Undivided Attention

It was that time of year again, time for the annual UEO officer's gala. From all over the globe, UEO officers came to New Cape Quest to attend the biggest event of the year. This ment that the city would be crowded with navy boys and girls, so the buisness was booming.

Even at the hour of 11:00 p.m., the streets were crowded and the resteraunts were crowded with noisy, drunk people. Florida Cape was one of the most popular resteraunts in the city, and carried fresh Florida seafood. This resteraunt had to be the leading offender when it came to noisy drunk people. Since it's opening, Florida Cape had attracted many UEO people, including high up officals out for lunch.

Lieutenant J.G. Timothy O'Neill had enjoyed his prevous visits to the famed Florida Cape, and since he was in town, he had decided to go there for a late dinner. After a few minuets of diliberation, he had convinced a few of his shipmates to accompany him to "dinner." By the time they reached the restaurant, it was 2300 hours, and it was loud and smoky inside.

"Now this is my kind of place," Tony Piccolo remarked apon their entry of Florida Cape. O'Neill ignored him and went to get a table. The overtired host walked them over to a table in the smoking section since there weren't any non-smoking tables left. The menus were thrown on the table, and the host left. "Great service," Tony remarked to himself.

"Just don't say that to her," Lucas Wolenczak commented dryly as he sat down. Sometimes he disliked going out with the guys, expecally this late at night. They would most likly drink, and didn't have the greatest faith in him having something light. Other times, they would "share" with him. This, however, was a rare occation.

"Hello, my name's Bob and I'll be your server tonight," Bob stated the obvious to the four guys sitting around the table. " Our special tonight is unlimited crab legs for $14.99," Bob spoke with enough pep to feed a cheerleading squad for a week. O'Neill looked up at the server for the first time.

"Did you say unlimited crab legs?" He asked. O'Neill had a soft spot when it came to crab legs ever since he had them as a child. Bob nodded an affermitive to his question.

"Yes,"

"Then we'll have four orders," He said, grabbing the open menus from his shipmates. They silently protested, but didn't argue.

"Anything to drink?" Bob asked. They ordered their drinks, and Bob quickly walked away.

"I'm going to the bar," Tony declared,"I'll be back when the food arrives," The others continued their conversation as they waved him off. It was too long since he had his last alcholic drink, and the conversation at the table was uninteresting to him. Maybe he had been cooped up in the submarine for too long.

Tony sat down at the bar and ordered a beer, just one tonight, which was a long strech. A young woman sat down next to him an ordered a Bloody Mary. She looked underage to him, but the bartender smiled and served her one. She looked over at him as she took a sip and smiled.

"Tony?" She suddenly said. He looked over at her weirdly, which she picked up on. "It's me, Erika," This jogged his memory and he smiled.

"It's been a long time," He said," What have you been up to lately?" Last time he saw her, she had been hanging off his younger brother's arm, young and nieve. Now she looked like she had gained some responisbility.

"I actually finished school," She replied. Tony remembered, she had just started collage when he met her. Erika took a sip of her drink and smiled when the drink reached her lips. "I love a good Bloody Mary once and a while," This was obviously a sarcastic remark, since they both knew that she was underaged, but she had been in this bar many times, and the bartender knew her.

"Hey, I'm here with a few of my friends," Tony suddenly remarked. "You look lonely, so why don't you join us?" He asked. In reality, he had always liked her, and saw this as an opertunity to 'get to know her better.' It had been almost four years since he had last seen her, and he thought that he might have a chance this time.

"Why not?" She replied. She was going to be in town for a few days, and she was always on the lookout for some new friends. Dispite a look from the assistant bartender, they took their drinks and walked over to the table. The other looked up at him and Erika as they approched.

"Who's your friend?"Lucas asked, almost mocking his roomate.

"Erika Jen-" He paused, not remembering how to pronounce the unusual french last name.

"Jenivie," She said with almost no emotion. The way she said it sounded weired, since she spoke french with an austrialian accent. "Dr. Erika Jenivie," This quieted the men down for a moment, they were obviously impressed. Tony pulled up an extra chair and set it down between O'Neill and Lucas.

"I'm assuming you're a science major," O'Neill assumed. Erika nodded, and eyed the crab legs.

"Of course," She verbalized ,"These look good," As she took a leg, she looked around the table at all the new people. It was then that she decided that she would detach herself from them as soon as she could. Tony was a good friend, but she wasn't going to but anyone in danger.

"So, how do you know Tony?" Lucas asked, turning to Erika.

"I dated his brother a few years ago," She replied, turning to face him. His face went from a grin to laughter. "What?!" She asked innocently.

"You dated his brother?" He exclamed. Lucas couldn't think of her dating anyone even remotely related to Tony. The rest of the table caught on, except Dagwood, who didn't get what was so funny.

"Why is everyone laughing?" He asked. O'Neill looked at him and tried to explane the joke. Finally, everyone was laughing and sharing stories over platefuls of crab legs and unusual drinks. Erika even let Lucas have some of her constant stream of Bloody Marys when no one else was looking. This fest continued until the restaurant was closing and, slowly but surely, everyone was staggering out and calling cabs.

"We should be getting back to the hotel," O'Neill, the always sensible one, remarked after he received a few icy glares from the hosts. Finally, an overtired Bob came over and slammed the check down on the table. Tony picked it up and gasped.

"Whoa! That a lot!" He exclaimed.

"You picked it up, you pay,"O'Neill joked. He snached the check out of Tony's hand and looked at it. "Tony, for one time, you are right," Lucas joined them at the other side of the table.

"How much is it?" He asked.

"$123.43," O'Neill replied. They were obviously worried about how they were going to pay. None of them had brought that much cash with them, and even if they all paid some, they would still be short. Erika walked over to them and took a credit card out of her back pocket.

"I'll pay," She simply stated, putting the card on the black tray. "Or rather Quebcore University will. I'll write it off as a buisness meal," Bob came by and took the check to take care of it.

"Thanks," Tony said on behafe of the entire group. O'Neill put down a tip and proceded to put on his coat.

"It was nice meeting you," O'Neill commented. Bob came back, and Erika pocketed the card.

"You too," She replied. "I hope to see you all at the Gala tomarrow," She gave Tony a hug and went to leave when Lucas came up next to her.

"It's a nice night, want to walk?" He asked. The hotel wasn't that far, and the way the taxis were working, they would probably reach the hotel before the others. Erika looked out the window and turned back to him.

"You'd ditch your mates to walk with me?" She asked. He nodded, and Erika decided to go against her mental promise and humor him for a while. She just hoped no one was out for her head tonight.

"Sure," He replied. They walked past Tony, O'Neill, and Dagwood, who were walking outside to catch a cab. Lucas recieved a few looks as he walked out, but he ignored him.

Outside, the night was crisp and cool, there was a slight breeze. This was slightly irregular for July weather, expecally in Florida. Erika wasn't used to this weather, for one, she lived in an underwater colony, and she grew up in northern Austrailia, and would go to warmer places in the winter. Lucas looked fine, he was waring a flannel shirt, as usual. Most of the buisnesses were closed by now, it was 1 o'clock in the morning.

"So you work at Quebcore University?" Lucas started a conversation. He had heard of the university before, it was the leading school in marine biology, but for some reason, he didn't think that Erika was the marine biology type. Erika looked around at the city, knowing she would be leaving it for a long time, then replied to his question.

"The captain incharge had marked me as Madame Advisor," She replied, laughing at the inside joke. Every colony had a captain from the UEO incharge, and even though there was a university there, the colony was a separate area, connected by a water bridge. It was basicly a tunnel that connected the two structures. When Quebcore was built, it had been state-of-the-art, now, it was just a normal UEO colony.

"What is part of your job disription?" He wondered what she could possibly do that was so importaint that she had a corperate credit account.

"Second in command of the entire colony,"Erika replied. "I'm amazed that everyone trusts me," She softly commented.

"Sounds like a challange," Lucas replied.

"Borring is more like it,' Erika quipped. "But what about you? What do you do on a submarine?" Erika hated being the focas of a conversation if it was about her life.

"I'm cheif computer analyst," The way he said it was like he was making fun of the title. "Although I don't feel like I fill thoes shoes," Erika looked serously at him.

"I wouldn't say that," She replied. The hotel was now in sight, the large white lights acting like a becon. Erika walked quicker, her head suddenly starting hurting, and she wanted to get some sleep. Lucas also quickened his pase, but did it subconsily.

"You haven't known me long,"

"I can say that it isn't that you don't do your job, you're just not satisfied," Erika smiled when Lucas looked up from studing his shoes, and she knew she had hit the mark. He opened the door for her as the entered the hotel.

"I'll think about it," Erika went for the elevator, not wanting to walk up twelve floors to reach her room. "What floor?" She asked. Lucas had already pushed in six, and the elevator was ascending. The doors opened, and Lucas went to walk out.

"It was nice meeting you," She smiled, and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"See you tomarrow,"

The doors closed, and Erika knew she had to leave tonight. She had seen someone folowing them, and she wasn't going to risk anyone's life, not even her own.
* * *

SeaQuest
Two Weeks Later

Everything was running smoothly as the SeaQuest glided through the blue water on it's way to the Australian coast to pick up some UEO scientests and bring them to an island in the middle of the South Indian Ocean. It was one of thoes jobs that was a no brainer, and that ment that most of the crew wasn't doing anything since the ship was on autopilot. This ment that the bridge was being run on a skeleton crew and everyone else was doing less productive things.

First of all, there was, as always, a continuing bet on who would win the pool terniment that had started out of the blue in Brody's Quarters. There was an even larger bet going on who would win the crazy 8's game from hell. Four crew members had started a harmless game that involved no gambling-that was three hours ago. Now, they locked themselves in a rec room and were despritly trying to end the game.

Captain Nathan Bridger walked onto the bridge to see how everything was running, and how far they were from the Australian coast. There were a few people on the bridge, including O'Neill and Sensor Cheif Miguel Ortiz, who were having a conversation over their headsets instead of listening to their insterments.

"Am I interrupting something?" He stated aloud, catching their attention. They switched their headsets back to the normal station and looked back at the captain. "Better. Anything to report?" He asked.

"As of right now, there is nothing out there," O'Neill reported. Miguel suddenly tensed up as something appeared on his screen.

"Sir, I'm picking up something about 2,000 meters starboard," He reported. O'Neill turned to his screen and went to see what he could find out about the bleep on Miguel's screen.

"What is it?" Bridger asked, noticing O'Neill turning to his screen.

"It's a class F submarine," O'Neill stated, "And it's haling us," He added turning his head.

"On screen," Bridger ordered. The large screen slid down over the view port at the head of the ship and a picture appeared.

"Captain," a man said," This is Captain Robert Untis of the UEO submarine Merimak," Bridger walked up closer to the screen, wondering why Captain Untis was calling.

"How can I help you?" He asked. Untis shifted uncomfortably in his chair and sighed.

"Captain, the waters here are unsafe, I advise you to turn back," Untis had almost a devous tone to his voice, not the usual calm one used for warnings. Bridger relized this, but continued his conversation.

"I'll take that into consideration," Bridger replied. Untis didn't seem too satisfied with Bridger's reponce, and leaned forward in his seat.

"Listen, a lot of subs have gone down in this area, and I've been asked by Quebcore University-"

"What authority do they have?" Bridger interjected.

"They have authority from the UEO to quarentine this area," Untis regained his control of the conversation. "Call them if you want to hear it from the tiger's mouth,"Untis knew that he couldn't convince Bridger, so he gave up. "I lost a mini sub earlier," He added, giving a real life example of a sub down.

"SeaQuest out," O'Neill terminated the conversation and turned to the captain for his next order. "I want to talk to the person incharge at the colony."

"Aye,sir," O'Neill said, and went to connect them to the colony. "I'm not getting an answer," He reported after a few seconds.

"Try again, Mr. O'Neill," Bridger said. O'Neill returned to his typing, and the screen illuminated again.

"What the hell-" Miguel silently commented, in refrence to the persons on screen. There were two of them, their faces dirty and bloody, their clothes dishevled. In the backround, there were signs of colapsing of the colony and fires. People were running behind the broken support beams.

"Captain Bridger," The woman gasped with a shortness of breath,"You have been ordered to leave the area," It was evident that this woman was getting straight to the point. O'Neill stood up from where he was, wanting to know if she was all right.

"Are you okay,doctor?" He asked. Bridger looked at O'Neill with suprise.

"You know her?"

"We don't have time for this," Erika's assistant, Ensign Byron Lynch spoke up. "The UEO sent an order that every ship and submarine must leave the area."

"Doctor," Bridger trusted that she was indeed a doctor, and had nothing else to call her by," We have an order to get to Australia-"

"Not today," Erika interrupted. "Leave now," Erika would only speak to someone higher ranking then herself if it wasn't worth it.

"What is going on there?" He asked.

"The colony is falling down around us, what does it look like?" Lynch sarcasticly stated, earning an icy glare from Erika.

"Where is everyone?" Bridger wanted to learn more of the situation, but picked up on the two people's urgency to get out of there.

"Everyone but the senior staff is housed in the university stronghold. That place is uneffected," Erika calmly reported.

"And the senior staff?"

"Going down with the ship," Lynch nervously laughed. Bridger didn't agree with Lynch's laugh. He didn't like the idea of anyone dying because of rank. The people in the university would be okay until a survey of the area and a rescue team could come. The senior staff would be dead by then.

"Where's the captain?" Bridger asked.

"Dead, two hours ago," Erika said,"I'm in control now," Her voice had the same quality as Ford's would have if Bridger had died and he had to prematurly take command.

"We're comming to get you," Bridger had the tone that ment that no one was going to convince him otherwise. "Get the senior staff down to the docking bay," Erika was going to argue with him when he cut her off. "Don't argue with me. SeaQuest out."

"Are you sure we should go there?" Miguel asked after the screen went blank.

"We're not going to let thoes people die, Mr. Ortiz," Bridger replied. "O'Neill, I want everyone back down here and call Lt. Brody, I want to have a word with him," The communications officer nodded and went to work. "Helmsman," Bridger called. The young helmsman turned his head to face his captain. "Take us to heading 174.6"

The ship turned and passed the Merimak before entering the restricted zone. The bridge crew slowly filtered in and took their positions. Their mission slowly filtered out, starting with Miguel and O'Neill talking with others, who spoke to their friends and so on. Commander Jonathan Ford was the last onto the bridge, having going around and alerting the members of the pool terniment. When he entered, he walked over to Bridger.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"We're attempting a rescue, commander," Bridger answered. Ford nodded and took his seat, knowing he would learn more from the rest of the crew. "How long to the colony?" Bridger asked aloud.

"Ten minutes," Lonnie Henderson replied, being the navigation officer.

"Where's Brody?" He wondered out loud.

"Right here, captain," Bridger turned around to face Lieutenant James Brody, his cheif of security.

"Brody," Bridger started, and walked the lieutenant over to the moon pool on at the back of the bridge. "I need you to orginize a small rescue team."

"How many are there to rescue?" He asked. To make the right team, he needed to know hoe many people there where and what the conditions were.

"About eleven," Bridger guessed on how many were on Quebcore's senior staff. The captain would make twelve, but since the doctor had reported that he was dead, eleven was the number. Brody nodded and went off to collect his team and get them set in the docking bay.

"Captain," O'Neill called. Bridger returned to the middle of the bridge. "The admiral would like to speak to you," Bridger sighed. Captain Untis had proably called the admiral as soon as the SeaQuest had entered the quarentined area.

"In my quarters," He ordered. He turned and walked off the bridge to his quarters. He would have to ecplain his actions to the admiral, who was going to tell him to leave. As he entered, the screen opened up and he was faced with Admiral Noyce.

"Nathan," Noyce started "I know you mean well, but we don't know what is going down over there, and I don't want to risk the SeaQuest,"He explained. Bridger walked along side the long table in the middle of his room.

"There are people down there, I'm not going to let them die,"Bridger replied. He was the kind of person who held onto what he believed was right.

"Wait until we know what is going on down there," Noyce said, trying to convince Bridger not to go down there.

"We'll find out when we get there," He declared. "Listen, I'm not going to argue with you. We're going to rescue them, then leave," He explaned. Noyce thought for a moment, then leaned forward in his chair. He knew that Bridger was going to do exactly what he was planning to do.

"You have one hour," He declared," And keep them on board until further notice," Bridger smiled, knowing that he would now have permission to rescue them. "I'm trusting you, Nathan," The screen went blank, and Bridger stood there for a moment, then walked out of his quarters, heading for the bridge.

"O'Neill, tell Brody to board a shuttle and go ahead," He ordered as he came back onto the bridge. Suddenly, the ship lurched to the side, the screens flickering momentaraly. The shuttle could be seen leaving, and the ship lurched again. "Mr. Ortiz," Bridger said, asking the sensor cheif what was going on.

"It's an automated system, the colony's computers must of malfunctioned," Miguel replied.

"Load countermeasures and bring us to a safe barring," Bridger ordered. The countermeasures intercepted the small torpedos and the ship dived 12 port.

"Sir, Brody's team has reached the colony," O'Neill suddenly reported,"You might want to hear this..."

"...Um, we've docked and are entering the colony. It's a bad docking, the systems have been fried," Brody's voice came in fuzzy, it wasn't the best connection, and there was interferance from the malfuctioning computers.

"Holy shit. This place looked like a tornado whipped around in here," Brody suddenly remarked. "No sign of anyone," He added. A few men started looking aound the docking hallway, where the senior staff was supposed to be. The colony suddenly shook, sending some more things flying.

"Lieutenant, over here," A young officer called Brody over to a fallen wall pannel. Some others were lifting it, revealing the battered senior staff. After looking at them, Brody called back to the SeaQuest.

"We're going to need a med team at the docking bay, a wall pannel fell on them," Brody explaned. O'Neill went on to call the med team into place.

Meanwhile, Brody was helping to dig out the eight people who were trapped. A few were well enough to get up and assist, others were unconscious and being lifted out of the wreckage. The worst injuries seemed to be broken bones, nothing worse, and a few better. The wall pannel seemed to have fallen on them while they were halting near the enterance to the docking hallway, catching them by supprise.

"Who's incharge?" Brody asked the man from the original message, Ensign Byron Lynch. Lynch didn't seem to be too hurt, which was weird to Brody, since there were officers higher than him that were hurt.

"Our captain died in a fire an hour ago, so the second in charge is Commander Jenivie," Lynch used her rank instead of her doctorate title since he figured her rank would be more use as of right now.

"Where is he?" Brody asked, assuming the commander was a guy.

"She," Lynch emphisied the she, making Brody notice," was hit kinda hard and is over there," He pointed to a young woman in a red-orange australian styled ridding coat being pulled out and lifted to a safer position. Brody let out a laugh. "Haven't you seen a kid in the navy before?" He asked. He had brushed up on his knowledge of the SeaQuest's crew, and knew that they had a teenager on board. Brody thought this also and shut up. "She's very good at her job," He had a high respect for his commanding officer and friend. The last of the people came out of the wrekage and the colony shook again, excpt more violently this time.

"Let's get out of here!" Brody yelled. This time, when the colony started shaking, and didn't stop. The team and the staff started running to the shuttle. Brody was afraid that the docking wouldn't hold, and they would be stuck here, but he pushed that to the back of his mind as he continued to run. As they ran, the support beams started falling around them.

They finally reached the shuttle bay, where Brody opened the door and they all rushed in. One of the men slamed the door closed, and the pilot disengaged the like and sped towards the SeaQuest. Behind them, the main structure of the colony colapsed, leaving the tunnel connecting it to the university hanging. The university was left intact, obviously uneffected by whatever was happening around here.

The shuttle finally reached the SeaQuest, and docked. Outside, the med team was patiently waiting. The rescue team rushed out, and started handing off every member of the staff to the med team. Bridger came down to the docking bay as soon as the shuttle was emptied and accompanied the peole to the medbay.

"Lt. do you have any idea what happened over there?" He asked. Brody turned from handing off the last person and shook his head.

"The place was falling down around us, sir," he replied."There wasn't much time to investigat.,"

Bridger nodded, understanding what Brody was saying. "Where's Dr. Jenivie?" he asked. After Brody had left the colony for good, Bridger had a short chat with O'Neill, who had told him all he knew about the young Madam Advisor. Based on her job, she would be the one who knew what had happened over there.

"Over on a stretcher," Brody remarked. "A wall pannel fell, she's got a broken arm. Other than that, she's fine, just tired," He sighed and started unloading his equipment. "I did find someone else. Ensign Lynch," He called. Lynch came over, a blanket wrapped around his sholders.

"Yes," Lynch asked.

"Ensign, I'm Captain Bridger, in charge of the SeaQuest," Bridger said. Lynch held out his hand.

"Ensign Byron Lynch, personal assistant to Dr. Jenivie," He introduced himself.

"Do you have any idea what happened?" Bridger asked. A quick flash of twisted emotions went though his eyes.

"The computers started malfuctioning, sending our machines out of control," Lynch replied. "Erika-Commander Jenivie" he corrected himself. "Was trying to trace it when you called." He remembered he was talking to a captain, and added,"sir"

"Thank you, ensign," Bridger dissmissed Lynch and turned to Brody. "Put them in the extra quarters on C Deck and show Dr. Jenivie to quarters on B Deck. We have some extra."

Brody nodded and walked away, bringing some people with him to C Deck. Bridger noticed that Lynch was visiting the restless doctor, but missed the disk exchange that happened between them. Before Lynch left, Erika leaned over to him.

"He made a mistake," she commented. Lynch smiled at her.

"And now he'll learn his lesson,"

PART TWO

The SeaQuest reached Australia four hours late, upsetting the scientists who thought they were better and more important than everyone else. They quickly boarded, complaining about the manors of the crew and how they were not going to enjoy their transit. This news was not good news, and the crew decided to steer clear of them. This made for an unhappy mood, and it set across the ship.

After boarding, they had disappeared into their quarters, expecting to be called when dinner was ready. One thing that they did accept was the fact that they would have to eat with everyone else. This was one call that no one wanted to make, since whomever did it would be reported to the captain. It was odd, though, because there was no real reason for them to be angry. Captain Bridger had explained their situation to them, and they were still annoyed that they were made to wait in the comforts of a dock. They were not ready to listen, and some though that they were just making a scene to receive extra attention. They had been isolated for a while, and were now acting like small children.

The captain had told a group of crew members that, he didn't care how, they were to pick one to go tell the scientists that dinner was now being served. Tony had lost the game, and proceeded to the guest quarters to report that the mess was now open, and would be until midnight. He quickly mentally decided that he would tell the occupant of the first room, and have them spread the news. That way, he wouldn't have to face them all. He walked up to the first door and knocked.

"Hello?" He called after knocking a few times. The door finally opened, revealing an agitated man.

"Can I help you?" He asked in a way that really meant I-don't-care-I-really-don't-want-to-help-you. This made Tony want to give a smart-ass answer, but he held his tongue.

"Dinner's available in the officer's mess until midnight," He replied. The man nodded and shut the door, almost hitting Tony in the nose with the door. "That was rude," He quietly remarked as he retraced his steps to the rec. room.

"Hey," Someone suddenly called out from behind him. Tony turned to face Lynch, who was closing the door to the room Tony had just knocked at behind him. For a small minuet, he wondered why this guy was coming out of the scientist's room. Lynch seemed to pick up on that, but it was only shown by him suddenly straitening out.

"Ya?" Tony replied.

"I'm kinda lost, do you think you can help me find my way?" He asked. Tony sighed and thought for a moment, then turned to completely face Lynch.

"Sure, where ya gotta go?" He asked with little enthusasim. Lynch shifted his weight to his right leg and brought his hand to his chin.

"I'm actually trying to find my commander," He replied. A quick smile flashed across his lips. "Erika Jenivie. I haven't seen her since I left medbay," Tony smiled at the mention of her name.

"Ya, I know her. Lemme just ask where she is," Tony laughed at the thought of the crab dinner as it raced through his mind as he pulled out his PAL. Who would know where she was? "Uh, do you know who escorted her to her room?" He asked. Lynch shook his head and started to think.

"No, I left before she did," He replied. "I'm sorry I can't help much," Tony thought that he saw a smile appear on Lynch's face, and thought that he had seen one a few times too many. This guy was up to something.

"Hold on," Tony called Brody, who he had seen taking people to rooms lately. The SeaQuest had gained a lot of extra people lately, and there was no written record of who was where. They didn't even know who was on their ship, since no one checked on the Senior Staff from Quebcore. Tony started talking in to his PAL, finding out where he was to take Lynch.

"Did you find her?" Lynch asked when Tony pocked the device. Lynch cursed himself for loosing his PAL as he programmed computers the other day, that was, he wouldn't have to ask others for help.

"This way," Tony said. Erika was being housed on B deck, in extra officer's quarters since she was an officer in transit. Quickly thinking, he decided to take the stairs, since a lot of people would be using the MagLev because dinner was ready, and the sooner you got it, the better tasting the food would be. It would take less time to get to B deck if they just walked. Lynch quietly followed him, mentally mapping his way back to the scientists' quarters for easy reference. One thing stuck out at him, and he stopped to look at it, his devious mind working over time.

"What's in there?" He asked, knowing Tony wouldn't know the answer.

"Don't know," Tony replied, annoyed. He really wanted to get back to his poker game already in progress. Lynch walked up to the door and got ready to open it.

"Let's investigate, shall we?" He suggested. Tony, annoyed, decided to open the door, show him what was inside, and get this guy on his way. He walked up to the door and opened it, looking around the dimly lit store room.

"It's just an empty room, okay?" Tony said.

"Not anymore," Lynch suddenly said. Tony looked up at him, and was caught with a stun bolt. Tony fell backwards into the room, and Lynch locked the door behind him, resetting the code so that only he could open the door if he needed to.

He holstered his modified stun gun that was standard issue to Erika's security team. She had all of the guns modified so that tracking people in the colony was easier and catching them was that much more easier. The young commander was the head of security-for everything. So much so that she knew everything that had happened in Quebcore since she arrived there. The only problem was with the head of security of the university. She outranked him, but he still fought with her. The only reason she got the job was because of her collage level knowledge of weapons.

Lynch had done his homework on SeaQuest. No only was he up to date with the technical layout of the submarine, but he had learned about the key people on board. Seaman Tony Piccolo might be low down on the chain of command, but he had friends in high places. They would adventually get worried and send out a search for him, but this was merely a distraction.

Lynch needed time to plan his schooling of the over helpful captain.

* * *

Unlike Lynch, Erika had done her research of the large submarine by talking to crew members. On the way down to her room, she had driven the lieutenant crazy with all her questions about how the ship ran, how many people were on board, and so on. Adding this to the information she had learned at the crab dinner, Erika had a lot of inside information that Lynch didn't get from reading files into all hours of the night. What she didn't learn from people, she learned from the random thoughts buzzing through their heads. Most of the time, she hated her 'talent', but now, she was happy she had it.

Earlier, she had a run in with the ship's doctor, and knew that this woman would be trouble. Erika knew she wasn't the only psychic on board, and that worried her, it might rune her plans. If she was going to retrieve information, she didn't what anyone to notice.

Now, she was board, so Erika wondered aimlessly around B deck, floating a ball in front of her as she walked. It was a habit that came out of nowhere, she had a small bouncy ball in her pocket that would bounce even though no one touched it. Most of the time, it freaked people out when they saw it, but she blocked them out of her mind. It was a nice ship, but she wouldn't want to live here. It seemed a little cramped for her taste. Suddenly, someone ran into her, them running somewhere else. They fell, as did Erika's record for 104 bounces in a row.

"Sorry," Lucas grabbed the rolling bouncy ball and stood up, handing it to her. She smiled, glad to see this interesting person again. Their conversation had been cut short last time, and she had been thinking to call him, but she never had any time.

"No problem," She replied. "Where are you rushing off to?" Erika asked in reference to his running down the hallway.

"Mess, I wanted to eat quickly and return to work," He sheepishly replied.

"Why not continue to work, I would," Erika remembered all the nights that she spend without going to mess until midnight while she was working on her anti virus program. Lucas just smiled and shook his head.

"I'd never hear the end of it," He replied. He remembered all the times that he had been pulled away from a project to go to mess. "Maybe I can show you before I go, if you'd like," He said. That way, he could continue working and say that it was all her fault, that she had asked to see what he was working on.

"Why not, I'm not hungry," She smiled. Lucas grabbed her wrist and lead her back near where she came from to a watertight door. He opened it, and Erika marveled at what she saw. There was all types of computer equipment on an overcrowded desk. Half the stuff was things Erika wished she had, others were pieces that she already had-and had modified.

"Wow," She said quietly. Lucas smiled and sat at his desk. She came over and sat on the bottom bunk, watching him open files he had downloaded to his hard drive.

"Actually, I think this might interest you," He said, not looking back at her. "I was going through some files, and came on the computer logs for the last few hours at the colony's main computer," Erika got up, fully interested in what he found.

"Ya?" She said, anticipating the report. She had started looking in the files when the wall panel decided to fall on her. "What did you find?"

"Well," He pulled the file up and started reading it, as did Erika. After a few sentences, Erika stiffened, and stopped Lucas from accessing the main computer's databank. "What's wrong?" He asked. Erika backed up and reached for her stun gun. She had to, if he found out, everything would be ruined.

"Sorry," She said, and discharged her gun. Lucas fell unconsciously to the floor and Erika took over his computer. She quickly took a disk out of her pouch and put it into the computer, making a quick copy of the files, then deleting them from his hard drive. Stepping over Lucas' body, she bent down and took his PAL out of his pocket. Dialing up Tony's, which she knew Lynch had, she quickly spoke. "Byron, we have a change in plans,"

* * *

"Lt. O'Neill," Bridger called to his communications officer. "Find out why Piccolo hasn't showed up for duty yet," The captain noticed that the seaman wasn't where he was supposed to be. O'Neill nodded, and went to contact Tony. After a few attempts, he shook his head and turned to Bridger.

"He's not answering, sir," O'Neill reported. There was defanetly something wrong, since Tony's PAL was on, but he wasn't answering. Everyone answered their PALs, especially when they were supposed to be on duty.

"See if he's in his quarters," O'Neill called the link into the quarters he shared with Lucas, but no one answered. "Has anyone seen or spoken with him lately?" He asked. O'Neill decided to trace the PAL calls to and from Tony's unit.

"The last person he had a conversation with was Brody," O'Neill replied. "I'll connect him to you," O'Neill knew that would be the next command out of his captain's lips. He handed a headset to the captain, since Brody was off duty for a meal, but was probably sleeping after the rescue mission.

"Brody here," He said through his pall in a groggy voice, having just woken up from an unplanned nap.

"Brody, Piccolo had gone missing. What did you talk about when he called you?" The line was silent for a moment while Brody collected his bearings. Suddenly, a shout came from the other side of the line. There was sounds of a struggle, then the line cut off. "Send a unit to Brody's quarters now!" Bridger yelled. A few men ran off the bridge, ready to see what was going on.

Upon arriving, the team discovered signs of a struggle-things tossed about, a broken chair-but no one was there, at least there was no blood, which was a good sign. The team reported this back to the bridge, and the news upset the crew up there, most of them friends of the lieutenant. Now, there were two people missing, obvious victims of fowl play aboard their normally safe ship. The person was also covering their tracks very well, so that they couldn't be found.

"Mr. O'Neill," Bridger said, "I want you to keep a constant track on everyone on the ship," O'Neill nodded, and brought all the PALs along with their owners names up on his screen. They came up because of the setting that enabled the bridge to track them. All the crew members were accounted for except Tony and Brody's, as expected, but Lucas' wasn't showing up. This was seen by Bridger, who's expression changed. "O'Neill-" He started.

"It seemed you lost three of your crew," Lynch's face came onto one of the view screens, his background completely devoid of all identifying marks, as well as jamming the transmission so he couldn't be traced. Seeing the looks on the people's faces, Lynch shifted in his seat. "I was just calling to thank you for picking up the rest of my associates,"

"What are you talking about?" Ford asked quickly.

"My handpicked team," Lynch replied.

"And what do you want with my crew?" Bridger interjected, worried about Lucas, as well as the others.

"Well, captain," Lynch started, "I do remember us telling you not to pick us up, you've brought this on yourself," Lynch said. "We'll be in contact, Lynch out," His face disappeared, and was replaced by the normal insterment readings that dominated the bridge.

"Ford, secure the bridge, and Mr. O'Neill, keep a close eye on the PAL tracking," Bridger ordered.

"Sir, what did he mean by his 'handpicked team'?" Miguel wondered from his elevated position.

"The scientists and the senior staff," Lonnie answered, "That makes 13 of them,"

"Against all of us," Ford reminded them of the size of each side.

"But they have all of us already," O'Neill commented.

"Speaking of that, I want a search party sent out to find them," Bridger ordered. "Mr. Ford, make a team," Ford nodded and gathered Miguel and Lonnie, and they quickly left the bridge, off to find Lynch and their missing crew members. "O'Neill, I want you to find out everything you can about Mr. Lynch's associates," O'Neill started on it, calling up the files on the scientists first. His developed a sudden headache, but took it as nothing and continued to call up the files. Rubbing his eyes, O'Neill grabbed the keyboard, then fell to the deck, alerting everyone around him.

"We need a med team!" Bridger yelled, walking over to O'Neill's side. The team quickly came down and took O'Neill away. Bridger watched and thought about what was happening to his crew-and what he could do to stop it.

* * *

"Miss Jenivie," Bridger had just returned from Medbay and a talk with Dr. Wendy Smith. She said that O'Neill was going to be fine, he had been effected by a psychic attack. With that, Bridger decided to go to Lynch's commanding officer and see what she could tell him about the psychopath running loose on his ship.

Erika sat in front of him on her bunk, her large coat hanging in the corner. Bridger though she must be cold, her shirt was a red tank top with un-needed twin spaghetti straps. Her shirt matched her shoulder length, choppy red hair. This shinning hair framed her face and blue tinted prescription glasses. She was the only person other than O'Neill he had seen with archaic glasses. They were so out of date now. Her blue pants, however, were the bottom cut of a blue jumpsuit, probably hers, since, technicly, she was still wearing it. This whole outfit was finished by the pair of brown combat boots that looked like they needed to be replaced. In all, it was her blue eyes that Bridger focused on.

"Captain, I wish I could help you more," Erika said sweetly, trying to convince him that she was telling the truth. "But I have no idea why he is acting this way," She tried, but Bridger wasn't buying it. She might be a commander, but she was still a teenager, and he was used to dealing with Lucas, so he wasn't out of practice.

"How long have you known him?" Bridger asked, sitting in a chair across from her.

"For all I know he could of hit his head-"

"How long, commander?" He interrupted. Erika sighed.

"Three years," She replied, "I met him at a UEO gathering," Although she had only been an officer for a year, she had been a part of the UEO since they gained custody of her when her father died when she was seven. Lynch convinced her to become an officer, just to get back at the UEO. They were shaping her to be a valuable scientist-heck she was one already-not a military officer.

"And he's never acted this way before?" He asked.

"He has no reason to," Erika started. 'And the sky is green,' She started. Of course Lynch had a reason to act this way! Before she mentally argued with herself, she felt a wave of pain in her head. "O'Neill's awake," She said.

"How do you know that?" Bridger asked, ignoring the change in topic. Erika smiled, she got him off the topic of Lynch. That would by Lynch some time. "You're psychic," Bridger concluded. Erika nodded and Bridger thought of something that made him dislike the eighteen year-old doctor-she attacked O'Neill. He was attacked by a psychic, and other than Wendy, she was the only one. Erika seemed to notice this change in Bridger and scooted back in her bunk.

"You're correct in that," She replied, grabbing her large pouchlike purse from where it was hanging on the edge of the bunk. She slung it over her shoulder and stood up. "But Lynch is right in his quest." Bridger stood up and faced her.

"Why? What gives him any right?" He asked her, anger rising in his eyes. Who had any right to come on his ship and take over!? Erika shrugged and looked up at the aqua tubes going through her room.

"This," She produced the disk that she had used in Lucas' room and handed it to the captain. "I feel that you should know your young computer analyst discovered this, and Lynch found him," She lied. "Perhaps you should be more careful," She went to walk out the door when he came up and blocked her way out.

"Where is he?" Bridger asked.

"Who?" She asked back, "Maybe you should get everything in line before you start accusing me," Knowing he wouldn't find anything out from here, Bridger stormed out of her room, leaving a smiling Erika.

* * *

Dr. Martin Prober, one of the scientists picked up in Australia, was an established marine biologist who was contacted by the UEO many times for his assistance. Lately, however, he had been seriously questioning his role in science, and when his cousin, Byron Lynch, told him of his plan, Martin immedietly joined his group of hijackers. Now, he was in charge of the security group, which he knew nothing about. Sitting in Lucas' quarters along with Lynch, Martin looked on eagerly, waiting to see what Lynch did next.

"Isn't it amazing," Lynch wondered aloud, "They know who we are, and how many we have, yet they can't stop us," He laughed loudly. His plan was finally coming to life. It had taken him weeks to come up with his plan. He first had to develop software, and a plan of assault. He had to gather people to be on his team, and finally, he had to destroy his only home to set it all of. It would be grand, a plan studied in history books because of it's greatness. Lynch smiled at this thought-it was finally coming together.

"They will," Martin absentmindedly replied. Lynch swiveled the chair around to face Martin with dark eyes.

"Do you doubt me?" He asked. He had worked so hard on this plan, and this man thought it would fall!? Martin stood his ground and looked hard at his cousin.

"I totally agree with you, but not your means of reaching your goal," He replied calmly. This made Lynch happy. To make a truly brilliant plan, you needed a different point of view, that way, you became unpredictable.

"Good," Lynch turned back to the computer and put a small cd in the drive. A program opened, and started inching it's way through the SeaQuest's main computer. "I think it's time you gathered our forces and go to plan B," Lynch said, feeling the man's eyes on him. Martin nodded and walked out of the cluttered room. Lynch saw that the program was done, and he hit the enter key...

...and all the lights went out suddenly. Bridger, who had returned to the bridge, look up with what was left of the bridge crew as the amber emergency lighting snapped on. Thirty seconds later, the computer screens went blank. This jarred a noticeable reaction from everyone as they realized something was seriously wrong.

"Captain," Martin had made great time down to the bridge with his forces, and they now stood at the entrance to the bridge, blocking the only exit. "Shouldn't you be getting your crew to the containment areas?" He, as head of the team, had done his own research while he was pacently waiting to be picked up, and knew the operational procedures used on the large sub. He now stood, facing it's captain, glad he had gone that extra step.

"What do you want?" Bridger asked this new person. He recognized him as a member of the group of scientists that came on board. Martin waved his hand, and the group spread out on the bridge, securing the remaining members.

"I propose a deal," Lynch walked onto the bridge with Erika and another woman. The three looked like the brains behind the operation, the guns they held were obviously better than the others. "You give me control, and I won't kill your missing people," He said. His voice always seemed to have a devious tone as he spoke slowly.

"How do I know you won't kill them anyway?" It was a though Bridger didn't want to entertain, but it had to be asked.

"You don't!" Lynch laughed. He was obviously having too much fun. "Crew to containment areas," He ordered everyone else. The crew hesitated, but a nod from Bridger sent them on their way. "Spread the word!" He said wildly, flinging his arms into the air. Since the computers were down, a general message wouldn't get through.

"We would like the ship to continue to Snyder Island as planned. There is to be no communication off this ship. Is that understood?" The other woman with Lynch spoke forcefully at the captain, disregarding rank. Erika smiled, and Lynch walked next to her, gaining an evil eye from the new woman.

"Allow me to introduce Dr. Mia Kentros," Lynch said, putting his arm around Erika's waist. "She has an interesting specialty-torture," This shocked the surrounded captain, since torture was outlawed in the UEO. The fact that someone actually studied this lost 'art' surprised him. Lynch smiled, and nodded to the two men closest to Bridger, and they started escorting him to his quarters-where he was to stay for the rest of the ship.

"You'll hear from us within the hour," Martin said as the captain passed him.

"Get the autopilot on line and make this ship move, Miss Jenivie," Lynch said to her. Erika smiled, and went over to a station and started working. Mia walked over to him and looked at Erika.

"You really trust her?" She said. Lynch nodded.

"Of course. She's a teenager, easily impressionable," He replied. 'And I love her' he thought to himself.

"You disappoint me, Byron, you said I could hurt someone," Mia elongated the last word, trying to express her wishes.

"First we find the weakest link," He said, moving away from her, "Then we call the UEO," He sounded firm, and smiled when the ship started moving on course.

* * *

Tony awoke with a throbbing headache and a stinging side where the stun bolt hit him. He looked around the tiny store room and found that it was somewhat cramped. He silently cursed himself for falling for the guy's trick. Getting up, he started banging on the computer locked door, but to no avail. Giving up on that, he turned to the others in the room.

"C'mon guys, it's time to get up!" He yelled, kicking both of them on their shoes. Brody jolted up and looked at Tony, the last thing he remembered was fighting with some guys in his room. Lucas slowly opened his eyes and sat up. "How'd you guys end up here?" He asked.

"Someone came in and attacked me while I was talking to the captain," Brody volunteered. "He was asking about when I talked to you," He said, noticing the connection. Tony looked around at the door, then back at the others.

"So, he was covering his tracks," Tony deduced, "What about you?" He said to Lucas. He rubbed his neck and stood up.

"Erika attacked my with a stun gun," He replied blandly. Tony looked at him, astonished.

"You're kidding, right," Tony said. Erika was more interested in science than violence, and would never hurt anyone unless they were going to hurt her. Of course, this had been four years ago, and people change over their teen years.

"Ya, Tony, I'm lying," He replied sarcasticly. It seemed that a headache was a side effect of the stun gun Lynch and Erika used. All three of them had one, a terrible one.

"Okay," Brody interjected. "We need to figure out a way out of here," He looked around the room, and noticed that the normally dark room was illuminated with amber light. "The power must be out." Tony and Lucas looked at him, and he pointed at the light.

"That means that we can get the door open," Lucas said, walking over to the door.

"What do you mean?" Tony asked. He knew that the door opened by keypad, which wouldn't work without electricity. So how could he open the door without power?

"There is a manual release that can only be used if there is no power," He explained. "Help me find it," Tony and Lucas started searching around the door for the release while Brody looked to see if there was anything useful in the store room. Lucas finally found it, and crossed the right wires. The door popped open, and they peaked out the door to check for guards. There were none, so they started for the nearby stair way.

"Why aren't there any guards?" Brody suddenly remarked. Tony looked around, thinking the same thing.

"You spoke too soon," Lucas said quietly, backing up into them as three men with guns advanced on them.

* * *

So far, Ford hadn't found anything , and had no idea what had happened on the bridge. The crew was now in the containment areas, although Ford didn't feel that the oxygen level was changing. One thing he did feel was that they were moving, and to where was unknown to him. He preceded with Miguel and Lonnie on C Deck, following a clue that one of the crew members gave to them. They said that they had seen some people moving around down here, and they had guns.

Every door they came to, they kicked open, hoping to find someone. It was getting monotonous, but it was nessecairy.

Ford looked down the hallway and saw a figure run across the hallway. He quickly waved Lonnie and Miguel to flank him, as they had seen the figure run also. Ford continued down the middle of the hallway, and finally ran up and seized the figure-

-A very confused Tim O'Neill.

"What the hell-" He started to say, surprised to see them. He knew that they were out looking for Brody, Lucas and, Tony, but didn't expect to be seized. Ford let go of the communications officer, amber light reflecting off his silver frames.

"What are you doing out of medbay?" Ford asked. Bridger had called him after O'Neill went into medbay and told him what had happened.

"They came in with guns and captured everyone," O'Neill replied. "I managed to escape," The entire situation troubled him, he didn't like the thought that someone was taking over the usually safe SeaQuest.

"Did you see where they were taken?" Lonnie asked. Tim nodded yes and started to lead them down to the moon pool.

"I heard them say that they were taking them to the moon pool until they found extra quarters to put them in," O'Neill quietly explained as they went to the large opening that lead to the moon pool. Ford gave him his extra gun, which he hesitated to take, but took it anyway.

They reached the opening and took a quick look inside-it was empty. The captors must of worked fast so they couldn't be tracked. Ford quickly decided to look around to see if there was any trace of where they went. They started down the hall that lead to some enlisted quarters.

"Put your hands up," A male voice said from the next hallway down. The group snuck over to get a look. They finally found who they were looking for, three men were holding guns on Lucas, Brody and Tony, who seemed to just of escaped from where they were being held.

"Miguel, you cross the hall with O'Neill, Henderson, stay over here," O'Neill and Miguel quickly crossed the hall to take their position. Brody saw them cross and knew something was going on.

"Hey guys," He said to their captors, trying to distract them. Annoyed, they looked at him, wanting to know what he wanted. "How much are you getting paid?" He asked the first thing that came to mind. The guys just looked at him, then held their guns up higher.

"Are we getting sloppy?" Lynch came down the stairway. He always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. He had been on the bridge, but, after Erika had left suddenly, he went off to find her. He had a feeling she was going to visit the captives, so he went to intercept her. "Commander Ford, would you like to come out now?" He asked out loud. One of the men with guns walked to the end off the hall and disarmed the assault team that was going to rescue their friends.

"Lynch, without playing word games, say why you're doing this," Ford asked.

"He's doing it for me," Ford turned to face Erika, standing at the end of the hallway. She slowly approached them and smiled.

"What?"

"I'll let the boat go when the UEO let's her go," Lynch said. Erika shook her head no.

"You won't let them go," She replied. "They have the record of Quebcore," She explained. "It's over,"

"No!" Lynch yelled, "It won't be over until they let you go!" He yelled. There was something in her eyes. Who was she protecting? Erika wanted to be let go so badly, he could tell she still wished that, but there was something else.

"Let them go," She ordered. Lynch didn't move. "I'm ordering you to let them go!" She yelled. Ford realized something-she was playing both sides. What a devious girl! Lynch looked at the unusual group in front of him and thought.

"I promised Mia," He said, and Erika knew what he meant. Lynch switched his gun and pointed it at the group. A shot rang out and someone fell. "Now they can go."

PART THREE
OVERDUE EXPLANATIONS

To Dr. Mia Kentos, the bridge crew was a chicken with it's head cut off. It's captain, or head was currently locked it his quarters, guarded by two of Quebcore's top security personnel. There was no way that he was going anywhere soon, and he would be no help to his crew for awhile. This was definatly Mia's ticket out of persecution.

When torture became illegal in the UEO, she was out of a job. Before then, her expertise was needed greatly, and she became an influential member in the UEO. So much so that she made decisions over their heads. Now, she was told to get a new job or go to prison for crimes against humanity. She fled, then lied and said that she had changed her major so she would be able to join her friend Byron at Quebcore.Even though she left and said that she had changed her job, the UEO still had her under their watchful eye. She wanted out, she wanted to live somewhere where the officials weren't breathing down her neck. Mia wanted to have the freedom to do whatever she wanted.

Quebcore had been her haven until Lynch devised his little plan. He hated the UEO more than she did, but he never told her why. This didn't bother her, since they had the same goals and the same idea on how to reach them. Mia decided that he would be a valuable, yet unstable ally to have. She knew that he might be unstable when he started hatching his plan. He sat day and night, reading programming books and asking questions until his "child" as he called it was complete - a virus. This virus could give him control of an entire system in the blink of an eye, the only problem was that there was no way to take it completely off a system, but he didn't care. This virus would take control, make it look like a malfunction, and then blow the place up, what more did he need?

Then he learned of Erika's project. She was working as head programmer on a new security system on the university's computers. This new program was so powerful that it blocked Lynch's virus when he conducted tests. Finally, he approached her, a move that Mia totally disagreed with, but she went along with it. Erika wasn't the type of person you wanted to talk to concerning the termination of a project, but that didn't stop Lynch. He talked with her, and finally told her his plan. He must of said something she liked since she didn't do anything about it. All she did was finish her program.

Mia would enjoy the day when she got to use her talents on the young doctor. She had one thing that Mia wanted, Lynch's love, and she took that for granted! Mia loved Lynch, and would see him for all he was worth, and he would love her, not that runt! Now that Lynch was running loose on the ship, Mia had her chance. Looking up from her desk, Mia motioned for the ensign watching her to come over.

"Yes, ma'am?" He politely asked. He was truly a nice guy, one of Mia's hand picked team behind Lynch's back. The only reason Lynch had supporters was because of her.

"I have a special project for you," She smiled, "I need you to find Jenivie and bring her to me," She pointed her finger to the top of her desk. "And don't tell Lynch, okay?" To Mia, everyone in the military was so brainwashed that treating them like children was an easy way to get what she wanted.

"Are you sure?" The ensign asked. Weren't they all on the same side? Mia nodded.

"Has the weakest link been found?" She asked, changing the topic.

"Yes," He replied. Mia smiled.

"Bring them to me too,"

* * *

Two of her men lead the group of escapees down the now vacant medbay, as per her orders. If she was going to stay around the escapees, she was going to use her authority to help him. She had agreed with Lynch that no one was going to get hurt-yet here was someone being carried, blood falling onto the black floor, to medbay. Erika swore under her breath for trusting Lynch's word.

The larger man laid the fragile, pale Lucas on one of the empty cots and looked at Erika. She showed him a face of disgust, which he smiled to. He might not of wanted this happen, but he wasn't going to leave Lynch's side because one kid got hurt. The other man locked all of the doors leading out of the main room of medbay except for the door to Dr. Wendy Smith's office. When he was finished, he waved to the other man, who left them alone in the room. Instantly after they left, Brody backed Erika into a wall. He wished he had something to threaten her with, she was the cause of this whole situation.

"Is this what you wanted?!" He yelled. Erika's eyes were wide with shock, unprepared for this sudden outburst. "You better pray he lives..." He threatened.

"Brody, let her down!" Ford ordered. Brody let Erika go and she fell down to the floor, sitting with her back against the wall. "We're not going to get real far if we attack each other," He said.

"Fine," Brody replied.

"I didn't want this to happen," Erika said very quietly. O'Neill thought she looked so small against the wall. They all ignored her and walked into Wendy's office to come up with a plan to get free. She stood up and brushed herself off and pulled a small metal tool out of her pouch. She wasn't going to stay here with them and the way that they were treating her. Did they think that she had control over the situation? Walking up to the door, she started working on getting out of there.

"Do you have any medical training?" Erika stopped working on the door and turned around to face Lonnie.

"Some," She lied. She actually had very good medical training, as a result of her relocation after her father died. Where did the UEO put her after her family was dead? They put her in a foster home for awhile, then took her out for all types of training. Her only way out of there hall of red tape was to join school, but they weren't going to let her go that easily. Her first year of school had been in America in a small collage. She had finished that quicker than they expected, so she got to go home for school.

"Can you help me?" She motioned to Lucas on the bed. Lonnie only had a small amount of medical training, but it was more than anyone else in the room. Erika nodded and walked over to where Lonnie was standing.

"I'm Erika," She introduced herself.

"Lonnie Henderson," She replied, grabbing some supplies off the shelf. She was glad that out of everywhere in the ship, they were put in medbay. Lonnie had a feeling that was part of Erika's doing. The young woman stood across the bed from her, staring out into space. "A penny for your thoughts?"

"This whole situation sucks," She replied. "You guys don't like me much, do you?" She asked aloud.

"They don't trust you, that's all," Lonnie reassured her. "What did you do in the colony?" She asked, interested in what made this girl tick.

"Chief of security," Lonnie was taken back by this information.

"How did you come to be chief of security?" She asked. Erika smiled at her.

"Let's say that the UEO granted me a wish and I took a position that they didn't want me to, but couldn't do anything about it," She said. Lonnie nodded. Erika probably did something for the UEO that they had to pay her back. It was a good plan, and Lonnie could tell by her tone of voice that Erika didn't really like the UEO.

"Interesting," Lonnie replied, then remembered something. " Here," She handed the medical supplies to Erika, who looked at her with a questionable look in her eyes. "Colony security officers have complete medical training," She explained. A small bit of air escaped Erika's lips as her secret was known. If she screwed up, everyone in the medbay would skin her alive. "You do have experience, right?"

"Three people alive and well," She replied almost mockingly. "But I didn't know them," It had been during the beginning of the destruction of Quebcore when people started shooting each other. That had only been about a day ago. Erika sighed and started working on the wound a few inches down from Lucas' right shoulder. Lonnie looked on for awhile as Erika worked, and smiled when she finally stood strait. The wound wasn't bleeding anymore, and Lonnie hoped the shirt wasn't any favorite of Lucas', Erika had ripped it to get to the wound."Think he'll want a souvenir?" She asked.

"Not really," Lonnie replied. Erika shrugged and tossed the bullet into the trash can in the corner. Erika started pacing the room, thinking of what she was going to do next. Lonnie, on the other hand, sat down and watched her pace."How long did you work at the colony?"

"A few months," She absently replied, still thinking.

"And how old are you?" She asked.

"Eighteen," Lonnie wondered what she could of done to get a favor out of the UEO. She had known a lot of people who were part of the UEO for many years and couldn't get anything out of them.

"What did you do to get a favor out of them?" She asked, her interest sparked.

"They have official guardianship of me. I said that I wouldn't listen to them, so they stuck me in Quebcore," Erika explained.

"Oh,"

"I think your friends want to talk to you," She pointed to Wendy's office in the corner. Lonnie nodded and walked into the other room.

"How's he doing?" Miguel asked her when she entered the room.

"He'll be fine," Lonnie replied. It seemed like the mood lifted in the small room when she said that, and everyone relaxed. "Erika's a very skilled medic. I trust her," She said, surprising everyone. "She just saved Lucas' life. If she was an enemy, she wouldn't of done anything,"

"Just like when Lynch shot him, right?" Brody interjected.

"She didn't have any control over the situation. She was trying to help us," Lonnie defended her.

"She might be playing both sides," Ford remembered what he had thought when they were facing Lynch.

"She's pretty worked up about Lynch shooting Lucas," Lonnie replied. She could tell by the way she had taken care of Lucas that she wasn't happy about it. She looked out the glass window and saw Erika sitting next to him, her glasses in her hand, rubbing her eyes.

"We need to get out of here," Ford changed the subject to something more important. "Call her in here," Ford told Lonnie. She nodded and walked into the other room.

"Sir?" O'Neill asked.

"She's a part of our team now," Ford replied to him. Lonnie walked back in and sat down in her chair. Erika stood against the wall near the door. "We need to get out of here, any ideas?"

"I can get you out, just give me a minute or two," Erika spoke up, remembering her metal tool, safely kept in her pouch. 'Help to make friends, hurt to make enemies' she thought of a saying her father said when she was young.

"Okay," Tony spoke up, " How do you intend to do that?"

"Don't worry about that, mate,"

"So, after we get out, we need to secure the bridge and find Lynch," Ford went into command mode and started making plans. "O'Neill, Erika-"

"I said I'd help you out, but I'm staying here," Erika said, thinking of her chance to get away from them and find a way to stop Lynch. "I'm the best qualified for the job,"

"Fine," Ford agreed with her, "O'Neill, Piccolo, and Ortiz will go to the bridge and secure it. Try to get everything up and running. Henderson, Brody, and I will go find Lynch," Everyone nodded and stood up. "Miss Jenivie," Ford said. Erika went into the other room and started to work on the door. A minuet later, it opened, and the teams left, waving back at her. She knew that they wouldn't find Lynch, he would find them.

"This is just great!" She yelled, not noticing a pair of blue eyes snapping open because of her exclamation. She sat in a chair and started fiddling with her gun-she hadn't been disarmed like everyone else. Finally, she jumped up and sighed. "I'm leaving!" She declared to no one in particular. She started off, but was stopped when a cold hand clamped around her wrist.

"Do you have something against me?" Lucas asked quietly, smiling weakly. Erika turned her head slightly.

"Nothing personal," She replied. Erika tried to leave again, but Lucas, despite his weakness, held a firm grip on her wrist.

"I'm taking it awful personally," He said, trying to keep her around. He didn't want to be left alone. If someone came in, he would have no way to defend himself. Erika turned completely around and looked in his pain filled eyes.

"Listen, I'm sorry about you getting hurt," She said. " I never wanted anyone to get hurt, but there's nothing more I can do." She indicated his bandaged arm. "Let go," She said.

"No," He said, sitting up, "I'm coming with you," Erika's eyes opened wide.

"You are not, you're staying here!" She exclaimed as he swung his feet over the side of the cot.

"Actually, you're both coming with me," The ensign that was talking to Mia came into the open door and looked at them. He raised his gun and motioned to her. "Commander, place your weapon on the floor and kick it to me," She obeyed, and he turned on his heels. Lucas jumped off of the bed and almost fell, but Erika steadied him. She supported him as they followed the ensign who still had a gun on them. Erika wondered why she was being held at gun point? Was this Mia's doing?

"This sucks," Lucas remarked. Erika looked over at him and smiled.

"I agree,"

*******

Captain Bridger disliked being cooped up, even if it was in his own quarters. He had tried to get a call through, but there was no power anywhere in the ship except propultions and life support. After trying to call, he sat down and thought of the motives the people had for taking over his ship. When things like this happened, it was usually because the crew had done something to them, but they didn't know anyone. Erika was the only person he could think of, and Bridger swore he would court martial her when this was all over. If not for taking over, for attcking O'Neill on the bridge. He knew that stronger psychics were capable of that, but how strong was she?

Jarring him from his throughts was the unlocking and opening of his door. He stood up as five figures walked into the darkened room. As they came closer to him, he could see who they were. Lynch was leading the way, his face reflecting his sour mood. Mia came in behind, a gun drawn and held at her side, her face the polar opposite of Lynch's. They sat down at the table in the middle of the room. An ensign walked towards them, then veared off and sat his charges on the bunk. Bridger caught sight of Lucas leaning into Erika, his arm bleeding again.

"What did you do to him?!" He yelled, feeling protective of the teenage boy.

"Shot him, what did you think?" Lynch replied blandly.

"Why?"Bridger demanded. Lynch, who was fed up with this line of questioning, turned to Erika.

"Can you get us a link up?" He asked. He wanted to talk to the UEO while he had the captain and the civillian in the same room.

"Not for you," She replied. This responce shocked everyone in the room. Where did her alliences really lie? Lynch looked truly hurt by her reaction.

"Oh, that must of hurt," Mia commented from where she stood, crossarmed. She hated the way that Erika was treating Lynch, she hated when anyone treated him badly.

"Now," Lynch ordered, pointing a gun at her, but she didn't budge from where she sat.

"Give me my disk," She demanded. Lynch reached into the brest pocket on his jumpsuit and produced the red disk she had given to him when they were in medbay. He had no idea what was on the disk, but trusted that it wasn't anything bad since she had a gun pointed at her. She snatched it out of his hand and stood up.

"This is the copy of my virus program," She smiled. "Never leave home without it,"

"They why did you give it to me?" Lynch asked.

"Safe keeping. But now I can use it," She threatened. If she used that, all their plans would be ruined. When the ship powered up again, the UEO would learn where the SeaQuest was, and they would come to see what was going on. Then they would figure out who had taken control and they would be hunted down no matter what.

Mia quickly relized that what she wanted was wavering in exhistance, and she needed to do something about it quickly. Lynch was beginning to dislike Erika, which brought her closer to her goal of winning him over. But, if this happened, then she wouldn't acheive anything. What was she to do? Then she remembered Erika's soft spot, the one sitting on the bunk. She quickly walked over to him and lifted him up by the arm connected to the injured sholder. He yelped in pain and caught everyone's attention.

"Why don't you return the disk to Byron," She demanded, twisting Lucas' arm around behind his back. He bit his lip and looked around the room. Erika looked at him, but then at Lynch. Either she gave the disk to him and lost a chance to stop everything, or watch as Mia twisted Lucas' arm and he would pass out.

"Give it to me," Lynch said quietly, holding out his hand.

"I am not a child!" She yelled. Mia was pissed off now, and she wrenched on Lucas' arm, dislocating it. He screamed out, then slumped, being supported only by Mia's hand on his arm. Erika dropped the disk and slumped into a chair. Lynch bent down and picked it up while Mia walked out of the room. Lynch followed, and the ensign waved, then locked the door behind him. Bridger walked over to Lucas, who was unconcious from the dislocation, and was covered with blood since he started bleeding again.

"Erika, can you give me a hand?" He asked, lifting Lucas into his bunk. After that was completed, he turned and saw she was still sitting in the chair. "You okay?"

"I'm-" She started. "Sorry, I was just shocked," She stood up and wiped her eyes, then went to the door and tried to get it open. "I don't like screaming,"

"Why not?" He asked. When she heard that sound, she zoned out, which wasn't normal.

"It started when my father died," She confessed, still trying to get out the door. Erika wasn't going to tell the entire story to some captain that she just met.

"When did he die?" This was starting to get on her nerves. She didn't like talking about it, didn't anyone understand that? She wirled around and faced him.

"He died when I was 7, my mom died when I was 5. So I'm little orphan Annie. Got it?!" She exclaimed.Before Bridger could reply, the emergency lighting went out, making the room black except for the water pattern dancing on the floor performing a ballet.

"The reserve power must of run out. It only works for six hours," He observed. The weird thing was that the engines were still running, which ment there was power. Lynch's program must of made the system think that there was no power in the ship at all.

"Well, we'll have to fix that, won't we?" She handed him a small computer and started crossing the room. "Plug that into the main console," She instructed. Bridger walked to the table and connected the small computer to the console.

"What is your plan?" He knew she had a plan, she always seemed to.

"First, I'm going to realign his sholder, then I'm going to try and stop Lynch," She replied, sitting on the bunk. This was her fault, and she had to take care of it.

"Do you have that program on here?" He heard Erika snap Lucas' sholder back into place, then shift on the bunk.

"I always," She started ripping some of Lucas' flannel shirt to repare the bandages. "keep a copy," She finally wedged a piece free, "on my computer." She started to take off the old bandages and putting on the new ones. She took some pills out of her pouch, and gave them to him, catching the eye of Bridger

"What did you give him?" He asked.

"Pain killers," She paused, and thought for a moment. "Do you have launches?"

"Yes,"

"I think I have a plan,"

* * *

Bridger's job was to carry Lucas down to a launch and lock the doors behind him. If Lynch or anyone on his side came, they were to leave, it would be their only chance. Snyder Island wasn't a heavly populated island, but there was an abandoned research camp that still had hook ups to UEO Headquarters. This way, they would be out of Lynch and Mia's grasp, and helping the ship.

Erika's job was to get the other members of the senior staff to the launch with out beeing seen. She was sure that there was one half of group was on the bridge, so she tried to remember where that was. Careful to walk in the shadows, Erika made her way to the bridge. From around the corner, she saw Tony guarding the enterance, and a further look revealed O'Neill and Miguel trying to stop the ship. She snuck past Tony and walked up behind O'Neill.

"Hey," She said, making the communications officer jump and turn around. "Sorry, I don't know your name. Can I use your station?" O'Neill got up, but stood behind her as she sat down.

"I'm Tim O'Neill," He replied, introducing himself. "How did you, I mean, where have you been? And where's Lucas?" He asked, remembering the last time he saw her.

"We were captured, brought to the captain, but I jimmied the lock and got out," She explained. The once dormant screen came to light, illuminating her face in the pale blues and greens that covered the screen. She quickly typed, accessing the engines and making them come to all stop. They felt the ship stop and she turned everything off and quickly stood up.

"Now what?" Tony asked from next to the moon pool.

"Time to go, follow me," Erika started off the bridge, and swooped down to pick up a gun left on the floor. She continued off the bridge, the three men following her as she picked their brains to figure out how to get to the docking bay. Fortunetly, Miguel and O'Neill didn't notice, but Tony, who had felt her kind of probe before walked up next to her.

"I could help you get to the docking bay," He remarked. "Just don't pick my brain," Erika laughed and put her arm around his sholder as they walked.

"Tony, you are always the one to lighten the mood," She replied, still laughing quietly.

"Hey, it's what I'm best at, babe," He replied.

"Hey, sorry to break this up, but I found the others," Miguel came up between them and broke the moment. They stoped, and Miguel pointed down the next corridor to the left. Sure enough the others were standing there, looking around for Lynch. They spotted their friends and came over to them.

"What's going on? We felt the boat stop," Ford asked.

"We're getting out of here," Tony answered. Ford looked at him, puzzled.

"Hopefully, Lynch will follow us off the ship, then we can come back and retake it," Erika explained. Hopefully, it would work, and everything would return to normal.

"Okay," Ford replied. "Where's Lucas?" He noticed that they were missing one of their members.

"With the captain," O"Neill answered. They all nodded and started off towards the launch bay, careful to keep an eye out for anyone on Lynch's side wandering out in the hallways. Oddly, they didn't see anyone, which made them wonder what was going on.

The launch bay was now in sight, the door to bay four was open with no one in sight. They started one by one down the ladder, using the sides to slide down quickly. Since O'Neill and Erika were the only ones with guns, they stayed out in the hall, monitering them for the enemy.

"Bad guys!" She yelled as Tony started down the ladder. O'Neill turned and saw three men racing down the hall towards them, guns blazing. Three more came on his side, their shots hitting everything around them. After a few seconds, O'Neill relized that the men weren't only shooting at them, but the controls to the launch. If they blew those, the shuttle wouldn't be able to launch.

Suddenly, as if they read their minds, the doors to the launch closed and Erika and O'Neill were left to fend for themselves.

* * *

Lonnie rushed to the pilot's seat, Brody went to the co-pilot's. Immedietly, they launched, and went blazing out the doors. Erika had opened the doors for them, so they sailed out of the _SeaQuest_ , aiming for Snyder Island. The others sat behind in the seats, strapping themselves in for the speed burst that they knew were going to happen.

Suddenly, Lonnie started switching switches and pressing controls quickly, and the shuttle lurched to the side. Brody tried to compensate, but nothing would happen. They continued to go out of control until they suddenly stoped and the lights went out. Lonnie and Brody looked at eachother, then back at everyone else.

"We've lost power, and we're starting to loose air,"She said. "At this rate, we'll be dead in an hour."

PART FOUR
LIMB

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is ELF in this part, just telling ya! Thanks to Diena for her help in this part :)
*******

Ensign Byron Lynch had morals-they were just warped. He had masterminded this wonderful plan, but he had no real backing. He had convinced himself that it was to free Erika from the UEO and her past, but the more he tried, the more he questioned himself. What had driven him to this? After sitting in solitude for awhile, he came up with the answer-his male ego wanted to impress someone. But, Lynch was still wondering who. Erika was a lost cause, she had left the safety of him and gone to defend the representatives of the very power she was fighting against!

He was willing to let go of everything he believed in, everything he had accomplished to start over. His parents had disowned him when he was eighteen and joined the navy. He had no money, respect, or freedom-all the things he wanted in life he couldn't have. Now they were within his reach, he had only a small move to make.

With communications on-line, Lynch made his call to New Cape Quest and threw away his past.

* * *

"...so technicly, I'm a lt. commander," Erika sat in the brig with O'Neill, talking about himself, trying to keep herself from becoming bored. After the shuttle left, the six people had overwhelmed them and they had been captured and brought down here. O'Neill had been listening to Erika talk about herself, since she had volunteered to go first to keep something going in the small space.

"So, wait a second. Your parents died, so the UEO took you into their custody and raised you?" He asked. "That's hard to believe,"

"Exactly. It's under so much red tape that the exact records will never see the light of day again," She joked, though what she said was completly true. Anything that the UEO wanted to cover up was blanketed with red tape.

"And now they have you under their control? I thought you were released when you turned eighteen?" That was UEO law. Eighteen was the legal age, when the ties were severed.

"They have me until I'm twenty-one," She replied. "I got a speeding fine, and they had a caniption fit," Erika snickered and tied her shoes for the sixth time.

"Well, everyone gets at least one fine in their lives," He replied. At least she wasn't like the screwed up kids who had troubled childhoods. He was glad that there was hope for people like her.

"Do you think they got away?" She asked suddenly after awhile. O'Neill looked up at her.

"I'm sure they did," He replied. He looked up as Mia opened the door, making O'Neill think once again about bad childhoods. She definetly had one. She motioned for them to get up and follow her.

"Byron would like to see you in the wardroom," She said strongly, fixing a gun on them.

"What's up this time?" Erika remarked to herself quietly. Mia heard her and they walked and smiled.

"We want to show the UEO all our hostages,"

* * *

The hook attached itself onto the dead shuttle in the water and slowly retracted until the shuttle was safely docked in the bay again. They all knew something was wrong ever since all the systems suddenly crashed, leaving them dead in the water. Since all the shuttles were checked on a regular basis, they knew that they were dealing with a saboteur. They had overlooked the fact that their captors would predict that if they escaped they would head for the launchbay. Who else but Erika would lead them down there with a false sence of escape?

What she was thinking was unknown to all of them. At some times, she was ruthless and blank-devoid of all feeling. She would support Lynch and Mia and their plans and sceems. Other times, she used her power within their band to help them. It was hard to say if her leading them to the shuttle was with purely good intentions or the plans to a ruthless chain reaction.

Overall, the entire situation wasn't hopeless. There was always a master plan to be thwarted or a person to catch. No one came to take over their ship and succeeded. It was one of those laws of the way things worked. With all the adventures the crew had been through, this one was no different. As a team, they could defeat anything.

Unfortunately, most of the crew was locked away in the ship-God only knows where. The senior staff that usually took care of everything wasn't in good shape. Wendy Smith had disappeared when medbay was captured, O'Neill had been left behind when they had to leave quickly, and Lucas was hurt, wavering in and out of conciousness. They would have to trust Erika now, dispite what they thought of her. She was the one who would get them out of this.

The shuttle lurched suddenly, then made the metallic clank and hissing sounds that were usual during docking. The occupants waited in a deafening silence that could of lasted an eternity-then the mechanisms sprang into action and light was shed into the cramped space.

Two flashlight beams found their way into the main area of the shuttle and their owners grunted before shoving their guns into their regained captives' faces, ordering them to get out. They quickly ascended the silver ladder in the darkness and obediently followed, plans of escape playing in their heads.

After twisting through the well known corridors that looked alien in the dim light,(they were amazed the goons knew where they were going!) the group came to the wardroom. Unlike the rest of the ship, this place was fully illuminated, viewscreens and all. Lynch stood in the middle of the room, his face changed from the last time he had seen the captain. He was in control with a much different-and stronger-motive.

"Ahh, captain, so glad you could make it," Lynch said the salutation so arrogent that Bridger had to fight down the urge to slug him there and then. "We were just making a call," His attention turned when the doors opened again and a goon, with O'Neill, Erika, and Wendy walked in, dropping his three captives off by the rest of the crew.

"Sorry, sir," The goon said.

"What took you so long?" Lynch was obviously aggravated with the tardiness of the others.

"I had to pick up the doctor, Dr. Kentos' orders," He replied in his defence. Lynch looked over at Mia, who nodded affermativly.

"Very well, you can go," He ordered the goon out, and turned back to the others when the doors were closed again."Now, to the matter at hand," Lynch said, motioning to the viewscreen behing him, giving off a faint flicker of life. "I've decided that it's high time I told the UEO of our little adventure here," He pressed a button, and the screen sprang to life, placing a call. Admiral Noyce's face appeared, revealing that he had been filled in on the situation. "I said I'd call you back," Lynch commented. Noyce shifted irritably in his chair.

"You know, the UEO doesn't negotiate with terrorests," He said, looking back at the dishevled _SeaQuest_ crew. Mia came into his view, surprising him.

"Admiral," She remarked cooly, "We meet again," Mia felt she was in control of everything, and was unprepared for his next question.

"Where's your watch officer?" Everyone was taken back. She had been a criminal, and she felt that she had gotten off scott free, but no. A watch officer was someone who had constant surveillance of her, and they were all from Section 7.

"Here," Erika steped forward from the crowd, which explained everything. Section 7 usually recruited people to join their elete and secritive ranks. If she finished collage at 18, Section 7 would of recruited her. With the UEO having custody of her, they would of known all about her. Noyce looked down at her with anything but a smile.

"Lt. Commander Jenivie, I should of known," He had known her since she was a kid, and now she stood infront of him. "You've tangled yourselves with the best and most valuble spyer in the UEO," He explained. The word spyer came as a shock to everyone except Bridger, who had found out before when he had talked to her ealier. Wendy turned her head to the young woman, she had felt that Erika was psychic, and now her thoughts were concluded. Tony had known that Erika was psychic, be hearing that she was the best came as a shock to her, as he had previously thought her talents were mediocre.

Mia turned to face the person who had been tailing her for the past few months. This girl must be good. Mia had already gone through four watch officers, since she had noticed them early on.

"Well, that changes everything, doesn't it," Mia commented. She wouldn't be able to attack Erika directly, Mia had a run in with a psychic before. Eyeing the crowd, Mia smiled, she could hit two birds with one stone. She walked over to the cluster of crew members, leaving Lynch to continue talking.

"Admiral, all we would like is freedom. Dr. Kentos would like to be free of watch officers, and I would like compensation," Lynch lectured the older man sitting beyond his reach.

"Compensation for what?" Noyce asked. Lynch sighed, obviously upset that Noyce didn't know what he was talking about.

"My family's death. Their untimely deaths were the cause of your government," He almost was yelling, but he held back his anger. "And all you said was 'Sorry, Byron, but they didn't make it.' I'd like it if the money they were owed,"

"You know I can't do that," Noyce replied. "Plus, this happened five years ago. Those funds are gone," Lynch looked up at him, fuming.

"You will give us those funds," He replied.

"I can't,"

"Then I will reawaken my special talents on the boy," Mia came out of the crowd hold the now awakened Lucas by his collar. Noyce absorbed his looks already, and stiffened in his chair. How could Mia torture a child?

"Give me time," He replied.

"Time is something you don't have," Lynch said. "I need a decision now or Mia is going to procead to the science bay and have some fun,"

"You know I can't do anything. My hands are tied," Noyce stated. Mia started for the door. "Wait."

"Well..."

"Give me an hour,"

"Sorry," He could tell that Mia was going to do something to him reguardless if he helped them or not. "But feel free to call us," Lynch terminated the connection and looked over the group before he turned off the lights and walked out of the room after Mia. The group spread out around the room, sitting at the table or on the floor. Erika sat in one of the chairs and put her feet on the table.

"Hey, Erika?" O'Neill came next to her and sat in the last empty chair. "Was it you who gave me that headache?" He asked.

"Me? No," She replied, turning to face him. "That must of been Byron,"

* * *

"You're my insurace policy," Mia wispered into Lucas' ears as they walked down to the interconnected science labs.

"Insurance for what?" He mumbled sarcasticly under his breath. His arm hurt like hell, and he had a huge headache, which made him extreamly short tempered. Now, he had heard what had been said in the wardroom, and knew the worst wasn't over. Today just wasn't his day, was it?

"That the UEO gives us what we want," Lynch said from the door to the science lab. They entered, and he was shoved into a chair and they walked to the other side of the lab. Mia left and went into the medbay, and Lucas could see that she was grabbing a needle. She returned, and sat down across from him.

"You know," Mia started. Lynch came behind him and stuck his gun into his back, keeping him planted in the chair. "before torture was outlawed, I was part of a study that tested how much pain the human body and mind can handle," Mia held up the needle and looked at the contents. "We developed this Magic Juice. You won't die, but you'll want to!" Lucas flinched away from her at first, but Mia finally caught his arm and quickly injected him.

At first, he felt nothing other than the gun pointed at his back and calmness, the first of that today. Slowly but surly, his blood began to boil, and he felt like he was burning from the inside. He bit his lip, he wasn't going to give Mia the satisfaction of his pain. Then, he felt a searing hot pain go through his legs, then reach up to his neck and flow down into him. Mia sat smiling as the fire went into his head. His senses went dull-he couldn't hear or see. Then, Lucas' shoulder started to burn ten times worse then the original pain. He couldn't take it anymore, and he screamed as loud as he could, satisfying Mia.

He didn't pass out, it was part of the Magic Juice. He screamed until his voice gave out. His eyes were full of tears when he opened them, but finally he clenched them shut. Lynch sat there for a moment, then took his gun and hit the boy in the bace of the neck with the butt of the gun. He slumped forward in the chair, almost falling off it.

"If I press this to his skin, it will start all over again," Mia commented, holding up a regular battery.

"How do you stop it?" Lynch asked.

"I have the antidote in my pocket," She replied, patting her pocket. " I give it to him and he sleeps for a few days."

"Just as long as he doesn't die,"

"He won't. Our experiment wasn't to kill anyone. That just happened afterwards," Lynch walked over to her and sat in another chair.

"What are you talking about?"

"Mental effects. If I don't give him the antidote in 12 hours, then he will commit suicide in three days," She replied. "It's not a pretty sight."

"Not acceptable!" Lynch yelled.

"I won't kill him, so don't worry," She replied, smiling and standing up. Lynch copied her movement, and picked up Lucas. She lead him up to the wardroom, where everyone was sitting or sleeping all around the room. Lynch quietly sneeked in and placed the unconsious boy on the floor. He left, and Bridger walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"Wendy, come here," Now he knew why Dr. Kentos ordered the ensign to bring Wendy down to the wardroom. She quickly came over and kneeled down next to Lucas.

"There don't seem to be any injuries other than the gunshot," She reported after awhile. This sparked everyone's attention and they came over to the three person group. Erika pushed her way through muttering something, then lifted his arm to look at it.

"No way," She said quietly, but not enough.

"What?" Bridger asked. He knew that watch officers knew everything about their subject, and Erika knew more about Mia then any of them.

"Before she was caught, she created Magic Juice," Erika started to explain. " And it's not a pleasant thing, take it from me. It will give a human the most amount of pain they can handle without dying," She sat back on her heels and sighed. She had been given a small dose when Mia found out about her anti-virus program, and that had not been a pleasant experience. Erika knew Mia gave Lucas more, and he would wake up with nightmares for weeks.

"And she gave this to him?!" Wendy exclamed before Bridger could. Erika nodded weakly.

"She has a battery that if she touches him with it, it will start all over again,"

"What will?" Bridger asked. Erika hesitated for a moment, wonder how she could phrase this.

"Pain,"She replied. "And there's nothing we can do about it,"

PART FIVE

"Are you kidding?!" Tony Piccolo sat with one foot on his chair and his elbows resting on the wardroom table. After a long time of silence, Tony had opened his big mouth and brought up the subject of escape-again. Everyone was getting annoyed with his constant talking, random ideas comming out of his head, no matter how absurd the idea was. Miguel Ortiz had finally retorted a sarcastic, yet get-the-picture remark, which had caused the reaction above. Tony, being the guy he was, had to say something in response to keep his up.

"You know, Tony, I'm not," Replied Miguel. He had slept some, but his mood was rapidly declining. He became more irritated by Tony by the minute.

"Guys, can you give your egos a rest, please?" Erika rubbed her eyes and put her head back on the table in front of her glasses. Tony eyed them and reached out to take them. Erika's arm shot out and snatched them before Tony could. It was a worthless cause, so he returned to facing Miguel.

"I agree with Erika," Wendy said before Tony could open his mouth. "Why don't you find something else to do," She advised. Tony sighed and sat back, officially resigning from the conversation.

The situation wasn't getting any better. It had been hours since they had seen any of their captors, and the darkness didn't help in figuring out the passage of time. There were no guards inside the room, but they knew that there were at least two outside the doorway. Plans had come and gone, everyone so short tempered that they didn't listen to anyone else's ideas.

The only good news was that Lucas had woken up and was actually sitting up. Wendy seemed to think that the Magic Juice was wearing off, but Erika just shook her head and started disapearing into the shadows of the room. She was hiding from everything around her, enclosing them in a box that she was pushing down a hill.

Short tempers or not, they had to find a way out of this mess. "We need a plan," Bridger spoke up. He was sick and tired of sitting here and doing nothing while others took over his boat.

"Well, we know that there are two guards outside," Brody reported, being in charge or security. "And they must be on the bridge, trying to get everything up,"

"Do you think they'll move the ship?" O'Neill asked, joining the conversation.

"Maybe if we don't give in to their demands," Ford replied. "But there would be no reason to move."

"As long as they have the bridge, they have control," Miguel observed.

"So we have to get the bridge," Bridger stated the obvious.

"What we have to get is out the _doors_," Erika spoke from the corner where she sat.

"Yeah, and you're helping by hiding in the corner," Tony blurted.

"Shut up, Tony," She said quietly. Tony wasn't going to give up that easily.

"Make me," He replied. Suddenly, his chair tipped backward and he fell off of it. Rubbing his head as he got up, Tony glared in Erika's direction.

"That worked," Erika scoffed from the corner.

"That's it!" Miguel exclaimed. Everyone looked over at him and he stood up to explain. "Well, if she can knock down the chair, then she can knock down the door and distract the guards,"

"Whoa, wait a second," Erika stood up and walked into the light. Her face was uncharacteristicly pale, but she showed no knowledge of this as she stood above them. "Don't I have a say in this?"

"No!" Everyone yelled at her at once. She looked around and sighed.

"What are you going to do against the _armed_guards?" She retorted.

"Charming good looks?" Brody, quite the ladie's man, answered, smiling. Erika pushed him over mentally and started to retreat back to the corner.

"Is it me, or is your mood making you use your talents to push everyone?" Lucas commented dryly. He tilted a bit, but Wendy moved in front of him, blocking Erika's push.

"Why don't you calm down," Wendy said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," She replied. "I'll open the doors, but that's all," She shook her head and sat at the table.

"You don't want to join the party?" Tony asked. Erika glared at him.

"I don't want to be here at all," She replied. The doors suddenly fell down-on top of the guards, knocking them completely out. The _SeaQuest_ personnel quickly vacated the room as Erika snickered and came out of the corner with her prize- a plasma gun.

* * *

"What do you mean, they've escaped?!" Byron Lynch sat on the bridge with all of his forces and Mia Kentos, who was tossing her battery back and forward between her hands. The unfortuntate ensign, Richards, who was in charge of security, stood in front of Lynch, stonefaced and still. Mia looked up and smiled at Lynch.

"Why don't you look for them instead of standing here," She said sweetly. "I have a way of slowing them down," She eyed the battery.

"And that would be?" Lynch asked, getting fed up with Mia's secrets. In the lighting that had been brought up by auxillary power, Lynch saw Mia's evil plan come into her head.

"Any electrical current will re-start the magic juice's effect," She explained again. "So all I have to do is get him to touch a gun or anything like that..." She trailed off, losing touch. "Yes, sir," He paused for a moment, then looked up at Lynch. "Um, sir, where are they?" Lynch leaned over and wispered their location in his ear. He didn't want Mia going off and restarting the Magic Juice before the vidlink was connected. Richards nodded, and walked off the bridge, waving a few security personnel along with him.

"Are you keeping secrets from me now?" Mia asked, slightly offended by his actions.

"I just don't want you to start the fireworks early," He replied. Mia smiled and started tossing the battery between her hands again.

* * *

The group proceeded down the dark passageways, hiding in the shadows, but not running into any problems. The most logical choice was to reach the weapons locker and get guns before reaching the bridge and overtaking the occupants of the bridge. Halfway there, they encountered yet another junction that caused problems-they had no idea what was lying on either side.

Ford and Brody went on either side, flanking the group. They looked down the halls, checking in the dark lighting. Brody saw something and went to see what it was. Ford pulled his arm and looked sternly at him. Splitting up was one thing they didn't want to do.

They went to the left, and proceded past another junction since they were at the edge of the deck. They didn't see when Richards came out of the darkness and grabbed Lucas around the waist, covering his mouth so he didn't make a sound. The group proceeded without halt, and Richards walked down the passageway with the other three men with him.

"If you value your life, be quiet," He spoke harshly into the boy's ear. Lucas stiffened and walked with Richards up to the bridge, still wondering how they knew their way around the submarine.

They entered the bridge, gaining the looks of many of the members, all of which were smiling. Lynch, sitting in the captain's chair, smiled apon him with a devious smile. Mia stood up and walked over to Richards.

"I think I can take it from here," She said quietly. Mia took Lucas and shoved him into O'Neill's usual station. He sat and looked glumly at her, trying to pierce her with his stare. She just chuckled to herself and walked over to the other station at the center console.

"Dial her up," Lynch said. The people on the bridge sprang into action, one of them typing wildly. The screen in front of them came to life, displaying the UEO logo and the words "Please Wait..." underneath it.

Lynch almost cursed at the screen, but turned to one of the officers instead. "Hack through it!" He yelled. The man nodded sheepishly, then continued to type.

The screen lit up suddenly with the face of Admiral Bill Noyce, who was rather annoyed by this recent development. He looked up and jumped back when he finally looked up at the screen.

"Lynch," He said slowly. "This is unexpected," He said. Lynch could notice something in Noyce's voice that he didn't like, it was a tone hidden under the words he spoke. "What is this about?"

"I'm glad you asked that," Mia spoke up. "Are you still holding on with your 'no negotiating with terrorists'?" Noyce sighed, they had caught him in a hard space and he had no way out of it.

"You know I can't do anything-"

"Sorry to hear that, admiral," Mia said quickly as she took the battery and stuck it into Lucas' arm. Noyce's expression shows puzzlement as he watched Lucas and Mia. "You know, we never really tested what two exposures to the Magic Juice will do to a human. We did, however, see the effects on animals."

"You wouldn't..." Noyce remembered what she was talking about, but knew it was too late. He gave a sad look at Lucas before looking up at Lynch and Mia. "What do you want?"

"Same as before," Lynch finally spoke up. "Money and safe passage out of UEO territory," Noyce seemed to think about it for a moment.

"I will comply," He said. "But only if you take a launch and rendevous at these coordinates," He pressed a button and the numbers came up on the screen in front of him.

"Fine. When we have the money, we'll disapear," Mia said. Noyce looked down at Lucas.

"What about him?" He asked.

"The formula for the antidote is in a certain Section 7 agent's computer. When we're safe, the file will be unlocked," Lynch interjected, proud of his accomplishment.

"Alright," Noyce said, and dissconnected the link. Mia bounced over to Lynch and hugged him.

"Leave two men here to make sure they don't take the bridge before we're out of range," Lynch ordered to Richards. Being the kind of man that he was, Richards flagged down two enlisted men and quickly talked to them. They held up their guns and nodded. Lynch nodded that he was satisfied and started out of the room, followed by everyone else but the two men.

* * *

Outside the _SeaQuest_, a lone shuttle can be seen leaving at a hurried speed. The lights are on, and it speeds through crevases, trying to get to the rendevous as soon as they could, scared the crew would get to the bridge before the shuttle can get away.

* * *

The two men stand nervously on the bridge, guns pointed at the only enterance, hands shaking. They weren't the types of people who went out for these types of things, heck, they were science officers that spent their whole time in labs. One of them turned to the other, the same thoughts going through his head. He lowed his gun and sat in one of the chairs, sighing.

"Hey, John, do you think the kid's gonna be okay?" One of the men asked, looking over at Lucas. He was now shaking, his head hung low. John stole a glace at him, then looked back at the other man.

"Your too soft, Mark, that's why you never made it anywhere," He replied. "Who cares if he's okay? We'll never see him again." John walked over to the captain's chair and smiled. "I wonder what it's like to sit here."

"I'm not to soft," Mark replied. "Hey," He said suddenly. John turned to him, and saw Mark next to Lucas. "I think he's out,"

"So?"

"He's bleeding out of his arm where Mia stuck him with the battery _and_ a laser shot to the shoulder," John came over to him and took a look.

"Maybe we should do something," He said quietly.

"And you said _I_ was soft," Mark replied. John shrugged and turned back to the entrance to the bridge.

"We're here to guard," He said, turning away from Mark and Lucas. Mark shrugged, picked up his gun and mimicked John's movement.

"Put down your weapons and you won't be harmed," Ford's voice floated out from the passageway to the ears of Mark and John. They looked at each other, then at the hallway before putting down their weapons and sliding them down the hall. They had been deserted by the very people they had followed, and they weren't going to get killed for people they barely knew.

Ford and Brody came out first, each one carring their own weapon plus one of the enlisted men's. They each took one of the men, and escorted them past everyone else entering the bridge. Bridger rushed over to Lucas' side, since he and the others had noticed the boy was missing soon after he was taken. That was one of the reasons not everyone had a gun-they hadn't continued to the weapons locker. They predicted that he had been taken to the bridge, so they had gotten there as fast as they could.

"Captain," Wendy came up behind him, touching his shoulder. "I'll take care of him. You have to get the ship running." Bridger looked up at her, then at the crew. He nodded and walked to the command chair. A small crew from medbay came down and took Lucas off to the bay to get patched up. Wendy gave him a supporting eye as she walked off at his side.

"We need to get the system running," He stated, wondering how they were going to accomplish that with Lucas unconscious. As if on command, the system started up again along with the lights. Everyone got to their stations and started typing, checking out their systems.

"Captain, everything's up and running," Lonnie reported from her elevated position.

"Do we have a lock on the shuttle?" Bridger asked.

"WSKRS have contact," Migual spoke up. "They're straight ahead of us," Bridger nodded and turned to Brody who was sitting near him.

"Ready all weapons," He said, and then turned to O'Neill. "Hail them,"

"Aye, sir," O'Neill replied. He typed feverishly, and was rewarded when Lynch's face appeared on the viewscreen.

"Ensign Lynch, surrender your shuttle or you will be destroyed," Bridger stated to the occupants of the shuttle. Lynch didn't move an inch, he only kept on piloting the shuttle. "Ensign?"

"We will not surrender," He declared.

"Is that you talking, or Dr. Kentos?" Bridger replied. He had seen how she had influenced him, and how a perfectly good career had been ruined because of her. Lynch turned up to face the screen, his face showed that he was offended.

"Captain, please," He replied, holding his infamous temper. "We're getting what we came for,"

"Um, sir, sorry to interrupt," O'Neill said suddenly. Bridger turned back to him as he muted the vidscreen call so they could talk privatly. "I have a-a message," Bridger walked over to see what O'Neill was talking about.

"What does it say?" Bridger refered to the message before him written in French. O'Neill read it and turned back to the captain.

"It says, 'Don't let them get away, Noyce has an excellent poker face.'" O'Neill translated. Bridger pondered it for a moment, then turned back to the screen as O'Neill un-muted it.

"Surrender or be destroyed, it's your call?" He said to the screen.

"Have it your way," Lynch cut the link and the shuttle could be seen speeding away.

"Are they in range?" Bridger asked.

"Yes, sir," Miguel said.

"Fire grapnal torpedo," He ordered. The hook caught the fish, and they were brought in slowly. Brody left the bridge, along with the captain and Ford, ready to greet their captors from the right side of the door. Before they could leave, though, Lonnie called out to them.

"Wait." She looked down at her screen, then back at them. "They, they got away." The viewscreen in front of them lit up with Mia's face.

"Later," She said, smiling. "We'll meet again," The screen went black, leaving them all in a stunned silence. They had let them get away, after all that had happened, they had slipped out of their grasp. All they could do was watch the small headlights disapear down into undersea caverns that they could not follow into.

"Sir, I have a unauthorized sub leaving launch bay two," O'Neill suddenly said. Everyone turned back to him. Had the first shuttle been a decoy?

"Who's in it?" He asked in responce. "Whoever it is, get them back here," He said more like an order than an outspoken wonder. O'Neill typed a few commands and turned to the captain.

"They're coming in only as audio," He reported. Bridger picked up a headset and listened in.

"Shuttle, you do not have authorization to leave," O'Neill repeated the normal and protocal phrase into the headset even though he had a pretty good idea who was driving. There was a few seconds of silence, then a sigh filled thier ears.

"I told you I'm leaving," Erika's voice filled the room as the bridge fell silent. "It's been," She paused, trying to find the right word. "Exciting,"

"Don't you have to get cleared to leave?" Bridger asked.

"I'm sorry to run out like this," She replied, ignoring Bridger's question. "I'm trasmitting some files to your computer. I think you'll find them most useful." O'Neill nodded to himself as the files came into the computer. He quickly read the names and scaned them for viruses, ironically.

"Maybe you should stay for awhile-" Bridger started. Personally, he felt that everyone needed some shake down time. For a moment, he feared that she wouldn't respond, and he would just have to live with that, but then her laughter could be heard.

"I'm close to home. I'm going to sleep for a few days," She responed. "I recommend you all do the same." The headsets were filled with static as she went out of range, and then cut the link.

Bridger looked up at his crew. They all sat there, faces dirty, faces showing exsaustion, yet they all sat there, waiting for his next order. This sence of loyalty and teamwork filled him for a moment, taking away his anger from not catching Lynch and Mia, but, he had a feeling from the way that Mia was talking that Lynch was out of the picture-permanently. Too bad they got away from a court martial, although where ever they went, they would be hunted down by the local law enforcement. This thought crossed Bridger's mind and he felt that was the type of life that he wouldn't want to be living.

The first thing that he knew he should do is to plot a course to New Cape Quest, give the crew the order to go sleep, and call Bill.

"Henderson, plot us a course to New Cape Quest, top speed," He ordered, but the rest of his thought went out the window as he found himself walking down to medbay. He saw crew members on the way, they had found a way out of the electronically sealed doors when the power came back on. They were reassembling their crews and checking that their friends were all right.

Medbay looked more crowded than ever. The recently released doctors and nurses were trying to clean up and put the intact things back where they belonged. People were coming in from injuries enflicted by the guards when things didn't go right, making the way into the bay harder by the minute. Finally, Bridger found his way in and spotted Wendy standing in the doorway, taking a moment.

"How is he?" He asked instantly. Wendy sighed.

"We got the formula for the antidote from O'Neill, and gave it to him as soon as we could." She tiredly explaned. "He's out now, and will be for awhile. Don't expect him to be walking anytime soon."

"Are you okay?" He asked, satisfied with her explanation.

"Personally, I could have done without this," She replied.

"To think for a moment he had everyone's undivided attention," Bridger wondered out loud. "How people like that do those things I will never know," Wendy smiled and started laughing. "What?"

"I'm glad it's over," She replied. Bridger looked over at her and smiled too.

"I think everyone is," He replied. "I'm sure of it,"

EPILOUGE

New Cape Quest
Two days later

The _SeaQuest_ reached New Cape Quest ahead of schedule, making record time from the Indian Ocean to the Florida city. The entire crew was eagerly awaiting the docking, so they could start their greatly needed leave that would be for two weeks. And no one was needed back on the ship, except some back up UEO engineers who would repair the damage made by Lynch's virus and his goons' happy trigger fingers.

The sounds of the docking echoed through the ship, and all throughout there were crew members carrying duffle bags, heading for the docking bay. Already, it was crowded, and when O'Neill opened the doors, they started out quickly, happy to see sunshine and a breath of fresh air. More were coming through when O'Neill came through, finished with his duties on the bridge.

"Hey, O'Neill," He looked over and saw Tony trying to make his way through the crew. "Hey, where you goin'?" He asked when he was next to the com. officer.

"I don't know yet," He replied. The bunches of people around them started out, and he inched forward. "I think we'll reach the door soon,"

"I hope so, it's boilin' in here," Tony replied.

"How's everyone else?" O'Neill asked, changing the subject.

"Fine, but I think they're smart enough to wait 'til the halls are clear," The doors were in sight, and they both smiled when they finally got out of the sub.

* * *

Captain Bridger stuffed some more clothes into his duffle before zipping it up and taking one more look around the room. A soft knock at his door turned his head and Lucas sheepishly walked in. He looked better then before, his arm was professionally patched up, and he wasn't as pale as before. Wendy had only released him if he promised to take it easy, he wasn't up to his full strength yet.

"How are you, kiddo?" He asked. Lucas smiled and sat in one of the empty chairs.

"Better," He replied. "But I'm still tired,"

"I'm glad you're alright," Bridger picked up his duffle and started for the door. "Where's your stuff?"

"In my room. Wendy won't let me carry it," He replied, standing up.

"I'll be right there, I forgot to do something," Bridger replied, setting his bag down and walking back into the room. Lucas nodded, and walked out, leaving the captain alone in his quarters. He walked over to his viewscreen and dialed a number.

"Hey, Bill," He said when his friend Bill Noyce came onto the screen.

"I'm glad to see that the situation has been resolved," He replied. "I have a bit of good news for you,"

"Oh really?"

"We had some people left on Snyder Island who captured the escapees," He replied. "You won't have to worry about them anymore,"

"That'll cheer up the crew," Bridger concluded. "What about our Section 7 agent?"

"She's going to be reassigned," Noyce said glumly. "Why?" Bridger looked at him, happy that everything was comming to a close, and everyone was alright.

"I have an idea," He started, but his idea, and what he said, is another tale.

-30-

So, tell me whatcha think. I really would like to know since this is my first every fanfic! I have an idea for another story, but should I write it or can it?

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author Akira.
If this work is yours and you would like to reclaim ownership, you can click on the Technical Support and Feedback link at the bottom fo the page.

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