A/N: This is how I wish/hope season two might have gone, if we'd gotten to see it. In this story I assume around 8 months between pilgrimages and about 2 months since the final, so the Shannon family have been in Terra Nova nearly a year. Just for the record I ship Skye/Josh and Maddy/Mark so these will play a part in the story
I have no beta, all mistakes are purely my own
Disclaimer: I do not own Terra Nova, and make no money from writing this. I do not own "Archaeology and the social history of ships". In fact all I do own is an overactive imagination and a laptop.
Aftershock: A further reaction following the shock of a deeply disturbing occurrence or revelation
Aftershock part one
Commander Nathaniel Taylor breathed in the air, relishing again in its purity. The soft dawn light was just illuminating the colony and he knew that soon the day would be starting for the rest of the inhabitants of Terra Nova. For now though, he was alone with his thoughts and memories.
This was his favourite time of day. In a few hours he would be sat behind his desks, signing off on rebuilding plans and monitoring their progress back to functionality. He had always known it wouldn't be an easy process but he never realised how hard without his solid and capable deputy at his side.
But Wash was dead and gone. He could still see her crumpled body behind his eyelids, lifeless and cold. The person he had relied on most in Terra Nova, murdered by his own flesh and blood. He had tried to find anger at his son for the death but all he could summon was guilt and loss.
Memories of the days before Terra Nova was even a distant hope surfaced. The first time he set eyes on Ayani, seeing her grow big with Lucas. Lucas as a child full of innocence, the future, or so he had believed. The day he met his new field medic; young, keen, desperate to impress. In the Somali compound, her face ashen as she made her report, her voice trembling with the horrors she had seen.
His son, face twisted, holding a gun to her head, her body dropping to the ground. The moment he realised the monster he had created.
The light grew brighter and Taylor knew it was time to return to the main offices. He needed a shower and breakfast before he could start the day's business. Trying to shut off the memories he turned away from the sun and headed in, changing directions suddenly when he heard a scream breach the tranquil air.
#
"Maddy! Maddy come on you're going to be late for work" Elizabeth Shannon's voice added to the cacophony already coming from the kitchen
Maddy groaned. The Shannon household was always hectic in the mornings. She usually started the morning with a game of "beat the family to the shower" followed by a quick breakfast and an even quicker exit before the true chaos set in. Glancing at her clock she realised she had slept in far too long and was going to be treated to a full dose of the morning rush.
"Madeleine Shannon if you don't get out of bed right now, I'm going to come in there and...Zoe! What have I told you about playing with your food? It's not a toy, now eat up." Bracing herself, Maddy climbed out of bed and made her way to the bathroom. Climbing under the spray of the shower she yelped as the cold water contacted her skin.
"Josh! Did you use up the hot water again?" She shouted in the general direction of the door. When no reply came she did her best to wash as much of herself as possible with as little of the cold water as possible. When she was done she dried off and dressed, bolting for the kitchen to grab something to eat. Mumbling a general good morning at her family she headed for the door.
Jim was seated at the table, trying to persuade Zoe that her toast crusts were not in fact poisonous, and that she really should eat them up with Zoe was doing a champion job of disbelieving him. Elizabeth was charging around trying to get ready to go to the infirmary for the day, while Josh sat on the sofa, strumming on the guitar, a plate of not-quite-bacon balanced on the sofa in front of him. The debris from his culinary efforts lay around the kitchen. A fairly standard Shannon morning by appearances
"Josh, will you stop playing on that guitar and come clean up the kitchen. It looks like a bomb site..." Elizabeth's voice trailed into silence as her choice of words caught up with her. Josh stiffened at the phrase. An expression of pain fleeted across his face, his brows creasing in loss. Then as quick as it came, it was gone, replaced by a carefully neutral look.
"Josh sweetheart, I'm sorry" she started.
"No Mom, its fine. I have to go, Boylan wants me in early today" he said abruptly, passing Maddy where she had frozen in the doorway. As he pulled the door behind him Elizabeth dropped her head.
"Well that could have gone better" she said, her slight accent thickening with emotion. She could see Josh was hurting, they all could. It was hard on the whole family, being unable to help him.
"He'll be fine; we just need to give him time." Jim said, coming behind her and wrapping his arms around his wife. "Anyway, I need to get to work. I'll see you later." He kissed his wife and youngest daughter and headed to the door where Maddy was still hovering.
"Weren't you running late?" he reminded his daughter, rewarded by the look of panic on her face as she fled the house. Maddy was still new to her job as a junior research assistant at the lab, although the most research she had gotten to do was into how the various scientists liked their coffee.
Jim could sympathise. In truth there wasn't a huge amount for him to do as a cop these days. The colonists had thoughtfully put all crime on hold while they rebuilt, leaving Jim plenty of time to deal with his other responsibilities. After Lieutenant Washington had been killed, he had taken over as second in charge of the colony, with Lieutenant Guzman's help. Guzman saw to the soldiers, while Jim saw to the civilians. To be honest they both realised that neither of them could replace Wash, but they were managing to keep the colony together.
"Morning Shannon" called Guzman as Jim entered their shared office. "Got an actual crime for you today" he said, bent over what was probably a duty roster. Jim felt slightly ashamed of the flare of excitement he felt when he heard that, but managed to keep it under control.
"What happened?" he asked, curious about who would try something now, when they were still vulnerable.
"You know Jenna Connell, lives by the east gate?" Jim nodded familiarity with the former archaeologist/historian who now taught at the colony school. "Well her place was broken into this morning. The commander wants you over there five minutes ago"
#
"Ah, Shannon, I was wondering when you'd get here" Jim was greeted by Commander Taylor.
"Came as soon as I could sir. When did you get here?" He responded, following the Commander into the building. The dwelling was built in usual Novan style, although the artefacts displayed all over the walls were somewhat out of the ordinary.
"First on the scene Shannon."Taylor replied. "Anyway" he continued, looking at the woman who had just joined them "I'm sure you know each other?" Jenna Connell was a striking woman in her forties. Tall and thin, her best feature was her cloud of brown hair, usually tied up in a bun, but today falling around her face making her look vulnerable.
"I taught history to your eldest daughter. Maddy was an exceptional student" Said the woman, by way of introduction. "She would have made a brilliant archaeologist"
"Thank you, we're very proud of her." he replied "Ms Connell, I wonder if I could ask you a few questions?"
"Jenna , please. And of course." She sat down on the sofa, leant back against the cushions. "To be honest I'm a bit confused about all this."
"What do you mean confused? What happened?"
"Well I woke up just before dawn, like I normally do, but while I was lying there, I heard a noise from the main room." She leant forward as she told her story. "I thought I'd imagined it but then I heard another noise so I thought I'd investigate. So I got out of bed and came through and there was a man standing in the middle of the room. Anyway I screamed and he ran out, a few minutes later the Commander here ran in and that was it."
" What about it was odd? Did he take anything?" said Jim looking around for any obvious clues.
" That's what was odd. These artefacts" she gestured at the walls of the room before continuing "Any of these would sell for hundreds of Terrans to the right buyer, but he didn't touch them. All he took was a book. "
"A book? On a plex?"
"No, it was a paper one. "Archaeology and the Social history of Ships" It was printed in 2011 so only 140 years old. Worth about 100 Terrans, maybe, if the buyer was gullible." She gave a weak smile. "I knew when I came to Terra Nova that there would be no work for an archaeologist, but I couldn't bear to leave my books behind or my artefacts. I dug them all up you know."
Jim wasn't listening. He'd caught all he needed to know from the title of the book. All he needed to do now was get back to his office to do some research in order to confirm his suspicions. Thanking Jenna for her time he and the Commander left the house, and turned for the offices.
"What are you thinking Shannon?" Taylor asked once they got back to his office.
"Archaeology and social history of ships, sir? That can't be a coincidence." Jim sat opposite from the Commander, resting his forearms on the glass desktop.
"You think this has something to do with that ships prow?" Taylor raised an eyebrow. "Could be, but how useful would that book be – social history doesn't sound all that relevant."
"But if they can use the book to work out where it came from, then that has to give them information about how it got here."
#
Maddy finally made it to the lab, only a few minutes late. Running to her workstation she found a pile of plexpads with a note saying they needed filing and a request for her help in cataloguing some samples of dirt that afternoon. Not that she'd be doing any actual cataloguing, she'd probably just be following the scientist around taking notes.
It wasn't really a job she was doing, it was a class she'd signed up for at the school. Three days a week were spent in the classroom, learning higher level vocational skills, then two days a week in a job placement. It was designed for senior students to help them get a place as an intern or apprentice when they left school. It was a good idea, she just wished the work was slightly more exciting. Still it kept her out of the house all day, and it wasn't like she had any other options really. She couldn't work in the infirmary and had little interest in manual labour or becoming a soldier (despite a good deal of interest in one particular soldier).
She started to work through the pads, sending the files to the appropriate archives. It wasn't a particularly involving job, so she allowed her mind to wander. Dreaming of the day when she would be one of the scientists here, with her own research. Maybe she would discover something to make life better for the colony, or just spend her days satisfying her thirst for knowledge.
"Hard at work?" Maddy snapped out of her reverie at the question, asked by her favourite person in the colony. Her favourite person had also just trailed mud into the lab and over to her work station.
"Mark!" Maddy grinned up at her boyfriend. "I'm going to have to clean that mud up you know." She said, not really angry. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
"I am. Commander Taylor asked me to find a scientist to accompany next week's patrol." Corporal Reynolds said, as he made himself comfortable on her desk. "Apparently the Commander thinks the area might be of scientific interest."
"All of which doesn't explain why you are sitting on my desk right now." She teased. "I thought you had rules about work and pleasure"
"I do, it's not my fault that my girlfriend has to look so beautiful and intelligent sat at her desk ...Alright, alright, Dr Wallace said you'd have a list of who's available to go OTG" he surrendered to her glare.
"Sure, just give me a moment." Maddy typed in the command to the terminal in front of her, then turned to face Mark. "While that loads, I just wanted to say that you are going to have to help me clean up the mud."
"I would...but I'm busy defending the citizens Terra Nova." He smirked "Of course I could help, but then I would be doing a disservice to the colony."
"Nice try. The mop is in that cupboard over there." The computer gave a small beep, indicating it was finished with its search, and she downloaded the list onto a spare plex. "I can't help noticing you haven't moved."
"But Maddy, I might put you out of a job. Or I could sprain my shoulder."
Maddy rolled her eyes at his complaining. Sure he'd take on a dinosaur, but ask him to clean up afterwards...
"Ugh, just go. I can't bear listening to you whine." She shook her head in exasperation. "Here's your list, now get out of here."
"Thanks, Dinner tonight?" He said hopefully and was rewarded with a soft smile and a nod. "I'll meet you from here at 1700" Mark pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, then left.
"Maddy, I hope you'll clean that mud up?" called one of the scientists from her workstation.
"Yes Doctor Wishart" she called back with a sigh, then headed off to find a mop.
#
Jim leaned back at his desk. He had been researching the stolen book for hours now. Frustratingly all his findings had pointed to the same conclusion – the book would be of little assistance to anyone trying to find out about the ships prow. It would help if he could read the book himself but the only copy in Terra Nova had been stolen that morning.
Being the only police officer in Terra Nova was hard. He missed the camaraderie of a partnership, the ability to bounce ideas off other officers. Arguing the facts with his colleagues had been replaced by lonely hours at his desk searching for answers. Sighing he picked up his stylus and began to make notes on the large screen that made up his crime fighting intelligence hub.
Book – Ships
Ship prow – how, where, when?
What do the Phoenix group want with that ship?
He groaned. Somehow writing out his notes didn't bring the normal revelations. The only thing he knew for sure was that this had been deliberate. Someone wanted that book, but for what purpose?
