Vareen & Mica (The Alliance Book 2) (6 page)

“Wake up Var. You can do it for me. Open your beautiful purple eyes.”

She was so tired and it was hard to hear the voice. It was garbled
slightly
like she was listening under ten feet
of water. Why would she want to wake up and who called her Var? Her name was
Vareen
Nas thank you very much. She
needed to sleep and you’d think that annoying male would let her. The floating
sensation was rather nice and soon her mind was drifting again.

“Why won’t she respond?” there was frustration in the male’s voice. “It’s
been a
week
.”

“She’ll wake up when she’s ready Mica. You can’t force it.”

She’d been asleep for a week? That really wasn’t very professional.
Struggling against the lethargy she pushed herself to open her eyes. Why was it
so difficult? It felt like weights were pulling her eyelids the other
direction. Trying to put her hand up to her eyes to check, her arms felt
leaden. What was going on?

“Did you see that. She moved her hand.” The male was very excited, but
she was more irritated that it hadn’t worked.

“
It could have been another unconscious
twitch.
Let me run a scan and see what it shows.”

Vareen didn’t feel anything happening, so the scan they performed must
not be invasive.

“All this time listening to you chatting away at her must’ve worked. Her
stats have improved. I think we’ve kept her in hydro-isolation long enough. I
hope that our method of
electro
-muscle
therapy worked on her physiology. If not,
we’ll
have extra work to reverse any a
trophy. It’s time to move her to a rehab
room and find out.”

“Is the process going to be traumatic?” the male seemed worried.

“No. We just slowly release the fluid levels and then transport her to a
medical room.”

What did that mean? What kind of fluid was she in? As the thoughts raced
through
her head, she could feel a slight
change in the pressure around her body. The temperature changed from what she
would liken to a nice warm soak, to a few degrees cooler. Her body started to
feel weighted
again
as if she’d been in
zero gravity.

“Her responses are holding steady. Let’s transport her. I’ll keep you
informed of her progress.”

“I’m going with you,” the male argued.

“No, you’re not. There is no way to know how she’ll react to seeing any
of you. You need to be patient and wait until I deem it safe for you to see
each other.”

“I don’t want to—”

“Maybe it’s best if you listen to the doctor.” That was Cali talking. At least
someone she knew was here, wherever “here” is.

“I know it’s hard, but do what’s best for Vareen. Not what you want. I’ll
see you when I’m done examining her.”

From what she was hearing, it was logical to assume that she’d been ill
and with all the medical talk around her, this was a hospital. So what injury
or illness did she have? Trying to remember gave her a headache. The last thing
she recalled was being assigned as the
second
officer of
The Reliant
. She had been
called to duty and arrived at Thalesti with Nellia and Diandra. Why did
thinking of Diandra
give
her a
headache
? For some reason everything was fuzzy.

There was a tingling sensation and then she heard a friendly voice.
“Hello, Vareen. I’m your nurse. You can call me
Daizie
.”

Vareen felt out with her hands, she couldn’t breathe and was going to be
sick. When she tried to talk, her voice was hoarse. “I-I’m going to b-be s
ick
.” Speaking that one
sentence
was
extremely
difficult and ended when she started gagging.

“It’s the hydro-oxygen gel you’ve been
breathing,
”
Daizie reassured her. Vareen felt the cold surface of some type of bowl. “If you
need to be sick, here’s a basin.”

 
“What is hydro-oxygen gel?” Vareen
rasped.

“It is
just what it sounds like. A super
oxygenated liquid that helps the healing process. The patient is submerged and
breaths the liquid as they would normal air. Your
body was able to
remain calm while unconscious, but now that you’re awake it might make you
nauseous
for a few moments. It will pass. Take
deep breaths and when you feel
ready you can
try to open your eyes.”

Vareen did as the nurse asked.
At first,
it was painful, but after a moment her nausea died down and she felt better.
When she was ready she tried to open her eyes. She blinked rapidly at the light
and then closed them again.

“Lighting to forty percent.” The nurse called. “Try again. The lights can
be hard when you’ve come out of hydro-isolation.”

Vareen peeked her eyes open the slightest bit and then a bit more when it
didn’t hurt. Finally, she had them opened fully and looked around. It appeared as
if she was in a typical medical room. There was a doorway to her left, and
another straight ahead. A window on her right was covered in some type of
blinds. The bed was standard, about five feet wide and adjustable, with a giant
mirror that took half the wall behind her bed.

“Well, you have the most beautiful purple eyes I’ve ever seen. Mica did
say they were unique, I thought he was exaggerating. He really wasn’t.” Daizie
exclaimed and Vareen remained quiet. She wasn’t very good with accepting
compliments. “Are you feeling any pain? Or discomfort?”

Vareen shook her head. She felt fine. A quick assessment of the rest of
her body showed the same thing. Slowly moving her limbs and flexing her muscles
she noticed a marked weakness, but that was all.

“That’s a good sign about your body.”

The nurse moved to the side of the bed and clicked on a holo-chart. “I
will be putting all of the information I gather from you into this chart. If
you ever have any questions, feel free to ask to see it, and if needed one of
the staff can explain any remarks.” Daizie held up what appeared to be a slim
computer tablet with various symbols and images on it.

“There, done. We can move on to rule number one: we need to get you on
your feet so the blood starts pumping the way it’s meant to. I’m going to let
you take a shower and then you’ll surely feel better.” Grabbing her arm, Daizie
pulled her to a sitting position. There wasn’t any discomfort at the sudden
movement and Vareen began to wonder what the nature of her injury was exactly.
With
help,
she swung her legs over the
bed and went to stand. Her legs felt like jelly but she was able to walk slowly
into the bathroom.

This room had a sink, small mirror, toilet and curtained shower. When the
nurse turned on a handle, Vareen’s body jerked in surprise. This wasn’t a solar
shower. There was real water jetting from the nozzle. Cestori hadn’t used water
for cleaning in centuries to conserve the precious resource. Wherever she was
must be blessed with an abundance of water to be able to use if for this
purpose. When the nurse helped her under the spray, she tensed at how odd the
substance felt pouring over her. After a few
seconds,
she was able to relax and allow the warmth to soothe her. Daizie sat on a chair
outside of the curtain and waited for her.

Taking a handful of soap, Vareen rubbed her head. Her fingers worked
through the short strands much faster than normal. Short strands? Had it been
cut because of her injury? Feeling around her head she could feel a few even
shorter patches. She really had been sick. She felt no grief at the loss of her
hair, no remorse over her long illness. Not even confusion, she was blank inside.
Wondering at the oddity of not feeling anything she determined to ask the nurse
when she got out.

With a
shrug,
she rinsed off and
moved to step out. Daizie was there with a towel and some type of garment.
Vareen took the towel and patted until she was relatively dry.

“Would you like to try to get dressed?”

“Yes. I wonder if I might speak with you about what my illness or injury
was. Also, if you could tell me where I am? What ship am I on?”

“The doctor will speak with you about that.” Daizie held up the material
she was holding. “This is a medical gown. I know it’s not very fashionable, but
it comes in handy if we have an emergency and need to work on you. Not that I
think we’ll need to, it’s just a precaution.”

 
“That will do fine.” Taking the
medical gown, Vareen put her arms into the required holes and wrapped it around
herself. The fastenings were easy to arrange and she was covered in no time.

“It’s very comfortable,” Vareen offered a compliment so as not to offend
the nurse. “Thank you.” When Daizie remained silent Vareen looked at her
quizzically. “Is something the matter?”

“No. You just look so much better. I’m used to seeing you in
hydro-isolation.” Daizie helped her walk to the sink. “When we start working on
your rehabilitation, I’ll give you some pants to wear as well.”

 
Vareen looked into the mirror and
examined her appearance. Her hair was cut short in layers around her head. The
longest points reached her shoulders and there were a few spiked points as
well. Her face was sunken from whatever had put her into the hospital. Her
cheeks were more prominent, but at least they had some color. Her eyes seemed
huge in her face, but that could be due to the style of her haircut. Overall, she
looked the same. Perhaps a bit of darkness under her eyes, and she’d lost
weight, but nothing extreme.

With a
shrug,
she moved away from
the bathroom.

At this
point,
a male came into the
room. He was very tall, with lovely wavy auburn hair. His eyes were a strange
mix between brown and amber colored. Similar to her friend Cali’s, but darker.
His face wasn’t
chiseled
but slightly
rounded with a square chin and high cheekbones.

She knew there was something she should remember about the red shirt he
wore. She’d been told it signified something, but she couldn’t recall what
exactly. The harder she tried to grab the memory the
further
away it got. Moving on in her perusal of the doctor she saw
he had on nice black pants, military style
boots,
and a white doctor’s lab coat.

He stopped before her and held out his hand, “Hello Vareen. You’ve given
us quite a scare and I’m happy to finally be talking with you. I am Dr. Jaden
Takari, please, call me Jaden.”

Vareen smiled in relief and shook hands with the doctor. Here was someone
she could relate to. “Doctor Jaden. Can you please tell me what’s going on?”

 
“Not doctor,” his smile was wide
and showed perfect white, even teeth. “Just Jaden. Have a seat on the bed and
we’ll go over everything that’s happened.”

Vareen quickly turned and sat on the bed. She was ready to hear what had
occurred to make everything feel so fractured.

Chapter Ten

“What is the last thing you remember?” Jaden asked her. He had positioned
himself at the end of her bed. The tablet in his hand that Daizie had mentioned
earlier held her medical records.

“I remember being assigned to
The
Reliant.
I was to serve as
the science
officer and second in command.”

“Anything else?” The doctor encouraged, his fingers tapping away.

“No. I just remember arriving at Thalesti and getting my gear ready.
Making sure my plants were being watered while I was away. That sort of thing.
Is there something I should be remembering?”

“You don’t recall arriving on
The
Reliant
?”

Vareen tried but she had no memories of being on
The Reliant
. It was like watching everything
underwater
with her eyes half closed. The
memories were just out of reach. “I’m sorry. The harder I try to remember, the
cloudier it becomes.”

“Okay. I can fill in some pieces, but I think the best course of action
is to let your memories return or not as your body can manage.” The doctor took
a deep breath, “First let me assure you that you are safe and have friends
here. No harm will come to you.”

Vareen found that odd and not very reassuring but nodded anyway. “Okay. I
believe you.”

The doctor took her hand. “Vareen, you spent some time on
The Reliant
. While in space you found
escape pods
and rescued the humanoids inside
those pods. Do you recall any of that?”

“No.” Vareen found what the doctor was telling
her to be fascinating. “How long were we in space? How long were the humanoids
in the escape pods?”

“As I said. I think some of your memories
need to return at their own pace.”

He looked uncomfortable and Vareen frowned
back. “There has to be more. Why can’t I remember being on
The Reliant
? How long of a period of time have I lost?”

 
“I
know you don’t recall the details, but you were given command of
The Reliant
and returned to Cestori,” he
shifted in the chair and tapped his tablet again.

Vareen sat feeling…nothing. The information the doctor gave her resulted
in no response. It was just a piece of a puzzle being put into place.

“I had command of
The Reliant
?”
Vareen asked calmly. “I heard Cali talking earlier, so I know she’s okay, but
why wasn’t she with us on the ship?”

Vareen’s brain started to throb with a headache from the strain of trying
to remember. Her hands flew to her temples in frustration.

The doctor immediately held an instrument to her eyes. Frowning he asked,
“Your pupils are
dilating
. What level of
pain are you experiencing?”

“It isn’t bad,” Vareen was able to answer truthfully. “It’s just a slight
throbbing. Why am I experiencing pain from trying to remember? Do I have a
brain injury?”

“I am going to answer truthfully, but I want you to remain calm.”

At his
words,
her anxiety amped up.
Nobody said that if they were going to give good news.

“There were consequences when you returned to Cestori. I won’t go into
details, only to tell you that a realignment procedure was done to try to erase
your emotions. You were rescued and brought to this facility to heal.”

“Was this procedure to erase my emotions completed?” Vareen was stunned
at the news, so she was able to feel some emotion.

The doctor held up his hands helplessly. “I don’t know. Your brain is
very traumatized and you’re still healing. Even if you feel fine physically,
your mind will take some
time
to catch
up. I’m not sure to what extent you will be able to feel things. You might feel
very strongly, or nothing at all. We’re just not sure.”

Vareen tried to hide her unease at the scope of her memory loss and brain
injury. “Did the others have this done? Cali,
Nellia,
Vathral, Diandra...
”

“You are worried about your friends?”

“Yes. Something important had to have happened to get Cali off
The Reliant
. Was she taken to have this
realignment done?”

“No. Cali is safe and unharmed. Would you like to see her?”

“She’s still here? Yes, I’d like to see her.”

 
The doctor nodded his head and
after a few moments, there was a knock at the door and it opened. Cali stood
there with a tall, dark haired male.

“Vareen.” Cali ran to her and drew her into a hug. “I’m so sorry.” Before
Vareen could blink, Cali was in tears, crying on her shoulder.

“Cali,” she pulled back to examine her friend more closely. “What
happened? What’s wrong?”

“It should be me.” Cali cried harder. Her friend’s amber eyes were pools
of misery and Vareen was stunned.

The male who’d joined them in the room’s face darkened, “Cali don’t say
that. You couldn’t have known. None of us could.”

“What should be you?” Vareen looked from Cali to the male with her.

“Drake, it should be me sitting there,” Cali gestured at the medical bed.
“I should’ve taken
The Reliant
back
to Cestori. I knew Diandra was evil—”

“I took you from the bridge. It is my fault.” The male looked miserable
and Vareen
was
busy trying to figure out
who he was and what about
Diandra
?

“Diandra? What about her?” Vareen’s eyes watered at the intensity of the
pain in her head with trying to think. Seeing her distress Jaden was suddenly
hovering over her, examining her eyes again. After looking at first one eye,
then the other, he backed away. Grabbing a tool off the table by the bed, he
pressed it to her neck and Vareen felt instant relief.

Jaden frowned faintly. “I don’t think discussing this topic is in the
best interest of my patient.”

“No,” Vareen objected. “I want to know. Please, let her tell me.”

The doctor nodded reluctantly to Cali, “Okay, but keep it short.”

Her friend hurried to say, “Diandra was working for my mother the whole
time we were at the Academy. She wasn’t a true friend. She told my mother to
use you, Nellia and Vathral against me. That’s why you were picked for
realignment, because of me.”

Vareen nodded, taking the news in stride. “I think I understand.” She
smiled reassuringly at her friend. “It’s not your fault. I was in command of
The Reliant
, and I’m sure it was for a
good reason. Don’t blame yourself for what your mother did. Can you tell me if
others are still being held for this realignment?”

Cali sniffled a few times, “No. When the males from Titus rescued those
being held at the Realignment Center the destruction was quite…intensive. My
mother was forced by the people to modify the new law she’d tried to implement,
but she kept her hold on the council. Those with emotions are going to be
allowed to leave Cestori. They aren’t welcome to stay and spread their
emotional propaganda, but they won’t be punished if they leave. My father is
helping to relocate them to Atheon. Conndra, Markus, Tobias, Nellia, and
Phineath are all either on Atheon or traveling between the two worlds to help.”

“I’m not surprised that your mother retained power. The people don’t see
her reforms as wrong. They see her as some type of hero trying to maintain
their way of life.”

“I’m just sorry that you were caught in the crosshairs of our fight,”
Cali squeezed her hand.

Jaden interrupted their discussion. “I think Vareen has been through
enough for one day.” He had a stern look on his face.

“I’m not sure how long you’ll be kept here, but I’ll come back and visit
as much as possible.” Cali hugged her tightly and left the room. The tall male
followed her and Vareen felt a pang of something when he squeezed Cali’s
shoulder reassuringly. Her friend and the male were obviously close, but who
was he?

With the door closed again, Vareen looked around uncertainly, “Am I to
stay here in the hospital? I meant to ask earlier but got sidetracked. Where
exactly am I? What ship is this?”

“You aren’t on a ship. You are in Takari, at the main medical
facility,
” Jaden spoke softly. “The planet is
Titus.”

“I’m on Titus?” Vareen tilted her head, her senses reeling. “Isn’t that a
planet of barbarians?”

Realizing that what she’d said was highly insulting her fingers flew to
cover her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that.”

“It’s okay
,
” Jaden assured her. “As
for where you’ll be staying,
for now,
this is home sweet home. Until we make sure you’re able to handle the outside
world at least.”

Vareen couldn’t see any logical reason to argue against staying. She was
on a strange planet, in an unknown city, with memory and emotional problems.
“That’s probably for the best.”

Jaden stood up and gently grabbed her shoulder. “We’re going to have to
explore the limits of what you can handle. Are you up for that?”

“Yes,” Vareen nodded. “I just want to try to get as much of my life back
as possible. When do we start?”

“Tomorrow. I’ll see you first thing. Until then you need to get some
rest.” Jaden
moved
to the
door
. “Doctor’s orders,” he smiled kindly.

Vareen found herself smiling back. As if the doctor could order her to
rest. Tapping two fingers
to
her forehead
in a salute she quipped, “Yes Sir.”

The doctor left the room laughing.