seaQuest nis min.
I raise a glass to my sweet-natured reviewers: Nina-Maree, lo, hepatica, sara, ano, TeacherTam, Teresa and Mar.
Mar: lol! Your reviews always make me giggle. Do you think Ford has to ask permission to go to the bathroom?
hepatica: beast? me? looks innocent. Fnar fnar!!!
sara: I updated quicklier! But I have a feeling you're still not going to be happy with me... Once you loved me, now you hate me. Life is so fickle. sobs uncontrollably.
Ghosts
Chapter 14
"How many?" Bridger asked tensely.
"One. No, two," Ortiz said, staring intently at his console. "They're firing."
"Launch intercepts."
"Intercepts away. Impact in three... two... one... impact. All targets destroyed."
"Hail them," Bridger said. After a moment, the image of a middle-aged, distinguished-looking woman with a hard face appeared on screen. "Identify yourself," she snapped.
Bridger raised his eyebrows. "This is Captain Nathan Bridger of the UEO submarine seaQuest. And you are?"
"Captain Teresa Costanza, of the Pacific South-West submarine Persephone. You are violating the border area."
"We're in UEO territory," Bridger countered.
"You are within twenty kilometres of the border. You are violating the demilitarised zone."
"So are you," Bridger observed.
The woman frowned. "Captain, take your vessel out of the border zone or I will be forced to destroy her." She cut off the transmission.
"Not if I can help it," Bridger muttered.
"Captain," Ford said, "we should do as she says. We-"
Bridger rounded on him. "A member of my crew is out there risking his neck, Commander! I'm not going to leave him out there to die!"
Ford straightened up angrily. "With respect, sir, I think you're allowing your personal history to cloud your judgement in this matter."
Bridger squared up to him. "Oh, you do, do you? Well I think you're letting excessive suspicion cloud your judgement."
Ford glared at him. "You once told me we could do with more suspicious people on this boat."
"And you told me that Wolenczak chose us," Bridger pointed out.
"Um, guys?" Ortiz put in. "I hate to break up the party, but we're being fired on again."
Several corridors over, the two men paused for breath, panting. The siren was still wailing.
"What did you do?" Braithwaite asked, gasping for air.
"I set off the fire alarm," Lucas said. "I was going to do it anyway after we'd left. To give everyone enough time to get out."
Braithwaite frowned. "Isn't it going to be pretty hard to steal a sub if everyone's using them to evacuate?"
Lucas shook his head, beginning to get his breath back now. "Almost all the base crew are at the other end of the base, near the main docking bay. We're heading for an emergency bay with two or three subs in it. We should be OK."
Braithwaite nodded. "I guess I'll just have to believe you're right."
"Let's get moving," Lucas said, but Braithwaite put a hand on his arm. Lucas looked at him in surprise; the older man's face was suddenly very serious.
"I didn't mean for that kid to die, you know."
Lucas suddenly felt like all the air had been removed from his lungs. He leaned weakly against the wall. "I know."
Braithwaite watched him closely. "Did you know him?"
For a moment, Lucas couldn't speak. Then he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I knew him."
But there was no time for contemplation. They had to move.
They reached the docking bay with ten minutes to spare.
"OK, there should be one sub here and one sub over there," Wolenczak said, gesturing at the two hatches on the wall.
Braithwaite nodded. "Well, I guess I'll see you around, Commander."
He turned to go, but stopped in surprise when the younger man spoke. "Wait a minute, Captain." He turned back to see his former XO pointing a pulse rifle at him, and it was only then that he realised that he had left his own weapon back in the corridor with the two downed guards.
Well, I guess the tables are turned now, he thought grimly. Wolenczak held out his hand.
"Give me the disk."
"What disk?" Braithwaite asked innocently.
Wolenczak raised an eyebrow. "The disk you palmed back in the lab. The copy. Give it to me."
Slowly, Braithwaite shook his head. "You know I can't do that."
For a moment, the younger man regarded him calmly. "You're never going to win you know," he said, sounding almost sad. "That disk doesn't mean victory for the Free Nations. It just means death for a lot of other people."
Braithwaite hesitated. Then he sighed. "I know," he said, feeling suddenly ten years older. "But I have to try." He dug the disk out of his pocket and handed it over. Then he braced himself. No matter how many times he had faced it down, he still found himself ill-prepared for death.
"Well, I guess now it's my turn to understand," he said calmly. "You'll forgive me if I turn my back."
Confusion flickered briefly on the young commander's face, then he shook his head. "You really don't get it, do you Captain," he said. "I told you: I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing it for us." He lifted the barrel of the gun so that it was no longer pointing at Braithwaite. "You'd better get moving," he observed.
For a moment, Braithwaite just stared at him. Then he nodded, and turned to go.
Lucas slid into the cockpit and checked over the controls. It looked pretty straight-forward. The sub wasn't as streamlined or as fast as his little fighter, but there was no way he could get back to that now, even if it was still where he had left it. He popped the docking seal and started off, quickly checking the countdown on the palm top. Five minutes. A flickering light on the instrument panel caught his attention: another, smaller sub, peeling off in the other direction. Well, at least Braithwaite got out OK.
He aimed for a gap in the mountains, hoping to get through before the blast. That way he would be mostly protected from it. He checked the countdown again. Three minutes. Damn it, he thought, angrily. Should have given it more time. The gap in the mountains was too far away. He was at full thrust. Go faster! he commanded the bulky sub mentally, but it didn't help. One minute left. Frantically, he swept for other cover, but there was none. Thirty seconds. He fumbled with the seat belt, but his hands were slick with sweat.
Then there was a deafening roar, loud enough to be heard even through the thick walls of the sub. A moment later the shockwave hit. The sub bucked violently and Lucas found himself being flung forwards, wrenching his bad arm. His head connected with something, and there was a blinding pain. I guess I overdid the nitro, he thought vaguely, and lost consciousness.