Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 34

Chapter 34 

Shehu stepped out of the shuttle to find Lieutenant Cheung and his party waiting for him. He recognised the two men from the Diell immediately, Morales and Boyko, Morales looked a bit groggy, as if he had just woken up.  

"Thanks for calling me," he told Cheung, ignoring them for the moment. "How is Owen?" 

"A bit bruised and shaken up but no permanent damage, thankfully. He went up to the Voyager a few minutes ago." 

"So what happened?"  

"According to Owen, he and Felix, that's a fellow steward from the Voyager, were walking back to the shuttle from the Three Suns and these two were waiting for him. This man," he pointed to Boyko, "punched him, and then the other man kicked him when he was on the ground." He went on to describe how Felix had come and got him and then the rest, he had witnessed in person. 

Shehu nodded grimly and turned to Boyko. "Is that right?" 

"He deserved it," Boyko repeated.  

"We were just teaching him to keep his filthy mouth shut!" interjected Morales. "He can't get away with saying those sorts of things." 

"Yeah, looking out for the honour of our ship, sir," Boyko continued, staring defiantly at Shehu. He murmured something under his breath. 

"What was that, Boyko?" 

"I said, you wouldn't understand, sir," he repeated. Cheung felt his eyes widening at the blatant disrespect. 

"Ah," Shehu rolled his shoulders, almost happily. "So that's what this is about eh? You don't like oms." He ignored Cheung standing there with his mouth open, evidently the gossip hadn't reached the Voyager yet. He stepped up to Boyko. "This is what I do when I have a personal grievance with someone I want to sort out. I don't hide in an alley like a coward and get a friend to help me beat him up. I challenge him face to face, like a man. So how about it Boyko, do you have the guts to fight me? Here? Now?" 

Boyko looked around uneasily. He knew Shehu was a powerful fighter but he didn't want to lose face before the other men, even if they were just from the Voyager. Besides, he had seen the Captain beat him only the day before. 

"Cheung? You're witness that this is unofficial, just between the two of us?" 

The other man nodded. Shehu let Boyko throw the first punch, letting it just graze past his chin then proceeded to pound blow after blow into his body. "How many times did he hit Owen?" he asked Cheung, scarcely breathing hard. 

"Only twice I think," Cheung replied, mesmerised by the flurry of blows. "Morales was the one who kicked him, three or four times, he couldn't quite remember." 

"That'll do then," Shehu replied, pivoting on his left foot and bringing the right up to clip Boyko above the ear.  

"Right, give me your best shot," Shehu invited Morales, as Boyko fell to the ground. 

Morales rushed at him, he was taller than Shehu and he knew he must be tired after his bout with Boyko, though he hadn't realised Boyko was such a poor fighter. It only took a second before he realised his mistake. Shehu pummelled him with blows from his feet and elbows, making sure he would have more than a few bruises to feel in the morning before putting him out of his misery with an uppercut to the jaw. 

"Not sure if that will have the desired effect, but I certainly feel better!" he remarked to Cheung, in a satisfied voice. "Let Owen know it's been taken care of will you?" He looked down at the two prone men, "If they've got any sense, they'll leave it at that, learn their lesson and move on. I'm a great believer in letting the punishment fit the crime." 

Cheung looked rather warily at the other man. "I can see that!" 

"It won't solve everything, of course," Shehu said ruefully, in a low voice that only Cheung could hear. "The Captain still has a lot to sort out, but at least it might settle this particular dispute."  

"Ah, Lieutenant?" Cheung asked delicately, as he helped load the two unconscious men onto the shuttle. "Did I misunderstand or are you ...?" 

"An om?" Shehu finished the sentence for him. "Yes I am. It's not a secret anymore. I had to go public, Petrov and I are, um, involved." 

Cheung grimaced. Luckily, Shehu read him correctly. "I know. I can't decide whether the timing is helpful, or the worst thing possible!" 

XXX 

Captain Farrell finally stood up from behind his desk. After Shehu had called, he had sat there, the disaster running around and around in his head. His mind had jumped from one strategy to another, each more outlandish than the last, but in the end, he knew he really had no choice. He called Eriksen and Nguyen and told them, then he announced a meeting for as many of the crew as could be spared at 09:00 the next morning. 

He looked unsmilingly at the sea of faces in front of him. He could see Shehu and Petrov on opposite sides of the room, looking watchful, Eriksen and Nguyen at the back, expressionless. They were all his men, men he had commanded for a month, a year, a couple of them even for the whole twelve years since he had taken up the Captain's position on the Diell. 

"I've called this meeting because I want to set the record straight. All sorts of rumours have been flying about and you deserve to know the truth. You all know the rule I've enforced about oms, no sexual relations between crew on the Diell." He looked around, seeing the men nod, seeing many heads turn to stare at Shehu and Petrov, they thought they knew what he was about to say. 

Shehu frowned, Petrov returned his gaze steadily. God he wished he was his, that he'd come to his quarters tonight and he could lose himself in ... He brought himself up short, this was hardly the time or the place! 

"I introduced this rule with the purpose of keeping men safe, safe from both abuses of power and jealous retaliation. However, it's been brought to my attention that this rule brings its own complications, encourages fear and hatred against oms which was never my intention." He paused, "As a result of the events of the last few days, I am changing my policy. As long as men behave sensibly and professionally I will not interfere, Rule 158 will still be there of course but I will impose no additional restrictions. There will however be one exception. Myself." 

He looked around again, he could see confusion on a lot of faces, dismay and disillusion on others. He couldn't put if off any longer, "I know there have been rumours about me, that I'm an om myself. It's true, I am." He could have heard a pin drop. 

Boyko and Morales were not the only men who looked betrayed. His eyes met Petrov's again as he spoke over the rising noise of disbelief and protest, choosing his words carefully. 

"I swear I have never had a relationship with anyone aboard the Diell and I swear to you all I never will." He thought that it was true enough, his two encounters with Petrov could hardly be called a relationship. He believed, hoped, Petrov would not contradict him. With those few words he had put him completely out of reach, put up a solid wall between them. And, if he was still being honest with himself, he had done it mostly for his own sake. If Petrov had changed his mind and come to him he doubted he would have had the strength to turn him away. Now it was out of the question, he had sworn an oath. 

He had promised himself in advance that he would ride out the storm for at least a week before making any decisions about transferring or resigning, but judging by the almost tangible antagonism in the air, he might not last that long.