your daddy say about that?”
“Daddy said that would make you run away again.”
“Your daddy is spot on,” I laughed. “Your daddy is a very smart man.”
“I don't want you to babysit me anyway. I like Uncle Jerry.” Prince Shika ran to tackle the doctor as he emerged from his office with my release and several rolls of gauze tape. The doctor picked up the boy with one arm around his middle and held him while he squirmed and laughed.
“Here you go, Captain.” The doctor handed me the forms and then threw himself on the gurney. “What did I break today, buddy, an arm or a leg?”
“Both!” Prince Shika cried and immediately started to wrap gauze around the doctor's left foot.
“Steven is going to be a great doctor like his dad,” the doctor informed me.
“I'm going to be a Space Doctor like you, Uncle Jerry,” the boy replied seriously. “And a captain like Mommy.”
“Oh, you are?” The Captain said, coming through the door and there immediately following her was Senya.
“Blessed Saint,” I cried for years ago when I first had a vision of Senya as a grown man, he appeared to me just as he was now.
He was a striking figure. Physically, he was built tall and powerful like all the de Kudisha princes, but there was a presence about him, an aura, as if he were touched by the Saint. I fell to my knees.
“What the fuck? Get up man.” He clamped his fist around my arm and yanked me to my feet. “We don't do that here.”
“Your Royal Highness!”
“Shut the fuck up, Taner,” he hissed in Mishnese and held my arm so tightly, I was afraid he would snap it right off. “We're on a bloody Allied Starship.”
“Don't swear, Daddy,” the little boy called.
“What is going on here?” The Captain said in English, looking from Senya to me.
Neither of us spoke. The doctor watched from the gurney, his leg now covered in gauze.
“Senya, let go of him,” the Captain enunciated slowly.
Senya released my arm and stepped back.
“Captain Taner wants to speak with you,” she continued evenly.
“Why are you mad at Lord Taner, Daddy?” Steven asked, busily wrapping the doctor's arm.
“Daddy's not mad, Sweetheart,” the Captain replied sharply. “This is how Daddy likes to greet his old friends.” She glared at the both of us.
“Katie, you have become acquainted with Taner?” Senya asked.
“Yes. He has been aboard the ship for the last week. Taner had a heart attack and Jerry gave him a bypass.”
The MaKennah surveyed me. “You are well now,” he concluded and turned back to his wife. “Taner and I will speak for a moment. You and Shika go on to the spaceplane and wait for me there.”
“No, we will stay with you and walk together to the spaceplane,” she replied. “Taner and I have already become good friends.”
“I don't want to go,” Shika declared. “I'm not done fixing, Uncle Jerry.”
“That's okay, buddy,” the doctor said and sat up, sending ribbons of gauze onto the floor. “It’s time for you to head home anyway.”
The little
boy frowned, and his eyes welled up. “Your leg's all broken again, Uncle Jerry.” He sniffed and then burst into tears.
“Oh, Shika.” The Captain picked him up as he started to howl. “Hush now.” She took him out into the hallway.
The MaKennah smirked. The lady shot him a glance full of daggers as she left.
“Not very obedient is she?” I remarked, reverting back to Mishnese so the doctor would not understand.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Taner?” The MaKennah snapped while waving for me to follow him. I grabbed my bag, and we left the ship through the open airlock that led out into the mall.
“I had heart surgery, Sir,” I started to explain.
“I know that.” He lit a cigarette and blew out grey smoke.
“My ship broke. Spaceforce rescued us.”
“Ah, well get yourself to Rozari and come to my office. You have work to do now.”
“Yes, Sir. What about my ship?”
“A freighter? It could be useful. Have it repaired and bring it to Rozari. My company has a large bay in orbit. You can dock it there. I shall send a plane to pick you up.”
“I can't afford…”
He sighed like I was an idiot.
“By the time you walk back to the repair bay, my company will have authorized all charges. I've got to go now.” He pulled a buzzing cell from his back pocket. “Ay yah, Dickon, what now?” He walked away from me as if I were forgotten.
“Senya?” I called after him. “You told me we would meet again on Rozari and I would have a freighter.”
“So I did.” He stopped and smiled at me. “Welcome back, Taner.”
Within a week, I was installed in a flat on the grounds of the villa in Takira-hahr and given an office inside the residence next to Senya's office as well as another office at the corporate headquarters of SdK. I was given a very nice speeder, a substantial salary and two assistants who had moved here from Mishnah along with the rest of the household. My official title at SdK was Executive Assistant to the CEO. Anyone who wanted or needed access to Senya had to go through me first. Every call, every text, every email, every person became my responsibility. I was the fortress through which all others had to pass and if I decided they were acceptable, if I deemed them worthy, I would patch them through to Kinar.
