The price of freedom

The scene was totally frozen. None of the aliens were moving and all of the X-Com operatives had cover now from both the aliens and from Weaver. They knew where she was. What was more important? They knew who she was!

Weaver had a shot at Cooper, but... Kerry was also aiming at Cooper and her weapon was odd looking. The girl glanced around her and her eyes were cold as she pressed the weapon's short muzzle deeper into the back of Cooper's head.

No! The voice of the Ethereal spoke up. From everyone's sudden tension, everyone in the bay could hear it. Not him! Do not harm him!

"I will not leave him to you." Kerry said into the sudden silence. The room was surrounded by aliens, Weaver could see forms moving through the open doors that the X-Com had to have come in through. Lots of forms. Far more than had been in this ship. If anyone fired, a lot of people were going to die here. "He has suffered enough."

Weaver's eyes narrowed. Kerry wasn't wearing the same attire as the X-Com team. There were five of them carrying an assortment of weapons. Those wore some kind of form fitting body armor and their weapons were sleek, deadly looking,. Much like her Zadjari plasma sniper rifle come to think of it. The armor Kerry wore looked human in design, not at all like the X-Com team's armor. The pistol she held looked unlike anything Weaver had ever seen. It had a large square piece that was three times the size of Kerry's hand as a receiver and a barrel that she recognized as such, but she saw no magazine and… Was that a TV screen on the back of it? Weaver's eyes also flitted to something that was hovering over one of the soldier's shoulders. Some kind of flying robot. She had to fight a smile. X-Com had always loved tech toys. That hadn't changed in the intervening decades.

On that, we can agree, human, if little else. The Ethereal said flatly. You will harm him. Killing is what your kind do. We will not harm him.

"But you will never let him be free." Kerry's quiet voice sounded like a gunshot in the silence around the bay. "He is too useful. There are too many who would harm him even if that is not their intent. You know this."

We do. The Ethereal sounded sad. He is a healer, not a warrior. Advent used him but for a long time, we did not understand what he truly was. When we did, we reacted with surprise, fear and joy. Whatever we have done, whatever you have done, he has done nothing but try to help others. Does he deserve to die for that?

"Why not?" Kerry demanded. "You kill humans. It is what your kind do."

We could argue semantics all night, human. The Ethereal said quietly. Whatever that weapon is, if you fire it at that range, he will die. You may or may not escape. Some of your compatriots will fall. These barbarians will not take him.

"They did not come for him." Kerry was still calm. Weaver was hardly the only one to stare at Kerry as the girl shifted her gaze without moving her weapon from Cooper's skull. Weaver followed Kerry';s eyes to the human who had hurt Cooper and understanding struck her like a hammer. X-Com had never liked being betrayed.

Oh. For the first time, the Ethereal sounded discomfited. That is actually understandable. A first in dealing with these. He lied to us too.

"It wasn't a lie!" The man on the floor cried and tried to rise, only to scream as the closest X-Com operative lashed out with the butt of her rifle and slammed him to the floor.

Yes it was. The Ethereal said flatly. You forget to whom you speak. We knew all along that you had no intention of acting in good faith. Until you hurt the little one, we could overlook your eccentricities. Now? No. Weaver smirked as the man on the floor protested, only to gasp as the woman in armor hit him again. You know we cannot let you leave with the little one, human.

"I have no intention of leaving." Kerry said quietly. Weaver froze as the Lady's mind pressed in on hers. Both of them stared at Kerry's armor. It was bulky, far too bulky to be just armor. What else was she wearing?

Kerry, no! The Lady begged. No one seemed to hear her but Weaver.

You are surrounded. The Ethereal said slowly. You are in the middle of a battleship that has landed in the middle of an Advent base.

The alien gasped as Kerry released the pistol thing with her right hand and pulled something off her armor. Some kind of cover. Weaver felt fear blossom as she saw a small box adhered to Kerry's armor. A box marked with a radiation symbol! She was carrying a nuke! A loud alarm started blaring outside and some of the shadows were moving now.

She… They… no! The Lady said weakly.

"A large base." Kerry was still so maddeningly calm. "This is what the traitor wanted. People willing to do whatever it took to win no matter the cost. I don't care about winning. I just want my friend to be free. He is my friend and my Lady's son. But if he cannot be free… You. Will. Not. Take. Him." She was still calm!

That is an elerium enhanced nuclear weapon that was hidden from our scans until just now. We cannot take control of you to stop it.The alien said slowly. A regular human nuclear weapon, we could stop, but not that that. A blast from such of even the smallest magnitude there would kill many and not just Advent troops. That base is in the middle of a city center. You want something or you would have detonated it already. The Ethereal sounded resigned now. Name your terms.

"These take their traitor and leave unmolested." Kerry said flatly. "That is nonnegotiable. Once I am sure they are clear, I will disarm the bomb and surrender."

You will? The Ethereal said and then scoffed. You expect us to believe you?

"I serve the Lady, not X-Com." Kerry said flatly. "Even if I blow this here and now, or you manage to stop me and slaughter all of these, they will not stop fighting. I have no interest in your wars. The Lady has my loyalty. No one else. To save her son or top keep him forma life of slavery? To keep this from turning into a free for all? I am ready to die if needed."

KERRY! The Lady screamed in Weaver's mind.

That is not mind control. The Ethereal sounded unsure. That is pure loyalty. How long have you known her?

"Less than a weel." Kerry replied without hesitation. "She is not like you. Every one of her people would die for her or for Cooper and it is not mind control."

No. The Ethereal sounded stunned. She is not like us. She is young and untainted. She has a chance to be better than us. To have a life that is better than ours. We wish we could, human. But you do not know what you are doing. They do not know what they are doing.

"You compare us to children and maybe we are. How many children know it all?" Kerry asked in a very quiet voice as the Lady sobbed in Weaver's mind. "Not think they do. Actually know it all?" She asked. "None that I have seen. But they grow up eventually. Forcing them to remain as you wish them to be only hurts them. Let these go." She clenched something in her hand. It took no imagination to know what that something was.

You leave us few choices. They can go. And the other? Weaver tensed as several people looked at her. She forced herself to relax and slowly rose, slinging her rifle. She ignored the many weapons aimed at her as she strode to where Kerry stood and laid a hand on Kerry's shoulder.

"I am with her." Weaver smiled as Kerry stared at her, eyes glistening. "You crazy girl."

"Pot, meet kettle." Kerry said weakly as Weaver pulled her into a hug, careful not to disturb the deadwoman's switch that Kerry held tight.

"Agent Weaver..." One of the X-Com troops sounded unsure as she stared from Weaver to the aliens who were slowly retreating. Was that a sword on her back? Weaver was not going to judge.

"Go." Weaver said flatly. "We will be all right." She kicked the man on the floor who groaned. "Take this piece of trash with you."

She was only mildly surprised when the man rolled up to a sitting position, a weapon in his hands, aimed at Cooper. The Colt 1911 pistol she had drawn while her hand was hidden by Kerry's body barked. It was almost instantly followed by three green lines of energy from the X-Com troops and five of the same from alien forces. What fell at Weaver's feet was less a human body than a cinder. Weaver looked at the body and then at the X-Com soldier who was eyeing the aliens. No one moved.

"Sorry." Weaver quipped lightly.

"I am not." The woman scoffed as she stood up slowly. "The paperwork would have been a bitch if we took him alive."

"You still use the Form 11-J for field betrayal reports?" Weaver asked, The woman in armor eyed her and Weaver shrugged. "Just curious."

"And here I thought we had advanced some since your time." The woman chuckled and Weaver shared it.

"Go on. Kerry cannot hold that switch forever." Weaver shook her head. "But if I ever meet whichever of you allowed her to take that… I am going to hurt them. Fair warning."

"Allowed?" The armored woman asked, incredulous. "No one allowed a damn thing. She got loose, grabbed the first explosive thing she could in the hangar and activated it before anyone could stop her. None of our psionics worked on her. I kicked the supply guy's ass for leaving that out where she could get hold of it." Weaver stared at her and the armored woman shook her head. "More balls than brains if you ask me. This is not the first place she has held hostage with that."

"Kerry!" Weaver exclaimed and then sighed. "Does she know how to disarm it?"

"We told her, but she refused to do it. I am not sure of she got it all." The armored woman shook her head again as the rest of her team started to move. They ignored the human corpse. "On the underside, there is a panel with two recessed push points. It cannot be opened telekinetically without setting the bomb off. It has to be physical." Weaver nodded. That made sense in a world where people could move things with their minds. "Push those two simultaneously and a handle will drop down. Pull down and turn clockwise, the core will come out. No core, no boom."

Simple enough for soldiers to remember. Weaver appreciated that. Soldiers and agents could break anything.

"Go." Weaver said as she stared down at Kerry whose face was flushed with fear and embarrassment. "Kerry." She chided the girl as the X-Com soldier ran from the bay, her weapon ready. None of the aliens in the area tried to stop her. No one wanted to test Kerry's willingness to die. Smart of them. "This was dumb."

"I didn't want to, Weaver." Kerry was sad now. "Violence feels wrong. But… What else could I do?"

A rumble sounded in the distance and Weaver looked up. The aliens hadn't moved at all. Cooper lay where he was, face pale and still.

"Kerry." Weaver said softly. "Did she tell the truth about disarming it?"

"That is exactly what they told me." Kerry said weakly. "I was in the middle of their ship at the time."

Weaver nodded and reached for the device. Lo and behold, it came apart just as the X-Com operative had said it would. Weaver stared at the glowing yellow core thing in her hand and then slowly set it on the floor. Her rifle and pistol joined it. Kerry slumped and then laid her pistol thing down beside Weaver's weapons.

"Don't resist."

Weaver held her hands out at her sides as alien forms approached slowly. Two snake creatures took hold of the weapons and quickly slid away with them. Another removed Kerry's armor and the disarmed device, but was oddly gentle doing so. A new form of Sectoid with a much larger head than normal came up and scanned Weaver but found nothing. It scanned Kerry and found nothing else on her. It nodded to both of them and stepped back.

You serve your Lady well. The Ethereal sounded a bit subdued.

"We do our best." Weaver said sadly. "It doesn't feel enough sometimes." The Lady was still crying in her mind and Weaver pulled Kerry close as the girl started to cry too. "What now?"

This is unprecedented. The alien said quietly. It has been millennia since a new Ethereal was born the way she was. This is both a time for great joy and for great sadness. We are dying, Agent Weaver. Weaver and Kerry both tensed, but none of the aliens around them seemed to react at all. The Sectoid was scanning Cooper and an Advent trooper was playing some kind of device over his head. His face relaxed in sleep. The Ethereal continued. This is not common knowledge and it will not be but your Lady deserves to know.

"We are here for Cooper." Weaver said quietly even as the Lady gasped in her mind.

You would have killed him to keep him from more pain. The Ethereal said sadly. You and this Kerry both. Neither of you would have survived and it did not matter. That kind of loyalty cannot be indoctrinated. It cannot be bought. It must be earned. We know our limits. Where do you wish to go?

"What?" Weaver asked, stunned.

This healer is a the child of an Ethereal. You both are... It paused and then spoke again. We believe the human word in English is 'retainer' not servant. You are not servants. You are neither paid nor constrained to serve. You choose to. That loyalty humbles us all.

"We cannot serve you." Weaver said flatly.

We are not asking you to. Was the Ethereal amused? All we ask is that you protect your Lady. This clandestine war will end one day. Whoever wins or loses, it will end. When that day comes, your Lady will be instrumental in rebuilding this shattered world and its broken people. As long as we do not nuke each other. This last was stern to Kerry who flushed.

"It was all I could find." Kerry said weakly. "They said it was out because of what happened at the base. The failsafe went off."

And a lot of people became very nervous. The Ethereal replied. We have already returned our own weapons of mass destruction to storage now that we know what happened. We have no intention of wiping out all life on this planet. It would be a colossal waste.

"We couldn't get at the failsafe to deactivate it. It was buried and trapped." Weaver offered. "I do apologize for the loss of life."

You were running from both us and X-Com. The Ethereal sounded sad again. The loss of life is regrettable, but the life of a soldier is one of risk.

"Indeed it is." Weaver agreed. "So… You are offering us transport?"

You will not trust us and we know better than to try and track you. The Ethereal replied. We might lead X-Com to the Lady and that would benefit no one. Not even them. So, we will drop you wherever you wish and leave you there as long as it is safe for you to stay. Weaver jerked and the Ethereal actually laughed. You really think we are going to take any chances with her son?

"No." Weaver chuckled as Kerry stared at her. "No, I guess not." She smiled.

"Tell me, how safe is Hawaii these days?"

Three hours later

Cooper woke from dreams of pain and fear to comfort. He didn't move, didn't dare breathe.

"We are safe." Weaver's voice sounded form nearby and Cooper cracked his eyes a little. What met them was astonishing. He was lying on something that was incredibly comfortable. Not a bed, a chair of some kind. And he was on another beach! This one was very different.

All around, he could see the remains of human buildings but none were within a kilometer. The beach he lay on was pristine, it looked as if no one had touched it for a long, long time. He stared around. He lay on an oddly, angled chair that sat underneath… was that a beach umbrella he was under? Weaver sat on similar chair nearby, her face shrouded by a long hat. Kerry sat nearby, her face closed as she idly dug in the sand with a stick.

"What happened?" Cooper asked, confused. The last he remembered, he had been a prisoner of the Elders. "Tell me you didn't kill people to rescue me."

"We didn't." Weaver smiled at him, but her eyes were on the water.

"Did anyone die?" Cooper asked carefully.

"Humans? Only the one who hurt you and Kristen." Weaver shrugged. "And he died way too quickly and easily." Cooper stared at her and her smile turned into a grin. "We negotiated. You know. Talking? Civilized beings do that, you know?"

"You negotiated." Cooper wasn't sure he believed the agent.

"Yeah." Weaver smiled wider but it did not reach her eyes. "Kerry was quite persuasive in her arguments." Why was Kerry flushing so badly? Cooper would ask her later..

"And the Elders?" Cooper asked, still confused.

"They say they have no interest in harming the Lady or fighting us when they have their hands full with X-Com." Weaver replied, her eyes going back to the water. "It might be a trap. Anything could be, but they do not want you harmed. They went to great lengths not to hurt you."

"They said I was the Lady's offspring, but I am not." Cooper said weakly.

"I don't know, Cooper. I don't think she does." Waver replied. "She does love you."

"I… I know." Cooper slumped a bit, his tension easing. "Where are we?"

"Hawaii. We are waiting for pickup." Weaver said quietly. "Our ride is scouting the area to be sure there are no surprises. I picked the first place that came to mind. I..." She slumped a bit. "I should have thought more."

"Weaver, are you all right?" Why was she staring out at a white building out on the water?

"No." Weaver said sadly. "My uncle was in the US Navy. He was stationed here. He was a mechanic." Cooper stared at her and then around. His eyes caught a sign that was half buried in the sand. He stared at the words, uncomprehending. '-earl Harbo- Nation- Historic Site.' He jerked as the words made sense. And Weaver had been alive at that time!

"Pearl Harbor." Cooper inhaled sharply as Weaver nodded. "Oh my god, Weaver!" She was crying quietly as he rose and walked to her side.

"He was so proud when he told us he had been assigned to a battleship. To the Arizona." Weaver was crying hard as Cooper knelt down and took her in his arms. "He was so nice to me and Petey. We were just little kids, rugrats, but he was nice to us. Then he was called back to duty."

"And he didn't get out." Cooper finished. Weaver shook her head. "Damn, Weaver. Call them! Get us out of here!"

"They have to be sure we are safe." Weaver said weakly as Cooper held her. "I didn't think it would hurt this much!"

"Did you grieve for him, Weaver?" She shook her head. "I see."

"I had to be strong even before the Bureau." Weaver said weakly. "For Uncle Jim. For mom, dad, Petey. Everyone was counting on me. I had to be strong. I never came to see." Cooper took hold of her head and turned it from the water until it faced him.

"You were strong." He said quietly. "You are strong." The Lady's sorrow filled him and her compassion made his heart ache as he held Weaver. "You are also not alone. You have a family again. We will be exasperating. Pig headed. Insufferable, more than likely on occasion. But we are your family."

He pulled her to her feet and spun her until she was standing beside him and both were looking at the white thing on the water.

"You needed to see. To say goodbye." Weaver nodded, unable to speak. "I was never a great student of history." Cooper said as he held Weaver. Kerry stepped up and joined the embrace. "But anyone who studied any history in the US learned about Pearl Harbor, if just the propaganda." Weaver was still crying, but she relaxed as Cooper and Kerry held her. "I remember the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His 'day that will live in Infamy' speech and his inaugural one. I always preferred the inaugural one. War may be Earth's true destiny, but we can find our own and his words will guide us."

A rumble sounded from overhead and one of the small angular ships appeared, hovering nearby It eased itself towards the sand and the doors opened, beckoning them to their future. He and Kerry led Weaver towards it while Weaver stared at the Arizona memorial. At her uncle's watery grave.

"'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.'"

Then they were gone.