Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 06:11:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Victoria Jones <lzbtvc@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Formatting
To: aleksander.rozman@uni-mb.si
X-Originating-IP: [129.71.56.206]




Andy- You can format this? Great! Thank you so much!! :)-Lilly



Authors Notes: We originally wrote this because we thought Nathan
Bridger was a jerk in the third season and we didn't like that one
bit. This is definatly Alternate Universe because we cheerfully
ignored everything that happened to him after "Brave New World."
and surplanted our own vision, heh hehe heh hehe...*EG*

Many many MANY thanks to Michelle V. who is proofing this monster
for us.

You make us look good and we appreciate it. You're the best
Michelle!!! :)

Disclaimers: Everyone belongs to Amblin...we just don't know it ;)
Hmm the only ones that belong to us are the scienece community on
Spring and Celeste Islands, Lillian de Morgaine (a.k.a. Lilly)  Iain
MacNeill, and Andrea Christy. But if you want to have tea with Lilly
and her mother, marry off MacNeill and Christy (I do!*g*- Ellie) or
if you get the joke of Iain and Andrea's last names *G* just write
us (Lzbtvc@hotmail.com) and we will be glad to let them come out
and play.

Oh and on a pointless note many thanks for Thomas Dolby. We kept
bursting out singing his "She Blinded Me With Science" at random
times while writing the Nathan/Justine scenes. *snicker*

Comments *always* welcomed...flames will be used for Lilly's
pinata....

Have fun!
-Ellie and Iain


-------------------------------------------------------------------


                              Serendipity
                         E.Jones, I. Michaels


********************************************************************

Serendipity: Happening  upon fortunate discoveries when not in
search of them

*********************************************************************


    He smiled; a secretive smile. An 'I'm about to stick it to you
and enjoy every minute of it type of smile.'
    "The incident with the Serendipity has been taken care of" he
began neutrally.
    Bourne waved a dismissive hand on what had been six months of
work for the man. "Good good good. That should disorient them for a
while, should it not?"
    Inwardly the man was fuming. Disorient them? You could say that.
    But just wait till he told Bourne this part and see who's
*disoriented*. He tried his best not to laugh out loud as he gave
his next little tidbit of information. It would not do to be grinning
over a kink in the plans of one of the most powerful men in the world.
    "But de Morgaine and her daughter went with them." Success. He
wasn't sure he'd ever seen his employer turn that particular shade
of purple before. If he's not careful he'll give himself a stroke...
    "Fffffind them!" it was barely decipherable with all the sputtering."
Use what ever resources you have to, just find them!"
    "Yes sir." he responded respectfully and withdrew to another room.
Inwardly he was exultant. We did it! The chip is safe and so is Lilly.
A small smile played about his lips as he remembered the formidable
Lady de Morgaine. I've given you time. Now you know what to do with
it. Lost in his musings, he never heard the shot that killed him...


    To say that Nathan Bridger was having a bad day would be a bit of
an understatement. He had been having a bad six months. Since leaving
seaQuest to look for his son, life had been one wild goose chase. He
would go one place only to find the person he was looking for had
moved away or died. Another would turn out to be a dead end. After
that was the infamous false lead. He was beginning to think his quest
was worthless and maybe it was time to just give up. Robert did not
want to be found, of that much he was sure. Bridger's feelings on
that were amazingly flat. So be it. This trip was a last ditch effort.
And even that was being hampered...this time by the cleric from hell.
This receptionist was a woman who looked like she ate small children
for breakfast.
    Michael gave a little whimper and retreated behind the suitcases.
    "You can talk until you're blue in the face sir" she simpered-
there was a barb hidden in there none the less. "but all shuttles
to Celeste Island are full until the end of the week. Come again
tomorrow." With that Bridger found the shutter pulled down tight in
his face.

    Michael came out of hiding, looked up expectantly at his
grandfather. "Are we leaving?" he queried innocently.

    "No Michael" Bridger answered with a heavy heart "we're not going
anywhere."
    The boy stared down at the ground, his lower lip just starting to
tremble. No whining or recriminations were forthcoming. Just that
small twitching his grandfather knew was to keep from crying. In his
heart he also knew what bag of tricks Michael pulled that little feat
from. As a small boy, Robert had never cried over anything, whither
from a small scratch or a broken arm. Neither Nathan or Carol had
ever discerned why; the boy just seemed to have no tears in him. Now,
    Bridger noted bitterly, Michael was continuing in his father's
ways. Was I the one who taught them both? He couldn't help but think.

    He immediately squelched the thought. He was in no mood to go over
his mistakes with a fine toothed comb. Defeat was already staring him
in the face; no need to ask despair to join them. Best see to Michael,
his concern in the here and now, and let things work themselves out
as they will.
    "Are you hungry Michael?" the boy nodded, mute. "All right then"
One hand gathered up the suitcase, the other landed on Michael's
shoulder, and he steered them through the crowds.

    The two were eating what was supposed to be food in the station
cafeteria when things took a turn for the bizarre.
    "Nathan Bridger?"
    Bridger looked up-and then looked up some more. Standing next
to the table was a very tall, imposing looking man late thirties
possibly early forties, who carried himself with the air of a born
leader. Nathan tensed, worked over the thought the man might be
military If so there was trouble coming for sure...
    "Yes." Bridger answered flatly, non-committal.
    Taking Bridger's monosyllabic answer as an encouragement, the
man pulled up a chair, and catty-cornered himself from at the table.
He introduced himself as Iain MacNeill. Bridger relaxed inwardly. No
Commander, Captain, or any other  rank. The UEO personnel he'd had
the displeasure of meeting here in 2032 were vain as peacocks,
never failing to drop their rank titles at the least invitation. So
this young man was either a very new recruit-or a civilian. If he
was going to have to speak with him, he would prefer the latter.
Taking another quick look at the man, Bridger noticed the casual
clothes, the defiantly *non* regulation hair cut. Definitely a
civilian.
    "Do I pass inspection?" the younger man asked quietly. Only
then did Bridger let down his guard long enough to feel a trifle
ashamed. Not that he was going to show it of course.
    "At first glance you look military." A pause."Or lapsed
military" Bridger explained.
    It was then the waitress came back over to the table. The
exasperated glare she gave Bridger could have made the polar ice
caps melt. Bridger sighed; it was the second time today someone had
given him that look and he hadn't cared for it all that much the
first time.
    "I didn't know you were expecting company" she whined. Now it
was MacNeill's turn to get glared at. Bridger just watched bemused.
    "I didn't know either" was Bridger's sardonic answer. MacNeill
just grinned back unfazed by the waitresses stare. The girl quickly
took MacNeill's order and left.
    MacNeill took up where Bridger had left off. "If I look military.
Or lapsed military" MacNeill smiled at that... Bridger had no idea
how close to the truth it was "It's because I was. I was an
inorganic chemist employed by the Army, and later by the UEO.
Bridger couldn't help but be surprised by this "You're UEO?"
    The other man smiled grimly. "Notice I used the past tense."
There was a little quirk to his lips, as if the words tasted sour.
"I quit." MacNeill informed him. "Yes there is a point to my
ramblings. These shuttles running to Celeste...they aren't full.
They just aren't running." He shrugged "Too close to Mac territory."
    "Much too close" came a new voice to MacNeiil's left. Bridger
turned to look and missed the source entirely. She had already pulled
up another chair and was sitting closer to MacNeill than was necessary
Bridger turned again to meet the new arrival face to face. The woman's
warm brown eyes met his with not a little bit of surprise, but it was
gone as quickly as it had come. Breaking the eye contact she twisted
around to face MacNeill.
    "Sarah Christy " she tossed Bridger's way, paying more attention
to MacNeill's soda. She grabbed for it, but he snatched away, looking
somewhat pleased with himself. Nathan watched with sympathetic
eyes as Christy got That Look-mess with me go ahead- on her face,
and then MacNeill's twisted in a grimace of pain. The woman took the
soda, began to sip off  the edge of the glass. She knocked it all
back in one gulp, slammed the glass down on the table, and gave a
grin that could only be described as the cat that ate the canary.
    "MacNeill's better half, marine geologist at large. Hello Nathan
Bridger."
    Bridger sighed. One would have thought mysteriously vanishing off
the face of the earth for ten years would have brought a little more
anonymity. Apparently not.
    He decided to finally  unleash his growing irritation. "Listen,
it's quite obvious you didn't come over here just to have dinner and
run up my tab. If there's a point to this little meeting I'd
appreciate if you'd eventually get to it."
    Christy and MacNeill traded delighted smiles. Christy snickered
"He *is* just like she said he was". Bridger briefly wondered who
*she* was and what in God's name *she* was doing discussing him. He
didn't didn't want to get the two off rambling again, so he just
gave them a single withering look. The two, much to their credit,
immediately sobered and  "got to the point."
    Christy took the lead in the conversation. "As Iain said, he
resigned. So was did I. So did many many others. A small number of us
set up a scientific community on Spring Island, which as you may or
may not know, is the closest to Celeste. Now the official shuttles
won't go to Spring as it's too close to Mac waters. But we're going
to run the route this afternoon. Then a week from tomorrow, a few of
our biologists are going to swap research with our sister community
on Celeste." The young woman leaned back in her chair, smiling her
Chesire smile again. "We could take you over there easy.' That is,
if you don't mind spending a week with some dotty researchers."
    MacNeill laughed.

    Bridger considered it. It was a tempting offer. If what MacNeill
had said could be counted as the truth, their offer was the only
option left Bridger had never liked to count on other people. However
this decision didn't effect just himself any more. There were other
factors involved now. He looked over to Michael, who gazed back,
expectancy mirrored in his eyes. All right he would swallow his pride
and do this.
    "Thank you" Bridger answered stiffly. Realizing  he sounded like
a jerk he softened his tone. "If you're sure it's not too much
trouble..."
    Christy cut him off "Of course it's not. Without even glancing
at MacNeill she tossed a debit chip down on the check. She then
looked over at Bridger, remarking lightly "You'll just have to put
up with being a bit of a celebrity for a week."
    Great' was the only thought going through Bridger's head as they
made their way to the launch, just wonderful.


**************************************************************

"Love is stronger than justice
Love is thicker than blood..."
Sting, Love Is Stronger Than Justice

**************************************************************


    An hour into the journey Christy decided to get even more 'to
the point' Calling up to MacNeill in the pilot's seat Christy
asked. "Did you give him the good stuff" she paused, "or your usual
dry toast with a side of boredom?"
    "Is that more bizarre English humor?" MacNeill shot back with a
smile on his face. "Geez Andrea was I supposed to tell him then and
there, in the middle of the damn station?
    "Yes yes yes." Christy waved her hand dismissively in the pilot's
direction. Smiling conspiratorally at Bridger she raised her voice
just loud enough for MacNeill to hear her "Understand that he'd be
the kind of teacher to put you to sleep and/or make you hate biology
for the rest of your life."
    "Ahhh" was all  Bridger could think of to say in the face of all
this bickering between the two scientists. Actually he wanted to know
what "the good stuff" was and how it affected him, but knew it would
be highly unpolitic to ask at that moment.
    Christy gave a mock sigh, knowing she had MacNeill right where
she wanted him. "Excellent in the feild....*lousy* in the class
room."
    "Are you referring to Berkeley?" MacNeill sallied back, eyes
never leaving the helm..
    Christy's smile was all sweetness and light "No I never said that.
You inferred it."
    "Whatever." MacNeill let it drop, avoiding the urge to mention
tenure.
    "I guess that leaves the fun little details to me huh?" The woman
tossed off lightly. Nathan sensed it was a rhetorical question and
said nothing. He just looked at her expectantly. There were darker
undertones to Christy's previous sallie and he was growing more and
more curious as to what all the mystery was. "Iain told you about
the resignations, but he didn't tell you the reasons for them."
Christy breathed in deeply then exhaled slowly and began her narrative.
    "In June of 2022, a prominent immunologist, Dr. Sarah Wesley was
found brutally murdered in her apartment on New CapeQuest, Florida.
Since Wesley was working for the UEO, it was deemed an internal matter
and to be handled as such." The woman's brown eyes flashed with
resentment "As you can guess, the procedures were a joke and the
culprit was never found. Even though there was a plethora of clues,
the case remains unsolved to this day. Soon the rumor began to
circulate among the scientific community that a coverup was involved
because" a coverup was involved." The biologist paused, gathering her
thoughts. Bridger remained silent and waited for her to continue.
With a small toss of her head, the woman continued. "This was mostly
because the Secretary General's son was the main suspect."
    Bridger did a double take at that one. "Anderson Noyce?" It was a
bit much to take in. "That's impossible. Andy would never hurt a flea."
    "I'm not saying I believe it," Christy answered quietly, "I am
simply telling you what the rumors were at the time, giving you some
back ground information." She abruptly went back on subject. "And then
into this whole mess happened the incident with the Serendipity."
    "The Serendipity was a research vessel, much like your seaQuest
was meant to be."
    Bridger winced; wheither that last statement was meant as a dig
or not, he had felt the sting. "Minimal military, and only because
it was under the jurisdiction of the UEO. It's maiden voyage was on
on July 15, 2023." A week later, it just...vanished...somewhere in
the Pacific."
    Another pause and Christy gave him a speculative glance. 'Does
that sound familiar', her expression seemed to say. She leaned
back... "In the same waters the Macronesians claimed as theirs not
three days later."
    "It was a mess. At the time, the UEO at the time was still trying
to settle with the Macronesians so they couldn't necessarily say
"Excuse us, but did you shoot down one of our research vessels?" The
woman laughed dryly, amused by the sheer stupidity of her former
organization "They gave us their 'word'" she mimicked quotation
marks around the words "and the UEO bought it. There was an
investigation but echoing the Sarah Wesley debacle, it was mostly
a PR job."
    "Naturally, " Christy continued "the scientific community was
*incensed*. They had been screwed over not once but twice by the
UEO." A grim sense of finality came into her voice. "The first
resignation was delivered the next day."
    "Now, you might be asking, "why does it matter that we lost a
couple dozen scientists?'" Bridger opened his mouth to protest
and Christy cut him off.
    "It was hypothetical." she said, a small smile twisting her lips.
    "What matters is that they've got all their best minds fragmented
and working against each other now, instead of together. There is no
collaboration, no 'meeting of the minds'. The scientific community was
shot to hell, and as a result, is entrenched in various little niches
that rarely talk to each other." Christy's brown eyes glimmered as
she gave her next prediction "And sooner or later, Bourne's gonna
capitalize on that and use it to his advantage."
    Bridger had just about enough of this explanation and wanted to
know how this involved him. "You are *crazy*" he said smoothly, velvet
over steel.
    "That would mean anarchy or even Mac control. Is that what you
want?" His eyes sought out his sleeping grandson "it's not what I
would want" he answered his own question softly "It's not what I
would want."
    Christy followed his eyes and sighed to herself "It would have
been better for them both if we had left them sitting in that
station" she whispered to no one in particular. However this is no
time for regrets. There were too many things to be done....
    Gathring her resolve, Christy continued in a normal tone- "No nor
I. That's what we're hoping to fix today."
    The look he gave her spoke volumes of his curiousity.
    She knew she couldn't give him the answers he needed. It was just
too difficult..Instead she called up front "Hey Iain you wanna let me
pilot for a while? You look like you're getting tired."
    A pleasing fiction, MacNeill looked like he could have driven all
night. Bridger sensed something else under the surface though, and
watching MacNeill's reaction only confirmed his suspicion it. Christy
hopped up from her seat and began to proceed wobbling down the narrow
aisle. When she reached the cockpit MacNeill graciously gave her his
seat. Then then gave the woman a hug and whispered something to her
that Bridger couldn't make out. MacNeill then made his way back to
Bridger. The other man wasted no time. As he plopped down next to
Nathan, MacNeill began his half of the story.
    "Our community on Spring Island is close to the border. Very close.
After the Marshall episode they tend to leave us alone."
Bridger wanted to ask what he meant , but didn't dare to get MacNeill
off topic after listening to Christy's ramblings.
    MacNeill didn't even notice his seat mate's confusion, because he
was so wrapped up in his story.
    "About two months ago, members of a wrecked Mac convoy washed up
on our beach. We were very cautious about it,  but manged to treat
them for their injuries. I'm not sure if you're up on protocol so
I'll just assume..."
    "Yes" Bridger interrupted "I do know something of them. They don't
negotiate. Period end of sentence."
    MacNeill nodded. "Minashin, our local expert, was able to identify
one of the lesser off men as a high ranking military officer. Something
they would *definitely* come to us for which they have."
    "The Macs don't deal." Bridger echoed his earlier statement,
clinging to what he did know of this strange new world. MacNeill gave
Bridger a lopsided grin  "After the Marshall incident they will."
    Bridger frowned as the man once again alluded to things he knew
nothing of.
    MacNeill caught it and decided to explain as briefly as he could.
"Biogenic weapon loosened on a small contingent of  Mac 'diplomats.'
2029." Seeing Bridger's horrified look, MacNeill quickly continued.
"It was an accident, some researcher got careless with their controls.
In the end, it proved to be very fortuitous it let them know to leave
us alone. Even earned us an ally in their forces."
    Bridger felt as if he had fallen into Wonderland, never mind 2032.
"You have a Macronesian contact?" Access to biogeneic weapons? You're
even crazier than I thought."
    "Uhhh hmmm." came MacNeill's answer.
    Bridger wasn't buying it. "So why can't Christy feed me this
line?" The look the other man gave him would have frozen most others
in place. It was the look Bridger had given many an underling himself.
However, when MacNeill spoke it was with a wide depth of underlying
sadness.
    "Her mother was the CSO on that vessel. Her youngest sister was
onboard as well Bridger wondered which foot to put in his mouth now.
No wonder Andrea Christy was willing to believe any line of garbage
fed her. She too knew the pain of the loss of family. And the
incredible lengths one would go just to *know* if the lost one was
alive or dead.
    "I'm sorry," was all he could manage to whisper.
    "Yeah," MacNeill rasped, "You and me both." Abruptly he switched
topics "Two days ago we recieved word from our sources."
    Bridger felt his distrust resurging in his chest. He was almost
chocking on the question he was unable to ask. MacNeill answered it
for him "We recieved word that there were survivors from the
Serendipty..." Resolution came into his voice "We've decided to go
after them...against direct UEO order."


