“Not to mention what she had to endure while captive. That took quite a toll.” Chase sighed. A toll on them both. “But she’s strong. She’ll get through it.”
“Something you’d like to talk about?”
“No, she barely told me about it. It’s probably a very private and delicate subject, so if she wants to tell that tale herself, she will in due time.”
“Absolutely, I understand.”
There was a sudden tension in the conference room and Chase was determined not to let it fester. “So, when will these be ready?”
“The F-147… I should have a couple of them ready in the next few days.”
“I take it the Prometheus-class ship will take longer?”
“You’d think so, but both the commodore and admiral were adamant they wanted this ship and the next ones of their class to be ready as fast as humanly possible. So we’ve literally built an entire army of bot droids to build them at an accelerated rate. It meant squandering some quadrinium, but they both felt that it is worth it. If you ask me, the admiral has something in mind.”
“So when should I come in and test it?”
“Give me one or two more days. Then it should be ready to go.”
Chase’s eyes widened. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, like I said—thousands upon thousands of builder bots have been working on it relentlessly for days now. It can probably already fly now, but we have the engineers onboard doing all the testing, making sure everything is safe and all that.”
“Well, that’s great. We need more ships and soon.”
“Yeah, I think that’s on everyone’s agenda at the moment; that and trying to repair whatever damage was done.”
Chase shook his head. “On that front, I don’t know that we really can. But I guess whatever help we can provide in terms of reconstruction will be welcome. Humanity lost some of its history in that attack; it must not be easy to deal with that. I’m sure we’ll feel some of those repercussions—”
A loud explosion cut short his sentence as the windows in the conference room suddenly shattered into a million pieces.
C H A P T E R
XV
Ryonna almost fell from her bed when the ground beneath her started shaking and rumbling. It felt like an explosion. Ronan came running from his room in alarm.
“What was that noise?”
“I think something exploded,” she answered, going to the windows to get a better look.
One of the buildings nearby had a column of smoke rising in the sky. The question now was: was it an accident, or an attack?
“Something bad happened,” she murmured. “Take your weapons. We need to check it out, and perhaps there are people who need our assistance.”
“Why should we care?” asked Ronan defiantly.
“Look, Ronan, I know you think you’re already a tough warrior and you try to be a good Droxian, but let me remind you that without Chase and his friends, we would both be dead. I have a debt to repay. I don’t need to tell you how important honor is to our people.” She threw on her jacket. “And there’s something more than that… they’re our friends.”
The door chimed.
“Come in!”
It was Tar’Lock. “What the hell was that explosion? I thought this place was safe.”
Ryonna shook her head. “I don’t know, but let’s go check it out.”
With that, the three of them left the flat at a dead sprint.
* * *
When Chase came to there was smoke in the conference room. His ears were ringing and it took a few moments for him to regain all his senses. He called out to Yanis.
“You’re okay, buddy?”
No answer.
He looked around and saw Yanis on the floor, still unconscious, buried beneath some light rubble. Chase’s heart stopped in his chest until he saw that his friend was still breathing. He quickly reached out to check his vitals and slapped his face gently until he regained consciousness.
“Urgh... What the... What was that?”
“An explosion.”
“Again with the obvious…” Yanis attempted a smile. “But why?”
Chase’s face darkened. “I don’t know, but let’s go check it out. Some people might need our help. Can you get up?”
“I think so.”
Yanis moaned in discomfort but managed to get to his feet. He looked up, pleased with his efforts, but paused at Chase’s expression.
“What is it?”
“Sarah. She barely left. We need to try and locate her.” Without hesitation he tried his comm. “Sarah, do you hear me? Please respond? Sarah!”
No response.
“We gotta find her!” he said, his voice trembling.
Yanis walked towards the door but it wouldn’t open. “That’s just great!” he said, letting escape a long breath of frustration. “Gimme a minute to get this open—”
“No need; move aside.”
“What?”
“Just get out of the way,” Chase insisted. He raised his hand and called as loud as he possibly could, “Anybody behind the door?” There was silence. “I’ll take that as a no.”
A bright-blue ball of energy formed in his open palm. The next second, he fired it at the door. It burst open as if it was made of cardboard, most of its structure ricocheting against the next wall and falling to the ground in the now accessible corridor.
Yanis’ expression was a mixture of bewilderment with a healthy bit of fear.
“Right, you didn’t know I can do that,” said Chase with a tentative smile.
The engineer’s jaw fell open. “What the fuck, man! What WAS that?”
“Short version, my Fury powers.”
“Fury? I think I need the long version.”
“Sure, but not right now. Let’s try and find Sarah first. Follow me.”
They took off, running through the corridors. The damage to the building seemed minimal but it had obviously lost power. After a minute of running towards the exit, however, secondary power kicked in and low-powered lights started to fill the corridors. Nevertheless, when they tried the elevator, there was no such luck.
They went towards the nearest stairway and ran down ten flights of stairs until they reached a point where some damage had taken part of the stairway. It was still smoking and some sparks were flying about from broken electrical conduits around the damage. There was a way across, but it involved leaping several yards to the remaining stairway.
“I can make that jump. Can you?” Chase inquired.
Yanis looked at the drop and then at Chase with clear incredulity in his eyes.
“Not a chance, but go. I’ll find another stairway and catch up with you.”
Chase nodded and wasted no time jumping the thirty-foot gap, landing easily on the other side. Before Yanis could register it, his friend was no longer visible.
“Right, let’s find another way down,” he said out loud.
Chase got out of the building and took the way he thought Sarah would have gone. He was so full of adrenaline that he didn’t realize how fast he was running. In just a matter of seconds, he saw the smoldering rubble of the adjacent building—the one the explosion had clearly been meant for. At first, he was going to give it a wide berth, focused on his mission to find Sarah, but as he got closer, he spotted a familiar watch sticking up from beneath the rocks.
“Sarah!”
His heart started pounding, but he was relieved to hear an answer almost immediately.
“Chase?” Her voice was weak. “I’m stuck. I think I might have my leg broken too.”
As he approached, he saw that she was trapped under some paneling and concrete. With almost no effort at all, he threw the obstructing debris out of the way. When he reached the concrete and lifted it to the side, she moaned in pain.
“Thank you.” Her eyes were half closed from the pain. “What happened? I don’t remember anything after leaving the conference room.”
“I don’t know. Don’t move jus
t yet,” he advised, helping her lie back.
Casting a nervous glance around, he placed his hands on the bleeding wound that had torn a hole in her pants. He closed his eyes, and a second later the wound had stopped bleeding. Another second after that, and it was like nothing had ever happened.
She blinked in amazement. “Wow, thank you. Guess I won’t be needing any morphine after all.” She tried flexing her leg and felt absolutely no pain. “That never gets old,” she said with a grin. He grinned back.
A second later, they heard running footsteps. Chase instinctively jumped to his feet and stood in front of Sarah, adopting a fighting stance. But it was just Ryonna, Ronan and Tar’Lock. Nonetheless, they stopped dead in their tracks at his reaction.
“Easy, Chase,” Ryonna said, a relieved smile shining in her eyes.
Sarah got up and dusted herself up. “Hey, guys.”
“Are you alright? What happened?” inquired Tar’Lock.
“We’re fine, and… I don’t know.” Chase looked worried.
Just then, Yanis came running. He tried to speak, but settled for frantic hand gestures as he caught his breath.
“I see you found another way out.” Chase grinned. He pressed his comm. “Commodore Saroudis, please respond?”
There was a crackle on the other end.
“Saroudis here. We detected an explosion on our sensors shortly after I arrived onboard Destiny. Is everyone okay?”
“We’re fine, Commodore; glad you weren’t in the building. We’ll need manpower to search for casualties and injured people; there might be some stuck in rubble.”
“I’ve already dispatched helper bots; they should be there shortly.”
“Good. Thank you, Commodore. We’re all—”
But just then, Sarah fainted out of the blue. Tar’Lock caught her with his super speed, but Chase grabbed the comm in alarm.
“Actually, Commander Kepler just collapsed. I’m bringing her to the Destiny; have the med-bay ready for our arrival.”
“I’ll let them know you’re coming. Hope she’s alright.”
“Thanks, Commodore. Chase out.” He clicked off and turned to Ryonna.
“What can I do, Chase?” she said preemptively.
“I’d like you three to look for survivors and people who might be in need of help; assist the helper bots when they arrive if needed.” He took Sarah from Tar’Lock, then turned to Yanis and added, “You’re with me.”
* * *
Onboard the Destiny’s med-bay, Sarah had been placed into an examination bed. A ring-shaped medical device scanned her head to toe. Then a ceiling-attached, laser-wave scan made some extra readings.
“How is she, Doc?” Chase asked nervously. He had been watching each scan like a hawk.
“I am not detecting anything wrong with her.”
“Her leg was broken. I healed her.”
The doctor’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Would you mind explaining how you did so?”
“I really don’t have a clue. I just put my hands on the wound, closed my eyes, and everything happened automatically.”
“That’s handy. I have to say, it’s even more impressive if you say she had a broken bone, as I see absolutely no crack whatsoever on my scans.” He looked at Chase quizzically. “I would love to study these healing abilities of yours and see if we can replicate them with technology. Of course, we can already fix broken bones, but it takes time in the regeneration chambers and usually there is a tiny trace left when scanning a patient. For all intents and purposes, my scans indicate she’s never had that bone cracked. Or any others for that matter.”
“Sure, Doc,” he said impatiently. “But what about her current condition? Why did she collapse?”
“The only explanation I can guess is that it’s related to her pregnancy.”
There was a second’s pause, followed by a mild cardiac explosion.
“Her WHAT?”
“Right, it’s very early. She probably doesn’t know it either.” The doctor peered down over his spectacles. “But she is with child.”
Sarah was… with his… but… what?!
“You’re alright, Lieutenant Commander? You look… flushed.”
Chase flailed his right hand in response and sank down in the nearest chair. His mind was racing at a million miles a minute, but he was able to come up with a single question.
“Can you make a DNA scan of the fetus? Can you detect my DNA in there? Also, can you give me the approximate date of conception?”
“Let me check... It should only take a minute.”
The doc interfaced with the nearest monitors and brought up all info on the fetus. He then brought up Chase’s DNA from file and compared.
“Ninety-nine point ninety-seven percent match that your DNA is part of the child to be.”
“Shouldn’t it be a hundred percent?” Chase asked nervously.
“Well... I see a few possible explanations.” The doctor studied the screen. “Either the DNA is extremely similar to yours, perhaps a twin brother—”
Chase’s expression became grave but he let the doc continue with his assessment.
“…or, and this is more likely, our sensors aren’t exactly calibrated to detect human physiology with the same amount of precision as our own.”
“Isn’t our physiology the same as the people of Earth?”
“Mostly, Chase, but we evolved on another planet with another set of rules. There are still significant changes. Think of it as a sub-species, if you’d like. Sure, our main double-helix DNA is the same, but with changes due to environment, different gravity levels, and the like… all of it’s come together to impact us over the centuries.”
“What about my Fury DNA?”
The doctor’s eyes widened. “Fury?”
Chase ran his hand through his hair. “Right, it would seem I’m part Fury, Doc.”
“That would explain why your scans are slightly different than ours on a cellular level. So yes, it could also be a simple factor explaining that very small discrepancy. That and that strange eye color of yours.”
Chase scoffed. “It’s not… strange.”
The doctor stifled a chuckle. “Not many people with purple irises, Chase.”
Chase chose to ignore this. “What about a conception date?”
“The baby was made June twenty-seventh, by Earth calendar, plus or minus a couple of days.”
That was around the night they’d spent together at her apartment, their first date. Chase exhaled deeply in relief.
“That’s strange,” added the doc.
“What is?” asked Chase in alarm.
“Well, it’s probably nothing, but Sarah also shows a slight DNA discrepancy with her previous scans in the database. I can’t quite put my finger on what could do that. I’ll run some more tests. For the time being, I wouldn’t worry. She’s healthy, that’s what matters. And perhaps she’s recently undergone some sort of trauma…?”
“You can say that again, Doc! She’s been captured and tortured by someone claiming to be my brother. From what she said, it sounds like she might have died several times and was brought back to life. Then, if that wasn’t enough, upon her return to Earth she learned that her uncle had passed during the battle against the Zarlacks. We go to the funeral soon.”
The doctor nodded seriously. “That’s it, Chase. She has been through much more than just one person can handle, and the presence of the fetus on top of that? That’s a lot for both the body and the mind to deal with. Add to that, I can’t predict what your Fury DNA could do to her own. We know there can be exchanges between the fetus and the mother in some cases. I think the past few days have simply taken a toll on her psyche and the pregnancy is responsible for these minute differences.”
Whether or not that was reassuring, Chase couldn’t quite decide. “Alright, Doc, thanks. Oh, but… how’s the baby? The torture must not have been good for him… or her.”
“The fetus seems fine, in perfect health, in fact. If
it ever was hurt or damaged, perhaps you healed it as well when you fixed her leg without realizing it.”
“Right...”
Sarah stirred faintly as her eyes began fluttering open and shut.
“I’ll give you two some privacy,” the doc said, and left the chamber.
Chase nodded as the doc left and sat on the examination bed, taking her hand in both of his. “Hey, you… You gave us a big scare.”
She looked confused. “I don’t know what happened. One moment I was fine, the next I just blacked out.”
“The doc said it’s normal after all you’ve been through lately.” He hesitated, wondering how to proceed. “But… there is something else.”
“Now what?” She sounded exhausted.
Chase’s eyes started to water. Seeing the change, she sat up and took notice.
“You’re scaring me, Chase, what is it?”
He took a deep breath and decided to just get it over with. “You... you’re pregnant.”
At first, her brain couldn’t comprehend the news. But before long, little tears of joy wet the corners of her eyes. Her face softened and she gazed up at Chase with a radiant smile.
“That’s… that’s wonderful. But… are you okay with this?”
He let out a gasp of laughter. “Well it sure took me by surprise. But yes, I’m very, very happy.”
She beamed. “So am I.”
Time seemed to suspend as they sat in a happy silence, basking in the good news. For a moment, the rest of the world fell away, and the new little family had a bit of peace. For just a moment… everything was as it should be.
When Sarah fell asleep again, Chase left the med-bay and headed to the bridge.
“How’s Commander Kepler, Chase?” Saroudis asked as soon as he came in.
“She’s fine, thank you.” He blinked, still in surreal shock. “She... she’s pregnant.”
The commodore first raised an eyebrow, then beamed at Chase. “Congratulations! You’re about to become a father.”
“Yeah... it looks that way.”
The commodore paused. “Are you worried?”
Chase held a hand on his neck. “Honestly, it’s just all very sudden—not something we planned. So, yeah, I’m really happy. I guess I’m just… worried about the kind of world we’re going to be bringing this child into.”
Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) Page 12
