23:56, February 1, 2262, Mars.

A much cleaner and happier Susan Ivanova entered the officer's dining room almost two hours later. The room, more commonly known as the officer's mess, was now quiet and empty, with the rest of the crew having retired for the night. The Rasputin kept Earth standard time, despite their current orbit around Mars. It made everything a lot easier for the crew who were used to the standard 24-hour cycle.

It also meant that as it was now near midnight the ship was almost as quiet as a grave, with most of the crew sleeping comfortably in their beds and only an unlucky few remaining on watch down below in the secondary bridge. Susan probably should be in bed as well, but for some reason she wasn't able to sleep without having something to eat. Normally, she would never feel this way, and in the past had gone without food for an entire day without any ill effects. Now for some reason she felt so ravenous she knew she would be unable to sleep without eating something.

Selecting a tray from the dispenser, Susan sat down at a table. She stared at the mush that filled her plate, and poked at it listlessly with her fork. Picking up a small amount, she resolved to try it, and was surprised when it didn't taste as bad as she had imagined. Unlike most of the Earth Alliance warships, the Rasputin had a proper galley, instead of the more common automatic systems that dispensed the greenish slush that now filled her plate. Sure, it tasted ok, but it wasn't really food. Susan didn't really have any choice now though as the main meal had long since passed and she would have to make do with what currently filled her plate.

After finishing about half of it the feeling of ravenous hunger that had gripped her left and Susan began to feel drowsy instead. Her mind drifted back to what had happened earlier that day, with the attack at the cafe and the strange dream she had experienced. There was something nagging at the back of her mind about the whole experience, something that she couldn't quite grasp. She knew it was important, but she couldn't remember what it was.

The rest of her meal now sat forgotten on the table as she absently pushed the green mush from one side of the plate to the other with her fork, her mind no longer focused on her environment. Latter she would not remember how long she had sat there, slowly pushing her food around the plate, and had Commander Petrov chosen that time to come in for his own meal she may have been there all night.

His clear voice soon cut through her daze though, bringing her back to the present. She turned around with a jerk and blinked her eyes for a second before focusing on Petrov. "Sorry, what was that you said Commander."

"I asked if you were ok Captain, you looked half-asleep."

Susan tried to stifle a yawn, but failed miserably. "I guess I am a little tired. What is the time?"

"Just after midnight, I was just going to get a snack before bed."

"Well don't let me stop you Commander. Although I don't think this stuff changes much with age."

Petrov smiled as he retrieved a plate of his own from the dispenser. "I don't think it does Captain. Still it does have all the necessary proteins necessary for life, and they even add flavour now so it doesn't taste like wet cardboard any more."

Susan nodded, awareness now having fully returned. "I just can't help thinking about how they make it, and the smell."

"Well, that is all gone by the time it gets to us. Anyway, the Rasputin actually has a proper galley so we won't have to be eating this sludge too often. That is one of the advantages of being on the most advanced destroyer in the fleet, that and the running water. I must say that your hair does look a lot better without all the dust in it Captain."

Susan reached up and touched the still slightly wet hair, "Well I certainly feel a lot better. The headache has even gone."

"Headache," Petrov asked with a slightly concerned look on his face. "You didn't mention that when I asked you how you felt earlier."

"It wasn't that bad, anyway it is gone now and I feel fine. Well a little bit sleepy, but otherwise fine."

The concerned look did not leave the Commander's face. "As long as you think you are alright Captain, but I don't want to see you hiding injuries from me. After all it is my job to ensure that everything on this ship runs smoothly, and that includes its captain."

"You do not need to worry about me Commander. If I wasn't well enough to be here, I would say so."

"With respect Captain, that is not what your record says."

Susan looked at the Commander with a slight frown on her face. "You checked my record?"

"I had to, it is part of my job."

She grumbled for a moment, but remembered that she had done the same thing with both Commander Sinclair and Captain Sheridan when she learned that she was to serve under him on Babylon 5. At least Petrov had told her.

"And what else did my record tell you Commander?" She asked, now with a teasing tone in the voice, instead of annoyance.

"Nothing important Captain, just that you were extremely loyal to earth, and hated telepaths for some reason. Still I don't think you are alone there."

"So there is nothing bad in there about me at all then?"

Petrov smiled, realising now that she was just teasing him. "Surprisingly nothing at all Captain. As far as the Earth Alliance is concerned, there is not a single blemish on your record. Mine on the other hand..."

Susan laughed, "It can't be all that bad Commander."

He shrugged, "No not bad, just not great. But it did get me posted here, and I can't complain about being first officer on the best ship in the Alliance fleet."

"As long as Dr Kozlowski doesn't start pulling it apart and sends us sailing into the sun or something like that."

Petrov laughed, "Indeed Captain, although we seem to be without his presence tonight, he is still down on Mars."

Further comment was prevent however by the sudden arrival of another officer in the room. Susan turned and looked at the newcomer, interested in knowing all her crew.

The new arrival was a woman in the brown uniform of a ground force's major. The woman quickly came to attention and saluted Susan as she entered the room. While she stood there, Susan took the time to examine the major more closely, noting the neat, clean uniform, the shiny black boots, and the short military haircut. "Captain, Major Logan reporting for duty," the Major said in a sharp, clean voice.

Susan returned the Major's salute, but nowhere near as cleanly, her tired body no longer considered a neat salute of any importance. "Welcome aboard Major, I didn't expect you until tomorrow."

"I decided to move the schedule forward a little Captain. I thought it best to have a little time to look around the vessel before the rest of my team arrived. I thought it best if I took a good look around first, checked all the airlocks, docking bays, that sort of thing. That way, when my troops arrive tomorrow I can be ready to set them some training drills straight away."

Susan nodded, accepting the wisdom of this. She certainly wished that she had been given a little more time to look over her new command before they had left Neptune. Instead, she still felt herself almost lost on board, with little knowledge on what went where, or how most of the systems worked. In a way it reminded her of the first time she had been on board a Whitestar vessel, not able to speak Minbari, and having to deal with some very unfamiliar systems.

"Welcome aboard then Major, I am sure your troops will be a valuable addition to our crew. Let me introduce Commander Petrov who will be serving as the first officer on the Rasputin."

Major Logan turned and saluted Petrov. "Commander," she said, acknowledging his presence.

"Welcome aboard Major," Petrov replied with a neat salute of his own. "Why don't you grab something to eat and join us, although I am afraid there is little available except standard rations."

"That will do just fine Commander," Major Logan said, quickly moving across to the dispenser to retrieve a tray of her own. After she had taken a seat at the same table as Susan and Petrov she asked, "do you know when we will be under way?"

Both Susan and Petrov shrugged. "As soon as everyone is on board I believe," Petrov answered. "We will also have to wait until they prepare those two big troop transports you would have seen in orbit."

"Well my girls and boys will all be on board and bunked down by fourteen hundred hours tomorrow at the latest, so you don't need to wait for us."

Susan was about to ask the Major about the condition of her troops when her link beeped. Wondering who could be calling at this time of night she tapped the link. "What is it?"

An unfamiliar voice answered. "Captain, I have General McCarron on channel from Mars High. He is asking to speak to you, and he says that it is important."

Susan managed to avoid groaning, not really wanting to be talking to about anything important right now. She looked apologetically at Major Logan and Petrov. "Looks like duty calls. I will have to talk to you later." Then she turned back to the link. "Put his call through to my station on the bridge, I am on my way."

"Yes Sir, doing that right away," said the anonymous crewman on the link.

Susan hauled herself up out of her chair, and leaving the remains of her meal behind on the table left the room for the short walk to the main bridge.

Only the faint light from the various consoles lit the bridge when Susan arrived. However, as soon as the sensor built into the floor detected her presence the computers powered up the lights and began to restore warmth to the chilly bridge. As she walked across her chair, Susan realised that the crewman who had contacted her must have called from the computer hub several floors below, which also housed much of the warship's communications suite. She briefly wondered why a bridge crew wasn't being maintained during this watch, before deciding that perhaps there just weren't enough crew on board to maintain an around-the-clock watch yet.

Susan wasn't really worried though, and preferred to be alone while she was speaking to General McCarron, especially if he had something important to talk about, something that she didn't want the crew to know about just yet. This in mind she took her seat at the Captain's station and pressed the button that would complete the transfer of the call.

"General," Susan said deferentially as McCarron's face appeared on the viewscreen.

"Ah Captain, you are still awake after all. I was a bit surprised when your communications officer said that I would be able to speak to you in person. I was planning to just leave a message that you could read when you woke up."

"I was just having a very late dinner General."

"Then I hope I didn't disturb your meal."

Susan shook her head. "No, I was just finishing up. It was only a quick snack before getting some sleep."

"Well I won't keep you long then. I just wanted to bring you up to date on Mr Cox's investigation into the bombing. We have discovered a few things of interest on the body of the gunman, and something that certainly shouldn't have been there."

He quickly shuffled through some papers before bring one up in front of him and reading out its contents. "It seems that the gunman had access to some pretty hi-tech communication's equipment. We found an implant in his ear, and not just one of the normal models available to the public either, this was a highly experimental implant isn't even in regular Earthforce service yet. I don't know how he got hold of it. He was also carrying a disguised long-range transmitter, one of the latest models."

"What is the range of the com equipment," Susan asked.

The General examined his notes. "Very high, it was a ship to surface transmitter. Most of the controls circuits were disguised to look like a button on his jacket and he was wearing a power supply and booster for the unit on his belt. I don't have the specs on the implant, but as it is only a receiver then I suspect it may have a similar range. Mr Cox thinks that the shooters may have been working under the command of someone else, and from what my techs tell me that person could have been anywhere on Mars. So I don't think we are going to have much luck tracking whoever it was down."

"Do you know who the gunman is yet?" Susan asked.

General McCarron nodded, and again consulted his notes. "Yes, he was Harry Lubeck, an ex-marine from Earth. According to his Earthforce record, he left the service about three years ago to work from the Jupiter Mining Company as a security director. I have been in touch with the company and they told me he left their employ a year later, but couldn't give me any further information than that. I have had Cox check around, but haven't come up with any trace on his identicard yet. It looks like wherever he has been it hasn't been inside the Alliance, or he has been using a fake identity."

"Is there anything else that Mr Cox has come up with?"

"That is about it unfortunately. There was actually very little to report on. Neither the PPG rifle or any of other equipment had any serial numbers, so it is almost impossible to trace, although we will do what we can, of course."

"I thought that all PPGs had serial numbers inscribed on the coils when they were created," Susan commented.

"That's true, but this one didn't have anything that would point out where it came from. As far as I know there is no way to remove those numbers either, so the coils in this weapon must have been produced without any identification. That means it has to be a private job, although that seems unlikely given the quality of the weapon. Besides, the specifications for all military grade weapons are classified. The weapons manufacturer, Auricon, is the only company that is supposed to possess the design specifications, and is certainly the only licensed manufacturer."

"So there is no way to track back to find out the maker, or any previous owners then?"

The General shook his head. "No, though judging by the relative newness of most of the rifle parts I doubt that there were any previous owners. It looks like these men may have been given these weapons especially for this job."

Susan looked worried, "that means that whoever was responsible is certainly not short of money. Not only do they have unlicensed weapon, with no serial numbers, but also hi-tech communications equipment, some of which isn't even available to Earthforce yet."

McCarron nodded, "looks that way Captain. I will have Mr Cox investigate further, but I can't promise any results. Anyway, I can confirm that they were not after you, but Ms Morris as we thought. I had a security team on Mars search her apartment and they found several threatening messages stored in her computer. Two of the messages also said that she should stay away from Arisia 3. Does that mean anything to you."

Susan looked even more worried now. "Yes, that was the planet that Ms Morris was interested in. She mentioned it to me, something about her company setting up a Q-40 mine there."

"Hmm, Quantium 40 is valuable enough for more than one company to kill over it in the past, and you own the mining rights to that planet."

"That is what I am worried about General," Susan said, thinking again about the legacy that Marcus had left her. "If they killed Ms Morris then they may come after me next."

"Perhaps, but they may have only killed Ms Morris after her company took an interest in the planet. I haven't had a chance to look at the messages she received, but going on what Mr Cox told me they started off just warning her to stay away from the planet and then only became really threatening in the last day or so. I don't remember you telling me about any threatening messages that you had received."

Susan shook her head. "No I haven't had anything like that. In fact, I never even knew the planet existed before today."

"Well whoever is responsible should leave you alone then. I will have Mr Cox conduct a thorough investigation at this end, but I doubt that he will find much more than he has already. If only we knew who was coordinating the attack, then we would have something to work with. Unfortunately, I doubt we will get much more from the dead gunman. I will authorise a full search, but if this operation is as organised as I think it is then I doubt that we will see any sign of them again."

Susan nodded, and then suddenly remembered something that had been troubling her. "Just one question General, how did they get off the station? I would have thought that all the exits would have been locked down to prevent them from escaping."

General McCarron nodded. "They were, no unauthorised vessels left the station after the bombing. That is a bit of mystery to us as well Captain. Mr Cox has been unable to explain it. All vessels leaving were searched thoroughly and no sign of the three gunmen was found. In fact almost the entire station has been searched and we haven't found a thing."

"Did any vessels leave right after the attack, before the lockdown could have been put in place? The café wasn't far from one of the main shuttle bays."

The General shuffled his papers again. "I don't think so, but I will have to check." He quickly scanned the information in front of him before coming up with the answer. "It looks like one vessel left, but they wouldn't have been on that shuttle."

"Why not, surely everything needs to be checked out."

The General shook his head. "They wouldn't have been on a Psi-Corp shuttle, it would have been hard for them to escape notice there, with all those telepaths on board. Mr. Cox has contacted Psi-Corp to check and they confirm no unauthorised passengers were aboard."

"You are probably right General," Susan said, although in her mind the fact that it was a Psi-Corp shuttle only made it more suspicious. "Mr Anderson, the telepath who is being assigned to the Rasputin wasn't on that shuttle was he?"

General McCarron looked a little surprised as her question, but consulted his notes carefully. "No, according to the records he has his own personal shuttle assigned to him by the Psi-Corp."

"I guess we will just have to hope that Mr Cox finds something then."

"Looks like it captain," McCarron agreed. "Although I might be able to do a little investigating of my own." He picked up a single sheet of paper from his desk and looked at it intently for a few seconds. Without looking up, he continued. "It seems that the Alliance has a listening post near Arisia 3, one that is due for a resupply in a weeks time. It shouldn't be too much trouble to send the supply ship on a quick detour into the Arisia system and see what is going on. If they find anything, I might even be able to organise a proper expedition. According to our records that system has been abandoned since the old mining colony there was destroyed by an industrial accident, so there shouldn't be anything or anyone there."

"Wouldn't a shuttle be detected?" Susan asked, deciding not to bring up the Shadow attack on the mining colony right now.

McCarron shook his head, "not this one. It is one of the old Mako class stealth ships. They are slow, but have almost no energy signature at all. If it is careful, it should be able to slip past most sensors, remember these ships are generally used to resupply our listening posts, so they have to pass undetected. The supply ship has to have as little signature as the listening post itself so neither can be picked up. Of course as it is along the Narn border I don't think we need to worry too much, after all their military is hardly in the best condition at the moment, in fact they only have about ten ships if the reports are correct."

"Not that Earth is much better off," Susan noted grimly.

"No," agreed McCarron. "We are not a lot better off, the civil war cost a lot more than most in the Alliance would like to admit, but there is no need to inform our enemies of that. Not that the Narn are supposed to be our enemies, but you can't trust anyone these day it seems. So much has been happening that I am looking forward to retirement, and a little peace and quiet."

"I guess that is the same reason I asked for the transfer off Babylon 5."

They both sat for a moment, lost in their thoughts before the General continued. "Well I had best leave you to get some sleep then Captain. I imagine will probably have a busy day tomorrow getting your ship and crew ready for the trip to Proxima. I will get back to you if I learn anything more of interest."

Susan groaned as she shut off the link. She had been avoiding thinking about the next day, instead just concentrating on making sure this one was finally over. Tomorrow she would have to organise the arrival of the rest of her crew, possibly deal with telepaths, all of them probably interested only in trying to scan her, and not to mention all the other things that came with the responsibility of being an Earth Alliance Captain.

This in mind she left the bridge, heading back to the officers dining room to clean up her plate, and then hopefully get a good nights rest, although she held out little hope for that.

Major Logan and Commander Petrov were still in the officer's mess when she returned from the bridge, and one of them must have cleaned up the remains of the meals, as the table was now empty. Susan was about to leave again, but Petrov noticed her before she could back out of the room. "What did the General want?" he asked.

Susan stopped and went over to the table and took a seat. "Nothing much, he was just updating me on the latest information about who was responsible for the bombing."

"Have they discovered who it was?"

Susan shook her head, "no, the station's security haven't been able to discover who it was, except to confirm that the Futurecorp lawyer was the target. General McCarron couldn't tell me who was behind it though."

"Well I guess that is that then, not much use looking any further."

Susan looked at Petrov, annoyed that he would give up so easily. "Why not? I can always do a little investigating on my own. After all it was my planet the lawyer was killed over."

"You own a planet?" Major Logan asked suddenly, barely hiding her interest.

"Well no, just the mining rights. Actually I didn't even know I had that until today, an old friend left it too me before he died."

"That must have been some friend."

Susan's voice took on a slightly distant tone. "Yes he was."

"Well your planet or not, we should leave this to the experts," Petrov put in. "Besides we have to take the Rasputin to Proxima, and don't have any time to investigate anything, no matter how important it is."

"I guess you are right," Susan agreed reluctantly. "I would like to know exactly what is going on, and who is responsible." She turned toward the Major, "I don't suppose you know an ex-marine by the name of Harry Lubeck do you Major?"

Major Logan looked surprised when Susan mentioned the name. "I do actually," she said. "We were stationed on the same base about four years back. A nasty piece of work, why do you ask?"

"He was one of the gunmen involved in the attack on Mars High," Susan said, leaning forward eagerly, hungry for any information that the Major could supply her. "What can you tell me about him."

"Well I can't imagine him as the sort who would get involved in that sort of thing, he wasn't smart enough."

"His name was the one given by the security on the station, and as they would have used his DNA files to check his identity, I don't think they are going to be wrong."

The Major shrugged, "I guess I will take your word for it then. The Harry Lubeck I remember though wasn't smart enough to tie his own shoelaces. He was a thug, and it didn't surprise me when they tossed him out of the Marines."

"Tossed him out," Susan looked surprised. "The General said that he had left, he didn't say anything about him being discharged.

"Well that was the official version, but what really happened was that he attacked one of the officers, claiming he caught him cheating at cards or something like that. The top brass covered up the whole thing, and Harry left, supposably of his own free will, but the story that eventually trickled back down the ranks was that he had been kicked out."

"Why didn't you think he would be involved in the attack today then?" Petrov asked in a curious tone.

Major Logan shrugged, "he was never very good at any sort of covert type operation. In the wargames we had on Mars in 2258, he screwed up really badly and our entire division was knocked out of the battle. As you might imagine, he wasn't the most popular guy around the base after that. All I can say is that he must have improved a lot since then as the Harry Lubeck I knew would not have been able to carry out the operation they were reporting on the news tonight. That was a real professional job."

"Actually he was killed," Susan informed her. "I shot him with a laser rifle, before he could escape."

The Major smiled, "good job then Captain, it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. It's a pity you didn't get his friends as well, but with one of those old laser carbines you did a good job to even hit anything."

Susan looked confused for a moment, and her face crinkled into a frown. "How did you know what weapon I used?" she asked.

Major Logan twisted around to point at the vid screen on the wall. "It has been all over the local networks, someone in security must have leaked the story. Of course, what else would you expect from a civilian organization. The Marines would never let anything slip like that. They didn't say who had been killed though, just that it was one of the gunmen."

Susan groaned and then said in a weary tone, "I suppose they will want another interview now. I am getting rather sick of reporters by now."

"Don't worry Captain," Logan said. "I can take care of them for you. An invitation to investigate the ships airlock should get rid of most of them."

"I am not sure we want to kill them Major," Susan said with a faint smile replacing the frown. "Just keep them away and that will be fine."

"I will see what I can do Captain," the Major replied, before yawning widely. "Right now though I think I might get some sleep. It has been a long trip, and after looking at my quarters here, I think I might grow to like this vessel. Even the marine's bunks are better than I would have expected."

"This ship was made with crew comfort in mind it seems," Petrov noted. "You should see the captain's quarters."

"Perhaps I will sometime," Major Logan said with a glance toward Susan. Then she pushed back her chair and stood, stretching to work out the kinks in her body. "Right now though, I am going to turn in. An hours rest strapped into a seat on a shuttle does not substitute for a good nights rest in a proper bunk."

"I think the Major may be interested in more than just your quarters Captain," Petrov noted after Logan had left the dining room.

Susan shook her head, "I don't think so. Anyway, I am not interested in a relationship with anyone at this time. I have too many other things to worry about."

Petrov shrugged. "I have always found that someone to share my problems with always helps."

"I have always found that having someone to share my problems with has only lead to more problems, at least lately."

Petrov yawned, finally feeling the tiredness that was affecting him as well. "I guess it works both ways," he said before yawning again. "It looks like it is catching. I had better hit my bunk as well, Captain, and I suggest you do the same as well."

Susan nodded and then stood and joined Petrov as he left the room. As they reached the door she turned to the Commander and said, "good night then Commander, I will see you tomorrow. It looks like we will have a lot to do."

Petrov nodded. "It looks that way Captain."

Then they both went their separate ways, Petrov towards the stern and his captain, while Susan went in the opposite direction towards her own cabin. Around them the ship remained quiet as a mouse, with only the dim hum from the lighting giving any sign that it was still operating. The quiet hid the truth though, as behind the walls of the corridor lay thousands of tiny filaments, all carrying data from the myriad of ships systems on the bridge and elsewhere. In the darkness behind the walls, the Rasputin hummed with a life all its own, a life that everyone on board depended on for their existence.

None of this was visible to Susan though as she walked the short distance to her quarters and opened the door to her office. Another few steps and she had passed the inner door entered her actual living quarters. There she paused briefly to shrug off her uniform before collapsing on her soft bed. A few seconds later and she was lost in the oblivion of sleep, comforting darkness closing over her to wash away the tiredness and pain she felt, just as her shower earlier had cleaned off the dust and blood.