We're Going to Undo the Event

(crossover story)

by Seven


Disclaimer:  Earth: Final Conflict and its characters are copyrighted by Tribune Entertainment Company.  All rights reserved.



Notes from Author:  "We're going to undo that event." The comments made by Parker and Liam near the beginning of Part Two were a small joke on my part, since the REAL NSA does not do anything like they do on TV. Actually, they do deal with codes. But this is fiction, and you can do whatever you like.... :-)...



**********



TAELON EMBASSY, SEVEN DAYS AGO

Liam gaped at the window, mouth hanging open. "Now what was THAT?" he asked.

Da'an craned his neck to see the area in which the huge object had crashed. "That was not a shuttle," he announced, worried.

A few minutes before, a huge ball like a Christmas tree ornament had zoomed along the sky at fantastic speed, with a comet's tail of heated air streaking behind it. Liam bit his lip. "A Jaridian probe?" he asked quietly.

"I fear that it may be so," Da'an said tightly. "We must investigate it immediately." He headed for the door.

****

OUTSIDE WASHINGTON

The spheroid construction, Liam thought, did not look like Jaridian technology. It was a deep, intense blue laced with whitish-silver. A few plastic windows were fogged with steam, and smoke was belching from the side. It was lopsidedly sitting on a hillside.

Da'an leaned forward in his seat, popping off the restraints. "It does not appear to be Jaridian technology," he said. "Nor Taelon."

Liam smiled a little. "Let's find out, shall we?"

He landed the shuttle and climbed to the ground. As Liam helped Da'an jump down, a section of the odd craft popped off, blowing more smoke from the interior. Liam whipped out his gun and aimed it.

There was a round of horrible coughing as a tall, muscular man tumbled out. He was wearing an orange flightsuit and a helmet. What Liam could see of his face was smoke-stained and slightly bloody. The man tugged at his helmet, then twisted it off. "I gotta get a nice cushy office job," he wheezed.

Liam slowly lowered his gun. "Who are you?"

The man looked up at him with a wry smirk. "Frank Parker, NSA."

"You write and decipher codes?" Liam asked.

Parker smirked. "That's what they want you to believe." He stuck a hand into his pocket and rooted around, then pulled out an ID. Liam had to admit: he was genuine. He shut the ID case and handed it back. "So what is... this thing?" Liam asked.

Parker grinned as he found a zipper on his back. "Classified, can't tell ya." He rapidly pulled off the flightsuit, revealing that he was clad in a powder-blue jumpsuit.

Liam crossed his arms. "This is Da'an, the American Companion, and I'm Liam Kincaid, his protector. Are you aware that Companion protectors have world-wide security clearance?"

Parker shrugged. "Yeah, but this goes way beyond that. Just let me say that this baby has let me fix a lot of mistakes in my life." He paused for a moment. "Okay, this is a time machine. With a range of seven days; I can go back that far but no further." He took a deep breath. "And the event I've been sent back to fix is YOUR death."

Da'an was looking at Parker as if the man had a lobster clinging to his head. Parker held out his hand to Liam, "Can I borrow your global?" he asked.

Liam looked uneasy, glanced at Da'an. Da'an nodded imperceptibly, and Liam handed over his global. Parker pulled it open and dialed a number. "This is Conundrum."

"Hi, welcome to Mandy's Burger Palace," said a rather annoying female voice.

"What?" Liam asked incredulously.

"Mandy," Parker said patiently. "This is Parker again. Could you please do me a favor?"

"Sure," Mandy replied.

"Dial 007-4477, and tell them to call..." Parker glanced at Liam. "What's your global number?"

"554-7804-45," Liam replied. "But-"

"And tell them to call 554-7804-45 and tell them Conundrum called."

"Suuuuure," Mandy drawled. "What are you doing anyway?"

"I'm a time traveler," Parker said sarcastically, shutting the global. "Sorry for the delay. I have to have my friends know I'm here, and I keep getting-"

"What do you mean, you're here to prevent Da'an's death?" Liam asked suspiciously. "What happens?"

Parker paused. "In less than seven days, a guy aboard your mothership will blow up Da'an and Zo'or, also Agent Sandoval."

"A 'guy'?" Liam asked. "You mean a Volunteer?"

"Yeah," Parker said. "We have to stop him."

****

NEVER NEVER LAND, SOMEWHERE IN NEVADA

"I just received a call from Frank," Talmadge announced to the staff of the Backstep facility. "He's landed near Washington. In a few days, the leader of the Taelon Synod and the North American Companion will be assassinated by an unknown person."

"So we Backstepped to save their little blue-clad butts?" Ramsey asked incredulously.

"You know, a piece of Taelon technology now keeps Frank from losing a layer of skin when he Backsteps," Ballard commented musingly.

"You'd sell your soul for a seatbelt in the Sphere!" Ramsey blustered.

"Now then," Mentor cautioned. "Let's not argue about the Taelons; each man's opinion is his own."

"I agree," Talmadge commented. "Frank didn't give us much information about what happened, but there apparently isn't much to tell. A young man apparently dropped a bomb near the two Taelons. The assassin and the leader's attache were both killed in the blast."

He turned to Donovan and Olga. "Craig, Olga, I need you to go to Washington to help Frank."

Donovan nodded. "It'll be a nice change of pace for us, especially Frank. Always cooped up at the facility."

"In the meantime," Olga said, "I wonder what Frank is doing with the Taelons."

"He's being taken to that big energy ship near the moon," Ramsey stated. "God help them, I actually feel sorry for the Taelons."

****

TAELON MOTHERSHIP, IN ORBIT OF THE MOON

"It doesn't FEEL alive," Parker commented, poking at the wall with his forefinger. Within minutes of coming aboard the mothership, he could barely keep still.

Liam grinned. "Trust me. It's alive, although it hasn't got any bones."

Parker shrugged, eyed the wall, and then followed Liam toward the bridge. "So how many Volunteers do you have?" he asked.

"Hundreds on the mothership."

"And I have to try and weed out one of them." Parker sighed.

Liam glanced at the NSA agent. "What does the man look like?"

"About five-ten, brown hair, blue eyes, unspectacular features." Parker ran a hand through his hair, making it stick straight up. "Just an ordinary guy. You think he's part of the Resistance? The info we get in Never Never Land is pretty sparse."

Liam shrugged. "The resistance has been factioning recently. Some just because they're not lunging directly at the Taelons. Some of the people I've heard of are capable of it."

Parker nodded and glanced at his watch. "Well, time to face the dragon."

Liam mock-saluted the NSA agent. "Ave, Caesar. Moritori te salutant."

Parker pressed the back of his hand against his forehead. "It is a far, far better thing I do than-"

"Major!" snapped Sandoval from the bridge. Liam grabbed Parker's shoulder and ushered him onto the bridge.

****

Zo'or eyed Parker with a mild sense of distaste. The cocky NSA agent was almost the embodiment of everything he disliked about humanity. He could sense through the Commonality that Da'an was hiding something about Parker, but he wasn't certain what it was. And linked to that secret was something which had filled Da'an's soul with horror.

"I've doubled security," Sandoval was saying, "and have restricted all Volunteers within the parameters you have set, Mr. Parker."

"Was this... what is meant to happen?" Da'an asked cautiously. Parker shook his head. Zo'or eyed his rival suspiciously.

Major Kincaid commented, "I was just taking Mr. Parker to take a look at the Volunteers who fit the physical description." He glanced at his global. "And a shuttle just arrived. A man and a woman, claim they're friends of Parker's."

"What are their names?" Parker asked.

"Vukavitch and Donovan," Liam said, glancing at Parker. "Friends of yours?"

"Good friends," Parker commented.

****

Liam clicked the remote. Parker squinted at the panel. "No."

Liam clicked again. "Uh-uh."

Another click. "Nope. How many more?"

"There ARE no more," Liam stated irritably. "Are you certain that the parameters were accurate?"

"I went over this guy's records a thousand times before I Backstepped," Parker stated.

Olga Vukavitch entered the room, smiling and holding a pair of plastic no-spill mugs. "Hello, Mister Parker, Mister Kincaid," she said in her thick Russian accent. "Coffee?"

"Had some, thanks," Liam said, slumping down in his chair. "What I need is beer."

"Bring three of them and drag Donovan in here," Parker said, taking a sip of the coffee and wincing.

As Olga left, Liam began to tear apart a sticky note and commented, "It sounds like we can only reposition the Volunteers so that only women and short blond gray-green-brown-eyed men are on the bridge at any time."

"Sounds good," Parker said. "And Plan B?"

"We sit in the corners, out of sight. And wait."

****

Zo'or waved the datastream into view and attempted to access the training schedules for the Volunteers. "Acces denied," the computer trilled gently at him. For a long moment, he stared at it, then opened the alterations file. Da'an. A few days before, Da'an had altered the file.

Zo'or glanced sideways at the tall dark man in a Volunteer's uniform. Not a true Volunteer, he had no implant clinging to the side of his head. Craig Donovan glanced back at Zo'or and nodded. Zo'or turned his chair towards Sandoval and ordered, "Bring Da'an to the bridge."

At the rear of the bridge was Olga Vukavitch and Lili Marquette. Olga was keeping to the shadows, trying to look inconspicuous.

Sandoval nodded curtly and walked out. A few minutes later, Da'an followed him onto the bridge.

****

The tall, dark-clad man was lurking on the mothership. His tight jumpsuit was that of a Volunteer. But he was not working for the Taelons. The tiny charge on his belt was set for seven minutes and counting.

The lurker raised his hand and looked at his watch. Two minutes, thirty seconds. The door whirred and Da'an entered, glancing briefly at the lurker. "You wished to speak with me, Zo'or?" he asked smoothly.

"Yes. I wish to know the reason for your interference with the datastream for the Volunteers program," Zo'or growled, glancing back at Donovan.

Da'an tilted his head. "Changing the passwords hardly counts as interference on my own project."

Thirty seconds. The lurker threw down his dataclip and strode toward Da'an and Zo'or. Da'an looked slightly startled. Agent Sandoval moved to block the lurker. "Volunteer, what are you doing?"

Sandoval moved to intercept, but a clicking sound interrupted him, and Liam called out, "Stop right there!"

Parker leapt out of an alcove and tackled the lurker to the floor. An explosive charge fell from the man's hands, skidding to Da'an's feet. "It's a bomb!" shouted Donovan. Sandoval dropped to the floor, broke open the casing of the bomb, and ripped out a small wire. The ticking stopped.

"How'd you know how to do that?" Parker asked incredulously, pinning the young man to the floor.

Sandoval rose to his feet and dusted off his pants. "I am an FBI agent," he snapped. "I'm familiar with that sort of explosive."

Liam was beginning to wonder if his heart would start beating again, when the lurker twisted around and hit Parker in the face. The NSA agent growled and hit him back. Donovan abandoned his disguise and ran into the fray, also punching the assassin.

Something about the fight felt wrong. Liam shot a look at Da'an and Zo'or... and saw a female Volunteer toss a tiny bomb towards Zo'or's chair, unnoticed. "Sandoval!" he yelled. "There's another one!"

Without any further hesitation, Liam whipped out his gun and fired at the girl. She fell to the floor, clutching her shoulder. Sandoval shoved Zo'or out of the command seat and grabbed the bomb. "This one has a different configuration!" he shouted. "I can't disarm it!"

"What about the portals?" Olga asked.

Sandoval didn't bother to answer, only ran to a small cargo portal and dropped in the rapidly ticking bomb. There was a slight whirr as the bomb went into interdimensional, aimed out into space. Everyone looked as a tiny red blossom came into view between the mothership and the moon.

****

"Thanks again," Liam said, shaking Parker's hand. "These people aren't Resistance, they're apparently just out for personal revenge."

"Revenge for what?" Olga asked.

"Revenge for just about any excuse they could dredge up," Sandoval said. "Some felt that their relatived had been used in experimentation, some felt that the Taelons were less than us... stupid, I know." Sandoval turned around to Donovan, who was saying goodbye to Lili. "Have you ever considered leaving this secret program you're in?"

"What do you mean?" Donovan asked.

"Oh no," Lili said, covering her face.

Sandoval was obviously not happy. "Zo'or was wondering if you were interested in becoming an implant. For some reason, he was impressed by your skills."

Donovan laughed, a little embarrassed. "Uh, tell Zo'or it's very nice of him, but the last thing I want is a CVI messing around with my brain. No offense meant."

"None taken." Sandoval looked somewhat relieved. "Captain?"

Lili climbed up onto the shuttle and settled herself in the pilot's chair. Parker glanced at Olga. "Why did he single out Donovan and not me?"

"Come on, Mr. Parker," Olga said, ushering him into the shuttle. Donovan followed, chuckling and shaking his head.

The last things that Liam and Sandoval heard were Parker protesting, "Why did he pay attention to Donovan? I got the guy!" and Olga replying, "Because you were in a mental hospital, Mr. Parker. They don't take people who were in mental hospitals..."

THE END