PLAN A

by Teresa

Disclaimer: I don't own SeaQuest and I don't profit from writing fanfiction.

The bridge was generally busy at this time of the morning, as officers pushed their way passed each other to get to their respective destinations.

Lucas tried to walk in a straight line as he pushed a hand through his sweaty blonde hair, swallowing with difficulty.

Man, he felt off this morning.

He jostled passed a few people that didnt' seem to notice at all and sat his his station gingerly.

It was a standard shift, and the main senior crew were all on shift, with the exception of Hudson who would be there in a few hours.

Lucas put his headset on and typed in a few commands, hoping that the weird soreness would go away.

"Lucas?"

It was Commander Ford. Great. What now? He slipped off his headset.

"Are you feeling, okay?"

Suddenly his voice sounded more sympathetic.

Lucas swallowed and forced himself to nod. He didnt really want to go back to his quarters. He was going to feel like crap no matter what, might as well be useful, and he didn't know what was wrong neway.

Commander rocked on his heels, looking a bit concerned. He tapped the consul, "Okay, well let me know if you get worse okay?"

Lucas nodded and put his headset back on, "Thanks."

Commander Ford gave him one last serious glance and walked back to the chair in the centre of the bridge.

"Are we on course?" he asked navigation.

Lucas felt his hearing start to blur out and shook his head to clear it. He tried to think over what could be wrong. It didn't quite feel like the flu. He was sore all over but he could bare doing his job, and he found he was on constant alert, as though something was about to happen even though he knew it wasnt.

What could make his adrenalin go like this?

Suddenly the entire room spun right around and Lucas nearly lost control of his bladder.

He grabbed a hold of the side of his consul and waited for the spinning to stop. He suddenly wished he wasnt still on the bridge. If something bad happened here it would be incredibly embarressing.

Lucas tried to call out to Commander Ford but suddenly realised he was blacking out. He took a deep breath to stop himself, and jumped quickly as hands jumped onto his shoulders.

He gasped out in suprise. It must be Commander Ford again.

Lucas felt someone knock into him very hard. He opened his eyes to see what on earth happened and instead heard shouting.

He was quite confused when he found that the metal grate was pushing up against his shoulder and cheek. It was then that he realised that he'd hit the floor.

"How long has he been like this?" he heard Hudson ask.

"I checked on him earlier when his shift first started a few hours ago," he heard Ford comment.

Lucas swallowed hard and felt himself slip out of consciousness.

Hudson knelt by the unconscious boy on the bridge, "Our sensor op was ready to black out for several hours before anyone noticed?" Hudson demanded.

Ford took a breath and looked down, not saying anything. The truth was, he had noticed that Lucas was quite sick at the beginning of the shift, but it wasnt until readings started coming up funny and he'd asked Lucas a question that he'd turned to find the pale, sweaty teenager panting unnaturally and not responding.

Hudson sighed as his fingers rested on the boys pulse. Lucas was sprawled out on the floor where he'd fallen. He might have hurt himself if Hudson hadn't been there to guide him down.

The medteam rushed onto the bridge and Ford took a step back, glancing behind him so he didnt bump into O'Neill who was standing at his station looking on worriedly.

Ford looked at the rest of the crew. They didnt often look this worried and upset. Then again it wasn't that often that someone fainted on the bridge.

They all watched as Lucas was lifted by two medics and placed on a stretcher. Perry begain attatching equipment as they rolled him off the bridge.

Hudson walked towards the center of the bridge to relieve Commander Ford and nodded at him as he approached. He waited a few moments before he told everyone to get back to work.

~

Lucas awoke feeling worse than ever. He was hot, but freezing cold at the same time. He turned his head to the side, trying to orientate himself, and realised he was lying on a bed in medbay.

He took a breath and realised his breath was coming out in continuous short gasps already.

Perry was standing beside him looking at him seriously.

"How are you feeling, young man?"

Lucas' blue eyes were slits between the sheer white colour of his face and pinkness around the eye sockets.

Lucas opened and closed his lips as he tested his voice.

Perry watched the white/blue colour of them with concern.

"I ah.. I feel horrible. Like, I feel like I'm scared," Lucas gasped.

Perry nodded, "You have an unusally high level of adrenalin in your system. We're working on bringing your levels back to normal."

Lucas felt like crying with fear. He felt like something had just scared the shit out of him. His body was telling him to run, jump... do something!

He went to sit himself up and found himself tugging on restraints. He started to panic, "Wh..why am I restrained!?"

He felt himself gasping again.

"Because your body is telling you to use up all your energy, but you don't have any. You'll die of exhaustion if you don't relax."

Lucas gave a short whimper, "I'm scared."

She put a hand on his, "I know. But believe you'll be fine. Okay?"

Lucas nodded quickly. His gasps had resided to fast breathing.

"I'm going to give you something to help you go back to sleep," Perry said as she prepared a needle.

Lucas closed his eyes against himself. He felt a soreness in his wrist.

"You've also got a drip going to keep you hydrated."

She pushed on his shoulder to push him into the pillows. Now just relax."

Lucas closed his eyes and tried to stop breathing too heavily.

~

Perry made her way out of medbay's restroom area to greet Hudson.

Hudson lifted his eyebrows, awaiting prognosis.

"Captain," she began, "That boy is *very* sick."

"What's wrong with him?" Hudson cut in.

"What he has, he could only have got from being poisoned."

Hudson looked at her in shock and she continued, "He has a continuous stream of adrenalin running through his system and he's dehydrating quickly. His organs are also shutting down, particularly his lungs."

Hudson looked seriously worried, "Well what's going to happen to him?"

"I can run some tests, try to find out exactly what he was poisoned with.."

"Are you sure he was poisoned?"

"That's the other thing," she told him, "He wasn't poisoned subliminally. He has about three punture wounds around his neck and a few bruises around his body indicating trauma."

Hudson was trying to make sense of everything, "Someone forcibly injected him with something."

She nodded, "That's what it looks like."

Hudson let his head roll back and sighed, "Does he know who?"

She shook her head, "I doubt he'd remember much of anything. At least not until we make him better."

"Is that possible?" Hudson asked her.

Perry was silent for a few moments, "There are a few drugs we can use. But Captain, it really depends on the individual immune system."

She looked at him for a few moments, "He's likely to die."

Hudson's face registered more shock than grief but he had to sit down quickly.

Perry looked at the floor and took a few steps toward him, hugging her clipboard, "We can try to make him more comfortable. He looks quite awful, fast eratic breathing, shivering, and possible fits. It could upset the crew if they're allowed to see him too often."

Hudson nodded quickly brushing her off, "This is too much too suddenly."

He found his voice again, "What about a danger to the rest of the crew?"

"Oh, he's not at all contagious," she began.

"No, I mean, the people who poisoned him. We need to find out who it was.."

"The drug given to him only works on younger people. It works by getting into the hormones that are there when a person is still growing."

Hudson stood up again and nodded angrily, "So he was specifically targeted," he said.

He looked at the door, "Thankyou, doctor. Keep him comfortable. I need to get on a few things."

Perry watched him step through the hatch.

~

Hudson didnt rush to call the senior crew - the Ensign's closest personal friends to the wardroom to explain. Knowing the truth was just as bad as worrying anyway, he reasoned.

Then again, they had the serious problem of figuring out what had happened to him.

Hudson paused slightly in his tracks and hesitated for a second. Sighing, he realised he needed to go to the wardroom.

He withdrew his PAL, "Commander Ford?"

"Yes, sir."

"Would you gather the senior crew in the wardroom please."

On the bridge, the Commander froze. It had to be about Lucas. 'Oh no.' He took a few moments to respond.

"Yes, sir," he said, his voice kind of scratchy.

He clicked off his PAL, "Tim, Lonnie," Tim looked up as Lonnie came over, "We have to be in the wardroom."

He turned around to leave, "Leave Olsen with the bridge."

Lonnie cast Tim a quick glance as she ducked around the tables. She did a double take when she noticed the look on his face as he rose slowly.

"Is it about Lucas?" Tim asked Ford as tossed his headset on the table.

"Why would it be about Lucas?" Lonnie asked them.

Ford turned and waited for them to start walking with him, "He passed out on the bridge earlier."

He turned to Tim, "He didnt say."

"Wait, passed out on the bridge?" Lonnie ran out in front of them both, "What exactly happened?"

Ford sighed, not really looking at her, "He looked sick when the shift started and I asked him if he was okay. He said he was fine so I went back to work. A few hours later.. we noticed that he hadn't *done* anything all shift."

"A few *hours*?" Lonnie looked at him.

Tim pushed his lips together in annoyance at her comment.

"I.. I don't get it.."

"Lonnie, we were *working* okay?" Ford snapped.

She wasn't sure how to respond. They got into the maglev together, "Then what happened?" she asked him.

Tim answered, "Hudson came in and wanted to know what was going on. Then Lucas just fell out of his chair and passed out."

Lonnie absorbed the information worriedly, "That's really weird."

Ford and Tim nodded.

The maglev opened and they stepped out.

Ford opened his PAL, "Tony, Hudson needs us in the wardroom."

"So you think it is about Lucas?"

Ford put his PAL back, "I dunno, Tim."

"Well you're calling Tony," he reasoned. Tony wasnt part of the senior crew exactly.

Ford looked at him and shrugged, "Well he often comes in handy anyway."

They moved onto the ward room in silence.

~

Lucas opened his eyes with a start as he felt someone take his hand. His breathing came in continuous gasps. Lucas lay helplessly while his chest moved up and down quickly with the movement.

He turned to the side and looked at Commander Ford. The man was in civvies and had been crying.

Lucas wanted to know why but he was finding it hard to talk between need to breath so much.

Ford looked away from him, at the roof or something, Lucas wasnt quite sure, then back at him.

"Lucas?" he asked as though Lucas were unconscious.

Lucas nodded and squeezed his hand to let him know he was hearing him while he found a way to get some words out. He felt Jonathan squeeze his hand back tightly.

"Co..commander," Lucas closed his eyes and pulled at his restraints.

He felt Ford's hand on his shoulder, "It's okay,"

"Geh.." Lucas gasped, "I know.. b..but.. It doesn't feel like that."

Ford squeezed Lucas' shoulder as well as his hand, "You'll be okay."

There was silence for a few moments while Lucas lay gasping.

"Lucas," Ford tried, "Do you remember anything.. about how this happened?"

Lucas looked at him with confusion, "About how what happened?"

Dr Perry came up behind him, "Lucas, you've been given something."

Lucas face crumbled, as his eyebrows knotted together in fear, "What's something?"

Ford and the Doctor looked at each other, "Do you remember anyone attacking you recently? Anything about how you got these punture wounds on your neck?"

Perry reached foward to touch him under the base of this head.

Lucas was about to answer 'no', but felt something stab at the back of his mind. He knew this.. but he couldn't remember.

His gasping didnt cease, but he looked at them helplessly, not sure what to say. Ford felt like he should do something. He couldnt just stand and watch this.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it for now."

Every second Jonathan had to remind himself that Lucas eratic breathing was due to his illness and not an actual response to the conversation.

He took the boys head in hands and kissed his forehead, "Don't worry. You'll be fine."

He took the opportunity to turn around and duck around the curtain. He stood there for a few minutes with his head up looking at the ceiling, as though the gravity would push the saltwater back into his eyes.

Perry came out a few minutes later, "I've sedated him again."

Ford nodded without turning around to her, "What about that awful colour in his face and lips. He looks like he's already dead."

Perry nodded, "I know. That's the least of our concerns. Believe me."

Ford nodded, "I know."

"You should get cleaned up," Perry told him seriously.

Ford looked at her questionly and she gestured to his face, "Before the crew start coming through here for blood samples and skin checks. They'll already be asking too many questions anyway."

Ford realised what she meant and wiped his eyes quickly, nodding as he walked towards the nearest sink and mirror. He mulled over how emotionless Perry could be for a non-combat female officer.

He shook his head as he tossed the water into his face. Just for a split second, the mulling took away the pain.

~

TBC

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