Andy's Fan-Fiction Archive

THE ENDS CAN JUSTIFY THE MEANS
By
Kristen Saari

Timeline: At New Pacifica
Author's E-Mail: EISAARI@venus.cambrainc.on.ca

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Hello my fellow edenites...
This is my second story, and since I got such great responces I decided to write another one =) anyway, it takes place after the crew gets to New Pacifica. I hope I got everything right, there were a few things I wasn't sure about, so please excuse any inconsistancies <sp?> if you find any. And, my spell check isn't working, so please ignore sp mistakes =) I want to thank Tara for her help and Becky, who stayed up for those latenight talks. Enjoy!

The Ends Can Justify The Means (1/7)
By Kristen Saari
Voice of Alonzo
// We lost a *lot* of time, so much so, that the colonists will be coming in a few days, and we just arrived at New Pacifica!
First the winter camp hold up, then when Devon got sick, the group hung around the pod for days before we left. Then we took a few more weeks going back to the pod and healing her when Julia finally found a cure, *then* we had to wait another week until she recovered. It was one hold-up after another. Now we barely have enough time to set up the hospital before the colonists wake up.
Devon has constantly been worrying about this and Danziger has been trying his hardest to calm her down, but it's no use. I think they finally told one another how they felt, but I'm not exactly sure.
Julia has been thinking about Reilly, and the Council. She thinks that the Council sent a ship after us when they found out we didn't blow up in the crash. I keep telling her that there's nothing to worry about, but she still keeps looking up at the sky as if we're going to be attacked at any moment. //
Alonzo and Uly had been scouting the area at Danziger's request. 'Lonzo hadn't wanted Uly to come along, but Danziger had told him that Uly was getting under everyone's feet and had to be taken somewhere, at least for a few hours.
They had been walking along the beach when Uly had suddenly run off into the forrest.
"Uly! Where the hell are ya going?!" Alonzo yelled after him. "I hear some terrians, and they sound scared!" Uly's disembodied voice called from deep in the trees. "I'm going to find out what's wrong!"
Alonzo ran after him and soon caught up. "Hold it!" he grabbed Uly by the back of his shirt and turned him around to look at him. "If the terrians are scared then there's a reason for it. What are you going to do if what ever is making them scared comes after you?"
Uly looked down, and silently agreed with Alonzo. "Okay, now..." Alonzo stopped when he heard coices coming in their direction. "Duck!" he whispered harshly to Uly and pulled him down to the ground.
Uly watched in horror as a group of heavily armed soldiers walked by them, on what looked like a drill.
"Company halt!" a huge burly man yelled at the group as they went past the two hidden Eden Advance members.
Alonzo looked at the uniforms that the soliers were wearing and recognized the Council Army emblem on the jackets the men wore. `Christ, Julia was right! The Council did come after us!'
The men had stopped right in front of the spot Alonzo and Uly were hiding. Uly had been scared before, but now that was mild compared to the mind-numbing terror he felt now. He began to whimper softly.
Alonzo quickly put a hand over Uly's mouth in an effort to stop the sound. One of the near-by soldiers looked directly at them and Alonzo was sure they ahd been found, but then he looked back to the commanding officer.
The commander called out another order, and the line of troops quickly marched off.
When Alonzo was sure they were gone, he slowly stood up and pulled Uly up with him. "Kid, we're getting outta here, now!" then proceeded to half carry, half drag Uly behind him.

When they got back to camp, Uly ran to his mom. "Mom! Mom!" he ran into her arms and started to cry. "What's wrong sweetie?" Devon asked, really worried that he was this upset. "There's soldiers here, lots of 'em..." he stopped to catch his breath. "And they got guns and everything!"
Devon looked up at Alonzo. "The Council?" Alonzo nodded.
Devon looked back to Uly. "Honey, you get everyone to come and meet me in the Dome right now, okay?"
Uly nodded and wiped away a few tears before running to find the others. Devon stood up and looked at Alonzo. "Tell me now." The two walked to the Dome as Alonzo told her what happened.

"I say someone goes to check it out before we try anything." Danziger told the group.
They had all gathered to listen Uly, Alonzo and Devon tell them what happened, and now they were discussing what what to do next.
"But if it is the Council, then they must know where we are, so we have to move camp, now!" Julia protested.
"Hey, I don't want to spend the rest of my life in hiding." Morgan said. "I say we check it out."
Some where surprised that Morgan had said this, but he had come too far to let the Council, or anyone, ruin it for him.
Everyone stared talking at once, but Devon quieted them down. "I agree that we have to make sure it is the Council here," she looked at Alonzo. "Not that I don't believe you, but we have to make sure. But I also think we should move camp to a more strategic location in the mean-time."
Danziger stood up and looked around. "I'll go check these guys out tonight, anyone want to join me?"
True looked at her dad with an anxious face. `No, dad you can't go. What if something happens?' she thought.
But before she could voice this thought, Baines spoke up. "I'm in." Followed by Alonzo. "Me too."
Julia gave the same look True had given her father. "Okay then, we leave in three hours. Get ready to move camp." Danziger got up and left the room, True in tow.
The rest slowly filed out, leaving Julia and Alonzo by themselves. "Why are you going?" Julia questioned him quietly. "Because I saw them first and I know where they are." he replied, without looking her in the eye.
"That's bull and you know it. Why are you going?" she asked again. "I jus have to okay?" he turned and looked at her. "No, it's not okay. I was a toy for the Council as long as I can remember and I've seen what they do to prisoners and enemies, and I don't want to see anything happen to you." she turned away and walked to the door, hoping he wouldn't see the tears falling from her eyes, but he did.
"Julia," he followed her, reached out and took her in his arms. "Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise." he whispered to her, and held her, until she finished crying then the two went off to pack up their tent.

Danziger, Baines and Alonzo moved closer to the fires they saw burning in the distance.
"Remember, stay close and don't say a word." Danziger growled at them. The other two nodded and they slowly made their way to the edge of the encampment.
What they saw shocked them. The same collars Gaal had used were on a huge number of terrians here. The terrians appeared to be sleeping, Danziger guessed, but not dreaming. But don't ask him why he knew this, he just did.
There looked at be a few hundred men, if by what they saw from the firelight was any indication. Alonzo was struck with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
The army appeared to have been there for quite some time. `Probably set out right after we did.' Danziger thought and motioned for Alonzo and Baines to fall back.
But as they slowly made their way from the camp, they heard voices. The three dropped to the ground, and Alonzo felt an odd feeling of deja-vu.
"They are here." Danziger heard a voice saying. "And I'm sure they don't know we're here too."
"And how can you be so sure Rick?" another asked. "Look Lee, they've been too busy setting up their 'colony' to go scouting, and they weren't expecting us anyway, so why would they look?"
"Okay, so we attack the camp in two days." Lee said. "Yes, the boy will be taken to Reilly and the rest will be executed, except for Ms. Adair and the doc."
"I still don't know what he can do with the boy, and why he wants the mother."
Rick answered. "Because we need the mother to get the boy to help us get this planet under Council control."
"And I still don't know why we have to take orders from a computer anyway." Lee grumbled.
There was a bit more conversation before the two men left to return to the camp, and that was when Danziger got up and startewd moving again.
Unfortunately, he wasn't watching where he was going, and ended up tripping. "What the hell was that?" one of the men spun around and pulled a pistol from it's holster. "Lee, check it out."
Danziger rolled sideways and tried to hide himself under some low-hanging tree branches.
When Alonzo heard Danziger fall, he quickly looked around for a hiding spot and saw a good climbing tree near them. He grabbed Baines by the arm and they both scooted up the tree.
Lee behgan walking towards the spot where Danziger lay, and stopped directly in front of him.
"See anything?" Rick asked.
"Naah." Lee replied. "It was probably your imagination." and he walked off towards the camp again.
Danziger let out a breath he hadn't know he was holding and listened for the sounds of footsteps. When he heard none he rolled out from under the branches and stood up.
"Put your hands up."
Danziger felt the tip of the gun barrel in his back. So, he put his hands up.
"I told ya it wasn't my imagination Lee," then to Danziger, he asked "So who the hell are you anyway?"
Lee went and stood in front of Danziger. "Rick, that's the drone, Danziger." Danziger felt the gun drive harder into his back. "So where are the others?" asked Rick, and when Danziger didn't respond, he nodded to Lee, who hit Danz in the stomach.
Danziger doubled over in pain.
"Where are they?" he was asked again. Danziger looked up at Rick, "Go to hell." Lee hit him again, and when Danziger fell to the ground, the two of them started kicking him in the ribs, and a few times in the head.
The noise had caught the attention of some of the men in the camp and they came running to see what was happening.
"Whitifield, hey Rick, what happened?" one asked. "This is one of the guys from the Eden Advance crew." Rick Whitifield looked around at the rest of the group standing around. "Come on! Someone take this guy to the camp and the rest of you go on look-out to see if this guy brought any friends! Move!"
The men jumped and two dragged Danziger to the camp, who in a daze of pain, had blacked out, while the rest went on patrol.
Alonzo and Baines looked at each other and Alonzo whispered, "It's gonna be a long night."
Baines nodded, and the two proceeded to spend the rest of the night in a tree.
End of part 1.
Cont. in part 2.
Send all comments etc, to: EISAARI@venus.cambrianc.on.ca

The Ends Can Justify The Means (2/7)
By Kristen Saari
"Where in the hell are they?" Devon had started pacing again, and Julia was worried she was going to ware a hole in the floor.
"Relax Devon, they'll be alright." though inside Julia wasn't quite so confident. `Alonzo, where are you?' she kept thinking, and had thouhgt all night. Then, as if to answer those thoughts, she heard Bess yelling.
"They're back! Everyone! They're back!" Devon and Julia looked at each other and ran from the Dome. Julia threw herself into Alonzo's arms and kissed him. "Thank God you're alright."
Devon looked around. "Where's Danziger?" she asked, trying not to sound as worried as she was.
Alonzo looked at Baines and then to Devon. He pulled himself out of Julia's grip and walked over to her.
Devon saw the expression on his face as he came towards her. "God, no. What happened "Lonzo? Tell me!" her eyes felt hot and prickly as she tried desperately to fight a losing battle against her tears.
Yale took Devon in his arms and hugged her. Alonzo said softly, "I'm sorry Devon..." She pulled away from Yale. `I won't cry' she kept saying, and surprisingly, kept her composure.
"We were coming back from the camp, and he got caught." Alonzo gave Baines a pleading look.
Baines took up where Alonzo had left off. "Last we saw he was being taken away to their camp." He looked at the group surrounding him. He was beat-up pretty bad."
Suddenly True came out from the middle of the crowd and threw herself on Alonzo, hitting him with everything she had.
"WHY DID YOU LEAVE HIM THERE?!" she kept yelling, and hitting him until Julia came up behind her and placed a hypo to her neck. Slowly, she fell off Alonzo and into Yale's arms (who had come over as soon as True had started her rampage).
"It's only a mild seda-drem, and should ware off in about 15 minutes." Julia said by-way of explanation. Then looked at Devon, who was still trying to keep the tears away. "You OK Devon?" she asked quietly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Baines, when you last saw John, was he still..." it seemed like she was going to say something else, but changed her mind at the last minute. "Conscious?" Devon looked like she was about to face a firing squad.
"He finally blackout when they took him to the camp." `Thank God,' she thought, then said aloud, "So he may still be alive now. Right? And if he is, then we have to go rescue him." Devon glared at each of them, daring them to disagree.
"Uh, Devon..." she spun around to see Alonzo. "We have bigger problems then Danziger right now. The Council's army is gonna attack the camp in two days, maybe less no that they know we're here. So we have to get ready for 'em."
Walman asked Baines, "How many of 'em were there? What are we going up against?""
And got, "There are about two hundred men, all armed, and I think Reilly's there too." as an answer.
That got a few murmurs from the crowd. But Julia was the one who reacted the strongest.
"Are you sure? How could he be?"
Alonzo answered her. "I don't know, maybe they have somekind of computer down there with his program in it, all I know is that he's here or up there and in contact with these guys." He nodded towards the sky. "Some soldiers said that all of us will be killed except Uly, Devon and Julia."
"Why them?" Bess asked.
"Well," Alonzo continued. "They want Uly for controlling the planet, we know that much, and they think if they have Devon, Uly will do whatever they say. And they also said Reilly wanted to see you personally Julia."
"What are we going to do?" it was Morgan, standing beside his wife and looking extremely worried.
"First we're going to move camp." Devon had recovered, sort-of, from her momentary lapse and was taking charge again. "Alonzo, can you contact the Terrians to see if they can do anything to help?" Alonzo nodded and walked to his tent. "Yale, get True inside to sleep off the hypo and start packing her's and Danziger's stuff." Yale went per Devon's request. "The rest, pack it up, we're moving out."
And she was off to her tent before anyone knew what was happening. Julia and Bess followed Devon and found her sitting on her bed, head in her hands, crying softly.
Bess sat down beside her and put an arm around her. "Shh, it'll be okay. We'll get John back, don't worry."
Devon looked up and snorted. "Bess, you know as well as I do what the Council can do. If John's not dead then he's dying, and I can't do a damn thing about it." She put her head back down. "He told me he loved me!" Bess and Julia exchanged glances. "I hate being this powerless!" and started crying again.
Julia sat down on her other side. "Devon, crying isn't going to get you anywhere. There *is* a chance that John's alive and won't be killed until they can find the rest of us. Right now we have to pack up and get out of here before they get anymore of us."
Bess looked at Julia, shocked. "Julia..." Devon looked up at Julia. "No Bess, Julia's right. The best thing to do now is get everyone to safetly." she stood up, Bess and Julia with her, and began packing up her belongings. "And besides, how are we supposed to fight..."
Before she could finish her sentence, three Terrians came bursting up from the ground. Their staffs were crackling with electricity as they knock the three women unconscious. They grabbed Julia and Devon, and disappeared back beneath the ground.
A few minutes later Morgan came running into the room. "Devon, Terrians tried..." but when he saw the tent empty, except for his wife laying on the floor, he began yelling something else. "Someone get in here! Help! Somebody!" he knelt down beside Bess and put her head on his lap. "Sweetie, answer me, please. Bess honey...wake up."
Alonzo and Yale ran into the tent. Morgan looked uip at them, "They got Julia and Devon."
"But thank God they didn't get Uly." Yale said, kneeling on the other side of Bess to look her over.
Bess's eyes began to flutter and she sat up with a start, hitting Morgan on the chin with her head on the way up. "Oh, I'm sorry dear" she pat the red spot on his chin and quickly turned to Alonzo. "They got Julia and Devon. Where's Uly? Did they get him?"
Alonzo helped Bess stand. "No, Uly's fine. Luckily Baines was near him when the Terrians came and shot near them before they got him."
Morgan rose and stood beside Bess. "Why did they do this? I thought we had some kind of peace treaty with them?"
"Remember the collars Gaal had used?" Morgan nodded. "Well, these terrians had them on too." Alonzo told him.
"We have to get Devon, Julia and Danziger back as soon as possible. They are now our top priority. Alonzo," he looked at Yale, who was the one speaking to them. "Did you have any luck with the other Terrians?"
Alonzo nodded. "They agreed to tell us what is going on, but only if we free the captured terrians. And I don't want them to fight, they wouldn't know how, they're too peaceful."
"Fine, ask them about what has been going on here. How long has the Council been here? Do they know where Devon and the others are being kept? Find out anything you can."
Just then Walman came running into the tent. "True's gone!" Yale spun around. "What did you say? What about True?" "Baines and I, we were looking around the perimeter, you know, looking for more Terrians, when we came back to the camp, Magus asked us if we'd seen True. She was supposed to be in her tent sleeping, but she was gone. I guess the seda-drem wasn't as powerful as Julia thought, so anyway, we went looking for her. But we couldn't find her. Her gear was missing, there was an open ration carton on a table in the Dome, and some other stuff is missing too!"
"Christ, not now." Morgan muttered under his breath. "We need to organize a search party. Walman, you and Magus search the perimeter again. Alonzo, you and Baines go looking around the Council's camp, she probably went to rescue her father. The rest of us must get ready for the attack..."
Just then a voice came from throught the radio. "Eden project. This is the colony ship. Eden project, do you read?"
End of part 2
Cont. in part 3
send comments etc to: EISAARI@venus.cambrianc.on.ca

The Ends Can Justify The Means (3/7)
By Kristen Saari
Danziger slowly opened his eyes. This took some considerable effort on his part. His head was pounding as though someone had put a Grendler on top of his head and told it to dance!
He looked around as soon as his vision became clear. It was a small log room, cheaply built by the look of it. But it's purpose was clearly for holding prisoners. The windows were wired with what looked like razer-wire, the door looked about as solid as they came, and the only other thing in the room was himself.
He tired to move around, but a sharp pain from his ribs, and the fact that he was tied up, convinced him to stay still.
Then, because he felt so God-damned awful, Danziger closed his eyes again and tried to block the pain with sleep.

Julia found herself in a situation very similar to Danziger's. She was in a small room, tied up. The only difference was that there was a soldier in the room and a large screen on the opposite wall from where she lay.
The soldier saw that she had woken up and turned on his gear. "Sir, she's awake...Yes sir...Right away sir." he turned to Julia. "Reilly wants to see you now." He walked over to her and hauled her to her feet. His hands gripped her so tightly, Julia cringed under the pressure.
"Take it easy!" she snapped at him as she pulled her arm from his grip, but the quick movement momentarily dazed her and she leaned on the wall for support.
The soldier walked over to the screen and took out a remote control of some sort. He pushed a few of its buttons, and Reilly's face appeared on the screen.
"Good day Dr. Heller."
Julia turned to face the screen.

"True. True, if you can hear me, answer me. True?!" Magus pulled the eyepiece from her gear away from her face. "It's no use Walman. She's either got it turned off or she doesn't have it with her at all."
"Magus. Report."
She heard Yale's voice call. She put the eyepiece back in place. "No sign of her here. We've searched the entire perimeter of the camp and nothing. Odds are she went after Danziger ya know."
Yale sighed. "And that's what I'm afraid of. Okay, come back to camp. I'll see if Alonzo has found anything yet. Yale out."
Magus moved the eyepiece again and looked expectantly at Walman. "Well, let's get back."
And the two slowly made their way back.

"Eden Project, do you read?"
Alonzo ran to the radio and put on its connected gear. "This is the Eden Project."
"Hey fly-boy, nice to hear from you!" Sheila said, obviously smiling on the other end.
"Sheila, we have a problem here."
The cheery voice immediately disappeared. "Why, what's going on?" "Has anyone else woken up?"
"No, it's just me right mnow, why?" "It's a long story, and I'll tell it to you later, but right now we need some help." Alonzo looked at Yale, who nodded at him. "Sheila, the Council has an army here..."
"Yeah, I know." she interrupted.
"How did you know?" Alonzo was very confused. "There were two soldiers on board. When one of 'em tried to put me in a holding cell, I shot him, I put the other in the cell."
Alonzo smiled. "Well, them being here is *very* bad..." "That's an understatement if I ever heard one." He heard Morgan mutter in the background.
"Okay, leave the coloists frozen but wake up any and all security personnel on board, and anyone with combat training. Oh, and open the weapons storage compartments."
"Why, you planning on takin' on the entire Council's army fly-boy?" "You can bet your sweet a...." Yale coughed loudly in the background. Alonzo smiled again. "Well, yes we are."
"Why don't you guys just get me to bomb the hell outta that place?" Now Sheila was the one confused.
"'Cause they got Adair and two other prisoners in the camp somewhere. You can blast the place after the rescue." Alonzo liked the idea of shooting at the Council, if not directly.
"Fine give me your coordinates and expect a large cargo pod to land in about two hours. Colony ship out." Sheila sounded nervous, which was perfectly understandable.
"Thanks Sheila. Eden Project out." Alonzo turned to face Yale. "I'll go after True now. It seems we'll be having company."

"Let me go you sonofa..."
Danziger opened his eyes to hear a woman screaming. "Danziger! Julia! Put me down!"
Devon! How the hell had she ended up here? Julia? Was she here too? Danziger slowly slid over to the wall where he heard the sound coming from and listened.
"Let me go! Do you know who I am?! Where's Danziger and Julia?!" Devon tripped as the soldiers threw her into the cell, and while breaking her fall, she twisted her wrist. But still, the relentless person she was, she turned around and stood up.
Her bound hands throbbed as she stumbled to the door that closed in front of her. "What have you done with them?!" she hit her hands against the door and was rewarded with a shooting pain from her wrist.
"Ohhhh." She stumbled to the floor trying to cradle the hand in her lap. After laying on the floor for several minutes, Devon hear a faint voice calling from another room. "Devon? Devon, that you?"
She hoisted herself up and slowly (the interrogations hadn't been very pleasant) walked to the other end of the room. "Danziger, is that you?" she dropped to the ground in front of the wall. "Oh, 'm God. I thought you were dead!", a tear slid down her cheek.
"It'll take more then the Council's goons to get rid of me Adair." She heard him chuckle, which quickly became a moan.
"John, you okay? What'd they do to you?" Danziger pushed himself into a sitting position on the other wall. "I think I busted a rib or two, and my head hurts, but I can't really tell anything else. They got my hands and legs tied up so tight I can't feel 'em. What about you?"
Devon took a deep breath. "They interrogated me for a while, so I've got bruised muscles I didn't even know I had." Her attempt at humour quickly fell short. "And only my hands are tied, so fell, I think I twisted my wrist. Other then that okay." She didn't tell him about the splitting headache she had though.
"So what happened? How did you get here?" Danziger questioned. "Alonzo and Baines had just gotten back and told us the news..." she paused and bit her bottom lip. "I was scared for you John."
"It's okay, I'm fine." He told her gently, a little shocked that she had told him this, but strangely pleased.
"Anyway," she hastily continued. "I was in my tent talking to Julia and Bess when some Terrians came outta nowhere and the last thing I remember before blacking out was seeing Bess and Julia knocked-out. Then I woke up in a room with some wires stuck into me and this guy was asking me all sorts of questions, and when I didn't answer, or gave him an answer he didn't like, he zapped me with this machine. It was like electrical shocks, but somehow different. Finally, after about an hour of this, without answering any questions, I was taken here...I hope Bess and Julia are alright. What about you? I heard Alonzo's version, what about yours? What happened?"
Danziger just basically retold Alonzo's version, except with the waking up part at the end, and Devon told him what had happened at the camp when Alonzo and Baines had gotten back.
"Lemme get this straight. True beat up Alonzo? And Julia had to knock her out?"
Devon sighed. "Yeah."
Danziger whistled softly. "Son-of-a-gun. I never thought she would do something like that."
"Well, what did you expect? She'd just sit there and say `Oh, that's nice.'?" Devon snorted. "Her father had been kidnapped, and she didn't know if she would ever see him alive again. She loves you Danziger and was worried," `Like me.' she added silently. "And if Yale wasn't there looking after her, I wouldn't be surprised if she came after you herself!"
"No!" Danziger's sudden burst hurt his ribs, but he didn't care. "She's too smart to try something like that."
His sudden anger had worried Devon. "Love does strange things to people, John." She reminded him softly.
Danziger was about to reply to that when his cell door opened. "It's your turn man." Typical evil looking jailer walked in with two others and they proceed to drag Danziger from the room.
"John! What's going on? John?!" Dewvon stood up and started yelling through the wall.
"Devon!" Danziger called, but one of the soldiers shut him up by slapping him across the face, dazing him for a minute.
"Stop talking!" then he looking at the wall Devon was standing behind and smirked. "Maybe *I* just might have a little fun with your girl friend over there. Eh pal? What'cha think about that?"
Danziger felt an anger that was like nothing he had ever felt before. "You b...." and went after him with such force that he knocked the other two soldiers off their feet. Danziger pushed the soldier on his stomach and wrapped his handcuffs around the guy's neck. "You leave her alone, you hear me?!" and was slowly tightening the hold when he suddenly fell unconscious to the floor.
One of the other soldiers put his pistol back into it's holster and pushed Danziger off his friend.
"Danziger!" Devon was still calling. "Your lover-boy here won't be answering you any more honey." One of them called and laughing, they dragged the unconscious Danziger out of the cell.
Devon sank back against the wall when she heard the door close and started to cry; again. "John..." she whispered.
This was the second time she had lost him that day, and it was really taking it's toll.
End of Part 3
Cont. in part 4
Send comments etc to: EISAARI@venus.cambrianc.on.ca

The Ends Can Justify The Means (4/7)
By Kristen Saari
"What the hell are you doing here Reilly?" Julia walked over to the screen. Reilly pretended to look shocked. "Why, checking up on my favorite Eden Project m'dear." Then went back to his normal cynical look. "And taking care of some unfinished business between us."
"Why aren't you in VR?" she had never seen him on a vidscreen before, only in VR.
Reilly swept a hand around him. "I like a change once and a while." Then he scowled at her. "So where's the boy hiding?"
Julia tilted her head up. "You do realize of course, you'll never get the boy. There are too many people watching over him, and I won't let you touch him as long as there's a breath left in my body" she told him defiantly.
"I don't think I'll have to *take* him. As a matter of fact, I think he's on his way here now." Reilly gave her a sick smile.
Julia eyes him suspiciously. "What do you mean?" "He wouldn't let his mother die, now would he." `So he did get Devon.' she thought blackly. "So where is she? Is she still alive? And what about Danziger?"
"The drone is still alive, for now. And Adair has just finished her interrogation, and will probably be near dead in some holding cell somewhere."
Julia tried not to lose her temper, `He's only a program.' she kept reminding herself. "So Danziger hasn't been interrogated?"
"Umm, oh yes. He's scheduled to be in the interrogation room right now." that sick smile was showing again.
`Out smart him girl! He likes playing mind games, beat him at his own game.' she scolded herself. She began pacing in front of the screen. "So how did you get all these *real* people to listen to you anyway?"
"So you found out eh? Well, no matter, you wouldn't want me to give up the rest of my secrets now would you? Anyway, now it's my turn."
"Your turn for what?" Julia stopped in front of the screen again. "My questions of course. I've answered all of yours, now I want to ask a few. What made you so late? I figured you'd get here sooner then this? Wasn't the colony ship supposed to arrive in a few days?"
"What do you mean *supposed to*?" Julia got a bad feeling in her stomach. "I had some men take care of that little problem." The news hit her, hard. `All for nothing. All those families, gone.' She looked up at Reilly, a sudden anger filling her body.
"You will *NEVER* get the boy, you will *NEVER* get this planet, and I will *NOT* play any more of your mind games Reilly, so you can take your programming, and go to hell." She walked up to the screen and put her cuffed hands through it.
Reilly quickly disappeared, and the soldier reappeared, to take her away from the screen by giving her a hypo.
But, Julia felt strangely relieved as she slipped into darkness, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

True had been watching the camp for quite some time, wondering where her father would be. Then, just when she was about to give up hope, she saw a group of men taking Devon, who was fighting them every step of the way, into a long building with a whole bunch of doors.
`That must be the jail!' True thought excitedly. `But what's Devon doing there? Well, I'll just wait until dark before I go rescue Devon, then we can go look for my dad.' So, with sort of a plan in mind, she sat back against the trunk of the tree that she had climbed and was watching from, and rested a while.

The cargo pod had landed and Yale ran out to meet it, Morgan, Walman and a few others in tow.
After the dust had settled, one man immediately came from the pod. He started running towards them.
"I'm commander Tristan Woods. I'm head of sercurity here." He said after reaching them. Woods was a rather tall, muscular man, with brownish-blond hair and an intimidating look about him.
"Yale." he extended his hand. "How many men do you have with you?" he asked after he and Woods had shaken hands.
"I have twelve security personnel, including myself and about twenty or so men with some form of combat skills, ranging from ex-officers from the Council Army to police from Earth."
Morgan let out a hissed breath. "Great, we have about forty people to take on a few hundred. We're gonna need a miracle to get out of this one."
Woods eyed Morgan critically. "You worked on the Stations?" Morgan nodded. "You ever do any stratigic work?"
"For a boardroom, yeah."
Woods smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Then you, the cyborg and I are going to do some serious planning." he nodded to Walman. "Help my men get set up over there and we'll brief you in about two hours." then walked towards the Dome, Morgan and a slightly confused cyborg following close behind.

"So, what are we going to do? Wait for her to come out of hiding? C'mon man, I, *we* don't have time to go on a wild goose chase. And besides, she probably got scared and went home." Baines whispered to Alonzo.
They had been silently going around the Army's camp for hours now, and still no sign of True.
Alonzo sighed. "I know, I know. If she's here when the attack starts she's gonna get blown to bits. And what are we going to tell Danziger? `I'm sorry man. We lost True and we think she blew up with the rest of the camp.'" Alonzo gave Baines a look of disdain, and leaned back against the tree they'd been sitting under.
True, who just happened to be in the tree Alonzo was leaning against, gasped. `They're going to attack the camp? What about my dad? And Devon?' she thought frantically.
Alonzo heard the sound and slowly peeked upwards. He saw a duffel bag hanging from one of the tree's branches. He nodded to Baines, who followed his gaze. The two men smiled at each other.
Suddenly Alonzo put his gear on.
"Yeah Yale, I hear ya." he said quietly to no one. "What? You mean Danziger's okay? Yeah...but True...yeah, okay." he paused and tried very hard not to smile. "Okay, we're coming back. Alonzo out." he put his gear back around his neck, and looked at Baines. "Yale says Danziger managed to escape and got back to the camp, but he's really hurt bad and is calling for True, but since we can't find her..." he left the sentence hanging.
Baines looked solemn. "Okay, let's go back." and they started backing up. "Alonzo! Baines! Wait!" True whispered harshly from the tree. Alonzo smiled and whispered back. "True, that you?" True gave him an exasperated sigh. "Well, it ain't the tooth fairy! Hold on I'm coming down. Catch!" she threw her bag down and quickly scampered down after it. When she finally had her feet on the ground, she grabbed the bag and started sneaking back towards their camp. "C'mon guys!" she whispered at the two men when she saw they weren't following her.
Baines smiled at Alonzo and they started after her. "I can't believe that worked." he said.
"Neither can I." Alonzo replied.

"Now if we have one troop attack from this end and another one take a more frontal assault, which I'm sure they're not expecting, then I think we can get Devon, Danziger and Julia out of there with minimal damage to us." Morgan appeared pleased with himself for planning such a perfect strategy.
"But there's just one problem." Woods told him. "We don't know where they're being kept."
Moragn looked down at the *very* rough map they had made. "Well...." "Yes we do!" True came in through the door, followed by Alonzo and Baines. "True! Thank God you're alright." Yale ran to her and hugged her. She squirmed out of his grasp. "Sure I am..." Yale looked at her disapprovingly. "We are going to have a very long talk about running off like this later..."
Woods cut him off. "What do you mean? You know where they are?" True walked up to their map. "This building isn't here, it's over more to the left. It covered the jail from your angle." she pointed out where the building should be. "It's kinda in the middle back, so it's hard to see." she looked up at Morgan. "It's where they have Devon right now."
"What about Danziger and Julia?" Bess asked from the back of the room. "WHAT?" True spun around and went after Alonzo; again. "You said my father was here!! Why did you lie to me?!" she threw herself at Alonzo, but instead of hitting him again, she burst into tears. "You said he was here...you said he wanted me..." she buried her face him his shoulder.
"I'm sorry True, we had to get you home." Alonzo tried comforting her. "Well, now we have a place to look, thanks to her." Woods looked at True, who had slowly stopped her crying, but was still sniffling. "Don't worry dear, we'll get your father home." then he turned to Yale. "Let's get the men briefed. We leave in an hour." and Yale walked out, preparing for the hardest challenge of his life. Getting Devon and the other's out of there alive.
End of Part 4
Cont. in part 5

I still don't have my spell check working, so please excuse any spelling mistakes. Thanks =b
Send all comments etc to: EISAARI@venus.cambrianc.on.ca

The Ends Can Justify The Means (5/7)
By Kristen Saari
Devon had been sleeping when she heard the door of her cell opening. She opened her eyes to see a soldier walk into the cell.
"Told'ya I'd be back." he leered at her. `This was one of the guys that took Danziger away!' Devon jumped to her feet. "Get out of here! Now!"
The soldier moved closer to her, and started giving her body sweeping glances. "Yeah, we're gonna have some fun."
Devon kicked him when he came close enough. "Get away from me!" he knocked her to the ground. "Danziger! Julia! Someone help!" she screamed, while kicking and scratching at his face.
"Get up Whitifield! NOW!" a voice from the door called. The soldier immediately got to his feet and started stammering, "She...well, I heard this....I mean..."
A white-haired, slightly old, but not in the least bit frail man came through the door. "I don't want to hear any of your excuses. I don't care what you have to say. Now report to your quarters. I'll be there to give you your reprimand. Move!"
Whitifield ran out of the cell muttering "Yes sir, right away sir." Devon shakily stood up.
"You okay Ms. Adair?" the man asked polietly. "Yes, but...who?" she looked at him questioningly. The man just chuckled. "I'm just a friend." then turned to walk out the door, but stopped and turned his head. By the way, I came to tell you that the drone, Danziger I believe, is dying." he turned back and walked throught the door, closing it behind him.
Devon stood for a moment then ran to the door. "What? What do you mean *dying*?! Answer me! Please...please." when it became clear he wasn't coming back, Devon sank back against the door and put her head in her hands. `Crying again.' she thought in astonishment. `Oh John, I don't think I've ever cried this much over one person before in my life.'
"What have you done to me to make me care this much?" she whispered. `He loved you.' a voice inside her said.

"How's True doing?" Bess asked Alonzo later that evening. Alonzo didn't look at her. He couldn't, he felt too horrible. "I think she's okay." he kicked at some dirt in front of him.
Bess looked at his face, and didn't like what she saw. "You had to tell her you know. It was the only way to get her home."
Alonzo finally turned and faced her. "You should've seen the look on her face when she found out he wasn't here. If it was the "right thing to do", why do I feel so bad about it?"
He had such a look of anguish on his face that Bess' heart went out to him. "Because you care about her. If you hadn't told her that, she wouldn't have come back, and might've gotten hurt, or worse, killed. You did what you had to do." she put a hand on his arm.
Alonzo took her hand. "Thanks Bess, but I think I want to be alone, after all, we leave in fifteen minutes, and I don't know what we're going to see when we find them, *if* we find them." he dropped her hand and walked away.
Bess sighed, thinking to herself, `He just has to realize that what he did was the best thing to do, regardless of how much it hurt True. But, it must be hard...' and walked off to find Morgan.

Yale went to see if Uly was okay. People had been watching him all day to make sure the Terrians wouldn't get at him, but he thought Uly could use someone to talk to right about now. But when he entered his tent, Uly was nowhere to be seen.
He walked out and looked at Magus, who was supposed to be watching him, but was reading soemthing near by.
"Where's Uly?"
Magus lifted her head, surprised. "Isn't he in his tent?" "No," Yale looked around. "Do you suppose the Terrians have him?" Magus shook her head. "No, I'm sure they don't. I used the Geo-lock on the ground around the tent. No terriand could get in unless they walked in."
"Then where is he?" Yale was walking towards the Dome by now. "Maybe he pulled True and went to look for his mom." Magus called behind him.
"He'd better not have." Yale mumbled to himself. "He did go after Devon." True said, standing by the door of the Dome. "He told me so."
"True, what are you talking about?" Yale ran over to her. "He came to my tent about ten minutes ago and told me he was going to find his mom." True appeared tired, which didn't surprise Yale at all, considering what she'd been through.
"Ten minutes did you say?" Yale asked. True nodded and Yale ran off to find Woods.

Uly had told True where he was going because he knew she would understand. But he hadn't gone twenty metres from the camp when a group of collared Terrians surrounded him.
They trilled at him for a moment, then Uly nodded. He reached out a hand and touched the collars. They simply fell off the Terrians necks and on to the ground. Uly spoke to them, they nodded and all of them disappeared beneath the ground.

"Uly's gone now."
Morgan turned and peered expectantly at Yale, who was running towards them. "What?" both he and Woods asked in unison.
"Uly left about ten minutes ago and told True he was going after his mom." "Not him now too! What are we going to do with those kids?! If it's not one, it's the other." Morgan threw his hands into the air.
"Well, we're leaving now. So there's no time to go looking for him." Woods turned and went to the columns of men standing near by.
"Troop A will be led by Mr.Collins here." he pointed to Justin Collins, who was standing off to one side. "Your job will be to set up the smoke screens and hide the rescue team. You all know your orders, so move out." The group of 25 men, fully armed, slowly began to follow Collins into the darkness of the night.
"Troop B, follow me." Woods left and went off in the opposite direction than Collins. Fifteen men, including Baines, Walman, and Morgan followed. The others had gone with Collins. Leaving True, Bess, Yale and a handful of others to look after the camp until they, hopefully, returned.
Suddenly, Bess ran to Morgan.
"Please come home, I don't care if you're a hero, just so long as you're with me. I love you." she kissed him and ran crying to their tent.
Morgan watched her go. Then whispered to himself, "I will, and I love you too."

The Ends Can Justify The Means (6/7)
By Kristen Saari
Devon had been eating some really horrible tasting rations someone had brought into her cell when the first bombs had gone off.
She jumped up and ran to the window. All she saw was a lot of smoke and soldiers running in every direction, yelling orders.
There were some more blasts and in the distance, Devon saw Alonzo running throught the camp.
"Alonzo!" she yelled as loud as she could. "I'm here!" but he didn't hear her. She watched as slowly, some colonsits and members of the Eden Advance crew made their way to her holding cell.
Surprisingly, Morgan was the one to open the door to her cell. When he walked into the room, devon threw herself out the door.
"Morgan, am I ever glad to see you. Where's Danziger and Julia?" "I was going to ask you the same thing." Morgan said as he crouched down and slowly moved towards the cover of the trees.
When they got there, Morgan put his gear on. "I've got Devon, repeat, I've got Devon."
Devon was about to get back up when she realized that her hands were still tied.
"Morgan, can you do something about this?" she held up her arms. "Sure." he held up a small blaster to the lock. "Hold on." and fired. The cuffs slid neatly off her hands and Devon got up and ran out towards the camp again.
"Hey? Where are you going?" Morgan called out from behind her. "To find Danziger!" she answered.

Alonzo had gone all around looking for Julia or Danziger. He was pleased by the fact that Devon had been found and was safe, but he still had a job to do.
He walked into the last room on that end of the jail, and found Julia. She was still unconscious, in the room with the screen still broken.
He gathered her up in his arms and she slowly opened her eyes. "I got him, ya know. I told him." she smiled and passed out again. "Tell me about it later doc." Alonzo told her, and slipped back into the woods.

"I knew you would come boy." Reilly told Uly. "I just thought you would get here sooner."
"I want my mother." Uly answered.
The terrians had brought him to Reilly after Uly had freed them from their collars. He didn't quite know how he had done it, but he did it anyway. Most of the other terrians had left after he freed them, but three had stayed and brought him to Reilly's main computer, at his request.
"Well, your mother is safe, as long as you do what I tell you." Reilly's image seemed to float around in the dark VR world.
"I will never do what you ask." Uly replied, not quite sure why he didn't sound as scared as he felt.
"Then your mother and all your friends are dead." snarled Reilly. Uly looked at him, as if, for the first time seeing him for what he really was.
"You can't hurt us, you're just a program. You never could hurt any of us." one of the terrians trilled to him and Uly knew what he had to do.
"You can't hurt anyone." Uly turned and touched one of the terrians staffs. Suddenly it came alive with power. Uly felt the energy running through his entire body. He looked up at Reilly. "And you will never get the chance to hurt anyone."
Reilly's image began to lose focus. "What are you doing?" Reilly demanded, looking around nervously. "Never." Uly's voice didn't seem to be his own. The staff crackled and a blue streak of lightening came from it and struck Reilly.
"NO! STOP!" the room around them slowly started to collapse and disappear. "I WILL NEVER DIE YOU KNOW!" Reilly's image shattered. "I WILL Never..leave...you.....alo..n..e." finally the room and Reilly disappeared altogether.
"Yes you will." Uly muttered. Yes, you will." then let go of the staff and turned away from the terrians. The staff immediately lost it's glow and became a blackened stick, resembling a burnt piece of wood. Uly glanced around the complex computer room they were standing in and trilled to the terrians. They nodded and proceeded to destroy the computer and all of it's files and programs. Including Reilly, for good.
The Uly and the terrians sank back into the ground and went home.

Devon was going to the interrogation room, where she thought Danziger would be, when she came across a body lying in her way. She looked down to see her white-haired `friend' lying in the dust. He had been shot once in the chest, but was still clutching to life.
"Oh, m'God." Devon knelt down beside him. He looked up at her. "You're saving...my..." he fell into a fit of coughing. "My grand-daughters...life...you...know." he lifted an arm and pat her on the cheek. "Your...friend is..there." he pointed the hand in the direction on a near by tent.
"Thank you." Devon whispered.
The man smiled and went still. Devon closed his eyes and took his gun from its holster. She ran to the tent, having to shoot a man on the way.
Finally she threw the flap of the tent open and saw John laying on a cot, looking as though he were dead. Devon ran to him and put her ear to his chest. He was breathing, and his heart was still beating steadily, he was just out of it.
"John, John get up. We have to get out of here." she started shaking him. He slowly opened his eyes. "Devon?" She smiled and brushed a tear away from her cheek. `You have to stop that Adair.' she told herself. "Yeah it's me."
Baines came running into the tent. "I thought I saw you coming here. C'mon, Sheila's gonna blow this place to hell in a few minutes."
He ran to the cot and helped Devon support Danziger as he stood, and they all walked out of the tent and into the trees, where the rest of the gang was waiting.
When Alonzo saw them coming, he put on his gear and called Sheila. "We're all out! Let're rip!"
And a series of well aimed blasts came from the sky and pounded the camp to dust.
Ten minutes later, the shooting stoppe and Sheila called Alonzo. "Well, how did I do?"
Alonzo smiledas the rest of the group cheered around him. "You did great. Alonzo out."
Then Morgan got up and looked around at the remains of the camp. "We have to get rid of the soldiers' bodies, and we have to collect some of their supplies," he turned back to the group. "But first we have to get home."
End of part 6
Cont. in part 7 (which is pretty short)
Send all comments etc to: EISAARI@venus.cambrianc.on.ca

The Ends Can Justify The Means (7/7)
By Kristen Saari
The colonists and Eden crew spent the next few minutes rounding up medical supplies and stretchers to bring the injured back with.
Only two people had died, ironically enough, the two commanders; Tristan Woods and Justin Collins, who was the father of one of the Syndrome children on the ship.
Devon stayed by Danziger's side until they reached camp, when she was pried away by Uly and Yale.
True took over as his nurse though, after she had almost broken more of his ribs hugging him so tightly.
Bess had done the same with Morgan, only he hadn't minded, and returned the hug, fully.

The next few weeks were spent in recuperation, for those injured, and recovering things that were still useable from the Army's camp.
Julia had recovered without complications, thanks to the efforts of the doctors Sheila had been kind enough to wake up. And Danziger was doing well also.
Of course True hovered over him like a mother hen, exactly how Alonzo was like with Julia, no matter how much she told him she was well again.
Devon had stayed away from the infirmary after she had gotten her wrist fixed and her other injuries delt with. She had been too busy getting the colony ready and giving Uly long lectures about running off. But finally, one night, when everyone else had gone to bed, Devon found herself wide awake and thinking about al that had happened in the past two years, but mostly what had happened between her and Danziger though. In the end she just got up out of bed and went to the Danziger's tent (John had been let out of the infirmary two days ago, but needed complete bed rest, ehich he did not enjoy).
`Just to see how he's doing.' she told herself. `Just to see him.' another voice said.
Devon slowly opened the door and saw Danziger, sleeping on his bed, and True, sound asleep on hers. She tip-toed into the room and knelt beside John's bed. She took one of his hands in hers and held it to her cheek.
"I saw so scared I had lost you." she barely whispered." "I was so worried I'd never see you again, I'd never hear you laugh, or see you smile...I don't think I could make it without you now. You got under my skin, and you're gonna stay there until the day you die." she kissed his hand and put it back down, snifling.
"You crying again Adair?" Danziger opened his eyes and took her hands. "Yeah." she tried wiping the tears away, but her hands were shaking so badly, she couldn't. So John reached up and did it for her, but instead of taking his hand away when he finished, he ran it down the side of her face.
"I was afraid I'd never see you again either." Devon smiled and pushed a stray curl away from his face. "You're what kept me alive when they...well, let's just say that all I could think about was seeing you again, and doing this..."
He sat up and gently kissed her.
Devon kissed him back and they spent the rest of the night, talking, about the future, their future.
Voice of Alonzo
// We all learned a lot on our way here, about ourselves, about others, but I think we learned to most in the past couple weeks. Julia, well, let's just say that she knows she has sucessfully broken free from her old life and hasn't been this happy in a long time. Devon and Danziger realized that life was too precious to leave things unsaid or undone, and that they've already wasted too much time, hiding what they really felt.
Morgan also couldn't be happier. He won the pool, and now he can't wait to start his new house.
And me...I learned, that when you love someone as much as I love Julia, or Devon loves Danziger, or Bess loves Morgan, your life won't mean a thing, unless they are there to share it with you. ...So even thought it took the Council, and something close to our own little civil war to make us all realize these things, things turned out okay; so in this case, I guess the ends *can* justify the means. //
-The End-

I hope you enjoyed reading this...it took me long enough to write it =) Okay, one last time...
Send comments etc to: EISAARI@venus.cambrianc.on.ca

This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.