Hostage To The Stars: A Sectors SF Romance (20 page)

Dinner was brought to her in the cabin and she entertained herself till bedtime watching trideos.

Next morning she found out she’d been restricted to her quarters and certain narrowly defined areas of the
Penelope
, such as the exercise room. She was to be escorted at all times. “Am I a prisoner?” she said.

The nice young ensign assigned to babysit her, who’d arrived with breakfast and the bad news, flushed and bit his lip. “No, ma’am, of course not. It’s just the
Penelope
has many classified areas, off limits to a civilian. And you might get lost.” He was clearly grasping at whatever flimsy excuse he could think of.

“Hey, I’m the one who drew out the entire Mawreg base schematic for them yesterday. I don’t get lost,” she said. “Can I see Sgt. Danver today?”

“I’ll check and see if contact might be possible but I believe Sgt. Danver is still being debriefed.” He wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“For three days? He can’t spare five minutes for me to see how he is? Thank him?” She knew her voice was rising and angry. Taking a deep breath, she said. “Level with me, Ensign. What’s actually going on? Does he not want to see me? Is he in trouble because of rescuing me?”

“Ma’am, nothing’s going on, no trouble just —just routine after a Special Forces mission. I haven’t been briefed on any issues. Uh, did you want to see the hydroponic gardens maybe? The
Penny
has the finest collection of Old Terra vegetables under cultivation in the Fleet—”

Sara tuned him out, although she did allow him to escort her to the gardens and anywhere else he suggested. She hoped she might catch a glimpse of Major Varone in a corridor and be able to appeal to him for help with contacting Johnny. She and the ensign were happy to say farewell to each other after a stilted dinner in the junior officers’ mess. A day of making small talk and avoiding the real issues was taxing. Sara has to restrain her impulse to slam her cabin door as he left.

She threw herself on the bed. “What in the seven hells is going on here?” Worry for Johnny was uppermost in her mind but anger simmered as well. Nobody was telling her the truth. “Maybe I can interrogate the captain when I have dinner with him in two days.”
 

Seething with frustration, she put a trideo on to play without paying any attention to what she’d selected. She tried to think of ways to escape her constant escorts and find Johnny. But he might not even be in the same sickbay she’d been taken to. A ship this large could have multiple sickbays. Her best bet probably to give the captain a hard time. But could she browbeat and intimidate a man who commanded this massive battleship? “I have to try.” Maybe Special Forces operators and the people they rescued weren’t encouraged to mingle after the ordeal ended? But Johnny had said he loved her, knew she loved him so why hadn’t he found a way to at least contact her?

A discreet knock at the door interrupted her agitated thoughts. “Come in,” she said, raising her voice and sitting up. She flicked the trideo to mute.

Major Varone came in, closing the portal behind him. “Is now a good time to talk?”

“Where’s Johnny?” she said, hot with anger. “Why can’t I see him?”

“It’s complicated.” He indicated the chair by her bed. “May I?”

“Please.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there yesterday when the intel guys were interrogating you about the escape from the Mawreg. I’d intended to be. I heard you collapsed.” His expression radiated genuine concern as he leaned forward, looking her over.

Sara stared at him for a moment, taking his measure. “ Johnny didn’t want a certain detail to be shared. I think we’re protecting your wife.”

“I see.” The major closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

“We’d agreed what we were going to say and I stuck to that. The officers kept pushing me so I indulged in an anxiety attack.” She eyed him. “If he’s in trouble over what I said, I’ll be glad to tell them the truth.”

“No, he’s not in trouble about it. Thank you for shielding my wife. I can explain what his concern was at a later time—you’re owed an explanation.”

She could care less about any explanations. The major’s wife only mattered to her because the woman obviously mattered to Johnny. “Why can’t I see him? Is he all right?”

“When you arrived, you told us how much the data download affected Johnny.”

Automatically, she glanced at her no longer broken hand. “I couldn’t get him to stop recording the data with his mind implant. He was bleeding from the ear and nose, and his eyes were scary. So I slugged him, which is how I broke my hand.”

“The Mawreg captured Johnny once before. The incident was why we retired, or one major reason, aftereffects of the experience. Flashbacks.”

“He told me.”

Varone gave her a surprised glance. “My cousin must really trust you—he doesn’t discuss it with anyone. Well, long story short, this incident on Farduccir triggered the bad memories for him, not surprisingly. He got…pushed a little too hard in the debrief. The intel team weren’t supposed to talk to him without me in the room but someone got overeager.” Mike gave her a level glance and Sara felt a shiver go up her spine at the deadly expression in his eyes. “That’ll never happen again. The person responsible has already paid for their mistake.”

“Good.” Sara made sure to convey the unequivocal nature of her approval in her voice. “Then what?”

“I get the impression you don’t like me much. Considering this is only the second time we’ve ever met, your hostility makes me curious. Not to be conceited but people generally think I’m a nice guy.” Raising his eyebrows, Mike invited her to explain.

“Johnny told me a lot about his life and almost every story was in the context of ‘Mike and I’. ‘Mike did this and so I had to do the other thing’. Even coming here, to my rescue, was in order to keep you at home with your pregnant wife, as I understand it.”

Jaw clenched, Mike gritted out a denial, “I didn’t ask him to come in my place.”

“Seemed as if he was a secondary character to you in his own life.” She shrugged. “Johnny’s the person I care about. The rest of you in his family can go to the seven hells.”

“Good.” To her complete astonishment, Mike relaxed, sat back and flashed a big smile. “I hope I earn the chance to get on a better footing with you, but right now Johnny needs help I can’t give him.”

With a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, she scooted closer. “Tell me.”

“The data he recorded in the implant had to be downloaded and it had to be done right away or he’d suffer permanent brain damage, possibly even death.” Mike raised one hand to forestall her next remark. “Johnny knew the risks. We’ve both done missions where we were the data capture guy. So unfortunately the procedure was performed right after the severe flashback incident. The doctors gave him a combination of drugs and yes, I
was
there to watch over him, but he didn’t come out.”

An anguished protest tore from her raw throat. “He’s dead?”

“No, I should have phrased it better.” Mike shook his head at the guard who knocked and opened the portal, weapon drawn. “We’re fine in here, carry on, sailor.”

The man saluted and withdrew, closing the door softly.

Sara found her voice. “What exactly is the situation? Give it to me straight.”

“He’s in a coma or a trance. The doctors can’t come up with an exact term for it. The top theory is maybe he’s refusing to surface into consciousness, believing he’s imprisoned by the Mawreg, between the drugs’ side effects, the debriefing interrogation and the download.” Mike paused, hesitating for a moment. “Did he talk to you about the checkout code?”

“No. I’ve never heard the term.”

“It’s a Mellurean mind implant, beyond top secret. It enables us to kill ourselves with a thought. We’re required to do so if the situation is hopeless and we might divulge secrets to the enemy. Special Order One.”

“You’re afraid he’ll activate it? Kill himself?” Horrified by the possibility, she felt the room spinning around her. She remembered a comment Johnny had made after escaping the Mawreg, about how he should have killed himself, which now took on new meaning in light of what Major Varone had shared.

Expression grim, the major continued his explanation. “I’m pulling all kinds of strings to get him either home to Azrigone, or to a base where there’s a Mellurean willing to help us. I know someone who might be able to arrange it. The ship’s doctors want to send him to a veterans rehab facility in the Inner Sectors instead.”

She grabbed his arm, pleading. “He’ll die.”

“It’s not going to happen, I can promise you.” Mike’s voice was pure steel. “He
will
get the proper care.” He paused for a moment and stared at the deck, fists clenched. Drawing in a deep breath, he relaxed his frame and concentrated on Sara again. “Your name is the only thing he’s said since the procedure.”

“Please, I have to see him. I’ll beg, I’ll grovel, I’ll do whatever you want me to do, but I have to see him.” Tears threatened to choke her. This whole conversation terrified her, and the need to be with Johnny, to try to help him, was overwhelming.

“I’ve been trying to arrange a visit for you since yesterday.”

She did a double take. “What’s the problem?”

“There are rules about people we rescue not fraternizing with us and vice versa,” Mike said. “I’m sure you can guess why.”

“What I feel for Johnny isn’t hero worship. I’m not a silly girl with a crush on the big sexy soldier who rescued her.” She got off the bed and paced in the tiny cabin. “I love him, damn it.”

“I believe you. I also know what Johnny told me two days ago before he went to Medical, and I believe him. But you’re not kin, you’re not his wife, you’re not even his fiancée—”

“So he’s going to die because I don’t have a title?”

“I’m telling you the obstacles. If you’re willing to go right now, I can sneak you in there. I’ve got a doctor willing to look the other way tonight. It’s our only chance because the authorities are planning to transfer you to a destroyer and send you home. I’m trying to circumvent that too.” He ran his hand over his face in an unconscious gesture of weariness. “Johnny and I have friends on this ship but not as many as we used to before we retired. Circumstances change. I have the gravity to get this all done the way I want, but not fast enough, damn it.”

She sat on the foot of the bed and put on her borrowed shoes. “I’m ready.”

“Good.” Mike rose with a genuine smile and opened the door for her. “Corporal, I’m taking the lady for a stroll before she gets cabin fever. I’ll be her escort. You can remain on guard here.”

The man saluted crisply. “Yes, sir.”

Mike and Sara didn’t talk as they walked through the long corridors, which were mostly deserted at this hour, and then up many decks on the gravlift. She’d been right; Johnny was in another sickbay than the one where she’d been treated. None of the nurses or orderlies on duty blinked when Mike walked her into the central area, or when he kept going, hand locked on her elbow, reaching a private room at the end of a short corridor.

“How long do I have?” Sara asked.

“My guy is on duty here in charge of sickbay till 4AM, Terra Standard. So a few hours.” Mike rested his hand on the door control. “I’ll be outside the room on guard, if you need me. Good luck, Sara.”

She pulled his head down so she could kiss his cheek. “I’ve changed my mind, Johnny is lucky to have you.”
 

The portal slid aside and she stepped across the threshold. The lights were dim. There were no beeping monitors or medical apparatus running. Johnny lay propped on pillows, his eyes closed, hands at his sides.

She hurried to the bed. Johnny was a big man, but seeing him lying there so motionless diminished his presence in a frightening way. Sara twined her fingers with his and leaned over to kiss his lips, relieved to find them warm. “Hey, sergeant, we made it.” No reaction from Johnny. She sat on the edge of the bed and carefully laid her head on his chest, hugging his shoulders. She loved to listen to the steady beat of his heart, so reassuring to her so many times on Farduccir. “You’ve got to snap out of this or they’re going to send you to some awful rehab facility. I couldn’t bear to think of you trapped in such a depressing place.” Tears overcame her for a moment and she left the bed to get a tissue to wipe her eyes.

“Sara?”

It was a hoarse whisper but the sound brought her flying to the bedside. Johnny hadn’t moved, hadn’t opened his eyes, but he’d said her name. On a deep level he had to know she was there. But how to reach him? Could she persuade him he wasn’t still in the grasp of the Mawreg?

“I’ve been trying to get in here for three days,” she said, sitting on the bed and taking his hand again. “This ship is nice and all but I missed you. The authorities want to send me home but I’m thinking I might try to wrangle an invitation to Azrigone. Would you like me to visit there?” She stopped as he squeezed her hand for a moment, before the pressure eased. “ You—you talked so much about how beautiful your home is—I want to see it.” She leaned close to his ear. “But only if you show it to me.”

He moved his head in her direction as a frown passed over his face. She held her breath but a moment later the fleeting expression smoothed out.
 

Sara laid her head on his chest again and considered. If she had enough time, there was no doubt she could reach Johnny wherever he’d retreated to in his mind and bring him out. His reactions so far proved that. But Mike had said she only had a few hours to make this attempt. Even if she got Mike to invite her to Azrigone, there would still be a dangerous amount of time before then that she wouldn’t be with Johnny. What if, in his mental haze, he thought she’d died, and he activated the suicide code? She shivered and the next moment, he put his arm around her reassuringly.