Poor Man's Fight (57 page)

Though he wanted to fight back, Casey quickly found his options torn away from him. His right thumb and elbow were broken, along with the shoulder popped out of joint. He withstood the pounding of Tanner’s fists long enough to wrench a knife from his boot, but the enraged younger man spotted it before the weapon could be put to use. He seized Casey’s arm, tore the knife from his hand and plunged it into the pirate captain’s left shoulder.

Then he slammed his fist down on it, eliciting a second cry of agony.

It wasn’t good enough for Tanner. He kept pounding. Casey felt his jaw smashed, felt an eye socket crack, and soon couldn’t even muster enough coherent thought to curse at his foe.

Tanner forgot all about whether or not there were other pirates. He just kept hitting, pouring out hours and months of fear, pain and loss as if Casey had been the author of it all.

Shots rang out
once more. People screamed, some in fear and others in pain. Loud voices shouted out commands. The woman near Tanner called out for help. He barely noticed.

“Over here!” someone yelled. Tanner kept hitting.

“Hey, he’s down, he’s down!” someone else yelled. Strong hands grabbed Tanner’s shoulders and pulled him back. Tanner struggled at first, still fixated on punching and hurting, but then Casey was out of his reach. Men and women in vac suits and combat gear stood all around him.

“You got ‘im, buddy,” one of the marines said. “You got him. Relax.”

The words passed him by like another language, meaning nothing. “Shit, he’s been shot. We need a corpsman over here!”

“Gonna need a couple. Christ, look what he did to this guy.”

“Not even sure he’ll make it. Corpsman!”

None of it registered. Then someone said, “Tanner?”

A woman in full combat kit knelt in front of him. She pulled off her helmet. “Tanner, it’s me,” Allison said. She put a hand on the side of his face. “It’s over, Tanner. We’re here. It’s over.”

Tanner blinked at her.
She went blurry. “I tried, Allison. I tried.” Talking became difficult. Something large and heavy welled up in his throat, trying to force its way out. His mouth refused to stay straight.

Tears streamed down his face.

“I don’t belong out here, Allison,” he sobbed. “I can’t do this for four more years.”

“The drugs won’t erase memories or anything like that,” explained the ship’s doctor. He sat on a stool beside the bed, pointedly not touching the hypo spray injectors as he spoke. “But when someone experiences the sort of trauma you just did, it can be hard to get your brain and your body to realize you’re on the other side of it.”

Tanner gave a slow nod. The muscles in his neck ached, much like all the rest of him. He had no idea how he could’ve been running and fighting yesterday when he hurt so much today.

“Nobody’s going to force it on you,” continued the doctor, “but I can’t recommend enough that you talk to
someone in mental health about what you went through once you get home. I imagine you’ve got a lot to work out. And if you don’t feel it today, you probably will sooner or later.”

“It’s okay,” said Tanner. He’d have shrugged, if he didn’t have both of his shoulders partly restrained by gel packs. “I’m not gonna try to be a tough guy. You probably already gave me some of that stuff to get me to sleep last night anyway, didn’t you?”

The doctor nodded. “A little, but you didn’t need help falling asleep. You were exhausted. Again, it’s about making sure your brain doesn’t develop triggers. This is just the biochemistry, though. The hard part comes later.”

“Yeah. It’s okay. Do what you gotta.”

The doctor stood, picked up his hypo spray and placed it against Tanner’s neck. The injection hardly hurt at all.

The sound of knuckles rapping against the open door caught their attention. “Am I interrupting anything, sir?”
Allison asked the doctor.

“It’s fine,” he said, picking up his tray of equipment. “We’re done here.”

Allison took up the doctor’s stool as he left. “How’re you feeling?”

“Ow,” replied Tanner. “I feel ow.”

“Well, I hope you’re ready to walk out of here.
St. George
just rendezvoused with us to take you home. I asked if I could escort you down.”

“That was nice of you.”

“Yeah, well. I’m wonderful like that,” she smirked. “Figured I’d come give you a little update. Let you lean on my shoulder. Be supportive. Hold your hand in your time of need. Send my boyfriend into a jealous fit.”

“He didn’t seem like the jealous type. If he wants to be with you, he’d better get used to other guys paying attention to you.”

“Other guys aren’t usually famous,” Allison shrugged. “Which you are. Already.”

“Well, if you want, you can jump in bed with me and we can fool around until someone comes looking for us. Might be awhile, but I’m game.”

“You wish. Did I mention he’s seen me naked?”

Tanner sighed. “Go get the doctor. I need more drugs if I have to deal with you.”

“Poor baby. Anyway. You’ll be happy to know First Officer Boren and passenger Doris McArtle came out of surgery in the last couple of hours. They’ll both make a full recovery. You officially saved every-fucking-body.”

Tanner’s lips twitched, but fell again before they formed a full smile. “Not everybody. Not the captain. Or the ones who died when they first took the ship.”

“No, but you can’t hold those against yourself, Tanner. You weren’t even there yet.”

“I know, I just… I get that.
It just seems kind of crappy to do a victory dance when there are gonna be a lot of funerals.”

“That’s fair. I just don’t want you beating yourself up over shit beyond your control. You saved the day, Tanner,” she said gently. “You walk off this ship with your head held high or I’ll slap you around until you do.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You should also know that one
Lauren Williams has demanded we file a civil rights charge against you. She claims you threw a first aid kit at her when she lay helpless and injured, which I think was gloriously shitty of you,” Allison smirked. “Captain Leigh told her to shove it up her ass, but sooner or later some lawyer somewhere might try to make a thing out of it. I wouldn’t worry, though.”

“So she lived?”

“Yeah, she did. Her and another guy on that bridge. Jerry somebody, the guy you taped up. A few others survived on
Vengeance
by stuffing themselves in airtight lockers or whatever. A bunch of others had the sense to surrender when we boarded the
Pride
. That Casey guy pulled through, too.

“Since this was all in Archangel space and technically they were apprehended by an Archangel Navy crewman, that means they all get to face trial here. Which ultimately means no executions,” she added. “That’ll be a big diplomatic mess soon enough given how many systems with capital punishment will also want a piece of these guys.
Oh, and Archangel has laid claim to the destroyer and that’ll likely stick, too.”

“How many were caught?”

“Sixty-seven. Already been transferred off ship.” She looked at him warily, knowing what question would come next.

“How many died?” he asked quietly.

“Tanner…”

“I’m gonna read it somewhere sooner or later anyway.”

She couldn’t argue that. “Seven hundred ninety-six.” He closed his eyes. “Hey,” she added, “I took out four of them myself. You should’ve seen me. I was pretty bad ass.”

Tanner’s eyes opened again, turning toward her skeptically. “How do you feel about that?”

“Fine,” she answered. He waited. “Shitty. Both. I don’t know, Tanner,” she sighed. “They were scum and they were going to rob and murder people, and they had done that and worse to others. Do I feel bad about pulling the trigger on another human being? Yeah, kind of. I’d have preferred to take them alive. But I keep looking at the after-action analysis and I can’t see anything else I could’ve done differently. And the same goes for you. It’s not like anyone was gonna talk them down. You did the right thing.

“And I’ll tell you something else. You remember that talk we had on Augustine before this mess happened? I felt bad. I felt really bad that I had a part in getting you to enlist.”

“I made my own decision, Allison.”

“Hell, yeah, you did, and we both know that, but still. You’ve been miserable and I could tell and I felt awful. But I don’t now. I don’t feel a damn bit sorry, and I’m not gonna worry about you anymore. And I can give you a list of about twenty-five hundred people
and their families who feel the same way. So don’t go all angsty and guilt-ridden and mopey on me or I’ll never forgive you.”

Tanner broke the silence that followed her statement. “Wow.”

“Yeah. I know. Tough love.”

“You marines really are jerks,” he deadpanned.

“Yup.”

“I mean I used to tease Alicia about it, but
Jesus,” Tanner continued, plainly not bothered. “That’s your idea of counseling?”

“Yeah, it is.” Her holocom chimed, followed quickly by the
ringing of a bell. “That’ll be
St. George
. C’mon, get your ass out of bed, Crewman.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Tanner grunted. He started to rise, but found his way blocked.
Allison leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Isn’t that fraternization, Midshipman Carter? I don’t know who to tell first, your captain or your boyfriend.”

“You have no proof,” she said, helping him out of bed. “Let’s go.”

Tanner had nothing in the way of belongings to collect. He wore only loose hospital pants and a shirt, barely more substantial than pajamas. Allison put one of his arms over her shoulders at the door. Though his stride was stiff, he could walk. He was mostly glad for the emotional support.

“Oh man,” he said in the hallway. “All these painkillers they put me on… I’m definitely gonna
puke in the airlock this time.”

“Don’t worry about that,”
Allison assured him.

Tanner appreciated her easy confidence in him, but he knew better. His head cleared during the walk, but his stomach remained queasy. It was only when they were nearly at their destination that Tanner realized a ship the size of
Fletcher
had more than one option for linking up with a mere corvette.

St. George
sat waiting in the battleship’s open, spacious docking bay. Lined up at her loading ramp stood two side parties, the smaller of them made up by
St. George
’s crew. The larger party consisted of officers and crewmen from
Fletcher
.

Captain
Leigh stood at
St. George’s
gangway, calling the assembled men and women to attention. The docking bay fell silent.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Tanner said under his breath.

“C’mon, Tanner,” Allison urged. “Let’s get you home.”

The walk seemed longer than it should have been. Tanner felt his legs tremble as they drew close. The moment they were between the ranks of the side parties, he heard Captain
Leigh call, “Present arms!”

Tanner blinked. Every single person present outranked him, yet
every hand came up in salute as he passed. So did the hand of Lieutenant Duran of
St. George
. So did Captain Leigh’s.

Allison
brought him to the captain, then stepped back, turned and offered her own formal salute. Tanner turned, holding back a well of emotion as he returned the gesture. He did the same for Captain Leigh then, wondering briefly if he’d done this properly and then deciding he didn’t care. He was in hospital pajamas. He could be forgiven a breach of military courtesy or two today.

All the hands came down. Tanner felt marginally less awkward.

“It’s been an honor to have you aboard, Crewman Malone,” the captain smiled. She offered her hand, which Tanner took gratefully.

“I don’t know what to say
, ma’am.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she replied. “I know you don’t exactly have much gear left to transfer aboard,” the captain continued, “but we wanted you to have this, at least.”

The XO stepped forward, holding in his hands a familiar, battle-scarred Archangel Navy helmet.

“The computer kept working the whole time,” said
Leigh. “It recorded pretty much everything up through the moment my marines found it on the destroyer.” Tanner accepted the helmet with a trembling hand. “Damn fine piece of work, Crewman.”

His throat went dry. “Thank you, ma’am,” he managed. He looked to Lieutenant
Duran, whose face bore a kind, patient expression. “Sir?” he asked, wondering what if anything he was supposed to say or do.

Duran
took it from there. “Permission to depart, Captain Leigh?”

“Permission granted, captain,”
Leigh responded. They exchanged salutes. Duran gestured for Tanner to head up the gangway.