Author's Notes: Cue the trumpets, my fine friends, I have finished Chapter 18. As promised, here is the prize for that milestone. There is an "issue" in this chapter that needs to be addressed. Once you've read this little ditty, read my note at the bottom. Advanced apologies. Again, I don't own seaQuest or any of the identifiable characters. Again, unbeta'd. I do, however, want to thank all of you who have graciously provided comments and words of encouragement. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Extra thanks to CFVici who has provided a much needed sounding board for me to bounce ideas (and complaints) agains. Enjoy peeps.
Chapter Nine
O'Neill punched the pause button in frustration and stood up to stretch his legs. He paced back and forth in front of his bunk, working out the kinks in his neck as he did. He'd been back in his quarters running through the communications feeds without a break since he'd returned from the mess. The atmosphere of the dining hall was almost foreign. The crew was quiet and subdued; no one was laughing, no one appeared to be joking. They were close to homeport now, and all knew the reason why. This was no pleasure run back home and no one was going to get shore leave. If they were to leave the confines of seaQuest, it would be to attend the funeral of one of their own. He was actually happy to get back to his room and back to reviewing the hours of audio he still had to go through.
Tim had just finished going through Lucas' feed. Countless times. He had found nothing. Tim dropped back into his chair and tried something different. He changed the frequency band, isolating a small background noise on Lonnie's communications. It was something that he kept noticing each time he'd gone through the tapes, however he hadn't been able to identify it yet. It was probably something picked up from the equipment in the room where they had been working but he needed to check everything. Leave no stone unturned, right? He fiddled with a few dials and tweaked the volume. He pulled the cursor back and the screen and listened as the isolated sound filtered through his earphones.
What was that? Tim started it back up again and played it from the beginning. There it was again. He was pretty sure that he was hearing voices in the background. O'Neill made a few more adjustments, until finally he got what he wanted. Yes! Those were definitely voices and they did not belong to Lucas or Lonnie. Tim furrowed his brow, working desperately to get the voices to the point where he could pull out discernable words. Based on the time on the audio file, these voices were picked up by the microphone approximately 45 seconds after Lonnie had stopped responding.
Finally, he could hear the voices clearly. Tim rewound and listened over an over again until could identify what was being said. He frowned. There were two distinct voices and they were not speaking English. In fact, he wasn't quite sure he'd heard this language before. Tim racked his brain of the plethora of languages in his repertoire, and found that it was a derivative of Dutch. He wasn't fluent in the language, far from it, but he had a good enough working knowledge of Dutch that he felt he could translate it - with a bit of effort. Pulling a pad of paper and pencil from his desk drawer, Tim set about writing the transcript of the dialogue.
Less than an hour later, Tim stared at what he'd written down in front of him. He was pretty sure that he'd managed to get every word on paper, although he wasn't too sure if he had the spelling correct. He looked at the original language and the English translation next to it:
Gryp hulle altwee (Grab them both).
Is nie wat ans gaan verlaat die meisie? (Aren't we going to leave the girl?)
Nee, se sy kom saam met ons. Sal ons die hand oor haar voorkoms (No, she's coming with us. We'll hand her over later)
Wat van hom? (What about him?)
Hy's wat vervoer word uit onmiddellik (he's being transported immediately)
O'Neill grabbed the sheet of paper and headed directly for the bridge. Commander Ford was on shift right now and he needed to speak to both Ford and the captain. If he was interpreting this correctly, then the explosion at the outpost was definitely not an accident or an abandoned security feature. It sounded like someone knew exactly what they were doing and those people must have been the two Macronesian soldiers with Lucas and Lonnie.
***
Tim O'Neill stood at attention in front of the table in Hudson's personal quarters. It was rare that he ever be invited into this room. The last time had not been for the most pleasant of conversations. It was immediately after Lt. Commander Kimura had defected from the Chaodai and he was certain he was going to be asked to resign from seaQuest. Thankfully, that had not been the case, but it was still an unpleasant memory.
Captain Hudson leaned over the table, reviewing the translation in front of him.
"Sir, I believe they were speaking Afrikaans. For all practical purposes, it's a 'dead' language from South Africa. Stopped being spoken by the majority of the population a number of years back. It originated from Dutch when the country was first colonized." Tim did not budge from his position.
"Mr. O'Neill, do you feel as though you've translated this accurately?" Captain Hudson straightened up to look at Tim directly.
"Yes, I mean, I think so sir. I'm not fluent in Afrikaans, and I'm not even fluent in Dutch, but I'm pretty sure this is right. Afrikaans isn't the most complex language." Tim was slightly flustered.
"Do you have any idea what this implies, Mr. O'Neill?"
Tim looked at the captain, then at Ford who was re-reading the transcript, and then back to the captain. "Yes sir. At least I have a pretty good idea, sir."
"Alright, Lieutenant, let's hear it."
Tim took a deep breath before he spoke. Captain Hudson made him nervous and he could feel the sweat starting to bead on his brow.
"I think it implies that Lucas is alive, sir." He looked Hudson directly in the eye, and the captain raised one eyebrow in either interest or amusement. "I think this whole mission was a set-up. The Macronesians planned the whole thing just to get their hands on Lucas."
"And what makes you say that, Mr. O'Neill?
"Captain, the one man was surprised that they were taking Lonnie as well as Lucas. She doesn't appear to be their target. They mentioned transporting Lucas. But we know that it was the SARS team that found the body at the site. The Macronesians said they didn't see him and just pulled Lonnie into the safety of the launch. If it wasn't to their sub, then where did they take him? "He knew he wasn't making the clearest argument, but he could tell from the expression on Ford's face that the commander agreed with at least part of what he was saying. Tim continued, "Sir, I don't think the body we're transporting home is Lucas. I think he's been taken somewhere else."
Captain Hudson pulled out a chair and sat down at the table. He drummed his fingers on the wooden surface, thinking.
"At ease, O'Neill. Sit down."
Tim sat across from the captain, not sure where this was going.
"Mr. O'Neill. I agree with you - in part. I think that this entire assignment was a cover for something else entirely. But we already expected that to be the case. I also agree that we are going to have to put a rush on the formal identification of the body we have on board." He squinted his eyes and leaned back into his chair. "I am not convinced, however, that Wolenczak is still alive. We have no evidence. And until we do, I do not want to get the hopes up of every person on board. Understood?"
"Yes sir."
"For now, this information stays in this room. I don't want anyone else to know about this until we get a chance to discuss this further with McGath." The captain dropped his voice low, "If the Macronesians are behind this and if Wolenczak is being held prisoner, then I don't want them to know that we know."
Commander Ford addressed the captain, "Sir, we should continue with the funeral as though the body is Lucas?"
"That's an affirmative, Commander. We just won't have a body to bury." Hudson smacked the table with his open hand. "We are going to find out exactly what is going on here, and I'm going to start with McGath. Mr. O'Neill, let's see if we can get a link with him immediately."
It was late, approximately 2300 hours on Eastern Standard Time, and took slightly longer than business hours to get McGath on vidlink. When he finally did appear in front of them, the Secretary General looked slightly annoyed.
"Captain Hudson, this had better be important." It was not often that this man showed evidence of irritation, but it was apparent that he was not happy with the current intrusion.
Hudson stood in front of the screen, hands behind his back. Both O'Neill and Ford sat at the table behind him.
"Sir," Hudson's voiced betrayed his own frustration, "I would not have bothered you if I did not think this was important."
"Fine. What is it that couldn't wait until tomorrow?"
"Our Communications Chief, Lt. O'Neill, has uncovered some information that I feel is both important to the investigation into the failed mission in the Indian Ocean, and has possible implications regarding Ensign Wolenczak."
McGath sat a little straighter in his seat, his interest visibly piqued. "What kind of information?"
"We have proof that the Macronesians were involved in the disappearance of Wolenczak. The body found at the site may very well not be his. I'm requesting permission to expedite the formal identification of the body and if it proves not to be our ensign, to pursue any and all leads in bringing him home."
"Captain, you were ordered to hand the investigation off to the team sent in specifically for that purpose." McGath sighed. He knew it was pointless continuing with this argument. "Fine. Exactly what did you find?"
Captain Hudson turned to Tim to give his explanation of their findings. "Mr. O'Neil?"
Fifteen minutes later, the four men sat in silence.
"Lieutenant, I want that audio and your translations as soon as possible. Make sure you send them on a highly secured and encrypted line."
"Yes, sir."
McGath then turned his attention back to the captain. "You believe that Lucas Wolenczak is still alive?" The Secretary General did not look convinced.
"Sir, I believe that we were played from the beginning. We were used to serve a purpose and they have conveniently sent us on our way. I think we should be highly suspicious of the fact that they have been completely accommodating, especially in the return of Lt. Henderson to seaQuest. If you remember, Sir, we had to a rescue team to rescue her before her execution by the Macronesians a few months back." Hudson paced back and forth in front of the monitor. "Until those DNA results come back and verify that we have Wolenczak on board, I don't think that any of us should assume that it is him." Hudson paused and looked at the man on the screen. "Secretary General, I think that Wolenczak is alive and I think the Macronesians want us to think he's dead."
Again, there was silence in the room. McGath was the first to break it.
"What reason would President Bourne have to abduct an ensign in the UEO Navy, and fake his death?"
"With all due respect, Sir, we aren't talking about any ensign here. This is Wolenczak. He was well known before seaQuest went missing, and he, along with the rest of them, became household names when they returned. If memory serves me correctly, Wolenczak was notorious for getting his hands on highly classified UEO information without permission."
"You think that Bourne would go out of his way to kidnap and fake the death of a nineteen going on thirty year old low level UEO officer who has lost ten years of his life? Someone with outdated computer skills, no access to classified information and has very little knowledge of the history, politics and basic UEO intelligence from the last ten years?
McGrath gave Hudson a highly incredulous look. It was obvious that while he had respected Lucas' genius as a teenager, McGath no longer believed Lucas was capable of great things.
Captain Hudson shook his head slightly and briefly made eye contact with O'Neill and Ford. All three knew that while Lucas had lost a lot of time and had a lot of time to make up for, he should not be written off as easily as the UEO had so obviously done.
"Secretary General, I believe you have grossly underestimated Wolenczak's intelligence and skill level. You are right that he's had a lot to catch up on in regards to politics and technology, but he is a fast learner. He may not have the opportunity to hack into systems under my command as he did under Bridger's, but that does not make him any less capable. From what I've seen in this short time, and from what I know from his first two tours with seaQuest, Wolenczak has the potential to destroy the UEO."
Hudson gave McGath a minute before continuing. "Mr. Wolenczak has the ability to break into any UEO classified data, if he hasn't already, and no one would be the wiser."
"Lucas is the one that developed most of the security features for the computers on seaQuest and installed everything else we have." Ford interjected.
"Some of that was used in UEO Headquarters too," O'Neill added.
McGath had visibly paled, and Hudson continued. "If Bourne has done his research well, he'd also know how valuable Wolenczak could be." The captain paused again and stood taller. "I think I'm beginning to agree with Mr. O'Neill. I don't think Wolenczak is dead. I think that Bourne is going to try and use him. To get to seaQuest, the UEO – I'm not sure – but I think he knows what Wolenczak is worth alive."
"Captain, I'm still not convinced that Lucas is still alive. However, if you are correct, the UEO cannot afford for him to be in the wrong hands. Give me some time to do a little research. To find out how this whole mission came to the UEO. I'll see what channels were pulled in and if we can find out anything more. In the meanwhile, I want this kept quiet. This is now officially top secret. Until we find out how deep this goes and who is involved, I don't want anyone to discuss the possibility that Lucas is alive. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." Hudson responded, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, and Captain," McGath added, "go ahead with the funeral as planned. Don't raise suspicions." He was just about to end the link when Hudson added,
"Secretary General, seaQuest would like to be given the orders to bring Mr. Wolenczak home."
Both men in the room with him knew what Hudson was saying. McGath did too. There was no way they'd leave one of their own, even if it was a body they were retrieving. This was their crew member – a part of their family – and they wanted to make sure that they were involved in every aspect of the investigation and his rescue.
McGath nodded in acceptance and ended the call.
Author's End note: To any and all South Africans or Afrikaans speakers. It has been YEARS since I had to study the language and am pretty sure I've done a fine job in butchering it. Honestly, the only place on earth I've ever found myself needing to study the language was in school in SA and I haven't been able to find classes to polish up what I learned as a kid, here in my corner of the USA. If you read the "conversation" above, and it makes no sense to you, I'd love to get a proper translation of what I want them to say. Send it via PM or comment. I accept annonymous reviews.