by K. B. Wagers
Max returned the nod. “Yes, Commander. We’ll check in after we’re on board.”
Chapter 31
Jenks couldn’t say exactly how she got on board the CHNS Hamilton Bane, only that Max’s hand was on her the whole time, a comforting weight holding her in place.
Part of her wanted to punch the shit out of Max, but a larger part was grateful beyond words for what the lieutenant had done. She’d known, somehow, she’d figured out that following orders would keep Jenks in line. In control.
Sure, there was that screaming little girl in the back of her brain sobbing for her big brother, but all outward appearances had Jenks calm and coherent. The fact that her hand was locked in Doge’s collar was just to keep the ROVER from wandering.
“Admiral Hoboins said he was in critical condition but stable,” Max said in a low voice as the three Neos walked with shoulders back and game faces on down the bustling corridor of the carrier toward the medical bay. “We’re going to go see him and then go back to our quarters and then you can do what you need to do, including throwing a punch at me if it will help.”
It hadn’t been a direct order, but Jenks murmured an assent because it seemed expected as they crossed over the threshold. Ma touched her back for just a moment as he passed her.
“Lieutenant Maxine Carmichael, Ensign. You have a patient we’re here to see—Commander Nika Vagin. Who’s his doctor?”
The woman blinked at them. “Carmichael.”
Jenks watched as Max dragged air in through her nose, a move she already knew the lieutenant did to stay calm. “Yes, Ensign, I am a Carmichael. Now with that out of the way, who is the doctor?”
“She wasn’t asking about your name, Maxine. She means me.”
Max’s hand tightened for just a moment on Jenks’s arm and then that wall slammed down over her expression. “This is not your ship.”
“Correct,” Rear Admiral Josiah Carmichael said with a small chuckle.
Jenks bit her lip, looking between Max and the man she assumed was her father. They looked nothing alike. The rear admiral was a stocky bear of a man with dark skin and a wide face. An odd contrast to Max’s slender build and lighter brown skin, but looking closer, Jenks realized their eyes were the same.
“I was on Trappist-1e with your mother on leave when the explosions happened. Your young man here was the worst off of the survivors. Given what I know of the Trappist facilities and the abilities of the Near-Earth Orbital Guard medical staff, I decided to follow him to Earth to make sure he had the best care.” Jenks watched Admiral Carmichael’s gaze flick to Ma and then back to Max.
“He’s not my young man,” Max bit the reply off. “And before you tell me we’re not allowed in here, this is Petty Officer Altandai Khan, my teammate and his sister.”
Max’s father studied Jenks with dark eyes that were strangely emotionless, and she decided she didn’t like the man. His practiced smile was for show. “Petty Officer Khan,” he said at last. “Your brother has been injured, but he is in good care.”
The only thing keeping her together was Max’s order, so her question was perfectly polite. “May I see him, Admiral?”
“You and Lieutenant Carmichael may visit. Master Chief, if you’ll wait here. Five minutes, no more. You’ll have to decon. Changing room and scrubs are through there.”
“Thank you, Admiral.” Max took Jenks by the upper arm and walked away.
“That was your father?” Jenks watched her as Max ushered her into the changing room and started to strip down.
“Yes,” Max replied. “Which is good news for Nika. Best doctor in the CHNN overseeing his care is a good thing. He’s just not great on the parenting front. Get changed, I won’t put it past him to count this time in our five-minute limit.”
Thankfully Jenks didn’t ask any more questions, just stripped down in silence, and less than two minutes later they were standing in front of the decon chamber outside of the ICU. Max could see Nika through the glass, his face peaceful in what was likely a medically induced sleep despite the violent bruising and gash that cut across his lower lip.
The realization that she cared—possibly more than she should—about a man she’d just started getting to know slammed into her with enough force to take her breath away.
Max shoved her interaction with her father out of her mind—she hadn’t expected him aboard this ship, and certainly didn’t know what to make of their brief chat. His dismissive attitude about the competency of others wasn’t the least bit surprising. The closed-off military formality was standard even when she was on the best of terms with her parents, and considering how their last conversation had gone, she was vaguely surprised he hadn’t kicked her right out of the medical bay.
He’d barely glanced in Ma’s direction and his dismissal had been cold. Max felt a surge of guilt that her actions could have severed their friendship so thoroughly.
What really made her stomach clench was that Nika’s right arm, his sword arm, was wrapped so heavily she couldn’t tell what was wrong with it. She gripped Jenks’s hand as they passed through the decontamination process, then entered the room.
Jenks took a step forward, reaching a hand out, but stopped and looked at Max’s father. “Doc, may I touch him?”
Josiah nodded. “Over here. There’s a stool.”
Max bit her tongue, surprised not only by his unusual kindness but by the jealousy it woke in her as he led Jenks around the bed and sat her at Nika’s side, then backed off to join Max once more.
“I’m told he was herding his team and civilians ahead of him. The fact that he made it to the doorway before the explosion is what saved his life. They rescued a lot of people.”
“That sounds like Nik.”
“You know him well?”
“No, we—” Max thought of all the letters sent back and forth across the light-years, all the calls, the quiet support from a man she’d only just met. “He was on my NeoG team before I arrived.”
“There’s a lot of internal damage,” Josiah said, unsurprisingly choosing work over emotions. “A broken right ankle that will have to be reconstructed once we get to Earth. The worst of it is his right arm. It was crushed at the elbow, the ulnar nerve severed, humerus also broken, though not as badly as his radius and ulna.”
Max pressed a hand to her mouth as the tears threatened. “Will he lose it?”
“Most likely. Even I am not that good. The nerve is damaged so badly they’d have to regrow a new one, and that tech is still not reliable. He’ll be better off if we amputate, but we’re waiting for the swelling from the head trauma to abate. Once he regains consciousness, we’ll talk it over with him. It’s not a risk to his life at the moment. Though with his sister here, I’m assuming she would have medical power of attorney. I could—”
“You won’t ask PO Khan,” Max said, cutting off her father, surprised at how calm she was. “That’s too much to put on her right now and she’ll tell you to wait for Nika to wake up anyway.”
“Proper procedure—”
“She’s my subordinate, Admiral.” Her voice sharpened as her grip on her temper slipped. “I’ll tell her.”
“Very well, Lieutenant.” Josiah blinked. “Time is up. Do you want to inform the petty officer or should I?”
“I’ll tell her.” Max crossed the room, laid a hand on Jenks’s shoulder. “Petty Officer, it’s time to go.”
Jenks wiped the tears from her face and stood. As she headed for the door, Max leaned down, pressing her palm to Nika’s exposed left hand. “Fight for this,” she whispered against his ear. “We’re here, don’t give up.”
“Thank you, Admiral,” Jenks said.
“Of course. I’ll call you if he wakes. You’re both welcome to come by tomorrow. I’ll let the staff know.”
Max gave her father a nod as she ushered Jenks from the ICU and back to the changing rooms. The other woman was quiet as she pulled on her own uniform and met Ma at the entrance to the medical bay. He shared a look
with Max, wrapped an arm around Jenks without a word, and headed down the corridor with her tucked against his side.
“Lieutenant?” Jenks whispered as they crossed into their quarters.
“Yes?”
“Can I melt down now?”
“Give me a moment, Petty Officer.” Max scrubbed her hands over her face and then turned around. “There are some ground rules here, okay? No breaking things, no hurting anyone, and if I say it’s back on I expect you to stop right then.”
Jenks nodded. “Yes, Lieutenant. I understand, Lieutenant.”
“Okay.” Max smiled. “You have my permission to melt down, Jenks.”
Jenks sagged into the nearby chair and Max shared a look with Ma when she didn’t say anything at all for several long moments.
“What do you need?” Max asked softly, going to a knee next to Jenks.
“I don’t know.” The words were hesitant and it broke Max’s heart to hear that kind of uncertainty in someone like Jenks. “I don’t know what to do, Max.” Her voice cracked. “His arm. His sword arm! What are we going—”
Max swore through gritted teeth. “Jenks, I’m sorry. I told my father not to—”
“He didn’t say a word. I’ve got eyes in my fucking head, Max. I saw his arm. You don’t do that kind of wrap job unless there’s a very good reason. What’s wrong with it?”
Max told her, linking her fingers through Jenks’s when the woman gasped, and tears started sliding down her face.
“I can’t make that choice for him. I won’t.”
“I know. That’s why I told my father it could wait until Nika woke up. His life isn’t in danger from it and if things take a turn for the worse, my father will do what needs to be done and we’ll deal with it from there.” She grabbed Jenks by the back of the neck and pulled her in, pressing their foreheads together. “I want you to get some sleep, okay?”
“Okay. Thanks, LT, for everything. I appreciate it.” Jenks stood when Max released her, accepted a hug from Ma, and then wandered into the head without comment. She emerged a few minutes later and crawled into her bed, rolling toward the wall.
Max exchanged a look with Ma and tipped her head at the door. He nodded, following her into the other room. “Is she going to be okay?” she asked.
“I think so,” he replied, reaching out and squeezing her by the shoulder. “You did good today, Max. I’m proud of you.”
The tears welled and next thing Max knew she was sobbing against his chest. Ma held her, big arms wrapped around her shaking shoulders as he murmured nonsensical words of comfort in her ear.
“Better?”
Max straightened and wiped the tears from her face. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
“My father didn’t speak to you at all, did he? Beyond that bullshit formality.”
Ma smiled. “Don’t worry about Josiah, Max. He and I will sort this out. It’s not your burden to carry. You concentrate on Jenks and Nika.”
“I want to find the bastards who did this, Ma. I’m going to make them pay.” Grief spent, Max turned her attention to the fury in her chest. Someone had hurt her friends, her new family, and damned if she would let them get away with it. “When we get to Earth I’m going to go talk to my sister. I think she knows more than she’s telling me.”
The question Jenks had asked just before Max delivered the news slipped back into her head. Why had the freighter been carrying LifeEx from Trappist to Earth? A black market of stolen serum made a hell of a lot of sense, but to take it to the manufacture point—
“Oh god.”
“What?”
“Rosa said TPK thought there was a lab in the warehouse.” She pressed her hand to her mouth, watching Ma’s expression as the implication sank in. “Ma, what if someone is duping the LifeEx? I have to call—” She cut herself off, shoving the impulse away. “If I call Ria about this we’ll be back at square one.”
Ma shook his head. “You know she’ll do the same thing she did when she found out about the maishkin. What do you want to do?”
Admiral Hoboins’s warning about what side she was on wasn’t necessary, but Max could hear it in her head anyway as she replied. “There’s got to be someone back on Jupiter who could analyze the serum we found on the freighter. We don’t have a sample of the real LifeEx to compare it to, but I’d be able to look at the major compounds at the very least and spot a difference.”
“You sure?” Ma held his hands up when Max glared. “Just checking, kiddo.” He cued up the com. “Let’s talk to Sapphi, I think she can point us to where we need to be.”
Max forced herself back into the composure that had fled when this whole thing started and hitched a hip up onto the desk as Ma sat in the chair and put the com through to Jupiter Station.
“How’s Nika? How’s Jenks?” Sapphi asked. “Tamago, go get Rosa.”
“Jenks is sleeping, she’s all right, though.” Max tried for a reassuring smile. “Nika is alive. My father’s overseeing his care. He’s in good hands.”
“That’s a lot unspoken, Max,” Rosa said as she appeared in the frame.
“I know, I’m sorry. We did get to see him. He’s not conscious, though.” Max couldn’t make the words “he’s going to lose his sword arm” come out of her mouth.
“It’s not good, Rosa,” Ma said. “We’ll talk about it when he’s awake. Right now we need you to do something for us.”
“Anything.”
“Did you get a sample of that LifeEx off the freighter? And has LifeEx Industries been notified yet?”
The trio looked at each other. “I advised Admiral Hoboins that it would be in the best interests of our case to hold it for a few days. He’s in agreement. I certainly didn’t order Sapphi to take a sample of a highly controlled and protected substance.”
“That’s too bad,” Ma said, and Max was impressed by the straight face he kept. “We thought there might be a possibility it’s not real, but the only way to check would be to run a sample and let Max here take a look.”
“You think the LifeEx isn’t real?” Rosa tapped a finger on her lips. “That is too bad, isn’t it? Max, couldn’t you make a call?”
“I don’t think it would be helpful, Commander. You know what happened last time.”
“Fair enough.” Now Rosa smiled. “Well, why don’t we see what we can do around here. You all focus on Nika. We’ll talk to you when we get to Earth. We won’t be far behind you.”
Max laughed and rubbed at the back of her neck when Ma disconnected the com. “That’s the most cloak-and-dagger conversation I’ve had in my life.”
“Never a good idea to plan a criminal endeavor on a live com. You never know who’s listening.”
“I wouldn’t know. I’ve never planned one.”
He grinned at her. “Now you have. Welcome to the NeoG.”
“Better than letting my sister steal everything out from under us,” Max replied. “I know that all this is connected, Ma. I just have to figure out how and what they want.” She glanced toward the bedroom. “Is Jenks going to be okay?”
“Nika will be, so will she.” Ma nodded. “She’ll sleep the shock off and be focused again in the morning. You really did a good job with her, Max. I don’t think any of the rest of us could have made this go quite as smoothly.”
“You all would have figured it out.” Max smiled and rolled a shoulder in discomfort.
“Take the praise,” he replied. “I know you’re not used to it, but you deserve it. I’m going to see if I can’t get in touch with Stephan again. If we want to know what these people are up to he’s the one who can help with that. We need to get ahead of them before someone gets killed.”
Max swallowed and nodded. “I’m going to change and go to the gym. I’ll be back in an hour.”
“Hey, Max?” She stopped and turned when Ma called after her. “Watch yourself.”
She nodded once. The cold reality that they couldn’t be quite sure of who to trust even here on a Navy
ship settled into her bones and stayed with her like a nightmare that she couldn’t quite shake.
Chapter 32
Rosa sat back and rubbed both hands over her face. Nika wasn’t part of her team anymore, but that was like saying that just because she was away from Angela they weren’t family. “I should have been there,” she murmured. “Should have done something more about this.”
“There wasn’t anything you could do, you know.”
Rosa dropped her hands and looked at Sapphi. “You think? I didn’t take it to Hoboins the first time Max and Jenks brought me the information they had.”
“You didn’t tell them to stop looking, either. Besides, we all knew there wasn’t enough for a report.” The ensign was watching her, a sad smile on her face. “LT did good there, huh?”
“She did.”
“And even Jenks respects her. It just took her a while to warm up. I’m glad she’s here. Though I feel like we sent Nik off to get hurt.”
“I know, but didn’t you just get done saying there wasn’t anything we could have done to stop it?”
“Fair enough.” Sapphi’s sweet face hardened into something hungry. “We couldn’t stop it, but we can sure as hell finish it. What are we going to do about this?”
“Well, you’re certainly not going to get working on that sample of LifeEx I know you didn’t take.”
Sapphi grinned. “I’ll also not be asking around to my contacts for any news.”
Rosa rolled her eyes. “We’re not on the com, Sapphi.”
“Hey, you started it, and someone is always listening.”
“I’m going to go talk with Admiral Hoboins and get clearance to take the ship back to Earth to pick up our crew.” Rosa pushed to her feet. “Tamago, get started on laying everything out. I want us to go over every piece of information we have on the system jumper, the dead, and what we know so far. It’ll give us a place to start from when we get to Earth.”
Her console buzzed and Rosa crossed the room to answer it. “Martín here.”