Illusion in the Night by DD Agent
Chapter Two
Okay, I know I said that it would be a while before I could update, but John Sheridan kept poking me, saying he wanted to know how the hell he was back. Characters, honestly… I've also done a very snazzy wallpaper for this fic so if anyone wants it just holler and I'll send it along.
Spoilers and disclaimer are the same as the previous chapter, although I'm thinking of taking some of my muffins that I'm making to bribe JMS with. I'm not giving up hope :D
Oh, and there's the beginning of the J/D this chapter. :D Have fun kids!
X
"Oh don't look so shocked Samantha, people will ask what's wrong," he said, turning to the young woman and laughing at the look on her face. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh but…when you've been…er…"
"Dead?" Samantha interjected, staring at the former President who bowed his head slightly. She just took it in her stride and sat back. "I'm going mad that's it, I'm losing my marbles. I knew it would happen eventually, but not this quick."
"Samantha, look at me. You're not mad. I'm real."
Her worry turned quickly to scepticism as she poked the image of John Sheridan and he felt solid. But the hostess passed by and handed Samantha her complimentary headphones and peanuts and her hand passed through him.
"Real huh?"
"Real to you. Listen Samantha, when I went over the rim of known space…"
"I don't care! I really don't. Go to Minbar, I'm sure you'll find plenty of people there who care!" His face turned to hurt when she snapped at him. "Listen…whatever you are…I've just lost my Mother and been sent on a difficult request from beyond the grave. This is just a delusion. You are just a delusion," Samantha explained before placing her headphones in her ears and closing her eyes. Settling back in her seat she kept them closed for a moment before opening one eye slowly to see him still sitting. The eyes quickly shut.
"Samantha. Samantha stop being a child. Samantha I need your help and by god I'll sit here and annoy you until you do." She flipped him the finger. All her sentimentality had been drained from her, she was tired, and the bitch was back. Sensing him still beside her, she opened both her eyes and turned to the image in front of her.
"If you are real, or…half real, just go to President Delenn. I'm sure she'd be grateful to see you again."
"I can't."
"Just get a return flight when we get to Earth."
"I mean I can't go see her, I can't talk to her in person, I can't…I'm not supposed to be here, talking to you Samantha. If I go see her, then I won't be able to help you. And I need to help you."
There was a confused look on his face, not dissimilar to the look on David's face back on Minbar. His son, Samantha thought. She rested her hand atop Sheridan's and stared into his eyes. They were a deep brown, a brown you could lose yourself in and she was sure that many a woman had been. It was still a long trip to Earth, and she could use something to keep her distracted from the flight. Even if it was a delusion.
"Okay, explain."
"I'm gonna have to start from the beginning. Now, it all started just over a thousand years ago…"
X
Samantha sat with her head against the chair in front of her. John Sheridan had just spent four hours talking about the first war between the Shadows and the Vorlons that Valen had been seriously involved in. He had talked about their policies, their tactics, and the second war involving them and the first ones. Sheridan had also discussed about an alien called Lorien who had given him life when he had 'died' but the price tag was only twenty years. If he was a delusion, he was a very boring one. She would have preferred a younger delusion of the younger Sheridan, at least that way she could indulge in plainly perving over him.
"So I went over the rim to spend time with the First Ones and Lorien. I got to meet a Vorlon who had died when I was on Babylon 5. It was him, who helped me out you know, Kosh. Now you understand the background."
"Vaguely. You've given me pretty much an insiders view to what I could find on a data pad." Samantha removed her head from the chair and turned to the ex Captain cynically. "Not to sound self obsessed but could you tell me what the hell this has to do with me?"
It seemed that Sheridan had been waiting for her to ask that question. He turned to her and leaned in, like this was a great secret that couldn't be told to anyone but her. Samantha reckoned that he didn't realise that he was doing it, as so far she was the only one who could hear or see him. She prodded him once again to make sure that he was real, and pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.
"About three months ago I heard some stirrings from some of the First Ones. There was a new…prophecy being bandied about. Apparently two of the younger races were going the way of the Vorlons and the Shadows and they needed to be stopped. Like me, Jeffery Sinclair and Delenn there are three people who can do this."
"Then ask them."
"I have. You're one of the three Samantha, one of the three who can stop these two warring races before they destroy the galaxy again."
Samantha returned to look out the window, an immense sadness growing over her features. "Its Earth and Minbar, isn't it? You can see the lines being drawn, the cracks growing. The Alliance isn't strong enough to pave over it, so how the hell am I and two others supposed to?"
"I don't know yet. I don't know who the two others are yet, but together we can find out. If you decide to help me Samantha."
"You're helping me, bucko, don't get above your station now. You may be a war hero, an ex President and technically dead…but…I have better hair than you," Samantha blurted out, causing them both to start laughing. Sheridan stuck out his hand and she took it readily, and their laughter quietened down as they both realised what they were agreeing to and what would happen if they failed.
"So you believe I'm real then?"
"Its what my Mum always said, you've got to have faith. Of course I never listened to her until now, but things change," Samantha smiled at Sheridan. "So Captain…"
"I'm not a Captain anymore, I resigned."
"I don't care, I'm calling you Captain. What do we do now?" Samantha asked. Sheridan mused it over for a moment before replying. "We get a flight to Minbar when we get back to Earth, and then I'll tell you the next step when we get there. Okay?"
"Okay." Samantha gave a firm nod and decided to sleep for a while before they got to Earth. She had a feeling that John Sheridan wasn't telling her something, but she just didn't know what it was yet.
They managed to get to Earth in great time, getting through customs with no problems at all. Not that Samantha expected that there would be, her position allowed her a certain freedom within the state. She worked as a PR consultant for President Lewis, and that meant that she earned nods as she entered from Minbar. The young Cole went straight to a ticket office and ordered a return ticket to Minbar. Again.
She returned to sit on the seats by Sheridan as he watched the passengers go past. The man on the seat next to him was reading a copy of Universe Today, a more recent copy than the one Sheridan had been reading Samantha realised. On the front cover was a photo of President Delenn smiling gently to the camera. It was a sad smile, an expression mirrored by the man next to her.
"I'm sorry that I'm stopping you being with her," Samantha whispered, headphones securely in her ears so she didn't look like a complete lunatic.
"You're not stopping me Samantha, Delenn would understand that I have to help you with this. It would be hard to leave, which I would have to do, if I - aahh!" Sheridan started to groan and curl over in pain. Samantha didn't know what to do; to everyone else he wasn't there. Frozen, she watched as pain played out on his face.
"They've found out I'm gone. Samantha…listen to me…you need to get the papers on Marcus and wake him up. Do that…and I'll hopefully see you again," he explained before rolling off the bench of seats and collapsing on the floor. He seemed to shimmer and vanish before her very eyes. Samantha pulled out the headphones and stared openly, lost in a sea of unfamiliar faces.
X
"Two trips to Minbar in such a short time. That isn't normal Daniel."
"I know it isn't father. I'll get someone to follow her for now. See if she becomes a problem later on," Daniel Lewis, President of the Earth Alliance ordered, and two of the guards from the small room disappeared. It was dank and black, but filled with computer screens. The small operator of the spaceport looked nervous in the presence of the President himself and his father.
"Her father was incredibly loyal to our cause. Had a few problems with her cousin, he was a Ranger under Sheridan's command," Lewis explained, resting his clasped fingers against his lips.
"Nothin the universe did better than to kill that bastard."
"Couldn't have put it better myself. Father, we should get back to your room, the Doctor said you shouldn't get excited."
"Pah, doctors, what do they know?"
Lewis chuckled, and turned back to the screen where Samantha was. He watched her hand over her boarding pass and identicard at the gate to Minbar. She looked sickly white, like there was something bothering her. Another two guards hidden in the shadows opened the door and let in a stream of light for the President and his father. The operator visibly relaxed as they left. But as he went out the door the President let out one more order: "kill the operator."
He didn't even flinch at the sound of PPG fire as he wheeled his father back to the transport that would take them home."
X
It was early morning when Samantha's transport docked at Minbar. The journey over had given her plenty of time to think on what she had to do and she wasn't happy about it. The way she saw it, there was something on Minbar that she needed. That something was supposed to help wake Marcus up. That meant either persuading Susan Ivanova to let what she wouldn't give yesterday…or stealing them. Out of the two options, Samantha thought that the latter was the more likely to leave her with her spine intact.
She wandered over to the transport booth to Tuzanor, taking in the sites. Everything seemed so fresh this morning, although it was touched by a hint of sadness. A quick question to a helpful Human liaison at the booth resulted in her knowing exactly where Susan Ivanova would be. Apparently, she had started sleeping in the Sheridan household, and kept most of her belongings there. If the papers were as important to Ivanova as she believed, there they would be.
It was simple, she just needed to break into President Delenn's house and ransack the head of the Ranger's personal belongings. Simple.
The journey to Tuzanor was less interesting this time; the first meeting with Sheridan junior had provided comfort and a sense of calm. Directions to the Presidential compound were easy; it was just getting into it that would be difficult. She smiled as a couple of Rangers passed by, neither of them filling out the uniform as well as David did.
"Can't keep away, huh?" Turning around Samantha saw David in his uniform smiling. He offered her his arm, and she took it without thinking. "I was hoping that you would come back, I wanted to apologise for my Aunt Susan last night. Things with the anniversary of the Alliance have been a constant burden, and both my Mother and my Aunt keep remembering loves lost. She's not herself, usually she's…not polite but certainly not as incredibly angry as she was last night."
"So do you reckon she'd give me the papers about my cousin?" Samantha smiled and David stared at her quietly before replying. His arm had moved from hers to the small of her back.
"My mother told me that my Aunt Susan loved your cousin, but never told him. I think the only way you'd get those papers is by stealing them. Anyway, want to come with breakfast with me?" David had completely blind sighted Samantha, but she quickly nodded. Grabbing her hand, he dragged her up the stone steps to the Presidential Complex. If this was the only way to get the papers then so be it. She wasn't complaining.
Except that she had a fiancé back home and was needed on a mission by the man now staring into her eye's father. Dead father. That was where things became slightly odd and Samantha began to realise that she might have inherited the Cole trait for picking up trouble like a dog picks up fleas.
David undid the front door and led her through into the lounge area. The furniture looked expensive and lush, but unlived in. The kitchen had that same empty feeling to it, as David brought her in there as he prepared breakfast for them both. Looking around, Samantha settled on a picture of a younger John Sheridan carrying his son on his shoulders. She realised that that was the only picture of the elder Sheridan around at all.
"My Mother removed them one night. I think she has them in her bedroom to keep them safe. She didn't deal with my father's death well, and sometimes she doesn't even leave her room. She just stares with her pictures. There's no Minbari that she's close to, and Aunt Susan is busy with the Rangers. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be telling you all this," David looked so innocent while he relayed his problems, and Samantha couldn't resist putting a friendly hand on his arm.
"Its fine David. Do you mind if I go wash my hands?" He gave a quick nod, and pointed her in the direction of the bathroom. The bad feeling that had started as soon as she had stepped foot in the house had only increased now, and Samantha felt like she was going to throw up. "I'm going to hell. And I'm taking Johnny boy Sheridan with me. Oh yes," she mumbled as she quickly looked through the open doors until she found one that she thought was Ivanova's room.
She stuck her head through the door, and let out a sigh of relief that the Russian wasn't there. Creeping through and scanning the room, she saw the official files on her desk. She grinned at how easy it was which turned to a frown fairly quickly as she heard footsteps approaching the room.
"Definitely taking him to hell with me," Samantha muttered, looking around for a place to hide.