Delenn's head ached terribly. She strained to open her eyes. The cold ground she felt seemed to swallow her whole. Her wrists ached. Gradually, more and more of her senses returned. Her hands were tied behind her back. She heard someone whispering. She couldn't understand the words at first, but they were filled with anger. The memory of the elevator returned to her. What on earth had happened?
"I can't believe you were stupid enough to take the captain with you."
Strange voices she didn't recognize.
"What should I have done? He was in the elevator with me."
"Do you know what's going to happen on the station soon if they're both missing? Did you at least dispose his ComLink?"
Delenn didn't hear the answer. A grim growl sounded next to her. With effort, she blinked, making out more and more of the area around her. She was lying in a dark room somewhere on the station. She wasn't very familiar with it, but she guessed it was either Brown Sector or Grey Sector. Neither was good. It was too dark to tell who was talking up ahead.
The humming next to her turned into a threatening growl and finally she realized that Sheridan was lying on the ground next to her in a semi-sitting position, his hands also tied behind his back.
"What the hell…?" Sheridan hissed, which immediately silenced the two strange voices.
"Great. Let me take over," someone stepped out of the shadows.
A human, short, stocky, with stringy brown hair worn unkempt in a ponytail. Delenn didn't know him, but she was well aware of the danger the guy posed. As if he'd heard Delenn's thoughts, he pulled out a PPG and approached her and Sheridan.
"No fooling around, understood?" He knelt down in front of the captain, who looked at him angrily.
"What do you want?" he barked at the stranger, completely unfazed by the drawn weapon.
"Nothing from you. It was an unfortunate coincidence that you were in my friend's way. But never mind. What's done is done. If your Minbari friend is cooperative, you'll be back faster than you can tell your people in C & C ."
Without waiting for a response from the captain, the stranger turned to Delenn: "And you, little ambassador, come with us."
He grabbed Delenn by the upper arm and mercilessly pulled her to her feet, eliciting a cry of pain from her.
"Let her go!" Sheridan yelled angrily.
The stranger, however, just grinned and held the gun to Delenn's head: "Didn't I tell you, no foolish things?"
Sheridan could only watch helplessly as the man roughly dragged the ambassador away from his sight and into another room. The second man followed him. Sheridan was left alone.
It took him a moment to steady his pulse. Sheridan's head still hurt. The stun gas had been sneaky. But Sheridan was a soldier. He immediately scanned his surroundings, partly to distract himself from the horrible feeling that was creeping over him about Delenn. Not knowing what this was all about, what these guys wanted from her, not seeing what they were doing to her, all of this drove Sheridan crazy.
He tapped the Brown Sector. What was going on here? His ComLink was no longer on the back of his hand, and he could only hope that Garibaldi had noticed by now that something was wrong. His restraints were sloppily tied, Sheridan noted with satisfaction. Apparently, the guys had been too hasty. Lucky for him. It didn't take long before he'd loosened the restraints enough to free himself. He didn't know what was going on in the other room, so he didn't dare rush in just yet. He heard the voice of the man who had taken Delenn away. Whatever they wanted from the Minbari, it didn't seem to satisfy them.
A bloodcurdling scream nearly stopped Sheridan's heart. An unfamiliar rage gripped him. He felt helpless. Everything he had ever thought about Delenn faded into the background in that moment. He didn't know what they were doing to her, but he knew he would make these two strangers pay.