Within thirty seconds the review was done and she was well. The scan didn’t reveal any defect, especially this CTE, but it did catalog prior injuries and scars. The ReGen pods didn’t heal old wounds, only fresh ones. Unless I wanted to take Mikki into surgery, reopen old wounds or rebreak old bones, then there was no point. Sometimes, such extreme measures were required, but I could not willingly damage my female. If she required such treatment, I would need to call in another doctor to inflict the injuries to her body.
And they would have to lock me in a prison cell while they hurt her, or I would most likely kill them.
“Relax, Surnen. Seriously I’m fine.” Mikki’s hand ran up and down my forearm in an attempt to comfort me, and I realized I’d allowed my extreme thoughts to bleed through the collar to her.
“I am fine, as is our mate. She does not have this CTE they spoke of.” I nodded and Trax relaxed as I focused on changing the tone of my thoughts. “There are some probes you might enjoy, mate,” I advised, and I took pleasure in her cheeks turning pink.
Trax and I had certainly tested her health and fitness since we’d fucked her into exhaustion. I knew every inch of her body. If she had an ache, it was because we’d fucked her too hard. If she had a pain, it was because I’d tugged on her nipples to the point where her discomfort morphed into pleasure.
No, the scans were clear, but I would carry the health scanner on my uniform, just in case. Dropping my hand, I gave her a nod, and she stepped away.
Mikki went to Rachel’s side, and the governor’s mate was kind and friendly toward her as she explained the project she was working on. We had received information from a Coalition exobiology team that something was causing a strange disease to develop in a native animal species on Valuri.
The Fleet did not have time to investigate such matters, and as Valuri was relatively close to The Colony, I had agreed to look over their data. Animals weren’t my specialty, especially on a planet not my own. Rachel, a worthy scientist in her own right, had taken over the task when the first two Prillon warriors became ill. I’d shifted my focus to finding a cure for them while she studied Valuri’s problems.
“Is that the planet you’re helping?” Mikki asked.
I glanced over my shoulder to see vivid images of Valuri on the comm screen on the wall opposite Rachel. The planet was a chaotic mess of life. The orange star hovering in the sky above the landscape covered a large part of the sky. The cooler star emitted reddish light, which cause the ocean to have a brownish-red hue that was unlike the blue water vids I had seen of Earth. Still, Mikki stared, fascinated.
“Is that a lake or is that their ocean?”
With the images that Rachel had shared of Earth’s water, I now saw similarities. The planets were near each other, at least in universe metrics. “Ocean. But there is no they. The planet is uninhabited. At least by people.”
“You said animals are getting sick? Are they carbon based or something extreme, like sulfur?”
“Carbon, we assume.” Rachel answered her. “The planet’s environment is very similar to Earth’s, as a matter of fact. Nearly identical.”
“Even the atmosphere?”
“Again, nearly identical, although Valuri appears to have higher oxygen levels than Earth as well as a thicker cover of ozone in the higher atmosphere protecting the surface from ultraviolet radiation. With their star so close to the planet, they probably need the extra protection.”
“What kind of animals are getting sick? Land or sea?”
“Coalition satellites spotted group beachings of dead sea creatures about the size of Earth’s orcas. The smallest group they saw was seven, the largest close to thirty. They beach, then after a day or two the carcasses disappear. We figure they are being scavenged by local wildlife.”
“Are they mammals?”
“We don’t know. No one’s been there yet. The Coalition sent probes, but they gathered general data. Nothing specific about the animals on the planet. With the war going on, and no known civilization living there, exploring wasn’t a high priority.”
“So they sent it to you?”
“To us,” I confirmed. “One of the things we do here is investigate things the battleships do not have time to invest in.”
“Because you are sent here to die, and you have all the time in the world. Is that it?” Mikki’s anger simmered again, but I did not understand the reason behind it. She spoke truth.
“Yes. I work on things the doctors in the Fleet do not have time to investigate. As does Rachel. We are an asset to the Coalition, despite our diminished status as citizens on The Colony.”
“Don’t even get me started, Surnen.” Mikki waved her hand at me to indicate I should stop speaking and returned her attention to Rachel, who was looking up at my mate with a strange expression on her face. One I’d never seen before.
“I know, right? It’s ridiculous the way they treat their veterans.”
“This place is insane.”
“Yeah, well, before Jessica was matched to Prime Nial, these guys couldn’t even get brides.”
“That’s bullshit.” Mikki looked at me then, her gaze meeting mine, and I felt despair coming from her. Sadness. And rage.
“I know.”