Jeff heard a soft, coaxing voice coming from a long-distance away. “...up. Wake up! Come on, Highness, you’ve got to wake up now!”

Definitely a female voice. Jeff dismissed it and drifted back to the soft blackness of sleep. She wasn’t talking to him.

Then a sound struck him like an icy slap. “Jeff!” It was a different voice this time. Still feminine, but harsher and commanding. “Wake up!”

Slowly, Jeff cracked opened his eyes. “That’s right,” the husky voice said. “Open your eyes and look at us..”

Jeff obeyed. Two women dressed in nurse outfits were standing by his bed. The older of the two was speaking commandingly to him. While the other woman was closer to his age and stood by shyly.

The older nurse turned to her young companion. “Gail, don’t let him go back to sleep. And be sure he’s fully awake before you give him anything to eat or drink, no matter how insistent he gets.” She turned to Jeff. “Young man, listen to Gail and do what she says, or you’ll have me back in here!” With that, She left the room.

Jeff took a long, slow breath as he reoriented himself. Oh, yeah, Ken Van Blair had said something about Jeff being in charge of the base. Then the Blue Scorpion had left him at the Hospital Station… how long ago? The medical personnel were supposed to bring in all Thrans to remove their inhibitors, and the Terran Scorpions were to be given enhancers. Operations! Recovery rooms! Mask over face!

Abruptly, Jeff sat up. The action caught the girl by surprise, but not so the Scorpion guards stationed in the corners of his room. Instantly, two of them were at Jeff’s side, easing him back down. Started, the girl backed out of the way.

“Easy, Highness,” one guard said. “I don’t think you’re supposed to get up yet.” He signaled something to the girl, but by then, the doctor was coming through the doors. “I saw him on the surveillance screens,” she said to the guards as she made her way to the foot of Jeff’s bed to study the body scan readouts. “Adrenaline’s high,” she remarked crisply, then addressed Jeff. “Better settle down, or you’ll have more doctors here with a more extended hospital stay.

The guards had released Jeff but stood in readiness. “The … men,” Jeff croaked through a dry throat. “Are they all okay?”

The doctor snorted. “Is that what you’re worried about?” The last Scorpion was released two days ago and left whistling and dancing a jig.” Only a small exaggeration.

Jeff looked relieved and confused. Before he could as the obvious question, Dr. Ames answered it. “You’ve been here three days. All your inhibitors, both psionic and physical, were removed on the first day. We kept you unconscious for thirty-six following that to allow your body time to recover, unhindered by such stresses you just tried to put on it.”

She swiped and tapped at the screen at the end of his bed, pulling up a visual for him to see. She labeled ‘average scorpion,’ and the other was marked with his name. Jeff gawked at all equipment in his body. “Your men were only here for a few hours since their surgery was less complicated. On top of that, you had physical growth inhibitors that can be tough to recover from when they’re removed. And as you can see from the picture, you had about ten times the psionic inhibitors that the other, making your recovery even more complicated.”

She changed the picture. “Finally, don’t try reading anyone’s mind, TKing, or teleporting just yet, because you won’t be able to do it. By the time you ARE allowed to, you’ll know all the rules against doing that sort of thing indiscriminately. We’ve got a whole battery of pac ten psi shield on you. You’ll wear them until General Kerrington’s ready to start training you.

Jeff touched his head briefly and felt a crown-type circlet on his head. He had a thousand questions pop up in his head, but she was gone before he could ask them. So much for being in charge of the base.

The Scorpion guards returned to their positions, and the young nurse approached shyly. “Your Highness, the indicator says you’re fully awake now. If you’d like something to eat or drink, I’ll get it for you.”

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Suddenly Jeff realized he was hungry. Very hungry, like he’d never been before. It was such a need that it overrode his self-consciousness over having a gorgeous nurse like nurse girl helping him.

Briefly, Jeff nodded and watched as she left to get the food. He hoped she would hurry. The guards raised the head of Jeff’s bed as Nurse Gail brought in the tray and set it on the table, which had been rolled across the bed.

Jeff got busy eating. Within minutes, he realized that one food tray wouldn’t be enough. He requested another and then another. As he ate, he kept expecting the strict older nurse to come and blast him for eating.

Instead, all of Scorpion team one, except for the busy base commander, came through the door, filling Jeff’s large hospital room. Nurse Gail looked intimidated by the presence of so many Scorpions but stood her ground, not moving from her chair near Jeff’s bed. As Jeff finished the food on his tray, she stood and took it. “More, Highness?”

Jeff looked wistfully at the empty bowls and plates but shook his head. He felt strangely full and still hungry at the same time. Nurse Gail took the tray out.

Green Scorpions Mike Ketner and Scott Axton gave low whistles when she was gone. The others looked longingly at the door the pretty nurse had just walked out of. “Wow, Jeff, you’re so lucky! We should have visited you sooner with gorgeous nurses like that.” Mark Parelli elbowed Orange Scorpion Dale Bowerman with a grin.

“Speak for yourself; I’m a happily married man,” Dale growled back.

Tage Bennett eyed Jeff. “Are they feeding you enough?

Jeff nodded. “That’s all I’ve been doing since I woke. They won’t let me sit up on my own, but they’ll let me eat.”

Bennett moved to the foot of the bed to study the readouts on the screen. “It won’t be long now. And of course, you’ll want to eat more when you start moving about.”

“Why?”

“Because you had physical inhibitors that kept you from growing the way you should, so the WSA wouldn’t check you out more thoroughly, your body is now making up for lost time. You’ll be growing at an incredible rate from here on out since your inhibitors are gone.”

“Anyways…” Bennett stopped as Dr. Ames burst through the door. “Who let you guys in here?” She demanded. You were told ‘no visitors’ until tomorrow. By then, you can take him with you!”

Bennett chuckled. “Let’s go, everyone. We’ll get no respect from this lady.”

Jeff stopped him. “Tage, wait.”

Bennett moved back to Jeff’s bed, brows raised questioningly.

“These guards,” Jeff motioned to the Scorpions in the corners of the room. “Shouldn’t they be training with tier teams? I’m assuming we shouldn’t be wasting time, with the tight schedule and all.

Bennett nodded slowly. Pride filled him as though Jeff was his own child. With needing to keep the young prince safe, Tage and his wife were one of the few couples aloud to guard him when Rod and Gwen had to go somewhere.

After his mindmate and beloved wife, Kara, and his unborn twins, were killed in a car crash five years ago, Bennett had soaked up Jeff’s affection as a kid like a dry sponge. It had been a salve to partially soothe the deep, black pain inside himself that never went away.

The Blue Scorpion brushed the memories away and reached over to put an affectionate hand on Jeff’s shoulder. He studied the boy… No, the now young man for a moment. Jeff was already beginning to think and act like the leader he was born to be. No one had dared hope that would happen so soon. It would be the one thing that could help them survive the upcoming battles.

“Okay,” Bennett agreed, glancing at the guards in Jeff’s room. “I’ll tell Kerrington you want them reassigned to their teams. Two guards by the door should be enough.”

Jeff shook his head, “NO guards. The Scorpion teams should be intact for training. Also, there’s no need for Scorpion-level guards here. If you’re worried about it, get some regular guards from other troops on the base, not the Scorpion teams.”

Bennett nodded. “I’ll arrange it.”

Jeff motioned to the guard in the room. “Take them with you now. Having Guards in the room is just overkill.”

When a knowing grin crossed Green Scorpion Steve Tully’s face, Jeff turned a sour look at him and then laughed. “Right, Steve, After all you brutes are gone, I’ll have that cute nurse to myself. Eat your hear out!”

Actually, Jeff intended nothing of the sort. When Gail Hensen came back in, he was fast asleep.