Two months had passed since the shooting, and everything seemed to have gone back to normal on seaQuest. Lucas no longer needed crutches, but, much to his dislike, he had to use a cane. The injury had hurt his knee enough that it was still weak and would give out when he over did it. And, in traditional Lucas fashion, he did overdue it a lot. He couldn't run yet, but he was allowed to go swimming, as long as someone was watching him. Lucas had just been told all this when his therapy session ended for the day. His leg hurt, but he decided to go see Darwin.

"Hey, Fish-face," Lucas greeted, seeing him in the moon pool.

"Lucas play."

"I don't know Dar; I'm not supposed to swim alone"

"Not alone; got Darwin. Lucas play."

Looking around and not seeing anyone, Lucas got undressed and jumped in the pool. The cold water felt good on his leg. "You want to play football, Dar?"

"Lucas play."

"Okay. Let's play"

They played for about 10 minutes when a loud voice yelled, "Lucas! What do you think you are doing? Get out of the water this instant! You were just told you are not to swim alone until Kristin says so. Your knee could go out, and then what?"

"Sorry, Dad, but Darwin was begging for me to play with him," Lucas said innocently.

"GO TO YOUR ROOM. I have to go to the bridge. We'll talk about this when I'm done."

"Fine," Lucas replied sadly and sulked toward his cabin.

Upon returning to his room, Lucas started working on a new security program he had promised Chief Crocker he'd have finished. He couldn't believe his Dad had blown up at him like that. He had never seen him so angry before. After a few hours passed, there was a knock at the door.

"Lucas, I want to talk to you about earlier. I'm sorry I overreacted, but you have to realize that if your knee had gone out while you were swimming, you could have drowned. The thought of that just scared me. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you. You're my son, Lucas, and I love more than you will ever know. All I want is for you to be safe," Bridger said as he sat down by Lucas.

This made Lucas feel a little guilty. "I'm sorry, Dad; I guess I just wasn't thinking."

Pulling Lucas into a hug, Nathan said, "It's okay. You just have to be more careful, and don't worry; in a few weeks your leg will have healed enough for you to swim alone."

Meanwhile at Section Seven…..

"Renegade, there's been a change of plans. We just found out from one of our operatives at Node 3 that Lucas Wolenczak was able to single-handedly hack into the World Bank. That kid is a power hacker. We need him alive to work for us. Bring him to us by whatever means necessary."

"No problem, Boss. I don't care how you want him as long as I get paid, but this kid isn't going to work for you willingly. From what I found out, he is cocky and stubborn. I'll be sure to persuade him for you."

"Be my guest. So, what are you planning?"

"Why would I tell you that?"

Back on seaQuest…

The next morning, Bridger walked onto the bridge after making sure Lucas was at therapy and sat down in his chair. He was exhausted. Lucas had woken up twice last night with nightmares. For a while, it seemed as though they had dissipated, but last night, they were back with a vengeance. The shooting had scared both Lucas and Nathan. It hurt Nathan that he could do little to comfort his son. Nathan would always get up and hold Lucas after the dreams. He felt helpless as Lucas awoke so scared that he would tremble and cry, clutching onto him. Lucas never seemed to be scared during the day, but at night, Lucas's imagination would take over.

"Captain, I'm getting a distress call from a mini-sub ten miles straight ahead," O'Neill said, breaking Bridger's train of thought.

"Patch it through."

"Aye, Captain. All we have is audio."

"Mayday …day. This is the Olympia. My systems….. Failed… attack…. dead…. water….help…mayday…dead in the water."

"Can you clean up that signal?"

"Negative, sir. They're having problems with their computers."

"We need to send a team over to the ship. Crocker, Shan, and Lewis; go over there. We don't know who or what is on the boat, so be careful," Bridger warned.

"Aye, Captain," Crocker replied.

Half an hour later, the sub was picked up and docked. The man introduced himself as Roger Benfield. The man was tall with wide shoulders and long brown hair. He had a short trimmed beard and mustache. Roger was shown to guest quarters and was allowed time to get settled before he talked to the captain about his sub.

"Team is looking at your sub; it looks like your computers are fried," Captain Bridger explained.

"You wouldn't happen to have anyone on board who could fix it, would you?" Roger asked.

"Our computer team is working on it now."

"Could I speak to your head computer analyst to find out about what will be done?"

"Our computer analyst is only working on seaQuest computers at this time due to an injury that's still healing. Don't worry; all our computer people are capable enough to fix your sub," Bridger informed him.

"Can I ask what happened?"

"My son and some of the crew were on vacation, and he was shot in the leg."

"Your son is your computer analyst? How did you manage to pull that off? I thought families weren't allowed to serve together."

"Well, when the person in question is a minor, exceptions are made to that rule," Bridger said with a laugh.

"Wait, you have a kid as your chief computer analyst?" Roger replied in a shocked tone.

"That kid has a master's degree from Stanford in artificial intelligence graduating top of this class with the highest GPA in history," Lucas said out of nowhere.

"Roger, this is my son, Lucas; Lucas, this is Roger," Bridger said with a warning glance to Lucas to check the attitude.

"Mr. Benfield, you'll be lucky to go anywhere soon. Most of your computers on the sub are completely destroyed, and we don't have the necessary replacements. You'll have to dock somewhere," Lucas informed him.

"How did you know that, may I ask? You're not supposed to work on that project. You're not cleared for full work schedule yet, bud," Bridger scolded.

"Can I get directions back to my cabin?" Roger asked.

"I'm heading to the labs to do some experiments with Doctor Westphalen. Your quarters are on the way. I'll show you," Lucas volunteered.

"So, how long have you and your dad been on seaQuest?" Roger asked, trying to strike a conversation.

"I've been here about six months, but my Dad has only been a captain for five."

Suddenly Roger grabbed his head.

A young 8 year old boy jumped up and down excitedly. "Daddy is coming home soon," he squealed.

A woman in her early thirties gave the boy a plate of food and roughed up his dark brown hair. "I'm excited too, little one."

"Are you okay?" Lucas asked. "I can go get the doc if you want."

"No, I'm okay. I just need to sleep."

"Okay. Your cabin is around the corner. See you later," Lucas said as he walked on toward the lab.

"Okay, I'm on board, but we might have problems getting him off the boat."

"If all else fails, kill him. If we can't have him, no one will."

"Roger that; I will be in contact in twenty-four hours"

I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my story, it is much appriciated. Please keep up. I want to thank by betareader darkin520. you are amazing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Another is coming soon.