Read Dana Cartwright Mission 1: Stiletto for Free Online

worn and requested instructions. “Recycle?”
    “Negative. Bag it — consider it evidence,” Dana warned.  
    Doctor Calagura personally supervised the removal of the gloves from Kieran’s hands. “I’ve seen worse,” he commented, disposing of the gloves in a hazardous materials disposal chute. “May take several surgeries.” He replaced the gloves with clear balloons, taping them in place at the wrists, before returning each hand to Kieran’s side, inside the coffin.
    Calagura started the full body bone scan and directed the neuro-resonance scan, motioning for Dana to come into the exam room to see the results.
    Using healing strobes and ultrasound, she and Doctor Calagura mended the fracture in Kieran’s leg and even corrected a bone spur in his heel from a childhood break.
    “DOC will need to work on his fingers,” Calagura decided. “It takes tremendous patience.”
    “We may need to bring in an Alphan neurosurgeon for the spinal restoration.” Dana fretted, “I’m not sure I can handle that long a surgery.”
    “There are few on Earth with that specialty,” Francis reminded. “Maybe one of the Star Service Academy doctors… Or one aboard a starship…” He didn’t finish the thought, already focusing on the numbers.
    Dana worried over the scans. “I read a refresher text but have never performed a spinal weave.”
    “Sometimes takes a whole day,” Doctor Calagura commented. “Let’s keep the patient sedated and in a nodule overnight until we can have a care conference to review the stats.”
    “Agreed.” Dana programmed new instructions into the C-FIIN and the levitation units slowly lowered Kieran’s body back down into the air-soft environment. The clear sides and lid slid up and over, forming a cushioned cradle that floated above the deck at exactly the correct height for the doctors and nurses to have access.
    Kieran looked so peaceful, and so very different, without the wig and the oversized Ambassadorial garments. More handsome, if that was possible in the dramatic white lighting in the exam room, and so much younger. Dana couldn’t help but smile. She patted the top of the coffin and used a wall com-station to order, “Patient Jai, first name: Kieran, Admit ordered today by Doctor Cartwright, Dana J. Staff code: MCS00779.”
    After the two android nurses floated the C-FIIN down the hall to the East Ward, Dana joined Doctor Calagura in the doctors’ scrub area. They used the old fashioned method of soap and water, but remained in their scrubs, entering the lounge for a cup of coffee from the digitizer. Dana ordered a small donut from the machine as a snack.
    “So, who is he?” Francis asked as he settled down at the corner table, his favorite quiet spot, off the traffic path.
    “The pilot of the Alphan Ambassador’s shuttle.” Dana remembered how Kieran had pleaded she not tell anyone his identity. It would all become perfectly plain once the investigation team took charge. “He told me his name is Kieran Jai.”
    “Oh… So he was cognizant of what happened?”
    “Cognizant, but not always lucid,” she answered. “Ambassador Cray was scheduled to lecture at the Observatory. I happened to be out on the landing level watching the moon rise.”
    “Alone?” Calagura teased.
    “Well, except for some security tubs.” She stifled a yawn. “What are you doing on the night shift, Francis?”
    “Traded with Doctor Kenton. I think he was going to that lecture, too. No, wait, he was going to the pre-meeting for the event at the stadium that starts tomorrow.”
    “That’s more like Kenton. He hates Cray’s theories on triple star systems,” Dana mumbled finishing her coffee. “We’ve argued the point about a dozen times.”
    “He hates all Alphan theories,” Calagura said.
    “Doesn’t everyone?” Dana quipped, and Francis had to chuckle.
    “You’d think a Republic distinguished member delegation would command more respect. Oh, well…”
    Over the COM system