Allies and Enemies Part III: Atavus

by Lyta


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.  No part of this story may be re-posted in part or in full without written permission from the author.



Note from Author:  Sequel to "Allies and Enemies Part II: First of Its Kind".



Summary: What if Boone never met with the Resistance in "Decision"? How might that affect the events following and during "Atavus"?



Rating:  PG



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Augur watched Jonathan Doors leave the cramped computer center that was the cyber wizard's new abode. Doors had insisted upon Augur explaining every detail of the new computer security system, as if a hacker was going to get past the traps Augur set! Annoyed by the eccentric billionaire even more than he usually was, Augur decided to continue his project exploring the Taelon Commonality. It was something to keep his mind off the lovely Captain Lili Marquette. He kept returning in his mind to the moment they met, in the old Liberation Hideout, not long after Doors announced his living status to the world.

"Augur, meet Captain Lili Marquette, one of our best operatives…"

It seemed like only yesterday. Now Lili was who knows where being interrogated. For a split second Augur toyed with the idea of breaking into the Taelon's computers and finding out what happened to her. Doors would go into conniptions if he knew, which amused Augur, but part of him would rather not know the gory specifics of what they were doing to his friend.

***

Liam now had the appearance of a human adult in his late twenties or possibly early thirties. He was tall, with dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. It was difficult even for those who had watched him mature to reconcile the young man before them with the helpless infant he had been only a short while earlier.

Siobhan Beckett stared at her son with a mix of nervousness and pride. The pride stemmed from his bearing, how Liam stood tall, and the nervousness from what the Taelons intended to do with her child. Her own mother had always commented that Siobhan was growing up too fast for her taste, now Beckett wondered how she was going to react to the news that not only had she missed her only child's entire pregnancy, but all of Liam's childhood as Humans understood it. Taelons, like Kimera apparently, did not associate physical size with age. Rather they differentiated between child and adult based on how the individual was able to access ancestral memories and the maturity of their decisions.

Beckett shook herself back to the present and stared again at Liam. He certainly took after her side of the family in appearance, she thought wryly thinking of the great-grandfather for whom her son was named. For the moment Liam was assigned to follow Commander Boone around and serve as his assistant so he could begin learning the duties of a Companion Agent. After all, two of his parents were Protectors and with the Kimeran genetic memories Liam already possessed it was decided to focus on bringing forth those memories and shaping them into aspects of his developing personality.

But knowing what the duties of a Protector actually involved, Siobhan was all the more worried for her son.

***

Augur managed to isolate two previously unknown signals emanating from the Taelon embassy. Then he pulled out a first century Roman coin with the image of Augustus Caesar on one side. It was one of the only pieces worthy of being in his collection that he had inherited from his father, Lincoln Devereaux. Then he flipped the coin and tapped into the Commonality connection of the Taelon signal he had designated as 'A'.

"Whoa…"

***

Zo'or bent over as if in great pain and Sandoval rushed to his master's side only to be angrily pushed away by the Taelon. To the implant's shock and horror, Zo'or's skin rippled and seemed to wash away like tides returning to the ocean to reveal green scales. Sandoval blinked in shock.

"Go now!" Zo'or hissed. "Find the hybrid and bring him to me without delay."

Sandoval gave the Taelon a brief nod to acknowledge his order and set off at a run through the embassy's familiar labyrinth of corridors in search of his son.

Zo'or struggled to retain his connection and watched Sandoval leave, hoping the hybrid would be brought to him to halt the regression. A wave of despair pounded over him as he felt his lifeline to the Commonality slip away from his grip and an unreasoning hunger consume him. The Atavus stared down at his hands. They glowed brightly in the dim light.

***

William Boone and Sandoval trailed in the wake of the young hybrid. Their marching orders left nothing to the imagination. If Liam was unable to restore Zo'or to the Commonality they were to destroy the Atavus and suspend all other activities until they were able to determine exactly what caused the Taelon to revert.

Suddenly Liam stopped in the corridor, his green eyes wide with shock. Not expecting him to stop, Boone and Sandoval slammed into him sending all three men face down on the floor.

"Why'd you stop?" Boone demanded. He did not really expect an answer as Liam had only spoken once or twice before.

Liam stared at the red headed implant with a look that over rode the motivational imperative's clamp down and sent chills down his spine before be recovered himself. "Quo'on is going to die." He said simply with such conviction that Boone and Sandoval found themselves whipping out their globals in an effort to warn the Synod leader.

"Its too late." Liam whispered. Then he got up and ran down a side corridor.

A startled Boone and Sandoval tried to follow, but quickly realized the he had lost them.

***

The Atavus had already fed off two of the Mothership drones, but found them poor fare when compared to the meal the Synod leader had provided. While the humans merely eased the hunger for a time, it actually vanished for a moment leaving him with a brief bit of clarity that was all the more horrifying that his transformation because Zo'or could feel himself draining the essence of another Taelon.

Then he heard a sound, the scrape of shoes against the deck that marked the approach of another. The Atavus turn, awareness vanishing, and fired at the human. This time there was no glorious but strangely tainted burst of energy, rather the human's palms glowed like his and he return the energy of the shaquarava blast.

They stepped closer together until their palms touched and Zo'or fell back against the wall. He stared at Liam and then at his own hands to reassure himself that he was indeed Taelon once again as Boone and Sandoval arrived.

Both implants immediately lowered their skrills at the sight of Zo'or and as Liam helped the Taelon up, they reported to Da'an.

***

Augur felt strange. His sampling of the Commonality had left him with a bitter taste in his mouth. He swished the liquid in his shot glass around and watched the news from his favorite bar stool at the Flat Planet Café.

"Stunning news this evening as the Taelon Synod confirms the rumor that Quo'on, the Synod leader, passed away earlier this morning from natural causes." The petite newscaster announced with the Washington Embassy visible just behind her. "The Synod leadership will be taking on a new face as Da'an, best known for his role as North American Companion, will be leading the body. Filling the now vacant seat of North American Companion is Zo'or, who until recently has been something of an enigma…"