Appearing much more alert now, the medic leaned closer. “You found an Earthling?” He turned away and murmured, “Get Eliana and Dagon in here. Now.” Then he turned back. “Where is she?” he demanded.
Janwar gestured over his shoulder. “Dying in my drekking med bay, thanks to you!”
Adaos’s expression darkened. “What did you do to her?”
“I gave her a transfusion of Segonian blood that you said was safe! Now she’s dying.”
“Segonian blood is safe.”
“That’s tiklun bura, and you know it!”
Adaos jumped suddenly as though startled.
“Maarev said Janwar found one of my friends,” a female blurted in the background. “Is it true?” An Earth woman smaller than Simone skidded to a halt beside Adaos and turned to peer at the screen. “Janwar? Who is it? Where is she? Is she okay?”
“No, she isn’t okay,” he ground out and pointed at Adaos, “because that drekker told me Segonian blood was safe for Earthlings.”
Eliana frowned. “It is safe. I’ve transfused myself with Segonian blood several times.”
He stared at her. “What?” The Segonians might lie to him, but he didn’t think one of Simone’s friends would. They seemed to be a tightly-knit group. A family. “Then why is she dying?”
Eliana blanched. “Oh shit. She’s dying? Are you sure? Who is it?”
“Simone.”
Her frown deepened as her face scrunched up with confusion. “That can’t be. Simone is… incredibly hard to kill. If anything, a transfusion should’ve helped her. A lot. Let me see her.”
He turned to the exam bed as the diagnostic wand passed over her toes and retracted into the ceiling. Crossing to her side, he studied her chest, relieved to find it still rising and falling.
At instructions from Kova, the console screen followed Janwar and moved to hover on the opposite side of the bed.
“Oh shit,” Eliana whispered as soon as she saw Simone’s pallid form. Then she looked up at Adaos. “What the hell? This is from a transfusion? How can that be?”
“It can’t be,” the medic rumbled and glared at Janwar as if he’d done this to her. “Send me the results of the diagnostic scan.”
Janwar nodded at Kova. “Do it.”
A long moment passed while Adaos stared down at a datapad he held.
“What happened to her?” Eliana asked. Her brown eyes began to glow with amber light as they filled with tears. “Where did you find her?”
Janwar rested a hand on Simone’s shoulder. “We tracked down a Gathendien ship that was suspiciously close to the area of the qhov’rum the battle took place in and approached it. We wanted to discover if they had captured any Earthlings and, if not, if they knew who might have. But Simone managed to get there before us. We found her shortly after she killed almost everyone on board.”
Eliana seemed unsurprised by the impressive feat. “And those wounds… She got them while fighting the Gathendiens?”
“Yes. She was eager to question those she’d left alive and didn’t want to pause long enough for me to tend her wounds. The only treatment she would agree to was a quick transfusion and some imaashu for her stomach wound. So I gave her Segonian blood.” He glared at Adaos. “Which he assured us was safe.” Since he couldn’t punch the aloof healer in the face, Janwar had to settle for running a hand over the braids atop his head before he nodded at Simone. “She thought it was safe, too.”
“It wasn’t the blood,” Adaos muttered as he frowned at the datapad.
Eliana nodded. “Segonian blood really is safe for us, Janwar. Simone has been transfused with it before, back on the Kandovar. We both have. The Lasarans had a supply of it left over from the last Aldebarian Alliance War Games thingy they participated in.”
What? If Segonian blood was safe, why had her condition deteriorated instead of improving?
Elchan took a step backward, horror slowly filling his face.
Janwar scowled at him. “It wasn’t you, vuan it. There is nothing wrong with your blood!”
Adaos cast Elchan a fleeting look. “It’s true. I’m aware of your condition. It wasn’t your blood.”
Elchan relaxed slightly, though concern continued to furrow his brow.
Adaos resumed perusing the data the scan provided him. Interminable seconds passed, ratcheting up Janwar’s anxiety.
Finally, the medic stilled.
Eliana glanced at him. “What is it?”
“Bosregi.”
“What?” All color fled Eliana’s face. And the alarm he read in her features sent an icy tingle of fear down Janwar’s spine.
“It’s bosregi poisoning,” Adaos repeated and set the datapad aside.
Boots pounded against flooring off-screen, then Commander Dagon appeared behind Eliana. “Drek, you’re fast,” he complained as he curled an arm around her.
Eliana leaned into his side and looked up at him. “Janwar found Simone, but she’s been poisoned with bosregi.”
Dagon swore. “Does she still live?”
The somber question, filled with dread, merely heightened Janwar’s alarm.
“Yes, but—”
“Check her wounds,” Adaos ordered Janwar. “We learned in our latest bouts with the Gathendiens that some of them have begun to dip the tips of their spikes in bosregi poison before fastening them to their tails.”
Drek! Janwar drew a dagger and started cutting Simone’s clothing from her body. Kova joined him, tugging the pieces of cloth away and tossing them aside.
“I was impaled by one of their tail spikes,” Eliana said, “and lost consciousness within minutes. Dagon thought I was going to die.”
“You nearly did,” Adaos added, his face grim.
Simone had incurred far more wounds than Janwar realized. Scratches. Cuts. Deep gashes that would’ve rendered most warriors immobile. Puncture and stab wounds. Burns from blasterfire that had grazed her. Bruises larger than his fist. Every scrap of cloth he and Kova peeled away revealed more pale, bloodstained flesh with jagged injuries.
None still bled, which he found baffling considering the depths of some. Surely that must be a good sign, considering she still lived?
In very little time, they divested her of her shirt, pants, boots, and socks.
“Leave the bra and panties on,” Eliana warned.
Nodding, Janwar set the dagger aside. “What should I be looking for?” Aside from the not bleeding thing, nothing odd leapt out at him as he scrutinized her.
“Black striations,” Adaos said. “The longer the bosregi has to maneuver unchecked through her system, the more apparent they should be. Based on the amount of time you told me has passed since the battle, they should be making an appearance now.”
Janwar nodded at Kova. “Check her head. See if her hair is concealing any injuries.”
Kova immediately moved to that end of the bed and began to sift through her long hair to check her scalp.
“Elchan, check her feet and legs.” Janwar leaned in closer and studied her face. Her features were pinched as though unconsciousness brought no reprieve from the pain. Only a few superficial cuts marred them, and none bore black edges.