CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Rosa insists on taking us back to the ship in her landcraft. She explains that the enforcers will take care of everything else, and bundles the LC and I in the back. Simon pulls the key charm for our borrowed landcraft from his pocket and tosses it to an enforcer before putting Rosa in the front. He waits until she’s distracted with the terminal and not looking out the window, where he’s still standing between her and the carnage, before he walks to the other side and gets in the front as well.
That type of protection is such a sweet gesture from him! He also kept her number in his pocket. Maybe he was actually going to call her tonight! That’s sweet! I should…
“Who are the Black Tongues?”
What? The… oh. Yeah. Right. Dragons be damned, what the hell was I thinking? I should be focused on the gang that just tried to kill us, not stupid things like matchmaking. Of all the dumb…
“Rylae?”
I snap back. Simon’s looking at me from outside my door. The landcraft isn’t moving. I look around, and it looks like the landcraft storage area by the ship. I guess we made it back already. Why do I feel so disoriented?
I shake my head to clear it and look back at Simon. “Sorry. I think I was somewhere else. Are we at the ship?”
Simon nods and takes my hand, pulling me out of the landcraft and to my feet. “I think you’re going into squadmate shock. You haven’t said a word since you got in the landcraft. I’m going to take you to Sen.”
I nod and look to my right, where LC Darkmuck is standing. A bunch of things hit my mind at once. I turn back. “Simon, has anything happened to the Admiral?”
He shakes his head and starts walking, pulling me along. “Nothing. The Overseer’s call put the Palace into lockdown. Cap and the Admiral are both still there with Lada, Gimmir, and his kittens.”
Good. They’re both protected. What are the other things I need to do? I look over at the LC again. I know it’s all surrounding him. If I look at him long enough, I’ll remember. Like at the warehouse… the crates! “Lada’s still there? Then you need to get a security team and find the Senior Chief from the storage bay. Lock him in a room until we can talk to him, and take the LC to check out those crates!”
Simon nods. “Will do, Commander.”
Excellent. That’ll teach his obnoxious dwarven self to mess with XO Westiel. Who does he think he is, complaining about that space and then filling it with crates like it’s his storage bay and not mine?
“Is Rylae going to be okay? She doesn’t look too good.”
I turn toward the voice. Oh, hey! It’s Rosa! I smile at her. She reaches over to me and touches my head. “She feels kinda cold and clammy.”
“She’ll be okay. Just needs to rest. I’ve seen it with some battalion members when they lose a squadmate. Our caregiver, Sen, will know what to do. No need to worry about her.”
That’s Simon again. Of course Sen will take care of it. She’s weird, but she’s my Chief Caregiver. Mother graduated her, and Mother knows. Calgonnel should apologize for making jokes about her.
Oh. Dragons be damned. That’s right. Calgonnel. “Rosa.” She turns to me and smiles. “The caregivers that were with you. Are they coming straight here?”
Her face turns sad as she nods. “They are. They’re bringing the Ambassador with them.”
I nod. Calgonnel. Someone needs to tell Cap. I should do that. It’s my responsibility. How am I supposed to finish this mission without Calgonnel? I already got the Overseer mad at me once! I’ll have to come up with new plans and…
“Simon! What happened to the Commander?”
That’s Sen’s voice. Are we already in the hospital ward? I’m losing focus again, aren’t I? Dragons be damned.
“We were attacked. Calgonnel fell. Rylae’s unhurt, but she’s in squadmate shock.”
“Get her in a bed. I’ll go grab some things.”
I get picked up, and look over to see Simon’s face. He’s carrying me. I hope Rosa doesn’t see that! A few steps and he lays me in a bed. Regulations! No… this still isn’t right… why can’t I think straight?
Sen appears over me and lays something warm across my forehead, then lays something cold across my nose. It smells a bit like moss from those large trees back home. Father has one by the gazebo…
««»»
Ugh. That has to be the worst sleep I’ve ever had, including those academy nights bar-hopping with Tanna. I feel horrible. Where am I?
I open my eyes and look around. I’m in a bed in the hospital ward. That’s not good. Was I hurt in the fight? Patting myself down, I don’t feel hurt anywhere. I’m still wearing my dress uniform and the weapon belt, but the weapons have been removed. I hope that was Simon.
I’ll try sitting up. “Owwww!” My head doesn’t feel very good at all.
“Commander? Commander Westiel! Don’t sit up!” Who’s voice is that? Sounds like a good idea, though. …yeah, laying down feels much better.
I open my eyes and see a young elf. Oh. Yeah. I wonder if he’s allowed to treat me today or if he’ll take another hit to the throat from Sen. “Hey, Lieutenant Bellas. How long have I been here?”
He speaks a word and his finger glows with a bright light. He shines it in each of my eyes, then turns it off. “About a day, Commander. The Master Sergeant brought you in yesterday afternoon, and now it’s today afternoon.”
A day? I guess that’s not too terrible. “Do you have anything for the pain in my head? I need to get back to work.”
He shakes his head. “Sorry, Commander. I can give you something for the pain, but Caregiver Foulmuck said I’m not allowed to let you leave this bed today, even if I have to strip you naked and strap you to it.”
That sounds like something Sen would say, alright. I sigh. “Okay, Lieutenant. I won’t go anywhere. But I need something for my head, and I need to know which senior officers are on-ship right now.”
He opens a jar and a berry scent falls onto my nose. Using two fingers, he scoops out a small glob of ointment and rubs it on my forehead. It’s cold! “The Master Sergeant and Commander Aldamiel both wanted me to inform them if they weren’t here when you awoke. I’ll go call them now.”
Another voice floats over as he wipes his fingers on a towel. “I’m already here, Lieutenant. I’ll call the Master Sergeant. Thank you.”
I turn my head and see Tanna sit in a chair next to my bed. “Hey, girl. Simon told us you had a bit of a terrible day yesterday.”
I can’t bring myself to chuckle as the memories slowly start to come back to me. “Yeah. Yesterday wasn’t very good.” I flash through the fight, then Calgonnel, then the prisoner, then Rosa showing up with help, then bits and pieces of coming back to the ship. “My memory has some holes in it, but I think I remember all the important things.”
Tanna lays a hand on my arm. “Simon said you were in squadmate shock yesterday, after losing Calgonnel.”
Yeah. That. “That would explain my memory. Did they bring Calgonnel’s body back to the ship? Has Cap been informed?”
She nods. “Yeah. That girl from the Overseer’s office that was with Simon, she took care of getting his body back here. Simon called Cap. Everyone that went to the Palace yesterday is still there, and plan to stay for another few days while the King’s guard investigates, but he knows. We all know.”
I nod. I can’t bring myself to do much more than that. “And LC Darkmuck? Is he still here?”
She rubs my arm a bit. “Yeah. He said you wanted him to stay until you could ask him some questions. Said that he’s ‘only a warehouse sitter and it won’t blow up without him’. Sounds a lot like Srindin!”
Okay, that makes me chuckle a bit. Then I remember all the other things. “What about Simon? Has he done what I asked him to?”
Tanna pulls out her communicator. “You’ll have to ask him. Hang on.”
Pushing the charm, she says, “Smonz Darkrender”. A second later, his face appears. Before he can say anything, Tanna says, “She’s awake,” and ends the call. “He’ll be here in a minute. He refused to explain what he was doing, or why, and insisted to only report back to you.”
That’s interesting. I wonder what he found that made him make that decision.
The pain in my head is down to a dull throb, so I try to sit up again. Before I can move, Tanna’s hand on my arm turns into a death grip and pushes me back down. “Not happening, girl. Sorry. You’ll get up tomorrow and not before.”
Sighing, I relax. There’s too much to do to just lie here, but I guess I don’t have any options. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Fine, then. Tell me how the ship is doing.”
“No major problems. Docking used up a lot of mana as expected, but the new secondary battery took most of that hit. We’re still good for about a month of just sitting here, if we have to, but then getting back home will be tough. Recharge maintenance doesn’t work as well here as I’d like it to, but I’m hoping Zaxn can help with that when he returns.”
“Returns? Where’s Zaxn?”
I hear her sigh. “He’s locked in the Palace with everyone else. He left to meet the Ambassador and his mother for dinner, and has been in the Palace since the lockdown. I’ve tried to talk with him over communicators, but he insists that tapping mana here is too difficult to explain. So I’m waiting.”
“So the only senior officers on ship are you, Sen, Simon, and Aelon?”
She pats my arm. “It was just me, Sen and Aelon until you and Simon returned. Imagine how much fun that was! Sen was hiding in here, and Aelon was, well, being himself. Being you is difficult, even for only a day! But I didn’t let the ship explode. Just that one part of the mess hall.” My arm tenses up under her hand, then relaxes as I hear her chuckle. Very funny, Tanna.
“Rylae.” Simon’s voice comes to me as I hear his footsteps walking closer. I open my eyes and look as he sits next to Tanna.
“Simon. Thanks for getting everyone back to the ship. And…” I stumble as I look at his face. “Sorry for messing up.”
Tanna’s hand grips my arm tighter as he shakes his head. “No. You did well yesterday. Calgonnel wasn’t your fault, and you couldn’t have changed it. But you did avenge him and capture a prisoner. That’s good work, soldier.”
I smile. “Thanks, Master Sergeant. What about the storage bay?”
He shakes his head again. “You said the storage bay was full, right?” I nod, and he scowls. “That’s what I thought. It’s not full anymore. From what we can tell, about half of the weapons that were in there are already gone. Darkmuck checked the other crates, and you were right – they match the dwarven spellshooters from Hallowforge.”
Half? “What about the Senior Chief?”
He chuckles. “Yeah, I found Ironhammer, the scumbag. He may pretend to be tough around others, but I’m tougher. He’s locked in the battalion cells right now. Claims he doesn’t know anything, and was just paid by a goblin on Terra to move some merchandise.
“I did a little digging, though, and it’s more than that. Ironhammer’s file points directly to contacts he personally has on Hallowforge. He’s an illegal weaponrunner, and he was using our storage bay to do it.”
I shake my head. “That’s why he kept making up numbers and telling me the storage bay was too full. Every time I put stuff in there, he couldn’t carry as much! I’m going to enjoy sitting through his trial.”
Simon nods. “Yeah. And about half of the spellshooters he brought to Stenchstone are already in the hands of a gang. The Black Tongues. He moved them off-ship right after Cap and the Admiral left for the Palace.”
Dragons be damned. “Those are the guys that attacked us. The ones that hate Admiral Shockpaw and the current king.”
He nods again. “Yup. The good news is they didn’t get the entire shipment. The bad news is they still got some of it, and we’re the only ones who know they have it. I haven’t told anyone in Cap’s party yet, for fear of starting a panic.”
Tanna’s looking back and forth between me and Simon, and finally focuses on me. “Rylae, am I hearing this right? Did we just unknowingly run illegal weapons to a goblin world?”
I sigh. “Yeah, and we need to find them before the gangs can use them against the peaceful goblin citizens.” I can almost feel her shock at those words through her hand on my arm, and I chuckle. “Right, you haven’t been on-world yet. It’s a trip. Peaceful goblins. Honest.”
Speaking of peaceful goblins… “Simon, where’s Rosa? Is she okay?”
I can’t read the expression on his face. “She’s fine. I made her stay on-ship overnight while we sorted through everything, but she’s back at the Overseer’s office today. She said she’ll get you those records she was researching by tomorrow.”
Overnight? Really? Hmm. “Good. Thanks Simon. She’s a nice girl. Can you take her to dinner tonight as thanks from me?”
His eyebrows rise. “Is that an order, Commander?”
I raise mine. “Does it need to be?”
Without another word, he stands and leaves. Once he’s out of the hospital ward, I start laughing. Tanna’s just looking at me. My laughter dies out and I pat her hand on my arm.
“Girl, you’re going to love this story!”