Space Ghost
Chapter 40
It is now one month later
"Hi, Rafael." Kate smiled at him and watched him do his best to run from his mother to her. Kate knelt down to hug him. Rafael knew who his mother was. She made everything better; she was usually the one that fed him. She was also usually the one that made him cry when she issued punishment for something he had done. However, Kate and Alexis were essentially his second mothers and he was happy to see each of them.
"So why are we here?" Lais asked, wondering why they were in medical.
Kate was still down on the floor hugging Rafael. "I'm late."
"You're…" Lais knew it was a possibility. She was the one that had removed her stem at her request. "Well, hop up here and lie down for me." Lais patted one of the two medical beds.
"I have to let go now," Kate told Rafael who was still hanging onto her and shaking his head. He had her and he was keeping her.
Instead of starting a fight and possibly making her baby cry unnecessarily, Lais said, "Take him with you. It isn't going to change anything."
Kate lifted him up and sat him on the medical bed while she sat down next to him. "Okay, you two. Lie down for me." There was more than enough room for one adult and one two-year-old who was growing like a weed.
Kate pulled him down with her and lay on her back while holding onto him. "You won't feel any of this. Just hang onto him. This might be scary for him," Lais cautioned and watched Kate latch onto him as she then activated the bed. The glass panels curled up around both of them, sealing them inside.
Lais carefully observed her son who didn't look scared though he did have eyes only for the panels. "You're fine." Kate cooed at him to make sure he remained calm.
"Now let's see, shall we." Lais did a scan of both of them. Rafael hadn't complained of anything but she might as well look at him at the same time.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Rafael, it turned out, had the beginnings of an ear infection so Lais had treated that. It wasn't painful yet and now it never was going to be.
Kate had Rafael in her arms and was now standing next to Lais as they looked over her scan results on a screen on the wall. "Your blood work has definitely changed. It's full of hormones at the moment. I'm betting you and Ador have been busy." Lais meant having lots and lots of sex.
"A little." Kate felt a blush make its way up her neck to her face.
"Well there's a reason for that. See this tiny little dot right here?" Lais put her finger right over the dot and then moved her finger slightly so the dot could actually be seen. "That's your baby. You're late for a reason. You're pregnant." Lais was beaming and couldn't be happier for her.
"You're sure?" Kate needed her to be certain.
"I'd say about 7 weeks at most. But you're definitely pregnant. Congratulations!" Lais would hug her but Kate was still holding Rafael.
Kate had been scared she was and scared that she wasn't. Being pregnant meant so much to Ador. She was still uncertain just how important it was to her.
"How about you. Are you happy that I'm pregnant?" Kate asked Rafael. She restated the question to something he could easier understand. "Do you like babies?" Rafael shook his head. "No? You don't like babies?" She was maybe just a little hurt. But he was still shaking his head.
"Don't pay any attention to him. He's in his terrible twos. The answer to every question is no." Lais didn't want her to hate her baby just because Rafael was being a pain. "You want to go get some ice cream?" Lais asked him.
Both of them kept watching him. All he did was shake his head. "No ice cream!?" Kate couldn't believe it. If there was one person that loved ice cream more than Rick or Alexis it was Rafael. Still he kept shaking his head.
"Maybe we should put you back on the medical bed," Kate said since he was clearly sick. But he just kept shaking his head.
"Okay, young man. That's enough NOs." Lais took her son from Kate. "By the time your baby's born he'll be almost four and will have changed his mind. That or I'll change it for him. Now say you're sorry to Kate," Lais told him only to have him shout, "NO!".
"Told you, terrible twos. Something to look forward to," Lais said with a smile.
"Wonderful." Kate wasn't sure she was looking forward to that part.
"You'll love him or her like you've never loved anyone before. You'll see." Lais knew she would. It had happened twice to her and twice for Rick.
"How about we celebrate Kate being pregnant. You want to go swimming. We can use the wave machine," Lais tried to entice him since she didn't let him use that very often. He wasn't that strong of a swimmer yet.
That finally had him nodding and smiling. "Good, Kate can go change and find her husband and we'll meet you at the beach."
Kate was now totally used to wearing her tiny bikinis and wasn't self conscious about just how much of her it showed any longer.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
It is now two months later
"Is everyone ready?" Rick asked, including Rafael who now had his own seat was on the bridge since they were now close to Earth.
"More than ready," Kate answered quickly which had everyone laughing at her. "I haven't had coffee for weeks, months really, and I'm having withdrawal. If I don't get some soon I'm going to take all of you with me! "she threatened which only had them continuing to laugh.
"You're pregnant, you can't have coffee. Or wine or alcohol," Lais reminded her.
"Arghh!" Kate screamed; she hadn't thought of that. "This is all your fault." She glared at Ador who was going to find out just how unhappy about not having coffee she really was later when they were alone.
"We're entering the system," Alexis informed them all.
"Start the punch list," Rick asked Lais. "Punch list complete. Mars is next," Rick said since that was where they'd agreed to exit FTL. "Exiting FTL…now." Instantly the view changed and everything looked black outside with stars in the distance and Mars just to one side.
Lais did her part. "Shields up, invisibility active."
Alexis began her job. "Scanning."
"Power is at 97.8% and holding," Kate announced.
"Everything's green," Ador added.
"Oh, wow! You need to see this. …Maybe." Suddenly maybe Kate shouldn't but she soon had everyone standing around her table.
"The two Xindi ships have landed on Earth. They're both in Russia. I'm not getting any human life signs anywhere on the planet. There's wildlife but it's reduced as well." Alexis almost couldn't believe it. "There are still fires all over the planet."
"What are these?" Lais pointed at dark spots near the Xindi ships.
Alexis zoomed in closer. "Mines. They're mining the planet for resources. Both look to be strip mines. One is four kilometers wide by almost 2 kilometers deep. The other's only a little smaller. They don't waste time, do they?" Alexis was sort of impressed.
Then an alert sounded that had everyone jumping for their seats. "A ship's in FTL and headed this way. They're two days out. Scanning. …Oh, great. It's 3 miles wide and 2 miles wide. Does that sound familiar?" Alexis questioned since it did to her.
"A Xindi ship just like the first one." Lais shook her head.
"Did I miss something on the way here? Is there a sign somewhere that says, Come kill us and rape us? " Rick sat back in his seat.
"This means one Xindi ship and then a second just like last time. Then we know a few years later a third will show up." Alexis was shaking her head. "We're going to be busy."
That had Rick thinking. "So do we wait two days for the next Xindi ship to show up and verify? Or do we go back in time now? Have we learned enough?" He knew what he wanted to do but this ship wasn't just his this time.
Alexis offered her opinion. "I think we need to wait, Dad. Scan the new ship and verify. Let it land and start stripping the planet and then go back in time."
"I agree. We have the time. We have the food. Kate can live without coffee for two more days," Lais smiled since she was teasing.
"Speak for yourself and I'm going to remember you said that," Kate grumbled and turned to glare at her. Then it struck her. "I can't have coffee," she groaned. "Fine, do what you want." It didn't matter anyway.
"Let's sit in Mars' orbit and wait. Keep the shields up as well as the invisibility until they get here." Rick began to move them.
"Mars orbit achieved. Now we wait." Rick didn't have anything else to do.
"We take turns for the next two days. Someone has to be on the bridge 24 hours a day." Lais didn't want to risk it.
"I'll go first," Alexis offered.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Ador was watching Kate strip to get ready for bed that night. "I'm not sure what I expected. They actually killed everyone." He shook his head. It was hard to imagine even after seeing it.
Nude, Kate walked over to him and held his head tight to her; she felt him embrace her. "We're going to fix that. We have to fix that." She had people to arrest and finish getting her mother justice.
"If that time machine doesn't blow us up when we use it." Ador wasn't sure just what was going to happen when they did.
"Don't go getting all dark on me, babe. I've been there and not until I found you did it occur to me what I had done to myself." Kate pushed his head away a little and tilted it up so he could look up at her. "I love you and we're going to have a baby."
"You're right as usual," Ador admitted.
"Good, now make love to me." Kate leaned down to kiss him.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
"He's finally asleep," Lais whispered to Rick who was just coming out of the bathroom sans clothing or even a towel.
Rafael wasn't old enough to have his own room so they'd created a space inside their bedroom just for him. It was tiny and it barely fit his bed but it was all he really needed. His clothes at this age were in their closet. Clothes for an older age were in storage. Even older clothes were going to be Earth clothes.
They had yet to discuss schooling even if they did still have Rosie that Alexis and Alexandre were still using to this day. In fact they had school tomorrow.
Rick walked over to her, slipped his arms around her, and held her tight.
"I can't tell you just how much I love you, babe." Lais was in so deep. If she lost him it just might actually kill her.
"I love you just as much. So are you thinking about another child?" Rick was thinking he just might actually have a big family.
"I have nine months left on my stem. We haven't even won yet. Then we have to build our new home in the Rainbow Mountains and get ready for this next Xindi ship." Lais was thinking they were going to be really busy. Maybe too busy for another child.
Rick pressed her for an answer. "So is that a no?"
Lais looked up at him. He was so incredibly handsome. She'd been so sure Alexandre was going to be an only child. "Maybe a girl this time?" She would take out her own stem tomorrow.
Lais squealed when suddenly Rick took her in his arms and carried her over to their bed. Apparently she'd said the right thing.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
"This is the space you designed?" Alexandre was seeing her plan for a place to live in the Rainbow Mountains for the first time.
"At the time it was just me. What do you think?" Alexis had put a lot of effort into designing the space.
"Love the pool. Love the BBQ area next to it. Love that the living room looks down not the pool. Love the massive park between the two spaces. Even love the transportation between the two." Alexandre had seen everything but Rick and his mom's new place.
Alexis tilted her head. "I hear a but."
"Just two bedrooms?" Alexandre questioned.
"Yeah. How many children are you thinking here? Remember that I'm the one that's going to be pregnant and give birth to them." If he said some huge number she was going to hit him. "In the future. Like years from now."
Alexandre had learned that she wasn't just smart, she was practical and knew what she wanted. He also knew if he said something to tease her he was going to pay for it.
"More than one," Alexandre said hopefully. Especially when it was noncommittal in numbers.
Alexis was satisfied with his answer. "I'll see if I can add another bedroom. But that's it!" Alexis warned him in case he had other ideas. She got kissed for his response and then picked up and taken to their bed.
"We can't, babe. It's your turn on the bridge." That's why she was down here was to get him up to the bridge. "I'll make it up to you later." Alexis kissed him.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
"Here it comes." Everyone was at their station on the bridge.
It dropped out of FTL just above Earth. "Scanning. Definitely 3 miles wide and 2 miles across. It's an exact match to the first one," Alexis stated.
"I'm intercepting messages. They're talking to the two ships already on the planet. I don't understand a word they're saying," Lais frowned.
"They're heading for the planet now. Looks like they got clearance," Alexis reported.
Several minutes later she said, "They've landed on the border between North Dakota and Canada. They're launching fighters. Maybe they don't believe the other Xindi that everyone's dead. Or they're just being careful. None of them are headed our way." Alexis was happy with that.
"Correction! They've launched over 200 and all of them are headed our way. They may have picked up on my scans even if they don't see anything," Alexis warned.
"They can't actually see us or find us, right?" Rick looked at Lais to make sure everything was working correctly.
"No, but if they ram into our shield often enough they might figure it out. They do have a lot of them," Alexis said.
"They've shown that they're willing to die to kill us. They rammed my ship," Lais reminded them.
"And they'll do it again if we let them." Rick understood that. "Kate, Ador, you two stay here and watch the scanner. The rest of us need to get suited up. Looks like we're going to be using our time machine." Rick got up and hurried to their bedroom.
"We're here," Alexis indicated. "This is Mars and this is Earth. All of these are the fighters while this is the Xindi ship. If they start getting really close before we're back, yell." She left Kate and Ador behind and ran to catch up.
"We should have asked Rick or Lais to make us suits," Kate commented, knowing that it was too late now.
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Kate and Ador were thrilled to see them come back one at a time. It allowed them to return to their seats.
"The fighters are spread out all over but headed this way. I would estimate that at least two of them will eventually hit our shields. Then the rest will come this way until they figure out just where we are," Alexis announced.
"Let's get this over with before they get here. Warm up the time machine and let's get the hell out of here," Rick said.
Lais had those controls at her station. "Bringing power up to maximum and routing it to the time machine."
"We need to kill the shields and invisibility. From what I've read we're going to need everything we have," Alexis said, then she glanced at Kate. "Watch your power readings."
"Killing shields and invisibility…now." Lais pressed panels. "Routing all power to the time machine."
"This should take 10 minutes," Alexis announced as she watched her scanner.
"I'm not seeing anything," Kate noted uneasily. "Power's unchanged. Shouldn't it be dropping?" They were using up power after all.
"Mom!" Alexandre was seeing something and pointed. "Is it tearing us apart?" Something was happening but he didn't know what.
Lais saw it, too, and it was expanding. "Do I stop?" Lais asked.
Alexis answered her. "We only have once chance at this. Unless Mercury has the mineral we need. Besides we've already started."
"Let it work. It has to work," Rick said grimly.
"MOM!" What he was seeing was coming at them from all sides.
"Power's the same. No loss," Kate reported.
"All green," Ador added.
"MOM!" Alexandre was now genuinely afraid. It had reached him and had almost reached all the others. Alexandre screamed. Not because it hurt but because he was being ripped apart or at least that was what it looked like.
Soon the others were screaming for the same reason.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
Then everything was back to normal and looked the same as ever.
"Power hasn't changed. What happened?" Kate didn't get any of it.
"Still all green," Ador noted.
"The Xindi fighters are gone," Alexis announced. "All three Xindi ships are gone." Alexis initiated a new scan. "I'm reading millions of communications of all kinds emanating from the planet. I think it worked." Alexis chuckled since she couldn't think of anything else to do. "Radio, TV, even NASA is broadcasting."
"It worked!" Rick looked out and all he saw was Mars.
"Can you figure out what day and time it is?" Lais inquired and looked at Alexis.
"Give me a minute." There was so much out there and she needed to find what she needed.
"We're right where we need to be," Alexis smiled in relief. "We need to get to Earth, Dad. We need to get Kate down to her apartment and do this all over again."
"Give me a course. Applying power to the engines." Rick rocketed toward Earth.
| 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 |
"You two need to get going. It's just hours before Coonan shows up at Kate's apartment to kill her," Alexis warned both of them.
"Ready?" Rick looked at Kate.
She checked to make certain that she had everything. "Ready. You just make sure you show up in time." She wasn't supposed to kill him. Rick was supposed to stop him and use his ray to get him to tell everyone everything.
"I'll be there. I promise." Rick was ready. Together they stepped into the airlock and soon they were both out into the atmosphere as the ship sat invisibly high above New York City.
It was time to do this all over again.