As always, thankyou to everyone for reviewing. I love hearing what you think.
Well this has been a hard chapter to get to behave itself. I hate writer's block, but I think it's beginning to flow again. Yes, I know the obvious thing to do would be for Lucas to stay at the Node and get medical attention but where's the fun in that? Kinda like those horror movies where the girl goes upstairs and you want to reach into the screen and tell her to run!
Chapter Seven
For a vessel that usually looked so sleek and agile in the water, the Stinger was now meandering badly. To an outside observer it would have looked very much like watching a drunk driver on the road. If there had been anybody around to observe it, they may have looked through the canopy window and wondered why there was a mop of hair hanging over the controls.
"Easy, just take it easy." He spoke quietly enough, but he knew that Gator could hear him.
Bridger slowly climbed through the docking hatch behind his security chief and found himself face to face with another rifle muzzle. A small band of men stood in a semi-circle with rifles raised towards him and his men. He held his palms out to show he wasn't holding a weapon before turning towards the only man who didn't have a rifle. Obviously the one giving the orders.
"This isn't exactly in line with how we left here a few days ago."
"Well a lot has happened since you were here last. My brother and nephew are both dead!"
The captain briefly wondered why they believed Micah was dead when he obviously wasn't, but decided that could wait.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but that's no reason to threaten us. We haven't done anything except answer a request for our technical help."
"Some help!" Daniel spat the words at him. "Your idea of help was to bring a murderer into our colony!"
Bridger glanced across at Ben and could see his lieutenant was doing all he could to keep his mouth shut.
"Lucas is just sixteen years old and isn't capable of murder. Now, where are you holding him?"
Daniel glared at the strangers in front of him. If his men had done their job he would have been able to hand over the body of their crewmember and make them go away, but now he was stuck trying to think on his feet.
"He's in custody and will stay there until we have finished dealing with him."
Pederson looked across at his leader and tried to keep his face neutral. This was a dangerous game to play with the UEO flagship parked on their doorstep. It was only a matter of time before they discovered Lucas wasn't in custody and he had a fair idea what would happen then. The captain of the seaQuest did not strike him as someone to be trifled with. Or lied to.
Knowing that Lucas was most definitely not in their custody and Micah was very much alive made Bridger wonder what else they were lying about. He decided to try a placatory stance with the colony's apparent new leader and see what he could find out.
"Do you think you could lower those rifles? I mean, we aren't going anywhere and there's only four of us."
Daniel seemed to weigh the request before nodding almost imperceptibly to his men. The rifles drooped slightly lower, but Bridger noticed they were still well within striking range.
"All right. If we can't speak to Lucas, can we at least see the evidence you have against him?"
"We already sent the UEO the footage. I'm sure you've seen it already." The sarcasm was just below the surface of the words, but Bridger refused to rise to it.
"Actually that's one of the things I wanted to discuss with you. Do you suppose we could do it somewhere other than here?"
Daniel glared at the older man; secure in the safety of his own environment, surrounded by his men. "Why should I allow any more UEO personnel into our colony? We have managed just fine for many years without your help."
"I'm sorry, but wasn't it your brother who called us here in the first place? If you didn't want the UEO here, then why did you ask us to come?"
The men standing guard seemed keen to hear the answer to this question. A lot of things had happened in such a short time that most of them were confused about exactly what had happened. To find themselves holding such a prominent UEO figure at gunpoint seemed absurd. But Daniel had insisted they were not to allow anybody from outside to get in. None of them were really sure why, but it seemed the safety of their colony depended on it and each one of them had families to protect.
Before Daniel could answer, he was startled by a muffled beeping sound. "What's that?" he demanded.
"That would be my XO wondering why I haven't checked in with him yet." The captain stared at the man before him and saw his resolve begin to slip a little. "I would make a suggestion that you let me answer it because the next group to arrive here won't be as friendly as us." The PAL continued to beep insistently and finally Daniel gave in.
"Answer him!" he growled.
Bridger pulled the PAL out and could almost hear Ford's question before he spoke. "Captain, is everything all right there?"
"Just fine, Commander. "
"Admiral Noyce asked me to let you know that the team is on its way."
Daniel didn't react and Bridger wondered if the man realised what was coming. The people of Hope Colony had chosen to live in isolation and up to this point the UEO had been happy to leave them alone. Until a murder was committed and a crewmember of the seaQuest stood accused of the crime. A crewmember who was also a minor. Daniel may think he could hold the doors closed, but he was about to get a rude awakening.
"And, Captain, there's been no further news on the other matter."
"Understood, Jonathan. I will speak with you again shortly."
The captain pressed his PAL back into his pocket and tried to keep a calm face. Since speaking with Nick and finding Lucas was out there somewhere in the Stinger, O'Neill had been broadcasting a message to call the teenager back to safety. So far he hadn't responded.
"I need to speak with you in private and discuss the evidence you have. I can assure you that I am looking for justice for your brother and nephew and that we have some evidence of our own that you really need to see. Somebody has been falsifying evidence." He paused to allow that to sink in. "But we've caught them out."
Ben glanced across at Miguel. The sensor chief hadn't taken his eyes off Daniel and his hand wasn't very far from his holster. Crocker was watching the captain for his next cue and Ben noted that, he too, seemed ready to react in an instant. He may not have looked too fast on his feet, but Ben knew that looks could be deceiving.
It took all of Pederson's self control not to turn and look at Daniel. He wondered just what kind of evidence they had or if they were just bluffing.
"How the hell did I get mixed up in this dumb idea?" he thought to himself.
Finally Daniel turned and pointed towards a doorway. "We can talk in there." He waved his men aside and began to walk towards the open door. Bridger nodded to his team and all four of them followed. Pederson brought up the rear and he carefully closed the door behind them.
He looked across the room towards Daniel. Somehow the other man still appeared to be calm and in control.
"All right, Captain. Just what is it that you think you have?"
"Well, for starters, your security footage that "proves" Lucas killed Samuel … it's a fake."
Pederson was glad the seaQuest crew all had their backs toward him as he was certain his face had just drained of colour.
Most people respond one of two ways to pain. They either curl up or stretch out. Inside the confined space of the Stinger, Lucas had tried to stretch out his legs as far as possible. He had already tried curling up and he found that being hunched over just exacerbated the pain. In desperation to make it ease up he tried stretching out, but there wasn't much space available. As another spasm of pain rolled down his side he closed his eyes as if to block it out. It was only supposed to be until the pain subsided, but when the muscle cramps eased up he didn't open his eyes. There was something peaceful and far less painful about floating away for a moment or two.
By the time he opened them again the view outside had changed. Where he had been skimming across the top of scrappy kelp beds he was now facing murkier water with no way to see the ocean floor below. He had no idea if he had passed the kelp because something was stirring up the water. Without knowing it, he had strayed into a deeper ocean current and was being pushed along by it.
As he struggled to clear the fog in his head Lucas leaned down towards the console and squinted at the readings. As he began to refocus he realised the Stinger was coasting along on its own path.
"That's not right!"
He began to type in co-ordinates and rechecked the data. Somehow he had gotten well off course without even knowing it. He scrubbed a hand over his face in the vague hope it would help clear his head, but all it did was reveal dried blood on his palm. For a brief moment he stared at his hand as though he had never seen it before.
"Where di…?" He groaned as his brain began to fill in the blanks and remind him of what had happened. He didn't bother to pull back the shirt to check his wound as he already knew what he would find. He could feel the congealed blood down the side of his leg and he guessed he must have had quite a blood flow for it to have reached that far.
As he glanced down at his leg, he noticed he was missing a shoe.
"Where did that go?" he muttered to himself. It took a few moments for him to remember taking it off and lodging it against the door handle in a vain attempt to hold back his pursuer. As further images crowded into his head he clutched at the console and tried to steady himself. Micah was frightened and depending on him to get him to safety.
As he glanced around the small space he began to feel a strange sense of panic as he couldn't remember where Micah was. Slowly the thought filtered through that he had left Micah some place safe. With someone safe.
He swallowed hard and rubbed the tips of his fingers vigorously across his temples. The pressure did nothing to help relieve the dizziness, but he did eventually remember leaving Micah all alone on the platform. The look of fear and uncertainty on the child's face was all his fault. But there was no other option.
"I'm sorry," he whispered into his hands. "I'm sorry."
Without thinking Lucas reached out for the radio. He needed to check that Micah really was safe. As he began to punch in the frequency he suddenly stopped.
"What the hell are you thinking?"
He pulled back his hand as though something had bitten him. For a moment his hand continued to hover over the console before he dropped it back into his lap. Snippets of the earlier radio calls ran through his head and he flinched at the reminder. Somebody was totally prepared to kill Micah and he almost gave away the child's hiding place over the radio.
As he stared at the radio he wondered if he hadn't done that already. Had he already done something stupid that he couldn't recall now? For a few moments he continued to stare at the radio before finally registering that it was turned off. It went against all protocol to have a vessel's radio turned off but for some reason he had done just that. Slowly the memory began to emerge from the black and he remembered thinking that he didn't want any calls from Wolfman trying to talk him into going back to the Node.
"That's where Micah is!"
The sense of relief was almost physical as he remembered dropping Micah off at the communications node where Nick could take care of him. Now, if he could just remember why he left again.
He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples again, but this time it wasn't doing anything to help. The view outside was getting blurrier but he couldn't tell if it was the water changing again or something else.
"Records … I need access to the records … they can't hide it anymore ..." Somewhere in the back of his mind Lucas was vaguely aware of how hot it was. He knew something was very wrong with those records, but he just didn't have the energy to remember what it was. If he could just take a short rest then he could get back to the questions. As his head slumped down onto the console he couldn't recall why he even cared.