Lacuna: Demons of the Void (36 page)
Read Lacuna: Demons of the Void Online
Authors: David Adams
“James- James, listen to me, okay? Look... let the
Sydney
take care of it, just focus on saving your crew, on saving yourself-”
James cut her off. “There’s
no time
. The Toralii are almost in a firing solution... Besides, manoeuvring is shot, by now I can’t change course even if I wanted to.”
“James... No, James, no-… You have to change your heading. You have to reverse, or move out of the way... There must be
some
other way! Let me talk to Knight, the
Sydney
can help. They’re not far away... There’s enough time, there’s enough-”
“-I’m sorry, Liao. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I never got to give you everything you wanted, or to tell you how I really felt... but this is the only way. The Toralii are too strong.”
“James, don’t do this...
please
, I-...”
“I’m sorry Melissa, it’s the only-”
The line went dead, and the rumble of an intense shock wave passed over the
Beijing
, rattling the debris and causing Liao to tumble onto her side, her wounds tearing from the violent motion. Fighting the simultaneous urges to scream in agony and to pass out, Liao fumbled for the talk key.
“Knight! Captain Matthew Knight, report!”
There was no answer. Growling in frustration Liao pressed the talk key several times, an action which transmitted an annoying series of clicks to anyone who was listening on the line. It was a dick move, but she wanted to be heard.
“This is
Beijing
actual; whoever is listening to this transmission, I want Captain Knight of the
TFR Sydney
to report status
immediately
! Report, damn you!”
For a moment nothing came through, and then there was the soft crackle of an incoming signal. Knight’s voice – strained and soft – filtered through the earpiece of the long-range communications headset, his tone far more telling than his words.
“...There’s nothing
to
report. The
Tehran
went straight in, Commander... straight in. They rammed the Toralii warship right in its midsection.”
Liao’s chest clenched and she squeezed the talk key so hard the plastic creaked. Her words were slurred and she had to fight to keep herself coherent, to keep her thoughts ordered enough to give orders. Even though Knight was a full Captain and she only a Commander, the
Beijing
was the de-facto flagship... She doubted anyone would question them at this point.
“Understood. Instruct strike fighters to begin immediate search and rescue operations. Have the crews cut their way into the hull and start-”
“
Commander
, I... I’m sorry, I wasn’t clear. There’s
nothing
left. Both ships are
gone
. There’s not even debris left. There’s just...
nothing
.”
“B-But...”
“I’m sorry, Commander. … but he’s
gone
.”
Liao would have argued the point, would have screamed and cried and yelled and refused to accept reality as she was occasionally inclined to do, would have thrown herself into finding James and dragging him back to her ship alive and well... but between the words of Matthew, her numerous wounds, and the sudden, searing pain in her heart... the human body could only stand so much.
She had lost so much blood and the injury to her head was almost certainly a concussion... Liao tried to keep her mind focused, tried to summon up the mental and physical strength to continue... but it was futile. There was, she knew, a certain line that no human can ignore, some limits that could not be exceeded; the human body eventually demanded you stop, demand you rest lest the healing process have no chance at all.
It was a line she, finally, crossed. Liao felt the world go grey, then black... and then she felt nothing at all.
Epilogue
“Light”
*****
Infirmary
TFR
Beijing
One day later
Light.
The first thing she could see was only light, the bright haze of fluorescent globes flooding her eyes. She squinted to try and keep the glare out, tears coming as the eye’s instinctive response to the bright light kicked in. Rather than fight the sting, Liao surrendered and let her eyes close completely.
Groggily trying to remember how she got here, Liao wondered if she was drugged. She could feel that her head was heavily bandaged, along with her shoulder. She had woken up like this right after arriving in Canberra, after the attacks on Earth... For a moment she had to fight down a wave of panic as old memories spoke to her, piercing the sleep-haze she found herself in. With a conscious effort Liao reminded herself that she was not back under the rubble of the building in Sydney... There was far too much light for that, and the smell of hospital was too strong for it to be a false memory.
There was a pain in her shoulder and a throbbing in her head. Forcing her eyes open, Liao began to see with blurry vision the brightly lit infirmary of her ship, surrounded by various machines displaying all manner of incomprehensible information. From the mess of information she saw a heart rate monitor, noticing her heart rate was higher than she anticipated. A moment later, a wave of pain washed over her whole body, so strong she was forced to clench her teeth shut; she wondered why she had not been given morphine, as she had when her hip had been sliced open during the attacks.
Perhaps it was just coming up on another medication period and the pain had woken her up. Determined to both find the answer – and to find something to quell the agony – she tried to sit up, but the sharp stinging burn deep in her shoulder was far too powerful for that. She fell back against bed, emitting a soft yelp of pain, which attracted the attention of the nearby doctor.
“Ahh, Captain Liao. I’m glad you’re awake.”
Liao rubbed her heavily bandaged shoulder, giving the Arabic man her best smile. “Doctor Saeed, am I glad to see you.... Now, drugs.
Gimme
.”
The doctor regarded her, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t a little suffering good for the soul?”
Liao groaned. “What happened? All I remember is Summer shooting some Toralii, and I told her, if she discharges a weapon on my ship again I’d
kill
her... so she’s due for a... killing.”
Saeed didn’t answer the question right away. When he did, he took a deep breath, a sign Liao knew that indicated that someone was about to deliver some bad news.
“...The
Sydney
did a very complete search and, I’m sorry... There’s no sign of the
Tehran,
nor the Toralii ship, aside from some wreckage... but not nearly enough to account for the mass of both ships.”
Liao’s eyes widened. “Did... did they jump away? How? We had the gravity mines active...”
“To be perfectly honest, we’re not sure what happened, but... we’re looking into it. I recommend you hope for the best but expect the worst.” He gave a tired, sad chuckle. “Not every hero lives to fight another day... I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes again, sucking in her breath, trying to steady herself. The news was far too much for her to process at the moment and she filed the potential loss of James away for later. “...Okay. What’s the good news?”
Saeed gave a sad smile. “I don’t recall saying there was any, Captain.”
Melissa stared at him for a moment. “...I guess not.” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “What happened to the
Sydney
after I blacked out? How are they faring? What can you-”
Saeed raised up a hand to placate her. “The
Sydney
is just fine; don’t you worry. They’re currently guiding us back to the lunar drydock. We’ll be there for some time... Basically every major system is damaged or completely out of action, and there’s a lot of work to do to make us space-worthy again. We’re running Rowe off her feet, but... to be honest, I think she’s happy for the distraction. The battle shook her up pretty badly. Alex is helping her, emotionally, now that he’s out of surgery. These things... things like combat stress reaction... they just take time to heal. That’s what she needs right now... just time. That and counselling, which I believe she’s attending.”
The mention of Summer got Liao’s attention. She wanted to ask about the casualty count... about the rest of the Operations crew whom she had led into a catastrophic battle. Melissa tried to sit up again but the pain won out; instead, she settled for propping herself up on her elbows. “What happened to Jiang, Ling, Dao... Saara?”
Saeed patted her shoulder. “I’ll fill you in later. There’s no need to trouble you for the moment. Just rest...”
“
No
. They’re my crew... I need to know...”
Saeed shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Captain. There’s a long list of wounded and deceased. To go through them would take more time than I have right now, so I have to insist-”
“I’ll pull rank.”
Saeed gave a wry smile. “Doctor-patient confidentiality. Sorry, I win.”
The man put a small injection into her IV and Liao closed her eyes, expecting the soothing flood of painkillers to come and take her pain away... and was fairly chagrined when it did not.
“That’s just an antibiotic,” Saeed explained, “I’m afraid we can’t give you heavy drugs in your condition...”
Liao started at him, curiously. She instinctively reached up for her shoulder with her good hand, rubbing it slightly. “What do you mean?”
Saeed frowned, cocking his head. “I... I merely assumed you already knew. …You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”
“Perhaps it’s just the concussion, but... no. I have no idea.” A surge of panic ran through her. “It’s my shoulder, isn’t it? I’m going to get invalided out... You’re going to recommend me for discharge.”
Whatever wound she had obtained, she knew if Saeed was making a fuss it might be serious enough to end her career. Military fitness testers could be particularly brutal; if she couldn’t do a certain amount of push-ups, it wouldn’t matter how good she was at being a Commanding Officer... She would be out. An honourable discharge, yes, and one where they would pin your chest with dozens of medals and honour your name, but still kick you out to go die on a farm somewhere.
That was no life for her. She would do whatever it took to get herself fit enough to serve again... This ship was her home and the crew was her family. They had come through so much together, so much pain and agony and loss, that to leave them alone was entirely inconceivable.
Liao’s mind whirled. She would try experimental surgery, perhaps seek a special exception... Was it muscle or ligament damage? There might be a way to repair it if she was prepared to go through the physiotherapy required... It would be painful, yes, extraordinarily so, but she was prepared to do it.
Doctor Saeed gave her a warm smile, reaching down and patting her on the heavily bandaged shoulder. Liao thought for a moment that it might hurt, but the bandages were thick enough to prevent pain.
“No, it’s not your shoulder...”
There was a pause as Saeed regarded her, the corners of his mouth curling up in a friendly, warm smile.
“You’re pregnant.”
To Be Continued in
Lacuna: The Sands of Karathi
!
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