Covenant's Fall
Summary: An alternate version of Season 4, beginning not long after Resurrection. Everyone is still working at the CIA, and Sark is still in custody. Lauren is dead, and Sloane has gone back to Omnifam, where Nadia works as his personal secretary.
Rating: PG-13 at the moment.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything included in this story except the occasional concept.
Chapter 1
Sydney Bristow stood beside the burning wreckage that had once been the CIA's Los Angeles facility, and was now just a giant tomb for those who had been inside – many of whom she had known; some of them had been her friends. Michael Vaughn stepped up beside her, his face as stony as she imagined her own must be.
"They're still finding bodies in there. The count has risen to twenty seven now, most are still unidentified." He sighed, and rubbed at his face. "Sark is still unaccounted for. And we have no idea who did this, or why."
Sydney shook her head. "Unless we find him we should probably assume it was a plan to rescue him. Again."
"Syd. Syd!" Marcus Dixon approached them. "We have been found another building to occupy." A wry smile flickered across his face. "You won't guess where either."
Sydney stared at him. "Try me."
Half an hour later, Sydney stared with disbelief at the new CIA facility. "You have got to be kidding me."
Dixon shook his head. "I am afraid not."
They both stared around at what had once been the Los Angeles cell of SD-6. There was Marshall, occupying his old office. There was Jack Bristow, standing in the conference room, talking to Vaughn. There was only one missing from the old team at SD-6…
"Hello Sydney."
She closed her eyes. Speak of the Devil and he appears. Apparently that held true for thinking about him as well. Sydney turned around, willing it to not be who she knew it was.
There he was. Arvin Sloane, wearing the same suit that he had worn at SD-6, and with the same smug, condescending smile that she remembered so well spread across his face. He was flanked by Nadia, whose face was graced with a smile that was a mirror of her father's, except that if Arvin Sloane's smile suggested that he was so far above them that from his lofty height, they seemed like insects, Nadia's suggested that she knew something that no one else did. It was not a smile designed to inspire confidence in those who beheld it.
"Seeing you here, with Marshall, Marcus and Jack, it reminds me of the old days. You know, I sometimes miss those days, Sydney. Of course, those days are gone for ever. A pity."
Sydney had to restrain the urge to punch his teeth through to the back of his throat. Not only did Nadia accompany him, but they were followed by two of Sloane's security force. An attack would be foolish.
"What are you doing? You were supposed to have left by now." Dixon stepped forward, his face disapproving, perhaps trying to stop Sydney from attacking Sloane. He may have had his own issues with the former criminal mastermind, but Dixon was less likely to attack him.
"I have just been collecting the last of my property. This place used to belong to Omnifam. I have been overseeing the evacuation of all Omnifam personnel and equipment."
"That was not the agreement. You were to leave the equipment as it was."
"And I did. All the equipment here that was present at the destruction of SD-6 is still here. I have merely removed all of the computers and technology that we placed here. I am still within our agreement."
Sloane looked even smugger, if that was possible. "Ah well Marcus, I am sure that you will do the best with what you have here. And the CIA is more than capable of providing whatever you may need."
With that, he turned and left, with the two guards following him. Nadia gave Sydney a sweet smile, before accompanying her father out of the facility.
Sydney leaned over towards Dixon. "Would you mind reminding me of how Sloane got out of serving a prison sentence yet again?"
Dixon shook his head. "The CIA feels that Sloane never technically breached his agreement. He has accounted for all of his actions recently, and he continues to provide us with information on Covenant operations. Information that suggests that the Covenant had nothing to do with the attack yesterday."
"So who does he think did it?"
"Sloane provided intel that reveals Irina Derevko has been seen recruiting mercenaries. And she has been known to have links with Sark in the past."
"So has Sloane. So has the Covenant. Why would my mother go to such trouble to rescue Sark now?"
Dixon looked at her. "I don't know. However, your next mission is to find Irina Derevko and either bring her to justice, or, if it wasn't her, find out who really ordered this attack."
An undisclosed location:
McKenas Cole sat waiting. It was not something he made a habit of doing, preferring to be doing things rather than waiting, but when the head of the Covenant was expected to call, you waited. Just as the clock struck the hour, the telephone rang. Bang on time. Cole picked up the receiver.
"Cole."
He listened to what the person on the other end of the line said before responding.
"We are preparing for Phase 2 now. We have the artefact, and the technology is ready. We are just waiting for the test subject."
Cole smiled slightly at what his unseen chief said.
"No, it is in our hands. We are only waiting for it to be delivered. Then we will be one step closer to Rambaldi's endgame."