EvO (Darverius, House of DaR #16)

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

EVO

“ LeX what did you do?”

“ Her vitals are all over the place. From what I have been reading, her species’ minds can break if traumatized too severely. I have no way of fixing that if it occurs. When I saw her Cortisol , levels rising to an unhealthy level. I decided to put her back under until they calm down.”

Resisting the urge to gather her in my arms like Father has done for his Kira multiple times requires all my willpower.

“ I am glad you resisted the urge. Her skin is so fragile right now the slightest tug could easily rip it. While she is resting, I am going to have the Med bots administer a healing cream directly. I was hoping that the damage caused by the liquid in the pod would fade, but she is not healing as quickly as I would like.”

Slinging my legs over the side of the bed, I stretch. “ Ughh , I am not used to lying around like this all the time. Is there nothing you will allow me to do?”

“ You have several things that need to be approved on your comm unit. Once you have that task finished. I have sent some informational things to your personal comm about the humans we have been tasked with that I think you need to know.”

“ In other words, things that don’t require anything physical.”

“ Precisely .”

While a Holo pad is lowered out of the ceiling, my bed re-adjusts to a nice lounger so at least I can sit up while resting here. A privacy sheet goes up between our beds. Then her covering is removed so that the Med bots can apply the healing agent. As much as I know I should look away, I can’t when I see her outline through the shadows from the lights inside.

My body starts to respond until I recall the look of devastation on her face. As she is trying to deal with the sorrow and pain of losing everything she has ever known. She is braver than she realizes, but adjusting will not be easy. Maybe when a few of the others are awakened, and she doesn’t feel so alone, it will be easier. I am at a loss as to what to do to help. I didn’t think past their initial rescue, and now I feel unprepared for what’s coming. Deep in thought, I jerk when the Holo comm laying in my lap vibrates. Rafe’s laughing face pops up on the screen right before I answer it.

“ Look at you lounging out there like you own the place. Taking full advantage of this quarantine, aren’t you, Captain ?”

“ It has its perks.”

“ I bet it does, and let’s not mention the pretty little female keeping you company in there.”

His comment bothers me more than it should. I don’t like the fact that he finds Qwin attractive. He would have to be blind not to, but she is not an object to be gawked at … at least by others.

“ Rafe , the female in question is in a fragile state and you will treat her with utmost respect, understood?”

“ I am hearing you loud and clear Captain , too bad you can’t see the look on your own face right now. You know you shouldn’t claim the first one you see, there are others outside, just waiting on us.”

“ That’s enough Rafe , I understand you are teasing me, but the female may not. I am glad she is slumbering right now and cannot hear your words.”

“ Fine , I will behave. Thought I would shoot you a line and let you know that some of the systems will be shutting down as we get closer to the edge of the Nebula . I was going to tell you that earlier, but I couldn’t get a word in with Ember there.”

“ Why are we losing power?”

“ The Destroyer needs all non-essential power for the thrusters in order to bust through the outer gas ring holding us prisoner in here. I will let you know when things start shutting down.”

“ Are you at the helm right now?”

“ No , ViN just came in to relieve me. So far, the Nebula is allowing us to move through without the previous resistance we have been facing. It’s almost scary calm, like she is teasing us with our inevitable escape.”

“ How are the pods holding up?”

“ A few started flashing last darkness, but stopped shortly afterwards. Not sure if that’s good or bad news, but we need to get the frack out of this Nebula so we can get them inside. We are not sacrificing anyone else either way, so get any and all ideas that say otherwise out of your head. It was by the grace of the Lord of Light that you survived the first time, we are not pushing it for a second one. However , now that we have all of them, what’s next?”

“ Rafe , I don’t have that answer, but I also do not think that we should be deciding their fate without some input from all of them. It’s times like these I really miss Father’s council.”

“ EvO , if … and I am stressing the ‘ IF ,’ we get out of here all in one piece. Hopefully , we will be able to contact them soon afterward. I have a feeling we are going to need their assistance. Well , I’m headed to the substance chamber, then to bed. While some are lying around playing boss, the rest of us are having to pull double duty.”

Rafe’s mischievous smile is all I see before the screen goes black. Smirking at his behavior, I sat down ready to concentrate on the pages before me.