“You all do exactly as you’re told ,and no one will get hurt. You have my word on that.” The pirate leader and his men fanned out through the medical bay. Jaida was as stunned as the rest of the medics. How had they gotten aboard? Where were the men whose uniforms they had been wearing?

Her mind supplied the answer before she’d finished the thought, and sickness rose up from her gut, a hot wet tide that threatened to choke her. They were dead, they had to be. There was just too much blood for them to have survived whatever these men had done to them.

“Who’s in charge here?”

One of the soldiers on a bed near her struggled to sit up, the expression in his eyes angry as he looked at the pirates. “That would be me. Commander Benaris.”

The tall pirate nodded. His mismatched eyes, one green and one white, contained no expression as he raised his pistol and shot Commander Benaris point blank, a single shot between the eyes. Benaris slumped back on the bed. His sightless eyes stared up at the ceiling as a trickle of blood ran down his shocked face.

The pirate looked around the room, arrogance in every line of his body. “I’ll ask again, who’s in charge here?”

Sedj moved. Not a step forward as such but enough of a movement for all eyes in the room to focus on her. Unlike the dead commander her face was blank as she looked at the pirate leader. “That would be you, obviously.”

He clapped, pistol in one hand. “At last, someone with brains. Very good, my dear. And you would be?”

“The chief medical officer, Selena Norvairan.”

Jaida blinked at the lie, her gaze dropping to the woman’s white lab coat. The name tag that had been there earlier was gone. Confusion mounted within her. Why would Sedj lie about her name? As carefully as she could, Jaida scanned the faces of the people around her. No one seemed at all surprised by the CMO’s lie. In fact, they’d all managed to remove their name tags unseen.

“Norvairan. You’re not listed on the ship’s manifest.” Another of the pirates accused, approaching his leader’s side and looking at a small data device in his hands.

“No, I won’t be. I’m a new transfer. The old CMO bought it dirt-side on the ship’s last mission, so I was drafted in to cover.” Sedj folded her arms and gave him a deadpan expression. Her manner was the typical medical response of insubordinate with a hint of “I don’t care.”

Jaida had to admire Sedj’s courage.

The pirate grunted. “Fair enough. I’ll buy that. Combat medics often end up fatalities on planet-side retrieval,” he explained to the guy at his side, who didn’t look convinced. Black, beady eyes glared at the petite doctor with malevolence. Two of the male medics moved to subtly flank Sedj. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed another medic reach out and pocket a laser-scalpel while all eyes were on the CMO.

Jaida kept her eyes forward, not wanting to draw attention to the movement. Confusion and hope coiled in the pit of her stomach. A laser scalpel could be used as a weapon, which left only one conclusion. The medical staff was going to try and fight the pirates.

Why though? That was sheer suicide. The invaders were well armed and obviously knew what they were doing. But…why would Sedj conceal her name? Unless there was some reason she didn’t want the pirate to know who she was. But why would that matter? Her head threatened to explode as she tried to work it all out.

“Right, ladies and gents, I’m sure we’re about to attract the attention of most of the troopers aboard ship, so if you could all make your way to the back of the room… Unfortunately I’m afraid your emergency exits today are…well, there are none.”

The pirate chuckled at his own joke as he motioned them all backward. The others with him took that as the signal to move forward too, brandishing their own weapons.

“Okay people, let’s do as the man says,” Sedj ordered, her voice calm and firm over the subdued panic emanating from some of the medical staff. “Start moving the patients around to the intensive care recovery area. Any one that can walk, walks. Beds for the rest. Here, you…come help me with this one.”

Jaida looked around behind her then realized Sedj was talking to her. “Oh right, yes. Sorry, ma’am.”

Quickly she joined the other woman and started to unhook one of the medical beds from its computer hook up. As they were doing so, Sedj used her movements as cover to press a laser scalpel into the trooper’s hand. His startled gaze shot to her face, but turned grim as he nodded, concealing the makeshift weapon in the covers by his thigh.

“Grab the corpse,” the pirate leader ordered behind her. “We need to send a message that we’ve arrived.”

Jaida started to wheel her bed toward the back of the bay. The skin between her shoulder blades itched. Each second took an eternity to pass, an eternity filled with the sound of her breathing and her blood rushing in her ears. Tension coiled tighter in her stomach as she waited for a shout from behind her. There was no way they were going to get away with this. The pirates were going to realize what the medical personnel were doing.

“Thank you, ma’am. Just turn me a little. Perfect. Now, get down behind the bed.” The trooper on Jaida’s bed used a large hand to push her down behind him. Crouching, she looked around. The medical beds that had been pushed to the back of the room had been arranged in an odd pattern. Almost random, but even her limited military knowledge told her the configuration would shelter as many people as possible.

And provide a place to fight back from.

“Hey there, how you holding up?”

Almost on cue Sedj dropped down into a crouch next to Jaida. Her aqua eyes were large in her face but the expression in them wasn’t panicked. It was clear and focused as she watched the pirates in the front of the room bundle Benaris’ corpse out the front door. Jaida felt sick at their joviality and jokes as they manhandled the murdered man.

“Bastards. You’d think they’d have some respect.”

She was reminded once again why she avoided dealing with pirates. Most of them were the kind of people who’d happily dance in their own mother’s entrails.

“No respect, no morals. It’s what they are.” Sedj’s voice was low as she answered. “Things are about to get hairy in here. What I need you to do is stay behind cover and not be a hero. Let us handle things. Okay?”

Jaida nodded and checked that the pirates still had their attention elsewhere. “What’s going on?” She let her confusion show on her face. “You aren’t reacting as I’d expect a doctor to. Doctors don’t usually arm their patients during a hostage situation. Shouldn’t you be trying to mediate…negotiate their surrender? Hurt none, that kind of thing?”

Sedj’s snort was immediate and dismissive. “Fuck that. They came into my medical bay and killed my patient. They’ll get what’s coming to them.”

Straightening her arm the doctor pulled back her cuff and showed Jaida the inside of her wrist. The ghost of a tattoo shimmered over the pale skin. At first glance it looked like the typical medical caduceus but, as she watched, the design shifted a little. Instead of the snakes being wrapped around a staff, they were wrapped around a winged dagger.

Her intake of breath was sharp as her gaze flew to Sedj’s face. She’d seen that symbol before, on a report on Seth’s desk. Right next to the elite forces logo and stamped “classified.” Surprise rolled through her as she realized the smaller woman wasn’t just an ordinary doctor.

Jaida nodded once, the movement brisk and professional. Experience had taught her the best thing to do in a crisis was not to panic and find someone who knew what they were doing. Follow orders and ask questions later.

“Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

Sedj smiled and patted her arm. “Good girl, you’ll do well. Seth made a good choice…don’t be too hard on him, eh? Any idiot can see he’s head over heels for you. Why do you think he chased you for five years?” With that she was gone, moving onto the group huddled behind the next bed.

She watched Sedj for a long moment, shocked into silence. Seth loved her? How…when? She crouched behind the reassuring bulk of the medical bed as the thoughts chased each other around in her head. She’d always thought he’d chased her for revenge. Her world titled on its axis. What if it hadn’t been revenge? What if…her throat closed over as her heart leapt in her chest. What if it had been because he loved her and couldn’t let her go?

She shook her head, not caring that people around her were giving her funny looks. They could think she was a stark raving lunatic for all she cared. She had more important things to think about at the moment. Seth couldn’t love her. If he did, why had he left a courtesan’s robes for her after their first night together?

The memory of his valet holding the red silk out to her replayed over and over in her mind’s eye like a holo on a loop. Good enough to fuck, but not good enough to wed. The valet’s exact words, or what she could remember of them. He’d been saying something else as she fled the room, but she hadn’t heard it over the sound of her own sobs.

Cra-a-ck.

The sharp sound signaled the start of the attack as the glass doors at the front of the medical bay shattered and fell in a curtain of shards. Gas canisters rolled across the floor, billowing smoke, followed by troopers in black. The room filled in seconds with thick smoke and the sizzle-pop of laser bolts. She coughed, trying to keep the smoke out of her lungs as it burned her eyes.

“Go, go, go!”

Voices shouted above the noise of the firefight as she huddled behind the empty bed. The trooper in it was gone, his shadowy form sliding into the smoke, laser scalpel in one hand. She bit her lip. Tools meant to heal were now being used to kill.

“Red, how many hostiles?”

Jaida caught her breath. That was Seth’s voice; she recognized it instantly. Everything in her, every instinct she had, wanted to leap up from the shelter of the bed and run to him. She bit her lip harder and forced herself to stay where she was. All she would do if she went to him was get in the way, and possibly get people killed.

“Red…you there, babe? Talk to me…”

Jealousy rose, hot and immediate. Who the hell was Red, and why was Seth calling her babe? She crept to the edge of the bed on her hands and knees and peered around it. The smoke was still thick but she could make out indistinct figures just for a split second or so before they disappeared again.

“Yeah…I’m here. I counted eight.” There was a bone-chilling scream, one that cut off with a sickening gurgle. “Make that seven.”

Jaida’s eyes widened as a female voice answered Seth. Sedj’s voice. So the doctor was Red…and from the way Seth was talking to her, the pair had history. Jaida swallowed hard, quashing the jealousy trying to rage through her system.

“Fire team one, flank right!”

“Someone cover me!”

“Hostile down!”

The shouts came from all angles as the battle raged. A laser bolt came out of nowhere and slammed into the bed next to her head. She flinched as red-hot pain sliced across her cheek, a cry of pain and fright escaping her before she could stop it.

“Hostile…fucking hell, bastard shot me…”

The sound of laser fire and the following shout was just the other side of the bed. Jaida squeaked as a heavy weight slammed into it and made it rattle. Three more thuds shivered through the bed frame as someone, presumably one of Seth’s men, slammed a pirate’s wrist against the mattress to make him lose his grip on his pistol.

With each strike she tried to curl herself up into a ball under the bed. The pistol fell and clattered across the floor in front of her as above her, there was a chocking gurgle. She listened with tears in her eyes as a man was choked to death above her.

“Thank fuck for that…hostile down.”

Heart pounding in her ears, she broke cover, scuttling across the tiled floor on her hands and knees to grab the pistol. Cradling it to her chest, she dived back under the bed.

“Hostile down…”

“Hostiles down…”

“Bane…quit fucking showing off. No way you got two!”

The shots were coming slower now as the troopers cleared the medical bay of the invading pirates. Everything went quiet. Jaida tried to still her breathing, certain everyone could hear her. The silence was weighted as everyone listened for the slightest sound, the smallest scuffle, which could indicate any of the pirates left alive.

“Fire teams, sound off.” The gruff command sparked a series of names, Seth’s amongst them, which presumably meant something to the asker.

“Medical, sound off.”

Jaida crept out from under the bed, pistol held loosely in her hand at the sound of Sedj’s voice. Straightening up she looked about. The smoke was clearing now, and it was easier to see. Troopers were moving around the fallen pirates, checking for life signs and in one corner sat the pirate leader, bleeding from several wounds but still alive.

“Someone get some cuffs on him and take him to the brig. I’ll deal with him later,” the tall man next to Seth ordered.

“He’s bleeding Colonel…”

“Unless he’s bleeding out on the deck, I don’t give a shit. Red, he likely to die on us?”

Sedj moved over to the pirate as he was hauled to his feet and his hands cuffed behind his back. He snarled and fought against his captors but it made no difference. Quickly the doctor checked his wounds then shook her head.

“Flesh wounds only. He got off lightly. Get one of the civvy docs to treat him, because I’d just as soon put him down.”

Jaida let the words wash over her as she concentrated on Seth. Dressed in a black combat suit stripped of all the trappings of his royalty, he was still magnificent. The black fabric clung to his broad-shouldered, heavily muscled frame. His black hair hung loose, the way she liked it, and flowed over his shoulders.

He turned and caught her eye. The smile that spread over his lips warmed her all the way to her toes. Hope blossomed in her heart as she recalled Sedj’s words. Perhaps they could work through this…perhaps there was hope for the future. Didn’t they say love conquered all and time healed anything? For the first time, she let her guard down and believed it could.

Movement registered from the corner of her eye as light from overhead glinted on a gun barrel. Fear wound its chill fingers around her spine as she turned. One of the pirates was on his side, pistol in hand and aimed at Seth.

Zzzzpht.

Jaida screamed as the bolt hit Seth in the side. He wasn’t wearing armor. It sizzled across his clothes, spreading out in tiny bolts of lightning. His eyes rolled back in his head, a massive shudder racking his body as the charge hit his nervous system, doing who knew what damage as it arced through him.

She lifted the weapon in her hand. A second later, the pirate was in the crosshair. She didn’t feel anything as she pulled the trigger. A small red hole appeared between the pirate’s brows. Blood oozed down his nose, and he slumped lifeless to the floor.

She dropped the gun and dashed to Seth’s side. Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she dropped to her knees next him. His face was paler than normal, almost translucent and waxy. His eyes were closed and his lips were blue. Blue lips were bad. Blue lips meant he wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

A moan escaped her lips as the wall around her heart cracked right down the middle. She loved him so much, but he was going to die before she got the chance to tell him.

“Oh Goddess, no…please, no!”