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: Currents Turn Awry
Author:  Lyta
Lyta_1028@yahoo.com

Summary: Liam catches up to his former friends with unexpected results.

Author's Notes: Sequel to "Cat and Mouse" and  "The Face of an Enemy, the Face of a Friend"

"Currents Turn Awry"

"The undiscovr'd country, from whose bourn
No traveler returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us bear those ills we have
Than fly to others we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action."
-Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Act III, Scene I by William Shakespeare

    For Da'an, the return to awareness of the physical world around him came in stages. He had always found leaving the state of Samhaad after prolonged use to be a strange experience. Upon opening his eyes, Da'an noticed the dull gray and brown room where he had been laid out on a narrow metal cot. Through a small barred, window he could see a leaden sky. When he stood to look out at the landscape, he was pleased to recognize the it as being the rolling terrain of the American Midwest, most likely Kansas or Oklahoma.
    Behind him the door opened, its worn hinges creaking softly. Da'an found himself with Lili Marquette, but found her appearance quite different that he had been accustomed to seeing. The former Marine Captain and shuttle pilot wore faded denim jeans, a loose shirt, and had lightened her hair. Da'an also noticed the thinly rimmed black glasses.
    "Is there a problem with your eyes?" Da'an asked politely.
    Lili chuckled and pulled off the glasses, handing them over to him. Da'an now saw that the lenses were perfectly clear.
    "They make my appearance harder to notice. People remember the glasses easier than the face behind them." Lili said by way of explanation.
    Da'an nodded, the concept of altering someone's physical appearance to conceal their identity was strange to him, but he had come to understand it.

    After exiting his shuttle, Liam Kincaid rubbed the back of his neck. He had slept awkwardly the night before and could not seem to get rid of the crick that had developed as a result.
    The shuttle was parked in a warehouse rented for the sole purpose of concealing it. After the last failed attempt to locate Da'an, he had voiced concerns about Sandoval's effectiveness to Zo'or. There was a leak somewhere, Liam knew, but identifying the source would take time. Thus when Liam discovered and reported Da'an's whereabouts, Zo'or ordered him to go alone. No risk of the traitor tipping off his quarry now.
    Kincaid cautiously approached the house his information told him that Da'an, Augur and Marquette were hiding in. He was careful to conceal his presence in the Commonality, that could very easily alert Da'an again. It took little effort for him to pick the lock on the front door and slide quietly inside. With a slight mental shift, his shaquarava began to glow brightly.

    Da'an and Lili heard movement above, too sporadic and cautious  to be Augur or another Resistance member, getting steadily closer to the basement stairs. Lili started to reach for her gun, but before she could complete the motion she saw Liam standing at the foot of the stairs, his hands aimed at her and Da'an. His shaquarava were active.
    Then he crumpled to the ground, half rolling down the stairs before coming to land in a heap by their feet.
     Lili and Da'an looked up simultaneously, twin expressions of shock on their faces, to see Augur standing where Liam had been a moment ago with a pistol with the wrong end pointing away from him in his hands. He put the gun away and walked down the stairs to help Da'an check Liam over for injuries while Lili got a pair of magnetic handcuffs and securely restrained his hands behind his back.
     Da'an brushed Liam's hair away from his eyes, noting how it was only now when he slumbered that he appeared as the young man Da'an and the others had grown to care about.
    "Is there anyway we can reach the real Liam, somehow break the hold the motivational imperative has over him?" Lili asked Da'an.
    The Taelon looked uncertainly down at his former protector. "I have a possible solution, though it is not without risks."
     To Lili and Augur's shock, Da'an deactivated the magnetic handcuffs even as Liam began to return to consciousness. With a surprisingly strong grip, he grabbed Liam's wrists and pinned them against the floor before moving his own palms to cover Liam's. They were soon surrounded in a cocoon of brilliant white energy.
   

    Da'an had previously joined only with other Taelons, and even then it was a rare occurrence. In contrast to their freely flowing rivers of thought, Liam's mind seemed to have barriers that kept most of him locked away. Da'an quickly found the CVI and tried to deactivate the MI. He thought he succeeded when he saw the barriers dissolve like sand castles in a tide. To his joy, the real Liam emerged frightened, but free.
    When the joining ended, Da'an leaned back against the cool concrete wall of the basement and observed the hopeful expressions on the faces of his two human friends. Liam was once again unconscious, and it took all three of them to carry him up the narrow stairwell and into the back end of the unmarked van provided for them by a local Resistance cell.

    Liam was dreaming and remembering. He once again heard the love in his mother's voice as she whispered his name, exhausted by the joining and her marathon pregnancy. He had felt so cold then. They took him away from his mother minutes after he was born. He wanted to be held by his mother and reassured that he was loved, but instead he was spirited away wrapped in a pale blue baby blanket. He felt cold now despite the dark blue wool blanket he found covering him. Liam could not recall ever having been so very tired.

    After several hours on the road, Lili pulled the van into the parking lot of a cheap roadside motel. Da'an remained in the back of the van, planning to spend the night in meditation for if he ventured outside any passersby would not fail to recognize him as the former North American Companion. Such a sighting would surely lead Zo'or's people to the fragments of the Resistance command staff.
    Liam still felt weak and exhausted as Augur helped him to his bed and turned off the light after closing the curtains. Liam promptly fell asleep, unaware of the blood that began to trickle from his ears moments after Augur quietly slipped out. Some hours later, Liam was awakened from his hazy, nightmare filled dreams by a sudden warmth that suffused his entire body and chased away the chill he had felt earlier. He opened his eyes and quickly sat up in shock. Standing next to the bed were Ha'gel in his natural form, and his mother, who wore a flowing pale blue sundress. Siobhan extended a hand to her son, and Liam gladly took it. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and a second later sank into his mother's embrace. He could even smell her favorite perfume on her. When at last they separate, Siobhan smiled at Liam and ruffled his dark hair. Then Liam turned to greet Ha'gel in the Kimeran fashion.
    Liam did not notice that his pillow was soaked through with blood, or that his body still lay on the bed, motionless.

The End