Solara 18 #2
Onidus flags down a server, and we order a dessert platter to go.
Then he gets up, smoothes his uniform pants, and offers me a hand.
I take his offering and love the way his warm fingers curl around mine as he hauls me upright.
When I’m balanced on my pumps, he slides a hand over my low back and around my side as he draws us together for the walk out.
It’s a possessive gesture in front of a lot of cameras. And I love it.
He grabs the dessert box from the serving counter and escorts me to the males’ dorm and up the ramp, onto ION Striker. My bags are already inside a small room at the back.
Onidus closes the ramp. “I may have telepathically talked with Ryz and Ulian, who were on guard just outside the dining hall. They took care of grabbing your things while we waited for our dessert.”
“Hey.” A darker gold male waves at me from the front of the ship. “Ulian.”
“Hi.” I give him a finger wave.
A face leans around the wall, grinning as he chews on something.
“That’s Ryz,” Onidus remarks. “Is he eating candy again?”
Ulian throws his hands in the air. “I told him it will rot his teeth and his mincreance, but noooo. He found something called a Halloween section at the spaceport and bought a big bag of this colorful garbage.”
“Shut up! It’s good!” Ryz grins, showing me his black teeth. “We don’t have this stuff!”
I laugh. “Don’t eat it like food, or you’ll get a stomach ache.”
“Oh, he’s already been there and back,” Ulian remarks.
Ryz sniffs the air. “What you got there?”
“None of your mincreance’s business.” Onidus sets our dessert platter box in the room beside my bags, which his Isonian friends have placed on the bed.
“Ulian, the medic, right?” I ask, motioning to him.
“Only because I have to be.” Ulian sits sideways in the pilot’s seat, looking back at me. His dark gold eyes aren’t a good sign, if what I remember Onidus telling me is true. Or perhaps that’s just his shade.
“I was hoping to pick your brain sometime because I’d like to join your mission.”
“I heard.” Ulian shakes his head. “I don’t know why you would choose this life. None of us did.”
“What do you mean?” I look to Ryz, who digs through a bag of candy.
Onidus leans a shoulder against the wall and removes his mask.
“They send scouts out among civilians to find the most gifted ones. Some parents try to hide their children’s abilities because our mortality rate is high due to our prevalence in the federation’s anti-Neb force.
Some parents train their children even if they don’t get selected. ”
I’m glad he’s comfortable without his mask around me. But he still hides the scarred side of his face by keeping his good side to me.
Ulian stills for a moment. Onidus looks at him, then hangs his head like he’s giving up. Ryz seems oblivious.
I think Ulian is in pain.
“Where is it?” I ask.
“What?” Ulian braces a hand on a thigh and twists. If his face showed pain, I would guess it was in his back.
“Don’t play dumb with me.” I plant my hands on my hips. “Where’s your Isonian med scanner?”
“It’s in the top cabinet on the right.” Onidus motions in its direction while Ulian lifts his hands as if he’s being betrayed.
I grab it and walk to Ulian. “How about you make this easier on both of us and just tell me? I know you’re Masking because your movements and your expression don’t match.”
Ulian grumbles a sigh. “There’s just a sliver of something in my back that I can’t get out. It’s not a big deal.”
I run the scanner over his back and find the needle-thin shard of metal. Tapping his armor, I wait. He removes it.
“Onidus, can you get me…” I lift Ulian’s shirt, study the entry a bit closer. “Disinfectant, saline, a scalpel, numbing agent, tweezers, and a stitch kit.”
“It’s fine,” Ulian grumbles. “Don’t waste supplies on me.”
I drop his shirt and look him in the eyes. “It’s not a waste. You don’t deserve this. And you need to be in top shape to fight. Can’t have the injury flaring pain in a moment you need all of your strength.”
“Fine.” Ulian sighs. “One condition: no anesthetic.”
“That’s your call,” I say.
“Save it for someone who can’t take what I can.” He waves a hand at Ryz. “Give me something tough to chew on.”
Ryz digs through the crinkling bag and hands him a piece of candy. Onidus brings me my supplies and hands me gloves plus my requested items.
When I’m ready, and his back has been prepped with iodine, I rest a hand to Ulian’s shoulder. “Deep breath.”
He draws in and tucks the candy between his teeth.
Using the scanner to help, I make an incision. Ulian bites hard and breathes in shuddering movements. He’s in a lot of pain and trying to be strong. I have to move fast.
I find the metal, and grab it with the tweezers through the blood. Ulian tenses and doesn’t make a sound until I pull it out.
I drop the end of a knife into a tray that Onidus offers me from where he squats beside my bag.
Ryz swears. “A sliver, my ass! That’s half of a Neb ion blade!”
After flushing the incision, I get Ulian stitched up and bandaged.
Ulian grabs the tray and inspects the blade. “Thanks. I vaguely remember this battle. It’s been there a while. But I don’t trust the impatient one with sticky fingers.” He glances at Ryz.
“Hey! I can be… Ooh...” Ryz seems to find the piece he was looking for and digs through the bag again.
Ulian wrinkles his nose and looks up at me, then directs my attention to Onidus. “Or the one that destroys ships when he’s angry.”
I gently pat his shoulder. “Well, anytime you need, you come find me.”
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t think you knew,” Onidus admits. “I only do that when no one is watching.”
“I’m a Healer. I have to see all the damage inside and out. Sometimes, I pick up memories. I know what you are.” Ulian pulls his shirt down and clips his chest armor back on.
“An…f-yew diwdn’t teww me?” Ryz mumbles as he chews another piece of candy.
I snort and restrain a laugh behind a hand.
“It’s such a wonder why.” Ulian arches a scarred brow before replacing his mask.
Ryz’s mask hangs from a pocket while he eats. He shrugs. “Just thought he was an elite Smoldren.”
“So what do you think the Delsfein want with you?” Ulian asks me.
I pack my supplies away. “The only thing I did was shield them as they left their bodies behind in our realm. But even they vaporized as their souls left. Onidus gave me an orb generator harness he found. So I stayed with them until they were on their backup platform, deep in their planet. I kept the shield up as he held off the shadow soldiers.”
“They didn’t do anything to you or tell you anything? Maybe that they needed help from the other side?” Ulian asks.
I shrug. “They didn’t want to take me. They said we had more work to do here. Onidus and me.”
“Are we still doing the Resonance?” Ryz asks. “Maybe we can get answers that way.”
“Resonance?” I ask.
Onidus carts my things back into his room. “It is just how we connect to the Vibrance dimension, like our Augurs. Sometimes, we can talk to them or summon images to help us clarify a situation. And I was thinking very early in the morning. Like two. I don’t want any cameradrones to see it.”
“Better catch some sleep while you can.” Ulian swivels back into his seat. “I will speak with you about the medic responsibilities tomorrow, Solara. But we cannot offer you a cushy position. It will be dirty, filled with long hours and dangerous situations.”
“Thank you, but don’t worry about me being comfortable. My needs are pretty low,” I reply.
“Then maybe you’ll fit in after all,” Ryz remarks. “We could use another female medic in Silvian Fleet. Fion is already stretched thin like the others.”
“Solara probably won’t be assigned to us,” Onidus adds. “There are many crews in just as desperate need.”
“Can’t we request for her to stay with us?” ION asks. “It feels good to have her onboard. Why is that?”
I squint at Onidus. “Does your AI have…feelings?”
Onidus chews a lip and nods. “Yeah. He does.”
“So he’s…”
Onidus firmly shakes his head.
“Are you talking about me?” ION asks.
Onidus taps a nearby screen. “Can you work on something for me?”
“Of course. What can I help with?”
“Can you run a scan of any Nebulous portal activity and see if there’s any correlation with Delsfein Vibrance signals?”
“Working. I will let you know when I have determined the result.”
“Thanks.” Onidus turns to me. “Now, I would like to get to our dessert.”
Ryz whistles suggestively. “You’re making my candy jealous.”
Onidus flicks a finger and sends a tiny orb of sparking light at Ryz, who chuckles and swats it away. “Give us some privacy, please.”
Ryz winks at me as Onidus takes me by the hand and leads me to his room. As I’m about to step inside, I see Ryz mouth thank you and tilt his head toward Ulian.
I can do good with the Isonians. I just hope their command will accept me.