Copyright: This story is copyrighted to the author Ó 1999 by T.Novan. Do not use any part of this story without my written permission. I may be contacted at TNOVAN@aol.com

Sex: This story contains scenes of two women making love. <smile> If this offends you, please don’t read my story. There are plenty of other wonderful stories out there.

Violence: There are scenes of violence in this piece. If that offends please move on.

By T.Novan

LOG FORTY-FIVE

Garron Richards and the Ambassador made their way to the shuttle bay to welcome back another group of survivors rescued over the course of the last three weeks. Ford knew Marra would be thrilled with the rescue of this escape shuttle. It contained the First Wife’s most trusted aide, Judith.

Ford was pleased to see that in her own right, Judith had taken her duties to the Second House very seriously and seemed to be leading this small group. She was the last one off the shuttle, making sure that all those aboard were safely off loaded first.

"Judith, welcome back." The Ambassador stepped forward, offering the woman a hug.

"Thank you Ambassador. It’s good to be aboard once again." She glanced back to the shuttle. "It was a little crowded in there."

"How is everyone?"

"I believe is well. No doubt in need of a few good meals and hot baths, but other than that they are fine. You would be proud of them. They did very well under very difficult circumstances."

"I am very proud, of them and of you. I want you to go tend to the things you need to get settled. Then you must go see Lady Kurrathian and our little girl." Ford’s eyes lit up as she spoke to the woman.

"The baby has arrived already? But it’s far too early. Is she all right?"

"It was unusual and very unexpected, but she lives and is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen." The tall woman turned to the ship’s commander. "Isn’t she Rick?"

The Commander nodded vigorously biting back the smirk. "Absolutely Ambassador."

Judith looked to the young man and smiled with him at Ford’s obvious delight in her daughter. She remembered the many nights Marra worried over the fact the Ambassador had been less than pleased at the announcement that the First Wife was expecting.

"I’m am delighted for you and Lady Kurrathian. I’ll make sure I go see her as soon as possible." Judith looked over her shoulder at the other shuttles in the docking bay. "How many more to recover?"

Ford shook her head. "Too many. We find one or two every few days, but at this rate we’ll never find them all. We can only hope that they can link up with us or follow us under their own power."

"I’m sorry Ambassador."

"So am I." Ford sighed. "But we are fortunate to have rescued a few shuttles and I know Lady Kurrathian is very much looking forward to your return."

"I’m honored." She took a deep breath, then gave a slight bow. "If you’ll excuse me Ambassador I’d like to get freshened up and go see the First Wife and the new addition to your fine house."

"Of course. Rick, you’ll see to Judith’s needs personally?"

The young captain smiled at the First Wife’s assistant. They had gotten to know each other because of Marra’s not so gentle nudging in that direction in the weeks before the encounter. Rick was more relieved that he was letting on that the woman had been returned safe and sound. "I’ll be happy to Ambassador."

Ford chuckled. "I figured as much." The Ambassador was many things, blind was not among them and she was impressed the conversation had gone on that long.

* * *

Ford rolled over, groaning from the pain and discomfort in her head. She had caught what the doctor had called a cold. And she was miserable. Not only did she not feel good, but also she couldn’t risk infecting Marra and the baby so she had been forced into isolation in the med lab. She wondered as she rolled over in her bed if the doctor was enjoying this a little too much.

He seemed to be enjoying it when her told her that he believed she had picked up a germ from someone who had returned on one of the rescued shuttles and that until he could run further tests there was nothing he could do for her. She coughed and tried to sit up only to find that to be a most unpleasant experience.

She was distracted from her misery by a tapping on the window. She rolled over to find Marra, holding the baby so she could see her. "How do you feel today?" Her wife asked through the intercom.

"How do I look?"

Marra sucked air through her teeth, bit her lip and tried to come up with an answer worthy of a diplomat’s wife.

"Yeah, that’s pretty much how I feel." Ford laughed a bit which only made her cough again.

"The doctor is doing everything he can."

"That man hates me."

"That’s because you’re a lousy patient. If you’d learn not to argue with him you wouldn’t have these problems."

"How is my girl today?"

"Our daughter is just fine. But she misses you."

"Hmm I miss you both. I’m hoping to be home soon. I feel better today than I did yesterday, but then again that’s not saying much."

"Well, rest as much as you can. Rick says we should be leaving known space in a day or so."

Ford nodded. "I know. Another reason I want to get back on my feet. Once we leave known space, we can seriously begin our search for Earth and its satellites. I’d rather not try to do that from here. I may need to take out a scout ship…" Ford stopped in mid sentence realizing almost right away this was not going to be a popular plan.

"Excuse me?"

For the moment the tall woman was glad the blonde was on the other side of the glass. "Un…well…I mean think of it logically Marra."

"I am. You have many officers who can do that for you."

"You know that I would never ask them to do anything I wouldn’t do myself."

"I know that and so do they. I also know you have single officers with no families who would be better suited to take the risk and who would consider it a great honor to perform such a mission for you."

"Marra…" Ford’s voice was low, almost a growl.

"Ford…" The blonde growled back

The doctor chuckled as he entered the room. "Should I come back later? Sounds to me like Lady Kurrathian has a few choice words for you Ambassador."

"Don’t suppose you’ve brought anything to help me out with this cold have you?"

"Actually, I think I may have found something that might help, yes." The man placed a mask over his face and entered the room. He removed an injection device from his pocket and made a motion for Ford to turn over. "It’ll be more effective if I give it to you in your backside."

"You’re joking."

"I never joke."

* * *

Ford stood on the command deck with Marra next to her and Mary in her arms. Her command staff surrounded her as the screen buzzed and the link they were trying to establish faded in and out.

"Come on." She growled under her breath, but still managed to brush her lips over the downy hair forming on her daughter’s head. The baby was slumbering through what might prove to be one of the most important moments in her young life, but Ford also knew that if this was successful she wouldn’t be asleep for long.

The screen finally came to life and the vid was that of a small solar system. Ford looked carefully and sighed. "Where’s the sun?"

"Ford?" Marra laid her hand on her spouse’s arm, recognizing the distress in her spouse’s voice.

"It was a star. Called the sun. It was vital to the survival of the planet Earth. It’s not there. It has either burned out or been destroyed somehow." Her shoulders slumped a little and she kissed her daughter’s head again without taking her eyes from the screen. "Take the baby."

Once the transfer was made Ford took a seat at a console and began shifting the vid link to scan the system. Her hopes dropping away with every second she looked at the dead planets before them. "Without the Sun, Earth would never be able to survive. But there should be some evidence of it some where a star that big doesn’t just disappear without a trace."

"So there is no place safe for us to go here?"

Ford looked up to Marra; her dark brows drawn together and a worried look clearly written on her face. "No. No I don’t think there is." She returned her gaze to the panel. "I’ll have to take some more readings and compare them to some old star charts. But this system is long dead."

"Ambassador, maybe there is something on the other side of it." Rick offered as he too studied the vid screen and glance over the Ford’s shoulder at the coordinates she was inputting into the computer.

"Maybe, but look here," she pointed to a smaller screen at her fingertips. "There’s a huge debris field. The magnetic forces would make it impossible to get through and it’ll take weeks to get around."

"Do we really have a choice at this point?"

"I don’t." Ford sighed, looking at her Commander. "But you do." She stood up and smoothed her tunic. "Let take this discussion in your office shall we?"

* * *

"Marra please see reason…"

Marra shook her head fiercely even as she took the time to carefully place the baby down on the couch and place pillows next to her to cushion her in. Then she turned on her spouse and marched across the room pointing an angry finger. "Then don’t say ridiculous things."

"It’s not ridiculous. It’s the only reasonable thing to do."

The blonde looked to Rick who was leaning against his desk with his arms crossed against his chest. "She has obviously lost control of her senses, wouldn’t you say so Garron?"

Rick just put up a palmed hand and shook his head. He wasn’t going to get in on this one.

"I can’t go home." Ford said softly. "But you can. You can take Mary and go back to the house and…"

"Not another word like that Ford Kurrathian or I swear I’ll make you regret it for the rest of your natural life. I’m not leaving you. You can give the other the choice and they are free to do as they please but I am the First Wife. More importantly I am your wife and I won’t leave you."

Marra seethed, Ford sighed and Rick cleared his throat and scratched his cheek, wishing he were anywhere else but in that room.

The shorter woman gestured wildly. "From the very book that you got our own child’s name from, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’" She stepped forward and she and Ford clasped hands. "And even…"

"In death, I will never leave you." They finished together in a whisper, their eyes locked firmly on each other. Ford nodded, realizing this argument was over and the one who owned her heart had defeated her.

"But we still owe the others the chance…"

Marra nodded her agreement.

They shared a brief kiss, then Ford drew a deep breath and turned to face Rick. "We should…"

"I all ready have Ambassador. Your people are not leaving you. We will follow your orders, but we will not abandon you. You have never abandoned us in our time of need. We will stand with you now as your have always stood with us."

Ford bit the inside of her lip to force back the tears she felt brimming in her eyes. Marra squeezed her hand to reinforce the feeling of solidarity that the words had spoken of. Ford’s people loved and trusted her, a true leader could ask for nothing more than that.

She cleared her throat again. "All right then. Let’s set a course and see what happens. We’re truly flying blind now Rick."

He smiled at her. "Well, then let the adventure begin."

* * *

The alarm rattled Ford out of a sound sleep. She sat up quickly, pulling on her robe and activating the com link. "Ford here. What’s going on?"

"Ambassador, a large piece of space debris has impacted the ship, jolting us off course."

Marra sat up, running her fingers through her hair and waiting to see how bad things were before she prepared her next move.

"Are you going to be able to correct?"

"Unable to determine that at this time Ambassador. Navigation is off line."

"I’ll take that as a no." Ford mumbled. She crossed to her wardrobe and removed a soft tunic and trousers. She looked to Marra as she dressed. "Why can’t they ever just say no?"

Marra chuckled and joined Ford at the cabinet, removing her own clothing. "That, would be too easy. I’ll get Mary ready is case this turns into a problem."

"All right love. I’ll be on the command deck with Richards." She gave Marra a soft kiss before departing.

* * *

Richard was rubbing his eyes as he and the Ambassador met on the way to the command deck. They looked to each other with tired, bleary eyes and Ford grinned. "I look this way because I have a newborn baby daughter who is very demanding of my time. Why do you look this way?"

"As Garron I can refuse to answer that question can’t I?" The young man bit the inside of his lip to keep from smiling.

"Could it have something to do with Lady Kurrathian’s personal assistant? Is she keeping you out late Commander?" The tall woman teased, watching him slowly turn red.

Rick rocked back and forth on his heels wishing that the transport were moving a little faster.

Both warrior’s were not prepared for the sound of the impact and the jolt that threw Ford into the wall and Rick into Ford. She wrapped her arms around him to keep him from falling, then she smiled at him. "I won’t tell my wife if you don’t."

Rick righted himself and smiled back. "I’m not gonna tell her, she’d kill me."

Ford smirked as the doors opened. "True." She gestured to Rick allowing him to take the lead and enter his command deck first.

"Report!" Rick moved to his command chair and Ford moved to a science station.

"The ship seems to be attracting pieces of debris out of the field Garron Richards."

"They must be pretty good sized pieces of debris to be knocking us around like this." Rick commented, looking at his own information station.

"Yes Garrron." The young officer grimaced, then then turned around to face his commander. "And the biggest one yet is headed right for us. If it hits us sir, well be seriously damaged."

"Can we fire on it and try to break it up before impact.?"

"We can try Garron."

"Then prepare to fire on it."

"Ready to fire Garron."

Ford’s shoulders arched and she was about to order that command belayed, but before she could say anything, Richards gave the order and the explosion ripped through the debris field. The ship was tossed back severally, the angle, sending the ship into a spin, directly into the debris field and the rippling aftershocks of the explosion.

"Not good!" Rick yelled, forcing himself upright the command chair.

"Ya think?!" Ford’s voice rang out as she joined him, holing onto the rails to get to his chair. "We ignited a pocket of gas within the field."

"Garron, Ambassador!" The young officer pointed to the screen as a something began to take form in front of the ship, swirling before them and drawing them in.

"This would be even worse!" Richards pushed out of his chair and to the navigation panels. "Reverse engines!"

"Can’t sir! All systems off line we’re going in!"

Ford’s hand hit the ship wide com link on the arm of the command chair. "All personnel prepare for impact!"

* * *

Marra felt the ship right itself and the spinning stop. She looked down at her daughter, tucked securely in her travel seat and fixed between Marra’s feet in the small impact shelter. "Guess we made it huh?"

The baby looked up at her mother with watery, frightened eyes before the tears really started flowing. Marra pulled her baby from the chair and held her close. "Shhh it’s okay sweetheart we made it. We made it. We’re okay." It didn’t take long to get the child calmed and as she as she could she opened the hatch of the shelter and extracted them both carefully. She quickly took in the disarray that had formally been her home. The ship had been tossed around for what seemed like hours before it finally felt like it was settling.

The barest of lighting illuminated the ship and Marra knew they were on emergency power. She scooped Mary up and headed out for the command deck.

* * *

Ford picked herself up from the floor and looked to the vid screen. "Where are we?" She carefully studied the view outside the ship that cracked and faded in and out.

Crew members groaned and picked themselves up returning to they’re stations. "Unknown Ambassador. They only thing that we know for sure is that we’re planet side and mostly in one piece."

"Mostly?"

"We lost a section of the ship, just before impact."

"Which section?"

"The living quarters."

Ford turned immediately, forcing the doors open and heading into the remnants of her destroyed ship and the sections that should hold her family. Crew members were starting to move around and get their bearings. Ford knew she should be helping them and assisting Richards, but she had to see for sure. She had to find out how badly the ship was damaged and she needed to know if Marra and Mary were alive.

Moving through the debris and the wreckage. She stopped when she reached the spot where the living quarters should start. The emergency force fields were in place protecting those inside the wrecked ship, but the entire living section was missing.

Ford felt tears stinging her eyes as her stomach rolled and her mouth watered. Her eyes took in the lush green grass and the rolling meadows of the planet. What, in reality should be a very happy moment for her was the worst of her life because that which had become the most important thing was gone. She had survived, but Marra and Mary and most of the rest of her family were gone.

She turned and headed for the place she knew she should be able to exit the ship. As she pushed the emergency doors open she angrily wiped tears from her eyes, almost hoping that the atmosphere of this place would destroy her the second she stepped clear of the protective field.

Once clear of the ship, Ford’s boots sank into soft mud; the air smelled of fresh rain despite the lingering odor associated with the crash of the ship. She moved around taking in the wreckage and trying to figure out where the rest of the ship was. She knew she wasn’t thinking clearly at the moment and there were far better ways to do these things, but she couldn’t seem to focus. For the first time in her life Ford felt lost and unsure.

* * *

Marra pushed open the doors to their quarters and stepped out into the corridor. She was relieved to see others coming into the corridor as well. She carefully removed Mary from her seat and shouldered her, realizing it would be easier to move with the baby only.

Judith moved quickly to Marra’s side. "My Lady. This ship is no longer in space." She held her hands out and took the baby, allowing Marra to get a better sense of what was happening.

"You’re right. I need to get to Ford. Take Mary back to my quarters and wait for me there."

"Yes, My Lady."

Marra waited until she was sure Judith and Mary were safe before she headed for the command deck. At the lift doors, her head slowly turned to the left to reveal the fact that half the ship was missing. "This has disaster written all over it."

She scratched her cheek as she tried to comprehend exactly what had happened. Then she realized that the command deck and the forward sections of the ship were missing. "Ford." She shook her head and cleared her mind. Relief washed over her when she felt Ford was still alive. She took a deep breath and began putting a plan together in her mind. It took her to the remaining lower decks.

* * *

Ford, Richards and other members of the crew had begun assisting others from the wreckage of the ship. They were both relieved beyond measure that despite the severe damage to the ship a lot of the equipment would be salvageable and that they would be able to use the ship as building material to make temporary shelter.

Ford took a moment to wipe the sweat from her face and look up into the blue sky. The bright yellow light source hurting her eyes and forcing them closed as they teared up. She rubbed them again and cleared her throat before going back to work.

"We need to locate the rest of the ship and try to determine if there were any survivors." She said it quietly, refusing to believe that Marra and their daughter were dead.

"As soon as we can rig a power supply we’ll try to get a reading of sensors before the ship split, maybe that will give us some idea of what happened and where the other section may have landed."

Ford nodded and assisted another woman from the wreckage.

"We’ll find them Ambassador."

"I shouldn’t have left them."

* * *

Marra was very relieved to find Neyta and Phoenix shaken, but all right. "Yes, it’s okay." She soothed both beasts.

The ship has run a ground. Neyta stuck her long face right in front of Marra. We are out of time.

"Yes, Neyta, the ship is planet side but we have survived and we are fine."

No Marra, you don’t understand. We are out of time. We are out of our time. Our time and place in space and time. The serpentine looked to her own offspring. Did the little one survive the crash?

"I’m not sure. But I’m grateful the four of you did and right now we need to leave the ship and find Ford. The ship is badly damaged and we have been separated." Marra found a long bar and placed it in the jammed stall door, starting to pry on it.

From the other side Netya nudged Phoenix and he put his body into pushing from the other side. Together it didn’t take long for them to get it open.

* * *

Ford settled down under a tree and took a drink of the water that Richards had brought to her from the emergency rations. It was hot on this planet. It was something she’d have to get used to. And that bright light source amazed her.

Suddenly the sky darkened briefly and she looked up. Rising up from behind the hill she heard the familiar sound of wings cutting through the air. She got to her feet right away and moved to the sight.

The relief flooded her entire body as she watched Marra and Neyta with Phoenix behind them fly over the top of the hill. She actually began to laugh at the sight as they slowly landed and Marra slid from Neyta’s shoulders. She shook her head and moved swiftly to her spouse scooping her up into her arms. "I should have known you were all right!" She practically yelled as she spun Marra around before kissing her soundly. "Where’s Mary? Is she okay?"

"Mary’s fine, Ford. She’s with Judith on the other side of the hill. In the other section of the ship."

"Thank Capri."

"Ford do you know where we are?"

"No, no I don’t, but as soon as we get everyone settled and get a camp set up I’ll start working on figuring that out."

"Neyta says we have been thrown out of our own place in space and time." She looked around and gestured. "Is it possible that this is Earth? Before it was destroyed?"

Ford chewed the inside of her lip for a moment running the explosion and the vortex through her mind. "Yes, yes it possible. Not likely, but possible."

Marra hugged Ford close. "Doesn’t matter to me where we are. We are alive and we are safe and most of our people are safe and sound. That’s all that matters."

The tall woman held tight to her mate, nodding slowly as she rested her cheek on top of the smaller woman’s head and closing her eyes. "It certainly is. We are about to begin a new life are you ready for that?"

Marra looked up into eyes the same color blue as the beautiful new sky they would be sleeping under tonight. "With you? Absolutely. Let the adventure begin my love."

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