Title: Fragments of the Past: Fragment 1

Author: JadeHeart

Located/Archived: UK TV- Past & Present. If anyone would like it, please ask me first!

Creation Date: 1997

Fandom: Blakes 7

Rating: M

Warnings: mild thoughts on violence/death

Spoilers/Timeline: Post Blakes 7 TV series (approx 15-20 years after)

Original Characters: The characters of Kerran, Veril, Calan, Zev and Regin are mine.

Summary: The sins of the father can carry on.

Author's Notes: This is merely some thoughts about what could have been after the final of Blake's 7.

Disclaimer: I do not own the idea/outline of Blake's 7, this belongs to the original creators, nor am I making any profits from this.

FRAGMENT 1

The girl's sharp eyes flashed as she paced restlessly across the room. She stopped suddenly and spun around, the movement catching the man unawares for all that he had been watching her closely.

"Ten years!" she snapped. "We've been on the run for more than ten years!"

The man said nothing, but waited.

After a moment she sighed and sat down at the table opposite him. She rested her chin in her hands, elbows on the table. "So," she said in a more reasonable voice. "What are we doing next?"

Del leant forward also. "We'll finish here. We may have beaten the Federation so far but it's far from over."

She nodded agreement, 16 years of wisdom in her eyes.

Del continued to study her before speaking again. "What's wrong? You've been bad tempered for days."

She didn't look at him at first and then stood abruptly and turned away. "Nothing." she replied sullenly.

"Kerran," he said, warningly, letting her know he didn't believe it. She swung around to face him.

"Alright," she snapped. "I want to know the truth."

He was confused "Truth?" he questioned.

"The truth about my parents. Why wont you ever talk about my mother. What about my father? You know the truth. You've been keeping it from me for years."

"You don't know..." he began, before she interrupted him.

"Uncle, I've known for a long time that you've been keeping things from me. Why wont you tell me about my mother. Your sister, Anna."

Del Grant's mind wandered for a moment. Anna, he thought. My beautiful, treacherous, loving sister, Anna. He looked at the girl before him. He could see Anna in her, in the fiery temper, the bewitching smile, the easy laugh, the beauty. Yes, he could see Anna's legacy there, but he hoped that Anna's deviousness, lying, treachery did not lurk in her daughter's heart also. He had done all he could to prevent any call for that to occur, but he couldn't help but fear he might not have the power to prevent her taking the same path.

And what was more frightening was he could also see her father - in her quick, intelligent, logical mind, her intolerance for stupidity, her calm relentless patience, her intractable nature. Del could only hope that the good points from both parents would be able to outweigh the bad. Such a burden for a child to bear - such defects from two parents.

"Uncle?" her voice brought him back to the present. She was still waiting for his answer.

He met her steady unflinching gaze. Yes, her eyes were definitely her father's - not the colour, for they were the light green of Anna's, but the intensity was definitely her father's.

He sighed. He had known that this day would come one day, just not realised it would be so soon, nor had he realised how difficult he would find it. He motioned her to sit again which she did and then sat back patiently for him to begin. Yes, definitely like her father.

"As you know, Anna was my only sister. She was younger than I by a number of years and we had been placed in separate care homes after the death of our parents, but we still kept in close touch. I joined the Federation space academy for training and after a time realised what the Federation was really like so I left and became a mercenary. Any news of Anna after that I learnt in bits and pieces, except for a couple of brief meetings. I didn't want to endanger her.

Whilst I had been gone, Anna had married. She wasn't happy in the marriage, I knew that much and I never contacted her directly. She had asked me not to in case her husband learnt of it. Then, on my last visit to Earth, I met her lover. I didn't entirely agree with her infidelity but she seemed so happy, happier than I had ever seen her. She really seemed to love him and he was devoted to her, that much was evident. She spoke of leaving her husband and escaping with her lover. I didn't ask for details, I thought it was just talk. I left and continued on my way.

Later I heard the news that Anna had been picked up by the Federation, and died under interrogation. Her lover had escaped." he paused for a moment, studying his hands. "I blamed him for her death. For living, whilst she had died. I blamed him for a long time."

Kerran spoke up impatiently. "I know that much. You've told me this before. But there's more, isn't there?"

Del cleared his throat to begin again. "Yes, there's more." he looked her straight in the eyes. "You may not want to hear the rest. I don't think you'll like what you do hear."

She said nothing for a moment but then her jaw clenched and her eyes hardened. "It's my choice and I stand by it. What else?" He mentally shrugged. He could protect her no longer.

"That story was the only story I knew. I met Anna's lover once more, a few years later. Completely unexpectedly. I still blamed him for Anna's death but it was the first chance I had had to actually hear his side of it. He convinced me he could have done nothing to save Anna. And if he had been able to he would have. I believed him. We didn't part exactly as friends, but we were no longer enemies. It wasn't till much later that I received word from one of his comrades, telling me the truth about Anna.

You see, she hadn't died back when we had assumed. That story had been false. She had been living a double life all along. A life I had absolutely no idea of at all, that he had no idea about. She rarely went by the name of Anna Grant. She was commonly known as Sula, and her husband was a Federation councillor called Chesku."

He saw the girl's grimace of distaste and couldn't help but let his lips twitch in a small smile. "Don't worry. He wasn't your father." The flash of relief amused him, then he sobered and continued.

"The story told me was that Anna's lover planned to get his revenge for her death. He tracked down and trapped the chief interrogator of that time, a man called Shrinker. I don't know all the details, but Shrinker told him that another Federation agent, Bartholomew, had been controlling he and Anna's movements. My informant stated that Anna's lover hadn't killed Shrinker, at least he didn't pull the trigger, but to be assured that he was dead. Make of that what you will.

Following this lead, her lover went to Earth to find the Terran President, Servalan. Apparently the only person to know who Bartholomew really was." He heard her indrawn breath and smiled. "A rather audacious plan, no?" he continued. "When they arrived they walked in on a palace coup. They found that Servalan had been captured by a small band of rebels, lead by ... Sula."

Her brow furrowed in puzzlement. "She was really a rebel?"

He slowly shook his head. "She was Bartholomew."

He saw the dawning look of horror on her face and nodded as understanding began. "She had been the Federation's top security agent for many years. Very few people knew who she really was. Servalan had been one. Why she then decided to throw in her lot with these rebels I don't know. No-one ever will as they were all executed. But imagine the irony of it all. Her lover searching the galaxy over to track down her killers, to revenge her death. To then suddenly be confronted by Anna, alive.

For that is what happened. It didn't take him long to realise the truth of the matter himself. To put two and two together and realise that Anna Grant and Bartholomew were one and the same. That she had been working for the Federation all along."

He looked back down at his clasped hands in front of him. "I can't imagine how devastating that must have been for him. To be betrayed like that by the woman he had loved so passionately, even after death." He looked up again. "Apparently something happened. My informant didn't know what. She merely saw Anna make a sudden move for her gun while her lover's back was turned and called out a warning. He was quicker than her."

"He killed her." it was a statement.

Del nodded. "Anna didn't die straight away. Her lover held her as she did. Anna claimed that she had known that he would kill her when he realised her double identity, so she had tried to kill him first. It's all so stupid and pointless. Even then, they both admitted to loving each other, in their own way. I never really believed how destructive love could be before that."

Kerran slowly stood and moved to the window. "So she was a Federation agent."

"Yes. Although, perhaps she wanted to change. Afterall, she did lead that rebel attack. And it might have worked."

"And there's no reason to doubt the validity of the information you received from your informant?"

Del shook his head. "She had nothing to gain from lying. And Cally was incapable of doing so."

The girl accepted this assurance calmly. She turned from the window. "So who is my father?"

Del was surprised. "Haven't you guessed? He's Kerr Avon."

She blinked at this news but outwardly made no other acknowledgment.

Grant continued to explain. "It was on learning that Anna had been alive for nearly another four years that I began checking myself, trying to trace her movements. And it was from that I learnt of you.

Anna had the ability and contacts to bear you in secret and then bury you in the system. She knew all the ways to do it to prevent the Federation finding you. But she did set up a failsafe so that information would become available to me as I accessed it so I would learn of your identity.

So with some luck and help I found you. Once I had I thought it would be better to take you with me than leave you behind. With Anna's death and her connections with the rebels, the Federation may have decided to do much as I did. I didn't want them finding you."

The girl still stood silently by the window, contemplating the quiet street outside.

"Some consolation may be the knowledge that no matter how mixed up, how stupid and tragic the whole thing turned out to be, they did love each other. Avon was prepared to move the entire Federation to avenge Anna. And Anna chose to have his child, protect you and give you his name. That is your legacy."

The girl turned at that and regarded him silently. He couldn't read her expression, it was carefully closed. Too like her father, he thought. "Are you sorry you asked?" he asked, wanting to know.

She shook her head. "Not sorry. More..." she paused, then shrugged. "I don't know. I need to think." She moved past him to go to the back sleeping quarters.

He sighed softly to himself, looking down as he unclamped his cramped fingers that he had been gripping so hard all this time.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around his neck from behind. "Good night, Uncle." her soft voice whispered past his ear and cool lips brushed his cheek lightly. Then she was gone.

He sighed again, but more in relief this time. It would be alright. Somehow it would be alright.