Captive (28 page)

* * * * *

Carlone finally reached his ship. Dragging sulfur-filled air into his lungs, he readjusted the prime minister's heavy weight against his shoulder. Rigora had been knocked unconscious by a falling beam, and he had to carry him most of the way here. Opening the door to the ship, he set him in the seat as best he could.

He needed a doctor; both of them did. Leaning over, Carlone examined Rigora's head wound. It bled profusely, and that made it very difficult for him to see the extent of the damage. Fastening the harness around Rigora, he quickly went to the other side of the ship and climbed in.

Please start, he thought as he closed his eyes. His prayers were answered, for soon the engines roared to life. However, his relief was short-lived. The
Shlictah
exploded into a huge ball of fire. He gasped in fear, pushing the ship as hard as she would go. He prayed they could get out of there before they were consumed along with everything else.

* * * * *

Mikayla wanted to close her eyes, but she couldn't. She couldn't take them off the tower. Surely, he wasn't thinking about trying to fly through it. They continued to fly straight toward it, approaching the tower at speeds she couldn't even begin to contemplate. Tightening her grip on the arm of the chair, she desperately fought the urge to scream as he closed the distance between them and the tower. At the last second, he made a sharp right turn while the flyer behind them flew directly into it, exploding into a massive fireball. Looking over at her, he smiled. “Piece of cake.”

“I swear, if you weren't flying this ship, I would knock the crap out of you.” Laughing, he turned back toward the front and continued to make his way through the mass of fighters. A loud alarm echoed through the ship. “Tractor beam lock on.”

Sidious let go of the wheel. Fear snaked down her spine that they'd been captured, would once again have to return to the Destroyer to be consumed in the explosion like everything else.

“Who?” she asked.

“The
Vultair
,” he replied. “Since they are moving at such a high rate of speed, they need to guide us in.”

She watched with fascination as they were pulled into a ship that she could only describe as something you would see in a nightmare. She'd only seen the inside of it on Daego. What she saw now resembled a predator, an evil-looking bird that swooped and circled around its prey. It was nowhere near as big as the
Shlictah
, but it was huge nonetheless. The docking bay they flew into held five other ships, all the same size or bigger than the
Triton
, and still had plenty of room for more.

She looked through the window at the darkened bay, red lights illuminating the area, giving it a creepy look. “It's not normally this dark, is it?”

“Not normally. It's only this dark now because all the unnecessary power is being used for the shields.”

He took her hand and helped her climb out of the ship. Her arm was really hurting her, and it was beginning to stiffen up along with the rest of her body. She staggered and placed her hand against the side of the ship to brace herself.

“Doing all right?” he asked as he looked at her.

“I'm the same as I was the last time you asked me,” she said with a slight smile and then looked at the wound and blood-soaked bandage.

“That's going to have to be looked at. Soon. Let's get you to the bridge.” She nodded, fatigue slowly creeping through her. “'Kay.” He took her elbow and led her across the bay and into a small elevator

“Bridge,” Sidious said, and immediately they began to move.

It hadn't been five seconds, she didn't think, when the door to the elevator opened and the two of them stepped off onto the bridge.

“Glad to see you made it, little brother,” Stefan said with a smile.

“If it weren't for Agnus, I wouldn't be here at all. How is he, by the way? Did we get him here in time?”

“He's fine. He'll sleep away the next few hours in my quarters. Once we're finished here, I want to hear all about it.”

“You will.”

Sidious escorted Mikayla to a seat and helped her sit down. Turning to Stefan, Sidious said, “Watch her; she's hurt.”

Stefan nodded and moved to stand next to Mikayla, a medical scanner in his hand.

“I'll take care of her.”

Mikayla watched as Sidious walked over to one of the stations, tugging his jacket off as he went. “Burn that damn thing, Troy,” he said and tossed the jacket toward a tall young man who smiled.

“You bet.”

“What's her status, Kaycose?” Sidious asked.

“She's about to fall. A few more shots in just the right places, and she's history.”

“Any sign of the prime minister's ship?”

“Not a one. Do you think they got trapped and couldn't get out?” Kaycose asked.

“That's possible. She was literally falling apart at the seams.” Of course, there was always the possibility they had taken another ship. Taking a seat in the captain's chair, he touched the computer screen in front of him, bringing it to life.

Good, we’re still linked.

Punching in his pass code, he asked the computer the location of the prime minister. According to the computer, he was still onboard, somewhere on level ten.

Perfect.

Walking back to tactical, he patted Kaycose on the shoulder. “Take a break, my friend.”

“She's all yours,” he returned with a smile.

Sidious took his place at tactical and began putting in coordinates for locations he knew would do the most damage, saving a specific one for last.

“Taron,” Sidious said.

“Yeah.”

“Bring the
Vultair
around and hold her directly off the bridge.”

“Will do.”

Once in position, he hit the button, sending the final shot right into the heart of the Destroyer.

That’s for ten years of hell, you son of a bitch.

He stood, watching as the Photon torpedo flew into the bridge and explode.

“We need to move the fleet, Taron. She's going to blow,” he replied as he studied the readings on the screen in front of him.

Troy let the rest of the fleet know to move as Taron turned them and flew a safe distance away. Sidious, as well as the rest of them, stood and silently watched as the ship shattered into millions of pieces that fell harmlessly into Earth's atmosphere. Some of the Imperial Flyers had been destroyed as well in the explosion, for they couldn't get away fast enough. The others that were not, either immediately surrendered or flew off in the hopes of getting away.

At first no one said anything, and it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Everyone watching the ship break apart was each lost in his own thoughts about what had just happened and how many people had to die to make this possible.

Someone yelled over the communications speaker, breaking the dead silence.

“Yes!”

“My sentiments exactly,” Troy said with a smile, and that got the rest of them going, hugging and laughing, congratulating each other on a job well done. All their years of hard work and sacrifice had finally paid off.

Mikayla stood back and watched them in relief. She couldn't believe it was actually over. Smiling, Sid walked over and hugged her around the waist. Picking her up, he spun her in circles, the both of them laughing.

“It's over, sweetheart,” he said as he set her down.

“What will happen to Earth now?” she asked.

“They'll begin to rebuild, and hopefully will decide to become members of the senate. Even if they don't, I still plan on getting the new senate to help them with the rebuilding,” he said as he took his hand and moved the hair that had fallen into her eyes.

Stefan walked over to them and placed his hand at Mikayla's elbow. “Come on, beautiful. Let's get you to the Med Lab and get that arm fixed.”

“You go with Stefan. Taron and I need to work on getting a transport ship here to get all those troops off Earth.” Sidious leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

“I'll be right there.”

Smiling at him, she turned to leave with Stefan while Sidious and Taron took care of arranging the final clean up.

* * * * *

As she walked into the Med Lab, she still couldn't believe this had all happened and they had been successful. She was so happy and relieved, she felt like crying. Everything would be fine now. Earth would be free; she would see her mother again.

She had Sidious, the love of her life. They still had so much work ahead of them, but for now it just felt good to enjoy their victory.

“Feels good, doesn't it?” Stefan said with a smile as he began to remove the rag from around her arm.

“You know, I should feel bad for all those people on that ship, but all I can think about is all the people that died on Earth,” she said as she turned her head to watch what Stefan was doing. Sucking in a breath, she winced when he began to probe at it.

“Here, this will help,” he said as he raised a short pen and placed it against her arm. Pressing it against her skin, he pushed a button. She bit her lip at the small pinprick of pain before her upper arm numbed.

“I feel bad for some of those people as well,” Stefan said. “For they all weren't bad, some were just there because they didn't have anywhere else to be, but we couldn't save them all.”

“What about all those ground troops and the flyer pilots?” she asked.

“Most of them will be set free and sent back to their families. Some I'm sure will not want anything to do with us. What did this?” he asked as he cleaned the gash and burn surrounding it.

“The corner of a beam as it fell.”

It didn't take Stefan long to return her arm to normal. The fact he could do so quickly and painlessly amazed her. She couldn't even tell there had been a gash there.

Their medical advances were incredible, and she hoped they would share some of them with Earth.

“Sidious is much better at this,” Stefan said as he studied the light pink scar.

“Looks fine to me,” she said with a grin.

Once he was done, he grabbed the medical scanner to check the rest of her. “What are you doing?” she asked when she saw him turn it on and hold it close to her, slowly moving it up and down.

“Just checking you out. As much as you were thrown around, you could have an internal injury we aren't aware of.” He solemnly studied the screen on the scanner, and she frowned.

“Is something wrong?”

“No,” he replied with a smile. “Everything checks out fine. For you and the baby.”

“I beg your pardon?” she asked, suddenly feeling as though the wind had been knocked out of her. Surely, she hadn't heard him correctly.

Chuckling at the expression on her face, he held the scanner screen up for her to look at. “You're pregnant, sweetheart. About four days, according to this.” Pregnant? She took the scanner from him and stared at it in shock.

Stefan watched her with amusement. Putting his hand on her shoulder, he asked,

“You okay?”

“Yeah. Just shocked. Four days?” she asked as she looked at him. “You can tell that soon?”

“That thing can pick it up as soon as it's conceived. It can detect any change to the body, no matter how small.”

“That's amazing,” she whispered, turning her gaze back to the screen.

Stefan chuckled and placed a soft kiss on her temple. “I'm going to be an uncle,” he said with a smile.

About that time, Sidious walked through the Med Lab doors, catching the kiss.

“Get your own woman, Stefan,” Sidious teased, a tiny grin pulling at his lips.

“But I like yours, brother,” Stefan replied as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, teasing him back.

“Gentlemen, please. I believe there is enough of me to go around.” Stefan chuckled and turned to leave the room. Sid pinned her with a menacing glare. “Forget it.”

“Like I said, he never could share,” Stefan replied, smiling from the open doorway, making Mikayla laugh.

“Out!” Sid yelled, but he was laughing right along with them. Turning to Mikayla, he examined her arm. “Everything okay?”

For a second, she didn't say anything, unsure if she should just yet. Deciding not to, she climbed down off the table and headed for the door. “Everything is perfect.” He watched her walk away and frowned. He knew her, and he definitely noticed something was up. She'd hesitated too long before she said anything. Not to mention the fact she didn't even look at him. He narrowed his eyes.
What is she not telling me?

Seeing the scanner on the table, he picked it up.

“Freeze,” he bellowed.

With a sigh, she stopped and turned to face him. “We've got to work on this bossy attitude of yours.”

He held the scanner up, his gaze never leaving hers. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

Walking over to him, she crossed her arms in front of her. “Maybe, maybe not.” Gazing down at her, he pursed his lips thoughtfully. It may be silly, but he wanted to hear her say it. He wanted to know she was as happy about this as he was. Putting his hands at her waist, he picked her up and set her on the exam table so he wouldn't have to look down on her while they talked. It would also be easier to keep her from getting away.

She scowled, looking absolutely adorable. “I hate it when you do that.” Placing his hands on the edge of the table on either side of her hips, he leaned over and smiled at her. “No you don't. Now stop trying to change the subject, you little minx. Out with it.”

“Did you ever stop and think that maybe I was saving this news for the right time? That maybe I wanted to think of a way to tell you that would make it special?” she asked, aggravation obvious in her tone.

“Sweetheart, you could have yelled this news to me across a room and it would not have made it any less special,” he assured with an amused smile. He had never been more thrilled about anything in his life.

With a sigh, she looked at him and said softly, “I'm pregnant.”

“I know,” he said with a huge smile.

“Are you okay with this?” she asked.

“I am more than okay with this,” he replied as he took her face in his hands.

Leaning down, he softly kissed her. “I love you, and I am thrilled we're having a baby.

Our baby,” he added with a smile.

Returning his smile, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. “I love you too. Oh my God, we're actually having a baby.” His laughter echoed off the walls in the room as he hugged her tightly. He would never get tired of this, he thought. He was looking forward to a lifetime of laughter and love with the woman of his dreams.

“Sid,” Stefan's voice said over the speakers. “You better get to the docking bay.

You're not going to believe this shit.”

They both frowned at one another. “On my way,” Sidious replied.

Sidious held tight to Mikayla's hand as they made their way to the docking bay.

They arrived the same time as Stefan and Taron, then stared in shock at what they were seeing. He blinked, then shook his head as the door to his father's ship opened, and he stepped out.

Anger tightened his chest, and he let go of Mikayla's hand and stepped toward his father. “What the hell?” he snapped. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Watch your mouth!” Damon snapped.

“Watch my mouth?” Sidious snapped back. “You're here in the middle of all this mess, and you're going to tell me to watch my mouth? Where the hell is Mom? Does she know you're here?”

“She's home safe, and no, she doesn't know where I am.”

“Dad,” Stefan said as he came forward as well. “What were you thinking?” Damon scowled. “I was thinking about helping my sons, whether they wanted it or not.”

“Did you not stop to think about Mom? What if this hadn't worked? Damn it, Dad!” Sidious yelled.

“Your mother would have been fine. I made sure nothing would have happened to her.”

“How did you even find out?” Taron asked.

“Agnus.”

“Son of a bitch,” Sidious said with a shake of his head.

“You were the benefactor,” Stefan said.

Damon nodded. “One of them.”

“For how long?” Sidious asked.

“Since I began to see a change in you,” Damon said as he stared at Sidious. “I heard the stories about you, and I saw how it was eating you up inside. I know you. I knew you wouldn't be doing this without a damn good reason.” Sidious sighed. “So I gave it away?”

“Pretty much, yes. I then began to pay attention to Stefan
'
s and Taron's disappearances, then confronted Agnus. He was on the Destroyer with you. I knew if anyone knew what was going on, he would. He admitted to Taron and Stefan, but never truly admitted to you.”

“Unbelievable,” Taron said with a grin.

“He didn't want to risk giving you away, even to me. But I knew, and tried so many times to get you to admit it. I could have helped you.” Sidious shook his head. “You've helped enough. I didn't want you involved.”

“I think that's a moot point at this stage. So which one of you mongrels came up with this brilliant idea?” Damon asked dryly.

“The rebels were already out there, Stefan just organized them,” Sidious offered.

“Then once Taron was on board, they approached me.”

“Stefan,” Damon said, narrowing his eyes toward his oldest son. “Why doesn't that surprise me?”

Stefan shrugged slightly. Damon's gaze landed on Mikayla, and he smiled briefly.

“I hope you can keep him a little more in line, Mikayla,” he said.

Mikayla grinned and glanced at Sidious. “I don't know that there're too many people who can handle that job.”

Damon grunted, then glanced toward Stefan and Taron. “What's next on the agenda?”

“We're going to Earth,” Taron said. “You're going home.” Damon frowned, making Sidious grin. His father didn't like being told what to do any more than he did.