Page 21 of Shavin's Mate
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
NORA
It seemed like so much more than a year since I was taken from Earth. A year was our best estimate because we lost track of time on the slave ship with no way to tell whether it was night or day. We existed in that purgatory for at least a few months before we got to the slave auction. We had pretty much given up hope of ever getting back to Earth even before Commander Maktu announced that they had no point of reference to locate Earth.
We had hoped Sahvin could help them with that, but his points of reference to the location of Earth and Narova meant nothing to the mercenaries. I think it was after Tegliar Station that I stopped thinking about finding a way to go back to Earth. Too much had happened to go back to that mundane existence. We were Farseek Mercenaries.
Granted, we didn’t put on combat suits of armor and fight the enemy, but we provided support for their rescue operations. There was a whole lot more to it than just picking up passengers. So many of them were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from the attack on Farseek and being kidnapped into slavery.
Our biochip synthesizer worked overtime making genetically compatible psychotherapy chips for hundreds. The chips would balance their brain chemistry reconcile their emotions about what happened to them. It worked in much the same way as the language biochips. It was basically gene therapy but amped with AI like the nanites.
I learned all of this working with the ship’s AI medic. It was a teaching entity as well as a medical android. In another year I would be certified as a Medical Tech. Medicine in the stars was way different than on Earth. It mainly consisted of using nanites and bioimplants rather than drugs and surgery. Thus, the need for technicians rather than physicians.
It didn’t take that long to learn the technics for inserting and removing the biochips. Learning the physiology and biochemistry was a bit more complicated.
I was not happy to learn that Sahvin was a member of one of the boarding teams.
“Don’t worry, my sweet one. They are not likely to use armor piercing rounds on a ship like that. Far too dangerous,” he told me, resting his hands on my shoulders."
I looked up into his beautiful feline eyes and sighed. I knew how compelled he felt to fulfill his duties in his position with the mercenaries. The situation they had saved him from was even worse than mine. The Farseek Brigade rescued us from the Pican slavers before we had been sold into slavery.
Sahvin had suffered a great deal during the months he was enslaved. He was convinced the Farseek Mercenaries had saved his life. I had to admit he was probably right.
“I’m sorry, Sahv. I'm selfishly worrying about myself and how I would feel if the worst happened…How I would go on with my life without you,” I told him and leaned against him, pressing my cheek against his chest. “You have to do what you think is right. These guys saved me too. I could have ended up as a sex slave in some brothel.”
“Instead, you ended up with me,” he chuckled, and I looked up at him and smiled.
“So far, it’s been a pretty good deal,” I assured him.
“For me, too. Nora, I can’t promise nothing bad will ever happen to me, only that I will do my best to stay safe and come back to you every time,” he told me. “I am just like you, stuck out here in space so far from home that no one knows how to get us back there. But you are my tether, my lifeline because now my home is in you. I don’t feel lost anymore like I did when I was taken and made a slave.”
“Oh, Sahvin, me too,” I replied. “I can’t promise not to worry, but I don’t have to make it your problem.” He was holding me in his arms, and I wound mine around his neck, looking up at him. I caught my breath at the flicker of passion in his eyes.”
The evening was ours with no social gatherings scheduled. That spark in Sahvin’s beautiful green eyes told me pretty precisely what was on his mind. My body responded almost instantly. I would be his to tease and please and I would return the favor.
