Skirmishes by Kristine Kathryn Rusch Page B

environmental suits, then it should have killed her, too.
    She had to assume her crew—her well-trained crew—was in shock.
    “Speak to me, people,” she said, her voice calmer than she felt. Her heart still seemed off. It trembled, even though it was beating, and her stomach was—well, the only word she could use was itchy. Even her skin felt crawly, like she had walked into a super-charged room.
    That thought made her shivers grow worse. Only the new shivers were real ones—shivers from an emotional reaction, not from something happening to her.
    “I…I’m okay.” The female voice sounded uncertain, and Elissa couldn’t identify it.
    It wasn’t like her crew to be shaken up, even by a disaster of this magnitude. She didn’t like it.
    “Let’s try this,” Elissa said. “I want names, then condition.”
    After that, she would worry about location, assignments, and getting this ship working again. One thing at a time.
    It would calm all of them—including her.
    “Lieutenant Homer Ryder, ma’am.” Ryder’s voice sounded strong, but it echoed in the quiet. “I’m bruised and banged up, I might have a broken ankle, but I think I’m all right. I’ve had worse, ma’am.”
    Elissa let out a small breath. She had expected injuries. She just hoped they wouldn’t be too severe.
    “Lieutenant Nisha Lee.” Lee didn’t sound as strong. Her voice had a rasp to it. “I hit my head, ma’am, but I don’t think I have a concussion. I’m a little dizzy, but I expect that to pass. I also dislocated my shoulder, but I managed to fix it.”
    Elissa winced. She knew how painful shoving a shoulder back in the socket could be. She had no idea how someone achieved that in zero-g, but apparently Lee had.
    “Officer Phoebe Gatson.” There was the faint voice that had spoken a few moments ago, the voice that Elissa hadn’t been able to place. “I got a few cuts, but I stopped the bleeding. I don’t think anything major is wrong, but I tell you, my body feels like it’s been through some kind of super-charged environment.”
    That feeling that Elissa had. Apparently Gatson shared it.
    “Me too,” Lee said.
    “Yeah,” Ryder added. “Whatever hit us had some kind of physical component.” Then he caught his breath as if he realized what he’d said. “I mean, it affected our bodies, not—”
    “I know what you mean, Lieutenant,” Elissa said, “and I’m feeling the same way. And like you, I’m convinced it came from that thing that hit us.”
    “I feel dizzy too, ma’am. Officer Alistair Binek,” he added that last as if he wasn’t sure she would recognize his voice. She did. “And I’m pretty sure I cracked a rib. Nothing serious. I can breathe just fine.”
    “I think I broke a few ribs,” said a new female voice. “Provisional Lois Baxter, ma’am. I’m breathing all right, and I don’t think my lungs are damaged. I suspect I’ll feel this more when the gravity comes back.”
    Baxter was the only Provi on the bridge crew, and one of Elissa’s best crew members, even though—or maybe because—she had worked her way up through the ranks.
    “With luck, Provi,” Elissa said, “we’ll have the gravity on soon, and someone medical will be able to ease the pain.”
    “It’s not a problem right now, ma’am,” Baxter said.
    Her crew was doing its best to convince her that they were fine. But she heard something in the voices, something that told her they were not fine, any more than she was.
    “Officer Malachi Locke, ma’am. I’m pretty sure my right arm is broken, maybe in more than one place. But I’m functional, especially while the gravity is off.” Locke sounded almost cheerful, so Elissa knew it was a front.
    She was about to respond when one more voice spoke up, sounding shaky.
    “Officer Sepp Trombino, ma’am. I had a bloody nose but I don’t think it’s broken. I’ve had a broken nose. I know what it feels like, and this isn’t it. My body has that same uncomfortable