Love And War Bk. 01

"'Top Gun' is about US Navy Aviators, which were the precursor to Starfleet Starfighter Pilots." he said with a smile on his face as he leaned in to kiss her. "Unfortunately, most of the 'Top Gun' pilots are habitual womanizers."

"Well then, you big stud. Take me to bed or lose me forever", Delaara said with a sexy smile.

"Anytime, sweetheart", Jason said with a passionate kiss for his wife and a light kiss on her ear, causing her to gasp.

"You're a complete utter bastard sometimes, Jason MacKenzie!" She laughed as they walked out of the bar together, hand in hand.

*****

"Security to Captain Thatcher." sounded her combadge, waking her up. She gently untangled herself from Ryan and reached down to pick up the combadge from her uniform top beside their bed.

She tapped it once. "This is Thatcher. Go ahead, and it better be bloody good!"

"We found something in a hidden compartment on the Klingon fighter, Captain. We need you here ASAP." The Security officer sounded unsettled by something.

"Fine. On my way", she said. "Give me ten minutes. Thatcher, out."

Ryan began to stir. "What is it, bunny?" he asked, still half asleep.

"Nothing for you to worry about, love", she said with a smile and kissed his lips lightly. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Ok, bunny baby," he said as he drifted back to sleep. She looked at him and couldn't wait until they could be together and start a family. She dressed with a smile on her face and didn't even bother to pull her hair back or take off the engagement ring she usually only wore with Rash around.

By the time she got to the Security hangar on the forward flight deck, she could sense the unease of the Security detachment. As she got closer, her Assistant Security Chief, Lieutenant Michelle Roberts turned to her. "Thank God you're here, Captain. I don't even know what to do here!"

Captain Thatcher stepped forward and saw something she never thought she'd see.

"I've already called Doctor Tavolk, but I'm not sure what to do until he gets here." Michelle was nervous, as she had never had children, or even held a child before.

Laying on the table was a baby. More specifically, a Vulcan baby. She leaned down and picked up the infant, holding him and smiling as she rocked him gently. He cooed at her, and she touched his little nose.

Just then, Dr. Tavolk showed up and raised one eyebrow at the infant. "This is unexpected," he said. "Captain, may I see the infant?" Rachael handed the baby to him and watched as he examined the child. "This is most unexpected," he said again. "This child, while a normal healthy baby, was not created naturally."

"What do you mean, Doc?" Rachael asked him, looking at him and the child.

"I mean that whoever genetically engineered this child used very advanced procedures. I'm not certain that we've seen genetic engineering this advanced since Earth's Eugenics Wars." His fascination was evident, as he was getting visibly excited.

"Calm down, Doc. First thing's first. Take the baby to Medical and do a full workup, get him some baby food, or whatever Vulcan babies eat, and let me know what you find," she said. She turned to the baby, leaned down, and touched his little nose again. The baby cooed happily.

Nodding once, Doc Tavolk turned and left, carrying the baby to Medical. The Klingon pilot had been moved to the Brig, awaiting a response from the Klingon High Council regarding his fate. She would now have something else to report to them.

She turned back to her Security officer. "Ok, Michelle. Now that we know you're scared to death of babies, what were you able to find about the hidden compartment?"

"Very little, Captain, other than it is highly resistant to life scans and holds its own regenerative air circulator. This is really advanced tech, ma'am," she said with a worried look in her eyes.

Just then, Rachael had a horrible feeling. "Those bastards. Those fucking Klingon bastards!" She was shaking with rage. "They engaged our fighters with infants on board that we couldn't detect!"

Jason and Delaara were on their way to the Training Hangar when Captain Thatcher commed Delaara. "Demoness here, Captain. What's wrong?" she asked, hearing the tension in Rachael's voice.

"Can you and Friday meet me in the Brig, ASAP?" she asked, still with that edge in her voice.

Jason nodded and they started running as Delaara said "We're on our way, Captain. Demoness, out."

They arrived to find Rachael glaring at the Klingon through the security forcefield. She hadn't said a word after she'd arrived. She just glared at him. Kalvak, for his part, was actually intimidated by the sheer icyness of her gaze.

When she heard the rush of the door sliding open behind her, she turned and walked towards her two most senior pilots. "Let's go outside a moment."

As they stepped outside, Rachael turned to them and looked like she wanted to kill someone. "Rachael, what happened?" asked Jason.

"Those.... Klingon... BASTARDS were carrying babies in sensor proof hidden compartments on their fighters. Then engaged you in a dogfight with full knowledge that they were going to die if they lost! They're fucking ANIMALS!" She was screaming by this point and crying her eyes out as Delaara moved forward to comfort her. She hugged Rachael, and looked at Jason with tears in her own eyes. He looked at them grimly, grabbed a phaser from the nearest wall locker, and walked into the Security Detention Center.

Jason walked up to the security force field over Kalvak's cell. "Kalvak, give me one good fucking reason not to vent all the atmosphere in your cell and vape your sorry excuse for a corpse. You have five seconds." Kalvak actually recoiled at the intensity of Jason's glare.

"What have I done NOW, Human?" he asked in astonishment. "You've already killed my brothers and are keeping me prisoner. I am a Klingon Warrior!" he shouted.

"You're a baby killing psychopath!" Jason shouted back. "YOU KNEW THOSE BABIES WERE ABOARD YOUR FIGHTERS WHEN YOU ENGAGED US! THEIR DEATHS ARE ON YOUR HEAD!" Jason moved to the cell controls.

"WAIT! What did you say?!?!?" demanded the Klingon.

Jason, even through his rage, heard the desperate ignorance in Kalvak's tone. He turned towards the large warrior and said, in a voice that could barely be heard "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"I may be a lot of things, Human. But I am NOT a killer of children!" Kalvak said in something resembling a normal tone of voice... for a Klingon.

"Where were you flying out of, Kalvak?" Jason asked, reaching for the cell controls again.

"Near Ceti Alpha V, there's a small space station that looks abandoned. Look, I'm just a merc. If I had any idea what we were transporting, I would never have signed up for it! I do not harm children." He had a sickened look in his eyes as he realized what he'd done.

"Ok, Kalvak. I believe you. Thanks for the heads up about that station. You're the Klingon High Council's problem now." Jason turned and left.

Out in the hallway, he found Rachael and Delaara. "He didn't know, and he's telling the truth," Jason said. "He gave us some intel to check out an abandoned space station in orbit around Ceti Alpha V."

Rachael thought for a second. "Ceti Alpha V sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?"

Delaara knew about all of her grandmother's missions and all congruent missions. "Captain, Ceti Alpha V was home to Khan Noonien Singh after Captain James Kirk and the USS Enterprise marooned him there. He hijacked the USS Reliant and was killed by Admiral Kirk 18 years later," she said with deadly accuracy. "My grandmother was serving onboard the USS Enterprise as a trainee at the time," she said with a wry smile.

"Could whoever's been doing this have found Khan Singh's work in bioengineering?" Rachael wondered out loud.

"Well, whoever's doing it is genetically engineering babies for God knows what. Whether they're artificial or not, they're still children." Jason said.

"Well said, Friday." Rachael tapped her combadge. "Thatcher to Bridge. Set course for Ceti Alpha System, maximum warp. Engage."

"Ceti Alpha System, maximum warp, aye ma'am", came back the reply and confirmation.

"Good. Thatcher, out", she turned to Delaara and Jason. "Let's go. We need to get a briefing set up for this mission." She turned and walked towards the turbolift, Jason and Delaara following closely.

As they got on, she said "You two go wait in my Ready Room. I'll grab Rash and get him up. I want the entire Wing on this one. Skulls, Stilettos, and Scorpions. CAG will be running this op, so let's do it right", she said.

"Yes, ma'am," they said in unison. They got off at the Bridge and went straight into the Ready Room.

Rachael got to her quarters and watched Rash sleep for a few minutes with a loving smile on her face. Then she steeled herself and roused him. "Come on, Ace. Rise and shine!" she said loudly enough to wake him.

"What's up, Captain?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"We're on our way to the Ceti Alpha System, honey. The entire Wing is going to be in on this op, and I need you awake." She laid out the details for him.

"One moment, baby," he said, walking naked to the replicator. "Computer. One cup of double espresso, medium hot", he said. The small cup materialized and he grabbed it, gulping it in one slug. His eyes shot open and grabbed a spare flight suit from his half of the closet, dressing quickly and grabbing his combadge from yesterday's uniform before shoving it in the laundry chute. He went into the fresher, combed his hair, shaved, and was ready to go.

"You're great after you've had your morning coffee, Ace", Rachael kissed him lovingly.

"Thanks, bunny", he said just as lovingly and kissed her back softly. "Now, let's go kill us some sickos!" He ran out and down to the turbolift.

*****

The entire fighter wing was assembled in the Hangar briefing room, with Captain Thatcher in front of them all with the CAG. She laid out the assault plan and had a platoon of Starfleet Marines standing by for the boarding action. Skull, Stiletto, and Scorpion Squadrons would deal with any and all station defenses and fighters that launched, giving the drop ship the chance to dock and capture alive (if possible) any suspected 'sickos', as Rash had put it. In other words, anyone onboard that station was to be captured alive if possible, or eliminated if capture proved impossible. The second primary objective was to find and seize any and all bioengineering and cloning equipment, as well as destination intelligence. The last primary objective was to rescue any infants or children found onboard the station.

Rachael had contacted Starfleet, and they had given her the go-ahead for the operation.

"Any questions?" asked Rachael with a glare.

Nobody said a word.

"Good. Let's go kill us some sickos. We drop from warp in 5 minutes. Get to your fighters and drop ships. Good luck, Marines and Pilots," she said and strode from the Hangar.

Jason got with Lt. Cmdr Thorst and Lt. Cmdr Skelton to coordinate. Skull Squadron would take any fighters and defend the drop ship, while Stiletto and Scorpion would take any station defense turrets.

"Let's go to war," Delaara said as they broke into pairs and mounted up.

"Skulls, any fighters that launch get disabled if possible. They may have more infants aboard when they launch," Jason told every member of his squadron. Comm acknowledgments came across loud and clear. "Gloria ad mortem."

"GLORIA AD MORTEM!"

The Nimitz dropped from warp about 200,000 kilometers from the space station and preliminary scans showed 44 life forms aboard. Most were adults, but 6 of them were classified as infants. No outward defenses could be seen, but they did have a full squadron of fighters in the docking bay. Striker Wing launched and went to full warp burn immediately, closing within 30 seconds to the station. Skulls started shooting as soon as the defending fighters launched, and knocked 7 Raptors out of the sky in 3 seconds, disabling them. The remaining 5 fighters managed to slip past, but were quickly taken out by the Skulls.

As Jason and Delaara banked hard left and came in behind the last Raptor, firing in a trapping pattern that caught the Klingon fighter cold, disabling its engine. Engineering had modified their sensors to scan through the sensor resistant containers, but even with that, no life signs were found aboard the disabled fighters other than their pilots.

They gave the go-ahead for the drop ship full of Marines to come in and hit the facility. The Marines landed and began a pitched battle with the inhabitants. They managed to rescue all 4 infants found, as well as confiscate all bio engineering and cloning tech and research. They downloaded the destination logs for each delivery of genetically created infants, and when he got a patch on some of the data, Jason figured it out.

"Friday to Nimitz, we have a problem." Jason was shaking with rage.

"Are you ok, Friday? What's going on?" Rachael asked over the comm.

"These infants are being genetically engineered and sold to the highest bidders. Quite a few of those bidders tend to be Ferengi, and they have a very exclusive list of some very powerful Ferengi." He laid it all out. "That was just a patch of info I got from the Marines. They'll have more intel when we get back. They're launching now."

The drop ship launched and the Skulls escorted it back to Nimitz. By the time the mission was over, they had rescued all 6 babies, who were safely being cared for by Doc Tavolk in Medbay, and the Brig had filled up with sickos.

Jason, Delaara, and Rash were seated in the Ready Room in front of Rachael as she went over all the data recovered from the op, shaking her head and looking disgusted. "You were right, Friday. This goes deeper than we thought. The Ferengi are doing some horrible things to those babies, and some of the culprits are high placed government officials."

"Wipe the scum from the galaxy," said Delaara as she heard more and more about the atrocities the Ferengi were perpetrating.

Rachael said "I'm with you on that, sister. Unfortunately, it's now up to Starfleet and the UFP on how to proceed." She shook her head sadly. "I don't know about you guys, but I could sure use a good war right now. I just feel the need to launch my boys and girls at some Ferengi and watch those fucking cocksucking bastards die in fire and pain."

"I'll drink to that, honey", said Rash in a serious tone.

"Rash, you'll drink to anything," said Rachael with a laugh.

"Yes, ma'am, I most certainly would, but I would drink an entire jug of Romulan ale after blasting some of those sickos to dust," he said with a nod.

"I'll buy you all the Romulan ale you want, little brother," said Delaara, hugging him with a smile.

"Hey hey, my new sis has connections! Woohoo!" Rash grinned and moved around to sit on Rachael's lap. They all laughed, since Rash could defuse even the most dire of situations with his own unique brand of humor.

--------------------------------------------------

The Honeymoon

After the Nimitz delivered its cargo of prisoners, evidence, and babies to the USS Gryphon, they headed back to Belaeus IV to wait for further orders.

Now was the time to get the Honeymoon rolling as they had some real downtime for a while. Putting Rash in charge of Skull Squadron, it was time for Jason to take two weeks of Leave back to Earth with Delaara. They borrowed a Mjolnir class bomber for the trip, as it had two seats, a spacious crew compartment, and enough room for their luggage. Plus it would fit in the old driveway at Jason's house in Santa Barbara.

"I hope you love it, baby. My old house where I grew up, that is." he said with a huge grin. "I have a lot of good memories there."

Delaara moved up and put her arms around him from behind as she leaned over his pilot's chair. She kissed his ear and said "You have ugly ears, baby. It's a good thing the rest of you looks great enough to overlook those rounders." She giggled as he said "Hey!" and turned to kiss her passionately. They were only 2 hours from Earth now, and it had only been a 22 hour trip one way at maximum warp.

*****

The Mjolnir landed in the old two car driveway and Jason cut the engine. He got out, helped Delaara down, and stretched in his blue t-shirt and black denim shorts. Delaara was wearing a short pink tank top that showed her toned bare midriff, and a pair of blue denim short shorts. She'd seen it once in a flatvid of Bounce's, and loved the look. Jason loved it too, and told her so.

"Baby, you are going to make me the envy of every guy on the block here", he said, kissing her neck from behind and moving up to her earlobe. She shuddered and moaned. "I love you, sweetheart," he whispered.

"Mmmmmm I love you too, baby," she replied.

"Jason???" came the high pitched questioning yell from Mrs. Schmidt. "Is that you???"

He waved. "Hey, Mrs. Schmidt!" He smiled.

"Who's your lady friend there, Jason?" she asked, walking towards them slowly.

"Mrs Schmidt, this is Delaara, She's my wife," he said warmly to the little old lady.

"My my! Aren't you lovely, dear! How old are you?" she asked.

"Why thank you, Mrs. Schmidt. I'm 60 years old," Delaara smiled warmly, and Jason had to keep from laughing at the look on Mrs. Schmidt's face.

Without another word, she turned and mumbled her way back to her house. Delaara was giggling nearly uncontrollably.

Jason looked at her questioningly. "What was she mumbling?"

"She was calling me everything from cradle robber to pointy eared bitch," she grinned. Jason covered his face in shame.

"I was kind of hoping she would have.... moved on up to the great beyond, if you know what I mean," Jason said with a world weary look. "I'd been hoping to get us inside before she showed up, to be honest."

"It's ok, baby," she said as she kissed him. "I'm used to it, but what I found really funny is that she thought I was Vulcan!"

Jason laughed at that, and caught the attention of another neighbor. "OhmyGod, JASON!!!" Shouted Stephanie Riley. She ran up and jumped onto Jason, wrapping her legs around his waist and screaming as she hugged him hard. Jason gently but firmly pried Stephanie off of himself, and set her on the ground.

"Stephie, this is my wife, Delaara. Delaara honey, this is my EX-girlfriend from high school, Stephanie Riley", he said by way of introduction. Stephanie's eyes got wide when she saw Delaara's striking features and killer body.

Delaara smiled sweetly. "Hi there, I'm Delaara. Jason and I have been married for nearly 4 weeks now, and this is our honeymoon."

"OmyGod I'm so sorry. I didn't even know he was seeing anyone," she said with an apologetic smile.

Jason sighed. "Stephie, that was one of the reasons we broke up in the first place. You never listened when I told you stuff," he said. "I introduced Delaara as my wife after you came running up."

"I'm sorry, Jason. I didn't mean to intrude like that," she said.

"It's ok, Steph. I know it's been a couple years since you saw me, and a lot has changed since then," he said.

"I heard about your folks, Jay. I'm sorry," she said and hugged him.

"Thanks, Steph. Well, we need to get this ship unloaded and get unpacked for our vacation. Bring Danny by later if you want, and we can all catch up," he said with a smile.

"We can do that!", she said and walked back towards her house.

Jason started grabbing their bags and Delaara grabbed two as well. Luckily, they'd packed light and were able to get everything inside in one trip. Jason went back out to make sure the Bomber was locked down, and found Steve Winston looking at it with a critical eye.

"Hey, Steve. How's it going?" he asked.

"Holy crap! Jason! How you been, man?" Steve asked with a grin.