7 – "…I will now free myself from this slavery embodying this higher power. I will show them why their first lexicon is not to tempt fate. I will no longer run from my destiny."

When Da'an received Ma'el's powers the first thing she asked herself was, "Ma'el, was this a vision of the future or was it a vision of your future?" She didn't know I was watching her. I have often wondered that myself. What does seeing the future really offer you? What if you do know what is going to happen beforehand? Does that mean you can stop the future from happening? Does that mean you are obligated to stop it? What if it's a good future? Do you just let it happen or do you do everything in your power to assure that it happens? And what if the future looks bright for you, but not for one close to you? What if in giving them a good future, you ruin yours? Some very perplexing questions. I bet Ma'el and Da'an ask themselves these questions a lot.

When I got a call from Street that something was wrong with Da'an, I told Malley she was my mother. Where did that come from?

I came back and ran to Ta'lay's room first to see if he was all right. I found this beautiful white brunette lying asleep in a hospital bed. She was wearing nothing but a hospital robe. She awoke when she felt me standing over her, and then I saw her eyes. They were the same cerulean color every Taelon and Espelon possesses. (They tell me there's a difference between the two colors. I don't see it.) All I know is that it was Ta'lay. She seemed all right. Everyone else seemed more alarmed than she did. She said she actually liked her new form better. Her only regret was that Da'an didn't ask her before she did it. She laughed when I told her that Hubble, Renee, Street and everyone else were all in an uproar. She said it was no big deal. So why would everyone be in such a fit?

Maybe it's because people like to have a choice. They don't like being forced into things, even if it's for their own good. They like to come around to it themselves. I feel like Da'an was forced into the life she leads now. Nye forced her to come with her and her cult in order to undergo the ritual, and when Nye gave her the opportunity to back out, Da'an chose to go on anyway. She gave the notion that she was doing this for us; she was doing it in return for all that we had done for her and her species. Ma'el decided when the time was right to give her his powers. Da'an never got to decide when it was right for her. Even this whole battle against the priests and the Synod—it seems like we forced Da'an to side and fight with us, even though she swears she didn't need us to tell her anything. It begs the question, "Has Da'an ever done one thing for herself?"

Then, I think about myself. It seems like I was forced into doing a lot of things too. When Boone died, I felt like I had to take his place. I felt like I had to because my father was partially responsible for his death. I felt like the name Liam was forced upon me by my mother. Had it been my choice, would I have chosen Liam? Or would I have chosen something else? I feel like I am partially to blame for my mother never getting to know me before she died. There were ways I could have hinted to her that I was her son without directly telling her. I could have just remained close to her, but I was forced to distance myself from her. She was an implant, an agent of the Taelons. I was a member of the resistance and now I am the leader. I sometimes feel like that role was even forced upon me. After all, I was sort of just nominated and elected when they kicked Doors out. I could've turned them down. Da'an even asked me to. I guess I haven't done too much for myself either.

Now, here's another question for both Da'an and Ma'el: "If the future is forced upon us, how can we expect to change it?" Even if we can see it, how can we expect to change it?


"What is that thing doing here?" T'than asked sharply when Mi'en appeared with Renee and Tay'jay.

"I flew them here," Mi'en said lowly.

"They entrust their lives to the hands of a para'shim," T'than scoffed. "Pathetic."

"Hey, are we gonna argue, or are we gonna get this over with?" Tay'jay asked.

Mi'en stepped outside the moment they started speaking. Seeing her older sibling again made her feel sick. Her head started spinning. She wondered why she was in such a passion when she saw him. Perhaps it was because she never envisioned meeting him again. She blamed herself for this. She had wanted to come.

Malley came to her to help her recover, but Mi'en shunned the gesture.

"I know how you're feeling about T'than," he said calmly.

"What would you know about it?" Mi'en asked unenthusiastically.

"He can be an intolerant bastard sometimes, but he means well," Malley said. "He's got a warrior's honor, one that I haven't seen in any of the other Taelons I've met."

"That's all he has," Mi'en said. "That is all he's ever had. He sneered upon me when I was born. He said that I would never be worth anything to society. I cannot bear children even if you humans could help our species, and he scorns me for it. He tells me that people like me are a burden. He became even more disgusted when I displayed my feelings…for other people."

"I wish I could have gotten to know you personally," Malley said.

"No…you don't," Mi'en replied.

"It just seems like after hundreds of years you could let things like that die," Malley said.

"When you live as long as I have, you find that the good things fade faster than the bad. People always admire you and love you when you are perfect. When you behave perfectly, when you look beautiful, and when you do not cause problems, you are everybody's friend. However, when they find just one thing wrong with you, when you screw up just once that is all the ammo they need to take you down. Then, they never forget that. It haunts you forever. They never let it go as long as they live."

"I don't find that to be true. I find that people are willing to overlook your flaws if you have a great personality."

"You have met a rare group of people, then. Most are not like that. Most are just itching to find something wrong with you and exploit it."

"Your brother's one of those rare people."

Mi'en scoffed.

Malley gave her a metal tag and told her to read it.

"You have diabetes," Mi'en said.

"And not once has T'than had a problem with it. Some of my superiors find any companion protector with a terminal illness to be a problem, even if it's a controlled one. 'What if you wind up some place where you can't get an insulin shot?' That's one I get a lot. T'than's defended me every time."

"Have you ever stopped to wonder if the reason he does not find a flaw with you is because you are a male?" Mi'en asked.

Malley shook his head. "I don't understand."

"I was supposed to be the Taelon equivalent of a female," Mi'en explained. "That is what everyone expected me to be. Then, they made one examination of me and realized that I was neither male nor female. I was nothing. I had nothing. That is what the word para'shim means. It means 'unidentified.' T'than and Taelons like him are of old values. They believe the primary objective of the secondary parent is to produce children. If you cannot do that, of what use are you to society? In T'than's eyes, despite the fact that you have a disability, you are a warrior. That is what T'than believes all males should be. Above all else, they must be fighters and defenders of our honor. You have never let your disability hinder that role in society. That is why he respects you so much. But the moment you grow too old, the moment you grow too frail, he will turn his back on you. I've seen him do it to all of the Taelon elder warriors. That is why the Pa'dar warriors never let him join. He appreciated them when they were young, but when they grew old, he called them tired and weak. Anything weak for whatever reason is useless to society. My disability is a weakness that keeps me from fulfilling the role society made for me. I have had to deal with that criticism all my life from him and Taelons like him. I can't forgive him. I won't forgive him."

"Sounds like you're one of those people," Malley said.

"What are you talking about?"

"One of those people who's just waiting to find a flaw and exploit it," Malley said. "That's why you'll never make up with your sibling. You're looking for a reason not to forgive him anymore. You're looking for a reason not to love him."

"Well you know what they say: It takes one to know one," Mi'en said. "I'm not proud of myself for this, but I cannot change. I wish I were like Da'an. No matter what Zo'or does, no matter how many people hate him, she loves him to death. He is and always will be her child, and anything else is just secondary to her. I wish I could love T'than so unconditionally, but I can't. It is a flaw I have acknowledged and that I have learned to live with."

"You're a sad person," Malley noted.

"I was a sad person until I met Da'an."

"Mi'en!"

Mi'en and Malley turned to see a woman running from their right. The rest of the companion protectors were completely oblivious to who she really was, but they assumed she was legit from the clearance badge she was wearing.

"Da—I mean, Elaine. You're not supposed to be here," Mi'en stuttered.

"Are the negotiations still going on?" she asked Mi'en.

"They're right inside," Malley said. "But you can't go in there."

It was too late. Da'an rushed inside without even acknowledging Malley.

T'than, Ku'ni, Renee, and Tay'jay all whirled around to see Da'an. T'than waved his hand and locked the door immediately.

"What are you doing here?" Renee cried. "Why can't you just trust us with this?"

"You have to evacuate the Synod," Da'an said quickly to T'than.

"Why?" T'than asked calmly.

"The ploy did not work. They are still coming after you," Da'an said. "You need to leave now before they get here."

"Calm yourself, Da'an," Ku'ni said. "Who is coming for us?"

"What does it matter!" Da'an cried. "You need to leave right now!"

"That works wonders for us," T'than said holding the folder with the documents. "The negotiations are finished. We have what we want."

"Guards!" Ku'ni cried.

Agents Malley and Blanca entered the room with half the squad of volunteers with them. The volunteers had arrived just seconds after Da'an walked inside, and one volunteer with energy rifles had grabbed Mi'en. Two others had their energy rifles pointed right at her head.

"What the hell is this?" Tay'jay asked.

"It's a trap," Renee said. "And I should've known."

"You should be careful who you ally yourself with, Da'an," T'than said. "I know we promised you immunity, but the priests absolutely could not resist. Do not try to use your powers. Even if you do manage to escape, the rest of the squad is armed and ready for you outside. I know you would not risk the safety of your two comrades."

"Now, it is time for us to make our own negotiations," Ku'ni said. "We propose an exchange. We are willing to let your friends in the ANA walk free in exchange for certain considerations."

"What considerations?" Da'an asked.

"You, for them," Ku'ni said.

"You backstabbing bastard-of-a-sibling!" Mi'en cried. "I hope the ice covers you in the ninth circle of Hell!"

"Why would you do this, T'than?" Da'an asked. "You came to me. You wanted me to help you."

"It is my honor and my duty to do whatever the priests ask of me," T'than said. "When they learned of this arrangement, they ordered me to do this, and I agreed."

"By the Commonality," Da'an exclaimed to Ku'ni. "T'than's not the one leading this coup. He never was. It's you. T'than has been your pawn all along."

"He has always been my pawn," Ku'ni said. "Despite the fact that the Taelons deem combat in all forms unacceptable, there are still a few of us that adhere to the old principles. I am of a time when war was still war to a Taelon and combat was not just accepted; it was encouraged. After that stunt the Zunus'tos pulled centuries ago, the high priest created a coalition of his own. If the Synod ever betrayed him again, we were to clean up the disloyal. T'than and I were cleansed long before the planet was even destroyed. Our duty is and always has been toward the priests. We are their holy warriors. We are agents of the divine, and whatever happens to us, this will not be the last you see of people like us."

Da'an took one look into Ku'ni's eyes and stumbled backwards into Tay'jay's arms. "It was you. You did it! You killed Agent Reyes. You-You killed your own protector!"

Ku'ni chuckled. "Once upon a time, there was a man named Charles Manson. He started a family of innocent little girls. These girls became servants of his will, for they were so enamored with his teachings. They became his unconditional soldiers. They were willing to kill for him. They were willing to die for him. Then, when they did kill for him, why did he receive the harsher punishment? It is because despite the fact that the girls physically killed, he was the one who pointed them in that direction. They became human weapons for him. If you treat the girls as his weapon, he becomes the killer. If you treat the man who killed Reyes as a weapon, the priests become his killer. Therefore, it matters not who physically killed Reyes. He was a mere weapon. The priests are the holders. I did not have my protector killed. It was the priests. In that sense, they killed him."

"Then, the conversation Reyes heard. It wasn't about the priests. It was about you. Reyes was not talking about the cleansing of the Taelons. He was talking about the cleansing of the Synod. He heard that you were an agent of the priests and that you were going to depose Zo'or. When he went to his own unit for help, nobody would hear of it. But why you? Why in the world would they send you to kill your own protector? Why would you agree? What kind of a person are you?"

Ku'ni chuckled. "I was asked, and it was my honor and my duty to accept. Is that not the reason why you exiled Ku'don into eternal exile? The reason he uncovered our plans was because of me. It was my duty to the priests to correct my mistake. I tracked him to a club in New York City where he liked to go. Then I followed him until he caught on to my stalking him and led us alone to an alley. He turned to face me thinking I was a mugger. Imagine his surprise when he saw me. Imagine his devastation when I killed him."

"You son of a bitch," Tay'jay said sinisterly. "You kill the one man whose job is to save your life. You call yourself a soldier? A soldier fights with honor and dignity. He doesn't track his own friends and then stabs them in the back. You're no warrior. You and every agent like you are nothing more than dirty rotten killers. That's all you are, and that's all you'll ever be."

"Spare us the self-righteous Pa'dar code of honor talk, Tay'jay," T'than said.

"Da'an, the priests can sense your pain," Ku'ni said softly, ignoring Tay'jay's every word. "They have offered to end this for you. All you must do is return to the Commonality. Even now, it is not too late. It is never too late to admit when you are wrong. It is never too late to be cleansed."

"You stay the hell away from my sister!" Tay'jay said.

"Is that what you want, Da'an?" Ku'ni asked, "or do you wish to control your powers? We can help you do that. We will help you with this burden. We can make the voices go away. All you have to do is take my hand. I assure you your friends will go free. All the priests want is you."

"He's lying to you, Da'an," Renee said. "Look at him, Da'an. Look at T'than. They're nothing but puppets to the priests. Is that how you want to be? Do you want to be nothing more than a pawn like you were before? Or do you want to be a leader? Da'an, you've been there! You've been in their shoes. It's a miserable life. You chose to free yourself from that. Don't give into it."

The tension was interrupted by the sounds of gunshots and screams outside.

"Too late," Da'an whimpered over and over again.

"What is going on out there?" Ku'ni opened the door to see the firefight going on outside. Several volunteers were already dead. At the left end of the corridor there was a lone gunman firing round after round of an energy rifle. It seemed like he had an endless supply of them. On the other side, another was walking into room after room killing Synod members. T'than, Mi'en, and Ku'ni winced as they felt their fellow companions die.

"Get out there and kill them both!" Ku'ni ordered to the volunteers, Blanca, and Malley. "I do not have time for this."

Mi'en, Tay'jay, Renee, T'than and Ku'ni were inside just waiting. Da'an dropped to her knees and started hyperventilating. Tay'jay crawled over to comfort her.

"It's gonna be okay," Tay'jay said softly, even though he knew it wasn't. They were cornered. There was no way for them to leave. They had to hope that the volunteers would kill both Zo'or and Sandoval, but for some reason that was not happening. All they get hearing were screams and the sound of thudding bodies outside.

Throughout the carnage, Mi'en and T'than found themselves staring directly at each other. Mi'en should have hated this. The last thing she should have wanted was to die with her sibling. However, after what Da'an had said about him being cleansed, she found herself pitying him. She wondered if the sibling that had hated her so was just the priests speaking through him. Maybe Malley had been correct. Maybe somewhere in the depths of T'than's real soul was someone with honor and compassion, someone who accepted Mi'en despite all her faults because she was family. Perhaps the compassion T'than had shown Malley were pieces of his real persona rising above the mind-control of the priests. With this in mind, she found herself looking past those tense and stern eyes of T'than's. Da'an had been right about her. She had broken the priests' cleansing. Maybe there was some hope for T'than too. Now, she wanted to live. She wanted both of them to make it through so that she could try and save him.

"It's times like this I wish I had just come armed," Renee said to herself.

"Liam's still out there," Mi'en said. "Maybe he found some way to get help. Someone will come. Don't worry, Da'an. Someone will come."

"Oh, you sicken me!" T'than scoffed. "How dare you defile Da'an with your disgusting feelings? What possible interest could she have in a para'shim like you?"

"T'than, there was a time when I would have argued with you," Mi'en said softly. "That time was not too long ago in fact, but now, I do not want to fight with you anymore. You and I are family, and I do not want to die hating you. I know that somewhere you do not want to die that way either."

"Curse you!" T'than cried. "I will never forgive you for what you did to me. I will be a part of the Commonality for my duties toward the priests. The priests will reward me with eternity amongst the greatest of my brethren. You, however, will dwell alone forever in exile for your sickening treachery. My only hope is that they kill you first so that I can watch you die."

"Wait a second," Tay'jay whispered. "Listen."

Everyone grew quiet and listened. There was nothing. There were no sounds of gunfire, no screams, and no bodies hitting the floor.

"Maybe the volunteers pushed them further down the corridor," Renee said.

"You think so?" Tay'jay asked skeptically.

"Only one way to find out," Ku'ni said cruelly.

"That's right, you two," Tay'jay said. "Go out there and defend your honor. Defend the priests' honor. You can go out there first, Ku'ni, to lead by example."

"Perhaps we should send our psychic out there," Ku'ni said to Da'an, who was hyperventilating and mumbling something that sounded like an argument with herself. "What pain you must be in if you are suddenly talking to yourself Da'an. There is still time for us to go to the priests. We can all go there together. They will save us, and they will save you."

"Hey! Leave her alone!" Renee said. "I'll go out there."

"Wait," Tay'jay said firmly. He turned to his sister. "Da'an, are they still out there?"

Da'an was still hyperventilating and mumbling, but she struggled to stop in order to regain her concentration. They all waited patiently for her to stop, and when she did, she stared at her brother. "No."

Tay'jay nodded for Renee to check. T'than unlocked the door and let her go outside. There were bodies everywhere. There had to be at least a hundred dead volunteers.

"How in the hell could two people do this kind of damage?" Renee asked herself. She nodded for the rest of them to come out. There was no one there. There were only bodies.

Ku'ni and T'than walked outside first. Tay'jay followed slowly with his sister by his side.

"No, no," T'than whispered suddenly. He rushed over to a familiar body. It was Malley. His own protector's chest had been sliced open by an energy knife. Blanca's body was beside his, with the signature of an energy knife imbedded in her forehead.

"They're all like this," Renee said, checking every body she found. "They've all been stabbed not shot."

"The one who fired at them stunned them. He didn't kill them. He only stunned them," Da'an said shuddered. "When the other finished off the Synod members, he killed the downed soldiers. That's why they argued, and they've separated."

"Why didn't they kill us?" Tay'jay asked. "Why haven't they come after us yet?"

"I hate this power," Da'an said ignoring the question. "Whenever I use it, I get more than I want to see. Why brother? Why me?"

Renee's global rang. She answered it. "It's Liam," she said aloud. The rest of them listened solemnly to the conversation between him and Renee.

"You knew this was going to happen," T'than told Da'an. "That was why you agreed to this. You wanted to stop them."

"I couldn't stop it," Da'an whimpered. "He was right. They were all right."

Renee hung up the global and pocketed it. "Liam says he has ANA troopers waiting for us a few yards from here. Let's go."

They made their way over the gruesome sea of dead bodies and walked down the corridor. A few minutes later, Liam greeted them with a squad of ANA troops. Renee ran up to Liam and hugged him.

"Where are the others?" Liam asked.

"They're all dead," Renee said.

T'than and Ku'ni were just a few feet away. Suddenly, the entrance to a hidden compartment opened. Sandoval appeared in front of Ku'ni and T'than. He stabbed Ku'ni first in his chest. Mi'en was so shocked that she did not even notice her body back into the compartment from whence Sandoval had just sprung. Tay'jay buried Da'an's head in his chest. The last thing he wanted her seeing was anymore dying.

Liam pushed Renee behind him, and the squad started firing. Tay'jay rushed Da'an inside with Mi'en instinctively to keep them from getting hit. Sandoval dragged T'than by his neck inside, closed the entrance, and swung him into Mi'en's arms. Before Tay'jay could even think to rise to confront him, Sandoval shot him with his skrill. Da'an was too paralyzed with shock to help in anyway. It was something that would always haunt her with shame.

"Agent Sandoval," T'than said calmly. "You cannot do this. Major Kincaid's squad is right outside. They are breaking in as we speak. It is over. Just let this go, and I will help you."

Sandoval knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to stall him as the troops outside worked to break through the door. Sandoval did not have long to tolerate this futile effort. He pulled the energy knife up against T'than's neck. Before T'than could plead his case one more time, Sandoval sliced open his throat.

Mi'en screamed in horror. In that moment, as T'than dropped to his knees, an overwhelming feeling of sadness and sympathy took Mi'en. She held his arms as he kneeled on his knees with energy quickly draining out of the huge hole in his throat.

T'than brought himself up to Mi'en's eyes. His face! It was the face she had always longed to see from him. It was the face she had always imagined but never seen. It was the face of her sibling, the one that had loved her and looked forward to her birth with such anticipation. He could not have said anything to her, but Mi'en did not need to hear anything. She knew what he would have said. She placed her hand on the back of his neck, the only gesture she could make to symbolize her forgiveness. Sandoval brought the knife over T'than's head.

"Sandoval, please don't," Mi'en begged. "No!"

The knife came down in one fell swoop, and T'than's head disappeared in a cloud of energy particles. The rest of his body was slow to follow.

Mi'en screamed again and fainted.

Da'an crawled backward into the farthest wall from the doorway while Sandoval entered. Sandoval looked terrible. His suit was torn from the skrill blasts of the protectors. One of the blasts had streaked across his left cheek, leaving a horrible burn. Da'an gazed deeply into Sandoval's eyes. There was not even a person in there anymore. She closed her eyes hoping that the perverted thoughts echoing in Sandoval's head would leave her.

Sandoval grabbed her and placed the knife around her neck. "Open the door," Sandoval whispered coldly.

Da'an had numbed when Sandoval grabbed her. All she wanted now was for this to end…so that she could see Zo'or one last time. She opened the door without the slightest resistance.

Liam and the others were ready to fire, but Sandoval brought Da'an even closer to him. "Don't even think about it!" he yelled. "I will cut her throat. You know I will, Major."

"Let him go," Liam said. "We'll get him. You can't run, Sandoval."

"That's right, Liam. I can't," Sandoval said. He weaved through the crowd with the blade so close to Da'an's throat that she could feel it tingling.

Liam waited until they had disappeared down the corridor.

"Wait for my signal," Liam said. "I'm going after him alone."

"Liam you can't," Renee protested. "What if he gets away? What if he kills Da'an and you?"

"If you don't hear from me in five minutes, go after me," Liam said, "but he'll definitely kill Da'an if we all go."

He bolted after Sandoval before Renee could stop him. All she could do was tell the squad to check on Tay'jay and Mi'en.

"Zo'or didn't kill any of them," Da'an panted. "He never meant to kill any of them."

"Oh no, he did," Sandoval said marching her down the hall. "But he weaseled out of it at the last minute. I risked my neck going in and out of those rooms killing every last one of those Synod members, and then when I get to the last room, I find that Zo'or hasn't killed any of them. He's only stunned them. He said he couldn't do it. He said it didn't matter anymore. He said no matter how many people he killed it wouldn't matter anymore, and then he ran out on me. How ironic is that? He practically begged me to make this pact with him and carry out this suicide mission, and then he backs out at the last minute. I should have known he would do this. After he killed Nee'lan he kept sending me in to do his dirty work. All he would do was allow me a quick entrance and exit."

"I understand," Da'an said. "Now that it is all over, do you find that control you never had?"

"It was a dream," Sandoval said when they came back to the sea of dead bodies. He opened a room and pulled her inside. "It was a mere dream. I thought that if I got rid of them all, I could atone. I thought the pain would die. I thought that I could seize control of my own destiny, my own freedom. I had my awakening in that gateway, Da'an, but nothing good came from it. I don't feel better, Da'an. I don't feel at all."

"Zo'or's sanity is failing."

"Just like yours. He shows all the signs of a powder keg about to explode. He's distant and numbed. He doesn't even speak with a tone anyone. He's ready to die."

"Where is he? I have to help him."

"You cannot help him. He is beyond help. He is so far gone that he has become nothing but a shell of his former self. He is nothing more than a mere child fighting for control."

"Like you."

"Pride makes fools of us all."

"I'm sorry, Ronald, for ever getting you involved in this. I never should have picked you. This is all my fault."

"The darkness that lurks within me is not a result of the implant. It was always there. The implant just brought it out. It was bound to happen, Da'an. The implant just made it happen faster. Isn't that what you said to me?"

Da'an sighed. "Yes, I did say that to you."

"If it had not been there, Deedee would still be alive."

"Deedee is still alive."

Sandoval dropped the knife. "My…my wife. You know where she is?"

"Nobody knows. She was taken into hiding by Boone. Her location died with him and Lili."

"Goddamn him! She belonged to me!"

Da'an shook her head in pity.

Sandoval trembled. Then he picked up the knife. "I'm sorry Da'an." He approached her and took her hand. "Zo'or told me where we was going just before he ran away. He portalled to the home world recreation. I want you to give this to him when you find him. He does not need a trial. He needs help."

He handed the knife to Da'an.

"What could this possibly do to help him?"

"It can give him a choice. It may not be the choice he wants, but it's a choice. Now that I have done it, I realize the little choices are all we really have. Fate only gives us a certain amount of control, Da'an. We should not try to be masters. We should not strive for total domination. The failure will only be that much harder to accept in the end."

Da'an hung her head low and wept. She never imagined that she would weep for him, but she did. After all, he was correct. They had all tried to manipulate fate, but in the end they were all manipulated themselves. This was all that was left for them all. "Goodbye, Ronald Sandoval."

"Goodbye my former companion," Sandoval replied emotionlessly. He shifted out of the room and down the hall.

Suddenly, Da'an found herself racing to catch him. "Ronald!"

Sandoval turned slowly.

"You wanted to know who your son is, the one who saved your life."

Sandoval nodded.

"It was Liam. He was born of a joining between Ha'gel and Siobhan Beckett using your body."

Sandoval looked down as if considering what she had just told him. Then he lifted his head with a smile. "I'm glad you told me, Da'an."

He was a man shot down by his own pride. It was no wonder he had not the heart to kill her or Zo'or at any time. They all suffered from the same pain, and they all seemed to do so together. She ran down the other side of the corridor, away from Liam's direction, to find another portal to the recreation.


Liam raced down the corridor, knowing time was against him. That was when he found the bodies. The hallway reeked of the smell of charred flesh, charred from the cuts of Sandoval's energy knife. Liam wanted to vomit as he passed the faces of people he knew. These were his colleagues. Several of them were as close to him as Malley. He wished he could have been there for them even though he knew that just being there would have meant his death too. Liam slowly walked over each body, but he nearly tripped when he saw one familiar body. "Damn it, Malley."

He continued trying to hold in the contents of his stomach, walking from room to room and checking for Sandoval, Zo'or and Da'an. He thought he wouldn't have to reduce himself to calling Sandoval's name, but several minutes of searching forced him to give in and just call out to him.

"Sandoval! You coward! Come out here and fight me like a man!" Liam coaxed, more in anger than anything else.

"I'm right here, Liam," a faint voice said.

Liam followed the voice in pure anger. He was ready to kill Sandoval himself. God help him if he had done anything to Da'an. He found Sandoval a few yards away from the bodies.

"You are a noble man, Major," Sandoval said with a salute.

"Shut up. You're going to jail," Liam said, pointing his pistol directly at Sandoval's head. "Put your hands in the air, now!"

"Oh, don't worry, Liam. I haven't harmed her. I hadn't the heart to kill her."

"Walk forward," Liam ordered.

"You're not getting angry, are you, Liam?" Sandoval asked. "I wouldn't want you reducing yourself to my level."

"Move towards me now, or I swear to God, I'll fucking shoot you!" Liam yelled.

"Go on, Major. Shoot me. It's all you've ever wanted in the world, and here's your chance."

"Don't fuck with me, Sandoval! It's over. I'm done with you. I'm done with looking you into the eye and letting you live."

"Then, kill me! Put me out of my misery!"

Liam squeezed the trigger as hard as he could and closed his eyes. Even after all the hatred and betrayal between him and his father, he had not the heart to watch him die. But when he opened his eyes, Sandoval was still there, standing on his two feet.

A wry chuckle escaped Sandoval's throat. "Ignorant. Noble but ignorant."

"A virtual glass vest," Liam surmised. "That's how you did all of this. I should have known you were too self-righteous to die."

"I am the instrument of my own fate. I determine when I am to die." Sandoval pulled out a traditional revolver from his suit pocket and put it to his head. "My skrill will not terminate its own master. It is a slave, just like me."

"Don't do it, Sandoval," Liam cried suddenly coming to his senses. "You need help! We can help you. We can get the implant out of you. It's not too late."

"If anyone asks why I did it, Major," Sandoval said, pulling out an envelope from his breast pocket, "tell them to give my regards to the dreams of mice and men."

"Sandoval no!"

The loud crash of the gun silenced Liam. As Ronald Sandoval's body fell to the floor, Liam dropped to his knees in both anger and sorrow. He wondered if this was how Da'an felt when Lili died. No. It couldn't have been because as he regained the strength to walk over to Sandoval's lifeless body and pick up the blood-splattered suicide note, Liam felt a sense of relief. It was the relief that his own father had robbed him of the burden of killing him.

"God have mercy on your soul, father," Liam said solemnly.


Zo'or should have been glad that Sandoval had performed the cleansing for him, but he wasn't. Damn that Sandoval for robbing him of his glory. Damn Sandoval for carrying out his actions for him, for doing what he never had the strength to do. Sandoval's bold act had made him realized just how cowardly he was. He had failed all of his expectations for himself. He had failed the expectations of his family lines. He had just plain failed. The mind prison of the priests had driven him to desperation. Struggling for such control in a cell when he never had that control in the first place! It was all an illusion. Da'an had been correct. They all had been. The prison had overcome him. All his plans of rising against his masters and seizing control…ruined! Hundreds of years of training, planning and scheming, and all he had to show for it was a butchered Synod, a dead protector, and an emotionally naked leader sitting at the foot of a fake mountain in a mockery of their beautiful home world. Da'an had drawn strength from this beauty. He never understood that, and he still didn't.

"I never thought in a million years that I would find you here," a soft feminine voice said.

Zo'or slowly lifted his head to see a blue energy outline of a woman. The form had changed, but nothing could ever hide the brilliance of those eyes. "Mother."

"They are dead."

"I know. I felt them all die."

"Your government is gone."

"My entire empire slipped right through my fingers. You think you have control. You believe it. You want to believe it, but it is all an illusion. We are never masters, Da'an. We are slaves to a greater master. All of us."

"That is true."

"I had it all. I had…everything, and these humans took it away from me," Zo'or said coldly. "It is not fair."

"You must remain calm," Da'an said in an emotionless tone.

"I am the leader of the Synod! You cannot tell me what to do!" Zo'or whispered harshly in frustration.

"You have no synod," Da'an said firmly. "Your own protector whom you trusted and confided in has eliminated them all."

"I told him to, Da'an," Zo'or said. "I told him to because…I could not do it myself. There was no point. Killing Nee'lan did not make me feel stronger. It did not give me any kind of satisfaction at all. Why is that?"

"Because killing any person does not make you stronger. It doesn't mean anything when you kill someone even if it is for what you deem to be right," Da'an said. "You knew this. You always knew, but you acted anyway. You let Sandoval be your sword. You did so because it was the only control you had left."

"No one wants to be a slave," Zo'or said. "I think that is all I wanted, but even with the Synod dead, I am still a slave."

"You do not have to be. I can help you."

Zo'or smashed the rock next to him so hard that the hologram wavered. "I…am an adult. I make my own choices. I control my own destiny. I do not need your pity. I do not need your love."

"You are obligated to a choice," Da'an said softly. "The prison has consumed you. You need to be free. Come with me. Let us leave this place together. You will be free, and together we shall work for a better world. You can be a person again."

"You made that offer once before. I…I do not belong with you," Zo'or whimpered holding his head in his hands. "I should be dead. We should both be dead."

Da'an hung her head low and pulled out the energy knife. "I…I need you to come with me," she pleaded, trying to fight the brutal images swelling her mind. "I…I cannot lose you. You are my child. Please, come with me. I will always love you. I will always protect you."

Zo'or stared at her with empty eyes. Da'an knew it from looking at those eyes. There was nothing left in there but pure anger and hatred. It was so powerful and so overwhelming that it had literally numbed him. There was nothing that could save him now. Da'an knew this. She had failed him.

"There…is another choice," Da'an said, with her hands shaking. She tossed the energy knife to his feet. "There is another way to be free. You may come with me, or…"

Zo'or slowly took the knife. "You…You offer this choice to me freely."

"I know that is what you always wanted. I wanted to stop you. I wanted to help you, but…I know that can never be now. I am willing to live with this. I will always carry a burden, but if this is what you want, I will not stop you."

"This is my choice and my control," Zo'or said eyeing the knife as if it was an idol, not an object. "With this, I can take charge and control my destiny."

"Please, Zo'or. Come with me," Da'an pleaded.

"It has been altered," Zo'or said, after he opened the knife. He examined the blade carefully. "Sandoval never actually let me look at it. It is so…powerful, and so aggressive. Yet so beautiful. Altered with a radiance deadly to any Taelon." He glided his hand across the blade. He did not even feel the pain as the knife split it open. "So sharp. It may provide for a quick death, especially when asserted in the right place. What a gift! What a gift from you…or is it from my loyal protector? Who should I thank for such a gift?"

"Zo'or, see me. Please see me," Da'an said softly, dropping to her knees.

"I know the choice you would have me take…but perhaps there is one more," Zo'or said frigidly with a cruel grin.

"Zo'or, what are you thinking?"

"Can you not read my mind, parent?"

"I…refuse to," Da'an said. "I will not turn my powers against my own child."

Zo'or could tell by looking in her eyes that she was correct. Her extrasensory perception was beyond her control, but still she did everything in her power to channel it away from her own child. "I could not kill any of those people because killing them means nothing to me. There is only one person that could make me strong. This person's death by my hand will finally make me strong. It will finally give me the satisfaction I need. My poor parent. You love me so much. You always have. You want to hear this, and I will give it to you. I love you, Da'an. I love you, mother."

Da'an let her tears fall, but she did her best to hide them.

"I see how you suffer, Da'an," Zo'or said. "This thing is destroying you. It will destroy us both."

"That is why you must come with me. If we stand together, we can fight it. We can teach each other control."

"Oh, Da'an. Poor deluded Da'an. Please hold me. I am near the end. Hold me."

Da'an let her maternal instincts take over. It was perhaps the only feeling counter to this immense nothingness with which these prophecies had plagued her. A part of her knew her child was lying to her. He would rather die than accept her help. The logical side of her had all but accepted this. However, her emotional side refused to accept it. No matter what she did, her emotional side took over, and she believed the lie. She needed to believe that she could help him and that he wanted it. Now she understood how Lili could possibly submit to Vorjak. Pity is such a treacherous emotion! She embraced him.

Bless the mother and the gifts she has left the Commonality and us. Bless her coming and her going. Larish'na.

And Zo'or lifted the knife over her back…