CH45
"Richard?" Lucile calls while Rick and Javi are still playing.
"Yes, …. (HUF), ….. Lucile?" Rick barely responds. Since Javi is mopping the floor with him.
"The explosives you requested are about to arrive." Lucile explains the interruption of his game.
Saved by the bell! Rick thinks. "Thanks, …. (HUF), ….. Lucile."
"I, need, …. (HUF), ….. to go." He barely gets out.
"Sure, bro. Run away with your tail between your legs. I understand." Rubbing it in.
Rick shuffles his feet, barely able to lift them. Taking the stairs up to the front door slowly and one at a time. Waiting for the front door bell.
"Lucile, scan please." With a little more force than moments ago.
"Scan complete. Identity confirmed. Product being delivered also confirmed." Lucile confirms.
Opening the door Rick sees a middle aged man he does not recognize carrying a large metal case similar to the one that held the bracers for his friends.
"Request ID confirmation." The man states.
"Daeron-Celebrendal. Alpha, Zeta 4563, Evergreen." Castle states while placing his palm on a reader being held out for him.
"ID confirmed. This is for you." And he hands over a very large case, and a smaller one that does not weigh as much as Rick expected.
"Thanks! Safe travels."
"Safe travels." And the man turns for the car he arrived in. A silver colored Jaguar XKR-S GT Rick notes. A little more car than his. Ok, a lot more car than his.
"DAMN! Should have done some more research!" Rick talks to himself. "Oh well. I've got 2 more garage spaces left."
"I need a drink." And Rick heads up to the kitchen after putting the case in his office and locking it away for later.
Finding Ryan in the living room with his little girl in his arms, Rick grabs a water from the refrigerator and takes a seat so he can talk to Ryan.
Meanwhile, Javi has gone to join Jim in some basketball, but is too tired to put up much resistance. And Jim get's most of his shots in.
Lanie and Kate meanwhile are in a dual of pool skills while Alexis cheers Kate (mom) on. Being too short to use the pool table properly. But Alexis has Jenny to watch over her. After Kate cleans out Lanie they move to the foosball table and Lanie challenges Alexis to a game. Lanie has played this game before, but it has been a long time. Lanie finally finds her groove, but by that time Alexis has too big a lead for her to overcome.
Alexis just grins wide and does a silent victory dance, much like her dance at the training course earlier.
Lanie walks over to Kate. "Your turn girlfriend." Whispering, "Careful girl, she's good."
Walking up, Kate looks squarely at Alexis, "Show me what you can do, Alexis." with a determined face.
"You're going down, down, down, in a burning ball of fire, mom!" Alexis sings out.
"We'll see, sweetie. We'll see."
Kate tries to take it easy on her, but soon finds that she has to really work hard just to stay even. They continue to battle silently, except for calling out the score when each wins a point.
Finally Alexis wins the final point. Kate's hand had slipped off of the control rod allowing Alexis an easy score.
Alexis promptly goes into an enthusiastic victory dance. " I beat mom, I beat mom." Switching to doing the moon walk. "I'm good, I'm good, I'm good."
Taking their losses gracefully, the ladies stop to grab the guys before heading upstairs. After getting something to drink, they all join Castle and Ryan in the living room. With Alexis sitting in Kate's lap while Kate keeps a hold of her while taking an occasional drink.
"Castle, …. You said you came in a 'Colony Ship'. Where is it now?" Kate asks, not really sure she wants an answer.
"It is hiding out in the rings of the planet you call, Saturn." Rick tells her.
"But we, well governments or NASA would see it wouldn't they. I mean they watch Saturn to know more about it, don't they?"
"True, however during our 2 year trip out here we adapted our 'Chameleon Circuitry' that we use for the shuttles that came here with the Evergreen, and like the same circuitry that is used on your bracers."
"At present is looks like the asteroids, or rocks if you prefer that make up the rings of that planet." Kick tells them.
"OK, but how did you get from there to here. I mean there is radar everywhere. And i would think after 9/11 the skies are watched for anything strange." Kate questions.
"The shuttles have the same 'Chameleon Circuitry'. It is how the parts for Lucile were transported here. It's also how the workers who constructed her were transported here. And it's how most of us who are on this planet got here initially. Once we learned more about the planet, we just use the Transmat wall to get here from the Evergreen." Rick explains. "Once in the atmosphere we can mimic being a helicopter. Or an ultra-light. Maybe a private Beechcraft King Air 350i. Or possibly a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane." Rick explains. "The possibilities of what you could mimic are only limited by your imagination." Rick concludes.
Nodding in understanding, "What about how you destroyed Bracken's house?" again afraid of the answer.
"Your planet is surrounded by space junk. We have satellites in orbit that utilize the same chameleon circuitry."
"You mean you have armed satellites in orbit of our planet?" alarmed.
"NO! No, No, No, No, No!" Rick is quick to answer.
"Each satellite is not armed. It is just there to help us monitor the planet. Lucile makes use of them all the time. It's partly how she knows where Bracken and all his men are at the moment."
"So, you used one of these shuttles you came with?"
"NO." Rick takes a deep breath. "Each satellite is capable of opening a Transmat wall using the proper codes and authority and send items it receives thru with the help of a mechanical arm."
"You're losing me here, bro." Javi complains.
"In this case the Evergreen sends what we wanted thru a Transmat wall to one of the satellites that had vision of the intended target. Then the satellite would push the item thru a Transmat wall it created and deposited it where required."
"In this case, it was what you would call a 'Bunker Buster' bomb which exploded and partially destroyed the house while at the same time created a large hole under the house. Using the bottom of the basement floor to open a 'door'. Another 'bomb' a fraction of a second later was then sent, again using the Transmat wall. In this case, it used the roof of the house as the receiving wall."
"This device than exploded in a directed air burst forcing the house down into the hole just created. Smashing it flat into the bottom of the hole." Rick finishes.
"Bro, you could do that to any target on the planet you chose. Kill anyone you chose to and they would never see it coming." Javi states just a little shocked.
"True, but then that would be murder. And we have seen enough of death. And we are not here to 'TAKE' your planet. The idea is to co-exist eventually and prepare for when the enemy finally makes it here."
"That's why you had Lucile scan the house before you blew it up. You wanted to make sure nothing died in the blast." Lanie says understanding.
Rick just nods his head.
"Castle, this enemy you keep mentioning, how long until they get here?" Kate asks sounding concerned. And getting nods from everyone else.
"We don't know. There are just too many variables. Lucile if you please."
And the image of Lucile is replaced with a see thru globe with lines. Like a globe of the planet showing the planetary surface.
"To our knowledge, this is the area that the enemy controls." And a colored blob in the middle lights up.
"Now if you were going to expand, where would you go?" Rick asks not really expecting an answer.
"Your planet is located here." And a small dark blue dot starts blinking. Which looks like a long ways away, but with no way to judge distance?
"If they expand, say this way." As Rick waves his hand thru the globe.
"They will not be headed this way anytime soon. Centuries or more possibly."
"If they decide to expand this way" With another motion of his hand. "And they will be closer and possibly arrive sooner."
"Even if they decide to expand all around them, this will diminish their effectiveness against anything, or anyone they encounter, and they will be forced to do it slowly. We presume."
"And if they come this way?" Jim asks, very afraid of the answer.
"We have nothing to stop them with. They would blow thru your planet. Your military at its present level of technology would be less than a gnat that they would wave at and crush, and move on."
"And what would you do?" Jenny asks.
"My people, and a select small group of yours, would get on the Evergreen, leave the system, activate the FTL, and, run." Rick responds by hunching his shoulder up, as if there was anything else they could do.
"As to run where? I have no idea. It is probably being worked out as we speak, or already planned. I don't know."
"This, enemy, what do they want?" Jim asks.
"Honji Sinhindrea. Roughly translated into your language, means 'The One Race'. Which pretty much explains their opinion of other races."
"They believe that they are the only sentient life form that should exist. All others should be eliminated."
"We really have no idea how many of them there are, or how much territory they control or the number of races they have exterminated, in their ruthless conquest of space."
"When we encountered them they destroyed the ships we had that they encountered. It was widely believed that this encounter gave them knowledge of our existence and proceeded to send forces to remove us."
"We sent a large force, or what we thought was a large force to negotiate an end to hostilities. A lot of ships sent were similar to 'MOM' in size and capability. They found the enemy on a very remote planet and proceeded to make contact."
"They were not there in force and so the commander in charge thought they could handle them while they made planet fall to talk to them. They were attacked immediately, even though they were severely out numbered. They managed to capture a few and took them up to their ships and began questioning them."
"Out of this we learned of their opinion of all other life forms. A few weeks later a force three times their size entered the system and attacked our forces. Of the 112 ships that were sent, only 64 returned to tell us what they had learned. We immediately shifted all our industrial might into war material."
"We have been fighting them for centuries ever since."
"Castle, what are Honji Sinhindrea?" Ryan asks curiously, trying his best to pronounce the name.
"Lucile?"
And Lucile's image is replaced with one of a Honji Sinhindrea. A little shorter than Castle but not as 'bulky' standing on two legs holding some kind of rifle weapon. Kate can feel Alexis stiffen in her lap and she responds automatically by holding her a little closer to herself. Everyone can hear all the others hitch their breath and say "Eeeww!"
"It looks like a cross between a lizard and some kind of insect. Maybe a cockroach. A very colorful one."
"Actually that is paint. We have never had one long enough to interrogate to find out the meaning behind all the paint."
"And the paint seems to be different between each individual. It may be a personal choice. Or something similar to what a peacock does. It was once suggested that the paint may symbolize a ranking in their military or society." Castle once finished just shrugs his shoulders.
"As best we understand. They are a hive race. There would be a prime hive somewhere with a queen and probably king consort with numerous satellite hives with queens of their own. All subservient to the main queen, something like ants or other insects on this planet."
"So all they want to do is kill?" Jim asks.
Rick shakes his head and looks straight at Kate and places his hands over his ears. It takes Kate a moment to figure out what he is asking. Finally she takes her arms from around Alexis, who is still in her lap, and places her hands over the little girl's ears.
Giving a nod to Kate, that she did what he had silently asked of her. "There are 3 basic things that all races need to survive. And I don't mean housing or cell phones. Just 3 basic things." Rick speaks softly so Alexis does not accidentally hear.
"I'll even give you one. Atmosphere. You need an atmosphere that will support your life form."
"Air" says Jim. Getting a nod from Castle.
"Water?" Lanie offers up, unsure of her answer. Getting another nod from Castle.
"This planet is roughly 75% water. Most of it salt water, but that can be remedied."
"Food." Offers Jim as the final item, getting another nod from Castle.
"There is roughly 6.7 billion of one particular life form that would work as food on this planet at the present time."
Lanie puts both her hands over her mouth as tears start to form, while she shakes her head repeating the word "NO!" over and over.
Not long after they can all hear Jenny, "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! Oh my god! Oh my god!" As Jenny begins to freak out.
Everyone else catches on quickly, as everyone opens their mouths wide, but no sound comes out from anyone else.
With tears starting to form, Kate removes her hands off of Alexis's ears and wraps them around her tight, as if this would somehow protect her from what she just heard.
"OH Castle! The people you left behind?" Then a thought occurs to Kate. "Your wife?" as her voice starts to break.
