James shot up from bed in terror. "Whoa, are you okay doc?" Reilly asked, keeping watch. "I...just had a terrible nightmare and overbearing sense of dread come over me." he said catching his breath. They were in the middle of D.C. and had been stuck between a battle between Talon mercs and Super Mutants. They had been doing their best to avoid both parties, but it had drastically slowed them down. "What was it about?" she asked.
"My son, in trouble. He called out to me in desperation but I don't know why."
"Well, he is in the vault right? I'm sure it's nothing. Try to get some sleep, we move in two hours."
James nodded and laid back down, but he couldn't shake the feeling of dread.
Buck fell over on the bed, holding his chest. A moment ago he felt a tap on his shoulder and when he turned around he only saw the cowboy, who then shot him in the chest. "Who-" Another shot went into his chest. Buck tried to aim his alien pistol but was shot in the shoulder, dropping it. "Boys! Where are you!" Buck cried out, panicking.
"Dead, the yellow feller sliced them up, when they tried to take us all hostage. I warned him they were bad long ago, and he kept his eye on them, for the kid you just killed. Y'all never realized he wasn't around either, so he got the drop on them. I wish I got here sooner, but at least I can avenge the kid. By killing your worthless ass." He then shot him in right between the eyes.
Elliot came in and went to work on Kirk. "Oh shit- I don't know..." Sally walked in but the cowboy covered her eyes and took her out. Somah walked in and saw Kirk. "Fuck. I knew it. Dammit, I knew it." she said, leaning her head against the wall. "Help me put him on this bed." Elliot said. They put him on the bed, rolling Buck's body off, and the cowboy walked in. "He's dead army, I was too late."
Elliot removed Kirk's suit and saw all the scars. Somah gasped, and the cowboy whistled. "Fuck it, I'm gonna try it." Elliot said, pulling out some tubes. "What is that?" Somah asked. "Some kind of gel that the aliens use for wounds, I found a bunch of it in the labs I went to. I think I can use it on humans." He then smeared the gel over his wounds, and injected him with Stimpacks on all of his wounds. He gave him an IV and started giving him O- blood he found as well.
A few moments later, all of his wounds closed up. He still wasn't breathing though. Elliot started doing CPR on him. "Come on Kirk, come back. You are too young." Sally came in holding a shock baton. "Try this! I saw lightning being use to bring a dead person back to life in a movie!" Elliot grabbed it and looked at Somah, "Give me yours."
Elliot took both batons and shocked Kirk in the chest. Nothing. He tried again. Nothing. "Dammit Kirk!" He tried one more time. This time Kirk inhaled and shot up in shock.
"Holy shit, it worked!" Elliot cried, dropping the batons. Kirk quickly took in his surroundings. He grabbed his throat and saw Buck's dead body. "What- what...I thought I..."
"It's okay, we brought you back. You're gonna be okay." Elliot said. "So...he did..." Somah grabbed his head, "Hey don't think about it kid. You are alive that is all that matters."
Kirk couldn't help it, he remembered all of it. The pain, the shock of betrayal, and his final thoughts. It was too much and he started to cry. Somah and Sally hugged him as Elliot and the cowboy stepped out. Kirk held onto them like he was gonna fall if he let go. Letting out all of his anguish that he had built up.
A while later Kirk stepped out to see the last of the survivors. Only Elliot, Somah, Sally, the cowboy, the armored man, and Kirk had survivied. The slavers killed the others and quickly tried to take the rest hostage, but the armored man came out of nowhere and killed them.
"You're the one who killed him?" Kirk asked the cowboy.
"Yeah, call me Paulson. I've been keeping an eye on the bastard since he shot that officer. I knew he was trouble. Sorry for uh, not getting to you faster."
Kirk inhaled on the memory of his death, which was still fresh and shook it off. "Thank you. It's my fault, I fell for his game and paid the consequences."
"So Captain! What do we do?" Kirk turned to Sally. "Captain? I think you should be the Captain, Sally."
"No, I'll be the Co-Captain, Elliot will be our Doctor, Somah will be our Engineer, sword guy will be left alone to do what he wants, and Paulson will be Jangles the Moon Monkey!"
"The hell is a moon monkey?" Paulson asked.
They all heard a door opened off to the side and an alien in a red suit walked in with its hands up. They all aimed their guns at it and the alien cowered down with it's hand raised up.
They all lowered their weapons realizing it was a friendly alien. Who walked over to a table and grabbed a device. It clicked a few buttons and then spoke into it. A robotic voice came from the device, "Hello, can you understand me?"
"Holy shit! Yeah we can understand you!" Somah yelled. The alien clicked a button and the robotic voice spoke in it's language. It then used the device again.
"You are now in control of our ship, we will work for you now. We just want to repair the damages and go on with our lives. What do you want?"
"We want to go home." Kirk said pointing at the planet out the window.
"Very well, we can do that."
"Wait that's it? We kill most of your kind and you just let it go?" Somah asked.
"We have families on this ship, we only want to continue thriving. We are willing to co-exist as long as you let us continue our lives on the ship. We are peaceful by nature, our brethren you killed were soldiers, who were doing terrible experiments on your kind. We wanted nothing to do with that. We thank you for ending them. They were taking these experiments too far. They have forgotten our way of life long ago."
"That would explain why they helped us. Helped me get to the door." Kirk said.
"Well he is our new captain, so what he says goes!" Sally said, pointing at Kirk.
"Hold on I-"
"Very good, we will begin repairs and show you how to use our transport system to go back to your planet." the alien said and left.
Soon it came with other aliens and they got to work removing the dead bodies and fixing the systems. They showed Kirk to his new quarters as well. It was a large spacious room with a strange bed, a table, a bathroom, and a couch of some sort. He thought it was funny how similar they were to comfort. Everything was about the same stuff humans had just with a weird curve shape to it.
He took a very hot and refreshing shower and found himself staring in the mirror or well his reflection, he was pretty sure the device wasn't glass. He ran his fingers over the scar on his neck. Flashes of Buck's face came across his mind. The stabbing and the- he shook these thoughts out. He found his vault suit ragged and covered in blood. He thought to ask the aliens to clean it but he still wasn't comfortable with this whole captain thing. He put on his suit and tried to ignore the large amounts of blood on it.
He left the room and made his way to the bridge, which the aliens called it. Somah approached him, "Looks like they set up the transport system, we can go back down whenever."
"Good, I have friends who need me." Kirk said.
"Captain, before you go. We have tools for you." an alien behind him said.
They motioned for his PIPBOY and placed a silvery blue device on it. "This will help us communicate with you on your planet." They showed him how to use it. Explaining that he can call down other transporters to come back to the ship. They then handed him an alien gun with some blue cells. "The old captains weapon, it is state of the art weaponry, please use as needed. Good luck to you Captain."
Somah handed him a device with two buttons. "This is a slave collar remote that I created, it should work on all collars down there. I know you judge me for helping the slavers down there, I hope this shines a better light on me. Use it to save your friends and any other slave you find."
"Thank you Somah, and you have my respect don't worry."
"I don't deserve it, I should've warned you about Buck. I thought maybe he really would let you go, but I was a fool."
"Don't blame yourself, he tricked us all. Are you coming down with me?"
"Actually no, I want to tinker with some things up here, I might even be able to make something to help you out later and maybe some slaves."
Kirk nodded and turned to see Elliot approaching him, "I'm staying here, the gel that saved your life, I'm gonna experiment with it and try to make a version for us humans. I'm a doctor after all. Might as well put all my education from 200 years ago to work."
"I didn't know you were a doctor, I thought you were just a medic." Kirk said.
"Long story, but you got other places to be. Thank you for freeing us. I hope to see you soon."
The armored man approached him and bowed to him, then simply walked away. Kirk nodded to him slightly confused and went to the room Buck killed him in, apparently the circle door here would take him back down. He found himself staring at the place he died, until he heard someone clear their throat behind him.
"Don't dwell on it kid, ain't good fer ya." Paulson said, leaning against the wall.
"I know, but it's still...fresh." Kirk said, rubbing his neck scar.
Paulson handed him a yellow cloth, "Here. This should help to keep fellers from asking pesky questions." Kirk took it and tied around his neck, covering the scar. "Thank you."
"It was my son's..." he said leaving the room. Sally entered soon after, while Kirk stared at the glowing circle. "You're not gonna take that alien gun?" she asked pointing to one in the corner.
"No, it's too hard to aim and I never know how many shots I have on it. Too unreliable, beside the, uh, aliens gave me a smaller one." Kirk explained.
"You're gonna come back to visit right? We need a captain here." Sally asked, pouting.
"I have other responsibilities but I'll check in from time to time. I need you to keep these people in line while I'm gone. Can you do that for me?" Kirk asked, kneeling down to her.
"Aye aye, Captain." she said with a salute. With that she skipped out. Kirk took one last glance at where he died, and then stepped onto the circle.
"I think it's time to move on, the dog is just going in circles here." Arkansas suggested, keeping a lookout. They had got back to the site by noon and had been there watching Dogmeat sniff the area over and over.
"We can't just give up on him, he wouldn't give up on us." Lucy yelled, sitting on a nearby rock. "This is definitely the place, even if the big object is gone." Vance said, examining the area.
Jericho was resting against a boulder, trying to rest, but even he knew it was probably a lost cause. "Let's just accept it, the kid is de-" a loud crash erupted near them and a huge column of dirt shot into the air.
The group took cover and surveyed the area for threats. "What the fuck was that?! Wasn't the slave killer suppose to keep fuckin watch?!" Jericho yelled.
"I was! No one was around!" he yelled back. When the dust settled a bright white cylinder with blue lights laid in the center of the crater.
They all slowly approached it and examined it. "We are so fucking stupid, this could be a damn bomb, and we are staring at it like morons." Jericho said, walking away.
"Do you think it's a container of some sort?" Lucy asked. "Looks more like a beacon to me. Likely sending out a signal." Arkansas said.
"A signal to what?" she asked, poking it. "Who knows." he said, going back to his lookout spot. "Regardless, it's our only clue to Kirk, I say we wait a bit longer and see if it does anything." Vance said, sitting down on a rock and watching it.
The sun started to set as the group got comfortable around the object. After a few moments the object started lighting up and spinning fast. The group got up and pulled out their weapons aiming at it.
A flash of blue light erupted next to it with Kirk standing right next to the object. He grabbed his pistol but before he aimed, he recognized them. A mixture of shock and relief was expressed by everyone.
"Oh thank goodness, you guys are alright!" Kirk yelled with a smile running to Lucy. She hugged him tight as the others came up to him. Dogmeat ran circles around the group in excitement.
As they parted from the hug, she noticed all the blood on his suit. "Kirk! Are you okay?" Lucy asked, mortified. "Yea, it's uh.. not my blood." he lied, not wanting to explain his...death.
He looked at Vance, Jericho, and Dogmeat, figuring they were the ones who rescued them. "Thank you, for coming for us."
Jericho scoffed, "Shut up kid, and tell us what the hell happened to you. What the hell is that and how the hell did you appear next to it?"
Kirk pondered on how to explain everything. It was gonna sound ridiculous no matter what, so he was gonna give it his best shot. "Before he does let us set up camp. Jericho you need rest." Vance suggested. "I am glad you are safe my friend." he said, grasping Kirk's shoulder. He then paused looking in Kirk's eyes and sensed great sorrow. Kirk quickly looked away, "Thanks Vance."
Vance watched him walk away with a sad expression on his face. He had the feeling wherever he was, he faced great hardship again.
As they sat around the fire, cooking up some meat, Kirk told them everything. They listened to his story with mixed expressions but never interrupted him. He kept out the part about Buck killing him, instead said he attacked him but was saved by Paulson. Once he was finished with the story, the group stayed silent.
"So you are now the captain of a giant ship in space?" Lucy asked. Kirk nodded, "It seems so." Jericho broke out in laughter, Kirk smirked knowing the story would be hard to believe. "Jericho, stop!" Lucy yelled with a small giggle. "I believe you Kirk." Vance said with a smile.
Lucy spun around on Vance with a surprised look, "Hey! I believe him too!" Arkansas remained silent and left to keep lookout. Jericho could hardly breathe from all his laughter. "Seriously Jericho, you might kill yourself with that much laughter, please get a hold of yourself!" Lucy yelled at him. Jericho slowly stopped, wiping tears from his eyes.
"I'm not saying...ha ha...you're making it up, I think your just... ha ha ... making up some of it." Jericho said. Kirk pulled up his PIPBOY and held down a button on the silver device, "Sally, can you hear me?"
After a few moments a voice came through, "Loud and clear Captain! Missing us already?" The group stared at Kirk in shock.
"Just wanted to see if this worked, I made it home and found my friends. I'll keep in touch. See ya Sally."
"Sounds good Captain! I'll keep the aliens and our officers busy up here!"
Kirk lowered his PIPBOY and waited for their reactions. "Well, Jericho it seems you owe Kirk an apology." Vance said smiling, crossing his arms.
Jericho scoffed, "Glad your okay kid." He laid down and got some rest. The rest of the group followed suit.
After two days they made it back to Arefu with only a few close encounters with wildlife, nothing new to the group. Kirk got the sense that Lucy was keeping her distance from him, but he tried not to dwell on it.
Evan King welcomed them back with a full meal and alcohol. Kirk gladly drank some scotch with his meal, and had a good time with the friends. The residents had welcomed them back warmly, but Kirk noticed the Family wasn't around. Vance had left the group as soon as the dinner was over. Arkansas had stayed with them all the way to Arefu, to their surprised. When they walked by Minefield he had grabbed some gear and told them he would stick with them.
Kirk and Lucy retired for the night at her house. Jericho went back to the clinic for more treatment. Lucy turned to Kirk, "Hey, I've been wanting to say something. Since you returned."
Kirk had a feeling she did, but didn't want to press her about it. "Well, I'm all ears." Lucy fiddled with her hands, taking a few moments before talking.
"I was really angry at you, when we got captured. When the uh...slaver woman...wanted...to"
"Yeah, I got it." Kirk said, slightly annoyed. He didn't want to think about it.
"Well, I noticed you got, uh, aroused with...her. So I got mad cause you couldn't with me..."
Kirk let out a heavy sigh, looking down. He really didn't want to talk about this but he understood why she needed to.
"Lucy... I hate that I couldn't...satisfy you fully that night. I can't explain why I did get hard with the slaver, and it really made me furious that I did. You are very pretty, but I can't explain what is goi-"
"I think I know what happened with the raiders at the school." she said abruptly.
Kirk froze and looked at her with a stern look. He really didn't want to talk about that. "Lucy, I think we should put this off-"
"I don't want to talk about it, I just want you to know...that I'm sorry. I know you've had it pretty hard out here since you left the vault, not including the crazy space trip you did. I want you to know I don't hold the arousal thing against you. Whenever you are ready to pursue something more intimate, well I'll be here."
Kirk pondered her words. "Thank you, that means a lot. If it's all the same I think I'm gonna sleep on a separate bed."
Lucy nodded and gave him a hug, he kept it short and went to lay down. Lucy did the same, hoping she said the right words. Unfortunately for Kirk, he found himself wanting to throw more walls up, now more than ever. He knew she meant well, but he had to deal with this on his own. It was no one else's business what he has been through.