by Mina Carter
“Later,” he promised in a soft voice. “Wear something nice and come to me.”
* * *
“My lady, our orders were to keep you comfortable in here.”
The guard on the harem chamber door sighed as he repeated himself for about the seventh time. Feet planted apart Jaida braced herself as another explosion rocked the ship. She sighed, wondering how the hell she was going to get out of here.
The courtesans had been ushered en masse into the harem chamber because it was easier to guard them all together. The room was full of the sort of useless, pampered women who set her teeth on edge. To add to her private hell, most of them were in various stages of hysterics, so each new explosion brought fresh screams of terror and more fainting fits.
Initially she’d tried to help them, but any sympathetic feeling had long since worn off. They were playing up the drama to out-do each other, even though there was no one here to impress. Now, if she were lucky, they’d knock themselves out as they hit the carpeted deck plating.
Although her wardrobe in Seth’s suite contained all the same sort of finery the others were wearing she was dressed plainly in tunic and pants, with her feet in comfortable boots. At one time she would have been thrilled with the array on offer, but it just wasn’t Jaida anymore. Now she was more impressed with the sturdy boots and the quality of the plainer clothing. Stuff like this would last for years.
Jaida did stubborn well; it was a gift. Placing her hands on her hips she gave the guard her best mulish expression and went for the throat.
“How the hell can I be comfortable when there are people dying out there?”
As if to punctuate her point, the deck beneath their feet lurched again and somewhere beyond the open door, explosions and alarms sounded in a chaotic symphony. The guard paused, his attention fixed on the sounds coming from behind his shoulder. She didn’t need to be psychic to see his concern; wherever those explosions were, then most likely his colleagues were as well.
“Do I look like one of these brainless bimbos?” She gestured around the room, barely bothering to conceal her look of disgust.
The guard surprised her with a chuckle and a rueful smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I know. Why’d you think I’m stuck with this detail now? I was the guard you clobbered last time.”
Jaida’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Oh, my lady. I’m so, so sorry for that. Are you okay?” She bit her lip as guilt assailed her. She didn’t like hurting people, even when there was no other option.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Takes more than a little knock like that to put a section trooper down for good.” His tone was filled with pride, but then he seemed to remember he was talking to a woman who’d gotten the drop on him. He grinned sheepishly. “Only damage was to my pride, my lady.”
“Please, call me Jaida. And you are…”
“Kel, ma’am…ugh. Sorry, Jaida. Kelis Travett.”
She smiled and moved closer to the wall next to the door. She leaned one shoulder against it, her weight on one leg and her hands shoved in her pockets.
“Pleased to meet you, Kel. That’s a nice name. How long have you been a trooper?” she asked, trying to get him to talk about himself. If she could just get him to open up then she might be able to find an in, something to help persuade him she could help. A girl learned to talk fast on the run; the sorts of places she’d been, her life depended on it.
He didn’t get chance to answer. The ship went through its rock and roll act again, and more alarms joined the racket outside.
“Goddess, we’re really getting a bloody pounding.” Kel’s hands tightened on his weapon, his knuckles stark white.
“Look, I’m a certified dock medic. I’m used to dealing with crush and penetration wounds in low and null-gravity.” She tried her best to control the wheedling note in her voice. “Here I’m useless, but in the med bay one more medic, even one like me freeing up someone more qualified, might be the difference between life and death for one of your friends. Let me help. Please.”
Kel didn’t hesitate long. Another explosion, closer this time, rocked the ship and he cracked. “Shit. The boss is gonna have my fucking hide for this.”
Shaking his head at what he obviously considered his own stupidity, he backed up to the door and looked out. “Come on if you’re coming, but don’t blame me if this goes tits up. Now, look sick…okay?”
Nodding quickly she trotted after him before he could change his mind. The door closed soundlessly behind them. The guard on duty outside looked at them curiously.
“Problem Travett?”
Kel shook his head and motioned Jaida forward in front of him. “The lady just felt a little ill. Gonna take her down to the med bay and get her checked out.”
“What? Now? The place’ll be swamped. Can’t it wait?”
Jaida stuck her nose so far up in the air that, had she been any taller, she’d have gotten frostbite. She leveled “the look” at him. “No, it cannot wait. Don’t you know who I am? I’m Lady Jaida, the Prince’s favorite courtesan. Since he has requested my presence tonight, I don’t think he’d be very impressed if I was too unwell to attend him…” She let the sentence trail off and arched her eyebrow.
It had the desired effect. The other guard grunted and jerked his head in the direct of the medical bay. “Best get her down there then. Wouldn’t want to be in your shoes though, Chief Med’s not going to be happy having one of them in her med bay with wounded incoming.”
She walked past him, Kel hot on her heels. It didn’t take them long to get to the medical bay. The double doors were opened wide as people poured in.
There were stretchers and wounded everywhere, the shouts of medics for supplies and groans of pain from the patients assaulting Jaida’s ears.
“There. Bleeding’s stopped. Just remember to keep the presser ramped up as you start in on those wounds. You’ll be fine. Just work quick, okay?” A firm voice gave instructions from the other side of the room.
They both turned toward it. A small woman in medical scrubs stood on one side of the bed talking to one of the junior medical officers. For all his youth, she was smaller still, a child-woman with a mass of spiky red hair and small points to her ears that hinted at a heritage other than human.
Interesting coloring. Jaida suppressed the thought as the woman turned toward them. You never knew with non-humans which ones could read your mind. The name badge on her scrubs read “Dr. Sedj Idirianna, CMO.” Clear aqua eyes skimmed over them in a two-second appraisal.
“Okay. You’re not bleeding. No open wounds or burns. If you’re not dying, I’m not interested. What do you want, Travett?” The tiny doctor marched over to them, her stride determined.
“Sit.” She whipped out a small penlight and proceeded to shine it in his eyes, humming under her breath as she looked for a reaction. “You seem to be over your concussion.”
“Charming as ever, Doctor. Actually it’s not me I’m here for—”
She cut him off, her light gaze sliding to Jaida. “Don’t tell me, the lady- bird here broke a fingernail. Sorry miss, you’re gonna have to wait until I’ve patched all these troopers up. I think getting their guts back in the right place is a bit more important than your nail emergency.”
Jaida chuckled and held her hands up. Her nails were short and workman-like. “Sorry, I don’t do broken nails. Can I do anything to help?”
The doctor’s expression was a picture of surprise. She was obviously not expecting that sort of response. “If you’ve got any kind of medical training I think I might kiss you.”
Jaida couldn’t help the smile as she nodded. “Low and null gravity medic certs, basic triage, and first aid. Hell, I’ll even mop blood and vomit up off the floor if it frees up someone more qualified. Just point me where you need me.”
“Hey…” Kel broke in. “If you two are gonna kiss, can you wait for me to get popcorn?”
The Doctor rolled her eyes at Jaida as she reached out and cuffe
d the trooper around the back of the head. “Pervert. Go do something useful like get”—she turned back to Jaida—“what did you say your name was?”
She didn’t bother with her title. She was a courtesan now; she no longer had one. “Jaida.”
“Go get Jaida a medical cover-up.” She transferred her attention back to Jaida. “I’d like you on bed four over there so I can keep an eye on you at first. No offense but we don’t usually get courtesans with any sort of medical training. Any sort of training, apart from the obvious, if I’m honest.” The smaller woman snorted as she bustled Jaida over to the indicated bed. The medical officer working at it looked up then immediately went back to work, his hands moving swiftly as he applied burn gel to a vicious wound on his patient’s leg.
“Helan, this is Jaida. She’s going to cover bed four while you take a break. I’m assuming you can take over from here for him?” Dr. Idirianna’s eyes were sharp as she watched Jaida slip the medical cover over her clothes and step up beside the tired looking medical officer.
“Yes. What depth of burn are we looking at? Have you activated the gel yet?” Jaida’s voice was calm and professional. Bio-cool burn gel was often used on the docks. A lot of cargo was flammable and the sort of places she’d worked ran antiquated equipment. Being strapped into a loader when it went critical caused some nasty burns.
“Third layer. Gel not activated yet.”
A man of few words Helan finished smoothing the violent pink gel over the soldier’s leg. Tall and well-built, he wore the remainder of a Sector Seven uniform. He was panting, short fast breaths through lips with a bluish tinge.
She reached out and placed a hand over his brow. His skin was clammy.
“He’s going into shock.”
Jaida turned toward the cart next to the bed and scanned it with an experienced eye. It was well stocked. Dimly she shoved her awe to the back of her mind as she picked up a med-patch and checked the label.
“What are you giving him?” Helan stepped away from the bed and cleaned his hands off with some disposable towels.
“50 cal of tri-direnalin.”
She ripped open the small packet and slid the patch out. Careful not to touch the active surface with her fingers, she touched it to the soldier’s neck and smoothed it down. “There you go, handsome. Soon have you feeling right as rain.”
He managed a weak smile of thanks. She smiled, doing her best to radiate calm and confidence. She knew from long experience on the docks that a medic who flapped was no more use than a chocolate fire screen.
“Hmm. Good choice.” Helan watched as she retrieved the small, pen-like activator for the gel to set it. He was testing her, making sure she knew what she was doing. Nerves assailed her for a second, but she forced them down.
She knew what she was doing. People might see courtesans as pretty, useless ornaments, but she wasn’t.
She set the device to eighty three percent and touched the tip to the gel layer. After a quick check to make sure there were no gaps in the coverage, she pushed the button on the side. Light built up around the tip buried in the pink gel. A small ball built rapidly, then when it reached the size of a pea, started to pulse. Waves of light rippled outwards. With each wave, the gel started to dry and turn opaque until it was a flexible and protective layer over the burn.
Helan grunted in approval. “Good. I’ll leave you to it for a while. I’m dying for a coffee. Yell if you need help.” And with that, he was gone, leaving Jaida to handle the bed on her own.
It was hard work, but that was something she had never shirked from.
She lost track of time and the number of patients the porters routed to her bed as the ship rocked and rolled around them. Each explosion brought fresh waves of casualties through the double doors at the front of the med bay. She was reloading her cart with medication and getting her bed cleaned down and ready for the next patient when everything stopped.
Silence settled over the medical bay as all the medics concentrated on the lack of noise from the ship around them. The explosions, the shouts, the distinctive thud-clump of the ships weapons being fired continuously…they were all gone and everything was deathly quiet.
“Is that it? Is it over?” The female medical officer on the next bed asked, her eyes wide as she listened for anything happening outside.
“Err…I think so, perhaps we won?” Jaida ventured. She hoped so; there had been far too many injuries and deaths already today.
As if on cue, the comm cracked and Seth’s voice filled the room. “This is Kai Renza. We have defeated the enemy force, standing down to yellow alert. Good work people, we won.”
Relief shivered through the bay like a tidal wave. Knowing they weren’t going to be facing more waves of casualties, the medics leaned against their beds, exhaustion in every line of their bodies. Jaida snapped her gloves off and ran her hands through her hair. Her back hurt from standing for so long.
It wasn’t over though; there was still the clean up to do.
Turning she stopped as several of the newest patients in triage stood.
Throwing off their tattered uniforms, they revealed bare chests covered with pirate clan tattoos. They were all armed.
“Oh, I think the Prince is counting his chickens before they’re hatched.”
The voice sent shivers down her spine. “At the risk of sounding cliché, everyone down!”
Chapter Nine
“Damage report. Put it on the main screen. Do we have casualty reports in yet?”
Seth barked orders left, right, and center as he prowled the command deck of the Vengeance. His uniform was torn and bloody. Pirates had managed to punch through the ventral shielding on deck fourteen while he was on his way to the bridge, which had resulted in a minor skirmish. The internal sensors had been tripped as soon as they cut through the hull, and by the time the boarding party poured through the small shaft, Seth and his team were waiting for them.
“Seven shield emitters out on the ventral hull, three on the port…they’d been about to break through but the automated defenses picked them off.”
Jareth, standing at the console behind Seth’s command chair, reeled information off as it came in. His hands moved quickly on the touch sensitive console plate, occasionally reaching up to tap in mid-air on a display Seth couldn’t see from this angle.
“Casualty reports not in yet. Odd…”
Seth shot a glance over his shoulder in surprise. “Not in? I’m assuming Idirianna is on. That’s not like her.”
“No. It isn’t.”
Jareth’s hands moved in a complicated dance on the display. Both men knew the diminutive doctor. She’d patched them up more times than they could recall. She was forceful, determined, and above all else, methodical. Not reporting casualty figures just wasn’t like her.
Jareth looked up. Most people would have taken his expressionless face to mean he had no feelings one way or the other, but Seth knew him better.
Even several feet away he could see the concern in the tall Colonel’s eyes.
“I’m not getting any response from med bay at all.”
“Okay, check on the routing program for the internal sensors. Computer, display main room in the medical bay on the main screen please.” Seth flicked his dark hair back over his shoulders. It had come loose in the fight on deck fourteen. “Perhaps a power drain or something…” Jareth muttered as the computer thought about the query.
Seth shook his head. “No, can’t be. Med bay gets priority after life-support and reactor containment. They’ve got a separate small generator down there for the intensive care equipment. It’s powerful enough to maintain lighting and internal sensors…should have kicked in when the power was cut.”
Jareth opened his mouth to reply but the silky-smooth voice of the computer broke in over him.
“Unable to comply. No interior sensor feed for medical bay available.”
“What? Reroute power and try again.”
There was a short pause as t
hey waited for the computers response. All eyes were fixed on the main viewer at the front of the room but it remained stubbornly blank, displaying only the logo of the Imperial family, rotating slowly. Seth gritted his teeth.
“Unable to comply. No interior sensor feed for Medical bay available.”
Seth turned and nodded at the two guards at the door. “Get a patrol down to the med bay. Move.”
They didn’t argue, didn’t even nod, just turned on their heels and disappeared through the door behind them. Seth turned back to Jareth.
“Initiate diagnostic procedures on med bay, then work outward until you get a sensor feed. I don’t care if it’s the camera down the hall, I want eyes on the place and fast.”
“On it.” Jareth’s reply was short and sweet as he carried on working.
Seth resumed his pacing. Anger mounted and coiled tight in the center of his chest. Something was wrong. Somehow the pirates had found their way onto the ship, he could feel it in his bones. But how? They’d caught all the boarders and there were no other gaps in hull integrity. It just wasn’t possible.
“Okay, got a feed. It’s down two sectors but I can just re-angle this camera… Computer, put feed from sector seventeen, block C on screen please.”
Seth turned as the screen flickered into life. The Imperial logo was replaced by a fuzzy image of the med bay doors. They were frosted glass with the medical caduceus, snakes coiling around a staff, etched into them.
As they watched, the doors slid open. A body was thrown out, tumbling to the floor in the middle of the corridor like a broken doll. Within seconds blood spread across the floor in an ever-increasing pool.
“Crap…”
Seth ignored the muttered curse from somewhere behind him. Instead his gaze locked onto the figure framed in the doorway. Tall and naked to the waist, he wasn’t a member of Seth’s crew. The tattoos that crawled up the left side of his body in a chaotic tangle marked him for what he was: a pirate.
“Zoom in on his face.”