by Moyra J. Bligh
(moyra@interlog.com)
Sheridan was late, he'd promised to meet Delenn in the Zocalo for dinner at their favorite little restaurant and he was late. Not a lot late, just a minute or two, but he hated to keep her waiting, hated that it was a minute or two that he wouldn't be able to spend with her. `Always some crisis or another', he thought. He rounded the corner just in time to see the man draw the knife and realize that the intended victim was the woman he was meeting. While the others in the Zocalo froze, he reached for his PPG and saw the knife find its mark. There was a spurt of bright red blood as he saw Delenn crumple towards the floor, and as the man raised the knife to finish the job, a blinding flash of white light. The woman he loved and her assailant vanished. Had it not been for the astonished looks on the faces of those around him, John would have doubted his own senses. He carefully sheathed his unfired weapon and walked towards where the two had been, and then kneeling down dipped his fingers into the pool of her blood on the floor.
Delenn felt the blade tear through her, and as her legs turned to rubber beneath her, found herself in an explosion of light that stung her eyes as the Zocalo vanished. Suddenly, she was somewhere else. She did not see the face that belonged to the strong arms that lifted her up and out and away, she felt the coolness of the floor beneath her and turning slightly she was aware of a young woman in a baseball cap who had grabbed her attacker and snapped his neck as though it were a twig. `She's killed before.' Delenn thought `she doesn't enjoy it, but she's killed before and she'll do it again, if needs must..... And she has just saved my life.'
"Son-of-a..., " the young woman addressed the face behind the arms that still held Delenn. "We can't have been more than a minute late, damn these things are hard to control."
"Especially when we're jumping in and jumping right back out again. You're getting real good at it though," the young man replied, "with the span that we're dealing with to turn up within a minute is bloody close."
"Close, ha! Close only counts in horseshoes and grenade throwing. I couldn't have been a minute early?"
`Timeflash.' thought Delenn `It was a timeflash. Well, at least that explained the light, but where was she, who were these people and more importantly, when was she?.'
The woman moved across and knelt down to get a closer look at Delenn and saw the spreading pool of blood on the cockpit floor. "Damn it Ivan, she's hurt bad. Somebody tell Dr. Franklin to get his ass up here on the double."
"Stephen's here?" Delenn's voice was a mere whisper.
From under the baseball cap the voice was suddenly gentle. "Umm, well, not exactly. But close enough..." were the last words that registered as the world went black.
"Damn it, Zack." John Sheridan held his young Chief of Security by the shoulders. "If I'd been on time, if I'd only been on time, or better yet, a minute or two early.... I'd have been waiting for her, not the other way around. Maybe I could have..." His voice trailed off, unsure of what he could have, and even more unsure of exactly what had happened.
"You can't blame yourself, Captain. There's no way you could have prevented," Zack Allan looked around nervously and lowered his voice "what just happened here, whatever the hell it was that just happened here."
"Well whatever it is that just happened here, I want her found. Even if it means tearing this whole damn station apart, every last frigging nut, bolt and girder. If she's losing blood as fast as that pool on the floor would indicate, she's not going to last long without medical treatment. And I want the bastard that did this to her found too, because I'm going to personally space the son-of-bitch when we do!"
The pain in her side slammed Delenn back into consciousness. One measured glance told her that the body of her assailant was no longer on the flightdeck. A young man with who resembled Stephen Franklin was dressing her wound, with the practiced hands of a physician who had done this many times before. "Could be worse, Alex." she heard him saying calmly "She's lost a lot of blood, but I can replace that as soon as we get her down to the facilities. The really good news is I don't think he hit anything vital, but I'll be able to tell better later. However, I think we'd better keep her here for a few weeks until she heals." The young woman stared to protest, but he cut her short. "Yeah, I know it wasn't part of the original plan but in light of her injury, I think it's best."
"You're not Stephen." Delenn's voice was faint. The doctor and the baseball cap exchanged an uneasy glance.
"I think we better tell her, Alex." he said "Things have changed, she is going to be with us for some time and right now I think she could really use a reason to trust us."
Alex sighed and shifted her position on the floor to get closer to Delenn. "He's Stephen's grandson, Marshall." Delenn's eyes grew wide. Alex took one of Delenn's hands in her own and looked deep into her eyes. "You're going to have to trust me on this one, En'til'zha." she said lifting the lapel of her jacket to reveal the pin that marked her as a Ranger. "I can't tell you much more than that without running the risk of altering the future. Just believe me when I tell you, that all of our lives depend on the task I have to finish here."
The room had started to swim again as Delenn looked into the young woman's eyes. `I have seen those eyes before,' thought Delenn, `but where? So familiar and yet ....' As the waves of blackness enveloped her again, she remembered. `John's eyes, they are John's eyes....'
"You're absolutely sure you don't sense her at all, Lyta?"
"If she's here, Captain, I don't have a clue as to where she might be. I have no awareness of her presence."
"But, aren't you sensitive to her, after what happened when you and she and Ivanova went looking for me at Za'Ha'Dum? She let you in completely. The two of you were linked."
The young woman looked him straight in the eyes. "Usually, yes, Captain, but... well, if you want my opinion I don't think she's on the station at all."
"Not good enough!" he barked at her and then his shoulders suddenly sagged. "I'm sorry, Lyta, that was uncalled for, it's just that she means so very much to me..."
"I don't have to be a telepath to sense that, Captain. I'll take my sidekick," she jerked her head towards the young security guard who was standing awkwardly in their presence "and keep looking for her, I can't do less than that for the two of you."
Time was wasting, Alex knew that. It was important that she get back to Babylon 5 very soon, find the other two members of the Neo-Nightwatch group and destroy them and the time-shifting device they had somehow acquired. She had to do it before she was no longer a part of the galaxy. It was difficult enough to put time right when you had the luxury of being able to make a mistake and then jump back into the past and make a second run at it, but when a mistake meant that you didn't exist at all, there were no second chances. The fact that the Minbari Ambassador had virtually disappeared into thin air and the ensuing confusion that occurrence must have generated, had quite likely bought her some time, as the place would be crawling with security, but she still couldn't take too many chances. Her preparations for the trip to the station were now complete, and all her crew had been briefed on what to do if any one of a number of things that could go wrong, did go wrong. But before she went to change into her disguise she needed to reassure herself that the En'til'zha would really be alright.
He stood in the middle of C. & C. almost shouting. "And I don't want any vessel of any description leaving the station until she's found! For any reason! No damn diplomatic emergencies, no damn nothing! Do you all understand?"
In all the ten years Ivanova had known John she had never seen him this rattled. Not that he didn't have good reason. It would have been hard enough to watch the lady he loved disappear in front of his eyes, but knowing that she was badly injured, as well, it must be unbearable. What hurt Susan was that she couldn't think of anything more she could do to help her friends. "Understood, Captain. Absolutely nothing leaves."
"Thanks, Susan." He ran his fingers straight back through his hair, his voice quiet. "I don't know what to do next, I'm completely at a loss. If I lose her now... Hell, I don't even want to think about that possibility. If you get any ideas... Well, let me know, will you?"
She nodded. "Goes without saying. Delenn's a good friend, John. I'm concerned for her safety too."
He nodded. "I do know, however, that every minute makes a difference to her condition. Time's wasting. I have to go and do something even if I don't quite know what the hell it is that I'm going to do next." He turned on his heel and walked off the Observation Deck.
Alex was pleased to see when she walked into the medical facilities on her ship that the color had returned to the En'til'zha's face. The question the woman posed her did not please her at all.
"Who are you?"
"Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't go Vorlon on me."
"Who are you?" the question was more insistent this time.
"I'm afraid, En'til'zha, that the answer to that will raise more questions, than it will answer."
"Now who's being Vorlon?" there was a pause as Delenn took a deep breath. "Who are you?"
Alex had heard that voice before, all her life she had heard that voice, heard it often enough to know when she was beaten. She sank into the chair next to the bed and rested her arms on the mattress. "My name is Alexandra Delenn Sheridan, I am your granddaughter." Alex read the flicker of doubt in her grandmother's eyes, and taking off the baseball cap, she reached for Delenn's hand, guiding the other woman's fingers up to the spot where she knew her bone crest was the most prominent.
With that, any doubts Delenn might have had vanished. The presence of the bone crest was the last piece of the puzzle. Slighter than hers, yes, and almost completely hidden by Alex's long hair, but it was there. That, and John's eyes....
Delenn shook her head in wonder. "Yes, you most certainly are."
Alex headed her grandmother off before she could think of another question. "Yes, I am, and right now I'm going to lay down a couple of ground rules. You may be En'til'zha, both in your time and mine, but right here and right now at this moment in time, I'm in charge. I've got a couple of crazies running around out there with a time shifting device they got from Valen knows where, trying to change the Universe in ways that it shouldn't be changed. I've got to find them, stop them, and destroy the device. And if it's any consolation I'm just as confused about the whole thing as you are, this time shifting stuff is pretty new to me too. When I get back, from the station, that is, if I do make it back from the station, you have to promise me you won't ask me about anything that hasn't already happened in your life so far. In other words, if it's after your return from the Dreaming on Minbar it doesn't exist. Okay?"
"Okay." As curious as she was, Delenn knew on some level that Alex was right. The more knowledge she had of the future, the greater the risk that she could alter the future, even if unintentionally. `What was that human phrase about a little knowledge...?'
"And now I have to go, because if I'm late for this particular appointment with destiny, I won't have the opportunity to make another one."
David Sheridan stood in his mother's office and watched her read the report that had crossed his desk some two hours earlier. When she finished she turned the papers face down, and stared out the window for a long moment. He knew she was considering her words carefully.
"There are no easy decisions in this matter, President Sheridan"
"No, En'til'zha." They were not speaking now as mother and son, but as two of the most powerful people in the galaxy.
"Especially when we are not possessed of all the facts."
"I admit the report is sketchy, but in light of this new information I believe we now must amend our original plan of action."
"I do not disagree with you, however all of the choices are hard ones. If we choose to do what I think you are proposing we will be putting one of our most valuable assets and her crew up against even greater risks than they now already face."
"Unfortunately, I am sure that if we do not take this course of action, none of us will be here to debate that point. Alexandra must find out where, when and how these conspirators initially acquired the device and return to that point in time to prevent it from happening."
"I am not okay with this."
"Neither am I, but I don't see what other choice we have."
Delenn sighed, "You are right, Mr. President. And now we must get a message through to her as expeditiously as possible."
"Vanished? Vanished, how?" John heard the subtle note of panic in Lennier's voice that echoed the terror in his own heart.
"Like I said, I don't know, one instant she was there, and there was this guy with a knife and then they were both gone."
The Ambassadors Aide stared at him in disbelief. "We have to find her. But how?"
"That's why I'm here, I was hoping you'd have some idea."
Alex put the finishing touches on her disguise, and pulled the hood up over her head. A young Minbari Acolyte would be virtually invisible on Babylon 5 in 2261, invisible and non-threatening. The last thing Alex needed was to draw any attention to herself. From what she knew of her grandfather, and she knew a lot, Alex was sure John Sheridan was by now tearing the station apart to find the love of his life. Her grandfather did not take no for an answer, especially when it came to the safety of the woman he adored.
The Comm-Link in her cabin buzzed and she hit the switch.
"What?" she asked. "I was just about to step off."
"Cool disguise," said Ivan, "if I didn't know it was you, I wouldn't have known it was you. Uh, we just uploaded a message from the President of the Earth Alliance, and I think you better see it." Knowing her father would not try to contact her unless it was something of importance she sighed and addressed the face on the wall.
"Fine Ivan, put it through." Her father's face appeared on the screen.
"Miss Sheridan, I have just come from a meeting with the En'til'zha. Approximately two hours ago we received information from one of my sources which revealed that the group we are concerned with, immediately upon obtaining the device in question jumped into a point in the future where, for lack of a better description, they `planted a time bomb'. From that point in the future they will return to the past and destroy the universe as we know it. It is imperative therefore, that you discover from one of the individuals you are involved with, where, when and how they came to possess the device in question, and return to that point in time to prevent that from happening.... May God stand between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk."
Alex stared at the now blank screen. "Right Dad," she said dryly, "the difficult we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer."
Setting the time device to place her into a dark obscure area of Down Below, some two minutes after their initial flash through the Zocalo, she said a silent `Thank you' to Zack Allan. The old man had been most helpful when she'd gone to him and explained what was happening and what they needed. The fact that he'd actually kept all the schematics for the station was an added blessing. She'd been studying them every chance she got, and her grandmother had filled in a lot of the other details. Alex knew Babylon 5 as though she'd lived there all her life.
The passageway was blessedly deserted. `One less thing to explain' she thought, resetting the device to the co-ordinates where she intended to dispose of the evidence after she'd found the men and retrieved the information she needed. Her initial thought when she removed the body of the guy with the knife from her flightdeck had been to drop him onto President Clark's front lawn in Geneva, sometime in the middle of the summer of 2261. As much as she enjoyed the potential of the joke, she knew that the ensuing changes to the timeline could quite possibly be more than the entire family could fix, in any of their lifetimes. She chose instead a rather explosive moment on Za'ha'dum. Making sure everything she needed was in place, she walked slowly down the corridor and into the market place.
Here there were people. Enough of a crowd to blend with, to give her time to observe, and to wait unnoticed for the men she was tracking. They would come here, she knew that from the information she'd been given. Like rats in a maze. One of the vendors reached towards her with a piece of not particularly appetizing fruit, she bowed slightly and continued, not meeting his eyes. Security had a particularly nasty specimen pinned up against one of the walls, she tried not to appear interested as she checked to see if it was one of the scum she sought. He was not. There was the sudden pressure of a hand on her shoulder, instinctively her grip tightened around her pike and she turned towards the person who had touched her.
John saw the Minbari Acolyte cross the market place in front of him. Something about the posture and the gait made him sure it was Delenn, even if logic told him that was impossible. It had not, however, been a particularly logical evening. He put his hand on the robed shoulder and as the young female turned towards him he realized with disappointment that she was not who he desperately wanted her to be. Two sets of nearly identical eyes met for an instant before hers dropped downward as befitted her station in life.
"I'm sorry." he said, "I didn't mean to startle you, it's just that I thought... I'd hoped you were someone else."
She placed her hands together in the Minbari gesture of respect and bowed to him. He returned the salutation.
Delenn lay as still as she possibly could. As bad as the pain was, it was bearable, as long as she didn't move. She slowed her breathing and tried to relax, tried to slip into blessed sleep, but her heart was too full, and her mind racing too fast to afford her that luxury. `My granddaughter,' she thought, `our granddaughter.' She suddenly felt as though a great weight had been lifted from her soul. Up until that moment she had not even dared to hope that the great change she had undergone had altered her enough to allow her to give him children. That she would be barren had been her greatest fear, and now it was gone, blown away like a piece of fluff. `I will feel life inside me,' she felt the single tear roll down her cheek `I will hold our child in my arms, we will be one.'
`That was my grandfather!' was the thought that charged through her mind. She had not expected, although she'd hoped, that she would encounter the Captain. And for one wildly disorienting moment she'd thought he was her father, the physical resemblance did not surprise her, she'd known about that, it was some other quality. Alex used one of her grandmother's techniques to slow her breathing down and calm her racing heart. It would not help at all if she could not control her emotions. She took a deep breath and resumed her watch.
It did not take long before her vigilance was rewarded. There was Lennox, sidling along the edge of the marketplace. He was trying to look inconspicuous, and strangely that was what had first alerted Alex to the fact that he might be one of the men she sought. Ostensibly examining a small carved box, she watched as he turned and disappeared into one of the corridors to her left. She bowed respectfully to the vendor, paid him for her purchase and followed her prey unhurriedly into the depths of Down Below.
There was no need to keep him in sight. The heavy tread of his boots on the metal decking told Alex exactly where he was at all times, it also made her quite sure that he was unaware he was being followed. There were few living beings down here, and fewer still who would notice or care that a young Minbari Acolyte was stalking someone. A Pak'ma'ra scuttling up from the depths was more intent on her not taking any particular interest in him, than he was in her movements. Some five minutes later, she quickened her pace to catch up with the Neo-Nightwatch member. Coming up on their left was a dead end passageway, L-shaped, the end therefore hidden from the through corridor. An ideal spot for Alex to do what she needed to do with little risk of being observed.
Now less than a foot behind him, she tightened her hands around the grip of her staff and gently squeezed the release point. She heard the familiar `click whoosh' as her fighting pike shot out to its full length. He heard it too, and as he turned towards the sound, she caught him square under his chin with the pike, lifting him up and back about six feet before he slammed hard into the wall. As he reached for his knife the end of her pike shot out, knocking the blade from his hand and sending it skittering far down the corridor.
"Surprise!" she hissed, and saw the shock register on his face as he realized who he was facing. The pike shot out again catching him square on the left temple and slamming the right side of his face against the wall. He accordioned like a house of cards.
Dragging him off into the back of the L, Alex was thankful that the altercation had gone unnoticed. Working quickly she tied his hands behind him and bound his feet and legs. She then propped him up in the corner, and took out the small leather case that held her collection of syringes. The first drug would jolt him back to awareness in fairly short order, and she injected it into one of the veins in his neck that would find his heart quickly. The second needle was still in the vein as he started to come to. She finished administering the full dose and waved the syringe under his nose.
"It's a poison," she hissed in the rat's ear, "more importantly it's a truth drug. Start talking. Where did you guys get the time shifter?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
"Wrong answer scumbag, try again." Her voice was calm and unhurried. She knew it would take some five minutes for the truth serum to begin to work, and a full hour for the poison to do its job.
John slipped into the chair directly across from Marcus Cole and leaned across the table.
"Anything?" he asked the Ranger.
"Nothing", Marcus shook his head. "Well, a really wild story from some drunk about the Father, Son and Holy Ghost materializing in a flash of light somewhere deep in Down Below. However, considering his state of inebriation and the fact that his drink of choice has been known to fry brain cells rather quickly, I wouldn't put too much stock in it. By the way, he also thinks he's a Zarg"
"There are no coincidences." John said slowly, painfully aware that he was trying to hang an anvil on a spiderweb.
"Even if he did see something, Captain, what does it tell us? You saw Delenn and a guy with a knife disappear in a flash of light, he saw three beings materialize. Even if the two events are linked, we are no closer to knowing where the En'til'zha is."