Chapter 9 – A Few Surprises
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Hurrying he wandered down the corridor and stepped into the elevator. Telling the computer to take him to Green Sector, the elevator lurched and then began its short journey from Brown sector to Green. The doors opened in front of him and he stepped out into a crowd of people. He glanced to the left and sees a Narn leaning against the wall, staring at him, to his right, another Narn, this one bent over fixing the strap on his boot, staring up at him. He nervously snaked his way through the crowd of people and into the safety of his own room. He ordered the door locked and he sighed in relief. He walked over to the mini-bar and poured himself a drink. Looking up into the mirror, he rose his glass and threw his head back drinking the elixir, when he brought his head back down; he saw something move in the shadows.
"Who's there?" he said with obvious fear in his voice, "What do you...AHHHHH!!!!"
The door suddenly opened and then shut again. The man was lying on the floor dead, with a large circular hole in his chest. Blood gently seeps out and stains the carpet as it begins to dry in place.
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A few hours later, there is a large crowd surrounding the fallen man. Dr. Stephen Franklin weaves through the crowd and bends down toward the body. He wipes some blood off the name badge on his right breast...Ruel. It was one of the communications officers, Ronald Ruel. Why would anybody want this man dead, and by the looks of the entry wound, the doctor decides it is a Narn ceremonial dagger. Tests in MedLab will probably prove it for him. The only questions floating in his mind, were Why? Why kill a communications officer? What is to be gained from this? This was now Garibaldi's field, all he could do was inform the captain, and then have the body prepared for the mortician. Shaking his head he stands up and watches the work crew load the bloody body onto a gurney and roll him off towards MedLab. *It's going to be a long night* Stephen thought as he walked out of the room and followed the gurney to MedLab.
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"Anomaly found," says the computer in its monotone female voice.
He shakes his head and walks over to the body; he takes a tissue sample from the incision point and pulls it up under the microscope. Zooming in, he sees a black material, unlike anything he had ever seen before. Zooming in further, he sees what appear to be snake scales, very small snake scales. He had no clue what this was, but he knew it wasn't of Narn design. He tapped the small metal link on the back of his wrist.
"Franklin to C&C"
"This is Garibaldi, go ahead Stephen."
"Michael, it wasn't the Narn who killed Ensign Ruel, I don't even know what it was that killed him yet, but it wasn't Narn, that I am certain of."
"Okay, thank you Stephen, but it seems we have a few witnesses who saw 3 Narns leaving the area a little while around 1900."
"That's about when I estimate time of death. Either the Narns are using something new we've never seen before, or someone is trying to make it look like the Narns did this."
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"I find this absolutely preposterous!" screamed an angry Narn.
"Calm down, we aren't accusing your people of anything, I just wanted to let you know that we have 3 witnesses who saw Narns leaving the area at the time of the murder," Captain Sheridan said, in a soothing voice.
"Calm down? You are telling me that 3 of my people, with a weapon you don't know anything about, killed in cold blood, one of your communications officers, an Ensign at that, and you expect me to calm down?" the Narn made a fist and gritted his fangs.
"Listen G'Kar, I hate this as much as you do, and I believe you when you say your people didn't do it, but there are witnesses, 4 of 'em, and unless you have alibis for every one of your people, you better hope you can get a good lawyer," said Chief of Security Garibaldi.
G'Kar threw his hands up in the air and stomped out of the room. John looked up at the security officer and shook his head. Michael just sighed and stood up and thought, *I have a lot of work ahead of me, why put it off any more. Hey maybe they were wearing holosuits, it wouldn't be the first time a similar operation had been pulled, but that was 3 years ago, and Sinclair was now 1000 years into the past. But 3 holosuits, good ones at that, to kill an ensign, it just didn't add up.*
"I'm gonna check Ronald's duty log, and see what he was doing just before he went home," Michael said.
"Good idea, maybe give us an idea on where to start," replied John, who was going through some files Luke had given him about the New Republic fleet.
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"Nothing abnormal at all, damn it," Garibaldi exclaimed, "He hasn't done anything weird in the past 3 days."
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Linauri walked past the captain and snickered. He looked over and glared, unable to do anything. Garibaldi walked out and glared at Lin. She started walking faster. Suddenly Princess Amanda and Wes Janson ran toward her, with G'Kar, Wedge Antilles, and Londo Mollari rounding them together. The three huddled together, surrounded by their latest victims.
Wedge wiped some white stuff off his face and smeared it across Amanda's. Garibaldi took a pacifier out of his pocket and shoved it into Linauri's mouth. Sheridan wiped a bit of lipstick off his lips and pulled a stick out of his pocket, and began applying it to Wes's face. Garibaldi began wrapping a diaper around Lin's legs, while Sheridan pulled a dress over Wes's head. Amanda now had a huge rainbow afro and a big red ball on her nose. G'Kar and Londo just stood there making sure the three didn't try to run off.
A few minutes later, Linauri was dressed up as a very big baby, Wes was a pretty girl, and Amanda was dressed like Bozo the clown. They were then tied up and hoisted up in a large cage. On top of the cage was a weird looking lizard that had fur. They were in the center of the entrance section, where everyone who came aboard would see them. Sheridan, Garibaldi, Wedge, G'Kar, and Londo wiped their hands off and went on their own ways.
"Let us down!" Linauri cried out, "Isi, you let me out of here, right not, or, or, or you'll be sleeping on the couch for weeks!"
Isildur, Prince Icky, and Tycho walked out and just shook their heads, then walked off.
"Icky, please let me out!" Amanda yelled to her young husband.
"Tycho...come on, let us out of here, just press that button on the wall, somebody, anybody?"
Everyone in the section just looked up and laughed at the trio. It seems that one prank deserves another, eye for an eye. But they still hadn't been got back at for the Starfury prank, they gulped and just sat down, tired from all their screaming.
Suddenly the BabCom screen flashed and a vid' of the 5 people who had just captured and humiliated them came up. Captain Sheridan was wearing a pink frilly dress and lipstick, and tons of rouge; the words "Captain Sheridan" floated above his head. Next to him was Garibaldi, dressed up as a baby, wearing only a diaper and a pacifier. Next was Wedge Antilles, wearing the full clown ensemble: rainbow wig, big red nose, huge shoes, excessively baggy pants with suspenders, white face paint, and a huge red smile painted on over his lips. Then G'Kar and Londo were next to him, in a very erotic position. All 5 of the men were unconscious and did not move a muscle. The whole station suddenly erupted with laughter and Linauri, Amanda, and Wes sighed, content that their humiliation had not been fruitless. The words "Brought to you by the letters DP" flashed along the bottom of the screen and then BabCom shut off momentarily. It soon began its original programming and people snickered as they went about their lives again.
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Meanwhile, two men, both with short beards, walked through the corridor toward the Mutai arena. The older looking man was holding in his hand two chits that would get them in for the title match. The younger man looked eager to see the first human Mutai participant, Walker Smith, and the current champion, Gyor. They had tied 2 years ago, and Walker had managed to work his way back up the boxing circuit, but he wanted to come back for the rematch, and try to win the title again. Walking into the arena, they find the match just about to start.
"Their fight 2 years ago was heard all across the galaxy, this will not be a fight easily forgotten," says the older man.
"Sounds exciting, from what you tell me, they fight until one or the other is dead, very aggressive, but very honorable at the same time, just like the Yuuzhan Vong."
"Into the sands of blood comes Walker Smith of Earth, the bravest of his race," the Muta-do said as he walked into the ring. A large black human walked into the ring, in the corner where he entered stood Michael Garibaldi and an alien. Walker was wearing a blue fighting outfit, with a large patch, symbolizing Earth on his left breast flap.
"Now comes the Shao-rin, master of the Mutai, bravest of the brave, Gyor," the Muta-do said as a large alien wearing a similar outfit walked into the ring from the opposite corner.
"Fight with respect, and courage," the Muta-do said and then he raised his scepter and said as he backed into his throne-like seat, "The Mutai begins!"
The two men raised their palms to face each other, and then turned them 90 degrees forming a chain with their fingers. And then suddenly they were in a fighting stance. Jacen watched in awe as Walker took strong kicks and punches from Gyor but was equally enamored when Walker returned the attacks with the same, if not more strength. He looked over at Marcus and smiled, and then his jaw dropped as he saw the last thing he wanted to see for a very long time. He unconsciously reached for his lightsaber, but found it gone...of course it was gone; he had checked it in with customs. Marcus looked over at Jacen, and tried to figure out what was wrong, but could not see what was troubling the young man.
"How? ...It can't be...No..." Jacen said hoarsely, confused at what he was seeing. He felt out in the force...Nothing, he was either seeing things or they were truly here. If they were here, he would have to tell Uncle Luke soon.
"Marcus, I have to go check something out, back in a minute."
"Ok, young Solo, be careful."
Jacen wandered through the crowd, only to find that whatever he had seen, was gone, maybe it had never been there, but who knows? He wanders back over to Marcus and continues to watch the Mutai. Walker is doing fairly well, and white 'blood' is dripping down Gyor's face. Walker has some blood on his face, but very little. He had gotten a lot better since their last match 2 years ago. He smiled as Gyor hit the ground and didn't get back up. The Muta-do advanced out of his chair and held up his scepter.
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Shaizla Kand Shai looked over at his mate, Vandred Lupis Shai, and gave fang filled smile. They picked up the creatures lying on the table. They gritted their teeth as it latched onto their bodies and then they walked out of the room. They saw their next victim, and Shaizla pulled the long snake-like object from around his waist. It contracted its muscles and became a short spear-like weapon. They watched as Keltar Hurg Vogs and Sternem Kand Kornak herded the young pilot into his room. Shaizla slipped into the room, unseen, and waited in the darkness, for Sam Mina to arrive at home.
Sam hurried into his room and immediately locked the door. He sighed and sat down on the couch. He turned on ISN and watched as they announced the attacks on Vilcor 6. The shadows had attacked again, and EarthGov was doing nothing about it. He thought he saw something move in the shadows and stood up. Suddenly a large alien was in front of him, stabbing him in the chest. Sam fell to the ground. The alien walked out of the room and twisted the weapon around his waist. Sam slapped his wrist link but passed out soon after saying, "Nar...n............."