The Mystery of the Missing Hyper-Drive Element – Chapter 7

A/N: I do not, and will not ever, own the SGU characters used in this story. The characters' names you are not familiar with though are original to me. Please read and review and let me know what you think. Sorry it has taken so long for me to get back to this one. I won NaNoWriMo and then was busy with Christmas and moving. We are finally settled, and it's time to continue the action. Two more chapters, maybe three. On with the story!

Excerpt from Chapter 6

The other two came back, and the ship took off. It lifted up through the atmosphere and settled into orbit around the planet. Ariana noticed them looking around and smiled. "Our base is on Altera's second moon. It will take us a few hours to get there."

"Yes," said Phillip. "And that's when you'll get to meet the people responsible for our group and learn what they will want you to do."

Nicholas and Melissa both nodded with Nick saying, "We are looking forward to it," and with both of them wondering what would happen when they arrived at the headquarters of Par Pro Aulum.

Chapter 7

Several hours later, the vessel approached Altera's second moon and flew around to the dark side where there was a space port. Once the ship had landed, Phillip went to the radio and spoke quietly into it while Ariana spoke with Nick and Missy. "There are several people here who are interested in having the laws changed on Altera. We are attempting to accomplish things peacefully, but sometimes, well, you know…."

Nicholas raised his eyebrows. "You do things not so peacefully?"

"Well, yes, but only as a last resort. Do you have a problem with that?"

The scientist gazed at Melissa for a long moment in silent communication before answering the other woman. "I think you need to do whatever you need to do."

"Excellent answer." Ariana saw that Phillip had finished and motioned for the others to join him. "Are we cleared to come in?"

Gallus smiled. "Of course. Our leaders are very interested in meeting our newest recruits." He motioned to the door. The four of them left the ship and walked into the space port where two men were waiting for them. He introduced the two guests to them. "Sirs, this is Dr. Nicholas Rush and Dr. Melissa Young. Dr. Young, Dr. Rush, this is Lucius Sabinus and Colin Balbus."

Holding out his hand, Nick said, "It's a pleasure to meet both of you."

Sabinus shook the hand he was offered. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well." He held out his hand to Missy. "And it's also a pleasure to meet such a lovely lady."

"Thank you," said Melissa. "You…have a…impressive… facility." She motioned to the building around them.

The other man nodded in appreciation. "Thank you, Dr. Young. Lucius and I thought you might want a tour of the main areas before turning in for the night. The real training will begin tomorrow."

"That sounds…interesting."

"Oh, it will be."

The four of them walked out of the port area and into the main part of the base. Balbus and Sabinus showed their visitors the main areas which included several labs, conference rooms, and physical fitness areas. When they arrived at what looked like dormitory quarters, Missy noticed a room down the opposite hallway that didn't have any other rooms around it. She touched Nick's shoulder indicating the presence of the room before turning to Sabinus. "What's in…that room?"

Lucius turned and saw the room she was indicating. "Oh, that's the room where we conduct our lab experiments that could turn out badly. By securing that room and having it away from the other ones, we've minimized the chance of injury to our personnel."

"I see."

Opening the door to the dorm, Colin motioned for the others to step in saying, "Let's go ahead and get you assigned quarters for the night." They walked down to what looked like a lobby where a young woman was sitting at a desk. "Sarah, could you please assign quarters to Dr. Rush and Dr. Young and get them whatever they need?"

"Of course, Sir," said the young black-haired woman who gave Nick and Missy a welcoming smile.

Balbus looked back at his visitors. "We'll let Sarah get you settled, and then we'll talk some more tomorrow. Is that all right?"

"That will be fine," said Nicholas." The others also told Nick and Missy good night, and it wasn't very long at all before Sarah had assigned the two of them quarters and brought them items they would need for a few days' stay. Once Sarah had left, he decided to go next door and talk with his compatriot. After knocking on the door and hearing the words, 'Come in,' he went in to see the woman he thought of as a daughter. "What do you think so far, lass?"

Melissa gazed over at him with an impish grin. "I think…they might...have made… it easy for… us, Nick. What kind…of bet…are you…willing…to take…that the…element…is in…the room…that's by…itself?"

Grinning back at her, he said, "You might be right. People who do stuff like this can sometimes be quite stupid. But, I'm sure we still need to be careful. The room is probably guarded, and if it's not, there's probably some kind of combination lock."

"Of course. When do…you want…to try…and search…for it?"

"Well, we should try and get the lay of the land so how about tomorrow night after we have had the chance to see everything?"

"That works. Have a…good night."

"You too, lass." Nick walked out of her room, and back to his.

The following morning Melissa woke up to see a fresh change of clothing hanging on the bathroom door. After being thoroughly creeped out that someone had been in the room while she had been asleep, she went into the bathroom, got cleaned up, and then got dressed. Once she had combed her hair and pinned it back, she went next door and knocked, walking in the room after she heard Nick's quiet, 'Come in.' Seeing that he was dressed in clothes similar to hers, she shook her head ruefully. "I guess…someone came…in your room…too."

He answered her in his Scottish brogue. "That they did, lass. I'm not sure how happy I am with that. It's lucky we didn't have anything with us to give us away."

"Very true. I…wonder…if someone…will come…and get us."

At that moment, there was a knock at the door, and Nicholas went to answer it, finding the girl they had met the night before when he opened it. "Fair day, Sarah."

The slim dark haired woman smiled at him warmly. "Fair day, Dr. Rush." She walked into the room and saw Missy standing there. "And fair day to you, Dr. Young. I was coming to your room next. Are you both ready for the morning meal?"

"We are," said Melissa.

They left the room and walked a couple of corridors over to a big room that Missy and Nick could tell served as a cafeteria for the group. Sarah went with them through the line, and they all got plates of food. They came over to a table where a few others were sitting and sat down to begin eating. A few minutes later, Phillip Gallus and Ariana Tiberius approached the table and greeted everyone with Gallus saying, "Fair day, Dr. Rush. Fair day, Dr. Young. I trust everything was satisfactory last night."

After gazing at Melissa and getting an affirming nod, Nicholas replied, "Everything was satisfactory. We appreciate you asking. What will we be doing today?"

"Well, we know your abilities in the laboratory are second to none so we don't need to evaluate that. We'd like you to attend some seminars about our group and what we are trying to do. We'd also like to evaluate your physical fitness and your weapons handling ability. Now, Dr. Young, I just want to make sure you understand that I'm not talking about your speech difficulties. We want to know how well both of you can run and climb—that kind of thing."

"I understand," said Missy.

"As do I," said Nick.

Phillip smiled at them. "Excellent. Let's get started."

He and Ariana led them to their first meeting where they heard Colin Balbus talk about the goals for Par Pro Aulum and how it was important to make the changes they wanted no matter the cost. By the time he was finished, Melissa was starting to get the idea that they wanted to overthrow Altera's government and install one of their own. She didn't have a chance to speak with Nicholas though because there wasn't any time that they were left alone to themselves. They went on to the physical fitness training and the weapons handling assessment where Missy especially impressed the instructor with how well she could shoot. By the time they got back to the conference room later in the day, they each had the impression that a big request was about to be made, and the leaders in the group didn't disappoint them. After they all sat back down at the conference table, Sabinus, who had joined them earlier, asked, "So, Dr. Rush, Dr. Young, what did you think of everything that you saw?"

"It was…quite interesting," said Melissa.

"Yes, it was," said Nick. He nodded pleasantly at the leaders of the group. "What are you going to want us to do next?"

"I'm glad to hear you ask that," said Lucius. "We are ninety-nine percent sure that we will need to form a government of our own, and it would assist us greatly if you would bring Earth's support to our cause."

"Earth's support?"

"Yes, if Dr. Young did a broadcast in support of Par Pro Aulum, a lot of people in the present government would be swayed to our cause, and it would be very easy to take control from the rest."

Dr. Gallus nodded as he spoke up with excitement in his voice. "I believe an Earth expression I have heard applies here. It would be like 'taking candy from a baby.' He gazed at Missy. "Is that the correct way to use the expression?"

Her eyes widened, as she thought of how to answer him, not having expected this development when she and Nicholas had gone undercover. "It is, but…you should…know…that any…statement…by me…really wouldn't…matter one…way or…the other. I'm…not…the ambassador, Everett…is."

The members of Par Pro Aulum all looked at each other before Sabinus stepped forward and spoke to Melissa assuredly. "Of course. You could speak to him about issuing a joint statement. That would work quite well. But, if he doesn't want to…" A look of predatory anticipation came over his face. "I believe a statement by you would still be beneficial. Would you be willing to do that?" We could allow you to call him tomorrow to set it up." He turned to Dr. Rush. "And of course, a statement by you, as Earth's leading scientist on Altera would also be beneficial. What do the two of you think?"

Missy and Nick gave each other knowing looks, but when Nick nodded briefly, Missy knew they needed to keep up their cover. "We can…do that. If you…want…I can…contact him…tomorrow."

"That will be fine," said Balbus. "Now, why don't we go ahead and get the evening meal? There will be some more members and recruits that you can meet."

They walked back to the cafeteria and got their meals with Nicholas and Melissa being very observant of where they were going and what everyone was saying about the plans of the group. Later that evening, Melissa was in her room and had just finished combing her hair when she heard a knock at the door. She said, "Come in," and the door opened to reveal Nicholas. "We have…a problem…don't we?"

"We do, lass." He ran his fingers through his hair. "I didn't realize we would be in the middle of a coup when I agreed to do this. I promised your husband I would look after you. Do you think we should have them extract us now?"

"Ugh." She sat down on the bed, motioning to Nick to sit on one of the chairs. "I was…hoping we…could find the...element…first so we…could clear… mine and Lisa's names. We could…wait for…everyone…to go to…bed and try…to search...the room…before…calling…them."

Shrugging his shoulders, Nick said, "We might want to go ahead and call them now. Remember, we're off planet. It's gonna take them awhile to get here."

"You're right. Go ahead."

They both pushed the transmitters in their hands. Once they had done so, Nick said, "Okay, it's done. Now, we just have to wait." They sat in the room for a couple of hours quietly talking to each other. When they noticed that the dormitory hallways had quieted, he said, "Are we ready to go play detective?"

"Sure, let me…put my…hair up." She put her hair in a pony-tail, and they quietly stepped out of the room into a deserted hallway. They carefully made their way out of the dormitory. When they reached the corridor which led to the secured room, Missy said, "All right…time to find…out what's…being hidden."

Nick grinned at her. "Exactly." They crept down to the room which was secured by a traditional Alteran lock. After taking a plastic card and wire out of his pocket, he fiddled for a few seconds with the lock before it clicked open allowing them access to the room. When they didn't hear an alarm go off, they cautiously crept into the room. Nicholas looked around in fascination at the room which appeared to be a typical science lab. "Wow, this place has every piece of testing equipment that a scientist could possibly want."

"It does, doesn't it?" She noticed a wall safe at the end of the room. "I wonder…if what we're…looking for…is in there."

"Only one way to know for sure." He went over to the safe and began trying to determine the combination. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but once he did, he was able to open the door and reveal the contents to the two of them. Noticing a vial in the corner, Nick pulled it out and showed it to Melissa. "I think this is what we're looking for. What do you think?"

"I think you're…right. What…are we…going to…do with it…until the…others get here?"

"Well, we're not going back to our rooms." He placed the vial in a small box and then a bag they had brought for that purpose before closing and securing the safe. "Let's see if we can find a hiding place near the space port."

"I agree."

They turned to leave the room, but were startled to hear a voice come from the door. It was Lucius Sabinus who said, "I'm afraid I cannot allow that, Dr. Rush." He had Colin Balbus, Phillip Gallus, and Ariana Tiberius with him. The members of Par Pro Aulum came into the lab. "I am so disappointed. I thought we had two new converts to our cause, but you just came up here so you could steal from us."

Nicholas gave them a grim smile. "Well, gentlemen, and lady, and I use those terms loosely, we have another expression that we like to use on Earth. You win some and you lose some, and this would be the time…." He glanced at Missy giving a small motion towards the door. She nodded at him affirmatively knowing that they would only have one chance. "You have lost!" They sidestepped the others and ran for the door. Balbus took out a gun, and two shots rang out with the room almost immediately going into darkness….