by Zen DiPietro
She measured the time in the artificial breaths that Krazinski supplied. Wren put a flat silver disk on Raptor’s chest and gave him regular shock-pulse charges, keeping his body’s electrical system online and forcing his heart to contract. So Fallon counted those too. Breath, pulse charge, breath, pulse charge.
Wren was on her knees above Raptor’s head, stroking his hair and whispering in his ear.
Fallon almost wished he was bleeding. That would give her something to do, trying to patch him up. But she could do nothing for him but count and wait.
Finally the Roosevelt’s medical crew arrived and took over, saying a lot of medical words. Fallon recognized enough of the words to be terrified in a way she’d never felt in her whole life. She trailed the medical workers, refusing to be more than a few feet away from Raptor. As if she could keep him alive by sheer will, if only she were close enough.
On the Roosevelt, her team and the others went somewhere while she followed Raptor to the infirmary. Time passed. She had no awareness of how much.
She heard more medical words like broken ribs and internal bleeding and concussion and suddenly all the attention was on her. She wanted no part of those words. The only words she wanted were, “He’s going to be fine.”
She refused to leave him, so the medical staff had to work on her sitting up. She heard soft murmurings including her name in the far corners of the infirmary. She didn’t care. Fuck their words. Fuck everything if Raptor wasn’t with her. The medical staff changed out, then changed again. She never took her eyes off him.
She nearly fell off the stool when his eyes opened a crack. She stood and leaned in close to him. “Raptor?”
He whispered something but she couldn’t hear it.
“What?”
He managed three louder, rusty-sounding words. “You look awful.”
She took what felt like the first breath she’d taken since he’d been shot. “So do you.”
“You smell awful too.”
“Well, you stink worse than I do.”
“Good.” A ghost of a smile haunted his mouth. “I’m going to sleep now. You go clean yourself up. Didn’t anyone tell you it’s unbecoming of an officer to look so shitty?”
She laughed. “Pretty sure that was the first thing we learned at the academy. I’ll go clean up if you promise me you won’t die while I’m gone.”
“Deal. No dying today.”
It was only after his eyes closed again that she realized how much her body ached.
“What I’d really like is some blistercakes.” Fallon frowned at her soup. It didn’t even have meat in it.
“Soup first,” Wren insisted, taking a spoon from the tray she’d placed on the foot of Fallon’s bed and handing it to her. “It’s chock full of Bennite vegetables, and will help restore your energy. Brannin says you two can try a little walking tomorrow. If you try today, I’ll send you right back to the infirmary.”
Fallon scowled, but put a spoonful of soup into her mouth. Sure, it was delicious, but blistercakes would really hit the spot.
“I ate all my soup.” Reclining next to her, Raptor sounded far too obedient. He held the bowl out for Wren, who took it and set it gently on the tray. “Can I have blistercakes?”
Wren beamed at him. “Yes! I’ll go get them.” She pointed at Fallon and said sternly, “Every drop or you’ll get nothing else! You could take some lessons from Raptor on being a good patient.” She and Raptor shared a look of mutual admiration.
Fallon turned her scowl on him after Wren left. “Why are you even in my quarters? You should be up already. You didn’t even have any broken bones.”
“Yeah, I nearly died, that’s all.” He scoffed at her. “You’re such a baby with your broken ribs.”
“And wrist and fingers. And a touch of fractured skull. But if it helps you to call me a baby, then fine.”
He pretended to glare at her, then broke into a grin. “Tell you what. I’ll sneak you a blistercake.”
She smiled. “Sounds perfect. Don’t tell Wren.”
“I won’t. We’d both get in trouble.”
They laughed. Not because it was really that funny, but because this was how they talked, and they understood each other perfectly.
11
Fallon paused during her midday rounds on the boardwalk to just look at it. At all the different species, the throngs of visitors, and the fantastic people who lived right here in her little community. It couldn’t have been more beautiful.
She missed Brak, who had left a week ago with her PAC commendation in hand to visit her homeworld. Fallon hoped it went the way Brak wanted. She looked forward to hearing all about it when Brak returned to take an advisory role with Blackout.
Krazinski and the rest of Blackout had taken residence on Dragonfire. It was a new but exciting change that had enlivened the entire station. They only knew PAC intelligence had moved in, but that was plenty thrilling all by itself.
The new citizens of Dragonfire had been housed on Deck Four. It gave her fewer accommodations to assign to ambassadors, admirals, and other VIPs, but she was fine with that. While Jamestown was being repaired, this was the perfect place for Blackout to operate. Fallon intended to campaign for keeping Blackout on the station permanently, separate from the rest of PAC command. But later, after command had gotten used to Blackout being on Dragonfire. Sometimes, in battle, timing was everything.
Lim was still working out his new existence. He’d chosen to remain with Blackout, at least for the time being. He might find a new calling in life, but meanwhile he had become very popular on the station. Arin was trying to recruit him for security.
Most of Jamestown’s remaining staff had been temporarily housed at the Tokyo base. That worked well, since a good deal of restaffing and restructuring was required. Tokyo was an excellent place to find replacements. Meanwhile, new oversight would be created, as well as new protocols for Blackout and all other branches of intelligence.
Fallon continued walking, only to pause again near the Tea Leaf. She stared at the table she and Wren preferred. She missed Wren. But the PAC could do no better than to have Wren on Jamestown, ensuring the repairs got done not just on schedule, but ahead of it.
Kellis was also helping, even while she received officer training. It was an unusual setup, but Kellis was an unusual and exceptional person.
Fallon was still surprised that Hesta had turned down an offer for a promotion and a position at headquarters once Jamestown was repaired. Hesta had counteroffered to be an asset for Blackout, and remain as the captain of Dragonfire.
Fallon had accepted a promotion of sorts on Dragonfire. She was now the chief of operations. It was a new position on the station, but it allowed her to appoint Arin as the chief of security. She would maintain oversight of the department, but daily operations would be up to him. Which freed her up to do more administrative work for the PAC. She’d taken the time, though, to set up an internship program for one Nixabrin Maringo. Young Nix gave Fallon hope for the future.
Jerin had also stepped up to serve the PAC. She brought her whole crew to the party, too. Jerin, while captaining the Onari as before, had become a PAC health ambassador. She would help speed the entry of worlds into the PAC by helping them develop their health programs. She would get to continue helping those who most needed it, while saying goodbye to her financial issues. And her home port would remain Dragonfire Station.
Not everything was starshine and rainbows, though. The Barony Coalition had continued its efforts to undermine the PAC, and they’d had moderate success in whipping up dissent among PAC members regarding broken treaties.
These were dicey times. Fallon felt like the PAC was poised at the top of a huge hill, and it wouldn’t take much for it to begin a long descent. She could envision two futures for the PAC. One where the difficulties were handled, and the PAC became stronger, safer, and more beneficial to all of its members. And one where tensions burned through the ties that had once bound, plunging planets
and galaxies into war.
But both possibilities always existed, in every society. She could only hope that unity won out. She’d sure do whatever she could to make that happen, as would all the amazing people she’d met over the past two years. Along with the people she’d long had faith in. They were equal to the task, and she was proud to be among them.
She saw Cabot wave from inside his shop as she resumed her stroll down the concourse. She waved back, then shot him one of Trin’s finger guns, just for fun.
He laughed and returned the gesture. Which seemed to imply that he knew Trin fairly well. Funny.
She returned to the quarters she still shared with Peregrine after her rounds. She was no longer chief of security, and her office now belonged to Arin. But she liked to maintain her tradition of walking the boardwalk every day. It felt like home to her, and she suspected that her daily habit contributed to the feeling of home for many of its residents.
Home. That reminded her of a message she’d been meaning to send.
She sat down at the voicecom display in her room.
“Hi, Dad. I’m thrilled that you and Mom are transferring to Jamestown. It will be fantastic to have you so nearby. And by the time you make it there, it will be better than new and almost entirely staffed. I think you’ll like Jamestown. And Sarkan is near enough for shore leaves so you’ll be able to get planetside on a regular basis. I can’t wait to show it to you—you’re going to love it. Especially Mom. You might never get her to leave the beach.” She smiled at the thought.
“Let me know when you’ve arrived and I’ll come see you at Jamestown. We have a lot of catching up to do. And there’s someone I want you to meet. Well, two people, but you met one of them last time I saw you. Anyway, I look forward to hearing back from you.”
She smiled, waved, then closed the channel. She started to call Hawk to invite him for a drink that evening. It had been a while since they’d done that and they were overdue. Before she could open a channel to him, an incoming message lit up her display. She answered it.
Raptor’s face filled her screen. He looked fantastic, as if he’d never caught a stinger blast that should have killed him. “Hey. I’ve got a line on that doctor Lim said helped him escape. Want to come to my quarters?”
“Be there in a minute.”
The screen went blank. She had to laugh. After everything she and her team had been through, there was always more to be done.
Thank goodness. They’d never be satisfied with anything else.
Blood and bone.
Message from the author
Thank you for reading Coalescence. I hope you enjoyed it.
If you want to stay updated on future releases, or read author interviews and book reviews, visit me at my blog http://www.WomenOfBadassery.com. Subscribers to my newsletter get access to exclusive content, as well as notification of upcoming releases and special offers.
Now I’d like to ask you a favor. Reviews are critical to an author’s success, which means that you have the power to make or break this book. I would be grateful if you could write a review at Amazon and/or Goodreads. Just a couple minutes of your time would mean so much to me, and help make it possible for me to keep publishing.
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In gratitude,
Zen DiPietro
About the Author
Zen DiPietro is a lifelong bookworm, dreamer, writer, and a mom of two. Perhaps most importantly, a Browncoat Trekkie Whovian. Also red-haired, left-handed, and a vegetarian geek. Absolutely terrible at conforming. A recovering gamer, but we won’t talk about that. Particular loves include badass heroines, British accents, and the smell of Band-Aids. Visit her at www.womenofbadassery.com where she writes reviews, author interviews, and other assorted fun stuff.
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