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“Is everyone recovering?” I asked instead.
Revazi sighed heavily. “All but one. A Petty Officer Digish has been badly burned in the center of his back. As a Cero… Well…” He tried to smile. “We’re going to keep trying.”
I knew what he didn’t want to say. Ceros had scaly hides that could resist a wide range of penetrative injuries, but fire was particularly horrible for them. Their scales could trap flame and heat against their flesh, making burns tunnel into them, destroying muscle and sometimes even bone. While they could regrow severed limbs, that the burn was center mass and on the petty officer’s back might mean that the nanobots and submersion therapies wouldn’t be enough to stop the devastation if it reached his spine.
“Please keep me informed of their progress,” I said and mentally tried to prepare for the worst. “Is there anything else I need to know?”
Revazi glanced at Owen again, making me realize that we both spoke English as if to include him. It would’ve been far more normal for us to speak Norlish, but it seemed I was already conditioning myself to make sure Owen understood me always. I’d even spoken English with my commanders.
“Nothing that can’t wait for my daily report,” Revazi said. “I’ll include the petty officer’s progress in there.”
I reached out with my free hand to grip Revazi’s shoulder. “I know I don’t need to tell you this, but I’m going to say it anyway. Let me know if you need anything, and don’t hesitate to step back if you need the time away. That goes for your entire team as well.”
For a brief moment, I could see the toll the day had taken on him. While space missions were all inherently dangerous, neither of us had anticipated such conflict with this one. We’d seen enough of the horrors of war twenty years ago when we had defended our world from the Vigzek, an elitist people who had wished to enslave Norlons much the same as they had been doing to the humans of Earth that they had abducted.
Revazi nodded and said, “Thank you. I’m going to check in with everyone now and see where we stand.”
“And take care of your?—”
Revazi smiled and patted my side. “And take care of myself as well. You should heed your own advice, Py.”
I nodded and gave his shoulder a squeeze before steering Owen around him and out the door. Neither of us was going to take our own advice. I knew I should, but I had too much to do. There was no possible way I could excuse myself for a break. Revazi probably wouldn’t?—
“That was nice of you,” Owen whispered once we were in a lift.
“Pardon?”
I felt him gulp. “I just mean, it’s nice that you care. About his mental health and all. Most leaders I’ve known…” He shrugged, staring at the floor. “They don’t seem to care if someone’s struggling.”
“Then they aren’t leaders.”
Owen looked up at me, clearly startled. I met his gaze, standing behind what I’d said. No one could call themselves a leader of others if they didn’t take into account whether those working for them were healthy. Revazi and I had past experience to help us through these events, but plenty of others may have never known such traumas. Prince Ye Lena had it right that counseling services would be needed by many.
“Yeah,” Owen whispered, “I guess they’re not.”
The lift doors opened onto the deck with officers’ quarters, and I was glad to see that an ensign was waiting outside my door. The Khess held a tracker in her hands and watched Owen closely as we approached. I didn’t mind the scrutiny since it would be another set of eyes on him for his protection.
Who or what was I protecting him from? I didn’t know.
The ensign fitted the tracker to Owen’s right wrist, the lightweight band hugging his every contour like a second skin. She said there would be a four-hour rotating watch of security personnel at the door before she took her leave to stand at her post. Owen and I were alone for the first time.
I still wanted to ravish him, but instead of it being something I could barely contain, it simmered inside me. Could it have been that I needed him marked as mine when others were near?
Goddess, did I truly need to speak with a mated Lago to find out if that was what plagued me? I remembered the medic who had initially treated me in the landing bay and tried to remember his name. He’d recognized something in my behavior, so perhaps?—
“Could I contact some people?” Owen asked quietly.
Snapping myself out of my own issues, I nodded and gestured to the monitor on the wall. “Of course you can. Let me alert the switchboard to your presence here, and they can help you reach anyone on Earth.”
“I’m sure everyone…knows if the news crew kept filming and all, but I should probably still check in with…someone.”
Before I activated the monitor, I looked him in the eyes. “Because of your situation, all communication will be monitored.”
He gulped visibly and nodded. “I understand. I’m just going to let them know I’m not…dead and confirm… I mean, they probably saw it all, but I want to make sure…” He sighed heavily and looked away. “I’ll make sure they know he really did do it. I don’t want to let them cover it up or spin it somehow.”
“Spin it?” I asked as I tapped out a message to the switchboard operators in Communications with my authorization.
“Make it into something it’s not,” he said bitterly. “Say something stupid, like he had an allergic reaction and didn’t know what he was doing.”
