"Well that went a lot better than I could have hoped," Susan commented to Petrov as they left the Earthforce section of the station. "I guess escorting transports around the place is not too bad. It will actually feel good to be away from any battles for a while."

"Indeed captain," Petrov said, agreeing with her fully. "I am not too sure about having those two telepaths on board though. Never really trusted them myself, and they were said to be behind a lot of what Clark did."

Susan had almost forgotten about the telepaths that had been posted to her vessel, and thinking about them drove away the pleasant thoughts. While she had served with Telepaths on Babylon 5, the space station was considerably larger than the Rasputin was and it was possible to avoid them whenever she had wanted too. Of course, after a while she had found that she had not wanted to avoid a certain telepath. However, after Talia had been taken from her so had the trust they had built up and she never wanted another telepath near her again, especially not Lyta Alexander. Although she had served with Lyta she could never trusted her as she had Talia and in many ways still blamed Lyta as much as Psi-Corp for Talia's fate.

Earthforce was not likely to be moved on its position though, so she would just have to put up with the situation as she had done so many times before. She resolved though that if either of the telepath stationed on her ship attempted to scan her they would quickly come to regret their attempt. Although her mother has shown her several techniques to avoid her latent telepathic abilities from being detected by a casual scan, and she lacked the genetic marker that identified most telepaths, Susan could not risk allowing any telepath to that close ever again. After her time with Talia, she knew that any telepath she allowed to get close to her would be sure to detect her abilities and then she would be dragged off to the Psi-Corps and end up like her mother, trapped in a dying body by the drugs that they had fed her.

She knew she could not allow that to ever happen and it remained her greatest fear, one she had only even been able to admit to John, one of her oldest friends, and even then only when threatened by the arrival of Lyta. It also reminded her of the result of the inquisition that followed and she still grew angry when she remembered how events had played out. Several times over the past couple of years, she imagined that if Talia had never come into Sheridan's office at that time then they would still be together. At least that was what her heart was telling her, her mind knew the truth. Talia had always been part of the Psi-Corps. Their tampering had trapped Talia in her own mind, and then finally taken her away from Susan for good.

"Are you ok Captain," Petrov asked, staring at her with some concern after she had not answered his last question. Susan didn't notice him talking, her mind still far away, stuck in the past. He repeated the question and this time she finally focusing her thoughts back into the present, and onto what he was saying.

"Yes I am fine Commander," she said softly. "I was just thinking about something that happened a long, long time ago."

Petrov did not push her for an explanation. He did not want to interfere in the Captain personal affairs despite the pain he could see her feeling. "I asked if there was anything else you needed me for this morning."

Susan thought for a moment about her schedule before replying, "nothing I can think of Commander. Why is there something you have to do?"

Petrov nodded, "I wanted to buy a something, a small present for a friend of mine. I noticed a shop back there that might have what I am looking for, so if you don't mind I might just pop back and take a look around. There is no need to wait for me as there are several shuttles scheduled to travel back to the Rasputin throughout the day and I can catch a lift on one of them. "

"Ok Commander," Susan said nodding. "Just make sure you are back on board in time to meet Major Logan when she comes aboard with her marines. Those colonial marines are a tough bunch, and I am not sure I want to face them alone. You wouldn't believe some of the stories I have heard."

Petrov consulted his link to check on the time, totally missing the humour in her voice. "She won't be arriving for another three hours, that is plenty of time. I will meet you back on the Rasputin before she arrives."

"Fine," the Captain said. "Enjoy yourself then Commander. I might even do a little shopping myself on the way back to the shuttle bay. It seems the easiest way to get through this crowd."

Petrov laughed at that, and then the two officers separated, Petrov heading back down the main passageway towards the shop he had noticed before, while Susan began picking her way through the crowd of shoppers and passengers. As she made her way through the crowd, she took the opportunity to examine some of the stalls she was passing, although deciding firmly to avoid Centauri merchants this time.

Behind her, the two men trailing her hesitated for a moment, waiting for Commander Petrov to move away before continuing their pursuit. They had waited patiently outside the Earthforce section of the station for some time until Ivanova returned from her meeting, before returning to their task as if they had never stopped, once again careful to stay just far enough behind the Captain so they would not be noticed.

Susan had spent the past half hour searching fruitlessly through the various shops located along the walls of the station for something to catch her interest. She had found very little that interested her though, and certainly nothing she would consider buying, even just to get rid of some of the credits that were collecting in her account. Finally dismissing the whole idea of shopping as a big waste of time she set off for the shuttle bay, again passing through the main embarkation terminal for liners leaving the station. For some reason she had the unfortunate timing to again be passing just when one of the huge interstellar lines was boarding, this one bound for Vega Colony.

Struggling past the crowd of passengers she suddenly heard a female voice from somewhere behind her all out her name. "Captain Ivanova," the woman shouted, drawing the attention of others in the crowd who had heard of her. She didn't look back, thinking that the woman who had called out was probably just someone who had seen her on ISN and now wanted to meet her. Susan walked on, ignoring the stares of the passengers in the terminal who suddenly realised who she was and hoping that whoever had called out to her would take the hint and go away. She could see the dark doorway that led into the shuttle bay just ahead and if she could just reach it then she would be free of this crowd and on her way back to her ship.

"Captain Ivanova," the voice called out again, this time a lot closer. With a sigh of annoyance Susan looked around, and soon spotted an overweight, middle-aged woman barrelling her way through the crowd towards her, clutching a thin, official looking, black briefcase beneath one arm. Susan almost groaned, wondering what she was needed for now. She only hoped it wasn't anything to time consuming, and certainly nothing that made her late for her lunchtime meal for a second time in two days.

The woman finally managed to break through the crowd of humanity and came up to Susan, panting slightly at the exertion of pushing her way through the crowded embarkation terminal. She the plump look of someone who did not get a lot of exercise, and her pale skin seemed to indicate to Susan that she had not spent a lot of time outdoors and probably far too much time working in an office. Susan looked down at her with a questioning glare as the woman shuffled through some papers that she had just pulled out of the briefcase, unaware of the Captain's annoyance at her presence.

"Captain Ivanova," she asked again, trying to balance her briefcase in one hand and the thick wad of papers in the other. "I was wondering if I might have a small amount of your time. There is a proposition that my employer want to offer you, one I assure you is very beneficial for you."

"I am not interested," Susan said, thinking immediately that this woman must be some sort of reporter after another interview. Already the mention of her name was getting her strange looks from the crowd. A couple, especially on the faces of some of the Earth Alliance troops heading off planet, were less than friendly. Susan didn't really want to spend any longer here than she had already if she could help it. She cast a glance towards the open doors leading into the shuttle bay, hoping the woman would take the hint and leave.

"But Captain," the woman continued, oblivious to Susan's impatience and growing annoyance. "It is a very lucrative offer, and after all you could not afford to set up a new mining operation yourself. My employer has prepared a quite lucrative offer for you, more than generous I think."

Now Susan was confused, especially with the mention of setting up a new mining operation. Noticing a symbol on the briefcase, she looked closer and saw it was an emblem of one of Earth's major corporations. "What does Futurecorp want with me," She asked cautiously. "I can't think of anything I have that you could want. It is not like I actually own anything of importance."

The woman looked around at the crowd as Susan mentioned the name of her employer. "Umm perhaps we could go somewhere a little less crowded to discuss this Captain."

"Very well," Susan said, spotting a small cafe near the exit to the shuttle bay that looked like it had a couple of empty tables. She grabbed the woman by the arm, dragged her across the crowded embarkation terminal, and deposited her in a chair next to an empty table. Then pulling up another chair for herself, she sat down and began to watch the woman carefully as she searched through the jumbled papers.

Then finally finding the right one she placed it carefully in front of Susan so the Earthforce Captain could examine it. Attached to the page was a slim business card with the woman's picture on it, proclaiming her as Julia Morris, lawyer for Futurecorp's Mars division. Hesitantly, Susan picked it up and after turning it around the right way, quickly read the page. It seemed to be an offer of a very large number of credits indeed for the mining rights to a planet called Arisia 3. The name was strangely familiar to Susan, but she couldn't remember where she had heard it before. Obviously, she must have heard it mentioned sometime in the past, but its location didn't come to mind straight away.

"What the hell has this to do with me," she snapped, thinking that the woman must have confused her with someone else. "I certainly don't remember owning mining rights to a planet, let alone Arisia 3, wherever that is. In fact, I don't own any planets, or moons, or even asteroids, not a single one."

The woman looked concerned for a moment, as if worried that she may have made a mistake. Then she quickly scanned some other papers she had pulled from her briefcase before replying. "Well according to the Earth Alliance records you do. It says right here that the mining lease for Arisia 3 is currently held by Cole Mining, of which you are listed as the sole surviving director."

Susan felt her heart almost stop for a moment at the mention of the company's name. She realised at once that it must have belonged to Marcus, but wondered why he had never mentioned to her that he owned a mining company. He had always told her that he had grown up on a mining colony and worked there, but never mentioned that his family had owned it, although the name of the company left know doubt now of that fact. She felt cold, not wanting to dishonour his memory by selling off his few possessions; especially possessions that she didn't even know existed.

Then she thought, wondering exactly how she came to be a director and her thoughts turned to anger as she realised that Marcus must have left it to her after his death. She was furious at him for doing so without asking her first. She didn't want his company, or anything that had belonged to him. They all seemed worthless without him, and there was no way any of them could bring him back.

Then, noticing that the Futurecorp Lawyer was still waiting for an answer, she said, "I think there must be some sort of mistake, I never knew I was a director or even that the company existed."

"Then you will sell," the woman asked a little too eagerly, obviously anxious to close the deal. Susan began to grow very suspicious about the whole situation, now wondering exactly what Futurecorp's interest in the planet was. "What exactly does your company want with Arisia 3," she asked. "I didn't know you were into mining."

"Well, it is quite simple really Captain Ivanova. Arisia 3 has a relatively high concentration of Quantium 40, which has become very valuable commodity due to the shortage after the recent war. Futurecorp wants to set up a mining operation there, as part of our off world expansion program. If we act quickly to capitalise on this shortage, we can use the sale of the Quantium 40 to fund virtually our entire expansion program. Of course, do so we would need to have the mining lease for Arisia 3 first."

"I see," Susan replied coldly. "Well I do need to speak to at least one other person first, because I can discuss this further. This is actually the first I have heard of this planet, so I need to check up on a few details before I can give you an answer."

"Of course Captain there is no hurry, although I understand that you will be departing Mars shortly, so if possible we would like to have an answer before you leave. Arisia 3 is only our preferred site, there are two other planets we are considering, but obviously as it is the only one located within territory claimed by the Earth Alliance it is our favourite. "

Susan nodded before excusing herself from the table and walking quickly over to the counter where the owner of the cafe sat reading a local newspaper. "Do you have an interstellar link here?" She asked.

The balding, middle-aged man looked up from his paper to eye her uniform for a moment then inclined his head toward a vid screen on the other side of the cafe. "Twenty-fire credits connection fee, then standard per minute rates," he said as Susan strode off.

Susan slid her credit chits into the reader just below the vid screen and then requested a link back to the Rasputin, inputting her personal code when requested. The screen went black for a moment and then after displaying the Earthforce logo for several seconds the screen cleared to show the pretty face of Lieutenant Heneker, her communications officer. "Captain, what can I do for you?" the junior officer asked, a little curious to see Susan using a public line instead of an official Earthforce link.

Susan informed her of what she wanted and hiding her surprise the lieutenant issued the necessary commands to the Rasputin's communications suite to re-route the call. Susan waited, drumming her fingers on the console as she waited for the link to Babylon 5 to connect. She could, of course, have just linked directly to Babylon 5 from the vid phone she was standing next to, but coming from an Earth Alliance destroyer it was more likely to get through, besides it was considerably cheaper, especially considering the high price of interstellar calls.

After nearly ten seconds, the EA logo faded again and a familiar face filled the screen. "Commander… I mean Captain Ivanova," Lieutenant Corwin gasped in surprise. Then regaining his composure he said, "What can I do for you Captain?"

Susan smiled at Corwin, pleased that he was on duty and not someone she wasn't familiar with, or even worse her replacement. He had been constant fixture in Babylon 5's command and control during her time there, and she knew he could be trusted. "Is President Sheridan available at the moment Lieutenant?"

"Just a moment Captain I will check." Corwin quickly placed a call through to Sheridan and then after receiving confirmation that the President of the Interstellar Alliance was free to accept the message from Ivanova he turned back to the screen. "I am just relaying your call now Captain. Oh and Captain, it is good to see you again."

"Thanks Lieutenant," Susan said as his face faded and she had to wait again for several seconds until the tired features of John Sheridan appeared on her screen. "John, you look like hell."

"Susan," he said, obviously pleased to here from her at last. "How are you, we haven't heard from you since you left, and frankly we were getting a bit worried."

"I am fine John," she said. "Unfortunately this isn't really a personal call. There is something I need to ask you, about Marcus."

At the mention of the dead ranger John saw a shadow pass across her face for an instant. "What is it Susan?"

"Um this is a little difficult," She said, still not sure how to ask him what she needed to know. "It is about his mining company, it seems he left it to me, and now I am being chased around Mars by lawyers wanting to buy it off me."

Sheridan looked a little guilty for a moment, "he didn't tell you that he was the director of Cole Mining? I thought he had."

Susan shook her head. "All I knew was that he had been bought up on a mining colony with his family and brother. I didn't know that his family company owned the entire colony. He was a ranger; they aren't supposed to be rich are they? I especially didn't know that he was going to leave it all to me, I certainly didn't ask him to."

"It was his wish Susan. He knew he was going to die so he made a will leaving everything to you. I tried to get in touch with you after we found his message, but you were already gone, and frankly you haven't been easy to find since, in fact impossible to find would be more accurate. I left you several messages…"

Susan looked angry as she thought about this, "well I didn't ask him for it John. I didn't ask him to leave his company to me, or to give up his life for me. Surely there is someone else, family or something like that."

Sheridan shook his head sadly, "no, he was the only member of his family left, the rest were dead. I searched around thoroughly after his death, and after you left, to see if I could find anyone who might have been related to him, but there was no one. His brother was Marcus' last living relative and he died when the Shadows attack their mining colony."

Susan was just about to respond, she caught the sound of a high-pitched whine coming from the other side of the café. She stiffened, realising that the familiar sound that was made by only one thing she knew. It was the sound of the power cap of a PPG weapon being activated.

Sheridan noticed the sudden change in her posture and was about to ask her what was wrong with the normal sounds of a busy café were broken by the harsh screech of automatic PPG weapons. Susan spun around just in time to see four men clad in long dark overcoats begin firing multiple bursts of super-heated plasma across the terminal and into the crowded café, straight towards the table were the Futurecorp lawyer awaited her return.

The lawyer had seen them before Susan had though and had already ducked down behind the relative security of the metal table before the men had fired. As the four men approached closer, she had pushed it over, forming a temporary barrier against the plasma blasts. Susan, who was standing in the open next to the phone suddenly realised that she was exposed and before the men could turn their guns on her dived towards the floor. She moved just in time as a withering hail of PPG blast impacted against the wall behind her, before shattering the vid screen she had just been using and showering her with fragments of glass and hot metal.

Smelling something burning, Susan looked down and saw that several shards of smouldering metal had landed on her leg and were burning through her thick uniform. She quickly brushed them away, somehow managing to avoid burning her hand in the process. Realising that she was still exposed, she dropped to the floor again and rolled as fast as she could towards the far corner and the large wooden counter that the owner had been sitting behind earlier. It looked solid enough to withstand even the strongest PPG blast, especially since the weapons were specifically designed to cut through flesh, not wood and metal.

The sounds of men and woman screaming cut into the noise of the weapons fire, and Susan heard several of the screams cut off suddenly and knew that people were dying in the exposed café. She risked a quick glance around the corner of the counter and saw the weapons fire cut down another of the cafe's patrons, a young girl, probably on her first trip from Earth. The gunmen did not discriminate though, and the girl was cut down just as callously as they were shooting everyone else. As the girl fell to the floor, smoke spiralling up for her left leg Susan realised that whoever these men were they did not seem at all concerned about who they killed, so unless she could stop them, or at least survived long enough for security to arrive then she would be just as dead as the others.

Looking behind the overturned metal table Susan could see that the lawyer, Julia Morris was still alive, and somehow had managed to get her hands on a weapon, a small PPG pistol that she now clutched in trembling hands. Susan realised that the lawyer must have had been carrying the gun on her, and wondered if she had expected this sort of trouble all along. Julia turned a looked over at her for a moment, the lawyer's face reflecting the fear that she also felt.

Then the lawyer suddenly stood and sent several blasts of energy from her own gun flying across the café towards the gunmen. They spotted her, and somehow managed to move even before she fired, ducking beneath the shots, which and been fired wildly. One of the lawyer's shots even clipped on of the civilians who were running across the terminal in a desperate attempt to avoid the gunfight, although the man did not appear to be badly wounded and he rolled clear.

Glancing around the corner of the counter again, Susan was surprised to see that there were still several others alive inside the café, mostly crouched down behind tables like the lawyer. She then locked eyes with the café owner who was hunkered down behind a small chair, which did not seem to offer his large frame much protection at all. He noticed her staring and then made a snap decision to join her, in a far more secure position that his current hiding place.

A large burly man of about fifty, he threw himself across the floor, sliding across the polished tiles in an attempt to reach the relative safety of the counter. He didn't make it though, as three shots from one of the attacker's guns caught him in mid leap, blasting smoking holes straight thought his body. By the time his body had smashed through a nearby table slid across the floor to come to a rest near Susan's feet he was already dead, great smoking holes in his chest and head pouring his blood out onto the tiled floor.

Susan turned away, nausea rising in her throat. She was used to cold, calculated dance between warring starships and fighters, but it was rare that she faced death up close like this. The sight of the innocent man dying at her feet sickened her, and she crouched even lower, hoping the assailants would not see her. For the moment they seemed busy trading shots with the lawyer, but Susan knew by the way they had slaughtered the other cafe patrons they would probably come after her next. She almost screamed out her frustration, trapped here and unable to do anything to save those still left alive, or to save herself.

Then she spotted it, hanging just underneath the edge of the counter. It was ancient, definitely illegal, and possibly non-functional, but it was still a weapon. Carefully, so not to attract attention to herself she eased the old laser rifle out of the clips that held it in place and cradling the heavy weapon in her hands she checked to make sure it still worked. It was at least fifty years old, and some time in the distant past someone had shortened the barrel, cutting its effective range, and the power of its blast, but it looked like it still functioned.

She turned the weapon over in her hands and noticed that the power indicator showed the weapon was nearly empty, probably giving her at most about three or four shots. Susan ran her hands along the weapon before finding the button that switched between automatic and single-shot. Pressing it, she changed the weapon mode to single-shot. She released that a single burst of automatic fire would do no good here, not with an almost depleted weapon. She would have to pick her shots carefully, and make every one count.

A blast of plasma hit the counter she was hidden behind and she could smell the acrid taint of smoke begin to fill the air, indicating that the counter or something else close by had probably caught fire. Gritting her teeth, Susan gripped the rifle tightly in her hands and prepared to go into battle. She could still hear the occasional shot being fired from the small pistol the lawyer had pulled from her bag, so was relieved that at least the other woman was still alive, and still fighting back.

Then, with a loud battle cry, she leapt up from behind the counter, levelling the rifle out in front of her and targeting the nearest enemy and squeezing off two shots. The four gunmen, surprised by her sudden appearance, did not even have time to react, or move, before she had cut one of them down with the wide bolts of burning energy from the archaic weapon. It was her only victory, however, as the remaining gunmen ducked and then began to target her hiding place and the counter resounded to several hits, luckily still holding firm.

Cursing, Susan examined the weapon. Its power indicator had now slid down to empty, and it was unlikely that she could manage to wrest another shot out of it. Still one of the men was down, possibly dead, and she could only hope that Ms. Morris was able to hold off the others with her pistol, at least until station security arrived. Susan knew they could not be far off away and that they would not ignore the sounds of a gun battle going on in their station. It was now just a matter of staying alive until they arrived.

The heavy wood counter, probably a family heirloom of it's now dead owner was then rocked with multiple plasma blasts, striking with deadly accuracy on the section damaged in the previous exchange of fire. This time the plasma soon cut through the wood and left it smouldering and afire, while the woman it protected was becoming increasingly exposed to the withering fire the gunmen were pouring towards her. Susan crouched as low as she could and tried to move away, towards the corner of the café. She hoped that the gunmen did not spot her movement, and would continue to fire on the counter, as every second she gained was another one that she would remain alive.

As she shuffled backwards, Susan saw the Futurecorp lawyer jump to her feet and try to run in the direction of the open doors leading out of the terminal and onto the relative safety of the waiting liner. She tried to call out to her, to warn her to stay where she was, but it was too late. The weapons of the three remaining gunmen suddenly came around and the bolts of plasma they fired tore through the lawyer's body, throwing her into the air, and depositing her nearly two metres away, right next to the doors she had been attempting to reach.

Susan bit her lip and tried not to cry out, knowing that the gunmen would probably turn their attention towards her again now. However, the gunmen were hesitating, hearing the sounds of a large number of booted feet approaching down the main corridor. They glanced at each other and then leapt to their feet and ran together towards the open doorway leading out of the terminal. One of the men paused only briefly to tug a small spherical object off his belt and toss it towards the smoking ruins of a café and then he too continued to flee.

The small object flew through the air until it hit the edge of the counter Susan was hiding behind, bouncing off the charred wood and landing on the floor with a clatter, before rolling beneath the upturned table where she had been sitting with the lawyer just minutes earlier. Peaking out around the edge of the counter Susan's eyes focused quickly on the object, a small fusion grenade, and then just as quickly she pulled her head back around behind the counter and scanned for some way to escape.

She was too late though and the grenade exploded with a burst of white-hot energy that tore through the café, burning through the ceiling supports and anything else in its blast radius. As Susan flung herself on the ground in a vain attempt to escape the blast she felt something strike her hard on the back of her skull and then remembered nothing more, her vision becoming dim as she collapsed into peaceful oblivion.