Title: Between the Skitters and the Deep Black Sky

Author: Jedi Buttercup

Disclaimer: The words are mine; the worlds are not. I claim nothing but the plot.

Rating: PG.

Summary: Falling Skies. The hell of it is, it doesn't matter if the Skitter's telling the truth. 500 words.

Spoilers: Episode tag for 2.5, "Love and Other Acts of Courage".

Notes: Angsty episode tag. Because this show makes me achy in the cardiac region.

The hell of it is, it doesn't matter if the Skitter's telling the truth about its rebellion.

It literally doesn't matter. They're fucked either way Tom looks at it. And maybe that's the real reason for his indecision, for his balking at Dan's order to blow the thing away. They're fucked either way, but at least if the thing's still alive there's still two options to argue, still a chance to stave off the inevitable a little longer.

Because even if old One Eye is right, and some of the Skitters want to revolt against their Overlords? There's no way Dan's going for it. There's no way Anne's going for it, or Dai, or Maggie, or Hal, or the Berserkers-- maybe even especially the Berserkers, who spent far too long in Pope's pocket. They've lost too many at the hands of those six-legged monstrosities, and never seen so much as a hint of hesitation in their behavior, or remorse.

None of them are going to follow a Skitter into battle. They just won't. Can't. It's never going to happen.

And even if the Skitter is wrong... even if the offer it's hijacked Rick's mouth to offer is all a lie meant to distract them long enough for Death Squads to close in on the camp, too many other things it has to say aren't. It did let Tom leave alive, when all the other captives released from the ship were mowed down in that far-off field. And the humans do have inferior weapons, and an inadequate knowledge of the Overlords' equipment and tactics.

He's kept hope alive a long time, reminding people about the victories small forces have won against superior forces in the past. But the Second Mass has half the men and women now that they left Boston with. And only a fraction of the numbers they started out with when Tom and his boys first joined the Resistance. It's been eleven months since the alien invasion, and there's been no sign at all that their strategy-- of making the occupation too expensive to maintain-- is working even a little.

Not until now. Until a Skitter who'd tortured him turned up claiming to need their help.

But it's too little, too late... or maybe too soon, and too much.

It doesn't matter if the alien's telling him the truth or not. They're fucked.

He won't let on to the others; he'll take his lumps from Dan for disobeying, and try even harder to keep Ben from running off the deep end after Rick. He'll remind everyone there's supposed to be running water in Charleston, coax as much laughter from Anne as he can, and try to keep Matt from growing up too quick. He'll protect everyone as much as possible, even Dan, as long as they'll let him.

But when the consequences of today's choices come calling....

He'll never give up. That's all he can do.

Even though it's becoming increasingly clear it will never be enough.

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© 2012 Jedi Buttercup.