He didn’t respond, didn’t move, still expecting death.
“Aw man! If you’re dead this was all for nothing.” The woman said in annoyance.
A brief flicker of hope floundered in his chest, but he remained silent.
Abruptly they were both floating as the mass generator finally cut out completely.
With his hands behind his back he could do nothing, but the hulking figure looked as comfortable in zero gravity as he was on his feet as she kicked off the wall and drifted over to him.
Even floating, he remained still, letting his muscles relax, though it hurt when his numerous bruises stretched out. He kept his eyelids narrowed to slits as he slowly turned in mid-air until his back was to the black armoured soldier.
He half expected rough hands to grip him at any moment and choke the life out of him.
And indeed her hands did grab him, but lightly and only to still his slow spin as the mystery woman activated her mag-boots to secure herself to the wall.
He felt himself turned around so that his bruised and swollen face was inches from the figure’s opaque faceplate.
Releasing him for a moment, her hands reached up and took hold of her helmet, twisting it to one side and unlocking it with a hiss before pulling it off of her head.
Blonde hair floated out to hover around her angular features, framing her face like some sort of floating blue-eyed war goddess.
His eyes widened abruptly and he let out a surprised noise.
She smiled at the life returning to his features.
“Alive it is then. Don’t worry cutie, I’m here to rescue you.”
It was a cliché but she had to say something.
She reached behind him and snapped the wiring off of his wrists with ease, then reached up to remove the gag from between his swollen lips, wincing sympathetically when he made a pained noise from the dirty rag being pulled off of his bruised face.
Despite the pain of his numerous injuries and the chaos of floating in mid-air on a ship rumbling as it broke apart in space, Bryan was fixated on her eyes.
Even with blood on her armour and hair plastered to her face with sweat she was just so damned beautiful.
But Maria wasn’t nearly as distracted as the young man in her arms, and once she determined that he was alive she corralled her hair back into her helmet and sealed it back on her head with a hiss.
Only to hear Donnie screaming at her over the coms.
“-the fuck are you Sledge?!”
“I’m here Skipper! I got the hostage, he’s alive, but Billy-”
“Never mind that! The rads are spiking again! The reactor’s done! Eva already bailed! Now get your ass out of there!”
Clutching her prize tight, Maria released the hold her boots had on the wall and kicked off towards the hatch.
“How long?” She said tersely even as she sailed through the hatch and into the corridor.
“We got less than two minutes before this ship is a nuclear dust cloud! We’re jumping off. Junkers took the lifeboats, I’m blowing out the airlock we came in through!”
Maria kept moving, one arm clutching the rattled Bryan tight.
“We need a suit for the civvie!”
“No time! Eniella’s coming in close, he’s going into vacuum!”
Bryan wasn’t privy to the conversation as the noise cancelling effects of Maria’s suit prevented it, so he didn’t hear her curse at her captain.
“We’ll never get him on the ship in time! His odds of survival-”
“Are better than if we left him on a ship with an overloading reactor!” Donnie roared; “Get down here marine!”
Within a minute she had linked up with her captain who was standing by to blow the airlock and wearing a thoroughly annoyed expression that nobody could see.
Now speaking over the intercom, Maria addressed Bryan.
“Listen up cutie. You have to let all the air out of your lungs. Exhale as hard as you can!” She put her armoured hand against his mouth when he started to speak; “No time. This bucket is gunna blow, so we’re getting off! If you want to live, exhale right now!”
He had barely finished doing as she said when she gripped him tight and Donnie pressed the detonator.
The airlock blew outwards and the three of them tumbled into space.
The silence was deafening, but Bryan wasn’t even aware of it as the zero-pressure environment caused his tissue to swell painfully when the moisture in it began to vaporise.
This led to a horrible pins-and-needles sensation that overwhelmed him at the rapid drop in temperature caused by the water vapour leaving his skin.
Meanwhile his lungs felt horribly deflated and his eyes felt too large for their sockets as his awareness dimmed while the two marines scrambled to get him into the Pixie’s airlock.
The image of Maria’s smiling face, surrounded by the floating halo of her hair, popped into his mind right before he blacked out.
__________
Billy did her best to save her new patient’s life while Donnie, Maria and Eva watched from the secondary airlock off of the forward corridor that led to the cockpit, infirmary, and tac-ops.
“I’ve got a pulse but both lungs have collapsed. Kyle, help me get him into the infirmary. I’ve got about three minutes to get his brain oxygenated before he’s a turnip.”
“That the clinical definition Billy?” Eva joked.
Maria elbowed her in the ribs, though both of them were still in their armour, doing their best to stay out of Billy’s way as she and the mechanic carried their new passenger out of the room.
“Settle down you mopes.” Donnie said tiredly before activating the wall coms; “Davie, with the Junkers finally off our asses let’s get back to Kentis and collect our payday.”
Eva snorted as she checked her weapon.
“Here I was looking forwards to a bubble-bath.”
“I’m not running a spa.” Her captain snapped, then winced as her body reminded her that she had been shot very recently.
“You better get to medical and have that looked at Skip.” Maria said with a gesture at her damaged armour.
“Billy’s busy.”
“Cool, but if you bleed out in your suit we’re burying you in it. Be like shucking an oyster otherwise.” Eva said while inspecting the dried blood all over her own armour.
With the captain distracted by Eva’s snarkiness, Maria reached out to the coms unit on the wall.
“Hey Billy, got another patient for you. Skipper’s been hit.”
They could hear the controlled urgency in the doctor’s voice as she paused in her work to reply.
“I should be getting paid overtime for the number of people on this ship currently injured. Get her out of her armour and to the infirmary. Shoot her again if you have to.”
She knew her captain too well.
Donnie leveled her best withering glare at the towering blonde and the gory redhead before relenting to the pressure from them.
“Fine, we’ll take a breather. But no fucking bubble-baths!”
“Wouldn’t think of it Skip.” Eva said with a smirk.
Shortly after Maria and Eva had helped the frustrated skipper out of her rig and ensured that she made it to the infirmary without stubbing her toe, they headed below deck to the charging stations in the drop-pod ready room, pausing briefly to stow Donnie’s damaged rig in the armoury for Eniella’s inspection.
They were mostly silent as they helped each other out of their suits, but when they were nearly finished, Eva spoke up.
“Hey, so why come the skipper couldn’t reach you for a bit on that shitty boat?”
Maria shrugged, trying to brush off the question as she locked her armour in place in its charging station beside Billy’s.
“I dunno, star-gnomes?”
Eva nodded, as if accepting the bullshit excuse.
“Cool, because you know, the only other way that she wouldn’t have been able to reach you would be if you had taken your helmet
off. But you’re not some wet behind the ears FNG who would do that in the middle of an op... right?”
In some ways it was worse for Eva to be the one dressing her down for her reckless behaviour, but Maria accepted her lumps with grace and aplomb.
“Yup, not a chance would I ever do that. Like I said: star-gnomes.”
Eva sucked air between her teeth with a sharp squeak.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice that our new passenger ticks all of your boxes.”
Again Maria tried to brush her off.
“You could stand to have your box ticked.”
Having stripped down to nothing the two of them headed into the showers to wash away the sweat and grime accumulated over the last several hours.
Marines weren’t shy about sharing a shower together as they knew to make the most out of their water rations in the field, so their conversation wasn’t over.
All business, Eva lathered up her lithe freckled form with a bar of scented soap before tossing it to Maria.
“You and Billy are the only two people left on this ship who haven’t gotten all hung up over pussy or cock.” She observed; “Even the skipper is all gaga for BunBun.”
“And you’re the only person I know that sees that as a bad thing. Don’t try to pretend that you wouldn’t sit on Bunny’s face given the chance!” Maria laughed as she scrubbed underneath her weighty breasts.
Water sluiced off of Eva’s pert backside as she rinsed away the last of the soap.
“I have been given the chance!” She snapped; “It’s like the K’or-Macka don’t know what NO means!”
The redhead’s shoulder briefly rubbed against Maria’s nipple as they changed places under the showerhead.
“Don’t give me that crap! We both know you’ve never said no to her! You need to loosen up, have some fun!”
With their shower over, the pair of them stepped back into the ready room while still toweling off.
“We’re getting off topic. We were talking about you not getting doe-eyed for some civilian we know nothing about.”
Maria shrugged.
“That’s assuming he even survives. But if he does and I decide to let him fuck my tits, you going to be able to handle that, or will it make you too jealous?”
She squeezed her ample breasts together and stuck out her tongue obscenely as the taunted the petite soldier.
Quick as a whip Eva brought one leg up between Maria’s, bare foot slapping into naked minge with an audible smack.
“Oof!” The blonde doubled over from the cheap shot to her privates.
Mostly dressed now, the redhead was quick to dart past her before she could retaliate, smacking her rump as she went.
“Don’t be gross Sledge or I’ll kick you somewhere more intimate.”
“Ginger b-bitch, low blow.” Maria half-coughed, half-laughed.
“Just helping you knock out some of that dust for the new guy.” The ginger bitch paused in the hatch leading to the hall, her voice turning serious; “I... I don’t have so many friends left that I can afford to lose one to a bit of space-debris turned boy-toy.”
Maria blinked in surprise at the vulnerable admission but when she looked to the hatch Eva was gone.
She shook her head slowly, then winced as she rubbed at her tenders.
“Yours is dustier than mine.” She complained to herself.
Her hand paused on her intimate space though and a shudder ran through her when she remembered the look of wonder on their new guest’s face when she had taken her helmet off.
She licked her lips as she gave serious thought to what she might be able to do about that.
Shaking out her wet mane of blonde hair, she got a grip on herself; no sense making any plans without knowing if he was even going to survive.
Chapter 11:
Leaky Boat
The captain’s visit to the infirmary was brief: an injection of nanites and a dermpatch over the injury and Billy all but threw her out to focus on her more critical patient.
Now they were in something of a holding pattern while they recuperated from their adventure and waited for Davie to get them back into position over Kentis.
“That was some cluster you led us into there, Skipper.” Maria joked as she plopped down next to Donnie at the table in the common room, hair still damp from her shower with Eva.
“Don’t be a cunt Sledge. It’s a bad colour on you.”
The blonde laughed off the complaint, but there was a bit of zeal in her eyes that Donnie had seen before.
“You got the shakes marine?”
Maria opened her mouth to say something, but instead took a moment to draw in a breath, letting it out in a huff a few seconds later.
“I’m fine Captain, just been a while since we had any excitement around here.”
“You’ve been in multiple firefights in the last few days.” Eva pointed out from the other side of the table where she was nursing a cup of tea; “Didn’t you get hit with a rocket recently?”
“Yeah but that was a whole day ago. Took a shot to the baby-maker since then.”
The redhead adopted a look of supreme innocence at the accusation in the blonde’s voice.
“Maybe you said something stupid to deserve it.”
Not entirely following the conversation, and not really wanting to by that point, Donnie got back on topic.
“You start coming undone don’t be a man about it. Go snuggle with Bunny or talk to Billy when she has a moment.”
Having leaned rather heavily on the heavenly Bunny herself in the past, Donnie knew full well how good her company was for the soul.
But she didn’t dwell on the K’or-Macka, still focused on Maria’s nervous energy.
She lifted an eyebrow at her to prompt a response but the blonde jumped back to her feet.
“Like I said, I’m okay. Though now that you mention it: I think I will go and poke my head into the infirmary, see how our new friend is doing.”
Though her tone was artless, Eva’s eyes still narrowed with suspicion, but she said nothing.
“I said talk to Billy when she had a moment!” Donnie shouted after the towering woman’s retreating back; “Ugh, whatever, just don’t get in her way. We lose her newest patient it means we blew up a goddamn Junker frigate for no good reason!”
“Roger that.” The blonde chirped before disappearing through the hatch leading to the bridge and the infirmary.
After Maria had made her exit Donnie turned to Eva.
“How about you Hooker, you need any hand-holding? Or to be fitted for a straightjacket while I’m ordering hers?”
The redhead sniffed and shrugged.
“Whatever, I gutted one shitbird and fragged three more in the engine room. Wasn’t that exciting. Just want to get paid already.”
Appreciating the other marine’s frank reply, Donnie winced and scratched at the dermpatch covering her injury.
“I guess the real trick will be convincing Eniella to clean your armour for you.”
Now Eva’s look soured.
“Yeah that’s gunna suck. Dried blood is a bitch. I’ll get some chow and see about cleaning it off before we hit up Kentis again.”
“Probably a good idea, red isn’t your colour.”
“What’s with you and colour today?” The fiery-haired woman muttered as she went into the galley.
Though Eva could be temperamental at times she was one of the most effective marines Donnie had ever commanded, never shirking her duties to the mission or to her crew.
Privately the skipper felt she just needed to get laid.
Not long after that they learned that Billy’s patient was stable and alert, though still in rough shape, so it was time to get back to work.
They made a quick trip down to Kentis to retrieve the uncovered transport, the crew more than running on empty by the time they launched the two vessels back into space.
They all knew that they couldn’t afford to take a real break until they were safe
ly out of the lawless sector, which meant a slipspace jump.
Donnie was working on her umpteenth cup of coffee as she walked towards the front of the ship, pausing to check the infirmary to see how well their guest was recovering from his ordeal in vacuum.
Her tired brain ground to a halt though when she saw the young man sobbing inside, Billy had one arm around his shoulders as she comforted him.
Without even looking the veteran medic stuck her free arm out and sharply gestured for her captain to leave immediately.
Smart enough to know that ‘Doctor Wu’ would do anything to protect her patient’s physical and psychological wellbeing, including kicking the crap out of ‘Captain Nelson’, Donnie discretely slid the door closed and turned away to instead climb the slanted ladder to the cockpit with one hand, the other gripping her coffee mug low to her thigh.
While climbing the ladder she felt a deep pinch in her hip from where the laser had burned through her suit, but she ignored it. The dermpatch was holding and Billy’s injection of nanites would finish mending the bone within a handful of hours, any discomfort she felt until then was simply par for the course.
The medical-grade nanites were one of the most expensive items onboard the ship, as such Billy tended to save them for damaged organs, tendons and bones, rather than mere soft tissue injuries.
Besides, what good is a battlefield injury if you can’t show off the scar later?
Once in the cockpit Donnie rounded the seat block to meet her pilot’s frown.
“How we looking?”
“Was about to call you. Not terrible, but not great.” Davie brought up an image of the underside of the ship and pointed to where a thin stream of gas was spitting out into space; “Whatever I sat on dirtside must have been something pokey. The inner hull is still intact but it nicked an oxygen line.”
“Damn. How are the levels?”
The redhead stifled a yawn as she rubbed at her tired eyes, her fingers pulling down and away from her freckled nose when she was finished.
“It’s a slow leak but they are definitely dropping, recycler can’t keep up with it. We don’t get that patched up in the next sixteen hours we’ll be in trouble. Kyle and Eniella are already suited up. Just need you to make the call.”
Pixie Hazard Page 10