ONE REFUGE
by Teresa
Disclaimer: I do not own SeaQuest or it's characters. I'm just borrowing them for fun.
Crewmembers rushed to their stations as havoc on the large submarine drew the entire ship into the emergency.
Captain Hudson stumbled onto the bridge as another blast rocked the SeaQuest.
“Lieutenant?” he called out, addressing O’Neill.
“Sir, it looks like we’re being fired at by another UEO vessel,” Tim O’Neill told him with confusion.
“That’s impossible,” Hudson reasoned, “Have you tried to contact them?”
“Yes sir, they’re not responding.”
“Sir, they would have to know,” Commander Ford stated from where he sat on the bridge, “SeaQuest is the fleets largest ship.”
“I’m well aware of that, Commander,” Hudson turned to Piccolo, “Power up weapons.”
Piccolo nodded and went to work at his station.
“Sir I don’t know if the weapons are going to be much use to us,” Ensign Wolenczak called out from his station.
“And why is that, Ensign?” Hudson asked frustrated.
“They targeted the main release ballasts first, sir. Our weapons are badly damaged.”
“So we’re sitting ducks,” Piccolo commented.
“SeaQuest is a weapon itself, Tony,” Commander Ford told him.
“Try torpedoes anyway,” Hudson ordered.
Piccolo worked feverishly at his consul then turned to Hudson and shook his head, “Wolenczak?” Hudson asked.
“No response, sir,” the teenager advised him.
Another blast rocked the SeaQuest and the power began to ebb.
“I don’t believe this,” Commander Ford whispered to himself.
“Sir, we’re surrounded!” Henderson called out urgently.
“By what?” Hudson yelled back.
“More hostile UEO vessels, sir.”
“Are you certain they’re UEO?” Hudson asked.
“The vessels are certainly UEO,” Commander Ford told him, “They could have been stolen.”
“There’s no time for that now,” Hudson said, “Fredricks,”
Fredricks came forward as though she had been waiting to be called, “I’m on my way, sir.”
“Take Mcormac and Alderton with you,” Hudson ordered.
“Sir, we’re starting to take on water!” Lucas cried out, “Decks E7 and through to D4.”
“Damn,” Commander Ford swore silently.
“Commander order off the escape pods.”
Ford nodded and immediately announced for the majority of the crew to abandon ship.
“Decks closed off sir,” Lucas told Hudson.
“Can we stay afloat?”
“Barely, sir.”
The bridge crew watched as the first of the escape pods left the SeaQuest. To their horror, they exploded into balls of fire as the rebel ships picked them off one by one.
“What the hell?!” Hudson gasped.
“Stop the launches!” Hudson screamed, “Where’s Friedricks?”
“Not on radar, sir,” Lucas said, shaking his head.
Henderson swallowed weakly as she made her next announcement, “That was four escape pods, sir.”
“That’s at least sixty people,” Commander said, horrified, “Over half the crew.”
Hudson closed his eyes in frustration.
“More torpedoes, sir. Middle hull,” Lucas announced urgently.
“Take the ship down to the bottom,” Commander Ford ordered navigation.
The crew just looked at him, “You heard him,” Hudson said, “Right to the bottom.”
SeaQuest began its decent through the deep blue water. Three torpedoes shot over the top of the large ship, missing their target.
“Torpedoes one, two and three missed us, sir,” Lucas informed the crew, “Four and five headed our way.”
“Brace for impact!” Commander called.
The two torpedoes hit the SeaQuest right in its middle. The SeaQuest shook more heavily that it had before and many crew were tossed from their seats.
The lights flickered again and this time remained off for good. The emergency lights flicked on to dimly light the dark ship.
“Sir, we’ve lost communications,” someone called to Hudson.
Hudson noticed a few people had been tossed from their seats and were groaning in pain or lying still, “Do we have access to medbay?”
“Possibly, sir,” Lucas told him, “But without being able to get a full damage report it may be pretty dangerous getting down there.”
“Alright,” Hudson said, “Bring them up here. Access them via PAL.”
Hudson then turned to the rest of the bridge crew, “Power down,” he ordered.
The hum of the engines began to slow as the ship was powered down.
“Sir, won’t they still be able to find us?” Henderson asked.
“Not for a while Lieutenant,” Hudson said.
The bridge became very silent as the crew tried to absorb what had just happened to them.
It wasn’t long before Perry and the remaining medical staff made their way onto the bridge. They carried as many medical supplies with them as they could.
Hudson looked at her skeptically, “Doctor?”
“Sir, medical has been virtually destroyed. We’ve lost some of our own. There’s no point in bringing the injured down there.”
Hudson sighed, “I guess we’ll have to camp out on the bridge.”
“We need to contact UEO headquarters,” Hudson said, “Find out what’s going on.”
“How are we going to do that?” Piccolo asked, “We have no communications.”
“Henderson,” Hudson turned to her, “How many escape pods did we eject?”
“Just the four, sir. All destroyed.”
Hudson nodded, “That means we have plenty left.”
Commander Ford realised what he was thinking, “Sir?”
“Commander, we going to need to send off another escape pod for help.”
“What if they don’t make it?” Lucas asked, “The ships that attacked us are still out there.”
“How long until life support cuts out?” Hudson asked him.
“About 48 hours sir,” Lucas told him.
“We send off another if they aren’t back in twelve hours,” Hudson decided.
“And if the second pod doesn’t make it either?” another crewmember asked.
“Whoever is looking for us would have found us by then,” Hudson said.
“Any volunteers for the first group?” Hudson asked.
The bridge became very silent.
“I’ll lead the first lot out, sir,” Commander Ford said as he nodded his head.
“I’ll go too, sir,” Piccolo offered.
“I’ll go,” Lucas piped up after.
“Me too,” Henderson said.
“Yeah me too,” O’Neill said.
“Count me in,” Seaman Wade stepped forward.
Hudson looked at them all skeptically. He wasn’t too keen on sending all of his best officers off straight away. But then again he knew he could count on them, and the rest of the crew were all injured or dead.
Hudson nodded, “We’re all dead anyway.”
“Can I go too, sir?” a gentle voice asked from behind him.
Hudson turned to find Dagwood standing there sheepishly.
“We might need you here, Dagwood,” Hudson told him.
“What for?” Lucas asked.
“The medical officers might need help. We could use someone strong.”
“We’ll be fine,” Perry said, “There’s really nothing that can be done here.”
Hudson thought for a moment, “Alright,” he nodded.
The crew got up slowly to head towards an awaiting shuttle.
“Good luck to all of you,” Hudson told them, “Be safe.”
***
The shuttle made its way stealthfully through the Atlantic waters. The inside of the shuttle was dark to allow the crew to get some sleep and rotate shifts.
“Where are we headed, sir?” Seaman Wade asked Commander Ford as he sat next to him on the quiet vessel.
“UEO headquarters,” Commander Ford told him, “That’s the only place we can go. Especially since there were that many fighter ships and they were all legitimately UEO registered.”
“Are we almost there?” the young seaman asked, “We’ve been traveling for hours.”
“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve had to take the long way to avoid being detected.”
Several lights on the consul started beeping and flashing, “Sir, we have a problem here!” Tony Piccolo called out from the pilots seat.
Commander Ford stood up and walked towards to front of the vessel, “What happened?”
“I don’t know, sir. It looks like we’re losing power.”
Ford sighed worriedly just as a sleepy looking Lucas emerged from the back, “What’s going on?” the boy asked them.
“Something’s wrong with the shuttle,” Tony told him.
Ford moved out of Lucas’ way so he could get into the co-pilots seat. It only took Lucas a few seconds to figure out the problem.
“It’s the main power systems. They need a reboot.”
“How long will that take?” Commander asked him.
“We wont be able to do it at all if we don’t find somewhere to power up,” Lucas said, “Where’s the closest colony?”
“No, that’s too dangerous. We need to find out why the SeaQuest was attacked first. Until then we cant trust anybody.”
“There just colonists, Commander,” Lucas gave him a crooked grin, “I doubt they’d be conspiring against us.”
Lucas’ last comment came across very sarcastic. Ford ignored what he had decided was Lucas’ immaturity and addressed the situation, “Where is the nearest colony, Piccolo?”
“About two minutes, sir.”
“Lucas, can we hold out that long?”
“Yes, definitely,” Lucas responded.
“Alright,” Commander Ford ordered, “Inform them that we need to stop there for repairs. We’ll need to be out of there as soon as possible.”
“Yes sir,” Lucas answered him.
***
After the crew had stopped at the colony for the necessary repairs, those who were not needed to help with the shuttle had left the shuttle to stretch their legs.
“Man, I’m starving,” Tony exclaimed, “Is there anything to eat around here?”
“I’m hungry too,” Dagwood agreed.
“I saw some food places back there,” Lonie offered.
“Oh great,” Tony said as he turned back toward her, “Anyone coming?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty hungry,” Wade said.
“I’m not really but I’ll go with you anyway,” Henderson said as she turned back towards them.
The four began walking.
“Commander, are you coming?” Tony called out to Ford. The group stopped to wait for him.
“No it’s okay,” Jonathan said as he stayed looking around.
“Jonathan, you should eat something,” Henderson told him.
“I just want to get out of here as soon as possible,” Ford told them, not looking around.
The other’s shrugged and continued on their way.
Ford watched O’Neill as he tried to talk to some of colonists about how long they would be staying. Ford was becoming increasingly concerned about the aggressive body language that was being used.
Ford took a few steps toward them to see what was going on. However, just as he did, the colonists stalked away and O’Neill turned back and headed toward him.
As he approached, the look on O’Neill’s face said that they should be concerned, “Apparently there were some UEO registered vehicles headed this way, the same ones that attacked the SeaQuest,” O’Neill told him quietly as he got closer to Ford, “They offered to call on them so we could get a lift and I refused. Now they’re very suspicious. They don’t trust us.”
“Did you tell them what happened?” Ford asked him.
“I didn’t think it was a very likely story,” Tim said.
“No, you’re right,” Jonathan began.
He was cut off as he noticed that the two of them where slowly being surrounded by armed colonists.
“Ummm, Jonathan?” Tim wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Yeah, I know,” Jonathan said as he grabbed Tim’s arm and the two power walked towards the food court.
“Where are we going?” Tim asked him as the two began to walk faster.
“To get the others and then we’re getting the hell out of here,” Jonathan told him, “Let’s just hope Lucas has been able to work some of his magic.”
Jonathan spotted his crew and ran over to them, hailing them at the same time.
“Come on we gotta go,” Jonathan said as he ran up closer to them.
“Jonathan?” Henderson asked worriedly.
“They think we’re someone we’re not,” Jonathan explained.
The others needed no more invitations. They all immediately jumped up and made their way towards the docking bay.
The SeaQuest crew ran towards their awaiting shuttle while the colonists hotly pursued them.
“Why can’t they see we’re not Macronesian?” Seaman Wade asked Commander Ford in frustration.
“They’re afraid,” the Commander panted, “There’s no time for that now. Come on.”
One by one, the crew ran into the shuttle bay. Piccolo stayed back near the large bay doors to close them. They watched the doors closed just as the front of the mob appeared.
Henderson and O’Neill jumped over the meter high metal wall that separated the docking bay from the incoming shuttles followed by Ford, Wade, and Dagwood.
“Lucas,” O’Neill asked, “Have you got the repairs ready yet?”
Lucas looked around from his work at the front of the shuttle, “Yeah, we just need to connect the power.”
Lucas advanced forward to address the rest of the crew who were heading into the shuttle, “We can use some of the power from the colony to start her up. Then she’ll run fine for a few hours. By that time the backup systems should be working.”
Ford looked concerned, “Well… how are we going to do that?”
Lucas pointed up at a small panel in the roof just above the wall that separated them from the shuttle doors, “We just need to rewire that. I’ve already connected it up.”
Ford turned around to Wade who was still on the wall, looking at the panel, “Wade, didn’t you major in engineering?
Wade looked at Ford, “Yeah, I think I know what I’m doing.”
You’ll be able to reach it from where you’re standing on the wall there,” Lucas told him, “I’ll get her started up.”
Wade stood slowly and began to look at the panel.
“And hurry up!” the Commander ordered as he turned back around, “It’s only a matter of time before they get through that door.”
Ford turned and moved passed Lucas, who was watching Wade carefully, before heading into the shuttle, “Get yourselves strapped in. We’re almost ready to go.”
He then turned back to Lucas, “You too Lucas.”
Lucas moved his head around to acknowledge the Commander absent-mindedly, then turned it back, “Wade!” he called, “How’s it going up there?”
Ford’s eyes narrowed in concern and he walked back around to poke his head out of the shuttle.
Wade’s panicked voice responded, “I can’t get it together! They’re coming through!”
The shuttle bay doors could be seen being pried open as the mob forced their way towards the SeaQuest crew. In a panic Wade snapped a small piece of plastic used to hold the wiring together.
Lucas darted forwards and jumped up onto the small platform. Wade gladly made room for him and jumped down.
“Get into the shuttle!” Ford said urgently, giving him an irritable shove.
Lucas fumbled with the piece that Wade had broken up and carefully fitted it back into the wiring. His brow furrowed slightly in concentration as he calmly and carefully twisted the wires around to where they were suppose to be.
Once it was programmed properly he turned his head slightly, addressing Commander Ford, “Check the power.”
Before Ford could respond to Lucas, Tony’s voice called out from inside the shuttle, “Powered up! We’re ready to go!”
Ford looked up towards the top of the shuttle bay doors and, to his horror, saw they had begun to open almost enough for people to start filing through.
“Lucas get down from there, come on!”
Without panicking, Lucas hurriedly pushed the wires back up into the panel so they didn’t come lose before the shuttle could get clear. It was difficult without the protective plastic. He snapped the lid shut just as several colonists shoved their way through the opening shuttle doors.
Commander stepped out of the shuttle to help. Just as Lucas turned to step down, one of the colonists raised a large crossbow and fired. The thick piece of sharp metal violently drove itself into Lucas side. Lucas cried out in pain. The energy drained from his legs and he fell backward.
“Lucas!” Commander cried out in horror.
Lucas fell heavily to the ground, landing hard on his left shoulder. He grunted again and gritted his teeth as his shoulder hit the floor. Ford didn’t have to run far to get to him. He grabbed a hold of the young officer by the underarms and quickly dragged him inside the shuttle, ignoring his cry of pain.
The shuttle doors closed just as one of the colonists jumped over the wall and ran toward it.
Ford carefully placed Lucas on the floor of the shuttle as the boy continued to give sharp cries of pain.
Henderson unstrapped herself from her seat and ran toward them, “Oh God,” she said kneeling next to Lucas. O’Neill stayed in his seat but leaned forward to assess Lucas’ condition, the colour draining from his face. Wade swallowed heavily.
“We’re clear of the colony, sir!” Piccolo told them before turning his head back from piloting the shuttle, “Commander!” he asked, “What happened to him?”
“Crossbow,” Jonathan told him as he tried to work out how to position Lucas so he could assess the injury, “Keep an eye out, Mr Piccolo,” he ordered Tony.
Henderson moved over to Lucas’ head and used both her hands to stroke his hair back off his face, “Lucas?” she asked.
Lucas, in a great deal of pain, gritted his teeth as he tried to put on a brave façade for her, “I’ll be okay,” he said. Then as a wave of pain ran through him he arched his back and squeezed his eyes shut. His soft forehead furrowed and he pushed his eyebrows together tightly. Henderson bit her lip and continued stroking his hair.
“It just hurts,” he managed with difficulty.
“You’ll be okay, Lucas,” Ford assured him gently.
“What’s a crossbow?” Dagwood asked Tim quietly.
“It’s used to shoot arrows, Dagwood,” Tim explained weakly, gripping his seatbelt.
Commander gave a loud sigh, “I think his shoulder’s been dislocated too,” he turned to Tim, “Do we have any pain medication in the med kit?”
O’Neill fumble with his seatbelt to get up, “I-I’ll check,” he stuttered.
Wade just sat quietly looking very pale.
Piccolo turned his head from piloting the shuttle, “How’s he doing?”
“He’s gunna be alright,” Ford assured him.
Tony relaxed a little, knowing Lucas was in good hands but couldn’t shake the ill feeling in his stomach.
Ford sighed again, “We gotta get this out.”
“No,” Lucas said quickly.
“I’m sorry, Lucas. I’ll do it as fast as I can okay.”
“Nooo,” Lucas whined.
O’Neill moved forward with the med-kit to kneel next to Lucas along with Ford and Henderson, “It’s alright, Lucas,” he said gently, “We’ve got some painkillers in here okay?”
“Why can’t I have them now?” Lucas asked innocently. Commander Ford knew that the situation was extremely upsetting but could have sworn that Lucas’ voice was a few octaves higher than usual.
“They take too long to work,” Ford looked up at Henderson, “Can you hold him?” Henderson nodded at him.
“I’ll help too,” O’Neill offered, wrapping his arms around Lucas’ chest as Henderson held his shoulders tightly.
“Okay, on the count of three,” Ford said. Lucas shook his head, grinning as much as the pain would allow, “You won’t be doing it on three, will you?”
Commander Ford gave Lucas a short smile then turned his head away so he wasn’t looking at him. The Commander grabbed the edge of the arrow tightly and gave it a fierce shove. Lucas jerked violently and gave a shrill scream of pain.
Wade leaned forward and put his head in his hands.
Not wanting to drag it out, Ford shoved again before Lucas could recover, “Argggh!” Lucas cried out in agony, twisting his body to his right in an effort the get away from the pain.
Henderson and O’Neill struggled to keep him from writhing too much. Tony gripped the edge of the consul tightly and swallowed heavily, keeping his eyes focused in front of him.
“Okay, its nearly over,” Ford said as he gave the arrow one last push, ripping it out of Lucas’ back to create an exit wound.
This time Lucas groaned before he passed out. The shuttle crew sat still in dead silence for a few moments.
“Okay,” Ford’s voice shook, “Lonnie, can you patch him up?” Henderson nodded weakly. O’Neill pulled his arms out from around Lucas and patted the unconscious teenager affectionately.
O’Neill turned to find Dagwood sitting near them with tears running down his face.
“Dagwood, he’s okay now.” O’Neill assured him.
“Why did you have to hurt Lucas?” Dagwood asked. O’Neill could see that he trusted his friends which is why he didn’t step in, but hadn’t understood why the pain had be inflicted.
“We were trying to help him, Dagwood,” Tim put his hand on Dagwood’s arm. Dagwood looked at him with trust and kindness and nodded quietly.
Wade stood up and walked over to Commander Ford, who was getting some rags from the medkit to wipe the blood off his hands, “Commander, I’m sorry. I stuffed up. This is all my fault.”
Ford sighed angrily, “Wade, not now.”
“But sir,” Wade began.
Ford turned around swiftly to face him, “No,” he said firmly, putting his hand up, “You need to tell me if you don’t think you can do something. And you have to learn not to panic,” the Commander said carefully but angrily.
Wade nodded then went to speak. Ford put his hand up, “Not another word.”
“Jonathan?” Henderson called from where she was with Lucas. She had dragged him over and somehow managed to get him onto a small mattress and covered him with a few blankets. She was just lifting up the clothing that covered the wound and was trying to clean it.
“What is it?” Ford walked over to her.
“I think there was something on that arrow,” she said seriously.
Ford looked at her, concerned, “What do you mean ‘something’?”
“Something harmful. Like poison.”
O’Neill looked around quickly from where he was with Dagwood.
Piccilo snapped his head to the side, “Oh shit,” he swore quietly but angrily, “Wade!” he called, “Get over here.”
Wade moved over hesitantly. Tony got up and pushed him to the front, “Pilot,” he ordered. Wade nodded and jumped into the pilot’s seat.
“Poison?” Commander hissed, “Do you know what type of poison?”
Henderson’s pretty face creased into a thoughtful look, “No. He needs to get to a hospital.”
“How the hell are we meant to get him to a hospital?” Ford had begun to raise his voice.
“We-we’ll have to drop him off somewhere,” Piccolo walked forward, “So someone can get him to a hospital.”
“He can’t go to hospital,” Ford said angrily. He wiped his hands over his face in frustration. “We’re all sitting ducks right now. He’ll be found. We can’t get him to hospital until this mess is over.”
“He won’t make it,” Henderson said gently.
“Can’t we get him to someone that will take care of him?” Tim suggested, “Someone with access to resources who can nurse him and protect him themselves.”
Ford turned to Tim, “Tim, first of all we need someone close by. Our mission is to get to the right people so they can get help to the SeaQuest. We’re already behind with that.”
He paused and sighed again, “And secondly, it needs to be someone we can trust,” Ford looked at them, “We don’t know anyone like that.”
“Sure we do,” Piccolo piped up, “How close is Bridger’s Island?”
Everyone looked at Tony in surprise. Of course, no one could believe they hadn’t thought of it. Henderson gave a small sigh of relief, “Can’t be far,” she said.
“Bridger wont let anything happen to Lucas,” Tim said.
“Of course,” Ford said with relief, “I didn’t think of that.” He turned to the Piccilo, “Get back in the pilots seat. Set a course for Bridger’s Island.”