Dana Cartwright Mission 3: Kal-King (17 page)

“How many life-signs?”

“Six…all Tresgan,” Coe reported, and then his facial expression changed. “Dagger Class shuttle coming in, too, sir.”

“Fane!” Kieran Jai hissed, under his breath, in unison with Xalier.

Janz came awake slowly from the anesthesia, his body numb, eyelids heavy, making it difficult to focus. Soon the pain overwhelmed him, returning with a vengeance. He cried and writhed until the android-doctor administered a painkiller.

“What have you done?” Macao demanded, but they ignored him.

Dana! Please help me! I’m aboard
Thresher
!

Her brother, March, stared in amazement as Dana clawed the edge of the table, doubled over with pain. Shutting her eyes tightly, she breathed through the empathetic episode, until the sensation became a dull ache. She mentally answered Janz Macao’s plea with a promise.
I will come
.

When she recovered and opened her eyes, she pleaded, “I have a dear friend and a former patient at the conference. He desperately needs me. He’s been seriously injured. I must go to him.”

August’s mismatched eyes narrowed with suspicion.

She detected jealousy as he demanded, “Why?”

“I am an empath. I feel his pain. It won’t stop until I go to him.”

“Where is this friend?”

“Aboard
Thresher
.”

August looked skeptical. “You can feel him?”

She nodded. “My DNA mutated in a very unique way, August. As an empath, I sense other beings’ emotions and distress, even their pain.” She focused her eyes upon him, countering his scowl, “You think I lie?”
 

She turned to March. “Doctor, surely you understand, of all people. Once you have operated upon a patient, you have a duty and responsibility for that patient forever.”

March did not trust her either.
 

Dana sighed. “Leave me and go your way. I will contact our father and, if he chooses, he will come of his own accord to meet you. I’m done.”

“You are a captain in Crown Enterprises. You work for me,” August reminded icily.

“I just quit!”

March, once again, showed concern. Either that, or her empathetic senses were just on overwhelm.

Dana shrugged, growing impatient.

Then she felt the ship engines disengage.

The Captain of
Kalis
called down, “
Thresher
has ordered that we come to a stop, master.”

August frowned.

Dana responded, “Tell them Dana Cartwright requests permission to come aboard.”

She gave August and March a forced, farewell
 
smile, took up her backpack and turned away. “You can keep the severance pay,” she offered, half expecting one or the other to demand she stop, but neither did.

In
Thresher
’s MAT station, Dana stepped down from the pad area and greeted Ambassador Solon, April and Novem with the Galaxean salute, but focused on Dec and offered a smile.

Dec’s mouth gaped, “You are the January!”

“I am,” she responded. “March and August are aboard
Kalis
. They reluctantly let me come.” She turned to April. “Doctor Talon, our brother, August, is severely crippled and his condition is deteriorating. I offered help, but he’s not what we would consider…agreeable.”

Ambassador Solon nodded. “Perhaps I can convince him.”

Dana admitted, “You are far more diplomatic than I, Mister Ambassador.”

He nodded his head.

“I understand Janz Macao is aboard and in great pain. I must go to him.”

She apologized for not seeing them off.

“Do you need directions, sir?” an Ensign in the corridor inquired.

“Thank you, no, I know the way.” She did, all too well, since
Thresher
was the last Star Service cruiser docked at Scanlos, when she resigned her commission as commander. The Star Service, in its infinite genius and wisdom, wouldn’t assign her to it because she knew Captain McHale. They had too much history together.

Janz stirred the moment Dana entered the sickbay, sensing her arrival.

“Dana! They have me pumped full of pains meds now. I can’t feel a thing.”

She dropped her backpack and took a scanner from a dazed, male nurse, pulling away the thin sheet, and running a full spinal scan of Macao’s back. The readings were beyond bad.
 

“There’s too much inflammation right now for me to do anything. Did they give you…Fane!” She muttered an epithet demanding the nurse call a human doctor.

Serge scowled at her when he came around the corner, demanding, “Who do you think you are!”

“Doctor Dana Cartwright, Captain Macao’s former surgeon. This anti-inflammatory is not certified as safe for Alphans, and,” she winced, feeling Macao’s stabbing pain, “your patient is suffering. I should have you before a medical board!”
 

She gave him the name of the correct anti-inflammatory drug, quoting the text of an Alphan medical journal, demanding he administer it immediately.
 

Serge didn’t budge and even protested, “You can’t just walk in here and start giving me orders!”

“Oh, yes, she can,” Captain McHale countered from the doorway, flanked by Kieran Jai and Xalier.

Dana looked up. “Good to see you again, sir.”

“Good to see you, ‘Mister’ Cartwright’.”
 

They both had a chuckle.

Janz Macao didn’t join in until the injector hissed against his neck. “Can you all have a reunion later... I need Dana’s undivided attention.”

She patted his shoulder. “You’re going to need some aquatic therapy, just as Kieran had.”

“I swam in a lithium pool. It didn’t help,” Janz complained.

“Probably too warm. Warm pools can increase the inflammation. I highly recommend the Terrines, in the GCE. Perhaps we can arrange with the Enturian ambassadors to...”

“They haven’t arrived yet,” Kieran interrupted.

She sensed a form of jealousy coming from him.

“The conference started hours ago, without them,” McHale added.

“Without me, as well,” Prince Korwin Kord offered, coming in at the tail end of the conversation.

Dana grinned at her Star Service Academy classmate and dear friend. “PK! We need to talk.”

He bowed his head in her direction. “We do, indeed, DD.”

“Do you suspect foul play?” Dana asked.

Kieran decided not to respond.

Xalier hissed, “With a Tresgan showing up in a Blade Class shuttle…yes, we do.”

McHale added, “
Trader One
, aka
Trident
, just arrived with a Tresgan demanding access to the conference.”

“Don’t let him near anyone!” Dana responded, reviewing their faces before ending by staring at Kieran.
 

“I don’t intend to,” he answered, locking stares with her. “I may need to call you back to active duty, Commander Cartwright.”

She frowned. “It is my understanding that you already had on Tonner III, Commodore. However, I may have been compromised during the mission to Arkares, and will protest all the way to the Republic President, if need be.” She sighed, “I’m too close the problem.”

Kieran frowned.

No one else dared respond.

Doctor Serge demanded, “There are entirely too many people in my sickbay. With all due respect, Captain and Commodore, Ambassador and Colonel. All non-essential personnel — out.”

McHale suggested, “Let’s adjourn to Briefing Room One and leave the doctors to their patient.” He supervised as the others filed out.

Dana didn’t budge. She leaned over Janz Macao and pulled the sheet up over him. He reached for her hand, longing for a stronger telepathic link.

She declined. “I’m already hurting, Janz. I can barely function like this.”

“Just knowing you’re here makes me feel better.”

Dana cautioned, “Promise, this time, you won’t get up. You need to rest. We can sedate you if we must. You really should be in a C-FIIN and immobilized.”

“I’ll be good,” Janz promised, “Shalee will make me.”

Dana patted his shoulder, closed her eyes and sent his life-mate a passionate plea.

Don’t let him even try. The readings are just too serious.

Dana then collected her pack and stepped out into the corridor.

Prince Korwin was waiting. “How’s your leg? Any residual pain?”

“Good as new, thanks to you.” She felt deep love in his demeanor and knew. “You’ve found her?”

He chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I have found the woman of my dreams. She is my life-mate now. I can’t wait for you to meet Micah.”

“I’m so very happy for you, my friend.” Tears of joy filled Dana’s eyes.

“I can see that you need a new N-link,” Korwin offered, “I happen to have one with me.”

Dana laughed. “Yes, I do need one. Oh, PK, I’ve found four of my brothers. March is a doctor — though not as disciplined as I expected.
 
August? Well, he’s a whole different matter. He’s emotionally...unwell.”

Prince Korwin nodded, reaching in his secret pocket and offering the little N-link that Micah had given back. “This should help.”

“Thank you,” Dana whispered, as he slipped it about her neck under her disheveled hair braid.

She immediately enjoyed the neutralizing effect from the device. “Much better...”

“Ready for the briefing?” he looked down the corridor to the left.

“One is this way,” Dana indicated to the right. “I have the deck plans of this ship memorized.”

They both laughed.

“Does your memory bank ever fill up?”

“Hasn’t yet,” she said with a grin.

Only Kieran Jai was seated at the briefing room table. He bolted to his feet and bowed respectfully to Prince Korwin.

The Ambassador responded in kind. “I’ll leave you two, if you like.”

“Thank you, Your Highness, but please, I would appreciate it if you stayed.” Kieran motioned them to chairs.

“Xal uncovered this,” Kieran pointed to the viewer on the wall.

“Arkares,” Dana said, recognizing the star system,“the home of Crown Enterprises.”

The Commodore nodded, continuing, “And headquarters of slave traders and mercenaries that the Republic would very much like to shut down.”

Dana understood the dilemma. “How are they getting Alphan ships? Blade Class and Dagger Class ships?”

Korwin didn’t blink. “There is no embargo against selling to Crown Enterprises. Not yet, anyway… However, this conference may vote to change that. Crown Enterprises has quite a fleet. Their ‘King’ is very wealthy.”

“The King,” Dana reminded, “their King is Augustus Kaelin King, my brother…well, one of my brothers.”

Kieran tapped the display controls and the image shifted to Tonner III.

Dana reacted immediately, recognizing the spaceport.

“Watch,” Kieran said.

“That’s
Seraph
as I was coming in for a landing,” Dana commented.

“Pause...” Kieran ordered and the image froze. “And that’s
Kal-King
directly below
Seraph
in Bay 95.” He looked her way. “
Kal-King
emitted a coded message — a string of numbers — a sequence we believe that was aimed at
Seraph
.”
 

Dana nodded.

“Resume.”
 

The incoming shuttle descended and the image changed.
Seraph
settled on the bay and all the landing lights glowed green. Then the ship exploded, the blast from the rear propelling debris forward.

Dana winced, seeing her body ejected from the craft and bouncing upon the sandy bay amid a shower of debris.

“These images are from a security camera that Spaceport Commissioner Stevenson withheld during the hearing and investigation. Just as a side note, Ambassador Taurian apparently borrowed a large sum from Crown Enterprises and was unable to repay it. He was a confirmed, ‘yes’ vote on this treaty being discussed at the conference, that would ban all cloning and experimentation on non-allied worlds species. Xal believes he was eliminated to prevent him from voting.”

“The case against Hawk and Heskar is circumstantial,” Dana countered. “How can you prove that the code triggered a bomb? T-III had terrible crash investigation and recovery protocols. Believe me, I know.”

“We are conducting a full investigation into Ambassador Reeves’ situation, too. He also was a confirmed ‘yes’ on the treaty and fell ill just before departure — canceling his trip.”

“Reeves sent me a package. I think it’s still in the cargo bay aboard
Katana
, unopened,” Prince Korwin interrupted.

“We may want to inspect it.” Kieran added, “Now, a Tresgan named Task shows up with an Alphan shuttle and demands admission to the conference — a shuttle that happens to be registered to Crown Enterprises, acquired from a scrap heap, allegedly, from Station Four — with a home port of Polaris-Station Three — although it still shows up on Four’s inventory as space worthy with the certification by Cartwright, Commander Dana J.”

She scowled. “That was years ago — before I retired. And it was certified space-worthy. Mackenna flew it with no problems and I repaired the autopilot myself. I took it to Scanlos with Doctor Calagura.”

“Exactly!” Kieran exclaimed.

Prince Korwin chuckled. “So, my father’s retired shuttle,
Trident
, is now registered to Station Three, but it’s here in the hands of an uninvited Tresgan delegation and registered to Crown Enterprises. This is fascinating!” He turned to Dana. “I loved that ship.”

“First one I ever flew,” she reminded him with a sigh.

“Legally, can you confiscate it, Commodore?” Prince Korwin wondered.

“McHale and Xalier are investigating the legality of such a step as we...”

The red alert klaxon sounded once again.

Prince Korwin rose, suddenly pale and upset. “Micah!”

Over the intercom came McHale’s voice. “We’ve registered an explosion aboard
Katana
. No casualties... Princess Micah assures that...”

Dana, Kieran and Prince Korwin were already heading to a MAT station.
 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Korwin pulled his life-mate into his arms, protectively shielding her, as the security officers from
Katana
fanned out about them. Smudged with smoke, Princess Micah’s flowing, white robe was now gray.