Author's Notes: Hi TN fans! I woulld like personally thank you for the immense following to my Mark and Maddy story, and I am responding to the multiple requests to continue their story, and that of their family and friends. The past two chapters were fun stand alone storys about their first child and about Josh and Skye, but we know embark on a new multi chapter adventure. I hope you enjoy this!

Chapter 10: Mira

Holed up deep in the badlands Mira realized for the first time that she and the Sixers and the Phoenix Group were running out of time.

It was clear that the mission to nuke Terra Nova had failed disastrously, and that the assault craft and Lucas Taylor were not coming back. The Sixers' outpost in exile was deteriorating. Their existence was miserable on the furthest reach of the northern plains and scrub forests on the border of the desolate wasteland that was the Badlands. There was never adequate water and they didn't have enough food. Everything was breaking down. All the equipment they had been forced to flee with was not intended to work indefinitely – it was designed to only last long enough to make a lightning-fast attack on Terra Nova and then they would take over the outpost themselves. Most of the armored vehicles had all become non-functional. The personnel shuttle was flight worthy but not capable of mounting an airborne attack. Their friends from 2149 showed no signs coming with any new supplies and warfighting equipment. There were indications that the Terra Novans had developed some kind of time shield to its keep people safe that kept everything from the future out of this time.

A dozen of her colleagues had died of disease and dinosaur attacks. That had been a surprise. The dinosaurs were smaller in this more barren, colder region of Cretaceous Earth, but were just as vicious and deadly as any of the monstrous therapods living in the climax forest. A thousand knee-high microraptors in a flock were just as unstoppable as one . They could not let their guard down for a moment.

And there was the matter of her heart. Sold on the promise that all would be well for her seven year old (now twelve) child Sienna if she just killed Taylor and secured the riches of Earth for her 'employers', she let herself get sucked into this mess, and never anticipated being defeated by the formidable foes Taylor and all the Shannons had become. Now, she and her daughter were separated even further. She had no communication of any sort with 2149. No contact whatsoever. But at the same time her happiness was denied, her foes got to enjoy life like any other day. Mark and Maddy were married for years now and had a baby to care for, while Mira's 'baby' grew up in the future and she had no idea who was raising and influencing her. Skye, the ultimate traitor to the Sixer cause, was married to the son of one of her most hated enemies. Skye's mother, the ransom for the then-young girl's cooperation, was well again, and reunited with her daughter and son-in-law. It was Mira's nightmare scenario. Her heart grew harder and her rage welled within her for revenge. She despaired of winning and ever seeing her daughter again.

But there were threats more cunning than the saurids and the people of Terra Nova. Something else was out there. It started when things started to disappear slowly at first, barely detectible when they were all well-armed and their giant assault ship held whatever was out there was held at bay. Now that their weapons were discharging and the war vehicles were breaking one by one, the selective attacks got bolder. The threat knew they were weaker.

It was clear that these threats were two-legged, and had nothing to do with Terra Nova. But how? Mira had seen the irrefutable evidence of the 18th century ships in the desert, including the wooden prow that they discovered. The detritus of the other eras littered the wastelands, including World War 2 ships and airplanes, 20th and 21st century yachts and cruise ships, a jet airliner or two, and other things that. Lucas explained that all of those things, and the people in them, got too close to the natural time trap that was the Bermuda Triangle. Surely there was nothing more but wrecks and debris littered across the desert.

But Mira couldn't worry about that now. Whatever human threat was here on this ancient earth would probably find corpses if Mira didn't do something. She had to infiltrate Terra Nova and take over the colony to save her people. Coexistence with them was out of the question. They represented everything she detested. She'd overheard the colonists' intercepted radio conversations who were now riding a false sense of security having taken out the assault ship, neutralized the nuke, and somehow kept 2149 out of their timeline. If they had some sort of time travel machine, she needed to find a way to capture it and get her child here or get herself out of this Godforsaken place and let all her "friends" fend for themselves. She hated her life here as much as she hated Taylor and the Shannons and their disgusting happy lives here.

"To hell with this place," she said in exasperation.

"What, Mira?" asked a subordinate.

"We have to do something. We will die here," she asserted.

Mira continued, "We have to get someone into the inside Terra Nova. Someone loyal to us, but appears innocent to them. They have to work slowly enough to gain those idiots' trust, and then bring down their defenses. Those we don't kill we'll let them have a taste of this…this…existence we have now."

"Don't you think they'll be on to us? That didn't work so well the last time. And we had a lot bigger guns then."

"They've all grown fat and lazy while we starve and die out here."

"If you want to try something Mira, we're in with you."

…

Mira assembled her people, and asked, "We need a volunteer."

"For what Mira? Another suicide mission?" Scoffed a Phoenix Group soldier, who had an uneasy alliance with her.

She pistol-whipped the mercenary for his snide remark, causing him to collapse at her feet, and yelled, "Any other complainers? No. I need someone to join the Terra Novans."

They all stared at her with stunned expressions.

"No, I don't mean someone to become a turncoat. I mean infiltrate them. Someone to go 'make friends' with them. Someone to reach their soft, gullible hearts that we are all dying out here, and that the humane thing is to help us survive. Find out what they are doing. Sabotage whatever it is that blocks our friends from coming to rescue us, get reinforcements, and then defeat the Terra Novans."

"Or get me home", she thought.

All hands went up.

She picked the youngest volunteer. Steven. A young man who had been friends with Maddy in school, but then left to join the Sixer cause. He was someone the girl would forgive and trust, and persuade the others to take back into their society.

"Gather your gear, Steven. You are going back."

"Why me, Mira?"

"Because you were friends with Maddy at your school. She's their weakest link. She's too nice. She'll believe you."

"Yeah. I think I can do that job. Do I have to walk?"

"Of course not. We still have the shuttle. It's solar powered. We'll fly low under their radar, and land just over their sensor horizon. You'll only have about 10 klicks to walk."

"Ten klicks in that dino-infested forest might be my death."

"If you don't go, it'll be your death right here, soldier. Maybe sooner than you think," as she unsheathed a long knife and pointed it directly at him.

Steven swallowed hard and said shakily, "Understood, Mira."

…

Steven rode silently, the only passenger in the shuttle. The skin behind his ear still stung with the implant of an organic radio. He could communicate directly with the Sixers. It was one of the few things that still worked from the Phoenix Group, and since it was bio-electronic, it would never be detected by Terra Nova forces. It had been invented recently, being brought to Terra Nova by the invasion force, specifically to fool any bio scanner that Dr. Elisabeth Taylor might have to search suspected spies.

The shuttle alighted just over the horizon from the colony's detectors, and carried no temporal equipment, so it wouldn't set off any early warning devices that sensed time travel equipment. Steven reluctantly stepped off the gangplank of the shuttle, hefted his back pack, and grasped his hand pistol. He sighed at the inadequacy of the weapon, but Mira could not spare an electric rifle, even on him.

After a long trek, he appeared in the open cultivated fields of Terra Nova about dinner time. All the field workers were back in the compound as required before dusk.

But the ever-vigilant defense forces of Terra Nova scanned every inch of the perimeter of the colony. Despite Mira's assumption of complacency, Terra Nova never let its guard down. Those communications were deceptions to prying ears.