Running at full speed, she rounded a corner and there he
was, running toward her with his gun raised, shouting
orders at the Rangers behind him. She felt a vague sense of
relief, and then her knees buckled. His face, bending over
her in concern, was the last thing she saw.
Taz woke to blinding white light, and wondered for a
moment if she had somehow made it to heaven. Then she
turned and saw Up sprawled in an uncomfortable looking
chair next to her bed, and realized that she was in sickbay,
on the Cazadora. She tried to sit up.
“Whoa there, take it easy,” Up said, untangling himself
from the chair. Had he slept there? “You had severe
radiation poisoning from the warp core, but the doctors
managed to get enough anti-radiation meds into you to
counteract the effects. It will take some time for your body
to restore itself, but you should be feeling back to your old
self within a few weeks or so.”
Taz blinked as memories of the robot ship flooded back
to her. Had she really climbed down the wall of the engine
shaft? Shot her way through a hoard of robots in a radiation
haze? The images were all jumbled in her mind.
“I guess coming back unconscious isn’t the best way to
end your rookie mission on a starship, is it?” she asked
weakly, her voice sounding raw and sore.
To her surprise, Up smiled. “It’s not the worst, either.”
Taz found out why he was smiling later that evening
when he helped her, despite her protestations, into the
crowded mess hall. The room fell silent, and then a
lieutenant boomed, “Three cheers for the rookie!”
“Rookie! Rookie! Rookie!”
Riotous whoops and applause filled the hall.
“Taz, did you really climb six decks down that shaft to
escape the robots?”