First of all, thanks to all the people who've left behind such a nice comments, it's nice to know that you're enjoying the story so far.
secondly, massive thanks to tmtcltb for beta reading this, you're a sweetheart for doing so.
"What do we do?" Rachel asked, taking hold of both Ashley and Sam's shoulders, pulling them against her. Maybe It had become an instinct to protect them, unbeknownst to her taking the mother role.
"We need to hide; we can't risk the kids." Kara replied, unconsciously placing her hand on her own stomach, thinking of her own child growing inside of her. it was her duty to protect her and Danny's child.
"The lab?" Rachel asked. As soon as she said the words, she realized that it wouldn't be a safe place. The intruders had destroyed the lab on the Solace for yet some unknown reason. The chance that they would do the same here was too great and Rachel didn't want to risk it. But she wasn't really ready to lose whatever remained of the lab after Baltimore either. Plus, she needed to protect the cure. If they were after the destruction of the labs, she assumed they were also trying to destroy the Cure.
"I don't think that's going to be a safe place." Kara stated, looking back and forth on the P-way they were standing in.
"No, but standing here isn't either and we need to protect the cure." Rachel said. She was torn between protecting the kids and Kara, whom she had grown close to and cared about, or the cure she had fought so hard to discover. She had to save whatever was left of humanity, a nearly impossible decision.
"Our cabins are the safest option." Kara stated in her lieutenant manner. She turned them around and led Rachel and the kids to her cabin. Both Rachel and Kara were hoping they wouldn't encounter any hostiles.
'Tom would kill her if the kids were hurt.' Rachel though to herself as she followed Kara. Hoping the hand on the kids' shoulder would be enough support for now as they pushed them and the kids to safety.
"Come on guys, we need to hurry," Rachel said, trying to hide the anxiety she herself felt. Looking down at the kids she could see the fear in their eyes, but they were being brave and kept up with the quick pace Kara had set for them.
Rachel needed to protect those kids no matter the cost. She just hoped Tom would hold his own, she wouldn't want to tell them their father or grandfather had died as well.
Kara opened the door to her cabin and ushered the kids and Rachel inside. "I just hope they don't come looking here." She worried as Ashley and Sam sat down on the bed.
"I hope so to." Rachel sighed, leaning her head back against the door. Her thoughts where on the crew and most of all Tom, the captain of the ship. If there was anyone who could defeat the intruders who had taken out Solace it would be Tom and this crew. She had seen what they were capable off, she had faith in this crew and the Nathan James. She had faith in this cobbled up family they had become.
In the meantime all hell had broken loose on the bridge and in the Command center. They needed to find those hostiles and take them out, for Mike it felt like déjà vu all over again. The crew that had been in the same position during the hostage situation in Baltimore.
Tom feared for his kids. He had no idea of where they were or who they were with. He had been forced to bring them on board as there was nowhere else that they could go, but kids living on ship brought its own dangers. Right now he was more terrified then he'd even been for them. But he needed to think about his crew and the mission at hand. It was hard to focus as he thought back to what had happened back on Solace not two hours ago. Nobody had been able to figure out their motives, yet. The captured assailant still unconscious and cuffed to a bed in medical bay.
Thinking back to the Solace he grew even more distracted by his fear for his kids, fear for his crew and fear for the cure. On Solace they had destroyed the lab to stop the scientists from producing more. So Tom had to assume that they were here to do the same thing.
And then there was the small matter of how professional these men were. They were certainly not amateurs. On Solace he and the team had seen what that were capable of, what kind of weapons they carried.
If they encountered the kids… but Tom couldn't allow his mind to wander there. He wouldn't be able to do what needed to be done to get them off of his ship and save them and his crew if he lost his focus. He had enough of funerals.
He wanted these sons of bitches of his ship without anyone being killed.
Despite his effort keep his mind on his task, he couldn't help but think of Rachel. She had a tendency to get herself into trouble, whether it was deliberate or not. The thought of her going to face these hostiles might have terrified him even more than the thought of them finding Sam and Ashley. He knew that her first thought would be to save the cure, no matter the risk to herself.
Certainly when she would want to protect her work. The cure. He needed to focus on the mission, save the lab, protect the cure. It took a lot of effort to not think of his kids, his father and Rachel. But he succeeded and started barking orders to the crew. He was taking back his ship.
"Burk go to the lab, no one goes in or out, the cure and the lab must be protected at all cost." He ordered before looking at Danny. Tom had a lot of faith in the younger man. He had ignored the fraternization rules, but he'd earned back the respect of the crew. Tom knew he would be one of the greats. But so would everyone on this ship, certainly after what they had achieved so far.
"You know what we're dealing with." Tom added as an afterthought with a nod of his head.
"Dr Scott?" Danny asked.
"Let's hope she's in the lab," Tom whispered, still looking at Danny. With a nod of his head, Burk was off, Ravit and Wolf following after him.
"Tex, Green." Tom commanded, accepting a gun from Tex, "We need to flush them out. XO has the lead here," he ordered as he left CIC, followed by Green and Tex.
His crew was all armed and wouldn't hesitate to kill the men invading their ship, their home.
Several teams were going through the ship, flushing out the intruders. They moved throughout the pathways as quietly as they could. Every time they checked a room or peaked around a corner, Tom didn't know whether he hoped to see his kids there or not. When he got to the cabin his father and his kids shared, he opened the door. His heart heavy with worry.
"Dad?" he asked, seeing only his father in the cabin. "Where are the kids?" tom asked, looking around the room, hoping they would pop up somewhere.
"I don't know son. They went to look for Rachel." His father explained, causing Tom's heart to sink to his toes. After the cure and the lab, Rachel was the second highest target, the person he hoped to find and secure. But so far no luck.
"You have one of those?" Jed asked his son, pointing to the gun, he wasn't sitting by idly and doing nothing. He had been a ranger and he wanted to help, no matter how old he was.
"No dad, you stay here." Tom shook his head at him as he saw two of Tom's team behind him, each looking in a different direction in the corridor.
A second later, gunshots could be heard throughout the P-way and Danny and Tex pushed their way into the cabin. it was those damned guns that could turn around a corner. Taking the chance of looking out the door, Tex managed to shot the one running down the P-way.
"Dad you need to stay here, I can't worry about you too." Tom said to his father as Danny and Tex had left the cabin to see if hostile they shot was dead or alive. Maybe they could get some more assailants to question if he was alive. They needed answers after all.
"Son I can take care of myself." Jed protested.
"Dad, please." Tom nearly begged, tilting his head to the side.
"Okay son." Jed said, dropping down on a chair. "Find your kids." He added with a nod of his head.
"Thanks dad. Barricade the door and don't open it for anyone but me." Tom ordered before dashing out the room.
'God let Rachel and the kids be safe, now.' He thought to himself as he, Tex and Danny continued making their way down the P-way. "Where the hell are these sons of bitches?" Tom asked outloud, looking at Tex and Danny.
"No idea, sir." Danny replied, the tension in the entire ship was evident. Like the ship itself was holding its breath as to not give away anything.
"It's okay guys;" Rachel said, sitting down between a terrified Ashley and Sam.
"What do they want with dad's ship?" Sam asked.
"Ohh Sam," Rachel said, hugging him closer to her, hoping she could give him some comfort. But how could she when she herself had the same question and fear?
If the Russians and Baltimore had been any clue to how bad the world had gotten, this wasn't good news at all.
Kara was sitting on Ashley's other side as she helped to try and comfort her Captain's children. If this was what had become of the world, she didn't know how she could raise a child in it.
This apocalyptic world only brought the worst out of people apparently.
The four of them jumped when someone tried to open the door. Rachel moved her hand over Sam's mouth, Kara doing the same to Ashley, hoping that whoever was at the door would simply move on, although Rachel was not overly hopeful. If a door was locked from the inside, that meant there was someone hiding inside, everyone knew that.
Both women knew that if it were the hostiles, they would want to find out who was hiding, but if it was the crew scouting the ship, they would probably assume whoever was inside was hiding for safety and let it be.
"Who's in there?" came an unfamiliar voice to both women as they looked at each other over Ashley's head. 'hostiles' ran through both of their minds.
"What do we do?" Rachel mouthed to Kara.
"Quiet, they might go away." Kara mouthed back.
"Break the door open." Both women heard the order.
"Kids hide under the bed and don't make a sound, okay." Kara told them, her voice strong and steady, not one ounce of fear reflected in them. She herself was surprised at how well she hid her own fear.
"No." Sam whimpered, wrapping his arms around Rachel's waist.
"Be a brave boy Sam, everything will be alright." Rachel tried to encourage him as Ashley with a reluctant manner got on the floor and under the bed.
"We'll come and find you when it's safe okay?" Kara reassured him, crouching down to look at the hidden kids as Sam had followed his sister's example. Her hand stroking her brothers hair in a comforting manner.
"Okay," both of them whispered, voices shaking.
"Now we open the door if we want to keep the kids hidden." Kara instructed as she walked to the door, her shoulders back.
"Knew that would get them out," a man with a British accent said with a smug face.
"What do you want?" Rachel spat out from behind Kara, she hoped her civilian clothes wouldn't give her away. But even she knew it was a long shot.
"Well, if it isn't Doctor Scott" the man sneered at her as he looked her up and down. How could they possible know who she was?
"The savior of Mankind." The man sneered even harder, his distaste for her clear in his voice. "You're coming with us," he ordered, nodding his head at one of his man.
"I'm not going anywhere with you." Rachel retorted, taking a step back, but she couldn't really do much with the kids hiding in the room.
"We'll decide where you're going;" the British voice said again as another man took a hold of her upper arm.
"You're going to be a nice leverage as well," he decided, looking Kara up and down, her baby bump protruding in her coveralls.
"Maybe we'll even take you with us." he said in a cruel tone, chuckling. Kara and Rachel's eyes locked. 'The kids' was the silent message between them, and to save the kids they complied.
They'd have to find some other way to escape Kara decided. She only hoped she wouldn't kill her baby or Rachel during the process.
A nod towards Rachel and Kara knew she understood. They would have to escape somewhere, or they'd be toast.
Ashley watched from underneath the bed as they entered the room and took Rachel and Kara from the room. Ashley knew that Kara and Rachel had sacrificed themselves to save her and her brother. She might only be twelve, but the last year had made her a grown up way too soon.
Tears rose in Ashley's eyes as she realized that the two women she had grown close to, Rachel who she nearly loved as much as her mother, and and Kara who she loved nearly as much as her aunts, had sacrificed themselves to save them.
Ashley's hand was still clasped over her brother's mouth, he'd tried to call out when Rachel and Kara had been taken away. She knew their sacrifice would have been for nothing and as much as she wanted to help them, she couldn't. Kara and Rachel had ordered her and her brother to stay underneath the bed no matter what.
Taking her hand away from her brother's mouth, a tear having run over her hand. "They took them." Sam whimpered, turning around to face his sister.
"I know Sam." Ashley acknowledged.
"We need to help them." he pressed, crawling from under the bed, it's not like they would come back, they had checked the room. But she did stop him from leaving the room.
"They said to stay here Sam," Ashley said, leaning against the door, thinking of Rachel and Kara. And how much she wanted to help them, but she had promised to stay hidden.
"They'll come back Sammy." she said, wrapping her arms around her little brother as they crawled in the corner of the lowest bunk bed. huddled together.
They had nearly covered every stateroom in the ship, encountered four hostiles so far, killed two and subduing two others.
They had only five more staterooms to check. Tom's mind went to all sorts of scenarios, each one worse with another empty checked room.
The worst part about this was that they couldn't say anything over the com or they would be revealing their positions to the intruders, so they continued checking the ship in complete silence.
"Clear." Danny said, checking another door and room. "We'll find them sir," he added, looking at his captain, seeing the worry in his eyes. He couldn't begin to imagine what he might be thinking.
It struck Danny that he might be the only person on board who could relate a little, Kara and their unborn baby were his family and they were onboard. So essentially only he and the captain had their families on board and both were worried sick about them.
Tom nodded his head and could see the worry in his lieutenant's eyes, suspecting they reflected his own.
"We'll find them." Danny repeated, determination in his voice as they walked to the next door. Tex was guarding the P-way behind them, the Captain in front of them as Danny checked the room.
"Clear," came the now repeated word, it's not like his crew would cower in fear in their staterooms. They had proven their worth throughout this mission. Tom was sure, each member was looking through the ship, flushing out the assailants.
"Two more doors left, sir." Tex informed him, "Where do we go after this?" he asked his friend.
"We keep flushing the ship, until the XO announces the clear." The captain explained as they took their positions again for the next door.
"Clear," Danny repeated, closing the door again. He knew he hadn't seen Kara in the CIC when they planned the counter attack. So much like the Captain he didn't know where his family was and he feared one thing. He knew both Rachel and Kara were quite similar in their ways of working; professional and devoted women.
As they walked to the last door in the P-way, Tom didn't know what he wanted to be behind the door. It was the last state room being checked. Standing in formation as Danny opened the door he expected to hear the usual 'clear.'
"Captain." Danny called, looking back to where his captain was standing.
Not having expected that response, his head whipped around towards the door. "Sam, Ashley." he said relieved, storming into the room and embracing his children as they cried in his shoulder.
Tears pooled in his eyes as he embraced his kids.
"Dad." both children said with an urgency. "They've taken Rachel and Kara, they were protecting and hiding us here when they came to the door." Ashley started explaining in an urgency. now that her dad was here they could get them help.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked, taking a step closer to the kids he'd come to care about. It wasn't a strange sight to have him and Sam playing soccer on the deck or letting him hide so admiral Halsey could seek him out.
"We had gone to look for Rachel when the announcement came, Kara led us here. But then the knock came and they told us to hide under the bed. They threatened to blow down the door, so they told us to hide and they opened the door." Ashley rambled, wanting to tell it as quickly as possible, she needed to get help to Rachel and Kara.
"They knew who she was dad. They know Rachel." Sam added his own piece of information.
"They went with them to protect us." Ashley declared, looking between her dad, Danny and crazy Tex, as she had called him.
"Shit." the three of them said.
So that's the chapter, I hope you've enjoyed it. Let me know what you think? If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask them, I'll try to answer them without giving away to much.