December
Page 35
Alana stared blankly at the ceiling as she lay on one of the beds in the medical facility. Trell stood beside her. It had taken the physicians there about half an hour to patch her up, and with their enhanced medical technology she was recovering from her wounds nicely. Nevertheless, her emotional state was a different matter entirely. She had spent most of that time expressing her gratitude to the staff for their help but complaining to Trell about how wrong the mission had gone and how much her wounds were hurting. Poor Trell had endured the verbal assault with patience and kind words. After a while, Alana calmed down, and apologized profusely to him. His response was to hug her.
The last of the doctors had cleared away and Trell was finally able to have a few moments alone with his To-Be. “Are you feeling any better?” he asked glumly.
“A little bit,” she moaned, shifting her weight on the cup-like medical bed. It was brown and made of a squishy, comfortable material, that had raised sides to allow the patient both comfort and the inability to roll off for their own safety.
“I don’t even want to ask what they did to you.”
“Oh, the usual,” she said with a smirk. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Very funny, Alana. You could have died.”
“Gavton wouldn’t have killed me. He would have lost his bargaining tool and all the information he wanted to obtain.”
“Damn it Alana, he was torturing you! Accidents happen!”
“Believe me, that crazy bastard knew what he was doing,” she said, a shiver running down her spine. “He wouldn’t have killed me.”
Trell stepped back, air whooshing from his lungs as he settled down onto one of the available mats on the floor.
“How’s she doing?” Ted asked, striding into the medical bay a notch below a run.
“I’m doing okay,” Alana said with a myriad of grunts as she sat up to see her visitor. “Still a little sore.”
“I’m so sorry...”
“Why in the name of the stars are you apologizing?” she asked in confusion. “It wasn’t your fault.”
“I know,” Ted mumbled. “Humans do that. We apologize to offer our condolences when something bad happens to someone else.”
Alana’s eyes were haunted. “Actually, I’m the one who should be apologizing to you, and to Juiya. About earlier.” She took a deep breath and continued. “It wasn’t Juiya I was mad at. It wasn’t even the Uyya Koleans.” A pause. “My father was executed by the Drevi during the war, they even sent us the tape, because an Uyya Kolean blew his cover. I’d never believed all the dumb things people said about Uyya Koleans, but after that... When I thought one had screwed up something so important... I admit my anger wasn’t very rational.”
Ted was quiet for a moment before he said, “I don’t think Juiya held it against you.”
Trell placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her. There was a long pause between them.
Alana finally spoke again, her voice cracked but uplifted. “General Toka told me our fleet is about to surround the Drevi ships. We outnumber them because they sent the majority of their invasion force home, and there’s no way those other ships will make it back fast enough. It sounds like our chances of victory are more or less assured.”
It took Ted a long moment to comprehend exactly what she was saying. When his brain was finally able to process it, he almost fainted on the spot. “You’re serious?”
Alana smiled, and Trell said, “She is. I was here when he told her.”
Ted reached out and hugged Alana tight. She returned the embrace awkwardly with a wince.
“Oh, oh, I’m so sorry,” Ted said, backing away. “I was just so excited and...”
“It’s okay,” Alana said, but she looked tired and her face was once again contorted with pain.
“I think we should go, Ted, and let her rest,” Trell said.
“Right. I’ll come back later,” said Ted.
She managed a weak smile as the two men exited the medical bay.
The two of them strolled down the hallway, Ted’s thoughts traveling approximately as fast as the December could go. There was a good chance they were going to win. That was the best news he’d gotten, well, in his entire life. But Juiya’s death had cast a tragic spell on the good news, and Ted felt he couldn’t even properly grieve until this was all over, so he buried the sorrow deep inside, knowing it would come back tenfold when he chose to unearth it again. It was hard to be important, to have so many depending on him when all he wanted to do was curl up in a corner and cry.
“What should we do next, then?” Ted finally asked, hoping an external conversation could keep his confused thoughts and feelings at bay.
“I’m not sure if the others are going to agree with me, but I think we should still go after the November.”
Ted was a little surprised. “I mean, I know that was our agreement with Ken, but why, if your ships are going to be more than enough?”
“Simple. You saw how apprehensive Kenneth was about us helping you. If the human resistance movements have a hand in the fight, or even better, if they’re the ones to deliver the final blow, so to speak, not only the resistance movements but the people of Earth will accept us more easily. We’re interstellar neighbors. Whether we like it or not, we’re going to have to deal with each other. I’d rather it be on friendly terms.”
“That’s easier said than done, since there are so many resistance units,” Ted said. “But I see your point. I think that would help ease our formal first contact with each other.”
Trell nodded his agreement. “Soon trade will follow, and I hope a lasting alliance will be formed in the end.”
Ted nodded. It sounded good, in theory. Two worlds forming an alliance to protect each other against outside threats. “Yeah. You’re right. I think this needs to end in something like that.”
Trell smiled. “You’re going to be a regular negotiator someday, Ted.”
Ted laughed. “If only.”