FLARN MANAGES
by Luthienn
Author's notes:
For disclaimer, rating, etc. see the Prologue.
The condition of the Vad'id Hael is the invention of the highly talented Eirendel. It was first mentioned in her excellent story "A Warrior's Heart". Go and read it!
Also, with Chapter 2 a new storyline begins, starting after the end of the series. The different storylines will swap back and forth and eventually, they will meet. I promise. Rastenn and Tannier are the two Rangers-in-training from the episode "Learning Curve", of course.
Minbari words and expressions are taken from Hightower's dictionary, as always.
CHAPTER 2: THE END OF THE LINE PART 1
Babylon 5, on the 22nd April 2271
Captain Elizabeth Lochley, commanding officer of Babylon 5, was sitting in her office, fighting the never-ending piles of paperwork once again. The six years on this post had not been kind to her; the hard job itself, plus the threatening doom of Earth that had inevitably rubbed off to the human population of the station, had made her age prematurely. Due to regular exercise, her body was still trim and filled out the EarthForce uniform as nicely as ever, but the first grey strains had already appeared in her hair, there were dark bruises under her eyes from the permanent lack of sleep, and her face had acquired a certain… puffy quality that no amount of rigorous dieting could counteract. People said that she was still a pretty woman "for her age" – she hated that addition, knowing all too well that it meant she did not have her usual perfect looks anymore.
Her comm link beeped. She sighed and showed the pile of reports currently under her revision aside. "Lochley."
"Captain, I think you'd better come to customs," the voice of Lt. Corwin, her second-in-command, answered. "The Excalibur has returned."
For a moment, Lochley was too stunned to react. The Excalibur had been on deep space research without a break for the last ten months. As time for Earth was running out, they had doubled, no, tripled their efforts to find a cure for the Drakh Plague. The fact that they were returning now could only mean two things. Either they had found something – or they had given up."
"What is their ETA?" she finally managed to ask.
"In eighty-two minutes," Corwin replied. "There are only two ships before them: a Minbari flyer, bringing the newly-assigned Rangers from White Star 39 and a small ship registered to someone with the name of Galen."
Lochley nodded, forgetting momentarily that Corwin couldn't see her. It made sense. She remembered the Technomage from the Excalibur's previous visits. He was a strange person, but again, so was almost everyone who came to Babylon 5, for whatever reason. Apparently, Gideon and the mage had gone separate ways to cover larger territory. She only hoped that at least one of them had been successful.
"Initiate docking procedures," she ordered Corwin. "I'll meet you at Customs in one hour. Alert me if something unexpected happens."
Zack Allen, Chief of Security on Babylon 5 for the last seven years, could never grow tired of watching the new visitors pass through Customs. The variety of shapes, colours and sounds had always fascinated him, ever since he had first set foot on the station. He sincerely hoped that the cure for the Drakh Plague would be found in time and Earth would be spared, but he didn't want to go home. Babylon 5 had become home for him a long time ago, way back when he was just Garibaldi's aide.
I'll remain here until they switch off the lights, he often said, and though it was said in jest, it was also the truth.
"Minbari vessel Lumini has docked in," his second, Lou Welch, just as determined to go down with the station as he was, reported. "Passengers are coming through."
Zack nodded absent-mindedly and watched as the two young Minbari males, both wearing the traditional Ranger uniform, calmly walked in, with identically blank expressions on their faces. One of them was tall and well-built, with a surprisingly gentle face, the other one smaller and wiry, with noble, elegant features, hands clasped behind his back.
"Identicards, please," Lou Welch said routinely when they reached his duty post. The Rangers handed him the IDs and he pushed them into the control interface. "Anla'shok Tannier from the Faithful Hearts," he read from the control screen, and the taller Minbari nodded. "And Anla'shok Rastenn from the Star Riders. Both assigned to Babylon 5 for temporary duty."
The two nodded again, and Lou Welch handed them back their IDs.
"The Ranger facility is still in Brown Sector, in honour of Marcus Cole, our first resident Ranger," Zack offered the newcomers an electronic notebook with the detailed map of the station. "If you take the core shuttle…"
"Thank you, but this is not our first time on Babylon 5," the taller Minbari, the one named Tannier interrupted politely; he had a surprisingly mild voice for someone of his size. "We've made ourselves familiar with its layout during our first visit."
Zack shrugged. "All right, the only thing you need to do is to check in with Turann, then. He is in temporary change of the Minbari embassy as long as the post is vacant. Welcome to Babylon 5, gentlemen."
The two Rangers thanked him with a bow – Tannier folding his hands in the manner of the Religious Caste, Rastenn pressing both fists to his chest as was the wont of the Warrior Caste – and continued their way to Brown Sector, where the Rangers stationed on Babylon 5 had their quarters.
Well, to call these tiny sleeping chambers quarters was probably the exaggeration of the century, but since Marcus Cole had had such miserably small and bleak accommodations, every other Ranger felt honour-bound not to have anything better. Minbari were great at traditions, old and new ones alike, and the human Rangers just had to adapt. At least they had a shared bathroom, with vibe showers for the humans, and a somewhat larger room that they used for briefings.
It was this briefing room that the two Minbari visited first. Tannier went straight to the computer panel and entered the password to check the duty raster.
"The others are out on various missions," he told Rastenn. "We have the facility all to ourselves."
"That is good," Rastenn said, his dark eyes flaring shortly. "I feel the need to remove the dirt of the long journey from my skin."
Moments like this often made Tannier wish that he had eyebrows. Humans always managed to express so much by merely moving this particular part of their anatomy upward that there was no need for words…
"Rastenn," he said patiently, "there was no dirt on the Lumini, or on the White Star, for that matter. They both had been thoroughly cleaned before we started. And we had perfectly clean and comfortable quarters during the whole journey."
Rastenn looked at him with hooded eyes. "I still feel the urge to clean myself. Would you help me apply the cleansing astringent?"
Tannier shook his head in exasperation but felt himself melting under the heated glare of his Cala'sum(1) again. "You are looking for trouble, Da'cal(2)."
"Su'rahan, Am'sheal?(3)" Rastenn murmured. "Who knows when will we have the facility all to ourselves again? We might not get a chance like this again for a long time…"
He reached up, caressing Tannier's sensitive Othla'dun(4) with practiced ease, scraping a fingernail gently over the Ren'helas(5) on his lover's head. Tannier gave a ragged sigh, grabbed Rastenn's head and captured the smaller man's lips in a bruising kiss.
"All right, Da'cal, you have won. Let us retreat to the bathroom."
Rastenn followed eagerly, and soon they were making a show of applying the cleansing astringent on each other's naked skin, touches getting more and more intimate, especially around the cerulean stripe covering the highly sensitive nerve endings along the spine. Rastenn was completely out of control now, the fog of the Vad'id Hael(6) clouding his mind, and Tannier dropped to his hands and knees hurriedly, offering his lover the only help that there was for this condition.
"Take what you need, Da'cal," he murmured, a little sadly, for despite the love between them, this almost animal need from Rastenn's side always darkened his joy.
Rastenn didn't need any encouragement. With the fierce snarl of a hunting predator, he stormed the gates of his lover and conquered the willing body of Tannier once again.
TBC
End notes:
(1) Cala'sum heart-mate
(2) Da'cal my heart (endearment)
(3) Am'sheal beloved (endearment). The sentence means: Please, beloved.
(4) Othla'dun bonecrest ridges
(5) Ren'helas the cerulean patches on the head of the Minbari, at the roots of the bonecrest
(6) Vad'id Hael Dark Fire of the Soul; the meaning will be explained later. Let me only tell you that it's a very serious condition for a Minbari.