Chapter 32: Missing and the Lost

Presidential One 2:20 pm

Tina looked at the scanners of the ship as American fighters came in from all angles and opened fired on her.

With her com open she screamed, "FUCK! I'M UNDER ATTACK!" as she started banking the craft trying to avoid the enemy fighters.

The shields sensors screamed out their warnings as they were plastered from thirty different points of attack. Tina reacted quickly and fired her main weapons and blew two Lightning class fighters to shreds. Doing a quick loop, she locked on another fighter when her ship shuddered as ten missiles hit her from the side.

Consoles exploded and she heard a wrenching sound. Reaching over, Tina slid an icon up and a hull map came up just as the ship shuddered and started spiraling towards a skyscraper. Smoke was billowing out of the damaged shuttle as Tina was slammed back in her chair from the G-forces that were building. Opening her eyes she looked out canopy window, and screamed as the ship plowed into the Comcast Center building. The shuttle hit the twenty-third floor and the building shuddered as an explosion blasted out of the windows. Flames licked up the side of the building as smoke darkened the sky.

USS Washington, Flag Bridge, 2:22 pm

Tammy stood on her bridge issuing orders as she looked for Ken's shuttle, walking over to sensors she said, "Where is he?"

"Ma'am, I don't know," Stella Salaneo reported as she looked for the Presidents shuttle.

"Keep looking," Tammy said as she walked back to her chair and sat down as Kala came onto the bridge with Akiko.

"Hi, Tammy, any word on Amy?" Kala asked.

"No, and now Ken's shuttle is missing," Tammy said as she watched the Federation fighters going head to head.

"Ma'am, I have a communications from the Yamato. The American fleet has surrendered," Lieutenant Maria Kessler reported.

"Thank God!" Tammy replied and let out a breath of hope. Turning her head, she looked at her communications officer and said, "Tell the fleet to escort them to the space docks for surrendering. Ken can deal with them later."

Kala waited patiently while Tammy prioritized the mission and then asked, "What do you mean the shuttle is missing?"

"That is what I was told, ask Stella while I deal with the surrender. I have to get these battles stopped," Tammy said as she stood up and walked over to the communications station.

Kala walked over to Stella and said, "What do you mean its missing?"

"Kala, one minute it was on sensors, and then it was gone. Tina reported they were under attack and then the ship vanished on a course of 145 speed 390 knots," Stella said as she brought up the course of the shuttle on the sensor station.

"What about her beacon?" Kala asked as she joined her sister wife.

'Kala, I fear for him. His letter, I cannot believe he would write something like that, ' Tammy thought to her sister.

'I do. Ken has bonded more deeply with Amy. Why I don't know. It should be an equal bond among all of us. The only thing I can think of, is that she was calling for him when she was wounded. They have somehow formed a soulbond, ' she thought back to her sister-wife.

'A soulbond? What is that?' Tammy asked as she handled the surrender of the enemy fleet.

'It's a bond between two people in a love that seems destined. Some believe that a soulbond is someone with whom a person has shared other lifetimes through reincarnation... '

'Oh like a soulmate?' Tammy replied.

'Yes. Your ancient Greek philosopher Plato said, a soulmate is a person's "other half", ' Kala added.

"There, send your SAR craft to that location," Kala ordered.

Tammy glanced over at Kalaria and Stella and wanted to go see what they had found, but knew she couldn't at this time.

"Do what Kala, says," she snapped out her orders and turned back to the main screen and the enemy admiral.

Stella nodded her head and started sending the orders out to the SAR craft.

Presidential One 2:25 pm

Ken lay on his back, his left side hurting from the crash. He started coughing as smoke filled the cabin. Pushing the broken console off his chest, he stood up. Turning he went to Amy and saw she was still strapped into the medical bed that was unfolded from the wall. Leaning over her, he checked her and saw she was still breathing. With a sigh of relief, he unfastened the stretcher and levitated her near the floor to keep her out of the smoke.

Going to the flight deck, he shoved and pushed debris out of the way until he reached the door. The door slid partly opened, and an orange glow burst through. Pushing harder on the door, it slid into the wall and he saw the fire on the outside of the shuttle.

Tina lay slumped over her flight controls. Ken went over to her and checked on her. She had a huge knot on her head, and blood was running from her nose.

Ken started unstrapping Tina from her support harness and pulled her out of the chair. Laying her on the floor beside Amy, he checked her over with the handheld scanner. He saw she had four broken ribs, a broken left arm, a shattered hip, broken nose, broken jaw, concussion, and internal organs that were injured. Opening the medical kit, he pulled out an injector and filled it with some medical nanobots and injected them into her.

After the bots went to work on her, he pulled her onto one of the gravity boards and levitated her up in the air and then turned to Amy and got her on one as well. Guiding each of the boards to the escape pod, he slid them into the pod and strapped them in as the ship groaned and seemed to shift. Turning he looked around and grabbed his datapad and the medical kit. Tossing them in, he picked up his pistol, and grabbed several out of the weapons locker as well as the portable replicator kit. Turning, he took the first step towards the pod when he heard it.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

Ken felt the blood turn to ice as he remembered hearing the noise once before. He had been watching the TV coverage of the attacks on 9/11. That booming sound was the towers collapsing. Ken started running and dove into the pod as the booming got louder. He scrambled for the controls and hit the hatch seal and the ejection button.

BOOM

The roof collapsed and buried the shuttle in the debris and continued downward, collapsing floor by floor as it went until the booming was heard all over the city.

Kalaria's Sunburst fighter 2:40 pm

Kalaria flew through the air following the beacon when it shut down in mid beat. Reaching out with her mind, she felt Ken's fear and an image of a building coming down. Looking out the cockpit window, she saw one of the tall buildings pan caking on its self. Fear raced through her heart as she felt Ken inside the building. Before she could do anything, the building slammed into the ground and a giant dust cloud blanked the area.

With tears running down her face, she turned her com on and said, "I found them, but they were inside the building that just collapsed in the city."

"What do you mean they were inside?" Tammy asked.

"I'm uploading the video log now," Kala said as she flew around the building and looked down on the devastation.

"Did they get out?" Tammy asked.

"I ... I don't think so. I felt Ken's fear. By the time I had located him, the building was collapsing," she whispered softly.

"Try and contact them again," Tammy asked.

"I ... Tammy they're dead. There's no way they could have survived," she responded.

"DO IT. I order you too!" Tammy snapped.

Kala checked her sensors and saw she was the only one around. Turning the auto threat on, she brought the ship to a halt over the wreckage. As the hover thrusters took over, as she closed her eyes and reached out with her thoughts. At first, she was overwhelmed by the panic of the civilians. Then her mind locked onto Ken and she started crying with relief.

'Ken, are you ok?' she thought to him.

Ken groaned in her mind, and she realized he was unconscious and they needed to get to him as fast as they could. Turning the com system back on she started giving her orders.

"I have them, they are somewhere below me. I know Ken is alive. We need someone to get over here and start lifting the debris so we can find them."

"We are dispatching several mechs to your location see if you can pin point their exact location," Tammy ordered.

In the background, Kala could hear orders being passed along and she knew that a dozen heavy mechs were on the way to her location to help with the search. Kala lowered her fighter down into the dust cloud that was still rising up out of the burning holocaust. With her sensors on full, she reached down into the giant pile of rubble.

'Ken, you need to wake up and activate your transponder so we can find you, ' she sent to him but he didn't wake up. She checked the sensors and saw three mech carriers heading her way. Activated her thrusters she lowered her altitude now that the dust was settling. The pile of debris must have been fifty feet high. Turning on the ships sensors, she scanned down into the debris and couldn't detect any life, but she knew that was wrong. She could feel Ken was alive.

Ken 3:10 pm

Ken groaned and tried to roll over but realized that something was lying on his lower body. Turning his head, he looked at the storage locker that had been mounted to the wall. He tried to move it, but it was firmly wedged. Closing his eyes, he groaned in pain as he tried to roll over and started gasping. He closed his eyes and he activated his internal com and said, 'This is President Kenneth Thompson. Can anyone hear me?'

'Ken! Are you ok?' Kala asked.

'No. I am pinned under a storage locker, in the escape capsule. I was able to fire it, but I don't know where we are. Can you lock on to me?' he replied.

'Yes, I have a lock on you. Your pod was ejected out of your ship, through the building you crashed into, and you went through the window of a nearby building. I am dispatching a SAR unit for you. What about Amy and Tina. Are they ok?' she asked.

'Amy was in critical condition when we loaded her. Tina is badly hurt, ' Ken replied.

Kala continued talking to Ken as she directed the SAR units to him. They were going up the side of the building with their jump jets when Ken passed out.

Molly 4:30 pm

Molly looked up as the doors flew open and the SAR troopers rushed in with three gurneys.

"Put the president on bed one, Amy on bed two, and Tina can have bed eight. Move it!" Molly shouted.

The handlers had Ken off the gravity board an in the medical bed before she finished giving her orders. Picking up her scanner, she started scanning her friend. It came back with the results, and she was so glad they had the medical technology they had. His pelvis, along with all the bones in his legs, were shattered. He had internal injuries that would have killed a normal person, but his nanobots were working to keep him alive. Her hands flew over the keypad and thousands of nanobots flooded into his body as the force field came up.

Over at the other beds, Katherine, Molly's mom, and Gretchen were working on Amy and Tina.

"I'm losing her!" Katherine said as she was working on Amy.

"Pull her! Doctor Willowbrook, take over here," Molly said as they were pulling Amy from the bed. Going over to the gravity board, they dragged it to the transport tube. Molly checked on Amy after they stepped inside, and said, "Hang in there Amy. Bridge deck!"

The transporter took off and quickly deposited her on the deck. Dragging her down the hall they ran onto the bridge and up to the captain's day cabin. Running her to the door to Amy's hidden capsule, it swished open and they stopped next to the bed. Molly jumped to the controls and had it rising as Katherine and the two med techs stripped Amy and slipped the spectra gown on her.

Katherine picked Amy up and set her in the bed of liquid nanites and placed the golden cloth on her face. Amy slowly sank down into the gel-like liquid. Stepping back, the lid came down and sealed the unit up. Inside, the nanites slowed Amy's bodily functions to almost zero as they started healing her.

The hologram came on and Amy smiled at her friends, "Thank you. You saved me just in time. Accessing the ship ... Ahhh we have won. The generals in charge of the United States are contacting us, they are wishing terms of surrender."

"Tell them it's unconditional. I want every one of our people back, and their asses to be transported to Andrews Air Force Base," Tammy said as she walked into the room.

"Sending," Amy replied as Jessica appeared in the room.

"Sister, it's good to see you. Now I have a question for you. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOUR CHILD?" Jessica said as she stood in front of her sister wife.

"I was dealing with a personal problem, and my child is safe," Amy said as she waved her hand to the wall and an alcove appeared. In the alcove was an artificial womb that was turned on.

"You transferred the babies?" Molly said in surprise.

"Yes, I knew I couldn't carry them in combat. I had them transferred into the womb. They are safe, growing, and listing to me speaking to them," Amy replied.

"Thank God! I didn't get a chance to scan for them," Molly said as she walked over to the womb and touched it. "Grow quickly, little ones. You have a friend waiting to play with you."

Amy smiled, and then closed her eyes and searched for her love. Her eyes flashed open as she saw the injuries Ken had taken.

"What happened to Ken?" Amy blurted out.

"His shuttle crashed trying to get you home. He left the ship to find you. On the way back to the ship, they were jumped by thirty American fighters," Jessica snapped. "You put him in danger..."

"Jessica, that's enough. Ken will heal, and I understand why he did it. So do Kala and Akiko. So let's just love our family members," Tammy said.

Tammy could see the relief going across Molly's face, and she gave her next orders, "Ok, let's get back to our stations. We have a lot of things to do. Amy, get some rest." Tammy turned and walked out of the room and went back up to the flag bridge.

Kala intercepted her and she hugged her.

"How are they?" Kala asked.

"Critical, but he will pull through, that is the most important thing. Now, I need you to organize a cap for us, and take control of all advanced fighters. We will transfer them up to the stations and into cold storage. Can do?"