Leaders

The room was small and comfortably appointed. A bookcase sat against one wall and a small wooden table sat in the middle. A small protrusion arched up from the floor that Alley was coiled around. Jane Kelly sat in an armchair beside Alley, close enough that she could touch her partner easily. Their hands were joined. Doctor Cooper sat in another chair, not as close, but not too far away either. If he wished, he could reach out and touch either of them although he would have to stretch to reach Jane. Alley smiled at him and his fear receded along with his sadness.

"What is going on?" Doctor Cooper started to ask and stilled as a small blue skinned form appeared beside his chair! Lizbeth carried a tray that held three glasses. What was in those? It was white, and frothy? She looked perhaps ten years old, if with very old and odd eyes. She had slit pupils like a snake, but her gaze was warm and friendly. She wore a dress that looked subtly like Advent wear, but not. Definitely high tech, but the blue color was anything but Advent. Almost cheerful!

"Milk, sir." Lizbeth bobbed her head to the unspoken question as Cooper stared at her. "You need the nourishment and the cows don't mind." She smiled at him, but it was melancholy. "It has been pasteurized."

"He won't trust." Alley said quietly as she reached out with her free hand to take a glass off the tray. "He cannot after what you did. Thank you for being so thoughtful, girl, but we need to talk, just the three of us. Leave them here and make sure we are not disturbed, please?" Alley waved to the table and Lizbeth bowed to her, not shifting the tray.

"Yes, Mother." Lizbeth laid the tray on the table well within reach of all of the chairs, did a deep curtsy to all three of the occupants of the room and vanished. No muss, no fuss, no pyrotechnics. Just gone.

"'Mother'." Jane Kelly hadn't moved. "What did you do, Alley?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Alley inquired as she took a sip of the fluid in her glass and sighed in contentment. "I gave her a new life. I took responsibility for her. I took control of her and I will pay for that eventually, but in the end? She needed the help to break the Warlock's chains." Doctor Cooper stared at her in horror. "It was real." Alley was sad and quiet now. "I did enslave her but I will not be cruel. Her skin…" She sighed. "The Warlock was trying to make her like him. A slave to him instead of the Elders. As broken as she was, the only way to free her was to take her reins myself. To do that? I had to break his control, shatter his attention and remove the danger of her memories. I regret that but with her memories gone, she is a good kid." The snake woman smiled wistfully. "Most of the time."

"You…" Doctor Cooper shook his head. "What did you do?"

"I erased her memory. All of it. She is and is not a thought form, Doctor. She is different. Unique as far as I can tell." Alley said sadly. "Lizbeth had a duty that was bound to her on the deepest possible level. Deeper than genetics, deeper even than psi powers. I found a way to show her that her duty was done. Once she was freed from that duty, she had no guiding force to push her. I explained what happened, told her I could release her, let her go to be whoever she wanted. She chose to be my child. To fix some of what she broke." She bowed her head. "I am both humbled and a bit frightened by that. For so long, I knew I would never have children and now? I have many."

"She hurt you." Jane said slowly.

"She hurt many, Jane." Alley corrected her partner. "Many more than we will ever know. But you of all people know what the Warlock did to her. What Advent technology and psi power did to her. You saw it in battle so many times, just as I saw it from the other side." Alley would not meet her partner's gaze. "I saw some of what he did to her when I erased her mind and it will haunt me for the rest of my days. Killing her would not be easy, but it would be possible. That said, she is not a bad person now, Jane. She wants to help. She wants to make things as right as she can."

"She hurt you." Jane's rage was still fanned and Alley nodded.

"She did." Alley agreed. "At the Warlock's behest, mind you. She had almost as much free will as your sword does." Jane and Doctor Cooper stared at Alley but it was the Doctor who groaned.

"That's not start that argument." The sole male in the room said with feeling. "You take responsibility for her?"

"I do." Alley replied. "As I said, once she was lucid, I offered to remove the controls that I placed and she refused." At that, both of the humans in the room stilled. "She says that she cannot trust herself. She trusts me." Alley slumped a bit. "I wish I did. She has promised that she will not act in any way that endangers me or my nest. She has sworn that in a way that I find it very hard to contemplate her breaking. She includes you and the doctor in that, Jane."

"And you believe her?" Jane demanded tightly.

"I do." Alley smiled at Jane. "I have done more than I should have. Jian is a bit cross with me, but I have taken steps not to cause too many ripples." She made a face. "Here, anyway. Lizbeth is not to blame, Jane. The Warlock was and he paid for it. Lizbeth herself demanded to be bait for a trap for him in case he ever comes back." Jane jerked. "If he does, he dies again as many times as it takes to make sure he stays gone." The last was cold.

"You didn't have time to heal her, let alone…" Doctor Cooper trailed off as Alley looked at him. "I… I don't want to know!" He said quickly.

"Wise." Alley took another slow sip of her milk. "Let's just say that I have done things that skirted a number of rules. I have dealt with things, people, that bent rules. I have not broken any and I have no intention of doing so." Her shoulders arched in a Viper-ish shrug as she finished her glass and set the empty back on the tray. "Your milk is getting warm."

"I can't trust her." Jane released Alley's hand and sat back in her chair, her face severe. The Doctor stared at her and then shook his head, crossing his arms. Alley shrugged again and picked up another glass to sip from.

"No one is asking you to, Jane." Alley reassured her partner. "Right now? We need to discuss what will happen next. I did something truly horrible. It was needed, so I have few regrets except that I abused your trust, Jane. I promised you that I would not act like that and I did." She looked at the floor. "I saw no other options and every plausible scenario I had others run on possibilities came out bad."

"'Others'?" Jane inquired tightly. "What others?"

Doctor Cooper was not actually surprised when one wall of the small room shifted and the Lady appeared nearby, but what stood beside the Lady was a surprise. Priestess Milodi looked awful. Her skin was almost as white as her patient gown. Her hybrid eyes were dim with fatigue, pain and fear, but her smile was bright. Was her skin orange tinted or was that a trick of the light? Jane started to rise, but Milodi shook her head. Another chair appeared beside the table and Milodi sat in it with a grunt. Jane sank back into her chair, her face a study.

Do not overexert. The Lady warned. After all of this, we will not let you perish. Amusement flared from the Ethereal as Milodi growled at her. Temper, priestess. Drink your milk. Then she was gone.

"I am weak, but alive, thanks to all of you." Milodi said with a smile as she took the last glass of milk to sip it. "I had time to think. To talk to various people. Much of that was like this, on mental planes. Alley asked for help and those of us who could gave it. She takes far too much on herself."

"Pot meet kettle." Alley muttered into her glass.

"You have done horrors just as I have, Alley. The Elders used us both and we had to fight to survive." Milodi said to the Viper. She nodded to Jane. "Just as X-Com had to. We have to look forward, not back. More threats will come and we need to be ready. They may not come in our lifetimes, so we need to lay a solid groundwork."

"Anything we build, humans will tear down." Jane said quietly as everyone looked at her. "Either through ignorance, greed, hate or fear. You know this. It is what we are best at."

"You are wrong." Alley corrected her partner brightly enough that Jane stared at her. "What humans are best at is imagining." She shook her head. "I do not have the sheer scope of imagination that you humans take for granted, Jane. I never will. I am what I am, if slightly less limited now after Easer's alterations." Jane looked as if she wanted to argue, but both Cooper and Milodi nodded, faces sad. Jane slumped a bit as Alley nodded as well. "That is not an insult, Jane. It is what it is."

"It feels like an insult." Jane reached out to take Alley's hand again. "Alley…" She gave the Viper's hand a squeeze and then sighed. "What do you propose?"

"Democracy is not the best form of human governance, it is just the best they had found before the Elders came." Alley squeezed Jane's hand back as she set her now empty glass back on the table. "No matter the species, people are going to be people." Milodi nodded to that, but focused on her drink. "Some will be good, some will be bad, others will be indifferent. Earth is a mess right now and we need to think about how to fix what we can. At the same time, we must not neglect our defenses. I am not going anywhere, Jane."

"I don't remember all of what happened…" Jane mused. "But I did remember feeling you were lost at least once." Desolation showed in her eyes as she gripped Alley's hands. "Don't do that to me, Alley. I… As strong as I am, after I lost Jenni, I went nuts." She looked away. "I don't think I can do that again."

"I know." Alley let Jane hold one hand. Not judging, accepting. "I saw no better choices, Jane. I am sorry I scared you, but it needed to be done. The Warlock's remnant needed to be stopped. His weapon needed to be stopped. Both of them are gone and we are still standing. That is a win." She frowned. "Now? I have many reasons not to leave again." She looked at Doctor Cooper. "You are not alone, Doctor. Not now. Not ever. I hope you can accept me with all of my flaws, because I am not going to leave you to suffer alone." The Doctor was shaking his head, but he stilled as she held out her free hand to him. "We are what we are. Survivors. We understand the personal costs of war. This world is so broken, so fragile still… We need to do better. Help us? Please?" She begged the Doctor as he stared at her hand.

"What are you saying, Alley?" Milodi asked into the sudden stillness.

"For almost all of recorded human history, it was always about 'us' and 'them'." Alley said with a slow nod to the hybrid. "Different continents, different skin colors, different languages, all divided the whole. Tribes were all that mattered. If you are not of us, then you are of them. Not to be trusted. To be taken advantage of. To be attacked, abused, lied to or just ignored because you are not of us." Alley's words were soft, not angry. Sad. "For so long X-Com had to fight in secret because no one wanted to know what was actually happening. The Elders put paid to that. Humanity knows that it is not alone in the universe now and there are a lot of beings out there who do not like anyone else." Alley smiled, but there was little humor in it. "This is another case of 'us' versus 'them'. Just not all of 'us' are human now."

"Alley…" The Doctor groaned. "You cannot assume that every extraterrestrial is like the Elders."

"No." Alley agreed. "But we cannot assume that they are like the Lady either." Jane stared from the Viper to the human and back, clearly confused. Milodi spoke up next.

"Alley, what do you propose then?" The hybrid was tired but she was calm as she sipped her milk. "We cannot live in fear."

"No, we can't." Alley agreed. "The Speaker wants us to live in fear, hence why he had one of his agents poison you. To destroy the hope you work so hard to spread." Milodi stilled and the Viper nodded. "He will pay for that."

"Alley… Killing Advent won't help anything." Milodi said sadly. "They are just as lost as we are." She made a face. "Even the Speaker is grasping at straws."

"Not for long." Alley replied coldly and everyone stared at her. "No one attacks my sister and gets away with it. No one."

"'Sister'?" Milodi said weakly, setting her now empty cup down on the table.

"I took a very special horde of children as my own." Alley said quietly. "The one who aided you, they consider her their mother. I know what she is and I know she is listening right this moment." She inclined her head to Milodi. "I have no intention of letting her fade any more than I would Jane." She smiled at Jane who looked a bit poleaxed. Alley shook her head. "We here are the ones who understand the past and the future. We know what can happen and what must not. Any of us alone is vulnerable. Together? We are stronger than any conceivable foe."

"All for one and one for all?" The Doctor quipped and paused as Alley smirked at him. "Oh no…" He groaned. "Don't!"

"I won't quote any bad movies at you this time, Doctor." Alley promised. Then she smirked wider. "This time."

"I tremble with anticipation." Doctor Cooper said with a wince. Alley's sense of humor defined the word 'depraved' on occasion. "Alley…" He broke off and sighed. "What? Are we to be a council of some kind?" Jane stilled as Alley nodded.

"Alley, I am no diplomat." Jane protested.

"No." Alley agreed. "You will be in command of our military." Jane stared at her, shocked oozing from every pore and Alley nodded. "X-Com operated in secret for so long. Now it cannot any more. It does not have to. You will lead them. The Doctor and Milodi will provide logistical support and I will provide intel."

"I am not the X-Com Commander!" Jane said weakly.

"Jane…" Alley gave her hand a squeeze. "Your Commander is leaving."

"What?" Jane demanded, only to freeze as Milodi shot Alley a glare that the Viper ignored.

"Alley, don't!" Milodi warned.

"We have no time." Alley said sternly. "I do not want to break what illusions she has left, but she is not alone. Not now. Not ever." The look she turned to her partner held heartbreak. "So many lies. So much death and pain. Never again, Jane. No one will hurt you again. Not while my nest lives." She slid out of her chair, releasing the other hand she held but suddenly coiled gently around Jane!

For her part, Jane was even more confused. "Alley! I do not understand!"

"I know." Alley was sad as she laid her head on Jane's shoulder. "But you are about to and it will hurt you very badly. I am here, Jane. You are not alone." She looked at the Doctor and her eyes held bottomless pain. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. When she managed speech, it was a croak. "Doctor, I can't say it. I can't hurt her that bad. Help?"

"Alley, I do not understand either." Doctor Cooper admitted. He stilled as Milodi slid her chair closer to his and reached out to take his hand. "Priestess?"

"It is simple. Simple and horrific." The hybrid seemed close to tears now herself. "No one has asked a very important question. 'How did the X-Com commander survive in that stasis suit for so long?'"

"He was in stasis." Jane and Doctor Cooper chorused and eyed one another.

"For twenty years?" Milodi asked quietly. "The Elders' technology was incredible, but you of all people, Doctor, know the limits of their tech." The male human inhaled sharply as Milodi nodded. 'Yes."

"Oh my god!" The human almost fell out of his seat, but Milodi's grip tightened and he jerked to keep from pulling her. "Oh… My…" He broke off, shaking his head, his face a mix of awe and terror.

"Doctor?" Jane demanded tightly as Alley held her.

"Even stasis would not have kept him alive for so long as hooked up as he was to the Advent tactical network." Doctor Cooper focused himself and let his emotions fade as he worked to keep from upsetting her. "Nothing human could have survived that!"

"That is impossible! I know my Commander!" Jane swallowed hard as a new form appeared in the room, hovering next to one wall. Not the Lady! This Ethereal was blue! The he solidified into a familiar human form in a very familiar uniform. The X-Com Commander!

"You have hurt her enough!" Alley snapped. "Say what you will and then get lost!"

"I will." The Ethereal in human guise was quiet. "Jane Kelly, I am sorry."