Forgiveness

by Pascal in Quebec

ELF! season 1; end of the episode "Brothers and Sisters"; When Bridger decides to make of spectacle of his power and authority over Lucas by publicly punishing him, Lucas was humiliated to no ends. Westphalen tried to make things worse. She did. For everybody. That left an unprotected Lucas no choice but to defend himself publicly or face more humiliating, injurious punishments.

1. Chapter 1

The author wishes to express thanks to anyone who may read his story and encourages them to leave reviews, comments or even flame it hard. As with any who try their hand at publicly expressing an idea or story concept, all feedback is important and welcome.

Disclaimer: I do not own SeaQuest, Star Wars, nor any other sci-fi or fantasy series, movies, comics, cartoons or news items used in this fiction as they belong to the creators or broadcasters or publishers who put them out for consumption by the public.

SeaQuest

LONG ABSTRACT:

This story takes place in season 1, just at the end of the episode "Brothers and Sisters" when Bridger decides to make of spectacle of his power and authority over Lucas by publicly announcing he was punishing him, in front of a reporter and live camera no less. At that point Lucas was humiliated to no ends but still ready to quietly accept the sentence honestly if it made the angry man back down. However, Westphalen being the angry rabid bitch that she always was thought she had the right to interfere and be her usual toxic, detrimental self at the expense of the young man. Everything went bad from there and blood was spilled before the light of truth shone at the end.

UNLIKE MY OTHER STORY, "Justice for Lucas", this has absolutely no psionics, magicks or time engines involved even if such things were part & parcel of the SeaQuest canon in all three seasons.

PS; I like flames, they're fun to read so don't hesitate to write them.

WARNING; the language level of this one is not too particularly trashy when we consider a story based on boats and sailors. However, as I always warn people who read my work: this language was pretty much normal in the school yard 30 years ago when I was a teenager. So, how can you have such a thin skin and be part of the same culture on the same continent if this is really that offensive to you? Where did you spend the last few decades, if you can't take a few hard words from the mouths of kids when these words have been around since before World War I?

HARSH WARNING; this fiction will mercilessly shred and burn the concepts so cherished by cultists and apostolates of every sect: blind obedience, dominance, submissiveness, punishment as being equal to or above discipline as a whole and the obligation for the victims to forgive the clerics and adults who harm them.

RELIGION AND BIGOTRY are two sides of the same toxic coin and I refuse to be an apologist of either, I will not even tolerate them the least little bit. This so called "season of family and togetherness" is based on a 2,000 year old lie that has spawned many horrors, monsters and destroyers of families and children. I see yet again the sluts-of-the-pews whelming themselves to pour poison on all our souls and I myself am moved to react. If the prostitutes of the ecclesiastes have the right to publish their church pamphlets pushing violence, injustice, lies, spurious abuse of authority and child-beating on us free of any constraints or fear of legal reprisals, then so do I have the right to counter-write the denunciations that these trashy toilet-paper sheets deserve. Freedom of Expression goes both ways and REALITY will burn out the FALSE TRUTH of sects at every occasion.

FORGIVENESS

The Powerful punish because nobody can stop them;

The Weak forgive because it's all the Powerful allow them to do

CHAPTER 1; THE HIDDEN REALITIES

RETURNING TO THE SHIP

(SeaQuest – season 1 – opening theme)

Wednesday 25th of March, 2020; 15:29pm

SeaQuest DVS 6000, UEO flagship, sea-deck, near moonpool

North of the Australian coastline

They had finally made it out of the old munitions depot and not fifteen minutes later it had sheared off the side of the underwater canyon where it had endured for nearly twenty five years. The massive steel construct had ripped off its moorings like a band-aid off an injury; quickly, painfully and messily. The people in the shuttles actually heard some of the tortured noises that the struts made as they bent, warped and finally splintered, letting the metal orb tumble loosely until it was picked up by the harsh currents of the trench. The depot was carried over five miles before it plunged to the bottom of the trench, some 15,000 feet beneath the waves. Everybody held a silent breath, in remembrance of the bones of the dead parents that had still been aboard the habitat. The children were alive and safe, that was all that mattered and yet, to some, it now didn't seem as if it was enough.

Captain Nathan Bridger felt two distinct emotions simmering inside his soul as the three shuttles (3! Fucking! Shuttles!) came back from their hair-raising mission. There was an almighty sigh of relief that the important, vital part had been a success: the children were all accounted and safe, even his miscreant teenaged mutineer. The other emotion was that he was mad. No, too low. Angry. No, not enough. Wrath. That was it, yes. Bridger was feeling an all-encompassing Wrath at the entire mess this simple routine mission had become. They were supposed to pick up some people and baggage's then ferry them to land; something they had done dozens of times without incident. How the Hell did it turn out this way?

Teenagers could be and were hardheaded on the best of days. He had slowly deluded himself into thinking otherwise because Lucas was normally in his daily activities and relations such a shy, peaceful and helpful presence. The young man was not only a genius and prodigy of many technological fields; he was also the sort of person who bound others around him with respect and friendship given freely. That's why it was so easy to forget his age: he acted so maturely and amicably 99% of the time and performed the tasks given to him faster with better results than the adults around at each and every job he was ordered to accomplish. Never once had Nathan been disappointed in his professional performances. On the personality side, however…

Also, there were very few people that Lucas genuinely disliked and avoided; a few had bullied him so harshly that he had retaliated by injuring them back. He manipulated the computers that regulate the temperature of the water in the shower halls so as to chill unto illness about a dozen crew who promptly stopped being detrimental to the rest of the community. The warning had been there in front of him but Nathan had ignored it.

The CHILD thought he knew better than adults and thought that he had the position and right to make decisions above adults! He, a mere minor-aged CHILD had judged unworthy and PUNISHED members of the community who were ADULTS and thus above him in life and society! He even had the gall to think he could second-guess the very captain and go scott-free with his pasty white hide intact! What the fuck had they been thinking to let this happen for so long unchallenged?

Well, not any more! Nathan would show him who The REAL MAN BEFORE CHRIST THEIR GOD and His Faith was, and he would make the smarmy little runt regret his arrogant, self-centered ways! This comeuppance to his spoiled ego was going to be a lesson he would remember for the rest of his days!

A SMALL LIGHT IN THE STORM

(SeaQuest – season 1 – opening theme)

Wednesday 25th of March, 2020; 15:32pm

SeaQuest DVS 6000, UEO flagship, sea-deck, near moonpool

North of the Australian coastline

As the procedure to park the MR shuttles was completed, the crew in his ride left the older mariner to exit first. He was still wearing his dress uniform with cap and sword. Neither of the four crewmen really understood why as they hadn't been in the habitat when Bridger made his silly little presentation with raised sword and military pomp. They would ask the guys from commander Ford's group when they were away from the officers. At least one of the others was bound to have had his PAL filming the scene; it would be worth a few comments in the privacy of somebody's dormitory at that point.

Nathan was still simmering, restraining his Wrath badly when he climbed the ladder up to the control hub of the parking silos. He saw that the other two shuttles had already parked and disembarked their passengers as they held the children and that was the absolute priority. He himself had told the pilots of the other two vehicles to go inside the ship ahead of his transport. Seeing that those minimal orders had been followed began releasing some of the pressure from his mind and the Wrath simmered less.

Then he saw the one thing that he needed to understand what had really gone on in the head of his youngest crewman. Lucas was kneeling on both knees with an arm around Cleo and her baby sibling on one side and around Zach on the other as both were sitting on a coil of underwater power cable. Nathan was too far away and the hub too noisy with a swarm of people to understand the sounds but he could read lips better than people who grew up deaf thanks to some CIA training in his early career.

Lucas was telling the two teens he was half-hugging that he was relieved their family had not exploded and self-destroyed like his own had eight years ago. He wished them good, happy, long years together from now on. He promised them his help and even spoke about his small company that made the gaseous holographic displays. He promised to try and give them jobs from his own manufacture to help them settle or at least write letters of reference for a few companies where his word was good.

Nathan rocked back on his heels, flabbergasted at the sheer amount of selflessness that his favorite teenager was pouring out of his wounded heart. The injuries from the nasty divorce, his mother legally disowning him in public, and then his father abandoning him for years before dumping him aboard SeaQuest… And still, after all that, the boy thought of others before himself.

Nathan felt the Wrath inside lower to just plain old parental anger. Something he could much better handle and was an old acquaintance of his, as any parent or tutor of teenagers would tell you. This cast a very different perspective on the situation. It hadn't been a joy ride or the flimsy promises of cheap sex from a girl that made Lucas act against orders and basic common sense. It was a vision of Morality not so different from Bridger himself, just untempered by navy training with years of loss and pain.

MUSINGS BASED ON FALSE TRUTHS

(SeaQuest – season 1 – opening theme)

Wednesday 25th of March, 2020; 15:43pm

SeaQuest DVS 6000, UEO flagship; several corridors

North of the Australian coastline

The captain made a silent retreat towards his cabin, pausing long enough to gesture at Ford and Crocker to accompany him along the way. As the three men moved out of the control hub, they heard the shrill, shrewish tones of Kristen Westphalen shouting across the compartment, laying into Lucas as if he had committed sacrificial murder on the altar of a dark god. Bridger winced as a headache began manifesting behind his left ear. He wasn't at peace enough to feel remorse at leaving the boy in the clutches of the angry doctor but had enough experience to know that she was among the few people Lucas would actively fight and even injure if she pushed too far. Things would only get worse from here on out.

The woman had little sense of propriety despite all her claims of upper breeding and pedigree. She had little respect for anybody's personal space and had several times tried to bully her way into Lucas's cabin to tell him how to live his life on the simple account that he was a CHILD and she was an ADULT and that gave her AUTHORITY over his body and his mind. She was right of course, but try telling such a basic thing to a genius boy who thought he knew better. He even thought that the HUMAN LAW gave him protections against the woman's interventions in his life! What a sick joke that was! As if a CHILD could push out and deny such a considerate motherly woman and the CREED of the FAITH would support that? Those damned liberal laws maybe, but not the ONE, TRUE LAW.

The last time such a conflict happened two weeks ago had been a public mess that Nathan had not been able to calm down or keep quietly inside the boat as he normally did. His usual policy of telling the boy to "man up and shut up, the ADULT had spoken and was right anyways" had backfired like never before in his life. Lucas had actually used his personal lawyers, another sick twisted thing he had to tolerate, to write, notarize and file charges against the female doctor for harassment, bullying, verbal aggression, threats of physical harm and attempt to access private classified data from his ongoing projects. He then filed charges against Bridger on counts of not restraining the doctor from harassing people, failing to intervene in the escalating fight and supporting the illegal bullying and intimidation of Westphalen against him. Copies of the charges were even sent to Lawrence Wolenczak & attorneys, the US President, the UEO secretary-general Andrea Dre's cabinet and twenty-seven different Intelligence Agencies of the USA, Canada, Britain, France and Germany. Damn the scurvy dog for telling tales out of the house!

Nathan was still beyond seeing-red upset that the CHILD thought he had the right to accuse an ADULT while under his AUTHORITY and WATCH but knew the charges weren't a joke to be ignored anymore. He had received four days ago an official written and notarized confirmation from New Cape Quest and the Pentagon that a multi-agency investigation into Westphalen's attempt to instigate a climate of favor-based management in the science departments while terrorizing Lucas into submissiveness had been formally initiated. People outside the ship would be actively trying to find the problems that Nathan had managed to hide from the US Navy's inspector a few weeks back and now he no longer had any favors he could use to shield the mercurial woman. He might even have trouble himself, the way the charges and investigation were going.

The captain mulled that situation between the teen and doctor with a wince of guilt. Yes, he thought honestly and openly that Lucas, as a minor CHILD, had limited rights and an even more limited place in society despite all the important adult-level work, sometimes classified, that he had ordered him to do despite not having a real job, position or title, and certainly no pay for all he did. Nathan saw it like an UNPAID INTERNSHIP combined to a good old paternalistic HAZING RITUAL from his own youth. The young have to endure the whims of the old until they had proven to the elders that they could be patient enough to accomplish serious tasks despite the clearly abusive and humiliating situations they were made to suffer through. It was an old, instinctive way of their American culture, especially in the high risk domains like the military, to haze and test the resilience of the newbies to know what kind of material you will have to work with. Nathan was proud of his own hazing at the Naval Academy and aboard his first ship posting.

He could not understand how someone like his teenaged DISCIPLE could fail to grasp the situation or its cultural validity. Note that small details like LEGALITY and HUMAN LAW would never manage to make Bridger think he was wrong or out of bounds. As proof of this:

-) The US Congress abolished in 1862 all types of corporal punishments related but not limited to whipping, flogging, caning, colting, and bastinado as well as any marking with irons, forcible tattooing and any such punishment that causes injuries or damages to the body of the inmate.

-) In 1979, the US Supreme Court decided that it was illegal to use ANY of the Armed Services of America as an orphanage, a youth reformatory or for any judge of any jurisdiction to tell a convict to choose between jail and military service with a minimum mandatory amount of years just as if it were his prison term. The Supreme Court stated that it was against the basic principles of "Volunteerism" fundamental to the Services; that it was tantamount to "slavery" and was an untenable crossover of Military and Civilian powers and fields of authority.

-) Hazing has been declared outlawed in the US Armed services since the late 1980's and were made illegal in the UEO Services at the initial writing of the Alliance Charter.

Nathan Hale Bridger with his 44 years of naval service, a veteran captain, naval architect and marine biologist in FOUR different military organizations (USA, NATO, UNO, and UEO) knew these three laws well. It was a basal requirement of his function, position, rank and security clearance to know all this clearly and intimately. He could not have achieved his job if he had not passed the written examinations and knowledge tests imposed by the Captaincy Promotion Board. In fact, you could not go above mere 1st class crewman if you didn't know and understand these laws.

It's just that Nathan didn't give a damn about the Human Laws, not when CHRISTIAN FAITH and CHURCH DOCTRINE told him otherwise and gave him the MORAL GROUND to stand on to defy the adversity that came in the form of lawyers, humanists, children's rights advocates, reporters and anything else. He was a MAN before GOD his CHRIST the REDEMPTOR and would endure and thrive and eventually RULE by His Book and Rod as was Scriptured in Faith and Creed.

Unfortunately, the situation with Lucas was touchy and fraught with idiotic pitfalls that could have been avoided if only his stupid parents hadn't abandoned him so young before any basal education about society and Faith could be started. Then those stupid bleeding heart liberal colleges, reputed for turning out weak minded, weak bodied kids, had gotten their mitts on him before Bridger did.

Well then, Lucas would just have to have things spelled out for him so he could fall in line obediently and rescind his stupidly complaints against the adults. He would need to learn to put his welfare and life in the hands of Bridger, even though Nathan had never taken a side or intervened to stop the woman from harassing the teen. And why should he stop her anyways? She was a fine, superb woman, loyal and fierce if you knew how to handle the high-strung type. And Nathan had always enjoyed the challenges brought by women of character, driven by lofty ambitions.

The boy would just have to learn his place as a Godly Boy in a real true American Boyhood as was the CREED and FAITH of their GOD and his CHURCH. It was in fact well passed time for Nathan to start training some CATHECHISM, MORALITY and FAITH on this boy to undo the crap he mis-learned around Stanford and turn him back unto the righteous path of their CREATOR's LIGHT.

HALLELUJAH! AMEN!

UNLAWFUL ORDERS

(SeaQuest – season 1 – opening theme)

Wednesday 25th of March, 2020; 15:58pm

SeaQuest DVS 6000, UEO flagship; captain's cabin

North of the Australian coastline

Nathan took off the dress white jacket and cap to dump them unceremoniously on the couch before going to his desk chair to pick up his regular blue day-jacket he had worn this morning before everything went haywire. He studiously ignored Ford who stood at attention before the desk and Gator who had gone to seat himself in the second couch that backed against the outer hull, under the view port.

The commander was fidgeting and pursing his lips in an attempt to keep quiet until his superior spoke his piece. Any newbie fresh from boot camp could tell you the elder mariner was angry enough to spit tacks and Jonathan was not interested in serving as the dartboard of the day.

Manilow folded his hands over his ample paunch and let out a deep breath of relief while also waiting for Bridger to say his piece. Unlike Ford however, he knew his old academy buddy well enough to know that he'd have to temper the man's actions, maybe even yank him back in line of the Law since he had well known tendencies to fly off the handle and go along with the little stories in his head instead of following the Protocols and Laws accepted by society.

Nathan hadn't earned the nickname 'Maverick of the seas' as a mark of respect, far from it. He was known as hotheaded, temperamental, aggressive and prone to fits of doggish attitude that made him sound like a mutt that barks and tries to hump anything in sight to prove its maleness and dominance. Nathan's wife Carol had put up with the man for the sake of their son Robert until he reached 18 years old and joined the Naval Academy, then she separated but did not divorce. Since she lived on the island and he was always on the road for the Pentagon or finishing the SeaQuest, nobody knew any better.

Manilow Crocker did know, as well as the why.

Nathan was to put it mildly, unstable and unreliable as a parent. He tended to go with the 'boys will be boys' attitude until something dark triggered in his head and then he turned into a cheap botched replica of his misbegotten monster of a father: an angry, vengeful, wrathful beast prone to lashing out and hurting those around him. In such a mood he would hit with hands, fists, feet, belts, electric cords, breadboard, wooden spoon, metal ruler… Anything simple and easy to just grab and use against someone to scare and hurt them into immediate submission.

Carol had to take Robert to the hospital on many occasions, marked by the furious fists and lashings of his out-of-control father who took refuge in BIBLE verses and RELIGIOUS lies to deflect his criminal attacks on his young son. He cited repeatedly that "He who loves his son taketh the rod of correction to him" and "The rod beateth the devil of foolishness from the child's heart". At two distinct events Robert wound up with a broken leg that nobody could explain. Nathan Bridger's close relationship to Bill Noyce and his church-group saw those accusations and any doubts swept under the rug and forgotten.

Carol was glad to see Robert leave, for her own sake as well as his. Nathan was harsh and unstable when sober. Unfortunately, he had started drinking heavily when Robert was just 7 years old and he was a mean cruel bastard when he was drunk. The only respite he gave his family was when he drank enough to blackout and sleep for twenty-odd hours.

Crocker glanced sideways at the man as he finished redressing in his regular day clothes and wondered about him. The two deaths of his son and wife less than a year apart had hit him hard and sent him into a self-destructive spiral of drunkenness and self-neglect. Then about three years ago he had sobered up, done a thorough clean-out of his house and the small island around it all the way to the waterline. Nathan had told him back then during one of their monthly phone calls that he had re-found JESUS as his PERSONNAL SAVIOR. Supposedly, after he had accepted and repented his shame and culpability towards his family, he had slowly restarted everything in his life from scratch.

Manilow was afraid of what his friend of forty years had truly become in those last three years.

He could smell the stench of the manipulations from Noyce and his group of church-whores around the situation and was afraid that they were pushing Nathan into something that would eventually destroy him for good. William Boyd Noyce was not in any ways a decent character and nobody with two functioning neurons to rub together would ever trust the bastard. For some miracle of darkness that only God and the Devil knew of, Nathan trusted Bill Noyce more than he ever trusted his wife and son or anybody else in his birth family. Noyce's church, or cult or sect or whatever they actually were, had been instrumental in driving a wedge between Nathan and his brother before he died of pancreatic cancer twenty years ago. Bridger's nephew and nieces never forgave him and his sister-in-law refused to this day to acknowledge him as family anymore.

Crocker snorted audibly in contempt at the scene before his old weathered eyes.

Ford was almost wetting himself in glee at the chance to ask for punishments or some smidgeon of ill-gained additional power over Lucas without having any idea of what kind of monster he was asking favors from. Nathan was a territorial, possessive animal and would never tolerate that Lucas acknowledge anybody but himself as the TOP DOG in his life. Ford would make his suggestions / requests and get rebuffed crassly, in a ham-fisted way that only Nathan thought was all right to use with coworkers and subordinates. The more he aged the more uncouth and ill-mannered the rude, ill-bred cur became. Just like his father and grand-father before him; both had been religious zealots who drank their families into ruin, destitution and oblivion before they were finally dumped and forgotten by the few surviving relatives they had at the time of their deaths.

Manilow shook his head despondently, waiting for the fireworks that would erupt as his friend sunk lower into violence and emotional instability towards Lucas, the whole situation and everything else in his life. What a bloody waste of a good man with an exceptional mind this all was.

Now seated in his well padded desk chair, the captain adjusted his shirt cuffs and asked in a low, toneless voice that seemed uninterested at all "Go ahead, commander, get it off your chest before you explode." He even made a small inviting gesture with his hand but did not actually look at the black male, instead concentrating on searching the surface of his desk for something.

Ford took in a breath and began, trying to keep his voice level and calm but failing rapidly as he got excited and lost himself to his rant. "We have to do something about this captain! The smarmy little brat stole a shuttle, went off-ship without permission, shut off the comms in the middle of an operation, interfered in a military operation in progress, got several people's lives in jeopardy and I'm probably not half done listing everything he actually did that was wrong and constitutes an actual punishable crime under the Uniform Code of Conduct! We can't let it pass anymore! He has to be punished hard enough to leave marks on his pasty hide! I know we can't keep him out of the computers and systems because people on the mainland will start asking where he is and what state he's in, but he doesn't need to sit on his ass to do these jobs! A good butt whooppin like my grandma dished out when I was young would see him walk the tight and narrow line from now on and never deviate from it again!" Ford finished his rant, panting hard and sweating all over as if he'd just run a mile. He was also practically glowing at the thought of the humiliation, pain and put-down the stupid, useless brat would get to experience.

Crocker sniffed derisively behind the commander's back. The fact Ford thought of Lucas as 'stupid, useless and a burden' while at the same time admitting they could not run half the systems without him aboard was just another proof that he was a bigoted, self-deluded fool who should never have had any power over the child. Even Nathan Bridger in the depth of his anger, and having his own deeply incrusted ageist bigotry in consideration, could see plainly that Ford was not thinking properly about the consequences of harming the boy beyond a certain point. Lucas was a rarity in the Navy: a truly competent person with many specializations at the same time but without the damaging arrogance that people usually exhibited in that situation. It was imperative that any corrective measures not change his attitude that much or in the wrong places otherwise he would become unusable in Noyce's plans. For all that he liked and appreciated Kristen Westphalen as a woman and colleague of science, he had no choice but to acknowledge that she had a damned god-complex and was far more arrogant and spoiled than Lucas ever was. Despite her many competencies, she was unsuitable for the plans Bill had shared with him, especially as they were focused on cybernetics, not medicine.

But try telling fine details of future plans like those to Jonathan Ford and obtain a rational response just to see if you can… Anything centered on Lucas, his capacities or work product would be laughed at and decried as idiocy in progress. Ford will never accept that Lucas could be useful enough or reliable enough to elaborate and base plans upon. That conversation was both a dead-end and a non-starter when Ford was involved. On top of things, Ford had a deeply rooted, personal irrational despise against Lucas that came out of… Nobody was sure where it came… Nathan didn't know and could not figure it out. None of the other officers aboard knew either. But Jonathan had it bad and it colored every decision and relation he had with the adolescent, even when the young man did his work better, faster and more professionally than all the others who had been given the same job to do. Where Lucas was concerned, there was no contenting Jonathan Ford at all.

Bridger raised his eyes to glare at Ford hard enough to scare the man into backing away from the desk a half-pace in surprise at being the recipient of such a furious stare. What could he have done?

"Let me make something clear, commander." The veteran mariner began "Lucas Andrew Wolenczak is my WARD under JUVENILE FOSTERING, not a civilian contractor or military crewman. The military code of law does not apply to him. Is this clear?" he asked in frigid tones that sent a shiver of dread down the tall athletic man's spine. Seeing Ford nod he continued in less stringent ones "The child has disobeyed and acted both illegally and idiotically under my watch; he will be punished for it. By ME, no one else. YOU will do nothing to him nor ask or delegate anyone else aboard or try anything against MY boy. Is this clear?"

Now that commander Ford had seen the line in the sand, Bridger relaxed in his chair, leaning backwards with an indolent look on his face. He didn't seem as rabidly angry as he had when coming out of the shuttle back from the depot and the Ex-O was intrigued by this. Hearing the question asked by his first officer, Nathan chuckled and recounted what he had lip-read in the control hub.

The three officers stayed silent for about a minute when Jonathan stated "I appreciate the reasons that he had, sir. It's way better than why I thought he had done the whole mess and I actually feel better about the situation than when I thought he'd just given up on trying to humor us about the regs and protocols. I know he's a civilian and doesn't even have a contract or a salary, but there's a limit to tolerating his attitude and conduct. Since you specified that he is in fact your WARD, not an employee of the ship or UEO as such, I'm willing to let this in your hands. For now. But I'm not impressed, sir. On any other ship, the captain would have had enough presence, authority and leadership over his crew that such an event would never have happened at all. Civilian or not, child or not, that he is your WARD or not, he still committed a jailable offence and I still feel like he's getting away with it."

Crocker saw his old friend's face become closed off, his lips pursing and his fists clenching on the armrests of the chair. A small vein that Manilow knew well began pulsating on Nathan's neck, indicating full well just how riled up he now was. "I assure you commander" Nathan spoke in slow, measured words "that Lucas will not get away with the actual disobedience nor the insolence that was at the base of it. He has thought himself better than a mere under-age child for too long and I plan to change that back to how it's supposed to be. He will know his place as an inferior to every adult aboard, from the Captain down to the floor sweepers, or else he will be locked in solitary, in the actual brig, on short rations and receive daily spankings of my belt until he gets the message. I will not tolerate that a CHILD attempt to go above his place in society and life and try to judge adults or second guess them as if he had a right to do so. Do you understand your place in this, commander?"

Ford nodded emphatically at his superior's declaration. The image of Lucas finally, at long last, getting pulled back and forcibly set back into inferiority at the tip of a belt was all good for him. Even if he didn't get the pleasure of seeing it happening, just knowing was enough. Ford remembered some of the stories told by Robert when they were at the academy; Bridger was no soft handed wimp when it came to squeezing contrition, repentance and genuine remorse out of a rebellious kid. Wolenczak would finally stop being such a waste of space and start earning his place, at the bottom of the ladder as everybody's little pain-bitch, just the way it should have been from the get go. Just like Jonathan himself had to endure when he got in the navy at 18 like everybody else. A good bout of painful punishments done publicly and some heavy-handed hazing would set the kid straight and harden the faggotted little queer into something that could maybe pass as a sailor at some point when he turned 24 or 26 years old. Certainly not before, not if Ford had any say in this!

"Natey, you a dang gone-in-t'a-head fool, you fool!" Crocker exclaimed from his couch, stunning Ford out of his prurient dreams and forcing Bridger to deal with what he had hoped to avoid. "Lucas is a smart kid with a kind soul and a gentle disposition that would'na hurt a fly on his wall! And you plan to take advantage of that to break him and exploit him like some toy to play with and put in the closet when you tire of him! Admit it! If t'a dumb whining bitch Westy and this big lout weren't a cryin' their eyes out about it you would'na said anything by yourself! This is just like Robert all over again! Carol knew what you were, Robert knew it damn well in his own flesh and none of your brother's kids and their kids want anything to do with you! Do you truly believe that I don't know why that is? You ain't gonna beat and damage Lucas like you did Robbie back twenty years ago! I'll stand up t'a ya this time and I won't be alone! There's a limit to what Billy Noyce and his church-whores can do to protect you if ya get a kid's blood and misery on your hands this time!"

The overweight sailor stood up ponderously and marched heavily towards the desk, hands clasped to his belt near the buckle at the front. He sneered contemptuously at Ford along the way and parked himself right in front of Bridger, an air of barely contained anger hanging thickly about him like the haze of smog over a large city. Pointing an accusatory finger at his old academy buddy, Manilow asked in poisonous tones "What do you plan to do to t'a kid? Tell me now a'fore I wallop it out of you with my belt! Lets see if YOU like a taste of the buckle the same way you wanna give Luke as if he were some ill-bred mule! Talk, I said, cuz the health of yo skin depends on it!"

Ford sprang up incensed, ready to defend the captain just as he was completely dumbstruck to see the still angry man seem to sink into his chair in fear of the rabid chief of security like never before. Jonathan was about to open his mouth and bark out an order at the senior lieutenant to stand down and mind his station in the chain of command when the entire left side of his face exploded in stars and misery harshly enough to pivot his whole head and upper torso to the right. After about four seconds of blinking his eyes and massaging the side of his head, the commander straightened to the sight of Crocker flexing his large beefy left hand, the leather of the glove creaking menacingly.

The chief of security had backhanded the Executive-Officer across the face like a misbehaving child.

Ford was at a loss of what to do in that circumstance. He had heard of angry violent superiors hitting the underlings, especially those fresh out of boot camp or the academy, but he'd never, ever heard of a subordinate raising a hand to his superior. Still holding the bruised, painful side of his face the young man looked to his captain for guidance and some inkling of what came next. He really didn't like what he saw on Bridger's face: his entire body language said clearly 'I'm not the Top Dog in the room anymore'.

Crocker looked at Ford with open disgust written all over his face. "Shattap and park yer hide on that there couch mister, while you can still move on your on power! I had it up to my ball cap with your poisonous bitchings about Lucas being too spoiled rotten, too stupid, too useless and too damn young to be allowed to live on his own! Them all lies and we know it so shut yo mouth a'fore I do for you!"

Jonathan moved sideways and slowly sat himself on the couch and then continued moving until he reached the furthest cushion away from Crocker, near the holographic console. He folded his arms over his chest in a protective manner and looked around wildly, wondering what drug Westphalen had put in his morning coffee that he was hallucinating this.

Manilow growled out angrily at both men, his words laced with Wrath and contempt in equal parts and he aimed at both senior officers equally. "I am rightly ashamed of being an officer of the Law aboard this here boat a' cause of you both right now. You have both acted beneath the most minimal standards asked of officers in the Navy and of adult men in society! That stops now!"

Turning to Ford, Manilow pointed a threatening finger right at his face: "And you, you dimwit spawn of a plantation dog! If I hear you badmouth or defamate Lucas again without sterling proof in hand, I be takin' you to the storage hold on deck-E and show you that submarines do indeed come with their own woodsheds, yessiree they do! Is that clear you oversized lummox? If you want to know where my war name 'Gator' came from and how come I still strike fear in this stoopid-assed fool, I can show you!"

Ford's eyes hadn't stopped enlarging all along the vivid, passionate threats that kept coming at him from Crocker's mouth. With eyes the size of dinner plates and fear-induced sweat all over his person, the black male could only nod his head and hope the ship's Police Commissioner didn't decide to give him an example of police brutality even worse than the back of his hand. Gulping in anxiety, Ford discretely looked at the man's belt where the handcuffs, electrified nightstick, pulse pistol and can of pepper spray all dangled menacingly while the massive man's gloved hands clenched tightly in silent promise of much pain to come if he tried to resist the village's po-po. His grandma had'na raised no buffoon so he wisely agreed to everything said and threatened in absolute silence while promising himself to never again move around the ship without his utility knife and side-arm on his own belt. He also promised himself to review Crocker's service record immediately to see what he had missed about this obese land-whale that made him so damn dangerous even Bridger was now pale and trembling in fear.

Manilow ponderously turned back towards Nathan, pivoting his entire girth slowly and heavily like the main gun turrets on a battleship, all the large caliber barrels lining up for a straight-line broadside against the flimsy target of Bridger's hormone induced, Westphalen-stocked ego. Letting out with enough toxic vitriol of his own to mentally scar both men in the room with him, chief Crocker wasn't taking prisoners anymore. He'd had enough of Jonathan Ford's petty, noisome bickering against the adolescent for no good reason. He'd had more than enough of his old friend's definition of child-discipline, Family Rules and all the race-based, religion-infused miasma of depravity that he called 'Morally Imperative Judgment' against children all around himself. Crocker was fed up and sick of all the mental domination, physical violence and sheer cruelty against all peoples that Nathan learned from Noyce's cult of fools and spread around him in his life.

IT ENDED NOW!

"I am gonna lay down the Law to you Bridger, and you gonna follow it cuz yo worthless hide depend on it! You will call the ship's council into meeting! You will charge Lucas publicly and have a council vote on it! He's a civilian child, not a sailor or a contractor that means the Law is clear on this: it falls to the council to arbitrate and dispose of it, along UEO Maritime Law! NOT according to the FEEL of Bridger's BALLS! Is that clear you coon-spawned hairless bilge rat? Answer me, damn gone it!"

The captain and supposed master of the ship refused to even glance sideways at his Executive-Officer as he silently nodded, eyes down to the top of his desk. Nathan Trembled in fear as he remembered the last time Gator had been like this with him.

Flashback -

It had been when Robert was 17 years old and had almost suffered his third event with broken limbs at the hands of his father in the guise of 'Familial Disciplinary Measures' as per the Creed of the Sect that Noyce was a Bishop in. Crocker had come for an impromptu visit at the island and heard from the dock the miserable screams of pain as Nathan was belt-whipping some sense and submissive demeanor into his indocile, rebellious hellion of a runt. As the boy was trying to belly-crawl away from him on the floor, still reeling from the pair of hits on his head with the buckle-end of the belt, Nathan decided it was time for another repeat of the 'Little Lost Lamb Lesson' as was Preached and inscribed in Canon Law of the Congregation.

When the Little Lamb tries to run away or gets lost from the flock, you break its leg and the traumatic vulnerability so created makes the little being even more fragile, fearful and prone to staying near its parents, docile and obedient for fear of being lost again and thus suffering punishment again on top of abandonment. It was Scriptured in the BIBLE and so was HOLY. How can something HOLY cause so much trouble in a man's household that he was forced to hold back from enacting its righteous works until the house is empty so he was unopposed by doubters and heretics?

Nathan had just forcibly turned Robert on his stomach with a few well placed harsh kicks to his ribs and groin thus inciting the youth to reflexively turn on his front to protect his injured parts. Nathan just had to grab the ankle, lift the leg about a foot off ground and then drop his full weight onto his prepared knee, covered for the task in a hard plastic kneepad, into the fragile exposed limb of his child to break it cleanly and set the lesson. As if the two first times had worked all that well…

Manilow saw what Nathan was about to do and the very clearly exhibited blue plastic kneepad he had positioned to cause his son grave injury. He instinctively bellowed like an oxen as he bullrushed his old buddy, shoulder leading, into Bridger's exposed flank therefore knocking him a good seven feet away from Robert to land face first into the kitchen's tableware buffet causing all the flatware and glass to fall on top of him. That was just the start. Gator took the entire week-end to slowly punish Nathan for his execrable behavior towards his son. Crocker took all four days of the long holiday to beat, batter, and break Nathan Bridger causing multiple bruised welts, bleeding lesions that would scar for life, two black eyes, a cracked jaw and twice-broken nose along cracks to six bones and actual breaks in nine other bones, especially in the arms.

End of flashback -

Crocker had been clear in his threats. Should Nathan ever again in this life or the next to cause any type of harm or injury to a child, physically or psychologically, then Gator would make certain that he would loose both arms. In small bone bits, just a little piece at a time, while he was awake and aware to feel the torture happening. Nathan swore on his life and soul he would never again do that to any child no matter what the circumstances.

And yet here he was, right in front of Manny, making threats of punishments and violence against Lucas who at 16 was clearly a child, not an adult. He now remembered the events of 16 years ago; all the pain, humiliation and the dreadful hospital stay during which neither Carol, Robert, nor any of his living family visited him. He could now see the cruelties and inhumanities that lay along the Path he had started to tread as he was pushed by the nasty selfishness and bigotry of all sides. Until Manilow Crocker stood up and reminded him of old Sins against the Flesh and Soul of his own son, warning that he would keep his promises, no matter the cost to his own life, job, pension or freedom.

Now that he had been shocked out of his bigotry induced religion empowered haze of anti-child madness, Nathan Bridger could begin to see that he had been dangerously treading down a steep hill that fell away down to an endless chasm of Perdition for himself and the people around him that would be affected. Thankfully (maybe) Manilow had intervened in time and spoken out against the idiotic Wrath that lay simmering inside Bridger's heart. The chief of security's 'handling' of Jonathan Ford and his now openly shown contempt against the ship's First Mate would have to be reviewed and analyzed with a clear head as it indicated something dark and toxic was brewing inside the Ex-O that needed immediate containment.

Passing both hands over his face in consternation and fatigue, the veteran captain sighed deeply before looking Manilow in the face, trying to convey his sincerity about his decision and intentions towards their youngest crewmember.

"I get your message Gator. I also remember what happened two decades ago on the island. I will put the list of charges before the ship's council and let them arbitrate everything. I will bow to the collective wisdom of the officers and company representatives as to how we handle the boy from then on. If any punishment is given, I will run the proposed sanctions by you before saying it out loud so it doesn't exceed the basic necessities of keeping him healthy and actively present in our community. Should physical punishment be mandated, I will speak of it with you and we will determine the mechanics and manners of it before it is carried out, again with the optic of keeping Lucas healthy and functionnal in our community."

Crocker snorted in disbelief at his old friend's transparent attempts to placate him. It wasn't holding water, that pile of lies, and Manilow was gonna make sure him and the black turdpile behind him new it. Wagging his beefy index finger towards the captain's nose, Gator griped nastily "Now now now Natey my old mate, you weren't gonna try and pull anything dishonest on me, weren't you? Something like packing meaningless charges in the list or trying to overwhelm the kid with completely out-of-this-world bitchcrap only Ford and Westphalen would deem appropriate or germane to the situation, were you?." Crocker's crocodile-like smile showed all his teeth as much as the intent of violence and vengeance he had in store if Nathan did indeed try to pad the complaint sheet in order to exact dangerous punishments or disproportionate restrictions against the young man.

Both Bridger and Ford could only swallow their bile in silent anger; the village commissioner had plainly stated that from now on Lucas was 'protected' by him and so any attempts to injure, harm, imprison or restrain the boy would be met by forcible retaliations from someone for whom violence was his job and a way of life. Neither of the ship's topmost officers had any trouble imagining who would win that confrontation, especially with the complaints against the Doctor being investigated already and more inspectors and auditors coming in the next months on a plethora of other matters.

No, they would not win this fight, and would probably lose the war as well, given that Noyce had plans that specifically called for a teenaged genius that was obedient BUT unharmed, healthy and FULLY functional in body and mind. NO EXCEPTIONS TOLERATED to those conditions for anybody, not even Bridger's oversized pridefulness. With such lofty goals coming directly from the Head of UEO Fleet Assets, the ship's officers were severely curtailed in what sanctions they could use, even in grounding and restrictions as Noyce had specifically written down the amount of computer use and off-ship network access that was non-limitable so that Lucas could manage to do all his work and reports without raising suspicions anywhere in the governing hierarchy.

The boy's presence aboard wasn't at all legal after all. Thus it was imperative to keep all reports about Lucas and his activities quiet, only letting out the best, most positive reviews of his work and character. Anything else was to be quashed mercilessly, lest QUESTIONS be asked that nobody had the ability to answer. Not legally or morally, at least.

Now that Nathan thought about it, he had a long, verbose list of THINGS that Noyce had forbidden him from doing or imposing unto the teen that lay unobtrusively in the safe beneath his bunk. The captain realized that he would need to read anew that list lest he and his Ex-O propose something that would see Billy come to the SeaQuest to take over and lay down the Law and Arbitrations himself. THAT would not end well for anybody and the admiral would probably forgive Crocker his mutinous behavior under the judgment that the wide-girthed security officer had in fact protected the safety and operability of Noyce's costliest but most productive asset aboard ship.

Damn! How could the old captain make the two rabid attack dogs Ford and Westphalen see the dangers of the legal, social and hierarchic zone of operations they were in now?

Hearing no rebuttals to his plainly spoken accusations, Crocker looked around the captain's cabin, making eye contact with Ford, easily making the self-imbued wannabe cower in the couch even deeper than before. What a coward! Anyways, his job was done here; he needed to move his considerable weight over to Lucas so he could warn him about just how deep a pit of doo-doo he just fell in. Oh Joy!

Walking silently out of the well appointed quarters, Crocker closed the door behind himself, leaving a spiritually toxic mess and two broken-egoed officers in his wake. Said officers stayed immobile, in anxious silence for almost a quarter hour before Bridger grunted in effort, turning his chair towards the bunk so he could retrieve the damned 'List of Lucas's upkeep necessities' that Noyce had foisted on him and his crew. That damnable document would become the basis of any discussion and disciplinary actions against the boy, whether they wanted or not. It was also imperative to copy the thing so Ford and Westphalen could read it ahead of the council session so they didn't waste everybody's time by making invalid complaints or asking for punishments specifically prohibited.

Ford would obey as the good soldier he was. The doctor… Damn, that wasn't going to be easy…