part ten
Hudson sat in a barren room, the long black table empty in front of him. He knew this call was one that had to be made, but he wished that MeGath hadn't asked him to do it. Bill had always been great at avoiding giving bad news to this man. The recipient of this call was not going to be happy, and it was a fair bet that it wouldn't be very long before he arrived in New Cape Quest.
The screen in front of him came alive, the triangular UEO insignia blazing across it. A few moments later, the tanned face of Nathan Bridger, retired UEO captain, replaced it.
"Oliver! What a surprise. How are you?"
"Hello, Nathan. I... I have some news that, well, you won't like."
"Oliver, where are you? Are you at HQ? What is it?" Worry etched itself into the ex-captain's soft features.
"Nathan, the seaQuest was being refit for the last week and a half, and this morning, while running some tests out in the water, it was boarded by hostiles. We don't know who they are or what they want, but we do know that Lieutenant Henderson was killed while mounting a defense." He stopped for a moment to let this information sink in. On the screen, Bridger sank into a chair, shocked silent. Hundreds of questions ran through his mind, but for some reason he couldn't get any of them out of his mouth. "There's more, Nathan. There was only a skeleton crew aboard when this occurred, and Henderson was the highest ranking officer. There's no one left with any major kind of combat training."
He's leaving something out, Bridger thought. What is he protecting me from? "What else, Oliver?"
Hudson sighed, hanging his head before he spoke. "When we last heard from them, the bridge was about to be breached, and... Ensign Wolenczak was in charge."
Lucas... Bridger's mind spun. Lucas was just a kid; how could he lead a team into a combat situation? Could things be any worse? As he looked back up at the screen, he could tell that yes, things were about to get worse.
"Nathan, we can't find them. They've disappeared."
Evans wiped away the annoying beads of sweat that threatened to run into his vision and closed his eyes tightly. He had never realized before how hot it got up here. He was so tired... he felt like he had been crawling around up here for days. The annoying part was that it looked the same. An hour of vainly trying to figure out the pattern of the crawlspaces had led him no where. He thought that he was somewhere near the c-deck, but who knew? This could've been hell and he could've been dead, doomed to crawl around aimlessly for eternity.
Breathe, he told himself; just breathe, If you panic, you're not gonna get yourself anywhere. After a few deep breaths, he felt better. Deciding that his next move should be to figure out exactly what deck he was on (or which circle of Dante's Hell), he crawled over to a hatch that led down to the hallway, or in this case, a room.
Peering through the grating, he instantly knew where he was, and whose body was lying alarmingly still on the floor. In seconds he had the grating off and was down by Lucas' side moments later.
"Ensign Wolenczak?" Evans gently rolled Lucas onto his back, his trained eyes searching for injuries. "Wolenczak? Wake up." He turned his attention to Lucas' pale face, slapping it gently at first, then progressively harder. "Lucas! Come on, man!"
"Oh..." Ever so softly, the groan escaped Lucas' lips. Evans doubted he had even heard it until it came again, this time louder. Lucas' head rolled to one side.
"Lucas?" His eyes opened groggily, wincing as the pain washed back over him.
"Wes?" Came the weak reply.
Relief washed over him. "Yeah, Lucas. It's me."
"Why... why are there three of you?"
He laughed then, and it felt really good. Some of the tension from the last couple of hours lifted off his shoulders as his lips curled into a smile. Then the moment was gone, and his spirit again turned somber.
"Listen, Lucas, can you tell me what happened?"
Lucas told Evans everything then, from Lonnie's trial run of the HR Probe to her sacrifice in the docking bay. "We lost the bridge. Everyone else was able to escape, but I was last out. I was able to encrypt the system, though, and for the past hour they've been trying to... 'convince' me to tell them the code. I won't." Lucas looked Evans in the eyes, and the intense fire behind them surprised Evans. "I would rather die than let them get seaQuest."
"Shh, Lucas. Don't get yourself worked up."
"No, Wes, you have to listen to me. If they get the code, they will start a war. Do you understand me? A war, Wes! I'm not going to let that happen."
"Lucas, that's not going to happen. Just calm down and let me check you out. Do you remember where they hit you?"
Lucas grabbed Evan's probing hands before he could touch his body. "Don't worry about me, Wes, listen. They're not going to get the code from me. Which means when the UEO gets here, they're gonna need to get seaQuest started. If I... don't make it-"
"Lucas, don't talk like that. Of course you're gonna make it-"
"Wes! For the last time, listen to me! I need to give you the code in case something happens to me."
"Look, Lucas, are you sure that I'm the right one for this? I mean, I just work in med-bey, and-"
"Evans, do you see anyone else around that I could tell it to? You have to do this. It has to be done."
Sighing, Evans hung his head in resignment. "Okay. What is it?"
Evans felt heavy as he crawled away from the brigg. He had only left after insisting that he do as much as he could for Lucas' injuries. Lucas had sustained a dislocated shoulder, a few broken ribs, and possibly internal bleeding, so he was in no condition to go crawling around in the dusty crawlways. Lucas had insisted that Evans meet up with Picallo and the other free crewmembers, and Evans had no other option. He didn't want to leave the ensign in the hands of terrorists, but there just weren't any other options available, no matter how much of a traitor he felt like.
The information Lucas had entrusted him with was what Lucas had bled for, and he was damned sure that he was not going lessen that sacrifice by giving it up. No one was even going to know that he had the code, not even the other free crewmembers. As long as their enemy thought that Lucas was the only one who knew the code, then they would keep him alive. That was the one thought that kept Evans crawling forward through the darkness; he would make sure that Lucas came out of this alive.