Chapter 27: I Am The Fire
February 13th, 2014 - 0800 (8:00 am)
"There's just no way to do one simple loop," Rachel argued, frowning down at the map. "We will have to backtrack, though we can hit new and different cities along the way. Look," she said, pointing. "Our next stops are Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, and Morocco. We will then head down the southwest side of Africa, then up the northwest side to Pakistan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan. At that point we will have to backtrack because we have already traveled the coast of Russia."
Russia had not been her favorite place to stop repeatedly, due to obvious reasons, but they had found several working labs in Russia and had been able to do a lot of good, despite the fact that Russia did not have a functioning government.
"From there we will head to Australia and Hawaii on the way through the North Pacific Ocean. Unless we want to dock in California, we have to travel around Mexico and Brazil again. There's no other, shorter way home to Norfolk. It would have added a few weeks to our mission, but we've made such good time so far we're actually running three weeks ahead of schedule at this point. So, we can make a few additional stops on the way home. We can see how far the cure has spread. We can make our new stops a few hundred miles from our previous stops, and see if the cure has made it that far."
"It sounds like a solid plan to me," Mike commented from his spot at the head of the table. "We've had to make some changes due to fuel, but this route should work just as well as the original plan."
"I just wish we didn't have to tell the crew that we're adding two weeks on to the trip," Jeter said, frowning.
"We aren't, technically. The original mission was six months," Tom said, twirling a pen between his fingers. He cast a glance at Rachel, who was still frowning. She could get annoyed on the best of days when people refused to see reason, but her temper had been getting shorter and shorter as the pregnancy had started affecting her hormones. He hoped fervently that she wouldn't snap at the Master Chief and his XO, but if she did, he wasn't getting in the middle of it. He'd learned his lesson.
"Yes, but everyone knows we're running ahead of schedule and that we were planning on being home almost a month earlier than planned."
Rachel sighed, leaning back and resting her head on her chair. She pressed one hand to her belly, which had 'popped' a little bit over the last week, and forced herself to calm down.
"I understand, I do, believe me. I know that continually asking the crew to extend a mission that seems like it will never end is terrible for morale. But," she continued when Jeter opened his mouth to speak. "There is no other way. My original plan had to be altered when we didn't have the fuel we needed to make it to our target destination. But this will work, and it will have the crew home within the original time frame. It's the best way. Give me another option, and we'll do it."
Silence fell over the room; if there was another way, Rachel would have found it. They all knew it, but emotions were running high after 8 consecutive months at sea. Everyone aboard the ship was restless, including the leadership, and Tom knew that the crew would need a break sooner rather than later. He'd have to talk to Rachel about finding a beach or something for the crew to rest on, to have some downtime and get some sun.
"No, you're right, Dr. Scott," Jeter admitted, shaking his head. "I apologize. I am frustrated, but not at you. I know you're doing the best you can, and that this mission is of the utmost importance. I shouldn't have gotten upset at you."
Rachel smiled, nodding. "No need to apologize," she said. "We are all under a lot of stress. It's understandable."
"All right then, I'll tell the crew the new plan," Mike said, standing to his feet. "I have the bridge until 1300. Captain, I'll see you then," he said, and then left the room. Jeter stood to leave, too, but Rachel just put her elbows on the table, dropping her head into her hands. She blew out a large breath, and Tom squeezed her shoulder as he walked around her to the coffee maker. He set a cup brewing, and poured a mug of hot water to make tea for Rachel.
Neither of them spoke until Tom sat the tea in front of her along with a granola bar. Rachel smiled in thanks, and then sighed.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at them," she apologized. "But surely they realize that I don't want this mission to be extended, either, right? I want to go home. To build a home before the baby comes."
Tom kissed her on the head, briefly breathing in the scent of her vanilla shampoo before sitting down beside her. He nudged the granola bar her way and she took it with very little glaring, munching on a small bite as he spoke.
"They know, sweetheart, and they know it wasn't personal. We're all just ... a little high strung right now."
Rachel nodded. "Yeah. I was actually thinking... coming up soon, we pass by a little island right by Denmark. I was thinking, we could make a stop? Get everyone off the boat, take a night to relax. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and the crew is feeling the pressure and strain."
Tom smiled, and leaned over to kiss her cheek.
"You read my mind. I was just thinking we needed a break. Just like when we found that island, when we were running out of water? The crew loved that."
Rachel nodded, growing more excited as she spoke. "We could have a barbecue, some music. The kids would love it!"
Tom sipped his coffee and sat back in his chair.
"Do you want to plan it?" he asked, knowing that she had plenty on her plate already, but also knowing that she would be the best one to decide when and where they stopped.
"I can plan the travel aspect," Rachel said, catching on immediately. "I can get Kara to work with me; she can plan the logistics of dinner and whatnot."
"Sounds like fun," Tom said, and reached out to cup her cheek and kiss her once more before standing up. "I need to go talk to the team about our next stop. Will you be in the lab later?"
Rachel nodded, sipping on her tea before standing up. Tom was relieved to notice that she took the tea and granola bar in her hands, intending to take them with her and finish them. "I will be, yes. We are planning on arriving in Denmark in about 24 hours. I'm almost ready, but we've made a lot of stops recently and I want to work on replenishing our stocks."
"All right. I'll check in with you later, then. Take care of yourself," he added, and then grabbed his coffee to take with him. Rachel smiled and nodded, and then groaned as she stood up. Her child was the size of a lime, how could they already be making her back hurt? This was ridiculous, she lamented, and then stretched to loosen her muscles. She needed to ask Kara what to expect, since the internet wasn't exactly something she could utilize right now for research purposes.
She grabbed her tea and headed into the p-way, on a mission to find the young lieutenant.
February 13th, 2014 - 0900 (9:00 am)
"I think it sounds like a fantastic idea," Kara said enthusiastically as she followed Rachel back to her lab. She kept a hand on her belly the whole time; Kara looked very pregnant, and Rachel was having a hard time wrapping her mind around the fact that she still had 15 weeks to go. Would her baby be that big? Who was she kidding, Tom was the baby's father. Of course her baby was going to be a big baby.
"How are you feeling, love?" she asked, pulling out a chair for Kara to sit in as they entered the lab. Kara sank down with a grateful sigh, and then smiled up at Rachel.
"I'm feeling really good, actually," she said brightly, caressing her stomach. "Regretting a little that Danny and I didn't have you tell us the sex of the baby at out last appointment, though."
"Well," Rachel said. "We can fix that at any point. I know the sex, because it's hard not to see when you're doing all of the normal measurements and checks."
Kara seemed at war with herself, but finally shook her head. "Maybe," she said, "but not until I talk to Danny."
"Logically speaking," Rachel continued as she pulled up a map of Denmark on her computer. "It would be best to know. We are going to need to start looking for baby items on the next few stops. It would be easier if we knew if the baby was a boy or a girl, so we could grab more specific items."
"That," Kara conceded. "Is a good point."
Rachel smiled and nodded. "It would help. We will need to make sure you have everything you need right here on the ship. You will almost for sure be giving birth here, and I'd like to make it as easy as possible for you. But, if you truly don't want to know, I will instruct the teams to look for gender neutral items. We can manage."
"I'll talk to Danny," Kara promised. "Now, what are we thinking for this little shindig?"
"Before we talk about that, actually," Rachel interrupted, turning her chair to face Kara. "I actually wanted to talk to you about something else."
"Oh?" Kara inquired. "What about?"
Rachel bit her lip, turning her gaze to stare at the floor. She knew that Kara would understand, and would most likely even be excited for her and Tom (and for herself; she would not longer be the only pregnant woman on the ship), but she still worried about how the news would be taken. Kara would be the first one she had told besides Jed and the kids.
Instead of speaking, she habitually reached out to caress her stomach, and Kara gasped. Rachel was scared to look up and see her reaction, but it turned out she didn't need to.
"Oh my God!" Kara squealed, excitement clear in her voice. "You and Captain Chandler?" This second part was hissed in a whisper, as Kara knew that not everyone knew about their relationship.
Rachel nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Yes. We found out a few months ago, but we didn't want to tell anyone until the second trimester."
"Oh, wow," Kara said, "That's... that's so great! Not planned, I assume? How did you find out so quickly?"
Rachel shrugged. "Definitely not planned. We... realized that we had forgotten to use any type of protection, not that it exists anywhere on this ship anyway, so I did a blood test as soon as I was able. It was positive, so we knew by the time I was three weeks pregnant. But I'm starting to show, and I wanted you to be one of the first to know."
Kara smiled, and reached out to squeeze Rachel's hand. "We can do this together! Oh my goodness, I'm so excited. Our babies will be best friends. They'll grow up together. How far along are you?"
"12 weeks," Rachel said, and then pulled the ultrasound picture out of her pocket. She had taken to carrying it everywhere, pulling it out when work was slow or whenever she got the urge. She loved looking at her baby, tracing their outline on the grainy picture and imagining what they would look like when they were born. "I'm due at the end of August." She handed Kara the picture, grinning as the other woman stared at the clearly defined features of Rachel and Tom's baby.
"This is so amazing," she said. "I'm so excited for you, and for Captain Chandler. Congratulations."
Rachel nodded, accepting Kara's congratulations, and took the picture back, folding it lovingly before putting it back in the breast pocket of her shirt. "Thank you. We're excited. But nervous. Well, mostly I'm nervous. Tom's done this before, he's taken care of a baby, but I never have. And I'm doubly scared, because who the hell knows what the world will look when it's time for the baby to be born."
"I get that," Kara said, stretching on her chair to try and work a kink out of her back. "But... what can we do? We're going to be some of the first to bring the new generation into the world, so all we can really do is love our babies, and do whatever we think is best for them. They'll be born immune, so that's at least one bonus."
"I suppose that's true," Rachel allowed, smiling as she rubbed her thumb back and forth on her belly. "Anyway. I wanted you to know."
The two women smiled at each other, happy in the knowledge that they would be able to share this unique journey with the other.
It was nice to not be alone.
"Anyway," Rachel continued. "Let's plan this trip. I can't wait to get on land for some downtime."
February 14th, 2014 - 0600 (6:00 am)
"Man, who planned this trip, anyway? We're on land searching out a lab that may or may not exist, we haven't been able to contact anyone on land, and it's Valentine's Day," Tex grumbled, kicking at a can that was lying in the street. He watched it tumble along the street before rolling into the gutter on the side of the road. "This blows."
Rachel chuckled from where she was following behind Tex and Danny. She could hear Tom snort behind her, from the group that was assigned to watch her back and protect her.
"Tex, you don't even have a girl to celebrate with," Tom reminded him, and Tex turned around to give him a dirty look.
"Oh there are plenty of sweet ladies on that ship. Been working on charming one of the nurses. Coulda had a romantic dinner planned tonight, you don't know," he argued, and Tom laughed.
"If you did more walking and less complaining, maybe we'd already be there," Tom said. "The sooner we get to the lab, the sooner we can leave. I know I'm sure as hell planning on being home at a reasonable time tonight."
"Ahh," Tex said knowingly. "Got big plans?"
Tom did, in fact, have plans, but he wasn't going to be sharing them with Tex. He'd asked his father to take the kids for the night so he and Rachel could have a simple, romantic dinner together.
"None of your business, man," he said instead, and winked at Rachel when she turned back to look at him. She gave him a curious look, but all he did was smile wider. She wasn't aware that he had planned anything.
Danny chuckled from were he was walking next to Tex. "I've got plans, too, so let's just get this done. Lab's about a mile away. It's only 0600, we have plenty of time to get there, get them set up with everything they need, and be back to the Nathan James by the time it's dark."
Tex continued to grumble good-heartedly as they walked down the road, occasionally checking his compass or the area around them. Everyone was, for the most part, relaxed. They had yet to run into any serious trouble on one of these stops, and had spent most of the walk thus far talking about the upcoming island stop that Rachel and Kara had planned. The crew was excited, the mood aboard the Nathan James noticeably lifted.
It was, perhaps, their relaxed state that caused them to miss the warning signs.
"Danny and I are gonna go ahead and check out the building," Tex said once the lab was in sight. "We'll radio back as soon as we know more."
Tom nodded, motioning for Miller and Cruz to take their spot in front of Rachel as they left the group to canvas the area ahead of them. Rachel found herself in the middle of the three men, who where organized in a triangle pattern around her, on guard even though they weren't expecting any trouble.
"You excited for the island stop, man?" Miller asked Cruz, smiling as he leaned against a light pole on the sidewalk, crossing his arms over his chest and resting them on top of his gun.
"Of, for sure! I'm gonna be helping Bacon move and set up the barbecue on the island. We're gonna make hamburgers and hot dogs. Rumor is it that there'll be beer, too," Cruz said, grinning, and Miller pumped his fist while Tom rolled his eyes.
"Unless someone on that ship has developed the ability to turn water into wine, I think you're going to be disappointed," he said, and Rachel laughed. She was opening her mouth to reply that she, too, had heard the rumor and that their might be some truth to it considering who had started it, when they heard the sound of thundering footsteps surrounding them.
"Hands in the air!"
Rachel gasped, her eyes widening as the three men protecting her turned sharply, backing up and covering her from all sides. She couldn't see well past their bodies, but she could hear the voices and the sound of weapons being armed from both sides.
"Let's just all calm down," Tom said diplomatically, raising his hands in the air but not moving from his spot protecting Rachel. "I think there's been a misunderstanding, gentlemen," he continued, quickly scanning the area and counting seven men, all armed to the teeth. They were surrounded on all sides, and as more men began to appear out of the shadows, Tom felt his heart falling.
There were too many of them.
"No misunderstanding," one of the men said, walking forward. He seemed to be the leader, based on how the other men moved around to allow him through. "We know exactly who you are. And you have exactly what we want."
Tom stiffened; he knew what they wanted, but he couldn't stop himself from asking anyway.
"And what would that be?"
The man grinned, laughing as he approached Tom. He stopped mere inches in front of the Captain, and Tom stiffened, wanting with every fiber of his being to protect Rachel. He could feel and hear her behind him, holding tightly on to his shirt. She was breathing shallowly, scared, and he couldn't blame her. He, too, was terrified, and unsure how they were going to make it out of this situation.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tex, ten yards away, staring at him questioningly. He shook his head minutely - if Tom and Danny hadn't been caught, they needed to head back to the Nathan James and get backup. There was no way they would be able to dispatch the men surrounding them without casualties, and there was no way in hell he was risking Rachel or the baby.
He breathed out in relief when Tex and Danny began to back away, hopefully understanding that Tom wanted them to head back to the Nathan James.
"What do you want?" Tom repeated, and the man nodded his head over Tom's shoulder.
"We want Dr. Scott and the cure, of course."
Well, shit.