Firefly

Chapter 13

Since they'd been on the medical level before but had only gone through the door to medical, they started there. They went down the corridor opening doors and taking a quick peek before moving on. Then instead of using the elevator again they went down the stairs. The first room they found on this level turned out to be what they believed to be a cafeteria. There was even a complete chef's kitchen available.

"I thought she said all food was through that unit in our room," Kate remarked in confusion as she stood in the middle of the kitchen.

"Well we're the only two here that will be eating since androids don't eat, so maybe she's correct now just not right before everyone left," Rick offered.

Then it was down the stairs again. Most of the rooms were nothing special so far so they only actually searched rooms that interested them.

This level had a short corridor that ended in a door so they went the opposite direction and found it ended in another door. So Rick opened this one. "It's an airlock." Since he didn't have his spacesuit on they were forced to back out and try the other door.

"Another airlock," Rick reported and backed out. Kate hurried to keep up with him as he jogged back to the stairs.

Kate saw him looking at the stairs then down the corridor. "What?" Kate wasn't following what he was thinking.

"This set of stairs is longer than the previous level. I'm thinking whatever's behind those two doors is actually two floors tall. So what needs to be two floors tall?" Now Rick was interested and started opening the doors they had passed up on this level.

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Kate still wasn't following even after opening all the doors on this level. "What?" Kate asked him again.

"All of these rooms look to be filled with material. Some of it's rough while some of it has a finished look to it.

"She said the main power was in the center and so far all the corridors are curved. Those corridors are in the middle with doors on each side. The only reason you need an airlock is if the space beyond is or can be exposed to open space.

"A landing bay with doors leading out to space is the only thing that makes sense. If it's only wide from that wall to this wall because the very center is power, it's still not that big.

"There might be ships in that space. Small ones to be sure, but ships. I wonder what kind," Rick mused since there were lots of options.

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On the next level down the first door Rick opened had his interest. "Ooo." Rick went inside with Kate right behind him.

Kate didn't see what he saw so interesting. And she was about done walking. Her tag was hitting her clitoris; she was on fire and needed Rick.

"What is all this?" Mostly she saw tanks, piping, and other things.

"Environmentals. Waste water treatment. Hot water generation. A/C and heating. Anti-grav system. We have all this on the ship only a lot smaller. This is meant for something a lot bigger and far more people." Rick looked it all over and noticed that each system had a different color.

"That explains all the cabins we've seen so far," Kate commented.

"Yes, if the medical deck was dead center. The landing bay just below that. The control deck at the top. Where's our ship?" He hadn't seen the corridor they had been in to reach it yet.

"Up or down?" Kate asked.

"We go farther down. We can take the elevator up to the control deck and walk our way down," Rick said.

"There were ten of them. So where is everyone?" Kate queried as they headed to the stairs since they hadn't seen anyone since that moment in the control room.

"Likely in areas that they deem critical. Save for the anti-grav system this area isn't critical to them. They're androids and don't need air or water."

The next level down didn't show them anything interesting after opening the door and just looking inside. If they really wanted to they could search each space in detail later. It was also the final level. The stairs didn't go down any farther. This was as low as it got.

Reaching the next level down they found a pair of doors and except for the door that was an elevator it was all that was down there.

"This is different." Rick looked them over. It was more like a previous door. There was a panel for him to place his palm on if he wanted to open it.

Kate took hold of his arm. Rick looked back at her. "You okay?" They'd been walking for a while but he thought she was strong enough to handle it.

"I need you. My drug and my tag have me soaking wet." Kate understood now what the drug did and what her tag was doing and she knew that she loved all the sex. It was so much better than what her old master had done to her. She also knew how Rick treated her and she was learning to love him like Liz had talked to her about.

Rick looked at the double doors and was itching to find out what was inside. He could simply see if he could open it and soldier on to search the room. However, he knew he couldn't let Kate suffer. The drug and her tag had been his idea.

Rick was still debating when he found himself opening the door to the elevator. Kate kissed his cheek for that. They could come back down here later.

Simply asking for Command Deck got them to just outside of their cabin.

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Kate felt amazing again after having four orgasms. She was all stretched out and resting next to Rick, reveling in the afterglow of sex.

"You think they can actually remove my tattoos?" Kate didn't see how. She knew what it had taken to get them. She had been unconscious at the time but the pain for weeks after had been horrible.

Kate raised her hand and flexed her fingers. Why they worked as well as they did was surprising. She knew there were a lot of bones just below the surface. For all she knew her tattoos were directly attached to her bones.

"Maybe." Rick hadn't seen a medical bay anything like the one here. If this place had androids that had actually survived the last 200,000 years that alone said advanced technology.

Rick felt he was ready. Finding Kate had actually saved his life and had given him a chance for a long future. If she lost her tattoos it meant she was no longer a slave and she could be like any other woman.

Though what he wasn't sure about was how Kate felt besides not being treated like a slave any longer.

"Kate, how do you feel about marriage?" Rick hadn't been this scared at any point in his life. Not even that day he had killed Admiral Kona. Killing him had simply been a job and he was good at it. This was different.

"I can't get married though my parents are." She was a slave.

"As a slave, no, but if you lose these tattoos no one can say that you're a slave ever again." Rick still wasn't brave enough to just come out and ask her to marry him.

Then Kate twisted so she could look at him. Suddenly her heart was pounding. Rick meant so very much to her now. What he had done had effectively rescued her from a life of servitude and hating her life.

She was actually beginning to think that she had a future and now Rick was asking her about marriage.

"I love you! If you ask I'll say yes." Kate literally couldn't think of any place else to be than with Rick for the rest of her life. Was he going to ask her? He needed to ask her so she could say yes.

Rick had questioned it but now she had told him. "I love you, too." Rick instantly found himself being kissed. Then kissed again and again. "So that's a yes?" Rick smiled wide at her who even to him looked like she was actually glowing.

"Yes," Kate answered softly. "No. …Did you actually ask me?" Somewhere in her enthusiasm she wasn't sure he'd actually asked her to marry him.

"Right after they remove your tattoos I'll even be down on both knees and ask you to marry me. Though I'm pretty sure I don't have a ring for you to wear." He didn't know when or if that was going to happen.

"I don't care." She really didn't, either, and kissed him then kissed him again. "Let's find out if they can remove my tattoos." Kate was out of the bed and hurried to the door.

"Clothes!" Rick called out which had Kate looking down at herself and laughing. She'd gotten used to living naked on their ship. Now she had people walking around and needed to start wearing clothes.

"Fine!" She wanted her tattoos gone not worrying about wearing clothes, but she went to the closet to find something to wear anyway.

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They got lucky and found Liara in the medical bay, sitting at her desk. "Commander, what can I do for you?" Liara never actually stopped reading what she was looking at.

"Kate is anxious to lose her tattoos. We came to see if you've learned anything yet," Rick responded for Kate.

"Healing her burns is the easy part. The problem I am having is removing the material that does not result in permanent damage to her hands. Loss of feeling and dexterity for example. What I am presently also having trouble understanding is why her system does not reject the material as being a foreign substance. Her body should be trying to reject the material." Liara kept reading trying to solve the problem. "I could take additional DNA and grow new hands for her. Cut off her existing hands and attach the new ones. It may be easier. It will take months to grow the new hands, however." Liara looked up at both of them.

Rick turned to look at Kate and was mildly amused that she had both of her hands in her armpits. "I think we'll let you keep doing research and fix her hands instead of cutting them off."

"As you wish." Liara did not care one way or the other. "I will at some point need additional DNA from both of you."

"Why?" Rick didn't understand. He hadn't been under her scanner so he should be in perfect shape.

"I will need the DNA so I can grow various organs like the female's Fallopian tubes. If you have an organ failure I will be able to grow a new one and replace the failed organ with a new one."

"DNA," Rick whispered since he had a wild idea.

"Commander?" She had used the word before, certain that he knew what it meant.

"You mentioned her system should be rejecting the substance. What if part of the substance has part of her DNA? Would it continue to reject it if it recognized part of it?" Rick queried.

"An intriguing theory, Commander." Liara got out of her chair and went over to the closest bed. "Place your hands on the bed one more time for me, please." Kate watched the bar go over her hands then Liara was back at her desk so Kate took her hands back.

"Fascinating. It does indeed contain her DNA. Her DNA is coating the side where it is attached to her hands. The material is actually sitting on her DNA. But this DNA has a coating around it." Liara kept typing.

"Come back in one of your hours and I will be ready. This will take some time to accomplish," Liara warned both of them.

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Rick and Kate were back in their cabin while they waited. "You look nervous." Kate was sitting on the sofa and almost wrapped up in herself so it wasn't hard to tell. Rick sat down next to her.

"What if it doesn't work? What if I'm going to be a slave for the rest of my life?" She had a real shot at not being a slave but what if she was forever doomed? Rick wasn't going to marry a slave.

Rick put an arm around her and drew her close to him. "Try to think positively. Think that you want to get married," Rick suggested and watched Kate finally start to smile. "Even if it is to me."

His last comment earned him a soft elbow into his side.

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"Commander, I am ready. If you will bring the female down to medical I can get started," a voice suddenly announced.

Rick and Kate arrived to find Liara and one other android were waiting for them.

"This is Tali Zorah, she will be assisting me in this operation. This will take a few hours, Commander. There is no need for you to wait."

Rick embraced Kate and gave her a quick kiss. "Just think about what comes after this, …Mrs. Rodgers." Rick smiled a wide smile and finally saw her smile back.

Rick stayed behind long enough to hear Liara to ask her to get on the bed so they could get started.

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At first Rick went his cabin to wait. However, he was there only a few minutes then went across to the command room. He had to press his palm against the panel to get it to open. Then it hit him. How did they get his palm print to allow him access to this room? Was their scanning ability actually that good? He'd only been there for a little while and hadn't really touched all that much.

Stepping into the room he found there were four of them in here. He also noticed for the first time that all of them were women. Or at least that was what they looked like.

"Commander, how can we help you?" the one that was at the center table inquired after he entered.

"Kate's undergoing an operation so I thought I should be here," Rick explained.

"Of course, Commander." She went back to the main table.

"Where are the others?" There were ten of them. Two in medical and four were here. That left four more somewhere else.

"The fabrication room. We need to fabricate a new power conduit for our cloaking device. It is imperative that this outpost remain unseen."

"What is your name, please?" Rick needed to get them straight if they were going to stay here long.

"I am Nassana Dantius, Commander."

"May I ask what is a few levels down." Rick kicked himself for not keeping track just where they'd been at the time. "The corridor was short and it looked like what was beyond the door was two floors tall."

"One door leads to our fabrication shop where we are making a power conduit. The other is a small landing bay. It is presently empty of any ships," Nassana answered. Then suddenly Rick saw it in 3D on the table in front of both of them.

"So you could have ships?" Rick wondered if the Iconians had left, using all of them.

"We have little need for ships, Commander. Though a shuttle may come in handy from time to time. Something about the size of the fighter on your ship, more or less."

Rick looked at the empty bay and the size of the fabrication area. Why a fabrication area needed an airlock escaped him but it wasn't technically his outpost. He hadn't designed and built it.

"Could you design and make a ship? Say something like my fighter?" Rick inquired, not really sure just where he wanted to go with this.

"Of course, Commander. It may take a year or so but one could be built. Your fighter is very antiquated, though. Iconian technology is far superior." Nassana was stating fact, not trying to be insulting.

"No offense taken. …So if I did order that a fighter be built it wouldn't start until after your power conduit was finished and installed?" Rick questioned her.

"Correct, Commander. Remaining unseen is the only defense this outpost has. That supersedes any order you could give." He might be in overall command but he had limitations.

"So say for sake of argument that you were to design a fighter. Just what could it be capable of doing?" Rick was actually starting to get an idea if it was as advanced as he was thinking.

"Well, it would have energy shielding though the hull would be made of cast rodinium. There could be two or more fixed weaponry or it could be top mounted on a turret. Its primary weaponry would have electro-plasma. A jump drive as well as a cloaking device. As for a power source–" Nassana was interrupted.

"Wait, wait. Jump drive?" Rick hadn't heard the term before.

"A jump drive allows a ship to be instantaneously teleported between two points. All you would need to know is where each point in space is located and free of obstructions like a planet, asteroid, or other matter."

Rick knew he was standing there with his mouth hanging open. "Jump drive, so is energy shielding what I think it is?"

"Energy shielding is ion plasma that is created in plate form and used to surround a ship. It is meant to deflect kinetic items as well as energy weapons like simple lasers for example."

"And what is electro-plasma?" Rick asked her since that was one more thing he'd never heard of before.

Instead of explaining it Nassana decided to just show him since she was at the 3D table. "This is an electro-plasma shot."

Rick saw a ball that had what looked like a solid center with electrical lightning bolts reaching out in the form of an outer ball.

"Depending on the power generated in each device, it is meant to envelope either a small area or an entire ship. A fighter would not be able to generate the power necessary to eliminate an entire ship, however, even a small shot would do considerable damage," Nassana explained then Rick watched as she put up a large Alliance Cruiser and this big ball of lightning struck it and enveloped it. Once that was complete the entire ship turned dark blue then simply vanished.

"Holy shit!" No ship, not even an Alliance ship, had that kind of power.

"You can design and make a fighter that can do something like this with all those items you mentioned?" Rick asked just to make sure.

"Yes, Commander," Nassana agreed. "One would take about a year to complete once we have finished fabricating and installing our power conduit"

"One year for this and one year for a power conduit?" It didn't add up to him. One should be a lot easier than the other.

"We do not have a ship to gather the necessary materials to fabricate our power conduit. As a result we are forced to use a replicator to create the parts we need.

"I am also taking into account the use of your ship to gather the necessary materials to fabricate your fighter." Using his ship would speed everything up.

"So if I used my ship to obtain the material you need it would speed up your fabrication of this power conduit and my fighter?" Rick would do it if he could guarantee that he could get back on board.

"Yes, Commander."

"Great! So what do you need, where do I get it, and how do I bring it back when I can't find you when you're invisible?" Rick was more than willing to help.