Zeryn Dassul came into the plaza in time to see a monstrously huge droid carry away an unconscious Ardos Camarr. It sprouted thrusters from its back and actually flew off with Ardos.
"Londo! Are you seeing this?" She asked.
"I sure am."
"Can you take this droid down?"
"Not without risking Ardos, Zeryn."
Regardless of what they could or could not do, while they talked the droid entered a craft and flew off.
"I'm tracking it." Londo said through their intercom.
Zeryn turned around and was about to leave for the Pilgrim when a flickering light caught her eye. The flicker of a failing hologram. Was that Khran's holodroid? How had he found them? Zeryn approached him.
The holodroid was still active, even if it seemed to be failing fast. Khran's image stared at her between flickers, and his voice came through a buzz of static.
"You… have… to save him. The zzzschwwwwzzz tcher. He has the sssszzztrrrrrkkkksh. Save him. Get the chip."
"What?" I cannot hear you, Khran.
"The schhh. He has the chip. Save him. The Watchhhhhzzzzzkkk he will die."
"What chip, Khran? What is this chip?"
"The force chip. Schhhhhh zzzzz. completes the body. The Watcher cannot schhhh zzzz."
The holodroid's lights died out, and Khran's telepresence faded.
"Londo, did you hear it?"
"Yes… The Watcher has some chip that completes Ardos' body. As if he weren't menacing enough as it is. Well I don't think it really changes much, does it?"
"No… Zeryn said. We are going after him, are we not?"
"I think we will" Londo said.
"Not alone" Someone said behind Zeryn. Narla Hal, the crazy jedi woman was getting up. "You are not going to save him alone." She said again.
Zeryn's pistols came to her hand just as Narla's lightsaber lit up. Both women stared at each other before Zeryn said.
"You have got to be fricking mad, woman."
"I've been told, but it's you who would be mad to deny my help."
"What?" Londo said "What's going on there?"
"It's the crazy jedi, Londo. She is alive and wants to help us, or so she says. I will put you on speaker."
Narla straightened up and switched her lightsaber off.
"I do not 'want' to help you, clawdite. You will help me. Ardos Camarr is my master, and he needs my help. We will do it together, or I will do it alone, but I am going nevertheless."
"And we should trust you… why?"
Narla scoffed.
"You should not trust me at all. In fact, do not trust me. However, we do want the same thing. We can work together. We can also work alone, but you guys are resilient if nothing else. If we work together, we might make it. The Watcher, whoever it is, has already proven to be more than a match for each of us alone."
Zeryn still hadn't holstered her weapons.
"I'd feel safer shooting you in the back."
"As if you could. Be glad I am allowing you to speak, much less work with me. But you do know I have survived the crumbling of a temple which I myself brought down, so if I say we can do it together, you'd be wise to listen."
"You tried to kill us!" Londo screamed.
"And now I want us to band together and save the one person we can all agree has to be saved. Can you guys see, how rich it is that among the three of us I am the voice of reason?"
Zeryn tightened her grip around her pistols, a flicker away from shooting at Narla.
"I would think about my next action very carefully if I were you." Narla said.
Every one of Zeryn's instincts wanted her to pull the trigger. Not for a single moment did she believe Narla could be trusted, or even relied upon. When you work with someone, whoever it is, for whatever reason it is, trust is the one currency that you just cannot lack. So, no, Zeryn wouldn't work with Narla if she were the last ally she had in the galaxy.
Although, coming to think of it… she pretty much was. Other than Londo and the Pilgrim, what did she had? She couldn't trust Narla, but maybe… pointing her in a direction and telling her to sick it just might help her get to Ardos.
"I have it on display…" Londo's voice sounded "Ardos is being taken to a cruiser that's parked right beside the city. It's a providence-class destroyer, a dreadnought. Those things are huge, and any chance we have of getting there alone is slim at best. This thing can shoot us out of the sky like we're nothing."
Narla remained unmoved.
"Do you have a plan, Londo?" Zeryn asked.
"We could pull a Khran on them."
Zeryn frowned a bit.
"A what?"
"We could do the same thing we did when we boarded Khran's interdictor, but this time, we could coordinate it among ourselves. I can configure the Pilgrim to disappear for the dreadnought. When I do, we can approach the ship and look like space debris for their sensors, but if we do this, they might blow us up before we hit their shields. However, if Narla attempts a frontal assault with her ship, the cruiser just might decide we are not worth the effort of shooting out."
Narla leaned her head to a side and seemed to ponder it.
"Do you think you can pull this off, Narla?" Londo asked.
"Oh, I can pull this off. Can you?"
"You've seen us do it before" Zeryn said.
Narla half smiled as she said.
"That sounds like a good strategy to me, and if, by any chance, one of us is blown off by the dreadnought, the other can still reach master Camarr." By the tone in her voice, it was clear she not only expected, but counted on Londo and Zeryn being blown off.
"Very well." Zeryn said. "Take your ship and go. You cannot miss a Providence-class destroyer. We will take your cue and move in. If we both make it, reach us on channel five hundred and twelve."
Narla turned her back to Zeryn, who still had her pistols pointed at her, and said as she left.
"Try not to be late, dears. It's bound to be a blast."