A/N: Good to see that some readers are still with me on this voyage. Thanks for remaining on board. Even more thanks to those that took the time to leave a review.

MicroGirl1225 kindly continued to pre-read this for me. Thanks.

Chuck and Sarah get more excitement than they expect once they arrive at their destination…

Far Distant Chuck

Chapter 4

A week later, Sarah told Chuck during their breakfast, that they had almost reached the target system. "I will now locate the planet we intend to search."

"Can I sit with you in the cockpit while you do that?" he asked.

Sarah thought about the routine they had been following where they only met to eat and then separated. In her past, she'd always preferred to be alone. She could concentrate better that way, no distractions.

Here, she'd found herself thinking about Chuck when they were apart. Wondering what he was doing that meant he couldn't be in the cockpit with her. Strangely, being apart was the distraction!

For the first time, she was missing someone's company, but as he wanted alone time, she wasn't going to make him uncomfortable and ask him to join her. So, now that he'd asked to be with her in the cockpit, her immediate reaction was to agree. She smiled. "You can." He smiled back, which reminded her that she liked his smile.

She had to stop herself from thinking like that. This was a serious mission, not a romantic getaway. However, when he sat beside her, she was content. Another unusual state for Captain Walker.

Then, the questions started. "Do you scan the system with the planet as the search criteria?"

She frowned. "How else would we find it?"

"Well, we might not find it that way if it's directly on the opposite side of the star," he replied.

"Or behind the gas giant," she replied.

"Exactly."

"So, what alternative do you have in mind?" She was curious now.

"Could the power signal be detected through one of those obstacles?"

"I can't see how," she replied.

"No, nor me. I'm just thinking aloud," he replied. He hadn't answered her question, but she learnt to be patient with him.

"Are all the planets on the same elliptic around the star?" was his next question.

"Not completely, but fairly close."

"So, if we're above that, we should be able to scan for them all," he concluded.

"Which is exactly how we're approaching the system," she said. She checked the distance they had yet to travel. They may be close enough now. "So, let's start."

As it turned out, they weren't close enough yet, so they had to wait. Chuck was sitting close to her. She was quite comfortable with that. It wasn't just that he was respectful, she liked him.

"I presume once we've found the planet we circle it scanning for that power signal," he commented.

"We do."

"And then land at that location?"

"Not immediately. We need to make sure we can do that safely. The Force team might already be there."

He frowned. "How do we tell?"

"They'll be in a hurry to get to the Intersect before us, so they'll land as close as possible."

"So, we look for their craft before we land?" he said.

"Correct."

The scan detected the planet they wanted and Sarah set course for it. She ignored Chuck while she did this and he kept quiet, making it easier.

Chuck found this quite thrilling, at least until Sarah mentioned that The Force may have beaten them there.

The discussion about how to detect the planet had been fun. Sarah obviously knew exactly how to achieve that, but let him bounce ideas around so that he felt part of it. She seemed to be letting him feel like a partner rather than the clueless person he really was. He appreciated that.

Of course, any time spent with her was good, and here, he was sitting next to her. He felt special, stupid though that was.

As expected, they approached the planet from what seemed like above its cyclical orbit of the star. Its distance from the star meant that little light reached what could be called its bright side.

Chuck knew that looking visually at the planet was pointless, so he ignored the monitor showing that. Instead, he watched the scanner display. There was no reason to do this, as sensors would alert them, but he did it anyway.

His gorgeous companion seemed to find his behavior amusing, but he appreciated her not making disparaging comments. In fact, he thought he caught her looking fondly at him once. She immediately looked away, but it had happened. That made him feel even better.

They didn't know just how strong the appearance of the power system would be, so had to get fairly close to the planet to scan for it, which meant the radius of the scan wasn't huge and they'd need to circle the planet several times spiraling around it. That wasn't going to be quick unless they got lucky.

Sarah set it off with a tight spiral that would expand and then shrink if they had to go beyond the planet's equator. "I don't think watching this will be very rewarding," she said after they had circled it for the third time.

Chuck was starting to get bored at looking at a scanner that was showing nothing. "Would you like a drink?" he asked.

She grinned, something he'd not seen before. "Whisking me away to the bright lights of the food hall?"

He knew she was teasing him, but she'd not been that carefree before. It was intoxicating. "Why the light mood?"

She stood and started toward the door, smiling now. "It's been dark and intense in here. It just came to me, that's all."

"We can bring drinks back in," he pointed out.

Her smile faded a bit. "You're right. And I was being irresponsible."

Sarah was berating herself for the jokey comment that she'd made.

The situation was far from humorous, and Chuck's response was a reminder of the importance of being responsive to it.

Ever since she was a young girl, she'd always been serious and focused on achievements, and making a difference. Her parents had been horrified when she announced that she would be starting military service, but she ignored their urging not to do that.

Her determination to be the best had been successful, but at the expense of any friendships, just as it had been during her educational years. She garnered respect, and those that reported to her would follow her anywhere, but she'd not gotten close to anyone, nor had she wanted to.

This time with Chuck had been something she'd not experienced before. Someone she neither reported to or reported to her. She knew she couldn't order him to follow instructions, and had to request that, but he seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation. However, him having to remind her was unforgivable. It was also so unlike her.

Chuck obviously sensed her disquiet and was silent as they collected coffee and then returned to the cockpit.

The silence was pierced an hour later when the alarm sounded.

Both closed in on the scanner display. Sarah knew exactly what they'd see, but she was still pleased as the bright yellow light shone within the dark-blue terrain. Chuck whooped, showing he was even more excited. Or maybe better at displaying it.

The craft had stopped, as programmed. She zoomed focus of the main display on the location, which seemed deserted.

"I guess we get closer, huh?" Chuck asked.

She just nodded and gave the commands.

They were on the bright side of the planet, and there was just enough light from the star to see the landscape. The location was in a hollow space surrounded by an outer ridge. It looked natural rather than created by a recent explosion.

Chuck echoed Sarah's thoughts, "Probably created by a meteor impact at some time in the past."

The hollow had a diameter of around two thousand feet, so not huge. The almost vertical walls did not look easy to climb, so it looked like you had to land within the crater if you wanted to access the buildings now becoming visible.

There were two buildings. It seemed hard to imagine how Volkoff could have built them and Sarah wondered if he'd just discovered them. But how would he do that? And if he did actually build them, with what? Both tools and materials needed to have come from somewhere.

She wasn't going to solve this puzzle and focused on what the two of them needed to do. They had obviously arrived first, but may not have long. She set the controls to land beside the two buildings.

Turning to Chuck, Sarah said, "We'll need to wear masks. Have you worn any before?"

He shook his head and looked nervous. She thought back to her first time wearing one. It was during her training and she remembered being filled with fear going out into space with the instructions to find the other entrance to the station. Time was the challenge. She'd obviously made it, and those that ran out of oxygen were picked up quickly, so none died, but the threat was there.

She led him to the rear of the craft. Just inside the last room, there was a store of masks. She took two out and handed one to Chuck. First she showed the left side to him, where it would rest against his temple. "Press here when you have it on and I will be able to hear you. Now, hold the mask against your face and it'll seal around your head."

She demonstrated. Once he did the same. Both of them pressed and activated the communications. "Ok, now we're ready," she said.

Chuck just replied, "I know the masks seal perfectly, but it's still a bit nerve-racking, going out for the first time."

"I know, but it'll be fine." She smiled. "I'll hold your hand if it'll help." She was trying to lighten the mood, but suddenly her hand was enveloped by his.

They walked, hand-in-hand, toward the exit as she gave the command for air to be purged and the door to open.

Chuck held his breath initially, but couldn't for long and had to take in the oxygen provided by the mask. He then walked with more confidence down the ramp, but still held onto Sarah's hand. He wasn't going to tell her that he was doing that because he liked it rather than needed it.

They stepped out onto the planet's surface.

As Sarah had mentioned, the gravity was close to what they were used to, so it was a fairly easy walk to the nearest building. Entering it was another matter entirely. The lock seemed to use a biometric sensor, similar to the one Chuck's uncle used on his safe store at their farm, hidden behind a small panel.

"Not a problem," Sarah said, lifting her laser to blast it.

"Hold on, hold on!" Chuck cried.

She looked at him. "You won't be able to open it. Even if he set it up so that your father could, you're not him. You won't even have been born when Volkoff left here."

"I know all that, but he had a lock like this at the farm. When I mentioned that we wouldn't be able to open it if anything happened to him, he showed me how to bypass it in such an eventuality."

She stepped back. "Go on then."

He cast his mind back to what his uncle had shown him. It wasn't as quick as her laser blast, but it got them in.

Once inside, they were in a rather primitive air lock, which Sarah was able to manually adjust.

They passed into a long corridor. Sarah checked the atmospheric readings on her wrist. "As I expected. We won't be able to breathe in here."

"How long before we have to get back?" he asked.

"Oh, we have several hours, but we need to work fast anyway because of The Force." She set off down the corridor.

"Do you know what we're looking for?" he asked as he tried to keep up with her pace.

"No idea," she replied. "We'll have to examine everything."

That didn't sound like a quick task to him.

They'd split up and he was searching the rooms to the left. It had felt like an impossible task at the start, but even more so now.

He trudged dejectedly into another room. This one just had a table and chair in it, other than a photo on the wall of a woman. He'd seen a similar one of those in what must have been his uncle's bedroom that he'd been in some time earlier. He'd wondered then if it was his aunt from back then. He thought he could see some of her in it.

He was about to leave, when he noticed something on the wall at the edge of the picture. When he looked more closely, he could see the side of a small panel. He moved the picture slightly and found a panel just like the one at the farm.

"Sarah, I've found something," he called.

"I'll follow your signal," she replied.

By the time she arrived he had the panel open and another biometric lock lay within. She looked around. "What does it open?"

"Let's find out," he said.

When he overcame the lock, the wall the table was up against lowered, revealing another room beyond.

"This must be what we've been looking for," he said excitedly.

"Let's hope," she replied calmly. He should've expected the more controlled response she gave.

They moved the table out of the way and entered the room.

"Wow!" he said.

They were in something like a laboratory, with tables covered in devices in various states, some dismantled, some intact.

"Best not to touch anything," Sarah said. Seeing what looked like weapons, he wasn't going to.

At the far side of the room was what looked like an old fashioned computer. He rushed over to that. Before she managed to tell him to be careful, he said, "Activate."

Sarah was thankful that nothing bad occurred. A holo display appeared and a female voice spoke. "Identify."

He responded immediately, "Chuck Bartowski."

"Unknown," the voice said and the display faded.

He cursed himself. Of course, he wouldn't be recognized. He went through the same process, but this time said, "Alexei Volkoff."

He got a different response this time. "Code?"

He didn't know what that would be, and after a minute, the display faded again.

"Did Volkoff use codes at the farm?" Sarah asked.

Chuck looked around at her. "Not that I remember. It could be anything."

"Try his wife's name, or the names of your parents."

"That would be too obvious," he replied.

"What else could it be?" she asked, looking as frustrated as he felt.

He turned and started the process again and for the code, said his aunt's name before they married, back when Sarah had mentioned they'd first met.

"Lucky guess," he said as the display acknowledged that and expanded to give him an array of options.

Three options immediately caught his eyes. 'Intersect history', 'Current Intersect' and 'Next Steps'.

"Can you copy them and what they hold?" Sarah asked, handing him a microstore.

He immediately started the transfer, while she scanned the other options. She pointed to three more to copy and he did so.

He then opened the Next Steps option. Within that, there was a recording of Volkoff which Chuck opened.

The man facing them was a lot younger than Chuck's memory, and looked harder.

The recording played, and it shook Chuck. The final part particularly, "So, I'm using the Intersect to wipe my memory of the last five years, but also everything about the Intersect. It seems the best way forward. I hope I can rejoin my friends and that Grace will accept me back into her life."

Chuck looked at Sarah. She looked like she'd guessed this last part, but it was still a shock to him. "He wiped his memory!"

"And, in that way, created the man you saw as your uncle." Then she frowned. "The memory wipe didn't work completely, though. The Force managed to dredge some memories back to the surface. I wonder if they were just suppressed rather than wiped."

He was fascinated in how it worked and accessed the current Intersect section.

Sarah wandered off to examine the weapons, muttering, "I wonder if any of these can help us."

As she examined the various weapons, most were hand-held, but some would obviously need to be mounted somewhere. That made her glad that she'd asked Chuck to download the weapons folder, but it also made her wonder if this location was armed for protection.

She realized that she'd not contacted her team to tell them their specific location. She pulled her communicator from her pocket and linked it with her mask.

When the call was answered, by Lieutenant Mark Fraxier, she told him where in the system, and specifically on the planet, they were.

"We're about five hours away," he replied. "The Force must be closer." She thought so, too. "Have you found the Intersect yet?"

"No, but we've found Volkoff's lab. It must be in here somewhere."

She ended the call and said to Chuck, "Stop looking at plans and help me find the Intersect."

"It's just a helmet," he replied.

She turned to him in amazement. "That's all?"

"He adapted it while he was here, not wanting to have to attach it to his spinal cord. I don't blame him."

"He used it on himself," she said. He'd obviously made it simpler than originally.

As she walked up to him, he showed her an image of the helmet. She'd seen nothing like this in the lab, which was worrying.

"He won't have left it lying around," Chuck commented. "It must be secured somewhere."

"Well, we have to find it!"

He turned back to the holo display. "Where is the Intersect helmet?" he asked.

"Secured," the voice replied.

Sarah was going to scream at it, but Chuck calmly asked, "Where? Show me."

A section of the wall in front of him opened.

Sarah was going to reach in and grab the helmet, when they heard a loud explosion and the whole base shook.

She guessed what that was, but Chuck pulled up a display of the space in front of the two buildings which confirmed her fears. The place they'd landed the craft was now just a hollow filled with molten metal and some parts of their craft.

"They lasered it?" Chuck said in horror.

Not far from the hollow, another craft was landing. A much larger one. Men poured out.

Sarah hesitated for a second, wondering whether to destroy the Intersect or get ready to defend themselves. The decision was made for her when the main entrance was destroyed and the air was sucked out.

"Destroy it, Chuck. I'll try to fight them off," she shouted as she ran out of the room.

Chuck ignored her suggestion because he'd seen something on the holo that might help. In the bottom right corner, there was something labeled, "Defense." He activated that.

One thing he saw was another view of the outside area. He guessed that would be to control some sort of weapon.

Activating that option, he saw the new craft and the final men to exit it. He couldn't face killing them, even though he knew they'd probably kill him. He'd leave that to Sarah. He focused on their craft and selected the canon function.

He watched as a beam hit the craft and it exploded before his eyes. It hadn't been a laser beam, but something else. Parts of the craft sliced through ten of the men. He was horrified. He'd killed them! That wasn't him!

He then heard laser fire within the building. He had no idea how many men had gotten in, but worried that Sarah, as their only defender, was not going to be able to cope.

He looked at the Intersect helmet and made a decision. He'd read the information on how it was activated and controlled. He had to do it.

He reached for the helmet and put it on his head. It immediately adapted to fit snuggly, and thankfully didn't damage or affect the use of his mask.

He activated it and gave the instructions, making sure that he would know how to reverse them.

His head was suddenly filled with images of the weapons available. Volkoff's weapons that should be here in the lab. He also was filled with knowledge on how to use them. What was suppressed was his aversion to killing.

It took only a few seconds before he was able to function again, the shaking caused by all that mind expansion receding.

He took off the helmet and put it back in the secure location and said to seal it and to close down the holo.

He grabbed some of the smaller weapons, putting them in his various pockets, and picked up a large, rifle-like, gun.

As he exited the room, he sealed it once more and closed the panel over the lock.

Then, he stepped out into the corridor.

Sarah knew she was totally outnumbered.

She shot and killed two of the men before having to hide in one of the doorways. Since then, she managed to take out two more, but had seen at least ten more beyond them, also taking cover.

She really hoped Chuck had managed to destroy the helmet. They would die, but at least the republic would be saved.

She heard movement and peeked out. She shot one more before having to duck back in.

"Have you managed to destroy it?" she asked Chuck through their communication connection.

"Used it." His voice didn't sound right.

Used it?

"Stay out of my line of fire," his altered voice commanded.

What?

A major beam passed her hiding place and she heard cries coming from the entrance. Two more beams ensued, and then there was silence.

Chuck appeared outside her doorway and his hand reached down for hers. She took it. He grasped her hand, tighter than normal, and he pulled her up. "I think we're alone now," he said.

She looked into his eyes. They'd changed. It was more than just a darkness to them, the irises were almost black.

"I have to return to the lab," he stated.

She rushed in the opposite direction, and just found dead bodies, or what remained of them. There wasn't much, just lower arms with hands holding lasers and boots with severed calves. Interestingly, there were no heads.

She rushed to follow Chuck.

He must have sealed the lab off before leaving because he'd only just entered it and walked stiffly to where he'd been working on the holo display. He activated it and commanded the helmet be exposed again.

She guessed what he was doing, but still watched with horror as he put it on. He commanded it to return him to normal and then shuddered.

He slowly took off the helmet and placed it to one side. Then, he buried his face in his hands, moaning. "It doesn't take back the memory of killing them!" he wailed.

Sarah didn't know what to do, so she just knelt beside him and put her arm around his shoulders, pulling him to her as he sobbed against her chest.

A/N: Intersect in action. Poor Chuck.

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