Chapter Text
Title: Alternate Beginnings
Author: Eliabrith under the ID Twisted Imagination
Disclaimer: Don't own the characters I just play with.
Summary: Different reasons bring Nathan Bridger back to the seaQuest. A slightly AU beginning to the seaQuest series. Probably a bit ELFy. Sorry I'm hopeless at summaries :)
Notes: My first sQ fic. Please forgive any grammatical errors I don't have a beta and my iMac can only do so much but if there's any major problems feel free to point them out.
I haven't seen most of the Pilot episode since it was first broadcast so this was done using a transcript of the episode and a copy of the novelisation (which incidentally doesn't quite match the episode) found in the local library to help with technical details.
Was originally posted to www.fanfiction.net under the pen name Twisted Imagination but all my work is going under the main ID here.
Anyhow any and all reviews happily accepted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alternate Beginnings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan Bridger sat back in his chair and looked around the bridge watching the various crew members settle into their newly refitted stations. Six months was a long time for a submarine to be dry but that was how long the refit for seaQuest had taken. What had once been a top of the line warship for NORPAC command was now the flagship for the UEO its mission to act as a peacekeeper for underwater Confederations and further deep-sea research. It was this last priority that had necessitated the extended dry-docking, turning parts of the boat into several specialised science laboratories. The civilian teams that would man the labs had been arriving all morning ready to sail this evening which was why Bridger had taken to hiding on the bridge in plain clothes hoping for a few more minutes of peace. So far the science crew and military crew had managed to disagree at every turn. Over workspace, over the placement of equipment, over loading procedures etc. With all the bugs being shaken out of the new systems it was giving Bridger a headache and he relished the few minutes of quiet he had managed to secure even though it meant leaving his Executive Officer to deal with all the problems by himself.
"Commander! Commander Ford!"
Clearly his refuge had just been breached, twisting round he peered over the seat back to see Jonathan Ford, just beyond the open clam doors, curse silently and turn to face back the way he'd come.
"Commander Ford, let's get something clear, shall we. My people will not be treated as so much cargo. We are scientists; we are not mindless military drones."
Bridger stood and headed towards the door to the bridge as his EX-O was joined by a petite auburn woman in a science uniform. Ford pinched the bridge of his nose then straightened to stare down on her as she came right up to him.
"Your point, Doctor?" Ford wasn't going to give an inch and leaned right into her face.
"Your people have occupied areas clearly marked as science research labs. I want them removed immediately." The Doctor glared back at the Commander.
"May I remind you, that you are aboard a military vessel?" Bridger winced; he had a feeling Ford had just put his foot in it. The Doctor's reply confirmed it.
"This is a research and exploration vessel. Besides, we outnumber you one hundred twenty-four to eighty-eight."
Ford stiffened "That sounds like a threat, Doctor."
"At least you have a grasp for the obvious." The Doctor retorted. Bridger clamped his mouth shut trying not to laugh out loud at his Exec's expression.
"Now you understand this-" Ford gripped his clipboard tightly in one hand and pointed at the Doctor.
"Don't you point your finger at me!" She knocked his hand away from her face, making Bridger snort with laughter. She spun round to face him, noticing for the first time how many people where watching the argument from the bridge, the audience clearly only increased her irritation, which had found a new focus. "You find this amusing?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." Bridger smiled slightly as she looked him up and down closely not bothering to hide her opinion at his rather scruffy appearance, maybe he should have shaved and changed before he came on board rather than waiting till before he was due on duty later this afternoon.
"And what are you, some kind of stowaway?"
"Something like that. The name's Bridger." That gave her pause.
"Nathan Bridger? Captain Bridger?" Her voice had lost its accusatory tone.
"Last time I looked." He glanced at his XO who looked intrigued at the sudden change of atmosphere
"I know your work. Topography, thermal range variances along with your dolphin research. I tried to contact you once. They said you were... unreachable. I'm sorry, Kristin Westphalen, medical doctor, physical oceanographer, and head of the science team aboard this ship." She held out her hand and after a beat he clasped it.
"Doctor." He nodded at her.
"Well, I'm late for a staff meeting, um.., its nice meeting you." She stepped back and turned back to Ford. "I'm not finished with this, Commander, not by a long shot." She stalked off down the corridor back towards the science section as Jonathan Ford sighed in relief.
"She seems very committed." Bridger watched her disappear and anticipated his Ex-O's reaction to his words.
"She ought to be committed." Ford stared down at the clipboard still tightly grasped in his hand then looked up at his commanding officer. "Sir."
Bridger smiled slightly and scratched his beard.
"Well, I think I ought to go change. You have the bridge Commander."
"Yes, sir."
Bridger turned and strode down the corridor headed directly for his cabin lost in his thoughts. Doctor Westphalen had unwittingly stirred up some painful remembrances. Bridger entered his cabin and locked the door behind him. He mechanically showered and shaved before pulling on his uniform still dwelling on his thoughts.
He walked over to the shelf beside the holo projector and picked up a picture. Sparkling blue eyes stared out at him from a delicate face framed with golden blond hair. After his wife's death he had completely locked himself away from the world. Even after Robert's death and they retreated to a tropical island Carol had always kept him living in the here and now, publishing multiple studies keeping an eye on the general happenings of the world. After she died he had cut almost all remaining contact with the world any correspondence was done through an old research colleague of Carol's who published the data Bridger continued to gather more out of habit than any real desire to continue the studies and protected him from any unwanted incursions into his solitude.
In five years only one person had managed to break through the safeguards and make contact, admittedly the first contact had been a series of emails that Bridger had simply deleted without reading. The next attempt at contact had had more success a video message embedded in an email that activated when he opened the inbox and froze all other programs preventing Bridger from stopping or deleting it until the recording was finished. The video had intrigued Bridger and he had done some research on its sender to determine its authenticity. What he had found had surprised him, the sender had been a young university student working on his masters degree, make that very young. Lucas Wolenczak had been only 13 then, 13 and very sure of his abilities. He had been working on a translation programme that would allow humans to understand dolphins and vice versa, and somewhere he had heard that Nathan and Carol Bridger had been working on a similar program before the latter's death. Bridger had the necessary research base that Lucas couldn't get without years of painstaking study with dolphins and Lucas had the technical and programming knowledge to make the translator work. Both had two halves of a whole and Lucas wanted to combine them. It had worked too. After almost a year of combined work, the Vocorder had given a voice to Darwin, a dolphin Bridger had rescued a couple of years before from a Lagoon and had stuck around since then.
Bridger glanced across at the empty aquatubes; the dolphin wasn't back yet from his feeding trip. Looking at the clock, he decided he really should get a move on and go help Ford sort out the scientist versus military situation. He placed the picture of Lucas back down carefully beside the ones of Robert and Carol.
Over the year spent working on the Vocorder an unlikely friendship had grown between the pair each finding the other easy to talk to about matters they would otherwise found difficult to speak about, Bridger's guilt over the deaths of his wife and son and Lucas's estrangement from his busy parents. Then Lucas had disappeared from his home just over a month after the Vocorder's launch. His parents had been ransomed for his return but they, following the advice of the investigating officers, had pushed for more time and Lucas had vanished entirely. Bridger had been hidden away on his island at the time and it was only when he had tried to contact Lucas that he heard of the situation. Bridger had used what connections he still had to try to hunt for the boy himself but for all the trying Lucas seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. Less than a month later there was the trouble at the Livingstone Trench and Marilyn Stark, then captain of the seaQuest had disappeared before her court martial. NORPAC and then the fledgling UEO had used Stark's disappearance to convince Bridger to take over "temporary" command of the seaQuest until the new treaties where in place at least. Bridger had agreed to this solution as it made it easier to follow up any leads and information that surfaced about Lucas' possible whereabouts.
Temporary had turned into 13 months and in all this time only one possible lead had ever presented itself. A couple of months after Bridger had assumed command of the seaQuest a man had been picked up for a petty theft and when the prints where run they had matched an unidentified set found in the Wolenczak house during the initial investigation of Lucas's disappearance, but all he could say about Lucas was that when the deadline for the ransom money ran out they had "Gotten rid of the brat, dunno where, sold him off to someone I think." he'd never elaborated on any details, insisting he was simply a lackey and wasn't privy to the details. After that the trail had gone cold once more.
The sound of the diving klaxon sounded shocking Bridger back to the present glancing at the clock again he cursed and strode rapidly out of his cabin towards the bridge, he'd spent more time than he thought locked in his memories. He assumed all the loading was done either that or Ford was trying to escape from the scientists by leaving some of them behind.
*****
Ford nodded at Bridger as he entered.
"Trying to lose a few scientists Jonathan?"
"Ah, no sir. All personnel accounted for. We received orders from Admiral Noyce to ship out as soon as the last load was done."
"Probably trying to make sure I don't change my mind again and jump ship." Bridger muttered to himself.
"Sir?" Ford was looking at him with in confusion.
"Nothing Commander. Let's give our sea legs a stretch." He settled into his chair and studied the screen in front of him. "Helm all ahead full."
"Aye, sir." Came the reply. "Speed adjusted, all ahead full."
Only a slight increase in the engines pitch marked the change in speed barely noticeable if you didn't listen for it.
"Mr O'Neill." Bridger swung round to face his communications officer. "Patch me into a ship wide channel."
"Aye sir. Comm channel open."
"This is Captain Nathan Bridger. I'm sure by now most of you have realised there is a period of adjustment ahead. This boat is no longer solely military we are now a primarily research and exploration vessel, it just so happens we have teeth. seaQuest's mission is to enforce the UEO treaty but only if the occasion arises, unless that happens we will be performing various oceanographic studies. I know the military and science communities tend to have different ways of doing things so in the coming months we will need to reach many compromises. I hope for your sake as well as that of the world's oceans we can learn to work together. Our current course will take us to the Seamount chain. I look forward to working with all of you during this tour. Bridger out." He stabbed the button to cut the broadcasts. "I hate making speeches. What's our ETA at the north end of the chain?"
"Just under an hour Captain." The helmsman, Carlton, Bridger thought replied.
"Commander Ford a word please?" Bridger got up and walked over to the empty moon pool with Ford.
"Anything new about the renegade sub?"
"No new attacks have been reported. They might have decided to close down whatever operation they where running here and moved on since the local outposts have been upping their security measures."
"Well that's good but it means our task of investigating the raids will be more difficult."
"Captain!"
Bridger swung round to look at O'Neill. "You called?"
"There's a distress call coming in."
"What's the source of the call?"
"Gedrick Power Station, it's under attack, aggressor unknown." O'Neill leaned over his board fingers flying across its surface. "The signals getting weaker. The stations minimal defences have been blown to hell and they're reporting numerous casualties."
"Maybe we should contact UEO as it could be our first engagement under UEO command. " Hitchcock spoke up.
"No can do Lieutenant. We're too deep for rapid direct communication, sir."
"How far is the nearest communications buoy?" Asked Ford.
"Um." O'Neill checked his computer. "Five hundred kilometres, due east. It would be a very long detour"
"What's our proximity to the station?" Bridger leaned down to look at the screen himself.
"Uh, it's on the border, the Gedrick territory. Distance, forty-eight kilometres, depth, forty-nine hundred."
Bridger did the math in his head. "Well, with these currents, we should be there in about, uh, twenty minutes. Feed spatial coordinates for the power station to navigation. Helm and all other stations: prepare for incoming change of course and speed."
"Course and speed adjusted." Carlton replied.
Bridger moved towards the navigation console and read the new course. "Bring her around to zero nine zero, all ahead full."
"Gedrick Power Station, bearing zero nine zero, one hundred kilometres, all ahead full." Carlton confirmed.
"Commander, you have the bridge. I'd better inform our new science head of the situation." Bridger paused and looked back at Ford. "Unless you'd rather do it?"
"Ah no thanks sir. I'll pass."
Bridger made his way down to the sea deck slowly using the time to observe the crew members he passed. As he entered sea deck he was greeted by excited chittering from the moon pool smiling he walked over and flipped the switch to activate the Vocorder.
"Boat swim fast."
A couple of scientists across the room jumped at the sound of the computerised voice and looked about for the source.
"Yes Darwin. We're going at full speed. We're very deep as well do you're going to have to stay inside for the next while okay." Darwin nodded happily, splashing Bridger lightly. "Good boy." He flipped the switch again as the dolphin swam away chasing a floating toy. Looking up at the staring scientists he asked. "Know where Dr Westphalen is?"
"Umm I think she was inventorying the medical supplies." A young woman answered. "In med bay." She added unnecessarily, pointing towards a doorway.
Bridger nodded his thanks and moved towards the infirmary doorway. Seeing the doctor counting boxes and marking the tally on a clipboard. He rapped the door with his knuckles to get her attention, waiting till she looked up before stepping into the infirmary.
"Can I help you Captain?"
"We've received a distress call from Gedrick power station. They are under attack from an unidentified renegade sub. They are reporting multiple casualties. We don't know anymore details at the minute the signal was rather weak and faded out before we could verify numbers."
"I'll arrange a medical team and set up the bay for multiple casualties."
"Thank you doctor."
O'Neill's voice came over the comm. "Captain to the bridge. Captain to the bridge."
"I'd better go."
"Thank you." Westphalen called after him. Bridger turned back towards her. "For coming to tell me." He nodded and made his way back towards the bridge with more haste than his trip down.
*****
The seaQuest moved slowly into the valley where the station was located her WSKR probes spread out in front guiding the huge submarine. The bridge was quick and tense with activity when Bridger entered and joined Ford at the helm station watching the progress. The seabed wasn't flat here: as in other volcanic areas, spikes and hills stood, thrust up by old eruptions, an ever present hazard for an unwary submariner. The front screens showed a 3D sonar 'landscape' that changed as they progressed along it.
"WSKRs are kicking back data. One typhoon class Delta 4." Called Miguel Ortiz, the sensor chief.
"Power station communication reporting major structural damage, life support's nominal. Survivors are gathering in the main complex." O'Neill added now that seaQuest was close enough to resume communications and cut through the interference caused by the attack.
"Delta 4 is on the move; heading two zero seven degrees, thirty knots. She's moving away from the station." Ortiz said sharply.
"Give me eyes, Mr Ortiz." Ford walked over to the sensor station to look over the chief's shoulder. "Helm bring us around two seven zero, intercept course."
Carlton: "Coming around, intercept course. Aye sir."
The front screen changed from the map to a view of the Delta sub lurking just at the range of the seaQuest's lights. The old fashioned soviet missile boat looked as though it had been heavily modified.
"Sound battle stations." The high pitched klaxon sounded through out the boat and Bridger could hear the water tight doors thumping shut between the various sections one after the other: the bridge doors hissed shut behind him sealing automatically.
"Targeting profile up!" At Ford's command the front screen switched again, this time to a WSKR enhanced view with the targeting grids and scaling overlaying the image.
"Targeting grid locked." Ortiz replied.
Ford looked across at Bridger with an expression that clearly said 'Any time you want to resume command, it would be very welcome'.
"All stop." Bridger called. Ford crossed to his side to confer. "Sir. We have a chance of stopping that sub now."
"True but we need to consider the lives of the people in that power plant."
"I'm aware of that, but if that sub gets loose it'll be free to attack somewhere else."
" If. You're talking hypothetical, I'm talking reality. This boat is a thousand foot long Swiss Army Knife. Use your options: have one of the WSKRs tag the renegade, we can deal with it later."
"Say, if anyone's interested, that boomer's making a turn." Chief Petty Officer Crocker spoke up from where he was observing the screen.
Ortiz was frowning at his console then jerked his head up. "She's moving into an attack posture!"
"Weapons." Ford called.
"Sir." Phillips replied.
"Flood forward tubes; prepare E plasma torpedoes, sixty percent charge."
"Loading, sixty percent charge."
"Helm, reverse engines one-quarter, six degrees down angle."
"Reverse, one-quarter, down six degrees." Carlton confirmed
"Eight degrees." Bridger corrected.
"Eight degrees." Ford agreed.
"Delta 4's forward tubes are flooded and opening. Preparing to fire." Ortiz called angling his WSKRs for a better sensor view.
"Eight degree..." Carlton's confirmation trailed off. "Uh sirs helm control is not responding."
"What do you mean, not responding?" Ford demanded
"Helm control is frozen. She won't let me take the reins."
"Lieutenant Commander." Ford turned to Hitchcock who headed to the helm console.
"On it." She replied.
"Delta 4 is eight hundred meters and closing." Ortiz warned.
"Open forward torpedo tubes." Bridger snapped.
"Can't sir. Control isn't accepting our commands." Phillips called back.
"Go to redundant systems." Ford sounded worried.
"They won't engage." The same edge of fear was clear in Hitchcock's voice too.
"Great. What else can go wrong?" Ford muttered low enough that only Bridger heard it.
As though to mock him Ortiz shouted. "Target ship has just fired. One electrostatic torpedo away. Homing ... She's locked and headed in."
"Countermeasures." Bridger ordered. Hitchcock moved back to her own station punching the controls rapidly before looking up with a furious expression.
"Countermeasures aren't responding, sir." She tried re-routing the system several times but the console refused to response.
"Sound collision." It was all they could do. The collision klaxon howled through the boat. The bridge crew stumbled to their seats and strapped themselves in all the while watching as the torpedo streaked closer on the screen.
"Everybody hold tight." Fort shouted.
"Torpedo at one hundred meters and closing. Fifty meters." Ortiz continued the countdown.
The blast when the torpedo hit shook the bridge hard throwing various items not strapped down, through the air like missiles. The lights failed. The front screen blacked out several times then stabilised as the power fluctuations stopped. One of the WSKRs showed that the torpedo had hit just behind the docking sphere and a blue web of plasma charge was crackling along the hull from the point of impact.
"Damage report." Ford shouted as emergency lighting flickered on.
"Port side strike. We're taking on water." Called back Hitchcock from the engineering station where she was running diagnostics.
"Damn it, where are our battle systems?"
"Inoperative, sir."
"Delta 4 is flooding tubes, preparing to fire a second strike. Your orders, Sir?" Ortiz looked over his shoulder.
"Flood the ballast tanks fore and aft." Bridger ordered.
"Sir?" Hitchcock looked at Bridger in confusion.
"Do it! How deep is that rift?" Bridger swung back towards Ortiz.
"Twenty... twenty two thousand feet."
"Helmsman."
"Sir." Carlton looked up.
"Dive into Pacific Plate rift at..." Bridger looked down at his screen. "Six zero four two."
"Aye, sir."
It was a strange sensation as seaQuest tilted into and uncontrolled dive moving silently over the lip of the rift and down into the depths.
"Eight thousand feet and dropping." Ortiz monitored the depth as they fell while the front screen showed the seaQuest falling away beneath the WSKRs.
"Flood systems crashing." Hitchcock warned.
"The Delta 4's position?" Bridger walked over to Ortiz's station as the younger man changed his screen to show the aft view.
"Still pursuing."
"Let's see how bad they want us. Take her to the bottom."
"Captain, this ship wasn't designed for a crash dive." Ford sounded shocked. Bridger just looked at him in exasperation.
"If you have any better ideas, I'm wide open." Ford shook his head in response and a tense silence fell across the bridge. All eyes fixed on the front screen showing a split view of the rift beneath the seaQuest on the right and the Delta following them down on the left. The Delta's descent was powered and she was looming closer and closer.
"Thirteen thousand feet." Crocker read out the depth as they fell.
Everyone knew that if she fired again it was all over. A deep dive was nothing to the seaQuest, she was built to go to twenty thousand feet but not with a compromised hull and the damage caused by an E-plasma torpedo increased by depth, one more hit anywhere on or near the boat would finish them. The structure creaked and groaned as the metal began to buckle. Over the seaQuest's groans the crew listened for the screech that would indicate an incoming torpedo.
"Fourteen thousand five hundred."
"Fifteen thousand feet." Ortiz took over the count. "Delta 4 is breaking off, she's moving away."
"Don't let her out of our sights, we don't want her to double back on us." Bridger turned to the helmsman. "Level her off; we can't drop any more. Crocker," Bridger continued his circle. "Pump some oil into the ballast tanks and let us rise slowly Mr Ortiz, keep an eye out for any sign of that sub returning."
*****
It took a while for the seaQuest to climb up out of the abyss before they could survey the damage to both Gedrick station and themselves. The station was worse off. It had been built before the development of E-plasma torpedoes and therefore had no defences against them. Large parts of the station lay dark and shattered, open to the sea.
seaQuest had survived quite well. While she was able to go much deeper than she had gone uncontrolled dives while taking on water due to torpedo damage was not ideal circumstances. She lay over the station standing guard over its evacuation, the WSKRs hovering around her scanning. There was an ugly jagged scar several meters long where the torpedo had struck. The homeostatic single-fibre hull designed to repair itself had worked sealing over the breach blocking all but the initial influx of water. It had also isolated the electrostatic charge, which could have otherwise shorted out the life support and computer systems killing everyone on board.
Shuttles had been coming and going for an hour now, ferrying people to and from the station, seaQuest personnel were on the station helping shut down equipment and remove what they could. The Docking Bay looked like an impromptu refugee camp. The medical team had already partitioned off part of the Docking Bay as a triage centre: blanketed forms lay or huddled there with medics moving from one to another. Bridger peered through the large dim room, seaQuest was now on auxiliary lighting diverting main power to other areas, he was looking for the station's supervisor to answer a query. Catching sight of Dr Westphalen leaning over a stretcher he crossed the room to her side.
"Have you seen Dr Ryers anywhere?"
Westphalen looked up briefly then glanced around the room he's over there, talking to that family. Bridger followed her finger seeing a tall thin man with black hair ruffle a child's hair whilst speaking to the mother.
"Thanks. How's she doing?" He indicated the patient before them.
"She's in shock. She'll be fine." The doctor straightened up and motioned for a couple of medics to take the stretcher. "OK, bed five, let's go." She followed the stretcher through into the med bay.
Bridger walked over to the man Westphalen had pointed out. "You Dr Ryers?"
The man looked round in surprise. "Yes. Yes I am."
"Nathan Bridger." He held out his hand.
"Ah yes. Captain Bridger." Ryers clasped Bridger's hand tightly. "Thank you for coming to our aid."
Bridger shook his head dismissing the thanks. "No need. However I need to ask you about something. If you'll follow me."
"Of course Captain." They left the launch bay and headed for the bridge.
"One of the subs ferrying your people off the station picked up a weak distress signal. Nothing much was thought of it at first but the crew noticed that it is still repeating but all the plants comm systems have been shut down. You're sure all your people are accounted for?" They entered the bridge and moved towards the front screen showing a 3D view of the station.
"Yes Captain. Everyone including the children are on seaQuest or otherwise accounted for." The doctor smiled sadly.
"Sir," O'Neill walked over. "I've located the source of the signal, it's on the far side of the plant about here." He stretched up to point at the area the signal originated."
"But that doesn't make sense." Ryers objected. "That was the original communications centre when the plant was being built it acted as a dormitory for the workers. It has been closed off since the new comm system was put in the main complex 6 years ago. The access tunnel collapsed during seismic activity last year. The only way to reach it now is by sub. I have no idea why anyone would want to use it; I thought all the equipment had been removed. You're sure that's where the signal's from?"
"Yes Sir." O'Neill affirmed.
"Crocker." Bridger turned to his head of security. "Take a launch and go see what's there and take a team with you just in case. Dr if you could tell the Chief anything more about the centre it would be appreciated."
"Of course Captain." Ryers nodded before following Crocker off the bridge.
"How are our systems?" Bridger asked of the bridge crew in general.
"Hull integrity isn't great; the outer pliant skin resealed itself as designed; we still don't have full engines. Lieutenant Hitchcock reports eleven other systems have crashed. Among them, weapons and propulsion." Ford answered for the crew.
Bridger looked up sharply "Source?"
"Unknown."
"Has anyone checked out the warranty on this thing?" Bridger sighed and scrubbed his hand though his hair. "Well, we should be glad about these people anyway."
"Captain, I have Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock doing a thermal trace of the power station."
"Hyper-reality Probe?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good."
*****
Bit by bit Gedrick Station seemingly vanished into the darkness as the rest of the systems where switched off. Down among the towers - the few of them that still stood upright - a small strange device spurted past leaving a trail of bubbles behind it. An untrained observer might have though it was some kind of squid, if a squid could swim without moving its tentacles, if a squid was made of metal, with odd glass and metal protuberances apparently glued onto it here and there. It was not a squid. It had numerous arms, but they were metal not meat, it had a bead but one made of sensor probe rather than bone: it had a brain, but the brain was elsewhere.
The device swam downward closer to the station through an eerily clear landscape: one from which all the water seemed to have been removed, so that every physical detail stood up sharp and real, almost too real. On the bridge of seaQuest, Hitchcock sat at her station being the brain for the distant 'body', seeing the hyper real view. She was wearing the Hyper reality probe headset and gloves. Hitchcock sat in her chair, her eyes open, observing: but not observing anything in the room - seeing things elsewhere, hearing, and feeling, things outside. 'The next best thing to being there.' she thought.
The probe looked where she looked, moved where she moved. It was easier and safer than sending out a diver - at such depths and pressures few suits and fewer people could handle diving this deep. Now she sent the HR probe zipping among the damaged building of the power station. She glanced off to the left; the probe glanced with her noting the presence of a seaQuest shuttle heading back to the sub, and then up as she looked up. Above her was a bundled tangle of large, ugly pipes. She blinked to change the view, it switched to a colourful thermographic view of the pipes, seeing where the hot gas ran, where it was cool and where, in the skins of the pipes recent friction still lay as heat, betraying stress-spots and fractures.
Hitchcock stretched her fingers, considering the best way to continue her investigation. Following her gesture the probe reconfigured its arms to fit more easily among the pipes.
She sat there a good while more - a muscle-twitch, a slight move, serving to guide the probe through the shattered forest of pipes and conduits. Suddenly she saw what she had been half-suspecting would be there: what she had been afraid of.
"Uh-oh..." She cleared her throat. "Uh there's something here - Sir I think you'd better take a look at this..."
Bridger and Ford crossed over to Hitchcock and peered at her screen in concern. Bridger looked up at Ford.
"Wardroom. Let's get everyone we can in there."
*****
Crocker stood at the door of the med bay watching the latest arrivals huddle together. They were just kids. Six scared terrified kids. The scene that had greeted the team on the old communications station had been of confusion and desperation. Some of the ceiling supports had collapsed killing one of the few adults in the group, during the resulting confusion Reese Marshall, the only woman present, had taken the opportunity to transmit the distress call. Now she hovered around the children protectively.
As soon as they reached the seaQuest she had demanded that her father and surviving brother be arrested for a string of crimes; computer fraud, espionage, trespass on Gedrick's property and most surprisingly slavery with the possibility of abduction. Her father had bought most of the kids for his own private work force. If they wanted to eat they did the work he wanted, which was siphoning off funds from bank accounts around the world. Crocker had looked at the kids and seen the truth of the words, filthy, half starved and terrified of everyone it was clear they had been badly mistreated for some time. The older man had also confirmed the story as Crocker placed them in the holding cell; he'd seemed defeated and lost.
Reese seemed bemused the number of people present in the room; unable to keep all her charges together with the medics checking them over, though as soon as one was released they shuffled back to join the others huddled in a corner. As Doctor Westphalen released the last teenager Reese moved to keep herself between the crew and kids. The Doc spoke to her for a moment watching the boy she'd just finished checking. Reese shook her head and answered something. They both watched the boy slide slowly down the wall slightly apart from the others.
The comm blared to life. "All senior crew and science heads please report to the wardroom."
Westphalen looked up at the sound then beckoned one of the medics over. Leaning in she gave some orders about the kids. Then she walked across to join Crocker and they left for the wardroom together.
"How're the kids?"
"Stressed, slightly malnourished but they should be ok. From what they would tell me they were runaways picked up and sold off. They're reluctant to tell too much and I understand that. I've arranged for them to stay together away from the crew. They aren't used to lots of people and are scared. I don't want to push them for too many details or they'll clam up completely. One of them doesn't speak."
"English?"
"At all. Reese said she's never heard him make any sound at all. One of the other kids nicknamed him Frankenstein for some reason and he seems happy enough to respond to that or Frankie."
"Poor kid."
*****
They arrived at the wardroom to find that the science and military personnel had divided themselves down separate sides of the table. It was standing room only though one of the science team moved to give Westphalen his seat.
"Now everyone is present we can get on. We may have a problem with Gedrick station." Bridger hit a button to pull up the images from the Hyper-Reality probe. The screen showed the thermographic view of the power station's central derrick. Mostly the colours showing were cool blues and greens, except for a bloom of red-orange heat from the base of it.
Westphalen frowned as she read over the data reaching several alarming conclusions. She slumped back in her chair and looked at the other scientists who'd already looked over the data reading the confirmation of her fears etched on their faces. She looked up and met Bridger's gaze; he nodded at her to take the lead. Nodding back she stood and moved to the large view screen on the front wall pulling up the images she'd just studied.
"The Captain is right we do have a problem. As you can see from the data Lieutenant Hitchcock got back from the probe, the power station is built over a volcanic vent."
"Why?" Ford interrupted.
"Energy. They use the trapped heat to run their turbines." Bridger explained before Westphalen could snap at him for the interruption.
"Thank you." Westphalen nodded again.
"You're welcome." Bridger gave her a slight smile and motioned for her to continue.
"It's a common enough arrangement, but according to the data from that probe -" She pointed to the telltale cloud of orange-red gathering at the base of the derrick. "The venting cap at the base of the station is in the process of tearing."
Along the science side of the table concerned glances were exchanged and quiet murmurings broke out.
"What happens if it breaks?" This time it was Hitchcock that interrupted sounding concerned.
Westphalen shook her head slowly and stared at the screen. "A nightmare. The poisonous gases, which are usually captured and disposed of, will spill out across the ocean floor."
"How big a spread?" Ford questioned picking up on the seriousness of the problem.
Kristin sighed. "With the thermal currents in this area, it could be hundreds of miles. Every living organism, plant and animal will be destroyed. We'd have our first equivalent of a deep ocean desert wasteland."
The noise among the science crew got louder. To Bridger's annoyance most of the naval crew were sitting with expressions ranging from blank unconcern to confusion and annoyance that such a fuss was being made about so little. He opened his mouth to question Westphalen then realised she wouldn't hear him. Taking a deep breath he raised his voice imitating a shout he'd hear his own commanding officers use in his younger day.
"Can it be fixed?" The unexpected volume from the captain stunned everyone into silence Bridger fixed her with a searching look. Westphalen stared back in astonishment and Bridger realised with some surprise that she'd not expected him to be on her side.
"Yes. Given the proper equipment...."
"You mean military equipment?" Ford broke in again frowning a bit.
"Who cares whose equipment it is?" Bridger stared at the Commander.
"Wait a second, Captain. This ship is operating under very unusual and dangerous circumstances. I'm not sure we should divert our efforts. This ship is operating under very unusual and dangerous circumstances, I don't know if we should divert our efforts from the need to repair the damage and find the cause of the weapons and propulsion systems failures. We still have an armed rebel sub out there."
"If I read the UEO mandate correctly, this boat can not sail away from an ecological disaster if it can do something about it." He glared at his first officer who stared back for a beat before nodding. "Only so many TeamCraft and EVA suits can work on our hull at any given time so I say we patch that vent."
"Yes, sir. Doctor what will you need?"
"Uh.." Westphalen seemed thrown by Ford's abrupt turn around. "We'll need precise specifications of the venting cap assembly. Then you can proceed. I think you should talk to Dr Ryers about that. He'll know what they normally do for maintenance and what emergency plans there are in place."
Some of the naval officers didn't look to happy by contrast the scientists expressions ranged from stunned to looking like Christmas had come early.
"Dismissed." Bridger decided the best way to avoid any further problems was to remove the opportunity. Ford stood up and left the wardroom to start making arrangements the rest of the naval crew following on his heels the scientists trailing in their wake a strategic distance behind.
Bridger looked over at Westphalen as he got up. She was clearly pleased but wasn't going to let show how much: certainly not in front of the military types and maybe not even in front of her own people. Walking over to her he tapped her on the shoulder. "Can I get you a cup of coffee?"
She glanced at him, a quizzical look, then nodded.
In the officers' lounge they sat their cups and went through their normal cream and sugar rituals. There was a monitor nearby and Bridger activated it to have a look at the Docking Bay. The place was turning into a melee despite the fact that Gedrick's refugees had been moved to other areas for convenience wile the repairs took place. Off to one side the Bay Control Officer stood at his station monitoring the deployment of several TeamCraft on his display screens. Below him, streaming towards the docking port came a cluster of science crew carrying their equipment - monitors, chemical analysers and so forth - mixing uncomfortably with a group of military crew carrying their own gear. Both teams were waiting to go up the ladders to the waiting TeamCraft, but there was no mixing, no chatter between team. Instead, Bridger noted, there were glares.
Visible on the display screens at the control officers station, several TeamCraft, each with its two person crew, were already on their way toward the smoking base of the power station derrick. One vanished into the smoke while Bridger watched. Others were still in the process of pushing away from the seaQuest's Docking Sphere section.
Westphalen was watching over his shoulder as he switched views to what one of the TeamCraft was seeing, the swirls of toxic vapour from around the base of the power station.
"Thank you for what you did back there."
Bridger turned from the monitor to face the doctor. "It made sense and it is our duty."
She looked at him curiously. "Excuse me for saying so - but you don't strike me as a prototypical military man."
He was intrigued in spite of himself. "Really how do I "strike" you, Doctor?"
Westphalen looked embarrassed. "Now I've insulted you."
Bridger laughed softly. "On the contrary. I've spent most of my career trying not to be part of the machine."
"Then you consider yourself a radical?"
He raised his eyebrows. "I never thought about it one way or the other. I made up my mind a long time ago I wouldn't "go along" to "get along"." He thought of Carol remembering how she would tease him about what she called his 'troublemaking' - "My wife used to call me "terminally stubborn"." he said.
"How long were you married?"
"Twenty-seven years. She died a few years back."
"I'm sorry." Westphalen suddenly found her coffee interesting, stirring the brown liquid slowly. "Do you have children?"
"We had a son, Robert. He was lost at sea six years ago."
Westphalen just looked at him unable to find the words to say so she dropped back into a more professional mode. "You wanted to talk to me about something?"
Bridger blinked back memories and nodded at her glad for the reprieve. "I think we need a trouble-shooter"
"A what?"
"I don't think what's happening on this boat is an accident. I think we need someone to go down into the guts of the computer and dig around a bit. Unfortunately the man who was supposed to join us as computer engineer was in an accident last week and we hadn't time to replace him yet, after all this was just supposed to be a quick jaunt up the coast for a few quick surveys and a good shakedown then back to base to sort any problems."
"Well, what about Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock?"
Bridger shook his head. "No, she's hardware. Besides she's working with the repair team. I was thinking of someone from your section."
"It's the wrong technology. Most of my crew can use computers and specialist programs but there's no-one that specialises in systems." She paused frowning, mentally running through her crews CVs then blinked. "Well, there is one person who might be able to help."
"Who?"
"Follow me." She pushed away for the table and led the way out the door. Bridger caught up easily. "When Crocker went to investigate the distress signal he found a few of adults and a group of teenagers. The adults had been using the children to hack computer systems around the world and siphon off funds into an account. Now, one of the adults wasn't in on the scheme, she's the daughter of the leader, when she objected to what they were doing the father brought in other kids to train from somewhere, but due to the location she could hardly leave so she's been looking after the children since." Westphalen lead him to a room marked 'Mammal Engineering'. "I've put the kids from the computer hackers in here."
"You're suggesting we use the kids to investigate our system problems?"
"Not the kids I don't think Reese would let us, but until about 4 years ago it was just her, her father and older brothers involved in hacking the systems. They started buying the kids when she decided what they were doing was wrong and refused to continue, but she does know computers and I think she'll be willing to help." She knocked on the closed door, after a moment it cracked open and dark eyes peered out the gap. Recognition flared as they focused on Westphalen and the door opened further to reveal a small women with black hair aged somewhere in her mid twenties if Bridger guessed right.
"Doctor Westphalen? Is there a problem."
"Reese this is Captain Bridger." The young woman glanced warily at Bridger and gave him a quick nod. "Can we come in and talk to you?"
Reese glanced behind her into the room and seemed to converse with the other occupants then nodded and pulled the door open completely motioning them inside.
The room was dark the only illumination coming from the emergency lights and the aqua tube along one wall. Bridger glanced about the room as his eyes adjusted to the dimness, a couple of pairs of bright eyes watched them from the bunks below the aquatube but from the rest of the rooms occupants seemed to be asleep huddled on blankets on the floor. Reese sat down at an empty work station as far from the sleeping forms as possible.
"Reese." Westphalen hesitated unsure how to continue. Bridger crouched down beside Reese.
"Dr Westphalen told me you know a bit about computers." The young women stiffened slightly and regarded him warily before nodding cautiously.
"See, when we arrived here at Gedrick our computer started to malfunction. Currently we don't have a computer engineer on board or anyone knowledgeable enough to check the system out. I was wondering would you be willing to act as a trouble-shooter and see if you can find what is causing the malfunctions? You will of course be reimbursed for time spent working on our system."
"What happens if I say no?"
"Nothing. We'll try to muddle through the system code ourselves."
"I'll look at it."
"Thank you. You can use the computers here if you'd prefer rather than using a lab." Bridger pointed at the dark monitor pushed to the back of the workstation. Reese nodded her thanks and pulled the keyboard and monitor closer, flipping it on.
Bridger shifted and pulled another chair up to watch the young hacker work. Once the terminal had been brought on-line Reese seemed to lose any sense of the world around her, focusing only on the screen in front not once glancing down at the keyboard her fingers raced across. Now and then she'd mutter quietly to herself, sentences so interspersed with technical jargon Bridger couldn't follow. He looked around the room and for the first time peered at the other occupants, though there wasn't much he could make out in the shadows of the room. There were a couple of kids on the bunks themselves but the rest were curled up on the floor in a mass of blankets and cushions seemingly asleep.
Looking back Reese was still working furiously then she paused staring at the screen. A couple more keystrokes and she relaxed slightly. "Got it." She motioned for Bridger and Westphalen to look at the screen. "The core of your main computer has a virus. That's what's been chipping away at the systems." Reese continued scrolling down the lines of programming code pointing out infected areas.
"But if it's in the core, why isn't it affecting the whole ship?" Westphalen leaned over her shoulder for a closer look at the screen.
"Oh, it will eventually. It just started with the weapons and propulsion systems.
"But wouldn't diagnostics have found it in a routine check?"
"No." Bridger shook his head. "When weapons and propulsion goes down the system just makes a quick pass with the diagnostics program. Basically it works on the principle that if the problem can't be found and solved quickly you're dead anyway."
"Cheerful." Westphalen observed.
"Practical." Bridger corrected.
Westphalen straightened up with a look of someone who didn't like what they were seeing evidently the contents of the screen made more sense to her than it did to Bridger. "I still don't see how it could have been missed."
Reese pressed a sequence of keys and another screen came up. "Well, it's buried so deep that the diagnostics sweep couldn't even find it. Whoever planted this thing really knew what they were doing."
"Then it's not organic?" Bridger asked.
"No way." Reese bit her lip and glanced up at the seaQuest crew a wary look. "No, it's too specific."
Bridger sighed. "Is there any way we can tell how long it's been in there?
"Not until I peel back the layers of data between it and me. Uh oh." The screen began to flash.
"Uh oh what?"
"It's got dogs. Watchdogs. Sub-programs to protect the virus. If I mess with any of them, the whole system could crash and burn. Life support, navigation, defence, the works."
O'Neill's voice came over the shipwide intercom.
"Captain to the bridge. Captain to the bridge."
Bridger sighed. "Guess that means me." He stood up and walked out the door before leaning back in. "Hey, kid, good work. Just keep doing what you're doing."
Westphalen smiled sadly at the surprised expression on the young woman's face then switched to a more encouraging smile when Reese's gaze settled on her.
*****
Ford looked up as Bridger entered the bridge. "Sir. We have a Sat-link video transmission, distress call."
"From where?" Bridger frowned.
"A small farming outpost."
"It's a pretty weak signal." Hitchcock added
"Try it on the main screen." Bridger ordered moving to stand behind the command chair gripping its back.
"Yes, sir." She replied.
The screen came to life showing a very weak television signal, badly cluttered with static and distortion. The picture kept drifting out. The only thing that could be made out with any clarity was the vague shape of a man, stretching with the distortion the righting itself."
Sound was clear enough though: sound was always the first thing to come in and the last to be lost on any given carrier. There were sounds of pandemonium going on behind the man: he kept turning from side to side reacting to every noise around him. A loud burst of static blared from the speakers coinciding with the image rocking and flares of light burst in the background. The static stopped as the signal stabilised again"
"My name is Raymond Brenner. I'm the territorial governor of the Westridge Farm Community. We've been attacked, without provocation, by a renegade craft." The sound of explosions caught Brenner's attention for a moment before he focused again on the camera. "We're in trouble; we need help. If there's any ship out there within the sound of my voice, please help us. We need help. Some-"
The image vanished leaving only faint feedback sparkles dancing across the screen.
Murmuring had broken out on the Bridge as the situation had become clearer, then as the transmission had failed a hush fell across the crew. Though Bridger heard one woman whisper to the man next to her. "We could have helped them if we weren't wasting our time patching that stupid vent thing to protect a few fish."
Ford leaned in to speak to the captain. "Why would they attack an unarmed housing community?"
"They're baiting us." Bridger closed his eyes briefly.
"Should I recall the repair.." Ford trailed off at Bridger's negative shake of his head. "But we've got to stop them, they'll slaughter those people."
"We have a job here that needs done first. Plus we can't do anything until we get this boat running and we need more time for that. Don't worry, this isn't over yet." Bridger chewed his lip as he thought over the options. "Commander you have the bridge."
Bridger left and headed back down towards Mammal Engineering. Inside the small room it was a vastly different scene to the one he had left not long before. All the lights where on, several more workstations had been set up and the children clustered about them, heads down conferring with each other, Doctor Westphalen and Reese now sat on the lower bunk watching the kids.
Stepping down into the room Bridger made his way over to the bunks. One of the kids noticed him and watched his progress warily before turning his attention back to the screens when Reese waved him off.
"What's going on?"
At the sound of Bridges voice all noise except the faint hum of the computers ceased as all the kids realised there was someone else present now and froze. Westphalen glared at the captain while Reese wandered over to speak to the kids. Slowly the noise levels rose again and Reese rejoined the other adults at the bunks.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to scare them." Bridger apologised.
Reese shrugged "It's OK they just seem to tune the rest of the world out when they work. Uh.. I though that maybe they'd be more help than just me. They know so much more about computer systems than I do." She explained in a rush.
"That's fine. Two heads are better than one and all that." He smiled trying to get Reese to relax and stop looking as though she expected to be hit. He let his eyes glance quickly over the kids aware of Reese tensing beside him. "Or in this case seven."
She smiled faintly at the slight joke relaxing as Bridger focused on her again.
"What have you found?" He asked.
"Well Captain, we're still trying to get to the virus, but we were able to nail the time of entry."
"And?"
"Judging by the layers of data between us and it, I'd say it was planted a little over a year ago. Thirteen months to be more exact. Frankie is trying to get a clearer picture and the others are trying to find a way around the watch dogs."
"Frankie?"
Reese nodded and pointed to a blonde boy in the far corner, hunched over the keyboard, fingers flying.
Bridger frowned slightly as he watched him. Reese seeing his expression change tried to refocus his attention away from the kid. "He's the best there is at system analysis and.." She caught at Bridger's arm and pointed to the closest monitor. "If you look here.." She trailed off again, as Bridger remained frozen in position beside her. Looking up she saw the colour drain from his face. "Captain?"
Hearing the uncertainty in Reese's voice Kristin Westphalen looked at him closely. "Captain Bridger are you alright?" The kids had also stopped working at the expressions of concern and were watching the 3 adults curiously.
Reese and Westphalen followed Bridger's gaze to Frankie who like the other kids had looked up but unlike them showed no expression of interest in fact his face was blank. He'd frozen half turned towards them in his seat with one hand in mid air the other pressed to the keyboard.
"Lucas?" Bridger whispered almost desperately.
The kid blinked and curled his arms around himself protectively before turning to face them fully never taking his eyes off the captain.
"Frankie? What's going on?" Reese looked between Frankie and Bridger searching for an explanation for the tension in the transfixed pair.
Bridger pulled away from the women shaking off Reese's hold and stepped uncertainly towards the boy, giving him plenty of time to react or move away.
Kneeling down beside the kid he kept his movements slow and deliberate. He looked the kid over taking in the too thin appearance, the skin, pale from lack of sun, the dark circles round familiar blue eyes.
"Lucas?" He asked again feeling more certain.
Lucas nodded slightly and slowly reached out a hand to touch the captain. He opened and closed his mouth for a few moments but no sound emerged. "Real?" He mouthed lightly gripping Bridger's shoulder.
"Yeah Kiddo. I'm real." Bridger reached up and covered the hand tightening on his shoulder with his own.
Lucas closed his eyes tightly as tears began to flow down his cheeks.
"Hey hey. It's OK, you're safe. I'm here." Bridger reached up and wiped at the tears. Lucas opened his eyes again then curled his arms around the captain and buried his face in Bridger's neck, the movement causing him to slide off his chair to the floor. Bridger returned the hug tightly.
Across the room Westphalen and Reese watched the reunion in confusion, unsure what to do.
"Maybe we should give them some time." Westphalen suggested. Reese looked worried at the idea of leaving one of her kids on his own.
"But!..."
"He'll be fine, we won't go far. Come on." Seeing Reese wasn't going to voluntarily move Kristin caught her arm and gently manoeuvred her towards the door. The kids followed the women out into the corridor without encouragement.
After several minutes of Lucas clinging desperately to him Bridger's legs began to cramp and he had to shift to find a more comfortable position. Lucas pulled back slightly to let him settle against the wall with his legs stretched out in front of him before curling into his side and resting his head against his shoulder. Bridger draped his left arm over the boy squeezing gently as he searched for something to say.
"You OK?" Well that was original, Bridger thought. Lucas nodded his head shakily even though the captain couldn't see the movement. "I'm sorry, Kiddo." Bridger sighed.
Lucas pushed himself up slightly so he could look Bridger in the face and frowned in confusion.
"For not being able to find you. It's why I came back to civilisation." Bridger elaborated.
Lucas continued to frown and waved a hand to indicate their surroundings. Bridger followed the actions then smiled.
"I rather think this counts more as you managing to find me than the other way around." he teased lightly, happy to see a weak grin flit across Lucas's face. "Darwin missed you too. He'll be happy to see you."
Lucas's eyes brightened at the mention of his dolphin friend. Suddenly he snapped his head round to look at the aquatube then pointed to it and looked back with a questioning expression.
"Yes he's on board somewhere." Lucas scrambled off the floor and peered through the glass into the tube missing the frown that crossed Bridger's face at Lucas's continued silence.
"Lucas..." Bridger broke off for a moment until the teenager looked over his shoulder at him. "Lucas can you speak?"
Lucas paused for a moment, his hand fluttering to his throat then away. "Yes." The word was rather drawn out; his voice rather husky as though he'd just woken up or it hadn't been used in a long time. "I just... When I didn't speak people just ignored me and left me alone so I stayed silent after a while it just seemed natural and there still wasn't much point in speaking when you've no one to talk to." Lucas focused on the deck beneath his feet and rubbed at his throat self consciously.
"Hey, it's OK Kiddo." Bridger leaned forward to catch Lucas' eye. "You can talk as much or little as you want. I was just worried."
A half smile tugged at the corners of Lucas' mouth and he rubbed at his throat again.
"Sore?"
"Yeah." The word came as a croak causing both of them to smile.
"Come on. Let's see what the good doctor has for sore throats then I have to get back to work." Bridger pushed himself off the deck, straightening up in time to see Lucas look away an unhappy expression on his face. "Hey, what's wrong."
Lucas shook his head refusing to look at the captain.
"Don't give me that, something upset you, what is it?"
"dontwantyoutoleaveme"
"What?"
"I don't want you to go." Lucas finally looked back at Bridger long enough for the older man to be able to read the emotions in the blue eyes, panic and fear at the idea of losing his friend again if only for a short time. Bridger paused weighing his options, he wanted to keep Lucas where he could see him too.
"I'm going to be digging through the personnel files to see if I can locate our saboteur. You can work on the system from anywhere can't you?" Lucas nodded enthusiastically. "Well then I don't see why you can't accompany me."
"Can I look at the computer schematics?"
"What for I thought we needed to concentrate on getting the virus out of the system before we could do anything else."
"There might be a way round it." Lucas' voice dropped to a whisper despite him clearing his throat.
"And that would be faster?"
Lucas nodded in confirmation rather than speaking again.
"Right, we'll let Dr Westphalen look at your throat then we'll see what we can find."
*****
AN: Why, oh Why did no-one tell me this part was originally too big and I had to spilt it?!