Ultraviolet

Chapter 6

Notice: This chapter mentions vomiting.

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May 17, 33 AE

Mack's world was spinning.

When it wasn't, it would blur for a few moments, then slowly come back into focus.

And then there were the times where everything would be a spinning blur.

It was one of those instances that had Mack propped up against a wall, bracing for stability. Around him, orders and answers swirled together into incomprehensible echoes, as if he was underwater. The room in front of him was a dark gray blur, and beacons of light swayed through the dusty smoke, as if searching for ships lost at sea.

"Officer Olomana!"

It took a moment for Mack to realize he was being addressed, and another few to actually do something about it. Eventually, he blinked a few times before heaving himself off the wall, then sending a salute in the direction he thought the sound had come from.

While he was off by a few degrees, he was at least almost certain the blur waiting in front of him was Amira.

"Yes, ma'am?" Thankfully, his voice was much more stable than his vision.

"How many times do I have to remind you to ration your energy?" Amira's blur questioned, her tone clearly carrying her trademark no-nonsense attitude.

Well, this was unfortunate. Mack could've sworn no one witnessed him toeing the line of healer protocol, but maybe he had already been more out of it than he realized.

Of course, he didn't mention that he thought Amira had left to handle other issues. He also didn't mention that they had more than enough healers to take care of all the scientists and staff members that got injured during the lab's fire and resulting explosion. And he definitely didn't want to point out that no one else seemed to care that a victim was clearly still in pain over a partially healed chemical burn.

He wasn't going to mention any of that, otherwise his imminent lecture was going to turn into mandatory overtime.

Mack was intimately familiar with being chastised for bad judgement calls, but he couldn't help it. Whenever he saw people in pain, he wanted to heal all of them completely, even if he knew he wasn't physically capable of that. But he couldn't bear to live with his regret if he didn't try.

The first few times captains or vice captains caught him "wasting energy", Mack received mandatory community service. He didn't mind it, so of course the higher-ups eventually changed his punishment to mandatory overtime when they realized how much he enjoyed chatting up people at the soup kitchens or road clean-ups.

Belatedly, he remembered how the last captain that doled out Mack's punishment threatened to send him to Farallon the next time he "blatantly disobeyed orders". The thought alone was enough to force his mind to snap to attention, and Amira's stern expression came into focus soon after.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," Mack blurted out, not exactly sure how long ago Amira initially posed her question.

Obviously, his remorse was a lie. But he was a part-time actor, and he was more than just a pretty face and a set of sculpted muscles. He had at least a little talent for the big screen.

But Amira didn't seem to be buying his act, and she kept her cold glare on him for much too long.

"I'm going to be having this conversation with you again, aren't I?" she eventually asked, her expression still unreadable.

Mack probably couldn't get away with lying again, so he kept his lips sealed tight, not even giving into Amira's silent stare as it burned a hole through his head.