Disclaimer: Earth: Final Conflict and its characters belong to Tribune and Alliance and hordes of other folks, we mean no infringement. No money was made by us, (big surprise) this is for entertainment purposes only and it helps if you have a few before you read it.

Warnings: This piece is sexually graphic, but no Skrills were harmed in it's making. If you are underage or of delicate constitution, go read the "G" version on the Philosophy Sphere and stop trolling the Net for smut!

Notes: Thanks to BoredTech for hosting this, and the wolf thanks the ferret for getting on her case to finish this already! Love ya fuzzy. :-)

Title: An itch you can't scratch III
Authors: Dot Ferret & MayaWolf
Rating: NC-17

Summary: I can't...it's just too bizarre..

AN ITCH YOU CAN'T SCRATCH III
By MayaWolf & DotFerret

Part 3

Agent Sandoval rolled over sleepily. Two things became clear: there was a warm weight on his arm, and it was chirping.
        As he blinked blearily, he realized the chirping wasn't coming from the warm lump next to him. It was coming from his Global which was on the small table on the other side of the bed. As he shifted to try and make a grab for it, the warm presence rolled over and looked him square in the eye. It was Agent Beckett, and Sandoval smiled in spite of himself. He of course remembered their night together in stunning detail, but he half expected to wake up cold and alone this morning. She smiled sleepily at him, and he gave in to his urge to kiss her soft mouth. Feelings of intense pleasure sailed through his body, and various parts of him began to wake up too. Breaking the kiss, Beckett looked at him questioningly.
        "Aren't you going to answer that?"
        "Huh? Oh..." Sandoval shot an arm across her to snag the Global, opening it with force. "Yes?"
        "Agent Sandoval?" It was the American Companion, Da'an. The Taelon was confused, it appeared as if Sandoval was still in bed.
        "Uhm, yes Da'an?" Da'an was a Taelon, and Sandoval's boss, but a part of him bristled at the intrusion. He was a good Agent, he did his job very well, didn't he deserve some time to himself? Especially when he had a silken skinned nymph like Beckett to spend time with....
        "Agent Sandoval, are you quite alright?" The Taelon's tone was both concerned and firm.
        "Yes, Da'an, I'm fine," he answered testily. "What is it?"
        "I did not receive your report yesterday on your assignment. Are the procedures going well?"
        "Uhm..yeah, it's fine. Just fine Da'an." Sandoval seemed to not really know, but what was more maddening was he seemed to not really care.
        "Agent Sandoval, Captain Marquette is here." Da'an gestured to include the petite woman beside him. "I could have her come to Ireland to assist you...."
        "I'm fine, everything's fine Da'an, I can do my job." Sandoval interrupted the opal skinned alien briskly. Da'an tilted his head and looked out of the corner of his eyes at the agitated agent. He noticed a deep bruise on the Agent's shoulder, and it looked like the skin had been broken. Sandoval lazily scratched the side of his face with his right hand and Da'an's eyes widened. It was all he could do to keep from blushing when he saw the Skrill. Da'an held up a hand to silence Lili, who had begun to question him.
        "Very well Agent Sandoval, I trust I will hear a positive report from you soon. I will be sending Captain Marquette in the near future."
        "Mmmm...fine. Sandoval out." 
Da'an waved away the data stream, and faced a wide eyed Lili.
        "Da'an....*what* is going on with him? That is so not like him, and what's with the glowing Skrill??"
        "You noticed it as well?"
        "It's kind of hard to miss. I've only seen it glow when Boone was firing it, but I've never seen it glowing like that. And Sandoval seemed...uhm....."
        "Distracted?"   
        "Very."
        Da'an rose from his seat and slowly paced to the window that overlooked the city. Lili knew the languid movements were not meant to frustrate her, but at that moment she wanted to shake the daylights out of the alien to get some answers. The Companion suddenly turned to her.
        "Captain Marquette, humans tend to perform their mating rituals in their sleeping places do they not?"
        "Uh,..." said Lili, at a loss for words for a moment. "Wha...well, um, yeah. Generally. Why?"
        "I'm afraid Agent Sandoval may be experiencing some difficulty. I will need you to go to Ireland to help him at once." Normally, Lili's jaw would have fallen to the floor, but her eyebrows were raised high enough to prevent any part of her face from going south.
        "Whoa...slow down here. What exactly is going on with Sandoval, and why on earth would you suggest I need to help Agent Sandoval with his...mating rituals??" By the time she was finished, Lili had her hands on her hips and her face bore a magnificent scowl. Da'an observed her posture and tone of voice; a perfect example of human outraged dignity. It was a marvelous display, it made her feelings quite easy to read. Da'an made a calming gesture with his hands.
        "My apologies Captain Marquette, I do not make myself clear...." This earned the Taelon a tight lipped expression and arms crossed over the young pilot's chest. At least she was not going to try and slap him. Da'an's observance of this behavior warned him that such an action was very likely.
He decided the best way to get her to help him voluntarily was to explain everything to her.
        "I'm afraid a situation has come to pass that I had hoped to avoid. It concerns the Skrills."
Lili was curious at once, her bruised dignity forgotten for the moment. "What about the Skrills? Is something wrong with Sandoval's Skrill? Is that why he is acting weird?"
        "I'm afraid so. You see, the Skrills are manufactured from the Alpha female. Natural mating is not allowed to occur as this would result in a Skrill with the strength of the Alpha, a strength which might overcome the hosts CVI. This we cannot allow." Lili nodded. "However, it appears the Skrills have adapted to our attempts at control of their breeding, and overcome them. I speculate that one Skrill has begun initiating a mating cycle with another Skrill, and based on the color and intensity of the glow I observed during his transmission, Agent Sandoval has one of those Skrills."
        "But wait....you're saying Sandoval's Skrill is...is mating? Who..." Lili's question died on her lips with a gasp. "Agent Beckett?!"
        "I fear so. Sandoval has been in close contact with the Irish Agent for many hours. Within that time, her Skrill and his may have initiated a mating sequence."
        Lili shook her head in a gesture of denial. "But wait....why can't they just, like...put their arms together or something? I mean, why....how..."
Da'an would have sighed if he were human. As it was, he returned to sitting in his chair and prepared to give the shuttle pilot a crash course in Skrill bioengineering.
        "Under normal conditions, the Skrill would not breed in this fashion. However, the Skrill is entirely dependant on it's host for all things such as sustenance and mobility."
        Marquette fought to keep the sneer out of her voice. "Yeah, it's downright parasitic."
        Da'an cocked his head in a thoughtful gesture. In all likelihood he had just gained an insight into one reason Lili was not interested in becoming a Companion Agent. "The Skrill is also dependant on it's host to transfer it's DNA to another Skrill to produce more of it's species. The only way it can accomplish this is by flooding it's host's system with samples of it's DNA." Lili nodded her understanding. "It then remains for the Skrill to convince it's host to transfer some of that DNA to the host of another Skrill." Da'an wound down, looking as if that should have explained everything to Lili.

        "So...what you're saying is that Sandoval and Beckett's Skrills got together, decided to swap DNA through their hosts and make baby Skrills." The Taelon merely tilted his head, so Lili continued. "But that doesn't explain how Sandoval and Beckett got....uhm....."convinced" all of a sudden. Last I saw they would rather have had a fist fight together."
        "Both Agents Beckett and Sandoval have had their Skrills for some time. In that time, the Skrills have learned much about their hosts via the chemicals found in the human body. Skrill's are already adept at meshing with their hosts bodily functions, and given enough time, they are able to chemically tap into the mating drive of their hosts. By causing a host to exchange DNA samples with a host of another Skrill, the Skrill DNA is exchanged as well."
        "So the Skrill DNA piggy-backs on the hosts DNA?"
        "Not so intimately. The Skrill's DNA is flooded throughout it's hosts system. It merely must achieve a sample of it's hosts body fluids be transferred to the other Skrill's host. From there, the Skrill DNA will eventually be filtered through the system of the other Skrill, who will isolate it and combine it with it's own to form new life."
        Lili paced, mapping out what had happened clearly in her mind. "So....Sandoval's Skrill decides it's time to mate, it taps into the sex drive in his brain and chemically whips him into a frenzy so that when he comes across another Skrill bearing person, he can sleep with them and his Skrill's DNA will be sent into the other host and it's Skrill?"
        "Essentially."
        "Wow....it's a good thing he wasn't hanging around Boone when this happened," said Lili under her breath.
        The Companion tilted his head. "Captain Marquette, you must not assign human traits to the Skrills. They are a very different species."
Lili sighed, thinking of Sandoval and Beckett. "How are you going to explain this to them? I don't think they want a science lesson right now."
        "I am not going to explain it to them." Da'an almost smiled as Lili blinked at him. "You are."

* * * *

        Lili cursed as she piloted the shuttle through interdimensional space. Why did it have to be her that had to break this to Sandoval? The man barely tolerated her as it was, the last thing he was going to want to hear was how the Synod was intensely interested in who he was sleeping with. She sighed and slammed the shuttle's controls, causing the craft to buck slightly. Why wasn't Da'an explaining all this to him instead? *....cause I can run faster than Da'an....* she immediately thought, imagining Sandoval taking pot shots at the first person to break the news to him. Groaning, she landed the shuttle in an open field by a modest sized inn.
        Lili hopped down from the shuttle and glanced at the sign hanging over the door. *......the "Goose and Gridiron?".....Real romantic guys...* Shaking her head, she crossed the threshold and entered a dark, wood paneled pub. Flashing her Companion ID to a man behind the bar and asking for Agent Sandoval's whereabouts, she was shown to the stairs leading up to the second floor. She considered advising the staff to leave should they hear breaking glass and the sizzle of Skrill fire, but decided they looked like sensible people. They'd know when to run. 
        The stairs lead to a carpeted hallway painted in light cream tones, a contrast to the warm murkiness of the pub below. Lili padded softly down to the room the pub owner had indicated and knocked softly. She heard a rustle from inside, and then the door swung wide open to reveal Agent Sandoval wearing nothing but a scowl and a pair of silk boxers in a rather flattering shade of blue. Lili gaped like a fish and thought *....nice legs...* before she recovered herself enough to actually speak.
        "Agh....ah, Agent Sandoval! I have to talk to you. It's very important!"  The room was small and since Sandoval had thrown the door wide, Lili made a quick scan and saw that Beckett was not there. Marquette had a sudden desire not to have to deal with both of the Agents at the same time.
Pushing her way inside before Sandoval could stop her, she quickly shut the door and straightened to face Sandoval like the soldier's daughter she was.
        "Captain Marquette!" Sandoval was visibly upset. "Would you please explain..."
        "That's why I'm here Sandoval, just give me a chance," interrupted Lili. It was then she noticed his Skrill glowing softly and pointed accusingly at it. "I'm here because of your Skrill."
        Sandoval raised his arm and glanced at it, noting it was glowing as it had all morning. His tone was decidedly sarcastic. "What about my Skrill?"
        "Well, have you noticed any, uhm...*attraction* you may be having towards Agent Beckett recently?" That brought a deadly looking scowl to his face and he crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive posture. Lili plunged on. "Because, if you have, it's your Skrill that's responsible. See, Da'an explained to me wh..."
        "Da'an knows about this?" A scarlet blush was creeping up his neck and he rubbed his eyes with a hand, cursing his Motivational Imperative which prevented him from just putting his Skrill under his chin and firing.
        "When he called you this morning he noticed your Skrill was glowing blue, and he explained what it means. Your Skrill wants to mate and it's causing you to..uh....want to mate too." Lili rubbed the back of her neck in her own gesture of embarrassment.
        At that moment the door to the bathroom swung open. "Oh, I'd say it's done it's job then." Exiting the tiny bathroom was Siobhan Beckett, wrapped in a thin white robe. Lili released a frustrated sigh, giving in at last to the idea that she must have had wild time in a past life, because she was certainly paying for it now. She turned away to avoid having to stare at the semi-naked agents, only to be confronted by the rumpled bed and clothing from both of them strewn everywhere as if hurriedly flung from their owners in the heat of passion. Which they undoubtedly were. Lili closed her eyes and turned back to the agents, mentally cursing the Taelons for making her deal with this.
        "Look, I'm really sorry for barging in here, and I'm sorry for what's happening with you two, but Da'an asked me to assure you your Skrills are directly responsible for your behavior. This...is not your fault." Siobhan had taken pity on the scarlet colored Sandoval and handed him his T-shirt.
        Shrugging it on roughly,  he was obviously not enjoying this invasion into his private life. Beckett, unable to help herself, was smirking like a demon. While she hated being embarrassed herself, she was not above enjoying the look on Sandoval's face right now. Besides, he was cute when he
blushed; a thought which almost made her laugh out loud, knowing how furious he'd be if he knew her thoughts.
        Lili took a deep breath and tried to be clinically detached, hoping this would help. "According to Da'an, who checked with Skrill researchers before I came, the Skrills are attempting to procreate with each other. Since they are dependant on you guys to get anywhere, they've chemically tapped into your sex drive to get you to sleep together. In order for the DNA of one Skrill to get into the host system of another, some.......uh....bodily fluids need to be exchanged."
        Sandoval bit the inside of cheek and glanced over to the window. Nope, too low to actually kill her if he threw Lili out of it. Siobhan pondered,  "What happens once this...exchange....takes place?"
        Lili shrugged. "Da'an figures your Skrills will back off and you'll return to normal."
        Sandoval looked at Siobhan for the first time since she had come out of the bathroom. It would certainly explain why they both seemed to be at odds for the past hour, that overwhelming desire to physically join together having disappeared. They were actually returning to their previous emotional states. But Sandoval had one question.
        "Are you saying Agent Beckett's Skrill is pregnant now?"
        "Da'an and the other scientists can't say for sure if will actually work, they just gave an explanation of why it was happening. Pretty much time will tell, I guess." Lili gave Beckett a compassionate look, but found the agent seemed quite composed. " Sandoval, Da'an asked me to bring you back to Washington."
        "Of course."
        "I'll be outside in the shuttle." Feeling quite awkward, Lili opened the door and nodded at Siobhan. "Agent Beckett."
        "Good-bye Captain Marquette, and thank you."
        Once the door closed, Sandoval busied himself shrugging into his discarded clothes and smoothing his hair into place. By the time he was finished, he was again the composed Companion Agent. The only evidence of his previous embarrassment was a clenched jaw. He finally looked at Beckett, who happened to be blocking his way to the door. He hated this part, he had zero clue as to what to say, but Beckett understood. She smiled at him, although it seemed a little sad.
        "Promise me one thing Agent Sandoval." He nodded mutely. "Promise me you won't beat yourself up over this, and that we can at least consider each other friends. We will no doubt need to work together in future." She startled him completely by embracing him warmly, then quickly releasing him. "And don't forget your Commonality." Then she opened the door and practically shoved him into the hall. Sandoval blinked at her, then nodded, and moved off towards the stairs. She really was a maddening woman.

* * * *

        Eight days later, Lili was finishing the last of the annoying weekly shuttle maintenance reports. Her neck crackled as she got up from her chair and stretched. She had decided an hour ago to give in to her craving for an ice cream sundae and looked forward to treating herself. She would have      given in earlier in the evening, but had resisted it just because Augur had suggested it to try and bribe her into spending some time with him. Her computer screen lit suddenly and she turned to see Da'an's worried face. "Da'an?"
        "Captain Marquette. I need you to go at once to these co-ordinates. Please pick up Agent Sandoval and bring him to Dr. Belman's lab. It appears he is gravely ill."
        Lili threw on her coat hurriedly, remembering Boone had once told her Companion Agents didn't get ill. "I'm on my way."
        A short time later she had landed on the roof of Sandoval's apartment building. Lili wished she had bet Boone more money when he asserted the Asian agent's sole living quarters were at the Embassy. The EMT's had already gotten a stretcher out the door and were holding down a struggling, moaning figure. Lili ran over to the gurney and caught a wildly swinging arm and held it down. She gasped when she saw Sandoval's face, it was covered in gashes that were bleeding slightly, and his arms and hands were bleeding as well. His clothes were dotted with blood and ripped in several places. He opened his eyes and seemed to recognize her.
        "Marquette! ...they're everywhere...I can't, can't get them out. I can't stand this!" He arched his back and would have jumped off the stretcher if he had not been buckled down.
        "Sandoval! What happened?!"
        "Lady, he's hallucinating. Keeps going on about the bugs on him and he's scratched himself till he bled. It's a typical response to narcotics..."
        Lili angrily whirled on the EMT. "How many junkies get a Taelon shuttle to take them to a hospital? This man is a Companion Agent! He is not..." She stopped suddenly as she felt something move under her hand which still griped Sandoval's arm. Ripping the cloth to expose his arm, she gasped as *something* wriggled up his forearm under his skin, then changed direction and scooted around by his elbow. She gasped and looked up at the EMT, who had a look of equal horror on his face. Without another word, they loaded Sandoval into the shuttle and Lili rocketed towards Dr. Belman's lab.

* * * *

        Lili stood at the big window, watching the human and Taelon doctors fussing over Sandoval in the lab. He was thrashing his head from side to side and still trying to scratch his skin off. Dr. Belman appeared beside her, tucking her hair into a sterilized paper bonnet. The young woman took some comfort in Belman's calm and efficient movements.
        "Dr. Belman, what's going on?"
        "Well, this sort of thing is not entirely unexpected, although I wasn't sure which one of them I'd have in here."
        "This has to do with...what happened with his Skrill...with Agent Beckett?"
        "Yes. It appears that Agent Sandoval's Skrill has turned out to be the pregnant one. Now excuse me, I have some baby Skrills to deliver."

****

        Lili was watching anxiously from behind the glass partition when her global chirped.
Lili flipped open the device angrily, "Captain Marquette."
Agent Beckette's determined face was staring back at her.
        "Captain Marquette….Where is Agent Sandoval?"
Unsure of how to answer Lili looked into the operating room where efforts to sedate the thrashing implant had so far failed.
        "He is here in Dr. Belmans lab Agent Beckette ..I suggest you get here as soon as possible…he might not make it out of here alive."
Sibohn's face showed concern for the briefest second before composing herself.
        "I'm on my way!"

Fin