The Lady of Downbelow
Kidnapping Arc
+++++PART+01+++++
August 26, 2258
Nova rubbed the back of her neck as, once again, she felt the oncoming paradox move just that little bit closer. It wasn't that it was a paradox itself—she was here to ensure that a fixed point happened according to plan—it was that it was a paradox she wasn't expecting.
In her years as the Doctor's ward/apprentice, she'd become quite adept at a multitude of TimeLord-specific skills, such as moving between seconds, tasting the years, and kinesthetic telepathy to name a few. Whereas many such Gallifreyan Academy skills he would wave away as either not as important as his own instructors said or as entirely useless, mastering paradoxes even the Doctor agreed was essential. There were many nuances to mastering paradoxes, including fixed points.
The paradox Nova currently felt was not a fixed point…or perhaps it was, but it wasn't a large one. It was approaching fast though, whatever it was. The closer it got, the more she could determine, and it was making her nervous. She couldn't feel the center of this paradox, which made her extremely anxious. Either this coming paradox was larger than it seemed, or SHE was its axis. Not good.
She was currently trying to focus herself with Zen gardening to hopefully feel more in-depth what was coming when she felt the universe focus on a single point. Fixed! The possible fixed point had become an actual fixed point in the space of a breath. Whatever had been approaching was Here. Now!
All the breath left her as her mind's eye watched.
The universe tightened…
.
.
.
…tightened…
.
.
.
…tightened…
.
.
.
.
.
Release!
"Stardust!" she exclaimed under her breath. "That was a close one…"
It was only after she had said the words that she realized it wasn't finished unraveling…
+++B5+++
September 1, 2258
It had been six days since she had felt the fixed point rupture and she had been feeling it spin outward like the trailing end of a comet as it hurdled straight AT her. It didn't seem to have the end to its tail that she could see (yet), but the closer it got the more it loomed and the more that it was ALL she could sense. She couldn't focus to see details—details which were essential to dealing with it—because it was right in her face…and getting closer with every passing nanosecond.
She was currently trying (again) to do some Zen gardening in an effort to calm her anxiety, feel more of what was to come and her possible part in it. Jamie and Charlie were in the hydroponics garden with her doing the routine maintenance needed in the plant beds while Nova was finishing up in the new bed.
She'd managed to procure a rather large amount of live Treel at breeding age from a backdoor black-market Centauri deal, but they didn't have a bed set up for fauna. The past two days held Nova busy making the necessary adjustments for an aquaponics area.
(According to all her research, Treel was almost-but-not-quite a true Universal Superfood—able to be easily digested by most species, providing necessary nutrients she'd up to this point been using powdered supplements to supply.
Treel also could feed off kolni, another almost-true Universal Superfood. The Treel bred up to six times in a Terran year and kolni could be manipulated to bud every three weeks with the right system. With the amounts of Treel she had purchased and the kolni beds she already had set up, they should have an excellent source of self-sustaining renewable nutrients for 99% of the Downbelow species within a month.)
((Harn had commented that Grey-17 was starting to remind him of some of the pictures he had seen of the swamps of Narn Prime before the Centauri had enslaved it. She didn't know how to feel. Saddened at making him remember something which obviously distressed him; saddened at what had occurred to so many Narn. Or perhaps flattered at what had been sincerely meant as a compliment. She decided to thank him profusely, but her hearts hurt for his clear heartbreak.))
Nova gave a small gasp, a hand going to her breast as between one breath and the next the fixed point clicked into place. Instead of revealing its center to observe and make judgements, she suddenly found herself in the calm center. The fixed point raging around her like a wolf waiting in the shadows.
"Lady?" a quiet, calm voice interrupted. Startling her since it was unknown.
Her head jerked and her body came up and back, holding the sonic defensively even before her mind fully finished processing that there were intruders in their personal space of Grey-17.
Three Minbari were watching her, several steps beyond her current reach, one of each caste: warrior, religious, and worker. It was a male of religious caste that had spoken, identified by his smooth headbone and cream-colored robe, his hands held out to show he held no weapons. "Lady, we offer no hostility. We are here to help."
"How did you get here?" she asked harshly. The safeguards around Grey-17 were intricate; only the Doctor himself should have been able to get through them unless one already knew exactly how to go. Even Captain Jack Harkness shouldn't be able to find them unless he already knew they were there!
"We—"
He was cut off by a loud, "LADY!" It was a scream that had her moving before it fully registered. This was not a cry just to catch attention, this was a sound of true pain and panic…and it was one of her littles that had made it. "Jackie," she breathed.
The Minbari were dismissed as unimportant in less time than it took her to move, going in and around their bodies. She was beside the 15-year-old girl, her sonic already scanning and running diagnostics, in less than six heartbeats.
Jack was covered in blood and bruises. "I tried to stop them, Lady. I swear I tried."
"Shhh, I know you did," Nova soothed. Her sonic was telling her that Jack had three cracked ribs, another two broken, in danger of a punctured lung, along with a broken left ulna and radius, and three fractured metacarpals of her right hand. Several facial lacerations and cracked orbital. Jack had fought and fought hard. Probably the only reason she had made it back at all was that her legs were injured, but not broken. Though Jack possibly had some internal bleeding, given how battered she was and then going such a long distance to get help. "You're safe now. Come on, let's get you fixed up."
She helped the girl get back to her feet and through, into the safety that Grey-17 offered, blinking only momentarily at the Minbari in her way before gesturing them off.
"No, Lady…they took them…" Jack breathed, a small amount of blood showing from the corner of her mouth the longer she spoke.
"What? Who took what?" Nova was only halfway paying attention to Jackie's words, already busy getting several patches and things ready to treat her.
"Danny and Kari. They took Danny and Kari."
Nova's hands slowed, then stopped completely as the words registered. Her head came up and she knew her face must be terrible, because the girl flinched at the sight of it. "Say that again," her voice darkly foreboding.
"…They took Kari and Danny, Lady," Jack repeated.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Where were you?"
"We were heading to docking bay 9. Stopped in the Zocalo. Kari wanted to get you a present. As thanks for everything. Crowded. We got separated. Danny yelled and Kari screamed. I…saw them drag them away. Followed. Two jumped me. A human and a traxi. I tried! Lady, I swear I tried…!"
"I know you did, Jackie. I know. Here," Nova pressed the air injector of nanos to Jack's neck, then an injector of analgesics, "that should make you feel better and be all up and about in no time." She smiled with what she hoped was reassurance, but her mind was already racing. "You get some rest. It'll be better when you wake." Given what she had injected her with, Nova wasn't surprised when Jack's eyes slid shut almost immediately and her breathing deepened.
"Lady?" Charlie asked hesitantly.
"Jack'll be fine. Jamie, come over here please."
Nova looked over at the Minbari. "You're here to help?"
"Yes, Lady," the worker caste member gave a small bow, "in whatever way you need."
"Good," Nova's mind was already forming and discarding strategies using her new resources. Finally, she settled into a plan of action and began to issue orders. "Jamie, you and Charlie and Jack will stay here in Grey-17. Protocol Sigma-9, got it?"
Jamie paled a little—though perhaps he was already that shade and it was only now she noticed—but he nodded. Charlie too, though hers was a bit more determined. "Sigma-9, yes Lady."
Nova pointed to the religious caste, "He's going to stay here and help out. You tell him about Sigma-9. The three of you can take care of Jack while she's sick." Nova looked at the priest, knew that Minbari religious caste were also taught to fight and defend. Her voice lowered so that the children wouldn't hear, "There are a total of 9 people who should be able to enter this area. Seven of them are on this station: the 5 children, myself, and a Narn named Harn. I have no idea how you got around my safeguards, but right now I don't care. You protect my littles or I will take it out of your skin." Her tone brooked dark promise.
To his credit, the monk didn't flinch. He gave another small bow. "With my life, Lady."
Next, she turned to the worker, "Your first job is to go to the Minbari ambassador and tell her everything. Tell her I'm invoking my full diplomatic status. Then go to Sinclair and tell him the same thing. Then get back here and help with the children."
The worker gave an identical bow, "Understood, Lady." With no other needed dismissal, she left Grey-17 for her assigned task at a fast walk.
Nova reached for her bright azure cloth sack and dug through. She handed the psychic paper to Jamie. "How long are you to wait?" she questioned the boy.
James clutched the thin wallet in one hand and Charlie with the other. Despite his obvious fear, he dutifully recited, "Wait 12 hours. If you don't come back, think a message that you need help. If you're not back in 24 hours, think 'Help Theta' as loud as I can until a man with crazy hair and weird clothes comes."
"Good boy," she praised. Her sonic screwdriver was tucked into a pocket, and she had retrieved the plasma gun and holster. She swiftly armed herself and then knelt before them, took their hands, and looked each in the eyes. "I know you're scared. Being brave doesn't mean that you aren't scared. Being brave means that you're scared, but you do what's right anyway. Stay here and I'll come back as soon as I can." She kissed each child's forehead. "Look after the Minbari too, they don't know how anything works in here. Okay?"
"Okay, Lady," they echoed. Both were scared, but bad things had happened before. This time it would be different! Because this time they had the Lady. The Lady would take care of everything! The Lady would save the others and come back and it would all be fine again. Until then, they would be brave. The Lady needed them to be brave. So they would be brave.
Nova turned and felt as an implacable mask slid into place. She couldn't do what she needed to do if her emotions were high. She needed to be hard and logical. She looked at the warrior Minbari, and said coldly, "Let's put your skills to use."
***Anyone notice that the B5 episodes are NOT in chronological order?! Yeah, me neither…until I tried to put these in the same order. Finally decided that if M.S. can ignore chronological order in favor of the story, so can I.
Thanks go to denise3 and BarbedCaress for their awesome betaing!
Reviews are love and help keep me motivated to write more!