Disclaimer: I don't own them I never claimed to please don't sue me. Really the Characters and concepts of Earth Final Conflict belong to the nice people who make this really great show. I'm just borrowing them for my own and perhaps the amusement of other fans. I'm not making a dime off this and suing me would be a real waste of time because I'm flat broke.

Note: This is an AU Fic that diverges from Cannon following Episode #407 Second Wave. Which was one of the earlier Fourth Season Episodes. Also I suppose I should warn this fic will contain slash at some point in the future. Don't know what that is leave and find out then come back if you still want to read it.

Hybrids:

Chapter One: The Return of Joyce

Liam closed the door to his apartment exhausted and drained after informing Da'an of what happened with Kira. As he walked away he caught sight of a flash out of the corner of his eye. Turning and drawing his gun he found himself staring at a woman he hadn't ever expected to see again.

"You won't need that with me Liam." Joyce Belman said gesturing toward the gun in Liam's hands. "It's good to see you again." She said waiting for him to get over the shock at her sudden appearance and reply.

"You too unless you've decided to start a new race again?" Liam asked slightly afraid that like everyone else he knew she would prove to be untrustworthy. He was slightly puzzled by her sad smile.

"No wonder your killing yourself without knowing it." She said sadly raising a hand to forestall his questions. "Liam I'm here to repay the debt I owe you for stopping me from making a major mistake." She looked at him smiling this time. "So I'm here to keep you from making a major mistake."

"What mistake is that?" Liam asked wondering who he trusted that was going to betray him now. "I mean most of my mistakes involve trusting the wrong person so who is it and what did you mean about killing myself?"

"I can't tell you who's worthy of your trust or not that's up to you." Joyce said with a secretive smile before sobering. "However I can tell you that your not becoming more human your slowly subconsciously killing yourself."

"What of course I'm becoming more human my kimera abilities are fading." Liam said defensively. To her sad nod he remarked. "I just assumed I was becoming more human even your mother agrees that seems to be happening since my alien side is getting less active."

"Liam you want to be human so bad that your subconsciously repressing your kimera side." She shook her head. "And I'm sure your wondering why it's dangerous and I'll tell you but first I need to tell you some things about the Kimera the Taelons and the Jaridians."

"How do you know all this?" Liam asked wondering again just what Joyce was capable of and rather or not he should trust her. She looked exactly as she had left which while it wasn't exactly a surprise still unnerved him because she was virtually unchanged but so much had happened since she left.

"I found a Kimera library on a distant world." She smiled at him. "And I want you to agree not to interrupt me with any questions till I finish telling you all this."

Liam thought about it and then nodded. "All right I'll save my questions till the end."

She nodded. "Okay first off the Kimera were like the Taelons in that they are neither male nor female but unlike the Taelons they were both pure energy and matter and can exist in either state." She paused and seeing him nod in understanding. "That's what made them so good at what they did."

"They could go to a world and take the place of a individual copying them perfectly memories and all." She then got a sad expression. "It's amazing how a good deed can backfire; When they found a race on the verge of extinction and choose to save it they condemned themselves."

"They choose to replace most of the female population and give birth to hybrid children." She glanced at Liam. "It was safer for the biological partner if they assumed female form and bore the strain of baring a hybrid child." She glanced at Liam. "Ha'Gel didn't have that option he wanted to create as many hybrids as possible before the Taelons could eliminate him." She looked at Liam knowing this was going to be hard on him. "So he needed to impregnate women though only your mother survived the process."

"They left the race to adapt to the changes they had made." She looked at him and knew he was thinking about his mother. "And when they returned the race had become the Atavus who exterminated them all except for one who managed to escape Ha'Gel."

She noticed Liam looked intrigued. "Well Ha'Gel returned after the split and informed the Taelons they had doomed themselves." She glanced at Liam. "They didn't believe him and trapped him and cast him into space and he eventually made his way here."

Joyce walked over and taking Liam's hand she turned his palm up and tapped his Shaqarava. "This is the cause." She watched his face widen in shock. "The group that became the Taelons forged a link and in the process their shaqarava were consumed." She smiled "That's core energy the result of the Shaqarava burning itself out and going dormant."

"You see the Taelons didn't know that they assumed the core energy was a natural result of their evolution into superior beings." She shook her head. "All Taelon infants began as an Atavus but without the necessary DNA traits that were lost in the split their Shaqarava burn out as they are born." She smiled "When the last Taelon was born the damage had reached the point where they could no longer reproduce so no new Core energy was created by the burning out of the Shaqarava so they began to consume it without adding to it."

Liam nodded in understanding. 'So that's why the core energy is running out.' He thought. 'It makes sense seeing as how they never had a problem till after their race stopped reproducing.'

Joyce smiled as she saw Liam's understanding look. "Now the Jaridians suffer the alternate problem they refused to do any type of linking and tried the purely physical approach to controlling their Shaqarava." She shook her head. "They succeeded but the strain is to much eventually causing their death by the power running out of control." She glanced at Liam to see him nodding. "But like the Taelons the damage caused by the split has continued to get worse each generation now they can't fight off the shaqarava's overload for as long some even overload in the womb taking mother and child's life together."

"The Kimera were both physical and energy while they shared bonds among friends and family they didn't depend totally on the bond nor did they depend totally on physical existence." She made sure Liam was looking start at her when she began to tell him what he needed to acknowledge. "Liam you were in no danger till you started denying what you were." She watched his surprise. "You can't supress your Kimera side best cause scenario is your Shaqarava go dormant and won't be there when you really need them and you will someday."

Liam looked at her in shock. "And what's the worst case?" He asked knowing it couldn't be good.

"You suffer a loss of control like a Jaridian and with the energy you can generate you'll take allot of lives with you." She could see the horror on his face at that. "Liam I know you dislike being alone and desperately want to be human but you can't force your body to be."

Liam sighed audibly. "It's just hard knowing I'm not like everyone else." Looking down at his hands with something akin to disgust. "If I'd been human my mother wouldn't have died because she remembered me." Joyce walked over and pulled him into a hug.

"Liam your mother wouldn't want you to punish yourself over that." She pulled his chin up to make him look her in the eye. "Liam your forgetting what you taught me we may be able to do things other humans can't be we are still human where it counts." she said laying a hand on his chest. "I'm going to fix the damage you did to yourself but please promise me you won't do this to yourself again."

Liam nodded and watched as Joyce extended her hands. He placed his palms against hers and felt a shudder run threw him. "That feels familiar." he said just before several pulses of light ran over him each one feeling accompanied by a similar shudder. When she pulled her hands away smiling he finally identified when he's last felt like that. "It was like the first few hours when I was maturing rapidly."

Joyce laughed and glanced at his hands. Liam held them up and saw his shaqarava glowing faintly. "Looks like I'll have to start trying to learn how to use these things again." He said remembering some of the trouble he had with them at first.

"Yes but you won't be alone in doing so." she smiled at his shocked look "We should go get the Taelon's current hybrid project you do remember Joshua Doors Don't you?"

Liam stared at her in shock. "What!" He said remembering the last time he'd seen Doors was just after he had destroyed a large portion of the Taelon's remaining core energy. "Doors isn't a hybrid."

"He wasn't Zo'or turned him over to Va'on a Taelon scientist who claimed he could create a weapon against the Jaridians but the process would be very painful for any test subject." Joyce said sadly. "And I didn't learn about it till the process had begun and couldn't intervene until it was finished or it could have killed him."

Liam shuddered. "You mean all this time he's been being tormented to make him a weapon?" at Joyce's nod he shook his head angry at himself. "We should have tried harder to find him."

Joyce shook her head. "If you had found him before the process finished it probably would have killed him." She sighed. "Va'on decided Da'an was on the right tack with hybrids as weapons against the Jaridians." She glanced at Liam to see if he was listening. "But Va'on disagreed with Da'an on one point he believed that the hybrid should be Taelon human and Jaridian."

"You mean Doors is like you now?" Liam asked imagining how dangerous a weapon that would be for Zo'or to control someone like her. "I mean how can they expect to control him if he can do even close to what you can."

Joyce smiled "Actually he's closer to you." She watched him stare at her in dumb founded shock. "Liam he's been remade into a straight hybrid of all three species as they are now not a evolved hybrid like me." She glanced at him. "Okay think of it in rungs. On the bottom rung closest to humanity are the twins Da'an altered. Then next up are the five babies they created and Lili's half Jaridian child and then there is Joshua Doors who is closest to you." She smiled and continued. "He's closest to you and your closest to me."

Liam nodded understanding. "I get it so where is he and how do we get him out." Suddenly there was a flash and he found himself standing in a room with a familiar blue fluid filled Tank. "What the hell?" he asked in shock. He turned to see Joyce smiling at him holding a wet naked Joshua Doors who appeared to be out like a light. She glanced at the tank and equipment and he understood He started to reach for his gun but a cough from her caused him to turn. "What?"

"Use your Shaqarava." He glanced at his hands and noticed they were still glowing. "You've been supressing them so long they are going to glow till you release some of that energy." Liam nodded and was shocked when the blast was nothing like what he normally did. He stared in shock at the non extant tank and gaping whole threw several rooms that as far as he could tell had been empty. "You just fried the main data storage rooms for this facility." Joyce said with a smile. "Eliminating the all Va'on's research data."

Liam turned to comment but before he could they were back in his apartment. Joyce was wrapping the still unconscious Joshua doors in a blanket. "What about the security system?" Liam asked hoping he wouldn't have to explain his presence or the shaqarava to Zo'or.

"It suffered a malfunction one hour ago and will stay down for at least another one." Joyce said as she reached out and touched Joshua's forehead he began to wake up. "Now Your going to have to explain things to him." She glanced at him seeing shock on his face. "I am going to visit my mother and explain about him and you." She chuckled "And after that I'm going to buy earth some breathing space by restoring the Taelon Core energy reserves."

Liam stared at her in shock. "How can you do that?" He was about to ask her more when Joshua moaned and set upright shuddering. "Calm down Joshua your all right." he said moving forward and grabbing the other mans shoulders.

Joshua's eyes focused on Liam and he said "What happened the last thing I remember is Zo'or saying he had something special in mind for me and then." he grabbed his head as splitting pain surged threw it. Liam who was watching suddenly noticed something disturbing and grabbed his hands pulling them away from his head. "What the hell are you doing?" He glared at Liam but noticing the odd look on Liam's face he looked down at his hands and noticed a glow emanating from each palm. "What the fuck did he do to me?"

Joyce choose that moment to interrupt. "Liam I'll leave the explaining up to you." with that she disappeared in a flash. Liam glared at the space she was in before turning back to the shocked man still staring at his hands.

"Zo'or turned you over to a Taelon scientist who believed Da'an had the right idea years ago in creating hybrids to fight the war with the Jaridians." Liam noticed he still looked shocked so he continued hoping something would snap him out it. "He used Taelon and Jaridian DNA to turn you into a hybrid of all three species those things are called Shaqarava."

"Your saying I've been made into some kind of hybrid." Joshua said in shock staring at Liam and seeing Liam's shocked reactions. "What am I growing horns to go along with whatever these things are called?"

"Shaqarava and no your not growing horns but your eyes are blue." Liam had to hold the shocked Joshua down as he tried to jump up and look in a mirror. "Relax let me finish my explanation then you can stare at a mirror as long as you want."

Joshua relaxed and said softly under his breath. "How can you even stand to be in the room with a freak like me." He was still looking at his hands when Liam's drifted into view a similar glow appear. "What your one too Da'an was creating hybrids are you one of them?"

"Good to see you were listening." Liam said smiling weakly. "No I was born this way my father was Ha'Gel a Kimera the last Kimera he'd been cast adrift into space by the Taelons his prison capsule ended up on earth." He noticed Joshua staring at him in shock. "Liam Kincaid isn't my real name." He smiled "Well Liam is my real name but I kind of stepped into Kincaid's life."

"Your being extremely trusting I could turn you into the Taelons to buy my humanity back." Joshua said under his breath. Liam nodded "Why are you trusting me and telling me all this."

Liam shook his head. "I wanted you to know your not alone besides Zo'or would kill us both." Joshua had to acknowledge that. "And besides you need to know someone else understands it wasn't my choice to be a hybrid either."

Joyce chuckled to herself and her mother looked over at her in shock. "Sorry I was keeping tabs on Liam and Joshua they seem to be reaching some kind of understanding."

Dr. Park nodded and regarded her daughter. "It's good to see you again." She was surprised when her daughter hugged her. "What was that for?"

Joyce smiled "I've come to realize how lucky I am to still have a mother." She sighed "I have to go do something and then I'll have to leave for awhile again." She shook her head at her mothers downcast face. "I'll be back to visit as soon as I can but I have things I have to do and some of them aren't pleasant."

Dr. Park looked at her daughter and asked. "What do you mean aren't pleasant?" Joyce told her mother about her decision to buy Earth some time by restoring the core energy levels of the Taelons. "Why?" she couldn't help but ask her daughter.

Joyce sighed "Because mom short of killing every Taelon myself there is no other way to keep them from taking earth with them when they go." She shook her head sadly. "If I restore their energy it gives earth time before Zo'or has a breakdown and tries to survive at any cost." She smiled "I can only give them back the energy that I collected when Joshua tried to scatter it but it will buy earth some time."

A little while later after saying goodbye to her mother Joyce Belman appeared on the bride of the mothership. She couldn't help but smile at the shocked exclamations from Zo'or and Sandoval. "I'm here to offer you a deal Zo'or." she smiled at him as innocently as she could.

"What could you possibly offer us Dr. Belman." Zo'or said trying to sound aloof and unafraid. He managed to maintain his composure as a bright light appeared beside her and formed into a crystal that pulsed with a familiar energy.

"This is the energy you lost recently." She smiled "I decided to intercept it before it scattered from one end of the universe to the other and I'll return it in exchange for you doing me one little favor."

Zo'or could feel the synod's decision as it happened the energy was to important agree to whatever she wants. "Very well what do you want from us." Zo'or said as calmly as he could.

"I want your word you will not attack Earth again or I'll return and reclaim this energy." To illustrate her point she siphoned energy out of the mother ship causing their levels to drop. "Do we have a deal."

Zo'or nodded. "Yes Dr. Belman we have a deal." The crystal vanished and Zo'or watched with a smile of satisfactions as the core energy levels on the mother ship and within the commonality were restored to what they had been before the loss of the energy. He turned from the display to find her gone.

Liam was attempting to fix up the couch so he could get some sleep wondering again what possessed him to give the bed to Doors. 'Oh right because he's been threw hell since he was taken.' He wasn't surprised when Joyce appeared. "I heard about what you did Da'an called very excited to tell me the good news."

Joyce smiled at him. "I bought you some time that is all." She suddenly seemed extremely sad and Liam got up and hugged her. "You know I'm leaving."

"Yes." Liam said he knew it was a matter of time before she had to leave the Taelons would come after her if she stayed. "I hope we meet again someday."

"We will Liam." She said with a smile. "But for now I am leaving take care." With that she faded out just as she appeared. Liam stood there watching the space where she was for awhile before finally laying down on the couch and attempting to get some sleep.

To Be Continued..

Next time: Renee finds out Joshua is back and Va'on investigates what happened to his project.

Notes:

1. I hope my Backstory I created for the Taelon Jaridian and Kimera situation makes sense. It was the best I could come up with. And I hope no one else has come up with anything similar if so I assure you it's accidental. Since I don't read much EFC fanfiction.

2. Why Joshua Doors as a hybrid. Well rather than creating a new Hybrid character(which alot of folks do) I decided to take a character who was MIA and have it happen to Them. Zo'or is the type to try to get some use out of a prisoner in addition to getting revenge.

3.Va'on I really hope that name wasn't used on the show it was the only Taelonish sounding name I could think of. Hey I've got lots and lots of rejects that sound way to freaky even for a Taelon name.

4. About the slight discont. between what was said in The Joining and my having the Atavus who exterminated the Kimera. I just assumed when The Taelons said they destroyed the Kimera after saving them from extinction they ment when they were the atavus.

5. Why I did this fic well I wanted to be different for my First EFC fanfic and decided that a EFC slash would be interesting. Since there isn't much of it out there. And I was annoyed by the Change Liam human eps and if they weren't bad enough whenver they needed to do something amazing they attributed it to his Kimera heritage. So for this fic I decided to take everything After Second Wave and throw out the window. And I created my own theroy as to why Liam thought he was becomming more human.