Disclaimer: These characters
do not belong to me, but to the writers and producers of Roswell
Spoilers: After Chant Down
Babylon, changes happening where Max is successfully rescued, and Michael was
the one who broke up with Maria.
Pairings: You’ll have to wait and see!
Pronunciation Guide: Pela (Pe –lah)
Nuha (New
– ha)
Author’s notes: Queen Fadilia
Kedar: Max/Isabel’s mother
King
Alaric Kedar: Max/Isabel’s father
Cian: Max/Isabel’s ancestor, first king of Antar
Andaria: Tess’ mother
Radim: Tess’ father
Kedrans: race from which
Royal Four descended
Iturians: race from which Khivar descended, and overthrew and killed
Zan and the Kedrans
Cerideans: special core ops of the Iturian army, mostly
psyonics and telepaths
Eshtari: capital of Kel Abara, location of the palace
Badr: 1st moon of Antard
Cedris: 2nd moon
Pela: 3rd moon
Kaptar’s
Jewel: constellation in the
Antarian’s star system
Yun’s
Garment: Aurora
Borealis - Northern Lights
Saren Dari: desert plain on Antar
dashka : good
luck charm
elkarl : Iturian hand weapon
capaechea:
long haired woolly creature, with long
flanks and a large hump on its back
kii: location where
various endangered animals are kept for protection
Mount
Freiweils: location of Loyalist secret base
Tir
Lamar: sister city to Eshtari
kashkar:
slur, equivalent to witch
plascer: plasma weapons, compact, length of your hand
mesnya: Antarian money
Chapter Sixty Seven
***
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them to become what they are capable of being.
-
Goethe
***
"Liz."
Kyle was still stunned at the whole state of
affairs. As he shuffled into Liz's
semi-private room behind his father, the silence spoke volumes. The girl, who always seemed to bubble over
with life, lay before him in a coma.
The doctor said that he had no idea whether she would wake up or not.
Jim glanced behind him, hearing the worry in his son's
voice. He had never been more
frightened for one person in his life.
As he raced down the desert road and up to the steps of Roswell Memorial
Hospital, his thoughts were for the Parkers.
How would they feel about losing their only daughter?
He knew the horror of almost losing a son and watching
him almost die in his arms. It was
something he wouldn't wish on any father or mother.
Jim let out an uncomfortable sigh, as he stared warily
at the 17-year old senior, who in only a few months would have been graduating
from high school. It was an insane risk
he took, whisking the girl to the human hospital, when Max could have healed
her in mere seconds. But something in
his gut told him that there had been hesitancy in that method of healing; and
after seeing the state of Isabel's own health, he knew that the boy needed to
conserve whatever power he had left to save his sister.
"Dad, you have no idea how glad I was to see
you." Kyle slapped his father on the back.
It was the truth.
He had been so freaked out; in fact, he still believed he was in shock
over the hundreds of bodies that he saw.
They were all real people.
"Where the hell do you get off disappearing into
the night without a word?" Jim
spun around and confronted his son - a fury of unleashed anger bubbling to the
surface. "Do you have any idea
what kind of thoughts ran through my mind, boy?" he yelled, pushing his
index finger into Kyle's chest.
"I would have put out an A.P.B. except I didn't
want to alert the wrong people, just in case you, Max, Isabel, and Michael were
caught in... by those unmentionable things that shouldn't be seen or talked
about."
Kyle's eyes widened at his father's unexpected
outburst. "Whoa Dad!" he
coughed, not sure whether he should laugh or be offended. "I didn't mean for any," he
pointed to Liz, "of this to happen!"
Jim rubbed his forehead and let out a frustrated
sigh. He knew that Kyle never meant for
any of this to happen. This is what
you get for stickin' your nose in other people's business. "I know," he grunted, patting
Kyle's shoulder. "I just need you
to tell me how all of this got so out of hand." Jim peered down the hallway for any signs of nurses or doctors.
It was clear.
"It didn't start out like some sci-fi
movie," Kyle began, "well, I guess it kind of did, since all movies
tend to start out normally so that..."
"Kyle!"
Jim didn't have the patience for side stories, not when the Parkers were
sure to have been notified of Liz's state.
Kyle jumped, widening his eyes at his father's
flustered state. "Chill Dad,"
he replied calmly. "I was just
trying to lighten the mood."
"Look Kyle," Jim pointed at his son, "I
just want to know what put Liz in this bed and how the hell those bodies ended
up in the desert."
"In fact, why don't you tell me who in Sam hell
they are, and what kind of backlash - F.B.I., C.I.A. - we're going to be
dealing with in the next few days."
Kyle stepped back as his father kept coming at
him. It was like his dad thought he
orchestrated the whole ordeal. With
everything he had been through in the last 24 hours, he should have been given
some medal of honor or something.
"I'll give you the Cliff notes version," he
said curtly, not appreciating his father's accusatorial tone.
"Liz and I were out at the theme park the night
before, just to help her forget about Max and the fact that Tess came
back." He moved in closer to Liz's
bed. "I took her out so we could
see the Northern Lights that were out, which should have been a dead give
away," he moaned in foresight.
"And that's where we saw Michael, Tess and the spaceship."
"Spaceship?" Jim couldn't believe what he was hearing. As much as he knew Max, Isabel, Michael, and
Tess were aliens, for his son to say that he saw a spaceship was an incredible
phenomenon. It just went to prove that
there were aliens out there.
"Yeah," Kyle nodded, "and Michael and
Tess took off with the other aliens."
"Took off..." Jim felt like he was hearing something only a child would come up
with, wild tales of spaceships and aliens.
He felt his mouth hanging agape.
"Then Liz and I went to Michael's apartment and
Max and Isabel came back from their trip." Kyle continued on, ignoring his father's apparent shock. He began
to pace back and forth, trying to recall the details of the past couple of
nights. "He came back and we found
out from Maria that Tess didn't kill Alex; it had all been a lie, a set
up by Tess to protect us."
"Apparently she had made a deal with Khivar, but
found out that he was lying to her and she double-crossed him. He killed Alex, not Tess."
Jim felt like his brain was on overload. "Tess didn't killed Alex?" he
muttered under his breath. Jim looked
up at his son and frowned. "When
did we find that out?"
"And when did Max and Isabel take off?"
There had been a lot happening around Roswell in the
past month that he apparently hadn't been aware of.
""Pregnant..."
"So once we figured that everything Tess told us
was a lie, Max went after Liz, who ran out," Kyle continued on, "and
we headed over to the Evans', where Isabel was and with the missing
Jesse."
"Jesse was missing?" Jim cried. He was getting tired of being left in the
dark. For all he knew, Kyle could have
been killed and he wouldn't have known for days...if ever. He would have been left wondering. "I'm the Sheriff of this town and no
one bothered to think to include me?
Why the hell wasn't I told any of this?"
Kyle looked at his father speechless as he
shrugged. "Dad, everything just
happened so fast!"
"Well apparently not fast enough to not
involve the Evans."
"Dad," Kyle cried out in frustration. "We didn't go to them with this
stuff. Believe me, if they could have
been left out of it, they would have.
But we - Isabel, the Evans and I - got taken hostage by the
aliens." He closed his eyes and
sighed, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees. "Everything happened so fast..."
he repeated softly.
Just then, Jim finally saw the toll the past couple of
nights had taken on Kyle, and a flood of regret and remorse filled him. He slid his arm around Kyle's shoulder and
embraced him. "I'm sorry that I
wasn't there, son," he whispered.
"I shoulda been there."
Standing in his father arms, Kyle felt all his
strength escape him. Fatigue and
exhaustion seeped into every muscle and he had trouble even standing up. "Dad, I was so scared that I was going
to die," he choked out. "I
don't want you to think that I don't love you."
Kyle's declaration of love seemed to come out of
nowhere. Jim frowned, though a smile
tugged at the corners of his lips.
"I know that," he rubbed Kyle's back, "I know that,
son."
"I just didn't want to die without telling you
one more time," he whispered, as he began to choke on his tears. Kyle felt his eyes brim over with
tears. "I was so close to
dying."
Jim pulled him in closer to him and squeezed him
harder, trying to will those painful memories
away. "I will always love
you, Kyle. Always."
"Now," he sniffed, pulling back from Kyle,
"how did you escape?"
"Well, the leader," Kyle rubbed his wrists
unconsciously, as he recalled walking across the desert in those bonds, "I
guess he thought he would use us as leverage; well at least the Evans and
me."
"Where was Isabel?"
"T-they separated us," Kyle stammered,
unable to fathom the torture Isabel endured at the hands of those sadistic
bastards. "I don't know what they
did to her; in fact I have no idea how she got out to where we were in the
first place. She just showed up."
"Anyway, Max, Liz and Jesse must have known what
was happening because he was out on the cliffs prepared for the
attack." Kyle remembered the
blinding fog that enveloped him and his captors; he had never felt more afraid
or relieved. Only then did he feel he
could hope again, that there was a possibility that the whole ordeal wouldn't
end in his death.
"Kyle?"
Jim nudged him as he seemed to fall into a trance-like state.
"Uh, yeah," he breathed. "So there we were in the desert and
this fog suddenly appears.." Kyle
stepped back, and stood beside Liz's bed.
"I don't know how long it was, but somewhere in the confusion, Liz
and Jesse showed up." A smile
tugged at corner of his lips.
"I don't know when I more glad to see her face
then at that moment." Kyle turned
and looked over at his father.
"She was like a genie or something, stealing us away from the big,
bad aliens."
"So how did she get like this?" Jim
frowned. There were so many missing
pieces to the whole picture.
"I don't know," Kyle whispered, beginning to
get choked up again. "I told her
she should come with us." He
looked down at Liz, who showed no signs of awareness of the conversation in the
room. "But you're so
stubborn." Kyle rested his hand on her arm. "Too stubborn for your own good."
Jim comfortingly patted his son on the back. Liz had been the closest thing to love that
Kyle had ever experienced. And he could
see how her lifeless state was tearing him apart, especially when he felt
partially responsible.
"I took the Evans back to Roswell like Max told
me to..." His voice trailed
off. Glancing over his shoulder, Kyle
swallowed hard as he looked at his father in the face. "He told me to take Liz back too, but I
didn't listen...I didn't make her come with me."
"It's not your fault, son," Jim replied
reassuringly. "You couldn't have
known."
"But I did!" Kyle exclaimed through his
tears. "I did know! I felt it in here," he pointed to his
gut, "but I just watched her leave."
He turned his focus back to Liz.
"So how did
you get back to the desert?" Jim
hated to press him, but if he was going to try to help Max and Isabel, he
needed to know everything up until he arrived.
"Larek...Brody, drove."
"Why did you go with him?"
"I had to," Kyle explained warily. "I was the only one who could show him
where Max was."
"And what did you see when you got..."
"Sir," a woman's voice suddenly interrupted
him. Jim and Kyle both turned around to
find an elderly woman in scrubs standing in the door way. "Can I ask you
to please keep it down?"
Jim swallowed hard.
How much had she heard?
He cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly. "Uh, sorry M'am."
The woman seemed satisfied by his apology. She walked into the room and picked up Liz's
chart. Briefly glancing at several
different machines in the room, the nurse jotted down some notes onto the sheet
attached to the silver clipboard.
"Dad, can we do this later?" Kyle leaned
over and brushed a stand of the dark brown hair from Liz's cool brow.
She looked so peaceful, like Sleeping Beauty, except
he was no prince. Kyle slowly sunk down
into the chair he had noticed earlier, behind him. Resting his chin against the metal railing that barred each side
of the hospital bed, he stared down at one of his closest friends.
I can't lose her...not like this.
~~~
"Why haven't we heard
from Counselor Larek?" A regal
pale-skinned figure robed in navy blue frowned.
"He has yet to contact
us, Sir," another pale-faced figure replied tentatively. The Ithmarian was robed in baby blue was
younger than his irritated superior.
"And he left strict instructions not to contact him."
"Juno, we've got a short
window of opportunity left."
Captain Kel bristled at the Counselor's irresponsible behavior. He had given Larek specific instructions
about the narrow timeline they were dealing with, if they were to return before
the final lunar equinox. To make things
worse, their ship would not have enough fuel to wait around much longer for Zan
and Vilandra to make up their minds. If
they did not arrive in the next few minutes, they would be grounded until the
next lunar cycle.
"Sir," Lieutenant
Juno said slowly, uncertainhow his captain would react to his readings. "We have readings of an unexpected
polarization developing on G72-03's atmosphere."
Captain Kel pulled up the
anomaly on screen. The light blue haze
was no more than a pin prick on his monitor; it pulsed and their sensors read a
large magnetic energy emitting from the image before them. He tried to pull in closer, trying to zoom
in on ground level, but their magnification was unable to capture those images.
Captain Kel watched the
growing mass. He didn't know what it
was, but he didn't like what he saw.
This mission was not going as
well as they had all hoped and prayed it would.
~~~
"I have a ship waiting for my signal." Larek glanced down at his chronometer. Captain Kel would definitely lecture him on
punctuality when they boarded the ship.
"Max and Isabel aren't going anywhere." The
human guardian known as 'Mrs. Evans' declared evenly, stepping in front of her
son.
Larek groaned inwardly. They had no time for this foolishness. He looked at Zan for help on this human level.
Zan stepped forward.
"Mom..."
Larek reached down into his jacket and pulled out
small, smooth object. It was crafted,
in appearance, as a rock-like substance; a description of it in human
vocabulary would have been something akin to a pebble. He ran his thumb over the surface. Immediately the pebble began to vibrate
under his fingertips. When Larek was about
to contact his ship, he was distracted by a sudden shift in atmospheric
tension.
"What's going on?" Zan said darkly.
Larek glanced over his shoulder at the small group of
humans huddled around Zan, as if instinctively believing he would be able to protect
them. "I do not know," he
said slowly, as his eyes darted around the desert plain. "But I do not think we should should
remain out in the open where we are so vulnerable."
Just as he was about to escort Zan and his human
guardians to a sheltered area of the former battlefield, the shimmer of the
full moon flickered, as if a flame, and withdrew into the night. The orange-tinged warmth of this galaxy's
sun, however, did not trail upon its wake.
Time seemed to have skidded to an abrupt halt. The ominous, grey clouds that had previously filled the sky,
rolled in swiftly, veiling the lunar apparition that had once shed light upon
their enemies.
Larek strained to distinguish forms, shadows or
shapes. It was as if someone had
blindfolded him. Larek stiffened, aware
of the possibility of attack from Khivar's remaining men. Qunar had a main camp, which he had marched
out from. He was sure of this. "Zan, stay close to me," he called
into the darkness, uncertain of Zan and Vilandra's exact whereabouts.
He could hear the shuffling of feet and muffled voices
behind him.
"Larek, over there!"
Larek was confused.
He had no comprehension of where Zan was calling his attention to; but
it was only for a brief moment. The
cause of this sudden blackout revealed itself quickly.
The air sizzled; thin, static streams of light flared
out of a small sliver of white piercing the darkness less than a hundred feet
in front of him. A high pitched hum cut
through the eerie silence that had fallen over the desert. The anomaly was no more than a couple of
inches in circumference, but growing steadily.
"Max, what is happening?" Mrs. Evans cried.
Larek glanced over his shoulder; the unknown source
emitted enough light for him to be able to locate the three huddled figures
behind him, with another in Mr. Evans' arms.
"We need to find shelter," he exclaimed, suddenly feeling a
strong, invisible pull drawing him towards the light.
"Counselor," a static voice bellowed from
his hand.
Larek frowned and looked down at the communicator in
his hand. He pressed the flat side of
the smooth oblong surface. "What
is it?" This was not protocol.
"I told you not to contact me...to wait for my
signal."
"Coun..." static crackled from the
communicator, "lor. Window
closing." Larek strained to focus
on what his men were saying. "Polari...tion stronger."
Larek ran over to Zan. He knew they did not have much time. "Find them shelter," he commanded calmly. "Then we must leave." Zan began to protest. "We have no time!"
He began pushing them back, frantically searching for
some form of shelter which they could hide behind. Out of the corner of his eye, Larek saw several of the human hosts enveloped by the light. Whatever the cause of the energy field, they
had to get out of its way before it pulled them in along with the dead bodies
lying in that desert.
~~~
Max was confused and
distracted. Larek was not giving him
enough time to figure out what exactly was happening. As Max scrambled backwards, to a small group of rocks, he saw the
source of the light.
It was about the size of a
baseball; although only a few minutes earlier it had been about the size of a
golf ball. There seemed to be some
magnetic field involved with the light source.
Bolts of light shot out from the bright anomaly. Its' reach was increasing by the minute.
Qunar. The exact
location where he had watched Qunar die was where this light source
appeared. Had he missed something?
"Go!" Max was suddenly met by Larek's stern
gaze. "We have to get out of
here!" Larek cried, spinning him around and pushing him hard.
"Where?" Max had been standing here for the past hour
or so, fighting Qunar; there was no place to hide that wasn't a couple hundred
feet away. "There's no where to
run," he said firmly, turning around to see the brilliant light dimmed,
clouded by a curtain of dust, swirling in front of its hungry mouth. "There must be a reason its here - a
cause."
"Did you not hear me,
Zan?" Larek shouted at him, as the hum had become louder. "We do not have the time to analyze
this phenomenon. We must get you and
Vilandra home."
Max spun around and glanced at
his 'possessed' friend, before his gaze darted past to his parents, who were
several feet away from him, waiting anxiously for his reply to Larek's blunt declaration. "We can't return," his gaze met
Larek's, "until I know this thing won't consume everything in its
path."
Max swallowed hard, waiting
for the alien's response.
Larek's intense eyes bore into
his, as if looking into his soul, not turning away for a moment. "Fine." He spun around and motioned to Max's parents. "Go with them, until I can get some
reading on this anomaly," he said resignedly.
Max hesitated for a moment
before jogging towards his parents. He
knew Larek was unhappy about his choice; choosing to return to Antar was a huge
step in itself, but he could never save one home from complete destruction,
while leaving another to utter ruin. He
just couldn't.
"Max, what is
happening?" his mother asked, completely distraught.
"He's going to try and
get a reading on the anomaly," he explained, distancing them from the pull
of the vacuum. "We don't know what
it is, but hopefully we'll figure it out soon...then we'll know what to
do."
Max studied his father's
shadowed face. He had been so
quiet. It was unlike him.
Max slid his arm around his
father's shoulder, tilting his head, gesturing towards the rock behind
him. His father furrowed his brow, as if
it ward off the wariness that was etched upon his face. But the elder Evans' gave in and rested his
strained muscles.
Max's eyes scanned Isabel's
pale face, discerning whether she was any worse for wear; he knew he had to get
her some medical attention soon if she was going to survive.
"But Max, why is this all
happening?" his mother questioned.
Max glanced over his shoulder,
seeing Larek/Brody inch his way closer to the entity, in an attempt to get some
reading on the growing monstrosity, and then turned his attention back to his
mother's frightened expression. This
had been the day Isabel had been waiting for since they were sixteen. Max remembered Isabel's tear-stained cheeks,
as he denied her the choice of explaining to the Evans who and what they are.
"You told
her?" Isabel looked at him
excitedly.
"No." Max shook his head. Her shoulders dropped and it seemed like
someone had punched her in the stomach.
"I'm sorry,"
she whispered. "I just...I just
wanted her to know . I wanted her to
know so bad."
Max cringed at the
memory. He looked down upon Isabel's
limp body cradled in their father's arms.
"M-mom," he said, his voice almost shaking.
He would tell them. He would finally tell them the whole story,
as Isabel had wanted to years ago.
~~~
"If we can locate the underground tunnel leading
to the royal passageways," Michael explained, while rustling through
several rolls of green parchment-like paper.
"Then we can enter the Inner Sanctum without Khivar's
knowledge."
They had laid siege around the outer perimeter of the
city, hidden in the dense camoflauge of foliage. Khivar's men suspected nothing yet, but it was only a matter of
time before he realized what they were up to.
General Steren was leading their forces in capture of any scout crafts
and incoming cargo ships.
Tess furrowed her brow, as she watched Michael search
for the ancient layout to the palacial city.
The secret passageways within the royal city had been destroyed by its
architect at the king's command. The
secrets of the passageways had been passed down orally, taught by the prior
ruler to the next generation of the royall family. And only the royal family knew the traps and secret corridors
within the maze-like structure.
"Why are you looking for blueprints when you know there are none to
speak of."
"No, that's not what I'm looking for." He quickly skimmed the large page in his
hand and smiled. "This is
it," he showed the green page, marked with detailed diagrams, "The
plans to the underground sewage system."
"This is what is going to get us to the entrance
to the secret passageways."
Michael glanced up at the small group of officers who had been gathered
to join Tess and him in the mission.
"So you remember the how to get to the Inner
Sanctum?"
"When did you become aware of the secret
passageways?" Michael frowned at the small detail that no one knew except
the remaining few of the Kedrans, who had served the last reigning son of
Cian. There was no way Tess could have
known except that her memory was finally being restored bit by bit. He grabbed her shoulders and looked her
squarely in the eye. "Do you
remember?"
Tess instinctively pulled away; but as she was
confronted by the accusation, she paused and tried to recall how that
information came to the forefront of her mind.
"I don't know." She
shook her head, running her fingers through her disheveled hair. "It just came to me when you began
talking about the underground tunnel systems." Standing there, the reality of her continuing restoration of her
memories filled her with excitment.
Would she be able to remember it all?
"Your Highness." Yasu cleared his throat and waited quietly to be addressed. Tess nodded, giving him permission to
speak. "With your permission, I
can assemble and prepare a tactical assault team while you and Commander
Guerin," he glanced over at Michael, "...prepare the manner of
our entry." He lowered his eyes in
humble submission.
Tess glanced over at Michael to see if he was in
agreement with Yasu's suggestion, knowing that the trusted soldier was giving
them space to speak privately about the unspoken subject of her memory loss.
"Agreed."
Michael tilted his head towards the small clearing, not more than ten
feet from them, signalling for the soldiers to take their leave.
He silently watched the younger soldiers trail Yasu as
he led them away. Mentally he scolded
himself for bringing up the subject in front of them; he knew better. Though the Loyalists were faithful to their
queen, they could not be comfortable with the thought that Tess was unable to
recall her life on Antar.
"Do you remember the passageways?" Tess stared intently at Michael, focused on
the task at hand.
Michael locked eyes with Tess. "No, " he shook his head, "in
fact, if you recall, I wasn't shown the passages."
Tess frowned.
"How can that be?"
Michael bent over the layout of the tunnel system and
sighed. "I died before they showed
me." He looked up wryly at Tess,
who seemed to upset at herself for not remembering, and smiled. "But hey, this is one way to
go." He turned and looked out at
the towering city of Eshtari, built on a hill, but what some might call a
mountain. "At least it won't be a
boring way to memorize the passageways."
Tess looked at Michael uneasily. His humor always arose at the oddest
times. He winked at her.
"Let's get this planned," Tess sighed,
rolling her eyes at him. "I want
this plan to be flawless."