Scent of Treachery by Smith, T.L. (free books to read txt) 📕

magnets grabbed the ship, she pulled on her environmental suit and upped the station’s gravity.

She made it to the airlock as the first batch of evacuees pushed through. Jayda shouted out directions to medical lab, then cycled through two more groups.

Dolan staggered through with the last group, coughing from smoke inhalation, covered with soot and blood.

She followed the last group to the medical lab. Those who could, helped the injured, two crew flipped through cabinets for supplies, including the young woman she’d seen earlier.

Jayda saw a medical emblem on her lapel. “You’re trained?”

“First shipboard assignment…” She turned to look at who asked, her eyes wild with shock. “I never expected this. I don’t know what to do. I gotta…”

She turned from side to side, reaching up to wipe the back of her hand over her eyebrow as blood drained into her eyes.

“Look at me!” Jayda shouted at the woman, jarring her panic. She pointed to a container. “Grab that box and come with me.”

The girl did as she was told. At the work station Jayda pointed to a chair. “Sit down and let me check that wound.”

“I can’t… They’re first…”

“Not if you pass out.” Jayda made the young woman stare into her eyes, not at the chaos around them. “I need you focused. Just look at me, nothing else.”

The medic obeyed, her eyes fixed on Jayda’s. She clenched her teeth as Jayda cleaned out the head laceration, not too deep or ugly, no concussion. Just the typical bloody head wound.

The girl clutched the side of the table as Jayda used liquid sutures to seal the wound shut. “That’ll do it.”

Those few minutes let the medic regain control of her emotions. Panic shifted to determination as Jayda released her.

“Thank you.” She jumped straight into triage, sorting out the worst patients, shouting orders to the able-bodied, including Jayda.

Of Dolan’s thirty four-person crew, two were dead, another likely to die, five had critical injuries, another ten with serious injuries and breathing issues.

Most of the uninjured were in areas of the ship that gave them time to get into their environmental suits. Cleared by the medic, they returned to the ship to gather more medical supplies.

Dolan wasn’t released. He sat on a table impatiently talking over his comm to his team aboard the ship. He grabbed Jayda’s arm as she passed, finishing his orders before speaking to her, ignoring the tug of her arm in the meanwhile.

“I’m sorry.” He released her. “Taylor is busy. Patch me up so I can get out of here.”

As much as the suit protected Jayda from the environment, it didn’t block out everything. The room was electric with the energies of the wounded, their anger, pain, shock, and grief.

Now she had to add him to the chaos brewing in her head. Her hands shook as she ripped open the medical kit. “Alright, Capt. Dolan, what can I do for you?”

“It’s just a flesh wound.” Dolan pulled his shirt off over his head, one arm not making the full motion.

Jayda could see the wound on his shoulder and arm. “I think that’s for Dr. Taylor to decide.” Jayda pulled up the quick chart created for Dolan, seeing the initial scan. “Burns and smoke inhalation.”

“So let’s get it over with! I got work to...” A coughing spell broke up his protest.

Jayda looked to the scan again. “Smoke inhalation, aggravating prior…” Jayda walked around the table to see how extensive the burns were.

Charred blistering flesh froze her in place, but it wasn’t Capt. Dolan she was looking at anymore. Images of open wounds, burnt flesh, groans of pain and the fading light from agonized eyes rushed in on her.

They were all around her, looking at her for guidance, for salvation, but she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even reach out a hand to them, to him…

The clatter of the instruments on the cold metal decking snapped her out of the flashback. Eyes were on her again, too many faces, too much pain. She rushed out of the medical lab.

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

 

Jayda escaped into the galley.

Once through the doors she allowed herself to breathe, a ragged gasp. She was out of the med lab, but still caught in the memory of her past. She heard the screams of her friends, she could hear him.

She covered her ears, backing into a corner. “Please, go away! Go away!” She drowned them out repeating her plea over and over again. “I can’t do this.”

“You don’t have to.  Everything’s under control.”

This wasn’t a voice in her head, but real. Jayda spun around to find Dolan. Cleaned up, a bandage wrapped his shoulder. How much time was she stuck in her nightmare?

“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

“You didn’t…I’m sorry…” She jerked her eyes away, afraid his face would bring the images back. “I don’t know why that happened. I guess I panicked.”

“It was a lot to deal with, especially if you’re not trained to deal with these types of accidents.”

Jayda slid away from him. “I’m sorry I freaked out.” She had the galley counter between them now.

“You did enough, as well as giving us safe refuge. It appears the few minutes we had our shields down the particle storm hit. Any other time it would have just glanced off our shields, and yours. Did you sustain much damage?” Dolan kept his distance, though distractingly shirtless.

Jayda tried not to look, but a man his size was hard to ignore. She did her best, moving over to her chair and taking a moment to pull up damage reports. “Minor damage, mostly the one cargo bay. Your ship probably blocked most of the particles from hitting the station. Your status?”

“It’s not good, which is why I’m here. We need to talk.” He took one of the other chairs. “The danger is past now, if you want to get rid of the suit.”

“Oh, yeah… um… I will, later.”

“Okay.” Dolan frowned. It had the opposite draw on his lips than when he smiled, just crinkles forming between his eyebrows.

“Well, my ship is