Chapter 21

Lieutenant Green answered the call that came in to her console from the medical bay. She knew that the Colonel was due a report from Doctor Gold any time now so she was very surprised to see the terrified face of Captain Blue.

"Adam!" she yelped, drawing White's attention to her distress, he then proceeded to make his way over to her workstation from his own desk.

"Lieutenant what's wrong?" he asked her as he approached. But the instant he saw the devastated face of Captain Blue's face on the monitor, he knew the answer.

Captain Blue looked pale and shaken, the bruising on his face from the explosion looking even more dark and obvious because of it. But it wasn't this that had the Colonel concerned; it was the fact the Blue's eyes were red rimmed and his face was streaked with tears.

"Adam?" Green said again, only this time her voice was softer and White could tell that she was doing her best to keep her composure as she spoke.

"Serena," Blue's voice hitched in his throat, "He's…I don't know what…he's…" he mumbled incoherently.

"Captain," White spoke this time, hoping that his use of a more professional tone would snap the young man out of his dazed and distraught state. It didn't.

"Lieutenant," he addressed Green this time. "I'm going to head down to the medical bay, have Destiny meet me there."

"SIG," Green replied.

"And Serena," the Colonel added softly, "Keep talking to Adam until I get there."

Green nodded in acknowledgement, but White didn't see her response as he was already in the elevator making his way to the medical bay.

As Colonel White made his way down the corridor which led to medical, he heard a voice from behind calling out to him.

It was Destiny.

"Colonel," the Angel leader jogged to catch him up "What's happening with Paul?" she sounded surprisingly calm, yet the Colonel could tell that in reality she was anything but.

"I don't know Destiny; unfortunately Adam didn't make much sense."

"Serena said that she had never seen him so upset. You don't think that…"but she was unable to complete the sentence, not that White needed her to, he understood what it was that she was too afraid to ask.

"I don't know Destiny, I guess there's only one way to find out," he commented as the two of them came to a stop outside of the medical bay doors. As they were about to enter, White could sense the Angel leader's hesitancy and gently encouraged her to follow him inside.

As they entered, the room seemed eerily hushed. Ahead of them White saw Doctor Gold and the Bishop's standing around Gold's desk; where they were talking in hushed tones. At first he believed that maybe the doctors' were discussing medical readouts, but as he got closer he realised that he was wrong. Sat on the chair between them was a visibly shaken Captain Blue.

"Mason?" White said as he walked towards them, his eyes focused on the blonde Captain. Although Blue still looked pale, he seemed a little less distressed that he had appeared on the video screen when he was talking to Lieutenant Green.

"He's okay," Gold informed him as he looked down at Blue "they both are."

"Thank god," Destiny muttered in obvious relief.

"But I'm afraid that his condition has deteriorated," Yelena Bishop told them as she placed a gentle comforting hand on Destiny's shoulder.

"Are you any nearer to finding a solution Doctors?" White asked, his voice hard, he was back in command mode once again.

"We believe so, however one of us will have to return to out lab. We need some of our own equipment."

"For what reason Doctor?" White asked. "We have some of the most advanced medical technology available here on Skybase," he clarified. After all of the secrecy that had surrounded Scarlet's injuries and the work that Dragontech laboratories were working on, White was determined that this time he was not going to be kept in the dark.

"We understand that Colonel," Raymond Bishop answered "and your equipment here is very adequate. However we do not have necessary equipment available to make up any more nanotech…"

"What do you need that for?" Destiny asked, confused; before White had a chance to ask the same question.

"Because we believe that a second batch of nanotech can put a stop to this," the male Doctor Bishop clarified.

"Wait! You want to more of those things in him – are you crazy?" Blue exclaimed as he burst up out of the chair in disgust. "What is the matter with you people, hasn't your tech caused enough damage."

"Captain please," Doctor Gold soothed as he went to assist the injured man. It was clear from his posture that the sudden movement to get up from the chair had not been a wise move. "It's not like that."

"Doctor Gold is right," Yelena Bishop went on to explain to the room's occupants. "We believe that we may be able to program a new batch of nanotech to go in and reprogram those that are already wreaking havoc on Paul's system; altering their programming so that they will stop attacking him and instead will assist in helping him to heal."

"You believe?" White asked, sceptically.

"We have never done anything like this before," Raymond said taking over, "When we designed the technology, we didn't look into ways to stop it, we didn't have to…"

"Because it wasn't designed to respond to human DNA," Colonel White finished for him, understanding dawning on him.

"Precisely Colonel, we were asked to design the tech so that it could be released in a wide area and destroy anyone or anything with Mysteron DNA. But it would self destruct if it detected any human DNA, leaving any individuals it infected unharmed- other than a slight headache anyway," Raymond Bishop went on to explain. "We were not asked to find a way to counter the effects of the nanotech as they were not interested in being able to help any Mysteron's who had been infected."

"I can't believe that the World Council would authorise the development of this technology, especially with them knowing about Paul's circumstances, they knew it would put him at risk," Blue spat angrily, "After all he's done in our fight against the Mysterson's…to think that they would…"

"That's enough Adam," White warned him, "I understand why you're angry; I feel the same way but…"

"With all due respect sir, you have no idea how I feel. If they knew what the hell was going on in that lab why couldn't they tell us what was going on, why keep it all a big secret."

"Only a handful of people knew about the project Captain," Yelena explained. "Everyone involved had to undergo vigorous background checks as they were concerned about anyone finding out what we were doing…"

"My guess is to avoid the Mysteron's finding out and trying to put a stop to it," Gold added.

Yelena gave a small nod.

"And look how well that turned out," Blue commented sarcastically.

"Captain…"White warned again.

"I'm sorry Sir, but even if they didn't reveal the facts to us about what was going on in that lab, they could have warned us not to send Paul in there, especially since he was the one at the greatest risk the moment he set foot in there."

"But if he hadn't gone in there the explosion would have killed you," Destiny said.

"We don't know that," Blue exclaimed, frustration radiating from him. "For all we know Paul was the reason why the lab was targeted in the first place."

"What are you talking about, I though the explosion meant that they were targeting our work?" Raymond said.

"That was the part that didn't make any sense to me either at first, but if that was the case, why didn't they just destroy the facility to begin with, why create the security breach?" Blue explained.

Gold nodded, "He does have a point. We have seen how the Mysteron's operate and that does seem like an odd move, even for them."

"Unless, they had another target in mind," White added.

"Paul," Destiny exclaimed, her voice barely more than a whisper. Blue nodded.

"That's nothing more than speculation," Raymond declared, "You can't know that that's what happened."

"But from what we know it's the only thing that makes sense," Blue stated. "Believe me Doctor if you knew the Mysteron's the way we do..."

Raymond Bishop opened his mouth and was about to speak, but it was his wife who spoke up first.

"Colonel please," she begged "we are running out of time…Paul is running out of time. Although we can't guarantee that this plan will work, it's the only one we have."

"Very well Doctor," White conceded "I want Captain's Ochre and Magenta to accompany you. Under the circumstances I think it's best to be cautious."

"Of course."

"Colonel I'd like to go along too," Blue requested.

"But you haven't been cleared for duty Captain," Gold reminded them.

"Oh come on," he huffed throwing his good arm up in the air in frustration and letting it fall back down by his side, "You can't be serious Doc."

"You're still recovering from some pretty nasty injuries Captain, you need to rest."

"I better go and get myself sorted and ready to go," Yelena Bishop said quickly, sensing the tension that was building, before she left the medical bay followed closely by her husband.

"Do you really think I could do that while all of this is going on," Blue continued almost oblivious to the Bishops' exit from the room. He took a deep breath and turned to look through the door towards where his friend was lying. "Colonel please, I need to be doing something. I need to feel like I'm helping him in some way."

White could see the desperation in the young Captain's pleading eyes. He could tell that he hated feeling so helpless and he knew exactly how he felt because he was feeling the same way.

"I'm sorry Adam but Doctor Gold is right."

"But Colonel…" Blue protested.

"No arguments Captain. I am already facing the possibility of losing one of my Captains, I won't give a foolish order that increases that number to two," White stated firmly. "That's an order."

"SIG." Blue agreed very reluctantly.

"Don't worry Adam, Elaine will make sure that everything goes smoothly," Destiny said quietly, trying her best to reassure him. Although he gave her a small nod, Destiny could see that Blue wasn't truly convinced. She understood his reasons for wanting to do something; it was one of the reasons why she had continued to report for duty even though the Colonel had given her permission to take some time off.

"Destiny's right," White agreed, "Besides what are the chances that the Mysteron's will target the lab a second time."

"You're probably right Colonel," Blue admitted. Yet despite his words, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen and he hated that there wasn't anything he could do to prevent it.