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

“And killing is killing!” She didn’t pull back the snarky tone.

Dolan shook his head at her cryptic words.

“This might not be an accident. My EWS perimeter net may have been tampered with, preventing me from knowing about that particle storm.”

Dolan stared at her. “You can’t order a particle storm.” His disbelief showed in the crooked smile, less playful, more sarcastic. “I think you’ve been out here too long.”

“Yeah, that’s a given, but the station has a redundant system and that didn’t work either. Now my shields are down too. Both were serviced only four months ago. I think my system was tampered with.”

“For perfume? You need to lighten up and stop taking yourself so seriously.” Dolan turned to leave. “I don’t have time for fairytales.”

“Jack, stop!” Jayda immediately covered her mouth. “Dolan… I meant Dolan. I’m not crazy!”

Dolan was looking at her again, “Lady, you’ve been acting crazy from the second I set foot on your station. As if I was going to jump you.” He squinted his eyes. “Is that what Jack did? Do I remind you of him?”

“You’re nothing like him!”

“Clearly a lie.” Dolan leaned on the door. “You want me to take you seriously, come clean. Who’s Jack and why do I scare the crap out of you?”

“I’m not scared, or delusional. We might really be in danger here.” Jayda glared at Dolan. “Jack was my husband and he’s dead. I… I killed him!”

She turned away from the rise of Dolan’s eyebrow and opened a small drawer in her cabinet. She removed a framed picture. She didn’t look at it, but held it behind her.

It left her fingers and she heard a soft groan. “I can see now why I might be freaking you out. Sorry I called you crazy. Is that why you put yourself out here, all alone? Hiding? Penitence?”

“I came here for other reasons… medical reasons.”

“That’s the real reason for the lower gravity?”

She didn’t answer him.

“Okay, so that clears up some of the odd behavior. Now let’s talk sabotage theories.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Dolan’s team confirmed the EWS was down, but it would take more digging to see if it was tampered with.

Using the robots they examined the perimeter net. It wasn’t just the one quadrant, but portions into the next quadrants, as if spreading like a disease.

Using the station’s maintenance bots, a tech rode out a distance from the station and fired a laser stream at the damaged cargo bay. The shields, designed to radiate around the station like a planet’s magnetic field, failed to deflect it.

Dolan agreed this was no coincidence and put his crew on getting the EWS working again. Another small team returned to the ship to make sure their weapons were operational.

Whoever set this plan into motion would implement the next phase, sooner than later. His initial mayday signals probably signaled them that the station was defenseless.

With his military experience, Jayda let Dolan take over, while she escaped to her labs to develop a bronchial for Taylor. By the end of the day she had a batch halfway finished, but there was another medical dilemma.

The combined supplies couldn’t handle the number of external burns and Taylor would run out in another day.  Jayda had the necessary ingredients to make a less effective formula, but that would take too long.

Not feeling she had a choice, Jayda removed a box of medical samples from storage, carrying the box to the medical lab.

Dr. Taylor jumped up from her workstation when Jayda walked in. She hurried to take the box. When she turned around again, she dropped her eyes. “I hope the captain extended my apologies. I never meant any disrespect. If I had a clue…”

Jayda silenced her with a wave of her hand. “It’s not information I broadcast.” She took a breath and went to the box, removing an unmarked tube. “This should… will… work with the external injuries.”

The young woman took the tube, turning it in her fingers, frowning. “What is it?

“A healing cream.” Jayda took another deep breath. Even with lower gravity, the day was wearing on her. “It’s a project I’ve been working on for years, about to enter final testing, but…” Her hand swung out to the people sedated in their beds. “…your needs are immediate.”

“One of your experiments?”

She started to twist off the cap, but Jayda grabbed her hand. “Don’t open it unless you intend to use it, all of it at once. This isn’t a simple topical, but nanobot enhanced to get down into the damaged tissues. It also has an anesthetic, so don’t get it on your own skin if you can help it.

Taylor stared at the tube. “I’m not sure I can justify using an untested treatment.”

“Your choice, but you’re going to run out of supplies and these people are going to be in excruciating agony.” Jayda swallowed through the tightness gripping her throat. “This treatment will make the pain tolerable, leaving heavier sedation meds for those who need them.”

She nodded. “Any special instructions?”

“Sterile gloves, administer liberally. Every six hours clean the wounds with a sterile wash and reapply.” Jayda turned back to the box. “The nanotech dies off in six hours, or when they no longer identify damaged cells.” There was silence behind her. “It works!”

“I believe you, but....”

“Use it or don’t.” Jayda walked around Taylor. “By morning you’ll have enough bronchials to get everyone through this crisis.”

She heard stammering behind her, but Jayda had reached her limit and didn’t wait to hear what the young doctor had to say. She dragged herself past the galley, going straight to her quarters.

Alone again, she peeled off her clothes and collapsed on her bunk. “Computer, drop the temp five degrees and refilter my air with a fifteen-percent solution of Senaprox.”

A blast of cold air washed over her. After a few breaths she could feel the Senaprox soaking into her body and lungs. Senaprox, her magical compound. She inhaled it deeper. There was something to be said for