Much of the first night was spent in the quiet hours of the night cutting into the wall, once they'd confirmed as much as possible that it was a solid, though thin, wall and didn't contain any important, or dangerous, wires or pipes.
It had to be done all in one go, so that they could immediately camouflage the work, otherwise someone might notice the half-completed entrance and that would be unacceptable.
Rally sat with their minicams on the hallway feeding into the portable computer monitor, watching for trouble outside as Vivian leaned against the wall next to her sister and concentrated on feeling for every fiber of mental and emotional presence that she could out in the tunnel.
It was sort of like trying to look at one of those optical illusion mystery pictures, and it was giving her a headache. Looking toward Shanti, her sister was having fun getting to use her ability, but was getting tired as well.
Small sparks appeared inches ahead of Shanti's eyes occasionally, though, for the most part a burst of white hot fire appeared spontaneously ahead of her, burrowing into the metal like they used to play with clay as little kids.
Rally kept them both supplied with water, enforcing breaks occasionally, especially after Shanti cut enough to allow them to hear some of the echoes in the tunnel beyond. And, as Shanti moved to another section of wall, she'd started drilling the hinges into the wall and the as yet unfinished door.
As the cutting was finished, Shanti stepped forward toward the heated piece of metal and leaned her hands against it. Quickly, the heat around the new construction seemed to sap away and the uniformly cool air of the station took hold again.
The long-haired girl took a deep breath and stepped back away to go sit on a bed as Rally tossed her and Vivi a bottle of water each and opened the new door on its hinges in a test. Shanti had rounded the inside edges of the wall so that it smoothly bent in without creaking.
Then it was just a matter of quietly as possible putting in the locks and levers, and finally the camouflage bookshelf.
"So," Rally asked as she and Vivian stocked the bookshelf. "Any chance you're going to read any of these books?"
Behind them Shanti had finished her water bottle and curled up into sleep on her bed.
"Life, the Universe and Everything?" Vivi asked. "Why'd you buy a philosophy book?"
"It's not philosophy, it's humor," Rally said. "I saw the movie once."
"Where'd you get these books anyway?" Vivian asked.
"Used book store," Rally said. "We didn't have enough of our own books with just the technical manuals and such. And they won't move around much when we open and close, because these shelves are made for ships."
She pointed to the ridges that lay in front of the books, holding them in place in case of a sudden shift.
After a quick test of the door from both sides and applying some break away molding on the dark side of the maintenance shaft exit, Rally and Vivian put up the equipment and then settled down in their own beds for the night.
It was a few days later that found the Vincents in the Red Sector outside of the Security Headquarters.
A tall, dark haired man with deep-set blue eyes greeted them at the door, smiling in a friendly manner as he looked over the woman and the two girls behind her.
"Rally Vincent," he said with an eager look to his eyes. "This is something of an honor. I'm the acting Chief of Security."
"You know, I wasn't recognized this much while I lived on Proxima 3 the last few years," Rally said, trying not to sound bitter.
"Well, this is the front line now," the man said. "A lot of people who were very appreciative of your work ended up here."
Rally kept the frown off her face and turned to her girls.
"Well, we're here to take a few shots on the range," she said.
"Lieutenant Commander Ivanova said you'd be in," he said. "Right this way. These are your daughters?"
"This is Vivian and Shanti," Rally said, noting the doubtful look in the man's eyes. "My kids."
"I hadn't heard you married," he said.
"We're adopted," Shanti said.
"I see," the man said. "Well, let's get you to the range then. The lieutenant commander told you that you'd have to settle for using the security weapons for now?"
"She did," Rally said, clearly a bit unsatisfied with that.
"We'll need some time to see if a slugthrower is safe in here," the man said with a smile.
He led them to a long room with narrow slots, a row of targets down range.
Rally surveyed the room with a low whisper, nodding and clearly impressed.
"This is very nice," she said. "Amazing what you guys have in this place."
"Care to try a few shots?" he asked, pulling his own gun out and offering it to her. "I'd be honored if you were to use my weapon."
"Sure," Rally said.
"Can I try next?" Shanti asked.
"Everybody'll get a turn," Rally said as she accepted the gun and looked down range.
Then the plasma bursts were flying through the air, sheering through the target in the back. Rally handed the weapon off to Shanti as she moved to call the target forward to the shooting position.
The security officer moved forward to look at the results and blinked. On first glance, it looked like it was a scattering of random and wild shots, certainly not the work of the master markswoman Miss Vincent was reputed to be.
On closer look, however, each impact was very precisely placed in a way that incapacitated the target without killing them. There was something even more unsatisfying about this discovery than he had been when he thought she'd just fired randomly.
Off to the side, Shanti took her turn and passed the gun on to Vivian.
Vivian froze as the gun came into her hand, eyes moving rapidly for several seconds.
"Rally..." Shanti said nervously, drawing her guardian's attention over to Vivian just before the fit ended.
"I...think I'll wait until we can use our own stuff," Vivian said with a sick tone of voice as the security officer turned about.
The short-haired twin set the gun down gingerly, as if it was something disgusting. Rally narrowed her eyes and looked toward the security guard.
"You said acting head of security?" she said. "Who's the normal chief on station?"
"That would be Mr. Garibaldi," the man said.
"Where would he be?" Rally asked, noting the somewhat familiar name.
"He's in medlab," the security man said, brow furrowing as he started to notice the cooling atmosphere. "Someone shot him in the back. Hazards of the job. Especially with the bad element around here."
"I'm not arguing that point," Rally said with a smile. "Well, thank you. We'll be back as soon as the paperwork on our weapons is certified, Mr..."
"Oh, call me Jack," the man responded.
As they exited the area calmly, Rally looked back over her shoulder and then down toward Vivian.
"Murder?" she asked quietly.
Vivian nodded, shivering.
"More than one," she whispered.
"Fill me in when we get to the apartment," Rally said.
Jack looked over Rally Vincent's sheet and frowned.
Shoulder, elbow, wrist and knees.
Every shot was placed precisely in place to hit major points of the nervous system or musculature in such a way that the target would lose the practical use of the struck area. The target would then be out of the fight and alive.
It was a mark of supreme mastery that a shooter would be able to place a shot so precisely, especially with a weapon that was admittedly not their preferred style. Firearms often lacked the precision of such melee weapons as swords and knives, but in the hands of this woman, that limit was circumvented.
However, the fact that she aimed not to kill bothered the man. He'd heard Vincent reputation as a masterful assassin, and yet now it seemed that all of that was a lie. He'd been considering recruiting the woman to the cause, she would have been useful, despite her aberrant tastes in lovers, but now he didn't think she'd be able to go through with what would need to be done.
Just proof that people like her had to be weeded out. And there was no telling what she was doing with her foster daughters.
Well, it was just minor disappointment. Everything else was going right as rain. Too bad the chief had to get in the way like that, he hadn't liked being forced to betray the man, but that's what it took to purge the old softness and forge a hard new Alliance that wouldn't bow down to any alien scum.
"I told you not to get involved in stuff too big for you, Garibaldi."
"That's what the big guy said," Vivi noted. "And then that Jack person shot the guy I think is Garibaldi in the back."
"You said there was more than one murder?" Rally said.
"Yeah, he killed the big guy and the other two later," Vivi said. "Called it self-defense."
"So we've got a corrupt cop," Rally said, frowning. "I'm going out for a bit, I need to talk to your Aunt Becky."
"Should we stay here?" Shanti asked.
Rally paused and considered things, she couldn't keep them with her all the time, and she couldn't reasonably insist that they don't leave the apartment unless she was with her. It had been a few days since they had arrived. They should know the spots to avoid now, and it wasn't like this Jack person would be coming after them.
"Where're you thinking of heading?" she asked.
"There's NASCAR at Doug's Dugout," Vivian said without missing a beat.
"There is?" Rally said, sounding a bit put out. "Hmm, I'll meet you there then. Shanti?"
"I'm going to the arcade again," Shanti noted, kicking her feet.
"I'll check on you on my way to the sports bar," Rally said. "I shouldn't be long, send me a message if plans change."
"Right, Rally," Vivi said, waving at her as she walked carefully into the tunnel after opening the bookshelf.
The maintenance tunnels were dark and poorly lit, but also almost completely unpopulated. Rally and the girls had been through their escape path a couple of times already, and she knew the path well enough. Soon she was picking her way through debris and detritus, avoiding the sight of lurkers and coming to a dusty comm port.
Cautiously, looking over her shoulder, she thought back into her mind and then bent down to hack the port off the Stellar Comm standard channel so that she could uplink to Becky's current secure lines.
It wasn't long before she found Becky's face staring back at her, blinking tiredly.
"Rally, do you have any idea what time it is?" she asked.
"Sorry, Becky," Rally said. "I need you to do some digging."
"And it couldn't wait?" Becky asked.
"Vivian found a murder weapon," Rally said.
"And you need my help for that? You've done this before" Becky sniped wearily. "You're an investigator. Investigate and talk to the security staff when you've got the evidence."
"The suspect is acting chief of security," Rally whispered, checking over her shoulder. "The normal chief is in a coma in medlab, shot in the back."
Becky was instantly awake and alert.
"My advice is to stay away from politics and corrupt cops," she said. "You're not in a position to be rocking the boat."
"And that's why I need help," Rally said irritably. "I can't go to the station security and say, you've got a murderer in your boss's chair. And I can't investigate, because everything I'd need to investigate is in security or in restricted files."
"Rally, I've read some of your old operations reports," Becky said dryly.
"Okay," Rally said. "I could investigate, but I could hardly do that without attracting attention. And I already have more of that than I need."
"I know," Becky said. "Babylon 5 Command requested your file. They got your public records because of a computer glitch."
Rally looked at Becky's smile and arched an eyebrow.
"You're toying with EarthForce records?" she asked. "Isn't that a bit too dangerous?"
"I'm not digging in anything classified," Becky said. "You'd be amazed how lax the security is on basic personnel records. I can pretty easily alter a request for records to make sure they only get the public records. The system leans that way anyway. Now the second request, that I can only slow down, they were a bit more specific in what they wanted this time."
Rally arched an eyebrow and closed her gaping mouth as she stared at her old friend's image.
"Right," Rally said. "Anyway, I can't really do much on this end. And a crooked cop is too much of a risk for us. I was wondering if you could arrange a message to get to Babylon 5 Command."
"Anything, specific you want me to include in this message?" Becky asked.
"Coming," Rally said as she started to relay what Vivian had told her.
"Rally, did you say this crooked cop killed the people he was working for?" Becky asked. "Could he have been covering his tracks?"
"I think more likely that he was the go between for someone else," Rally said.
"You haven't been there barely more than a week," Becky said in frustration. "All right, all right, we're getting a bit too long winded here, better drop the feed. I'll get your message out."
"Thanks, Becky," Rally said, watching her old friend yawn before the comm port blinked off.
Rally took a moment to undo her hack so that the next person to use the comm, if anyone, would find it just a normal stellar comm port.
The former bounty hunter walked carefully away from the Stellar Comm, eyes watching the area carefully as she returned to the maintenance shaft, no sense being seen coming out of this area.
Hopefully, there was still a race going on when she caught up with Vivian.
Ivanova was about to head to bead and leave the CnC with the night crew when the anonymous communique came in. She leaned forward to read the information, yawning and turned more awake with each passing word she read.
"Where'd that last communique come from?" she asked the comm officer.
"Unknown," he said after a moment's checking. "There aren't any colonies on that line right now."
"That would mean either a ship or a comm-burst satellite," Ivanova said as she applied command-only restrictions to the incoming message. "Locate the captain for me."
"The captain is in medlab," one of the other night crew said.
"Then that's where I'm heading," she said.
Ivanova came to medlab to see a rather unusual sight. Sheridan was unstrapping himself from some sort of machine, looking a bit groggy. The machine was then hooked up to the unconscious Garibaldi.
"Well, your vitals are still strong," Dr. Franklin was saying, "but there's a definite instability. We'll give it another ten minutes and then I'll start my shift."
"Is there something I should know?" Ivanova asked, momentarily distracted from her purpose.
"Oh, Susan," Sheridan said in a friendly tone, blinking away the fatigue. "There's nothing to worry about, just something like a blood transfusion."
"You're using the alien healing device?" Susan said, blinking in something like shock.
Stephen was about to say something, but stopped and stared in shock as Ivanova identified what was happening.
"How do you..."
"Never mind that," Susan said. "I need to talk to the Captain."
"Something happen?" Sheridan asked, curiously turning toward her.
"We got a very strange message," Susan said. "I'd dismiss it as crank, but it came on Babylon 5 Command channel out of empty space an unknown distance away."
"That's a lot of effort for a crank," Sheridan noted. "What's the message say?"
"It gives a description of the attack on Chief Garibaldi and the deaths of Edgar Devereaux and his men," Susan said. "It gives a very complete description, including some details we've kept to ourselves and some we'd only guessed at."
"And does it say who pulled the trigger?" Sheridan asked.
"It says that Garibaldi's aide did," the Lt Commander noted.
"We already know he killed Devereaux and company in self-defense," Franklin noted.
"The claim here is that it wasn't self defense," Ivanova noted.
"Is there any proof?" Sheridan asked. "Or is it all just accusation."
"Just accusation for now," Ivanova said. "But the method of delivery and the details, I thought it was too much to ignore."
"I think you're right," Sheridan said, nodding. "Be sure to keep an eye on this aide for now, if something more concrete develops, we'll act more decisively."
He paused for a moment and then turned toward her.
"How about the other matter you're supposed to be keeping an eye on?" he asked.
"Frustrating, EarthGov has lost my file request twice now," Ivanova said pointedly. "The first time I got information it was the file we already have. I had to make a very specific and detailed request to get anywhere."
"Someone's trying to block you," Sheridan said with interest.
"That's my impression as well," Susan said. "Other than that, she hasn't done anything suspicious. Last I heard, she was doing some security consulting for some of the Red Sector shops. She took residences in Brown Sector."
"Brown Sector..." Sheridan said, curious. "Most merchants take living quarters in Red Sector. But it would be out of the way and mean less contact with others, that fits the profile of a veteran looking for privacy."
"So, yeah," Ivanova said. "Doesn't look like there's much there."
"Excuse me," Stephen said, looking between the two. "Who are we talking about now?"
"Nothing of importance it seems," Sheridan said.
"Okay then," Ivanova noted. "So, I guess it's my turn now?"
"Excuse me?" Sheridan said.
"You obviously are taking turns to reduce the drain," Ivanova said. "And if two people spread it out, then three people will spread it out even further. So, like I said: my turn."
"Is there some sort of military academy class on pushing yourself into things without waiting for being invited?" Franklin asked casually.
"It's called assault tactics," Sheridan noted.
"I do sell weapons," Rally told the man in front of her. "But station rules prohibit transfer of weapons to civilians or aliens on board."
"But I need a weapon now," the man said insistently. "In another couple of weeks, the Drazi are going to be at each others' throats and I don't want to be caught in the middle."
"The Drazi are what?" Rally asked, a bit confused.
Drazi culture was not something she had much of an interest in.
"Every few years or decades," the man explained. "The Drazi split into two groups and fight each other for a year to figure out who will be the ruling group until the next time. It'll be chaos! I need to be able to defend myself."
"You said this was going to be a few weeks?" Rally asked, keeping it in the back of her mind.
"That's right," the man said.
"Do you have enough for a round trip to Proxima 3?" Rally asked.
"Well, yes but..." the man stopped as Rally raised her hand.
"Here's what I'll suggest," Rally said. "I've got some of my merchandise there, including a few stun guns that should be perfect for what you wa..."
"Stun guns!" the man shrieked. "I don't want to be zapping them with static cling while they come at me with poisoned knives. I want to blow them away."
"Trust me," Rally said. "I know where you're coming from, I spent three months stuck on Drazi pirate vessel, the first week of which was spent learning Minbari so I could convince the other prisoner to work together with me to escape. The next three days was spent in pitched battle which left me adrift in space. I really don't like Drazi, but if all you're worried about doing is defending yourself, a stunner is more than enough to do the job. Now, did you want to make the purchase or not?"
"And how do I know this isn't some kind of scam?" the man asked.
"Oh, for Heaven's," Rally grumbled rolling her eyes. "This is what happens, I send a message to the warehouse and give them the go ahead to give you the product, you pay on site, over there. It goes in my bank account, you've got your weapon, bring it back into the station, clear it with security, yadda yadda."
"So I pay there, not here," the man noted.
"That's right," Rally noted wearily. "Is there anything else?"
"No, I guess I should go arrange to close my business for a time," the man noted.
"I guess so," Rally noted, shaking her head.
As the man walked away she stretched out and walked across the Bazaar to head into the Zocolo for a drink as she went over her notes.
"Okay, two PPGs to security personnel, a security job to find someone skimming the till at Fresh Air, that stun gun..." she paused as she had to move around a balding security officer escorting a blonde woman with a psi-corps symbol.
A commercial telepath, common enough not to worry much about.
Telepaths didn't like her when they saw her. They were always flinching when they caught sight of her, as if they were surprised she was there. Whatever set them off, it meant they usually avoided her.
Which was just fine with her.
"Sorry," Rally said. "I didn't notice you there."
"I...I didn't either," the blonde said hesitantly.
"Well, we all get distracted," Rally noted with a guarding smirk as she walked away.
"Ms Winters," the security guard said. "They're waiting for us in Medlab."
"Right," the blonde woman said, looking away from Rally and composing herself.
G'Kar sat at the bar and nursed a drink as he waited for word from the cruiser that his government had sent to quickly survey the supposedly dead world and get back. He needed the proof to convince the others, or they were all lost.
It was dangerous, of course, but that's why they were under instructions to get in and get out quickly. No lingering to alert the ancient enemy to their presence.
If even half the old stories were true, then they had to move quickly or they would all be overwhelmed. Once he had proof, the others would have to see that.
"Can I have a Dr. Pepper?" a voice said next to G'Kar, looking to the bartender.
He turned to see an unusual sight for Babylon 5. A teenager. There were almost no children on the station save a handful of families.
This one was a human wearing a pretty dress with a thin cloth he believed was called silk. It was actually a synthetic, but it was hard to tell that from looking. She was slender, with dusky skin and long dark hair.
In a few years, she'd be a very attractive woman, the sort that, a year ago, he'd be looking to entertain privately. Heaven bless the universe for creating the females of so many species to be such lovely creatures.
Of course, this was a veritable child and he had more important matters to attend to. He started to turn back away from her to return to his own drink.
She, apparently had noticed the momentary attention, however. She turned to face him and smiled.
"Hello," she said with a smile.
"Yes, hello," G'Kar noted politely, hoping that would satisfy the girl. "You should probably go, this isn't the best place for a child like you."
"I'm fine," the girl said, waving him off.
She nodded in a friendly manner and turned back to the bartender as he gave her the drink. Then she started walking over toward the arcade, walking far too alluringly for someone of her age. If she were his daughter, there'd be no way he'd let her walk around in such a manner amongst such a mixed company.
Not until she was at least thirty.
Indeed, as he watched a pair of dock workers moved to block the girl's access to the arcade.
"What do we have here?" one said, leering. "It's tasty sweet in a pretty wrapping."
"Uhhh, okay," the girl said as G'Kar turned to face the situation cautiously. "I want to get back to my game now."
"We've got another game for you," the other said as he reached to grab the girl's shoulder.
"Let go of me," the girl snapped warningly, smile turning into a frown.
"Come on, you'll...owwwww!!!" the dock worker's proposition was interrupted as the fifteen-year old human reached up and twisted his hand around.
She was frowning intently at him as she continued twisting, apparently not noticing the other dock worker starting to recover from his shock.
Fortunately, G'Kar grabbed the man and pulled him aside forcefully.
"That would not be nice," he said with a smirk.
He turned to see security moving in and nodded, calming down. He looked to the human girl, still smiling.
"You can let go now, child," he said.
A snapping sound came from the dock worker's arm and the girl kept twisting as she continued staring past a frown. For a moment, G'Kar thought he saw a white spark erupt in front of her left eye in time with a renewed shriek from the man she was holding.
"Child," he said firmly, tapping her on the shoulder firmly but cautiously.
Almost immediately she let go, the man that had grabbed her falling back on to the ground cradling his arm. She blinked and stepped back from the scene as the security guards arrived on the seen.
"What's going on here?" one of the officers said, G'Kar recognized him as a Mr. Allen.
"That little bitch burned me with something," the pained man shrieked. "And she broke my arm."
"The...the little girl?" Allen asked with something of a smile and a laugh.
"I'm afraid the man might be correct," G'Kar said. "He and his associate here accosted the child in a highly inappropriate manner and she was forced to defend herself. But I did not see any sign of a weapon."
"Is that right?" Allen asked, turning toward the other dockworker.
"We were only playing around," the man protested.
"Well, we'll play around in security," Allan noted dryly. "What's your name, kid?"
"Shanti Vincent," the girl said nervously. "I'm..I'm sorry."
"It doesn't sound like there's a problem," Mr. Allan noted before turning toward G'Kar. "Look, Ambassador, we've got a big thing going on in security. Do you think you could watch the girl for a bit while we take these two into holding and we track down her parents."
"I would be glad to," G'Kar said with a smile.
Shanti bit her lip and rocked on her heels for a bit.
G'Kar waited until the security were gone before gesturing toward Shanti.
"Well, Miss Vincent," he said in a somewhat patronizing tone. "Shall we have some food then while we wait?"
"I have to wait then?" Shanti asked.
"I think it would be advisable," G'Kar noted. "And perhaps you can tell me where you learned to break a man's arm like that?"
"Rally taught my sister and I how to defend ourselves," Shanti said as they walked to a table and G'Kar called for a waiter. "But I always mess up."
"Well, aside from being aware of all your opponents," G'Kar said. "I'd say you did fairly well."
"I didn't," Shanti said. "I got mad again and Rally always says to stay calm."
"Rally sounds like a good teacher," G'Kar said. "But there is something to be said for letting your passions give you strength. As long as you remember next time that you were fighting two men and not one."
Shanti shook her head.
"I can't get mad," she said. "I can't let myself be angry."
"And why not?" G'Kar asked.
Shanti looked around quietly and leaned forward hesitantly. G'Kar had seen the look before. The look of a youngling who carried a secret she felt she had to get out to someone but was afraid of telling those she knew. Such children often unwisely chose to give such secrets to strangers and new acquaintances.
Luckily, G'Kar liked to think that he was a trustworthy sort and not the sort to take advantage of such a youthful error.
"I don't want to be like my mother," she whispered.
G'Kar was taken aback as he stood up straight and frowned.
"And why wouldn't you like to be like your mother?" G'Kar asked, a bit offended by this lack of respect for one's parents.
"I heard Rally talking to Aunt May and Uncle Roy once," she whispered. "My mother was...was not very nice. She hurt lots of people. She liked hurting people. She's dead and they talk like they're still afraid of her. Rally doesn't want to me to be like that. I don't want to be like that."
G'Kar took a deep breath and leaned forward.
"Child," he said seriously. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that."
Shanti looked confused at the statement.
Jack could hardly miss the cautious looks that he had been getting from some of the command staff. Ivanova was inscrutable as ever, but there were a few others that seemed to know what was going, people that had caught something of what the message was.
The other security officers hadn't started quieting down around him suddenly yet, but he'd seen Lou Welch and Zack Allen giving him quiet calculating looks.
Lou was a good man but not brilliant, it was easy to see the change in attitude he showed after a meeting with Ivanova and Sheridan. Allen was a lot more difficult to catch, the man had talent, for all he seemed to be a layabout.
Still Jack was no idiot. After all, he'd fooled Garibaldi, and they didn't have half his experience.
Somehow, they'd turned suspicious of him, so he'd started watching them closer. And when Lou started bringing Talia Winters to medlab, he'd followed and frowned on seeing Garibaldi awake and with a heavy guard outside the medlab.
"Time to disappear," he muttered.
"We've checked his office and his quarters," Welch's voice came over the link. "We haven't found him anywhere."
"Looks like we moved too late," Sheridan said with a sigh as he headed for the medlab. "Keep a watch on all ships going out. He'll try to slip away probably."
He walked into the medlab and saw Garibaldi sitting up with a pained expression.
"You are supposed to be lying down," Dr. Franklin insisted, on the edge of anger.
"Doc, I've been lying down for weeks," Garibaldi said. "If all that lying down hasn't gotten me anywhere in that time..."
"You're awake, aren't you?" the doctor said. "It seems to me that lying down a couple of weeks has gotten you pretty far."
Sheridan smirked a bit, that last statement wasn't entirely true.
"I think you should listen to the doctor, Mr. Garibaldi," Sheridan said formally as he walked in. "I've already noted I don't think much of the idea of losing my Chief of Security right after I take over the station."
Garibaldi turned to look at him with a cautious and considering look. Sheridan recognized it from the first time they'd met when the patient had first woken up. He'd need to have a private discussion with the man soon enough.
"Captain," Garibaldi said. "What's the word on the turncoat?"
"He's slipped the net," Sheridan said. "Unfortunately. Something tipped him off."
"Speaking of which," Garibaldi said. "You were asking about Jack before I had Lou bring in Ms Winters. What tipped you off?"
"We got a broadcast message from dead space," Sheridan said. "Gave a very detailed description of the event that matched what the report has on the matter. Including some details that Lieutenant Commander Ivanova tells me were never put in official statements."
"That's convenient," Garibaldi said. "And, let me guess, it didn't have anything concrete enough to actually make a move, so you set a watch. And I trained Jack, so he obviously noticed the watch and now..."
"Now he's gone to ground," Sheridan said. "You think someone sent us that warning to tip him off?"
"In order for that to happen," Garibaldi said. "Someone would have had to known you'd be getting on to him soon anyway, and somehow, I don't think anybody was about to predict that I was about to wake up and ask a telepath, of all things, to dig around in my head."
"While you figure it out," Dr. Franklin said, stepping forward into Garibaldi's face and giving him an authoritative glare. "Lay down."
"Captain!" a woman's voice shouted insistently.
Everyone turned to see Rally Vincent storming her way into the medlab with a security officer trailing behind her, trying to keep up. The woman's hand was tight around that of Vivian's, the teenager looking morbidly embarrassed at her foster-mother's behavior.
"Sorry, Captain," the woman in the security uniform said. "She wouldn't wait in headquarters."
"You try to wait," Rally snapped.
"That's all right," Sheridan said to the security officer. "I'll handle this. What seems to be the problem, Ms Vincent?"
"My problem is wondering where my daughter is," Rally snapped.
Garibaldi's eyebrows went up as he heard the name Vincent.
"Your daughter?" Sheridan asked. "I'm guessing Shanti?"
"About an hour ago, one of your security personnel, a Mr. Allen, tells me there's a 'problem with your daughter'," Rally said. "I find this one..."
She lifted up Vivian's hand demonstratively.
"Dancing to swing music outside Earhart's," Rally said. "But Shanti, who knows save Mr. Allen, who isn't at security headquarters. He's chasing a rat around the bowels of the ship with most of the other officers. Leaving behind a bunch of secretaries..."
Here the woman in security uniform bristled in an offended manner.
"...who have no idea what I'm talking about. So I'm asking, where's my daughter, because if one hair on that Kitten's head is so much as..."
Sheridan was nodding firmly as he rose his link to his mouth.
"Mr. Allen," he said. "Come in please."
"Here, Captain," the voice on the other end said. "What can I do for you?"
"Did you take one Shanti Vincent into custody earlier?" the captain asked.
"Into custody, no," Allen said. "I asked G'Kar to watch her for us, since he'd seemed willing to."
Garibaldi watched the two Vincents as Sheridan conversed with Zack. He kept his expression rather neutral and uninterested to avoid giving the impression that he was watching them and the teenager failed to see through the mask.
Vivi tugged on her foster-mother's arm lightly but insistently, getting her attention. The angry woman, in full mother-lion with cubs mode, turned to look at the girl with a snapping motion and the glare of a scared parent. The look softened as the girl whispered something and looked toward the man on the bed who had, until recently, been in a coma.
It took a moment, he'd never been the best at lip-reading, but the look on Rally's face as she looked up toward Garibaldi answered it for him. It was the look he had when he'd realized something that should have been dead obvious from the get go.
"That's him," the girl had whispered.
"G'Kar?" Sheridan said, surprised. "The Narn Ambassador?"
"Yeah, well, he witnessed the attack," Zack said, drawing Rally's face back up in another snap. "Said the girl was defending herself, so I asked if he'd watch her what with everything else going on."
"I see," Sheridan said with an impatient sigh. "Next time make sure someone has that information to give to the parent."
"Yeah, will do, Captain," Allen's chagrined voice said over the link.
"Ms. Vincent," Sheridan said. "I'll take you to your daughter."
"What did he say about an attack?" Rally demanded as they left the room.
"So, what did you do next?" Shanti asked eagerly.
"Well, I must admit," G'Kar said. "That it wasn't easy, the Centauri ambush was very well planned. Bloody murderers they might be, but I must admit they are very thorough in their plans. But we did manage to pilot through a small asteroid field before escaping into a jump gate."
"Wow," Shanti said. "Just like Han Solo in the Millenium Falcon!"
"Who is this?" G'Kar asked.
"There you are!" Rally snapped as she came into the restaurant and saw Shanti sitting in front of one of several empty plates. "What's going on?"
G'Kar looked toward the dusky woman coming in through the door and looked between Rally and Shanti before turning toward the teenager. He remembered her saying that her mother was dead, but still...
"This is Rally?" he asked.
"She's my foster-mother," Shanti said, nodding. "Rally, this is G'Kar. He fought in a war just like you did."
"You didn't answer my question," Rally said.
"Well, I believe there should be no problem," G'Kar noted. "The men responsible are in the brig by now, I assume."
Rally looked over at G'Kar and looked him up and down cautiously as Sheridan came in the door behind them.
The Narn looked up at that, wondering if something had happened requiring the Advisory Counsel's attention, but then saw that Sheridan was watching the two women as well. And then a third Vincent, he could tell from her resemblance to the other sister, came in beside him.
"I'm sorry to bother you with this, G'Kar," the Captain said. "I'll try to remind security that Ambassadors are not babysitters from now on."
"Oh, I'm not so sure that babysitting is an inaccurate description of what we do here," G'Kar said. "In any case, I find Miss Vincent to be a very engaging child and a most eager listener. Most seem to be rather bored when I discuss the old days of blood and glory."
"She's been asking you about war stories?" Rally said, looking over at Shanti who looked embarrassed.
"Indeed," G'Kar said. "I assume that Mr. Allen has filled you in on the situation?"
"Assume he didn't," Rally muttered. "At least not coherently."
"Ah, then it is my wonderful privilege to be able to report to you the effectiveness with which your daughter here broke the arm of one of her attackers," G'Kar said in a flattering tone. "Most impressive training for anyone of her age, I must applaud you as a teacher."
Rally colored as Sheridan arched an eyebrow.
Some hours later, G'Kar's good mood was destroyed by the horrible realization that the Ancient Enemy had spies amongst them already. The cruiser the Narn homeworld had sent had been destroyed immediately out of hyperspace, and the only way that could have happened was if someone had warned the enemy that they were coming.
That meant that someone had to know about the mission.
His despair appeared to be a mystery to the others, though he suspected at least one of them probably knew more than they were saying. Either that, or the leak was amongst his own people. He was no longer sure of anything given the involvement of these Shadows.
He looked up as Lennier announced that Delenn was ready to return to them, curious as to what had become of her. As she walked in, he was not the only one floored by the change the Minbari woman had undergone.
Sheridan was staring with his mouth hanging open.
G'Kar's despair was momentarily lightened as he recognized the symptoms almost immediately.
At least someone had a cause for happiness in this time of coming darkness.
