Human trauma, p.18
Human Trauma, page 18
part #1 of Human Trauma Series
Martinez shifted awkwardly and looked towards Shiksie. She looked almost as bad as he did, which he was not used to seeing from her. She was looking off at the far side of the fountain; her tail and ears were more still than he had ever seen them.
Maybe she is not as cold as I made her out to be, Martinez thought.
The two of them sat there in silence for a while, unsure how long it was but eventually Martinez resumed talking. Shiksies’ ears twitched to listen in on what had happened. Martinez walked her through the previous night’s events, but he left out what his dreams had been about. He just told her that the whiplash of going from a lovely relaxing date to being in a fight for his life had brought up bad memories from when he was in the Navy.
Shiksie was surprised by the story she heard. She did not expect Martinez to have started to date so quickly. She felt that thorn in her side, remembering how badly she messed up with meeting him. Not that she wanted to date Martinez, but the fact that he was so easy to get along with showed her how badly she failed. The most shocking part was how he hospitalized two Urintals, one entirely on his own.
As unbelievable as that was, she had a few more things about the previous night she wanted to ask.
“Why did you jump into the fight so willingly?” Shiksie asked.
Martinez sighed, slightly unsure of the answer himself. He immediately thought it might have been “because it was the right thing to do,” but even he knew that wasn’t the answer. He felt guilty about not being able to help in the past, and he would be damned if he did not help when he was perfectly able to.
“I’m not sure,” Martinez lied; he just did not want to tell Shiksie about his previous fights with the Human Navy.
“That’s alright, we don’t always do,” Shiksie said. She thought back to her own parents, how she was still to this day unsure why they sacrificed themselves, or even why the accident caused that sacrifice to happen.
Shiksie looked back at Martinez for the first time since they sat down. Her usually sharp, predatory features seemed far softer than before. She did not even hear Martinez’s heart run away when they made eye contact.
Martinez smiled softly at her, his usually fiery glower a much duller blaze. It wasn’t the usual inferno she saw in him, more akin to a tired dwindling flame.
Before she had a chance to say anything else she felt her datapad ringing, indicating a call. Looking at the screen, her own heart sank. Why is the director calling me?
SECTION THIRTEEN
HUMAN SAVAGE
To Shiksie’s disappointment, she had to stop her conversation with Martinez to take the call from the Director. As far as she could tell, her discussion with Martinez was going very well. They were genuinely starting to build a connection, even if it was small and likely fragile. Having Martinez open up to her and rely on her at all was still very pleasing.
When she answered the phone from the Director, Shiksies’ hackles stood on end the moment he started speaking. His voice had no care or concern; every word oozed venom and spite. The director was furious at the Human; He demanded that Her and Martinez report to his office as fast as possible.
Shiksie attempted to explain how Martinez was having a hard time with trauma and likely should not be subjected to more hostility at the moment, but the Director was hearing none of it. He would not budge on the matter, snapping that he would ship both of them off-world in a heartbeat if they weren’t in front of his desk within the hour.
Shiksie hung her head low. While she might have some pull in the trauma unit, when it came to the Director, she was just another number on a spreadsheet, just another worker who was either an asset or a liability. She had enough experience with the political game higher-ups in the GU had to play to see their careers advance, and the Director was no different.
She and Harnsis had a bone or two to pick with the Director, mainly because he kept them in their current positions longer than they should have been. They only played along because he would dangle some promise of a promotion or a new certification opportunity in front of them.
The Director had always been good at the carrot or the stick method of leadership. Likely, that was one of the reasons he had been in charge of two different hospitals for the last 40 standard cycles.
The amount of ire Martinez had drawn from the Director shocked her. Never in all her time on the station had the Director called someone to his office for anything other than a meet and greet or a cordial goodbye. The fight Martinez was involved in must have ruffled the feathers of some big-time players in the GU to have the Director so up in arms.
Either that or the Director had some big plans she would much rather Martinez stay out of. Navigating the politics of the GU was a ruthless game no one should step into without a particular type of conviction or goal already in their mind.
Shiksie turned her attention back to Martinez. He was still lazily seated on the bench, his lustrous brown eyes tracking her intently. Clearly, he had heard her half of the conversation and was displeased by it. The sorrow pooling in his vibrant eyes made her heart ache. No one should look that downtrodden in their life.
Even if the two of them butted heads when they had first met, it would be a cold day in whatever hell the Director believed in before she let that man break her apprentice more than whatever events in his past had already done.
“So, how much of that did you hear?” Shiksie asked while she tucked away her datapad.
“Enough to know I am likely screwed,” Martinez sighed, his shoulders slumping to match the rest of his woeful appearance.
“Oh, come on,” Shiksie said as she approached Martinez. She gently placed one of her hands on his shoulder, and Martinez made no effort to stop her or even pull away. Shiksie was uncertain if she should feel relieved or horrified that Martinez had just let her touch him without reaction.
“We are both requested. I’m certain it won’t be that bad,” Shiksie said.
Martinez sighed. He could see Shiksie was trying, but he doubted anything good would come of this meeting. From the intensity of Shiksie’s argument with the Director, this meeting was likely to be the most legendary reaming he had ever received.
It would likely make any dressing down Martinez and the Marines received by Naval commanders look like an afternoon nap.
“Not like I have any choice in the matter, ‘’ Martinez replied flippantly.
Martinez surrendered to the fact that his fate was already out of his control. He had dealt with enough incidents in the Human navy to know fighting in town was a huge no-no. He could not even fathom the depths of the hole he had dug for himself by having fought several aliens while being the only Human in several light years.
Standing up, Martinez gently pushed Shiksie’s hand off his shoulder. He took a deep breath and centered himself. His drill instructors’ and former sergeants’ voices rang loudly in his mind. “Keep your bearing.”
He had somewhat mastered it at this point but was nowhere near as effective as his teachers. The Director might have ambushed him with his appearance when they first met, but this time, Martinez knew what he looked like and was ready for him.
“Let’s get this over with,” Martinez said as he turned and walked back towards the building.
Shiksie trailed behind Martinez as they walked towards the Director’s office, her ears fluttering around, catching passing glimpses of every conversation they neared. The other residents and workers of Draun took no notice of the two of them as they passed. For them, today was just another day at the office.
Shiksie’s nose scrunched as they approached the elevators leading up to the Director’s office. Martinez was clearly starting to worry more than he had at the start of the day. The sheer amount of sweat and pheromones pouring off him was choking. Even with her using a scent blocker, the amount of anxiety and worry crawling on him was palpable. A sickening haze of sweat and Martinez’s pine smell coated the air around him.
Once they entered the elevator, Shiksie caught a glimpse of Martinez’s eyes as he turned back towards the door. The blank look on his face was unnerving, sending her hackles up on end. He looked more like the walking dead than the strong-willed Human she knew he was.
His vibrant brown eyes cut through her and everything else in the hospital. It was apparent he had looked at her, but it did not seem his eyes were focused on anything. A vapid, blank expression coated his face like a vile doppelganger had replaced him.
As the elevator lurched upwards, Shiksie held her breath, trying to keep the potency of Martinez’s scent from overtaking her. Luckily, whatever mood he was in right now was not talkative. The excruciatingly long elevator ride up to the top floor was filled with deathly silence.
Once they were in front of the Director’s large wooden office doors, Martinez paused. Without Harnsis here to lead him into the belly of the beast, he figured he would do it himself, and he was not about to have Shiksie go in there without him. She seemed upset by the ordeal already, and he did not want her to cause more trouble for him or herself.
Martinez slammed his fist on the door, the heavy impacts of his fist vibrating throughout the entire floor.
He looked back at Shiksie, and she nervously rolled the tip of her tail between her hands while holding it just in front of her shapely waist. Her ears slightly drooped, and her deep green eyes held that icy glare he had seen every day since he had arrived.
A wry smile curled on his lips as he turned back towards the door. Martinez wondered if this would be the first time Shiksie had ever stood before someone in charge of her for anything negative. She did not seem like the type ever to cause any sort of trouble. He did not doubt that she was nervous, as getting a read on the enigmatic feline was getting easier by the day.
“Come in,” the growling voice of the Director sounded out, vibrating the massive wood doors on their hinges.
Martinez parted the door and entered the room. He was unsure why he thought it was what he should do; maybe it was just some ingrained behavior for reporting anywhere. Each of his steps was a calculated march, not a piece of wasted motion. Martinez walked with purpose right in front of the Director’s desk. His heels clicked together as he assumed a crisp position of attention in front of the sizeable lizard-like alien.
Shiksie watched in confusion as Martinez marched proudly into the room; his mannerisms juxtaposed the anxiety she could nearly taste rolling off him. She trailed behind him and took a far less crisp stance next to the Human. She wrapped one hand in the other in front of her waist, her tail tucked low behind one of her legs.
“You called for us, Sir,” Shiksie said.
The massive black-scaled alien leaned forward on his desk, his elbows causing the desk frame to bow as it creaked underneath his enormous frame. His knife-like claws tapped loudly on the thick armor-like plates on his chest. He narrowed his four greenish-yellow eyes on Martinez and let out a deep guttural growl.
“I did. I am glad the two of you made it here so quickly,” the Director grumbled. “We have much to discuss.”
“Of course, Sir,” Shiksie replied. “We would not want to keep you waiting.”
“Take a seat,” the Director huffed while gesturing to the two chairs nearby.
The two of them slid into the chairs. Martinez sat up straight as if an iron rod was built into his spine. Martinez looked back at the Director’s horrifying, predatory eyes, doing everything he could to keep his bearing from breaking, such as shuffling his feet in his shoes and biting his tongue.
He was holding his ingrained responses from running wild. Even though his heart regrettably started racing from the moment he entered the room, a primal fear of the Director’s appearance began to well up inside him.
“Now then, onto business. There is no point in keeping you here longer than I have to,” the Director growled.
He reached into his desk and pulled out a colossal datapad nearly the size of a small television. The device was obviously custom-made for the man, as it had a bulkier build than any other datapad they had ever seen.
The Director turned his attention to the datapad and resumed speaking. “Martinez, do you remember what I told you when you arrived here?”
“I am fairly confident that you instructed me not to cause any trouble, Sir,” Martinez replied in a nearly robotic monotone voice.
He nodded and turned the datapad around so Shiksie and Martinez could see the video he had pulled up on the Galactic Union’s video-sharing site. The title caught both Martinez’s and Shiksie’s attention: “Human Savage and Vein Slicer nearly kill.”
“Tell me then, would hospitalizing two people count as causing trouble?” The Director hissed.
Cold sweat formed on Martinez’s back as the video began to play. His and Lysa’s fight had been captured in remarkably high definition. They watched her graceful dodges and strikes, followed quickly by his relentless assault on the alien.
Martinez’s bruised arm throbbed as he saw the alien break its hand on it. The loud crunch of its bones caused whoever recorded the video to gasp. Then came the part that had Martinez’s heart shuddering. What he initially thought was a quick, violent act of striking back appeared far different in the framing of the video.
A monstrous glint filled his eyes on the video feed as he slowly approached his reeling opponent, not an ounce of Humanity in his body as he stalked toward his injured prey. Martinez gripped his pants tightly, his knuckles going white as the moment approached. A deafening crunch sounded out as his fist connected with the alien’s jaw, sending the creature collapsing to the ground.
The alien recording wretched in the background, the muttered words of “What kind of savage would do that?” played just before the Director cut the video off.
Shiksie watched the video in fascination. Martinez and the alien fighting alongside him was a surreal thing to watch; any doubt she had in her mind about how dangerous Martinez could be was gone. The fight was brutal and efficient. Martinez hardly looked like a living being in those brief moments. Each action was so well practiced and focused that it shook Shiksie to her core.
Her eyes wandered over to Martinez; the mystery of the Human’s past grew further. Along with the intense violence, she had noticed in the fight something else. While Martinez looked like a beast on a rampage, he had stepped in between the Aviex and the Urintal without hesitation.
Shiksie wondered how Martinez had met the Aviex he had thrown himself into a fight for. She knew the two of them were on a date, but how he acted so quickly was not the actions someone would take with a total stranger, at least in her eyes.
She thought back to their conversation about this event earlier. Martinez told her he was unsure why he jumped in so willingly to protect the Aviex woman, but actually seeing the fight unfold made that comment all the more bizarre.
“I would say that would count as causing trouble, sir,” Martinez grumbled.
“Good, we are on the same page then,” the Director replied before he tossed the datapad onto his desk, sounding like a sledgehammer on wood.
“According to the regulations I was given when you were assigned to me. I am acting as your current commanding officer. Therefore, the issue of any punishment you will receive has been handed to me,” the Director said as he pointed his knife-like claw at Martinez.
“Sir, why would he be getting punished? He did nothing wrong,” Shiksie protested. “The police even decided that this was self-defense.”
The Director’s eyes darted to Shiksie, cutting into her icy gaze. “I am well aware of what the police have to say about the event,” the Director snapped.
The bestial man took a moment and drew in a sharp breath. “As for your question, it is because I have a job to do, so does he.”
The Director stood up to his full height. His three-meter tall frame towered over them, nearly touching the ceiling. He wandered over towards the side of the room, his gaze trailing along a series of pictures hanging on it. The photos depicted the previous Directors of Draun station. Each looked so wildly different from one another that it was hard for Martinez to believe.
“Do either of you know what my job even is?” The Director asked while tracing his claw along the multitude of pictures. “Or the job of all of the previous Directors?”
“No, not really, sir,” Martinez replied.
Shiksie was well aware of the Director’s job and did not trust him for that reason. He might do his best to keep you from being messed with by the public, but that protection came at a price.
He turned around and sighed. “My main concern is the optics and the interactions of Draun station and the public,” he said, gesturing towards the widows behind his desk. “Said simply. I have not been a doctor in a long time. I am more of a politician.”
That makes sense, Martinez thought. Even in the Military, the higher your rank, the more politics you had to play.
“This incident is volatile, and I have to act accordingly,” he grumbled while walking closer to them. He placed himself between them, draping his massive clawed hands on the back of their chairs.
“Martinez, as of right now, is not an asset; he is a liability,” the Director hissed. His blazing hot breath rolled over both of them. They quivered in their seats under the mere presence of the Director. “I have to take some actions to fix that.”
“Sir, that’s not fair. So what if he got into a fight,” Shiskie managed to squeak.
“Fair is not what I care about. I need results and something good to say to the press and the Human ambassador breathing down my neck,” the Director retorted.
“So what punishment are you going to give me, Sir?” Martinez asked.
“Martinez, stop, don’t just accept a punishment. You did nothing wrong,” Shiksie protested. Trying to keep Martinez out of whatever the Director had planned.
Martinez shot a fiery glance at her, and she recoiled slightly when she caught his gaze.
