She started to wonder where that last menu item came from when Aaron stirred next to her. She set her tray aside and curled up with him. His emotions felt dark, unsettled. When he slipped his arm around her and squeezed her tightly to him, she snuggled with him. Then he kept squeezing.
“Aaron?”
One of his hands skimmed up her side and caught her neck. As his fingers dug into her flesh, she tried to let out a scream but couldn’t as his hand clamped down around her throat, cutting off her air supply.
She struggled, kicking at him, loosening his hold when she caught him in the groin. He grunted in pain. Rolling away from him, she jumped to her feet and screamed for Ford and Caph.
Aaron staggered to his feet and came after her. His normally sweet brown eyes went blank with rage as he lunged.
She managed to get to the com button. “Ford! Caph! Emergency, our quarters, now!”
Seconds later, their cabin door slid open as the two men raced in. Aaron turned and lunged at them, letting out a visceral snarl.
“Holy fuck!” Caph yelled. Catching him, he threw him to the floor. “What the hell?”
Emi, trying and failing to hold back her sobs, bolted for the door. “He’s got the same thing the colonists do! Keep him here, I’ll get a sedative!” She ran for sick bay where she grabbed a hypo and sedative bolus.
When she returned to their quarters, Caph and Ford sat on top of Aaron, who viciously struggled against them. Ford now sported a profusely bleeding cut over his right eye.
She dropped to her knees and jammed the syringe against Aaron’s shoulder. When he went limp a moment later, all three of them sat back.
Wiping at his face, Ford examined the blood on his fingers. “All right,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm, “tell us what the fuck happened?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know how, but he’s got it.” She broke down sobbing as Caph wrapped an arm around her, trying to soothe her. “He fucking has it!”
After she finally composed herself, Caph released her. He turned to Aaron, where he lay sprawled on the floor. With a grim look, Caph carefully slung Aaron over his shoulder. He carried him down to the cargo bay and into the lander, where he secured him with energy shackles. Emi and Ford followed.
“What do we do now?” Ford asked.
Caph stared at Aaron’s prone form. “How long will those drugs take to wear off, babe?”
Still shaken, Emi tried to think. “An hour, maybe a little longer.” She spotted Ford’s wound. “Come on, let me clean you up.” She took him to sick bay while Caph stayed with Aaron.
“Did he at any time not wear a suit?” Ford asked.
“No! He and Sam and Gregor were good about that.”
Ford reached over and punched the sick bay’s com link on the wall to hail the K-2. “Rob, this is Ford. You there?”
“Where the hell else would I be?”
“Listen, smart ass, Aaron has it. How are Sam and Gregor?”
A moment of stunned silence. “What?”
“How are Sam and Gregor? They went planet-side. Aaron’s got it. He just went batshit and attacked us. How are your guys?”
“Holy fuck. Hold on.” More silence, and then he came back. “They’re fine.”
Emi closed her eyes and cried.
“Emi’s got to finish stitching me up, then we’ll be over to get them and head to the surface.”
“What about Aaron?”
Ford’s gaze held Emi.”I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we have to get him to the surface.”
“Why?”
“Dude, we don’t have a brig. I can’t risk having him go batshit up here and tear the joint up.”
She stopped by their quarters to clean up the mess and get dressed. Her breakfast dishes had been scattered during the struggle. Ford changed out of his blood-spattered shirt before helping her swap the sheets. They carried the remains of the dishes to the galley.
She sat at the table where she sobbed with her head on her arms. “What are we going to do?”
He rubbed her shoulders. “You’ll figure it out. You will.”
One of the men had already cleaned up the galley before all hell broke loose. She lifted her head and stared at the counter, which was empty except for the coffeemaker and two loaves of cinnamon bread. Something niggled at her when the com link whistled, distracting her.
“Hey, Ford, it’s John.”
Ford punched the button. “Go ahead.”
“Rob told me what happened. I’ll send one of my guys over to help Caph while you go down.”
“Thanks. Can he stop by the K-2 and pick up Sam and Greg for me?”
“Yeah, no problem. Braynow Gaston out.”
“Solves that problem,” Ford muttered. He sat at the table and took Emi’s hands in his. “Honey, this will be okay.”
She stared into his blue eyes, feeling the comfort he tried to send to her, but she felt something else. His fear.
“What if I can’t?”
He shook his head. “Don’t you dare go there, Emi. You and Donna, you’ll figure it out. I know you will.”
“What if it’s me?” she whispered. “I wasn’t in a suit. I went through decon, but what if he caught it because of me? What if you come down with it, too? And Caph?”
“Stop. Now.” His eyes blazed with emotion. “Put that out of your mind. Work on the solution, not blaming yourself for something that’s not your fault!”
Parisi came over and brought a couple of portable scanners with him that they could take to the planet to speed up the testing procedures. During the trip to the surface, Emi sat in the back of the lander on the floor next to Aaron and kept a hand on his shoulder. With her eyes closed, she focused on his energy, trying to read him. The sedatives were wearing off as Ford touched down on the planet. He shut the lander’s engines off, then opened the port directly to the outside without activating the decon air lock first.
Emi tried to protest, but he shook his head. “If he has it, babe,” he quietly said, “we’ve all been exposed to it. It’s a waste of time and energy to use the protective gear.”
Emi sensed Aaron’s thoughts felt fuzzy and confused as he opened his eyes and looked at her. “What happened?”
She breathed a sigh of relief as she smoothed the hair away from his face. “You’ve got it,” she quietly said.
He closed his eyes again and swore. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” She kissed him. “You didn’t hurt me.”
“I, however, took a hell of a wallop,” Ford snarked as he helped Aaron sit up.
Aaron’s brown eyes darkened, this time in anguish. “I’m sorry, buddy.”
He kissed him. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault.” He and Emi helped Aaron stand, supporting him as they helped him shuffle in his energy shackles to the small brig.
Aaron leaned in and kissed Emi at the cell’s doorway. Sascha stood at the back of the cell and watched, his face an unreadable mask behind his clear, blue eyes. He still hadn’t had another rage.
“Don’t come into the cell if I’m not restrained, babe,” Aaron told her. “Promise me, no matter what.”
Emi didn’t care if anyone saw her cry. “Okay.”
He touched his forehead to hers. “I love you, babe.” Then he stepped into the cell and waited while Taber removed the energy shackles for him.
Sascha stepped forward to shake hands with him. “Sorry we have to bunk together under such bad conditions, Captain.”
Later that afternoon, Ford called Emi back to the lander. The ISNC forces had emerged from their jump outside the solar system and sent them a message. They would be there in three days and immediately start evacuations.