Supernova (31 page)

“This is
why I like working with you, Captain,” said the first officer.

With the
power reserved from the engine shutdown, Rian bolstered the shields. “Ten
seconds,” said Shraft through his comm badge, and Rian relayed that information
to the bridge. He and Kostin activated the ship’s manual controls. It veered
sharply to port, and a few people on the bridge were knocked over by the
impact.

The Nym
ship exploded cleanly on their viewscreen. Debris rained on the
Defiant
before floating away, and the red alert sirens began wailing again. Rian cut
the noise, and the red lights kept flashing silently.

“Damage?”
Rian asked the crew.

“None,”
said Kostin proudly. He and Rian corrected the ship’s angle, and Rian did a
quick check of the ship’s systems to be sure. There were certainly going to be
reports of injuries, but the life form sensors told him everyone on board was
alive. He powered the engines again, and the ship jolted and began its familiar
thrum beneath their feet.

“Captain,”
said Asmo from behind him. He turned around. Lily was awake. He bent down and
helped her to her feet.

“I’m
really here,” she said.

He
nodded.

“You got
me out,” she said.

“I had a
lot of help.”

“What
the hell just happened?” She rotated her shoulder. “I was slammed into the
floor and then everything went dark.” Tears formed in her eyes and spilled down
her cheeks. “I killed some of them,” she said.

He
motioned to wipe away some of them, then saw the Nym blood dried on his palms
and lowered his hands. “I know,” he said. “You did the right thing. I was
amazed at what you did.”

“
I’m
amazed I did that,” she said and scrubbed at her eyes with the back of a grimy
hand. She looked at the blood congealing on her skin and made a sound of
disgust. “God,” she sighed and sniffed the air. “We both stink.” She looked
around the floor and picked up the Nym badge.

Rian
remembered dropping the first one and felt like an idiot. “I’m sorry,” he said
quietly. “I completely fucked up back there. I should have pinned that thing to
my clothes. If you hadn’t had that one...” He didn’t want to contemplate what
could have happened.

“We
would have taken one from one of the soldiers in the lift,” she said.

“We
wouldn’t have had time.” She had nearly died because he let a badge slip from
his fingers.

“But it’s
over,” she said. “I had one that I took from a Nym I killed.” She took a deep,
shaky breath. “It’s going to take me a long time to get past that.” She wrapped
her arms around his neck, not caring that they were on the bridge or surrounded
by crew, and neither did he anymore. “Rian,” she said. “I love you.”

The crew
discreetly turned away. He whispered his next words against her mouth. “I love
you, too,” he murmured before pulling her up against him in a passionate
embrace. He kissed her, lifting her off the floor as though his life depended
on it. It did. He needed her.

“Incoming
from
Bishop’s Pride
,” said Kostin.

“What
the hell?” sniped a voice from the viewscreen. “Since when is
that
acceptable behavior on a bridge, Marska?”

Rian
released Lily and turned to the formidable Senior Captain Jena, who was
glowering at him. “Captain,” he said respectfully. “We appreciate your
assistance.”

“What
assistance? I saw a big fucking explosion almost right next to your ship. What
is it with you and big fucking explosions, Marska?”

“That
was a Nym vessel, Captain,” Rian explained patiently. “It auto-destructed. Me
and Lily were transported off just in time.”

“Who the
hell’s Lily, and what were you doing on a Nym ship?” Jena leaned forward in her
chair. She actually seemed intrigued.

Rian
gestured to her, holding on to his arm and cowering under the captain’s fierce
glare. She raised her hand tentatively. “Hi,” she said.

“This
will be explained later, Captain,” Rian said smoothly. “I certainly owe you an
explanation, and so does Fleet.”

“I’ll be
seeing you on Kevnar, anyway. I’m being transferred there. They’re taking my
ship out of service,” she spat. As an afterthought, she added, “Fuckers.”

“Incoming
from the
Magna
, sir,” Kostin said.

“I have
to respond to that, Captain,” Rian said. “Thank you, and I’ll be seeing you
shortly.”

They
signed off. Lily brought his face to hers for a kiss as the screen changed from
Jena to the
Magna
’s senior captain. He let her go, then took his seat in
the captain’s chair.

* * *

Lily
hovered by the bridge’s elevator doors, staying out of the way. Should she
leave? She desperately wanted to take a shower and change her clothes.

Her comm
badge pinged, and she jumped. “Sick bay to Stewart.”

She
tapped it. “Mora!” she exclaimed. “Are you okay?”

“I’m
fine, but all hell’s broken loose in here,” she said. “Taz is here. He broke
his wrist when the ship went ass-up. Did you sustain any injuries?”

“Nothing
serious. Just cuts and bruises, and my shoulder is sore.”

“Get
your ass down here,” Mora said. “That’s an order. I can do that, you know.”

Rian was
deeply engaged in a conversation with the captain of the
Magna
, and Lily
wasn’t about to bother him now. She slipped into the elevator.

Sick bay
was full of crew, some dressed and others in civvies or pajamas. Mora and a few
other off-duty nurses bustled around the area, checking bone regenerators and taking
scans. The ship’s other doctor, Bekri, held court from the waiting room in a
wrinkled Fleet uniform. Mora spotted Lily and offered a tentative smile. Her
short hair was mussed, and she wore a nightshirt and Fleet-issued pants under a
too-large lab coat with bulging pockets.

“Stand
still,” she commanded. She held out her mediscan unit.

“Here?”

“The
rooms are full,” she explained. “We have four concussions, a broken pelvis, and
two broken legs, and since you’re upright, you’re getting checked out here.”
She eyed the unit’s screen critically.

“How am
I doing?” Lily asked.

“Very
well considering, and I want to know every detail of what happened,” Mora said.
“Your rotator cuff is torn, but that’s not going to kill you.” She removed a
big pair of shears in a case from one of her coat pockets. Sliding off the
case, she said, “I’m going to put on a bone regenerator, and it’ll be as good
as new in a couple of hours. Don’t raise your arms; you’ll make it worse,” she
added, exasperated. “That’s why I have scissors. Are you really attached to
that shirt?”

“No, and
if I was I’d be SOL.” She wrinkled her nose at the stench wafting off her.

“Good
point.” Mora cut through the fabric a few inches to expose her left shoulder
and applied a small bone regenerator, a piece of flexible material that felt
like silicone. Mora made some adjustments to it remotely from her mediscan. “It’ll
fall off when it’s done its work,” she said. “Do you want a painkiller or
anything?”

Lily
shook her head. “I’m not in any serious pain.”

“I gathered
that. I just thought you might like to be a little fucked up after what
happened,” she muttered. “The back storage area is being guarded by a security
detail. Ashford’s still in there.” She stood back and regarded Lily, awe in her
face. “I can’t believe you and Captain Marska survived a visit to a Nym ship.”

“It’s
never been done before?”

Mora
shook her head. “Not that I know of, but mere nurses don’t study that.” She
sighed. “If you want to talk, I’m here.”

Lily
nodded. “Thank you.” She looked around sick bay. “But you’re busy, and so’s
Rian.” Mora raised an eyebrow, a knowing smile on her lips. “Before you say
anything, it’s...” She fumbled for words. “I hope it works. And I need to find
Taz. He got us out of there.”

Mora
pointed to the doorway, where a wild-eyed and disheveled Taz had run in. His
left arm was in a sling, the wrist wrapped in a bone regenerator. “Lily!” he
exclaimed. “Thank the gods. Are you and the captain all right?”

“We are.
He’s on the bridge, talking to the Magna’s captain and then a bunch of Fleet
suits.”

“I
figured as much.” Taz eyed the bone regenerator quietly humming on her
shoulder.

“I’m
okay, Taz. What about you?”

“I’m
fine, just worried. I was listening in to everything on the bridge. I held on
to a console when the ship tipped over. I’m just a little stressed, you know?”
He looked at Lily again. “You’re really all right?”

“I
really am, and it’s because of you,” Lily replied. “We never would have gotten
out of there if you hadn’t hacked into their ship.” For what felt like the
hundredth time that morning, Lily felt tears in her eyes again. “‘Thank you’
isn’t enough. I don’t know what else I can do to tell you how grateful I am.”

Taz
opened his mouth to respond, but Mora cut him off. “For gods’ sake, Taz, she
already has a lover.”

Lily
couldn’t help but laugh. “Is that what you call them? It sounds so
old-fashioned and scandalous.”

“You
have a better term?” Taz asked.

“I can’t
believe this is up for a debate right now,” Lily said, just as Mora turned to
Taz and demanded, “You knew about this?”

“A
Kurran nurse didn’t?” Taz shot back, reminding Lily that plenty of humanoid
races had minor empathic talents.

“I’m
mostly human,” she retorted. “I only have the Kurran aversion to sunlight. I
can’t invade peoples’ minds.”

“Neither
can I, but...”

“Boyfriend,”
Lily interrupted. “‘Boyfriend’ is sufficient. This really isn’t the time to
argue over who’s psychic and who isn’t.”

“Psychics
don’t exist,” Mora corrected. “Anyone who says they do is scamming you. And ‘boyfriend’
is juvenile.”

Lily
looked around the waiting area, hoping to see someone in need of a nurse, but
everyone was talking into comm badges or checking their bone regenerators. Her
own comm badge pinged. “Marska to Stewart,” said a familiar voice. “I need you
in my office. Admiral Kentz is on our vidlink.”

Lily
motioned to hug both of her friends but paused at the smell emanating from her
clothes. Mora rolled her eyes. “It’s just a coat.” She embraced Lily, towering
over her smaller frame. She stepped back, and Taz enveloped her in a hug. Lily
planted a small kiss on his cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered.

She
waved a goodbye and headed for the bridge.

Chapter 18

“It’s
not as nice as the ones assigned to a captain or an admiral,” Rian sighed. “But
at least it beats the
Defiant
. It’ll have to do.”

“What do
you mean, ‘it’ll have to do’?” she replied. “This is twice the size of my place
in Toronto, and the hallways smell a lot better.” She heard Rian’s sharp intake
of breath at the mention of Earth, but she pretended not to hear it. “What’s so
special about a senior captain’s apartment?”

“They
get a study, and the admirals get housekeeping service.”

He and
Lily were arranging their belongings in the executive officer’s apartment on
Kevnar Station. It was a spacious two-bedroom unit with a proper kitchen, large
windows, and a bathroom that had a real tub and not a human-sized hairdryer. A
small apartment had initially been assigned to Lily, but she had scarcely seen
it before Rian offered to help her carry her meager duffel to his suite. Rian
had already set up an office in the second bedroom, and Lily downloaded the
premiere of
Lightning’s Luck,
Mora’s party having been postponed and the
location changed to Lily and Rian’s new home. The
Defiant
’s crew was
awaiting new assignments on Kevnar and badly needed some distraction from their
Nym encounter. So did she, and had avoided talking about it with Rian until
now.

He had
spent hours in meetings since their arrival at the station four days ago, and
under his urging, the admirals weren’t forcing her to talk yet. She knew she
would have to give them her version of the events soon and had acquiesced to a
meeting the following morning. Rian hadn’t told her much about his dressing
down by the admirals but knew she had been a part of the reason.

She
liked Kevnar Station, though. It was more austere than Lily expected after the
constant noise and rush of Rubidge. In between meeting locals and other
officers, she had managed to take in some of it. It had a serenity garden she
knew she would be spending lots of time in, full of beautiful, unrecognizable
plants, and a library that had a modest collection of bound books in addition
to millions of files available for download. She would enjoy her new home.

“I don’t
know if I’d want a housekeeper,” she said in response to Rian’s lament. “I don’t
like the idea of someone else washing my clothes.”

“Lily...”
He drifted off. She knew what he was thinking about, what issue was at the
forefront of his mind.