Chapter 3CamilaBerus

Chapter 3

Camila

Camila backed away until she hit the edge of the oversized bed. She was in a medical facility, that much she knew. She recognized some of the equipment from that time Uctarr had taken her in to get a checkup.

This facility looked shiny and nearly new and had little details that made it feel less clinical. There were colorful cushions on the chairs and little trinkets lined up on the large desk. It had a decidedly feminine feel, probably thanks to the Tallean female who was now firmly inserting herself between Cami and the giant male.

"Out!" The Tallean female glared at the enormous Tallean male and pointed to the door. "You're scaring her, Berus."

Berus? The Bear's name was Berus? How fitting.

"I will not harm her. You know that."

"Yes, but she doesn't. And trust me, no female wants a male they don't know present for a medical exam." She pointed at the door again. "Out."

Berus the Bear grumbled but turned around, giving Camila one last longing look before striding out the door.

The Tallean female locked the door behind him before turning to Cami. "Hi. I'm Tahra. I'm the medic around here."

Tahra was tall and slender, almost modelesque, like many of the young Tallean females Cami had met. She had long, dark hair tied back off her face in a twisted braid. Her tawny skin was smooth, and her cheek creases highlighted her perfect bone structure. She stuck out her hand, which shocked Cami because handshakes weren't a Tallean thing.

Maybe she wanted her hand for something else? Cami put her hand in hers and Tahra shook it, just like any other human would. Right. Roxy had mentioned that this ship had a lot of humans on the crew. The Talleans on board must have picked up some of the behavior.

That had Cami relaxing. "I'm Camila. But you can call me Cami."

"Okay. So, Cami, tell me all about what happened. How did you end up with Roxy and Ckzarr?"

As Camila told Tahra her story, starting with Rehden crashing their shuttle and ending with being carried on board this ship, Tahra examined her before helping her up into one of the huge medical beds. Sized for giant Tallean males, the gleaming, futuristic contraption dwarfed her.

"Sounds like quite an adventure," Tahra said. "This male. Rehden. Berus doesn't seem to trust him. What's your opinion?"

Cami hesitated.

"Whatever you say won't get back to him, I promise," Tahra said as she entered information into her terminal.

"Berus has…good instincts," Cami said.

"I see. Well, when we are done here, I'll call someone so you won't be alone." Tahra gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thank you." Cami decided she trusted Tahra enough to ask her next question. "Outside…in the main room…Rehden called your captain ‘Ulrek of the Stellar Fortune '."

Everyone in the Dominion knew who Ulrek was. The former Dominion poster boy had been crucial in bringing humans across the galaxy. Cami herself had left Earth on the Stellar Fortune , though she'd never met the captain himself.

Ulrek had been high up in the Dominion ranks when one day, he suddenly switched sides, leaving the Dominion to fight for the outer planets. It was rumored that he'd gone back to Earth and forced a bunch of humans to work for him on his stolen Dominion ship.

If this was Ulrek's ship, then the story checked out. Except Roxy had said that she was a willing and well-paid member of the ship's crew. And Camila was pretty sure that a crew of humans forced to work for free would have mutinied and spaced the former Dominion captain by now. Interesting. The Dominion must have broadcasted a cherry-picked version of the story.

That didn't surprise Cami, though. Like many governments back on Earth, the Dominion only communicated through propaganda, and the people living there were either truly brainwashed or too afraid (or smart) to speak up.

"I know what you're thinking," Tahra said, giving her a friendly look.

It was pleasant, if kind of strange, to have a Tallean treat her like an equal. If Camila hadn't known she was out of the Dominion by now, Tahra's behavior would have clued her in.

"You don't have to worry," the medic continued. "He's a great captain and cares a lot about his crew. As long as you're on the ship, you won't be harmed. He wouldn't allow it. If he did, his mate would never forgive him. She would, and I quote, ‘rip him a new one'."

"His mate ?" The infamous and terrifying Captain Ulrek was mated? And to a human? "Rip him a new one" was most definitely a human saying.

Tahra chuckled. "We always knew he was going to fall for a human one day; it was just a question of when. And the no-slave rule on the ship was in place before they met. I mean, half the ship is crewed by your kind."

So, at least part of the Dominion propaganda was true.

A terminal connected to the machine analyzing Cami's blood beeped, and a bunch of Tallean glyphs appeared on the screen. Cami's translator helped her with the spoken alien language, but she couldn't read it.

"Let's see." Tahra leaned in to read the report.

According to the analysis, Camila was deficient in several nutrients. That was on top of her obvious injuries like the bruises and lacerations and the sprained ankle.

"And you have an identification chip."

"Yes, it's in my thigh."

"But you don't belong to someone named Rehden."

Camila looked down at her hands, thinking of her original owner, Uctarr. Technically, he was Rehden's boss. She decided to be completely honest. "Rehden stole me from my previous owner."

She didn't mention that she might have encouraged that by being extra nice to him because she wanted to find a way out.

"I see."

"He was going to get the information changed when we got to safety."

"We do not acknowledge ownership claims on this ship," Tahra said. "But I recommend not removing the chip until you are somewhere safe, like Reka 5. If you are caught again by the Dominion, and you are chipless, they will put you into the system again. But if you still have the chip, they might return you to whoever is listed as your owner. I recommend reprogramming it to show that you belong to someone you trust."

Too bad she didn't have anyone like that. "You can't reprogram it here?"

"No. That requires a special program. And even then, we'll need Uctarr's code to change it. What I can do, though, is get that ankle of yours healing." She punched some numbers into the medical bed Cami was sitting in.

"Wait. I don't have any credits to pay for this treatment."

"Don't worry about it," Tahra said, sounding so human that Cami wondered for a second if this was all a dream.

Berus

Berus made his way back to the common room. He hadn't wanted to leave Cami, but he knew that she was safe with Tahra.

The Revenge was still hovering over the planet's surface. They'd sent Dex and Vhast down to cause a distraction and split up their enemies so that Berus and Ckzarr could reach the females inside the ship. The two had led the bounty hunters on merry chases, and now the Revenge was waiting for them to dock again.

"Berus," Ulrek said, eying Rehden's bloody clothes. "Why don't you and our guest here get cleaned up? Then show him to Groden's old room. He can stay there until we drop him off at New Rhea."

Groden had been the one taking care of the greenroom and other life support systems on the ship before Delaney, Ulrek's mate, had joined them. Groden's old room was supposed to have gone to Delaney, but the captain had moved her into his quarters almost immediately, leaving the other room free.

When the Revenge had belonged to the Dominion, there'd only been enough crew quarters for the higher-ranking officers. Everyone else…of which there were many, since the ship often traveled with a contingent of soldiers…slept in the barracks. Those had since been torn down and replaced with a greenroom, which was an installation of specialized plants that filtered and cleaned the air of the ship. Across the hall from the greenroom was a food production lab. This part, to Berus's great disappointment, was not currently in use.

Since commandeering the ship from the Dominion, they'd made quite a few changes to it. The ship now ran on a skeleton crew, and the crew's comfort was the top priority for their captain, so many of the changes were made with that in mind. It was a huge improvement over working with the Dominion.

They'd remodeled the training facilities and expanded them to include the best training simulator system the galaxy had to offer. These facilities were in what had previously been the storage area, but the excess crew quarters had in turn been converted into storage.

All in all, the Revenge was a great ship with a great captain. Berus knew he owed Ulrek his life. If it weren't for Ulrek, he'd be dead by now, murdered by their employers in their bid to create a martyr and increase recruit numbers. Berus still remembered the feeling of utter betrayal he'd felt when he realized the very people he'd been working and living with had been in on the plan. That he'd been expendable.

He'd been so naive then, never questioning his orders. But that was the past. He was a little wiser now. He heeded the warnings when something didn't feel right.

And Berus did not get a good feeling from Rehden.

The male's fake smile dropped the instant Ulrek stepped away to the bridge.

"Where is she?" Rehden asked Berus. "I saw you carrying her."

Rehden wasn't even trying to pretend that the female didn't mean anything to him. Did that mean he cared for her? Or was it merely her monetary value he coveted?

"The female was injured," Berus said tersely. "She twisted her ankle. You'd know that if you had checked on her while you were running. She couldn't keep up." He led the other male to the spare room.

"I asked where she is," Rehden said through gritted teeth.

"With our medic." Berus opened the door to the spare room and set the lock to allow anyone in, including guests on the ship.

"You left her alone with your medic?" Rehden glowered. "How do I know he's not using her for his own pleasure even as we speak? I demand you bring me to her." He looked ready to storm down the hall and find the medical bay himself.

Berus stood in his way, blocking the corridor with his huge body. This was one reason Ulrek had asked Berus to take Rehden to his room. Berus was big and could hold his own against any attacks.

Ulrek had kept him on after escaping the Dominion as part of the crew's muscle. Berus didn't technically have a job on board the ship, though he made himself useful whenever he could. His time to shine was when they were off the ship, and they needed something done by brute force.

Because that was what he was, and always had been: a brute. Back with the Dominion, his job was to fight and obey, nothing more. Here on the Revenge , the crew often asked his opinion, and they genuinely cared whether he survived the missions or not. That was a huge improvement.

"Our medic is female," Berus said.

That seemed to appease Rehden…a little…but he still demanded to be brought to her. Berus doubted his captain wanted a stranger roaming his ship. He decided to play the big, dumb brute.

"My job is to get us clean and see you to your quarters." He stood in the hallway, still blocking the other male.

The comm unit in his pocket buzzed with a message from Ulrek to the crew. Apparently Dex and Vhast had both docked with the ship and were safe.

"That's the captain now, asking if I've shown you to the cleansing facilities yet," he lied. "They are at the end of the hall. Cleanliness is an essential part of being a good soldier," Berus said, repeating the quote they drilled into him during training. "The Goddess punishes the unclean."

With a huff, Rehden stomped over to the shared cleansing facilities. The captain's quarters had its own cleansing unit, as did the medical bay. The other rooms had basic hygiene facilities but no private cleansing units. Most of the crew didn't mind sharing since they were close-knit, and until Delaney had joined them, the only females on board had been Roxy and Tahra. Tahra had the med bay to herself, and Roxy didn't care who watched her clean.

Berus followed behind their guest. He needed to use the cleansing facilities, too. His clothes were splattered with blood, and he was sure there were pieces of the dead mutant male still stuck between his claws. He wanted to be clean and free of blood splatters the next time he saw Cami.

Maybe she'd be less scared of him then.