PRECIOUS CARGO @Copyright Maureen Lycaon, September 2002. Permission granted to distribute this story freely by electronic means as long as it is unaltered and there is no charge, and to make two hard copies for personal use. All other rights reserved under the Berne Convention. This story contains themes of voluntary sexual slavery, BDSM, furries and science fiction. The furries involved have signed themselves into slavery of their own free will. (But there's no sex in this chapter, just the aftermath of violence.) If you shouldn't or don't want to be reading this, please don't. I welcome feedback: send it to maureen_lcn@yahoo.com. More of my stories, including other chapters of Precious Cargo, may be found at my Velan archive at: http://members.vclart.net/Maureen/index2.html Part 35 The rest of that night proved almost as unpleasant for Fodessa and her crew. Soungmai was taken away in a medpod. A little while later, so was Caitlin. He was still alive but unconscious when Fodessa looked at him; his right arm was missing from the shoulder down. She stepped back and let the paramedics move his pod out at a run, cursing the lump in her throat. The officer questioned her and Windrunner, politely but thoroughly. She carefully said nothing to suggest she'd been the real target of the attack -- the last thing she wanted right now was legal entanglements. Even so, just from his smell, she could tell he was suspicious of her. Suspicious, probably, of her really being a kangbai member rather than a Darksex smuggler. After that, they were both taken down to Chanpur police headquarters, where two more officers questioned them again in a closed room with comfortable chairs but locked doors. The gods only knew what *they* thought. That took most of the remaining night. In the end, the senior interrogator, Officer Marshwe, clasped his hooves and once more looked intently at Fodessa. "Captain Ruggae, you and your companion are free to go for now. However, we may need to question you further, so we must ask that you remain within Chanpur for the next few days while we begin our investigation. Is that agreeable to you?" He'd coached the order in the usual polite Halcyon wording, but it was no request and Fodessa knew it. "It is, Officer Marshwe," she lied. If they survived the current situation, Blackmuzzle could smooth things over later. If they didn't . . . she'd probably be in no condition to worry about never being able to sell to Halcyon's slave auction again. Caitlin and Soungmai had been taken to Chanpur General Hospital. It was now the wee hours before dawn, and both Fodessa and Windrunner felt exhausted, but they risked taking a public transport booth with no bodyguards. Windrunner's ears stayed low, and his tail kept wanting to go between his legs. He reeked of fear. "Won't they expect us to go there? There might be an ambush." Fodessa sighed, not at his naivete -- that was understandable -- but at the whole appalling situation. When she'd left Bournabi more than ten years ago, she'd thought she had escaped street-gang warfare for good. Now it had caught up to her again, only in a more sophisticated version and for higher stakes. "No," she answered him. "They didn't get us last night, and now we're alerted and so is the local heat. And it's not easy to carry out a hit in a big hospital. They'll pull back for a few more days to reassess things -- and plan more carefully next time." Windrunner's ears flattened even further, his scent tinged with something like despair. "So . . . what will we do? They'll get lucky sooner or later." She bared her long fangs. "Not if we get them first." The wolf's jaw sagged before he spoke. "How in --" She lifted a paw to cut him off. "No, I don't know how yet. But I'm not at the end of my resources, and neither is Blackmuzzle. And when we find out who and what Carson and his friends are -- well, then we'll see." She felt her claws unsheathe at the thought. At Chanpur General, as soon as they identified themselves, an attendant ushered them into a small waiting room in the critical ward and left them there alone. As they sat side by side on the overstuffed sofa, another door opened. A blackbuck doe in a crisp tan uniform entered the room and walked over to greet them. Her long face held an expression of grave sympathy. With her large, soft, dark eyes, it worked especially well. She was one of the professional comforters found in every Halcyon hospital, specially trained to provide wet shoulders for anxious or grieving relatives and friends. (In an earlier day and age, she would have held the ponderous title "grief counselor".) "Captain Fodessa Ruggae," she intoned softly. "You came here to inquire after Caitlin Johnson, yes?" "That's right," Fodessa answered. "Captain," the comforter said, "first, you should know that Mr. Johnson is still in critical condition, and the doctors say that he is not out of danger yet." She paused, and Fodessa nodded an acknowledgement. "However, they are optimistic that he will make a full recovery." Fodessa almost let herself sigh with relief. "Is he conscious? Could we see him now?" The doe shook her head gracefully. "Not at this time. He has yet to regain consciousness. Hopefully he will be able to see you by late tomorrow. You and your companion here" - - she glanced at Windrunner -- "are more than welcome to stay in one of our overnight visitor's rooms until then, of course." Neither Fodessa nor Windrunner were in any mood for darksex. They lay together in the small but comfortable bed in the visitor room, holding each other like frightened cubs as they tried to fall asleep. Images kept haunting Fodessa: Caitlin collapsing to the floor in a blaze of white light, Mya's lifeless corpse, Soungmai's mangled shoulder. She had no doubt they haunted Windrunner as well -- probably worse, judging from the way he twitched and whimpered and yelped in his sleep. He'd had a much gentler upbringing. After a few hours' uneasy sleep, the two made a run back to the Satisfaction at Halcyon Port. Their ostensible reason was to fetch some of Caitlin's belongings to bring back to Chanpur General. The other reason, more important, was that Fodessa needed to place a call to Blackmuzzle. She didn't trust hospital communications security -- even Chanpur General's. Blackmuzzle's expression was grim, ears laid back, even before the first words came out of Fodessa's mouth. The bottom dropped out of Fodessa's stomach. She knew that look. Bad as last night had been, Blackmuzzle had worse news. The hyena listened in silence to her account of the attack, then nodded once in acknowledgement. "We're returning to Vorun," Fodessa told her. "You'll have to clear things up with the heat afterward, though." "I was about to order you to do just that, Captain Fodessa," Blackmuzzle said. "I'm calling all of my captains in, shutting down operations." Fodessa went dead silent for several long moments. Then she asked softly, "How many?" Blackmuzzle paused, then: "Ten dead, another fourteen arrested or otherwise out of action. That's just the captains -- the tip of the iceberg. I don't want to say more over a tachyon line." The clouded leopard felt she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, for long moments. She had time to be grateful Windrunner was in another room, and not hearing this. "We're in deep shit, I think," she said. Blackmuzzle nodded somberly. "We are. I'll tell you more when you get here." Caitlin lay in his bed, bored silly, and stared at the blank holoscreen. Thanks to the painkillers, he didn't hurt. A thin tube in his side led to a care unit by the side of the bed. Within that tube were sensors that constantly monitored the various chemicals and hormones in his blood, while even more narrow tubes pumped powerful analgesics, nutrients and regeneration drugs into his body. The stump of his right arm was encased in a big regens unit, big enough to enclose his entire arm had it still been there; the unit was too heavy to move even if that were a good idea. Within it, complex apparatus and a sophisticated brew of chemicals coaxed his arm to regenerate. He'd have a complete new right arm within three months. Between the tube in his side and the regens unit, he could hardly move. He could only lie on his back and stare at the blank silvery holoscreen conveniently set into the ceiling. The bastards wouldn't even let him turn it on yet. At least Fodessa was still alive and unhurt, as was Windrunner. They'd told him that much, once they'd reduced his medication enough for him to make sense out of it. *Time to kick some enemy ass,* he thought. *Only now I can't even do that.* He had almost managed to fall into a light slumber again when the door opened. He opened his eyes, and at last saw what he'd been hoping for: the familiar face of his captain -- her eyes weary and wary in a way he'd never seen before, except after that awful fuckup on Dolfhur three years ago . . . but alive and well. That would have made his day even if it hadn't been for the bundle of holomags she was carrying. She was followed in by an equally unhappy-looking but equally uninjured Windrunner, carrying more holomags. Fodessa smiled feebly as she laid the bundle down on the nightstand beside the bed. "Your whole collection of Modern Gladiator, Chain Reaction and Nokkone," she said. "And, oh, the latest issues of Speitakus and Sheddu Fashar." Caitlin felt a smile stretch his muzzle. "Sheddu Fashar? Thank you, Captain! I thought I was going to miss the next issue." "Nope," she said, pulling up a chair and sitting down while Windrunner found another seat. "I knew you'd be bored." Caitlin sighed. Then they looked at each other in a moment of shared knowledge. "Try not to worry," Fodessa reassured him. She didn't bother to smile now; he could smell her own anxiety, and Windrunner's. "Once we get back to Vorun, we won't stop until we've found and shredded whoever's doing this." He looked into her eyes, seeing the fury and the determination there behind the anxiety -- and felt the echo of anger in his own soul. "Whatever you do," he told her, "get them. Get the furless bastards." Fodessa nodded. "We will. If it's the last thing we ever do, we will." "Just so you do." Without thinking, he tried to move his severed arm, and the mutilated muscles pulled uncomfortably against the regenstube apparatus. He grimaced, then looked over at Windrunner. "Watch her back, Second Mate." "I will," the wolf said quietly, and Caitlin saw the resolve in his green eyes and was comforted. The Satisfaction departed that evening, as quietly as possible. Blackmuzzle had thrown her weight around on their behalf; Halcyon Port Authority gave them no trouble. With only one other crewmember on board, Fodessa had to put the vessel on risky automation to get some sleep. Halcyon to Vorun was a one-week journey, and she just hoped there wouldn't be any major debris storms when they emerged from hyperspace. The ship felt empty without Caitlin's presence, even more so than without Sidney. She took Windrunner into her quarters, where they once again slept chastely in each other's arms, each drawing comfort from the other's warmth and smell. The next morning, Fodessa checked her tachyon-mail and found that the Jegarlik Hacker Anti-State had at last sent her another report. She spent fully half an hour reading and rereading it, with Windrunner looking over her shoulder. She saw no point in keeping the wolf in the dark about that now. Blackmuzzle had at last decided she could trust Perion Spaceport Authority and filled them in on the situation. The autopsy of the dead assassin continued. Neither that nor the interrogation of the other assassin had yet born fruit. However, Jegarlik had also sent Fodessa a file on an obscure export business based on Dijjang, with an explanation of its relevance to the events on Perion. With Windrunner still there, she then called Jegarlik, giving its representative -- disguised as a thylacine in the formal dress of Abagorrigum, this time -- the details of the attack at the Sambezi Whischest. She left a copy of the findings in one of Caitlin's private Undernet accounts for when he recovered . . . in case she did not return. Send comments and criticism to: maureen_lcn@yahoo.com . The URL of my story archive is in the author's notes above.