Okay, first of all, allow me to say that I am very sorry about the long delay. I honestly had thought I had this chapter saved on my hard drive. Well, then I rolled my car and my computer got thrown out of the window. Keep in mind, all this happened a couple months ago but in the time it took for me to get my new computer (which is big, pretty and red) and get my hard drive transferred over, I realized that I had never actually saved the document. In which case I got a little depressed and didn't want to do anything because I really liked how I had the chapter written out.

But now I have changed these things around and I'm fairly certain that I like it. I also like what I have for the next chapter. It's a filler, but it's a fluffy filler. And chapter twelve is where we start getting into the cameos and more action.

Fun stuff, right?

Yeah. Fun stuff.

Anyway, as per usual I don't own the Ichidian Universe, I just play here.

So, sorry about the long delay, if you're still out there reading this, I love you.

Adara.

Chapter Ten: Of Recoveries and Revelations.

"Vitals are dropping rapidly doctor, heart rate is accelerating doctor." AADI warned, voice filling the medical bay as Nexus hurried to her side. He had gotten her stabilized first, having Jae move the Trisani to the neighboring bed until there was time to deal with him. He had woken up not even an hour ago and was now leaning anxiously against the back wall.

"Shit this looks bad." Jae breathed, pushing a few strands of hair away from Elora's face. They had to remove her armor and after cleaning her body it had been discovered just what kind of shape she was in. The fact that she was still breathing at all was a miracle.

"Everybody step back, I need room to work." Nexus warned, shoving his way to her side.

"How can you work? She's so badly burned!" Jae exclaimed, watching the doctor push morphine into the captain's body. From the opposite side of the room Nero straightened, worry in his eyes as he watched the Rhugarian pull up a medical data pad, making some adjustments.

"Doctor, can you help her?" Nexus looked up in annoyance, hurrying over to the medical cabinet in search of an antibiotic. The biggest threat burns posed was the risk of infection, and dehydration. The latter would be taken care of by the IV drip while the former would require routine care.

"I could if you'd give me some darkness damned peace!" He snapped, satisfied when Jae stepped back, hands lifted in surrender. As a doctor, it was his duty to remain professional when dealing with even the worst patients, but Nexus couldn't stop the slight tremor of fear that went through him as he began moving back the sheet that covered her body. The burns ran down the left side of her face and hand, her armor protecting her from the worst of it. The heat had still done enough damage though that he suspected it would take weeks to fully heal… and he couldn't promise that it wouldn't scar. In the years that he had spent in the employ of Captain Manningham, this had to be the worst he'd ever seen her. He knew that there was nothing to do about the blackness in her veins, and traditional medicines wouldn't work. Luckily for him morphine seemed to be a universal narcotic, and would at least leave her to rest easily.

"Shit, shit, shit, this is bad." Jae hissed, pacing nervously as he fisted his hands in his hair.

"Captain Manningham is stabilizing doctor." AADI called, manifesting in the data hub next to his desk.

"I assure you Jae, it isn't as bad as it looks. We shouldn't need to do any more Quick Shots." Which was a good thing, because the Andarion didn't think he'd be able to handle holding his friend down again while the doctor drilled a hole in her sternum.

"Well that's a relief, because it looks like fucking hell! What happened down there?" Jae had turned his attention away from where Nexus was working to the Trisani.

"I walked right into a fire fight… literally."

)_)

Be ever ready my little cub. Things are changing and events are transpiring that will shake the foundation of your very existence. Take moments of levity when and where you can because in the coming months they will be few and far between.

Her father's words hovered on the fringes of her memories as consciousness slowly returned to Elora. The dream passed like water through her fingers, leaving her grasping and with nothing but a faint sense of unease to cling to. She was reluctant to open her eyes, the events of what seemed like just last night to her returning with a startling clarity that made her even less enthused about the prospect of facing the world. Before she was even willing to deal with any outside stimuli Elora took stock of her body. Senses expanding across her body, the most prominent sensation was an overwhelming sense of soreness in her muscles. Everything felt stiff and unused, making her wonder just how long it was that she had been unconscious. She found herself aware of the fact that she was covered in a multitude of bandages. Most of her skin felt rubbed raw, a sensation she was familiar with; she had been burned. Unsurprising considering the fact that she had been facing one of her own people.

The knife wound was almost healed now, a few phantom pains ghosting across her nerves as she breathed, and there was a pressure on her leg that could only mean she was wearing a cast. Kavan had delivered a vicious kick, snapping the femur in attempts to cripple her. What he hadn't realized was the fact she had suffered from much worse injuries and had still had to run. The good prince Cypress had been a kind master indeed. The worst injury was the itchy numbness she felt in her hands and arms, following her veins up into her neck and face. On the plus side, the scorching had avoided the main artery, which would have definitely killed her.

Oh, how she just wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep.

The worst is yet to come.

That phrase, spoken in her father's words, wound through her mind like a tape set on permanent loop, forcing a sense of urgency into Elora that had her eyes opening of their own accord. At first everything was blurry, a roar in her ears as she tried in vain to force herself to focus. She wanted to reach up and rub her eyes, but her hand wouldn't respond to the commands she was giving it. Expelling a frustrated breath, Elora squeezed her eyes shut once more and counted to ten before opening them. Her vision was still obscured, but after a few seconds the medical bay appeared in startling clarity. She must have made some noise because the others crowded around her bed. Nexus was directly at the foot of her bed, looking at a data pad with the most thoughtful expression on his face. Luka was to her left, Jae and Ava on her right and she felt a surge of panic as she tried to find Nero. Eyes flitting across the room, she tried to turn her head. Her body wouldn't respond, making her breathing quicken.

"Guys…" She groaned, relieved that her mouth would still obey her.

"Yes captain?" Jae asked leaning in closer.

"We've talked about this; personal space." The crack was delivered with a halfhearted smile, her fingers twitching as she focused her attention on restoring motion to her body.

"Her vitals appear normal doctor." AADI's voice filled the room, originating from the AI's docking port by the medical cabinet. Elora felt her mouth pull at that, the smile dropping into a grimace as she looked down to see an IV sticking out of her hand.

"Nexus! Get this thing out of me." She growled, voice hoarse and strained.

"Heart rate elevating, blood pressure rising." AADI chimed, causing the rhugarian to swing around the side of her bed, bandage in tow.

"Some room please." He sighed softly, shooing the crowded group away. Elora looked away anxiously, glancing at the blue hand that covered her own. After a little while she sat up in the hospital bed, eyes shut and face pinched in distaste as the needle was withdrawn from her blackened veins. She could feel the metal sliding out of her skin, stomach pitching as she repressed the urge to hurl. The damage done to her circulatory system looked much better than it had when she'd first been brought in, and she knew that it would take about a month before it fully faded away.

An Elimhanis only had so much power that they could use. Like a Trisani using too much, going too far and using too much at one time would kill them. The experience wasn't cerebral as it was with a trisani however, there would be no mind-numbing, no catatonia and no chance of being turned into a vegetable. An Elimhanis died as their powers ran the elements through their system. A Talasairian who used their powers too much would burn from the inside out, like she was. It was a different type of death depending on the dominant element.

"How much do you recall from that night?" Nexus asked, shining a light in her eyes.

"All of it, I'm not concussed." She answered. "Where's Nero?"

"I need to see if you have any adverse effects from what happened. You were unconscious for almost a week." The doctor insisted, speaking over her as he tilted her head to the side to inspect the fading markings on her skin.

"As I said, I'm fine. Now where is he?" She snapped in annoyance, looking around the med bay.

"You should listen to the doctor." Nero pushed himself off of the wall he had been leaning against, a few steps taking him into Elora's line of sight. The sound of that timbre voice filled her with a sense of relief, and Elora felt the tension melt out of her body as she leaned back against the pillow. She wasn't sure why she was so glad to see him, she knew that he was alive by the fact that she had woken up at all, and yet she couldn't help the slight shiver of pleasure that had ran down her spine.

"As I said, I'm fine. My body heals quickly." Shaking her head stubbornly to clear those thoughts, she was pleased to find her bones and muscles more inclined to move without issue.

"If you are insistent captain." Nexus nodded calmly, though his dark eyes sparked with annoyance.

"I am insistent. Who is helming my ship, and where are we?" Snapping her fingers expectantly, Elora was rewarded with a handheld data pad being placed in her waiting palm.

"Following the original approved trajectory, as per your orders captain. The ship is currently on autopilot." Jae answered, the ships XO coming to stand beside her once more.

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around." Nodding absently, Elora turned her gaze to the medical report, wincing at the rather long list of issues that had been addressed. Seven fractured ribs, three broken and a snapped femur, she'd gone into surgery for internal hemorrhaging and a ruptured spleen. Not to mention her body being almost forty percent burns.

Thank Kassannah for her advanced healing.

As it was, she was only lightly bandaged with her leg in a cast.

"Luka." Turning to face her navigator, he started fidgeting under the weight of her gaze.

"Yes ma'am?" He swallowed, voice cracking slightly.

"How's your leg sweetie?" She asked, expression gentling as she watched him visibly relax. There was a reason that the human had caught the eye of the Sanctum's hyshian owner; he was a sweet, gentle young man with excellent manners and a heart of gold. Raised by his mother and aunts as the youngest of five—all sisters—Luka had a healthy respect and obedience that any Hyshian would have loved. When he'd accompanied her on a favor for Venaida… well it came as no surprise when the tall woman had become hooked.

"Oh… I'm f—fine captain." Plus his stutter and nervousness were absolutely adorable. How he could go from being confident and in control in front of a star chart to a complete nervous dork was beyond her.

"Excellent. Ava, you recovered as well?"

"I'm fine." The engineer snapped, before storming out of the medical bay and leaving a handful of startled people in her wake. Elora didn't need her psychic abilities to tell her that the woman was pissed, and most definitely at her.

"I'll talk to the brat." Jae offered, following her gaze to the retreating figure.

"She's pretty pissed off… maybe that wouldn't be wise." Luka warned, leaning back against the wall.

"She's worried is what she is. And angry at you for going back down there. What were you thinking?" Elora grimaced at that question, hiding her face in her hand. The answer was a lot more complicated than it might seem, and it didn't help that she had never told her crew the truth about her life. A wave of weariness suddenly washed over her, and the captain just wanted to be left alone in quiet.

"Everybody out, the captain needs some rest." Hand falling from her face, blue eyes sought the trisani in surprise. He was turned away from her, arms crossed and eyes down cast, but she had the feeling that his attention was still trained acutely on her.

Jae turned a glare on him and for a moment she was concerned that there would be a problem between the two of them; the Andarion looked as though he was prepared to say something. An unseen moment passed between the two men, a message conveyed between a single, tense glance, as her XO backed down. Elora watched the entire scene unfold with an astonished look on her face, wondering if she'd passed into some sort of alternate dimension where everything was crazy. Just what had happened in the time that she'd been unconscious?

"Come on Luka, we need to make sure we're still going the right way." Jae growled gruffly, jerking his chin towards the door. Luka nodded worriedly, pushing off from the wall and following the XO out of the room. Nexus stood in the open doorway, preventing the air locks from engaging and the door from closing. There was a thoughtful expression on his face, dark eyes serene as his blue skin was illuminated by the glow of the data pad. Elora waited patiently; in the years that they'd worked together she knew that he was collecting his thoughts and preparing to say something.

"Captain…" He began slowly, turning his gaze to her, "your injuries were extensive as I've no doubt you are aware. Though your body is healing at an exponential rate, you will require months of physical therapy. The cast on your leg should be coming off in the next couple of days, and the bandages are merely a formality at this point. You need to get a good night's rest, and we'll see about getting you out of that bed and moving around in the morning."

"Thank you Nexus. That is a relief to hear." She answered calmly, blue eyes trained on her hands. The skin was pale even under the base tan that she had been born with. He gave her a small nod, expression unreadable in those dark eyes as the as the door shut between them. That left only her and Nero in the room, and the air seemed more heated and stifling than it had just moments ago.

"So…"

"What. The hell. Was. That?" He snarled, cutting her off with a savage glare.

"Um… that was a doctor—" She began, only to be interrupted again by a threatening growl.

"That is not what I meant and you know it. What could possibly possess you to go back down there? Who the hell was that man? For that matter who are you?" The intensity of that question froze the sarcastic answer on her lips and Elora looked down.

"You want the whole story?" She asked softly, looking down at her hands.

"I do."

"Very well. My only request is that you try not to think poorly of me. My name is Elora Kastiana Manningham, I am the eldest daughter of Gavin Manningham and Elorahana Brynjar Grand Princess of the Kingdom of Talasair. I am in exile for the murder of his Excellency Prince Cypress Brynjar." Her voice was so soft that the words barely fell off of her lips. None the less Nero caught them, and they almost made him want to laugh.

Almost.

"So you killed your own uncle." He snorted, "and are now a government fugitive."

"I killed my first master. Unfortunately for me he was also Kavan's hero. After my father died I had to do what I could to survive. My uncle found us and I thought we were saved… well I'm sure you can imagine how that worked out. The thing is, when the bhóna an imithe was first created it was designed to last a year. It was placed on prisoners of war and they were treated with respect before being released back to their clans. I'm not exactly sure what Cypress did when he put this on me, but whatever it was it messed up the weave that went into it. It never came off and so I've had a few other masters over the years. Unfortunately none of them survived.

"I take care of my sisters, Nero. And I bust my ass to help people who need it. But no matter how hard I've tried it seems I haven't been able to out run my past. And you know what the sad thing is? I'm supposed to be the heir right? In a perfect world my sisters and I would be living in the lap of luxury. But we got cast out and hunted because we had didn't have one specific power. Somehow that made us less than people on our world, even though on all the other planets nobody cares." She spat bitterly, head bowed in shame.

Nero felt his breath freeze in his lungs, heart thudding painfully as she finished her tale. Before his eyes, this strong little captain had withered into a frightened girl with a brutal past. And she had only given him the bare basics. Her defenses were down here, or at least enough so that he could see the vulnerable woman beneath them. And it broke his heart to see such a strong creature laid flat so easily by her past.

As if you've had it any better.

True, his own history was brutally cruel, but that did not mean that he wanted anyone else to suffer as he had. Especially not one who went out of their way to be good to others.

"So now what?" He asked softly, coming to stand beside her.

"Now nothing. On the plus side, Kavan thinks I'm dead. So long as he keeps thinking that I'm fine. Unless you mean for us, in which case now we drop of the rest of these supplies and you can do whatever you'd like. By next summer I'll be out of your life and you can forget this ever happened." She answered emptily, hair falling in front of her face.

"Elora…" His fingers were curving lightly under her chin, lifting it so that he could see her eyes. They were wet with unshed tears, the tremble of her lip nearly sending him to his knees. Why did her pain affect him as much as it did? For someone who prided himself on his intuitive nature he felt blind whenever he was near her.

"I loved him. It was a child's love, he was my knight in shining armor but I still loved him. And he hates me. I thought I'd steeled my heart, but apparently not." She murmured, one glistening tear rolling down her cheek.

It began with an innocent gesture; his thumb was reaching down to stroke the liquid away. A simple act of comforting another living creature. But then he was kissing her, and nothing else really mattered anyway. His body reacted instinctively; this woman, this warm, wonderful living being, was the same woman who had been feeding his growing attraction for the past two weeks. And damn him, but she tasted good. Nero felt his hands sliding forward, passing over cool metal railing to warm flesh. Under his fingertips he felt her shiver, her soft skin jumping underneath each soft caress.

Her breath left her lips in a soft, shuttering gasp as his lips molded to hers and his tongue prodded for entrance. Her head tilted up to him, and Elora was more than willing to relinquish control as her fingers threaded through her hair. It was soft and feathery, and exactly how she imagined it would be. Pressing closer to him, she felt heat spark deep in her belly, simmering beneath her skin as a soft mewl of pleasure was rang from her.

"Captain…" He growled, lips and teeth attacking her neck and making thought so very hard. She cradled the base of his head against her, pleasure singing through her nerves as his fingers feathered across her cheek.

Oh, shit. She thought with a sigh, heart racing in heated desire. Elora sat up, the urge to pull him against her winning out over all other ideals of comfort or safety. Her position was awkward, half sitting/half lying in the bed and she needed to move. Her hips shifted, spine straightening and knee trying to bed in an attempt to draw in his body heat.

"Fuck!" She snarled in pain, her leg flaring in a not so subtle agony that had tears threatening her eyes. Arms clamping down on the guard rail of the bed, her knuckles were white and her teeth biting down on her lip so hard it started to bleed.

"Elora?" Nero pulled back in surprise, backing away as his dark eyes scanned her body.

"My… leg…" She gritted, the words a pressured whine that hissed between her lips. Elora tried to move her leg, to return it into the position that had caused her no pain, but the movement brought a fresh wave of agony that had her body locking up again.

"Hold still." Nero took her leg in gentle hands, looking up at her face to check her reaction. Each shift in pressure, no matter how miniscule, sent fresh pain through her leg. She could honestly say she was regretting a great many of her life choices at this point.

"Just fucking do it." She snapped, the muscles in her arms starting to quiver from the intensity of her hold on the railing. Nero nodded, jerking the leg back into its previous position with a quick movement that had the little captain screaming in pain. As it finally abated to a dull throb she sat there, breath leaving her lips in sharp pants and tears streaming down her face.

"Is it better?" He asked softly, thumb stroking at the rapidly cooling tear tracks on her face.

"Yeah." She croaked, head slumping forward to press into his hand.

"You should lie back down…" Nero murmured, earning nothing more than a halfhearted grumble in return. A small smile hitched the side of his mouth as she fell asleep sitting up, face pressed into his hand. It was an oddly charming image.

Moving oh so carefully, Nero settled the little Captain back down, tucking the blanket around her diminished frame. The amount of weight that dropped from her body in the few days she had been on the liquid diet was incredible; her cheekbones were sharply pronounced and her body much more fragile. It dug a hollow ache into him, one that he couldn't explain and one that he wasn't entirely sure he liked. But for all of the emptiness that it created, Nero couldn't help but wonder what had the potential to fill that void.

For the first time perhaps in his life, Nero found himself wondering about love.