The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) (3 page)

“
Greg, you
’
re going to get blood all over the
couch,” she said.

“
Well, we can’t exactly just dump him on the ground,” Gregory
said.

Simon
noted a couple of splotches of blood on the wooden
floor.

“
We need to get him comfortable.”

“
Who is he? Where did he come from?” Sally said.

“
He
’
s CSN, Mum,” Simon said. “Do you
know where the first-aid kit is?”

“
Hello? Can you hear me?
What
’
s
your name?” Gregory was still trying to get a response.

“
It
’
s “Dean”, Dad, it says so on his
suit,” Simon said, pointing out the lettering on the left breast
beneath the squadron logo. “Mum, first-aid? He
’
s bleeding pretty badly,” Simon
prompted his mother who was staring at the injured man.

“
I
’
ll call an ambulance,” Sally
said.

“
And you can call one of your friends at the Navy straight
after,” Gregory added to Simon. “There’s got to be a number for
this sort of thing, right?”

“
N… No! Don
’
t!” the stranger named Dean cried
out, looking around for who was speaking. The three jumped at his
voice.

“
You need medical treatment. We have to get you to a hospital
or a doctor,” Sally said, looking about the living room. “Where’s
the handset?”

“
The handset?” Gregory said.

“
For the phone.”

“
I don’t know. It’s probably fallen down the back of the couch
again. Just use the video screen in the hall.”

“
No… no doctors! No Navy!” Dean protested, finding the
strength to talk. “Let… let me stay… here! Please!”

“
Hey, calm down,” Simon said.
“You
’
re in
shock.”

Dean
looked quite distressed as Sally left the living room and walked
out of his view, his breathing becoming erratic.

“
Where
’
s the first-aid?” Simon asked his
father.

“
Your mother knows,” Gregory answered.
“We
’
ll get
it after she
’
s
called the ambulance.”

“
Simon,” the young man heard his mother call from out in the
hall. He left his father with Dean and found his mother floundering
in front of the video phone that hung on the wall. “I can’t
remember how we do this. That’s why I wanted to use the handset
instead of this stupid thing.”

“
Just tap the screen anywhere and then press the “Emergency
Services” icon,” Simon prompted. He positioned himself within the
doorway of the living room, so that he could both keep an eye on
their guest and jump in to assist his mother should she need
it.

Sally tapped the touch-sensitive screen to bring the phone
out of its sleep state, the device lighting up and displaying icons
and options. She stabbed at the “Emergency
Services
”
icon
and hugged at herself as the screen informed her the video phone
was connecting. Before long, it did so. From his skewed angle of
the screen, Simon could just make out the headset wearing blonde
woman who answered the call.

“
What service do you require?”

“
Ambulance,” Sally said, then hastened to
add, “we
’
ve got a man here suffering from gunshot wounds.”

“
What
’
s his condition?” The woman’s
fingers tapped away at an unseen device.

“
He
’
s bleeding quite heavily. Not sure
how many times he was shot, but he can
’
t walk and can barely speak. We had
to carry him into the living room from outside the
house.”

“
Are the wounds the result of a projectile or energy
weapon?”

“
I… er… I don
’
t…”

“
Are there any burn marks? If it was an
energy weapon then in most cases you
’
d be able to smell the burnt
clothes and wounds.”

Sally
glanced over to Simon.

“
Bullets, Mum,” he said.

“
Bullets,” Sally repeated.

“
Okay, thank you,” the operator confirmed, maintaining her
calm. Simon could see his mother ringing at her dressing grown
quite hard.

“
Has he been shot in the arms, legs, torso, or head?” the
woman wanted to know.

“
His body. The chest, it looks like.”

The
woman at the emergency services tapped away and then paused,
looking down at something for a few moments, a curious expression
on her face. “Could you hold the line for a minute, please? Thank
you.” Her image disappeared, to be replaced with the medical
services logo.

“
Simon, she’s just hung up,” Sally said.

“
Are you sure?”

“
It’s gone back to this,” Sally indicated the logo occupying
the display. Simon was about to start over to investigate, when the
operator who had answered the call re-appeared on the
screen.

“
Could you confirm your name and address?”
she requested. Sally did. “Okay, good. Someone will be with you
within the next thirty or forty minutes. Now listen carefully:
please don’t move the victim since you could cause him additional
trauma. The bullets may have missed vital organs, so we
don
’
t want
to do anything that could result in further injury. The biggest
risk to their life will come from loss of blood. If you are able,
dress the wounds and try to stem any blood loss. It could make the
difference between life and death. Don’t move him from the house or
attempt to bring him to us yourself.” The operator hung
up.

Sally
swore and came back into the living room.

“
What’s wrong?” Gregory asked.

“
They
’
re not going to be here for another
thirty minutes, at least.”

“
Thirty minutes?” Gregory said, horrified.

“
At least
!
”

“
We
’
ll have to take him ourselves,”
Simon said.

“
No, they said not to move him, it could
make things worse,” Sally said, wringing her hands.
“We
’
re
going to have to do the best we can for him until they get here.
I
’
ll find a
first-aid kit. Simon can you call the Navy?”

“
No, he said not to,” Simon said, shaking his head.

His
mother stared at him in disbelief for a second.
“Simon…”

“
No, I can’t. He asked us not to contact
them. Didn
’
t you hear him?”

“
Simon, don’t talk to your mother that way,” Gregory said, a
scowl on his face.

“
I
’
m just following protocol, Dad,”
Simon answered.

Gregory glared at his son. “Oh, so
now
you decide that
it
’
s time to
start doing as you
’
re told…”

“
I always do as I’m told.”

“
You could’ve fooled me…”

“
Oh for God
’
s sake, stop it you two, just stop
it!” Sally said. “Don’t start having
that
conversation again, especially
now. I’ve heard it every day for the last five months.”

“
I’m just trying to do the right thing,” Simon
said.

“
And why couldn’t you have done the right
thing
then
?”

“
It was an
accident
, Mum. Those people were
just there. It’s not as if I decided to shoot them all on purpose.
I didn’t go out of my way to take their lives.”

“
And now you’re just going to let it happen here instead,”
Sally said, choking back tears and pushing past Simon, leaving the
living room and the three men behind her. Simon watched as she
walked in the direction of the kitchen and began pulling things out
of cupboards in a search for sufficient medical supplies. He began
to start after his distressed mother.

“
Simon, wait there a moment,” his father
called. Simon turned back to the scene in the living room, watching
his father undoing Dean
’
s flight suit and trying to get a
better look at his injuries. The extent of the damage was clear
even before the white vest Dean wore beneath the suit was pulled
up. Two dark holes were prominent in Dean
’
s chest, blood still seeping out
with each breath. Gregory stood and walked over to
Simon.

“
Why doesn
’
t this guy want us to call an
ambulance or the Navy?” Gregory asked.

Simon
shrugged. “It’s possible that he’s involved in some kind of covert
operation.”

“
Covert?” His father screwed up his face.
“You mean he
’
s meant to be doing something in secret?”

“
Yeah. Or with very little exposure. Whatever it is, he
doesn’t want certain people within the Navy finding out about it.”
Simon looked at Dean, who was still taking heavy gasps of
air.

“
Well what does he expect
us
to do with him?”
Gregory asked in somewhat accusing tones. Gregory studied the man
for a moment. “Do you know him?”

“
No,” Simon shook his head.
“I
’
ve
never seen him before in my life. Honest,” he added, seeing the
unconvinced look his father gave him. They returned to Dean and
knelt down next to the couch.

“
Looks like he
’
s been shot in the chest and
shoulders. You stay here with him. I
’
ll help your mother find some
bandages and something to plug up the wounds.”

Dean was
staring up at the ceiling and breathing hard, struggling to catch
his breath. Simon decided to try and discover what had happened
whilst he still could.

“
Don
’
t worry, mate,
everything
’
s
going to be okay. You
’
ll just have a few scars to show your friends.”

Dean
said nothing.

“
Confederation Stellar Navy, eh?
I
’
m in the
service myself, although it
’
s a little complicated right
now.”

Just in case you
’
re wondering why a twenty-nine-year-old is still living at
home with his mum and dad
, Simon thought
to himself.

Dean
still said nothing, his eyes remaining fixed on the
ceiling.

“
Yellow Dogs
?” Simon noted the emblem of a cartoon dog, tongue lolling
from its mouth, on the outside of Dean
’
s flight suit. “Not heard of you
guys. I usually fly with the
White
Knights
.”

At Simon
’
s
words, Dean turned his head to look at the young man, his eyes
filled with anguish.

“
A… TAF… ject…” he tried, the effort of speaking
appearing quite great.

“
What?” Simon drew closer. “Say that
again.” Simon could hear his mother
’
s distressed voice carrying through
from the kitchen as she spoke to his father, evidently quite upset
by what she had been dragged into.

“
… you don
’
t know who
’
s done this to him. They could come
around here looking for him,” she was saying.

“
We didn
’
t see anyone else outside,” Gregory
said.

“
But how did he get here? Did he drive?
Where
’
s
his car?”

“
He
’
s a pilot. Maybe he
parachuted?”

“
So where was his parachute? Where did his plane or whatever
it was come down?”

“
I don
’
t know, Sal.”

“
We don’t even know if he is who he says he is. For all we
know, he could be one of those terrorists from Mitikas. You know
how it starts - they come over here one by one and then start
blowing each other up.”