Via Pacifica: Olympia Sector
Starship Acropolis Sickbay, 22:00 hours
When he finally came to, Dominic Raines cracked open his eyes with a groan as he sat up in what seemed to be a bed. As his eyes began to focus, he heard the familiar voice of Crewman Katrin Niall who immediately came over to his bedside with a medical scanner, "Easy does it, Captain. Take it slow."
He mumbled and sat up slowly feeling a throbbing in his head along with a dull nagging ache from his ribs. "Rin? What happened? Where am I?"
"You're in the sickbay of the Acropolis, sir," Rin answered as she did a quick diagnostic scan, "Both sides have retreated from the last battle but Princess Sera came and helped to recover the rest of the Odyssey's survivors."
The captain rubbed his bleary eyes, "What about the Typhon Cannon… and the Rangers?"
"Xerxes escaped with the cannon, but the rest of your crew is safe Dominic," Amira spoke up from a chair in the corner of the private suite where she had been keeping a vigil. "The cannon was damaged but the enemy flagship was destroyed as well."
Raines turned to stare at her in surprise before Rin administered a painkiller hypospray and cleared her throat, "It looks like you'll be okay, sir. The wooziness should fade within the hour, but your ribs are bruised and may take a few weeks to heal. I uh… think I should let you two talk. In the mean time, I'll check on the other injured crewmen in sickbay."
The Green Ranger departed quickly while Raines zipped up the top of his duty uniform to look presentable again. No sooner had he gotten up, Amira quickly strode over and surprised him as she threw her arms around his neck in a relieved hug. Raines winced in pain and sucked in a breath as he gingerly tried to hold the woman in his arms, "Amira? Ouch. Bruised ribs, remember?"
"Oh... right. Sorry," she said sheepishly as she let go. She paused to look up at him with her dark eyes, "I couldn't help it. You gave us all a scare, especially me."
He sighed and glanced away slightly, "I'm sorry Amira. Things were happening so fast and we were in the middle of a battle. My crew was in danger and they were the only thing I could think about and..."
"Dominic. You don't have to apologize," Amira said while gently touching his cheek, "I get it. I was a little upset that you tried to sacrifice yourself to stop the enemy flagship and the cannon, but I understand why you felt like you had to do it."
Raines grimaced, "This wouldn't have something to do with the little rescue party that came to pull me out, would it?"
"You have a good crew who care about you," Amira countered, "Please don't be upset with Hawa and Thor. If anything, I owe them. If they hadn't done something, I wouldn't get the chance to be here talking to you right now."
Raines's expression softened as he looked back to her, "Maybe... maybe I owe them a little bit as well. Despite our narrow brush with death, I have another opportunity to say something that I didn't get to when everything else was going on. I almost died back there without getting a chance to tell you how I feel about you and I don't want to make that same mistake again."
Amira blinked in surprise as they drew near again, "Dominic? You really feel that way?"
"I've... never been great when it comes to this kind of thing, so just let my actions speak for me here," he said as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in a long deep kiss. To his relief, Amira didn't flinch or recoil. Instead, she pulled him close and kissed him back with equal passion. When the two finally parted to catch their breath, they rested their foreheads against each other and shared a quiet smile before they heard a soft knock at the door.
"Err... sorry to interrupt. I can come back later," Hawa said with a hesitant voice from the doorway.
Raines cleared his throat and took a moment to assume his bearing while Amira stepped back and straightened out her blue sari. She wiped her lip and gestured her other friend inside, "No. That's okay Commander. Please come in. I can step out if you need a moment to speak with the captain."
"It's all right. You can stay," Hawa said giving her a small smile, "It's not like things can't get any more awkward at the moment, right?"
Amira stepped back to the corner of the room while Raines stood silently glaring his First Officer.
Hawa straightened her posture and walked over hesitantly, "So... Dom. I came to check in on you and was wondering how you're feeling?"
"I don't know Hawa. How am I supposed to be feeling right now?" he asked with a flat voice and surprising calmness, "Our fleet's been shredded. The Odyssey is destroyed. A madman is out there with a super weapon, and I'm sitting here with a headache and several bruised ribs."
Hawa winced slightly, "Well… when you put it that way, I guess it does kind of suck. But the important thing is, everyone is safe… so are the Rangers… and so are you."
"You risked a lot by coming back," he said maintaining his calm expression, "And you risked even more by what you did."
"What? Staging a little mutiny? Or saving your life? Because you're welcome!" she argued with a frown, "I did what I thought was right."
He nodded, "And in so doing that, you shot me. You directly disobeyed my orders. You endangered Lt. Julut, and you pulled a firearm on your commanding officer."
"And I'd do it again in a heartbeat," Hawa answered heatedly as they stared each other down in momentary silence.
After another moment, Hawa sighed and relented, "I get it Dom. You feel responsible for all of us. You're the captain and the captain goes down with the ship if he has to. But I wasn't about to let you be selfish because the rest of us need you too. The rest of the crew, the Rangers, Amira… and me."
He remained silent and looked at her as she lowered her voice and glanced away. She brushed aside some her African-style hair braids feeling very self-conscious and unwilling to look him in the eyes. She touched the rank insignias on her uniform collar, "You already gave me your Commander's pips after Captain Broca's death. I didn't want to inherit Captain stars from the death of my best friend either. I couldn't bear that responsibility... or pain."
There was another long silence before Hawa looked up again in concern, "Dominic? I know you have every reason to be upset with me right now and maybe even throw me in the brig. Hell, you can even draw up charges if you want. But please… just say something? Anything?"
To her surprise, Raines came over in silence and gently put his arms around her. Despite his injured ribs, he drew his friend into a grateful hug and chastely kissed the side of her head. "Thank you… for saving my life and for everything you did. I'm truly blessed to have you as my friend."
Hawa gave a relieved sigh before returning the hug, "I'm sorry I shot you."
"Then let's make sure that's the last time it ever happens," he said with a faint smile as he let her go and glanced over to Amira who was looking on in approval from the corner of the room, "Now if you don't mind... I think I'd like a full status update. Our forces may be down but we're not out either. There's a madman out there and we still have work to do."
Hawa nodded and led him by the arm to keep him steady, "All right Dom. We're headed back toward Arcadia right now, so we've got some time left to makes plans with Princess Sera... at least I hope so."
Meanwhile, in the spacious ready room of the Acropolis carrier, Princess Sera Telesto sat by herself in the darkened place. Only the dimmed lights and the ambient glow of the passing stars in warpspace illuminated the quarters as the princess remained alone on the sofa processing everything that had happened recently. It was fortunate she had arrived at the batle when she did, but she wondered if the cost was worth it having witnessed a nebula on fire with so much death and destruction wrought on both sides. Although Sera had not experienced the raw fury of the Typhon Cannon being fired, it had still left a deep mark on everyone who had witnessed it, much less survived it. What Sera had witnessed was the destruction of the Odyssey and the near deaths of her Ranger friends and she couldn't help but feel a new wave of guilt and despair washing over her now.
She pulled her legs up on the couch and stopped when she heard the door chime. She gave a deep sigh and got up to answer the door, "Who is it? This is not a good time."
She was surprised when the door opened to reveal Aaron standing there with an uncertain look on his face. "Princess? Sorry to disturb you."
He took a peek into the darkened room and said, "If this is a bad time, I'll let you be and..."
"No. I'm sorry," Sera said making herself look a little more presentable before gesturing for him to enter, "Please Aaron. Come in."
The Red Ranger gave a cautious nod and ambled inside the darkened room before Sera turned the lights back up. He decided to play dumb and fish for answers, "You were taking little nap?"
"No. With everything that happened recently... I just had a lot on my mind," she admitted, "Though I can't imagine what the rest of you had been through."
He glanced away and nodded with a hint of melancholy, "No... I suppose not. But that's part of the reason I came to see you. I wanted to thank you for coming to rescue us back there... all of us, including the captain."
Sera gave a weak smile, "Believe me, it's the least I could do after all the help you've given to me and to the people of the Star League."
She glanced away, "That was something I was thinking about just now. I can't help but feel a little guilty... as if this is partially my fault. You've all risked so much and made great sacrifices. I never wanted to ask you all to give up your starship too."
Aaron remained silent as she continued to muse darkly to herself, "And now Prince Benedict. He's sacrificed his own life to this cause out of loyalty and admiration for me. His blood and those of his troops are on my hands."
"The burdens of leadership," Aaron offered weakly, "I am sad about losing Benedict... though I'm sure it might be worse for you. You had agreed to marry him after all."
Sera buried her face in her hands trying to make sense of things, "I don't know. Of course I cared about him and respected him a great deal but..."
"You didn't love him?" Aaron answered quietly.
Sera went quiet for a moment and looked up again before nodding in silence. There was a long pause before she spoke again, "I thought I was going to try and do right for myself, for my family, and for my people. Things were going to change after this war and I thought that if I didn't have to fight anymore, I should at least start doing my duty and acting like a real princess."
"According to who?" Aaron asked, "You or your parents? You can still do your duty and serve your people but you should do it in your own way. You've already proven that you can be your own person, time and again out here."
She looked to him as he spoke, "Sure your parents might be back in power, but they have to realize something very important. They have to realize you've changed and they have to see just how much you've grown. Or else, why the hell else would you be out here disobeying their wishes?"
Sera remained silent as she stood dumbstruck by his observation. He continued, "Most importantly, you need to remember that fact too... that you've changed and that you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for."
After a long silence, Sera nodded, "You have a point Aaron. I... oh, what am I doing? What have I been doing?"
"Doing what you thought was right," he offered as he came over and placed his hands on her shoulders. To his surprise, she stepped forward and buried her face in his shoulder. She gripped the Ranger's duty jacket and letting him comfort her with a hug. "No one can fault you for that."
"Maybe... but I'm a royal. There are still rules I should try to adhere to," she sighed enjoying the comforting touch.
The Red Ranger shrugged and tried to cheer her up, "So use your royal powers to change the rules, right?"
Sera pulled back slightly and looked up, "And what about you Lieutenant? Would you break the rules like I did?"
Aaron chuckled and offered a joke, "Hell no. The Alliance Navy doesn't mess around. If I tried to steal the Odyssey and take it out for a spin, Captain Raines would probably try to flog me to death or shoot me alive out of a torpedo tube."
Sera smiled and chuckled slightly while still looking at him, "No. That's not the kind of rules I was talking about."
"Then what?" he asked before he paused and let it sink in as he held her, "Oh..."
Before they could lean closer, the moment was broken as the door chime sounded and they jumped apart. Sera straightened out her blouse and cleared her throat as Aaron did the same, "Who is it?"
The door opened and she was surprised to see Dominic enter with Hawa and Amira in tow. The princess smiled and nodded, "Captain Raines. I'm glad to see you're on your feet again."
"Thank you. I'm glad to be back, Your Highness," he said as he offered a respectful bow of the head and then a nod toward Aaron who saluted him, "With your permission, Commander Jakende and I would like to talk with you about our next course of action. It seems we have a lot to discuss."
Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Acropolis, Sage and Geordi milled about as they kept Skyler company. The smuggler remained at the helm control of the carrier and she kept the ship on a steady course as it led the broken convoy of allied ships back toward Arcadia. Skyler noticed the glum looks of her friends and tried to spark up some conversation, "So... do you two fancy the captain and the princess will be able to come up with a new plan? By the sounds of it, they should have had Raines commanding the fleet back there in the first place."
"I'm not sure it makes much difference now," Geordi said with a dour sigh, "The Odyssey is gone and so is the better part of the fleet."
Skyler shrugged, "Maybe... but I reckon you all kept a number of ships in reserve back at Arcadia, right? That's including my own ship too."
"Thanks Skyer, but we can't ask you to risk the Scoundrel," Sage said as she idly fiddled with some long range scanners. She was feeling just as down as her fellow Rangers about the loss of their ship and she was doing whatever she could to keep her mind occupied right now.
Skyler grimaced and gave a sigh, "Well count your blessings. At least the rest of your shipmates were all recovered safely. Even more, you're in the safest hands right now while the 'Greatest Pilot in the Galaxy' is flying your ship, eh?"
Normally Sage and Geordi would be laughing right now, but the two Rangers simply gave her small smiles and weak chuckles. In fairness, Skyler couldn't blame them. She would probably feel just as depressed if she lost her own ship. She had already done so a few times in the past already so she knew exactly how they felt. Before she could reach into her jacket's inner pocket and offer them her whiskey flask, she stopped when a strange blip came up on the sensors. "Hello. What's all this?"
Sage came over and studied the sensors and fine tuned the imaging until it showed a familiar scout ship approaching from warp. The Yellow Ranger froze in shock when she recognized the ship nearing their mark, "No way. It can't be. What is he doing here?"
Geordi looked up and saw a light blinking on one of the other consoles, "There's an incoming transmission."
Sage looked around and saw that both she and Geordi were presently the ranking officers on the bridge even though they were lowly ensigns. She decided to make the call and gave a nod, "Open the channel. This is the starship Acropolis. Hello Ash."
"Sage? Is that really you?" came the voice on the other end of the line from the incoming ship, "Thank the gods."
Sage watched as the scout ship of her renegade brother neared and saw that it didn't have any weapons armed or any tricks prepared. "Ash? What is going on?"
"I need to speak to your commanders," he said, "It's about the Typhon Cannon."
Skyler frowned, "You're a little late on that one mate. Xerxes already test fired his little toy."
"Which is exactly why I need to speak with all of you," the rogue general said, "I believe I can show you where Xeres is likely running to and how to stop him."
Sage thought it over for a long moment and considered the options. He would know more than anyone the design of the weapon and he likely had access to some of Xerxes's plans while he was still serving with them. Geordi frowned slightly and gave his friend a suspicious look, "You aren't seriously considering bringing him back aboard, are you?"
The Yellow Ranger took a breath and answered the comm, "Join in the formation and stand by. I'll speak with my captain and we'll figure out what to do."
"Understood... but don't take too long sis," Ash replied before closing the line.
Skyler and Geordi exchanged uneasy looks before the smugger crossed her arms, "So... what now?"
Sage headed toward the ready room with a grim look on her face, "First we get the captain. Then we plan a little family reunion."
