I hadn’t been at Ahkmau,” she began, “you’d be dead now. Sir.”
“Will there ever be an end to the constant revisiting of that medical procedure?” he wondered.
“Well, not as long as I’m alive, sir,” she said with twinkling green eyes. “You are, after all, my greatest medical accomplishment.”
He didn’t speak. He was still glaring.
“Some surgeons couldn’t have managed what I did under laboratory conditions,” she continued, warming to her subject. “I did it with a couple of purloined tools and almost no pure water, with Rojok patrols right outside the prison cell.”
His lips were now making a thin line.
“You know, I don’t recall that you ever even thanked me for it,” she continued.
He bit off some comments in his own language.
“Sir!” she exclaimed.
He made a rough noise in his throat and turned his attention to Mallory. “Make sure that Ruszel acquaints you with shipboard protocol. No wandering is allowed, especially in the kelekom sector.”
Mallory saluted, rigid as a board. “Sir, I never wander. I’ve never seen a kelekom. I mean, I don’t want to see one. I mean, not that they aren’t interesting, I’m sure...!”
Dtimun turned back to Madeline, exasperated. “There is no one else?”
She glared at him. “Edris is perfectly competent.”
“To do what?” he demanded.
Edris made a hunted sound. She looked as if she wanted to hide under something.
“Sir, don’t you have some pressing military function to perform that requires your attention elsewhere?” Madeline asked pleasantly. “Lives must be at stake somewhere.”
“One day, warwoman,” he bit off.
She raised both eyebrows. “One day, what, sir?” she asked innocently.
He darted a killing glance at Mallory, another at Madeline and turned on his heel, muttering in his own tongue as he stalked off.
“Can you translate that?” Edris asked timidly.
“Oh, you don’t want me to do that,” Madeline assured her. “Let’s get you settled. It’s going to be a long few days.”
* * *
ON THAT SCORE, she was absolutely right. There was an emergency on one of the Coromat system planets near Terramer which required the skills of a Cularian medical specialist. Madeline elected to take Edris along, to let her get the feel of an away mission.
Sadly, no one had thought to tell the new recruit that the commander did high grav landings. He put down at six megs and Mallory threw up all over the deck. Dtimun was eloquent.
When he left the scout ship, Hahnson and Stern and Komak roared with laughter.
“Sorry,” Hahnson told Edris, “we aren’t laughing at you. It’s just that the C.O. does line himself up for these mishaps. I mean, who puts down at six megs?”
Stern raised his hand.
“Not in a Cehn-Tahr scout, you never did,” Madeline pointed out.
“I’m just so sorry,” Edris moaned, pressing a medicated wipe to her face. “I’m so embarrassed! I’ve never done anything like that.” She dotted an enzyme eraser onto the mess she’d made on the deck, cleaning it efficiently.
“I threw up the first time I did a high grav landing,” Madeline assured her.
“Not on Dtimun’s ship, you didn’t,” Hahnson reminded her.
“Oh, like you know,” Madeline muttered.
“Actually, I threw up, too, the first time I had to fly with Dtimun,” Hahnson confessed. “He’s just short of suicidal when he’s piloting a small ship. But that high grav landing really weirds out enemy combatants. They never expect it.”
“I suppose it would give us an edge in battle,” Edris commented weakly.
“I don’t suppose you’d know why the C.O. looks as if he’s been chewing on the hull plates?” Stern asked Madeline.
She gave him an angelic smile. “I’m certain it doesn’t have anything to do with me,” she assured him.
“What did you say to him?” Stern persisted.
“I only mentioned how lucky he was that I was with him at Ahkmau when he needed emergency surgery,” she replied. “And there was the matter of bringing Edris aboard.”
“But you said the commander wanted me to learn the routine aboard the Morcai,” Edris burst out.
“He did say that. Sort of,” Madeline hedged.
“What exactly did he say?” Hahnson piped in.
Madeline shrugged. “That I could give her a virtual tour of the premises.” She blinked. “Virtual, real, I mean, with the vid systems we have today, really, is there a difference?”
Edris put her face in her hands. “He’ll kill me.”
“Yes, but he can’t eat you,” Madeline assured her. “And we’ve already had that discussion. That Jebob soldier they said the Cehn-Tahr ate during the Great Galaxy War—he was actually eaten by a Rojok, wasn’t he?” she asked the men.
Edris covered her mouth with her hand and went pale.
“Rojoks don’t eat Jebob nationals,” Stern scoffed. “They’re far too stringy.” He yawned. “It was an old Altairian, and they’d just run out of rations...Mallory? You okay?” He winced. “Damn, and you just cleaned the deck already!”
Madeline hit him. He just laughed.
* * *
“I AM CERTAIN that I don’t want to serve aboard this vessel,” Mallory said when they’d treated the diplomatic patient and were safely back aboard the Morcai, heading back to Trimerius.
“You just had a bad introduction to Holconcom routines,” Madeline said soothingly. “First times are always difficult.”
“This first time will give me nightmares every night from now on,” Edris assured her. “How could you bring me aboard without telling the C.O.?” she moaned.
“Well, if I’d actually told him, he wouldn’t have let you come,” Madeline said reasonably, “and you have to learn someday.”
Komak came up beside them, running backward to keep pace. He was grinning. “Have you shown Lieutenant Mallory the kelekoms?” he asked.
“No, sir, and she’s not going to,” Edris interrupted firmly before Madeline could get her mouth open. “I’ve done enough damage for one mission. With my luck, I’d sneeze on one and give it some fatal disease.”
“They are quite used to humans now,” Komak chuckled. “It has been a long time since one of them was ill.”
“Has the C.O. had any luck finding a new partner for the inactive kelekom?” Madeline asked.
Komak shook his head. “Lawson will not provide him with any candidates.”
“Brave Lawson, to refuse the commander,” Edris murmured.
“He intimidates her,” Madeline explained to Komak.
“Who, Lawson?” he asked.
“No. The commander.”
“Oh.” Komak grinned. “He does not intimidate you, Madelineruszel,” he said.
“I’ve had all my shots.”
Komak