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Ronald Sandoval waited with Liam Kincaid as the Jaridian probe approached. As soon as it came within range, Kincaid hit it with double shaquarava blast while Sandoval fired his skrill. Their combined firepower caused the probe to explode into a collection of small and broken pieces.
Kincaid surveyed the wreckage dispassionately for a moment before pulling out his global to inform Zo'or of their success. Predictably, the Synod leader was pleased at the destruction of more Jaridian technology.
"Zo'or wishes us to return to the Mothership." Liam informed him dispassionately, returning the global to its usual place at his belt and walking toward their shuttle. Sandoval soon followed. Neither protector was aware they were being observed.
* * *
The video feed from Julia's global was displayed at the makeshift new Resistance headquarters. Currently only Augur and Da'an were present. Doors was busy making contact with other surviving cells and Lili was at a lab helping Resistance scientists develop their own brand of Taelon shuttle.
Da'an was deeply troubled by the hard expression on Liam's young face. Even Sandoval displayed unease around Liam. The former North American Companion suspected it was the FBI agent who was their mysterious new source. Thanks to that well-placed source, they all knew what had been done to the former resistance leader and the outrage surviving Liberation members felt at Liam's fate easily overwhelmed the deception regarding his heritage.
Dr. Belman and Dr. Park were putting their enforced time underground to a good use: perfecting a way to remove a CVI completely without damaging their capabilities or causing the patient's death. In the months since the Taelon purge of Resistance members, the implantation of partial CVI's into unsuspecting people had increased threefold.
All in all, it was a bad time to be a freedom fighter.
* * *
Liam walked to his room on the Mothership after making his report to Zo'or. He shucked his shoes and tie as soon as he closed the door. After a shower, he changed into sleepwear and lay down on the bed to reflect before going to sleep.
In his dreams, the Liam could not escape his true self. Every time he tried to stop himself, the MI hit him like an impenetrable wall. He was thankful, however that this only occurred at night. He could blot out his dreams during the day; they were an unnecessary distraction.
When he awoke, he went to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. He was surprised at how much older he looked. He shrugged the though off and pulled a white shirt, black pants and jacket on. The choice of an appropriate tie took him a moment. Time to go see how he could serve the Synod leader today.
When he reported to Zo'or, the Synod leader gave his new implant a strange proprietary smirk. Ever since the revelations about his past, Zo'or had been keeping Liam close. After all Kincaid was the only one proven to be able to eliminate a replicant.
The bridge crew, however, was unnerved by the sudden change in Liam. Kincaid had been one of the more popular Companion Protectors, now the gossip went that ice cubes could be stacked on his head and not melt. Sandoval was positively warm and fuzzy in comparison.
"I have an assignment for you." Zo'or told Liam.
"What is it Zo'or." Liam asked, straightening.
Zo'or studied him for a few seconds. "Tell me, can you access the Taelon Commonality?"
"Yes."
Zo'or was pleased. "Excellent, you will use your connection to the Commonality to ferret out Da'an. Once you've found him... dispose of him."
"Of course Zo'or." Liam saluted and left the bridge heading for the shuttle bay. He absently began to rub his palms together to quell the familiar tingle of his shaquarava. Once on Earth, Liam sat in the shuttle and gentry eased his connection to the Commonality open.
A minute later his eyes flew open and he smiled coldly. Zo'or would be most pleased.
* * *
Da'an suddenly jerked in his chair, causing Augur to jump as well.
"What is it?" He asked as a thousand scenarios, all of them unpleasant flitted through his mind.
"Liam..." Da'an whispered.
Augur winced, that name was that of the number one unpleasant possibility. He fingered the Taelon puzzle he and Lili had given Liam when he was small. He did not want to face an implanted Liam Kincaid if it could be helped.
* * *
Lili noticed Augur and Da'an's forlorn faces as soon as she set foot in the temporary Resistance hideout.
"Lili, good, I was trying to call you." Augur began, glancing worriedly at his Taelon companion.
"I turned my global off." Lili explained. She was about to ask what was wrong, but Da'an chose that moment to begin speaking.
"There has been an unfortunate development." Da'an said carefully. Lili noticed that he was moving his hands in a gesture she had come to associate with tension and stress. Her level of concern was elevated two notches.
"What kind of development?" Lili asked. She had suspicions, but only one would strike as deep as to cause the depth of hurt in her friend's eyes. The suspicion began to crystallize when she saw Augur looking at the puzzle Liam had completed when he was not even a day old. Now it sat on top of his computer.
"Try thinking of our friend with the night-light hands." Augur said, remembering the time he had walked in on Liam trying to kill himself.
"But how?" Lili wondered aloud, back tracking in her mind for any possible security breaches. She came up blank.
"I am afraid that I am to blame." Da'an informed them sadly. "My connection to the Commonality has allowed Liam to significantly narrow the search perimeters."
"Da'an, is there any way for you to reduce your connection so Liam cannot find you without your reverting to an Atavus. After the debacle with Bel'ie I don't think we'll find anyone to..."
"I could enter a state of Samhaad." The Taelon suggested.
"Samhaad?" Augur asked curiously.
"A Taelon state similar in many ways to unconsciousness, though they are hardly the same thing." Lili explained as she recalled the incident where the Taelons were forced to enter Samhaad to reduce their energy so that they would not be as vulnerable to the insects.
"How long can you maintain that state?" Augur asked.
"Long enough." Da'an replied.
* * *
Sandoval sprinted over to where Liam sat staring at a computer screen. The Implant stood there for a long moment, trying to determine how to get the hybrid Implant's attention when Liam stiffened and blanched suddenly. He stared at Sandoval, who immediately straightened himself and wiped all trace of concern from his expression. The agent had the unnerving impression that his son was not seeing him at all.
"A storeowner saw a woman who might have been Marquette, but he was not completely sure." Sandoval reported. When he noticed with no small amount of alarm that Liam was not paying the slightest bit of attention to him. Now he felt that he could ask if anything was wrong without having his question be reported to the Synod leader as evidence that his Motivational Imperative was no longer functional. "Is something the matter, Major?"
"Da'an..." Liam began. "I cannot find him in the Commonality anymore, just the faintest whisper of his connection." He snapped out of the trance-like state and glared at his surviving Human parent.
"I'll contact Zo'or." Sandoval said, feeling chilled.
* * *
Liam strained his psychic senses, using his connection to the Commonality to search for traces of Da'an, but he found little more than echoes. He was relieved that even Zo'or could find no more than a whisper of the renegade Taelon's link. It would not do to disappoint the Synod leader. Liam glanced over at Agent Sandoval, his Human father, and watched him nod at the image on his global before closing it and looking up at his son.
"Is something the matter, Major?" Sandoval inquired, keeping his tone matter-of-fact.
"I was just considering the possibility that Da'an has entered a state of Samhaad. That would reduce his connection to the Commonality, thus making it difficult for us to locate him." Liam replied promptly.
"But that would only occur to Da'an if he knew that either you or a Taelon were on Earth actively searching for him."
Kincaid shrugged. "There are two possibilities. Da'an tutored me in masking my Kimeran heritage from the Synod. He is thus more sensitive to my presence than any other Taelon and is adept at reading even minute changes when I access the Commonality."
"And the other?"
"Someone affiliated with the Resistance recognized us and warned Da'an."
"How long can he maintain Samhaad." Sandoval asked, his CVI bringing up images of the only time he had seen Taelons in that state.
"A few weeks at most." Kincaid frowned. "It will be easier to attempt to track Marquette or the other members of the Resistance command."
Marquette, Sandoval thought. It was yet another example of the change that CVI had wrought over Liam. Once she was always Lili to him. "Possibly. We do have a lead, but it is already cold."
* * *
Both Lili and Augur found Da'an's Samhaad state creepy, so did the rest of the Resistance, but they kept their opinions to themselves.
"Hey, think if we just press a button then he'll snap out of that like an alien sleeping beauty?" Julia asked.
Lili shook her head in exasperation.
"Just trying to lighten the mood a little," Julia explained.
"It isn't working, not in the slightest." Augur told her.