serious their injuries will be left on planet?” She was just exasperated enough with the elitist bullshit that her voice resonated scorn.
Marte answered between gritted teeth. “You know they are. We already told you how things are done. Twice.”
“We’re done arguing,” she said glaring right back at him. “I don’t need to treat patients one at a time in order of importance. I just need to be in the same room and I can treat them all at the same time.”
Meg choked something unintelligible while her eye widened to large, shocked pools.
Marte huffed. “Bullshit. I heard what you said to Lord Ryn. If we let you come with us and you make a run for it he’ll level medbay to the ground and us with it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “I am not going to leave wounded people suffering just so I can make a run for it on Cronos, of all places, where Mal Ryn rules with an iron fist and all the shipping lanes are controlled by his troops.”
She practically sneered at the stupidity of that and saw Marte lose some of his starch when he realized the sense in what she was saying. “Now, as far as I know I’m still head healer here and I outrank all of you so I’m going. We can leave Brin in medbay in case someone on the ship has an emergency. The rest of us are going. End of discussion.”
Brin, in his usual silent way, merely nodded and turned away to look busy, while Meg finished packing the med bag in case there was more wounded then their gifts could handle. Marte ran a frustrated hand through his hair but backed off.
Honestly, she didn’t know why he was worried, if anyone were going to catch flack for this it would be her. But really, if Mal Ryn didn’t want her to call the shots, he shouldn’t have put her in charge. Unless he flat out prevented her, she was never going to sit back and let wounded people suffer when she could help.
Healer Morse, she practically snarled the name in her head. Confirmed elitist asshole. She had no intention of following in those footsteps.
Once they got the go ahead over the com for transport Marte tried one more time. “The other ships in the fleet will be sending their own medical if we need them. You don’t have to come.”
Her answer was to hit the button on his wrist com herself, and the three of them transported directly into the chaos that was the Cronos health center.
The scents were nearly as jumbled as the sounds and sights. The place was overrun, and the small staff, distinguished by their grey tunics with the words medical slashed across the back of them were bustling. Crying and screams were prevalent. Most of the injured were military but even trained soldiers reacted badly when burns and broken bones were the least of the injuries.
The worst of them were missing body parts, as the medics struggled to laser close the wounds before they could bleed out. Marte and Meg on either side of her sucked in shocked breaths and then started to move into the fray. It took Serenity more time to come to terms with what she was sensing and seeing. Then she couldn’t stop herself if she wanted to, and she didn’t want to.
Serenity felt her power surge and realized with almost reverence that she didn’t have to hide anymore. The worst had happened, she had been discovered. The pain and need in the vast warehouse of a med bay called to the power inside her. With almost euphoric pleasure she answered. She could no more have resisted the call then she could stop breathing. This, she realized was what her power was truly meant to do. She wasted no time but raised her arms, dropping the med bag Mal had thrust at her and closed her eyes.
A tidal wave of power jettisoned out of her and blanketed the room. Immediately everyone stopped moving, the shock of an instant loss of pain halted cries mid voice and as one everyone looked around in wonder and awe as wounds closed, burns miraculously healed and broken bones snapped into place. The easy heals were done first and then her power was free to concentrate on the hard ones. Limbs regrew, intestines and destroyed organs regenerated and reinserted themselves before skin closed over already healed flesh.
She felt a wrongness and turned and walked until she