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 – Eight – Will the Real Che'koth Please Stand Up
Maria screams filled the room. Michael and Kyle spun to fire on the intruder, and only the quick thinking of Zan stopped them.
"Don't!" he shouted. "It's Liz!"
"Liz, what did you just do?" Maria asked in horror. "You just killed Che'koth."
"Who says that's Liz," said Kyle, his voice hard with pain and anger. "Maybe it's a shape shifter, like Nascedo."
"I'm not a shape shifter, you idiot," said the person in the doorway. "God, you guys, it's me. Don't you recognize me?"
"I don't know who you are," said Maria. "But our Liz would never kill the one friend we have on this God forsaken planet."
"Will you just listen for a second? I am Liz, and that wasn't Che'koth. He was an imposter."
Without a word, Max crossed the room, and pulled Liz into his arms and kissed her. As they kissed, he got flashes of Liz as a child, and flashes of the life he and Liz had started to build together on Earth. He pulled away from Liz and looked at the others.
"She's Liz," he said. "Liz, why did you do it? Why did you kill Che'koth? He was just telling us that we had to mobilize, and get more posters out into the city."
"I'm trying to tell you," said Liz. "If you'd all just shut up and let me explain. That's not Che'koth lying there."
"Liz is right," said a voice from the tunnel.
Everyone turned and watched as another Che'koth staggered into the room, blood dripping from a gash on his head.
"Che'koth!" Liz cried. She rushed across the room and led him to a chair. "Sit down, let me clean and bandage that for you. What happened?"
"I was attacked just as I entered the tunnel," he said, falling heavily into the chair.
"Here, why don't I heal that for you," said Max, moving over to stand next to Liz.
"NO!" both of them shouted.
"You must not waste your powers on me, Max," Che'koth said. "You will need them later I am sure."
"Look, how do we know all of this is true?" asked Isabel, speaking for the first time. "I mean, I know Max said he got flashes when he kissed Liz, so that must be Liz, but how do we know you're really Che'koth?"
"Liz said he was. She was certain that the other one was an imposter," added Alex. "How can we be certain?"
"Simple," said Liz. "Che'koth, what should we do now?"
"That's not my decision to make, Majesty. If you look inside of you, you'll find the answers. You only have to search."
"That's Che'koth," said Liz."
"What? I don't get it," said Alex.
"Look the other night, Che'koth and I had a conversation, and I pointed out that he never gives us orders. He may make suggestions, but he never tells us what to do. When I walked in, that guy over there," she pointed to the body on the ground, "Was ordering all of you around like there was no tomorrow. That's how I knew he wasn't Che'koth."
"Well, who's that, then?" asked Kyle, pointing to the body.
"I don't know," admitted Che'koth. "He came up from behind me. I never saw him."
"He isn't dead," said Liz. "I only stunned him."
"Great, lets wake him up," said Zan, grimly. He reached down and grabbed the man, and dumped some water on his face.
"What happened?" asked the fake Che'koth.
"We'll do the questioning," said Michael. "Starting with who the hell are you?"
"I am Che'koth, of course," said the man. "Why aren't any of you doing what I told you to do? We need to get those posters out there."
"Ava?" said Michael. Ava stepped up and focused on the man, and gave his mind a small shove.
"Who are you?" demanded Michael.
"I am Chak N'ohr," said the man. "I was recruited, along with many others, by General Kobodi to find out who is responsible for spreading the filthy lies about the royal family. I saw a man slip into a hidden tunnel, and I decided to follow him. I jumped him, and he fell, hitting his head. I found his identity papers, so I knew his name. I changed my appearance to look like him, and I left him for dead in the tunnel. I followed the tunnel until I came to this room. I hid in the darkness while I listened to you talk. I know you are the ones who are responsible for trying to turn people against Lord Kivar."
"What are we going to do with him?" asked Isabel. "We can't just kill him."
"Isabel, we're talking about waging a war," said Zan. "Don't you think we'll be killing people then?"
"That's different," said Isabel. "If we kill him now, we'll just be killing him in cold blood. We can't do that. We're not like that."
"You're right," admitted Zan. "Damn, where are Lonnie and Rath when you really need them."
"We don't have to kill him," said Alex. "If Ava and I warp the hell out of his mind, he won't remember anything."
"Unless he comes across some of the trideka we've modified," said Ava.
"I think you're plan is best," said Che'koth from the chair. "We can worry about the trideka at a later date. I will however destroy that particular entrance to the tunnel. Please do not try to exit through there until I can arrange for another passage to be made."
"I don't know, Che'koth. You're starting to sound kind of bossy," said Liz with a smile.
"Ava, Alex, you know what to do, right?" Max asked. The two nodded, and proceeded to warp Chak N'ohr's mind, convincing him that he had not seen or heard anything at all. When they were done, Isabel reached over and knocked him back out.
"We have some things to talk about," she said by way of an explanation, "We can get rid of him after we're done. I want to tell you all what happened today, and I just want to get it over with."
Isabel related her encounter with Kivar and Kobodi, and Kivar's invitation for her to visit the gallery at her leisure.
"I snuck back into the palace, and placed a few of the communicators around. Then I encountered my double. I knocked her out, and dressed in her clothes. I figured I have more access to areas of the palace that way."
"Are you insane Isabel Amanda Evans Whitman!" shouted Alex. "What if Kivar had found you?"
"He did," said Isabel. "Did you know that bastard is using our parents bed chamber for his own?"
"Bed chamber?" shouted Alex.
"Calm down, Alex," said Isabel, the tremor in her voice discounting the calm expression on her face. "I knocked him out, and I got the hell out of there. I retrieved my duplicate, switched clothing, and sent her into him."
"Liz, I cannot believe you put yourself in such danger," said Alex. "He could have killed you."
"So what," Isabel shot back. "It's not like that's a new experience, he already did it once."
Alex jumped up and walked across the room to where Isabel stood. He put his arms around Isabel in a comforting gesture, but she shook him off.
"Alex, you can't take care of this with a hug. I'm not a child, and it's not going to make me feel all better."
"Maybe it's supposed to make me feel better, Iz, did you ever think of that? I'm scared shitless at the thought of you anywhere near that son of a bitch, and you're standing here glibly telling us he took you to his bedroom. How am I supposed to act?"
"I'm sorry," cried Isabel, bursting into tears. "I don't know why I'm acting this way."
"Isabel, come sit by me," said Che'koth. "Calm down, and let the others recount their adventures today.
Alex led Isabel across the room, and the two took seats on the floor next to Che'koth.
"Max would you care to tell us about your adventures?" Che'koth asked. His mouth quirked gently at the corners, and Liz had the impression that Che'koth already knew what Max was going to say. As Max recounted his tale to the others, Che'koth absently stroked Isabel's hair in a comforting gesture. Liz watched her friend relax, bit by bit, as she was soothed by the Antarians gentle ministrations.
Everyone laughed at Max's description of their panic he and Kyle felt when the symbol appeared on the throne.
"Why didn't you tell us about that?" Max asked Che'koth, accusingly.
"Why did you sit in the throne?" countered Che'koth. "You keep saying you're nobody's king. Why sit in the throne of a king?"
"Well, I, uh," said Max, feebly, and everybody laughed.
"Relax, Max, I'm only teasing you," said Che'koth. "I don't think anybody, when faced with that opportunity wouldn't do the same thing."
"Okay, let's move this along, so we can get to the planning portion of our program. We've heard the happy Ava news, the upsetting Isabel news, the hysterical Max faux pas, what's next?"
"Well, I pissed of General Kobodi in a huge way," said Kyle. "That was kind of fun."
"And I picked Kivar's pocket and slipped him one of Maria and Alex's communicators," said Zan.
"I figured out how to kill us all," said Liz. She looked around at the shocked and distraught looks on her friend's faces and gave a wry smile.
"I guess I win."