Betrayal 06

Freddy's eyes bugged out. "He smacked you? What the hell for?"

Mykal shrugged, "Being in his face. He got jumpy because of how our conversation was going and just let fly with his open palm. Didn't hurt much and just served to embarrass him even more."

Freddy shook his head in wonder. "I need to head back to the hanger real quick; need to finish work on my 'Mech before we reach Phoronas II. Come on down to the hanger and we'll get lunch or something in the next couple days."

Mykal nodded and waved, making his way to the door leading to the infirmary and Med Lab. He was glad that Freddy had not thought to ask about what had been going on the last couple of days outside of what the rumor mill had spit out.

*****

Walking into the infirmary, Mykal looked around; making his way to the Med Lab. He was getting looks of curiosity and some recognition from the medics and doctors, some he assumed had helped with stabilizing Barovos. Not paying them any mind as he walked straight for the doors, he was surprised when a medical technician stepped in front of him, blocking the door.

Mykal's eyes narrowed as he spoke, "Excuse me; I have an appointment with Doctor Davidov."

The tech smirked and looked the young officer up and down in an obviously degrading way. "I seriously doubt that. I know all of the Doctor and Brigit's appointments and I know I never saw you on it. You can leave now."

The slight buzz of talking and activity that is normal in a medical facility dropped to nothing, but the measured beeps of a couple pieces of equipment. "Excuse me?" Mykal said in a whisper.

"You heard me; see yourself out and don't come back until you actually have an appointment. Don't make me call security." the tech, who was only about an inch taller than Mykal, but lighter by about fifty pounds, took a menacing step forward.

Looking directly into the tech's eyes Mykal walked forward two steps, speaking in a clear and even tone. "The second most experienced medic here will need to contact security, as this technician will shortly need the most experienced, as he is keeping me from a meeting with two of my charges. Inform the commander of the watch that I have disabled the interloper and that once he is stable he is to be placed in the brig until we reach our destination; where he will then stand trial for threatening a member of the peerage, and the use of the familiar names of two members of the royal family."

Startled by the completely calm manner that Mykal just threatened his well being and way of life, "Just who the hell do you think you are to be making accusations like that?"

"I'm Mykal McDaniel; Commander of the Royal Lance and head of security for the royal family." Tilting his head to the side slightly, as if examining a strange creature, he asked, "And who exactly do you think you are to be confronting complete strangers, thinking that it is your right to try and control access to two of the royal family? I only ask because I like to know the name of the men whose careers I have a hand in decimating." At the stressing of the word 'hand', the tech's face drained of all color and he broke out into a sweat. Back pedaling a couple of steps, the technician put up his hands.

"Commander, I'm sorry; I didn't realize who you were. My deepest apologies; I swear I didn't mean anything by it."

"I asked you for your name. It is customary for one to answer questions put to you by higher ranking individuals. Of course, I could also tack on disrupting an investigation if you like." came the steely reply.

"Jacobies; Davis Jacobies is my name, Sir." was the stuttered reply.

"Mr. Jacobies, I assume that you report directly to Doctor Davidov?" Mykal asked.

"Y-Yes sir. I am his assistant."

"Hmm. I'll be sure to mention your lack of judgment to the good doctor. You will remain here until security arrives, you will explain to them in detail what you have done and you will accompany them to the brig. Do you have any questions?" The defeated look in the young technician's eyes said more than his mumbled affirmation. "Good. Make sure it happens."

Walking past the technician that had moved out of his way, Mykal walked through the doors into the Med Lab. Doctor Davidov looked up at him as he walked through the door, a slight grimace on his face.

"I figured I would have a bit more time before the coming of the end." he said with a slight smile.

"Well, I was going to go easy on you for being a complete ass about what you put in my head and deciding to hide it from me, since it may have been a good idea. However; your assistant, one Davis Jacobies, has pissed me off to no end so you will not be getting any breaks from me today."

"What did Davis do? He's just a technician...." Jason started to say.

"He tried to keep me from this meeting, using your given names without title, and being a giant pain in my ass. Now, what you should be worrying about right now is how you are going to convince me that I shouldn't punch you so hard that you forget your first year of medical school." Mykal flexed his fingers, making them pop slightly to emphasize his point.

"You don't seriously think you can get away with threatening me like that do you? I'll have your ass..."

Mykal cut him off by slamming his open palm on the metal medical table between them. "You have no idea what I am thinking right this moment. I am more than sure that I am within my rights, both as a patient and as the head of royal security, to beat your ass for your flagrant control tactics. It is not your place to determine what information you get to keep from me. It is well known royal law that you are to divest any and all medical information regarding my treatment to me as your patient. That can lose you your license, Prince or no Prince. The only thing keeping me from going completely crazy on you right now is that there are members of your family that would be disappointed in me if I acted that way, and that it would make me no better than the piece of shit whose hand I took off yesterday." Mykal's stormy grey eyes narrowed as he locked gazes with the very surprised Doctor. "Now, convince me that turning you in isn't a good idea."

Taking a deep breath, the doctor scrubbed a hand over his face, realizing that he had no idea the strength of will this young man had. "Mykal, my intention was never to hide any information from you. We, no, I felt that if we moved gradually, your control over the internal systems of your implants would be more rapid." Jason smiled ruefully. "From what Brigit tells me, you have already proven that you can control systems without even knowing they are there, and that I am completely mistaken. I have to admit, I am not happy with the fact that I am wrong. It doesn't happen often."

"The way you are talking, it sounds like there is a whole lot more to this junk you shoved in my head than you are letting on to." Mykal said, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"There are a number of things that we installed in you. I assure you, everything we installed was in part because of how much damage your nervous system took in that battle." Jason sighed. "I don't think you understand how unbelievably lucky you are to be alive, let alone fully functional."

Mykal snorted derisively. "I might, if you didn't keep all this information from me and convince everyone that I should be in the dark."

"Mykal, ninety percent of your nervous system was on the verge of total burn out. It is a stroke of complete luck that the nerves keeping your heart pumping were some of the few that didn't completely fry. We had to completely re-build your system with nanorobotics, basically re-wiring you with synthnerves. Part of what we put in your head, controls and converts that nerve information to normal levels so that you don't overload yourself by touching a piece of fruit or hearing a bit of music."

"Twitch reflexes of a mongoose wouldn't happen to be a side effect; would it?" Mykal asked, a thoughtful look on his face.

"One of them, yes. Once you get control of yourself, you will be able to increase and decrease sensitivity of a large part of your nervous system as well."

"What else did you do to me?"

"From what I understand, you have figured most of it out. There is of course the control over more than one 'Mech and the extra storage in the computer system. Elaine showed you the ability to transfer information to others with similar levels of implants?"

Mykal nodded slightly, "I knew I could receive them, but I wasn't aware I could send them."

Jason nodded. "Yes, you can also send messages to major computer systems and download through them."

"I figured that one out this morning, when I downloaded a schematic for the ship from the main computer."

"Well, the only other thing I know of is that Brigit added a tracking program of her own design. Not sure what the details of that are though." Jason frowned slightly, "She was pretty adamant about not sharing details of that one for some reason."

Mykal looked Jason in the eyes, locking him into his stare. "That's all you put in or modified about me? I will find out if you are lying."

"That's everything I know about; I swear." Jason replied emphatically. "I swear to you that I had no intention of keeping anything from you, on the long term. I was just worried about you being able to handle everything at once."

A tingle ran up Mykal's spine as the door opened behind him. "Has he given you all the answers you need Mykal?"

Turning at the sound of her melodious voice, he took in the sight before him. She was in a knee length skirt and light, thin looking button up blouse made of some ridiculously, expensive looking fabric. All of this was covered by her calf length white lab coat. His eyes narrowed as he bowed slightly. "Princess."

The lightning flash of irritation in her eyes was all the warning he received before she moved, taking the two strides forward and lashing out with her right hand, intent on slapping him.

Mykal saw this, and his hand snaked up and snagged her wrist. What he didn't catch was the left hand that moved only a fraction of a second after the right. That hand, he caught with his right cheek. "You were warned, Major."

Jason's eyes were saucer sized at this point as he watched the staring contest between the two, lightning blue eyes flashing at his stormy grey. "Um, yes, well. I see that you have this under control Brigit, so I'll just step out and see if I can find a new assistant." Skirting around the two, he never stopped facing them until he backed out the door.

"Why do you insist on hitting me?" Mykal ground out between clenched teeth.

"Because you can't seem to catch on that when I tell you to do something, I mean It." was her terse reply.

Releasing her wrist, he backed away the half step so that he was leaning on the metal table behind him. "Why is it so important that I not refer to you by your given rank? You should have berated me for the one time I didn't."

Her shoulders slumped a bit and she looked away slightly. "I don't want to be just a princess to you. I'm a princess to everyone, except maybe my mom and dad. I wanted you to see me as just another girl." His eyebrows rose up his head and he realized how embarrassed she was by admitting this to him.

"You will always be my princess. There is no getting around that." Taking a deep breath and hurrying through his explanation, as he saw moisture start to cloud her eyes as she seemed to pull in on herself even more. "Even if I am able to call everyone in the family by their names and for a time, forget that they are my rulers, you will always be my Princess. That makes you special from every woman in the galaxy." He reached forward and wiped away a tear that spilled down her cheek, turning her face towards him and looking into her misty eyes. "I don't know exactly what that means for the future and I can't control how things will be, but that is how I feel."

Launching herself forward, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged close to his chest. Reflexively, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He could tell by her slight shaking that she was crying lightly, so he just held her, relishing how comfortable and natural it felt. After a few moments she pulled away a bit, sniffling slightly. "I'm such a mess." she mumbled as she wiped the tears from her face.

"You look beautiful. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." He smiled down at her. "Besides, you're royalty; you are always right." Mykal frowned slightly, "Let's keep the crying to a minimum though; I'm really not a fan of seeing tears in your eyes." He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

She pouted slightly at the fact that he didn't kiss her for real, and it took all of his self control to not give in and give her what she obviously wanted. "Not yet Princess; there are details to be taken care of." he whispered to her.

She gave him a harrumph and pulled away slightly. "Besides, I'm supposed to be upset at you for keeping things from me; remember?" he said with a raised eyebrow. "Like a tracking program, perhaps?"

Brigit had the good grace to look embarrassed that she was caught having kept something from him. "It's not as bad as it sounds." she frowned slightly. "And I'm really upset with Uncle Jason for telling you about it the way he did. I was going to tell you all about it myself."

Crossing his arms, Mykal smiled at her. "So enlighten me."

"Well it's a complex communication program that sends and receives signals through any and all wireless systems around you. 'Mechs, communicators, computer systems, ships; even satellites. It is constantly updating your internal computer system with the location of all of the royal family members." She paused and frowned. "Well, except for Marcus. I wasn't able to get a download into his system remotely, which probably means that he's not near a system that we control." She bit her lower lip and looked up at him through her eyelashes. "And you are updated to mine." she whispered.

Mykal broke out in a half smile. "Trying to keep tabs on me, Princess?"

Brigit sighed and moved over to a stool, sitting next to one of the other tables in the room. "You don't understand. I've been keeping tabs on you for years Mykal. I heard about what happened with Barovos, and looked you up. I was only 17 at the time, so I kind of had a crush on you. It was completely innocent, but it was like that white knight thing. You stood up for my honor, even though you wouldn't have gotten anything out of it, and you even damaged your career because of it." She smiled slightly. "When you were brought in to my operation table and Daddy said to save you no matter what expense or hardware was required, I knew it was because you had sacrificed to save us and I wasn't going to let you get away from me again." A blush crept up her neck and cheeks as she rushed out the last bit.

"Well Princess, I'm not going anywhere, so why don't you teach me how to use this stuff you and your uncle decided to shoehorn into my head?" Mykal said with a smile.

*****

Four and a half hours later, Mykal was making his way to the hangar bay, tracking Tobias with the new program he had just learned how to master. He had a piece of his mind following the movements of all the royals, paying the most attention to Brigit and her parents.

As he walked into the 'Mech hangar bay he heard raised voices coming from where his tracker told him Tobias was located. Worrying about the boy's safety, he jogged forward to find out what was going on.

What he found was not at all what he expected. Tobias was standing back behind the older Master Chief he had met only a couple of days before, while the enlisted man and his best friend, Freddy, were yelling at each other.

"What the hell is going on here?" he yelled as he walked up to the two men. Both men were startled out of their argument and spun to look at him. The master chief gave him a salute that he reflexively returned and Freddy just started talking.

"This enlisted is trying to tell me that I'm not allowed access to your Armormech, and I am trying to beat it into his thick skull that as your second in command , it's my job to make sure all the 'Mechs for the unit have been tested and inspected properly."

Mykal took a deep breath and realized that the conversation he didn't want to have with Freddy until after they landed wherever they were going, had to happen now. Letting go of his breath, he nodded slightly. "You are right, Freddy. My second in command is in charge of that." Freddy's face started to light up with a smug smile, "But, right now, that isn't you. Until we get planet side and we can do a full security profile, you can't be in the Royal Lance."

Freddy's jaw hit the floor. "But we've known each other for years; you know I can be trusted. Why the hell would I need a new security check? I had one when I became a pilot."

"Yeah, I do trust you. I do, but the crown can't just take my word for it. There are procedures they have to follow. If, no, when you pass those checks, we'll be working together again. Until then my hands are tied. "

"Hands are tied my ass. I've heard the talk. I bet if you asked that princess of yours real nice, she'd be able to get past it." Freddy retorted, the rage evident on his face.

Mykal's eyes narrowed dangerously as he immediately moved up into Freddy's face. "What did you just say?"

"Oh, c'mon man. It's me you're talking to. I saw you heading to the Med Lab; if she shot me down, she has to be all over you." Freddy never saw the punch coming; it moved so fast and he landed on the scaffolding, flat on his back.

Mykal picked him up by the front of his uniform tunic and held Freddy's face only inches from his own. His eyes as big as saucers and blood pouring out of his nose, Freddy was stunned speechless.

"You of everyone should know better than to say shit like that Freddy. The only reason I'm not going to beat you even harder than I just did is because you are like my brother." Mykal grated out quietly. "Now you need to go get your ass cleaned up, and you need to calm the fuck down and figure out what the fuck you were thinking, or you can kiss a chance at the Royal Lance goodbye. Do we understand each other?"

Freddy nodded quickly, and scrambled to his feet when Mykal let go of his shirt.

"Get the hell out of here Freddy, and don't let me hear about you making any more trouble, clear?"

"Yeah, man, we're clear. Crystal." Freddy muttered as he brushed past Mykal and headed for the hanger door.

Mykal watched him go, wondering what the hell had gotten into his friend. Shaking his head, he turned back to the Master Chief and Tobias. "Sorry about all that gentlemen. Not sure what the hell his problem is." Looking up at the 'Mech then back to the older man, "What was he doing?"

The Master Chief shrugged, "He was all over the Colonel's 'Mech, and while it's technically part of the Royal Lance, it's not an active combatant. He had no reason to inspect it, even if he was your second in command. The only people that really have that access are you, the Colonel, and I, as head of maintenance. "

Tobias crossed his arms over his chest. "When I asked him what he was doing, he told me 'to be a good little boy and scamper off'." Mykal's eyes got huge at this. The Master Chief nodded.

"I was working down the way a bit and heard him. Came on over, called him on it and pulled him out of the 'Mech. That's about when you came in."

Mykal shook his head. "I'll have to bring him up on charges of blatant disrespect of a higher ranking officer and a member of the royal family. No way around that." Mykal kicked a hand rail post. "Gods damn it Freddy, what in the Nine Hells where you thinking?" he said to himself. Looking up at the younger man, "Colonel, I'm going to have to ask you to put in a formal complaint. I'll need it for his file."