A/U-Setting: Approx 2 months after power of mind, think of it more as section 2 of the story I guess. (If you haven't read Power of Mind, READ IT FIRST!) All our characters are fairing well- John, Delenn and Co. This is going to be a lot like the original Mind War's 'specially in the beginning, and yes, Claire will show but won't play the same role, nor do the same things. But expect turns, fighting, love (I/m, now relationship's been established…he he he) and hopefully a semi good story. Enjoy the First part !! ^_^ !!

            Captain's Log.

            There are whispers, now, of the growing tension between the Telepaths and the normals and I worry of the future. A war between the two of us could cause terrible consequences, and the uncertainty it could cause indefinitely could be greater. I pray I don't live to see it, but that telepaths and us have not learned to co-exist as all other aliens in this sector. If the Psi Corps won't let go of the power already bestowed, and I fear the Clarks now ended reign sped up the growing tension by ten fold. I now have plans to get the telepaths who want to be free of the Corp's power as soon as possible. The Corps must be stopped, and when the time comes we need all the help we can get, telepath or not.

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            Down below hustled with bunches of homeless lurkers, willing to pick pocket anyone in a heartbeat, or do whatever was necessary for a couple credits. A broad figure hung to the shadows not to be seen, and in down below those who saw you paid no attention. Blind eyes were always best in these matters.

            His dark cold eyes made contact with another's, he was of a smaller build, but just a broad and strong as the first.

            "Listen," The man looked around making sure no one was paying them any attention, "Here is half the credits. I've told you, place them into your account a little at a time so Mr. Garibaldi won't notice." He paused checking the hallway again. "Wait a weak maybe two weeks, and if you leave this station., I will have your hide."

            The man looked up, his piercing aqua eyes looking into the other man's dark ones measuring the truth to his words ."I understand. Two weeks, he'll be gone. I want my money soon as possible so I can leave this cursed station."

            "Agreed."

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            Michael Garibaldi walked in to the War room, to see that the rest of the Command Staff, Captain John Sheridan, Dr. Steven Franklin, and Corwin were already sitting down at a circular glass table, all engaged with conversation with each other. Ranger Susan Ivanova , and her Ranger Marcus Cole stood against the far wall privately talking.

            "Sorry I'm late. Zack and I had to patch a few things up before I left." He pulled out a table, and sat down and immediately relaxed. Susan and Marcus walked over, and took their respective seats.

            Captain Sheridan started the meeting, "Well, all seems good on the Interstellar front. However, at home things are brewing quicker than we expected." He took a breath,

"Susan, you can explain."

"Some of the Rangers have been assigned to take Rouge Telepaths off world and to safety, now it is even more crucial to save them. On behalf of the Rangers, and the IA, we're trying to see if Babylon 5 can be used as a transfer point of sorts. Where telepaths stay until arrangements can be made to get them to a safe place to live."

            "As Chief of security that's going to be one hell of a security hassle, Susan."  She nodded.

            "Franklin?" Sheridan prompted him.

            "I see no problem with it from my view, as long as they're gone quickly. I vote Yes."

            "Corwin?"

            He paused, looking at the people in the room. Each had seen much more, and understood much more of what was going on than he did. He nodded. "Lets do this."

Sheridan  nodded ."In the end, we're going to need all the allies we can get. On behalf of this station I vote yes."

            Susan could feel Garibaldi's mistrust of telepaths roll off him and seep into her mind unwillingly. She knew the rouges who could escape were going to come anyway, and the fact the ones that failed were going to be killed or kill themselves. Her face remained stoic as she went over painful memories in her mind once again, things that didn't need to be remembered. She spoke to Marcus in her mind.

            This better work…

            He thought, and she picked it up. Don't worry, it will. Your nervous…you know we've got it planned.

            The Psi Corps…

            "I still say that we're going to get in an heap of trouble because of this. If the Psi Corps ever finds out, we'll be screwed." Garibaldi crossed his arms giving a pointed stare at Sheridan.

            "Bloodhounds. If we're caught they'll bring the bloodhound unit." Susan looked at the group. Her tone dropping.

            "The what?"

            "Bloodhound Unit. They hunt telepaths. Use their P12 abilities to feel for any telepathic signature, and once they find it, hunt the person down. If the person is a rouge of the Corps the Bloodhounds will attack them, until they're unconscious and if all possible get them off the station and into their headquarters before they even awake. And from there…"They could just look at the scar of the Greek symbol psi on her face to know.

            Garibaldi whistled. "They never cease to amaze me."

            "Think about it. I want each one of you to reconcider your vote, accounting all possible dangers and possible pros you can run across. Meet here tomorrow, same time, same place. Dismissed."

            "John, I need to speak to you privately.".

            Marcus and Susan waited while everyone exited, then she spoke, "I'm heading this John, and I'm not stupid. I'm willing to do this. But the second you know the Corps is coming, I'm evacuating all the telepaths I can off the station, and we're heading to Minbar. I'm still a wanted woman on Earth, and so is Mari. I'm not putting her in any jeopardy. Delenn has informed you of complete Ranger Involvement?"

            "Yes, she has. What the group of your is doing is…"

            "Trying to balance the power before the war begins." Marcus finished for him.

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"Claire, hurry get on the ship!"  The tall slender woman's voice was desperate as she pushed her child along through the dense crowd of human's as fast as possible. The woman's hands kept contact with the girls back, edging her forward through the space/air port with a great speed, her bright blue eyes searching for gate number 23.

            "Mommy! Please, don't make me go!"

            The woman was near tears, and the child was crying protesting the movements her mother was making her do. ."Honey," Her voice and face softened as she ducked to the child's small height and pulled her close. She tenderly pushed a stay piece of blond hair away from her piercing gray-blue eyes. "Listen, you'll be safe and have a chance. Remember baby, don't tell anyone about your gift." She kissed her on the forehead gently,
then stood up and pushed her towards the ship. While handing the man two tickets she watched as the little girl took the final halting steps towards her destination. She turned away, muttering something about forgetting something as the man looked on in curiosity.

            She didn't know where it was going -that was for the better. They'd scan her, try to rip it out of her, if she didn't know, they couldn't know. She ran her pale shaking fingers through her tangled blonde hair, whispering "My baby." She looked up into the blue sky and prayed, it was the only thing she could do.

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            "It is agreed then, the B5 will be used as a stopping point for the Rouges. Now, of course you know that none of this gets out to anyone else, and be careful. I do take full responsibility for the actions with the telepaths. The Rangers won't get here for about a week with about 20 telepaths ranging P1-P9. We've got a place for them, it isn't much, four telepaths to a pretty small room, but its all we've got, and all we can afford to give."

            Franklin, and Garibaldi listened intently as the final plans were laid out for them. Susan listened to the information for the second time, she had been briefed by Delenn earlier, and Marcus had been sent to help retrieve the telepaths. She wanted him here.

            Garibaldi's link beeped. "Garibaldi go."

            "We've got a kid here, outside docking bay 6, just came on board.

 About four, no identacard, nothing. No one was with her, and no one has come looking for her. Girl says that no one came with her, and won't give us her mother's father's or older guardian's name."

            "Great, an abandoned kid?"

            "No sir, don't think so. Had a bag of clothing, and money. If someone wanted to abandon her, they wouldn't have given her all this stuff. Question is, what do we do with her?"

            "I'll be down there."

            "Mr. Garibaldi, we're coming to." John Sheridan motioned indicating himself and Susan and they made their way to the docking bay area.

            Mr. Stavem looked at the little girl, muttering something along the lines of "I wasn't hired for baby-sitting duty." and kept trying to get information out of the little girl. Running his hand through his black hair, he bent down to the petite blonde girls height and asked her again, "Claire (he'd gotten her name out of her) What are your parents names?"

            "Mommy." She nodded an affirmative her blond curls bouncing glad she could she could give the man the answer. He said he could help her get home. She wanted home.

            He sighed, this wasn't going any anywhere fast.

Garibaldi, Captain Sheridan and Ranger Ivanova walked in as the man tried again. He sighed, and stood up straight at attention. "At ease," Sheridan said automatically, "Now, what the status?"

            "Kid won't say anything. Not being any help, maybe one of you can talk to her, I'm not good with kids."

            "I'm not either." Mr. Garibaldi added quickly making sure he didn't get the roll of inquiring the kid.

            "Count me out." Captain Sheridan said before Susan could protest. They both looked at her expectantly, and she immediately gave them the look, but didn't complain.

            Susan looked at the pale little girl. She was wearing an adorable little blue-jean jumper, with a white shirt underneath. Her platinum blond curls framed her round face, and her blue eyes were attentive and aware.

            Susan bent down to the girl's level, and for the first time noticed she couldn't sense anything from the girl. She looked at the child , knowing she had some capability to block surface thoughts. She noted it and spoke, "Hi, I'm Susan. And what is your name?"

            Her thoughts were pulled back to her first introduction with Mari, but then they'd both been desperate for any human contact… but this child, she didn't know how to approach her.

            "Claire."

            "How are you?"

            "I don't like it here. I want to go home."

            "Where's home?"

            "Where Mommy is." She spoke as if it was the clearest answer in the world.

            "Do you know your Mother's name?"

            "Mommy." She nodded again, trying to get the grown-ups to understand that was her mother's name.

            Susan was about to slap her own face in exasperation and stupidity, this kid didn't know anything.

            "Have you ever heard your Mother called Miss something?"

            "Nope. Mommy's name is Mommy." She nodded again.

            "Do you have a sister or brother?"

            She shook her head. "Nope. Do you?"

            Susan smiled in fond memory of her brother. "Yeah, I did." She said softly.

            "Why are you sad?" She tilted her head slightly.

            Ivanova cursed mentally as she realized Claire had to be a semi-strong telepath at least, and threw up the strongest barriers she could. She should be keeping up higher barriers, especially with the new telepaths coming.

            "He had to go away."

            "Kind of like my Daddy? He had to go away. Momma says he went to a better place to get away from the bad people."

            "Who?"

            "Bad people. Tall big bad people."

            Susan did a brief scan. The girl jumped back and screamed.

            Nope, definitely not like her confrontation with Mari, she thought, as the girl backed away into the corner crying.

            Not at all.

--end of part 1 --