AN: I know this chapter was a bit slow in coming- I've been working VBS/Day camp all this week, so I haven't had much energy left to write. lol Sorry about the wait! It seems like the response to Kristopher has been positive- whew! What a relief! Lol. I think he'll be a fun character once (if!) Kristin returns as we'll see a side of his personality he usually reserves just for her. Hehe...

Random Note: I really did not want to do this, but I'm going to drop a year from Lucas's age. If my research is right, his birthday is in December of 2002, putting him at sixteen in 2018 and nearly eighteen during this story. That won't work so well later on, so he's going to have to be just shy of seventeen. Please don't throw anything (lol), I didn't want to do it either!

Mariel3: I hope I'll be able to crank out a chapter a week. Though at some point I'll have to start working on Ashes of Eden again, but I think I can manage to write both at the same time.

Dolphinology: Hope the previous chapter wasn't too disappointing as it will take a bit of time before some of the facts mean anything.

Laurie Beth: Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Laurie Beth. Happy birthday to you! I wish I could have gotten this to you sooner!

Lerrinus: Good questions! As for Kristin and Jonathan, we'll have to see. :c) As for Lucas (that made me chuckle) all I can say is he'll get help in driving the adults over the edge later on. And you're right- Kris does have his limits.

Lynnp: Glad you liked it. :c) Hmm, maybe Lucas ought to hack into Kristin's file... ;c)

Many thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 3: Unsettling Events

For nearly thirty minutes the four Sea Speeders had been scouring the ocean within a 45 miles radius of where the Barracuda had been. Reports came back from the Speeders with nothing positive to present and with little hope of even finding any wreckage. Bridger sent the teams back out over the same areas, widening their scope of search. Standing off to the side of the x-o's station, Dr. Smith watched the harried crew working phrenetically on their mission. Those who were limited in their abilities to assist bombilated around Sensors, Communications, and HR as well as their own stations. Frustration ran high, especially among Commander Ford's friends- she did not need her psychic ability to tell her that.

At her station, Lt. Commander Hitchcock was snarling in annoyance at the HR probe. There is nothing out there! She thought hopeless. By now we should have found something! Testily, she waved away one of the concerned onlookers who was leaning too far over her shoulder.

WHAM! The bridge crew looked up sharply as Ortiz slammed his headset down on the console in front of him, glaring at it with a look even more ferocious than Hitchcock's.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Ortiz?"

Miguel turned an anxiety ridden face to the Captain. "Yes, sir. There's some sort of electrical disturbance outside of the ship that's interfering with the W.S.K.R.S. I can't get anything that makes sense!"

Bridger's frowned. He turned to Hitchcock. "Lt. Commander, are you having the same problem?"

"No, sir," she replied, almost with regret. "The electrical static isn't inferring with my ability to see- I just can't find anything to see!"

"You're both doing the best you can. Keep at it." After the briefest of hesitations, Bridger picked up his PAL and paged Kristopher.

"Westphalen here."

"Doctor, sensors are picking up an electrical disturbance outside the ship. Do you have any idea what might be causing it?"

"No," Kristopher answered quickly, then paused a beat. "And it's not limited to just outside of the ship. Captain, I think you better have a look at this yourself."

If it waspossible, Bridger's frown deepened further and he suddenly looked weary. "I'm on my way." Cutting the connection, he turned sharply for the exit, leaving the bridge to Hitchcock.

Though she had not been asked Wendy followed the captain; she certainly wasn't of any use on the bridge. Perhaps, she would be of some help to the Chief Scientist. Somehow though, she doubted it.

"Sir?" she said, jogging to keep up with Bridger's rapid gait.

"What is it, doctor?"

"I was just wondering if there's anything I can do? May-?"

"Not at this time, thank you." Bridger gave her a thin smile, though he barely glanced at her- his focus was riveted on his destination. "When we find Commander Ford then-" his voice trailed off abruptly. "Hopefully you won't have much to do then, either."

She did not show it, but Wendy was disappointed. She had hoped that Bridger would want to use her other abilities, not just her medical skills. But the captain's body language indicated that now was not the time to bring that up. She sighed and fell into step behind him.

"What have you got, Kris?" the captain asked as soon as he entered the science lab.

"I'm not sure- I've seen anything quite like this." Kristopher motioned Bridger to the station he was working at. The computers whirled and hummed in frenzied activity. The doctor pointed to one of the monitors that was showing a scan of four different readings stacked on top of each other. They looked similar to an EKG printout. "This," he pointed to the middle record, "Is what's interfering with the W.S.K.R.S."

"These others three look like seismic, electromagnetic, and electrical readouts," Bridger injected looking baffled.

Kristopher nodded. "They are. I thought at first that one or all of them were causing the problems. I ran a comparison analysis, but the results were inconclusive- this reading doesn't line up with any known seismic or aquatic electrical data. So... what that is in the waters around us," he shook his head grimly. "I don't know."

Bridger leaned over to study the information with nonplused interest, the scientist in him very curious about this phenomenon. After a while, he straightened up and looked at Kristopher. "Speculate," he asked, knowing how much the scientist hated doing so.

Kristopher pursed his lips together as his brow furrowed. There was a long bout of silence before he finally answered. "Possibly a dual reading- seismic activity from an earthquake or submarine volcano and a heavy lightning storm. The readings may be skewed or even inaccurate due to surface activity. There is the chance that it has something to with magnetic field anomaly," he shrugged. "Maybe there's research going on in the area that's the source of the disturbance."

Bridger studied his friend's dark expression intently. "You don't believe that though."

The doctor looked up, his face even grimmer. "No, I don't. But I have no basis for any other assumptions."

"Do you think it's organic?"

"I don't know."

"Do you know the range of affected area?"

That he did know and Kristopher's visage lightened as evidence of this. "Yes," he said firmly. Promptly, he pulled up a topographic map of Moorea, her surrounding islands, and the water around them. "Initial data shows that it covers from Moorea, a radius of approximately 1,350 kilometers."

"Most of the Society Islands, then?"

The doctor nodded. "It also comes approximately 35 kilometers inland."

Bridger sighed and covered his mouth with his hand as he thought. This phenomenon, if that was even what it was, had potential ecological and biological consequences that he could not overlook, even though Commander Ford was still missing. "Any suggestions on what we should do?"

Kristopher's expression lightened even more. "Actually, yes. I have quite a few friends in the area at Station Gump."

"Station Gump?" Dr. Smith, who had been a silent observer, finally spoke up. Her voice startled the two men. Kristopher appeared to notice her presence for the first time. Perhaps it was just stress or her imagination, but Wendy thought the scientist looked annoyed to see her.

"Richard B. Gump South Pacific Biological Research Station," he explicated gruffly as though it was common knowledge. Turning back to Bridger he went on, "They work closely with Le Centre de L'Environment de Moorea and the French Polynesian Seismic Research Station. Maybe they can help us shed some light on this."

Bridger nodded and was about to say something when his PAL began to beep insistently. "Bridger."

"Yeah, hey Captain," Lucas's disembodied voice floated over the speaker.

The captain's eyes flashed in vexation. "You were supposed to be back on board fifteen minutes ago!"

"Yeah, I know," his voice oozed typical teenage exasperation. "But listen I was following Darwin..."

"And?"

"And I think he may have found something."

"What?"

"I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think it's a chunk of the Barracuda!"

The chunk that Darwin discovered was identified as part of the Barracuda, though exactly which part was not known. With the first break they'd had, search and rescueandretrieval plans were quickly implemented with James Brody heading the team sent out to search for the rest of the wreckage.

Darwin had unearthed his piece of wreckage from amongst the Dictyota ceylanica and Dictyosphaeria versluysii, or bubble algae, that was hiding it along a massive underwater rock and coral wall. Darwin also brought word back that the flora and fauna of the aquatic world was "Hurt...Bad."

Brody glanced Krieg who was had been uncharacteristically quiet for most of the search. While the circumstances were nothing to be jovial about, Brody had never seen the Supply Officer so... somber before. Granted they had not had a crisis previously that would require such graveness and perhaps that was why Brody found it hard to believe that Krieg was capable of being serious. Regardless, it was a bit unnerving. Turning his attention back to the wall before them, he was shocked at the sight.

The dolphin was right, mused Brody as the Sea Speeder approached the seawall that was, indeed, hurt... very bad. A long, wide path had been cleared across the wall like a bleeding gash. Even the military-minded security chief had to cringe at the sight of all the life that had abruptly been smeared out of existence. Quickly, he dismissed these thoughts. After all it was just a bunch of plants; they would grow back.

While Brody was lost in thought, Krieg was unable to stand idly by. It aggravated him to no end that Security Chief hesitated to instruct anyone on how to proceed. To Ben, it was as though Brody was unconcerned that their commander- his friend- was out there, possibly injured or, God forbid, worse. Seconds that seemed like hours ticked by. Unable to restrain himself, Krieg took over, not caring an iota about the chain of command.

"I want every piece of available equipment being used to locate the Barracuda and find Commander Ford!" he barked shortly at the rest of the team, tossing an peeved glare at Brody. "Somebody get a Sea Crab out there and look for any additional wreckage along the wall."

"What do you think you're doing, Lieutenant?" Brody snapped hotly. His hesitation had beenmere seconds and he took it personally that the Supply and Morale Officer had usurped his position.

Krieg rounded on him, hot indignation burning on his features. "What we're down here to do, sir. Is there a problem with that?"

In an uncharacteristic instant for both men, professionalism was cast to the side and emotion took over. Brody came within inches of Krieg's face and spoke fiercely in a low tone as not to be overheard by the others around them. "There's a problem with you overstepping your boundaries."

The muscles of Krieg's jaw tightened as he tried to maintain control of the ascending choler within. "With all due respect, sir," he clipped out with as much disdain as he dared. "We still don't know where the Commander is. That being the case, every second is precious."

"You don't need to tell me that, Lieutenant," Brody shot back just as scornfully. "But we're here to locate and retrieve the Barracuda. Search and Rescue is looking for the Commander."

"Yes, sir," Krieg spat out again. In the back of his mind, he wondered if the lieutenant's confrontational relationship with Ford was clouding Brody's response to the situation, not realizing that his own relationship with the commander was clouding his. He went on irreverently anyway. "But they are not in this area. We are. Therefore, it would make sense that we do both: recover the Barracuda and find Commander Ford. Of course, if sir doesn't mind telling Captain Bridger why we didn't-"

"You think you can do this job better, Lieutenant?"

"No, sir. But someone should at least do it."

Both men's voices were rising to the point that their crew could not ignore it.

"You have somethin' to say, Lieutenant. Say it."

"Sir!" A young female ensign burst into their escalating argument. She bit her lip as she hesitated on who to defer to.

"Yes?" Brody shot a final glare at Ben before giving the ensign his full attention.

"Roddick and the Sea Crab have found a unidentified object 10 kilometers northwest of here, sir," she glanced at Krieg who had originally given her the orders to send the Crab out. He returned her apologetic frown with a thin smile. "Roddick believes this may be the Barracuda."

"Good." The Security Chief, throughly embarrassed by his loss of professionalism, struggled briefly to regain his manners. "Let's get it secured and verified." As the ensign hurried off, Brody turned to face Krieg only to find the supply officer no longer there.

"We recovered the Barracuda, sir" Brody reported to the Captain. "But I'm afraid there is still no sign of Commander Ford."

Bridger nodded discontentedly as he listened to the lieutenant's report via the vidlink in the Ward Room.

"Sir, the escape pod was deployed, or at least that's what I'm assuming- it's not with the rest of the Barracuda."

"Let's take that as a good sign, Lieutenant. Keep searching."

"Aye, sir."

Bridge ended the vidlink communication and turned to the doctor behind him. At length the Captain spoke. "I think it's time we begin an upworld search."

Kristopher nodded his agreement. "I think it will be easier to work from the island anyway. Their equipment is already set up for this region; they probably know more about what's going on than we do."

"They probably do," he said absently, running his hand through his hair.

"We'll find him, Nathan."

"Yeah, I know." Bridger didn't sound overly convinced.

It was with little more purpose than she'd had on seaQuest that Dr. Smith went along with Bridger and the others in one of the launches headed upworld. While Bridger and Westphalen were immersed in a series of charts and readouts, she was left with her thoughts about this unfortunate turn of events. Stress, Wendy noted, had soared to near insurmountable heights, especially amongst the crew who had a personal relationship with Ford. The others were extremely worried about their senior officer's fate, and some were even a bit spooked that if this could happen to the x-o, then something of a similar magnitude could happen to them as well. This fear was predominant amongst the civilian personnel.

Wendy's gaze drifted around the shuttlecraft before falling on the figure of Kristopher Westphalen hunched over his data. He was, no doubt, busily formulating a plan of action so they would not any waste time once they arrived at Station Gump. He was a serious, allegiant scientist who bore the same mind set about his job as say, Commander Ford, did about his. In the on-going war over military versus science and the place of both on seaQuest, the two frequently clashed. Ford was infamous for battling with the science division and he did not suffer scientists gladly. Yet his confrontations with Westphalen were different that with the others. Though Wendy did not understand it, those showdowns with Kristopher made the Commanderoddly nostalgic about something. For his part, Westphalen saw military presence on the submarine as little more than obstacles to his research and exploration; a view which he seemed to take particularly delight injabbingat the Commander often. This was the side of the doctor Wendy saw most often. That and she always seemed to catch his most contentious side, as well,and often had to dodge his dry, sarcastic wit. She regretted this greatly as he seemed to be a charming fellow, to others at least. Plus, he was rumored to possess a wicked mischievous streak- one that rivaled Lucas's. She was curious to see this side of her colleague and wished she knew how to approach him; he was someone she would like to know on a personal level. As it stood, she knew little more about him than when the tour first began; he was as mystifying to her as his sister was.

The shuttle lurched to a halt signaling their arrival up world. Led by Kristopher, the hike to the research station was a short one. A tall, thin Nigerian man in his late forties greeted the seaQuest crew. Kristopher grinned upon seeing the researcher.

"You have the most irritating knack of showing up just when we need you, Kris," he said in a thick warm accent. He shook the doctor's hand heartily. "We're a bit stumped with this thing, too." He seemed genuinely pleased to see his old friend, but concern shone clear in his eyes.

"Good to see you, too, Tom," Kristopher returned. After introducing Dr. Thomas Oshodi to Bridger and the other members of the senior crew, the director of Station Gump led Bridger, Westphalen, and Smith inside, while the rest remained outside to set up a base camp.

"It's quite an honor to have you here, Captain," Oshodi gushed enthusiastically. "You're quite famous at the Station. So you'll have to forgive any of my colleagues or students who might seem a little star struck."

Bridger looked a bit abashed as he let out a short laugh. "Well, thank you, Doctor," he said graciously. "Actually, I might be the one who's starstruck- I've been following the research that's been coming out of here for years. Impressive work you and your people do."

Oshodi was ostensibly flattered. "Anytime you want to spend some time, under better circumstances of course, you're more than welcome to."

Bridger nodded agreeably as the doctor turned to Kristopher. He cast his former coworker a oppugning glance. "I'm surprised Kristin didn't come with you," he remarked.

Kristopher shrugged offhandedly. He started to answer, then caught sight of the perturbed look on Bridger's face and the curious one on Smith's and stopped.

"I thought for sure she'd be here before you," the researcher added. It was an odd statement, Wendy thought, considering the person in question could not be located by all the resources of the UEO. Then again Dr Oshodi may not have been aware of this.

"Yes, well," Kristopher coughed out an equally strange response. "I'm afraid Kristin's been unavoidably detained."

"Oh," the doctor's brow shot up in surprise. "Nothing serious, I hope."

"I doubt it." Though his tone was light, there was something in his eyes that belied that tone. He shrugged. "You know Krissy."

Oshodi nodded affably as he opened the door to the main laboratory. As they entered the science lab, Wendy felt a sudden intense barrage of emotion coming from their captain. The outpouring was brief as Bridger swiftly put up his defenses, but long enough that she was able to gain a small insight into the Kristin Westphalen mystery. His feelings of loss were not limited to that of a colleague, valued counsel, or friend. It was much deeper than that. Wendy frowned, but as there was nothing she could do about this sudden perceptiveness, followed the men to the computer where Dr. Oshodi was already disclosing what the Station had gathered so far.

seaQuest, it turned out was not the only one experiencing technical difficulty. Several ships in the area had reported navigational equipment failure due to some sort of freak electrical interference. The Station itself was having similar issues with its electronics which was impeding progress in figuring out the source of the disturbance. Reports of ship wrecks were also flooding in.

"We have little more information that you do, Kristopher," Oshodi was saying. "The readings we've taken and the ones you sent us are electromagnetic we believe, though we're not certain. I've never seen anything quite like this. Most of the activity is occurring in the area between Tahiti/Moorea, Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas, and Moruroa in the Gambier Islands. "

Wendy realized she must have missed part of Oshodi's report as Bridger's next statement threw her somewhat. "Sounds like you're describing a type of Hutchison Effect, Doctor," he said, crossing his arms over his waist. He studied onscreen reports skeptically.

Oshodi rolled his eyes skyward. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice the similarities, Captain," he smiled wryly. "I already had several of my students set off on a witch hunt comparing what's going here with reports coming out of Bermuda."

"Why?" Kristopher asked cynically. "Is there more activity in that area or something?"

The director shook his head. "No more than usual. But you know how people are with the unexplained. Some already think we have our own 'Devil's Triangle' here." He paused, considering the fatuousness of such a notion. "Now if these science wiz kids are buying into that sea lore, can you imagine what would happen if the public got wind that we don't actually have any idea what's going on?"

"Pandemonium," Bridger inserted dryly.

Oshodi nodded. "Exactly. The people, for the most part, are still highly superstitious." After a moment of silence, the doctor changed the topic. "Listen, I know that as interesting as this may be, you have a missing crewman you want to look for."

"Yes," Bridger confirmed. "This is interesting, but I do need to back out there with everyone else."

"Care for some help?"

Bridger regarded the doctor quizzically, uncertain what he meant.

"It seems that word spread rather quickly that Kris was back home," he said, obviously amused. "The whole town's turned out to offer their services."

Bridger chuckled at Westphalen's sheepish expression. "We can use all the help we can get."

Bridger stepped out of the research station long enough to oversee the division of the recovery teams. Oshodi had not been kidding when he said the whole town of Paopao turned out. The whole town included several pearl diver with vast knowledge of the reefs which might prove indispensable to the dive teams. The rest of the volunteers, or at least those old enough to help, were split up amongst the land teams headed by Brody, Hitchcock, and J.J. Fredricks.

Lucas took the initiative to assign himself to a team and chose Hitchcock's team, primarily because she was the only one who would tolerate his presence. The others made no effort to conceal their resentment of the "kid" being able to run about like he was one of them.

Seaman Anthony Piccolo was the most unabashedly vocally in his protest against Lucas being apart of missions. Piccolo was a peculiar character in Lucas's assessment. He came to seaQuest through an inmate release program with a chip on his shoulder, a problem with authority, and gills. Armed with a trenchant sense of humor, he was a likeable enough fellow, but unfortunately he and Lucas seemed perpetually at odds with one another. Sometimes, Lucas thought that Piccolo might like him as Tony had his moments of friendliness towards the teen. However, incidents like the one that landed Lucas in Medbay made him doubt that theory greatly. Twice already they had physical altercations which put Tony on level three probation and Lucas on probation with Bridger.

Unfortunately, Piccolo was also on Hitchcock's team and the first to notice Lucas's presence.

"Hey, Luke." He grinned as he sauntered over to where Lucas stood.

"Don't call me Luke." He replied laconically, eyeing the seaman dubiously.

"Yeah, anyway, Luke," he went on as though nothing had been said. "The captain and doctors went that-a-way."

Lucas looked at him blankly. "So?"

"I thought you might to know- ya look lost. It kinda looked like you were coming with us."

"I am."

Tony began to laugh. "I don't think so."

Lucas glared at him disdainfully. "It doesn't matter what you think," he muttered.

"Look, Luke, I'm trying to be nice here, but your place is where the Captain can keep an eye on you... ya know, until a babysitter can be hired." Tony's smirk widened as he pitched a wad of paper at Lucas. "Be a good boy and throw this away for me, huh?"

"I'm a part of this crew whether you like it or not," he growled, shoving the paper back at the seaman.

"Crew? Really, when did you enlist?" Piccolo's expression clouded over and his tone turned serious. "Just because you're the resident Wesley Crusher on the boat doesn't make you part of the crew."

The remark stung and try as he might, Lucas could not just shrug it off. It was a derogatory nickname that had long plagued him... and Tony knew it. "Don't. Call. Me. That."

"What are you going run to Captain Bridger and tell on me, Wesley?" he sneered, getting into the other's face. "Just proves you don't belong on this team, geek-boy!"

"I don't belong?" Lucas felt like exploding. "I was a part of this crew long before you can along. Besides you're only here so captain Bridger can keep an eye on you... at least until a parole officer can be hired." A puerile as it was Lucas couldn't resist a little name calling himself. "So back off, Fish-boy."

"Oh, see now, you should not have said that!"

Lucas saw right away that he shouldn't have as the seaman looked like he was preparing to swing. His intentions, however, were never manifested as a sharp voice cut into their fracas.

"What is going on here?" Hitchcock looked unbelievably acrimonious, turning her aggravation on Tony. "I suggest you back down, seaman. You're already on probation for getting into two fight- another assault charge will land you in the brig."

Despite his recent efforts to change his ex-con ways, Tony found old ways impossible to fight at the moment. His response to the Lieutenant Commander's reprimand was an indignant snort. "Figures," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Hitchcock stepped closer to Piccolo, her glare as frigid as her tone.

"I said, sir, it figures."

"What does?"

He really did try to think before he spoke, but the words came tumbling out before he had time to engage his brain. "That you'd take Luke's side, no questions asked."

"You're the officer here, Piccolo," she told him gelidly. "You should know better."

"I'm also on the outside," he rambled on against his better judgement. "This would be completely different if I was on the inside like Luke."

Hitchcock's eyes flared at his insinuation. "Seaman," she warned.

Piccolo instantly realized he had said too much and had the grace looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Lt. Commander. I was out of line."

"You bet you were." She almost left it at that, but something he suggested troubled her. "What do you mean Lucas is on the inside?"

"Nothing, sir."

"That was not a nothing comment, seaman. Explain."

Tony shifted uncomfortably under her insuperable gaze. "I was referring to Lucas being on the inside of the Circle."

"What circle?"

He looked at her in genuine surprise. "Everyone knows about seaQuest's Inner Circle, sir."

"Not everyone, seaman. Expound."

Piccolo gulped. "The Inner Circle, sir, are the members of the first tour." At her look, he hastily added. "It's an exclusive club it would appear- anyone new to seaQuest is not on the inside... Dr. Westphalen being the only exception."

Hitchcock gave him a dismissive wave. "There is no such Inner Circle, seaman," she told him firmly. "Remember that."

"Yes, sir."

To the surprise of Hitchcock, Tony, and Lucas, Bridger stepped in between Chief Engineer and the seaman. He had heard most of the exchange between the two. "Is there a problem here?"

Hitchcock and Piccolo exchanged looks. "No, sir." she said as the seaman shook his head.

"Good," he said firmly, but with reservation of their assurance. Tony's comments were greatly upsetting to him. "Your team needs to get moving and stop wasting valuable time." He was about to scold them all further when an ensign interrupted.

"Sir, Dr. Westphalen sent me to inform you that Admiral Noyce is on Priority One from Pearl with orders from the Secretary General."

Bridger surpressed a groan. Great, he thought. We have enough problems without Corbin getting involved!

Please forgive any tyos or other errors. I was in a hurry to post and will go back and edit ASAP. Thanks! Mercy