Captain Hudson rushed in to the bridge asking Commander Ford, who was in command, "What happened? Where is she?"
Ford rose in disappointment, "We lost her, she went to rescue children after Macronesian vessels attacked them. She was attacked after she has rescued them, I've lost contact with her just before she disappeared."
Hudson raised his eye brows and had a deep breath.
"Secretary General McGath, sir." O'Neil chimed in.
"Put him through on a secure channel." Hudson answered.
"Captain, you're invading Macronesian territory!" McGath said, sounding urgent.
"Last time I heard, this territory belonged to the UEO, sir." Hudson replied in a fierce tone.
"Captain, I am not calling to argue."
Hudson interrupted him, starting to lose his nerves, "I am trying to retrieve my officer, sir. I want to go there and grab Stallone before they concentrate their forces." Then he firmly added, "Sir, let me do it."
"You don't need to, Captain." McGath replied quietly.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" Hudson asked, narrowing his eyes.
"I've just received a communique, over the hot line."
"Lieutenant Stallone has already been captured by Macronesian forces inside their claimed territory, 10 minutes ago; they have already transported her out the area."
All of the crew on bridge became tense at those words, as did Hudson who opened his eyes widely, before looking towards Commander Ford, with growing anxiety, "Commander, be ready to jump jet, I need to be in Cape Quest in less than two hours." He said, while turning to leave the bridge but was suddenly stopped when he heard McGath, "No need to bother Captain, we are taking an observer team to the Macronesian Fortress."
He turned to him seemingly shocked and asked, "An observer team, sir!?"
"Yes, trying to negotiate for her release." McGath answered.
Hudson repeated angrily, "Negotiate!?"
"Sure, the UEO isn't going to get into a war for an officer, Captain." McGath replied.
"An officer, sir?!" Hudson yelled, not believing what he had just heard McGath say, "How many officers do you need?"
This time McGath interrupted, "It's a diplomatic decision, Captain, not mine. Out." McGath finished, and Shut off the vidlink.
Hudson looked towards Ford once again, exhaling with rage and left the Bridge feeling nervous.
In the Ward Room, Hudson sat with the Secretary General and Vocar, the chief leader of Spindrift, the colony to which the children belonged to.
"You think that we can reason with a man like Bourne, sir?" Hudson wondered.
McGath asked, "You have any suggestions?"
"They must bring back Lieutenant Stallone and the children." He replied, firmly.
"And if they refuse? We get into a war!" McGath said.
"We are going to fight him eventually." Hudson replied.
"May be, maybe not. But this one, we will win through diplomacy." McGath said, quietly.
"I doubt that very much, sir." Hudson commented.
Vocar replied, "These children belong to my colony, they are like my children now, after their parent were murdered. I won't let him hurt them."
"I believe in diplomacy gentlemen, it saves lives." McGath said, reassuringly.
In the Macronesian Alliance Fortress, Hudson sat with Vocar, McGath and Bourne who was saying, "Your lieutenant invaded our waters, to escape with our children."
"They are our children." Vocar objected.
Hudson interrupted, "They were in danger, and she was trying to transfer them into safety."
"She didn't have the consent of their parents." Bourne retorted.
"Yeah, because they were already killed by your soldiers." Hudson replied.
"Still this is a violation of the Code of Justice, section 202. She is accused of breaking our laws, she deserves a public trial." Bourne continued, as if he did not hear what Hudson had said, provoking him to respond with rage.
"And you are going to make sure it is as public as possible in attempt to humiliate the UEO, right?"
McGath interrupted Hudson to silence him, "Captain!" Then he smiled at Bourne, "Captain Hudson is concerned about the welfare of his crew member, as well as the UEO."
Bourne nodded, "So is the Macronesian Alliance, but it's about the laws and the pride of the Alliance."
"No one is suggesting you act in contravention with Macronesian laws." McGath agreed.
"So you are hoping for a fair and speedy trial?" Bourne asked; while Hudson sighed with extreme rage that kept building every time Bourne spoke.
"I hope that even in the Macronesian law, she isn't found guilty in your fair trial." McGath answered. "And as a gift of friendship, a cargo of Vanadium will be here tomorrow by noon." Hudson became shocked, but swallowed it as he heard Bourne speak.
"In this case, I will release the children captured by your Lieutenant Stallone."
"What about my lieutenant?" Hudson firmly asked.
"Of course the trial can't be cancelled, but no one will find her guilty of kidnapping. We will hold the trial right after the Vanadium arrives." Bourne answered.
"Well that's assuming of course, that meanwhile, you will be my honored guests." He continued, as he left towards the exit.
"You only have two minutes." The Macronesian soldier who was guarding the unit, where Liza was being kept, said to Hudson as he opened the door to let him in.
Hudson stepped in calmly and stood still, until the door was closed again. He looked at Liza who sat on the bed inside her cell, burying her face in her hands and approached slowly, "Liza."
She raised her head quickly not believing that it was his voice, "Captain!" she rose from the bed and rushed towards him to hold onto the cell bars between them, while looking at him with extreme joy on her face, happy to see a very familiar face.
He grinned at her passionately and asked, "How are you doing, Liza?"
She scanned his face with her eyes and whispered, "I'm so glad to see you."
He caught her hands around the bars strongly, "I know that you are scared, but I am going to get you out of here very soon."
She smiled at him, "I am counting on it." She sighed sadly, "I am sorry to put you in such jeopardy, sir."
He rubbed the back of her hand gently and said, "It's okay Liza, I know that you have never wanted that." Hudson continued, "McGath made a deal with Bourne, you are going to stand for a trial tomorrow, but you will be found not guilty."
"What about the children?" she asked, sounding concerned.
"They have already been released." He replied.
She looked into his eyes for a moment, before saying, "I met Bourne, he tried to scare me and get information from me."
Hudson nodded, "He would do more than that." Then he looked at her and asked with concern, "Did he hurt you?"
"His guards beat me up, because I tried to beat them up." She answered.
He glanced at her for a moment before saying, "Look, we don't have much time, do you need anything? I am not leaving here until the trial."
She shook her head in a sad no.
"Take it easy. Ok?" she didn't answer, so his eyes became filled with worry so he asked, "Are you really ok?"
Tears filled her eyes as she answered, "I will be ok, when you take me back home."
They heard the door open, so he looked at her for a second longer before he nodded and left.
On the trial, Stallone stood cuffed in front of the judge, while Hudson, McGath, and Bourne stood amongst the audience, listening to the judge as he was saying, "Based on the statement of the defendant and children found in her company, and in absence of any further evidences, the court has only one conclusion."
"The Court finds the defendant not guilty with the crime of kidnapping." The crowd roared with disapproval as the Judge paused for a moment, before he continued, "But to honor her, is not to excuse her."
"As they were violating our laws, and as she couldn't transfer them immediately to law enforcement authority, the defendant is considered a participant to their crime."
Hudson began to feel tense once again, especially after the judge continued on, "Accordingly, and with deep regret... we find her guilty, with the high felony of smuggling."
Hudson opened his eyes becoming terrified when he heard the judge's words, "We impose the only judgment our laws allow, a sentence of death." He finished.
All of the audience yelled with approval and applauded as Hudson looked over at Bourne with rage, who stood quietly smiling to himself as McGath shouted at him, "I thought we had a deal!"
Bourne shrugged his shoulders, "And I honored her."
"Order!" the Judge said, "Sentence of death will be carried out tomorrow, at noon."
Hudson left the room with rage still building inside that blurred his vision as he walked away; it further became fueled when he heard Liza screams, "Captain!"
"Sir, you leave me no choice." Hudson said to McGath through the vidlink, inside the Ward Room, where he was meeting with his crew, as well as Vocar. He continued in a cold firm voice, "I'll sign out on leave, to rescue my officer. If you don't permit that, I will resign my command."
McGath sighed, "I know I can't stop you, Oliver. I wish to hell I could, because I don't think that there is a thing that you can do. Out."
McGath signed off as Hudson turned to face his crew, "I don't have answers for all of you; I only have an answer for myself." Hudson said, removing his UEO patch from his uniform sleeve and placed it onto the table, and then he continued, "I have to attempt this rescue."
Brody followed Hudson's lead and took his patch off as well, "I am going with you, Captain."
Then Piccolo, O'Neil, and Lucas followed too.
Hudson objected Lucas' patch and returned it to him, "Wolenczack, I need you here, on SeaQuest, with Mr. Ford." Hudson turned to look at Vocar, who put a black case on table.
"This is a gift from my colony, for the return of our children." He said opening the case, showing the disentangled weapon parts inside the case.
"They're also going to give us the use of an assault vessel, to take us to the Macronesian Fortress." Hudson commented.
"We will disguise ourselves as Spindrift merchants, going there to sell our goods. We launch in two hours."
"But how do we get out of there?" Piccolo asked.
Vocar smiled and replied, "Don't worry; we have a lot of friends there. We are going to take plenty of presents for them with us."
In her cell Liza heard the door open quietly as Bourne came into the room to say, "You have a very brave captain, Lieutenant."
She rose up from her bed to stand on her feet to face him, "You have come to gloat!"
He smiled, "I've come to save you myself."
"Really!? For what?" She asked, with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
He walked around her and held her shoulders from behind, "I want you to share my life for a while."
She stiffed as he said that, which made him rub her neck and shoulders seductively, "You would then realize the petty weaknesses of the UEO, indulge in my pleasures and the security of my powers."
She pulled away from him, "I haven't forgotten my sense of shame."
He approached her again, "Shame is weakness, Liz. It scares only teenage boys here."
He hugged her suddenly trying to kiss her as he continued, "Let me show you how to ignore it."
She violently pushed him away, causing him to fall against her cell bars, "My god! You are a devil. You make me sick." she said sounding disgusted, "Go to hell!"
He looked at her with extreme rage building inside, before he turned and left the cell angrily. Leaving Liza to break down on her bed, crying.
Aboard their launch, Hudson and his company wore the Spindrift Folk dress, masking their faces with scarves of the same color and got ready to anchor at the Macronesian Fortress, where guards stood to fetch the arrivals.
They put their bags on the stand next to one of the guards, after Vocar had nodded to another guard standing a few meters away, who in turn nodded to the guard that they stood next to, "What's in the bags?" he asked as he put one of his hands into a bag and brought it back out holding a bottle; he quickly hid it and allowed them to pass.
After they went through the checkpoint, they sat in a dark corner to reconnect their weapons, before they headed to the execution room.
There, Liza was driven in by the Macronesian guards, to stand in front of the judge. She tried to resist them by pulling away before she recognized Hudson, even though he was masked, as he was coming into the execution room. Bourne who was standing amongst the audience took notice of the look on her face and turned to look in the same direction as her. "Hudson, he is there!" He shouted, as he pointed at Hudson.
Hudson yelled at his crew, "Fire!" he started firing his gun at one of the soldiers, who had grabbed Stallone, who pulled her arms away from the other guard and hit him in the face with her cuffed hands. Hudson finally reached her, firing at her cuffs to free her hands.
In the meantime, Vocar along with the others were shooting the other guards scattered all over the room, until Hudson managed to get Liza out of the room, so they covered him until he was out and then they all pulled out of the room, not to far behind Hudson and sealed the door.
"Everybody back to the launch... pull back!" Hudson shouted, so they ran back to the hatch, firing at the guards who had appeared from the other side. They reached the hatch to their launch and O'Neil quickly opened it, then they went through it, before they heard Liza's screaming. Hudson looked at her becoming terrified as he saw her bleeding, after being shot by a Macronesian guard. Hudson held onto her in case she fell down and then quickly passed her through the hatch, and then he shouted, "Seal the hatch."
He put Liza down onto the floor, as everyone else got into place to get them out of there. "Somebody give me medical supplies." He yelled at them, while he rested her head against the floor, then unzipped her uniform to check her injury.
"Launching." Vocar said, as Hudson took the first aid kit from Piccolo, who sat next to him helping in the best way that he could.
She cried in pain as he put the dressing on her wound on her abdomen, "Hold on Liza, you are going to be fine." He said, trying to comfort her.
She clenched her hand tightly on his back, when their shuttle shook violently.
"They are attacking us!" O'Neil said, sounding terrified.
Hudson and Tony rose up carrying Liza, and Hudson shouted, "Come on everybody, into the launch tail. Let's move it!"
Everyone quickly obeyed, before they became disconnected from the main vessel.
"Launching!" Brody said, as the vessel under the attack of the Macronesian missiles exploded but they had escaped. "We are clear." He continued.
Hudson sighed in relief, while wiping Liza's tears off of her cheek, "Lieutenant, take us home."
On SeaQuest, Hudson stood in the Med bay with Dr. Perry, who was saying, "She was lucky, the laser beam hit millimeters away from her liver. It didn't affect any vital organs or main arteries. She can be back to work in a few days, after the wound completely heals."
He smiled at her nodding, "Thank you, Doctor."
Doctor Perry left, while Hudson approached Liza's bed where Liza laid there sleeping. He studied her peaceful face for a moment, before he took his hand and moved a tress of hair away from her forehead carefully.
She opened her eyes slowly and glanced at him for a moment before she smiled and whispered, "Captain."
He returned her smile, "Hey Liza, welcome back home. How are you feeling?"
She replied calmly, "Thank you captain, I feel so sleepy."
He grinned, "This must be because of sedatives. Dr. Perry told me that your injury wasn't serious, and that you are going to be well soon."
She held his hand passionately, "How can I thank you, Captain?"
He raised his hand to hold her hand and gently kissed her palm, "I wouldn't let them hurt you Liza. You just get well soon, Lieutenant."