Lessons Learned
by Shaule Sachs
Part 1

>cat std_disclaimer.h
	The characters in this story that are familiar belong to other
companies. The character of "Zaxxon Hunter" belong solely to me and
cannot be used without permission from me. Original characters have
been added in order to fill out the story. This story is written 
and copyrighted for the sole reason of the writer's enjoyment.
Permission is given to the archiving of this story. Alternations 
are prohibitted. 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

[Park outside of Seacouver, Washington, USA
Before "Chivalry "
4:45 am, September 5, 1996]

	The park in the early morning was empty. THe park's only inhabits
were the squrrels and otehr park creatures. Very few people came here 
in the morning, most came in the afternoon to relax, have a picnic, 
or just get out of the city. Today was a typical day for the park and 
its denizens, up until now.
	There was a dark fog moving into the park. If a person had seen
it, they would have noticed a number of things about the fog. The
first was, it came from nowhere. Second, it was moving against the wind
as the fog came into the park while the wind blow out. Thirdly, the
fog did not dissipate, like a normal fog did. Instead it taked lumped
together. Finally, there were three figures in the fog.
	The first of the three to emerge from the fog was a man. The man 
had strawberry hair with a touch of gray in his temples and was less 
than six feet tall. He stood looking around his surroundings with a 
practiced eye. No detail escaped the blue eyes of the man. The black 
pants seemed to fade into the still darken morning, while the red top 
of the outfit did not blend in as well as the black. It, too, was not 
obvious to the eye. On the man's right hip was some type of silver 
box in a odd-looking holder while on his left hip was a handle to 
something.  It, too, was in a rectangular-shaped holder. The arrow-shape 
emblem on the man's chest, reflected a small amount of light as the 
man moved around. Five pins in a row stood out on the man's right 
collar. They too, like the emblem on the chest, reflected the light.  
The man motioned for his two companions to join him. The next to emerge 
from the fog was a woman, who was wearing a similar outfit to
the man, except where he had red, she had yellow. Just as the man's red
complemented his strawberry hair, the woman's yellow seem to fit her
blonde hair. She was but four inches shorter than the man. Despite the
gray temples of the man, the woman appeared older, until you looked
into the man's eyes, than it was obvious that the man was far older
than the woman. Her blue eyes seemed duller than the man's. She too
locked around in a similar manner that the man had used, but with less
confidence and less understanding of what she was looking at. Like the
man, she too had the silver box and the broom-handle at her sides.
Unlike the man, however, she took the silver box out of its holder,
unfolded the lower top part, and began to walk away slightly while 
turning completely around. The man frowned at her but said nothing. 
His attention was on the third companion.
	The man re-entered the fog and helped the third out. The third
was a man like the first but dressed with the yellow top of the woman.
Where the woman had three full pins on her collar, the second man had
only two whole pins and a hollow pin. Unlike his companions, the third
person to step out of the fog had golden skin. It was the color like
gold and not like a tan that the other two had. His eyes were the same
gold color as his skin. The golden eyes seems to be staring at nothing 
until a moment passed and then rested on the other man. The man looked 
at his companion for a moment and asked, "Better?"
	The golden man blinked his eyes a few times and replied, "Yes,
Commodore."
	The one addressed as 'Commodore' simply nodded his head, looked 
towards the woman and asked in a voice that knew the answer, "Get
anything?"
	The woman stopped what she was doing, looked down at the silver
object, and looked at the Commodore saying, "No. Only the /park's/ 
plant life is in range."
	The Commodore simply shook his head, put out his silver object,
and handed it to the golden man saying, "Here, Data, you and Jo Ann,
take my tricorder and see if, along with yours, you can find something
useful while I go into town and get some stuff to make us less
conspicuous."
	Data, the golden man, simply nodded his head while accepting the
Commodore's tricorder, unfolded it, and held it up against his own.
	"But..." Jo Ann began.
	"I know the area better than you, I've done something similar
before, and I'm the ranking officer here," the Commodore answered the
unspoken question. The first two sentences were spoken seriously, 
while the last
was said in a humorous tone.
	"Right," Jo Ann said sadly.
	"I'll be back before noon," the Commodore said before leaving.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

[Joe's Bar
8:45 pm, September 4, 1996]

	"Pull up a chair," Joe Dawson said to his guest, "And join us."
Joe and some of the other local Watchers were sitting around one of
the larger round tables with an obvious card game going.
	The guest was six feet and had white hair. The white hair was
natural, not due to old age, and at odds with his dirt-brown eyes. He
easily pulled the chair facing away from the door out and sat down.
	Joe threw some gambling chips and said to the group, "Meet Doctor 
Zaxxon Hunter, head of the Origins Project. Zax, these are the
locals." Pointing to the person on his right and going around Joe
pointed and named each Watcher present to Zax. First was Mike Barrett,
who bartended for Joe. Next was Charles and Mary Smith, who were
unassigned at the moment. Both were fortyish and thinking about
retiring. While young John Xing was just out of college learning the
ropes. Everyone said 'hi' to Zax.
	Joe, who was dealing, added Zax to the game after the current
hand was played. After playing for half an hour, the pile of chips in
front of Zax grew to be slightly more than in front of the others.
	"Either step in or step out. Regardless, close the door," Zax said
suddenly. Everyone, but Zax, looked up as a person entered the closed
bar.
	"You're fifteen minutes early, Tom," Joe said after the stranger
entered the bar.
	Tom handed over a bunch of reports to Joe and said, "Here they
are. Who's he?" Tom points to Zax.
	"Thomas Johnson, this is Zax Hunter, Origins Project," Joe
answered.
	"Nice to meet you, Thomas," Zax said and they shook hands.
	"Call me Tom," Tom replied. "Origins Project? Sounds
interesting."
	"It's just speculation at this point," Zax said, "Basically, we
try to backtrack an Immortal as far back as we can. The newer
Immortals are easier but still a mystery."
	"Can I transfer?" Tom asked Joe.
	Before Joe could answer, Zax replied, "At the moment, we've got
the same priority as the Methos Project has. Which is to say, very
little. If there's an opening, we'll see."
	"Thanks," Tom said cheerfully as he left.

	After Tom left, the game resumed with the normal chit-chat.
Charles enjoyed telling stories of the previous Immortals he had
watched with Mary adding some details when young John was confused.
The game took second play to the war stories Charles, Mary, and Joe
told.
	It was close to eleven when Zax said again, "Either in or out,
regardless close the door. There's a draft."
	"Sorry," said the voice.
	Charles and Mary's head both came up at the same time. John
looked to the others, not understanding. Mike and Joe, both wore
frowns on their faces. Zax merely placed his cards down and started to
sort and stack the chips in front of him.
	"What can I do for you, Mac?" Joe asked quietly.
	Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod smiled as he looked at John,
who tried to become one with his chair, turned back to Joe and said,
"I'm going to be in Toronto for a couple of days, possibly longer, and
I thought you, being *my* Watcher, would like to come with me instead
of wasting gas by following me."
	Charles, Mary, and John's eyes widened to the point that their
pupils were lost. Mike just shook his head. Zax turned to Joe and
said, "Go on, I'll help Mike close up."
	Joe thought a moment and said, "Sure. Let me get my coat. You'll 
tell me why you're going there, right?"
	"Sure," Duncan said. "On the way. I want to be there before
dawn. Jackson does not like to be kept waiting."
	"Right," Dawson replied.

	"Of all the nerve!" Mary said after Duncan and Dawson left.
	"I don't know... Sounds practical to me," Charles said to his
wife.
	"Hmm," was all Mary replied.
	"Can we continue the game?" Zax asked everyone.
	"But we lost a player!" exclaimed John.
	Zax shrugged and said, "Happens."
	Zax took over the dealings and handed out the cards. Mike placed
Joe's chips to the side, out of the way of the game.
	"Close the door already, kid, you're letting the cold air in,"
Zax said.
	"Sorry," the kid replied. "Am I late?"
	"No, kid," Zaxxon said with a smile. "Always room for more. This 
is Adam Pierson." Indicating Adam as he continued, "He's the
researcher on the Methos Project." 
	"Pierson? Pierson.... I remember that name," Charles said.
"You're the fool who made that disk thingy that Kalas took."
	"Which was destroyed," Adam shoot back.
	"Technology! Who needs it," Charles shouted.
	"Don't mind my husband, Mister Pierson. I, for one, enjoy and
appreciate what you've done for us. The WatchNet makes it easy to
communicate and pass information to other Watchers all over the World.
All that, plus you're work on the legendary 'Methos.' You sure are a
busybody," Mary said.
	Adam smiled and said, "Thank you...."
	"Mary Smith, and this is my husband, Charles," Mary supplied.
"We're a team. Currently between assignments, after our poor, dear
Diko left her head. All she wanted to be was a teacher but the Game 
caught up with her."
	"That 'poor, dear' Diko was over two thousand years old and 
took, at least, a hundred heads in that time," Charles said.
	"Let's just continue the *card* game, shall we," Adam said.

	"Call," John said as the game continued.
	"I'll see you and raise you twenty," Adam said.
	"How long have you known Adam, Zax?" Mary asked.
	Adam looked startled, not to many people thought of him except as
'Adam Pierson,' young college student. He looked at Zax to see how he
answered the question.
	"All of his life," Zax answered evenly, "I was his second
reference for joining."
	"Oh?" Mary said, "You knew Mr. Pierson's parents?"
	"Yes, as a matter of fact," Zax answered. "Wonderful couple. It
was a shame that Mrs. Pierson died in childbirth."
	"Oh? I'm sorry," Mary said to Adam.
	"It's okay," Adam said, "It was a long time ago." // A really
long time ago. //	
	"You're father?" Mary inquired.
	"He's dead. Dead of a heart attack, nine years ago," Adam
replied. "Let's stop talking about the Past and continue with the
game."

	"I got it, Mike, you can go home now," Zax said.
	"I'll help with the rest," Adam said.
	"Okay. It's been a long day for me," Mike said before he left.
	Adam went and locked the front door after Mike. When he came
back, he asked Zax, "Did you really know *my* parents?"
	Zax looked hurt and said, "Yes, I said I knew *your* parents, kid. 
As I said, they were a wonderful couple. You take after your mother, you
know, kid."
	"No, I wouldn't know," Adam returned. "How many millenniums do I
have to survive before you stop calling me a 'kid?'"

[=== End of Part 1 ===]

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