Space Ghost
Chapter 25
"Can you scan what they've hit?" Rick asked her as he made his way down through the atmosphere to catch up to these two.
"Working on it," Alexis replied. "It looks like they started outside of a city called Moscow. Followed by Minsk, Warsaw, Prague, Bern, then Madrid if I have this right. The line of destruction is roughly 180 miles wide, more or less." Alexis kept scanning.
"Wow looks like they know about these two ships. All of the communications I'm getting are talking about them. Dad, there's talk about why they haven't dropped something called a nuke on them." She didn't know what that was.
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"Targets have left Russian airspace," an officer announced.
"Order our fighters to follow. I don't care where they go. They attacked our country and destroyed Moscow. And keep trying to find out if the President is still alive." He should have been in Moscow at the time and he feared he had been killed.
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"All of our available fighters are converging on the target. It is just now approaching Warsaw, sir," an officer announced.
Then they all watched and listened to their planes being shot down mostly before they could even attack either of the targets.
"Sir, I have radar targets approaching from Russian territory. …Strike that, all targets from Russia have been destroyed."
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"How many fighters made it?" an officer questioned his staff.
"Only two, sir. The air bases have been destroyed and both targets are passing past Prague, sir." He didn't understand how just two ships could do this much damage so fast.
"Order them to attack. Maybe we can at least do some damage. Inform Germany. Maybe they can get all of their fighters up. We're done here." All but wiped out was more like it.
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"How many bases are responding?" an officer asked his staff.
"All of them, sir. However, only a small number of fighters are on standby. It will take time for flight crews to respond and for fighters to be made ready." It was only a fraction of what they actually had. They had been caught mostly flat-footed.
"Order them to attack." When or if the others showed up they would be ordered to attack as well.
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"Inform the Spanish military that they have two enemies headed their way. Advise them that the targets are alien in nature and that they have…force shields." As stupid and science fictional as it sounded it was never the less accurate.
"Where are the rest of our fighters?" Everything in range had so far been shot down but they had other air bases to launch fighters from.
"Thirty minutes minimum, sir, but at the speed of the two targets they will be out of our air space before they get here." These two were not just destructive but they were fast as well.
"Arrange for in-flight refueling and order our fighters to intercept if possible." He feared they would be able to destroy German cities and territory before they could respond in force.
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"How many?" Had he heard correctly?
He repeated his information. "Four, sir. Two from two of the closest air bases."
He groaned. The two ships that they'd only just recently heard anything about had already entered their airspace and were destroying everything and everyone in their path. Yet they had nearly nothing to respond with. They were so fast that using attack helicopters was out. Helicopters were far too slow. They needed fighters.
"Sir, we're getting a message from Germany. They are telling us that the two ships are alien space ships and that they have shields," another officer announced. "Shields?"
He didn't care about shields. He only cared about protecting his country and it was under attack.
"Order all our fighters to attack." No matter how many they had in the air or could get into the air.
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"No invisibility, Dad?" Alexis wasn't sure this was a good idea.
"We may need the power," he replied. "Apply maximum power to the shields. How missiles do we still have?"
"Four in each pod. Four in each pod are under construction. Ten minutes," Alexis replied.
"So beams only it is, then. Locking on a target…and firing." Rick used every beam he had to hit just the one target.
However, both of them fired back and he and Alexis felt the ship shudder under the beams. Alexis looked at him and said, "One more like that and our primary shields will be down. Power's down to 49%." Those two shots had hurt.
"Can you scan them and find me a primary target?" He had done damage he was sure, but it hadn't stopped it.
"Working on it," Alexis responded as Rick fired again, taking a guess at just where the engines in this thing would be.
"I've got a warning. I'm shutting down the port power conduit before it blows." Alexis knew if it did blow it would take them with it.
"SHIT!" That wasn't what Rick needed to hear. It meant his port side beams were now without power. He was left with his starboard beams and what few missiles he still had. And he still had two targets to deal with. Rick fired what he could including all of his missiles while he had the chance before Alexis could give him a target.
"They're firing, Dad." Alexis saw the build up of power while she searched for a vulnerable spot.
The result of those two hits had them spinning, headed for the ocean, and going to crash.
"Secondary shields are down. I have a coolant leak. I'm shutting down the starboard power conduit. Diverting power to the engines," Alexis advised him. Then suddenly their ship began to spin after they both felt something hit them.
"Damn it!" It was all Rick could do to keep from crashing into the ocean.
"We just lost a cargo bay. It wasn't a hit. That was the cargo bay door letting go." It also meant that they had just lost everything in that cargo bay that wasn't held in place.
"I got it." Rick was back to level flight. "I'm heading for orbit." They were out of this fight.
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"How bad is it?" Rick had them in orbit where it was safer even if out there in space there was the original Xindi ship.
"We have no shields. Power's down to 11%. Both power conduits are down and we have a hole in the ship where that cargo bay was. I've also got various internal fires. Fire suppression is active. We also have no missiles. Ten minutes until we have four in each pod," Alexis told him.
"So it's not that bad," Rick joked.
Alexis rolled her eyes. "Right. We need to replace both power conduits before we get beams back. We need to manually set up a force field over the cargo bay opening or the internal walls will remain exposed to space. We can't attack anyone like this." They were done. "We lost, Dad. We actually lost." Alexis sat back and slumped. They'd been defeated and Lais's ship had been destroyed. "Now what?"
Rick did have one idea, though he needed something and he knew just where to get one. He just had to get to it and bring it back up here.
"Do you think you can handle the force field at the cargo bay door? I have an idea." Rick had a plan to get rid of at least one Xindi ship.
"Yes. What are you going to do?" They had no weapons and didn't even have any missiles at the moment. Though that would change soon.
Rick explained his idea. "I'm going to steal a nuke and place it inside that Xindi ship."
Alexis was alarmed. "Even you can't get past their shields." She didn't think his plan was going to work.
"Not those two, no. But the first one, yes. I just need to find a nuke I can steal," Rick said.
"Ooo." Alexis now understood. Then her system sent a signal. She turned to her screens while her dad got out of his seat. "Dad, what are these?" She brought them up on her main screen for him to see.
"Nukes." Rick saw what she did. They were both watching as lots and lots of missiles rose up from the planet.
"Ah, so that's what a nuke is." Now she understood. "Just what are they trying to do?"
"Where are those two now?" Rick stayed right behind her and watched.
"Just approaching the coast. Those two are really fast." Their speed was impressive as were their capabilities.
"DAD!?" She saw something else now.
"SHIT!" Rick had spent enough time growing up on Earth to know what was happening. "The Russians have launched all of their ICBMs at the United States and the United States is responding."
"Why the hell would they do that?" This was stupid. What was worse was that they had nothing to shoot them down with. Rick could kill a few but wasn't going to get them all.
"Use them or lose them." Rick understood what one side was thinking at least.
"That's stupid. They're going to blow themselves up." Alexis initiated another system's diagnostic. "I can't power up the power conduits. We'll blow ourselves up if I do. We can't build that many missiles that fast."
Rick sat back in his seat, taking them out of orbit and deeper into space. The opposite direction from the first Xindi ship.
"Where are we going?" There was nothing out there.
"Here for now. Keep your eyes open. I'm going to go put up that force field at the cargo bay door. Move us if anyone comes this way." Rick got out of his seat.
"What about all those missiles?" There were hundreds of them.
"What about them? There's nothing we can do." They'd lost and they were going to have to live with that. Rick suddenly had one idea and wondered if he had the time. "I'll be back. Keep your eyes open. I love you." He kissed her head and ran toward the closest airlock.
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Kate couldn't believe this. She had Bracken and the prosecutor was happy with what he had. Now she and everyone else was standing in the breakroom watching the news. Two immense alien ships were destroying everything near them as they traveled through Europe. Whole cities were being destroyed.
"This is nuts." She finally believed in aliens and people from space. Just these were doing what all those disaster movies always said would happen. Aliens were trying to kill everyone on the planet.
"Get ready to go out into the city. Riots are going to start soon and the uniforms are going to be overwhelmed," Roy told them all. He knew the civilians would all go nuts soon and start trying to steal everything that wasn't bolted down.
"Beckett, where are you going?" She was going the wrong way.
"To guard Bracken. No one's killing him until he rots of old age in prison." Kate checked her weapon and made sure she still had her extra clips. She made her way to the holding cells where Bracken was still located. He was going to be transferred for processing today. But for now he was still here.
Roy knew better than to try and stop her. She was totally focused on him and wasn't going to listen to anything else.
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Someone burst into Montgomery's office and said, "Captain, you need to see this," then they ran off.
That had Roy out of his seat and back in the breakroom.
"We repeat. Everyone needs to seek cover. We have confirmation that the United States has launched all of their ICBMs. We believe this would be in response to a Russian missile launch on this country. This will be our last broadcast. If you can you need to get out of any major city or find shelter in any basement you can find. Good luck to us all. May God shine on you all." Then suddenly the screen turned to snow.
"I want everyone in the basement now. Take all the food and water you can find as well as all the weapons and ammunition you can lay your hands on. Now people, now." Roy clapped his hands to get everyone moving as he went back to his desk to make a few phone calls.
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Rick took a gamble and instead of going to her apartment he went to her work. Once inside he found everyone running around and gathering up everything they could find. He even watched one of them break the glass of a vending machine and empty it.
"So where are you?" He walked around and even got bumped into by two people who didn't even blink an eye. They just kept on going where they were going.
She wasn't in any of the offices and she wasn't out in the open so he went to a door instead and found it locked. So he shot the lock off and opened the door. Inside, sitting on the floor with a weapon pointed at him, sat Kate. Just the person he was looking for. Except he was invisible so he dropped his invisibility.
"Space Ghost." Kate went back to breathing and lowered her weapon.
"Who is this guy?" Bracken demanded as suddenly this weirdo in a mask wearing all white just…appeared.
"Shut up!" Kate yelled and stood up. "Why are you here?" He had given her Bracken and that was all she really needed. Save for seeing him being sent to prison to rot, that is.
Rick moved toward her. "We need to go."
"Go? I'm not going anywhere. This man needs to be convicted and sent to prison." She was staying right here.
He tried to make it fast. "Russia has launched every ICBM they have at the Untied States. The United States has responded to that launch with everything they have. The Xindi have defeated me. My ship's barely in one piece. If you want to live you need to come with me."
"I…you… NO! Bracken goes to jail and that's the end of it." It was the only thing she really cared about.
"We don't have time for this." Rick knew he only had minutes and that New York City would probably get hit by more than one as would Washington D.C. So he stepped up to her, wrapped his arms around her, and lifted her up off the floor. Then he turned around to walk back out.
"Let go of me." Kate struggled but save for kicking him in his legs with her feet – that actually hurt – she couldn't move much. "I order you to let go of me!"
Once they were out of this room she realized that she could bite his cheek since it was exposed. So she did just that and bit him as hard as she could.
"OW! Son of a…" Rick dropped her so she would stop biting him. Kate wasn't ready for that so she ended up on her butt. "Look, it's simple to understand. If you want to live you come with me. If seeing him die is more important then you can stay here and be vaporized when two or more Russian ICBMs strike this city. You've got about two minutes to decide. You come with me and you live. In a few minutes he dies when a Russian nuke vaporizes him and everyone else, pretty much everywhere." The ICBMs would cause a nuclear winter and kill everyone and everything in time.
"Minutes or two minutes?" He had said both.
"We need to get far enough away from the blast so we both have about two minutes. I couldn't stop the Xindi and my ship is too damaged to stop the missiles. So make a choice. Live or die."
Kate wasn't sure she believed him. However what was on TV and what she had finally accepted. "What about my friends?" Lanie, Espo, Ryan, Roy just to name a few. "My dad."
"My ship's too damaged to bring down here to pick up anyone else. I decided to give you a chance. I saved you once I thought I should offer to try and save you again. …30 seconds." Rick was running out of time. He put a hand to his cheek and saw blood on his fingers. Nothing he couldn't fix.
"Goodbye, Detective Kate Beckett. If it's any comfort you'll never even know that you died. It'll be that fast." Rick pressed the button at his waist and vanished in front of her eyes.
Roy showed up just then. "Beckett, what are you doing? I ordered everyone to the basement. Russian ICBMs will be here in minutes."
"Sir!?" Space Ghost had been telling her the truth?
"Get to the basement, Beckett." Roy left her and hurried to the stairs.
Kate got up, brushed the dirt off her butt, and stood there. Then she made a decision and walked back to the holding cell.
"What's going on?" Bracken was at his cell walls, trying to test their strength yet again.
Kate stared at him for a moment. "We're both about to die. Russia has launched their ICBMs and we have launched ours. Not to worry, though. We'll be gone in the blink of an eye. However, if there's any justice in the world I'll live just long enough to see you die. Then I can join my mother in heaven while you go to hell."
"Let me out of here!" Bracken rattled his cage with more vigor. Then suddenly she vanished right before his eyes.
"LET GO OF ME!" Kate screamed as she was walked out the door then over to an open window. "LET GO OF ME!" She knew just who had hold of her. This was so not fair.
It wasn't until she was high up in the air that she stopped struggling. If he dropped her now she would fall to her death.
"What was that!?" Something really big and long almost whizzed past them. She couldn't point since her arms were pinned to her sides.
"An ICBM. …Don't look down or the flash will blind you. Permanently," Rick added since she was looking down.
They both saw a brilliant flash erupt behind them and only Kate tried to turn to look but Rick turned them so she couldn't see. "What did I tell you?" he asked her.
"Not to look. I only wanted a peek." What was the harm in that?
"I can fix a lot as you've learned but I'm not sure I can give you new eyes," Rick said just as another brilliant flash caught up to them followed instantly by another.
Actually several in quick succession caught up to them and suddenly all Kate saw was blackness with stars in the distance. "Are we…?" Kate tried to turn her head to look back but found she couldn't turn it far enough.
"In space? Yes." Rick guessed that was her question. He kept on flying toward his ship. He needed to do this very quickly while he hopefully still had time. Going after Kate had used up a lot of time.
"What is that? Is that your ship?" It certainly looked like a space ship to her. In fact the closer she got the bigger it got. "Wow, really big." It was actually quite impressive. "Um, why am I not dead?" There was no air in space and it was incredibly cold so she should be dead.
But Rick didn't answer her question. Then she saw him press something and went into this little room. The door in front of her opened and he dropped her just past the door. "Don't move an inch or the security bot will shock you and it will really, really hurt. And don't shoot it or it will shoot back with equally deadly force."" Rick closed the door and went back outside.
"What bot?" What was he talking about? That was when she turned to look and she actually saw plants, furniture, and lots of things. Just about then she saw this metal cone sitting in front of her. "What kind of ship is this?" Kate took a step.
"OW!" She reached down to touch her leg that now hurt something fierce. "Cut that out or I'll shoot you. Or not." He had warned her not to shoot it. Reining in her temper she stood there holding her leg that still hurt.
Rick caught up to an ICBM which was lucky since there weren't that many of them. However, he still had work to do. It was presently an atmospheric nuclear device. Meaning it would detonate in the atmosphere. He needed to attach a timer.
Cutting off the booster left him with the tip and cutting into it got him the device itself.
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"About time!" Kate saw the door behind her open and saw Space Ghost standing there with what looked like a long cone of some type. "What's that?"
"Jack, allow Kate access to the ship," Rick commanded the bot and Kate watched it go away.
"That thing shocked me." Kate was still angry about that.
"I did warn you," Rick reminded her. She groaned. Yes, he'd warned her and just like before she didn't listen to him.
"What is that thing?" Kate asked again.
"The last ICBM before going back down into the atmosphere and detonating," Rick replied and went to a work bay to add a timer.
"A NUKE!? …ARE YOU MAD!?" He had lost his mind.
"Actually, yes." He was very mad. Just not at her.
Kate watched him walk away. "Wait! What do you mean last ?" Kate ran after him.