Free Leaving Earth by Loribelle Hunt

it me or was that weird?"
    "He's a creep," Britt answered. "I couldn't believe it when he was appointed." She shook her head. "But other than being a smarmy politician I couldn't find anything to keep him out."
    She changed the subject. "So who is Adam Peters?"
    "A brilliant researcher. I sat in on one of his seminars in medical school. Last I heard he was focusing on HIV5." She went into lecture mode as she explained it to Britt.
    "Like the old virus, HIV5 is primarily passed through sex or blood, but several researchers, including Peters, are convinced the next version could make the evolutionary leap to an airborne virus. Considering how quickly and horribly 72
    Leaving Earth
    by Loribelle Hunt
    HIV5 kills, that's a nightmare." She paused, shuddering as she considered possibilities she didn't share with her friend.
    "Once airborne, if the new strain is as aggressive as the last, it will be damned near impossible to contain. A new plague." They both fell silent as they walked, lost in their own thoughts. Kendall didn't want to think about horrible diseases or murdered doctors and found herself wondering where Daggar was. What he was doing. As if the thought opened a floodgate, she felt him, could almost hear him. He was furious, listening to several raised voices before calling for a silence. She strained to understand him, to really hear the words and not the emotion behind them.
    Her focus was shattered by an explosion that rocked the floor under her feet and made her ears ring. She reached out a hand behind her to steady herself against the wall, while shaking her head to clear it and meeting Britt's gaze. The spy was looking back the way they'd come, where they'd passed the entrance to the family's quarters with a slightly sick look on her face. Kendall knew she wanted to go check on Laney without asking.
    "Go," she said. "I'm going to the hospital. There'll be injuries."
    Britt nodded and hurried back the way they'd come, and she turned to find the healers. The hallway she followed ended on a wide corridor and she saw the entrance to the hospital, thankful Laney had pointed it out the previous day. It was chaos when she walked in. The room was large with beds set up on opposite walls and a path down the center. The wounded were trickling in and she absently noted head 73
    Leaving Earth
    by Loribelle Hunt
    wounds, fractured bones, and various other lacerations. On Earth, her assessment would have been none were too serious since all the warriors walked in on their own two feet. But she'd learned over the last few months that really wasn't a good way to assess a Delroi warrior's health. She looked around and tried to determine who was in charge, decided it was the mature, though beautiful, woman arguing with a warrior about lying down. Kendall approached and waited until the healer was finished with the man and moving on.
    "I'm Kendall," she introduced herself. "I'm an Earth doctor, but I can help."
    The woman cocked her head to one side and studied her for half a second. "Laney's friend."
    "Yes."
    "You have battlefield experience?" Kendall snorted. "Too much."
    She nodded, a flash of sympathy crossing her face. "I'm Cilia. Let's start with the head wounds. I'll take this side of the room."
    "No problem."
    "Daire," she ordered and a younger woman rushed over.
    "Assist Dr. Marks."
    The young woman, Daire, nodded. Kendall was taking the right side of the room and didn't wait to see if the nurse followed her, but when she picked her first patient her request for instruments was met immediately. They worked steadily, silently, in perfect tandem. Kendall set bones and sewed up lacerations. Several warriors left against her orders 74
    Leaving Earth
    by Loribelle Hunt
    but they wouldn't be deterred and she was too busy to argue. She was working on the last, sewing up surface cuts mostly, when there was a distracting commotion at the door.
    "Hurry," the warrior on the bed muttered and she tied off the last stitch. He jerked to