Stormcrow, page 18
“Anyway,” Linc continued. “If you do decide you want to take advantage of my services, I'm always available. And while you're deciding, I'd appreciate it if you would at least consider staying aboard as the engineer. I'm not asking for an answer right now,” Linc help up a hand to forestall any arguments. “Just for you to think about it.”
His answer was to see Galen's back as he disappeared out of the infirmary and into the ship somewhere.
“That went well,” Linc said aloud as the door closed.
“Cap'n, you got a minute?”
Meredith looked up to see Faulks standing hesitantly at the bridge hatch. That was new. Before the events of the last two days she would have simply barged onto the bridge and sat down.
“Yes,” she kept her voice as neutral as possible. Her back was killing her, just as Tony had predicted. She'd drawn the line at any more shots after one more that first evening to help her sleep, but right now she was leaning toward taking another one. If Tony or Lincoln either one knew that it would tell them a great deal about how much she was hurting.
Faulks remained hesitant as she made her way onto the bridge, stopping a respectful distance from the chair where Meredith was standing watch, another departure from her usual behavior.
“Cap'n, I wanted to apologize,” Faulks almost mangled the word getting it out and Meredith figured it wasn't something the former Gunny had said often in her life. “I won't offer no excuses for my behavior, since there really ain't one. I just wanted you to know that I really am sorry for any hurt I caused you. I know you said I could stay but. . .if you'd be more comfortable with me gone I'll leave. If that's the case, I really do understand.” She looked at the deck for a moment and then shrugged without looking back up.
“I guess that's it.”
Meredith looked at Faulks for a moment, taking in the change in her. There was no doubt that Faulks' self-confidence was shattered. She had learned something horrible about someone she had admired and respected, had realized that a man she had bullied and mistreated for three years could have killed her at a whim, and that that same man was responsible for the death, the horrible, terrorizing deaths of many of her former colleagues. All in all, Faulks had had a rough two days.
“I don't necessarily want you gone, Faulks,” Meredith finally replied. “You've been a steady hand in times of trouble and you work hard and help keep the ship in good shape. It's never been your work; it's always been your attitude. I ignored it thinking it was just a natural inclination to bully. That's not to say I approve, but I understand your mindset a bit better than the others, having shared some of the same experiences.”
“But with all that's happened in the last few days it's apparent that it was more than that, and that I can't have. I won't have,” she added more firmly. “Lincoln resigned his commission to come with me into space, Faulks. Did you know that?”
“Yes'm,” the other woman was studying the deck very intently now.
“He went to pilot school while still fulfilling his obligations to the Navy so that he could help me realize my dream of getting back into space,” Meredith continued. “He worked hard to get his license and it doesn't come natural or easy to him. Everyone, myself included, gives him a hard time over his flying, and he takes it because it's that important for him to be here with me. And I almost allowed what I thought was friendship and admiration to interfere with that, Faulks. It will never happen again,” her voice hardened. “I won't allow it. That man, like him or not, is everything to me. He's the reason I get up in the morning and the reason that I'm not sitting somewhere on a front porch right now drawing half-pay and working some dead-end job or at best teaching at the Academy.”
“You would have been good at that,” Faulks interjected. “Beggin' your pardon, but you would.”
“Except I don't want to do it,” Meredith pointed out. “If I can't be on a ship, then I'm out of the Navy as far as I'm concerned. Did I appreciate Admiral Wallace's offer? Yes. Was even flattered by it to be honest. But teaching tactics is a far cry from commanding a ship in space. And it's not for me. I'd rather be right where I am right now, with Lincoln, than sitting at the Academy even as a Captain or Commodore.”
“Yes'm,” Faulks nodded.
“Your attitude is the problem, Gunny,” Meredith concluded. “Fix it, and stay. So long as you change your ways and stop trying to drive a wedge between me and my husband, I have no problem with you staying.”
“About that,” Faulks looked up suddenly. “I can see where you might think it, but. . .Cap'n, that wasn't never my intention. I admit I wouldn't have cried had he left, but. . .I wasn't tryin' to separate you. I just. . .I just was jealous that he was there when you needed someone. That it wasn't me. At first because I owed you and I wanted to pay you back. Later it. . .well, you know,” the woman was studying the deck again. “Anyway, any trouble I caused between you, it wasn't on purpose. That don't make it no righter, but I just want you to understand I wasn't actually tryin' to cause you to separate.”
“You were just hoping to take advantage of it if we did,” Meredith's voice wasn't completely unkind, but it was unyielding.
“Something like that,” Faulks nodded. “Still wrong I know, but. . .not as wrong, maybe,” she was almost hopeful, but stopped just short of it.
“Remember what I said,” Meredith was suddenly tired of this conversation. “No. More. There won't be any more warnings or talks. You'll just pack your shit and be gone. Work it out and you're welcome to stay. You've been a good hand and I'd hate to have to replace you.” She almost added 'too', but caught it at the last minute.
“Thank you, Captain,” Faulks said formally. “I'll be in the bay, you need me,” she spun on her heel and walked out as if she were on parade. Her pride had been wounded over and over again the last three days, but. . .it was still there. Meredith did admire Faulks in a lot of ways, especially her strength and resolve. She refused to quit, even when it looked as if Celeste was going down for the count. She had hung right there with Meredith when she'd been wounded, too.
Maybe she'll straighten out, Meredith half thought, half prayed. She could use something good happening for a change. She had caused herself so much trouble.
And her husband was paying a terrible price for it right now.
“What do you see?”
“I see a light, idiot,” Linc bit back a snarl. “You're pointing a flashlight in my eyes.”
“And two days ago you couldn't tell that,” Tony shot back. “If you can see light that's a good sign. Very encouraging. I can't see any evidence of damage to the optic nerve itself, though I can't promise you that it isn't there. Still, that's also encouraging. What I do see is a severe concussion right alongside the optic nerve center. That caused all the swelling and put pressure on the nerve which is what caused your troubles with seeing. What about now?” Tony covered Linc's damaged right eye.
“Now I see a light in my left eye,” Linc sighed.
“Sorry,” Tony pulled the light away. “I wanted to see your pupil reaction. Can you read that chart on the wall?” he pointed to the wall behind him.
“Some of it,” Linc admitted.
“Far as you can,” Tony ordered. Linc sighed but dutifully read through the first three lines without trouble. The fourth line he got five of eight, but the fifth line was beyond him.
“I just can't make it out,” Linc sighed. “How bad is that?” he asked quietly.
“About average for someone your age,” Tony said mildly. Lincoln blinked for a minute and then his face reddened.
“What the hell does that mean?” he demanded.
“You're not a spring chicken, Linc,” Tony smirked. “Seriously, you got about as far as the average man your age would make it without aids. Which I don't have,” he admitted. “When we hit a planet with an optometrist we should get you a complete exam but. . .Linc I think you're gonna be okay, man. I can't promise about your right eye, mind you,” he warned again. “But you can see light, you can make out shapes and you can detect movement. All good signs. Great signs, really, considering the ass whipping that was laid on you back there. I'm very hopeful that you'll recover completely in time.”
“How much time?” Linc asked warily. “Will I be able to fly?”
Tony almost made a crack about it might improve his flying, but this wasn't a time for that. Not until he knew for sure.
“Not for a while,” Tony tried to let him down easy. “You're going to be plagued with dizzy spells, headaches and blurred vision at purely random times for a least a week or ten days and probably longer. That's all normal for a severe concussion like yours, though, so none of that should be a surprise or be discouraging. It's just part of it.”
“But I can maybe still pilot, once I'm better?” Linc asked.
“So long as your depth perception is okay and your balance and vision aren't impaired, I don't see why not. I mean, how much worse could it get, right?” He could only fight it so long.
“Har-de-har,” Linc mock snarled. “If this vagabond, traveling snake-oil salesman thing doesn't work out you can always try comedy.”
“Did I say something funny?” Tony asked, a look of mock confusion on his face. “All right, I've got to go and fix supper. You can get up and move around some, but use the cane so you'll have something to lean on if you get dizzy. I'd prefer you wear the patch another couple days as well,” he handed the 'pirate' patch back to Lincoln. “It will help keep the headaches and dizziness down since your brain won't be fighting to make sense of your right eye's input.”
“Okay,” Linc nodded, willing to do about anything to leave sick bay. “How's Meredith's back?” he asked.
“No additional damage,” Tony assured him. “Her scan was fine other than some bruising. She's hurting like hell, I'm sure, though she's trying her best to act like she's not. I've got a shot in my pocket already drawn up. I'm thinking she'll go another three hours tops before she admits she needs it. It's been twenty hours since she'd had one.”
“She's stubborn about that,” Linc nodded. “After what she went through, though…” He shook his head.
“I know,” Tony patted Linc's shoulder softly. “She's got to learn to trust me, though. I won't let that happen to her again, Linc. I promise. I may only be 'almost' a doctor, but I take it very seriously.”
“How 'almost'?” Linc asked. “I always wondered about that since you seem to know so much.”
“Very almost,” Tony sighed. “Three weeks, give or take, and four exams. What's that old saying? 'In all but name'? That's me. I got everything except the sheepskin.”
“What happened?” Linc asked.
“Doesn't really matter,” Tony shrugged. “I didn't do anything wrong if that's what you mean. I got caught in a scam that my roommate ran. Guilt by association. In this case by transformation,” his voice was a tad scornful. “Anyway, I'll be in the galley if you need me.” And with that Tony Giannini left to fix supper.
“This crew is a smorgasbord of nutty,” Linc shook his head, though careful to do it gently. Then he took the cane Tony had left and worked his way to his feet. It was time for him to get moving.
“I'm mad at you.”
Sean Galen looked up to see Jessica looking at him from the entry to the lounge.
“Why should you be any different,” he shrugged and then returned to the list he was looking over.
“You act like I don't want to be around you and that's not true!” Sean thought for a minute that she was actually going to stomp her foot the way she was acting.
“I'm used to that, once people know,” Sean shrugged as he continued to scan the list in front of him.
“I told you I wasn't. . .I was surprised to see you because I didn't think you'd come to supper!” Jess kept at it. “You could look at me when I'm talking, you know!” She grabbed his arm intending to make him turn.
Before it could register on her, Jessica was on her back, her arm locked in Galen's grip with Galen looking down at her. The look on his face was absolutely savage for an instant but then was replaced by horror at what he'd done.
He was about to let go when Jessica's right leg shot out, crossing over the hold of Galen's arms and locking around them. At the same time her left leg came beneath her, crossing under her body and following her around. Using the momentum of springing off the floor along with the leverage she gained from her leg hooking his arms, she continued to twist around in mid-air until her left heel swung completely around to very nearly make impact with Sean's temple.
Very nearly because at the last second Galen simply let her go and took a step back. Instead of terminating with a devastating kick to his temple that would have at least addled Galen, Jessica's motion now worked against her and the momentum she still had carried her over into a full twist, the end result of which was her landing with a hard thump as her butt hit the deck.
Again.
“Ow,” Jessica sat up, rubbing her now sore bottom.
“Where in the hell did a school teacher learn that?” Galen demanded, his eyes narrowing.
“Learn what?” Jessica demanded, getting to her feet. “How to get thrown around by a mean old engineer?”
“I didn't throw you around,” Sean shot back. “And you damn near kicked my head off!”
“I did not,” Jessica scoffed. “All I was trying to do was get you to look at me for just a minute. To get you to see that I really was glad to see you, just like I really was surprised that you had come to eat with us. But when I grabbed your arm you threw me to the floor.”
Sean started to object, but stopped before doing so. Technically she was right. He had flipped her onto the floor completely by instinct. He hadn't even realized he'd done it until he was looking down at her.
How could she not remember almost taking his head off? And where had she learned to do that?
“An apology would not go amiss here,” Jessica said tartly, breaking him out of his train of thought.
“I am sorry,” he admitted. “I didn't mean to do it. It's just conditioning. It sticks with you no matter what. Grabbing me is a trigger for me to act. I did it, do it, without thinking about it. I'll try not to do it again, I promise.”
“It's my fault,” Jessica sighed. “I know better than to do something like that. People where I grew up don't like being handled like that either. I'm sorry.”
Galen wanted to laugh. She was apologizing for grabbing him, but not for nearly kicking his head off.
“You've got a mean set of moves on you,” he said carefully. “You take some kind of self-defense class in college?”
“What?” Jessica gave him a look of puzzlement. “What are you talking about?”
“You really don't remember nearly kicking me in the head?”
“Now you're just trying to be funny,” Jessica crossed her arms beneath her breasts, not quite glaring. “I would never kick anyone, especially you.”
“Why especially me?” The statement surprised him so much that he forgot about her apparent martial arts prowess.
“You saved my life, silly goose!” Jessica replied. “Not to mention how nice you and Tony have been to me since I've been here. And how about the time you spent teaching me how to look out for myself?”
“Fair enough,” Sean nodded, more to cover his confusion than anything else.
“What are you doing, anyway?” Jessica asked, nodded to the screen Galen had been looking at.
“Looking for work,” he admitted, taking his seat again as she sat beside him. “This is a message board for ships and crewers to look for help or for work. Further out we go though, the harder it is to find something decent. I'd have had better luck at Hartley, but I still might find something here.”
“I had to get us off the station,” Jessica didn't quite roll her eyes.
“I know that,” he replied. “I'm not fussing, just explaining. Hartley is pretty far out too, but because of all the traffic it's a good place to look for work. Finding real jobs gets harder the further out you go. Not as many ships, and a lot of the ships that work out here aren't what you'd call good employment opportunities.”
“Like our friends from Dry Commons?” she asked.
“Just like that,” Sean nodded. “Anyway, that's what I'm doing.”
“You really should stay here, you know,” Jessica said softly. “No one wants you to leave.”
“I can't stay somewhere once people know who I am,” Sean shook his head. “Doesn't work like that. And if it gets out I'm on Celia, then it puts the rest of you in danger if they come after me. When someone is after me they tend to shoot first and not ask questions at all.”
“Why are they after you?” Jessica asked. “And who is 'they'? Isn't the war over?”
“Not for a war criminal,” Sean's voice was hard. “See, the benevolent Commonwealth, in all its glory and wisdom, has decreed that because I killed so many of their 'heroes' and did so in such a violent fashion that I should stand trial for my 'atrocities.' For me, the war won't ever be over,” he added, and for just a second Jessica could hear, almost see the loneliness and despair that followed this man everywhere he went.
“Why don't you just find an out of the way place and settle down?” she asked suddenly. “Somewhere far from the Commonwealth's Sphere. On the Rim, for instance.”
“Because I'm not going to hide,” he told her simply. “I'm not ashamed of what I did. I never killed anyone who didn't deserve it or wasn't trying to kill me or someone else. And I never killed an innocent child or woman, either,” he added with bitter softness.
“I was just thinking if you were somewhere small, out of the way, you could get married, have a famil . . . what?” she cut off as Galen was shaking his head.
“I could never have a family,” he told her. “Any wife or children I had would just become targets for some Commonwealth murderers. I can't go through that again. I won't go through it again,” he added more firmly.
“I hadn't thought of that,” she sighed. “I'm so sorry, Mister Galen,” she said gently. “I wouldn't have put you in this situation for anything. If I could go back, I'd just stay in my bunk.”
