Read Online Loyalty to the Cause (TCOTU, Book 4) (This Corner of the Universe) by Britt Ringel - Free Book Online Page A

his outstretched arms but calmly stated, “You are not going
to shoot again, ja ?  You’ve already hit the auxiliary mixture controls
when your bullets passed through the kapitän .”  He snorted derisively, “I
am not surprised that even in death he would find a way to allow my ship to be
damaged.”
    “I
said hands up!” Brown shouted intensely, his finger resting directly on the
trigger.
    “Chief.” 
Vernay’s tender voice pierced through the enlisted man’s adrenalin and she
could see Brown’s arms begin to shake.  She walked up to him and placed a
gentle hand on his shoulder as she further coaxed, “His hands are up.  I think it’s
clear now.”  Vernay saw Brown’s head bob slowly and attempt several deep
breaths that came more like gasps.  She also saw a small pool of blood at his
left foot.  “Chief, you’re hit.”
    “I
ain’t hit,” Brown insisted defiantly.
    Vernay
reached for the rifle and was surprised at Brown’s resistance to relinquish
it.  “I’ll cover the engineer, Chief.  You check yourself out, okay?”
    Brown’s
head dipped twice in acknowledgment as his fingers struggled to release the
rifle.  He stepped away even as Vernay brought the rifle back up toward Hussy’s chief engineer.  “You’re Joachim, aren’t you?”
    The brown-haired
man, perhaps in his mid-fifties, nodded and replied, “ Ja , Gnädige Fräulein, Joachim Müller at your service.”
    “Mr. Müller, I need you to disembark the ship for a short time,
please.”
    Wrinkles gathered around the man’s mournful eyes as he smiled.  “ Nein, Gnädige Fräulein.  I cannot do this.  I must attend
to the auxiliary mixture controls your marine so recklessly damaged.”  He
vaguely gestured behind him with his upraised hands.  “If my lady’s primary
controls should fail we would be in quite a mess, ja ?”
    Brown
spoke behind Vernay.  “Yeah, I’m hit, L-T.  Dammit.”
    Vernay
looked over to Brown who had pulled up a pant leg.  A bloody, eight-millimeter
hole scarred the man’s calf.  Brown gripped the wound to apply direct pressure
while saying, “I didn’t even feel it.  I do now though.”
    “Chief,”
Vernay said, “get over to May and tell Olson to get some help from the galley.”
    As
Brown gingerly hobbled over the bottom lip of the engineering hatchway, Vernay readdressed her captive calmly.  “Mr. Müller, two of my people
are shot.  Are there medical supplies on board?”
    “ Ja,” Müller nodded, “ Das Flittchen has a sickbay just
forward of the galley, portside.”  The engineer slowly moved toward the exit
and beckoned amiably, “I will show you.  This way, please.”

Chapter 5
    Minutes later, Vernay paced outside the tiny compartment that was Hussy’s sickbay.  Brown and May lay upon the only two beds in the room while Gables stood
between them.  Gables had simply wrapped Brown’s calf with a tight bandage and
then set immediately to work on May.  While both patients were conscious, only
one was in agony.  The raspy breaths and whimpers of pain from the wounded, young
ensign hammered at Vernay’s psyche.
    Why didn’t I have the captain searched?  Of course he’d have a
hidden pistol, you idiot, she chastised.  And now, someone else pays the price for my carelessness.  She had handed off the rifle and Hussy’s engineer to Ensign Olson. 
So far, Müller was very cooperative, even helpful, but the enigmatic man had become
severely agitated when Vernay instructed him once again to exit the ship.  To
avoid further complicating an already chaotic situation, she had relented and
told him to wait in the galley.  Additional, ragged cries echoed from the sickbay
causing Vernay to kick the corridor bulkhead to release her torment.
    “Lieutenant?” Gables called meekly as she walked into the narrow
hall from the medical compartment.
    Dread filled Vernay and she answered, “What’s the word, Denise?”
    Gables
looked down briefly.  “Chief should be ok.