Summary: Sequel to True Leaders Never Know. The Taelons are dead. It's a new world. See what it's like through the eyes of Carl Robinson.
Disclaimer: I don't own either Liam's or Ronald Sandoval. The Taelons aren't mine either thank heaven. They all belong to Gene and now Majel Rodneberry. I do own Marie and Carl Robinson. Lots of hard work and thinking created them, about five minutes worth.
Note of Explanation: I wrote this because of one person's fan mail. They asked me to write a sequel about maybe having Carl at a bar talking to another Resistance member or something like that. I don't remember the exact idea but I thought it was a pretty good one so here it is. I dedicate this to whoever the heck sent me that e-mail. You were an inspiration. As for the title well I heard this quote once, "Tell the Fat Lady she's on in five." I don't remember who said it and it was too long to use as the title though I really liked it so I just shortened it a bit. It's about it all coming to an end and I think it fits how 'bout you?
Note of Warning: This story totally, and I do mean totally, disregards season five. If you like the world where they killed off Liam just so that they could make Renee the lead character be warned.
Thanks: I thank Julia Stanton for beta-ing my story. Thank you Julia.
Now on to the story. I heard that finally young lady.
Fat Lady's On In Five
I love the drinks at the Flat Planet. Heck, the dancers aren't too bad either. Drinking my whiskey I watch all the people milling around. Even though the Flat Planet is one of the number one clubs in Washington the amount of people crammed into it tonight was bordering on ridiculous. It felt like a closely packed can of sardines in here tonight and it was all do to the Taelons. I smiled. Thinking about the Taelons and what happened after their death always makes me smile.
When the Taelons finally died it wasn't in a fight or in a blaze of glory: nope they died like batteries. They just ran out of juice, but even then they didn't want to go out alone and in their typical fashion decided to destroy the humans who couldn't save them. The Resistance was able to stop them at a cost. Me and mine weren't there but what happened is common knowledge. When the dust cleared the evidence of the atrocities that the Taelons had committed was found. Oh, yeah it was found. They found thousands of bodies in the laboratories. They were the bodies of all the victims of the Taelons "experiments". It seems that before they blew up the Earth they wanted dispose of the poor people that they had been using. The Resistance people discovered the bodies after they had stopped the destruction of Earth when they searched the Mothership looking for any other "little surprises" that the Taelons might of left behind. They were enraged by what they had found and broadcasted in the open the images of horror they had found so everyone would know the Taelons for what they had truly been.
The most horrifying image was of a little girl. One of her arms was gone and with the other she was clutching a rag shaped into a vaguely doll like shape. The dried tear tracks trailing down her face moved more than a few people to tears of their own. I almost broke down myself except I had seen similar images in the raids I had participated in and had grown somewhat hardened. So, instead I just swallowed my bile and put on a good face for my people. I do know that even the staunchest Taelon supporters couldn't deny the horrible crimes the Taelons had committed when they saw the documentation and the bodies. The world was paralyzed in shock. The beings that they had believed to be above such atrocious acts were in fact only on par with the much despised Nazis. Faith had been waning over the years especially since the crackdown but no one had imagined the depth of their immorality.
Like in the past when tragedy struck, the people of earth sought out heroes to pull them through and this time they didn't have to look too far to find them. The Resistance, once hunted and labeled lunatics for disbelieving the goodness of the Taelons, suddenly found themselves the recipients of respect and a little hero-worship sometimes more than a little. I know some Resistance members kept their identities secret not out of necessity but to keep the press and others from hounding them. Glory hounds aren't usually drawn to the secret life of the revolutionary, so the people being honored acted the way that most people like to believe their heroes would act, humbly.
Now the people who worked for the Taelons found themselves in an entirely different boat. Once feared and respected after the "Truth" was broadcasted a lot of them found themselves on the run, hiding from lynch mobs. I felt another smile spread across my face as I thought of one of the Protectors to escape the animosity being felt toward all of the associates of the Taelons. Ronald Sandoval had been the one to warn the people of Earth that the Taelons were intent on destroying humanity as their final act. I heard he went straight to a suspected Resistance location and demanded to speak to the leader of the Resistance risking his own life knowing that the Resistance members were more likely to shoot him than listen to him.
This was all well known but the one thing that everyone was asking was who is the leader of the Resistance? The Resistance had protected their second leader's name with a fierce intensity and loyalty throughout the years, which had astonished the Taelons who had found out the identity of Doors easily enough. The love we had for our leader also had a big impact on those not in the Resistance which left everybody wondering, who is he? Tonight the world held its breath as they waited to find out. The Flat Planet was a known Resistance hangout; part of the reason why there was such a big mob was because they were waiting for the broadcast where the Resistance's leader would be revealed.
Taking a sip of my whiskey I smiled at a girl who gave me a very drunken look over but waved her off. I know that I'm not a young man any more so I don't pay her any mind. Everyone is partying and getting a little smashed tonight celebrating the greatest hero of all and I won't take advantage of that. To me tonight isn't about finally knowing the name of the man responsible for saving our lives, I know who he is. No, tonight is the celebration of the end of the fight. I never expected to see the end of it. I thought I would die leading my cell some time ago. The room had been full of noise but suddenly it was quiet, the music was stopped and everyone had stopped talking. The bar tender pulled out the remote and turned up the volume as what everyone had been waiting for came on. As the speaker stood aside the leader of the Resistance took up the podium. I heard a collective gasp then silence again as every one shut up not really needing, yet straining, to hear the words coming out of Liam Kincaid's mouth.
Looking around I can tell that he was the last person they thought the Resistance leader would be. Major Kincaid was the poster boy for the Taelons, the only Protector without a CVI still working faithfully. I hadn't been paying attention to the speech because I was too focused on the reactions of the crowd but something caught my attention, ". Most of you know me as Major Liam Kincaid but the truth is that this is not my name." I heard another gasp. "Colonel Kincaid has been leading his own group against the Taelons since they first arrived." He waved to a man standing just off screen and Colonel "Zeke" came to stand next to Liam. The fact that Liam Kincaid is not our leader's real name is no surprise to me after all I have met the real Kincaid on several occasions when ODK has worked with my cell but at first when I learned that Liam Kincaid was not his real identity I wondered what his real name was. I discovered in the long run it didn't really matter, that he was just as good a solider and leader as the real Kincaid and he had gained my respect. The real Kincaid was another matter entirely and it took me quite a while before I could trust him even with the support of Liam.
Augur, our best hacker, came back months ago saying he couldn't leave the kid to fend for himself. I remember thinking that what those two had was real friendship. There was some bitterness towards him since he did sell out a large chunk of the Resistance but once it was found out he had done it to save Liam it was understood. Friendship is everything in the army and we were an army, still are actually, only we picked our own officers. Any way I heard that he created a whole new identity for Liam lately. I was curious as to why he had to do this. Why didn't he just go back to using his real name? So I paid just as much attention to the broadcast as the others hoping and wondering.
The Colonel spoke, "I allowed this man to us my name to establish himself with the Taelons. For the sake of humanity I lent my life to this man in hopes he would do good under my name and he has." He stepped aside to let Liam have the podium again.
"My name is Liam Beckett. And I." He paused, took a deep breath, and then continued, "I am not entirely human." Now I was shocked. I could hear whispers among the crowd around me. The Major's next words were somber and full of resolve. "I am two parts human one part Kimera. I am the only one of my kind. The Kimera are dead. They were slaughtered by the Taelons thousands of years ago. All I have ever known is humanity and above all else I consider myself a human being. I have fought the Taelons as a human, I have lived as a human, and all I love is human. I have led the Resistance and I am no more a hero than any of the others who worked against the Taelons. Now I will help pick up the pieces. We must all remember that the Taelons did not start out as the ruthless beings they became. No, it took time and the willingness to corrupt. Ego and self-denial are the two infinites in this universe and the two things we must watch for because they lead down the road that the Taelons took." He smiled. "One of my mother's favorite sayings was, 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.' So let's hope that our intentions don't lead us to anywhere that hot." He nodded to us then stepped down.
There was silence for several moments as Liam's speech set in. Then the people in the club started clapping, slowly at first then louder and faster. I found myself joining in. Smiling, I shook my head. Just when I thought Liam couldn't surprise me any more he goes and pulls this rabbit out of his hat. The bar tender turned the T.V. off and the crowd started partying again, the music started, and they started whispering about Liam Beckett. I was worried at first of how they would react. After all they had just had a bad time of it with an alien species. What if they decided to hold Liam's heritage against him? But the whispers gradually grew louder and I could hear that they weren't concerned. They were just happy to know the name of the man who had stopped the Taelons. Two people pushed past me and I heard the girl say to the man, "So what if he's part alien? Who cares? He saved our bacon. Besides I always liked him ever since he saved that little girl's cat. You remember the story." Actually I do remember. It was on channel four a beaut of a shot of Liam climbing a tree to save this little girl's kitty. He got ribbed about it for weeks. I caught another comment about him being more human than alien any way, and another about him risking his life everyday to help the human race as an undercover agent. Isn't that so James Bondish, and so on.
Marie, one of the women in my cell, slid onto the stool next to me drink in hand. Excitedly she whispered, "Carl, isn't this great. They accept him. They don't care."
I couldn't help but ask. "Do you?"
She looked shocked. "Of course not." She slapped my arm lightly. "After all the danger and death he's faced for us. After the way he saved my ass when that Volunteer was going to shoot me in the last raid no way." Marie looked at me strangely. "Do you?" I had the feeling she'd chop my head off if I said yes. Good.
"Are you crazy. He's the most humane person I know. It seems to be the general opinion that he's not some slime blob from the Planet X. I was just checking." She smiled again and kissed me on the cheek.
"Bye sweetheart, got to bounce. Keep an eye out." Sliding back off the stool she was gone in an eye blink. I hate it when she does that. Smiling into my drink I thanked God that my wish had come true and a good man had survived and while I was at it I thanked Him for letting me keep my life as well. after all, it had been touch and go with that gut wound.