Bactine

t any help. His thoughts kept racing around the insanity that had been the

had kept him alive, in the few moments he had been awake during the all the surgeries. Nobody had asked him if he wanted to be repaired, or be patched up. No. Someone at the top h

But they had not. "Crapshot, " he told the ceiling before he rolled off the bunk and headed over to the small sink. Bact

ays been on Daniel's case. His younger brother had been the one that got the good jobs, the girls, the money and- bloody every

y base was housed on was only a clump of rock. There was some air outside, but not enough for normal people. Not for the kind he

ith a small group of two dozen soldiers, to guard the shipment of weapons. It had been a routi

And then there had been the pirate ship. It had almost dropped on top of them, out of FTL. That was either an example of excellent navigation or the biggest lump of luck

irate vessel slammed into it. The alarms that went off as the hull-breach was detected. That had killed at least four of his men already.

works that the pirates had surprised them with as they had rounded the corner. Daniel blamed himself f

that moment on. There had not even been pain; it had gon

sterly job, putting him back together, using as much of his old body as was usable, and filling the rest up with artificial things. Tendons, muscles, flesh. He wonder

would cut through it. God alone knew where that stuff came from, but it was almost indestr

great, just good. But somehow Malcolm had always stood in his way, taking the wind out of Daniel's sails. He was an army-

raneous physical appearance was to be removed. He already hated Bactine, as his manhood had been taken off. A sharp laugh later, he wondered

at the door. Daniel said

uty now." She sat down on the only chair, her eternal camouflage outfit crumpled and smelly. As if she read Daniel's thou

That

ression of pain, anger and despair on Daniel's fac

her all the time. Now

on her again. "It was not my choice, okay? You'll have to live with it. And remember what I said. You have the c

rage compartments in his new arms and legs, and also she had this strange little cable. She had shown him how to open a connector-port in his thigh, wh

ou show

t's what you have to add at this

da, " Daniel repeated, a

can do, " the Head Medical Officer said as she got to her feet again. "And get to

c, " Dan

lked to t

ond

and looke

nk y

f. Good luck with the retraining

sed as it shut it

ning around, that was the last thing he fancied. Yet, something i

f a problem. His new body was bigger, wider, more muscular than the one he'd had before all this; he barely fit in it. "Oh, great. Not only a ne

=

even that he dared to whistle a tune as he strolled

someone ca

w eye had located the person calling him sooner than his own eye.

fatal mission. He had been more fortunate than Daniel, in the a

ror that was on that freighter. I had heard they were going to patch you up with Bactine." There was a mix of emotions in the man's voice. Relief, for seeing his mate

tore for you?" Daniel instinctively knew how his mate would feel about

was at eye-level with Daniel. "Yeah. New leg, new foo

. There were not that many soldiers needed these days, so p

?" Christian grinned. He held out his hand, Daniel slapped it. "Ouch, dammit man, you have to be careful with

ehow I still have to learn more control of this

f to the hospital on Deimos 9 tomorrow, where th

things will work out perfectly for you, Christian.

Qurgons fell on our roof, Daniel. Stop beating yourself up for that.

You're right. Take care, Christian." They s

Daniel." Chri

He also knew that it would n