THE SECRET DEVICE

By Jules

This story takes place in the second series with the exception of Kristen Westphalen.

The scenes of this story come from a lot of different places, some SeaQuest, others not. Some you will recognize – others you won't. Just a mix up of things and people really.

Enjoy.

CHAPTER 1: A FIST FULL OF DOLLARS

Lucas had come aboard the SeaQuest from his leave grinning like a Cheshire cat. The various crew members that saw him just thought that he had a good break and was looking forward to seeing Captain Bridger again.

The smile on the young man's face however was for a totally different reason. Lucas had something to celebrate. He was in the process of selling his latest technological breakthrough to a group of scientists for a lot of money. They had all been blown away by his newest invention that put artificial intelligence right back up into the number one place for discoveries.

Problem was, except for Lucas and a handful of those scientists, nobody else knew about it yet and probably wouldn't for a few months to come. There were reasons for this. The technology was so advanced from anything that was currently on the market that some testing had to be carried out before public endorsement would be forthcoming.

Lucas had been a little disappointed that he had to keep his invention secret for a few more months. He had been itching to show the Captain and some of the other crew members aboard the SeaQuest before it went to the public. Now it didn't look like that was going to happen. He had been told that he would be contacted by e-mail when the testing was complete and the sponsors were ready for a demonstration.

That at least would be up to Lucas. The teenage had made sure that he didn't give all the secrets of his new toy away. He was the only one who knew how it worked and he wasn't about to tell these group of scientists before he got his big chance.

Now he sat down on his bunk after stowing his gear and sat counting over $500 he had stashed in his wallet at the moment.
He had been given a hefty bonus after his initial meeting, most of the money had ended up in his bank account, but he had
kept more than normal to buy Bridger a birthday present. He didn't know what yet, but he wanted it to be something
worthwhile.

Tony Piccolo walked in just as he saw Lucas putting the large wad of bills back into his wallet.

"Good for a loan by the looks of it huh, Luke," Piccolo announced as he walked into their small and cramped quarters,
throwing his old beaten up duffle bag on the bottom bunk.

Something he had yet to turn around in this place, but he would have to bide his time. Lucas wasn't about to give him the top bunk simply at his request. Begging and pleading hadn't worked either. Looks like it was up to the old Tony Piccolo charm to work for a few weeks and then get under the boy's skin with over-niceties.

"You wish, Tony," Lucas shot back. "It's for a birthday present for the Captain. I just haven't worked out what to get him yet."

"Been raiding the National Bank too I see," Tony said, now commenting on the amount of money he could see in the kid's
possession. He was certain Bridger would have been happy with any little trinket, as long as it was from Lucas.

The youth had pride of place in the older man's heart and everybody aboard the SeaQuest wouldn't have had it any other way.
Lucas loved Bridger and the Captain made no secret of his love for Lucas. It was unconditional and shown freely.

"Just a few extra dollars for his present," Lucas replied, not wanting to go into depths about where the extra money came
from. When he was aboard the submarine, the teenager hid his financial status away from the crew as much as he could. The
Captain had money, almost everybody knew this and the man was willing to spent any he could on Lucas.

But Lucas had a lot of money hidden away that the rest of the crew, not even Captain Bridger knew about. Lucas didn't know
how people would react towards him if they found out he had a lot of money. Most of it earned by himself, but a lot of money none-the-less. Enough for many rainy days to come.

Money did strange things to people sometimes, even friends, and so Lucas didn't tell them because he didn't want anything
changing between him and the crew of the SeaQuest.

"Do you need a personal body guard to help you walk around the ship?" Tony now joked.

"Um, no thanks Tony, but I'll let you know if I do," Lucas laughed. Piccolo was always going out of his way to cheer the
teenager up. Lucas was grateful, but didn't necessarily say so in so many words.

"I'm going to find the Captain," Lucas said as he prepared to leave his quarters.

"See you later, Tony," he said cheerfully, climbing the small staircase to the hatchway door.

"Yeah, see ya," Tony answered and left the room himself to go and find Miguel and some of the others to find out
what they had gotten up to on their break.

At this stage Tony was none the wiser about something being amiss with his roommate. Lucas was always a little stand-offish and secretive and today was no different that he could see.

In a different part of the SeaQuest

"You know what you have to do?" came the voice from a shadowy figure on a pocket communicator.

"Yeah, I know what I have to do," Riley replied, his gaze darting around to make sure no one was taking particular
notice of him.

The small time thug had been paid a lot of money by a third party to sneak aboard the U.E.O.'s flagship and get the secret
device off the inventor. He had been told to use any methods he chose, so long as it didn't involve killing the kid. For the
moment, they needed the kid alive, just until they worked out how to work his new little gadget. Once that was done, he
wouldn't be required any further. For now, they just had to get the device away from him.

Getting aboard the ship had been easier than he had first thought. He just blended himself in with the new influx of
crew members for this tour of duty. He had been given a UEO uniform so his clothing just matched everybody
else's. He had been given false documentation and photograph identification to flash at any would be check-point.

All he had to do was show it from a distance away. If the wrong person took too long to scrutinize the validly of his ID,
then his game could be uncovered and foiled.

Riley had walked past the security checks and had even gotten himself assigned to a room aboard the boat. He had been
stowing his gear away when it looked clear enough to contact his employer and go over the plan again.

He pulled out a small pocket size photo of his intended target and gazed at it long enough to become familiar with the
person should he see him on the boat.

Riley hadn't worked out how to get the device away from the young man yet but he assumed it wouldn't be terribly
difficult to do so. He would just have to bide his time and take the opportunity when it presented itself. Hopefully he
would be able to lure the kid away from the rest of the crew long enough to over power him and just take the secret
device.

As soon as he had it all he had to do was steal a shuttle back to the surface and his job would be complete until further advised.
He had brought a few necessities of the trade aboard in case his target proved a little more difficult and tried to make a fuss.

"Make sure you get it right," came the first voice on the communicator. "We don't want him dead yet, just take the device without him knowing and get off as soon as you can. If they become privy to you, your on your own and you will just have to work out how to get off yourself. Once you have the device, you are to deliver it to me and then you will receive your bonus," the man continued.

"Gotta go," the Riley quickly said and stashed his communicator in under his clothes as his room-mate now re-entered the room.

"Hi," said the new sailor who was sharing the room.

"Hey," Riley said back and smiled a fake grin just to keep up appearances.

The other sailor quickly left the room, giving him a chance to gather his thoughts before heading out of the room himself.

Riley was ready to begin the search for his intended victim. How many 18 year old kids could be on this hunk of metal
anyway he asked himself under his breath. He carried in his pocket a thin piece of metal rod, just right for hitting a certain
intended teenager over the head before taking his secret device. At the moment it was neatly concealed away, with nobody
on board the wiser about his true identity or true objective.

For the next hour Riley wandered about the SeaQuest trying to become familiar with the various corridors and rooms in case
he needed to remember them later on. He came across the Moon Pool with the dolphin and actually thought he might be
lucky enough to spot the boy here.

No such luck though, unbeknown to man that Lucas was still visiting the Captain in his cabin about that time. Riley walked past the Bridge but knew that was a place of limits to someone carrying his lowly ranking. The teenager didn't seem to be there either.

Riley had been hoping that things would work out a little smoother and he would be able to find the elusive teenager and
take the device from him before they even shoved off. That way he wouldn't even need to worry about stealing a shuttle to the surface.

About half way through his search of the submarine though he felt the distinct revving of the engines and felt the soft motion begin that signalled that they had indeed broken away from the dock at UEO headquarters. He grumbled to himself that it now made extra work for him as he continued his searching for Lucas.

"Coming to join us for lunch, Lucas?" Tony Piccolo yelled back at the teenager as Riley walked towards the back of the
submarine. He quickly stole himself away in one of the side corridor to conceal his presence. He grinned widely as he
heard Lucas's reply.

"In a minute Tony, I just want to check something. I promised I would meet the Captain in the mess for lunch anyway.
See you shortly," Lucas arranged as he headed in one direction and Piccolo in the other.

Things couldn't have worked out better for Riley. There weren't too many other crew members about at the moment. Once the coast was clear enough he quickly and quietly started off after Lucas, just reaching inside the pocket of his uniform as he saw the teenager just ahead of himself.

Lucas had turned around briefly, thinking that somebody was behind him. He couldn't see anybody though and shrugged
his shoulders and turned back to his work telling himself that he was hearing things. His mind was very much on other
things at the moment.

The next thing Lucas heard was the sound of his own voice as he let out a loud groan as Riley clubbed him from behind with the piece of metal on the back of his head.

Lucas was driven to his knees and reached up to bring his hand away covered in blood before collapsing to the cold
metal grate floor and losing consciousness, falling face first onto the cold metal grate floor of the corridor. The injured boy didn't hear Riley swear viciously as he dragged the teenager into the small room away from prying eyes.

With Lucas now unconscious, Riley knew he had to work quickly, knowing the teenager would soon be missed. He reached
in various pockets on the young man and found the wallet of money Lucas had been carrying around with him. He kept looking for the small device that he knew would be no bigger than a microchip. His wallet would be the natural hiding place for something so small.

Riley began to get angry though once he couldn't find it. He tried shaking the boy awake to ask him where the device was, but could only growl angrily with frustartion when the teenager failed to respond. At this stage the kid hadn't seen who had struck him with the piece of metal. The man was confident that he wouldn't be able to be identified and therefore could still remain on the ship to complete the task.

He found Lucas's $500.00 and pocketed the paper money. Riley looked at the wallet and knew that it would be better
to throw cause to the idea that Lucas had been bashed to rob him of his money. He casually looked and made sure
the corridor outside was clear. The man then calmly walked out of the room and casually dropped the wallet in the middle on
the corridor on the floor where it wouldn't be missed.

He kept cursing under his breath as he walked away, knowing that his objective hadn't been achieved. He would need
to make another attempt to find the device. The next time he promised his young victim would at least be conscious enough
to answer some questions. Riley told himself that he would have to make sure that a plan of escape in the shuttle was ready
to execute, intending to use the young inventor as a hostage to get off SeaQuest.

That way he would kill two birds with one stone. One, he would have the secret device and Two, although he had been told to
wait for further instructions, he would have the young inventor to go with it. Of course he would be demanding sufficient ransom and compensation for the young man before handing the boy over to his employer. He wasn't going to let Sykes hold all of the cards.

Bridger was now walking along the corridor of the SeaQuest, questioning Tony Piccolo about where Lucas was.

"I thought you said he would only be a few minutes," Bridger said to Tony. It had been over an hour since Piccolo had said he would wait for the teenager in the mess hall. Lucas still hadn't shown up for his lunch and nobody had seen him since.

"That's what he said but you know what he is like when he gets involved with something, Captain," Tony said, trying
to douse any real concerns Bridger had about Lucas's current whereabouts.

"Where is that boy?" Bridger asked, more worried than annoyed. Although it was like Lucas to skip meals like Tony
said, it wasn't like the youth to not meet somebody when he had arranged it.

Bridger's attention was now drawn to something laying on the metal grate floor not far in front of him. Piccolo saw it too and both of them walked over to it before Bridger picked it up and looked at it.

It was a wallet, that much was certain. Bridger turned the opened leather wallet over and now stared down at the smiling face of Lucas Wolenczak on his driver's license photo. The Captain had a confused look on his face. Where was Lucas and why was his wallet laying in the middle of the corridor? He looked about but there was no sign of the teeanger nearby.

Bridger didn't want to pry to much into Lucas's personal affects, but carefully opened the wallet's money compartment
to see if there were any clues that might shed any light on the boy's whereabouts.

The Captain saw that there was only a couple of dollar bills inside, nothing to be suspicious about. The boy never seemed to have any money on him. He slipped in a couple of dollars every now and then, without Lucas's knoweldge so that he wouldn't look so poorly compared to the rest of the crew.

Tony's reaction however was a little more worrisome, as he had seen how much money Lucas had only about an hour earlier. The fact that the wallet was now laying out in the open for everybody to see and with very little money inside, didn't sit well. Lucas was still not to be seen anywhere and all sorts of alarm bells started off in Piccolo's mind.

"But he had a whole wad of money only a short time ago in his room," Tony stated to the Captain. "Lucas had
over five hundred dollars on him when I saw him earlier."

"$500.00!" Bridger said with astonishment. He had never known the kid to have that much money at any one time.

"Why did he have that much on him?" he asked Tony, fears of his own about Lucas's well-being now starting to creep
into the back of his mind.

"Luke said he had it to buy you a birthday present, Sir," Tony informed him "He really did have a whole lot of money
only a short time ago.

Bridger turned the wallet over once more, hoping it would hold the clue to Lucas's sudden disappearance. Something
inside him told him that they needed to start looking for him, and right away.

Riley could be seen looking at Bridger and Tony from a short distance away.

"Lieutenant O'Neill, could you page Lucas for me please," Bridger now said into his own Pal. The Captain couldn't help but use a hurrying tone of voice.

"Is there something wrong, Sir?" Tim asked, not suspecting that anything had happened to their resident whiz kid
so soon after returning from leave. Most of the crew had been happy enough to see him fit and well after the break.

"Just page him please, Tim," Bridger replied urgently.

Tony and the Bridger waited for what seemed forever as Tim did try and rouse Lucas over the PAL Communication
system . "Mr Wolenczak please contact the Bridge please, Mr Wolenczak."

There was no response.

"Mr O'Neill I want every available crew member to start looking for Lucas. Something isn't right," Bridger now
said and immediately started searching the area where he had found the discarded wallet. If Lucas did have a lot
of money on him and someone accidentally saw him counting it, it didn't take much to work out what things could
start to come into the mind of unscrupulous people.

Lucas did actually have his pager with him and had started to regain consciousness right about the time that Tim was paging him. The teenager was laying sprawled on the floor with the pager only a short distance in front of him. His hand slowly
came out and tried to grab a hold of it to call for help.

No sooner had he reached out his hand to get close, the image now went out of focus and the pain in his head became increasingly worse. Lucas groaned out loud at the throbbing and dizziness in his head, the slight movement causing him to lose consciousness again, his hand still stretched out towards the PAL Communicator.

Piccolo and Bridger had searched the immediate corridor where the wallet had been found. Tony walked ahead of the Captain towards a small room that linked to the passageway, not knowing that Lucas lay inside. Tony had quickly ducked his head into the room, not expecting to find anything. He gasped out loud enough for Bridger to hear him though as he caught a glimpse of something laying on the floor inside.

"LUCAS!" Tony shouted and rushed into the room, the Captain only centimetres behind him. They both came across
the unconscious teenager laying on the floor just inside the hatchway. Bridger now brushed his hand on the boy's blond hair
and brought it away smeared in blood.

"Lucas, talk to me," Bridger said in a gentle but concerned voice, trying to rouse the teenager.

"This is Seaman Piccolo, I need a med unit to room 134 on Deck A35 now," Tony shouted into his own PAL communicator,
alerting Doctor Westphalen and her crew that they were needed for a patient.

Bridger had still been trying to wake the teenager, but the lump he could feel on the back of Lucas's head suggested
that he had taken a very hard blow to the back of his head and might not regain consciousness for sometime.

There were a million questions racing through their heads while waiting for Kristin and her medical team to arrive.
Why was Lucas laying unconscious on the floor with a gash to his head? Who had struck him? Why?

Bridger rolled the teenager over carefully, checking for other signs of injury. Thankfully, it looked like the injury to the back of the young man's head was the only one sustained. It brought no comfort though as Lucas still lay pale and bleeding on the grate floor.

"What happened Nathan?" a voice came from the doorway, Bridger turned around to see Doctor Kristin Westphalen
entering the room, surveying the scene before her. He could see the worry for Lucas clearly etched on her face. She had almost as many questions as Bridger himself but they needed to attend to Lucas's injuries first.

to be continued ...

Revised - taken out what spelling mistakes and errors that I could find - and added a little bit to the chapter.

Sorry nothing dramatic – just one of those bash Lucas up – kidnap Lucas – beat Lucas up some more stories – Oh that's
right – they are the kind guys like ???????????

So what is going to happen to Lucas this time ?????????