by neetha Napew
“I wanded you.”
“Healer, look.” One of them pointed to the display screen.
A silent, light-bending ripple appeared in front of the Sunlace, spreading out in all directions. As the Hsk-tskt raider came about for a third pass, it ran into the ripple. I squinted as a huge flash of white light obscured the screen. When it cleared, the Hsktskt ship had been reduced to a pulverized cloud of debris.
It was so unexpected and lethal that, for a moment, all any of us could do was stare, openmouthed.
“Mama, wad dad?” my daughter whispered.
I swallowed. “A bad thing, baby. A very bad thing.”
“The Captain’s celebrated sonic cannons, I presume.” Squilyp’s face had gone pale pink, but he mopped up the blood on his cheeks and neck with steady hands. “Most proficient.”
“Dear God.” I’d never seen a weapon that could do that to a ship with one shot. Then I glanced down at my kid. “Intern, could you take Marel back to Alunthri for me?” I paused long enough to remove her wrist unit and stick it in my pocket before handing her off. “Go with ClanCousin Adaola now, baby. I’ll see you later.”
I watched her go, then turned to Squilyp. “Bend down here for a minute and let me check you.”
Blood filled the Omorr’s tympanic channels, which I evacuated, but there were only slight perforations which I quickly treated with a topical anesthetic. He claimed to have no lingering pain or hearing loss, so we went back to work. I signaled Alunthri to make sure Marel had returned home. It reported she was shaken by what she’d seen, but otherwise fine.
“I am sorry, Cherijo.” The Chakacat seemed confused. “I do not know how she got away from me. One moment she was there, the next...”
“She does it to everybody, pal. Don’t blame yourself, just lock down the door panel.” I saw a number of wounded stream in through the main entrance, and grimaced. “Looks like I’ll be tied up for a while. Would you stay with her until Duncan gets home?”
“I will stay as long as you like,” the Chakacat reassured me.
I went to help with the triage, which went smoothly, until Dhreen’s girlfriend showed up and demanded to see him.
“You can’t go in there,” I said as I herded her away from the critical care unit. “He’s in sleep suspension, and he’s also too weak to resist infection from the germs you’re carrying.”
“I have washed, thoroughly.” She spit the words out through clenched teeth as she tried to go around me. Although Xonea had made it clear to her that I hadn’t been responsible for Dhreen’s wounds, she still treated me like a leper. “He does not like to be alone. He needs me at his side.”
“He doesn’t need the bacteria that exist in places you can’t wash.” I saw the desperation in her dark eyes, and tried again. “Ilona, more than anything right now, he needs to stay under suspension.”
“So you say, patcher.” She stalked out.
More crew members reported with injuries, but all were thankfully minor, and Squilyp told me to leave.
“Everything here is under control. See to your family, Doctor.”
Marel burst into tears the moment she saw me, convinced her beloved “Uncwip” was hurt. It took a lengthy explanation, a signal to Medical so she could speak to Squilyp herself, then two bedtime stories before she calmed down enough to sleep.
Alunthri lingered, and seemed very upset, by the way it paced around our quarters. “I do not understand it.”
“I’m telling you, it’s like a hobby with this kid. Don’t let it bother you.”
“It’s more than that, Cherijo.” It stopped, and stared at Marel’s door panel. “I tried to track her, but I couldn’t find her scent path.”
Given the Chakacat’s extraordinary olfactory senses, that seemed a little strange. “Maybe you’re congested.”
“Perhaps.” Its whiskers twitched. “I will leave you now.”
“But-“ I sensed it was upset and needed some space, so I let the topic drop and walked it to the door. “Thanks for helping out.”
The cats were also agitated; an extra server of dried cod bits soothed Jenner, but Juliet wasn’t interested in eating. My husband came in about an hour later, his face set in remote lines.
“I take it you saw what Xonea’s big gun did to that raider,” I said as I brought him a server of tea.
“Yes.” He stared down at the steaming liquid.
Now for the hard part. “Marel saw it, too. There was no warning, or I wouldn’t have let her near the console, but... she saw everything.”
He glanced at her room. “Is she all right?”
“I think she will be, but we’d better expect more nightmares.”
He abruptly handed the server back to me. “I need to cleanse.”
As Duncan spent an extended interval doing that, I sat and thought. Although I had no love for the Hsktskt, and several million reasons to despise them, watching that ship being reduced to space dust had sickened me. I could just imagine how much it shook our kid.
As for Reever, he’d spent a number of years with the Hsktskt, first as a captive slave, then working for the Faction. He’d never gone into much detail about that time in his life, but I knew he had been friends with at least one of the big lizards. He had to feel as bad as I did. Probably worse.
What if TssVar was on that ship?
Jenner stayed curled up on my lap, but I noticed Juliet had gone back to pacing restlessly. They might have been frightened by the cannon blast, too, I thought, stroking my cat’s silvery head. Juliet disappeared into a narrow gap in the doors of a storage unit, the one where I had set up a kittening box for her. I thought she’d gotten stuck inside, but when I opened the door, I saw her squatting and straining with her tail up.
Whenever there’s mass destruction, life still came barging in to remind us that all is never lost. Tears blurred my eyes for a moment as I knelt down and gently felt her abdominal muscles contracting.
“Your timing is incredible.” I smiled as she nipped my fingers, then shook her head and yowled. “Settle down, Mom, I’m here to help.”
The first kitten emerged shortly after that, headfirst, still partially encased by a sac of membranes. Juliet expelled the placenta a moment later, while I broke the sac over the kitten’s face and began rubbing it with a soft cloth as soon as it wriggled and mewled.
She delivered four more in fifteen-minute intervals, which I separated from her into a small warming basket while she finished her delivery. The final kitten was presented breech, but I was able to turn it before it emerged. As soon as Juliet had finished, I sterilized the kittens’ umbilical cords and allowed their mother to consume one of the afterbirths before moving the rest aside for the Lok-Teel to absorb.
“Very nice, Miss Juliet. Tell me something-why is it every time I deliver babies they come in fives?”
I sat back on my heels as Juliet inspected and cleaned each of her kittens, and felt someone hovering behind me. I looked up to see Reever holding Jenner, and both had such expressions of masculine anxiety that I had to chuckle.
“Mom and kitties are doing fine, guys.” I rose and stepped back to take my cat so Duncan could see the new additions to the family. “Time for Jenner to move in with Salo and Darea for a few days, though.”
The proud father’s eyes met mine, and I could have sworn he was dazed. Hey, I did that.
I laughed. “Wait ‘til they keep you up all night, wanting to play.”
When I returned from placing Jenner into temporary exile, I found Duncan sitting on the deck beside the storage container, watching a now-content Juliet nurse her new family. He glanced up at me as I put a hand on his shoulder.
“How are you doing?”
He ignored that. “They seem healthy.”
I scanned them. “They are.”
He lapsed back into a brooding silence, so I went over to the console to put on a disc of Nat Adderly, whose warm, clear jazz coronet solos always gave me a boost whenever I felt depressed. Maybe he’d do
the same for my husband.
As if on cue, Duncan came over as the music began and took me into his arms. “Dance with me.”
We danced, or rather, we held each other and swayed to the music. After a few songs, Duncan pulled me over to our favorite chair and sat down with me on his lap. Forgive me.
I pretended to be surprised. For what?
For not protecting our daughter better.
I think that’s my line. I rested my cheek against his shoulder, and thought of the one Hsktskt who had tried to protect me.
TssVar was not on the raider.
How do you know?
I once served on that vessel. A brief memory stream from his years in the Faction crossed the link, and I saw the image of a rather dignified-looking lizard wearing a flightsuit. / knew the OverLord who captained it. He was a good commander, one who treated me fairly.
“Then I’m sorry that you lost a friend.” I curled my arms around his neck. “Duncan, maybe we should get off the ship. Take Marel and disappear on some non-League world.”
He seemed startled by that. “Do you really wish to leave?”
“No,” I admitted. “I love the Jorenians, and they have done a lot to help us. But as long as we’re on board this ship, it’ll be a moving target, and our friends and our kid will be in danger.”
We talked into the night, considering a number of alternatives to staying on board the Sunlace, finally agreeing to make our decision after we took care of our sojourn commitments in the Liacos system.
It hurt to think of leaving the Torins, but I had to be practical. “You know, I think I’ve seen enough killing to last me several lifetimes,” I said, just before I fell asleep in his arms.
“So you have,” he said, and held me close. “As have I.”
CHAPTER FOUR
New Additions
When Marel woke up the next morning and discovered Juliet’s litter, she planted herself next to the storage container and refused to budge.
“So diny, Mama.” She admired the blind, squirming kittens as they bumped and crawled into each other. I saw no indication she was still distressed over what had happened in Medical. “Can I hold one?”
I carefully held her eager hands with mine. “Not right away, sweetie. Juliet might get upset.” Her disappointment made me add, “Besides, don’t you want to signal Alunthri and Fasala and tell them the big news?”
I left her happily manning the console with Duncan, sending signals to practically everyone on the ship, while I kept an overdue appointment in Command. On the way, I passed repair crews working on areas damaged by the attack. Everyone seemed immensely satisfied with the results of the skirmish, but they were Jorenian. Crushing an enemy who threatened the HouseClan was practically instinct for them.
Yet even the most basic instinct could be overcome.
A pair of engineers, waiting outside the Captain’s office, graciously allowed me to go ahead of them, and when the door panel opened, I strode in.
“Cherijo, I had not expected you today.”
“You’ll get over it.” I refused Xonea’s offer of a seat and got right down to business. “Didn’t waste any time invoking the Council’s new codicil, I see. How many Hsktskt died yesterday?”
“Raiders carry a standard crew complement of four hundred.” He sat back in his captain’s chair and looked a little smug. “Perhaps now the Faction will have second thoughts about attacking Jorenian ships in the future.”
“The Faction will want to know how deadly your new weapon systems are.” I could have slapped the smile off his face. “You know the Hsktskt love efficient death machines.”
“I do not fear the Hsktskt.”
“Really.” I planted my hands on his console. “Xonea, I was barely able to keep those lizards from invading Joren before, and to do that, I had to give them four hundred League ships. If they find out about your sonic cannons, nothing will keep them out of Varallan or off Joren.”
“We developed this particular technology in direct response to the attack on Joren.” He stood up, seven and a half feet of pure warrior. “The ground to space cannon installations were completed two cycles ago, and the planetary stations have ten times the sonic output capacity.” He showed me all his pretty Jorenian teeth. “Let them come and attempt to invade our homeworld again.”
“Good attitude. Pretty soon you’ll have your own little war going.” I straightened. “Tarek Varena would be proud.”
Mentioning the father of Jorenian journey philosophy had the exact effect I wanted. “Clanjoren Varena desired to end the conflicts between primitive House-Clans.” He made a sharp slash with one hand, one of the more basic Jorenian nonverbal insults. “He did not have to stave off intergalactic slavers and mercenaries from a thousand worlds, bent on destroying every civilization in their path.”
“I know. All poor old Tarek had to do was end the hostilities between, what, forty or fifty measly warring HouseClans?” I made a tsking sound. “Not much of a job. They were just fighting a bunch of stupid territorial wars in which they enslaved, raped, and murdered other Jorenians, right? Bet he never even broke a sweat.”
Xonea saw where I was going. “It is not the same.”
“It is exactly the same, you thickheaded dolt!” I flung a hand toward the wide vista of stars outside his viewer. “Who are you taking on with your sonic cannons? The slavers and the soldiers and the hired killers aren’t any different than the ones Tarek Varena brought to the peace table. There’s just more of them.”
“I am not a philosopher!” He slammed his fist into his console, leaving a deep depression in the surface.
I drew back a step. “No, you’re not. You’re a warrior. A warrior who killed four hundred beings with one blow yesterday. That makes you an aggressive leader. And a mass murderer. Bravo, ClanBrother.”
The words hung between us for a moment.
“One more thing.” I took Marel’s wrist unit out of my tunic and slapped it on his console, hard enough to shatter the infuser port. “Keep my baby out of your war.”
He gathered up the pieces, and tightened his fist over them until a trickle of green blood ran down his arm. “I will defend this vessel and our HouseClan, Healer.”
“You do what you have to do.” Unmoved, I watched him bleed. “Next time you can explain to my daughter why the big ship went boom.”
“Marel witnessed what happened?” He came around the desk. “You allowed this?”
Now I wanted to make him bleed. “No, Xonea, I try not to deliberately traumatize my kid. She came to Medical and saw it happen on the screen, like the rest of us.”
He got in my face. “You should have removed her!”
“You shouldn’t have blown it up!” I shouted back.
For a minute, only an inch separated us, and I could have sworn he was going to take a swing at me. Just like the old days. But this Xonea hadn’t been drugged into mindless aggression, and quickly regained his self-control.
“I regret that my ClanNiece witnessed this.”
“I believe you.” Time to play my final card. “Tell me why you’ve got Qonja watching me.”
His expression went blank, but not before betraying a flash of wary surprise. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“This psych resident spends more time following me around than he does in Medical,” I said. “Next thing you know he’ll be sleeping between me and Duncan. What’s going on, Xonea?”
He dragged a hand through his black hair, messing up his warrior’s knot. “Qonja has not received orders from me to keep you under surveillance.”
I knew he was telling the truth-Jorenians are lousy liars-so why did I still sense he was hiding something? “Then you should have no problem with ordering him to stop it.”
“I will speak to him.”
I waved at his bloody fist. “Report to Squilyp to get that treated. If I have to suture it, I may sew it over your mouth.”
“As honest as you are blunt.” He bowed his head for a momen
t, then leveled his gaze with mine. “You must understand, Cherijo: An enemy allowed to live will return to attack again. That is the way of war.”
“Is it? What if you don’t? Maybe they won’t attack. Maybe, just maybe, they’ll come back to find out why you didn’t destroy them when you had the chance.” I went to the door panel. “When that happens, it’s called something else. The way of peace.”
I reported to Medical to take over from Vlaav, who had relieved Squilyp during the night. The Senior Healer appeared in time for morning rounds, and reluctantly allowed me to give him a brief follow-up auditory exam.
“No aftereffects from the sonic blast?” I peered into the narrow, flat apertures that served as his ears. The perforations had nearly closed.
“Only a slight headache.” He hopped off the exam table. “I understand you have five new feline companions.”
“For a couple of weeks, anyway.” I gave him a speculative look. “I was thinking-“
“No.” He backed away, shaking his head, holding up all three appendage-ends. “No kittens. I beg you.”
I scowled. “Coward.”
We decided to keep Dhreen in sleep suspension while we went back to work trying to slow the rate of deterioration in his liver. Ilona showed up again, demanding to see him.
“We did this yesterday.” I gestured behind my back at Adaola to come and help me. “You can’t go in there.”
“I will see him today.”
“Weaver Red Faun!” Adaola distracted the Terran girl by admiring the striking black-and-yellow tunic she wore. “What a lovely garment! I am going off duty now. Perhaps you would accompany me for a meal interval and discuss its making with me?”
“Chief Xonea will hear of this.” Not quite finished, Ilona shot me a look of sheer dislike. “The men on this vessel understand a woman’s duty.”
I couldn’t help the chuckle. “Jorenians don’t subjugate their females, Ilona. They’d get their teeth knocked in if they so much as tried.”
She didn’t like me laughing at her, either. “Regardless, I shall return.”
“I’ll hold my breath in anticipation,” I assured her.