First I would like to thank all of you for your nice reviews.
Some of you have complained about the unrealistic elements of my story. While I take your comments on board, you should bear in mind that in this story I am not concerned with realism, but with having fun. If that's a problem for you, fair enough, consider this a warning to stop reading now. I'd like to say that, generally speaking, seaQuest stories are of very high quality compared with some other fandoms here on , so I'm sure you'll find plenty of other fics that will suit you better.
Special thanks to Refur for beta reading!
Now, have fun with the final chapter!
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"Could you please explain to me what you're doing here and what those are?" asked Commander Ford, looking at the bags and crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Uhm... this..." Ben stuttered. Why wasn't the commander in his quarters like Lucas said?
"Dr Westphalen asked us to bring her some things because she likes to work in her quarters before she goes to sleep. As long as the other captain is on board, she'd prefer to run into him as little as possible. They'll just argue about her research," Lucas said. His friend had come close to betraying them with his stuttering.
Chief Crocker put his hands on his hips. He stood beside Commander Ford. "You two are planning something. I can see it in your faces!"
"How would you know?" the teenager asked incredulously.
Jonathan didn't wait for any further explanations. He grabbed the bag from the Lieutenant. Ben tried to save it, but it was too late. "I'm going to ask Dr Westphalen if what you told me is true. Until then I'd like both of you to go to your cabins and get some sleep. If I am not mistaken, then you're on duty tomorrow morning, Lieutenant; you should be awake for that. Chief Crocker will accompany you." Ford grabbed Lucas' bag as well. Frustrated by this unexpected obstacle, the two of them went with Crocker to their rooms.
Before Lucas lay down on his bunk he tried to call Bridger, but without success once again. Discouraged, he snuggled down in his blanket. Darwin was with him; his being there gave him some comfort. His fingers went to the glass and touched it. He would have liked to kiss the dolphin, but unfortunately that wasn't possible. Worried about his future on seaQuest, he fell asleep.
"Do you really think that was necessary?" asked Commander Ford reproachfully when they had fired the second torpedo. Captain Hudson was of the opinion that it would drive away the illegal ships, which had no permission to be there. This was an ore-mining area. After discovering the boats they had requested that they stop what they were doing, but none had complied, and without considering alternative solutions Hudson had given the order to shoot. Fortunately, he had some compassion and aimed only at their engines.
"If they don't want to listen we must make them, Commander! We gave them enough time to leave the area. Mr O'Neill, send some teams out to catch those criminals and lock them up!"
"According to UEO law we have to interview them and read them their rights," Jonathan insisted, determined to go by the book.
"Do you still believe in Santa Claus as well, Commander? Don't question my orders. These aren't just some harmless thieves you can find in any shopping center. These are criminals, and if no-one scares them off, they'll be back."
"They might be back anyway, no matter how harshly you treat them."
Hudson turned to his first officer, smiling cynically. His hands were crossed behind his back. "Who do you think gives the orders round here? Surely not you? Stop questioning my decisions—it could harm your career. You still have a lot to learn, and you'll soon see that it's hard to follow UEO directives in the spirit in which they were intended. If you still have a problem with how I run this ship, maybe it would be better if Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock took your position. Then you'd have some time to think about the hierarchy of command."
"You want me to leave the bridge?"
"Exactly! Right now, please."
Totally speechless, Commander Ford stared at the Captain. The older man rolled his eyes when Ford didn't move. "Do I need to call security?"
Jonathan turned and left. Inwardly he was boiling with rage. Who did that man think he was? It was unbelievable, there were actually people who were worse than Stark! His route took him straight to Dr Westphalen's quarters. There was a repair team fixing the hole in the shaft, and Lucas was sitting with the doctor, helping her make some list. Without knocking, he hurried into the quarters and laid his hands flat on the table. He took a deep breath to calm himself down before speaking. "OK, this has gone too far. Captain Hudson has to go, as soon as possible. What have you and Ben got planned?"
"You confiscated everything yesterday evening! Don't you remember?"
Dr Westphalen yelled out some suggestions: "We'll put slimy slugs in his bunk. We'll put artificial flavouring in his food so that everything he eats tastes like vomit. If he tries to use the bathroom, we'll make water splash out in all directions."
Commander Ford and Lucas looked at the doctor, astonished. "Did you know he was intending to send Lucas off the ship?" she asked Ford, after realising that everyone in the room was staring at her. Even the repair team had looked up in confusion.
Slowly the Commander nodded. "Yes, Ortiz told me yesterday and I tried to contact Bridger, but it's not possible at the moment."
"Unfortunately," added the computer genius, sounding dispirited. Ford laid one hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Even if I thought he was the perfect captain, I would never have let you go. Stay calm. We'll have him off the boat by tomorrow evening. I promise you."
"How? When Ben and I tried to get into his quarters through the air-vents, we made this hole!" He pointed at the desk.
The Commander looked at the repair team. They were doing some welding work. "This is how we'll do it," he whispered. "Lucas, make a list of the names of all the people who will work for us. The more the merrier. Doctor, I'd be very pleased if you could put some of your ideas into practice. And you two," he looked at the repair team, "can put your names on Lucas' list if you're with us. Otherwise you'll stay quiet about this to Captain Hudson. That's an order"
"Ow! Commander, would you mind getting your elbow out of my face?"
"Oh, sorry, Ben."
"Thanks!"
The two officers were crawling through the shafts above the captain's quarters, followed by Ortiz and Crocker. The Security Chief had co-opted his whole team. Their job was to keep an eye on the deck during this little operation. If somebody who wasn't in on the plan came by, they would make him take a roundabout route. They had even developed a perfect diversion for Captain Hudson: Hitchcock had been delegated to keep him on the bridge as long as possible, and Lucas was feeding false information to the bridge as a failsafe measure to keep him there.
Silently they opened the plate. Although the teenager and the Lieutenant were making sure that Hudson wouldn't see anything on his display, they had to be careful. Ford was the first to slip inside the room; the supply officer followed him.
From the shaft, Ortiz and Chief Crocker passed them the tools they had brought and the container with Dr Westphalen's slugs. The loss of the little animals was difficult for her, but to get rid of this guy she was more than happy to make sacrifices.
"Chief, help me with the mechanism above the sluice. Ben, you and Ortiz work on the toilet surprise," ordered the commander.
"I can't wait!" Miguel answered, full of excitement. He dragged Krieg to the little bathroom, where they spread out Hitchcock's plans. They wanted to manipulate the toilet flush. Instead of draining off, the water would overflow and flood the whole cabin. Then they installed tiny containers filled with Lucas' powder in the water box above the toilet. Now pretty foam would be produced whenever Hudson pressed the flush—they hoped this would happen when the captain was still sitting on the toilet. Ben's suggestion to install a camera had been rejected.
Using screwdrivers, Ford and Crocker installed a container above the door. It contained a kind of slimy algae filtered from Darwin's tube. The sea mammal had been happy to help them to clean the filters and collect as much of the algae as possible.
As soon as their victim entered his cabin, there would be a nice shower for him. They were planning to manipulate the real shower as well. There they thought it would be a good idea to switch the hot- and cold-water taps.
Jonathan got down from the stool. "I think it's done now."
"You'd make a great labourer, Commander. I don't think anyone else could have done this so well," Crocker praised him.
The commander brushed the dust off his hands and went to the bathroom. "How's it looking?"
Ortiz took the screwdriver out of his mouth so that he could reply. "Nearly finished. All we have to do is close it, and then that should be it."
Ben took a moment to finish off and then put the tools back in the bag.
"Great. Chief, the slugs?" Ford hurried to the table where Crocker opened another container.
"Don't you think they'll escape?"
"Doctor Westphalen said they'll stay in one place if it's damp enough. They're more likely to die in his bed than to escape," the commander said, holding a bowl of water. He went to the bed and lifted the blanket. They had brought the bowl with them -- it was no longer possible to get water safely from the captain's bathroom: everything had been messed up. Now he poured the water over the bed, and then Crocker placed the slugs on it. They laid the blanket back exactly as before, so that no-one who didn't already know what was under it would notice a thing. That would be enough.
"Hurry, we've got to be quick." Ford looked at his watch. "Soon his shift'll be over, and then he'll come back here."
One after another they hastily got back into the shaft. They closed the plate, and finally they called the others to let them know that the installation was complete.
Everybody was on the bridge, waiting. "Shouldn't something have happened by now?" O'Neill voiced what all of them were thinking.
"Maybe he was hungry and went to get something to eat before going to his quarters," said the doctor.
"No way! He doesn't even like riding in the MagLev with enlisted crew." Lucas said.
"What's this? A mutiny?" Suddenly Captain Hudson was standing behind them. Frightened, the crew members turned round. But their fright quickly changed into stifled giggles. The captain was covered from head to foot in green algae. On his shoulder was a slug which had slipped into the algae container during the installation. From his knees down he was covered in fine, white foam.
Commander Ford stood stiffly in front of him, his arms folded. "If that's what you want to call it. The whole crew has decided not to take any more orders from you. There's a shuttle waiting for you in the docking bay which will bring you to land."
Oliver Hudson sneered at him. "You can't do this. You'll all be court martialled."
"We don't think so. These men and women have been witness to many of your actions in the last few days. Not following your instructions could also bring you to a court martial. The fact that all of us stand together on this, along with the tapes from the bridge cameras, should mean that they'll believe us over you. Now, can I escort you to the docking bay? You have to leave seaQuest!"
When Hudson didn't move, Lucas slide under the handrail of Ortiz's station and went over to Ford. "If you won't go voluntarily, I'm sure there are plenty of security guards who'll show you the way," he grinned.
Bridger's stand-in turned on his heel and muttered something about an impudent brat. He took only one step, and then his feet left the ground and he slid painfully down the rest of the steps: the foam under his shoes had slipped him up. Blushing furiously, he made his escape. The crew broke out laughing and couldn't stop. As Hudson finally left the boat, they threw a spontaneous party and everybody celebrated; Lucas fed Darwin a piece of cream cake as a reward for his assistance.
"And everything went OK while I was away?"
"Yes, Sir. There were no problems," the commander replied.
Bridger paused in front of his quarters. "I heard my stand-in left the boat in a hurry. Was there any reason?"
"No, I think he just realised that we're not very well organised when you're not here."
Nathan raised one eyebrow a little. "So, what would you say to keeping command of this ship for a while while I recover from my mission?"
"It'd be an honour, Sir." Jonathan answered with a smile, and went to the bridge.
Still puzzling, Bridger entered his cabin. Something had happened on his boat, and if he knew his people he was going to have to do a great deal of persuading before they'd let him in on the secret. But first he had something else to do.
Relieved, he pulled up his trousers and pressed the toilet flush. He didn't have time to jump out of the way before the foam poured out of the toilet. It didn't take long before he was covered in the stuff. Now he had a rough idea of what the crew had been up to.
Elsewhere on the boat, three crewmen sat in anticipation of the surprise awaiting Bridger. The camera was installed in the shaft above the captain's quarters, and would be taken down the next day, but until then the three friends rolled on the floor laughing at the expression on Nathan Bridger's face as he left his bathroom covered in foam. Lucas, Ben and Miguel would be laughing over that scene for a long time to come.
The End
Last explanation: the camera was not in the bathroom itself. Hope that was clear.
