Copyright 1999, Lyta. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be re-posted in part or in full without written permission from me.
Disclaimer: Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict is copyright 1998, Tribune Entertainment Co. Its characters are used without permission, no infringement is intended.
Rating: PG
Title: Sandoval's Choice
Author:  Lyta
Lyta_1028@yahoo.com

Summary:  Sandoval risks toppling himself from his precarious position with Zo'or to save another's life.

"Sandoval's Choice"

    Ronald Sandoval stared at the still form of Lili Marquette as she floated all but lifeless in the same blue tank where William Boone had met his end several months earlier. He pressed his hand to the glass and nearly staggered as his CVI brought forth the unwelcome and vivid memory of Boone's untimely end. Sandoval had never cared much for the former police chief, but Marquette was a different story.
    For some time Sandoval had suspected that Marquette and Kincaid were affiliated with the Resistance. Had the motivational imperative on his CVI been still intact he would have had no qualms about voicing his suspicions to Zo'or. However, his MI was not functional and Sandoval found himself moved by a combination of emotions. Anger at the Taelons for the horrific price they planned to exact from humanity for the gifts they had brought, grief over Dee-Dee and Siobhan's deaths, and fear that humanity as a whole would disappear from existence before the Taelons were done with Earth. Sandoval knew full well that the Taelons have rendered over species extinct.
    No, exposing Lili and Kincaid would have led to a weakening of the Resistance, something he now sought to avoid.
    His mouth curved into a grim smile remembering his "threats" to Jonathan Doors and the incident at the alternate university. Doors and his people had jumped on those just as Sandoval knew they would.
    His smile died as he considered Zo'or's perfectly executed plan to have the Resistance take the fall for the assassination attempt on Thompson. Sandoval had tried to arrange for the plan to fail, but his actions were insufficient to avert disaster.
    Even he could do nothing when Lili's cover was at last blown and she was arrested for her attempted sabotage of the mothership. Interrogating his assistant, now former assistant had not been an easy thing to do, but Sandoval was getting used to doing things that sickened him.
     Now he was going to rectify the situation. In the hours since the interrogation, the threads of a plan that had entered his mind while he hurled question after question at Lili wove themselves into a tightly knit tapestry. He carefully removed his global and patted the remaining bulge carefully. Sandoval accessed the hidden file with Zo'or's palmprint to activate the mechanism that removed Lili from the tank.
     He had to take care as he laid her on the floor not to get any of the blue regenerative fluid on himself. It took a few minutes for the majority of the solution to drain off Lili, but it was a necessary delay. Sandoval wrapped Lili in a blanket and slung her over his shoulder. It would do neither of them any good to leave a trail of blue droplets from the lab to the shuttle bay.
    He set her down in the shuttle and pulled off his jacket. It had splotches of the fluid on it, but thankfully the rest of his clothing was free of the incriminating liquid. Sandoval laid the jacket on the pilot's chair after he programmed a course. He checked the cargo area, pleased that Lili's clothing and the other items he had procured for her had been undisturbed. Sandoval reached into his pocket and pulled out a small disk which he laid on top of the jacket before he knelt beside the unconscious Lili.
    Taking a deep breathe, and hoping he was doing the right thing, Sandoval pulled a small glass vial and a fresh syringe out of a small case in his pocket. He prepared the syringe and injected the solution into Lili's right arm. He left both of those items in the shuttle as well.
    "Don't worry Captain," Sandoval said brushing a damp lock of Lili's hair out of her face. "Its not like we'll never see each other again." Sandoval straightened and exited the shuttle. It would be another two minutes before the shuttle would begin to follow the course he had programmed, and Sandoval intended to be elsewhere at the time. He pulled a spare jacket he had hidden behind some crates and slipped it on.
    "Hold it right there." A man's voice said from behind along with the distinctive sound of a weapon prepared to fire. Sandoval whirled around instinctively and moved much faster than his opponent. Even as Lili's shuttle began to leave the docking bay, Sandoval's assailant crumpled to the deck, lifeless.
    He walked over to the dead body and turned the corpse on his back,   Sandoval instantly recognized the man as Marshall Taylor. The implant smirked, his luck could not be better. Taylor's brother had served in the S.I. War and he had made no secret of his admiration for Captain Marquette. Also Taylor was reputed to be very good with computers, which would explain how he freed Marquette from the blue tank.
    Sandoval called Zo'or on his global. "Zo'or, Captain Marquette was escaped in a shuttle."
    "How is this possible?" The arrogant Synod leader demanded, clearly angered by this turn of events.
    "She had inside help." Sandoval said bluntly. "Unfortunately I was forced to kill her accomplice."
    "I want you to look into this matter personally, Agent Sandoval. It would appear there are more traitors on this ship than I had imagined."
    "Of course, Zo'or." Sandoval closed his global with a snap as he waited for the Volunteers who were sure to arrive soon. He had to restrain himself from smirking: the situation was playing right into his hand.
    Now the only wild card was Lili. He had carefully saved a sample of the untainted accelerate developed by Dr. Belman, on the hunch it might be useful. If the research he had seen was correct, Lili would have need of what the accelerate offered.
    Sandoval was distracted from his thoughts by the arrival of the Volunteers. He straightened and went into "implant mode" almost without thinking.
    Ronald Sandoval had a lot of work to do.