A/N: So just a reminder that I know nothing and pretty much make up what Google can't tell me. Thank you reading this far and please continue to read and enjoy!


Chapter 51


"Physically, everything appears to be well. So how are you general?" The doctor asked after he finished performing the physical exam and checked her c-section incision. Rachel already knew everything was fine but they all had a role to play.

"I'm upset, angry and completely disillusioned. I was kidnapped from my home and brought here, where I can't adequately provide for my children, I barely have the necessities to even leave my home. My stepson, nearly died and you're asking me how I am." Rachel told him honestly, knowing that no sane person in her position would just say 'fine'.

"I understand-" He didn't get to begin as Rachel cut him off.

"I don't think you do. I have four children, two that are under 3 months old. I have a support network of people around me who are suffering just as much as they too were torn from their homes. Isolated from their loved ones, how is this place Utopia when we're prisoners?" Rachel asked him.

"You're not a prisoner here." The doctor said with a smile.

"But we can't leave, my best friend has disappeared." Rachel said.

"Who?" The Doctor asked with a frown.

"Kate Lassiter, she was last seen here. I'm worried about her. She's pregnant and her children need her." Rachel told him firmly. But clearly he'd missed the class on human empathy as he gave her a patient smile.

"Let me assure you, she's fine. Her mental instability was concerning to myself and another physician. We had her evaluated by a third party and it was decided that it was for the best to have her taken to a facility where they can treat her. She's receiving the best care." He assured her, but Rachel was not comforted by his words. If anything she was afraid for Kate, and afraid for herself and the twins. She had to wonder when Milowsky would come for her next.


A few days later,

"She's building a tolerance to the sedatives." The doctor said to Milowsky, he looked down at Kate. She was laying listlessly on the bed. Wrists and ankles restrained, feeding tube down her nose. She looked up at him with a vacant expression like she couldn't quite comprehend the world around her. She should be asleep, yet somehow she'd woken up.

"Hmm, I didn't predict them happening." Milowsky said as he smoothed a hand over her hair.

"It's not good for her body to be under this kind of stress." The other doctor told him. Milowsky nodded looking to the vitals' monitor for both Kate and the child. It wasn't much of a variance but the longer she went without sedation the more aware she would become and thus stressed.

"Let's change her onto Rocuronium. See if that will keep her pacified." Milowsky ordered, he smoothed his hand over Kate's hair again like he were soothing a creature. "It's ok, you'll be a sleep within moments." He assured Kate.


"We're babysitting again?" Anna mused as she woke up on the couch to see Misato sitting at the coffee table colouring in a picture with Tex sitting on the floor with her. But he had his back propped against the couch and was reading a book. It was not a rare occurrence for them to be babysitting Misato, not that Anna minded as the kid was cute and well mannered. Jesse had an important job so the least they could do was help out where they could.

"Yeah, how you feeling?" he asked Anna, he looked over his shoulder at her. She smiled as she reached up her good arm and played her fingers through his hair.

"Ok, I'll need my meds in the next hour." Anna said not moving as it made her injury pinch, being shot was a real bitch but at least the couch was comfortable.

"No worries." Tex said, the man was saint putting up with her and looking after Misato. He did it with an ease that made Anna incredibly envious. It also made her melt from how adorable the two were. He was a natural with kids.

"Where's Kat?" Anna asked him.

"She's with Jesse." Tex told her.

"How is she?" Anna asked, a question she was constantly asking as she was still worried about the gene therapy backfiring or not working. She and Tex were keeping a close eye on; just in case.

"Perfectly fine, the gene therapy worked. Vellek said it shouldn't have done anything but it did. He's starting to roll out doses to the other patients." Tex informed her.

"Is it bad, I'm a little jealous of her?" Anna asked him in a low voice.

"Nah, she's got youth and good health on you." He teased, with a grin as he knew he wasn't being kind but she didn't mind the honesty.

"Thanks." Anna remarked drily.

"But that's the way it should be." Tex said before he gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She wanted more but would wait until later as she didn't want to be an educational piece for Misato. It was bad enough the only English Misato knew was 'Cherry Cola' and it sounded like 'Chiri kora'. They were sure she knew other words in English but she mostly stuck to nonverbal communication.

"Where's Jesse?" Anna asked Tex.

"Flying up North. Ferrying people ad supplies. Hokkaido was missed during the attack. So their soil and water supply aren't as heavily polluted by the bacteria in the green mist." Tex told her, Misato rose from her place at the table and walked over to them. She silently turned the picture she'd been colouring to show them.

"It's beautiful." Anna told Misato in Japanese. Tex took the picture from Misato and inspected it carefully before smiling to the little girl. It was of a caterpillar and Misato had covered the picture with many different colours.

"That's some really pretty work there. I love how you colour outside of the lines." He told her, Misato didn't understand the words but she shyly beamed as she understood tone and body language to know she was being praised. Anna smiled at them, wondering what it'd be like if she and Tex had a kid of their own but brushed the thought away to enjoy the moment.


"What about Eyes Only?" Jacob suggested with a grin. Val stopped in her work on her laptop to throw him a droll look. She pretended to pick up a phone and held it out to him.

"Oh hey, it's James Cameron is calling to remind you that he's got that copyrighted up the wazoo back in 2000." Val told him sarcastically.

"It's cool." Jacob argued, Val leaned back her chair; giving him her full attention.

"Logan was lame, Max however was awesome and incredibly fine. Did you ever notice that his freedom screenings of the news had little to no positive effect on the people?" Val asked him.

"I disagree but the point is we can do the same thing. The President could do messages to the public." Jacob said pointing to Oliver who like the rest of them was struggling to sleep given that they had no clue if Ravit, Jed and Oscar were ok or if they had managed to link up with the crew of the Nathan James.

"No, right now we have to stay under the radar." Val told him.

"We could pre-record some messages." Oliver argued, he needed to feel useful. He knew he couldn't do much to help anyone until the Regional Leaders were taken out of power but there had to be something. Something more than listening to these two bickering.

"And say what?" Val asked him.

"I don't know but I'm sure if we put our heads together we can come up with a message for the people." Oliver said as they needed a more positive attitude.

"The people who are slaves to regional leaders or those in camps who are held captive or tell me what you'll say to Lassiter when we finally get her back. She's probably being carved up like a thanksgiving turkey by Milowsky." Val pointed out.

"It's about restoring hope." Oliver told her.

"Hope for what? everything your government did was a mess and you dismantled the only thing that was working; Lassiter Industries, and then you pandered to the leaders until we rescued you. So tell me, what kind of hope can we give anyone?" Val asked.

"We made mistakes, ones we can learn from and build a better future." Oliver told her.

"A better future. I'll believe it when I see it." Val scoffed.


"That was a close call." Jed said to Ravit who was behind the wheel. Oscar was in the back; quiet as always. What was supposed to be a three day drive had turned into over a week and half thanks to dodging road blocks and check points. They had to hike through a state forest and find a new vehicle at least twice to avoid detection.

The Military had nearly every gap in the walls patrolled or had a check point set up. There were only a few gaps where the forest or terrain was dense or difficult to traverse. Obviously they weren't considering people brave enough to try and pass through the borders illegally. But then it wasn't like one region was any better than the other.

In their journey they had passed ghost towns with a few people left behind. Those people were deemed unfit due to their age or some infirmity that made them a 'waste' on society. They were left behind to rot but apparently those rounded up weren't taken to Eden as they were sent to work in factories or work on farms. They had run into a man who'd escaped one of the factories, he'd said it was hell on earth as the conditions were untenable and they worked 14 hour shifts for very little food, the factory he'd been in was poorly managed. It had a electrical malfunction which lead to a fire, he'd been lucky to escape which was why he hid in the forest as he'd rather die out in nature than in a factory.

"We're in Castillo's country so we shouldn't hit anymore check points." Ravit said as they had trouble getting into Castillo's region but luckily they'd escaped the soldiers chasing them. They'd changed vehicles and drove an erratic pattern so as to not give away their destination.

"Hopefully." Jed said.

"We should probably stop and wait until dark." Ravit suggested.

"No, drive on, we should hit San Diego by nightfall." Jed told her.


"No more risks, we're supposed to be under the radar." Rachel told Sammy and Ashley, the two were incorrigible as they held no remorse in their features.

"It was an accident." Sammy said with a shrug. Rachel didn't believe him for second given he'd put himself into anaphylactic shock from an allergic reaction to peanuts just because he wanted to be useful to the 'resistance'. If it could be called one given they hadn't done anything significant to harm their captors.

"You hit a baseball over the fence into the minefield and it was an accident?" Rachel asked levelling him with her best look of 'Do I look stupid to you', her parenting faces needed serious work as this one did not work on Sammy or Ashley. They both looked fairly comfortable with their actions.

"There are mines there which they totally put too close to one another. Anyone who's played a video game knows you have to put at least 4 feet between them." Sammy told her, just proving her point that her point was completely missed.

"Still, it was very dangerous." Rachel told him, Sammy was too much like his father. She was half tempted to say how Sammy had woken the twins from their nap due to his antics. But it wasn't relevant.

"We're just trying to help." Ashley told her.

"I appreciate that, but we're only supposed to be collecting information not taking action. Hitting balls over into the minefield is action. I will admit it's helpful to know that the mines are there. We should leave it alone as it's a weakness we need keep so your father can use it later." Rachel said.

"Ok, but it's not like I can anything more as I've been banned from sports." Sammy said with a pout.


"Message from Naval Base San Diego... 'Nathan James, rendezvous with tugs, vicinity of Coronado Bridge, Moor port side, Pier 3, berth 1. Rep..." Mike sighed as he really couldn't read the orders. He had wanted this to all be a nightmare he could wake up from but no such luck. Tom took the piece of paper from him and read it aloud from where Mike had given up.

"Report to General Bradley with California United Forces and turn over your prisoner. Thomas W. Chandler." Tom read aloud.

"They have a General running a Navy base? Meylan asked with a frown as they all wondered what happened to the highest ranking Naval members to now have an Army General in charge.

"And what does the California United Forces even mean?" XO Cobb asked with a frown.

"It means in the last two weeks it took us to cross the Pacific, they dismantled the entire military. Just as we assumed." Mike said grimly, the only good thing to come out of it was that the intel they had was solid. It meant they could commit to the mission they had planned.

"Six hours to Buoy San Diego, Sir." Gator said to Mike from his post.

"Castillo owns that base. We're gonna be on his radar in under four hours." Mike said.

"In a few minutes, we'll start scanning for microwave emissions along the coast, find the biggest one, the most people talking. 10 to 1 that'll be their local center of gravity." Tom said following the plan they had pulled together in the past fortnight.

"Sir?" XO Cobb asked confused.

"Von Clausewitz. Center of gravity is a source of strength could be comms, transpo, munitions." Sasha clarified for her. The XO nodded, she was younger than the rest of them but she had grit and confidence that showed why she had been XO of the Hayward.

"We don't just disrupt it, we destroy it, make Castillo show his face, grab him and use him to smoke out the others. Just as we discussed. Let's move the Henan into position and prep the teams." Tom said, Mike nodded as he moved to the Captain's chair to make the call.


"There's the Nathan James." Jed said as he pulled the truck to a stop on the beach. It had taken them a while but they had made it. They got out of the truck and Oscar moved into defensive position; watching the streets for any signs of trouble while Ravit and Jed moved closer to the water's edge. They looked through night vision binoculars to see the ship on the horizon. It was just big enough to make out that it was an Arleigh Burke class destroyer. So it had to be the Nathan James.

"About time." Ravit commented as they had guessed the Nathan James would take at least a fortnight to get to San Diego as it would have to stop to refuel on the way home. They had been coming to the shoreline the past two nights waiting for them to arrive. They had guessed that the Nathan James would come at night and the assumption had paid off.

"Heading into the mouth of the harbor, Tommy's got to realize that Castillo will arrest him on site." Jed said with a frown as it seemed like the Nathan James was playing right into the Regional Leaders' hands. Did they not get the message from Dennis? He wondered.

"Can we signal them?" Oscar asked them.

"No. But he must have a plan." Jed said, he hoped his son had a plan.


"No contacts on surface or subsurface." TAO told Tom as he and Meylan stood in CIC waiting for confirmation. Every step of the way home was a test, a test to see if they had safe harbour or if the intel was to be trusted. Tom knew Mike wanted the Intel to be a bust, just as much as Tom did. He kept thinking about his children and Rachel, how they were not safe. Everyone on the ship felt that same tug of responsibility and concern for their loved ones.

"Very well. Let's bring her in." Tom ordered, barely three seconds passed when alarms sounded in CIC and across the ship.

"Vampire! Vampire! Vampire! Bearing 115. Two missiles incoming!" Nishioka shouted over the noise.


"Oh my god." Ravit breathed in shock as the Nathan James exploded into a fireball on the horizon. She didn't need binoculars to see the flames as the ship was struck again with most likely a missile. Her heart clenched, tears filled her eyes as all she could think of was Burk. She blew out a shaky breath unsure of what to do or how to feel as she felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her.

"No." Jed said firmly. She looked over to him, his face was set in a mask of anger and disbelief. She blinked back her tears as his way was more productive than falling into a puddle of tears.

"Those missiles came out of nowhere." Ravit said with a frown as she knew they didn't come from the shore.

"They were circling. Damn things can loiter at high altitude for hours. James didn't even see them coming but they should have." Jed said letting reality sink in, his son had been on that ship. The Nathan James was the last ship; the last manned Arleigh Burke Class destroyer, he knew he couldn't pretend otherwise. All he felt in that moment was cold rage as this world had taken too much from him.

"What do we do now?" Oscar asked.

"I want to kill everyone who's responsible for what just happened." Jed said.

"Me too. Blood for blood." Ravit said.

"But we do this smart... asymmetrical hits-" Jed started but Oscar cut him off as he spotted headlights coming their direction. But soon they diverted from their path heading further north.

"Get down." Oscar told them, they all moved behind the car and hunkered down. Jed used his binoculars to get a look at who was coming their way. It was a military convoy of two humvees and a utility truck. He looked to Ravit who was looking through her own binoculars at the convoy.

"You see that? Big eyes mounted on the flatbed." Ravit asked him, referring to the truck in the middle that had a large set of binoculars on the back.

"An observation team... Probably out here to confirm the sinking of the Nathan James. They're off to report back." Jed said to her, she gave a nod.

"So we follow them?" she asked him.

"Let's roll." Jed told them.