Collins, replaying station security tapes from a console in C&C, paused and rewound the feed. "Commander Ivanova, come have a look at this."
Ivanova walked down the stairs showing the thinly veiled look of hatred and contempt Lisa had already gotten used to. "Having trouble with the controls? Let me explain how the playback works," she said condescendingly.
Lisa barely managed to restrain herself from rising to the bait. "Here's our man." On the screen a hooded figure dressed in grey, his face unfortunately obscured from the camera, walked right through customs without showing his ID. Not only did four security guards fail to notice him, one Lisa recognized as Zack Allan actually looked right past him as if the intruder were not there. "Wow, that is amazing control. None of them even bat an eyelash," she said with some admiration.
"I bet you wish you could mess with people's heads that efficiently," Ivanova said dryly.
Lisa turned to the Commander. "Now really, that's enough. You've been on my back all morning, and I've tried to be polite, but if you think-"
Before the argument could spiral out of control, Ivanova's link sounded. After she answered came Doctor Franklin's voice. "This Med Lab. We've got another two bodies down here, Commander, and the psi cop's bodyguard has been injured."
Lisa bit her lip. At least Ta'Wher was alive, but her overactive imagination began conjuring a hundred terrible maladies that might have befallen her friend.
"We're on our way," Ivanova replied. Collins was already heading for the door.
A short time later, the pair entered Med Lab One, and Lisa immediately rushed to the table where Ta'Wher was seated. Beside him Doctor Franklin was fiddling with some medical device. "What the hell happened to your face?" Lisa asked the Narn.
"I had an encounter with one of the future genocidal maniacs of the Universe," he replied ruefully. His finger reached tentatively toward his nose.
"Hey, don't touch that for the next few hours if you want it to heal up right," Doctor Franklin admonished Ta'Wher.
"Doctor, are the new arrivals two more victims of the killer?" Ivanova asked.
"I'll need to examine them to be absolutely sure, but that's the way it looks," he said regretfully. Collins imagined the Doctor must be feeling helpless, seeing as there was nothing he could do for any of murder victims.
Ivanova's link sounded again, this time a call from Sheridan. "Commander, get that psi cop to my office now," he said angrily.
"I'm sure he just wants to discuss your total lack of results so far," Ivanova supplied, not so helpfully.
"Come on, Ta'Wher," Lisa said.
"Actually, I was going to continue my search. I'm sure there are more clues near where I found the bodies."
"Forget it. Station security can handle forensics a lot better than you can, and you've played hero enough for one day."
"But-"
"No."
"I-"
"No," she said firmly. Ta'Wher frowned at the repeated interruption. "I'm putting my foot down. You've done all you can down there, and I might need you very soon. With the killings this frequent, it has to mean the killer is losing control of himself. This is going to get very ugly very fast and I need you to watch my back."
Lisa did not truly believe she needed Ta'Wher to protect her so much as she wanted to protect him, and likely the Narn knew this as well, but nevertheless he acquiesced. "Very well."
"If you two are done, the Captain is waiting," Ivanova told them. The three departed, leaving Dr. Franklin to his unpleasant duties.
As they were waiting outside Med Lab for a transport tube, Zack Allan approached. "Commander, Mr. Garibaldi wanted me to give you and Doctor Franklin some information," he held out a data pad to Ivanova, looking suspiciously at Collins. Probably Garibaldi had dug up some minor piece of dirt on her and was routing it around to make sure no one on the command staff made the mistake of trusting her. Lisa could have told him there was no danger of that. Obligingly, she wandered a short distance away so Ivanova could read undisturbed.
Looking around a corner, Lisa was frozen in her tracks by a strange sight. An alien, in some sort of hostile environment suit, stood a short distance away in the otherwise empty corridor. The thing that most drew her attention was the single green eye, with some sort of iris that opened and shut before her. The long brown head of the suit tilted briefly to the side, and somehow Lisa got the impression the creature was studying her. Telepathically, she could not even begin to describe what she was feeling, only that it was subtle and somehow both above and below her ability to fully perceive. Not that that made any sense.
A strange sound with a ghostly quality filled the air, and then the alien spoke. "You have followed your shadow to this place. I will see you again, before the end." With that cryptic remark, it turned and moved away. Glided away might have better described it. Collins was left speechless.
Lisa did not even notice Ivanova's approach. "Ms. Collins, anytime that's convenient for you," she said sarcastically.
"What was that?" Collins asked in awe. But when she turned back the alien had finished its withdrawal. "There was an alien... hidden under some sort of environment suit... then it said something..." Lisa trailed off, completely nonplussed.
"Did what it said make any sense?" Ivanova asked.
"None at all."
"You just met the Vorlon Ambassador. Are you coming?" she indicated the transport tube back down the hall, which Ta'Wher was holding for them.
"Right."
At least they arrived at Sheridan's office without further incident. Captain Sheridan did not wait to say what was on his mind. "Ms. Collins, security has informed me that a third body has just been found not far from where the other two recent victims were found. We have to do something more than just wait for this rogue to walk into your trap."
"Oh, but we've done so much more than wait, Captain," Ivanova said. "After wandering around the Zocalo for no particular reason at Ms. Collin's insistence, we went up to C&C where we learned the killer likes wearing bland clothes."
Collins bristled. "We were in the Zocalo because I thought it was a likely place for the blip to try to get a feel for the station, and I might have picked up on his presence. And even if the security tapes didn't give us much, they did show that he is male as we thought, and he's slightly shorter than Mr. Allan."
"That doesn't change the fact that people are dying on my station by the hour now," Sheridan insisted. "I've never heard of a serial killer striking so rapidly."
"I don't fully understand it myself. Normally, a killer this impatient would slip up and be caught easily. Unfortunately, as a strong telepath he has an incredible advantage over most other criminals."
Sheridan's link signaled. "Sheridan. Go."
It was C&C. "Captain, we've just gotten an alarm from Ambassador Delenn's quarters," the young lieutenant said urgently.
"Tell security to converge on the Ambassador's quarters," Sheridan said, already racing out of his office. Everyone else in the room followed.
The group met up with Michael Garibaldi and a number of his security guards a short distance from Delenn's quarters. Everyone had PPGs drawn, except of course Ta'Wher. The Narn had not drawn his sword yet, but then he could draw and strike in an instant. Perhaps the only advantage Ta'Wher held in these situations was that everyone underestimated a warrior with such an archaic weapon.
The door to the Ambassador's quarters was open, and Lisa could hear her calling for help inside. Before Lisa could open her mouth to mention what she thought was obvious, that they might be too late and the situation could be a trap, Captain Sheridan ran toward the opening ahead of his security.
"Captain!" Garibaldi said in a hushed but desperate voice, clearly dismayed by this sudden recklessness. When Sheridan ignored him, he shrugged and then followed.
As she approached the doorway, Collins got a fairly clear mental impression from the Ambassador. She was frightened for the safety of someone else, but not herself. Realizing the killer had either already escaped or was incapacitated, she abandoned caution and raced to join the Captain, entering the room right behind him.
Unfortunately, it immediately became apparent that the killer had escaped rather than been incapacitated. Inside the room were several security guards, who were conscious but had all dropped their weapons. As Lisa took in the situation one of them tried to pick up his PPG and then withdrew his hand as if it had been burned; the blip had somehow convinced the guards their sidearms were scalding hot through his telepathy. At least the blip had not had enough time to convince them to shoot each other instead.
That was thanks to the Minbari telepaths, who had apparently driven off the intruder before Delenn could be hurt. Though not without taking losses, as one of the telepaths was obviously dead due to a PPG burn in his chest. Lucef had a serious burn on his arm, but it was not likely to be fatal. The rest of the telepaths seemed somewhat disoriented.
Ambassador Delenn, Lucef, and another Minbari Collins recognized as the Ambassador's aide were crowded around a prone human, not very far from the doorway. The unconscious man was strangely dressed, in some sort of exotic clothing or uniform Lisa could not place. Some distracted portion of her mind also noted he was rather striking in appearance. By his side was some sort of fighting stick.
Delenn looked up. "John, we can't wake Marcus," she said desperately. With tears in her eyes, she glanced briefly at the slain telepath before turning her attention back to the strangely dressed human.
"That monster has done something to his mind," Lucef supplied angrily. He took on a look of intense concentration. "It's... it's... his mind is too alien for me understand the damage."
Ta'Wher and Garibaldi entered the room, with Garibaldi immediately grasping that the Mindblanker had escaped and then ordering some of his men behind him to start searching.
"Captain, let me try to help him," Lisa said. Before he could object she continued, "I know you still don't trust me, and for that matter I probably won't think very much of you if you were gullible enough to trust a strange psi cop completely, but what happened here could very well be time sensitive. If you don't let me do this there is a very good chance he'll die."
"All right, help him," Sheridan said without much pause. Outside, Collins heard Garibaldi tell Ivanova she'd be safer inside the quarters. At least some of these people have some sense, Lisa thought as she turned her attention to the mind of the-
(ranger-anla'shok)
Opps. Lisa had neglected to mention that she was inevitably going to pick up some surface thoughts here and there, but to be fair she had no attention of poking around where she was not supposed to.
Although her search was taking up most of her concentration, vaguely Collins heard Delenn describe how the killer had somehow opened the door without warning. That was followed by the hooded figure firing two shots with a PPG, the security guards dropping their weapons, one of the telepaths firing and missing with one of Lisa's dart-throwers, and Marcus striking the intruder with his weapon several times before he collapsed and the intruder fled.
There you are you little sucker, Lisa thought on identifying the problem. What she learned was mostly encouraging. The new Mindblanker had not had time to steal or damage the ranger's memories, and the attack was typical of her previous experience with the killer and his predecessor MacFarlane. Although that did mean Marcus would die if left untreated, Collins was sure she had a few more minutes to play around with than she needed. That was assuming no new tricks, but then his attacker had not exactly had a lot of time to arrange the block.
Lisa saw the ranger's mind as a rather complex set-up of plumbing, with tiny pipes and joints going every which way. On one little pipe near the center was a clamp that was slowly tightening, restricting the flow of water, or in reality brain activity. If left unchecked the clamp would crush the pipe, representing the point of no return where the victim would be beyond help.
To be sure, there was an insidious and intricate trap to it: almost any attempt to tamper with the "clamp" would cause it to close more rapidly. However, it was clear the maker of block had made the same exact mistake as MacFarlane, to the point that it was almost too much of a coincidence to be believed. He had protected against every possible way of finessing the clamp off, but had overlooked the brute force approach, something you do not do if you want to stop a mind-shredder.
Easy... easy... In her mind's eye, a tiny scale PPG appeared near the plumbing and took aim. The trick here was to find the shot that hit the clamp without breaking any other pipes and causing brain damage. Even a good shot might wreak havoc on his short term memory, but the ranger would recover quickly if Lisa did not screw this up.
She fired, and the clamp broke neatly in half and vanished, without a mark on the pipe. Perfect. Collins spent a few moments observing the network of pipes, but it quickly became clear there was no further trickery to be overcome. As she returned her consciousness fully to real world, her mind touched briefly with that of the awakened ranger.
"We live for the One, we die for the One," she muttered, not of her own volition, and then shook her head to clear it. Lisa noticed that Sheridan, Ivanova, and all the Minbari were looking at her in a surprised and perhaps nervous fashion.
"Sorry if that was something I was not supposed to hear. It just sort popped into my head. That's all I got though," she reassured them. "Well, that and he calls himself a 'ranger.'" This seemed to upset them even more. "Not that I have any idea what a ranger does," she quickly supplied. "You can of course perform another painful, sadistic scan if you doubt my word."
"That won't be necessary," Sheridan said. Not surprisingly, Ivanova looked less than happy with her Commanding Officer's statement.
Marcus began to stir. "The good news is that 'Strider' here is going to make a full and immediate recovery." Lisa did not know if anyone in the room had gotten the literary reference, except of course Ta'Wher, who voraciously read every human work Lisa threw his way.
"Thank you for your help," Delenn told Collins.
Garibaldi approached and kneeled down close to Marcus. "Marcus, did you see which way the guy went when he ran?" Another thing that Lisa had heard during her work on Marcus, even though it had not registered until just now, was that the Mindblanker had been wearing some sort of mask, and none of the witnesses was sure which way he had fled down the corridor.
"I'm sure I have no idea," Marcus said softly before opening his eyes. "The last thing I remember was hitting the bastard in the face." His short term memory had come through all right, it seemed. "And Mr. Garibaldi, next time I lose consciousness please have someone else ask the questions... yours is not the best visage to wake up to." He seemed to be looking toward Ivanova, Collins thought.
Delenn's aide looked relieved at this statement. "He is quite recovered."
"Are you kidding? If he doesn't appreciate my rugged good looks, there's still a few screws loose," Garibaldi said, although he looked rather grim. Not that that was surprising given the situation. With Marcus out of danger the fatality behind them was on everyone's mind.
Except for Marcus himself, who was still somewhat disoriented and had just finally noticed Lisa. "Hello. I don't believe we've met."
"Lisa Collins... I, um, fixed your brain," she stammered awkwardly. Fine time for a school girl crush, she thought, disappointed in herself.
"Thank you. I don't suppose there is anything you can do for this pounding headache?"
"No, I'm afraid you're stuck with that for a few hours."
A link sounded. "Garibaldi. Go."
It was Zack Allan. "Chief, we've got people all through Green Section, he's not getting out." Lisa shook her head at Garibaldi.
"Negative, Zack, have everyone get out," Garibaldi replied. "After what I've seen here, I can tell you we're almost certainly going to get killed if any of us try to stop this guy without the psi cop around."
"All right, I'll pass that along," Zack said, disappointed.
"Remember, don't let anyone know anything more than they have to." Garibaldi sounded frustrated about having to keep the rest of his security personnel in the dark.
"Yeah right, what is this, Code 7-R stuff?" Zack asked bitterly. Lisa did not get the reference, but Delenn, Sheridan, and Ivanova were clearly alarmed. Garibaldi also looked like he wanted to strike his link with his fist. Instead he got up and dragged the other three out of the room and thus out of Lisa's earshot, after admonishing Allan about making idle chatter over the link. Ta'Wher now approached Marcus, trying to help the ranger take his mind off his near death experience by asking him questions about his weapon. Shortly thereafter some of the station's medical personnel arrived, eventually followed by Dr. Franklin.
Lisa noticed Lucef had gone over to his fallen comrade. With some trepidation she moved to join him. "I'm sorry. The trap was my idea, and this was all my fault. Everyone here could have been killed."
She braced herself for a harsh berating, but it was not forthcoming. "No... I looked in your mind and saw everything you saw. To me your plan seemed like wisdom. As the only two who could truly understand the danger, we share the blame equally."
"Thank you." And somehow she did feel truly grateful for his words. There was a time when a room full of alien telepaths and mundanes might have seemed-
(disposable)
-not that important.
Lucef and his surviving telepaths were then helped out of the room so they could be checked over and treated at the Med Lab. Marcus also left the room on his feet, although he seemed slightly dizzy and needed assistance.
Lisa spent the next few minutes convincing the various security guards in the room that their sidearms were not too hot to hold. Unlike with Marcus, these were the sort of child's play blocks that were not intended to survive the intervention of another telepath.
Finally, with the situation in the Ambassador's quarters somewhat sorted out, Collins, Ta'Wher, Delenn, her aide, and the command staff gathered together. Dr. Franklin had to immediately step aside, however, when his link signaled. The security guards left the room at Garibaldi's order.
"Well, I just got off the link and there's no sign of this maniac anywhere," Garibaldi began. "You'd think a guy in a hood and mask would be noticed by someone who wasn't then made to forget. How many people's memories can one of you mindfraggers erase in a day anyway?"
Lisa did not especially appreciate being called a mindfragger, especially under the circumstances, but did not respond to it. "I could tell you about how many I could handle, but this guy seems to do it like the rest of us breath. I just don't get it. I mean, I could do any of the things that happened in this room: fire a PPG, block a combined group of telepaths for a few seconds, make the security guards drop their weapons, knock an attacker out cold with a fatal block. But I couldn't do them all at virtually the same time, especially not while some English guy was beating the hell out of me with a stick."
For once, a bit of gallows humor seemed to ease the tension a little. Garibaldi continued. "Another thing that's bothering me: how did he get in here?"
"Either he's got some pretty advanced security training, along with the necessary equipment, or he got near someone with the authorization to open doors and telepathically stole a password."
"Let me check on that." Garibaldi walked over to a nearby computer console.
"Delenn, I want you off the station immediately," Sheridan said. "Ms. Collins will escort you to the docking bay. And I want to go over your ship with the station's sensors before you get on to make sure no one else in aboard." It was amazing how fast normals could develop a healthy paranoia when a telepathic criminal was on the loose. "I don't really care where you go, even if you just wait on the other side of jumpgate for us to handle this. But I need you off the station to deal with this."
Even someone as socially inept as Collins knew she was could tell there was some sort of strong relationship between Captain Sheridan and Delenn. But even if his decision was based partly in emotion, Lisa agreed with it herself. It was clear now that having both Ivanova and Delenn as potential targets was too much to handle.
"I will do what I have to do." It was clear Ambassador Delenn was not one who liked to back down when threatened, but she could also grasp the situation as keenly as everyone else. She now turned to Lisa. "Ms. Collins, I expect that you will have destroyed this monster when I return." There was a fire in her voice that Lisa almost found intimidating.
It finally occurred to Lisa just how serious the death of the Minbari telepath was, and how much worse it could have been if Delenn had died. The Earth-Minbari War had started with a single Minbari death. A memory flashed quickly through Lisa's mind: when she had been thirteen years old, the Corps had desperately evacuated its best telepaths shortly before the Battle of the Line. Lisa remembered staring out the transport window at the Earth and seeing all the ships gathering for one last, hopeless defense. She had thought she would never see her homeworld again.
"Ambassador, I promise you either the Mindblanker will leave this station feet first, or I will." And that was now what it had come down to; Lisa knew she was not good enough to take the killer alive. This answer seemed to satisfy Delenn.
"I will prepare the ship," Delenn's aide supplied. He bowed slightly in that peculiar Minbari way before leaving the room.
Doctor Franklin now approached. "Ambassador, your people have had a cursory examination in Med Lab, and Lucef is being treated for his PPG burn. They all seem fine, but of course I'm going to head down there myself for a closer look." Now the Doctor was addressing Sheridan as well. "Marcus's dizzy spell has passed, and although I've been told he's spoiling for a fight, I'm going to have to recommend that he stay in Med Lab for observation." Sheridan and Delenn both nodded.
"Captain?" Franklin asked.
Captain Sheridan nodded and Dr. Franklin left the room.
Now Garibaldi returned to the impromptu council. "No passwords were used to open the door. In fact, according to the computer records the door was opened from the inside." Delenn shook her head. "It's possible that Eraso the Mind Wiping Wonder Teep had some kind of cracking devise that altered the records."
Lisa laughed so hard at Garibaldi's statement that everyone in the room looked at her as though she were insane. The truth was she felt like she had to either laugh or go insane at this point. The last few days had just been too much too fast. "You're probably right, Mr. Garibaldi," she finally replied. "Even as good as this guy apparently is at mind control, someone who could force someone to open a door without a line of sight, even despite the presence of opposed telepaths, would have been able to kill everyone in this room without breaking a sweat.
"I don't suppose that given how much worse the situation is than we thought, you'd be willing to let me bring in some more psi cops and a few Bloodhound Units to help out, Captain?" Lisa asked hopefully.
"No, I'm afraid that's completely out of the question."
Something in Lisa just snapped, and she abandoned any attempt at tact. "You know, I'm not a complete moron," she said angrily. "You people aren't worried about your privacy; you are trying to hide something so big it would ruin your careers if it got out. Otherwise why risk your lives by hamstringing me at every turn when I try to help you? Hell, forget invasion of privacy, at this point I'd actually be within the rules for telepaths to request scans for all of you."
With an effort, Lisa stopped her tirade, but her patience was at an end. "You know what, to hell with it. It's Bester's job to figure out just what you damned mundanes are up to, and I'm not paid enough to do his job and mine. So here's the deal: we continue to do things my way, and I promise my report to Mr. Bester will have more holes in it than the plot of the last Rebo and Zooty movie." If there was one thing her job involved that Lisa was good at besides messing with people's heads, it was getting mundanes to do what she wanted.
It was now Sheridan's turn to become irate, and Lisa sensed she had just used up most of the goodwill she had generated in saving the ranger. "You aren't leaving me with any alternative," he said. "What do you want us to do next?"
"Our only mistake was not having enough fire power in the trap. We'll remove Ambassador Delenn from the station as you suggest, and both I and the Minbari telepaths will guard Ivanova. Sooner or later the killer's compulsions will override any form of common sense, and I'll have more than enough time to gun him down with the Minbari telepaths helping me block."
"How about we just make up some excuse to get Ivanova off the station, and then you can actually go Down Below and find this bastard?" Garibaldi asked. Sheridan nodded in affirmation.
"And risk getting ambushed in some close-quarters situation? My odds are bad enough even if I do get to dictate the location of the fight by setting some bait. No, after what I've seen here, I'm not going Down Below unless there is no alterative."
Ivanova, who had simply been stewing silently at the proceedings, finally spoke. "I'm glad that to you all I am is 'bait.' You psi cops are all alike; you've got no regard for human life!"
Lisa felt her cheeks redden at Ivanova's remarks. "And I'm glad that to you all I am is convenient scapegoat for your mother's death!" Lisa immediately regretted letting that slip. The one thing she had promised herself after first reading Ivanova's file was that she was not going to mention the mother.
"You God damn-!" Ivanova screamed. She actually lunged for Collins.
"Whoa, whoa!" Garibaldi yelled, interposing himself before the inevitable violence that would have resulted. "Calm down! Look, this has been really difficult for all of us, but it's not going to get any better if we go to each other's throats!" He continued to look back and forth between Ivanova and Collins, to make sure neither one made any further threatening move.
Lisa realized her fists were balled up and partly raised; still worse and unknown to everyone around her, in her mind she had been half way to preparing a fatal telepathic attack. Ta'Wher, she also realized, had actually put a hand on her shoulder to physically restrain her from leaping forward. As she finally relaxed her stance and the Narn released her, Collins realized that what Ivanova had said had hit much too close to home. Lisa had almost completely lost control.
Sheridan returned order to the situation. "I don't approve of your new plan, Ms. Collins, but under duress we'll continue to cooperate. Now if you'll kindly escort Ambassador Delenn to her ship?" he asked impatiently.
"Of course, Captain." Collins replied. "You'd better come along, Commander," Lisa told Ivanova without actually looking at her. "It would be an awful shame if you wandered off and the Mindblanker raped your mind and killed you."


Earhart's, the Babylon 5 Officer's club, was probably not a place where one normally saw a Narn, a psi cop, and a group of Minbari, Ta'Wher reflected. In fact, when he realized they were all in a bar it sounded like the start of some ridiculous human joke. Many of the regular patrons had gradually become nervous at the sight of the unusual visitors and had departed. However, upon going off duty Ivanova had been very insistent that she needed a drink to calm her nerves. Actually, it was turning out to be more than one drink.
Ambassador Delenn had safely left the station. At least that much had gone according to plan. Lisa and Ivanova had not spoken directly to each other since his friend's callously indifferent remark about the Commander's possible death some hours earlier, which was likely the reason there had been no further threat of violence between the two.
Ta'Wher had to admit to himself, he had never been more concerned about Lisa's mental state. She had once confided in him that, as a P12 who could kill someone with her mind almost as easily as she could lift a finger, she was often terrified of what would happen if she ever lost control. Now Ta'Wher was equally concerned. Telepathy, he reflected, was a gift with far too high a price.
At the moment, he was seated at the club's bar. Several seats down to his left sat Ivanova, with empty glasses spread before her. Several seats to his right was Lisa, who slowly nursed a glass of water, rarely even looking up from it, such was her distress.
The true irony was that, as far as Ta'Wher could tell, the real stress that was undermining the psi cop came not from the criminal she hunted, but from her charge she was guarding. Ta'Wher would perhaps never understand how someone who could almost unflinchingly risk her life again and again in the performance of her duty could also become completely rattled and defensive when a simple social interaction turned awkward or invasive. Actually, in a way he did comprehend the how, just not the why: Lisa feared being understood, or perhaps somehow "found out," more than she feared death.
It was a strange thing, but one of the roots was obvious. Every time Lisa described anything about what it had been like to be raised from birth by the Psi Corps, Ta'Wher was horrified that anyone could treat children in such a manner. It seemed a wonder that anyone raised by the Corps could function at all. Unknown personality disorders were probably the least significant form of mental illness inflicted on most future psi cops.
Commander Ivanova was a more subtle mystery: he understood from the Psi Corps' file why the officer might hate and fear a psi cop, but her reaction seemed to be over the top somehow. While the rest of her fellow officers had grudgingly concluded that Lisa had no ulterior motive for coming to the station, even after all that had passed Ivanova was still convinced otherwise. Also, although she hid it very well, somehow the presence of a psi cop frightened Ivanova just as deeply as Ivanova's cutting remarks threw Lisa off balance.
As Ivanova sat with her head and an elbow resting on the bar before her, staring blankly at an empty glass, Lisa looked meekly up from her water. "I could kill for drink," she said to no one in particular.
"Yes, I'm sure you would do that," Ivanova replied emotionlessly. Her eyes did not even waiver from the empty glass.
Lisa slammed her gloved fists down onto the bar so loudly that almost everyone in club looked in her direction. She turned to Ivanova and glared. "You know, I can do this just as well from the other side of the room." Lisa then immediately walked away from the bar, avoiding the group of Minbari to sit silently by herself.
Shaking his head in frustration, Ta'Wher rose from his seat and then sat down next to Ivanova. "I sincerely wish you would refrain from making such remarks."
"Well, if she's going to set up the joke so obviously, I've got to knock it down. It almost feels like we're a comedy team."
Ivanova sat up and finally looked at Ta'Wher. She somehow looked completely sober, as if despite all the alcohol she had consumed she was cursed to remain that way. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes," Ta'Wher replied.
"What the hell is your story anyway? You follow this psi cop around like a damn puppy dog. Did you get brainwashed or something?"
Ta'Wher felt like squirming in his seat. This was perhaps the one story he most hated to discuss with a stranger, and yet it was also the only thing that might mollify the Earth Force officer's attitude toward his friend.
"Before I met Lisa I was in charge of a moderately important accounting group on homeworld that kept tabs on the doings of important government officials, including occasionally members of the Kha'Ri. It was a job with many privileges, for those who determined my pay were also subject to my audits." Ta'Wher grinned in a melancholy way. "They had every incentive to send me on as many paid vacations as I would accept, just to keep me out of their bank accounts. I and my family were truly blessed to see so many worlds throughout our colonies and throughout the places that compose the League of Nonaligned Worlds.
"Our first... that is to say our only trip to Earth Alliance space was a complete vacation package, a whirlwind tour scheduled with your homeworld's many historical places. Rome, Paris, Tokyo, Jakarta... for almost an entire month as time is told on your world, we traveled from city to city. Our personal tour guides in each city showed us many fascinating things about your history and culture. By the end of the first week we had all agreed that our next vacation would also be on Earth." Ta'Wher looked wistfully off into the distance. "Your tourism industry is remarkably efficient.
"The next to last city on our itinerary was Boston... landing point of religious pilgrims, home of humans who wear feathers on their heads in order to destroy tea, the capital of the only state in the Union to not vote to reelect Richard Milhouse Nixon to a second term in office... it's amazing the strange trivia one retains.
"One evening we were all gathered in our hotel room to watch a movie, and there was a knock at the door. I honestly can't remember anything immediately after that. I don't believe the memory was destroyed, I think somehow I simply chose to forget even after my memories were restored. But I am getting ahead of myself.
"I and my family were victims of the killer who would eventually become known as the Boston Mindblanker. We were the first nonhuman victims in fact.
"It was by an incredible stroke of fortune that I am alive today. Although Lisa has always insisted to me rather vehemently that the Universe knows no design but random chance and boundless stupidity, the array of circumstances that saved me were rather incredible and fill me with purpose. As the Mindblanker began his terrible work, the food we had requested earlier from room service arrived. The killer was at that time still just beginning his murderous rampage, and had none of the arrogance that characterized his later behavior, when he left messages to the media claiming he was unstoppable. He panicked after being disturbed at his work, and fled the room without even erasing the memory of the young man who had brought the food.
"In the lobby of that very hotel was young Lisa Collins, a rookie officer of the Boston Meta Pol Station who was following up a lead on a group of dust smugglers. She quickly learned of the commotion above her and went to investigate. Although not yet familiar with the Mindblanker, as a psi cop she could quickly identify victims of a telepathic assault.
"It was not until much later that Lisa finally revealed to me the details of what happened next, for she feared I would not be able to bear the pain. When she had first entered the room, only I and my mate were still alive. Lisa first attempted to help my mate... unfortunately, there was some sort of trap the killer had left in her mind that caused her to die instantly." Ta'Wher leaned forward onto the bar and lowered his head for a moment. "Using what she learned from this failed attempt, Lisa was able to save my own life.
"I... I cannot even describe how terrified I was upon awaking. The Mindblanker had stolen my identity. To be sure, I retained my language skills, some bits and pieces of learning and old history, even some knowledge from my career... but everything else was gone. Every person, every image, every event removed. I did not even learn the dead Narns in the room had been my family until Lisa told me. When she did I felt nothing but confusion.
"The Psi Corps, of course, would have preferred to eliminate me to help hide the crime from the normal population, but Lisa prevented this by pointing out to her superiors that with the cover-up failing, I could be held up as an example of someone 'saved' by the Corps to placate the media. In fact, the story did finally break only a few weeks later.
"I believe there was, however, another motivation at work beyond simple convenience that led Lisa Collins to intercede on my behalf. There is a belief among some humans that if you save someone's life, you become responsible for that person. This Lisa also believed. Although at that time she was very much bigoted against all beings outside of the Psi Corps, she had an innate sense of duty and obligation that was stronger still.
"The following months are mostly a blur to me. Once in a while the Psi Corps trotted me out for public relations purposes, but mostly I was a prisoner within the Meta Pol Station. The Narn Regime attempted to secure my release, but was not highly motivated to do so and soon became mired in the interspecies bureaucracy. None in the Corps cared for my mental state, save Lisa. During that time she gave me a copy of the Book of G'Quan, as it turned out my old copy taken from the evidence room. Although I had no memory of my being a follower of G'Quan before the attack, upon seeing his wisdom I was brought into the fold a second time. Humans sometimes mention 'a silver lining in every cloud,' and I must say that in the end the ordeal greatly strengthened my faith.
"In the end, the Mindblanker was apprehended, due mostly to his own hubris. I was allowed to attend the trial. I must confess that when the trial was almost at an end, I had no plans for the future. I was afraid that if I went home, I would only upset those who had known me in my previous life. Only G'Quan sustained me.
"At the sentencing, MacFarlane attempted to escape but was fatally wounded. Lisa went into his mind and, at great personal risk, obtained my memories and restored them to me. Her mind was so badly injured in the attempt that it was two weeks before she regained consciousness.
"After that, I choose to remain in Boston, for I felt I owed her a great debt and I wished to find a way to repay it. Although she initially rebuffed me, I soon found that Lisa Collins was perhaps one of the loneliest beings in the Universe. Despite all her misgivings over my being an 'alien' and a 'mundane,' she was desperate for the company." Ta'Wher smiled, reminiscing privately about the awkwardness of those days.
"Since then, I have ever so slowly introduced her to a wider Universe than the Psi Corps, and she has grown to understand the 'aliens' and 'mundanes' of the galaxy are also worthy beneficiaries of her abilities and bravery. I have seen her work to save lives the Corps would have discarded, though it cost her allies and promotions. I must admit I still consider her a work in progress, but then aren't we all?" Ta'Wher couldn't help but smile.
"So you see I would rather appreciate it if you stop telling Lisa she is a monster. When you keep telling someone that, after a while that person may begin to believe it, and I would not appreciate all my hard work with her being undone."
Ivanova waited a moment to see if Ta'Wher would continue. "Wow," she said, "I guess truth really is stranger than fiction. But let me ask you this: while your friend is doing a good deed here and there, how many rogue telepaths is she blissfully sending off to be tortured in reeducation camps? How many 'mundanes' who ran the telepath Underground Railroad are imprisoned or 'missing' because of her? How many have died because she still needs to play within the Psi Corps rules?"
"As I said... a work in progress. I know she will come around."
"Yes, well I wish you all the best of luck with that," Ivanova said sarcastically. "But as far as I'm concerned, there are no more good psi cops than there were good Nazis." She made this last statement just loud enough for Lisa to hear. "Now if you'll excuse me..." she indicated the restrooms with a glance.
"Oh, of course." Ta'Wher said unhappily. Ta'Wher considered the issue a bit less black and white than Ivanova had portrayed it. Nevertheless, what she had said was at the very heart of his own apprehension and misgivings.
Ivanova rose and headed for the facilities, and a short time after she disappeared from sight, Ta'Wher heard Lisa's voice distinctly in his mind.
Where is Ivanova going?
Bathroom, he thought. Lisa could pick up his surface thoughts fairly easily when she was concentrating on him.
Don't you think we should have checked it first???
"By G'Quan!" Ta'Wher cried out, and bartender in front of him jumped. Had he really been so caught up in his worries and storytelling that he had made such a lapse?
They both jumped out of their seats and raced after Ivanova. The Minbari telepaths were clearly confused and did not react immediately.
Ta'Wher was closer to that side of the club and reached it first, nearly running into the cloaked grey figure, wearing a mask that looked like drama face of the Drama and Comedy masks. Ta'Wher's reaction was so swift that his sword would have killed any normal human, however the telepath could read his mind and that improved the human's response. Rather than slicing through the monster's chest, Ta'Wher's sword merely cut into his arm.
In the very next moment Ta'Wher's vision fled, just as it had in the warehouse back home. As he lowered his sword his momentum carried him into a wall. The weapon dropped from his grasp as he fell backwards.
The next thing Ta'Wher heard after hitting the ground was the repeated blasts of a PPG, followed by the startled cries of some of the officers in the club. Then, only moments after it had been taken away, Ta'Wher found his vision restored. Apparently Lisa had been very quick to figure out what had happened.
His friend was running towards the exit of the club, in pursuit of the Mindblanker. Lucef called out Ivanova's name, and cursing at the reminder Lisa stopped herself and turned back toward the restrooms. Ta'Wher regained his feet, and after retrieving and sheathing his sword followed her in.
Ta'Wher expected the worst: the murderer had had more than enough time to kill Commander Ivanova. Lisa had once claimed that in three or four seconds a specifically trained P12 such as herself could induce fatal brain damage in an unguarded mind; the killer had been given much more time. He was shocked to find Ivanova sitting on the floor, obviously shaken but very much alive and seemingly unharmed.