Chapter 23: Recovery

I slowly climbed back to consciousness. Fog seemed to cloud my head, clearing briefly as a loud hiss broke through my muddled thoughts. I tried to sit up, but a firm hand on my left shoulder kept me lying flat.

"Don't move yet," Shawna's voice instructed me. "Open your eyes and look at me."

Bright almost blinding light caused me to gasp, but I held them open and turned my head towards the voice.

Shawna stood next to me. My position put me about her waist level. Glancing down I could see that I was in an opened medical pod.

"You should be fine, but I want you to sit up slowly," Shawna said. "That acid proved to be rather nasty. The last scan in the pod says you are fully recovered, but you will probably be a bit dizzy. You need to eat."

"How long?" I gasped out as I struggled to sit up. My arms were very weak. I realized I was pressing my right hand against the pad I lay on and felt no pain. "How long was I in the pod?"

"Angel hour is now starting," the AI called out.

I turned my head back to Shawna as she shook her head. "Over twelve hours," she informed me. "The acid had destroyed most of the flesh on your palm. There were even traces of the acid in your bloodstream. Don't worry; you will make a full recovery."

I was sitting up now, although I swayed a bit. Putting a hand on the side of the pod to steady myself I looked around. Immediately I noticed that all the other pods were in use. "Amanda?" I asked. "The others?"

Shawna sighed. "Amanda was hurt worse than you, but the actions of the armor kept her alive. She's going to be another two days in a pod though. A large amount of acid got into her bloodstream and caused some rather severe damage to her heart and lungs. The pod needs to finish fixing those before I can work on her leg. The other pods have crew from Cancun."

"We saved the ship?" I asked.

"You did at that," a female voice called out. I heard high heels clicking on the floor as someone entered and turned to look.

The woman who had just entered appeared to be in her mid-twenties. However, the first thing that stood out was that she was dressed in a professional blouse and skirt, complete with a ribbon around her neck. Her hair was up in a bun, much like Bethany wore. She looked like a lawyer entering a courtroom for a trial rather than a citizen of the Confederacy.

I held out my right hand. "Hello, I'm Meiko."

The woman smiled and reached out to take my hand. "Captain Jennifer Gates, commander of the Cancun." She turned to Shawna. "I believe you said that Ambrogio should be healed. I thought I'd stop by and be here when the medical pod released him."

Shawna smiled. "He is the crewman with the shattered shoulder correct?"

Jennifer nodded. "Yes, he was performing some repairs on a damaged coil for the rail gun when we took a hit from a Sa'arm rail gun."

"He'll be about ten more minutes," Shawna said with a yawn.

"Long day at the office?" I asked as I got out of the pod.

"I got a little sleep after the initial excitement," Shawna muttered. "Donna volunteered for the first shift. But we have every pod full, and half are for extensive work."

"Anyone from Ishtar? Other than Amanda?" I asked.

Shawna smiled. "Tina needed to have her hands treated. They weren't as bad as your right hand, but some acid had eaten through the towels she was using. From what I can gather the fact that it was raining on the surface must have concentrated the acid somehow."

"How does that work?" Jennifer asked. "I realize that you are underground here, and that we were teleported directly to the planet, but no one really explained why."

Shawna looked ready to respond, but one of the medical pods started sounding an alarm. "Shit!" she screamed. "Allison's going into shock again! Give me a moment."

"What's wrong?' Jennifer asked calmly.

Shawna had dashed over to one of the pods. She was checking something on the side. She said nothing as she worked.

Jennifer turned to look at me. "You're from Ishtar. Can you explain this acid rain?"

I shrugged as I carefully climbed out of the pod and stood up. "I'm not the best to explain. What I understand is that this is a young planet. The atmosphere still has a high concentration of acidic compounds. I've seen what it can do to a person."

I shivered remembering the young woman who had died when the ceiling collapsed. Her legs had been stripped to bones after a few seconds of contract with the green mist that had invaded the halls.

Jennifer was looking over at Shawna. "Will she recover?"

Shawna sighed. "She should. What was she standing near when her suit got burned?"

Jennifer sighed. "She is part of the portside engine crew. Why?"

"She's having some kind of allergic reaction to something that was burned into her skin. The medical pod is having trouble isolating it and removing all of it. That's the third time she's had an attack. But she should recover fully. I've set the pod to do a full filtration of her blood and to use a nanite restructure on the burned skin to remove any more contamination. Unfortunately, she'll be in the pod for another day." Shawna said.

Jennifer sighed in relief. "Thank God. I'd hate to have someone die on my watch. Especially on this planet."

"Why?" I asked. "We like Ishtar."

"What?" Jennifer screamed. "You like being here? That makes no sense. I heard this was some death world that was used as a dumping ground."

Shawna giggled. "Well, I don't remember who said it, but one of our citizens observed. 'Be it dank, dark and mysterious, Ishtar is our home."

I looked at Jennifer. "How is it you know about Ishtar?" I asked. "The other captains just know that we exist."

Jennifer blushed and looked at the floor. "Your being here is my fault."

"What?" Shawna screamed. "How can it be your fault?"

Jennifer looked up and stared Shawna in the eye. "Because I wasn't always a ship captain. Less than a year ago I was one of the executives in DECO and part of my duties was to monitor colony creation and citizen allocation."

Shawna shrugged. "Did you order us placed here?"

"No," Jennifer said as she walked over to the wall. She leaned against it and closed her eyes. "I was not directly involved. The problem was I should have noticed it and stopped it. The person who placed the orders that sent you here did it at the behest of a few training commanders who didn't want to have to have to train marginal recruits. But she did it because I had rejected her advances."

Shawna's jaw dropped. "You mean we ended up here because of an unrequited love affair?"

Jennifer frowned as she nodded. "I hate to call it that, but that's about what happened."

I had a thought. "Jennifer, how much do you know about the politics of Central Command?"

She looked at me and shrugged. "Not as much as I should. Miles doesn't like his people to associate much with the military, and I was lost in my own personal troubles while I was in DECO. But I know some. You couldn't attend one of Miles regular dinners without hearing a lot of gossip about what the military was doing, or failing to do. It was mostly about their failures."

I looked over at Shawna and then back at Jennifer. "Shawna? Do you think you can help Ambrogio on your own? I think James needs to meet with Jennifer as soon as possible."

Shawna shrugged. "Is Jennifer willing to go with you? I won't force her to leave if she wants to stay."

Jennifer just smiled. "He'll understand if I can't be here. I want to be here for my crew, but if I can help you in some way, I feel I must."

Shawna nodded. "James is probably in the command post. You might have trouble finding it, the doors been concealed behind Tina's gift to the colony."

I giggled realizing what that meant. Then with wobbly legs I made my way to the door. In the doorway I turned to watch Jennifer push away from the wall and start to follow.

We stepped into the hallway. Despite the healing I found that I was unsteady on my feet. Jennifer noticed and moved next to me to offer her arm as support. "What happened to you?" she asked.

"I was helping remove the armor from one of our gunners who had a seal fail on her armor. The acid collected on the protection I was using and burned through it. I ended up with acid all over the palm of my hand," I said.

"You seem remarkably calm about it," Jennifer observed as I led her through the hallway. We found that we had to step aside occasionally as concubines and citizens were scurrying through the corridors. A few paused long enough to wave at me.

I said nothing until I noticed the tapestry hanging on the wall. At first the angle made it impossible to make out, but as we approached I could see the deep blue pond that dominated the lower section. Jennifer stopped with a gasp as I walked up to the tapestry and lifted the left side away from the wall.

"Don't touch it," she commanded.

"The command post is behind the tapestry," I told her as a section of the revealed wall slid away to the right. I stepped away so Jennifer could see the doorway.

She paused for a moment and then stepped inside. I followed her through. As I took a third step inside I was pushed back against the wall by a fierce hug. "Meiko! You're alive!" I heard Janice shout.

"I just got out of the medical pod," I admitted. "And I found out something from Jennifer that James should know. I haven't even had time to get some food or see Madoka."

"Madoka is fine," Janice said. "We put her in the same crib as Joy and the two appeared to get along fine. James is in the briefing room, but they are relaxing. Take Jennifer to him. I'll bring some food for you."

I nodded and reached out to touch Jennifer's hand. She was looking around. I saw her stare closely at Tamara and Tiffany as they set at their stations. "Come," I said. "James has time to see you."

"This is your command post?" Jennifer whispered. "It seems very professional considering the people I heard were selected for Ishtar."

I saw the twins whirl to look at Jennifer as we entered the briefing room. James and Yvette were both lounging in chairs. Brad was standing over by the wall, holding Candi.

"Well, the good news is that laser one is usable," James said. 'We are down to one person with ready armor though. Fred, Amanda, Brad, Barbara, Xavier and I all went up and every suit of armor is damaged and needs repair."

"We expected that," Brad began, looking around Candi. "Meiko! What are you doing up and who do you have with you?"

I heard feet hitting the floor as James and Yvette sat up. Blushing, I turned to towards my master. "Master, Jennifer met me when I was released from medical. She has a bit of insight into Central Command and I thought you'd like to talk to her."