PART THREE (CHAPTER NINE) by Meg Torske&Camilla Sandman
Marcus was pacing the floor, from one Minbari bed to another and back again. He was in the «bedroom» in one of the White Stars, and he was annoyed. Nothing was going according to plan. Instead of smoking out the spies, one of the captains was dead. Instead of impressing Susan, she was more angry with him than ever. And Captain Sheridan and Delenn were still missing. Surely nothing more could go wrong. . .
He had just finished the thought when something hit him in the head and everything turned black.
********************
G`Kar was humming while he crossed numbers of his list. This was actually more fun than he had imagined. So far he had come as far as number #31, and the President of the Earth Alliance was running like a scared puppet. He had seemed terrified when G`Kar had tried to put him in a freezer, but the best one so far had been number # 23: «Play baseball - with him as the ball». The Narn ambassador had never tried baseball before, put he had found it most exciting. So had Clark, though in a bit different manner. What a woman! The Commander had more imagination then he had believed, and he briefly wondered if she would make him a list of «100 delightfully bloody ways of assasinating Ambassador Mollari». That would have been really exciting to try. Well, back to work. He had many numbers left to cross off his list. Security was very tight around the President now, after G'Kar's resent attempts to play baseball with him. Luckily, Clark's trip was still kept as a secret. Officially, he wasn't on the station, and thus he could only use the security guards he had brought with him from Earth. They were well trained, but they didn't know Babylon 5 the way he did. In addition to that, G'Kar had let the President think that his name was S'Lhjen, and some brief changes in appearance had made sure that the President would never recognize him or, at least, be able to indentify him. All of this was, of course, Ivanova's idea. She had to give him some cover, knowing that Clark would force the command staff on the station to arrest G'Kar if Clark could prove that he was behind it. They were fighting in the dark, G'Kar had every advantage. He couldn`t help but laugh as he saw number #32: «Take him on a sightseeing trip - to Z`ha`dum». This one could definitely be fun!
***********************
«Today the shoking news of the deaths of former Captain John Sheridan and Minbari Ambassador Delenn hit us here at the ISN center in Geneva. Captain Sheridan, the renegade leader of Babylon 5 was spending the night with his lover, Ambassador Delenn, when a bomb was triggered off. Our experts at Babylon 5 say it is unlikely that anyone survived the blast. Members of EarthDome have no official comment to this shocking news, but some leading members have made it clear they think he had it coming.
In other news, the revelation that Captain Sheridan had an alien lover has offered some new aspects to his break with Earth...»
Furious, Zack turned ISN off. Journalists! Scum of the galaxy ! But what if...? Smiling, Zack suddenly realized how he could use ISN for the good of Babylon 5.
***********************
The room was darker than ever as Sheridan used his hands to search the walls, looking for the door. He finally found it, a hollow in the wall.
«Delenn!» he called softly, and he could hear her move toward him from the wall she had been checking.
«I found the door. Now what?» She didn`t answer right away, instead she felt along the lines of the door. And, with a small creak, it opened.
«It wasn`t locked!» They both stared at each other, not believing it. The door was half-open, letting in a crack of light. But enough to see the conditions they were in. Both had their clothes torn, hair untidy and were full of bruises. Delenn had also a cut on her forhead, and blood in her face. Gently, Sheridan used part of his shirt to remove it, caressing her face as he did it.
«It is alright, John,» she told him.
«Let us get out of here. By the way, you are pretty handy yourself.» It made him smile, but as they both climbed out of the small door, the security guard pointing a gun at them made his smile vanish.
The guard, a young female, was shaking, but the gun was nevertheless pointed directly at them. She seemed to be debating whether she should shoot right away, or wait for backup. Sheridan put his arms slowly around Delenn, not wanting to provoke the guard in any way. Probably one of Clark`s guards, so she didn`t need any reasons to shoot.
«I wondered how long it would take you.» Her voice was that of a little girl, and she couldn`t be very old. Delenn was looking at her in a funny way, Sheridan noticed. Almost motherlike, caring, worried, compassionate. A quality in her he really loved.
«You left the door open. Why?» Sheridan was surprised to hear the words come out of his own mouth, but as soon as he had said it, he knew it had to be that way.
The girl looked a bit uncomfortable, but didn`t lower her gun.
«Maybe I think he was wrong. Maybe I like you. Maybe... he made me lose someone I care for. It doesn`t matter. I have cleared a shuttle for you, just get to the shuttlebay. Go! Leave now!» As she spoke, she put the gun down. Delenn couldn`t help put her hand on the girl's shoulder as they passed her, trying to tell her what it meant for them.
«Thank you.»
************************
Ivanova was annoyed. Awfully annoyed. The stupid ranger couldn`t keep his head out of a trouble for a single day! Now he was gone. Vanished into thin air. On any other day she wouldn`t have cared, at least not until he had been gone for at least a week, but now things were a little different. Another problem to solve, and things were complicated enough as it was. Kath was dead, and it seemed like too much of a coincidence.
«Any idea what happened to him?» she asked one of the human rangers, Levison , and he shook his head. He was quite goodlooking actually, and seemed slightly familiar. She couldn`t really place him, but she had meet him before. But as far as she knew, he was one of the newest rangers, a survivor of an attack on a ranger training center a few month ago. The only survivor they had found so far. The Shadows had been quite. . . thorough.
«No. Totally vanished. I couldn`t see any signs of Marcus when I looked for him.»
«That`s just great. When I get my hands on that... Nevermind. How`s the crew reacting to the news of Sheridan and Delenn's deaths?» He suddenly seemed uncomfortable.
«They are devasted, of course. But. . . Are you sure they are dead?»
«Yeah, his whole room was like a small piece of Hell. . . » She stopped in the middle of the sentence. Black. Black. . . Black uniform. She knew where she had seen him before.
«I just thought maybe they had been. . . I don`t know. . . Taken somewhere. Are you sure they are dead, Commander? Commander?»
**********************
For the first time in his life Clark was so scared he could barely move. After having hundreds of rats coming through the ventilator, poured gaselin at, almost poisoned and almost killed in other sick ways, he couldn`t think. Captain Sheridan and Delenn were supposed to be his prisoners, instead they were dead with him as the prime suspect. An insane alien tried to kill him. And he couldn't do anything to punish the Narn because officially, Clark wasn't here, and the station personell didn't know where the Narn was. Try his quarters, they had said, and only shrugged their shoulders when the President had tried to tell them that S'Lhjen wasn't in his quarters, in fact he didn't even know where his quarters were. Try Down Below, the security guard he had talked to had said. Everywhere, there was a wall of silence. He couldn`t leave Babylon 5 since his ship had been blown up and he couldn`t get a hold of his Pci Corp spy in the White Star fleet. God, he had to think! There had to be a way to turn all this his way. But all he could think of was that damn alien and his bat.
«Sir. . .» One of his guards approached him, carrying a note.
«This was delivered for you.» Hands shaking, Clark opened it.
«Narnic Intergalactic Travels welcome you to our Around-The-Galaxy-InterGalactic Sightseeing. Today our destination is Z`ha`dum, the homeworld of the Shadows. We ask all passengers to have their life insurances in order just in case. Z`ha`dum is one of the oldest homeworlds and is said to....».
The President of the Earth Allience made a funny sound when his head hit the floor. And for the first time, the guards saw a president faint.
****************************
Delenn was holding his hand firmly as they continued sneaking down the hallway, trying to avoid any of the crew. They were on one of the Earth ships loyal to Clark, probably not a very big ship. Or so Sheridan believed. He couldn`t be sure since they were in the cargobays, but based on the sound from the reactor, he guessed it to be of medium size.
«John, is that the shuttlebay?» He looked the way she pointed, and lifted her up as he realized she was right.
«John, what are you doing? I can walk by myself!»
«I know,» he answered, grinning at her, without letting her go.
The shuttle was open, ready to entery and there were no guards in sight. The girl obviously wanted them to escape, but how she had done it was a mystery. They both owed her their life, but he had no idea how to repay her ever. He briefly wondered why she had done it, but whatever the reason, he owed her something far more valuable then his own life. Delenn`s life, his bride-to-be. The thought made him warm inside.
As they entered the shuttle, he let Delenn go only to let her be quite thoroughly kissed.
«Do you mind releasing me before you start that, you lovebirds?»
Startled, they turned to see a tied Marcus sitting in one of the chairs. The most shoking thing however, was that the ranger was completly naked. Delenn, obviously a bit embarrassed, hid her face against Sheridan's chest. He had problems not laughing even though he knew that would be mean to the ranger. The whole thing was just so. . . Marcus, trying to look very dignified in a very. . . Exposing position.
«Marcus, what are you. . .» He didn`t finish the sentence, realizing Delenn was laughing and trying to choke her laughter in his chest.
«I am trying to save you, what did you think?» Marcus tried to say it as calmly as he could, as if it was obvious what he was doing, naked and all tied up.
«Well, it looks more like we are saving you to me,» Sheridan said, no longer able to control his laughter so he hid his face in Delenn's hair, trying to make it look like he was comforting her.
«Would you mind untie me before you start that again?»
The girl was watching the shuttle leave, knowing she would be in trouble for this. But it was worth it, anything was worth getting back at Clark for what he had done to her family on Mars. They hadn`t done anything wrong, they had just been there, on vacation. She would have been there too, only she was recalled to Earth because of the crisis. She was young, but her life was already over.
«Drop the gun now, you traitor!»
«You are too late.» She smiled as she turned to the arriving guards, her gun aiming at them.
The PPG shots lifted her up and threw her toward the wall. Her final thought was a silent telepathic message to the escaping couple, even though she knew they couldn't possibly hear her:
«Please make it. You are not safe yet.»
(CHAPTER TEN)
. . .She was in a room - on Earth - she knew it, instinctively, even though the room was dark, and she couldn't see anything. She could hear voices from the living room. Her father shouting something. He sounded tired and angry. Scared. Her mother crying. The little girl knew that her mother had been crying a lot lately. She could suddenly start crying if she lost a glass while making food, and it broke, a thousand small shining stars all over the floor.
It was their fault. The persons with the black suits and their small, white pills. She had stolen some of them once, to find out what they tasted like. They looked a bit like candy. She had felt so - strange afterwards. Then she didn't remember anything until she woke up at the hospital, three days later. She would never taste her mother's pills again, even if she had managed to find out where her mother kept them. They were hidden in a place where little girls couldn't find of them.
One of them was here now. Tonight. She could hear his voice, arguing with her father. His voice was hard, cold. She could hear that he wasn't angry, but she knew that he was the reason why her father was scared and her mother cried. She didn't like it when her mother cried. Mommys shouldn't cry, they were supposed to comfort their children when they cried instead, make the bad things go away. She jumped out of her bed, felt the cold floor under her bare feet. The room was slightly chilly, she could feel the cold air through her cotton night gawn.
"Mommy, please don't cry !" She ran towards her mother, she was sitting on a chair, her face hidden in her hands. She looked up, her eyes were red and shiny.
"Susan !" The little girl tried to wipe away her mother's tears, hugging her, trying to protect her from the bad, bad man - the same man who was now looking at her with a strange look in his eyes. It was almost like he was looking at her, but at he same time he was looking *through* her. . . He tried to stroke her cheek, touch the fair child skin with his big, smooth hands. He had taken off his gloves now.
Her mother's hand was like a hand of iron around his wrist, her eyes suddenly full of anger instead of tears.
"Don't touch her," she said, her voice was calm yet it seemed as if she had shouted.
"Just get out of here."
The man nodded, but Susan didn't like the way he was looking at her. His green eyes met her brown ones for a second, then he turned around and walked out the door. He disappeared into the night, and she never saw him again.
*********************
Sheridan, Delenn and Marcus were all cramped together in the small shuttle, trying to keep the thing from falling apart. The young girl who they knew nothing about had saved their lives, and neither of them felt very comfortable thinking about what would happen to her if her superiors found out what she had done.
"Maybe she really *did* try to kill us - by sending us out into space in this useless can," Marcus said. He felt a bit more comfortable now, wearing John's shirt and a pair of Earth Force uniform pants they had found in the shuttle. John's shirt was torn and bloody, and the pants had been abandoned for a reason, judging by the smell - but at least he was dressed. He still didn't manage to look Delenn straight in her eyes, he was still a bit embarrassed. She was Enthil-Zha, his boss - and a woman. Delenn tried to avoid looking at him as well, out of fear that she'd start laughing again. So she looked at the controls of the shuttle instead, trying to figure out how the old-fashioned instruments worked. She had never seen anything like them at all, and she definitely didn't like the the sight of four red lamps flashing at once, not to mention the coughing sounds coming from the engines, while Marcus tried to find out what was wrong. She gently put her hands on Sheridan's bare shoulders, feeling the warmth of his skin, allowing herself a short, sweet moment of pleasure.
"They must've registered that we left the ship," she said, she was so close that he could feel her warm breath in his ear, her voice seemed to vibrate through his entire body.
"Why aren't they coming after us ?"
Sheridan just shook his head.
"I don't know. It doesn't make any sense. . ."
"Take a look at this." Marcus' voice interrupted them. He had gone to the back of the shuttle, trying to find the source of at least some of the suspicious sounds, but instead he had found something else. Delenn followed his gaze, and saw a small machine partly hidden behind lots of wires. The hidden emergency control panel, a standard equipment on shuttles of this ancient model.
"What is it ?" Sheridan asked, he didn't dare to take his eyes off the controls even for a second, his attention focused on trying to hold the shuttle together.
"I haven't actually seen a device like this before, but I've heard of them," Marcus explained.
"They are strictly illegal in every part of the galaxy. This explains why the girl prepared this shuttle for us. I suppose she couldn't smuggle it onto any of the other shuttles, but this one was ready for dumping, nobody used it, so she. . ."
"Yeah, but what *is* it ?" Sheridan snapped at him.
"It's a Blocker. It's blocking any scanner trying to detect us."
Sheridan leaned back in the uncomfortable chair for a second, his eyes starting to glow as he realised what this actually meant.
"You're saying. . ."
"We're 'invisible'. As long as we don't get into visual range, we can go wherever we want - undetected."
(CHAPTER ELEVEN)
Zack was pacing the floor, feeling content with himself. Very content. The Captain would definitely thank him when he got back. . . if he got back. The sudden realization that Sheridan and ambassador Delenn still were prisoners put a lid on some of his excitement.
«President Clark..», he began, pausing to see the man who avoided looking at him.
«You came here to accuse one of our best allies, the Narn ambassador, for attempted murder?»
Clark licked his lips, trying to look in charge. He miserably failed.
«If this is true, why didn`t you come to us as soon as this happened?» Clark`s laughter sounded forced.
«Well, you know, I thought my guards could handle it. But they haven`t found him. . . .» Zack gave him one of his «I-am-only-smiling-to-make-you-uncomfortable» smiles, and couldn`t help holding back a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
«So now you come to us.»
«Yes, you have to find this evil S'lhjen ! Just a few hours ago he tried to lock me in a room and sing for me! It was horrible! I have never heard such an awful sound in all my life! You have to stop S'Lhjen ! My men have searched for the name everywhere and found nothing!» Zack found it hard to stay serious.
«S'Lhjen , mr President?»
«Yes!» Turning away to avoid looking Clark in the eyes, Zack went toward the computer.
«Computer, search all files for the Narn S'Lhjen.»
«Stand by.» This was great, Zack realized. The President was trapped in his own net. This was better than he had hoped for, much, much better.
«There is no mention of the name S'Lhjen in any of the computer files."
«But that can`t be, he...»
"Sir, did you say that this S'Lhjen was the Narn Ambassador to Babylon 5 ?"
"Yes ?"
"I'm afraid someone has been playing games with you, mr President. The Narn Ambassador's name is G'Kar." He gave the computer order to search for a photo of the Narn ambassador, and it quickly appeared on the screen.
"Does this look like the person you claim to have been attacked by ?"
"No, but. . ."
Zack could barely keep up his appearances, this was just too insane. "Then I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for you, mr President. You have clearly been tricked. If this S'Lhjen actually exists, then he must be one of the illegal "immigrants" in Down Below. We don't have the resources to start searching Down Below for someone who might not even exist. I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do.
Zack had long since realized who was behind all this. G'Kar was playing games with Clark, and something told him that Susan had something to do with it. She had mentioned something about it just before she left for the White Star fleet. He suddenly got an idea. . .
"Computer, search for translation of the Narn phrase 'S'Lhjen' ".
"Prosessing, please stand by." There was a brief moment of silence.
"Asshole." The computer's voice was, like always, very calm and impersonal. Zack had to force himself from laughing. His voice was dead serious as he said:
«Anything else I can do for you, *president* Clark?»
«Get me on the first shuttle out of here!» Zack intended to do that. The first shuttle out of there was, accidently of course, the same one as all the reporters were on. The President would have a lot of hard questions to answer. . . Zack grinned. The media would have more important things to worry about than B5 for a few weeks. . . Which would give them enough time to sort things out and get the Minbari ships back.
*********************
Delenn tried to close her eyes for a moment. She didn`t want to look at Marcus, that would only make her laugh, she didn`t want to look at the shuttle instruments either, that would make her sure they would crash, and she certainly didn`t want to look at John right now, stripped to the waist as he was, that would distract her too much. Which again could distract John, and right now he needed to consentrate on not crashing this pile of junk.
But all she could see with her eyes closed, was that sweet girl. . . Hastily, she opened her eyes, and tried studying the shuttle instead. It didn`t make her feel particularly safe, and she couldn`t help wishing she had her own Minbari shuttle right now. Still, it would. . . Her eyes suddenly came to rest on something, something glassy placed on console. She reached out to pick it up, its form was well-known to her.
A data crystal.
«What is it, Delenn?» John kept his eyes on the controls, but still managed to make her feel like all his attention was on her. Marcus simply kept on staring at the instruments, willing himself to look completly dignified, like things like this happened to him on a regular basis.
«It is a data crystal», she said quietly.
«Can you find out what`s on it?»
Her eyes wandered through the shuttlecraft again. There.
*********************
Ivanova tried to get a hold of herself. The memories had suddenly washed over her, memories too painful to think of. That`s why it had taken her so long to recognize him. She had tried to hide the memories in the darkest and most hidden corner of her mind. But now she knew. And he was going to pay!
«Commander, is everything OK?» She turned to him, feeling the hatred flow in her. Pci Corps spies! How many of them were there? She would find them all and take them down. Let them pay for what they did to her mother. . . and Talia.
«Commander?»
«Yes.» She let the cold hatred be reflected in her voice, she could see him widen his eyes. And suddenly she could feel someone trying to enter her mind. He was trying to scan her, the bastard!
***********************
Delenn was feeling sick. The contents of the data crystal made her stomach turn in disgust. There were no minbari spies in the White Satr fleet, only telepaths. Powerful telepaths, modified to be capable of creating telepathic illusions. Like. . . a human looking like a Minbari, or fake orders recalling the Minbari ships from Babylon 5`s defense. Telepaths able to jam the sendings, telepaths sendt by President Clark of the Earth Alliance. She had to admit he had been smart, though. He had blown up one of the Training Facilities of the Rangers, and sent out his telepaths as the survivors. With no one alive to tell what really happened, they had easily slipped into the fleet. But not anymore. She was going to end it, as soon as she was back on B5. Because on the data crystal were all of their names, their ranks in the fleet and how strong they were. She sendt a silent thanks to the unknown girl, she had given them more than she would ever know. She was probably dead now. . . The thought made Delenn shiver, she treasured life more than anything. That was a lesson she'd had to learn the hard way.
She suddenly felt Johns hand on her shoulder, comforting her. As always he realized why she was sad, and was letting her know he was there. Putting her own hand on his, she could feel the mutual love between them like a thick bond tieing them together.
«John.» The last entry on the data crystal made her gasp for air.
«They plan to attack the White Star fleet in a few hours! With those telepaths on board they will take over the main ships and the Earth ships will destroy the rest. John, we...» She didn`t finish the sentence, didn`t have to.
«Hang on,» Sheridan said in a tight voice, «this will be a bumpy ride.»
PART FOUR
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