Title: Cruelty is as Cruelty Does.
Author: Nyt Yanse.
Fandom: Babylon 5.
Characters: OFC, Hedronn, Zack Allan, 3 OMCs, Sinclair.
Story Type: Comedy Friendship.
Rating: G.
Disclaimer: I don't own it. I don't get money from it. Sue me and I'll laugh. And hide.
Warnings: Major AU. Extremely mild violence, non graphic talk of old war.
Spoilers: Set in mid 2258. This is an AU, but there will be canon spoilers. Which will be wrecked by the OFC.
Summary: REDONE. The friendship between Satai Hedronn and Sergeant Sheridan kicks off with a bang.
Author's Note: I have been asked to provide more on Sergeant Sheridan, which I am happy to oblige with. This is also going to be a one-shot of the same universe as my first story, Flighting For Fancy. This shot actually takes place before the events of the first shot, and this is before Sergeant Sheridan became involved with Neroon. P.S. I have a surprise planned for that.
I am working on a full fanfic novel in this universe but I'm going to wait for a bit until I actually have several chapters before I actually publish it. In the mean time, until I'm happy with that, I will continue to write up and publish One-Shots, I think mostly of this universe story.
All Minbari words are from Hightowers' dictionary on JumpNow website, and a Human year is apparently equal to 0.74 Minbari cycles. Or so I've read.
I would also like to thank Robert1000 for his wonderful comment on my story. Your support is greatly appreciated.
And to Kelmin, many thanks! Your advice has been much appreciated!
***
"Customs duty! I can't believe he made me do this!" Raged the diminutive human, before Hedronn could open his mouth. "I mean," and at this she turned to the Worker, "He comes to my table in the mess hall and, grinning inanely as only he can, gives me an assignment he knows I hate!" Hedronn stood up straighter and coughed slightly. He had seen other Humans do this to get attention. He wasn't sure why faking a throat ailment would silence someone, but he didn't want to have to listen to a Humans' petty problems. Being on this... freeport... was unpleasant enough. He didn't know how Delenn could stand it.
"I am here to formally request an audience with one," He took a moment to remember the name, "Sergeant Victoria Lochley-Sheridan."
"Well, you're in luck, coz ya talkin' to her." The Human appeared to be distracted. And young. Was this really the Human Delenn had meant?
"I was informed by Ambassador Delenn that you have made enquiries about Minbari plants-"
"Yes. I have been working in the gardens here and-"
"Wait. I thought you were in the Warrior contingent here?" Hedronn was confused. Surely that was what those grey uniforms meant?
The girl smiled. "We call it Security. And yes, I am. But I work in the Gardens in my off hours. As I was saying, I was in the Gardens when it occurred to me that this station is supposed to represent peace and understanding between all the major races, but the only plants in the Gardens are Earthen. A lot more people go in there than you might think, and if we had more plants from other races, it would help foster an air of cultural understanding. One moment," She said suddenly, and turned to a passing officer. "Hey, Zack, Garibaldi wants you on customs."
"What? But-"
"No buts! When the boss says move, you move! Go!" The Security officer moved towards the customs area almost 100 feet away, looking unhappy.
"I thought you were complaining that your boss ordered you to do it." Said Hedronn, trying to wrap his brain around the manifested illogic that was Humans.
"He did." Muttered Lochley-Sheridan, looking disgruntled. "But I consider talking to you to be a far more valuable was- use of my time."
Narrowing his eyes, and well aware of what the girl was going to say originally, Hedronn continued. "Unfortunately, we do not throw our plants at anyone who asks. They are precious to us and-"
"Look! I'm not asking for prize winners here! All I want are some common, well known specimens that will survive in our gardens to help people understand Minbari more. You know, unless you LIKE being a mini-Vorlon Federation." The girl smiled infuriatingly. Hedronn resisted the urge to slap her.
"I am sorry, but I just don't think..."
"No, apparently, you don't." Before Hedronn could react to that outrageous insult, she continued. "Do you actually have a real reason why you don't want to import just a few plants, other than you feel stiffed you didn't get to blow our planet to hell?!"
"How dare you- Like you even know anything about the War!"
"Excuse me, I fought in it!"
"Really?" At this, Hedronn was more than sceptical. The girl didn't look old enough to be a security warrior now, ten cycles ago she would have been an infant.
"Yes!" She looked angry and insulted, then suddenly she looked resigned and bored. "Look, I was six Earth years old, approximately just over eight Minbari cycles, when your 'Holy War' started. By then, I was more intelligent and qualified than most adult Humans of the time. I'm a prodigy, Mr... What the Hell is your name, anyway?"
"Hedronn," muttered the stunned worker. "You're telling me that you fought in the war when you were only a felisil?!"
"Long story. Though I didn't technically fight as such, I worked in linguistic translation. The point is, I was involved in the War, and we're not at war anymore. One would hope for some kind of moving on with life on your part. In other words... get the hell over yourselves!! You donated money to Babylon 5's creation, you must agree with its reason for being. To create understanding and so on. So, help me understand you!"
Before Hedronn could answer this, a voice sounded out across the customs hall. "Sheridan! I got some people here with a dog, they say you arranged for canine care!"
"Yes! I've got it all sorted- You lot were supposed to be here two days ago!" Three Human males, all looking close to the Sergeants' age, were standing next to the Security male from earlier, looking sheepish.
"The transport was delayed!" Called out one, a tall, blond haired, slight figured man with glasses. "We couldn't get word-"
"Save it, Parell! You, Townes and Tremaine had better have brought the damn stuff, or I may hurt you!" The three boys looked suitably chastised. A large, furry creature sat between them, its tongue lolling out. Hedronn eyed it with disgust, then turned to the diminutive girl again.
"You are related to Sheridan Starkiller?" Hedronn didn't know much about Human tradition, but he did know that Human 'Surnames' were honorific of their families.
"Yeah, he's my Dad." She said dismissively. "Anyway-"
"I do not provide plants of my people to murderers or their offspring." Hedronn turned to go when Sheridan slammed her hand against the wall, stopping him.
"LOOK!!! My father was defending himself and his crew. He did only what he had to do. And yet you and your people complain and insult him all the time! I'm sick of it!" She looked truly angry now. "The fact that I am my own person and not a clone of my father notwithstanding, if you are seriously saying that you will not help me with the plants just because of my genealogy, then I think you had better sod off and not bother coming back onto the station! Because obviously you don't belong here if you can't get over the destruction of one ship that happened over a decade ago!"
Hedronn looked at the angry figure, and realised she was right, at least in part. She wasn't her father. Or a clone, and he should not hold her responsible for her fathers' crimes. Besides, though he had no intention of admitting it, he couldn't help but admire her strength of character. He thought about it.
"Very well. I will consider your request about the plants, and contact you again when I have made a decision. Unless you'd rather discuss the plants now, so I know which ones to send if I do decide to do so."
"Good!" She looked slightly embarrassed now. "I think I would like to discuss them now, as it would be more practical." She shifted slightly and said "Now I need something to cheer me up." She looked around the room and her gaze alighted upon the animal at the customs gate, whose owners were still producing documents. Some form of restraint in the form of a length of rope was leading from the dogs' neck to the hand of one of the Human boys. She smirked, and brought both her hands up to her mouth, and inserted the first two fingers of each hand into her mouth and whistled.
The dog seemed to jump, and looked around. Seeing Sheridan, it bounced up and ran towards her on four legs. The rope grew taut, and yanked the dark haired boy holding it off of his feet. The dog continued to run to Sheridan, dragging the boy along, despite his cries of "Stop! Heel! Sit! Please!?" As the dog drew closer to Sheridan, and the rapidly backing up Hedronn, the restraint broke at the creatures neck. It reached Sheridan and jumped up, licking her face and making strange sounds. The boy, on the other hand, continued to slide across the hall floor.
Right into Commander Sinclair. He fell, landing directly on the boy with an undignified 'oomph' sound.
Sheridan almost collapsed with gales of barely suppressed laughter. Hedronn couldn't help but smile at the sight of the usually proud and straight-backed Commander clambering to his feet, helping the boy up. The tall Human Warrior looked across at Sheridan, and grinned tolerantly. "Sheridan?"
"S-sorry Commander." She gasped. "Didn't mean for that to happen."
"Indeed." The other two boys, and the security officer from the gate, ran up to the group, looking apprehensive. "Commander? You OK?" Asked the Officer.
"Yes, Sergeant Allan, I'm fine." The dog continued to lick and paw at Sergeant Sheridan. "I trust you have made arrangements for that animal, Sheridan?"
"Yessir." Grinned Sheridan, taking hold of the creature by its collar and standing up. "Tremaine!" The other dark haired boy, whose appearance seemed more feminine than Hedronn believed was usual for Human males, straightened up a little. "Could you help Townsy get the leash back on?" The boy Tremaine bent over the dog, and with the help of the dark-haired Townsy who had been dragged, and was now looking very bedraggled, began to fiddle with a leather contraption around the dogs' neck.
"What exactly is that?" Asked Hedronn, pointing at the dog.
"It's a domesticated creature from Earth, a canine, this particular specimen being of the St Bernard breed. He was assigned to our unit at the start of the War." Realising that she had pointed to the three boys when she said 'unit', Hedronn was surprised. Sheridan saw that. "Yes, these three were with me. They, and 48 other Human children. We were all the freakishly smart book brats of our time. We won a court battle, just after the first Minbari attack, which allowed us to join EarthForce Special Intelligence Division."
"Or the Extra-Special Intelligence Division, as it was called." Smiled the tall blond boy. "My name is Benjamin Parell, everyone calls me Ben. My speciality was Technology Diagnostics, Definition and Repairs."
"What he means is," started Townsy, "He spent the War fiddling with our tech and your tech. My name is Richard Townes, usually just called Townsy. I was our chief navigator and regional specialist."
"Which means he spent the war fiddling around with star charts and telling our forces where to go." Smirked Sheridan. "This," she indicated the last boy, Tremaine, "Is Jeremy Tremaine. We all call him Tremaine. He was a code breaker specialist."
"And you all worked together in your Military when you were children?" They nodded. "Well, why aren't you three wearing uniforms now?"
"Well, we left." Said Ben. "After the War. All but two of our unit-mates left the military as soon as the threat to planetary security was over. Only Vicki here and one other, Carleigya Irvania, stayed in. The three of us formed a music group with a few others, the Dog Tag Boys. We've been celebrities of the human music scene ever since."
"Ah." Hedronn looked at the young humans with respect. "And this... dog..."
"Yeah, we were assigned him after we entered training. They told us he would protect us from any ground invasion we might get caught up in. We always figured they meant that we could spend the War holed up somewhere safe and teach him tricks, as opposed to actually putting ourselves in danger. Needless to say, we found various ways to get ourselves in trouble. After the war was over, Strage here," Ben indicated the dog, "was retired from the Military and we petitioned to have custody over him. He's been our bands' mascot ever since."
"And, why are you here? If I may ask?" Queried the Commander.
"Of course." Said Sheridan. "They're here to pass on some personal effects of mine that were in storage on Earth until recently. I didn't want to trust them to the postal service, and everyone else I would trust with them was busy. They couldn't find anyone to dog-sit Strage so they bought him with them."
"Alright. Just make sure to keep him under control."
"Of course, Commander. Now, Mister Hedronn and I have some plant talk to get to. I believe I gave you guys all the info you'll need to get Strage to the facilities I've arranged, and then to your temporary quarters?"
The boys all nodded, and left. The Commander walked off, smiling bemusedly. Sergeant Allan wandered back to the customs gate, just in time to get involved in some dispute over a bag. Sergeant Sheridan and Hedronn began to walk towards the gardens.
"Don't you think it was a little cruel to have that poor boy pulled along the floor like that?"
"Cruelty is a matter of perspective. Beside, Townsy is tough. This one time, during the war..."
And thus started a beautiful, if fairly unusual, friendship.
***
Felisil= Child.