"Any word yet?" Devon asked, for what seemed like the tenth time that night.
Once again, Bess wordlessly shook her head.
"Where the hell are they?" she snapped, venting her mounting concern on the nearest person.
"Devon, I've kept the channel open, like you said. I also tried contacting Alonzo, but all I got was static."
"They should have called in by now..."
"Yes Devon I realize that, but there's not alot I can do" Bess interrupted, sick of being at the receiving end of Devon's frustration. "As soon as they call in, I'll let you know."
"Good, you do that" Devon replied icily, before storming out of the tent, and straight into Danzinger.
The mechanic put out a hand to steady her. "Where's the fire Adair?" Her frown cut his humour short. "What's up?" he asked on a more serious note.
She sighed and massaged her temples. "We still haven't made contact with Alonzo and Julia yet. I'm starting to get worried, it's not like either of them to leave it so long" she paused, trying to sort out exactly what it was that was bothering her. "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about this."
"Well I could check it out if you like. We're pretty much set up here anyway."
Devon thought his suggestion through before answering. "OK, but you can't go on your own. You'd better take Yale with you." She visibly relaxed, glad that action was being taken. Danzinger was rewarded with a grateful smile. "I appreciate it" she said softly and went to move past him.
Danzinger caught her by the arm, surprised by how much her appreciation meant to him. He glanced surreptitiously around the camp ensuring their privacy. "No problem" he answered, before leaning in for a kiss catching her unaware.
Devon abruptly pulled away as his lips brushed hers. "There is a time and a place for everything, and this is neither the time nor the place." Seeing the wounded look on the mechanic's face, Devon immediately regretted her harsh words. "I'm sorry. I've got alot on my mind." She placed a cursory kiss on his cheek, before quickly retreating to her tent.
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As the Council members worked, preparing to leave camp, Alonzo and Julia sat on the ground shackled together outside the Advance ship.
"So what was all that about?" Alonzo asked as soon as the others were out of earshot.
"All 'what'?" The doctor knew exactly what he was talking about, but preferred to dodge the subject.
"That Mitchell guy, how do you know him?"
She leaned forward, resting her head on her knees. "Its a long story 'Lonz."
"Yeah, well I'm not going anywhere." He held up his hands, their connecting restraints, pulling hers up also.
"I'd rather not go into it right now."
"Well I'd rather you did" he insisted. "He has obviously got something against you, and I want to know why."
The doctor sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to give up until he'd heard the whole sordid story. "Alright, but you're not gonna like it."
"I kinda figured that already." He waited expectantly for her to begin.
Julia took a deep breath, sorting out exactly what she was going to say in her head, before she began. "We met when I was still in medical school. For a term I worked with Physicians at the nearby Miltary Academy, where at the time I assume Mitchell was completing his training. Anyway, one evening I went down to the local bar with some colleagues. Ordinarily I wouldn't have gone, but it was Susan Lewis' birthday, so..." she paused mid-sentence, her voice considerably quieter when she resumed. "Mitchell was there also, with a bunch of his friends, they were extremely drunk. They... They kept coming up to us, offering drinks, asking us to dance, you know? We all politely refused and eventually they took the hint, all except Mitchell. He wouldn't leave me alone. As it got later, he got drunker and his offers got more 'suggestive'. After a while I began to get nervous, it went beyond a joke, so I left.
Alonzo looked over and saw that Julia had her eyes closed as she retold the story, her face had paled significantly. He reached over and took her hand, she flinched at his touch. "Hey, are you alright?"
She grasped his hand tightly in hers. Her reply was barely a whisper. "I'm fine I guess, its just that I haven't thought about Mitchell for so long. Seeing him and talking about what happened, it's, I don't know... Weird."
"Well it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."
Julia looked at him and smiled sadly. "Thats not all of it, I haven't finished yet."
"Oh" the pilot replied. He took a deep breath in preparation for the rest of her story. His heartbeat quickening as he realised that he didn't really want to know that much anymore.
"The day after the incident at the bar, I was alone in one of the exam. rooms in the Medical wing logging my weekly report. There was a knock at the door, and someone called out saying that they were scheduled for a full med. scan. I didn't know anything about it, and thought that my mentor must have set it up for me for extra credit. Anyway, I opened the door and it was Mitchell. He acted real normal, like we'd never met before. For all I knew, he had no recollection of what happened the previous night. I tried to stay calm and professional, so I asked him to strip down for his examination. After he'd gotten un-dressed, it was painfully clear that he knew exactly what had happened. He started acting strange, telling me that I'd embarrassed him in front of his friends, and that I thought I was too good for him. I started to get a little scared and asked him to leave, which was when he locked the door. He began to make lewd suggestions, I mean, they were really sick. But I couldn't get away, he kept blocking the doorway. He.. He tried to..." her voice cracked. She focused on her shoes, willing herself not to cry.
Alonzo stared ahead. He spoke quietly, almost afraid to break to silence. "He tried to force you to..." he didn't want to say it, couldn't say it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Julia nod her head.
The pilot reached across and pulled Julia into his arms. She pressed her face into his chest as the tears streamed down her face. Although he didn't really want to hear the answer, Alonzo had to ask the next question. "He didn't did he?"
"No" the words were muffled by the pilot's shirt. "I knocked him out."
"You hit him?!"
"No, I knocked him out with a sedi-derm, I had one in my lab-coat pocket. He was out in seconds and it was a really high dosage." Julia drew away from his embrace to continue, staring intently into the pilot's eyes. "As soon as he was unconscious, I dragged him out to the corridor and into one of the lecture rooms - then left him there."
"Naked?"
This earned him a sheepish smile. "He still had his underwear on."
"Then what happened?"
"Well, the next class got a shock. But unfortunately they saw me dragging him in there, on the surveillance camera. My superiors demanded to know why I did it, so I told them. I found out later that Mitchell was reprimanded and put on probation. Apparantly he missed out on the Sergeant's exam."
"What, and he blames you?"
"I guess so."
Alonzo pulled her back into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. Not sure of what to say. He realized that getting upset, would only make matters worse. He hugged her to him tightly, "I love you so much" he whispered. Julia sighed and settled herself into his embrace. They both sat in silence entwined in each others arms until sheer exaustion claimed them.
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It was still dark when the couple awoke. Mitchell gained considerable pleasure by providing the pilot with his wake up call. Alonzo yelped as Mitchell roughly kicked him in the ribs.
"Right, you two get up." Mitchell grabbed Julia's upper arm and pulled her up.
After separating the couple's cuffs, he continued to hold Julia's arm. She shrugged out of his grasp. "Get your hands off me."
"What's the matter Doc? Don't like me touching you?" He moved in close and put a hand on either side of her waist. Julia took a numbers of steps back, trying to get out of his reach. Unfortunately she had to halt as she came in contact with the hull of the Advance ship.
Alonzo tried to intervene, but Hudson and Crowe flanked him on either side, holding him back. He had to make do with shouting. "Get the hell away from her Mitchell!"
Mitchell ignored the pilot and stepped forward, once more closing the space between himself and the young doctor. He reached out and slowly ran his hand down her bare arm.
Gaining leverage from the solid wall she had backed into, Julia roughly shoved him away from her. "Back off, you son of a bitch!"
Mitchell stumbled but quickly regained his balance. "Feisty little thing, isn't she?" he casually remarked to Alonzo, as the pilot continued the futile struggle to free himself. "Just how I like 'em" the soldier added with a smile. In two long strides he resumed his position in front of Julia. He was uncomfortably close. Julia pressed herself against the ship, trying to create more space between them. Mitchell noticed her efforts and leaned closer still. Her impassive gaze annoyed him though, he wanted to see fear in her icy blue eyes, he wanted to see her sweat. He reached down and forcefully tilting her face up. She tried to shake her head free, but he held her tightly. Ever so slowly he lowered his head, and then at the last second when she still showed no sign of fear - or anything else, he roughly jammed his lips against hers.
Julia was sure she was going to be sick. Mitchell's tongue was trying to work its way into her mouth. The doctor tried to clear her head of the overwhelming revulsion flowing through her, she needed to think - quick. Using all of the strength she could summon up, Julia opened her mouth slightly and then bit down on Mitchell's bottom lip as hard as she could.
Mitchell howled in pain and stumbled backwards. The distance between them, allowing Julia the perfect opportunity to knee him squarely in the groin. Blood dripped from his mouth, as Mitchell rolled around on the floor clutching himself. A few minutes passed as everyone looked on in apprehension. Mitchell glared up at Julia. "Your gonna pay for that, bitch" he slurred, spitting blood with each word. Slowly he drew himself up onto his knees, and then somewhat tentatively stood.
Alonzo tensed, watching fearfully as Mitchell advanced on Julia. The pilot tried to pull his arms free from the two that were holding him and this time their grip was not quite so tight. Both of them too busy watching Mitchell to pay any attention to him.
"Oh yeah, your gonna pay big time." Mitchell grinned, the blood dripping from his chin, added to his maniacal air. In one fluid movement he brought his right hand up across his chest, and using all of his considerable strength he back-handed her across the face. The force of the blow, sent Julia reeling backwards, the back of her head smashing against the metal hull of the Advance ship.
The pilot stared in horror as Julia slowly slumped to the ground, her head lolling sickeningly to one side. His heart screamed in pain and anger. Alonzo wrenched his arms free from his captors grasp and launched himself at Mitchell. "YOU BASTARD!" The attack caught Mitchell unaware, and Alonzo managed to get in one clear punch, before Mitchell could defend himself. Once again, the soldier's face crumpled in pain, as his nose broke. He glared at Alonzo through a watery haze, his vision impaired by pain induced tears. Alonzo drew back to fend off the advancing Crowe and Hudson, as Mitchell wrapped a hand around the pistol tucked into the waist band of his pants. His strength heightened by the pure adreneline coursing through his vains, the pilot made quick work of the other two men, bearing down once more on Mitchell. He managed to side swipe the other man before the shot rang out. Alonzo paused in his attack, uncertain as to who had shot who. The victorious sneer on Mitchell's face though, said it all. Almost afraid to look, Alonzo slowly glanced down. Simultaneously seeing the smoking weapon in Mitchell's hand, and the bright red blood seeping from his own body. He collapsed on to the floor without a sound. White hot pain eating away at his stomach.
Julia was desperately trying to keep a grip on reality, but it was getting increasingly harder. She could feel herself slowly ebbing into unconsciousness. The gunshot, jolted her back once more, although the doctor didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to see. The most unpleasant feeling she had ever experienced, told her that it was Alonzo that had been shot. Julia forced herself to look, her vision flashing in and out of focus. The last thing that Julia saw before the blackness enveloped her, was the only man she had ever loved, lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood.
Author's Chapter Notes:
THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO LISA!!
(The answer was... 'Aliens')
(The answer was... 'Aliens')
Chapter End Notes:
Ooohhh I'm so mean, I just downed my two favourite characters in one fell swoop!
Incidentally, I'm not as fussy as LCC, you can send me anything. Although money would be nice!
Incidentally, I'm not as fussy as LCC, you can send me anything. Although money would be nice!