Disclaimer: Roswell, and its characters do not belong to me. Melinda Metz, Jason Katims and 20th Century Fox have that particular pleasure. I'm simply borrowing them until the Season 2 DVD's get released.

Chapter Fifty-Four – Is it Liz, or is it Buffy?

Plash Nevenia greeted Liz when she walked into the lab. She pulled out a chair and motioned for Liz to join her.

"Good morning, Liz," Plash said. "How do you fare today?"

"Tired," said Liz with a yawn.

"Why don't you go and rest, since our esteemed Director has cancelled classes today?"

"No, I need to work on the guidance system. Besides, if I wasn't doing that, I'd be helping the others, and that's not such a great idea right now."

"Why?" queried Plash. "Is something wrong?"

"Just my new not best friend Varonia. She's so certain that I'm behind everything that's going on. It gets a bit annoying after a while."

"Well, don't look now," said Plash, glancing up into the mirror that was above her head. She's looking in the doorway right now."

Liz looked up into the mirror, and saw the reflection of Varonia, peering in the window.

"Oh, for Pete's sake," she said. "I've had enough of this!" Liz jumped off the stool, and ran across the room and opened the door before Varonia had a chance to react. She reached out and grabbed the girl, and slammed her against the wall. Violence was not part of Liz's nature, and the anger she felt coursing through her body scared her. She decided, however, to use the unfamiliar emotions to her benefit.

"What the hell is your problem, Varonia?" she asked in an uncharacteristically harsh voice.

"Don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me?" the Antarian girl whimpered.

"Don't hurt you?" Liz asked, her voice incredulous. "What about what you're doing to me. You're spreading vicious rumors about me, and now, your stalking me. You are sick Varonia, and if you don't leave me alone, I swear, you're going to regret it!"

"Elandra, Varonia, what's going on here? What is the meaning of this?" yelled the Director, coming down the hall.

"She attacked me, Director," shouted Varonia.

"Elandra, is this true?" asked the Director.

"Maybe you'd better get the full story," said Liz, pushing Varonia against the wall a bit harder. "I went up to Varonia today, in good faith, trying to come to some sort of understanding, and she started spewing her venom again. And THEN!" Liz said, her voice growing louder, "After that music came on, even though I was standing right there in front of her, she blamed me for it. Then she followed me down the hall, and is spying on my work." Suddenly, inspiration struck Liz. "How can I be sure she isn't some sort of spy, working against Lord Kivar? Maybe she's spying on the guidance system, and trying to deflect attention off of herself by accusing me!"

"Is this true, Varonia?" the Director asked. "Did you spy on Elandra?"

"No, I,"

"She did, Director," said Plash Nevenia, joining the conversation. "In fact, it was I who saw her peering through the door. I think it would be best if her father was notified."

"Yes, I agree, Plash Nevenia," said the Director. He reached out and took Varonia by the arm. "You will come with me."

"No, you're wrong, it's not me!" Varonia shouted. "It's Elandra, she's the one working against Lord Kivar. "My family is loyal to Lord Kivar!"

"Well, we will have a discussion with your family," said the Director. "Come with me."

Liz and Plash watched as the Director dragged a kicking and screaming Varonia down the hall, before returning to the lab.

"Well, that was kind of fun," said Liz. "But I really don't want her to get into any trouble."

"She won't," said Plash. "The Director said he'd contact her father, and he will. And her father will handle it."

"Good, that's one less problem for us to deal with," said Liz, sitting back down at the table. "Now if I can just get the guidance system to work, I should be all set."

"I was thinking about that," said Plash. "Why not modify it so that it ignores specific DNA, instead of focusing on it. Can you do that?"

"That's what I've been working on," said Liz. "But no matter what I do, wait! I've got it!" she shouted. She grabbed a piece of paper and began to scribble frantically. "Why didn't I see this before? It's so simple."

Plash watched indulgently while Liz wrote and erased and wrote some more. Finally when she was finished, she threw her pen on the table and blew out a heavy breath. "Done," she said with a sigh. "Man, this must be my day for epiphanies. First I figure out the perfect way to get Varonia off my back, and then, I figure this out. We don't want to create a guidance system for a weapon, we want to make a sensor for what the weapon fires, so that it can track, or not track a specific target."

"Liz, are you sure?" asked Plash. "Do you want me to go to Kobodi with this?

"Yeah," said Liz. "I think even he's smart enough to see that we can't manufacture a weapon to do what he wants, but we can modify the energy bolts, or bullets or whatever their going to fire to do what they want."

Liz suddenly realized what she was saying, and she sat quickly, feeling the blood rush from her face.

"Listen to me!" she cried. "I'm getting excited about finding a way to kill my husband and friends."

"No, you're excited because you solved a problem, Liz," said Plash, rubbing Liz's shoulders. "You weren't thinking in terms of who it would hurt, and in fact, you found a way to have it not track a certain target. You've saved them, Liz, not destroyed them."

Plash's words made a logical kind of sense to Liz, but they didn't touch the pain that filled her soul. She leaned against the wall of the lab and cried and cried.

Isabel, dressed in her diplomatic garb walked through the gates of the palace, smiling as she remembered the market area covered with posters. Liz really went all out, she thought to herself.

Once inside the palace, Isabel quickly made her way to the diplomatic offices. She removed her cloak, checking to make sure the communicators were hidden deep within the extra pocket she had sewn into the lining.

"Greetings Isadra," said the Ambassador with a smile. "I did not expect to see you here today."

"The Director cancelled classes for today," she explained to the Ambassador. "There was a bit of a problem at the Training Academy, so I thought since I had some free time, I could come here and get some work done. Of course, it doesn't every really seem like work, when I'm doing things for you," she added with a flirtatious smile. "I always learn so much from you, Ambassador."

"Ah, Isadra," the Ambassador roared with laughter. "You have the makings of a fine diplomat. You know just how to mix sincerity with flattery. But we have plenty of work for you today. Lord Kivar is quite angry at what has been going on in town, and it's going to take all of our skill to convince him not to allow his anger to color his opinion of the treaties he is going over today."

"Of course you won't want me involved in that," said Isabel, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. She didn't want any part of seeing Kivar again. "It's far to difficult a task for a trainee like me to be involved with."

"Nonsense," said the Ambassador. "You will be fine. Besides, you'll only be assisting me, not actually discussing anything with Lord Kivar. I think seeing your beautiful face will be just the thing he needs to distract him from the whole situation."

"You said it's only going on in town, is that correct, Ambassador?" asked Isabel.

The Ambassador looked around furtively, making sure nobody else was around. "Actually," he said, lowering his voice to a whisper. "It's been happening all over the planet. I don't know who is doing and, and I don't know how, but everything that has happened here, has happened in every major city on Antar. It's also happening in the smaller towns and villages, but on a lesser scale. Lord Kivar is up in arms about it."

"Maybe I really should just stay out of the way," said Isabel. "Why don't I stay here, and make sure all of the paperwork is taken care of."

"Don't be silly, Isadra," said the Ambassador. "I want you to familiarize yourself with the information in these diplomatic transmissions. When you've finished, we'll meet Lord Kivar in the Great Hall."

Isabel sighed, but realized there wasn't anything she could do about it. She waited until the Ambassador left the room, and then went to her cloak and removed several of the communicators. She slipped them into various parts of her diplomatic uniform, then settled down to read the latest transmissions.