CH34 (113)

Kate and Elena were now on Tellus a little over one month after finding out the good news from Madison.

Elena had elected for shots so long as Madison was around to give them. Getting a shot didn't seem to be a problem for Elena, giving herself a shot however had proved to be more of a challenge. So when they left Athos, Elena had pills and a prescription for still more.

Kate had pulled a few strings and made some calls and found a school that would take Elena now, instead of waiting for her to finish high school.

Kate and Elena had both met the Master in charge of the school. He wasn't what Kate remembered of her Master, but Elena seemed to like him. They had also toured the school and seen where Elena's new room would be.

They had also met with her teacher for the remainder of high school.

The school had its own affiliation with a doctor who would be seeing Elena and Lucy had already transferred her records for him to review.

"You're sure you want to do this honey? …. It's not too late. Your father and I will not think badly of you if you decide not to do this." Kate had a hold of her arms and was looking directly into her eyes.

"I'm sure mom. I'm going to do this." Elena answered back with conviction.

Kate then hugged her close. "You call us when you get a chance. … We'll see you for the summer. You meet us on Athos. Your Master has been kind enough to allow me to continue your education during the summer.

He'll probably un-teach you what I teach you." Kate started chuckling.

Kate let go of her and held her at arm's length. "I'm proud of you honey. And I'm sure your parents are proud of you too. … You call if you need anything. One of us will be out here as fast as we can." Kate kisses her forehead.

"You take care of yourself." Kate blinks back the tears.

"Thanks mom." Elena hugs her and runs inside or she was going to start crying in public.

Kate however didn't have a problem with that. However it soon passed as she thought over what was to come next.

Kate had time to think about what she was going to do as she took a GETS train to the hospital. It was a good thing she was a detective and had Lucy or this might have not been so easy.

Kate stepped into the hospital. "I'm detective Castle. I'm looking for a Josh Davidson. I'm told he works here."

Kate headed for the basement where the mechanical room was located. Since his censure from the Medical Board, he had temporarily lost his license to practice pending a review and was now down in the basement working as a "Sterilization Technician".

Kate had no problem finding him. He was busy doing nothing, not even working.

Kate strode right up to him and gave Josh a second for it to register. "Kate!" It was hard to tell if he was surprised, happy or scared she was there.

Kate then reached out and pinched him in a location that Elena was going to learn about eventually, and the next thing out of Josh's mouth was a scream of pain. Kate squeezed and squeezed getting Josh to scream louder and louder.

Then Kate released him and let Josh collapse onto the floor. After giving him a minute, watching him twitch on the floor, Kate reached out and found a new place to pinch, getting Josh to start screaming all over again.

Half an hour later Kate was done with him and watched him lying on the floor, convulsing and twitching all over the floor while slowly recovering. Whimpering still from all the pain his nerves were still sending to his brain even though Kate was no longer touching him.

Kate got down and leaned down into his ear. "You screwed with my family Josh. I find you within sight distance of my family again and we'll do this again. Only next time it will last a lot long than half an hour. A whole lot longer.

And your mind will make sure the pain lasts for even longer." Kate got up and walked out, not leaving a mark on him. Some of his nerves were damaged, but his skin was un-marked. Even Madison would have trouble finding a mark on his body.

Josh was going to feel the occasional twinge of pain for days to come as his nerve areas that Kate had pinched tried to recover. If Josh forced Kate to come back here, the damage might become permanent. (Think Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus from the Pink Panther movie and his twitching eye. Uhm, former Chief Inspector).

Kate couldn't leave to go back to Ariel for another week, having to wait for a ship going her way. Kevin, Javi, Lanie and Jenny were all on Athos by now. Kate had made a few phone calls and found out both Javi and Kevin cleared their psych evaluations and were cleared to start up a sniper school on Athos.

Kate felt bad about not going to see their wives who had gone ahead of the guys and were already there when she arrived with Elena. But Kate's focus was on her daughter, not them.

With nowhere else to go and no one else to see, even all the Earth people were gone by now, including Admiral Quast, Kate decided to sit outside not far away from the school Elena was in and just watched.

Kate only ever saw Elena once, from a distance. She looked tired, but seemed to be walking with a purpose. Kate had no problem following her and found her getting her prescription filled and then walk back to school.

Kate was smiling on the GETS train for the ship back to home. Elena was keeping up with her pills and seemed to be holding up relatively well so far.

Summer was coming up fast, and when it was over Alexis would be off to college, here or on Ariel. All her girls were growing up fast it seemed.

Kate was feeling the pain of leaving Elena behind, but got a quick pick me up as soon as her shuttle landed on one of their now two pads at home. Kate had Emily and Kali were all over her the second she stepped out. Alexis and Rick soon followed.

Eventually before bed Rick and Alexis had Kate alone. "How is she doing, really?" Rick was interested. "And don't tell me you didn't watch her. Even if you had to use a telescope to do it." Rick wasn't taking, 'I don't know' as an answer.

Kate just grinned. Her husband knew her just a little too well maybe. "She looked tired. I only saw her once; she went out to get her prescription from Mags re-filled."

"What are they doing to her?" Alexis wanted to go get her if it even sounded bad.

"Probably class work followed by conditioning tests. Find out what condition she is in now so they can figure out what she needs to work on. … Then a psych evaluation to find out if she has any phobias. … Fear of rats, snakes, heights, any number of things.

By the time we see her come summer break, she'll already be a changed person. Probably more focused, tired, … maybe less likely to have spontaneous fun. We'll have to re-train her to have fun most likely." Kate was guessing. Detective training wasn't about having fun.

"We can do that." Alexis figured that would be the easy part. Between her, her dad, the girls and Madison, Elena didn't stand a chance.

"Just think, two detectives in the same family. … I wonder if that's a first." Rick chuckles to himself. Another Kate Beckett!

Kate however leans over to kiss Rick for his comment. Elena was technically theirs, but only because they adopted her. Rick had supported her when she had brought it up and Kate had kissed him for it then too.

Since then they had treated her like she was their daughter, another Alexis, since they were the same age.

Both Rick and Kate felt responsible for Elena losing her parents. They wouldn't have been on that damn cruise ship in the first place, except to come visit their daughter and finally meet the Castle clan in person.

Elena would have her parents and be doing something else. Instead she is following in Kate's footsteps.

"So what have you four been doing the last 3 months while I've been gone? (One month to Athos, one month to Tellus to drop off Elena, one month back to Ariel)

"Alexis has a boyfriend that she won't bring home." Rick offers up.

"He's not my boyfriend dad. He's my lab partner." Alexis corrects him before Kate starts flying with that comment.

"Lab partner. Right. …. That must be why it's Andre Schurrle this and Andre Schurrle that. … I'm late because I had a lab project with Andre." Rick however is not done, or even close.

"Lab partner huh?" Kate stares at Alexis.

Alexis stands and starts to make her way to her room. "Yes, … lab partner." Alexis throws over her shoulder.

"Good thing I'm a detective then. I shouldn't have any trouble looking up this Andre Schurrle." Kate was grinning. She was teasing and she knew it, but Alexis didn't.

Alexis however stopped dead in her tracks and actually turned around and came 2 steps back towards them. "Mom, you wouldn't!" With a slightly horrified look on her face.

"No pumpkin I wouldn't. … But I will if you don't invite him over for lunch or dinner soon." Kate countered.

Alexis was ready to panic. Dinner with her parents? They could screw everything up. However Alexis could see that her mother wasn't grinning like it was an empty threat.

"Ok fine. I'll ask him. But don't come crying to me if he says no." And Alexis turns on her heel and strides for her room. This was now officially a nightmare.

Kate's face finally breaks as soon as Alexis is out of the room and starts laughing. "That was just toooo good."

"Now you see the fun in scaring the crap out of the boyfriend your daughter brings home." Rick was grinning, as he started dreaming up things he was going to do.

Kate however slaps his arm. "Rick you are not scaring her 'Lab Partner' (Kate using quote sign with her hands) away."

"I think maybe I'll clean my gun on that day. Out here on the breakfast bar in fact." Rick was grinning, thinking what that would do to the kid.

"RICK!" This time she punches him in the arm.

"It's my sacred duty to make sure he understands what I'm going to do to him if he hurts my little girl." Rick stands his ground.

"You had an entire week on Tellus. I know Josh is gone from here; he's been gone for over a month now. You're not trying to tell me you didn't go see him." Rick challenges.

"That's different! He hurt Elena, and he did it on purpose." Rolls off of Kate's tongue before she can stop herself. 'Oh crap, she just admitted she went to see Josh.'

"Can he still walk?" Rick figured she might start there.

"YES!" Kate states with conviction. Answering his question quickly.

"No permanent disfigurement?" Rick tries again. Maybe he has a permanent limp or his fingers don't work properly any more.

"No, nothing permanent." Kate figured she was telling the truth since his twitching would eventually go away.

So whatever she did got her message across and didn't leave him a paraplegic. Not that, that was such a bad thing, considering. So Rick leans across and kisses Kate. "That's my girl!"

Kate starts smiling, and then quickly frowns. He wasn't mad at her for going to see Josh, but he had called her a 'girl'. "I'm a woman Rick, not a girl."

Rick lifts his eyebrows. "Oh, and just how do you plan on proving that you're a woman and not a girl?" Rick started grinning, while running a few fingers down her exposed arm.

Kate hopped up and dragged Rick down to their bedroom. It had been 3 LONG months without Rick, and she was going to prove to him that she was all woman.

Kate gained a project for her detective job. In this case it was a lost personal shuttle, along with the person in it.

He had, had a fight with his wife and took off in a small shuttle, the type used for atmospheric flight only. He was a little older than Rick and just slightly out of shape but not seriously so.

His wife had indicated that he was wearing sweats only. The shuttle of this type typically had no food and limited water and a small first aid kit. Since it was not space capable it did not have a locater beacon or a black box.

He had already been missing 48 hours by the time Kate caught wind of the case.

Their only child was in college and hadn't seen him for almost a week due to class work.

His wife couldn't think of any one location that he would go to, to blow off steam.

Kate had started with using Lucy to access the satellite network to do a search for his shuttle.

Kate spent the next 12 hours searching camp site locations that showed any hint of a material that could be the shuttle.

Kate was sitting at the breakfast bar nursing the breakfast she had made for herself. Rick was keeping Emily and Kali busy and out of her hair. She was using a pad connected to Lucy to scroll thru the list of locations Lucy had created.

"Anything mom?" Alexis stepped into the kitchen to get her own breakfast before going to school.

"So far nothing, and we're in fall now. Practically winter so it's getting cold out there in some areas." Kate needed to find him soon. Another night would increase the chance for hypothermia.

Alexis took a peek at her tablet. "Campsites would be obvious choices. If he's hiding out he would pick a site that was secluded." Alexis offers.

"That's why I'm looking at the deep areas that only a few ever venture into. One of the places your father and I created as a National Park.

Lucy didn't find him in any of the hotel like areas. The overnight cabin areas are all clear of Shuttles. None of his friends have seen him in over 3 days." Kate kept moving her scan around looking for something.

"Any secret locations? … Sorry, if it's a secret than no one knows about it." Alexis scrunches her face in an apology and goes back to finding breakfast. Kate however just grinned.

"How good a pilot is he? Did he pass his instruments only?" Alexis asks taking a bite of her breakfast.

Kate changes screens to find the answer. "Yes, last week actually." Kate looks up to look at Alexis.

"So he passed but has no experience." Alexis points out.

"If he's not careful he'll fly straight into the ground busting into countless pieces or bury himself in the ground." Kate was now staring past Alexis deep in thought. "Unless the ground was already open and swallowed him up." Kate talks to herself, whispering.

"Like Connor gap? … Over here." Alexis adjusts Kate's pad to show the area.

Kate looks down at her pad and adjusts the view. "Scans show it is clean, and there is nowhere to land. … Except here. …. I'll need a quad, food, water, first aid, phone, climbing gear, extra rope, laser knife, a basket to lay him in, …. I gotta go." Kate stands up and turns to run for her shuttle.

Kate however comes up short and turns back to Alexis and leans across the counter to kiss her cheek. "Thanks pumpkin." Then runs for the shuttle.

"Anytime mom." Alexis calls to Kate's back as she exits out the door.

Kate has landed her shuttle and loaded up her quad. "Lucy try and keep track of me. I'll call you if I need anything or anyone."

Kate takes her quad out of the shuttle and closes the ramp, this was Sabertooth Tiger country. She didn't need one finding her shuttle and ripping the flight controls to pieces.

It took some work and she finally gave up and cut one tree down with her laser knife, but she was at the edge of what was called Conner gap.

It was kind of a mini Grand Canyon, just without the Grand part. It was more of an open wound in the planet, though it did have a stream at the bottom.

Kate pulled out her phone. "I'm at the edge, anything on scans?" Kate asks Lucy.

"All I see is you. You have some campers about 10 miles west of your location and I see a lone person entering the canyon area on the east side. He however is miles from your location. Possibly a photographer since he seems to have very little equipment." Lucy tells her.

The National Parks idea had been a big hit. There were places that allowed campsites, tents only, though some had these Yurt's that you could stay in. Kate had even considered taking her family to one that had a few of these in the middle of nowhere. No electricity, no heat except for the stove in the middle that was also where you cooked indoors. Roughing it, family style.

"Ok I'm going to get set up to rappel down to the bottom. I'll take the wench cable with me as well as the remote." Kate needed the remote to turn the motor on to pull her back up. It was a long drop.

Kate tied the quad to a nice big tree, then a separate tree to tie her rope to, put the wench in neutral and started to rappel down the cliff side.

Reaching the bottom Kate un-hooked herself and started upstream to scout around.

Kate was getting wet slogging thru the stream and rounded a small bend. "SON OF A, …" It got Kate to stop and charge her weapon and look around.

Kate approached carefully and took a peek under the tarp that was staked to the ground. "That little, …." Kate trailed off and slipped under the tarp to look for the door.

Lucy instantly panicked as she watched Kate suddenly disappear from her scans. Lucy instantly called Kate and got no answer.

Kate meanwhile had found the door to the shuttle and slipped inside with her weapon ready.

It was small. A little room for cargo and 2 seats. (think mini Cooper). Finding no one she sat in the pilot seat and checked the screens.

Power was down to 22% and the power cell was not recharging. As she watched it went down to 21%.

Checking the controls she found the tarp was plugged into the shuttle and was draining the power cell dry, leaving it no time to re-charge.

Checking the history the tarp had been active for about 3 days now. Just about right.

Kate killed the power to the tarp and her phone suddenly started vibrating. Answering it. "Hi Lucy." Knowing exactly who it would be. "I found the shuttle under a reflective tarp. The shuttles power cell is almost dry."

"So I deduced since both you and it are now on my scans. You and it are however are all I see for several miles." Lucy warns her.

"Power level suggests it has been here about 3 days. It would have gone dry sometime tonight. If you can't see them either there is another one or he is in the rocks." Kate offers.

"I concur, be careful." Lucy advises and ends the call. He had gone to a lot of trouble to disappear, meaning he didn't want to be found.

Kate left the power to the tarp off so that the power cell would slowly recharge.

Making her way back outside with her weapon at the ready. Kate went back to getting a little wet as she made her way upstream.

Kate looked back and saw that the shuttle was sitting on a small sand bar. Kate rounded another bend. "Figures."

There was a small part rock part wood building nestled in under a rock overhang. There was a single door that was open and a pair of windows that still had glass with the shutters open.

She could see a fire pit out near the water's edge and a pair of chairs up against the small building. It looked like you could cook at the fire pit. The fire pit area however was a mess. To Kate it looked like someone had a fight. But she didn't see any bodies.

Kate made her way slowly up the side of the rock outcropping and was making her way for the first window.

Just a head at the door she could see lots of tracks. Enough for two people and some really big paw prints.

Kate worked her way under the window over to the door and kneeled down to look. "Sabertooth."

That was when Kate noticed the smell, and some blood.