Chapter 24

"I was critically injured when I came to Ashley's rescue. A squad of American's was in the process of raping her. I killed them all, but they injured me badly. I woke up in a capsule. It seems Commander Sandi O'Donald heard Ashley crying and arrived in time. Her husband, Doctor Marcus Wild, was summoned. She had the replicators form a capsule for me. Doctor Marcus arrived just as the bed was finished, and got me up inside it. I have spent the last three weeks healing, inside, while my fellow citizens have been imprisoned, raped and murdered. I am now tied to this capsule..."

Jennifer looked at Amy's face and saw the tears, and she blurted out to console her, "Amy, don't cry. I don't blame them for doing what they did. They saved my life in the only way they could."

"It's not that, Jenny, it's ... how are we going to tell Ted. You know how he feels about capsules."

"Ted will just have to live with it. I'm sure he would rather have me alive than dead," tears started running down her face as she continued talking, "like my mother. My father can't even bury her. Her body, along with many of our friends, were ejected like garbage. They will never have a funeral, and be laid to rest like they should be."

"Yes, they will! We will find every one of them. I promise you. They are still out there. Remember the ejection tubes were angled towards the sun, it will take months for them to travel the distance from the station to the sun. I swear to you, your mother will be laid to rest," Amy said as she adjusted Ashley in her arms.

"Mommy, can we go see Daddy now?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, sweetheart, as soon as I get the capsule for your Aunt Jenny ready to move."

"Ok. I am going to get teddy. I will be ready as soon as you are," Ashley sad as she slid out of her mothers arms and ran into the other room.

"So what do we do now?" Jenny asked.

"Now you sleep, I am going to put your bed on internal power and push you out of the room to the elevator. Then I am taking you down to the shuttle and back to the ship," Amy said as she walked over to the bed and started pressing icons on the panel.

"See you on the ship," Jenny said as she faded out.

Amy yanked the capsule away from the wall and aligned it with the door and unhooked it from the stations power. Checking the scanner, she saw it was clear as Ashley rejoined her with a teddy bear as big as her. Smiling at her daughter, she picked the bear up and set it on the capsule. Then she placed her pistol between its legs as she checked the scanner once more. Seeing it was still clear, she pushed the capsule out of the room and towards the elevator.

Ashley walked beside her mother and looked up at her, slipping her hand into Amy's, she held it as her mother pushed the capsule, and asked, "Momma, how long until we get to see Daddy?"

Looking down at Ashley, she smiled and replied, "About thirty minutes, if everything goes ok."

"Ok, Mommy. I have missed you and Daddy. I was so..." Ashley stopped talking as she tried to think of the words she wanted.

"Terrified? Scared?" Amy asked as they joined the sight of the battle.

"Yes, I think that's the word I wanted, terrified. What's it mean?" she asked as she looked up at Amy.

"It means to be frightened or scared," Amy replied as she looked at survivors of the battle and said, "Captain, have you decided?"

"Yes, Ma'am. We will go with you, and you can call me Tony, since I am now a deserter from the United States Marines," Captain Gamble replied as he knelt by one of the seven stretchers they had laid out.

"No, you will retain your rank, if anyone asks, you are prisoners of war," Amy said as she watched the stretchers float up into the air and one of the Federation or American troops took the control rod, and they started walking down the hall.

Amy reached the control panel and summoned the transport tube. When it arrived, they stepped in and descended.

Ken sat at his desk, and sipped his coffee as he looked over at his daughter, Ashley, sleeping on the couch. She was so beautiful and he couldn't believe she was now his daughter. Setting the cup down, he walked over and covered her with a blanket as she slept.

"She is adorable, Ken," Akiko said as she slipped into the room and picked up their dirty dishes.

"Yes, she is. Are the ladies ready to talk?" Ken asked as he stood up.

"Yes, Kala just joined them in the other room. We are just waiting on you," Akiko replied as she walked over to the replicator and set the tray down.

Ken walked over and took Akiko's arm in his and they walked into the other room. Seated around the table were his four other wives, Amy, Tammy, Jessica and his elf Kalaria. Walking to each of them, he kissed them very passionately, and then walked around the end of the table and sat down.

Looking at each of them, he said, "First, Amy ... that was very stupid, what you did, but I am proud of you. Now, for why I asked you here. Amy, Jessica, I have a question for both of you. After this mess is finished on the bases and on Terra, I want to reform the fleet after we build up a few more battleships. I then want to fold to the T'Lari home world and sterilize it."

"Good idea, Ken, if we knew where it was," Amy said as she took a sip of her coke.

Ken's eyes went wide as he looked at Amy and blurted out, "We don't know where it is?"

"Nope, and it has never been revealed in the computers of the ships we have taken. I... " Amy stopped and looked at everyone, before continuing, "I believe that the T'Lari are nomads. They go from planet to planet, devouring everything like locusts, but I cannot place documentation to that fact. It's just a hunch, and it's all I have."

"There has to be a record somewhere. What about on the Vaskat?" Ken asked hopefully.

"Possible, we had the main computer core extracted from the wreck and sent to Mars to be stripped down. I haven't received an update from the cybertronics division, but I have been really busy, but I am correcting that now." Jessica said as she started accessing the ships communications systems and sent a message off to Mars.

Commander Kenny Boston and Lieutenant Aiko Nakamura sat at their computers. They were staring at the twenty-five ton main computer of the Vaskat. Dozens of cables and power supplies were hooked up to the computer and snaked over to where ten powerful laptop stations. The computers were not hooked up to any system on the planet. Even their com units had been pulled from the systems. Currently only two laptops were set up.

"Damn it all to hell," Aiko shouted as the alien computer kicked her out again.

Kenny looked up from his computer and smiled at the dark haired beauty as he replied, "Got you again?"

Aiko glared at Kenny, and snapped back at him, "Yes, this mother fucker kicked me out again. I have never seen anything like this security system. It wants twenty different historical victories that the T'Lari have done along with certain blood feast dates as well as names to certain T'Lari queens. What is most frustrating, if I mess up, I have to start the fuck over again with new questions at each level. The randomizer is a killer. I have yet to see the same question three times."

"That bad? Damn, then you should see the one on their navigational system, it's ten times worse. It's hiding something, what I don't know, but I will get to it. It's just going to take time. I just wish they would let us hook up an AI/Interface to it to see how they do," Kenny said as he took a sip of his coffee, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes.

"Those things won't kill you now, but they sure make you smell," Aiko said as she placed a stylus in her mouth and started chewing on it as she went back to typing on the laptop.

"I know, and I will be back in two minutes," Kenny replied as he walked out the door.

Aiko was typing commands into the laptop, she checked her history note for a battle fought in 2478 and entered the correct location. As the next question came up, she saw it was one she had seen before and she was entering the queen's name when the computer panel chimed behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she saw it was the com system. Kicking off with her feet, she rolled over to the panel, and hit it and rolled back as she said, "Cybertronics division, Lieutenant Nakamura speaking."

"Lieutenant, this is Commander Jessica Thompson on the Washington. Have you been able to get into the T'Lari main computer? What we are wanting is the coordinates to the T'Lari home worlds."

Aiko continued typing at her laptop as she listened to the voice.

"Sorry Commander Thompson, it's a no go at this time. We have been trying for weeks to get into the system. There are so many failsafe algorisms' in the software, that if you mess up just once, it will kick you. Then you have to start over with new questions to answer. SHIT!" Aiko screamed as she hit the wrong key and was booted completely out of the system.

"I hope I didn't mess you up, but we need that information. It's imperative that you get it so we know where to strike next."

"Yes, Ma'am, I understand. The problem is, we don't know how many layers of defenses we have to go through to get what we need. I will let Commander Boston know you called, Nakamura out," Aiko replied as she rolled back to the com panel and slammed her hand against the panel, fracturing the crystal.

"Shit!" she said as she rolled back to her desk, jammed the stylus in her jaw and started chewing fiercely as she typed.

Kenny walked into the room just as something shattered on the floor, looking over at the communication panel he saw it was fractured and a section was missing.

He asked, "Someone call?"

"Commander Jessica Thompson. She wants the coordinates for the T'Lari home worlds. She messed me up, and I was completely booted back to the beginning. Whoever designed this computer system for the T'Lari, I want to blow its fucking head off!" Aiko snarled as she slammed her fists down on the counter making the laptop bounce.

"Ok, that's it, enough for the day. Go swim, go run, go do something, but get out of here for twelve hours. That is an order Aiko," Kenny said as he walked back to his laptop and sat down.

Aiko looked at her boss, nodded her head and stood up. Shutting down her laptop, she unplugged it, walked to the vault, and put it away. Coming out of the vault, she stood there looking at the man she grew up next to in Cedar City, Utah and sighed. Turning she headed for the door and logged out of the room.

Typing at the laptop, Kenny looked up at as the door closed, and then he was back at work.

Commodore Andrew White looked at the firefight that was going outside the building on the screen. Checking the scanner, he saw the reserve of American troops coming up behind the small squad of Federation marines. Picking up his sniper rifle, he looked at the screen and turned, as he spoke to his wives, "Back, go back to the transport tube."

Maria turned and ran with her newborn son in her arms. Her sister wife was behind her, carrying her son's twin sister.

Vickie carried Maria's infant daughter pressed to her chest, she had her left breast in the baby's mouth to keep her quiet as the reached the transport door. Reaching out, she hit the call button with her hand holding her plasma pistol. The door opened and she pulled her weapon up as she saw the American marine standing there. She started to pull the trigger when she noticed their weapons were on their shoulder, and they were raising their hands.

"Keep them going up!" she said as she watched the four men.

"Don't shoot. We surrender," Sergeant Herbert Walker said.

Andy looked at the four men and said, "Back inside." The ten survivors of the takeover stepped into the transport tube and he said, "Section twelve, subsection nine."

The transport took off and quickly deposited them in the environmental section and the stepped out of the tube. Andy looked around the room, as he said, "Take their weapons."

Captain Isis Whitman nodded her head and quickly striped their prisoners of their weapons and tossed them onto the replicator pad where they vanished.

Lieutenant Alisha Hartman ran down the hallway. Her squad of army troops behind her. Turning the corner, she jerked her plasma rifle up and fired. The plasma ball hit the man in the chest and his back exploded hurling him back into his three companions. "AMERICANS!" she cried out as she pulled the trigger again as she stepped to the side.

The second round hit the man with the .50-caliber machine gun attached to the gun harness around his waist, and he flew backwards as the remaining marines whipped their weapons up and fired on the young black woman.

Alisha screamed as the fletchen round ripped through her armor and exploded out her back. She flew back hit the wall, and as she started to slide down, six more rounds ripped her chest plate to shreds. She was dead before she hit the floor and her killers were right behind her.

Andy froze when he heard the scream, going to the open door, he checked his scanners and saw that there were thirty contacts about six hundred feet away. As he knelt by the door, the weapons fire was getting more intense. He wished he could go find out what was going on. Looking over at his wives, he smiled and then back out the door just as an explosion brightened the darkened hallway up.

"Shit, someone is taking a pounding," Andy said as six more explosions followed in quick succession.

"Hopefully it's the Americans. I am so tired of their shit," Maria said, as she leaned her head down and kissed her son's head. "They have caused us so much fucking grief, I think we should just eject them all in space suits and let them float home. Especially, for what they did to Martha, on December twenty-fourth," she said as tears ran down her face as she looked over at her daughter who was named after her best friend.