A Place to Call Home

by Terri Osborne

Susan Ivanova and Lyta Alexander take on the Psi Corps. My take on the Telepath Crisis. (Story is incomplete. Publishers are beginning to be interested in my non-B5 work, so I am not sure when I'm going to get back to this.))

4.

A Place to Call Home
By Terri Osborne
terri@terriosborne.com
Part 4

All Babylon 5 characters and settings belong to JMS, Warner Brothers, TNT and anyone else with legitimate legal claim. No infringement of copyright is intended by this work. Only a few select characters are mine, and should the Great Maker need them, or anyone similar to them, I can probably be bought off with a story credit. ;-)

Even though this covers the same time period and the same major event, no infringement upon J. Gregory Keyes' novels is intended. Though, I will draw upon them for some background information.

Content Warning: [AC] [AL]

Anything encased in * these * is telepathic speech.

A note from the author: This story centers around three characters, Susan Ivanova, Alina Minette (yes, she's baaaack) and, to a certain extent, Lyta Alexander. To the I&M'ers out there, stay tuned, my friends. For the spoiler-allergic, provided you haven't read it already, I would recommend waiting to read Only Those Whose Lives Are Brief. In an intentional Babylon Squared/WWE homage, the flipside of at least one scene in Brief will show up here.

Since I'm not sure of everyone's schedules, I'll include this potential spoiler warning: I'm a continuity junkie, so this includes events through Season 5, as well as things that were revealed in the closing credits of Sleeping in Light. (If you've seen it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. If not, that's okay, it's not quite that obvious.) Background information on the Psi Corps comes from the Keyes novels. Set in the same potential future as Only Those Whose Lives Are Brief. Considering that this covers the time frame of late 2263 - early 2265, I suppose everything is a potential spoiler (though, it would be one INCREDIBLY lucky guess).

And thanks to Sarah, Sharon and Keith, my eagle-eyed beta readers! Virtual boxes of Godivas to all of you!

Now that I've probably confused the daylights out of you, how about we fix that?

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March 2, 2264

The rust and white planet that was Mars floated in the darkness in front of them.
"Where are we landing again?" Alina asked.
Lyta punched up information in the computer. "Edgars-Garibaldi Industries has a small spaceport on the far side of the main colony. It's about two kilometers out."
Alina adjusted their course as they slowly began their descent. "Do they know we're coming?"
Lyta smiled thinly. "Well, I'm a few months early, but I'm sure he won't complain much."

----------

Lyta slowly shook her head as she surveyed the tunnels. Not much had changed in the years since she had last seen these dirt walls. "I can't believe the government didn't shut these down," she said.
"Well, they wanted to," Michael Garibaldi said as he rocked back and forth on his heels, his hands firmly planted in the pockets of his trousers. His usual smug, but somehow still extremely infectious, grin was plastered across his face. "Once Edgars-Garibaldi Industries made a little land acquisition, they were out of luck."
Lyta raised an eyebrow. "A little historical preservation?"
"Philanthropy at its finest."
"And that fighting force?"
One hand left the pocket, gesturing toward the corridor before them. "If you ladies will follow me."
Alina took up step behind Michael as he walked off. Lyta, however, tried to be on the lookout for any sign of a trap. She doubted there was one, but stranger things had a habit of happening, especially when Garibaldi was involved.
Lyta tried to take comfort in the belief that he needed her alive and well as much as she needed his covert skills. When they had made their little deal, Lyta had been certain of her status as the only telepath capable of holding up her end of the bargain, certain that she had been the only telepath engineered to be a secret weapon for the Vorlons.
She was not quite so confident anymore.
In the short time she had known Alina, Lyta had only caught glimpses of the telepath's true abilities. It was enough to reinforce the belief she had had since meeting the small brunette. In all of Lyta's experience, telepaths just were not born with that level of ability. That didn't even take into account the fact that Alina was such a strong telekinetic. No, Alina had to be another Vorlon secret weapon.
Another telepath with the potential to break Garibaldi's blocks.
If Alina had truly remained hidden since the Shadow War as she claimed, who was to say that there weren't other telepaths out there who were just as strong? Who knew if Garibaldi hadn't already found one?
She could always just casually scan Michael, find out what she needed to know the easy way, but that was what had terrified the human race about telepaths to begin with. No, if their struggle was to have any chance of success, she had to avoid casually scanning anyone at all.
If that had to start with her being in the dark about Garibaldi, then so be it.
"Ladies," Michael said, stopping in a larger chamber. "Welcome to your new HQ."
Lyta could sense Alina's amazement at the sight of their new headquarters. It matched her own. She counted fifteen people manning workstations around the room. All looked relaxed in their positions, which Lyta found quite comforting. She counted a dozen computer screens that had been set into the walls. They displayed what looked to her to be securecam data. It reminded her a little of the old War Room back on Babylon Five, except this one was dirtier. "Won't the power for these stations-?"
"Paid for by the company. We're putting a small research facility right over you, so the power use should go unnoticed."
"What if it is noticed?"
Michael raised an eyebrow. "I'll take care of it. Don't worry."
Alina looked up from a console. "How much of the underground area is covered by securecam?"
"Everything within a five kilometer radius." Michael stepped over to the console beside Alina and flipped a switch. The displays beside him began to change, each screen displaying a different camera angle for a few seconds, then changing to another view. "If it hasn't got a camera, it's got an alarm system. Not even Tessa Halloran could get into this place without major explosives or a full-scale assault team."
Lyta and Alina exchanged looks. "Tessa Halloran?"
"Number One," Michael said.
Lyta nodded. "Are those the access tunnels from when she ran the place, or is that another little gift from the company?"
"Just call me Santa," Michael cracked. "All of the old ones are blocked up. Every way in here has been dug in the last six months."
"So, when do I get to meet with the government rep?"
"This evening."
Lyta could not help but smile. This was working out far better than she had planned. "How many people in all?" she could not resist asking.
Michael touched the screen closest to him, then scrolled through a list. "Well, looks like we're up over three hundred right now."
"Three hundred? In a year?" Lyta asked, stunned. She hadn't expected so many of her scattered telepaths to find the new headquarters so quickly.
"That's just yesterday's count," Michael said. "We're getting more people coming in by the day."
"How many are rogue telepaths?"
"About ninety percent."
Alina turned. "We've got two hundred and seventy rogue telepaths hiding in the Corps' backyard?"
Michael's grin expanded. "Poetic, isn't it?"
"Who's our strongest teep?" Lyta asked.
"That would be me," a voice from behind Lyta said. She turned to find a man standing in the tunnel she had just left. He held the laser torch in his hand as if he were very comfortable with it. He ran his free arm across his forehead, wiping some of the sweat and grime out of what looked to be dark blonde hair. The sheer strength of his presence belied his compact build. The mix of sincerity and skepticism in his eyes reminded her somewhat of Zack. There was an air of authority about him, and Lyta knew in an instant that he had been the person in charge of this small unit until this moment. He introduced himself as Andrew Keene.
"Mister Keene," Lyta said, "I take it Mister Garibaldi has filled you in on everything that is happening here?"
He sat the torch on an empty table, stepping toward the women. "You guys are taking on the Corps. That's all I needed to know."
"We can trust you?" Alina asked.
"I think the question is, can I trust you?"
"How strong are you?"
"What?"
"What's your rating?"
"High P12."
Alina turned a raised eyebrow toward Lyta. "We've got a rogue Psi Cop?"
"I wasn't a Cop."
"You claim to be a P12," Lyta said. "If you're telling the truth, you had to be a Psi Cop."
"Did I?" Keene asked. "The Corps did have desk jobs, you know."
Lyta felt Alina's mistrust of what she was hearing.
"Will you submit to a scan?" the brunette asked.
"Ladies, ladies," Garibaldi interjected. "The guy's clean. He's telling the truth. I checked it out myself. Besides, he's been here since the beginning. If he was going to turn this operation over to the Corps, he'd have done it by now."
"Would he?" Lyta asked. "The Corps could have made up all of the documentation he needed to prove the story, Michael. He could just as easily have been waiting on us to show up. The only real test is to scan him."
"You can trust me," Keene stated, nodding toward Lyta. "But, I understand. According to the files, you're nothing more than a P5. Who's going to do the scan?"
Alina turned toward her, grinning. "I'm going to let you take care of this one."
Lyta's smile thinned as she stepped toward Keene. "Mister Keene, I have one piece of advice for you. Never believe the Psi Corps."
She stared intently into Keene's blue eyes, walking right into his mind as if no blocks had been set in place. His surprise at the strength of the scan came to the forefront, but she passed it by in favor of more lucrative information. She could read his thoughts like a book, and decided to skim through to the last year of his life. She saw him wearing the same style of navy blue business suit that she had seen on human businessmen throughout her travels of late. No black uniform. The Psi Corps shield rested on his lapel. She could feel the gloves sliding onto his hands, the dread of another day at his job. Another day of rogue telepath paperwork. Another day of trying not to wish his name was on those papers.
Another day of having to face that man.
"Bester," she whispered.
An argument materialized before her, an argument with a Psi Cop by the name of Alfred Bester. Bester threatened Keene. Threatened to put his family on the sleepers if he didn't cooperate.
Cooperate with what?
Lyta could feel that Keene had planned to escape the Corps, a plan that set off warning bells in her mind. She didn't sense a telepathic scan in Keene's memory, but that meant nothing when it came to Bester. Sure, Bester had been good at subtlety many years ago, but if the telepathic blocks he had put into Garibaldi's brain were any indication, the little weasel was getting almost brazen about his power.
That was when she saw Keene's family fleeing from Marsdome in bulky environment suits that barely protected them from the Martian dust storms. Breather masks that did nothing to help his gasping for breath as he ran over sand dune after sand dune.
The bloodhound units that had tracked them.
The agony as he felt his wife's death.
The terror as his young daughter stared down the barrel of a PPG rifle.
The knowledge that he had been the only survivor.
She pulled back, confident that what she was seeing was the truth. When she focussed on his face once more, she noticed a tear streaking through the grime on his cheek. "I'm sorry," was all she could whisper.
"Don't be," he said. "I just want to be there when you take down that son of a bitch."
"You will be," Lyta stated. "If there's anything I can do about it, you will be."
"Excuse me," Garibaldi said. "Is there anyone here without a vendetta against Bester?"
Alina waved a hand. "I don't even know who you're talking about."
This surprised Lyta. "You don't? How long were you on Daltron Seven?"
"About two years. I went there right after Earth fell to President Sheridan."
"What about before that?" Garibaldi asked. "During the Shadow War we were looking for telepaths like you."
"You had me, Mister Garibaldi. I left the Rangers when I went to Daltron Seven."
"Delenn let you go?" he asked.
Alina's eyes turned troubled. "Lennier said she was mourning a friend."
"Friend of yours?"
"Yes," she said, giving the word an air of finality.
Almost as if it were punctuating her words, a rumble began in the tunnel floor.
"What's that?" Lyta asked.
Keene steadied his balance, then gave her a worried look. "Feels like a cave in somewhere."
Alina closed her eyes for a few moments, then pointed at one of the tunnels. "That way."
Michael scrolled through displays on one workstation until he found the site. "She's right." He put a message through the unit, then bolted off down the tunnel with Lyta, Alina and Keene in tow.
When they reached the site, a small mountain of red rock that blocked the tunnel to its ceiling greeted them.
"Dig crew is on its way," Garibaldi said.
"Was anything on the other side of this?" Lyta asked.
Michael shook his head. "Empty bunk rooms. Nobody's moved in yet."
Lyta stared intently at the rock. "Somebody's in there."
"Can't be," Keene said. "This tunnel was supposed to be cleared."
"Well, it's not." Lyta felt something inside her beginning to take control. Her vision slowly changed until everything around her was bathed in shades of gray.
"Where are you picking it up?" Alina asked, stepping around Keene.
Keene backed away as Lyta turned to look at them. "About five meters ahead," Lyta said. "Very weak."
Alina nodded, stepping up beside the redhead. "I'll follow you in."
Lyta was surprised when Alina did just that. The brunette latched onto Lyta's telepathic line, following it to the source of the feeling.
"Stand back," Alina said.
The men moved back, half because of the warning, half out of utter shock.
"What are you going to do?" Lyta asked.
"It's a child, Lyta. I'm going to bring her out."
Lyta turned a slow stare onto Alina. "You can do that?"
"Watch and learn."
Lyta did just that, and was happy to see color slowly return to her vision. She took careful note as Alina adjusted her breathing, still staring at the mountain of rock.
Then everything began to move.
The sounds of rocks falling into a gap filled the tunnel. Slowly at first, then picking up speed. Alina's closed eyes began to quiver as if she were sleeping.
"What's she doing?" Garibaldi asked. "Lyta?"
The redhead shook her head. "I see it, but I don't believe it."
Rocks at the base of the small mountain slowly began to shift.
"Everybody back!" Keene shouted.
"No," Lyta said. "Look!"
Rock after rock began moving aside until a small tunnel was formed. With a delicate slowness the injured child, a little girl, came sliding out of that tiny space. Red dirt was clotted around a wound on her forehead. She was curled on her side with her arms folded around her knees. Cuts and scrapes covered her exposed skin. Lyta reached a hand toward the girl's dirty face. The poor thing could not have been more than five years old.
When the child was free of the rocks, Alina collapsed to the ground. Keene was beside her in an instant, but she tried to wave him off. "I'm okay," she said. "But, whatever you do, don't move her right now. She's got internal injuries and a severe head wound. Does this dump have a doctor around?"
Garibaldi nodded. "Just to be safe, I called him when I called the dig crew. He should be here any second."
The little girl took a gasping breath before a coughing fit racked her body. It didn't take long for Lyta to be in sympathy with the child. It looked as if every cough seized her with pain. When the hacking finally subsided, the child began to softly whimper. Lyta tried to brush the dust off of the girl's face. "Honey, it's going to be okay."
"It hurts," the little girl moaned.
"I know," Alina answered, slowly crawling across the tunnel floor to where the child lay. "The rocks hurt you, didn't they?"
The girl tried to nod, but abruptly stopped.
"Honey," Lyta said. "What's your name?"
"Kelly."
"Well, Kelly, you've got one heck of a bump on your head," Alina stated. The exhaustion was evident in her voice, but the brunette managed to keep it out of her expression. "But, I think you're going to be all right."
"You a doctor?" Kelly asked.
Alina turned a guilty look to Lyta. "Well, actually, yes."
"You're a doctor?" Garibaldi asked. "Why did you ask if we had one?"
"Do I look like I can properly take care of her right now, Mister Garibaldi? She needs help, but right now I can't give her the care she needs. She needs two people right now, a doctor and her mother. If you want to help, you can go find them."
He turned to Lyta, who just raised one red eyebrow and said, "You heard her, Michael. Go."
Michael nodded, and vanished back down the corridor.
"How did you do that?" Lyta asked.
Alina braced herself against Keene as she tried to sit up. "Old telekinetic's trick," she replied. "If this is any indication, I may have to teach it to a few people."
"Can I be first on that list?"
Alina nodded. "But, I didn't think you were a telekinetic."
Lyta smiled. "A little gift from the Vorlons."
Alina pressed a hand to Kelly's head, close to the wound. "Kelly, you're going to feel a little tingle, but it's going to make your head better, okay?"
"Okay."
Alina adjusted her breathing once again, closing her eyes as her palm rested around the curve of Kelly's skull. "No skull fracture. This I can take care of."
"Are you sure?" Keene asked.
"She has a concussion. That's going to have to heal itself. The gash in her forehead I can handle."
"Watch and learn?" Lyta asked.
"Watch and learn," Alina smiled. "Mister Keene, if you could be so kind as to keep holding me up?"
Keene shifted position, until he was crouched behind Alina. "I'll be right here."
"Now, Kelly, tell me when you feel that tingle, all right?"
Kelly tried to nod, but the pain stopped any movement. "Okay," she whispered.
Alina moved her palm so it hovered over the gash. Lyta felt the focus of a great deal of energy through that hand. She could only remember feeling something similar once before, right after she had helped her Kosh assassinate the last Vorlon ambassador to Babylon Five. It was the sensation that a vast amount of energy was being used to heal. This was a trick Lyta desperately wanted to learn.
"I feel it," Kelly said. Her voice even sounded stronger.
"Good," Alina whispered. "It won't be long, now."
Before Lyta realized it was over, Alina moved her palm away from Kelly's head and turned to Keene. There was no visible difference in the little girl's condition. "Garibaldi said these were empty bunks," Alina said. "Have water pumps been installed yet?"
Keene nodded. "About ten meters back in the tunnel."
Lyta was on her feet before Alina turned around. "I'll get it."
"Get something to wash her face with," Alina called as Lyta stepped away.
She walked the ten meters and came to a small faucet. Water was almost as scarce on Mars as it was on the Moon, but when she considered that Edgars-Garibaldi Industries was footing the bill, it wasn't surprising to see a few simple luxuries here and there. A few seconds of hunting netted her a small, relatively clean pail and a rag that wasn't covered in too much red dust. She could hear Garibaldi's voice in the tunnel as she finished filling the pail.
"They're right down here, Doc," Michael said as he passed Lyta. "Minette's a doctor, too."
The camp's doctor was a younger man, Lyta figured him for less than thirty years of age at best. He stood about a head shorter than Garibaldi, with shoulder-length, curly hair that was just a shade shy of the red dirt that surrounded them. "Then why isn't she tending to the patient?" he asked.
"It took everything she had just to get her out of the rubble," Lyta interrupted. "Now, if you'll excuse me, they're waiting for this water."
She edged her way around the doctor and Garibaldi, arriving back with Keene, Alina and Kelly just seconds ahead of the two men. "Here," she said, handing Alina the pail and cloth.
The small brunette looked so fragile. It took Keene's help just to get her into a sitting position. Her dark green eyes raised to the man with Garibaldi. "The camp doctor, I presume?"
"Yes," he said. "I take it you're Minette?"
The dig crew entered the tunnel as Alina dropped one of the rags into the pail. "Yes. This is Kelly. She's got a concussion and what feel to me like three broken ribs. One is a little too close to her lung for my liking."
Alina wiped the wet rag over the girl's head. Lyta's eyes shot open as the dirt and blood were washed away, revealing perfect flesh without even a scar. She heard Keene's breath catch.
"How'd you do that?" Keene asked.
"Old telekinetic's trick," Alina quipped, turning toward the camp doctor. "I'm too weak to do any more for her. Move her, and you could puncture her lung."
"Leave her here and I can't set those ribs," the doctor replied.
Keene's eyes darted between the women. "We could keep her here until Alina gets her energy back. Could we move her then?"
Garibaldi shook his head. "And if this tunnel goes in the meantime, this is a pretty pointless argument."
The sound of tiny rocks falling echoed through the tunnel.
Lyta felt something almost telepathic brush against her defenses. She instantly knew that her abilities were being measured. She also knew it was Alina taking the numbers.
"Okay," Alina sighed. "Get something stable in here to take her out on. No stretchers. Are there any low tables in this place that have wheels?"
"How low?" Keene asked.
"The lower the better."
Lyta followed Alina's gaze over to where the dig crew was quietly working on making a molehill out of the mountain of red dirt. Behind them were three low carts. Only one was empty, but from where Lyta stood it looked just big enough to carry Kelly. "That'll do," Lyta said.
Alina nodded. "Yes. We should be able to lift her that high without too much risk."
"You just said if we moved her we'd puncture a lung," the doctor said.
"I know of a way that we can control the move," Alina said, her eyes turning to Lyta. "But right now I can't do it alone."
Lyta nodded. "Just tell me what to do."
"Can you reach in and see the broken ribs?"
"What?"
Alina pursed her lips. "I'll take that as a no. Damn. All right. Can you follow a telekinetic contact?"
"I think so."
"Good. I'll guide you in. We're going to hold the broken ribs in place while she's lifted into the cart. If it's as stable as it looks, she should be okay from there on."
The sounds of another rockslide came from deeper in the tunnel.
"We don't have a lot of time," Garibaldi said.
"Then we do it now," Alina stated. Her eyes slowly closed, and Lyta felt that same energy flowing out of the small woman's body. She felt the energy seep into Kelly's tiny body. It took a few moments for the connection to stabilize, allowing Lyta to follow the thin telekinetic thread.
Lyta's copper eyes closed, and images came alive in her mind. She saw Kelly's thin body, the individual layers of her skin, muscle tissue, nerves, tendons, and finally the broken fragments of bone. It was a frightening three-dimensional anatomy lesson. "I see the break," she whispered.
"Good," Alina answered.
With Alina's words came a change in the telekinetic energies being used. Lyta felt those energies form a barrier between the jagged edges of the broken bones and the fragile tissue of Kelly's lung. It was a weak barrier, one Lyta immediately threw all of the energy she could spare into reinforcing.
"Lift her," Alina directed. "Now."
Someone did as they were told, and Lyta was forced to strengthen her hold on Kelly's broken ribs. It took a surprising amount of energy just to hold the bones in place for the few seconds it took to get Kelly into the cart. Her body sagged, but someone thought quickly and put their hands under her shoulders. She felt her knees weaken, and the person's grasp became stronger.
"She's in the cart," Keene's voice said.
Lyta could not hear Alina's voice, but felt the instruction to slowly release her hold on the child. She followed Alina's lead, helping to temporarily set Kelly's ribs into position.
Lyta had the utmost confidence in their procedure until, without any warning whatsoever, Alina's energies vanished.
She heard Keene's voice repeating Alina's name.
Lyta gently released her hold on Kelly, praying to the Great Maker that nothing would happen when they tried to move that cart out of there.
The hands continued to hold her upright. Her telekinetic abilities freed, she reached out telepathically and met very familiar territory. "Thanks, Michael," she said as she opened her eyes.
"You going to be okay?" he asked.
Lyta nodded. "Just a little weak. That takes a lot out of you."
"You, maybe," Michael scoffed, tilting his head toward where Keene was hovering over an unconscious Alina. "You think she's going to be okay?"
"Telepathically, she's just out cold," Keene replied.
Michael turned toward the camp doctor. "What about physically?"
"Been a while since I've seen anything like that," the doctor replied. "Looks like an extreme case of exhaustion. I've got everything to treat it back in the Infirmary."
Lyta looked around at the empty cavern. "Kelly's got the only cart. How do we get her back?"
"Easy," Keene said, lifting Alina's unconscious body in both arms. "I'll meet you guys there."

[End part 4 of ?]