Salvation (4 page)

"I mean it," he
continued warmly. "Your service is going to be invaluable."

Just then, a blaster shot flew past us. The captain drew his own blaster and turned around. He shot and I turned in time to see one of the Bakians go down.

"Run, dammit!" The captain hauled me by the arm and started running down the hall to where we were docked. But his legs were faster than mine and I felt myself falling behind. When he reached the door, he keyed in the code and looked back at me.

"Come on, Simmons," he shouted, but then I heard another blaster shot
from behind me and felt a sharp pain in my thigh. My steps faltered and I saw his look of horror as I fell forward.

I landed hard on my hands. I was almost blacking out from the pain, but I tried to get up anyway. I needed to get to that door.

"Stay down, dammit!" I heard him shout from somewhere above me. There were blasters firing over my head, which stopped abruptly, and then the world spun as I was picked up and heaved over one of his shoulders.

I bounced
on his shoulder and cried out in pain as he ran through the entrance to the dock and climbed into our shuttle, throwing me down on the seat beside him with my legs sprawled across his. I heard myself groaning and realized I was rocking back and forth. The pain in my leg was agonizing.

I tried to focus on something else, so I watched
as his fingers quickly worked the controls and I felt us lift off.

"Captain
." I heard the fuzzy voice over the communicator. "Are you there?"

"Yes, we got away." He looked over at me and
I tried to keep my eyes focused on him, but I was almost passing out. "But Simmons is hurt. Have the medic bay on standby."

"Yes, sir."

The captain set the autonavigator and looked at my face. I could feel sweat on my forehead and my hands felt clammy. I closed my eyes against his gaze.

"No, Simmons, dammit. You stay with me." He studied my leg, which w
as still in his lap. There was a burnt hole in my pants surrounded by blood, and I could imagine the gaping wound beneath, which I was sure went all the way through my thigh.

He
grabbed his knife and swiftly cut away the sleeve of his shirt, sliding it under my leg. Then he looked up into my eyes and I saw compassion. "This is going to hurt, Simmons, but I have to get this on tight or you're going to bleed out before I get you back."

I just stared back blankly, which he must have taken as a yes. He positioned the fabric around my leg, took a deep breath, and pulled it tight. I hadn't thought I'd have the strength to scream, but was proven wrong as I threw my head back and screamed
until I broke off hoarsely, trying to get my leg away from him.

He
held the leg down easily and quickly finished tying the knot. Then I felt him clamp one strong hand on my shoulder and the other on my good leg. "It's over, Simmons, try to relax."

My brain must have registered his order because my body calmed. But suddenly, although I had
just been sweating with fear and pain, my body felt cold and I started to shake.

"You're going into shock. Dammit!" He hit his huge fist on the console as my entire body started to spasm.

He half stood and unzipped his jacket, then grasped me under the armpits and pulled me into his lap like a child. He held me tight against his body and wrapped as much of his jacket around me as he could. His voice rumbled into my hair. "I don't have any blankets or a first-aid console in here yet, a fact which I'm going to remedy when we get back."

Slowly, the
spasms subsided, and even though the pain in my leg throbbed against the tourniquet with every heartbeat, I was in heaven. I was finally in the captain's arms, and no matter how I got here, I found I couldn't regret it.

"Stay awake, Simmons."
He looked down at me to make sure my eyes were open and pushed my sweaty hair back from my face. I was too far gone to hide it, and I knew my desire for him must have shown on my face. His breath caught and his eyes widened slightly. Then he shook his head in embarrassment and cleared his throat.

"Umm, we'll have you back to the ship in no time." Then he chuckled. "You're
lucky you're a good translator, or you'd be more of a pain in the ass than you're worth, dammit."

"You say dammit a lot," I murmured, then I turned my face into his chest. I breathed in his scent
and let the heat of his body warm me. His arms felt strong and secure, and I felt safe for the first time in four years.

I wanted to hold on to the moment, to burn it into my brain because I knew it would never happen again. But my beaten body had had enough and
, try as I might to stay awake, blackness overtook me.

When I next awoke,
a firm, cool hand was on my forehead. I opened my eyes and saw the calm, smiling eyes of the medic. "Welcome back."

"Where am I?" I asked groggily, looking around.

"You're in the medical bay of the
Exteris
," he said. "That blaster hole went all the way through your leg, but we're regrowing the bone. Unfortunately, we have to mend your leg from the inside out, so it's still going to take a couple of weeks. You should stay off it for the next few days until we're just mending soft tissue."

I tried to sit up. "I've got to get back and report for duty."

He stilled me with a firm hand on my arm. "Hold your horses, Simmons. You've got as long as you need to recover, captain's orders."

My eyebrows shot up. "He's been here?"

"Yes, he carried you in here from the bay himself. He seemed very concerned. I think he likes you." He winked at me.

My heart caught and then I realized
the medic wasn't speaking about him
liking
me.

"I'm a good translator
," I said simply.

"I'm sure you are
, Simmons," he replied, looking like he wanted to say something more. But just then the door opened and the captain walked in. He looked refreshed, and more handsome than ever. My heart began to pound again and I tried to control my racing pulse.

"Simmons, you're awake
." His face held a genuine smile. "Good to see you back."

"Good to be back, sir." I said, trying not to blush.
This was getting ridiculous. I was seriously going to have to learn to control my reactions to him.

He looked at the medic. "Is he ready to go?"

"Sure. He just has to stay off his feet for at least three days and then use crutches until it's fully healed."

"Sounds good
." He walked over to the bed and looked at me. "Ready to head back to your quarters?"

"Yes, sir.
Umm, do you have a wheelchair or something?"

"Coming right up." The medic disappeared through a door on the right and came back rolling a chair in front of him.

The captain put one arm behind my back and one under my legs. He gently picked me up in his arms, and I hesitated a second before putting one arm around his broad shoulders. I was just torturing myself, I knew, but I couldn't resist the chance to touch him. He placed me carefully in the chair and adjusted the feet to support my leg brace.

"Thanks for everything,
Derek." The captain grinned and then turned to open the door.

He turned away too quickly, but I caught
the medic's troubled gaze over his shoulder as he watched the captain wheel me out.

Looking down at my changed clothing,
I knew that the medic had discovered my secret. And as the captain pushed me back to my quarters, I prayed to every god I had heard of that he would keep it.

When we arrived, the captain lifted me from the chair and placed me on the bed.

"This is probably a new experience for you
." He grinned, gesturing to my blankets on the floor.

"Yep
." I grinned back. It felt good to have an inside joke.

Then he frowned, looking around. "Simmons, what are you going to do in here for three days? You still don't have any personal belongings? You have been receiving your pay, right?"

"Yes, sir." I was at a loss for what to say. How could I explain that I had been hiding out in my room every time we docked? "I'm not big on shopping, sir." I finally managed.

He barked a laugh
, "No man is, Simmons." But then he strode over to the closet.

"Sir, don't..." I started, but he swiftly opened the doors anyway. He saw my uniforms hanging neatly in the corner,
but otherwise it was bare except for my pack. He picked it up.

"Is this all you brought on board?"

"Yes, sir," I replied weakly. "I'm a minimalist."

He paused for a moment, and then his green eyes bore into me again. "Simmons, I'm all for minimalism, but this is ridiculous." He shook his head and turned back to the closet, bending slightly to replace my pack. I thought I heard him mutter, "
The kid needs parents."

I felt my eyes burn with tears of embarrassment, and not a little anger. Who was he to come in and inspect my things? This was
my
room. I worked for it and earned it, and the throbbing in my thigh was proof.

Before I could say anything, he straightened and turned back to me. "The next time we show up in port, you're coming with me. We are going to get you dressed properly."

My eyes widened. "No, sir, please. I'm just fine the way I am."

"Simmons, don't backtalk me, dammit." Captain
Hawk-eyes was back, and I could tell from the way his gaze bore into me that there would be no getting out of it.

After a moment, m
y shoulders slumped and his gaze softened. "This is for your own good, Simmons. You're a good translator, and no matter where you came from or what happened before you got on my ship, this is your home now. You need to have decent clothing." He looked around again at the empty shelves and added, "And something to do in your free time. I'll escort you off the ship and make sure nothing happens to you in port."

"Yes, sir," I muttered, looking at my hands.

Then he slapped his hand on his thigh and I looked up. His eyes gleamed. "Now that that's settled, let's try to find you something to do for the next three days."

Before I knew it, he had picked me up
, put me back in the chair and we were leaving my quarters. Instead of walking down the hall, however, he turned to the door of his own room.

I held my breath. I was actually going into the captain's
domain.

The captain's room was twice the size of my own. I thought it also must have another adjoining room, because there was a door in the far corner and I couldn't see a bed anywhere. He also had several bookcases, which were filled with books and strange devices that I didn't recognize.

He
deposited me smoothly on his sofa. "So, what do you like to do in your free time?"

"I like to study languages, sir," I answered truthfully, then added, "and history."

"Do you know anything about movies?"

"No, sir. I have heard of them, but I have never seen one.
My parents had a viewer where I could watch recordings of people they talked to on their projects, but I've never seen an actual movie."

"Really?" He seemed excited. "My collection is quite old, but I have hundreds of movies here
." He held up a small black drive. "You can watch them with this viewer," he added, placing the viewer on my lap.

"What is that, sir?" I asked, pointing to
a glowing cube.

His face lost its
happy expression and he shrugged. "It's nothing, Simmons, I just like the way it glows." Then he picked me up and took me back to my room.

I enjoyed watching the movies over the next two weeks. Some were funny, some were scary, but my favorite movies were romantic, although I could never admit that to the captain. Maybe it was because they were so different than anything I had ever seen before.

I enjoyed watching the people meet and fal
l in love in all sorts of ways, and I especially loved the happy endings. But always in the back of my mind was the knowledge that it would probably never happen to me.

The captain
, for all his gruffness, was a dedicated caregiver. He wheeled me to the medical bay for the first few days and taught me how to use my crutches once I got them. He also brought me little things to make my life more interesting, such as a box that played all sorts of music and a few three-dimensional puzzles that I could put together.

He
always checked on me in the evenings, and sometimes stayed in my room for a few minutes, bringing in a couple of beers or another type of drink. I had found beer bitter and disgusting at first, but it was starting to grow on me. We discussed some of the movies I had watched, and I could tell it was a favorite hobby of his.

The last weekend before I went back to work, he came over for the evening and showed me his favorite movie. It was about another captain of a ship and his crew who take on a mysterious girl and try to find out her secret. It was funny and interesting, and
his gruff laughter seemed to fill my quarters with joy. In the scary parts I ended up holding on to his arm. It wasn't a very manly thing to do, but he didn't comment on it.

When it was finished, he asked, "When you finish with all of these movies, what will you do for a new hobby?"

"Actually, I do have a hobby, sir," I said quietly.

"Really?" He leaned forward, green eyes shining with interest. "What is it?"

I wavered. I hadn't shown anyone my secret since my parents died. No one knew about it, and I guarded it jealously. It was the only thing I had which reminded me of them, and so valuable that I knew if anyone else was aware I had it they might try to steal it. But then I met his gaze and knew that this was one thing about myself that I
could
share with him.

I exhaled slowly
, hobbled on my crutches over to the closet, and pulled out my pack. I reached down inside and unzipped the hidden zipper. Then I pulled out a carefully wrapped sock. I walked over and handed it to him.

He opened the sock
slowly and pulled out the glowing vial within. "A crystal computer," he barely whispered, watching the tiny lights inside float in space. His eyes glowed with their reflection.

"Yes, sir," I whispered back. "This is how I keep up my language skills. I
t contains texts and sound files of each of the languages I know. They are mostly histories, so I read the histories of the various peoples in my free time."

"And this was your parents'
." He guessed, finally breaking his gaze from the device and looking at me.

"Yes, sir. It is the only thing I have left of them." I could feel my eyes grow bright, but I had
only cried the one time since the funeral, and I didn't want to break down in front of the captain again. It was better not to show weakness.

His large hand landed on my shoulder gently. "It's all right to miss your parents, Simmons," he said gruffly.

I cleared my throat. "I know, sir."

He took one last look at the vial, and then held it out to me. He clasped my hand in his as he placed the vial in my palm.

"Thank you for sharing this with me," he said. "I'll be right back."

He returned in a few moments with the glowing cube I had seen before, and handed it to me gently. "These are the people that I miss."

I put my eye up to the cube, and inside I could see different videos playing on each of nine small screens. There were his parents, I could tell from the similarity of their features. But there was also a video of a much younger captain, along with a young woman and a baby.

"Were you married, sir?" I asked.

I saw pain flash briefly in his eyes. "Yes, Simmons, when I was just a couple of years older than you, in fact. My parents had given me money and I had just bought my own ship, ready to go out on my own. I married my childhood sweetheart and she came with me. We had a child..." His voice trailed off and his eyes glazed over.

"Captain," I said. He shook his head slightly and his eyes refocused.

"Sorry, I don't talk about it much now. Remember how I told you that this line of work is more dangerous? Neither of us wanted to be apart, so she came with me and we had the baby on my ship. But about a year after we had the baby, one of our negotiations went bad. I was in one of the small shuttles, on the way back to my ship." He put his head in his hands. "They blew up my ship in front of my eyes."

I was filled with horror
, and had no idea what to say. So I put my hand on his shoulder and just sat next to him.

Finally, he raised his head and looked at me. His eyes were bright
, but his face looked determined. "That's why I don't allow women on my ship now. All of the men know the dangers of working in space, doing what we do, and accept them. But if any member of my crew wants to get married, I give them a good parting salary and help them find a job on a planet, or a less dangerous ship."

After he went back to his quarters that night, I stared into the darkness, thinking of what he'd been through. I knew for certain that I could never share my secret now. But his story pulled at my heart and I wished I could wrap my arms around him, comforting him as his kindness had comforted me.