Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 36

Chapter 36 

"I'm leaving you," Petrov was explaining earnestly to Shehu. "I've changed my mind, I want Jake instead. I promised the Captain I'd spend the night with him."  

Shehu was protesting, "You can't do that! What about us?" 

Something was nagging at him in the background, he knew he had to seize this opportunity before ... 

Damn Shehu, he had to get rid of him, he couldn't wait for Petrov any longer. He reached out to touch Alexei's shoulder, pulling the other man into an embrace and found himself stroking Shehu's bare skin instead.  

Shehu? What the fuck? Where had that come from? Farrell struggled to get back to the surface, trying to shake the last wisps of hallucination, dream, whatever out of his head. He couldn't float here fantasising about his crew, there was something important he had to do! He finally managed to get his eyes open. 

Where on Earth was he? What had happened?  

Something bumped gently against him. He reached out instinctively and found himself gripping Nguyen by the foot. What the -? It took him a few moments to remember the explosion, to realise they must both be floating inside the shuttle. He drew Nguyen towards him, feeling carefully along his body, trying to discover any injuries. Nothing obvious. He made sure that his mask was still over his face and then turned carefully and slowly, he remembered he had four other men to check up on. 

XXX 

Lieutenant Cheung looked anxiously at the display in front of him. It would be at least another five minutes before they could be of any assistance. One minute to reach the disabled shuttle, another two or three to engage and stabilise it, then docking and finally they could enter. He looked at the two men standing near the hatch. They had their masks in hand already, medical kits strapped around their waists. He had done all he could for the moment, he just had to be patient. 

XXX 

The Captain had eventually located all four men. He hoped everyone was alive but he couldn't tell for certain until they got out, no-one else was conscious and one man, he thought it was Carmody, had broken his arm badly enough that he could see the break, even through the smoke. As carefully as he could, he gently moved Carmody into one of the seats and strapped him in, he didn't want to risk any further damage if the gravitator came back on line. 

As he moved about, reassuring himself that they were all as safe as he could make them, he let his thoughts return to the sequence of events. He remembered there had been two explosions, neither of which could possibly be attributed to a malfunction or accident, they had to have been deliberate. He tried not to let his building fury cloud his judgement. Someone had sabotaged his shuttle, risked the lives of his men. Planted one, or more likely two, explosive devices. Who? He thought it was a fairly safe bet to exclude everyone currently on the shuttle. No one could have known exactly what damage the explosions would cause. They could have all been killed, it was just luck that they hadn't been. 

His first thoughts jumped immediately to the men he knew were most upset by the disclosure that he was an om. But surely no-one, not even Boyko or Morales, could have been that angered by his announcement that they would feel justified in killing him, let alone the collateral damage of five other men, who were definitely not oms? No-one who was sane, in any case. 

He tried to keep his thoughts focussed, aware that he was slipping in and out of consciousness.  

"You have to let me go," Petrov was telling him with a sad smile. Damn, if it was going to end this way at least he could have gone out with a hot fantasy ... They were running out of air. 

Then he felt a jolt, as the Voyager's shuttle connected with his. Thank god, Cheung was here. He let himself fall back into the blackness. 

XXX 

Cheung followed LeGuin and McIntosh into the chaotic interior of the Diell's shuttle. Shredded pieces of metal hung in the air, amidst black smoke. He saw that Farrell had managed to get everyone strapped in apart from himself and draped his arm over his own shoulder before he signalled to the other two men that he was going to override the gravitator. 

The two of them landed uncomfortably on the floor, Cheung on top of the Captain, but it couldn't be helped. It wasn't possible to transfer the men to their own shuttle fast enough without gravity. LeGuin and McIntosh, who had braced themselves, were already administering fresh air supplies before moving the unconscious crew out of the shuttle and transferring them to the waiting medics. 

Cheung tried to get up but disconcertingly the Captain's arms tightened convulsively around him, holding him hard against his body. His eyes were shut, but his arms had a death grip.  

"Ah, Captain?" No response. 

Of course he couldn't hear him through the mask. He figured some air must be entering the cabin by now due to the transfer and tore off his own mask and then Farrell's. 

The man beneath him took in a great gulp of air and relaxed his arms. Thank god, that had been getting a little ... awkward. 

"Captain? We have to-" He was going to say 'leave' but he didn't get a chance because Farrell kissed him, bringing one large hand up to push his head down firmly so he could reach his mouth. His lips pressed hard against his own, his tongue seeking entry to his mouth. He was so stunned he couldn't move for a second. Farrell opened his eyes drowsily, then stared incredulously.  

"Well, that was a nice surprise!" He smiled for an instant before Cheung's look of horrified dismay registered.  

"Oops! Sorry, an accident, you took me unawares." He looked around as Cheung scrambled frantically to his feet. "Sorry," he repeated. "What's happening?" 

Cheung tried to get his jumbled thoughts in order. "We have to leave, I'll fill you in when we get out." Self-consciously he extended a hand to help the other man to his feet. 

Farrell stood up, suddenly remembering his shuttle had exploded. He looked around quickly to check on his crew and saw that the last man was being carried out. He and Cheung were the only men left. He turned and followed the Lieutenant, a little shakily, out into the Voyager's shuttle. When he got his brain working again he was probably going to be horribly embarrassed by his lapse with Cheung, but at the moment he just felt ... interested! Hmm. Hastily he tucked that thought away to explore later, just now he needed to focus all his energy on the sabotage and attempted murder of his men.