CHAPTER 11

"Watch out!"

"Susan, no!"

Jess was momentarily startled as she heard the words yelled at her and was vaguely aware of Marcus and Zack running towards her. Zack reached her just as she fired a shot. Cursing, he grabbed her arm and tried to wrestle the PPG from her grip.

Marcus faltered as he suddenly saw Sheridan go down and realised he'd been hit. He rushed over to the injured man and dropped to his knees by his side. Swiftly, he checked Sheridan's wounded left shoulder. "You'll be fine, it went straight through. Better get to Stephen so he can dress it. I'll help Mr. Allen." He looked up at a shocked Delenn and quickly placed his hands in the traditional triangle greeting. "En'Til'Zha, it's good to see you again," he said with a brief nod.

He was stopped from saying anything further when Zack suddenly let out a shout of pain and doubled over, pressing his hands to his groin. He had just got the PPG from Jess, but then she had aimed a very hard kick at his most sensitive area and once it connected, she had broken free and made a dash for the exit.

Mind in a turmoil over everything he'd just witnessed, Marcus stood up and immediately went after her, calling out to ask Zack if he was OK as he passed. The security chief groaned out an affirmative and Marcus paused just long enough to pick up a PPG then headed out through the exit in pursuit of Jess.

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Samuel led Ivanova towards the docking bay and was pleased to find that she wasn't leaning on him much anymore. "You seem to be better," he noted quietly.

"Yeah, the drug must be wearing off. My strength's coming back to me with every step. I almost feel good as new," she replied with some relief. She had been worried that the injection may have had some lasting affect.

"That is good," the Ranger replied and then seemed to want to add more but thought better of it.

Footsteps ahead alerted them to someone's approach and Ivanova's eyes widened in shock as a woman rounded the corner, obviously in a great hurry. She looked nervously over her shoulder before turning back and then, noticing Susan for the first time, she stopped dead in her tracks, a look of total surprise on her face.

"Jess," Ivanova growled and started walking angrily towards her, with Samuel in tow.

"Susan," the other woman snarled as the surprise wore off and she was left with pure hatred running through her veins. "How perfectly horrible to see you again. You're supposed to be dead."

"I nearly was thanks to you, but to quote an old friend of mine, I got better," she replied, coming to a halt in front of her enemy.

"Pity, I'll just have to make sure it doesn't happen a second time," Jess retorted and drew a knife out of her boot. She waved it in front of Susan's face and Samuel took a step forward to help out.

"No," Ivanova ordered abruptly and shrugged the cloak she was wearing off her shoulders, letting it slide noiselessly to the floor. "She's mine, just stay out of this."

Samuel, bent to retrieve the cape from the floor and then stepped back out of the way. He respected that it was her fight but knew he would come to her aid if needs be.

The two women circled each other warily, until Jess lunged at Ivanova, trying to stab her in the gut. Susan sidestepped and went to grab Jess' arm but the younger girl was too quick for her and slapped her hard across the face. In her still relatively weakened state, Ivanova sunk down onto one knee.

Samuel took a step forward to help the fallen woman but Jess turned in his direction. "You should have done what she said and stayed out of it," Jess told him wrathfully. Samuel realised too late that the woman was quite mad and paid for it when she suddenly threw the knife, hitting him with devastating accuracy. The Ranger clutched his chest and silently fell to the floor

"No!" Susan yelled in a mixture of horror and anger. She got up and ran at Jess, slamming her against the corridor wall. Slightly winded, Jess still managed to grab ahold of Susan and they wrestled each other to the ground.

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Garibaldi cast one last look of disgust over Carrington's prone body and turned to Jackson. "Don't let this scum get away. I'll deal with him when I get back."

Jackson nodded and watched the ex-security chief run off. He looked back down at Carrington who was moaning slightly as he came back to conciousness and bent down to drag him up off of the floor.

"Come on, let's get you to a nice cosy holding cell," he said and got a barely audible grunt in response.

Jackson had to hand it to Garibaldi, the man could hit. He'd almost taken the guy's head off with his punch, it was so violent and Jackson couldn't blame him. He'd wanted to do the same himself when he'd heard what their 'mission' was and reason's behind it. He just hoped Garibaldi wasn't too late.

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Running along the corridor in pursuit of Jess, Marcus tried to figure out just what the hell was happening. Instinct told him that something wasn't right but, he couldn't deny his own eyes. He had seen Susan shoot Sheridan.

'What had made her act like that? Maybe it wasn't really Sheridan and Susan hadn't had enough time to tell anyone', he thought to himself in an attempt to try and justify her actions. A sinking feeling told him that that wasn't the answer though and the considering the fact that she probably wasn't 'possessed' either, it only left one other answer…she'd turned traitor.

Naturally, he baulked at the thought, refusing to believe that after everything they'd been through with the Shadows and Erathforce, she'd just turn against him like that. Susan's affection for and loyalty to Sheridan had, on more than one occasion, caused Marcus' jealous nature to rise to the fore.

He shook his head. No, whatever this was, it wasn't Susan. Suddenly, he thought of Bester. He'd done exactly the same thing to Garibaldi…why not Ivanova? She was an even more unexpected source. Of course! That had to be it!

Marcus turned the corner and stopped abruptly as he took in the scene before him. Face down unconscious on the floor, lay a dark-haired woman. She was shabbily dressed and her long hair was concealing her features from him.

He scanned the rest of the area and saw Susan was kneeling over a prone man who had a dagger sticking out of his chest. By the uniform, Marcus saw he was a Ranger. He saw her grab the handle of the knife and yank the weapon out. Sickness rose up into his throat and he jerkily held up the PPG he was holding.

"Susan," he called, his voice not betraying his inner turmoil at the unpleasant situation that now faced him. "Drop the knife and move away from the body."

Jess looked up and cursed silently to herself. She glanced over at Ivanova and saw that she was still out cold. Thinking quickly, she stood up and schooled her features to one of pure shock. She looked agitatedly around as though she were seeing everything for the first time, then brought her eyes back up to meet Marcus'. "What's happened?" she gasped. "What am I doing here?" She looked down at the bloodied knife in her hand and at the dead Ranger then dropped the weapon as if it had burned her. "What have I done? Help me, Marcus," she whispered as she covered her face with her hands and began to weep.

Marcus' eyes narrowed suspiciously at first but his heart couldn't help but soften when he saw her sink to her knees, apparently crying her eyes out. Without a second thought, Marcus lowered the gun and strode over to his love to stand in front of her.

He stared down at her bent head, compassion filling his soul as he saw the remorse she was feeling for her acts. He went down on one knee and pulled her into his embrace. "Bester did this to you, didn't he?"

Not knowing what he was talking about, Jess merely nodded. She took her hands away from her face then wound her arms around his waist as she leant her cheek against his.

"Bastard!" he swore abruptly and pulled her tighter, gently smoothing her hair. "Don't worry, when we explain everything to the President, I'm sure he'll understand. He forgave Mr. Garibaldi after all that he did and that was much worse."

Again, Jess nodded, then slowly moved her left hand down his back and along his thigh. Not a tear even remotely near the surface, her face was a mask of hate as she continued to make the appropriate sobbing noises in order to trick the Ranger in her arms. Her hand left his leg and she felt around on cold floor until her fingers curled around the handle of the knife.

Ever so slowly, she lifted her arm. Just as she was about to plunge the weapon deep into Marcus' back, she felt a searing pain shoot through her side. Her body jerked back, out of his embrace and she cried out in shock, automatically dropping the knife. Looking down, she saw the PPG, Marcus held and grimaced as she gingerly held her hand to her injured side.

Marcus kicked the knife away and stared back at her coldly. Slowly he stood, the PPG still trained on his prey. "Using your left hand gave you away," he informed her. "Now, what's going on, who are you and where the hell is the real Susan?" he demanded, his voice dripping ice.

"As if I'm going to tell you anything," Jess told him scornfully.

Marcus stepped forward and grabbed her arm roughly pulling her up to stand. "My temper has worn very thin," he warned. "Where's Susan?"

"Dead," Jess lied with an evil smile but Marcus saw her involuntary glance towards the prone woman on the corridor floor.

The Ranger immediately walked over to the unconscious female, pulling Jess along with him. He put the PPG in his pocket and crouched down by the body. He reached out and gently moved the hair away to reveal the face of Susan Ivanova. He checked for a pulse and let out a quiet sigh of relief when he felt the comfortingly movement on her neck.

Realising he had to get the imposter into custody, Marcus prepared to stand but was knocked of balance by Jess giving him a well aimed kick to the chin. His head snapped back and he released her as he fell sideways. Desperately fighting to keep concious, he was aware of her pulling the PPG from his pocket and tried in vain to stop her.

A shot rang out and the next thing he knew, Jess fell to the floor beside him, quite dead. Marcus sat up then watched in fascination as the shape suddenly began to change and form into a young woman with short dark hair. "Jess," he muttered in some surprise.

"She was wearing a changeling net," a voice said from the end of the corridor. "I'm glad I got here when I did. I thought I was going to be too late."

The man walked forward and the Ranger looked up with a smile. "Thank you," he said to his rescuer gratefully. "You saved mine and Susan's life."

Garibaldi smiled grimly back and felt a great weight lift from his heart. "After all that's happened, it's the least I could do."