The Needs of the Many

In memory of Chance, AT and JB. Never forgotten.

I started this one many moons ago but never finished it. That has always bugged me so I'm putting it up here to motivate myself. I'll post it in parts and hopefully, when I finish posting what's written, I'll have written the ending!

This story is a direct sequel to Growing Pains, which can also be found on this website. Do a search for story title.

Here's a brief synopsis of the first story: The seaQuest been assigned to escort Ambassador Lessman and Captain Bridger and Lucas has attended the meeting between the Tuvalu and the Ellice, trying to hammer out a treaty that would please both sides. Lucas and Bridger, deciding they needed a short break, slipped out to visit the restroom and then a local store. A group of Ellice men, upset by the treaty, decided to send the UEO a message by attacking Captain Bridger. Trying to protect the Captain, Lucas was forced to shoot one of the men. The first story ended in Lucas' cabin aboard the seaQuest as he confronted his emotions and Kristin and Nathan helped him deal with the aftermath.


"Handcuffs!" Kristin Westphalen exclaimed.

"There's really no need for handcuffs," Captain Nathan Bridger protested as Lucas moved even closer to him.

The officer holding the handcuffs looked at Ambassador Lessman who shook her head ever so slightly and he backed away.

"Now, Captain, Mr. Wolenczak, I know this looks bad but it's only a formality," the Ambassador explained soothingly. "The Ellice want to know what happened and we need to let the Tuvalu handle it in their own way."

"But we're talking about a sixteen year old boy, Ambassador," objected Kristin, ignoring the looks Bridger was sending her way. "I really don't see why he can't stay aboard the seaQuest while we straighten this nonsense out. Why is it necessary to lock up a sixteen year old boy!"

The small group stood on the dock outside of Juunh, the capital city of the island. After an agonizing night spent in self-doubt and soul searching, the early morning call had come. The Ellice wanted Lucas to come forward to answer questions about the incident. Bridger had spent several hours on the vid link with UEO command but they declared that their hands were tied and the seaQuest would have to respect the laws of the island.

For Lucas, it came as somewhat a relief. Even though Kristin and the Captain had assured him over and over that he had done the only thing he could, he still had a guilty conscience. Swallowing hard, he stepped around the Captain, head held high. "It's ok. I'll go with them and get this whole thing settled. Don't let Ben throw my stuff overboard," he ended with a nervous little laugh.

The Captain grabbed his arm. "Lucas…" he said softly, but the teen pulled out of his grasp and kept going with the Ambassador following close behind. Captain Bridger and Kristin trailed silently along at the back of the group. Bridger couldn't help but think of the last time that they had walked this road with children dancing and singing around them. Now the atmosphere was less party like, more like a funeral march.

Knowing that if he looked back his legs would suddenly lose the ability to move, the teen walked quickly towards the town as the officials led the way. The group stopped in front a small wooden building. Governor O'Leary was there to greet them, a sour expression on his face.

"Didn't think he would show up," the Governor said gruffly to Ambassador Lessman.

Why you bastard, Bridger thought to himself but outloud he said in a hard voice, "I've registered my protests with UEO command and your government also. There's no reason that this boy should be held."

The Governor stepped up closer to the Captain, face to face. "We don't really care much what the UEO thinks right now. There are some who feel that maybe we should not be involved with the UEO, that the UEO wants to take over our country for itself."

Lucas went cold at the other man's words. What a fine mess you've gotten yourself into now, Wolenczak, he chided himself wordlessly. Some diplomat you turned out to be.

Meanwhile, Bridger was seething, waiting for the Ambassador to defend the teenager. When no protest was forthcoming, Bridger threw an angry look in her direction and poked a finger at the Governor's chest. "This whole mess is an accident, the work of Ellice rebels who took offense at the way you've treated them for years. YOU are not innocent bystanders and I won't have you accusing a sixteen-year-old boy of murder and trying to deliberately sabotaging the negotiations!"

"Nathan…." Kristin warned in a low voice.

Bridger took a deep breath, and forced himself to keep in mind that he was in uniform and still an official representative of the UEO. He knew Kristin was reminding him that he had to follow proper protocol, whether he liked it or not.

The Ambassador took a step forward between the two men. "I'm sure that boy will be fine, Captain, and the Tuvalu will treat him well," she announced cheerily as if the teenager was headed out to summer camp. Opening the door, she asked, "Shall we?"

The building was basically one big room with three cells set at the back. There was a desk, chair and a large cabinet set in one corner of the room. A large man, dark hair cropped close to his head, opened one of the cell doors and stood aside.

"This is Crinko and this is his jail." O'Leary smiled crookedly. "He takes a lot of pride in his work." He gestured to Lucas. "If you would?"

Lucas stepped in to the jail cell and looked around. "Well, this is cozy," he commented dryly. Except for a wooden shelf attached about knee high up on the wall, the cell was empty. There was one window covered in bars. He turned around, grabbed the bars and peered. "Anyone have a harmonica or tin cup handy?"

Kristin frowned at him. "Do you mind if we could have a few words in private?" she asked and everyone except Bridger moved back towards the door.

"One night, right, they said one night and it'll be over tomorrow?" Lucas asked nervously, a hint of panic creeping around the edges as he pressed his body against the bars.

Reaching over to cover the teen's hand, Bridger gave it a tight squeeze. "Hang in there, kiddo. We'll have you back on the seaQuest tomorrow. We'll tell our story and next thing you know, you'll be laughing with Wolfman on the Internex."

The Doctor slipped her hand between the bars to caress the boy's face lightly. "Just do what they ask and be calm. We'll bring some of your things up a little later."

Lucas gave them a weak smile and then turned to stare out the window, his emotions on edge.

"Let's go." Bridger had to pull a reluctant Kristin away. "He wants us to leave before he loses control," Nathan whispered knowingly. "Besides, I want to get back and yell at Bill some more."

They walked past the Governor and the Ambassador without a word. There was nothing more to say.

Bridger strode back to the launch so quickly that Kristin had a hard time keeping up. The look on his face was enough to discourage any sort of conversation. The Doctor almost felt sorry for Bill Noyce. Kristin knew that Nathan would move heaven and earth to get Lucas out of that godforsaken place. The teen would be lucky if he saw land ever again once he was back safely on the boat.

Krieg met them in the launch bay. "Where's Lucas?" he asked anxiously. "You didn't leave him behind, did you?" He stood in directly in Bridger's path.

"Not now, Lieutenant!" The Captain said harshly but then he relented, and in a softer voice explained, "It's not something I wanted to do. You know as well as I do that we have to follow the rules of the country and yes, that even includes civilians. It's comes with the whole package."

"But, Captain…" Ben stopped, knowing that berating the Captain would do no good and just made himself look bad. "OK, for now, but if you want to send in a small team to do some 'behind the scenes' work, let me know and we'll go in and get him," he said emphatically.

A small laugh escaped through Bridger's lips before he could stop it. A picture of Ortiz, Crocker and Krieg in full camouflage gear tiptoeing through the palm trees flashed through his head. Patting Ben on the shoulder, he commented, "We'll leave that as a last resort, Lieutenant. Make yourself useful; go to Lucas' cabin and put together a bag. Put together a change of clothes, a toothbrush, and some entertainment to keep him occupied and I'll take it over to him in an hour or two."

"Yes, Sir," barked Krieg as he gave a sloppy half salute before he ran off, happy to be able to help the teen.

"Call me, Nathan, before you go back over. I have a few treats that I want to send over as well." Kristin started off and then turned around. "Oh, and if you don't get anywhere with Bill, I'll have a few choice words prepared for him." She smiled at him sweetly and winked at him before she left too.

Striding to the wardroom, Bridger learned on the table and punched the code for the bridge. "Get me Noyce and I don't care if he's otherwise occupied. I want to talk to him!"

It only took a few minutes before Bill appeared on the screen, in his bathrobe, but seated at his desk in his home office. He immediately held up his hand to stall the tirade of words that he knew would be forthcoming. "I told you, Nathan. The Council has given me strict orders. Ambassador Lessman is handling things on Tuvalu and the seaQuest is not to interfere. We are getting two reports a day from her and she thinks that Lucas will be back on seaQuest by tomorrow night at the latest."

Sitting down with a sigh, the wind taken out of his sails temporarily, Nathan protested, "Bill, I had to leave a frightened sixteen year old kid alone in a jail in a foreign place. He doesn't deserve this and you know it. He did nothing wrong."

"I'm sorry, Nathan, I like the kid too, but this time we have to put our personal feelings aside. You know General Thomas wants that island for military purposes and the Ambassador feels that this situation is will only get worse if we interfere. Like it or not, your boy may be the key to bringing the Ellice and Tuvalu together."

"Great, Bill, just great. Is this what the UEO has come to? Diplomacy at the expense of a sixteen year old. Get him out of that jail or so help me, I'll break him out and we'll disappear back to my island. Bridger out." With that he jabbed the button angrily. His head sank into his hands with his elbows braced on the table. This whole situation was an ugly nightmare.

8888

The bright sunlight shone through the window as Lucas sat on the hard wooden platform. "Could someone bring me a newspaper or a book? A computer? Paper and a pencil? " He shouted loudly but there was no response. God, he was bored. He had tried looking out the window for awhile but that was depressing; watching everyone going about their business, moving about freely. Was this how the Tuvalu disposed of their prisoners, they bored them to death? He looked at his watch. It had only been one hour. He sank slowly back against the wall, dejected. This was worse then one of Ford's lectures.

Wait. His watch. Nobody had searched him. He shuddered as the word strip search gave him a little mental nudge. Things could be worse. Standing up, he searched his pockets. Hmm. His multi tool; some wire he had needed for the vocorder; three breath mints, slightly fuzzy; that silly plastic dolphin key chain that Ensign Black had given him; a permanent marker; a few old gum wrappers; and his electronic black jack game. Not much, he thought sadly, though Hitchcock could probably make some sort of flying machine with it and escape. He thought briefly about trying to pick the lock, since no one around, but shoved that idea quickly to the back of his brain. For now, he would be the model prisoner. Maybe he'd even get his picture on the wall as Prisoner of the Month. Chuckling out loud at that one, Lucas sat back on what he had decided was supposed to be the bed. At least the game would keep him busy until Bridger got back.


Three hours later, the Captain had collected Lucas' things from Krieg along with a bag of the teen's favorite snacks from Kristin and was headed back to the island. Several people had needed his undivided attention on different matters and it had taken him longer than he had liked.

"seaQuest shuttle, this is Ambassador Lessman," squeaked the comm unit. "Do not, repeat, do not dock. Please return to seaQuest. There is an angry Ellice mob on the beach. It is not safe for you to come ashore."

Grabbing the mike, Bridger answered, "I can have twenty armed men there in a half an hour."

"No! That will make matters worse. Both sides are suspicious of the UEO at this time and a show of power from seaQuest will only lead to more trouble," the Ambassador explained. "I'm doing all I can to keep tempers from flaring and to get back to negotiations."

"I can't leave Lucas there," Nathan argued. "I have to come and get him."

Lessman's voice dropped to friendly, soothing tone, "I'm going to get the Governor to release him. O'Leary has pledged to keep the boy safe, Nathan. I'm sorry that he ended up in the middle of this mess."

Taking a minute, Bridger debated what to do. His first instinct was to dock anyway and do what ever it took to get Lucas but his orders were clear. For now, he would let the Ambassador do her work. "One hour, Ambassador, you have one hour. If I don't hear from you by then, I'm coming in. Bridger out." He turned to his pilot. "Take us home, Ensign". A cold chill ran down his spine as a headache quickly started to pound. The whole thing felt very…wrong. What the hell was he going to tell Kristin?