The Air ducts

Beneath the Pentagon.

Bettis was getting tired of this. One should think, that with all his knowledge and ODK training, he could find one measly little exit. Just a fire exit or window or something. But so far the only exits he had been able to locate, was the ID-portals on the top floor. And they were heavily guarded. To heavily for his taste.

No, what he really needed was either a terminal or a Global. With one of those, he could access the computer network or, at least, get a message out of here. Yeah, a Global! That would be it!

"Small, handy and easily concealed." he quoted in a whisper from a DI commercial, starting to crawl on, looking for a person "willing" to lend him the item

Liam's Cell

Beneath the Pentagon

He couldn't believe it. She had lied. Juliana Belman, one of the few people in his life who HADN'T betrayed him at some point or the other, had lied to him. She hadn't told him, that his cursed Kimeran heritage was back. But the look of glee in the Man's eyes had been unmistakable. For once, he had told the truth. Liam only remembered the rest of the previous hours in a haze. Remembered begging his nemesis to stop tormenting the Colonel, remembered having to watch as each "wrong" answer he gave only caused one of his few remaining friends even greater pain. But he had answered as truthfully as he could: That he didn't know how the Kimeran technology was build, what made a Kimeran spaceship tick or how it was armoured.

He didn't know the answer to those things. In the end, the Man had ordered them back to their cells, Colonel Kincaid being thrown into the one opposite Liam's. He had done so, not out of mercy but because Zeke's body couldn't take much more damage right now. It was the "right now" part, which scared Liam. That, and the fact that Juliana had lied to him. Because if he couldn't trust the woman who, along with Lily, came the closest thing of being a real mother to him, then who could he trust? No one.

Liam turned over on his side, curling up in a foetal position with his nails digging into his palms almost to the point of breaking the skin, and fell into a fitful sleep.

Zeke was watching as the Kid curled up under his skimpy blanket. He was worried. He had watched as the Bastard had presented the truth to Liam, had watched as the uncontrollable horror and hurt filled his eyes as the kid had realised, that the Man had told him the truth. Zeke knew, that whatever this meant to Liam, that little revelation had done more damage to his mental state than anything these a**holes could have done to him otherwise. Liam had finally broken over this little piece of news. Had given them everything they wanted. And they hadn't believed him. Zeke allowed an expression of pain to flicker over his face as he adjusted his position on the bunk. Whomever this guy was, he was efficient. Painfully so.

Zeke had been tortured before, the scar on his face came with a little greeting from the SI-wars and a stay in an enemy prison camp.

Commander Boone had gotten him and the rest of the team out of that one. Against orders, mind you. He wondered who was gonna get them out of this one.

His attention was pulled back to Liam's cell as the kid started to whimper in his sleep, a violent shiver going through his body. Poor kid. He was going to need a LOT of help after this was over. If they survived. One crucial thing was in their favour, though: they hadn't caught Bettis yet. And as long as he was on the loose, there was always the chance of the cavalry gatecrashing this little party.

The Man's office

Beneath the Pentagon

Finally, things were going as they were supposed to. The subject was finally starting to talk, even if it was all lies. He allowed himself a small smile. He would get the truth eventually.

"President Urich is here." The secretary's voice over the intercom broke his little moment of victory. He really had to talk to her about interrupting him when he didn't WANT to be interrupted.

"Show him in."

"I am already in, thank you," Urich said, opening the door with a big, fake smile plastered all over his face. The Man greeted him with an equally fake smile on his part. Then rose and stretched out his hand in greeting.

"Mr. President, so good to see you again. How's the family?" This man WAS supposed to be his superior. His only superior.

"Fine, thank you. You should come visit us more often. So, how are the special project going?" Urich didn't like the Man, but he was needed in this case. Afterwards, he could always dispose of him. He was, after all, the President of the United States of America, the most powerful man in the world and he could do whatever he wanted. And he did.

"Things are back on schedule. The Subject has started to talk, although It's telling us nothing but lies. But now, it's only a matter of time." The Man showed off most of his teeth in another smile, this time real enough. Urich eased back in a big, padded chair in front of the desk.

"Fine. The public need an enemy. I have picked a small country in the middle east this time. And this new technology, perhaps spiced with a couple of medical inventions, could be just the thing. After all, this is a re-election year. And there are nothing like a quick, little war to boost votes. Afterwards, we can always pretend, that the Taelons are coming back. That should keep the public attention occupied for at least a decade before the fools figure out they have been had." Urich laughed. He could allow himself to share some of his plans. Yes, disposing of this psychopath afterwards would be a solution. He was far too dangerous.

"Just give them something to fear, and they follow you like lambs to the slaughter if you only promise to keep them safe from the big, bad wolf."

"Yes. I must commend you on the way you managed to turn them on the Subject like that. A real piece of art." The Man decided to boost this bureaucrats ego a little bit. Give him just enough rope to hang himself on and all that jazz.

"That was nothing, just a couple of half-truths and rumours and they believe you. The public wants to be lied to. Takes their little minds of from their little, ordinary lives." Urich said, wallowing in self-satisfaction while the Man was trying hard NOT to show his disgust.

Ever since the Subjects true heritage had gone public, his fingers had itched to get his hands on him. He was a danger to the public. So was Urich. But he guessed, that sometimes, in order to get what you want, you have to overlook a couple of things with your partners.

And at least Urich was human.

The Air ducts

Beneath the Pentagon

Bettis was getting sick to his stomach. The conversation he had just heard through the air vent, and recorded on his newly acquired global, was not to be misunderstood. Urich had ordered Liam caught and tortured just to stay in office. And he was also planning on declaring war on some small, unfortunate country somewhere for the same reason.

He, the Colonel and the rest of the ODK team had just happened to get in the way. But he guessed, that when Urich was cold-blooded enough to order millions of innocent people dead just to get reelected, then the torture and death of an ODK team, not to mention the man who saved the world, was pebbles. Bettis slowly retreated to one of the bigger main vents, making as little noise as possible. Then he started to work on modifying the Global so that it would be untraceable.

He needed to hack into a terminal remotely, but couldn't afford to get caught. He hoped this would work.

The Lair

Beneath Saint Michael's Church

Sandoval approached Anr'el. She and Augur was working on filtering out the signals from the planetside Kimera, based on a system, where every Kimera would shortly "log out" of the Commonality, the blink on the screen being filtered out. The idea was, that the last two on screen would be Anr'el and Liam. Anr'el because she couldn't log out, being the only connection to Liam they had, and Liam, because he was connected to Anr'el. He padded her softly on the shoulder.

"I need to talk to you. It's about Liam." Anr'el send him a speculative glance.

"What do you wish to discuss ?" She turned to him while Augur tried hard not to show his nervousness. They hadn't told Anr'el that Sandoval knew nothing about his parentage. They simply hadn't gotten around to it. Big mistake, he guessed.

"Let's start with why my son..." At this both Augur and Dr. Belman gasped, staring at him like he had grown a second AND third head. When had he figured it out?

"yes, I know he's my son. I am not completely stupid, Augur, so stop looking like that..." Sandoval sent them both a dirty look. No doubt, that this would be discussed later. Then, with out missing a beat, he continued "...why he looks to be around my age and then continue to a more detailed analysis of what you know of his current state of health. Not to mention what you intend to do with him when you and he return to Kimera Prime. After that we can discuss whether or not I will allow that little trip at all."

Anr'el was more than a bit amused. Whatever the subtext was on this, it was clear, that Sandoval was not supposed to know about his fatherhood. But he did and now he was doing the true parent thing and went super-mother-hen on his son.

"Well, then." her voice clearly conveying her amusement "Liam's rapid growth was probably the result of him feeling threatened." She held up a hand to stop Dr Belman and Augur from interrupting. "It's a Kimera survival mechanism. And from what I understand, the situation, into which he was born, was, to a child, very frightening indeed: His father was being hunted mercilessly and finally killed, he was surrounded by people, who was discussing whether or not to kill his mother or just brainwash her, which, by the way, was totally unnecessary, since Hag'el would probably have made sure that her CVI no longer had what you call an MI, but let's not discuss that now, so his subconsciousness ordered his body to mature in order to be able to defend itself. His mind would also develop the necessary survival skills based on his inherited memories. It's a rare occurrence since the Taelon-Kimera war, but not unheard of. As for his current state of health, I cannot tell you more than I already have: He's in a considerable amount of pain, both mental and physically, probably as the result of torture.

As for him returning to Kimera Prime, first of all, you really don't have a choice in that matter, he WILL return with us; He is one of our Children and he needs us. No harm will fall on him, that much I can promise you. He will be allowed to develop as he was meant to, allowed to find his own way in the world and not the way determined by a bunch of strangers, who doesn't understand the potential he carries within him. To put it simple: We will allow him to be the child he is and to grow up at his own speed." She drew a deep breath. "That is something you have all forgotten isn't it: That you are dealing with a child. You only see what your eyes tells you and not what your mind tells you. And you almost broke a small child because of it. How many times have the Resistance " she turned to Augur and Dr. Belman "send Liam out on dangerous missions, even though there were plenty of other agents to send?"

Both of them remembered several such occasions. She was right. They HAD, conveniently, forgotten that Liam was only a child. They only remembered it, when he did something totally out of character for an adult. She wasn't finished, though.

"Don't worry about it. It's in the past and right now we have bigger problems than your inability to remember the obvious." She smiled apologetic to them. She hadn't meant to be this lecturing about it. Then something occurred to her. She closed her eyes for a second, feeling the sensations emanating from her bond. Yes, she was right.

"He's asleep." She opened her eyes. "I will attempt to reinforce the link I have with him. Please do not disturb me." She closed her eyes again, seeking the dreamworld of the Child. The humans could only wait in nervous anticipation.

Liam's Cell

Beneath the Pentagon

Liam was dreaming. And this time, it WAS a nightmare. A psychedelic flow of faces and situations, where he had been betrayed. Da'an, Sandoval, Augur, Dr Belman and even Hag'el telling him that he was entirely human now and laughing at him behind his back. The Man's mocking laughter on top of it all, a fitting soundtrack to the questions of dead resistance fighters screaming at him, asking him "Why me? I had a family!". Even his mother was in here, cursing the day he had been born.

"If it weren't for you, you little freak, I would still be alive !" And she was right. If he hadn't been born, Dr Park wouldn't have had to mess with his mother's CVI and it wouldn't have burned out prematurely. And she wouldn't have died in that Swiss mountain cave. The demons surrounding him dug even further into his tortured mind, digging up other equally painful memories and twisting them even further to their own devices. But something else blended in now, a soothing voice, crooning at him in a foreign language, slowly pulling him out of the dark void, into which he had damned himself, and onto the now familiar mountain range of the place he had been told was Kimera Prime.

"shhh, Little One, everything is going to be OK." He found himself being cradled in the arms of the Kimeran woman Anr'el, lying on the ground, sobbing while his hot tears fell against her chest, holding him as she was, on her knees next to him. He tried to compose himself. This wasn't the adult thing to do.

"No, it's not. But you are not an adult yet, Little One. And it's ok to show your pain, even if you were." Again she was reading his mind. He forced a little, weak smile.

"You have to stop doing that, you know. People are going to start to talk." She smiled, not entirely sure on the joke.

"Then let them." She let him go as he sat up, arms around his knees and head on them. He stared off into the distance.

"Thanks for getting me out of there."

"My pleasure. And your own work. I could only show you the way, you had to take it on your own."

"You are starting to sound kind of like Yoda." He turned his head to look at her. Now, that was a name she had heard before.

"Now, do I look like a little, green man to you? I am hurt !" She said with a look of mock anger on her face, slapping his shoulder affectionately. She was awarded with a genuine laugh. Anr'els own smile grew. This was much better than the dark mood he had been in when she first entered the bond.

"I'm not totally convinced, that I'm not imagining this, but if I have to go mad, it's nice to know, that my hallucinations have a sense of humour." This time they both laughed. They sat for a while in companionable silence, just admiring the view.

"Why are you so sad ?" She finally asked, wondering what could have happened to throw Liam into the dark void she had found him in. It had been quit a battle to get through to him. He sighed and watched as heavy, rain filled clouds started to gather in the distance.

"She lied to me. She told me that I was human. And I trusted her."

"Who lied?"

"Dr Belman." Anr'el allowed a frown to appear on her face. Dr Belman had lied to this one? She would have to have a serious conversation with her.

"Why did she tell you that you were human? And why do it hurt you so much that you are not ?" He turned his head to watch her. There was no deceit in her face. He could tell her. And she was probably a figment of his own imagination anyway.

"It was shortly before the Taelons left. My Shaqarava returned just in the nick of time to save my human father. I asked her to take some samples, but according to her, there was nothing out of the ordinary. She lied. The Man told me the truth, showed me the readings on the tests they ran on me when they brought me in. She lied to me, Anr'el." The clouds were getting closer, thunder starting to rumble. Anr'el got worried. This place reacted to emotions and this was NOT looking good. She moved over next to him and embraced him, soothingly rubbing circles on his back.

"It's OK, nothing can hurt you in here. We don't have to talk about this if you don't want to." Liam felt himself calm down by the emotions emanating from the Kimera. He watched as the clouds started to move away again, although they didn't disappear completely. Strange. After a few minutes of watching these weird behaving clouds and enjoying the closeness with Anr'el, he finally gathered up the courage to continue.

"I guess, that I never really expected her to lie to me. Everyone else, yes, but not her. She was my adopted "mother" for crying out loud! She wasn't supposed to lie to me!" He made an effort stop his rampant emotions. He needed to get his control back.

"As for why it hurts not to be human. That one is not so hard. I'm the last of my species. I'm alone in the middle of a sea of humans. They all hate me. I just want to fit in." Crystalline tears started to drip again. "Why couldn't I just have been born human ?" He closed his eyes, allowing Anr'el to gather him even closer to her chest, giving him the only comfort she knew how to. Her heart was breaking.

"Oh, Hag'el, what have you done..." She thought to herself, desperately wishing, that there was a way to go back in time and help this child avoid all that pain, he had experienced. But she couldn't. So she did the next best thing. She took his hand and showed him the Commonality.

And in the real world, Colonel Liam Neville Kincaid gasped loudly, his eyes going wide with shock as Liam's entire body began to emanate an eerie green light.

The Kimeran Commonality

They all looked like stars at this distance. A sky filled with hundreds, thousands of greenglowing stars, connected with shining strands of energy, vibrant and alive. But the most incredible thing was the song. Soothing, caring and the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. Millions of voices, each blending in with its own tone, its own intonation. Some beautiful, some a little bit more...well not so beautiful perhaps, but the result was the same. Absolutely stunning.

He lacked the words.

But somehow he knew, that this was not a dream, that this was reality. That he was no longer alone. And as he was gently pushed closer to the intricate patterns of the Commonality by the being at his side, all he could do was marvel at the sensations filling his mind.

He was finally home.

Maybe not in body, but in heart. He was accepted here, no strings attached except those he chose to create himself. A single strand of energy enveloped him, pulling him even closer to the rest and connecting him to those of his own kind, the Kimera. Adding him to the eternal new pattern of the Commonality.

Not the stale, confined, rigid Commonality of the Taelons, but the living, breathing, ever-changing pattern of the Kimeran Commonality. There was no pain here, and he understood, that he could stay here as long as he wanted. Here he would be safe from pain until others had found his body and brought it to safety.

That was the most incredible thing of it all:

They wanted HIM.

Wanted to find him.

Not because of how they could use him, but because of who he was, Liam Hag'el- Sandoval-Beckett, a unique being of their blood, someone who needed to be protected and cared for. And for the second time that day, Liam broke down, bathed in the caring of the Kimera, scared that it would end. But it didn't.

Instead the emotions, he received, increased in strength as the Kimera felt his distress, and soon dozens of string from others attached themselves to his glowing cocoon, flooding him with feelings of caring, worry about him and total acceptance.

He let himself be absorbed by the sensations, halfway believing that they had mistaken him for someone else. But that slight note of self-doubt was quickly quelled by an angry Anr'el.

"Do not believe that ! We want YOU ! We have been looking for you ever since we realised you existed. You are one of us. And you will never be alone again ! That I, we ALL, promise." There was a murmur of reassurance from the rest of the Commonality, even the faint voices, that Liam realised was the Kimera back on Kimera Prime and the other planets inhabited by his people.

His people.

They didn't care, that he was a half-breed, a freak. He was one of them. Now and always.

When the intense emotions from the others threatened to overwhelm him completely, Anr'el stepped in again and ordered the others to keep their distance. The sensations became less intense, but they didn't cease.

There was a small moment of panic, as he realised, that Anr'el was going to leave the deep link with the Commonality.

"Easy, Little One. I'm not going away completely. you can always contact me. Just call for me. And someone has to find your body. I would like you to meet someone." She motioned a nearby Kimera closer.

"This is my second in command, Ca'el."

"It is an honour to finally meet you, Li'am." Ca'el greeted Liam with a gesture, which left even the graceful gestures of the Taelons a million light-years behind.

"Ca'el will stay here with you while I go back to the world of matter. He will take care of you. I trust him completely." Anr'el stated, trying to ease the distrust she felt in Liam. The Child had been through so much in his short lifespan.

Liam felt the emotions radiating off this strange Kimera, feeling no treason in him. He slowly disentangled himself from the "deathgrip" he had unconsciously held on Anr'els mental signature.

"Be back soon ?" he whispered mentally, not completely secure about this strange place yet.

"I promise, Little One." Privately, she sent a message directly to Ca'el. "Make sure, they don't overwhelm him, but keep him busy. Maybe you could introduce him to some of the younger Kimera in the fleet, someone closer to his own age."

"I will. Be safe and return soon with good news."

"I intend to."

With a final mental greeting to Liam, Anr'el exited the deep link, but without severing the connection completely. She wanted to keep tabs on Liam, just to be on the safe side.

One just never knew.

The Man's Office

Beneath the Pentagon.

"SIR! COME QUICKLY! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING IN SL27!"

The panicked voice of one of his subordinates broke up the little tête-á-tête he was having with the President. He was somewhat relieved. One could only serve up so much flatter and BS without getting caught in it.

"Calm down, man. Is it Bettis ?"

"No !It's..It's...Something is happening to the Subject. It's glowing!" The labcoated assistant gasped out breathlessly, while leaning heavily on the doorframe for support. He had been running all 3 levels up the stairs. Urich and the Man exchanged a fast glance before heading out the door, towards the level, which held Liam's cell.

Zeke's Cell

Beneath the Pentagon.

When Liam's body had begun to glow, Zeke had instantly forgotten all about his aching body, first shocked but then intrigued to no ends about the strange phenomenon. He had careful gotten up, moving as close to the virtual glass barrier as he could, while supporting himself to the wall of the cell.

He studied the kid more closely.

The look on Liam's face was serene and more peaceful than he had ever seen it before. A strange pattern of greenish light moved almost like a second heartbeat under his skin towards the center of his palms, which was glowing like small stars.

It was beautiful.

What was even more amazing was the fact, that the cuts and abrasions, which Liam had suffered seemed to heal themselves rapidly, the strange light in the kids body sealing every one of them shut, leaving not even scars.

Zeke's enthralment of the happenings in Liam's cell was brutally broken as a security detail stormed down the hallway towards their cells, closely followed by the Bastard and, of all people, President Hubble.

Zeke thought he had recognised Hubble's voice earlier, before the escape attempt, but he hadn't been sure. Not until now. That bastard was gonna pay as well. Zeke would make sure of it.

The Man deactivated the barrier in Liam's cell.

"What is this ?" Hubble was dumbfounded. Not in all the time, he had known Liam, had he seen him do anything like this.

"I have no idea. But I intend to find out." He reached out his hand to violently shake the Subject awake. And found himself slammed up against the wall as a powerful energy surge emanated from Liam's almost unconscious body. Liam's body defended itself with all it had now, when there was no conscious mind to hamper it's inherited survival mechanisms. The Man was left seeing stars. And for once in his life he was scared. Really, truly scared. What on Earth was this?

Nothing had prepared him for this, when he was reading the reports. He wisely decided to do a strategic fallback and reassess his plans for dealing with this freak. A mocking laughter from the other side of the cell lane brought him back to reality.

"Did you really think, it would be THAT easy ?" Zeke continued to laugh. He laughed, because somewhere he knew, that Liam had reached a place where these vultures could no longer reach him. "You can no longer hurt him, you bastard."

The Man was tempted to have the Colonel beat into a bloody pulp, to hear him screaming for mercy. But he knew, that it could compromise any chance he had of making the Alien talk if he did. He looked at the Freak again. He would bring him back to this world, would break and destroy whatever sanctuary he had found in his own mind and then both of these...Subjects would suffer greatly when that happened.

"It is only a matter of time, my dear Colonel, it is only a matter of time..." The Man laughed. And even Urich cringed.

The Lair

Beneath Saint Michael's Church.

Anr'el returned to the world slowly, not really wanting to go there and leave the Child alone in his new surroundings, but knew that she had to in order to finish her tasks. She found 4 human set of eyes looking at her anxiously, not really sure what to expect, but hoping the best. She sought out a specific pair of dark brown, female ones.

"You lied to him." Her voice carried more than a little hint of accusation. "He trusted you, and you lied to him."

Juliana didn't try to deny the accusation.

"Yes. He wanted so to fit in. And I truly believed, that his heritage would go into dormancy again, once the stress of the fight against the Taelons had seized." She sighed. "I love that child as if he was my own. But I couldn't stand to see him hurt, so I lied."

"You did. And because of it, those bastards, who holds him, had a terrible weapon against him. Trust is about always being told the truth, even if it hurts."

Juliana had the good grace to look ashamed and Anr'el, although disapproving, could follow her reasoning. No one could have known about the recent events back then. She allowed her gaze wander over the collected "family". One by one she assessed them, judging them by what she now knew from the Child himself. One had betrayed his trust to save him from the wrath of an assassin. One had lied to him to save him from himself. And his own father had tortured him. That one hurt. Sandoval meet her gaze evenly, sensing what was going through her mind.

"I didn't know any better."

"Did it give you the right ?"

He contemplated it for a second. At the time, it had hurt him more than he had ever told anyone, even his superiors in the ODK. They had convinced him of the necessity in it to throw Zo'or of his trail. But it had hurt and the only thing in his defence had been the fact, that he had only applied as much pain as necessary to uphold the illusion of him being a loyal implant. But did it warrant his actions? Couldn't the same outcome have been made with other actions?

"No." was all he could say. Nothing warranted that kind of behaviour. Not orders, not survival, nothing.

"Then you have learned from it." Anr'el levelled her gaze on the youngest member of the team, letting Sandoval of the hook for the moment. The Implant was, at least, regretting his actions. Anything else was for later. Street fidgeted nervously. Surely, she had done nothing? And she hadn't. There was no judgement from Anr'el on her, just a thoughtful look before she returned to the matters at hand.

"Liam is resting safely within the Commonality. He is at peace for the moment, but we need to find him as quickly as possible. There is a chance, that the people, who holds him will try to hurt his body while he is there. Filtering out the frequencies of my kind takes to long. We need to move faster."

In the same instant, the computer beeped loudly. Bettis appeared on the screen.

"Hi Augur, guess who ? And I could really need your help. This is a pre recorded message, send from the inner of a bunker somewhere..."

The Air ducts.

Beneath the Pentagon

Bettis moved away from the spot, where he had dropped the modified Global quickly. No one could know, when Augur, or even IF he, would arrive with the cavalry. And he couldn't afford to get caught just yet. The information he send out was accompanied by a beacon signal in an old resistance frequency. Augur, but not to many others, would know about it. But there was always the chance of it actually getting traced, so he stayed on the move. The blueprints he had sent in the package had been easily obtained but had been discouraging. There was no way out. The only exit was the portals since the entire complex was apparently underground.

He hoped for the best. Bettis continued to crawl.

The Lair

Beneath Saint Michael's Church

The Lair was alive with activity. Or as much activity as 4 people and a Kimera could accomplish. Augur, Anr'el, Sandoval and Street was studying the plans of the Bunker, where Liam was being held, with microscopic accuracy, trying to find the weak points. And they were making preciously little progress. If she understood it correctly, the complex was 29 levels deep, each level covering about 1 square miles and connected with elevators and ID portals. The complex was old, build sometime in the 50'ties, as a nuclear fallout shelter for the government and had once had exits to the surface, but after the Taelons had arrived, the exits had been blocked with concrete and the ID- portals on the top floor were now the only way in or out.

Juliana could only sit and stare at them, hoping that they were making some sort of progress. Her speciality was healing, not planning a small war. Healing. What a joke. She could still remember the day, when Liam had come to here, after having rescued Sandoval.

The Lair

13 months before

"Juliana ?" Liam's voice broke her study of Sandovals medical records. He had been badly hurt, when one of the other Implants had found out, that he was working for the ODK. That little piece of news still had her mind reeling. Who should have thought, that the ice-cold, murdering SOB was actually one of the good guys ? Zo'or certainly hadn't. And neither had she.

He was supposed to have died that day, as an example of Taelon justice and the almightiness of the Companion Protectors. But he hadn't died, thanks to Liam. Or rather thanks to Liam's suddenly re-emerged Shaqarava. Unfortunately, the entire incident had taken place on live, national wide television, so now Liam was the most wanted person on the planet. It hadn't taken the Taelons that long to figure out his connection to Hag'el. And they had acted accordingly. She had a suspicion about him being there, though.

"Do you have a couple of minutes ?" His face, normally so guarded, had a strange, vulnerable look of pleading and dread on it.

"Sure, always when it comes to you." She smiled. He was her favourite. Always had been, right from the day he took his first breath. With his next words, her suspicion was confirmed.

"I..I need you to run some tests...I need to know, if my Kimeran heritage is back to stay or what..." His voice was hesitant.

"Well, you do know how I love to put needles in people, so come on in." Liam winced, fear shining in his eyes. The lame joke had reminded him about, what the Taelons would do to him, if they ever got their hands on him. Juliana could have kicked herself.

Hard.

"Sorry." She motioned for him to take a seat.

"It's ok. No harm was done." Liam gave her a strained half smile. She ran the tests, surprised at the results. Not only was his 3rd DNA strand back in full force, but his energy readings was off the charts. He was stronger now than ever. His heritage had simply been dormant, for what reason she didn't know. Maybe some sort of Kimeran maturity phase ? She was about to ask him about it when he spoke.

"Is it gone ?"

She could see an intense hope in his green-golden eyes at those words. And then she realised it. The truth. The truth behind the disappearing heritage, the truth behind those little meetings he had had with Hag'el in that psychic dimension he had first been in during the "Sleepers" Incident and then later again with the Dark Matter and what had been dubbed the Epiphany episode. It hadn't been Hag'el telling him, that his heritage was disappearing. It had been his own mind, his own wish for being human, which had used Hag'el as a go-between, giving Liam an excuse for no longer accessing the parts of him, which came from that side of his parentage. He had suppressed it, forced it to go away. He wanted to be fully human. So she lied.

"Yes."

His relief was almost overwhelming. He had hoped so much. And she had allowed him to hope. One little word. So much damage.

The Lair

Now

Juliana sighed, then went over the medical supplies once more. Anr'el had told her, that there was torture involved, so she would probably have to run a couple of supply runs just to be on the safe side of the situation. She could take care of the physical side of it, but what about the psychological part?

Melissa Parks had been better for those sort of situations. But she was gone, and so was a lot of other good friends. She could only hope, that Liam would not join those ranks. Her attention was averted, when an outburst from the computer isle was heard.

"This pointless." Anr'el was getting frustrated. What did it help, that they had finally located Liam when they couldn't find a way in? Or out for that matter. They needed to get someone in there... Someone those people wouldn't consider a risk... Someone like... She straightened up suddenly, ignoring the curious gazes of the others. An idea had popped into her head and was now crystallising into a risky, but possible, plan. She turned to Dr. Belman.

"Do you think, you could get your hands on a bloodsample from Liam?" At Dr Belmans confused, but affirming nod, she continued.

"I'm also gonna need a bloodsample from a female, preferably in the childbearing age."

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"Augur, is that portal" She pointed towards the temporary portal. "working ?"

"Yes, off cause. What..."

"Good, this is what we'll do..."