Page 11 of Forbidden

A very tall, very slender man was working at the various terminals surrounding the place where her son rested. He looked up as soon as the doors closed again.

“Is this the mother?”

“It is,” Kerrek acknowledged.

“She has no weapons of any kind?”

“None. My son brought her here and has assured me she carries no weapon. She can do no harm you will not be able to prevent.”

Anna’s head whipped around to the man she now realized was Kahn’s father. Did this man think she would harm the people who had saved her son’s life? “I would never try to hurt anyone who has tried to help Alex.”

“Silence!” he roared at her, his face a mask of unbelievable anger. “To even presume you would be capable of doing harm to someone in Medical Command is ludicrous. We are concerned that you would undo all the good this man has done for the baby.”

“What?” Anna whispered. She simply couldn’t believe what he was implying.

“It may be acceptable to terminate your own children on Earth, but on Gothe’mar, you would forfeit your own life for even attempting it. We protect our children.” The superior, condescending look combined with the rage flashing in the man’s eyes was completely wasted on Anna.

She was lost in her own rage.

Before she could even form the thought, she backhanded him with all her strength using her closed fist. Everyone in the room moved to subdue her. One of the big men slapped her hard enough to split her lip. Still another hit her full in the stomach, then her side as she bent double. But even though the force of the blows made her want to vomit, they could not stop the fight in her, or stem her words. “Howdareyou! Your people slaughtered my people by the millions, including my husband and my child!” She struggled against the impossibly tight male hands holding her back from further attacking Kahn’s father. “I don’t know who you are or what your function is on this Godforsaken planet, but if you want to blame someone for killing that baby over there, look in the mirror. You! Your people! Your warriors!” Anna continued to lash out at her captors, even Kahn when she recognized his presence to her left. She kicked and scratched, even bit when she could. “Alex was killed by a Gothie weapon!” Her voice dripped disdain. “Even if I was able to take the damn thing from one of your warriors, how could I possibly know how to use it?”

Kahn’s father looked to the doctor who was shielding the incubator with his own body. The doctor nodded. “The child was killed by a standard issue destabilizer. I do not know if Earth possesses anything similar but in order to fire one of ours, she would have to have been fitted with a controller chip specific to the weapon in question. I found no such chip in the data files when she was scanned upon boarding General Kahn’s ship. She would not have been able to fire any weapon of our world without it, and would not have been able to remove it without leaving trace particles.”

“Do they have anything similar, Kahn?”

“They do not, Father.” Kahn’s voice was soft.

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely. Besides, when I got to this woman and the boy, she had not even drawn her weapon and there were no Gothe’maran weapons near her.” Kahn’s voice was carefully controlled. Even through her anger and grief, she sensed his wariness, his unwillingness to give away too much. God! She hated not knowing what was going on! And at this moment, she hated Kahn most of all.

“Did you see a warrior kill her husband or her son?” Kahn’s father looked openly inquisitive. It was obvious this information was new to him. Information he wasn’t sure he liked but, since it came from his son, he had no choice but to believe.

“No, but I did witness a warrior disintegrate the body of her husband. That warrior’s attitude was not… reverent. At the time, I assumed from what Ididwitness that the three warriors present had something to do with the death of the man and the child.”

“Interesting.” An emotionless mask was once again in place. Anna decided she hated Kerrek almost as much as the men who had killed her husband. Kahn had come to her aid, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to forgive him for not actively helping her when she had been hit or, most especially, when she had been accused of murdering her own son. She was sure Kahn had known his father believed she’d killed Alex before they ever reached Gothe’mar.

Now that she was beginning to come down from the adrenaline rush, her face burned with pain and her stomach felt like something inside of her had torn. Breathing hurt and she was losing the ability to even stand up on her own. She would have slumped to the floor if not for Kahn keeping her upright.

The doctor came to her side, running a small scanner around her body. “She is bleeding internally from a ruptured spleen and a punctured lung. And a head injury. I must repair her first, then I will bring the child out of stasis.” His examination stopped suddenly. He looked at her, surprise evident. “You cannot have children.”

“No,” she gasped. “Having Alex… almost… killed me.” Breathingreallyhurt. “My husband… d-didn’t…” Another gasping breath. “… want to p-put… me through that… again.” Kahn and the doctor were now helping her into a machine that looked vaguely like a tanning bed. “Had a… tubal… ligation.” God, shehurt! Why wasanyof this important?

“Relax, madam,” the doctor said. “This will take a few minutes. You’ll not feel any pain, only a warmth. It should be relaxing once the process gets underway.”

Anna closed her eyes and simply gave herself into their hands. She hurt too badly to fight them anyway. If they honestly believed she had killed her own son, she was up shit creek without a paddle. For the second time in her life, she succumbed to the black blissfulness of unconsciousness.

Chapter Four

“Father.” Turning away from his woman --hiswoman -- in the healing tube was the hardest thing Kahn had ever done. “I know Mikkril is your brother, but I do not believe he is telling the truth about what happened on Earth.” He had to be careful here. Kerrek loved Mikkril as if they were full-blooded brothers instead of half brothers. Kerrek would acknowledge Mikkril’s deception if it could be proven, but he would not accept half-baked theories and assumptions. “Look at all the evidence and listen to what this Earth woman has to say. It can only serve to give you more information. You can decide later how much weight to give her statement.”

“Listen to her?” Kerrek sounded incredulous. “After she assaulted me?” He paused, looking suddenly weary. “I fear I already know the truth of it.” He looked at Kahn fully. “You think she is telling the truth?”

“I do,” Kahn said without hesitation.

Kerrek spoke to the doctor, “Can you repair her internal damage?”

“Yes, sir. I can even repair the damage to her reproductive system if you wish it.”

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