AUTHOR'S NOTE:  This takes place after "Crossfire" and my story "Trespassers in the Truth."  What happened to the Resistance, Meridian, etc?  Also, I never
saw an episode with Boone in it, but.......  All words in < > are thoughts.  Words in brackets [ ] are psychic communication.

SPECIAL THANKS to Scott Williams and Aen for helping me edit this story.

RATING:  PG

           MIND GAMES
         By AgentSandy

        "You still aren't real sure about this are you?"  Agent Long asked Liam as they walked down a corridor in Meridian Headquarters.
        "Can you blame me?" Liam shrugged remembering how he and the Resistance were so sure that Sandoval was up to trouble when it turned out to be the exact
opposite.  "I never expected to have him as an ally."
        "You aren't the only person who can keep secrets, Liam.  He's been keeping them a lot longer then you have," Agent Long stopped in front of a door, but
instead of opening it, she turned to look at him.
        "You have to be sure of this, Liam.   If we go into it any other way we're dead," Liam looked at her for a moment and she could see the hesitation in his
eyes.  "Need I remind you that this attempt was Da'an's last request?"
Liam flinched, and Dani was immediately sorry for her words.  It was well known that after Da'an's       "honor-bound suicide" both Ronald and Liam had blamed
themselves for not doing anything.  The former had no choice; Ronald couldn't blow his cover.  So, he'd had to stand by as it happened and do nothing as he'd
been forced to do so often in the past.  Because of her telepathy, Dani knew that Sandoval was once again having the nightmares that had so plagued him after
Boone's murder.  Eventually they'd begun to ease, with her help.  Now Sandoval was again channeling all of his energy into running Meridian and bringing Zo'or
down.   Liam had felt as bad, if not worse about Da'an, but his work with the Resistance didn't seem to be helping him move on as Ronald's work with Meridian
was.
        "Liam, I'm sorry," Dani whispered, gently touching his arm.  "I didn't mean to..."
A wave of Liam's arm cut her off.  After a minute, he spoke.
        "No, you're right.  This needs to come first."

        Agent Ronald Sandoval looked over his shoulder and then slipped into an empty office.  He'd been trying to get a minute's peace all day, but Zo'or kept
finding little things to keep him busy and at his side.   This was the first opportunity to escape he'd had all day.  He pulled out his global and hit a button.
        "How are things going?" He asked the young man that answered.
        "They just started, Sir," the Meridian operative answered.
        "Good, let me know when they are finished," Sandoval ordered.
        "Yes, Sir," the man replied and signed off.
The global had barely gone blank, when it's alarm went off again.  Sandoval took a deep breath and then answered it, "Yes, Zo'or."
        "Return to my audience chamber at once, Agent Sandoval," Zo'or ordered.
Sandoval began to answer to the affirmative when the screen went blank.  Biting back a curse, Ronald put the global away and exited the room.  It was going to be
a long day.

        Liam looked at the sheet-draped body on the table.  He still couldn't believe that Da'an had managed to somehow clone Commander Boone's body.  Now it
lay connected to monitors, which measured everything from temperature, to the CVI, to the skrill on the man's arm.
"A little like a monster movie, huh?"  Agent Long looked at him from the other side of Boone's body.
        "Yeah," Liam whispered still looking at the body.
        "What's wrong, Liam?"  She asked.
        "I don't like the fact that the Taelons can play god," Liam finally looked up at her.  "Or us either."
        "We're not really," Dani said.   "Think of it more as putting Boone back into his body.  He's not really dead, Liam.  He's still living in the Commonality."
        "But his body died.  That usually means the person did too," Liam stated.
        "To normal humans yes," Dani gently touched Boone's forehead and then locked eyes with Liam.           "Death takes on a whole new meaning when you
become a psychic."
Liam shrugged.  She knew the mind better then he did.
        "Are you ready?" She asked.
Liam looked at Boone's body once more and then nodded yes.

        The transition into the Commonality was even harder then Agent Long had expected.  Still, without Liam's partial connection, there would have been no
retrieving Boone period.
Dani looked around, " Liam, do you have a lock on him yet?"
Liam shook his head, "Just give me a minute, okay.  It's not every day I have to sneak a psi into the Commonality piggy back."
        While Liam searched for the residue of Da'an's mind that would signal where the Taelon had been shielding Boone's presence, Dani looked around.  The
Commonality was nothing like the Astral Plane even though the two places served similar purposes to their respective races.  For a moment, Dani wondered if
she was going to be able to link the two planes.  Da'an had believed that the linkage was possible, but she wasn't so sure.
        "Found him."  Liam stated.   "But we'd better hurry.  I don't think Da'an's shield is going to last much longer."

        Agent Sandoval watched Zo'or through silted eyes.  There was no need for him to be there, but Zo'or had ordered him to remain.  It was an attempt by the
Taelon to again remind Sandoval who was in control.   Like he could forget.
<Of course, if there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that control is by no means something that is definite, > Agent Sandoval thought to himself.  <If
he knew what was going on right under his nose...>
Agent Sandoval was snapped out of his thoughts as Zo'or suddenly stood up.
        "Zo'or what is wrong?"  Sandoval asked with faked concern.
Zo'or ignored his attaché for a moment, and Sandoval was about to repeat his question, when the Taelon spoke.
        "There is a trespasser in the Commonality."
Sandoval fought to keep a blank face.  <Damn! >

        "Liam, tell me that this is suppose to be happening," Dani stumbled as the Commonality became even more hostile in an attempt to rid itself of the
trespassers.
        "Hate to tell you," Liam helped to right her balance.  "This is bad."
        "Really," She replied sarcastically.   "Please tell me we're almost there."
        "Thankfully," Liam looked around and then pointed to a very faintly glowing sphere.  "There!"
Dani immediately closed her eyes and "reached" toward the sphere as Liam moved them closer to it.
        [Commander Boone, can you hear me?]
A weary thought answered her probe. [Who's there?]
        [We're here to take you home.  Friends of Da'an's.  Can you come to us?]
        [Why should I trust you?]
        [Please Commander, we don't have much time.]
        "Dani, hurry up.  I feel that Zo'or's on to us.  If he probes much harder, I don't know if I can keep him out without letting him know who I am," Liam broke
into her thoughts.
        [Did you hear that, Commander?  Please, we can discuss this once I have gotten us onto the Astral Plane.]  Dani frantically thought.
For a minute, there was silence and then Boone replied, [Okay.]
        Boone's sphere started to near them and then it joined with Liam's sphere so that there were now three people standing in the sphere.
        Dani had to fight to keep from gasping at Boone's condition.  Da'an had hinted that it was possible that Boone's astral form would retain the wounds his
physical body had endured, but she had never dreamed that it would be to this extent.  She was about to comment, when Liam let out a gasp like he'd just been
punched in the gut.
        "Liam!"
The Major's face was white with strain; "The Commonality itself is trying to trap us here.  Get the gate to the Astral Plane open or we're going to be stuck here,
and I guarantee that it's not going to be pretty."
        "On it, Major Kincaid, " Dani closed her eyes in concentration, but that concentration was broken by Boone's voice.
        "Major Kincaid?  Liam Kincaid?   I fought with him in the SI War, and you are definitely not him," Boone accused.
        [Later Commander, I promised I'd explain everything later.]  Dani thought quickly.  When she sensed a resistance in him, she added.  [Please, I can't
concentrate with you talking, and we are all going to die if I can't get us out of here.]
Boone was silent, but the look he gave Liam promised that this was far from over.
Dani went back to concentrating on creating a link between the Astral plane and the Commonality.<Focus, > she told herself, <and remember what Da'an told
you.   It's all a matter of telling it what you want it to do.  Connect, damn it!   Connect! >
Boone watched the girl's face wrinkle in concentration.  Then, for a moment, his gaze moved to the "Major", but Liam's attention was completely on keeping
their identities hidden.
        <Major, my foot.  He's nothing more then a child. > Boone thought.  <Look at his face, if I didn't know better, I'd swear he was nothing more then a teen
finding out the hard way how tough life was. > Boone shivered as he realized that none of them might get out of this.  He couldn't understand why two strangers
would risk their lives to come after him.  His gaze wondered back to the girl and suddenly he found himself praying.
        Dani felt as if part of her soul was being ripped open, but she continued.  Then the pain was gone and the portal was there.
        "Go!"  She screamed to Liam as she grabbed Boone's arm and pushed him through the portal.
        "I'm behind you.  Go!"   Liam ordered.
Dani knew he had to sever his connection to the Commonality before he could follow.   She looked back.  The pain on his face froze her, but that wasn't the
scary part.  It was the fear in his eyes.
        "Liam!" She cried.
        "They're holding me here.  God!   I don't think I can break it.  Go!"  He ordered.  "Before they close the portal."
        "I won't leave you!  Sandy will skin me!"  Dani replied.
        "Damn it, Agent, that was an order.   Go!"  Liam stated
        "No," Dani suddenly reached forward and into Liam's mind and fed all of the strength she had left to him.  It was enough, barely, for him to break his link to
the Commonality.  She grabbed him to keep him from returning to the physical plane and threw him and herself at the portal.  As they passed through, she shut
it.  They hit the "ground" of the Astral Plane hard, but she kept falling.

        Agent Sandoval fought to keep his anxiety at bay as he watched Zo'or and Da'an's replacement, Te'el, search for the trespassers in the Commonality.  Of
course, he wasn't worried for them, even though he had to admit that Te'el was enough like Da'an that Sandoval couldn't understand how Te'el had gotten the
position given Zo'or's dislike for Da'an.  Still, his main worries were Agent Long and his son.  Sandoval could still hardly believe that Kincaid was his son, though,
Agent Long had claimed to see it as soon as she met Liam.   Something about how it only made sense that the two most stubborn men she knew where related.  A
small smile crossed his face at the memory, but it vanished when Zo'or come back himself, with Te'el not far behind.
        "Zo'or, did you find them?"   Agent Sandoval asked as he fell back into what he liked to call his mindless attaché mode.
Zo'or ignored his question and angrily left the room.
For a moment, Agent Sandoval didn't know what to do.  That problem was remedied by Te'el's soft voice.
        "Forgive his anger, Agent Sandoval.   He has no where else to direct it besides at you."
Sandoval looked at the Taelon.  Te'el was older then Da'an had been, but at times he acted so much like Da'an that Sandoval forgot that he wasn't talking to
Da'an.   Ronald wanted to reach out to Te'el and tell him thanks, but the Taelon still believed him to be a full implant and so he had to act accordingly.
        "It's nothing.  May I ask what happened?"  Sandoval said.
A knowledge flashed in the Taelon's eyes for a moment and then was gone.  "The Commonality had the trespasser trapped and Zo'or was about to break through
to the person's identity, when they somehow escaped.  It was very frustrating to be so close and not get anything out of it."
        "Do you know where they escaped to?"   Ronald asked.
        "No.  We could not trace their path," Te'el replied.
Agent Sandoval nodded and turned to leave.  He stopped as Te'el called out to him.
        "Agent Sandoval, I suggest that you avoid Zo'or in the next few hours."
Ronald looked back with a questioning look on his face, "Te'el?"
The Taelon smiled, "As I said before, he will direct his anger at you.  It would be better for your health if you disappeared for a few hours."
        "But my duties..." Sandoval kicked himself for having to look a gift horse in the mouth.
        "Since Da'an's passing, you were reassigned both Zo'or and I.  If Zo'or comes looking for you, you have been sent to cover an engagement for me in your
capital.  Said engagement does not exist, but only you and I need to know that."
    "Thank, thank you, Te'el," Agent Sandoval stuttered.
The Taelon nodded, "Go now, before Zo'or returns."
        Agent Sandoval nodded and quickly left the room.  Te'el watched the attaché go and then smiled.  Agent Sandoval was a bright man; one who Te'el knew
was more then just an implant.  The Taelon rose from his chair and started out of the room.  He smiled again as he thought about the day when he and Sandoval
would be working together to further Human and Taelon kind without Zo'or's interference.

        "Is she going to be all right?"  Boone asked, feeling rather helpless as he watched Liam check over Agent Long.
        "Well, if she weren't, I highly doubt that I would still be here.  She's the one holding me here after all.  I think she's just exhausted.  If we give her a few
minutes, she should be able to use the plane to recharge.  She put a lot into helping me break my connection to the Commonality, " Liam explained as he stood
up.
        "Speaking of which, don't you have a little explaining to do, 'Major?'"  Boone asked, not trying to hide the suspicion filling his voice.
        "Would it be enough to say that I'm using the name with permission?"  Liam asked.
        "Nice try, kid, but no."  Boone replied.
        "Let's just say I wouldn't live long if my real last name got out," Liam hoped to avoid actually telling Boone who he was, but the look on the ex-police
captain's face made him realize that his chances of doing that were very slim.
        "And why's that?"  Boone was becoming very irritated.  The kid was going in circles trying to hide who he really was.
        "You're not going to believe it," Liam tried one last time to avoid the question.
        "Try me, " Boone said.
Liam only answered with three words, "Beckett-Sandoval-Ha'gel."
For a minute Boone couldn't say anything.  It had to be a lie...but it did explain the kid's link to the Commonality.
        "I was conceived and born in nine hours.   Let's just say I had a real short childhood and leave it at that," Liam added.
        "I saw Ha'gel with Beckett, but I never stopped to think..." Boone let the sentence trail off because he wasn't sure what to say.
Liam shrugged it off, "You get used to it.  Only a few people in the Resistance know, but I still get looks once in a while, especially since I started to work with
Project Meridian."
        "Project Meridian?"  Boone asked.
        <Here comes another bombshell, Commander, > Liam thought.
        "Yes, it's similar to the Resistance, but it's goals are more toward getting Zo'or out of power so that Taelons and Humans can work together.  Both Sandoval
and I know that both races are doomed without some kind of honest cooperation, " Liam stated.
        "Sandoval is in charge of Meridian?"   Boone asked.  "He's working with us?"
Liam nodded, then frowned at the sudden smile that covered Boone's face.
        "I'll be.  Belman's altered CVI worked," Boone whispered.
        Now it was Liam's turn to grin, "You were responsible for that.  He always thought so."
Boone nodded, "It was too good of a chance for the Resistance to pass up.  How are things going?"
Liam paused, not sure how to explain to Boone that for all intents and purposes the Resistance didn't exist anymore.  So many had been lost in the round up after
the assassination attempt on President Thompson...
        "Kid?"  The pain on Liam's face confused Boone.  "What aren't you telling me?"
        "That he'd prefer not to be called 'kid' all of the time," a weak voice stated.
Liam, thankful for the chance to put off telling Boone the truth, moved quickly to Agent Long's side to help her up.
        "Feeling better?" He asked her.
        "Remind me not to do that again, okay?"  She joked weakly.
        "You had us worried for a while," Boone stated.
        "I just needed a minute." Dani turned to Liam.  "How much have you told him?"
        "About me, Meridian, and Sandoval, "Liam replied.
        "Not about Da'an?" Dani asked.
        "No, " Liam answered sadly.
        "Haven't told me what about Da'an?"   Boone interrupted.
Dani took his hands, "It's a long story, friend..."

        Agent Sandoval walked quickly into the warehouse above Meridian headquarters and entered the building.  He rarely let himself worry so much about his
operatives, but the operatives weren't usually the two people he cared about the most in the world since Deedee's death-her real one.  He remembered how happy,
no thrilled, he'd been to find out that she was still alive only to have those feelings crushed when the investigating Meridian operative had found out that Deedee
had died three months earlier in a car accident.  It didn't seem fair, but nothing about his life had been.  He probably wouldn't have made it through the following
months without Meridian and Dani.  The woman's psychic abilities had helped him like nothing else had.  She got his head back on straight.  Just in time, too.
Zo'or had been becoming suspicious about his implant's unusual behavior.
        Ronald entered the main room of the complex and a young operative came up to him with the earpiece he wore when he was there.  He distractedly took it,
trying to ignore the fact it wasn't Dani, his second in command, giving it to him.  As he put it on, he made his way back to the back rooms-one of which held
most of his life in it, and prayed that they were still okay.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that he'd begun praying quite a lot since founding
Meridian....

        "I can't believe this," Boone whispered trying (and failing) to hide the pain in his voice.  Da'an was gone?   The Resistance all but destroyed?  It couldn't be
true, yet it was.
        "William," Agent Long's voice was soft with compassion.  "I know this must be hard on you."
        "You have no idea," Boone turned to face her and Liam.  "Why go through all of this to bring me back if there is nothing to go back to?"
        "But there is...," Dani started.
Liam interrupted her and gave Boone a stern look," Da'an wanted us to bring you back.   Obviously he thought you could do us some good.  Maybe he was
wrong."
Boone gave Liam an angry look, "If you are implying that I'm a quitter..."
        "Take it as you will," Liam replied.
        "And why shouldn't I blame you for it all?   You were the leader of the Resistance, and you were Da'an's protector," Boone accused.  "I believe this mess is
your fault."
        Dani saw the anger in Liam's eyes and decided to cut their little shouting match short.  She had seen what Liam was doing, trying to get Boone angry to get
him to agree to come back-if just to put the Resistance back together, but now things were getting close to getting out of control.
        "Liam, Boone, that's enough," she stood between the two men.  "Boone, I'll get the point.  We need you.   Now we can discuss this for as long as you want
on the physical plane.  I may be able to pull energy from here to replenish myself, but you and Liam can't.  That means sooner or later, Liam's body will pull his
mind back out of self-preservation, and we need him here.  Your body would do the same if you were connected to it, but you aren't.  That means once you are
out of strength you'll just vanish.  Do you really want that?"
        Boone looked down at the agent who barely reached his shoulder in height.  With her dark eyes and complexion she reminded him of another "annoying"
agent he know, and a smile crossed his face at the thought that that particular "annoying" agent was now working with them.
        "Are you related to Sandoval by any chance?"  He asked knowing the question would likely break the tension he'd helped Liam build.
Dani knew she was blushing and the muffled laugh from Liam didn't help.
        "I would think not," Dani replied.   "What does that have to do with anything, Commander?"
Boone shrugged, " Nothing.  I was just curious.  You reminded me of him for a moment."
To Liam's credit, he tried to keep the laughter out of his voice, "That would explain the attraction.  They are actually a cute couple."
        "Liam!" Dani tried to give him an angry look but failed and began laughing.
After a few seconds they all pulled themselves back together.
        "William, are you going to help us?"   Dani asked.
Boone nodded yes, "If just so I can see you and Sandoval together."
Dani shook her head at the few laughs that came from the two men.
        "Business guys," she reminded them.   "Liam, can you get your act together enough to help take care of the Commander's wounds?"
Liam quickly returned to seriousness, "Of course."
        "William, will you take his hands?"   Agent Long asked him.
Boone looked skeptical, "Why?"
        "One of the gifts my father passed down to me.  I can heal people's wounds if I try hard enough, " Liam explained and held up his hands.
        Boone took a step back when he saw them glowing, "Whoa, I don't know.  Last time I got close to a pair of those, I ended up like this."
        "We can't send you back like this Boone.   Even though you can't feel the wounds here, you body would likely give out from shock if you returned like this.
You'll have to trust him, " Dani stated.
Boone looked at Liam's hands again and then walked toward him.
        "Just promise me one thing," Boone said.
        "What?"  Liam asked.
        "Don't go getting used to this, kid.   I'm not that kind of guy," Boone smirked at Liam.
Dani giggled at the look on Liam's face.  "Just heal him, Liam," she laughed.  "You can break his jaw later."

        Agent Sandoval watched the three still forms and wished there was something he could do to help.  Of course, there wasn't.  As he realized that he seemed to
spend a lot of his time just watching and not being able to do anything, he silently vowed that he'd soon change that.   Suddenly he noticed Liam's eyelids flitter
and he walked across the room to where his son was laying.  He reached the edge of the bed, just as Liam began to look around disorientedly.
        Ronald gently touched his arm, and Liam focused his eyes on him.  The slight un-recognition in Liam's eyes hurt for a moment, but it passed as Ronald
remembered Dani telling him that the disorientation would be a non-psi's normal reaction to spending an extended amount of time on the Astral Plane.
        "Relax son, you're safe," Ronald whispered.  "Get some sleep.  You'll feel better when you wake up."
Liam nodded.  He may not have been quite sure where he was, but deep inside of himself he knew he could trust this man.  He shut his eyes and soon drifted off.
        After watching his son sleep for a moment, Ronald turned and silently motioned for an operative to move Liam to another room.   Once that was done, he
turned to watch for Dani's return.  He didn't have to wait long.  When she woke up, he moved to her side and helped her up and over to Boone's bedside.
        "How'd it go?"  He asked.
She reached forward and gently touched Boone's forehead.  Ronald steadied her when the movement made her wobble.
    "We'll know in a minute," Ronald winced at the exhaustion in her voice.
The next few minutes passed like an eternity.  There was always the possibility that Boone wouldn't be able to re-establish the link between his body and mind.
In that case, they would lose him and all of their hard work.
The eternity continued and then Boone's eyelids fluttered and Dani smiled.
        "He made it?"  Ronald asked quietly.
        "He made it," Dani whispered.

        "I never knew that you cared," Boone said to Sandoval a few days later.
        "Who says I do?"  Sandoval replied in what Boone called his 'I'm-more-important-than-everyone' voice, but Will wasn't worried.  The twinkle in the other
man's eye gave away his true feelings.
Boone laughed, "It's nice that some things never change."
Sandoval smiled-something that still caught Boone off guard even though this wasn't the first time he'd seen it in the last few days.
        "I wouldn't say that Commander.  I like to think that I have changed since founding Meridian," Sandoval replied.
        "Hey, don't ask me.  I'm still in shock to see that your face didn't crack when you smiled the first time," Boone laughed then got serious.  "I'm sorry to hear
about Deedee."
Ronald studied the floor.  It was still hard to talk about it, even to Dani, but to have to try and explain it to the man who had lied to him about her death…
        "Yes, it was a shock to find out she was alive, but to be so close and yet so far..." Ronald let the sentence trail off as a hint that he would prefer to talk
about other things.
Boone caught the hint and changed the subject, "What can you tell me about Te'el?"
Ronald looked back at Boone, "I think he may be an ally.  He covered for me while Zo'or was fuming about your escape from the Commonality.  He didn't have
to do that and risk Zo'or's anger himself, but he did."
        "Do you think it might be a set up?"   Boone asked.
        "Anything could be." Ronald replied.   "At the moment, as far as Te'el knows, I am nothing more then Zo'or unfortunate, but loyal, implant.  It will stay
that way until we decide for sure whose side he's on."
        "If anyone can fool him, you can," a female voice said.
Ronald turned around and smiled at Dani as she and Liam entered the room.
        "I thought Commander Boone was suppose to be resting," Liam stated.
Boone shrugged, "I'm not a child you know, and it's been a few days.  I'm beginning to get bored."
        "We'll just have to find you some work then," Dani stated smugly.
        "Like what?"  Boone asked, looking a little worried about the look on her face.
        "Relax, Boone," Liam laughed.   "She's not really as tough as she looks."
Dani glared at Liam, but he just flashed her a smile and then turned back to Boone.
        "Are you ready to rebuild the Resistance?"