part fourteen
The captain of the UEO Carlton switched off the vidlink as she leaned back in her chair. There were a thousand things clamoring for her attention, but right now it was all she could do just to remain where she was. She had a new mission to begin, one that she knew she could not let fail. This mission would bring her face to face with everything she had tried to ignore for the past ten years. The seaQuest was in trouble, and she had been ordered to lead in the cavalry.
She should be feeling like a hero. She should be thankful that it had been her sub that was closest to the seaQuest when she needed help. She should be feeling a lot of things, but right now all that she was feeling was guilt.
After years of grieving for her lost friends aboard the seaQuest, she had banished them to the back of her mind. She had been forced to, for the sake of her sanity.
Then, a few months ago, they had returned, and she was no longer able to keep her memories and feelings at bay. She had heard the reports; not everyone had made it back from wherever they had been for the last ten years. She hadn't wanted to know whom fate had decided to let live. Or die. So she had tried her best to ignore them, and, for the most part, had successfully blocked out their renewed presence from her perception. Only a small twinkling of guilt remained, surfacing briefly in the few and far between moments of solitude she was allowed in her position.
Her friends had disappeared off the face of the planet, re-appeared ten years later, and she hadn't even bothered to contact them. For goodness sake, Jonathan had been on that boat! Her guilt only increased whenever she heard that name. Their relationship had never evolved past flirting, but she had always wondered about what might have happened if she had stayed on the seaQuest for a second tour, if she hadn't let her ambition be her entire focus.
Katie Hitchcock shook her head and once again tried her hardest not to think about the people she once knew on a ship she once served on called the seaQuest DSV.
The fight only lasted a few minutes.
In the beginning, the seaQuest crew had the element of surprise to their advantage. Barging in with laser beams flying, the terrorists were slow in reciprocating the attack, and a few went down before they could even react.
But it didn't take long for them to regain their composure and fire, and when they did, it was all over. Five against seven were already bad enough odds, and the seaQuest crew was tired and hungry, and Lucas was barely able to stand, let alone fight.
In the end, the terrorists were down a few soldiers, but had gained five hostages.
"Lucas?" Tony called out tentatively. No one had spoken since the group's miserable attempt to take control of the boat had been so completely thwarted. After being subdued, they had been bound and thrust onto the floor in the back of the bridge, for the moment at least, ignored by their captors. "Lucas?" He whispered again, glancing to see if he was drawing the group undue attention. He felt confident in risking it, though. He had been watching Lucas, who was lying with his eyes closed a few feet from him, for the past five-teen minutes, and was getting increasingly worried. The young man was pale, ugly bruises standing out prominently on his face. His breathing was shallow and pained, and his brow was creased in pain. Whether he was unconscious or simply sleeping Piccolo didn't know, but he intended to find out.
"Lucas!" he hissed, knowing that a few of the terrorists had sent impatient glances in his direction. It was worth it though, as Tony was rewarded with a groan from the frighteningly still body. "That's it, Luke, come on back." This time a head moved, and sleepy eyes opened.
"Tony?"
"Yeah, Luke. You okay?"
"IÉ I don't... God, it hurts!"
Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, Luke," he replied, trying to keep the conversation light, "where does it hurt?"
Lucas' eyes closed briefly as he grimaced and tried his hardest to stay strong in front of his friend. "Well... um... everywhere, Tony." He groaned softly as he struggled to find a way to lay on the ground with his arms tied behind him in a way that caused the least amount of pain. "I think my... my shoulder feels funny, like it's not quite sitting right, and it hurts... ugh... to breathe..." He coughed, turning his head to the side, and if Tony hadn't been worried before, he certainly was now.
Blood. Lucas had coughed up blood.
Tony was no medic, but he had gone through enough emergency training to know what coughing up blood meant.
Lucas was in serious trouble.
He had to get some help. Surely these people holding them wouldn't want the only person with the codes to the system, which they had obviously failed to circumvent, to die, right?
"Hey!" Tony yelled to the clump of people in which Juliana was standing. "Hey! I need help over here!"
"Tony!" Lucas hissed, thinking his friend had finally lost it. "What... do you th-think... you're d-doing?"
"Shh, Lucas. It's going to be okay." He turned again to the group now looking at him in annoyance. "Hey! Over here!" One eyebrow raised Juliana rose from the consul she had been looking at and walked over to kneel in front of Tony.
"What exactly do you want?"
Gulping at the glare in her eyes, Tony took a breath and continued. "Lucas is in serious condition. He needs medical attention."
Juliana's eyes lost a bit of their edge, but remained, for the most part, hard. "And you think you're in a condition to demand anything from me?"
"You want the codes from him, right? Well, you can't very well get them from him if he's dead. I know you're a hacker too, but not nearly as good as Lucas. You'll never be able to get into that system, and it's just a matter of time before the UEO finds us." He paused, knowing he was on the verge of begging but not caring at all. All that mattered was getting Lucas some help. "Please. He's bleeding internally. He needs a doctor."
Juliana looked at Lucas' body, shame making her cheeks burn. Lowering her head, she began "TonyÑ"
"Sir!" Marks called from where he and Juliana had previously been standing, a suspicious look on his face. "A moment?"
Sighing, Juliana stood and walked back to converse with the large man. A few moments later, she returned, only to have her resolved and detachment clearly shown on her face. "If Ensign Wolenczak wants to see a doctor, he needs only to tell us the codes." With that, she turned her back and walked away.
It seemed like forever that things remained this way, the seaQueast crew seemingly ignored by their captors, but in reality it was only about twenty minutes before they made their final move. Suddenly, Lucas was pulled from his half-consciousness and made to stand as steadily as he could on his feet. Tony and Evans raised protests at his harsh treatment, but their objections were met with deaf ears. Lucas winced as he was dragged to stand in the middle of the bridge, in front of the man who he would remember in his nightmares for years, if only in the form of a fist and a demanding voice.
"Okay, Wolenczak," Marks began. "I'm giving you one last chance. If you answer my question, then you can see a doctor, and all of the pain will end. So, tell me, Lucas. What are the codes to the seaQuest mainframe?"
Lucas didn't even bother to speak, knowing that it would do no good. He would not tell this man anything. Whatever was going to happen now, he had made his peace.
"I thought as much. You know, kid, you're starting to piss me off." Moving suddenly, he pulled out a gun and held it inches from Lucas' forehead. "My patience is running out, Lucas! Now, are you ready to die? For a few measly numbers?"
Lucas tried not to let anything betray his fear, but he couldn't help the slight tremble in his breath as his eyes focused involuntarily on the steel barrel. He had thought that he had been ready for this. God knew that he didn't have much to live for these days, and he thought that he had accepted that. But now, face to face with the instrument that would, with a slight tensing of a man's finger, end his life utterly and completely, he suddenly had a huge desire to live. He wanted to tell Tony how much their re-newed friendship meant to him. He wanted to tell Hudson how much he admired him. He no longer cared what Bridger had or hadn't done; he would've given anything at that moment just to hear the man call him kiddo again.
He didn't want to die. But he would not give up the codes. Talking is not an option... talking is not an option...
"Fine, kid. Have it your way. Get ready to say goodbye to your buddies over there." He felt the slight movement of the man's gun as his finger tightened on the trigger and his eyes closed in anticipation...
The sudden rocking of the ship threw Lucas and the man holding the gun in opposite directions, each falling to the floor, the gun flinging harmlessly to the side. Groaning, Lucas barely had time to let the world stop spinning before the ship shook again.
"Someone's firing on us!" One of the terrorists yelled, panic making his voice edgy.
Tony closed his eyes and let out the breath that he didn't even know he had been holding. The cavalry was here!
Juliana ran over to where Lucas was still laying on the floor. Furious, she grabbed him and dragged him to his knees.
"Who's firing on us? The UEO?" She shook him roughly, making his vision blur. "How did you contact them?! Huh? Tell them to stop!" Panicking, she gripped his shoulders harder to keep them both from falling over as the boat was hit again. Sparks flew from around the bridge. "Damn it, Lucas! Tell me the codes! They're gonna kill us all!"
Voice shaking, Lucas managed to lift his head and utter a single word before collapsing into Juliana's arms.
"Good."
Juliana, enraged, threw Lucas onto the floor, where he lay unmoving.
Tony frantically worked at his bonds, ignoring the sting as the ropes cut into his skin. If only he could get lose... his captors were so panicked that it wouldn't take much to overpower them. Then he could get to Lucas and take back the boat.
Sparks flew as the boat was hit again, and this time foreboding croaks and groans accompanied it. The boat wouldn't last much longer at this rate. Tony struggled to stay upright as he kept working, noticing that his crewmates were doing the same.
Juliana ran frantically from consul to consul, pushing her own men out of the way, trying anything and everything she could think of to get communications going. Nothing was working. She screamed in frustration and smashed her fist against the consul.
Tony growled in frustration as he realized that his efforts to weaken the ropes were futile. All he was doing was making the knots tighter, and making the ropes dig farther into his skin. He took a calming breath and tried to get his racing pulse under control. Suddenly he felt hands encircle his wrists and breath and his ear.
"Hold still, Tony." A voice whispered in his ear. As soon as his hands were free, Tony turned around and came face to face with a smiling Thomas. He held up a knife. "I was a Boy Scout-- I'm always prepared. " Tony smiled in relief before rushing off to Lucas' side, trusting that Thomas would take care of the rest of his crewmates.
Meanwhile the terrorists were quickly abandoning their cause. Most wanted to get rid of the UEO, but not badly enough to die doing it. Juliana screamed threats as her men slowly retreated to the back of the bridge and finally ran through the clam doors, yelling that she was welcome to stay, but they didn't want to become martyrs. Soon all the only people left were Juliana and Marks, who looked at each other warily.
Tony ran to Lucas, frightened by how still his friend was laying. He turned Lucas onto his back and cupped his head in one of his hands.
"Luke?" He lightly tapped the young man's cheek, willing his eyes to open. They didn't. "Lucas, man, come back!" A second tap, this one harder, and still no response came. Fear started to creep up, butterflies flapping their hardest in his stomach. Tony held Lucas close, shielding his face, as another blast came, this time bringing some metal sheets and piping raining down on their heads. Tony looked up then, noticing for the first time how deserted the bridge had become. From behind him, Thomas, Russell and Foster rushed Juliana and Marks, who were still seething from their desertion, and soon they were on the floor, disarmed and livid.
Evans rested a hand on Tony's shoulder, squatting down to get a better look at Lucas. Sensing that the boy was in serious condition and would most likely not wake up soon, he looked around the bridge, seemingly trying to come to a decision.
Russell and Foster each sat on a prisoner, each enjoying making their captives as uncomfortable as possible. These people had dared to come onto their ship and hurt their friends, and now they were going to pay. They looked up as Evans walked over to them and pulled up a chair to a consul. He began to type, and within minutes, every computer screen in the bridge flickered and the words "Authorization Complete" flashed. Soon every consul was back in working order, scans and diagnostics picking up from where they were left off as if none of the recent events had even occurred.
The bridge fell silent. Everyone stared at the medical officer, shock written on their faces. Thomas was the first to act as another torpedo caused the boat to tilt alarmingly. Rushing to the communications station, he quickly sent a call to the attacking ship.
"UEO vessel, cease fire! The situation is under control! I repeat, cease your fire!"
A few tense seconds later, a welcomed voice came over the speakers. "UEO seaQuest, this is the UEO Carlton. Message received. Ready your ship for a boarding party. Does anyone need medical attention?"
Thomas looked over at the still unconscious Lucas lying prone on the floor. As soon as Thomas had sent the call, Evans had rushed back to the young ensign's side. He looked up at Thomas, the concerned expression on his face telling Thomas all that he needed to know.
"Yes, Carlton. We need medical attention and fast."