Fic - Weiss Kreuz - Asset Retrieval (Part 2)
Fandom: Weiß Kreuz
Title: Asset Retrieval
Warnings: Canon-level violence
Pairing(s): Crawford/Ran
Notes: Part of a series of space opera AU fics started for the 2015 Weiss vs Saiyuki Battle. Follows on from Down Time. Many thanks to puddingcat for her work in beta-reading!
Part 1
"We should call the police," Ran said again, as Crawford pulled him back out of view behind a wall. The house they had under surveillance was very ordinary, just a plain house in a residential street. The idea of having enough space for a house with a tiny, unkempt garden in front of it was exotic enough, of course, Crawford thought, given that he'd lived so much of his life in space. But he supposed this example was perfectly ordinary - there was nothing at all to indicate the presence of a kidnapped girl, or her captors.
"You must have had a sheltered upbringing," Schuldig said. "Those burger-slinging fools had every intention of calling these bastards to warn them. By the time we convinced the police to get here there'd be nothing to find. Besides, don't you want us to save her before they do anything too nasty to her pretty little body?"
Ran flinched at that, and Crawford got a tight hold on his shoulders to stop him doing anything rash; he just kept quiet, however. It seemed he wasn't in the mood for taking a swing at Schuldig this time.
"How much time do you think you bought us before they do contact their friends?" Crawford asked.
"They won't have done it yet, but they'll snap out of my influence soon enough." Schuldig checked his comm. "Jens is almost here, Farfarello's still not answering, damn him."
"He's scheduled to be on the ship - he'd never get here in time anyway. Nagi?"
"On his way. And agitated."
"I see. Maybe we're going to have another house screamed to pieces."
Schuldig grimaced. They all remembered that incident vividly.
"What do you mean?" Ran said. "How are we going to get Nanami out?" He turned in Crawford's grasp. "Is the First Officer right, Captain? Are they raping her?"
Crawford shook his head, keeping his expression calm. "Don't think about that," he said. As clearly as he could, he thought, Schuldig, for the love of all the gods, take a look at him. You've set him off. Schuldig's face made it clear what he thought of that, but they didn't argue in public.
"Ran," Schuldig said, "come over here. No, it's all right, come here, I've something to say, First Officer to Nav."
Ran looked up at Crawford and was obviously not pleased to get an encouraging nod. He reluctantly stepped over beside Schuldig.
"You're doing fine," Schuldig said, in the calm voice he always used when he was getting Ran ready for jump. "You're not to blame for anything those fuckers do to her. What they'll want is to sell her, and get the best price, right? They're not going to traumatise her and make her seem less stable than she is, they wouldn't get as much. We're going to get her back, all right?"
"This is all because I was annoyed that her hands were sticky with sugar," Ran said. "It's not her fault, I should have -"
"Stop. Leave this to us. We know what we're doing. You stay close to the house, but don't get in our way," Schuldig said, his voice still calm and even. He smiled reassuringly, patting Ran's shoulder. "The Captain and I have a lot of experience in this sort of thing. What we need from you right now is for you to keep your mind on the here and now, in case something happens out here, all right? It won't do you any good to be thinking about anything that could hypothetically be happening somewhere else. Do you understand?"
"Yes, First Officer," Ran said. "I do feel a bit more focused now."
"Good boy," Schuldig said, and winked at Crawford. His comm made a soft beep and he rolled his eyes as he read the message. "Farfarello - he's just woken up from a nap. He wants to know if we can delay the killing until he gets here. Asshole. At least Jens will soon be -"
"- here," Crawford said, and pointed to the far corner. A second later Jens came round it at a jog, speeding up as he approached.
"What the hells happened?" he said. "You really lost Nanami?"
"She was stolen by the bastards in that house. Who may or may not be armed, and we don't know how many there are of them," Schuldig said.
"We'll go in front and back," Crawford said. "I want someone nondescript and harmless in appearance for the front, to get them to answer the door."
"Ran?" Jens said.
"I'll do it," Ran said, eager for adventure or to atone for losing Nanami, Crawford thought.
"I'm not risking both navigators," he said, "you're staying outside. You're hardly nondescript, with your hair and eyes. Jens -"
"Gods, thanks. Fine, I'll be Civilian Lost-and-Innocent."
Danger. Crawford looked up in alarm, pulling Ran and Jens hard against the wall. Schuldig's fast reflexes had him flattening himself beside them as a local vehicle sped round the corner and squealed to a stop, barely missing them. Nagi erupted from the driver's seat, his face dark with anger.
"Where the fuck are they keeping her?"
"Where did you get - this?" Schuldig said, looking at the vehicle in distaste. "It looks old enough to have a fucking internal combustion engine."
"Borrowed it," Nagi said. "Where?"
He was still in control, Crawford thought, although that might not last much longer. Once Nagi started to get angry things tended to escalate quickly. They might have to let him crush one of the kidnappers to calm down, which was irritating.
"We're not looking to kill them," he said. "Not unless it's really necessary, do you understand, Nagi? We don't need to get ourselves noticed. It's a pity you stole that - whatever the hells it is. Right - Jens, front door, five minutes. Schuldig, Nagi, with me around to the back. Ran, stay with this heap of junk. Let's go."
The street of houses backed onto another, each with small gardens behind them, a narrow laneway dividing them. It was an unbelievable wealth of space, each of the rooms that Crawford could see through windows larger than the cabins and storerooms for the crew of the Rose. It wasn't even, he knew, one of the wealthier parts of Tulleerin City. He tried for a moment to imagine living in such huge rooms and found he couldn't - he simply couldn't remember what it had been like. He shook such irrelevancies from his mind and gestured to the others.
"Move in on Schuldig's mark."
"Jens is at the door," Schuldig said, his eyes focused on nothing Crawford could see. "One man answering - trying to get rid of him - two others coming into the hall to see what's up - move in!"
Getting over the wall and across the unkempt garden was a matter of seconds. The back door was locked, but it was a flimsy affair, and Nagi merely had to place his hand flat against it for the door to swing open, the frame cracking.
"What the fuck?" the man in the kitchen doorway said, turning, going for a weapon in his belt.
Crawford took him down before he had finished turning around, while Jens shoved the front door into the face of the man standing there, and Schuldig eeled past to slam an elbow into the throat of the third man, who had lost precious time by looking in confusion between the front and back doors. As he swayed, Schuldig punched him twice between the eyes and swept his feet from under him.
"Where's the girl?" Crawford said, his face close to that of the man he had on the ground. He pulled the arm he had hold of higher, twisted it, and the fool shrieked. "Where is she?" Crawford said, patiently. The babble of "Stop!" and "Please!", and "I don't know!" from all angles was irritating, so he looked over at Jens, saying clearly, "Jens, yours is a loud moron, make a point."
"Sir," Jens said, not sounding too pleased. There was a distinct smell of ozone, and the man in Jens' grasp jerked hard, his head slamming back into the wall. He sank down onto the stained, thin carpet, silent at last.
Crawford lessened the pressure on his captive's arm. "Answer my question," he said. "You took a young navigator girl from a café in the market. Where is she?"
"Oh gods, you killed Renn and Canner," the man said, his eyes darting from the sprawled form at Jens' feet to the battered one at Schuldig's. "Don't kill me, please, don't kill me."
"They're not dead yet, and you won't be either if you answer the question," Crawford said.
"Upstairs," Schuldig said, as the man whimpered in incoherent fear. "With another one - no, two of them."
Nagi had vaulted over them onto the stairs before he had finished speaking. He ran up, his desire to do damage all too obvious.
"Dammit," Crawford muttered, as foreboding struck him, and dropped his prisoner. "Jens, secure him," he said, running after Nagi, Schuldig on his heels. A doorway, left and right, both doors simply blown open, hanging loose on their hinges. Empty. The third room was bigger, Nagi stalking forward, his slender, small size not distracting from the sense of menace. Crawford took in the two kidnappers, a man and a woman, Nanami struggling in the man's grasp, his hand over her mouth, as the woman opened the window. They were going out a front window; so much for not attracting attention.
"Give her to me," Nagi said, his voice shaking.
Crawford supposed it sounded like he was scared, if you didn't know it was from the effort of simply not killing everyone in the room.
"Fuck off," the man said. "Go on, Talli, get out."
"No one's going anywhere," Crawford said.
"Stay where you are or I'll break this little bitch's neck!"
"Everyone, calm down," Schuldig said. "You - Talli, right? - come on, step back from the window, yes, that's it -"
The woman turned towards him, her face confused as she obediently took one step back and another.
"We just want the girl, no one has to get hurt," Crawford said, as Nagi said,
"If you've fucked her you'll be more than fucking hurt."
"Don't lose your temper," Crawford said urgently, alarm flickering.
"She's so fucking slack she didn't even notice. You bastards must be pounding away at her day and night," the man sneered. Nanami got an arm free and did her best to claw his hand down from her face. He yelled, and shook her hard. "Bite
me again and I will kill you, you little nav bitch."
Crawford risked a glance at Nagi. The blood had drained from his cheeks and his expression had switched horribly obviously over to fight. There was a beat as Nagi drew breath and -
"Down!" Crawford yelled. Schuldig dropped to the carpet beside him.
- all the glass in the window flew in, shards embedding themselves in the walls and doorframe like knives. Crawford felt his ears pop as the air pressure in the room returned to normal and he cautiously raised his head. Nanami was standing in the centre of the room, shaking, her eyes wide. The kidnappers were down, the man bleeding out, the woman probably as bad.
"Don't talk to her like that," Nagi said softly, as if the kidnapper could hear him. His eyes snapped into focus on Nanami. "Nanami, it's all right, you're safe now."
"What did he do?" she moaned, looking around at the glass and the blood-soaked carpet. "What did he do?"
"It's all right, I kept you safe! They were just bad people, but I wouldn't have let you be hurt." Nagi went forward, his hands out. "Come on, it's all right."
"Nagi, careful," Crawford said, getting to his feet.
"She's terrified," Schuldig said, jumping up. "Easy, Nanami, you know us, there's my good girl."
Nanami backed away as Nagi approached, whimpering as her foot touched Talli's prone form.
"She has blood on her shoe," she said, looking down at her feet. Then, before Nagi could take her arm she bent to touch Talli, recoiled in horror, and broke for the window.
"Nanami!" Nagi and Schuldig yelled in unison as she hoisted herself up and jumped.
"Why didn't you stop her?" Nagi said rounding on Schuldig.
"I tried - very strong emotions can act as a defence against mental influence, you know that. They don't defend against fucking telekinesis though, so why didn't you stop her?"
"I didn't want to frighten her more," Nagi said defensively.
"Stop bickering," Crawford said, looking out at how Nanami was limping away. "She hasn't killed herself, let's retrieve her. Schuldig, can you make those fools downstairs think they did this?"
"I can try," he said.
"Come on," Crawford said to Nagi. He led the way down the stairs, just shaking his head at Jens' quizzical expression, and out into the street. "You said you were working on your temper," he said when they were alone.
"I very rarely lose my temper these days, be fair," Nagi said. "And that wasn't much, not like before."
"Still, an expensive asset threw herself out of an upstairs window to get away from you. That's not a good retrieval mission, Naoe."
"No, sir."
"All right," Crawford said. "She went down this street." He rounded the corner and sighed as he saw Ran scurry towards a distant vehicle, a massive goods transport. "Gods. Can't he obey just once?"
"He wants to be useful," Nagi said. "He's worried about losing himself to the drugs."
"I didn't buy him as a gods-damned ornament; he'll take the drugs when Schuldig tells him to," Crawford said in irritation, then made himself stop talking. He would not, he told himself, discuss the matter with his teenage engineer.
"Nanami," Ran said, looking under the transport vehicle, "please come out of there."
"I told you to wait in the other street for us," Crawford said as they came closer.
"I saw her run, she climbed under here," Ran said. He got down on the ground and inched under the transport. "Nanami? It's all right to come out, the Captain wants you to. We could get some sweets - ah!"
"Ran? Get out of there," Crawford said. Ran's sound of surprised pain worried him. "Nagi, get him out."
Nagi looked around and hunkered down, gesturing. Ran slid out faster and smoother than he'd wriggled in. His left forearm was covered in blood, the sleeve soaked.
"Shit," Crawford said, shoving the sleeve up and seeing the deep, slanting edges of the cut, right across the veins. "She got a knife."
"I think it's a piece of glass," Ran said, looking at his arm in horrified fascination as the blood poured out. "My hand won't work. I can't close my fingers." He was already looking faint, though Crawford hoped it was merely from the sight of his own blood.
"Sit down, and keep that gods' damned arm up," he snapped, taking off his belt. A tourniquet could be as much trouble as it was help, but he wasn't going to let a navigator die in front of him if he could prevent it. Not at Ran's price. He tightened the belt around Ran's upper arm and activated his comm's connection to local emergency service providers.
"Emergency medical aid to this comm's coordinates, fastest arrival time. Yes, damn it, I can afford it, I'm the captain of the merchant ship Rose, I'm insured." He reeled off a description of Ran's injury, before turning back to the others.
"She won't come out," Nagi said. "I can pull her out, Captain."
Crawford loosened Ran's tourniquet for a few moments, watching the blood begin to flow from the wound again. "Keep the arm up," he said. "Help's coming." He shook his head at Nagi. "Your instinct not to scare her further was correct - get Schuldig down here, he'll get her out." He turned back to Ran, who was pale and bathed in a chill sweat. "You're doing fine. You'll be all right. Take even breaths; good, good."
"It's not her fault," Ran said in a thin, tight voice. "I was the one who got her into this. I shouldn't have let them take her. She's frightened, Captain; she didn't mean to hurt me."
"I know," Crawford said, keeping his views to himself on what Nanami meant when she had a knife. He tightened the tourniquet again, helping Ran support the arm. "You can lean against me if you need to. If you're feeling sleepy I want you to talk to me, do you understand?"
After a moment, Ran started talking. "My sister used to be so light-hearted," he said. "She'd never do anything I said, when she was a kid she'd always pull away if I tried to hold her hand when we crossed a street. And she was, she was - so pretty - I used to worry about her, but . . . and . . ." His voice died away.
"What's her name?" Crawford said. "Ran? What's your sister's name?"
"Aya," Ran said, seemingly by reflex. "I told her I'd pay the hospital bills, I'd make sure she didn't have to worry -"
"That's right. So you took yourself off to a merchant who dealt with space crews, remember?"
"I think he cheated me," Ran said, looking up in alarm. "Captain, did I get paid?"
"I went to the hospital myself," Crawford said. "I paid your sister's bills. Nagi, where in all the hells is Schuldig?"
"Says he can't do ten gods-fucked things at once and he'll be here soon, Captain. Sorry, Captain, his words."
Crawford let it go, concentrating on monitoring Ran's wound and on making sure that Nanami didn't make a break for freedom. He looked down the road, hearing the approaching siren a second later. Another moment and the emergency vehicle was in view, Nagi stepping into the road to flag it down.
Two medics jumped out, running to Ran, asking questions.
"Another navigator panicked and attacked him," Crawford said. "She sliced his arm open."
"Yeah," the older woman swabbing the blood from the wound said. "She did a nasty job. Hold still, lad, she got your veins and nerves." She started spraying antibacterials and sealants into the wound.
Crawford looked around to see Schuldig jogging up.
"All done, as much as I could," Schuldig said.
They'll remember a rival's enforcers, Crawford heard in his mind and nodded at Nanami's hiding place.
"She's under there - think you can persuade her to come out? She's armed with a shard of glass; all that blood is Ran's."
"Great," Schuldig said. He hunkered down to peer under the goods transport. "Hey in there, it's me, Schuldig, the first officer, remember me? Come on out and talk to me, pretty thing, no one will hurt you."
"When you get her out we can put her down for you," the woman said, turning Ran's arm this way and that, looking at her work in satisfaction. She peered at him in surprise as he pulled away from her grasp.
"Captain! You're not going to - please, Captain, you know she didn't mean to-" his voice ran down to nothing as the medic pressed a hypospray against his neck. He staggered, looking confused as the medic caught him and held him steady.
"No point in letting him get hysterical; he's anxious enough as it is," she said, and finished cleaning his arm. "He's pretty aware of his surroundings, isn't he?"
"He's new to this," Crawford said. "We'll handle the girl, thank you."
The medics looked at him, and at each other in definite disapproval.
"We'd do it humanely," the younger woman said. "There are regulations about proper treatment of slaves here, you know."
"I'm sure," Crawford said. "No offence, ladies, but we'll deal with ship's property as we see fit. My first officer will get her calmed down soon enough, there's no need to talk about euthanizing her."
"None at all," Schuldig called out cheerfully, from halfway under the transport. A high-pitched sobbing could now be heard from somewhere under it, retreating from him. Nagi was looking angry again; Crawford took a deep, calming breath, and smiled at the medics.
"I know you probably paid a lot for her, but you know you can't expect them to improve once they get violently unstable," the older medic said, her eyes on what was visible of Schuldig. "I expect we'll be fixing him up next." She took Ran's hand and gently pulled him towards their vehicle. "It's their funeral," she muttered to her colleague. "This poor lad's out of danger, but the nerves and the navigation implant have been severed. We can't deal with that here; he needs to come in for a transfusion and surgery. Are you sure your officer is all right, there?"
"He's very good at dealing with navigators, he knows what he's doing," Crawford said, giving Nagi a quelling look. "He doesn't need any help." If the little bastard even thought about lifting the gods-fucked transport up in public, he thought, there would be several hells' worth of extra duty coming his way for years. Nagi raised an eyebrow, seeming to have caught mindspeech, and put his hands behind his back, shifting insolently into parade rest. Crawford turned his attention back to the medics. "Shall we go? Schuldig, I'm leaving you in command."
"Right," Schuldig yelled from deep beneath the transport. His voice dropped back down to a comforting, persuasive rhythm, the words indistinct.
"Wait for Jens," Crawford said to Nagi, and took Ran by the upper arm. "Come on, Ran."
The younger woman drove while the older sat in the back of the emergency vehicle with them. She made Ran lie down, putting a monitor patch over his heart.
"You'll be fine," she said, smiling. To Crawford she said, "Do you want him on continual sedation?"
"No, he'll be all right once he's rested for a while," Crawford said.
"If you're sure. Let's deal with your cuts, then."
"Mine?" Crawford said. He raised a hand to his head and felt his hair sticky with blood. "It's nothing serious."
"If you please, Lord Captain - " She swabbed the scratches on his face, cleaned the blood and took a few shards of glass from his hair before spraying the cleaned scratches with antibacterials and skin sealant. "She broke a window, did she?"
"Quite a big one," Crawford said, hoping he sounded as rueful and sheepish as a civilian merchant surely should. He sat back and kept his eyes on Ran, who was looking up at the roof with confused misery.
"It's all superficial, you were a lot luckier than your navigator here."
"I'm generally lucky."
They entered the hospital grounds and drew up beside a large, relatively pleasant-looking building. The medic helped Crawford get Ran out, and insisted that he be put into a wheelchair. Crawford looked at the chair, at the large number of well-tended flowers under the hospital windows, and saw the incidental charges increasing before his eyes.
"You can walk, he's had significant blood loss and isn't walking anywhere," the medic said before he could say anything. "We all have our areas of competence; you'll allow me to have mine?"
"Please," Crawford said, "lead on."
They were left in a small waiting room, the walls painted an inoffensive pale blue, decorated with images of what Crawford thought were perhaps local beauty spots.
"The doctors will see you both as quickly as possible," the medic said. "Please don't give him any water; it's very unlikely that he'll be given a general anesthetic, but just in case, all right?"
"Thank you," Crawford said, and settled back to wait. He hoped it wouldn't be long. It had better not be, he thought. The only other person waiting, a man in his forties, made brief eye-contact and thereafter kept careful watch only on whatever dreadful drama he was watching on his datapad. He really needed better sound controls on the thing, Crawford thought in irritation. Every inane piece of romantic dialogue was all too audible.
"Captain," Ran said quietly, beside him, "Captain, don't kill her."
"Feeling more awake? Good. Don't worry about anything except getting out of here quickly."
Ran covered his eyes with his uninjured hand. "Shit," he muttered, shaking, "shit. I fucked up my sister's life and I've fucked up Nanami's. Don't, Captain, it was my fault, not hers."
"What," Crawford said, "so I should have you put down?" He rolled his eyes at Ran's flinch. "By all the gods, boy, don't be an idiot. No one's being put down; I don't want you obsessing about this, do you hear me? Am I wasteful? Am I the sort of man who throws away assets? Well?"
"I - suppose not," Ran said mistrustfully.
"So you can be sure she'll be there when you're better. Sit in one of these chairs, they're more comfortable."
Ran obeyed, looking at him sidelong. "I bled on your sleeve," he said. "Sorry. And your collar? How'd I do that?"
"That's all mine, apparently," Crawford said. "Not your fault, so keep calm about it." He put a hand on the back of Ran's head, stroking his hair.
Ran shifted away. "Stop. What are you doing?"
"It's meant to be comforting."
"I don't find it comforting. Captain."
"Who said it was meant to be for you?"
Ran looked at him in utter confusion as the man in the chair opposite sank down deeper in an air of studied non-eavesdropping. Crawford fought the urge to laugh at them both.
"You're making a joke," Ran said in tones of such offence that Crawford did laugh. "Give a signal like a smile or something the next time."
"I'll take it under advisement," Crawford said, looking up at the doorway to see a dark-haired woman carrying a datapad watching them.
"Captain Crawford?" she said, smiling at him.
"Yes," Crawford said. "Does my navigator still need the chair?"
"He shouldn't really have got out of it," she said, coming over and slipping her pad into a pocket of her jacket. "Back here, please - Ran, is it? We're just going to this room over here." She pushed the chair to the room she indicated, Crawford beside her.
"I'm Dr Lakeman," she said, sitting down. "You were both involved in an incident with another of your navigators, Captain Crawford? Your own injuries are reported here as superficial, although Ran suffered more extensively. Ran, let me see your arm, please. Is he likely to panic?"
"No, I'm not," Ran said, holding out his arm.
She looked at him a little sceptically, but took his hand and ran a scanner over the site of the injury. "He's out of danger; I wouldn't have expected anything else with our response team. He'll need a transfusion, as they assessed, and we can install a new implant when we do the nerve-repair surgery. He'll be staying in overnight, if that's acceptable?"
"Yes, of course," Crawford said. He held obediently still as she checked him in turn, refusing to wince as she parted his hair to reveal the scratches to the medical scanner.
"I'm afraid it's just your dignity that took a beating," she said, smiling. "You don't need anything more than the response team already provided. Do you think Ran will be all right here without any of your crew? Ran, do you need any of them to stay with you? I'm sure your captain could send someone in."
"I'll be fine," he said quickly. "You don't need to bother the first officer, Captain."
"I'm sure he'll be glad of that," Crawford said solemnly. "When will you schedule the surgery, Doctor?"
"He'll go down within an hour," she said. "We can do it under local or general anesthetic, as you prefer."
"Can you stay calm enough for them to do the work under local?" Crawford said.
Ran nodded. "They used a general anesthetic for the implants at home - I felt like shit afterwards." He gave them both a bitter smile. "On top of feeling like shit."
"Where did he get the weapons' scar from?" Dr Lakeman asked after a moment.
"A brawl," Crawford said. "I fully accept that he should have been kept further from trouble."
"It looks like an energy weapon burn," she said. "Quite a brawl. Ran? Do you need to add anything?"
"No," he said. "I'm not making complaints against my captain, if that's what you're asking. Proper treatment of slaves means painless euthanasia, or so we were told earlier. I prefer the treatment I already get, thank you for asking, Doctor."
She blinked. Crawford kept a mild expression on his face, amused to see someone else get a taste of Ran's opinions.
"You're an unusual young man," she said at last. "I assure you the proper treatment you'll get here will be the best of medical care. That scar tissue might not bother you now, but I doubt you've been taking much care of the area once it first healed. It could leave you with difficulties in full movement of your head and neck as you age. Captain Crawford, if you agree, we can also work on that area - yes? - please sign here to authorize the surgery -" She held out her pad and a stylus, and Crawford signed where she indicated. "If you send someone tomorrow afternoon," she said, "Ran can be discharged then."
"Very well," he said, rising. Gods, he thought, even with insurance this was going to cost a fortune. Perhaps he should send Farfarello around to the insurance company's offices to make an argument for why they should pay the excess on the policy. People tended to listen to Farfarello when he laid out things logically. He squeezed Ran's shoulder. "Be good." As Ran looked up, irritated, he leant over, murmuring, "Remember, ship's business is ship's business."
"Captain," Ran muttered in a tone of barely civil acquiescence.
"See you tomorrow," Crawford said. "If he gets too annoying, Dr Lakeman, keep him sedated."
She looked amused at Ran's disgusted expression. Crawford nodded politely to her and left.
* * *
Schuldig looked very young and somehow innocent, Crawford thought, freshly scrubbed and dressed in casual, clean clothes. He collapsed onto the bed and grimaced.
"Fuck, I am paying for something considerably softer than this. Are you sure you want to get Ran back tomorrow? It was a gods' shit of a mess getting Nanami out of there, but at least she doesn't argue."
"Don't tempt me," Crawford said. "How heavily sedated is she?"
"Out of it," Schuldig said. He propped himself up, scrutinizing Crawford. "Yeah, you're fine, you needn't worry that your profile is ruined by scars."
"Please. I'm not the vain one. You dropped so fast that you didn't even get your hair parted by the wind of the implosion."
Schuldig laughed. "I took her to a smaller clinic - I didn't think she needed the same level of coddling as Ran. Seeing as you don't like her that way." He sniggered at Crawford's expression. "A few bruises - on her wrists - for example. She fought them, good girl. Some scrapes, from the road surface. And it wasn't just one of the bastards' DNA in her mouth. Actual bits of flesh between her teeth from an earlier bite."
"I didn't see anyone with that level of injury visible," Crawford said.
"I guess that fucker was lucky and missed us. Oh, and our little Nav - no vaginal or anal trauma, and I couldn't find any recent bad memories. Maybe she bit someone's dick off. That'd certainly give the others pause for thought." Schuldig sat up, running his fingers through his still-damp hair. "Remember that skirmish at Affane, that insurgent girl on the station? That's what I imagine our little Nanami was like with those bastards."
"Gods, yeah, she was hilarious," Crawford said. "What a temper. Pity we had to put a burst through her skull. Anyway, let's see the runaway."
Schuldig opened the inner door and gestured at the bed. Nanami lay quietly, her breathing shallow and regular, her arms and hands bruised and scratched, a deep bruise shadowing her forehead.
"Where'd she get those?" Crawford said. "I don't remember them from the house."
"Bashed her head on the underside of that damn transport," Schuldig said. "The scrapes and scratches are from that and the road, like I said - as are mine, thanks for asking. She had some glass cuts on her hand because of her nice, shiny weapon. She'll be all right; she's just tired. How do you feel about babysitting tonight?"
"What? No. I was planning on going out and finding someone to fuck as stress relief."
"Huh," Schuldig said. "That was my plan too. I'm not leaving her by herself, gods only know what she'd do if she woke up and didn't know where she was. Actually, give me a few minutes, I'm going to see if I can get under the drugs and send her deeper asleep, just in case. We'll still need someone to babysit - we can't leave her with Nagi -"
"Good gods, no. He looked like he needed a minder when I talked to him. And if he was more awake I wouldn't trust him near her."
" - so," Schuldig said, picking up his comm, "Hi, Jens! How'd you like me to owe you a favour?"
Crawford tugged the bedcovers from beneath Nanami and covered her. Schuldig leaned against the doorframe, his call finished.
"He's on his way. He says he's going to order everything he can on my room service. We're free for the night - we haven't gone out together for too long, Crawford. Let's find someone to share, what do you think?"
"That didn't work so well the last time," Crawford said, his eyes still on Nanami. He straightened the covers neatly. Schuldig came in and gave the sheets beneath her a quick tug, as if making sure no wrinkle would cause irritation to a navigator about to enter jump.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, off-hand. "No one has to die this time. Come on, let's find someone pretty and give them a night they wish they could forget!"
"Just as soon as Jens gets here," Crawford said, feeling his spirits lightening. A night out with a good friend was just what he needed to cheer him up.
* * *
Crawford woke a second before his comm chimed the alarm he could only dimly remember setting the previous night. He sat up, reaching out blindly for the drawer of the bedside cabinet, feeling mild alarm when he couldn't find it. He squinted blearily at the room and was relieved to see he had made it back to his own hotel room - he leaned over to check the floor - alone. Schuldig could deal with the potential embarrassment from last night's pick-up by himself. Schuldig even enjoyed dealing with that sort of thing. Where was the damned cabinet? Ah. On the other side of the bed. He carefully rolled over and fumbled in the drawer until he managed to extract one of the complimentary anti-nausea and pain-killing patches. He applied it and lay down again until it started to take effect. Gods' mercy, he was never drinking like that again.
Thirty minutes later he was at Schuldig's door, showered, shaved and respectable as any business partner could wish. The door opened immediately at his knock, admitting him to a view of a horribly bright and cheerful Schuldig braiding back his hair, and Nanami sitting cross-legged on the bed, eating sweets and watching a children's cartoon with deep concentration.
"Good morning," Schuldig said, checking his reflection. "And how are we this fine morning?"
"Very well. Any problems in the goodbyes?"
"Strangely, no. Why'd you go so early? You should have stuck around for the repeat performance. I got back in plenty of time for a quick nap before my shower." Schuldig winked at him in the mirror, then nodded in satisfaction at his reflection. "Ready to haggle for cargo? We can grab something to eat on the way."
"She won't let go of their hands," Nanami said, her eyes still on the screen.
"Good girl," Schuldig said. "But it's all right, the crew will be taking care of you."
Crawford smiled at her as she looked at him, her violet eyes troubled. "You'll be fine. Don't worry."
"She bit the bad man. The first officer said she was good."
"I sure did. You bite all the bad men you want."
"She didn't mean to kill her own crew," she said. "Just bad men, like her daddy and the man with the hat."
Schuldig shrugged behind her.
"She didn't mean it. She didn't mean to kill her cousin. Or that boy."
"Up we get," Schuldig said merrily. "Time to brush your teeth! No time now to be sad; remember how I told you that you didn't kill him?"
"The bad men killed that boy," she said, seeming happier. "She didn't do it?"
"Teeth!" Schuldig said, herding her into the bathroom. They re-emerged quickly, Nanami still expounding on her theory in her childish voice.
"Let's drop you off," Crawford said, patting her on her head, "and go and do some business."
* * *
Crawford checked the location of Ran's comm and called up a plan of the hospital. The sixth floor was accessible by numerous public elevators, thank all the gods. He wouldn't have to stand in ever-growing frustration watching hospital-use-only elevators open to show one passenger while a solitary public one was always too full to allow him to enter.
On the sixth floor he strolled to Ran's room and stopped, seeing the door slightly ajar, caught on a dropped drinks container. He frowned at such slovenly housekeeping. About to enter, he heard his own name and paused. The doctor, Lakeman, he thought, was leaning against the wall by the opening.
"- send someone else," Ran said in reply. "Why would my Captain come for me?"
"Isn't he sleeping with you?" Lakeman said. Crawford grinned at Ran's spluttered protestations. "You and he seemed very familiar, yesterday," she said.
"He's my ship's captain," Ran said eventually, in disgust. "How could you think - he owns me."
"Yes," Lakeman said. Crawford heard her move something in the room. "That's why I had him sign the consent forms, not you. That's got nothing to do with any personal relationship he may have with you. There's no need to look at me like that; I've treated plenty of rich people's slaves before you and I'll treat them after you. It's not a rare situation, and sometimes it's even welcomed by the slaves."
"Sometimes," Ran echoed. "That makes it all right, does it?"
"It's hardly a bad thing to try and find some measure of contentment if one can. I know you'd rather have signed the consent forms yourself, but be sensible. You needed care, he had to sign for it. It's the law. You of all people should know that."
Ran muttered something low and ungracious. Crawford put his hand on the door, unwilling to loiter any longer and be caught eavesdropping in such an undignified manner. He paused as Lakeman said sharply,
"I'll tell you what I know, young man - how much do you think it costs to get medical training in this city? The only way to do it is to indenture yourself. Most of the doctors and nurses you've been glaring at are owned now or were owned previously by this hospital, including that man who tried to give you your lunch. Do you think I don't know you threw the drink at him?" Her voice moved away from the door as if she had stepped over to admonish Ran from closer to his bed. "There are plenty of poor people waiting for hours down in the public clinics that I'd rather be working in right now, but you, you ungrateful boy, are covered by your crew's medical policy, which stipulates a fully-qualified doctor attending you. Stop thinking you're mistreated because it's not your signature on the forms. None of the people who treated you can make any contracts, including marrying, during their period of indenture."
"I'm melting my fucking brain, doing this work!" Ran yelled. "That's mistreatment!"
Crawford pursed his lips and put a hand against the entrance panel. The door slid fully open, showing him Lakeman standing at the foot of the bed, Ran sitting bolt upright and glaring at her.
"Doctor," he said. "I see you have the pleasure of my navigator in full flight."
"He's not entirely wrong," she said brusquely. She picked up a datapad and held it out. "The new implant was embedded without any problems. There'll be some tenderness, he shouldn't scratch around the new port -"
"I can hear you," Ran said.
"Shut up or I'll have you sedated," Crawford said, not looking at him. Ran subsided, muttering.
"He should use a mild hydrocortisone cream for any discomfort or itch, and a steroid cream on the area of the removed scar tissue," Lakeman said, as if neither of them had spoken. "I'm sending the script to the pharmacy beside the main entrance, you can pick up a supply there. Similar formulations are widely available. He shouldn't make jump for at least a week."
"That's fine," Crawford said. "We'll be here at least that long, and we do have another navigator. He can rest on the trip out."
"You really didn't kill her," Lakeman said. "Good."
"Really?" Ran said from the bed, pleased.
"I told you," Crawford said. "She's fine." He signed where Lakeman indicated. "Thank you, Doctor. May I take him now?"
"If you would," she said. And, as Ran eagerly opened the bag of clothes Crawford tossed onto the bed and began to dress, she added quietly, "How long were you outside?"
"I just got here," Crawford said blandly. "Ran, brush your hair, it's a mess. Now come on, we've taken up enough of the doctor's time." Ran straightened his sweater and obediently came over to stand by his side. "Thank you, Doctor," Crawford said again, and walked out of the room, Ran with him.
"Thank you," Ran said, suddenly stopping and turning. "I'm sorry. Thank you."
"Goodbye," Lakeman said. "Good luck, Ran."
The pharmacy was busy, but the line of people waiting for medication moved quickly, and Crawford was soon given two tubes of cream.
"Here," he said, handing them to Ran. "Don't be afraid to use it, there's plenty. Don't get it inside your ports. You used the one for the skin before, when the implants were first put in, didn't you?"
"For a day. Then the merchant said I should be over it," Ran said. "He was a cheap bastard. How's Nanami?"
"Fine, like I said. She's been asking after you."
"You don't have to make things sound better than they are, Captain. There's no one here to impress."
"Don't be rude. She has been asking after you. Is that boy dead? She didn't mean to kill that boy. Nagi's been worried about you too, said he hopes you're still operational."
"Well, that's nice," Ran said, sounding deeply offended, like he'd hoped for better from Nagi.
"Because if you weren't, of course, you wouldn't be coming back on-board," Crawford said patiently. "Don't be so quick to assume the worst."
"Of a Black Unit agent," Ran muttered.
Crawford cuffed him lightly on the back of the head. "Former," he said. "And his manners are no worse than yours."
"Gods," Ran muttered, "you're right. I'm - sorry, Captain, I didn't mean to be rude about the engineer. I was rude in the hospital too. Sorry about that as well." He looked morosely at the ground as he walked.
"It's normal to feel like shit after the medics have been at you," Crawford said. "Everyone gets bad tempered, but you need to get it under control; it's not like you're going back into combat. So cheer up, you're alive. Everyone's alive; no one's hurt past a few easily fixed things, Nanami's unsettled but basically fine. A few bruises and scrapes, no signs of sexual abuse."
"You took her to hospital too?"
"Schuldig took her."
"You let him -"
"Ran. It's his job. He's in charge of navigational matters. He took her to medical personnel and they checked her out. He hasn't laid one finger on her, or on you since I talked to him, that hasn't been strictly to do with his duty. He won't."
"How do you know?" Ran said.
"I've known him long enough," Crawford said, gesturing to stop a transport for hire. "I know. Now, we're going to go to my hotel, you can get settled in, then you can rest, or see Nagi, if you like -"
That did cheer him up, he thought, watching Ran forget to be bad-tempered. He was happy to be out of hospital, that much was obvious, and pleased by his arm's return to full strength. He flexed his fingers and peered at his forearm when he thought Crawford wasn't looking, and felt at the burn scar, now lessened almost to nothing. In the hotel he put his blood-stained clothes and the tubes of cream neatly away and looked expectantly at Crawford, as if awaiting entertainment.
"We'll get something to eat shortly," Crawford said.
"Good, I don't like hospital food. It turns out to be shit on any world."
"Terribly sorry, Lord Navigator," Crawford said. "I'll make a booking in a better establishment at once." Ran narrowed his eyes, then clearly decided that he could take a joke.
"Something with a decent range of wines and desserts," he said loftily. "And a good view. I find it aids digestion."
It was a better attitude than he'd displayed earlier or, apparently, to the medical staff, so Crawford nodded mildly and simply nodded at his arm.
"Don't scratch," he said. "Did you even know you were doing that?"
Ran looked surprised as he tucked his hands behind his back. "No. It's - odd. It's itchy, but it's not all on the surface." He let Crawford take his wrist and examine his arm, then did as he was told and went to apply some of the cream.
"That's better," Crawford said. "I wouldn't want the waiters in your preferred fancy restaurants thinking the Rose's crew had fleas."
"Well, you know, Captain," Ran said, his tone still determinedly humorous, "Having had a close look at the first officer, I wouldn't call those fleas. Some sort of alien crab, perhaps." He gave Crawford an all-too-fake smile that wavered just a little.
Being hit for disrespect, Crawford thought, would put him back in his place. It was, however, undignified, especially when he had just collected Ran from hospital. Asking Ran if he planned to actually fulfill any requests made of him, seeing as he was so determined to claim the freedoms of being the captain's favourite would be as effective. He settled for stepping closer and dredging up his best "officer about to drop a ton of shit on the troops" smile.
"You're cheeky today," he said. "They must have given you something good in that hospital. Let's see those ports again." He picked up Ran's arm and made a show of examining it, running a finger around the new ports at wrist and elbow, then putting a hand on the back of his neck and stroking around the port there.
"Captain?" Ran said, his eyes widening.
"Any discomfort as the connections form with the new implant?" Crawford said. "Any sensitivities with the other ports?"
"That - is quite sensitive," Ran said, shivering as Crawford circled his finger around the port. "It's not painful. Captain, what are you doing?"
"Checking your responses. We don't have to go out just yet; we could wait a while. If you wanted," Crawford said. Ran must have found out that the areas around the navigational ports were sensitive, he thought, but things were always different when it was someone else doing the touching.
"I'm quite hungry," Ran said in a dry whisper, sounding like he was convincing himself of the fact. "Could we go now?"
"Of course," Crawford said, and stepped back. Ran staggered a little, looking slightly confused and embarrassed, but regaining some composure as Crawford simply waved him towards the door.
The streets outside were crowded, and Ran twitched a little as Crawford put a hand on his shoulder. It was the sort of gesture any ship's officer might make with a navigator, however, and within a few seconds he had relaxed into the touch. Crawford deliberately stroked his thumb across the port at the back of his neck and guided him on, pointing out local colourful sights before Ran had time to say anything. Ran looked sidelong at him and and then walked on peaceably, within a few moments matching his stride to Crawford's, keeping in step. Crawford looked in satisfaction at the city, thinking Ran was finally learning to at least keep quiet.
Push me if you want, boy, he thought. I push back.
Ran walked beside him, calm and well-mannered under his hand.
Title: Asset Retrieval
Warnings: Canon-level violence
Pairing(s): Crawford/Ran
Notes: Part of a series of space opera AU fics started for the 2015 Weiss vs Saiyuki Battle. Follows on from Down Time. Many thanks to puddingcat for her work in beta-reading!
Part 1
"We should call the police," Ran said again, as Crawford pulled him back out of view behind a wall. The house they had under surveillance was very ordinary, just a plain house in a residential street. The idea of having enough space for a house with a tiny, unkempt garden in front of it was exotic enough, of course, Crawford thought, given that he'd lived so much of his life in space. But he supposed this example was perfectly ordinary - there was nothing at all to indicate the presence of a kidnapped girl, or her captors.
"You must have had a sheltered upbringing," Schuldig said. "Those burger-slinging fools had every intention of calling these bastards to warn them. By the time we convinced the police to get here there'd be nothing to find. Besides, don't you want us to save her before they do anything too nasty to her pretty little body?"
Ran flinched at that, and Crawford got a tight hold on his shoulders to stop him doing anything rash; he just kept quiet, however. It seemed he wasn't in the mood for taking a swing at Schuldig this time.
"How much time do you think you bought us before they do contact their friends?" Crawford asked.
"They won't have done it yet, but they'll snap out of my influence soon enough." Schuldig checked his comm. "Jens is almost here, Farfarello's still not answering, damn him."
"He's scheduled to be on the ship - he'd never get here in time anyway. Nagi?"
"On his way. And agitated."
"I see. Maybe we're going to have another house screamed to pieces."
Schuldig grimaced. They all remembered that incident vividly.
"What do you mean?" Ran said. "How are we going to get Nanami out?" He turned in Crawford's grasp. "Is the First Officer right, Captain? Are they raping her?"
Crawford shook his head, keeping his expression calm. "Don't think about that," he said. As clearly as he could, he thought, Schuldig, for the love of all the gods, take a look at him. You've set him off. Schuldig's face made it clear what he thought of that, but they didn't argue in public.
"Ran," Schuldig said, "come over here. No, it's all right, come here, I've something to say, First Officer to Nav."
Ran looked up at Crawford and was obviously not pleased to get an encouraging nod. He reluctantly stepped over beside Schuldig.
"You're doing fine," Schuldig said, in the calm voice he always used when he was getting Ran ready for jump. "You're not to blame for anything those fuckers do to her. What they'll want is to sell her, and get the best price, right? They're not going to traumatise her and make her seem less stable than she is, they wouldn't get as much. We're going to get her back, all right?"
"This is all because I was annoyed that her hands were sticky with sugar," Ran said. "It's not her fault, I should have -"
"Stop. Leave this to us. We know what we're doing. You stay close to the house, but don't get in our way," Schuldig said, his voice still calm and even. He smiled reassuringly, patting Ran's shoulder. "The Captain and I have a lot of experience in this sort of thing. What we need from you right now is for you to keep your mind on the here and now, in case something happens out here, all right? It won't do you any good to be thinking about anything that could hypothetically be happening somewhere else. Do you understand?"
"Yes, First Officer," Ran said. "I do feel a bit more focused now."
"Good boy," Schuldig said, and winked at Crawford. His comm made a soft beep and he rolled his eyes as he read the message. "Farfarello - he's just woken up from a nap. He wants to know if we can delay the killing until he gets here. Asshole. At least Jens will soon be -"
"- here," Crawford said, and pointed to the far corner. A second later Jens came round it at a jog, speeding up as he approached.
"What the hells happened?" he said. "You really lost Nanami?"
"She was stolen by the bastards in that house. Who may or may not be armed, and we don't know how many there are of them," Schuldig said.
"We'll go in front and back," Crawford said. "I want someone nondescript and harmless in appearance for the front, to get them to answer the door."
"Ran?" Jens said.
"I'll do it," Ran said, eager for adventure or to atone for losing Nanami, Crawford thought.
"I'm not risking both navigators," he said, "you're staying outside. You're hardly nondescript, with your hair and eyes. Jens -"
"Gods, thanks. Fine, I'll be Civilian Lost-and-Innocent."
Danger. Crawford looked up in alarm, pulling Ran and Jens hard against the wall. Schuldig's fast reflexes had him flattening himself beside them as a local vehicle sped round the corner and squealed to a stop, barely missing them. Nagi erupted from the driver's seat, his face dark with anger.
"Where the fuck are they keeping her?"
"Where did you get - this?" Schuldig said, looking at the vehicle in distaste. "It looks old enough to have a fucking internal combustion engine."
"Borrowed it," Nagi said. "Where?"
He was still in control, Crawford thought, although that might not last much longer. Once Nagi started to get angry things tended to escalate quickly. They might have to let him crush one of the kidnappers to calm down, which was irritating.
"We're not looking to kill them," he said. "Not unless it's really necessary, do you understand, Nagi? We don't need to get ourselves noticed. It's a pity you stole that - whatever the hells it is. Right - Jens, front door, five minutes. Schuldig, Nagi, with me around to the back. Ran, stay with this heap of junk. Let's go."
The street of houses backed onto another, each with small gardens behind them, a narrow laneway dividing them. It was an unbelievable wealth of space, each of the rooms that Crawford could see through windows larger than the cabins and storerooms for the crew of the Rose. It wasn't even, he knew, one of the wealthier parts of Tulleerin City. He tried for a moment to imagine living in such huge rooms and found he couldn't - he simply couldn't remember what it had been like. He shook such irrelevancies from his mind and gestured to the others.
"Move in on Schuldig's mark."
"Jens is at the door," Schuldig said, his eyes focused on nothing Crawford could see. "One man answering - trying to get rid of him - two others coming into the hall to see what's up - move in!"
Getting over the wall and across the unkempt garden was a matter of seconds. The back door was locked, but it was a flimsy affair, and Nagi merely had to place his hand flat against it for the door to swing open, the frame cracking.
"What the fuck?" the man in the kitchen doorway said, turning, going for a weapon in his belt.
Crawford took him down before he had finished turning around, while Jens shoved the front door into the face of the man standing there, and Schuldig eeled past to slam an elbow into the throat of the third man, who had lost precious time by looking in confusion between the front and back doors. As he swayed, Schuldig punched him twice between the eyes and swept his feet from under him.
"Where's the girl?" Crawford said, his face close to that of the man he had on the ground. He pulled the arm he had hold of higher, twisted it, and the fool shrieked. "Where is she?" Crawford said, patiently. The babble of "Stop!" and "Please!", and "I don't know!" from all angles was irritating, so he looked over at Jens, saying clearly, "Jens, yours is a loud moron, make a point."
"Sir," Jens said, not sounding too pleased. There was a distinct smell of ozone, and the man in Jens' grasp jerked hard, his head slamming back into the wall. He sank down onto the stained, thin carpet, silent at last.
Crawford lessened the pressure on his captive's arm. "Answer my question," he said. "You took a young navigator girl from a café in the market. Where is she?"
"Oh gods, you killed Renn and Canner," the man said, his eyes darting from the sprawled form at Jens' feet to the battered one at Schuldig's. "Don't kill me, please, don't kill me."
"They're not dead yet, and you won't be either if you answer the question," Crawford said.
"Upstairs," Schuldig said, as the man whimpered in incoherent fear. "With another one - no, two of them."
Nagi had vaulted over them onto the stairs before he had finished speaking. He ran up, his desire to do damage all too obvious.
"Dammit," Crawford muttered, as foreboding struck him, and dropped his prisoner. "Jens, secure him," he said, running after Nagi, Schuldig on his heels. A doorway, left and right, both doors simply blown open, hanging loose on their hinges. Empty. The third room was bigger, Nagi stalking forward, his slender, small size not distracting from the sense of menace. Crawford took in the two kidnappers, a man and a woman, Nanami struggling in the man's grasp, his hand over her mouth, as the woman opened the window. They were going out a front window; so much for not attracting attention.
"Give her to me," Nagi said, his voice shaking.
Crawford supposed it sounded like he was scared, if you didn't know it was from the effort of simply not killing everyone in the room.
"Fuck off," the man said. "Go on, Talli, get out."
"No one's going anywhere," Crawford said.
"Stay where you are or I'll break this little bitch's neck!"
"Everyone, calm down," Schuldig said. "You - Talli, right? - come on, step back from the window, yes, that's it -"
The woman turned towards him, her face confused as she obediently took one step back and another.
"We just want the girl, no one has to get hurt," Crawford said, as Nagi said,
"If you've fucked her you'll be more than fucking hurt."
"Don't lose your temper," Crawford said urgently, alarm flickering.
"She's so fucking slack she didn't even notice. You bastards must be pounding away at her day and night," the man sneered. Nanami got an arm free and did her best to claw his hand down from her face. He yelled, and shook her hard. "Bite
me again and I will kill you, you little nav bitch."
Crawford risked a glance at Nagi. The blood had drained from his cheeks and his expression had switched horribly obviously over to fight. There was a beat as Nagi drew breath and -
"Down!" Crawford yelled. Schuldig dropped to the carpet beside him.
- all the glass in the window flew in, shards embedding themselves in the walls and doorframe like knives. Crawford felt his ears pop as the air pressure in the room returned to normal and he cautiously raised his head. Nanami was standing in the centre of the room, shaking, her eyes wide. The kidnappers were down, the man bleeding out, the woman probably as bad.
"Don't talk to her like that," Nagi said softly, as if the kidnapper could hear him. His eyes snapped into focus on Nanami. "Nanami, it's all right, you're safe now."
"What did he do?" she moaned, looking around at the glass and the blood-soaked carpet. "What did he do?"
"It's all right, I kept you safe! They were just bad people, but I wouldn't have let you be hurt." Nagi went forward, his hands out. "Come on, it's all right."
"Nagi, careful," Crawford said, getting to his feet.
"She's terrified," Schuldig said, jumping up. "Easy, Nanami, you know us, there's my good girl."
Nanami backed away as Nagi approached, whimpering as her foot touched Talli's prone form.
"She has blood on her shoe," she said, looking down at her feet. Then, before Nagi could take her arm she bent to touch Talli, recoiled in horror, and broke for the window.
"Nanami!" Nagi and Schuldig yelled in unison as she hoisted herself up and jumped.
"Why didn't you stop her?" Nagi said rounding on Schuldig.
"I tried - very strong emotions can act as a defence against mental influence, you know that. They don't defend against fucking telekinesis though, so why didn't you stop her?"
"I didn't want to frighten her more," Nagi said defensively.
"Stop bickering," Crawford said, looking out at how Nanami was limping away. "She hasn't killed herself, let's retrieve her. Schuldig, can you make those fools downstairs think they did this?"
"I can try," he said.
"Come on," Crawford said to Nagi. He led the way down the stairs, just shaking his head at Jens' quizzical expression, and out into the street. "You said you were working on your temper," he said when they were alone.
"I very rarely lose my temper these days, be fair," Nagi said. "And that wasn't much, not like before."
"Still, an expensive asset threw herself out of an upstairs window to get away from you. That's not a good retrieval mission, Naoe."
"No, sir."
"All right," Crawford said. "She went down this street." He rounded the corner and sighed as he saw Ran scurry towards a distant vehicle, a massive goods transport. "Gods. Can't he obey just once?"
"He wants to be useful," Nagi said. "He's worried about losing himself to the drugs."
"I didn't buy him as a gods-damned ornament; he'll take the drugs when Schuldig tells him to," Crawford said in irritation, then made himself stop talking. He would not, he told himself, discuss the matter with his teenage engineer.
"Nanami," Ran said, looking under the transport vehicle, "please come out of there."
"I told you to wait in the other street for us," Crawford said as they came closer.
"I saw her run, she climbed under here," Ran said. He got down on the ground and inched under the transport. "Nanami? It's all right to come out, the Captain wants you to. We could get some sweets - ah!"
"Ran? Get out of there," Crawford said. Ran's sound of surprised pain worried him. "Nagi, get him out."
Nagi looked around and hunkered down, gesturing. Ran slid out faster and smoother than he'd wriggled in. His left forearm was covered in blood, the sleeve soaked.
"Shit," Crawford said, shoving the sleeve up and seeing the deep, slanting edges of the cut, right across the veins. "She got a knife."
"I think it's a piece of glass," Ran said, looking at his arm in horrified fascination as the blood poured out. "My hand won't work. I can't close my fingers." He was already looking faint, though Crawford hoped it was merely from the sight of his own blood.
"Sit down, and keep that gods' damned arm up," he snapped, taking off his belt. A tourniquet could be as much trouble as it was help, but he wasn't going to let a navigator die in front of him if he could prevent it. Not at Ran's price. He tightened the belt around Ran's upper arm and activated his comm's connection to local emergency service providers.
"Emergency medical aid to this comm's coordinates, fastest arrival time. Yes, damn it, I can afford it, I'm the captain of the merchant ship Rose, I'm insured." He reeled off a description of Ran's injury, before turning back to the others.
"She won't come out," Nagi said. "I can pull her out, Captain."
Crawford loosened Ran's tourniquet for a few moments, watching the blood begin to flow from the wound again. "Keep the arm up," he said. "Help's coming." He shook his head at Nagi. "Your instinct not to scare her further was correct - get Schuldig down here, he'll get her out." He turned back to Ran, who was pale and bathed in a chill sweat. "You're doing fine. You'll be all right. Take even breaths; good, good."
"It's not her fault," Ran said in a thin, tight voice. "I was the one who got her into this. I shouldn't have let them take her. She's frightened, Captain; she didn't mean to hurt me."
"I know," Crawford said, keeping his views to himself on what Nanami meant when she had a knife. He tightened the tourniquet again, helping Ran support the arm. "You can lean against me if you need to. If you're feeling sleepy I want you to talk to me, do you understand?"
After a moment, Ran started talking. "My sister used to be so light-hearted," he said. "She'd never do anything I said, when she was a kid she'd always pull away if I tried to hold her hand when we crossed a street. And she was, she was - so pretty - I used to worry about her, but . . . and . . ." His voice died away.
"What's her name?" Crawford said. "Ran? What's your sister's name?"
"Aya," Ran said, seemingly by reflex. "I told her I'd pay the hospital bills, I'd make sure she didn't have to worry -"
"That's right. So you took yourself off to a merchant who dealt with space crews, remember?"
"I think he cheated me," Ran said, looking up in alarm. "Captain, did I get paid?"
"I went to the hospital myself," Crawford said. "I paid your sister's bills. Nagi, where in all the hells is Schuldig?"
"Says he can't do ten gods-fucked things at once and he'll be here soon, Captain. Sorry, Captain, his words."
Crawford let it go, concentrating on monitoring Ran's wound and on making sure that Nanami didn't make a break for freedom. He looked down the road, hearing the approaching siren a second later. Another moment and the emergency vehicle was in view, Nagi stepping into the road to flag it down.
Two medics jumped out, running to Ran, asking questions.
"Another navigator panicked and attacked him," Crawford said. "She sliced his arm open."
"Yeah," the older woman swabbing the blood from the wound said. "She did a nasty job. Hold still, lad, she got your veins and nerves." She started spraying antibacterials and sealants into the wound.
Crawford looked around to see Schuldig jogging up.
"All done, as much as I could," Schuldig said.
They'll remember a rival's enforcers, Crawford heard in his mind and nodded at Nanami's hiding place.
"She's under there - think you can persuade her to come out? She's armed with a shard of glass; all that blood is Ran's."
"Great," Schuldig said. He hunkered down to peer under the goods transport. "Hey in there, it's me, Schuldig, the first officer, remember me? Come on out and talk to me, pretty thing, no one will hurt you."
"When you get her out we can put her down for you," the woman said, turning Ran's arm this way and that, looking at her work in satisfaction. She peered at him in surprise as he pulled away from her grasp.
"Captain! You're not going to - please, Captain, you know she didn't mean to-" his voice ran down to nothing as the medic pressed a hypospray against his neck. He staggered, looking confused as the medic caught him and held him steady.
"No point in letting him get hysterical; he's anxious enough as it is," she said, and finished cleaning his arm. "He's pretty aware of his surroundings, isn't he?"
"He's new to this," Crawford said. "We'll handle the girl, thank you."
The medics looked at him, and at each other in definite disapproval.
"We'd do it humanely," the younger woman said. "There are regulations about proper treatment of slaves here, you know."
"I'm sure," Crawford said. "No offence, ladies, but we'll deal with ship's property as we see fit. My first officer will get her calmed down soon enough, there's no need to talk about euthanizing her."
"None at all," Schuldig called out cheerfully, from halfway under the transport. A high-pitched sobbing could now be heard from somewhere under it, retreating from him. Nagi was looking angry again; Crawford took a deep, calming breath, and smiled at the medics.
"I know you probably paid a lot for her, but you know you can't expect them to improve once they get violently unstable," the older medic said, her eyes on what was visible of Schuldig. "I expect we'll be fixing him up next." She took Ran's hand and gently pulled him towards their vehicle. "It's their funeral," she muttered to her colleague. "This poor lad's out of danger, but the nerves and the navigation implant have been severed. We can't deal with that here; he needs to come in for a transfusion and surgery. Are you sure your officer is all right, there?"
"He's very good at dealing with navigators, he knows what he's doing," Crawford said, giving Nagi a quelling look. "He doesn't need any help." If the little bastard even thought about lifting the gods-fucked transport up in public, he thought, there would be several hells' worth of extra duty coming his way for years. Nagi raised an eyebrow, seeming to have caught mindspeech, and put his hands behind his back, shifting insolently into parade rest. Crawford turned his attention back to the medics. "Shall we go? Schuldig, I'm leaving you in command."
"Right," Schuldig yelled from deep beneath the transport. His voice dropped back down to a comforting, persuasive rhythm, the words indistinct.
"Wait for Jens," Crawford said to Nagi, and took Ran by the upper arm. "Come on, Ran."
The younger woman drove while the older sat in the back of the emergency vehicle with them. She made Ran lie down, putting a monitor patch over his heart.
"You'll be fine," she said, smiling. To Crawford she said, "Do you want him on continual sedation?"
"No, he'll be all right once he's rested for a while," Crawford said.
"If you're sure. Let's deal with your cuts, then."
"Mine?" Crawford said. He raised a hand to his head and felt his hair sticky with blood. "It's nothing serious."
"If you please, Lord Captain - " She swabbed the scratches on his face, cleaned the blood and took a few shards of glass from his hair before spraying the cleaned scratches with antibacterials and skin sealant. "She broke a window, did she?"
"Quite a big one," Crawford said, hoping he sounded as rueful and sheepish as a civilian merchant surely should. He sat back and kept his eyes on Ran, who was looking up at the roof with confused misery.
"It's all superficial, you were a lot luckier than your navigator here."
"I'm generally lucky."
They entered the hospital grounds and drew up beside a large, relatively pleasant-looking building. The medic helped Crawford get Ran out, and insisted that he be put into a wheelchair. Crawford looked at the chair, at the large number of well-tended flowers under the hospital windows, and saw the incidental charges increasing before his eyes.
"You can walk, he's had significant blood loss and isn't walking anywhere," the medic said before he could say anything. "We all have our areas of competence; you'll allow me to have mine?"
"Please," Crawford said, "lead on."
They were left in a small waiting room, the walls painted an inoffensive pale blue, decorated with images of what Crawford thought were perhaps local beauty spots.
"The doctors will see you both as quickly as possible," the medic said. "Please don't give him any water; it's very unlikely that he'll be given a general anesthetic, but just in case, all right?"
"Thank you," Crawford said, and settled back to wait. He hoped it wouldn't be long. It had better not be, he thought. The only other person waiting, a man in his forties, made brief eye-contact and thereafter kept careful watch only on whatever dreadful drama he was watching on his datapad. He really needed better sound controls on the thing, Crawford thought in irritation. Every inane piece of romantic dialogue was all too audible.
"Captain," Ran said quietly, beside him, "Captain, don't kill her."
"Feeling more awake? Good. Don't worry about anything except getting out of here quickly."
Ran covered his eyes with his uninjured hand. "Shit," he muttered, shaking, "shit. I fucked up my sister's life and I've fucked up Nanami's. Don't, Captain, it was my fault, not hers."
"What," Crawford said, "so I should have you put down?" He rolled his eyes at Ran's flinch. "By all the gods, boy, don't be an idiot. No one's being put down; I don't want you obsessing about this, do you hear me? Am I wasteful? Am I the sort of man who throws away assets? Well?"
"I - suppose not," Ran said mistrustfully.
"So you can be sure she'll be there when you're better. Sit in one of these chairs, they're more comfortable."
Ran obeyed, looking at him sidelong. "I bled on your sleeve," he said. "Sorry. And your collar? How'd I do that?"
"That's all mine, apparently," Crawford said. "Not your fault, so keep calm about it." He put a hand on the back of Ran's head, stroking his hair.
Ran shifted away. "Stop. What are you doing?"
"It's meant to be comforting."
"I don't find it comforting. Captain."
"Who said it was meant to be for you?"
Ran looked at him in utter confusion as the man in the chair opposite sank down deeper in an air of studied non-eavesdropping. Crawford fought the urge to laugh at them both.
"You're making a joke," Ran said in tones of such offence that Crawford did laugh. "Give a signal like a smile or something the next time."
"I'll take it under advisement," Crawford said, looking up at the doorway to see a dark-haired woman carrying a datapad watching them.
"Captain Crawford?" she said, smiling at him.
"Yes," Crawford said. "Does my navigator still need the chair?"
"He shouldn't really have got out of it," she said, coming over and slipping her pad into a pocket of her jacket. "Back here, please - Ran, is it? We're just going to this room over here." She pushed the chair to the room she indicated, Crawford beside her.
"I'm Dr Lakeman," she said, sitting down. "You were both involved in an incident with another of your navigators, Captain Crawford? Your own injuries are reported here as superficial, although Ran suffered more extensively. Ran, let me see your arm, please. Is he likely to panic?"
"No, I'm not," Ran said, holding out his arm.
She looked at him a little sceptically, but took his hand and ran a scanner over the site of the injury. "He's out of danger; I wouldn't have expected anything else with our response team. He'll need a transfusion, as they assessed, and we can install a new implant when we do the nerve-repair surgery. He'll be staying in overnight, if that's acceptable?"
"Yes, of course," Crawford said. He held obediently still as she checked him in turn, refusing to wince as she parted his hair to reveal the scratches to the medical scanner.
"I'm afraid it's just your dignity that took a beating," she said, smiling. "You don't need anything more than the response team already provided. Do you think Ran will be all right here without any of your crew? Ran, do you need any of them to stay with you? I'm sure your captain could send someone in."
"I'll be fine," he said quickly. "You don't need to bother the first officer, Captain."
"I'm sure he'll be glad of that," Crawford said solemnly. "When will you schedule the surgery, Doctor?"
"He'll go down within an hour," she said. "We can do it under local or general anesthetic, as you prefer."
"Can you stay calm enough for them to do the work under local?" Crawford said.
Ran nodded. "They used a general anesthetic for the implants at home - I felt like shit afterwards." He gave them both a bitter smile. "On top of feeling like shit."
"Where did he get the weapons' scar from?" Dr Lakeman asked after a moment.
"A brawl," Crawford said. "I fully accept that he should have been kept further from trouble."
"It looks like an energy weapon burn," she said. "Quite a brawl. Ran? Do you need to add anything?"
"No," he said. "I'm not making complaints against my captain, if that's what you're asking. Proper treatment of slaves means painless euthanasia, or so we were told earlier. I prefer the treatment I already get, thank you for asking, Doctor."
She blinked. Crawford kept a mild expression on his face, amused to see someone else get a taste of Ran's opinions.
"You're an unusual young man," she said at last. "I assure you the proper treatment you'll get here will be the best of medical care. That scar tissue might not bother you now, but I doubt you've been taking much care of the area once it first healed. It could leave you with difficulties in full movement of your head and neck as you age. Captain Crawford, if you agree, we can also work on that area - yes? - please sign here to authorize the surgery -" She held out her pad and a stylus, and Crawford signed where she indicated. "If you send someone tomorrow afternoon," she said, "Ran can be discharged then."
"Very well," he said, rising. Gods, he thought, even with insurance this was going to cost a fortune. Perhaps he should send Farfarello around to the insurance company's offices to make an argument for why they should pay the excess on the policy. People tended to listen to Farfarello when he laid out things logically. He squeezed Ran's shoulder. "Be good." As Ran looked up, irritated, he leant over, murmuring, "Remember, ship's business is ship's business."
"Captain," Ran muttered in a tone of barely civil acquiescence.
"See you tomorrow," Crawford said. "If he gets too annoying, Dr Lakeman, keep him sedated."
She looked amused at Ran's disgusted expression. Crawford nodded politely to her and left.
* * *
Schuldig looked very young and somehow innocent, Crawford thought, freshly scrubbed and dressed in casual, clean clothes. He collapsed onto the bed and grimaced.
"Fuck, I am paying for something considerably softer than this. Are you sure you want to get Ran back tomorrow? It was a gods' shit of a mess getting Nanami out of there, but at least she doesn't argue."
"Don't tempt me," Crawford said. "How heavily sedated is she?"
"Out of it," Schuldig said. He propped himself up, scrutinizing Crawford. "Yeah, you're fine, you needn't worry that your profile is ruined by scars."
"Please. I'm not the vain one. You dropped so fast that you didn't even get your hair parted by the wind of the implosion."
Schuldig laughed. "I took her to a smaller clinic - I didn't think she needed the same level of coddling as Ran. Seeing as you don't like her that way." He sniggered at Crawford's expression. "A few bruises - on her wrists - for example. She fought them, good girl. Some scrapes, from the road surface. And it wasn't just one of the bastards' DNA in her mouth. Actual bits of flesh between her teeth from an earlier bite."
"I didn't see anyone with that level of injury visible," Crawford said.
"I guess that fucker was lucky and missed us. Oh, and our little Nav - no vaginal or anal trauma, and I couldn't find any recent bad memories. Maybe she bit someone's dick off. That'd certainly give the others pause for thought." Schuldig sat up, running his fingers through his still-damp hair. "Remember that skirmish at Affane, that insurgent girl on the station? That's what I imagine our little Nanami was like with those bastards."
"Gods, yeah, she was hilarious," Crawford said. "What a temper. Pity we had to put a burst through her skull. Anyway, let's see the runaway."
Schuldig opened the inner door and gestured at the bed. Nanami lay quietly, her breathing shallow and regular, her arms and hands bruised and scratched, a deep bruise shadowing her forehead.
"Where'd she get those?" Crawford said. "I don't remember them from the house."
"Bashed her head on the underside of that damn transport," Schuldig said. "The scrapes and scratches are from that and the road, like I said - as are mine, thanks for asking. She had some glass cuts on her hand because of her nice, shiny weapon. She'll be all right; she's just tired. How do you feel about babysitting tonight?"
"What? No. I was planning on going out and finding someone to fuck as stress relief."
"Huh," Schuldig said. "That was my plan too. I'm not leaving her by herself, gods only know what she'd do if she woke up and didn't know where she was. Actually, give me a few minutes, I'm going to see if I can get under the drugs and send her deeper asleep, just in case. We'll still need someone to babysit - we can't leave her with Nagi -"
"Good gods, no. He looked like he needed a minder when I talked to him. And if he was more awake I wouldn't trust him near her."
" - so," Schuldig said, picking up his comm, "Hi, Jens! How'd you like me to owe you a favour?"
Crawford tugged the bedcovers from beneath Nanami and covered her. Schuldig leaned against the doorframe, his call finished.
"He's on his way. He says he's going to order everything he can on my room service. We're free for the night - we haven't gone out together for too long, Crawford. Let's find someone to share, what do you think?"
"That didn't work so well the last time," Crawford said, his eyes still on Nanami. He straightened the covers neatly. Schuldig came in and gave the sheets beneath her a quick tug, as if making sure no wrinkle would cause irritation to a navigator about to enter jump.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, off-hand. "No one has to die this time. Come on, let's find someone pretty and give them a night they wish they could forget!"
"Just as soon as Jens gets here," Crawford said, feeling his spirits lightening. A night out with a good friend was just what he needed to cheer him up.
* * *
Crawford woke a second before his comm chimed the alarm he could only dimly remember setting the previous night. He sat up, reaching out blindly for the drawer of the bedside cabinet, feeling mild alarm when he couldn't find it. He squinted blearily at the room and was relieved to see he had made it back to his own hotel room - he leaned over to check the floor - alone. Schuldig could deal with the potential embarrassment from last night's pick-up by himself. Schuldig even enjoyed dealing with that sort of thing. Where was the damned cabinet? Ah. On the other side of the bed. He carefully rolled over and fumbled in the drawer until he managed to extract one of the complimentary anti-nausea and pain-killing patches. He applied it and lay down again until it started to take effect. Gods' mercy, he was never drinking like that again.
Thirty minutes later he was at Schuldig's door, showered, shaved and respectable as any business partner could wish. The door opened immediately at his knock, admitting him to a view of a horribly bright and cheerful Schuldig braiding back his hair, and Nanami sitting cross-legged on the bed, eating sweets and watching a children's cartoon with deep concentration.
"Good morning," Schuldig said, checking his reflection. "And how are we this fine morning?"
"Very well. Any problems in the goodbyes?"
"Strangely, no. Why'd you go so early? You should have stuck around for the repeat performance. I got back in plenty of time for a quick nap before my shower." Schuldig winked at him in the mirror, then nodded in satisfaction at his reflection. "Ready to haggle for cargo? We can grab something to eat on the way."
"She won't let go of their hands," Nanami said, her eyes still on the screen.
"Good girl," Schuldig said. "But it's all right, the crew will be taking care of you."
Crawford smiled at her as she looked at him, her violet eyes troubled. "You'll be fine. Don't worry."
"She bit the bad man. The first officer said she was good."
"I sure did. You bite all the bad men you want."
"She didn't mean to kill her own crew," she said. "Just bad men, like her daddy and the man with the hat."
Schuldig shrugged behind her.
"She didn't mean it. She didn't mean to kill her cousin. Or that boy."
"Up we get," Schuldig said merrily. "Time to brush your teeth! No time now to be sad; remember how I told you that you didn't kill him?"
"The bad men killed that boy," she said, seeming happier. "She didn't do it?"
"Teeth!" Schuldig said, herding her into the bathroom. They re-emerged quickly, Nanami still expounding on her theory in her childish voice.
"Let's drop you off," Crawford said, patting her on her head, "and go and do some business."
* * *
Crawford checked the location of Ran's comm and called up a plan of the hospital. The sixth floor was accessible by numerous public elevators, thank all the gods. He wouldn't have to stand in ever-growing frustration watching hospital-use-only elevators open to show one passenger while a solitary public one was always too full to allow him to enter.
On the sixth floor he strolled to Ran's room and stopped, seeing the door slightly ajar, caught on a dropped drinks container. He frowned at such slovenly housekeeping. About to enter, he heard his own name and paused. The doctor, Lakeman, he thought, was leaning against the wall by the opening.
"- send someone else," Ran said in reply. "Why would my Captain come for me?"
"Isn't he sleeping with you?" Lakeman said. Crawford grinned at Ran's spluttered protestations. "You and he seemed very familiar, yesterday," she said.
"He's my ship's captain," Ran said eventually, in disgust. "How could you think - he owns me."
"Yes," Lakeman said. Crawford heard her move something in the room. "That's why I had him sign the consent forms, not you. That's got nothing to do with any personal relationship he may have with you. There's no need to look at me like that; I've treated plenty of rich people's slaves before you and I'll treat them after you. It's not a rare situation, and sometimes it's even welcomed by the slaves."
"Sometimes," Ran echoed. "That makes it all right, does it?"
"It's hardly a bad thing to try and find some measure of contentment if one can. I know you'd rather have signed the consent forms yourself, but be sensible. You needed care, he had to sign for it. It's the law. You of all people should know that."
Ran muttered something low and ungracious. Crawford put his hand on the door, unwilling to loiter any longer and be caught eavesdropping in such an undignified manner. He paused as Lakeman said sharply,
"I'll tell you what I know, young man - how much do you think it costs to get medical training in this city? The only way to do it is to indenture yourself. Most of the doctors and nurses you've been glaring at are owned now or were owned previously by this hospital, including that man who tried to give you your lunch. Do you think I don't know you threw the drink at him?" Her voice moved away from the door as if she had stepped over to admonish Ran from closer to his bed. "There are plenty of poor people waiting for hours down in the public clinics that I'd rather be working in right now, but you, you ungrateful boy, are covered by your crew's medical policy, which stipulates a fully-qualified doctor attending you. Stop thinking you're mistreated because it's not your signature on the forms. None of the people who treated you can make any contracts, including marrying, during their period of indenture."
"I'm melting my fucking brain, doing this work!" Ran yelled. "That's mistreatment!"
Crawford pursed his lips and put a hand against the entrance panel. The door slid fully open, showing him Lakeman standing at the foot of the bed, Ran sitting bolt upright and glaring at her.
"Doctor," he said. "I see you have the pleasure of my navigator in full flight."
"He's not entirely wrong," she said brusquely. She picked up a datapad and held it out. "The new implant was embedded without any problems. There'll be some tenderness, he shouldn't scratch around the new port -"
"I can hear you," Ran said.
"Shut up or I'll have you sedated," Crawford said, not looking at him. Ran subsided, muttering.
"He should use a mild hydrocortisone cream for any discomfort or itch, and a steroid cream on the area of the removed scar tissue," Lakeman said, as if neither of them had spoken. "I'm sending the script to the pharmacy beside the main entrance, you can pick up a supply there. Similar formulations are widely available. He shouldn't make jump for at least a week."
"That's fine," Crawford said. "We'll be here at least that long, and we do have another navigator. He can rest on the trip out."
"You really didn't kill her," Lakeman said. "Good."
"Really?" Ran said from the bed, pleased.
"I told you," Crawford said. "She's fine." He signed where Lakeman indicated. "Thank you, Doctor. May I take him now?"
"If you would," she said. And, as Ran eagerly opened the bag of clothes Crawford tossed onto the bed and began to dress, she added quietly, "How long were you outside?"
"I just got here," Crawford said blandly. "Ran, brush your hair, it's a mess. Now come on, we've taken up enough of the doctor's time." Ran straightened his sweater and obediently came over to stand by his side. "Thank you, Doctor," Crawford said again, and walked out of the room, Ran with him.
"Thank you," Ran said, suddenly stopping and turning. "I'm sorry. Thank you."
"Goodbye," Lakeman said. "Good luck, Ran."
The pharmacy was busy, but the line of people waiting for medication moved quickly, and Crawford was soon given two tubes of cream.
"Here," he said, handing them to Ran. "Don't be afraid to use it, there's plenty. Don't get it inside your ports. You used the one for the skin before, when the implants were first put in, didn't you?"
"For a day. Then the merchant said I should be over it," Ran said. "He was a cheap bastard. How's Nanami?"
"Fine, like I said. She's been asking after you."
"You don't have to make things sound better than they are, Captain. There's no one here to impress."
"Don't be rude. She has been asking after you. Is that boy dead? She didn't mean to kill that boy. Nagi's been worried about you too, said he hopes you're still operational."
"Well, that's nice," Ran said, sounding deeply offended, like he'd hoped for better from Nagi.
"Because if you weren't, of course, you wouldn't be coming back on-board," Crawford said patiently. "Don't be so quick to assume the worst."
"Of a Black Unit agent," Ran muttered.
Crawford cuffed him lightly on the back of the head. "Former," he said. "And his manners are no worse than yours."
"Gods," Ran muttered, "you're right. I'm - sorry, Captain, I didn't mean to be rude about the engineer. I was rude in the hospital too. Sorry about that as well." He looked morosely at the ground as he walked.
"It's normal to feel like shit after the medics have been at you," Crawford said. "Everyone gets bad tempered, but you need to get it under control; it's not like you're going back into combat. So cheer up, you're alive. Everyone's alive; no one's hurt past a few easily fixed things, Nanami's unsettled but basically fine. A few bruises and scrapes, no signs of sexual abuse."
"You took her to hospital too?"
"Schuldig took her."
"You let him -"
"Ran. It's his job. He's in charge of navigational matters. He took her to medical personnel and they checked her out. He hasn't laid one finger on her, or on you since I talked to him, that hasn't been strictly to do with his duty. He won't."
"How do you know?" Ran said.
"I've known him long enough," Crawford said, gesturing to stop a transport for hire. "I know. Now, we're going to go to my hotel, you can get settled in, then you can rest, or see Nagi, if you like -"
That did cheer him up, he thought, watching Ran forget to be bad-tempered. He was happy to be out of hospital, that much was obvious, and pleased by his arm's return to full strength. He flexed his fingers and peered at his forearm when he thought Crawford wasn't looking, and felt at the burn scar, now lessened almost to nothing. In the hotel he put his blood-stained clothes and the tubes of cream neatly away and looked expectantly at Crawford, as if awaiting entertainment.
"We'll get something to eat shortly," Crawford said.
"Good, I don't like hospital food. It turns out to be shit on any world."
"Terribly sorry, Lord Navigator," Crawford said. "I'll make a booking in a better establishment at once." Ran narrowed his eyes, then clearly decided that he could take a joke.
"Something with a decent range of wines and desserts," he said loftily. "And a good view. I find it aids digestion."
It was a better attitude than he'd displayed earlier or, apparently, to the medical staff, so Crawford nodded mildly and simply nodded at his arm.
"Don't scratch," he said. "Did you even know you were doing that?"
Ran looked surprised as he tucked his hands behind his back. "No. It's - odd. It's itchy, but it's not all on the surface." He let Crawford take his wrist and examine his arm, then did as he was told and went to apply some of the cream.
"That's better," Crawford said. "I wouldn't want the waiters in your preferred fancy restaurants thinking the Rose's crew had fleas."
"Well, you know, Captain," Ran said, his tone still determinedly humorous, "Having had a close look at the first officer, I wouldn't call those fleas. Some sort of alien crab, perhaps." He gave Crawford an all-too-fake smile that wavered just a little.
Being hit for disrespect, Crawford thought, would put him back in his place. It was, however, undignified, especially when he had just collected Ran from hospital. Asking Ran if he planned to actually fulfill any requests made of him, seeing as he was so determined to claim the freedoms of being the captain's favourite would be as effective. He settled for stepping closer and dredging up his best "officer about to drop a ton of shit on the troops" smile.
"You're cheeky today," he said. "They must have given you something good in that hospital. Let's see those ports again." He picked up Ran's arm and made a show of examining it, running a finger around the new ports at wrist and elbow, then putting a hand on the back of his neck and stroking around the port there.
"Captain?" Ran said, his eyes widening.
"Any discomfort as the connections form with the new implant?" Crawford said. "Any sensitivities with the other ports?"
"That - is quite sensitive," Ran said, shivering as Crawford circled his finger around the port. "It's not painful. Captain, what are you doing?"
"Checking your responses. We don't have to go out just yet; we could wait a while. If you wanted," Crawford said. Ran must have found out that the areas around the navigational ports were sensitive, he thought, but things were always different when it was someone else doing the touching.
"I'm quite hungry," Ran said in a dry whisper, sounding like he was convincing himself of the fact. "Could we go now?"
"Of course," Crawford said, and stepped back. Ran staggered a little, looking slightly confused and embarrassed, but regaining some composure as Crawford simply waved him towards the door.
The streets outside were crowded, and Ran twitched a little as Crawford put a hand on his shoulder. It was the sort of gesture any ship's officer might make with a navigator, however, and within a few seconds he had relaxed into the touch. Crawford deliberately stroked his thumb across the port at the back of his neck and guided him on, pointing out local colourful sights before Ran had time to say anything. Ran looked sidelong at him and and then walked on peaceably, within a few moments matching his stride to Crawford's, keeping in step. Crawford looked in satisfaction at the city, thinking Ran was finally learning to at least keep quiet.
Push me if you want, boy, he thought. I push back.
Ran walked beside him, calm and well-mannered under his hand.