Title:Fools Gold

Author: Songmyth

Disclamer:I do not own any of the Seaquest crew. I am not getting any money for this.

Authors Note: This story has not been beta read. It is also not finished yet. Please let me know if I should finish this story before I get too far into it. It's gonna be long. :) Comments are strongly encouraged. Thanks enjoy!



Fools Gold
By Songmyth

"Ok, tell me again. Why am I going on this trip?" Lucas Wolenczak asked Captain Nathan Bridger for the third time.

"Because it will be a great educational experience for you." Came the tired and slightly annoyed reply.

Lucas leaned back in his seat on the small mini sub and looked at his other traveling companions. Lieutenant Tim O'Neill was sitting across from Lucas and the Captain beside Lieutenant Ben Kreig. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

At least Ben is here, he thought. Knowing that Tim would be caught up trying to decipher whatever the archeologist at the underwater dig site needed to be translated. Tim would not be much fun to try and talk to.

"We are almost ready to dock at Sierracove, Captain." The pilot said from the front of the mini sub.

"Thank you."

Upon arriving at Sierracove, Lucas was impressed by all the equipment that was needed for an archeological dig. There were a lot of computers and a few things he had never seen before. Maybe this trip won't be so boring after all, Lucas thought to himself.

"Welcome, Captain Bridger, to Sierracove. I'm so glad you could make it!"

The Seaquest crew turned to find a short woman with long brown hair and bright blue eyes coming towards them.

"Ah, you must be Dr. Harper." Bridger said and moved his bag to his other hand as he reached out to shake her hand.

"That's right, but please, call me Jina." She said as she shook his hand. "This must be Lt. Tim O'Neill." She said as she went to shake Tim's hand as well. "I want to thank you for agreeing to come and translate these slates for us. They've had us stumped for days."

"It's a pleasure." Came Tim's shy reply.

"This is Lt. Ben Kreig, and Lucas Wolenczak." Bridger finished the introductions. "Hope you don't mind me bring them along. They might be able to help you as well in other areas." He explained to the doctor.

"That's great. We could always use an extra pair of hands. Let me introduce you to some of my crew." She said with a smile and let them into the small facility.

Looking around the crew was amazed at how organized everything was. They had heard rumors about Dr. Jina Harper's digs. Her digs were always described as chaotic. They guessed that these rumors didn't hold as much truth as they had believed.

Jina led them down a narrow corridor away from the docking bay and down a small flight of stairs. As they reached the bottom, Jina walk over to an elevator.

"This will take us to the dig site. After I show you that and you meet some of the crew, we'll see about your sleeping arrangements." She explained as they piled into the elevator.

Once they reached the dig, they realized that they were in an immense cavern. The walls and floor were slightly moist from the water that was dripping from the ceiling and into a series of shallow pools.

Walking along a narrow path, they all were taken aback by the sight that met them when they reached the end.

On a raised incline there were a series of caves that were carved into the walls. Those same walls were also painted with odd symbols that none of them, save Tim, could understand.

"Oh, wow." Tim exclaimed as he saw the symbols. He walked straight to them. "Are these what I think they are?" He asked, turning to Jina.

"That they are." A deep voice answered him before Jina could open her mouth. "What you are seeing here is actual writing of a split between Celtic and Egyptian dialects."

Jina smiled at the excited and surprised look on Tim's face. "Gentlemen, this is Dr. Colin Meyer, my associate on this dig."

"Well, considering it's recognized, I'm guessing that this isn't what you need translated." Tim said, as he stood up to shake Colin's hand.

"Nope. What we have for you is much more interesting." Jina replied cryptically as she let them deeper into the cavern.

~~*~~*~~

Daren Casteal watches as the two doctors led the new comers from Seaquest deeper into the cavern. He smiled as he worked. It would happen soon. All he needed to do was find what he was told to then get out as fast as he could. His boss would be very pleased. It's a shame about the boy, he thought, but then there are always casualties of war in these kinds of endeavors.

~~*~~*~~

"Here we are." Jina said as made it to a far end of the cavern. "Just watch where you step. The ground isn't really stable in some places off the path."

The Seaquest crew nodded and looked around.

This part of the cavern was like a small room. The moss and algae on the walls gave it a very colorful look. On the sides of the path that they were walking, they saw holes that looked to lead to a cavern below them. Judging by the layout of the cavern they were in, they would have to fall in order to get into the cavern below. None of them wanted that.

"Hey Jina, come over here and look at this." A young girl with red hair said as she waved Jina over to where she was working.

"Sure Reanne. " Turing back to the Seaquest crew she told them who Reanne was. "That is Reanne Alverez. She's one of the undergrads working here. So, let's see what Ms. Alverez found."

Walking over to a shallow impression on the wall, Jina and Tim crouched down to see what Reanne found. As they began to talk about the items in question, Lucas wondered off towards the main cavern.

"Lucas. Where are you going?" Bridger asked when he noticed the boy's subtle retreat.

"I'm just going to look around the main cavern again." Came his reply. Seeing the captain nod, Lucas again walked back the way they had come.

"Hey, Lucas. Wait up." Lucas tuned to see Ben walking to catch up to him.

Ben & Lucas both stopped when they heard a what sounded like an explosion. When the ground started to shake, Bridger, Jina, Tim, and Reanne looked up from their work searching the cavern in confusion.

"What's going on?" Bridger yelled over the noise of falling dabre falling from above.

"I'm not sure." Jina replied. "This cavern was supposed to be really stable." Jina, Tim, and Reanne got up from where they were at and started back toward the main cavern in a hurry. If this was an earthquake, like they all thought, then they wanted to be on more stable ground.

Ahead of them, Ben and Lucas heard another explosion much closer to where they were at. Looking down at their feet, Lucas and Ben could see small fissures beginning to open up around them.

"Oh man, we gotta get out of here." Ben said as he made his way to Lucas again.

When Ben was only a few feet from the kid, he watched in horror as Lucas began to fall through one of the fissures.

"LUCAS!" Ben cried out as he tried to run to where his friend had fallen. He made it about two or three steps before he to fell through a newly opened fissure.

Behind them, Bridger and his companions watched in horror as both of their friends disappeared. It was only a matter of seconds before they heard yet another explosion and they fell to the cavern below them as well.

Darkness claimed Bridger as a rock from above smashed into his head as he fell.

~~*~~*~~

Lucas awoke to the sound of falling pebbles and dripping water. Still confused by his fall, he tried to sit up.

Blinding pain made him fall back, threatening to take him back to unconsciousness. Taking shallow breaths until the pain faded a bit, Lucas called out into the darkness, not daring to move again.

"Ben? Captain? Tim? Can anyone hear me?" His voice was a harsh loud whisper that he doubted anyone around had heard him.

He lay there, still for a few more minutes and then began to assess his injuries.

He could feel his legs and arms, which he took as a good sign. Taking another shallow breath he tried to move again. Again the blinding pain. This time he figured out where the pain came from.

Lucas was pinned down by a large boulder. He gently lifted his left arm to feel how trapped he was.

The boulder was on top of his right arm and leg and part of his side. Because of the rough ground both his arm and leg had room to keep his circulation going. Judging by the pain, he had broken ribs, possibly a broken arm and leg. This is not good, he thought to himself.

A short distance away from Lucas, Ben lay unconscious still. He was also buried under rocks and other dabre.

"Captain?" A weak voice called some distance away from both Ben and Lucas.

Tim had woken up with a really bad headache and a possibly broken, if not fractured, leg.

"Can anyone hear me?" He called again as he tried to sit up. Blinking his eyes a few times, and taking deep breaths, Tim managed to ease his way into a sitting position against a rock.

"Tim?" Came a harsh whisper to his left. Tim snapped his head in that direction, instantly regretting it as his world began to spin.

"Lucas? Is that you?"

"Yeah. Where are you?" Lucas asked in a relived voice. He was really glad that he wasn't alone in this place.

Tim looked around from where he was propped up at trying to locate Lucas. He sighed as he realized that he had to get up and look for him on foot.

"Just keep talking, Lucas. I'm going to try and make my way over to you." He called out to the kid. At least, Tim thought, I hope I can make my way over to you. His leg really hurt to put any kind of pressure on, but he had to find Lucas and the others to make sure they were all right.

~~*~~*~~

Pebbles crunched under the man's feet as he stepped into what was left of the main cavern. He looked around at the destruction of some of the smaller caves with satisfaction. Damn archeologists, he thought, I always thought they were a waste of money.

"Is everything going as planned?" The man asked one of his workers.

"That it is sir. We should be reaching the burial chambers soon. The artifacts should be there." Daren Casteal said as he turned to face his boss. "What should be do with the people that survived the explosions?" Daren asked his boss.

Looking over Daren's shoulder he could see some students and other people with various injuries sitting along a wall with one of his grunt workers holding a gun on them.

"I'm sure you can think of something Mr. Casteal. I want no witnesses." With that said, the man walked away, back to the Sierracove mining colony.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Tanner. Whatever you say." Was Daren's only reply as he watched his boss leave the underground caverns.

~~*~~*~~

After finally getting up and walking toward where he believed Lucas lay, Tim stumbled over something soft. Cringing at the thought of looking at a possibly dead body, he turned to see who it was. The body's face was not one he was expecting and took him by surprise.

"Oh my God! Ben!" Tim cried in horror as he saw his unconscious friend lying underneath various boulders and other bits of rubble.

Tim moved closer to Ben trying not to move him as he felt for signs of life. Shaking from the shock of seeing a friend in this condition, Tim felt along Ben's neck for a pulse. Releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding, he felt a weak but steady throbbing under his fingertips.


PART TWO SOON