Chapter 5: Attack & Rescue

Ken sat up on the medical bed and swung his legs over the side as Tina hugged him around the waist.

Looking down at the young girl, he kissed her forehead, and said, "Thank you for saving me." Seeing the blush on her face he chuckled, and said, "And that goes for you too, Amy, wherever you are."

"Right here, Sir. I was going over the logs to see what I had missed," she said as she appeared.

Ken let Tina go, looking over his shoulder at Amy, and said, "Anything important, that I should know about?"

"Well we have almost evacuated every survivor within twenty miles of the blast radiuses, radiation levels have dropped by eight-five percent over all, you have received 9,376, 492 emails wishing you well and for a speedy recovery.

"Two shuttles are down for maintenance.

"The shuttle for the Mars base has reached geosynchronous orbit over the Martian equator. The bots are at work building the defense stations.

"A platoon of United States Navy Seals tried to take the ship and arrest you.

"Space Dock One is thirty percent completed, and should be operational in five days.

"The USS Dachshund II is completed and the Bulldog is under construction now, along with the medical ship USS Relief.

"The Dachshund will be lifting off with a skeleton crew in ninety minutes. She will proceed to moon base Alpha and take on additional crew. You need to assign a captain to her. She will then begin her shakedown cruise."

Ken sat listening to her report, but when she got to the part about the Seals, Amy got his undivided attention. "Hold it!" he said, "What was that about the Seals?"

"Yes, Sir. Thirty-six Seals lead by a Commander Hutcheson commandeered a shuttle and boarded the ship. Unfortunately, for them they did not know about our internal coms. Lieutenant Jamie Conner, code name Sunspot, contacted Terry on the bridge. She told Terry what was going on. Commander White was able to defuse the situation.

"They had warrants for the arrest of you and your family and any officers they captured."

Ken thought for a second and said, "Well we will deal with that later, and I think I will announce this little incident to the world, is that reporter still onboard?"

"Yes, she is."

Ken started to get to his feet when he saw Jenny and Molly asleep in Molly's office, not wanting to disturb them he said to Amy, "Amy, I'm sure Molly set this bed to notify her when I got up. Shut the alarm down please."

Amy checked the bed's diagnostic controls, saw that the alarm was set to go off, and said, "Alarm is shut down."

Slipping to his feet, Ken stretched his back, and said, "Set up an interview with this Commander Hutcheson for the reporter, and then when she's done with him she can interview me." Looking at Tina, he said, "Tina, do you want to join us permanently?"

Tina thought on it for almost a second before jumping up wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Yes, yes, yes!" as she kissed his face all over.

Pulling her off him he set her down on her feet, and said, "Okay, then tonight you get your training and tomorrow morning I will swear you in, okay, Ensign?" Looking over at Amy he said, "Let her choose what she wants to become, and start her training tonight."

Amy looked at Ken her eyes misting as she saw the confident man she had fallen in love with, and not what she saw in his nightmare realm, she listened to his orders, and said, "It will be as you ordered Admiral. Will there be anything else?"

Ken thought for a second, and said, "Yes, where is Tammy?"

"Tammy is in your quarters, she hasn't been out of them in thirty-nine hours, or let anyone in, no one can get around her command codes. She even locked Jess and me out."

"Damn it! Okay I am heading down there. When they wake up, let Molly and Jen know I went to my quarters." Looking over at the two girls again he continued, "For now, let them sleep. Tina, you go get some sleep in your own bed. We will talk, tomorrow."

Tina smiled up at Ken, and said, "Yes, Sir. And may I say that it's good to have you back?"

She turned and walked out the door, knowing everything was going to be okay now.

Ken walked over to the replicator, and ordered up a pen, three cards, and three dozen red roses, boxed. Then he ordered another dozen of boxed yellow roses to be sent to Tina. Placing the two boxes on the bed, he wrote a name on each card and tucked a card into each box. Then picking up the third he walked out of the medical bay with Amy.

As they walked down the hall, he said, "Amy I want you to order another three thousand bots to be made. Send them to the shipyards. I want two more shipyards built in a week. When they are completed, have them start building five state class battleships along with ten destroyers. We will need a large passenger type ship to hold many people on it. Do you have anything like that in your records?"

Amy thought for a second, and said, "I have schematics for the Inspiration class fast liners which can carry ten thousand people or the fast attack transports that can carry twenty thousand troops. The Riverine class transports are built on the state class command cruiser hull, but with light armaments. Most of the holds are converted into berths for the troops. The ships are crowded, but they can do the job."

Ken listened to Amy as they stepped into the transport tube.

He then said, "Captain's quarters." Turning to Amy, he continued, "Go with the transports for now."

He stopped talking and looked at his friend. For the first time he realized she was a woman and said, "Amy, thank you once again for rescuing me."

Amy blushed from the complement, and replied, "You're welcome, Ken."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, and they started walking towards the captain's quarters. Ken stopped at the door, causing Amy to stop.

"Amy, I want you to do me a favor," he asked as he looked at his friend.

"Anything, Captain, all you need do is ask."

"While I was unconscious, I was shown things, and a silver haired woman told me that I need to find Jessica and someone else. Who she is I have no idea, but it felt like it was important. Later on I was shown Pluto. It is almost as if they are telling me something important is out there. Therefore, when our shuttles get out there, I want them to keep their scanners going, they are to look for anything out of the ordinary and report it to you and then you tell me. Okay?"

"It will be as you order. I will scrutinize all reports that come in and let you know. Anything else?"

Ken thought for a second, and said, "Yes, how are the plans coming on the carrier?"

"Almost complete, we should be able to start her construction as soon as the space docks are completed."

"Good build two of them for now. Fighters will be a surprise to the Crytherians and T'Lari."

"Well to the Crytherians it will be a surprise but the T'Lari have one it's called a Kaza they use them as suicide ships which attack in swarms. When they were first used against the Federation ships in 2480 sixteen State class battleships were lost to them before they could deploy their fighters, that is when the Navy had to design a weapon to be carried on the fighters and bombers, it was called the Typhoon and it fired fifty unguided antimatter missiles into the swarm attacks. Eight months later, we produced a working model of an antimatter warhead for the rail gun and the Typhoon was discontinued as an unfeasible weapon system."

Ken thought about this new weapon system, and thought he saw a use for it.

He said, "Send me the specs on the Typhoons. I want to check them out. I think I have an idea for them. I'll let you know when I think it over." Ken glanced at the door to his quarters, and worry crossed his face. "For now, I better get in there and talk with Tammy. We can talk more, later," he said Amy.

Amy smiled at Ken as she saw the worry on Kens face, and she responded, "Then I will let you get some sleep, give my love to Tammy, and I will see you at breakfast."

She stood there as he pressed his hand against the door lock and walked into the room.

It watched her sleep, and sent the orders to her control bots to go to her cerebral cortex.

They gathered in her brain, and a voice said in her mind, 'Get up, get dressed, and come to deck sierra, room sixty.'

She got up, pulled her clothes on, and walked out the door and stepped into the transport tube.

"Sierra deck, please," she said and the elevator took off carrying her across many decks to a little used section of the ship. Walking down the hall, she came to the door to room sixty and started to walk into the room when the voice spoke.

'Stop! Turn around and walk forward.'

She stopped, turned around, and walked into the wall. It shimmered, and she stepped into a large laboratory. Stopping on the other side, she waited for orders.

'Subject six, will you do anything you can to save Terra, to save the human race?'

'Yes, I will.'

'Even, if it cost you your life, your soul, even your own essence, of ever having a full and normal life?'

Without hesitation, she answered, 'Yes.'

'Then take off all your clothes. Go to the replicator and put the clothes on that you will find there. Lie down on the empty bed in the center of the room.'

She stripped out of her clothes, walked over the cold floor to the replicator. She picked up the folded gown, and put it on. Walking over to the empty bed, she passed five others beds that had young girls lying on them. She climbed up onto the empty bed. 'What now?' she asked.

'Lie down and sleep while I start your neuro-mapping, this will take about five hours for stage one. Each night for the next five nights, you will come to this room, strip, and put the spectral gown on and lie on the bed. I will explain more, later. Do you understand you're orders?"

'Yes, I do. I shall obey.'

'Good. Now sleep.'

The girl lay down on the bed. A force field came up on the bed, as it was flooded with a sleeping gas.

Ken stood just inside the door of his quarters for a minute to allow his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. When he could make out the furniture, he began walking towards the bedroom. Going to the door, it opened. Looking in the room, he saw Tammy curled up in the center of the bed. Walking over to the bed, he lay down beside her, and hugged her to himself.

He whispered into her ear, "Tammy, my love, I am here for you."

Tammy lay there on the bed, her pillow tucked into her body. As she slept, her mind wandered through the halls of her imagination. She saw Ken dead on the ramp, dead on the table. She saw him walking up to her holding out his arms for a hug. As she stood there holding him, something dripped on her face. Reaching up she wiped whatever it was away. Sliding her hand back up his chest, she saw a trail of blood. Startled she leaned back to see where it came from. Looking up at Ken, she saw blood running down his face, and a hole in the center of his forehead.

She screamed as Ken opened his mouth, and said, "Tammy my love, I am here for you."

Ken felt her starting to struggle, and spoke.

Jerking awake she felt something holding her tightly and she struggled to get free. Her mind raced as she heard a voice say, 'I am here for you, and I am not going anywhere. I promise.'

Ken whispered in her ear, "It's okay baby, I am here," as he kissed the back of her head.

Tammy focused on the voice, and said, "Ken?" Rolling over in his arms she looked him in the face and started crying, and continued, "I thought I lost you."

Holding her tightly he kissed her top of her head, "No, my love. I am here. I was lost for awhile, but I am back."

Tammy clutched him to her, and said, "Don't ever do that to me again! And from now on when you leave this ship you will wear a force shield!"

Ken said what all men have been saying to their loved ones for hundreds of years, "Yes, dear." Brushing her hair out of her eyes he continued, "Get some sleep."

Tammy kissed Ken softly and cuddled down into his arms.

Feeling safe once more, she said, "I love you."

She was soon fast asleep, and she dreamed pleasant thoughts for the first time in four days.

Ken watched her sleep, and slowly drifted off as well.

Commander Hutcheson stood at the door banging, on it and shouting, "I demand to talk to someone." Looking around the room, he picked up a chair and smashed it against the door trying to get out. Grabbing a second chair, he raised it to smash it against the door when he heard a soft voice behind him.

Amy appeared behind the Commander, and said, "Commander Hutcheson is that anyway for a naval officer to act?"

Whirling around with the chair raised he saw a beautiful woman standing there, and asked, "Who the fuck are you?"

"I am Amy, the ships AI/human interface; and you, Sir, are acting like an ass. Put the chair down, sit in it, and act like the officer and gentleman you're supposed to be."

Jimmy looked at the woman and responded in anger, "Don't tell me what to do. Let me off this ship, or..."

"Or you will what? Throw the chair at me? Go ahead, I have fought tougher creatures than you and lived. I killed a T'Lari warrior with my knife. Oh yeah, you do not know what that is, do you? Well, you should thank God. I hope you never will. Right now, you're under arrest for aircraft piracy of a Federation vessel, the theft of Federation property, kidnapping of Federation officers, threatening bodily harm on said Federation officers..."

Jimmy screamed and hurled the chair at the woman. He watched in amazement as it went through the woman and hit the far wall where it shattered.

"What the fuck are you?" he said.

Amy stood there in surprise and said, "I am a hologram and I will continue with what I was saying before you rudely threw a chair through me. Hijacking of Federation property, said item is one Omega class shuttle. The first four offenses are an automatic twenty years per violation with ten years for the hijacking. How do you plead?"

Jimmy looked at the hologram in surprise, and said, "What?"

Amy sighed, and said, "I said, how do you plead, against the charges, guilty or not guilty."

Jimmy sneered at the hologram, and responded, "I am an Officer in the United States Navy, and I don't plead to anything I demand to talk to someone other than a computer."

"So are you saying this was a sanctioned mission by the Government to steal a foreign warship? Were you trying to cause a war with a ship that could have laid waste to every city in your world?"

Jimmy snapped back at the hologram, and said, "I was following orders to arrest some criminals!"

Amy sighed, and said, "Admiral Thompson and his family are not criminals. They gave up their citizenship when they joined the Federation, which is our law and yours. So where is he a criminal?"

Jimmy remembered something from the warrants and snapped out, "They conspired to kill US citizens."

"Admiral Thompson has killed one man and it was in self-defense. How many have you killed by order of your government?"

"I won't talk about me, now release my men and myself, give us our weapons back and surrender the criminals."

Amy blinked at the idiocy of Commander Hutcheson, and said, "You, Sir, are daft. I am putting you down as not guilty by reason of stupidity. Good day to you, Sir."

Amy disappeared as Commander Hutcheson charged at her screaming obscenities.

Commander White sat at his console going over the reports when Lieutenant Terry O'Neil interrupted his reading.

"Sir, the shuttles have made their tenth sweep of the cities, no more human or animal life forms remain to be found. They are now running food and water out to the survivors."

"What's the count on survivors?"

Terry checked her computer pad, and said, "One-hundred and sixty-two thousand survivors pulled out, treated and released along with thirty-six thousand animals. We still have sixteen hundred onboard the ship, these are the most critical that needed full anti-radiation treatment. We have also had over twenty thousand people requesting to join up. I am being swamped with the requests. I just don't know what to do with them."

"Have the base AI hollow out a huge cavern on the moon, set up quarters, medical wings, everything you can think of for a small town. We will ship them up there when we have time. As more ships come online, we will allow more up. But each person needs to be checked out as a possible spy, if you can stick with people under twenty five and older than sixty."

Terry jotted down her orders, and said, "Understood, Sir."

Molly yawned and stretched. Looking at her computer pad, she noticed that one of the beds has been turned off. Blinking in astonishment, she wondered who changed the programming on the bed. She knew she set the alarm on the bed to notify her of any change in the patient. Looking at the computer pad, she saw the alarm was turned off by orders from Admiral Thompson, and said, "Damn it, I will kill him."