From A Strange Land
     Seven O'Nine

                             A wee crossover (ST/EFC) until I overcome my writer's block.

                             ****

                             The ship swooped down through the skies, shielded from Taelon sensors.

                             Harry Burbank was sitting on his patio, sipping the last beer and staring up into the skies. With
                             a low grunt, he pushed himself off the chair and wandered over to the grill, flipping the last
                             two burgers onto a plate.

                             But as he looked back, a scream froze in his throat. A ship was hanging overhead, emitting an
                             odd purplish glow as it blotted out the stars.

                             Harry was used to seeing Taelon ships—D.C. had them dancing overhead almost every day.
                             But this wasn't graceful or quick—it was a huge dark mass with small winglike engines and an
                             underbelly that glowed brilliant purple. It roared dully above the sound of the TV inside the
                             house.

                             Harry dropped the spatula and staggered indoors. "Mary!" he bellowed, clutching at the
                             banister. "Mary, there's something outside."

                             Mary, tall and blond, going gray, ran down the stairs after her husband. But when they
                             reached the patio, the huge ship was gone.

                             ****

                             Over the Sahara desert, the ship swooped. Its attempts to be unnoticed failed as a Taelon
                             shuttle whizzed out of ID, firing its weapons in a deadly barrage.

                             The left engine began to spout smoke and flamed, and the alien ship fired a single blast at the
                             shuttle. It vanished in an explosion, sending bits of debris skittering over the dark hull.

                             The ship slowly began to descend into a wasteland that had no name. It rounded a rock face
                             and settled on the dusty ground. The door right above the glowing belly began to open into a
                             ramp.

                             ******

                             Da'an woke in the energy stream, disoriented for a moment. His mind was still reeling from
                             the odd, disjointed dreams he had been having... no more than blinding flashes of light and
                             energy. It looked like a rounded gap in the blackness of space, but he had no idea what it
                             was.

                             The dark skies were turning rosy in the east. Da'an waved away the window and closed his
                             eyes as a cool breeze wafted through the chamber. He sighed, then started.

                             Something bright was glowing amid the clouds, but it was not a Taelon shuttle. Few human
                             aircrafts were used, and he knew that they usually either emitted a vapor trail or made very
                             loud noises.

                             The bright object hovered for a moment, then streaked off into the distance.

                             ****

                             Liam was reading the newspaper when he arrived, humming tunelessly to himself. "Have you
                             seen the news today, Da'an?" he asked from behind his thin barricade.

                             Da'an frowned. "Has something happened?"

                             Liam folded the newspaper and tossed it onto his desk. "Several people in D.C. saw a UFO
                             hovering in the sky last night."

                             "UFO?" Da'an blinked.

                             "Unidentified Flying Object. In fact," Liam continued casually, "some people are theorizing that
                             it's of Taelon design. Maybe an experimental craft."

                             "What is its description?"

                             Liam frowned. "Larger than a shuttle but smaller than a jet, black except for a purplish
                             underside, vaguely insectile."

                             Da'an's eyes narrowed slightly. "I assure you, we have no crafts testing in Earth's vicinity."

                             Liam shrugged, apparently ignoring the brief tension. "Not certain what it could be, then." He
                             pulled out his global and sighed. "Sandoval wants me to investigate a vanished shuttle—they
                             haven't found any debris, but there was an odd energy signature."

                             "What kind?" Da'an asked sharply, tensing.

                             Liam smiled a little. "I think Sandoval would say if it were Jaridian. He sounded confused, like
                             he didn't know what it was."

                             "May I see it?" Da'an asked, holding out his hand. He stared at the readouts for a moment. "I
                             do not recognize this signature."

                             Liam frowned. "You don't have any idea?"

                             "None." Da'an handed back the global. "It is completely unfamiliar to me."

                             ****

                             "They must be here."

                             "You are certain?"

                             "They're here. I can practically smell them."

                             "It is not possible for your olfactory senses to detect body odor from this distance."

                             "Shut up. You know exactly what I mean. All we can do is try to stop them before they
                             destroy everything."

                             "Quite logical."

                             ****

                             When Sandoval arrived on the bridge, the first thing he saw was Zo'or, staring at his glowing
                             datastream. He did not acknowledge his protector's presence in the room, even when
                             Sandoval stepped behind him and cleared his throat loudly.

                             Taelon symbols were scrolling along the datastream at blinding speed. Sandoval frowned
                             slightly—it always irritated him that there was one language that Zo'or could hide things with.

                             After a few more moments, Sandoval said in a low voice, "Zo'or, you called for me?"

                             Zo'or sighed and waved away the datastream. "A shuttle is missing?" he asked shortly.

                             "Yes, and I-"

                             Zo'or cut the human short. "A Taelon sensor beacon has detected a peculiar ripple in what
                             humans refer to as 'space-time'—its origins are unknown."

                             Sandoval frowned. "You consider these to be connected?"

                             Zo'or glanced sideways at him. "Did I say such a thing, Agent Sandoval?"

                             "No, Zo'or."

                             The Taelon's bright blue eyes narrowed, making him look vaguely snakelike. "Then kindly do
                             not interpret my words unless you understand their full meaning. The last thing I would wish is
                             for you to undertake some action that I do not want."

                             "Yes, Zo'or."

                             Zo'or sat back in his chair, looking out at the starry skies. "You told me that you have
                             something to report."

                             Sandoval pulled out his global and began typing in commands. "A few hours ago, this was
                             captured on Taelon communication frequencies—something no one on Earth, save the Taelons,
                             should be capable of."

                             He watched Zo'or's slender body tense out of the corner of his eye. He touched the edge of his
                             screen, and a deep male voice spoke, uttering gutteral words that boomed through the bridge.

                             "We haven't been able to translate it," Sandoval continued, switching off the recording. "It
                             matches nothing in any of Earth's languages—there are no similarities."

                             Zo'or's pale face was slightly twisted. "It is not of Taelon origin... nor of Jaridian. I have never
                             heard it before."

                             Sandoval slapped shut his global, nodding curtly. "I'll do my best to discover the source,
                             Zo'or."

                             ****

                             Da'an leaned against the edge of his window, examining the readouts that Sandoval had given
                             him, then activating the soundfile. He grimaced at the outpouring of harsh words—it sounded
                             vaguely Jaridian, but more abrupt. And the words had no resemblance to Taelon.

                             He set down the readout and glanced down at the street below. If the Taelons had never
                             encountered this species... he did not wish to meet them now.

                             ******

                             Da'an jerked back to the present as an alarm shrilled—something or someone had infiltrated
                             the secure levels of the Embassy.

                             There was a clatter as Liam burst into his office, staring around himself. "What happened?"

                             Da'an waved up a datastream, but somehow the image was rippling and sparking, as if it were
                             being disrupted.

                             Liam cursed and ran out of the room. His palms itched with his now-dormant shakarava—a
                             sure sign that something terrible was ahead.

                             ****

                             Down in the Embassy's lowest levels, it was always dark and humid from the steam that
                             poured from the pipes.

                             Liam's skin had broken into a misty sweat as he walked slowly around the perimeter, covered
                             in shadows. A bright light was shining at the end of the room, over a catwalk.

                             Perhaps it was only a mistake, he thought unhappily. Maybe the sensors need to be-

                             And then he saw something that chilled his blood. A huge, hulking figure appeared at the
                             doorway, silhouetted by the bright lights, its features too indistinct to tell what it was. A
                             replicant? No, Liam thought, it moved too smoothly to be a replicant... and there had been no
                             reports of any probes landing on Earth.

                             He moved back into a tiny alcove between the water pipes, watching as the figure slowly
                             moved through the room. There was a shimmer in the air, and it vanished.

                             Liam froze. A cold prickle ran down his spine as he slowly moved out, staring along the
                             passage. Nothing.

                             Had he imagined it?

                             ****

                             Across the street, standing in the window of a small bagel shop, a young woman wearing a
                             black pantsuit and leather jacket grimaced and quickly shut a scanning device.

                             "They're there," she whispered. "One of them just shrouded himself—at this distance I can't
                             locate him."

                             Sitting at a nearby table, a sallow-faced man was watching her with a kind of amused
                             indulgence. He wore clothes similar to hers, but with a thick woollen cap pulled low around his
                             head. "Do you believe that the Taelons have located him?"

                             The woman sighed. "I don't see how they can have missed him, Sodek."

                             Sodek carefully pushed the remaining bagels into a paper bag, folded the top, and studied his
                             reflection in the shop window. "I believe that I make a passable human of this era," he said
                             with some satisfaction.

                             Robin sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I didn't want to tell you this, Sodek, but you don't talk
                             like a human of this era."

                             "Should I attempt to utter some human profanities?"

                             "No, sir. That would be horrible."

                             Sodek raised one long eyebrow. "As you say. Should I take the bagels?"

                             Robin stared at him for a moment, then flashed a wide, dazzling smile. "Even us officers on a
                             dangerous, deadly, probably-suicide mission need to eat."

 WIP