'They say fear is a single closed door, behind which lies the unknown'
J Heller M.D.

Narrated by True Danziger
"Well, it had taken us nearly two years to get here, but we finally made it. We reached New Pacifica over a month ago, and it wasn't a moment too soon. Morale among the group had been at an all time low, with Devon and my dad stuck in the middle desparately trying to keep the peace (believe it or not, they were the only two not fighting with each other.) Even I began to long for the stations, being stuck with Uly all day was not what I would call fun. Anyway, here we are. The Colony ship is three weeks away, and everyone is busy building a place to call 'home'. The hospital has just been finished, and we're all real excited. Dad told me that we're gonna start on our own house soon, and guess what - he said I can even have my own room!"

"Ta Da!" Walman exclaimed as he whipped away the canvas to expose his handiwork.

The sign that adorned their first building proudly announced 'New Pacifica Medical Centre', its bright colours standing out from the stark grey metal it was attached to.

"Well, what do you think?" Walman asked as he turned to face the other members of Eden Advance gathered around him.

"Its beautiful" Bess gushed and clutched her husbands arm.

Morgan also seemed somewhat awestruck, and for once was stuck for words. "Wow!" was all the ex-bureaucrat managed to say.

"Good job Walman, it looks great" Danzinger told him.

Devon nodded in agreement. She couldn't believe it. The hospital was already erected and the Colony ship wouldn't be here for another three weeks. They were actually ahead of schedule. Of course they hadn't built any living quarters yet, they were all still sleeping in tents. That wouldn't take long to remedy though, luckily they had all the building materials they would need after finding one of their missing cargo pods (unlooted) on their arrival at New Pacifica.

She glanced around at the other members of the group - her friends. Once again they had all pulled together to get the job done, and that realization made her heart ache. These people who not long ago had been strangers and quick to argue, had fast become close friends. Friends that she would trust with her life, and on many occasions had.

As she looked from one person to the next, she noticed that one of their group was missing, and it didn't take much to realize who. Impossible as it sounded Julia Heller was a more chronic workaholic than Devon herself.

Devon turned to see Alonzo nearby talking to Danzinger. "Alonzo, do you know where Julia is?"

As the young pilot turned to face her, his smile vanished. He nodded his head somberly.

Impatiently she asked "Well, where is she?"

"Devon, take a wild guess" he answered with a slight edge to his tone, although he suspected his annoyance was directed at the person he was referring to rather than the one he was talking to.

"She's still in there" Danzinger asked incredulously. He had seen the doctor enter the hospital early that morning, and now that he thought about it he couldn't remember seeing her since.

"Alonzo, she's been working 10 hours straight."

He shrugged.

"Has she at least eaten?" Danzinger asked.

"I went in there earlier with a food plate, but she said she was busy, so I left the food on the table."

"You really have to talk to her about this" Devon told him.

"Don't you think I've tried. You know what's she like. She won't listen to anybody once she's set her mind on something."

"Yeah, well at this rate she'll burn herself out before the colony ship gets here. Then where will the syndrome kids be" Danzinger stated flatly.

His friend's words stung because Alonzo knew they were true. He also knew that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. *I could sure as hell try though* he thought. He looked Danzinger in the eye as if daring him to say another word, and then strode into the building he'd been admiring only minutes before.

After searching for several minutes, he finally found the doctor, or rather her legs sticking out of an open cupboard, which she seemed to have crawled into.

"Julia" Alonzo said to make her aware of his presence.

"Mmm" she replied, obviously distracted.

"JULIA!"

"What?!" she demanded impatiently.

"We need to talk"

"'Lonz I'm busy, can it wait till later?"

"You're always busy just lately" he muttered, but she either didn't hear him, or chose not to answer.

He was determined not to be brushed off so easily this time. He leaned over and grabbed her ankles.

"Alonzo, what are you doing!"

With one sharp tug on her legs, Alonzo pulled the doctor out of her hiding place.

"Let go of me Solace" Julia growled and kicked free from his grasp. She turned around to face him, and the broad grin on his face only infuriated her more.

"There, now I have your undivided attention" he told her and held out his hand.

Somewhat warily she took it and allowed herself to be pulled into a standing position. She stood before him her face flushed, hands on hips. "Well?"

"I was worried about you. You've been in here all day, hell all week even. Danzinger swore that they had to build around you!"

"I've got alot of stuff to do, alot of things to prepare for the children's arrival" she told him, her anger draining away as she saw the concern in his dark eyes.

"I know" he pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes "But they won't be here for three weeks. We're both here 'now' and I hardly see you any more".

"I'm sorry 'Lonzo, hey I miss you too ya know. I have alot to prepare for in those 'three weeks' though, because 250 sick children are going to arrive. Kids I'm going to have to devote my time to healing". She reached up and cupped his face with her hands, "And you, my love..." she kissed him gently, "are perfectly healthy".

He returned the kiss ten fold, but then suddenly pulled away clutching his chest. "Ohhhh!" he cried melodramatically, "Doc, I'm sick".

"Alonzo!" she admonished, swatting him on the arm, "that is not funny".

He pulled her to him and slowly began unbuttoning her shirt. "Come on Doc, I need healing" he breathed, grinning.



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"So I guess you'll be staying then" Uly said conversationally to his lunch partner.

It was a pleasant evening and the two youngest members of Eden Advance were taking a break from their allocated job. Clearing away the debris created while the hospital was being built, was a menial task, but the kids didn't mind. At least they were getting to help, and as True saw it, if they could do this one job as directed, maybe next time they'd get something more interesting to do.

True chewed on her Spirolena bar thoughtfully before answering. "I think so, dad hasn't mentioned anything about leaving" she paused to take another bite, and added with a small smile "I hope we stay, I really like it here".

Uly stood up and slapped the dust from his pant legs. "Well better get back to work, Mom said if we get this lot cleared away before supper we could go to the beach with her tomorrow".

"Really? Cool!" the young girl jumped up also, and stashed the rest of her snack in her shirt pocket. "I'll bet I can finish my pile before you can finish yours" True challenged as she ran off in the direction of the hospital.

Ever ready for a competition Uly shouted "Can not" as he ran after her.



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"Now what are they shouting about" John Danzinger grumbled as his daughter and Uly ran by.

"I think they're just excited about the Colony ship" Devon replied without looking up from her calculations.

"They're not the only ones."

Now she did look up, a beaming smile lighting her face. "I know, can you believe it? The ship will be here in under three weeks. Three weeks! Finally everything is going according to plan."

Once again Danzinger had to suppress the urge to hug the life out of her. They had decided, that even though they both obviously loved each other, they would put any kind of relationship on hold until the colony ship arrived and New Pacifica was properly established. But man, was it hard. Especially at moments like these, she looks so... *Stop it John, you agreed. Get a grip on yourself.*

She saw him staring at her and blushed, as if reading his thoughts. Fortunately her beeping Gear broke the uncomfortable silence, demanding her attention.

She swiveled the visual feed into place, and responded with a curt "Adair"

An agitated Baines appeared on screen "Devon, I think you and Danzinger had better get over here straight away."

"Why, what's the matter?"

"I think it would be quicker if you just came over. I'm in communications" he told her, and signed off before she had a chance to question him further.

As soon as Devon and John had arrived Baines ushered them over to his Communications console. "I'm receiving some kind of message" he told them without preamble.

"Surely you mean intercepted."

"No Devon, I mean received" he repeated, "the message was directed at us, we were meant to receive it".

"Is it from the Roanoke? Are they early?" Danzinger asked.

"No, its not them I checked, they're not even in our quadrant yet. I think..." he paused and distractedly pushed a hand through his close cropped hair, "... I think its a distress signal".



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Ten minutes later, at Devon's request the rest of Eden Advance had joined herself and John. Devon explained Baines' discovery to the others. She motioned to her left, drawing their attention to the Comm. Tech, who continued "Yeah, I think its some sort of emergency beacon. I started picking it up late last night, it was kinda garbled and kept breaking up so I just assumed it was sub-space garbage. It started again this morning though, and after running it through the computer, it seems its some kind of distress call, being transmitted intermittently in various codes and frequencies".

"So where's it coming from" Alonzo asked.

"If my readings are right, and I'm sure they are..."

"Spit it out Baines, the suspense is killing me" Danzinger muttered.

"Its coming from the surface of this planet, about 500 kilometers south to be exact"

"What! That's impossible" Morgan exclaimed.

"Is it Penal colonists?" Bess asked quietly.

"No, it can't be. Its definitely coming from a craft of some sort, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Penal colonists have such luxuries".

"Then we have to find out, who is sending it" Devon stated.

"Yeah, and should we help?" Walman added.

"Of course we should help" Julia shot back, surprised that he would even think otherwise.

"I think we should put it to a vote." Magus suggested. "Afterall the Colony ship is due to arrive soon, and we still have a lot of work to do."

"Agreed." Devon replied. "All in favour?"

Julia was the first to raise her hand. "As Alonzo keeps reminding me" she said smiling at the pilot, "the colony ship is a whole three weeks away, we have plenty of time. I think we should try to help whoever is sending the distress call, or at the very least find out 'why' they are sending it."

Alonzo nodded in agreement and raised his hand also. One by one the others did the same, Walman reluctantly following suit.

No tally of votes was necessary, the decision was unanimous.

"Right, its decided then" Devon concluded, "Its getting late though, if we all stop work for the day and have supper now, we can get to work on the message first thing tomorrow morning". There was an audible sigh of relief from the assembled group, all of them thankful for an early night's sleep.



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Supper was a quiet affair, the Advance crew sitting in twos and threes around small fires. Each member mulling over the days events, the excitement at finishing the hospital and then the strange message.

Directly after eating and cleaning away their utensils, the Martins said goodnight and made their way to their tent. As they changed for bed Morgan cheerfully chatted away. The only responses he received from his wife were occasional nods and small smiles.

As they climbed into bed and settled under the covers he asked "Bess, is there something wrong?"

"No Morgan I'm fine. I'm just tired is all."

He knew that wasn't it though, he decided to press the issue. "Are you worried about that message Baines picked up? Because Devon said we'll try and help if we can."

"No its not that," was the non-committal response.

"Then what? Come on honey you can tell me. What's wrong?"

She turned over under the covers to face him, her face serious "Morgan are we staying?" she asked him bluntly. "Because you've never mentioned it, and if you're thinking of leaving, then I think you should tell me."

"What?! Leaving, on the Colony ship you mean" he asked dumbfounded, he had never expected this line of questioning.

"Yes. You are, aren't you, I knew it" she snapped and turned back around.

He stared at the back of her head, still in a slight state of shock. He let out a nervous laugh, which caused his wife to turn around again sharply. "Bess, I have no intention of leaving, I like it here as much as you do."

Now she was the one to be surprised, "You do?" she queried.

"I do" he confirmed and kissed her on the tip of the nose. "We'd better get to sleep, I think its gonna be a long day tomorrow."

She nodded in agreement, but didn't settle back down, continuing to stare at him, the look on her face making him feel uncomfortable. Finally she smiled "I love you Morgan" she said as she rolled back over.



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Directly after breakfast, the group had re-assembled in the Communications tent, Yale was the first to speak.

"Might I suggest we try to decipher the messages we have already received."

"Yeah, if you give me a couple of hours I should be able to crack em" Baines told them, and started tapping away at the console he was balancing on his lap.

"OK, Baines you do that. Morgan, could you help him?" Devon asked.

"Sure, with the both of us on it, it shouldn't take long" he told her, Bess smiled proudly at him.

"Any other suggestions?" Devon asked the remaining members of the group.

"I could try to contact the Terrians, see if they know anything" Alonzo offered.

"Yes, that's worth a try" Devon replied as she stood, "Well I think that's all we can do for now. We will reconvene again after lunch".

The others left the room and as John was about to do the same, he noticed that Devon hadn't moved.

"What's the matter" he asked.

"I don't know, I have a bad feeling about all this." She looked up at him. "Who do you think it is?" she asked fear creeping into her voice.

He shrugged in response, "I have no idea, although I think we're gonna find out soon enough".



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Alonzo laid down on the cot and took a deep breath. Julia was standing in the doorway of their tent watching, and to be honest, she was making him nervous.

"Julia. Querida. Its all right, I'll be fine, I've done this hundreds of times"

"I know 'Lonz" she sighed, "but I always get this horrible feeling that you won't come back, that you'll be stuck in limbo - forever" her last word was a whisper and it made him shiver.

Ten minutes ago he hadn't minded entering the dream plane at all. Granted he hadn't been there as often as in his first couple of months on the planet, but he had occasionally 'visited'. Now though he was getting the creeps, which was just stupid.

"Julia I'll be fine" he assured her, putting an end to the conversation and hopefully his jitters. He closed his eyes, trying hard to relax. Julia tiptoed across to him, and sat down on the edge of their cot.

Alonzo felt Julia's hand slip into his and he gently squeezed it, appreciating her concern, although he was sure it was unwarranted. As he lay there he could feel reality drifting away. Suddenly he found himself standing in the middle of a steel cavern, twisted metal walls surrounded him. The air smelt damp and rusty. The room was immense, but was empty save for a large white container sitting in the middle. The thing that unnerved him most though, was that he was alone. "Hello, anyone here" he called, his voice echoing off of the flat walls. He bent down to examine the crate. It had a strange motif on the lid. He intently tried to read the writing, but the distortion of the dreamplane made this small task impossible.

Three Terrians erupted from the ground right in front of him, he reeled backwards with surprise. "Geez guys, I'm an old man. What you trying to do, kill me?" he gasped clutching his chest, his heart beating wildly beneath his palm.

"A great time has passed since last you dreamed"

Alonzo didn't know what to say. Were they angry that he hadn't dreamed with them recently? *Recently come on its been over two months,* he chided.

"I'm sorry, I..."

"Why have you come here Dream Walker?" the third Terrian asked.

"I. 'We', need your help. Do you know if there are others on this planet? Strangers, like us? Alonzo asked.

The Terrians regarded him quizzically, then the first one spoke once more. "You are not a stranger anymore. You are one with the mother, as are we" he said gesturing to his two companions.

Alonzo smiled, *nice sentiment* he thought *but that still doesn't answer my question*.

"Others, but unlike you. They do not dream".

The three took a step back from Alonzo and then disappeared back into the ground.

"Wait, don't go yet". It was too late, he awoke with a start.

Alonzo sat up abruptly almost knocking Julia off the cot. "What is it, what's the matter" she questioned, her face masked with concern.

He blinked at her, trying to clear his blurred vision. "What? Oh nothing" he wiped the sweat off his forehead with his shirt sleeve. Then explained to her what had transpired.



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"So, according to my calculations, the signal is coming from here" Morgan said as he pointed to an area on his digital map. Baines nodded in agreement.

The group had re-convened, and the members were updating each other on their findings. "Where exactly, is 'here!'" Danzinger asked as he leaned over the map to get a better look.

"As I said before, approximately 500 kilometers south of us" Baines informed the mechanic.

"Which means it would take at least a week to get there and a week to get back" Danzinger reasoned "That's cutting it fine. Don't forget about the Colony ship".

"I'm not forgetting anything John" Devon replied icily. "We don't even know if they need 'help'. Did you two manage to decipher the message" she asked Morgan and Baines.

"Yeah no sweat" Morgan beamed then realizing it was perhaps inappropriate masked his features into a professional frown. "After finding the correct frequency the message was pretty clear. They included their co-ordinates and details of a mechanical malfunction aboard their ship". He placed a device on the table top "Other than that its just static" he explained as he pushed one of its buttons.

The group listened to the noises the device spewed forth, their faces set, as they intently tried to make the message out. It was a basic distress signal, the kind all sub-space vessels used. The mechanical device situated in the cockpit would begin transmitting as soon as it detected an irreparable malfunction.

"Wait" Danzinger said to Morgan. "Replay it, I can hear something in the background".

During the second run-through, Julia, who's hearing was somewhat keener than Danzinger's could distinctly hear voices. "He's right, I can hear people talking".

"Morgan play it again but this time take out the message itself, so all we can hear is the background noise" Devon instructed.

Morgan managed to take out the message, although there was still alot of static in the transmission. An alarm was blaring, making it harder to hear, but two voices could be clearly heard.

"What the hell's happening?" the first voice demanded, raised to be heard over the alarm.

"Cargo pods won't release, they're dragging us down" the second voice answered.

Alonzo's eyes widened as he realized one of the voices was his. Although it had been over two years since he had said those words, he would never forget them, or the sheer terror and helplessness he had felt at the time.

Remembering the voice of her old friend, Devon gasped. "My god that was O'Neil, and you Alonzo." The pilot slowly nodded in return. "Which means", she continued "that this message must be from the Eden Advance ship"

"Before it crashed" Danzinger finished.

A eerie silence ensued as the group slowly digested this new information and listened to the rest of the recording.

"Ops crew disengage the damn cargo pods, dump it now" O'Neil shouted.

Another voice burst from the static. "Release mechanism is jammed."

"Then blow 'em off."

The reply was mostly obscured by static, "...its not working."

"Hey that's Danzinger" Baines whispered to no-one in particular.

John sat in stunned silence as did the rest of the group as they listened. Screams could be faintly heard and as the recording ended his memories took over, and he relived the most terrifying few minutes of his life.

The group sat in silence for several minutes after the recording had ended. Suddenly Devon thought of the one thing no-one else had yet considered. "Morgan, can we respond to the signal?"

Morgan reddened, obviously embarrassed that he hadn't thought of it himself. "I'm not sure. Um, we haven't tried" he replied.

"But if it is the Advance ship, then surely there wouldn't be any survivors" Danzinger stated. "I mean, it crashed for gods sake. The pods were all used, there weren't any other means to escape".

Although Danzinger hadn't directly implied anything, Morgan fidgeted nervously.

"I realize that John, but its worth a try. Morgan, could you try please".

"Yeah sure, if you give me a few minutes" he hurriedly got up from his chair and crossed over to a console.

The others watched as he went through the motions, sending messages in all the codes and frequencies he could think of. They then all sat back and waited. Finally after ten minutes of waiting in silence, Devon spoke "Well either they aren't capable of receiving or transmitting, or.." she added quietly," there's no-one there to receive them"

One thing was troubling Julia, she leaned over and whispered in Alonzo's ear. "I thought you said the Terrians told you there were others."

He shrugged, equally confused. "They did, I don't get it either".

"Do you two know something you're not telling us?" Devon asked in an accusatory tone.

"Um, I.. I'm not sure" Alonzo stuttered, taken aback. He proceeded to tell the group about his conversation with the Terrians on the Dream Plane.

"Perhaps that's what they meant" Bess offered quietly. "They won't dream, because they're dead."

"Bess!" her husband admonished, stunned by her bluntness.

"Could that be true Alonzo? Can the terrians distinguish between life and death?" Devon asked.

"I don't know" the pilot answered truthfully.

"If there is a chance, no matter how remote, that there are survivors, then we should go to the ship" Julia stated with a sense of urgency.

"Agreed" Devon replied, "but realistically I doubt that there are".

"The diggers must have their wires crossed" Walman added and gained a reproachful look from Alonzo.

"With that in mind and the fact that we have a lot of preparation to do here" Devon continued, ignoring Walman's comment, "I suggest that a small, two man search party goes to check out the signal".

The group nodded in agreement.

"Walman and I could go" Baines offered.

"No, I think that Julia and I should go" Alonzo told them.

Walman was about to argue, thinking that the pilot's suggestion was just a thinly concealed attempt to get some time alone with his girlfriend.

Devon answered before he had a chance to voice his concerns. "That's probably a better idea. If there is anyone there, they might need medical attention." Although she honestly believed it would be a futile exercise, nobody would be there. *All the travelling, will give Julia a break though* she thought. "Ok then. Alonzo, you and Julia should set off first thing tomorrow morning".



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"Sir, we've received a response to the message. It's from the Advance crew".

He turned around to face the young man, who he assumed, was waiting for some kind of praise. He removed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow. *At last, finally they've connected to the comm. dish at New Pacifica*.

The young man still remained. He decided to put him out of his misery. "Very good Hudson, keep me apprised of the situation".

"Yes sir" he replied before leaving.

"So Mitchell, do you think they'll come?" The man to his left asked, lowering the jumpers he had been looking through.

"Oh definitely. Adair wouldn't miss the opportunity to shine her halo" Mitchell replied maliciously.

"What!?"

"Yes they'll come" he repeated. *Idiots, I'm stuck here with idiots*.

"And if she doesn't?"

"Well then we'll have to resort to Plan B, won't we?".



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The whole of the Eden Advance group gathered around as Alonzo and Julia loaded their supplies into the Dunerail. As Danzinger had said, it would take the pair approximately a week to reach the ship. Fortunately the terrain would be relatively flat for much of the journey, so they were expecting an easy trip.

"Right, that's the last of them" Alonzo said as he threw a bundle into the back of the vehicle.

Bess stepped forward and gave them both an impromptu hug. "Take care y'all" she told them, before retreating back to her husbands side.

"Don't worry, we will" Julia assured her, as she and Alonzo climbed into the 'rail.

"You've both got your Gear?"

"Yes Devon" Alonzo replied with a smile, as he retrieved said article from his jacket pocket and put it on.

"Well, then I guess we'll see you both in about two weeks" Danzinger said.

The pilot nodded affirmatively and started the engine. "See ya later!" he shouted as the vehicle pulled away.

A chorus of 'Good-byes' and 'Take cares' followed the retreating 'rail until it could no longer be seen.

As everyone else left to continue with their tasks, Devon quietly slipped away to her tent. Danzinger noticing her sudden departure followed, and found her sitting on her cot, head in hands. He sat down beside her and draped an arm around her shoulder.

His sudden presence startled her and she jumped up in surprise, "Danzinger!. What are you doing in here? What's wrong?"

He pulled her back down against him, enjoying her closeness. "I was about to ask you the same question".

She looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

He turned her around to face him, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, what's the matter" he asked, brows furrowed in concern.

"Oh John" she sobbed the tears spilling onto her cheeks. "I'd never really considered it before. Well yes, I did when we first crashed here, but not since".

"Considered what?" he asked confused by her outburst.

"The crew on the Advance ship. Not everyone could have escaped. I can't even be sure of how many died up there". Her shoulders shook with each sob.

Danzinger pulled her against his chest, into a kind of one-armed hug. It hurt him deeply to see her like this. She tried so hard to be strong all the time, but once in a while it all came crashing down on her. Her well fortified walls would collapse. "Devon. Baby, there was nothing you could do. It wasn't your fault, the shanking Council caused it all". He could feel her hot tears seeping into the material of his shirt. "Shhh" he soothed, and as her crying abated he used his other hand to lift her chin up. "You were not responsible, and you should never think otherwise. Do you think we would have made it this far, if it wasn't for you? Do you think the 250 syndrome kids on their way here, would have a chance of any kind of life, if it wasn't for you?" he asked, staring deep into her eyes.

She looked at him as he gently wiped the tears from her face and smiled. "John, I love you so very much" she wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck.

"Yeah, well the feeling's mutual lady" he replied affectionately. Danzinger pulled away from her embrace and kissed her tenderly. "Come-on, as much as I don't want to move right now, we have work to do".

Devon pulled him back to her, "Lets just stay here for a little while longer, kay?"

"Hey, your the boss" he said smiling broadly into her soft hair.

Their third day of travelling was as uneventful as the first two, and as night approached, Alonzo finally stopped the Dunerail at the edge of a small patch of trees. They were both glad for the rest and as Alonzo started a small fire, Julia spoke to the camp at New Pacifica.

"...so everything is alright then", Bess continued.

"Yeah Bess, everything is fine, a bit boring actually".

"I'm sure Alonzo would be flattered that your bored in his company" the young woman joked.

"Oops, I didn't mean it that way. I just... Oh you know."

"Yeah I know what you mean" she chuckled, "Base out." Mrs Martin vanished from view as the connection was terminated.

Still grinning Julia dragged the tent out of the back seat of the vehicle.

Seeing the enormous smile on the Doctor's face piqued Alonzo's curiosity. "Hey, what's so funny?" he asked, smiling also - it was infectious.

"Oh nothing. I just talked to Bess, everything is alright at camp."

He nodded, not really seeing why that was so funny. "Its a nice night, why don't we not bother with the tent" the pilot suggested when he noted the equipment she had removed.

"No tent?"

"Yeah, we could sleep under the stars."

"You're an old romantic at heart, aren't ya fly-boy" Julia teased as she let go of the tent, and dropped down on the ground beside him.

"You'd better believe it" he grinned and placed another piece of wood on the fire.

Hugging her knees, she stared into the glowing flames. "Do you think there will be anyone there, at the ship I mean?"

He glanced at her, surprised by the sudden change of topic. "I doubt it, although there might be some equipment we could salvage."

She remained silent for a while. Her normally tanned face looking abnormally pale under the light cast by the dual moons. Alonzo had seen the haunted look she wore before, back when Devon and Yale had interrogated her about working for the Council. Julia could sense him staring at her and abruptly stood, eager to change the subject. "Well, we'd better start on supper."



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"I just spoke to Julia, they're both fine." Bess announced as she entered the tent she shared with her husband.

Bess' sudden arrival obviously caught Morgan by surprise. He hurriedly swept a stack of papers off his desk and shoved them under a pile of clothes on the floor. Smoothing back his hair, trying to regain some composure, he smiled. "Good, good. That's good" he replied, even though he wasn't exactly sure what his wife had said.

"She said they're making good time. Alonzo thinks they'll make it to the ship in the next day or so."

*Ah, Alonzo and Julia* he realized picking up the thread of the conversation. "That's great."

"Yeah" she agreed. "So what are you working on?"

"What?" he asked innocently, raising his eyebrows.

"The papers you just 'hid', what were they?" Bess asked suspiciously.

Morgan stood stock still for a while, contemplating his answer, finally he reached a decision. "Ok Bess. It was going to be a surprise, but I guess I need your input." He reached back under the clothes to retrieve the papers, and gave them to her.

She turned them around in her hands, unable to decide which way was up. They were drawings of some kind, her husbands neat handwriting, providing descriptions here and there, but other than that she had no idea what she was looking at. "Ok, I give. What are they?"

Standing directly behind her, he pointed over her shoulder at the page. "That" he told her, "is 'our' house."

She turned to face him, his huge smile added to her confusion. "Our house?"

"Yep" he beamed, "I figured that we couldn't very well live in a tent for ever. I think its about time we started building our own house."

As his words sunk in, she matched his smile with one of her own. "Oh honey, that's wonderful" she gasped, her mind reeling with different kinds of bathroom tile, and what colour to paint the hallway.



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"I can't wait until the Colony ship gets here" Alonzo sighed as he put down his supper plate.

"Why?" Julia asked him, unsuccessfully trying to keep her tone even.

"Because then I'll finally be able to have some decent food" he replied, and then turned to eye her curiously. "Why, what did you think I meant?."

"Nothing" she replied, avoiding his gaze.

He shifted position so that he could look at her. "Yes you did. You thought I meant because I wanted to leave on it, didn't you?"

"No!" she laughed nervously.

"You did!" his eyes widened incredulously. "Julia, I thought we were clear on this. I am not leaving."

"Did I say anything?" she asked him.

"No, but you thought it."

"Ok, I admit it. The thought did cross my mind."

He reached across and took her hands in his. "How many times do we have to go over this? Doc, I love you."

Julia smiled, the glowing fire reflected in her blue eyes. "I love you too."

"I am never going to leave you."

"Never is a long time, 'Lonz" she whispered as she lay back on the ground, pillowing her head on one arm.

Silence ensued, the only sound coming from the wood crackling on the fire. Alonzo lay back also, staring up at the night sky. He began to count the stars, just as he had when he was a child. As he did so he realized that for once in his life, he didn't want to be up there, flying among them. It wasn't so bad being grounded, he kinda liked it. *Some things more than others* he thought as he looked over at Julia lying beside him. *Do it now* and he did, although the words that came out were slightly different from the ones he'd intended. "Did you ever think you'd get married?"

The seconds passed without an answer, and Alonzo began to think she hadn't heard him. As he opened his mouth to repeat the question, Julia finally answered.

"When I was a little girl, yes, but not since" she said quietly, without looking at him. "As I grew older, the Council began to 'work their magic'. It was made painfully clear to me, that the only institution I would ever need to enter in to, was that of the Council. According to them, marriage was an outdated notion, one that could offer no personal gain" the Doctor added bitterly.

Alonzo sighed, hating to think of what it must have been like for her growing up. He pushed the thoughts from his mind, not wanting to get sidetracked. "I never did. Think about marriage, I mean. All I ever wanted was to be a pilot. I honesty believed that was all I would ever need, I didn't need commitment, I didn't need to be tied down" he paused, Julia remained silent. "Until now" he added clearly, but still gained no reaction from the woman lying next to him. *Ok, its now or never. For gods sake say it right this time!* he took a deep breath and sat up. "Julia, will you marry me?"

This time there was no pause before she answered. "What?!" she asked dumbfounded.

He caught her hand and pulled her into a sitting position so that he could look her directly in the eyes. "Dr Julia Heller, will you marry me?"

"That's what I thought you said" she laughed nervously. Julia stared at him unsure of what to say.

The look on her face made Alonzo nervous. *What if she says no?*. He had considered the possibility of course, but had decided that he had to know, either way. If she said no, then he would leave with Sheila on the Colony ship. The idea of seeing Julia with anybody else would be too much for this pilot to bare.

His fears were unfounded though, the young Doctor had no intention of saying no. She was just in a mild state of shock. *Marriage? Me?* She had lied to Alonzo. Since coming to this planet, she 'had' thought of getting married. The handsome pilot, funnily enough, was her groom-to-be in every fantasy, and as their relationship had progressed the thoughts had become more frequent. The annoying thing. Was that the momentous occasion had arrived, he had asked, and she was sitting here staring at him like an idiot. *Pull yourself together Heller*.

"So" Alonzo asked sheepishly, "what do you think?."

Before she could stop it, the doctor in her took over. Her response dripping in practicality, "I'm not sure 'Lonz. Let me think about it, 'kay." He nodded, but she could plainly see the hurt in his dark eyes. Julia stood and crossed over to the 'rail. *Great, way to go Doc* she chided, pushing a hand roughly through her hair in frustration. Turning to look at Alonzo she noticed that he hadn't moved, after a minute she quietly walked back over to him. He stood up as she approached.

"I'm sorry" he said quietly, avoiding eye contact. "Your right its too soon, I shouldn't have asked"

"NO!" Julia blurted out. He looked at her, startled by the outburst.

"What? I don't understand."

"No, its not too soon, and yes, I will marry you" she smiled, thankful that this time her words came out right.

"You will?" he asked still somewhat confused.

"Yes, definitely. I didn't mean what I said earlier, you just surprised me."

"Thank god, for a moment there..." he stopped, and threw his arms around her. Gracing the Doctor with the biggest hug she would ever receive in her life.

At approximately 8.00pm (Station Time) Alonzo and Julia found the Advance Ship, or rather the remains of it. The mangled remnants of the main hull was imbedded into the sandy ground, with other bits scattered around the surrounding area.

"Wow!" Alonzo gasped, "what a mess."

Julia slowly picked her way through the fractured ship. Convincing herself with every step, that there were no humans among the wreckage, dead or otherwise.

."..must have broken up as it entered the planet's atmosphere"

The pilot's words went straight over her head, as she resolutely continued her search. Miraculously, part of the ship was still intact, including the Cold Sleep Chamber. The doctor was somewhat relieved that no bodies were in there either. It was in this area though that she found the communications device.

"'Lonz, come take a look at this" Julia shouted, interrupting his awestruck monologue. As Alonzo made his way over to her, Julia carefully picked up the box shaped object, turning it over in her hands.

"What?" he asked and then caught a glimpse of the object she was tentatively holding. "Where'd ya find that?"

"It was over there." The doctor pointed to a corner of the vast chamber.

"Strange. This should be in the cockpit, attached to the main control panel." He took the box from her and ran his fingers over the edges, they were rough, covered in tiny scratches. *Looks like its been ripped out of the panel* the pilot thought.

"What is it?" Julia peered over his shoulder, as he examined the device close up.

"It's a kind of black box" he explained. "It sits in the cockpit and records every detail that happens aboard the ship, every maneuver. This is most likely what was sending the distress signal we received." To confirm his theory, Alonzo punched a command into the device's keypad. Sure enough, the message they had listened to days ago began a repeat performance.

"So what's it doing in the Cold Sleep Chamber?"

Not wishing to hear the message again, Alonzo punched in another command and it suddenly ceased. "I have no idea." Either its strange location, or its message was making him feel very uneasy.

"Maybe a Grendler dropped it during a shopping spree" the doctor surmised with a smile.

Alonzo shook his head. "No, it looks like it was deliberately placed there." For no apparent reason his heart began to beat wildly, adding to his nervousness.

Julia gave him a strange look. "Alonzo there is no-one here to place 'anything'. The ship's deserted" she swept here arms in a wide arc to demonstrate. "Even if there were any survivors, which unfortunately I sincerely doubt, after seeing the extent of the damage - they are long gone."

He could feel beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead, an overwhelming claustrophobia blanketing him.

Julia stared with wide eyes as the pilot suddenly paled, his face covered in a sheen of perspiration. "'Lonz, what wrong?."

"I don't know. I... I have to get out of here" he gasped and stumbled out of the wreckage. He collapsed onto the ground about ten feet away from the ship.

Julia blindly followed. Upon reaching him, she knelt down and placed a hand to his sweatsoaked forehead. "What? What's the matter?" she asked, her brows raised in concern as well as confusion.

Alonzo sighed, realizing how stupid he must have looked. *Like a spooked rabbit* he thought disgustedly. He smiled sheepishly, "I just had this really weird feeling in there. I don't know, like someone was watching us."

"Who?"

He sighed again, *your digging yourself deeper man, sounding like somekind of paranoid idiot*. "Look lets just drop it, okay?" he asked and gently removed her hand from his forehead. "Anyway, I feel better now."

The doctor studied his features, rationalizing that perhaps he found being in the ship that he couldn't prevent from crashing a bit disconcerting. "Well alright, if you're sure?" When he nodded the affirmative she smiled and stood up. "Ok. I'm going to go back and search around a little more."

Alonzo returned the smile and reassuringly squeezed the hand he still held. "If its alright with you, I think I'll stay out here. We really should contact Base Camp."

"Yeah, you do that. I'll be back in a while."

The Pilot watched as Julia made her way back to ship, after she'd disappeared from view, he removed his Gear from his pocket and attempted to contact the camp. The operative word being 'attempted'. No matter how much he fiddled with the Gear he couldn't seem to make contact. No audio link, no visual - nothing. Just white, fuzzy, static. He gave up after five minutes, resigned to the fact that the advance ship must be interfering with the connection in some way.

For the next ten minutes he entertained himself, by drawing lazy patterns in the sand with his finger. He had to admit that after twenty minutes of waiting for Julia's return though, he was well and truly bored. So when he heard the doctor excitedly calling for him, he wasn't as hesitant to return to the ship.



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The two men stood on the bluff and watched as a vehicle made its way to the derelict ship.

"Can you see who it is yet?"

"No, can't see any faces at all its too dark. All I know is what the Thermal is telling me - that there are two people. One's alot smaller than the other, could be a woman."

They continued to watch as the newcomers climbed out and entered the craft. Minutes passed in silence, as the men scanned the lower ground, searching for a clue of some kind.

"What do you think they're doing in there?"

"If I knew that Thompson, I wouldn't be straining my eyes trying to find out, would I" Mitchell snapped, not taking his eyes away from the ship. The jumpers in his hands were set at maximum magnification, but he still couldn't see a damn thing.

"Well then, we'll just have to go down there" Thompson turned around, and addressed the small group standing behind them. "Hudson, Drake, Weirzbowski, Crowe. Kit up, were going down to the ship."

As the four men trotted off, complying with Thompson's instruction, Mitchell turned on him. "Excuse me, but who put you in charge?" he demanded, clenching his fists angrily.

"Don't be an idiot David. We aren't getting anything accomplished by sitting up here on our tails. Our best bet is to go to the ship - to them" the older man calmly replied, ignoring Mitchell's murderous gaze.

Five minutes later, the group silently made their way down to the remains of the Eden Advance ship.



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Alonzo stared at the large white container that Julia had found, with a strange feeling of deja vu. *I've seen this somewhere before* he absently ran his hand across the motif etched into the lid. *In my dream, I saw it in my dream - but why? Were the terrians trying to tell me something, and if so what?*.

"It's not Eden Project" the pilot stated. "I don't recognize that logo, do you?"

The doctor slowly shook her head, as she rooted through the contents. Most of the items in the container were clothing, she pulled one out and held it up. It was a khaki shirt, very basic in design. There was a patch on the left breast pocket, the motif the same as on the crate.

"54th Reconnaissance" Julia told him, reading out the writing at the bottom of the patch. Wide-eyed, and with shaking hands, she grabbed his arm, and urgently pulled him to his feet. "Oh god Alonzo, we have to get out of here. NOW!"

He stared at her confusion, but allowed himself to be pulled up all the same. "Why, what's wrong?"

"That's what's wrong" she pointed to the crate. "It belongs to the Council. The '54th are Council operatives, and by the looks of it they're very closeby."

"Shank!" Alonzo swore as he roughly shoved the shirt back into the container. He turned to face Julia and took a deep breath. "Right. OK, they don't necessarily know that we're here." Agitated, he pushed a hand through his tousled hair.

"Of course they do" she replied, trying to keep her cool. "Obviously it was a setup, and we fell for it."

"Very perceptive Dr. Heller, and fortunate for us that you did."

The six members of the 54th Recon. had made a very silent approach. Neither Alonzo or Julia had heard them coming up behind. Only with Mitchell's comment and the ominous whirring of activating mag-pros, did they become aware of their presence.

The pilot instinctively stepped infront of the doctor shielding her. Julia pushed him to one side and scanned the group infront, halting when she saw a familiar but very unwelcome face. "Mitchell" she stated flatly.

"Hello Julia" he acknowledged. "Long time no see!"

Alonzo shot Julia a quick glance only to surprise a look of pure contempt on the young doctor's face.

Thompson turned to Mitchell. "Do you two know each other?"

"Oh yeah. We go way back, don't we Doc?" Julia positively itched to wipe the knowing leer off Mitchell's face.

Julia doubted that she would ever forget him. He hadn't changed much, the dull brown hair slightly longer than the military crop. His well defined muscles pushing against the sweat dampened shirt. Mitchell would have been described as a handsome man, if not for the large disfiguring scare that ran down the left side of his cheek. The doctor held his steely gaze defiantly.

"We've not got time for this" Thompson intervened. "We've only got a couple of hours to clear out. Hudson, Crowe, cuff them. Oh and by the way" he added turning his attention back to the couple. "I'm afraid your gear is out of action for the time being. We've been jamming the signal since you reached the ship."

Hudson and Crowe stepped forward, searching them for weapons before they cuffed them both. Julia and Alonzo were then shoved towards the entrance and out into the night.



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As always comments welcome (I'm an e'mail junky!) Laura

BTW. What's my favourite film of all time?

In this chapter there is a clue (actually four clues) to its identity, first one to guess correctly will have the next chapter dedicated to them.

"Any word yet?" Devon asked, for what seemed like the tenth time that night.

Once again, Bess wordlessly shook her head.

"Where the hell are they?" she snapped, venting her mounting concern on the nearest person.

"Devon, I've kept the channel open, like you said. I also tried contacting Alonzo, but all I got was static."

"They should have called in by now..."

"Yes Devon I realize that, but there's not alot I can do" Bess interrupted, sick of being at the receiving end of Devon's frustration. "As soon as they call in, I'll let you know."

"Good, you do that" Devon replied icily, before storming out of the tent, and straight into Danzinger.

The mechanic put out a hand to steady her. "Where's the fire Adair?" Her frown cut his humour short. "What's up?" he asked on a more serious note.

She sighed and massaged her temples. "We still haven't made contact with Alonzo and Julia yet. I'm starting to get worried, it's not like either of them to leave it so long" she paused, trying to sort out exactly what it was that was bothering her. "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling about this."

"Well I could check it out if you like. We're pretty much set up here anyway."

Devon thought his suggestion through before answering. "OK, but you can't go on your own. You'd better take Yale with you." She visibly relaxed, glad that action was being taken. Danzinger was rewarded with a grateful smile. "I appreciate it" she said softly and went to move past him.

Danzinger caught her by the arm, surprised by how much her appreciation meant to him. He glanced surreptitiously around the camp ensuring their privacy. "No problem" he answered, before leaning in for a kiss catching her unaware.

Devon abruptly pulled away as his lips brushed hers. "There is a time and a place for everything, and this is neither the time nor the place." Seeing the wounded look on the mechanic's face, Devon immediately regretted her harsh words. "I'm sorry. I've got alot on my mind." She placed a cursory kiss on his cheek, before quickly retreating to her tent.



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As the Council members worked, preparing to leave camp, Alonzo and Julia sat on the ground shackled together outside the Advance ship.

"So what was all that about?" Alonzo asked as soon as the others were out of earshot.

"All 'what'?" The doctor knew exactly what he was talking about, but preferred to dodge the subject.

"That Mitchell guy, how do you know him?"

She leaned forward, resting her head on her knees. "Its a long story 'Lonz."

"Yeah, well I'm not going anywhere." He held up his hands, their connecting restraints, pulling hers up also.

"I'd rather not go into it right now."

"Well I'd rather you did" he insisted. "He has obviously got something against you, and I want to know why."

The doctor sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to give up until he'd heard the whole sordid story. "Alright, but you're not gonna like it."

"I kinda figured that already." He waited expectantly for her to begin.

Julia took a deep breath, sorting out exactly what she was going to say in her head, before she began. "We met when I was still in medical school. For a term I worked with Physicians at the nearby Miltary Academy, where at the time I assume Mitchell was completing his training. Anyway, one evening I went down to the local bar with some colleagues. Ordinarily I wouldn't have gone, but it was Susan Lewis' birthday, so..." she paused mid-sentence, her voice considerably quieter when she resumed. "Mitchell was there also, with a bunch of his friends, they were extremely drunk. They... They kept coming up to us, offering drinks, asking us to dance, you know? We all politely refused and eventually they took the hint, all except Mitchell. He wouldn't leave me alone. As it got later, he got drunker and his offers got more 'suggestive'. After a while I began to get nervous, it went beyond a joke, so I left.

Alonzo looked over and saw that Julia had her eyes closed as she retold the story, her face had paled significantly. He reached over and took her hand, she flinched at his touch. "Hey, are you alright?"

She grasped his hand tightly in hers. Her reply was barely a whisper. "I'm fine I guess, its just that I haven't thought about Mitchell for so long. Seeing him and talking about what happened, it's, I don't know... Weird."

"Well it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

Julia looked at him and smiled sadly. "Thats not all of it, I haven't finished yet."

"Oh" the pilot replied. He took a deep breath in preparation for the rest of her story. His heartbeat quickening as he realised that he didn't really want to know that much anymore.

"The day after the incident at the bar, I was alone in one of the exam. rooms in the Medical wing logging my weekly report. There was a knock at the door, and someone called out saying that they were scheduled for a full med. scan. I didn't know anything about it, and thought that my mentor must have set it up for me for extra credit. Anyway, I opened the door and it was Mitchell. He acted real normal, like we'd never met before. For all I knew, he had no recollection of what happened the previous night. I tried to stay calm and professional, so I asked him to strip down for his examination. After he'd gotten un-dressed, it was painfully clear that he knew exactly what had happened. He started acting strange, telling me that I'd embarrassed him in front of his friends, and that I thought I was too good for him. I started to get a little scared and asked him to leave, which was when he locked the door. He began to make lewd suggestions, I mean, they were really sick. But I couldn't get away, he kept blocking the doorway. He.. He tried to..." her voice cracked. She focused on her shoes, willing herself not to cry.

Alonzo stared ahead. He spoke quietly, almost afraid to break to silence. "He tried to force you to..." he didn't want to say it, couldn't say it. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Julia nod her head.

The pilot reached across and pulled Julia into his arms. She pressed her face into his chest as the tears streamed down her face. Although he didn't really want to hear the answer, Alonzo had to ask the next question. "He didn't did he?"

"No" the words were muffled by the pilot's shirt. "I knocked him out."

"You hit him?!"

"No, I knocked him out with a sedi-derm, I had one in my lab-coat pocket. He was out in seconds and it was a really high dosage." Julia drew away from his embrace to continue, staring intently into the pilot's eyes. "As soon as he was unconscious, I dragged him out to the corridor and into one of the lecture rooms - then left him there."

"Naked?"

This earned him a sheepish smile. "He still had his underwear on."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, the next class got a shock. But unfortunately they saw me dragging him in there, on the surveillance camera. My superiors demanded to know why I did it, so I told them. I found out later that Mitchell was reprimanded and put on probation. Apparantly he missed out on the Sergeant's exam."

"What, and he blames you?"

"I guess so."

Alonzo pulled her back into his arms, resting his chin on the top of her head. Not sure of what to say. He realized that getting upset, would only make matters worse. He hugged her to him tightly, "I love you so much" he whispered. Julia sighed and settled herself into his embrace. They both sat in silence entwined in each others arms until sheer exaustion claimed them.



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It was still dark when the couple awoke. Mitchell gained considerable pleasure by providing the pilot with his wake up call. Alonzo yelped as Mitchell roughly kicked him in the ribs.

"Right, you two get up." Mitchell grabbed Julia's upper arm and pulled her up.

After separating the couple's cuffs, he continued to hold Julia's arm. She shrugged out of his grasp. "Get your hands off me."

"What's the matter Doc? Don't like me touching you?" He moved in close and put a hand on either side of her waist. Julia took a numbers of steps back, trying to get out of his reach. Unfortunately she had to halt as she came in contact with the hull of the Advance ship.

Alonzo tried to intervene, but Hudson and Crowe flanked him on either side, holding him back. He had to make do with shouting. "Get the hell away from her Mitchell!"

Mitchell ignored the pilot and stepped forward, once more closing the space between himself and the young doctor. He reached out and slowly ran his hand down her bare arm.

Gaining leverage from the solid wall she had backed into, Julia roughly shoved him away from her. "Back off, you son of a bitch!"

Mitchell stumbled but quickly regained his balance. "Feisty little thing, isn't she?" he casually remarked to Alonzo, as the pilot continued the futile struggle to free himself. "Just how I like 'em" the soldier added with a smile. In two long strides he resumed his position in front of Julia. He was uncomfortably close. Julia pressed herself against the ship, trying to create more space between them. Mitchell noticed her efforts and leaned closer still. Her impassive gaze annoyed him though, he wanted to see fear in her icy blue eyes, he wanted to see her sweat. He reached down and forcefully tilting her face up. She tried to shake her head free, but he held her tightly. Ever so slowly he lowered his head, and then at the last second when she still showed no sign of fear - or anything else, he roughly jammed his lips against hers.

Julia was sure she was going to be sick. Mitchell's tongue was trying to work its way into her mouth. The doctor tried to clear her head of the overwhelming revulsion flowing through her, she needed to think - quick. Using all of the strength she could summon up, Julia opened her mouth slightly and then bit down on Mitchell's bottom lip as hard as she could.

Mitchell howled in pain and stumbled backwards. The distance between them, allowing Julia the perfect opportunity to knee him squarely in the groin. Blood dripped from his mouth, as Mitchell rolled around on the floor clutching himself. A few minutes passed as everyone looked on in apprehension. Mitchell glared up at Julia. "Your gonna pay for that, bitch" he slurred, spitting blood with each word. Slowly he drew himself up onto his knees, and then somewhat tentatively stood.

Alonzo tensed, watching fearfully as Mitchell advanced on Julia. The pilot tried to pull his arms free from the two that were holding him and this time their grip was not quite so tight. Both of them too busy watching Mitchell to pay any attention to him.

"Oh yeah, your gonna pay big time." Mitchell grinned, the blood dripping from his chin, added to his maniacal air. In one fluid movement he brought his right hand up across his chest, and using all of his considerable strength he back-handed her across the face. The force of the blow, sent Julia reeling backwards, the back of her head smashing against the metal hull of the Advance ship.

The pilot stared in horror as Julia slowly slumped to the ground, her head lolling sickeningly to one side. His heart screamed in pain and anger. Alonzo wrenched his arms free from his captors grasp and launched himself at Mitchell. "YOU BASTARD!" The attack caught Mitchell unaware, and Alonzo managed to get in one clear punch, before Mitchell could defend himself. Once again, the soldier's face crumpled in pain, as his nose broke. He glared at Alonzo through a watery haze, his vision impaired by pain induced tears. Alonzo drew back to fend off the advancing Crowe and Hudson, as Mitchell wrapped a hand around the pistol tucked into the waist band of his pants. His strength heightened by the pure adreneline coursing through his vains, the pilot made quick work of the other two men, bearing down once more on Mitchell. He managed to side swipe the other man before the shot rang out. Alonzo paused in his attack, uncertain as to who had shot who. The victorious sneer on Mitchell's face though, said it all. Almost afraid to look, Alonzo slowly glanced down. Simultaneously seeing the smoking weapon in Mitchell's hand, and the bright red blood seeping from his own body. He collapsed on to the floor without a sound. White hot pain eating away at his stomach.

Julia was desperately trying to keep a grip on reality, but it was getting increasingly harder. She could feel herself slowly ebbing into unconsciousness. The gunshot, jolted her back once more, although the doctor didn't open her eyes. She didn't want to see. The most unpleasant feeling she had ever experienced, told her that it was Alonzo that had been shot. Julia forced herself to look, her vision flashing in and out of focus. The last thing that Julia saw before the blackness enveloped her, was the only man she had ever loved, lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

Thompson walked from the unconscious doctor to the unconscious pilot and then back again. A mystified look plastered on his face. He looked up at the sky, perhaps awaiting an explanation from the heavens. Finally Thompson turned his attention to the one place he was almost certain the problems lay.

Mitchell fidgeted under the other man's scrutiny, absently rubbing his smashed nose.

"Well? Are you going to tell me what the hell happened here?" Thompson demanded with an exasperated sigh.

"They... They tried to escape," was the first answer that popped into his head. He looked to the other members of his squad for support. "Weren't they?" The four avoided his gaze, and his question. Preferring not to get involved, in this particular butting of heads.

"Bull! That is a heap of crap, and we both know it." Thompson squared up to the younger man. Calm green eyes daring him to argue. "Now, what I 'want' to know, is how are 'you' going to deal with it?"

"Wha.. What?" Mitchell's bravado had all but vanished. "Deal with what?"

"Deal with them" he spat, motioning to the unmoving pair. "He is no use to us anymore, thanks to you. If he's not dead already, he soon will be." He walked over to Julia and lifted her head up, the doctor quietly moaned in protest. "And how in god's name are we supposed to take Heller to the Council looking like this. Just look at her face." He turned her head so that Mitchell could get a good look. Her left eye was swollen shut and there was an ugly gash on her cheekbone where the ring on his hand had caught her. "From the looks of it she'll probably have a severe concussion as well."

"They'll probably thank me." He sneered, regaining his composure. "He was nothing more than a cocky sleep-jumper, and she's a traitor to the Council."

"That may well be. But it is not for us to pass judgment and enact a penalty. We were just supposed to take them all back - alive."

Mitchell shrugged, absolving himself from all responsibility. "So are we gonna stand here yapping all night, or what?" He looked at his watch and then up into the night sky. "We have to be through that window by 0200 hours."



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Alonzo Solace was dying. As he lapsed in and out of consciousness, un-connected events from his past began to storm his mind, taking him from childhood to manhood in a matter of seconds.



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Dr Heller, wasn't sure if she was dying or not, but it sure felt like it. Her whole head felt as if it was going to implode at any second. She felt nauseous and the strange jarring movements she was experiencing weren't helping her condition either. Slowly and using a fair amount of energy to do it, Julia opened her eyes (actually, just one eye. The other refused to budge). The world greeted her from a very strange angle - upside down to be exact. In her current state it took her a few seconds to realize that she was being carried over someone's shoulder. The ground loomed in and out with every step, Julia's stomach going with it. The doctor desperately tried to quell the overwhelming queasiness, but it was no use. The next step taken caused Julia to ungraciously vomit all over the carrier's back.

With no regard for her, Weirzbowski promptly dropped his human load. He craned his neck, to see what damage had been done to the back of his shirt. Wrinkling his nose in distaste and without touching any of the offending mess, the Private shrugged out of the shirt and held it at arms length. "Wait up" he called to the others ahead of him. "I gotta change, she puked on me."

Thompson whipped around in response to Weirzbowski's complaint. "Oh for god's sake! Will you just carry her back to camp, you can change when you get there" the senior officer snapped. Sick of the constant interruptions.

"Yessir" Weirzbowski answered resignedly. Julia was now fully awake and was not of the mind for going anywhere, she shied away from the soldier's outstretched arms. "Lieutenant Thompson" the Private called quietly.

"WHAT?!" Thompson turned again to face his sub-ordinate, face red with anger. As the Private nodded his head towards the ground, Thompson's attention was drawn to the doctor. His features softened as he addressed Julia, attempting to provide a friendly face. "Dr. Heller, is there a problem?"

Julia began to scoot herself across the ground, kicking up dust. As the others surrounded her, she stopped. Looking from face to face, she finally rested on Thompson's. "Where are you going?"

Mitchell was the one to answer, carefully selecting his words. "We're getting off this stinking planet, and 'you' are coming with us."

"NO! I'm not going anywhere." Resuming her frantic attempt to escape, Julia tried to stand up, and Mitchell didn't even try to hold back the contemptuous laugh, as the spinning in her head caused her to fall back down. The doctor pulled herself into a defensive crouch.

"I'm afraid you don't have much choice in the matter." Mitchell nodded his head, and a person unseen to the doctor stepped up behind her. Julia felt the cold metal press against her neck, and as the sedative entered her system, she blacked out once more.



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Alonzo luxuriously stretched himself out on the sandy beach, the sun beating down on his bare chest. The steady rhythm of the waves slapping against the shore lulling the pilot into a light doze. He heard soft footfall approaching him, and then a shadow fell over his torso, blocking out the comforting rays. Sleepily he opened his eyes.

Julia looked down at him, as she held back her wind-blown hair with one hand. "Come-on flyboy, lets go for a swim."

He smiled up at the mischievous grin that played upon the young doctor's face, and took the proffered hand. It was with a great deal of disappointment, that Alonzo realized that there was something not quite right with this scenario - the colours were too bright, the sounds too clear. The hand he held, was definitely not right. Instead of being warm and soft, as Julia's should have been. It was cool and dry, almost leathery. As Alonzo looked up one more, the scenery around him changed. The beach at New Pacifica vanished, replaced by the uninviting site that housed the derelict Eden Advance ship. This time it was the face of a Terrian that quizzically looked down at him. *I must be on the dreamplane* Alonzo surmised.

"The link is weak, Dream-walker."

"I'm dying, can't concentrate enough."

"Dying?" the terrian tilted its head quizzically, reminding Alonzo of a dog, he once had as a boy.

A sharp pain arced through the pilot's body. The damaged link was causing reality to leak into the dreamplane. Alonzo looked down at his blood-soaked stomach and then back up to the terrian. "I'm losing a lot of blood" the being's head tilted once more. Alonzo tried to simplify. "'Life' - the life is leaving my body."

"You are in pain?" Alonzo nodded.

The Terrian extended a hand to touch the pilot's wound. Alonzo feared that he hadn't made himself clear, and tensed at the Terrian's touch, expecting extreme pain. Instead the area under the hand immediately became numb. Alonzo felt nothing at all. He wasn't sure whether that was a good sign or not.

"Pain now?"

Alonzo slowly shook his head. "How did you do that?"

"Can not heal. Can only stop pain. While you are dreaming it will not worsen, but you must not leave here."

When he looked back down, Alonzo saw that the huge blood stain had gone from the front of his shirt but he still felt incredibly weak. Settling back under the Terrian's gentle touch, Alonzo closed his eyes, hoping that help was on its way.



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Ulysses Adair awoke with a start, his curly hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. He jumped out of his cot, hurriedly pulled on his shoes and then raced out of his tent.

"Mom. Mom!" he shouted, waking most of the sleeping camp in the process.

Bess pulled on her jacket and stepped out into the cool night, grabbing the young boy by the arm as he ran by. "Uly what's the matter, did you have a bad dream?"

"Yes. Well, um, I suppose - No. I gotta find my mom, do you know where she is?"

The young woman frowned at his confused answer. "Devon's in the Communications tent, why what's wrong?"

"I just spoke to Alonzo."

"You did?" Bess asked as she rummaged in her coat pocket for her Gear.

Noticing what she was pulling out of her pocket, Uly put her straight. "No, not by Gear. I spoke to him in my dream."

Upon hearing her son's frantic shouts, Devon had immediately left the Comm. Tent in search of him. When she found him talking to Bess Martin, she was somewhat confused. Upon hearing the course their conversation was taking, her confusion heightened.

"Uly, you talked to Alonzo on the dreamplane."

The younger Adair hadn't heard his mother approaching, and jumped when she spoke. "Yes, just now" he replied, his heart beating wildly from the sudden rush of adrenaline. "He said... I... He..." the boys words tripped over each other in their efforts to be heard.

"Uly calm down. Take a deep breath" Devon instructed. As her son's breathing became regular, she tried again. "Honey, what did Alonzo tell you?"

Uly looked up at her, his large eyes filled with sadness. "He.. He said he was dying."

"Dying? Wha.. Why? What happened?"

He choked back a sob, trying to remain calm. "I don't know, he was shot. Alonzo said that the Council were waiting at the ship, they took Julia and shot him." He couldn't hold the tears at bay any longer, each sob racked his delicate frame.

Devon took Uly by the shoulders and pulled him to her, gently soothing him with nonsense words. When she looked up, she saw Bess staring at her, wide-eyed.

"Oh my god, Devon. What are we going to do?" Bess asked quietly. Tears welling up in her eyes also.

"I don't know" Devon replied honestly. "Lets just hope that Yale and John get to Alonzo before it's too late."

Bess nodded her head causing a tear to slide down her cheek. She turned away from the Adairs and slowly walked back to her tent. Her husband lay ensconced in blankets on their cot, Bess sat in silence for several minutes listening to Morgan's steady breathing

Mrs Martin couldn't quite believed what the young boy had just told her, Council members were on this planet. She, as well as the rest of Eden Advance had all but convinced themselves that they were going to be safe now. The colony ship was going to arrive, hundreds of sick little children would be made well, and they all would live happily ever after. That was the plan, that was what Bess had hoped and prayed for, she had seen enough misery and death back on Earth to last her a lifetime, here it was supposed to be different. That, she now realised was obviously not going to happen, the ball was already in motion. Alonzo had been injured and could well die, and Julia, well she may as well be dead now too, they won't see her ever again, the Council will make sure of that. *Who will be next? When will it be our turn?* those were the thoughts that ran through the young woman's head, and the answers or lack thereof were what kept her awake all night.



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"I really don't recommend this."

"Fine doctor, your opinion is duly noted. Now just do it." Mitchell demanded. Dr Ramirez pressed the sedi-derm to Julia's neck and applied another dosage to her system.

"Keeping a person sedated for lengthy periods is very hazardous. In the past it has been known to cause complete system failure." The young man intoned quietly as he checked Julia's vitals. Thankfully her readings were acceptable thus far, but he was worried what the continued use of the chemical could do to her.

"I am well aware of the possible repercussions." The soldier replied, Ramirez could have sworn he saw a flicker of a smile pass over Mitchell's face.

The door to the infirmary slid open as Thompson entered. He was suprised and a little concerned to find Mitchell standing in front of him. "Sergeant Mitchell, what are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be assisting Ferro and Frost in the cargo bay?"

Mitchell masked his annoyance. "Yes sir. I was just checking on Heller."

"There is no need for 'you' to check on anyone. I'm sure Dr Ramirez can manage on his own."

Mitchell locked eyes with the doctor, but Ramirez said nothing. Mitchell scowled at him before nodding at Thompson. "Sir."

After Mitchell had left, Thompson walked over to the only occupied bed in the room. He quietly studied the sleeping woman for several minutes before turning his attention back to Ramirez. "Were you here the whole time Mitchell was?"

"Yes sir." The young doctor replied.

"Good. I don't want Dr Heller left alone with Mitchell, unconscious or otherwise."

"Yes sir. May I ask why sir?"

Thompson gently tilted Julia's chin and turned her face towards the light, the swelling around her left eye had gone down slightly. The cut on her cheek had been cleaned, revealing that it wasn't as deep as he had thought. "Lets just say they don't get on very well."

Ramirez nodded, and rearranged the blankets covering the young woman. "I don't think its a good idea to keep her sedated like this." He ventured, hoping to fare better on the subject with Thompson.

The older man frowned and pulled his hand away from Julia's face. "No neither do I, but Reilly doesn't want her seeing or hearing anything until we reach the Satelite. Keeping her sedated is the best way to accomplish that."

"Reilly sir?" the doctor questioned.

"Councilman Reilly, our liasion's awaiting our arrival on the Satelite, we should reach it in approximately 3 days."

"What does he intend to do with her?"

Thompson turned towards the doctor, his frown deepening. "I don't really think that's any of our concern, do you?"



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It had been over three days since they had lost contact with the pilot and doctor, and over two days since Uly had spoken to Alonzo on the Dreamplane. Danzinger and Yale had been making good time up to that point anyway, but after Devon had told them about Alonzo's injury, and Julia's possible abduction the pair had pulled out all the stops. They hadn't interrupted their progress for food or rest, they just continued travelling, only stopping to occasionally recharge the ATV.

As the two men neared the fractured vessel, the first thing they noticed was the seemingly deserted Dunerail. On closer inspection they found that the vehicle was still in perfect working order. The back seat still filled with the young couple's possessions. Yale hefted out Dr. Heller's medical kit. "Lets hope we don't need it." Danzinger stated grimly, as he caught the cyborg's eye.

As they rounded the gigantic craft, they were drawn to a halt by the crackling of a terrian light staff. Danzinger's eyes flashed in anger at the sight before him. A terrian was crouched down low over the inert form of the pilot. The creature's hand resting on Alonzo's blood-soaked stomach. The mechanic tried to approach the two, but the staff emitted a bright flash of light which landed just infront of the men.

Danzinger stared at the scorched ground at his feet "What the hell?!"

Yale grabbed the other man's arm. "John don't move, I think he believes we mean Alonzo harm."

"Well, what are we gonna do now? 'Lonz is dying, we have to get him back to camp."

"I don't believe he is in any danger for the time being."

"Yale, he's bleeding to death!"

The cyborg held his grip, not allowing Danzinger to move. "No, he isn't." He replied patiently. "Look at Alonzo's shirt, the blood there is old, dried out. I am not sure how, but the terrian is stopping the flow of blood."

"We still have to help him."

"Yes, but if we move, I fear the terrian will shoot us."

"Then what do you suggest?" Danzinger asked, exasperation evident in his tone.

"I suggest that we convince the terrian that we are Alonzo's friends, that we are not going to hurt him."

"How?"

Yale took off his sunglasses and slowly massaged the bridge of his nose. With a deep frown he replied. "I'm afraid that could prove to be the difficult part."



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Alonzo could hear voices, voices he was sure he recognised but couldn't quite place. The pilot tried to clear the thick fog from his mind, but found it very difficult to do, the concentration necessary drained more of his precious energy.

"Do you think he can hear us?" the first voice asked.

*Who is it? Come on think goddamnit!* Using all the effort he could muster up from his damaged body, Alonzo focused on the two voices.

"I'm not sure, why do you ask?" a much deeper tone replied.

*THINK!*

"Well, if we can make 'Lonz hear us, perhaps he can tell the digger to back off."

In his minds eye a picture appeared. A tall man, thick set, with unkempt blond hair. A mechanic, he was a mechanic - that much Alonzo could remember, now if he could just remember his name.

"That could work John, what do you propose?"

He picked up the man's words *John* he repeated. *John. John Danzinger!* his mind screamed victoriously. Completing that task, brought reality screeching back to him. *Danzinger and Yale, they're here. Thank god, the cavalry's arrived.

"This..." Danzinger started shouting at the top of his lungs. "'Lonz can you hear me? Hey Solace, if you can hear me, tell the digger to back off so we can get to you."

*Digger?* He felt the gentle touch of the terrians hand still covering his gunshot wound. *The terrian is protecting me.* In an attempt to make the creature understand that the two men were not a threat, he opened his mind. "Let them help me, they are my friends, they will not harm me."

"You are in pain, must stay here." The terrian responded flatly.

"No, they can help me, you must let me go with them."

Almost apprehensively the terrian removed the dreamplane's protective shield from the pilot. Alonzo's eyes shot open as his whole body was engulfed in pain.

Yale frantically dug through the contents of the medi-kit. There was a soft hiss as a painkiller was injected into the pilot's system, and within seconds the searing pain in his stomach was reduced to a dull ache.

"Quick we have to stabilise him, I need a tent setting up." Yale instructed.

Danzinger ran to the Dunerail and took out the tent, within minutes he had it setup and Alonzo was carried to the awaiting cot. Yale spread out all of Julia's medical supplies on the ground by the side of the cot and began accessing his medical files to ascertain which ones would be useful.

As Yale scanned his databases, Danzinger attempted to clean the pilot up. Using a knife he cut the bloodsoaked shirt off, the mechanic let out a long breath as the gaping wound underneath was revealed. Although the blood flow had been previously stunted by the terrian, it was flowing freely now, the deep red in stark contrast to the pilot's deathly pale face.

"That is a very nasty wound, I very much doubt that Alonzo would have survived up until this point if it wasn't for our friend out there." Yale stated.

Danzinger turned his gaze towards the open tent flap, the terrian had not moved since they had taken the pilot, remaining crouched down, palm pressed against the sandy earth. *The silent sentinal* that thought sent a shiver down the mechanic's spine. "How do you think he did it? How'd the digger stop 'Lonz bleeding?"

"Well I have one theory, totally unsubstantiated I'm afraid." Danzinger nodded, silently instructing the cyborg to continue. "Well, I believe that while in the dreamplane the terrian was able to induce Alonzo into a comalike state, all of his systems reduced to a tenth of their normal capacity. While in this barely functioning state his condition did not worsen."

"Like putting Devon in cold sleep." Danzinger added, catching Yale's drift.

"Exactly. But now that Alonzo is out of the dreamplane, his systems are back to normal. Therefore unless we stop the bleeding he will die."



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"You found him?" Devon's face flashed into focus on Danzinger's Gear feed, as he made contact with base camp.

"Yeah, but he's in pretty bad shape. Yale's working on him now." Danzinger replied with a slight grimace.

"Any sign of Julia?"

The hopeful expression evident on Devon's face, promptly vanished as Danzinger frowned. "No, not a sign."

"Do you think what Uly said was right, that the Council have taken her." The notion that Council operatives were on the planet, frankly scared the hell out of her, but she tried to remain calm. At this very minutes Baines and Cameron, both armed, were watching over her son.

"Well he was right about Alonzo." The mechanic reminded her.

"Does Alonzo know what happened to her?"

"I'm not sure, he hasn't really regained consciousness yet. He called out for her in his sleep a couple of times. Yale's keeping him sedated though, so he's pretty much out of it at the moment."

Devon sighed deeply. "OK, when are you coming back?"

"Not for a couple of days. Yale doesn't want to move 'Lonz just yet."

She nodded her head in response. "Take care John" she told him quietly with a small smile. "Adair out." The connection terminated, leaving Danzinger standing alone next to the desolate ship.

Her eyelids felt like ten ton weights but she managed to push them open. Her left eye stung like crazy but she kept it open, focusing on the two figures leaning over her bed.

"How do you feel Dr Heller?"

She recognised the first man, the one that had spoken. Thompson was his name if she recalled correctly. She didn't recognise the other at all, although by the pristine white coat he wore she suspected he was a doctor.

"Dr Heller" he repeated, "do you feel alright?"

Julia attempted to answer but all she managed was a husky whisper. A glass of water was held in her line of sight. Leaning forward she took a small sip, the cool liquid easing her dry throat. "Where am I?" She tried to sit up, but realised that her arms and legs were fastened to the bed. "Why the hell am I tied up?"

"Calm down, you're on 'Excaliber' the Satelite in orbit around G889. Your being tied up is a security measure, we thought you might try to escape." Thompson replied, offering a reassuring smile.

Julia wasn't impressed. "How the hell am I supposed to escape if you keep me sedated?" Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinised Thompson. "And for that matter, how long have I been under?"

He avoided her gaze, making a pretense of reading her chart. "Five days."

"Five days!" her head slumped back against the pillow. *Five days* did the others even know where she was, did Alonzo know that they'd taken her. *Alonzo... Oh my god* Alonzo, he'd been shot. Did they just leave him there, bleeding to death? She suspected that they most probably had. Could the others have found him, she hoped to god they had. She knew that she wasn't ever going to see him again, but if he died she... That thought didn't even bare thinking about. Julia decided to ask all the same. "Where's Alonzo?"

"The man you were with? I'm afraid we had to leave him behind, he was of no use to us." Thompson continued to avoid eye contact.

"Was he... Was he alive?" she asked quietly.

"I'm not sure we didn't check." Thompson replied brusquely. He gave the strong impression that that was the end of discussion. "Now if you think you're up to it, you have a visitor."

"Didn't check! You left him to die you son of a bitch! For god's sake what are you people?!" She screamed at him. Julia closed her eyes tight, fighting the emotions welling up inside of her, there was no way she was going to break down in front of these two.

Thompson ignored her outburst. "Dr Heller if you don't calm down, we shall have to sedate you again. You don't want us to that do you?"

Julia glared at him, and slowly shook her head.

"Good. As I said you have a visitor."

Closing her eyes again, Julia didn't answer. She heard the door slide open.

"Good afternoon Citizen, sleep well?"

She recognised the voice instantly, but was not going to be fooled so easily. "Nice try Thompson, but holograms don't work with me anymore."

Footsteps reverberated off the metal floor. "Glad to hear it." Reilly replied pleasantly, his voice sounded closer than before.

*Footsteps?* Julia slowly opened her eyes, to find a man leaning over her. A balding man in his mid-forties. "What the..."

Councilman Reilly smiled broadly as Julia flinched in recognition. "A little jumpy today, aren't we Heller?"

Julia's eyes darted from Thompson to Reilly and then back again. "What the hell is this, have you given me hallucinary drugs?" She pulled on her bindings, testing their strength.

"No, of course not." Thompson replied, he turned to Reilly and frowned. "I think she's still a bit disorientated from the sedatives we were giving her."

"You're the ones that are disorientated." Julia spat. "Reilly isn't real you idiot, he's a computer programmed hologram."

"I'm offended Citizen, don't I look real to you?" He leaned closer still, his face inches away from hers.

Julia could feel his warm breath on her cheek. *NO! Holograms don't breath, what are they trying to pull here?* She took a few deep breaths, and replied evenly. "Yes, you do look real, but it's a trick. You're a computer program, Eve created you."

"Ah Eve, Franklin Bennett's finest hour. Is that what they told you? That I was nothing more than a few lines of code, now I am offended." Reilly smiled again and stood back to study the young doctor's reaction. The councilman was thoroughly enjoying Heller's confusion.

"Then what, I don't understand?" Julia was feeling very tired all of a sudden, the past few days were starting to catch up on her.

"That, my dear is blantantly obvious. Allow me to explain, It was I in the flesh, that received your transmission up until the time you turned 'traitor'." The Council liaison was careful to add extra emphasis on this last word. "Then I realised that our excellent plan had gone sour and started looking for alternatives, Eve merely covered for me in my absense. It was this substitute that you encountered aboard Bennett's ship."

Julia closed her eyes once more, her head pounding from the mixture of the sedatives and this recent turn of events. She couldn't seem to comprehend what this man was telling her. So Reilly is real, is that it? It had taken the doctor a considerable time to adjust to the fact that she had been misled by a mere program, now it seemed that wasn't true either.

"Can I take it from your silence that you understand things now?"

Dr Heller nodded.

"Good, because there are a few things we need to discuss, the most important of which being Ulysses Adair."

"I am not discussing anything with you, especially Uly. I thought I made it quite clear months ago that I'm not going to do the Council's dirty work any more." Julia replied, she was quite suprised to hear how calm her own voice sounded, considering her current predicament.

"Oh I'm sorry Citizen, I don't think I made myself clear. You have absolutely no choice in the matter. If you don't volunteer the information we require, we'll simply extract it from you."

The son of a bitch was enjoying this, Julia thought bitterly. Well they can do what they have to do, she refused to betray Eden Advance again. "Go to hell!"

"Quite the little martyr aren't we?" Reilly replied scornfully. He turned to the doctor who had remained at the back of the room. "Sedate her, perhaps she'll see sense in the morning."



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Alonzo's condition had improved substantially by the time the three arrived back at New Pacifica. He had regained consciousness a couple of times since they'd found him, but unfortunately he wasn't coherant enough to provide any kind of explanation as to what had happened. Yale monitored the injured pilot constantly, staying at his bedside day and night. The cyborg wasn't able to fully repair Alonzo's wound, he didn't have the knowledge or capability required. He just hoped that the doctors arriving with the Colony ship would be able to help. Yale simply made do with cleaning and re-dressing the wound and making sure that Alonzo wasn't in any pain.

The camp was buttoned up tight, noone would leave New Pacifica unless it was absolutely necessary, the Council foremost on everyone's mind. Devon didn't leave her son's side, because she knew that now that they had Julia, Uly would be next on their agenda. With the colony ship only two days away, Devon was at a checkmate situation. With the sick children needing to be healed on the one side, and the Council on the other.

"I think we should tell the Roanoke to get out of here." Devon stated.

Danzinger looked up from his breakfast bowl. "What? Are you crazy. Isn't them landing on this planet what you've been planning for the last god-knows how many months?"

"Yes, but its too dangerous. The Council could ruin it all, people could die!" she replied, her maintained calm running out on her. She hit the table with her fist, causing the mechanic to jump. "DAMN! I knew it was all going too smoothly, something was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Calm down Adair." Danzinger laid a hand on her arm. "The Council haven't made any other moves yet, perhaps they aren't going to interfere with the kids or Uly."

"What, they aren't bothering us so we won't bother them. Is that it?" a voice demanded behind them.

The two whirled around, to see Alonzo Solace standing in the mess tent doorway. His face looking drawn and pale, his bare chest slick with sweat.

Yale came up behind the pilot and glanced apologetically at them. "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop him. He demanded to talk to you."

"Alonzo what are you doing out of bed?" Devon asked him quietly.

Alonzo stepped unsteadily into the tent, using the frame as a support. "So is that it? We're just gonna leave Julia with those sadistic bastards?" he snarled.

Devon stood, stunned by this uncharacteristic show of anger. "No.." his accusation caught her off-guard, unable to answer. "NO! Of course not. How could you even think such a thing."

His face crumpled at her answer. The pilot was experiencing a whole jumbled mixture of emotions at once, they threatened to overwhelm him. Alonzo fell to his knees, head in hands. "Oh Devon, I couldn't stop them." He sobbed. "I couldn't help her."

Devon wasn't really sure how to react to his outburst. Her mothering instincts took over, she knelt down next to Alonzo and pulled him into her arms. "Shhh, it's gonna be okay, Alonzo. We'll find Julia. You have my word on that." she told him solemnly, rocking him in her arms, much as she would Uly after he'd had a frightening dream. Alonzo allowed himself to be cradled, taking comfort from her assurances. Eventually, exhaustion claimed the pilot once more.



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A noise burst from the transmitter. There was a lot of static, but Baines was sure he heard a voice. He fiddled with the controls. *Huh, just my imagination. Man, I gotta stop drinking Bess' home-brew.*

There it went again. This time he adjusted the squelch to get a clearer reception.

."..vance, are you reading over?" There was a slight pause before the voice resumed. "I repeat, this is the Roanoke. Eden Advance do you copy?"

"The Roanoke?" Baines frowned at the communication console. "The Roanoke... YAHOO!" The young man jumped up from his station and danced an impromptu jig around the small tent. Drawn by the shouting, a couple of colonists wandered into the tent, confusion evident on their faces.

"Oh man, I think he's flipped." Cameron whispered, as his friend continued to bound around infront of them.

Baines stopped dancing and looked at them, an enormous grin gracing his face. "You'll never guess what" he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

"What that you've gone mad? Sorry Marcus, we already knew that." Magus replied.

Baines waved her sarcasm aside. "No, no. It's the Roanoke, it's here."

The colony ship, where?" Denner asked him, her face breaking into a smile also.

"I'm not sure yet, they just sent a message."

As if to back up the young technician's claim, the transmitter burst into life again. "Eden Advance, this is the Roanoke. Please respond."

The assembled group let out a loud whoop of joy, the cacophony piqued the curiosity of the rest of camp.

"What is it? What's all the noise about?" Bess Martin asked, as she and her husband entered the crowded tent.

"It's the colony ship, it's finally arrived." Mazatl explained.

"Well hurry up and respond Baines, before they think we're not home and leave." Morgan griped, although even he couldn't hide the excitement from his tone.

Baines sat back down at the console, his hand shook as he keyed in the relevant commands. Then slowly and clearly he said. "This is Eden Advance, we read you loud and clear."

There was a brief delay before a female voice replied. "Thank god. I was beginning to think there was no-one down there."

Morgan resisted the urge to say 'I told you so', to be honest the bureaucrat was too flabbergasted to speak.

"Hey Sheila, that you?" Baines asked the familiar voice.

"The one and only. How are you guys doing down there?" the pilot chirped.

"A lot better now that you're here Sheila." Baines felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to face Devon Adair.

"Can we get a visual feed?" she asked quietly.

"Um, yeah I should think so, just give me a couple of secs." He fiddled with the controls some more, and they were soon presented with a happily smiling Sheila.

The picture on the monitor was very snowy, but Devon could plainly see Dr Vasquez standing in the background. "Sheila would you mind if I spoke to Dr Vaquez please?"

"No, go ahead. We'll just switch seats." The woman jumped up from her chair to allow the doctor a better view of the Eden Advance crew.

"What is it Devon, is Ulysses alright?" The doctor asked, his brow creased in concern.

"Yes doctor, Uly's fine. In fact he's never been better, but he can tell you that himself when you land." Devon assured him, Vaquez visably relaxed. "How are the other children?"

"I'm not sure, they're still in cold sleep. Sheila and I are the only ones awake at the moment. We're going to start cycling up the other crypts in about an hour."

Devon nodded. "Oh alright. Can you please contact me as soon as they start waking up.

"Yes Devon, if I get a chance."

She realised how selfish this request was. Dr Vasquez will be busy enough coping with all the children, without dashing off to talk to her. "Yes of course I'm sorry. As soon as you get a minute."

"Of course" he replied and stood up, relinquishing the chair back to the pilot.

"So where's Solace, we got alot of catching up to do." Sheila asked, flashing the infamous sleepjumper's grin. "I can't see him down there. What, is he asleep on the job again?" The pilot's cheery demeanor vanished, as her question was answered with a whole tentful of sombre faces. "What?!" she demanded, all humour gone from her tone, it was now tinged with a mild panic. "Has something happened to 'Lonz?"

Danzinger saw that Devon's well placed mask of indifference was about to crack, he stepped in to sheild her from the barrage of questions. "'Lonz is just fine, don't worry."

"Then what's with the faces? You all look like you've seen a ghost."

Danzinger laughed, although he hoped it didn't sound as forced as it was. "Sheila relax, everything is fine. We're just a bit surprised to see you."

The pilot wasn't convinced, but let her concerns ride for the time being. "If you're sure you're all alright?" Danzinger nodded, the fake smile still plastered to his face. "OK, I'll still need some help landing this tin-can though."

"Baines can do that." Danzinger offered. The Comm Tech sitting at the console agreed.

"Alright, he ain't Solace but he'll do at a pinch." Sheila joked. They obviously weren't going to play it straight with her. The pilot was determined to find out what happened down there, but for now she was happy to play along with the Advance crew. "OK then Marc, you're gonna have to give me some readings."

He forced his eyelids open and then quickly shut them again as the bright overhead lights assaulted his eyes, adding to the terrible pounding in his head.

"Waking process initiated, synaptic enhancers applied" a disembodied mechanical voice told him

*Man, not so loud* he thought, and would have covered his ears, if not for the fact that he couldn't feel his hands. *Or ears for that matter* he realised with amusement.

"Hudler, Daniel. Life signs - normal. Condition Green. Capsule decompression activated" the voice which was distinctly female continued.

There was a loud clunk as the capsule' seal was automatically released. The hissing sound of escaping gas filled the cold sleep chamber as the youth preserving elizir harmlessly intermingled with the air.

Suddenly his whole body started to tingle and he began to regain feeling, it wasn't exactly an unpleasent sensation, but it felt strange nonetheless. One by one he flexed his fingers and toes, thankfully everything seemed to be in working order.

Slowly, this time adjusting to the bright lights, he opened his eyes again. Reaching out with his left hand he punched the release button on the capsule door.



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"Devon?" Yale stuck his head through the open tent door. He spotted his ex-employer sitting at her desk. "Devon, you'll be pleased to hear that the Terrians have just taken the last of the children."

"Damn, I missed it?" So far, Devon had seen off all the syndrome children. Assuring the youngsters and parents alike, that there is nothing to fear from the Terrians.

"I'm afraid so, but Uly said not to worry. The Terrians told him that they'll take care of them, they won't come to any harm. The children will be returned soon."

"I know, I'm not worried. Did Uly say *exactly* when they will come back."

"He asked, but you know that the Terrian's concept of time is very different to ours."

"Yes, I know. Its just that their parents would be alot less anxious if they knew when. Oh well, they're going to worry anyway, I suppose. I know I did."

"There is noone on the whole of G889 that worries more than you Devon." Yale teased with a gentle smile. "I am quite suprised though, at how quickly everything is happening. The children have all left, and quite soon the colony ship will be leaving also."

To be honest, Devon hadn't even given the Colony ships iminant departure a second thought, nor had she considered that some of her friends may be leaving with it. She answered without looking up from her papers. "Do you suppose Alonzo will leave on the Roanoke? I mean, I hope he doesn't, his contact with the Terrians is a great help to the group." The more she continued, the tighter her voice became. Pent up emotion chipping away at her. "He is also a very good friend, but he doesn't really have anything to stay for anymore, does he? Julia's gone, what reason does he have to stay?"

Yale remained silent, he could tell that Devon wasn't looking for answers from him. Reasoned thinking was the only way Devon Adair knew of how to deal with the loss of a close friend.

"I wish she could have been here to see the children healed. It was her dream as much as it was mine. We were talking about not it so long ago, she was so excited. It was strange to see her like that you know, so much emotion, she had changed so much." Finally she looked up at him, her eyes rimmed with tears.

"I know Devon." Yale replied quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "We are all going to miss her."



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"Ms Adair, may I speak with you please?"

*I am obviously destined to never get this work done* Devon thought with a smile. She looked up from her papers once more, to see a young man standing before her. He looked to be only 19 or 20 years old, with a very athletic build. His thick blond hair complementing his tanned face and blue eyes. "Yes of course. What about, Mr..."

"Hudler. Daniel Hudler, actually I need some help. I'm trying to find someone, I thought you would be the best person to ask." The young man's serious expression softened considerably as he smiled.

"Oh, alright. Who are you looking for?" She asked him, returning the smile. Devon felt sure she knew this person, she didn't know how or why, but something about him was very familiar.

"Dr Julia Heller, do you know her?"

The name of her friend caught Devon by surprise. For a split second her facade cracked, allowing the young man to see her anguish. She quickly masked it, but felt sure that it was too late. "Yes I know Dr Heller." She replied guardedly, "Why are you looking for her?"

"I'm sorry I can't say."

"Then *I'm* sorry, I can't help" she replied icily. This whole situation suddenly seemed very suspicious to Devon, why was this complete stranger asking for Julia? Perhaps he works for the Council. If this was true though, he wouldn't need to ask because they already had her. So what? Who is he? Devon was very relieved when the man turned and headed for the door. However, he didn't exit the tent. He merely checked outside, for whatever reason Devon was unaware of, and then shut the tent flap. As he returned to the makeshift desk, Devon stood, her gaze questioning.

"Listen to me. I have to find Julia Heller." His voice was low, so as not to be heard by anyone outside of the tent.

Despite his youthful appearance, Devon was actually beginning to feel rather intimidated. Hudler was towering over her, his face set, eyes hard. She stood her ground however. "Unless you tell me who you are and what you want with her, I'm not going to help you."

"Who I am is no concern of yours. Now tell me!" His efforts to be quiet were now forgotten, as he shouted his last words.

Magus who was outside at the time, heard the shouts and popped her head into the Adair tent. As soon as she saw the young man standing menacingly over Devon she activated her gear. "Danzinger, Walman, anybody... Quick! We've got a situation here, get to Devon's tent - now!"

Within the space of a few seconds, Danzinger, Walman *and* Baines, arrived to see what the fuss was about. The confrontation between Devon and Hudler was still airing.

"What the hell is going on here?" Danzinger demanded, shouting to be heard above the pair in the tent.

Daniel ignored the mechanic completely, he grabbed Devon by the shoulders and shook her hard. "If you don't tell me now, so help me..."

Anger swept through John Danzinger like a storm. In two long strides he crossed over to the mysterious stranger. "Hey you better let her go pal." Although it was meant as a warning, he didn't actually give him a chance to heed it. For after a two second mental countdown, Danzinger clobbered Hudler squarely in the face.

Hudler staggered back, blood dripping from his nose. The others looked on in apprehension as he drew a gun from his jacket pocket. He waved the weapon more defensively than threateningly, his hand shaking as his age finally started to show. "You don't understand, I have to find her. Her life could be in danger."

"What? How do you know that?" Devon asked as she massaged her shoulder.

Daniel sighed, his carefully laid plans had failed him. It should all have been so easy. Then again, he should have known that Devon Adair would be no pushover. "I can't tell you how, but I have reason to believe that there are Council operatives on G889. They are going to try to abduct Julia Heller, and quite possibly your son, Ms Adair."

Devon involuntarily flinched at the mention Uly. This didn't add up though, if he was Council as she thought, why was he telling them this. Also he was speaking as if it hadn't happened yet, he obviously didn't know that they had already taken Julia. "Mr Hudler just put the gun down." Devon asked calmly, she locked gazes with Danzinger and motioned for him to layoff. The kid was obviously jumpy, the gun could go off very easily.

The young man looked from Devon to Danzinger and then back again, weighing up his options. Unfortunately his options as of now were in very short supply. Slowly and without taking his eyes off the group in front of him, Daniel lowered the pistol. "Please" he pleaded, "just tell me where she is."

He seemed genuinely concerned, which actually confused Devon even more. *Who is he?* Now, she thought, was probably the best time to be honest. "Daniel, I'm afraid you're too late. The Council have already taken Julia."

Hudler was quiet for a considerable time, he showed no emotion, infact he showed no sign at all that he had even heard her. Then suddenly he lurched for Devon's table, with one swipe, he cleared the top of its contents. Paperwork and maps went flying, as Daniel continued his tirade. "Damn. DAMN! Too goddamn late." Then as quickly as it had appeared, his anger subsided, replaced by a much darker emotion. Hudler fell to his knees, his head tucked away, his face hidden from view. "Should've gotten here sooner." he sobbed.

"Hey Daniel, you okay?" the mechanic asked quietly. The transition from crazed lunatic, to this scared young boy, was too sudden for Danzinger's liking. He hooked Devon's arm and pulled her over to the far corner of the tent. "What is with that guy? Who is he?"

Devon seemed equally as perplexed. "John, I wish I knew. He came barging in here demanding to know where Julia was. He wouldn't tell me why he wanted her, so I wouldn't tell him where she was. Then he got angry, that was when you came in."

Magus cautiously approached the sobbing young man. His back stiffened when she gently laid a hand on his shoulder. "Mr Hudler, If you tell us how you know Julia, we might be able to help you."

Daniel looked up at the blond mechanic, and roughly swiped at the tears dripping from his chin. "She was, *is*, my sister."



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"Alright, we are going to try this one last time. In what way is Ulysses Adair 'connected' with the Terrians?" Reilly's patience was wearing thin, he'd about had enough of Heller's insubordination.

Julia was finding it very hard to get her eyes to focus. Her vision was swimming in and out. She didn't have to see it though, she could *feel* the intensity of Reilly's glare. "I don't care how many times you try it. I'm not telling you anything." They had gone through this whole charade every day for the past week. She had told them squat so far, she wasn't about to start now.

"Goddamn it. Sedate her." The councilman spat as he strode out of the room. As he reached the door he stopped and turned once more to face the young doctor. "You are going to regret this Citizen."

"Believe me Reilly, the only thing I'll ever regret is helping the Council in the first place." Julia replied as the now all-too familiar blackness fell over her.

Reilly let out a long sigh, as the realisation of the matter hit home. "She isn't going to tell us anything, we may as well forget about her."

"But what about the children? She knows how the Terrians affect the syndrome afflicted kids. Leave it to me Mr Reilly, I'll make her talk." Mitchell stated, he felt he would rather enjoy that particular task. *Payback, bitch.* he thought, as he chewed on his slow healing bottom lip.

"NO!" As soon as it left his lips, Thompson realised that there was a little too much emotion in his opposition. After a quick breath, his tone was returned to a more even keel. "I think Councilman Reilly is right, it doesn't matter what you do, she isn't going to talk. I would even go so far as to say that she would die first before imparting any information."

"Really, care to put that to the test?" Mitchell offered with a smile.

Reilly intervened, he was almost as sick to death of the bickering between these two men, as he was of Heller's blant refusal to co-operate. "Knock it off Mitchell, noone is going to die. Heller is more important to us alive, especially when we take her back to the Board of Regents."

"Doesn't Dr Heller's mother serve on the Board of Regents." Thompson questioned. "Surely she will grant her daughter a full pardon."

"Don't forget that over 45 years has passed, since the doc last saw her mommy. The old ice queen is probably dead by now." Mitchell scoffed. It was a common fact back on the stations, that Jennifer Heller was a definate force to be reckoned with. Mitchell had been unfortunate enough to collide with her on a few occasions. Infact from a certain point of view, you could say it was because of her that he had been stuck with the monitoring of G889 in the first place. That and a certain incident involving the General's daughter.

"Enough, both of you. Go back to your stations, and don't forget there will be a mission debriefing at 1700 hours." Reilly stated as he moved once more to leave the infirmary.

"A debriefing, what for?"

"We shall be taking some specimens back to the stations with us Lieutenant Thompson. But first we shall to harvest them."

"What kind of specimens?"

"Syndrome children, after they have been healed by the Terrians." Reilly replied, as he nonchalantly strolled out of the room. Mitchell followed close behind.

Thompson crossed over to the cot that held Dr Heller, as expected the young woman was asleep. *Her mother was a highranking Council member, but she still had the guts to oppose them, so why in god's name can't I?* He tugged on a chain around his neck, and pulled two holopics from beneath his shirt. One picture, considerably older than the other, was of himself and a pretty young woman - his wife, taken on their 5th wedding anniversary. The other picture was of a little boy - his son, taken just before his 3rd birthday. Thompson studied the pictures for quite some time, as if memorizing every detail. Although that wasn't necessary, he already had every curve, every line committed to memory. With a small sad smile, he pushed the small plastic discs back under his shirt. *Syndrome kids. Harvest. Like hell!*

"Her brother. Josh?" Using a great deal of effort, and little help from Yale, Alonzo managed to sit up. He eyed the young man before him incredulously, he hadn't seen Julia's brother in years. Although at the time he didn't know it was her brother, because at that time he hadn't known Julia.

"How... How do you know my name?" Hudler asked. He had calmed down considerably since the initial shock of Julia's disappearance, hopefully with the help of Eden Advance he could find out what happened to his sister. Although currently, he was extremely confused, especially since Devon Adair and the others had insisted that he go talk to their pilot - Alonzo Solace.

"I thought you said your name was Daniel?" Danzinger asked, his previous suspicions re-newed.

"It is, well sort of. Everyone back on the stations and on the Roanoke knew me as Daniel Hudler, only a select few know my real name - Joshua Heller."

"Why the pseudonym?" Devon asked.

The young man frowned, obviously torn between answers. More lies or the truth. Julia's life was at stake now he realised, the sooner he gave these people their answers, the sooner they could give him the ones he sought. "What I am about to tell you now, can not leave this room. Understand?"

The assembled group nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"I am a member of an elite resistance force. You will not have heard of us, because the Council likes to keep the embarrassment we cause under wraps. We haven't done anything extreme *yet*, just minor annoyances, but there are still warrants out for our capture. In order to retain my anonyminity, I go by a different name whenever I am on the stations." After he'd finshed his explanation, Heller looked around expectantly.

"What, is that it? I don't think so buddy. That doesn't cut it with me, how did you know the Council were going to take Julia. How do *we* know your not a council spy, and that you're just spinning us this line to gain our trust. Yeah, we turn our backs and *poof* your gone and so is Uly." Danzinger growled

"No John, he's telling the truth. He is Julia's brother, I've met him before." Alonzo stated. Ignoring Yale's advice, the pilot swung his legs off the side of the cot. Then, using the lab table as a support, he tentatively stood.

"When? We haven't met." Joshua took a few steps back from the pilot. He scrunched up his eyes as he scrutinized Alonzo. Yeah he seemed familiar, but it couldn't possibly be. Nah, its not *the* Alonzo Solace.

Alonzo smiled as recognision dawned on the young man's face. "Yep, its me alright. You remember? I helped you escape the council, took you to the Quadrant."

"My god, it is you. Man, Solace you sure have changed. You look the same, but..." Josh's grin broadened. "So, you still got women tucked away in every port?"

"Um, okay... So we've verified that you are who you say you are." Danzinger intervened, he didn't like the course this conversation was headed. The last thing they needed now was Alonzo freaking out again.

"What?" Josh questioned. "Oh, yeah. So you believe me now?"

"For now, yes." The mechanic replied, his face holding its 'no nonsense' mask.

"Ok then, I need for you to answer a few questions. While you were being held by the Council, did you overhear any plans they made. Any names, specific details?"

"What difference does it make now. Reciting a bunch of cyptic messages, ain't gonna accomplish squat. It damn well isn't gonna bring Julia back." Alonzo responded stonily.

"Geez Solace you *have* changed, were'd you get this defeatist attitude all of a sudden? What happened to that 'fly by the seat of his pants' space jockey I used to know?"

For the briefest of seconds his anger flared. "What the hell are you talking about Heller. What else am I gonna do about it. By now she's probably drifting through space gods knows where with a bunch of crazed militants."

"Not necessarily, it would take a couple of days for the ship to recharge. Also they have some other plans that they obviously haven't done anything about yet."

"What sort of plans?" Devon asked quietly.

"As of now Ms Adair, I suggest you take every precaution for your son's safety. You're right the Council does want to take him, plus other syndrome children that are healed on this planet. I'm not saying that they'll succeed, but they are damn well going to try."

"Yeah, well we aren't going to let them take anyone. How do you know they're still going to try, I mean I assume that the incident with 'Lonz and Julia didn't go as they planned it." Danzinger said.

"No, I think you're right, it didn't. To be honest from what you've told me, I would say that the trap they set was intended for someone else."

"You mean me?"

"Yes Ms Adair, most probably. Although all wasn't lost when it was my sister and Solace that showed up. They would definately want to get their hands on Julia, treason is a very heinous crime against the Council. As to how I know, I don't for certain. But I have it on good authority, that Thompson and his men will at least try to secure some *specimens* before they return to the stations."

"Thompson?"

"Lieutenant Jeffrey Thompson, he works for the 64th Reconn, a military faction of the Council." Joshua reached into the pocket of his jacket, and retrieved a small plastic disk. "Do you have a facility to play holographic images?"

Yale held out his cyber arm in answer to the question. "Allow me."

The assembled group watched as images were projected in the air before them. There were two separate pieces of footage. One of a middle aged man attending some sort of Military presentation. The other of a much younger man, who appeared to be out of his depth fielding answers to a crowd of people. "The first shots are of Thompson, during a Sigma Six parade. The other is of Sergeant David Mitchell."

"That's the son of a bitch that attacked Julia." Alonzo growled. "Yeah Mitchell, that was his name. The bastard."

"Mitchell has a history of violence, he only remained with the Military because he had friends in high places. The footage I've just shown of Mitchell, was shot during his tribunal, he was charged with sexual assault. Unfortunately he was found 'not guilty'."

"Jeffrey Thompson? Wasn't his son one of the first children to be diagnosed with the syndrome? I remember reading about him. I think it was a couple of years before I was even born. They didn't even know what was wrong with his son, they didn't know how to treat it, they didn't even know what medication to give so that he could *live* with it." After Uly was diagnosed, Devon had dug up every little bit of information she could find about the syndrome. The case surrounding young James Thompson was one of the more upsetting stories. "It was so sad. His son, James, died exactly one week after his third birthday. The doctors said it was a miracle that he even lived that long."

"Yes, that's right. I'd almost forgot about that, his wife died shortly afterwards too." Heller shook his head sadly. "She committed suicide. It was all a real tragedy. Thompson continued his work for the military, completing the unpopular 'long haul' missions. He's probably as old as you are now Solace."

"Yeah great." The pilot replied sardonically. "And exactly how does all this help Julia?"

"Okay, sorry. Returning to my original point. If the Council haven't attempted to take any children yet, which I'm sure they will. Then that probably means that they haven't left G889's orbit yet."

"So you're saying there's a good chance we could catch them before they leave." Alonzo clarified impatiently.

"Well yes, in theory. We can't *catch* them though, their numbers would significantly outweigh ours."

"Yeah? Well I'll take my chances."

"Alonzo you can't possibly go, you're still badly injured." Devon objected with a glance at Alonzo bandage clad torso.

"I'll live, which is something we can't be possitive about for Julia. I have to go find her. I'm the best pilot on the planet, if I go alone in a small two man craft, I might avoid detection."

"No, Devon's right you can't go." Ignoring the murderous look Alonzo was throwing his way, Danzinger continued. "'Lonz in your present condition you'll probably do more harm than good. Even if you do make it to the satelite, I don't think you can just waltz on up to the door and knock. You're going to have to either fight your way in or sneak in, neither of which I doubt your busted up body could handle."

"Listen to me." The pilot responded, his voice mildly threatening. "I am going and there isn't a damn thing you can say or do to stop me. Got it? I'm going and that's final."

"Fine, then I'm going with you." Danzinger replied cooly.

"No, I'm going alone. Anyway, you have to stay and look after True."

"Solace, there's no way I'm letting you go alone."

"I'll go." Josh announced. "I know the Council's procedures better than anyone, if there's a way to sneak in I'll find it. Plus, I'm just as good a pilot as you Solace, and she's *my* sister."

Alonzo conseded the point, Joshua did know about Council code. "We both go." the pilot stated flatly.

Devon realised that this would be the only amicable agreement the group would make. "Ok, fine. Both of you go, but please be careful."



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It was late, and with a little bit of luck Thompson hoped he would be the only one of the crew awake. Silently he crept down the deserted corridors of the satelite, making his way to the medical bay. Unfortunately it seemed Thompson's luck was definately not in, there was a light on in the med bay, someone was in there. Soundlessly he removed his pistol from its holster, and pressing his back against the cold metal wall of the corridor, edged his way towards the door. A hushed voice could be heard, the clink of metal on metal. Thompson edged nearer, daring to take a peek at who was inside.

"Dr Heller, please wake up we haven't got much time." Ramirez pleaded, he waved a diaglove over the woman's enert form. According to the glove's read-outs, the young doctor was coming out of it. The sedative was wearing off, but so far Heller had shown no signs of regaining consciousness.

"Julia, can you hear me?" Still no response. Ramirez whirled around at the sound of the Med Bay door opening.

"Ramirez what are you doing?" Thompson demanded, his voice lowered to a whisper.

The doctor drew a gun from the pocket of his lab coat. "Stay back, I'm warning you." He backed up to stand by Heller's side, and laid a protective hand on the young woman's arm. "I'm not going to do this anymore. You're killing her do you know that?" he snarled, the weapon pointed at Thompson's torso. "Is that what you want, her dead? Because one more sedative is gonna do it, and I'm not going to be the one to pull the trigger."

"Ramirez, listen to me. I'm with you, I don't want to her hurt her, I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm getting off this rig, and I'm taking her with me." He took a step forward, but stopped as Ramirez cocked the pistol.

"Don't move." He warned. "How do you propose to leave? What, you just gonna grab the nearest shuttle and take off, I don't think so. They'll hear you leaving."

"I know that. I'm gonna disable the rest of the crew. I don't exactly know how yet, but I'm gonna think of something." Thompson explained, never taking his eyes from Ramirez. "You could come with us."

"I... I could?" he faltered. In one swift movement, Thompson leapt forward and disarmed the doctor. Grabbing the pistol and throwing it across the room.

"What the hell were you doing to her just now?" The leuitenant levelled his own gun.

"What the... You said you were going to help her."

"I am. Now tell me what you were doing."

"I was trying to wake her up." The doctor began to look anxiously around the room. His eyes fixed on the discarded pistol, laying in a corner of the room. "She won't wake up. I've tried everything, synaptic enhancers they don't work. I can't wake her up." He whispered looking back to Thompson, eyes wide with worry.

"Why not? The last dose should have worn off by now." Thompson lowered his gun and crossed over to the two doctors. He looked down at Julia, the woman's face was pale, too pale.

"I kept warning you that this would happen. Too many doses of anything is dangerous. She never had a chance to clear the chemicals from her system before the next dosages were applied."

"She's a chromotilt for gods sake, her system should be able to take this."

"Yes she's a chromotilt, but to be honest I'm surprised she lasted this long. Any other *normal* person would have arrested days ago."

"So what are you saying, is she dying?"

Ramirez waved his dia-glove over Julia's body once more, frowning at the read-outs. "That's the strange thing. No, she isn't dying. According to this she's coming out of it."

"Maybe she just needs a little encouragement." Thompson leaned forward and grasped the woman's shoulders. "Come-on Julia, wake up dammit!" He hissed as he shook her hard.

The council doctor watched as Julia's head lolled around like that of a rag doll. Thompson's heavy handed methods were having as much luck as his own - nothing, no movement whatsoever. "*That* is not going to help, we're just going to have to wait for her to come out of it herself."

"How long is that going to take?" At Ramirez shrugged reply, Thompson sighed. "We haven't got time to wait. The others are going down for the children first thing tomorrow morning, we have to leave tonight."

"I don't care, we have to..." A small cough interrupted Ramirez's train of thought. Both men looked down expectantly at Julia Heller. The men thought perhaps they had imagined the sound, as after a few seconds there was still no movement from the young woman. Then with a second strained cough, and a flicker off her eyelids, Dr Heller regained consciousness.



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"I've got the satelite on the viewer now, we're about 5 hrs away." Alonzo keyed in commands on the shuttles main control console.

"We'll be within their radar range soon. No crashing the party this time I'm afraid, they're gonna see us coming." Josh responded with a frown. He'd computed every possible route of entry, whichever way they went, the satelite would still see their approach.

"Well we knew this wasn't going to be easy, but I'm not abandoning Julia."

"Hey man, I didn't mean that, and you know it." Heller responded sharply. He turned his chair to face Solace, but the pilot avoided his gaze. "I was going to find Julia with or without you, so knock it off okay."

"I'm sorry, I know. I'm just ansy to get up there, god knows what they've done to her already."

"Don't worry they won't hurt her. Julia's more important to the council alive than dead."

"Oh that's a great comfort." Alonzo replied with heavy sarcasm.

Josh thought it best to change the subject before he dug himself any deeper. "So what's with you and my sister? Are you and her *together*?"

Josh realised that that probably wasn't a wise choice of topic. The pilot's chair swung in his direction, Alonzo's face like thunder. "Listen Heller, I'd rather not talk about it, okay? In fact I'd rather not talk period, so just shut it."

The younger man raised his hands, palm outwards in mock surrender. "Yeah sure, fine, whatever you say." As much as he tried though, Josh just couldn't keep quiet. Call it nervous anticipation if you will, but he was too psyched to remain silent. "Not the most obvious couple in the world, I certainly would never have thought of it." He knew he was tempting fate and most probably a black eye, but he continued nonetheless. "I never thought Julia would have gone for the flyboy type."

"I said shut it, Heller!" Alonzo snapped, his eyes locked on the viewscreen before him. Trying not to listen, he found a suitable focus to keep his attention from straying back to the blithering youth.

"Seriously though Solace, you break her heart and you'll have me to deal with."

*The cocky little shit!* Alonzo swung around once more, this time jumping up from his chair. With one hefty bodily push, Joshua Heller was flung to the shuttle deck, his chair knocked out from under him. "SHUT UP!! I have not *and* will never, ever break Julia's heart, you got that? I love her, more than I have ever loved anybody in my life. Understand?" Alonzo stood back, his heart pounding. "We were going to get married." He stated, although his last words were so quiet, Josh never heard them.

"Yeah, geez, cool it." Josh picked himself up off the cold floor and wiped dust from his pant legs. Righting his chair once more he sat down, not one more word passed Joshua's lips for the next four hours.

02:27

The persistant buzzing at his side finally woke Mitchell up. With an exaggerated sigh he pushed a hand through his tangled hair. *Now what?!* He reached for the small communications device that was pressed snuggly against his bare skin beneath his shirt. He fitted the device into his Gear, and activated the feed.

"Mitchell here."

"Finally, and where the hell have you been?" Reilly demanded. His voice sounded pinched, nervous even.

"Asleep, what do you think, it is 2am." Mitchell responded crisply. He didn't like to be awakened in the middle of the night, especially by an asshole with an attitude.

"Just get your ass down here now, I'm in the Comms room."

"Yes sir, straight away sir." Mitchell replied sarcastically, but the councilman had already broken the connection.

Mitchell reached a hand over the side of the cot, feeling around for the discarded pair of pants that should have been nearby. Then he realised that for the umpteenth time that week, he had fallen asleep fully clothed. Deliberately taking his time, the sergeant left the warm confines of his cot, and made his way the the communications hub of the satelite.

"What took you so damn long." Reilly asked as Mitchell strolled into the room. The liaison didn't turn though, instead he continued to stare at the communications console, his face intense.

"Got here as fast as I could." Mitchell threw back, indifferent to his superior's note of urgency. "So, what's the problem?"

"We've got company." Reilly informed him, as he bent to key in a command.

A picture flashed up on the main viewer that covered most of the aft wall. Mitchell squinted as he studied the screen, try as he might though, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Where, I don't see anything?"

"Eve, magnify sector 8."

"Yes Councilman Reilly." The computer replied obediantly as the view loomed into focus on a small spacecraft.

"Who is it?"

"Eve's not sure, the craft is too far away to identify."

"How far, is far?" Mitchell stepped closer to the viewer. By its shape, the craft looked to be a small passenger shuttle, probably a Beta Class IV. They were very hard to come by, top of the range, very expensive.

"They'll reach the satelite in just under two hours. We have plenty of time to think of a suitable 'deterant'."

"What exactly are you planning to do? Because you know, its most probably some kind of foolish rescue stunt by Adair and crew. They don't want to lose their precious doctor."

"Yes, I realise that. I'm afraid Ms Adair just doesn't know when to leave well enough alone. We won't do anything for now, let them think we haven't spotted them, lull them into a false sense of security."

"And then?"

"And then," Reilly finally turned to face him, smiling. "Blow 'em outta the sky." He drawled melodramatically.

"Aye, aye Sir!" Mitchell replied with a grin.



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03:15

"Careful!" Ramirez warned. He tilted the visual feed arm on his Gear, adjusting it closer to his face as he blinked sweat out of his eyes. The doctor stood stock still, breath held, as he watched the pele scan Thomson was transmitting.

Thompson shifted position in the claustrophobic vent. He swore he could hear his echoing heartbeat in the confined metal tunnel. Gentally, he lowered the explosive device into the small crevice to the left of the air conditioner. With a flick of the switch, the small black box armed, it started to bleep as the countdown to detonation began.

"How long till it blows?" Ramirez asked, chewing nervously on his lower lip.

Thompson studied the small crystalline display, the digits glowing eerily in the dimly lit vent. "59 minutes... 58... 57..."

"Okay, okay. You better get out of there. So you're going to load and prep the shuttle, while I stay here with Heller, right?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you both in the Cargo Bay in 90 minutes?" Ramirez nodded. "Alright, Thompson out."

Thompson removed the Gear from his head and stowed it in his shirt pocket. He then slowly backed out of the vent and soundlessly jumped down to the corridor floor, replacing the mesh cover. With a quick glance through the window to make sure that the other crew members were still sound asleep in the main quarters, Thompson jogged to the Cargo Bay.

Ramirez removed his Gear also, and placed it on the table top. He picked up the solution he had been working on before Thompson called in. The liquid swirled around in the small vial as the doctor analysed the mixture with his diaglove. The readings seemed correct, the consistancy positive. *Lets just hope it works*. He pushed the vial into the slot on the sediderm, then walked over to the cot that Julia Heller lay sleeping in.

"Dr Heller you have to wake up." He paused, but there was no response. "Dr Heller, do you hear me? You can't go to sleep." Still no movement. Laying the sediderm down, Ramirez gently shook the young woman by the shoulders.

"Wha... Whatta matter? 'Lonzo?" Julia rolled her head to the left, the direction the voice was coming from. Her voice sounded strange, even to herself. Distant.

"No, its Dr Ramirez. Come on Julia open your eyes for me. How do you feel?"

"Hmmm, fuz... Kinda fuzzy." She slowly opened her eyes, the brightness of the room adding to the terrible pounding in her head. Finally the face that belonged to the voice she kept hearing, flashed into focus.

Ramirez smiled as she looked at him. "That's it Julia, now keep looking at me. Focus, don't close your eyes again, okay?"

Julia tried to nod her compliance, but her head didn't seem to want to move. She had to settle for talking, which was even harder to do. "'Kay." Her eyes narrowed as she studied his features. "Who you?"

"My name is Alex, I'm a doctor. Don't worry Julia, you're going to be fine. Now I've synthasized a mixture that should help to clear up the 'fuzziness'. So just lie still a minute, while I..." Ramirez cut his own sentence off, as he picked up the applicator and pressed it to her neck. He watched as the vial emptied, the solution being injected into her bloodstream. "It will take a few minutes to take hold, so just relax."

"Mmmm, yeah." Came the slurred reply, as Julia closed her eyes once more.



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03:58

"Okay, so they're right on us. Shall I wake the rest of the crew?" Mitchell clasped his hands behind his back as he addressed Reilly.

"No. No I don't think that's necessary. I think you and I can handle this situation on our own, don't you?"

"Oh definately." Mitchell stepped back over to the main viewer. The shuttle was clearly in focus now, it seemed near enough to touch. A smile crept across Mitchell's face.



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04:09

"Something very strange is going on here, they should have detected us by now." Solace frowned, by all outward appearances the satelite looked deserted. "You don't suppose they've already left do you?"

Heller studied the shuttle console, he found the situation more suspicious than strange. *We're walking into a trap. Being drawn in*. He didn't voice his fears to his co-pilot though, they could be completely unfounded, no use in getting jumpy now. "*Anything* is possible." Joshua replied distractedly.

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be the optimistic one here. You're supposed to say, 'Don't be stupid Solace, everything is gonna work out fine.'" Alonzo quipped, his tone half serious.

"Don't be stupid Solace, everything is gonna work out fine." Josh responded immediately, his voice completely devoid of humour. "Better?"

"Yeah much, thanks." Suddenly the navi-panel emitted a sharp bleep, and a string of co-ordinates and calculations flashed onto the screen. "Okay then, here goes nothing. Docking procedure initiated.



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04:14

"Right, they've started docking procedures. They're sitting ducks." Mitchell hands danced over the control panel, punching in a variety of commands. "One shot of the plasma cannon, should disable them. The second should finish them off." Mitchell shot Reilly a somewhat bemused glance. "Say when..."

Eve, the satelite computer, interrupted Reilly's command before it even left his lips. "I have detected a minor disturbance in the Crew Sleeping Quarters Councilman Reilly." Her holographic representation appeared on the viewscreen, replacing the shuttle dock that they had previously been watching.

"What sort of disturbance?" Reilly questioned clearly puzzled.

"A small explosion on deck 2b, no damage has been caused." Eve continued.

"An explosion, how the hell..." Mitchell programmed a full perimeter scan. "She's right, could they be shoorting at us." He motioned to the viewscreen.

"The shuttle?" Mitchell nodded. "No, they think they've snuck in undetected, they aren't going to draw attention to themselves now."

"Then who?"

"Eve, was the explosive device triggered internally?"

"Yes, the detonation occurred in an air conditioning conduit. No damage has been caused."

"Looks like we've got a traitor on board. Call a yellow alert, I want everyone down here now!" The councilman instructed. A klaxon started blaring, issuing all crew to take up defensive positions.

"What about the shuttle?" Mitchell asked, his fingers hovering over the weapons systems panel.

"Just shoot it down goddammit, I haven't got time to play around with them."

"Yessir." The button that Mitchell pressed should have sent a streak of plasma across the sky, the power enough to knock out all the shuttle's power and life support. However, when he did press it, nothing happened. He tried again, thinking that perhaps he hadn't hit it squarely. Still nothing. "What the hell...?"

"Now what?!" Reilly demanded from his vantage point infront of the main viewer. He strode across the room to join Mitchell, as the Sergeant started to push each button on the weapons panel in turn, each one delivered the same response.

"Nothing, the things shanking dead, all weapons are non-responsive."

"WHAT!!" He boomed. "Eve, weapons status now. Why aren't we getting any response?"

"Weapons systems have been disabled Councilman Reilly."

"Disabled? By who for christ's sake?"

"Weapons sytems were disabled by Thompson, Leuitenant J. Authorisation codes were accepted."

"Thompson. That son of a bitch, I never trusted him." Mitchell spat, slamming a fist into the console, the plexiglass straining beneath the force.

"We'll deal with him later." Reilly replied, maintaining his calm. Suddenly he glanced at his watch and swore, as if remembering an important previous engagement. "Where the hell are the others?"

04:28

Thompson hummed to himself as he continued packing the shuttle with supplies. He'd been careful to include everything the three of them may need. Food, clothing, extra oxygen tanks. He wasn't exactly sure where he was going to take the shuttle, his first thought was to return to G889. But he didn't much relish the idea of throwing himself at Devon Adair's mercy. There wasn't really anywhere else to go. The small shuttle wasn't designed for long haul flights, it would never make it all the way back to the station he'd left 22 years ago. Perhaps though, they could make it to a nearby Council outpost. He could spin them a convincing yarn, insist that the whole mission was a failure and that only the three of them survived. Then hop on the first available transport to the stations. That was probably the most viable option, now all he had to do was convince Ramirez and Heller. Dr Heller, he realised would most definately oppose the idea, she had friends on G889, a surrogate family. She didn't really have alot of choice in the matter though, she would just have to come to terms with that.

The blaring klaxons and flashing lights, were beginning to get on his nerves. He had been surprised when they had first started, wondering who had ordered the yellow alert. He had thought that everybody was asleep when the bomb had gone off, that had been the plan. Noone was to be awake as it detonated. Oh well, it was of no matter now. Thompson had just spoken with Ramirez, the doctor reported that Heller was now fully conscious and coherent. The three would be meeting up in approximately 10 minutes. Then they would get the hell out of here and back to civilisation.

His Gear continuously bleeped, demanding his attention, but he ignored it. Thompson wondered if Reilly had discovered that the weapons systems had been disabled yet. He had been pleasantly surprised when Eve had accepted his authorisation code, but she had done so without question. At least that was one less thing to worry about. They were definately not going to get blown to smithereens on departure.

After stacking the last of the oxygen tanks into the shuttle hold, Thompson checked his chronometer. Ramirez should be here any minute. The Leuitenant left the shuttle to wait for them by the cargo bay doors. It was on his way there, that he bumped into someone he'd thought he'd seen the last of.



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"Something's happened to them." Reilly stated the obvious, as he studied his chronometer. It had been almost 20 minutes since he called a yellow alert, and not one crew member had reported for duty. The council operative turned back to the computer screen, hoping to gain some much needed answers. "Eve, can you tell me the exact location of crew members?"

"Yes Councilman Reilly. All crew members are presently located on Deck 2b."

"That's the sleeping quarters." Mitchell paced the small room. "Wait a minute. That's where the explosion was right?"

Although the sergeant hadn't actually been addressing the computer, Eve replied in her ever pleasant tone. "That is correct Sergeant Mitchell. The explosion occurred in the same vicinity as the crew sleeping quarters."

Mitchell ignored her reply. "They couldn't have been killed by the explosion because it caused no damage. So the only other logical explanation for a bomb planted there..."

"Would be to knock them out." Reilly finished for him. "They've been gassed."

"Must be. You stay here, I'm gonna go check it out." Mitchell instructed as he ran out of the comms room.

Upon reaching the sleeping quarters on Deck 2b, it seemed that his assumption was correct. As he looked through the glass porthole on the door, he noted that every member of 64 reconn was unconscious. Some were still in bed, obviously they'd made a soundless transition from sleep to unconsciousness. Others it seemed had tried to fight the effects of the drug, sprawled on the floor in several stages of undress. One man had even made it to the door, before passing out. Mitchell was unable to explore further, he dare' nt open the door for fear of gassing himself also. Instead he reasoned that the next best course of action would be to secure the person responsible. As he looked around the room, he noted that two people was conspicuosuly missing from the roll call - Thompson and Ramirez.

*Med-Bay* That worm Ramirez, had been balking alot just lately. Questioning his orders, professing a deep concern for Dr Heller's health. Just as he'd suspected, as he neared the door to the Med-Bay, Mitchell could hear voices.



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Alonzo and Joshua walked slowly through the Cargo Bay. Ever alert for the slightest movement, their guns drawn at the ready, they rounded the corner of the last shuttle. Despite their caution, neither man heard footsteps heading their way.

Thompson's eyes flashed with shock and then fear, as he collided with the two men. It seemed that they too were surprised by his sudden appearance. Thompson though was the first to recover as he dashed for the door.

Alonzo recognised the man immediately, he was the one in command of the group that he and Julia had encountered all that time ago. The familiar stab of anger surged through the pilot as he literally threw himself at the other man. He missed his body by inches, but was able to get a firm hold on the man's legs. Using energy, he didn't know he possessed. Alonzo wrestled Thompson to the ground, pinning him down, as Joshua trained his gun on their captive.

"You son of a bitch! Where is she?!" Solace demanded as he stood, trusting that the older man wouldn't move with a gun pointed at his head. Thompson didn't answer straight away, which gave the pilot the perfect excuse to kick him hard in the ribs. "I said. Where is she?" He repeated, punctuating his words with extra blows to Thompson's torso.

Heller laid a hand on his friend's arm. "Solace, hold up. Give him a chance to speak." Despite his words, the young man was just as eager to kick the shit out of the guy. "You are Leuitenant Jeffrey Thompson, correct?"

"That's right, who are you?"

"It's none of your damn business who *we* are." Alonzo pointed his own gun at the man lying on the ground. "*We* are the ones asking the questions. Now I'm gonna ask you one last time. Where is Julia?"

"She's... She's in the Med-Bay." Sensing that Josh was the more concillatory of the two, he turned his attention to him. "Listen you don't understand, I'm... I'm helping her. Ramirez and I, we're..." He fumbled his words as the men continued to glare at him, Alonzo cocked his gun threateningly. "Ramirez the doctor, he's with her now in the Med-Bay, we were all going to take a shuttle, get off the satelite. We were going to take her with us, away from Reilly."

"Reilly?! You've been taking orders from Reilly?" Alonzo questioned incredulously. He let out a bitter laugh. "You idiots, you've been taking orders from a computer."

"A computer?" Now Thompson was puzzled. What did he mean a computer, Eve was the computer aboard the Excalibur. What was he talking about?

"Yeah a computer, Reilly's a computer generated hologram." Alonzo replied somewhat smugly.

"No, Eve is the computer simulation. Reilly is as real as you or I."

"Listen, we have not got time for this. We have to find Julia now." Josh interrupted, he was even more confused than the other two, he had absolutely no idea who Eve *or* Reilly were.

Alonzo seemed somewhat embarrassed by this statement. Heller was absolutely right, now was not the time to be arguing, Julia could be in danger. He reached down and grabbed Thompson by the back of his shirt, and pulled him roughly to his feet. "You say Julia's in the Med-Bay?" Thompson nodded, offering no resistance. "Then take us there. Any surprises and I won't hesitate to use this." He waved his gun infront of Thompson's face. "Understand?" Thompson nodded again. With the butt of Alonzo's gun pressed firmly against his back, Thompson led the other two men to the Med-Bay



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"So do you trust me now?" Ramirez enquired. The doctor had spent the last fifteen minutes, explaining everything that had happened aboard the satelite while Julia was unconscious. He had outlined all the council's plans and answered every question Heller had thrown at him, in an attempt to gain her trust.

Julia regarded him warily. His posture and body language suggested he was intensely nervous - a sign of sincerity? His tried to mask his anxiety, but Julia could see right through him. Although she in fact believed every word he had told her, her reply was cagey. "I don't really have much of a choice do I?"

"Dr Heller, I assure you everything I say is true. Please believe me, I never meant you any harm." Ramirez continued pleadingly.

"If that's the case, then why am I still tied up?" Julia asked, a last attempt to assure herself of his honesty. She strained her arms and legs against the bindings that held her.

"Oh my... I never realised you were still... I'm so sorry." Ramirez stuttered, mortified by his mistake. He immediately flung aside the blanket that covered her body, and bent to untie her restraints.

Julia lay back, eyes closed, breathing a mental sigh of relief. Ramirez was obviously sincere, he meant to help her. To take her off this god forsaken satelite. Therefore she was quite puzzled when Ramirez stopped midway through releasing her. She opened her eyes and looked at him. The strange look on his face, was even more perplexing, in fact it was quite frightening. His eyes were wide, mouth twisted into a grimace. As Alex Ramirez slumped to the floor, a low gutteral groan escaped from his throat. Julia's own eyes widened as she watched him fall, and noticed the other figure standing directly behind him. The newcomer raised a blooded knife, and smiled.

"Hey doc, did you miss me?"

Julia recoiled in horror as Mitchell deftly stepped over Ramirez's still form. She desperately tried to get out of the bed, but realised that Ramirez had only managed to free her leg restraints before he was interrupted by Mitchell, her arms were still strapped to the cot. She was held down tight. The young doctor valiantly tried to put on a brave face, masking the panic that swept through her body. "Keep away from me you son of a bitch."

"Tsk, tsk. Now is that any way to treat an old friend?" Mitchell's upper lip curled into a vicious sneer. He toyed with the soiled blade he held in his right hand. Turning it around, catching reflections from the bright overhead lights.

Julia instinctively coiled her body into a defensive position. Pushing her back against the cot behind her, drawing her knees up to her chest. "I'm warning you..."

Mitchell stopped, his grin widening. "What you gonna do, *stare* me into submission? Face it Julia, you're gonna lose this one. Mommy's not here to save you this time."

"What's my mother got to do with this?"

"You know goddamn well what she's gotta do with it. If it wasn't for her interference, I never would have been suspended from duty. I missed out on the sergeant's exam because of that scheming bitch."

For a moment Julia was stuck for a response. She had never known that her mother had been instrumental in Mitchell's punishment.

As the woman remained silent, Mitchell continued his accusations. "She tried to get me thrown out of the corps, and I know it was you that put her up to it. You Heller's have always been the same. Selfish, self righteous bastards, who wouldn't blink at flushing someone's career down the pan."

"What?!" Julia had had about enough of this bullshit. What the hell was he talking about. He acted like he was innocent for gods sake, that he was the wronged party. "Mitchell, you attacked me. What, you think it was unjust what happened to you? I certainly don't, they *should* have thrown you out of the corps." She knew that this would anger him further, but she didn't care. It was plainly obvious by the look in his eye, that Mitchell had definate plans for her. She would just as soon die right here, right now.

Mitchell advanced on her then, his face like thunder. "Why you little..." Then he stopped short, and paused. As if mulling her words over. "Oh no you don't." He shook his head from side to side, pursing his lips. "You think I don't know what's going on inside that pretty little head of yours. You think you can get it over with quickly? Well you got another think comin', because there is no way in hell you are going to get away with things that easily." He continued to shake his head, a slow smile forming on his lips. "Oh no. We're gonna have a little fun first." Extending his right arm, he caressed her cheek with the point of his knife, leaving a trail of blood on her pale face - Ramirez's blood.

The distance between them shortened considerably as Mitchell leaned forward. Julia pulled her knees into her chest as far as she could, and then lashed out. The heals of both feet connected squarely with his chest, and Mitchell flew backwards. Julia winced as his knife nicked her cheek. Using every ounce of strength she could summon up, the doctor frantically wrenched at her wrist restraints. She watched with dread as Mitchell slowly picked himself up off the floor, he didn't go for her as expected though, instead he walked over to the lab table on the other side of the room. Deliberately taking his time, drawing out the suspense, he surveyed the table's contents. Sorting through the jumbled mess of medical supplies, his eyes finally rested on what he was looking for. In two long strides he was back at Heller's side, this time he grasped her ankles, holding them down with one large hand.

"Looks like you're going to need calming down. You don't want to be all worn out before tonight's festivities, do you?"

As one last ditch defense, Julia spat in his face. "Go to hell!"

Mitchell acted as if he hadn't even noticed, as he pressed the sedi-derm to her neck. "What I think you need is a nice long rest."



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Alonzo literally pushed Thompson all the way to the med-bay. The nozzle of his gun wedged between the older man's shouder blades. As far as the pilot was concerned they couldn't get there fast enough. Especially since Thompson had just told them that Julia had been in pretty bad shape.

"She is conscious now though, right?" Alonzo asked worriedly.

"Oh yes, she's fine now. Dr Ramirez contacted me not ten minutes ago, to say that Dr Heller had come around. He was talking to her, so I assume that means she's fully coherent." Thompson assured him, he saw the young pilot visably relax. The three stepped into the elevator that would take them to the upper deck.

As the elevator hummed into life to start its short journey, Josh frowned and turned to Thompson. "Why is it so quiet around here? I mean we've not seen any crew since we boarded the satelite. Plus, although I had prayed for it, no one challenged our docking. Why?"

Thompson allowed himself a small smile. "That's because all the crew is currently sleeping."

"How can they possibly sleep through this racket." Alonzo asked incredulously, referring to the monotonous drone of the yellow alert klaxon.

"Believe me Mr Solace, the condition they're in they'd sleep through a thermo nuclear explosion." At Alonzo's confused expression, Thompson elaborated. "I set a small explosive device in the crew sleeping quarters. It detonated about 40 minutes ago, and contained a mixture of sleep inducing drugs. It knocked the whole crew out instantly, they'll be unconscious for at least 2 hours. Unfortunately, it seems that I didn't manage to detain the whole outfit. You see someone must have been awake to set off the Yellow Alert. I'm thinking it was probably Reilly."

Heller was still not convinced. "Then he would have seen us approaching the satelite, why didn't he try to stop us?"

"Must probably he tried to, but couldn't. I believe that I also managed to disengage 'Excaliber's' weapons systems. The whole rig is defenseless. That way Ramirez and I could leave on a shuttle, and be sure that we wouldn't get shot down two seconds later."

The elevator pulled to a stop and annouced its arrival at Deck 2. The men disembarked, and continued their near run to the med-bay. As they approached the door, Thompson stepped aside to allow the other two to take the lead. The door slid open as Josh came to a stop infront of it. The young man's blood ran cold as he heard a very familiar voice.

"Go to hell!"

Josh didn't recognise the voice that followed Julia's, but Alonzo did. "NO!" He wasn't going to let it happen all over again, he wasn't going to chance losing her a second time. Pushing Josh out of the way, Alonzo ran into the room.

Mitchell was very surprised when the pilot entered the sterile lab. He didn't show it though. Instead he slowly stepped away from Julia Heller, holding the sedi-derm gun high over his head, as if offering his surrender. The huge smile on Mitchell's face belied his actions. This was obviously not the end of this little fiasco.

Alonzo pointed his gun at Mitchell's head, one gentle pull of the hair trigger, would blow the sick son of a bitch's head off. That was fine with Solace. He wasn't a violent man at heart, but he thought seeing this man's brains spread across the room would be quite fitting. "That's right, keep moving Mitchell. You get the hell away from her!" Josh and Thompson entered the room to stand behind the pilot, Josh had his gun drawn also.

Mitchell dropped the sedi-derm to the ground."Well, well, if it isn't the cavalry."

"My god David, what have you done?" Thompson demanded, seeing the crumpled body of Alex Ramirez. The young doctor was lying face down on the floor, the back of his lab coat stained red with blood. The other two covered Mitchell, while Thompson dragged Ramirez a safe distance away to check his wounds. The young man was still alive - barely. The knife had punctured his right lung, his breathing was ragged and strained.

Mitchell merely shrugged. "Just another traitor, Thompson. The council cannot abide traitors, the same will happen to you." Thompson found his crewmate's tone very disconcerting, it was if he believed he was some one-man council executioner.

"Shut up Mitchell!" growled Alonzo.

Mitchell turned his gaze toward the pilot. "I should've finished you off back on G889. But no, I listened to Thompson here. I should've known he'd turn out to be a gutless coward."

"I said, SHUT UP! Get on the goddamn floor now, face down, hands behind your back." Alonzo instructed.

Mitchell ignored the order but instead extended his hands, wrists joined, towards Alonzo in an age old gesture of surrender. Frustrated Alonzo repeated his instructions his finger visably tightening on the trigger of his gun. Mitchell merely smiled. "Why? What are you going to do Fly-boy? You're too late anyway. You missed all the fun!"

"What the hell are you talking about Mitchell? What have you done to her?" He anxiously glanced over to where Julia lay unconscious on the cot.

"Nothing she didn't enjoy, that's for sure," Mitchell sneered. "I can see why you're so keen to get her back Solace. She turned out to be quite..." He smirked. "How shall I put it - 'Enthusiastic'. But then I'm sure you know that already."

It was obvious to Josh, that Mitchell was merely trying to bait the pilot. It was a very transparant ploy, and Heller was certain that Solace saw that too. He was surprised to say the least, when the pilot started to respond to Mitchell's remarks. Alonzo's expression suddenly darkened, his cheeks flamed red. "Solace, NO!" Josh tried to grab the pilot's arm as he leapt forward, his eyes murderous. However it was too late. Alonzo threw a wild punch in Mitchell's direction. Blind fury interfering with the pilot's aim, Mitchell easily avoided the blow. Solace's still healing stomach seared with pain, as Mitchell's own punch connected. The fist splitting the mending flesh once more, fresh blood blossomed, seaping through Alonzo's tightly wound bandages. The immense pain made the pilot's head spin, suddenly a wave of nausea made him fall to his knees. As Alonzo fell, Mitchell brought his right knee up under the other man's chin. With a sickening sound of grinding teeth his body was propelled backwards. Mitchell advanced to finish the pilot off. *A couple of swifts kicks to the head should do it*, he thought. *Or perhaps use the kni...* The soldier's musing were brought short as an arm clamped itself in a death grip around his throat.

"You move, and I swear I'll break your shanking neck!" Joshua Heller snarled, he tightened his hold on the soldier, exerting pressure on his windpipe with one arm, and grabbing a hand full of hair with the other. One sharp twist was all it would take.

"I have absolutely no idea who you are kid, but I assure you that *that* would be a very bad idea." Mitchell drawled. "Now, I suggest that just let me go. I am a member of the Council's military forces, you kill me and you're as good as dead yourself, got it?"

"Yeah, now you get this. I am very slowly going to let go of you, okay? You so much as breath in Solace's direction and Thompson there will shoot you. Isn't that right Leuitenant?" Thompson nodded his head somberly, his expression intense as he trained his gun on Mitchell. "Okay, now I'm letting you go now. Do not move!"

Mitchell was literally bristling with mounting rage, as he felt the boy's grip loosen. He let his left hand fall to his side, fingering the razor sharp hunting knife that was consealed beneath his shirt. As soon as he was clear, he was going to teach them all a lesson on who not to mess with. They are all traitors, the Council would undertstand his actions, maybe even commend him for it. He'll kill them all, get the satelite under some semblance of order once more, and then continue with the mission as planned.

Joshua slowly released his hold, trusting his life to the quick wittedness of Thompson. Mitchell made no move as Heller stepped away, he merely dropped his arms to his sides. The young man was taking no chances though. Re-drawing his gun, he held it by the barrel and cracked Mitchell over the back of the head with the other end. The soldier crumpled to the floor, blacking-out instantly.

"Hey Solace, you okay?" Josh asked as he bent over his sister's unmoving form.

"Yeah I think so, just give me a sec." Alonzo crouched down, a palm placed flat against the floor. A stance he'd used many times to contact the Terrians, was now being used to merely keep his balance. He stayed in that position taking deep even breaths, until the spinning in his head finally ceased. After a couple of minutes he slowly stood, and clutching his stomach, he crossed over to Julia's bedside. "How is she?" an icy chill passed through him as he looked down at his lover. Her face was pale, waxen. Her eyelids had a strange purplish tinge to them, dark circles beneath. Cheeks, cold to the touch. "She isn't...?"

"No. No, she's alive. It looks like Mitchell sedated her again."

Alonzo pushed a few strands of damp hair away from her face. "Julia, baby can you hear me?"

As the pilot silently waited for a response, a strained whisper came from behind him. "She wont..." Solace and Heller turned around, to see Alex Ramirez, now awake, flailing on the cold metal floor. Using Thompson as a support, Dr Ramirez tried to sit up. A wave of pain caused him to lay back down. With a hand gesture he beckoned Thompson nearer.

Thompson acting as interpreter, conveyed Ramirez's fears to the other two men. "Alex says that if Mitchell has sedated Dr Heller again, her system may not be able to take it. She won't wake up again."

"What?! So is he saying she's going to die?" Josh asked, as he used his foot to push Mitchell onto his back. Even when unconscious the sergeant seemed to be grinning, the young man resisted the overwhelming urge to plant a boot in that smug face.

Alonzo shook his head vehemently. "No, Julia'll fight it. She won't let it get the better of her, right baby?" Gentally stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, he wondered perversely, if this was like one of those ancient fairy tales he used to read as a boy. Would one kiss awake the fair maiden, the spell broken by her valiant prince?

Josh shared a pained look with Thompson before he spoke. "Solace we have to get her off the satelite if we're gonna help her." The pilot nodded his head, his eyes still intent on Julia. "Untie her hands. Thompson will you be okay carrying Dr Ramirez?"

"Yeah we'll be fine. What are going to do about Mitchell, we can't just leave him there."

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do. We haven't got time to do otherwise. Julia needs immediate medical attention, we have to get her to the shuttle asap."

Joshua Heller acted as lookout just in case any more council members showed up, while Solace finished untying Julia's restraints. He carefully picked her up, cradeling her in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. Ramirez, using Thompson as a support was also able to stand and somewhat shakily make his way to the corridor. With Josh in the lead, the small group made their way back to the shuttle bay.



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*What in god's name is taking Mitchell so long?* Reilly paced the small comms room, anxiously glancing at his chronometer every now and then.

After five more minutes, he couldn't wait any longer, he had to know what was going on. "Eve, give me the exact location of Sergeant Mitchell."

A few seconds pause, and then. "Sergeant Mitchell is presently located in the Medical Bay, Councilman Reilly."

"Medical Bay? What he's doing in there?" Reilly wondered out loud.

"Unknown. Would you like to view the Medical Bay SurvCam?"

"Yes, yes. Hurry." Was the impatient reply. In the top right hand corner of the view screen, a small projection appeared, it was so small in fact that Reilly had to squint to make it out. He saw the body of Mitchell sprawled out on his back, the thing that he found most annoying however, was that Dr Heller was missing from her bed. "GODDAMMIT! I ask him to do one simple thing, and what happens... Heller was my ticket off this hell-hole. Well, you know what they say - If you want something doing right, do it yourself."



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Despite the fact that she didn't weigh much, Alonzo was finding it very difficult to carry Julia. His stomach muscles strained with the effort, which caused the firey pain to increase to a nauseous level.

As he glanced around at the others behind him, Joshua noted the pilot's discomfort. "Hey Solace, you feeling alright? I can carry her the rest of the way, I don't think we're gonna see anymore trouble now."

"No, really I'm fine. You carry on." He was loathe to admit he couldn't handle it, plus there was no way in hell he was going to give her up again, to *anyone*. With a quiet grunt, he shifted her weight in his arms. Trying to find the most comfortable position for both of them. He continued on, Julia held in a type of fireman's lift, her head hanging over his shoulder. It was at that point that he noticed something else. He shifted her position again, so that he could see her face. Saying a silent prayer, he tilted his head forward to meet hers, his ear inches away from her mouth. *Oh my god, no!* "JOSH!" he screamed. The other man abruptly stopped to face him, his gaze questioning. "Josh, she's not breathing!"

"What?!"

"Julia's not breathing. She's not breathing" he repeated, his voice clouded with panic, as he gentally laid her on the floor of the corridor. "Do something!"

The young man ran to his sister's side, and placed two fingers against her neck. "She's still got a very faint pulse. Must have only just happened."

"What must have only just happened?" Alonzo demanded.

"Solace, just calm down alright." He waved anxiously to Thompson and Ramirez, who were making slow progress behind them. "She's had a system failure, the sedatives that they kept giving her slowly wore her system down to the point of collapse. Now we have to get her breathing again, and stabilise her enough to get her to the shuttle."

"What difference will getting her to the shuttle make now. It'll take us three days to get back to G889, by then it will be too late."

"No, you don't understand. That shuttle the colony ship brought with it is state of the art. It has full medical facilities, medi-scanner, the lot. If we can just get her to the shuttle, the med equipment in there should be able to stabilise enough for the trip home."

"Then what are we waiting for, come-on." Solace made a grab for Julia, but Josh laid a hand on his arm stopping him.

"Wait, she isn't breathing. We have to get her breathing again first, or she won't even make it to the shuttle."

Thompson and Ramirez finally reached the other three. With a grimace Ramirez lowered himself down, to kneel at Julia's side. "Thompson, pass me my bag." the doctor instructed in a strained tone.

Alonzo looked on apprehensively as Ramirez dug through the content of his bag. Finally the young man found what he was looking for. An empty derm-app, and a vial full of pinkish looking liquid. "What is that?"

The doctor looked up at the pilot, his face a picture of reassurance. "Its called Adrenomine. Once injected it will instantaneously give her heart a boost, the effects won't last long though, we'll have to get her to that shuttle straight away." He leaned forward to apply the solution, but Alonzo held him back.

"Hold on." After taking a deep breath, Solace picked Julia back up. As she cradled in his arms, he nodded to Ramirez to do it now. Ramirez stepped back when he'd made the injection, he was just about to warn the pilot that her reaction to the solution maybe quite scary, when Julia bucked in Alonzo's arms. She took a deep heaving breath, and her eyes flew open. Alonzo's own heart skipped a beat, as Julia's unblinking ice blue eyes seemed to stare straight through him. "Doc, is she supposed to do that?" he asked worriedly, as she continued to noisily gulp in air.

"Yes, its alright. She'll calm down in a moment. I suggest that you get her to the shuttle right now though."

Alonzo nodded, and ran as fast as his injured body and awkward hold on Julia would allow. Josh and the others not far behind.



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Reilly hurriedly punched in the last command, and slammed the lid shut. He smiled proudly as the satelite computer responded to his instructions. The yellow alert klaxon ceased, to be replaced by another.

One by one the overhead lighting panels died, the ominous red glow of the auxiliaries taking over. Computer screens blinking out, as they lost power.

Grabbing his coat, and a few personal belonging and shoving them into a holdal, Councilman Reilly ran, full speed to the cargo bay.



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Thompson watched as Alonzo disappeared into the Shuttle bay, Josh hot on his heels. He hoped to god they weren't too late. He didn't know what he'd do if Dr Heller died, he realised with dread that he was also in part responsible for her condition.

Ramirez grunted and groaned with effort at Thompson's side, the young doctor's arm draped over the Leuitenant's shoulder, as they too made their way to the shuttle.

Both men stopped dead, as the overhead lights failed.

"What the...?!" Thompson glanced at Ramirez.

The young man, his face bathed in a dark red glow, seems just as puzzled. "That's the emergency lighting. Why's that come on like that?"

Thompson shrugged, then looked up at the ceiling, his eyes searching. His eyes flashed in consternation as his gaze locked on a corner of the long corridor.

"What's the matter?"

Holding up a hand to silence the younger man, Thompson whispered. "Listen."

Ramirez did as he was asked, but all he could hear was a monotonous drone, of the kind he had been hearing for the past hour. "You mean the klaxon?" Thomspon nodded. "So, its been doing that for hours."

"No. No, its changed. Oh shit, listen."

Ramirez tilted his head to the side, and listened once more. Thompson was right, the klaxon had changed. The doctor suddenly pushed himself back into motion, in a sudden hast to reach the shuttle, as the klaxon continued to announce its distress.

."..Attention Emergency. The auto-destruct sequence has been initiated. The installation will self destruct in T-Minus 8 minutes 57 seconds..."

"What do mean the auto-destruct's been activated? Who would do that? It doesn't make any sense." Alonzo stated.

What difference does it make now. We're getting out of here anyway. If they wanna blow this thing sky high, let 'em." Josh responded, as he settled himself into the pilot's seat.

Thompson stood in the cockpit with the other two men. After ensuring that Dr Heller and Dr Ramirez were safely hooked up to the shuttle's med-scanner, he had told the two about his discovery. According to his chronometer, they had less than six minutes left. "That's easy for you to say Heller, you don't give a rat's ass about the Council or it's property. There are nine men on this satelite, men that I am responsible for. We can't just leave them here to die - Mitchell yes, he can burn in hell as far as I'm concerned - but I'm not letting that happen to the others."

Solace thought this over, before turning to Heller. "He's right Josh, we can't let the satelite blow. For one thing we can't let innocent men die."

"Innocent?" The younger man scoffed.

"Yes, *innocent* they were just taking orders, I don't blame them for what happened to Julia. They were misguided yes, but they don't deserve to die for that. Reilly is the one that is responsible for all this, he's the one that set the satelite to self-destruct too no doubt."

"And?" Josh asked impatiently.

"And, if this satelite is destroyed we *all* die."

"What are you talking about?"

"Yale, told you about Franklin Bennett and Elizabeth Anson right? The two scientists on the Venus Class we found." Heller nodded. "Well it's because of them that we even know about this satelite and Eve. We also found out that every member of Eden Advance and possibly all the people on the colony ship too, have bio-stat implants attached to their brain-stem, the bio-stat's are monitored by Eve. If anything happens to Eve we get sick, or even *die*."

"Yeah, I know. Yale told me all about that too. You don't know whether that's true though, that could just have been a coincidence."

"Yeah, maybe it was, but we can't take that risk. So I want you and Thompson to take Julia back to the surface for me, okay? I'm gonna try and stop the rig from blowing."

"Why can't we just wait for you?"

"Because if I don't make it in time and it does blow, I don't want you all going up with it."

"Solace, that doesn't make any damn sense. You just said yourself if the satelite blows, they all die anyway."

The pilot grabbed Heller by the shoulder, his face inches away from the younger man's. "Listen, we haven't got to time to argue about this. Just humour me okay? You also just said yourself, that it may have been a coincidence, let's just pray it was."

"You're right." Thompson told Alonzo, as he opened the shuttle's outer hatch. "But you're not the one who's going, I am." Without waiting for a response, the Leuitenant pushed the heavy metal door open and ran outside. The hatch shut behind him again with a dull clunk.

"Where the hell does he think he's going?" Solace demanded, turning to pursue the older man.

Josh, put a restraining hand on Solace's arm. "Let him go man. He'll be faster than you anyway, he's uninjured and he probably knows exactly how to shut the self-destruct off." The pilot made no move as Josh let go of him, he just stared absently at the shuttle's hatch. Heller set about firing up the shuttle's engines. They had about four minutes left.

"We can't just leave him here."

"Geez Solace, make up your mind will ya. A minute ago, it was fine to leave you."

"That was different."

"No it wasn't, and anyway there's another shuttle. He can catch us up."

Resignedly, Alonzo sat in the seat next to Heller. After a deep breath, and a silent prayer, he too began punching in commands. A low rumble passed through the shuttle, as the thrusters fired.



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Jeffrey Thompson sprinted to the nearest computer terminal with the capability of shutting down the auto-destruct sequence. It was located in the lower deck engineering room. Even as he ran, Eve continued the count-down to destruction.

."..Attention Emergency. You now have T-Minus 2 minutes, 37 seconds till the installation will self-destruct..."

On reaching the Eng. Room, Thompson literally threw himself at the terminal, ripping off the protective cover. Beneath, were a dizzying array of buttons and wires. "Okay now. Easy, easy." The Leuitenant whispered under his breath, as he gently probed the box with his fingers. None of the buttons were labelled, which made his task all the more difficult. He would have to reverse the auto-destruct process by memory.

."..1 minute, 57 seconds..."

"Okay, just give me a second goddammit!" He swore at the offending announcement. Taking a deep breath, which he in fact didn't release. Thompson began pushing buttons in a seemingly random order. A red crystalline display flashed on above his head.

'Cancel Auto-Destruct sequence: Yes or No?'

He jabbed the Yes button, with a shaking index finger.

'Please enter Authorisation Code now.'

Thompson did as he was asked, a bleep accompanied each of the eight digits. After a few seconds, which felt like a lifetime to Thompson, the display flashed once more.

'Authorisation accepted. Auto-Destruct sequence has been cancelled'

Finally able to let out his breath, Thompson noted that the command had been completed with only 24 seconds left. "What was your hurry Jeff? You had plenty of time!" He sighed, with a nervous chuckle. As a fail safe, he also spent a couple of minutes adding a security clearance code to the command. A feature to insure that the Self-Detruction sequence couldn't be re-initiated without a 12-digit, pretty much uncrackable code, of Thompson's design. Satisfied that it wouldn't offer any more of a threat, Thompson replaced the metal cover and left Engineering.



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"How's she doing?"

Alonzo didn't avert his gaze from Julia, as Joshua sat down beside him. "Well she's breathing regularly again."

"Which is good right?" The younger man asked, sensing the despondent tone in Solace's reply.

"I guess." Finally the pilot turned to face Josh. "I don't know man, she don't look so good. I have no idea what all these mean, do you?" He asked, pointed to the med-scanner readouts panel.

"Let me take a look." He shifted position, to get a better view of the electronic read-outs the machine was displaying. "Hmm, now let's see. This is the heart rate monitor, that appears within the norm. Blood pressure - fine." He continued to tick of other elements beneath his breath. "As far as I can tell, everything appears within the green. She's not in tip top condition, but she seems to be out of danger at least." Solace still didn't seem convinced. "Relax, she'll be fine. As a chromotilt, Julia has a very high resistance factor. The sedatives wore her down a bit, but once her body rejects the remaining toxins she'll be right as rain."

"I hope so."

Josh laid a hand on Solace's shoulder in reassurance. Then he turned his attention to the other occupied cot in the small shuttle. "And how's Ramirez doing?"

"Oh, he's doing fine. I gave him a derm-app for the pain, like you said. Then when I hooked him up to this, he went to sleep. Again, I can't really make out most of these readings, but I think his condition's stable."

Leaning over to see the readings on Ramirez's monitor, he concurred Alonzo's report. "Yeah, you're right. He's stable at the moment, his wound has been cleaned and treated. Should be okay by the time we get to G889."

"At least that's something to be happy about."

"Hey, we got alot to be happy about, Solace." Heller rebuked. "We got her back didn't we. I'm telling you, she *will* be fine. You have to believe that, believing is half the battle, right?"

"Okay, okay. I believe you. Let's just drop it."

Heller realised that one thing would convince Alonzo, and only his sister could do that. They would both just have to patiently wait, until Julia herself was strong enough to provide that much needed certainty.

An uncomfortable silence followed, to be shortly broken by a tinny scream of static.

"Solace, Heller, you reading me?" Jeffrey Thompson asked.

Leaving Solace to tend to his two patients, Heller sat back down at the cockpit's control panel. "Yeah Thompson, I'm reading you fine. I take it, by the fact that your still with us, that you managed to de-activate the self-destruct mechanism."

"Affirmative, no problem." Was the static distorted reply.

"Where are you now? Are you in the second shuttle yet?"

"No, I'm in the Comms Room."

"The Comms Room, what're you doing in there? There is'nt much time before the others wake up, you have to get outta there."

"I know. I was just checking to make sure that Reilly hadn't set any other surprises. Everything seems clean though. I'll be launching the shuttle in a couple of minutes."

"Okay. Have you seen any sign of Reilly?"

"No, I haven't seem him. Hey, you've got a point there, where is he?" There was a long pause, before the lieutenant resumed. "Oh shit, I can't leave the satelite with that maniac running around. I'm gonna have to go find him. Thompson out."

"No, Thompson wait! It's not worth it, don't go after him..." It was too late, Thompson had already cut the connection.



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Jeffrey Thompson trekked through corridor after corridor searching for Councilman Reilly, before he realised it would have been a lot quicker searching by modern means. He carried on to the comms room, and with an exaggerated sigh of annoyance, settled down at the main control panel. Passing a hand over every single button on a nearby board, a series of screens flashed into action off to his right. As the many surveillance camera that were liberally spread across the satelite activated, Thompson was given a clear view of who was doing what. As of right now though, that didn't amount to much. One of the survcams showed that the occupants of the crew quarters were still otherwise engaged, mouths open, snoring peacefully without a care in the world. At least that was one thing the lieutenant needn't be bothered with, by the time they all woke up, he'd be long gone. As he turned his attention to the next monitor however, he hoped his last thought wasn't just wishful thinking. The displayed feed was being transmitted from the Med-Bay - the room was deserted. A fact that may have been fortunate in different circumstances, was presently causing Thompson considerable concern. "Shank!" Now Reilly *and* Mitchell were unaccounted for.

"Dammit, why can't things ever be simple?" Thompson swore to himself as he jabbed another button. Deciding it was worth the risk of revealing his whereabouts, he called upon the assistance of the satelite computer. "Eve?"

The reply was immediate, her synthetic voice sickening chipper. "Good Morning Lieutenant Thompson."

"Eve, can you tell me where Councilman Reilly is presently located?"

A short pause, and then "I can not."

Thompson was taken aback by this seemingly evasive reply. "What do you mean 'You can't?" He demanded, his anger rising.

Unaware of the human's growing annoyance, Eve responded flatly. "Councilman Reilly is no longer aboard the 'Excaliber'."

"What?!"

Taking his rage in its literal sense, the computer started to repeat itself. Thompson cut Eve off mid- sentence. "Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. How did he leave, where did he go?"

"He left via an Emergency Escape Vehicle, 8 minutes and thirty six seconds ago. No determinable course was plotted."

Thompson released his pent up anger on the nearest inanimate object, the cockpit chair next to him spun around haphazardly as the Leuitenant fumed. "Goddammit, that son of a bitch!" He put out a hand to still the spinning seat, and then collasped into it. "Shit, he's going to go down to G889 himself. I have to warn Eden Project."

"Leuitenant Thompson?" Eve inquired, waiting for her next command.

"What? Oh nothing, that will be all. De-activate." He replied, but then as an afterthought added, "Just one more thing - Is Sergeant Mitchell still on board?"

"Affirmative. Sergeant Mitchell is presently located in the Shuttle Bay."

*The shuttle bay? Damn I can't let him leave too.* Thompson realised with sudden urgency. He leapt up from his chair and ran from the Comms room. Leaving Eve to her own synthetic ruminations, if she possessed such things...



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"Thompson, are you there? Please respond." Heller tried once more. "Its no good 'Lonz, he either isn't near a comms terminal, or he's just ignoring us." Josh threw down the microphone in frustration. The two men had been trying, unsuccessfully, to reach Leuitenant Thompson, for the better part of an hour. Their intention was to dissuade him from persuing Reilly.

Josh turned around to face Solace so that they could decide on their next strategy. However, his train of thought was broken at the sight of his friend. "Man, you don't look so hot." The young man stated, although even that was an understatement. Alonzo Solace, looked to be at death's proverbial door. His pale face was covered in a thin sheen of perspiration, and his lips matched his eyes, both tinged a bluish purple.

"Gee thanks, a person likes to know when they're looking their worse." Alonzo replied sarcastically, as he self-consciously wiped his face with the back of his sleeve.

Josh ignored the attempt at humour, his face deadly serious. "No really, you look like shit. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just feel a bit queasy, that's all."

"Well, its a bit late now to find out you get travel sick, pal." Josh joked stiffly, as he continued to critically regard the pilot. "You sure you're okay?"

"Listen, I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Then in an attempt to change the subject, Alonzo asked. "Do you think we'd be able to contact New Pacifica from our present location?"

Alonzo was relieved when Josh directed his attention to the nearby comms panel. At least the young man was satisfied, for now, with Alonzo's explanation. Truth be told though, Alonzo felt like he was going to either puke or pass out any second, but he'd rather Josh didn't know about it. The last thing they needed right now, was another body strapped into a med-scanner.

After a few minutes of deliberation using the information the shuttle was providing, Heller offered his reply. "I don't see why we can't. We should be within communications range, unless the satelite is still jamming our frequencies." He finished with a shrug. "The best way to find out, would be to just give it a try."

Alonzo frowned, not quite pleased with the prospect of explaining what had happened on the Satelite to his friends. "I suppose." He took a deep breath and then instantly regretted it as a sharp pain knifed threw his stomach. After the discomfort had passed, the pilot opened the comms channel. "Eden Project, this is the shuttle Narcissus, do you copy?"

Alonzo repeated this message a number of times, then all the two men could do was wait with feeling of uncertainty. Finally a familiar voice broke threw the whine of static. "Alonzo, is that you?"

"Yeah Martin, its me." A burst of chatter eminated from the other end, as Morgan Martin excitedly called for his wife. After a few more seconds, the aforementioned woman joined the conversation.

"Thank god Alonzo, are you okay? We were really starting to think the worst down here."

Alonzo waited patiently as Bess began firing a jumble of questions at him. Finally the pilot was given a chance to respond. "I'm alright Bess, glad to be heading home."

After the preliminary queries, Bess entered a territory, Alonzo was pretty sure he didn't want to get into. "Did you find Julia?"

"Yes." He answered non-commitally.

It now sounded like the comms tent was filled with colonists, their muted whisperings filled the shuttle. As Alonzo strained to hear what they were saying, one distinctive voice overlayed the others. "Alonzo, its Devon, how's she doing?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Alonzo saw Josh staring at him. The young man's expression was pained, obviously mirroring Alonzo's own feelings. "She's not doing too good, Dev." He told her, his voice cracking with emotion. "Those bastards pumped her full of chemicals, it ate away at her. He said she might not wake up again."

"What?" Devon asked with confusion. "Who said that?"

Seeing that Alonzo was having difficulty in answering, Josh stepped in. "Ms Adair, its Josh Heller. When we found her, she was unconscious. Ramirez, the Council Doctor, he tried to help her, but he said that she's suffered a total system failure and might not make it."

"What do you think?" She asked quietly.

"My sister's a lot tougher than that." The young man stated matter of factly. "She'll fight it."

An uneasy silence followed, both parties unsure of what to say next. Finally, John Danziger asked, "What in the hell happened up there."

"Its a long story Danziger." Alonzo replied. "And not a pretty one either. We're on our way back though, make sure you're ready for us. Julia and Ramirez will need immediate medical attention. I'll try and get in contact when we're a bit closer to G889."

"Alright 'Lonz, you do that. Just make sure you bring everyone back safely, and be quick about it."

*Amen to that.* Alonzo thought as he cut the connection.

Thompson neared the Shuttle bay with an air of caution, his pistol drawn and trained at the area in front of him. Eve had stated that Mitchell was in there, but so far Thompson had found no signs to attest to that fact. The bay door opened automatically with an almost silent whoosh as the lieutenant triggered the mechanism. Whirling first to the left and then to the right, he ensured that no one was lying in wait for him on either side of the doorway. No one was, but that didn't calm the erratic beating of his heart.

The bay was occupied by the hulking forms of two standard military shuttles. Designed to hold a maximum of 15 fully equipped soldiers and a small armoury, the crafts were quite large, especially when compared to a regular passenger shuttle. Their size was not what was presently worrying Jeffrey Thompson however, he was more concerned with what, or rather who, could be inside one of these heavily armoured beasts of burden.

Approaching the nearest craft, Thompson carefully positioned himself flat against the cool metal skin. Listening for a minute or two for any kind of sound inside the shuttle, he assured himself that it was empty. Feeling the need to double check, Thompson quietly unlatched the shuttle outer door and swung it wide open. He peered into the dark interior before climbing up into the craft. A perfunctionary search, clarified that the shuttle was empty.

Repeating his previous steps, Thompson stood silently outside the second craft, that sat deeper in the bay. Once again he heard nothing, he hesitantly opened the outer door, and climbed inside. The first thing he noticed, was that it wasn't quite so dark inside this second shuttle. Glancing around he tried to determine where the lights were eminating from, walking from the main compartment into the cockpit, the lights brightened considerably. A yellow glow illuminated the main control panel from above. Leaning over the many buttons, screens and sensors, Thompson noted with a growing sense of panic the activated Navi- Panel. The screen still contained the last command it had received.

'G System. Sector 889 - Course Plotted. E.T.A. = 69 Hrs 39 mins'

"Shit. He *is* going back to G889." Thompson exclaimed outloud.

"Of course I am." A voice stated from the rear of the shuttle. "You didn't think I'd just give up did you, after such a minor setback. I, unlike other people around here, follow directives."

"Mitchell." Thompson acknowledged, turning to face the younger man. Mitchell looked like hell, his uniform uncharacteristically dishevelled, a streak of blood had travelled from his temple to his shirt collar. "This is pure foolishness, why are you going back?

"Our orders still apply, Thompson. I'm going back for the Adair boy, unfortunately I won't have Heller, but hopefully the Board of Regents will overlook that when I bring them the child." Mitchell stepped around Thompson as he made his way to the control panel.

"But why?"

"Well for one thing it will show Adair and her merry band that defying the council has a price."

"They weren't defying anyone David, can't you see that." Thompson implored. "Adair was just trying to save her son."

Mitchell laughed derisively, as he made a show of prepping the shuttle. "You really are a sucker for a cause, aren't ya Thompson." The sergeant finally turned to face his superior, his voice dripping with scorn. "The council was quite prepared to help those Syndrome kids, all she had to do was wait. But nooooo, she had to take off on her own, using daddy's money to buy a whole wagonload of pioneers."

As the younger man pontificated, visions of his own little boy flashed into Thompson's mind. Did Mitchell know about Thompson's own syndrome afflicted son, or did he simply not care? "By god Mitchell, you have your head shoved so far up the Council's ass you can't even see them for what they really are. They were stalling, don't you realise that. They had no intention of letting Adair leave, they didn't want some renegade running around setting up colonies, what would that have done to their credibility? What would have happened, if some jumped up architect suddenly comes up with a cure for a fatal disease, that the council had been denying ever existing since the beginning." Thompson could feel his anger excalating, he wasn't exactly sure if he was saying all this for Adair's benefit or his own. He'd known the truth all along, he just didn't want to believe it. "No, they couldn't let that happen, they would rather let innocent children die, than admit they were powerless against this virus, at least then they were still in control."

For once, Mitchell was without a cocky comeback. He just stood there, an absurd look plastered to his face, he appeared flustered, unsure of how to respond. "Yeah well." He answered after a few more moments pause. "If that's what you want to believe, go with it. Just get outta my way, I've got things to do before I leave." He began to go through the motions of pre-launch, ignoring Thompson as best he could, until the older man grabbed his arm.

"What?!" Thompson demanded. "You're still going to go down there."

"Why, did you think that little pep talk was gonna change my mind or something? Why should I believe anything you say anymore, you were helping them, you watched while they clubbed me half to death." With a quick jerk of his arm, Mitchell released himself from Thompson's grasp and backed himself into the corner of the room. "Oh, and don't think I'm not going to report your treason to our superiors when I get back to the stations, because that will be one of my priorities. You never know though Jeff, they might send you to G889 afterall - as a penal colonist." Mitchell finished with a loud bark of laughter, obviously quite amused by his own joke.

"I can't let you do that David, I'm sorry." Thompson stated, as he drew his gun on the younger man.

Mitchell however, had been waiting for this moment all along. Reaching behind his back he grasped the handle of a de-activated mag-pro with both hands - the laser gun, transformed into a makeshift club. Taking one huge step forward and wielding the heavy weapon, Mitchell swung it with all his strength, connecting with the side of Thompson's head.

The force of the blow propelled Thompson backwards, and he fell heavily on the metal floor of the shuttle. Before he had even recovered sufficiently enough to defend himself, Thompson saw Mitchell advancing.

The younger man's expression was intense, using both hands he lifted the mag-pro above his head. "You had your chance Thompson, you could have joined me. But now I'm afraid you're time is up." The Sergeant hissed through clenched teeth.

To Thompson, the mag-pro - one end covered in a thin layer of blood - seemed to discend in slow motion. Mitchell's face was obscured from view, as the lethal weapon neared Thompson's head. At the last minute, he was able to lift his arm to ward off the blow, and although this did shield his head, he groaned with pain as the bones in his wrist were smashed. With gruesome determination, Mitchell set about his superior officer. Thompson remained silent throughout his ordeal, not wishing to give Mitchell the added satisfaction, as the blows rained down on him.

Mitchell stopped after a time and regarded the bloodied figure at his feet, Thompson's eyes were closed,and he wasn't making a sound. The Leuitenant was either dead, or very near it, Mitchell surmised. Content with his handiwork, the Sergeant reached down and grasped a hold of Thompson's shirt collar. A snail trail of blood followed, as Mitchell dragged the other man to the shuttle's outer hatch.

"It was a pleasure working with you, sir." Mitchell sneered as he pushed Thompson out of the shuttle and closed the door behind him.



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A nausea inducing pounding filled his head, every ounce of his being hurt. Thompson felt like he'd just been run over by a transrover. He'd been awakened from his peaceful unconsciousness, by an ear-splitting racket. Pushing his blood encrusted eyelids open as much as they would go, Thompson surveyed his surrounding. He was laying, face down, on the cold floor of the shuttle bay. *How the hell did I get out here?* he thought to himself, the last thing he remembered was finding Mitchell in Shuttle #2. Then it all came back to him, with another head-jolting wave of pain. Mitchell was planning on returning to G889 to complete his mission. *Over my dead body.* Thompson thought, which evidently was what the issue had come down to. After overcoming his last obstacle, Mitchell was free to fulfill his objective.

Or was he?

The shuttle that Mitchell was piloting, had not yet left the bay. In fact the high decibal level which had awakened Thompson, had been the craft's thrusters firing.

Thompson hadn't got much time. From the rhythmic hum of the shuttle's engine, the Leuitenant could tell that the craft's departure was imminent. Thompson's only hope to detain Mitchell was to close the bay's Emergency Outer Hatch. The purpose of the EOH was to keep intruders out, but in theory it could also keep certain elements in. As Thompson was certain he wouldn't be able to stand, he began to pull himself across the cool metal floor, the bay floor was made up a square grills, with conduits running beneath. By reaching full stretch and pushing his fingers into the grating, Thompson was able to pull himself over to the other side of the huge room, to the bay control centre. As he reached the opposite wall, he noticed the shuttle inching forward towards the launch area.

Using the chair postioned behind the bay console, Thompson was able to lever himself into an upright stance. His body shook tremendously with each little movement, but Thompson was determined to end this. He reached across the panel of buttons and switches, and slapped one bloody hand down over a large cross-section. The display blinked to life, and one button which was covered with a heavy transparent shield, illuminated. With shaking hands, he lifted the plexi-shield, and jabbed the red button beneath.



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Mitchell sighed with satisfaction, as the shuttle neared the bay door. He passed through the atmospheric barrier, the shuttle now powering itself through zero gravity, mere inches from the welcoming blackness of empty space. "Home free." The sergeant breathed, although this was perhaps just a little premature, for as the words left his lips, the klaxons began.

"Emergency Outer Hatch has been activated. Please stay clear of the Bay Doors..." The artificial voice calmly stated.

"What the...?!" Mitchell watched with a mixture of confusion and dread, as he saw the heavy security hatch start to close. Obviously Thompson's condition hadn't been as fatal as Mitchell had thought, he had somehow triggered this last hurdle. The younger officer wasn't ready to give up yet though, he felt sure that he could make it through the quickly lessening passage.

Increasing the shuttle's power, Mitchell pushed forward. He whooped triumphantly as the shuttle's nose passed through the outer bay and into the open, and apprehensively held his breath as the wider sections of the shuttle tempted fate. It seemed that lady luck wasn't on his side this time. The craft bucked under the immense pressure of the EOH, but the powerful engines managed to push through, a high pitched screech of metal on metal filling the air. Unfortunately, the shuttle's victory wasn't without penalty. Mitchell swore loudly as alarm after alarm sounded inside the small cockpit.

"Warning Outer Hull Breach."

"Warning Proximity Sensors Inoperative."

"Warning..." The list of damages seemed endless, there was even a small electrical fire on board. The most worrying announcement however, had to be - "Warning Oxygen depletion. Shuttle De-compression." Checking the Oxygen level readout, Mitchell was horrified to see that it had already dropped to less than 60% and was falling fast, very worrying seeing as though he had neglected to pack extra tanks in his haste to leave the satelite. He typed a query into the Shuttle's main computer.

'How long will current supply of oxygen last?'

The reply was almost instantaneous - 'At current rate of depletion, Oxygen supply will last approximately 6 hours.'



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Swaying only slightly on his feet, Thompson surveyed the contents liberally scattered on the medi-bay counter. There were an array of state of the art medical devices, unfortunately the Leuitenent didn't know how to use any of them, he would have to make do with good old fashioned first aid, and a bit of blind luck. *First things first,* he thought as his shaking hands wrapped around a derm-app. The terrible streaks of agony that had filled his body had abated a little, but he was still in immense pain. He pressed the applicator against his neck and pushed the trigger, with a faint tickling sensation, Thompson felt the pain killer enter his blood-stream.

It had been over an hour before Thompson had even felt up to moving from the Shuttle Bay, he had been losing a fair amount of blood, and realised that he had to do something before he became to weak to move at all. Taking over 30 mins to stagger to the med-bay, the military man had set about cataloging his injuries. The Dia-Glove had indicated; two broken ribs, multiple contusions to the head and torso, and a fractured wrist. Not as bad as Thompson had feared, but pretty banged up nonetheless.

After a few minutes the derm-app started to work its magic. The stinging, burning and throbbing that seemed to eminate from every pore of his body, was reduced to a dull ache. His damaged wrist lay uselessly at his side, all he could do until the bone healer vaccine kicked in, was to strap it up. Using various ointments and sterile-pads that he found on Ramirez's desk, Thompson was able to clean up most of the flesh wounds that covered his heads and arms. The broken ribs that he had suffered wouldn't be quite so straightforward, however. With only a basic knowledge of first-aid, and field emergency exercises, Thompson had no idea how to treat these injuries. At least for now, with the help of the derm-apps, he was comfortable - well, semi-comfortable - and therefore not in any enormous need of treatment.

Thompson spent an hour attending to his many injuries, and then feeling somewhat better for it, made his way to the communications centre. He tentatively settled himself into the chair before the main console, very wary of his aching limbs.

He switched on the majority of monitors embedded in the metal wall before him, and then activated the many scanners,sensors and radars that the ship housed. It didn't take him very long to pinpoint the location of the shuttle Mitchell was piloting. Switching on the transmitters, he started hailing the renegade shuttle in as many frequencies as he could think off. He had to get Mitchell to turn back.

Thompson had spent over half an hour fruitlessly sending message after message to Mitchell, he was just about to give up the ghost, when a voice responded.

"Jesus, you just don't know when to give up do you Thompson." Mitchell didn't sound angry as Thompson had imagined he would be. The younger man just sounded weary, his words came out slow and soft.

"Mitchell, listen to me." Thompson enunciated every word carefully, as if speaking to a small child. "If you don't turn the shuttle around right now and return to the Excalibar, I'm going to have to disable it."

"I'm afraid you're a bit late for that, Jeff old pal."

"Why, what are you talking about?"

"The shuttle's damaged, I'm losing oxygen." The Sergeant began to cough. Thompson heard him hungrily gulping in air between each bout of coughing. After it had abated somewhat, Mitchell wheezed. "Its falling fast, there's less than two hours worth left."

"Then you have to come back, you've no other choice."

"Didn't you just hear what I said, you dumb shit? I've only got two hours worth of oxygen left, I'm over *four* hours away from you." He growled and then started coughing all over again.

Thompson waited for him to finish before asking. "Haven't you got a back-up supply on board?"

"Oh yeah, a back-up supply - silly me!" Mitchell replied sarcastically. "If had a shanking back-up supply, do you think I'd be wasting time talking to you?"

"Okay, okay. Just calm down or you'll only waste what little you have." Even though the man had tried to kill him, Thompson had no wish for Mitchell to die. The leuitenant desperately tried to think of a way to help his sergeant.

Thompson came up blank each time though, there was no way to save Mitchell. Both men knew that.



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Every bone in his body cracked in protest as Josh stretched his tired limbs. Raking a hand through his unkempt hair was all the young man could manage in terms of freshening up, a huge yawn escaped him as he made his way to the cockpit to relieve Solace.

"Hey man, you should have woken me up earlier. I only meant to take a little nap, I've been asleep for almost six hours." Heller complained halfheartedly, truth be told he could have happily dozed for another twelve.

"Yeah well, you need the rest as much as I do, and there wasn't really much happening up here anyway." Alonzo replied.

Regarding the bleary eyed pilot, Josh doubted that he needed anything as much as his friend did. Solace appeared to be in worse shape every time he looked at him.

Pale as a sheet with red rimmed eyes, Alonzo turned away from Heller's critical gaze. Checking on Julia for the forth time that hour, he was once again dissapointed to see no change at all in her condition.

Josh's eyes followed the pilot, he noticed his unsteady gait, the slowness of his actions, but again he said nothing. If Alonzo was as sick as Josh feared, confronting him about it would only make matters worse. He'd just have to stick it out, and hope Solace will admit he needs medical attention. "Did you hear from Thompson while I was sleeping?"

Alonzo shook his head as he gently tucked another blanket around Julia's still form. He leaned over and tenderly kissed her on the forehead before turning back to Josh. "No not a word, I hope nothing happened up there. He should never have gone after Reilly."

"Do you think we should try to contact him?"

"We could try, but it would mean drawing attention to ourselves." Alonzo stated dully.

"Yeah, but what if he needs our help. We should make sure he's okay."

Alonzo winced slightly as he sat down at the comms panel. Activating the transmitter, he called Thompson. The Leuitenant responded almost immediately, evidentally he had been waiting for them to contact him. "Did you find him?" Solace asked without preamble.

"Who, Reilly?" Thompson asked, causing the other two men to wonder who else he had been chasing. "No, he's gone. He left on an EEV, Eve has no idea where he's heading."

"G889 would be my first guess." Josh muttered.

"Yeah, Mine too." Thompson replied. "But we can't be sure, I think you should warn your people on the surface a.s.a.p. just in case."

"We will. What about Mitchell, he still unconscious in the Med-Bay?" Alonzo asked next, as he fiddled with the controls on the comms panel. With a flash of colour a very hazy picture of Thompson sitting in the Satelite's comms room, appeared on the monitor before 'Lonz and Josh. Despite the poor quality of the visual transmission, both men were shocked by Thompson's appearance. "Jesus, what happened to you?"

"Er, Mitchell's dead." Thompson replied, self-consciously pulling at the bandage that was tightly wound around his right wrist. "He took one of the shuttles, he was going to go back to G889. He shuttle was damaged though as he tried to leave Excaliber, it leaked all of his oxygen supply, and well - he didn't make it."

"Aw shucks, what a shame." Josh responded sardonically. "Did he do that to your face?"

"Yeah, I'm a bit busted up, but I'll live." He answered flatly. For some reason the younger man's flip remark angered Thompson. Afterall no matter what the outcome, Mitchell had been a colleague. In a way the Leuitenant felt somewhat responsible for what had happened. He should have handled the situation better than he had, he should have confronted Reilly and Mitchell about their plans. He should...He should...*Shit. I should have what? There was nothing I could have done, Mitchell was a loose cannon and I knew it.* Thompson thought to himself, self-blame wasn't going to accomplish anything, they all had to move forward now. "How are you guys doing, any change with Alex or Dr Heller?"

Solace shook his head sadly. "No, not yet. What are you gonna do now, are you taking the last shuttle and meeting us at New Pacifica?"

"No, I'm going to stay here. If I take the last shuttle my men will be stranded here, I'm going to take them back to the stations."

"But what are you going to tell them, about us I mean?" Josh asked.

"Nothing, they don't know you came to the satelite, they were all unconscious remember. I'm going to tell them Reilly and Mitchell went berserk, drugged them all, kidnapped Alex and Dr Heller and stole a shuttle, which unfortunately exploded due to a malfunction. That they went against their orders and subsequently eradicated the mission."

"Will they believe you?"

"What choice do they have, there's no-one left to tell them otherwise."

"I suppose. But are you sure, you know you're more than welcome to join us." Alonzo told him.

Thompson smiled. "I'm sure. Don't worry, you won't hear from the council again, I'll make sure of that. I wish you the best of luck, Dr Heller will be in my prayers Mr Solace." Then to the bemusement of both men, Thompson saluted.

Alonzo smiled sadly in return. "Thank you for eveything Leuitenant Thompson, I mean that."

"No thank you." Thompson whispered, as he leaned forward to terminate their connection.

That was the last they ever heard from Leuitenant Jeffrey Thompson and the 54th Reconn.

...Continued in 'Contact - Epilogue'

CONTACT - Epilogue
by Laura Pickering

[Voice of Alonzo]

'The shuttle Narcissus landed at New Pacifica exactly 69 hours after we left Eve's satelite. Despite my warning, the colonists haven't seen hide nor hair of Councilman Reilly, they're on a constant alert though, just in case.

I fear nothing from Reilly and his kind. My only fear is that I won't be around long enough to see Julia recover, every hour I spend on this shuttle is an hour closer to what I am certain is the end. I haven't told Josh that I'm sick, I didn't want him putting me under, I wanted to make sure that they made it safely back to G889. I wanted to make sure that Julia would be among friends, and what I consider to be our family, once more. Now that I'm certain she'll be taken care of, I can... I can what? Go quietly? I'd never willingly do that. Lydia was right, it is a hell of a ride, and I'm loathe to give it up now, now that I've only just discovered what life is really all about.'



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Josh could see the crowd of colonists gathering outside the shuttle. Devon Adair and John Danzinger were at the front of the group, their expressions solemn. "Are you ready Solace?" He asked his friend.

Alonzo kept a tight hold on the woman cradled in his arms. Julia Heller hadn't regained consciousness since they had left the satelite. "As I ever will be." The dark haired pilot replied grimly.

Josh pushed down hard on the handle and the door swung open in a wide arc, squinting as the bright morning sun illuminated the interior of the shuttle, he disembarked from the craft that had been his home for the past 3 days.

Devon rushed forward at the sight of Alonzo and Julia, a barrage of question spewing forth before she could even stop herself. A sick feeling of worry and dispair sat in the pit of her stomach. "Oh my god Alonzo, what happened. Are you okay? Has there been any change with Julia?"

"I'm fine Devon." the pilot breathed, as Josh helped him down. "Julia's no better." He faltered, and looked down at his lover, a sad smile pulled at his lips. Lifting his head once more, he scanned the crowd until his eyes fell on John Danzinger. "John can you just...I can't..." He frowned and held out shaking arms.

As Danzinger reached out and lifted Julia from Alonzo's embrace, the pilot's eyes closed. With an almost silent moan, Alonzo Solace collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"Dr Vasquez!" Devon screamed in panic as she rushed to the pilot's side. "Get over here quick, please." She checked for a pulse, and was relieved to find one, even as faint as it was. Pushing his way through the crowd surrounding the shuttle, Dr Vasquez joined Devon at Alonzo's side. His dia-glove was already on his hand. He frowned as he scanned the pilot's inert form.

"What's the matter with him?" Devon asked after a few minutes, tears rimmed her eyes.

"Its not good Devon, he's lost a lot of blood." Looking up at Josh Heller, the doctor asked. "Did something happen to him up there?"

The young man shrugged, his expression pained. "I don't know, he wouldn't tell me what was the matter with him. I could tell he was sick though. He's going to die isn't he?"

For a moment the doctor didn't respond, then he drew in a breath and let it out again in a long sigh. "I can't be sure, although I can tell you that if he had been left any longer he most certainly would have. We have to get him to the hospital straight away. Mr Walman, Mr Baines, can you help me please." He asked looking to the two anxious faced members of the advance crew.



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[Voice of Yale]

"For a while it was touch and go for Alonzo. Dr Vasquez classed his condition as critical for the first two days. Thankfully the pilot was in the hands of a first class physician and an excellent medical crew, working day and night they managed to stabilise his condition. Alonzo was given blood transfusions to replace the significant amount of blood he had lost. Dr Vasquez's greater concern however, was that Alonzo's stomach wound had become infected. The doctor had immediately started Alonzo on an antibiotic prescription, hoping that it would remove all foreign elements."

"A week has now passed since the shuttle returned to New Pacifica. Alonzo has yet to regain consciousness, but Dr Vasquez is positive it is only a matter of time before he does. He assures us that Alonzo's body is merely recuperating, and when he feels he is strong enough, Alonzo will awake. I hope he is right."



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"You're looking a lot better today Julia." Bess Martin stated, as she re-arranged the flowers that sat on the young woman's night table. Looking down at the blond doctor's face, Bess smiled sadly. "Dr Vasquez says Alonzo's getting stronger by the day now, he should wake up soon."

"Bess, what are you doing?"

Mrs Martin whirled around at the voice of her husband. Morgan stood in the doorway of the hospital room, his face questioning.

"I know it sounds silly Morgan, but Yale told me that talking to a person that's in a coma, sometimes helps." Off Morgans doubtful expression, she added. "Well, what can it hurt?"

Morgan crossed over to his wife, and took her in his arms. She buried her face in his long hair, as the tears started anew. "It can't hurt at all honey." He replied softly, gently stroking her curly hair. "I'm sure Julia appreciates what you're doing, but you've got to eat its dinner time you know."

"I'm not that hungry, why don't you go along to dinner without me."

Pulling away from Bess' embrace, Morgan looked his wife in the eye. "Bess, I know this is hard. Its hard for all of us, Alonzo and Julia were..." He paused to correct himself. "*Are* our friends too, but allowing yourself to waste away isn't going to help them. You have to eat." He told her firmly.

"They were so young, so happy, why did something like this have to happen?" She looked up at him, her eyes wide, as if expecting him to answer all of life's riddles.

Morgan merely shrugged. "I don't know Bess. You're right, its not fair, but there's nothing you or I can do about it. They have to help themselves now, the doctors have done all they can do." He sighed, and pulled another chair over to the bed. "Do you want me to bring you something to eat?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you." Bess sat down at Julia's bedside, as Morgan left to get them both dinner. She resumed her update of the colony happenings. She was in the middle of quite an entertaining story about Devon and Danziger's stubborn disagreement of the day, when an excitable declaration echoed throughout the hospital.

"Hey, Alonzo just moved his hand!"

Bess recognised the voice immediately as Ulysses Adair. The young boy, had been absolutely distraught about the Alonzo's condition. Through the contact with the terrians, Uly had forged a strong bond with the adult, and despite his mother's reservations Uly spent a considerable time each day at the pilot's bedside.

Bess almost knocked over her chair as she quickly stood up, and crossed over to Alonzo's room. A huge grin broke out on Uly's face as he saw Bess enter.

"Bess, his hand just moved." The boy exclaimed.

"Lets not get too excited just yet Uly, it may just have been a muscle spasm or something. Dr Vasquez says he's been having a lot of them just lately." Mrs Martin told him evenly, not wanting to disappoint Ulysses but not wishing to get his hopes up either.

"No, no I think he's waking up. The terrians told me he would."

"They did?"

"Yeah, last night in my dreams. They told me it was time for him to wake up, that his body and soul are mended." He beamed, and then frowned as if not quite understanding what they meant.

"That's great Uly." Bess replied genuinely pleased, but still a little uncertain. "Perhaps we should get Dr Vasquez though, just to make sure."

"Okay. Will you stay with Alonzo while I find him?" Bess nodded and crossed over to the pilot's bedside, as the young boy ran out of the room.

Sitting down on the side of Alonzo's cot she took the man's hand in hers. "Alonzo, can you hear me?" She was almost afraid to believe what Uly had told her. "Alonzo?"

The young woman looked on in amazement as the pilot's eyelids fluttered and then opened. "Oh my gosh, Alonzo, you're awake!"



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"Apparantly I'm well on my way to a full recovery, but I don't feel like it. My body is mending, but I'm not whole anymore, something is missing.

The others try to help, but they can't. No one can help me except you. I seem to feel tired all the time, I just have no energy, but I don't mind. The only time it doesn't hurt is when I'm asleep, because you're there.

We can be together forever - in my dreams..."

THE END... (of 'Contact' at least)