"I think so." Dave rummaged through the medical supplies, brought out an injector of quidine. "Uh, what's your mass?"
"Call it seventy kilos, that's close enough."
"Yes, sir." Dave read the instructions, set the injector for the weight he'd been told, and triggered it into the side of the Ranger's neck. "I hope that's right—there's only enough here for another couple of doses."
After a few minutes, Tarlac sighed in relief. "That's fine, Dave—a lot better. Would you help me sit up?"
"Of course, sir." Dave piled up some of the blankets he'd collected, helped the Ranger to sit up, and shoved the blankets into position to serve as a backrest. "I'm not really sure you should be putting weight on your back—but I don't really think you should be putting it on your front, either, and you have to rest somehow." He hesitated, then went on. "I ought to check your back now, if you don't mind."
"Whether I mind or not doesn't matter very much," Tarlac said. "It needs to be done, and at the moment you're the closest to a doctor I've got. Plus if I'm in as bad shape as it feels like I am, there's a good chance that I'll be unconscious a lot of the time—and when I am awake, I won't know what's been going on, and I could very well not be in any shape to make good decisions. Which puts you in charge, until we're rescued. What do you want me to do?"
Dave stared at the Ranger in bewilderment. "But—I can't give a Ranger orders!" he finally managed to get out. Granted that almost everything he knew about Rangers came from the holo, news and dramas, he was positive that they gave orders, they didn't take them … well, except from the Sovereign, of course.
Tarlac grinned, reasonably sure what the youngster was thinking. "We do take advice, suggestions, and sometimes orders, from anyone who knows more about a given situation than we do, or who's in a position to handle it better. Right now, that's you—and you had the initiative and resourcefulness to pull me out of the middle of a rebel camp; I'm satisfied to have you go on with the job."
"The kids at school will never believe this," Dave said, as much to himself as to the Ranger. "But okay, if that's what you want. Uh . . . I can ask you for advice, can't I?"
"Sure, but you'll have to decide if it's worth taking or not."