Ch7
Natalie and Jim were the last to arrive. Don, Jenn, Tom and Emily had already been here for about an hour already. Rick had gone all out and spared no expense for this little celebration. There were balloons and banners all over the house. There was confetti on the floor and flower petals spread out all over. It wasn't every day you got to celebrate your daughter's first wedding anniversary.
Natalie was the first to mention it. "Where is Alexis and her second favorite man on the planet?" Noting her absence since it was her first wedding anniversary too.
"Oh I'm pretty sure he is her first favorite man on the planet now. But after they were married they had to postpone their honeymoon for unavoidable reasons, so Kate and I sent them on a delayed honeymoon on their anniversary. They should be in Athens about now, and then move on to Istanbul in three days. Stay there for three days then move on to Rome for three days then come home." Rick explains.
"With a honeymoon suite in all three of course." Natalie assumes.
"Well in Athens yes. Seems they don't have honeymoon suites in Istanbul so we got them a Presidential suite instead, and a Villa just outside of town in Rome. Complete with its own car." Rick counters.
"Oh, I stand corrected." Natalie laughs. "Where are, ..." And is stopped when the dogs come charging down the stairs and try to compete with each other to get petted by her.
"I still can't believe you named your dog after a beer." Natalie chastises Rick.
"Hey it's a famous beer and a really good beer." Rick stands his ground. And Rick gets distracted by L asking him a question.
Natalie takes the moment to approach Kate. "I'm now sure how you put up with him, but I'll thank god that you found him for the rest of my life."
Kate laughs a little. "He has his moments, and he fills a hole in my life I didn't even know I had." Kate tells her while watching her husband.
"Come on girlfriend let's find some of that champagne I'm sure is around here somewhere." Natalie tells her.
Kate hesitates for a moment and looks at her and can just picture Lanie in her place. And with a smile and a few tears follows her.
Rick comes up behind her a little later and wraps his arms around her. "You all right?"
Kate turns in his arms to face him. "Yea it's just, … I'll explain later." And then quickly kisses him.
Jim interrupts them. "A toast to our kids and how lucky they are to have found each other." And raises his glass.
"May they live long and happy." Natalie adds.
"To one big happy family." Kate adds.
"To our kick ass Marines." Rick adds.
And everyone drinks. Lucile chooses this time to show herself.
"Lucile! We owe you big." Jim tells her. "Without you we wouldn't have this new fighter my sons have been telling me about."
"Your sons married into my family. That makes you family. I help my family as much as I can. And I have an anniversary gift of my own." Lucile explains.
The girls both walk up to her."Lucile?" With tears in their eyes they each do a well practiced version of a touch-less hug. "We have got to find you a body one of these days." Jenn tells her.
Kate steps up and into Lucile's space. "Girls." And opens her arms and Lucile mimics perfectly. And the four of them hug and squeeze each other.
Natalie steps up to her husband and grabs his arm and sniffles with a few tears.
Jim at this leans down and kisses her hair. "I get the feeling they've done this before." Flicking his head at them. And Natalie just nods and wipes away her non-marine tears.
"Something about a gift Lucile?" Rick interrupts before she has them all crying.
Lucile steps out of Kate. "The new fighter we've all had a hand in designing is good against the Honji Sinhindrea fighters and the 'Scout Carrier' they encountered earlier. However they also have a number of Capital ships, and while these fighters are good, they are no match for several of these. Especially what has been designated as a 'Fleet Carrier'."
And Lucile replaces her form with an exterior wireframe look of one of these 'Fleet Carriers'.
The Crystal clan just let their jaws drop to the floor while the Douglas clan all whistle and step up to Lucile and circle her. "HOLY HANAH!" Jim is the first to get is voice back. "Can you give us something to show us some scale?" Jim asks.
Lucile adds a single Night Hawk off to one side. "Jesus, H F…ing Christ!" Don is slack jawed. "Pardon my French."
"We would be lucky to put a scratch in that thing." Tom finally finds his voice.
Natalie steps up to join her sons. "It's gotta have a weakness. A Death Star exhaust port or something. Anything."
"Lucile you said it was a 'Fleet Carrier'. I presume that means it carrier fighters?" Tom asks and gets a "Yes" from Lucile. "How many does it carry?" Tom is really worried about the number.
"Intel estimates somewhere between 575 to 650 fighters. Depending on how many transports or drop ships are assigned to it." Lucile explains.
"Drop ships?" Jim questions.
"Think of it as a DC4 from WWII that were used to transport paratroopers. Only instead of flying across and dropping paratroopers it lands and a rear ramp opens up allowing troops to exit." Lucile explains.
"Kind of like the drop ships in that movie Starship Troopers?" Tom asks.
"Processing, …. That would be an acceptable analogy." Lucile confirms.
"So it isn't just a carrier but a troop transport as well?" Jim questions.
"That depends on the number of drop ships each of these have. It may only be a handful. Or it may be closer to half. It all depends." Lucile tells them.
"Please tell me they only have one of these." Jim asks, a little afraid of the answer.
"I'm sorry, Richard's military has so far encountered eight of these over the last 400 of your years." Lucile breaks the bad news. "And it is assumed they are in conflicts with others besides Richard and his people at the same time."
"So they could conceivably have dozens of these in addition to ones that are smaller than but not as small as the 'Scout Carrier'." Jim concludes.
"I'm afraid you are correct." Lucile whispers.
"Lucile, Jim the boys and I have discussed some of what a 'Scout Carrier' being here means. We would like to hear your thoughts." Natalie tells her.
Lucile replaces the view of the carrier to one of herself. "The most obvious is that they are looking to expand again. This could mean that Richard's planet has fallen and they are getting ready to move on." Lucile pauses. "Or it could mean it was nothing more than a random scout ship that they send out all the time." Again Lucile pauses. "Or it could mean they already have seen this system and sent someone to investigate to determine how large a force they would need to take it with."
"And when their scout does not return or signal back with what they have found?" Jim asks.
Lucile pauses. "Depends on how involved they are in other conflicts. If Richard's planet is still fighting they may do nothing for quite some time. Or they may simply send another scout to find out what happened to the first one. Or they may send a recon in force. One of their capital ships and some support ships in addition to a scout ship or two." Lucile finishes.
Jenn, with baby in hand, who has been very quiet for a change. "You two are Marines. What would you do if you were in charge?" She asks as she approaches Natalie and Jim. Fear all to evident in her face. Not just for herself but for her husband.
"I would tend to agree with Lucile. I would send another scout group." Natalie tells her.
"And if I had some strings I could pull or had the ships to spare, it would be a recon in force." Jim adds.
Rick finally speaks up. "If memory serves, our intelligence suggests that they are a Hive like race. There is not likely to be strings for anyone to pull. The queen would make a choice and that is what they would do." Rick states.
Now Kate is thinking. "So if we think like ants say, and we sent out a scout and it didn't return I would send out another one to find out why. And when it didn't return I would send out something larger. A recon in force, maybe. … Then build up enough to take out the problem." Kate finishes.
"So we pray they send nothing, hopefully only get another scout and plan for a recon in force." Jim tells them. "Lucile can you show us a possible capital ship they might send to support this recon in force?"
Lucile replaces herself with still another exterior wireframe of a Honji Sinhindrea capital ship.
"This is what you might call a destroyer class. Think Arleigh Burke on steroids. Or perhaps a cruiser from WWII like the USS Indianapolis (CA-35)." Lucile provides.
Kate steps up to the image. "Boys you are the fighter pilots here. Can you take something like this with your new fighter?"
Don and Tom step up to the image. "Lucile can you spin it a little for us, slowly?" Don asks.
"You see this?" Don asks looking at his brother. As he pokes his finger in a certain section.
"Yea I saw it. But I also see these." As Tom draws his line from one end of the ship to the other.
There seem to be some non-verbal clues being spoken between them when Don turns to Kate. "I think we could take it. But we are likely going to need more than a single attack wing." Don tells her.
"What worries me is the losses we might take doing it." Tom adds. Getting a nod from Don.
"Lucile you mentioned something about an anniversary gift from you?" L asks trying to make what seemed like nothing but bad news go away.
"I'm glad you asked. I was thinking about this exact problem some time ago so I've been working on a design that should hopefully solve this little problem." Lucile tells them and changes from the Honji Sinhindrea capital ship to an exterior wireframe of the bomber she had recently finished designing.
"I'm giving it a bomber designation even though it doesn't actually carry bombs." Lucile tells them.
Getting a whistle from the Douglas clan almost in unison. Everyone steps up closer to get a better look.
"Lucile, can you, …" And Rick spins his hand with his index finger pointing out. And Lucile begins to slowly spin and rotate her design.
"WOW! What are these big babies under here?" As Jim points to the two large torpedoes under the main fuselage.
And Lucile walks them thru each and every piece on the craft and what it can do.
"So what made you think of this idea for the torpedoes?" Jimmy asks.
"I based it off of those aliens that have acid for blood in that movie series." Lucile explains.
"Let me get this straight." Rick laughs a little.
"You based a weapons design off of an Earth Sci-fi movie series?" Rick is still chuckling.
"Technically the weapon design already exists. I simply modified and adapted it to the torpedoes." Lucile corrects him.
"What do you think boys? Will it do the job?" Kate asks Don and Tom.
"It'll melt thru the outer hull. Melt thru decks and walls and catch anything it touches on fire, inside an enclosed space that is surrounded by a vacuum. … It's brilliant!" Don tells her.
"Yea, why blow it up yourself when you can catch it on fire and get it to blow itself up? I like it!" Tom agrees.
"Lucile can you, …" And Natalie is interrupted by Lucile.
"Already in your computer at your desk in your office waiting for you." Lucile tells her.
"I suppose I should be angry that you hacked into my computer at the base. But I'm not. I must be getting soft." Natalie tells her husband.
"If she wasn't family, I have no doubt you would kick her ass. Just as soon as you figured out where it was and could reach it." Jim tells her and kisses her cheek. Natalie simply punches him for his remark.
Emily steps up to the bomber. "Lucile?" And waits for Lucile to change the projection into herself. Then she does her best to wrap her arms around Lucile and kiss her.
Of course everything just goes right thru her touching nothing. "Damn it! We have got to get you a body. I'm getting tired of hugging and kissing mom! … No offense mom." Turning to look at Kate.
"None taken sweetie. None taken." Kate assures her. Even Kate has wished there was a solid version of Lucile.
And the not really there tears on Lucile's face begin to flow freely. And Lucile does her best to kiss L on her cheek.
Natalie and Jim have promised to get the designs for both ships in for construction first thing in the morning and then left to go home after thanking Rick and Kate for the wonderful party. They were both going to have hangover's come morning after foolishly trying to out drink Kate.
The boys and the girls also had thanked them and Lucile for all she had done and went home. A lot more sober. They knew better then to take Kate on in a drinking match.
Rick and Kate are tucked under the covers in bed with Kate safely wrapped up in Rick's arms. "You want to tell me about it now?" Rick asks.
Kate waits and snuggles in a little closer. "It's just something Natalie said. It reminded me so much of Lanie."
"And it made you miss her?" Rick is not really asking a question.
Kate just nods, and then snuggles back in closer still.
"I am sorry Kate. They were my friends too. I don't know why they wouldn't do anything for them." (?) Rick tells her.
"I know. I don't blame you. I might have been mad at you once. It just seemed so unfair. We're even going to outlive some of the friends we have now. I just never thought living this long would be so hard." Kate confides.
"Would you undo it if you could?" Rick wonders.
"And lose you and the girls or the boys? Not a chance in hell!" Kate tells him. "You think Lucile will ever get a body?" Kate changes the subject.
Rick hesitates. "I doubt it. She takes up most of the basketball court downstairs and is six feet tall. Sure there are access corridors to reach certain sections of her. But how do you fit all of that inside a body? … Unless she was a giant or something." Rick really doesn't see how it is possible.
Kate is silent for a while. "Does she have to have all of that in the body?" Kate wonders.
"And what of yourself would you pick and choose of your mind to take with you?" Rick asks.
"Yea, good point." Kate is silent. "Does any of her have to be in the body?" Kate lifts up to look at Rick. "Can't she just communicate back and forth between the two? Like a radio? Except she never has to actually push a button or anything to send the information between her and her? If that makes sense." Kate asks.
Suddenly Lucile shows up standing IN there bed where both can see her. "THAT"S IT! KATE, you are a genius!" And Lucile spins in place. Then looks at both of them. "I've got work to do!" And promptly disappears.
"What did I say?" Kate asks no one really.
"I'm not entirely sure. But it seems to be enough to make Lucile happy." And Rick moves a little so he can soundly kiss his wife.