See chapter 1 for disclaimer


For those who have asked this was originally written in 1999 so it's set towards the beginning of season 2, at the time of writing this I hadn't seen the first few episodes so I was guessing on a few things, but I am trying to correct any mistakes I have made. If I miss any feel free to point them out, otherwise they may never be corrected!


Chapter 2

Liam arrived on the Mother Ship at just after six in the morning, hair still damp. As soon as he stepped out of the shuttle he knew there was something wrong. Sandoval was there with a group of his men, they were armed and edgy. Something was definitely wrong.

          "What's going on?" Liam questioned as the armed guards closed in behind him, making it impossible for him to have reached his shuttle had he tried.

          "Zo'or wants to see you on the bridge." Sandoval said coldly. He turned his back and began walking, Liam followed.

          When they reached Zo'or, Da'an was already there. Liam nodded to him as he came in, but he got no response. Da'an simply looked away.

          Now Liam was worried. The best way to deal with this would be head on, no misunderstandings. "What's going on?" It was a question, not a demand but still the look he received from Zo'or was chilling, but worse was the neglect of Da'an.

          "Where were you last night Major Kincaid after you left the Washington embassy?" Demanded Zo'or.

          "I walked through the gardens for a while, then I walked home." It would be easier to find out what was going on if he co-operated with them, and right now he saw no reason not to.

          "How long were you walking for?" Zo'or's voice was even harsher than usual.

          Liam wished he could remember more clearly, but he just didn't know, time hadn't been working right last night, it could have been hours or it could have been minutes. He remembered how long it felt at the time, but looking back could he trust those feelings now?

          "I don't know. Probably an hour?"

          "You turned off your global Major. Why?" It was Sandoval's turn now.

          "I don't know, I guess I wanted some time alone to think."

          "Think about what? Maybe you just didn't want any one to know where you were last night, or what you were doing!" Sandoval was angry, it was clearly visible both in his tone and on his face.

          Ok, now that was an accusation! Time to find out what was going on. "Am I being accused of something?" Now it was a demand, and not a question.

          "Yes". Zo'or said flatly.

          "What's going on?" He repeated. "What happened last night?" He didn't need a CVI to figure out something serious had happened and right now he was the main culprit.

          "A Taelon was killed last night." Sandoval growled. The anger which was barely contained before now mutated into fury.

          "You think I did it?" Now he really was shocked. "Why?"

          "No ordinary human could kill a Taelon. Not without special access such as a Companion Protector has." Zo'or spat.

          This of course was not entirely correct, an "ordinary human" had killed a Taelon before, but Zo'or often forgot small details such as these.

          "How?" Liam asked, he had to find out what he could.

          "A high level energy weapon, possibly not unlike the model which you use although this one had been adapted to fire a much greater blast than normal." he trailed off leaving Liam to finish the sentence.

          "What makes you think it was mine?"

          "Your finger prints were found on the weapon, you must have handled it at some point." Sandoval said. "It was configured for one blast only, then it self destructed, but it was a sloppy job, we were able to pull some prints off it."

Liam looked over to Da'an who was watching him intently. Looking at Zo'or he said, "It wasn't me. I have no reason to harm any Taelon." This was true.

          "You will forgive us if we don't believe you of course." Zo'or said, his voice fairly dripping with sarcasm.

          "I'm sorry Major." Sandoval said as he took his gun, global and badge. He turned towards his men and nodded. "Take him away."

          Liam felt numb, at first he walked with the guards, not knowing what to do or what would happen. His mind was spinning round in circles making it difficult to think strait. He longed for the clarity of last night, he may not remember much but he remembered how clear his mind had been, how easy it had been to think.

          Then the image of Da'an appeared in his mind, as if acting like an anchor, his mind fastened onto it. It was more than just an image, but less than the presence last night. It was all he needed.

          It was over in a second, the three guards lay stunned but unharmed on the floor, Liam could barley remember moving, he just knew it had been fast. Time was moving wrongly again, and the image of Da'an lingered in his mind as he ran to the shuttle bay. Then he was gone. He turned off every tracking system in the shuttle. Sandoval had taken his global as well as his weapon, so that wasn't a problem, they wouldn't be able to track him now.

          Now he had to find out what had really happened. He headed for safety, the one place he could go that Sandoval had never been able to find him. The one person who was smart enough to have the Taelon's chasing their tails for hours following false signals. Augur.