Fourth Vector Ch. 20

"My soldiers, you've done well tonight," said Aedan, allowing himself to reach back out to his men before pointing back to Jack's forces. "Those men are our allies. They, and the Carinthians, are here to help us."

"But the Carinthians have attacked our city," argued one of the men.

"No, the Carinthians are here to help us throw out the Swabians," countered Aedan. "Picardy will be whole again. I've made so many mistakes, men. So many of them. The worst of all of them was trusting the Swabians. With your help, we need to throw every single one of them out of our homeland!"

There was a roar of approval for that message, and soon the Picards were raising their rifles in the air, chanting the name of their king as Jack and his men emerged from their cover.

"You think it's safe to approach?" asked Dustin quietly.

"We'll find out soon enough," said Jack.

Indeed, the force of the king's personality mellowed out his men. As the two forces soon joined into one group, the enmity of the last fight melted away. Jack allowed himself to grin as the Picard soldiers began to chant louder, merging into his own force. They began to hug themselves, Picard to Javan, ally to ally. It was a moment that no one could steal from them, men who'd fought all night long finally getting the chance for a reprieve. Even though most of them had spent the fight on opposite sides, they were now united in their stance against an ancient enemy.

Jack couldn't have been happier in that moment, thankful that the fight was almost over.

It was then that an explosion rocked all of them, throwing most of them directly to the ground.

Jack felt the ground shake, and soon pieces of brick and mortar started to fall from the sky.

"Lookout!" shouted someone as a large piece of the palace fell on a Picard soldier, crushing him instantly. The feeling of the moment, so lively in the seconds before, fell back to utter ruin.

As Jack was able to get his bearings several moments later, he found a ringing in his ears that wouldn't stop. His vision was blurry, making the act of standing that much more difficult. He caught sight of Dustin not far from him, helping the man to his feet even though Jack could spot a trickle of blood coming down his ear.

To the right of them, Jack could see the smoking ruins of the part of the palace. The same part that used to be the residency of the royal family.

"What in the world?" asked Dustin, gawking at the missing wing of the palace.

"The residential wing," said Jack, noticing the only part that had been blown to bits. He turned to find the king, but Aedan's eyes were already red, wet, and locked on the wing.

"Ciara! I have to find Ciara," he cried, before taking off through the rubble toward the residence.

Jack had no choice but to follow the king as he dashed through the ruins of the palace. All the soldiers followed behind them, many of them still coughing up the smoke and fumes of the ruined building. There was debris everywhere, and Jack struggled to identify what some of the items even used to be, so complete was the desolation.

"My wife, I have to find my wife," cried Aedan, as he began to throw what used to be bricks out of the way. The devastated king worked frantically but it soon became apparent it wasn't a job for one man to do alone. As the smoke began to clear, Jack and Dustin both directed the men to different parts of the rubble, coordinating a team effort that made for their best chance to find any survivors.

It wasn't looking good. It wasn't more than ten minutes after they started digging through the debris that the first victim was found. A male servant formerly, the man had his skull crushed by a fallen beam. It was a gruesome sight, even for soldiers who'd just fought a battle through half the city, and it wasn't fortuitous for anyone else who still might be trapped underneath.

The midmorning sun was rising by the time they found someone still alive. An envoy of the country of Edo was located by the sounds of her cries, and she was dug out only with great trouble by about two squads of men. Her leg was broken, but she would live, giving all of them something to smile about for the first time since the blast.

"What do you think our odds are?" asked Dustin as he deposited more debris on a larger pile outside the grounds. "So far, we've found seven dead and one living. No sign of the queen yet."

"We'll keep looking until we find her," said Jack. "Aedan won't stop until we know for sure."

"This residence wing was massive though, Jack. We could be here for days and still only get through half of it. Anyone who we don't find might long die of thirst before we get close."

"We have to keep going," said Jack firmly. "If it were your wife, you wouldn't want to stop until you knew for sure."

Dustin didn't respond to that, only nodding his acknowledgment. No more words needed to be said. Aedan would be there long after everyone else had left, even if they never found what remained of Ciara. The depth of his devotion went that deep. It was a feeling that Jack understood well enough. He found he worked a lot faster when he imagined sifting through the rubble to find either Abigail or Kat.

Just an hour before noon, their good fortune held.

"The queen! The queen is here! I've found her," yelled one of the Picard soldiers, near what had been the ruins of the royal bedchamber. Instantly, all those within a thirty foot radius abandoned their work to converge on the spot, seeking to free the queen from her ruined cage. Aedan leapt through the rubble to the forefront of the crowd, finding Ciara's battered and bruised face sticking out from the debris.

"Ciara!" he cried. "Are you okay? Are you all right?"

The queen opened her eyes once, twice, and then closed them. There was dried blood on her face, but she was alive. She nodded her head slightly in response to her husband.

"We have to get her out of here now! This beam is across her back, pinning her down," yelled Aedan, gesturing to the fallen timber that was directly behind her head. "All together now, men. Lift!"

The team of soldiers-turned-workers moved with superhuman strength to dislodge the beam, still anchored in place on one side by a heavy pile of remains. As more soldiers worked to unload the pile to free the beam, Aedan found his wife's hand, squeezing it to give her hope.

"On three, are you with me, boys? One. Two. Three!"

The mass of soldiers hoisted the beam just high enough to slide the queen out from under it. Ciara gave a weak cry of joy at finally having the burden off her back. She was quickly cradled by Aedan, looking for any signs of trouble or damage.

"Where does it hurt, my love?" he asked, checking out her body.

"My arm," she croaked. "I think my arm is broken."

Her arm was indeed broken, and they were able to grab their physicians from the part of the palace that was still standing to attend to her. A makeshift sling was made, and the queen was escorted to a small tent just off the grounds to continue her aid. Since they still weren't sure if the rest of the palace could fall or be triggered to explode, it was determined she was safer out on the grounds.

As the doctors rigged a bed for her to relax on, they rolled her pregnant stomach upward and checked the vital signs of the child within. Jack watched as Aedan held his breath for the results, only to be relieved a short while later.

"The baby is fine," said the doctor before gesturing to her legs. "But we have a bigger problem."

"Gods, what now?" asked Aedan wearily.

"Her water has broken. She's going to have this baby today."

"How could that be?" asked the king. "She's not ready yet. She only just hit the nine month mark this week!" Ciara could only whimper in protest, still not strong enough to form sentences.

The doctor shook his head. "Perhaps the trauma that she suffered today triggered her body. We can't be sure the reason why, but this baby is coming today one way or another."

*****

As soon as the queen's predicament was fully realized, there was a furious hustle to get her to adequate medical facilities. With her body still showing trauma from the blast, and due to the fact she was still on the verge of consciousness, her physicians wanted to make sure she went to the best hospital in the city to have the baby.

That meant trekking the queen over a distance of a mile through the war-torn city to that hospital. Her arrival was greeted by a team of doctors and nurses ready to help her deliver. Jack joined the king on Aedan's request, not wanting to be alone while he awaited the arrival of his heir.

"Unfortunately, we might be here for a while," said the doctor, briefing the king about an hour after they arrived. "It's her first baby, so her body is moving more slowly than we would like."

"What does that even mean?" asked a confused Aedan. "How does a body choose the speed for the arrival of a baby?"

"It's not so much that it chooses a speed," corrected the doctor. "But typically first time moms will take longer before they are fully dilated so they can start pushing. Ciara just isn't there yet."

"He means that it generally goes faster after the first child," said Jack to the king. "Because their bodies know what to do at that point."

"How long are we to expect?" asked Aedan.

"It might be a few hours still. You might want to get comfortable."

For the rest of the day, Aedan paced around the delivery ward of the hospital, waiting on news of the baby as well as Ciara's health. Luckily, she seemed to be doing well despite the trauma of the day, and her delivery was progressing slowly if not surely.

For his part, Jack saw a steady amount of visitors to the hospital. Kat and Abigail came to see him about two hours after they arrived at the hospital, their presence fully welcome after the night of battle. Admiral Romero stopped by briefly, promising to return after the birth to talk more with Aedan.

Finally, close to dusk, the queen was allowed to start pushing. Jack waited patiently as Aedan was rushed into the room to comfort his wife, and just about thirty minutes later, the king came out to the waiting room with a broad smile on his face.

"I have a son," he said proudly, the smile cutting deep into his face. "A healthy son and a healthy wife."

Jack rose to congratulate him, clapping him firmly on the back. "Congratulations, Aedan."

The king rushed back into the room a minute later to cut the cord, leaving Jack alone with his two women.

"There's always something about babies that makes me feel all warm inside," said Kat, wearing a dreamy smile. "I can't wait to hold the little guy."

"You know, usually babies don't do much for me," said Abigail in a more offhand matter. "But I'm coming around on the subject slowly."

Kat grinned and looked at Jack. "Perhaps recent events have a way of influencing your thoughts."

Abigail shrugged and then smiled. "Perhaps. What used to seem like something that may not have been for me now seems increasingly likely." She wiggled her eyebrows at Jack suggestively.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that you're going to put a baby in me someday," she replied back with sass. She then put her arm around Kat. "Her too."

Jack gulped heavily. "Now that's a thought."

"Would you like that, Jack?" teased Kat, stroking Abigail's tight stomach. "To see the both of us with big, huge bellies knowing that your children are inside us?"

Try as he might, even despite being completely exhausted, Jack couldn't help but feel his cock twitch inside his trousers. "I do kind of like that idea."

Abigail giggled. "I bet you do. I can't wait to watch you pump my friend here full of your cum. I just hope there's enough for me to take a taste right from her hole."

"Abigail!" said both Kat and Jack with astonishment at the kinky commander. Kat managed to turn a healthy shade of red while Jack started to laugh.

"Oh, you both know that you'd love it just as much as I would," replied Abigail, crossing her arms under her breasts.

"Oh, there's a lot to love about the both of you," said Jack with an arched eyebrow.

Kat put her hand on the side of her face. "What did I get myself into with you both?"

Abigail squeezed Kat against her. "The time of your life. Right, Jack?"

"Right," he replied as the three of them laughed together.

Directly after, the three of them were invited into Ciara's room to see the new arrival. There was a brief introduction for Abigail, who hadn't yet met the royals, before they attended to the newborn baby in Ciara's arms.

"He looks just like his father," said Kat with a beaming smile. "Look at that wild red hair!"

Despite being slightly unusual, the child had a full covering of short, red hair, even to the point where it was unruly in the back where his head met his mother's arm.

"He's just perfect," said Aedan with a grin. "And worth the wait."

"How are you, Ciara? Feeling any better?" asked Kat.

Ciara took a deep breath and laughed softly. "Like I've just fallen face first into a concrete slab. I'd really like to not repeat this day if I can try."

"With any luck, today should be the worst of all you've had to go through," said Jack. "Especially now that the entire city is secure."

"Thank the gods for that," said Aedan. "Daban has suffered enough in the last couple months. It's time for us to go back to normal. I, for one, could use a full night of sleep."

Kat started to giggle before pointing to the baby. "I hate to tell you this, Aedan, but you're not going to be getting a full night of sleep for quite a long time." She then looked at Ciara, who was also wearing a knowing smile. "Should I tell him or do you want to?"

Ciara patted Aedan's arm lovingly. "We'll let him figure it out on his own." She then turned to look at both of the women. "Would any of you like a turn to hold him? With only one functional arm right now, I'm really starting to cramp."

"I'll do it, if you don't mind," volunteered Abigail. She picked up the Picard heir and gazed down lovingly into his squished face. "This really isn't so bad."

Ciara raised an eyebrow and looked at Kat. Before the queen could ask the question, Kat responded to it. "Abigail is having a change of heart about the whole motherhood thing."

Ciara opened her mouth and nodded. "Ah, that would explain it."

"They really are cute, aren't they?" asked Abigail.

"Tell me if you still feel the same after the first night," said Jack with a chuckle.

"Have you decided on a name yet? What's the heir to the throne to be called?" asked Kat.

Aedan shared a look with Ciara before turning back to the other three. "We have. We're going to call him Davin after my grandfather."

"Prince Davin," said Abigail with a smile. "A strong name for a king."

"And he'll be a good king, just like his father," added Jack, clapping Aedan on the back once more.

Aedan scoffed. "I hope he's three times the king that I am. Hopefully with Ciara's bloodline, we can make that a reality."

"You're too hard on yourself," said Ciara. "After all, we're all here, aren't we? We survived this day. We survived the Swabians."

Aedan scoffed again. "Half of our city is in tatters. Our defenses for the capital are ruined. A good portion of our people are suffering from the plague, and our army is only half effective. I still have have my country swarming with Swabians, and now my home is going to need to be rebuilt."

Ciara placed her arm on the king's wrist. "It could've been much worse. We're alive. Your son is healthy and well."

"And my wife too," added Aedan.

Ciara made a small noise to show her approval. "Correct. We can always rebuild as long as we still have the pieces."

"And you can do so with your allies," said Kat with a gentle smile. "Picardy has friends once more. Friends that will help you to put together your country still."

"We might be a charity case for a while," warned Aedan. "There's almost too much to do. I don't even want to go back and see all the things that need my attention now that the battle is over."

"All in due time, Aedan," said Jack. "There will come a time for that discussion. For tonight, let's just enjoy your son. We can pickup on statecraft later."

Aedan nodded slowly. "That sounds like a plan to me, Jack. He does look a lot like me, right?"

Jack grinned. "That he does, Your Majesty. That he does."

*****

The next two days saw a return to normalcy. Any remaining Swabian forces within the city were quickly surrounded and apprehended. At the end of the first day, the city had been completely secured, with some Picard forces even scouring the countryside to find any stragglers who might have thought to drift away after the fight.

Once the battle was over, the enormous task of putting the city back together had begun. There were many people that had been made homeless over the past week and getting them back into their homes took a high priority. Many of the soldiers had to put down their rifles only to pick up the debris that littered the city, especially from the royal palace.

Despite the Picards having barracks to lodge their soldiers, the Javans and the Carinthians had no such equivalent if you disregarded their ships, which many of them weren't in a hurry to return to. For that reason, Aedan designated fairgrounds on the southern end of the city for both forces to camp in the open air, and it was there that Jack found himself moving back and forth as they tended to their wounded and battle-weary marines.

Due to the sheer amount of work to do on both sides, Jack didn't get a chance to meet again with Aedan until that second day after the battle, joining him in the palace. It had long been determined that the rest of the palace was safe, the explosion in the residence wing having been set off with the aid of an ammunition dump that the Swabians so callously left near the quarters of the royal family.

"Aedan, there you are," said Jack as he joined the king in his study. "How's fatherhood?"

Aedan gave him a tired smile. "You were right about the lack of sleep."

Jack chuckled. "It'll get easier with time. How's Ciara?"

"Much better now, although she still curses the cast around her arm. It does make feeding Davin a little challenging at times."

"Hopefully that's just a temporary measure. She should be right as rain in six weeks," said Jack.

"She seems to be in good spirits, which I think is the best part," agreed Aedan.

"What about the plague? I'm going to guess that cases have been going down for a while now?" asked Jack with an arched eyebrow.

Aedan gave him a look of confusion. "Yes, they have. How do you figure?"

"I see my dispatch never made it through," said Jack. "Most likely, the Swabians intercepted it. They were the ones behind the plague, just like my suspicion. Although, it wasn't sick people they were bringing it. It was sick clothing."

Aedan roiled in disgust. "Sick clothing? You're sure about this?"

He nodded. "At this very moment, Lt. Colonel Vaughn of my marines, whom you met, is struggling with it still. As is my sister, Vera. They were infected by clothing that had been exposed to the infection."

"Those rotten scoundrels," snarled Aedan. "They used their trading permits to spread the plague around my kingdom!" The king brought his fist down hard on the table, almost causing a painting to fall off the nearby wall. "The absolute nerve of those people!"

"It's not that surprising now to us, Aedan. We've seen how poorly they behaved before in Sorella and Andalucia," said Jack. "This is what they do, it's how they operate. They don't respect the rights of sovereignty, and they think nothing for the value of human life."

"How many of my people perished because I chose to take them at their word?" whispered the king in a hollow tone. "How many fathers will never return to their families? How many children are among the dead, never to play again?" Aedan hung his head in shame.