The coppery smell of blood—Xaleyp’s own, combined with that of Ire and Max—lingered in the air, even in the deafening silence that followed the brief yet exhilarating fight. His heart was pounding, trying to leap straight out of his chest, and he couldn’t take his eyes off the spot where Ire’s body had laid for a few moments.

“Xaleyp, I swear that’s not what I called you here for,” the Emperor said as soon as the shouting faded and the door closed. Xaleyp shook his head to clear it a little, but his mind kept going back to the image of Ire standing there, two bullet holes in his chest, before he fell. “I hoped for you and Maxwell to officially meet, but that plan went out the window awfully quickly.”

He straightened his robes and sat down, gesturing to the seat Xaleyp had fallen over. A cloth was against his neck, stemming the slight flow of blood. Xaleyp picked it up with shaking hands and collapsed into it, blood steadily trickling down his face onto his fatigues. A He was dizzy, dizzier than he ever felt before, and his head was pounding like a bass drum in a parade.

“What happened?” Xaleyp asked, his voice quiet. The room was spinning, and he could hardly form the words. “I thought Ire was in custody.”

“Indeed, he was.” The Emperor nodded. “Unfortunately, he broke free when he saw Maxwell was here with me. He saw an opportunity and he took it. This is not what I expected to happen at all, but it at least settles that matter. But enough about that for now. There’s no reason for you to be here. Go to the medical bay and get cleaned up, you look like you’re ready to pass out.”

Xaleyp nodded slowly, his head swaying side to side. He stood up. His legs barely supported him, but they managed to carry him back to the lift.

“Oh, and Xaleyp.” The Emperor stood and bowed to him. “Thank you for saving my life, I won’t forget it.”

Xaleyp bowed back, being careful not to bend too far and topple over, his head feeling like it was going to split in two. The door hissed open, and he walked through. He leaned against the wall as the lift began to fall back towards the space station. Some of the blood from his face smeared onto the smooth metal. After several seconds, a wave of nausea overcame him, and he vomited in the corner of the lift.

When the door opened, the guard turned to look and recoiled in shock, his face twisting up from the smell and sight.

“Damn, what happened to you?”

“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” Xaleyp staggered out, his legs protesting with each step he took. He jerked a trembling thumb back to the blood and vomit covered wall. “That may need to get cleaned though.”

“Don’t forget I outrank you, cadet. I have half a mind to make you go back in and clean it yourself.” As he said the words, his eye was twitching to get to his CAM. “Lucky for you, I don’t care enough. Bots are on their way.”

Xaleyp hardly heard the words, the pounding in his head pushing everything else away. He kept moving towards the lifts. The only medical bays were on the same floor as the dormitories. Mian and Lina were probably wondering about him.

Xaleyp said in a message to Lina.

came the reply almost instantly.

Before he knew it, he was on the lift going up. He leaned his head against the wall, trying to soothe the pounding ache inside. The door opened after several seconds, and standing outside was Mian.

“Damn, what happened to you?” she asked, unknowingly repeating the guard’s words and staring at his face.

“You should see the other guy.” Xaleyp thought for a moment. “I guess that’s not entirely fair since guards took him away. Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m happy to see you, but why are you here?”

“Lina told me you were on your way to the infirmary,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “Do you mind if I walk with you?”

“Not at all.” Xaleyp took a few staggering steps before his legs yelled in protest. The adrenaline of the fight was fading, and he almost fell before Mian was at his side, holding him up. A pain shot through his abdomen at her touch. He winced and gasped from the sensation.“Thanks.”

“No problem.” She helped guide him down the hallways to the medical center. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah, the bots will fix me up in no time. I do think I need more hand to hand combat training though. If I go unconscious and remember none of this, promise me you’ll remind me.”

“It’s a deal.” She smiled at him. The door to the medical bay hissed open as they approached. “You’ll have to tell me the entire story though.”

The room was a circle similar to the dormitories. Instead of couches and chairs, there were infirmary beds evenly spaced around the perimeter. Around each bed was a fabric curtain that could be drawn closed, giving any occupants within some modicum of privacy during their visit. In the center was a central hub with several screens vibrantly gleaming and multicolored lights flashing, as well as series of medical words and phrases Xaleyp couldn’t decipher even if he hadn’t just been in a fight. At each of the beds was a multi-armed medical robot suspended from a track on the ceiling for quick triaging and basic operations. For more advanced procedures, there was another bot in the hub ready to be deployed and aid its human counterpart.

At the moment, each bed was empty with the curtains opened wide. The doctor was sitting in the hub, reading on his CAM. When they entered, he jumped up and rushed over, gesticulating wildly with his arms.

“What is it with you cadets and always getting yourselves hurt?” he muttered under his breath. “Always getting into fights and ending up here, where I have to try to put you back together, just for you to go out and do it again the next day.”

He took control from Mian and helped Xaleyp to a bed. It lowered at their approach for easier access then raised itself again once he was in, bringing him to a height that was comfortable for the doctor to work at. Once in place, he poked and prodded at Xaleyp’s sides and looked over his bloodied face. Pain radiated from each touch, making him recoil.

“Hm, yes, that’s at least two broken ribs and obviously a broken nose. Hurts like a son of a bitch, but not unfixable. Completely unnecessary injuries, if you ask me.”

The doctor shined a flashlight into Xaleyp’s eyes. He tried shutting his eyes against the blinding light, but a firm hand kept them open.

“Possibly a concussion.” The doctor shook his head. “What did you do? Get into a fistfight or something?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, Medi here will have you looking good as new.” He smirked as he patted the robot. With a couple of inputs on a keypad near the midsection of the bot, he initiated its procedure. “Or at least looking how you used to. Go ahead and take off your shirt. It’ll give her better access.”

Xaleyp’s hands shook as he removed the top of his fatigues. He winced in pain from the movement but shrugged it off, pushing through it in an attempt to not let Mian realize he was in so much agony. She took the shirt from him and threw it in a laundry receptacle next to the bed.

The robot whirred to life as the doctor walked away and returned to the hub. After a second of calibration and scanning, it moved over him. A bandage appeared from its insides and fitted itself across his chest. It stung as the cloth securely wrapped itself around his body, and the ointment within sunk into his skin, releasing the nanites to rejuvenate his insides. The bot placed another smaller bandage across his nose. It stung worse than the first, but he could slowly see his nose tip moving back into place as the nanorobots did their job. Something swabbed at the oozing gash under his eye, sending another stinging sensation through him. Another wrap went around his head, and nanorobots seeped into his skull to reduce the effects of the concussion. When it was done, a feeling of revitalization surged through him as the microscopic robots worked. The medical bot moved back to its position hovering over the foot of the bed and powered down, its job complete.

“So what happened up there?” Mian asked, leaning forward and putting her elbows on her knees. “Did the Emperor do this to you?”

Xaleyp shook his head. Though still dizzy from the blows, he recounted the story to her. After he was done, she sat back in her chair, one hand at her chin, deep in thought.

“What exactly is that sword?” Mian looked at him questioningly. Xaleyp had purposefully left that part out, not knowing if he should tell her. “What’s so special about it?”

“I don’t know exactly,” he lied. The narrowing of her eyes told him that she didn’t believe it. He tried to ignore it, closing his eyes to block out some of the aches and pains he felt. “All I know is that it’s important to the Emperor. I don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands though, and Max definitely would’ve been the wrong hands.”

“And he didn’t tell you what it did? Why it was so important that you risk dying for? That you freaked out when I said I heard Ire say Max’s name earlier? If we’re going to be friends, I’d like it if you didn’t lie to me, Xaleyp.”

He stared at her for a few seconds. In his somewhat dazed state, he didn’t fully follow her words, but he could see the annoyed look on her face.

“I’ll tell you everything in the morning.” He closed his eyes and put his head down on the pillow. “I can hardly think right now.”

“Fine, I’ll let you get some rest.” She stood and started walking towards the door before stopping to look back at him. She gave her CAM a tap. “Let me know when you’re ready to talk.”

He nodded. She continued walking, the only sounds of her departure the echoing footsteps and the hissing of the door.

This felt like one of the longest days he’d been through in a long time. Ire was gone, he was in the hospital nursing broken bones and cuts and bruises, the mystery girl somehow became more mysterious. How had things gone so right but so wrong so fast?

With a soft groan, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.