Chapter 5:
A/N: God knows this has taken me long enough to write but well…….writer's block is what it is. Hope you all enjoy this next installment.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, except the ones you don't recognize from the show.
~*~
Chris was stone faced as she was led through the bowels of the SeaQuest. Brody held her upper arm firmly, steering her through the corridors. The tall man's visage was hard and angry, blue eyes cold. She tested his grip once, pulling back around a corner, but the security chief held firm. Chris winced as his fingers bruised her arm, but she said nothing. She passed many of the people she'd gotten to know in the last week and a half, and there was not a sympathetic look among them. She let her head fall, keeping her eyes locked on the floor.
Brody deposited her unceremoniously into the brig. Piccolo was there too. He briefly met her gaze before turning away with a shake of his head. Her throat tightened. They hated her, all of them, not that she blamed them. Lucas was gone and it was her fault. "The Captain will be here shortly. He wants to talk to you," Brody said icily
"Wonderful. I need to talk to him too. I need to explain…."
"You can't explain this," Brody interrupted. "Not this."
"But Lucas…."
"Don't. Don't explain about Lucas. You can't, not to anyone here, so don't even try." Chris fell to silence, sitting heavily upon the bench in the cell. She drew her feet up on the bench, wrapping her arms around her knees and hiding her head. She didn't want them to see her cry.
Bridger came down to the brig a few minutes later, looking every inch the fierce military captain. He'd stayed in his quarters after getting Brody's message. He'd needed more than a deep breath to compose himself. Lucas had become a surrogate son to him in the last two years. To lose him……… Bridger shook his head vehemently. He would not allow that to happen.
He found the girl huddled in the corner of the brig. Brody hadn't left, but stood watchfully at the door. The Lieutenant opened the hatch for the Captain, then followed him inside. Bridger didn't miss the fact that a substantial portion of his senior officers were waiting with bated breath for the end of this interrogation. The officers on his ship had formed a family and Lucas was part of that. He wondered briefly if the teenager knew as much.
"I don't even know why I'm here." The Captain announced his presence. "We've already set course to intercept our submersible. You and your friends never had a chance to get away. And taking Lucas was a mistake. Just one in a long and growing list, but the worst by far I have to tell you."
"It wasn't my idea," the response was low, guarded.
"What about the rebellion on your boat? Not you idea either I assume."
"It wasn't supposed to go that far………"
"But it did, didn't it? You weren't thinking and now three people are dead. Did you give even a thought to anything before you started all this? Those kids looked up to you and Levi, they were going to follow you. Did you give even a moment's consideration to what would have happened to them if you had failed?"
"We didn't have a choice."
"There are always choices. It's just a matter if you decide to take the easy way, or the right way."
"And you consider the two mutually exclusive?" Chris turned then, dropping her feet to the deck and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
Bridger inclined his head to the side, regarding the girl carefully. "In my experience they usually are, yes."
"Then damn you Captain, because you don't know anything. What we did, we did because we had to. You think it was easy? You think I liked that, killing them? Do you think I liked it back when I was just a kid? I hated it. I dream about it, wake up screaming." She rose from the bench, approaching the clear security door.
"But you're right Captain, we did have a choice to make. We could have accepted everything, our lives, how we all ended up. And we would have died in the mines. Instead we chose to fight back. It wasn't easy and it wasn't right but we did it, and given the chance I'd do it again. You don't know what we've been through, so screw you Bridger for thinking you can lecture to me about choices."
"Maybe all that's true Miss Stryder, and you're correct assuming that I'm not fully aware of your circumstance. But when you came aboard SeaQuest you made another choice. You could have come to us, explained. The UEO's policy regarding human rights is quite clear. If you had needed assistance all you needed to do was ask. Instead you've spent the last two weeks on my boat, with my crew, lying to us, plotting."
Chris shook her head. "We've been looking after ourselves for years now. We had no reason to think anyone would help us. But just so you know, coming here wasn't my choice, neither was kidnapping Lucas." Her voice dropped and caught. "I thought, I thought I should explain before I took off, but then Levi showed up. We were just supposed to go, Lucas was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Bridger shook his head and began to turn away. "I never meant to get him involved."
The Captain paused mid-step. "But you did," he said accusingly. "Lucas tried to be your friend, and your carelessness might get him killed. God help you if it comes to that. We would have helped you had you come to us, but you chose not to. You'll be turned over to UEO authorities when we catch your group now."
He was nearly to the brig's door when Chris answered. "You won't catch them Captain." She rested her hands against the door, pressing her forehead into the wall.
"We're set to intercept within the hour," he countered.
"We're kids Captain, not amateurs. You won't make it the hour." Just as the words passed her lips there was a deep rumble. A low groan came from the joints overhead. The SeaQuest shuddered, shaking the walls. The floor pitched violently, throwing Chris to her knees. The Captain stumbled sideways into the wall while Brody grasped the edge of the hatch to keep himself vertical and on his feet.
Bridger pushed himself off the wall and went to the comm. "Ford, report!" he glared back at Chris while he waited for an response from the bridge. The girl pushed onto her feet and sat back on the bench, feet shoulder width apart. She slouched against the wall, hands clasped in her lap, leveling the two officers with a stoic stare.
"Sir," Ford's voice crackled. "The helm just went completely out on us up here. Henderson is looking into it, but everything controlling our power is down, propulsion and a few other non essential systems. As it stands we're completely dead in the water."
"Two minutes," he growled. "I want answers Commander."
"Just as soon as we have any sir."
Nathan turned away from the comm., disgusted. Then he whirled, slamming his fist into the wall. Brody's eyes shot wide at the captain's uncharacteristic outburst. "Not a word Lieutenant," he growled to his head of security. Brody put up his hands defensively, shaking his head.
"This isn't finished Miss Stryder." She didn't answer, merely responded with the quirk of an eyebrow. Bridger paused at the hatch. "Stay here Lieutenant, keep an eye on her."
"Yes sir."
--
Bridger stalked onto the bridge a few minutes later. "Report!" he barked.
Henderson and Ford exchanged a glance. Henderson stepped forward. "I think I may have found our problem sir." The thin brunette held up a device, no larger than her palm, for the Captain to see.
"What is it?"
"I believe this device sets off an electromagnetic pulse. They're inventive sir, I'll give them that. One of the kids must have planted it while I was giving them a tour. I think it was set on a time." She handed over the device to the captain before rushing on. "I'm sorry Captain, I feel responsible. I should have paid them more attention, but I thought………"
"It's not your fault Henderson. You believed what we all believed. But that's beside the point right now. How bad off are we?"
"The pulse fried all our systems, navigation, helm control, propulsion. This wasn't just thrown together sir. These kids knew exactly what systems to hit and where to target us."
"How long?"
"If the systems just need to be reloaded, maybe an hour or two. But if any of the wiring got fried, well then sir it's anyone's guess."
The Captain nodded to himself. "Ortiz!" he called.
"yes sir?"
"How much longer can we keep them on our long range sensors?"
Ortiz found that he couldn't look the Captain in the eyes. "Only another few minutes Captain. They're headed back into non UEO waters."
"Damn," he muttered beneath his breath. "Brody," he spoke into his PAL. "Report to my ready room, and bring Miss Stryder with you. It's time she answered some questions."
Brody arrived a little thereafter, a grudging Chris in tow. "Sit," the captain motioned to a chair. The girl stared at him blankly. Her hands were bound in front of her by cuffs. "Or not. Your choice. Did you know about the EMS device?"
She shrugged. "We've used them before. I didn't know, but I'm not surprised. Levi's many things, but he covers all the angles."
"And the laser you stole from the lab?"
"Levi plans to sell it on the black market, get himself some start up money. I don't know if he has a buyer yet though."
"Where is their destination?"
"I don't know."
"I think you do. Where are they going Miss Stryder?" She blinked. "If you care about Lucas at all you will tell me where they're taking him."
"Of course I care." The words came out a mere whisper.
"Say again?"
"I said of course I care. But sir I've known Lucas two weeks. The rest of those kids I've known for years, and none of em deserve what they got. I have a duty to them, and it's more important than anything I might feel about Lucas. I won't give them up so you can send them back to prison, back to the mines."
"That wouldn't happen."
"There's that whole trust thing again Captain, bottom line being that I can't."
"Where was the sub headed?" he pressed.
"I can't tell you that."
"I am going to ask you one more time."
"You could ask me a thousand times and I wouldn't tell you. And would I suggest not wasting your time with idle threats?"
"It is NOT an idle threat."
"Of course it is. And you know how I knot? Because you Captain Bridger are a man with honor, duty. You still have that little voice in your head telling you what's right and what's not. It won't even matter if you manage to dim it a little, because for the last four years I've been dealing with people who don't have that voice at all, who wouldn't bat an eye at beating someone like me to a bloody pulp. But that's not you, so there's nothing you can do to me that will make me tell you."
"I could send you to prison for the rest of your life. That is not an idle threat I assure you."
"Purgatory sir, prison is just purgatory. Two weeks ago I escaped from hell. You'll be givin me a step up in class."
Bridger's knuckled were bone white as he grasped the edge of his desk. "Get her out of my sight," he snapped. Brody gripped her shoulder in one hand, steering her around for the door. "Wait." The Lieutenant paused and Chris turned.
"We will find them."
"Maybe you will, sir. Part of me hopes that you do, just so you can prove me wrong. Believe it or not I don't want anything to happen to Lucas. He's been a good friend to me."
"But you won't help him."
"Not the way you want me to. We all have choices Captain, didn't you say that? This is mine. I truly am sorry."
"Levi, will he hurt Lucas?"
"Two months ago I would have said no, but………he's lost it Captain. He's dangerous, unpredictable. But I think………actually I'm fairly certain that if I went alone I could get Levi to let him go. A trade of sorts."
"Out of the question. That Miss Stryder, would require a certain measure of trust as you say. And you have given me not one good reason to trust you."
With that, and no further word from the Captain, Brody led her out of the ward room. He kept her walking in front of him down the passage, one hand at her back and the other on the pulse pistol on his hip. "I really didn't have anything to do with what happened today. I just wanted it all to be over, to leave and get on with my life."
Brody paused at the stairwell, blue eyes regarding her curiously. "I saw your sub," he said simply. "We're not blind Chris. The way you kids came on board, half starved and scared to death. How long?"
"Three and a half years."
Brody blanched, remembering the squalor he'd found in the hold, the blood, the stench. "Living like that………I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing," he admitted finally. "Come on." For some reason the words settled Chris' nerves, and she breathed deeply. At the bottom of the stairs waited two more security officers. "Take her back to the brig," he ordered. "And keep a close watch on her."
Chris walked sedately between the two officers down two more flights of stairs. At the brig one opened the hatch and the other moved her through. The door closed behind them, leaving her alone with the other guard. She stood placidly in front of the cell door while he opened it using the key pad. Then he holstered his weapon and fumbled for the keys to release her cuffs. The moment she felt the clasp around one wrist unlatch she moved, pressing back away from the door.
The guard was caught unaware. He snaked an arm around her waist and reached for his pulse pistol with the other. Chris twisted in his grasp, rapidly driving an elbow into the young man's temple three times. He released her and she leapt to the side, bringing both hands together to club him in the back. As he keeled over she grasped the collar of his shirt and drove her knee into his midsection. Then she shoved him, and he stumbled through the cell door. She hit the control panel and the door slid shut.
Then she whirled as the hatch opened and flew to the wall. The other officer stepped warily inside, gun at the ready. Chris remained, pressed against the wall behind the door till he was fully inside, then slammed the door behind him. He jumped and spun, but Chris was already on him, wrestling for the pistol as she aimed a kick at his knees. He stumbled, but managed to grasp her wrist as he fell, pulling her on top of him. She let herself fall, rolling over top of him and springing to her feet. She was up a split second before him and whirled, lashing a booted foot across his jaw. He fell to the floor, unconscious.
She stood for a moment, breathing heavily over his prone form. She pushed a away a few stray locks of hair that had fallen into her eyes. She leaned down and took his keys, unlocking the other cuff from her wrist. Chris stripped him of his PAL and weapon and then went for the hatch, peering out the small window before opening the door, stepping into the passage, and trotting quietly toward the docking bay.
--
"Sir?" Piccolo's voice rang out at the bridge. "I think we may have a problem."
"What is it now?" Bridger demanded gruffly.
"Someone's in docking bay three Captain. I think they're trying to take the Stinger."
"Shut it down!"
"I can't Captain………they're gone."
A muscle in Nathan's jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. "Stryder."
Chapter 5
Okay, no Lucas in this chapter I know, but it was necessary. Lots of Lucas next, promise. Hope you liked it all the same.
A/N: God knows this has taken me long enough to write but well…….writer's block is what it is. Hope you all enjoy this next installment.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, except the ones you don't recognize from the show.
~*~
Chris was stone faced as she was led through the bowels of the SeaQuest. Brody held her upper arm firmly, steering her through the corridors. The tall man's visage was hard and angry, blue eyes cold. She tested his grip once, pulling back around a corner, but the security chief held firm. Chris winced as his fingers bruised her arm, but she said nothing. She passed many of the people she'd gotten to know in the last week and a half, and there was not a sympathetic look among them. She let her head fall, keeping her eyes locked on the floor.
Brody deposited her unceremoniously into the brig. Piccolo was there too. He briefly met her gaze before turning away with a shake of his head. Her throat tightened. They hated her, all of them, not that she blamed them. Lucas was gone and it was her fault. "The Captain will be here shortly. He wants to talk to you," Brody said icily
"Wonderful. I need to talk to him too. I need to explain…."
"You can't explain this," Brody interrupted. "Not this."
"But Lucas…."
"Don't. Don't explain about Lucas. You can't, not to anyone here, so don't even try." Chris fell to silence, sitting heavily upon the bench in the cell. She drew her feet up on the bench, wrapping her arms around her knees and hiding her head. She didn't want them to see her cry.
Bridger came down to the brig a few minutes later, looking every inch the fierce military captain. He'd stayed in his quarters after getting Brody's message. He'd needed more than a deep breath to compose himself. Lucas had become a surrogate son to him in the last two years. To lose him……… Bridger shook his head vehemently. He would not allow that to happen.
He found the girl huddled in the corner of the brig. Brody hadn't left, but stood watchfully at the door. The Lieutenant opened the hatch for the Captain, then followed him inside. Bridger didn't miss the fact that a substantial portion of his senior officers were waiting with bated breath for the end of this interrogation. The officers on his ship had formed a family and Lucas was part of that. He wondered briefly if the teenager knew as much.
"I don't even know why I'm here." The Captain announced his presence. "We've already set course to intercept our submersible. You and your friends never had a chance to get away. And taking Lucas was a mistake. Just one in a long and growing list, but the worst by far I have to tell you."
"It wasn't my idea," the response was low, guarded.
"What about the rebellion on your boat? Not you idea either I assume."
"It wasn't supposed to go that far………"
"But it did, didn't it? You weren't thinking and now three people are dead. Did you give even a thought to anything before you started all this? Those kids looked up to you and Levi, they were going to follow you. Did you give even a moment's consideration to what would have happened to them if you had failed?"
"We didn't have a choice."
"There are always choices. It's just a matter if you decide to take the easy way, or the right way."
"And you consider the two mutually exclusive?" Chris turned then, dropping her feet to the deck and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.
Bridger inclined his head to the side, regarding the girl carefully. "In my experience they usually are, yes."
"Then damn you Captain, because you don't know anything. What we did, we did because we had to. You think it was easy? You think I liked that, killing them? Do you think I liked it back when I was just a kid? I hated it. I dream about it, wake up screaming." She rose from the bench, approaching the clear security door.
"But you're right Captain, we did have a choice to make. We could have accepted everything, our lives, how we all ended up. And we would have died in the mines. Instead we chose to fight back. It wasn't easy and it wasn't right but we did it, and given the chance I'd do it again. You don't know what we've been through, so screw you Bridger for thinking you can lecture to me about choices."
"Maybe all that's true Miss Stryder, and you're correct assuming that I'm not fully aware of your circumstance. But when you came aboard SeaQuest you made another choice. You could have come to us, explained. The UEO's policy regarding human rights is quite clear. If you had needed assistance all you needed to do was ask. Instead you've spent the last two weeks on my boat, with my crew, lying to us, plotting."
Chris shook her head. "We've been looking after ourselves for years now. We had no reason to think anyone would help us. But just so you know, coming here wasn't my choice, neither was kidnapping Lucas." Her voice dropped and caught. "I thought, I thought I should explain before I took off, but then Levi showed up. We were just supposed to go, Lucas was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Bridger shook his head and began to turn away. "I never meant to get him involved."
The Captain paused mid-step. "But you did," he said accusingly. "Lucas tried to be your friend, and your carelessness might get him killed. God help you if it comes to that. We would have helped you had you come to us, but you chose not to. You'll be turned over to UEO authorities when we catch your group now."
He was nearly to the brig's door when Chris answered. "You won't catch them Captain." She rested her hands against the door, pressing her forehead into the wall.
"We're set to intercept within the hour," he countered.
"We're kids Captain, not amateurs. You won't make it the hour." Just as the words passed her lips there was a deep rumble. A low groan came from the joints overhead. The SeaQuest shuddered, shaking the walls. The floor pitched violently, throwing Chris to her knees. The Captain stumbled sideways into the wall while Brody grasped the edge of the hatch to keep himself vertical and on his feet.
Bridger pushed himself off the wall and went to the comm. "Ford, report!" he glared back at Chris while he waited for an response from the bridge. The girl pushed onto her feet and sat back on the bench, feet shoulder width apart. She slouched against the wall, hands clasped in her lap, leveling the two officers with a stoic stare.
"Sir," Ford's voice crackled. "The helm just went completely out on us up here. Henderson is looking into it, but everything controlling our power is down, propulsion and a few other non essential systems. As it stands we're completely dead in the water."
"Two minutes," he growled. "I want answers Commander."
"Just as soon as we have any sir."
Nathan turned away from the comm., disgusted. Then he whirled, slamming his fist into the wall. Brody's eyes shot wide at the captain's uncharacteristic outburst. "Not a word Lieutenant," he growled to his head of security. Brody put up his hands defensively, shaking his head.
"This isn't finished Miss Stryder." She didn't answer, merely responded with the quirk of an eyebrow. Bridger paused at the hatch. "Stay here Lieutenant, keep an eye on her."
"Yes sir."
--
Bridger stalked onto the bridge a few minutes later. "Report!" he barked.
Henderson and Ford exchanged a glance. Henderson stepped forward. "I think I may have found our problem sir." The thin brunette held up a device, no larger than her palm, for the Captain to see.
"What is it?"
"I believe this device sets off an electromagnetic pulse. They're inventive sir, I'll give them that. One of the kids must have planted it while I was giving them a tour. I think it was set on a time." She handed over the device to the captain before rushing on. "I'm sorry Captain, I feel responsible. I should have paid them more attention, but I thought………"
"It's not your fault Henderson. You believed what we all believed. But that's beside the point right now. How bad off are we?"
"The pulse fried all our systems, navigation, helm control, propulsion. This wasn't just thrown together sir. These kids knew exactly what systems to hit and where to target us."
"How long?"
"If the systems just need to be reloaded, maybe an hour or two. But if any of the wiring got fried, well then sir it's anyone's guess."
The Captain nodded to himself. "Ortiz!" he called.
"yes sir?"
"How much longer can we keep them on our long range sensors?"
Ortiz found that he couldn't look the Captain in the eyes. "Only another few minutes Captain. They're headed back into non UEO waters."
"Damn," he muttered beneath his breath. "Brody," he spoke into his PAL. "Report to my ready room, and bring Miss Stryder with you. It's time she answered some questions."
Brody arrived a little thereafter, a grudging Chris in tow. "Sit," the captain motioned to a chair. The girl stared at him blankly. Her hands were bound in front of her by cuffs. "Or not. Your choice. Did you know about the EMS device?"
She shrugged. "We've used them before. I didn't know, but I'm not surprised. Levi's many things, but he covers all the angles."
"And the laser you stole from the lab?"
"Levi plans to sell it on the black market, get himself some start up money. I don't know if he has a buyer yet though."
"Where is their destination?"
"I don't know."
"I think you do. Where are they going Miss Stryder?" She blinked. "If you care about Lucas at all you will tell me where they're taking him."
"Of course I care." The words came out a mere whisper.
"Say again?"
"I said of course I care. But sir I've known Lucas two weeks. The rest of those kids I've known for years, and none of em deserve what they got. I have a duty to them, and it's more important than anything I might feel about Lucas. I won't give them up so you can send them back to prison, back to the mines."
"That wouldn't happen."
"There's that whole trust thing again Captain, bottom line being that I can't."
"Where was the sub headed?" he pressed.
"I can't tell you that."
"I am going to ask you one more time."
"You could ask me a thousand times and I wouldn't tell you. And would I suggest not wasting your time with idle threats?"
"It is NOT an idle threat."
"Of course it is. And you know how I knot? Because you Captain Bridger are a man with honor, duty. You still have that little voice in your head telling you what's right and what's not. It won't even matter if you manage to dim it a little, because for the last four years I've been dealing with people who don't have that voice at all, who wouldn't bat an eye at beating someone like me to a bloody pulp. But that's not you, so there's nothing you can do to me that will make me tell you."
"I could send you to prison for the rest of your life. That is not an idle threat I assure you."
"Purgatory sir, prison is just purgatory. Two weeks ago I escaped from hell. You'll be givin me a step up in class."
Bridger's knuckled were bone white as he grasped the edge of his desk. "Get her out of my sight," he snapped. Brody gripped her shoulder in one hand, steering her around for the door. "Wait." The Lieutenant paused and Chris turned.
"We will find them."
"Maybe you will, sir. Part of me hopes that you do, just so you can prove me wrong. Believe it or not I don't want anything to happen to Lucas. He's been a good friend to me."
"But you won't help him."
"Not the way you want me to. We all have choices Captain, didn't you say that? This is mine. I truly am sorry."
"Levi, will he hurt Lucas?"
"Two months ago I would have said no, but………he's lost it Captain. He's dangerous, unpredictable. But I think………actually I'm fairly certain that if I went alone I could get Levi to let him go. A trade of sorts."
"Out of the question. That Miss Stryder, would require a certain measure of trust as you say. And you have given me not one good reason to trust you."
With that, and no further word from the Captain, Brody led her out of the ward room. He kept her walking in front of him down the passage, one hand at her back and the other on the pulse pistol on his hip. "I really didn't have anything to do with what happened today. I just wanted it all to be over, to leave and get on with my life."
Brody paused at the stairwell, blue eyes regarding her curiously. "I saw your sub," he said simply. "We're not blind Chris. The way you kids came on board, half starved and scared to death. How long?"
"Three and a half years."
Brody blanched, remembering the squalor he'd found in the hold, the blood, the stench. "Living like that………I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same thing," he admitted finally. "Come on." For some reason the words settled Chris' nerves, and she breathed deeply. At the bottom of the stairs waited two more security officers. "Take her back to the brig," he ordered. "And keep a close watch on her."
Chris walked sedately between the two officers down two more flights of stairs. At the brig one opened the hatch and the other moved her through. The door closed behind them, leaving her alone with the other guard. She stood placidly in front of the cell door while he opened it using the key pad. Then he holstered his weapon and fumbled for the keys to release her cuffs. The moment she felt the clasp around one wrist unlatch she moved, pressing back away from the door.
The guard was caught unaware. He snaked an arm around her waist and reached for his pulse pistol with the other. Chris twisted in his grasp, rapidly driving an elbow into the young man's temple three times. He released her and she leapt to the side, bringing both hands together to club him in the back. As he keeled over she grasped the collar of his shirt and drove her knee into his midsection. Then she shoved him, and he stumbled through the cell door. She hit the control panel and the door slid shut.
Then she whirled as the hatch opened and flew to the wall. The other officer stepped warily inside, gun at the ready. Chris remained, pressed against the wall behind the door till he was fully inside, then slammed the door behind him. He jumped and spun, but Chris was already on him, wrestling for the pistol as she aimed a kick at his knees. He stumbled, but managed to grasp her wrist as he fell, pulling her on top of him. She let herself fall, rolling over top of him and springing to her feet. She was up a split second before him and whirled, lashing a booted foot across his jaw. He fell to the floor, unconscious.
She stood for a moment, breathing heavily over his prone form. She pushed a away a few stray locks of hair that had fallen into her eyes. She leaned down and took his keys, unlocking the other cuff from her wrist. Chris stripped him of his PAL and weapon and then went for the hatch, peering out the small window before opening the door, stepping into the passage, and trotting quietly toward the docking bay.
--
"Sir?" Piccolo's voice rang out at the bridge. "I think we may have a problem."
"What is it now?" Bridger demanded gruffly.
"Someone's in docking bay three Captain. I think they're trying to take the Stinger."
"Shut it down!"
"I can't Captain………they're gone."
A muscle in Nathan's jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. "Stryder."
Chapter 5
Okay, no Lucas in this chapter I know, but it was necessary. Lots of Lucas next, promise. Hope you liked it all the same.