M’Ress crouched down and picked her up. She was much smaller than a marine or any male for that matter and so he hefted her easily. He carried her to the turbo lift and then down the hallway to her quarters.
Just outside her doorway, however, he was stopped by repair crews. The lead engineer saw his approach and snapped to attention with the hand coming up in a raking salute.
“I’m sorry sire,” he began to report “but the passageway ahead is impassable. There is a hull breach in that cabin.” And he motioned to Tr’rins cabin.
“Thank you, Sergeant.” M’ress looked back down the passage. There was only one choice now. He headed back to his own cabin.
He had some difficulty opening the door as voice systems were down and he needed a free hand to open the lock on the door. But he managed it by hiking her higher up his shoulder. Once inside he eased her onto the bed, arranging her so she was comfortable. The medic said she would sleep for a while so he now could attend to what he needed to.
He was angry. He pulled out the bottle of bourbon he kept, for medicinal purposes, and swallowed a belt. Not too much, he needed to stay sober, but the burn helped him focus. That battle should not have happened. So many things went wrong. Nothing against protocols, but wrong nonetheless. If only…
The thought struck him hard. If he had given her the command to return to her cabin, she would have been dead. Even worse, she would have been pulled into space and he would have had nothing to return to her family. That took a lot of the sting out of the situation. Still, her she was, injured. But she might not have been if everything had executed properly, which brought him back to the events of the battle.
He stalked out the door. He was still angry. But now he had a target to vent on. One that would rightly deserve the wrath he was about to vent.