The year is 2018 and the world has been at war for the past 15 years. The future that we saw in Seaquest does not exist. In this universe, the Seaquest is a war vessel. Her crew contains familiar names and faces but they are changed and hardened from the years of war. While everything else has changed, she is still the world's greatest hope for peace.
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"Commander! Sensors indicate that we have a large unidentified ship at coordinate (39,72). What are our orders?"
"O'Niell, hail the Captain. Inform him of the situation then see if we are picking up and signals off of the ship."
"Yes, sir," stated Tim as his fingers flew across the console. "Captain? We've sighted another ship. We're awaiting your orders. Yes, sir. Right away, sir." He switched the microphone off for a second. "Commander, the Captain is on his way to the bridge. He has instructed that I contact the ship."
"Thank you, Lieutenant. Commander Hitchcock, have there been any attempts on our computers?"
"No, sir. So far everything is clean."
"This is US Navel vessel, SeaQuest. Please identify yourself or you will be deemed a hostile target. I repeat: identify yourself. Over." Tim shook his head when there was no reply. This ship would be their third hostile this week. They had only been out to sea about a month but there had been more than enough fighting to last any man's lifetime. Lady Luck had been with then so far and there had been no fatalities or even major injuries in the first battles. He looked up to meet Miguel's worried eyes. They both knew that their luck could not last forever and sooner or later people were going to start dying. When teams started moving inland, it was going to be even more certain that the death toll would rise.
"Captain on the bridge."
"All right, gentlemen, where do things stand?"
"There is a ship ahead, sir. Two kilometers and closing."
"They are not answering our hails, sir."
"Commander, sound the alarms. I want all on duty personnel at their battle stations and any off-duty personnel sealed in their quarters. Ortiz, see if you can get a lock on this ship. Let's get them dead in the water."
"Aye, aye, Captain," he replied strapping himself into his chair. He brought Mother into position to relay back locations. "I've got her, sir. No, wait. I'm picking up an echo. The sensor is relaying back two locations."
"Hitchcock."
"On it, sir." Her fingers flew over the console trying to breaking into the other ship's mainframe. Once it she could easily adjust the sensors to read the correct locations. "They've got a hacker, sir. He's blocking my every move. I'm sorry, sir, but he's better than me. I can't get through."
"Can you keep him out of ours?"
"I don't know, sir. So far he's not trying anything."
"Very well. Bring us to the surface we're going to have to board her."
"Yes, sir," replied the pilot.
"Lt. Brody, gather a team and meet and launch bay one. This is a Code Four."
"Aye, Aye, sir."
"Captain! We have visuals. She's a slave ship. Looks to be Spaniard." The ship was a small flat vessel. She was designed for carrying goods but now her cargo was humans. There could be anywhere from thirty to a hundred people crammed into her holds with only a skeleton crew to sail her.
"Ortiz, take Lt. Krieg and gather another team. Back up Brody and assist with the transportation of the slaves. O'Niell, take over Ortiz's station. Ensign Henderson, take over communications. Alright gentlemen, let's get in and get out with as little loss of life as possible."
"Even the slavers, sir?"
"If you can avoid killing them, do so but don't risk your life in the process. You and the cargo are the important ones to get out alive." Ortiz saluted as he left the bridge. O'Niell watched him as he left memorizing each step. Ortiz took a last glance back at his friend before the bridge doors shut. He raced through the corridor contacting the men he would need through the PAL. The normal size of a team was ten but he would only be taking eight men. Three would split off with him while three would split off with Krieg.
"All right, men," he said to the team gathered outside of ammunitions. "We're going into a tight spot. There's a slaver ship up ahead. Real mean looking mother. Now she might only have a skeleton crew but I'm not willing to bet my life on that. Pick up a revolver, boot knife, and the machine gun of your choice. You'll need double ammunition, flack jacket, and life vest. Don't get the life vest shot full of holes. It tends to get a little leaky when you do that. You three are with Krieg. If you screw up, you answer to him. If you disobey him, then you answer to me. You do not want to answer to either of us so listen well and do your job right. Krieg, I'll need you to get below deck. Once they figure out that they've lost, they're going to try and eliminate the bounty. It's your job to keep the slaves alive long enough for us to set them free. I'm going to be providing cover and back up for Brody and his men. Any questions? No? Good. Class dismissed. We've got a ship to capture."
"Har, har, har, men. Let's go!!" shouted Krieg as he jogged behind Ortiz on the way to the launch bay. "Ah, nothing like playing pirates to get your blood pumping."
"Just make sure that it's not pumping out of you."
"True, that does tend to put a damper on things." The two men grinned at each other as the rest of their team filed into the launch. Krieg sat down at the controls and fired up the ship. "Permission to embark."
"Permission granted. Good luck, gentlemen."
"May the Gods will it so." The launch bay cycled open and they sped out into the water. The seas were rough and Krieg had to fight the controls. With experienced hands, he ducked into a current and rode it until he was almost parallel to the ship. He cut diagonally across the water inching closer to the surface. In seas as rough as these, a slight miscalculation of course would send them smashing into the ship instead of pulling the launch up beside her. Krieg maneuvered skillfully until there were only a few inches separating the ship from the launch. He engaged the magnetic locking system and the launch drifted closer until it was held firmly against the metal siding of the ship.
"Good job," said Ortiz patting Krieg on the shoulder. On the boat Krieg out ranked Ortiz but out in the field Ortiz was in charge and a compliment from him felt almost as good as a compliment from the Captain. "Ok, men, give your weapons a last check and line up by squad. Channel two on the radio is ours. Channel three is for both teams. Radio silence until further notice so no chitchat. Once again our objectives are: get in, get in position, hold the position, don't get dead. This is it, boys. Let's go!"
The back man for each team positioned themselves on either side of the hatch. They counted down then threw open the hatch throwing themselves onto the surface. The men below held their breath waiting for the sound of gunfire. One of the men signaled 'all clear' and they made their way up the ladder. The front men quickly secured a pair of ladders onto the side of the ship. On the opposite side of the ship, shouts were heard followed by gunfire as the first team was spotted. The men quickly cleared the ladder and ducked down to provide coverage should they be discovered as well. The back men were the last to scramble aboard deck. Ortiz waved for Krieg to split off from the group. He signaled and his men began to circle around the ship.
Almost as soon as Krieg slipped from sight, a shout rang out and Ortiz was too busy dodging bullets to wonder how the other half of his team was doing. Up ahead he spotted Brody weaving behind a pile of netting. Across the deck their eyes met, silently they weighed their options reaching the same decision. Together they rolled, missing the fire in the center of the deck where they intersected. Taking the shot had moved the slavers out from behind their protection. Ortiz and Brody were rewarded with the sound of a few of them crying out in pain as other members of the teams made good use of the distraction. Ortiz slid along the starboard side of the ship signaling to his men to try and make their way closer to the slavers. Brody and Ortiz's positions reversed as Brody found himself providing coverage for Ortiz. It was not how things were originally planned but the four men could maneuver more readily through the firefight than ten. While Brody and his men kept them occupied, he was going to try and slide along behind them to catch them from the rear.
He jumped back as one of the men fired around the corner. He felt a slight stinging sensation in his left shoulder and looked down to find a tear in his uniform where the bullet nicked him. He tried to back up out of sight but it was too late. He had been spotted. Time froze as he found himself staring down the barrel of the gun. The cocking of the gun echoed in his ears. Ortiz blinked as a bead of sweat trickled down his back. A thousand thoughts flickered through his head. Prayer's flowed silently from his eyes to Tim's God, Krieg's Goddess, and ever other deity he had ever heard mentioned. Blood splattered his face and he could hear his heart beating again. He wiped his face and nodded his thanks to the Seaman behind him.
Pushing the dead body of the slaver out of his way, he continued around the corner as though he had not just stared death in the face. Never pausing, he was taking out the first of the men from behind before they had a chance to react to the gunshot that had saved his life. They took out five of the twelve slavers left in the first blast. The distance closed quickly and they were fighting side by side. The guns were useless here but each of the men from Seaquest was well trained in hand-to-hand combat and armed with a knife. With fourteen men and seven slavers, it was a challenge to keep the damage limited to the enemy. Ortiz danced around with his knife, kicking and punching, stabbing and slicing. The blade tore like teeth into the flesh of the enemy demanding their surrender. Then before they had had time to register that it had begun, it was over. Almost twenty slavers lay scattered across the deck. Half were dead. The other half was injured to various degrees. Of the SeaQuest crew, all remained standing although several of them would not have remained that way much longer. Five of the more able-bodied sailors were sent below deck to assist Krieg with the freeing of the slaves. The other men restrained the slavers and helped the injured back to the launches.
"Are you ok?" asked Brody walking up to Ortiz.
"Yeah, it's just a scratch. Most of this blood isn't mine."
"Good. Ensign Henderson is going to bring another launch over to help with the transport. We're going to check out the crew's quarters and the bridge. We need to make sure we've got everyone. Do you want to come along?"
"Yeah, thanks."
"That was a hell of a fight."
"We got lucky. Again. Things would have gotten bloody real fast if they'd had some decently trained men on this ship."
"It was bloody enough with this batch. Be thankful that this was all that they had."
"I'm always thankful for anything that keeps me alive."
The quarters for the men were dark, musty, little rooms. They smelled of urine and sweat. The Captain's quarters were larger but no cleaner. Hygiene was obviously not a priority for these men. There was one other room that appeared to house people but it only contained a mattress and a lock on the door. The galley was empty as was the mess hall. Rats crept silently along aluminum tables. Much of their food supply was molded or rotten. It was clear that times were lean for this ship.
"We're entering the bridge," relayed Brody to his men. The door was not sealed so Ortiz pushed it open signaling one of the men behind him to scout out the room. Seaman Jacobson stepped forward into the room. He turned around surveying the room then took a step back towards the door.
"There's a couple of bodies but it appears cl…." The seaman broke off as a surprised expression slipped across his face. He placed bloody hands against the newly made bullet hole in his abdomen and slid to the floor.
"I think we found the captain," stated Brody as he crouched along the deck.
"No man will be taking over my ship while I'm still alive!" shouted the Captain.
"We'd be glad to let you have your ship," replied Ortiz. "I'm sure you understand why we can't let you keep your cargo and your crew."
"Over my dead body!"
"That can also be arranged. Perhaps we could discuss this better face to face. Put the gun down and step out where we can see you."
"Do you think I'm stupid or something? I'm not gonna come out there and let you arrest me!"
"It was worth a try. Any other suggestions?"
"Lt. I can take him out," whispered one of the team members.
"Are you sure?"
"Completely. Just keep him talking."
"So, Mister Captain, do you have a name?" asked Ortiz.
"I do but it's no business of yours."
"I disagree. It will come in very handy when we are filling out the reports." Any reply the Captain may have had for the comment died with him. At that very moment, the team member dived into the room, pulled up his gun, and shot the old captain between the eyes. He died before he had a chance to fire.
"Ah, Eric," said the seaman bending down beside his fallen comrade. "Why'd you have to go and get shot?" The sailor did not answer. He had lapsed into unconsciousness as his blood had poured out upon the floor and he would never wake again.
"Jim, take a look at this," said Ortiz kneeling beside the other body in the room. The man was young with jet-black hair. There was nothing remarkable about the man except a triangular symbol tattooed on his cheek. His sightless brown eyes starred upward courtesy of a six-inch slit across his throat.
"He's their hacker," stated Brody pausing to take a look. "They tattoo their cheek so that everyone will know not to touch them above the waist. I guess the captain decided he would rather have him dead than risk letting such a valuable commodity fall into our hands."
"But he's a human being not a commodity."
"Not to the slavers he's not. Doesn't much matter now. We can't help him anymore."
"Lieutenant, all of the slaves and prisoners have been transported," came the report across the radio.
"Good, let's get out of here." The seaman picked up Seaman Jacobson's body and carried him from the room. They quickly and quietly made their way back up the stairs to the waiting launches. The remaining men crammed into the packed launches. They released the lock and the ship was left to drift empty.
"Welcome aboard SeaQuest," greeted Captain Bridger to the ragged group of men, women, and children that were taking their first gulps of free air. "We'll get you some clothes and some food right away. If anyone needs medical attention, we have several medics waiting to take care of you."
"Let me take a look at that wound," ordered Dr. Wendy moving among the men. "Ortiz, that will have to be looked at."
"Yes, ma'am." Brody stood talking to Chief Crocker while Krieg was flirting with a woman who might be attractive after a bath and some food. He looked across the ordered chaos to meet eyes with Tim who was translating the Captain's greeting in a dozen languages. He saw in Tim's eyes that Tim knew how close he had come to death today. A slight smile and a shake of his head conveyed all the thoughts that a thousand words could not have expressed. It may have been a close call but he had lived and he would fight again. They would fight again.
"Good job," praised Captain Bridger. All of the men smiled tiredly, glad for it to be over. One man did not smile. He would never smile again.
Seaman Jacobson was the first death but he would not be the last.