Diell Breaker (LGBT- Sci-Fi - Romance)

Chapter 40

Chapter 40 

Back on duty, Aaron Harris found himself paired with Aslanian for the duration of the shift. Not surprisingly, Aslanian wanted to talk about the attack on the shuttle. 

"Whoever planted those explosives must be crazy, don't you think?" he asked rhetorically. 

"I suppose he had his reasons," Harris couldn't help replying. 

"Are you kidding?" Aslanian stared at him, the injured Weiss was a close friend of his. "Even if the guy had a problem with the Captain, he was willing to murder Weiss and the others without a second thought. It could have been you or me on board with him, it was just luck." 

Harris nodded uneasily. In fact he still felt uncomfortable remembering the shock he had felt when the four crewmen suddenly decided they wanted to go across to the Voyager with Farrell. He hadn't wanted the four men to die but he couldn't think how to stop them without giving himself away. 

"Attempted murder, sabotage. He'll be lucky to get away with ten years jail time when he's caught," Aslanian announced with heavy satisfaction. 

"Do you think they'll catch him then?" 

"Bound to, it's only a matter of time." He frowned, "It's going to be annoying for the rest of us but I imagine the Captain will be going through everyone's cabins at the moment, in addition to background checks back to our grandparents on both sides! Body scans too I expect," Aslanian continued with dour relish. "I've never seen the Captain this wound up about anything. Om or not, he won't stand for any attack on his men!" 

Harris stumbled for a second before regaining his balance, the third device in his shoe seeming to scream its presence aloud. "Of course. I hope they catch the bastard soon," he lied. 

Harris' thoughts were racing round and round in his head. How was he going to get out of this? He had always pictured himself disappearing off the ship in the confusion following the attack, back into the streets of Capella, returning eventually to Wallaroo. He had a vague idea of becoming a bodyguard, probably for some underworld figure where his skills as an ex-patrolman would be valued but no-one would ask too many questions. It was beginning to dawn on him that he had never really given enough thought to what would happen after he took his revenge on Farrell. His entire focus had been on getting to Farrell and killing him, making him pay for the damage he'd done. 

Now that he had tried and failed, he found he was thinking about himself. He knew he didn't want to go to prison and he didn't particularly want to die either, but if was going to pay his debt to his father's memory, he might have to. 

XXX 

Captain Farrell had enlisted Shehu and Petrov to help him in his search for the assailant. Shehu continued to work through the information available on the console unit while Petrov assisted the Captain with the practical task of searching and scanning everyone's quarters. Third Lieutenant Eriksen was helping Chief Medic Norton to perform body scans of every man aboard, starting with each other to show the crew that no-one was exempt. Although Farrell was hoping the scans would reveal solid evidence his primary concern was to establish that there were no more weapons on board. The very first thing he had done was to check the ship's own supply of weapons and make sure that nothing was missing, or even out of place. He had then personally sealed the room until the assailant was apprehended. 

Farrell was concentrating intently on his search. He had carefully put all thoughts of Cheung away in the back of his mind, to take out and examine later once he had finished the task in hand. Apart from the obvious, a bomb for example, he and Petrov were looking for anything out of the ordinary which might give them a clue as to the motive behind the attack. Shehu had told him his theory that it wasn't homophobia but Farrell wasn't certain he could discount that yet. 

His wristcom beeped softly. "Captain Farrell?" it was Medic Demetriou from the Voyager. "Good news, Nguyen, Yamamoto and Weiss are cleared to return to duty. Carmody will be on sick leave for another week while that broken arm heals, but he can return to the Diell if you like, he's fine otherwise. I'm keeping Ironsi a little longer for observation." 

"Thank you, Medic. That's good to hear." 

"I've spoken to Captain Asaro. She's given permission for Lieutenant Cheung to transport them to you when you're ready." 

"Excellent. We're ready now, so whenever it's convenient for you." 

He let the officer on duty in the docking bay know to expect imminent arrivals and then allowed himself a brief moment to think about Cheung, now that he had been reminded of him. He certainly wasn't the usual sort of man he was attracted to, not pretty like Rhys or hot like Petrov, older too. To be honest, if he hadn't kissed him he probably wouldn't have noticed him. True, he was thinking about him now, but he couldn't be completely certain it wasn't just because he was available. 

When he embarked on a new relationship he liked to be the hunter, he was always in charge, he wasn't a ship's Captain for nothing. He loved the excitement and thrill of the pursuit, the hot arousal of the capture, the sweet, sweet pleasure of the other man's submission. He felt his breathing quicken slightly just thinking about it. However he had almost ended in disaster with Petrov. Perhaps his favourite way of pursuing a lover wasn't the most appropriate to use on fellow officers, even if they weren't part of his crew! If he decided he wanted Cheung, he would have to be very, very careful the other man was consenting.