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.
***********
She glided through the water leaving a wake of thousands of tiny bubbles. Twisting she danced back through them tightening her grip on the controls when the current tried to throw her. Laughing, she slowed down her fighter and brought it down to hover behind a rock formation. She waited eagerly for the signal to attack. This was her chance to show them what she was made of. This was her opportunity to shine.
"Ensign Henderson, are you in position?"
"Yes, Captain," she replied with a slight quiver of excitement in her voice.
"Lieutenant Brody, are you in position?"
"Yes, sir."
"On my signal. Wait. Wait. Now!"
She pulled up the grid of the area on her screen searching for her target. The presence of several rock formations like the one she herself was hiding behind made finding the lurking fighter difficult. Flipping over for infrared, she caught a glimpse of her prey before it vanished. She would have to play this carefully or she would end up being the hunted.
"Find me. Come on. You know I'm out here. Come and get me!" came the voice over her radio.
The bright red outline of the fighter flashed onto her screen and she launched herself from behind her hiding place to give chase. She fell in behind him trying to get a lock on the target. They were gaining elevation as they continued zigzagging after each other. She almost had him. She closed the distance some more. Just a little bit closer and she would have him. Almost. Almost. Green! She had a lock! Hold it. No! The pilot dropped five hundred feet spinning out of her sights before the missals had a chance to clear.
"Missed me."
Spinning to chase, she deepened the attack. She would not miss again. Dodging, she narrowly missed ramming into one of the rock faces that littered the battlefield. Cursing, she twisted again losing sight of the illusive fighter. Where did he go? Dropping lower, she frantically searched her screens for the signal. He was not there. How could a fighter just vanish? The Seaquest! She was the only thing out here that was big enough and hot enough to mask his presence. The fighter must be just on the other side of her. With a burst of speed, she headed back toward the boat. She circled the Seaquest confident that she would find the fighter on the other side. Another half meter and she would have a clear view. There he is! She found him! For the briefest of seconds, she forgot that if she could see him then chances were he could see her. By the time, she remembered it was too late and he had already gotten a lock on her. Lonnie Henderson was dead.
************
"Boy! Get over here." The boy jumped up from where he had been crouching in the corner. "There's a ship out there. Keep them from finding us."
The boy nodded, shoving matted hair back from in front of his face. Fingers flying across the keyboard, he let himself relax into the machine. Computers he could understand and command. People were confusing creatures that often argued amongst themselves. They could be very unpredictable and when it was his duty to jump to their orders this fact was very frightening.
He slipped into their system hiding behind a relay of signals coming from the mainland. Whoever this ship was, they sure had an active communications system. Well, it certainly made his job easier. Opening a separate window, he typed the lines of code that would render his boat invisible. Once introduced to the other ship's system, all he had to do was make a few adjustments and activate the program. The program would then cause the sensors on the ship to react to the signals his boat was sending as if there was nothing there. In short, other than physically seeing them the ship would have no means of detecting their presence.
Shifting over, he keyed another program that would decipher the access codes for the mainframe. Feeding it into their system, he waited for a few seconds as the numbers flashed variables. When they flashed a serial number in green, he typed the code at the appropriate point. Bingo. He fortified his connection then began uploading his program. He checked the program again making sure that it was one hundred percent compatible to this system. Once he was completely satisfied with the program, he keyed the command to run it. He pulled up the readings from the sensors and compared them to the previous readings finding enough of a difference to indicate that the program was a success. The Captain should be pleased. Maybe he would even allow him some free time on the internet as a reward.
"Ensign Henderson! Just what did you think you were doing out there?" demanded Lt. Brody as he climbed out of his fighter pilot.
"I'm sorry, sir," she answered quietly.
"Sorry does not cut it. If that had been a real fight instead of a practice run, you would have been dead. There are no second chances. There is no sorry. Out there in battle you either survive or you don't. You're either an asset or you're not. Right now you're a dead liability."
"You've made your point, Lieutenant," stated Lt. Commander Hitchcock. Katie looked at the young ensign who was currently fighting tears and wondered how anyone could have thought that she had been for this kind of duty. You just did not put a rookie into a kill-or-be-killed situation without letting her have a few milk runs first. "Why don't you get cleaned up then spend the afternoon going over the tapes?"
"That sounds good. You'll be needing the fighters for your group anyway." Brody did not hold any resentment over the admonishment in front of his student. He knew that her mistakes were normal for a pilot of her experience but he saw no reason to sugar coat the danger that she would be in each and every time she flew into combat.
"Make sure you spend an equal amount of time on the things that she did right," said Katie quietly. "We need her confident enough to trust her instincts."
"I was planning on it. I have done this before it's just there's so much at stake out there…"
"I know," she replied watching her men enter the bay. "Well, I've got to get busy. See you at dinner."
"Good luck."
"All right, men," she said marching up to the group. "This is How Not to Get Yourself Killed in a Fighter Craft 101. If you do not want to be a fighter pilot, tough. Each of you was chosen because you have excellent vision, coordination, and reflex times. All of these are attributes that a pilot must possess. Once trained, you are going to be the much needed reserves for our current pilots. We are going to start with the basics and work our way up until you are flying mock battles. This is not going to be a fast process. It is going to be your responsibility to practice and keep up with the rest of your group. Our lesson today is going to begin with the cockpit. Everyone gather where you can see."
*********
"It worked," said the pot-belled Captain as the ship sailed right over them without noticing a thing. The boy let out a mental sigh of relief at this statement. No matter how certain he was that a program would work there was always the possibility that something would go wrong. He had the bruises to prove it, too.
"Told you buying that boy would pay off," gloated the weasel-like first mate.
"That you did, Carmen. Where is the brat?"
"Here," answered another one of the men, grabbing the boy by the collar and shoving him towards the center of the room. The boy stumbled catching himself before he fell to the floor. He trembled as the Captain glared at him. In a corner of his mind that was not frozen with fear, he wondered what he could have possibly done to make them angry.
"Dirty, little runt, isn't he?" asked the Captain to no one in particular. "Take him somewhere. We won't be needing him for a while," he said with a wave of his hand. The boy looked quickly towards the floor so that no one would see the relief that flashed through his brilliant blue eyes. "Oh, and feed him," added the Captain as an afterthought.
"Let's go," ordered yet another of the nameless sailors pushing the boy towards the door. The boy scurried forward trying to avoid contact with the sailor. The corridor was narrow and dark. The boat was old enough that sections of the lighting no longer worked. Most everything else about the boat seemed to be in working order. The boy halted in front of his cell while the sailor unlocked the door.
In other circumstances, the room could have been nice living quarters for some sailor but instead it housed him. The only source of light in the room came from cracks around the door. The fact that there was light at all was not too much of a comfort because it meant there was nothing to keep water from rushing into the room if there was a breach. A bucket and a soiled rag occupied one corner of the room fulfilling his needs for a bathroom. The opposite corner housed a mound of blankets and rags that served as a bed. It was situated as far from the over powering stench that permeated from the bucket as possible but it was not far enough to diminish the smell. He spent as much time as possible burying his face in the sweat soaked rags preferring the body odor to the other smell. All in all it was a miserable existence and he longed to be sold back to his previous owner. Suddenly, he was blinded by light entering the room.
"Grub," said a sailor through the open door. He left a bowl inside then shut the door again. The boy crept across the floor feeling along for the bowl. The mush inside the bowl felt like it might be rice and some kind of stew or sauce. He scooped it into his mouth with his fingers not minding that the rice was only partially cooked and that any meat was probably half rotten. Having a full belly made him drowsy and he was soon curled up amongst the rags fast asleep.
*********
"This dial here is the fuel gage. Always check it before you leave the boat. If you run out of fuel in the middle of a fight you're a sitting duck. It's a simple mistake that you can never afford to make. This dial marks the elevation. Remember that this is not a plane so please try to keep it in the water. On a similar note, please do not crash into the ocean floor or anything else out there for that matter. I think that's enough for today. Does anyone have any questions?" asked Katie.
"When do we get to take one of these babies out for a spin?" asked one of the crewmen.
"Mr. Piccolo right? Well, I'll let you pilot one as soon as I feel confident that you can make it out of the launch without breaking anything."
"Any other questions? No? Ok, everyone needs to pick up a manual. You will be responsible for knowing everything we covered here today as well as any material in the first chapter. You will be tested on the information. We meet again the day after tomorrow. Class is dismissed." Each of the men filed forward to pick up their manual. She locked down the fighter craft and picked up her belongings. The bay was silent as she turned around to leave. She was startled to see one of the men waiting for her by the door.
"Ma'am, could I speak to you for a minute?" he asked.
"Of course, Mr. Piccolo," she replied identifying the seaman, as she got closer. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, um, see, I'm kinda going to have a problem finishing my assignment."
"I'm sorry, Mr. Piccolo, but you're are going to have to find time to do the reading."
"Time's not the problem."
"Mr. Piccolo…"
"Tony," he said suddenly.
"What?"
"My name's Tony. All of this mister stuff keeps making me nervous. I'm not used to it."
"Ok. Since we are in private, I'll call you Tony. Now, Tony, explain to me what your problem is," she ordered smiling at him kindly.
"Well, ma'am, I can't read the manual."
"I told you that you're just going to have to find time to read it."
"No, you don't understand. I can't read the manual because I can't read."
"You can't read? But you're in the navy."
"Wasn't my choice to join but I'm an X-alpha. I'm not stupid enough to tell the government 'no' when they order me to do something."
"I see," she said frowning slightly. "Well, we're going to have to do something about that but we need you learning the information in the manual now. What time does your shift end today?"
"Twenty hundred."
"Perfect. I'll meet you at Twenty one hundred at the moonpool. Bring your manual and we'll go over the material together. Right now we'll concentrate on teaching you to be a fighter pilot. I don't want to overload you."
"What about reading?"
"Right now the important thing is not letting you fall behind your group but I promise you that I will help you learn how to read. It just might take a little while. Is that fair?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, ma'am."
"Katie."
"What?"
"My name."
"Oh," he said smiling. "Thanks, Katie."
"Your welcome, Tony. See you tonight." They were both smiling as they left the bay.
********
The boy jerked upright as the door to his cell was slammed open. He had no idea how long he had been asleep. He stood stretching as he walked towards the door.
"Hurry up! We got a job for you," ordered the man hurrying the boy into the corridor.
"This meet is going to be the biggest in years. We have to go if we're going to stay in the trade." The men were arguing with the Captain as the boy was ushered into the room.
"I am not going to risk being captured. Seaquest has been spotted in that quadrant recently. No way. I'm not going to become that boat's prey."
"Use the kid. He can hide the meet. Send them off on some wild goose chase."
"Boy, you do that," ordered the Captain. The boy nodded not sure exactly what he was agreeing to do. He sat at the computer and pulled up the name Seaquest. A short description popped up of the magnificent submarine.
"Someone's going to have to do something about that ship one day. It's becoming way too troublesome. Who do they think they are running around taking over trade ships and freeing our cargo?"
The war ship was freeing slaves? The boy's fingers flew across the keyboard bringing up programs and breaking down codes until he was nibbling at the Seaquest's systems. Glancing behind him, he pulled up the ship's navigation system tracking where they were at and where they were headed. He nibbled his lip considering their course noticing that they were moving away from the location of the meet. In that instant he made a decision, he could not let the ship leave. He began keying a program that would feed the Seaquest the information they needed to bust the meet. The program would probably cost him his life when they realized what he had done but it was worth it if it gave the thousand or so slaves that were up for sale at the meet a chance to be free.
"Seaquest," he mouthed reveling in the feel of the word on his lips. With a push of a button, he activated the program.
********
"Captain, we're receiving a signal."
"Pull it up, Lieutenant."
"Sir, it's coming from inside the boat."
"What does it say?"
"S.O.S" O'Neill twisted back in his seat to exchange confused glances with his commanding officer. What could that mean?