Page 28 of Alien Mercenary's Wife
Straight talk. No sugar-coating, no false promises. She'd forgotten what that felt like from a doctor.
She pushed herself straighter on the table. Her leg screamed in protest, pain shooting up her spine sharp enough to steal her breath. But she'd ignored worse.
Pain was familiar. Pain was honest.
Hope was dangerous.
But maybe she could handle a little less pain while they figured out what came next.
"Let's do it."
8
T'Raal watched Tal finish applying the neural stimulator to Reese's spine, the small device no larger than his thumb. The captain sat straighter on the examination table, and he watched the relief wash over her face as the stimulator began its work. Her left leg stopped trembling, and the tension in her shoulders eased.
"How does that feel?" Tal asked, packing away his equipment with the ease of long practice. He pulled out a small plastic square, barely larger than a coin. "One more thing. Translation matrix."
Reese looked at the square, raising one eyebrow. "But I can understand you. Why do I need that?"
T'Raal smiled. "We have lots of human crew, so we all speak Terran. But not everyone you come into contact with will speak Terran."
Her eyebrow rose higher. "I don't believe you."
He switched to Latharian. "You arethemost stubborn female I've ever met,kelarris."
Tal shot him a sharp look but didn't comment, amusement flickering in his expression.
Reese shook her head. "What was that? What did you say?"
"Common Latharian. I just said you're starting to look better." He lied. "The matrix goes behind your ear. You won't even notice it."
"Uh, okay then."
She tilted her head to allow Tal to position the device. The thin plastic conformed to her skin until it was nearly invisible. It would absorb over the next few minutes and be gone.
"How does that feel?" Tal asked, nodding toward her back where the stimulator was.
Reese flexed her foot experimentally, then pressed her weight down on both legs. "Better. Not perfect, but better." She looked surprised, like she'd forgotten what it felt like to have her body obey her commands.
T'Raal felt the knot in his chest ease as he watched her stand without that painful struggle from before. The pain medication had taken the sharp edge off the lines around her eyes, and the stimulator was already working. Not a cure, but progress.
"You'll need rest," Tal said, securing the medical scanner in its housing. "The stimulator will work more effectively if you're not fighting exhaustion. And the painkillers might make you drowsy."
She nodded, shouldering the small backpack she'd carried from the extraction site. T’Raal blinked.Draanth.She’d walked away from her life, so everything she owned in the galaxy fit into one small pack.
"I'll show you to the guest quarters," he said, moving toward the medical bay door. "You'll want to clean up, get some real sleep."
"You don’t need to do that.” She adjusted the pack over her shoulder with a tight smile. “Just point me in the right direction and I can find my way."
"Ship's small. Easy to get turned around." He kept his voice neutral, professional, even though his instincts were screaming at him to pick her up and carry her to the guest quarters. "Besides, you need to know things about the ship's systems."
She tilted her head back to look at him. Whatever she saw in his expression made her nod slowly. "Yeah, okay. Lead the way."
The corridor outside the medical bay stretched the length of the Sprite's main deck, barely wide enough for two people to pass comfortably. T'Raal matched his pace to hers. The neural stimulator was definitely helping. She still favored her right leg, but was walking much smoother now.
Muffled voices drifted through the air from the galley at the end of the corridor. Sparky was no doubt holding court with some impossible story about his latest near-death experience, embellished even though the rest of them had been there. Skinny's deep laugh rumbled through the deck plating, followed by what sounded like Eris telling them both to shut up and eat their food.
"Crew quarters," T'Raal explained as they passed a series of identical doors. "Everyone's got their own space, small as it is. Privacy's important when you live on top of each other for months."
