Disclaimer: Don't own the Pretender or the Seaquest...
o o o
Chapter Two
o o o
Three months went by quickly, Jarod and Ben had become best friends, along with Lieutenant Tim O'Neil Lieutenant Miguel Ortiz and Lieutenant Katie Hitchcock.
Jarod had even helped DR Kirsten Westphalen with some of her research. He even started to get along with Nathan. However, he was still working on Commander Jonathan Ford.
Jarod smiled when he entered the bridge. He looked around to see Nathan Bridger sitting in the Captains chair; Lieutenant Tim O'Neil was learning new languages, Lieutenant Miguel Ortiz was making repairs, and Commander Jonathan Ford was making sure everything was working perfectly; Lieutenant Katie Hitchcock was also looking for anything out the ordinary.
He knew that Kirsten Westphalen was either in the research labs or in the medical room.
Jarod walked up to his station and began to work.
Nathan signed inwardly; he didn't know why he came back. He was happy living on his Island with Darwin. Ever since his son disappeared and his wife's death, he has been alone. Until Admiral Noyce had other plans for him. Since that day he has been on Seaquest, looking around the ocean's floor, protecting the boarders, researching the wild life, and so on. But no matter what Nathan did, nothing could fill the pain he felt in his heart. Sure Kirsten was there, but something was missing.
Nathan was interrupted from his thoughts when he heard alarm going off. He stood up and looked at Jarod who was busy typing.
"Lieutenant Brook what is happening?" Nathan demanded.
"A virus sir, it's spreading quickly," Jarod said as he tried to stop the virus.
Nathan watched as Jarod type quickly on his keyboard. He had know Jarod for three months, and knew that Jarod was a hard working. But there was something about Jarod that just didn't seem right. He just couldn't put his finger on it, yet.
Miguel and Katie had offered their assistance to Jarod, which was accepted.
Together, they spent three hours till finally, they had defeated the virus.
"Finally," Miguel said in relief.
"Yeah, who ever made that one sure is clever. He must be a genius, to bad that we were just to clever," Katie said with a smile.
Jarod's smile faded from his face. That virus wasn't made for them to defeat it. That virus had been programmed to be defeated. Someone had planned it that way.
"Jarod you ok? you looking a little bit worried?" Katie asked.
"That virus! it was a cover!" Jarod shouted as he began checking the files.
Nathan and Commander Ford came closer to Jarod's work station after hearing Jarod's remark.
"What do you mean?" Ford asked.
Jarod kept his focus on the screen before him as he answered Ford's question.
"It was a cover. Someone knew that we would focus on the virus, not on the system. Someone hacked into our systems while we were busy fighting the virus. I knew that something was up, Sir. That virus wasn't built for us to defeat it. It already had a self destruct system on it,"
"Wait, someone hacked into our systems? and what do you mean by 'self destruct system'?" Ford asked.
"We didn't destroy the virus, Sir, the person who created the virus destroyed the virus," Jarod answered.
"Why? why would someone infect our systems, hack into our systems, then destroy the virus?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know what Sir, but who ever did this, was excellent Sir. There is a trace that someone hacked into our systems, but we can't see what that person looked at, or where he is," Katie said.
"Jarod, I want you to find this person, I want to find out where and who this person is, and what this person saw. Also, I don't want this to happen again!" Nathan ordered.
"Yes sir!" Jarod answered as he began to look over the systems.
When everyone returned to their stations, Jarod checked over his records, and saw that someone had looked over them.
He knew that the centre was good, but they didn't have the knowledge to pull off such a hack. He wasn't even that good. There was only one person who could have pulled off that hack, but he was dead.
He spent the next few hours building a better firewall, hoping that it would protect their systems. Just as he finished, his shift finished.
Instead of heading to the mess hall with the others, he headed to his room.
When he got there, he saw that Ben was fast a sleep. Normally he would wait till Ben was out the room, but something was bugging him about the hack. He needed to know.
He silently walked into the room, and took out the silver brief case which was hidden under his bunk.
He opened it, to reveal a computer. He took out a small CD disk, and put it into the computer.
Ben, who had woken up when Jarod walked in, had pretended to be a sleep. He watched as Jarod pulled out the silver case, which had been bugging him for three months. He was dying to see what was in it. He watched excitedly as Jarod opened it, but was disappointed when he saw that it was a computer.
He closed his eyes, but opened them when he saw the screen come alive, revealing a boy, probably, seven years old. The screen was black and white, but he could see the innocence in the boy's eyes.
Jarod and Ben watched as the seven year sit all by himself at a table, when a bold man walked into the room. He was wearing a suit, but what scared Ben, was the two air tanks that the man carried along, that helped him breathe.
"Mr Rains," Jarod snarled.
He had known Mr Rains, and knew that he was a dangerous man. A man who didn't care what had to be done to active the end results. Mr Rains was the person in charge of the Pretender project. Or any other project that involved tests on people, even children, with high intelligence.
They watched as the little boy looked up at Mr Rains with distrust.
"Where's mommy? where's my daddy?" the little boy shouted.
"You know what happened, Lucas. They died in a car crash!" Mr Rains said.
"NO! you're lying, mommy and daddy never drive together, and the possibilities of them both dying at the same time is unlikely," Lucas explained.
Mr Rains smiled at Lucas response.
"You are clever, I think I need to see just how clever," Mr Rains said slyly.
They both saw the horror in Lucas's eyes.
"No! please no, no, please," Lucas begged.
Ben watched in horror as two strong men came in, and took a screaming Lucas out the room. Jarod lowered his head, as he switched off the screen. Closing the case, before locking it.
"What the HELL was that?" Ben shouted.
Jarod's head snapped back as he looked at Ben. He had forgotten about Ben. After all his training, he had just failed. He had forgotten about Ben, how could he have forgotten?
For the first time in years, Jarod was speechless. He didn't know what to say. What could he say. The worst part, was that he was trapped on Seaquest for the next six months.
"Jarod?" Ben asked angrily.
Jarod paled when he saw the anger in Ben's eyes. His mind rushed with the different possibilities that he could use, but for the first time in years, Jarod didn't want to lie.
o o o
To be continued...