Chapter 9 (Catch 22)
Standing their holding a PPG to Drola'Amalon head brings out a weary silence from the group of Minbari. Drola'Amalon looking into James's eyes cannot see any sign of him lowing his weapon and the stability of killing was slowly creeping away. Not to mention the puzzle ness and the ability of how this human got on to their home world without being detected, when the White Star warned them.
James approached ever closer to Drola'Amalon in a bid to get a more direct and clearer shot, Drola'Amalon stood there with hundreds of thoughts going through his mind. "Will this human kill me? What have I done? No he will not," he can tell that his death is inevitable because humans have such a violent nature and his crime well Merit no mercy from him, other Minbari in the group can also sense this from James.
James: - "Why, Why did you kill her," James grabbed hold of Drola'Amalon and pinned him to the wall hoping to force a reasonable and overwhelming reason for him doing this, but no matter what he would say James would not back away from his revenge.
James: - "I thought Minbari do not kill Minbari, let alone one that is pregnant with a child, YOU FUCK!!!!" with the outburst of the last sentence he threw Drola'Amalon across the room and held his PPG back at him. His finger slowly squeezed onto the trigger, no fear, no remorse, all he wanted to do is kill that asshole that extinguished the life of Lalena with no thought of his actions.
"Stop!" then a billowing voice screamed from the background that caught James's attention. From the mist of the darkness John Sheridan and Delenn with a group of Minbari from security rushed in.
Sheridan: - "James you do not want to do this, let these people take care of him in their own laws and ways, he won't get away with what he's done."
James: - "Laws, Laws where was Minbari laws when Lalena was being killed," recurring thoughts of Lalena and the footage of her being killed brought James to his knees in grief, his grip on the PPG slowly became erratic, James looked at Drola'Amalon and the gun slowly re-establishes its contact with him. Enormous feelings are telling James to pull the trigger and blow that motherfuckers head clean off.
Delenn: - "Would Lalena want you to do this, would she condone this behaviour for her own sake think about what Lalena would want." Pleading with James not to commit this crime that could start a major incident and that could lead to some damage to Lalena's clan.
James: - "Lalena was the perfect being I have ever seen and the one I always searched my life for, a dream come true, And this asshole killed her for what, Why did you do it, I want to know before I…. I kill you….." Getting upset and crying he pleas for one more question, "Why did you do it?"
Sheridan: - "Please James, give me the weapon! Come on, we will take it from here, if you kill him he will be getting away with what he has done without punishment, come on!"
A war started to wage in James mind, trying to ascertain a good and valid reason for killing him got a little harder and harder, if he killed him then he would be getting away with it, if he let him live then he can face his punishment. But Lalena is still dead and recurring thoughts of her began to filter out any spark of humanity he may have.
James: - "No, No," Regaining his target on Drola'Amalon, "She had the right to live and have a family, to love, to prosper, to grow with me! And he, he took it away and my love, Why should he be allowed to live when Lalena is dead. It's not right."
All the other Minbari watched in disbelieve as this human is fighting for the right of his love and the right for punishment, they knew that humans will just kill but this holdback is something new. News of this stalemate screamed through the city like wildfire all wanting to know what will happen. Will this human kill the Minbari responsible for Lalena's death.
Drola'Amalon finally spoke up in a last bid hoping to save his life, by now he knows that this human is serous and they may be nothing to stop him, "I did it, for our clan, these relationships between human's and Minbari must stop before they get out of control, I am sorry, I had no Idea she was with child, I would have never gone through with it, I feel….. I feel terrible for my crime!"
That comment which Drola'Amalon said was so cold and so unbelievable that he was better of saying nothing at all, that cold and a relentless comment mealy insulted him.
Footsteps can be heard approaching the group and the stalemate situation, then a soft voice bellows out from the darkness.
"James, I know Lalena and I know this is not what she wants, if you kill him you will only damage the purity of her soul and the soul of your child, revenge is not the action to take no matter how tempting it is, let him live and face his punishment, it is the right way." Everyone all looked into the darkness to see where the voices came from, slowly the shadows revealed a Minbari and they soon knew who the individual is, then walking out of the shadows Shaal Mayan walked slowly up to James in a bit to take the weapon.
Shaal Mayan: - "Please give me the weapon!" she slowly walks up and kneels down to James.
James steers at Drola'Amalon, what is he to do? Holding the gun, his finger applies pressure to the trigger and the weapon discharges blasts at Drola'Amalon. Drola'Amalon clenches his eyes in fear and prepares for the pain of the blasts. Everyone backs up as the bolts fly across the room towards Drola'Amalon, a large disappointment flew through Sheridan and Delenn's mind as he discharges the weapon but taking a second look at the situation, the disappointment is soon replaced with shock and disbelief.
Drola'Amalon can hear nothing, 6 shots passed and there was no pain, he opened his eyes and found that James misfired and it missed him. Feeling beaten and upset over the whole incident he reluctantly hands over the weapon and falls to his knees on the floor.
James: - "I want Lalena back, I cant go on with out her, why, why, why!" he then gets up and smacks Drola'Amalon in the face. Security then grabs hold of Drola'Amalon and are about to take him away, but James blurs out these lasts words to him. "I have arranged for some Soul hunters to arrive and collect your soul when you die from natural causes, this is my gift to you. Even this is not adequate punishment for Lalena but it will have to do. God have mercy on your soul!!!"
James: - "I need some air, please let me be alone!" James then walks out of the room to the outside area.
An Minbari guard then asks James a question, "We shot you, how did you survive through it"
James then opens his jacket and shows a metal grided mesh: - "Electrical shielding suet, all earth engineers that deal with high voltages has one, it earth's any electrical discharge, even weapon fire." Then he turns and walks out.
Delenn and Sheridan then begin to praise Shaal Mayan for her bravery and vigilance in such danger and also getting through to James, but then Sheridan suddenly has a bad thought!
Sheridan: - "Where's James!"
Shaal Mayan: - "He's gone outside to get air, why?"
Sheridan: - "None of you understand humans, he's gone to commit suicide!!" he then runs out to the area where James was last seen.
They all rush out on to the bridge and can see James standing over the edge looking down into the black void under the crystal bridge.
James takes in the view of the dark blue sky and clouds, the crystal gleaming of the buildings reflect different shades of lights through the air and the gliding ships flowing through the city offer a peaceful grace.
James: - "It's outstanding isn't it, the lights, crystal buildings. Who would know that the Minbari could build all this?"
Sheridan: - "Why don't you come over the to this side James, you might fall."
James smiles to the humour that Sheridan said, his whole idea is to plunge over the side and he is afraid James might fall over.
James turns to Sheridan and the group, "Lalena is all I lived for, not having her is, killing me, I have too much love for her, I need to be with her. Theirs nothing more I can do, the pain is to great, I hope you lot will never have to experience the pain of someone, being in love with a Minbari is a hole different love altogether, stronger and more physical, I must be with her. I miss her too much. Life is precious Delenn and Sheridan, Don't waste it."
He then releases his grip of the railing and falls back, the group all lean forward to grab hold of him but they are too late, Feeling the air flowing through his body and the kindness of the sky he awaits his meeting with his loved one, smaller and smaller the opening becomes as he falls into the cassim deeper and deeper, then suddenly all goes white.
Shudders of sparks and electrical lightning bolts is all that he can see, then suddenly blackness, "Am I dead?" he says to him self.
Then a females voice can be heard in the background, "No you're not dead, I just pulled you out of time. This will all become clear in a matter of minutes."
But before James can speak, the entire area disappears in a spark of light and suddenly he re-materialises in the same room where he had the confrontation with Drola'Amalon. The electrical disturbance made everybody that was outside rush inside, and to their amazement they can see James standing in front of them.
A cold breeze can be felt though the area which signifiers that there's going to be another disturbance. The breeze then turns into wind and before they know it a flash of light appears before them accompanied by lightning bolts, which then ceases to exist.
James still covering his eyes from the bright light slowly removes his hands. His eyes open widely when he can see someone on the floor, "Lalena, Lalena, is that you?" He then rushes up to the individual that is lying on the floor; to his amazement it's Lalena.
Words cannot describe the emotions that ran through James's mind when he glanced at the figure on the floor and discovered it to be Lalena. He already went through the emotions of losing Lalena, which was overwhelmingly difficult and lured him to the brink of taking revenge and now see in her on the floor was like a miracle from god. He then grasped hold of her in his arms, praying that this is not some kind of sick joke provided by a higher cause or something un-explainable.
James still not understanding the miracle that just happened but approached by all the other Minbari in the area including Sheridan and Delenn, Sheridan with the look of disbelief and utter wilderness managed to blur out one question, "What's going on?"
Lalena then opens her eyes and touch James's face, she too was baffled by the current situation, the last thing she can remember was dying and now she is in the arms of the man she loves, in seemingly good condition. With that she stood up on to her feet still holding James's hand scanning the area to try and figure out where she is.
Then suddenly a familiar voice, James heard when he was plunging to his death spoke out in the darkness.
A females voice spoke out of the darkness, "I rescued them from death!" A cloaked figure walked out from the shroud ness of the dark, the individual wore an unusual robe to what the Minbari normally wear. The garments are made in some kind of silky Material, blue with a gold embroidered letters, which appeared to be in some kind of dialect other than Minbari, but it's a close match. The tainted figure walked closer to Lalena and James.
"Who are you?" James curiously asks trying to get a better look under the hood of the robe but all he got was darkness, as this figure was not yet in close proximity to makes such a judgment.
The cloaked figure replies with one sentence, "I'm a time-traveller and have come back through time to give you two a second chance at your lives." She speaks the words gracefully and calmly to them while approaching ever closer.
Sheridan growing ever curious over the individual and not believing her explanation off time-travelling back into the future hands over a question, "how long into the future did you come from?"
The cloaked figure slowly walks over to Sheridan and replies not after showing a disagreement in her body language, as it appears to be something she does not want to talk about. "I would guess, 30 to 40 years into the future." She tries not to give too much of an hint or information about the future because this would break protocol and contaminate the timeline, the work she is doing already may cause some trouble or alter the future in some way.
Delenn notices that this cloaked individual is speaking English, "you are speaking English? Are you human? Or Minbari?" The sudden observation in the language this cloaked individual is speaking in, brings out the direct questions.
The cloaked figure then replies in Minbari, but also not only Minbari but the three cast languages switching between each one as she goes along. It's kinda like showing off to and uncharacteristic question. But the showing-off will evidently give Delenn the doubt she needs to carry on with a line of questioning.
Delenn begins to puzzle over the race of the guest, more like instincts she begins to suspect what species she maybe. But to confirm her theory she needs to ask more questions, she questions herself about the relations between human's and Minbari and if this theory is correct then this cloaked individual should know the answer. So she questions the cloaked individual, "Humans and Minbari, to they still have relations together?" At the heat of the moment that was the only question she can think about, it sounded a little direct and abrupt but Delenn got a response from the cloaked figure.
The cloaked figure walks over to the balcony outside the building and stands by the railing looking over the glittering crystalline buildings that form the city. She could not tell them anything about the future, this information she has could evidently cause a lot of problems in the future, staring at the city and the gardens with all the people walking around, she can't help getting herself transfixed to the differences of the city in this time line and the city in their future, because in the future it's a lot different.
Delenn begins to think that she may not be given an answer, so talking in a soft and gentle voice she tries to persuade her to relinquish the information, "please! I must know, I have done a lot for our two races and I must know if all my efforts have not come in vain."
The cloaked figure standing over by the balcony replies to Delenn's comment, " I can't tell you, that information could alter the time line and the course of history."
Shaal Mayan: - "Forgive me for interrupting but haven't you already changed time? I would like to know the current-affairs with humans and Minbari in our future." She too his curious about the current outcome of the two species, after all she did go to earth and found it to be a peaceful and enlightening place. Such a vast culture of poems, storeys, media and religion it's a place she could spend her entire lifetime and still not comprehend it all.
The faint figure let-off a sigh, she reluctantly complied with the request not before speaking these few words, "war does amazing things and amazing things come true," she then walks back over to the railing to get a better view of the city and its surroundings, the group and everyone else in the room all follow to the outside area. "Several years from now the Minbari will have a civil war, and all of this I am seeing of this great city will be damaged or destroyed." Saying the last words she points over to the city surroundings and the gardens underneath. "But 30 years from now, all this will be rebuilt unlike anything you have ever seen before, this will be a totally amazing sight, you see human and Minbari relations don't just improve, Humans and Minbari will join together."
With that she starts to untie her cloak and removes her hood displaying her true self, while doing this she makes a statement. "Your future has a lot to offer."
The few Minbari including Sheridan and Delenn all gasp in utter disbelief and amazement at the sight of this creature standing in front off them. The centrepiece of this creature, the eye-catching highlight is the dirty blonde and pink hair flowing down her back. Closer examination shows that the bone crest on her head is slightly different than Delenn's but does show a close resemblance, it curves around the front as Delenn but expands around the back spitting at certain sections to allow the hair to glide freely in between and follows the partitions on top of her head. The patterns in the bone structure show a graceful circumference and a smooth edge that determines at first glance that this female is part religious cast; this is what the Minbari will think straight off first hand. The differences still carry on; her eyebrows are the same colour as her hair but with a more pinkish colour to them, the highlights in her eyelids and fingernails are the same colour as the Minbari and her skin carries a fair complexion, which shows of her friendly nature that could also be displayed in her body language.
And the clothes she is wearing his unknown, similar in style to the religious cast in Minbari grounds, the garments are not all in blue, only the top garments are, but strange and unknown Minbari writing is written on some kind of waistcoat that is cutting off a section of the white dress.
She also has several noticeable other features such as fabric in her hair, so plausibly to keep it from flying about when she walks around. She was like the real eye candy and colourful to anyone that saw her. Surprisingly she even looks young for her age, from 30 to 40 years, but Minbari do live to be 200 or more.
"I'm the second of my kind before Delenn, but in my time there are thousands of us on both our world's."
Lalena being embraced by James who still hasn't gotten over the shock of Lalena still alive, asks the human/Minbari hybrid for her name and even dares to ask who her parents are, even though she has a hint of an idea who they maybe.
The Minbari/Human hybrid replies, "I'm called Alice, and I think you know who my parents are." She offers a warm stare back at them including a small hint.
James and Lalena both stood up and then they looked into Alice's eyes, Lalena can see her bright essence glow inside Alice and so can James, the other Minbari including Sheridan and Delenn began to put the puzzle together, Delenn is thrilled that she will not be the only hybrid in the future.
Lalena frees herself on James's grip to take a closer look at Alice; Lalena was just about to touch Alice when she backed away forcing these would out, "Please Don't touch me, Sorry! It's got something to do with time and space, if you touch me you would get thrown across the other side of the room and possibly injured."
James then asks Alice a puzzling question, "How did you save Lalena? She died in my arms, I saw her die."
Alice: - "That is one of the reasons why I am here, snatching James out of time was simple because he did not perish when he was falling down the chasm, but Lalena was a different story. Lalena had already perished and we had to contact one of the first ones to help out in restoring Lalena's life spirit. But in doing this he could only restore portion of her health, in respect this would give her an estimated 80 years of full health. The child, me is not injured too much so she will recover."
James then looked at Lalena known that she will live the same lifetime as he will, although he regrets that she will not be able to live out her full Minbari life, he can find a peaceful thought that they would live out a normal life together. Lalena's thoughts did shimmer on the fact that once James had died, how would she be able to cope without him for the rest of her life, this news brought a peaceful solution to the problem because they would both be able to live out there remaining lives together.
Then Alice's attention got drawn to Drola'Amalon who is standing in the distance with a couple of guards, Alice walked over to him and the guards standing over him could not make out what is about happen or what is going on.
She then pulls out a fighting pike, extracts it and then points at him. "What are you thinking?" She questions him. "Are you thinking that I am going to kill you?" She removes her fighting Pike and walks around him, hoping to intimidate him and to make him feel uneasy because Lalena is now back and James does not have any real reason to pursue him other than attempted murder. But Alice had to go through all the trouble to revive her parents and take a calculated risk of restoring them.
Suddenly a beep can be heard from Alice, who then puts away her fighting pike and takes out a small device. "Looks like it's your lucky day, time for me to go but one day I will be seeing you again." She then points the device in a clearing and then suddenly a vortex opens up with clouds of lightning and wind, which lightens up the dark area around them.
Alice says her final farewells before jumping into the vortex and disappearing, moments later the vortex closes bring in back the darkness of the room and the silence.
Silence.... Reality still hasn't settled in, the sudden appearance of the vortex and the remarkable saving of Lalena and James not to mention that overwhelmingly amazing story told by his creature leaves much to be questioned, as James would put it "it's like something out of the twilight zone!"
Lalena suddenly realised how deep his love went not that she didn't already know already but the depth off it all, James, her love actually sacrificed himself to be with her, not after bringing to justice the individual that done the terrible crime and she would find out later on in time that he spared the individual's life so that her name would not be polluted.
The incident caused some problems and mishaps with the clans on Minbar, but they soon shorted themselves out and later on in the future more and more couples from the two races would start coming out the wood works and a new era for humans and Minbari would begin.
Back at Babylon 5, Londo slowly makes his way through the zocalo appearing to be looking for someone, his face lights up when he sees the individual in question and he immediately walks over to the table and sits down next to a man.
Londo: - "James! I have come to collect the information you have for me, I must say you're unusual request brought an awful lot of questions from my colleagues, who I had to use and this information better be worth it." Then his voice turns more sinister and threatening " I don't like being blackmailed, and if you ever do something like this again I will personally make sure that you never return here again."
James looks up at that note and stares Londo right into the face, he then hands over a data crystal, which Londo accepts. "You should know better Londo, if I can use your resources to get on to Minbar, think about all the other resources I can use to stop you. But don't worry, I only needed your assistance to get to Minbar and bring to justice the individual that did kill Lalena. I'm sure you understand my desperate actions in this case and this information I am giving you is well worth it."
Londo then pulls out a little device to check the contents of the data crystal, "incredible how did you get this?" James replies been cautious not to relinquish too much information. "I work in maintenance and one hears an awful lot of information going through the communication system, that's all you need to know. Am pretty sure that, that information would come in handy when you want to get rid of your emperor. And as a bonus for your hospitality I have included some information, which was very hard to get, about who murdered your lady friend who was coming to stay with you before she was poisoned."
Londo then looks at him with an eager glare in his eye and then he concentrates his focus on to the data crystal. He then stands up from his chair, "yes, well! I believe that it is us done for our business, I suggest the next time you want to go on your little crusade you might try and ask, because asking someone may go a long way."
James then replies sitting down eating his meal, "Well, under normal circumstances I would have, when someone close to you dies or gets murdered, you loose sense of reality and nothing cares anymore. Even now I am trying to put all the pieces back together after they have been shattered by the loss of someone I love, but thankfully I have her back now."
James sits at his table and finishes his meal as Londo disappears into the crowd of people who are going about their everyday lives.
STORY END NOTE: -You have finally reach the end of the story and I hope you enjoy reading it more than I enjoyed writing it. If you have a fan fiction website then please feel free to copy it. If you want to read other stories made by me, the best way would be to click on my name, which will bring up all my details and stories have authored. Although this is my second story I have tried my best to make sure each chapter got better and better, well, it works in theory.
