=Main Promenade
=Starbase UNITY=
Since Rick's return from his work on Project Los Alamos, he made it a point to spend as much time as he could with his family. He felt he needed his family more now than ever to wash away the filth he felt for being involved in Los Alamos.
Maybe the innocence of his children would bring back some of his own self-perceived innocence. Deep down that's probably what it was. But, in reality, he just wanted to be more of a father than a starfleet officer or an engineer.
One thing he did notice since returning home was the attention focused on his newborn son. It was necessary, he realized, since babies required constant attention and care. Even so, he felt sorry for Rachel since she was no longer the center of his and Mai's attention. He didn;'t want his daughter to feel jealous of the baby, so he made it a point to spend as much time with her as possible away from young Michael Anthony.
Today, he took an extra hour off from his lunch break to take Rachel to the promenade for some ice cream.
"Can I have another?" she said while still licking away at one in her small hands. Her mouth was covered with a mixture of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.
"That's your second one," Rick said. "If your mother knew I allowed you to have two ice cream cones, she would be upset with both of us."
"But you ate two," she said, giving him a questioning stare.
"Yes ... well ... I'm bigger than you are and require more ice cream."
She rapidly shook her head.
"That's not what mommy says. She says you shouldn't have any ice cream. That you already getting a little chubby."
"Is that what mommy says?" Rick asked.
"Uh, huh," she said as she started eating away at the cone.
"Well, you can tell your mommy that I'm still in excellent physical shape. I can't help it that I've been too busy recently to workout like I use to do."
Rachel ignored her father as she finished off her second ice cream cone.
"Can I have another?" she asked again.
Rick grinned as he reached over to her and tickled her, "No, you can't have another. We need to get you back to class and I need to get back to work."
"Do I have to?" she asked as Rick took a towel and wiped off Rachel's mouth.
"Yes, you do."
"But Mrs. Collinsworth said I could take rest of today off."
"Is that so?"
"Uh, huh."
"Riiiiight. I'll ask her when I drop you back off to school."
"But she said ..."
Rick didn't listen to the rest of her argument as he placed her on his shoulders and they walked away. A few minutes later, they were walking down the corridor toward Rachel's classroom which seemed quiet. Too quiet, in fact. Usually, the corridor was busy this time of day.
The quietness was interrupted by a slight noise. Rick turned and saw three figures at the far end of the corridor. Two were in civilian clothes, while one was wearing a starfleet uniform. At first glance, Rick didn't think nothing of it. Even so, he took Rachel off his shoulders and held her in his arms.
The three figures stood quietly and looked at Rick and Rachel. Rick's eyes adjusted as he got a better look at them. There was something wrong with them. Their faces were deformed. He didn't recognized them as any race living on Unity.
His suspicions grew as they at first slowly moved toward them. Then, when he took a couple of steps back, they started to run at Rick and Rachel. As Rick took off running, Rachel started screaming. She had apparently got a better look at the them and was frightened.
As Rick ran, two more figures appeared on the other end of the corridor. They too ran toward Rick and Rachel. Just before they caught up with him, Rick arrived at Rachel's classroom, letting Rachel down long enough to punch in his codes, sealing off the door. He could hear them banging onto the door from the outside.
"Commander Rodgers to security," Rick said after tapping his comm badge.
"What's going on, Commander?" Mrs. Collinsworth asked as the other children looked up at him.
"I have no idea," Rick said as he rushed over to the other door and sealed it off as well.
"Monsters," Rachel said.
"Security here."
"We have a problem near the classrooms. Something ... I don't know ... something is wrong with some of the people down here."
"Sir, we're getting similar reports from throughout the starbase. Apparently there is some sort of virus spreading throughout the base. We're sealing off the civilian sections."
"I have children down here that need to be evacuated," Rick said.
"I'm sorry, Commander, but you are on your own for now."
Rick almost shouted "Damn it!", but noticed all of the young eyes focused on him. They were starting to get scared as Rachel explained what had happened. Rick had the children from the other connected classrooms brought here so he could seal off their sections. The room on one end, away from the doors, was crowded as the children sat huddled together on the deck.
Rick cursed himself for leaving his phaser in his office. He didn't like carrying it when he was with Rachel. So, he looked around for a weapon, only finding a flag staff that held the Federation flag.
"What are we going to do, Commander?" one of the other teachers asked.
"Stay here and hope that the doors hold," Rick said as he respectfully removed the flag from the staff and folded it before placing it on one of the shelves.
Commander Rick Rodgers
Chief Engineering Officer
Starbase UNITY
and
Rachel Rodgers (npc by Rick)
Civilian Child
and
other npcs by Rick
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