fanfic_name = The Sit. Room Incident

chapter = 16

author = Dwparsnip

Rating = AP15

Type = Romance

fanfic = He looked into her sparkling green eyes and couldn't help but feel her love. Those eyes had helped him through many trying times over the years, from the early days on the SDF-1 to now and all points in between. He could always count on those radiant eyes to lift his spirits with their glow, and failing that, he could count on them to guide him through the turbulent waters like lighthouse beacons. One way or another, he knew those eyes had saved him from many disasters. He knew they had saved his life.



And now.



And now they spoke to him. The alarm had not yet gone off, but Lisa and Rick were both awake, just looking into each other's eyes. Neither said anything. Not a word. Everything that Rick needed Lisa to know was being conveyed to her through the windows of his soul. The same was true of Lisa. Her emerald eyes finally closed as he leaned over to kiss her, and as their lips touched with incredible gentleness, the alarm went off.



They ignored it and their kiss deepened and deepened.

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

Three hours later, Lisa sat in the shuttle going over the notes her aide had prepared for her, trying very hard to forget, at least for the moment, the amazing wake up call she had received from her husband. She would be meeting the commanding officers of all the REF bases on Tirol, numbering twelve, so she forced herself to concentrate on the notes. The meeting was being held at Base Alpha, a particularly heavily fortified base in the middle of nowhere.



'Supply requisitions, personnel assignments, diplomatic options.how am I going to keep from falling asleep?'



She laughed to herself and looked up from the notes. They were entering the atmosphere and the ride was getting a little bumpy.



Besides herself, the pilot and copilot, the only other people on the shuttle were Lieutenant Santana, her aide, Lieutenant O'Brien from Security and Lieutenant Marques. They were in their regular uniforms for this trip, not their dress uniforms like the last trip two weeks earlier, and Lisa was relieved immensely for it. She hated the dress uniform.



She looked at Marques who was checking over her field medic kit. Lisa found herself liking the young medic, despite her friendship with Sue Graham. They had talked several times since she had become her travel medic, and they had gotten along well. When Lisa found out that Marques had received this assignment she was wary, but Marques had been nothing but respectful and professional on the two or three trips that they had taken together.



She looked down at her notes again.



She got through the first page and as she turned to the second she repeated to herself, 'How am I going to keep from falling asleep?'

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

Angela Marques looked at Admiral Hunter. She was reading her notes, and from the expression on her face, Marques guessed that she was having a hard time maintaining interest in what she was reading.



'She looks so happy this morning', she thought sadly. 'I'm so sorry, Admiral.'



She turned her attention back to her medical kit, and carefully stowed away the kit's inventory back in its case.



She paid especially careful attention to a little vial of bluish liquid and the miniature laser detonator that Sue Graham had given her. She remembered what Graham had told her the day before:



'Here it is, Angie. The Tirolians have been using this stuff for years, and they haven't been able to design a test or scan to detect it. It's extremely powerful, but stable. It won't explode until it reaches its boiling point: 103 degrees Celsius. The laser detonator is set to emit a low energy laser charge into the top of the vial. At the setting it's on now, the vial should blow thirty minutes after the detonator is activated.'



Marques sized the components up. Both of them put together only amounted to the size of her thumb.



For the next several minutes she went over the many conversations she had had with Grace and Graham over the last two weeks. They always involved some sort of reminiscing about the times they had, how they supported each other through thick and thin and how their friendships were all that they had. Angela wasn't naïve by any means. She knew what they were doing, and she didn't really mind. She had realized on her own that her loyalty to Grace and Graham was paramount. They were her friends. They were her family. They really were all that she had.



She couldn't let Graham continue to hurt if there was something she could do to help.



She just finished that thought as the shuttle landed at Base Alpha, on one of the southern continents. When the shuttle came to a stop, Marques stood up and waited as Lisa gathered her things together.



"You can go on ahead, Lieutenant", she said politely.



Marques shook her head and said, "That's okay, ma'am." She smiled and said jokingly, "I'm not in a rush."



Lisa laughed, stood up and headed for the door. Before Marques followed her, she activated the explosive and stuffed it underneath the cushion of the seat she had just vacated. She stood there for a moment, last minute hesitations and doubts flooding into her mind, but she shook her head and then hurried to catch up to Lisa.



All of the base commanders were waiting for Lisa at the bottom of the steps, and as Lisa walked down the stairs the military pomp began in earnest.



Marques didn't really notice the brass. All she noticed was the fact that the pilot and copilot remained aboard the shuttle, just as they always did, and she felt an honest pang of regret and sorrow because she knew that she would never see either of them again.

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

Commander Sue Graham watched the arrival of Admiral Hunter's shuttle from a window in one of the many offices assigned to Fleet Intelligence on the base. She had come down the evening before on the pretense of needing to talk to the base's intelligence staff about some rumors going around about a black market for REF weapons.



She looked at the clock. 'Right on time, as usual.'



She watched as Lisa Hunter emerged from the shuttle, followed closely by her security escort, aide and finally Angela Marques.



She set the countdown on her watch for twenty-nine minutes and activated it.



The smile that graced her lips would make the hardiest person feel uneasy.



She looked at the explosive device on the desk. It was identical to the one that Marques had on the shuttle, except for the fact that it's detonator was set for a ten minute detonation. In a minute, she would leave and plant it in a place that would create a suitable distraction.



She went over the plan one more time in her head, looking for loopholes and anticipating every variable. Her plan wasn't simple, and she had made a lot of assumptions and they were taking a lot of risk. They would need some luck. Nevertheless, she reckoned it was the old risk versus reward game. In her case the reward, Rick, far outweighed the risk, getting caught.



Satisfied, she picked up the explosive and walked out of the office, towards the side of the base farthest from the shuttle. It took three minutes. When she got there she started to inspect one of the Alphas, just as she had done on many occasions. After looking around to make sure that no one was watching her, she took out her explosive device and activated the detonator. After taking one last quick glance around, she hid the active bomb on the fuselage underneath the port wing. Her task completed, Sue Graham looked around a final time to see if she had been observed.



As far as she could tell she hadn't been, and she walked calmly back towards the center of the base, keeping an eye on her watch. She estimated it would take eight minutes at her pace to reach her standby position near Lisa's shuttle.

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

Angela Marques watched out the window of the conference room as Sue Graham walked by. It wasn't noticed by anyone else, but Marques saw that as she walked by, Graham had flashed her slender fingers on her left hand in a pattern. She stretched out all five fingers, closed them and then held out only her index finger.



Angela looked at her watch and did the calculation. 'Six minutes until the distraction, and eighteen minutes until the shuttle blows. Right on schedule.'



Marques quietly took out a small, fast ejection syringe. In it was a small dose of the fastest working sedative that the REF used, used to sedate severe trauma cases in the field. She set the dose to the appropriate amount, looked at her watch again and waited.

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

Graham waited by the corner of the building nearest to the shuttle, about eighty meters away. She had gotten there a little quicker than she had anticipated, which meant that she had extra time to be nervous. She had a hard time controlling her breathing, but with some effort she managed to eventually bring it under control, just as the time approached.



She looked at her watch and silently counted down. '5.4.3.2.1.now!'



On cue, a deafening explosion sounded off on the far side of the base. Alarms sounded and announcements concerning evacuations and safety procedures followed in short order.



She counted to sixty, took a deep breath and ran towards the shuttle.

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

Marques heard the explosion and moved closer to Admiral Hunter.



There was, as expected, mass confusion.



Marques looked at O'Brien and Santana and shouted, "Make sure the corridor is clear for the Admiral!"



They left and the officers that had gathered in the conference room began to leave in a hurry. Lisa made her way to the window, but could only see smoke rising up from the other side of the base.



"Admiral, we have to get you to the shuttle", said Marques.



Lisa hesitated for a moment still trying to see what the commotion was, but eventually she nodded absently and turned to leave. She went to the door and with Marques close behind her she headed for the shuttle. The corridor was abandoned by now, with everyone having made their escape or gone to their duty stations, and as they approached a briefing room near the main entrance Marques took out her syringe.



When they got to the door she said, "I'm very sorry, Admiral", and before Lisa could turn around she jabbed the syringe into her neck and pressed the ejection button. Lisa dropped without saying a word.



Marques hid the syringe in her bag and opened the door to the briefing room. She dragged Lisa inside and closed the door behind her. After she locked the door, she bent down and turned Lisa over onto her back, gently placed her index and middle fingers on her neck and checked for a pulse. It was slow, steady and strong.



'So far so good', thought Marques. 'The sedative should keep her out for a few hours.'



She got up, opened the door, and stepped outside. After she closed the door, she pulled a magnetic lock out of her bag and placed it on the door. She used the code that Graham had given her and she heard the lock take a hold.



Satisfied at that, she ran outside to find O'Brien and Santana waiting.



Marques looked at them with horror on her face. "Where's the Admiral?" she demanded.



O'Brien and Santana looked at each other and then at Marques. "We thought she was with you!", exclaimed O'Brien.



Marques shook her head. "We got separated. She told me to head for the shuttle and she'd meet me there."



They looked towards the shuttle and realized it was in the process of taking off.



Santana breathed a sigh of relief. "It's taking off, she must be on board."



Marques nodded her head and said, "We better head inside and find out what's going on."



As she turned to leave, she noticed Graham nod to her as she went into the building that Lisa Hunter was in.

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

When Graham had reached the shuttle she bolted up the stairs, and when she entered the copilot raised a rifle and pointed it at her chest.



"I'm Commander Graham with Fleet Intelligence", she said breathlessly.



The copilot lowered his weapon in obvious relief and asked, "What's going on, Commander?"



"No time to explain. The Admiral is being taken to a secure site on the base, but to ensure her safety I want you to take off and head back to the ship. Inform the tower that you have the Admiral on board in case the transmissions are being monitored, and once you take off maintain radio silence until you're on final approach to the ship. Do you understand?"



He nodded. She knew from the info that Grace had gotten from Montgomery that the escort squadron would try to get confirmation from the shuttle that the Admiral was aboard, so she pressed on. "It's imperative that you tell the tower that the Admiral is on board! Got it? And maintain radio silence! Even with the escorts. We can't risk anyone intercepting any communications that could compromise the ruse."



He saluted and said, "Yes, ma'am."



She returned his salute and headed to the door. When she got to it she turned and said, "Take off as soon as you can."



She ran down the steps and headed for the building in which the meeting was being held.



She couldn't hide the smile on her face as she heard the shuttle's engines begin to power up.



She nodded at Angela as she entered the building and headed down the corridor. When she found the door with her magnetic lock on it her smile widened. She unlocked the lock, opened the door and entered.



She looked at Admiral Lisa Hunter sleeping on the floor, and said to herself, 'He's mine Lisa, or at least he will be when I'm rid of you.'

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

The pilots did as the Fleet Intelligence Commander had instructed them. They radioed the tower and informed them that Admiral Hunter was aboard and that they were taking off. The tower acknowledged their transmission and gave them clearance to leave immediately.



And they did. Once they checked in with their escort squadron they observed radio silence, as they were told to do. Several times the leader of the escort squadron had requested a status report on Admiral Hunter, but they would not answer. They were approximately six minutes out of Tirol when they received a transmission from the SDF-3. The pilots heard, 'Shuttle One, this is Admiral Rick Hunter aboard the SDF-3. Put my wife on the line. Now.' The pilot looked at the copilot and said, "He sounds pretty pissed." The copilot nodded and opened the communication channel.



He was about to speak when the shuttle blew apart into a million pieces.

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

Rick was in the Sit. Room when all hell broke loose.



The shuttle wasn't responding to the escort squadron's status report requests, and it made him mad. "Shuttle One, this is Admiral Rick Hunter aboard the SDF-3. Put my wife on the line. Now."



He was aware of the explosion on the base and that the shuttle reported having Lisa on board before they took off. He was relieved that she had made it off the planet, but he wouldn't be happy until he heard her voice.



He heard the telltale squeal of the channel being opened and he listened for his wife's voice, but instead of hearing Lisa speak to him he got a short burst of high-pitched static, and then dead silence.



"Rick!", exclaimed Vince, who was watching the shuttle's approach on the radar screen.



Rick looked over to Vince. He heard the shock in Vince's voice, and it unnerved him. "What is it Vince?"



Vince Grant looked at him, and Rick could see something in Vince's eyes that he never saw before, not even when his sister died: tears.



"Rick."



"Come on, Vince." Rick was getting scared now at Vince's reaction.



'Admiral Hunter', came the voice of the escort squadron leader through the speakers. 'It is my very sad duty to inform you that the shuttle carrying Admiral Lisa Hunter has.exploded.'



Rick just looked at Vince with disbelief. "Vince.that can't be!" He looked at the screen. The blips representing the shuttle and two of the escort squadron were gone.



Rick began to feel the room spin and he staggered backwards until he came up against one of the control panels, and as Vince moved to him he heard him holler, "Get me confirmation on Admiral Hunter's location." When Vince reached him he said, "Rick, hang on, she might not have been on the shuttle."



Rick just nodded, in shock and uncertainty.



A communication technician turned around in her chair to face them.



"Sirs." When they looked at her, they noticed the tears flowing down her round cheeks, and when she spoke again her voice cracked with sorrow. "Base Alpha confirms.that Admiral Hunter. was on board Shuttle One when it took off." She focused her look on Rick and said softly, "I'm so sorry, sir."



He opened his mouth, but words eluded him and he thought to himself, 'She's gone. Oh my God, she's gone. What.how do I go on without her? Lisa.'



Rick placed his right hand on Vince's arm, summoned all of his strength and mumbled instructions to him. "Vince.you have command. Recall the escort squadron. Begin the.the investigation. You.you know what to do Vince. I'll be."



He took a step towards the door and almost stumbled. As he tried to keep his balance, he felt Vince's massive arm go around his shoulder, and Rick couldn't help but quietly cry into Vince's shoulder as he helped him leave the Situation Room.

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

Angela Marques waited with O'Brien and Santana in an office on the third floor of the base's main building. They had been found not long after the shuttle had taken off and escorted to the room.



They all looked up as the base's senior intelligence officer, Captain Michaels, entered the room. He was a middle-aged man with graying brown hair and an athletic body that Angela couldn't help but admire.



Without preamble he began. "The shuttle carrying Admiral Lisa Hunter exploded in space shortly after takeoff. There were no survivors."



Marques put on her best surprised face, while O'Brien and Santana just looked at him in shock.



He began his interrogation of them, asking them what they saw, whom they saw, what they did and so on.



He went on for an hour, and when he was finished his last words to them before he left were, "Don't leave the base."

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

While Marques was being questioned, Graham went to the base commander, Captain Pearson, to ask for a way to get back to the SDF-3. As she approached the door to the base's command center, she could hear the buzz of the activity inside. The door opened for her and when she stepped inside, she looked for Pearson. He was near the communications console on the right side of the room having a very animated conversation with the base's chief of security.



She walked towards him, and as she got closer she heard him say angrily, "Recall all security personnel, Commander. If you need more people, get them from the other bases. Get this base locked down! No one comes in or goes out without permission from me! You got that? And I want a report on any suspicious activity on my base! Go!"



The security chief nodded, saluted and left to carry out Pearson's orders. When she passed by, Graham noticed the tears in her eyes and the redness in her cheeks.



Pearson picked up a communication headset and started talking to the tower about diverting air traffic to Base Echo, and when he noticed Graham waiting nearby he motioned her to come over.





She moved closer to Pearson and when he finished his conversation with the tower, he slammed the headset down on to the panel with so much force that it cracked into three pieces.



Graham swallowed the small lump in her throat and began. "Sir, I request permission to return to the SDF-3."



He ran his right hand through his hair and said tiredly, "Request denied. All the shuttles are grounded until we find out what happened to Shuttle One."



She looked at him and said, "Understood, sir. Is there anyway I could borrow an Alpha, sir?"



He looked at her as if she was insane. "Commander, Alphas are for trained pilots."



She interrupted him by saying, "I am a certified Alpha pilot, sir. I received my certification a couple of months ago."



He looked at her, still uncertain.



"Captain Michaels has everything here under control, sir. I need to get back to the ship to help with the investigation from there. SDF-3 is a little understaffed in intelligence, sir."



He blew out a deep breath and finally said, "Alright, Commander. Go get an Alpha and return to the ship."



She saluted and said, "Thank you, sir."



He returned her salute. There was pain in his gray eyes and when he spoke there was profound sorrow in his voice. "Just find out what happened, Commander. Lisa Hunter is.was.a personal friend of mine."



She nodded and said, "Yes, sir."



She left and headed for the Alphas near the building in which Lisa was hidden. When she got there, she informed the guards on duty that she was ordered back to the ship and had permission to take an Alpha. They had already received word from the commander, so she had no trouble.



She walked up to a training Alpha and was about to climb in when someone said, "That's a training Alpha, Commander."



She turned and said, "I'm aware of that, Lieutenant. I have another intelligence officer that I have to pick up over by the main conference building."



"Sorry, ma'am", said the young male guard. "I wasn't aware of that."



"That's okay, Lieutenant." She climbed into the back seat and started the engines, not bothering to lower the canopy. She taxied over to the building where Lisa was sleeping and positioned the Alpha so that the aircraft obstructed the view of anyone who was trying to see inside the building.



She climbed down the side of the Alpha that was facing the building, looked around and saw no one. She knew by now that everyone would be holed up in various rooms on the base trying to figure out what happened to the shuttle, and those that weren't were mostly on the other side of the base trying to determine what happened to the Alpha that she blew up. She walked quickly to the room that Marques had hid Lisa in and opened the door.



She bent down and grabbed Lisa's hands, pulled her up, slipped her right arm underneath Lisa's left arm and wrapped it around her waist. Just when she was sure she had a good grip on Lisa, she heard the door open. She turned around, about ready to have a heart attack, and looked into the brown eyes of Angela Marques.



"Let's go, Sue!", Marques exclaimed as she checked the corridor to make sure it was empty.



There was still no sign of activity and they pulled Lisa along the corridor until they got to the exit.



Angela looked at Graham and said, "You get up into the cockpit and pull her up while I push."



Marques held onto Lisa while Graham climbed up, and once she got into the cockpit she reached down and started pulling Lisa into the front seat of the training Alpha, while Marques pushed her up as she climbed up behind her. Their years of conditioning paid off like never before, and their luck appeared to hold, as no one saw or heard them.



They finally managed to get Lisa into the seat and Marques, out of breath, looked at Graham and said, "Go!", as she jumped off the ladder and ran back into the building.



Graham didn't even acknowledge Marques' assistance. She lowered the canopy as she taxied out to the takeoff position and signaled the tower.



"This is Commander Graham requesting clearance to depart."



'Permission granted, Commander.'



She pushed the throttle forward and was thrown back into the seat as a result. She initiated a steep climb to minimize the amount of time needed to get out of the atmosphere and three minutes later, the Alpha was in the coldness of space.



She headed for the SDF-3.



'Okay Sue. Everything so far has gone exactly according to plan. Not too much longer.'



She took a deep breath and opened the communication channel. "SDF-3, this is Commander Graham in Alpha four-four-seven. My scanners just picked up something out near the edge of the system. I'm going to investigate."



She held her breath. Her hope was that the people in the Sit. Room and on the bridge would be so cautious that they would want her to check out anything suspicious. Her fear was that they would be too cautious and order her to return to the ship or wait for backup.



'SDF-3 to Commander Graham. We aren't picking up anything. Are you sure you saw something?'



"Affirmative SDF-3."



'Proceed with caution, Commander. Skull squadron is airborne and can rally at your position in minutes.'



"Acknowledged, SDF-3." She finally allowed herself to breath. 'I can't believe this is working out so well. Not in my wildest dreams did I think it would go this well.'



Over the next fifteen minutes, she headed for the edge of the system, intermittently checking in with the ship as she went. As she approached her destination, she initiated the next part of her façade.



"Commander Graham to SDF-3. Mayday. I appear to have an electrical system malfunction. The gauges are going wild and I appear to be losing power."



She disabled the transponder and shut down her electrical systems. The knowledge concerning how to do that without triggering suspicion was one of the tidbits that Grace had gleaned from the unsuspecting Lt. Montgomery.



The SDF-3 responded, but even before they finished their message to her she radioed, "SDF-3, this is Commander Graham. If you can hear me, I'm setting down on the MED moon. I say again, I am setting down on the MED moon to perform a full systems check. Do you read me SDF-3?"



Before they had a chance to acknowledge her transmission, she cut power to the communication system and brought the ship in for a landing in Guardian mode. Once the craft had set down, she opened the canopy, stood up and looked at that special place. She looked at her watch and her mind processed that the Skull would be on their way by now, but it would take them at least thirty-five minutes to get to the moon from their location.



'Lisa's new home.'



She sat down and maneuvered the Guardian's nose as close to the ground as possible. She got up again and began the arduous task of getting Lisa out of the Alpha. It took her fifteen minutes to get Lisa out of the Alpha and safely on the ground, and another ten minutes to get her into the cave. She hadn't anticipated using so much time in getting Lisa out of the Alpha.



She rested Lisa on the thermal blanket and looked around. Some of the patrols she had volunteered to do over the last few weeks were the perimeter patrol routes, which took her to the far reaches of the system and in particular, near the MED moon. On almost every trip she made out around the moon, she landed and dropped off something that was going to be needed for her plan. A thermal blanket, a heater, lights, food, water and of course, a set of shackles that she had attached to the wall of the cave. It had taken time and patience, but as she connected the shackles to the legs of Lisa Hunter, she realized the time, effort and patience were worth it.



She looked at her watch and realized she was running out of time.



Sue Graham looked at the sleeping figure of the woman she despised so much and said wickedly, "Sorry to leave you here without saying good-bye, Admiral, but my time is up. I'll be by tomorrow or the next day. In the meantime, pleasant dreams."



She left the cave at a run and headed for the Alpha. After she climbed aboard she reactivated the electrical systems, the transponder and the communications system.



She throttled up the Alpha and was airborne in seconds. She hovered the Guardian near the entrance of the cave for a couple of seconds and then took off upward. She reconfigured to Fighter mode and once she cleared the atmosphere she contacted the ship.



"Commander Graham to SDF-3. Everything appears to be back to normal. I'm returning to the ship."



'Any idea what you picked up, Commander?'



"Looks like it may have been an echo on the scanner, maybe a result of the electrical problem."



'Understood, Commander. What was the trouble?'



"Unknown SDF-3. I'll have the ship checked out when I land. My ETA is twenty minutes. Graham out."



She locked in a course for the ship and relaxed. The hard part was over, and the relief she felt was revitalizing.



She didn't know when she could return to check on Lisa. It all depended on the patrol routes and assignments. She wouldn't wait too long.



She couldn't.



She wanted to see Lisa in chains and her spirit broken.



She smiled a smile that only the devil would find attractive and said aloud, "Now Rick, you can be mine."

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

Captain Max Sterling stood in front of the door to the quarters of his best friend and contemplated what to say and what to do. Actually, he contemplated what he could say and could do. Everything that came to his mind seemed so inappropriate or inadequate. He had just gotten in and never even bothered to change out of his flight suit. He needed to see Rick, tell him how sorry he was and help him in any way he could, though he knew there was only one thing that could help him, and that was beyond the abilities of everyone.



When Vince had contacted Max to tell him the news about Lisa, he told him how he had to literally carry Rick to his quarters, he was so despondent. Vince also informed Max that Jean would stay with Rick for as along as she was needed.



Max inhaled deeply, and as he released the breath through his mouth he knocked on the door. Seconds later, the door opened and Max found himself looking into the tear filled eyes of Jean Grant.



"Thank God you're here, Max", she said. "He needs you."



Max entered and gave Jean a hug. When he released her he asked, "How bad is he?"



Jean just shook her head in response. "I wanted to give him a sedative so he could rest, but he wouldn't hear tell of it." She lowered her voice. "So I slipped a mild one into his water. I don't know how much he drank, so I don't know how sound he is or long he'll be out."



"It's okay, Jean. I won't leave him, and I'll make sure he rests and eats." Max smiled a little and said, "He's tough. He'll be okay."



He didn't believe what he said for a second.



Jean looked at him with concern. "I hope you're right Max." She took the door handle in her hand and said, "If you need me, I'll either be in the infirmary or in my quarters. Just call and I'll come running."





"Thanks, Jean." With that she was gone and Max closed the door. He looked around and his eyes focused on the couch. He remembered the last time he saw Lisa. She was sitting on the couch, full of life and exuberance. The last memory Max had of Lisa was her looking at him and laughing because he was blushing over the fact that he had blushed when she had kissed his cheek that day he dropped Roy of to them on Tirol.



'My God, if I'm thinking like this what is Rick going through?', he thought solemnly. His thoughts turned to his own wife. Miriya was on an inspection tour of the fighter squadrons aboard the cruiser Icarus and would be back in the morning. Max was close to Lisa, and he knew that when he had the time to think about it after taking care of Rick, her loss would affect him greatly. But Lisa was Miriya's best friend. From the day they had met, Lisa patiently schooled Miriya in all things Micronian, especially the finer points of parenthood. Miriya would be devastated.



He walked quietly to the bedroom door and looked at Rick, who appeared to be sleeping restlessly on his back on the bed.



Not wanting to disturb him, Max sat down in the recliner and thought about how to best deal with the grief that his best friend, the closest thing he had to a brother, was going through.



He couldn't think of anything. He even tried to put himself in Rick's shoes, as painful as the thoughts were, but he knew in his heart that if he had lost Miriya, there would be nothing that anyone could do.



'I'll just have to support him as best I can, I guess. Be there when he needs to talk, or needs to cry or needs to yell.'



It was all he could do. He leaned back in the recliner and thought about the heart warming emerald eyes that he would never see again.

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

She had a splitting headache, and as she moved her legs, she could hear the rattle of .'Chains?'



She slowly opened her eyes and felt a wave of panic wash over her when saw nothing but blackness. She sat up quickly and rubbed her eyes, trying desperately to get them to focus. After several anxious moments, she realized that her eyes were working properly and that the light was the problem. More specifically, the lack of light was the problem. Among the items she could see in the dim light were a couple of portable lights, and after she lit the light that was right next to her and better illuminated her surroundings, her fears eased.



A little.



'What in the hell? Where am I?', she thought a little groggily.



She tried to remember what happened.



'There was an explosion and I was heading for the shuttle. Angie was behind me.' As she remembered, she brought her right hand up out of reflex to the spot on the side of her neck where the needle entered. 'Angie said something, and someone stuck me with a needle. I.can't remember anything else. Who injected me.Marques?'



She tried to stand up, but when she did, she realized that both her legs were attached to the wall via a set of shackles. She looked around and thought, 'Why do this place look familiar? Where have I.The MED! This was the cave that Rick was in! How did I get here?'



She called out for help, but she knew there would be no one. Panic began to seize her again, but as she took in the situation and the items in the cave, she forced herself to calm down. She reasoned to herself, 'Field rations, water, lights, a heater.they want to keep me alive or they wouldn't have gone through so much effort. They'll be back.'



She didn't know all that had happened, but the amount of details that she could figure out and remember boggled her mind. Her thoughts drifted to who could be behind it all, though the answer came to her very quickly.



Sue Graham was the culprit. Moreover, she had help.



The tiny morsel of fear that she still felt was overcome by the red-hot anger that began to fill her body and soul. She was angry with Marques for helping Graham, she was angry with Graham for doing this to her, and even more angry for what she was planning to do to Rick, whatever it was. Her voice spewed utter contempt as she said, "You haven't won yet, Sue. And you never will."



Lisa thought about her next course of action. According to her training, the number one priority of a prisoner was to escape. With that thought in her mind, she began working on her restraints.



As she did, she saw in her mind the driving force behind her strength and confidence: her beloved husband.









State = Continuará/To Be Continue

feedback = Sí/Yes

email = dparsnipAThotmail.com