Victoria's Challenge Read online

“Why the civilian medical service.”

  “I don’t meet Coalition requirements for military service.”

  “Which requirements?”

  “Height for one, but the major one is I’m not Carinian.”

  “You’re a royal.”

  “My Aunt is a royal, which makes her Carinian. Not me.”

  “That by default makes you a Royal.”

  “Only if I carry the imperial mark, which I don’t. Aunt Cassie isn’t the only one who studied Carinian Law, Colonel Tibullus.”

  Barek leans back, assessing her.

  “So when was the first time you met with Ensign Jager privately?” He returns to the subject.

  “Privately? As in a room alone?’

  “Yes.”

  “Never.”

  “Do you recall when you have met with him?” He eyes her sharply

  “Occasionally he’d pick up Cade. There were always other parents and kids around. I don’t remember speaking to him. Three weeks ago I went to Emans.”

  “It was your first time there?”

  “Yes, for my first few weeks on the Retribution, I was settling in, getting to know my students. I decided that if I was going to make an informed decision about my future, I needed to socialize. To see if I could fit in here.”

  “Why wouldn’t you?”

  “My aunt’s a Queen, her husband High Admiral, and then there’s me… someone not from Carina. Some find that… uncomfortable. Therefore, when I walked into Emans and was invited to join a table, I was pleased. Ensign Jager was someone at the table.”

  “Did you go back to quarters with him that night?”

  “NO! I was there maybe two hours. I left, alone. I was expecting a transmission from my Aunt at 2100, check the logs. A week later, Ensign Jager was in the corridor as I was locking up the classroom. He asked if I was going to Emans. I informed him I wasn’t sure. We talked as we walked to my quarters. Outside my quarter’s, he made a comment about there being an explosion on the flight deck. I entered my quarters alone, changed clothes and went to medical to see if I could be of assistance.”

  “This is when you started treating Major Zafar?”

  “Yes. He had a concussion, which involved waking him every two hours for the first twelve. His pain medication needed to be monitored closely. Thirty-six hours later, manual manipulation treatments were started to rehab his hands and fingers. I was there until 0600 the third morning, when Dr Magnes relieved me so I could get ready for class.”

  “That was the procedure for the next four nights. On the fifth, Dodge spent the night so I could get a solid ten. After waking, I went for first meal on G Deck. Ensign Jager sat down across from me. He informed me there was a group going to Emans that night. He offered to pick me up. I told him I wasn’t sure if I would be available. Asked the time, he said 2000.”

  “Luc...Major Zafar’s recovery has been proceeding so well that I didn’t feel he needed observed 24/7. Therefore, I left his quarters. After catching up student reports, I decided I wanted a drink. I went to Emans, approximately 1900. You can check the recordings. Dodge showed up shortly after. We shared a couple drinks.”

  “You never saw Jager?”

  “I did. He stopped at the bar, saying he was getting a table and I could join him. I said maybe later.”

  “And did you? Join him?”

  “No. I noticed the time, 2100 I needed to board Major Zafar’s hands for the night. Dodge walked with me. I boarded the Major’s hands and left to return to my quarters. That’s when Ensign Jager attacked me.”

  “Did you and Dodge go directly to Major Zafar’s?"

  “What?”

  “Are you and Dodge involved, intimately?” Barek demands.

  “No!”

  “What were you discussing?”

  “That’s privileged information.”

  “Excuse me?” Barek asks arrogantly.

  “Privileged. You do understand what that means, don’t you, Colonel Tibullus?”

  “It was about my brother Tanner. Victoria treated him three cycles ago,” Dodge speaks up.

  “That’s none of his business, Dodge!” she spits out angrily.

  “But it’s not a secret either,” he tells her softly.

  “Just so we’re clear. You’re saying you have never been intimate with Dodge, Ensign Jager or any other member of this crew.”

  Victoria has had enough.

  “I’ll go you one better, Colonel Tibullus. I’ve never been intimate with anyone in my life. And if you’d like proof of that, I’ll submit to an examination by Dr Magnes.” The silence that greets her statement is thunderous. For the second time in his life, Barek finds himself stuttering because of a Chamberlain.

  “I… I don’t think that will be necessary. Thank you Ms. Chamberlain. Record off.”

  “Are we done here?” Victoria demands.

  “Yes, we are. Victoria…”

  “Good. Nail the son of a bitch Barek, before he kills someone.” Standing she rounds on Lucas. “You need food, rehab and treatment. I’ll meet you in your quarters in ninety.” The quiet closing of the door sounds like a bomb to the three men.

  Chapter Six

  “Fuck! Was that necessary, Barek?” Lucas demands, he wanted to rip his friend’s head off.

  “Yes.” Barek stands. He needs to move. “It’s like fucking Falco all over again. Victoria’s right, he needs handled or he will kill someone and right now, that someone is Victoria. I need you to watch something.” Barek plays back the recording of the attack.

  “What the fuck?” Lucas swears. “She pulled her punch.”

  “Yes she did, Jager can claim it’s because she didn’t want to hurt him.”

  “That’s not why,” Dodge speaks up.

  “Then why?” Barek looks to him.

  “She didn’t want to hurt her hand. She can’t give you treatments with a bruised hand.”

  “That’s stupid…” Lucas pales. “That’s…”

  “Victoria, she took the hit, then hit him in a soft spot and used her knee,” Dodge explains.

  Barek nods. “I can work that. Good call Dodge.”

  “Not that hard, especially when it involves Lucas.”

  “True.” Both men look at Lucas.

  “I don’t need protected! Fuck!”

  “I don’t think you have a choice in the matter. The Chamberlain women protect those they love, whether they want it or not. You should consider yourself lucky,” Barek tells him softly.

  Victoria changes into her workout clothes. She needs to get rid of this anger. In the maintenance room, she looks to the bag, than turns away. In the mood she’s in, she’d damage her hands. The tread is what she needs and forty-five minutes later, she’s done. Breathing hard, she wipes the sweat off her face. She needed that, needed to get the rage and embarrassment out of her system. She’d just told three men she was a virgin, men that had become important in her life. On record! Fuck!

  She needs to get over it. She has a job to do. Lucas still needs a rehab treatment then she can go hide in her quarters.

  At Lucas’ hatch, she takes a deep breath and knocks. She’s a doctor, damn it! She needs to start acting like one.

  Dodge opens the door.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi Dodge.” Walking in, she finds Lucas sitting on the couch, plates in front of him, a pissed off expression on his face.

  “Good, it looks like you ate.”

  “You’re late.”

  “Am I? I had to pick up a few things.”

  “Where’d you go?” Lucas demands.

  “Not relevant. So let’s get started on some rehab.”

  “I’ll get out of your way.” Dodge heads to the hatch.

  “No Dodge, stay, it’ll help keep him occupied.” Clearing the plates, she unrolls a long pad.

  “What the hell is this?” Lucas stares in horror at portable keyboard.

  “You know exactly what it is.”

  “Lucas, you play?” Dodge snickers
.

  “No.”

  “Really?” Victoria raises an eyebrow. “Lessons twice a week for five cycles isn’t playing?”

  “How do you know that?” Lucas looks at her slightly embarrassed. “I’ll kill Kyle.”

  “You should be thanking him. This is the perfect exercise for your fingers and wrists, especially your left. It will keep them limber with the least amount of strain. So play.”

  “No.”

  “If you want back in a Blade, you’ll play.” Dodge watches the silent war of wills between the two, not sure who’ll win. “Song or scales?”

  “Shit, I haven’t played in cycles.” His eyes shoot to Dodge. “If I hear about this anywhere, you’re dead!”

  “Left hand.” For the next thirty minutes, Lucas plays the scales his mother drilled into him, fumbling and cursing the entire time.

  “You really are a nasty patient, Lucas. Tori deserved a medal.”

  “That’s enough. Let me see.” Holding out her hand, she waits, her eyes carefully blank. Turning his hand over, she sees a slight swelling. “You need a treatment.”

  “Fucking great!” Ignoring him, she goes to prepare the bathroom.

  “Look, if you want me out of here, I’m gone,” Dodge tells him.

  “Victoria obviously wants you here, so stay but this isn’t going to be pretty.”

  “I’ve seen it before.”

  “I’m ready.” Victoria steps back into the room, carrying the pressure syringe.

  “I don’t want that. I’ve gone all day without needing one.”

  “Good, but you’ll have one now.” Without waiting, she gives him the injection. “You staying Dodge?”

  “If that’s alright.”

  “It is. It’ll give the Major someone to talk too. I want the left hand first.”

  Dodge watches as Lucas sits down at the sink, Victoria standing in front, his legs straddling her. Giving Victoria his left hand, he stiffens and swears.

  “Talk to him Dodge,” Victoria tells him as she starts.

  “Why isn’t he strapped down?”

  “What?” Lucas looks at Dodge with pain-filled eyes. “That’s a nice thought.”

  “With Tanner, you had to strap him down to do treatments. The one time he got loose he tried to throw you across the room.”

  “I remember.”

  “So everything you said before… I didn’t believe it could make that much of a difference but it really does,” Dodge softly says in disbelief.

  “Talk to the Major, Dodge. I’m working here.” She manipulates the tight tendons, only half listening to the conversation. He’d done well with the rehab. Handled it better then she expected when she’d asked Dodge to stay.

  She needs to start having others help. One doctor never treated the patient through the whole process. It protected the patient as well as the doctor. She ignored that rule with Lucas, not trusting no one else with his recovery. Even if there’d been someone, she still would have done it, to make sure it was done right, despite the pain it caused her.

  “Looks really good.” Drying and wrapping, she assesses him. He is pale, but had been worse. There’s pain in his eyes but that’s been worse too. “Do you need the second shot? The truth.”

  “No. I’ll let you know if I do.”

  Nodding, she treats his right hand. It is doing well, really well. At this rate, he should only need a few more treatments.

  “Set Alert Status One throughout the ship! Repeat Alert Status ONE! Regulian ships approaching!”

  “Shit!”

  “Dodge GO!” Lucas orders. Standing, he moves to grab a shirt.

  “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “My job!”

  “Not like that you’re not!”

  “I’m not going to stand around here and argue with you…”

  “Good, because you’ll lose. You’re not ready to get back in a Blade. You won’t be able to control it. It will cost lives!”

  “I’m not going to just sit here!”

  “I didn’t say you had to. Sit!” She grabs his shirt and waits. “If you want to get to your flight deck before this is over, SIT!” As he does, she works the shirt up his arms and over his head. “Don’t even think about it!” She tells him as he starts to stand.

  “I’m going to board your hands. It will stop you from doing anything stupid.”

  “How am I supposed to do anything with these things on?”

  “You’re good at giving orders. Order people around but do not try to assist. You’ll hurt others because they’ll think you can handle the job. You can’t, not yet.” Boarding his hands, she stands.

  “I expect those to be in the exact same condition when I see you again.” Framing his face with her hands, she can’t stop herself from giving him a hard kiss, then opens the hatch. “GO!”

  “Stay here!” he orders and is gone.

  “Want an extra pair of hands?” Victoria finds Magnes in medical.

  “Damn right. Go with Gabor, she’ll show you where everything is. If we’ll lucky, we won’t need you.

  They weren’t lucky. It was a full Regulian attack, the first since Victoria has been back on the Retribution. Listening to the guns fire, she has to close her eyes. She'd forgotten how the sound resonated throughout the ship. Aunt Cassie had also distracted her when it happened, and Amina had been there too. Now she's alone.

  “You okay?” Gabor asks.

  “Yeah.” No, she's not alone. "It’s just been a while.”

  “I’d like to say you get used to it but you never do.”

  “You’ve been on board a long time.”

  “Ten cycles. My husband is in defense, that’s him on the guns.”

  “Then we’re in good hands.”

  “Yeah, we are. Hof’s hell on a gun. Never misses.”

  “Good to know.” Just then, the ship rocks from a hit.

  “That’s on the aft, Hof is on port.” Victoria nods. Minutes later, the injured start to arrive.

  It’s been a long time since Victoria has worked at such an intense pace. She deals with burn victims and while intense, it is always concentrating on one person at a time. This...this is dealing with multiples at the same time, not confusing them. It is a different challenge. She likes it, until Lorre ends up on her cot.

  “Lorre, talk to me.” Victoria looks at her wounds, mostly torso shrapnel. “Lorre, stay with me! Scissors!” As she removes clothing to get a look, blood begins to squirt! Artery! “I need clamps! Now!” Reaching into Lorre’s abdomen, she clamps the artery with her finger.

  “Get me a fucking clamp! You’re doing fine Lorre.” Gabor hustles over with a clamp. “Get her to Magnes. Tell him she’s a priority. Severed abdominal artery.” Turning, she finds Dodge.

  “Dodge, are you hurt?”

  “No, I brought Lorre.” Suddenly she understands. Dodge is in love with Lorre.

  “Dodge… she has a bleed. Tell me what happened, it could help.”

  “We took a hit. Shrapnel blew her off the ladder, I couldn’t catch her.”

  “How high?”

  “What?”

  “How high did she fall from?”

  “Twenty feet.”

  “What did she land on?”

  “What?”

  “Dodge, look at me!” She grabs his face, forcing him to look at her. “What did she land on?”

  “The deck.”

  “She didn’t hit her head?”

  “No.” Victoria hustles to Magnes.

  “She fell from twenty feet!”

  “What?” Magnes, eyes fly to hers.

  “No head injuries observed.”

  “Got it. Get out.”

  “Dodge,” Victoria finds him behind her. “Was anyone else hurt?”

  “What?” He looks at her. “Lucas is fine.” She closes her eyes.

  “She’ll be awhile. I can let you know.”

  “I’m staying.” Grabbing his arm, she pulls him aside.

  “Then you sit
here.” When he tries to stand, she pushes him down with bloody gloves. “Sit! You will see them bring her out. You can follow them to the right bed. If I hear anything, I will let you know. Dodge.” She meets his scared eyes. “She’s strong, she’s healthy, and you got her here in time but she’s going to need you, need you to be strong for her. You can’t do that if you break. Are you going to break?”

  “No.”

  “Then sit. Pray. Send her all your strength. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Nodding, Dodge doesn’t watch her leave.

  Lucas is walking around the flight deck, frustrated, he wants to be in a Blade not stuck here with fucking boards on his hands, and where the fuck is Dodge! He’d seen him come back in to rearm but his bird is still sitting on the deck. Shit! Raising his arm to his mouth, Lucas is about to work loose the knots when Victoria’s words come back to him. Others will be hurt if they think he’s back to full strength and he’s not. He can admit that to himself. They haven’t lost anyone yet and he won’t be the reason they do.

  Suddenly, the Retribution shutters violently, causing several of the crew to stumble. Hull breach alarms sound before they are quickly silenced.

  “Where?” he demands on the comm.

  “E Deck, momentary decompression. Controlled.”

  “E Deck?” Lucas', vision suddenly narrows. Victoria’s quarters are on E Deck. She isn’t there of course, she is in his quarters, safe. Isn’t she? He’d told her to stay there. Shit! When has she ever done what he has told her. Knowing the combat comm won’t connect to his personal quarters, he moves to his office. He has to know she’s okay, won’t survive if she isn’t.

  “Major, we have a damaged bird inbound.”

  Freezing, Lucas realizes he can’t leave, even injured others are relying on him. If he doesn’t do his job, people die, people like Victoria. Swearing, he sends up a desperate prayer to the ancestors asking them to keep his life mate safe then does his job.

  "Get the rescue crew ready," he orders.

  “Need some help over here.” Turning, Victoria sees Barek helping an injured crewmember into medical.

  “Over here! Put him there.” She points to the cot. Grabbing for clean gloves, she finds the box empty. “Shit! Barek, are you injured?”

  “No, bumps and bruises.”