The Pilgrimage Ch. 06

Tom jumped up. "Wait, please, don't go yet. Just hear me out, please."

"All right, Tom, I'll listen. But make it quick. I've still got a lot of work to get done."

"Look...um... Your Majesty. I... um... I know what we did was wrong. But we're not terrorists. We were just trying to protect our rights. Can't you see that?"

"I was an American citizen once too, Tom. I understand exactly what you were trying to achieve. But planning to take hostages and kill them is about as UN-American as it gets. It's the kind of thing that an Islamist terrorist would think of. Look at it this way. What would you say if an Islamist fundamentalist planned to do exactly what you were planning?"

"But... but, that's different. We're not a bunch of wacky religious nuts."

"No, you're not. You're just a bunch of wacky gun nuts, and that makes you just as dangerous as any Islamist terrorist. You and your buddies are exactly the reason I decided to take all the guns in the first place. You and your guns are a danger to public safety. I won't have a society where any nut job can roam the streets with a firearm."

"I don't understand, Your Majesty. How are we dangerous? Guns don't kill people. People kill people. People get killed by knives, baseball bats, axes, and just about everything else you can think of. Why single out guns?"

"I've heard the NRA spout those same bullshit lines many times, Tom. The arguments are true as far as they go, but both have the same fatal flaw. A gun can cause mass casualties. Yes, all those other things can, and do, kill people. But they can't kill more than one person at a time. As to how you're dangerous; think about what you were all planning to do; then ask yourself that same question. I have other pressing matters to attend to; so I have to go. But before I do, I urge all of you to think about what you've done, and why I consider it a terrorist act. We'll chat again later." Morrigan looked over at Pete and said, "close the rec room channel, Uncle Pete."

Morrigan faced forward and spoke again. "All right folks. You know as much about the situation as I do right now. If seeing and hearing all of that, combined with the things that happened yesterday doesn't convince you that the Ark is no place for firearms; nothing will. You still have a little more than an hour and a half left to turn in your weapons. Make no mistake; I fully intend to get every single firearm. Whether it's done the easy way, or the hard way, is your choice now." She nodded to Pete and he closed the channel.

Kelli grinned. "All my teams are reporting a sharp increase in the number of people turning in weapons and ammunition. Lines are beginning to form. You may have to extend your time limit, Morrigan."

"I will if I have to. But I've got an idea that may help speed things along." Morrigan turned to Megan. "Okay, Meg, time to test that magic of yours. Don't think about what I say; just let it flow. Create three huge carts two inside each rec room, one in each passageway. Place a field over each cart that will automatically record each firearm, and all the ammo placed in it and will credit them to the correct person by sending a receipt to their computer."

Megan giggled. "Geeze, ya don't want much do ya, Morrigan. Don't worry, I was doing things as fast as you were explaining them. Everything should be all set."

Kelli laughed. "You scared the shit out of my teams, Megan. You just missed dropping those carts on their heads by inches. Did you have to make them so damn big? They nearly reach the top of the rec room doors and if they were any wider or longer they wouldn't fit through the doorways. I told my teams to run a cart up and down the passageway outside of the rec room. When it's full port it upstairs and then do the same with the next one. Do you want the teams to empty the carts and reuse them, or are you just gonna have Megan create more as we need them, Morrigan?"

Meg, cast a spell that will generate new carts as soon as the last one is being used," Morrigan replied.

"Way ahead of you, Morrigan. I figured you'd want that; so I took care of it when I sent the first batch of carts," Megan laughed.

Megan blushed candy apple red from her luscious C cups to the top of her freckled forehead when Morrigan winked and said, "ooh, you're being such a good girl today! Remind me to reward you properly later." As the time began to wind down, Morrigan turned to Kelli. "How are your teams doing?"

"They've all been just standing around chatting for the last ten minutes or so. I doubt there's any more guns coming, Morrigan."

Morrigan turned to Joe. "What do the numbers say, Joe."

Joe tapped a button on his keyboard. "Right now they're saying that a total of fifty three thousand, one hundred eighty two weapons of various styles and caliber have been turned in."

"Okay, so that leaves a little over four thousand still out there. Any way you can tell me where they're at, Joe?"

"It'll take me a couple of minutes. But yeah I can, Morrigan," Joe replied.

Pete spoke up. "I think you'll find that almost all the uncounted for weapons are split between decks nine and twelve, Morrigan. That's where all my officers and recruits are housed. Four thousand sounds about right for the number of back up weapons they'd have."

"Pete's right, Morrigan. All but a hundred and eleven of them are split between the two decks. There's a hundred and ten in rec room twelve on deck twenty three and one Glock in section seven, suite nineteen on the same deck. It's listed as belonging to Harold Forester."

"Kelli, send a team to that suite. Tell them to tear the place apart if they have to. I want that gun. Joe, can you filter out Uncle Pete's personnel on those two decks? I wanna make sure we didn't miss anything."

"Sure, Morrigan." A few seconds later, Joe's eyes widened with shock. He turned to Pete, pointed to his screen and said, "there's no way in hell that can be just a coincidence, Pete!"

"You're right, Joe; it's not." Pete turned to Morrigan and continued, "There's an old marine buddy of mine on deck twelve. He was planning on joining my swat team when we reach Erie. I'm sure you remember him and his family. His name is Richard Evans. He's got a wonderful wife Carol and a beautiful daughter Jenna. Carol and your Aunt Sally are really close friends and Jenna is like a sister to Sally and Susie. Anyway, he's in section nineteen, suite forty one. That's three doors down from the brig. He's listed as having two AR15 rifles. I don't like the way this feels at all, Morrigan. Do you mind if I go check on them?"

"I remember them very well Uncle Pete. I think you're right. I don't like the way it feels either. Go ahead; but let Kelli port you. It'll be faster that way."

Thirty seconds later Morrigan heard Kelli's frantic message. "Morrigan, You'd better get down here quick. It's really horrible. They're all dead. Your uncle's freaking out on me, and I don't know what to do."

"Give me a minute, Kelli. I'll bring my Aunt Sally with me. Maybe she can calm him down."

Morrigan turned to Joe. "Bring up the security camera for that passageway." When he did, Morrigan saw that Kelli was keeping Pete in the suite by using a reversed personal shield. "Vanessa, you and your team here. Meg, Erica you two go here. Nobody gets by any of you. I'll join you in a few seconds."

Morrigan walked into the conference room and Whispered in her Aunt's ear. "I need you to come with me Aunt Sally. There's some more murders and Uncle Pete is really going wacky on Kelli. I need you to help calm him down."

When they got to the passageway, Morrigan looked into the suite. Her eyes widened. Then she gagged and vomited on the deck. Instantly, Megan and Vanessa were at Morrigan's side. They pulled her down the passageway away from the suite and the stench of death as Morrigan continued to empty the contents of her stomach on the deck. Megan looked up and cried out, "My Goddess, please help her! She can't do this on her own!"

Instantly, the goddesses Banba, Brigit, and Danu were there. Each pouring love, strength, and fortitude into Morrigan. As they did, Morrigan's vomiting finally stopped. The Goddess Banba waved her hand and Morrigan felt fresh, clean, and focused once again. Brigit looked at the mess on the deck and it disappeared. Banba placed her hands on Morrigan's shoulders and said, "the three of us will stay and help you as much as we can. But you're the only one that can do what must be done, My Child."

"I understand. I thank all three of you for being here." Morrigan saw her Aunt kneeling on the deck as Sally shook and trembled staring off in to space with a blank expression. Morrigan turned to Vanessa. "Take Aunt Sally to deck five. Explain things, and see to it she is sedated and allowed to rest for as long as she needs. She turned to Megan. "I'm all right now, Meg. Thank you for calling for help. You were right; I was having a very hard time dealing with all of that."

Morrigan walked over to where Kelli was holding Pete. She looked into his eyes and yelled, "STAND AT ATTENTION, MARINE!" When Pete instinctively snapped to attention, Morrigan lowered her voice while keeping her eyes locked on his and said, "you will surrender your sidearm immediately, Major."

Pete slowly drew his weapon and held it out grip first. Kelli slid her hand through her shield and gingerly took the gun from Pete's hands.

Morrigan smiled gently and softly said, "now I need your key card, Uncle Pete." Pete reached in his pocket taking out the card and holding it out. Once again Kelli took the item from his hand. "He'll be okay now, Kelli. I've got him. Take those two things to my quarters and put them in my nightstand drawer." Morrigan turned to Banba. "I'm scared, My Goddess. I've never seen him like this before. He's so full of rage that I'm not sure I can get through to him."

"He's seen far worse, My Child. Both as a Marine, and as a Police officer. His rage doesn't just stem from the crime itself, as horrible as it is. The biggest part of his rage comes from knowing the pain and anguish that all his family members will feel when they find out how brutally, and needlessly their friends were murdered. You're his queen, Morrigan, and you ARE the only one that can do this. But Brigit, Danu, and I are going to help you to help him. We're going to place our hands on you and when we do, put your hands on his shoulders and pass everything we pour into you through yourself into him."

A minute or so later, Pete's eyes began to focus as the rage built up inside of him began to diminish. When his eyes finally locked on Morrigan's, she smiled gently and softly said, "welcome back, Uncle Pete. You had me really scared there for a while." When Pete tried to turn his head to look back into the suite, Morrigan placed her hands on both sides of his face stopping him. "This is a direct order, Marine. Do not turn your head. Take two steps forward and six steps to your left, NOW MAJOR!" Morrigan kept her hands on Pete's face as she slowly backed up and maneuvered Pete next to the intercom on the passageway bulkhead. Using one hand, she punched in her personal access code to the main computer and said "full security lock down, deck twelve, section nineteen, suite forty one. No access without my personal approval." Once the door to the suite was closed and locked, Morrigan moved her other hand from Pete's face and said, "sorry Uncle Pete. I had no choice; I couldn't risk losing you again. Banba has given us both the strength to handle what happened in there. She's also told us both every single detail. Since that asshole Mike is in custody and sentenced to die; there's no need for anyone else to know about the rapes and mutilations. Aunt Sally was here to help calm you down. But she freaked out the instant she saw how bad you were. I had Vanessa take her to deck five. They've given her a mild sedative and she's back in your quarters with the twins. Aunt Sally never saw the inside of that suite; so she has no idea how bad it was. Go to your family. Let them see that your doing better. Tell them whatever you deem appropriate, and if you need to, take the rest of the day off."

"I know I lost it for a while. But I'm okay now, Morrigan. I'll swing by my quarters and talk to Sally and the twins. Though the goddess only knows what I'm gonna tell them. Give me about an hour and I'll meet you on the control deck. You've still got all those fuck-nuts in rec room twelve to deal with and I don't want you handling it by yourself. I mean it, Morrigan. Promise me you'll wait, so that I can be there if you need me. Oh, by the way, the missing Glock is in there. That's what that son of a bitch used to finish them all off, and get his hands on those two AR15's"

"Okay, Uncle Pete. I need a break, and it's lunch time anyway. Not that I feel much like eating at the moment. But if I don't at least try, Meg will ream me a new asshole. As far as I'm concerned, the shitheads in that rec room can stay there until hell freezes over. Take whatever time you need. If I'm not on the control deck when you get back, I'll be in my quarters. Either way, I'll be ready whenever you are. Meg, port Uncle Pete to his quarters. When you're done with that; get your sexy little butt to mine. We've still got a lot to do today. The rest of you are with me. That includes you too, Erica. We'll all have to port to the control deck. Until I add Erica to my security protocols she can't port directly to my quarters."

When they got to the control deck, Vanessa and Kelli were already there talking quietly to Erin, Gael, and Kylie. When Kylie saw Morrigan she stepped closer and said, "I'm so sorry, Morrigan. I know how hard all of this must be on you. I should've been there with you."

Morrigan gave Kylie a kiss on the cheek. "I don't want you feeling guilty, Kylie. You were exactly where you were supposed to be; doing exactly what you were supposed to be doing. As you said; I'm all grown up now, and your duties to me have changed. I'm going to my quarters to unwind and try to eat a little something. You're welcome to join us if you want."

"Thanks for the offer, Sweetie. But I've got to get back to that project we talked about. It's running a little behind schedule because I decided to throw in a few extra features. It'll definitely be ready today though. I know what happened, and I just needed to make sure you were okay."

A few seconds later Megan popped in and Morrigan lead everyone to her quarters. When they entered the kitchen the goddesses Banba, Brigit, and Danu were already there waiting for them. There were place settings in front of each chair with full glasses of ice cold cola and there was an extra large antipasto in the center of the table. Banba smiled then said, "we know you don't feel much like eating, and we do understand why, Morrigan. But you need to put something in your stomach. This is light enough that you won't have any problem keeping it down, and even if you just pick; it'll give your body what it needs."

"As usual, you know my needs better than I do, My Goddess. Thank you; it's perfect. Everyone grab a seat and dig in; this looks absolutely scrumptious!"

Although Morrigan didn't really want to; she did pick at her salad. She managed to get about half a small cereal bowl down before she pushed it away saying she couldn't eat anymore right then. She was happy that everyone seemed satisfied with the little bit that she had eaten. She was afraid that if she tried to eat anymore she wouldn't be able to keep it down. Her stomach was still a bit queasy from all that she'd seen in that suite on deck twelve. Megan gave Morrigan a look of sympathy, and an unspoken message of understanding passed between them.

Morrigan looked across the table at Erica. "Kelli mentioned that you wanted to talk to me. Since I'm taking a break right now; this is as good a time as any. I have a few things I wanna say to you first though. There's really no need for you to thank me. I only followed my heart, and did what I knew was the right thing. I suspect I know why you chose that particular gear set, and the skills that go with it. I really don't need a bodyguard. However, I have a counter offer that I think you'll be very happy with. I'm sure you have outstanding offensive and defensive combat skills. I suspect your healing skills are pretty damn good as well. But in my opinion where you'll really shine the most is with your offensive and defensive auras." Morrigan began tossing a ring up and catching it. "What I'd like to do is rather unorthodox. It's never been done before, and I'll need consent from both you, and Aphrodite before I can make it happen. I'd like you to fill the last vacant spot on my battle team. What do ya say, Erica? You up for it?"

Erica just stared at Morrigan; thinking that maybe Morrigan had just lost her mind or something. After watching Morrigan tossing the ring up and catching it with a smirk on her face for a minute or so; Erica realized that Morrigan was actually serious. Erica tipped her head back and nearly deafened everyone in the kitchen with her scream. "APHRODITE, PLEASE, I NEED YOU, RIGHT NOW!"

Aphrodite came strolling in from the living room with a giggle. "Yes, Erica?"

Erica looked at Aphrodite in stunned amazement as the truth finally hit her. "You knew this was coming; didn't you, Aphrodite?"

"Of course I knew, Erica. Morrigan isn't even allowed to make the offer to you to begin with without my consent. Giving you a slot on her battle team is completely different than just making you a Kelli. I knew all about this even before you had your surgery. I believe it's the best thing that could ever happen to you. I was more than happy to give Morrigan my consent, and I gladly give it to you as well."

Morrigan spoke up. "Before you decide one way or the other, Erica; there's some things you need to know. In order for you to join my battle team I have to place this ring on your right ring finger. In your case, this is a very special ring. It not only has all the same properties as the ones all of us wear. Those enchants will intertwine your spirit with all of ours, so that we'll always be friends, no matter what happens. But you need two more enchants, and all your other gear is already maxed out. The only place left that we could put them was on this ring making it unique. These two extra properties will make you invulnerable to harm from anyone but a god or goddess, and will turn you into an immortal just like the rest of us. Once I put this ring on you; it can never be taken off, and you will be in my service for eternity. Now that you know what you're getting yourself into; I have to ask you again; are you sure that this is what you want?"

Erica held her right hand out and said, "of course I'm sure it's what I want! Will you please just put that ring on my finger already?"

Morrigan turned her head and said, "goddesses, if you please?"

The goddesses Banba and Aphrodite each placed a hand on one of Morrigan's shoulders. Then Morrigan took Erica's hand sliding the ring on Erica's finger. When the ring on both Morrigan and Erica's fingers glowed brightly for an instant, Morrigan and the two goddesses all breathed a sigh of relief.

Morrigan released Erica's hand as she said, "we weren't sure if that was actually gonna work or not. This is truly a moment that will be remembered in the annuals of creation forever! I know you don't realize it, Erica. But you and I have just made history! For the first time since creation began, goddesses from two totally different civilizations have actually co-joined the spirits of two of their favored, and for eternity at that!"

Banba spoke up. "While everything you said is true, Morrigan, there's a lot more to it than that. When we first made you the chosen one, the Maker of All Things was very skeptical because of your youth. She knew of your purity of heart and of your compassion. But she feared you wouldn't be able to handle the amount of power we've giving you at such a tender age. Like you, we also have a covenant with the Maker of All Things. Part of that covenant places the fate of humanity squarely in my hands. Picking the chosen one was entirely my responsibility. I decided I didn't want to make that decision by myself. I got as many of the gods and goddesses who were interested in saving humanity to join me in deciding who the chosen one would be. Our original plan was to just sit back and wait for the right human to come along. When things started to take a turn for the worse we had to act rather quickly. When you were conceived we worked together with Kylie, and secretly nudged Erin to guide you to the path we needed you to follow.