Title: A Bridge of Flames
Author: Third Charm
Fandom: Babylon 5
Pairings: Marcus/Neroon, Susan/OC
Story Type: Drama, Romance
Current Rating: M
Disclaimer: Babylon 5 and all subsequent major characters, plots, and ideas are the property of J. Michael Straczynski, Babylonian Inc. and Warner Brothers. The following story was written only for the purposes of entertainment. No income has been made.
Warnings: AU and AT and going for broke! Combat, profanity, slash, dark themes, mentions sexual assault.
Spoilers: All though this story is set before "Grey Seventeen is Missing", there will still be too many to count.
Summary: After "the mission from hell", Marcus and Susan change the course of history and find a way to rekindle hope and love in the most surprising of places.
Acknowledgments: I must thank ckl for taking the time to beta read this story.
Author's Note: One Earth year equals 0.74 Minbari cycles. The Minbari words and phrases were found at the "JumpNow" website in John Hightower's Minbari dictionary, though not all are direct translations. Mebels are the product of Monica's imagination.
A Bridge of Flames
Chapter Eleven
Marcus and Susan were both trying to eat their respectively bland and boring breakfasts when the two Warriors walked into Rama'Fi's jealously guarded little kingdom. (Which he thankfully had had to temporarily vacate due to a minor emergency on the engineering deck.) The sight of the brothers Hel'Aia brought all the activity within the medlab to a sudden halt and a tense silence fell. The sudden quiet got the two Humans' attention and they looked up in curiosity. When they saw the reason for the silence, both Humans were separately and suddenly glad that they hadn't been able to eat much of the pap that passed for their morning meals as the stomach churning anxiety that the two brothers had brought on would have made sure that they would have been parted from said pap in a most embarrassing fashion.
The now tense and anxious silence continued to stretch until Neroon gruffly ordered the medical staff out. The Minbari Healers left their posts quite reluctantly, all the while trying to catch the taciturn Satai's eyes in order to try and change his mind about the order. Neroon coldly ignored them all as they dragged their feet almost to the point of insubordination. The medical staff did not wish to disobey the Satai, but knew that the punishments that the Chief Healer would meet out if anything befell his Human patients due to their leaving their posts would truly be worthy of his Human moniker; hence the extremely slow leave-taking.
While the Ingata's Healers slowly shuffled their way out of the medlab, Neroon shot his younger brother an angry, scowling look that screamed, "is this what the discipline of MY ship has come to under your command?" Never one to be intimidated by his elder brother's infamous scowls, Sarhat simply shrugged in the universal, "Well, it was like this when I got here, so what the hell was I supposed to do about it?" way. Neroon deflated a bit, finally giving up on ever getting Sarhat to ever come close to respecting him in whatever office he held.
The Satai snorted and shook his head at his younger brother's nonchalance. "Had I ever acted the way you do, young one, I would have been made to walk Renna ra Ahael (the Road of Fire). The Elders of our Caste have much to answer for in regards to this… this pervasive laxness," he muttered while staring daggers at the last Healer as he finally removed himself from the medlab at an increased pace after hearing of one of the worst punishments that the Warrior Caste could meet out.
"And had I acted as any of you fools, I would have called myself blessed to just be named Outcast!" Neroon angrily spat out at Healers stilled milling about in the corridor just outside the medlab before slamming the auto-lock panel with his palm.
"In the Blessed Ancestors' Names! What is this Caste coming to?" the Satai groused as the doors slid shut. He was angered by the fact that none of Healers seemed to have any respect for his Office, or him for that matter. He continued to grumble about the lack of discipline as he walked over to stand next Sarhat.
Sarhat just ignored his annoyed brother. The younger Warrior knew that there was nothing he could say to make the situation better. Nor was there anything that he could do about the Ingata's "Devil Healer", who really was at the root the problem.
No Alyt before him had ever been able to control Rama'Fi. For that matter, neither of the Ingata's two most revered Alyts, Bramner nor Neroon, no matter how much they disputed the fact, had ever been able to rein the Healer in. And if THEY hadn't been able to do anything about that rabid hunting mebel (Minbari "panther") disguised in a Healer's robe, then what did Neroon expect HIM to do about it? Sarhat snorted. He wasn't about waste valuable time and energy on an already and anciently lost battle.
While the Healers were leaving and Neroon was sniping, Susan and Marcus were having there own conversation, albeit a wordless one. All the communication was of the silent variety; expressed with arched eyebrows, wounded eyes, ground teeth, pensively bitten lips and sullen pouts. The sum of this "conversation" was that they agreed that there was no way to get out of this upcoming "show down". They also agreed that they hated it already.
Of course, Susan's little "gift" had a bit to do with all of this silent communication as well, as she made whatever use of it she could. The Commander was no longer afraid of using her weak telepathic skills. Well, she was no longer afraid of using her telepathy with Marcus - and only with Marcus. Their time together on Planet Hell had taught Susan that she could trust the Ranger with anything and visa versa.
She and Marcus had been experimenting with her touching his mind as a way to while away their sentences in this new he-- … um… make that pass the time in medlab. They of course only did that when no one was about, as they didn't want anyone to find out that Susan was telepathic. No matter what bridges they needed to build with the Warrior Caste, both were of a like mind on the "never show all of your cards" adage. It didn't hurt matters any that both thought that Susan's little gift could be of use in the upcoming negotiations. The fact that the Commander had more of an empathic ability than a telepathic ability seemed to be a bit of a sliver lining to them now. Besides, as Susan had once said… err… written, they couldn't "pull a Stalin" since they'd already admitted to speaking Lenn'ah.
That being said, Susan refused to be the first one to apologize. She was adamant that the Warriors were more in the wrong than they were and wanted to "see the pigs squirm" first. She just glared over her breakfast tray at the brothers while Marcus silently weighed the pros and cons of forcing the Warriors to apologize first.
The two Minbari ended up standing side-by-side in front of, and silently staring at the two Humans who were propped up by mounds of pillows and sitting up on their medlab platforms. Neither Warrior knew where to start the conversation since neither one had ever made such a horrendous social, not to mention political, gaffe before. Well, after another prolonged and tense silence, Marcus had had enough. The Ranger wanted this over with before the nausea got any worse. He took the lead and ended the Mexican Stand-off.
He lowered his eyes, bowed his head and greeted the two Warriors. "Satai, Alyt, good morning to you both."
"Anla'Shok," both Warriors said at the same time and then looked at each other. After a bit of silent communication on the brothers' part, Sarhat swallowed hard, stepped forward and stood before the glaring Commander's platform.
The Alyt formally bowed and said, "Commander Ivanova, I believe that you know why we are here." When Susan coldly nodded, he went on, "My Lady, I offer my sincerest apologies for my both uncouth language and behavior upon our meeting. My actions, let alone my words, were and insult both to you as a Warrior and as a Lady. I humbly ask that you accept my apology and allow me to redeem my self in your eyes."
Susan looked as if she wanted to yell and/or punch something before she finally resignedly sighed and replied with, "There is nothing that you need to apologize for, Alyt. You didn't even know that I was here when you came in. Therefore, how would you know that you needed to watch your language? As to that, as you've said, I too am a Warrior. I've heard a whole lot worse in my time - especially in boot camp! Our drill sergeant had a mouth on him that could strip metal." Susan chuckled a bit before she added, "And as Marcus can attest to, I've probably used language just as "colorful" a few times myself."
Sarhat mentally sighed in relief. The Commander was in a forgiving mood; something that their intelligence reports from Babylon 5 had said was extremely rare. He prayed that her mood would hold up as he continued, "Be that as it may, my Lady, I should have never used your demeanor to heckle the Satai. It was both a foolish and childish thing to do, and something far beneath both my rank and my Station. Again I offer my apologies for my actions and words."
Susan shook her head in denial. "Again, you have nothing to apologize for, Alyt Sarhat. It was nothing more than humorous banter on your part and should have been taken as such on ALL our parts," Susan said before shooting an angry glare at Neroon who flushed in both anger and shame, much to her secret delight. She smiled sadly before adding, "And I know how it goes between siblings. I had an older brother once, too. We used act just like that."
Sarhat caught the fact the Susan used the word "had" instead of "have". The Alyt simply looked at the Commander. He had a sinking feeling that he knew why she'd used past tense, but also knew that he had no right pry. The Warrior felt sadness well up inside of him at the knowledge that his Caste had taken so much from this Lady Warrior.
Susan caught the unspoken question in the Warriors' eyes. "The Line," she answered. It was all that needed to be said.
Sarhat sadly smiled at Susan before formally bowing again. "He must have been a strong and honorable Warrior, Commander, if you allow me to judge by your example."
Susan smiled and shook her head at the blatant "buttering up", but it was to be expected during a round of political schmoozing. "Ganya was a thousand times the officer I could ever hope to be," she replied.
This time it was Sarhat who shook his head. "I am sure that you exaggerate, Commander. May your brother walk in that place where no shadows fall, my Lady. I thank you for your understanding on this matter," he said.
Susan nodded to the Alyt. "Thank you for your condolences and again, you have nothing to apologize for."
Sarhat nodded in acknowledgment before turning to Marcus. "Anla'shok, I offer my apologies for my unacceptable language and behavior to you as well. I do realize that my actions were what precipitated all the later… unpleasantness."
Marcus bowed as formally as he could from his position. "I understand that nothing of what happened was meant, Alyt. I did not hear your words, and I hope that you did not hear mine," Marcus said, accepting the apology in the formal Minbari manner as well as tendering his own.
Sarhat smiled in relief. The Anla'shok Champion understood their ways and practiced them as well. Thank Valen for small mercies! At least it wouldn't be a long drawn out process with him as it was with his Commander.
"No, Champion, I did not hear your words," he answered jut as formally before stepping back to stand by the still flushing Neroon.
Neroon had never felt this burdened with shame and anger before. He'd never felt such shame at his own actions before, not even when he'd been called before his family Matriarch to answer for some misdeed as a child. Nor had he felt as angry with himself. Had he simply kept control of himself and not reacted to the Commander's heckling, he wouldn't be in this situation now. Neroon hated that he had besmirched both his Family name and his Office and could barely handle what he knew that he had to do now. Finally, after yet uncomfortable another silence, the Satai forced himself to act and stepped forward.
Neroon began with a formal bow to Susan as well before saying, "Commander, I speak all the languages of Minbar as well and Standard and Interlac. Yet I can say that even if I were to combine them all, there would not be enough words with which to tender an apology for the horrendous insult I have dealt you. You would be well within your rights to call for formal sanctions against me. If that is your wish, my Lady, I will personally see to it that the My Brethren are called to hear your grievance."
Marcus and Sarhat both gasped. They both knew that Neroon had just put his head on the proverbial chopping block before Susan. Marcus shot Susan a nervous look, hoping that she didn't understand exactly what Neroon was offering her.
Susan stared in shock at Neroon. From Sarhat and Marcus's expressions, she knew that Neroon was probably offering her the Minbari version of a court martial and/or impeachment hearing. She'd never expected the Warrior Satai to actually take responsibility for what he'd done, let alone this! And that made the Commander feel guilty for her part in the mess. This of course confused her because she really didn't think that she and Marcus were in any way at fault. In turn that confusion made her angry and that had her feeling even guiltier, which made her even angrier. It took Susan a bit of time to sort herself out, and THAT made all three men in the room extremely anxious.
Finally, she answered, "No, Satai. I don't require that." All three men let out breaths that they hadn't known they were holding at those words. Susan went on from there, speaking plainly this time.
"Look, I know you lost it and let your mouth run away from you, but you only did it because I ganged up on you with your kid brother. If I hadn't heckled you to begin with, you probably would never have said something that bad. So, I'm just as much to blame," she said.
Neroon shook his head at Susan's speech. "I thank you for you kind words in trying to share the blame for my actions, my Lady, but no matter the provocation, I did not and do not have the right, nor does anyone, to slander you in such a way."
The Commander could actually feel the shame and guilt that Neroon was experiencing without even touching him. So far that kind of sensitivity had only been possible with Marcus. That meant that either her abilities were gaining strength or that Neroon's repentance was real. Susan was betting on the latter.
Susan sighed. It looked like the Warrior really did feel guilty for what he'd said. That called for full disclosure and an equal apology for trying to blackmail him. God, but she hated that type of quid pro quo! It went completely in face of the old B5 axiom of "Ivanova is always right".
"Well, if we're laying it all out on the table, then I didn't then and still don't have the right to throw your grief over Shai Alyt Bramner's death in your face either," She replied, making sure not to bring up the little issue of "body snatching" again.
Neroon nodded solemnly. "I did not hear your words, Commander. At the time, you were grievously injured and not in complete control of your faculties. As such, you are in no way accountable for what had transpired."
Susan let out a breath of her own and nodded in return. "Well then, I accept your apology as well, Satai."
"Thank you for your understanding, Commander," Neroon said before turning to Marcus.
Marcus immediately lowered his eyes and bowed slightly in deference. "In'a nee atha'ri ra raha. A'defa eh'rust, Satai (I have no words of excuse for my actions. I submit myself to your authority, Satai)," Marcus said formally, acknowledging both Neroon's position of authority and his own culpability in everything that had happened.
Neroon was immediately impressed both with Marcus's comportment and his understanding of Minbari protocol. He'd been surprised to see just how much the Ranger had reacted as a Warrior Caste Second would have during the "incident". Then, Marcus had surprised him yet again with his understanding of Minbari protocol when Sarhat had spoken to him, and now this. It would seam that the Champion was the most honorable of them all. He truly was worthy of his title.
Neroon nodded formally and then voiced his thoughts on the matter. "Of all of us, Champion, you are least to blame. Frankly, you had done nothing to apologize for. You acted just as a Second should; you spoke out and acted in order to protect you Commanding Officer. Your actions speak well of you."
Marcus was shocked to hear Neroon say that. By Minbari standards, Neroon had just given him a glowing compliment. "Nie'sus ele eh' atha'ri. Nusen'taal, Satai, (I am honored by your words. Thank you, Satai)," he murmured and again bowed as formally as possible and again impressing Neroon with his words and actions.
Neroon nodded to Marcus in acknowledgment and stepped back to again stand by Sharhat who said, "Commander, Champion, we both thank you for speaking with us. Now, I am sure that we have taken up more than enough of your time that could be better spent resting and recuperating. We should leave you to you morning meals."
Both Susan and Marcus snorted at that statement. Now that the situation had been dealt with, and it's accompanying stress-induced nausea had disappeared, neither Human wanted to face their so-called "morning meal". The now cold and congealed glop in their bowls in no way resembled food to either of them. The sarcastic phrases, "Gee thanks," and "Oh joy of joys" were muttered respectively.
Both Warriors chuckled at the looks on the Humans' faces as well as their words. They both knew what the Ingata's medlab food was like from experience. Sarhat took pity on the Commander and Ranger.
"Perhaps my Chef can find something that is both more appetizing and meets the Healer's guidelines. If you wish it, I can inquire," he asked.
Both Susan and Marcus looked up with hope shining in their eyes. "Yes!" Susan fervently said at the same time Marcus practically cried out, "Please do!" Everyone laughed at the Humans' enthusiasm.
"You know, as much as I learned to despise flarn during training, right now I wouldn't mind a plate of it," Marcus said in between chuckles.
"Here, here!" Susan seconded. "Even Delenn's flarn would be better than this!" she said which had everyone chuckling again since the Priestess's lack of culinary skills was well known in the Federation. The "food poisoning incident" while she was still an acolyte assigned to Dukhat's primary aide had been so infamous that it was STILL making the rounds on the gossip circuit.
"And on that note, I do believe that we need to leave," Neroon said as he turned towards the door. Sarhat bowed to the Humans again and followed his brother out.
