(Note: Dr. Henry Walton Jones Jr. does NOT belong to me. I'm kind of borrowing him, hope Mr. Lucas and Mr. Spielberg don't mind. I'll put him back when I'm done.)

"Talk to me lad. What’s on your mind?" the Admiral asked me from across the plot table. I noticed he had waited till Chip had wandered off to do XO things before saying anything to me.

"I’m not talking about the logs or Seaview. Lee, we need to talk about this." The Admiral looked up past me and called out to Chip, "Mr. Morton, take the conn," he said. The Admiral rarely went over my head as captain but when he did, it was with good reason. The Admiral was right, as usual. We needed to clear the air about a few things.

"Aye sir," was Chip’s only answer. A second later I heard the observation doors slide shut behind me. The Admiral wanted to talk this out. To that end he really was taking no chances, cutting me off from all but the one exit. I would have to take the stairs to avoid this, and right now, with Chip at the conn, I had no real reason to leave. I finally looked up. He had me pinned with that stare. That stare was like two sapphire blue lasers boring into my soul. There was no lying to him when he was working that gaze. My best bet was to get this over with so I could get on with the business he had hired me for.

"Sit down, Lee. I think this might take some time."

I wandered over to the coffee pot and poured myself a cup. The Admiral was already setting at the table, idly flipping through an unfamiliar hardback book. I pulled out the chair across from him and eased down into it. He sipped at his coffee. I sipped at mine. He waited. I waited. Stalemate.

"Lee, I know this was a surprise . . ."

"Admiral, you don’t owe me an explanation. What goes on in your personal life is your business, not mine."

"I know you well enough to know that this bothers you. I can think of a number of reasons why, but I want to hear from you. We’ve known each other for far too long for you to clam up on me now."

I tried to gather my thoughts into some form of order. I hadn’t had a problem with Dr. Harrison until last week, when the Admiral broke the news that she was his estranged daughter. Suddenly things were a lot more complicated.

Seaview was my home, her crew my family. Chip was my closest friend, my brother in soul. The Admiral was the father I had lost all those years ago. I would do anything to keep my home and my family safe. ONI had trained me to look at each and every person as a possible threat. Why did I consider Serena Harrison a threat? She was an archaeologist, a marine researcher. She wasn't an imposing figure, standing at a little over five feet and she walked with a slight limp. She wasn’t part of any of the Armed Forces, and while she’d been impressed by Seaview, she saw nothing more than a research vessel. Before I could stop myself, I found myself pouring out all my fears and doubts.

"Do you really know this person Admiral? I know you’ve worked with her on and off over the last few months, but do you really know her? What if this is all some elaborate plan to use your name to further her career? How do you know she’s not part of a larger plot to gain control of Seaview?"

The Admiral stood up, taking his cup with him. He meandered over to the coffee pot and poured a second cup. I still had half a cup left, and it was growing cold. I wrapped both hands around the cup, staring down into the dark liquid. When I looked up again, the Admiral had his back to me and was looking out the windows.

"I asked myself that when I realized she was Liz’s daughter. In addition to the standard background check, I’d hired two independent private investigators to look into her background. I could find nothing to indicate she is anything other than a very accomplished archaeologist and marine researcher. Have you seen her written work?"

"No sir, I’ve never really been drawn to that field of study. Quiet frankly, until she came down to work with us, I had never heard of her."

The Admiral had switched into scientist mode. All ahead full, there was nothing short of an explosion that could knock him off track when he got this way. The problem was while I was no scientist, I found his enthusiasm infectious. It was something we shared, the love of discovery, the thrill of the new and unknown.

"Her mentor from Barnett. She wanted to do something for his memory after his death. It’s a biography written with a family friend of Dr. Jones. His career was active from the thirties up through the fifties. Apparently, he made quite an impression on Serena. The book is doing quite well on the best sellers list. It was his influence as well as her stepfather’s that inspired her to study archeology. Her stepfather was an Egyptologist named Archibald Harrison."

Again, the name was familiar, but again I couldn’t place a face. The Admiral noticed my puzzlement and tried to fill in the blanks.

I shuddered. An experience like that had to be traumatic. There must be more to Dr. Harrison than I had seen. A person doesn’t come out of something like that without some scars, physical or mental. Heaven knows, I carried my share. The Admiral was talking again while I was thinking.

"She’s done well in her field, it’s one of the reason’s Liz never told her about me. She wanted Serena to make a name for herself without the backing of the Institute or me. Archibald left her his entire estate. That, with the royalties from her published works, Serena is not looking for a hand out. Money is not an issue here."

That had been another worry of mine. The Admiral had more money than most people realized. Royalties from various invention patents, his own published works, and fees for appearances all contributed to a considerable fortune.

Maybe I was jumping the gun a bit. I picked up the plain white cup and knocked back the last of the now cold coffee. "So you are completely Okay with this? It doesn’t bother you?" I asked. The Admiral slammed his cup down, and whirled back around to the window.

"Of course this bothers me! We hardly know one another, all I know about her is written down in a two-inch thick folder, that’s why your acceptance of her is so important to me. I’m not asking you to fall madly in love with her, Lee, just give her chance. She’s the same person you and Chip worked so well with four months ago. Nothing about her has changed. If you find you can’t trust her, I’ll come up with something else."

"Like you said Admiral, we worked well together once before. I can’t see that changing. I know Chip is looking forward to the next stage of the ‘Bella’s recovery."

The Admiral grinned. "Yes, our gallant Mr. Morton. Should I remind him of the reflective properties of the windows the next time Serena goes out with us?"

Reflective properties? The windows acting as giant mirror? For a second I didn’t know what he was talking about, then I remembered Serena’s habit of bringing her laptop into the observation nose late at night, and setting with her back to the control room while she worked, usually when Chip took the late watch. I remember him telling me he liked talking to her as the long, late watch dragged by. I felt a smile forming and thought about my best friend. Well, if I could date his sister, certainly Chip could make a run at the Admiral’s daughter.

"Maybe we should keep that between ourselves for now. Mr. Morton has enough on his mind at the moment," I paused as we both considered Chip’s possible reaction to that bit of news. I still had to address the Admiral’s original question. Could I trust Serena? "I don’t think that trust is going to be a problem Admiral. We’ll . . . I’ll make this work. After all, she is a scientist. Archeology is a fairly low risk field, not like a submarine commander. What kind of trouble can one archaeologist get into?"

*end* for now.