Author's Note: I'd just like to say thank you to Amethyste for reveiwing my story. A story, no matter how good, bad, or indifferent, would go to wast without someone to read it. I'd also like to report a knew, one-chapter-only character, Carl. I would very much like to punch him in the face too.

March 8, 3262

If only she could remember things a little better. Alanis had woken up not too long ago having to pee. And now she was completely lost. None of these halls looked familiar. She'd passed something that looked like the dinning hall but she couldn't be certain, everything looked different in the dark. This was beginning to aggravate her.

She turned left and ran into a dead end. She turned right and found herself on the other side of the courtyard. Well, at least she knew where the courtyard was, but where had she gone after coming into the courtyard? She chose the hallway closest to her, figuring it couldn't get her anymore lost then she already was.

Oh wrong she was. Nothing looked remotely familiar. But there was a familiar sound, Lady Anne's Voice. She fallowed it like a blind man groping his way out of the darkness.

Lady Anne was whispering. She knew she shouldn't, knew that if someone went to any length to keep things secret she should respect that. But curiosity got the better of her and she inched closer to get a better ear.

"I know you've been able to operate like this for years. But please listen to me Alwyn. Rome isn't stupid, they are going to find out. The whispers going about from what Sister Alanis and Claire found-"

"That has nothing to do with us."

"Somehow I don't think so."

"Even if the artifact was somehow connected Rome hasn't received a full report of the findings. There is no reason for them to suspect anything."

"Since when did the government have to have a reason to be suspicious? You've been behind these walls too long, Alwyn. You don't know what it's like out there anymore. You don't know what people will do. If any of this comes out-"

"Shhh-did you hear something?"

She'd shifted a small statue on a pedestal trying to get closer. She swung herself around it and crouched down into the shadows.

She heard feet coming closer and made herself as small as possible. If she were seen it would surely be the end of her life in the parish. The feet came into her field of vision, coming closer with every heartbeat. They stopped a mere half inch in front of her, so close she was surprised that Brother Alwyn couldn't feel her breath move the outer layer of his robs. She felt eyes scanning the corridor.

'He's going to see me I know it," she thought to herself. But his gaze relented, his feet backed away, the door closed with a snap, and she exhaled.

March 8, 2376

"Oh what am I doing? What am I doing? What the hell am I doing?" Delenn asked out loud. She was now crammed behind the helm of a tiny closet like cockpit with artificial gravity that wouldn't work with shit.

For the past half hour since she'd left the jumpgate the closer she got to Vartok the more the little ship vibrated and jumped off course. She figured they were some sort of gravitational eddies but she couldn't read them. And it was getting harder and harder to control the ship on manual. At this point it would prove to be an out right miracle if she got there in one piece.

"I'll tell you what you're doing. You're acting out a lifetime of fanaticism that you're not going to be satisfied with until it kills you."

Lights and buzzers flashed as yet another system went off line. She was about to shut them off and ask the computer for a systems report for the umpteenth time since she'd jumped in here when a shower of bright white sparks shot over her. She ducked just in time to stop from singing the back of her neck. "Shit!" she yelled at the small fire behind her.

Fumbling, she managed to get the straps holding her to the chair off and put out the fire with a small extinguisher. She investigated the ruble which turned out to be thruster control. Until she got it back online she couldn't turn. "This is going to take forever."

Just then yet another alarm sounded. A proximity alert. The blast had gone clean out threw the hall. The emergency bulkheads had already sealed the breach but the pressure knocked her straight into the gravity pull of a stray commit. Her heart jumped into her throat and she climbed out of her chair in a panic.

Her heart hammered against her chest faster then she thought was possible, and sweat beaded off her brow. She tried every trick every code combination she could think of but nothing worked. Thruster control was simply dead. Her breath came sharp and constricted. Her whole body seemed to be shutting down in the abject fear of death.

The computer sounded, "Hull temperature increasing. Collision eminent."

A small portal started glowing white hot. If she didn't do something now she was gone. She literally growled at the chard mass of wires and metal as she tried harder still to make it work short of tearing it apart. But everything she did simply seemed to make things worse. Damn it she should be able to do this with two lifetimes experience with crises. "Help me." She whispered to the abyss.

All the noises around her dropped away as she plummeted toward the commit. She didn't even hear herself as she said, "I can't die here."

Somewhere, perhaps in her own head she heard a firm yet distant voice say, "Now."

With that her surroundings came flooding back into her senses. Roars and vibration overwhelmed her senses and she did the only thing that instinct would allow. She kicked the consol with all her might. The moment her foot hit the panel the ship spinned out of control and slammed her against the wall.

The inertial dampeners kicked in and she was able to peel herself off the wall and peer through the portal she'd been glued to. The commit came in and out of view like the spot on a light house getting smaller and smaller each time it came into view.

She slid down to the floor and laughed hysterically. "Oh I hate you. What were you thinking hijacking a ship?" She burred her face in her hands in the greatest sense of euphoria she'd ever felt and again laughed at herself with a jovial, "Who ever said violence doesn't solve anything?"

Rubbing her neck she pulled herself up off the floor and asked for a systems report. "Thrusters down, life support at 40, emergency power off line, manual control off line, waste recycling systems-"

"All right I get the point. Estimated time to reestablish thruster control?"

"Two hours forty-five minutes standard time."

With that she rolled up her sleeves and dug in. As it turned out after an hour there wasn't much to do except wait as the computer reestablished links with the soft ware.

She sat in front of the main consol, feeling unusually tired after her adrenalin rush. She yearned for her bed on the Patara. Even yearned to hear Lor bagger her for not sleeping. Lor had been her best friend for two years, and now she didn't know if she'd ever see her again. The thought of their last encounter being their last moments together sent a chill down her heart.

It was quite amazing, she thought as she floated aimlessly across the stars, exactly how much Lor had come to mean to her after their first meeting.

It wasn't until much later that Delenn learned exactly how much Lor had been "warned" about her; about her hot temper and two-facedness. Carl, the captain of the ship at that time walked her to her new comrade's quarters making her ever more nervous as she went.

"It's alright you'll be fine," he said to an already agitated Barbra. He stopped just short of Delenn's door and added yet another warning, "Just don't talk about her parents." He walked only a few passes further and said, "Or ask her anything about her childhood." He walked half a pas further then said, "And don't stare at her head." Barbra just had time to wonder how the hell she was supposed to look at her without staring at her head and why that should matter anyway when he spoke again, "In fact it would be best not to speak of anything but business."

After all that, Barbra was fervently expecting to see a hard-ass woman filled with tattoos and starring down the barrel of a gun she was cleaning. She was there for almost knocked off her feet with surprise when the door opened to a highly feminine looking girl in the middle of the room… DANCING! Yep-there she was dancing like a maniac to old fashioned rock music, her back to the door and bare foot in a light black cotton dress. Barbra saw immediately what Carl had meant by "don't stare at her head". She was completely bald and her head was littered with very prominent scars that probably went down the back of her neck. She couldn't be certain of course because she was wearing a high collar.

They watched her for a moment. She flayed her arms and shook her hips to the beat of an early 21st century song. "… with an angel face and a taste for suicidal…"

"Ah-hum!" Carl announced himself.

Delenn jumped about six inches and turned faster then a centrifuge. She clutched her hand to her chest and said baitedly. "You startled me!"

"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention," was Barbra's first words to her.

"No of course not." She told the computer pause the program, and walked intentionally at Barbra. She stood just a little too close for comfort and gave her the strangest look, as though she were appraising a prized show dog. It made her feel quite uncomfortable, like she were a child and Delenn her superior. How silly such a feeling, but it made her look everywhere but at Delenn's face. Finally she backed up and said, "She'll do."

"I think maybe we should get to work." Barbra said hopefully.

"Work," she protested with a laugh turning elegantly on her heal by a dresser and covertly laying a picture down on it's face. Not quite covertly enough though. Barbra assumed that the picture was of an ex-boyfriend and couldn't quite understand why she'd want to hide him from her. "Now what's the fun in that?"

She looked uncertainly at Carl who was leaning against the wall with his arms folded. "Delenn, Barbra is here as a political consultant. You need her help, our sponsors aren't going to wait much longer for results."

"It's ten o'clock in the morning Carl. Get a grip," she said in a voice that said quite clearly that she didn't want him around.

Barbra was getting nervous again. Carl didn't seem to be taking the hint and she didn't want to get on Delenn's bad side this early. At the very least not second hand.

It was there for with great relief that when Delenn spoke to her it was sweetly and with a hint of familiarity that she assumed was part of her many personalities. "Tea?"

"No. Thank you."

"Are you sure? It's rooibose, quite sweet."

"No, really. I'm fine."

She frowned slightly and said, "If you're going to work with me you're going to have to learn to lighten up." She crossed one arm against her chest supporting the other by the elbow. "What was your name again?"

"Barbra. Barbra Tashaki."

"Ahh," she said under her breath. She stared her down again, but this time she stood her ground, remembering for the first time since she walked though the door that she was at least twice her age. This seemed to please hr but when she spoke it was to say the most unexpected of things, "Your name sucks."

She left her there with her mouth slightly open. "We're going to have to fix that," she said as she went to poor herself another cup of tea.

Since Delenn seemed to be in no mood to work she decided to give a jab at being friendly. "So what was that you were listening to?"

"Greenday! One of my favorite bands, forget what ever time period they're from."

"Why would someone name themselves after a color?"

Carl snorted into his fist earning a reprehensible look from Delenn. "Because men seemed to have been left behind in the evolutionary jean pool. Even if they can sing."

"That's only because you've only met jerks in your life." Carl said with an annoyingly snide look.

"True."

He seemed to take Delenn's lake of overt disapproval to be a sign to continue. But Barbra could read very clearly that Delenn's shields were going up. "Why don't you ditch these zeros and try a hero on for size."

That made even Barbra nauseous. Delenn fix him with a stare that could cut glass. " '-amid the earnest woes that crowd around my earthly path. My soul at least a solace hath in dreams of thee, and therein knows an Eden of bland repose. And thus thy memory is to me like some enchanted far-off isle in some tumultuous sea. Some ocean throbbing far and free.' Something I am sure you will never understand. Let me know when you've found one."

Barbra knew in an instant that Carl was not someone to be crossed. But then neither was Delenn. "I should have expected that from someone that spent four years in a mental institution."

It was like watching a gun go off. Without the slightest change in expression and without warning of any kind Delenn punched Carl straight in the middle of the nose and sent him flying across half the room. He hit the wall and bounced at least an inch, blood already dribbling down his face.

Delenn walked slowly toward him, like a queen to her unfaithful. Barbra was almost curtain that she was about to wrap her hand around his throat. She didn't know exactly why she wasn't moving to stop her except that her legs wouldn't work worth anything.

When she reached him however, she simply pulled out a white cloth, handed it to him and said a politely as she could, "Leave now." To which he practically ran.

It stunned Barbra even more when Delenn turned toward her with the loveliest of smiles and said, "Well, I'll help you unpack," without the slightest hint of falsehood. She ordered the music to play and proceeded to dance around the room with her luggage in hand.

She caught herself falling asleep at the consol. "Damn you Lor how dare you be right." It had been a very very long time since she'd started to fall asleep from exhaustion. Lor had jinxed her by telling her to sleep she just knew it.

She rubbed her burning eyes and jumped as the computer sounded its final systems report. "All systems back online. Life support at 90, artificial gravity at 50, 49, 52…"

"Got it. Thank you. Ascertain current position and reset a course to Vartok."

To her great surprise automatic systems weren't having a single problem, where as before she couldn't go more then tem meters without being tossed around like a ping pong ball. She scanned the surrounding space. How odd. The distortion seemed to be radiating out like a shock wave. She had never seen any sort of distortion act like that, in either life. It didn't do anything to improve her nerves.

The little ship inched its way closer to Vartok, a tiny star against the ebony of space. A beacon warning innocent ships to steer clear sounded and she shut it off before so much as a word came through. "I'm sorry. I'm having communications problems," she said to the nothingness in her most innocent childlike voice.

Several ships swung past her. The experimental ship was just small enough to run silent in the debris of another ship she supposed didn't make it through the turbulence. 'Oh great, a ship was destroyed by the turbulence. No, don't think about that, you have a job to do!' "Alright mister President. Come out come out where ever you are."

Something strange was happening she realized as she looked down at her consol. The ships were scattering, running in every which direction from the center of that… that disturbance. "Computer report." Silence. "Computer! Computer respond!" There was a moment of hushed silence then, WHAM.

It was as if a bomb had gone off in her face. She felt the skin on the right side of her face peal away to reveal burning, bleeding flesh, the pain of which was almost unbearable. A terrible strobe of white light filled the cockpit, nearly blinding and the ship threatened to fly apart.

Just as suddenly as it came it left. She found herself face down on the floor with no idea how she got there. A dull throb coursed through her body like a drum beat. It took all she had to pull herself back into her seat. A steady stream of blood caressed her face and she had to blink it out to see. The blast doors had opened of their own accord. But this didn't make any sense.

A brilliantly white organically flowing energy field flouted just in front of her. It was the single most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. It made everything still, and made every hurt melt from her body and her spirit. It was the feeling of looking into destiny it self. How long she sat starring at it she would never be able to tell, it could have been a millisecond, it could have been years. The only thing she knew was that the more she looked at it the more it felt like it was looking back at her. Its face shimmered with blue and purple, a living breathing marble flouting in the cold of night. It drew her to touch it, to feel its pulse, to let it sigh healing into her.

Without thinking she found that her hand was pressed against the glass. It swelled suddenly and roared like a creature hunting its prey and all beauty was gone, replaced by only terror. The small ship lurched forward into the beast's jaws. Delenn had no time to react, no spirit left in her to even want to live; it had taken it from her already.

She threw herself backward in her seat and threw up her arms screaming.