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: Every Waking Moment
Author:  Lyta
Lyta_1028@yahoo.com

Summary: Liam seeks out another Kimeran repository and makes a startling discovery

Authors Notes: Takes place between "Defector" and "Heroes and Heartbreak"

"Every Waking Moment"

    Liam Kincaid had not slept much the night before.  His hands still trembled a bit from both fatigue and excitement at the controls of his shuttle. Getting approval for this flight without saying why really he wanted to be in this particular corner of space had been rather tricky.  Fortunately, Sandoval had not been in a position to inquire too closely: Da'an was redoing the Kaar'paaj after the interruptions of both Bel'ie and Zo'or at pivotal moments, there was a need to scout the areas of space around Earth for Jaridian surprises, and Liam knew Sandoval would be glad to get rid of him even for just a few days. So Liam volunteered,  offering up an excuse about wanting to log more flight time, and to his amusement Sandoval could not sign the approval forms fast enough.
    He was now far beyond the range of the Mothership's sensors and all he could see was the endless black ocean of space laid out before him, broken only occasionally by the dim silver light of  stars. Here in space stars did not twinkle as they did on Earth as twinkling was caused by atmospheric distortions, but there were so many more stars here. Liam always felt more connected to his mother and his Kimeran parent when he was in space.
    Liam recalled the coordinates from the dream he had the night before, a recollection of one of his Kimeran parent's last few weeks, and without thinking much about it, instantly translated the coordinates into a format the shuttle could use. Da'an had once warned him that the shuttles were programmed to send a hidden signal to the Mothership in the event that anyone programmed a destination in a "restricted" format like those used by the Kimera or the Jaridians.  Newer model shuttles would freeze unless a password was entered prior to programming anything in a restricted format.
    Then he saw it ahead, another repository vessel, and Liam felt his breathe hitch in this throat. Memories not his own swam up to the forefront of his mind as they had the last time he had visited a Kimeran repository. It differed from the other vessel he had seen, this one was more fluted and contained fewer sections protruding from the main body of the ship but there was no mistaking the style. This time, however, there was no tractor beam to pull him in and he landed on his own without ado.
    The sensing devices on his shuttle informed him that the atmosphere and temperature were easily within human tolerance, so he left his shuttle, making sure to secure it before he went by the expedient of removing a small part that would fry the ID engines after a single use unless reinstalled. It was a trick Lili told him about.
    He immediately walked to the nearest wall he saw with Kimeran markings and ran his hands over the words. It felt so good to have a tangible connection to Ha'gel, who he felt for sure had been on this particular ship before. There was a far stronger air of familiarity than he had experienced before, even while he was aboard the other repository ship with Lili and the escaped Jaridian.
    Once inside the main corridors, Liam recognized that this ship differed substantially from the other Kimeran ship he had visited. That had been one of their main archives, containing sensitive information. In their travels across the cosmos, the Kimera had promised many of the species they encountered that they would not reveal certain aspects of their cultures to other races without permission. This repository, however, was a library of sorts for the Kimera and their culture specifically. It contained more living quarters, and had been a temporary storage dump for information before it was sent to a more secure archive for further analysis.
    Liam found himself wandering down a hallway with doors to living quarters on either side. The ship appeared abandoned, there were no defense mechanisms in action though a stasis field had been turned on to preserve the ship and its contents from ruin. The field kept everything as it had been left millennia ago. He went into one room with an open door and found the owner's latest scholarly essay on common developmental stages in intelligent beings still on the work area.
    As the Kimera had embraced their hybrid children, many of the rooms contained fixtures designed to accommodate their biological needs as well as the needs of there non-Kimeran parent in those cases where the children were born of a permanent relationship. Liam had often wondered what would have happened between Siobhan and Ha'gel had his parent not embraced the void prior to his birth. Even with his sketchy recollections of Ha'gel's life, Liam knew that Ha'gel would never have allowed the Resistance to send Siobhan back to the Taelons without a fight.
     As he walked, he felt a certain prickly feeling develop on the back of his neck as he began to pass one specific door. Liam paused and glanced at the glyphs that spelled the former occupant's name. His eyes widened with shock as he read his parent's name. As Kimera did not recycle complete names, it was unmistakable.
    He pressed his right palm against the door mechanism and it slid quietly open after he activated his shaquarava for a moment.
    Inside he found holographic images of the various worlds Ha'gel had visited, handwritten books from a variety of worlds, but nothing personal until he came to a small archive chip that also bore his father's name. He unfolded it and called up the first file. The text hovered in brilliant green against a black background.
    It was a journal.
    Ha'gel had a sense of humor to rare in Kimera, and even his more mundane journal entries had tidbits of humor that Liam, which his innate understanding of Kimeran culture and language, understood for what they were. Ha'gel also had a habit of including personal observances and details that fleshed out the rather dry histories Da'an had allowed him access to from the Taelon archives. Liam still could barely scratch the surface of his father's personal memories, he had found that he could retrieve his human parent's experiences far more easily. Dr. Park had theorized, and Da'an later confirmed, it was due to his constant exposure to human cultures and his tiny experiences with that of the Kimera. With his continuous exposure to things commonplace to Beckett and Sandoval, it was little wonder their memories were so much more accessible to him.
    He checked the date on the first entry he read, it was from Ha'gel's earliest days as a full fledged researcher, and it intrigued Liam that the species Ha'gel was studying was the Skrills. His father spoke of the species with great respect.

    The Skrill people have a powerful energy projecting organ vaguely akin to our shaquarava above their sight organs called the ta'cham. Like ourselves, they have had to learn to control it else they annihilate their kind. The central rituals of their culture revolve around purging themselves of excessive energy build ups in the ta'cham. I was invited to witness a tay'ar'dei, or a pre-mating rite where the male and female must each hunt and destroy a predator naïve to the uninhabited southern continent. The skins of the animals are made into robes that are exchanged at the mating ceremony.
    They have politely declined a Joining at this time, and I will make no further requests. It is their fear that a child of our two races, who would most assuredly possess both the shaquarava and the ta'cham, would be driven to violent insanity by the strain of trying to retain control both. I must concur with their theory.
    The government of the Skrills, did mention that occasionally a Skrill is born without the ta'cham and should such a one consent, a joining may proceed. It was, however, stressed that such beings are rare and currently none are within reproductive years. The Skrills have agreed to notify the Council if a willing individual with such a trait becomes available. 

Liam called up a later file, and found himself reading a raw and emotional description of the Kimera's last days.

    "We tried to hide, but Taelons turned our own methods and technology against us. They used knowledge pried from our brethren to hunt us down like karnacks. Our only protection was to flee or to take another's form, but they barred all avenues of escape and the psychic links of the Commonality exposed any Kimera in Taelon form. Though it should be obvious by now that the Taelons cannot simply be outrun, many still try to do so. We can not escape to safety, and our most obvious method of hiding is useless.
     As for myself, I will not run. Fai'rah suggested we each enter a state of suspended animation, and wait out the Taelon purge. I could not do so without seeing first to the well being of my parents. I know they yet live and I have to find a way to bring them here where they can be safe. We will sleep until the Taelons turn their attention to other matters and we can slip away to nurse our wounds and rebuild.
    I weep for my child La'nash, who I learned only today embraced the void at the Synod's order for refusing to assist in our destruction. My grandchild is likewise appalled and I fear for him. He is of the scientist caste and La'nash informed me in our last communication that he is going to a remote world to survey and study the population. It amuses me to note that he is taking the fourth dimension portal. What he expects to do with it, I know not as he does not possess the means to activate it.
    I have the coordinates of the world he is being sent to, if I can I would like to say farewell, but it seems unlikely I will ever have the chance."

    Then the implications of Ha'gel's words slammed into Liam. He scrolled down to prior entries with a feeling of growing excitement.  He then found his way to the chamber when the Kimera were preserved in stasis. It appeared that the program which should have released the Kimera, by Liam's reckoning three thousand years ago, had not worked as it was supposed to. Thankfully the back-up systems prevented any deaths.
    Liam stared at the system, he had no idea how to release them. He searched the room, trying to find the release mechanism, but came up empty. Finally, he ran out of time. He needed to return to the Mothership before Sandoval was forced to start a search for him.
    Before he went back to his shuttle, he took the time to remove a few more archive-chips from Ha'gel's room along with the journal which was already in his pocket. He had barely had time to read even a few months worth of Ha'gel's life, perhaps the journal of the other archive-chips would contain a way of releasing the Kimera from cryogenic storage.
    Shortly after Liam's shuttle departed the archive, a light in the cryogenic storage room went from blinking to steadiness. With a hiss, the lids of the storage units began to open and the beings within stirred.

    The first thing Liam did after he entered his apartment was to stash the archive-chips in a special hollow he had made in the wall that no one else knew about but him. He laid them down next to the few things he had of his Human parents, mostly pictures, before he look a shower and went to sleep in his chair.
    He woke up to the sound of his alarm and began his morning routine. When Liam arrived at the embassy, he greeted Da'an and began to work his way through the stack of paperwork that had accumulated on his desk during his brief absence. He divided it into three piles: send back, sign/approve, and request more information.
    "Sometimes I think it multiplies on its own." Liam said, as he placed the last sheath of papers in the sign/approve pile.
    "Wow." Lili exclaimed as she entered and beheld the mass of paperwork on Liam's desk. "you are going to be busy with that for a while."
    Liam smirked at her. "I'm already done."
    "You know Liam, I could give you mine to do." Lili teased.
    "Oh Lili, I couldn't deprive you of the joy that I know only massive amounts of paperwork brings you."
    "Joy, ha!" Lili muttered as she went to try and make a dent into her own pile.

    Liam met with a few Resistance members after work to discuss plans to increase security and investigate goings on at a lab affiliated with the Taelons. Then he picked up dinner and went home. It seemed strange to just spend an evening at home, but also nice to have a few less than hectic moments. During the day he was Da'an's protector and the rest of the time, including many of the hours he should have spent sleeping, he led the Resistance and fought to keep it from fractionalizing or becoming too extreme.
    He lay down in his chair and stared at the ceiling. As it stood now the Resistance did not have a prayer of succeeding against the Taelons. Liam knew better than any of the others that the Taelons liked to keep their heavy guns in reserve, especially on worlds like Earth where brute military force was not needed to maneuver the population into aiding the Taelons in their war with the Jaridians. What the Resistance needed was a shuttle. They had learned a great deal from the one Chandler stole, but not enough to manufacture their own version.
    He closed his eyes after setting the alarm and allowed himself to drift peacefully off to sleep. No sooner than he began to dream, than Liam shot awake. His shaquarava where the only light in the room and he stared at them in wonder.
    Another being had just touched his mind, a Kimera, he knew with absolute certainty. No words had been used, but it felt like the mental equivalent of someone brushing his cheek in reassurance. Liam knew it was meant as a promise that they would someday meet. The Kimera felt like someone he should know, someone Ha'gel had known quite well.
    As Liam closed his fingers over his shaquarava, he felt a little less alone in the universe.

The End