Author's Note:
Thanks Whisperwings, you're the kind of awesome that we all want to be!
'First my family and my home, then Jim, now John…' Rebecca looked emptily at the charred rubble as they weaved within the ruins of the Black Arrow in one of their ship's longboats. 'Of all the things that life had to take from me… why John?' The young woman held back her tears as she balled her hands into fists. 'Is there nothing left?' She sighed and looked down at her stomach. 'Well…' She set a hand down on her abdomen, 'Almost nothing…'
Scroop, Henry and Martin decided to accompany Rebecca on this excursion to see if there was anything that they could salvage from the destroyed pirate ship. Juanita and Jarred chose to stay behind on the HMS Aurora to begin the necessary repairs.
Scroop spotted something small off the bow of the longboat, reaching over the edge of the boat to grab it. He looked it over, sitting down in the longboat.
"What is it?" Henry asked, piloting the longboat.
"John's dagger." Scroop replied.
Rebecca looked at Scroop, holding back tears. Scroop handed Rebecca John's dagger. Rebecca squeezed the hilt and looked back up at the dust-enshrouded ruins as they crept along.
"What's that?" Martin pointed at something off the starboard bow.
They followed his pointed finger to see a black mass crumpled up against a piece of charred lumber. Henry guided the longboat alongside the ship's remains and cut the engine.
Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the black mass was in fact a body lying on its right side facing away from them. Rebecca cautiously leaned over the edge of the longboat, grabbing the left shoulder of the person and rolling the body over so it faced up.
She drew back with a gasp upon recognizing the half-charred face of the young man. "John…"
"Wait!" Scroop cut in before Rebecca had a chance to start mourning for the loss of another friend. "Look, he's breathing." Scroop pointed at their captain, noting that his chest was indeed moving.
"He- he's alive?" Rebecca stammered, both surprised and relieved.
Other than his life, the ship's explosion had spared little for the young man. It was evident that John was badly injured. His entire right side was charred -both the clothing and flesh- and he still remained unconscious.
"We've got to get him back!" Rebecca stated, "We've got to help him."
Scroop reached out of the longboat and pulled John off of the piece of lumber. With Henry and Martin's assistance, John was carefully laid in the longboat. Rebecca quickly grasped John's uninjured hand and looked down at his face.
"It's truly a miracle he's alive." Martin stated as Henry began to guide their longboat back towards the HMS Aurora.
Rebecca mutely nodded, watching John's steady breaths as he lay before her as if in peaceful slumber. She thought about all they had gone through and all that was still yet to come. She thought of the people they had met, the battles they had fought and the moments that they had shared. Rebecca knew that she didn't want this to end, so she wasn't going to give up now.
'I'm not giving up on you, John…' She looked down at John's half-charred face. 'Please, don't give up on me.'
Rebecca sat in John's room at the aforementioned man's bedside, watching the young man for any sign of movement other than the sleep-like state he was in. Henry had chartered a course to the nearest medical facility, being on the moon Xylos 20, while everyone else manned the ship.
The young woman tried to sort out the mixed emotions she was encountering over the last few hours. It was a mix between the grief of losing Jim, the hope –for John's sake- that they'd make it to Xylos 20 before his injuries became life threatening, and the anger at Billy Bones for taking Jim's life -and almost taking John's life- by betraying his crew.
'Was it even worth going to all this trouble to find Bones, only to have him slip out of our grasps again?' Rebecca pondered. She looked out the stern windows of John's quarters, noticing that the night had taken over the Etherium.
Mantabirds swooped by the windows in flocks, indicating that they were nearing their destination (as these creatures of the Etherium were common to spaceports).
Rebecca inhaled slowly. "We're almost there." She spoke more to her self than the unconscious man before her. She stood up from her seat, glancing at John's slumbering form once before heading to the main deck.
The HMS Aurora was guided to the moon's medical facility as soon as they arrived in the spaceport. Rebecca began immediate arrangements for John's care as the aforementioned man was transported to the facility. The doctors also took Jim's body to begin preservation operations upon him, so he wouldn't endanger any of the sailors' lives and would be fit for transportation to his home planet. The two pirates that Scroop had managed to trap were taken into custody. The HMS Aurora underwent massive mechanical repairs from the damage caused by the flaming merchant ship and the explosion of the Black Arrow. Rebecca paid for everything, down to the last penny, without questioning.
The rest of the crew stayed at the medical facility to wait out the length of time that the two brothers would undergo their operations, as there was little else to do on the small moon colony.
"Miss." A robotic nurse addressed Juanita, who was sitting outside of one of the operation rooms.
"Yes." The female Shikaran snapped out of her stupor.
"I noticed that you have some injuries," the robotic nurse stated, "I can retrieve one of our surgeons to attend to you."
"That won't be necessary," Jarred cut in before Juanita could answer. "I can attend to Juanita's injuries myself." He stated, "We wouldn't want to take away any time from your surgeons."
The robot nurse nodded and went to retrieve some supplies for the male Shikaran while Juanita looked at Jarred oddly.
"What?" Jarred demanded.
"You totally just took control of that situation." Juanita remarked.
"Yeah, well…" Jarred rubbed the back of his neck, "it was necessary." He flushed to a dark blue.
Juanita repressed a laugh as the robotic nurse returned with the necessary materials. Jarred thanked the android and knelt down beside Juanita, unpacking the medical supplies.
"You know, you've changed quite a bit, 'Red." Juanita stated.
"Why do you say that?" Jarred asked.
"Well -for starters- you're talking to me." Juanita began.
"I talked to you plenty of times over the years that we've worked together." Jarred retorted.
Juanita scoffed. "Not nearly as much as you do now."
"Well…" Jarred shrugged. "That's because before, I didn't know how to talk to you." He quickly cleared his throat, "so… where does it hurt?"
Juanita rolled her eyes, "my shoulder. Give me a second." She began unlacing her vest, slipped it off and loosened her shirt so the hole intended for the wearer's head fell off of her injured shoulder. The resulting adjustment had Juanita's bell-sleeved shirt dangerously close to falling off of her other shoulder and revealing more of herself to the now-blushing Jarred.
Jarred turned his attention to Juanita's shoulder, which he could see had sustained a rather deep cut, likely from the battle on the Black Arrow. "You should've told me about this before." He remarked; pouring a formula of grounded yuppi pits dissolved in water onto a cloth. "You know, I could've healed it so it wouldn't show a scar…"
Juanita huffed, putting weight on the arm with her injured shoulder. "Another scar means little in our profession, 'Red."
Jarred shrugged. "Well this part would've been less painful." He pressed the tonic-soaked cloth to Juanita's cut.
"Ah!" Juanita hissed through her teeth from the pain, grabbing the front of Jarred's shirt with her free hand. "Would it kill you to be gentle?" She demanded, pulling his face close to hers.
"I told you it would hurt!" Jarred retorted.
Juanita narrowed her eyes, releasing her hold on Jarred's shirt and looking away while he attended to her injury.
Jarred sighed, trying to be gentler as he cleaned out his companion's cut. He pressed a fresh piece of gauze against it and began wrapping.
Juanita glanced back at Jarred, noticing how intense his expression had become as he focused on his task. She often noticed this happened whenever he was repairing something and hadn't yet become aware of her spying. Juanita always wondered what a nice guy like Jarred was doing in the mercenary business, even if he was a misfit… like she was.
"There, done." Jarred stated, tying off the bandage and breaking Juanita from her thoughts. She looked in Jarred's eyes, remarking the inquisitive but youthful nature within their bright green depths. "Juanita?" Jarred's voice broke through.
The female Shikaran leaned forwards, tenderly joining lips with Jarred. The male Shikaran was stunned at Juanita's forwardness, dropping the cloth he had used to clean her cut. Juanita pulled away, waiting for Jarred's response.
"So…" Jarred cleared his throat, his face the darkest blue possible. "Is- is there anything else that hurts?"
Author's Note:
Well that finally happened. Now let's see what'll happen next!
MG#6