Violets in Vegas: Field of Diamonds

I thought we were ahead of the game. I thought we had an ace in the hole or up one sleeve. We were narrowing down the location and would soon have it, in plenty of time to stop Todd and his device. The power stations were secure, the mobs were quelled, and the teams were ready to go at my word. The killings had stopped, which meant Todd was lying low, waiting for the right time as we were.

Unfortunately we were waiting for two very different things.

4:10pm

Carson Beckett fretted as he tried to clean the medical lab. It was a mess, equipment smashed on the floor, instruments scattered like toys, computers beeping at the odd power surges until the system had been restored. He lifted an Ancient scanner. It flared to life at his touch, activated by his ATA gene. He shone the beam across the room, across Moira as she entered.

"Carson? We have a little time before John gets here. Let me help you." Moira O'Meara stepped out of the red beam.

"This is remarkable, love! This scanner is incredible! I just got a full scan of your internal organs, a much clearer picture than I ever would have gotten from even an MRI!" He smiled, running the beam over her again. "It could render invasive procedures unnecessary!"

"Carson!" she scolded, stepping out of the beam again, "stop playing with the Ancient tech and help me help you clean up!"

"It's astounding! Not only a clear picture but also data on health of each organ and an almost microscopic readout of every particle and cell and lining of the…"

"Carson, enough! You can play with it later, all right? Carson?" Moira paused as Carson was staring at the screen on the scanner. Expression full of surprise. "Carson, what is it? Is, is something wrong?" She felt her stomach tense with abrupt worry.

Carson looked at her. Blue eyes filling with warmth. "Not at all, love. Moira, you're pregnant."

Detective John Sheppard reluctantly slowed his vehicle as flashing lights warned of an accident up ahead. He scowled, slowing to a crawl. Police cars were straddling the road, making it all but impossible to get past them. The red and blue lights were a violent flash against the orange sky. An ambulance was parked on the side of the road, as was a forensics van and John got a sick feeling in his gut that this wasn't just some random occurrence of road rage.

With an aggravated sigh he parked. Got out of the car and advanced. The heat hit him like a wave. Suffocating in its intensity. He licked his lips, adjusted his shades. Flipped open his black jacket to reveal his police badge as cops tried to stop his advance. "Whaddya got?"

"And you are?" asked an irate man, sweating into his uniform.

"Detective Sheppard. Whaddya got…" John paused, lowered his shades to read the name on the gleaming badge at the man's breast. "Kohler-Voss?"

"At first I thought it had just run off the road, you know. Tire blown out. But when I opened the back…I thought it was an immigration thing. Illegals. But then when I saw the bodies…"

John stepped past him. He walked off the road, down the steep incline of the shoulder where the white van was resting, almost on its side. One tire had indeed blown, hurling the vehicle off the street and into the ditch. It was pretty banged up on one side, and John realized the van had been forced off the road. He stepped into the scrub. It brushed at his pants, snagging, clawing. He lowered his shades to peer into the dim interior of the vehicle. He winced.

There were at least five men in the back of the van. Piled haphazardly like so much garbage. Stripped to their underwear. At first John thought it had been an animal attack. The men had been savaged, almost literally torn and beaten to a bloody mess. He pursed his lips, took a step inside the van, boot on the rim. The van rocked a moment then settled.

The buzz of flies was loud in the enclosed space. John removed his shades. Orange light filtered in to reveal the bloody mess. The very human marks of fists and boots and nails marred each victim. Faces had been clawed and eyes gouged. Tools lay about, instruments of murder revealed by the blood on them. Hammers. Screwdrivers. Wrenches.

The stench in the heat was overwhelming and John stepped out of the van, away to breathe of the hot but fresher air. He restored his shades to his face as the sunlight hitting the white van was almost blinding. He stepped round looking for a logo, a sign, any kind of identifying mark on the vehicle but there was nothing. Or rather it had been erased. John touched the mark where a decal had been forcibly removed.

"Got anything, detective? Was it the mob? A hit? We've got no ID on the vics. They're stripped of everything."

"It's a work crew of some kind…going…" John paused. He climbed back onto the street. "Whoever did this took their uniforms to replace them." He snatched his phone, already dialing.

"Replace whom? And why?"

"Process the scene and get this cleared up ASAP!" John snapped, heading back to his car. "Danville, put those power stations on high alert! We've got suspects heading in masquerading as employees. Five in all with uniforms of some kind. Run…" He paused, staring. "Shit. They even took the van's plates. We need an ID on this now! Put out an APB on any dented vehicles heading into the city and heading for the power plants. Alert all squads!"

"What? Shep, do you know how many dented vehicles there are in the city?"

"Don't care, Danville! Just do it! We need to find those men now!"

"That…that's impossible!" Moira exclaimed, stunned. She touched her abdomen a moment, dropped her hand to her side. She blushed, shook her head.

Carson smiled. "Look." He held out the scanner. Moira slowly neared, afraid to look, still in denial, in disbelief. "You see here? That's the baby, well, embryo really. Not even a fetus yet. This scanner is so detailed it can even detect the earliest stages of pregnancy. Moira?"

Moira was staring at the remarkably vivid image of her uterus and the tiny life within it. She shook her head again. A wave of tears filled her eyes and she blinked them back, not knowing if they were from happiness or anguish. Or both. "It's impossible," she insisted.

"You are still dating Sheppard, aren't you? And hasn't he all but moved in with you?"

"Yes, I mean yes! But we…I…we've been careful, we are always careful and…" Her voice dropped away as she recalled some very passionate encounters when they hadn't been exactly as careful as they should have been.

"These things happen, love."

"No! No, these don't happen!" She turned away from him, hugging herself. "This can't be happening now! This can't be happening now! My God, we're facing alien invasion and Todd's on the loose and John doesn't even love me and he won't want a baby he won't he won't I don't oh Carson what am I going to do?"

Moira couldn't focus. She felt lost, abandoned, alone. The last thing she wanted was a baby. She had never wanted children. She had been too busy, too focused on her career. And after the disaster at Middlegate Hills, where her fiancé had been killed she never thought to have a lover again, much less a child.

Carson touched her shoulders, setting the scanner aside. "You'll be fine, love, and yes, John loves you and will want this baby, believe me. As do you. Life goes on, Moira. It can't be stopped, not even for an alien invasion. You need to tell him, and tell him now."

She sighed. Steeling herself even as her world seemed to be crumbling around her. "I..I know." She turned to the doctor. Brown eyes full of emotion, distress. "I just don't know how."