She shook her head as the rings slowed down. “Nope. It couldn’t. Turned out we were never meant to last. Despite all their bullshit and lies, we were a short-term solution to a pressing problem—namely the war in the Kraxinas systems. Sol Sector were losing too many troops too fast out there. What with the heavier gravity and brutal terrain, they needed super-soldiers. Tankers were it. Of course, they sold us on it with patriotism and glory… didn’t tell us we’d be crippled if we survived. Racked us up… and when one burned out, replaced the operator. We were told it was PTSD when someone got shipped out. They lied.”
Zero growled from his position by the wall but she shook her head at him. “Don’t worry. I know. We were all plenty pissed and my old captain… last I heard she was getting a class-action suit against them for the shit they didn’t tell us.”
“We could just find them and nuke the fucking lot of them,” Zero offered and she chuckled.
Until she realized he wasn’t joking. In fact, neither of the men in the room were smiling as both watched her with unblinking eyes.
“Thanks for the offer, guys, but we’ve been blocked at every turn. Everything about the Scorperio project is classified. Every time Captain Payne gets close…” she shrugged, “suddenly, there’s another level of red tape. We can’t even get confirmation of names associated with the project, even though I’d really like to find out which fuckwit decided it was acceptable to use people like disposable cogs in a machine.”
“You might not have been able to find out.” Tal smiled up from where he stood at the console. “But we specialize in doing shit people don’t want us to do. We’ll figure it out. But first… we need to get you sorted.”
She looked at him in surprise as he moved around the small space, hands swift as he loaded what looked like medication injectors. “Thanks, Tal, but I know it’s hopeless,” she said, her voice cracking a little. “I was warned long ago I’d end up in a wheelchair. My implants won’t even support an exo-support anymore.”
Tal’s lips quirked as he walked toward her. “Yeah… hopeless for human medicine, maybe. But, in case you hadn’t noticed, we’re not human. I’m going to give you a couple of shots of cellular enhancer, and then I’ll set up the unit for neural reconstruction. We’ll see what we can do about these crude implants. Unfortunately, you’re going to be stuck in here with me for a few hours.”
“Oh woe is me! I don’t know how I’ll cope.” She grinned to take the edge off her words, even though her heart rate had spiked. As friendly as Tal was, this was still a hospital and she’d long since had enough of those.
She tilted her head to allow him to press the injector against her neck. There was a slight pinch, and a hiss as the medication was released into her bloodstream. “Have you ever treated a human before?”
“Hmmmm? Personally, no—”
“What the hell!” Now the machine was off, Zero strode forward from his position against the wall. “You didn’t tell me that. I thought there were human women at the Imperial court?”
“You were at the emperor’s court?” Eris asked, fascinated. “Isn’t that where they took the Sentinel-Five women?”
“There are, and yes, it was,” he replied to them both. “But I was not in charge of treating the human females. I’m not a full healer, just a medtech.”
“What’s the difference?” she asked. He seemed perfectly competent as a doctor to her, no hesitation in his manner as he adjusted the machines around her.
The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile, and he pulled a cage around her lower body. She still couldn’t feel anything in her legs, and she knew she should feel something about that. Panic. Worry… anything. But she didn’t. It was like her brain simply refused to recognize the fact she was paralyzed from the waist down.
“Latharian healers use a neural energy transfer system to connect directly with their patients,” he explained. “They operate on their patients at the molecular level while keeping their systems operating and shouldering the pain load. It takes many years of training before they take their trials to become a full healer.”
She blinked. “So they do everything… anesthetic, monitoring, and operating? All at the same time?”
“Exactly.”
“Fuck… that’s like…” She chuckled at her own thoughts. “For us that seems like magic right there.”
Tal shrugged. “For a primitive society, any advanced technology would seem like magic.”
“Hey! Are you calling me primitive?”
The medic winked, which earned him a growl from Zero. With a sigh, Tal looked up. “I’m not trying to steal your girl, big guy. We’re just chatting before the procedure starts.”
His expression dropped serious as he clicked the last part of the cage in place. “Unfortunately, I am not a full healer and can’t take your pain load. So I’m going to have to rely on you to tell me when things get too rough and we’ll up your pain meds. Okay?”
“Wait… what? Is this going to hurt Eris?” Zero demanded, surging forward again. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand before he could get past her.
“It’s okay. Really,” she told him. “If he thinks he can fix me… it’s got to be worth a shot.”
9
Zero stomped into the cargo bay a few hours later with the distinct need to punch something. Several somethings. Several somethings many times.
Growling under his breath, he closed his eyes and clenched his fists until the feeling went away. He’d stuck it out in medbay as long as he could, but the sight of Eris in pain had flipped switches he didn’t know he had. Even though he knew Talent was trying his best not to hurt her,
