BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

Chapter 41
 

“Do we know who they are yet?” Rovi asked the lion that had been one of his comrades and closest friends for the past twenty five years. He absently rubbed at a patch on his arm where a stray round had creased the skin during the firefight at the cabin.

  Sander Brees sat slumped in a chair in his cabin on the SPF Patriarch, his arms crossed over his chest and a sour expression on his face as if he’d caught the smell of something vile. “Not yet. Randal and Odette are questioning one of the prisoners while Saul and Treena are working on another. We had to forcibly keep Sonja and Pala away from the brig. I don’t trust either of them not to do something rash.” He snorted in derision. “I’m tempted to let them do what they want, though.”

  “You can’t do that, Sandy,” Rovi sternly told the other. “The SPF up holds the law. You don’t take it into your own hands as you see fit.” The black fox took the other chair. “Even though I want the same thing,” he admitted with a frustrated sigh. He sat morosely in his chair for several minutes.

  “I hate this sitting around!” Rovi suddenly exploded as he stood up again and started pacing.

  “There’s no help for it,” the lion shot back testily. He reached for his pipe before he remembered that he’d already wrecked it by crushing the stem in his teeth when they’d brought Elias’ limp body on board and curled his hand into a fist of impotent rage.

  The hatch chimed from whoever was on the other side and Brees glared at the armored doors.

  “Enter!” he yelled angrily, not at all pleased that his orders to be left alone were being ignored.

  Randal entered the room with Odette right behind him. He was rubbing the knuckles of his right hand though there was a satisfied twist to his mouth.

  “Well?” the lion asked expectantly.

  “Ganlin Legion,” the wolf said. “They’re the ones running the Shiva and a lot of other raids. Looks like they’re getting a bit bolder in their predations. They somehow identified the Guiding Angel and have had combat teams scouring the PA for us.”

  Brees slammed his fist on the desk and began to swear with impressive creativity. “Did you get a location out of ‘em?”

  Randal nodded slowly. “Right in the middle of the Van Connor. From what the one I…interviewed said, they have a fairly impressive fleet and defensive capabilities.”

  “I don’t care if they’ve got a Hammerdine stashed there! We are going to finish this once and for all!” the lion yelled.

***

  “Why are you crying?”

  Cerise looked up in surprise, then broke into a wide grin as Elias reached out and placed his hand the side of her face. She leaned into his touch, nuzzling his palm as she took his wrist with both of her hands.

  “Because I thought I lost you,” she whispered.

  “Nah,” the fox said quietly. “Got too much to live for. The most beautiful wife in the universe…two kits that are as beautiful as their mother…” He trailed off, the effort of talking taxing what little he had in the way of energy.

  The vixen watched as her mate drifted off into unconsciousness, and spent several minutes looking at the fox’s face and watching his chest rise and fall. He’d been in the surgery theater of the Patriarch for over twelve hours as Lemuel and the ship’s doctor worked feverishly to repair the punctured lung and damage to the aorta from the armor piercing round that Elias had been shot with. It had been a harrowing time for Cerise, and when the medics had finally wheeled her mate into the infirmary’s recovery section, he’d looked as if he were on just this side of death.

  Even then, the tiger told her that his recovery was not certain and that the fox’s grasp on life was tenuous at best. Cerise ignored that, knowing that her husband would pull through.

  He had to because she couldn’t picture her life without him.

  For almost a week now she stayed by her mate’s side unless she had to take care of their kits or grab an hour or two of sleep. She even brought the kits in while Elias lay unconscious, hoping that he would sense their presence, that the bond he had with their children would help pull him through this.

  In the quiet hours, she mused about the events that had brought them together.

  Cerise had fallen in love with Elias the first time she’d seen him in the hospital just after the crash of the Scimitar. She had visited the white fox until the day that he’d awoken. Then, even as now, she knew that there was no one that she would rather spend her life with. He had unknowing and unaware taken her heart and made it his for the rest of their lives.

  Then when he’d been given command of the first pirate hunter…there was no way that she could let him put his life in danger without being there with him. It had been easy to convince her adopted Uncle that she was qualified to join the crew.

  She reached out and smoothed the fur on his brow, adjusting the oxygen feed that was attached to his black nose, and knew that it was time for him to walk away from all of this. She wouldn’t tell him how she felt…he would have to come to the decision on his own. But he’d already had thoughts along this line. Now it was just a matter of time.

  So lost was the vixen in her musings that she didn’t hear the hatch to the infirmary open, and the hand that was placed on her shoulder made her jump in surprise and automatically reach for her pistol.

  “Easy, Cerise,” Lemuel said in his soothing bass voice. He smiled at her before looking at the life support and monitoring equipment.

  “He woke up a few minutes ago,” Cerise informed the tiger. “He spoke a little before drifting off.”

  “Really?” Lem said with a raised eyebrow and smile. “I wasn’t even hoping for him to do that for another two days. Then again, he does have a lot to live for.”

  The vixen smiled tiredly. “That’s what he said.”

  “You know, I have always been a firm believer in the healing power of love,” the Doctor said as he adjusted the IV drip and medication it introduced to the white fox. “Other surgeons laugh at the idea, but I’ve seen individuals come through things that should have ended them.”

  Cerise nodded and smiled weakly. “Speaking of the healing power of love, how is my sister holding up?”

  Lemuel’s ears flattened in embarrassment. “She’s coping with everything rather well.” The tiger looked at his friend and pulled a stool over so that he could face her on a more equal seeming level. “About that…I know that you have some reservations about us…and I never intended for anything like this to happen…”

  Cerise reached up and scratched behind the Doctor’s ear. “If you are happy, and Keena is happy, who am I to complain?”

  “You can stop that now. You’ll turn me into a hedonist if you aren’t careful.” He gave himself a shake after the vixen stopped and looked at her. “I kind of got the idea that you were against us getting together.”

  “I was worried at first, knowing what Keena was like before we began all this. I was worried that she would treat you poorly. I had hoped she would change…that she would grow up. I guess I’m still getting used to the idea that she really has.”

  “She so wants to prove to you and Sharan and Rovi that she is a different person, now. She has bouts of depression remembering how she treated you and the rest of your family. That’s why I was so adamant about her continuing her counseling, though I make sure that she keeps her sessions and what she talks about confidential from me. I don’t want to muddy the waters by adding my opinions.”

  Cerise smiled and patted the tiger’s hand. “And that’s why I’m okay with the two of you being together, Lem.”

  “I’m not missing a good conversation, am I?” Elias said as he cracked his eyes open a fraction of an inch and smiled at his mate and friend.

  “Just gushy relationship stuff,” Lemuel said with a grin. “Nothing important.”

  “I always miss out on the good gossip…” the fox said with a chuckle before coughing weakly. “Ow. That really does hurt.”

  “Elias, that’s because you had a hole put in you,” the Doctor said sarcastically adjusting an IV line. “It tends to mess up the works. Especially when it goes through a lung.”

  “That would explain why I feel so terrible,” Elias said. He tried to watch what the tiger was doing but fell back asleep.

  “You don’t worry, Captain,” the tiger said with moist eyes. “I’ll fill you in on all the juicy details when your better. You just sleep now, my friend.” He again checked the medical equipment, then turned to Cerise. “And you,” he said sternly, “are also going to go get some rest. You have babies to take care of.” Cerise looked as if she were going to protest, causing Lemuel to cross his arms over his chest as he gave her a hard look. “It’s either that or I sedate you and take you back to your cabin. Which will it be?”

  Shaking her head, the vixen stood, leaned over the bed and gave her mate a kiss and a quick hug to the tiger before leaving wordlessly.

  Nodding, Lemuel turned back around and began to make notations on the DataPak that hung next to Elias’ bed and smiled to himself.

  Maybe things would be all right after all.

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.