***
Alex took a team of twelve and teleported down to Xybria's surface shortly after three o'clock in the morning, among them were Lucas Kendall, Katie Walker, and Jen. "Go to each house on the left side," Alex instructed, "get everyone out ASAP and line them up as neatly as you can on the streets."
"Yes, sir," Lucas said quickly, as he and Katie took off.
"Do you really think we can do this?" Jen asked him as they reached the first house.
"I have to," Alex said, "and so do you. We'll never get this done with a pessimistic attitude."
He burst into the house without knocking and was met by a family of six Xybrians who stared at him with wide, frightened eyes---awoken by the noise outside. "It's all right," he said, "we're here to help you. I need you to go out onto the street immediately and stand still---just wait."
"What's going on???" the smallest child, a little girl, asked.
"I'll explain later," Alex said, quickly, "now you have to go!"
The oldest man, put his hand on the younger one's back, nodding his approval and leading them outside calmly; Alex and Jen hurried from one house to the next till light started covering the small planet. Finally, Alex's communicator beeped; he raised his wrist: "Yes?"
"Get back to the ship immediately," Logan advised, "we're detecting a group of ships approaching rapidly."
"Ransik?" Alex asked.
"We're assuming that," Logan replied, "get back here . . . now."
Alex sighed as he cut off communication and looked back at Jen, who stared at him in silence, knowing there was no way everyone had been evacuated yet. "All those people . . . " she whispered, "we're just going to leave them here to die?"
"We can't save them all," Alex told her, "there just wasn't---"
As he spoke, a red laser shot down from the sky and hit a small building a few yards away; Jen gasped as Alex jumped forward and knocked her to the ground, landing on top of her as debris flew everywhere. Pieces of the house fell onto his back and he winced in pain, he remained on top of her for a few moments after the dust settled, then stiffly got to his feet.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Fine," he answered, "I guess the attack has begun."
"We'd better go---"
Jen was interrupted by a faint crying coming from within the rubble of the house, calling out for help in a broken voice that tore into her heart. "Alex!" she gasped, grabbing his arm as he started to turn away and head back to their ship. "We have to find whoever that is," she insisted.
"I didn't hear anything," Alex said, sounding unconcerned.
"Listen---"
Again, the faint crying from beneath the burning wood; Alex rushed to it and started digging frantically, knowing time was running out. He ignored how his hands were burned from the hot wood, he could hear painful moans from below and they urged him on; Jen fell to her knees at his side and dug just as fiercely. Finally, they found a strand of green hair, followed by the body of a young boy; Alex wrapped his arms around the boy's waist just as another explosion wracked the street.
"Alex!" Jen said, "we need to get him out---"
"I know," Alex said, "I'm trying!"
With one heave, he pulled the boy from the wreckage and fell back onto the street with the boy on top of him; Jen hurried to them and helped him up quickly. "Are you all right?" she asked the boy.
"Y-Yes," he stammered, "my parents . . . they're still in there!"
"In there???" Alex said, looking at the destroyed home.
The boy nodded fearfully, wiping his smudged face with the back of his hand as he looked at Alex with hope in his bright eyes. "You're going to help them, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yes," Alex assured him, "Jen, you should get this boy to safety."
"What about you?" Jen demanded.
"I'll be right after you," Alex said, "but I can't leave his family here. Go now!" he had to shout as a laser struck a tree a hundred or so yards away and caused a horrible tearing noise.
Jen shot him a glare as she turned and grabbed the boy's arm, they hurried down the street and Alex watched their backs disappear around a corner. He nodded silently, then turned back and made his way over the hot rubble, calling as loud as he could and hoping for an answer.
"Can you hear me???" he shouted into a small opening.
"We're down here!" came a woman's voice.
"All right," Alex said, "my name is Alex, I'm with Time Force and we're here to help you. I'll get you out, okay? Just stay calm."
He gritted his teeth together and flinched as he grabbed at the pieces of the house and threw them away, growing more fearful by the second as the explosions continued. "Keep talking!" he told them, working as quickly as he could.
"Where's Trip?" a man asked.
"Your son?" Alex assumed.
"Yes!" came the woman again, "have you seen him?"
"My partner just took him to safety," Alex replied, "he's fine."
They fell silent as he continued, even after he called to them again and urged them to speak, he bit his lip and eased himself into the small hole he had made to find them. They were lying motionless and their breaths came out as harsh gasps that were painful to hear.
"Damn it," Alex muttered, kneeling beside the woman and checking for a pulse. Weak and thready.
"Alex!?"
"Jennifer???" Alex gasped, "what the hell are you doing here? I told you to go back!"
"I did!" Jen replied from above, "the boy's fine, but I couldn't leave you here---partners don't do that! Besides, you can't save both parents by yourself!"
Alex muttered something unintelligible as he lifted the woman gently, then asked: "Can you hold onto her and pull her out?"
"Yes," Jen said, confidently.
She braced her legs and stretched out her arms to grab the woman, then pulled as hard as she could as Alex lifted her up; he waited a few moments, hearing Jen move around as she tried to put the woman down comfortably. "All right," she said, "I'm back . . . what about his father?"
"He's done here, too," Alex said, "you can't lift him."
"I can try."
Alex sighed and picked up the heavy man, doing his best to raise him up far enough for Jen to get a good grip on him. "Got him?" Alex asked.
"I-I think so . . . "
"Don't drop him."
"I won't!"
Alex grunted painfully as he strained and pushed the man up higher, then he heard a loud crash and Jen cry out---it sounded like a cry of fear more than pain, to his relief. Objects were falling from above and he heard them landing over his head; however, he held tightly to the man and saw Jen's hands still around his wrists.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she replied, "but we've got to hurry."
"All right . . . " Alex took a deep breath and threw the man up, unable to hold him any longer as his arms began burning with effort.
He heard Jen gasp and felt their weight above him, the boards creaked unsteadily and he swallowed hard, knowing it could all collapse on him at any moment. "I've got him!" Jen called, "give me your hand and I'll pull you up---" her hand appeared and Alex grabbed it hastily.
He stepped up on a small ledge and stuck his arm up, grabbing a hold of something on the surface and trying to pull himself up; a liquid dribbled down the palm of his hand and his inner arm, and when he looked up he saw that it was red.
"You're cutting yourself," Jen said.
"I know," he muttered, "I can feel it."
With a sharp gasp, he gripped the sharp object he was clinging onto and pulled himself up next to Jen; she smiled at him even as they grabbed Trip's parents and started to make their way to the ship. Debris lay across the street and they had to avoid the pieces of buildings, trees---and worse- --on their short trip. Alex carried the father on his shoulder and went as quickly as he could, hoping Jen could keep up; he heard her cry out and stopped abruptly, looking back just in time to see Jen trip over a bloodied body and fall to the ground.
Jen swore in horror when she saw the corpse of an elderly man and scrambled away from it, obviously favoring her left ankle. "Hold on!" Alex told her, shouting over the noise from the explosions and the battle going on above them. 'Be a miracle if we make it out of here,' he thought to himself, setting the man down inside the ship.
"I-I'm okay," Jen insisted when he came back and tried to help her up. "Get the woman."
Alex knelt and lifted the woman as she woke up, moaning softly but painfully---"It's all right," he whispered, "we're gonna get out of here." Her eyes focused on him and she smiled weakly, reaching up with a trembling hand to touch his cheek.
"Th-thank you . . . " she murmured.
Silence fell as they staggered into the ship, Alex took the helm and Jen sat by the wounded couple, getting out supplies from their med-kit. "What's it like up there?" Alex asked, concentrating as he flipped on the controls.
"It wasn't so bad before," Jen answered, "but it looks like it's getting worse now. I---" she was silenced by another explosion the shook the ship and knocked Alex from his seat. Jen clung to the bar across the bulkhead, trying to keep the woman in her spot as the man rolled onto the floor with a thud.
"Check him!" Alex ordered as he got back up.
Jen left the woman's side and limped to the man, lifting his arm and checking---"He has no pulse!" she cried, looking at Alex fearfully.
"You know how to revive him," Alex said, "get to work! Put the woman on the floor, keep her from rolling around too much."
He turned his attention back to the controls and ran his fingers over them, the engine came alive and the ship rose slowly; he leaned forward and shouted for Jen to hang on as they were shot at again, nearly plunging back to the ground.
"Do you think we're being shot at purposefully?" Jen questioned.
"They may have detected us on their scanners," Alex admitted, swearing under his breath. "Hang on tight, this is gonna be rough."
The ship finally got into the air and shot off toward space, greeted by a fleet of enemy warships that opened fire immediately; Alex struggled to keep control of the vessel as Jen continued CPR on the man. Logan's voice came over the comm, speaking urgently:
"Alex, you can't make it onto the station! We'd have to lower our shields--- -"
"We're sitting ducks out here, Captain!" Alex said.
"I told you to come sooner!" Logan snapped.
"Sir, we have two wounded!" Jen told him, "civilians. They need immediate medical attention, can't you lower the shields for a second???"
"It takes too long to lower them and tractor you in," Logan explained, "a minute---we don't have that long."
"What if I fly her in manually?" Alex asked, "the shields would be down for less than ten seconds."
"Can you do that?" Jen and Logan asked in unison.
"It used to be a simulation at the Academy," Alex told them, "I can do it. On my mark, lower the shields---all right, Captain?"
"Sounds like a plan, Lieutenant---" a pause "---we're on standby."
"Good." Alex reached up and flipped a few switches above his head, blood still gushing from the deep wound in his hand. "This'll be a bumpy ride, make sure those people don't bounce around too much."
"I've got them," Jen said.
"Captain . . . " Alex said, slowly, "lower the shields!"
The space station flickered briefly as the shields went down, Alex could see through the viewing screen that a large warship had caught the flickering and was now turning, about to strike the defenseless station. Alex gripped the controls till his knuckles turned white, easing the small ship into the tiny opening of the docking bay . . .
They skidded to a halt inside, sparks flying around as the doors closed quickly and the shields came alive again just in time; a laser struck it and the station shook violently, but was relatively unharmed. Jen and the couple lay on the floor in a heap, she had blood trickling down the back of her head; Alex was slumped over the console, conscious but fighting off the darkness.
"J-Jennifer?" he said, weakly.
Getting up, he stumbled to her and fell to his knees, lifting her wrist and feeling for a pulse; Jen's eyes fluttered open and rested on him as he pressed his lips to her palm, she smiled. "We made it," she said.
"We sure did," Alex replied.
He leaned over and kissed her, feeling her body rise up against his; they parted only a second later as the doors opened and medics rushed in. Alex stood slowly and a medic began attending to the gash on his forehead as Logan entered, smiling and shaking his head incredulously.
"Good job, Lieutenant," he said, shaking Alex's hand. "Good job, both of you."
"How are they?" Jen asked as a medic examined the victims.
"The woman's going to make it," he replied, "but we're too late for her husband . . . I'm sorry, Ensign. You did your best."
Alex reached down and patted Jen's shoulder, flinching slightly as the medic attempted to clean out his wound; she looked back at him and managed a smile. "Are you glad I came back for you?" she asked.
"Very glad."
TBC
Alex took a team of twelve and teleported down to Xybria's surface shortly after three o'clock in the morning, among them were Lucas Kendall, Katie Walker, and Jen. "Go to each house on the left side," Alex instructed, "get everyone out ASAP and line them up as neatly as you can on the streets."
"Yes, sir," Lucas said quickly, as he and Katie took off.
"Do you really think we can do this?" Jen asked him as they reached the first house.
"I have to," Alex said, "and so do you. We'll never get this done with a pessimistic attitude."
He burst into the house without knocking and was met by a family of six Xybrians who stared at him with wide, frightened eyes---awoken by the noise outside. "It's all right," he said, "we're here to help you. I need you to go out onto the street immediately and stand still---just wait."
"What's going on???" the smallest child, a little girl, asked.
"I'll explain later," Alex said, quickly, "now you have to go!"
The oldest man, put his hand on the younger one's back, nodding his approval and leading them outside calmly; Alex and Jen hurried from one house to the next till light started covering the small planet. Finally, Alex's communicator beeped; he raised his wrist: "Yes?"
"Get back to the ship immediately," Logan advised, "we're detecting a group of ships approaching rapidly."
"Ransik?" Alex asked.
"We're assuming that," Logan replied, "get back here . . . now."
Alex sighed as he cut off communication and looked back at Jen, who stared at him in silence, knowing there was no way everyone had been evacuated yet. "All those people . . . " she whispered, "we're just going to leave them here to die?"
"We can't save them all," Alex told her, "there just wasn't---"
As he spoke, a red laser shot down from the sky and hit a small building a few yards away; Jen gasped as Alex jumped forward and knocked her to the ground, landing on top of her as debris flew everywhere. Pieces of the house fell onto his back and he winced in pain, he remained on top of her for a few moments after the dust settled, then stiffly got to his feet.
"You okay?" she asked.
"Fine," he answered, "I guess the attack has begun."
"We'd better go---"
Jen was interrupted by a faint crying coming from within the rubble of the house, calling out for help in a broken voice that tore into her heart. "Alex!" she gasped, grabbing his arm as he started to turn away and head back to their ship. "We have to find whoever that is," she insisted.
"I didn't hear anything," Alex said, sounding unconcerned.
"Listen---"
Again, the faint crying from beneath the burning wood; Alex rushed to it and started digging frantically, knowing time was running out. He ignored how his hands were burned from the hot wood, he could hear painful moans from below and they urged him on; Jen fell to her knees at his side and dug just as fiercely. Finally, they found a strand of green hair, followed by the body of a young boy; Alex wrapped his arms around the boy's waist just as another explosion wracked the street.
"Alex!" Jen said, "we need to get him out---"
"I know," Alex said, "I'm trying!"
With one heave, he pulled the boy from the wreckage and fell back onto the street with the boy on top of him; Jen hurried to them and helped him up quickly. "Are you all right?" she asked the boy.
"Y-Yes," he stammered, "my parents . . . they're still in there!"
"In there???" Alex said, looking at the destroyed home.
The boy nodded fearfully, wiping his smudged face with the back of his hand as he looked at Alex with hope in his bright eyes. "You're going to help them, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yes," Alex assured him, "Jen, you should get this boy to safety."
"What about you?" Jen demanded.
"I'll be right after you," Alex said, "but I can't leave his family here. Go now!" he had to shout as a laser struck a tree a hundred or so yards away and caused a horrible tearing noise.
Jen shot him a glare as she turned and grabbed the boy's arm, they hurried down the street and Alex watched their backs disappear around a corner. He nodded silently, then turned back and made his way over the hot rubble, calling as loud as he could and hoping for an answer.
"Can you hear me???" he shouted into a small opening.
"We're down here!" came a woman's voice.
"All right," Alex said, "my name is Alex, I'm with Time Force and we're here to help you. I'll get you out, okay? Just stay calm."
He gritted his teeth together and flinched as he grabbed at the pieces of the house and threw them away, growing more fearful by the second as the explosions continued. "Keep talking!" he told them, working as quickly as he could.
"Where's Trip?" a man asked.
"Your son?" Alex assumed.
"Yes!" came the woman again, "have you seen him?"
"My partner just took him to safety," Alex replied, "he's fine."
They fell silent as he continued, even after he called to them again and urged them to speak, he bit his lip and eased himself into the small hole he had made to find them. They were lying motionless and their breaths came out as harsh gasps that were painful to hear.
"Damn it," Alex muttered, kneeling beside the woman and checking for a pulse. Weak and thready.
"Alex!?"
"Jennifer???" Alex gasped, "what the hell are you doing here? I told you to go back!"
"I did!" Jen replied from above, "the boy's fine, but I couldn't leave you here---partners don't do that! Besides, you can't save both parents by yourself!"
Alex muttered something unintelligible as he lifted the woman gently, then asked: "Can you hold onto her and pull her out?"
"Yes," Jen said, confidently.
She braced her legs and stretched out her arms to grab the woman, then pulled as hard as she could as Alex lifted her up; he waited a few moments, hearing Jen move around as she tried to put the woman down comfortably. "All right," she said, "I'm back . . . what about his father?"
"He's done here, too," Alex said, "you can't lift him."
"I can try."
Alex sighed and picked up the heavy man, doing his best to raise him up far enough for Jen to get a good grip on him. "Got him?" Alex asked.
"I-I think so . . . "
"Don't drop him."
"I won't!"
Alex grunted painfully as he strained and pushed the man up higher, then he heard a loud crash and Jen cry out---it sounded like a cry of fear more than pain, to his relief. Objects were falling from above and he heard them landing over his head; however, he held tightly to the man and saw Jen's hands still around his wrists.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she replied, "but we've got to hurry."
"All right . . . " Alex took a deep breath and threw the man up, unable to hold him any longer as his arms began burning with effort.
He heard Jen gasp and felt their weight above him, the boards creaked unsteadily and he swallowed hard, knowing it could all collapse on him at any moment. "I've got him!" Jen called, "give me your hand and I'll pull you up---" her hand appeared and Alex grabbed it hastily.
He stepped up on a small ledge and stuck his arm up, grabbing a hold of something on the surface and trying to pull himself up; a liquid dribbled down the palm of his hand and his inner arm, and when he looked up he saw that it was red.
"You're cutting yourself," Jen said.
"I know," he muttered, "I can feel it."
With a sharp gasp, he gripped the sharp object he was clinging onto and pulled himself up next to Jen; she smiled at him even as they grabbed Trip's parents and started to make their way to the ship. Debris lay across the street and they had to avoid the pieces of buildings, trees---and worse- --on their short trip. Alex carried the father on his shoulder and went as quickly as he could, hoping Jen could keep up; he heard her cry out and stopped abruptly, looking back just in time to see Jen trip over a bloodied body and fall to the ground.
Jen swore in horror when she saw the corpse of an elderly man and scrambled away from it, obviously favoring her left ankle. "Hold on!" Alex told her, shouting over the noise from the explosions and the battle going on above them. 'Be a miracle if we make it out of here,' he thought to himself, setting the man down inside the ship.
"I-I'm okay," Jen insisted when he came back and tried to help her up. "Get the woman."
Alex knelt and lifted the woman as she woke up, moaning softly but painfully---"It's all right," he whispered, "we're gonna get out of here." Her eyes focused on him and she smiled weakly, reaching up with a trembling hand to touch his cheek.
"Th-thank you . . . " she murmured.
Silence fell as they staggered into the ship, Alex took the helm and Jen sat by the wounded couple, getting out supplies from their med-kit. "What's it like up there?" Alex asked, concentrating as he flipped on the controls.
"It wasn't so bad before," Jen answered, "but it looks like it's getting worse now. I---" she was silenced by another explosion the shook the ship and knocked Alex from his seat. Jen clung to the bar across the bulkhead, trying to keep the woman in her spot as the man rolled onto the floor with a thud.
"Check him!" Alex ordered as he got back up.
Jen left the woman's side and limped to the man, lifting his arm and checking---"He has no pulse!" she cried, looking at Alex fearfully.
"You know how to revive him," Alex said, "get to work! Put the woman on the floor, keep her from rolling around too much."
He turned his attention back to the controls and ran his fingers over them, the engine came alive and the ship rose slowly; he leaned forward and shouted for Jen to hang on as they were shot at again, nearly plunging back to the ground.
"Do you think we're being shot at purposefully?" Jen questioned.
"They may have detected us on their scanners," Alex admitted, swearing under his breath. "Hang on tight, this is gonna be rough."
The ship finally got into the air and shot off toward space, greeted by a fleet of enemy warships that opened fire immediately; Alex struggled to keep control of the vessel as Jen continued CPR on the man. Logan's voice came over the comm, speaking urgently:
"Alex, you can't make it onto the station! We'd have to lower our shields--- -"
"We're sitting ducks out here, Captain!" Alex said.
"I told you to come sooner!" Logan snapped.
"Sir, we have two wounded!" Jen told him, "civilians. They need immediate medical attention, can't you lower the shields for a second???"
"It takes too long to lower them and tractor you in," Logan explained, "a minute---we don't have that long."
"What if I fly her in manually?" Alex asked, "the shields would be down for less than ten seconds."
"Can you do that?" Jen and Logan asked in unison.
"It used to be a simulation at the Academy," Alex told them, "I can do it. On my mark, lower the shields---all right, Captain?"
"Sounds like a plan, Lieutenant---" a pause "---we're on standby."
"Good." Alex reached up and flipped a few switches above his head, blood still gushing from the deep wound in his hand. "This'll be a bumpy ride, make sure those people don't bounce around too much."
"I've got them," Jen said.
"Captain . . . " Alex said, slowly, "lower the shields!"
The space station flickered briefly as the shields went down, Alex could see through the viewing screen that a large warship had caught the flickering and was now turning, about to strike the defenseless station. Alex gripped the controls till his knuckles turned white, easing the small ship into the tiny opening of the docking bay . . .
They skidded to a halt inside, sparks flying around as the doors closed quickly and the shields came alive again just in time; a laser struck it and the station shook violently, but was relatively unharmed. Jen and the couple lay on the floor in a heap, she had blood trickling down the back of her head; Alex was slumped over the console, conscious but fighting off the darkness.
"J-Jennifer?" he said, weakly.
Getting up, he stumbled to her and fell to his knees, lifting her wrist and feeling for a pulse; Jen's eyes fluttered open and rested on him as he pressed his lips to her palm, she smiled. "We made it," she said.
"We sure did," Alex replied.
He leaned over and kissed her, feeling her body rise up against his; they parted only a second later as the doors opened and medics rushed in. Alex stood slowly and a medic began attending to the gash on his forehead as Logan entered, smiling and shaking his head incredulously.
"Good job, Lieutenant," he said, shaking Alex's hand. "Good job, both of you."
"How are they?" Jen asked as a medic examined the victims.
"The woman's going to make it," he replied, "but we're too late for her husband . . . I'm sorry, Ensign. You did your best."
Alex reached down and patted Jen's shoulder, flinching slightly as the medic attempted to clean out his wound; she looked back at him and managed a smile. "Are you glad I came back for you?" she asked.
"Very glad."
TBC