Shipwreck
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: I feel wrecked not owning Castle. Rating: K Time: Far in the future.
Castle noted that she had another of his rifles and also that her red hair did not go well with some somewhat greenish complexion.
"Wouldn't they be in range about now?" A sailor said.
Normally, at least Castle and Sister Alexis would have been able to at least drive off the pirate if not destroy it entirely. However, shooting from a pitching and yawing deck, while their stomachs were also pitching and yawing destroyed their accuracy. Kate and Walter did no better.
Five minutes of blaster fire had done some damage to the pirate and even started a small fire. The fire was quickly put out and the pirate came on.
When the pirate was about six hundred meters away, Walter managed to hit the ship' wheel. The pirate veered away from the Wave Breaker. Castle, determined to show that he was the professional sniper here, took as careful aim as he could, aiming at the pirate's mainmast. Instead, he took the head off of a pirate standing in the stern.
The sailors near him began to cheer.
"Wonderful shot, sir. That was Captain Mejios you killed. That took the wind out of their sails. They're running for it."
Castle nodded and succumbed to the dry heaves again.
Eventually, they staggered off the ship and onto dry, and immobile, dry land.
"Where's the station from here?" Castle asked a seaman.
"About six kilometers upstream, sir, and on this side of the Chidwin. You could rent a carriage for your party."
Castle shook his head.
"I want to get a good night's sleep and maybe a meal tomorrow. Everyone okay with that?"
They all agreed.
They all had a good night's sleep and had an excellent breakfast the next morning. Well, excellent except for something called s'morelettes that everyone agreed were gross.
After breakfast, they rented a carriage and headed for the station. As they pulled up to the gate that would let them through the force field surrounding the station, they got a surprise. Seven men jumped out onto the road and covered them with their weapons. Then another man stepped out.
"Good morning, all. And, Mr. Castle, I'm sure you recognize the weapons my men are holding on you. Any one of them is capable of cutting straight through your armor, so I suggest you all just relax." He turned to Sister Alexis. "Do you have the data I need, my dear?"
"I do, Your Eminence." She said with a smile.
"Who is he and why should we trust him?" Castle growled.
"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste. William Cardinal Bracken, at your service, sir. Needless killing offends me. I have a ship here and by the time the Hermes Line gets around to picking you up, I'll be the power behind the throne at the Holy See. You can of course tell as many people as you like but who do you think really cares about the affairs of a small colony on a distant and not very important planet?"
"He's right." Sister Alexis said. "You can't really hurt him, and dead people, especially someone as important as Miss Janice would be a problem."
"So, you work for him and not the Papal Special Forces."
Sister Alexis smiled.
"I work for both, but I follow whoever can do me the most good. Now, if you'll excuse me, we'll be off."
Sister Alexis crossed to Bracken and his goons. Since the goons were backing away, Rick decided there was no point in starting anything.
Suddenly there was a pop and Sister Alexis began to twirl about. As she did, Bracken and his men began clawing at their throats and collapsing. Bracken tried to pull a blaster, but was shot by Sister Alexis.
Alexis pawed at the small pack at her waist and brought out a syringe. Her fingers had grown clumsy and she couldn't inject herself with it.
She staggered to Rick and pulled open her habit, exposing her neck. Rick grabbed the syringe and injected her. In seconds, she was starting to breathe more easily.
Kate went to check Bracken and his men. They were dead.
In some five minutes, Sister Alexis was breathing normally.
"What was that?" Castle demanded.
"A vial of poison gas under pressure, secreted in a hollowed out tooth. I had to get far enough away from the rest of you to use it since I only had the one dose of the antidote. Thanks for injecting me. You saved my life. You can have any reward you want." She said in a sultry voice.
"Tell me who you really work for and what was it really that you had for Bracken."
"I work for the Papal Special Forces and I had a list of names of people who supported Bracken that Davidson was trying to sell to the highest bidder. In this case the highest bidder was a group of Reform Catholics, little better than Protestants." She smiled. "Now, can we go inside?"
Once inside they found that there was no one else there. In the three months they were in the station, no other survivors showed up.
"You think everyone on the ship but us was killed?" Kate asked.
"I'll bet that the fanatic sniper who tried to kill us was on the ship. I doubt that anyone who was on the lifeboat with him survived once they landed." Rick replied.
The station was set up to cater to the wants and needs of all of the classes of passengers. Accordingly, they all lived luxuriously in the section set aside for first class passengers.
Sister Alexis spent very little time with the others, which didn't bother Rick at all.
Walter and Matilda began teaching school with their one pupil. Kate, who was a trained engineer, helped sometimes with math and science. Even Rick was made an assistant teacher. He did know a great deal about galactic geography, and the government and politics of many worlds.
One night, after making love, Kate spoke to Rick as they cuddled in bed.
"I've been thinking."
"You're very good at it." Rick teased.
She slapped his chest.
"I'm serious. Ships just don't blow up like that. It had to be sabotage. But who did it?"
Castle thought.
"Hard to say. Bracken wanted to be the power behind the throne, so to speak. He strikes me as the kind that would kill thousands to get what he wanted. The people behind the sniper could have done it. The sniper was willing to suicide to get us. He, or people with him, could have done it. Maybe the criminals that were helping to sell whatever Davidson had could have done it. Maybe groups we know nothing about did it. We'll probably never know."
"What about Sister Alexis and the deceased Father George?" Kate asked.
"They're ruthless enough, I think, but allegedly Sister Alexis just wanted to get them alone so she could work on them. No need to blow up a whole ship to do that. And, she did give us two reasons she wanted what Davidson was carrying, both of which might be lies. Then again, we don't know that Sister Alexis is a member of the Papal Special Forces, or even if they exist."
"You're a soldier and you never heard of the Papal Special Forces?"
"No one is even certain just how many human occupied worlds there are. There are certainly tens of thousands that I've never heard of. Are you familiar with every space line?"
"Good point." She said. "Round two?"
And, eventually, a ship from the Hermes Line found them and took them to their original destination, the planet Thebes. There, Sister Alexis disappeared and presumably carried on with whatever her mission was.
Janice's father sent a fast transport to pick up his daughter and her two teachers. When it was time for them to leave, Janice cried and held onto both Rick and Kate.
"I don't believe that Miss Janice exactly looks at you two as father and mother figures, but she does see you as her protectors in a universe that she now finds to be very scary."
Rick knelt and put his arms around the little girl.
"Janice, you know that Walter and Matilda can protect you, as can your dad. But, if you ever need me, here's my business card. Contact me and I'll come running."
Kate also knelt by the girl.
"I don't have a business card, but if you need help, you can contact me through the Hermes Lines. Okay?"
The girl nodded and left with her two friends.
The news of the destruction of the Blue Wave, with only a handful of survivors, was huge news. Kate disappeared into the Hermes Lines offices to be debriefed extensively.
Rick visited the local offices of several companies that hired mercenary soldiers. He found a job that was perfect for him. He also found that while he needed five or six people to complete his team, there were about twenty people he either knew personally, or by reputation available on Thebes. He could pick and choose.
Rick decided to see if Kate was around yet. He spoke to man at the front desk at the Hermes Lines.
"Katherine Beckett? Left about three hours ago. I think she headed for the Jolly Spacer pub. You can't miss it. Turn right going out the front door and it's in the middle of the second block on this side. All of the franchises of the Jolly Spacer pubs are run by wolf-like aliens. They're huge. Can't miss them."
He found Kate sitting at the bar, drinking.
"Celebrating?" He asked, jovially.
"Fuck you." She snapped without looking at him.
"Not celebrating?" He said, sitting next to her. He motioned for the bartender, who was a huge wolf-like being.
"Do you have Laphroaig scotch whisky?"
"Only the twelve-year old, sir."
"What's the lady drinking?"
"House scotch, sir."
"Two Laphroaigs then."
He turned to Kate.
"What happened?"
"Ships don't just blow up by themselves. And there's no evidence of any sabotage, not with all the parties dead or gone who knows where. So, the only conclusion the Hermes Line can make is that the engineering crew screwed up. So, since I'm the only surviving engineering officer, hell, the only surviving member of the crew, it must be my fault. I screwed up and killed all those people." She downed her glass of house scotch and started on the Laphroaig. "I got fired."
"Can you get another job?" He asked.
She laughed bitterly.
"Who's going to hire an engineer who blew up a ship and killed tens of thousands of people. I couldn't get a job on a garbage truck."
Kate put her arm around him.
"Buy a girl a drink, soldier? You might get lucky tonight. That is, if you have a place for us to stay, since I'm broke." She downed the Laphroaig. Castle signaled the bartender for another one and took a tipsy Kate to a booth.
"So how are you doing, Castle?"
"I have a job. I'm putting together a team to do the job. I have one problem, though."
"What's that?"
"I need a really good small boat pilot. And she can't just be good as piloting, she needs to be able to take care of herself if things go sideways, as they often do."
"She needs to be good as a pilot and good with weapons? Have anyone in mind?"
"I do, but she's so drunk now, I'm not sure she'll remember anything in the morning."
"Even if we began drinking now, I could still drink you under the table. As for what I'd remember in the morning, wake me up tomorrow and ask." She stood up. "Coming, Castle?"
He tossed some bills to the bartender and walked out of the bar with Kate and into the fog.
"Rick, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
The End
Author's note: Next up is my Christmas story, A Very Merry Extraterrestrial Christmas at Castle's. After that will be Other Flowers for your Grave, an AU take on the first Castle episode.