* * * * *
Barix stared at the android smoldering not six feet from him in open shock. “What the void just happened?” he demanded.
Aiden ignored him, abandoning his cover and rushing towards the corridor where Lana and the gunner fought, cauterizer raised. When he heard no sounds of scuffles, thumps, or the slaps of flesh on flesh from the furious fighting he'd witnessed just seconds ago, he slowed to a cautious halt along the wall just beside the doorway.
If Lana had won, did he have a chance of beating a Dormant, even if he caught her by surprise? It seemed impossible that the girl could've won against a larger, stronger opponent, and a Construct to boot, but she'd certainly been holding her own from what he could see.
Well, if he didn't try she'd destroy his ship and kill him anyway. Might as well go out guns blazing. Aiden tensed, cauterizer ready, and then in one smooth motion ducked and pivoted around the doorway, leveling his weapon down the corridor.
To his vast relief, he saw Lana down and apparently unconscious, the gunner clutching her with incongruous tenderness considering he only had one arm to hold her; his right arm, still healing from terrible burns, was now mangled as well, his elbow shattered and bone very nearly sticking through the skin. Combined with the young woman's even more horrifically burned hand, bits of molten and then cooled metal from her slagged cauterizer still fused to her charred flesh, the scene had a sharply tragic feel to it.
Aiden wasn't sure which he was happier about, the fact that the Dormant was down or that the gunner had managed it without hurting her. How pathetic was that, that she'd betrayed him, sent Ali flying into space, and nearly killed them all, and he was still worried about her safety?
But emotions didn't just shift on a whim, and even now he couldn't help but feel bothered by the sight of the young woman lying injured and helpless. He wasn't emotionally ready for the sight of the gunner holding her so tenderly, especially after what she'd done, so he cleared his throat sharply. “Secure her.”
“Yes, sir,” the young man said emotionlessly. But it was the dull, defeated tone of numb despair, not his usually disciplined mask. He gently set her down and got to work binding her with restraints, occasionally hissing with pain in spite of himself as he jostled his broken arm.
Aiden felt an incongruous surge of pride in the fact that his weapons officer was still going in his condition, to say nothing of the fact that he'd won against such a dangerous enemy with arguably the optimal outcome.
But he roughly shook those feelings aside; he didn't have time for them. “Good job, gunner,” he said curtly, holstering his weapon. “Never doubted you could win.” Even when you decided to toss aside your weapons and go try to stop her with your bare hands.
“Oh good, he got her?” Barix called, ducking out from his hiding place. “Serves her right.”
The gunner ignored the Ishivi, wordlessly finishing up binding Lana and then kneeling over her with an anguished expression. Aiden wasn't even sure the young man had heard what he'd said until he spoke quietly. “I didn't win. She had me, seconds from finishing me off, when she managed to snatch control and stop fighting. Just long enough for me to neutralize her.”
That was genuinely a surprise; Dormants weren't known for managing to keep from hurting people they'd been close to. Just the opposite, actually. It might just be possible that what the gunner and Lana had really was something special.
Or once had. Whatever Aiden's complicated relationship with the young man might've been, his heart went out to him at such an obvious show of pain. Especially from someone who so rarely showed anything. “I'm sorry,” he said quietly.
The gunner didn't reply.
“Well!” Barix said brightly, brushing off his uniform as he joined Aiden at the doorway. “Construct DNA-encoded memory vs Dormant brainwashing. It's gratifying to know our methods proved superior.”
Aiden actually wanted to discuss Ishivi methods with the little purebred rat. He grabbed the slight man by the front of his uniform and hauled him up so they were face to face. “The next time you throw a void-blasted grenade on my bridge,” he growled, “at my crew, I'm going to scramble your DNA with my bare fists.”
Barix glared back, although with as much fear as belligerence. “That's not even phys-”
He shook the miserable waste tank. “Do you understand me, Ishiv?”
“Okay fine, fine!” the slight man snapped. “It was a stupid thing to do, purely heat of the moment. Aren't I always telling you battles are inherently stupid?”
“You certainly seem to be, when you're in one.” Aiden let him go and sagged against the doorway. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the outcome of this battle. Or, more accurately, both of the battles they'd just narrowly scraped through. His ship was half scrapped, Ali was floating in space, waiting to be retrieved, he'd lost four expensive combat androids, Belix might be dead, two of his crew were injured, and Lana was a traitor.
“Still, it all turned out fine in the end, didn't it?” Barix pressed. “Which, as I was saying, is due wholly to the superiority of Constructs.”
Aiden shot him a disgusted look. Yes, that's what the slight man would care about here. “I'm not sure how you came by that conclusion. The gunner is bigger, stronger, more massive, and has better reach, and she still nearly tore him to pieces.” He glanced at the young man down the corridor. “No offense.”
The gunner continued to ignore them both.
As for the Ishivi, he looked decidedly put out at that rebuttal. “No need to be churlish, Captain. The Construct's victory is why we're all alive right now. That, and you destroying Fix before he could tear me to pieces.” He paused, giving Aiden a suspicious look. “On that
