Disclaimer: Ugh, we all know who owns them. And it ain't me ;)
Sumary: If you haven't gotten it by now, you should probably take another crack at reading chapters 1 and 2 ;)
Author's note: As you might have noticed from chapters 1 and 2, this is an Alternate Universe for sure... even if just in slight ways. But its taking another small jump... we're going to assume that Liam Kincaid is heading up the Resistance at this time. C'mon, stay with me now... ;)
*** When Stars Collide -- Chapter 3 ***
Sandoval walked through the mothership, deep in his own thoughts. He hadn't met up with Lili today, because he knew that she had to attend some sort of a meeting this morning into this afternoon. As he walked, he could only thing about the events on the mothership last night... and he was not looking forward to another encounter with Zo'or, nor was he mentally ready for it. But then again, he wasn't mentally ready to deal with his own thoughts and feelings either...
He was able to confirm that his CVI was not breaking down as he had feared. Although glad for the newfound freedom of thought, the breakdown of his CVI could of course spell his death, which he definately wasn't ready to face above everything else that had been happening. He knew that many of the CVI implants had now started to become rejected by the human immune system, but he wondered if the control of the CVI rather than the physical unit itself could become rejected -- the human brain was a mysterious thing. Human beings use such a small percentage of it, that the limits at this point in their evolution are totally unknown. What happens when we are able to gain control of more of our minds?
He made a sharp turn and sighed to himself as he moved into the room. His eyes reverted back to their cold stare -- not this time because they had lost so much of their humanity that they once beheld, but because of contempt that he had deep within himself for the being that stood before him... just the presence of Zo'or brought incredibly dark thoughts into his mind.
Not that he hadn't had thoughts against the Taelons before... but, that was a different time, though not so long ago. His thoughts were less against the Taelons than they were for his own personal agenda, seperate from their own. He had trouble even remembering that agenda now, upon reflection. His CVI recorded every single thing he said and did, and yet, he had trouble accessing some memories such as this these. But then again, he didn't feel much like being in that mindset again.
"Agent Sandoval," Zo'or said, in an oddly-amused tone of voice, "I am glad you could make it..." he turned towards Sandoval and smiled slightly, with a sick sense of humour as always, "... On time, I see."
Sandoval sighed inwardly and nodded towards the Taelon. "You wanted to see me?" he inquired.
"Indeed," replied Zo'or, turning away. "You have a new assignment." He smiled to himself. Sandoval noticed an amazing amount of satisfaction in his voice, a sarcastic sense of knowing all, and also the fact that he was not bringing up the events that had transpired the night before.
"And what, may I ask, is this new assignment?" If Sandoval didn't know better, this would be the time he would expect a maniacal laugh to come from the being in front of him. But he did know better of course..
"I have come across some..." he paused, and continued, "interesting information in the last few hours, Agent Sandoval." He turned towards him, his amused look replaced with one of contempt and disgust, "and what we do with this information, is going to involve you."
He knew. Thoughts flashed through his mind. Thoughts of random things, random places... thoughts of DeeDee. Thoughts of Boone, and Boone's family. Their fate at the hands of the Taelons. He couldn't stop the images from surfacing. He had little control over his recal function in his CVI, it now seemed. And then Lili... no, Zo'or must somehow know what transpired the evening before. He knew, someone was there, someone was spying on them. He couldn't let Lili suffer the same fate as so many others. His thoughts were cut short by Zo'or's voice once again.
"It has come to my attention, that we have traitors among us." His voice turned cold, colder than he liked to hear it, a rare stiffness that would have send shivers down his spine even before all this.
"Traitors, Zo'or?" Sandoval inquried, honestly innocent of the situation.
"Traitors, Agent Sandoval," repeated Zo'or in exasperation. "And your new assignment," he smiled again, "is to simply confirm my newfound suspisions. He walked across the room, and waved his hand across the void infront of him, activating a panel. Sandoval always continued to be amazed somewhere in the back of his mind about the Taelon's technology. So advanced, with a certain elegance to it. -- The screen flashed up an image of what looked like a very small mechanical device.
Zo'or indicated the screen, "And this device is what will help you accomplish that." Sandoval watched the screen display some readouts as Zo'or moved behind him and retrieved a global, and a physical copy of the device outputed on the screen. He held it up, and placed the tiny black circuited piece on the side of the closed global. And then, the device phased out, and was no longer visible.
Sandoval suddenly had an idea of what it was, looking back at the screen to confirm his suspisions, "This is a tracking device."
"Not just any tracking device," he replied, "As different from a simple locator, this device is designed to interface directly with the global technology." He indicated the global in his hand, "It records everything transmitted, accessed and received on the device, and.." he smiled, "Utilizes the global's audio transmittor to transmit a non-stop stream of audio, picking up everything for about a 10 foot radious."
Sandoval sighed and nodded, "You want me to plant this device on the our 'suspected' traitors?" He stressed the word 'suspected', which in retrospect he realized he should not have done. He saw Zo'or's anger, and quickly lowered his head a bit.
"No, Agent Sandoval," he said, "The device has already been planted by one of the volunteers." His face took on an appearance of contentment, "Your job is simple. Oone I am sure you cannot possibly screw up," he put the global down harshly and disapated the view screen. "But, despite what you may think..." he paused, "I trust you, Sandoval. I had my doubts, and still do, but I am sure that you can carry out the simple task of making sure that our.." he cleared his throat, " 'suspected' traitor becomes a 'confirmed' traitor."
With that, he turned abruptly to leave the room. Before he left, Sandoval called after him, "Who exactly is the traitor whom I will be monitoring?"
Zo'or smiled, unnoticed by Sandoval, "I think you know this person well, Agent Sandoval. It is our very own Captain Lili Marquette." With that, he left the room.
A lump formed in Sandoval's throat... Zo'or was nothing but insane, he thought to himself. He knew Lili was no traitor... but then again, when he thought about the definition for a moment, he could actually consider himself a traitor. If there was one thing Sandoval was not, it was stupid. He knew that Zo'or didn't possibly trust him this much. If he didn't go through with this monitoring, he knew very well that Zo'or would have some sort of monitoring system of his own in place to alert him. Sandoval turned and activated the display panel that was previously activated. He moved through a sequence of commands that he could see were clearly laid out for him... he did wonder why Zo'or would not do this for himself. Surely he would have liked to be the one to reveal any traitors among them..
But then again, he also liked pitting Humans against Humans. He had a dark sense of humour about it...
He sighed to himself silently, and switched the option for Audio Transmit to 'On'
---- A Few Hours later ----
Sandoval studied some simple readouts from the display panel. Zo'or was nuts, he said, there isn't a flaw with Captain Marquette within a hundred miles of her. She was no traitor to the Taelons. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that somehow he almost wished that she were.
The information was routine. Nothing out of the ordinary. All the audio he picked up was normal, and although he picked up into a few conversations he probably shouldn't have been in, he knew that shutting down the transmission would just get himself, and probably Marquette, in a heap of trouble. Assisting Zo'or's "traitor" in evading was not what he needed now. But the guilt he felt at doing this was almost getting the better of him.
"Good, Ron," he muttered to himself, "You *should* feel guilty." He spoke out loud to no one, but softly, "Its human."
As he reviewed some security records on the side, he did notice something strange, not about Lili or any kind of traitor whatsoever, but that there had been a reinforcement of volunteers sent to a location a few miles West of Lili's location. He wondered who had ordered the build up of troups, since he was usually the one informed of this type of thing, as well as the one ordered to perform the operations of organizing everything... As he studied some vague reports, none of it really made any sense. And then..
'Liam, glad you finally decided to show up.'
Sandoval listened to the audio pickup coming through. What was Kincaid doing there with Lili? He knew she was going to be at some sort of meeting or conference -- why couldn't he remember -- but why had Kincaid showed up at this meeting as well. Had it been something important, he was sure he would have been informed. He listened to the audio more closely. He noticed the tracking screen in the corner of the display. It tracked Lili's form off to the side. She continued to move away from the general area, until she was a decent distance away and on her own.
'Sorry, I couldn't geta way sooner. I know I was supposed to be hear earlier.' The sound of Kincaid's voice came across the audio transmitter.
'Well,' replied Lili, 'you know, this is *your* meeting. You should be on time for at least a few things in your life.' She chuckled slightly.
He heard him sigh audibly, 'Yeah, yeah... so are we talking or are we moving?' --
Sandoval sighed. "His" meeting? Why was Liam holding a meeting. He watched the locator, as the sensor started moving more quickly away from their location. They were moving away by car on the main road, he thought to himself watching the readouts. The vehicle took a turn onto a backroad, and started moving West away from their location. Something in the back of Ron's mind suddenly hurt very much, like someone jabbed a knife into his hand. He didn't consciously know what was happening yet, he couldn't bring it to the surface. The audio play continued.
'You sure we're not being followed?' Liam said.
'Yeah, Augur's got us hooked up with so many devices to track everything within a huge radius from our position.'
Sandoval thought that name sounded familiar... Augur... Augur... where had he heard that before.
He heard Lili continue to talk, 'You know, for the leader of the Resistance, you sure are paranoid. What would the cell leaders think if they knew their head man was sometimes pretty much head-less?'
Sandoval choked. His mind didn't completely process the information at first. A lot of things ran through his mind. How? When? Why? -- he didn't know the answers to any of the basic questions. And he immediately tried to convince himself out of his own hearing... he must be hallucinating. He knew Zo'or would take it out on him when he found nothing, so he's trying to make believe something... to make something up... no, he wouldn't let that happen. Those days were quickly disappearing with the seconds that passed... he wouldn't go back to that life. He couldn't..
But the casual discussion and light laugh that came from Liam Kincaid made him realize, that this was not only very real, that it must have been happening for a very long time.
She lied. She deceived him.
What was he saying? *He* lied. *He* deceived her. So many times in the past. So very many times... but, she pushed all that aside just last night. He didn't know if she forgave him or not, but he knew what kind of a person she must be to have moved past all that he did. Against her. Against humanity. How could he ever blame her for anything?
But this... this seemed unbelievable. Crazy. He can't have heard right.
'I know all the cells have really become detached from each other lately,' Liam's voice on the audio transmitter cut through his thoughts like a knife, 'So I think this meeting is going to be a good way for everyone to touch base with each other.
Sandoval sighed. That was the meeting... members of the -- what did he call them, resistance 'cells'? -- were meeting.
His thoughts were conflicted... he could feel his own mind fighting for control over that piece of technology in his head. And he wasn't quite sure which side was winning... until a new thought crossed his mind. He quickly turned back to the display panel and brought up a larger map of the area. Then he brought up Lili and Liam's vehicle's current course. Then he overlayed some information that had been previously in the back of his mind -- the location of the buildup of volunteers that were originally a few miles West of Lili's original location.
"My God," breathed Sandoval, "Its an ambush."
(more more more more more to come :)
Sumary: If you haven't gotten it by now, you should probably take another crack at reading chapters 1 and 2 ;)
Author's note: As you might have noticed from chapters 1 and 2, this is an Alternate Universe for sure... even if just in slight ways. But its taking another small jump... we're going to assume that Liam Kincaid is heading up the Resistance at this time. C'mon, stay with me now... ;)
*** When Stars Collide -- Chapter 3 ***
Sandoval walked through the mothership, deep in his own thoughts. He hadn't met up with Lili today, because he knew that she had to attend some sort of a meeting this morning into this afternoon. As he walked, he could only thing about the events on the mothership last night... and he was not looking forward to another encounter with Zo'or, nor was he mentally ready for it. But then again, he wasn't mentally ready to deal with his own thoughts and feelings either...
He was able to confirm that his CVI was not breaking down as he had feared. Although glad for the newfound freedom of thought, the breakdown of his CVI could of course spell his death, which he definately wasn't ready to face above everything else that had been happening. He knew that many of the CVI implants had now started to become rejected by the human immune system, but he wondered if the control of the CVI rather than the physical unit itself could become rejected -- the human brain was a mysterious thing. Human beings use such a small percentage of it, that the limits at this point in their evolution are totally unknown. What happens when we are able to gain control of more of our minds?
He made a sharp turn and sighed to himself as he moved into the room. His eyes reverted back to their cold stare -- not this time because they had lost so much of their humanity that they once beheld, but because of contempt that he had deep within himself for the being that stood before him... just the presence of Zo'or brought incredibly dark thoughts into his mind.
Not that he hadn't had thoughts against the Taelons before... but, that was a different time, though not so long ago. His thoughts were less against the Taelons than they were for his own personal agenda, seperate from their own. He had trouble even remembering that agenda now, upon reflection. His CVI recorded every single thing he said and did, and yet, he had trouble accessing some memories such as this these. But then again, he didn't feel much like being in that mindset again.
"Agent Sandoval," Zo'or said, in an oddly-amused tone of voice, "I am glad you could make it..." he turned towards Sandoval and smiled slightly, with a sick sense of humour as always, "... On time, I see."
Sandoval sighed inwardly and nodded towards the Taelon. "You wanted to see me?" he inquired.
"Indeed," replied Zo'or, turning away. "You have a new assignment." He smiled to himself. Sandoval noticed an amazing amount of satisfaction in his voice, a sarcastic sense of knowing all, and also the fact that he was not bringing up the events that had transpired the night before.
"And what, may I ask, is this new assignment?" If Sandoval didn't know better, this would be the time he would expect a maniacal laugh to come from the being in front of him. But he did know better of course..
"I have come across some..." he paused, and continued, "interesting information in the last few hours, Agent Sandoval." He turned towards him, his amused look replaced with one of contempt and disgust, "and what we do with this information, is going to involve you."
He knew. Thoughts flashed through his mind. Thoughts of random things, random places... thoughts of DeeDee. Thoughts of Boone, and Boone's family. Their fate at the hands of the Taelons. He couldn't stop the images from surfacing. He had little control over his recal function in his CVI, it now seemed. And then Lili... no, Zo'or must somehow know what transpired the evening before. He knew, someone was there, someone was spying on them. He couldn't let Lili suffer the same fate as so many others. His thoughts were cut short by Zo'or's voice once again.
"It has come to my attention, that we have traitors among us." His voice turned cold, colder than he liked to hear it, a rare stiffness that would have send shivers down his spine even before all this.
"Traitors, Zo'or?" Sandoval inquried, honestly innocent of the situation.
"Traitors, Agent Sandoval," repeated Zo'or in exasperation. "And your new assignment," he smiled again, "is to simply confirm my newfound suspisions. He walked across the room, and waved his hand across the void infront of him, activating a panel. Sandoval always continued to be amazed somewhere in the back of his mind about the Taelon's technology. So advanced, with a certain elegance to it. -- The screen flashed up an image of what looked like a very small mechanical device.
Zo'or indicated the screen, "And this device is what will help you accomplish that." Sandoval watched the screen display some readouts as Zo'or moved behind him and retrieved a global, and a physical copy of the device outputed on the screen. He held it up, and placed the tiny black circuited piece on the side of the closed global. And then, the device phased out, and was no longer visible.
Sandoval suddenly had an idea of what it was, looking back at the screen to confirm his suspisions, "This is a tracking device."
"Not just any tracking device," he replied, "As different from a simple locator, this device is designed to interface directly with the global technology." He indicated the global in his hand, "It records everything transmitted, accessed and received on the device, and.." he smiled, "Utilizes the global's audio transmittor to transmit a non-stop stream of audio, picking up everything for about a 10 foot radious."
Sandoval sighed and nodded, "You want me to plant this device on the our 'suspected' traitors?" He stressed the word 'suspected', which in retrospect he realized he should not have done. He saw Zo'or's anger, and quickly lowered his head a bit.
"No, Agent Sandoval," he said, "The device has already been planted by one of the volunteers." His face took on an appearance of contentment, "Your job is simple. Oone I am sure you cannot possibly screw up," he put the global down harshly and disapated the view screen. "But, despite what you may think..." he paused, "I trust you, Sandoval. I had my doubts, and still do, but I am sure that you can carry out the simple task of making sure that our.." he cleared his throat, " 'suspected' traitor becomes a 'confirmed' traitor."
With that, he turned abruptly to leave the room. Before he left, Sandoval called after him, "Who exactly is the traitor whom I will be monitoring?"
Zo'or smiled, unnoticed by Sandoval, "I think you know this person well, Agent Sandoval. It is our very own Captain Lili Marquette." With that, he left the room.
A lump formed in Sandoval's throat... Zo'or was nothing but insane, he thought to himself. He knew Lili was no traitor... but then again, when he thought about the definition for a moment, he could actually consider himself a traitor. If there was one thing Sandoval was not, it was stupid. He knew that Zo'or didn't possibly trust him this much. If he didn't go through with this monitoring, he knew very well that Zo'or would have some sort of monitoring system of his own in place to alert him. Sandoval turned and activated the display panel that was previously activated. He moved through a sequence of commands that he could see were clearly laid out for him... he did wonder why Zo'or would not do this for himself. Surely he would have liked to be the one to reveal any traitors among them..
But then again, he also liked pitting Humans against Humans. He had a dark sense of humour about it...
He sighed to himself silently, and switched the option for Audio Transmit to 'On'
---- A Few Hours later ----
Sandoval studied some simple readouts from the display panel. Zo'or was nuts, he said, there isn't a flaw with Captain Marquette within a hundred miles of her. She was no traitor to the Taelons. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that somehow he almost wished that she were.
The information was routine. Nothing out of the ordinary. All the audio he picked up was normal, and although he picked up into a few conversations he probably shouldn't have been in, he knew that shutting down the transmission would just get himself, and probably Marquette, in a heap of trouble. Assisting Zo'or's "traitor" in evading was not what he needed now. But the guilt he felt at doing this was almost getting the better of him.
"Good, Ron," he muttered to himself, "You *should* feel guilty." He spoke out loud to no one, but softly, "Its human."
As he reviewed some security records on the side, he did notice something strange, not about Lili or any kind of traitor whatsoever, but that there had been a reinforcement of volunteers sent to a location a few miles West of Lili's location. He wondered who had ordered the build up of troups, since he was usually the one informed of this type of thing, as well as the one ordered to perform the operations of organizing everything... As he studied some vague reports, none of it really made any sense. And then..
'Liam, glad you finally decided to show up.'
Sandoval listened to the audio pickup coming through. What was Kincaid doing there with Lili? He knew she was going to be at some sort of meeting or conference -- why couldn't he remember -- but why had Kincaid showed up at this meeting as well. Had it been something important, he was sure he would have been informed. He listened to the audio more closely. He noticed the tracking screen in the corner of the display. It tracked Lili's form off to the side. She continued to move away from the general area, until she was a decent distance away and on her own.
'Sorry, I couldn't geta way sooner. I know I was supposed to be hear earlier.' The sound of Kincaid's voice came across the audio transmitter.
'Well,' replied Lili, 'you know, this is *your* meeting. You should be on time for at least a few things in your life.' She chuckled slightly.
He heard him sigh audibly, 'Yeah, yeah... so are we talking or are we moving?' --
Sandoval sighed. "His" meeting? Why was Liam holding a meeting. He watched the locator, as the sensor started moving more quickly away from their location. They were moving away by car on the main road, he thought to himself watching the readouts. The vehicle took a turn onto a backroad, and started moving West away from their location. Something in the back of Ron's mind suddenly hurt very much, like someone jabbed a knife into his hand. He didn't consciously know what was happening yet, he couldn't bring it to the surface. The audio play continued.
'You sure we're not being followed?' Liam said.
'Yeah, Augur's got us hooked up with so many devices to track everything within a huge radius from our position.'
Sandoval thought that name sounded familiar... Augur... Augur... where had he heard that before.
He heard Lili continue to talk, 'You know, for the leader of the Resistance, you sure are paranoid. What would the cell leaders think if they knew their head man was sometimes pretty much head-less?'
Sandoval choked. His mind didn't completely process the information at first. A lot of things ran through his mind. How? When? Why? -- he didn't know the answers to any of the basic questions. And he immediately tried to convince himself out of his own hearing... he must be hallucinating. He knew Zo'or would take it out on him when he found nothing, so he's trying to make believe something... to make something up... no, he wouldn't let that happen. Those days were quickly disappearing with the seconds that passed... he wouldn't go back to that life. He couldn't..
But the casual discussion and light laugh that came from Liam Kincaid made him realize, that this was not only very real, that it must have been happening for a very long time.
She lied. She deceived him.
What was he saying? *He* lied. *He* deceived her. So many times in the past. So very many times... but, she pushed all that aside just last night. He didn't know if she forgave him or not, but he knew what kind of a person she must be to have moved past all that he did. Against her. Against humanity. How could he ever blame her for anything?
But this... this seemed unbelievable. Crazy. He can't have heard right.
'I know all the cells have really become detached from each other lately,' Liam's voice on the audio transmitter cut through his thoughts like a knife, 'So I think this meeting is going to be a good way for everyone to touch base with each other.
Sandoval sighed. That was the meeting... members of the -- what did he call them, resistance 'cells'? -- were meeting.
His thoughts were conflicted... he could feel his own mind fighting for control over that piece of technology in his head. And he wasn't quite sure which side was winning... until a new thought crossed his mind. He quickly turned back to the display panel and brought up a larger map of the area. Then he brought up Lili and Liam's vehicle's current course. Then he overlayed some information that had been previously in the back of his mind -- the location of the buildup of volunteers that were originally a few miles West of Lili's original location.
"My God," breathed Sandoval, "Its an ambush."
(more more more more more to come :)