Well sorry but it looks like "Vs" will be a three chapter as I misjudged again.
The reason why it takes me so long to finish a chapter is because of idea drain and I'd appreciate input on that.
On to the chapter then.
It was early afternoon just after Mark Reynolds's convoy had returned
Kono, completely unaware of his brothers' playing secret agent had been for the last two days or so except when he were off duty to rest or eat been hard at work checking various frequencies from the second to tenth pilgrimage and after two days of boring work he had found something,
He contacted Taylor,
"Lieutenant Lao to Commander Taylor, please come to the Command centre immediately." He requested,
After a few minutes Taylor came walking in, he was a bit worried both his sheriff and Warrant officer had been way too secretive lately – he knew Jim Shannon was like that in his work and it usually produced results but now both had been acting strange even Ben Shannon as well as he were at hiding his true emotions he HAD to be doing something together with his brother that both didn't want to tell anyone about,
"I'll have to deal with whatever those two are up to later." He thought as he walked into the communications room,
"Well, Lao, what have you got for me?" He asked when Kono looked up at him,
"Sir, I've managed to narrow down two frequencies." Kono started showing on the screen and Taylor nodded,
"This one, transmitted for the first time EXACTLY on the seventh pilgrimage, and has been used ever since when a new pilgrimage came through the portal." Kono continued and then showing on the screen another frequency number,
"This one first transmitted at the tenth pilgrimage." He finished,
"Could just be the same spy switching to a new frequency." Taylor guessed,
"Not very likely sir, because both have been used at the same time." Kono retorted,
"So what you're saying is that we may actually have two spies in Terra Nova?" Taylor said annoyed,
"That's a very good possibility – AND the first frequency I'm not sure but it is similar with one used by a known terrorist group that tried to take over Panama." He then finished and Taylor raised both eyebrows,
"What terrorist group?" Taylor asked though he knew the answer,
"The Shining Axis." Kono replied and Taylor visibly winced,
"You sure about that?" Taylor asked hopefully,
"Commander, transmit frequencies whether radio or otherwise are practically unique to whomever uses them, anyone not a total idiot that is." Kono explained, Taylor smirked one of the reasons he recruited Lao was for the man's ability with communication and of course Kono being a crack shot,
The Shining Axis was some form of semi religious group that was practically unknown as they always tried to work behind the scenes, and had appeared for the first time in the war in Somalia and then in Sweden when that country finally fell apart,
There were no proof but it had been suspected they may have been behind both civil wars, question was – were either spy even aware of each other or could they be working together?
"Have you managed to pin point the frequencies yet?" He then asked,
"No, whomever these spies are they really don't wanna be found out." Kono replied, Taylor frowned,
"Okay, just keep trying for a while longer, now at least we know what to look for and hopefully track." Taylor finished,
"Yes, sir." Kono sighed resignedly as this kind of work was BORING,
"OH!" Kono blurted out as he remembered something,
"Sir there was another thing, the Shining Axis spy or whatever, may have reactivated the builder drones and sent them off." Kono said and Taylor stopped in his tracks,
"Them drones have been deactivated ever since the groundwork for Terra Nova was finished, I should know since I was here during that time." Taylor said confounded,
"What the hell would they need with those, since they are programmed for construction, and they are planned to be used for the eventual construction of the new coastal colony….but that isn't for another four years?!" Taylor wondered out loud scratching his beard, Those drones had been at Outpost Zero ever since the groundwork had been finished and only Taylor and Wash and Kono and Guzman knew of that outpost's existence,
"Sir?" Kono queried,
Taylor collected himself and turned to him,
"Where did the drones take off to Lao?" He asked,
"The last the Cam-drones recorded before they lost track was that the Builder drones went southeast, not far from the outer marker." Kono reported, all this only made Taylor wonder even more as to whom in the future all of a sudden wanted to build another colony.
"Okay, you go get some R&R and then get back and continue to monitor as best you can, the eleventh pilgrimage is due to arrive in a few weeks and I do not want any surprises." Taylor then said and turned to leave but stopped in the doorway,
"And stop trying to find out where those drones used to be kept, Lieutenant." He finished with finality,
Kono had a face of false innocence,
"Who, me sir?" He denied, Taylor rolled his eyes and walked out,
Kono stayed for a few more minutes to secure the equipment so that no unauthorized people could fiddle with it,
"Wonder what Jimmyboy and Bennyboy are doing, probably as bored as me?" He wondered and then decided it was time to go get something to eat – boring work always made him hungry….
In the Barracks Anna and her squad had just gotten off their shift and were showering – with all their work they seldom got to shower much and unlike everyone from Sergeant and up mere corporals had to shower with the grunts, Anna was just happy to wash off at the last day's sweat,
"Aw, c'mon Reilly, please tell us, is Warrant Officer Stud good in bed or what?!" Shackleford begged for the third time and even the other women of her squad looked on with similar expressions,
"Girls, that's private between me and him, enough of the gossip!" Anna said decidedly as this was getting humiliating, she had started developing some genuine feelings for Ben,
"I lo – like him for his personality, he's kind and compassionate, so yeah, he's a keeper." Anna said with finality as she turned off the shower and reached for her towel and started drying herself, and just before she left she turned to Diana Shackleford with an almost feral grin,
"OH, AND he's not good he's GREAT." She added grinning widely as Diana moaned "Why can't I ever find a man like that?" all to a chorus of female laughter.
At the infirmary Elisabeth were checking Mark after checking his squad as Mark had refused any medical attention until his squad had been given the full of it,
Right beside Maddy were waiting anxiously twisting her hands in worry about her boyfriend,
"Looks like you have a mild concussion there sweetheart." Elisabeth said and Mark blushed at the endearment,
"I'm okay." Mark assured and winced a little when Elisabeth gave him a sedative,
"Does it still hurt?" She asked,
Kono who were just walking in after hearing of what had happened,
"Not at all." Mark said now a bit high from the shot which made him smile like an idiot,
"My lip hurt a little before but I think Maddy has healing abilities in her beautiful lips!" He explained dreamily and Kono looked at Maddy questioningly while his face kept twitching,
"She kissed me Lieutenant, it wasn't like when we kissed in the tree, almost but….this was like getting kissed by a fairy princess!" Mark continued to ramble completely unable to stop himself and Maddy just blushed until her face had a pink like hue, until Mark just dropped onto the bed, and now Kono started laughing and even Elisabeth had trouble keeping a straight face,
"What happened Mom?" Maddy asked worriedly as she helped her mother lay Mark correctly on the Biobed,
"I just gave him a shot to put him under so I can start mending his ribs, AND he needed the rest." Elisabeth explained while struggling furiously at containing her own laughter after hearing Mark's description of what it was like getting kissed by Maddy,
After having checked Mark and with a simple sonic surgery repaired his ribs Elisabeth turned towards her daughter,
"Healing kisses, Maddy is there anything you'd like to add?" She said giggling,
Maddy blushed again,
"It could be my herbal lip balm." She said to change the subject which didn't go all that well because Kono started another laughing fit until Elisabeth gave him one of her subtle yet obliterating glares which shut him up even though his face kept twitching.
It was late evening as Tom Boylan finally had the strength to start tidying up in the bar after Taylor's interrogation, a couple of his waitresses had shown up to offer their help,
"Maybe now that person won't try and force me to continue this now that he or she have no use of me?" He thought to himself when Sheriff and Warrant Officer Shannon walked into the bar, Tom only noticed that Ben's face was a mask of Stone as he looked at him,
"Wow. Love what you've done with the place." Jim said teasingly to Tom,
"We're closed." Tom snapped,
"I gotta clean up the mess Taylor's men made." He then added statedly while trying to put a table right that had been turned over, Ben stepped forward and helped him still not saying a word,
"We found the body, under Pilgrim's Tree." Jim explained plainly,
Tom Boylan simply turned away from Jim and walked up behind to the bar but was still facing Ben,
Ben noticed Boylan's expression and that his breathing became elevated and also his pupils dilated,
"Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Tom said as steadily as he could,
"You're either lying or there's something you're hiding to us Boylan." Ben stated matter of factually,
"How would you know if I lied or not?" Tom retorted angrily and in doing so showed it even more now not just to Ben but Jim also,
"Plus, you were also drugged pretty heavily." Jim stated,
"Then you confessed to killing the guy." He blurted out and his ploy worked as Tom turned around swiftly with anger in his face,
"I did NOT!" He growled and now both Shannon brothers could clearly see he was speaking the truth,
Ben couldn't help but smirk, this was how Jim used to get people to make them give information away,
"Oh, you do know what I'm talking about all of a sudden." Jim stated, and now Boylan slumped his shoulders and briefly lowering his eyes,
"Look, all I did was help Taylor bury the body." Tom started nervously,
"I have no idea how he got dead in the first place, or even who he was." He finished and started turning away to tend something behind the bar,
Jim hummed quietly and pursed his lips and then while Ben still stood unmoving like a statue walked around the bar slightly until he faced Boylan and took up a small bowl of peanuts which he realised were at least a week old and didn't taste all that good, hiding his discomfort at the taste and put down the bowl so that it made a sharp sound hitting the bar,
"Well, I'm listening." He then said,
Boylan slumped again,
"Okay, a few years back, I was out on patrol duty outside the gates…" Tom started,
….*Flashback about five years earlier between the second and third Pilgrimages*…
Tom was out on his patrol, it was getting ever darker as it was that time of year and he was soon to return to the colony for some well-earned sleep when he saw a lightning like light source typical for a portal opening about fifty yards away and decided to check it out,
"Typical this had to happen just when I was about to go back home and hit the sack!" He thought annoyed, to actually think of the still sparsely populated colony as home felt new to him with the third Pilgrimage only two months away there were tons of work to do especially for a combat engineer like him,
BAAM… - what sounded as either a gunshot or thunder echoed through the jungle, Tom was unsure but he thought he could hear possibly two gunshots
"That sounded like a gunshot, I better check it out." He thought now suddenly wide awake and hurrying to the small clearing from where both the lightning and the gunshot seemed to have had originated,
"One of my mates could be in trouble." He thought now worriedly, only last month his best friend and fellow soldier Casey Durwin had gotten both legs ripped off by a carnosaur – he was still in the newly built infirmary and would most likely be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life and even that the colony had yet to order from the future, Tom started running to the clearing determined not to let it happen to anyone else,
When he ran out into the clearing he could see that big tree where Commander Taylor had according to himself been living for the over three months after he'd stepped through the portal, Tom could see Commander Taylor wrapping something in a blanket, then Taylor looked up and saw him and then walked quickly over to him,
"You've got to help me, Tommyboy, please!" Taylor pleaded almost frantically, Tom did as he were told and helped him bury whoever it was in the blanket.
…*Flashback ends*…...….
"Wait a minute….Tommyboy?" Jim asked incredulously,
Boylan looked a little insulted,
"Believe it or not Shannon, Taylor and I used to be mates." He stated annoyed,
"Though not so much after that night, which also were my last night of duty." He then added,
Jim hummed again and stirred the peanuts around in the bowl thinking,
"Did Taylor ever say what had happened?" He queried,
Boylan now looked a bit spooked as he remembered the night in question,
"Taylor was a madman." He started,
"He kept going on about the whole thing was Lucas's fault." He finished and now Ben snapped his eyes up and walked forward to the bar,
"Lucas?" Ben queried, Tom turned to him,
"Yeah, the Commander's son." Tom explained,
"How did he look like?" Ben asked again his voice sharp,
"I think I should have a picture here somewhere." Tom said and walked up to his unofficial office and rummaged through one of his boxes and eventually produced a small holo picture and activated it showing it to Ben and Jim who had followed him up and Ben took the picture and examined it and then growled, it was a group picture of Taylor and a couple others including Boylan and Lucas with Taylor having his right arm around Lucas's shoulders with all smiling,
"What's the matter Ben, you look….well for a lack of a better word as if you've just seen a ghost?" Jim asked worriedly as there were very few things that would usually get Ben this….agitated,
"That's the guy I rescued out in the jungle during the blackout." Ben growled out,
"We'll have to talk about that later, Boylan please continue." Jim quickly said to Tom,
Tom collected himself
"Anyway, Taylor kept saying that Lucas called the guy, that, that the guy came through the portal because Lucas asked him to come." He finished,
"But how would Taylor's son play into how the guy died?" Jim queried after a quick look at Ben who stared sternly at the picture,
"I don't know." Tom answered,
"But that was the last night anyone saw Lucas Taylor." He finished and then looked at Ben,
"You think the Commander had something to do with probably banishing him?" Jim asked,
Tom sighed and straightened up,
"Taylor's a complete bastard…and then some…but…he loved his son." He explained,
"He'd rather slit his own throat than hurt Lucas." He finished and then looked over at Ben again,
"Are you sure it was Lucas you met during the blackout?" He queried hopefully, Ben looked up and nodded slightly, his face again an unreadable mask of stone, Tom felt a shiver of relief at knowing that Taylor was not a complete maniac,
"So, what do you think went down that night?" Jim asked,
Tom huffed uncaringly,
"You're the bloody cop; I'm just a bartender." He answered and started walking down the stairs again,
"I mean, how would I know?" He said as if it didn't matter until Ben simply stopped him by grabbing by the shoulder firmly,
"You may not be a Sixer spy, but don't pretend you don't know a little about everything that goes on in this place." Jim said sternly and Ben let go of Boylan's shoulder,
"I strong-armed Taylor into giving me my bar in return for my silence….I'm not about to risk all that by playing at guessing." Tom said in a low tone and actually straightened up and tried to stare Jim down which didn't work,
Ben grabbed Tom again and glared into the other man's eyes a look Tom just didn't like, Ben Shannon seemed to have mostly two settings for those eyes of his and that was cold stare and that glare that felt as if he would bore straight through the skull of whoever he was having an disagreement with, right now it was the steel glare and Tom actually cringed as Ben glared at him for what felt like an eternity,
"I know you're probably had your reasons for dealing with those terrorists." Ben then finally said in an unnervingly calm tone,
"But you put my nephew in danger..." He then added,
"No, I only took him to see the Sixers, nothing more." Tom stammered not wanting to say anything about the strange person that had forced him into sending Josh alone,
"Not that anyone would believe me anyway." He thought bitterly,
"Now if you gents will excuse me, I'm going to go to sleep….for about a month." Tom then managed to say after Ben let him go, he knew the Shannon brothers were not finished and that they knew he'd kept something from them but right now, all he wanted to do was to hit the pillow in his own bedroom upstairs and spies and Sixers and what not be damned, Tom walked back up the stairs and into his bedroom that was of course also turned upside down
Later when leaving the bar Ben was surprised at how his abilities seemed to develop – or had they always been there but were only recently starting to activate?
"He's hiding something." Ben stated to Jim who nodded,
"I think so too…and I don't have any of those super senses of yours Mister Bionic Commando." Jim teased smiling one of his more annoying smiles,
"Na, just your Spider sense I guess…." Ben retorted just as teasingly and knew he hit the mark when Jim's face started reddening,
"How did you…?" Jim blurted,
"Zoe's been singing that spider song, using the very same tune I used to calm down Maddy and Josh when they were little, and I asked Zoe where she'd learn that song and she told me." Ben smirked, Jim bit his lip knowing deep down Ben probably wouldn't but Zoe might just tell Kono and Jim would never hear the end of it,
"Please just don't tell Kono, you know he'd never let me hear the end of it." Jim pleaded smiling awkwardly,
"I've never understood you two and all this mischief, don't worry I won't tell." Ben stated puzzled,
"But seriously Tom Boylan IS hiding something….and I intend to find out what." He then added,
"I agree, but first let's go see how Liz is faring with our John Doe." Jim replied and they both walked towards the infirmary.
At the infirmary Elisabeth walked into her lab and saw Malcolm opening the now formerly locked medical drawer where she kept the decayed body,
"Malcolm, what are you doing?" She queried,
"I was just about to ask you the same question." Malcolm replied looking from the corpse in the drawer to Elisabeth,
"How did you open it?" Elisabeth asked apprehensively,
"My personal code opens everything here." Malcolm replied,
"Now, what is all this?" He then asked demandingly,
"Work. Mine, not yours." Elisabeth explained now more than a little annoyed at his meddling in her lab,
"You have no right to unlock my work drawer." She said sharply at him while trying desperately to think up a good enough explanation,
Malcolm straightened in that overbearing way he used which was one of the reasons why she broke up with him during med-school,
"I am Chief Science Officer for all of Terra Nova, and that means your work IS my work." Malcolm stated condescendingly,
"Now, what is all this." He practically ordered, now Elisabeth were past annoyance she was actually getting angry with his arrogant behaviour,
Instead of a sharp reply she sighed,
"Well, I'm performing an autopsy." She explained,
Malcolm looked at the skeleton,
"On a five or so year old skeleton?" He huffed incredulously,
"Yes." Elisabeth replied still angry,
Malcolm looked the skeleton over for a couple of minutes,
"Well, where did it come from? What happened to it?" He then blurted out some of his curiosity piqued,
"I'm working on it, okay?" Elisabeth answered nervously and waved her hand about over the corpse,
"Look, I'm sorry, but why do you need to know?" She then asked managing to collect herself,
"Because you don't want me to, and I don't like having secrets in my own lab." Malcolm retorted raising his voice,
Elisabeth narrowed her eyes at him now she didn't care that her annoyance showed,
"Oh, Malcolm, you could never keep your nose out of other people's work, could you?" She stated beratingly,
"Does the Commander know about this?" Malcolm asked totally ignoring her outburst,
"I'm waiting till I know more before I bother him with it." Elisabeth half lied,
"You still don't care much for protocol around here don't you?" Malcolm asked and started pointing his finger almost in her face,
"Or are you just playing dumb?" He then growled at her, he did not like it that she tried to keep things pertaining to science from him and was about in the heat of the moment grab her arm when a slightly larger hand closed around his wrist and squeezed tightly – not enough to cause pain but Malcolm felt like his hand was in a vice.
Kono had just been at his and Alicia's house for a light snack when he got the idea to visit Elisabeth and ask if she had seen either Ben or Jim since Kono hadn't seen neither since the day before,
When he walked into the Infirmary Elisabeth was not there and he checked her office,
"Lieutenant Lao, are you looking for Doctor Shannon?" A familiar voice asked,
Kono turned around and saw Skye Tate clad in a white Infirmary coat, Kono remembered that Skye sometimes helped out in the Infirmary,
"Yeah, you know where she is?" He asked politely,
"Well, she's in her lab in the science section." Skye answered,
"Thanks." Kono said smiling and quickly left the Infirmary and headed for the lab section.
When Jim and Ben walked into the lab where Elisabeth were secretly performing an autopsy of the at least six year old corpse they could hear raised voices and one of them belonged to Elisabeth,
Malcolm were about to grab Elisabeth's shoulder but Ben with his usual speed and silent move walked over quickly and took a firm hold of the wrist to the hand that Malcolm were to grab Elisabeth with,
"What the bloody hell?" Malcolm hissed as he turned around only look up into Ben's steel grey eyes staring him down,
Ben looked over at Elisabeth and the open drawer,
"Would you let go of my hand!" Malcolm demanded now red in the face with annoyance, Ben ignored him,
"Ben, it's alright, let him go." Elisabeth said, not wanting Ben to go into overprotective mode – Ben had a tendency to solve what he considered threats against his family with violence or threat of it,
Slowly Ben released Malcolm's wrist and stepped back,
Malcolm glared indignant at Ben and then turned to Elisabeth,
"I'll be back, WITH the Commander." He then said sternly and quickly walked out nearly colliding with Kono who were just walking into the lab,
Kono looked after Malcolm and then turned to Jim, Ben and Elisabeth and then noticed the skeleton and then back to Elisabeth,
"Ooookaay, what've I missed?" He wondered trying to act casual.
Taylor after discovering a tampering with the secured files on his computer specifically the ones pertaining to Ben Shannon shortly after the revelations about him and his family, luckily only the part of Ben being Maddy's real father had been conveniently downloaded to the Eye-computer, there were still some people that complained about it, but luckily the teachers at the school had managed to shoot down any more bullying attempts after the incident with that kid who bullied Miss Shannon,
Master Sergeant Cronkite had come and reported that someone had been fiddling around in one of the supposedly secure storerooms and a listening device used to eavesdrop from a distance, the device had been put back, but Cronkite was very meticulous – downright pedantic person and had noticed,
"You're absolutely sure about this Master Sergeant?" Taylor queried just to be sure he heard correctly,
"Aye sir, I know how every piece of equipment is placed and I tell ye this device have been moved, and the lock to the storeroom as well as any security cameras have been tampered with." Cronkite growled angrily,
"When was the last time you checked that storeroom?" Taylor asked,
"Yesterday morning and I saw even then that it had been fiddled with, and then again this morning." Cronkite replied still seething, right then Doctor Wallace burst into the office,
"I trust there's a reason for you bursting in here without knocking?" Taylor queried sternly, Malcolm explained the matter of the skeleton Sheriff Shannon had found in the jungle and Taylor's eyes narrowed,
He rose and first turned to Cronkite,
"You take care of that business and I'll get back to that." He ordered and then all three walked out of the office and Taylor and Malcolm walked towards the Science compound while Cronkite walked off towards the first barracks where his own office/room were to have a well-deserved meal.
At Elisabeth's lab Kono were having a serious argument with Jim and Ben and Elisabeth,
"The Commander is probably on his way and I think it would be better if you and Ben is not here when he does." Jim stated and Ben narrowed his eyes,
"Screw that Jim, I'm staying right here." He retorted firmly,
"I think it's best, it would not be a good idea for all of us to be here Bennyboy – especially if Jimmyboy suspect the old man of a murder." Kono stated,
"Good, you and Ben go quickly before Malcolmus shows up with the Commander." Jim said sternly,
But too late as they could hear footsteps coming closer to the lab and a moment later Taylor walked into the lab followed by Malcolm,
"What do we have here Doctor Shannon?" Taylor queried or rather demanded to know and then he looked at the skeleton and Ben noticed the slightest wince as the Commander looked at the corpse,
Taylor sighed,
"Do you want to explain this?" He then asked though his tone was not that of a person asking,
Elisabeth explained what she had found out,
"So I wanted to wait until I had any tangible results." Elisabeth finished, Taylor smiled warmly but Ben noticed that the smile didn't really reach his eyes,
"And how did you find the body Sheriff?" He then turned and asked Jim while searching the younger men's faces, as usual Ben's face was a blank while Jim and Kono looked like boys who had just been caught with their hands in the cookie jar,
"I was out looking for that suspected still those kids have been using, figured if I can close that down they'd have less reason to sneak OTG, it was then I saw something stick up out of the ground and investigated, it could be some random poor sap snuck OTG and became slasher bait….they even took his arm as a souvenir." Jim lied,
"Nice save." Taylor thought and didn't show that he saw through the lie,
"No, it's gotta be a sixer that got killed, I've always thought some of them must have been good at falsifying their DNA labs to cover their criminal records." Taylor countered,
"Well, that would explain why he does not show up on the database." Elisabeth theorised,
Taylor turned around to face her smiling lightly at her,
"I appreciate you don't want me distracted Doc, but something like this, you really do need to keep me apprised of it." Taylor said to Elisabeth,
"It won't happen again." Elisabeth said more than a little nervous,
"No harm done." Taylor said calmly and shook his head,
"You're still new here and got a few things to learn." He added now with a kinder voice nodding to her and then turned to leave but stopped looking at Ben,
"Warrant officer, what's your role in this?" He asked somewhat more sternly,
Ben straightened up,
"I'm here for more tests and stuff sir." Ben partially lied – it was half true he wanted to find out a little more about the workings of his body,
Taylor seemed satisfied with the answer as he continued right past Jim and Kono the latter straightened,
"Shannon." Taylor nodded towards Jim,
"Lieutenant, I believe you got work to do." He then said to Kono who straightened up even more,
"Yes sir, I'm on it, just wanted to grab a bite to eat and thought I'd ask the others here to join me….it can get lonely eating alone ya know sir." Kono replied smiling even added one of those exaggerated salutes that Taylor really didn't like,
Malcolm remained a little longer and then left after a half-hearted stern look at the Shannon's and then left still fuming over the treatment by the younger Shannon,
After the Commander and Doctor Wallace had left Jim looked at his wife and then his brothers and the look in his face was one of worry.
Later when they were all leaving Ben turned to Jim,
"Better be careful, if the Commander thinks you might be building a case against him, he won't just take this lying down you know." He admonished,
"I'm not going to just sit around on this, Ben, besides I won't do anything until I have more facts as to the why." Jim replied calmly holding Elisabeth's hand as they were now heading for the festival area where the play was about to start,
"Are you two with me if I have to take this farther?" Jim then asked,
"You know I've always got your back Jimmyboy." Kono assured,
"I'm in, Jim." Came Ben's short stern answer, Jim knew Ben's dedication to the family as well as Kono's.
Later in Malcolm's lab, Malcolm Wallace had managed to repair the wing of the insect that had carried the chip, he had even figured out the exact frequency the insect was trained to home in on and walked out the inform Taylor and didn't notice the shadowy figure sneaking up to the console displaying the information on the bug.
It was still early afternoon and the sun were still shining brightly, as there were a couple of hours left until the Harvest festival play Ben decided on checking to see if any of his family was still at home,
He thought of
As he came walking to the Shannon house he saw Skye come walking out from behind the house,
"Miss Tate, you looking for Josh?" He asked in a calm friendly voice but still the poor girl jumped as if it had been a carno roaring beside her,
"Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Ben raised his hands in a calming gesture,
"No, I'm sorry, yes I was looking for Josh but there's no one home, and I was sort of in my own world when you came walking." Skye rambled nervously and smiled unsurely, there was something about the way her facial expression and the way her eyes kept darting but mostly looked down as if she were embarrassed or ashamed of something,
"Skye, you alright." Ben queried concerned,
Skye at first looked as if she were going to say something and then as if she just remembered something else,
"I'm okay, thanks for asking Mister Shannon….I'm sorry I've gotta go." She said and hastily walked off almost running before he could say anything else, Ben shrugged and started walking back towards the festival area,
"She's probably frustrated with Josh….aren't we all sometimes?" He thought as he walked on, this was a good day despite all the hassle Maddy was hosting a play about the origins of the colony, Ben had been at a few of the plays Maddy and Josh had been at school in 2149 this however was different as Maddy….his daughter was hosting it and Ben couldn't stop himself from feeling a little proud about it that he didn't notice the large prehistoric bug that flew in the direction of the residential sector where the Shannon house – his brother's house was.
Meanwhile Commander Taylor, Lieutenant Washington and a few soldiers were following the insect whose wings Doctor Wallace had repaired, on the way Taylor saw Cronkite munching on a candied apple,
"Cronkite, you're with us, NOW!" Taylor barked and followed by a grumbling Master Sergeant Cronkite they followed the bug until it at first stopped in mid-air in front of a house,
"Whose house is that?" Taylor demanded to know as they had been running all the way from Wallace's lab chasing this bug, when the bug in question flew into the air vent,
"It can't be!?" Alicia gasped
"Alright, search the house." Taylor ordered and his soldiers did so however Alicia did so reluctantly,
After a while a soldier came up to Taylor with what could only be a transmit device, Taylor investigated it and gave it to Malcolm who also checked it,
"It's the exact same frequency, Commander." He said a little surprised, though he had his suspicions as to how Jim Shannon had managed to escape Golad prison,
"Where's the Shannon's now?" Taylor asked
"I think they are at the festival play, sir." The soldier that had handed over the transmitter said,
Taylor couldn't believe this, worst case scenario Shannon was ONE spy he could not be THE spy,
"Let's go." He ordered and everyone started walking quickly towards the festival area, Taylor hoped to avoid a scene until he knew all the facts.
As the afternoon started becoming early evening Jim, Elisabeth and Kono had stopped to watch the Harvest play start, they looked around and could see Ben and Reynolds some yards away with Ben even having brought a plex and using it to film the play,
As the play started Maddy presented the play and told the story of the polluted future and how humanity's best last chance was to go into the past,
and everyone awed at Zoe marching on the scene as Commander Taylor and started talking to the audience and then shaking hands with the boy that were playing General Richard Philbrick and then Jim saw that Philbrick only had one arm and everything fell into place,
"General Philbrick lost his arm in Somalia." He exclaimed,
"Not really lost Jimmyboy, Bennyboy had to amputate it in order to rescue the general in Mogadishu, that's how Bennyboy got his Congressional medal of honour….for the rescue." Kono blurted out as it started to dawn on him as well, They all got up and started to walk to find Commander Taylor, and from where he were sitting together with Mark Ben realised it as well and took up the ring from his pocket that had belonged to the corpse,
"OF COURSE, what an idiot I am! The bird symbol is that of a phoenix….the personal family crest of General Philbrick!" Ben thought and rose to look for Jim, Elisabeth and Kono, he spotted them leaving quickly,
before he left Ben turned to Mark,
"Reynolds, could you keep filming this so I don't have to miss anything? I need to go check on something." He said,
"Sure thing, Sir." Mark replied as he took the plex without stopping to film or watching the play, he barely even looked at Ben as he were busy admiring the girl of his heart – Maddy, she was wearing a pretty white dress with flower motives and a cardigan, her hair was let out in wavy curls over her shoulders,
Ben left quickly but slowed down and decided to walk into an alley as he saw Taylor come walking towards Jim, Kono and Elisabeth from the other direction together with some soldiers, Alicia, Cronkite and to his dismay – Smythe.
As Jim, Kono and Elisabeth were walking to find the commander to confront him about General Philbrick they saw him coming from the other direction, Jim had seen Ben walking after them but now turning around quickly they noticed Ben had disappeared and then Commander Taylor walked up to them with his face
The commander said "James Shannon. I'm placing you under arrest."
Jim asked "On what charges?"
Taylor answered "I'm charging you with conspiracy and endangering the welfare of this colony. We found evidence in your house that proves you've been communicating with the Sixers."
Kono outraged said "Are you kidding me?"
"This is bullshit!" He then added angrier,
"That'll be enough Lieutenant!" Taylor said sternly,
Elizabeth said angrily "This is absurd."
Taylor looked to Smythe and the other soldier and said "Take the sheriff into custody."
"Sir, Shannon cannot be the spy, you know that!" Alicia said trying to defuse the situation before it escalated,
Taylor also thought this was too perfect, though the man had escaped from Golad, but….He had to talk to Shannon alone, without anyone else interfering,
"We'll get to the bottom of this AFTER you take him to the brig." Taylor said and one of the soldiers from his personal platoon and Smythe grabbed Jim by the arms and led him away while Alicia tried her best to control Kono from going berserk.
Elizabeth glared at Taylor as Jim was led to the brig and Alicia said "We all know Jim can't be a Sixer spy. What aren't you telling me?"
Taylor ignored her and walked away after the soldiers,
Elizabeth told Alicia about the body Jim found and their suspicions that the dead man is General Philbrick. Once she was done Kono said "Maybe all those days Taylor spent here by himself here made him go slightly nuts."
Alicia asked "What do you want me to do Kono?"
Kono answered "Relieve Taylor of command. You're second in command. You have the authority. He is abusing his power. Arresting Jim with no evidence."
Alicia said "A transmitter was found in the house. Maybe the real spy planted there to frame Jim."
Kono added "Maybe the commander planted it himself. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest."
"Kono! You're talking of a man that was my mentor and friend for years." Alicia said,
"We'll see what happens next BEFORE we start talking near mutiny!" She then added as sternly as she could but her eyes betrayed a mind in turmoil, it was then that Kono noticed Ben was missing,
"Speaking of surprises, before Taylor showed up and arrested Jim I was sure I saw Ben walking not too far behind us?!" He said and Alicia and Elisabeth turned to look around in vain,
"Yeah, I saw him duck into the alley over there." Alicia said, Kono slapped his hand on his forehead,
"Oh shit! We better find Ben before he decides to do something a lot worse than just relieve Taylor of command." He said worriedly, true Kono never really liked Taylor but….
"You don't think he may actually kill him, do you?" Elisabeth queried as she couldn't believe Ben capable of such rash action,
"Liz, you didn't see how he almost acted when that impostor Andrew Fickett nearly murdered Maddy, had she not talked him out of it Ben would have killed the old pervert right there." Kono stated.
In the brig Jim was fuming when the cell door suddenly opened and Commander Taylor walked in,
"You care to explain why we found this transmitter in your house set to the exact same frequency that Sixer bug was trained to follow?" Taylor asked,
"What bug?" Jim asked and then said angrily "Damn it Taylor, you know I'm not the spy!"
"And that transmitter must've been planted there." He added,
Taylor turned to leave not sure of what to do exactly when…
"Even though he may have deserved it for what he allowed the Radcliffs to do to my brother but….why did you kill General Philbrick?" Jim blurted out still angry,
Nathaniel stopped suddenly and then slowly turned back – his face a mask of pain and betrayal,
"Because if I hadn't….he would've killed me." He stated,
"When my son came with the second pilgrimage I was so proud, to have my boy here with me." Taylor started with a pained smile,
"His job was to find a way to communicate with Hope Plaza in between pilgrimages, what he was really here for was to find a way for the portal to go both ways." He continued,
"How does that explain why you killed Philbrick?" Jim queried,
"If you knew what I know, these vile scum had employed my son so that they can come here and strip this place clean….they'll leave this world ruined like the world we left behind, and Lucas…." Taylor choked but collected himself,
"Lucas had been won over to their side, when I realised what he were doing I destroyed his work – he hated me from that point on…" Taylor seemed to drift off,
"And then what?" Jim asked temporarily forgetting why he was in the brig,
"One night, I saw him leave the colony, I followed…" Taylor started,
….Flashback…..
Nathaniel had followed Lucas out to Pilgrim's Tree, when he got there Lucas were standing with his back at him staring into the night,
"Lucas, what's going on?" Nathaniel asked his son who turned around glaring at him,
And then the air heaved with lightning signalling a portal opening, a figure stepped through a figure – a man Nathaniel knew all too well,
"General Philbrick?" Nathaniel blurted surprised at his mentor's – and friend since decades back –appearance,
"Hello Nathaniel." Philbrick greeted but there weren't much happiness in his voice and his face had a serious expression,
"What the hell is going on here?" Nathaniel demanded to know,
"There's been a change in how Terra Nova is to be run, don't make this harder than it has to be son." Philbrick explained, Nathaniel gasped,
"Hope Plaza assured me that…" He started but Lucas interrupted him,
"Hope Plaza has nothing to do with this, they never did – this is a palace coup." Lucas said gloatingly,
"I'm here to relieve you of your command soldier." Philbrick then declared,
"Over my dead body sir!" Nathaniel declared and tensed as Philbrick started going for his gun – but before he had the chance Nathaniel drew his own pistol and….
Nathaniel Taylor had heard the sound of gunfire innumerable times in his life but never had the sound of a shot ever been so loud or echoed so much as this one – Philbrick fell backwards from the force of the bullet crashing into his ribcage straight through his heart, he was dead before he even hit the ground,
Nathaniel walked forward and knelt beside Philbrick and looked at him sadly with tears stinging behind his eyes as he closed his mentors non-seeing eyes, and then he could hear the sound of a sonic pistol charging near him and acted,
He easily disarmed Lucas before the younger man could shoot and punched him,
Lucas fell to the ground and turned around to look up at his father now aiming his own pistol at him,
"That's it, go ahead and shoot me!" Lucas snarled,
Nathaniel held his gun but he knew he could never pull the trigger,
"I can't, you're my son." Nathaniel said as he lowered the pistol,
"Get out of my sight, don't ever come back to the colony." He then said as sternly as he could,
"You'll regret not killing me old man!" Lucas growled as he walked away into the jungle leaving his father devastated at his own son's betrayal.
…Flashback ends….
"So how do I prove my innocence about you accusing me of being the spy?" Jim asked
"Actually Cronkite already proved that that particular transmitter was stolen from the storehouse this morning, the question I'M asking is: will you continue your investigation knowing it may cause trouble in the colony?" Taylor countered,
"So if I stop my investigation there wouldn't be any problem?" Jim asked,
"I won't stop you from prosecuting this, but consider how the people would react if they learn that all their hard work and sacrifice was all in vain, that Terra Nova was not meant as a fresh start but to plunder this beautiful world and leave it a dying wasteland just like the dead world we left behind." Taylor replied,
"After me and Boylan had buried Philbrick, I managed to crack Philbrick's personal codes and it all explained the reason for Terra Nova, and I vowed never to let that happen, I will fight those responsible with all my strength." He finished and then moved out of Jim's way and gestured with his hand towards the door,
"Go ahead." He said tiredly but Jim stopped,
"Since I have seen the files of what Philbrick did to Ben or rather what he allowed them to do to him, I was mostly curious as to why YOU would hide killing him, but if these people are planning on destroying our home, I'll fight them with all I've got." Jim said staunchly,
"So, do we have an agreement, fight or surrender?" Taylor asked and extended his hand which Jim took,
"Fight." Jim declared,
Taylor smirked,
"Now all we have to do is talk to your brothers especially Benjamin, I was most worried that he might have been brainwashed into being loyal to Philbrick and…." Taylor were suddenly interrupted,
"I HATE that name!" Ben hissed as he walked out of the largest shadow which made both Jim and Taylor to nearly jump,
"How long have you been in here?" Jim asked incredulously,
"And how?" Taylor asked just as incredulously,
Ben simply pointed into the corner of the large cell,
"Through the vent under the floor, and to answer the first question – long enough." Ben said calmly,
"So, with all due respect sir, why the charade? You could have talked to us directly instead of going through this." Ben asked steering the subject back on track,
"As I'm sure you must have overheard, I was unsure about you being somehow loyal – to the Radcliff's and Philbrick." Taylor explained calmly,
"Well, before I came here I was loyal to Philbrick as he was my mentor but….NOT anymore after seeing what he let them do to me."
"So how did you figure out that the corpse were Philbrick?" Jim asked,
Ben tossed the ring over to Taylor,
"This ring is a crest belonging to the Philbrick family and also their personal elite military unit the Phoenix Group." Ben stated, Taylor looked at the ring and recognized it the stylised Phoenix he had seen on his former mentor's finger,
"Phoenix Group?" Jim asked perplexed
"Mercenary thugs without a single shred of honour or decency." Ben explained as the guard at the door made a sign that people were coming in.
Kono, Alicia and Elizabeth entered the room and once Kono saw Ben in the room and that Taylor wasn't dead he asked "What the hell is going on?"
Taylor answered "It seems I was mistaken. Shannon isn't the Sixer Spy."
Kono scoffed and asked sarcastically "Gee what was your first clue sir? Was it the fact whoever the spy is has been helping the Sixers long before Jim even got here?"
Before Taylor could answer Alicia said "Tell us why you killed General Philbrick sir? I swear if you don't give us a straight answer I will assume command myself. Talk!"
Taylor told them the truth about why he killed General Philbrick and why Lucas simply disappeared from Terra Nova.
Alicia was shocked and asked Taylor one question "Why didn't you tell me this sir? You know I wouldn't betray you?"
Taylor didn't say a word and Alicia got her answer, the man who was a mentor to her and a friend for many years honestly thought she'd betray him and didn't trust her one hundred percent like she trusted him,
"Why don't we all put whatever differences we may have aside until we can figure all this out?" Jim suggested, Jim could understand Taylor having trust issues because of his mentor and his own son's betrayal – but this wasn't the time for them to be divided,
"How can we ever trust Taylor after this?" Kono asked angrily,
"We have to Kono, if we keep distrusting one another we'll spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders while the real menace is still out there and an even worse menace in the future waiting to suck this place dry." Jim stated sternly, Kono could not but agree,
"I agree." Ben said in his usual stoic manner,
"That's good enough for me too." Alicia said even though it was clear that she was hurt by her mentor's reluctance to trust even her,
Elisabeth nodded unsurely still seething while checking on Jim to make sure he wasn't hurt – she had learned of Taylor's treatment of Tom Boylan and even after Tom had put Josh in danger that was still no reason for the torture Taylor put him through,
"Well, okay – I'll not breathe a word of this outside of this group, BUT we're not finished with this, not by a longshot!" Kono said sternly,
"Good, then let's all get back to the festival." Jim said everyone agreed about that,
They all left the brig and walked back to the festival just in time for the ending of the play, luckily Mark had filmed the entire play,
Maddy and the kids bowed to the audience who applauded,
Maddy and Zoe then came down from the stage as a band gathered among the few that had any instruments,
Mark walked up to the Shannon's and immediately stood at attention,
"Commander Taylor Sir!" He mock acknowledged causing Zoe to first giggle violently,
"It's me Mister Mark." She stated and Mark put on a face of surprise,
"Zoe? For a moment I thought you were Commander Taylor?!" He blurted out now having trouble not smiling,
"You're silly." Zoe said while giggling and Jim made a comment about how silly Reynolds were since Zoe was simply too cute to be mistakenly taken for Commander Taylor,
Mark then turned to both Jim, Elisabeth and Ben not sure whether to address Ben or Jim,
"Sirs, Mrs Shannon, I wonder if I could steal your daughter away for a dance?" He asked in his to Jim annoyingly overpolite tone and posture with both hands behind his back,
Ben and Jim looked at Elisabeth Jim with a slight pleading expression, Elisabeth smiled,
"Knock yourselves out." Elisabeth said happily as she were holding Zoe at her hip and smiled at her daughter seeming so happy when she looked almost pleadingly at her parents for approval and then beamed when Mark got permission to dance with her, even though Elisabeth thought the idea of asking the father of the girl was a bit outdated but then also remembered how Anna Reilly had asked Maddy for her approval in dating Ben,
Anna Reilly walked quickly up to Ben after saying something to Maddy and then dragged him out on the now open area in front of the stage among many other colonists,
They all danced to the music with Mark and Maddy at first slow dancing tightly hugging each other – TOO tightly Jim thought and he told this to Elisabeth who promptly overruled him and while Josh took Zoe out on the dance area when the music turned more from his point of view redneck,
Elisabeth took Jim by the hand and walked him out there as well as did Alicia with a still contemplating Kono,
The music stopped eventually as Taylor stepped out on the stage and held a speech about how the colony was like his family and that he'd be nothing without the rest of them,
Kono scoffed silently at it, and then the fireworks started turning the night sky ablaze with colourful explosions,
For a moment Ben almost got the feeling of being back in Somalia or Cuba with the explosions almost sounding like mortar and machinegun fire but huffed at himself,
Up on the stage Taylor had the exact feeling and he could see the younger Shannon shrug involuntarily,
Not far from the festival area a pair of reddish eyes observed angrily,
"Back to the drawing board I guess!?" He thought,
Meanwhile in the jungle another individual was watching the fireworks with hatred,
Lucas Taylor stared at the fireworks he could see and hear,
"Just wait, I will be back!" He mumbled hatefully, he truly hated the colony and didn't care what happened to it or the idiots living there, all he cared about was revenge for what his father had done.
FINALLY I'm finished with this chapter,
Sorry about it taking so long but since I have made a lot of changes to the original main storyline of Terra Nova it all became a little difficult with these chapters to get the story to flow better and I truly hope I made any sense in these chapters.
Thanks greatly to doctor anthony for both proof reading and some desperately needed idea help in writing a few scenes.
Please write some reviews and tell me what you think.