Mind Games

by Roguemoon


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.  Agent Dani Long and Te'el are creations of the author's. Please do not use them without asking permission first.



Author's Notes:  This takes place after "Crossfire" and my story "Trespassers in the Truth".  What happened to the Resistance, Meridian, etc?   Also, I never saw an episode with Boone in it, but.......   All words in < > are thoughts. Words in brackets [ ] are psychic communication.  *SPECIAL THANKS to Scott Williams and Aen for helping me edit this story.



Rating: PG



**********



"You still aren't real sure about this are you?" Agent Long asked Liam as they walked down a corridor in Meridian Headquarters.  "Can you blame me?" Liam shrugged remembering how he and the Resistance were so sure that Sandoval was up to trouble when it turned out to be the exact opposite. "I never expected to have him as an ally."  "You aren't the only person who can keep secrets, Liam. He's been keeping them a lot longer then you have," Agent Long stopped in front of a door, but instead of opening it, she turned to look at him.  "You have to be sure of this, Liam. If we go into it any other way we're dead," Liam looked at her for a moment and she could see the hesitation in his eyes. "Need I remind you that this attempt was Da'an's last request?"

     Liam flinched, and Dani was immediately sorry for her words. It was well known that after Da'an's "honor-bound suicide" both Ronald and Liam had blamed themselves for not doing anything. The former had no choice; Ronald couldn't blow his cover. So, he'd had to stand by as it happened and do nothing as he'd been forced to do so often in the past. Because of her telepathy, Dani knew that Sandoval was once again having the nightmares that had so plagued him after Boone's murder. Eventually they'd begun to ease, with her help. Now Sandoval was again channeling all of his energy into running Meridian and bringing Zo'or down. Liam had felt as bad, if not worse about Da'an, but his work with the Resistance didn't seem to be helping him move on as Ronald's work with Meridian was.

"Liam, I'm sorry," Dani whispered, gently touching his arm. "I didn't mean to..."

A wave of Liam's arm cut her off. After a minute, he spoke.  "No, you're right. This needs to come first."

*****

     Agent Ronald Sandoval looked over his shoulder and then slipped into an empty office. He'd been trying to get a minute's peace all day, but Zo'or kept finding little things to keep him busy and at his side. This was the first opportunity to escape he'd had all day. He pulled out his global and hit a button.

"How are things going?" He asked the young man that answered.

"They just started, Sir," the Meridian operative answered.

"Good, let me know when they are finished," Sandoval ordered.

"Yes, Sir," the man replied and signed off.

     The global had barely gone blank, when it's alarm went off again. Sandoval took a deep breath and then answered it, "Yes, Zo'or."  "Return to my audience chamber at once, Agent Sandoval," Zo'or ordered.  Sandoval began to answer to the affirmative when the screen went blank. Biting back a curse, Ronald put the global away and exited the room. It was going to be a long day.

*****

Liam looked at the sheet-draped body on the table. He still couldn't believe that Da'an had managed to somehow clone Commander Boone's body. Now it lay connected to monitors, which measured everything from temperature, to the CVI, to the skrill on the man's arm.

       "A little like a monster move, hu?" Agent Long looked at him from the other side of Boone's body."Yeah," Liam whispered still looking at the body.  "What's wrong, Liam?" She asked.  "I don't like the fact that the Taelons can play god," Liam finally looked up at her. "Or us either."  "We're not really," Dani said. "Think of it more as putting Boone back into his body. He's not really dead, Liam. He's still living in the Commonality."  "But his body died. That usually means the person did too," Liam stated.  "To normal humans yes," Dani gently touched Boone's forehead and then locked eyes with Liam. "Death takes on a whole new meaning when you become a psychic."  Liam shrugged. She knew the mind better then he did.

"Are you ready?" She asked.

Liam looked at Boone's body once more and then nodded yes.

*****

The transition into the Commonality was even harder then Agent Long had expected. Still, without Liam's partial connection, there would have been no retrieving Boone period.

     Dani looked around, " Liam, do you have a lock on him yet?"  Liam shook his head, "Just give me a minute, okay. It's not every day I have to sneak a psi into the Commonality piggy back."

     While Liam searched for the residue of Da'an's mind that would signal where the Taelon had been shielding Boone's presence, Dani looked around. The Commonality was nothing like the Astral Plane even though the two places served similar purposes to their respective races. For a moment, Dani wondered if she was going to be able to link the two planes. Da'an had believed that the linkage was possible, but she wasn't so sure.

"Found him." Liam stated. "But we'd better hurry. I don't think Da'an's shield is going to last much longer."

*****

     Agent Sandoval watched Zo'or through silted eyes. There was no need for him to be there, but Zo'or had ordered him to remain. It was an attempt by the Taelon to again remind Sandoval who was in control. Like he could forget.  <Of course, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that control is by no means something that is definite, > Agent Sandoval thought to himself. <If he knew what was going on right under his nose...>

Agent Sandoval was snapped out of his thoughts as Zo'or suddenly stood up.

     "Zo'or what is wrong?" Sandoval asked with faked concern.  Zo'or ignored his attaché for a moment, and Sandoval was about to repeat his question, when the Taelon spoke.  "There is a trespasser in the Commonality."

Sandoval fought to keep a blank face. <Damn! >

*****

     "Liam, tell me that this is suppose to be happening," Dani stumbled as the Commonality became even more hostile in an attempt to rid itself of the trespassers.  "Hate to tell you," Liam helped to right her balance. "This is bad."  "Really," She replied sarcastically. "Please tell me we're almost there."  "Thankfully," Liam looked around and then pointed to a very faintly glowing sphere. "There!"  Dani immediately closed her eyes and "reached" toward the sphere as Liam moved them closer to it.

[Commander Boone, can you hear me?]

A weary thought answered her probe. [Who's there?]

[We're here to take you home. Friends of Da'an's. Can you come to us?]

[Why should I trust you?]

[Please Commander, we don't have much time.]

     "Dani, hurry up. I feel that Zo'or's on to us. If he probes much harder, I don't know if I can keep him out without letting him know who I am," Liam broke into her thoughts.

     [Did you hear that, Commander? Please, we can discuss this once I have gotten us onto the Astral Plane.] Dani frantically thought.

For a minute, there was silence and then Boone replied, [Okay.]

     Boone's sphere started to near them and then it joined with Liam's sphere so that there were now three people standing in the sphere.  Dani had to fight to keep from gasping at Boone's condition. Da'an had hinted that it was possible that Boone's astral form would retain the wounds his physical body had endured, but she had never dreamed that it would be to this extent. She was about to comment, when Liam let out a gasp like he'd just been punched in the gut.

"Liam!"

     The Major's face was white with strain; "The Commonality itself is trying to trap us here. Get the gate to the Astral Plane open or we're going to be stuck here, and I guarantee that it's not going to be pretty."  "On it, Major Kincaid, " Dani closed her eyes in concentration, but that concentration was broken by Boone's voice.  "Major Kincaid? Liam Kincaid? I fought with him in the SI War, and you are definitely not him," Boone accused.

     [Later Commander, I promised I'd explain everything later.] Dani thought quickly. When she sensed a resistance in him, she added. [Please, I can't concentrate with you talking, and we are all going to die if I can't get us out of here.]

Boone was silent, but the look he gave Liam promised that this was far from over.

     Dani went back to concentrating on creating a link between the Astral plane and the Commonality.<Focus, > she told herself, <and remember what Da'an told you. It's all a matter of telling it what you want it to do. Connect, damn it! Connect! >  Boone watched the girl's face wrinkle in concentration. Then, for a moment, his gaze moved to the "Major", but Liam's attention was completely on keeping their identities hidden.

     <Major, my foot. He's nothing more then a child. > Boone thought. <Look at his face, if I didn't know better, I'd swear he was nothing more then a teen finding out the hard way how tough life was. > Boone shivered as he realized that none of them might get out of this. He couldn't understand why two strangers would risk their lives to come after him. His gaze wondered back to the girl and suddenly he found himself praying.

     Dani felt as if part of her soul was being ripped open, but she continued. Then the pain was gone and the portal was there.  "Go!" She screamed to Liam as she grabbed Boone's arm and pushed him through the portal.

"I'm behind you. Go!" Liam ordered.

     Dani knew he had to sever his connection to the Commonality before he could follow. She looked back. The pain on his face froze her, but that wasn't the scary part. It was the fear in his eyes.

"Liam!" She cried.

     "They're holding me here. God! I don't think I can break it. Go!" He ordered. "Before they close the portal."  "I won't leave you! Sandy will skin me!" Dani replied.  "Damn it, Agent, that was an order. Go!" Liam stated

     "No," Dani suddenly reached forward and into Liam's mind and fed all of the strength she had left to him. It was enough, barely, for him to break his link to the Commonality. She grabbed him to keep him from returning to the physical plane and threw him and herself at the portal. As they passed through, she shut it. They hit the "ground" of the Astral Plane hard, but she kept falling.

*****

     Agent Sandoval fought to keep his anxiety at bay as he watched Zo'or and Da'an's replacement, Te'el, search for the trespassers in the Commonality. Of course, he wasn't worried for them, even though he had to admit that Te'el was enough like Da'an that Sandoval couldn't understand how Te'el had gotten the position given Zo'or's dislike for Da'an. Still, his main worries were Agent Long and his son. Sandoval could still hardly believe that Kincaid was his son, though, Agent Long had claimed to see it as soon as she met Liam. Something about how it only made sense that the two most stubborn men she knew where related. A small smile crossed his face at the memory, but it vanished when Zo'or come back himself, with Te'el not far behind.

     "Zo'or, did you find them?" Agent Sandoval asked as he fell back into what he like to call his mindless attaché mode. Zo'or ignored his question and angrily left the room.  For a moment, Agent Sandoval didn't know what to do. That problem was remedied by Te'el's soft voice.  "Forgive his anger, Agent Sandoval. He has no where else to direct it besides at you."

     Sandoval looked at the Taelon. Te'el was older then Da'an had been, but at times he acted so much like Da'an that Sandoval forgot that he wasn't talking to Da'an. Ronald wanted to reach out to Te'el and tell him thanks, but the Taelon still believed him to be a full implant and so he had to act accordingly.

"It's nothing. May I ask what happened?" Sandoval said.

     A knowledge flashed in the Taelon's eyes for a moment and then was gone. "The Commonality had the trespasser trapped and Zo'or was about to break through to the person's identity, when they somehow escaped. It was very frustrating to be so close and not get anything out of it."

     "Do you know where they escaped to?" Ronald asked.  "No. We could not trace their path," Te'el