Free Was Once a Hero by Edward McKeown Page B

course.”
    “No
one touches me like that,” she gritted.   “No one.   Not ever.”
    Lokashti
walked over to Heaton and stirred the bleeding man with a foot.   “Certainly not twice,” he said.
    “Leave
it to us,” Gunnar said.
    She
shook her head.   “Fight’s over,” she replied,
anger vanishing as if never present.   “Call Sickbay.   I’ll report to the
captain.”
    “No
need,” said Fenaday from behind them.   He
stood in the hatchway.   “Heard the
donnybrook,” he added.
    She
looked down at Heaton, then back at Fenaday.
    Fenaday
shrugged.    “There’s always one who seems
to feel the need to test you on each voyage.   We got it out of the way early this time.”
    Shasti
nodded stiffly.   She suspected that he
wasn’t pleased with how she’d handled the situation but wouldn’t reproach her
in front of the others.
    “I’ll
call Dr. N’deba to the ship,” Fenaday said.   “Gunnar, get a med-tech up here.”  
    Fenaday
looked at Shasti.   “Are you all right?”
    The
question surprised her.   Couldn’t he see
she was unhurt?   “Yes.”
    “Good,”
he replied.   “I’ll see you on the bridge
later.   Get this cleaned up.”   He left.
    Shasti
looked at Lokashti.   “First aid,” she
said.   “Hanshi,” she added, “get the
newbies to clean the deck.”   She looked
around at the faces in the compartment.   “I won’t be so gentle with the next person who crosses me.”   People nodded or looked away.   No one met her eyes.
    She
walked to the hatchway.   No one touches me like that, she
thought.   Never again, never again, never ever again.
    *****
    Hours
later Shasti joined Fenaday on the bridge.   She was her usual cool, controlled self.  
    “N’deba
patched up Heaton,” she said.   “I
arranged with Gandhi to transfer him to a military hospital where he can
recover under wraps until we leave.”
    “Good,”
Fenaday replied.   “I understand Hanshi
and Lokashti wanted to cut him up and process him through the waste system.”
    Shasti
nodded.   The Toks long ago bestowed a nom de guerre on her, ‘Death’s
Angel’.   The name stuck, and Fenaday knew
the Toks would make sure it circulated among the new members, especially the
ASATs.   Shasti never acknowledged it, but
Fenaday suspected it secretly pleased her.   The Olympian Assassin had brought the Morok brothers aboard.   She had saved their lives on Morokat long
before she joined the Sidhe, and they
were fanatically loyal to her.   He doubted
there’d be any repetition of the hospitalized spacer’s mistake.
    “Did
you call for me, sir?”
    Fenaday
turned to see that Daniel Rigg had entered the bridge.   “Yes,” Fenaday replied.   He nodded toward Shasti.
    “I’m
going to break your squads into fire teams,” Shasti stated.   “I want to match one of yours with one of
mine to integrate the force.”
    Fenaday
expected Sgt. Rigg to protest the dispersion of his ASATs.   He didn’t.   Rigg simply smiled, as if acknowledging the point scored.   He measured both of them with cool, gray
eyes, seemingly unconcerned.   He gave
Shasti a look one reserved for a respected opponent, wary, yet confident.   Fenaday would have been happier if Rigg shot
his mouth off.  
    “That
will be all for now,” Shasti said.  
    Rigg
left without a word.
    “That
one is no dumb grunt,” Fenaday said.   “Watch him and never turn your back.   He believes he can take you.”
    She
nodded.   “He believes it, but he’ll have
to bet his life to find out.”
    “I’m
not worried about his life,” Fenaday replied, “there are twenty-four ASATs.   I’ve only got one of you.”
    Shasti’s
teeth flashed briefly.   “I like the
odds.”
    *****
    Shasti
and Fenaday met with Duna for a late dinner at the Marsport Hilton.   Telisan stayed behind in the port office,
straightening out details of the initial flight plan to exit Mars’ congested
orbit.   The evening, like several before
it,