Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) (8 page)

Vernay
peered warily around the corner.  The pirate captain lay unmoving on his back. 
His chest was a stitch-work pattern of red, a crimson pool expanding beneath
him.  Brown had his weapon pointed directly at a man wearing fresh but stained
overalls who was using his body and arms to shield a pair of ancient-looking
engine control panels.

“You
got him good,” the man said.  “He’s dead,
ja
?  Now point that
Gewehr
away from my engines,
ja
?”

“Hands
up!” Brown bellowed, keeping the multi-rifle leveled at the man.

The
man slowly raised his outstretched arms but calmly stated, “You are not going
to shoot again,
ja
?  You’ve already hit the auxiliary mixture controls
when your bullets passed through the
kapitän
.”  He snorted derisively, “I
am not surprised that even in death he would find a way to allow my ship to be
damaged.”

“I
said hands up!” Brown shouted intensely, his finger resting directly on the
trigger.

“Chief.” 
Vernay’s tender voice pierced through the enlisted man’s adrenalin and she
could see Brown’s arms begin to shake.  She walked up to him and placed a
gentle hand on his shoulder as she further coaxed, “His hands are up.  I think it’s
clear now.”  Vernay saw Brown’s head bob slowly and attempt several deep
breaths that came more like gasps.  She also saw a small pool of blood at his
left foot.  “Chief, you’re hit.”

“I
ain’t hit,” Brown insisted defiantly.

Vernay
reached for the rifle and was surprised at Brown’s resistance to relinquish
it.  “I’ll cover the engineer, Chief.  You check yourself out, okay?”

Brown’s
head dipped twice in acknowledgment as his fingers struggled to release the
rifle.  He stepped away even as Vernay brought the rifle back up toward
Hussy’s
chief engineer.  “You’re Joachim, aren’t you?”

The brown-haired
man, perhaps in his mid-fifties, nodded and replied, “
Ja
,
Gnädige
Fräulein,
Joachim
Müller at your service.”

“Mr. Müller, I need you to disembark the ship for a short time,
please.”

Wrinkles gathered around the man’s mournful eyes as he smiled.  “
Nein,
Gnädige
Fräulein. 
I cannot do this.  I must attend
to the auxiliary mixture controls your marine so recklessly damaged.”  He
vaguely gestured behind him with his upraised hands.  “If my lady’s primary
controls should fail we would be in quite a mess,
ja
?”

Brown
spoke behind Vernay.  “Yeah, I’m hit, L-T.  Dammit.”

Vernay
looked over to Brown who had pulled up a pant leg.  A bloody, eight-millimeter
hole scarred the man’s calf.  Brown gripped the wound to apply direct pressure
while saying, “I didn’t even feel it.  I do now though.”

“Chief,”
Vernay said, “get over to May and tell Olson to get some help from the galley.”

As
Brown gingerly hobbled over the bottom lip of the engineering hatchway, Vernay readdressed
her captive calmly.  “Mr. Müller, two of my people
are shot.  Are there medical supplies on board?”

“
Ja,”
Müller nodded, “
Das Flittchen
has a sickbay just
forward of the galley, portside.”  The engineer slowly moved toward the exit
and beckoned amiably, “I will show you.  This way, please.”

Minutes later, Vernay paced outside the tiny compartment that was
Hussy’s
sickbay.  Brown and May lay upon the only two beds in the room while Gables stood
between them.  Gables had simply wrapped Brown’s calf with a tight bandage and
then set immediately to work on May.  While both patients were conscious, only
one was in agony.  The raspy breaths and whimpers of pain from the wounded, young
ensign hammered at Vernay’s psyche.

Why didn’t I have the captain searched?  Of course he’d have a
hidden pistol, you idiot,
she chastised. 
And now, someone else pays the price for my carelessness.
 She had handed off the rifle and
Hussy’s
engineer to Ensign Olson. 
So far, Müller was very cooperative, even helpful, but the enigmatic man had become
severely agitated when Vernay instructed him once again to exit the ship.  To
avoid further complicating an already chaotic situation, she had relented and
told him to wait in the galley.  Additional, ragged cries echoed from the sickbay
causing Vernay to kick the corridor bulkhead to release her torment.

“Lieutenant?” Gables called meekly as she walked into the narrow
hall from the medical compartment.

Dread filled Vernay and she answered, “What’s the word, Denise?”

Gables
looked down briefly.  “Chief should be ok.  In and out.  I need to disinfect
the wound but I couldn’t find a working shiver-stick.”  She stepped closer to
Vernay and lowered her voice before continuing.  “That’s also why I can’t
relieve Vivian’s pain.  Hardly anything works in that compartment.”

Vernay’s
voice wavered.  “Is Vivian going to be okay?”

Gables
grimaced and shook her head.  “I don’t know, ma’am.  I don’t think so.  I think
the bullet’s path went through the large intestine, maybe a kidney and possibly
even her small intestine.  The auto-doc doesn’t work so I can’t see.  I tried a
visual examination but it’s too painful for her.”  She sighed.  “The good news
is I don’t think any major arteries were hit.  She’s not bleeding too badly but
none of that matters if a major organ got hit.”

“So
what do you recommend?” 
Please don’t say there’s nothing we can do.

“There’s
not much more I can do.  I was just an emergency med-tech when I was a damage
controlman.  She needs a surgeon.  My recommendation would be to put her off
the ship where she can get real medical care.”

“And
if she doesn’t receive it?”

Gables
eyebrows furrowed as she lowered her voice.  “Then she probably dies.  You just
can’t recover from a wound like this without proper medical treatment.”  She
shrugged pathetically.  “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Vernay
gestured Gables back into the sickbay.  “Do what you can for her.”  She resumed
pacing in the hallway as she deliberated. 
If I hand her over to the orbital
medical facilities, we can’t wait for her.  Eventually, word will arrive in
Erriapius that she’s an escaped prisoner and she will be arrested.  But if I
keep her aboard, I could kill her.
  She kicked savagely at the dingy bulkhead
again. 
Dammit, Stacy, this is your fault!  Fix it!

Vernay
stepped into the sickbay.  Chief Brown was lying on his back, right arm draped
over his eyes.  His left pant leg had been cut away to the knee.  A pale Ensign
May lay on her side, half-curled on her bed, holding a bandage in place as
Gables wrapped gauze around her waist.

“Hi,
Vivian, I’m sorry about this,” Vernay began.

“It’s
okay, ma’am,” May said with a wince.  “Gabes will fix me up.”

Vernay
blinked furiously. 
Heskan wouldn’t cry, Stacy.
  She swallowed.  “Viv,
you need more help than we can give you here.  I think we need to get you to a
real critical care center.”

May
shook her head frantically.  “No, ma’am.  They’ll find out who I am and then
they’ll come and take me back to Bree…”

“Vivian,
you’re going to die if you stay on this ship,” Vernay insisted. 
You’ve
killed her, Stacy.  Whether she stays or goes, your recklessness killed this
woman.
  “We don’t have what you need here.” 
You might as well have taken
one of the station’s rifles and pulled the trigger yourself.
  The last
thought prodded at her relentlessly.

May’s
face contorted.  “But, ma’am, you know what’s going to happen if you leave me. 
Please, don’t.”

Lieutenant
Selvaggio stuck her head inside the compartment.  “Stacy, orbital control wants
to know what’s going on.  Are we leaving or not?”

Vernay
stared at Selvaggio and inspiration struck.  “Wait a minute!  Gables, if you
had working equipment, could you treat Vivian?”

Gables
stared up at the ceiling briefly before answering, “I don’t know, ma’am.  I
know I could stabilize her but I don’t have the skill to perform the surgery
she needs.”

“How
long could you keep her stable?”  Vernay grasped at straws.  “A week?”

Gables
hedged.  “Maybe.”

Vernay’s
eyes bored into the ensign.  “Denise, write down everything you need.  I want a
full shopping list.”  She poked her head out of the sickbay compartment and
yelled, “Olson!  I need my datapad!”  Vernay then looked at the injured woman
and asked, “Vivian, if I can get what Denise needs to stabilize you, do you
want to risk the trip back to Anthe?”

May
nodded forcefully.  “Very much so.”

Gables,
busy compiling her list, warned, “She won’t stay stable forever, Lieutenant.  She’s
going to degrade without surgery and I’m not a surgeon.”

Vernay looked pointedly
back to Selvaggio and smiled, “You may not be, Gabes, but I know one who might
help us.”

*  *  *

Two
minutes later, Vernay was next door, triaging the problem of
Hussy’s
engineer.  “So what do we do with him?” Ensign Olson asked as he pointed toward
Müller.

“You let me go back to where I belong and I start repairing the
mixture controls,
ja
?”  The man shifted nervously from foot to foot
while Vernay looked on.

“I
don’t want a pirate on board if I can help it,” Vernay answered.

“
Nein,
I am not a pirate!”

“We’ll
have to put the captain’s body in one of the holds,” Vernay said, ignoring the protest.

“
Gnädige
Fräulein,”
Müller said deliberately, “I am
not a pirate.”

Vernay
glanced at the man and said sarcastically, “Oh sure, you just happened to walk
onto Hussy by accident, huh?”

“
Nein
.” 
Müller shook his head.  “
They
walked
onto
Das Flittchen
and took her from
us
.  And why do you wish to hide
the
kapitän’s
death?  I, for one, am pleased to see him gone.”

Vernay
blinked and turned her full attention to
Müller. 
“What do you mean, ‘they took her from us?’”

Müll
er
looked into Vernay’s blue eyes with his own.  “I was the
Oberingenieur,
the,
uh, Chief of Engineers for this ship before she was taken as a prize by the
Roberts Clan.  I worked for Volkmancht-Kaufmännisch in the Aurelios corporate
system.  We traded between our system, the Federation and the Republic,
ja
? 
Seven years ago, we were boarded in the Boxer system by these pirates.” 
Müller shrugged.  “We were only merchants.  Spanners are no
good against handguns.  The
kapitän
gave us a choice: join him or
be set off in a lifeboat.”

Müller
shook his head fiercely.  “This, I cannot do.  My contract with Volkmancht
makes me liable for
Das Flittchen’s
loss.  I would bankrupt my family if I returned to them
while
Das Flittchen
was taken. 
Volkmancht could even place my
family into debtor’s prison, or worse, give them indentured status. 
However, if I were reported dead as the result of piracy,
my family would receive a large insurance inheritance.”  Müller looked into
Vernay’s eyes wistfully.  “So, the choice was made for me and several others of
Das Flittchen’s
crew.  The ones who left promised to report our deaths.”

A deep, lasting sigh escaped Müller.  “The remaining crew was
split up but when they tell me it was time to leave
Das Flittchen
I
said, ‘Nein.’”  The aged engineer brought his hand about in a chopping motion. 
“I will not abandon my lady.  She is all I have left.”  Tired, cobalt eyes
returned to Vernay’s as a weathered hand reached out to stroke the trim around
the galley hatchway.  Müller repeated quietly to himself, “She’s all I have
left.”

“But
you engineered a pirate ship…” Vernay declared.

“
Ja
.” 
Müller’s voice was laced with thick regret.  “But we
only carry cargo; we never hurt anyone.  I was still a merchant but with a
different cargo.”  His eyebrows arched upward in realization.  “And now that
time comes to an end.  What are your intentions with
Das Flittchen
now?”  His eyes narrowed as he cautioned, “I cannot return to
Aurelios.”

“We
are…” Vernay trailed off as she searched for the right phrasing.  “Headed in a
different direction, Mr.
Müller.  A direction that is
fraught with danger, I’m afraid.  I should insist that you be removed; however,
my engineer is laid up in sickbay.”  Vernay took two strides to stand next to
the man.  Although the top of her head only reached the man’s chin, her
presence pushed him a half step backward.  “Mr. Müller, do I have your word
that you will follow my orders as if I were the captain?”

The brown-haired man smiled knowingly.  “It seems that everyone
follows your orders,
Gnädige
Fräulein,
and
Das Flittchen
must have a
kapitän.  Ordnung muß sein!" 
The man snapped
to attention and rendered a heartfelt, if sloppy, salute.