apologies for lateness!! Busy life!!! tempus fugit- apply this to my rate of writing. Crazy ranger

Many hails to jms (aka god)- all is his – even David Martell (Legend of the rangers- LOTR- Lord of the rings – coincidence?).

The small ship shuddered as it leapt with grace through the jump gate. There was a gap in Epsilon Iridani, at least in Susan's mind there was, a smoking great hole where a city in space once was. It caught her breath in the back of her throat with a silent gasp, almost unexpectedly at the stations absence.
Zathras mindless chatter was now background noise, she no longer heard him. Just the sound of her blood pumping in her veins.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ivanova saw Zathras playing with something. Her head shifted to see what it was, as soon as her eyes made contact with the object she snatched it back. She didn't care that she creased the paper, just that she held it for a moment. After keeping hold of this scrap for so long, how could she of had her attention pulled so far that she dropped it?
Zathras was taken aback. "Sorry," he splurted out with urgency. "The one dropped this..."

"It's alright," she murmured before looking up and making eye contact. "It's just very personal."

Zathras nodded with little understanding, and Susan looked back out at the empty space.

The rest of the journey was a quiet one. Zathras seemed upset at Ivanova snapping at him, whereas she was too involved in her own thoughts and feelings to hold a conversation. After almost an hour of silence, the planet loomed below, soon a fissure, Then a landing platform. The two landed without a word, five miles beneath the surface of Epsilon three, and soon began to make their way into the great halls of the great machine.

Susan once again trod the familiar corridors of the great machine. Zathras walked a few paces behind her, his back hunched into an almost animal like pose. As they rounded the next corner, Ivanova caught sight of Draal (At least a holographic version of him) standing in a welcoming pose in the middle of the vast corridor. "Ah, Entil'Zha," He bowed his head. "Welcome once again to the great machine."

"Thank you Draal," Susan also bowed slightly, remembering her Minbari etiquette.

"And Zathras!" Draal suddenly cried clapping his hands together, startling them both. "Your brothers are asking after you. They have been difficult to keep in order as of late. "'Scuse Zathras," He began. "He must see to other Zathras. Must calm other Zathras down."

"Be sure that you do!" Draal bellowed causing the already nervy Zathras to scurry off. Draal chuckled to himself for a moment. The Zathras always moved faster when intimidated.

He turned back to Ivanova. "Nine of them you know. I sent you the wisest among them, now you know how I feel- only multiplied in my case."

He smiled at her for a moment. He had not seen Ivanova for a considerable amount of years. She had aged- not only in her face and body. Gone was her blundering her way into the great machine with talk of surprises and paper cuts. Her youthful humour was long departed.

"Well," He began again. You must be tired after your journey. Come, eat and meet the other Zathras."

"Thank you." Susan smiled at him weakly. "I think I'd like that."

Susan had to leave the room before she got a severe headache. The Zathras seemed more numerous than possible and noisy beyond belief. They all spoke in the same partly reversed syntax which required a few moments to translate in her head. The meal hadn't been bad, but for now Ivanova need some quiet.

Soon after, Draal appeared to her again. "I'm sorry if I am interrupting." He announciated as her materialized beside her.

"Not at all." She mumbled, overlooking a large cavern filled with incomprehensible machinery. After a moments silence she turned to Draal. "Thank you for your hospitality Draal, and I don't wish to seem impatient, but-

"But why have I summoned you?" He finished her sentence for her. "I suppose you have been patient for long enough. Draal hesitated for a moment as if gathering his thoughts before breathing in deeply. He looked at Ivanova reluctantly.

" I'm sorry but some of this may be unpleasant for you."

Susan nodded her head, not particularly understanding but wishing that he'd explain the cause of her being sent for.

Draal sighed and began, anounciating in his somewhat grandiose voice.

"As you know several years ago, The earth government incorporated shadow technology into their ships. However, this was not a decision made by them alone."

Susan turned her head, the shadow technology was still being used by Earth force today. She'd commanded a ship with shadow technology in it. The idea that the earth government had been manipulated into accepting shadow technology was a thought that had only skimmed across the outer recesses of her mind. Quickly her mind drifted back to Draal and his long awaited exposition.

"The Drak- the servants of the shadows were able to manipulate time to a certain extent. They planted a ship on mars, for the humans to find and use. The first wave of these new class of ships were used against the white star fleet in your war of independence."

She cast her mind back several years:

Is that what I think it is?

Confirmed, Marcus' voice barely reached her. The ships are using a semi- organic component.

"Yeah, it was hell of a battle." She finally murmured.

"Were you not nearly killed?" Draal enquired bluntly, as if he were sure on the answer already.

"Yeah." She breathed. This all seemed incredibly odd to her. The dreams she'd been having, that particular battle...

"The Drak knew they could only manipulate the timeline subtly, or they would risk damage to themselves. The Drak placed that ship for the earthers to find with one purpose: To create as many casualties in that battle as they possibly could." Draal continued, seemingly taking note of her reaction to his explanation.

"The Drak knew someone on your side was involved in their near eradication, however subtly. Soon after this battle, the threat to them was eliminated."

"Eliminated?" Susan echoed.

Draal nodded his head, waiting a moment for the information to fully sink in before making his next move. "For the last eight years I have been placing all the pieces together." Using his mind and the great machine, Draal pulled up a hologramatic viewing device. On it was a picture of a young Centari woman, of high class by her dress and posture.

"Tell me, do you recognize this young woman?"

Susan looked carefully. She had met many Centari over the years, but did not recall this face. Finally she drew a blank.

"No."

"She is one of the most prominent Centari. She has helped to eradicate the remaining Drak and is personally a great friend and influence of Emperor Cotto."

"At least she would have been." The picture faded from the screen and Draal turned back towards Ivanova.

"Had she not died at twelve years of age. She was on the greater Laro colony when it was destroyed by the drak. At that point in time the temporal rift in sector 14 was blown open and I received a message- from myself. Or at least myself in the timeline that was meant to be taking place. The message was badly degraded and damaged, I placed as much of it together as I could. I have placed the following back together. The first past of the message comes from 12 hours before the colony was destroyed, The latter from a few weeks later."

At that point an image appeared on the almost non-corporeal screen in front of Susan. The image was dark and degraded, but somehow she made out figures moving. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she found that these figures were rangers, moving through a Drak ship.

In the final days of the Interstellar Alliance war with the Drak, the Drak would destroy all life on a ship on the verge of being captured, rather than let any information out. Gas would be dispersed throughout the ship, and all life would suffocate. These Rangers were looking for any signs of life after the Gas used had been dispersed.

A female ranger moved forward out of the darkness, scanning behind panels for any hiding survivors. All at once, her scanner started to beep wildly. " Sir over here." She called out to her superior who rapidly made his way over. Between the two of them, they removed the panel and shined in a flash light. Immediately her superior, a well built human male, spotted a figure huddled in the dark.

"Who's there?" He called out to the suspected Drak, who barely seemed to acknowledge they had been found.

Quietly, from the darkness there came a voice. Weak and tired, but not yet resigned to surrender. " If this is another trick I wont fall for it!" The voice wavered but held its resolution. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?"

The voice didn't sound like a Drak, it sounded human. But anything was possible. "This is David Martell. Show yourself." The Ranger in charge called out, still wary.

The figure seemed to laugh for a moment, disbelieving it's predicament. "Oh very good, throw a name at me you pulled from my memory." Finally, it raised it's head toward the light and spat out: "Well, ITS NOT GONNA WORK!"

David peered in, not sure if his ears had deceived him. His eyes confirmed the fact. "Marcus?" he called into the darkness.

"STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!" Marcus screamed at no one in particular. His voice seemed to echo round between the bulkheads. He clutched at his temples, as if trying to grip reality.

"Is he hallucinating?" The other Ranger asked David, unsure as how to react.

David was distressed to witness this. He could of just knocked Marcus out and got him off the ship, but if he had any information it would be needed now. He sighed and shook his head. "He's probably so screwed over he doesn't know what's going on." David lent into the gap and spoke softly. "Marcus, this is David Martell. We were at Zagros 7 together. You saved all our lives- remember?"

The only reply came in labored breathing. David turned to the other Ranger. "I've gotta go in there."

The Ranger offered her PPG to David. He shook his head at her outstretched arm. "What if he's armed?" She asked.

"He wont hurt me." David reassured her before entering the gap headfirst. As he crawled along he kept talking, trying to convince Marcus it was really him. He started by feeding him a small piece of trivia that only he would know.
"Marcus, at Zagros 7, when the bombing started you got us all underground instead of back to the camp like moron suggested."

Marcus raised his head slightly, then lent it against the wall. "Moron?"

"You remember." David paused to allow Marcus time to recall. "Maraan. He'd of got us all killed for his Minbari honour." Marcus had invented that nickname for the unfortunate Minbari, and it had stuck. "But you believed in life and took charge when he died." David had reached him. He seemed to remember. "Look, I know the Drak try to screw you up mentally and physically, but you know me." Finally, David had reached him both in the physical and mental sense as he crouched beside him now. Marcus was slumped exhausted against the side, covered in dried blood- probably his own. His face was thin and pale and A large gash ran from his temple down his left cheek. Blankly, he stared past David. It was a moment before David realized.
"You can't see me can you?"

Marcus shook as he spoke, still unsure as to what to believe. "The Drak gassed out the ship."

David knew the procedure the Drak went through when capture was imminent. A gas was dispersed throughout the ship. At first it would blind- temporarily or permanently was unknown. Then as escape was impossible, all life on the ship would suffocate. Somehow, Marcus had seen for long enough to get away from any air ducts and between the sections. Now, he was so weak if he were left any longer he wouldn't last. " We've come to take you home Marcus." David murmured reaching out and touching his shoulder.

There was something Marcus was supposed to remember. Something he'd overheard. He was so weak he could barely support his own head. "David, the colony. They're gonna-" He was going to pass out.

"What colony?" David asked leaning in to hear.

"Their gonna blow it-"

"What? What colony?" Marcus had got something important. At least it would all be for something if this ordeal saved lives. "Come on Marcus, don't pass out now. What colony?"

"Greater Laro. Under the capital." He mumbled, knowing he couldn't hold on much longer.

"Where abouts?" David asked softly, trying not to push him too far.

"I can't re..." Marcus slumped his head against the side and gasped. His lungs hurt and didn't seem to work properly.

"Try. Try and remember."

"Under- a statue." It was all so hazy and distant. "Something to do with a statue."

David quickly spoke into his link. " Do we have any ships near greater Laro?" He enquired to a subordinate left on the white star nearby.

"Yes. One." The ranger replied quickly in a Minbari accent.

"Encode this message to it: the Drak have placed a bomb in the catacombs under the statue of emperor Turhan. They intend to blow the colony."

David turned back to Marcus, but he had given into the inevitable and was unconscious for some time.

The image wavered and changed. The backdrop became an Earth Force hospital, sterile and deprived of colour. Susan saw two figures, one in bed, the other sitting beside them. As the image cleared, she recognized the former, and the latter. The latter being herself. The other was Marcus, recovering his ordeal with the Drak. His eyes were bandaged, and he seemed some how smaller. Starved of food and light, weighing almost nothing. His body appeared weak, fragile. But his spirit had not been broken by anything the Drak could of inflicted upon him, by no means of torture. But now, back in the safety of the alliance, the aftermath and consequences of his actions lay heavy on him.

"There wasn't anything else you could have done. He was already gone Marcus." Her words seemed empty, and Marcus found no solace in them. In his mind, he had merely failed again.

"I promised him we'd both get out. I promised him we'd be ok." He choked. He had fought so hard to keep them both alive, and had failed bitterly.

"Marcus, you saved the colony." Susan whispered, placing her hand on his. "It's what he would have wanted."

"I know. I know." He rasped, then shuddering, suppressed anguished sobs. " It's just I, I kept wishing that I could die because he would be the one to live and be the hero." He paused and inhaled twice, as if the first time hadn't given him enough air. "I kept wanting it to be over. For the pain to end. Then..." He gulped again mid sentence, craving oxygen. "I thought about you- and how we left things. About how I should have - gone after you." Marcus clenched his fist around hers, while gently she gripped back. He grimaced for a moment with pain of memory. "How I was so angry and almost hating you- but I couldn't." Despite his lack of vision, he rolled his head to face her. "I lived- so I could see you again." With a great effort he drew out his hand- searching in the darkness for her. His fingers shook as he guided it to touch Susan's' face. "So I could make it up to you."

The screen dissipated, and Susan stood in shocked silence for a moment, trying to find comprehension or for her own words to have meaning. Finally, she shook her head lightly and mumbled one word: "How?"

She turned to Draal and spoke louder, trying to string her words together coherently. "How could he be...Marcus is meant to be alive."

Her legs didn't want to hold her anymore. Shakily, she sat down, still unable to fully comprehend what she had just witnessed.

"It took me eight years to track down his connection in full. However, now I know what must be done to save this colony and to help eliminate the Drak threat." Draals words took moments to sink in. But their meaning was unclear.

"You mean, when I was injured during the civil war- I was supposed to die." She was prepared to. Not just to save Marcus, but to save those people. For twenty five years her life had meant next to nothing. At least this way...

" No. You heard him. He could not live through his ordeal without the thought of you."

Ivanova thought for a moment. Her and Marcus had become a Paradox. For one to live, the other must die. They couldn't both survive. " Then how-"

Draal took the liberty of interrupting her again, "We must manipulate the timeline for ourselves, for the good of all. And you are the only person I could ask to do it."



Ouch! That hurt me writing that!!! Bloody exposition!!! Will have the fourth- and final part up within the next month. (Yes- I really mean that!).

Thank you!

Crazy ranger.

greenday_86_no_return@yahoo.com