when she saw it was only a medic. He held up a handful of
syringes. “Antibiotics, ma’am.”
He entered the room and walked over to the strange box
mounted on the wall. The intravenous lines from her arm
had been plugged into various ports there. The medic
tapped the touch screen and entered a code that allowed
him access to the medications inside.
“We usually just dispense straight from the machine,”
he explained as he unscrewed various vials and placed
them in a small plastic basin. “Your size makes things
difficult. We had our pharmacist mix these up especially.
The machine can’t convert solutions in that small of a
dose.”
Menace asked the question she’d been thinking. “Why
haven’t you purchased different equipment for these
women? There are at least twenty of these Calyx women
on this ship now.”
“The
Valiant
has only been taking brides from Calyx
for six months, sir. Brides from the other Grabs in the
system are closer in size to us so it’s never been an issue.
We’ve put in requisitions but the budget cuts have been
steep this year. It’s cheaper to hand-mix the solutions and
plug them into the dispensers.”
Hallie watched the medic put the vials into the ports.
He closed the machine and accessed the dosage screen
again. His fingertips paused over the screen. “You haven’t
had your med-check, have you?”
She shook her head. “I think it’s scheduled for next
week.”
“And you’ve never had antibiotics?”
“Never.”
“If you start to feel sick, let us know immediately. It’s
possible you may have an allergy to some of our
medications. So far, we’ve been able to use them on your
people without issue but we never know who might have a
sensitivity. I’ll call the lab and have them run the tests on
your blood draws.”
“I’ll watch her carefully,” Menace promised.
The medic nodded, tapped a few keys on the medication
pump and left the room. Hallie stared at the clear tubes
entering her veins. Fluids, some clear and others a pale-
blue, trickled into her blood stream. It was fascinating to
watch—especially now that she felt high as a kite.
The door opened again but it wasn’t Vicious. It was
General Thorn. Hopes dashed, she wallowed in the
glumness of her husband’s absence. She liked Menace all
right but he wasn’t her man. She wanted Vicious.
The older man looked different in his duty uniform.
Anger tightened the general’s face. He glanced at her and
his expression faltered. Always the consummate soldier,
he quickly steeled his features. Menace jumped to his feet
and saluted his senior officer. “General.”
“Gunner Menace.” The general nodded and Menace
relaxed his stance a bit. His gaze returned to her as he
moved closer to her bed. He smiled and reached for her
hand. He noticed the bruising and patted her arm gently
instead. “I want you to know that I’m personally going to
oversee this case. Sergeant Crow won’t see the light of
day ever again.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
He smiled and brushed some hair behind her ear.
“You’re still just as lovely as ever, Hallie.”
His compliment paid, the general nodded in Menace’s
direction and left the room. Menace returned to his seat.
“At least Sergeant Crow’s wife will finally get some
justice.”
Hallie’s gaze snapped to Menace. Any other time she
could have excused the thoughtless comment but hopped
up on painkillers, it simply wasn’t possible. “Justice?
Maybe someone should have listened to her neighbors
who were complaining about the violence next door.
Maybe someone should have gone into that damn
apartment and done a welfare check on that poor woman
when Lenny called Emergency. Maybe you people should
screen your soldiers better and kick out the violent
creeps.”
Menace paled at her outburst but it was a more familiar
voice that answered her.
“You’re right, Hallie. We failed this woman.” Vicious
stood in the doorway to her hospital room. He looked
haggard and drawn. His normally pristine and perfectly
pressed uniform was rumpled and bloodstained. Most
telling, he avoided her gaze. “What’s done is done. We
can’t change the way this was handled. Hopefully we can
protect the next woman.”
Hallie started to feel really loopy—and incredibly
angry. She feared something unforgivable would spill
from her lips. “I don’t think I should talk anymore.” Her
stomach began to feel queasy. She gulped as her mouth
watered. “I think I’m going to vomit.”
Vicious flew across the room and snatched up the basin
on her side table. He braced her aching body as she
retched into the square receptacle. Just when she thought it
was over, it started again. “Get a medic in here now!”
Hallie slumped in his arms as medics ran into the room.
She couldn’t really focus on what was being said. Her
stomach hurt so much. Her face throbbed. “Vicious,” she
pleaded and groped at his arm. “Vicious, please.”
“Hang on, Kitten.” He held her hand and tried to stay
out of the way of the medics tending her. “What is wrong
with my wife?”
His angry shout made some of the men jump. Finally,
one of the medics spoke. “Allergic reaction, sir. We’re
trying to counteract it now.”
Hallie whimpered, her skin on fire now. She tried to
scratch at her belly where the itch was the worst but the
damn gown was in the way. Another wave of nausea hit.
She barely hit the basin this time. She felt sure she would
puke up her stomach if this kept up much longer.
Something cold and painful entered her veins. She cried
out and tried to rip the IV from her arm. “It hurts! Oh god.
Make it stop, Vicious. Make it stop!”
“Hallie,” he said, his tone urgent. “Calm down. Look at
me.
Look at me
. Just breathe. Breathe.”
Panic took hold. She couldn’t think now.
“Put her down,” Vicious shouted. “Knock her out now.”
“No!” Hallie clutched at Vicious but it was too late.
Another drug hit her system. Sleepiness engulfed her. She
only managed to get the first part of his name out before
the world turned black.
* * * * *
Vicious sat forward in the uncomfortable chair and
rested his elbows on his knees. He held his head in his
hands and closed his eyes. Hallie had been out for nearly
five hours now. The rash covering her from head to toe
had blistered and now wept. With her swelling and
bruising and now the rash, she looked like some kind of
alien life form.
And it was all his fault.
Why the hell hadn’t he moved her med-check up a few
days? What kind of husband was he to put her at risk?
He’d been so busy with bullshit at work that he’d
rescheduled her med-check to better fit his schedule. Now
Hallie suffered the consequences of an unknown drug
allergy.
He lifted his gaze and stared at her. She looked so
pitiful and small in the oversized bed. He thought of
Menace’s recap of the conversation he’d had with the
medics about the medical equipment aboard the
Valiant
and its incompatibility with women from Hallie’s planet.
More than anything, he was furious that he’d been unaware
of the problem. The medical bay was staffed by the sky
fleet. For some reason, information wasn’t flowing
between their two branches. It was, in short, a clusterfuck.
Information flow wasn’t the only problem between the
land corps and the sky fleet. He’d had Sergeant Crow’s
records pulled. The man had a history of violent behavior
with sky port prostitutes. He’d actually been banned from
most of the bawdy houses in this sector. Somehow, he’d
managed to earn enough points to enter a Grab. Some
asshole had overlooked his disciplinary record and given
him permission to take a wife. It was an outrage.
Even more outrageous and troubling was the way the
man’s C.O. had handled the complaints. Vicious had
noticed the various reports made by neighbors. Crow and
his wife had been moved twice since taking up residence
in the married NCO block. Instead of addressing the issue
of domestic violence, Crow’s commanding officer had
simply moved the man and his poor abused wife from
apartment to apartment, probably hoping someone would
finally stop complaining.
He’d never been so furious with any officer. It had
taken every ounce of self-control not to punch that lazy
bastard right in the mouth. Instead, he’d stripped him of his
rank and sent him to the brig. The man would be bounced
to the shittiest duty station Vicious could find. General
Thorn backed him on that one-hundred percent.
Guilt twisted his gut when his gaze fell on her bloodied
white collar in the plastic biohazard bag on the counter.
Hallie didn’t belong in a place like this. She’d already
been through so much in her young life. He’d wanted to
give her better and he’d failed. He’d brought her to a
place that looked the other way when men battered their
wives. He’d brought her onto a ship that couldn’t even
properly provide medical care to her.
“You look like shit.” Terror entered the hospital room
so silently Vicious wouldn’t have even suspected his
presence if he hadn’t spoken. Terror shoved a white
takeout box and a bottled drink into his hand. “Eat.”
Vicious didn’t argue with his friend. Getting something
into his stomach might settle it and give him the energy he
needed to face this crisis. He opened the box and placed it
on his lap. While he took a drink of the slightly sweet
sports drink, Terror moved to Hallie’s side and peered
down at her. He seemed ever so curious. “She surprises
me.”
Vicious frowned and bit into his sandwich. Terror
tended to be a bit cryptic. “She’s lucky to be alive.”
Terror nodded. “Extremely.”
Vicious continued to eat while Terror fingered the IV
lines and checked the med screens. He clicked over to the
screen estimating her pain levels. Receptors attached to
her scalp fed brain waves to the machine that interpreted
the information. A constant flow of pain medication
flowed into the IVs. Vicious had called in the top
pharmacist to mix her meds. There were already plans for
meetings in the morning to address the changing equipment
needs of the med bay. Admiral Orion had been just as
pissed off to realize the medical situation aboard his ship
hadn’t been worked out better.
“She seems comfortable.” Terror backed away from the
machines and dropped into the chair next to Vicious. “Are
they going to keep her sedated long?”
“Until the rash clears,” Vicious replied. “I don’t want
her feeling pain. She’s felt enough of it.”
“It could have been a worse beating,” Terror remarked
rather coldly. “You and I have had worse.”
“It’s not her first beating. Whether it was the worst or
not doesn’t matter to me. I won’t have her suffering
needlessly when we have the medical technology to keep
her comfortable.”
“Her father?” Terror guessed.
Vicious nodded. “Apparently he’s the town asshole.”
“Would you like me to kill him?”
Vicious jerked his gaze to Terror’s face. The man was
stone-cold serious. “No.”
“Are you sure? It would be no trouble. I could be in and
out of that village in five minutes or less. No one would
even know I was missing from the
Valiant
. I could bring
the body back with me and dispose of it in space. No
evidence.”
“I don’t doubt that you could get the job done without a
trace of evidence.”
“It could be my wedding gift.”
Vicious snorted. “Yes, I’m sure Hallie would just love
that.”
“She might.”
“She wouldn’t. She’s not that kind of person.”
“Pity,” Terror replied. “It’s been a while since I’ve
done a little covert wet-work.”
Vicious shook his head. “You frighten me sometimes.”
“I frighten myself sometimes,” Terror muttered.
Vicious snorted. “I can imagine.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the high-pitched