Maggie walked down the corridor, dreading the upcoming meeting with the others. Not because of what the meeting was about, she was wholeheartedly in support of the others plan to take the fight to the Visitors. No she was dreading facing HER again. Her being JT "HardCase" Shannon. Since the day she'd arrived JT had gone out of her way to make Maggie's life difficult. JT found faught with the way Maggie dressed, with the way she moved, the fact Maggie kept in shapes with aerobics instead of doing it the 'hard way' like JT and the others did, any and everything Maggie did or said was critized by JT.

And the part that drove Maggie nuts was JT's comments were said in a joking manne and Maggie couldn't say anything about them without seeming to be the bad guy. But Maggie honestly didn't know how much more she could take from JT before she said or did something she knew she'd regret.

Maggie still remembered the shock she'd received a few days earlier when Leary had asked her to go get Dane for him. She'd knocked on the door only to be shocked to her toes when JT answered the door wearing a pair of Dane's boxers and a smile.

"Can I help ya Mags?" JT had asked, her enjoyment at shocking Maggie evident not only in the twinkle in her eye but the smirk upon her face.

Maggie had stumbled an answer than hurried back to Leary, mortified at what she'd seen! She hadn't been shocked by the fact that JT and Dane were obviously sleeping together, not when she and Leary were doing the same thing, but more by the fact that JT didn't seem to have a shred of modisty. Which became more apparent when JT had walked into Leary's office wearing the same boxers she'd been wearing when Maggie had knocked on the door. JT had added a cut-off T-shirt, but she might as well have not bothered as it plunged so low you could see the swells of JTs breast and much to Maggie's surprise none of the guys had even blinked!

Maggie had tried to feel sympathy for the woman, from what Leary had told her JT had been especially close to Hawkins, the SEAL who'd been killed, and Curran, one of the missing SEALs. But Maggie's every attempt had been met with sarcasm, rebuffs, or worse, and JT had seemed to delight in pointing out Maggie's every blunder or fault. And to add insult to injury JT insisted in calling Maggie "Mags", which for some reason irritated the hell out of the taller woman.

Maggie's one ray of light during the past several days had been Leary. JT was not as bad when he was around for some reason and Maggie had taken to spending as much time as possible in his company. But she was getting tired of listening to discussions on what would be the best way to attack the Visitors, what weapons would be most effective, and attack strategies. She'd have to face JT soon and she wasn't looking forward to that, especially when Maggie was so unsure of what the results of such a face off would be.

But now was not the time, Maggie realized as she walked into the room, noting the smile Leary gave her, feeling it all the way to her heart. Her joy was short lived as JT looked up and spotted her a few seconds later.

"Well looky here boys, Michaelanglo's decided to join us finally. What kept ya Mags, clay still wet?" JT called out, making the others laugh. But Maggie seemed to be the only one to catch the underlying tones in her voice.

"Ha ha very funny Hard Case," Leary replied, as he turned back to the map behind him, "Ok people here's what we are going to do..."

Maggie sighed and settled down knowing that this was it, they would begin a battle that would bring about war.

The next day dawned bright and clear, the sun casting streaks of white amid deep purples, brilliant pinks, and lightening blue clouds. Maggie inhaled deeply as she walked out from the Tunnels, stretching her body as the bright sunlight hit her. She'd managed to 'borrow' some clothing on one of the excursions with Leary, and as she stretched she felt the soft cotton of the light blue T-shirt caress her skin, she was thankful to have gotten rid of those hideous outfits Leary had tried to insist she wear.

Letting her hands fall she reached down and pulled the T-shirt down before turning to find Leary watching her with a hungry look in his eyes, "Not now tiger," she whispered as she moved over and kissed him softly on the cheek and then moved away again before the others came out and started harrassing them.

Because of that, neither she nor Leary saw the man who stepped out from behind one of the huge cement pipes that litered the ground in front of the Tunnels until he spoke.

"Ok people that's enough of that," a gruff voice said mockingly.

Maggie gasped as she got a brief glimps of a stocky, not very handsome man standing next to a heavy set, heavily bearded man, then Leary was pushing her behind him and raising his gun.

Tari Donovan stood nervously pacing the small room she'd been locked in for what seemed to her like hours. Frightened out of her wits she nearly jumped out of her skin when the door slid open. A tall dark hair man with strong distinct features stood just in side the door. He pushed a button on the wall next to the door and it slid shut again with a quiet swoosh. His cold black eyes looked her up and down as a wicked grin crossed his lips.

Tari backed away until she felt the coolness of the wall at her back.

"My name is Thomas." The visitor spoke with a deep alien tone. "I'm here to prepare you for conversion."

Tari glanced at the white gun like instrument he held in his hand. Then back to the aliens' cold eyes that never moved from her.

"This won't hurt a bit." he said as he began to walk toward her.

Out of desperation and fear Tari bolted for the door in one last futile attempted to escape.

Thomas caught her as she burst past him spinning her around to face him he quickly secured both her arms behind her and held them with one hand. His alien strength having no trouble keeping her restrained despite her struggles as he pressed the object he had been holding against her neck.

Tari felt a sharp pin like sting as the instrument pressed against the side of her neck and she let go a small quiet whimper from the pain.

Thomas discarded the alien syringe on the floor.

"You should become more cooperative now." He hissed "The procol should begin taking effect at any moment." His eyes roamed over her face and down her neck to the v neckline of her cotton shirt. He ran his index finger over the smoothness of her neck to the top button of her shirt. All the while smiling in anticipation and curiosity of what he planned to reveal beneath the soft fabric.

In Taris frantic struggles to free her self the top three buttons had popped off unknowingly to her. Terror gripped her as her mind began to fog and she started to feel lightheaded. She fought to stay focussed and gain control. She felt Thomas hand slip slowly down the front of her shirt as he spoke seductively.

"I've herd human females can be very intoxicating sexually."

The sound of his voice began to sound distorted to Tari.

"I have always wanted to find out for my self." He whispered as his hand slipped further down her shirt.

"Noo" Tari murmured. Then suddenly as if only at that moment becoming aware of what was happening Tari struggled franticly. But in her weakened state she was no match for the alien that held her.

She could feel his breath against her neck as he leaned his face closer to her inhaling the scent of her hair.

Tari kept up her struggle until she let out a frenzied scream. "NOOO!" And yanked her self free of Thomas grip that had momentarily become laps as he became lost in his lustful anticipation.

Her equilibrium now becoming staggered Tari fell backwards onto the small bunk attached to the wall of her cell.

Before she could get to her feet Thomas was leaning against her his hands groping roughly at her. The delicate threads giving way with a rip as the front of her shirt tore the rest of the buttons snapping off easily. Terrified screams ripped from her throat as she continued to struggle.

Finally able to free one hand Tari lashed out at Thomas face clawing with every once of strength she could summon until she felt the blood trickle from the wound her finger nails had implanted. Horror and shocked masked her already fear laden features when she saw the blood run green.

So stunned she was unable to tear her fingers from the face of her attacker Tari kept ripping them down his face until to her horror the skin on the mans cheek gave way and came off in her hand. The screams that had ripped from her throat thus far seemed mild to the hysterical shriek that escaped her now.

TO BE CONTINUED....