A True terrian by Lia Faile

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A TRUE TERRIAN, Part 8
by Lia Faile

"We're lost." A petulant Uly stated as he sat down on a rock.

"Oh, so it's my fault that ZED started shooting, huh?" True fired back.

"No, but it was your idea to go looking for kobas without our gear so the others couldn't find us. If we had our gear we'd be able to track our way back to camp." He wheezed accusingly.

Ignoring his tone, True scanned the unfamiliar territory. "I know which way it is now. We need to head that way." She pointed off to her left.

"Who made you boss? Besides, that's the way we just came from."

True scrambled for a way to save face. "Exactly, we need to retrace our steps and before you know it, we'll be back at camp." She smiled at Uly who only frowned and shook his head. "I'm the boss because I'm the oldest. I say we go that way." She added trying to mimic her father's no nonsense tone.

"That's stupid. Your dad is older than my mom but she's the boss."

"That's because she's rich and has a big mouth."

"Hey! I don't talk bad about your dad!"

Uly turned away from her and folded his arms across his chest and bowed his head. True bit her lip and thought a word that her dad would be surprised that she knew. She knelt down and hugged Uly.

"Uly, I'm sorry. I'm the one with the big mouth. I say stupid things sometimes. Let's rest here a while and then we'll both decide the best way to go."

Uly lifted his head and smiled at her. "Okay."

A dark shadow of of a man with a gun fell across the ground in front of them.

###
Alonzo had given the other three a head start to make sure they were all right. When he lost sight of them in the hilly terrain, he climbed into the rail and revved it. "Okay, baby. Time for some fancy maneuvering."

Danziger, Devon and Julia were in sight of the camp and working their way down the scraggly hills scrambling madly from cover to cover. The sound of the rail racing below them drew Julia's attention. Solace was weaving the rail in figure eights and circles. Coming to abrupt halts only to whip around in reverse and head towards camp backwards at full throttle. This made him a harder target to hit and also kicked up a screen of concealing dust.

One patient ZED fired a shot. Alonzo managed to avoid a direct hit but the rail flipped and rolled several times as a result. The rail landed on its side with the inert pilot laying dumped on the ground beside it.

"Get up." Julia's whisper a cross between a prayer and an order.

She watched as the ZED methodically made its way down the opposite hillside towards Alonzo. Danziger had been keeping hold of Devon's arm with one hand. She was the one he was worried about bolting. So when Julia sprinted down the hill towards the wrecked rail, all he could do was yell for her to stop. He hollered for Baines to try to distract the ZED from Julia. At the same time Magus was shouting something about the kids.

The ZED watched her and leisurely raised his gun. Between the pounding of her heart and the harsh gasps of her lungs, Julia heard Reilly's voice in her head. 'You will die running, Citizen.' "Yes, you bastard." Julia answered the phantom voice. "I'll die running, but not away. No more running away."

###
Both children tensed and froze at the sight of the hulking shadow. The ZED had found them!

"There you two are. Come on, everyone is worried sick, especially Devon and John."

Both children sighed with relief and then jumped up excitedly.

"Mazatl! We're so glad it's you! We thought you were a ZED!"

"They're back?! With my mom?! Where is she?!"

"Where's my dad?!"

Mazatl held his finger up to his lips in a silencing gesture. "We have to speak and move very quietly. The ZEDs are still out there. Your parents are back and are fine from what I hear. So let's head back now, okay?"

The children nodded mutely but their eyes and smiles shouted for them. Mazatl softly spoke into his gear letting the other know he'd found the children. Suddenly he cried out in pain and was slammed to the ground. Rolling over onto his back he clutched at his thigh where a worm bullet was slowly and inexorably making its way deeper into his flesh. Instinctively he grasped his thigh just above the wound and pressed down trying to stop the bullet's advance. That only caused the bullet to burrow harder inflicting more pain so Mazatl released his leg hissing in pain.

"Run. That way." He ordered the children.

The ZED stepped from the cover of the boulders and blocked True's and Uly's escape route. The ZED gave Mazatl a perfunctory visual exam and after taking his magpro, deemed him no longer a threat. Then he turned his cold dead eyes on the two children who stood transfixed by fear and concern for their friend. It approached them and studied them dispassionately.

"Subject: male child approximately nine earth years old. Fits downloaded description." He intoned as if making notes into a gear set. "Your name is Ulysses Adair?" Uly nodded mutely. "You will come with me."

Then he regarded True. "Subject: female pre-adolesent approximately twelve earth years old. No standing orders in regards to other children found with Eden Advance. Standard orders will be implemented. Upon acquisition of Ulysses Adair all other members of Eden Advance are to be liquidated."

"No...she's just a little girl." Mazatl pleaded uselessly.

Danziger appeared from the east and gave a bestial roar and fired repeatedly at the ZED hoping to get it to turn on him so his child could escape. Unperturbed by the magpro shells slamming into his armored body, he lifted the muzzle of his gun. True watch as the red laser sight traveled up her body and stopped at her chest. She was paralyzed with fear. She couldn't run. She couldn't scream. She knew with a certainty that no twelve year old should have that she was moments from her own death.

"Come on True. Let's get out of here." She heard Uly's voice and felt his hand grab hers. Only instead of being pulled in a horizontal direction, she felt herself being pulled down. Both children disappeared into the ground.

The ZED and the two men were stunned. The ZED recovered first and pointed his gun at Mazatl. "Where did they go?"

"I don't know." He answered honestly.

The ZED knelt down on one knee by the spot where the children had stood seconds ago. "You know I could pulverize your bones and roll you up into a ball while keeping you alive the whole time." He informed Mazatl calmly.

"Yes, and I still wouldn't be able to tell you where they are."

The ZED slammed its hand down into the dirt as if it could reach down and retrieve the children. Like a surreal magic trick, the ZED's arm resurfaced with a Terrian's head clasped in its hand. The ZED was thrown backwards by the force of the emerging Terrian who was quickly joined by a second one.

Once more the ZED addressed his phantom master. "Contact made with alien native. Request instructions as to prioritization of objectives. Does detaining of alien native supersede capture of alien/human hybrid child?"

If the ZED ever received a reply, it's unknown. For the two Terrians crossed their staffs in a gesture that both Danziger and Mazatl were familiar with to know to cover their eyes. A blinding flash and a sound like a clap of thunder filled the air. When Danziger and Mazatl looked back, the ZED and the Terrians were gone.

###
Julia managed to reach Alonzo thanks to Baines' selfless act. Not being armed herself, the ZED turned its attention from her to Baines.

"Julia get out of here." The battered man ordered as he shoved her away from him. He painfully pulled himself upright while fumbling for his sidearm.

"I'm not leaving you. You're injured." She answered in her matter of fact voice.

"Oh? Is that your professional diagnosis?" He snapped brushing the blood running from a head gash wound out of his left eye. Try as he might, his eyes refused to cooperate and focus correctly. He kept seeing two Julias. Which under different circumstances may not have been an unpleasant thing. Right now though it meant they were screwed if he couldn't aim his gun. Course shooting at a ZED was the ultimate exercise in futility, but he'd hoped to get Julia to safety before being killed.

"Jeeze, you are a dream patient, aren't you?" She retorted as she grabbed him by the elbow and started to lead him to cover.

Like with the ZED that Danziger and Mazatl had encountered, two Terrians erupted from the earth here. Another flash and boom like lightening and thunder, and this ZED was gone as well.

###
Devon had been following Danziger's yells of fury and gun fire. She reached the clearing just after the Terrians had gone.

"Where are the children?" She demanded of the two men.

"I don't know, Devon. I think the Terrians yanked them under to safety when the ZED tried to shot True." Danziger answered feeling drained as the adrenaline slowly filtered out of his system. "Mazatl's been shot. We have to get him to Julia ASAP. Help me with him. Then I'll come back and try to find the kids."

###
A short time later an explosion echoed off the hills when Walman tossed the worm bullet far a field after Julia had successfully extracted it from Mazatl. No sign of True or Uly could be found. Alonzo's head injury prevented him from reaching the Dream Plane and communicating with the Terrians.

"Where can they be?" Devon asked for the umpteenth time as she paced restlessly outside the med tent.

"Devon if you don't calm down, I'm going to have to sedate you. Your body shouldn't be exposed to this much stress so soon. It could effect your recovery."

Devon's fear and anger found a target in the blonde doctor. "My recovery means *nothing* without my son! Do you hear me?! I don't care what happens to me! I want my son back now!"

Yale can up to Devon and wrapped her in a fatherly embrace. "Devon...Devon" he chanted as he gently rocked her. Yale's calm voice and soothing touch reduced the tough redhead to a sobbing child.

"Hey guys! Look who I've found!" Bess' chirppy voice sang out.

Devon whipped her head around and saw the young brunette herding two smiling dirty youngsters into camp.

"Oh thank God!" She cried as she rushed forward and embraced both children. "I'd thought we'd lost you two!"

Uly joyfully melted into his mother's arms. True was more accustomed to the harder and bigger frame of her father but she didn't find the softer womanly embrace untasteful.

Danziger stood and watched Devon hug and fuss over the two kids. He was both jealous and touched that she would lavish such love and attention on his child as well as her own. In the end, he was content to watch the family scene being played out before him. True and Uly were safe and Devon was back where she belonged that was all that mattered. That and the fact that Shepard hadn't lied to him. The Terrians considered them allies now, so he was going to have to get over this aversion he felt for them. They have proven more friendly and honest than his own fellow humans here.

###
Excerpt from True's voice diary:

We're back on the road to New Pacific with Devon back as our leader once more. Yale says now we can look forward knowing that we don't leave our hearts behind. We'll reach the shore of Trumbell Bay in a few weeks. I can't wait to see the ocean. The one dad described to me sounded awesome.

I don't know why Uly and I didn't tell the others that the Terrians didn't pull us down to safety. They'd made up their minds that that was what had happened and it just seemed easier to go along with it than try to tell what happened. Especially when we aren't even sure what happened. Neither Uly or me have been able to repeat it. Maybe it was just a one shot deal since we were so scared and all. Anyway, it's kind of fun sharing a secret. Uly's not so bad--for a boy.

###

end part 8 of 8 - A True Terrian by Lia Faile

-The End-

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