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All Rhodes lead to Home
Cody was sat at the helm, he was looking as the ocean spanned before him, he could see birds flying around the ship, the sun was high in the sky and Legacy cut though the water like a knife though butter. He couldn't help but smile to himself at the whispering going on behind him from his command team.
Last night in the mess hall Beth had shared with them her plan, not only did they all think it was a great idea but all were slightly shocked at how devious the blonde was. Now Cody could just catch snippets of their conversation and what he could here was making him smile.
"You're the Captain you can do what you want."
"I don't think that includes and extension on my cabin for you." Mickie replied to her grinning first officer, ever since she had woken up to him stroking her hair he had been smiling like he had just won the lottery. It was endearing at first but now she was starting to get a little annoyed at him.
"Well I don't mind the close quarters if you don't" Randy smirked at her as Cody gave a harsh cough in front of them having obviously overheard their conversation and covering his laughter.
"Commander." Mickie warned in a low voice giving Randy a playful slap on the wrist, glancing around she noticed that no one else was listening to them however and she relaxed somewhat in her chair.
"Captain engine room reports that the fuel is below recommended limits." John Morrison said from his station as he got off the radio with Melina and Mickie shook her head.
"Talk about carbon footprint. Ok Mr Rhodes lay in a cause for Hawaii, even if no one is left there I am sure the refuelling rig will be."
Cody turned round and acknowledged her orders and changed cause. It wasn't that far out of their way and so far they had seen no other ships in the area.
It did not mean they were not looking for them though, every pair of eyes were trained on the screens in front of them scanning and re scanning for any signs of life, hostile or otherwise. Not only had the UAN been keeping their distance but not a single rebel ship had been spotted either. Beth had expressed her concerns about this to Mickie before she had headed off to engineering. The concern had been plaguing Mickie for the rest of the day. Why hadn't the rebels taken advantage of a weakened enemy? Why had they seem to disappear in to the ether and left Legacy as a very big very exposed target.
Getting up quickly Mickie headed for her ready room, turning to look at Randy making eye contact with him she said.
"You have the bridge Commander."
Randy knew that tone of voice it was I need to be alone I have to think. Randy knew better than to disturb her now. After nearly a month a sea with her he felt like he could read her like a book at times. At others she was as unfamiliar to him as sheep herding. He guessed that Mickie allowed people to see what she wanted them to see nothing more. He had just gotten better at reading between the lines, last night as he watched her sleep he felt like he had know her his whole life, that even her parents did not know their daughter the way he did, yet even in sleep she was still guarded, a frown or a grimace crossing her face every now and then.
It had taken Randy a while to get to sleep, but when he did it was at least peaceful. Beth had been right they did need to heal each other and Mickie was finally allowing him in, but right now she needed her space and he was not going to intrude on it.
Mickie sat down heavily at her desk and tapped her radio button. She heard the noise of the engines and then Melina's slightly perturbed voice come over the radio.
"Yes Captain?"
"Could you send Beth up here for me please I need her expertise." Mickie said not allowing her voice to waver and giving Melina no choice but to comply with her request.
"Aye Captain she is on her way." Melina replied as she broke the link and Mickie folded her arms and sat back in her chair. All this tension all this expectancy that she was waiting for had just not come. Nothing had happened for four days now but something kept nagging at her, that some times things were just too good to be true.
Getting up and aiming for her coffee pot Mickie poured herself a cup and also for Beth, the rebel had gotten quite a taste for it since she had been aboard and she knew that the gesture at least would be appreciated.
Sitting back down in her chair Mickie swivelled around so she was looking out of the window, she could not remember how many times she had done this in the past, but it never failed to ease her mind, watching the sun and the sky, the clouds drift passed always made her feel better, its what she had joined the navy for, to feel free to explore the oceans and to tray and tame them. Sighing heavily and inwardly cursing herself for dragging Beth up to the bridge for a chat that was probably unnecessary Mickie winced at the quick knock at the door.
"Come in." She called as Beth's face popped around the door and she smiled sheepishly at Mickie.
"Look if this is about last night, I'm sorry, ok I'm not but I thought you two could do with a push and you had invited me for dinner and Randy was disappointed that he hadn't seen you."
"Beth your rambling, come in and close the door." Mickie said somewhere between annoyed and amused as the blonde visibly relaxed and sat down opposite Mickie. Her eyes lit up at the sight of a hot cup of coffee on the desk and she hastily picked it up.
"God I needed that, its hellish hot down in that engine room." Beth said now almost slumping in the chair as Mickie raised her eyebrows. No other member of this crew would slump in front of her and it actually made her feel more like a human again instead of just a Captain.
"I know, anyway I called you up here because of something you said this morning. You mentioned that it was odd that no rebel ships were around, that they should be taking this opportunity to stock up to find a new base, but they weren't, can you think of any reason why not?"
Now Beth sat up, her posture changed as she starting considering Mickie's question. Beth had not been oblivious to the lack of action taking place in the surrounding ocean but she hopped it was just her paranoia getting to her. Now that Mickie was expressing her concern also Beth was forced to think seriously about it.
"Only a couple of reasons, either they have already found a new base and are busy sticking it up and therefore not needing to sail. We have simply missed them, they could have moved miles in the other direction although I doubt it, it would be too close to Africa. Or the UAN have been a lot more active than we thought and have neutralised the threat." Beth concluded with anger tinting her voice as Mickie nodded. It was basically the conclusion she had come to also, both women were hoping for it to be something simple like just not being in the same place at the same time, but both were suspecting the latter, that while they were sunning themselves on a desert island, the UAN were coming after the rebels once and for all.
"I think we had better get to Hawaii and find out for sure either way." Mickie said looking at Beth but the blonde was examining the carpet.
"Whatever happens we are going to need the fuel, we just can't assume anything yet." Mickie said as Beth slowly levelled her eyes with Mickie, the intensity in them made Mickie rock back in her chair.
"Just because your paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you." Beth intoned as Mickie let out a whoosh of air and pursed her lips together.
"I know and out here I have come to expect the worst, but we just can't be sure, look we are only a few hours away, why don't you stay on the bridge, keep you out of that hot engine room and you can check out the scanning equipment." Mickie offered, thinking the blonde might enjoy a bit of fresh air and a first hand view of the scenery outside.
"Sure sounds like a plan." Beth said standing up and smiling once again. Mickie was stunned at how fast Beth had managed to hide her worry about her family and the other rebels and wonder if Beth had been reading that one from the James book of cover ups.
Following Beth out on to the bridge she watched as the blonde went and spoke with Ted, he willingly showed her how things worked and soon there was a pleasant banter going on once more on the bridge of Legacy.
Cody watched as Hawaii came into view. It was a familiar sight now and it didn't take him long to notice that something wasn't right.
"Captain!" He called as she Beth, Randy and Ted had gotten themselves in a pretty deep conversation about sensors images when Cody shouted though all eyes were focused on him.
"Look" He said pointing out the window at the island, which was now emitting several plumes of smoke and some of the outer cliffs were crumbling into the ocean below.
"Tread softly Cody take her in slow." Mickie said coming back to her chair, Randy followed and both looked at each other before Beth walked up and stood behind Cody, her hands placed on the back of his chair as the young man placed a hand over one of hers and tried to catch her eye. Beth did not seem to notice though as the island started to loom large and the extent of the damage was now visible.
"They did this because of me." Beth said so quietly that only Cody heard her but before he could say anything Mickie spoke up.
"Doesn't look like they are waiting for us, can we still use the refuelling pump?" Ted answered her in the negative.
"No Ma'am its destroyed looks like it was the last thing they blew up looking at the burn marks." Ted said as Legacy floated past the destroyed docks and Cody turned the ship almost 180 degrees as they ran out of ocean.
"We will have to locate more as soon as we can." Mickie said as Beth turned to her and narrowed her gaze.
"Beth I" Mickie began but was interrupted by a automated signal.
"Legacy if you are hearing this message you have come back, probably to refuel your ship. You may have noticed we have made some changes, as well as relocating all of the island's inhabitancy to our prison in Egypt. You are quite welcome to come and take their place. For everyday starting from the day after you hear this message you do not come we will kill one rebel. Oh by the way John and Mr and Mrs Cena send their love to Bethy and they hope to see their little girl soon."
Sambo's voice cut off as Beth took hold of the only thing she could find which was Mickie's lucky coffee mug and threw it against the glass.
Cody watched as the cup shattered into a million pieces and left a coffee stain on the window. Mickie's eyes were glued to that stain making its way towards the floor, she could understand Beth's frustration but she whished it had not been her lucky mug that got the brunt of the blondes anger.
"Captain."
"I know what you are going to say Beth and yes of course we are going after them, right now." Mickie cut the blond off mid flow but Beth came over to her a clamped her hands on Mickie's shoulders forcing Mickie to look at her.
"No you don't understand, this is a trap, he won't let those rebels go anymore than he was going to allow my brother to protect the island when he sold you out for us. If we go we will all die Mickie, and there is no way I am going to get anyone else killed." Beth said a single tear running down her cheek.
Cody stood up and turned towards the three people on the command deck. Beth with her hands on Mickie's shoulders, Randy with hand on Beth's, while Ted John and Mike watched from their stations. He knew he had to say something.
"Captain look I don't know about anyone else on this ship but I for one want to help get them back, I want to wipe that smile off of Sambo's ugly face and I think with the right plan Legacy can do it." All eyes were on him now. He hadn't quite thought his speech through but he just felt like he had to say something.
"Here here." Ted called out and the rest of the bridge officers with the exception of the two women in the centre copied Ted's sentiments.
"Well Beth looks like my crew wants to do this, will you deny us the chance to try." Mickie said placing her own hands on Beth's shoulders and linking hands with Randy as she did it. Catching her first officers eye she couldn't deny the emotion there but right now she had to be strong for Beth.
"Ok but if you all get killed I'm am going to record this moment and play it at your funerals." Beth smiled as she whipped the tears away and stepped back from the embrace. Randy and Mickie held on to each others hand for a brief second more but soon dropped the contact as they knew they had a lot of preparation to do and not much time to do it in.
The senior staff were gathered around the meeting table, legacy was already headed towards Egypt, even at full throttle it would take them a whole day to get there and they still had to come up with some plan of attack. Cody sat to Beth's left as the blonde lent forward flashing him a quick smile as she did so and turned her head towards the Captain.
"We need to get another ship, Legacy is powerful but can be easily outnumbered by the UAN. It just so happens I have that ship. The only problem is, its not finished." Beth said glancing at Melina as the chief engineer quickly understood.
"You need our help to retro fit the engines and maybe fit some weapons." Melina said thinking of they could do it in half a day they could still be at Egypt on time.
"Hold on where is this ship." Mickie said holding up her hand and stopping the two women mid flow.
"Not far a small island just off the coat of South Africa, we left it there in the understanding that if the UAN found it, it wouldn't matter because they wouldn't understand what they had. Sambo never brought the ship up so I guess they never found it." Beth concluded as Mickie allowed a small smile to play on her lips.
"Ok two ships Legacy and…" Mickie paused not knowing what Beth's ship was called.
"The Dauntless." Beth smiled as she now realised just how fitting that name was.
"Legacy and the Dauntless both armed with a low yield nuke and I think we can finally teach Sambo a lesson he has had coming to him from the start." Mickie said her caution of the early days leaving her. There was no way she was gong to leave this world with her conscience in tack if she let Sambo kill those rebels.
"Captain." it was Ted who had spoken up and Mickie had to break out of her day dream to look at her old friend whose expression was one of concern.
"I know we have to do this but a nuke, could we at least keep them as our last options." Ted said and as ever Mickie knew that the blonde man she had know since they had both been in short pants was right.
"Of course Mr Debasie you know I can get carried away at times, but I do want one ready to fit on the Dauntless as soon as we get there." Mickie said standing up and everybody else followed suit.
The meeting was officially over and everyone was making their way back to their stations. Beth caught Mickie by the arm and asked her to stay.
"Mickie what you are doing is above and beyond what I would have expected from you, but we do need to think about a crew for Dauntless, I have no right to ask any of your crew to step forward and leave Legacy but we are short on options, maybe we could start with some volunteers." Beth suggested meekly and Mickie felt for the first time Beth actually was unsure of herself.
"I think you will be pleasantly surprised at just how many people would be willing to do just that Beth." Mickie smiled at her friend and took her arm leading her back to the bridge as night began to descend upon them once more.
Dun Dun Dun… ok I did it again, will they with just two possibly ships be able to fight off Sambo's fleet and rescue everyone from Egypt. Who knows. Well I guess I do but I am not going to tell you just yet. Still a few more chapters to come but does anyone else feel the approach of and ending well review and let me know what you think, thank you so much for reading. Better go now should really update four corners too. Check it out if you haven't already its another twist on a classic. Just the way I like them.