Daisy was doing her best to watch for anyone coming after them and also gather whatever intel they could find on Trakis Four, but they missed Janey’s expertise.
Jon was not doing well, but Tannis was sure that once they had a decent plan, he would pull himself together. Callum was confident he could take the ship, and she trusted him. Besides, she had the worst goddamn headache of her life. She had a feeling that time was running out and just hoped she would hang on until what was left of her crew was safe. After that, anything would be a bonus.
She took herself to the medical center—at least she could treat the symptoms. After dosing herself on the strongest painkillers she could find, she followed with a couple of antinausea pills because she felt sick, and she never reacted well to drugs, so chances were she was going to feel sicker any moment.
Lying down on the high cot, she closed her eyes and waited for everything to work. She supposed things could be worse. If she’d gone ahead with the treatment on Trakis Seven, her whole crew would probably be dead, and she’d face an eternity of guilt instead of what she was beginning to realize was days, rather than months or years. She could almost sense the poison in her system eating away at her. It was moving too fast. At the back of her mind, she’d had this hope that they would rescue Alex and there would be time. Time enough… She cut off the thought; it was unlikely now. She was dying.
Her headache faded, and she must have dozed off, because when her lids flickered open, she found Callum perched on the edge of the cot beside her.
“I didn’t want to wake you, but Devlin’s just boarding, and I thought you’d want to know.”
She sat up and ran a hand through her hair—at least the headache was gone. “Hey,” she said, “there’s time enough to sleep when you’re dead.”
Pain flashed across his face, and she wished she could bite back the words. Callum was trying hard to get over his bout of self-pity, and she should be helping, not making wise-ass comments about dying. But in a second, the expression was gone. He appeared to have regained his composure, and she was glad. He needed to be strong and focused right now.
She swung her legs over the side of the cot, stood, and swayed, so she had to balance herself. Callum put out a hand to help her, but she shrugged it off and straightened.
“Are you feeling worse?” he asked.
“No, actually I feel better. I’m just drugged up to the eyeballs. Go see if you can get me a stimulant. They should be in that drawer over there.”
“Are you sure you should take more drugs?”
She just looked at him, and he went to get her drugs. It was a real pity they didn’t have more time—if only she had him around longer, she might have gotten him trained.
“Pills or needle.”
Tannis shuddered. She hated needles—they reminded her too much of her childhood and all the tests and experiments, but she needed this to work fast. “Needle,” she said.
Callum handed her a syringe. Without allowing herself to think, she jabbed the needle into the muscle of her upper thigh. The effect was almost instantaneous, and she closed her eyes as energy flooded her body.
She crossed over to the small sink and ran the water, splashing her face, then patting it dry. For a second she stared at herself in the mirror, but she looked the same, and she turned away.
“Come on. Let’s go save the day, one last time.”
…
Devlin was already in the meeting room when they entered, sitting beside Skylar, his head leaning in close, talking to her in a low voice. He glanced up as Tannis entered with Callum close behind, then rose to his feet. A small frown played across his face as he stepped toward her. Tannis studied him; he appeared no different until she looked closely. Then the signs of grief were obvious—his eyes shadowed, the scar a vivid slash down his cheek, lines bracketing his grim mouth.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as he came to a halt in front of her.
“Not your fault.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly the truth. She glanced behind him at Skylar, who gave a small shake of her head. Tannis presumed that meant Devlin was unaware of Tannis’s part in the Trog’s death. “What have they told you?”
“Not much, just that he was shot trying to save Janey.” He considered her, his head cocked to one side. “Snake-lady, did you know you look like shit?”
“She’s fine,” Callum said, resting a hand on her shoulder and drawing her back against him. She thought about pulling away, but the solid strength of him behind her felt too good.
“No, she’s not. So are you going to tell me what it is I don’t know?”