The Beginning of the End

by jediforce

The KrayTrax have returned to Earth, this time seeking one person who they fear could destroy them...

Disclaimer: First off, all the characters from SeaQuest do not belong to me, but to Amblin entertainment. I'm only using them in a non-profitable way to show how much I like SeaQuest and nothing more.

Okay now, this story takes place during the episode "Splashdown" and then after "In the Company of Ice and Profit." Tobias is NOT blind and there may be other minor mistakes pertaining to "Splashdown." Also, the aliens from "The Fear That Follows" and the KrayTax live on other sides of the Milky Way Galaxy, not in other galaxies. Kun is like a king, president, etc.

Special thanks go to Alexia for editing my story (Thank you SO much, 'Lex!). This story is rated PG-13 due to violence, angst, torture, and bloodshed.

** Part One ** Lucas Wolenczak leaned back on the side of the small raft, looking up at the stars high above in the night sky. All the constellations were wrong. If fact, there were no familiar star patterns. This wasn't Earth: didn't even look like it. He was thousands, maybe millions, of light years away from that beautiful blue and green planet he called home: stuck in the middle of who-knows-where in a life raft with his GELF friend Dagwood.

Lucas could feel the dagger's eyes on him, watching him closely. Captain Bridger had told Dagwood to keep an eye on him and he was doing just that. Maybe he was overdoing it a little, but at the moment Lucas didn't care. He'd just lost his friends, his family, to a battle with the KrayTax. All of them...well, maybe not all. He still had Dagwood and Darwin, wherever he was.

It still hurt a lot, though. Tony, Ford, Dr. Smith, O'Neill...Bridger. Lucas blinked away the tears that were forming when he thought of them. How could Bridger send him away? Wasn't it best to die quickly than slowly starve to death? As much as he wanted to, Lucas couldn't be angry at the captain. Bridger wanted to keep him safe, just like he promised his father he would. He'd thought the rebels would find them and send them back home; he didn't think about that they might not be found.

Now Bridger was gone. Lucas swiped at something on his cheek, smearing a tear across his face. How could this happen? He'd finally felt happy and loved, only to have it snatched away from his grasp. He wanted to cry, but crying would help nothing and just make him look like a wimp.

He curled up into a ball to sleep, trying to give Dagwood some more room in the tiny raft. Compared to him, the dagger was huge; he was sitting on the raft's side just to fit on it. Dagwood looked at the Lucas gratefully and slid down off the side, but Lucas didn't see it. Sleep was already taking him as the raft continued to rock gently in the middle of the vast, alien ocean.

* * * * "Wake up," a voice commanded him. Slowly, Bridger opened his heavy eyes. Above him was the face of his friend, Professor Tobias LeConte, with a relieved look on his face. "It's about time!" Bridger was confused. Tobias wasn't onboard when the SeaQuest was fighting, was he? His memory was blurry; all he could remember was the attack and a bright light...

"Am I dead? If I am, I was expecting a beautiful angel," he said hoarsely. Tobias frowned at him and he quickly added, "But you'll do."

The professor gave him a small smile. "No, you're not dead. A little out of it maybe, but not dead." He helped ease Bridger into a sitting position. The captain winced and held his side. "Careful," Tobias warned. "You injured yourself in the explosion. A doctor had it treated, but it's going to take a while for it to heal completely." Bridger looked at his friend with a blank expression on his face. Explosion?

"What explosion?" he asked. Suddenly, an image flashed into his mind of something getting ready to hit the SeaQuest and then the bright light. He knew now what explosion Tobias was talking about. "The SeaQuest blew up?" The professor nodded grimly.

"Unfortunately, yes, but I have people as we speak collecting the debris of both the SeaQuest and the KrayTax ship. Hopefully we'll have enough parts to rebuild both to send you and your crew back home," LeConte reassured him. He paused. "What's left of your crew anyway."

It was then that Nathan noticed that he and Tobias weren't alone. He was sitting in a corridor with his crew lying down or leaning against the walls, some moaning in pain. Rebel doctors were scurrying around from one person to the next, mending wounds or giving them water to drink. Ortiz was sleeping beside O'Neill, who was holding his wrist close to his chest and had a look of agony on his now pale features. Henderson was leaning against the wall, Piccolo and Brody trying to keep her awake; she obviously had a concussion. Ford was arguing about something with Dr. Smith, who was helping the other doctors. Most of the crew was there, but a few officers, most of them from engineering, were missing.

Two doctors carried out somebody wrapped up in a plastic bag. Bridger looked away. A thought suddenly struck him and he looked back at Tobias fearfully. "Where are Lucas and Dagwood?" The professor bit his lip and looked down at the floor. "Tobias?" Nathan was getting scared now. They couldn't be... they couldn't! Smith looked over at him, apparently feeling his fear.

"We don't know where the boy and the dagger are," LeConte said finally, looking up at Nathan, "but we're looking." If the KrayTax got a hold of that boy... Tobias left the thought unfinished. He didn't want to think about it. He needed to be there for his friend. This was going to be really stressful for Bridger; he'd already lost his wife and son, he didn't need to lose the boy he thought of as a son as well. Nathan never mentioned it, but it was quite obvious that was how he felt towards the young genius. He'd be crushed if anything happened to him.

"Professor!" a rebel called out to him, beckoning him to come. LeConte sighed. He squeezed Bridger's shoulder reassuringly and left, stepping carefully around the people on the floor. Nathan didn't completely register his departure; his thoughts were on Lucas, hoping that the boy would be all right.

He was startled when Wendy said, "He's alive." Bridger gazed up at her, having not fully heard her. "I can feel Lucas. He's still out there." The doctor knelt down beside the captain. "It'll be all right, Captain."

Nathan sighed. "I hope so."

* * * * Bridger looked away from Dr. Smith and down the crowded hall to see Tobias coming back as fast as he could without stepping on anyone. "What is it, Tobias?" he asked.

"We found them. We found Wolenczak and the dagger!" Both Bridger's and Smith's moods brightened at the news. Wendy went to tell the others the good news and Bridger immediately wanted to get up despite his injury, brushing away LeConte as he tried to stop him.

"You're not going to keep me sitting here," Nathan retorted, wincing slightly when he accidentally moved to quickly. "I'm not going to stay."

"You stubborn old man," Tobias accused, shaking his head as he gave in and helped Bridger move down the corridor to where Wolenczak and Dagwood would be when they were brought to the base. Tobias was happy for his friend's good fortune and grateful that the boy hadn't died or got caught by the KrayTax. Either way, it would have been a disaster.

Tobias and Bridger walked into a room that only had a few patients and a doctor hovering nearby. A small tank that was connected to the ocean outside took up about half the room. He eased Bridger down beside it to wait. His friend fidgeted nervously, unhappy about not being able to get up. Both looked up expectantly as the door opened, only to see that it was another doctor asking for assistant outside. The doctor that was already in the room left with him, leaving the door open to let them hear if a patient cried out.

The water in the tank lapped against the sides. Bridger turned around and looked through the glass and into the water. A gray form was moving towards him and the professor. "Darwin!" Nathan shouted happily, turning around fully and slowly getting to his knees, minding his injured side. The dolphin's head popped out of the water and Darwin whistled and clicked happily at Bridger as the captain petted him. "I'm glad to see you too, old friend."

There was some commotion outside the door. LeConte and Bridger turned their heads to see what was going on. A doctor came in, waving for someone in the corridor to follow. Soon, Dagwood's large form appeared, his strong arms wrapped protectively around the smaller form of Lucas as he carried the boy into the room. Nathan's jaw tightened as he watched the GELF lay Lucas down on the floor. He got up quickly. "Dagwood!" The multicolored being turned towards him, tilting his head. Bridger hobbled over to him. "Is he okay?"

"Mmm... yes, Captain Bridger, sir," Dagwood replied in his somewhat childish voice. "He fell asleep before people came and took us here." He straightened and held his chin up proudly. "I did what you told me, Captain Bridger, sir. I never took my eyes off him."

"Good. Well done, Dagwood." Nathan patted him on the shoulder and smiled at him. The dagger's lips curled up slightly in a small smile. He saluted the captain and then left the room in search of Tony. Bridger hobbled over to where the doctors were examining Lucas. "How is he?"

"He's out cold at the moment: all the stress must have gotten to him," one of the doctors explained. "Other than that, he's fine." She and the other doctor started to leave when Tobias grabbed her shoulder. "Sir?"

"Zenya," LeConte started. He gulped. "I want substance 3201 for the boy." Both doctors looked at each other, then back at him, shocked.

"But, sir-"

"Just do it." The doctors nodded and quickly filed out of the room. Tobias looked at Bridger, noticed his friend's crossed arms and raised eyebrows, and turned away, looking down at the unconscious boy on the floor. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice.

"What was that all about?" Nathan asked his friend. He received no reply. He sighed. "Tobias, I have the right to know what you are about to do to the child under my care. What is it?" Still no reply. Nathan's fear rose again. What if this wasn't the real Tobias? What if he- whoever he was- was about to poison Lucas? Or drug him? What if-

"Nathan, do you remember your second encounter with aliens?" the professor asked finally. Bridger nodded. How could he forget? The aliens were forced to stay at the headquarters, but had snuck off with Brody, Ford, and Lucas to bury their deceased leader. He smiled at the memory. They were all over the young genius, considering him the 'beginning of intelligent life,' and had even wanted the boy to go with them.

Bridger snapped back into the present as LeConte continued. "Well, as you should know, they considered Lucas here the beginning of intelligent life. They are a well respected race in the galaxy, so most of the other alien races tend to follow their lead." He paused to take a breath. "Upon hearing of Lucas, the KrayTax began to fear of what might happen if the boy started a war against them. They believed that if the species at war with them had intelligence that surpassed their own, they would be destroyed. Nathan, they're going to try to kill Lucas."

Bridger stood there, unable to move or speak. Kill Lucas?! The kid would never start a war! He disliked military action more than anything! Nathan looked down at the boy, more fearful for him than ever. The KrayTax were known to change their forms to fit in. They'd done that with Tobias; that's why the SeaQuest was on Hyperion and not patrolling the Atlantic Ocean.

Bridger finally found his voice. "What does that substance you asked the doctors for have to do with that?" he asked, not looking at his friend. He was afraid of what he might see in his friend's face. He, Captain Nathan Hale Bridger, commander of the most powerful submarine in the UEO, was scared. He'd been through a lot: war, section seven missions, the losing of both his son and his wife; yet he'd never had felt as scared as he did now.

"It's not really a substance actually; it's a fruit called granga," the professor explained. "The KrayTax use it to heighten their psychic abilities." He paused. "I can't tell you what it would do to Lucas. I've already told you too much." Bridger started to protest, but Tobias held up his hand to silence him. "I want to tell you, Nathan. Really, I do, but it's best that no one knows- not even Lucas. It's for his protection...and yours."

Just then the doctor arrived, handing LeConte a small, blue-green, oval shaped fruit. LeConte thanked her and waited for her to leave. She glanced at Lucas, then at the granga, before turning around and leaving, shooting a glance at the professor as she did. Tobias dug his fingernails into the soft outer layer of the fruit, prying it open with some difficulty. Inside was a substance that looked like red paste. Not bothering to use gloves, Tobias dipped two fingers into the substance and rubbed it around the inside of Lucas' mouth. He jerked back as the boy moaned, but did not wake up. He sighed.

"There," he whispered, rubbing his hand down his lab coat. LeConte turned to Nathan, who was eyeing him with uncertainty. Tobias couldn't blame him. He'd be pretty suspicious himself if he were in the captain's shoes. He wished he could tell Bridger, but that was too risky. The KrayTax weren't allowed to know what measures he took to protect the boy, the Shray'don, or "the beginning of the end," as they called him. With their strong abilities to read minds, the KrayTax would be able to get the information from Bridger if he told him. That couldn't happen. He wouldn't let it- no matter what measures he had to take to insure that.

* * * * Lucas moaned as he woke up, opening his eyes and shutting them again quickly as his vision began to spin and make him dizzy. He raised his hand to his temples, massaging his aching head. He froze as he began to realize he wasn't moving. He opened his eyes again, more slowly this time, and stared up at a ceiling. He panicked. "The KrayTax got us. I've got to get out of here!" he thought, quickly getting to his feet. He swayed a little and held his head in one hand. "Why do I have such a headache? They must have drugged me." This thought only scared Lucas more, fearing that whatever the aliens gave him would effect his thinking: not good when he had to escape.

"Lucas?" He spun around at the voice and saw Bridger standing there, looking at him with concern. He paled and backed away from the captain. That couldn't be Bridger! Bridger was dead! Lucas' head reeled, but he tried to ignore it, backing up as the image of the SeaQuest's captain stepped towards him. "Lucas, what's wrong?"

"Stay away from me!" Lucas cried out in a croaked voice. The person that looked like Bridger stopped moving towards him, a hurt expression on his face. "You can't fool me! You're not going to trick me again like last time!"

Realization suddenly dawned on Bridger. Lucas didn't know that he wasn't dead. "Lucas, it's really me," he said calmly to the frightened boy. "I'm not dead. Tobias and the rebels got us off the boat before the explosion." Lucas obviously didn't believe him; the boy was still backing towards the door. Bridger's brow furrowed as he tried to think of a way to prove to the boy that he was who he said he was. Suddenly, Darwin began chirping and whistling behind him.

Lucas looked over to the tank. Darwin was slapping the water with his flippers excitedly. His eyes moved back towards the supposed Captain Bridger as the man moved towards the dolphin. He watched wide-eyed as Darwin moved towards him and let him pet the top of his head. Lucas stopped backing towards the door. He knew Darwin would know the difference between a disguised alien and the real Bridger better than anyone. The dolphin wouldn't let the man pet him unless he was sure that it was Bridger. "Captain?" he whispered in disbelief. "Captain, is that really you?"

Bridger looked up at him. "Yes, Lucas, it's me." The boy's eyes widened

"But, but how? I saw the explosion! No one could've gotten out of that-!" Lucas swayed again as his head's pounding increased. Bridger frowned and hobbled over to him quickly, holding him by his shoulders to keep the boy steady. Almost immediately, Lucas' knees buckled and he collapsed into Bridger's chest. Nathan winced as he stumbled backwards from the unexpected weight. He eased the young genius back on the floor.

"I'll be right back. I'm going to get Dr. Smith," Nathan said. Lucas only nodded weakly; he was already falling back to sleep. The captain went quickly out of the room and looked both ways down the hall. Most of his crew was sleeping now, a few doctors running scans over some as they rested. Wendy was at the end of the corridor on the right, softly talking with Tobias. He hurried that way.

"Wendy, I need you to check on Lucas. Something's-"

"There's no need to, Dr. Smith," LeConte interrupted. He turned towards Bridger. "I was expecting something to happen. He'll be all right. It's just a...side effect." Nathan nodded slowly, understanding his meaning, but was still uneasy about the whole thing. Why would Tobias, who was suppose to be his friend, not tell him what was going on? He understood the means of security, but it didn't have to go but so far...right? He shook his head sadly as he went back to the room. Tobias had changed since he'd last seen him. Too much, Bridger thought, in only a period of... how long was it? A month? A year?

LeConte watched as the SeaQuest's captain disappeared into one of the rooms. He sighed; the decision he and the other rebels made was going to be harder to tell Bridger than first planned. He froze as he felt something in his mind- like someone flipping through a filing cabinet. He glared at Wendy. "Get out of my head, Doctor." Immediately, the strange sensation stopped. He turned fully towards her, raising his voice to emphasize what he was saying. "It would be best if you kept your telepathic abilities to yourself here. The rebels aren't very fond of it. They might consider you a KrayTax."

"I understand that, Professor," Dr. Smith replied in her normal, quiet voice," but it appeared to me that you were hiding something. I was checking to make sure you are who you say you are. We already got fooled once." LeConte nodded grimly at that. She had a point.

Suddenly, her face wrinkled in pain and she shook her head, trying to clear it. An alien presence was in her mind. She tried to push it out, but the presence was ten times stronger in its ESP ability than she was, so it easily brushed her aside and started blocking her consciousness until Wendy was a prisoner of her own mind, only able to see what was going on and nothing more. The alien took control of her body and turned it around to head back down the hall. "If you will excuse me, Professor. I have... business to take care of," she hear herself say. LeConte sidestepped to let her pass. Dr. Smith began to panic. She had to stop the KrayTax in her mind, but he or she was too strong for her, so she watched helplessly as the alien moved her body down the hall. "Wendy? Wendy, is there something wrong?" Miguel asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. Wendy's hopes rose. Miguel had noticed something was wrong!

She wanted to say, "Yes! Help me!" but the KrayTax replied for her: "No." Wendy could feel how irritated the KrayTax was; it was on a mission and didn't want any interruptions. It glanced at the chief and then hurried off down the corridor.

Miguel frowned as the doctor hurried away. Something wasn't right about her. She seemed... different somehow. He couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he had a funny feeling that he shouldn't let her out of his sight. He hurried to catch up. "Wendy! Wait up!"

'Dr. Smith' stopped and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring at him. The mission had to be completed and this infernal human was messing everything up! "What do you want?" 'Wendy' asked angrily.

Ortiz stopped, taken aback by the sound of the doctor's voice. Something clearly wasn't right: his mind kept going back to the week's earlier events, like when the fake LeConte- Wait a minute! "Who are you?" The person in front of him blinked in surprise. "Who are you and what have you done to Dr. Smith?"

* * * * Tobias was heading towards the room that Bridger had returned to; he had to talk to the captain. The SeaQuest was nearing completion and the rebel scientists had converted the scavenged parts of the KrayTax ship into a teleporting device, confident that it would work in returning the submarine and her crew home. Now all he had to do was to tell Nathan about that and the other... arrangements that had been made. The rebels were being very cautious: before sending the crew home they would place a block in their memories to protect the rebel's base and technology from the KrayTax. Understandable... now he just had to convince Bridger of the same thing.

"Who are you and what have you done to Dr. Smith?" a voice rang out from around the corner. Tobias froze in his tracks, the icy grip of fear wrapped around his heart. A KrayTax: someone had discovered a KrayTax hidden in their numbers. Slowly, he crept up to the turn in the corridor and peeked around it. Ortiz and Dr. Smith were having a stand off: each staring at each other harshly. It was the doctor's expression that surprised him. It was an expression of rage; her face was almost red! Tobias had never seen her so mad. He'd thought that she was always calm and collective, always ready to help when she was needed. This wasn't the Dr. Smith that he'd just talked to: not at all.

He must have made a noise for 'Smith' was looking at him now, 'her' expression going from anger to fear. The KrayTax must have been ordered not to come in contact with him. Quick as lightning, 'she' pulled Ortiz' gun from its holster and hugged the senior chief while pressing the weapon to his head. "Don't come any closer, LeConte, or I'll shoot," the creature warned.

The professor raised his hands over his head, walking out form behind the corner. "Now let's be rational here, Dr. Smith, IF that is your real name," he exclaimed cautiously. "Shooting Mr. Ortiz isn't going to get you out of here. Why don't you put the gun down and we'll talk-"

"NO!" 'She' pulled Miguel closer to 'her', pressing the gun harder to his head. "There will be no 'talks' with you, LeConte! Too much is at stake. Now, you'll either get out of my way or I'll shoot you and him." Rage burned in the 'doctor's' eyes, but there was also some fear. The KrayTax was afraid of failing its mission; punishment was high for failures.

"Will you?" 'Dr. Smith' spun around with Miguel to look towards the new voice. It was Brody, his sniper rifle out with its laser siting system already aimed at 'her'. "If I were you, I wouldn't touch that trigger," he said, lifting his weapon into a better posture.

'Wendy' hesitated a second, glancing at the lieutenant's rifle. An idea came to 'her' and 'she' smiled wickedly. "You'd really kill your Dr. Smith?" Behind 'her', Tobias blinked; Brody shifted uneasily.

"What are you talking about?" the professor asked.

The 'doctor's' smile widened. "I'm in control of her body through a telepathic connection." Tobias and Jim glanced across at each other. "If you shoot you'll only kill her; not me." Jim looked at 'her' carefully up and down, hesitating about whether he should shoot. An idea came to mind and he smiled inwardly, but kept his expression neutral.

He raised the rifle again, aiming with precision. "I'll take my chances," he exclaimed. LeConte looked at him as if he'd turned into a three-headed monster; 'Dr. Smith' tightened 'her' grip on Ortiz in fear, making the senior chief choke. Slowly, Brody squeezed the trigger... and both Ortiz and 'Smith' glowed blue and vanished into thin air. Brody lowered his weapon, a look of relief and dread mixed on his face.

"What did you think you were doing?!" the professor shouted at him. "You came that close to killing Dr. Smith! That close! Didn't all that military training teach you anything: like not firing on an ally?!"

"Calm down, Professor. I wasn't going to fire." The lieutenant sighed. "I was trying to scared her off, but I didn't think that she, whoever, would take both Miguel and Wendy! That part was not my fault. Whoever had control of Dr. Smith could've easily gotten away by breaking the telepathic connection, right?" He shouldered his weapon. "Come on. Captain Bridger will want to hear about this."

* * * * Bridger was not pleased with story Brody and Tobias told him. "The KrayTax took Ortiz and Smith?" Both men nodded. The captain sighed. "Have you tried locating them?" Both shook their heads 'no.'

"We can't," Tobias informed him. "If we get the rebels to use their sensors the KrayTax will be able to trace the sensor signal back here to the base. That can't happen if they want to win this war." Bridger nodded grimly. He didn't like this at all. Two of his crew were in the hands of the enemy without anyone being able to retrieve them. He shuddered as he thought of what the KrayTax might do to them. Survivors of those ordeals had told him their experiences and they weren't pretty.

"Fine, but if there's any other way that we could try, do it." Brody saluted and left the room. Nathan looked over at LeConte. "Well, what is it?"

The professor cleared his throat. "Before this crisis occurred, I was coming to tell you that the SeaQuest was almost repaired and the scientists have constructed a teleporting device. The device is rather crude, but they say that it'll work. However," he paused, "there are certain terms that the rebels want you and your crew to take before they send you back." The professor let his words hang in the air for a while. When Nathan didn't say anything, he continued, "They want to put blocks on your memories." The captain of the SeaQuest started to protest. "Wait, let me finish before you object. They only want to put a block on your time here, to protect their base's location and their technology from the KrayTax. Nathan, they're going to come after you. That's a crystal clear future." Tobias glanced at the sleeping form of Lucas as if to prove his point. "It may not be to gain information, but it's better safe than sorry."

Bridger glanced at his friend, then at the sleeping boy. He sighed. "All right. I accept these terms, but only on one condition," he said, shaking a finger. Tobias sighed and crossed his arms.

"I knew there was going to be a catch. Fine- what's the condition?"

"That you don't block my memory."

LeConte blinked, surprised by the request. "Why?" was all that he could manage to say.

Bridger folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the tank's side. "Do you really think that after almost a week of disappearing that the UEO is going to take an 'I don't know' to explain where we were? Or how about the crew- they're going to wonder where the past days went. It's best that at least one of us knows so that the rebels will be content and the UEO won't be breathing down our necks about our vanishing act." Tobias nodded. Bridger was right: like always.

"Agreed, but you'll still have a block." Bridger started to protest, but LeConte continued before the captain could say anything. "Nathan, we went over this before: if you know what I did to Lucas the KrayTax will be able to find out. That's not an option. Your memory will have to be blocked of this knowledge, no matter how little you know about it." Nathan sighed, again glancing down at the kid genius with fear and concern. He still didn't understand how important the boy was. If Lucas were to be killed, the galaxy would become unstable and destroy itself. Tobias wanted so badly to tell his friend, but that was too risky. Even with the memory blocks in place, the KrayTax could still find a way to get the information they wanted. What they didn't know would save lives... and not just theirs.

Finally, Bridger looked back up at the professor and nodded solemnly. "When will we be able to return home?" he asked quietly.

"In about two hours or so." Bridger nodded again.

"I'll go tell my crew; let me know when it's time." The professor agreed and the SeaQuest's captain left the room, pausing at the door to look back at the sleeping form of Lucas, and then disappearing down the hall. Tobias looked down at the boy. How could one child be so important? It still awed him that a seventeen-year-old kid could be the one thing that would hold the galaxy together. He knew that the KrayTax would come after him and when they did he would need to know how to protect himself. The granga gave him some pretty powerful abilities that could be the only thing that keeps him alive; he would need someone or something to tell him that he had those abilities. Telling the boy would be too dangerous- the boy had trouble keeping secrets- and having one of the crewman know would be even worse.

Darwin whistled, swimming in circles and begging for attention. Tobias sat on the tank's side and patted the dolphin's head. His eyes lit up as he thought of an idea. The KrayTax couldn't read a dolphin's mind. "Darwin, there's something very important that you must do for me," he whispered, "and you need to keep it a secret..."

* * * * "This is it," Tim whispered to Jim excitedly as they got in line. "We're going home." Way up in the front of the line, rebel scientists were handing pills to the crewmen as they passed, forcing them to swallow it before walking through the circular contraption at the end of the corridor that's center was a great water bubble that never popped. The pills, the crew was told, would block out the memories they'd gained over the past week.

"Yeah," agreed Brody. "It's a shame that we won't remember any of this, though. I mean, it's not everyday that someone's kidnapped and taken to another planet to help fight a civil war." The communications officer nodded.

"It's like they think that we're a threat to them or somethin'," Tony joined in as he and a sleepy Lucas got behind Brody and O'Neill. "Do you really think that after we go home the KrayTax will come lookin' for us, aimin' their weapons at our heads an' sayin', 'Tell us what the rebels plan to do next?' Come on! The only answer they'll probably get is, 'They plan to use this thingy to blow up your whachimacallit.'" The two officers laughed a little at Piccolo's sarcasm; the guy really knew how to lighten a mood, even if it was only slightly. He turned toward Lucas. "What do you think, Luke? Do you think that they're goin' a bit overboard with security?"

"What?" Lucas was still out of it. He'd only just woken up and his head was starting to pound again. He rubbed his temples as Tony repeated his question. "Oh, well, I'm not so sure. I mean, the KrayTax did go through all that trouble to bring us here- they might be desperate enough to come after us again to get information." He closed his eyes as a rather sharp pain jabbed at the back of his eyes. What was wrong with him?

"Are you okay, Lucas?" Tim questioned.

"Yeah, you don't look too good," Tony added. He'd been surprised really at the kid's flushed and worn out expression. He had been asleep ever since he got to the rebels' base. Even before that, as Dagwood told him.

"I'm fine. I just have a headache, that's all." The pain finally subsided and Lucas sighed. Oh, how he wanted to go back to sleep, but, even more so, he wanted to go home. He didn't care at the moment that he wouldn't remember his experience on an alien planet; in fact, he wouldn't mind forgetting all of this had happened. It was too painful to bare, physically and mentally.

Tony nodded and went right back into talking with Brody how he wished he could remember his 'trip' to another planet. Tim scrutinized Lucas, noting the sleepy tone of his voice and the flushed features of his face. The boy didn't even seem to notice his watchful eyes; he was back off somewhere else. Tim didn't believe that the kid even knew what was going on.

The line moved forward. Tim's eyes left the young genius and he stood on his toes to look over people's heads. It wouldn't be long now. The communications officer smiled to himself. Home was just through that bubble; the return to the life before this dreadful crisis occurred. He caught sight of Captain Bridger observing the crew as they passed the scientists. Ford walked up and saluted, which he returned, before the commander marched through the teleporting contraption. The bubble gave slightly as he walked through, but quickly returned to its original shape. Bridger looked away from where his second-in-command disappeared and looked down the line at each person. His eyes stopped on Lucas and Tim could see pain in them even from the distance. The captain moved toward them.

Tim looked back at Lucas. He was holding his head again, swaying slightly as he shut his eyes. The color in his cheeks was brighter and the communications officer wondered if he was running a fever. Bridger just then appeared, squeezing through the line and resting his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Are you all right?" the SeaQuest's captain whispered.

Lucas must not have been up to hiding the fact that he was ill for he just shook his head. He started sway again, dizzy, but Bridger's firm grip on his shoulder stopped him from doing so. The captain pulled the boy towards him and Lucas didn't resist, resting his head on Bridger's shoulder, not caring who was staring at him. The two walked away from the line to sit on a table that the scientists had set out in the corridor.

The line moved forward again. O'Neill looked back up the line. Only three more enlisted men and Brody before it was his turn. He felt another rush of excitement and nervousness flow through his body: excited that he was going home, but nervous as to whether or not the teleporting device was really doing what it was suppose to. What if it sent them somewhere other than Earth? What if it disintegrated them? What if-

Tim stopped himself from thinking along that train of thought. "You're suppose to think positively, O'Neill," he scolded himself. "Remember: you're going home. If not... any place is better than here." The thought didn't make him feel better. He still had dread resting heavily in his stomach. He had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. He looked back at Tony. Piccolo had grown strangely silent, a grim look on his face. He must have been thinking along the same track as Tim was.

"Take one," a rebel scientist told him tiredly. Tim hesitantly reached out and picked up one of the many red pills piled up on the table. Glancing quickly at Tony, he stuffed the pill into his mouth and swallowed it. He then turned to face the teleporter, staring at it. He reached out and touched the bubble, watching the ripple effect. Whatever it was it was cool and gave him a serene feeling.

There was no stopping him now. Tim took a deep breath and plunged into the bubble, feeling its calming effect as it bent around his body. Finally he pushed through and was immediately on the fastest roller coaster ride ever. At that moment, Tim knew he was truly going home.

* * * * Miguel opened his eyes slowly and looked around the dimly lit room. He was strapped to a cold metal table along with Wendy, who lay beside him on another table staring up at the ceiling. "Wendy?" he called out to her. She turned her head towards him. "Wendy, where are we?"

Dr. Smith looked like she was about to cry. "Miguel, I'm so sorry." Ortiz was about to ask her what she meant when the door opened and three KrayTax came in. He glared at them angrily and pulled forcefully at his restraints.

"Calm yourself," the KrayTax in the middle soothed, pressing the senior chief back down with ease. "If you remain calm and do as you're told the process will be quick and less painful." He turned to the alien on his right. "Is everything ready for the interrogation?" The assistant nodded and handed him a blue-green fruit. The KrayTax looked at the fruit fondly in the dim light before placing the whole thing in his mouth and swallowing. "Now, let's-"

"Asa!" a women voice shrieked from the outside corridor. Ariel stormed in, glaring at the middle KrayTax who shrunk back slightly at her enraged expression. "What do you think you are doing?! What are these," she gestured towards Ortiz and Smith, "infernal beings doing here?"

"My Lady," Asa began to explain, "Asher failed to destroy the Shray'don and brought these two back in hopes to ease his punishment. It did not." He sighed. "I was planning to take the advantage of hostages to discover the rebels' secret base."

"Don't bother. They know nothing!" Ariel shouted. "Besides, the Shray'don is more trouble than those wretched rebels. He is our primary target now. We must come up with a plan to get rid of him, not waste our time with these earthlings." She looked the captives up and down and turned her head away in disgust. "Dispose of them."

"As my lady commands." Asa signaled his aides and the two began to undo the restraints on Ortiz and Wendy. Suddenly, Ariel's head whirled back around to face them.

"Wait," she ordered. The two KrayTax immediately stopped unlocking the restraints. "There may be a use for them after all." She put her hands together and smiled wickedly. She turned to Asa. "I want you to make them serve me. Do it in any way possible, but they must be made to follow my orders. Their participation against the Shray'don will be vital. Bring them to me as soon as they're ready." Asa nodded and Ariel swept out of the room, very pleased with herself.

Asa turned back towards Miguel and Wendy, smiling almost as wickedly as his superior. "This shall be interesting..."

** Part Two ** ** After "Brave New World" & "In the Company of Ice and Profit" ** Lucas sighed with relief and pulled off his headset. His shift was over and he could finally get some much-needed sleep. He turned his station over to the officer taking over and left the bridge stifling a yawn. He'd been working hard recently, catching up on work that he'd gotten behind on when Krieg showed up. It was good to see his old friend after so long- longer than it felt. Had it really been over ten years since he'd last saw Ben?

Tony came up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder. "So, Luke, are you up for a quick game of poker? I finally convinced Brody and Commander Ford into playin' and-" Lucas shook his head, too tired to correct Tony for using 'Luke' instead of 'Lucas.'

"No thanks. I think I'm just going to hit the sack," he replied. "Thanks anyway."

Piccolo shrugged. "Hey, no problem. Some other time maybe." Lucas nodded and they parted, Tony heading towards Tim's quarters and Lucas to his own. Lucas gazed around the room as he closed the door. A few of Tony's posters of women in bikinis were taped on the wall. The bunks were hastily made and the computer had hundreds of papers piled on it. He groaned when he noticed his locker open and a few books were missing. Searching through the papers on the computer, he found the books serving as paperweights for some reports buried deep under the mountain of copies and write-ups. The reports were all out of order. Lucas groaned again and started reorganizing everything, but quickly stopped. Why should he be doing this now? They weren't due for a while; they weren't even finished yet! He came in there to sleep, not to play housemaid.

He peeled off his blue uniform and replaced it with a sweatshirt, not bothering to put pants on over his boxers, before he scrambled up the ladder and onto his bunk. Lucas sighed as he slid deep under the covers and closed his eyes, worn out by the day's work. It felt so good to lie down. Almost immediately, he felt the tug of dreams and didn't resist as they pulled him away from the conscious world.

* * * * Lucas glanced around the bridge as he took his seat; everyone was hard at work at his or her station. Hearing him sit down, Lonnie looked over. A disgusted expression appeared on her face when she recognized who it was. Lucas watched out of the corner of his eye as she changed the frequency of her headset and started whispering to someone over it, flashing glances in his direction. He frowned at the screen. Henderson didn't usually act like this. Wasn't she his friend? He shrugged mentally. Maybe he was just imagining things.

As he began typing, he could feel more eyes staring in his direction. He lifted his eyes over the station and was met with Tim's hard gaze. Lucas was taken aback by the rage burning in his eyes. He looked away from O'Neill only to meet the angry face of Commander Ford. He frowned even more, confused as to why they were all staring at him so angrily. He looked at the rest of the bridge crew. All had the same, cruel look on his or her face; even Tony was glaring at him. "Umm...is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, there's something wrong all right," Lonnie replied wickedly, looming over Lucas, "but that can be easily fixed." He watched, horrified, as the lieutenant's face shifted, transforming into the laughing face of a female alien who seemed achingly familiar. Whoever she was, she terrified Lucas. He backed away from her, falling off his chair and onto the floor. He froze when he heard a rifle power up. Slowly, Lucas turned his head and saw Brody aiming at him. The security officer smiled and he too also transformed, his skin turning green and scaly and his eyesockets deepening. He pulled the trigger...

* * * * Lucas jerked awake, sitting up in bed. Beads of sweat trickled down his face as he tried to regain control of his breathing. The covers were gone; they were hanging on the ladder, wet and sticky from his perspiration. He stared into the darkness, taking deep breaths to calm his raising heart. "It was a dream...just a dream," he told himself over and over again, rubbing his sweaty hands over the hot sheets. His heart would not listen to him, continuing to pump fast as if he were in a marathon. He called out meekly, "Tony? Tony, are you there?" There was a snort from the bottom bunk, but nothing more as his roommate continued to sleep.

Slowly, Lucas' heart eased its pace. He sighed deeply. What a nightmare! The whole bridge crew disgusted with him, Henderson and Brody being aliens that could change forms... he shivered. Something about those aliens seemed frightfully familiar, but he couldn't place them. Bridger said that the SeaQuest was taken by aliens to another planet to help fight in a civil war, but he didn't say that the enemy aliens were still living. Didn't he say that SeaQuest blew the alien ship up? Lucas' logical mind kicked in: his subconscious mind was just playing tricks on him. Dreams weren't real.

He rubbed at his eyes sleepily, pulling the covers back on top of him as he lay down. There was a soft tap and he looked up at the aquatubes. Darwin was there, smiling at him with his permanent grin. Lucas smiled back slightly, pressing his hand on the cool glass. All the fear that was left in him drained out. Darwin always had this strange calming effect on him, especially after the SeaQuest had returned from the alien planet. The dolphin bobbed its head and swam off down the aquatube. Lucas sighed, closing his eyes. He had a few more hours before his shift, so he tried to get as much sleep as possible. Luckily, as he fell back into the void of sleep, no dreams arose the rest of the night.

* * * * "Lucas! Come on, Luke, wake up!" Lucas moaned as Tony shook him awake. He blinked open his eyes and glared at his roommate. "Hey! Don't get angry with me! You got only twenty minutes before our shift. Get up!" He swatted at Piccolo as he tried to pull him off the bed.

"I can get up myself, you know," he mumbled as he sat up and stretched his aching limbs. Tony gave him an 'oh yeah?' look which Lucas rolled his eyes at.

"Just hurry it up, okay?"

"Yes, mother." Tony glared at his young friend as Lucas pulled his uniform on, grinning at him. "I'll see you on the bridge." Piccolo nodded and left.

Lucas zipped up the uniform and nearly ran out the door tying his shoe. He raced into the mess and whizzed through the line, eating as he went to sit at the table where Tim and Jim sat finishing their breakfast. "Running late are we?" Tim asked as the ensign sat down beside him. Lucas just nodded, swallowing another mouthful of runny eggs. Well, at least he thought they were eggs; it was hard to tell.

"Just don't make yourself sick by eating too fast," Brody warned, watching the 'eggs' run through his fork's prongs. "Who knows what this stuff's already doing to your digestive track." He dropped the fork disgustingly back on his plate and took his tray to put it in the used pile as he left.

Tim smiled and shook his head as the security officer left. "He's got a point," he told Lucas, getting up from the table. "See you on the bridge, Lucas." The ensign nodded, gulping down the last of his orange juice. He felt, for some reason, nervous- as if he was anticipating something. Lucas shook his head. That nightmare must have been getting to him. The vision of Lonnie transforming into that cruel, large-headed...thing was still vivid in his mind. It didn't want to go away; he could almost hear the alien's wicked laughter ringing in his ears. He shivered.

A quick glance at his watch told Lucas that he only had three minutes left. Taking one last bite of the stale toast, he got up and threw his trash away before taking off in a run for the bridge.

* * * * "Hey, Lucas," Commander Ford called out, grabbing the boy's wrist firmly and pulling him towards him. He smiled rather cruelly at the shocked expression on Lucas' face. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I-I, umm," Lucas stuttered. Fear was welling up in his stomach, closing his throat. The commander was acting insanely: completely the opposite of his usual calm and commanding attitude. "I was going t-to the moonpool. To see-"

"The dolphin?" Ford shook his head. "You're not allowed near that mammal anymore." The boy's jaw dropped. What?! He started to protest, but Ford stopped him. "It's nothing but trouble, Lucas. I'm ordering you to stay away from it. Besides, I have... other plans for you." The second-in-command's smile grew, only to make it more wicked. "You are to report to launch bay three to be taken off SeaQuest."

This couldn't be happening. Lucas pulled at the commander's grip, wanting to run away. Ford was scaring him; he wasn't acting the way he was supposed to. As much as he pulled, Ford's grip would not loosen. He jumped as hands landed on his shoulders. "So, I guess Commander Ford told you about your new assignment." Lucas whirled around the best he could and saw that it was Lonnie, smirking at him. "It's about time we got rid of you."

Lucas paled. What was going on? Didn't Ford and Henderson like him, care about him? Where was this new attitude coming from? He turned back around and stared at the commander in disbelief. "What's gotten into you?"

Ford just continued to smile that wicked grin. "Nothing. We just finally have the chance to remove the thorn in our side." Both he and Lonnie chuckled softly.

Lucas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Two of his friends had turned on him, planning to throw him off the SeaQuest, his home. "No," he whispered. "You're not going to make me leave." He gazed defiantly at Ford, more determined than he felt. He looked over at Henderson. "Neither of you."

Both the commander and lieutenant frowned, startled by the boy's answer. "But, Lucas," Lonnie began, unfolding Ford's fingers from around Lucas' wrist, "you have no choice." Lucas stared in horror at his wrist. There was a dark blue mark on it: two wavy lines with a circle on opposite ends, the one closest to his palm slightly smaller than the other. He looked back up at Henderson, but the lieutenant wasn't there.

"We're coming to get you, Lucas," the frightening alien woman exclaimed. She laughed. "The Shray'don will fall." The boy's already white features grew whiter. He looked back at the commander and jumped away when 'Ford's' scaly hand tried to latch back onto his arm. He twirled on his heels and ran down the hall. "Stop him!" the female alien shrieked.

Lucas skidded around the corner, not realizing where he was going. He ran full tilt into Brody. "Hey! What's the rush?" Lucas looked up at him and his eyes widened in fear. Across the security chief's familiar face was a cruel grin. He tried to back away, but Brody's hands were already tightly around his shoulders, pinning him to the spot.

Feet clattered against the corridor's grillwork. "I told you that there was no choice," 'Lonnnie' snarled at the boy. "You, the Shray'don, should have known that in the beginning." Lucas struggled against 'Brody's' hold and 'Ford' backhanded him. He cried out in surprise and his head slumped forward.

The female brought his face up to look at hers, scrutinizing him. "So young," she thought aloud. "If you weren't the Shray'don I would've been very fond of you." She nodded to 'Ford' and he pulled out a beautifully decorated dagger. The shiny metal blade was embedded with tiny turquoise stones that matched the crushed pearl hilt. Every now and then a flake of gold caught the light as he raised the blade, ready to strike.

The blade faltered in the air when they all heard muffled whistles and chirps. All present turned their heads towards the aquatubes. Darwin was there, tapping his nose on the glass. The three aliens hissed and dropped into defensive stances, 'Brody' losing his grip on Lucas. The ensign saw his chance and ran, not bothering to contemplate what had just happened. Behind him, shouts and curses rung out and the trampling of feet followed him through the corridor.

Lucas staggered down the stairs and hurried towards the pool where Darwin surfaced. "Darwin, what's going on? What's happened to them?!" he asked his friend frantically. He looked back over his shoulder as the sounds of footsteps grew louder.

"Ford not Ford. Brody not Brody. Lonnie not Lonnie," the speakers translated. "Dream, Lucas. Dream."

"Dream?" Lucas looked down at the dolphin, confused. He looked back when he heard a shout. "You're saying all of this is a dream?"

"Yes." The hatch swung open and the creatures came in. Not just three, however. Even more followed, all carrying weapons. "Lucas, wake up," Darwin urged. "Bad people go. Wake up."

* * * * "Wake up, Lucas! Lucas!" Tony nearly fell off the ladder when Lucas sat up in bed, breathing hard. "Talk about your nightmares," he mumbled, pulling himself back towards his friend's bunk. Lucas looked over at him and cried out, backing into the aquatube's glass front. "Calm down, Luke! It's me: Tony."

Lucas' mind was still blurry from sleep. He pushed himself away from Tony as his roommate reached a hand out to him. Tony was one of them too. The whole boat was out to get him. He had to get away.

He froze at the sound of a light tap. The gray form of Darwin was in the aquatube, looking at him. Lucas watched Piccolo's expression, but it did not change; he wasn't the least bit scared of the dolphin. "Tony?" he croaked.

His roommate sighed with relief. "You were scarin' me there for a moment," he said. "You all right?"

"Still a little out of it," Lucas admitted. "I'll be okay. Just had a little nightmare."

"A little?! You nearly made the bunk collapse with all your squirmin' an' I wouldn't be surprised if you woke the whole boat up with your shoutin'!"

"All right: a big nightmare." He yawned and started to run his fingers through his hair. He stopped, paling as he stared at his wrist. "No, it can't be," he whispered in fear.

Tony frowned. "What? What is it?"

"They're coming," Lucas replied distantly, lowering his hand so Tony could see the mark on his wrist. The mark was dark blue with two wavy lines and two circles opposite of each other. The circle closest to his palm was the smaller of the two. "Tony, they're coming to get me."

* * * * "Tony, please," Lucas begged as his roommate half dragged him down the hall towards Hudson's office the next morning. "We don't need to bother the captain. Maybe all that had happened last night was just a dream." As Lucas said this, he didn't believe it, but he didn't want to tell Hudson. The captain would probably think he was insane: him AND Tony.

"If that was a dream then you dream really well; I had it too," Tony replied, pulling the boy around a corner. "If aliens are out to kill you then Hudson will have to know." Lucas wanted to scream. Tony was determined to send him to the nut house. Hudson wouldn't believe any of this! Even if it were true, Hudson would have him off the boat in a straight jacket. Why didn't Tony see that?

"Please, Tony! Hudson won't listen to this. He'll think it's just a bunch of nonsense."

"Well, someone's gotta know!" Tony insisted, stopping to look back at Lucas. "Who else should we tell?"

"Tell what?" Both of them jumped at the new voice and turned to look towards the source. Commander Ford was coming towards them, marking something on his clipboard. He looked up at them when neither responded. "Is there something that I should know?"

Tony and Lucas looked at each other. "As a matter of fact, Commander, there is," Piccolo said, turning to face the commander so he didn't have to see Lucas' pleading eyes. The kid didn't want anyone to know, but Tony wouldn't keep this to himself. He knew that someone needed to know so they could protect the boy. He couldn't just stand back and watch his friend get zapped by not-so-friendly little green men. "This is goin' to sound strange, but you have to believe us on this." He took a quick glance at Lucas and then turned back to the second-in-command. "Lucas has aliens out to kill him."

Ford raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Aliens?"

"Yeah, you know: those cute little green men from Mars, only these aren't so cute." Tony frowned as he saw a smile tugging at the corners of the commander's mouth. "Hey, it may sound crazy, but it's the truth!" He glared when Ford's neutral expression fell and he started snickering. "Quit laughin'. It ain't funny."

Ford continued to laugh into his hand, trying to regain control of his expression. It was difficult: what Piccolo was saying was hilarious! Aliens, ha! That was the craziest... no, it wasn't. Aliens did exist, now that he thought about it. The aliens who came to Earth about ten years ago and then the ones that kidnapped the SeaQuest...

The grin disappeared from his face. "How do you know?"

Tony sighed. "It's about time," he breathed. Louder, he replied, "Lucas has been havin' nightmares and last night one of those dreams decided to jump into reality." He took Lucas' arm and rolled up the sleeve of his uniform to show Ford the mark. "See what I mean?"

Ford took the ensign's arm and stared at the tattooed design, unable to believe what he was seeing. This came from a dream? "We've got to tell Hudson." Lucas immediately pulled his arm back.

"No," he said sternly, pushing his sleeve down. "Hudson wouldn't understand." He looked at Tony for support, but his roommate just shrugged.

"Now, Lucas, that's nonsense," the commander said. "The captain can be very understandable and-"

"No."

Ford straightened, staring harshly at the ensign. He was about to pull rank on him when Tony intervened. "Maybe it's not a good time to tell Hudson." Ford looked over at him. "Why do you say that?" he asked.

"Well, for one thing, the cap'an's probably goin' ta act like you did, thinkin' of it as a stupid joke. Another would be is that we don't know how big the threat is. Hudson won't care unless it effects the whole boat." The two stared at each other. It was, surprisingly, Ford who glanced away and sighed.

"All right, " he agreed. "I won't tell him...for now. If this situation gets worse I'm notifying him at once." Without waiting for a reply he continued down the hall, making more marks on his clipboard. Lucas sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Tony. I owe you," he whispered.

Tony shrugged it off. "Don't mention it." He patted the boy's shoulder. "I'll see you on the bridge next shift." The kid nodded and his roommate left, going to hunt down Brody or Tim. Lucas went the opposite way, heading towards the moonpool to see Darwin.

He sat down beside the pool and switched on the vocorder as the dolphin surfaced. "Space men come. Bad. Like dreams," the device translated. Lucas blinked. How did the dolphin always seem to know what he was thinking- what he was feeling? It was rather terrifying, having someone know what was bothering him before he told them. Unconsciously, he reached out and ran his hand down Darwin's side. The fear he still felt from the nightmares temporarily went away. It was strange, being comforted so quickly just by touching the dolphin. It was almost like there was a bond between them, where Lucas would send Darwin his uneasiness or fear and in return Darwin would send Lucas comfort to ease his pain or terror.

That was a weird way of putting it. Lucas sighed and gave the dolphin one final pat. "Want play?" Darwin asked. He shook his head.

"Not now, Darwin. I'm needed on the bridge soon. Maybe later."

"Promise?" Lucas looked down at his friend grimly. He wanted to be able to play with him, but that was almost impossible. He had reports to finish, some of the SeaQuest's computer files needed updating...

Darwin splashed him. "Hey!" Lucas couldn't help but laugh at his friend's actions. He wiped off the water on his face. "What gives?"

"Lucas work hard. Need play." Darwin did it again! How did he do that?!

Lucas sighed. He had been working hard for the past few days: a lot harder than when Bridger was in command. The duties of an officer. "All right," he gave in. "I'll come play with you after my last shift. I promise." He turned the vocorder off and wandered out, staring down at his soaked uniform. He couldn't change now; his shift was going to start soon. He sighed again. "Please don't let Hudson be on the bridge," he mumbled to himself as he hit the button for the maglev.

* * * * Asa frowned at the controls of their new vehicle, the ASV Trident. "Rather primitive vessel," he thought with disgust. He glanced around the small bridge, taking in all the electronics that filled the room. He scratched his arm. "How can these earthlings put up with this clothing?" At the moment, he was in the form of male human known as Captain Hibert, the true commander of the UEO submarine. The real Hibert was... disposed of.

The KrayTax bridge crew situated themselves at the stations, all either scratching or pulling at the uniforms they were "borrowing." One of them snorted as he glanced at the controls and easily brought the station on-line. "And they called this "state of the art." Hmph," the young KrayTax grumbled, typing in one letter at a time. The earthlings' written language was the only thing that was a pain. How could they put up with all those symbols?

The sharp sound of boots clicking on the metal grillwork made Asa turn on his heels and salute the cold woman standing there. "My Lady," he exclaimed, "the bridge awaits your orders."

Ariel was in the form of a rather attractive older woman, her ink black hair pulled back in a ponytail and highlighted with gray streaks. A few wrinkles interrupted the smooth features of her pale face. The only thing that seemed unnatural were her eyes: two black, cold pits. A patch on her uniform's shoulder identified her as an admiral. "That's Admiral, Captain," Ariel, who had taken up the name of Anne Reinharte, corrected. "From now on you will call each other by your cover identifications so you can get use to being called that." She glared around at the bridge crew. "This is a crucial mission. No mistakes. No one should suspect anything. Understood? Good." The admiral turned back to Asa. "What is the location of SeaQuest?"

"SeaQuest is in the Atlantic Ocean heading southwest at-" He gave her the coordinates. "If we go at our fastest speed we should be within their sensor range within one hour."

"Good. Go at top speed for half an hour and then slow. We'll set off the explosives to disable our engines then." Asa nodded and Ariel left the bridge in a brisk walk.

The first phase of the mission was simple. They'd pretend to be a boat in need of help and would ask for SeaQuest to assist. Phase two would be the hardest: finding the Shray'don. The boy knew the boat better than all of the KrayTax. Even if they followed his presence through a telepathic connection, he was going to be difficult to catch. Asa smiled at the thought. On Hyperion, he was one of the greatest hunters, catching from the little, but deadly, delph to the ferocious villmount. That was before the great flooding of the oceans- before the Shray'don.

He glared at the crew as they stared dumbly at him. "Well, don't just sit there, you fools! You heard your orders!" Immediately, the crew glanced down at their monitors and began typing as fast as they could. "Idiots."

* * * * Ariel sat down behind her desk, leaning back in the leather chair, enjoying the fear of the two humans before her. She intertwined her fingers and smiled viciously at them. "How does it feel to be home after such a long time?" she asked them, but they didn't reply. She wasn't expecting them to. She glanced down at her slender fingers. "Repeat your mission orders."

"To board SeaQuest and capture the Shray'don," the dark, Hispanic man replied mechanically, his voice shaking in terror.

"And who is the Shray'don?"

"Lucas Wolenczak," the short woman answered quickly.

Ariel grin grew and she leaned forward. "Who do you take orders from?"

"You and only you, Lady Ariel," they spoke in unison, shifting their weight from one foot to the other in nervousness.

"Good." Ariel leaned back again. "Prepare yourselves for your upcoming duties. You have a maximum of two hours." They nodded and filed out of the room quickly. Ariel had to admit that Asa had done well in training the stupid humans. They did whatever she told them in fear of what she might do if they refused. They've already felt their master's wrath once; they were going to make sure that they didn't again. Ariel smiled. She could almost taste the Shray'don's blood in her mouth. It wouldn't be long now.

** Part Three ** "Sir." Hudson turned away from Commander Ford to O'Neill. "There's an incoming distress signal from the ASV Trident. They say that there was an engine malfunction and are requesting help."

The captain didn't hesitate to answer. "Tell them we're on our way. Bring the engines up to maximum speed." The crew complied, turning the boat around and heading at full speed towards the crippled ship. "What's their status?"

O'Neill typed on his keyboard. "Sensors show that the engines are almost completely gone and that the boat is taking on water. One of the engines must have exploded." He glanced up at Hudson, waiting for orders.

Hudson looked toward the security chief. "Brody, get a rescue team to a launch and prepare to board the Trident to collect her crew. I want you to get in and get out as fast as possible."

"Aye, sir." Brody saluted and sprinted off the bridge, heading for the launch bay.

* * * * Brody tapped his fingers on his knee impatiently as the launch glided over to the sinking sub. He gazed over his team of five, seeing all of them fidgeting in nervousness and excitement. His men didn't have much to do most of the time, so when it was time to go to action they could barely suppress their eagerness, even if it was dangerous.

There was a metallic clank as the launch docked with the Trident. Brody and his men moved over to the hatch, waiting to get onboard the damaged boat. With a final nod, the security chief pushed the hatch open and waved his team through. "Hurry up! Let's go!"

The Trident was in chaos. Some of the crew was already at the hatch and they pushed their way through, trying desperately to get off the sub. Others were running down the corridors towards them like a stampede of wild animals. Quickly, the rescue team ushered them on.

Brody did a double take as he gazed down one of the halls. Two very familiar people were shoving through the sea of panicked officers. One was a dark-skinned man with long, curly black hair; the other was a short and fairly attractive woman in a white lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck. "Miguel? Wendy?" he asked, dumbfounded.

Ortiz twisted his head to look at his friend. Brody held back a gasp. A scar ran down the right side of his face, deforming the once handsome features of the man. What startled Brody the most were his eyes: large, dark, and full of fear. The security chief couldn't remember seeing his friend so scared before.

Wendy was in similar condition. She had no scars visible, but her eyes mirrored Miguel's. The way she held herself was different; she didn't raise her head high in confidence and sureness, but rather hung it in shame.

Brody blinked; he didn't believe what he was seeing. They stared at each other, ignoring everyone passing them, unable to say or do anything. "Sir?" One of Brody's men shook his leader's shoulder. "Sir, we're ready to leave."

Slowly, Jim nodded, still staring at his long lost comrades. How could this be? Weren't they dead? He shook his head. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here." He pushed them through the hatch and, taking one last look down the corridors, closed it behind them.

* * * * Hudson and Ford stood by the launch bay doors as they opened. Slowly, people filed out, Dr. Perry and her assistants taking them immediately to check them for injuries. Surprisingly, none had any injuries except for a few cuts and bruises.

The captain and his first officer saluted as a female 'admiral' marched out of the launch with the 'captain' of the Trident. Both returned the salute. "Captain Hudson," the 'admiral' addressed stiffly, "I thank you for your quick actions. Who knows how long we would have lasted if you'd decided to take your time."

"It is my duty to help an ally in need," Hudson stated. "Welcome aboard SeaQuest, Admiral Reinharte, Captain Hibert." Both nodded, looking around the launch bay.

Hudson felt Ford stiffen beside him. He glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. The commander was staring at the launch bay doors. The captain of the SeaQuest let his gaze travel in that direction. Brody was talking with two people, a man and a woman, as if they were good friends that hadn't seen each other in a while. "That's Wendy and Miguel," Ford whispered to him in bewilderment.

"Who?" Hudson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Dr. Smith and Senior Chief Ortiz. They were on SeaQuest before the KrayTax kidnapped it," the commander replied, not taking his eyes off the two. "I-I can't believe it. I thought they were dead!"

Wendy and Miguel turned away from Brody towards Ford: the doctor smiling and the former chief nodding. They seemed different somehow. Like Jim, Ford was picking up their body language. Smith's smile didn't reach her eyes and Ortiz seemed harder: not the humorous sensors expert that he use to know. He shook the thoughts out of his head. "Quit being paranoid," he thought to himself. "It's been a while since you last saw them. They can change... you can change."

Brody brought the two former shipmates up to Hudson. "Captain, I'd like you to meet Dr. Wendy Smith and Chief Miguel Ortiz. Wendy, Miguel, this is Captain Hudson," Brody introduced them quickly. The three shook hands. "Smith and Ortiz were-"

"On the SeaQuest before its disappearance. Yes, I know," Hudson interrupted. He turned to his second-in-command. "Commander Ford, why don't you take our guests to the available quarters. I believe there are a few on B deck."

"Aye, sir," Ford acknowledged and ushered the Trident's crew to follow him out of the launch bay.

* * * * Lucas stopped in the middle of an intersection in the corridors, frowning. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and fear rose out of nowhere within him. He whipped his head around to stare down a corridor. In the distance a multitude of voices echoed through the halls, getting louder as the voices' owners came closer. Without thinking, he swiveled back around and ran into the janitor's closet.

His heart raced, pounding loud in his ears as people passed the closet. He didn't know why he was scared, but something felt awfully wrong. He felt like a trapped mouse, hiding out as a hungry cat prowled the room, searching for him.

Lucas froze when someone stopped in front of the closet's door. The person's boots clicked on the metal floor as he or she paced. He wished that someone would go away, but something was holding that person's attention and he or she continued to pace around the corridor.

Thum-thump, thum-thump.

He clutched his chest, trying to muffle his heart's loud beating. Maybe that was what they had heard. If he could drown the sound, maybe they would go away.

The person stopped his or her pacing, their shadow falling on the light that came through the door's crack. The intense silence that followed made Lucas' fear rise. Did they suspect that he was in the closet? No, they didn't. The person's footsteps clanked down the hall, disappearing as they moved further away.

Lucas released the breath he was holding, gulping in mouthfuls of air, and stepped cautiously out of the closet. The fear that had built up was gone, as if it had never been there. He leaned against the wall, wiping a hand down his face. The air around him felt different: cold, heavy, and dangerous. It wasn't warm and safe anymore. It was as if a northern wind had blown through and replaced the hot summer air, allowing winter to move in. Something was going to happen soon: something bad.

* * * * Wendy hesitated before hurriedly knocking on the door. "Enter," a commanding voice called out. She opened the door and went to stand at attention behind Ariel, who was pushing buttons on a hand-held computer of KrayTax technology. The disguised alien eyed her over the screen. "Have you found him?"

The doctor shifted uneasily under Ariel's harsh gaze. "N-no, My Lady. Not, not yet," she stuttered, staring at the back wall.

She flinched as Ariel slammed the computer onto the desk in rage. "You haven't?! Is this boat too big for your telepathic abilities to locate the boy?!" Wendy shook her head vigorously.

"No, My Lady! That's not it." She waited for her mistress to calm down. "It's like he's not even on board. I can't feel him." She bit her lip, hoping that would ease Ariel's temper. It was true: she couldn't make contact with Lucas' mind.

Almost. As Ford led the Trident's "crew" down one of the halls, Smith's mind came in contact with someone's fear that was broadcast to her as if through a telepathic connection. When she went to investigate it, however, the feeling of fear vanished and she couldn't locate its source. What was strange about the fear was how familiar and foreign it felt at the same time. The familiarity of it was similar to Lucas' presence, but it felt weaker, more contorted.

Ariel sighed in frustration. "I have to do everything myself!" she grumbled, closing her eyes and going deep into concentration, stretching out for the presence of the child she wanted dead. Her brow furrowed as she tried harder, straining her telepathic abilities to their limit. Finally, she reopened her eyes, frowning. "I see that you're right. Something's either blocking his presence or he's not here." She looked up at Smith expectantly. "Why do you believe he's still here?" she asked, questioning what Wendy was thinking about.

"I think I felt his presence earlier. It was hard to tell; the contact was short and weak. I would have missed it had I not been searching carefully." Wendy wrung her knuckles nervously. Her mistress frightened her. Even in her presence or not, the alien terrified her. She and Miguel had disobeyed once. The punishment was a brutal beating in which she and Miguel were drugged so they could not fight back. Oh, how painful that was. The drugs made them unable to move, but it enhanced feeling in their limbs, doubling the pain each blow brought. That was when Miguel received his scar, when Wendy gave up fighting against the KrayTax.

Ariel paced back and forth across the room, trying to think of a plan to get around the obstacle that was delaying their victory. She stopped in front of Smith. "Ask Commander Ford how Lucas has been doing. He should tell you; after all, you were his friend. Ask him where the boy hangs out most of the time now. When you've received this information, notify me at once and I'll set up a team to capture him."

The doctor nodded and scrambled out of the "admiral's" quarters. She balled her hands into fists as she walked down the hall to her temporary quarters. "I'm so sorry, Lucas," she thought sadly.

* * * * Brody looked up from his lunch and waved Miguel and Wendy over. "Welcome back to planet Earth," he said, smiling. "Sit down! We have a lot of catching up to do, don't we, Tim?" O'Neill nodded in agreement.

Ortiz and Smith looked at each other as if uncertain and then sat beside their friends. Ford joined them quickly thereafter and the five chatted with one another, Wendy and Miguel being careful as to not let what really happened on Hyperion slip. "So, how's Lucas been doing?" the doctor asked.

"The usual. He likes to brag about how he's an officer now, but other that he's pretty much the same," Tim replied, eyeing them. Something was different about his long lost comrades. He couldn't put a finger on it, but their attitudes were almost opposites of what they were before the Hyperion crisis. Miguel was now quiet instead of making up jokes and Wendy seemed more reserved, more nervous. He mentally shrugged it off; people change over time.

"Do you know where we could find him? Strangely, we haven't seen him at all since we arrived," Ortiz said, wiping his mouth with his napkin.

Ford frowned. "That's strange. I was sure he'd be delighted that these guys were back," he thought. Aloud, he answered, "He could be anywhere. Since he's the only science officer on board, Hudson has a lot of jobs for him. Your best shot is to try the moonpool. He still likes to go down there when he has a chance."

"What about the bridge?" Smith questioned.

"Oh, he's on there during his shifts, but Captain Hudson isn't allowing any of the Trident's crew in there. For security reasons." Ortiz nodded, not sure why the captain had such high security, but pretending that he was. Asa had said that they were in the year 2032: ten years after the SeaQuest disappeared from the earth. Anything could've happened by then.

"Thanks. I think we'll go see if we can...catch him before his next shift," the doctor said, getting up with Ortiz and waving good-bye to Ford, Tim, and Brody. She bit her lip when she turned away from the table. Why did she have to say that?! She could hear Ariel's laugh in her head; the "admiral" had been listening in through a telepathic connection! She paled. She should've been paying attention: should've noticed that her mistress was eavesdropping. How lazy of her to miss that! "We better hurry," she whispered to her companion. "If I remember correctly, the next shift starts soon. We need to locate the Shray'don before then." Ortiz nodded.

* * * * Lucas walked silently beside Tony, not really listening to his friend as he babbled about his last shore leave. "...and I said- are you listenin' to me?" Tony asked, stopping in the middle on the corridor.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm listening." Tony nodded slowly, giving him a "yeah right" look. "What? I was!" he protested.

"Right. Anyway, I said to her..." Tony's voice droned on, making no sense as he continued his story. He smiled as Wendy and Miguel rounded the corner up ahead. "Hey! Long time no see!" He hurried over to them. "Where have you two been?"

"Oh, we've been... around," Ortiz replied, looking around Piccolo and down the corridor. "Say, have you seen Lucas by any chance?"

"Yeah. He's right-" Tony turned around, but the space that his young friend once occupied was empty. "Where'd he go?"

As the three were conversing, up above their heads, wedged in with the pipes and wires, Lucas stared down at them in fear. He didn't know how he'd gotten where he was; all he could remember was the coldness that clutched his heart and then suddenly clinging to the pipes on the ceiling. He didn't dare let go; a sense of danger hung in the air and he had a feeling that if he dropped back to the floor it would be his doom.

Ortiz and Smith were scaring him: why? They seemed to be the same, but something was telling him that they weren't the same: that they were corrupted into workers of evil. He paled at the thought. His two friends were strong willed: it must have been torture to be forced to obey the commands of enemies.

"I don't know where he could've gone. He was right behind me!" Tony shouted in frustration. "Either the kid has got a personal cloakin' device or he should be runnin' the marathon." No doors were on that portion of the hall and the hall stretched a long way before crossing another. Where could he have gone?

"Maybe he forgot something?" Wendy suggested. Tony shrugged.

"Could be. I didn't see any discs or nothin' when I went to get him. Perhaps he forgot to turn off that computer of his and doesn't want to waste its batteries."

Miguel shook his head. "It doesn't have batteries," he explained. Piccolo shrugged again and Ortiz sighed. "Let's just go find him."

"Okay," Tony agreed, gesturing for the doctor and former chief to go before him.

Lucas wanted to shout out, "No! Tony, don't go with them!" but that would alert Ortiz and Smith of his presence. Strangely though, Tony stopped and turned around, gazing around the corridor again. Lucas' eyes widened in shock; did his roommate hear his thoughts?

That was silly; he didn't possess any telepathic ability like Wendy and Tony. Or did he? It was kind of peculiar for him to be hanging on the ceiling pipes, terrified of something unknown. Even more so, he hid just before Ortiz and Smith turned the corner...

There was a light tap from the aquatube. Darwin was there, one of his eyes staring intently on Ortiz and Smith, who paled and took a step back from the dolphin. Tony didn't notice his friends' discomfort as he gave the mammal a quick wave. "Yo, Darwin." He turned around to say something to Wendy and Miguel, but they were gone. He frowned. "That's strange." He turned his head to the other side to cover the end of the corridor. "AHH!"

Tony jumped back from Lucas, who was hanging upside down from the ceiling pipes. "Shh! Calm down! It's me: Lucas," the ensign exclaimed frantically, trying to quiet his roommate.

Piccolo sighed, letting his heart slow. "Don't do that. You just made me lose a few years of my life!"

"Sorry," the boy muttered, dropping to the floor.

He gave his friend a curious glance. "Why were you up there?"

Lucas' eyes covered the hall behind Tony, making sure no one would overhear. "Did you hear me?" he whispered, not bothering to answer his friend's question.

Tony frowned. What was this kid talking about? "Hear you what?" he asked. "And what's with the whisperin'?"

"Did you hear me tell you not to go with them?"

Tony paled. He'd heard that: had thought it was just his imagination. He opened his mouth to respond, but was saved when Darwin tapped on the glass again, his muffled clicks demanding their attention. When they turned towards him, Darwin was zigzagging in the tube, going down one way, coming back, and then repeating the movement. Both frowned at the dolphin; he had never done that before. "I think he wants us to follow him," Lucas whispered finally, glancing at Tony.

"Then let's follow him," his friend exclaimed. "He's makin' me dizzy." Lucas gave him a half smile, amused, and the two walked down the corridor, watching the aquatubes for Darwin's next move.

* * * * Darwin surfaced beside Lucas and Tony as the two came towards the edge of the moonpool, chattering wildly. "Calm down, Darwin," Lucas said, switching on the vocoder. "Now, what is it?"

"KrayTax here. Lucas in danger. KrayTax want Lucas dark." The computer's translation sounded amazingly panicked as Darwin rushed his clicks and whistles.

"Whoa, whoa, hold it. KrayTax?" questioned Tony. "Dark? What are you talkin' about?" The dolphin did not answer, however; he just swam in wildly in circles, repeating the same thing over again when he came to a stop.

"Dark is Darwin's term for dead," Lucas whispered distantly, staring down at his best friend, who was slapping the water anxiously with his flippers. To Darwin, he asked, "Who are the KrayTax?"

"Aliens. Bad. Took SeaQuest," Darwin informed them. "Want Lucas dark." Tony and Lucas looked at each other. What Darwin was telling them sounded an awful lot like the ensign's dreams: too much like them.

The boy looked back at Darwin, a frown creasing his forehead. "How do you know this?"

"Tobias tell Darwin. Before SeaQuest come back."

"Tobias?" Tony raised an eyebrow at the dolphin. "Have you been drinkin' too much salt water? I think our fishy friend here has gone nuts, Luke." He turned around to walk away, but his roommate grabbed his shoulder. "What, you think he's serious? I mean, sure, what he was talkin' about did sound like those nightmares, but he just said-"

"Yes, I believe Darwin," Lucas interrupted. "Tobias is a real person. He's one of Bridger's friends." He looked back into the water at the gray, splashing form. "Darwin, what did Tobias tell you?"

"Watch, protect Lucas. Tell Lucas secret when KrayTax come," the computer's bland voice translated. Lucas frown deepened. Secret?

"What secret?" The words were barely out of his mouth when a sea of thoughts and emotions bombarded his mind. He didn't cry out, but leaned on the tank's side as his knees grew weak and closed his eyes. He could hardly hear Tony calling out his name as the foreign thoughts pulled him into unconsciousness.

* * * * As Lucas watched, a scene wavered into being. It was Tobias LeConte, sitting on the edge of a tank and petting Darwin. The professor's hushed voice echoed faintly as he talked to the dolphin. "Darwin, there's something very important that you must do for me," he said, " and you need to keep it a secret." He sighed. "I gave Lucas a fruit called granga that the KrayTax use to improve their telepathic abilities. When given to a human it gives that person some ESP powers, such as telekinesis and telepathy, and can hide their presence from telepathic connections. I gave it to him because the KrayTax are going to come after him. They have strong ESP and have the ability to morph into other beings. I know it's not much, but it will give him a fighting chance.

"When the KrayTax come, Darwin, you must tell Lucas. I know that I should have told the boy myself, but that would have been too risky. Tell him that all he has to do is concentrate on something and he'll either move it or make a telepathic connection with it." The professor sighed again. "He's fighting for his life, Darwin, in a battle no one can afford him to lose."

* * * * Slowly the scene dissolved and Lucas drifted back to consciousness and opened his eyes to see the worried faces of Tony and- Ford? What was the commander doing there? "Are you all right, Lucas?" Ford asked.

"Yeah," he muttered, propping himself on his elbows; somehow, he'd ended up on the floor. He frowned at his superior officer in confusion. "What are you doing here, Commander?"

"Hudson sent me looking for you and Piccolo," the commander explained. He folded his arms across his chest. "What's wrong, Lucas? Do you need to go to medbay or-" "No, no. I'm fine," Lucas reassured him. "Well... mostly." Ford frowned at the ensign. "It's the Trident's crew; you have to get them off SeaQuest. Miguel and Dr. Smith as well."

"Look, Lucas-"

"Commander, they're not our friends anymore," the boy interrupted sternly. "They've been changed, been manipulated into something else. They work for the KrayTax."

"KrayTax? What are you talking about?"

"Yeah," Tony piped in. "You sound like Darwin. Wendy and Miguel haven't changed. Sure, they seem more quiet than usual, but they're still our friends."

Lucas shook his head. "No, Tony, they're not. The dreams. The dreams are coming true! Don't you see?" Lucas was almost pleading with them now. They had to understand the danger that the boat was in. "They're working for the aliens that want me dead!"

Realization dawned on them and they paled. "The aliens are on this boat?" Ford questioned, trying to keep fear from trickling into his voice: trying to stay calm and collective. The boy nodded and quickly turned his head towards the door as if he were listening to something that the others could not hear. He bolted from his seat on the floor and ran out of the room through another exit. "What was that all about?" the commander asked Tony, who shrugged.

"Hey." Ford and Piccolo jumped at the sound of Wendy's voice. She pretended not to notice and looked around the room. Her gaze held on Darwin for a while before she asked, "Have you guys seen Lucas?"

"I, umm... uhhh," Tony stuttered, trying to come up with something to say, but nothing came to mind.

Wendy smiled, making Tony's stomach twist into a knot. "You know where he went, don't you, Tony? Commander?" she prompted, but neither answered. She sighed. "Don't make me do this." Still neither responded. She closed her eyes, concentrating as she searched their minds for the answers to her questions. "He just left here, running away from me," she whispered as she dug deeper into their minds.

Water poured down on Wendy and she lost concentration, breaking the connection. She flung water from her hands and glared menacingly at Darwin before she marched out of the room, leaving the two dazed men to watch her go. "Thanks, Darwin," Tony said, shaking his head. "Looks like Lucas was right, eh, Commander?"

Ford ignored him, however, and started to take charge of the situation. "Piccolo, go find Lucas and bring him up to the bridge. I'm going to let Hudson in on this." Without waiting for an acknowledgment, he ran out of the room.

Tony watched him go and then turned to Darwin. "You heard the man. Let's go find our friend." The dolphin whistled and dove underwater, heading for the aquatubes.

* * * * Wendy hurried down the hall and knocked on the door to Miguel's quarters. "We have a problem," she blurted out once he had opened the door and she had rushed past him into the room. "Lucas knows."

"Did he tell anyone?" Miguel asked calmly. She nodded. "Who?"

"Ford and Tony. If Jonathan is still the same, he'll be going to tell Bri- I mean Hudson. Oh, Ariel won't be pleased with this." She was pacing now, wringing her hands nervously. How had Lucas found out? He had never come in contact with any of the KrayTax, so how could he know?

"Then we must move fast. Tell the mistress what has happened and to take quick action." She nodded and hurried out. Ortiz was as scared as Smith was. He gingerly fingered his face, feeling the rough skin where his scar was. He didn't want to kill Lucas, but he feared for his life. He didn't want to go through the pain and torture he did before: that was worse than death. If the boy were killed, he'd be able to stay home: not have to worry about pleasing a witch like Ariel. It would be better this way.

** Part Four ** "So, you're saying," Hudson said, "that some or all of the Trident's crew are aliens from outer space that are out to kill Mr. Wolenczak." Ford nodded and the captain put a hand to his head as if it hurt. "That is the most ridiculous thing you've ever said, Mr. Ford."

"But, sir-"

Hudson raised a hand and the commander shut his mouth. "I know you feel that Wolenczak is in danger, but unless there is proof I can't do anything," he announced, picking up his pen. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have forms to fill out. Dismissed." Ford didn't move. Hudson frowned at him. "Commander, I've dismissed you."

His second in command stared at the back wall, talking through his teeth. "Permission to speak freely, sir."

"Permission refused." The captain slammed his pen into the desk, standing up. "Commander Ford, I know that this is important to you, but my answer is the same: no. With no proof and no threat to the mission of this boat I will do nothing." The two glowered at each other and Hudson sat down, retrieving his pen. "Dismissed." Defeated, Ford turned to leave, but stopped as the office's door opened and Lucas came in, saluting. "What can I do for you, Ensign?"

"Well, from the looks of it," Lucas began, glancing at the commander, "you've already heard this. You need to take the Trident's crew off SeaQuest."

"You are correct; I have heard that already," the captain replied, moving on to another piece of paper. "And my answer is still no."

"I have proof."

Hudson paused his writing, looking up at the boy before him. "Do you now?" The ensign nodded. He leaned back in his chair. "Let's have it."

Lucas reached over and pulled a laptop computer towards him. "Oh, may I?" he asked quickly, remembering his manners. Hudson nodded and Lucas opened the computer up and let it boot up. Typing rapidly, he had what he wanted in a few minutes. Plugging it in with an extension cord into the vidlink controls, he hit a button and the screen on the wall came to life, showing a room being watched by one of the security cams. The man on the screen was a crewman of the Trident and had his feet propped up on a table, idly typing on a hand-held computer...

"Where did he get that?" Ford asked, his mouth hanging open. Even though computers were small, they were still bigger than the thin, hand-sized contraption the man on the screen was using.

"This still proves nothing, only that this officer has contacts to get the latest technology," debated the SeaQuest's captain.

"Wait. There's more." Hitting a button on the computer, the ensign moved the picture slightly to the left to face the bed. On it, carelessly tossed aside, was a weapon not of UEO authorization. In fact, it wasn't an authorized weapon that they knew of for any government. The gun had a long nozzle that was connected to wires and tubing here and there. The butt had buttons dappling its surface along with a few lights that blinked slowly. On the top was something glowing that was hard to make out. "This weapon shows us two things; one, we either have light security or he somehow snuck onboard with it and two, it's too high tech to be either UEO or Macronesian." "How can you be sure it's not Macronesian?" Ford asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen to look at the boy genius. Lucas typed a few more commands into the computer and the image became more fine and detailed. He went over and pointed at the glowing blob that turned out to be some type of crystal.

"That's why. There are no crystals on Earth that can generate their own energy," he told them.

Hudson rubbed his chin, going over the information in his head. He ignored the obvious fact that Lucas had hacked into SeaQuest's security to retrieve the video. It wasn't the time to bring that up; he would deal with it later. "Commander Ford," he barked.

"Sir?"

"I want you to send Brody and his security team to collect the Trident's crew and place them in the brig until further notice," the captain commanded, getting out of his chair. "Until I've finished investigating this, that's where they stay."

Ford smiled as Hudson marched past him. "Aye, sir." Maybe this crisis wouldn't be too bad; maybe it'll be all over in a matter of hours. He hoped so, for Lucas' sake. It awed him that a boy could be so dangerous to an advanced alien race. A boy!

He glanced at the ensign. "You'll be all right?" he asked. Lucas nodded, not looking up as he typed in commands to break the computer's connection to the security systems. Reluctantly, Ford left. He didn't want to leave the kid alone, not now. He flicked on his PAL. "O'Neill, is Tony up there?"

"He's here," Tim's voice replied over the tiny speaker.

"Send him down to Hudson's office. Lucas is in there and I want Tony to keep an eye on him."

"I'll send him there immediately." Ford shut his PAL down, sighing with relief. Lucas should be safe with Tony, but why did he still feel uneasy?

* * * * Wendy tapped lightly on the door of the 'admiral's' quarters. "Enter," came the cold voice through the door. Hesitantly, she opened it and stepped into the dim room. Ariel was at her desk, going over the mission plans that floated before her in their holographic projection. "What is it?"

"W-We have a problem..." She jumped back as Ariel sprang out of her chair. "Lucas found out we're here a-and told Hudson." Unconsciously, Smith started wringing her knuckles until they turned white. She knew what was going to happen now; Ariel was going to explode with rage. Her mistress' face was already bright red.

Instead, Ariel took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her skin draining back to being pale. Calmly, she asked, "How did this happen?"

Wendy took a while to respond; the alien's actions had surprised her. "I don't know. He never came in contact with any of the KrayTax, though he did run out just before I went to ask Ford and Piccolo where he was..."

"He did?" It was Ariel's turn to be surprised. Quickly though, her shocked expression turned into a snarl. "LeConte," she growled. "He must have found out about our plans for the Shray'don and had taken actions to protect him."

"I-I don't understand, My Lady. How could the professor do anything from Hyperion?"

"He didn't. He did it before they returned home." Ariel leaned over her desk. "The reason why no one has come close to finding the Shray'don is because he knows they're coming. LeConte must have given him granga. That's the only-" Shouts and running footsteps filtered through the door, into the room. "The battle is about to begin," Ariel whispered, smiling.

* * * * "Weston, you, Portman, and McCartney take the rooms on the left side of the corridor," Brody ordered. "Bradley, Colley, and Snyder, the right side is yours. The rest of you will come with me to take care of the other corridor. Let's move!"

Brody and five other men trotted down another hall while the six left behind started banging on doors, arresting the officers as their doors were opened, willingly or forcibly. Curses and protests rang out as each was cuffed.

McCartney knocked on a door. "Go away!" someone inside shouted.

"Open this door!" he commanded, but the occupant refused. He sighed and turned on his laser cutter, effectively cutting the lock in half. He pushed the door open and charged in. Something came down hard on his head and he distantly heard a crack as pain exploded from the back of his head and blackness enveloped his vision.

"That takes care of him," Ariel muttered, rubbing the bloodstain off the butt of the gun in her hands. As she set the gun down her features changed, bones cracking as they altered themselves. Soon, Admiral Reinharte was gone and replaced with another McCartney. "Hide the body," 'he' ordered Smith, who nodded and pulled the limp figure into the closet. "Now we go find Asa and hunt down the Shray'don." 'His' eyes narrowed. "He has lived long enough."

* * * * Brody marched down the hall to rejoin the men he left behind. "Is everyone accounted for?" He asked.

"No, sir," Weston reported. "Admiral Reinharte is unaccounted for."

"What?!" He scanned the crowd of angry officers, but none were the admiral. "You and Bradley go and find her. I don't care if you have to search the entire ship; I want her found!" The two men nodded, running off to perform their job. Brody turned toward the rest of his men. "Take them to the brig and guard them. They're to be under close supervision until Hudson says otherwise."

"Aye, sir," came the unison reply.

* * * * 'McCartney' found Asa and Miguel in the back of the group of disguised KrayTax. 'He' slowed 'his' pace, Wendy obediently following 'him', until 'he' stood beside the 'captain.' "Asa," 'McCartney' thought to him, "we're going after the Shray'don. When we pass an adjoining corridor we'll slip into it." The disguised alien gave a small nod.

Another corridor appeared and the four scurried into it, pressing against the wall. They held their breaths until the footsteps of the security team and their prisoners died out. "What are you doing, McCartney?" a voice asked. They turned towards its source. Bradley was standing there, his rifle up in firing position. 'McCartney' just chuckled.

"Oh, Bradley," the fake grinned menacingly. 'He' waved a hand and Bradley's rifle flew out of his hands and into 'McCartney's.' "I'm just taking care of business." 'He' pulled the trigger, shooting the man in the abdomen. Bradley cried out in pain and sank to the floor. "Get rid of him," 'he' ordered Miguel. To Asa, 'he' announced, "There's your new identity."

Asa grinned at 'McCartney,' his face melting into that of Bradley's. 'McCartney's' features also changed, reforming themselves to match Lonnie Henderson's. "Might as well look like a familiar face," she exclaimed. "Wouldn't want to alarm the boy." She frowned as they walked down the hall. "Now for the tricky part. We can't use a telepathic search for the Shray'don. It appears that he was given a granga before his departure from our planet. We'll have to do this the old-fashion way."

* * * * Lucas looked up as Tony came into Hudson's office. "Hey, Luke," his friend greeted him. He glared at him for using the disliked nickname, but didn't say anything as he went back to shutting down the computer. Somehow one of the routes he'd taken through the security system had dissolved and he was trying to get out through another back door. "You know, you could at least say hi t'me."

"Hi." With one final tap on the keys, Lucas was out of the system. Sighing, he turned off the computer. He made a mental note to himself to go over the boat's security again. Something must have been malfunctioning. "What are you doing here?" he asked Tony.

"Commander Ford sent me to keep an eye on you," his friend replied.

"In other words: baby-sitting."

"Exactly," Piccolo teased. "I'm to make sure that no little green men come out of your closet an' attack you in your sleep." He grinned, seating himself in a chair. "Really, all I'm here for is to keep you company."

"And get in the way," a familiar voice declared from the doorway. Both roommates jumped out of their chairs and turned around to face the door. Lonnie was leaning against the doorway, one of the security officers, Miguel, and Wendy just behind her. "Looks like you didn't hire yourself a very good bodyguard, Lucas."

Lucas paled. "Y-You're not Lonnie," he stuttered, fear evident in his bright blue eyes. 'Henderson' chuckled.

"No wonder you are the Shray'don," she exclaimed, bringing herself upright and sauntering into the room. Tony tried to tackle her, to give Lucas a chance to escape, but was thrown back by an unseen force. "Hold him down," 'Lonnie' shouted into the hall. Smith and Ortiz scurried in, taking Tony's arms and holding him down.

Lucas' eyes quickly scanned the room, looking for a distraction: anything to keep the approaching alien away from him, but he was standing in the middle of the room; no objects were nearby that he could use as weapons. Fear rose another notch as 'Lonnie' came closer. He had to do something!

Tobias' words came back to him: "Tell him that all he has to do is concentrate on something and he'll either move it or make a telepathic connection with it." His eyes landed on the large book resting on Hudson's desk. With one quick glance at the disguised alien he stared hard at the book, thinking, "Lift!"

The book didn't budge.

Lucas' jaw tightened in frustration. 'Lonnie' was coming closer and he was running out of room to back away. He resisted the urge to furrow his brow as he tried again. If the alien got any hint about what he was doing all his trying would be for nothing.

The book shook this time, lifting barely off the desk, but it fell back down when Lucas bumped into the wall. He looked back at 'Lonnie.' She had a dagger out now: the dagger from his dreams. "I need that book," he thought, concentrating hard. "Lift!"

'Henderson' was nearly on top of him, the dagger raised above her head, ready to jab the blade into her enemy's heart. Something slammed into the side of her face, almost making her topple over. She glared at Lucas, but turned away from him when something caught her eye.

A book dropped from mid-air. 'Lonnie' stared at it, her eyes narrowing as her anger grew. She screamed, striking at where Lucas should have been, but instead digging the blade into the wall. She whirled around, searching for her target.

There was the sound of a struggle in the corridor, then silence. 'Bradley' came back into the office, throwing Lucas on the floor in front of 'Lonnie.' Miguel, Wendy, and Tony stared at the boy in horror as he tried to get up. Blood trickled down the side of his face, crossing a bruise that was forming on his cheek.

Ortiz and Smith hadn't anticipated this. They'd figured that Ariel would just take Lucas off SeaQuest and THEN kill him. They weren't expecting to see them hurt the boy at all. This wasn't supposed to happen! Seeing Lucas injured on the floor had rekindled their fighting spirit. They weren't going to watch them hurt a child. Releasing Tony, Miguel lunged at 'Bradley' and Wendy tackled 'Lonnie.'

Tony stared at the two in shock. Weren't they enemies now? He pushed the thoughts out of his mind and crawled to his roommate. "Come on, Luke. Let's get outta here," he whispered, draping the boy's arm over his shoulders.

Wendy was the first down. She'd had clawed at Ariel's disguised face, drawing purple blood with her nails. The alien screamed, slamming her fist into the doctor's jaw. "Traitors!" Ariel shouted. "You shall pay for this!" The alien punched her again in the face and everything went dark.

Miguel had put up more of a fight, but was no match for Asa. In the end, Ortiz was unconscious and Asa had but a few bruises and a bloody nose. He scanned the room, growling when he noticed that Lucas and Tony had slipped out. He charged after them.

* * * * Commander Ford almost bumped into Tony and Lucas as he rounded the corner. He stopped in mid-step, his eyes widening as he took in Lucas' appearance. "What the hell happened?!" he shouted in disbelief.

"The KrayTax found him," Tony explained. "He tried to escape, but one caught him an' had beaten him before he could."

Ford slammed his fists into the wall. "Damn!" He pulled out his PAL. "O'Neill, put the boat on red alert. We have two aliens loose and I want them caught!"

There was a pause before Tim responded. "Aliens, sir?"

"Just do it, Tim! Also warn them that these aliens have the ability to change form and are telepathic," the commander said, shutting down his PAL before Tim could confirm his orders. He turned back to Tony. "Follow me. We need to get Lucas to a safe place."

* * * * The 'safe place' turned out to be the conference room. Its closeness to the bridge, Ford figured, would protect Lucas better since help was only a few minutes away from it. They laid the boy on the long table in the middle of the room. "Why didn't we go down to medbay?" Tony asked.

"Because the aliens know Lucas is injured, so that would lead them to suspect that that's where we went," the commander explained, wiping the blood off the ensign's face with a tissue.

"Can I at least call medbay?" Tony still couldn't believe that there were people- or, in this case, aliens- that wanted Lucas dead. What harm could a boy do?

"No. They may see the doctor and follow her here. No one is entering or leaving this room," Ford ordered. He didn't like what he was saying. Like Tony, Ford didn't want to see Lucas hurt. Almost everyone on the boat had basically raised him: had watched him grow up from being an obnoxious teenager to what he was now: an officer in the UEO.

Lucas moaned and pushed Ford's hand away. He opened his eyes and looked around the room. "Darwin," he whispered. He looked up at the commander. "I need to go to the moonpool."

Ford pushed him down as the boy tried to get up. "You're safe now, Lucas," he reassured him softly. "The KrayTax will have a harder time finding you here than at the moonpool."

"No," the ensign protested, trying to get up again, "you don't understand. I need to go to the moonpool." Tony and Ford frowned at him. "I'll be safer there than here."

Ford folded his arms. "The KrayTax know that you like to go down there. It'll be one of the first places they check."

"No, maybe not." The commander looked back at Tony curiously. "Now, this is just a guess, but I don't think they like Darwin." Ford raised an eyebrow. "Think about it, Commander. Didn't ya see the way Wendy acted when she realized Darwin was there splashin' in the tank? She was nervous; she didn't like our fish friend bein' there."

Piccolo was right. Ford remembered seeing how the doctor had hesitated before she asked where Lucas was. She always seemed to have a wary eye on the dolphin. "Maybe we should-"

"Get out of the way." Tony and Ford jumped at the new voice and turned towards the door, standing in front of the injured boy. 'Bradley' had a rifle trained on them, snarling at them. He waved the gun. "You heard me! Move!" Stubbornly, the two men stood their ground.

'Lonnie,' with three purple slash marks on her cheek, stepped out from behind the 'security officer.' "You'd sacrifice your lives to save the boy?" She smirked. "You earthlings are stupid." She narrowed her eyes, stretching her presence into both of their minds, freezing their ability to move. "Get the Shray'don, Asa," she commanded.

The other alien nodded, swiftly moving around the still men. Lucas tried to climb off the table, but an injury to his side only made him want to cry. Easily, Asa lifted the boy off the table by his waist and carried him back to 'Lonnie.'

"Let me go!" Lucas shouted, squirming in 'Bradley's' arms. A chair rose up a few inches unsteadily, the edge of the seat hitting the back of the alien's legs. With a grunt he sat down, forcing the possessed chair back to the floor. He kicked Lucas hard in the calf, pleased to hear the boy yelp in pain.

"Quit such foolishness," 'Lonnie' scolded. She pulled out her hand-held computer, typed in a code, and spoke into it. "We have the Shray'don. Transport us aboard." She started to glow blue as she pocketed the computer, as did Lucas and Asa. In a bright flash, all three were gone.

Ford and Tony blinked, finally able to move. They'd seen everything, but couldn't do anything to stop the KrayTax from taking Lucas. "What are we gonna to do, Commander?" Piccolo asked.

"Two things," Ford replied. "One, tell Hudson. Two, pray."

* * * * They threw Lucas into an unfurnished room, his wrists and ankles shackled. The leg Asa had kicked collapsed under him as he tried to get up; a bright red stain was spreading on his pants leg. "What do you want with me?" he cried to the guards as they locked the door. "Why am I here?" They didn't answer.

He looked down at his cuffs as hot, unshed tears stung his eyes. He pulled angrily at the restraints. How could this have happened? Why did they want him dead? Why the hell did they keep calling him the Shray'don?!

He slid to the floor, wiping a fallen tear off his face. Where was Bridger when he needed him? Of course, Bridger didn't know any of this was going on, but that was the only person Lucas wanted to see now. Fear of the unexpected was great, and at least with Bridger he'd have felt safe.

Lucas jerked his head up, feeling another presence in the cell. An alien, not a KrayTax, stood on the other side of the small room, its head cocked to the side as it stared at him. He recognized it as one of the aliens that had come to Earth ten years ago. "Hello, Lucas," it greeted him, nodding its head.

"H-How did you get in here?" he asked, surprised.

"I'm not really here." The creature stepped over to Lucas, placing a hand on his head, but the hand went through him. "I've been sent to watch you, Lucas, while our leader talks to Ariel. What she plans to do is suicidal."

"What is she going to do?"

"Ariel wants to kill you, Lucas, thinking that you would destroy the KrayTax race." Lucas looked at the alien in shock and horror. "What she does not realize is that she'll be destroying her people anyway."

He gave the creature a curious glance. "How could she do that?"

It paused. "You should not trouble yourself with these thoughts," it said emotionlessly. "Rest." Lucas didn't like not knowing what was going on, but he didn't press for details. He was tired and in pain; sleep sounded like a good idea. He leaned back into the wall and closed his eyes.

* * * * "Ariel."

The KrayTax turned around to face the main screen. She smirked when she realized who it was. "Why, Kun Utralyn, what a pleasure it is to hear from you."

"This is not a pleasure call, Lady Ariel," the alien announced. "Release Lucas immediately."

"Ahh, so you have been keeping track of our movements." Ariel sat in her command chair. "I'm surprised, really. I thought your people were the peaceful type."

"We are, unless we're provoked," Utralyn replied. "And we are provoked. Release the boy."

"Getting straight down to business, aren't we?" She leaned back, her forced smile falling. "He may not be a threat to your people, Kun Utralyn, but he is to mine. We shall get rid of him while we have the chance."

"You are only planning your destruction," the Kun insisted. "If the child is killed, the galaxy is killed: yourself included."

Ariel's eyes narrowed and she gripped the chair's armrests. "I will not listen to your lies. The Shray'don is a danger that must be disposed of. If you wish to join him, I can have that arranged." She hit a button on the control panel in front of her and the alien's image vanished. "Asa!" she shouted.

"Yes, my Lady?" he asked, moving to stand beside her.

"Get the Shray'don," Ariel ordered. Asa nodded, hurrying off to do her bidding. She picked up her dagger and slid her fingers lightly down its sharp edge, licking her lips in anticipation.

* * * * Lucas did not sleep long. The noises filtering in from outside the cell were too loud: KrayTax shouting and running, alarms for something always going off, and computers beeping every now and then. He moaned and opened his eyes.

The alien was gone; it had left him to sleep. One of the guards had set a water canteen and a piece of stale bread in front of the door. At least they weren't planning to starve him. He crawled over and opened the canteen, letting some of its contents drop to the floor. Fortunately and unfortunately, it didn't eat away at the metal floor. He downed two large gulps of water.

The door swung opened unexpectedly, hit him, and pushed Lucas to the floor. He looked up to see Asa, in his true form, hovering over him with a snarl on his scaly face. The creature kicked him the ribs. "Get up!" he ordered. The boy tried to curl up into a ball, but Asa snatched his shackles and pulled him up. "Go." The alien pushed him out of the cell.

Lucas slammed into the corridor's opposite wall and collapsed. Asa stared down at him and then nodded to the guards. The two each took one of the boy's arms and dragged him to his feet, carrying him between them down the hall.

They twisted and turned down the narrow corridors until Asa held up a hand. He typed a code on a wall panel. An alarm gave a quick, loud honk and the doors opened to the bridge.

The bridge was huge. It had a raised area that encompassed half of the lower part with a set of stairs in between the eight stations. Below, four more stations sat around the raised command chair. A screen covered the front of the bridge.

The command chair swiveled around as the guards carried Lucas down the stairs. Ariel smiled coldly as the boy struggled, playing with the dagger in her hands. "Enoch, hail the Kun's ship," she called out to her communications officer.

"Already done, M' Lady," he replied from his station to the right of her.

"Good." She got out of her seat. "Put it on the main screen." She nodded to Asa and the alien took Lucas by his restraints to follow her.

Kun Utralyn's image flashed on the screen. The creature's expression showed no emotions, but its words were pleading. "Please, Ariel, doesn't do this. You're going to kill everything and everyone when you could've prevented it. Think about your people."

"I have," Ariel growled, "and my people will finally sleep soundly when the Shray'don is no more." She turned back to Asa and nodded.

Lucas was forced to his knees in front of the alien, his head held down by Asa's strong hand. "Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked, but no one answered him.

The Kun shifted uncomfortably. "Then you leave me no choice. Good-bye, Ariel." The screen darkens as transmission was cut.

She snickered, looking at her reflection one last time in the dagger's blade. She gripped it with both hands and raised it, ready to stab the boy who had put so much fear into her and her people...

Ariel screamed like a banshee when the laser blast grazed her hand. She dropped the dagger, clutching her injury to herself, searching for where the blast had come from.

Kun Utralyn's best warriors, with their metal wristbands and vaporizing weapons, emerged from within four of the KrayTax officers on the top level. Their leader's translating device blinked as the alien talked. "Move away from the boy," it ordered.

Ariel glanced around the bridge at her stunned crew. "Don't just sit there! Get them!" she shrieked. All jumped to their feet and charged the 'unexpected guests.'

A crewmember vanished in a flash of light. The KrayTax stopped their advancement, hesitating to attack the aliens. Knowing that the bridge crew would lose, Asa turned to Ariel. "My Lady, if you're going to kill the Shray'don do it now, while they are distracted."

She nodded, picking the dagger back up with her good hand. "This for all you put me, and the rest of the KrayTax, through, boy," she sneered, lashing out with the blade. Lucas closed his eyes and looked away.

Nothing happened.

He opened his eyes and looked up at where Ariel was. She was gone: vaporized by one of the warriors.

Asa pulled Lucas up by his wrist restraints, hugging the boy close and holding a knife to his throat. "Drop your weapons," he commanded, "or the boy dies!" The battle on the top level paused, the alien warriors staring down at the KrayTax threatening Lucas' life. Slowly, they removed their weapons, letting them drop to the floor. Asa laughed. "You'd really believe that I wouldn't destroy the Shray'don while I had the chance? Think again!" He pressed on the knife, trying to push it into Lucas' throat, but, instead, it started moving the opposite way he wanted it to.

The KrayTax lost his grip on his weapon and it flew through the air, digging its tip into a control panel. Sparks burst forth, burning out as they floated to the floor. Asa's face grew red with anger and he roared, flinging Lucas across the bridge. The boy struck the wall with full force, falling down on to the hard floor. "You! This is all your doing!" the alien accused, charging at him.

There was a bright flash of light and Asa was gone. Lucas gave a sobbing sigh of relief. The warriors' leader jumped off the raised portion of the bridge and knelt beside him. "It's all over, Lucas," it whispered, brushing the boy's hair out his face as he cried. "Shhh." Lucas gazed up at the alien through his tears, watching as the world went dark.

** Part Five ** No one on the SeaQuest's bridge was really paying attention to his or her stations. Ford and Tony had told them a few hours ago about what happened to Lucas, from the nightmares to when he was taken. No one could believe it. Lucas was a nice kid, when he wanted to be; why would anyone want to hurt him?

Darwin seemed to be the only one certain that Lucas was still alive. "Light weak," he had said. "Still shine." The crew wished they could have been as confident as the dolphin was.

They all jumped out of their seats when they saw a blue light appear on the bridge. When it vanished, the alien warriors and the leader carrying an unconscious Lucas were in its place. "Lucas!" Ford exclaimed, hurrying over to the boy and the alien. The other warriors became defensive, holding their weapons in firing position. The commander screeched to a halt.

Hudson walked up behind Ford, his hands raised. "I am Captain Hudson of SeaQuest," he announced. "We mean you no harm."

The alien carrying the ensign tilted its head. "Where is Captain Bridger?"

"Bridger decided to hand the command of SeaQuest over to me. He is on a personal mission in search of his son." Hudson took a few cautious steps forward. "I believe you have my ensign." The alien nodded. "Mr. Ford," he said, turning to the commander. "Why don't you show our guests the way to medbay."

"Aye, sir." Ford led the aliens off the bridge. Two of the warriors glanced warningly around before also following.

"Mr. Piccolo, were those the aliens you and the commander were talking about?" Hudson asked. Tony shook his head.

"Naw, those were the aliens that came to Earth in 2022," he replied. "They're harmless, except when threatened. You don't wanna see'm angry. Their ghosts are bad enough." Hudson gave Tony a quizzical look and nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * * * Dr. Perry froze, wide-eyed, as the aliens were led through the door, curiously scanning the room and its equipment. Ford elbowed her and she blinked out of her trance. "Umm... p-put him on the bed," she stuttered. The warriors' leader turned to her, tilting its head as it stared at the doctor, and then nodded, gently laying the boy down.

The aliens stood back and watched as Dr. Perry ran some checks on Lucas, feeling for broken bones and scanning for internal injuries. The doctor kept glancing up at them nervously as she went along, not used to having an audience.

Ford's PAL chirped and he pulled it out, turning his back to the room's other occupants. "Ford here." He nodded his head as he listened. "Aye, sir." He turned back around to face the aliens. "The captain would like to..." He trailed off.

The aliens were gone.

* * * * Hudson paced impatiently in the medbay's waiting area, waiting to find out his ensign's condition. He didn't want to be there, not because he didn't like Wolenczak, but because he wanted to find out why all of this had happened. Sure, the boy was smart, brilliant even, but the captain couldn't believe that an alien race would go through so much trouble to kill him.

He looked up as Dr. Perry came towards him. "How is he?" he asked.

"He was very lucky," she replied. "A few bruised ribs, a concussion, slightly sprained and cut wrists, some torn muscles-"

Hudson raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't seem lucky to me."

The doctor crossed her arms, staring at him angrily. "When you think about what Ensign Wolenczak must have gone through, Captain, you would think otherwise. It could've been worse." She turned away from him. "Now, the other two patients, Wendy Smith and Miguel Ortiz, are doing well. I'm releasing them later today. You may go and see them if you wish." Picking up a few papers, Dr. Perry vanished into her office.

The captain sighed; he never got along with doctors. As he walked towards Smith's room he paused. Through the crack of an opened door he saw Lucas, still unconscious. A bandage grazed his forehead, clearly showing up against his pale, bruised skin. Gauze was wrapped around his wrists and the lower part of his left leg. Hudson's frown deepened and he tore his eyes away from the sight.

Ortiz was softly talking to Smith when he entered, knocking on the door. The two fell silent, staring up at Hudson as if he were a ghost that had suddenly appeared. Anger rose in his chest as he stared at them. These two had helped the aliens take Lucas: had been a part of their schemes...

He cleared his throat and tried not to let his emotions enter his words. "Why did you do it?" he questioned bluntly.

There was a pause. "We had no choice," Wendy finally replied, looking down at her hands. "The KrayTax put us through tortures us until we obeyed their every word." She gulped and gazed back up at Hudson with watery eyes. "Ariel wanted us to help capture Lucas so they could kill him. They said if we obeyed, they would let us stay on Earth, but if we refused, we would've been put through the tortures again." A tear ran down her bruised face. "Death was better than that, Captain."

Smith turned around, unable to control her emotions. Ortiz took over the narration. "You could consider it selfish, but we thought that obeying was the better alternative. If the plan went as it was supposed to, only Lucas would have died and we would be free from the KrayTax. It didn't happen like that. Ariel's anger for Lucas was too strong. Once she found him, she tried to kill him right in front of us. We couldn't stand it and attacked them, which is why we're here."

"But why did they want to kill him in the first place?" Hudson nearly shouted.

Miguel just shook his head. "I don't know, sir."

* * * * Slowly, Lucas opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. Medbay? What was he doing in medbay? Then he remembered and wished he was still unconscious. How did he ever get in to such a mess?! Why did the KrayTax believe he was too dangerous to be alive?

Dr. Perry entered the room and smiled at him when she realized he was up. "Good to see you awake," she said, scanning her clipboard and making a few marks. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," he whispered hoarsely, watching her roam the room, checking this and that.

"That would be the painkillers." The doctor glanced at the IVs and made another quick mark on the clipboard. She looked back down at her patient. "Are you thirsty?" He opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it, frowning. He turned his head toward the door. A figure was leaning against the doorframe, one side of her face black and blue. She smiled at him. "Hey."

Lucas went pale and tried to get out of bed, only to cry out in pain and grasp his side. Dr. Perry glared at the figure and rushed to Lucas' side. "I told you not to come in here," she growled, trying to calm her patient. "Get out." Hesitantly, the other woman left the room and she finally got the ensign to settle back into bed. "Now, just get some rest. I'll be back in to check on you."

"What's she-"

"Go to sleep," she ordered, leaving the room.

Lucas took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "She's good now," he repeated over and over in his head. He had nothing to fear; he was safe. Why couldn't he get that in his head? He sighed, closing his eyes. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

* * * * "What were you thinking?" Perry shouted, slamming the door to her office. "The boy isn't ready to see you. Didn't you see how terrified he was?"

"I didn't mean to," Dr. Smith responded coolly. "I thought I would be nice and say hello. I may be psychic, but I can't read his mind."

The other woman huffed and went behind her desk. "It seemed like you did that on purpose. Even without reading his mind it should have been obvious."

"I know it should," Wendy whispered, "but..." She paused.

"But what?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Never mind." She got up to leave, but stopped and turned back around. "I'll try not to do that again, Doctor," she promised, shutting the door behind her.

* * * * Lucas half-opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. His wrists and leg throbbed with pain. The rest of him was numb, but he had a feeling that wouldn't be the case if he tried to sit up.

He brought his gaze down when he heard someone come into the room. He tensed up when he saw Wendy quietly shut the door behind her and smile down at him. In her hand was a glass of water. "I thought you might be thirsty," she whispered. He didn't respond, just stared up at her with his bright blue eyes. It felt as though he was gazing right into her soul; it unnerved her.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. "Come on. You need something to drink."

The boy stared at her for a moment longer and then gave a small nod. She smiled and set the glass down, helping him into a sitting position. He winced, but didn't cry out as she propped him up against the pillows. Wendy then held the water out for him to take, but he didn't budge. "You have to take the glass to drink it," she exclaimed, raising her eyebrows.

The boy's response startled her. "I know. I'm just waiting for you to let it go." Giving him an uneasy look, Smith removed her hand from the glass. To her amazement, the glass remained in the air. She watched in awe as it floated through the air and pressed its edge to the ensign's lips.

"You're getting good at that," she commented, taking the now half-empty glass when it floated back to her and placing it on the bedstand. Lucas just shrugged, looking down at his bandaged wrists, not wanting to see the doctor. "Lucas?" He ignored her, trying to flex his fingers, but hot pain shot up his limbs and he stopped. "Lucas, I need to know what...what happened to Ariel. Please, tell me."

What little color he had drained from his face when he heard the alien's name. He could see it all happening again: images of the KrayTax' evil grin as she played with the shiny dagger, about to strike out at him and end his life...

No, don't think about it! He gulped. "She's dead," he whispered so softly that Wendy had to strain to hear him.

Smith felt a rush of relief flow over her. She was free. Free! She wanted to run the length of the boat, screaming that she had her freedom again, but one look at Lucas and her happiness died. The boy was staring off into space, shaking a little as he remembered his time on the spaceship. She pulled him into a hug, minding his injuries. "Oh, Lucas, it's all right," she comforted him as he continued to shake in her arms. "It's over now. They're not going to get you again. You're safe."

She continued to hold him until he stopped shivering, falling asleep in her arms.

* * * * There might as well have been a line in the waiting room the next morning. The whole senior staff was there when Dr. Smith and Dr. Perry entered, all asking to see Lucas. "He just got back yesterday," Perry protested. "He's in no shape for all these visitors!"

"How 'bout one?" Tony asked. The doctor rolled her eyes and shoved through the group to get to her office. Piccolo watched her shut the door and turned back to Smith. "Well, how 'bout it?"

"Not today, Tony." Wendy shooed them out and then went to check on the ensign. She cracked open the door, smiling when she saw that he was still asleep. She closed the door and went into Perry's office. "He's still sleeping," she announced, seating herself in a chair.

"That's all right. He needs all the rest he can get." The doctor handed Wendy a cup of coffee. "Be careful drinking it: it's real strong." Smith nodded as the other woman took her seat behind the desk. "I know you went to see Lucas yesterday." Wendy paled slightly. Perry smiled. "It's all right. I'm not going to get at you... for now," she reassured the other doctor. "So, how was he? Is he still terrified of you?"

Wendy took a sip of the foul liquid. "No, that's not too much of a problem now. My main concern would be his mental state. The past events are really taking their toll." She paused to take another sip, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "I don't know how to help him."

"Yeah," Dr. Perry agreed, "not many people have had aliens out to kill them." She looked over the rim of her cup. "Why don't you and Ortiz talk with him. You've had similar experiences."

"That maybe true, but he might not trust us. I mean, we did help the KrayTax search for him."

"And you also tried to save him," Perry added. "I have a feeling that he knows that; he just doesn't know if you're totally of his side. You and Ortiz have to prove it."

Smith nodded slowly. "I'll think about it," she said as Dr. Perry got out of her seat and headed out the door.

* * * * Lucas could feel a hand stroking his face. He opened his eyes to see the warrior leader staring down at him, smiling slightly. "Hello, Lucas."

"What are you doing here?" he questioned, trying to sit himself up more. He winced and clasped his side. The alien gently pushed him back down.

"You do not need to get up," it said, brushing a piece of hair out of the boy's eyes. "I am here to answer your questions pertaining to the KrayTax." Lucas shuddered, turning his head to stare at the far wall. "I know it is an unpleasant topic, but I must."

Lucas nodded, closing his eyes. "I know," he whispered. He stared down at his hands, then looked up at the alien. "Why don't you start with why they wanted to kill me."

The alien nodded. "The KrayTax heard about my people's contact with yours and that we consider you the beginning of intelligent life. They grew terrified of you; they prided themselves on being the most advanced race in the known galaxy and you were a threat to that title. Not only that, but, if you proved to be smarter than them, they feared that you would create ways to destroy them. Besides being known for their technology, the KrayTax were feared across the galaxy for their cruelty; almost all the known inhabited planets have tried to defeat them, but no one has succeeded. They feared that a new contender, led by you, could kill off their entire raise. They figured they had to kill you to stop that from happening."

"Why couldn't they be allowed to do that?" Lucas asked, curiously. "And why did they keep calling me the Shray'don?" "Shray'don means 'the beginning of the end,'" the warrior answered. "As I have said already, they feared that you would be the end of them all. As for not being allowed to kill you..." It paused. "Lucas, you are the key to the galaxy." The boy stared at the alien, not comprehending what he was being told. "If something were to happened to you, the galaxy would destroy itself. You are the one that keeps the peace in the galaxy, like SeaQuest keeps the peace on this planet."

"But, but how? Where did I earn this title?"

The alien gave him a sad smile, running its fingers through his hair. "The galaxy works in strange ways, Lucas. You just have to accept it." It glanced behind at the door and quickly stood, vanishing in a flash of light as Dr. Perry came in.

The doctor scanned the room. "Who were you talking to?" she asked.

Lucas eyed the spot the alien last was and then shook his head. "No one."

* * * * Lucas sighed, placing his hands behind his head as he reread one of his books, which was floating in midair. The bandages were off his wrists now, though red cuts were still visible on his skin. He wouldn't look at the marks; they brought back too many memories. That was one of the reasons's he wouldn't use his hands to do things, such as hold his book; he didn't want to remember.

"How many times have you read that book now? Ten?" Tony asked as he came into the room. Dr. Perry had finally allowed Lucas to have visitors, though only a certain number per day. It was better than nothing, but he would have preferred being released. "Twelve," Lucas replied, not looking up from his reading. "But who's counting?"

Tony grinned and shook his head, pulling a chair over to the bed. He did a double take when he noticed his friend's book floating. "Would ya like some anchors for your book?"

Lucas smiled, the book dropping into his lap. He eyed his friend. "No, thank you, but I would like to get out of here." Tony nodded.

"Yeah, bein' cooped up in here for a week would get kinda borin'." There was knock at the door and both looked up to see who it was. "Ya know, Dr. Smith, Luke here's only s'poses ta have one visitor at a time," Tony announced to the figures standing nervously in the doorway.

"I know, Tony, but this is something special. Could you wait outside for a moment while Miguel and I talk to Lucas?" Wendy almost sounded like she was pleading. "Please? It'll only take a minute."

Tony stared at her. This was his first chance to see Lucas and now Wendy and Miguel wanted to take it away? He threw his hands into the air, rising out of the chair. "Geez! A guy finally gets a chance ta see his friend and someone throws him out. Don't mind me; I'll just put my name back on the long waitin' list and wait forever again." He stopped at the door and turned back around to face Lucas. "And when I do finally come back, you're going to teach me how to do that," he added, pointing to the book which was, once again, floating in the air. He glared at Dr. Smith and left before his friend could reply.

Lucas glanced over at Wendy as Tony stormed off, then buried his face in his book. She sighed at this; the kid still didn't trust her. Quietly, she and Miguel filed into the room, seating themselves in chairs.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for what seemed forever. It was Ortiz who broke the quiet. "How are you feeling?" he whispered.

Lucas shrugged, still refusing to look in their direction. "Good." Silence fell over them again.

Smith sighed in frustration. "We can't act like this forever," she declared. "Lucas, look at me." It rather childish on his part: like a five year old giving his parents the silent treatment. Then again, they had helped Ariel capture him...

The book dropped back into his lapped and Lucas turned to face her. His face was emotionless, but his eyes gave away how scared he was with her and Ortiz in the room. The control over his facial features broke quickly, though, and he turned away as tears welled up in his eyes and he began to shake. It pained Wendy to see him so upset. "Oh, Lucas," she whispered, placing a hand on his shoulder, but he pulled away. Hurt, she dropped her hand, looking towards Miguel for help.

Ortiz glanced at her, down at the floor, then up at the shaking boy. "I'm sorry, Lucas. I wish it could've turned out another way, but..." He trailed off. He sighed, dropping his gaze back to the floor. "We had no choice. If you knew what we went through, you'd understand why we did what we did. They tortured us until we willingly obeyed them. They promised us freedom if we helped them capture you, Lucas. After what seemed like months of pain, we would have done anything for it to end... even sacrifice one of our friends."

He looked up to see Lucas staring at him, his cheeks tear-stained and pale. "But you weren't totally broken, were you?" the boy croaked. "That's why you tried to stop them from killing me, isn't it?"

Wendy shook her head. "We were broken, Lucas, but seeing you hurt... we couldn't take it anymore." She gave him a small smile. "You brought us back."

Lucas gazed intently at both of them and Wendy thought she felt a presence brush past her. A smile crossed his face. "It's good to have you back," he whispered.

* * * * It seemed like eternity before Lucas was back on active duty. Dr. Perry had deemed him well enough to take half-shifts, so long as he stopped when he became tired. He couldn't run and was suppose to stay off his leg as much as possible, making him unfit for intrusions or rescue missions, for the time being.

"Hey, Lucas," Tim's voice came in over his headset. "Is there a disc laying somewhere up there?" Lucas scanned the console, discovering a disc resting by his elbow.

He picked up and showed it to O'Neill. "This it?" he asked into the microphone. Tim nodded, starting to climb out of his chair to get it. "Catch."

"No, Lucas, I don't think you should-" Tim broke off as the ensign lightly tossed it into the air. To the lieutenant's amazement, the disc floated over to him, dangling in front of his face. He stared at it for a moment, then took it. "How did you do that?"

Lucas shrugged. "Just a little something I picked up," he replied, smiling mischievously at O'Neill, before returning his attention to his station.

He pulled his headset off a while later, rubbing his eyes. Only half of his shift had been completed and he was already feeling groggy. As he got up, an image of him and Darwin playing sprung into his mind. Lucas glanced over at the tank in corner, seeing Darwin watching him. "Later," he mouthed. The dolphin nodded his head and swam off.

Commander Ford noticed Lucas leaving, out of the corner of his eye. "Leaving so soon?" he whispered as he walked over to the boy.

Lucas nodded. "Yeah. I was beginning to fall asleep." Ford nodded, sidestepping to let him pass.

He hit the button for the maglev and leaned against the wall to wait, closing his eyes. "Hi, Tony," he greeted his roommate without opening his eyes.

"Ya know, there's some downsides about you havin' psychic abilities," Tony grumbled, his plan, to sneak up on his young friend, failing. He leaned against the opposite wall, crossing his arms. "I thought your shift was still goin' on."

"It is, but I was getting tired," Lucas explained, opening his eyes and straightening when he heard the door to the maglev open. Tony grabbed his arm before he could enter it. "What?"

"I just was wonderin' if you're copin' with this as well as you seemed ta be."

Lucas sighed, looking around to make sure no one was nearby. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "It's slow-going, but, yeah, I'm coping pretty well, considering to the circumstances. It's not like everything's going to go back to the way it was and I'm going to forget that it ever happened."

"And you shouldn't neither," Tony exclaimed. "It's always good to remember, whether it's good or bad." He gave the ensign a little shove towards the maglev. "Get ta bed," a crooked grin crossed his face, "and make sure you double-check the closet for any little green men. Wouldn't want ya ta have nightmares."

Lucas half-grinned and half-glared at Piccolo. "I'll do that," he replied as the door shut. He sighed, leaning back in his seat and staring up at the ceiling. Maybe things wouldn't return completely to normal, but at least he knew that some things would never change.

THE END Kirsten S. Copyright 1998-1999