The trip to the hospital as a foretaste of hell for Boris. The medics had shoved him and hunter aside with no apologies, and administered defibrillation, before the medic in charge injected stimulant directly into her heart. With no idea of what the poison had been, they couldn't try an antidote… But at least her heart had started again, weak, uncertain, but beating.
When they got to the hospital, the Medics charged on in With Sharin, while Rick and Boris were stopped at the desk.
"Name?"
"Sharin." Boris said, "ah, no last name, she's zentraedi."
"Mm." The nurse said, "No idea of drug allergies then, correct?"
"Ah, yeah."
"Ok…I'll…"
"When can I see her?"
"Later."
"later?"
"After the doctors finish with her." Boris opened his mouth, but Rick took his arm.
"C'mon Lieutenant, they'll call us when they're finished." Boris looked at him, and closed his eyes.
"I never saw the guys face." Boris said. "he ran into us, and I was pissed, but I'd never--"
"Lieutenant Boris Vakowsky?" Another voice intruded. Boris looked over to see several MP's.
"Well it's about time you're here!" Boris said. "Did you find anything?"
"No, but we had some calls…it's my duty to inform you that you are under arrest for attempted murder of Commander Sharin." Boris exploded.
"Are you Fucking CRAZY!" He snarled and advanced on the MP. His two companions unsnapped their holsters, and Rick looked concerned.
"Hey!" Captain Hunter said, "Wait all of you." He looked at Boris, "Boris a gunfight, or a fist fight in the hospital isn't going to help Sharin…I'll get in touch with some people and find out what's going on….Go with them." He said, and then looked at the MP. "What's your name and serial number."
"Jared Thompson, 543-33-6912, sir."
"Good…I'm holding you personally responsible for Boris' safety. Do you understand this?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good." Boris, barely able to hold his fury in check was handcuffed and escorted out of the hospital, into the lights of several reporters from the MSBN. Rick looked at that, and his eyes widened.
How the hell the reporters get a hold of this so quickly…
In the hospital, the doctors were looking at the blood chemistry work up with confusion.
"That's not any kind of inorganic poison…and I've never seen anything that complex!" Another doctor looked at it.
"I have…it's similar to some of the biological mixtures used in micronizing chambers." He frowned, "Which doesn't help us much since half of what goes on in them is black magic." He looked down at the zentraedi. She was breathing on her own…partially, although they had her on ventilation. However, the brain activity was becoming increasingly erratic.
"Has there been any response to stimulation?"
"None…she was unconscious when the medics arrived, and according to witnesses, was unconscious less than twenty seconds after injection." He frowned, then looked over to a nurse.
"Tell the MP's that we need the ampoule-- they can have it for evidence later, but we need it right now!
Like waves from a stone tossed into a millpond, the effects of Sharin's poisoning radiated outward. Rick called Gloval and left the news, and Gloval immediately got on the horn with the MP's.
"And why is Lt. Vakowsky under arrest?" Gloval said, his accent getting deeper.
"Sir, we received a phone tip that someone had seen him poison her, and that she left in some agitation for a park, with him following." The captain paused, "There's nobody else that saw this stranger he claims poisons her, and the ampoule has his finger prints all over it." The captain shrugged. "That doesn't mean a lot of course-- he probably would have picked it up no matter what, but right now the circumstantial evidence doesn't look overly good."
"Why would he use poison!" Gloval said, "He had sufficient time to deal with her in Latin America."
"Yes Sir, but motive isn't very easy…I could spin some theories, but that's all they would be."
"Please, captain, continue."
"Perhaps he had a fantasy of doing a Max and Miriya…and she turned him down." The captain shrugged. "There's others…but the fact remains that none of them really amount to anything more than speculation…unless Commander Sharin recovers." The captain met Gloval's eyes. "I would really prefer that-- if she recovers, than all we have to do is ask her."
"I understand…and now I must make another call. Keep me informed, Captain." Before Gloval could code the phone, another incoming call hit, this one from the hospital.
"It's very odd sir, some form of complex biological poison, related to the micronization chamber's chemicals." The doctor shrugged, "I don't' know what it is. We analyzed the ampoule, but we still can't figure it."
"I may be able to help." Gloval said, "I will have Dr. Lang proceed to the hospital-- he's perhaps the only person who even comes close to understanding the micronization chambers… at least he may be able to tell us if this is a waste component or some specially devised poison." Then Gloval made the call he'd been dreading.
"I understand, Henry." Piotr said. Gloval looked at him with sympathy.
"If you wish to come down…"
"I will-- have you told Sharin's people yet?"
"They're next on the list…"
"Good luck." Piotr paused, "Henry."
"Yes?"
"You know Boris would never do this."
"I do…but we need proof that he didn't." Gloval shook his head. "If Sharin comes out of her coma, we will be able to prove it. Until then…"
"We hope."
"da."
In the enclaves com center, it was morning, and the room was crowded as they replayed the recording for those who hadn't been on hand for it's live reception.
"We do not know who did this, although Boris Vakowsky has been arrested, that is preliminary, and it is premature to assign him guilt or innocence." Gloval said. Tzarna slammed her fists down on the table, leaving two depressions. Snarling, she turned and glared at the others.
"Get every mecha ready, prep the ships for launch! I want every soldier ready to attack by this afternoon, then we will-"
"No." Korva said.
"No?" Tzarna said in disbelief, before marching up to him. Tzarna was no midget, but Korva was big even for a zentraedi. Nonetheless, the giant had to force himself to remain standing in the face of Tzarna's white hot rage.
"Sharin wished there to be peace."
"Sharin could be dying because of those s-she trusted to make peace!" Tzarna nearly screamed, anguish in her eyes. Of all of them, she'd been with Sharin from the latter's decantation from the clone tanks, from the days when Sharin was the lowest ranked, most disdained member of the crew, save for the single ace commander that took her under her wing, until Sharin was the commander, leading Tzarna to victory after victory.
"And there will be time to attack if she dies…but I will not do so before." Korva said. Tzarna spun and resisted the mad impulse to attack him, especially when she saw that the others agreed with him. She clenched her fingers so hard they creaked, and then turned around.
"Very well… I will go, alone, since it seems like I'm the only person who remembers what we owe our commander. The RDF permitted a representative." Some of the others flinched at that. Not Korva.
"No. You will not go."
"What?" Her voice was a whisper.
"Not until you swear, not just as a Zentraedi, but as Sharin's subordinate, that you will do nothing to destroy what she may have died to give us."
"You dare…" She hissed.
"I do." He looked at her, "And I will continue to dare."
"I…" Tzarna struggled and mastered herself. "I swear that I will not attack the micronians…unless they physically attack me."
"And if Sharin dies?" Korva said implacably.
"Then no oaths will hold me." She said. "And if you try to hold me now, than you should prepare to kill me, for I will kill you, Commander Korva." Korva looked at her, and nodded. Then paused.
"You will take Gary Chang with you."
"A micronian!" Tzarna spat, "Why?" Korva looked at her in sympathy.
"Because he is a doctor-- there are no zentraedi doctors, and he may be able to help…or at least tell if they are truly tying to cure her." Tzarna wanted to refuse him, but he made sense.
The Quadlann Rau drove across the sky at it's maximum velocity. The RDF had suggested that Sharin was undergoing the best of care after the murder attempt-- supposedly by the same Boris she'd told them to trust. The RDF had also told them that no military force would be permitted to see her…although a representative could come…and if Tzarna decided that she needed a power armor for a transport, they couldn't very well say they'd outright forbidden it!
Gary Chang was in the transport pod carried in the mecha's hand, and he hadn't said a thing. It didn't take a genius to notice the dangerous tension around Tzarna, and small talk was not a good idea right now.
***
Boris sat in his cell. They'd interrogated him twice. Once just asking about what he'd seen, politely enough, the next time bringing up all kinds of insane theories.
"Come on, LT., you wouldn't be the first one pissed because a woman didn't put out! You went through a lot for her…and for her to break it off like she did…"
"She didn't break anything off!"
"Then why did she run out of the café!"
"She was upset!"
"why, because you wouldn't take a hint?"
They'd gone around and around like that, until the detective had left, with the advice that Boris consider confessing-- surely the court would go easy on him then. Boris snarled and said nothing.
In the hospital, Sharin lay, the monitors giving their emotionless data. The nurse looked down at her, and hoped that Dr. Lang would understand what was going on. Her brain was increasingly, dangerously active…but nothing of it showed.
Sharin opened her eyes and looked around.
"Boris?" She'd been next to him, when she'd been pricked and… he wasn't here. She was in a chamber…maybe. But as far as she could see, there were mirrors, hanging in the air, and in every mirror, she saw something of herself…
***
Finally the cell door opened again, and Boris saw his father.
"Dad…"
"Ah, Boris… you'll be happy to know that we have arranged for you to be released to my custody."
"how?"
"Friends in high places…" His father said, seriously, "But come now…we should go see Sharin."
"Is she?"
"Alive…but you will see."
They drove in silence. Piotr didn't believe his son did it, his son knew that, and there was no reason, or need to say it out loud. At the hospital, the doctors gave way, although a nurse was hovering looking at Boris with some distrust. Boris walked forward. Sharin had a mask on, helping her breath…her face was pale, hands lying on the cover.
"She hasn't moved…she's in a deep coma, so far as we can tell…except for a great deal of brain activity." The nurse shrugged. "Dr. Lang was in here and took some blood samples, as well as the ampoule, so we should know more. Soon." Boris closed his eyes, and wished for the nightmare to end. It didn't.
"Son…let's go." Piotr said. "I have a room for you next to the hospital, and you haven't slept since this started…you won't help anyone that way."
"No…dad, I'll stay here, for just a little while. You go." Piotr, looked sadly at him and than patted him on the shoulder, walking out of the room. Boris took Sharin's hand, and gently squeezed it. There was no response, it remaining limp.
"Sharin…you can fight his…please fight it." He said, looking at her face. He brought her hand to his face, and let his tears trickle down her skin.
Sharin was walking now, towards the mirrors. She thought she'd heard a sound, from everywhere and nowhere…but no. There was nothing now. She looked around, and kept walking…the mirrors. They were important.
"Admiral Gloval." Dr. Lang said formally. Gloval looked up and nodded at him.
"What have you learned?"
"The poison was not a poison…as such. It was a component of the micronization process-- one dealing with the transformation and break down of the micronized zentraedi's neural tissue…in short, it's trying to take apart her brain."
"And what does that mean, in concrete terms."
"We can only let the process work out…and hope that she survives, or remembers who and what she is." Lang said, shrugging. "Anything else would only decrease her chances. There is very little information about this-- in the sizing chamber itself, a malfunction like this would abort the process."
"I see…and where could this chemical have been obtained?"
"Many places Admiral. I am checking my own sources, but there are many zentraedi ships that had their own sizing chambers that are crashed in the wastelands."
"Would Boris have access to it?"
"Not from us-- and I doubt he'd know what to look for. Of course, it could have been provided to him." Lang shrugged, refusing to speculate. Gloval nodded. Well, an outright verdict of innocent would have been too much to hope for, but at least for now that seemed to put a spike in any attempts to place Boris back in jail.
"Admiral?" Another screen popped up with Lisa Hayes.
"Yes?"
"We have a zentraedi mecha approaching Macross…it's Sharin's second in command, a zentraedi named Tzarna. You approved her approach."
"Yes, well I was thinking more along the lines of a shuttle…but alert Max and Miriya-- I think in this case a fellow zentraedi might work best to calm her."
"Yes sir."
Tzarna pushed the Rau to its limits, then slowed slightly, as she saw the two veritechs take up positions on her side.
Commander Tzarna…I am Miriya Parino. The radio crackled in zentraedi. you may land your mecha at the airport and proceed on foot. Tzarna growled, and for a moment fantasized about showing the micronized zentraedi just how overrated her reputation was…but a dog fight over North America would hardly help Sharin. She followed them down, grounded and leaped out of her mecha before its jets had cooled. One deadly threat to any Micronian who even thought about bothering her mecha later, and she was stalking up the road towards the hospital.
Gary, having been forgotten, quickly hailed a cab. Of course, Tzarna hadn't bothered to inform him of the directions the tower had given her to get to the hospital…so he simply told the driver: "follow the large upset woman."
"Your funeral, bub." was all the driver said.
To be continued