Zia and the Captain 2 (Love Amongst the Stars)

By Susan Bella Ikin

In Volume One, Zia met The Captain and was transported against her will to his ship. However, soon she discovered that she didn't want to be anywhere but with him. Unfortunately, space is a dangerous place, as Zia discovered to her peril....

"Suddenly Xym felt a horrible, cold, blackness approaching him. He had never known such cold before, nor had he ever been so bereft of hope. He tried to find Zia, to put himself between her and the blackness, but he could barely sense her now, she was so weak.
Without warning, the blackness overcame him, and his mind filled with the emptiness of death.
Without making a sound his body collapsed over Zia’s now lifeless form."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Susan Bella Ikin
• Release date: Mar 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463996492

Susan Bella Ikin

Susan Bella Ikin is Melbourne born and bred and is proud of it. She lives on the outskirts of the city on a bush block with her family, which includes a few humans, a standoffish cat and two really odd Kelpies who provide no end of entertainment, and don't understand that they can't chase foxes and rabbits without stopping at the fences! They also frequently help themselves to a swim in the neighbours' dam, fortunately the neighbours don't mind.Susan loves to read various genres of fiction, and enjoys writing romantic fiction, although she says that the characters actually tell the stories, she just writes down what they tell her to write. Susan has completed the "Daughters of Melbourne" series and is currently plotting a different story in another genre.

Book preview

Zia and the Captain

Volume Two

First published 2017

Copyright © Susan Bella Ikin 2017

No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.

Prologue:

Xym had arrived at the cargo bay from one direction just as security arrived from another direction, and with a quick discussion about what they might encounter, they burst in.  Quickly he assessed that there was a man in Zia’s vehicle, near the cargo bay doors – just where was he planning to go?  Where was Zia?  He shouted at the man to drop his weapon, security echoing his commands, as they drew their energy weapons and pointed them at the man.

The man pointed his weapon up, Xym turned to see that Zia was standing at the control computer, and he heard the report of the weapon as seemingly in slow motion he saw Zia tumble down the stairs, seeming to hit every step as she fell.  As he started towards her he realized the man must have fired his weapon and hit her.  His only thought was to reach Zia before she fell all the way to the bottom of the stairs, but he was too late, she was in a crumpled heap at the bottom, blood spreading out underneath her by the time he reached her.  He vaguely remembered calling for medical help as he ran his hands over her.  There was still a pulse, but it was weak.  He could tell by the angle of one of her legs that it was broken, but he was more concerned about the wound from the weapon.  There was a spreading blood stain on the front of her shirt, on her left side.  His knowledge of human anatomy told him that the projectile must have entered her body close to her heart.  He bent down to her face, listening for breath, it was shallow and he could hear a telltale gurgling sound – blood must be in her lungs.  If medical attention didn’t come soon, she would die.

Fight, Zia, fight, he implored as he ran his hands over her body.  The link was failing, he could feel her slipping away.  He had failed her.  Without conscious thought, his hand went to the back of her neck, and his other hand to her chest, over her heart.  He closed his eyes, and sought to re-establish the link.

He was in a dark, dark void, full of pain and fear.  He looked for Zia, but could not find her.  He spun around, looking for Zia and calling out her name, imploring with her to answer him, telling her that if she died, he would never find another like her, she was meant for him, and he was meant for her.

After a while, he heard Zia, her voice faint, telling him that she was sorry she had failed him. 

What do you mean?  You have not failed anything, just hold on until help gets here, we can talk about anything when you get better.

Xym, it hurts so much, I can’t fight it.  I just want to go to sleep.  I don’t want to leave, I love you, I know you can’t say that to me, but I wanted to say it to you.  You’ve come to mean so much to me since I got here, and I’ve loved every minute of the time we’ve had together, except maybe for that fight.  I’m sorry, but I have to go.

No Zia, you can’t.  You can’t leave me.  Whatever you call love, that is what I feel for you.  I want you to stay with me, and I will ask you to marry me properly.  Just stay, I beg you.

Zia’s voice got fainter, and Xym became aware of hands pushing at his body, but he would not let go of her mind, whatever medical help could be given to her would have to wait, if she gave up, it would be of no help.  He reached out to her again.

Zia, where are you?  The medics are here, they will stabilize you and help you get better, you just have to come back to me, I can’t let go until I know you are still here.

Suddenly Xym felt a horrible, cold, blackness approaching him.  He had never known such cold before, nor had he ever been so bereft of hope.  He tried to find Zia, to put himself between her and the blackness, but he could barely sense her now, she was so weak.

Without warning, the blackness overcame him, and his mind filled with the emptiness of death.

Without making a sound his body collapsed over Zia’s now lifeless form.

One

At first when the captain let go of Zia’s body and collapsed, Dr Roland and her attendants were relieved.  Amy Roland had been struggling with the captain, trying to get his hands off Zia so that they could examine her.  One of the nurses had been quietly running the medical scanner over Zia’s body, and looked urgently at Amy, gently shaking her head.  Amy had looked at the captain’s face as she implored him to let go of Zia, then had realized that he wasn’t able to hear her.  He seemed to be in a trance, his eyes closed and beads of sweat breaking out on his face.  She could see some terrible emotions playing across his face, and wondered what was going on inside his mind.  Amy didn’t know the captain very well, his interactions were usually with her commander, Dr Fletcher, but she knew him well enough to know that his behaviour was very out of character.  Just as he let go, she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was finally going to let them do their jobs, but then he collapsed.  For a couple of seconds she thought it was just the intensity of the situation, then she realized that something was seriously wrong.  However, Zia was clearly in greater need of attention right now, so she indicated to Nurse Richards to check the captain, and took some further readings of Zia.  The readings were very anomalous though, bodily functions appeared to have ceased, but there still seemed to be some brain activity.  That didn’t make sense, Zia’s breathing had stopped, yet the brain was still functioning.  Quickly making a decision that what was going on was beyond her expertise, but if there was a chance to save Zia’s life, something would have to be done to prevent brain damage, Amy called for emergency transport to the medical centre, and Zia soon disappeared in a sparkle of light.

Just as she was about to turn her attention to the captain, she was distracted by security removing the intruder from the cargo bay.  As the weapons had only been set to a low level, he was already regaining consciousness.  Security had already dragged him from the vehicle and were none too gently dragging him from the cargo bay.  As they passed her, she saw Jarvis’ face, and was stunned by the depth of sorrow she saw there.  She looked down at the captain and realized that she had been so caught up with Zia that she had not realized how frantically the rest of the medics were working on the captain.

Dr Roland, I can’t work it out.  He’s not displaying any injuries, but I think he’s dead, said Nurse Richards, with a catch in her voice.

Amy moved quickly to the captain and ran her scanner over him.  She was horrified, the thought of the captain dying was awful enough, but when she was in charge?  Never!

Amy sat back on her heels and stared at her scanner.  Strangely, the captain was returning the same readings as Zia, he appeared dead, but there was still some brain activity.

Again she sent through a request for emergency transport, and the captain also disappeared in a sparkle of light.

Dr Ronald, Nurse Richards and the rest of the medics packed up their equipment and hurried to sick bay, where they knew there would be a lot of work waiting them, as there had been two crewmen injured just a few minutes before, and now apparently the captain and their new passenger were existing in some state which appeared to be death, but was something they hadn’t encountered before.

Amy was not wrong, when they reached sick bay, all medical staff, including those who were officially off duty were scurrying about busily.  Amy moved to Dr Fletcher’s side.  She knew he was very close to the captain, and had become quite friendly with Zia since she had come on board, but despite his face showing the strain of his emotions, as well as some confusion, he was moving briskly and appeared to be finished with his preliminary triage.

Dr Roland, I’m glad you’re here, he began, speaking without looking at her as he examined readings from his scanners.  Put the captain on oxygen and then he will be safe to leave.  Whatever is going on with him, is linked to Zia.  He doesn’t have any injuries, he’s just not breathing.  There’s nothing we can do for him right now except to preserve his brain functions.  As soon as you’ve done that, come back to me.

Amy pushed the captain’s inert body on the stretcher to one side of the room and activated the oxygen system.  As strange as it felt walking away from him, Amy was confident that Harry had made the right call.  The captain could wait.  As she walked back to Harry she took in the remainder of the scene.  Gerber was being dismissed after being checked and given some painkillers, the blow to the head that had temporarily knocked him unconscious was obviously not serious and he was in the way.  The other crewman was injured, but from the manner that the medical staff were moving around him, it appeared that he would survive.

As she arrived back at Harry’s side and looked down at Zia, she knew that Zia was the most seriously injured, and that Harry was feeling the strain of attempting to deal with the multiple injuries that Zia had sustained. 

Amy noticed that the oxygen delivery was operating, which – just as with the captain – would prevent brain damage and also keep the blood oxygenated and moving around the body, so that other organs weren’t oxygen deprived.  The downside to this, was that it was causing the blood to flow again which was causing more blood to bubble up from the wound to her shoulder, and probably more blood would be pooling in her lungs.  Amy gently ran her scanner down Zia’s frame again, noting the number of broken bones apparently caused by her fall down the stairs – they had found her at the bottom of a flight of stairs so the reason for the extent of the injuries was quite self evident – and she realized that there was going to be a lot of work involved in setting all of these bones correctly.  When she came to the broken ribs, she understood why Zia’s lungs had been compromised, there was obviously some internal tissue injury as well. 

Amy and Harry worked through the night on Zia, assisted by the other medical staff as their patients were dealt with and they were free again.  At one point Jarvis came in and had a brief discussion with Harry, Amy was only half listening as she was busy trying to repair Zia’s lungs, but she heard something about ‘the captain will want to kill him’ and ‘douse him with alcohol’ and at this Jarvis laughed and left again.

Another visitor to the sick bay was Commander Howard, the ship’s first officer when the captain was unavailable.  She obtained formal notification from Harry that the captain was incapacitated, and left, now in charge of the ship.  Amy had a brief worry about whether this would impact on their return home, then put that thought from her mind.  The captain was certainly a brilliant man, but Amy also knew that the scientific staff were incredibly capable and well trained, and if the calculations had already been done, she knew they could go ahead with the next jump with or without the captain.

Towards the early hours of the following morning, Amy and Harry stood back from Zia’s table and very tiredly smiled at each other.  Harry clapped Amy on the back and said to all the staff who remained:

"I think that’s all we can do for now.  We’ve repaired as much as we can tonight, the rest is up to Zia.  I want you all to go and get some rest now, I’m going to rest on a spare bed in case any of our patients wake up, but I need you all well rested and report back here in the afternoon.  I don’t think there’s going to be any more action