Chapter 10

Alex sat at the table in the ward room. Lucas was beside her and wondered if at any moment he might have to pin her to the chair to keep her in it. She was edgy and nervous, the press of crew gathering in the room was beginning to weigh on her and it was showing. Captain Bridger was opposite them busy getting everything in order.

"You okay?" Lucas whispered in her ear. Alex swallowed hard, her eyes darting from one person to another.

"I will be...I think. I'm just not used to so many people all wanting to listen to and talk to me all at once anymore. It's a little overwhelming," she whispered back, her voice quavering.

Lucas gave her a bright smile and slipped a hand under the table, entwining his fingers with hers. He hoped no one noticed. Some how he still didn't want to admit to anyone that he and Alex were more than friends. Not after all the ribbing he had already gotten about it.

"They won't bite. I promise. Well Tony might," he joked. Alex cocked one eyebrow at him and managed a weak grin.

"Very funny," she said. Lucas feigned confusion.

"I'm not joking! Tony might really bite!" he insisted.

"Uh huh. And which one is Tony?" Alex asked genuinely grinning now. Before Lucas could point him out, Tony had stepped forward, having heard them. He held out his hand to Alex and hesitantly she took it with her free hand, he shook it firmly and flashed a lopsided smile at her.

"I'm Tony and you are...gorgeous," he introduced himself. Lucas was shooting him dirty looks but he didn't seem to notice. Alex's eyebrows shot up into her hairline.

"Well thank you. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you." she managed cordially. Tony kept right on going and Lucas was fighting the urge to tell him to take a hike.

"I don't bite...unless you want me too," he flirted. Alex chuckled at that, relaxing a little since the first person in the room to talk to her hadn't made her want to hide under a rock.

"I see. I, uh..." she fumbled for a comeback and blushed. The conversation came to an abrupt halt as Bridger called for order and everyone who hadn't already found a seat did, if there was one available. Tony plopped down in a chair beside Alex and smiled flirtatiously. Lucas fumed silently, but Tony didn't know there was something more than friendship going on now, Lucas had said there wasn't after all.

"Alright, I'd like you all to meet Alexandria Northman. Some of you may have seen her before but she hasn't had the opportunity to actually meet any of you. So Ms. Northman if you will allow me to introduce my crew. Commander Ford, my executive officer, Lt. Brody tactical and weapons specialist, Lt. Henderson chief of engineering, Lt. O'Neill communications specialist, Mr. Ortiz Sensor chief. You already know Lucas and Dr. Smith. And I see you've already met Mr. Piccolo," he rattled off.

Each nodded in greeting as they were introduced and Alex nodded back nervously. Dr. Smith gave her an encouraging glance and smiled sweetly at her from across the table. She had intended to take the seat Tony had usurped. Bridger picked up the conversation again.

"Ms. Northman, has information on where Dr. Sanborn has gone and may have more information about what we will be facing. I have to tell you now that the UEO has told us directly not to pursue this. If you don't want to risk court martial, you may choose to leave now, no strings attached. I won't ask you to do this against your will," he said. There was dead silence as he waited for anyone to leave if they wanted to, but not a soul moved. In fact they were all looking at him as if he should have known better than to even ask.

"Captain, I think I speak for all of us when I say we all know what is at stake here. We know what Dr. Sanborn has done and that someone has to do something about it even if the UEO won't," Commander Ford said into the quiet.

"Very well. Thank you all for your willingness to help in this mission. It might not be sanctioned but it definitely has to be done, especially after all Ms. Northman has told me. Alex you have the floor," he said sitting down and fairly glowing with pride for his crew.

Alex looked at them all nervously, she didn't bother getting up to speak, she shoved her hand more firmly into Lucas' under the table and unrolled a sea chart on the table with the other. It helped that all present seemed invested in this already, enough to risk their careers. Lucas could see it gave her some small measure of confidence.

"Okay then," she said swallowing hard before going on. "This is where we will be going," she pointed to a spot on the map. "The Kermadec Trench, depth 10,047 meters. Sanborn has an installation here easily three or four times the size of the one at El Orquídea Jardines. He has at least twenty other scientists and psychics there, not counting the children. I'm not sure how many children there may be. I do know that getting any of those people out of there alive is going to be a challenge, Lucas tried to save six and only left with one. I know the location, about how many other victims he has and a rough estimate of the personnel he would have there. He should have at least two personnel for every victim not counting the children' attendants and any security personnel. Other than that I have absolutely no idea what we are getting ourselves into," she confessed. Everyone in the room had their eyes on her and she wanted to hide under the table away from their questioning eyes. Lucas squeezed her hand reassuringly and gave her this endearing look. Several members of the crew noticed it and smiled behind their hands. Lucas tried to pretend he hadn't seen it.

"What I don't understand is how he's managed to escape detection for so long," voiced Henderson.

"Well, El Orquídea Jardines was supposed to be nothing but scrap after the 9.0 sea quake that destroyed it ten years ago. This installation is situated in a very dangerous area, there are a number of volcanoes near it and so most of the research has been done in short excursions, no one may have gone far enough in to actually find him. The rest the UEO chose to ignore," Bridger explained.

"That explains why he hasn't been found, but why haven't any other psychics known about the ones he's taken. I still can't figure that out," Dr. Smith said. Alex piped back up.

"I can explain that, I don't have the technical knowledge to tell you what to do about it, but being hooked into the damn thing for six years gave me a very up close and personal view of what it does if not how. The chips in the scientists and the psychics are slightly different. The psychics can receive information but they can't send it out, they are stuck in their own heads if you will. That's why no one would have known about them. They can't send for help. In fact the only ones he ever toys with are the scientists, the psychics are kept unconscious and drugged from the moment they are taken to be sure they won't be able to call out to anyone. Other than the ability to block psychics from sending the chips are the same," she explained, Lucas saw her actually relax markedly talking about it, maybe talking to people who were actually going to do something about this was an outlet for her he thought. He certainly hoped so.

"How can he do that to another human being. It's just wrong," O'Neill said shaking his head.

"Sanborn isn't normal Lt O'Neill that's why. He believes that any sacrifice, any horror is worth it if the end result is for the good of humanity. The bad thing is his system works. He really thinks what he is doing is right and he'll stop at nothing to accomplish his goals. He doesn't care how he gets there as long as he does," Alex told him. O'Neill shook his head again in disbelief.

"Okay assuming we get in, and we can keep Sanborn from repeating what he did at El Orquídea Jardines, how do we get the people out of there? I saw what was going on when I went over there after Lucas. How can we possibly save them all?" Commander Ford asked.

"We can't. There's no way to, the only way I could find to beat it was to work from the end of the chain and work back to the first and try and save as many as I could. Not if a self destruct is initiated again. Given enough time we could use the same method we used to get Alex out of it. But we have to have that time," Lucas supplied.

"Assuming we get in easily enough, then all we need to do is take Dr. Sanborn into custody and keep him from destroying the installation. That would give you enough time wouldn't it?" Brody asked.

"Yes, it would," Lucas admitted. Alex looked so hopeful he prayed it would be that easy, from experience he knew it probably wouldn't and from the looks the others were giving each other they did to.

"What about defenses? Do you know anything about what kind of artillery we might be up against?" Commander Ford put in.

"No, I'm afraid I don't Commander. I assume they would have pretty standard defenses at the very least. But Sanborn isn't one to risk his project. There's no telling what kind of modifications he might have made," Alex said shaking her head ruefully.

"Which leaves the question how do we get in without being seen and how do we get those people out without getting them killed?" Bridger summed up. He was leaning on the end of the table looking each one of the attendants in the eye as he spoke. "So any suggestions people?"

"Well I'd say we can't really make an assumption until we know exactly what we're dealing with. We can make plans all day but until we know what we are up against we can't be sure if any of them are even viable," Brody pointed out.

"I was afraid you'd say that," Bridger sighed. "I had the same notion and I don't like it. Looks like we are flying blind. Alright, Commander get us there and we'll figure it out then. Dismissed,"

"Yes sir, Commander Ford replied and disappeared from the room.

Alex suddenly stood up like she'd been bitten. She still had such a tight hold on Lucas' hand he couldn't have gotten it free if he had wanted to and right now he wanted to. Everyone still in the room was looking at them. He felt blood rising to his face in a steady stream. He tugged on Alex's hand trying to get her to sit back down.

"How long before we get there?" she asked, the urgent need for an answer oozing from her words.

Lt. Henderson was the one to provide it. "Well if I had to guess without plotting a course, at least three days maybe five," Alex nodded her head in thanks but said nothing. Lucas stopped trying to get her to sit back down, her eyes were filled with something desperate and by now there was no point. Who ever had seen them, had seen them. There was nothing he could do about it now.

"In a hurry to get there Alex?" Bridger asked kindly.

Alex answered in a low, strained voice. "No, Captain. Anything but."