Cassandra's Challenge (2 page)

“Shit,” Huffs Lucas.

“Problem?” Cassandra asks as he stops to remove
his communicator, they’d only made it a hundred and fifty
yards.

“My father is on the rescue craft.”

“And….”

“He’s a fucking Admiral, excuse me, he’s suppose
to stay on his Battle Star! Falcon this is Hawk.” Cassandra raises
an eyebrow at his apology.

“Where the hell are you!!!” Demands the
Admiral.

“I’m a little gimped up sir, should be there in
ten.”

“You’re hurt!”

“Not severely sir, just slowing me down. I’ll be
there in ten, over and out.”

“Ten minutes, really…”Cassandra raises an
eyebrow. “It’s taken you ten minutes to go a hundred and fifty
yards, try another thirty at this rate.”

“Then lets pick up the pace, the old man will
boil over it is much more than that.”

“Fine by me.” Cassandra sets a quicker pace but
it isn’t easy when you have a 6’8” man and a 6’1” woman. “Come on
Lucas, just pretend I’m a crutch lean on me and swing your leg.”
She isn’t sure if he understands what she’s saying but they seemed
to be moving faster. Finally they get to the edge of the
meadow.

“So where’s your rescue ship?”

“Falcon this is Hawk at location ready for pick
up.”

“Affirmation Hawk, ten seconds.” Cassandra
watches in amazement as a ship comes out of the clouds.

As the ship lands Cassandra helps Lucas hobble
to the middle of the meadow. To her amazement a door on the side of
the craft slides open and an even larger man gets out. He stares at
Cassandra with an astonishing pair of brilliant violet eyes before
taking his son’s weight.

“Dad, Cassandra.”

“Do we look like we’re at some fucking party?!?”
The Admiral demands as he helps his son up the steps of the Raptor.
The time waiting for Lucas has used up all his patience. “Next time
you want to stroll through a meadow with some pretty girl make sure
it’s not a war zone. We’ve got Strikers inbound!”

Cassandra grabs the big man’s arm and to his
surprise pulls him around, “
Strikers!
Those are the planes
you shot down?” She looks at Lucas for confirmation, he nods. Her
brilliant sapphire blue eyes bore into the Admiral’s, “Where are
they heading?”

“Here.” Cassandra stares at him in horror
realizing that her father had been right. They’d picked up on the
communications between Lucas and the rescue ship. They’d just been
waiting to see where attack.

“Oh shit!!
” Dropping his arm she turns to
run across the meadow when it explodes in front of her, throwing
her backwards. The Admiral grabs her and tosses her into the
Raptor.

“TAKE OFF!!” He orders. As he reaches to pull
the door closed Cassandra is scrambling to get up and in doing so
sees Victoria running across the burning meadow.

“NO!!! Victoria’s down there!!” The Admiral
massive size blocks the door she’s trying to get too. Lucas jumps
up from his seat.

“DAD!” William sees the terrified child trapped
by the flames.

“Dodge get us over there quick, we’re only going
to get one shot at this,” He turns to the woman, “I’m going to
reach down, grab her, then we’re gone!”

“No she’s not going to come to you. Look at her
she’s scared out of her mind!”Cassandra pushes her way past
him.

“What the
HELL
do you think you’re
doing?” She stares him directly in the eye.

“GETTING MY NIECE!!” With the aircraft still
moving she steps out on the narrow running board of the vessel,
taking a deep breath she sits down facing the Admiral.

He’s stunned, what the hell is she doing?
Cassandra looks him in the eyes.

“I hope you’re good at holding on.” With that as
a warning she lets herself fall backwards off the running board,
her feet catching the underside of the step.

William dives for her legs wrapping his massive
arms around them and is about to pull her up when he realizes she’s
added almost five more feet to what he could have reached. He looks
down and sees the child looking desperately for a way out of the
flames.

“Victoria!!”
Cassandra yells.
“
Victoria look up!!”
As she does Victoria sees her aunt
hanging upside down out of some strange craft. “
Victoria you
have to jump up! I’ll catch you!
”

“I can’t
!”

“Victoria Lynn Chamberlain you will jump!!
Jump now!!!”
And as the little girl jumps Cassandra stretched
out even further causing the Admiral to curse as she starts to slip
out of his grasp. But the extra stretch allows her to grab Victoria
just above her wrists. Lucas looks over his father’s shoulder.

“How the fuck do we get them up?”

“Do I fucking look like I know?” The Raptor
starts to pull away from the growing flames.

“Victoria
listen
to me. Remember that game we
always play at the park where I you flip around to grab my legs?
We’re going to do that now.”

“NO!”

“YES, listen to me Victoria, you can do this!
Lucas is up there he’s not going to let you fall!!! I promise!!!
Here we go! ONE! Cassandra began to swing her arms, “TWO! THREE!”
Swinging her up she prays it works.

In the Raptor the two men stare at each other in
disbelief as they hear Cassandra’s plan then Victoria is wrapped
around Cassandra’s thighs. Lucas reaches down grabbing her
wrist.

“Come on Tori, I’ve got you, let go of your aunt
I’ve got you.” And the same green eyes that he’d seen when he woke
in the cabin now stared up trustingly at him as he pulls her into
the Raptor. “It’s ok, you’re safe know.”

“Aunt Cassie!” Lucas looks over at his
father.

With Victoria safe Cassandra needs to get
herself inside. The Admiral has managed to pull her up enough so
that he can grip her knees with one arm he reaches down with the
other.

“GRAB IT!!” he orders, “I WON’T LET GO!”
Cassandra swings herself up gripping his outreached hand with both
of hers. Pulling her the rest of the way up into the Raptor he
slams the door closed.

“GO!” He orders as he pulls her down into a seat
with him. Cassandra, breathing hard, looks up at him.

“You’re good at hanging on, thanks.”

The Admiral stares down at her, “A little more
warning next time would be nice.”

“Let’s hope I won’t have too.”

“Agreed.” The ship starts heading up.

“Wait you need to drop us off at the cabin, the
rest of our family’s there.” Suddenly an alarm goes off in the
cockpit. The Admiral and Lucas exchange glances.

“What? What is it?” Cassandra demands.

“Nuclear alarm.” The Admiral tells her.

“Nuclear….” She whispers

“Dodge get us out of here!!!!! Get your visors
down!!!” The Admiral orders.

“Victoria!”

“I’ve got her, she’s ok.” Lucas pulls Victoria’s
face into his chest, “Close your eyes honey. Keep them closed until
I say so, Ok?” Victoria nods hanging on to Lucas.

The Admiral does the same with Cassandra. As he
ducks his head she brings her hands up shielding his eyes. With the
Raptor speeding skyward there is a massive explosion behind them.
Riding out the turbulence the Admiral feels this courageous woman’s
tears on his hands.

When the ship stabilizes he eases her away. She
quickly wipes her cheeks before turning to find the girl, standing
she walks over to Lucas. Looking up the child all but flies into
the woman’s arms. When Raptor maneuvers she loses her balance
falling back into the Admiral.

“Sit down before you fall down!” He roughly
pushing her into the seat he’d just vacated. Looking at the two for
just a second longer he turns his attention to his son.

“How badly are you hurt?” He moves over to look
at the leg.

“Just a deep gash, Bliant shouldn’t have any
trouble with it.”

“What happened?”

“Got clipped by a tree on the way down, landed
hard.” Lucas nods over to the woman. “She found me unconscious,
somehow got me to their home. Fixed me up, helped me back.” Lucas
looks up at his father. “I owe her, especially now.”

“Why?”

“Their family was down there Dad.”

The Admiral looks back at the woman trying to
console the sobbing child. Her black hair has come loose from its
restraint at the back of her neck, partially shielding her face.
She’d called the girl her niece, not her child, but her love is
apparent. As if hanging upside down outside a Raptor wasn’t
enough.

“We’ll need to get them back on planet as soon
as possible. But first we’re getting you to medical.” With the
Raptor landing on the flight deck of the Retribution the Admiral
opens the hatch. Stepping out he first helps Lucas onto a waiting
stretcher. Turning he sees the woman standing in the hatch,
protectively holding the child her eyes rapidly scanned the scene
before her.

Having been able to calm Victoria down inside
the ship, Cassandra now has to contend with where they’ve landed.
People are hustling around what she’d consider a hanger doing
unknown jobs. Lucas is being helped onto a stretcher with what
appeared to be medical personnel attending him. Her eyes come to
rest on the large man Lucas called his father, the Admiral. He
takes a step towards her, putting a hand on her elbow helping her
out of the Raptor. When she steps down he discovers she barely
comes up to his shoulders. Reaching for the child, her eyes
harden.

“No.” Her voice surprising forcefully for
someone in a strange new place.

“You’ll both go to medical with Lucas.”

“Aunt Cassie…”

“It’s okay.” Cassandra rubs her back. “We’re
fine. Just get us on another one of those things,” Cassandra nods
to the Raptor, “and get us back on planet.” The Admiral raises an
eyebrow at this small woman’s order.

“I can’t spare a crew right now. Once this
battle is over we’ll get you back. But for now you go to medical.”
There is no doubting it is an order this time, The Admiral’s violet
eyes clashing with her sapphire ones.

“Cassandra,” Lucas intervenes, “it’ll just be
for a little bit, set Victoria down here.” He moves his uninjured
leg making room on the stretcher. “It’s a ways to medical. Bliant’s
just going to make sure we haven’t been exposed to any radiation
from the blast.”

Cassandra looks away from the Admiral to Lucas.
In a voice hoarse from crying Victoria asks.

“Aunt Cassie? Where are mom and dad?” The
Admiral sees the stricken look that comes into the woman’s eyes,
before it’s gone to look down at the child called Victoria.

“They’re back on Earth, baby.” She tells her,
not lying, but unable to say the rest.

The child’s green eyes stare into Cassandra’s
before moving to the Admiral, then Lucas, finally returning to
Cassandra.

“Can I sit next to Lucas?”

The Admiral sees the indecision in the woman’s
eyes. “She’ll be ok.” He tells her in a low voice, as her eyes meet
his he can see she’s trying to decide if she can trust him. It
stings after her trust on the Raptor. Slowly she walks over to the
stretcher putting Victoria down next to Lucas.

“Get them out of here!” The Admiral orders in a
gruff voice then heads to the bridge. He has more important things
to do then wonder if some woman trusted him or not.

Entering medical Cassandra sees it’s not that
different then an emergency room on Earth. As they wheel Victoria
and Lucas over a man approaches.

“What’s wrong with you Lieutenant?” Dr. Bliant
demands in an impatient voice.

“A leg gash.” As Lucas is moved over to a
different cot Cassandra picks Victoria up. Her eyes widening as she
looks around.

“It’s ok honey.” Cassandra whispers to her. “I’m
here.”

“And who do we have here?” The impatient voice
of the large man becomes very soft when speaking to the child.

“Victoria.” She says in a quiet voice.

“Hello Victoria,” He holds out his large hand,
after a moment and to Cassandra’s amazement Victoria puts hers in
it. As they shake hands Bliant says, “Nice to meet you. Are you
okay?” He takes in the soot on both their faces.

“Yes.” Bliant looks at Cassandra.

“Yes we’re both okay.”

“Gabor!” A woman turns to the Doctor. “Show
these two where they can clean up.”

Nodding he turns back to Lucas. “Well let’s have
a look.” Cassandra and Victoria follow the woman into a smaller
room.

“There’s cleaner here,” She points to a pump,
“towels here.” She opens a drawer. If you need anything else let me
know.” She exits the room.

Cassandra puts Victoria down. “Well sweetie,
what do think?” Pulling out a small towel she looks at what she
thinks is a sink. “So how do you think we get water?”

Victoria walks up to the sink, looking it over.
Turning a dial water starts to flow. Tori gives her aunt a smile
that quickly fades.

“Very nice, let’s get you cleaned up.” Wetting
the cloth Cassandra starts on Victoria’s face, cleaning off the
soot and tear marks. Working her way down to her hands she
finishes. “There good as new.” She smiles at her.

“You’re still a mess Aunt Cassie.”

“Well thank you very much young lady.” Looking
in the small mirror Cassandra sees Victoria isn’t exaggerating. Her
hair is loose and singed; she has soot streaked across her face
like an ancient warrior from wiping her tears. “Nice.” Is all she
can think, working quickly she does what she can to get clean.

The wound had effectively been cleaned and
sealed. Bliant looks up at Lucas. “You closed this in the
field?”

“No, Cassandra closed it.” Lucas gestures toward
the wash room.

Bliant thinks about the small woman, “She did a
good job. I’m going to give you the standard booster but I don’t
think you’ll need it. Anything else I need to know?” Bliant looks
at Lucas.

“Like what?”