Chapter Twenty-two
TAYLOR RETURNED TO FIND Maia still passed out on the floor. Her silvery-white skin was bruised in several places, and jagged scratch marks slashed down her right cheek. Apparently, there had been quite a fight before Taylor’s timely arrival. The worst injuries lay around Maia’s neck, right underneath the collar. The top layer of skin had burned away, leaving welts and a ring of cauterized flesh where the collar had reacted.
Taylor deactivated the suppressor with her wrist unit and carefully pried it off Maia's throat, trying to do as little damage possible. She’d seen worse on her tours of duty, but this was a major wound for a civilian to experience. She dug out an application of antibacterial and injected the serum into Maia's shoulder. Aside from a few shuddering breaths, Maia didn’t react.
Next, Taylor ripped open a packet of topical gel and rubbed it into the wound around Maia's neck, careful to avoid direct contact with the ikthian’s skin. The slick, oily coating on Maia’s flesh seemed to have evaporated, but Taylor wasn’t going to chance it. Gingerly, she scooped Maia off the floor and deposited her on the couch.
In a few minutes, Taylor saw improvement. Maia's complexion looked better, and her breathing returned to normal. She slept peacefully rather than lying in an unconscious heap due to shock. The injection Taylor had given her was a rapid healing agent, primarily used to keep soldiers from blacking out from bullet wounds, but the damage done to Maia’s neck had been worse than a clean, cauterized shot to the leg.
When Maia groaned and began to stir, Taylor sighed with relief. She had been worried about Maia, more than just for the sake of her job. Maia opened her eyes, staring up at the ceiling for several long seconds before looking at Taylor. She drew in a shuddering breath and tried to sit up, but quickly settled back down. With some effort, she reached up and touched her throat, whimpering when her fingers came into contact with the raw, open wound.
"Take it easy," Taylor said. "You’re lucky you aren’t dead."
Maia gave a weak nod. "It felt as though I might have been for a moment. Thank you for helping me. I assume I did not recover on my own."
Taylor smiled, pleased to hear that Maia could still speak without much difficulty. "Yes. I helped you after I took out the trash. Those men won’t bother you again."
Maia didn’t acknowledge the statement right away. First, she pulled herself up into a slouched position on the couch. "They were animals."
Taylor had no idea how to respond to the charged emotion in Maia’s voice. There was something strangely familiar about it, but she couldn’t quite place where she had heard that tone before. She shook herself, putting the question aside for later. "There were supposed to be more guards here, people I trust. I won’t let this happen again."
"I know you won’t," Maia murmured. "What happened while I was passed out?"
"I went to get a first aid kit. Once I checked to see that you weren’t dead, I made sure Bower and his goons got out of here quick. You must have put the pain on him, because he was screaming like he was about to die."
"I am glad I did not kill him," Maia said. "I tried not to...I simply wanted him to let me go."
Taylor nodded, remembering the way Bower had twitched and writhed on the ground as the poison flooded his system. "I think he got the message. Anyway, we’re in a stalemate now. They broke in here and threatened the safety of a valuable prisoner of war, but I'm worried they might guess that we’ve been..." Taylor’s voice trailed off, but Maia seemed to realize what she meant.
"Are you afraid that they will tell your generals what we have been doing?"
Taylor sighed. "I’m worried that they’ll strip me of my rank and assign someone else to guard you." She left the worry that her replacement might treat Maia poorly go unvoiced.
"I do not want another guard," Maia said, but the words came out scratchy, and she raised her hand to her throat. Apparently, some of the pain was inside as well as outside.
Taylor touched Maia’s shoulder. "Here, I’ll get you some water. You probably need it."
"Do we have any leftover food?" Maia asked.
Taylor stood and headed to the refrigerator. A few moments later, she returned with a full glass of water and a box filled with rations. Maia drank half of the glass before setting it aside and opening the box of food.
"Thank you," she breathed, picking up the first thing she could reach and biting into it. Taylor watched her devour the sandwich before moving onto another, and another. She would need to get more food before Maia finished.
"It’s not a problem. If you have everything you need, I’m going to make a call."
Maia only made a vague gesture with her hand as she continued devouring the meal.
Taylor returned to the bedroom and activated her wrist comm. "Contact Andrew." The device blinked in acknowledgement and had the muscular soldier’s face pulled up on the tiny holoscreen a moment later.
"Hey. What’s up?"
Taylor glared at him. "I need to have a discussion with you."
Andrew must have picked up on the venom in her voice, because his brow furrowed. "Uh, sure. When do you wanna talk?"
"Now," Taylor said coldly.
"What’s the problem?"
"Remember your ‘friend’, Sergeant Bower?"
Andrew’s dislike for the Sergeant was obvious in his expression. "I wouldn’t call him a friend."
"Whatever you call him, he just tried to assault my prisoner!" Taylor said, on the verge of shouting.
She was somewhat gratified to see Andrew’s eyes widen, and then shift away guiltily. "And when you say assault, you mean…"
"The situation was taken care of before it escalated, but I'm pretty sure we both know where it was headed." Taylor deliberately left out the fact that Maia had stopped Bower herself. The last thing she wanted was for the generals to hear that Maia's collar wasn’t calibrated high enough. "Now, I wonder who he could’ve gotten the idea from?"
"That’s not fair," Andrew protested. "Yeah, I told a few people what you were doing. Maybe that put some ideas in Bower’s head, but that's because he's a sick creep, not because I encouraged him. I didn't tell him to break in and hurt her."
Taylor wondered if she was being too harsh on Andrew. Her run-in with Bower at the mess hall had certainly been a contributing factor, but the irrational part of her wanted to pin the blame on someone. "You shouldn’t have told Bower anything about the prisoner. Your big mouth almost cost us everything. If she had been killed, we wouldn’t have anything left to bargain with. The Dominion could start bombing runs on Earth again!"
Andrew looked sufficiently chastised, and Taylor started to calm down. "I want you reporting for guard duty tonight. You’re personally going to make sure that Bower and the rest of them don’t come back for another try. There’s no way in hell I’m going to lose this prisoner." Even as Taylor said the words, they sounded strange. She didn’t view Maia as just a prisoner anymore, and referring to her that way felt wrong.
Andrew mumbled his reluctant agreement and ended the call, leaving Taylor to deactivate her comm and stare down at the floor. She’d expected to feel better after yelling at Andrew, but all she’d done was point out her own mistakes. Guilt crept up on her, guilt for allowing Maia to be hurt. The thought of what might have happened if Maia hadn’t been able to override the collar made her sick.
Taylor pushed those thoughts down and went back into the living room. To her surprise, Maia was still awake and sitting up on the couch instead of sleeping. Taylor tried to offer her a smile, but was greeted with only a cold, distant expression in return. "Sorry if you overheard any shouting. You’ll have another guard outside the door tonight, and I’ll stay with you in the bedroom, just in case."
Maia offered a brief nod of thanks, although she didn’t speak. Taylor could guess where the sudden hostility was coming from. The more she replayed the conversation with Andrew in her mind, the more horrible it sounded. She had referred to Maia as a prisoner and talked about her like a bargaining chip instead of expressing any sincere concern for her. It had been to make Andrew understand the serious consequences of his actions, but if Maia had overheard…
"Do you think you can stand up and get to the bed on your own, or do you need help?" Taylor asked, wanting to push past the awkward moment as quickly as possible and make sure Maia got a proper night’s rest.
"I…I think I will need your assistance," Maia said, although her reluctance was clear. "Do not worry, you can touch me safely now."
Taylor bent down, sliding one arm beneath Maia’s knees and folding the other under her shoulders. "Wrap your arms around my neck," she said, and Maia obeyed.
It only took a few moments to carry her into the bedroom and deposit her gently on the mattress. "Try and get some rest," Taylor whispered. She let her hand linger on Maia’s shoulder, and then tugged the sheet up over it, making sure to leave the burn on Maia’s neck exposed to the open air. Taylor moved to climb into bed on the other side, but when she wrapped an arm around Maia, she noticed the ikthian was already fast asleep.