Valley Forge
Chapter 36
Jackson and Kate had been given the job to survey each and every rock in the system. They had even been allowed to keep their Marine power suits.
"So far we've found nothing. Do you still think the two events are related?" Kate was beginning to believe him. They'd all listened to what Alexis had told them about her attack on an enemy carrier.
Combined with what Victoria was learning from her dates with Commander Cabela who was CAG on his carrier, they were starting to piece together what had happened. What they'd learned was that even the military didn't understand how the enemy had gotten into the system. They had, however, sent out probes that were now in orbit above every planet in the system. Each was packed with sensors. If it happened again they would know.
Their questions had gone unanswered. If the higher ups in the chain of command knew anything about the enemy they weren't talking.
"Yeah, think about it. They send in a probe and the minute it starts functioning, it sends out a signal of everything it sees. It probably doesn't see all or maybe any of our ships. How those same ships got here, I'm still working on that." Jackson was beginning to get ideas, but that was all he had.
"I know I'm using movies here, I mean it's all I've got, but what if they got here just like that Battlestar that Rick's so in love with?" Kate knew her husband was rubbing off on her. "We jump because we have a gate. What if they've found a way to put it on ships. The bigger the better." It was all she had.
"That would present a problem. They likely know how to get here now and if they had time to get a signal out they'll also know what's here. Or at least some of it." Jackson wasn't a fan of her theory.
"Okay, I'll bite. But why would they come back? They lost the first time. I mean why risk it when they don't know what they are getting?" Kate didn't see any benefit of them coming back and fighting for the system.
"Well one, you're assuming that they don't know what's on those moons. Two, say you're right that they can jump in. Did they only need the one probe or did they need to triangulate for different probes? And three, and possibly the worst, what if they long ago decided that this system was theirs and were willing to fight for it no matter the cost?" Jackson had his own worries.
"We've got what, 150 military ships not including the Martha? Would they really?" It sounded insane to her.
"You're used to Earth and now EVE. Basically the two are similar. What if they're all military?" Jackson then suggested a race that Kate could relate to. "What if they were Klingons, for example."
Kate sat back in her seat. "War." She hated the idea.
"Interstellar war and until we find them, we fight it right here, in this system." Jackson knew of only one way of taking it to them. And that had its own problems. They needed a gate and he had no idea how long it took to construct one. "You're out in space, Kate. Just be thankful that EVE can fight back." Earth would have been conquered in a heartbeat.
::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - :::- :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - :::
Rick was just getting a drink when he spotted Alexis sitting in one of the three living rooms. Just sitting there doing nothing so with drink in hand he sat down in a chair opposite of her. "What's with the sad face?"
Alexis jerked her head to look at him. She hadn't heard him approach her and sit down. "You've been practicing your ninja skills." She tried to deflect and change the topic.
"I've gone from four people on a space ship to just two, followed by living here with…," Rick had to count and actually used his fingers, "seven. I could use the practice and you changing the subject isn't going to work. So why the long face?"
"I broke up with Vanessa. She's nice and I like her, I just don't like her like that." Their one and only time having sex together had shown Alexis that it was never going to work.
"Vanessa was one of your best friends." Now Rick was sad with her and for her. "What do you mean like that?"
"She wanted to be my girlfriend. Not just girlfriend but girlfriend." Rick might be her brother but she was just a little uncomfortable saying lover. Even if they had had sex together. Even if it had been just once.
"Oh. OH!" Rick sat up straight, his eyes wide in surprise. "I didn't know I thought she was just a friend. Have you two… I mean I didn't know you swung that way." He was learning something about his sister that he didn't know and wasn't sure he needed to know.
"Apparently I don't." Alexis retreated further into her chair. It had been nice, unsettling, and really weird. She was starting to chalk it all up to having survived an attack on an enemy carrier. They hadn't been killed and Alexis wanted to feel alive again. Plus if they were going to work, she needed to know if she could love a woman who just happened to have a cock instead of a pussy.
Rick wasn't sure what to say. He'd never thought of his sister as being gay. She had always shown an interest in men. Problem was, save for the contractor that was still working on the city, there weren't that many men around. Unless you counted all the military up in ships spread out all over.
"We could ask for a tour of the city while its under construction. Maybe there's someone there that will get your attention." Suddenly he felt like a matchmaker. "I'm beginning to sound like Mom." Rick made a face of disgust.
That got Alexis chuckling and lightened her mood. They were both saved when all four dogs started barking their heads off. "They were all sleeping last I knew." Rick had seen all four of them piled up either next to each other or on each other.
"Sounds like we have a guest." Alexis was looking at where they were barking and it was in the direction of the elevator. Both of them were up, then up the stairs to where the dogs were still barking, just not as loudly.
"I'll corral the dogs; you see who our guest is." Rick picked up the two puppies that were growing like weeds, and blocked the entrance to the elevator while Alexis went up.
Moments later she came back down carrying a large pot. "We have a delivery and it's a big one. It's all pots. Different shapes different sizes." Alexis was beaming.
"Don't look at me, I don't have any money." That was a white lie. He had money it was just all Earth money.
"I have some but not enough for all this. Dad, maybe?" Alexis wondered. They both knew Victoria had about as much money as Alexis did and if they combined it they could afford most of what was upstairs. But doing that would totally wipe them out financially.
"Kate, perhaps. She and Dad are the only ones making money but Dad suggested that he's almost tapped out, too," Rick remarked.
"They're both out searching as part of their contract. Let's let them unload it all and then bring it all downstairs. Then we can disperse them," Alexis said. "The living rooms need pots, up here could use a few pots, my bedroom needs pots, the balconies could use pots."
"Take the dogs outside, they just got up." Alexis suddenly feared all four of them would start to pee indoors or worse.
Rick was still holding two of them. "Let's go Astro and Fly. Outside." He walked to the door leading to the patio and watched Astro and Fly blast through the doggie door. He set his two down and told them to go outside. "I said OUTSIDE!" He pointed and gave the first one a little push. The second followed everyone else easily enough.
He left them to do their business, returned to Alexis, and up to the roof to start collecting pots. They filled the living rooms with pots first. They did the upstairs, took some to Alexis's bedroom door, took a few to his and Kate's room, and left the others for everyone else to pick and choose from.
"First come first serve." Rick and Alexis looked at what was left up on the roof. It was still a lot but most of the really good ones were gone now. "Now we need plants and a lot of dirt."
"I'll go change and we can get started." This kind of work was something Alexis could get behind. They didn't need the same kind of plants for indoors. These plants just had to look pretty and didn't need to produce fruit like all the others needed to do.
Rick had containers filled with dirt and was being inspected by all four dogs until Alexis showed up with plants and instantly she had all four dogs. "Be careful over there. Astro has already tried to lift his leg on one of the pots."
"Oh swell." Alexis glared at the four of them. "Where's your ball?" She thought maybe a distraction would take them off what she and Rick were doing. She smiled as she watched Astro and Fly take off. "Where's your toy? Go get your toy." Alexis needed the other two to be equally distracted. While the two older ones loved balls, the two younger ones loved stuffed toys.
She was momentarily satisfied as those two ran off to find a stuffed toy. It was short lived; a ball was dropped next to her. She picked it up and threw it for all she was worth. Then it occurred to her that when the other two came back with their toy, they were going to want to play tug of war with it. When she finally won she was expected to throw it.
"Where's Steph?" Alexis yelled. She could keep these four busy while they worked.
"On a date with Victoria and her boyfriend." Rick had forgotten his name. "The Commander from that carrier. He's giving them a tour of the ship followed by dinner in the officers mess."
"Great!" Even though Alexis thought it was anything but. "At least someone has found somebody," Alexis muttered to herself just as a tennis ball was dropped next to her. She groaned.
Then she had a devilish idea. Alexis picked up the ball, made sure both dogs saw it and threw it at her brother. She hit him with it. The dogs bolted after it. Alexis went back to work, smiling wide, until suddenly there was a stuffed toy being shown to her. She quickly snatched it out of a mouth and threw it at Rick, too. Then she went back to work.
That lasted for all of about 3 minutes when a tennis ball came bouncing at her with two dogs moving at a dead run after it.
Neither of them went back outside to get more dirt and more plants. They had both learned that keeping four dogs occupied was now their top priority. That or they would find something else to keep them occupied. And that usually meant something had to be destroyed.
::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - :::- :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - ::: - :: - :::
"That's twice today," Jackson pointed out.
"I'm fine. …And sorry." Kate had rushed to their only bathroom on the Martha twice already and it had been enough for Jackson to cancel today's physical search of one their rocks. Throwing up in her suit would have been real trouble.
"Where are we going?" Kate watched as one of the battleships that were in this system kept getting closer.
"It's the closest ship that has a doctor and you have an appointment as soon as we land." Jackson flew closer.
"I'm fine! I'm not sick!" She hated doctors and all she really needed was to lie down and rest.
"Humor me. I'm the dad here and besides, you don't have a choice since you haven't learned how to fly the Martha." Jackson wasn't giving her any options. Kate sat in her chair, stewing and directing daggers at him.
- :: - :::- :: -
Kate eventually found herself lying on a bed with a clear panel basically hovering above her. She was still enduring all of it and had listened to the doctor and what she was guessing was a nurse talking to each other. Naturally she didn't understand a word they said. Well, almost not a word. She was getting better at translating but what she understood didn't help her any.
She watched who she was now sure was the doctor look right at her and tell her something. He sounded really happy. "I'm sorry I don't speak EVE yet," she told him, then listened to the two of them talking to each other.
Jackson stepped inside after a different nurse had come and gotten him. "Okay, what's wrong?"
Kate listened to all three of them speaking in EVE. "Somebody better start talking to me or I'm going to lose it!" She'd had enough of this. She wasn't sick!
"It turns out you were right. You're not sick." Jackson decided to play with her a little.
"I told you!" Kate was still trapped under a glass panel or she would get up and punch him in the arm or something.
"You do, however, have a parasite that's causing you to throw up." Jackson did his very best not to smile.
"A WHAT!?" Kate tried to sit up only to hit the glass panel. The nurse retracted it so that she could. "Parasite?" Kate glared at all three of them.
The doctor wasn't following and he didn't understand why his patient was so mad. Then Jackson told him in EVE what he had told her. He burst out laughing and turned his back on them all so he could hide his smile.
"JACKSON!" Kate was starting to smell a rat.
Jackson finally gave in knowing Kate was going to get back at him some day. "Your parasite is a baby. You're 5 weeks pregnant. You're having morning sickness." Jackson had seen it before, though for Martha it had been more all day sickness.
"Pre…pregnant?" Kate barely got the word out. "Pregnant," she stated with more surety. She'd been sterile for so long she had sort of forgotten that the damage had been repaired. She placed a hand over her mouth and began to cry while laughing. "Pregnant. …Boy or girl?"
Jackson chuckled. "This may be EVE but even they don't know yet."
Kate saw the doctor turn back around and start talking to Jackson. "He understands that you were previously sterile. As a result he wants you to see a doctor every two weeks during your pregnancy. He's also sending you home with some medication and a large dose of vitamins," Jackson translated.
"Oh and he says congratulations." Jackson smiled at her, knowing what Martha was going to think of this. Her first grandchild.
- :: - :::- :: -
Rick and Alexis had finally broken down and locked all four dogs outside on the patio after making sure they had lots of water, puppy food, and lots of shade. It allowed them to go back out to get more dirt and more plants.
They were on their way home with each using a car because they needed the space to carry it all, when they saw a shuttle landing on their house.
"Now who?" Alexis questioned while looking at Rick before lifting up a container of plants.
"A better question: is it good news or bad?" Rick was more worried about that than who it was. He was thinking the enemy had returned and something had happened. "Kate, Victoria, or Steph?" Rick walked faster to the elevator with his container of dirt.
One at a time they went upstairs only to find no one there. "Hello?" Alexis called out, still not seeing anyone.
"Up here," came Jackson's voice.
Both of them ran up the stairs. Alexis got her question out first. "What happened, Dad?"
"Where's Kate?" His dad was here but his wife was missing.
"Kate's in your room. Doctor's orders." She'd been told to take it easy until after she finished the medication that would help with her morning sickness.
"DOCTOR!" Rick ran to their room to find out what was wrong.
That left Alexis with her father. "Dad?"
"Before we even reached our first stop, Kate spent the morning throwing up," Jackson began.
"Oh, God. Is it this place? Did we miss something?" They were on an alien planet. Did they have to abandon the place now?
"It's not this place. Not exactly. Kate has a parasite inside her." Jackson did his best to hide his smile just like last time.
"Parasite!" Alexis shuddered. "What did it do? How bad is it?" Maybe they did have to leave here.
"It'll come out in about 8 months or so." Jackson was starting to lose his struggle and felt a smile start to form.
"Eight months. It'll come out…on its own?" Alexis didn't remotely understand until she saw her dad start to smile. "DAD!" She was ready to hit him.
"Kate's about 5 weeks pregnant," Jackson finally told her.
"Pregnant!" Suddenly Alexis went from worried to happy and hugged her dad for a moment that both of them actually liked. Then she let go of him. "Parasite, huh?" She smacked him in the chest. She was all set to bend his ear when Rick's voice came out of their room.
"PREGNANT!" Then they both heard him whooping it up.