"I've got the file," Susan said. "And I think we've got a problem. Ms Vincent is a diplomatic nightmare just waiting to happen."
"How bad?" Sheridan asked.
"Sixty-seven confirmed kills across three separate ground campaigns," the Lieutenant Commander said. "Including a lot of command staff officers and two Alyts. They had an Alyt assigned solely to tracking down and killing her. The Minbari call her 'Stalking Cat' she has something similar to your fanclub, with the added bonus that she'd be considered an assassin by our own people."
"Well, the Minbari certainly know she's here," Sheridan said. "And we've only heard rumblings. That'll get worse when word gets to their government in general, more than just someone we suspect to be Grey Counsel."
"I'd say to try to keep it to yourself if we didn't already know that they know," Ivanova said. "In this case..."
"I'll go to Ambassador Delenn and handle it," Sheridan said. "In the mean time, I have something else in mind for you."
"Sir?" Ivanova asked.
"Remember that report you gave me on the Drazi situation?" Sheridan said.
"Well, yes," Ivanova said. "They've been a worsening nuisance for a couple of days now."
"I want you to resolve the issue," Sheridan said. "I think it's time for you to learn the fine art of diplomacy."
"Sir?" she said.
"It is time you took on the responsibilities that come with your promotion," Sheridan noted.
"But sir, I...promotion?" she asked.
"Yes, I just finished putting the paperwork through," Sheridan noted. "Commander Susan Ivanova."
"Commander?" Susan spluttered.
"Yes," Sheridan said with a smile. "And now if you can handle some of the smaller diplomatic concerns and leave be free to handle the larger concerns..."
"Oh, right! Yes, of course, sir!" Susan said crisply as Sheridan left the room.
Her smile lasted until she considered the "Drazi situation": every Drazi in the station had split into two groups and were regularly beating the hell out of each other to determine a superior side.
Garibaldi sat quietly in his room thinking things through.
That girl, Vivian, had recognized him. In and of itself this wasn't much, but Ms Vincent had said something about a "rat" in the bowels of the ship. And he'd heard of Rally Vincent during the Earth-Minbari war.
She'd been sort of a gropos legend after a few of her escapades, stuff that was supposed to be classified but ended up common rumor and gossip anyway. He'd run across her name more than once as a Mars cop too.
Everybody thought she was dead at the end until she ended up found in a wreck of a pirate ship playing some sort of Centauri board game with a Minbari who'd been likewise stranded.
Now, Rally Vincent had the resources to set up a deep space message burst. She was one of the better known legitimate arms dealers, and had a rep as a bounty hunter and investigator.
Of course, she and her kids hadn't been on the station when he'd been shot, but there was a definite explanation there.
"How could someone see something that happened when they weren't here," he considered quietly. "And what would make them want to go a roundabout way to handle it?"
The answer was very clear and moderately uncomfortable.
"Telepath," he said grimly. "Trying to stay out of Psi-Corp's line of sight."
He stretched and considered things carefully. There was no way he was going to turn a fifteen year old girl over to Psi-Corps. Especially not when they were trying to do the right thing and stop a corrupt cop.
"Guess this is a case of one of those things that I can't tell myself," he said simply.
Rally frowned as she walked into the clinic and saw the man in charge.
Dr Stephen Franklin, the CMO of the station, was running this free clinic. That made her more than a little...cautious, but what she'd heard said this clinic was a safe place to go to get medical care without getting official reports sent back to the wrong people.
She trusted Becky on this information, especially given what she'd charged for it. So I guess it was a time for a bit of a leap of faith.
The woman looked back toward Shanti and Vivi and nodded.
"Let's try this," she said.
"Are you sure?" Vivi asked with narrowed eyes. "I thought he was in Medlab up above."
"He was," Rally said. "Handle a couple of things, see if you get any flashes. This is supposed to be some sort of telepath underground, so there should be some sign of that."
"Right," Vivian said. "Touchy feely, I go."
"I know you don't like to touch things, Vivi," Rally said, turning toward and cupping a hand over the side of the girl's face. "And I don't like that you need to...but, it doesn't change things."
"Can I do anything?" Shanti asked.
"Try not to break any arms while we're here?" Vivi said in response, driving her sister into a fume.
"Be nice, Little Girl," Rally said playfully before turning toward the clinic and heading forward.
"Okay," Franklin was saying. "This shouldn't be too serious, I'm going to give you an anti-biotic and you'll need to take it for about a week and a half."
Rally waited until the current patient was finished with to introduce herself, watching as Vivi meandered about the room, fiddling with things. The girl flinched a couple of times, but eventually she gave Rally a subtle nod.
"Excuse me," Rally said, stepping forward.
Stephen turned to look at her and blinked.
"Miss Vincent," he said in surprise. "What are you doing down here?"
"My girls and I need a medical check-up," she said firmly.
"You can do that up in medlab," Franklin said suspiciously. "Or are you trying to avoid some payment?"
"No, I'm willing to pay," Rally said. "But, I heard that records were...somewhat less official here."
Franklin crossed his arms and looked around carefully.
"And who told you that?" he asked.
"I have the word from a Dr. Beckett in Proxima III," Rally answered.
"Telepaths?" Franklin asked under his breath.
"It's complicated," Rally said. "But I'd like there to be a limit as to how much information is available with these two."
"All right," Franklin said. "Let's see what we've got."
He turned to the two girls and smiled in a friendly tone.
"So, I'm Dr. Franklin," he said. "And you are?"
"I'm Shanti," the girl with the longer hair said with a bright smile. "That's Vivian over there."
Shanti pointed to Vivian and then shook hands vigorously with Stephen as her sister came over. Vivian waved and held back closer to Rally, putting a stick of gum into her mouth.
The door alarm beeped innocently as Sheridan arrived at Delenn's quarters in the Green Sector.
"Enter," a calm, friendly voice spoke out.
Delenn turned toward the door and smiled as it opened to reveal Captain Sheridan.
"Captain Sheridan," she said with a slight smile. "This is a pleasant surprise."
"Hello, Ambassador," Sheridan said, trying to avoid staring at the odd image Delenn presented.
Since emerging from her cocoon, Delenn looked much different from any other Minbari that Sheridan had seen. Her long, brown hair hung down from her head. Her bone crest was also significantly different from that of other Minbari, being somewhat smaller and more subdued from what Sheridan could see.
"What brings you to my quarters?" she asked. "Is there an emergency of some sort?"
"Merely a matter of concern that we might want to discuss," Sheridan said. "Would you mind if I come in? This isn't something that should be discussed in an open hallway."
"This sounds serious," Delenn said. "Do come in."
Sheridan stepped in and looked around, expecting to see Lennier somewhere in the room.
"Lennier is attending to other matters," Delenn said, accurately identifying Sheridan's scanning look. "Now what is this 'matter of concern' you spoke of?"
"There's someone on the station that I think you need to know about," Sheridan said. "Now, I don't think there's anything to be immediately concerned about, but I'm afraid her presence may have already been misinterpreted by your government."
"Who is this person?" Delenn asked, frowning slightly.
"A woman named Rally Vincent," Sheridan said, taking a breath to explain further.
"Ahh, Lennier informed me that she was here," Delenn said. "I must admit, that I was indeed most concerned that your government would send such a person here. It speaks of a great deal of distrust."
"We're not sure they did," Sheridan said. "She is here with her family, last time I saw her, she was tearing security a new one for losing one of her daughters for a couple of hours."
"What is this 'tearing a new one'?" Delenn asked momentarily.
"Well, it means..." Sheridan paused. "It means she was extremely angry and being very loud about it."
"Yes, well, I can understand a mother being rightfully incensed when a child is lost," Delenn said, "but it still does not explain what new thing she was tearing for security."
"Uhh...that's probably not an appropriate discussion for...err, mixed company," Sheridan said.
"How is our company 'mixed'?" Delenn asked.
"You don't seem too concerned by this situation," Sheridan said, shifting the subject eagerly.
"Lennier has been keeping a casual watch on the individual in question," the Ambassador explained. "He's witnessed her engage in several business deals, I believe she sells weaponry?"
"She does," Sheridan said. "She has good references in the business. Law enforcement and sportsmen, mostly from the report we have on her. I must say that I'm a bit relieved to find you so reasonable in this matter. The last Minbari that I believe referenced her seemed to think we were setting her in position for a war or something."
"You've spoken to others on this matter?" Delenn asked, turning curious.
"Yes, someone who said he worked with the Ministry of Culture," Sheridan said. "I believe he said that his name was Hedronn."
Delenn flinched almost imperceptibly, though Sheridan noted it.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"I hope not, Captain Sheridan," Delenn said. "Your people's assassins killed many of us in the ground wars, and Ms Vincent has the misfortune to be the most easily identified of the group. Her signature of using...slugthrowers, as you call them, stands out."
"She is strange that way," Sheridan said. "Slugthrowers were found to be unreliable sometimes. Differing amounts of gravity made for extreme differences in accuracy from one planet to the next. It would take a genius to be able to adapt practically to the changes."
"And yet, she did not only adapt," Delenn said. "She seems to have used them to her advantage. Some among our Warrior Caste recognize her as a virtuoso of battle, but those are a minority. These weapons inflict brutal injuries, and Miss Vincent is well known to inflict crippling wounds on those she does not kill. What's more, as she is one of the few such people we've identified, she bears the burden for the crimes of many of her occupation."
She couldn't say that she remembered reading the files at the time due to her position as part of the Grey Counsel.
"But you don't think she is an active threat?" Sheridan asked.
"I have not yet met the woman to make a complete judgment," Delenn said. "I have only old files and reports and my aide's observations. The evidence is contradictory at best."
"You plan to meet her," Sheridan noted.
"And her children," Delenn said. "What were your impressions of them?"
"They're an odd bunch," Sheridan said with a laugh. "But very likeable."
"Then I don't suppose you'd mind accompanying me to meet them then?" Delenn said.
"Excuse me?" Sheridan asked.
"Well, I rather feel it inappropriate to interview an Earth citizen alone," Delenn noted. "Since you show such interest in the matter, then I'm sure you wouldn't mind being chaperon."
She finished with a slight, knowing smile.
"Uhhh, well, I suppose so," Sheridan said.
"Ms Vincent," Stephen said. "I think it would be highly advisable to accept the genetic scan for your girls. There are a lot of effects out there that can damage the genes, especially in space travel, and having a baseline to work with is of utmost importance. I'm surprised any of your previous doctors have let you get away with having them unscanned this long."
"If their genetic codes get to Psi-Corps, then background rads are the least of their worries," Rally noted.
"Psi-Corps is not getting my records," Franklin insisted, firmly. "I've taken precautions to keep all these files out of circulation, and you aren't on some colony now with a planet's EM field to protect you from everything flying around. The station should keep it all out, yes, but there're viruses, drugs and any of a variety of other things that can inflict mutations. If we have a starting model to compare to, we can fix any damage."
"I don't mind getting tested," Vivian said, shrugging.
Rally raised her hand and held it palm out toward Vivian in a gesture to wait.
"Look, if you don't trust me," Franklin said, "why bother coming down here?"
Rally took a deep breath and narrowed her eyes.
"If Psi-Corps comes for us because of you," Rally said without completing the statement.
"Fine," Franklin said. "Whatever you want, now let me do my job."
It was later, as Rally and the girls left, that Franklin held Rally back.
"Just want to make sure," he said in an undertone. "Your records indicate you've used kerasine."
"No," Rally returned quietly. "I've had kerasine used on me, there's a difference."
"I...see," Franklin said. "In any case, you are aware, there's both neurological and genetic damage."
"I know," Rally said. "But the doctors said it wasn't anything that should affect my daily life, and yes, I'm aware of the cancer risk. Anything going on I should know about?"
"No, still stable and benign," Franklin noted. "But, your girls have...they have the same damaged genes."
"They..." Rally froze and narrowed her eyes.
Goldie used kerasine on her own kids...children under five years of age? She felt sick.
"Thank you, Doctor," Rally said coldly. "Rest assured, the source of that isn't around anymore to do it again."
"Make sure to have them checked regularly," Franklin said. "Same issues any mutation or genetic damage. Have to keep watch for development of cancers."
"Right," Rally said. "Thanks again."
Franklin looked over his findings carefully after the Vincents left. He had a recorder set to take his observations, though these wouldn't be going into his official files. Instead, they'd be secured with the rest of his files on the telepath patients he'd funneled through Babylon 5 over the recent year.
"Shanti Vincent," he said. "Human, female, appears to be Indian-Caucasian ethnicity, telepath unknown rating, age fifteen."
"Skin is hot to the touch, recorded temperature is around one hundred degrees, but reports from her mother say that this is normal for her. She shows no other sign of illness and there is no sign of negative impact on any systems. Higher than normal body temperatures are a normal occurrence, but this is one of the more extreme versions I've run across."
He paused and continued.
"Higher than average traces of both endorphins and adrenaline in her blood stream imply a tendency toward mood swings. There are also a significant number of mitochondria in her system, more than twice the average, this would account for the raised body temperature as it implies a higher metabolism."
"Vivian Vincent," he completed. "Human, Indian-Caucasian ethnicity, female, telepath of unknown rating. Age fifteen."
"Vivian has very quick reflexes," he said. "And she seems sensitive to touch. She is hesitant to handle things or shake hands. This appears to be physiological as a basic biometric scan showed a higher degree of neural activity than normal. I can't say too much more without a more in depth study, and I think I'll wait to speak to Miss Vincent about that. It is not of medical concern and Miss Vincent is a bit...protective of her children."
"Both children have inherited at least some of their mother's damaged genes," Franklin continued. "Miss Vincent seemed surprised and troubled by that."
"Her own response seemed to imply she thought her children may have been exposed to the same chemical she had been," Franklin noted. "Inheritance did not seem to be her first thought."
"In any case, while Miss Vincent's mutation has negligible effects on her," Franklin said. "I wonder if they have more significant effect on her children. Most of the damaged genes are on the telepathic markers. Shanti Vincent inherited seemingly all the damaged markers from Rally and more than enough other markers from her unknown father to indicate an active telepath. Vivian Vincent appears to have more markers than her sister, but has not inherited as many of the damaged markers."
"I have no idea what this might say for their telepathic abilities," Franklin said. "But it seems that Rally Vincent is a carrier for a mutation of the telepathic gene. If so, then I have proceed with everything involving these proceedings with the utmost caution."
Rally started to fall back behind her girls subtly as her ears caught the characteristic click of heels on metal. This was the very intense negative associated with coming to such places for medical treatment. Such places as Down Below were flooded with scavengers and a few actual predators.
Rally made sure that she was between the stalkers, who were deciding whether or not to approach the thirty-something woman and her two charges. She gave the unseen watchers a bit of something to think about when she lifted up the back of her jacket as if to adjust it and showed the knife against her back as well as a bit of her shoulder holster.
Predictably, the cautious pursuit faded away to nothing and they were soon safely in the middle of the market.
Rally started to breathe easier, glancing forward to see if either of her girls had picked up on the situation, and was partially gratified and partially worried that they seemed more or less unaware.
On the one hand, it was good to know they weren't yet as paranoid as she was. On the other hand, she'd definitely have to teach them to pay attention to their surroundings in such places.
That thought came ironically about the same time as Shanti made an observation.
"Why are the Drazi all wearing those purple and green scarves?" she asked.
Rally glanced around, noticing the level of tension and looks between the Drazi as she remembered what one of her customers had said some time ago. Here they were, small groups of two to four Drazi scattered all over the Bazaar and eyeing any Drazi not wearing their particular color of scarf.
"This sucks," she sighed. "Riot."
The two girls looked at Rally for a moment and then the first Drazi launched at one of his rivals. Both huddled close to Rally, making a tight unit as they started moving cautiously through the erupting chaos.
A Drazi cut ahead of of them trying to push through the three to get at a lump of others past the Vincents. Rally caught his attack and easily shifted him into a tumbling mass out of the way.
A few feet later, a Drazi was sent flying into the side of the Vincents, where Vivi redirected his fall aside, using the same motion to put a sidekick into the pursuing Drazi's belly.
Another pair of Drazi stumbled into Shanti a few seconds later and might have continued on without noticing or causing her too much issue. Though he'd picked the wrong Vincent to antagonize casually.
The fifteen year old took the oblivious Drazi, a civilian with no real training only caught up in the cycle of fighting they were currently in, and pushed her knee forcefully into his back before taking advantage of his now further off-balance stance to slam the reptilian's head into the nearest wall, five feet distant, forcefully.
She might have continued had Rally not stepped in and pushed Shanti further ahead, out of the main area of the ongoing riot.
They were just clearing the area as security swarmed in to take control of the situation.
"Shanti," Rally said with a sigh as they backed into a clear space.
"I know, I know," Shanti said, looking embarrassed. "Don't leave the group and minimal force. I was surprised."
"You're going to be surprised, that's the nature of these things," Rally said shaking her head. "I think you'll be helping me clean guns tonight."
"All right, Rally," Shanti said with a grimace.
Rally turned toward Vivian then, watching as the riot was quickly suppressed.
"Watch those kicks," she said. "This isn't a kung fu vid, keep your feet on the ground unless you've got one opponent and you've got a huge advantage."
"Right," Vivian said, blushing.
"Other than that," Rally said. "No one hurt..."
She glanced at the dizzy Drazi standing up after Shanti's use of him as a battering ram.
"No one's seriously hurt..."
The Drazi fell down again and shook his head before standing back up.
"...that I care about."
The girl gave an abashed and embarrassed smile as she placed her hands behind her back and hunched her shoulders under the lovely synthetic silk blouse she was wearing.
They watched as the security team carried off the Drazi and then started heading up to the Zocolo to do some shopping before heading to their quarters in Brown Sector.
As they turned about, Rally noted a Minbari walking across the scene to where they were. It took her a moment, but she recognized Lennier from their first encounter, and the occasional instance of seeing him around the course of her business.
"Miss Vincent," Lennier said as he reached her. "I was asked to find you."
"Really?" Rally said.
"Yes," Lennier noted as he cautiously took in the two teenagers. "Ambassador Delenn would like the chance to speak to you and your children."
"Really?" Rally said, a bit surprised. "I'm honored, but I'd think you'd want to avoid being seen with me."
"If it would make you more comfortable," Lennier said. "I believe she is arranging for someone from Babylon 5 Command to present as well."
Lennier was surprised when it became clear that all three human females grew more tense at that.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
"Who would that be?" Rally asked.
"I think she was going to speak to Captain Sheridan," Lennier said.
"Oh," Vivi said, with a clear sigh of relief. "He was cool, but weird, but cool."
Rally looked back toward Vivi.
"Cool?" she asked in a single word.
"Seemed like a nice guy," Vivi said.
"All right, Little Girl," Rally said, patting her on the shoulder gently. "I think we can do that. I'll have to check to see if I have any business first."
"When would you be able to do that?" Lennier asked.
"As soon as we get back to our quarters," Rally said.
"I see, would you mind if I accompany you?" the Minbari aide asked.
Rally thought about it briefly and then nodded. Her paranoia was mostly extended toward humans of late: Psi-Corps, remnants of Goldie's devotees and the like. She'd burned out her anger at the Minbari a year into the war, and nothing had yet occurred to seriously bring it back to life.
Granted, she hadn't been around Minbari for a long while, but she had a few aces up her sleeves to deal with things if Lennier wasn't the decent guy he seemed to be.
Several aces, in fact, at least one literally up her sleeve. Another in her sock. The concealed shoulder holster, of course and against her thigh reachable through a pocket with a hole in it.
All that without including the knife.
"That should be fine," she said, looking to the girls. "Go ahead and get things set up."
"Right, Rally," Shanti said, smiling eagerly.
"And don't forget to get prepped for your chore tonight, Shanti," Rally noted, drawing a flinch from the girl.
Lennier watched them leave and turned toward Rally.
"They do not call you 'mother'?" Lennier asked.
"I'm their Foster-Mother," Rally said. "I adopted them seven years ago."
"Oh, I see," Lennier said, nodding. "How did this come about?"
"I knew their mother," Rally said simply.
"Ah, and you took over after she was unable to, I suppose," Lennier said.
"That's about the size of it," the gunsmith noted as they walked along.
"I've noticed you trained them to fight," Lennier noted.
"I teach them," Rally corrected. "Like my father taught me. Training is just how to do it. Teaching is about why to do it."
"My apologies," Lennier said. "I understand the difference. Your family are traditionally warriors then?"
"I'm not sure you could call it that," Rally said, shrugging. "We've been gunsmiths a long time, that's about it. I was just unlucky enough to live a life that actually needed the skills."
"I believe I heard of a phrase from your planet that seems to fit," Lennier said. "'May you live in interesting times.'"
"That one," Rally said, grimacing in obvious agreement.
It was some minutes later that Rally and Lennier came to the Vincent's quarters. Inside, Lennier found a decently sized set of rooms and saw Vivian reading a book while sitting at a desk. Shanti, meanwhile was kneeling in the floor, surrounded by obvious weaponry and holding a servicing kit as she was vigorously using a cloth to clean a large metal gun such as Lennier had not seen used before.
Shanti had changed to an old t-shirt and cotton skirt that was covered in oil stains.
"You're doing it wrong," Vivian said as she continued to read, and then looked up to see Rally and Lennier in the room.
"Shanti," Rally said. "Stop for a moment."
"Told you," Vivi said.
"But, Rally," Shanti protested. "They already pretty clean."
"Give me a moment, Mr. Lennier," Rally said.
"Of course," Lennier said, bowing as Rally moved to kneel down next to Shanti.
"Take a deep breath," Rally instructed, closing her eyes and inhaling before looking to her foster-daughter.
After a moment, Shanti humphed and then took a breath herself, rather perfunctorily.
"Shanti, any idiot can wipe a cloth over a gun," Rally said. "To properly clean and maintain one, you need to pay attention. You like shooting them so much, you have to respect them and maintain them. These are old weapons and not many people know how to keep care of them or make the ammo anymore. You have to be careful with them. Now, with me."
Rally took in a deep breath and waited for Shanti to do likewise.
"Take the weapon," Rally said and watched as Shanti leaned forward.
The teen took up the hand gun in front of her, much more respectfully than she had been doing.
"Remove the clip, check the chamber," Rally instructed from beside Shanti, watching as the girl did so. "A gun is always loaded until you have cleared it each time you take it."
The "clip" was an empty container that Lennier assumed normally held the metal slugs that Rally Vincent's weapons were known to use. The chamber was likewise empty.
"Break it down," Rally said. "Set down the pieces on the towel, barrel, stock, firing pin, so on."
Shanti quietly and calmly, breathing evenly, did as she was instructed.
"Now, clean each component thoroughly and put it back together," Rally said. "Take your time and do it right, I'll help you in a minute."
"Right, Rally," Shanti said, bending to cleaning the gun in her hand much more attentively than she had been.
Lennier noted the rather meditative nature of the task with interest, whatever Miss Vincent had said, she was certainly a warrior above and beyond just a simple soldier or even an assassin. There was a spiritual element to her practice, even if there was nothing overtly religious about it.
Vivian, the human with the shorter hair, watched Lennier the whole time over the top of her book. He hadn't failed to notice that, but it seemed to be more of the look of innocent, childish curiosity than anything else.
"All right," Rally said as she moved to her desk to look over her itinerary. "Let's see when I'm free."
"Right, fine," Rally said to the vid-link. "We'll be right there."
The security officer disappeared from the vid-screen as Rally muttered about a lost day of business.
"I'll get the sundress," Shanti said with a smile.
Vivian looked up and watched her sister move into their room to go through her exhaustive collection of clothes.
"Shouldn't we be worried that she had clothes picked out to make her look 'innocent and harmless' for these things?" she asked.
Rally didn't react to that joke as she usually did, instead giving Shanti a serious look before responding.
"Only if she goes out looking for these things," Rally said finally. "Anyway, we'll be gone for a while, take care of yourself. You know the deal."
"Yeah," Vivi said. "I might go shopping or see if there are any races on at the Dugout."
"Try to stay away from public places until this Drazi thing is taken care of," Rally said.
"I'll try," Vivi said casually.
It wasn't long afterward that found Vivi buying a pack of gum in the market of Red Sector as she started to wander towards the Dugout. She plopped one of the sticks of gum into her mouth and started chewing.
Vivi stopped as she watched a number of people in distinctive black clothing passing through the market on the way to Brown Sector past her. She stepped aside as they passed her, curious as to who exactly they might be.
As they moved past, one brushed accidentally against her, and reflexively closed her hand around their arm for just a brief moment.
Usually, she didn't get much of a reading from people, though she still preferred not to touch. However, she could immediately tell that there objects that she could read off within the dark-suited men and women.
A flood of images pushed through her mind until she broke off and stepped away, breathing heavily as several people turned to look at her, confused. Among them were two of the black-robed men.
One of the primary images she'd run across was that of several alien...things performing surgery on the man whose arm she had clutched.
Cybernetics and prosthetics. Some close to the skin, it was the only explanation she had for such a burst of imagery.
"Excuse me, Miss," the technomage said with a simple and polite tone of voice before starting to turn away.
"What are the Shadows," she asked reflexively.
She could never help herself from asking at least one question to clarify what she'd just seen. No matter how much it made her stand out.
Every Technomage within earshot of her quiet question paused and turned to face her.
"Curious," a female technomage said with an arched eyebrow.
Then the lot of them simply turned away and continued walking toward Brown Sector.
Vivi looked around at the technomages as they walked past her, watching her carefully.
"The hell was that all about?" Vivian asked as the group finally left.
She moved carefully out of the area and moved to enter the Dugout, hoping to forget the encounter, and the somewhat horrific images she'd caught from the man, with a few hours of NASCAR.
"Ah, good morning, Vivi," one of the waiters said, recognizing her. "Where's Rally?"
"She's having to clean up a mess right now," Vivi said. "Can I have a soda?"
"Certainly, be right back," the waiter said with a smile.
Vivian turned to watch the TV and then frowned as she felt someone sit down, uninvited at the table with her.
"Good morning," a strangely accented voice said.
Vivian turned to see a middle-aged Centauri looking at her with an appraising set of eyes.
"Umm, morning," Vivian said. "Who are you?"
"My name is Londo Mollari," the Centauri said with an engaging smile. "That was an interesting bit of business with the technomages outside."
"Technomages?" Vivi asked before realizing what he was talking about. "You mean the people in black?"
"Yes, that would be them," Londo said, nodding. "A most infuriating people. I've been trying to arrange a meeting with them since they started coming aboard yesterday and all I've received is abuse. You whisper something and suddenly a number of them are giving you a very close inspection. I find this very interesting, don't you?"
"Not really," Vivi said. "I just asked a simple question."
"Interesting, again," Londo said. "Perhaps you might enlighten me as to what this question was, yes?"
"I asked them what the 'Shadows' are," Vivi said. "Do you know anything about it?"
"Shadows?" Londo responded. "I tend not to worry about shadows unless there are people with knives hiding in them. I wonder what interests the Technomages have in such a mundane and boring subject. Perhaps they have a secret interest in shadow puppetry that we'd never heard of before."
He took a deep breath.
"I can just see it now," Londo continued. "Two mysterious and powerful technomages dressed in concealing black clothing to hide them from the audience as they manipulate a jumble of wooden toys on strings re-enacting some bizarrely low brow comedy routine involving much use of profane and childish language."
Vivian laughed at the way the alien was carrying on.
"So, what prompted you to ask about Shadows anyway?" Londo asked. "Unless you have some secret interest in shadow puppetry as well."
"No," Vivi said, turning nervous as the questions turned a bit more probing.
She looked up as the waiter brought her a glass of soda and tried to look away from the Centauri and his bizarre way of bringing down defenses.
"No? No what?" Londo asked. "Where I come from, it is polite for a child to respond to her elders. What prompted you to ask such a question?"
"I guess I just thought I heard one of them talk about shadows," Vivi said without turning to look at Londo.
"Indeed, it would fit their overdramatic sense of style," Londo said with a sigh. "Curious that they would have an interest in you, still. What did you say your name was?"
"I...didn't," Vivi said, nervously.
"Yes, I don't believe you did," Londo said with a smile as he stood up. "Well, feel free to pique my interest again sometime, but I must be off. Ambassadorial duties and such. Someone has to tell the League of Non-Aligned Worlds that their sense of fashion is terribly out of date."
That made Vivian laugh again as Londo walked out of the room.
Garibaldi would have normally left this sort of complaint to someone else, but when he'd heard the circumstances, he just had to see for himself.
Besides, he was still on medical leave technically.
The situation just proved too tempting to just leave it to Zack and Lou to tell him about what happened later.
On one side, there was a drazi who, if standing, would have been about six feet tall and who probably weighed over two hundred pounds with a thick covering of hard, protective scales and a thick wrapping of bandages around his head.
On the other there was a fifteen year old girl in a sundress who looked rather embarrassed and respectfully nervous. Garibaldi could see through that to see that she didn't really expect to get in trouble for this. Said girl was a shade over five feet tall and probably didn't way much over a hundred pounds...if that.
The girl's mother was a bit taller and had the sort of muscle one saw on veterans who stayed in shape and in practice. And again, he knew Rally Vincent's reputations. In fact, he had been fairly certain that Rally was the person who had actually made the supposed assault and he'd been planning on using this as an opportunity to see the woman in action.
"Let me get this straight," Garibaldi said. "You had your ass kicked...by her."
The Drazi fumbled about a bit self-consciously.
"Yes," he said.
"She's half...less than half your size," Garibaldi noted, trying to unsuccessfully hold back a laugh.
"Yes," the drazi said.
"Are you sure you didn't just slip and fall?" Garibaldi asked.
"No, didn't just slip and fall," the drazi said. "Security cameras show...look."
He passed over a data crystal which Garibaldi took and put into a receiver. Pretty soon a segment of video was playing on the monitors showing a riot in full swing and the drazi plaintiff charging forward to almost knock over Shanti.
This was followed by the fifteen year old girl's beatdown of the drazi which only stopped short because her mother pulled her off.
"Wait a minute," Garibaldi said. "Let me see that again."
He rewound the playback to the point that the drazi struck Shanti and watched her beat him down again.
"No, no, this can't be right," the Security Chief said, rewinding the playback so that it ran through again. "I really just can't wrap my head around this."
And he replayed it again as the drazi squirmed.
"Wow, I guess you really were beat up by a little girl," Garibaldi noted.
A little girl trained in the Marine Corps martial arts, he noted to himself. And one with a serious amount of adrenaline going given what she apparently did even with that training.
"That looks like it hurt," Garibaldi noted with a stage wince.
"What?" the Drazi asked.
Garibaldi rewound the playback to where the drazi was slammed head first into a wall.
"That," Garibaldi said, pushing a few buttons so that the last two to three seconds of the fight was set on a replay loop. "Man, that hurts just watching that. You must get nightmares every time you see a girl."
Garibaldi turned about as the drazi was, ad infinitum, slamming into a wall and falling to the ground and looked to the people involved in the matter.
"Now, the way I see this," said. "And keep in mind that I'm not currently Security Chief so this is just friendly advice. You can press these charges, get the evidence stacked on for rioting and assault against you and prove self-defense for the girl. Not to mention having this video played publicly for court who knows how many times."
He jabbed his thumb back over his shoulder.
"Or you can let this pass and go finish playing Purple vs Green," Garibaldi finished pointedly.
The drazi looked uncomfortable and Garibaldi turned to look at the video again.
"Oh!" he said. "And down you go, wow, just like a rag doll. I just can't get over that."
Shanti was having a real trouble trying to keep a smile off of her face and even Rally's mouth was quirking slightly.
"I think this will be let pass," the drazi said finally. "I go now."
"Yeah, you do that," Garibaldi said turning about to watch the drazi go as he looked over toward Shanti and Rally.
He waited for the drazi to leave before continuing.
"You...have a temper," he noted, pointing toward Shanti. "To put it mildly. It takes a lot of effort to break a drazi skull, believe me. And normally that's not something a fifteen year old could do."
Shanti flinched and her face paled slightly, clearly it was something she worried about herself.
"We've been dealing with it," Rally told him. "And it was self-defense."
"Yeah, she broke a guy's arm a few weeks back," Garibaldi noted. "She needs to check herself or else security is going to start overlooking her age and the cute sundress."
"But you're security," Shanti said.
"Who me?" Garibaldi said. "I'm just some guy that woke up in the hospital a little bit ago. Trust me on this one, security is not going to hear a word of this from me. Besides, I don't think I'm even cleared for that sort of thing."
"But...aren't you in charge of clearing people?" Shanti asked.
"Would you clear me to look at security files?" Garibaldi asked.
Shanti opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again, furrowing her brow in confusion.
"Thanks for the advice, Mr. Garibaldi," Rally said, smirking as she stood up and gestured for Shanti to leave ahead of her.
"Oh, Miss Vincent," Garibaldi said as she reached the door. "You're a big name bounty hunter, you don't happen to know any computer hackers, do you?"
"Right," Rally said. "What do you need a hacker for?"
"Oh, sometimes I just like it if my files are a little bit harder to get into than usual," he said. "I'd check your file for known acquaintances, but...I'm not cleared for that. Which of course means, I'm not cleared to make any reports on you."
He smiled at her and waved.
"Smug jerk, aren't you?" Rally asked with a smirk before leaving the room.
"Smug," Garibaldi said wonderingly to the empty room. "Am I smug?"
He turned around to look at the looping video and winced again at the impact against the wall.
"And man that guy seems made to fall down," he said shaking his head.
Delenn held in the hallway as she heard voices around the corner near her quarters.
"What is Delenn trying to do, Lennier?" someone asked. "What are you two up to?"
"We're trying to ascertain the nature of Miss Vincent's presence here on the station," Lennier said.
"Her presence?" the other voice said. "The nature of her presence is obvious to anybody with a mind. She's an assassin. She's here to kill people. To kill Minbari."
"I've seen no evidence of this," Lennier said. "She's been perfectly sociable as far as I've seen."
"First Starkiller, and now that Stalking Cat," the other said. "And she's playing nice to both of them. She claims to be acting as a bridge between us and the humans. Does she intend for that to be a bridge of invasion?"
"Enough," Delenn said rounding the corner. "You have said enough. You speak of killing and blood spilt. This woman killed dozens of our people, but some of our people killed hundreds of hers. Blood feuds such as this never end if they are not brought to an end."
"She killed dozens of my people," the Minbari said. "I'm not sure those are your people. And there are ways to end a blood feud."
Delenn closed her mouth tightly and let her chin tremble emotionally before she swept aside and entered her quarters.
"It would be best now if you were to leave," Lennier said firmly but politely.
"This isn't finished," the man said.
Ivanova was limping along the corridor of Blue Sector, heading out of the command offices to head to the next meeting to figure out what to do about this Drazi thing. She never liked crutches, they never seemed to be built for a proper height. It was as if the manufacturers assumed that the world was populated by giants or something.
In any case they were very awkward to move around in.
"We're going to have to be a bit careful," a voice said in hall ahead of her. "Until this drazi mess is over."
"Does that mean no more arcade?" a girl's voice asked nervously. "I promise not to get angry next time there's a riot. I'll just stay out of the way and not hurt anybody."
Susan arched an eyebrow as she came around a corner and saw Rally Vincent and one of her daughters walking through the halls. She'd heard something about a drazi complaining about assault by a human. She'd even seen the drazi in question.
"Hold it right there," she said, calling the two to a stop as she hobbled over to them.
Rally cautiously turned around to face the sound of Susan's voice and the small Russian woman noted the way a hand drifted instinctively toward where Rally assumed there'd be a weapon. A smirk came over her face.
The girl with the long hair and the sundress, Shanti, apparently, also turned around and that's where she lost her control and burst out laughing loudly. She continued laughing until she rocked painfully on her broken leg and quieted down.
"Oh God, that hurt," she said, still laughing. "Man, I needed that. Well, do me a favor and move out of the way. Taking a lot of room here today, clear aside, thank you."
And with that, she pushed her way through the two confused Vincents and shuffled her way down the hallway, stopping an intersection and then turning laboriously to the right.
"Rally, what was that?" Shanti asked.
"A scary, random woman," Rally said, shaking her head. "Let's go get your sister."
Further down the hallway, Susan stopped as her link buzzed and irritably lifted her hand up to tap it.
"What is it?" she asked.
"There's news from the Drazi homeworld," the voice on the other end said.
"Oh please tell me this nightmare is over," she said hopefully.
"Sorry, Commander," the other man said. "It's getting worse, the ante's been upped. They're starting to kill each other over there now."
"Damn it," Ivanova snapped. "Have the Drazi here heard about this yet? Get a team to the council room right away, full gear."
By the time she reached the council room, some minutes later, limping as fast as she could, it was clear that the security team had gotten there late.
The room was full of dead Drazi wearing purple sashes.
Elric watched as Captain Sheridan walked away after their parting and smiled in a bittersweet manner. Sheridan was a good man with a powerful heart. The folds of destiny wrapped around him with all that entailed, both the great and the tragic.
Which left him with only one more task to attend to before they moved on past this station out into the unknown. And really, that task was only one of personal curiosity and a sense of responsibility.
The girl in question wasn't difficult to find, all it took was a simple holodemon to quietly infest the security feeds and report her presence back to him. And then it was just a matter of waiting for her to be present with her guardian.
It wasn't long before he was standing outside a door in Brown Sector and pressing the button to alert the people inside. When it opened, he found himself facing a woman in her thirties and holding herself rather cautiously.
"What's your question?" the woman asked.
"Ah, now there's a question I haven't heard before," Elric said. "Excuse me, Miss Vincent, I believe one of your daughters had a brief interaction with some of my people that I think needs to be discussed."
The woman looked back over her shoulder.
"Little Girl," she asked. "Do maybe know what he's talking about?"
It was a prudent thing to do, to use a nickname that would be difficult to track rather than a proper name.
The girl in question, slender build, short dark hair and dusky skin as had been indicated by the communications from his peers, walked into view.
"You're with those technomage people," she said curiously. "You didn't answer my question."
"Well," Elric said. "You asked a dangerous question in broad public. I would have been disappointed if any of my people continued that conversation."
"I think you should come in," Rally said grimly as she looked toward her daughter.
"I think so as well," Elric said with a calm smile as the woman stepped aside and let him in.
She moved like a masterful warrior and Elric did not fail to notice that as he swished into the room and the door closed behind him. Most people in the woman's situation would have started taking a posture of confidence and strength at closing a stranger in. This one remained cautious as she turned to face him, perhaps sensing that he did not feel ill at ease himself.
There was another girl in the rooms, one who looked very similar to the other, but with longer hair and almost brimming with heat even when she was at rest.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Another important question," the technomage said casually. "But perhaps another one is best suited to this situation. Why am I here? And the answer is to suggest a warning."
He looked over toward Vivian.
"Uh huh," the woman said, frowning. "What was the question you asked, Little Girl?"
"I asked about Shadows," Vivian said.
"That doesn't sound like something general," the mother said, stepping forward.
"I probably shouldn't say anything, but it is apparent that your daughter has already...seen more than is good for her to know," Elric said.
"She has a good imagination," Rally said.
"Indeed," Elric said. "But what she asked my people is not something she should be asking out loud. Already she has been heard by someone with dark alliances. This individual doesn't yet know enough to understand the significance of what he knows, but if he mentions it off hand to the wrong people then you will be having other visitors."
"What kind of visitors," Rally asked.
"I can't say for sure but the agents will be pleasant, they'll come in much less dramatic attire than I'm wearing," Elric noted, gesturing to his robes. "They'll smile and they'll ask you that second important question you asked me once I came into your home."
"They'll ask what I want?" Rally repeated.
"And if they like your answer, they'll try to give it to you," Elric noted.
"For a price," the bounty hunter reasoned.
"The people in question prefer the situations to make their own price," the technomage said. "Regardless, now is not the time to be discussing them. Soon, you'll be discussing little else, and when that comes they will have other things to concern themselves. Right now they are mostly concerned that people should not be talking about them at all."
"Forgive me if that sounds a bit like a wild conspiracy theory," Rally said, and she looked toward her short-haired daughter.
"I...saw something, R..." the girl stopped short of naming her mother and the technomage smiled again. "I saw something."
"You should probably be one who's a bit familiar with conspiracy, Ms Vincent," Elric said. "My people and I are leaving this place, we won't be here for the legends to come. That's something for the people here to handle. But until that time, I do wish to warn again."
He turned to look at Vivian again, face serious and grave.
"Do not speak of these things you see on a whim," he said. "I can tell that secrets somehow fall in your hands like leaves from a tree. It is a wonderful gift, but the times are dangerous for those with wonderful gifts."
"I'm not tel..." the girl started to say when both Rally and Elric gestured for her to stop.
"I think your mother has taught you better than that," Elric said. "I'll go now, I hope you've taken my warning to heart, but I rather guess some mistake will be made anyway. Be hopeful. Continue dreaming and share those those dreams with others if you can. A good heart is truly the most wonderful gift you can have."
He looked between all three of the Vincents and smiled.
"And there are many good hearts here in this station," he continued. "But, there are dark ones as well, so dream and share, but be careful and discrete about it."
"What no comment about meddling with wizards?" Vivian asked.
"It seems pointless to give such advice to people who might very well be counted among that group," Elric said finally as he stood up and walked toward the door.
"Ms Vincent and daughters," he said. "I hope you are blessed in the times to come."
"Yeah," Rally said narrowly. "Thanks for the heads up."
"Oh, in answer to your first request," Elric said as the door opened. "My favorite question has always been 'where are you going?'"
Then technomage then walked out of the room and down the hallway.
"Why do we get all the weird people?" Shanti asked.
All three of the Vincents made there way up through the station, making for Green Sector in an assortment of evening wear.
Rally herself wore the same sort of tasteful and conservative outfit she would wear to court or meeting a client for the first time. A long brown skirt with a white blouse and a good brown jacket. A simple tie hung down between her breasts, effectively concealing her cleavage so that attention was more brought to her overall business-like appearance rather than her gender or physical beauty.
Vivian wore a nice pair of black slacks with a blue knit shirt and a white, three-button vest. A pair of clipped on ear rings, silver bars about three inches long, were hanging from her lobes, though it was clear that she wasn't accustomed to such things as she kept reaching up to scratch at where they were clipped on. She was wearing a soft pair of silk gloves as well.
Shanti was the only one of the three wearing high heels, making her appear about four inches talling than her sister and getting closer to Rally's height. She was wearing a simple green one piece dress over which she had a sort of silver half blouse with long sleeves, that Rally was giving evil looks due to emphasizing Shanti's developing chest.
All three wore a bit of make-up, Vivian wore the least while Rally simply had applied what was appropriate to visiting an invitation like this. Make-up may not have been something she enjoyed wearing often, but it was expected of a professional woman in modest amount. Shanti, on the other hand, while she hadn't gone past tasteful, certainly stood out with the forest green lipstick and eye shadow in a lighter shade of green.
So far, Rally had put her foot down on hair dyes, but eventually, Shanti was hoping to get some green highlights.
Rally stopped them a little ways away from the quarters they were seeking.
"Everybody ready?" she asked.
"Yes, Rally," Shanti said with a cheerful smile on her face.
"As ready as I can be," Vivian said, still lingering on what the man they'd spoken to earlier had said.
"Please try not to ask about the war, Kitten," Rally said.
"Aww," the lovely girl in her green dress protested. "What if they start talking about it?"
"I don't know that it'll come up," Rally said with a frown.
Rally was sure it would probably come up, actually. She just was rather hoping it wouldn't.
"What kind of food will it be?" Vivian asked curiously, tugging on her gloves.
Vivian didn't like gloves as a rule, preferred not to wear them. These were hers and not often worn, made by machine and nothing emotional or traumatic had occurred around them yet. That meant she only ever got faint images from them, mostly of her own past. But at least they acted as a buffer against accidentally picking something up.
"Not sure," Rally said. "Just follow their lead, and wait before eating anything, all right, Kitten?"
"Hmm?" Shanti asked, blinking.
Rally ignored the feigned innocence for the moment and walked the rest of the way to the door and pressed the call button.
After a moment, the door opened to Lennier's pleasant face.
"Nie'se schlect sim'wa," Rally said slowly and carefully as she bowed slightly.
"Nie'se schlect sim'wa," Lennier returned. "You're Minbari sounds a bit better this time."
"I was a bit rusty," the bounty-hunter said. "Still not sure you could call me fluent though."
She looked to her daughters then.
"Good to see you," Vivian said politely with her own slight bow.
"Heya!" Shanti said with a small, friendly wave.
"If you will please come in," Lennier said. "Captain Sheridan is already here."
Rally gestured for her girls to move on ahead of her watching ahead of them cautiously, but not obviously. She kept a polite smile on her face.
There was a small table inside with seven seats prepared. Ambassador Delenn and Captain Sheridan were standing aside as they came in chatting politely until they saw the Vincents.
"Welcome to my quarters," Delenn said in a lilting tone. "I hope this will be a pleasant time for us all."
Vivian stopped short as she took in Delenn's appearance. The Minbari woman might have commented except that Shanti stepped past and cheerfully waved to introduce herself.
"Hi, I'm Shanti," she said with a broad smile.
Rally also noticed Vivian's sudden shift, but made no comment or sign save to glance at her briefly before stepping forward to Shanti's side and bowing politely, if somewhat stiffly.
"It's an honor to be invited here," she said briefly in Minbari before switching back to English. "This is my other girl, Vivian, she's a bit more shy than Shanti is."
With a smile she calmly encouraged Vivian to step forward and introduce herself.
"Umm, hello," Vivian said. "Miss, Ma'am...Lady? Uh.."
"Delenn will do fine," the Minbari woman said.
"I'm glad you girls can make it," Sheridan said in a straightforward accepting manner. "Ambassador Delenn was looking forward to getting to know you."
Rally nodded, noticing Lennier moving in the background. She understood all the meanings of that.
"Well, let's come and sit," Delenn said. "We've prepared a meal in the honor of our guests. I'm afraid there wasn't time to properly prepare flarn. I hope that is all right with you."
"Umm, sure?" Shanti said, a bit lost.
"It'll be fine," Rally said, putting a gentle hand on Shanti's shoulder before they all started to move toward the table.
As they sat, Vivian started to reach out for the eating implements and bowls.
"This is a beautiful set of china," Sheridan said.
"China?" Delenn asked. "Is that not one of your Earth na..oh..I see, the dishes. Yes, they have been in my family for generations and been used to serve honored guests for several hundred years at least."
Vivian's hands stopped short of grabbing anything as she stared in something close to terror or dread.
"Oh don't worry," Delenn said, misreading the girl's hesitation. "They are of very sturdy construction, I can guarantee you. They've survived things much worse than a simple dinner between acquaintances."
And that only made things worse.
"Yeah," Vivian said. "I'm just being a bit careful. I like to have manners."
Across from her Shanti was already holding her eating utensils and eagerly waiting for food. She failed to notice her sister's look.
"I really can't say how surprised I was at this invitation," Rally said as she quietly patted Vivian on the back. "I'm not anybody important."
"Mmhmm," Shanti said then. "I mean, you're Captain Sheridan. You're probably the biggest hero of the whole...oops. I'm sorry, Rally asked me not talk about that stuff."
"That's perfectly all right," Delenn said comfortingly to the now embarrassed teen as Rally visibly winced.
"I've tried to avoid talking about the war with my girls," Rally said eventually. "Too many stories make such things out to be wonderful adventures when they're not wonderful at all."
"I can understand the sentiment," Sheridan said in agreement. "There are a lot of memories that I'd rather keep buried."
As they were talking, Vivi gingerly took up the eating utensils, thankful that the gloves at least partially dulled the shuddering feeling of the memories the antiques had gathered and held for the many years they had been used.
Nothing was very distinct, because she'd deliberately pushed through it as quickly as possible. Not that it wouldn't float up in her dreams later, and be confusing, but at least she didn't have to deal with it right now.
Her shoulders hunched partially and she shivered, trying to keep it unnoticeable.
The distraction of Rally's and Shanti's conversation covered her mostly, but from his seat, Lennier noticed the shivering as the girl took up the utensils, and that the other two were pointedly not paying attention to her. After several seconds, the girl seemed to calm down and take a deep breath, though she still looked a little bit pale.
As conversation continued, some of the food was set aside for the seventh empty seat, something about the return of Valen, which sounded sort of Christian-esque to Vivian.
"I was going to ask the Captain to be present for this meal anyway," Delenn said. "Or at least someone in command, but then I heard that Captain Sheridan was already acquainted with you. I'm curious as to how you met each other. Something about ripping or tearing security a new one?"
Rally flushed a bit in embarrassment at the reminder of that incident.
"Actually I met Vivian first," Sheridan said. "I'd just arrived in the station and misplaced my bag. She'd found it and brought it back to me. I remember because she said something odd right after that."
"What did she say?" Delenn asked, curiously.
"Vivi is always saying weird things," Shanti said casually. "Like 'what's the big deal about guns', or 'what do you mean NASCAR is boring?' and 'why do you wear dresses?'"
"None of that is weird," Vivian said in exasperation.
"Yes, well this was a pretty odd thing," Sheridan noted.
"I warned you that she had something of an imagination," Rally said casually.
"Yeah, but I still wonder what made her say 'I didn't think Minbari grew hair'," Sheridan said with a partial laugh before stopping and looking quickly across at Delenn and seeing that her and Lennier both looked rather surprised. "Oh, sorry, that was a bit thoughtless of me, Delenn, I didn't..."
He paused again and looked over toward Vivian.
"I think I arrived on station several days before you came out of that cocoon," Sheridan said. "How could you have guessed?"
"It's probably just a coincidence," Rally said, waving off the question with a simple shrug.
Unfortunately, the nervous look on her girls' faces was making it hard to keep things looking less than extraordinary. Vivian especially looked something like an animal caught in the headlights of a vehicle.
"I wasn't really thinking of Ambassador Delenn," Vivi said. "I was just trying to imagine a Minbari with hair."
Delenn nodded and shared a look with Lennier and then glanced over toward Sheridan.
"I see, then I do not suppose this needs to be discussed any further," Delenn said firmly. "Don't you think, Captain Sheridan, that this is a simple youthful fantasy and should remain a private issue?"
For the moment, he'd let it slide, but he'd be watching now.
Behind her casual smile, Rally was cursing.
The rest of the dinner went politely, though with a trace of tension.
As the group was breaking up to return to their individual quarters, Sheridan held Rally over a bit in the hallway.
"Look, sorry about that," he said. "The coincidence was just sort of striking. I didn't mean to make you or your girls uncomfortable."
"Yeah," Rally said. "I can see that, and I might just be a little protective of my kids."
"Well, we'll just chalk this up to an over-active imagination," he said.
"Do humans have seers?" Delenn asked Lennier.
"I do not know," he returned. "I hadn't heard of anything like that. But she was a bit distracted the entire meal."
"Look into it discreetly," Delenn said. "I do not think we'll have an issue with Sheridan reporting this, but I do not think we want a repeat of the human Psi-Corp's last visit here."
"Yes, Ambassador," Lennier said. "Other than that, she still strikes me as perfectly reasonable."
"Myself as well," Delenn said. "Unfortunately, the issue now is making sure the rest of the Minbari population believes it too."
A day before Rally's dinner with Delenn and Sheridan, in the confusion of one of several Drazi riots, a Mars businessman stepped aside from the open area in order to avoid becoming an accidental participant.
He found himself grabbed from behind and pulled back into a dark part of Red Sector that was rarely seen save by maintenance.
A few minutes later, Jack was going over the documents and contents of the man's pockets and briefcase as the corpse cooled in a cramped shadowy corner of the station.
He found an identity card and a boarding pass for a ship leaving in two days, plenty of time to alter his appearance and the information on the identity card. Then all he had to do was wait for the Drazi to give him another distraction.
"Are we leaving?" Shanti asked, after the Vincents had come back to their quarters.
"Here's the problem," Rally said. "If we leave, we pretty much confirm there's something to hide. Our names are reported, we have to disappear completely. That means dropping contact with May, Roy, Becky...everybody...and heading to the deep colonies."
"So we're not leaving?" Shanti asked hopefully.
"What all can you tell me about Sheridan?" Rally asked.
"Not much," Vivian said. "I just saw him standing next to that Minbari woman. I think they were...together, you know?"
"That's...encouraging," Rally said. "If he'd be with any other species, much less a Minbari, then he's not the type to be prejudice."
It was also very disturbing since it was looking more and more like Vivian had caught a glimpse of something in the future. Which opened up whole new problems and risks. Seers were heavily looked for, and what Rally knew of the lives of real oracles and seers in the ancient myths, they often ended up killed by someone who didn't like one of their predictions.
Still, she supposed that didn't really change the risk they were involved in, just maybe increased the worth of the prize once they were discovered.
"I guess I'll have to take a closer look at Sheridan tomorrow," Rally muttered.
"Should I go with you?" Vivian asked.
Rally grimaced in the way that the girls accepted as meaning that she was agreeing with them, but not wanting to.
"And I'll..." Shanti started to say.
"Stay here and do some studying," Rally said. "Keep that temper in check and we'll see about going out unaccompanied again."
"All right, Rally," Shanti said with a disappointed sigh.
Rally and Vincent left their quarters quietly, the older Vincent carrying inside her pockets a lock pick set. She turned back to Shanti then.
"Don't go out or answer the door if you don't have to," Rally reminded her.
"Right, Rally," Shanti said with a sigh and a smile.
"Listen, Kitten," Rally said. "Now's not the time to be trying to guilt trip me, all right?"
"I'll be safe, Rally," the girl said.
"That's what I'm hoping for," Rally said. "Vivian, are you sure about this?"
"Yeah," Vivian said. "This way you don't have to take anything out of the room."
"All right," Rally said darkly. "We're going."
The two women started walking down the hallway toward one of the lifts.
Shanti stayed in the quarters until some time later when she drank the last of her sodas.
Jack's disguise was fairly flimsy, but with security running pell mell this way and that trying to control the Drazi, he expected to have a clear shot off the station.
He stepped into the hallways of Brown Sector at a quick pace, pausing only to check his shaved head and assorted props for his disguise.
Jack certainly didn't expect to be seeing Garibaldi and Ivanova, the latter on crutches, rushing through the hallways talking about something to do with the Drazi.
"Why don't you have a link?" Ivanova asked.
"I'm till on medi..." Garibaldi stopped, as did Ivanova as they stared across at where Jack stood. "Jack."
And at that point one of the doors between them opened up and a fifteen year old girl walked out with a cutesy wallet.
Jack sneered and cursed under his breath as Garibaldi tried to reach for what he was sure was a PPG and the long-haired girl, one of the Vincent girls, in the sundress turned to look up at him.
"Ah, what the hell?" Ivanova demanded bitterly.
Jack tossed out the heavy briefcase past Shanti who was moving herself and trying to predict and avoid the line of fire. The briefcase smashed into Ivanova's already broken leg, toppling her painfully to the floor. Her crutches sprawled out, knocking into Garibaldi and sending him off balance. Given that Garibaldi was still recovering from the last time he'd been on the wrong end of Jack's gun, he was distracted from a pain in the back that slowed him down.
As Jack pulled his PPG out and started to level it, he felt a searing pain in his shoulder and almost dropped the weapon before he turned to look at the Vincent girl staring at where his clothes had spontaneously burst into flame and the skin underneath burned through.
Damn, the girl had a weapon somewhere, that made sense.
Jack shifted aside with a darting motion noting with relief that the heat on his shoulder faded fairly quickly. He closed on Shanti who entered a clear stance, her face rather eerily focused on him.
"Hey, kid, duck!" Ivanova shouted through gritted teeth.
A tossed crutch tangled up in Jack's legs sending him sprawling forward. The sudden change in motion broke the focus in Shanti's expression and she scrambled to change her intended action as the fugitive assassin slammed into her.
A PPG blast out of Garibaldi's gun passed through where Jack had been standing and struck the wall.
Even though she was well trained, Shanti was still inexperienced and depended more on raw instinct. Perhaps if Jack had come straight at her as the man intended, things would have been different, but she was slow to recover her center.
Jack, meanwhile, untangled himself and rolled up behind her, placing his PPG to her head and hauling her small form in front of him.
"Damn it, Jack," Garibladi snapped angrily as he straightened himself.
"I don't know what you think you can do, girl," Jack said, "but you're not fast enough. As for you, Michael..."
He grunted in pain as Shanti flung her head back into his face and then an elbow into his chest. Shoving the girl ahead of him and watching her twist about, apparently still intent on fighting, he leveled his weapon.
"Jack don't do it!" Garibaldi shouted.
"Put the weapon down before you go too far," Ivanova was shouting as well, pulling her own weapon.
Three PPGs fired at once, one aiming directly for Shanti, who focused forward intently herself. Halfway between the Vincent girl and Jack, the air exploded in a brilliant white flash as the three PPG bolts came close to intersecting.
All three standing individuals were thrown off their feet, Shanti slamming painfully into wall behind her. Jack was to his feet first and started to run out of the scene when he heard the sound of running feet and shouted orders.
Grabbing a dazed Shanti back to her feet, he was heading down the corridor as Garibaldi and Ivanova found their weapons and security personnel came out of the halls to level weapons at the man, drawn by the sounds of gunfire and fighting.
"Don't let him get away," Garibaldi shouted, chasing after him around a corner.
He caught sight of Jack dragging the Vincent girl around another turn and guessed that Shanti was at least mildly concussed at the moment. Looked like she'd taken that wall face first going by the bloody nose, actually.
"Don't worry about me," Ivanova shouted from back where she'd fallen. "Get that traitor before I put this crutch somewhere you'll need Dr. Franklin to remove it! Now!"
He smirked at the sound, a bit of humor in the serious situation.
Calls were made to cut off Jack from escaping deeper into the station and he heard returns over the various links indicating more security was coming down from other passages.
Unfortunately, Garibaldi saw those reinforcements before he saw Jack. Cursing, he immediately backtracked until he found a maintenance shaft that was unsecured.
"Do you think he went in there, Chief?" one of the security asked.
"Unless he's been taking lessons from the Invisible Man," Garibaldi said. "Yeah, I think he went in there. Get on the link and start locking down the maintenance shafts. I'd like everybody on this, but we also have a group of Drazi intent on mass murder to intercept."
"Does this mean you're back on the job, Chief?" one of the other security staff asked.
"If I say yes, are you going to get started moving already?" Garibaldi demanded, immediately producing a reaction in the security personnel.
Getting into Blue Sector should have been a little bit more difficult, but Rally found that with the increased patrols in the other parts of the station, meant to control the Drazi, that it was relatively easy to get in the halls unnoticed.
She and Vivian had pulled on some staff overalls, snatched from a laundry some week or so previous just in case they needed to fit in somewhere, and were walking in through the halls, searching for the number of Sheridan's quarters.
"Do we know where we're going?" Vivian asked in a hushed tone as she looked over her shoulder.
"Becky got me information on quarters before we came here," Rally said. "Including where the station commander's quarters were set to be. It's apparently really easy information to get to."
Both stepped aside out of ease view as a pair of security patrol stepped into view, both members of it chatting casually as they moved through.
The two were almost passing when their link buzzed.
"All security personnel begin search of Brown Sector maintenance shafts," the voice said. "Former security officer Jack is loose in the maintenance shafts. Be aware that he has a hostage, one Shanti Vincent."
Rally and Vivian froze where they were for a moment and then, regardless of their appearance rushed past the two security personnel and ran for the lifts they had left not too long ago.
"What the hell happened?" Rally wondered out loud as the lift doors closed behind them, leaving the stunned security personnel with only a brief glimpse of who had been run past them.
They stripped off the worker overalls to reveal their own clothes underneath and stepped off as soon as the door opened on brown sector.
What they found outside their living quarters was a small group of security personnel interviewing or guarding Commander Ivanova who was sitting on the ground with a medic looking over her leg and checking it for new injuries.
"Would someone remind Commander Ivanova," a voice over the links said, "that she needs to come into medlab after rebreaking a leg."
"Someone needs to remind Dr. Franklin who's second in command on this crate," Susan responded irately. "As soon as we find Miss Vincent. Someone has to explain what's going on to her."
Rally came marching up the corridor determinedly at that point with Vivian behind her and looking over the area.
"Then tell me, how is my girl someone's hostage?" she demanded.
Susan grimaced and tried to sit up with out shifting her re-injured leg.
"Sheer bad luck," Susan said. "Garibaldi and I were moving through Brown Sector with this Drazi thing and that bastard was apparently making his move to try and leave the station. We just cross paths."
"And how'd Shanti get involved?" Rally demanded.
"She walked out of your door at just exactly the wrong time," Susan said. "We pushed him into the maintenance shafts, should be able to nail him down pretty soon."
Rally bit her lip, Shanti's reaction to being held prisoner was unpredictable. Even if she was probably disoriented right now, that amount of stress would build and then who knew what would happen.
Probably nothing overly healthy for Shanti.
"Did he drop anything?" Vivian asked.
"What?" Susan asked.
"Susan..." Franklin's voice called out of the link.
"Not now, Doctor," Susan snapped.
"Vivi, Little Girl," Rally said cautiously.
"It's Shanti, Rally," Vivian said.
Reluctantly, the gunsmith nodded and turned back to Susan.
"Did he drop anything?" Rally repeated.
Susan was about to ask why they were asking, but had a feeling herself and nodded cautiously.
"Get me that briefcase and it's contents, then go to the hunt with Garibaldi," she ordered.
"Leave you here alone, Ma'am?" one of the officers asked. "We need to make sure you..."
Susan raised up her crutch and wrapped it hard against the floor.
"Right away, Ma'am," the guard said.
The briefcase that Jack had dropped was soon in Ivanova's hands and the guards were soon walking away at a rush from the scene.
"You too," Ivanova insisted as she pointed to the medic.
Vivian didn't wait for the medic to leave before opening the briefcase and starting to look through the items.
"He's heading to an emergency cache," Vivian muttered as she first touched the briefcase and then started looking through various things. "No, nothing, not enough..."
Rally took items discarded by her daughter and started looking at them a little more carefully herself. She didn't have any psychic ability to see the imprints carried by items, but she could make deductions.
"I'm curious what you expect to find," Ivanova said cautiously.
"Just some clue as to where he's gone to..." Rally started to say.
"This one," Vivian gasped as she shivered visibly while holding an identi-card in her hand.
Susan watched with narrowed eyes as Rally cautiously looked over toward her.
"He killed the owner," Vivi said. "And spent sometime altering it. I don't see any colors on the wall, just metal. There are some pumps or something making noise. There's a number..."
Susan stared at the girl, and nodded, putting some pieces together.
She had read more than a few texts on the matter, and she knew the term psychometry. It wasn't supposed to be possible for thoughts to linger on an item. No one had ever really successfully done it...well at least not until now.
"That's Downbelow," Susan said starting to raise her hand to her link.
"Right," Rally said, starting to stand up and look toward the sections of Brown Sector that were part of the unfinished areas of Downbelow.
Both Susan and Rally were interrupted as Vivian took another item out of the briefcase, a data crystal, and gasped loudly before dropping it as if it had burned her.
"What is it?" Rally asked.
"A psi-cop, he's short and smiles a lot," Vivian said. "And he never opens his left hand. It's a closed fist and he's empty inside."
Susan and Rally both frowned deeply as the implications came in.
"Bloody Psi-Corp," Susan muttered, drawing Rally's eyes. "Go and help find your daughter. This little one can stay here, and I promise she'll be safe."
"Little Girl?" Rally asked, seeing what Vivian thought.
"Umm, do you mind?" Vivian asked, holding out a hand nervously.
"You want proof, yeah, I would too," Susan said, reaching for one of her commander's bars off her shoulder and hesitated just a moment before placing it into Vivian's hand.
Susan had no idea whether her own minor telepathy would be revealed or not, but
The girl shook as she felt the recent spike of intense disgust that Susan had had at the realization that the Psi-Corp was behind Jack, and then she turned to her mother.
"I'll be fine," Vivian said. "She doesn't like Psi-Corps at all."
Rally nodded, giving Susan a warning look.
"If anything happens to her," Rally said.
"Then you can try to kick my ass," Susan agreed.
Rally nodded and then was running down the hall.
Susan's link buzzed again.
"That's it, Commander Ivanova," Franklin said emphatically. "I've waited long enough, you're officially getting ordered back to Medlab. I have a stretcher already being sent your way."
"Oi, doctors," Susan said rolling her eyes.
Garibaldi listened over the link, someone having brought it out of storage for him, as Susan relayed the information they had.
"Where does the information come from again?" he asked.
"The Vincents," Susan said. "She is a bounty hunter, guess he left behind something we missed."
"Uh huh," Garibaldi said, noting the woman's tone of voice. "All right, anything else I should know?"
"Rally Vin..oww! Damn it Franklin," she snapped. "Give me a moment. Sheesh. Miss Vincent is joining the hunt."
"Okay," Garibaldi said with a frown. "Thanks for the heads up."
He frowned and thought about what he was saying.
"Okay, I want you guys to make a quick try to cut him off," Garibaldi said. "Put five people here in waiting."
He looked around at everybody.
"Understand?" he asked.
"We got it Chief," someone said earnestly. "We've all been itching for a chance to get this bastard in our sights. Everybody knows what you did for him, heck you've done the same for more than half of the officers here. We'll run him down."
"Good to hear," Garibaldi said. "Now, Lou, lead the hunt. Zack, I want you and...say five officers here."
"That's...nowhere near where you're having Lou push, Chief," Zack said, a bit confused.
"And if you had to get away from me Zack, how would you do it?" Garibaldi asked.
"Well," he thought. "I'd find a place to hide to let the pushers past and then cut through..."
He pointed to the map where Garibaldi wanted him and stopped talking for a moment.
"Umm, oh," he said. "I got it chief."
"Good," Garibaldi said. "Now, I'm going to head here with two people."
He indicated the general area that had to hold the scene Ivanova had described.
"Uh, Chief?" Zack asked.
"When you get a chance, Zack," Garibaldi said. "There's this great show called Romance of the Three Kingdoms from the 20th century. Based on some really old book which was based on some wars. You might want to look into seeing what happened to Chow Chow when he was running with his tail between his legs from Red Cliff."
"I think that's 'Cao Cao', Chief," someone said idly.
"Well," Garibaldi said. "It was good show, anyway. So, you've got your orders, let's get to it."
Vivian sat aside in medlab as Dr. Stephen Franklin worked about looking over Susan's leg, apparently for the second time.
"You're supposed to be resting this thing," Franklin said. "Not trying to film your own action movie."
He frowned and looked over at Vivian.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Garibaldi's aide," Susan said. "He took her sister and went Downbelow."
"Hmm, Garibaldi will find him and get her back," Franklin said in an encouraging tone.
"Rally will find her first," Vivian said.
"Franklin," Susan said before wincing. "IF you're done torturing me, think I can have a word or two alone with the girl?"
Franklin frowned and looked up toward Vivian and then Susan.
"Well, fine, but I'd better not come in here you doing anything stupid," he said cautiously.
Susan waited until the doctor was gone to call Vivian over and talk to her quietly.
"Does Psi-Corps know about you?" she asked dangerously.
"No," Vivian said. "Not until your report goes out anyway."
"That won't come from me," Susan said. "And if I can fix it, it won't come from the Station at all."
"But..." Vivi said confused.
"Psi-Corps legally has authority to police telepaths," Susan said. "You are not a telepath. So there's no need for me to report you."
"Why would you do that?" Vivian asked.
"How long have you been hiding from Psi-Corps?" Susan asked.
Vivian looked around cautiously.
"All my life," she said. "Rally says that they killed our mother. Shanti's and mine."
"Yeah, well that's something we have in common then," Susan noted quietly.
"What do you mean by that?" Vivian asked.
"Psi-Corps learned my mother was a telepath when I was young," Susan said. "Forced her to take pills to suppress their talent. Eventually..."
Susan stopped and frowned deeply, taking a heavy breath before continuing.
"Eventually, she killed herself rather than continue with it," Susan said. "I'm not friendly to the Psi-Corps, and, as I said, you are not a telepath. Very nice that they give us that little loop hole, isn't it?"
"Ummm, yeah, I guess," Vivian said. "So...we won't have to leave then?"
"Well, you just got here, didn't you?" Susan asked, trying to sound encouraging.
Rally made for Gray Sector quickly enough, but she hadn't been there long enough to familiarize herself with many of the paths and dangers of the Gray Sector. She had the official blue prints, but those were only mildly helpful given that the lower sectors were never completed.
It was a mass of hodge-podged metal and lurker alterations Downbelow. Which meant that the terrain likely changed fairly frequently. Rally had taken quarters on the Brown Sector, in the finished section of that Sector, so that she had easier access to that maze in case of an emergency.
But she hadn't had more than a handful of looks into it so far.
Rally hadn't really expected to need to go into it a mere month into her stay there.
"Hey, girlie where do you think you're going," a voice asked her as she strode through one of several debris formed alleyways.
Rally sighed and looked ahead to see some men forming an impromtu wall of bodies ahead of her and several others slipping in behind. They were clearly making threatening gestures with a number of improvised weapons.
"You look like you have some money," another said. "How about staying for a donation and some fun."
"Tsh, this sucks," she muttered simultaneously to drawing a PPG and firing three times as she continued walking the same way she had been heading.
The first shot destroyed a club in the hands of a man in front of her, the next two were at the feet of the bandits ahead, scattering them away from her.
"People think I'm some sort of ninja or something because I can get in and out of command posts and battlefields," she muttered,
She pointed her gun behind her and fired at the men trying to approach her from behind with only a moderate amount of attention.
"I dare anybody to get completely undetected through a slum," she muttered. "Now that'd be a ninja."
So saying she passed on through as the would be thugs scattered away from her, only one getting close enough for an opportunistic piece of debris to be slammed in his face so that he was clothes-lined painfully to the deck without even so much as altering Rally's stride.
She re-stashed the PPG in her hand and looked to the numbers on the wall, grumbling when she found that she'd overshot her target somewhere in this labyrinth.
Turning around, she walked back through the regrouping set of thugs who scattered like rats as they saw her come back around the corner. The one that she'd clothes-lined was slow to react and found himself pushed against a wall and feeling a knife against his throat.
"I need directions," she said before glancing down and twitching a little. "And then you need to change your clothes."
Jack froze in place, holding the half conscious girl with him as he listened to security pushing into the maintenance tunnels everywhere they could find them. But they were very obviously pushing him rather than seriously hunting and he found a place where they would pass him by easily enough.
Really, did they forget how often he'd run this same exercise to hunt some fugitive? The only thing making it half difficult was the girl he was saddled with just in case they did catch up with him and he needed some leverage.
"Don't tear my dress," the girl muttered, shaking her head trying to clear it.
"Shut your mouth," Jack said, squeezing hold of Shanti's wrist.
She responded by ripping her other arm around to clip him across the forehead, distracting him enough for her to break free of his grip and then shoving him hard back against the wall with both hands hard enough to just about push the breath out of his lungs.
The smart thing at that point would have been to run away and take several corners until she clear. That's what she'd been taught to do, disorient the enemy and run. Or at least, that's what Rally had so far tried to teach her.
It wasn't her habit to break off once she started, though.
Jack caught her hand in the next attack and twisted her arm about to slam her into the bulkhead, dazing her again.
"Oww!" Shanti shouted as she struggled to free her arm from Jack's grip, just about pulling her own shoulder out of joint to do it.
"Damn you're a vicious one, girl," Jack muttered as he held her and looked about for any sign of security.
His search was interrupted as a fire ripped up amongst the piled debris in the area around the two. He hauled Shanti to her feet and watched as the fire spread to more flammables in the area around them, as if the fire were being drawn in a circle around him.
"What the hell is going on?" he asked, pulling back with his hostage who slumped wearily, as if suddenly tired.
Finding her a bit more docile he backed away from the fires, waving the smoke away with his gun hand and hauling Shanti along with him.
He was out of the area before security started to be drawn to the smoke and fire and a fire suppression crew was called in.
"Let me go," Shanti shouted with a bit of a slur from the concussion.
She instead found herself being gagged after her arms were tied up.
"What's she training you to do?" Jack wondered with a smirk as he re-evaluated Rally Vincent based on this encounter with one of her supposed children.
He was thinking about this when he realized that the area of Downbelow he was in seemed clear of the normal riff-raff. Stopping, he frowned and turned back away.
Garibaldi had outguessed him it seemed and sent men ahead to catch him slipping the net. Too bad for them that the team had spooked the local populace. He was going to have a bit longer of a walk, but he had another way to get to his safe-area and the resources he'd cached there just in case.
He was moving through one of the many alleys of debris and rudimentary shelter when a form stepped out from behind cover and pushed him easily off of his feet to the floor, pulling Shanti off and to the side.
Jack moved to raise his gun up to target the interloper, recognizing Rally Vincent's face. His hand was only partially raised when a blast of fire ripped through it, blast a sizeable hole through the main center of the man's hand. The PPG fell from his practically destroyed hand and was then blasted away with a second shot.
Rally turned to look at her daughter's state of being and Jack took the opportunity to get to his feet and make a break for escape.
He had no question as to whether or not he could take a battle-field hunter killer fully prepared for him and having already taken first blood.
Rally fired another shot as the man turned a corner, grazing a thick line into his thigh and setting him to limping. It would have been easy to run him down from that, but she let him limp off, turning back toward Shanti.
"Are you all right, Kitten?" Rally asked, taking the gag out of Shanti's mouth and using a knife to cut her bonds.
The veteran caught sight of the developing bruise on the teen's head and frowned darkly as she glanced back toward where Jack had already vanished.
"Kitten?" she asked, turning back toward Shanti and brushing her hair back, looking into her face nervously.
"I'm fine," Shanti said shakily, holding onto Rally's arms tightly. "I feel a little sick though."
"Right," Rally said. "Let's get you to the doctor then."
"Rally?" Shanti said nervously. "I burned some stuff."
The bounty hunter stopped and looked uncertainly toward the vanished man.
"Did he know you did it?" she asked.
"I don't think so," the girl said.
"Damn it," Rally muttered. "Well, we might have to be leaving anyway."
"What do you mean?" Shanti asked. "And how'd you find me?"
"Vivian," Rally said. "I couldn't find what she was talking about, but there aren't that many paths to that area from where our quarters are. All it really needed was to watch a choke point."
Jack limped into his way the rest of the trip into the section of Downbelow that hid his safehouse. A sigh of relief started to work out of his mouth as he walked in to sit down on one of the few seats he'd brought into the area, scrounged from somewhere else.
"Well, it took you long enough," a familiar voice said. "Looks like you took a beating getting here."
Jack turned about to see Garibaldi sitting in one of the more out of the way corners with a PPG in hand. Two other officers stepped out into view on his speaking.
"Hello, Garibaldi," Jack said smugly. "I guess this means that I'm under arrest now.
"I don't understand you, Jack," Garibaldi said. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had a place in Security. I supported you, defended you. I trained you and made you my right hand."
"The thing is, Garibaldi," Jack said. "I'm someone else's left hand, and they're the winning side. They're the new order of things, and they don't play by the broken old rules that have kept our people down too long. Think of the big picture Garibaldi, and get out of the way."
Michael stood up and glared, sometime ago, his anger was intense and vocal, but he'd had time to cool down and think about it. He was no less angry, but he wasn't going to be letting it drive him.
"If you say so," Michael said with a smile before raising a salute to his head in mockery of one given him by a particular Psi-Cop the previous year. "Be seeing you."
Jack stopped and stared a bit coldly.
"What the hell do you think you know, Michael," Jack demanded.
"Well, that's for me to know and you to be paranoid about," Garibaldi said before turning to his men. "Let's get him out of here now."
Secrets were part and parcel of Babylon 5, and Sheridan was beginning to see that as he read over Susan's official report. He'd worked with her before and known her too long not to see when she was holding something back.
"'Information gained from a witness led to discovery of the suspect's whereabouts,'" Sheridan read. "Garibaldi's report reads about the same. Is there anything else not in the report that I should know about?"
"There was a data crystal, sir," Susan said, leaning on a crutch and trying to stand at attention. "In the man's briefcase."
"I know," Sheridan said. "Garibaldi said it contained some accounts and addresses, but nothing damning. Nothing to point to who he was answering to. All we have is some circumstantial evidence and Garibaldi's word that he was involved in the assassination on President Santiago. And while that's enough for me, it's not enough for anybody else. Do you have anything else we can use?"
"Unfortunately, sir, just more hearsay and testimony," Susan said.
"And what is that?" Sheridan asked.
"Psi-Corps, Captain," Susan said. "One of our witnesses thinks there's a psi-cop involved."
The next thing he said was very guarded. If telepaths were involved thoughts could betray.
"Was this witness using...unconventional means," he asked.
"You could say that, sir," Susan said. "Do you want to know a name, sir?"
"Unfortunately, I think I've already guessed it," Sheridan said. "I think I've had an odd encounter with those unconventional means myself."
"Sir, I'm telling you right now," Susan said. "I'm not reporting her or the family."
"Relax, Susan," Sheridan said. "I'm not asking you to. I've never liked the way the Psi-Corps works. Look through history and you'll see separation of populations has never worked. But behind the assassination...?"
"My biases aside, sir," Susan said. "The news made a big stink about the Psi-Corps' recent active involvement in politics. And we know something is wrong."
Sheridan nodded, not mentioning that part of what he was here to do was to investigate the staff and provide an avenue of safe harbor for the elements of the military that suspected...differing loyalties within the government.
"We can't risk the possibility that they're compromised," Sheridan said. "Leave the report as is. How's the Drazi thing going?"
"Well, it's over for us, sir," Susan said.
"Good work, how'd you manage it?" Sheridan asked.
"We dyed all the green sashes purple," Ivanova noted.
"That's all it took, huh?" Sheridan asked. "All right. Now, I think we should celebrate Mr. Garibaldi's return to service. Invite the rest of the command staff."
Susan recognized a call for an informal, off-the-books meeting when she heard it. Sheridan had used that method before occasionally in Mars and a couple of other places.
Ivanova knew very much that Sheridan's paper trail and official record made him look like a hard case blunt force soldier. But that was because of these informal staff meetings keeping the bulk of his method off the record.
Sheridan wasn't a strange to intrigue, even if he acted naive and overly idealistic.
"I understand, sir," Susan said with a smile. "Have a place in mind?"
"Normally, one of the places around here," Sheridan said. "But for something this private...maybe my quarters would be better."
"Understood, Captain, now, should I hobble my way out?" Susan asked.
"Get to it," Sheridan said. "I'm going to pay a visit to medlab."
"Careful there, Captain," she said.
"Well, she has an aggravated concussion," Dr. Franklin said cautiously, aware of the security guards. "A wrenched soldier and appears somewhat dehydrated for some reason. You need to drink more water, especially with your body temperature."
"Yeah, I try to," Shanti said.
There were also some signs of use of the neurons similar to a telepath pushing themselves but in a slightly different pattern.
"She'll be fine in a day or two," Franklin said. "Nothing to worry about. I'm going to suggest you wait at least that long before doing anything strenuous. Just in case there's something that doesn't show up until then. No good being on a ship in the middle of nowhere needing a doctor you can't get to."
Rally nodded. It wasn't the most subtle way to warn her against leaving soon, and the message was easy to understand.
"All right, Doctor," she said, looking to Shanti. "Two days of resting, Shanti. That means staying home."
"Aww," Shanti whined. "That means no video games."
"I think we'll all be staying in," Rally said, by way of compensation. "Business can hold for a little bit."
Vivian nodded at that and fiddled a bit.
"Do you mind if I intrude a bit here?" a new voice asked.
The Vincents and Dr Franklin turned about to see Sheridan sticking his head into the room, smiling broadly.
"If you want, Captain Sheridan," Rally said narrowing her eyes at him.
Sheridan looked toward the guards on the door then.
"I think you two can head back to security," Sheridan said. "The suspect is in custody and I don't think he has any accomplices set to kill our witnesses."
"All right, sir," the men said as they were dismissed.
Sheridan turned back toward Rally.
"Commander Ivanova told me about that bit of...detective work you did in tracking down this dirty cop of ours," the captain said with a smile and clear emphasis. "I have to say thank you, though I don't think I can do much more than that right now."
"I had some of my own motivations," Rally said. "But hey, it might bring me some business."
"Well, about that," Sheridan said in embarrassment. "Your name isn't going in the official report. It would look bad, you see, if the home office thought we had to depend on a civilian over here for information."
"Wait," Shanti said excitedly. "Does that mean we don't have to leave?"
"Shanti!" Vivian snapped in a hushed tone as Rally held out her hand.
"Leave?" Sheridan said with a laugh. "I certainly hope not. I don't get to meet interesting people too often."
"Sometimes people don't like having others interested in them," Rally noted.
"Oh don't worry about me getting in your business," Sheridan said. "I'm not looking to start whole new corps or anything."
Rally looked toward the Doctor whose mouth was hanging open and then back toward Sheridan, crossing her arms.
Subtle was not the nature of hints dropped by these people it seemed. Pretty fine with her.
"I told you he was a good person," Vivian said quietly.
"Thank you for that, Captain," Rally said calmly, dropping her arms down to her side.
"Thank me for what?" Sheridan asked with a smile as he started to turn to leave before turning back. "Oh, by the way, we're going to be having a celebration of sorts over Mr. Garibaldi's return to duty. It'll be at my quarters, time to be determined, talk to Commander Ivanova for the details."
"Another party?" Shanti asked hopefully.
"This one sounds like it'll be a bit boring," Rally said. "Like the parties we have when I have old friends over."
Vivian and Shanti nodded then.
"Oh," Vivian said. "I got it."
"Will we see you then?" Sheridan asked.
"I haven't decided yet," Rally said. "I'll let you know."
"Right," the Captain said with a smile as he left.
It was later, by a day or more, coming home from the day's work that Sheridan walked into his quarters to get ready for the party that would be coming.
He walked into his quarters and stretched, running his mind through things.
"Lights," he said idly.
The lights flashed on in the room and he caught, out of the corner of his eyes, Rally Vincent sitting in a corner of his room.
"Well, I guess I can expect you tonight," he said harshly after a moment of surprise.
"One thing you are going to understand now," Rally said. "My girls are minors and they are nobody's weapon."
"I can respect that," Sheridan said. "If you can respect me enough not to pull this again. I've seen your record, I don't need proof over it."
"If it was just me, yeah not worth insulting you," Rally said. "I owe my girls at least one demonstration."
"Good," Sheridan said. "Now all I have to hope is I don't get a reputation for having a woman let herself into my quarters."
"Don't worry about it," Rally noted. "You're very much not my type."
"Oh?" Sheridan said, mildly curious. "What type is that?"
"Two X chromosomes for one," Rally noted. "They made some vague notes in my discharge papers on that."
"Right, forgot about that," Sheridan said, flushing nervously. "Well, I suppose we should wait for the others then."
"What's for dinner?" Rally asked casually...
When Garibaldi arrived to find Rally in Sheridan's quarters already, he blinked and paused a moment before entering his normal friendly attitude.
"Well, this is a surprise," he said. "I thought this was a command staff party."
"Yes," Sheridan said. "Well, I figured that we should have a semi-official apology for the recent problem."
"All right," Garibaldi said, turning toward Rally. "I'd say nice to meet you when we're not talking about some sort of assault or the like, but looks like it is already to late for that."
"That's fine," Rally said with a smile. "I'm used to talking shop. I hear you're out of medical leave."
"That's right," he said. "How's Shanti?"
"She's fine," Rally said, hiding the fact that she was a little troubled by that. "She's not happy that I won't let her go to the arcade while she's healing up, but she's fine."
"Good to know," Garibaldi said, moving over to sit down across from her. "Mind if I ask something?"
"I guess so," Rally said shrugging.
"I saw the hole in Jack's hand and the scoring across his thigh," Garibaldi noted. "What about the bruised ribs?"
Rally was silent for a little bit.
"Probably Shanti," she admitted.
"You're joking," Sheridan said with a laugh. "She's tiny."
Before Garibaldi could respond, the call button ringed and Sheridan called out for the next visitor to enter. Commander Ivanova hobbled in dressed in an evening gown and with her hair down.
"I wasn't sure how formal we were...oh hello," she said, noticing Rally sitting across from Garibaldi. "Miss Vincent, this is something of a surprise."
Rally waved in response.
"I asked her to come somewhat last minute," Sheridan noted with a smile. "I guess this just leaves Dr. Franklin."
Susan limped her way over to a chair and sat down, watching Rally with curiosity and looking toward Garibaldi with a question as he shrugged.
As Franklin arrived a few minutes later, he came in nodding to everybody clearly not surprised by the bounty hunter's presence.
"You knew about this?" Ivanova accused.
'He was there when I was invited," Rally explained. "He was about as surprised as I was then."
"And now that we're here," Sheridan said, pouring out some drinks for his guests. "It's time to..."
Garibaldi raised his hand up for a moment.
"Let's not pretend this is about me coming back to the job," he said. "Because we all know it's a little more than that."
"All right then," Sheridan said with a frown as he sat down. "To business, if you want. Most of you here don't know me very well, but I've worked with Susan in the past."
He nodded toward Ivanova and leaned companionably forward in his chair.
"Everybody knows what happened at the end of the last year," Sheridan said. "And most of us here know that it looks like that accident was no accident."
Rally sat up then and shifted forward, she'd heard rumors, of course, but nothing substantial. Sheridan, meanwhile glanced over toward Garibaldi.
"Before I was shot in the back," he said. "I found a shipment of poor-man's jamming signals designed to jam the Presidential Gold channel. I was ambushed and didn't wake up again until recently."
"This Jack," Rally started, half disbelieving. "Was part of an assassination plot?"
"It's looks to be the case," Sheridan said. "And we have you to thank for suggesting that the Psi Corps is involved."
Rally's mouth opened slightly before she smacked a hand to her forehead.
"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered.
"Unfortunately, no," Sheridan said seriously. "Now, you don't have proof, and legally, I'm probably putting my neck in a sling, so leaving you out of the reports has the potential to bite me in the ass later."
"I'm not asking you to cover for me or mine," Rally noted seriously. "We can take care of ourselves."
"Trust me here," Sheridan said laughing, "even if I wanted to report your kids as rogue telepaths, which I don't. Susan would do something to stop it and I can't afford to lose her as an officer."
"Well, thank you sir," Susan said. "It's good to be appreciated."
"Unfortunately," Garibaldi said. "I don't think a couple of rogue telepaths are going to get much credibility. And we'll be taken as conspiracy theorists and criminals ourselves if we try to use that testimony."
"That would be the case if Vivian was a telepath," Susan said.
"Excuse me?" Franklin said curiously.
"What are you talking about, Susan," Sheridan asked.
"Vivian is an object reader," Rally said. "And..."
She paused for a moment and thought about it.
"Shanti is a pyrokinetic," the bounty hunter said.
"Pyrokinetic?" Sheridan repeated.
"It means she can start and control fires," the doctor said with a giddy expression. "This is amazing, it explains her metabolism and body temperature quite a bit. She'd need immense amounts of energy to be able to..."
He noticed Rally turning to look at his excited explanation.
"Right," he said. "Don't worry about me."
"It would also explain that explosion when we were firing on Jack earlier," Garibaldi said.
"And what's an 'object reader'?" Sheridan asked.
"If she picks something up that was being held by someone when something major happened," Rally said. "She'll see what happened."
"Okay, so when you had your hacker friend send that message?" Michael asked.
"He'd let us in to use the shooting range and let us borrow his weapon," Rally explained. "Vivian saw everything when she picked it up."
"It has to be something intense?" Sheridan asked.
"Intense emotions last longer as an impression apparently," Susan interrupted. "So if it's just something normal, it'll be useless in..."
"Ten or fifteen minutes," Rally finished. "More intense emotions will last a lot longer depending on a few things. That gun is likely to hold that image for a long time."
"And given that they're not, technically, telepaths," Garibaldi said. "What does that give us?"
"It means there's no law on the books to govern them," Sheridan said with a bit of relief.
"It won't stop Psi-Corps from snapping them up," Rally said grimmly.
"Hence why no mention of your name is included in our reports," Sheridan said. "If the Psi Corps, or even just elements of it, are behind President Santiago's death then we can't afford to give them our only witnesses."
Rally's frown deepened at that chosen wording.
"Which is fine, because we weren't reporting them anyway," Susan repeated.
"Even without putting them in the report," Garibaldi said. "Someone is going to realize that you were involved just by the rumor mill. You raised a ruckus they're still talking about in Downbelow."
"Right, here at least we can watch your back," Sheridan noted firmly. "In case someone tries to close some loose threads."
