CHAPTER 28

Reed regained consciousness in a dank stone cell. He was lying facedown, and his cheek was abraded from where he had rubbed it against the cold, hard floor as he had come around.

His head throbbed as he rolled over onto his back. He remembered being hit with something as he had struggled when he'd seen Shidak begin to paw Hoshi.

He slowly sat up, holding one hand to the back of his head. There was a large, tender lump there. He was lucky his skull hadn't been fractured.

The only light in the cell came through a small window at eye-level on the door, casting a rectangle of illumination on the floor a few feet away from him. Glancing around, moving only his eyes and not his head, he was able to make out a low, wide ledge along the wall opposite the door. The pirates hadn't bothered to put him there. They had just dragged him into the cell and dropped him.

He crawled over to the ledge and pulled himself up on it. He sat with his head between his knees until what little he could see stopped spinning. How the bloody hell was he going to get out of this?

And what was happening to Hoshi? Some protector he had been, he thought derisively. From what he had seen before being put out of commission, she was handling herself a lot better than he had. He hadn't done anything except wait around to get captured.

He winced involuntarily as he leaned his head back against the wall, the bump registering its presence when it made contact with the hard surface.

He checked his pockets and found nothing. They'd searched him before throwing him in the cell and had taken everything -- his communicator, extra knife, several small concussion grenades, even the strand of high-tensile wire. They'd left the empty holster attached to his hip like an insult after removing the disruptor.

He didn't even have an idea of how long he'd been unconscious. For all he knew, Hoshi could have made her move and been killed by now. But it would make no sense that, if she had attempted something, he'd still be alive, sitting alone in this cell. Surely the pirates would have come to kill him if that had happened.

Reed had come to the conclusion that he would remain alive only so long as Hoshi did when he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor. Maybe his time was up and they were coming to finish the job.

He remained seated as, to judge by the sound of the footsteps, several people approached the door. The light from the door's window was momentarily blocked and he heard the rattling of keys. What an anachronism, he thought. Shidak was a modern-day pirate sailing not the high seas but the space lanes, and he still kept his prisoners locked up in a dungeon complete with padlocks and chains.

The door was thrown open and, squinting against the glare from the hallway, he could make out several of Shidak's men. His attention was drawn immediately to the smaller disheveled figure in their midst. She was being held up by one of the men who had a grip on her upper arm. Otherwise, she might have fallen down, he saw, taking in the blood-soaked bandage around her other shoulder.

He stood up quickly as she was shoved, momentum taking her halfway across the cell before her legs gave out. Reed only had time to glance up at the sound of the door being slammed shut before catching her as she fell.

"Hoshi!" he said, cradling her gently as he eased her over onto the ledge. "Hoshi? Damn it! Talk to me!"

"You don't have to shout," she said softly, grimacing as she moved her injured shoulder.

"What happened?" he asked more softly, the relief he felt at her response showing in his voice.

"That bastard threw my own knife at me," she said.

"What? Why would he do that?"

"Probably because I was holding a sword on him at the time," she replied, gingerly trying to sit up.

Reed helped support her until her back was against the wall. When she was as comfortable as possible, he sat next to her and picked up her hand to hold in his.

He listened to her ragged breathing for a few moments, worried about how badly she had been hurt. Some of that worry came out in an accusation. "I told you not to do anything stupid," he said.

He was startled when she started to laugh, but it was cut off short by a gasp at the pain in her shoulder. "I wouldn't call defending my honor stupid," she said through gritted teeth.

Reed's voice was deadly calm as he tried to inspect the wound without removing too much of the bandaging. "What did he do?"

He felt Hoshi shiver before she answered. "He tried to rape me."

For the first time since being surrounded by Klingons, Reed truly knew what blood rage felt like. His vision narrowed to pinpricks, and in his mind's eye he could see the object of his rage -- Shidak -- disemboweled with his own knife.

He realized Hoshi must have picked up on some of what he was thinking when she squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"I said he tried to rape me. He didn't succeed." She laughed again, this time more softly. "One more reason to kill him," she said.

"I know that's supposed to be your objective," Reed said, "but I think it's now become mine."

He heard her quiet gasp and felt her try to turn toward him in the darkness. "You can't--"

"Yes, I can," he said with conviction.

"No, you can't," she said more strongly.

"Why not?"

"Because..." Her voice trailed off.

"Why not, Hoshi?" he asked again.

"Because I won't have you kill because of me," she said whispered. "It's bad enough that I'm going to commit murder, but I won't have someone else do it in my place."

He tried to see her face in the darkness, but it was only a pale blur. He couldn't see her eyes, other than the glitter of the light from the door's window reflected in them. Reaching out, he held her face between his hands.

"Hoshi, you loved Matthew so much that you are willing to kill to avenge him. Is it so hard for you to believe that I am willing to kill to save you?"

He heard her quick intake of breath, then felt a drop of moisture on one of his fingers on her cheek.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

He felt her nod, and he quickly slid his hands down behind her back, careful of her injured shoulder. "You don't know what it's been like, sitting here in the dark, not knowing what's happened to you," he said as he very gently rocked her.

"I...I didn't realize you cared so much," she said quietly against his shoulder.

"I do, you little idiot," he said. "I've done everything but say it."

"Say what?"

He paused, preparing himself to take the plunge. "I love you."

He felt her body begin to shake and wondered if he had upset her with his declaration. Then he realized she was laughing. She was laughing? Bloody hell! Was she becoming hysterical?

"I can't believe you're laughing," he said in mock sternness. "I've never had a woman laugh before when I've told her I've loved her."

"Oh?" Hoshi managed to get out. "Have you told a lot of women that?"

"Well, actually, no," he admitted. "Just you. ... So why are you laughing?"

"Because," she said, "after they took you away, I realized it was more important to me to make sure you were safe than it was to kill Shidak."

"I take it that's your rather convoluted way of saying you care about me," he said, trying for a light tone but tensing for her rejection.

"You're an idiot, too," he heard her say in the darkness close to his ear as snuggled closer to him. "I love you, too."