The Hand of Wrath, chapter 9 [PG-13, seaQuest, Bridger/Westphalen, WIP]
last update before I have to go on self-imposed no-writing-allowed for finals week! cross fingers for good test scores and i'll see y'all after May 16!
index post
Chapter 9 ~ Ascend to Fall
"...absolutely cannot believe you allowed this to happen!"
NCIS Special Agent Callie Moonin was practically spitting nails as she stormed in a half circle around main medbay. Jonathan was hard pressed not to roll his eyes and, if the look on the captain's face was any indication, he was even less pleased by her fit of temper. In complete contrast, Agents Brickey and Sovalik stood by the doorway, both wearing impassive expressions, as if they'd heard this all before. And they probably had, the first officer reflected dourly. He didn't doubt for a minute that this was her typical reaction when things didn't go her way during an investigation.
"I sincerely hope you intend to discipline the officers who permitted this to occur, Captain Bridger," Moonin snapped.
"That's already been taken care of by their direct superior." The captain gestured in Crocker's direction.
The security chief nodded in acknowledgment. "Their ears are probably still ringin'. Though I have to say, it's a mistake anyone could've made. After all, a lady's hairclip isn't your typical sharp object."
Moonin shot the security chief a pitying look. "You of all people should know that criminals will go to any means necessary." Before Crocker could respond, she rounded on Joshua Levin. "And you, Doctor. It took your trauma team less than five minutes to reach the brig, yet they failed to stabilize the girl. I suppose you have an explanation for that??"
"The explanation is quite simple, actually. Miss Barrett has--excuse me, had--hemophilia." Levin met the Aleut woman's disbelieving stare without flinching. "Since she was able to successfully injure herself and hide the evidence of it from the officers guarding her for a long enough period, the blood loss was severe enough to render her beyond medical help by the time the trauma team was called."
"You must be mistaken," Moonin scoffed. "Hemophilia is a disease that only males can inherit."
"I wasn't aware that you had a medical degree, Agent Moonin." Levin's voice remained even, but the edge in it was clear to everyone present. "While it largely affects males, a female can be a hemophiliac if she is the product of a hemophiliac father and a mother who carries the defective gene that causes the disease. This was the case with Miss Barrett, and is clearly documented in her medical records. I'd be happy to provide you with copies."
Moonin turned to Crocker. "Were you aware of this, Chief Crocker?"
"No, ma'am."
Crossing her arms, Moonin fixed her glare back on Levin. "And I assume you have an answer for that too?"
Jonathan had had enough of her browbeating the others and cut in before Levin was forced to answer. "Actually, I think it's fair to say that no one here can predict the future, Special Agent Moonin. While this incident creates a problem for both you and us, I see no reason to lay blame based on information that would not have become public otherwise."
"Oh, you better believe it creates a problem." Dismissing Jonathan with a final glower, Moonin turned back to Bridger. "UEO command will be hearing about this incompetence, Captain Bridger. Furthermore, I hope you realize that this not only makes my job harder, but, having lost the opportunity to properly interrogate the girl, we've also likely lost our only chance to succeed in rescuing Doctor Westphalen."
Is she serious?! Jonathan watched Moonin and the captain stare one another down, and wondered if Bridger intended to voice any sort of rebuttal. But after a full three minutes of a tense silence, it was Moonin who finally broke the eye lock, looking more than a little uncomfortable. She attempted to cover it up by snapping orders at her agents-Brickey to acquire copies of Barrett's medical records, Sovalik to check with the other two agents on their team who had been assigned to collect the evidence from her quarters. Levin also had the required paperwork for releasing the body loaded on his tablet and, after Moonin had signed, he disappeared into the morgue.
"Commander." His attention was caught by the captain addressing him. "You and Doctor Levin come to the ward room when you're done here. There's something we need to discuss."
Jonathan nodded at the captain's words and watched him leave, then noticed Agent Moonin staring with narrowed eyes in his direction. He met her gaze impassively, pretending not to know why she was staring; she'd obviously heard what Bridger had said and was wanting the details. But even if he knew what the upcoming meeting was about, he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.
(*)
Tim O'Neill was waiting in the ward room when Nathan got there. He was thankful for the young man's presence, as it distracted him from his anger at Agent Moonin's insinuations. "Mr. O'Neill. Were you able to find anything along the lines of what I asked you about?"
"Not much, sir," O'Neill admitted. "But one piece of evidence I did find was rather surprising." He keyed on the vid link monitor and tapped in a quick command to bring up the file in question.
Nathan stared for a long moment at the file displayed onscreen. "That is definitely surprising." Shaking his head in amazement, he took his seat. Can't believe I never knew about this.
"Sir?"
Realizing he'd voiced his thought aloud, he shook his head again. "Nothing." The communications officer nodded, clearing the file off the screen just as Ford, Crocker and Levin arrived.
"That woman, I swear to God," Crocker muttered, thumping himself down into the nearest available chair. "Worse'n a whole herd of mules. You know she tried to demand the reason why you called us up here? Ford had to tell her it was ship's business to get her to leave."
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," the XO remarked as he sat down. "Unless whatever you called this meeting about will need to be shared with her later."
"Some of it, yes." Nathan glanced around the table. "You all know about the transmissions Len sent yesterday. The first transmission contained video footage showing Doctor Westphalen being tortured; she was thrown into a deep pool and repeatedly held under water. Immediately after I had viewed it, I received the second transmission, in which Len taunted me about what I'd just seen."
"She bother to tell you what this is all about yet?" the security chief asked.
"Not directly, but I did figure it out." Unable to remain still, Nathan rose from his chair and began pacing in a slow circle around the ward room table. "I've had a gut feeling from the beginning that all of this was meant as a way to strike out at me personally. Then something Len said confirmed it. Her parting shot before terminating the transmission was 'everybody's guilty of something'."
Around the table, confusion was written on every face except for one.
"Stark," Jonathan hissed.
Nathan nodded.
Jonathan shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe she's back again."
"Actually, it's not Stark."
"Who else could it be, Captain?" Jonathan argued. "We were both present for that conversation. Those were her exact words. She's obviously had reconstructive surgery and is using this new identity in an attempt to keep us off her trail."
"That thought had crossed my mind," Nathan agreed. "But then I did some more thinking, and after that, I spoke to Doctor Levin."
Joshua leaned forward, addressing the whole room, but his eyes were on the first officer. "Your suggestion has merit, Commander Ford, until you look at the whole picture, so to speak. Reconstructive surgery can change a person's entire look, but there are some things that cannot be changed, no matter how much work is done. And facial recognition software can still pick up the subtleties." He keyed in a command on the vid link monitor's control, bringing up a split screen: the left side displaying Marilyn Stark's NORPAC file photo, while the right side displaying a screen capture of Len. Going up to the screen, Joshua pointed with his stylus at Stark's photo. "The space between a person's eyes can never be changed regardless of the amount of reconstruction done on the face." He moved the stylus point to the right side of the screen. "The facial recognition program I ran the images through confirmed that this is not the same woman, but as you can see, there is a significant difference even without it."
"How can you be so sure, Doctor?" Jonathan inquired. "I don't see any difference."
"I could explain the medical terminology, but that would take unnecessary time. Suffice it to say, I have studied the images extensively even after repeated scans with the software. Whoever this woman is, she is most definitely not Captain Stark."
"Then just who the hell is she?" It was obvious from Jonathan's expression that he still was not convinced.
"I believe I can answer that," O'Neill replied. "Doctor, if I may?" He gestured to the screen and Joshua nodded as he returned to his seat. "At the captain's request, I did a little digging into the archives to see if I could find any connection. Captain Stark had listed only one person as her next-of-kin: a Lenore Haas." At a tap on the vid link, a new split screen appeared: the screen capture of Len now displayed on the left, while the right side displayed an archival photo of a brunette who appeared to be in her mid-20s. Her face bore a clear resemblance to the screen capture.
"Definitely not Stark," Crocker mused. "But if she was listed as next of kin...a relative, obviously. Sister, or maybe a cousin?"
"Much more than that, actually." O'Neill keyed in another quick command and the split screen was replaced with an image of a NORPAC dependent identification card. Everyone was stunned into silence by what the identifying information revealed, but it was Crocker who first broke it.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"I can't believe it," Jonathan muttered with a shake of his head. "I served with her for three years, and I had no idea at all that she was married."
"I've known her far longer and I had no idea either," Nathan admitted. "But then, she was always an intensely private person, even as a midshipman."
"As I mentioned to you before, Captain, I couldn't find much," O'Neill remarked. "I actually did multiple searches and even ran a cross-reference using her nickname, Len. Outside of official files, this was the only other source I could find." He entered another command into the vid link and the screen changed again: this time to a two-page photo spread from the Navy Times, the headline congratulating "our newly promoted captains". Below the main image of the officers saluting the vice admiral, who had officiated the ceremony, was a series of candid photos; Tim zoomed in on the last image in the second row. Stark was instantly recognizable, her serious expression in complete contrast to the bright smile of the young brunette, whose arms were possessively wrapped around her waist.
After several long minutes of awkward silence, the communications officer finally broke it by clearing his throat. "Like I said, that was all I could find. I'm still having the computer run repeated archival searches, but I don't expect it to find anything it didn't find the first several times. But as you saw in the second file, Haas is also listed as Stark's spouse and had been granted full spousal privileges by NORPAC. This dates back to August of 2005. No longer active, obviously...." His voice trailed off and he shrugged.
"This is more than we had before," Nathan replied quietly. Shaking his head to clear it, he inquired, "I understand that Lucas was able to decipher something from the video footage?"
O'Neill nodded. "We're still working on it, but one of his programs discovered minute disruptions in the footage. Not enough to disrupt video or audio during viewing, but it showed up when he broke it down to the base code level. And it showed up each time he ran that program with no deviations in the disruption times." Reaching out, he touched the vid link to bring up a line chart on the screen. "This is a graph readout from Lucas' computer, showing five different times he ran the footage. You can see how the lines match up. When he showed this to me, he suggested that we check all of the transmissions we've received from Len to see if the disruptions showed up any other time. And sure enough, they did. Something on her end is causing these disruptions to show up in every transmission."
"And this will help us locate the doc?" Jonathan asked.
Tim nodded. "It'll take some time, but Lucas thinks he can back track the disruption to the source. At the very least, we may be able to narrow down where the source actually is. It's really a process of elimination, given the refraction subroutines she's been using to piggyback off the nearest communication networks."
The meeting adjourned after some discussion on a plan of action for when they located where Len was hiding. Crocker voiced his concern about going in blind, since they had no idea how many men she had working for her. Levin's main focus was finding out a way to ascertain Kristin's condition in advance, so he would be better prepared to treat her once she was rescued. He also requested a copy of the video footage from O'Neill, saying he intended to study it in order to determine what he could of how Kristin might have been affected by the torture.
Nathan remained after everyone else had departed. Pulling up the last archival image onto the vid screen, he studied it for several minutes. In the other candid photos, the newly minted officers were smiling or laughing along with their equally delighted family members. Marilyn had maintained her formal posture even on this occasion. The only hint of softening was the arm she had around the younger Len's shoulders, emphasizing that she was holding her wife just as closely as Len was holding her.
Wife. How the hell did I miss that detail? He'd had occasional contact with her off and on over the years before seaQuest, the most recent being when she'd asked him to sponsor her for the exams for officer's bars. Thinking back to that conversation, he realized that he'd done most of the talking after they had discussed her request for sponsorship. She'd asked him about the progress of seaQuest's construction, if he had thought of any new design changes, how Carol and Robert were doing. She had said very little about herself and had not once hinted at anything personal. At the time, it hadn't registered as anything other than her usual reticence. Now, he was left to wonder: had he ever known the real Marilyn Stark? Or was Len the only one who did, even as she was now helping further her lust for revenge?
(*)
The quiet of sea deck was broken only by the faint lapping of the water against the walls of the moon pool. It was almost midnight; the late hour meant that there were few science crewmembers on duty. What little noise they made as they went about their work wasn't enough to carry out into the open area.
Nathan sat on the moon pool's edge, staring at the far wall without seeing it. He had initially come down for a swim with the intent of working off his frustration. But, once there, he realized he wasn't in the mood. Restless and reluctant to return to his quarters, he instead remained on sea deck, letting his bare feet dangle in the water and trying unsuccessfully to recover his calm.
After the staff meeting, he had made a call to the NCIS office in order to share the information regarding Len's identity. Moonin had taken the opportunity to lecture him again; this time, demanding to know why the information hadn't been given to her the minute O'Neill had discovered it in the archives. She had also repeated her claim that "failure to communicate about such important intel" was a hindrance to her investigation, once more hinting that such delays would likely spell failure in a rescue attempt. By the time he'd shut down the link, he was regretting even asking Bill to intercede with Captain Tillman. It would have been less frustrating to have gone about this on his own.
On top of the frustration of dealing with an intractable NCIS agent was the guilt. He had felt at fault from the start and, as the hours continued to pass, his regret became more profound. Kristin had been abducted--was being tortured--because of him. Because the last thing he'd said to her was to unfairly berate her for focusing her attention where it had needed to be; and because he had spent three days avoiding the subject instead of facing her and apologizing for his own stupidity.
Of course, if I hadn't been so stupid and argued with her over Darwin's injury, this wouldn't have even happened in the first place--because I would have been with her. They wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on her if I had been there.
The nudge against his ankle distracted him and he looked down at Darwin, who was floating next to his foot. Forcing a faint smile, he switched on the vocoder. "You're up late, Darwin boy."
"Bridger up late too."
"Well, that's what happens when you can't sleep," he replied wryly, leaning down to rub along the dolphin's melon.
"Because Doctor Kristin taken from pod?"
Nathan raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about that?"
Darwin bobbed his head. "Lucas tell Darwin."
That didn't surprise him. Next to himself and Kristin, the one individual Lucas would have felt comfortable confiding in was Darwin. "What exactly did Lucas tell you?"
"Evil lady hates Bridger."
That was putting it mildly. "Yes, she does. And we're having a hard time tracking her down."
"Why?"
"Unfortunately, she's very good at hiding."
"Look under shadow rock. Dark sky is danger."
He frowned thoughtfully. "Now what's that supposed to mean?"
"Look under shadow rock. Dark sky is danger."
"All I know is that we're running out of time. Because if we can't figure it out soon, Kristin may not survive long enough to be rescued." Nathan stared past Darwin into the water, seeing Kristin in his mind's eye--barefoot on the beach in the moonlight, her angry, hurt expression the day they had argued, fighting to breathe after being tortured. "And then I'll never get to tell her...." His voice trailed off into a heavy sigh.
"Bridger loves Doctor Kristin." There was no questioning inflection in the translated words.
"Yes...I do." Admitting it out loud at this point made him feel like he had lost the chance that would have been there before. If only he had apologized to her earlier, or had listened to her in the first place the day of the incident. What if it was too late to make his feelings known, to tell her how much she meant to him?
From the moment he'd first laid eyes on her, verbally tearing into Jonathan, there had been something about her that had intrigued him. Bill was the one to drag him out of his self-imposed exile--but it had been Kristin who had made him feel like living again. She had become an important part of his life in such a short time. If, God forbid, he couldn't find her in time, would he be able to live with that failure?
He shook his head and sighed again. There was no point in dwelling on past what ifs. What he had to do was focus on the present; making sure that they could succeed in bringing Kristin safely home.
"Bring Doctor Kristin back to pod."
I intend to. Giving Darwin's melon a final rub, he pushed himself to his feet, feeling weariness settle over him. Maybe now, he could finally attempt to get some sleep.
(*)
Kamik leaned his arms on the window frame, staring out into the darkness in the direction of the mountain. The floor shook again and he glanced at his watch, mentally counting the minutes between tremors. For the last twelve hours, the tectonic pattern had abruptly changed: now it swung between short periods of many little quakes very close together and then long gaps of time without. And the first tremor after a period of no activity was always the strongest. Hack had nearly had a fit after the last one when the power had suddenly flickered. Thankfully, he was able to initiate a backup code saved for the event of a power failure and his system had remained online. He was still furious, however, because it wasn't five minutes after the near-power failure when he got an alert that his firewall setup was being attacked. He had successfully blocked said attack, but was still swearing under his breath over it.
"This is the second time. Gonna kill that damn kid...."
"Why don't you just send him the viruses and get it over with?" Walt demanded as he entered the room.
"Because the timing isn't right, that's why."
"If he's hacking your firewalls, it sounds like it is...."
"Shut up. I'll bring the little bastard down when I want."
Rolling his eyes, Kamik turned away from the window. He had no intention of listening to them keep this up. "I am going to bed. And I would appreciate it if you two would keep your mutual tantrum down so I can have sufficient rest." Smirking in amusement at the glowers shot his way, he left the control room, more than ready to stretch out on his cot and let sleep take over. He strolled down the hall and was about to open the door to his room when the ground rocked again. This time, the jolt felt extremely strong and he had to clutch the doorjamb to keep himself upright.
Five...six.... The tremor faded before he could count to seven and he sighed in relief, even as the frown lingered on his face. If the seismic pattern was changing again so soon, it was definitely not a good omen. He debated waking Len to inform her of his suspicions, and yet wondered if she would even listen. She had been acting strangely all day and had even turned in long before sundown; usually, she was the last one to go to bed.
Crossing the hall to her door before he could change his mind, he tapped on it lightly, deciding that if she didn't wake up to a soft knock, he would just speak to her in the morning. But her voice bid him to enter. Stepping inside, he found Len standing by the window. In her hands was a digital photo frame and he recognized her wife in the image. She was in dress uniform, a flowering tree providing the perfect backdrop of color. Her bright smile lit up the image, lightening the severity of her posture.
"What is it, Kamik?" Len didn't look up, her attention solely focused on the photo as she brushed her fingertips over the smile of the blonde on the screen.
Disturbed by her demeanor, he decided now was not the time to bring up his suspicions about the seismic activity. "The boy has almost broken through Hack's firewalls twice. He has resecured the network, but they may yet locate us."
"Even if they do, it won't matter."
"You realize that once Bridger finds us, he will seek his revenge."
"He won't."
The dull monotony in her voice made Kamik wonder if she was more tired than she looked. "How can you be so certain?"
She cast him a brief glance out of the corner of her eye. "You surprise me, having doubts."
"Not doubts," Kamik replied, leaning against the wall and eyeing her as her attention returned to the photo she was cradling. He watched her hand continue to trace lovingly over the image. "But I do feel that underestimating our enemy is unwise."
"And how am I doing that?"
"You yourself are doing this out of love for your late wife. Why do you believe that Bridger will do no less for Doctor Westphalen?"
"My situation is different from his." Kamik raised an eyebrow in puzzlement as she continued. "Once I have achieved my goal, I will be able to have solace knowing that Mari has been vindicated. But for Bridger, this will be all too familiar territory. I'm sure you know that his only child followed in his footsteps, only to be killed in action in his first year of service. It's why Bridger himself left the military seven years ago. Took off to some remote island and all but disappeared from sight, cutting off all contact with the outside world. It was during that time that his wife also died. Fell ill during a massive storm and since there was no way help could get to her, she didn't make it. Or so the rumor goes," she added with a careless shrug.
"I still do not understand why you believe this would prevent him from desiring his own revenge."
"Because the psyche can only tolerate so much strain before it's broken irreparably. One might have thought he was already broken at that point. But it seems there was still some resolve left in him, or else he wouldn't have been convinced to rejoin the military. So he returned to the real world, took back his ship-and even found himself a new paramour. A little surprising, to be honest. Men like him usually remain faithful to the memories, never attempting to seek out a second chance. In fact, I'd even venture to guess that his sweet little doctor is the first person he's opened his heart up to since those losses." She lifted her head to meet his gaze and the smile that suddenly formed on her face unsettled him further. "And that, Kamik, is precisely why I will succeed. This will be the very thing that finally breaks him. Her death will so thoroughly devastate him that the self-blame will eat him alive. He won't have it in him to pursue anyone. Not even me."
Unable to find the words to respond to that, he simply nodded. Len's smile slowly faded and she turned to look out the window into the night. Another intense vibration rocked the floor again and he reached out to hold onto the window frame as a precaution. Len took no notice of the quake, her gaze fixed on the darkness outside. "Hack needs to hold off until after the final session, which I intend to be soon. After that, he can do whatever he wants because....I'll have the results that I want."
"I will let him know."
"Good." Her attention returned to the frame in her hands and he knew the conversation was over. As he left Len's room to return to his own, he knew that, despite the need for sleep, there would be none to be had. The instability he had glimpsed in her eyes was second only to the force that shook the land beneath their feet. And sooner or later, he knew that power would emerge with an unholy vengeance.
index post
Chapter 9 ~ Ascend to Fall
"...absolutely cannot believe you allowed this to happen!"
NCIS Special Agent Callie Moonin was practically spitting nails as she stormed in a half circle around main medbay. Jonathan was hard pressed not to roll his eyes and, if the look on the captain's face was any indication, he was even less pleased by her fit of temper. In complete contrast, Agents Brickey and Sovalik stood by the doorway, both wearing impassive expressions, as if they'd heard this all before. And they probably had, the first officer reflected dourly. He didn't doubt for a minute that this was her typical reaction when things didn't go her way during an investigation.
"I sincerely hope you intend to discipline the officers who permitted this to occur, Captain Bridger," Moonin snapped.
"That's already been taken care of by their direct superior." The captain gestured in Crocker's direction.
The security chief nodded in acknowledgment. "Their ears are probably still ringin'. Though I have to say, it's a mistake anyone could've made. After all, a lady's hairclip isn't your typical sharp object."
Moonin shot the security chief a pitying look. "You of all people should know that criminals will go to any means necessary." Before Crocker could respond, she rounded on Joshua Levin. "And you, Doctor. It took your trauma team less than five minutes to reach the brig, yet they failed to stabilize the girl. I suppose you have an explanation for that??"
"The explanation is quite simple, actually. Miss Barrett has--excuse me, had--hemophilia." Levin met the Aleut woman's disbelieving stare without flinching. "Since she was able to successfully injure herself and hide the evidence of it from the officers guarding her for a long enough period, the blood loss was severe enough to render her beyond medical help by the time the trauma team was called."
"You must be mistaken," Moonin scoffed. "Hemophilia is a disease that only males can inherit."
"I wasn't aware that you had a medical degree, Agent Moonin." Levin's voice remained even, but the edge in it was clear to everyone present. "While it largely affects males, a female can be a hemophiliac if she is the product of a hemophiliac father and a mother who carries the defective gene that causes the disease. This was the case with Miss Barrett, and is clearly documented in her medical records. I'd be happy to provide you with copies."
Moonin turned to Crocker. "Were you aware of this, Chief Crocker?"
"No, ma'am."
Crossing her arms, Moonin fixed her glare back on Levin. "And I assume you have an answer for that too?"
Jonathan had had enough of her browbeating the others and cut in before Levin was forced to answer. "Actually, I think it's fair to say that no one here can predict the future, Special Agent Moonin. While this incident creates a problem for both you and us, I see no reason to lay blame based on information that would not have become public otherwise."
"Oh, you better believe it creates a problem." Dismissing Jonathan with a final glower, Moonin turned back to Bridger. "UEO command will be hearing about this incompetence, Captain Bridger. Furthermore, I hope you realize that this not only makes my job harder, but, having lost the opportunity to properly interrogate the girl, we've also likely lost our only chance to succeed in rescuing Doctor Westphalen."
Is she serious?! Jonathan watched Moonin and the captain stare one another down, and wondered if Bridger intended to voice any sort of rebuttal. But after a full three minutes of a tense silence, it was Moonin who finally broke the eye lock, looking more than a little uncomfortable. She attempted to cover it up by snapping orders at her agents-Brickey to acquire copies of Barrett's medical records, Sovalik to check with the other two agents on their team who had been assigned to collect the evidence from her quarters. Levin also had the required paperwork for releasing the body loaded on his tablet and, after Moonin had signed, he disappeared into the morgue.
"Commander." His attention was caught by the captain addressing him. "You and Doctor Levin come to the ward room when you're done here. There's something we need to discuss."
Jonathan nodded at the captain's words and watched him leave, then noticed Agent Moonin staring with narrowed eyes in his direction. He met her gaze impassively, pretending not to know why she was staring; she'd obviously heard what Bridger had said and was wanting the details. But even if he knew what the upcoming meeting was about, he wasn't about to give her the satisfaction.
(*)
Tim O'Neill was waiting in the ward room when Nathan got there. He was thankful for the young man's presence, as it distracted him from his anger at Agent Moonin's insinuations. "Mr. O'Neill. Were you able to find anything along the lines of what I asked you about?"
"Not much, sir," O'Neill admitted. "But one piece of evidence I did find was rather surprising." He keyed on the vid link monitor and tapped in a quick command to bring up the file in question.
Nathan stared for a long moment at the file displayed onscreen. "That is definitely surprising." Shaking his head in amazement, he took his seat. Can't believe I never knew about this.
"Sir?"
Realizing he'd voiced his thought aloud, he shook his head again. "Nothing." The communications officer nodded, clearing the file off the screen just as Ford, Crocker and Levin arrived.
"That woman, I swear to God," Crocker muttered, thumping himself down into the nearest available chair. "Worse'n a whole herd of mules. You know she tried to demand the reason why you called us up here? Ford had to tell her it was ship's business to get her to leave."
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," the XO remarked as he sat down. "Unless whatever you called this meeting about will need to be shared with her later."
"Some of it, yes." Nathan glanced around the table. "You all know about the transmissions Len sent yesterday. The first transmission contained video footage showing Doctor Westphalen being tortured; she was thrown into a deep pool and repeatedly held under water. Immediately after I had viewed it, I received the second transmission, in which Len taunted me about what I'd just seen."
"She bother to tell you what this is all about yet?" the security chief asked.
"Not directly, but I did figure it out." Unable to remain still, Nathan rose from his chair and began pacing in a slow circle around the ward room table. "I've had a gut feeling from the beginning that all of this was meant as a way to strike out at me personally. Then something Len said confirmed it. Her parting shot before terminating the transmission was 'everybody's guilty of something'."
Around the table, confusion was written on every face except for one.
"Stark," Jonathan hissed.
Nathan nodded.
Jonathan shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe she's back again."
"Actually, it's not Stark."
"Who else could it be, Captain?" Jonathan argued. "We were both present for that conversation. Those were her exact words. She's obviously had reconstructive surgery and is using this new identity in an attempt to keep us off her trail."
"That thought had crossed my mind," Nathan agreed. "But then I did some more thinking, and after that, I spoke to Doctor Levin."
Joshua leaned forward, addressing the whole room, but his eyes were on the first officer. "Your suggestion has merit, Commander Ford, until you look at the whole picture, so to speak. Reconstructive surgery can change a person's entire look, but there are some things that cannot be changed, no matter how much work is done. And facial recognition software can still pick up the subtleties." He keyed in a command on the vid link monitor's control, bringing up a split screen: the left side displaying Marilyn Stark's NORPAC file photo, while the right side displaying a screen capture of Len. Going up to the screen, Joshua pointed with his stylus at Stark's photo. "The space between a person's eyes can never be changed regardless of the amount of reconstruction done on the face." He moved the stylus point to the right side of the screen. "The facial recognition program I ran the images through confirmed that this is not the same woman, but as you can see, there is a significant difference even without it."
"How can you be so sure, Doctor?" Jonathan inquired. "I don't see any difference."
"I could explain the medical terminology, but that would take unnecessary time. Suffice it to say, I have studied the images extensively even after repeated scans with the software. Whoever this woman is, she is most definitely not Captain Stark."
"Then just who the hell is she?" It was obvious from Jonathan's expression that he still was not convinced.
"I believe I can answer that," O'Neill replied. "Doctor, if I may?" He gestured to the screen and Joshua nodded as he returned to his seat. "At the captain's request, I did a little digging into the archives to see if I could find any connection. Captain Stark had listed only one person as her next-of-kin: a Lenore Haas." At a tap on the vid link, a new split screen appeared: the screen capture of Len now displayed on the left, while the right side displayed an archival photo of a brunette who appeared to be in her mid-20s. Her face bore a clear resemblance to the screen capture.
"Definitely not Stark," Crocker mused. "But if she was listed as next of kin...a relative, obviously. Sister, or maybe a cousin?"
"Much more than that, actually." O'Neill keyed in another quick command and the split screen was replaced with an image of a NORPAC dependent identification card. Everyone was stunned into silence by what the identifying information revealed, but it was Crocker who first broke it.
"Well, I'll be damned."
"I can't believe it," Jonathan muttered with a shake of his head. "I served with her for three years, and I had no idea at all that she was married."
"I've known her far longer and I had no idea either," Nathan admitted. "But then, she was always an intensely private person, even as a midshipman."
"As I mentioned to you before, Captain, I couldn't find much," O'Neill remarked. "I actually did multiple searches and even ran a cross-reference using her nickname, Len. Outside of official files, this was the only other source I could find." He entered another command into the vid link and the screen changed again: this time to a two-page photo spread from the Navy Times, the headline congratulating "our newly promoted captains". Below the main image of the officers saluting the vice admiral, who had officiated the ceremony, was a series of candid photos; Tim zoomed in on the last image in the second row. Stark was instantly recognizable, her serious expression in complete contrast to the bright smile of the young brunette, whose arms were possessively wrapped around her waist.
After several long minutes of awkward silence, the communications officer finally broke it by clearing his throat. "Like I said, that was all I could find. I'm still having the computer run repeated archival searches, but I don't expect it to find anything it didn't find the first several times. But as you saw in the second file, Haas is also listed as Stark's spouse and had been granted full spousal privileges by NORPAC. This dates back to August of 2005. No longer active, obviously...." His voice trailed off and he shrugged.
"This is more than we had before," Nathan replied quietly. Shaking his head to clear it, he inquired, "I understand that Lucas was able to decipher something from the video footage?"
O'Neill nodded. "We're still working on it, but one of his programs discovered minute disruptions in the footage. Not enough to disrupt video or audio during viewing, but it showed up when he broke it down to the base code level. And it showed up each time he ran that program with no deviations in the disruption times." Reaching out, he touched the vid link to bring up a line chart on the screen. "This is a graph readout from Lucas' computer, showing five different times he ran the footage. You can see how the lines match up. When he showed this to me, he suggested that we check all of the transmissions we've received from Len to see if the disruptions showed up any other time. And sure enough, they did. Something on her end is causing these disruptions to show up in every transmission."
"And this will help us locate the doc?" Jonathan asked.
Tim nodded. "It'll take some time, but Lucas thinks he can back track the disruption to the source. At the very least, we may be able to narrow down where the source actually is. It's really a process of elimination, given the refraction subroutines she's been using to piggyback off the nearest communication networks."
The meeting adjourned after some discussion on a plan of action for when they located where Len was hiding. Crocker voiced his concern about going in blind, since they had no idea how many men she had working for her. Levin's main focus was finding out a way to ascertain Kristin's condition in advance, so he would be better prepared to treat her once she was rescued. He also requested a copy of the video footage from O'Neill, saying he intended to study it in order to determine what he could of how Kristin might have been affected by the torture.
Nathan remained after everyone else had departed. Pulling up the last archival image onto the vid screen, he studied it for several minutes. In the other candid photos, the newly minted officers were smiling or laughing along with their equally delighted family members. Marilyn had maintained her formal posture even on this occasion. The only hint of softening was the arm she had around the younger Len's shoulders, emphasizing that she was holding her wife just as closely as Len was holding her.
Wife. How the hell did I miss that detail? He'd had occasional contact with her off and on over the years before seaQuest, the most recent being when she'd asked him to sponsor her for the exams for officer's bars. Thinking back to that conversation, he realized that he'd done most of the talking after they had discussed her request for sponsorship. She'd asked him about the progress of seaQuest's construction, if he had thought of any new design changes, how Carol and Robert were doing. She had said very little about herself and had not once hinted at anything personal. At the time, it hadn't registered as anything other than her usual reticence. Now, he was left to wonder: had he ever known the real Marilyn Stark? Or was Len the only one who did, even as she was now helping further her lust for revenge?
(*)
The quiet of sea deck was broken only by the faint lapping of the water against the walls of the moon pool. It was almost midnight; the late hour meant that there were few science crewmembers on duty. What little noise they made as they went about their work wasn't enough to carry out into the open area.
Nathan sat on the moon pool's edge, staring at the far wall without seeing it. He had initially come down for a swim with the intent of working off his frustration. But, once there, he realized he wasn't in the mood. Restless and reluctant to return to his quarters, he instead remained on sea deck, letting his bare feet dangle in the water and trying unsuccessfully to recover his calm.
After the staff meeting, he had made a call to the NCIS office in order to share the information regarding Len's identity. Moonin had taken the opportunity to lecture him again; this time, demanding to know why the information hadn't been given to her the minute O'Neill had discovered it in the archives. She had also repeated her claim that "failure to communicate about such important intel" was a hindrance to her investigation, once more hinting that such delays would likely spell failure in a rescue attempt. By the time he'd shut down the link, he was regretting even asking Bill to intercede with Captain Tillman. It would have been less frustrating to have gone about this on his own.
On top of the frustration of dealing with an intractable NCIS agent was the guilt. He had felt at fault from the start and, as the hours continued to pass, his regret became more profound. Kristin had been abducted--was being tortured--because of him. Because the last thing he'd said to her was to unfairly berate her for focusing her attention where it had needed to be; and because he had spent three days avoiding the subject instead of facing her and apologizing for his own stupidity.
Of course, if I hadn't been so stupid and argued with her over Darwin's injury, this wouldn't have even happened in the first place--because I would have been with her. They wouldn't have dared to lay a hand on her if I had been there.
The nudge against his ankle distracted him and he looked down at Darwin, who was floating next to his foot. Forcing a faint smile, he switched on the vocoder. "You're up late, Darwin boy."
"Bridger up late too."
"Well, that's what happens when you can't sleep," he replied wryly, leaning down to rub along the dolphin's melon.
"Because Doctor Kristin taken from pod?"
Nathan raised an eyebrow. "How do you know about that?"
Darwin bobbed his head. "Lucas tell Darwin."
That didn't surprise him. Next to himself and Kristin, the one individual Lucas would have felt comfortable confiding in was Darwin. "What exactly did Lucas tell you?"
"Evil lady hates Bridger."
That was putting it mildly. "Yes, she does. And we're having a hard time tracking her down."
"Why?"
"Unfortunately, she's very good at hiding."
"Look under shadow rock. Dark sky is danger."
He frowned thoughtfully. "Now what's that supposed to mean?"
"Look under shadow rock. Dark sky is danger."
"All I know is that we're running out of time. Because if we can't figure it out soon, Kristin may not survive long enough to be rescued." Nathan stared past Darwin into the water, seeing Kristin in his mind's eye--barefoot on the beach in the moonlight, her angry, hurt expression the day they had argued, fighting to breathe after being tortured. "And then I'll never get to tell her...." His voice trailed off into a heavy sigh.
"Bridger loves Doctor Kristin." There was no questioning inflection in the translated words.
"Yes...I do." Admitting it out loud at this point made him feel like he had lost the chance that would have been there before. If only he had apologized to her earlier, or had listened to her in the first place the day of the incident. What if it was too late to make his feelings known, to tell her how much she meant to him?
From the moment he'd first laid eyes on her, verbally tearing into Jonathan, there had been something about her that had intrigued him. Bill was the one to drag him out of his self-imposed exile--but it had been Kristin who had made him feel like living again. She had become an important part of his life in such a short time. If, God forbid, he couldn't find her in time, would he be able to live with that failure?
He shook his head and sighed again. There was no point in dwelling on past what ifs. What he had to do was focus on the present; making sure that they could succeed in bringing Kristin safely home.
"Bring Doctor Kristin back to pod."
I intend to. Giving Darwin's melon a final rub, he pushed himself to his feet, feeling weariness settle over him. Maybe now, he could finally attempt to get some sleep.
(*)
Kamik leaned his arms on the window frame, staring out into the darkness in the direction of the mountain. The floor shook again and he glanced at his watch, mentally counting the minutes between tremors. For the last twelve hours, the tectonic pattern had abruptly changed: now it swung between short periods of many little quakes very close together and then long gaps of time without. And the first tremor after a period of no activity was always the strongest. Hack had nearly had a fit after the last one when the power had suddenly flickered. Thankfully, he was able to initiate a backup code saved for the event of a power failure and his system had remained online. He was still furious, however, because it wasn't five minutes after the near-power failure when he got an alert that his firewall setup was being attacked. He had successfully blocked said attack, but was still swearing under his breath over it.
"This is the second time. Gonna kill that damn kid...."
"Why don't you just send him the viruses and get it over with?" Walt demanded as he entered the room.
"Because the timing isn't right, that's why."
"If he's hacking your firewalls, it sounds like it is...."
"Shut up. I'll bring the little bastard down when I want."
Rolling his eyes, Kamik turned away from the window. He had no intention of listening to them keep this up. "I am going to bed. And I would appreciate it if you two would keep your mutual tantrum down so I can have sufficient rest." Smirking in amusement at the glowers shot his way, he left the control room, more than ready to stretch out on his cot and let sleep take over. He strolled down the hall and was about to open the door to his room when the ground rocked again. This time, the jolt felt extremely strong and he had to clutch the doorjamb to keep himself upright.
Five...six.... The tremor faded before he could count to seven and he sighed in relief, even as the frown lingered on his face. If the seismic pattern was changing again so soon, it was definitely not a good omen. He debated waking Len to inform her of his suspicions, and yet wondered if she would even listen. She had been acting strangely all day and had even turned in long before sundown; usually, she was the last one to go to bed.
Crossing the hall to her door before he could change his mind, he tapped on it lightly, deciding that if she didn't wake up to a soft knock, he would just speak to her in the morning. But her voice bid him to enter. Stepping inside, he found Len standing by the window. In her hands was a digital photo frame and he recognized her wife in the image. She was in dress uniform, a flowering tree providing the perfect backdrop of color. Her bright smile lit up the image, lightening the severity of her posture.
"What is it, Kamik?" Len didn't look up, her attention solely focused on the photo as she brushed her fingertips over the smile of the blonde on the screen.
Disturbed by her demeanor, he decided now was not the time to bring up his suspicions about the seismic activity. "The boy has almost broken through Hack's firewalls twice. He has resecured the network, but they may yet locate us."
"Even if they do, it won't matter."
"You realize that once Bridger finds us, he will seek his revenge."
"He won't."
The dull monotony in her voice made Kamik wonder if she was more tired than she looked. "How can you be so certain?"
She cast him a brief glance out of the corner of her eye. "You surprise me, having doubts."
"Not doubts," Kamik replied, leaning against the wall and eyeing her as her attention returned to the photo she was cradling. He watched her hand continue to trace lovingly over the image. "But I do feel that underestimating our enemy is unwise."
"And how am I doing that?"
"You yourself are doing this out of love for your late wife. Why do you believe that Bridger will do no less for Doctor Westphalen?"
"My situation is different from his." Kamik raised an eyebrow in puzzlement as she continued. "Once I have achieved my goal, I will be able to have solace knowing that Mari has been vindicated. But for Bridger, this will be all too familiar territory. I'm sure you know that his only child followed in his footsteps, only to be killed in action in his first year of service. It's why Bridger himself left the military seven years ago. Took off to some remote island and all but disappeared from sight, cutting off all contact with the outside world. It was during that time that his wife also died. Fell ill during a massive storm and since there was no way help could get to her, she didn't make it. Or so the rumor goes," she added with a careless shrug.
"I still do not understand why you believe this would prevent him from desiring his own revenge."
"Because the psyche can only tolerate so much strain before it's broken irreparably. One might have thought he was already broken at that point. But it seems there was still some resolve left in him, or else he wouldn't have been convinced to rejoin the military. So he returned to the real world, took back his ship-and even found himself a new paramour. A little surprising, to be honest. Men like him usually remain faithful to the memories, never attempting to seek out a second chance. In fact, I'd even venture to guess that his sweet little doctor is the first person he's opened his heart up to since those losses." She lifted her head to meet his gaze and the smile that suddenly formed on her face unsettled him further. "And that, Kamik, is precisely why I will succeed. This will be the very thing that finally breaks him. Her death will so thoroughly devastate him that the self-blame will eat him alive. He won't have it in him to pursue anyone. Not even me."
Unable to find the words to respond to that, he simply nodded. Len's smile slowly faded and she turned to look out the window into the night. Another intense vibration rocked the floor again and he reached out to hold onto the window frame as a precaution. Len took no notice of the quake, her gaze fixed on the darkness outside. "Hack needs to hold off until after the final session, which I intend to be soon. After that, he can do whatever he wants because....I'll have the results that I want."
"I will let him know."
"Good." Her attention returned to the frame in her hands and he knew the conversation was over. As he left Len's room to return to his own, he knew that, despite the need for sleep, there would be none to be had. The instability he had glimpsed in her eyes was second only to the force that shook the land beneath their feet. And sooner or later, he knew that power would emerge with an unholy vengeance.