Whitestar 97
Chapter Nine
Delenn cut the transmission. The Governor of Tifar could no longer see or hear her, but she could still see him. He ignored the screen as if he were not still sending, but he had either forgotten to turn off his end of the conversation or he was making a point to show her what was happening to the hostage.
As the beating went on and on, Delenn turned to the white robed religious acolyte at the communications station. "Signal the Whitestar Fleet. We assemble at Trossi Point." She named a dark mass in space that was used only for navigation purposes, having no solar power or mineral resources to exploit.
Up on the screen, Sheridan was lying on the ground, clutching his ribs and crying out every time he was kicked by the young guard. The genuine police guard said, "Governor, this is wrong. Of course I support our goals, the central government has been ignoring our problems, but what good could come of this evil?"
"Your understanding is not required," said the Governor. "Only your obedience."
Delenn commented, "He should have learned that himself. Now he will face my wrath."
The communications officer said, "Incoming transmission from Whitestar 97."
"On screen. But continue recording the other."
Firuun appeared on the screen, on the bridge of Whitestar 97. Some of the religious on Delenn's Whitestar glanced at each other, wondering what those warriors in the black armor were doing on a Whitestar.
"We're already at Tifar, standing by in hyperspace with the Medusa. We have someone inside and are planning a rescue. That was him on the transmission. That beating was faked. I don't think the Governor caught on, but that young guard is actually our tactical officer and intelligence specialist, the Anla'shok Khunnier. Khunnier would not really hurt him, and Sheridan doesn't yell like that, not for real. He didn't during the Ritual of Endurance."
"I know," Delenn said. "I did not know about your infiltrator, but I could tell Sheridan was faking. The very first time I met him he was a prisoner being beaten by Minbari guards. I remember it well."
Firuun blinked. "Huh?"
"It was during the war." Delenn made a dismissive gesture. "Continue with your plan. If there are no hostages on the ground when the fleet reaches Tifar, so much the better. Transmit any intelligence you have on military targets to us. And if anyone from the Fleet so much as breathes toward Tifar before your raid is finished, I will personally see that he regrets it for the rest of his very short life."
Sheridan stood in a line with the other non-Minbari prisoners. For the first time, he saw Carla, and saw that she seemed basically intact, although she was staring at the floor in the same way she had at the pirate base. There were also a Drazi, a Braciri, and a something Sheridan did not recognize.
Sheridan had a medical immobilizer around his ribcage. He appeared to be the only one there in the prison infirmary with an actual injury.
"Moving along to the human male," said the prison doctor. "We're lucky to be able to use this specimen. He is the reason we're holding Alien Day here instead of bringing everyone to the hospital. Some kind of security consideration." The prison doctor dismissed this notion with an airy gesture. "You'll note the basic outward similarity to Minbari. However, the human bone structure is very different. And not only in their thin, fragile skulls. Their bones are much lighter than ours, both thinner and hollower, as you'll recall from the human female specimen. What is our theory on that? Anyone?"
"It's an adaptation to their planet being mostly covered by water," one of the students replied.
"Correct, and why is that?"
"When their lungs are fully inflated, humans float in water."
"Right again. Now, consider. If the evolutionary pressure is to reduce density as much as possible to allow an air breathing creature to swim, it makes sense to eliminate bone from areas where it is seldom needed. What would be the most logical result of this?"
"Is that how they lost the tail present in their simian ancestors?" One of the other students hazarded.
"Possibly. Also, look at this." The doctor took hold of a delicate part of Sheridan's anatomy.
Sheridan inhaled and grimaced. This was just as degrading as anything Inoja the Centauri pirate did.
The doctor said, "Look, it bends. No bone here."
"How?" one of the students asked. "The female was nearly identical to Minbari." The student unconsciously wiped a hand on his white robe, as if he had not quite gotten all the squelch off his hand from his turn at examining the human female specimen.
"It's quite an interesting mechanism. If you'll turn your attention to this chart." The doctor displayed holographic images of a cell structure and tissue slice. "As you know, Minbari males are ready all the time. However, human males use this tissue, you'll note the blood vessels here and hereā¦"
"This is highly irregular," said the police receptionist. Any other race would call him a desk sergeant, but the Minbari did not have front desks. "The other medical students went in this morning."
"Those are the students," said the exceptionally tall female Minbari in the pink silk dress. "We're here for the physician seminar. We want to see the aliens too."
The other eight physicians, all males in an oddly similar array of civilian clothes, as if all purchased by the same shopping service, started to mill about a little.
She stepped closer and said enthusiastically, "Did you know that humans share an optic gene sequence with the Dilgar? The one that encodes for seeing planetary illumination in terms of primary colors of red and blue. The equivalent of our sequence 43fj. It's really quite extraordinary. Parallel evolution resulting from similar stellar characteristics. I'm doing a paper on it."
When Dilis took a deep breath as if in preparation to expound further on the subject, the police receptionist held up a hand. "I'll check with the doctor."
"That won't be necessary," said a tan uniformed guard as he came in to the front reception area. "I've been sent to bring them through."
"Oh, sure, Muchonn." The police receptionist said. He waved Dilis and her party along. "Go ahead. Follow the guard."
Dilis of Clan Imbalo and her hand picked commando team walked into the prison behind Khunnier.
End of Chapter 9
