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“Shit,” said Naomi. “Shit, shit, shit. You’re sure?”
“Unless you want to spend the next 30 years in a Martian prison,” Alex replied. The red icon of the approaching ship blinked damningly. “They’re gonna see us the moment they come around this rock. Hard burn’s our best shot to get out of dodge before they figure out who we are.”
“Dammit.” Naomi ran a hand through her hair and blew out a breath. “This is going to suck. Guess we’d better tell Amos.”
Amos was asleep in the nest and snoring loud enough for them to hear from the hallway outside the galley. Holden popped his head out of the blankets and chirped as they walked in.
“Hi, honey,” said Naomi, perching on the arm of the crash couch. “How are you feeling?” Holden wriggled out from under Amos’s arm to drape himself over her lap; she stroked his hair, and he purred. She leaned over to shove Amos’s shoulder. “Wake up, Amos.”
Amos snorted and jolted awake. “’M up. What’s going on?” He felt around the blankets at his side for Holden before glancing over to see he’d been abandoned for Naomi. “Wow. Just tell me you don’t love me.”
Holden blinked sleepily and purred louder.
“We’ve got a Martian ship coming up on our ass,” Alex said. “We’re gonna have to do a hard burn.”
“Oh, shit. What are we going to do with him?” Amos poked Holden in the ribs; Holden squirmed and growled halfheartedly, and Naomi slapped his hand away.
“We’ll have to sedate him,” she said, returning her hand to Holden’s hair. “He’s in no state to be going on the juice. Better to let him sleep through the worst of it and only give him the drugs he needs to withstand the Gs. Hopefully the aftereffects won’t be too bad.”
“He’s gonna be sick as a dog,” Alex sighed. “Still better than prison, though. Where are we putting him, medbay?”
“Yeah, I can keep an eye on his vitals from there. We’ll pull out the good restraints in case we have to do any fancy flying. Amos?”
“I’ve got him, boss.” Amos bundled Holden in a few of the most heavily scented blankets and hefted him into his arms; Holden blinked and chirped in dazed confusion. “Lead the way.”
Holden was pretty quiet as they got him settled in the autodoc chair, content to be under their attention although slightly confused as to why no one was holding him. Amos pulled the wide elastic straps over his chest and thighs while Alex went hunting for the better flight restraints. Naomi threaded Holden’s arm through the autodoc cuff and held his hand to still him as she tightened it down. He yelped and jerked as it slid a needle into his bicep but settled down when Naomi squeezed his hand and scented him.
“Here we go,” said Alex, crossing behind the chair with a tangle of black straps hanging from his hands. Holden craned his neck to look back as Alex buckled the flight restraints to their attachment points on the back of the chair, letting Naomi and Amos secure them over Holden’s shoulders, chest, and hips. Alex offered Holden his wrist, and Holden rubbed his cheek against it with a purr. “I’m gonna go heat up the drive. You—” Alex took Holden’s face in his hands and planted a kiss in his hair— “sit tight, and don’t do anything stupid while I’m flying.” He hit the button to start the sedative and was out the door before Holden even stopped purring.
“All good?” asked Naomi as Amos finished checking the locking mechanisms for the restraints.
“Yep. He’s not going anywhere.” Amos swiped his wrist over Holden’s shoulder and patted his cheek. “I’ll meet you up top, boss.” Holden’s blinks were getting longer, and he did little more than stare after Amos in vague confusion as he left.
“Hey, honey,” Naomi said. “Look at me.” Holden’s hazy eyes slid to hers. “You’re going to be just fine, alright? We’ll be right upstairs.” He gave a weak whine, his eyes sliding closed, the effects of the sedative too strong to allow any lasting distress. She folded his hand in hers and sat with him until he went fully slack, his breathing deep and even. She placed his hand carefully back down on the armrest and stood.
“Wheels up in five, XO,” said Alex’s voice over the ship-wide comm.
“I’m on my way.”
~ ~ ~
“Shit!” Alex yelled, and the Roci lurched under them, pressing them down into their couches. Another meteoroid flew by on their screens.
“Dammit, Alex, I thought you said this would be a simple burn!” Amos shouted over the rumble of the drive core.
“Well sorry, I didn’t expect them to throw rocks at us!” Alex hollered back. The PDCs rattled as they shot down another torpedo. “That’s not something we did when I was in the Navy!”
An alert from the autodoc flashed on Naomi's screen; Holden's vitals indicated he was awake and his heart rate was rising. Naomi swore and, after a moment’s hesitation, opened up a comm link to the medbay.
"Hi, Jim," she said. She'd been aiming for soothing, but her voice came out strained. "Doing okay down there?"
Holden whined, the sound sharp and distressed. Naomi's heart tugged painfully. "I know, honey, I'm sorry. Try to relax, okay? Everything's under control." She authorized another round of sedatives from the autodoc and closed the comm link, despite the pit of guilt forming in her stomach. She wanted more than anything to stay on the line and comfort him, but there just wasn't enough time. Her eyes found the red marker of the enemy ship on her display and her guilt ignited into rage.
“Give me the guns, Alex,” she snapped. “I’m blowing this piece of shit up.”
“Damn, alright.” The weapons console appeared on her screen. “Give ‘em hell, XO.”
Naomi input the firing specifications and sent her attack plan up to Alex, who accelerated and spun the ship to put them into position. On her monitor, the railgun’s line of fire crept closer and closer to her targets until they synced up perfectly, the code she’d written firing off a shot in the split second both ships were at the right angle. The Roci lurched and spun with the force of the kickback, throwing them up against their restraints. The tungsten slug ripped straight through the body of the enemy ship, obliterating a PDC on each side. A torpedo to the ship’s now unprotected drive cone sent the whole thing up in a blinding flash of light. Naomi leaned back in her seat with a grim sense of satisfaction.
Amos whistled lowly. “Goddamn. Well, now we know: don’t mess with the boss while her man’s in heat.”
“And don’t you fucking forget it,” Naomi said, glaring at the cloud of gas and shrapnel that was all that remained of the enemy ship. “Get us out of here, Alex.”
“Yes ma’am,” Alex said, sounding a little intimidated. The thrum of the drive core was their only warning before the acceleration slammed them back into their crash couches, the Roci rocketing off into the black.
~ ~ ~
Naomi winced and rubbed Holden’s back as he retched into the toilet again.
“Oh, honey,” she said. Holden coughed and groaned, his voice echoing oddly from within the bowl. A spasm hit, every muscle in his body seizing up and leaving him hunched painfully over the toilet. After an agonizing few seconds, it released him; he fell limp so suddenly he nearly slipped to the floor before Naomi caught him. She propped him up against her shoulder and offered him a wet rag to wipe his face, which he gratefully accepted.
“You all done?” she asked.
“Think so,” Holden rasped. His chest rose and fell with labored breaths, his forehead cool and clammy where it rested against the side of her neck.
“Can you stand?”
He buried his face in her shoulder. “Give me a minute.”
She handed him a bulb of water and reached up to the counter for her hand terminal, answering the call that popped up on the screen.
“How is he?” came Alex’s voice.
“Miserable,” Naomi said. “He’s talking again, though.”
“Is that Alex?” mumbled Holden. “Tell him to go fuck himself.”
“Aw, Hoss, you don’t mean that.”
“I’m dying, Alex.” He jerked against Naomi, another spasm pulling a half-groan-half-yelp from his throat. “God, shit. Just let them arrest me next time.”
“I’m on my way with a coffee and a muscle relaxant,” Alex said.
“You are forgiven.”
“Thanks, Alex,” Naomi said. “We’ll meet you in the galley.”
“Roger that.”
Amos was picking up the last of the blankets when they arrived, the contents of the nest having been flung around during their flight. Holden flopped right into the pile of pillows and blankets with a groan; Naomi stifled a laugh and sat down against the arm of one of the crash couches that made up the base of the nest.
“I haven’t even fixed it yet,” Amos said, tossing the last few blankets on top of Holden.
“You don’t know how to build a nest,” Holden replied in a muffled voice.
“I could figure it out.” Amos climbed over the back of the crash couch and fished Holden out of the pile to hold him in his lap. Holden grumbled halfheartedly but settled down as Amos wrapped a blanket around him. Another spasm hit; Naomi winced and Amos swore, unprepared for the way Holden jackknifed in his arms. He clutched Holden to his chest and held him through it until he collapsed with a strangled whine.
“Goddamn,” Amos said. Holden panted and mumbled something obscene. Naomi patted his ankle and shot Amos a commiserating look, who tucked Holden a little firmer into his arms with the barest hint of a frown.
“I’m back!” Alex announced, skidding into the room with a cup of coffee in hand. “Y’all are giving me the run-around today, I swear.”
“Your fault for thinking I’d drink coffee in the head,” Holden said. “Hand it over.” Alex passed him the cup and climbed into the nest, pulling a medical injector out of his pocket. Holden barely even twitched when he jammed the needle into his thigh, too absorbed in his coffee.
“Give that a minute or two to kick in,” Alex said, patting Holden’s leg and moving over to sit by Naomi on the other side of the nest. He shot Amos a quizzical look. “Why’re you holding him like he’s gonna make a break for it?”
Amos, who had one arm folded over Holden’s chest and the other wrapped around his waist, shot Alex a flat look. “So he doesn’t hit me in the face the next time he seizes. Cap ain’t exactly a small guy.”
Holden took a long pull of his coffee and sighed happily. “Thanks, Alex.”
“No bother. Try to finish that off before the drugs hit.”
“You’re sure the caffeine won’t mess with him?” Naomi asked.
“Shit, Naomi, have you met this man? Caffeine probably stopped working on him years ago.”
“It’s true,” Holden said. The empty coffee cup slid from his hands; he blinked hard, his body starting to go lax in Amos’s arms. “…Woah. That’s strong.”
“Jesus, how much did you give him?” Naomi hissed.
“It’s a standard dose, I swear,” Alex said, raising his hands in surrender. “It’s probably just hitting him harder ‘cause he’s in heat.”
Holden’s head drifted back to rest against Amos’s shoulder. He tried to lift it and found that he couldn’t, the muscles in his neck refusing to respond. His brain was starting to get fuzzy again; he wasn’t sure whether the drugs or his heat were to blame.
“Alright?” Amos asked, his voice vibrating through his chest against Holden’s back.
“I’m okay,” Holden sighed, eyelids growing heavy. “Just can’t move.” It was kind of nice, he thought as he melted into a puddle against Amos. Like being scruffed.
“Well, that was the goal, wasn’t it? Least you won’t be seizing anymore.” Amos tucked another blanket around him and Holden purred, relaxed beyond the point of words.
“Aw, look at him,” Alex cooed. Holden had just enough presence of mind to be annoyed before he dropped off into sleep, surrounded by warmth and pack.