Standard Disclaimer

Mr Stanbull ran his hands through his hair nervously as he stood outside the tall building and waited for the transport vehicle that was carrying the last of the UEO representatives.

The small white car rolled up and a UEO Captain stepped out of the transport vehicle, followed by a uniformed young man in his late teens.

"Captain Hudson," Stanbull greeted him, "Oscar Stanbull, of the Callum Institute, it's a pleasure to have you here."

Hudson gave Stanbull what he assumed was a smile and shook his hand, "Thankyou, Mr Stanbull," he turned around and gestured to the fair-haired young man, curiously looking at the tall building in front of him, using an arm to block out the sun.

"This is Ensign Wolenczak. He will be staying for the next few days to run through all the necessary system checks."

The boy smiled at him and offered his hand.

"Hello Ensign," Stanbull shook his hand, "Please, gentlemen, follow me inside."

Hudson lifted his hat off his head slightly to give his head some room to breath as they left the hot sun and entered the air-conditioned lobby.

"Ensign, I trust you've been accommodated already?"

Lucas smiled and nodded politely, "Yes, sir I'll be staying in UEO accommodation," he changed the subject, "Ah, if you don't mind, sir, I'd like to take a look at the blueprints if you have them."

Stanbull nodded, "Oh yes, of course, just over here."

Hudson stayed where he was and admired the architecture of the ceiling, making his way over in the other direction to look out the window.

"Captain Hudson!" a familiar, boyish, yet resignedly irritating voice assaulted him and he turned around.

"What an... unpleasant surprise," Lawrence Deon smiled sarcastically as he made his way out of the elevator, flanked by a group of white men in suits, "Not here for the festivities, I assume?"

Hudson scowled back, "Not the one's you are referring to."

Deon leaned back and chuckled, sarcastically.

Lucas chose this time to make his way over cautiously, "Oh, hello Ensign Wolenczak," Deon greeted politely; he turned back to Hudson, "Got the whole crew here?"

Hudson turned his back toward Deon to ignore him. He leaned right up to Lucas' ear, "Keep an eye on him."

Lucas responded by cocking his eyes to the side and giving a slight nod to himself as the Captain walked away. He gave Deon a totally believable innocent look and then turned around to realise that Hudson was already on his way out of the building.

"Well, I guess Captain Hudson has things to do," Deon’s general mood was reminiscent of someone with a hyperactivity disorder, "So do we," he reverted back to his serious but smiling self, "Nice to see you again, Ensign."

Lucas followed them with his eyes as they left the institute and made his way over to the elevator, checking his watch.

"Don't you think we should change the way we're going to do things now the UEO is breathing down our necks?" one of the men asked Deon irritably just as they were out of ear shot.

"Naaaah," Deon waved his hand away, "Listen, it's a simple massage of the numbers, and they’d have to already have figured we were up to something to find a trace of anything."

"That Captain looked suspicious of you," he snapped, "Don't you think the mere fact you've been seen with us will make things suspicious?"

Deon scowled and turned around, "Get into the car," he snapped, gesturing to the limo. All four men piled in, giving him a look as they stepped inside, Deon followed them quickly and closed the door.

He sat back, stretching out his legs and closing the slide between them and the driver, "All we need to do is get a different set of people from your company to be the administrative liquidators. Just so long as no one knows they're from you're company, no one will connect the accountants with the liquidators."

He smiled, and opened a cabinet, "It'll look like the company collapsed naturally and just... tragically slipped out of the UEO's hands and into mine. Chardonnay?"

***

Lucas ran his hands through his hair. Who hired these people? Trying to work with people who wanted to 'help' was really, NOT helping.

"Ensign," the geeky man informed him, "I've finished updating the spread sheet for you."

Lucas sighed, knowing he'd have to do it again, immediately, to fix it, "Ah... thanks. Could you go to lunch now?" he took the sheet from him, "Please?" The man gave him a dirty look and Lucas smiled, "Thankyou."

"Hey you want a drink, kid?" Lucas looked up in surprise at the woman who walked through the door. She misinterpreted his look and scrunched up her face, "I'm sorry... Ensign?"

Lucas shrugged, "Oh um, ‘Lucas’ is fine. Actually, I'll be fine, thankyou."

He ground his teeth as she left, flicking his fingers across the keys and looking at the time.

Before he knew it, a deafening sound rocked through his ears and he found himself lying on the ground, head spinning and a stinging pain in his chin and head.

He looked up in a daze, slowly realising that the entire room had been destroyed from a nearby explosion. He stood up slowly, wiping his face, and looking at the dirt and blood that covered his hands.

He staggered over to the door, worried that no one was coming in to annoy him now.

"Hello?" he called out, walking through the hallway of the building, "Is everyone okay?" Lucas tried the comm on the wall outside, which didn't work, "Hello?" he tried anyway. He smacked the wall, "Damn it," he wiped the bloody area on his lip again and headed towards the fire escape to go down to the next level and find out what had happened.

Lucas pushed the door open on the next level which looked a lot cleaner and less affected from a blast, but it was still empty, "Hello?" Lucas called.

Lucas creased his forehead. The explosion had been big but it had only affected one floor, and sensors would detect if there were more explosives so there shouldn't be a need for people on the other floors to evacuate.

He stepped out of the fire escape and made his way along the hall. To his relief, he heard voices inside one of the offices. He raised his fist to knock.

"We didn't plan for anyone to be killed! An accident wasn't necessary."

Lucas blinked and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Listen," Lucas recognised Deon's voice immediately, "This is a sure way to get all UEO companies off the creditors list if employees are screaming for money."

Lucas took in a gasp and pressed his back up against the wall.

"It's just a company. It's useless to us," the man reasoned. Lucas realised that the man was speaking to Deon over the phone.

"It's still an asset if it's something that our competitors can't use," Deon whined, "Now, listen to me.."

"Wait," the man in the office cut in, “I think I hear someone outside.” He walked over to the door, "Hello?"

Lucas' eyes widened and he backed away from the door, slowly, trying not make any noise, but his movement caught him out.

"Hey!" the guy grabbed the gun on the table and Lucas sprinted off down the corridor heading for the stairs and pulling open the door.

He heard the shots hit the door as he ran down the stairs. He knew that the guy would be right behind him so he ran out of the fire door on the next level to avoid being shot on the stairs.

The next level was more administrative, and filled with people, "Security!" he yelled out to the men dressed in uniform across the other side of the room.

The two bulky men came over to him. Lucas breathed a sigh of relief and turned behind him to check that no one was coming out of the fire escape.

"My name is Ensign Lucas Wolenczak, I'm from the UEO. Would you contact Captain Hudson?" he asked the women at the desk.

She took one look at his appearance and nodded quickly, working her phone.

The two security guards came over to him, "Are you okay, son?"

Lucas nodded as he looked at the fire escape door, relieved the man hadn't followed him out, "Ah, no. There's been an explosion upstairs."

"Yes, we know the fire and ambulance is on their way," the officer to his left looked Lucas over, curious about his panic, "Is there someone trapped?"

Lucas ran his hands through his hair, "I don't know. I was running from someone because I overheard a phone conversation."

"You what?" he laughed.

"I ah, I don't think the explosion was an accident," Lucas told him, looking at the window and seeing the fire and ambulance pulling up below.

"I see..." the security officer told him.

The pain in his side was violent but Lucas remained lucid enough to know what it was right away. He dropped to the floor heavily, unable to stop from groaning as he lay there.

He heard a crowd gather around him, "It's alright folks, we got it," the guards assured everyone.

They grabbed Lucas by the arms and dragged him toward the fire escape. The pain flared again and Lucas tried to recover briefly to push his boots into the floor to stop them from dragging him.

When they shocked him again, he lost consciousness.

***

He woke laying on a couch in one of the office rooms on the next floor with a splitting headache. He opened his eyes slowing, noting that the sun was still relatively high as it shone through the window, so it couldn't have been too late in the day. He tried to sit up and gave a startled cry, lying back down again.

"This problem with the nosy little UEO Ensign," the man who'd chased him with the gun made his way into the room with one of the security guards.

No longer concerned by their presence, since if they were going to kill him they would have already, Lucas ignored them and gently pulled his khaki shirt out from his trousers to look at his stomach. Ow. The burns were nastier than he thought.

"Get him up," Lucas noticed that the man who’d spoken on the phone earlier was dressed in suit, with his tie loosened and his shirt sleeves rolled up.

The security gaurd who looked a lot less friendly that he had before grabbed Lucas' arm and pulled him up, "Ah! Don't..." Lucas cried, doubling over slightly as he tried to stand.

"Lucky for you, Ensign... Wolenczak," the man in the suit told him, "Mr Deon wants you alive."

Lucas swallowed, half bent over, dirty, bloody and his shirt only half untucked, "Yeah, lucky for me."

The man smiled and nodded, "You should probably learn that it was curiosity that killed the cat," he reached him, "That's suppose to worry you because cats have nine lives," he told him informatively.

Lucas' icy blue eyes just fixed on him.

"Take him upstairs," he gestured.

"What are you going to do with me?"

"Bury you," the man smiled. He waited for a few moments for Lucas' horrified expression to settle in, then he added, "Don't worry, you'll be found. It's just that the fire and ambulance officers have already checked for bodies and we need to bury you sufficiently so that when they find you, there'll be no questions asked."

Feeling the boy start to panic, the security officer pulled Lucas up by his underarms so only his toes were touching the ground and his own lips pressed against Lucas' ear, "I suggest you try to moan loudly if you hear anyone coming."

"This little episode was part of your delirium," the other man told him, "No need to tell anyone about it," he added, leaving the implied threat hanging.

Lucas snarled, "I asked the woman downstairs to call Captain Hudson."

"Yeah.... about that," the man added. He slammed his fist into Lucas stomach. Lucas cried loudly and doubled right over, finding himself with his mouth in the carpet, "That was intercepted."

The man left the room as Lucas felt himself picked up and dragged upstairs towards the smoldering accident site.

He barely recovered in time to push his foot up against the nearest doorway and use his body to push up against his captor, "Let me go!" he yelled as loud as he could.

The guy dropped him on the ground, "This won't work if you get someone's attention," the guy told him. He struck Lucas across the cheekbone. Lucas' head lolled to the side and his eyes rolled back but he didn't totally lose consciousness.

Even though it did more damage, he barely felt the next blow that came to his head.

***

The tube around his nose was surprisingly unpleasant since he wasn't used to it. He took a few moments to figure out that he was surrounded by soft pillows and someone was touching his arm.

He opened his eyes and turned to see who was standing next to him. He tried to force more strength into himself as he realised it was Hudson.

"How are you feeling?" the Captain asked.

"Ah," Lucas tested his voice, "In a bit of pain I guess."

"That's to be expected. You took at least ten thousand volts."

"Really?" Lucas lifted his eyebrows.

"Anyone would have thought you decided to take up boxing right afterwards. You were the last person found. You're very lucky to be alive."

Lucas looked up at the ceiling, "Yes I am," he said.

"They're going to keep you for a few more days, after that we'll get you back on SeaQuest."

Lucas swallowed and closed his eyes, nodding slightly.

"I should have known something was brewing with Deon being at the facility," he cursed, "I want a full report when you're ready to go back on duty."

Lucas opened his eyes tiredly, suddenly feeling more exhausted. Hudson patted his arm, "Don't worry, that won't be for a while yet."

"I let you get some more rest," he added.

The next time Lucas opened his eyes, Hudson had left already, so he settled himself back into the pillows, wincing slightly.

He didn't bother to open his eyes as he heard the door open and close and someone walk up beside him. He hoped they'd think he was asleep and come back later.

Instead they brought something up to his mouth - something cold and hard. He opened his eyes to see a hand grab his cheeks and push the nozzle of a gun inside his mouth.

It was all he could do to keep from pissing in the bed.

He couldn’t see the man's face because it was covered, but there was no attempt to disguise his voice, "You have nothing to report to your Captain."

Lucas didn't dare even wiggle his toes, let alone nod his head.

"I suggest you try to lead him on to the idea that nothing happened in that institute, or else you'll find yourself in a lot worse places than you did today."

Lucas heard a click of a gun and closed his eyes.

"It'd probably be a better idea if you just remove the gun and take a step back from the bed."

Lucas' heart sung at the sound of the Commander's voice. He still didn't dare to breath too heavily even as the gun was removed the guy took a step back.

Lucas opened his eyes to see Ford with his own gun to the back of the man's head, grab his balaclava off his head and slam him over a chair.

The shell shocked youngster was even more surprised to see that Tony was standing right beside him, "Nice idea to leave the door ajar while you threaten a witness dumbass."

Lucas breathed in a sigh of relief as Tony came over, "You okay, Lucas?" he asked gently.

Lucas tried to speak but managed a nod instead, smiling slightly. Tony looked at him sympathetically and patted his arms, "I thought the beating looked suspicious," he said and sat on the edge of the bed.

Lucas sighed, "You were right," he looked at Commander Ford who was on his PAL, "I think I'd like to go home sooner than what was planned."

"I'm somehow doubting that will be a problem," Tony patted Lucas' chest and smiled.

Lucas held his hand and closed his eyes, leaning back into the pillows.

~THE END~