Roswell Fanatics

Great part!

So Nasedo was looking forward to moving back to Roswell when the alien hunting team disbanded.....
That was always a strange arrangement between Vanessa and Pierce........
Liz really feels like and outsider now and I hate that.
Thanks for the new part,
Carolyn

Hello and thank you to everyone reading, and special thanks for the feedback!








CHAPTER SIXTEEN




September 7, 2000, 9 p.m.

Holiday Inn, Roswell





The hotel room was small, just a square, really, and the pinkish infrared wash reached every corner of that square including Jaddo. Interesting how species which couldn't see in the infrared spectrum always tinted their attempts to correct that; humans used green, Argilians red. Across from him, Vanessa's cold look had been replaced by sheer horror as her eyes swept him top to bottom in disbelief, and she fumbled with the trithium generator in her hand while her other hand fumbled in her pocket.

"Don't try anything," she warned. "You can't use your powers now."

"Neither can you," Jaddo noted. "The light bulbs are safe from both of us. For the moment."

She smiled faintly, caught herself. "If I remember correctly," Jaddo went on, "none of this affects my ability to shift." He shifted abruptly and was promptly rewarded with a gasp.

"You bastard!" Vanessa sputtered. "Why'd you have to look like him? Change back!"

Jaddo shrugged. "I merely chose a form you would recognize," reverting to the guise of Pierce. "Rumor has it you know Nicholas well."

"So why haven't you shifted out of here?" Vanessa demanded. "You could have been long gone by now."

"Good question," Jaddo said. "Maybe because I'm curious as to why you didn't use that tranquilizer."

Vanessa's left hand twitched in her pocket, neither confirming nor denying. Sedation being pretty much the only way to hold a Covari, it was a safe bet she would never have taken the risk of confronting him without a way to subdue him, but she'd missed her chance; even if she tried to use it now, she'd never get her hand out of that pocket in time. He could move much faster, and she knew it.

"Which one?" Vanessa demanded.

Jaddo blinked. "Sorry?"

"Which one!" Vanessa repeated savagely. "Which one are you? Brivari or Jaddo?"

"Ah," Jaddo said knowingly. "You mean, 'which one did I sleep with'. Although we didn't do much sleeping—"

"Which one?"

Jaddo raised an eyebrow. "Jaddo."

"That...makes sense," she said slowly. "Brivari's all talk and diplomacy."

"At times," Jaddo allowed. "But I can assure you that if he were to learn I'd been discovered, there would be no talk. And he'd be anything but diplomatic."

The hand holding the trithium generator faltered as she did the math. For all that their powers received top billing, it was their ability to change shape which made them truly powerful; Antarians had feared shapeshifters long before any Royal Warder was enhanced, and with good reason. "He would have killed me already," she said faintly.

"Undoubtedly," Jaddo agreed.

"So why haven't you?"

"Yet another interesting question."

They stared each other down for nearly a full minute, him leaning casually against the hotel's excuse for a desk, her planted stiffly in front of the door as though she could block his escape, one hand outstretched, her stocking-clad toes curling into the thin carpet. "Oh, for heaven's sake, put that thing down," Jaddo said finally. "You look silly holding it out in front of you like a gun, and I can relieve you of it any time I want to."

The hand lowered slightly. "But you haven't."

"No need to," Jaddo said. "I can leave any time I want. And at the moment...I don't want to."

"You're toying with me," she accused.

"Never," Jaddo said gravely. "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you're not to be toyed with."

The hand lowered the rest of the way. Another minute passed as he waited and she stood there looking vaguely foolish. "So," Jaddo said at length. "What gave me away?"

"Students...at the university," Vanessa answered, nonplussed. "They were using infrared light. You walked through it."

"Mmm," Jaddo murmured. "So nothing I did. There's a small victory there even if this was unexpected. And unfortunate."

" 'Unfortunate'?" Vanessa repeated, her voice rising. "Unfortunate? I've told you things I've never told anyone! I...I've done things with you I've never done with anyone!"

"Just this morning," Jaddo agreed matter-of-factly as she looked nauseous. "And unless I'm much mistaken...you liked it."

"You tricked me!" she said savagely.

"Says the one wearing the husk," Jaddo said dryly. "Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

"This is different," Vanessa insisted. "You knew who I was when you took Daniel's place."

"Just like you knew who he was when you insinuated yourself into his life," Jaddo noted. "Pot and kettle."

"He was an alien hunter!" Vanessa protested.

"And you're an enemy," Jaddo countered. "Face it, darling, any accusation you hurl at me also holds for you, save one: I had no idea Pierce was bunking with you. I just stumbled into that, while you sought him out for the express purpose of using him to get what you wanted."

"I was trying to save my world!" she exclaimed.

"Our world," Jaddo corrected. "Our. And so am I. What did you think I was doing? Playing tiddlywinks?"

"Oh, right," Vanessa said scornfully. "Let's save the day by reinstalling a deposed king."

"Says the one whose candidate for the position is doing such a bang up job!" Jaddo said with false cheerfulness. "And Zan wasn't deposed, he was assassinated."

"I know Covari don't attend school, but I can assure you that in this case, 'assassinated' and 'deposed' are virtually indistinguishable," Vanessa said acidly.

"Who needs formal education when yours was so obviously lacking?" Jaddo retorted. "You're clearly in need of a dictionary if you think Khivar's manipulation of a young girl's affections constitutes 'deposition'. He must have known he could never overthrow Zan directly. That's why he hid behind Vilandra's skirts, and tries to hide there still."

Vanessa's eyes flashed. "Why you…you jackass!"

"You know you've been somewhere much too long when you start hurling their insults," Jaddo noted as she reddened. "Not to mention that by your own admission, Antar has been clamoring for Zan's return since the moment Khivar's backside hit the throne. Did you forget that you confessed to me?"

"I thought I was talking to Daniel!" Vanessa exclaimed.

"And you were," Jaddo allowed, "or what you thought was Daniel. Things must be very bad in Nicholas land for you to blurt out your species to an alien hunter."

"What did you expect?" Vanessa demanded. "You destroyed our first harvest and our ship, our only way home. You stranded us here!"

"A risk you took when you decided to pursue us," Jaddo said. "And we didn't 'strand you' here—Khivar did, by refusing to send another ship. It's not like he doesn't have a garage full."

"And you have the Granolith," Vanessa accused. "Care to share? No, I thought not."

"The Granolith belongs to the king," Jaddo said sternly. "It's not a bus for everyone and their mother to hop on when it suits them."

"Which is exactly why I needed Daniel," Vanessa argued. "I want to go home! We want to go home! What did you do with him? Where is he?"

"He's dead."

She paled slightly. "You...killed him?"

"Me? Sadly, no," Jaddo said. "I was denied the pleasure. Rath killed him."

This time around Vanessa paled much more than slightly. "Rath is...here?"

"Rath lives," Jaddo corrected. "I never said where."

"This was the last place Daniel came, so this is where...the bones," Vanessa said suddenly. "They're his, aren't they? I was thinking you'd taken him hostage, but…"

"But Royal Warders don't take hostages," Jaddo finished softly.

She stared at him then, her eyes widening. A second later she'd made a break for the door, not even coming close to reaching it before he was behind her, one arm around her neck, the other wrenching the trithium generator out of her hand, crushing it to bits before vaporizing it with his newly returned powers. "That will be quite enough of that," Jaddo said briskly, heaving her onto the bed as she fumbled in her pocket for the tranquilizers which were no longer there. "You didn't really think I'd miss those, did you?" he added when she came up empty-handed. "Now we're even. Or as even as we'll ever be with whatever paltry powers you managed to add to your husks."

"Hardly," Vanessa said bitterly. "I can't change my shape, or fly across a room, or kill someone with a touch."

"I haven't changed shape, and I'm not Superman; I don't 'fly'," Jaddo said. "I just move fast. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead. I don't need powers for that."

Her eyes smoldered, but she was silent as she pushed herself into a sitting position, smoothed her hair, and straightened her skirt much the way cats wash themselves when they've missed a kill. "I hate this place," she murmured.

"It's a crappy little room," Jaddo agreed. "Doesn't being a congressional representative give you a bigger budget?"

"Not this place, moron, this planet!" Vanessa snapped. "I've been stuck here for 50 years, and it feels like 500. Sometimes it feels like I'll never seen home again; I'll just die here on this backwater rock with Antar in shreds, wondering what it was all for."

Same here, Jaddo thought silently. The closer he came to going home, the more impatient he grew with Earth, with humans, with hybrids who thought they were human. His most recent conversation with Zan was certainly not encouraging. I am not a king, and we are not at war. He was dead wrong about the second part, but what about the first? What if Zan never agreed to fulfill his obligations, or only with caveats? Brivari's suggestion that they might need to consider bringing a human with them had been jarring. What if Zan married a human and started a family before agreeing to do his duty? Would they have to bring them all back? As if it wasn't complicated enough, this entire situation had grown more complicated still what with reluctant kings and their human mates. Was it fair to ask Antar to wait until Zan acknowledged his obligations? Was it fair to ask any of them to wait for something that might never happen?

"For what it's worth," Jaddo began, "I was thinking—"

"Yay for you," Vanessa muttered.

"—about what you said earlier," Jaddo went on, ignoring her, "about how the powers behind thrones are the ones who see clearly."

"Yeah, well, visual clarity isn't showing me much of anything useful right now," Vanessa said crossly.

"Stop whining, darling," Jaddo said as she scowled at him. "I'm trying to pay you a compliment, and everyone tells me I'm bad at it. My point is that you have a point. Both of us are fighting for things that neither of us can have."

Vanessa regarded him warily. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Jaddo answered. "That's one of the few perks I offer, that I don't do the double talk you excel at."

"Is this another compliment?" Vanessa asked tartly. "Sounds like a left-handed one. You know, more your usual variety."

"Told you I stank at it. Consider," Jaddo continued, "that you think a princess in your pocket will give Khivar credibility, yet you know perfectly well it won't. I want to waltz back home with a king in mine and put everything back the way it was, but I know perfectly well I can't. Too much time has passed, too much has happened; it won't be that simple, and we, being powers behind our respective thrones, both know that."

Vanessa shrugged impatiently. "Maybe so, but so what?"

"So," Jaddo said slowly, "what if we craft a different solution? A joint solution. A solution that we think will work."

She stared at him in silence for a moment. "Are you saying...are you saying you want to make a deal?"

"Why not?" Jaddo said. "I'm sick of this place too. I want to go home too. Antar suffers while Khivar pines after credibility he'll never have and Zan looks for a safe way home which will never materialize. Why should we all be held captive to this situation? You said you want to join forces. Let's join forces and fix this."

"I thought I was talking to Daniel, not a Covari Warder," Vanessa retorted.

"But your larger point applies nonetheless," Jaddo argued. "We both want the same thing—peace in our time. We were so close. Whatever you think of Zan, there's no denying Antar was more peaceful, more prosperous, more stable than it had ever been—you said as much yourself."

"Did I?" Vanessa muttered. "Oh, yeah...I did."

"And you were right," Jaddo said. "We both want that back, and we want a peace that lasts, not evaporates in some silly partisan squabble which will plunge the planet back into chaos. Each of us might be able to pull that off alone, but only at great cost. Together we could accomplish it much faster, and at a bargain rate."

Vanessa's expression was a curious mixture of suspicion and hope. "Okay," she said after a moment. "Say, for the sake of argument, that you're right...and I'm not saying you are. We wouldn't be able to do this alone. First we'd have to convince Nicholas and Brivari, and that will never happen for all the reasons you've already stated."

Jaddo fixed her with a steady stare. "Then let's leave them out of it."

Vanessa's eyes narrowed. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. Brivari and Nicholas are too invested in the status quo, or what used to be the status quo. What we need is a new vision...and neither of them can provide that."

"How does that help?" Vanessa demanded. "Fine, ignore them, but eventually we'll have to sell whatever we come up with to people worse than either—Khivar and Zan. Khivar will never give up the throne, and Zan will never give up his claim to it."

"Then whatever we come up with will have to allow both of them to save face," Jaddo said. "And if Khivar and Zan accept the terms, Brivari and Nicholas will have no choice but to comply."

Vanessa paused for a moment, thinking. "No," she declared. "There isn't a solution in any world you could land on that would satisfy both of them."

"But how do we know until we try?" Jaddo said. "You're fond of saying that we're very much alike. You thought you were talking about Pierce when you were really talking about me, but we are very much alike, which is why we both have similar positions and struggle with similar types of people who can't seem to see past the way it's always been. Maybe we are exactly what Antar needs to settle this dispute once and for all."

Vanessa shook her head. "This is crazy," she muttered.

"Crazier than the alternative? Which is one or both of us dies?"

"Oh, of course," Vanessa said acidly. "Leave it to you to offer a 'choice' between negotiation or execution."

"Like your minions will offer me a different choice," Jaddo said. "I can handle one of you; more than one is another matter."

"What are you talking about?" Vanessa demanded. "I don't have any 'minions', not here, anyway. Daniel is—was—my responsibility, and I made that very clear to Nicholas."

"Then I regret to inform you that he or someone close to him doesn't share that opinion," Jaddo said. "I know how meticulous you are about your husk, and yet I found a piece of skin beside my car before I came here. I'm pretty sure it wasn't yours."

Vanessa's eyes burned. "Damn it!" she exclaimed. "I told him I'd wring his little neck if he…" She paused, fuming. "Greer," she said flatly. "He'll say Greer did it."

"And maybe he did...or maybe he didn't," Jaddo noted. "One thing's for sure—someone doesn't think much of your ability to handle yourself. What say we teach them otherwise?"

Vanessa walked to the window and pulled the curtain aside. "Come here," she ordered. "I need your eyes." She waited while he joined her, flinching only slightly as he came up behind her, his breath stirring her hair. "There will be two of them," she went on. "Our numbers have thinned over the years; that will be all they can spare. They're probably watching the hotel entrance."

Jaddo scanned the nighttime streets with eyes which saw more than hers. "Brown car halfway down the block," he reported. "Two males just sitting there."

"That little shit," Vanessa muttered, flinging the curtain closed. She stood with her back to him for almost a full minute before turning to face him.

"All right, Covari. Let's deal."




*****************************************************





September 8, 2000, 5:00 a.m.

Harding residence






Tess slapped her hand on the shrieking clock which had just launched into something or other from Iron Maiden and squinted at the time. God, she groaned, rolling over in the blessed silence. It wasn't even light yet, too early for man or beast. But Max would be here in an hour and she needed to be washed, dressed, and fed before they hit the road, not to mention more prepared than she'd been yesterday. That had been an embarrassment she had no intention of repeating, which meant she didn't have the luxury of waiting for another bonk at the snooze button. Swinging her legs to the floor, she sat on the edge of the bed with her eyes half closed, willing herself to wake up. She needed to be 100% with it if Max presented her with another opportunity to be indispensable, an opportunity she'd almost squandered. She mustn't make that mistake again.

Tess winced, more awake now as she recalled how helpless she'd felt when Max had asked her how to scan something for later retrieval. It was a skill she'd learned at such a young age that she'd forgotten how she'd learned it, although knowing Nasedo, it had probably involved lots of yelling. Given the number of times they'd moved and changed identities, it had been something of a necessity what with all the names, addresses, backstories, and other minutiae which frequently had to be in place on short notice. Scanning had given her the means to keep everything straight and give the right answers to the inevitable questions which arose when living a life like theirs, and it had been the first thing which had come to mind when Max had begun the tedious task of memorizing the campus maps. That he was trying to memorize them meant he wasn't familiar with scanning, and she'd wrestled with whether or not to bring it up, ultimately deciding not to for several reasons, not the least of which was that she had no idea how to teach someone how to do that. But the subject had come up on its own, of course, exposing that lack of knowledge and making her look like an idiot. Way to go, Tess, she thought wearily. Nice job.

Pushing herself off the bed, she shambled into the shower, feeling marginally better or at least more awake twenty minutes later. She was on her way downstairs when she heard it, a strange noise—no, two strange noises—coming from the kitchen: Humming and...cooking?

"What on earth are you doing?" Tess said in astonishment from the kitchen doorway.

Nasedo looked up from the bowl of whatever he was stirring, a towel flung over one shoulder. "Making breakfast. Pancakes, to be precise. Hungry?"

Tess blinked. "You...don't cook."

"Not typically," he agreed.

"But you can't taste," Tess said.

"Which is why I'm using a mix," Nasedo answered, holding up a box of Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix. "I figured I couldn't go wrong if I just followed the directions. Look, they even tell you when to flip them…'when bubbles form on the top' for lighter pancakes and 'when the bubbles break' for darker ones. Even I can pull this off."

He returned to humming and stirring as she gaped at him, the wooden spoon in the bowl being one of the incongruent sounds she'd heard on the way down. "But...why would you want to?" Tess pressed. "You've never cooked before. You always said you couldn't."

"Perhaps I was a bit hasty in that assessment," Nasedo allowed. "I always assumed I couldn't, but then I'm currently on a roll of doing things I'd always assumed were impossible, so I thought, why not add to the list?"

"This isn't making any sense," Tess protested.

"This is breakfast, not Middle Eastern philosophy," Nasedo said dryly. "It doesn't 'make sense', it just is. Have a seat."

Tess stared at the fully set table complete with flowers in a vase as Nasedo plopped mounds of batter on the griddle and pulled the lid off a frying pan, releasing the aroma of bacon. "You're cooking bacon too?" she said in disbelief.

"Something else supposedly easy," Nasedo said. "Just wait until it gets brown and crispy. This is one time I really wish I could taste," he added, briskly flipping strips as grease spattered. "This stuff drives humans crazy."

Tess watched in disbelief as he continued to move around the kitchen, checking pancakes, flipping bacon, pouring glasses of milk. "Real maple syrup," he announced, setting a tiny jug on the table. "I'm told it's far better than the fake variety."

"By whom?" Tess muttered.

"An associate," he answered, ignoring her tone. "We were up all night working on...a project, and then we popped in to an all night diner for something to eat. And that was when it dawned on me—I've never even tried to cook, not really. I figured I'd try something new."

He's lost it, Tess thought frantically, and at the worst possible time. Nasedo never cooked, never hummed, never expressed regret about not being able to taste, never showed the slightest interest in anyone else's opinions. "What is all this?" she demanded. "You never act like this! What's really going on?"

"Break-fast," Nasedo replied with exaggerated patience. "Surely you can wrap your head around a simple concept like breakfast?"

"That's not what I mean, and you know it!" Tess retorted. "You don't hum—"

"Ah, ah, ah, you accused me of humming before I left for Washington," Nasedo reminded her, wagging a finger. "While I was selecting Pierce's wardrobe, if memory serves."

"—you don't cook, and you don't wander around the kitchen acting like little Suzy Homemaker! Did you snap, or something?"

"Bacon's done," Nasedo announced, lining a plate with a paper towel. "For the record, I don't bear the slightest resemblance to 'Suzy Homemaker', and I would hardly consider the preparation of food to be 'snapping'. Sit down."

"It is for you!" Tess said hotly. "We can't afford to have you snap, not today! We have to fix this thing with Pierce's bones and get Michael out of jail, or did you forget that somewhere between the eggs and the maple syrup? Did you—"

"Sit down," he repeated tersely. "And stop bitching. You're getting on my nerves." He paused. "How would you like to go home?"

Tess, who had only just started breathing easier at the familiar hostility, nearly stopped. "What...home? As in…home? As in my real home?"

"Is there any other?" Nasedo asked.

"You're serious," Tess said faintly.

"When am I not?"

There was a soft fwump as Tess lowered herself into a chair. "Home," she whispered. "I...I didn't think it was coming so quickly."

"Nor did I," Nasedo agreed. "But an opportunity has arisen for all of you to not only go home, but go home safely."

"What kind of opportunity?" Tess asked warily.

"You're skeptical," Nasedo noted. "Good. You should be. Suffice it to say that I have constructed a compromise which benefits you all."

"You?" Tess said doubtfully. "Compromise?"

Nasedo raised an eyebrow. "I imagine I had that coming. But yes, me, and yes, a compromise. One that will bring peace to our planet and keep all of us alive."

"But...how is that possible?" Tess said.

"The way all compromise is possible—each side gives a little, each side gets a little. It wasn't easy, and I'm not done, but the framework is in place. The question is, are you ready to go home?"

Tess stared at him stupidly, surprised to find that she wasn't celebrating. Why not? Isn't this what she'd always dreamed of? Isn't this what she'd always wanted? Why was she hesitating? What was holding her back?"

"Are you coming with us?" Tess asked.

Nasedo crunched a piece of bacon. "Yes."

"Will you still be my protector?"

He glanced at her, then back at his plate. "There were originally four of us, you know. One for each of you."

"No, I didn't...wait," Tess said. " 'Were' four of us? You mean there aren't now?"

"They died."

She nodded slowly, swallowed hard. "And were you...my protector?"

"No."

So mine died, Tess thought, a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. "And...will you still protect me if—when—we go back?"

"Initially," Nasedo allowed. "But I belong to another. We'll need to find you a suitable replacement."

"Oh," Tess said faintly.

She picked at her food in silence as he ate heartily, suddenly feeling very alone. "So when do we leave?"

"Don't pack your bags just yet," Nasedo advised. "I have to sell it first."

"To our enemies?" Tess asked.

"Worse," Nasedo sighed. "To our friends."





****************************************************





Proctor residence






"Well? What do you think?"

Stunned, Dee looked at Anthony, who shrugged helplessly. "Uh...I'm still stuck on the part where she figured out who you are."

"You mean 'what'," Dee corrected. "I'm still stuck on the part where he volunteered the 'who'."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, that's ancient history," Jaddo said impatiently. "What do you think of my proposal?"

Dee stared at him. "Your...wait. Why are you here again?"

"Coup. 1947. Crash. Do try to keep up. Fine," Jaddo sighed when she raised an eyebrow. "I'm here because Brivari will never buy this if you don't. And since you and he think so much alike, you make a good test subject."

"Brivari's not the only one who has to 'buy' it," Dee said. "What about Khivar?"

"Khivar is Vanessa's problem, and one I can't help with. And if I don't deliver my half of the bargain, it won't matter what Khivar says."

"Okay, then what about Max?" Dee said.

"This is perfect for Zan because it gets him off the hook," Jaddo answered. "He doesn't want to go home; he wants to stay here, with his human family and his human girlfriend. This allows him to do that while still fulfilling his obligation to Antar."

"Then what about Isabel?" Dee said. "You're playing her like a chess piece!"

"All she has to do is listen," Jaddo said. "It's the least she can do given that she's the reason we're here. Yes, yes, I know you consider her to be a different person now, but whether or not that's true, there is no contesting the fact that her behavior put all of them in this position. Being different today—"

"But she doesn't even remember it!"

"—or not remembering it doesn't change the fact that it happened, or alleviate her responsibility to correct what she did," Jaddo finished. "She can't just wish it away. None of us can, not if we're going to fix this."

"Mmm," Anthony murmured.

Dee stared at him in astonishment. "You're okay with this?"

"That's a bit of a stretch," Anthony allowed. "But he has a point. Several, actually. And it would allow the kids to live in peace."

"Not all of them," Dee protested.

"The ones who want to stay here," Anthony amended. "And we know that not all of them do."

"And this would allow the returnees to do so safely," Jaddo noted, "or as safely as anyone can manage. Right now, if any of them went home, they'd have bulls-eyes on their chests in minutes."

"And you think that won't happen?" Dee said. "You actually believe everyone's going to just lay down their arms and give up?"

"I believe they want peace," Jaddo answered, "and I know from experience that no one can lead an army they don't have."

"And I know that all it takes is one bullet—one—to bring one of them down," Dee protested. "You don't need an army. You don't need—"

"But you do need to start somewhere," Anthony interrupted gently. "There's no such thing as perfect safety, not here, not there. We know that."

Dee sank back into the couch, at a very uncharacteristic loss for words. "Okay...let's do this in order. The details actually aren't my first concern; my first concern is Vanessa. Do you actually expect me to trust her? Do you trust her?"

"That's a bit of a stretch," Jaddo noted.

"He doesn't trust anyone," Anthony agreed.

"But you're going to have to," Dee argued. "And more to the point, you're asking me to. You're asking me to trust someone you've identified as an enemy with my grandchildren's lives. Why would I do that? Why are you doing that? You're the last person I'd expect to show up brandishing a treaty with anyone, never mind her."

Jaddo sighed heavily and fell silent for a moment. "I don't 'trust' her," he said at length, "not in the conventional sense. But I trust that she will do what's best for her...and she's tired. She's sick of being stuck here just like I am. She wants to go home, and when she goes home, she wants to find it in one piece. Both of us remember Antar before the fall, and it was beautiful. It was the best I'd seen it in my lifetime. Same for her."

"And that's when it fell apart?" Dee said. "When everything was going so well?"

"When everything was going so well that we all got sloppy," Jaddo corrected. "Fighting is a skill like any other; it must be practiced. When you haven't had to fight for a while, you get out of the habit. You become complacent...and cocky. Zan pushed Vilandra to marry Rath to help secure the dynasty, and Vilandra rebelled by—"

"I know the story," Dee broke in crossly. "Get back to the part where I'm supposed to trust Vanessa."

"Don't trust her," Jaddo said. "I don't. But I do trust that she wants to rule more than she wants to fight, and you can't rule from a battlefield. She'll try to pull this off, if only because she stands to gain so much. But even if she's driven by purely selfish motives, that doesn't mean we can't use that to our advantage. We can make her selfishness work for us."

"There we are!" Dee said with relief. "That makes more sense. There's the Jaddo I know."

"You mean the Jaddo whose chain you've yanked for years for being too harsh, and the minute I'm not, you get fussy," Jaddo said dryly. "I have to get to the university; Rath should be free before the day is over. Think it over. I'll be back later."

"Wait," Dee called. "I…" She hesitated as both Jaddo and Anthony looked at her. "I may be skeptical, but I will think about it, and I do appreciate the effort. Come for dinner? Maybe this will all sound more plausible with some wine."

"Maybe a good deal more than 'some'," Anthony suggested.

"Perhaps," Jaddo allowed. "And I accept."

"You know, even if you sell it to me, Brivari's another matter entirely," Dee warned. "Perhaps we should call Yvonne."

"Good idea," Jaddo said. "And actually...there is someone he would listen to ahead of you or The Healer. If you think he wouldn't mind…"

"He wouldn't," Dee said. "I'll get in touch with him."




*****************************************************





Particle Physics Laboratory,

New Mexico State University at Las Cruces






Vanessa Whitaker folded her arms as she gazed through the window at the bones which had proven so problematic. "How soon?" she asked.

"We'll be ready to start in 2 minutes," a tech answered.

Vanessa smiled. "Let's make history."




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I'll post Chapter 17 on Sunday, October 19.

Great part can't wait for more!

Hello to everyone reading, and thanks for feedback! ^^ Glad you're enjoying it.







CHAPTER SEVENTEEN





September 8, 2000, 10:15 a.m.

New Mexico State University at Las Cruces






Isabel paced beside the jeep, striding back and forth on a sidewalk crowded with students. "Where is he?" she demanded for the umpteenth time. "He should be here by now."

"He'll be here," Tess promised. "Nasedo wouldn't miss this."

"Yeah, well, I would have thought he wouldn't 'miss' getting Max out of that Army base, but he did," Isabel said.

"Maybe he is here," Max suggested. "Maybe he just didn't feel the need to check in."

"He didn't feel the need to check in with the king?" Isabel said skeptically. "How's that work?"

It doesn't, Max thought as he leaned against the jeep with Tess, leaving Isabel to fret on the sidewalk. He knew deep down that Nasedo would come to him first; he wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. "Maybe he's coming with Whitaker," he suggested. "She's not here yet; maybe that's why he's not here yet."

"That must be it," Tess agreed. "He's still pretending to be Pierce, and they're still a couple."

"Don't remind me," Isabel muttered. "You're sure he said he was coming?"

"I'm sure," Tess said. "I had breakfast with him this morning, and he said he'd see me here. He's coming."

Isabel shook her head. "Breakfast with Nasedo. Not sure I'd have much of an appetite. Hey!" she snapped as a bewildered student nearly careened into her. "Watch where you're going!"

"I'm...just looking for the library," the kid stammered.

"Up that way," Max advised, pointing. "Turn right where you see the benches, and it's a little ways down on the left."

"Thanks!" the kid said. "Hey, are you guys upperclassmen?"

"No," Isabel said flatly. "You're welcome. Goodbye."

"Iz?" Max said gently after the startled student scuttled off. "Cool it. It's not that kid's fault that Nasedo isn't here yet."

"Next time, give him an appointment time," Isabel said crossly. "I'm going up to the corner to watch the front door."

"Try not to mow down any freshman, okay?" Max said.

"Wow," Tess murmured as Isabel stalked off. "Is she okay?"

"She's worried," Max said. "She gets like this when she's worried." He paused. "So why didn't you tell me about the whole scanning thing yesterday?"

The warm sun suddenly felt a bit less warm as Tess shifted almost imperceptibly away from him. "What do you mean?"

"I spent at least an hour in the car trying to memorize maps, and you never mentioned it until Isabel brought it up," Max said. "That's what I mean."

"I didn't mention it because I had no idea how to explain it," Tess said. "I can do it, but I don't know how I do it. "

"But what would you have done if it hadn't come up? You must have known we could really use that."

"I scanned the maps the first time you handed them to me," Tess said. "At least one of us would have known which way to go."

"Mmm," Max murmured. "So what else haven't you told us about? What else can you do—can we do—that we don't know about yet?"

"See, this is why it doesn't much matter what I do," Tess said in exasperation. "Bring it up, and I'll be accused of showing off or trying to make you fall in love with me; don't bring it up, and you'll think I'm keeping secrets. I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, and that makes me lean toward the 'don't' because it's a lot less work for the same result."

Ouch. Max fell silent as a crowd of chattering students passed, the kind who are thrilled to be at college. Up on the corner, Isabel paced in a new location, looking irritated even from this distance. "Okay...I had that coming," he allowed. "And Isabel tried to figure it out for hours last night, but she couldn't get it."

Tess looked surprised. "Really?'

"Really. Guess it really is like those 3D pictures we were talking about. My mom isn't the only one who struggles with those; Isabel does too."

"Then we're lucky you were such a quick study," Tess said.

"Next time, bring it up even if it's hard to explain or you think we'll blame you for it," Max said. "And if we do, then call us on it. Because if we do that, we're wrong and should be called on it. Deal?"

Tess's expression softened. "Deal."

"Max! Max!"

It was Isabel, tearing down the sidewalk, blasting through packs of startled students. "She's here! Whitaker's here, and Nasedo's not with her!"

Max looked at Tess, who shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. He said he'd be here."

"Well, he isn't, and she just went inside," Isabel panted. "We have to do something."

Max nodded reluctantly. "You're right. This way."

"Where are we going?" Tess asked as they scrambled after him.

"In," Max answered.

"What are you going to do?" Isabel demanded.

"I had a back-up plan," Max said. "The last time I needed Nasedo, he wasn't there, so I felt better having a Plan B."

"He'll be here," Tess insisted. "He may not admit it, but he knows he let you down before. He won't do that again."

"So we hedge our bets," Max said. "We'll be ready with the back-up plan, and if he shows—"

"When he shows," Tess corrected.

"Okay, 'when' he shows, let me know," Max finished. "But we can't afford to wait around until he does."

"But what are you going to do?" Isabel persisted as Tess's eyes fell.

Max shook his head. "No time to go into the details. I need to get into the lab," he said to Tess. "I need you to make me invisible. Can you do that?"

"What?" Isabel exclaimed. "Is this some other power you have—"

"He means he wants me to make it so no one can see him," Tess broke in. "And yes, I can do that, just as long as there aren't too many people."

"How many is too many?" Max asked.

"It depends," Tess answered. "It's easier to make people see something they'd expect to see anyway. They won't be expecting to see you, so making them see nobody should be fairly simple."

"I'll call you when I get in and let you know how many people are there," Max said as they rounded the side of the building. "Can you do it from a distance, or do you have to come with me?"

"I can do it from out here, but I should be as close to the control room as I can be." Tess surveyed the building with a critical eye. "Over there, by that staircase. Call me when you're ready."

They split up, Max and Isabel continuing on. "Where are we going?" Isabel demanded. "And why won't you tell me what this 'Plan B' is?"

"To a side door I saw yesterday, and I already told you there's no time—" Max stopped in his tracks, throwing out an arm. "Get back," he whispered, pulling Isabel back. "Damn it! There wasn't a security guard there yesterday."

Isabel peered around the corner at the pudgy security guard parked in a chair reading a magazine. "I believe this is my area of expertise," she announced, tugging her top lower to display impressive cleavage. "Hey!" she added when Max's eyebrows rose. "I get to have at least one. Just give me a minute, and there won't be a guard in our way."





*****************************************************





15 minutes earlier





"Beautiful day, isn't it?"

Vanessa's driver half turned in his seat, puzzled. "Yes, ma'am. I guess."

"You 'guess'?" Vanessa said. "The sky is so blue! And just look at that sun! Huge. Bright. Gorgeous. It makes the sand positively sparkle. Have you ever seen a sun that big and bright?"

"Uh...yes. No!" the driver amended hastily. "It sure is beautiful, ma'am. Right you are."

Ass kisser, Vanessa thought, her head leaning against the window as she drank in the sights. No wonder her driver was confused; he'd never heard her compliment Earth's geology, cosmology, meteorology, or any other 'ology' you could name. She'd always found Earth's gigantic sun distressingly large and hot, its single moon tiny and cold, its topography boring, its place at the end of a dark alley in space suffocating...but today it all looked different. Today the sun was glorious and the desert landscape breathtakingly beautiful. Today she was wishing she'd spent less time hating Earth and more time exploring it because, fate willing, she'd never make it back this way again. Maybe it was time for one of those "bucket lists", or whatever the short-lived humans called it.

"Thomas, have you ever been to Hawaii?"

"Ma'am?"

"Hawaii," Vanessa repeated. "I hear it's lovely. Ever been there?"

"Uh...no, ma'am, I haven't. Can't afford it."

"Mmm," Vanessa murmured. "So if you could afford it, what places would you like to see?"

There was a brief moment of startled silence. "Well...I've always had a hankering to go to London."

"London? What's there?"

"The queen!" Thomas laughed. "Buckingham Palace. Westminster Abbey. Stonehenge. The Tower. Lots of history in London."

"Interesting," Vanessa said. "Where else?"

"Maybe the Taj Mahal?" Thomas suggested. "Or the Sydney Opera House? I hear New Zealand is beautiful. Paris, too. And the Northern Lights," he added eagerly, warming to his subject. "I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights."

"What exactly are the 'Northern Lights'?"

"Ah...pretty colors in the sky," Thomas said sheepishly. "Sorry, that's all I know. But I hear it's quite a spectacle. Maybe one of the geeks here can explain it," he added as they turned into the university's main entrance."

Vanessa smiled faintly. " 'Geeks'?"

"Scientists," Thomas corrected quickly. "I meant scientists."

Thomas fell into a flustered silence punctuated by fearful glances into the back seat, but he needn't have worried. She was in much too good of a mood today to let anything bother her. It was instructive how quickly things could change. She'd been here just yesterday with what she thought was a human only to learn he was one of their most hated and powerful enemies, a discovery which had her begging off driving him back to Roswell while she reeled from the thought of what she'd told him, what she'd done with him. "Daniel" had merely shrugged, unperturbed by finding his own way back, and why shouldn't he be? He was not only Covari, he was enhanced Covari, a pit bull for the crown, a terror on two feet assuming he was in a shape which had feet. She must have thrown up every meal she'd eaten with him in the hours between discovery and confrontation as she'd prepared to take him hostage and serve him up to Nicholas on a platter. The brownie points she'd get for this would make Betty Crocker weep. All she had to do was keep her discovery quiet, lure him in, divest him of his powers with the push of a button, and knock him out.

"Here we are, ma'am," Thomas said as he pulled up beside the lab, cheerful once more because he hadn't been chastised. "The truck is right behind us. Will you be needing anything else before you head back?"

"No," Vanessa said. "Thank you, I'm good until we're done. Why don't you go get yourself something to eat? On me," she added, digging in her purse. "Bon appetit."

Thomas stared at the bill she'd handed him. "Uh...ma'am? This is a hundred dollar bill."

"So make it somewhere nice," Vanessa advised. "As in not McDonald's. And keep the change. I'll call you when I'm done."

She climbed out of the car as Thomas gaped, certain he'd skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner if it meant pocketing that $100 bill. Good for him—it's what she would do, what Jaddo would do. That's what had ultimately stayed her hand, the realization that the man she'd developed a reluctant admiration for, the man whose ruthlessness mirrored her own had not been Daniel Pierce, but Warder to the king's second. This never would have happened had she known who he was from the start, but she hadn't, and her opinion, once formed, would not be denied. She was curious as to how he would look to her now that she knew the truth, so she'd decided to string him along. He must have known who she was long before she'd divulged that nugget of information, and he hadn't killed her when he easily could have, so she had some time to do a little reconnaissance. There was so much she could learn now that she was in the know, or so she told herself when she'd answered his knock at the door, only to lose her nerve and brandish her trithium generator, effectively killing any chance she had of overpowering him. Although Royal Warders had impressive powers, their most impressive power wasn't a power, but a fundamental element of their biology. He was a shapeshifter, and she was not; he could make himself large, small, anything he wanted. She'd lost her advantage the moment he'd learned she knew the truth, and the fact that she'd been the one who'd told him made her wince even more than the memory of how she'd blurted out her species to someone who already knew that. How foolish she must have looked to him, how utterly crazy to make such an admission. In that moment, he must have thought her as useless as Nicholas did.

"Thank you, gentlemen," Vanessa told the men holding the box with Daniel's bones. "Shall we?"

Her eyes swept the atrium as they entered the building, but she saw no sign of her handlers, those Nicholas had so unwisely sent to do her work for her. It was their presence which had turned the tide, making her so angry that she was actually willing to try making a deal with a Royal Warder if for no other reason than she knew it would infuriate Nicholas. Besides, now that she had back-up, however unwelcome it may be, she also had an out—she need only call in the handlers when she tired of the game. And so it had come as a huge surprise when they had actually reached an agreement, a compromise which seemed to satisfy the giant egos afflicting Antar, including, it must be admitted, her own. Everyone gave a little, everyone got a little; isn't that how compromises worked? Even more surprising than their success was how much she'd enjoyed the process. Life in a hierarchal culture like hers was a lonely one; only those at the very bottom of the totem pole enjoyed anything even close to friendship. Everyone else had to be careful what was said to whom because virtually everyone they spoke with could bring them down or rat them out to someone who would. In Jaddo she'd found a parallel relationship, someone bound to the one playing second fiddle and every bit as frustrated by that as she was, someone who couldn't give her up without risking his own neck and who was every bit as tired as she was of their exile on this planet. It had been enormously satisfying to talk to someone from their world who shared her desire to end this war so they could go home, and actually had a clue about how to do that.

"Congresswoman!" called a geek—er, scientist—clad in the regulation lab coat. "We're delighted you're here! I'm Dr. Shapiro, director of this facility, and I'll be overseeing the tests on the samples you've brought."

"Nice to meet you," Vanessa smiled as they entered the elevator, waiting until the door closed and they had some privacy. "I had a question for you, doctor—what are the 'northern lights'?"

"Northern Lights is the colloquial expression for the aurora borealis," Dr. Shapiro answered. "Technically it's the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the thermosphere—it's pretty colored lights in the sky," he amended when she raised an eyebrow. "Mostly green, with red and blue sometimes, although those are rarer."

"And where do I see this?"

"High latitudes," he answered. "Way up north or way down south. Does...this have something to do with the tests we're doing today?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No. Just curious. I'm making vacation plans."

"Well, you can't go wrong with an aurora," Dr. Shapiro said. "It's quite the spectacle, considered one of the most beautiful natural phenomenons on Earth."

The elevator door opened, revealing a control room full of white coat-clad technicians. "Then I'll have to see it," Vanessa said. "I appreciate the help. I'm betting you weren't expecting to be a travel agent today."

"No, just a scientist," Dr. Shapiro laughed. "Everything loaded?" he asked one of the techs.

"Almost," the tech answered. "We'll be ready to start in two minutes."

"Let's make history," Vanessa said.

Fingers flew over keyboards as she gazed through the window at Daniel's bones, one slice of her pound of flesh in the brave new world in which she found herself. Perhaps it had been petty of her to insist on this given that she was leaving, but it turned out she cared about her image even when in disguise. When Vanessa Whitaker disappeared, she didn't want her relegated to the annals of Earth's history wearing a dunce cap. Petty or no, she wanted this, and Jaddo had agreed. Daniel would never have agreed. Daniel had been an alien hunter who she never could have bargained with, which made it fortuitous that he was dead. She could have used him, but he would never have been an equal or seen her as a equal. This was so much better.

"Ready to go," the tech said.

"Gentlemen," Vanessa smiled. "Start your engines."





*****************************************************





Tess paced outside the lab, newly vacated by a doughy security guard who had led Isabel away with puppy dog eyes and nary a look back. "She'll be fine," she'd assured a disturbed-sounding Max who had called her as he'd watched his sister walk away with a man whose tongue was very close to hanging. "Remember, she can pin him to the wall if she wants to. Or worse."

"True," Max had allowed. "And she asked about the Student Union. That's a good long ways away."

"Call me when you get inside and let me know how many people are in there," Tess said. "It'll give me an idea of how much juice to throw at it."

"Why? Shouldn't you just throw all the juice you've got at it?"

"I...it helps to know what I'm aiming at," Tess had answered. "Especially when I can't see anything."

"Right," Max had nodded. "Forgot about that. Call you in a few."

He'd hung up, leaving her to fret outside. Where on earth was Nasedo? There was no way he'd miss this, not with Michael in jail and him all excited this morning about going home. She wasn't exactly sure which was more noteworthy—seeing Nasedo excited or the notion of actually going home, something she'd always longed for but assumed was far in her future, or far enough to make mooning over it a waste of time. But all of a sudden it wasn't, and she'd thought of that when Max had asked her about the scanning business. He and Isabel wouldn't take kindly to the notion of going home when they felt their home was here, while Michael just might. But their world needed the royal family, not the royal few, and she was pretty sure a queen was no good without her king. Maybe going home was still far in her future anyway because that's how long it would take to convince the rest of them.

Tense and on edge, Tess checked again to see if Nasedo had left her a message, but her inbox remained empty. Where could he be? She was so used to him sweeping in and cleaning house that it had felt like her world had turned upside down when he hadn't been around to do that when they'd rescued Max from the Unit. Now she felt upside down all over again as she waited to do something she hadn't planned on doing and wasn't absolutely certain she could pull off. While it was true that it was easier to make people see what they wanted to see, what they expected to see, what she hadn't pointed out was that it would take a good deal of power to make that happen for the length of time Max would need to do whatever it was he was going to do. She could handle a few people for a longer time or several people for a shorter time. If she wound up with several people for a longer time, she'd need to push harder, the results of which could be...unsettling.

The sun was hot, and she'd been sweating only a few minutes ago, but Tess felt cold all over as she recalled the nosy neighbor who had become the unwitting subject of an experiment she hadn't even realized she was doing. There was at least one nosy neighbor in every neighborhood, very often more than one, and they seemed to lose no time finding her and Nasedo. One of them, a Mrs. Mack, had proven especially meddlesome, employing binoculars and all manner of other snoopery, the result being that she'd seen some things she shouldn't. In a panic one day after Mrs. Mack had seen her use her powers, Tess had thrown a hasty mindwarp her way, not exactly sure how that would work; the neighbor had seen what she'd seen, and when she told Nasedo, which she inevitably would, he'd be furious. She was thinking of all that when she started the mindwarp, of how much she'd love it if the woman would just forget what she'd seen, if she could just wipe it away like chalk on a chalkboard...

To her amazement, it worked. Mrs. Mack had looked blank for a moment, then looked around as though she didn't know how she'd come to be standing at the fence which divided their yards with a pair of binoculars in her hand. Tess had asked innocently if she'd been birdwatching, and Mrs. Mack had quickly taken the proffered excuse and disappeared back inside her house. Weak with relief and certain she'd she'd just gotten lucky, Tess had vowed to be more vigilant, a vow which had slipped in due course, finding her right back in the same position. This time she'd proceeded more deliberately, pinpointing the moment in time before Mrs. Mack had seen something she wasn't supposed to. It had worked again, and it kept on working as Tess relaxed her vigilance, secure now in the knowledge that she could rewind if necessary. Until the day she'd come home to find Mrs. Mack only seconds away from regaling Nasedo with a tale of a recent indiscretion and, in a panic, thrown a blast of power her way. It had worked again, but not quite the way she'd intended. Mrs. Mack, it turned out, had forgotten more than she'd intended.

Mrs. Mack had forgotten her name.

Recalling this now, Tess felt that same sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that she'd felt as the rest of that day had unfolded. Neighbors had been consulted over the wandering, confused Mrs. Mack. An ambulance arrived, then a son who lived nearby. "Humans," Nasedo had said in disgust. "So fragile. She probably had a stroke."

"She's not that old," Tess had said faintly.

"Then all the snooping made her pop a cork," Nasedo had said. "Serves her right."

Does it? Tess had thought despairingly. Yes, Mrs. Mack was nosy, but the fact remained that if she'd been observing Nasedo's rules as closely as she should have been, there would have been nothing for Mrs. Mack to see. It was a long week before Mrs. Mack came home from the hospital and another long week before she was back to normal, recovering from the ailment her doctors had never been able to diagnose. More subdued now after her brush with disaster, Mrs. Mack did less snooping and Tess toed the line so hard, she practically turned it into a fault line. She never wanted to do anything like that again. And now she might have to, to save Michael.

Her phone rang. Please be Nasedo, she begged, looking at the Caller ID. No such luck.

"Max?"

"Where's Nasedo?" Max demanded.

"He's still not here," Tess said heavily.

"We can't wait any longer. Are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"I see 8 people in the control room," Max said.

Shit. "That's a lot of people," Tess said.

"Tess, we need you," Max said firmly. "Can you do this or not?"

"I think so."

"You can't let anyone in that room see me," Max warned.

The fear in his voice galvanized her. "I got it," she promised. "I won't let you down. But with this many people, I can only sustain the mindwarp for a couple of minutes."

"It'll have to do," Max allowed.

"Okay. Bye."

Tess rung off, closed her eyes, and concentrated. Show time…

She found them immediately, several minds busily attending to whatever they were attending to in a calm and orderly fashion. Good, Tess thought, relaxing as she instructed all of them to see nothing unusual, nothing they weren't expecting. All was going smoothly, no ripples, no surprises. Maybe she'd be able to hold this longer after all. She'd dearly love to wait until Max was back by her side before dropping it, and with no resistance, no one to convince, it would be doable…

One of the minds abruptly pushed back, probing the edges of the wall she'd erected to shield Max from view. The objection was sudden and sharp, making her gasp and grab a nearby railing for support. Who the hell was this? Whoever it was was strong, stronger than anyone she'd ever mindwarped before. It was common to encounter resistance when showing someone something they didn't expect or want to see, but to feel this large of a challenge while someone was seeing what they expected to see was...well, that was downright weird, not to mention damned inconvenient. The rebel was taking a disproportionate share of her focus, meaning the rest of them, if they looked hard enough, just might see something they shouldn't.

Hurry, Max, Tess thought, breaking into a sweat as she held the protective wall in place by sheer force of will. I can't keep this up much longer.





******************************************************




Route 285 North





"What's the hold up?" Vanessa demanded. "Why is it taking twice as long to get back to Roswell as it did to get to Las Cruces?"

"We got caught in some traffic, but it's clearing up," Thomas answered. "We should hit town in about 10 minutes."

Vanessa sank into sullen silence, punctuated by Thomas's worried glances in the rearview mirror. She was absolutely furious, her dream day having gone to hell, her validation up in smoke. Hours had passed, but she was still smarting as though hearing the words for the first time.

The results are pretty conclusive. There's no evidence of Cadmium-X anywhere.

That had been the first bombshell. The second was even worse.

These bones have been out in that desert for 42 years.

Bullshit, Vanessa thought darkly. Those bones hadn't even been out in that desert for 42 weeks. Those bones belonged to Daniel, and there should be Cadmium-X all over them. He'd promised there would be Cadmium-X all over them.

"Almost there, ma'am," Thomas said nervously. "Sit tight."

Like I have another choice, Vanessa thought bitterly. After being trapped in a car for hours, heads were going to roll all the harder when she was finally released. For all the back and forth she and Jaddo had engaged in, this was one point on which there had been none—she'd demanded validation and Jaddo had agreed, albeit with snarky remarks about validating people who didn't exist. Vanessa Whitaker may not exist in the strictest sense, but for all practical purposes she was Whitaker, and Whitaker had recently been made to look the fool. Neither she nor Jaddo had any illusions about how long this was going to take; it was clear to both of them that she would be Whitaker for a while longer, quite probably a good while longer, and while she was being Whitaker, she wanted Whitaker vindicated. She wanted Cadmium-X found on those bones so she could wave them under the noses of snooty senators and any other interested parties. The Bureau would never admit anything, of course, but word would leak, not just on the Hill but to the public as well, through the UFO community and the conspiracy theorists, perhaps, but leak just the same. At least she'd be able to spend her remaining days here looking considerably less ridiculous, not to mention it would silence Nicholas, as much as anything ever did, anyway.

And then it had all disappeared, up in smoke with a scan and a carbon dating. She'd tried to look merely confused instead of infuriated, but she'd never been good at hiding her emotions, and the lab's director had privately offered to repeat the tests on the outside chance that something had gone awry. Something did, she'd thought sourly as she'd politely declined, assuring her loyal constituent that she had the utmost faith in the results even if she didn't understand them. What had gone awry was a Royal Warder, but how the hell had he pulled that off? She'd walked those bones right into the cyclotron, so when had Jaddo gotten to them? Or maybe it hadn't been Jaddo, but Brivari? But she'd thought of that, surreptitiously using her trithium generator to check for Covari who didn't keep their word, prompting grumbles about the "lights going weird", so when had he managed to sneak past her? Was he what she'd been feeling during the test itself, that niggling feeling that something was there that shouldn't be, just visible out of the corner of her eye but not there when she looked straight at it?

"Here we are, ma'am," Thomas said with what sounded suspiciously like relief.

"Not the Holiday Inn," Vanessa said. "Take me to the Doubletree."

"Ah, much nicer, ma'am," Thomas smiled. "If you ask me, that Holiday Inn is getting pretty ratty. A congresswoman deserves better."

"I'm meeting someone there," Vanessa said frostily. "I'm careful with my constituents' funds."

"Of course you are, ma'am," Thomas said quickly.

Although Jaddo said the same thing, Vanessa admitted silently. The first thing he'd done after giving the slip to her babysitters was whisk them away to the nicer hotel where he was staying. Must be nice to be a shapeshifter; she had to settle for one face, one persona, and the economic strata it occupied. Still, she'd appreciated the space and the room service they'd kept coming all night as they'd thrashed out the details, surprising even themselves by reaching a rudimentary understanding by morning. And here she'd been all starry-eyed, ready to go on a farewell tour of Earth before they held hands and sang Kumbaya. So much for that.

"Here you are, ma'am," Thomas said, opening the door for her. "Will you be needing any further assistance?"

"I won't, but someone will when I get through with him," Vanessa said darkly. "Never mind," she added when Thomas looked blank. "I'll call you when I need you again."

"Um...I never...went to lunch," Thomas stammered, pulling her hundred dollar bill out of his pocket. "It was awfully generous of you, ma'am, but...would you like your Ben Franklin back?"

Vanessa's expression softened. "You keep it. One of us should have a good day, don't you think?"

She left Thomas bewildered by the front door, fumed all the way up in the elevator, and nearly exploded into the hotel room. "You!" she spat at the figure in the easy chair, his back to her. "You promised me I'd have my Cadmium-X! What the hell did you do?"

No answer. Vanessa stormed toward him, practically apoplectic. "Don't you dare ignore me!" she thundered, wrenching the chair around…

...only to see the head loll sideways, the eyes closed on a face she'd never seen before. Startled, she backed up so quickly she bumped into a table. "What the…?"

"Hello, Vanessa."

Flabbergasted, Vanessa whirled around to find one of Nicholas's nominees for babysitter. "What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. "And who the hell is this?"

The babysitter, who went by the name of Nathan, gave her a level stare. "I got you a present," he answered. "A little something to take back to Nicholas. One Royal Warder, to go."




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



I'll post Chapter 18 on Sunday, November 2.

Seems Vanessa is in a bit of trouble with little Nicky!

Wonder how I got so far behind......but now I am caught up.
Yes, Kivar will never give up the throne and Zan will never up the title......We have an impasse here.
Good thing Max had a back up plan incase Nasedo didn't show.......and again I hate to admit it, but Max couldn't have done it without Tess.
Great part,
Carolyn

Hello to everyone reading!

Roswelllostcause wrote:Seems Vanessa is in a bit of trouble with little Nicky!

I would have loved to have seen those two together. PIty we never did.

keepsmiling7 wrote:Yes, Kivar will never give up the throne and Zan will never up the title......We have an impasse here.

Zan probably wouldn't have, but would Max? Would he have given up the title in exchange for being left alone? I'm not sure.







CHAPTER EIGHTEEN




September 8, 2000, 6 p.m.

Doubletree Inn & Suites, Roswell






Total silence reigned in the hotel room as Vanessa stared in astonishment, first at the unfamiliar man tied to a chair, then at Nathan, one of two minions sent by Nicholas after she'd explicitly told him to leave her alone. Royal Warder? This was a Royal Warder? Neither Nathan nor his companion were much to write home about, so the odds of either managing to apprehend a Covari, let alone a Royal Warder, were slim to none. "Very funny," she said sourly. "Who is this really?"

"I told you," Nathan answered. "It's a Royal Warder. Or a Covari, at least, and as far as I know, the Warders are the only ones left."

"So you expect me to believe that you captured a Warder," Vanessa said, her voice dripping sarcasm. "Just like that."

Nathan's triumphant expression faltered. "Well...I didn't know what it was. We thought we were grabbing Pierce."

"This isn't Pierce," Vanessa said impatiently.

Nathan shrugged. "Was when I nabbed him."

A cold tendril of fear snaked up Vanessa's spine. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "Talk!" she added savagely when Nathan remained silent. "I told Nicholas to leave me alone, so the fact that you're here at all puts you in a very bad position. You'd be wise not to piss me off any more than you already have and cough up your orders. Who are you here with? What are you up to?"

Nathan studied her for a moment in silence. "I'm here with Vincent," he answered, apparently deciding to humor her. "And Nicholas did exactly as you asked—we were to leave you alone. Our orders were to grab Pierce. We were supposed to rough him up, you know, put the fear of God in him, or the fear of you, anyway. You weren't supposed to know about it."

"So this is his idea of 'leaving me alone'?" Vanessa muttered.

"We figured out where he was staying," Nathan went on, ignoring her. "The tranquilizer darts we used for Covari would be quieter than just grabbing him, so we rigged up a dart to nail him when he came in. But Vince forgot that the dosage is different for a human, so I told him to go on without me while I came back to fix the dose. We weren't supposed to kill him."

"And?" Vanessa demanded.

"And when I got here, he was thrashing around and...changing," Nathan said with that particular level of disgust Antarians reserved for Covari. "First he looked like Pierce, then this, then something else. It took him a few minutes to go completely out; if I hadn't come back when I did, I would have thought it was just another human, but..." He pulled his trithium generator out of his pocket and turned on the infrared wash. The outline around the man in the chair made it all too clear what he was.

Wonderful, Vanessa thought wearily. On the cusp of a deal, on the eve of their way home, two barely qualified soldiers had managed to capture a Warder by sheer accident. If Nathan had used the correct human dose, the Warder would have been able to escape; if he'd gotten here just a few minutes later, he probably would have thought he'd nabbed a hotel employee, dragged him off to a supply closet, and never realized what he had. This was a simply spectacular run of bad luck.

"So," Nathan said slowly, watching her with interest. "Did you know you were fucking a Covari?"

Vanessa kept her eyes on the distinctly unattractive, middle-aged male in the chair, head lolling on his chest. This was the million dollar question, wasn't it—how much did she know? That was why the Warder was positioned with his back to the door, why Nathan had remained hidden until he'd seen her reaction. Her mind flew back over what she'd said when she'd arrived—had she given herself away? No, she didn't think so. Should she give herself away now? She wasn't even certain which Warder this was; Brivari was every bit as capable of looking like Pierce as Jaddo. And then there was the issue of hierarchy. Accident or no, this was a career making catch; whose career, however, would depend on who seized the advantage.

Slam!

Nathan flew backwards, colliding with the wall before hitting the floor with a painful-sounding thud. "How dare you?" Vanessa hissed at him, her hand outstretched. "How dare you imply such a thing? Is that the tale you plan to tell Nicholas, that I've been sleeping with the enemy? You think you're going to claim this one for yourself? Well, think twice, soldier. I am your superior, and you haven't got a shred of proof that whoever this is has been impersonating Pierce for any longer than the time it took him to walk into this room. If I were you, I'd tread carefully."

"Then where is he?" Nathan said sullenly, gingerly touching the back of his head. "He wasn't with you at Las Cruces."

Vanessa's eyes narrowed. "Says who? You weren't…" She stopped, suddenly realizing the implications of what he'd said earlier. I told him to go on without me while I came back to fix the dose. "You were following me," she said softly, advancing on Nathan as he hastily pushed himself to his feet. "You came back, but Vince went on. I thought Nicholas told you to leave me alone?"

"We were just supposed to watch," Nathan said. "I called Vince. He said Pierce wasn't with you."

Vanessa stepped closer, causing Nathan to step back. "Did you tell him what you'd found?"

" 'Course not," Nathan answered. "Protocol requires that I report to a superior officer."

And handily provides one less person to take credit, Vanessa thought, although it was noteworthy that Nathan was being more careful since his literal and figurative slap. "Good," Vanessa said. "Vincent needs his eyes examined because Daniel was there. Not in the lab because he's not Bureau any more, but he was there. He left after I did. He could be back any time now."

"Then I guess we'll just have to wait," Nathan said. "For either him to come back, or someone to come looking for this."

Damn it, Vanessa groaned inwardly as Nathan shuffled off, eyeing her warily. She'd established her dominance, but not for long; Daniel was dead, there was no question this was a Covari, and both of Nicholas's henchman wouldn't hesitate to exploit this for all they were worth. And then there was the matter of which Covari this was.

If it was Jaddo, all those dreams of going home may have just gone up in smoke.





****************************************************





Roswell Sheriff's Station






Jim Valenti flipped a page, noting the next page number—32. That many? he thought wearily, hefting the remainder of the report he was still trying to make his way through without success. Had he really read 32 pages? How could that be when he didn't remember those 32 pages? Leafing back through, he realized they looked vaguely familiar, having passed before his eyes, but he still had no idea what they said. So he hadn't "read" them, he'd just looked at them. Big difference.

With a heavy sigh, Valenti pushed away from the desk and closed his eyes. It was no use; all his attempts to take his mind off the kid locked in a cell beneath his feet had been futile. Not a kid, he reminded himself ruefully; alien warlord, an alien warlord who was passively accepting his fate like he deserved it when every bone in Valenti's body raged against it. They had switched, he and Mr. Guerin, the latter calm and resigned, the former struggling to keep his mind on his job when all he really wanted to do was pick up a chair and throw it against the wall. How incredibly ironic that after all their efforts to cover up Pierce's death, his bones had been dug up with near scary dispatch and been latched onto by a politician with an axe to grind. Max's assurances that he and Nasedo would right things had not quelled his doubts. That test was supposed to have been this morning, yet he still hadn't heard a thing from anyone of any species, human, alien, or politician. If something didn't happen soon, he'd scream, a rather unprofessional reaction from a man of the law, when he wasn't breaking it, that is.

The intercom buzzed. "Yes?" Valenti said, nearly knocking over his coffee cup in his eagerness to answer it.

"Got another report for you, sir!" Hanson's cheerful voice announced as though he'd just discovered a long lost Christmas present. "Want me to send it up?"

Shit, Valenti sighed, deflating. "Uh...sure. Say, Hanson, have you—"

"Heard anything?" Hanson finished. "No, sir, the congresswoman hasn't called. Just like she hasn't called the other 15 times you've asked."

Valenti felt himself flushing. "Sorry. I'm a little on edge."

"Don't you worry, sir," Hanson advised. "One way or another, justice will be done."

"You're just young enough to still believe that," Valenti said dryly. "I've seen too many situations where justice got drop-kicked by power."

"But you won't let that happen, sir," Hanson said stoutly, with all the blinkered optimism of youth. "We won't let that happen. If Guerin is innocent, he'll walk just like he should."

"Guerin is innocent," Valenti insisted. "Whitaker just wanted a poster boy for her lynch mob, and he was unlucky enough to have dropped his knife in the wrong spot. He shouldn't have to pay for her ambition."

"I'm sure it'll all work out," Hanson said soothingly. "You need to take your mind off this. Why don't I bring up this—"

"No," Valenti broke in. "Still working on the first one."

" 'Still'?"

"Gimme a break, Hanson; it's 68 pages. Brevity is a virtue you should cultivate."

"Uh...yes, sir," Hanson said, abashed. "I'll…keep that in mind."

Idiot, Valenti thought as he hung up. Him and his big mouth. Hanson would no doubt spend the rest of the afternoon paring down the report he'd just finished…which, upon reflection, wasn't such a bad idea as the little progress he'd made on the first made it clear his concentration was shot. He was holed up in his office ostensibly doing work when he was really babysitting the phone. Maybe he should go for a walk…

His cell rang. "Hello?" he said breathlessly.

There was a brief pause before a puzzled voice said, "Dad?"

"Kyle," Valenti said, deflating again. "Oh...hi."

"I know it's exciting to hear from me, Dad, but try not to get the phone all sweaty," Kyle deadpanned.

"No, no, you just caught me—"

"In the middle of something," Kyle finished. "Just for the record, when are you not in the middle of something?"

"Says the guy who couldn't get off the phone fast enough when I called last week," Valenti said crossly.

"You called during a practice," Kyle objected. "I was a little busy."

"You called during a work day," Valenti said. "I'm a little busy."

Touché, Valenti thought as he was rewarded with an annoyed sigh. Getting the jump on an adolescent was a skill which required regular practice, something he hadn't had for the last month that Kyle had been away at football camp. While Kyle had needed to get away and he'd needed to stop worrying about him, he was out of practice dealing with snark. "So," Kyle went on, changing the subject the way he usually did when dear old Dad had made a point, "I just wanted to make sure you're still picking me up tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Tomorrow!" Valenti corrected quickly, flipping a page on his calendar. "Absolutely."

"You...did remember I was coming home tomorrow, right?" Kyle said suspiciously.

" 'Course I did," Valenti lied. "Got you down right here. So how's things? Everything still going well?"

"No one's shot me, if that's what you mean," Kyle answered. "No crazy FBI agents, or aliens, or clueless deputies."

"Glad to hear it," Valenti said, ignoring the dig. "We'll try to keep it that way."

"But you know what they say," Kyle went on. " 'Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment'. That's what I'm all about."

"Right," Valenti said slowly. "Glad to hear you're not dwelling on it."

"I can't," Kyle said seriously. " 'We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.' That's not something I want to become, so I don't think about it."

"Are you okay?" Valenti asked warily.

"Never better," Kyle said. " 'Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.' I don't want to get burned, so I've let go of my anger."

"Uh...good," Valenti said uncertainly. "That's good. I guess."

" 'Course it is. See you tomorrow, Dad. Don't forget. And good luck with whatever's bugging you."

"I'm...waiting for a phone call," Valenti admitted, having been about to say I'm not bugged. "Have been all day."

" 'Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others'."

Valenti blinked. "Huh?"

"Call them instead," Kyle translated. "Bye."

What the hell? Valenti thought wearily as he hung up. His kid sounded like some kind of holy roller, a fate more terrifying than any alien. But he had a point, and a couple of minutes later, Valenti was on the phone to the director of the Particle Physics Lab at Las Cruces, one Dr. Shapiro. "This is Sheriff Jim Valenti from Roswell," Valenti explained. "I've got a suspect in custody awaiting the results of a test on some human remains that was ordered by Congresswoman Vanessa Whitaker. Did that test take place?"

"It did," Shapiro acknowledged, "although I'm not sure I'm at liberty to divulge the results. You should talk to the congresswoman."

"Look, I've got a kid parked in a jail cell over this," Valenti said. "He's been here for a couple of days already—"

"Wait—a 'kid'? How old is this 'kid'?"

"17," Valenti answered. "Why?"

"Then that kid is off the hook," Shapiro answered. "We carbon dated the bones to 42 years ago."

"Years?" Valenti repeated.

"That's right. Those bones have been out there over twice as long as your suspect's been alive. Does that help?"

Valenti sank back into his chair with relief. "It does. Thank you. Thank you so much."

Ten minutes later he approached the cell where Michael was stretched out on the cot. "Mr. Guerin," he said, keeping his face neutral as Hanson looked on, "you're free to go."

"I am?" Michael said suspiciously.

"They carbon dated the bones," Hanson explained. "Guess they've been out in that desert some 42 years, since long before you were born."

Michael stared at them a moment before grabbing what little stuff he had and stepping outside. "What happened?" he whispered when Hanson was far enough ahead to be out of earshot.

"I'm guessing Nasedo happened," Valenti replied. "When you see him, give him a high five for me."





*****************************************************





Crashdown Cafe






"Maria?" Courtney said. "Closing? Counting the cash box? Hello?"

Maria's head turned slowly, her eyes vacant. "What?"

"You've been counting the same pile of twenties for like, the past ten minutes," Courtney said. "And then you just stopped. Like you'd given up."

Maria's eyes dropped to the open cash drawer in front of her, the wad of bills in her hand. "Oh. Oh, I...I…"

"Why don't I finish," Courtney suggested. "You go clock out."

Maria stared at her. "Really?"

"Really. We're almost done anyway. Go on; get out of here."

"Oh, God, thank you," Maria said earnestly, thrusting the bills into Courtney's hand and making a beeline for her locker. It had been so weird today, with Maria preoccupied and uninterested in their usual game of thrust and parry. No cutting remarks, no stage whispered slights, no rolled eyes, nothing; it was almost as odd as allying with a Royal Warder or having her opinion sought by the Premier of Kerona. Brivari, Larak, Maria—all were harsh critics, and all were in unusually good moods at the moment.

The reason for Maria's good mood arrived 20 minutes later. "What took you so long?" Zan asked as Rath was enveloped in a hug from Vilandra. "Valenti called hours ago."

"Yeah, well, it turns out 'free to go' means 'free to go as soon as we finish the mountain of paperwork that goes with getting out of jail'," Rath answered. "And then I wanted a shower, and a change of clothes, and something to eat—"

"Who cares?" Vilandra interrupted happily. "You're out; that's all that matters."

"We can help with the something to eat," Alex said, brandishing cardboard boxes. "Pizza!"

"Sweet," Rath said. "So Nasedo came through for us, huh Maxwell?"

Zan hesitated. "We managed," Vilandra answered. "And Tess totally came through for us. You should have seen Congresswoman Whitaker. She was mad as a hornet."

"C'mon, sit down," Zan said as Ava flushed from the rare compliment, "and we'll tell you all about it."

The Royal Four and their friends repaired to a booth to discuss the particulars as Courtney took her time and continued to eavesdrop. She'd have a good long list of things to tell Brivari next time she talked to him, although she planned on leaving out the part about the private picnic with Larak; while most of what she'd told him about the Warders had been relatively complimentary, emphasis on "relatively", not all of it had been. Best to leave that part out. She finished closing, had a brief exchange with startled hybrids who seemed to have forgotten she was there, and walked home, arriving just as her phone buzzed.

"Figured you'd call," Courtney said. "Rath's out, Vilandra's beaming, and Ava's actually part of the group for once—"

"Have you seen Jaddo?" Brivari interrupted.

"No. Why?"

"He's not answering his phone, he hasn't left me any messages, and yet Rath is free," Brivari said. "He should be crowing, at least via phone."

Courtney hesitated. "That's weird."

"Why?" Brivari demanded. "Why is that weird?"

"Well...according to what I heard...Jaddo never showed."





*****************************************************





Holiday Inn,

Roswell





He could hear before he could see. Not much, just background noise, really, but enough that he suspected he was alive, debatable what with his pounding head, mouth like cotton, and near inability to move a muscle, including his eyelids. Maybe it was better that way; he had the distinct impression he wouldn't like what he saw.

"Finally!" a female voice hissed nearby. "Wake up. Wake up!"

Someone grabbed him by the shoulders, shook him roughly. He used the momentum to open his eyelids and fought to keep them open, unsure he'd be able to summon the energy to do so again. Words hung in front of him, on an angle as his head was lolling sideways. Guest Services. Pleasing People The World Over.

"I must have died and gone to hell," Jaddo said, his voice thick from the cottony throat. "And hell looks just like the Holiday Inn. Figures." His eyes worked better now, and he swung them over to find a stunned Vanessa. "And you here haranguing me. Definitely hell."

"Shit," Vanessa said darkly. "It is you. I was hoping it wasn't."

Jaddo flexed his hands, bound behind him, then his feet, bound in front. "If you wanted to tie me up...you only had to ask," he said haltingly, his tongue still not behaving itself. "Not that you ever did before."

"Will you stop?" Vanessa demanded. "We have a problem!"

"No shit, Sherlock," Jaddo retorted, only to find himself immediately rewarded with a coughing fit. "Although I'd argue I'm the one with the problem," he added when he could speak again. "Way to keep a deal, sweetheart."

"What, you think I did this?" Vanessa said in astonishment. "I did not do this."

Jaddo shifted painfully in his chair, his head clearer now. "Of course you didn't. That's why I'm tied up in your hotel room, because you didn't do this."

"You...I...how dare you?" Vanessa sputtered savagely. "You'd still be out cold if not for me!"

"Which doesn't explain why I was out cold in the first place," Jaddo said, his eyes closing again as the effort of repartee became overwhelming.

Slap!

Pain had a way of focusing one's attention, and it did so now as Jaddo's eyes flew open, taking in the tired hotel room, the dirty dishes nearby, the furious face hovering in front of his. "Wake up!" Vanessa ordered as though sheer force of will would produce that result. "This is all going to end very badly if you don't wake up and help me out of this!"

"Help you?" Jaddo said, the scornful chuckle he was aiming for reverting to a cough. "Refresh my memory—which one of us is tied to a chair?"

"All right, help us out of this," Vanessa amended. "I made sure you didn't get another dose of the sedative, but we don't have much time."

"Then use that time to fill me in, because from where I'm sitting...or rather, restrained...it looks like you're one hell of a deal breaker."

"Me?" Vanessa retorted. "What about you? I didn't get my promised validation. The tests on Daniel's bones not only didn't show any Cadmium-X, they also dated them to the 50's. I thought you'd sold me out."

"I'm not the only one capable of influencing the outcome of that test," Jaddo noted.

"Then it must have been Brivari," Vanessa said.

"Nor is he."

Vanessa looked startled, then sour. "Right," she said darkly. "We have an enhanced royal family now. Lucky us. Okay...so neither of us sold the other out. What's the last thing you remember?"

"My hotel room," Jaddo said. "Your turn."

"They thought they were grabbing Pierce," Vanessa said. "My babysitters, that is. They rigged a tranquilizer dart to nab him, and nabbed you instead. Unfortunately one of them got there before you went out completely, and he saw you trying to shift. That's how he knew you weren't Pierce."

"Ironic," Jaddo said wearily. "That bastard haunts me even in death."

"Who?" Vanessa said. "Daniel? What did you have against him? He'd barely even started hunting your precious royals."

Jaddo was quiet for a moment. "You may have heard that I was held captive by the human military for 3 years following the crash."

"I recall something about that. What of it?"

"Pierce's father was one of my captors."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "A family affair! That explains a lot. And that makes this personal. Personal vendettas are something I understand very well."

"No kidding," Jaddo muttered.

Vanessa's eyes hardened. "Jaddo, listen to me. "I know what this looks like, but I did not do this. I had no idea they'd captured a Warder until I came back from Las Cruces, and I did my best to cover for you in case it was you. I let Nathan think he was giving you a second dose of the sedative when he wasn't, and I had you moved here so I could be here when you woke up. I left Nathan in your hotel room to keep him out of the way."

Jaddo laughed, a raw sound which turned into another cough. "God, you make yourself out to be such a martyr. You had me moved because you were afraid that if it was me, Brivari would show up and blast you to Kingdom Come. And you left your lackey there because you were hoping one of us would take care of your babysitter problem for you."

"Okay, yes, that's part of it," Vanessa said impatiently, "but so what? I still had you moved. I'm still on your side."

"Bullshit," Jaddo said. "You're on your own side. And the way I know this? So I am. We're alike, remember? We're both very much on our own sides."

"Enough with the personality analysis," Vanessa snapped. "You have to break free."

"I have to...Vanessa, darling, you've got it a bit backwards," Jaddo said, making a feeble stab at his powers and not surprised to feel only the barest of stirrings. "I don't have to break free, you have to free me."

"I can't," Vanessa said.

"Flunked knot tying in Girl Scouts?" Jaddo sighed. "Relax. This is knot untying. Piece of cake. I just need a knife."

"I mean I won't," Vanessa clarified. "I'll let you go, but you'll have to do it yourself. Shift out of the ropes."

"What? I barely have enough strength to talk, let alone—"

"Spare me," Vanessa interrupted. "I'm from Antar, remember? I know Shapeshifter 101. You won't need much energy to shift just your hands and feet. And make sure you leave the ropes tied, because I don't want this coming back on me."

"Always saving your ass," Jaddo said dryly. "That's my girl."

"Do you want this deal or not?" Vanessa demanded. "Because I do, and we're the only two people who can ram it down the throats of our fat-headed superiors. But if you want out, I'll find another way home if I have to—"

"All right, all right," Jaddo broke in, flexing his hands and feet; they complied, albeit with difficulty. "I can get free, but what then? It'll be a while before the drugs wear off; I won't get far."

"Then I suggest you start sooner rather than later," Vanessa said, "because one or both of my babysitters will be back any minute now, and you don't want to be here when they are."

"You're missing the obvious way out of this," Jaddo said. "Kill them."

Vanessa blinked. "What?"

"I said, kill them," Jaddo repeated. "As in execute them. Bump them off. Remove them from the equation."

"I know what you meant," Vanessa said testily, "but you don't really expect me to kill my own people, do you?"

"You don't really expect me to believe you're not capable of that, do you? You'd mow down anyone in your way on any planet, and you know it."

"Once, perhaps," Vanessa allowed. "But here...our existence here is precarious. There are a finite number of us, only our skins keep us alive, and they're dying. We've had to alter our thinking when it comes to executions. Every life is precious."

"There are only a finite number of Warders, but we didn't descend into religious mumbo jumbo," Jaddo retorted. "Dispose of the babysitters, and we both recover in safety."

Vanessa's expression hardened. "No."

A key rattled in the lock. Two startled faces turned toward the door as a man walked in, a manilla envelope in hand. "I left a message for Vince, told him what we've got; he should be back any time now," the Skin reported. "And you won't believe who I found, right here in Roswell. Nicholas will freak…" He stopped, flabbergasted, as Jaddo stared back at him. "What the hell…?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," Jaddo said. "I am Jaddo, Warder to Rath, the King's Second, and Vanessa and I have reached an agreement about how to end our mutual exile and restore peace to Antar. Care to join us?"

There followed a long pause where Jaddo waited calmly as the flabbergasted Skin and Vanessa stared at one another in silence. The Skin moved first; there was a brief tussle, a loud bang, then a shower of skin flakes.

"Impressive," Jaddo allowed. "I thought you'd at least have to work for it."

"You bastard," Vanessa breathed, her hair a mess, her suit askew. "You made me—"

"Ah, ah," Jaddo interrupted, shaking his head. "I didn't 'make' you do a thing. I was just counting on your equally impressive survival instinct working to my benefit."

"Damn you!" Vanessa exclaimed. "I should just kill you right now! Do you have any idea how many points that would get me with Khivar?"

"Oh, I do," Jaddo said. "And I also know all the points in the world won't get you what you really want—to go home. Only I can get you that." He shifted his hands and feet, making them smaller, pulling them loose from the ropes before rising on shaky legs. "We are so very much alike, you and I," he said softly. "When we get back, we could make beautiful music together." He glanced at the pile of skin flakes. "Tell your other 'babysitter' that I'm to blame for this. It's the truth, after all."

He shuffled toward the door, stiff from having been in one position for hours. "Just promise me one thing," Vanessa said behind him. "When we make this…'beautiful music'...promise me you won't be in the shape of an ugly middle-aged human."

"Darling," Jaddo said, "I'm a shapeshifter. I can look like anything I want." He paused. "Or anything you want."

The ghost of a smile crossed her lips. "I'll hold you to that."

They gazed at each other in silence for a moment before her eyes dropped. "Go on, get out of here," she said roughly. "Call me. You know, in a few days. After I've mopped up. And...I'm sorry about this."

"I'm sorry you missed your vindication," Jaddo said.

"I'll get it out of you," Vanessa assured him. "One way or another."

"I look forward to it," Jaddo said.

Jaddo winced as he closed the door behind him and started down the hallway on legs which complained with every step. As expected, verbal sparring was one thing, physical movement another matter entirely. Sedatives left you exhausted, a problem when both shifting and powers required energy. He needed to get somewhere safe under his own steam, preferably somewhere near a phone so he could call Brivari; fortunately he knew a back way out of the hotel where he wouldn't attract attention. He made it to the elevator and leaned heavily against the wall while it rose, the floors ticking up one by one. Taking the stairs might be safer, but even the thought of climbing down all those flights was daunting. Better to preserve what little strength he had in case he needed it. The elevator dinged, the door opened…

...and an astonished Skin stared at him for a moment before pulling a trithium generator out of his pocket, bathing the hallway in a pink glow which made it all too clear who the disheveled human in the elevator doorway really was. A moment later the generator sparked, destroyed by a burst of energy dredged from a very empty well.

It was altogether too unfortunate that he hadn't taken the stairs.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


I'll post Chapter 19 on Sunday, November 16.

Great part!

Oh yes, Vanessa was sleeping with the enemy......
Loved the Sheriff and Michael exchanging a high five after being released.
Now everyone knows Tess/Ava is part of the group now.
And last but not least.......should have taken the stairs......
Great part, see you next time.