Endurance (44 page)

Abrupt Offerings

Shortly after I began FurreVa’s final postop evaluation, she informed me that she was getting married.

To
SrrokVar
.

It took a minute to comprehend what she’d said. “You’re going to
what
?”

Pmohhi had been standing between me and FurreVa while I performed the final postop evaluation. She squeaked and darted out of the way.

The big female Hsktskt glowered at me. “As I indicated, SrrokVar desires to unite with me. I have agreed.”

I wanted to put her face back the way it was. With a blunt object. “When did
this
happen?”

“SrrokVar has expressed interest in me for some time now. GothVar threatened to harm my brood if I returned the OverLord’s favors.” Her tail smacked the base of the table, making it rock. “He used the same intimidation to compel me to discontinue the reconstructive surgery.”

That explained why she had refused the work and stomped out of the infirmary. “He was a genuine maniac, FurreVa, and put you through hell. Wasn’t that enough? Why get involved with another one?”

“OverLord SrrokVar is an honorable male.” She pushed the magniviewer arm aside and slid off the exam table. “You are welcome to attend the ritual.”

“Has your brain leaked out of your ears?” I blocked her path. “An honorable male. Mother of All Houses. He’s a monster!”

“SrrokVar will not harm me. I must join, or my young will never attain rank.” With one limb she picked me up and set me out of the way, then awkwardly patted my shoulder. “His status makes him a desirable mate. He will ensure my young realize their place in the Faction.”

I finally broke out of my slack-jawed trance. “Fine. Marry the perverted brute. You have to live with him, I don’t.”

She left, and I performed rounds in complete silence. Zella eventually got up the nerve to approach me, and slapped her tail on the floor to get my attention.

“
What
?” I caught myself and grimaced. “Sorry. What do you need?”

“Upset, I know you are. In a position to help us, she will be.” The nurse said. “His mate, being.”

“You’re probably right.” I sighed as I wrote up a schedule of antibiotics for a patient with infected lacerations—inflicted by the prospective bridegroom. “Just don’t expect me to throw rice at them.”

Pmohhi, who was standing nearby, started to ask me why Terrans pelted newlyweds with grain, but Vlaav interrupted her and asked to speak with me privately. Since his angiomas looked ready to pop, I handed the nurse the chart I was working on and walked over to the empty side of the infirmary.

“What’s the problem?”

“Lieutenant Wonlee asked me to relay a message—”

That was as far as my resident got, because the walls around us began to shake. Huge, booming explosions went off above the compound. Nothing shattered, but I didn’t like the way the rock was trembling under my footgear.

“What is that?” Vlaav began trickling all over his tunic. “Seismic tremors?”

I handed him a square of linen. “I think HouseClan Torin has arrived.”

The Hsktskt had been smart enough to get their ships out of firing range, which obliged the liberation forces to begin the surface assault. Trustees with access to Central Command told me the Aksellans and Jorenians weren’t firing on the compound itself, only bombarding the area around it. Still, it was enough to mobilize the Hsktskt centurons, who immediately began herding all the trustees back to their tiers.

No injured were reported, but the guards may have been keeping them in lockdown. We made the patients as comfortable and safe as possible, then began our final preparations to aid the assault teams. Since we’d reached zero hour, I briefed the remainder of the medical staffers on the details of our inside job.

“If Paul Dalton and Geef Skrople manage to get a food prep team in here, give them the last of the synthesized stock,” I said, after checking what we had in the drug storage unit.

Pmohhi exchanged a troubled look with the other nurses. “We may need it to treat the injured.”

“We can get everything we need on the Jorenian and Aksellan vessels,” I said. “Or we won’t need it at all.”

“Doctor.” The Saksonan kept glancing at the centuron guarding the entrance to the infirmary. “We should prioritize by location.”

“Absolutely.” I gave him an encouraging slap on the shoulder, then had to wipe my hand on my trousers. “Just do the best you can, Doctor.”

The signal from tier nine came in, and I left Vlaav in charge and went to find Wonlee. A couple of centurons stopped me in the main corridor, but they all believed my story about being summoned to the tier by the new OverLord.

The Hsktskt should really learn the fine art of falsehood.

“I need to see prisoner Wonlee,” I told the guard on tier nine. He showed me to the cell and opened the panel. I wasn’t terribly surprised to find it empty, but he was.

“I’ll report the escape to OverLord SrrokVar,” I said when he had finished throwing his tantrum. The shaking and explosions had stopped, which had me worried. “He can’t go anywhere, not with those ships firing on the surface.”

“They will not be firing much longer.” The Centuron displayed his toothy pleasure over that. “The enemy’s attack was reflected back at their own ships.”

Great. I needed to talk to the pel, too.

I made my way through the tiers, but no Won. As I crossed the prisoner commons on tier fifteen, someone called my name from the depths of the labyrinth.

“Gael?” I whispered, then nearly jumped out of my skin when Alunthri and Jenner crept around a corner. “God, what is it with everyone sneaking up on me?”

“Forgive us, Cherijo.” My eternally patient friend looked calm, but my poor cat was frantic. “Will they destroy the compound before we can escape?”

“No. Hey, pal.” I picked up Jenner, then curled my arm around the Chakacat and gave it a hug. “Don’t be afraid, we’ll get out.” By my estimate it was time to get to the pits. “Come with me. I could use your help.”

Alunthri followed me to the isolated corridor which led to the solitary confinement area. Before it entered, it came to a shocked halt. “Cherijo, we can’t go in there. The guards—”

“Are taking a nap.” I pointed to an unconscious centuron huddled beside a deactivated console. “Trust me, it’s safe.”

Jenner went over to sniff at the Hsktskt, while my friend eyed the small spot of blood on the guard’s tunic. “What is this thing in his chest?”

“One of Lieutenant Wonlee’s quills.” I plucked the spine from the lizard’s chest and held it out for Alunthri. “See? It’s hollow. Won sheds them like hair; he’s been hoarding them for weeks.”

“But how does it make the beast unconscious?”

“It doesn’t.” I tucked the spine in my tunic pocket. “The neuroparalyzer we filled it with did. Over here.”

The big cat accompanied me as I went to open the hatch to one of the deep pits. Jenner, who had apparently appointed himself guard dog, paced back and forth between the entrances. “Who is in here?”

I pried the hatch off and pushed it aside. “Reever.”

“We are freeing Duncan?” Colorless eyes regarded me with renewed alarm.

“Yep.” I got up and went after the grav-hoist. “He’s handy to have around when the world is coming to an end.”

“He could cause trouble for us.”

“Don’t worry.” I had a few scores to settle with Duncan. “If he gives anyone any grief, I’ll shoot him myself.”

I couldn’t see Reever, mostly because there were about a hundred Lok-Teel clinging to the six walls of the pit. I called down to him as we lowered the retrieval clamps, and felt the tug of weight when I reversed the hoist. Reever’s naked body appeared suspended in the clamps a moment later.

“Thank you.” I handed him a prisoner’s tunic, which he swiftly pulled on. “The liberation forces have arrived?”

Alunthri stared. “How did you know about that?”

“The Hsktskt thought it so much slave gossip. I did not.”

I was busy being miffed. Of all the prisoners on the rock, only Reever looked good in that awful yellow. It just wasn’t fair. I secured the hoist, picked up Jenner, then turned to my former Lord and OverMaster.

“Yeah, well, they’re here. The Jorenians
and
the Aksellans.” I scratched the fur around Jenner’s ears, knowing it would soothe him. “They’re having problems.”

“If we can reach the slave-runner’s ship, I can help.”

“That’s just what I was counting on.”

Reever helped us escape the compound by putting the three of us in envirosuits—my cat in an airtight sojourn pack—then had us climb in an inorganic waste disposal unit. Before he climbed in, he programmed the waste management system to dump the cube a few meters from Noarr’s ship.

“And nothing is going to compress or crunch us once we get out there, right?” I asked as he closed the top panel.

“Nothing, unless the Jorenians renew their surface bombardment.” Reever stepped in and then handed me the squirming bundle containing Jenner. “That would not be a favorable situation.”

“There’s an understatement.”

Sitting in the disposal unit wasn’t much of a joy-ride. The transport drone seemed to take forever, and before long we were all cramped and cold. Alunthri huddled close to me and Jenner while I talked through chattering teeth to Reever.

“I can signal the Jorenians from Noarr’s ship. Now what are you planning to do to help?”

“Once you and the cats are safe, I will return to the compound and help the League prisoners organize against the guards. I must pay Lord SrrokVar a visit as well.”

I shuddered, thinking of the hours I’d spent in that maniac’s hands. “Why bother?”

“He has some information that I want.”

I snorted. “I don’t see him giving it to you.”

Reever put his hand on the pulse weapon he’d taken from the unconscious guard. “I feel confident I can persuade him to cooperate.”

The disposal drone dropped the cube exactly where Reever had programmed it to, and we waited until it was out of visual range before climbing out of the unit. Luckily the ships above us weren’t firing, or things could have gotten very hairy.

“God, it’s cold.” I rubbed my gloved hands over the case containing Jenner, and was relieved to hear a faint but imperative yowl. “Come on, let’s get into the ship.”

Reever didn’t come with us, but headed back on foot toward the compound.

“Duncan.”

He turned, and looked at me.

There was more to say—a lot more—but now was not the time. “Thank you.”

He lifted a hand, then continued on.

I helped Alunthri up the entrance ramp and into the pressure lock. Once inside, we deconned thoroughly, then entered the main cabin as soon as Jgrap released the internal locks.

“Any signal from Wonlee?” I asked as I let my cat out of the bag, but the Forharsee only shook his head. “Damn. All right, prepare to leave this rock. I’ve got to send some signals.”

An hour later, a group of envirosuited beings mounted the entrance ramp, and filed into the pressure lock. I scanned them before completing the decon cycle and opening the hatch.

The tallest one took off his helmet, and held out his arms. “ClanSister.”

“Xonea.” I ran over and let him swing me up for a rib-bruising hug. Over his shoulder, I grinned at the other relieved, sapphire-skinned faces. “What took you guys so long?”

Salo made a grumpy gesture. “I would have come after you the day the fleet left orbit.” He bent down to touch his brow to mine. “It is good to see you join our path again, Healer.”

“Same here.” I gave Xonea another squeeze, then he placed me back down on my feet. “Darea.” I held out my hands to Salo’s bondmate. “How is Fasala progressing?”

“Very well, Healer. Her hair has grown back, and she shows no ill effects from the bone marrow transplant.” The big Jorenian female’s eyes shadowed. “Salo and I still have some difficulty with the memories of what happened to us.”

I didn’t blame them. Darea and Fasala had very nearly been victims of the serial murderer on the
Sunlace.
Later, during the surgery I performed to save Darea’s life, an injured and irrational Salo had hurtled through a surgical suite viewer and tried to kill me.

It seemed appropriate, so I reached up and gave Darea the traditional Jorenian kiss of peace. “It takes time, lady. Give yourself that.”

The rest of the Torin landing party made their less-than-formal greetings, and my sides ached by the time I got through all the hugs. They were happy to see Alunthri and Jenner, and warmly greeted Jgrap and Kroni.

“We must not linger, Cherijo.” Xonea was already at the ship’s controls, scanning for Hsktskt. “Our launch will not remain undetected for long.”

Noarr. Reever. I closed my eyes for a moment. Then I nodded. “We’re ready. Let’s go.”

The launch left the surface shortly after that, carrying all of us away from the crystal asteroid up to a familiar sight. A huge, elegant star vessel, shaped much like a Terran nautilus shell, spiraled slowly as it maintained orbit above Catopsa. Gyrlifts whirled busily around the hull, transporting crew members from one level to another.

With a small sinking feeling, I noticed the newly installed weaponry. Until they broke off relations with the Allied League of Worlds, the
Jorenians had never bothered much with armament. They were primarily a race of nonviolent explorers.

Had been, until they’d gotten involved with me.

“The
Sunlace
looks good,” I said to Xonea. He had invited me to sit by him at the helm, and I enjoyed watching him pilot the launch. He made it look so easy. “Everything go well with the retrofit?”

“Yes, although it took some time to correct the problems with the buffer and damage to the star-drive.”

I let a little ice enter my tone. “I see you finally got all those big sonic cannons you wanted.”

“I will not quarrel with you over the upgrade of ship’s defense systems, ClanSister.” He gave me a wry glance. “On the last occasion I did so, I suffered no small amount of humiliation, and lost the argument as well.”

“All right. For now.” I sat back and relaxed. “In any event, I’m too glad to see everyone to be debating defense systems.”