“I know.” I shifted in the chair, suddenly uncomfortable. “I can transport now.”
Nyko put his hand on my shoulder, as if to stop me from moving, but Doctor Mersan shook his head. I wouldn’t be transporting anywhere without his clearance.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Doctor Helion is not at I.C. Command and won’t be for a while. And that was a significant bleed. Next time we might not be able to stop it.” The doctor’s voice was calm and even, clinical. The sound escaping Nyko was anything but.
“Next time?” he asked.
Chapter Nine
Megan
The doctor just cocked an eyebrow, leaving it up to me to explain or keep the beast in the dark. My mission was not only to fight the Hive, like Nyko and the other fighters, but also to help the I.C. unravel their communications system, find out how their implants and microscopic pieces all worked together and communicated. And the Nexus Unit was a huge leap in the right direction. Doctor Helion told me the Coalition had been trying to get one of them for more than twenty years.
The Nexus always ignored the bait…until that bait was female.
The first female to volunteer was still missing. That fact had scared the shit out of me, but I was strong. Fast. Smart. I knew I could pull off this mission and bring the Nexus puzzle pieces home.
I’d been dead wrong. That thing had looked in my eyes and he’d broken me, made me feel so isolated and alone I would have given him my soul.
Nyko had saved me. He was one hell of a warrior, and he deserved happiness. Even if it wasn’t with me.
I sighed. Nyko and I had been through a lot together, including one wild night. I at least owed it to him to explain. “I work for the Coalition Intelligence Core. My job was to lure a Nexus Unit, eliminate them and retrieve their neural communications unit along with some body tissue samples. The Coalition has long believed that there are some kind of specialty Hive trios that act as communication hubs. They’re like Hive commanders. They think on their own and give orders to the rest. Until yesterday, these Nexus units were nothing more than a rumor, myth. But Nexus 9 was the first we’ve ever encountered. We had to lure them away from the main attack group and kill them.”
I watched as Nyko’s hands curled into tight fists. “Your head?”
“A Hive neural implant taken from a high-ranking Hive Soldier we believed would be able to summon a Nexus Unit.”
“Bait,” he said.
I nodded and was thrilled my head didn’t hurt from the small movement. “Technically, yes. They sensed the implant and followed me into that cave.”
“Kill you.”
I sighed. He’d saved my ass, and we both knew it. “You saved my life, Nyko. No question.”
“No more. No next time.”
I agreed. One hundred and fifty percent. “No more.” With a small groan, I reached up to rub the back of my head where I could still feel the lump and scar from the surgery. Soon, I’d have a new scar, but no lump. And the deadly Hive technology inside me would be gone. “I have to transport back to the I.C.’s headquarters and have the Hive tech removed.”
“Now.”
Doctor Mersan crossed his arms and sat in a chair close to mine, antagonizing Nyko. It worked, if the rumbling that shook my shoulders was any indication of Nyko’s reaction. “I spoke to Doctor Helion. He believes your condition will remain stable as long as you stay away from any Hive activity or broadcasts.” He looked at me then. “I’m clearing you for transport as soon as Doctor Helion sends word that he’s ready for you, which could be any time in the next few days. You need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. No more combat patrols. No fighting. You aren’t to leave this ship until he sends for you.”
“Fine.” I hated doctors. Sure, Doctor Moor was nice, but in the end, all they did was hold you up, tell you everything you weren’t allowed to do, and keep you out of the fight while friends went out and got themselves killed.
He stood and opened the door, motioning Doctor Moor to return before looking back at me. “I look forward to your report.”
I smiled, kind of, and I knew it didn’t reach my eyes. Didn’t matter. He was gone, and a much friendlier face waltzed back in. Doctor Moor looked absolutely blissful. Glowing.
“Well, Megan, your time as a Coalition fighter is over. Your two years are complete,” Doctor Moor was talking in a strange, sing-song voice I’d nev
er heard from her before. “And you are now officially retired.”
Wow. That was fast. But I still had to go see Doctor Helion and get this Hive implant out of my head. They would want the tech I’d taken from the dead body as well. “I have one more delivery to make, Doctor.”
Shit. Where was it? My heart raced and I shoved up out of the chair to stand. “Where’s my pack?” It was usually on me like a backpack, but someone must have removed it when they put me in the ReGen pod.
“Relax, Megan. We’ve got it.” The doctor walked a short distance into the other room and I watched as she grabbed it from a shelf built into the wall behind the pod. Once she had my pack, she walked straight back to me. “Here.”