From UEOKrieg@aol.com Sun Sep 7 02:17:02 1997 Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 14:56:35 -0400 (EDT) From: UEOKrieg@aol.com Reply-To: seaquest-ff@escapenet.org To: seaquest-ff@escapenet.org Subject: (SQFF) Louder Than Words, Prologue Resent-Date: Sun, 22 Jun 1997 14:03:02 -0500 (CDT) Resent-From: seaquest-ff-request@escapenet.org Hi all! Well, so many people have asked for the prologue that I'm just going to resend it to the list. Also, as a note, I can't take credit for writing this. Jennifer Bradley thought it up, and wrote it. I'm just sending her work out to the list. So, like I said before, all comments to her can be sent through me. :) (UEO Krieg@aol.com). -Krieg ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Louder Than Words Prologue Jennifer Bradley Nathan Bridger was tired. Exhausted, actually, but after the whole Barrabas Island mission, who could blame him? He'd be leaving soon. Leaving the one place that had ever _truly_ been his. His baby. His pride and joy. His _life_. His _seaQuest_. Bridger was finished with most of the minor details of his departure. In fact, he had but one loose end to tie. The most important one. He reached the door that he was looking for, and knocked. "Come in," a voice said from within. Bridger opened the door, and stepped into the perpetual mess that was Lucas' quarters. The lights were dimmed, and all Bridger could see was Lucas' silhouette sitting on the bed. "Lucas?" "Here," Lucas answered softly. Bridger felt the slightest bit uncomfortable. "Uh, Lucas, I just came to say good-bye." In the dimness, Bridger saw Lucas shrug. "So long, " Lucas said flatly. Bridger blinked in confusion. "Lucas," he said, befuddled, "Is something wrong?" "Wrong?" Lucas echoed with a disbelieving chuckle. "What could _possibly_ be wrong?" He chuckled again, and this time Bridger heard the hard edge in the boy's voice. "You're acting..." Bridger shrugged. "Odd." "Really." "Yes, really." Bridger was starting to feel like he was talking to a wall. "Are you okay?" he asked, moving closer. "No," Lucas said after a moment of silence. "No, Captain, I'm _not_ okay. In fact," he continued, "I'm pretty damned _terrible_, thanks for asking!" Bridger felt somewhat stunned at the boy's outburst. Lucas almost _never_ spoke to him like that. "Lucas, please," Bridger nearly pleaded, "Tell me what's wrong." At Lucas' silence, Bridger continued. "Maybe I can help." Lucas actually laughed aloud at that. There was no humor in the sound. "You've done enough all ready," he said bitterly. Bridger felt his heart skip a beat. He moved next to Lucas, and sat down next to him on the bed. "What could I possibly have done to you?" *I'd never do anything to him intentionally! He _must_ know that!* Lucas promptly sprang to his feet, and faced Bridger. "Oh, gee, I don't know!" Lucas made a show of trying to think of something. "Maybe..." He snapped his fingers. "Maybe the fact that you _lied_ to me for all these years?!?" Bridger was stunned. He couldn't force himself to speak. After a few seconds, Lucas continued. "Not _once_ in all of the time I've known you, did you ever even _hint_ at the fact that you used to work for Section Seven! You also failed to mention," he continued, now practically shouting, "The fact that _you knew_ about the experiments being performed on Barrabas, and, the fact that _you_ covered it up!" Lucas fell silent, breathless from his tirade. "Lucas, I..." Bridger trailed off, uncertain of what to say. "I'm sorry," was the best that he could do. "Sorry?!?" Lucas' sky-blue eyes were wide with incredulity. "You're sorry?!? Why are you apologizing to me? What about all of the GELFs that were _slaughtered_?!? Are you going to apologize to them, too?!?" "I--" Bridger began, but Lucas cut him off. "I can forgive Commander Ford," he was saying. "The end result would've been the same, except that he would've been dead too. But _you_..." Lucas looked away for a moment, then straight into Bridger's eyes. "I thought I knew you, Captain. I told you _everything_-- good _and_ bad-- about me, and I thought that you'd done the same. Boy," Lucas said, shaking his head. "Was I _wrong_." A hot knife had wedged itself into Bridger's heart, slashing it into pieces. He stood and headed toward the door, unable to meet Lucas' accusatory gaze. But as he reached it, Bridger realized that he couldn't leave things like this. "Lucas," he said, reaching out his hand to the boy, "Come with me. Let me take you with me, and I'll explain everything." *The Navy will only get you killed, Lucas,* he pleaded silently. *You almost died at Barrabas! If you come with me, I can protect you!* Lucas looked at him long and hard. His eyes might as well have been made of chunks of cobalt. "You told me on Hyberion not to let `them' take away what I believed." Bridger saw Lucas take a deep breath. "But now, I'm not going to let _you_ take me away from what I believe. And I believe that Captain Hudson and the Navy need me." Lucas looked at the floor. "And," he said in a low voice, "I believe that what you did back then was wrong, and by covering it up, you're making it _worse_." Bridger opened the door and left Lucas' quarters, not trusting himself to say another word. Intellectually, he realized that his fears for Lucas' safety were groundless. But as he walked to his shuttle, one nagging thought kept popping up in his mind. *Hudson's converted Lucas to his way of thinking.* As far as Bridger was concerned, that was no good thing. Hudson liked "good soldiers," and after what they'd just been through, Bridger was terrified that Lucas might become just that. He'd be damned if that happened. As he boarded the shuttle and departed his ship, Bridger looked to where he knew Lucas' quarters were. *Lucas,* he silently vowed, *I swear I'll keep you safe-- somehow.* No matter what it took. A few weeks later, Bridger was watching the feed from the World News Net on his new boat. It had been purchased with a mere fraction of his accumulated wealth. He'd bought the large craft under a false name, so that he could be as reclusive as he wanted. But he was hardly out of touch with the world. "And now," the anchorman, something-or-the-other Kent, "To repeat our top story, the Osiris base, held hostage by escaped prisoners from Tantalus Colony, has been freed by the crew of the UEO's _seaQuest_. Bridger's attention level jumped about three notches at the mention of his ship. He turned the volume up. "According to reports, Captain Oliver Hudson of the _seaQuest_ " Bridger felt a stab of anger at Kent's calling Hudson the captain of the _seaQuest_-- "was negotiating in order to buy time for his strike team to enter the base, while also trying to convince the leader, one Mason Freeman, to spare the lives of two of his officers, sent over there to negotiate the scientists' release." Bridger felt a surge of pride swell within him at hearing of his crew's valiance and bravery. But he also felt a stab of fear when he let himself wonder who the "negotiation team" had been composed of. Bridger knew that Hudson wouldn't dare send-- His thought was cut short as Kent's words reached him. "And now," the anchorman said, "Footage of the actual rescue, led by Commander Jonathan Ford." The first thing Bridger saw was an image of Lucas, with a gun pressed to his neck. "_Lucas_!" Bridger yelled as he vaulted up from his chair. His shock and horror blotted most of the actual words out, but he dimly heard Hudson volunteer to give into Freeman's demands, but the criminal said that he didn't care, he just wanted to kill Lucas, and to make the others watch. Almost in slow motion, Bridger saw Freeman flick the safety off on his gun, and saw his finger tighten on the trigger... ...And, to his immense relief, Bridger saw Ford, Piccolo, and several others rush in and subdue the escapees. Lucas was safe, and had, in fact, managed to knock Freeman unconscious. Bridger started to breathe again. But then, he realized something. There was no way in Hell that Lucas should've been there in the first place. Bridger knew that Lucas should never have been sent along on the mission. _No one_ should have been. It was so obvious that it was a trick, that even someone like Hudson should've been able to figure out that the team would've been taken hostage. Unless, Hudson _had_ known. In which case, there was only one reason why he'd been willing to send a team over there. Hudson didn't give a damn about his crew's lives. He just put them into life-threatening situations in the blink of an eye, without even _thinking_ about it. Had Ford attacked a half- second later, Lucas would've _died_. And who knew how many more would've followed? The crew, _his_ crew, had to be saved. _Lucas_ had to be saved. Bridger began to plan. It had hurt for so long. He had never known why until he had seen her again. Seen her, seen her crew, and seen her _Captain_-- he sneered the title in his mind. Hudson had never really _deserved_ _seaQuest_. He hadn't worked for her, and he hadn't rebuilt her from scratch, and he hadn't grown with her. He was an outsider. And as far as Nathan Bridger was concerned, Hudson had no business on that ship. From his point of view, Hudson was no better than a common thief. Just because Bridger had left _seaQuest_ didn't give anyone else the right to take her. But the gnawing thought in the back of his head reminded him that _seaQuest_ wasn't the only thing that Hudson had stolen. He--and the Navy he stood for-- had been the ones who had cost him everything that made his life worthwhile. Robert, Carol, Darwin, Wendy... And Lucas. The teenager had been an important part of his life without his ever realizing it, for years. Even now, after so long, he couldn't entirely make himself believe that he had only known the boy for two and a half years, subjective time, twelve and a half, objectively. Although he had never really admitted it to anyone else before, he had let Lucas take over Robert's place. And in return, he had filled in the empty gap that was the place where Lucas' father should have been. They had understood each other so perfectly. But then, just six short months ago, his world had been turned upside down. Learning that Lucas had joined the Navy had been the final straw. Lucas would have followed him to Hell and back. In fact, he practically had. Knowing that his "adopted" son was vulnerable to the same senseless circumstances that had cost him Robert-- vulnerable to a Captain without the guts to back down from a fight-- it had ripped him apart. And then, to find out that the Captain who had seaQuest was Hudson, just the type of ultra-military jerk who would provoke such a fight in the first place... That was why he was here. "Here," of course, being the small outpost that was slightly north of the Neilson Reef, or eight thousand, three hundred thirty-eight kilometers off the coast of Chile. He had to protect Lucas-- and the rest of the world-- from the likes of both the UEO Navy and Captain Oliver Hudson. And the fact that he would receive personal enjoyment out of his self-appointed holy crusade-- that was only the icing on the cake. He had been waiting for months to be able to make his move. There were only a few more things that had to be done, and the someone who was going to aid him with that would be here shortly. Elaine Morse wouldn't know why she had been sought out. She wouldn't know why Bridger had been so careful. She wouldn't know that he had pulled strings, called in favors, and exercised his considerable influence to put her in her current position. She wouldn't know about the "accident" that he'd arranged should she refuse his request. She would only know that she didn't have much of a chance if she didn't accept his offer. So Bridger waited patiently, as he had done for so many months. TBC...