Sacrifice
A Sequel to Quietly into the Night
Conventional Couples
Rating: PG-13

Chapter Twenty-Two

Antar – Capitol City

A smoky haze filled the sky of Capitol City. People wandered aimlessly in the streets, trying to find out what had happened. Kyle used the smoke and the darkness to hide his approach to the smoldering ruins of the royal palace. He entered the grounds of the palace, and quickly ducked behind a pile of rubble. A troop of Kivar's guardsmen marched past, and Kyle eased himself into the group. He marched unnoticed for several minutes until finally, one of the guardsmen began to speak with him.
"Have you heard the latest?"
"About what?" hedged Kyle.
"About Commander Nicoro. He's still missing, and there isn't any sign of his transmitter signal. It was there one second, and the next, it was like he was gone."
"Huh," said Kyle. "Imagine that. So when you say gone, you mean dead, right?"
"More than dead," said the guardsman. "Destroyed, incinerated or something. You know how the transmitters work. They keep going, even if we're taken out. It would have to be destroyed to stop working."
"Right, I knew that, I'm just tired from working so hard," bluffed Kyle. "So, what else have you heard?"

The guardsman looked around to make sure he wouldn't be overheard. "The Queen's escaped," he whispered.
"Really?" lied Kyle. "I heard she perished in the fire."
"That's what Lord Kivar is telling people, but in actuality, she escaped. "My brother-in-law Krochi works closely with Lord Kivar. He told me that Kivar's plan was to have the Queen try and escape and lead him to her brat and the alien traitor. His plan failed however, and she escaped undetected."
Kyle grinned in the darkness, feeling an overwhelming joy at the news that Liz did escape. The troop turned a corner, when Kyle felt a hand come down over his face. He was pulled backwards into a doorway. Something was dropped over his head, and the world went black. He tried to break free, but his hands were bound behind his back. After several minutes of futile struggling, he relaxed and waited to see what his captors had in store for him.

"Will you remain quite if I remove the covering from your eyes?" said a disembodied voice behind him.
Kyle did nothing for a moment, then finally, he nodded, and the covering was slowly removed from his eyes. Before him stood another of Kivar's guardsman, staring down at him through silver gray eyes.
"You were foolish to come here tonight. Lord Kivar has put a price on your head."
"Well, lets go then," said Kyle. "Turn me in, collect your bounty and be done with it."
"No, that isn't what's going to happen."
"Well, why don't you tell me what you think is going to happen?" said Kyle.
"What I think is first, you are going to keep your big mouth shut," said the guardsman. "And second, I want you to tell me how my son and daughter are." As he spoke, his features transformed, and before Kyle stood Naloch.

"Cute trick, look, I can do it too," said Kyle, and he changed into a facsimile of Michael, then slowly morphed into a duplicate of Max. "So, if we're done with the parlor tricks, who are you?"
"Kyle, we don't have any time for this, what is it going to take to convince you that I'm Naloch," said the other man."
"Naloch is dead," said Kyle flatly. "There isn't anything you could say to convince me that you are him."
"I can understand your being cautious, but we must move quickly, the Queen has escaped. We need to track her down and keep her safe."
Kyle just looked at the other man and said nothing.
"Kyle, will you listen to me. Liz is out there somewhere, she isn't safe. We have to find her!"
"What did you say?" asked Kyle.
"I said the Queen is out there and we need to find her."
"Liz, you said Liz."
"Yes, that is her name, is it not?" said the other man.
"Not to anyone on Antar. Everyone here calls her Elizabeth. There is only one person on this God forsaken planet that would ever call her Liz. Damn it Naloch, where have you been? We've been worried sick."
Naloch smiled. "I'm assuming if I untie you, you will no longer try and kill me," said Naloch.

He stepped behind Kyle and freed his hands, and the two men hugged briefly.
"Naloch, what happened to you? Saranara and Jereon were certain they had lost you. You've been missing for months."
"I know," said Naloch. "It couldn't be helped. I managed to infiltrate Kivar's guardsmen as a trooper named Cadrik. I managed to worm my way into Kivar's good graces, and he ordered me to befriend Liz. I agreed of course."
"How did she get out?" asked Kyle. "How did she get past the security system?"
"One of the things I learned was that the guards could disarm the security system in order to take her out of the room," answered Kivar. "The sensors in her room detected smoke shortly after you escaped, and she was removed from the room for her own safety. That provided me with the opportunity to explain how the security system worked."
"And Liz used it to her own benefit," continued Kyle
"Yes, she got out the same way you used to," said Naloch. "But after she got out, we lost track of her. I have no idea of where she went."

"Well, that's not our only problem," said Kyle as the two men made their way out of the room and back out through the ruins of the palace. "Max and Liz's daughter Lexie figured out how to work the orbs, and transported herself to Antar. She was followed by Isabelle."
"Great Balatra," said Naloch, invoking the name of the Antarian Goddess. "Are they safe?"
"We don't know," admitted Kyle. "Jereon hid them in the tunnels along with what he thought was you."
"What!"
"Jereon found you down in the tunnels, but he didn't have a chance to ask where you had been. Kivar's guardsmen were about to search the shop, so he left Isabelle and Lexie in the tunnel with you, and when it was safe he went back down, and they were gone."
"We've got to find them," said Naloch.
"Wait, there's more," said Kyle, holding a hand up to stop Naloch.
"Do not tell me that Max and Michael followed Isabelle and the child?"
"In that case, let's just go then," said Kyle.
"Oh no," said Naloch. "Don't you people do anything the easy way?"
"Now come on," said Kyle. "Where's the fun in that? Seriously Naloch, you didn't really think that Max would stay behind if his child came here, did you?"
"No, not really, and where the King goes, so goes the general
"Right," nodded Kyle. "Now come on, lets get you back to the shop. I know of at least two people who are going to be really happy to see you."

Antar – Capitol City

Liz laid on one of the cots, her arms around her daughter.
Trust no one, Krochi's voice echoed in her head. A tear trickled down her face as she struggled to figure out what was real and what wasn't.
"Mommy, are you sad?" asked Lexie as her small hand reached up to touch her tear-streaked face.
"No sweetie, not sad, just confused. But it's ok, I'll figure it all out."
"Auntie Maria says you're the smartest person she ever knowed," said Lexie.
Liz smiled as she thought about her friend. "What else did Auntie Maria tell you?"
"That she misses you a lot, and that Daddy's a good girlfriend, but it's just not the same. That's silly. Daddy's a boy, how can he be a girlfriend?"
Liz stared at the small girl in shock. "Your real. Oh my God, you're real!" She kissed Lexie's face and jumped up and ran across the room to Isabelle and hugged her. "Isabelle, I can't believe you're here. You're real! It's not a trick."
"Liz," said Isabelle, hugging her back. "Of course I'm real. What are you talking about?"
"One of the guards, he kept telling me to trust no one. That I couldn't believe anybody, that it wasn't safe. I wanted so much to believe that you and Lexie were real, but I was so afraid. I kept hearing his voice in my head telling me not to trust anybody."
"Well what finally convinced you?" asked Isabelle hugging Liz again.
"Lexie, she told me something her Auntie Maria said."
"Oh this ought to be good, let's hear it," said Isabelle with a smile on her face.
"She said that Max was a good girlfriend," said Liz bursting into tears.

"Auntie Isabelle, is Mommy alright?" "Should I try and fix her again?" asked Lexie in a scared voice from across the room.
"Oh no sweetie, Mommy's just fine," said Isabelle. "She's just really happy right now."
Liz walked slowly over to her daughter and smiled and knelt down next to her. "Lexie, remember a minute ago when I said I was confused? Well, I just got unconfused, and it made me so happy I cried, that's all."
"Oh, ok, but that's silly, just like Daddy being a girlfriend is silly. I cry when I'm sad, not happy."
Liz hugged her daughter tightly and looked at Isabelle over her head.
"She has healing powers?" she asked.
"Yeah, I just found out myself, the other day. I, well, I left Roswell after you and Kyle didn't make it back, and I just got back into town the other day."
"Isabelle, I am so sorry, I tried to get Kyle to leave Antar with the rest of you, really I did," said Liz.
"Even if he did, and you stayed, I would have left," said Isabelle. I just couldn't stand losing one more person that I loved."
"I had to stay Isabelle, I had no choice," said Liz.
Isabelle started to say something when the hidden door began to open. Without a word, Liz upturned one of the cots and hid Lexie behind it. As one, she and Isabelle stepped forward, arms extended outward to meet the intruders head on.