"Whispers of Destiny" - "Undiscovered Frontier" Season 2 (Multiverse Space Opera Crossover)

[Steve]

Jarod had nodded off slightly. When he awoke, his minders had changed. A massive reptilian alien, a Krogan, was now by the door. Nearby, reclining in a chair, was a young woman in a black catsuit that emphasized all of the attractive curves of her very attractive body. Auburn hair was pulled back on her head into a severe bun. At her side was a device that made Jarod think of a cattle prod.

"I don't suppose I could get a bathroom break?", he asked.

The Krogan growled.

"Shush, my dear monster," said the young woman, her voice a lilting accent that Jarod couldn't quite place. She eyed Jarod with eyes that were inhumanly gold, much like the Gersallian from before. A mischievous smirk appeared on her face. "We don't all get what we want, Mister Jarod, or I would have you screaming and begging for mercy by now. Alas, my employer doesn't want you properly broken. I do so miss the chance for playtime, but I must be a professional about these things."

There was a coldness in the air, similar to but not the same as the coldness that radiated from the Gersallian. Between that coldness and the eye color, Jarod could see he was dealing with another powered individual like Meridina and Lucy. "I don't place the accent."

"You wouldn't. Nor would you place this one." The second line was spoken with another strange accent, more gutteral in its sounds. "If you must know, I'm from the universe you call S0T5." She grinned. "I am so enamored with the other universes. To think that Earth still exists in them. I really did quite enjoy the visit to one of the Earths." She frowned. "Alas, the constabulary proved most cross with me. I was only playing with the transients, they really should have thanked me."

"And where are you from specifically?", Jarod asked. He thought back to the materials on S0T5 that he had read. It would explain her strange accents.

"Hush, dear, I musn't tell you, or I would have to kill you in a most wretched manner, and I would thus wind up having to kill my employer. And that simply wouldn't do." She leaned back in her chair. "I suggest you go back to sleep, Mister Jarod. We shan't be much longer, I think."

Jarod went silent. The time wasn't right yet, not with this woman present, nor her hulking Krogan friend. He would have to wait for his opportunity.





It was when Julia and the others got back that they found out about the Aurora. "He left without us?", Julia asked, horrified. "Then… whatever's going on must be really time-sensitive. I knew we should have brought along our multidevices."

"Hernan would have thrown us out," Angel noted. "Half the room would have recognized Stellar Navy devices."

"And how many recognized us anyway because of who we are?", Julia retorted.

Meridina shook her head. "I suspect Hernan would have been motivated more by those who would not have recognized you."

Almerda sighed upon hearing Hernan's name, but waited until they were done before speaking. "I was wondering if that's who you were going to. If the man wasn't so damned cooperative…"

Meridina, sensing Julia's aggravation, set a calming hand on her shoulder. "It cannot be helped."

"I shouldn't have gone," Julia insisted. "I should be at my post." She looked to them. "We should be at our posts, dammit. They're going into a dangerous situation and we're not there!"

Meridina nodded. "I know, and I understand," she said, her tone gentle and quiet. "But what is done is done, Commander Andreys. You could not have known. Do not let this gnaw at you."

It was clear Julia was not going to feel any better, however. She clenched her fists. "We've got to make the most of this," she said. "We need to find out how Miss Parker left and any clues on what she's doing, then we need to go get Jarod back."

"Thankfully, I've received some help in that department," said Almerda. "Please, follow me."

He led them to a computer lab in Colony Security. At the main station of said lab was a man who looked to be in his thirties, Caucasian with a balding head, wearing a civilian jacket, shirt, and pants. He was busy at work on the computers.

"Broots," Angela said.

The former member of Miss Parker's Jarod-chasing team turned in his chair. "Angela," he said. A soft, friendly smile crossed his face. "It's good to see you again."

She nodded. "Given the situation, at least."

Broots ' friendly smile faded. "Yeah." He shook his head. "I was hoping it was true. That Miss Parker was accepting our new lives here." He turned in his chair. "But she wasn't. And she's been plotting this since last year, going by her records. It took a little doing, and every trick I've learned about your computer systems, but I found hidden data in her personal computer systems. It was masquerading as a system operation file."

"That sounds quite complex," Meridina noted. "Is Miss Parker learned enough in computers to compile such a thing?"

"I doubt it," answered Broots. "I think someone showed her." He tapped a couple of keys and brought up a series of communication logs. "And she's been in contact with the Centre."

"That's not possible." Julia frowned and looked intently at the communication logs. "A4P5 is strictly off limits to us, and we have long-range sensor nets arrayed around the system to prevent anyone from getting there undetected. How could she have done this?"

"If I had to guess, she found a way around it," Broots said. "Starting about four months ago."

"Do we know what they said?", asked Angel.

Broots shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not. But it's not hard to guess what they were talking about."

"Her father must be alive," Julia said. "Given everything I've heard about her, she can't be dumb enough to do all of this and not be sure of it."

"Knowing the Centre, even if her father's alive, they would have made a hard sell." Broots shuddered involuntarily. "I do not miss working for them."

"They seem quite dark indeed." Meridina moved forward. "Can you tell whom Miss Parker hired to help her? I know she had a swevyra'kse with her."

"A wha…. never mind." Broots started going through the data again.

One by one, images appeared. "It looks like she got most of them from the suspicious persons list," Broots remarked.

Eight images popped up. Most looked Human, with one woman who had eyes hued golden. Julia recognized the odd ones out as a Mi'qote and a Krogan, the former with fiery red fur around the cat-like ears at the top of her head, the latter colored dark green with fiery red eyes.

"I'm putting these people through the records that Colony Security's gotten from the rest of the Multiverse… and these people are bad news." Broots shook his head and read from the list. "Adam Wolff, Universe L2M1, a suspected smuggler and killer with a Rowland Ltd. Light Cargo ship called the Deadman's Hand, suspected stolen. The Krogan is Weyrloc Krel, kicked out of a mercenary group called the Blood Pack for excessive violence and discipline problems. Y'tala is another mercenary known for operating in an area called the Unaligned Worlds in N2S7. There are warrants for her arrest from the Dorei, the Gersallians, and her homeworld Ys'talla. Karl Wilton is from S0T5, a mixed martial-arts fighter who is listed as a bodyguard and mercenary for hire with contacts in the Solarian and Cevaucian underworlds. The woman was known as Denna Reynolds and Una Samson, she's also from S0T5, and is wanted by the Solarians, the Aurigans, the Cascadian Freeworlds, and a couple of other states as a known assassin." Another data point popped up. "And it looks like someone matching her description was involved in a spree of killings on M4P2 Earth. The Systems Alliance has a standing alert listed on the UAS criminal database."

"Christ," Angel swore. "Where the hell did Parker get the money to pay for these people?!"

"I'll look into it," Broots promised. He looked over the last entry. "And the last is for a Gersallian man, Dralan Olati."

Angela blinked and looked to Meridina. "I thought Gersallians didn't have last names?"

"A misconception," Meridina replied. "But they are not commonly used. We use given names and placenames, rarely family names." A pensive look came to her face. "Olati… that is a Kuneli name."

"Kuneli?"

"One of our ethnic groups, from our western hemisphere's tropical island region," replied Meridina. "The Kuneli have maintained a clan-based family structure. The Olati clan are from the island of Wutami and are a leading family. He undoubtedly specifies the name as a badge of pride." Meridina had a frown on her face. "This 'Denna Reynolds' also seems to be a swevyra'kse. That would mean two of them. This is most concerning."

"We can't take all of them on," Angel noted. "We'd never stand a chance. We'll need backup."

"That's assuming we can even get to A4P5," Julia noted. "We could be killing our careers or end up imprisoned if we try."

"There is an alternative," Meridina pointed out. "We should take wisdom from our quarry."

"You mean hire people for yourself," Broots said. "I'm not sure with what, though…"

"The right people will not require financial compensation," Meridina said. "And even if we do, the reward for recovering an Alliance officer may suffice."

"I doubt it," Angel grumbled. "But the question is still… where are we going to find people?"

There was silence for a moment. It was broken by a laugh. Everyone turned to face Julia, who continued the laugh for a moment. A wide, brilliant grin was on her face. "We follow Miss Parker's example," Julia said. "Angel, call Hernan. Tell him we're looking for people who can fight. Heavy hitters."

"Do you think we will find someone willing to work with us in that sort of crowd, Julia?", Angel asked, not quite able to eliminate the skepticism from her voice.

"It's a start," Julia answered.

"Indeed," Meridina concurred.




It was getting late, and they were all getting tired, when the three women found themselves in an outer commercial area beyond the limits of the initial Colony, still out of uniform. Here the streets, few as they were, were unfamiliar, and Julia felt the hair on her neck stand up at looking over it all. It was profoundly uncomfortable to her to think of how places like this could exist even here, in the Colony they had built for the abused and oppressed.

One such warehouse had an open door on one end. Angel, again, took the lead in approaching the door. A large, sunglass-wearing man looked over them.

"Hernan says hello," Angel said. "I'm his Angry Angel."

"You here to participate?"

"I'm here to find someone," she answered. She held up a bill. Earth Confederacy currency. "Here's the gate for all three of us."

The man frowned and looked over the bill. "Any trouble, and they'll never find you, understand?"

"Understood," Angel replied. She nodded to the others and went inside.

Low voices came from the warehouse as they entered the main part of the building through a hall. Crowds of people, some nicely dressed and some not-so-nicely dressed, were gathered here and there. More men and women in suits glared their way initially before shifting attention away. "They are quite suspicious of us," Meridina noted. "Our identities are known."

"Then don't cause problems," Angel said.

"They're just here to make money, right? Killing us would ruin that."

"So let's not give them a reason to think they should make the attempt." Angel checked her civilian-make multidevice, provided by Hernan with a few names on it. "Hernan's sure our guy is here. A real badass of a mercenary. Keep looking."

As they moved around, in the rough direction of what looked like a betting table, an MC got into the center ring. "And now for our next card!", the man, a Korean man with a decent English accent, declared. Julia ignored him announcing one fighter, a man with a Central Asian-sounding name, and kept looking for their contact.

Nevertheless she was interested to hear the name of the second contestant, dubbed "the Blind Raptor", as an alien sounding name: Kasszas S'szrishin. She glanced back, wondering what species it was, to see that the bronze-skinned human stripped down to boxing shorts was facing a six and a half foot tall feathered reptilian humanoid, lime green scales on his lean raptor-shaped head joined with red and yellow feathers. The reptilian wore a robe-like garment of faint yellow and dark gray. His eyes were dull and unmoving, as if he wasn't seeing what was in front of him as the crowd cheered or booed his name.

"Julia, he's over here."

Angel calling out to her diverted Julia's attention. She turned to face an area beside the makeshift gambling kiosk. A man in a dark brown shirt and black trousers was leaning against the side of the kiosk, looking at the fight. His eyes were not matched; the left one was normal and brown, but the right one looked off-center and had a grayish, almost white coloring to it. His face was worn with age - he was rather clearly middle-aged, at least - and gruff, which was not surprising given what Hernan said about him. And it was, indeed, the face of the man that Hernan had proposed to Angel when asked.

Since she had the superior rank, Julia stepped past Angel and up to the man. "Are you…?"

The older man put a finger to his mouth in a "silence" gesture. "Not now, girl, the match is startin', and I put credits on this one," he said. He had an English accent and a rough tone.

Julia frowned, but she didn't continue for the moment. No use aggravating the man when she was coming for his help. She turned her head to watch the fight.

The Human fighter was tall, large, and muscled. He looked and moved like an MMA fighter, and Julia admired the skill he showed in the martial arts with his movements.

But what she was surprised at was his foe. The Zigonian was clearly blind, but yet the Human couldn't land a single strike on him. Kicks and punches were dodged with deft, agile moves in all directions. The Zigonian nearly slid across the ring in avoiding the man's strikes, punches and kicks and grabs that Julia would never have evaded, even if she'd seen them coming. Nearby people were screaming in frustration at the Human, demanding he land a punch, that he do anything to end the fight with a victory (for both himself and for their wallets).

The misses were making the other fighter frustrated and angry. His attacks were losing the grace and poise Julia had seen before. He was wasting energy in increasingly wild strikes, losing his posture, becoming so easy to read that Julia would have put him on his back by now.

Suddenly he fell. The Zigonian hadn't raised an arm or leg to strike him. It was like he had his legs knocked out from under him… Julia "ahhed". Of course. The Zigonian had a tail.

The fighter went to stand up. The Zigonian's foot struck his shoulder and knocked him back over. The Zigonian stood over him and then kneeled to pin the Human in place. The Human struggled, flailed, and then gave up upon seeing he couldn't move or harm his foe.

"The Blind Raptor wins again!", the MC declared.

People nearby threw strips of paper to the floor in disgust, grumbling and growling. The man they'd approached broke out laughing. "Serves you jackasses right," he crowed. "You see someone callin' themselves blind gettin' into a fight, you know they've got somethin' to them!"

The people he shouted at growled further, but none dared approach. And not just from the bouncers that would stop them. Julia could see the killer instinct in the man. He was dangerous, just as Hernan had said.

"Now, girl, you were sayin' something?", the man asked her.

Julia nodded. "You're Zaaed Massani, right?"

That got her a smirk and a look. "Who's askin'?"

"I'm Julia Andreys. I'm with the Stellar Navy."

"So, you God-amned people are finally gettin' around to considerin' my offer?", Zaeed asked. "Because I'm just about ready to head back home. Gettin' tired of this pissant little place."

Julia frowned at that description of the Colony. But she was more interested in what he had said. "What offer?"

Zaeed eyed her over. "Ah dammit," he growled. "So you're not here to talk about my contract offer? It was that little jackass Corelo, wasn't it? Sendin' me another shitty little job that I'm not interested in. No, sweetheart, I'm not here to do bounty huntin', not unless they've got swastikas."

"You came to fight the Nazis?", Angel asked.

"Damned right," Zaeed said. "Hell of a thing, havin' a universe with damned Nazis around. Beats blowing up more bastards in the Terminus Systems, and I figured you people would be payin' good credits. A man's got to eat, after all, even if he's blowin' up God-amned Nazis. But all I bloody hear is shit about God-amned regulations for private military contractors, 'where's your license', and all that shit. I told that little rat Corelo that I was only interested in people who could light a fire under your Alliance arses, and he sends me this?"

"Mister Massani, who else wanted to hire you?", asked Meridina.

"Some broad, long dark hair, name of Parker," Zaeed said. "Said she had a bounty. But I'm not an idiot. I'm a bounty hunter, not some God-amned kidnapper. I told her to take a hike."

"Well, that's a coincidence," Angel said. "Because she's the one we're here about."

Zaeed chuckled. "Ah, she got her team and what, took a friend? Well…" He crossed his arms. "What can you pay? Because it'd better be worth my God-amned time." Around them the crowd was cheering again. Another fight was underway.

"How much are you looking for?", Julia asked.

Zaeed eyed her. And then he shook his head. "Forget it. You ask that instead of offerin' something, I know you don't have it. Piss off."

"We can offer you something better than credits," Angel insisted, stepping up as if to cut him off.

There was steel and irritation in Zaeed's working eye when he looked her way. "I know you probably think you're hot shit, but I've been fightin' since you were in diapers, girlie. Move away or I'll make you move."

Julia stepped up and back into Zaeed's sight. "You say you want a contract with the Alliance for the war. I can get you that."

Zaeed laughed in Julia's face. "You're shittin' me, girl. What are you, some hotshot lieutenant lookin' to impress an admiral without havin' to blow him?"

At that Julia drew closer, matching him eye for steely eye. "I'm not," she said, in a low and forceful tone. "Because I'm Commander Julia Andreys, First Officer of the Starship Aurora, under the direct and personal command of President Morgan and the Chairman of his Defense Staff. I can present your case to Admiral Maran himself with a single call."

Zaeed narrowed his good eye. He didn't flinch away.

Neither did Julia.

"Well," he finally said. "I'll be damned. Looks like I finally got someone's bloody attention." He looked to the others. "So, we're after this Parker lady. Who'd she take?"

"She hired mercenaries like you," Angel said, "and abducted our shipmate."

"Commander Jarod is the Operations Officer on our ship," Julia added. "I'm sure helping with his recovery will go a long way when I talk to Admiral Maran about you."

Zaeed pondered that. "I knew that lady was God-amned trouble," he growled. "Alright. What's your plan? And why do you need me? You've got a ship, and so you've got bloody Marines on it."

"Our ship's been called away on a time-sensitive mission," Julia replied. "We got left behind because we were out of communication. So we're putting together a rescue mission of our own."

"And you're lookin' for professionals to fight Parker's team, right?" Zaeed pondered it for a moment. "Alright, what the hell, I'm bored stiff anyway. I do this job, you present me to Admiral Maran."

"Done," Julia vowed. "I'll personally escort you to Defense Command if I have to."

"I'll bloody well hold you to that, Commander," Zaeed answered. "Got transportation?"

"I've got thoughts on that," she replied. "People I know."

Zaeed nodded. He brought up his left arm. An omnitool came to life, wrapping around the space between the elbow and wrist like a multidevice was. Angel raised her civilian-model multidevice toward him as Zaeed operated the hard-light controls that popped up. "This is my call number," he said. "I'll be back at my rooms, gearin' up. Let me know when and where to meet your ship." Once the data was transferred, he lowered his arm and the omnitool disappeared. "Now excuse me, I've got some credits to collect."

Zaeed walked away from them. "A rather formidable individual," said Meridina. "There is rage burning deep within him that may yet lead him astray."

"Right now, that's not our problem," Julia said. "Let's go."

The next fight was still raging as they went to leave. They walked back into the hall leading to the front door. Only as they got close to it did they watch another guard step out from what looked like the cash office. The hall was narrow enough that he was blocking the exit.

Julia's eyes narrowed. She glanced back and saw that two more of the guards were blocking the hall in the other direction.

"It would appear that they want something," Meridina said.

Another figure stepped out from the cash office, better dressed than the guards flanking him. He was Human-looking, but with dark eyes that were not normal for Humans. Betazoid, Julia thought.

"Commander Andreys," the man said. "A surprise to find such an august presence here."

"And you are?", Julia asked.

"A businessman," was the reply. "I admit I was stunned when I was informed of your conversation with the mercenary. To think you would come here, to my humble little fighting ring?"

Not having time to stretch it out, Julia asked, "Why aren't you letting us leave?"

"As I said, I'm a businessman. And I can imagine how much someone of your rank is worth. As ransom… or not, as the case may be." He smirked. "I've heard there are certain… parties in S4W8 who would pay a Brikar's weight in gold-pressed latinum to get their hands on any member of the Aurora crew. Three of you? Even better."

"They'll tear this place down hunting for us," Angel said. "And I know people who'll kill every Syndicate man on the planet if you try this."

"The Syndicate isn't afraid of a few black marketeers on a two-bit planet, young lady. Now, if you make it worth my while to let you go, perhaps some business arrangements of benefit to…"

Before he could finish speaking there was a shout from behind him. The sounds of flesh being struck, a cry of pain, made it clear someone was being attacked.

Meridina acted next. She extended a hand to the rear and a wave of force slammed into the bodyguards behind them, sending them flying. She reached into her pants belt and pulled out her hidden lakesh, which extended to full length with a sharp metallic shriek. "I will watch from behind!", she shouted.

Angel and Julia dashed forward. The guards to either side of the Syndicate manager moved ahead of him to intercept. One was an Andorian, one of the masculine genders, and the other was a solid-looking Human. They braced themselves for a fight.

Angel attacked first, taking on the Andorian with a low tackle. There was no style to her follow up punch that knocked the Andorian out cold.

The Human snarled at Julia and threw a punch that nearly connected. She pulled to her left at the last moment to avoid it and grabbed the arm in question. The move she used was based on the mok'bara Worf had taught her and Angel during his time on the Aurora, a sequence of muscle movement and weight shifting that allowed her to pull her attacker's arm behind his back and twist until he screamed and went to his knees. Julia kept the pressure up until Angel helpfully punched him across the face and knocked him out.

Pain surged through her head a moment later. Julia screamed, as did Angel, and both put their hands to their temples. The Betazoid!, was the thought that came through the pain.

Yes. Now…

The pain let up, joined by another cry of surprise and pain as something wrapped across the Betazoid's head. He fell over, losing consciousness as he collapsed. Julia and Angel looked to the cloaked figure that stood behind their foe, a large metallic staff in his hand. "This way," he urged in good English, running toward the door.

Behind them the whine of an energy weapon was joined by a cry. Someone had tried to shoot Meridina with a phaser and had the beam directed into his shoulder. Within the warehouse cries of shock and surprise came. People heard the fighting and now heard the gunfire. They would be stampeding for the exit any moment.

"Meridina, come on!", Julia shouted, Angel already running ahead with their rescuer. She delivered a solid punch that put the troublesome door guard out completely, ensuring nobody blocked them.

"Go!", she shouted, deflecting another energy shot at her, this one more of a pulse and from a pistol. "I will follow if I can."

Before Julia could insist, a figure loomed behind the Syndicate bouncers shooting at Meridina. The figure twisted and a flash of green color slammed into the side of one of the bouncers, knocking him into the other.

It took Julia a moment to process what that flash came from. It had come from a tail.

The blind Zigonian who had been fighting in the ring entered the hall. "Go", he said firmly. "I am behind you." He resumed running. Meridina joined him.

Nearby was an aircar, or rather an air-van, with four seats in the back. Their rescuer ran for the driver side and Julia went for the same side, with Angel already getting in the front seat on the passenger side. Meridina retracted the lakesh blade and followed Julia in, prompting her to move over to sit behind Angel. The blind Zigonian found his way into the back door and climbed into the rear.

A crowd of people started rushing out of the front door. The suited bouncers were with them, and they were reaching for weapons.

"Go, go!", Julia urged. The hooded, cloaked figure's hand was already reaching for the wheel. The van tilted toward one side from the weight. The Zigonian used his tail to close the rear door just as a phaser beam scoured it. The van lurched toward one side until its hovering systems compensated for the acceleration and curve, returning to a flat and level bearing by the time they were racing down the road.

"I'm so going to slap Hernan for this," Angel growled.

"I do not think Mister Corelo knew of the danger," the hooded man said. His voice and tone were reserved, quiet, and he seemed very calm for the situation. "Are you hurt?"

"My head's still ringing from that telepathic attack," Angel groaned.

"Mine too." Julia rubbed at her forehead. "He was really going to try and abduct and sell us?"

"Damned slaver," Angel spat. "I wish I'd broken his neck before we left."

"Given the damage he has done to the Syndicate's standing here, I do not think that would prove necessary," the hooded man said.

Julia nodded and looked back to the Zigonian. "Thank you," she said.

"Thanks are not necessary," he said softly in reply. His blind eyes continued to stare at nothingness. "Creation guides us to where we are meant to be, and so I was guided to you." His head nodded. "I am Kasszas S'szrishin and I am a Brother of the Harmonious Val-Drillim."

"Commander Julia Andreys," Julia answered. "Commander Meridina, Lieutenant Angela Delgado."

Meridina bowed her head in respect to Kasszas. She turned to the driver. "You followed us when we left Hernan de Corelo's establishment earlier this evening."

"I believed you would run into danger eventually," the man answered. "It seemed proper to help you."

"Why?", Angel asked.

"Because it was, and still is, the right thing to do. Allow me to remove my hood now, as a gesture of trust." With a free hand he pulled the hood away.

It had seemed high before to Julia, and she realized why upon seeing the bone wrapping around the crown of his head and pointing up toward the rear. "You're a Minbari," she said. She tried to place the bone's appearance and what she knew of what that marked with Minbari. "And born in the religious caste?"

"Yes, Commander Andreys." He nodded. "My name is Lennier. And I wish to help you save your friend."





Jarod awoke with the jolt that went through the ship. Nearby his bodyguard, the Asian man with the cybernetics, was sitting quietly. "Turbulence," he said simply. "We're making our way into the atmosphere."

"And lighting up every radar in the hemisphere," Jarod said.

"The ship's got stealth capability," was the reply. "Not that it matters to you."

Jarod tested his restraints again. They were still firm. "How much did she offer you to become a fugitive?"

"That's between me and her." The visor on his face hid his eyes when he turned to face Jarod. "If you ask me, I don't give a damn if you turn around and escape from these people. Just don't do it until we leave. Otherwise, we'll be forced to cripple you, and that'd just be a waste."

"I'll take that under advisement," Jarod replied.

He waited patiently while the turbulence came to an end. Shortly thereafter there was a vibration in the deck plates; they'd landed.

The door slid open moments later. Miss Parker stepped in with the Gersallian man and the Krogan. "It's time," she said.

"You're just going to hand me over to the Centre in exchange for your father?", Jarod asked.

"You're the genius, Jarod, so what do you think?" She nodded to the latter, who with a growl and grunt stepped forward and bodily lifted the chair and Jarod with it. It was a tight fit getting out of the door, with the Krogan growling the whole way about it, from which they walked down what Jarod figured was the main hall of the ship. It certainly appeared to be a cargo vessel.

The rest of Parker's team, save the unseen pilot of the ship, joined them in the cargo bay. A ramp opened up, leading to a cool autumn night. The ship had landed on a private airway stsrip. Jarod looked over the property they were on. It was somewhere in the Cascades, on the inland side in what Washingtonians called "the Inland Empire". The mountains were already blocking the setting sun, casting shadows over everything. It was probably miles to the nearest town.

The structure was a squat, one storey building of concrete and brick. It looked like a small office building, or a station for park rangers. It might have even been the latter at one point. But knowing the Centre, it had been heavily refurbished, perhaps even with an underground level or two (or three, or even four).

Several figures were between them and the structure. Most were in dark suits holding firearms. One was standing behind a wheelchair, in which sat a sickly, balding man that Jarod readily, and unhappily, recognized as Mister Raines.

Another was a man of bronze coloration and Caucasian facial features. He had dark hair and a dark beard, both streaked with white, and cold gray eyes. His suit was the best of those present and his air was that of the man in charge. "Ah, Miss Parker," he said, with an English accent that was refined and hinted at an Arabic origin of the speaker. "So good of you to join us. I was beginning to worry."

"I'm not here to say hello," she said. "Let me see him."

The suited man nodded to someone behind him. Two men stepped up carrying a video monitor. The screen showed a barely-furnished room, more of a prison cell, in which sat an older balding man with a frumpled suit.

"Daddy," Miss Parker breathed.

The figure looked over and up at a screen. "Angel," the old balding man said. A smile crossed his face. "I knew you'd come back for me."

"Did they hurt you?", she asked.

"Not much, and that doesn't matter."

Miss Parker nodded. And then she glared toward Raines and the suited man. "This wasn't the deal."

"Maybe not, but there's no telling what your people are capable of." The man kept a diplomatic smile. "Understand our point of view, Miss Parker. Last year Jarod and these allies of his came and penetrated the security of the Centre. Mister Lyle told us of what he was capable of in his debriefing, as did our security teams at headquarters who personally witnessed as one of Jarod's associates disappeared in a flash of light. If we brought your father here and confirmed his location to you, you could just as easily snatch him away and leave us holding the bag. And we can't have that, can we?"

Miss Parker frowned. "I suppose I can see the logic," she said. "But you could have shared that with me while we made the deal."

"It was something of a last minute consideration, I assure you," the suited man said, and with just enough conviction that one could almost think he was telling the truth. "I suppose we were so eager to get Jarod back that we failed to properly consider the situation. I assure you, returning your father to you is my honest intention. The Centre has nothing to gain by needlessly antagonizing people with your evident resources. It pains me that you felt it necessary to bring so many interlopers as it is."

"I've found trust is in short supply when it comes to certain people," Parker answered, leveling her eyes squarely on Raines.

"That goes both ways." The sick, vicious old man returned the glare. "I could ask why she brought these people, these things." Raines looked to the Krogan, who growled in reply. "I think it was so you could take your father by force."

"Only if you make me," she insisted. "Stick to the deal and you've got nothing to worry about."

I'll kill the one in the wheelchair for free, a voice said in her head. It was Dralan, of course.

"This can still work, Miss Parker," the suited man insisted. "Your father can be brought to you swiftly. We only need you to cooperate for a little while. Would you hear me out?"

For several tense seconds there was silence. "I'm listening," answered Miss Parker, finally breaking that tension.

"Bring some of your team and enter with us," he said. "Witness while we begin Jarod's debriefing. Once we have completed his debriefing, you walk out with your father. We're guaranteed something for our trouble and you have done your duty as a loyal daughter, free to leave with Mister Parker with the blessing of the Triumvirate. And thus everyone's happy."

Miss Parker frowned. She didn't trust them, and that was quite obvious to everyone. But running the situation in her mind, it was the best solution that didn't risk her father being executed before she could intervene. "Agreed," she said. "But let me make something clear." She used her other hand to bring up her multidevice and tapped the call button. "Wolff? Show them your surprise."

"With pleasure", replied a man with a strong voice, his accent from the English Midlands.

There was a whirring sound coming from the cargo ship. A false panel slid away and a flat, wide muzzle emerged from it and pointed toward the building. "That's a 200 megawatt plasma cannon," Parker said. "If you betray me, everything here gets atomized. And then Mister Wolff moves on to the rest of the Centre with any of my people left, understand?"

Raines frowned deeply. His superior, however, merely smiled as if he was pleased by Miss Parker's threat. "I'd expect nothing less of the daughter of Mister Parker," he said evenly. "It is a shame you have decided not to remain with the Centre."

"I've had my fill of it."

She looked to her team. "You know what to do."

The Krogan put Jarod down. Miss Parker pulled her gun as Denna unlatched Jarod, winking at him in the process as if to flirt and then putting a pair of shock cuffs on his wrists. The auburn-haired woman's golden eyes flashed with malicious pleasure as she stroked the key on the small remote control in her palm, sending a low level shock that made Jarod gasp from the pain, mostly in surprise at how intense it was.

As this was going on, Miss Parker listened to Wolff over the radio. "Sorry, luv, but I couldn't get a fix on his location. They're usin' a tight beam signal bouncin' off of satellites. Clever little buggers, aren't they?"

"I was expecting that," she said, or rather whispered, so bare a whisper that only Jarod heard her. But it would be picked up by her transmitter regardless, and thus Wolff heard her too.

Miss Parker held the gun to Jarod and motioned toward the men from the Centre. "After you."

The suited man nodded and turned. Mr. Raines' assistant turned his chair. The other armed men remained long enough to cover them before joining the Centre contingent.

"You have excited his curiosity," mumbled Dralan. "He may attempt treachery. And the sick man desires it."

"That's to be expected." Miss Parker narrowed her eyes. "Did you sense anything about who he is?"

"They think of him as 'His Lordship.'"

"He's British," Jarod noted. "And he might have a peerage."

Miss Parker quickly put two and two together. "He's one of the Triumvirate, then." She smirked at Jarod. "You should feel honored."

"Oh, so honored," he responded sarcastically. He turned his head to face Parker. "If you had brought me in on this, I could have gotten your father out by now."

"Maybe, maybe not. Now move, or I'll have Dralan move you."

Jarod sighed and started walking.




Inside the building they were brought to a flight of stairs that led underground. "Another underground base," Jarod sighed. "How shocking."

"You should be honored, Mister Jarod," said the suited man. "We built it for you. If you hadn't run, you would have found this place a kind and loving home. Alas, it was not to be."

Jarod said nothing while they went down sterile officer corridors, although there was no mistaking the purpose of the heavy steel security doors with electronic locks. They went to one and opened it. "We don't need him cuffed here," the suited man said to Miss Parker.

Parker nodded and looked wordlessly to Y'tala. The Mi'qote woman nodded back and took out the device to unlock the shock cuffs. She did so without comment, putting them back on her belt.

At this point Jarod was taken by the security men for the Centre, who pulled him inside and then shut the door. Paper and pen were laid out before him, as was a computer system loaded with advanced modeling software.

"This doesn't look like it's meant for a simulation," Jarod said, looking toward the guards.

"That's because we've got something new for you to do, Jarod."

The voice was familiar, and it made Jarod frown deeply. He turned toward a darkened corner of the room, a room evidently more large than he'd realized.

Overhead lights snapped on. Standing on the other side of the room was Mr. Lyle.

And on either side of him were two wooden chairs, each with a figure strapped into it by wire. One chair held a woman who looked to be in her late twenties, perhaps just at thirty, and the other a man now clearly into his late fifties or even sixties, both Caucasian in complexion. The man was in a pair of trousers but otherwise barechested - the brown-haired woman was in a pair of running shorts and a sports bra, scuffed from a struggle. They had duct tape covering their mouths, keeping them from speaking.

Jarod's heart threatened to plunge into his twisting stomach. "Dad," he muttered. "Emily."

Mr. Lyle effected a wipe at his cheek as if to deal with a tear. "I'm so moved by family reunions," he said with full glibness. "They gave us a run, Jarod. You'd be proud. Catching them was a nice little distraction while we waited for you to be brought back." Lyle leaned over Emily. His hand stroked at her cheek and a strand of disheveled hair there. She recoiled from him. Her face was twisted into defiance and fear and anger, joined by the worry in her eyes when she looked at Jarod. "We're still looking for your precious mother," Lyle confirmed. "Although it wouldn't shock me if she's dead by now. But with your dear old Dad and your precious baby sister here, I think we have enough to work with, don't you?"

Jarod clenched his fists. "If you harm them, Lyle, I'll…"

"...watch helplessly, because you're not the one in control here, Jarod. I am." Lyle chuckled, and the chuckle was the kind you'd expect from a man on the cusp of losing control. Even the other guards in the room shifted uncomfortably, but they remained in a position to intercept Jarod if he tried to lunge toward Lyle. "I had so many fun plans for your debriefing, Jarod. A little taste of what I've gone through thanks to you. But His Lordship made it clear; the Centre wants you unspoiled. He's a bit of a prig, between you and me. I had so many ideas… so many..." Lyle again ran his hand along Emily's face, causing her to try and pull away in disgust. "...and he said no. Anyway, moving on, because time is money you know." Lyle went into a corner of the room and brought over a device set on wheels. Jarod swallowed at seeing what it was, and knew what Lyle was doing as he pulled leads from the machine and fixed them with clear tape to the bare arms, shoulders, and bellies of his bound captives. "Nothing near the heart, of course," Lyle cooed. "We wouldn't want to give them a heart attack, would we?"

"What are you doing?", Jarod asked in a low, dangerous tone.

"For a genius, you can be slow on the uptake," Lyle laughed. "Here's how it is, Jarod." He plopped into a chair facing Jarod, with the controls of the device in front of him and behind Emily and Charles. "The Centre doesn't care about your simulations now. Oh, maybe one day they will, but they've got more important things to do with you. They want your technology. Everything you showed us you can do is something the Centre wants for itself now, and you are going to give it to us. We want you to write out the science, the plans, everything so we can produce this stuff." Lyle held up a hand. "And yes, I'm sure you're about to say you'll never give it to us, the Centre can't have it, blah blah blah, but that's where your family comes in. Because if you don't start cooperating right now..."

Jarod shouted "No!" as Lyle's hand went to the dial.

The machine buzzed faintly. His sister and father started to tremor violently in the chairs they were bound to, muffled screams coming from underneath the tape covering their mouths. Their faces twisted into a rictus of savage agony.

"Stop!", Jarod shouted in desperation.

Lyle grinned devilishly. "I don't see you writing...", he said in a sing-song tone.

Wordlessly Jarod grabbed a pen and took a paper to start scribbling. He started with something basic, something that wasn't too dangerous to write about, by laying out the foundations of subspace theory. He glanced up while he scribbled furiously.

Lyle watched him write for several more seconds before turning the dial back to the off position. Emily and Charles were left wheezing, with tears flowing from their eyes.

As Jarod continued to write, his mind raced. He counted the hours since his abduction and considered how long it might have taken before it was detected, and how long for an investigation to confirm Miss Parker was responsible and that he'd been brought here. After that, how long before the President would approve a rescue mission into the exclusion zone around Earth...

Which, in turn, would tell him how long he had to stall Lyle before the Aurora crew arrived to rescue him.

[Shroom Man 777]

Jeez. What scumbags. Though one wonders... why didn't Jarod get his family out beforehand?

[Steve]

Jeez. What scumbags. Though one wonders... why didn't Jarod get his family out beforehand?

The episode will delve a bit into that later. The main thing is that with his family underground as they were, hunting them was never going to be easy (since they were also on the run from the Centre), and he became rather busy what with the Facility stuff and building the Cool Ship (Aurora) and then all of the work that went into helping set up the Alliance, then the actual work with the Alliance as a crewmember on the Aurora.

Some of it goes into Jarod's character, and the issue he had of never quite being a "real" person, always being fake identities as part of his Pretends. So when he found himself in an actual "job", an occupation that wasn't a Pretend... it was a fresh new thing, and coupled with the fact he wasn't having to run anymore, he didn't have to fear Miss Parker or Lyle knocking down the door to his quarters in the middle of the night... going back to his homeworld would have a lot of inertia to fight, since he would have to go back and stay for a while to have a hope of tracking anyone down.

Plus there's the whole thing where the planet is officially off-limits, and we'll soon see that since his last visit there, some Alliance authorities have made the job of going there a bit trickier.

[Steve]

Chief Almerda accepted the report of the fight club with exasperation. "We have had intelligence of the Syndicate establishing a business operation on New Liberty," he sighed. "How they manage to do so without direct Orion commercial traffic is beyond me."

"I'm sure you're not the only police chief wondering the same," Julia said. She stood with Meridina in Almerda's office while Angel remained with the others.

"And hiring this mercenary, this Zaeed Massani… are you sure that's wise?"

"Given the scale of the threat Miss Parker's team poses, it is reasonable."

A concerned look was on Detective Okonwi's face at that. "I still find it hard to believe she raised the funds to hire such individuals. She was not paid that much as a consultant, and even if she had business arrangements with Corelo, he does not move that much money. I doubt anyone does even in a black market economy, not with the size of our Colony. She must have outside help of some sort."

"I'm afraid I have no answers." This was from Sydney, who had joined them when they returned to Colony Security. His face was withdrawn and stony. "I don't know of anyone who could have assisted Miss Parker financially."

"Whatever happened, our next move is clear. We need a ship."

"I cannot help you in that regard," Almerda said. "Even if I had one, it would violate the Alliance statues to travel to A4P5, and the Colony would be blamed."

"I know. I already have some ideas in that direction," Julia said. "I just wanted to touch base with you one last time before we left. In case anything else was found." She smirked. "And to get our multidevices back." She subconsciously ran her right had over the device returned to her left wrist.

"Of course." Almerda smiled back. "And we will conveniently forget that you stated an intention to violate the exclusion zone around A4P5 Earth."

"Why, sir, whatever do you mean by such a thing?," Julia answered in faux-disbelief, injecting such much-needed levity into the situation. "Hopefully I'll see you again soon enough."

"Go with God," was his reply. Okonwi gave a nod of agreement.

After they left the office and were walking through the halls of the building, Meridina spoke up. "I have two points of concern to address."

"Shoot," Julia replied.

"The first is transportation. Do you have any in mind?"

"I already have a candidate, you might say," Julia said. "Although with our new friends, it might get a bit cramped."

"I see." Meridina nodded. "Not a runabout then?"

"Much smaller than one, I'm afraid."

"I think I see your intention. Hopefully Commander Adama will be able to change his traveling plans. I am somewhat intrigued that you seem ready to trust him on this endeavor, though, I do not recall you two being so cl…" Meridina stopped at sensing the very stray, much-unintended thought that crossed Julia's mind. She gave Julia a curious look. "Truly?"

"What?", Julia asked.

"You and Commander Adama…"

Pink appeared on Julia's cheeks. "We understand each other, let's leave it at that?"

"I see." Meridina nodded. "I believe I understand. I am happy that you found necessary companionship."

"That might be putting it a bit far..." Julia turned a corner, followed by Meridina. They were approaching the main entrance of Colony Security. "And the second thing you were concerned with?"

"Miss Parker has availed herself of the services of two swevyra'kse," Meridina pointed out. "That is, those with my abilities, but who have fallen to their dark sides. I am unaware of their levels of skill and power, but I am uncertain of my ability to protect you from both."

"So what you're saying is that we need another one of your fellow Knights," Julia said.

"Or someone of similar training. There are several Dorei orders who train much as we do, they may also help."

"We'll talk about it when we get back to the others," Julia said, just as they emerged from the door.

"Wait!"

The voice caused them to turn back just outside the door, which remained open. Behind them came Sydney, winded from the near-jog he had sustained to catch up. "I… would like to go," he said.

"I appreciate the thought, Sydney, but this is going to be dangerous."

"I know. But I want to be there for Jarod." Sydney took a moment to fully regain his breath, and to work up his composure in the process. "Please."

Meridina gave Julia a look. "This may for the best."

"I don't know if there will be room in the Raptor for all of us," she replied. "Even with one of us acting as co-pilot."

"Perhaps, or perhaps not, but we should at least let him have the chance to go."

Julia pondered that. "Is this one of those 'life force' hunches like Robert gets?"

Meridina raised an eyebrow at that terminology. "I suppose it could be said to be such."

"Well." Julia let out a sigh. "Alright. If we have the room, you can come, Doctor Sydney."

The aged man nodded in gratitude. "Thank you, Commander. I will assist you in any way I can."

"Let's go meet back up with the others," Julia said. "I need to see someone about a ship."




They found Lee Adama in the dining area of the New Liberty Visitors' Lodge, sitting with Thrace and Anders. "We heard about Commander Jarod," Lee said. "How can we help?"

Julia, Angel, and Meridina were sitting opposite from them. Lennier was off with the van and Kasszas had returned to his own room in the lodge to get things he said he needed. "We need a ship," Julia said immediately. "A way to get to Earth. Getting someone to give us a jump to A4P5 is the easy part, the hard part is a ship that can make the trip."

"You want to use the Raptor," Thrace said.

"Preferably with you along as the pilot," Julia added.

Thrace looked to Lee. "I'm all for it if you say go," she said. "It'll be cramped, especially if you're bringing extra people. Plus there's the other matter."

"Other matter?", Angel asked.

"Fuel," Lee explained. "Your people don't mine or refine tylium. And the Raptor only has enough fuel left for a couple of jumps at most. That was all we would have needed for the final trip home."

Angel frowned at that. "So basically, if we have to make more than one jump either way, we're boned."

You just had to use that word, didn't you?, Julia thought to herself. She could see a little twinkle in Lee's eye that she knew was mirrored in her own. As much as it had been a one night stand… it was the type that could easily become something more if allowed to develop. Which, of course, was the tricky part, since Julia wasn't entirely sure she wanted something like that, and she didn't think Lee was either..

"Yep," Thrace said, her voice returning Julia to the matter at hand. "Unless you know of any refined tylium we can top the tank off from."

"I'm afraid not," sighed Julia.

"Now if you find us a ship to ride on, that's do-able." Thrace looked again to Lee. "If the Commander agrees."

Lee smiled at that. "Commander Jarod helped get our people off the Colonies," he said. "I think Admiral Adama and President Baltar will agree that he deserves our help. I'll ask Miss Davis to join me in finding passage on another ship. You take the Raptor and help them in any way you can."

"I'm going too," Anders said. "To give you backup."

"If we can all fit in the Raptor… the more, the merrier," Julia agreed.

"So long as we're not going far, I think we can jam quite a few people in." Thrace sipped at her drink. "Now the question is… can you get us a ship?"

"A ship willing to breach the A4P5 perimeter," Angel added sullenly.

"I'll think of something," Julia said. "Let's get to the spaceport."

They stood up to leave, and were doing so when Lee called out to Julia, prompting her to come back to him. "Good luck," he said. "And…"

"Last night was last night," she answered. And she did so with a smile. "It was special. And it was good. Don't doubt that."

"Yeah." He nodded, smiling back. "Do you mind…"

It was clear what he was asking for. "For good luck? Sure."

They leaned in close and their lips met. The kiss had been intended to be a quick one, but it turned into one that lasted for several seconds before she ended it. "It's a shame you'll be gone by the time we're back," Julia lamented with a sigh. "I've still got a few days of leave."

"Maybe we'll catch each other another time?" There was a bit, quite a bit, of hope in that sentence.

"Maybe." Julia held his hand for a moment. "Have a safe trip home, Lee."

"Good luck getting Jarod back, Julia," he answered.

She walked away and to the exit of the eatery. Angel was waiting there, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed and a wide grin on her face. "Well well," she said. "I was wondering about last night. It's about time, if you ask me."

"Pardon me?", Julia asked.

"We all deserve someone," Angel said. "Maybe it doesn't last, maybe it does, but why not enjoy it when it's there?" She smiled with genuine warmth. "I'm happy for you. Rob would be too."

"Thank you," was all that Julia could say in response. "but I think we need to focus on the matter at hand now?"

"Lead the way, O fearless leader," Angel opined with some exaggerated affectation in her voice.




The air-van Lennier had acquired was now stuffed to capacity. He sat in the front with Meridina, the second row was for Julia, Angel, and Sydney, and the third row of seats had Thrace, Anders, and Kasszas, who now held a walking stick in his clawed hands. The two Colonials gave careful looks toward the blind Zigonian. To their surprise, he seemed to know the looks he was getting. "It is always best to remember that Creation is a varied existence, made of diversity of all forms of life. Harmony is found in acceptance."

"Uh… works for me, I guess," Thrace said, a lopsided grin coming to her face.

They were driving on to the spaceport when Meridina looked to Lennier. "I believe we have met, have we not?"

"We were not directly introduced," he answered. "But I saw you briefly on Babylon-5."

"You had come to join President Sheridan's escort to Minbar," Meridina said. "And now you are here. And no longer an anla'shok."

"No, I am not," he answered. A distant look came to his eyes. Meridina felt the shame swelling inside of him. "I am no longer worthy of being an anla'shok."

"And yet you have acted in the best traditions of that order," Meridina pointed out. "You came to our aid freely, without offer of compensation or reward."

Lennier glanced her way. "It seemed the right thing to do."

"So it did." Meridina looked away for a moment. She could see this conversation was not going anywhere. She understood it as well; Lennier's past, his feelings of shame and disgrace, were his burden, and he did not wish to discuss it. She needed to respect that.

Julia looked up from her multidevice. "I just sent Zaeed a message to meet us at the spaceport."

"Have you found a ship to take us yet?", Angel asked.

Julia sighed and shook her head. "I was hoping the Shahams could help, but the Eagle is off escorting refugee convoys in S4W8."

"What about our other friends?"

"They're all assigned to Alliance operations." Julia shook her head. "The way things are looking, we'll need to contract a private ship."

"You could call Beth," Angel pointed out. "She might have a ship available."

Julia shook her head. "If I have to. But I don't want to get her in any trouble with the Alliance."

"Creation has guided us together for this purpose," Kasszas stated. "Creation will guide us to a vessel."

Angel looked at the Zigonian with a little confusion on her face. "I thought Zigonians were Catholic?"

To that, Kasszas made a recurring hissing sound that seemed to be chuckling. "As a child I initially thought all Humans were soulless materialists. Creation is made up of individuals, Lieutenant, and individuals create diversity by their very existence. Such is the will of Creation and its Universe."

"A most curious philosophy," said Meridina. She looked back at the Zigonian. "I sense you have a vibrant swevyra of your own."

"We are all bonded to Creation in our own way." Kasszas breathed a little hiss. "The Harmonious Val-Drillim are only one of many beliefs that are in the Conciliation of Tsorra-Mahl Harmonies." The hissing sound in the name "Tsorra-Mahl" was a peculiar one, not repeatable with non-Zigonian tongues.

"Including the Catholic ones?", Angel asked.

"You speak of the Holy Scale Nomads," Kasszas answered. "You have met them and their great tree-ships?"

"Uh… no," answered Angel, sharing a quizzical look with the other Humans in the van. "Never seen a tree-ship."

"We have a Zigonian crewman on our ship," Julia explained. "He is understudying with our chaplain. And is doing good, from what Padre Mann says, except for that incident with the incense…" She shook her head. "Anyway, I need to focus on finding us a ride."

"And I must consult about finding another swevyra'se, if possible," Meridina said. "Miss Parker has hired two mercenaries given into the darkness. I would be remiss to try and fight both."

"I believe I may know of some assistance with that," said Lennier. "I shall leave you at the spaceport and return with further help."

That made Meridina and Julia very curious, but they said nothing on the matter.

Angel looked over at Sydney. "Are you okay?", she asked.

He looked at her, a distant and haunted look in his eyes. "I am, I suppose," he said. "I'm simply concerned for Jarod. The Centre will not be gentle with him. And I'm worried about how we'll find him."

"Knowing Jarod, we may not have to," Angel said. She attempted an encouraging grin. "We'll find him. And we'll get him back."

What she didn't add verbally was the thought that went through her mind, causing Meridina to glance back at her with concern.

And when I catch her, Miss Parker is a dead woman.




Lennier left them as promised, beside the hangar where the Colonial Raptor was being kept. Julia had the feeling that their group had grown large enough that they were approaching the transport limitation for the craft. Maybe I should just send Starbuck and Anders back to Lee and find another shuttle, she thought. But she resisted it; there was no guarantee that any ship she found would have a working transporter of any kind on it. The Raptor might not be able to get to Earth by jumps, but it would provide them a working ride down, and given the sensor upgrades that had been performed on the Colonial Raptor fleet, it might even hide their presence electronically.

It's still going to be nearly standing-room only.

"I'm going to do preflight checks," said Thrace. She looked them over. "Anders will be my ECO for the flight, wherever we end up going."

"I'm leaving it in your capable hands," Julia said. She looked back to the others, who were all looking at the main door, and with good reason.

Zaeed Massani had swapped into a set of battle armor, painted with a light orange, almost yellow color, with a visible grenade pouch on his belt and more grenades strapped to the belts slung over his shoulder. A sidearm was affixed to his hip and two rifles were on his back. "So, that's our ride?", he asked. "Goin' to be a God-amned cramped trip by the look of her."

"That's our ride down from orbit to planetside," Julia answered. "I'm still lining up a ship to get us to Earth."

Zaeed snorted at that. "You're really doin' this by the seat of your pants, aren't you? No prep time. Doesn't look good for our operation." Zaeed looked over the others. He smirked at seeing Kasszas. "Ah, the Blind Raptor is it? I probably owe you a drink. I cleaned up good on your fight tonight."

Kass flicked his tongue. "You need not concern yourself. I was following the path laid by Creation, as we all do."

"Yeah. Works for me, I guess." Zaeed moved on to Sydney. "What do we have here? You don't look like you're along to fight."

"I'm here to help find Jarod in any way we can," Sydney replied. "If that means shooting a man… I've done it before."

Zaeed looked Sydney eye to eye. "You have, haven't you?", the mercenary finally remarked. "Suits me. Just remember the right way to point the gun when the time comes." He looked to Julia again. "Is this it?"

"We have one, maybe two more," she answered. "I'm going to make a call now about our ship. Or rather, she is." Julia looked to Angel.

Angel got what she meant. "Hernan again?" A frown crossed her face. "I don't like relying on him too much, Julia. I…"

The low thrum of an electric-motor bike made everyone turn. A young African woman rode it up to them, wearing a brown leather jacket and black trousers. She looked all business as she slid off the bike. "I've been sent to find you," she said, her voice thick with an accent that Julia thought to be Central African. "Hernan de Corelo wanted you to have this." She reached into her pocket and pulled an object out, which she tossed in an underhanded throw. The object arced in the air and Julia reached out to catch it.

It was small, a sort of dirty white in color, and eminently recognizable. "This is a phaser power pack." She looked at the indicator on the bottom. "The charge has been used up."

"The Syndicate attempted to abduct you tonight," said the woman. "Hernan and several associates didn't take kindly to it. A message has been sent. We thought you should know." She turned back to her electric bike.

"Can you call him?", Julia asked. "We need a ship with an FTL drive that can get us to Earth, Universe A4P5."

"That's a no-contact Earth," the woman noted. "Not many ship captains will risk breaking the Alliance's laws."

"I'll use my personal code when we arrive at the quarantine perimeter," Julia said. "The ship will be logged as having a legitimate reason to be present. It'll be on my responsibility."

For a moment there was silence. "One moment," she said. "I will make the call."

Angel was still frowning. "I don't like this, Julia," she insisted.

"You're the one who went to him first," Julia reminded her.

"For information. But you're accepting favors from him now," Angel pointed out. "And guys like Hernan, they keep tabs on their favors. He'll want to be repaid in the future."

"I'll deal with that when it comes," Julia said. "But the longer we wait, the more likely something happens to Jarod. I can't let that happen."

A minute later the woman came back up to them. "Hernan knows a captain, they owe him a favor. They'll do the job."

"Are they landed here on the port, or do we have to fly up to them?', Julia asked.

"Hanger 8J," the woman answered. She went back to her bike and rode off.

As she did so, the air-van pulled back up and came to a stop. Lennier emerged from the driver side. On the opposite side another figure stepped out and rounded the front of the vehicle.

She was a Dorei, a rich blue skin complexion with light purple spotlines running along her hairline and down her neck. Bright purple eyes looked them over and a self-assured smile crossed dark blue lips. Her face was oval-shaped and pretty in that way Dorei shared with Humans. Her clothes were a black leather jacket over a tamasa, a Dorei tube top-like garment, this one colored bright green with a cyan stripe running horizontally along the middle. The tube top started below the shoulders and stopped just above her waist. Her visible skin at the waist showed a hint of muscular definition beyond simply being flat. On each hip was a hilt pointed downward.

The Dorei looked them over. Julia got the sense she was doing more than looking, which was somewhat confirmed when the Dorei girl nodded politely to Meridina. "Swevyra'se," she said.

Meridina nodded back. "Fenari."

"What's that mean?", Angel asked, bewildered.

"It is 'Gifted' in the English Human tongue," the Dorei girl said, her accent in English sounding like a mishmash of Hawaiian and Spanish. "For many Dorei, the gifts of the swevyra'se of Gersal are seen as derived from the Eternal Goddess, or whatever god or gods they worship, and we are known as the Gifted." The young woman nodded. "I am Druni Jestani."

"Did you belong to an Order?", asked Meridina.

"I was a Sentinel of the Silver Moon," answered Druni. "But I felt my destiny was elsewhere. I am a Paman, though, not a Laytar, I assure you."

"She means she was not cast out, but left her Order in good standing," Meridina explained to the others.

"Whatever," Zaeed said. He waved a hand dismissively. He looked at Julia. "You got that ship we need, right? I'll be stowin' gear on the assault craft, call if things go tits up."

"I will stay as well," replied Kasszas.

"Alright." Julia motioned to the van. "We've got to visit another hanger. A ride is supposed to be waiting for us there. I hope everyone's gotten their things together."

"Of course." Lennier nodded. "I am ready to depart at any time."

"I carry my things with me," Druni added. "So I'm good to go."

"You can come with us to meet this captain, then," said Julia. She looked to Angel and Meridina. "Angel, do you mind staying with the others to prep the Raptor?"

Angel nodded. She could see the look on Julia's face and knew what she really meant: Stay with the others so you can come after us if this is a trap of some kind.

Without another word Julia climbed into the van, this time taking the passenger seat beside Lennier while Meridina joined Druni in the back seat. They rode off to take the short trip to Hanger 8J.




Hours of tension had built up, leaving Jarod feeling mentally and physically strained even as he continued his scribbling. He kept glancing toward his captive father and sister, still bound to chairs and wired up for Lyle to torture at his whim. Lyle still had his hands on the control device, his finger stroking the surface of the dial whenever Jarod looked.

Lyle had always been a sociopathic monster, but the past year had made him much worse. At least before he had been in control of his impulses. Now he looked like a demented monster straining to break from his leash. Every fiber of his being seemed bent upon inflicting pain and indulging in other base emotions.

"I'm starting to run out of patience, Jarod," Lyle remarked. "Maybe you need more incentive…"

"That's not…"

But it was too late. Lyle twisted the dial. Charles and Emily seized up, muffled screams coming through the duct tape placed over their lips. After several seconds Lyle turned the dial again and the shocking ended. Satisfied glee crossed his face. "I hope you've written something worthwhile," he said to Jarod.

"It's the basics of subspace physics," Jarod answered. "Understanding of this science will put the Centre decades ahead of anything on Earth."

Lyle looked at him with a glower. "Oh, isn't that special. Except that's not what I was asking for, was it?"

"But you need to have this knowledge to…"

The dial turned again. Jarod felt sick to his stomach at seeing his father and Emily suffer at Lyle's hands.

As they tried to scream through the duct tape gags, Lyle laughed. "Oh Jarod, are you really going to do this? You're stalling for time, aren't you? Hoping for your friends to come rescue you. But let's face it, they wouldn't know where to look, would they, and even if they did… the moment they show up by that door, I'm turning this thing on full blast. Your dear sister and daddy will be dead in seconds. Now…" He turned the dial off again. Emily and Charles were slumped in their chairs, chests heaving as they caught their breath. "...we want the weapons, Jarod. We want the invisibility devices, the rayguns, whatever it is that lets you blip around. And we want them now."

Jarod glared at Lyle, his eyes full of hatred and disgust in equal measure. His frown deepened. "Alright," he said. "I can draw plans, but I need to know what materials you have available."

"Why?"

"Because that's how I know what you can actually build." Jarod had forced patience dripping from every word.

"And it's certainly not so you can build a radio or a beacon, right?" Lyle moved his hand back to the dial.

Jarod's hand shot up, palm out and down, as if he could use the motion of his hand to bring Lyle's hand away from the dial. "This won't have any parts that can be used for something like that," Jarod insisted. "You can ask any engineer."

Lyle snarled and was clearly in deep thought, which didn't seem as easy now he was so out of control. He about ground his teeth together before uttering a frustrated "Fine." He looked to the guards. "One of you go get the message to His Lordship. A list of all our available electronics."

The guard nearest Lyle nodded and slipped out the door.

Lyle's hand snaked up toward the control. "Just so you don't get any ideas, Jarod…"

Jarod protested with a "No!", but it did nothing. The dial was turned again. Not as far this time, however, although Charles and Emily began to shake and tremble in the chairs again. They were in clear pain.

"One wrong move, it gets turned up," Lyle warned.

"This isn't necessary!," Jarod shouted. "You don't have to hurt them!"

"Oh, but I do!", Lyle countered. "Because it hurts you!" He smiled widely at that. "And that's all I've wanted to do for years."

Jarod looked to his father and sister. Their eyes were focused on him, pleading with him for help while the electric current continued to run through their bodies.

But there was nothing he could do for them. Nothing to stop this from happening, not right now. Tears of frustration flowed down his cheeks at watching their torment and knowing he was helpless to stop it.

Lyle saw the tears.

And he laughed.




One floor up, in a well-furnished conference room that fit more with an urban skyrise than a secretive facility in the middle of the northern Cascades, Miss Parker was with Mister Raines and His Lordship. And they were all watching the live feed of Jarod and Lyle. Miss Parker frowned, finishing a drag on her second cigarette since this had started. "He's gone off the deep end, hasn't he?"

"We felt compelled to give Mister Lyle an… exhaustive debriefing," His Lordship answered, the pause in the line coming like he was trying to find the right euphemism for "prolonged torture". "His claims were outlandish until we could fully confirm them."

"He was always a sick bastard, but now you've made him a rabid dog." Parker shook her head. "You should shoot him and put him out of our misery."

"Perhaps." Mister Raines wheezed for a moment before continuing. "But he still has his uses. His plan for breaking Jarod's spirit is working."

"Poor buggers," Y'tala muttered. "Killin' a man's family to get 'im to talk, I can get behind that if it's business. Torturin' the poor kittens, though? That's low."

Dralan smirked. "On the contrary, I find it… invigorating." The Gersallian's smile was sinister. "I can feel the rage and hatred and pure terror from here."

Not for the first time did Miss Parker regret hiring Dralan, but she said nothing on the matter. She looked over to a second monitor, showing her father sitting on a bed, waiting patiently.

"How much longer until I can take my father and leave?", she asked.

"Soon enough," His Lordship replied.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Parker?", Raines asked. "Perhaps you are concerned Jarod's friends will come for him?"

"It's always possible," she answered. "But you don't need me to tell you that."

"We want our worth from Jarod, then your father can go free, I assure you." His Lordship frowned at Raines. "Whatever some of my subordinates may say to the contrary."

Raines took in a raspy breath and seemed to ignore the comment.

Miss Parker didn't care either way. She frowned at the screen showing Jarod, and hoped that this would be over soon. She'd come too far, burnt too many bridges, to fail now.




Hanger 8J was one of the largest for the New Liberty spaceport, big enough that Julia figured the Koenig would easily fit if necessary. It was at the end of a line of similarly-sized hangers that had been built years ago, during the Facility days, to accommodate their growing fleet of cargo transports and large spaceliners.

The main door of the hanger was closed, so they went to a secondary door. Julia hit the door chime, and then a second time before the door opened and a man with a dark complexion answered. "Yes?", he asked, his accent generally Indian in tone. "What can I do for you?"

"I'm here to see your captain. Hernan de Corelo referred me," she answered. Behind her Lennier, Druni, and Meridina stood patiently.

The man remained silent for a moment. "Very well," he finally said. "Come in." He opened the door fully, revealing that he was wearing a black-and-gold suit that looked to be from M4P2.

Julia led the others into the hanger. The vessel present completed the impression created by the man's appearance; it was also clearly an M4P2-derived design, apparently a civilianized equivalent of a Systems Alliance frigate design, but now with warp nacelles affixed to the ends of the drive wings on either side. The hull was gold-and-black like the man's suit, with a configurable support brace holding the ship in place. The cargo ramp was below the main body, facing the front, again like a Systems Alliance frigate.

Standing at the bottom of the ramp was a woman in a black and white suit. The suit was virtually a catsuit, skin tight, and doing nothing to hide her figure. Striking blue eyes looked them over while dark hair cascaded around her shoulders. Her face had been dabbed with some makeup, its features apportioned evenly around a round-shaped face.

A slight tinge of jealousy went through Julia. This woman was stunningly, unbelievably good-looking, like she had been crafted instead of born.

"Hello," she said to them. Her accent was Australian and her tone betrayed confidence. "Mister Corelo said you needed a lift? What specifics are there?"

"Yes. We need to get to Earth, Universe A4P5, and back. We're recovering a friend that was taken there against his will" Julia motioned behind her. "We've got a craft that can go from orbit to the ground, and it should fit in your cargo bay."

"I see." The woman looked them over. "Well, I have a favor owed to the man, so I'd like to discharge it. But A4P5 is a restricted world. There's a United Systems exclusion zone around the system enforced by sensor buoys tied into their local fleet control. The moment they read us going through a starship will be sent in to stop us."

"I'll provide you the necessary code to get in without setting the alarms off," Julia promised. "You don't have to worry about prosecution."

"Well, that does change things," the woman said. She extended a hand. "My name is Yvonne, and I'm the captain of this vessel, the Tainaron."

Julia took the hand and shook it.

"That is an interesting name," remarked Meridina.

"It's from Greek, actually. It's another name for Cape Matapan." Yvonne brought her left forearm up. An omnitool flashed to life around it. Her right hand tapped something on the omnitool's controls. "Prep the ship for launch, we're going to leave."

"Yes ma'am," a voice replied.

"I'll get in contact with the ships in orbit, there has to be someone willing to generate a jump point for us," Yvonne said. "In the meantime, welcome aboard. We'll rendezvous with your craft once we're in orbit."

Julia nodded. She watched Yvonne turn away and go back up the ramp before turning to face the others. "That was easy."

"Perhaps too easy," Lennier mused.

"Perhaps she wishes to clear her debt with Corelo?", Meridina speculated.

"Keep your eyes open, then," Julia said. "But we've got our ship, and I'm going to take what we've been given." She held up her multidevice and keyed Angel. "We've got our ship. M4P2 design, the Tainaron. Have Starbuck fly you into orbit for the rendezvous."

"We're on our way," Angel answered.

The four stepped up into the cargo bay of the ship. They found seats along the side, for workbenches, and used them for the moment.

Meridina looked to Lennier and Druni. "I am curious as to how you met each other?"

"I was exploring in E5B1," Druni replied. "I went to a small border system near the Minbari, Human, and Centauri frontiers. It was a rough place and there was a fight." She nodded to Lennier. "Lennier came to my aid."

"So you're traveling together/"

"In a general sense, yes," Lennier said. "Although I do not believe we have any permanent arrangements to do so."

"I go where it feels right," Drruni said. "Ever since I left the Silver Moon."

Meridina nodded. "I see." She looked to Druni's belt. "Those weapons, they are runari?"

"No. These are short-blades. Tenari." Druni drew one and flicked the trigger in the hilt. There was a sharp, metallic sound as memory metal flowed up and hardened into a curved blade about fifty centimeters long.

Julia saw that interested Meridina. "I have not seen tenari before," she said. "So you are a practitioner of Tasa Duria?"

Druni smiled and nodded. "I am."

"And that is?", Julia asked.

"It is a sword-fighting technique among some of the Dorei nations," Meridina said.

"The rough English translation would be 'Cyclone of Fury'," Druni added. "It is a dual-handed style. From my travels, I believe you Humans have a few styles like it. I recall being on one of your Earths, in a place called Cebu, where I saw men fighting with sticks in a similar way."

"Arnis, or eskrima," Julia said. "It's a Human martial arts style that focuses on training to fight with weapons in both hands."

"I see. Perhaps it is similar to that, but with memory metal blades." Druni caused her tenari blade to retract and fixed it back to her hip.

"It is a very difficult style to master," Meridina noted. "And Lennier told you of our issue?"

"We will face Fallen Fenari." Druni nodded. "It sounds like a good challenge."

"A deadly one," Meridina corrected.

A smirk crossed the young Dorei woman's face. "Those are the good ones," she countered.

Meridina's usually-stoic demeanor was broken by the flash of irritation that went through it.

Julia sighed. A rumble in the ship told her the main engines were coming online. They were about to launch. The rescue mission was officially getting underway. Well, we've got a team. A strange team in a lot of ways, but it's a team. Let's hope it's enough.




The relative quiet of the conference room in the Centre facility ended when the door opened. Everyone turned to see Kang enter without a word. "We told you only two," Raines rasped at Miss Parker.

"I won't be long, I just need to speak to Miss Parker," Kang said, glancing toward the wheelchair-bound man. His voice was almost toneless, no real emotion coming from it.

"Whatever you feel you need to say to Miss Parker, you can say to us," His Lordship stated.

Kang gave Parker a look. She nodded. "Wolff wants to know the hold-up," Kang said. "He only has so much reactant fuel, and if he runs low on energy he won't be able to keep his stealth system active. Alliance sensor buoys would be able to detect his drives' subspace signature."

"Then have him take the drives offline," Miss Parker replied.

"He's reluctant to do that," Kang answered. "A drive restart could take hours."

"Then tell him it's an order," Miss Parker hissed, getting close and glaring at Kang.

Kang brought a hand up, his fingers spread out, and he shook his head. "He wants to hear it from you."

Miss Parker narrowed her eyes.

"Problems with the help?", Raines asked.

She turned her head and glared at Raines. "A minor issue. I'll go handle it and be right back."

"It would be an undermining of trust, I think, for you to just… disappear at this juncture," His Lordship insisted.

"And yet you still have my father hidden away." Parker gestured to the relevant screen. "So you've got leverage. And I don't think you want Jarod's friends showing up. They've got a big damn spaceship, a lot of guns, and the technology to track the Centre across the planet. Especially if Jarod's been sharing that data he took from you last year. If that ship shows up in orbit, your only chance of surviving it will be to hand Jarod back politely with an apology and a smile."

"You overestimate them," Raines said.

"No, you underestimate them," Parker retorted. "I've seen the technology the Multiverse has to offer. They could have troops transporting down to every Centre safehouse, warehouse, and office location within minutes of arriving in orbit. They'll find and hack all of your satellites within five minutes, tops, of coming into range. And if you make them hunt for Jarod they're going to make you regret it. These people can and will destroy the core of the Centre in an afternoon if given the chance. I want my father back and I don't want to go to jail, so I don't want to give them that chance, Raines. And don't think they won't haul you off too."

Raines glowered. He looked to His Lordship, who was clearly considering Parker's argument. "Ten minutes," he said. "Then I expect you back here, or we will assume treachery."

"I'll be back before then," she insisted.

With Kang in front, she followed him at a brisk pace out of the facility and over toward the ship. "What's the problem?", she asked once they were well out of earshot of the Centre's guards.

"I just received a message from contacts at New Liberty," Kang said. "Jarod's friends are on the way."

Miss Parker scowled. "Dammit, I was hoping for more time, that they'd have to wait for their President to…"

"It's not the Aurora," Kang said. "They're gone. Called away on some mission. My contact says it's a small team, not much larger than our own. Commander Andreys from the Aurora is leading it."

"The blonde." Miss Parker pulled out another cigarette and lit it up. "Anything else?"

"She's bringing the Gersallian chief of security with her, and Angel Delgado. Plus help."

"Sydney?"

"The old man? Yes. And others they picked up. My contacts can confirm one of them is Zaeed Massani."

Kang said the name like it meant something. It didn't to Miss Parker, and as she inhaled a drag from her cigarette her eyes made that clear. "Who?"

"A known mercenary and bounty hunter, one of the best from M4P2. We don't know much about the others, though."

"Still…" Miss Parker considered it. "Tell Wolff to fake shutting down his engines. We're going to have to leave in a hurry."

"What's your plan?"

"Find where they're keeping my father, take him, and let the Centre and the Alliance sort themselves out after we leave," she replied.

Kang nodded. "Good plan. I'll see about giving Wolff a fix on the signal for your father's location. It'll take a few hours."

"Just make sure it's done before they get here," Miss Parker insisted. "Now I need to get back in."

"Of course," the man nodded. He watched quietly as Miss Parker re-entered the building.





The moment Jarod had the list he'd demanded, he started writing and scribbling again. Making advanced technology with these parts would be just about impossible without the high quality batteries found in things like multidevices and pulse pistols. But he knew he had to give something soon, or Lyle would gleefully start torturing his sister and brother again.

And Jarod couldn't let that happen.

He did manage something. It would provide a reasonable energy shield generator. And if the generator itself died, the power could be diverted to other means. Means that Jarod had intentions for.

But for now the most important thing was survival. And that meant keeping Lyle appeased.

Lyle's intent stare was distracted by a ringing tone in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a cell phone. "Lyle," he answered.

Jarod intentionally paid no attention as Lyle spoke with a voice on the other end. "Are you sure?", he said. "I'll have to… alright, I understand." Lyle hung up and looked to Jarod. "I want progress on that by the time I get back," he demanded. He looked to the guards and nodded. One produced a pair of handcuffs. Jarod did nothing as the cuffs were used to secure Jarod's ankle to the chair he was sitting in. Lyle grinned and looked back to Charles and Emily. "While I'm gone, let's give you a chance to talk to your family." With rapid movements he ripped the duct tape gags off, eliciting brief cries of shock and pain from his captives. "Don't worry, I've got fresh pieces for later." Lyle brandished, from near his chair, a fresh roll of duct tape. "See you soon." With a chuckle still coming from his throat, Lyle traipsed out of the room.

"Dad. Emily." Jarod looked up from where he was working. "I'm sorry you got caught up in this. It's all my fault for not finding you."

"No. Jarod, no." His father's English accent was now hoarse from his state. The hours of on and off torture had done their terrible work on him most of all. "This is their fault, not your's."

Jarod's face twisted into an expression of pain and shame. The feelings of the last few terrible hours now bubbled to the surface, the feelings of blame over his failure to find his family. He had gotten so devoted to the work on the Aurora, to what they were doing, that he hadn't given his family the attention they deserved. Tears formed in his eyes at the intensity of that thought. "No," he said. "It is mine. I should have done something about this years ago. I should have come and found you."

"And what then?", Charles asked. "The Centre would have found you too."

"No," Jarod said. "No, they couldn't have. I could take you somewhere that the Centre could never follow."

"How?", Emily asked. "And… what's Lyle even talking about? Rayguns, invisibility devices… what's going on, Jarod? Are these things you made for them?"

The bewilderment and worry in his sister's voice was evident. She'd endured the torture better than Charles, but the confusion about what was going on was worse for her.

Jarod looked back to the schematic he was drafting. He started to work on it again. He knew, he damn well knew, that no matter what he did, Lyle would turn the damn machine back on when he got back, just for the fun of it. But he had his own reasons for completing this device as soon as it could be done.

Once he was sure the drawing was accurate, he looked back at Emily. "You won't believe what's going on," he said. "Not until I show you."

"Of course I'd believe you," Emily protested.

"We know you won't lie to us, Jarod," Charles insisted.

Jarod sighed and shook his head as he drew the illustration of where wiring should go on his schematic. Once this vital part was done he looked back up. "For over three years, I haven't even lived on this Earth," he said.

They stared.

"There's a Multiverse out there," he continued. "Earths centuries more advanced than our own. And a group of well-meaning people came to our world looking to help, and ended up saving me after that terrorist attack in Pasadena a few years ago." He stopped, letting them process that information while he did more drawing. "I've been working with them since. Hoping to find a way to find you without the Centre catching on." He let out a sigh. "Granted, I had no idea that the Alliance would forbid traffic to our Earth for not being advanced enough to risk contact. That's made coming back a little complicated."

"You're… you're telling us… you've been living in outer space?"

Hearing the disbelief in Emily's voice, Jarod nodded. "On a ship called the Aurora," he explained. "I've been serving as the ship's Operations Officer. I even helped build her." A little grin came to his face. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Jarod now."

"You're Pretending, then?", Charles asked.

"No, Dad, I'm not." Jarod shook his head. "I don't Pretend anymore. This is who I am now. What I do." His eyes lowered. "And it's why I'm to blame for this. I got so caught up in my new life that I could never make the time to come back and try to look for you."

"I… I don't blame you," Charles said. "I've been on the run too long to blame you for finding a new life where you didn't have to run."

"But I could have found you given time, and I didn't take it. I didn't insist on it like I should have!", Jarod shouted. "And now you're here at the mercy of a monster. All because of me."

The others were temporarily speechless. So much had been said, and Jarod's claims on where he'd been were so unbelievable, that they were having trouble processing it. He could see Emily even wondering if he had gone mad.

"These friends of yours," she finally said. "They're not going to abandon you, are they?"

The question cut through the guilt and Jarod's attention on his schematic. Even if the truth was so pleasantly evident he didn't need to remark on it. "No," he said. "Never. They're coming, I'm sure of it. They're coming right now."

And so he continued to work, banking on just that.

[Shroom Man 777]

Man. I feel really bad for Ms. Parker.

[Steve]

A quiet corner of the Tainaron's crew area served for Meridina's meditation. She sat on the floor, legs crossed and hands in her lab, quietly focused on the universe through her swevyra - her life force.

But it wasn't like it normally was. The kernel of darkness implanted in her by Amaunet was still there, the lingering remnants of Amaunet's arrogance, rage, and hatred. Meridina kept her attention away from it lest she remember the rampage Amaunet had unleashed. With the fight to come, she couldn't afford to dwell on that right now, to let that shame and doubt enter her and degrade her strength. Not again a swevyra'kse.

"Are you okay?"

Meridina looked up upon hearing the accented voice. Druni stood nearby, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Her own energy settled comfortably around her.

"I can feel fear," Druni said. "Doubt. I've… never felt that in a swevyra'se before."

Meridina lowered her eyes in shame. It seemed she wasn't controlling it as much as she would prefer. "I did not feel such things until recently," she admitted.

"What happened?"

"I was possessed by an alien parasite called a Goa'uld," Meridina answered. "It turned my swevyra toward darkness. It felt rage and hatred, and it used me to kill."

The image in her head returned. Of her own lakesh biting into Lucy's neck, the desperate determination on her student's face as she fought to hold the blade back while blood poured from the wound on her head and the cut in her leg. She remembered Lucy's pain, her sorrow, at having to run Meridina through to stop Amaunet.

Druni's eyes reflected her compassion for Meridina's pain. "I have heard stories of my fellow Sisters being turned against us by slavers using neural override implants. I can only imagine the suffering you endured."

"Thank you." Meridina looked up at her. "Why did you leave the Silver Moon?"

"I had a dispute with the Order. A doctrinal issue," Druni said.

"I see." Meridina nodded.

Their conversation might have gone on, but there was a call over the PA. "Commander Andreys, please report to the command deck," Yvonne said.

"Looks like we're almost there," Druni remarked. She ceased to lean against the wall. "I will go tend to my pre-battle exercises."

Meridina responded with another nod. She turned her attention inward yet again and resumed her meditations.




Julia took the elevator and stairs up to the command deck. The initial area, at about the midway point of the deck, was devoted to some of the recreational space. Network communication terminals and computer systems for the crew flanked both sides. Perhaps a bit more than necessary, given the size of the crew. Julia found it all curious.

The front of the ship was dominated by a large holographic galactic map, zoomed in on their local space. Yvonne sat in a chair in front of the map - beyond it were two crewmen. The ship's pilots, Julia figured. Crewmen also held stations to either side for, presumably, sensors and communications.

"We're coming up on the perimeter of the Alliance exclusion zone," Yvonne said. "I need your access code."

Julia nodded and went over to communications, where an Asian woman was seated. She nodded and turned her seat to get out, allowing Julia to sit there. The hard-light controls were similar to those she had used before and it wasn't hard for her to open a communication line to the sensor buoys. She put in her command code.

Moments later the hardlight viewscreen showed a new display. The system had accepted the code.

"We're clear," Julia said, turning the chair and then standing from it. As its former occupant reclaimed her place, Julia stepped up beside Yvonne. Below and in front of her, the pilot continued to monitor their systems as the ship continued on its way, warp engines thrumming through the ship. "Well, you are," she corrected. Seeing Yvonne's curious look, Julia added, "Depending how this goes, I may have just earned myself a court-martial."

"That would be a mistake on the Alliance's part." Yvonne actually looked sympathetic. "Frankly, Commander, if they do something like that, they're just asking you to find superior employment elsewhere. There are all kinds of organizations that could use a woman of your ability."

Julia smiled with some amusement. "You wouldn't happen to be trying to recruit me into whatever sort of underground, sometimes illegal work you normally do, would you Yvonne?"

"You might be surprised at the opportunities out there," she said. "And at what I am normally employed at. No offense was meant, however, merely an observation. I wanted you to know that there are good causes that could use you if the Alliance turns its back on you."

"I'll remember that," Julia said. "I'm going to get the others ready now."

"Of course. I'll let you know when we make orbit."




With Julia getting the others together, Angel ended up being the one to rouse Kasszas. She found the Zigonian in a spare room, sitting on the floor in a meditative pose. Remembering what had happened to poor Petty Officer Dougal when he'd entered the holodeck while Crewman Thalaz was using it, Angel had been holding her breath and took a very careful, very short breath.

"I am not burning incense, or any other such thing," Kasszas said.

"Just making sure."

"Of course. I am aware of how Humans are affected by our practices." Kasszas flicked his tongue. "And I sense we are about to arrive at our destination."

"We're about half an hour out," Angel confirmed. "I'm making sure you're ready."

"I am always ready. And I sense your view of such a claim. It is not mere bravado." The Zigonian raised a single, taloned claw. "Through Creation I may sense such things that my eyes do not behold. I am of Creation and Creation is within me."

Angel nearly said something about that, but stopped. Something of it kindled a thought in her. It sounded so much like the things Robert talked about, how his new powers worked.

"Your people can.. do things, right? See things, feel them.. move objects with their minds?"

That rapid hissing chuckle answered. "That is not the way of the Harmonious Val-Drillim, but there are others in the Tsorra-Mahl who have teachings like that." Kasszas seemed to ponder something. "I sense you have a question?"

"Is it…" Angel sighed. She couldn't hold the question back, even though a part of herr wanted to. "...Is it possible for someone with such a… thing, such powers… to get them removed?"

For a moment the Zigonian was silent. "Such a bizarre question. Is is like me asking you if you would like your own eyes to be plucked from your head."

"That's not an answer."

"True." Kasszas put his clawed hands together. "The answer is that I do not now. I have never heard of such a thing being done. I sense this answer displeases you?"

It did, as much as Angel tried to hide it. "I was hoping to hear some way to get rid of it. So someone I care for can be free from it."

"One is never 'free' from Creation. We are all part of it."

"This isn't about your beliefs," Angel shot back, her voice vehement. "It's about the fact that ever since he realized he can do this stuff, it's started to take over his life. And he has enough responsibilities."

Kasszas flicked his tongue again. "I see. And you care for him?"

"I love him," Angel insisted.

"No, you do not."

That brought the Zigonian a harsh glare that he could not see. Angel's nostrils flared. "What?", she asked bluntly, with deceptive calm in the question.

"To love is to accept. But you do not accept." It was clear the Zigonian could feel the flare of anger in her. "Your love is not for a person but a mere phantom. An idea of a person that does not actually exist. This is why you seek to take his link to Creation away, as if it could be done. Your idea of him is of the him that existed before he realized his connection to the whole of Creation. Now he has changed, and you no longer accept what he has become. You no longer love him."

Angry silence filled the air between them. Kasszas, his observations made, simply turned inward again.

Angel snarled and nearly barked a hot denial. It died in her throat, becoming a growl of "Crazy Goddamned lizard" as she stepped away and left Kasszas to himself.




Jarod had finished the schematic with seconds to spare.

It hadn't kept Lyle from turning the dial again.

This time he didn't bother with the duct tape. Charles and Emily's cries echoed through the room then, and they were doing so again while Jarod was working with the actual parts, now brought in by Lyle's order. "This takes time!", Jarod shouted, using a soldering gun and trying not to mess up while his family screamed in agony.

The dial turned to the off position again. "Sick bastard," Emily muttered between the deep breaths she was making.

Jarod looked up in time to see Lyle smack her across the face. He turned and smiled at Jarod. "You can go faster than that, Jarod. We know that."

"No, you don't," Jarod growled in response. "Given what I have to work with, this has to be done just right, or it won't work!"

"I'm not an idiot, Jarod!", Lyle screamed, the smile again gone from his face. "I know you're stalling! You're waiting for help! And it's not coming! Now get your ass in gear, do your job, or I'll make this look easy with the things I'll do to them."

Jarod frowned and redoubled his efforts. He still had little firm knowledge of what time it was, or how long it'd been since he was abducted, but he knew it couldn't be long. And he had to be ready.




In the Centre conference room, Miss Parker stood with Dralan and Y'tala as they watched Raines and His Lordship watch Jarod and the others. I sense deception, Dralan communicated to Parker, mind-to-mind, a method of communication she frankly hated.

Who? Where?

Around us. From you, certainly.

Any luck on finding my father?

Dralan looked slightly toward Y'tala. The Mi'qote mercenary nodded and brought up the multidevice on her wrist. A message was written on it.

I just found the beam transmission. It's coming from under us.

Parker frowned. Of course. Her father had always been here. Hidden, right under her nose.

Her mind raced, pondering what her next move would be. She gestured quietly to her own multidevice, prompting Y'tala to nod and begin a transmission to it, her findings and the approximate course of the beam and thus where it might be coming from.

To avoid suspicion Parker put her eyes on the screen. Lyle was torturing Jarod's family again. He kept his eyes on Jarod, mostly, while one of the camera angles set behind Jarod still showed a good view of his face and the sadistic, mad gleam in his eye.

If things went a certain way, Parker realized she would easily, gladly, shoot him between the eyes.

Dralan grabbed her arm. Parker looked at him in irritation. "What?", she demanded.

"I sense them," he said. "They're here. They'll find us if I use my power."

Parker frowned. Time was running out, and she needed to make the next move count. If she left, just up and left, it would send the wrong signal. But if she waited too long…

"Get ready to move," she whispered.




The Tainaron was in far orbit of Earth, staying out of direct sight of satellites. Its own sensors were searching about for signs of the Deadman's Hand. Julia came to the command deck again to observe with Yvonne. "We can't detect signs of any vessels like your records show," she said. "But they could be hidden from sensors."

"That's likely," she agreed. "So we need a different way of finding them." Julia looked back to where Meridina waited quietly. "Meridina, can you sense Jarod? Or that dark sweveera whatever?"

Meridina shook her head. "I am afraid I sense nothing. Our quarry is hiding himself."

"Well, we can't stay up here forever," Yvonne said. "You should launch your ship and get in closer."

"Agreed." Julia offered a hand. "Thank you for the help."

"Don't mention it, Captain," was the response she got. "And I've had my technicians give you a little extra help, something to deal with that vessel you're looking for. Captain Thrace already knows."

Yvonne's remark prompted a nod from Julia, hiding her own increasing curiosity about this ship and its crew. The way they acted and moved… it wasn't military, precisely, but it wasn't what she'd expect from a band of smugglers either, or any other private cargo ship that would operate with the likes of Corelo. They almost remind me of us, before the Alliance was the thought in her head.

But there was no time for dwelling on these thoughts, not when they had a friend to rescue. Julia and Meridina walked away at a brisk pace toward the rear of the command deck.




Several minutes later, the Raptor emerged from the launch deck after pushing through the mass effect-generated atmospheric containment field. Thrace was at the controls and Anders was beside her, looking over the electronics for the Colonial craft. Julia stood behind them, holding a bar along the side to keep herself steady, as the Raptor's inertial dampening systems were barely operative, having never been built to accommodate them.

The passenger area of the Raptor was nearly overloaded. Kasszas took up a disproportionate amount of room, being the big reptile, with his stick in hand; and Zaeed being loaded for bear didn't have a small profile either. Meridina was wedged in with them on a bench. The second bench had Druni, Lennier, Sydney, and Angel. Angel was checking her pulse pistol.

"You do not want to kill her," Kasszas said. A number of eyes looked his way.

"Excuse me?" Angel frowned at him. The last thing she wanted was more prying from the strange blind reptile-man.

"Miss Parker," he said. "You do not want to kill her."

"Like hell I don't. I promised to, in fact."

Julia looked back at Angel, frowning. "What?"

"When Jarod tried to make good with her last year, showing her the new home he'd arranged for her," Angel said. "I came with him, just in case. I could see it in her eyes then, that she wasn't giving up. And I told her I'd kill her if she hurt Jarod."

"We still need to know how she put her team together," Julia reminded Angel. "We need her alive." Seeing the look in Angel's eyes, Julia immediately added, "That's an order."

Angel didn't answer. She did glare at Kasszas.

"She still has a role to play," the lizard explained.

"And you know this because… 'Creation' tells you?", Angel asked, disbelief strong in her voice.

All the Zigonian did in reply was make a sad noise.




Jarod made the last internal connection on his new device. It looked like a block of metal attached to a metal colander with wires strewn everywhere, but the internals and the way the wire was arranged would create a fairly short-lived energy field.

Lyle looked it over. "Is that it?", he asked incredulously.

"You wanted something that works, didn't you?", Jarod asked, frowning. "It was never going to be pretty. Not with the tools you've given me."

"And how do I know it works?"

Jarod responded by flicking a switch. "Now try shooting me."

Lyle chuckled. "Oh, and have it be some bizarre device that sends the bullet back into me? I don't think so." Lyle looked to one of his guards. "Shoot him. In the arm."

The guard nodded, with maybe a little reluctance, and pulled a firearm. Jarod didn't flinch as it came up toward him. The gunshot echoed in the room, hurting his ears.

But no bullet struck him. There was a flicker of energy in front of him and then a very slight sound from the floor. Everyone looked down to see the smashed bullet come to a stop after rolling a little on the floor.

Emily stared, wide-eyed, at this. "That's not possible," she murmured.

Lyle whistled. "Well!", he said. "There we go. Looks like we have a start." Lyle walked over and picked up the schematics and the device from Jarod's work area. "Next up, I want a raygun. I don't care what kind, but it'd better fire lasers or whatever you do instead of bullets."

Jarod narrowed his eyes. "You don't have the materials."

Lyle responded by raising his hand toward the dial.

"Dammit Lyle, you don't have…" It was too late. The dial turned and Charles and Emily were crying out again as electricity surged into their bodies. "....that's not going to change things!", Jarod screamed. "You don't have the materials for me to build a weapon like that!"

"Then list what we need!" Lyle stabbed a finger at the paper stack on Jarod's work area. "Do it now or I turn this up!" He turned it down, but not off, leaving Emily and Charles to suffer.

Jarod started scribbling, trying to think of the things that would be available here, on an Earth at the start of the 21st Century.

He couldn't afford to not cooperate. Not until he knew for sure that his plan had worked. All he could do was write and hope that someone would be in orbit soon, before the oversized battery pack on the shield generator gave out.

Because an energy shield wasn't the only thing it was capable of generating.




The Raptor was keeping its distance in far orbit, roughly halfway between the start of the atmosphere and the Tainaron. "Still not… wait." Anders looked at his screen. "I've got something."

"What?" Julia looked over at his screen. A ripple was appearing on it, coming from Earth.

Anders looked it over. "It looks like a low-level radio transmission, VHF, being transmitted into orbit on one of the Alliance short-range radio bands."

"What's in it?", Julia asked.

"It looks like a series of pulses… the signal keeps cutting on and off."

Julia looked at the display. "It's not being interfered with. It's doing that on purpose…" She grinned. "It's Morse code. Of course."

"Morse code?", Anders asked. "What's that?"

"It's an old system for transmitting messages as electric pulses down wires," Julia explained. "So many pulses of short and long duration meant a letter in the alphabet. It's why we call ship distress signals SOSes sometimes."

"And do you know this code?"

She nodded. "It's part of officer training. Just in case we need to communicate something discreetly, or without normal communication methods." She watched the pulses start and stop intermittently. "It's Jarod… he's being held somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Mountain area, eastern side. And.." As the next few words came through Julia breathed a sigh. "...they've got hostages. His family."

"Hostage rescue's always a bitch," grumbled Zaeed.

"I don't think we can fit more than two in here, not with everyone we've got," Starbuck said.

"Then why don't we just take their ship too?", Druni asked. "You said the pilot stole it, right? I've never had an issue with stealing from a thief."

"Is that why you left whatever order that was?", asked Angel.

"No," she replied.

"Taking their vessel will be difficult if they raise shields."

"Well, it's a good thing the Tainaron mounted a couple disruptor torpedoes on your bird," Zaeed remarked. "We've got the ordnance if they try that."

Julia should have been happy to hear that. And she was… but it also brought back to mind her inkling that there was more to Yvonne and the Tainaron than she had expected. Angel's warning about getting too deep with Hernan echoed in her head.

"Can you give me a direction?", Thrace asked. Hearing her brought Julia out of her thoughts. She now wanted to smack herself for getting distracted from the matter at hand upon realizing she'd left the conversation behind. "We can't stay out here forever."

"I'm trying," Anders said. The Raptor turned toward Earth. "Wait… I think I… have it." He grinned at Julia. "I've got it. I'm using the visual sensors now…" On his screen, the dawning sun was starting to throw light over the area, although the line of dawn was just starting to reach Spokane. The screen zoomed in on the eastern side of the Cascades until it showed a facility in the middle of the countryside, built along one of the lower mountains. A little marker popped up over it. "It's definitely coming from there."

Julia nodded. She could already see the profile of what looked to be a cargo starship on the tarmac beside the building. "And there's the ship." Julia thought on it. "Starbuck, can you land us nearby? We'll be needing to take that ship."

"Taking us in now. ETA five minutes." At Thrace's command, the Raptor changed its direction again, moving straight for Earth.

"Maybe the Tainaron could land and pick us up instead?" Angel was looking over it too. "Because taking the ship too is probably going to be harder."

"I doubt Yvonne would agree to risking her vessel," said Lennier. "Especially as we already promised we would not need further help, simply transportation."

"So it's a fight, probably against her entire team." Julia patted her hip, where her pulse pistol was holstered. "But we knew that coming in anyway."

"Who do you plan to send into the building to get your friend out?" Kasszas kept his claws on his walking stick.

Julia considered that, and the makeup of the foes they were facing. "Zaeed, you're in charge outside," she said, looking his way. "Meridina will be busy facing their dark life force guy…"

"Swevyra'kse," Meridina said.

Julia shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm not even going to bother trying to pronounce that. Meridina will take him on. Druni or Kass will be needed for the other one they've got. Zaeed will direct the rest of you while I go with Sydney into the base."

Angel gave Julia an intent look. Julia didn't return it, especially when Angel didn't say anything.

"Good plan, until it goes tits up anyway." Zaeed checked his sidearm pistol for a moment. "If we're takin' their ship, I'll need everyone. Our pilot too."

"Can you secure the Raptor?"

"I'll lock it down," Thrace said. "Just don't let it get wasted. Admiral Adama will have my ass." Nearby Anders secured his own sidearm and checked his ammunition. "And our ETA is now two minutes. We're entering atmosphere."

The Raptor began to shake. Julia's heart picked up its beat and every muscle went tense. Everything that she'd been planning since the previous night was coming down to this.




In the conference room, most eyes were still on the screen showing the cameras in the room where Jarod was kept. Parker looked that way as often as she could, but she was more concerned with checking the exits without alerting Raines and the others to what she was doing. A plan was forming in her head now that she knew it was only a matter of time before they were attacked.

A cell phone rang. Raines' attendant handed him a phone, and he rasped, "Yes", into it.

"What is it?", His Lordship asked.

Raines listened for a moment. "I see." He turned his head to face his superior. "Air Traffic Control is picking up an aircraft entering our airspace from orbit. They will be landing within a minute."

His Lordship turned and faced Parker. "They're not yours, are they?"

"No," she said.

Raines looked at her intently. Parker met the look, kept it, and inwardly cursed as she realized what that look meant.

Raines knew. He knew she had been expecting this attack.

But he hadn't said anything. Why?

A sick feeling came to Parker's stomach. But first she had to deal with the situation. She turned to Dralan. "You and Y'tala go out and help the others. If they only have one assault vehicle worth of troops, you should be able to deal with them."

Dralan nodded. Y'tala pulled a particle pulse rifle from its place holstered on her back and smirked. They walked straight out.

Parker activated her multidevice next, opening a link right to Wolff. "Raise your shields. Shoot them out of the sky."

"With pleasure."




"Woh there!" Thrace jinked the Raptor to one side. A split second later a pulse of green energy whizzed by them. "We're under fire!"

Anders looked to his screens. "It's that ship. It's got some kind of weapon mounted on it. And… I think it's raised shields."

"It would appear to be a plasma cannon of Earth Alliance design," said Lennier.

"Well, whatever it is, it'll blow us out of the sky. I'm changing our approach vector." Thrace began to maneuver the Raptor around. Another shot lashed out at them and barely missed.

"Don't these things have shields now?", Angel demanded.

"Shields for resisting Cylon raiders, Delgado, not cannons."

"Well, this brings back unpleasant memories," Zaeed grumbled from the back.

Druni looked up. "If you can get us close and remove the shields, I can deal with the cannon."

"What?!", demanded Thrace. "How?"

Meridina gave Druni a quizzical look. Druni smiled gently in response.

"Anders, lock on the torpedoes," Thrace said.

"I'm getting a firing solution now."

Julia forced a calm expression that belied the fear and worry building up within her. Doubt came and was beaten back down by will. Everything she heard was that Kara Thrace was a hell of a pilot, one of the best, and so her life and the lives of her team were in Kara's hands. She would rely on the Colonial pilot to get them safely to the ground, that was it.

The Raptor had several more shots come their way. Many were close. But none hit. The ground rushed up toward them on the cockpit window.

As the squat facility in the middle of nowhere loomed large, so did the Deadman's Hand. It was a boxy shape, landing struts extended, and appeared to have an internal warp drive instead of a nacelle-based system. Although Julia couldn't see it, she knew that the ship was surrounded by an energy field that would fry them if they came too close.

"Fox One!", Anders called out.

The torpedoes dropped from the Raptor's hardpoints and flew forwrd, twin bolts of light from their mass effect drive fields. Within seconds they slammed into the the shields around the Deadman's Hand, creating a massive burst of light and an explosion along one end of the ship.

"That did it!", Anders shouted. "Their shield is down!"

Druni stood and opened the hatch on the side, causing a roar of wind to drown almost everything else. She drew in a breath and put her hands together, index and middle fingers extended, in a focusing gesture.

Julia felt the hairs on her neck start to prickle. Meridina actually gasped in surprise, sensing the shifting of energy, the way Druni was using her life force energy. Druni's wound her right arm around, as if dipping her fingers into an invisible pool in the air. Electricity started to crackle and spark at her finger tips as her arms moved in sequence. Meridina could feel Druni's power splitting the air, separating energies and creating an imbalance in forces, then allowing the tremendous discharge that was building to flow around her.

In a quick movement Druni stabbed her right hand, and the fingers there, forward. Power erupted from her in the form of a great bolt of lightning.

The release of energy struck the plasma cannon on the Deadman's Hand directly. It couldn't resist the power Druni had channeled, exploding brilliantly.

Julia could feel her jaw hanging in utter surprise at the act. Everyone was stunned and said nothing as Druni turned back to face them. "It is a difficult technique. We are not allowed to use it in the Silver Moon."

"Lightning drawn from the power comes from darkness," Meridina insisted. "How can you risk…"

"There is none," Druni insisted. "It is not the same." She saw Meridina's frown and lowered her eyes, as if she had expected this reaction.

"Here we go!", shouted Thrace.

Under her control the Raptor swung around and came to a landing beside the Deadman's Hand.

Zaeed jumped out of the hatch first, a beaten up old M8 Avenger in his hands. The assault rifle opened up with a roar at the approach of the armed guards for the facility. Quick bursts of fire, expertly aimed, put them down by one one.

The others jumped out quickly. There was no cover to be had in the tarmac all the way to the building, so their only hope was a direct attack on the armed men before they could shoot them all. Julia and Angel hit the ground firing, sending pulse pistol shots that made two more guards drop. Their suppressive fire, meager as it was, provided the extra time for Zaeed to eliminate the men with quick bursts from his rifle.

A loud roar filled the air and made the three turn. Powerful arms lashed out and knocked Julia and Angel out of the way, one to each direction, with such force that Julia's pistol went flying from her grip. The big Krogan caught Zaeed as he tried to dodge out of the way, knocking him several feet away onto the tarmac.

Krel unholstered a shotgun and aimed it toward Zaeed. Kasszas' tail whipped out and gripped the gun as it leveled toward the prone mercenary. The Zigonian flicked his tail away and ripped the weapon of the Krogan's hands. Krel growled and turned toward Kasszas, who held up his stick. Krel took out another gun, this one a large pistol, and began to fire it at Kasszas, who evaded with a series of spins and dodges, whirling his walking stick around and even deflecting several of the mass effect-propelled rounds.

Sydney, a pulse pistol in hand, unloaded on another guard rounding the building. His shots missed at that range, but they made the guard take cover around the corner. He came up to the others and gripped Julia's arm. "We need to hurry!", he urged.

"What's your hurry, old man?"

The question didn't come early enough to give Sydney the time to dodge the punch that sent him flying. Wilton cocked a grin at him before turning his attention to where Julia and Angel were standing. Kang and Denna stepped up beside him. "Well well, looks like you ladies are in for a rough time," the fighter said.

"Poor little kittens," Denna cooed, pulling a prod-like weapon from her belt and raising it.

Wilton charged first, and Julia sprang to intercept him, blocking a punch and ducking a kick before throwing a palm strike that he batted away. He threw a punch at her stomach that nearly connected, causing a brief spasm of pain, but she followed it up with a snap kick to his weak side that caught him in the ribs.

Denna charged forward, a sinister figure in her black combat leathers, and got Julia on the weak side as she evaded Wilton's strikes. The moment her weapon made contact with Julia's ribcage, white-hot agony surged through Julia's torso. She screamed and toppled, stunned by the sheer shock of the pain.

Both of her attackers went flying, courtesy of Druni throwing out a wave of force. With the pain fading Julia was able to look up and see that Kang was now facing Lennier, the two adopting martial arts stances and waiting patiently for the other to strike first. Zaeed was still getting up and exchanging fire with what few Centre guards were left on the outside. The Krogan, Krel, was pursuing Kasszas with dogged determination, the blind Zigonian twisting and moving around his larger foe to evade his attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thrace and Anders going up the cargo ramp for the Deadman's Hand - they would go after Wolff and secure the ship for everyone to escape on. Angel had gotten back up and was checking on Sydney, who was starting to move.

She took all of this in, their relative positions, and considered what had to be done. This was mostly going with the plan.

Mostly, that is, save for the fact that her position meant that Angel was the better choice to go after Jarod than Julia.

"Angel," Julia said. "You go with him. I'm staying out here."

Angel looked back. Her hazel eyes had that intense look they got whenever Angel's blood was up and her adrenaline was pumping. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go!" Julia heard the footstep behind her and ducked and spun away, barely evading the high kick that Wilton had meant for the back of her skull. She turned and caught his next strike, he caught her counter-attack, and she moved her arm to take a blow to her forearm instead of her shoulder blade, the movement acting to deflect the energy of the blow so that it didn't actually cause as much damage. Wilton backed off for a moment. "You're good," she said to Wilton.

"The best." Wilton smirked. He brought his fists up. "Now hold still, blondie, and maybe I won't mess up that pretty face so much."

Julia smirked and assumed a defensive posture, arms leveled and her hands balled into fists. She awaited his attack and when it came she blocked and deflected and evaded several strikes until Wilton left his side open. She went for it, then immediately whipped about, evading the trap he'd set for her in doing that intentionally, and caught him by surprise with a kick to the jaw that made him twist and fall over. The falling movement continued, Wilton using its inertia to get back to his feet. A snarl now twisted his lips. "Well, you're not half bad," he admitted. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Julia said nothing, resuming her defensive posture. The smirk appeared on her face again and she curled her palm inward, turning the back of her hand toward Wilton and curling her fingers in a "Come here" gesture.

He took the invitation.




Angel and Sydney were met by Meridina as they approached the door. "Where are you going?", Angel asked Meridina. "You should be helping the others."

"I felt it more important to help you."

"Why?", Angel asked.

The door ahead of them opened. A man in a dark long-sleeved suit exited, a sword already in his hand. His oval-shaped face was immediately familiar to Angel. It was the Gersallian Parker had hired. "Oh," she said. "That's why."

"Dralan Olati," Meridina said. She raised her lakesh and extended it. "I cannot allow you to harm anyone else."

"It's been a long time since I fought a slave of Swenya," Dralan said. "It'll be fun to kill another one of you sanctimonious drones." His golden eyes glittered with satisfaction. "Although you feel interesting. Is that.. doubt I feel? Maybe a little darkness? My my, you're not a very good slave of that whore Swenya, are you?"

"Insulting the Grand Foundress is a petty attempt to undermine my control, don't you think?", Meridina observed. She glanced over her shoulder at Angel. "Go around. I will hold…"

The blow was meant to take Meridina's head off her shoulders. She saw it coming even as the intention formed in Dralan's mind and had her lakesh in place to intercept the blow. The EM fields of their respective blades interacted and created a loud "whmmm!" sound in the air from the force of the impact.

Dralan pulled his weapon back and brought his hand up. Crackling lightning erupted from it. Meridina intercepted it with her lakesh blade. It snapped at her, as if the lightning could almost on its own will go around the EM field holding it in place.

Finally the lightning stopped. "It was no petty insult," Dralan said. "You and the others are fed lies. You worship that bitch-tyrant Swenya when she ruined our people. She made them weak and soft."

"She gave us purpose, she showed us the Light."

"Light is weakness. It is tyranny. It enslaves souls." Dralan snarled. "And I will never be enslaved again!"

He tried to choke her with his power, but Meridina resisted that. He switched a moment later and lunged with his lakesh. Their blades met yet again.




While the fighting by the others raged on around them, Kang and Lennier remained a distance from each other after their brief exchange of attempted punches and grabs. Lennier's hands were in a ready self-defense gesture, ready should the other man make a move. "Hrm," Kang finally said. "I've never faced one of your kind before."

Lennier said nothing in reply to that.

An eager smirk finally came to Kang's face. "Not that it matters. You're just another alien to kill." His left hand reached to his back and retrieved the sword that had been fixed there. He held it out, swapping the handhold to hold it in reverse, pommel-up, and assumed a combat stance with the blade parallel to the ground.

"If that is how you wish to proceed." Lennier pulled his denn'bok out and triggered it to extend.

Kang smirked and, with a confident air, charged at Lennier.




Zaeed fired another burst from his battered old rifle, good old Jessie, felling another of the dark-suited security men with old chemical-propellant firearms. His breathing had picked up and his muscles burned. I'm getting too God-amned old to run a fight like this. And no damn cover, too.

It seemed he'd finished the last of them off, though, which was good because it meant he could focus on helping his team put down the mercs guarding the ship. He turned toward the fight and glowered at seeing Julia, not Angel, engaged in a hand-to-hand fight. So she's still out here, eh? Who's going to be in charge? This is what I get for joining an op this rushed. I don't have time for this crap. Zaeed brought Jessie up to fire when a sudden shot from the side knocked him over. His personal shield took most of the blast and saved his life.

Stupid mistake, God-ammit it, lettin' someone shoot me from the flank.

That someone, it turned out, was the "Mi'qote" woman on Parker's team, Y'tala. She was perched at a window facing his way, a particle rifle up and aimed at him. Zaeed swung Jessie over and fired, full auto, letting his old gun really push her heat capacity with enough suppressive fire to drive the cat-lady back into cover. He moved toward the window, firing all the way, until Jessie grew so hot that she was smoking. Finally her safety kicked in and Jessie stopped firing, going into cooldown.

His quarry recognized her chance and popped back up, rifle raised. Zaeed was ready for her though, and he already had a grenade in mid-air when that gun popped back up. He threw himself to one side, knowing another hit would finish his personal shield and leave him dead, while reaching for his side-arm. He hefted the M-3 Predator and fired off several shots just as Y'tala was shooting at the grenade he tossed. A number of the shots struck her shield and degraded it, forcing her to take cover as the grenade went into the window.

As the grenade went through the window, Y'tala came out of it. She hit the ground rolling and held up a phaser pistol. Amber fire washed over Zaeed's shield. His combat gear let off the tone he hadn't wanted to hear; his shield was completely drained now.

But now Jessie was cooled down. He picked her up from where he had to drop her and fired, full-auto, at the Mi'qote woman. She jumped back to evade but it was too late for her personal shield, as enough rounds slammed into it that it flickered and dissolved.

With no cover and his personal shield overloaded, Zaeed couldn't let her get another bead on him. He dashed forward and, as she stood, fired off another shot. She rolled away from it and pulled a gun. Now he went down, rolling and shooting, but rolling in the right direction.

Y'tala took a gamble; she held her ground to try and get a shot in. But Zaeed, despite his age, was too quick for her to keep a bead on him in short-range. Her shot went wide.

Zaeed twisted Jessie in his grip and brought the stock of the gun crashing into her face. Her nose broke with an audible crack, red blood gushing from it, and a single tooth went flying from her mouth.

The move should have won Zaeed their brief battle. But it didn't; Y'tala's leg shot out and kicked him in the knee from the side. Zaeed's knee came out from under him, causing him to go down onto it. She went for her sidearm again as Zaeed went for his, and simultaneously they each brought a free hand up to grip the other's gun, leaving them locked in place, the loser unlikely to survive the result.




Thrace and Anders held their guns ready as they continued on down the main corridor of the Deadman's Hand, working toward the main bridge.

They were barely a quarter of the way when Anders pulled Thrace into cover in one of the doorways, just before a sapphire pulse of energy went past where she had been.

"Think you're hot shite to come after my ship, don't you?!", cried out Wolff, standing in cover near the bridge. "Come on if you think you're hard enough, nobody's taking my ship from me!"

Thrace and Anders looked at each other. Being in a relationship and having fought side by side, they could read one another well enough to agree to a plan without any verbal communication. Thrace gestured and Anders nodded. He poked out slightly and went back into cover as fire came down on his position.

Thrace slipped around the corner and returned fire, driving Wolff into cover. Anders dashed ahead, taking cover at the next door. Just as he got into the cover fire came back their way. Wolff could see the tactic they were using and was ready to take his chances to shoot one of them down.

They would repeat the same, now Anders giving the cover fire while Thrace moved ahead, taking cover opposite from Anders to force Wolff to divide his fire. They exchanged looks that confirmed that each knew what this meant; this was going to take time. Time they might not have.




Angel and Sydney made for the opposite end of the building. A fire exit door presented itself as an entry point. It was supposed to be one way, but with a couple shots from her pulse pistol Angel wrecked the door's closing mechanism and was able to kick it open.

It was a stairwell, and they were on the top floor. "Okay, where do we go?", she asked Sydney.

"We might be able to find whoever's in charge nearby. There's no telling how far down the facility is."

"So this wa, good.

They went toward the door Just as Sydney started to go through the , the door opened and a man in a dark suit came out. The security man saw them and lifted his gun up.

With Sydney partially in the way, Angel didn't have room to shoot without risking him. Her leg snapped up and caught him in the hand with a kick. She moved in a quick lunge, grabbing the man's gun hand and coming up with a kick that caught him in the throat, forcing him to wheeze and gag out of shock. She followed that with a punch and a throw toward the outer door, clearing him away. "Go, go!", she urged.

Sydney kept going, as fast as his weary old legs could carry him, while Angel took up the rear.

[Shroom Man 777]

It's just like one of my Japanese animes! Yes, Lizard Chirrut! Ziggie Chirrut! Kasszas S'szrishin! (I hope you have him make Chirrut-like jokes after a while maaan )

Harmonious Val-Drillim is a great term. It's canon now!

[Steve]

The air in the conference room was growing more tense by the moment. The Centre Triumvir, "His Lordship", was talking on the phone with someone and frowning. "Send them all… well, how many…" The normally debonair man in his fancy suit was now pacing. "Get more, we have the office in Redmond… yes, by chopper if you must, we need the backup." He turned the phone off. "Can your people stop them?", he asked Parker.

"I hope so," she replied. She looked them over. If she was fast enough that she could shoot them before they sent an alert…

There was a loud banging noise as the door was kicked violently open. Miss Parker turned to face the newcomers as well.

Angel and Sydney entered the room, guns drawn.

Raines' attendant drew his weapon and leveled it at Angel.

Miss Parker reached for her pulse pistol, but didn't draw it yet.

"Sydney," rasped Raines.

"Mister Raines." Sydney covered him, among the others, with a gun. "Where's Jarod?"

Raines quietly turned his eyes to a monitor, where they could see Jarod and Lyle, not to mention Jarod's family. "You clearly aren't as capable as Miss Parker warned," he said. "We'll have this compound reinforced within hours."

"We'll be gone by then," Angel retorted. "You idiots should be praying thanks that our ship's on special assignment, otherwise we would have sicced a company of Marines on you by now."

"You would be the young lady who penetrated Centre security last year." His Lordship took a seat. "I respect bravery and action like that. So let's discuss the matter and find an acceptable accord." He folded his hands and gave every appearance of being the amenable, ready-to-deal English aristocrat. "The Centre fed Jarod for three decades. Clothed him. Protected him. We have a vested interest in his work, you might say. Now, if we had compensation of some sort, I can see the Centre happily permitting Jarod to move on "

"You're nothing more than slavers," Angel spat. "I saw what you did to Angelo. Your man Lyle was holding a little girl hostage. The reason I haven't shot any of you yet," and her eyes turned to Parker with venom, "is because all I care about is getting Jarod and his family out of here."

"Young lady, you are not in the strongest bargaining position," Raines replied. "One of you will be shot if a fight breaks out. And with a single phone call, I can have Lyle kill Jarod's family, or even Jarod himself."

"So what 'compensation' would the Triumvirate want?", Sydney asked.

"Your technology. The chance for the Centre to lead the world into a new era of discovery and expansion." His Lordship put his hands together.

"There are political considerations. Rules."

"Of course. But these things… they are bent all the time, Doctor, as I'm sure you're aware. My colleagues and I have made our careers out of such things."

"The Alliance will never deal with you," Angel swore.

His Lordship sighed. "Young lady, I can only be so hospitable toward such… irrational hostility. Mister Raines is correct, your position is not the best. This is a time for negotiation, before more lives are lost. We can both benefit."

The look on Sydney's face made it clear to Angel that he didn't trust them, but saw no harm in talking for the moment. Angel, however, was pondering if she could shoot the main behind Raines before he fired.

Her eyes wandered onto the monitor screen. She could see the two people strapped to chairs - Jarod's family - quaking and crying out. Her anger stoked. She needed to find them, now, and put an end to it.

For the moment, however, the standoff continued.




One floor below, Jarod was hard at work designing the necessary capacitor to use in a particle rifle, part of his "produce something" efforts to placate Lyle while he waited with baited patience to see if anything happened. Or, unfortunately, if his beacon had been found out.

Lyle was agitated. And that meant Emily and Charles were suffering more shocks, as he played with the dial, as if their pain eased his frustrations. "Remember," he said, looking to Jarod, "if anyone outside of the Centre comes through that door, they die."

Jarod actually felt relieved by that. He suspected Lyle was remaining in communication with his bosses, and if they had him that upset…

You're here. Come on… please hurry. He gave a nervous look to his suffering family. Before it's too late.




The fighting outside continued to rage. Krel was tearing up the tarmac with his gun in his attempts to shoot Kasszas. The slippery Zigonian, always moving away from where the gun was firing, was without a single blow driving Krel toward an outright blood rage.

As Kasszas twisted away from another shot by Krel, he nearly crossed paths with Lennier and Kang. The Minbari's denn'bok continued to clash with harsh metallic ringing whenever it deflected Kang's sword. Kang's attacks were well-aimed and precise, forcing Lennier to use all of his skill to stop them.

A grunt of pain came from Julia. She'd just misjudged Wilton slightly and opened her side up to a punishing punch from the other martial-artist. She grimaced and blocked out the pain, letting him come at her again. He was getting cocky, arrogant, and she let him as she waited for the right opening. Occasional punches and snap kicks kept Wilton somewhat honest, but she remained on the defensive waiting for the best opening.

Gunfire continued to sound from the corner of the field where Zaeed and Y'tala were locked into hand-to-hand combat, each trying to keep the other from getting a clear shot. Y'tala delivered a wicked kick that that left a bruise growing on Zaeed's face, and Zaeed returned the favor ten seconds later with a punch that may have cracked one of her collarbones. He grabbed at her arm and twisted her weapon away. Her hand shot out and took his wrist, twisting as well, and in the mutual movement Zaeed's Predator fell away.

Now at a disadvantage, Zaeed pulled the combat knife from his belt. Y'tala went for it and he met her movement with one of his own, bringing his knee up and smashing it into her wrist with enough force to knock the phaser pistol from her hand. Y'tala hissed in frustration while her elbow shot in at his throat. The blow was strung, nearly crushing his windpipe, and the surge of pain and reflexive panic gave Y'tala the moment she needed to go for her weapon. With a burst of will the old mercenary forced the pain out and went after her. Just as Y'tala's hand started bringing the phaser over, he drove the knife into her leg, just above the knee. The limb buckled and she cried out, red blood oozing from the wound. His hand came up and took her wrist, twisting and twisting until she dropped her weapon. Her free hand came up and slashed across the right side of his face, along the scar and near his fake eye, leaving five bloody furrows in his flesh.

A harsh laugh came from the other side of the battlefield. The dark-clad woman known as Denna continued to try to hit Druni with her blunt weapons, each promising a world of agony if it made contact with Druni in any way. Druni's tenari swords met her blow for blow, stopping any such contact from impacting her. Occasionally Denna would mix it up, throwing a kick or a punch, that Druni would have to block as well. She launched counter-attacks of her own, resembling a whirling dynamo of sharp death once she hit her stride. Denna snarled as the tip of Druni's blade cut into her combat leather and took some of her skin off. She stabbed at Druni's ribs and barely made contact. Her weapon sent a wave of pain into Druni's body that nearly knocked her down. In desperation Druni's arm swept out and raw power forced the assassin away. Denna absorbed some of that with her own abilities, but it gave Druni a few feet of distance that gave her time to recover before Denna went at her again.

On the Deadman's Hand, Thrace and Anders were continuing to creep forward ever so slowly, having made it halfway now to the door where Wolff was trying to hold his ship under his own power. "I could use some help here," Wolff snarled into his comm.

"I'll be with you shortly," Kang answered.

Outside Kang was still locked into combat with Lennier. He'd swapped his hold on his sword to pommel-down, giving him better control for meeting Lennier's attacks with the denn'bok. He kept his blade moving with swift, precise attacks that Lennier met with his weapon, then backed off to avoid the counter-attacks that Lennier gave with the opposite end. A part of him was supremely annoyed at his opponent: Lennier had not one drop of sweat on him, as if this took no effort on his part at all. Kang snarled and unleashed a flurry of attacks, strong swings of his sword to try and push the Minbari off-balance. Lennier met the furious offense with a series of blocks, bringing the ends of his staff to deflect Kang no matter how fast his sword moved.

With his energy ebbing for the moment, Kang backed off, holding his sword level and ready to meet an attack from Lennier. Lennier moved his denn'bok into a similar defensive position. "You are quite strong," Lennier noted.

Kang said nothing, letting his frustration and anger stew, waiting for an opening.




Nearer to the building, there was more clanging of metal and EM fields in the fight between Meridina and Dralan. She could feel Dralan's rage and hatred, his sheer loathing of her and everything she believed in, and it made Meridina's resolve harden.

"That darkness is part of you," Dralan said. "You should embrace it. It has the power to give you anything you want."

"I am sworn to the Code," she replied. "That is what I want."

Dralan snarled and tried to lash out with his power, a wave of energy to throw her back. Meridina met it with her own and resisted the strike. He followed it up with a series of cuts with his lakesh. She dodged and parried them, keeping her sword moving and letting her instincts, the conduit for her life force, guide her arms to reflect his attacks.

"The Light is weakness, it is tyranny!", Dralan shouted as he battered away at Meridina, forcing her back and away from the others.

Meridina let him. She would maneuver back when it was time, but for now she needed to get distance between Dralan and the others. With a swevyra'kse, there was no telling what they would or wouldn't do to get at their foes, and she didn't want the others falling to him.

The question was whether she could hold him back long enough to wear him down or get an opening. The darkness was a terrifying force in its corruption, certainly, but the dark feelings that fueled it granted tremendous power, power like Meridina had rarely seen. Amaunet, in control of her, hadn't been this powerful as she could not fully command Meridina's life energies. Dralan could command his own, immersed in darkness as it was, and did so.

Ultimately, her goal was to buy time. Time for Angel to get Jarod, time for the others to prevail in their battle, and she had to trust they would not be too late.




The stand-off in the conference room had everyone remaining in place. Angel felt the sweat gathering on her forehead as she kept her pulse pistol leveled toward Raines' attendant, who had his gun on Sydney. If she pulled the trigger and didn't get the shot right, Sydney would be shot in turn. Would she be able to stop Raines or the British man in the suit from ordering Jarod and his family to be killed?

Was she willing to risk that?

It got to the point where she almost was. But in the end, it wasn't Angel who broke the stalemate.

Angel was worried about the timing, but so was Parker. Moreso, as her only hope for escape with her father was the Deadman's Hand, and her ear receiver was picking up Wolff's calls for help as he faced attackers moving on his bridge. If they didn't hurry, they'd lose control of the ship.

And so it was Parker who took the gamble. She leveled her pulse pistol and fired.

The shot hit Raines' man square in the head. A moment later Angel's gun fired as well, mostly from reflex, and it hit the man's hand. He fired a half-second later.

Sydney cried out as the bullet struck, grazing his neck. A spurt of blood followed its course across his flesh. He dropped his gun from shock and reached up to the wound.

Parker was already in motion. Angel nearly moved to stop her, but went to Sydney first. He waved her off. "It's not as bad as it looks," he insisted.

Angel scanned it. "It grazed you. You'll need medical attention."

"We have to get Jarod first!", Sydney insisted. He pulled his bloody hand from his neck and reached for his gun with the other hand. He held the gun, one-handed, toward Raines just as Raines was reaching for his phone. "Don't!"

Angel stepped up and ripped the phone from the wheelchair-bound man's grasp. "That won't do you any good," Raines said. "I'm supposed to remain in contact with Lyle. I haven't been, and he knows something is wrong."

"Then where is he?"

"Why should I tell you?", Raines asked.

"Because if you don't…" Angel put her pulse pistol up against Raines' shoulder. Her thumb set the power level to a non-stun setting, but not powerful enough to kill. "...I'll starting shooting the crap out of you."

"Oh. Torture." Raines smirked. "You don't have it in…"

Angel pulled the trigger.

A cry of pain erupted from Raines' damaged lungs. He sucked in air after it, as if by itself he had almost lost all the breath in his body.

"Angela," Sydney began.

"Your elbow's next, you sick old bastard!", Angel shouted. "Where is he?!"

Raines' nostrils flared. A snarl came to his face.

"Angel, this isn't necessary," Sydney insisted.

The fury burning inside Angel didn't want to heed that. These bastards had attacked Jarod and his family. Jarod, who was effectively a member of her family too. And they wanted to act smug about it? She was going to wipe the smug smiles off their damned faces, and anything else necessary to get Jarod back.

Sydney, meanwhile, was reaching for the multidevice he had picked up. "Look," he said. "I can check the monitor's signal, I think this will let me track where he is."

Angel narrowed her eyes at Raines before looking to Sydney. "If you think it will work."

"Yes, I'm…"

Before he could finish, the suited man dashed for the door. They turned and Angel fired at him, but the shot was a half-inch off and he got out unscathed. "Dammit!", Angel cursed. She ran after him, leaving Sydney with Raines.

"You… look well," Raines said.

"And you look terrible," Sydney answered.

"It's not quite like old times, is it?" Raines smirked. "Tell me, Sydney. How much of this is guilt? You profited from Jarod as much as we did."

"I know," Sydney said. "And I'll take that guilt with me to my deathbed." He turned his head and eyed Raines. "How much guilt will you carry, Raines?"

"Guilt is overrated," was the rasped reply.




Miss Parker went for the stairs. Her destination was not the first level but the second, where secure rooms were kept. Only a single guard stood in her way, and she shot him down before he could react to her arrival at the bottom of the stairwell. Sloppy. I suppose all of the competent ones went upstairs.

Her multidevice displayed the location of her father as straight ahead. She ran past the empty rooms, storage compartments, and to a single gray door. She grabbed the handle and pulled it open. The inside was the comfortable room she'd seen her father in. Ahead of her, as if in a hotel room, was a dresser drawer set, on which sat a television and a camera assembly.

After she stepped in, a terrible smell hit her, the smell of human waste. As if the toilet hadn't been flushed. She took the final steps in to clear the corner and look to the bed…

...where her father laid, arms at his side.

There was a hole in his forehead. He'd been dead for a while.

For a moment denial surged strongly. She'd seen him alive just minutes ago, on the video screen. This couldn't be…

She looked to the camera again and saw it, the recording device the camera was hooked into. Seeing it, that was when Parker knew she'd been tricked.

The pain was almost overwhelming. "Daddy," she said, her voice hoarse with horror, rage, and guilt. She stepped up beside the bed and leaned over her father's corpse. His eyes stared back at her, empty. Miss Parker's lip quivered as she tried to close his eyes. They wouldn't close; rigor mortis had set in.

Miss Parker started to weep. She couldn't help it. Everything, every deal she'd made, every thing she'd sacrificed, had been for nothing. They'd killed her father… why? To punish her, even though she'd brought Jarod as she'd promised?

She almost couldn't breathe. The pain was starting to suffocate. They'd killed her father. The Centre had murdered him. They'd tricked her and she fell for it.

The pain gave way to rage. She stormed back out of the room, just as footsteps started to come from the stairs. She made her way there, gun raised, and looked up to see His Lordship rushing down the stairs. "You killed him!," she screamed in rage.

He looked at her. Bewildered surprise came to his expression. "What?", he asked. "Wait…"

"You murdered my father, you bastard!"

"No, I…"

She didn't hear what he started to say. She didn't care. Her finger pulled the trigger. Again and again. Energy pulses of white-blue fury slammed repeatedly into his torso and neck. His death cry was drowned out by the barrage.

With her face twisted into fury, Miss Parker ventured toward the stairs. She got up the first one, gun raised, when Angel appeared on the next flight, her weapon lowered toward Parker. Angel's eyes narrowed at her. She glanced toward His Lordship's corpse and back to Parker. "Your father's dead?", she asked.

Parker glared up her way. "I'm going to kill Lyle," she said. "And Raines. And every other sonofabitch in the Centre." There was no smirk, no emotion, when she met Angel eye-to-eye. "Unless you want to settle this now? You're here to kill me, after all."

Angel frowned at that. It was true... Mostly. She was planning on killing Miss Parker.

Nevertheless, she raised the gun a little. "That can wait," she said. "Jarod's more important."

Parker nodded. "First subbasement. I'll show you."




The dawn light was shining on the combatants outside of the building. Wilton and Julia exchanged punches, Kang and Lennier's duel had carried them toward the building, while Druni was forcing back Denna and Kasszas continued to fluster the Krogan.

"We're runnin' out of time, God-ammit!", Zaeed shouted, locked in ferocious combat with Y'tala. She bit at his neck, sinking her pointed teeth into his old Blue Suns tattoo. Zaeed growled in pain and brought his left arm up to elbow her across the face. Some of his flesh went with her and blood covered that side of his neck. "Bitch!"

Y'tala spun away from him. Zaeed lunged and grabbed on just as she started to pull the phaser pistol up. Without his weapons at hand, she had the advantage, and Y'tala knew it. She brought the phaser up and nearly had it pointed at him when he got a hand on her wrist. The maneuver cost him leverage though, giving Y'tala the advantage and allowing her to shift her weight and pin him for the moment, keeping his other arm out of the way and his legs trapped. She nearly had the phaser on him, and her thumb had already set it to high. A single shot and he'd be gone. "No hard feelin's," she gasped, her voice distorted by the broken nose. The phaser drew centimeters closer, in a moment the emitter would be on him and it'd be over. "It's business."

A moment before she could fire, Zaeed's head shot up and slammed into her face. Her broken nose broke further. The shock of the impact caused Y'tala's head to snap back.

It also disrupted her balance. Now Zaeed could put his superior body mass to use, forcing her off of her position. His hands both gripped at the hand with the phaser and ripped it free. A look of fear crossed her green feline eyes as she felt the emitter come up against her stomach, and Zaeed knew that fear. He'd seen it a thousand times before, the fear he saw in his nightmares and in his dreams, the fear he hoped to see one day in the eyes of Vido Santiago.

He pulled the trigger.

There was a whine from the weapon he was gripping. Y'tala had no time to scream as amber energy consumed her body, every inch of it, until there was nothing left.

"No hard feelings," Zaeed said, his breath hoarse. "It's business."

It seemed like the right thing to say.

Zaeed went over and picked up his Predator, his knife, and most importantly, Jessie. His shitty old rifle was intact and looked fine. He brought it up and sought out a target.

Before he could fire on the assassin in the catsuit, a solid "whomp whomp whomp" came to his ears. Zaeed turned and faced the source; helicopters coming up over the mountains. "Company," he growled. They were running out of time.

He put Jessie up. For this, he needed the other weapon on his back. The Mantis sniper rifle extended to full length by the time he brought it up. He crouched down to a knee and raised it toward the lead of the incoming helicopters. The crosshairs lined up on the pilot. Wordlessly, Zaeed pulled the trigger.

The shot wasn't quite on, though, as he wasn't in the optimal firing position. Instead of a headshot, the bullet went low. Granted, he could still watch with satisfaction as blood erupted from the throat of the pilot, who reached for his savaged throat and was clearly gagging. The helicopter began to spin wildly out of control, nearly hitting the others.

The other pilots weren't idiots. They began to maneuver more wildly as they approached, throwing off his aim. Zaeed put the rifle back and pulled out Jessie again. He turned back to the fight. "Put them down, dammit!" He watched the Krogan, Krel, nearly catch Kasszas in a charge. The Zigonian whirled away, his tail whipping across Krel's face and snapping it in one direction like it was a slap.

Krel roared furiously and looked away. Not toward Kasszas, but toward Zaeed again. And Zaeed knew he was in trouble. The Krogan's eyes said everything; Krel was entering a blood rage. Even with his gun gone, that would make him the most dangerous foe on the tarmac. Zaeed began to pour fire into him with Jessie, but the Avenger didn't have nearly enough stopping power for a Krogan in the middle of a blood rage.

Zaeed jumped clear and rolled over to a crouch. As he did so, Kasszas jumped behind him and landed on the Krogan's head. His clawed feet raked over Krel's face and left eye, which came free in a geyser of blood. Krel didn't seem to note the pain. His hand came up and grabbed at the Zigonian, who jumped free.

Except Krel got lucky. His flailing hand caught Kasszas' tail and gripped it. Kasszas let out an involuntary hiss and, from the shock, dropped his walking stick onto the ground. An angry roar came from Krel as he pulled Kasszas back by the tail and threw him.

Right into Zaeed.

The impact knocked the air out of the mercenary's lungs. "Dammit," he wheezed. He looked at Krel, now preparing to stomp them.

Druni had sensed her comrades' danger. She waited for Denna to make a lunge and, instead of cutting at her, slid to the side and then brought her foot up in a kick to Denna's throat. The assassin gasped in shock and fell over for the moment. Druni had a second with which to kill or incapacitate her, but that second would mean Krel getting to Zaeed and Kasszas. So she turned away and ran up, jumping up and landing on the Krogan's back. She drove her tenari blades into his neck and head, again and again, but the tough Krogan hide deflected the blows. Blood was everywhere, but she wasn't hitting anything critical.

What she was doing was keeping Krel from finishing her allies off. He stumbled to the side, roaring in rage, and his arms flailed upward trying to reach at her. Druni jumped off and landed on the tarmac, blades held out and dripping with Krogan blood.

"Go for the headplate, girl!", Zaeed shouted. He was nearly out from under Kasszas, who was still recovering his bearings. "There's a spot near the front plate, get your blade in there and you can pry the bastard's head half off!"

Druni almost asked where, but she didn't need to. She could sense where Zaeed was thinking of. She nodded to him and returned her attention to the Krogan, now charging for her. Instead of jumping clear she ducked low, gathering her energy in with her. She released it as Krel was nearly on top of her, enough kinetic force drawn from her Gift to cause even a blood-raged Krogan to stagger. With that, she had her opening, and she used it to drive her blades into the spot. She jumped upward and pulled.

The response was horrific. There was a terrible sucking noise, joined by a shrill scream from Krel as the top part of his head peeled up and off, leaving bloody inner flesh. Even in his blood rage Krel felt the full force of this loss. Druni could feel his pain, a pain so savage that she knew she had but one option left.

She drove her blades into his head.

The blow was fatal, instantly so, with the armor plate no longer protecting his skull and brain. Krel fell over and Druni skipped clear of him as he did.

Denna struck. The assassin came in, both of her weapons forward, and pushed them both to Druni's back. The pain consumed Druni's conscious thoughts. A shrill scream expelled all of the air from her lungs.

"Exquisite," the assassin cooed. "The pain is so…"

Kasszas' tail whipped out and wrapped around Denna's wrists. With a yank that helped bring him to his feet, he pulled her back from Druni, who toppled to the ground, barely conscious and utterly paralyzed. Denna kicked out with her leg and sent out a wave of force that knocked the Zigonian backward, forcing him to let go of her wrists. Now the Zigonian and the assassin stood facing each other. "I've always wondered how much pain one of your kind can take," Denna said. "Although I imagine your brains are so addled by the drugs you inhale, it might not be the same."

"I know your kind," Kasszas said. "You, who twist the gifts of Creation to selfish ends."

"If you're talking about the Ministry of Fate, I don't particularly care for them either. It's so much more fun being on my own." Denna brought her weapons up. "Let's see how these agiels work on you, reptile."

Kasszas extended a hand. His walking stick flew to it like metal to a magnet. The stick swept in and blocked her first blow. Her follow-up swing went high, and he deftly moved away from it.

Zaeed pulled up Jessie just as the helicopters began to land. He opened fire on the nearest one, claiming a man with an assault rifle just before he could jump down. Quick bursts of fire from Jessie, deadly and accurate, brought down another, while the others remained in cover on their chopper.

Zaeed reached down and jostled Druni. "Get up!", he insisted. "I can't cover you, dammit! Get up!"




The twin martial arts fights - Julia versus Wilton and Lennier versus Kang - were still raging near the ship. The two combats were drawing closer and closer as metal continued to meet metal and blows were being dodged and parried.

Julia was feeling the duration of the fight, but she was certain Wilton was too. His style was aggressive, forceful, and her reliance on t'ai chi had balanced that, letting him expend his energies against her defense. She could sense he had some idea what she was doing, but evidently her combat style was not one he was familiar with (although he had the same advantage; she wasn't sure if he was using kung fu, karate, or savate, or some weird mish-mash of them all.

It was a mok'bara move that really gained her the advantage, though, or rather tying one that Worf had shown her with her other style. Finally, Wilton had extended himself, a powerful punch that Julia's relative slowing had made too tempting to pass up. She had to admit that a half second separated her from a blow that might have turned the battle against her, but it would instead work the other way, as in one fluid movement she grabbed the outstretched arm and pulled it with her. She kept turning, throwing Wilton off his balance, and twisted around until she was at his back and his arm was locked painfully behind his back. Wilton screamed in pain and anger.

It became more pain when Julia finished her move by breaking his wrist.

With that surge of pain taking fight out of him, Julia wrapped her arms around his throat and took him into a sleeper hold. Her legs came up and wrapped around his arms to pin them in place, his lack of balance and her weight driving him belly-down to the ground. He wheezed, gasped, and started to go silent as the lack of oxygen sent him into unconsciousness.

Julia could hold on longer, guaranteeing he went unconscious, or until he was dead. But killing wasn't something she thought of doing when it wasn't necessary, especially not with the martial arts skilled she valued as a discipline. She let go and pulled herself away from Wilton. Her eyes quickly found her lost pulse pistol, and she went for it.

Kang moved with the speed of a snake lunging at its foe. One moment he had been driving Lennier back, the next he was twisting around and getting into a position that would have taken Julia's head off clean. At the last moment she spun away. The weapon didn't cut across her neck, but it did slice along her belly, cutting away the cloth of her shirt and undershirt and nicking a bit of her jacket as well. Blood flew along with the blade, just as it began pouring down the wound in her belly and side.

It brought back memories. She'd been wounded there by a blade before. Over a year ago, when the Jem'Hadar had boarded the Aurora. She briefly remembered nearly bleeding out.

There was no time to worry about that, though.

While she fell in the wrong direction to go for her pistol, she'd also kept Kang from killing her immediately as he'd intended. He turned back to Lennier just before the Minbari's denn'bok could find his head, parrying the blow and nearly getting Lennier's entire arm with a blow at the shoulder that barely missed.

With Kang's attention diverted again, Julia forced herself back up, ignoring the pain and wet blood from her wound, and got to her pistol again. She swung it over at Kang and fired a wild shot.

It didn't hit him directly, but it did graze his leg. The leg buckled under him and he dropped to a knee. Lennier's denn'bok struck him across the face, knocking two teeth out in a spurt of blood that came from Kang's mouth. He went spinning over and landed on the ground, belly-first. As he tried to stand, Julia shot him in the back with her pistol, putting him down for good.

Lennier turned his attention to Julia. "Are you alright?" His eyes focused on the blood pouring from Julia's side.

"I'll live," she said. She looked back at the fighting. Zaeed was desperately trying to keep the arriving Centre reinforcements suppressed. Druni was beside him, still prone on the ground. "Do what you can for her," she said. "I'm going to help Starbuck and Anders."

"Of course."

They split up.




Trust only went so far, and so Angel kept her pistol ready while following Parker into the first subbasement level.

Sydney's voice came over her multidevice, "The Centre has reinforcements landing by helicopter. We're almost out of time."

"Parker's taking me to Jarod," Angel said.

"I'm tracking you and I'll be with you shortly."

"What about Raines?", Angel asked.

"I just shot the spokes of his wheelchair. He's not going anywhere."

"Good," Parker said. "I know where to find him."

Angel didn't answer that. She understood what Parker was going to do, and she didn't care for the moment.

The door they were looking for wasn't hard to spot, with the electronic security lock and the heavy steel construction. Angel brought up her multidevice and had it scan the lock, then access it. The system was purely dawn of 21st Century in sophistication, nothing to even her tactical-standard multidevice. It quickly cracked the security and undid the lock.




Lyle and Jarod looked to the door when it opened. The appearance of Miss Parker was a surprise, and not pleasant for Jarod.

He would have reason to reconsider that later.

That reason, of course, was that it gave Lyle a half-second of pause before he realized what was happening and went for the dial. Just as his fingers wrapped around it to twist, Parker's gun fired. The pulse shot slammed into his chest, right on the sternum, and he fell back.

Parker turned and elbowed one of the guards. The door opened wide enough for Angel to come in, and she caught the second guard across the face with a punch that sent him down.

Seeing Angel made Jarod's day. He grinned with relief at her. "There you are."

"Jarod!" Angel looked down to where his foot was chained to the chair. She knelt down and pressed the pulse pistol to the chain. A single shot delivered enough energy to break the chain in two.

Jarod went immediately to Charles and Emily. His first act was to disconnect the device, ensuring there was no chance of an electrical shock. By that time Angel was already freeing Emily's wrists. Jarod went to work on his father's bindings.

"Your friends came," Charles said weakly, grinning.

"They did."

"So your Dad's English?" Angel started removing the wrist shackles while Emily pulled off the wires that had been tormenting her.

"His name is Charles. My sister is Emily." Jarod motioned to Angel. "This is Angel Delgado, she works with me."

"And who's the lady…" Emily stopped.

Jarod and Angel looked to the door.

Parker was gone.

Jarod quickly put it together. "They killed her father, didn't they?"

"Yeah," Angel said. "It's why she's still breathing. She brought me to you."

"Where are the others?" Jarod looked to the door. "Shouldn't you have a Marine team?"

"Nope." Angel shook her head. The last of Emily's electrodes were off and she was pulling off the last on her father. "The Aurora was called away on a time sensitive mission. Angel, Meridina, and I were left behind because we were incommunicado hunting for Parker's trail. We had to put together a team of allies. They're outside fighting off Parker's people right now."

"How are we going to get off-world?"

"We brought a Raptor, and we're stealing Parker's ride. Now let's…"

The door swung open and Sydney entered. "Jarod?", he asked. "Jarod, are you…"

"I'm here," Jarod answered.

Sydney wasted no time in embracing Jarod, who accepted it.

"Andreys to Delgado," a voice said over the multi-device. "Please come in."

Angela tapped her multidevice. "Julia? I'm here."

"Have you gotten to Jarod?"

"He's here." Angel nodded. "I got to him and to his family."

"Then get out of there. They've got reinforcements coming, and we're still trying to take that ship."

"Major Charles." Sydney looked over Jarod's father. "Allow me." He took Charles by the arm and hefted him on his shoulder.

Jarod did the same with his sister. Angel pulled her gun and led the way for them.




Julia had to take cover when she spotted the corridor to the Deadman's Hand bridge. Wolff was firing at where Thrace was in cover. She and Anders were at the last set of doors before the bridge, a quarter of the way down the hall. But they could go no further with so much remaining space, giving Wolff time to poke out of cover. "Starbuck! Anders!" Julia grimaced. Her side still hurt from where that Chinese cyborg had cut her. Blood was soaking into her pants leg. I need stitches, soon. "I'll add to your cover fire."

"Any of you gits come any closer, you die, get it?!", Wolff shouted.

"Wolff, I've got two life force-wielders, maybe three, behind me," Julia retorted. "We're taking that bridge. Your choice is whether you surrender or we have to shoot you."

"I'm not goin' back to the cells, you hear me?! You'll get my ship over my dead body."

"Suits me," Thrace retorted. She looked down the corridor to Julia, who nodded. She made a hand gesture in acceptance, and another one, presumably to Anders.

Anders' gun began to bark. As it did, Julia stepped into the corridor and got onto one knee. She raised her pistol up, both hands level, and sighted the gun on the doorway while Thrace approached it, gun at the ready.

Right before Thrace got beside the door, Wolff popped out, his gun raised and ready to shoot the Colonial pilot.

Julia fired first.

Her accuracy wasn't bad. She trained for it, even if she rarely used it, and some of the edge from her days in the Facility was still there. The shot, meant for Wolff's chest, was a little high. But it got his throat, and that was a shot she'd take.

Thrace made it to the bridge. Julia saw her kick at something, presumably Wolff's gun, and there was a shout of "Clear!"

Julia got back to her feet and walked up to the bridge. The pain in her side felt like it was growing worse. The wound was being aggravated by her constant movement and fighting. I'll get it checked, soon. But I've got to finish this first.

She entered the bridge, where Thrace was securing Wolff's body. Her eyes moved over the bloody wound on Julia's left side. "Damn, Commander. We'd better get you bandaged."

"We will when we're out of here." Julia pulled herself into the pilot seat. The controls weren't ones she normally used, but they were familiar enough. She started to run the pre-flight protocols, primarily systems checks. "Looks like Wolff didn't lock down his systems. He wanted to be able to leave in a hurry."

"So do we." Thrace stood up and looked to Anders. "The cargo bay looks just big enough for the Raptor. I'll fly her in now."

Julia nodded. "Go."

"Anders, stay with her," Thrace ordered. He nodded in agreement.

"If you can find something to bandage me with, I'd love to stop bleeding everywhere,' Julia remarked, the drollness in her voice evident.

Anders went to work on that.



With Lennier's help, Zaeed got Druni back to the safety of a building corner. From there he could direct fire on the men coming from the choppers, trying to keep them suppressed.

Druni was starting to stir. "Urh."

"We need you on your feet, girl," Zaeed insisted. "Come along, get up."

"Where did that pain come from?", Druni asked.

"I believe your foe attacked you from behind."

"I've never felt so much raw pain before," Druni said. She looked back to the ship. "Look, they've done it."

Everyone could turn and see that Thrace was coming down the cargo ramp and making for her ship.

"But we have yet to get the ones we came for…"

"We need to buy 'em time." Zaeed looked Druni over. "Think you can help me deal with those choppers? I can give you some cover if you can blast 'em out with that lightning."

"I'll need several seconds."

"You'll get 'em." Zaeed held up Jessie. "Ready?"

"I will go to assist Commander Andreys with her injuries," Lennier said to them. "As the Humans I've known would say, 'Good luck'."

Zaeed nodded.

When he rolled out of the corner to one knee - thus providing a smaller target - there were at least a dozen security men advancing, all armed with the same kind of rifles. Zaeed popped off a burst that claimed one, then another burst that took the legs out from another. The rest of them scattered and went prone, looking to avoid getting shot and to then shoot back.

Behind him Druni was already at work. She reached into the energy in the air with her gift, with the warm energy she had long felt within herself. Her arms wheeled around, splitting the energy in the air as they went, creating more and more of an imbalance between the latent positive and negative energies that existed around her.. She did so quickly, with less care than she normally managed, because she had only a second or two before she would be hit by gunfire.

She thrust her right hand forward just as one of the gunmen turned his weapon toward her. The charges she'd split crashed back together, following the channel her power laid for it. The resulting bolt of lightning shot through the air, crackling outward as it did and shocking at least two of the gunmen.

But the main bolt hit home: one of the helicopters, just as it was going to take off. The electricity blasted through the frame of the craft, warping and breaking it.

It also found the fuel tank.

A split second later, the helicopter exploded in a massive fireball that knocked down most of the remaining Centre gunmen. Some, hit by shrapnel, didn't get back up.

More importantly, flaming debris started hitting the third and last of the choppers, and it started to back away even with two more gunmen inside.

Zaeed followed up the attack with quick and deadly bursts from his rifle. Jessie's rounds hit home, and the attacking reinforcements were no longer a problem. "That's a God-amned impressive trick," he said, turning to Druni.

She was frowning, though. "Not everyone sees it that way," she said. "Knowing how to do this, and being willing to use it, cost me everyone I ever cared about."

"Their loss," Zaeed answered. "You ever want to go into merc work, I can set you up. You'll be a rich woman in months."

Druni didn't answer that.

Before she could act further, the door facing the Deadman's Hand opened. Angel came out and held the door open, allowing Jarod and Sydney to carry Major Charles and Emily out of the building. Emily was starting to walk more on her own power, but it was clear Charles was having trouble. "Take him," Emily insisted.

Jarod nodded. He took Charles' other arm to bring his dad to safety.

"Alright, let's get to the God-amned ship," Zaeed growled. "I'm not doin' this for creds, so no billin' by the hour."

Angel nodded. Druni pulled her tenari back out. "I'll catch up with you," she said. "I'm going to help Kasszas."

"After we get them to the ship," Zaeed said. "He's handlin' himself." Zaeed tilted his head toward the fight in question.




Kasszas' stick effortlessly batted away another jab by Denna with one of her weapons, with a twist of the stick knocking the other hand and weapon away from him. He spun around and smacked her with his tail, sending her rolling over the tarmac until she came to a crouch. A vicious snarl crossed her face.

"Strange how I am the blind one, but it is you who has not landed a blow," Kasszas remarked, keeping his staff level.

"Was that a taunt," Denna challenged.

"I thought that rather obvious." Kasszas brought his stick to a vertical position and held it. "Perhaps I should stand still for a moment and make the fight fair for you?"

The frustrated growl that left Denna's thrown caused the rapid hissing that amounted for a chuckle from her reptilian opponent. "Your attempts to provoke me are not humorous and not at all working!"

"But you see, I am not just trying to provoke you. I'm seeing you for what you really are, dark one." Kasszas' tail swished quietly behind him. The dawn light was now bringing some color to his light yellow and gray robes, but his dull eyes remained still and unmoving. "A spoiled child living only for transitory pleasures. No higher cause, no greater being, nothing but the moment for you, with the darkness in your heart the only way to fill the emptiness inside." Kasszas' reptilian voice took on a stronger, more hostile tone. "And I see those you have harmed. Your delight in torment and pain, all feeble efforts to fill that void. I should despise you, but I can't help but pity you."

"Pity?" Denna snarled. "Pity?! Pity is nothing! I don't need it! You can have the pity for what I'm going to do to you, you miserable lizard!" Denna gathered her strength and reached forward. Lightning crackled at her fingertips and lashed out at Kasszas.

But Kasszas was no longer there. The lightning struck the trees far behind him, setting them ablaze.

Kasszas moved with the grace of a predator. In seconds he crossed the distance from where he had been to where Denna was realizing her strike missed. His stick was a blur in her vision before it slammed into her forehead. The force knocked her unconscious immediately and she was sent flying, going through the air for several feet until she hit the ground, rolled, and came to a stop. Blood started to pool from her head from the force of the blow he'd struck

Kasszas lowered his head at the sight. "I am of Creation, and Creation is within me," he hissed, and then, with a sad sound, he turned away to rejoin the others.



At this same time, Meridina and Dralan were still off in their side of the property, near the barbed wire fence, continuing their duel. Meridina was meeting her foe blow for blow, giving ground but no openings. She could feel his rage and anger being stoked by frustration. He wanted her dead, as painfully as possible, and by not giving him that his frustration was becoming all-consuming.

Among those things being consumed was his control. Meridina watched his strikes lose their focus. The lakesh in his hands continued to batter at her blade, but as if it were a club and not a blade in of itself. His eyes remained locked onto her. His lips seemed to be permanently twisted into a snarl. This state gave him more power, but it cost him something more dear than power; it cost him control of the fight.

Meridina was in control, but it didn't mean she could win whenever she wanted. It meant she was in a position to dictate its pace if she acted accordingly. She opened herself up fully to the power around her, allowing her life force to sense everything and guide her thoughts to the solution.

"The things I'll do to you, whore of Swenya," Dralan roared. "The ways I'll make you scream, you slave of the Light!"

"A slave?" Meridina deflected another blow and parried a second. She gathered her strength and used it to stop his power when Dralan threw it at her wildly, attempting to knock her over. "Look at yourself, Dralan. You are a slave yourself. A slave to the darkness festering inside you."

"The dark is my strength!", Dralan shouted.

"It is your master," Meridina retorted. She took a step back while he continued to tremble with fury, giving herself maneuvering room. "It has enslaved you completely and totally. You have no will beyond it."

"I need no will with the darkness!"

And with that, Dralan took a step back and then lunged forward.

Meridina moved swiftly. She spun on her left foot, moving away and then toward Dralan just as his blade entered the space she had occupied. Her lakesh swung out with her, guided by both hands, and accompanying her spin until it found its target.

The blade passed cleanly through Dralan Olati's neck.

Head and body, no longer joined, toppled onto the ground. Meridina retracted her lakesh and summoned his blade to her hand with her power. She looked over his remains with contemplation, a little sorrow…

...and disgust. Disgust, which came a second later, because in that first second one emotion surged up from a terrible place inside her.

Joy.

She had felt joy, immense and gleeful satisfaction, or the taking of a life. At felling a dangerous foe who sought to kill her and people she cared for.

She secured her hilt to her waist belt and put the hand to her mouth in horror. How could she let such a dark thought come through?

The realization was a feeling that she was still tainted, and her doubts and fears resurfaced. If she had felt like this around others, they would see her as a swevyra'kse in the making. Her judgement would be swift and complete, and it would humiliate everyone she cared for.

Her multidevice chimed. Julia's voice came through it. "The ship's ready. And I've got more helicopters on sensors and approaching vehicles. We need to go."

After a moment, Angel said, "We're on our way. Don't bother waiting for Miss Parker, she's not coming."

"Angel, did you…"

"She didn't, Commander." The voice was Jarod's. "Miss Parker has unfinished business with the Centre. It's all she has left. And she saved my family's life.

"I see. Get on board, then, and watch out for Starbuck, she's going to be bringing the Raptor in." After a moment Julia added, "Meridina? Are your receiving?"

Meridina drew in a breath and looked back at Dralan's body. She considered his lakesh, the design on the hilt and the iconography engraved on it. The characters looked Gersallian, but she didn't recognize them precisely.

She pocketed it before tapping her own multidevice. "I am coming." And she turned, heart still heavy, to walk toward the commandeered smuggler's ship.




On the bridge of the ship, Lennier was checking over the secondary console. "The engines are ready," he said. "This vessel's anti-matter fuel is running low, but it should be sufficient for us to return to New Liberty."

"Yeah." Julia checked her life sensors. "It looks like everyone's aboard. I'm going to fire the thrusters." She turned her head and noticed Lennier staring at her. "Yes?"

"I believe you should let someone else pilot this vessel," he said. "You are wounded and need medical attention."

"I know," she replied. "But we've got to lift off now." She pressed a key. The ship lurched under them slightly and began to lift off. She grimaced and glanced down at her wound. It wasn't bleeding as profusely, but her clothes would have to go straight into the replicator for re-processing. There would be no getting those bloodstains out.

Once they reached the appropriate height Julia increased power to thrusters. She swapped to impulse drives as they reached the upper atmosphere, putting in a course to leave Earth's orbital space as quickly as possible. No cloaking device, just this emissions stealth. Dammit, there's no way the locals haven't seen us. Although I doubt they missed the ship landing too. Admiral Maran is going to be really irritated.

Once she was sure they were home free, Julia hit a button that was labeled for the ship intercom. "I need a ship pilot up here, I'd like to get patched up before I bleed out."

"Commander, I am getting a signal from the Tainaron."

Julia nodded at Lennier. "Put them on."

Yvonne's voice came over. "I see you made it."

"Complete success," Julia said.

"Are you okay? You sound like you've been hurt."

"I had a cyborg try to cut my head off. I was lucky and only had him slice me below the ribs." Julia smirked. "I'll live."

"Ah. Well, that's good. My best to you, Commander. Despite everything, it was a pleasure to meet you. Please do remember what I said, should the Alliance hold this against you."

Julia responded with a diplomatic "I'll keep that in mind. Andreys out."

By the time she finished saying so, the door to the bridge opened. Angel stepped in. She looked over Angel and shook her head. "So much for leave. You go off, get in a kung fu fight, and get yourself nearly sliced in half by a cyborg ninja or something."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, Starbuck said something about flying big bricks, Anders doesn't know a damn thing, and Druni is busy helping Jarod and Meridina tend to the wounded, i.e. you." Angel walked up to the piloting chair and gestured toward the door. "So I'm going to take over as ship's pilot. You go get that treated. I don't want to be the one to tell Robert that you bled out from being a stubborn jackass."

Julia sighed and chuckled. "Well, I'd hate to make you do that…" She got up, still favoring her wounded side, and walked to the back of the bridge. "Do we have any prisoners to watch? Besides Wilton?"

Angel shook her head. "No. Parker stayed behind, and aside from Wilton her team was dead."

"Right." Julia nodded and walked out.

Angel sighed and shook her head before taking the chair Julia had vacated. She looked over the console with something of a quizzical expression. "Okay, let's see…"

"Perhaps I should…?"

Angel turned her head and glowered at Lennier. "I know how to pilot a ship, okay? We all learned it."

"Ah. Well, if you insist," Lennier said. "Please do ensure our course will not involve our vessel plowing into something at warp speed."

Angel narrowed her eyes at the Minbari. "Are you trying to be funny?"

Lennier kept a plain look on his face. "Of course not. I'm sure you are aware that Minbari do not generally have a sense of humor."

"Because that sounded like you were razzing me about my ship piloting."

"I would never call attention to any alleged lack of competence on your part."

Now Angel was certain the Minbari was enjoying a laugh at her expense. "You know I can kick your ass, right?"

"I'm quite sure you are capable of kicking me on the backside."

With a look of comic exasperation on her face, Angel turned and directed her attention to plotting their course. The stolen ship jumped to warp a moment later.




The woman who called herself Yvonne stepped into her office. She reached out and hit a key. A circular holo-display built into the wall activated. Hernan de Corelo appeared on it. "So, they did it?"

"They did," Yvonne replied. She smiled at him. "Thank you for your assistance in this matter, Mister Corelo."

"You're welcome, Miss Lawson," was Hernan's reply. "I trust your superior will consider my offer?"

Miranda Lawson nodded. "Cerberus is in need of contacts in this bright new Multiverse that your people have linked us to. You'll hear from us again, Mister Corelo." She terminated the connection. The Illusive Man would indeed be pleased with the success of the operation, and of the opportunities it had presented.

With a press of a key on her desk Miranda activated her intercom. The Tainaron had other places to be, after all, and there was more work to do, always more work to do, to protect and improve Humanity.




Mister Raines watched sullenly as the smuggler starship lifted off, carrying Jarod and the Centre's leverage against him with it. The Centre had nothing to show for the operation now, nothing but dead sweepers, lost vehicles, and damage to the facility.

"Hello Raines."

Mister Raines turned the one functioning wheel on his wheelchair, allowing him to spin around and face Miss Parker. She held her gun toward him. "Ah." He put his hands together on his lap. "This is about your father, of course?"

"Why?", Parker demanded. "Why did you kill him? I gave you Jarod!"

"And yet you hid from us the knowledge that his friends were coming," Raines pointed out coolly. He smirked. "I know you have lived in a futuristic space age society for some time, so I suppose you forgot about directional microphones." He cackled at the look on her face. "Yes. We overheard your little conversation with your friend Kang. So I made the decision to put your father out of our misery. I decided His Lordship didn't need to know. After all, Mister Lyle was happy to do the deed."

"I'm glad I shot the son of a bitch dead, then."

"Did you?", Raines asked.

Parker frowned at that, and she followed Raines' eyes to the monitor on the screen showing the room Jarod had been confined in.

Lyle was gone.

That moment was when pain shot through Parker. She felt the pressure in her back, the pain within her, and only then noticed the metal blade sticking out of her belly. A sucking sound accompanied the blade's disappearance. With her strength failing she tilted over and propped herself up against the conference room table. This let her turn and face her attacker. "Y… you?", she asked in confusion. "Why?"

Kang was flicking the blood on his sword off. He looked down at her, his eyes obscured by his visor, and a slight grin crossed his face. "I couldn't let you kill Mister Raines. We have business to discuss."

Pain and fury crossed her face. "But I… we…"

"You've served your usefulness, Miss Parker."

"What are…."

Before she could finish, Kang slugged her in the jaw with enough force to break it, let alone knock her unconscious. She fell with a thump, blood still pouring from the deadly wound.

"She might have proven useful," Raines remarked. "Although I do not mind her being dead."

"You'd be surprised how much use a dead person can be." Kang put his sword up.

"And this business you've mentioned?"

Kang responded by pulling a device out of one of his pouches. A mass effect field generated around it, holding it in mid-air while a graphic displayed a bar filling up from 0% to 100% with the caption "Establishing Link".

When it hit 100% the proper communication channels were opened. Data surged through the ether between universes and the domain of subspace, forming into a real-time and life-size image seated just five feet in front of Raines. Raines looked at the man in the chair, noting the cigarette burning in between his fingers and the look of his business suit.

But what Raines noticed most were his eyes, his unnatural, mechanical-looking blue eyes.

"Hello, Mister Raines." The figure set his cigarette down. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Illusive Man. I believe you've already met my operative, Kai Leng?"

The man who had called himself Kang nodded slightly.

"I'm listening," Raines said.

"I've been aware of your organization for some time, Mister Raines," the Illusive Man continued. "I represent an organization called Cerberus. I believe that the Centre and Cerberus can be of great benefit to each other."

Raines narrowed his eyes. "I find that hard to believe given our… technological limitations."

"Technology isn't the only thing Cerberus looks for in picking partners, Mister Raines," the Illusive Man said. "The Centre has its own advantages. Your people can provide us with manpower, and most importantly, due to the state of your native Earth you could provide a certain degree of obscurity for special projects. And we are prepared to reward the Centre handsomely for its partnership."

There was silence in the conference room for several seconds. Raines thought the issue through. And what it meant for him if this went somewhere.

A small smile crossed the sickly man's face. "I believe I can say that we would be interested in your offer, Illusive Man," Raines rasped. "Very interested…"

[Shroom Man 777]

Wow. Well done. CYBORG NINJAS! And Kasszas! What a guy!

[Steve]

Tag


The ship was still several hours out from New Liberty's counterpart in A4P5. Julia, exhausted and tired, was napping away in one of the quarters. A door chime drew her attention. Having stripped her bloodied clothes off, Julia had to settle for a shirt stolen from the captain's things that, due to Wolff's smaller height and other differences, only went down to the end of her ribcage. This meant the bloody bandage over her wound was visible.

When she got to the door, she found herself facing Zaeed. "Mister Massani?", she asked. "What can I do for you?"

"Just checkin' in on you. Wanted to see how well you were healin'. I don't get to meet tough as nails lady Commanders every day."

"Well, I'm glad I could fill that void for you," she replied. "I've already written up a quick report for Admiral Maran. I made sure to note your contributions and my recommendation that the Alliance Defense Command give you a contract for the war. I'll share it with Admiral Maran as soon as we return to the Aurora."

"That's what I was hopin' to hear. You wouldn't like how I deal with broken contracts."

"Yeah, I can imagine that. Anything else I can do for you?"

"Nothin'. I'm goin' to take some Zs now. Best if I take the last room, ever since I broke my nose my snorin' can wake up a hungover Salarian."

"Rest well, Mister Massani."




In the rear cargo bay, Meridina was staring at the lakesh she recovered from Dralan. The characters engraved on the hilt intrigued her. But she would have to consult with databases before she could figure out if they were some form of Gersallian writing or not.

"Meridina."

She looked up as Kasszas and Druni sat across from her. "I can sense your turmoil from across the ship," the Zigonian said. "What troubles you?"

"I killed a man."

"So did we," Druni said. "I killed several. It's not supposed to be easy, but it feels like this deeply effects you. You've never killed before?"

"No. I have." Meridina couldn't keep the shame from her face. "But this is the first time I felt joy in the act."

Druni nodded. "I see. Yes, I can understand that."

"The darkness within me… it lingers. Why? Why can't I purge myself of it, why can't I rid myself of Amaunet's taint?"

"Darkness comes from many sources, dear Sister," Kasszas said. "Perhaps you must look inward to see where this comes from, to truly understand it, and thus to deal with it."

"If I can't beat this darkness, I cannot be a swevyra'se any longer," Meridina said. "And I would have nothing."

"That may be where you are going wrong. Darkness is best dealt with by understanding, not suppression."

"My order does not feel that way."

"Nor did mine," Druni added.

"I see." Kasszas nodded. "And I know others who feel the same. And perhaps their ways are the best for you. I can only wish you well, Meridina, and that you find the harmony within that you seek. Should you wish it, my brothers in the Harmonious Val-Drellim will aid you in this purpose. You need only ask."

Meridina let a small smile come to her face. "My thanks, Kasszas." She looked to them. "What shall you do when we return to New Liberty?"

"I will do as always, and follow where Creation leads," Kasszas said.

Druni nodded. "I'm not sure. I really like New Liberty, but I imagine I'll move on before long." She glanced toward Kasszas. "Perhaps I'll visit Kasszas' universe and his homeworld. I'm not sure if Lennier will go too, but we're not technically traveling together, and I've no idea what he intends to do in the long-term."

"You would be welcome. Although, perhaps, you should also be careful. The ways of the Harmonies of Tsorra-Mahl can be difficult for other species to understand, or to deal with."

"I'll keep that in mind." Druni looked to Meridina. "And you? I've never heard of a swevyra'se holding military rank before. Are you going to stay with your ship?"

"I am," Meridina replied. "I have people who count on me. It is for their sake that I must deal with this darkness within me."

"Then I look forward to seeing you again in the future. May the Eternal Goddess forever cast her light upon your path, both of you."

"May Creation keep us on our intended paths," Kasszas replied. "And may they cross again."

Meridina smiled gently at them both. "Mi rake sa swevyra iso, Kasszas, Druni."




Julia and Angel met in the center hall and went to the bridge. Lennier was still sitting at the support station, watching over the ship's systems, and it made Julia wonder if the Minbari ever had to sleep.

Jarod was piloting the ship now, and doing so in the company of his family. Charles and Emily had found clothing in Wolff's belongings to make use of and, given their ordeal, looked rather well. Meridina's healing abilities had apparently helped them greatly, just as they'd helped to reduce the depth of the cut in Julia's side.

"I'm still not sure… I mean, look at this," Emily said. "I feel like I'm in a dream."

"I felt the same way last year." Sydney was sitting at an auxiliary station in the corner. "It's hard to believe all of this is possible. But you'll get used to it."

"Over time, it even starts to get a little mundane," Angel remarked. She leaned against the door to the bridge with her arms crossed. "And I still sometimes can't imagine how we started all of this."

Charles nodded and looked to them. "I want to thank you for taking care of Jarod," he said. "All of you." He looked toward Sydney.

Sydney lowered his eyes. "I don't think I deserve your thanks, Charles. I was complicit in the Centre's crimes."

"And you've made up for them," Charles insisted. He turned his head back to Julia and Angel. "And you two. Commander, Lieutenant…"

"We don't have to stand on ranks here." Julia smiled at him. "I'm Julia and she's Angel."

"Well then, Julia, Angel." Charles smiled and nodded. "Thank you both very much, not just for saving us, but for giving Jarod a home. For being his family when we couldn't be with him."

Julia nodded. She accepted the hug that the older man gave her. "We were lucky to have him." She looked past to where Jarod was looking over his instruments. There were tears in his eyes.

"Family's important for all of us," Angel added, accepting the hug. Emily gave them hugs too. "And that goes for you two as well."

"Thank you," Emily said. She breathed in a sigh. "Well… I guess I'm going to have to find something to do when we get to this colony of yours. Or do you have reporters in your space age civilization?"

"Oh yes," Julia said, nodding and grinning. "We've got reporters."

"There are two newspapers in New Liberty Colony that do live broadcasts over the planetary data net," Sydney remarked. "I'm friends with an editor of the Herald, I could get you an interview within a week or so."

"Well, at least I'll be doing what I love," Emily remarked.

"And I'll find something as well," Charles said. "It's going to be strange, though. I'm going to have to get used to not being on the run."

"I can tell you that it's a great feeling," Jarod said. He turned in his chair and faced them. His expression was thoughtful. "Dad, about Mom…"

"She's safe," Charles said. "I made sure of that. The Centre can't find her."

"I'd still like to find her and bring her with us," Jarod said. "We can't bring back Kyle, but…" He stopped and lowered his eyes in thought. "I don't want to have her go through what you did. I don't want to abandon her."

"You haven't. We haven't," Charles insisted. "And when we get the chance, we'll go back for her. But don't worry, son, she's completely safe where she is."

"I can talk with President Morgan and Admiral Maran and try to see if they can get an exception made," Julia said. "Assuming I'm not court-martialed over this."

Angel rolled her eyes. "The mission succeeded, we brought Jarod back safe and sound, and we even recovered the ship Miss Parker took to A4P5 Earth so there's no risk of the technology falling into the wrong hands. So tell me, worry wart, why would they court-martial you?"

Julia leveled a look at Angel. Before she could speak on the matter, a tone came from Jarod's console. He turned back. "We're arriving at Harvest. Taking us out of warp."

The cargo ship dropped out of warp near the planet Harvest, the A4P5 version of New Liberty's planet. "There's a couple of ships in orbit." Jarod looked to Lennier.

Lennier was already activating the communications system. "I'm requesting a jump point to H1E4, set for New Liberty." After a moment he nodded. The interuniversal transport Van Sickle is preparing to open one for us. They state that the Aurora is already waiting for you on the other end."

"Send them our thanks," Julia requested, and Lennier did so.

"We're really going to change what universe we're in," Emily stated, almost questioned, with clear wonder and disbelief in her voice.

"Yes, we are," Jarod said. "And then you'll get to see our ship."

Ahead of them the jump point opened, an emerald vortex in the void of space. Jarod accelerated the Deadman's Hand and entered the point. There was that customary tremor through the ship as it made the jump and transitioned between universes. On the other side they got an immediate view of New Liberty, where night had fallen on the main colony and turned it into a small collection of bright light on the surface. "Welcome to your new home, Dad, Emily," Jarod said.

Julia was enjoying the looks on their faces as Jarod turned the ship. "And there she is," Jarod began, "our ship, the Star…"

Jarod stopped, as if stunned into silence. Bewildered looks appeared on the faces of Charles, Emily, and even Sydney.

Confused, Julia turned to face the bridge window.

The sight she saw wiped the grin off her face.

"Mother of God…", gasped Angel.

The Aurora hung in space before them, as they had expected.

Her great azure hull was covered, simply covered, in blackened and charred hull armor, with the scoring of weapons impacts having obliterated parts of the green and white stripes along her starboard side. Her deflector dish, a circle of brilliant blue and gold, was charred by battle damage. Wispy clouds of plasma were still seeping from both of the starboard warp nacelles, which flickered from power failures. A great, massive gouge had been ripped from the lower primary hull, now covered in replicated armor patching.

Nearby, equally visible, was the Koenig, blackened and battered, a visible hole toward the rear of the ship not far from the engineering spaces.

Julia finally found her voice. "What the hell…?", she asked.

For the moment, nobody was answering.

[Shroom Man 777]

Uh oh (for the 323423590th time)

But the Aurora was there in time to receive them, so I guess the crews are mostly intact... on the other hand, going AWOL all of a sudden at such a critical time (as it turned out)... Robert and co. are gonna be so pissed.

And then there's high command...

[Steve]

Thankfully they weren't actually AWOL. Julia had been put on leave, and she, Angel, and Meridina had been legally ordered to assist in the investigation into Jarod's disappearance. That said investigation called upon them to go into an area where Stellar Navy-issue devices could not be carried was just a stroke of bad luck.

Not that it might not cause problems, but they did everything above-board from a military-legal perspective. And, of course, there's no arguing with success: the recovery of an abducted Alliance officer and removing a starship from an Earth where they're not supposed to go, avoidingg letting the locals get their hands on technology that oculd be dangerous to their survival.

[Shroom Man 777]

Spoiler!

Way to ruin the suspense of what's coming next.

[Steve]

Teaser


6 May 2642

2 Hours Ago

The system was a forgettable one, with no habitable worlds, terraformable worlds, or even asteroids or spatial bodies with valuable resources. On maps it was usually only identified as a system with a string of letters and/or numbers, regardless of the map-maker.

But the reports had made it clear. For the last four months, the Nazi Reich had been using System S4W8-452TD as the location of a supply depot for the Raumkriegsmarine. It was one of many targets that were supporting the Reich's war effort. Its elimination would complicate Reich logistics and undermine the advantages of the Reich's shorter supply lines.

That was why the Starship Aurora and a complete battle group of the Alliance Stellar Navy had jumped into the system, the way prepared by jump probes dropped by the Starship Albacore.

The plan, explained to Robert by Admiral Martino on the Earth Confederacy carrier Themistocles, was a raid in the purest since. They would jump in via the probes and launch a full assault on the supply base, a space station in orbit around a planetoid-sized object along the main plane of 452TD's asteroid belt. The nearest enemy fleet unit was at least four hours away at even maximum warp, giving time to destroy even a heavily-shielded base.

As it turned out, there was no supply base. Instead, within a pocket of local space that dampened sensor returns, there was a large Reich naval battle group waiting to commence a pre-planned warp jump to intercept them.

On the bridge of the Aurora, Robert could do nothing as the battle swiftly turned against them. The Nazis had numbers, and more than that, they had not one but two Aryan-class dreadnoughts, as well as one of the older Lutzow-class battlecruisers, which were slamming their forces with super-disruptor fire. Sitting nearby, Locarno was reading off the incoming tactical reports. "We've just lost the Umikaze and the Ramage."

"Status on the Themistocles," Robert said. "We've got to get them free if we can."

Locarno shook his head. "Their impulse drives are down. Warp systems not responding."

On the screen, the Aurora's main weapons were busy hammering one of the dreadnoughts. Through concentration of fire, they'd managed to get its shields low enough that their heaviest weapons, the pulse plasma cannons, were blasting holes into its armored hide.

But that left the battlecruiser and the second dreadnought to come after them and the Themistocles, all while the swarms of Z-2500s and the dozen plus Dresden-class light cruisers decimated their supporting ships. And to make matters worse, without impulse drives, the Themistocles couldn't jump. It wouldn't be able to enter a jump point under fire without impulse power.

That thought crossed Robert's mind in regards to his own ship as it rocked steadily again. At the helm, filling in for Locarno, Ensign Violeta Arterria was busy maneuvering the kilometer-long Aurora to minimize the effect of enemy fire, but even the most experienced ship pilot would have problems throwing off fire against a target as big as the Aurora. "Sir, we're losing impulse power!", she reported.

Lucy was at Ops, filling in for Jarod, and added, "Primary and secondary shield generators are overwhelmed, tertiary generators are failing! Armor self-repair systems operating at seventy percent capacity."

Robert keyed the intercom with his chair control. "Scotty, we're going to be sitting ducks!"

"I'm doin' all I can about it, sir!," replied the experienced engineer. "But we're takin' tae much fire, th' shields cannae keep up!"

On the screen a Reich cruiser exploded, courtesy of the Aurora's main battery and a torpedo run from the Koenig. Zack's ship, with the Trigger-class ships Albacore and Wahoo, moved on to attacking another target.

"I'm picking up more ships coming out of warp!", Caterina cried out from the Science station. "Reich warships. Multiple cruisers and destroyers, attack ships… and one dreadnought." She swallowed. "Going by their profiles and ID codes… I think they're SS."

Robert's stomach threatened to twist into the proverbial Gordian knot. "We can't win this," he muttered.

"Command message from the Themistocles, audio only," Locarno said.

Admiral Martino's accented voice boomed over the speaker. "All ships, break free and jump! The Themistocles is lost!"

Robert tapped a key on his chair to open the tactical communications line to Martino. "Admiral, we can try to tractor you into a jump point."

The Italian man's response was immediate. "Negative, Captain, you're out of position. If you come in to assist, the Aurora will be lost as well. You must go!"

Robert hated it, but Martino was right. The carrier was a lost cause. "Acknowledged. I'm sorry, Admiral."

"Godspeed, Captain."

Even after the line cut, Robert wasn't quite done. "Can we beam anyone off of our crippled ships?", he asked Lucy. "Or out of our side's escape pods?"

Lucy shook her head. "Not many. I've got all transporter stations working on it, though."

That would have to be enough. Every survivor beamed away was one less survivor left to whatever torments the Reich had in store for them. Robert turned to face tactical. With Angel gone, Lieutenant Syrandi Luneri was manning the post. The purple-skinned, teal-spotted Dorei woman was proficient at tactical and had done what she could, but there were so many targets that she couldn't do much more. "Lieutenant, direct firepower forward. We're going to punch our way out."

"Aye sir," Syrandi answered.

"Nick, signal Koenig, I want Zack at our side. Recall all fighters and signal any ship in range to follow us."

"Sending signal now," Locarno said.

"We'd better hurry," Cat added. "Those SS ships… they're not going after the Themistocles. They're after us."




The bridge of the Koenig had much the same atmosphere as the Aurora. Zack was focused on the tactical picture on his display and in his head as his ship, and its two half-sister ships (Cousin ships?, he mused), maneuvered closer to Aurora. A Nazi heavy cruiser moved to intercept them. "Get them out of the way, April!", he shouted.

Lieutenant April Sherlily, his tactical officer, gave him an "Aye sir" as her first response. Her second response was a furious barrage of pulse phaser cannon fire that raked across the side of the heavy cruiser. Solar torpedoes rushed to join her shots.

Other torpedoes and pulse cannon fire converged on the cruiser. Three attack ships might yet have failed to cut her side open like Zack had wanted, but the Aurora sent several phaser beams into the cruiser as well. Its shields degraded from the barrage and his torpedoes, and those from other ships, hit home. The explosions flowered along the port side of the cruiser. At least one hit was a lucky one, as the enemy cruiser was clearly losing main power.

It made its mark before dying, though. The cruiser's disruptors lashed out at the Aurora. Her navigational deflector sputtered and flickered as emerald beams stabbed away at it. Another beam, one of the last before the cruiser's guns went quiet, stabbed into the Aurora's lower starboard nacelle. Flame erupted from the wound, joined by wispy plasma leaking through the injury as the nacelle itself began to flicker from power loss.

Zack checked his tactical display. Other ships were trying to break out with them. Some weren't making it.

But something worse loomed over his tactical display. More enemy ships had entered the system, and they were heading right for the Aurora.

"Those aren't A-1700s," Lt. Magda Navaez observed from ops. "It looks like a new assault ship design. I'm reading larger disruptor emitters. And their shield strength is stronger."

"A new challenge, then," Zack announced, hoping that the confidence would ease the worry he knew the others had. "Ap, don't let them get too close to the Aurora. We need to make sure they break out."

"Aye sir," Apley said.

Within a minute combat was rejoined. Dark-hulled SS ships loomed ahead and turned the space around them into a flurry of emerald beams and bursts. Missiles streaked out and met the Aurora's point-defense phaser banks, strobing out as thin amber lines from the ship to meet the incoming missiles. But not every missile was stopped, and those that got through blasted through the Aurora's failing shields and scoured her armor and hull.

Apley kept them moving, evading the incoming missile fire, while Sherlily maintained phaser fire on any target that presented itself.

This changed at the approach of the enemy assault ships. They had previously been referred to as gunboats, reflecting that they were little more than flying cannon batteries easily smashed by the Koenig. But these ships were anything but. Sherlily's phaser barrages did a number on their shields, but they did not remove them with the speed or ease they might normally enjoy. And the enemy disruptor cannons and missile fire was tremendous. The Koenig endured several hits that reduced its shields. The other ships with them were faring similarly, even as they sought to give as good as they got it.

"We're losing dorsal shields," Magda warned.

"Divert emergency power to shields and engines," Zack ordered.

As he made the order, a Nazi dreadnought loomed ahead of them. The Aryan-class ship was painted black as night, save for the swastika emblem of the Reich - the Hakenkreuz of black on a white circle in a red field - and, as an SS ship, twin thunderbolts that looked like the letter "S". The ship had that same slanted look as most Reich ships, with the drive hull slanting upward to meet the blocky primary hull area.

This ship was the most dangerous of the ones in their path because it had the largest "super-disruptors", large spinal mount disruptor cannons that could blast through even the toughest shields, along with smaller versions of the same that were multi-directional banks. If one of the spinal models hit the Koenig, even their armor wouldn't save them. It would likely be a one-hit kill.

But they weren't aiming at the Koenig, but the Aurora.

And Zack could do nothing as it fired.




The entire bridge of the Aurora felt like it was going to shake to pieces. "Direct hit!", Lucy reported. "Forward shields are down! They just…" She swallowed. "They just shot a hole clear through the primary hull! All primary hull decks have taken damage, multiple sections…"

Robert looked to Lt. Tom Barnes, Scotty's main assistant, manning the engineering station on the side of the bridge. "Divert all power to shields and impulsor drives, now!"

"I'm on it!", Barnes answered.

The Aurora's shields, taking in power from the rest of the ship, strengthened partially. It wouldn't last, not with the shield generators overwhelmed, but it might get them clear.

Might.

The weapons fire from the Aurora ceased as the weapons were denied the energies they needed, everything devoted to the Aurora's escape from the deadly Nazi trap. Disruptor shots continued to strike the hull, missiles joining them as point-defensive fire couldn't keep up with the barrage. Syrandi wisely diverted the PD weapons' fire to the much deadlier shield-disrupting torpedoes that the enemy destroyers were chucking toward them.

It was tense and close. Robert started to feel his breath come back to him as open space cleared on the monitor. They were doing it. They were almost out.

"Sir, we don't have any warp power," Violeta reported. "We've got three damaged nacelles."

"Forget about the warp drive. Send to all ships, jump as soon as they're clear!"




Main Engineering on the Koenig was in a state of surprising control, and that was mostly from the leadership of Lieutenant Karen Derbely, the ship's Chief Engineer, who had long made clear to her personnel what she expected of them in a crisis situation. "Lutal, Krrit, make sure those power conduits aren't overloading, we can't afford a short!", she cried out, looking over the Master Systems Display in the middle of Engineering. Into her communication line she added, "Hajar, I need you and a damage control team on Deck 3, Section D, the primary engine coupling is showing too much stress."

"On our way."

Derbely stepped away from the display and went over toward the plasma coolant conduit with a scanner. With the rest of her team already busy dealing with the increasing damage, she was the only one who could ensure the vital piece of machinery was working, keeping the power conduits handling the tremendous energy being generated by the ship's naqia reactors from melting down. Her scan confirmed her fear, that the pounding they were taking was causing stress damage to the coolant lines. I'm going to have to get a team on this, she thought, turning away from the coolant.

Just as she was walking away, the ship rocked so violently Derbely was thrown to the floor. The intensity of the shock told her what the MSD would have if she looked toward it. The Koenig had just suffered a direct hit, not just any direct hit, but one that had blasted through the armor and…

There was a shriek of metal and a horrible slushing noise. Derbely's heart froze in fear the moment her mind realized what it was.

The plasma coolant line had ruptured.

Right beside her.

In the end, she couldn't turn in time before the coolant struck her. All she could do was scream in agony until everything went dark.




The Koenig's bridge had rocked just as violently at the impact. Their harnesses kept them in their seats, of course, but that meant Zack was sure he'd have a bruise over his chest. "Report!"

"Direct hit on dorsal hull, we've been hulled!", Magda answered. "Damage to Decks 1 through 3, Sections C and D!" Magda noticed the blinking warning light. "We've got a plasma coolant link in Main Engineering!"

Zack took that news with horror. Depending on which plasma line linked… if it was the post-cycle coolant, carrying heat away to the heat exchangers… that plasma would melt anything and everything down to the bone if it hit them.

Even worse, the ship's safety systems would kick in, shutting down any broken coolant lines to prevent further leakage, and in the process force the ship's power systems and drives to reduce output to prevent overheating.

"I'm losing impulsor power!", Apley said.

"Bridge, this is Engineer Lang," a man with a German accent said over the comms. "The feeding coolant lines ruptured, we have lost one-third of our coolant capacity. Automatic systems are reducing power."

"Override them!", Zack insisted, even as the thought Where is Karen? went through his head. "We need every bit of power we can get to keep up!"

"Engaging overrides, sir. At our current rate of power usage, we have an estimated five minutes until the power systems overheat!"

"Understood." Zack frowned. He was worried about Derbely, but that had to wait until his ship was clear. In five minutes we'll either be safe or dead anyway.

"Impulsor power back to enhanced level," Apley reported. "We're starting to clear them!"

"Sir, the jump drive won't engage," Magda said. "That direct hit damaged it."

"Signal the Aurora and get us beside her, then," Zack urged. "We'll jump out with them."

"Yes sir," Apley and Magda said simultaneously.




On the Aurora bridge, Robert watched with tentative relief as they seemed to clear the enemy squadron. "Engage jump drive on my mark!"

On the screen they could already see green jump points forming around them. Individual ships, mostly the destroyers and attack ships that had evaded the overwhelming enemy fire,

"Captain, the Koenig just signaled." Locarno looked at Robert. "Their jump drive is down. They're moving to jump alongside us."

"How long until they're in range to enter our jump point?"

"Fifteen seconds!"

"Jump when they're in position."

The ship shook again. "That dreadnought's targeting our engines," Lucy said. "I'm not sure we have fifteen seconds."

Barnes didn't have to be asked, considering it was the Koenig. "I'm diverting all available power to the aft shield generators!"

The aft shields of the Aurora strengthened as more disruptor fire and missiles crashed into them. With the dreadnought firing on them, it was a question of how much more they could take.

"Aft shields at twenty-five percent," Lucy reported. The ship shuddered again. "Twenty-two… twenty… eighteen…"

"The dreadnought is firing!", Cat added, seeking the power spike on her screens. She drew in a breath out of sheer terror at what that meant.

The three spinal mount super-disruptors on the SS dreadnought fired at once. A last second roll of the ship by Violeta kept two from hitting the Aurora. The middle blast, however, could not be evaded.

It speared the back of the primary hull, striking the docking port for the Koenig directly. Flame and debris erupted from the wound now carved into the Aurora as the shot carried into the hull areas adjacent to the dock and, above, to the primary shuttle bay. Further explosions went off, relatively minor, as several craft in the bay were damaged and destroyed by the blast.

One of the misses also struck home, but not on the Aurora. Robert could only watch in horror as the Albacore, just about fly into its jump point, was hit in the rear section by the disruptor beam. With the attack ship's shields battered to near-nothingness, its armor alone couldn't resist the blast. The Trigger-class attack ship disintegrated until it was nothing but a cloud of debris. The jump point it generated closed as nothing kept it open any longer.

A second later, Koenig was alongside the Aurora. "Activating jump drive!", Lucy shouted.

Ahead of them space was pulled open by an emerald flash that expanded into a swirling vortex. Violeta, and Apley on the Koenig, put everything into their impulsor drives. Robert forced himself not to gulp as they came close, to within seconds, of escape, as it felt that any moment the Nazis might yet stop them, might shoot the jump point and de-stabilize it…

Then the ship lurched below him, a familiar lurch, as it flew through the point. Koenig surged ahead, entering a split second later.

Ahead of them, the carnage of 452 TD had disappeared from the viewscreen. Instead it was New Liberty, spinning quietly as the Colony moved toward night.

"We made it," Cat squeaked.

Robert nodded and swallowed. "Nick, I want damage reports and casualty reports. Lucy…" Robert drew in a breath. "Get me Admiral Maran, highest priority."

"Yes sir."

"How did they know we were coming?", Cat asked. "I mean, were they expecting us? Was this a trap from the start?"

"I don't know," Robert said. "But someone's going to have to find out."


Undiscovered Frontier
"The Wages of Fear"



Now


The tension on the bridge had mostly given way to post-battle exhaustion and relief when the word came that Julia and the others had arrived at Harvest in A4P5. Robert had Jupap, now manning Operations with Lucy and Tom Barnes off helping with the repairs, relay the message to the Van Sickle to please provide the jump point, and the vessel's captain swiftly signaled agreement.

The squad cargo ship that came out of the jump point moved toward them for several moments before Jupap confirmed they were being hailed. "Put them on."

The screen shifted. Julia dominated the middle of it, but he could also see Angel and a Minbari in the background. "Robert, what happened?", she asked.

"A disaster," he answered quietly. "Did you find Jarod?"

Julia nodded. "He's right here. We got his family out too."

"At least something went right around here," mumbled Locarno, who was still in Julia's chair.

Julia noticed that too. "I'll be right over with Angel and Meridina. We'll transfer the ship over to our allies."

"I'm coming too," Jarod added. "You'll need everyone to start getting the ship fixed up."

Robert nodded. "It's good to see you're safe, Jarod. I just wish you didn't have to come home to this."

He nodded. "It certainly wasn't the homecoming I expected."

"I imagine you'll want to spend time with your family…"

Jarod looked offscreen. A male voice with an English accent said, "It's fine, Jarod. Emily and I will be here when you have time."

At that Jarod looked back to Robert and shook his head. "I'll be over with the others."

"Alright. We'll beam you aboard as soon as you signal. Aurora out."

The image disappeared from the screen. Once it was gone, Robert stood from his chair. "Nick, you've got the bridge. I want to go finish my full report to Admiral Maran." He looked to Jupap as he walked past, stopping briefly to face the Alakin Operations Officer. "If we get any signals from Command, let me know. Maybe… maybe the other attacks went off better."

Jupap nodded. "Yes sir," he chirped.

Robert nodded back, knowing his expressed optimism was sorely misplaced, and went into his office and straight to his desk.




With the Deadman's Hand left to Lennier to land on the planet and turn over to the New Liberty police, Julia and the others made quick stops by their quarters to change into uniforms before they went on duty. Angel went off to take over Tactical, Meridina to her Security office, and Jarod was off to join up with the repair teams. That left Julia to head straight to the bridge.

When she got there, Locarno was in the command chair. He nodded at her and gestured toward Robert's bridge office. "He's waiting for you."

Julia nodded. "Who did we lose?"

Locarno sighed. "Most of the crew in and around the main shuttle bay. We took casualties on most of the decks, especially in the primary hull from that shot that went straight through. Right now we're looking at about a hundred and fifty casualties confirmed. At least forty dead." Locarno looked toward the viewscreen, where the Koenig was visible. "Carrey's got eighteen casualties and at least six dead."

Julia felt her fists clench. A sudden thought seized her. You were supposed to be here for this. If you'd been here, you could have made a difference. She brushed it off, as much as she could, and asked, "What happened?"

"It was a trap," he replied. "Robert will fill you in."

Julia nodded. She turned away and went for the ready room door. As she did so her wound started to sting. Whether from something wrong with her bandaging or a psychosomatic response to her feelings on the situation… she couldn't tell.

Robert was at his desk, working the hard-light keyboard on the office's desk while looking at his screen. He looked up as she entered and stood to attention. "Julie," he said, signaling an intention to be informal. "It's good to see you. When Chief Almerda said you had left to rescue Jarod… well, given what he said about Parker's team I was a little worried."

"I understand." She went to a chair and sat down. The suddenness of the move did more to make her wound hurt, enough that an involuntary wince came across her face.

Robert noticed it immediately. "Are you okay? Were you hurt?"

"I'll live," Julia answered, although she was visible favoring the side that had been cut.

Robert could have actively sensed for her wound and known how much it had hurt, and what damage it'd done. As it was, between the fatigue in her features and the clear pain she felt, he knew Julia's wound was not insubstantial. But he couldn't bring himself to do that. It felt like it would be a violation of Julia's privacy.

"What happened?", she asked. "Nick said it was a trap."

"Admiral Maran had reports that the Reich's fleet movements were opening a window that would let us jump into their rear areas and hit their supply system before their fleets could respond. He threw every available ship he had into the mission, including the Aurora, and we had to leave right away." Robert frowned and set his hands on the table. "But instead of an undefended supply base, we found a Reich attack fleet waiting in ambush." Robert put a hand on his chin and shook his head. "They went right after us and the Themistocles. They crippled her, and we couldn't stop it. We were lucky to escape in the end given the beating we took."

"Why didn't you jump to a repair yard?"

"Lucy just used our last jump coordinate to get us out quickly." Robert shook his head. "And with the damage to our impulsors and power systems, Scotty wants a few hours to complete some repairs before we jump again." Robert gestured to his computer. "So I'm passing the time getting a report filed." He sighed. "And worrying."

"About?"

"it's been two hours, and no word from Portland about what's going on," Robert said. "I'm worried about what happened, and… I'm worried that Admiral Maran was leading one of the task forces. If we lost him…"

The thought was a chilling one. Maran had become one of the most respected leaders in the Alliance. His loss would be a massive blow to Alliance morale, especially if it came with the losses this operation had caused.

Moreso, for them personally, it would mean losing one of their biggest supporters in the Alliance military command structure. And even if President Morgan selected someone else to head his Defense Staff, Admiral Davies would gain in authority and influence, and he had made it clear he intended to strip the Aurora from them as part of his fears about the Gersallian Order of Swenya.

"I think we would have heard something if Admiral Maran as captured or dead," Julia said. "He's probably just busy trying to deal with what happened."

Robert frowned. "This was supposed to shorten the war. Now we might have prolonged it. We've lost the initiative we've been picking up. There's no telling how the Nazis are going to react."

"What's more important is how we react. We can't give up over a single setback, no matter how large."

"I hope enough people see it your way." Robert's thoughts about the politics were dark enough. Some of the Alliance states were still avoiding full application of their strength to the effort, forcing Morgan to burn political capital to cajole them into greater efforts. Now those states would be even more reluctant to expend their efforts.

Robert looked Julia over. "There's nothing more you can do, Julie. You should go see Leo about getting that fixed." His head nodded toward forward and slightly to the side.

"I can take over the bridge for Nick."

"Pacetti is already on his way to do that. Right now, you need medical attention." He could have ordered her, but Robert instead added, "Please."

Julia had a frustrated look on her face. But seeing the concerned look on Robert's and the pain still stinging in her side, she sighed and nodded. "I'll go down there right away."

"Thank you." Robert checked his screen. "Get some rest. I know you need to be in your own bed for a night of sleep. We'll talk again in the morning."

Julia nodded and stood from her chair. She left the room and returned to the bridge. Angela had relieved Lieutenant Luneri at Tactical and was looking over things. She caught Julia's eye, and the look they shared said it all.

Could we have made a difference?




The medbay was busy when Julia came on. Numerous crew were on the biobeds or stretchers, waiting for their turn to be treated for injuries sustained in the fight. Julia found it was standing room only.

"Commander." Nasri's voiced carried over the din of moans, ponderings, and quiet conversations. She walked up, looking tired herself. "What's wrong?"

"A cyborg with a sword tried to cut my head off," she replied. "I dodged and he cut below my ribs instead."

"A deep cut?"

"I figured it would need stitches. And Meridina was too tired to do anything for it."

"Come this way." Nasri led Julia beyond some of the patients and to her examination area, now vacant. "Let me see."

Julia pulled off her uniform jacket and the undershirt she wore beneath it, down to her undergarment. The bloodstain on the bandage had grown a little since Julia changed clothes. Julia waited for Nasri to look it over. She felt her pull the bandages back and examine the wound, which stung like hell. The bandage went back on. "It's not too deep of a cut, but deep enough that you would have needed stitches if we didn't have dermal regenerators." Nasri frowned. "But this will call for a heavy regenerator. I'll need to get you to a biobed and you'll have to wait for a unit to open up."

"Nick told me we had a hundred and fifty casualties."

"Closer to two hundred now," Nasri replied.

Over a tenth of the crew, Julia thought.

Nasri handed Julia a gown. "Put this on and bring your uniform." With the gown on and her uniform and undershirt under her left arm, Julia followed Nasri through the medbay to a group of biobeds with larger bits of medical equipment around them. The non-urgent operation ward was adjacent to the critical care ward and she could see worse cases inside.

"You'll be seen in order," Nasri said. "It's standard procedure, you understand."

"Yeah." Julia nodded. "I'll be fine."

Nasri nodded and guided her to one of the unused biobeds, beside the entrance to the critical ward. Julia sat on the biobed, which immediately began displaying general physical information regarding her on its main display.

She had only a few minutes of quiet before she saw Zack work his way in. He was in his uniform and looked much like Robert had. His eyes were focused on the door to the critical ward so much that he didn't notice her until she called out to him. "Zack." When he turned and looked her way, she asked, "Are you okay?"

"No," he admitted. "I lost too many people."

Julia nodded. Proportionally speaking, his casualties had been worse, eighteen in a crew of about fifty being over a third of his crew. The Aurora was just starting to approach the ten percent loss mark in contrast. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"It wouldn't have changed anything," Zack answered, his eyes still distant. "We were betrayed. Or tricked. They were waiting for us and had us outnumbered and outgunned from the first shot." Zack shook his head. "Whoever screwed this up needs to be fired."

"I'm sure there will be an investigation." Julia chuckled bitterly. "Hell, I'm probably going to be investigated for everything I did to get Jarod back."

"Whatever you did, Julia, you actually succeeded. This was a complete fiasco, and it got good people killed."

"Who are you here to see?"

"Karen." Zack glanced in the direction of the critical ward. "When we took that direct hit that blew through our armor, the shock blew a coolant line in main engineering. The only reason she's alive is because it was the pre-cycle line."

Julia nodded. "I'll come with you, if you want."

The appreciation was visible on Zack's face. He accepted and they walked, together, into critical care.

The cases here were the worst of those who had a chance to survive. Missing limbs, burns, all sorts of injuries and damage were treated here.

There were fifty beds in this particular ward, arranged into rows of ten beds, with various pieces of medical equipment out for the use of the patients. Julia and Zack went over to one in the corner. If the name at the base of the bed hadn't read "K. Derbely", Julia would have never known it was her.

Virtually the entirety of Derbely's head was covered in bandages. What little was visible around her closed eyes showed signs of hideous burning. Aside from the gown she had heavy bandaging visible on every other portion of her body.

"It's a miracle she survived," Julia murmured.

"Yeah. A miracle," Zack said. There was a bitter tone in his voice. He looked over his unconscious chief engineer with a deep frown that contrasted heavily with the smiles he'd had just a couple of days ago. "My ship's been shot up, the Nazis kicked our asses… the way things are going, we need miracles."

"Zack." Julia touched his hand. "You look exhausted. Maybe you should get some rest."

He turned his head and faced her. There was a look in his brown eyes, one of frustration and pain. Had he been in a better mood, he would have reacted to her clear need for rest. "I can't," he said. "I've got responsibilities."

Julia opened her mouth to speak further, but stopped herself. If their positions were reversed, she'd be feeling terrible too.

A treacherous voice in her head added, And at least Zack was here for them, I can't say the same can I?

"Zack, Julia."

Both turned to face an exhausted Leo, wearing his medical blues with a white lab coat. "We've done all we can for her now, Zack," Leo said. "Lieutenant Derbely will be transferred to a full medical station as soon as possible."

"Will she make it?', Zack asked. His voice was hollow.

Leo sighed and nodded slightly. "I'd give her good odds. Seventy percent for at least a partial recovery. We just have to keep the damaged tissues clean of infection until the specialists can begin a full dermal restoration on her. There may be other damage she'll need therapy for."

Zack showed relief at that. "At least we have that." Zack looked at Julia. "Any word on how long we have until we can dock again?" When she froze for the moment, Zack caught himself. "Oh, sorry," he said. "I forgot you didn't know." His words were calm and withdrawn, as if they hadn't just unintentionally acted as a means of brutally declaring "You wouldn't know because you weren't here".

Julia bit into her lip. Her eyes looked away from him.

Zack was still looking at Derbely and didn't notice the reaction. Nevertheless he sighed. "Well, I'd better get back to the ship. My crew needs me."

"Hopefully they'll have your dock fixed soon," Leo offered. "Your people need your quarters here on the Aurora to get a proper rest."

Zack smirked at that. "Yeah, I know. So does my crew." He looked over to them and forced a smile to his face. "Thanks, Julie."

"What for?", she asked.

"For saving Jarod. We've lost enough friends and colleagues as it is." Zack walked past them. "I'll see you later."

They watched him leave the ward. Leo looked back to Julia. "Alright, let's get you back to the non-urgent ward." They walked out of the critical care ward and to the bed where Julia had left her uniform. Leo looked around and stepped away long enough to pull up a large dermal regenerator unit. "Lay down and let me see that wound."

Julia laid on her back on the bed. She raised the gown up past her belly to expose the bandaged wound. Leo pulled the bloodied bandages off and threw them in a biohazard receptacle. "Hrm. Not too deep. But deep enough. You're lucky you didn't lose more blood than you did." He scanned it. "No sign of infection. What happened anyway?"

For several moments Julia didn't answer. She was staring at the lights above on the ceiling. Her thoughts were entirely with the circumstances of what had happened. What had been done to her ship, her crew, while she was gone.

"Julia," Leo repeated, his voice now forceful. It snapped her out of her thoughts. "What happened?"

"A cyborg man, some ninja or something, tried to cut my head off," she answered. "I dodged and he just got me in the side."

"I'll say. The cut was precise. I'm surprised a sword managed such a clean cut, actually." Leo picked up a wand from the dermal regenerator unit. He pressed it around the wound. "I need to clean the wound out first, just to be on the safe side. I want to make sure you don't have any particles of your clothing left in that could lead to an infection later. Does it feel numb now?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Give me a little bit…"

Julia remained still as he worked. She ended up deep in thought again, even as her eyelids tugged downward until her eyes were closed. She fell asleep without intending to.

"Alright, all better," Leo declared.

That jolted her awake again. Julia sat up and looked down to where she'd been cut. There was just healthy light skin there now, a little pinkish in its color.

"You need some rest." Leo put away the dermal regenerator gear. Around them several of the people had changed.

"Leo…" She sat up. "You didn't skip me ahead in the line, did you?"

Leo smirked and shook his head. "No. I did defy Doctor Singh's insistence that I go get some sleep now that our immediate crisis cases are all handled. Technically I'm not supposed to be here."

"Well, I won't tell if you won't," Julia said, smiling as she did.

"You can change in my office," Leo offered. "And then I insist you get some rest. You lost some blood and you pushed yourself pretty hard, you need a couple of days to recuperate."

"I've got a ship that needs fixing, Leo," Julia reminded him. Her smile seemed more brittle now. "A couple of days is too much. But I'll give you tonight."

Leo shook his head. "I expected as much. Just take it easy."

"As much as I can. I promise."

Both knew that she wouldn't, that she couldn't. Not as things were. But Leo pretended to accept the promise and they walked away together, heading toward his office.




It was running late when Robert emerged from his bridge office, all reports written and filed. The damage report from Scotty had made for sobering reading. The main shuttle bay had taken severe damage and would need reconstruction. Half of the ship's shuttles were completely destroyed or so damaged that they would have to be written off, and most of the rest would need extensive repair work. The runabouts were in similar shape: the Susquehanna, Vistula, and Rhine were utterly trashed and would have to be scrapped; every other runabout had taken major damage. Adjacent to the main shuttle bay, the docking bay for the Koenig was wrecked and would have to be rebuilt.

The primary hull would also need weeks worth of reconstruction work at the L2M1 Earth Fleet Base, especially given the hole that had been blasted into it. Dozens of crew had lost their quarters to the blast and were being re-billeted in spare quarters or, where necessary, the holodecks. Robert had nearly even ordered that the senior staff officer quarters be opened up to them, just for Locarno to point out that it was unnecessary given the other available room on the ship.

Six weeks repair time, minimum, Robert mused quietly. He walked toward the central chair, where a much-fatigued Locarno was still sitting. "You're relieved Lieutenant," he said.

Locarno stood up. "Yes sir." He examined Robert's own state of post-battle exhaustion and added, "I suggest you stand down for relief as well, Captain. You need your rest."

"I'll head down soon," Robert promised. "I'm just waiting for a call from Portland before I can rest."

"I'll send Pacetti up," Locarno said. "So that you can stand relieved when you're ready to sleep."

"Thank you, Nick."

Locarno gave him a final nod and, with barely-disguised relief, went to the bridge lift. Robert settled into his command chair and watched the New Liberty Colony's lights on the screen. If he wasn't careful, he would nod off right here in his chair.

He nearly did, in fact, and he jolted to full wakefulness when he heard the chirp from Operations that confirmed an incoming signal. Jupap turned his feathered head back enough that Robert could see his beak move. "Captain, priority call from Defense Command. Admiral Maran is on for you."

"Put him through." Robert stood as the screen flashed. Seeing the dark-haired Gersallian admiral appear, wolfish gray along his hairline as always, was a relief. Robert had been terrified that he'd been with the attack and was lost. "Admiral."

"Captain." Maran nodded quietly. "My apologies for taking so long. I've been in Defense Staff meetings for hours. You don't know how grateful I was to get confirmation of your survival. The President was relieved when your signal came in to Portland."

"Thank you, sir." Robert swallowed. "How bad was it?"

"It was a disaster, Captain, make no mistake about that. Our losses in ships went over the fifty percent mark. Three quarters of the capital ships we assigned, carriers and dreadnoughts, were lost." Maran's tone was somber. And Robert could see that, stoic as he always was, something was weighing heavily on him, in a way that it hadn't even during the dark days of the prior July when the war had just begun and the Nazis were pummeling their way through Alliance space. "Our gamble was turned against us."

"The Nazis dangled the bait and we went for it," Robert said.

"That is one theory. There is another one, however, and it is far more terrifying."

Robert blinked at that. "Which is…?"

Maran's expression turned grim. "The Defense Committee has decided to order an investigation, Captain, into the operation. We have reason to believe that this wasn't simply a random trap set by our enemies."

"What do you mean…?"

Maran's voice took on a hard edge to it. "I'm not at liberty to discuss the issue over a communication. Not even over a priority encrypted line. How soon can you jump again?"

"Mister Scott needs to shore up several elements of our power systems, the battle damage and our last jump overloaded some of our systems. He's due to give me an update in the morning sometime around 0600."

Maran nodded stiffly. "Very well. As soon as you can jump, I want Aurora back at the Fleet Base, I have a dock already set aside for her and a berth for the Koenig. Preferably I want you and a contingent of officers that you trust in Portland by 1000."

"Yes sir," Robert replied, and he refrained from giving any voice to his immense worry over Maran's words. "We'll be there."

"I'll be expecting you, Captain, at Defense Command. Maran out."

The transmission ended and the view shifted back to the planet. Robert immediately wondered what Maran meant by the trap not being random.

But first things first. He did need to get some sleep.

[Steve]

It was nearly 2400 ship time when Meridina returned to her quarters. It had taken some time to go through all the reports from security, many of whom were now working to help with some of the repairs. Meridina was pleased with how well the work went without her immediate presence.

Now that she was alone, she had time to look into her own curiosity. She went to her table and to the item she'd left there upon her return to the Aurora. Dralan Olati's lakesh waited for her scrutiny.

It was a competently-crafted lakesh, good handiwork. The type that came from a trained swevyra'se like her, and therefore indicated training in the Order. "Computer," she said, "please connect to the Order of Swenya database on Gersal."

"Connecting."

As she waited for the connection to finalize, Meridina examined the rest of the weapon. Engraved on the hilt were a series of characters. An inscription, a phrase or sentence, that she did not understand. The characters did look like they were related to High Gersallian, but yet they meant nothing even if she assumed specific letters to be similar letters in HIgh Gersallian. Clearly this mysterious inscription was written in something entirely different.

A cold feeling came to her. Dralan Olati had been a killer, driven entirely by his dark impulses with no real freedom to decide his course. She had never seen someone like him before. Not someone with a developed set of life force power.

But she had that in her too. The darkness she had felt within her since the Goa'uld Amaunet had infested her and used her to hurt, kill, and torment. She meditated on it, she focused herself on the light, on her highest emotions or simply upon the wholesome light within… but the dark wouldn't go away. It started to feel as if had always been there and had only chosen now to come out.

That thought was perhaps the one that scared her most of all.

"Connection established," the computer said.

"Search the temple archives for a man named Dralan Olati."

"Accessing. Accessing." For several moments nothing came. Finally… "Search complete. No records found."

Meridina frowned at that. "Computer, are you sure?"

"All records have been scanned. There is no indication of Dralan Olati.

That makes no sense. HoW could he have made such a lakesh without training from our Order "Computer, there are two things I wish to process tonight. First, expand the search for Dralan Olani to public Interdependency records. Authorization code Kul-ta-ta-je-omal te."

"Authorization code processed. Accepted. Beginning search. Awaiting second input."

Meridina laid the lakesh on the table and accessed her multidevice. With a few key strokes she took images of the weapon. Another two keystrokes and the images now appeared on her computer display. "Computer, cross-reference these markings. They appear to be a form of Gersallian. Please check for any Gersallian dialect that uses them."

"Beginning search."

"How long until the searches are complete?", Meridina asked.

"Estimated time to completion at current data transfer rate: 16 hours thirty-five minutes."

So that was that. There was no point staying up any longer, not when there would be a staff meeting in the morning. "Thank you," she said, rising from her chair. She began to pull off the duty uniform as she made her way to the bedroom section of her quarters.




At 0630 the following morning, a thoroughly exhausted Aurora command staff were in their conference room, as was an equally exhausted Koenig staff.

The most exhausted of all were those who had been involved in the repairs. Scotty looked like he was about to fall asleep at the table. Jarod, Barnes, and Lucy all had varying degrees of deep fatigue written on their expressions, fatigue that even Hargert's best coffee was having trouble dispelling. The others on the command crew were better off in appearance, but it was clear that their morale was low and everyone was tired and upset.

Robert started the meeting with a look toward Scotty. "Mister Scott, Admiral Maran has a repair dock waiting for us at the L2M1 Earth Fleet Base. Can we jump yet?"

"I'll need a few more hours, sir," he said. "Lt. Nesay is busy finishin' repairs on the warp nacelle struts, an' we cannae jump safely until th' power supply systems have been checked. That's goin' tae take a few hours."

"You have until 0900," Robert replied. "We're due in Portland at 1000."

Scotty started to protest but stopped. "I'll see what I can do, sir."

Knowing Scotty would do just that, Robert turned his attention to Zack. "Has the Koenig regained its jump capability?"

Zack shook his head. "The blast damaged the primary particle feed for the drive, so we can't generate a jump point until its fixed. And with our reduced Engineering staff, Ensign Hajar estimates another day worth of repairs to handle it. Half a day with every member of my crew on repair duties."

"Hajar?", Julia asked.

"She's the senior surviving officer assigned to engineering," Zack answered. "With Karen gone and Lieutenant Trelit dead."

"Right. Sorry." Julia looked away, with her face showing she was deep in thought.

"We'll jump you with us then," Robert said. "Admiral Maran has a repair berth ready for your ship too."

"Good. With a full dock team, Koenig should be ready for duty in a couple of weeks."

Robert looked to his digital notepad. His last item, and worst, was now up. "Do we have a final casualty count?"

"Three hundred and seventy-six casualties of all kinds have been accounted for by the medbay staff," Leo revealed. "Sixty-one dead."

The news hung over the room. It was stifling in its depressive strength.

"We still have about forty-six cases in the critical care ward that I'll want to offload to fleet hospitals as soon as possible, for the best possible care," Leo continued. He glanced Zack's way; one of those forty-six was Karen Derbely. "Another thirty of the critical cases we've got are not so critical we need them taken off our hands. Most of the rest are injuries we've been able to treat. I have a listing of who is fit for full duty or must be restricted in duty. I'll forward it to Julia when we're done."

She nodded. "I'll make sure all department heads and shift officers are made aware of who is available. Although given how long we'll be in the dockyard this time, I imagine we're going to have a lot of crew changing anyway."

"I'll let you deal with the issue as you see fit," Robert replied. He put the notepad down. "Okay everyone, this meeting is dismissed."

As everyone stepped out, Robert found he was looking at Julia. She hadn't slept well - then again, few of them had - and she seemed distracted. "Are you okay?", he asked.

Julia looked at him. She remained silent for several moments before shaking her head. "No. No, I'm just thinking about things."

"Chief Almerda sent a report last night. They finished clearing evidence from the Deadman's Hand. The people you worked with put in their statements and were free to go. Apparently Captain Thrace and Anders got a jump to N2S7 late last night, so they're already gone." Robert used his notepad to check a part of the message. "Almerda's going to turn the ship over to FedStar authorities. He found out there's an active case against the ship's former controller. By taking him down and bringing her in, you're going to be liable to part of the reward once the FedStar admiralty courts finish dealing with it."

"I guess Zaeed will get some cash out of it after all," Julia murmured, but she still had that distant look in her eyes.

"Julie? Are you okay?"

"I'm alright," she said. "Anyway, I need to get to my office and start going over the personnel reviews for the battle."

"Nick should have filed his report by now, so you don't have to worry about that."

Immediately Robert could tell something was wrong, given the surge of shame and frustration that flared inside of Julia . "Yeah, he would be the right one to do that, wouldn't he?" She stood up. "I'll be in my office, let me know if you need anything."

"As soon as we get to L2M1, I need to go down to Portland to see Admiral Maran," Robert said.

"Then I'll take over repair command duties while you do. Until then." Without another word, she was gone, leaving Robert to sit, alone, to ponder Maran's message.

Whatever was going on, he knew he wouldn't like it.




In the end, Scotty got them jump-capable at 0842.

The Aurora locked onto the jump anchor for Earth L2M1 and jumped through, arriving a few kilometers off of the Fleet Base's repair yards section. Numerous ships were already taking up much of the berths, some survivors of the disaster, others here due to other causes. As promised Maran had berths ready for them, in two dry-dock sections in the various wings for their appropriate sizes. He also had a shuttle waiting for Robert.

Robert had heard the "contingent of officers you trust" and decided it meant Maran wanted people who could help with whatever was going on, presumably an investigation. With dock repair teams now present to help Scotty's engineers, he decided that meant Meridina, Jarod, and Lucy.

The shuttle, a Gersallian-built one simply designated in Gersallian letters and numbers - roughly something like LRT-3924 - flew them down to Defense Command. The pilot was a young man, a Human with clear mixed-ethnic backgrounds who identified himself as Ensign Cloudrunner.

Defense Command was built just west of where the Willamette River flowed into the Columbia, near Lake Vancouver, on what was once (on L2M1 anyway) the Washington State bank of the river. The six azure structures towered over the river, the five outer ones arranged in the form of a five-point star and linked to the central one by enclosed foot bridges. For Robert, who grew up with news reports about "the Pentagon" - even his father's stories of visiting there during his time in the US Navy - this towering structure was clearly the Allied Systems' equivalent of that building.

Once they'd landed, they went off to the floors in the central building with the main offices. Admiral Maran's office was toward the middle of the 11th floor as a privilege of rank; the offices there were closer to the officer's club, the large fifth floor food court, and the eighth floor's air-car bays. The latter was a real luxury as there were no transporter stations in the Defense Command structure, and all travel to and from Command was tightly secured. More tightly, in fact, than they'd seen the last time they were nearly a year prior.

The last time we were here, Defense Minister Hawthorne and Admiral Davies were trying to railroad us and kick us off our ship, Robert thought sullenly. Finding out later that the two had initially won, that they had convinced the Defense Committee, or at least a majority of it, to vote against Robert and the others, had been a real sting.

Finding out that the Gersallians and several other states had threatened to leave the Alliance if the vote wasn't reversed? That had actually scared him. More than anything, Robert wanted the Alliance to succeed and to thrive. He certainly didn't want to be the cause of it being ripped apart.

At Admiral Maran's office they were met by a young man with a dark brown complexion. "I am Commander Kanelas," he said, with an accent Robert had not heard before. Kanelas looked to Meridina and gave her a respectful bow of the head. "Swevyra'se, kima iso tuna."

Meridina answered with a head bow of her own. "Kima iso tuna. Mi rake sa swevyra iso."

They exchanged a few more lines before Kanelas looked to them. "My apologies, I have forgotten myself. Admiral Maran is currently in a teleconference with Admiral Relini. I will inform him you've arrived." Kanelas nodded again and walked into the next room.

Robert turned his head to mumble, "Do you understand…?" at Jarod.

"I don't think they're talking about tuna," Jarod replied, cutting off the question.

"I figured you'd have learned Gersallian by now, being a Pretender and all."

Jarod snorted. "I'm the Operations Officer of a kilometer-long starship with two thousand people always on board. I'm not going through my list of 'learn this thing' as fast as I used to. Learning Gersallian is still in the mid-40s, and I probably won't get to that for another eighteen months."

A bemused little smile was clear on Meridina's face at their exchange. "I would be happy to assist you with such, Commander Jarod," she said. "My apologies for not translating. Commander Kanelas is from Otapil on our main southern continent. The Otapin are among the Order's strongest supporters. Their people consider it proper to show immediate reverence to a Knight of Swenya."

"Ah." Robert nodded. "Well, as long as you're not talking about us behind our back."

"Perish the thought." Meridina turned away, satisfied with the exchange.

"Shouldn't you have learned this language yourself?", Jarod inquired quietly. "She's teaching you, after all."

"I know. But while I can pronounce German well enough that I've met Germans who think I've been in America too long instead of realizing I'm actually American, I can't even say 'swevyra' without my tongue going thick."

"It's because you try too hard," Lucy said.

The door opened again. Kanelis emerged partially. "Admiral Maran is ready for you."

Robert and the others stepped into the office, where Maran was standing behind his desk. The torch-and-tetracolor flag of the Allied Systems was beside his desk, as was one showing the Seal of Defense Command and it's quartered shield under the Alliance torch insignia. His work area had several digital pads upon it, presumably each secured and only containing specific and isolated classified data. A hard-light keyboard was still visible. He had been typing only moments ago.

"Admiral, sir. I've brought Commander Jarod, Commander Meridina, and Lieutenant Lucero. I trust all of my officers, but I considered they would be the ones you wanted to have in this situation."

"Your consideration was accurate, Captain." Maran's expression was grave. He'd clearly been up much of the night. "I'm going to make the facts plain. We were deceived. Most of the systems did not, in fact, have the sort of supply targets we had been led to expect. Instead it would appear that the enemy used electronic warfare to deceive our scouts. The apparent opening in their deployment schedule was clearly feigned to provoke an attack by us that could be ambushed."

"How bad is it?", Robert asked.

"Our last estimates are in. We launched four hundred and twelve ships into that attack. Only two hundred and seven returned, all damaged to varying extents. Out of twenty dreadnought-class warships, only six returned, and only ten of eighteen carriers. We also lost two-thirds of our cruisers."

Robert couldn't help but swallow. The Aurora had been one of those lucky third to escape. "What does this mean for the war?"

"It will not cost us the war, at least not militarily. But it has set back our time-tables for further military operations. Admiral Relini has been forced to call off her planned offensive and is preparing defensive positions."

Robert caught that first sentence, especially its uncertain ending. "...at least not militarily." "There's more to this, isn't there?"

Maran nodded. "There is. And I didn't dare mention it over a channel, not even one that's encrypted." Maran reached for his desk drawer and pulled out an electronic device of some sort, a small curved shape with a light on the end that he brought on with a squeeze of his fingers. The green light blinked several times before a second green light activated. "There," Maran said. "We're secure."

"You're afraid of electronic bugs," Jarod said.

"I have to be." Maran sat down. With a hand gesture he invited Robert and his officers to take seats in the nearby chairs and couch. "I must be blunt. The Intelligence Office has discovered signs that some of our operational planning, including the proposals for the raid we just attempted, has been compromised."

The implications were clear. Robert's jaw fell slightly as he processed the thought. "You mean they say we've got a spy in Defense Command. That someone leaked this stuff to the Nazis and they planned the ambushes from that?"

"I do. So does the President, and the Defense Committee, and several members of the Senate." Maran put his hands on his desk. "We need to find out the truth of this, and now. Otherwise we may be facing the end of the political willingness to continue the war."

"You can't be serious," Lucy gasped. "They'd try to make a deal with Nazis?"

Maran shook his head. "When people are desperate enough for peace? I can see them doing anything. Councilman Pensley has gone as far as to threaten to encourage his government to withdraw from the Alliance if we don't change how the war is prosecuted or offer peace to the Reich."

"Pensley would be the one who is convinced that I instigated the war on purpose," Robert recalled.

"Yes. He's argued repeatedly for your court-martial, in fact. Even Admiral Davies has grown tired of the man."

"And here I thought Davies would back that," Lucy muttered.

"Admiral Davies is a complicated man. But he does know the scope of the threat we're facing, and he has no illusions that any peace with the Nazi Reich is possible. He and Pensley are not allies."

"He tried to bribe Zack into turning against us during the hearings last year," Lucy retorted. Robert winced at the surge of anger he felt within her. "He sent Commander King to spy on us, and he's using Naval Intelligence to spy on your people! Complicated, hell, he's as much a threat to the Alliance as Pensley is!"

"Lieutenant, calm down," Maran ordered. His tone was still quiet and patient, but there was an edge to it when he said that, an edge that told Lucy (and Robert) that in this he damn well expected to be obeyed.

Meridina gave Lucy a worried look. The angry snarl on Lucy's face faded. "I'm sorry, Admiral," she said. "I was out of line."

"Yes, you were," was Maran's quiet reply. It was a rebuke, and Lucy took it as such. "The reason I summoned you here is that I'm compiling a task force of officers to investigate the matter and report on it to the Defense Committee. Officers who are not assigned to Defense Command and who have extensive combat experience against the Reich."

"And who couldn't have been in a position to be the leak," Jarod noted.

"Yes." Maran looked at Robert. "The Aurora will be spending over a month in drydock for repairs, Captain, so for the time being, I'm assigning you to oversee the investigation."

Robert blinked at that. "Me? But… I don't have counter-intelligence experience, or investigative experience."

"No. But I'm aware you have other potential talents to help give you insight into evidence that is discovered."

"Admiral, is this wise?" Meridina kept her voice respectful. "Knowing how certain factions in the Alliance government feel about the Order, and anything that seems linked to them, the fact that Captain Dale has our abilities will mean that those opposed to the Order will be suspicious of his findings."

"You are correct. That's why I'm assigning another officer to be his second in the investigation and to sign off on the final report. Someone that the Defense Minister and his supporters cannot so easily overlook."

"Who?", Robert asked.

Before Maran could answer, a tone came from his desk. He pressed a key on his hardlight keyboard. "Commander?"

"The Commander has arrived as instructed," said Kanelis.

"Excellent timing. I'm waiting with Captain Dale now."

Moments later, the door opened. Robert and the others turned to face the new arrival. Clad in the black-with-burgundy-red trim of a command officer, and with the expected three gold strips on the collar to denote Commander rank, the new arrival cut a prim and proper figure with her brown hair pulled back into a severe bun at the back of her head. She immediately stood at attention and giving a disciplined, "Reporting as ordered, Admiral," in a crisp English accent.

"Excellent. You're just in time to meet the rest of the team."

Robert looked back at Maran with surprise. "This is who we're working with?"

Maran nodded.

"Captain Dale." Commander Elizabeth King nodded her head respectfully. "Commander Meridina, Commander Jarod, Lieutenant Lucero. It's an honor to see you again."




Julia took a working lunch into the Lookout, where she spent more time with the "working" part than the "lunch" part. The normal views one could find from the windows were replaced by the drab gray interior of the drydock. Outside dock workers would already be zipping around in zero G to inspect the damage on the Aurora's hull. It would likely be a day or two of inspections before the dockmaster certified a comprehensive repair plan for her to sign off on, after which work would commence.

"Your stew is getting cold," a voice admonished.

Julia looked up from her digital reader. Hargert was standing beside her, a cup of coffee already in his hand and moving to replace her empty cup. "Oh, Hargert," she said.

"I wanted to give you my thanks for rescuing Mister Jarod," Hargert said. "I feared the worst."

"You're welcome," she replied.

She went back to her work, just to realize the elderly German man hadn't moved. "You are not well, Commander."

"My cut is healed," she replied. "I'm fine."

"I am not speaking of wounds to the body. I fear for the other wound."

"I'm not hurt, and I'm not mentally troubled if that's what you're implying," Julia insisted. "I wasn't here, but I had a reasonable excuse for it and it can't be held against me. I'm not responsible for what happened to the ship."

"Indeed not."

"I couldn't have done anything to stop it," Julia continued. "If I'd been here, nothing would have changed. We'd still have gotten our asses kicked and I'd still be here going over battle reports and reading about all the people we lost."

Hargert nodded in agreement.

Julia felt a sensation in her hand. She looked toward it and saw she was clenching the cup so tightly her hand was shifting color from the intensity. She forced herself to relax.

"When you are ready, Commander, please talk. With me, with your friends, with someone." Hargert gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "But we are here for you."

With that said, he walked away, leaving Julia to the feelings roiling inside of her.




Admiral Maran took the time to escort Robert and the others, including Commander King, to the twenty-fifth level of Tower 3, the tower that pointed toward the southeast. There they found a vacant planning room with secured control stations and datapads waiting. "Inform Commander Kanelis if you have any needs and yeomen will be sent to meet them," he said upon their entry. "I've arranged for the appropriate logs to be provided to you. The Intelligence Office is overseeing the interviews of possible suspects. Transcripts and recordings will also be provided."

"We'll get on this right away, sir," Robert pledged.

"I'll be back in two hours," Maran said. "Then you and Commander King are due at a Defense Committee session."

Something about that did not make Robert feel more comfortable. "That quickly?"

Maran nodded. "A delegation from the Senate will be attending as well. They voted this morning on the matter."

"I thought that the Defense Committee's Senators simply reported findings to the Senate?"

"Normally. But in this situation, the Senate decided to take more active steps. Members of the Senate Committees on External Affairs and Security are going to join. Not as voters, but as observers, and Defense Minister Hawthorne will give them limited questioning privileges." Maran was evidently not happy with the decision. He hid it as well as always, butt Robert could feel his aggravation with it. "I know you won't have anything to directly show them within two hours. Your presence is merely to establish that the task force has been set up."

"I understand," Robert answered. "I'll see you soon, sir."

He nodded and walked out.

"Translation: The Senate wants to do its own investigations," Jarod said. "And that only complicates things more."

"Indeed." King found a seat. "Especially when you consider that the compromised plans were shared with both Senate Committees."

The others looked toward her. Lucy crossed her arms. "Well, I guess you'd know something about spying, wouldn't you Commander?'

"Indeed, Lieutenant, I served as an intelligence analyst for a time before committing to the command track." King's reaction was nonplussed, as if she didn't care about the remark one way or the other. She had spent over a month the prior year spying on the Aurora crew on behalf of Admiral Davies.

Meridina sensed the subtle and unsubtle animosity toward King. The others were still clearly bitter about King's true purpose when she was assigned with the Sladen to the Aurora. "How is your ship, Commander?", Meridina asked.

King looked to her. Meridina could sense the sadness that came from within. "We survived the raid. Barely. Half of my crew is dead. I wouldn't be here right now if we hadn't blown our drives with a warp jump. The Sladen will be spending a month in drydock."

Hearing that, Robert looked to her and nodded. "You have my condolences, Commander."

"And you have mine, Captain, for the losses you sustained. Thankfully you and I are here to find out what caused them. Not all of our colleagues were so fortunate."

Robert could sense Lucy's severe discontent. Jarod wasn't happy either. But when he met Robert's eye, Robert could sense his feelings of acceptance on the matter. They were working with King and had a job to do, and that was that.

"We should get started," Robert said. "In case hard questions are asked."

"As I suspect they will be." King started to frown. "Some of this is irregular, most irregular. The Senate's rapid action implies…" She stopped.

Robert considered her thought and finished it. "It implies they were ready for this in some way. They had delegations from those committees picked and ready."

"It's possible that those committees have already been gunning for the Defense Committee and were ready for the opportunity," Jarod pointed out, already reading a digital pad.

"That is the most likely explanation. Even in wartime, legislative politics can be nasty." King picked up another digital pad and looked it over. "The chambers of the Council fighting one another, and the committees of both fighting all sides, all for the control they feel they need to push their take on the war."

That didn't surprise Robert. Even in the days of the Facility, there had been occasional fights for influence between the governing council on Liberty and the Facility Council, over things such as authority over the transport ships or the mining colonies and stations. The larger the organization, the more possible centers of power that could come into conflict with each other.

But there was still something about it he didn't like. Something they were missing, hidden and ready to cause harm if it wasn't found.

And there was King's presence. And that meant everything they did, everything they said, would get reported to a man who wanted to take everything from them. Mistrust was already built into this team. Lucy's constant bewilderment and anger directed toward King was proof of that.

But if they had a spy working for the Nazis, or just looking to harm the Alliance, they had to find that spy. The war couldn't be won if a source from the top kept telling the Nazis what they had planned. Finding whether there was a spy or not and neutralizing that spy had to come before anything.

"Commander King."

She looked over at him. "Yes?"

"Whatever happened last year, whatever your thoughts about the Gersallians, we can't let that get in the way of this job. The Nazis are the enemy and we have to focus on that."

King nodded. "I concur, Captain."

Robert looked to the others. "That goes to all of us," he said. "We can't let any animosity toward Commander King or Admiral Davies get in the way. This is a threat to the Alliance and the war effort."

"Agreed," said Meridina.

Jarod nodded as well.

That left Lucy. She was looking at a pad partially, but her eyes came up and met them. Finally she nodded. "Agreed."

"Then let's get started on this." Robert took a seat and picked up a blank pad. "Give me what you find and Commander King and I will put it together to inform the committee."




Two hours later Robert and King walked together, and otherwise unescorted, into the Defense Committee chambers. The Committee met near the middle of the building, in a chamber of red and amber-colored wood-paneled surfaces. The Committee Members themselves sat in a semi-circle facing the middle table, where those giving evidence or testimony would sit, while behind this table were seats for observers or future participants. The room had not changed any since Robert had last been here, when he faced losing the Aurora. This time, however, he sat toward the rear of the room, and was grateful he wasn't the focus of this session.

Not yet, anyway.

As before, ahead of him was the seat where the Defense Minister sat. Gerald Hawthorne was a thin man with a hawkish nose and a conspiratorial look about him. How he had enough of a grip on his post that President Morgan couldn't dare fire him was something Robert wasn't sure.

Seated nearby were Admiral Maran and Admiral Davies, in their positions as Chairman of the Defense Staff and Vice Chief of Naval Operations. General Gulinev, representing the Army, was also present. The crusty old Russian had lost hair since Robert last saw him. The stresses of war planning were clear on his weathered expression.

A glare came his way. Councilman Pensley was not as thin as Hawthorne, and his hair still showed some dark brown color. He sat to one side of the semi-circle. Councilman Palas was nearby, wearing standard Gersallian-style robes, and the third Councilman was an African woman in a suit.

Opposite them were the three Senators of the committee. Sriroj of the Sol Systems Republic was one he recognized immediately. The Dorei Senator was new, a man with a pale purple complexion and blue eyes that wore his long light teal hair in an elaborate series of ringlets and braids. I will never taunt Angel about her hair again, Robert thought upon seeing that. The third Senator was an Alakin, with green and yellow plumage around the neck of what Robert was sure was a female Alakin. She was in a suit of pale yellow and green trim that struck Robert as more masculine looking, at least for what he thought of such things.

The final member of the Committee was the Intelligence Director, now General Hatcher.

Now Robert could see the further additions, though. Tables along the sides had been set up and a number of other figures were seated. Dorei, Alakin, Gersallians, Humans of various ethnic origins. They would be the Senators Maran mentioned, from the Senate External Affairs and Security Committees. Robert scanned them for faces he knew, most of which he only knew through those news reports he actually managed to watch.

Hawthorne, in his place, rapped his gavel. "I call this meeting of the Defense Committee to order. These are tough times for us all, so I thank you for your prompt response to the summons. And my greetings to the esteemed Senators joining us today from the External Affairs and Security Committees. This situation is one we must all get involved with solving." Hawthorne looked over everyone. "As you all know by now, our attempted rear area attack on the Reich became a fiasco. All indications is that the Reich lured us into an ambush. The Intelligence Office believes that they were made aware of our standing plans for a quick raid by a spy, or some other security leak. Regardless of whether this is true or not, we must investigate the situation thoroughly, and ensure that our war effort does not become derailed by poor leadership. Councilman Pensley?"

Pensley had glared toward Robert again, stood to show he wanted to speak. When Hawthorne's permission came and he spoke, briefly turning to address Hawthorne, it was with a voice not quite strong enough for the ferocity behind the words. "I would argue that the real question is if we should have a war effort at all, Minister. The German Reich was clearly provoked by a certain radical clique within the Alliance government and military." He looked back toward Robert. "A clique, I am sad to say, that has won the ear of the President, and which even today shows its strength by its presence before the Committee."

Robert said nothing. He knew he had no standing to speak as it was, not being officially called as a witness yet.

It was Senator Sriroj who responded to Pensley. "The good Councilman's known hostility toward some of the leading lights of our Alliance are well known to all of us," the Thai woman said, some acid in her accented tone. "The fact that he persists in this ridiculous course of appeasement of one of the most vile regimes in the history of Human civilizations is ludicrous in itself."

"The Senator ignores the fact that the Reich was clearly provoked by an incursion of their territory and the destruction of its ships by Alliance vessels," Pensley shot back. "And while I will not ignore the crimes of the Reich, the deaths caused during their invasion of our colonies in S4W8 can be laid at the feet of the radicals responsible for provoking a war we were not ready to fight."

"And so you would have us make peace with the fascist butchers?!", Gulinev demanded. "The same fascist butchers who have slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Alliance citizens?![/i]"

"They no longer pose a threat to us," Pensley replied. "Their fleets have been driven back. We have liberated many worlds from them and the Darglan Facility of their universe has been destroyed. We've already broken the foundation of their empire. All we have to do is make peace and let their warped little system crash down around their ears. We don't need to lose more to finish off an enemy that time will beat. The only reason we're doing it now is because of small-mindedness being led about by crazed political radicalism."

"You make presumptions about the sustainability of the Reich that are unproven," Palas stated, rising to his feet. "And I do not believe this is rel…"

"And this, right here, is what I speak of!", Pensley thundered. "The Gersallians and their need to judge everyone else and throw their weight around! Clearly I'm not the only one who's seen it! They've amassed undue control over…"

"Councilmen, you are out of order!", Hawthorne cried, slamming his gavel. "Both of you are to be seated at once!"

Palas nodded in deference and did so.

Pensley did not at first. He glared at Hawthorne, who glared back, until finally the man sat with an audible thump.

"The purpose of this meeting is not to discuss peace feelers. It is to examine the issue we are faced with on a possible security breach," Hawthorne declared. His eyes scanned the room until they locked onto Robert. "Captain Dale, Commander King, I am informed that Admiral Maran has placed you in charge of the investigation. Please share with the Committee what you have learned so far."

Robert and King stood and took the central table. King nodded to Robert, signaling he would be the one speaking for them, so he brought up his digital reader. "Honored Members of the Committee, Honored Senators, we have looked over the preliminary information from the Intelligence Office." Robert drew in a breath. "It appears that at some point around five weeks ago, several anomalous access requests were logged into the Main Defense Planning Database. The database in question, for those who aren't aware, is where the secured operational plans drawn up by Defense Command planners are kept for review and alteration. Among the plans was the list of potential targets for the recent operation, or rather the list for the types of targets the raid in question was meant to eliminate."

"You say anomalous access requests, Captain." Councilman Zoral, of the Sirian League, leaned forward. His sandy brown hair was combed back and the middle-aged man kept a business expression on his face. "Can you explain what precisely you mean?"

"The system is designed to log all access requests by access point and personal code. Nobody is supposed to be able to look at this data anonymously," Robert explained. "These access requests had no such information. No access point was logged. No personal code. In short, we can't tell who accessed the data, or even if they managed to. All we know for sure is that someone tried without their location or identity being logged."

"Wouldn't a failure to put in a proper access code lead to an alarm?", the Alakin Senator asked.

"It logs the failure and alerts Defense Command security to the access attempt, yes. But we have no matching failures logged. In fact, throughout the year we only have five failures logged at all, and those have all been identified as user error by personnel with access authority." Robert looked over the notes that Jarod had compiled for him again. "The best explanation is that someone found a way to tap into the database without using a known access point. Someone physically tapped the computer cores themselves."

"That sounds dubious," Davies said. "Those cores are kept under the highest security regime. There are multiple access restrictions that have to be bypassed just to get to them."

"I understand that sir," Robert said. "But that is our best explanation for the moment. We'll investigate the possibility immediately."

Maran leaned forward. "Then the question is, if someone did get our planning data, how did they deliver it to the Reich? We have no standing channels with them, and no state we know of has regular diplomatic communications that could be used for that form of covert communication."

"They may be using long-range subspace radio keyed to specific high frequencies," Robert replied. "Or they're using another form of communication we haven't consdiered yet. We're going to look into this as well."

"Commander King, do you concur with Captain Dale's testimony to this Committee?", Hawthorne asked.

"I do, sir," King said. "Captain Dale and I have examined the evidence and come to these conclusions jointly."

"Then I leave this investigation in your hands…"

Pensley jumped to his feet. "I lodge an official protest! Captain Dale is not qualified for this sort of investigation."

"He commands officers who are."

"Nor can he be trusted with the conclusions, not when he is responsible for this war in the first place!", Pensley insisted. "This will become a mere cover for him to further promote the radical agenda that has already brought us war!"

"Councilman, you are out of order," Hawthorne ruled, slamming his gavel. The defense minister turned his glared toward Robert. "Captain, the Committee concurs with Admiral Maran's decision to place you and Commander King in joint investigation of this affair. We expect immediate results. You are dismissed."

"Yes sir." Robert stood. King stood beside him and nodded as well. The two walked briskly to the exit door.

Once the Sergeant-at-Arms let them out into the receiving area, Robert looked to King. "So Pensley is leading the peace movement?"

"He is." King gave Robert a look. "Although that's hardly a secret, Captain."

"I spend so much time doing other things that I can't keep up with all of the politics around the Council, honestly."

"I see." King consulted her multidevice. "It is past 1500 local time now. I could use a lunch, can't you?"

"I didn't get to enjoy the officer's club the last time I was here," Robert said. "I hear they make a mean steak."

King smiled at that. "Captain, you have no idea."




The job of overseeing the repairs on the Aurora was divided in responsibility. As Chief Engineer, Scotty was responsible for the immediate portion of it. He was the one that would be working with the dockmaster on a repair schedule and providing the list on what was necessary.

But the administrative side of it was all on Julia. She had to liaise with the dockmaster, with the quartermaster for both the ship and the Fleet Base, and she had to sign off on the necessary crew scheduling changes that came with shipping out crewmembers to other medical facilities.

Looking over the latter was the hardest. The casualties the Aurora had taken were severe. Knowing she hadn't been here to fight by their side… that made it worse.

The door chime for her office sounded. "Come in," she called out.

Angel was the one who walked in. "Well, hello workaholic," she said. "You do know that we're in drydock, right?"

"I do. I have the paperwork to prove it."

"Isn't that mostly Scotty's paperwork?"

"I told him I'd process it for him," Julia said. "That way he can focus on getting our ship fixed."

"I don't think you saved him much time." Angel crossed her arms and leaned against the door. "So, I was thinking we could do something. When you're done and off-duty."

"I had a pretty tight martial arts fight yesterday, Angel, I don't need to worry about honing my skills right now."

"I'm not thinking of a bout this time. In your mood that would be begging for bruises." Angel smirked. "I was thinking you, me, maybe Cat and her new girlfriend, going down to Portland and doing something, I dunno, girly. Shopping or something."

Julia leveled an intrigued stare at Angel. "Angel, you have never been a girly type girl. Never. That includes shopping."

"Well, maybe it's something to try?"

"You mean it's…" Julia stopped and blinked. "Wait. Cat and who?"

"That purple-haired helmswoman, Ensign Arterria."

"And she and Cat are… together?"

Angel shrugged. "I dunno. They're playing some game on the holodecks. Well, they were, I'm not sure what they're doing now. But I know Cat's interested in her and would love to go visit the city with her."

"Well, I'm sure you'll all have fun," Julia said. "But I've got reports to file and repairs to check on and…"

"Yes, because that's going to make up for us not being here for the attack," Angel remarked.

Julia stopped. She looked up and glared at Angel.

"I'm not dumb. I wish I'd been here too," Angel said. "But we didn't know this would happen, did we? And Jarod needed us."

"So did the others," Julia said, her voice harsh. "Our ship went into a dangerous, important operation without three of its senior officers, including its Executive Officer. That is, me."

"We couldn't have known that would happen!"

"We shouldn't have had to think about it! We should have stayed in communication and…"

Angel stepped forward from the door and slammed a palm on the desk. "And where would Jarod be if we'd done that, huh?!"

The retort brought silence to the room. "I know," Julia murmured. "But it doesn't change the fact that we weren't here when they needed us."

"I know. But we can't do anything about that right now." A grunt of frustration came from Angel. She turned to the door. "I get it, though. No to the trip. Alright."

"Maybe later," Julia said. "Once we've got the repairs going."

"Yeah, maybe," Angel said, frowning. She went through the opened door and out into the hall beyond.




In Tower 3, Jarod and Lucy were looking over the designs of the secured computer core for the Defense Planning Database. Meridina observed quietly. By her estimation, unless a swevyra'se or a disciplined swevyra'kse was responsible, the task of surreptitiously adding a device to tap the core's data seemed impossible. The security measures were simply too complex.

Meridina quietly checked the time on her multidevice. Seeing what time it was, she stepped away from the table and tapped her device. It only took a couple moments to open a channel to the Aurora, where the results of her search awaited her.

The search for the hilt was incomplete. Some of the symbols were simply unidentifiable. The others, however, seemed to be from a pre-Swenya dialect. And not just any, but the dialect of the Kuneli and their neighbors. The dialect and language were considered dead and forgotten by Gersallian authorities, swept away by the Rising of Kohbal after Swenya's death.

As for Dralan Olati… that was the most surprising. The profile was from the Olati clan-family public database. Dralan was the second son of the Mastesh of the Olati's third daughter. That meant he was not of a particularly high ranking within the family. And the image was fairly accurate to what she remembered.

But the complication was that the system claimed he was dead.

Meridina murmured, 'how?" and continued her search. She looked back in time to see Jarod and Lucy staring at her somewhat. "Sorry," she said. "Simply an investigation I have started relating to Jarod's abduction."

"You mean that Gersallian with the yellow eyes?", Jarod asked.

"Yes," Meridina replied. "I killed him during our fight. I am investigating where he came from. I have… questions, you might say."

"Yeah." Jarod rubbed at his throat. "I bet."

"It must be hard," Lucy remarked. "I mean, he had a lakesh too, right?"

"He did."

"And only the Order knows how to make them. So he was one of yours."

Meridina looked back to the image. "That is what I thought as well," she said. "But the records don't show that. By the records he was never involved with the Order."

"Huh." Lucy's brow furrowed. "That's kind of disturbing, isn't it?"

"Tremendously," Meridina said. Because if Dralan hadn't been in the Order, that meant terrible questions had to be considered.

Where did he get his training? And where or how did he get his lakesh?

"A mystery for later," she said, turning. "We should focus on the security of the Alliance first. Have you found anything?"

"Nothing yet, we're still looking everything over," Lucy said.

"Hrm." Meridina approached them again. "Well, allow me to continue with you, then. Perhaps there is something to find."

[speaker-to-trolls]

Loving your work Steve, the last chapter was I think my favourite so far between the tense standoffs and magic kung fu

This senator seems very annoying, but I have to admit that if I were an Alliance politician I might see his point. Three years ago I didn't know there was a multiverse, now we're sending another 100 battleships to fight Nazis in another dimension? Huh? What if we need those battleships for something else? Etc

[Steve]

If you mean Pensley, he's not a Senator, he's a Councilman (that is, lower house), but yeah. I go into his nation a bit in the next update, which I'm almost done with.

Shit is about to hit the fan.

As for 2-07, I think it might also be Shroom's, if only due to the presence of Kasszas.

[Shroom Man 777]

Hmmm... this Earth is the capital, right? But Gersal is a huge contributing and founding member of the alliance?

While Maran is a Gersalian... Morgan is an Earthican?

[Steve]

Maran is Gersallian. Henry Morgan, the UAS President, is Human, from a different Earth.

[Steve]

The officer's club was essentially a bar with a large eating area. Alcoholic drinks from across the Multiverse were present, although Robert asked for a soda. King, however, called for a brandy. "I wouldn't see you for the kind to drink while we're on duty," Robert said to King as she took a drink of the amber liquid.

"There are such things as detoxicants, Captain," King reminded him. "But I've found there is truth to an argument of Winston Churchill, that one drink is good for bolstering the senses."

"Wasn't that 'courage'?"

"Perhaps." King smiled thinly. "You are rather closer to Sir Winston chronologically than I am. Or rather to the versions of him from our respective histories." King took another sip and took on an introspective look. "I've always wondered what it'd be like to meet the man. If we could find a world where he still lived."

"If we did, it'd be illegal unfortunately," Robert said. "The Alliance Contact Limitations would keep us from contacting anyone on that world, short of an accident."

"I know." King took another drink, and Robert did the same. As he pondered his soda, she went on. "Of course, one could question the morality of that statute. Imagine the good we could do if we were to encounter an Earth in the 1930s, or 1940s. With our technology, the fascist powers would be crushed in days of paltry effort. All of those millions of lives saved."

Robert set his hands on the table. "I find it interesting to hear you say that, Commander. I used to be in that business before the Alliance. And I've learned it's not always so cut and dried."

"No, I suppose not. But then again, you didn't have the benefit of the training and organization you do now."

"Does Admiral Davies share these thoughts?", Robert inquired, feeling curious.

"I rather doubt it. I'm not even sure I do." King shook her head. "I believe in the chain of command and in the order of law, not your cowboy Yank heroics."

That elicited a chuckle from Robert. "Cowboy? That's a new one. I usually get called a White Knight first."

"Perhaps. But the point remains." King took another drink and swallowed it. "But then I think of the Nazis, those bloody bastards, and I think of worlds where their ilk still thrive, and I begin to wonder if it isn't worth it to ride in and crush them before they hurt anyone else." King looked into her glass, deep in thought. "If my ship were on patrol near such an Earth, and I picked up the radio signals from a place like Auschwitz, or the calls for help during the Warsaw Uprising or the Rape of Nanking…"

"I understand," Robert said. "I mean, I understand where you're coming from."

"I imagine you do." King set the glass down. "Of course, that's where the Honourable Councilman from the Tetzelian Republic would give you the dirty look like before."

"Pensley." Robert nodded. "I'm not too familiar with L4R2, actually. Ba handled our negotiations with the Tetzelians and other governments."

"I don't think they ever liked you, honestly. They blame your kind of politics for the destruction of Earth's biosphere in their history."

"So that's three universes with a trashed Earth," Robert said.

"That is true." King sighed. "Most people know bloody well what peace with Nazis means. That it's just a breather before the next round. The Tetzelians, though, they don't see that. To them history started with the evacuation of Earth, so they don't worry about Nazis the same way we would." King shook her head. "They joined the Alliance for economic benefits."

"And now we're in a war."

"Yes. A war that you have been blamed for. I would suggest that you avoid any vacations to Tetzel any time soon, Captain."

Robert nodded and grinned. "Is that the famous British understatement I've heard so much about?"

"Well, we must all keep up appearances."

A moment later a civilian waiter came in, bearing plates that had made-to-order ribeye steaks fresh from the kitchen grills. Potatoes and carrots were on King's plate. Robert had rice and green beans with his steak.

"Now we eat," King said. "And then we find out how much your super-savant and your mind-readers have discovered since we left them."




Before they left, Robert - feeling guilty - secured three plates to go for Jarod, Lucy, and Meridina. King waited patiently for him to get the boxed meals before walking back to Tower 3.

When they arrived, the three were all looking over materials. "I've brought dinner," Robert said. "Straight from the officer's club."

"You're a lifesaver," Jarod sighed. He took the offered box. Inside was a steak, sides, and utensils all prepared. "It's been a couple days since I had a proper meal."

"A couple of very tiring days, I imagine," Robert answered, offering Lucy her meal. He came to Meridina last. "It's a Gersallian meal. I was assured it was Maran's favorite."

Meridina nodded and opened the container. A slight smile came to her face. "Spiced rutapi with ganaral sauce. This is quite a handsome meal." She looked to Robert, still smiling. "Thank you for this, Captain."

"You're welcome."

King took a seat. "Do we have anything new?"

"The only method we can think of for gaining physical access is if someone has abilities," Jarod said. "As in the ones that the Gersallians call swevyra."

"Ah." King looked thoughtful at that. "I see. Do you concur, Commander?"

"Yes. It was my suggestion." Meridina gestured to the layout of the core and its protected approach. "A swevyra'se or swevyra'kse could have implanted suggestions within the guards on duty. They would have the guards open all of the access doors. Once in the core room, access could have been tapped by any number of devices attached to the main control console."

"The console would be secured against that," King said.

"If they're smart, they had something along to put it into a test mode," Jarod said. "Like any technician would."

"How often do the cores get tested?", Robert asked.

Lucy checked the schedule. "Once every ten weeks. More often if it's been called for due to technical problems."

"Check the logs, see when the last test came," Robert said.

"I'm doing that now," Lucy replied. She examined a log. "Looks like the last test was around April 4th."

"That's definitely within our targeted time period. Now we need to know if the technician was behind it or if someone slipped in around that time to trick the guards."

"Let me check the logs," Jarod said. He began operating one of the workstations. "Isolating…"

A holographic 2D image appeared on the wall facing them. It depicted a woman in an Alliance Army duty BDU walking up to them. For a moment there was nothing between them. And then she started to wave a hand.

At that point, the video abruptly cut out.

"Jarod?", Robert asked.

"Someone deleted the visual data from the file," he said.

"At least here," King said. "Those files are backed up offsite automatically by way of a one-way data transmission. The saboteur may not have known this."

Jarod nodded. "I'm checking the backed up record now." He looked back to the screen.

It was the same image again, and played on from there. The woman waved her hand. The soldier led her through.

"He didn't check her ID," Lucy said.

"And they're not supposed to escort anyone," King added. "The doors between the checkpoints are meant to be unlocked by the technician."

They watched as the woman went through the following layers of security with the guard at her side. At the middle checkpoint, another hand wave seemed to placate the guards there. The same at the last checkpoint, after which the young woman entered the core room.

The core was a hexagon, at least sixty feet wide, which meant the image only showed a part of it around the central control console and the door to leave. While the guard remained, the woman went to work on the system. For some time she worked under the core's central control console, including removing the panels below it and working on the wires within.

"Computer, freeze frame," King barked. When the video stopped, she said, "Zoom in on the subject's right hand. Lower right quadrant, upper left."

The computer analyzed King's order and obeyed. The video zoomed in. Without an order it began to enhance the image. The technician was pulling an object out of her bag. It was small, with a clear section meant for splicing wiring together.

"I've never seen anything like it," Jarod said.

"I have."

All of the eyes in the room turned toward Meridina.

A sad look filled her blue eyes. She was struck with disbelief. "It is a device manufactured by the Interdependency Defense Forces," she said. "It is intended for making entry into secured computer systems."

"So you're saying that Gersallian military intelligence did this?", King asked.

"Unlikely," Meridina said. She shook her head and was clearly struggling with what she had just seen. "However, the Defense Forces work closely with the Order, and provide us with access to such devices for our own work."

"Meridina, think about what you're saying," Lucy said.

"I know precisely what I am saying," Meridina answered. Both Robert and Lucy could feel the growing emotional turmoil within her, the sheer disbelief that this had actually happened. "But there has been trouble on Gersal for months now. Anti-Alliance sentiment has created a faction called the Dissenters who oppose our participation in the Alliance. So it is possible that even one of my fellows has gotten mixed up in this."

Commander King observed Meridina make this admission. She nodded stiffly. "Well, that leaves our duty clear. We should report this to the Committee."

Robert sighed and nodded. "Agreed." He had no choice, and he knew that, but he also knew he was handing a loaded gun to Hawthorne and Davies. Whatever was going on here, there was no telling how far it would take their anti-Gersallian, or at least anti-Order of Swenya, agenda. "We'll send a message to the Committee and then go check to see if this device is still active."

"I shall call for the technical staff," King said, bringing her left arm up to look at her multidevice. "We'll need their support."

"Secure the work stations and our materials," Robert said. "Let's get to the core."




The Main Defense Planning Database was in Tower 4, facing to the southwest, located on the highest levels of the complex (lower levels held less-critical computer cores). The five officers had called up a transport car to speed them across the walkway spanning Towers 3 and 4. The blue-skinned Dorei Private driving the craft still looked intimidated as all hell by the five officers after they left him on the other end of the walking bridge. From there it was another ten floors up to the entrance to the Planning Database.

By the time they arrived, Defense Command Security had already answered King's summons. An Army Captain, an African woman with a slight build and reserved demeanor, was waiting for them at the first checkpoint. "Commander King. Captain Dale." Her voice sounded East African to Robert. He almost wanted to say one of the Somali accents, but he'd heard many during the Facility days and wasn't sure of them all. "I am Captain Joan Orombi, of the Security Detachment. I already have technicians inside investigating this device."

"So it is still there?", Meridina asked.

Orombi nodded. "Yes, Commander, it is."

"These devices have an identification code that is placed within the hardware, it cannot be removed without disabling the device," Meridina said. "If I get the number, I should be able to verify where the device came from."

"You already know its origins?", Orombi asked.

"Yes."

"We watched the video of the device being planted," Robert explained. "Meridina was able to identify it."

"Ah." Orombi could tell that there was more to it, but she went back to business. "Follow me."

They went to the first checkpoint, where they were waved in. "We still need to figure out how they erased the on-site security footage," Lucy said.

"We will investigate thoroughly, Lieutenant."

Robert nodded. "It should help us narrow down…"

He stopped as every fiber of his being sensed the impending threat. There were only seconds to react.

"Get down!", Meridina shouted. She jumped and pulled Orombi to the wall and down. Lucy got Jarod and pulled him to the other end and Robert did the same with Commander King, who shouted "What the devil!?..." in shock as he grabbed her by the arms and pulled her.

The entire tower seemed to quake beneath their feet. A thunderous roar sounded beyond them and a plume of flame erupted from the next set of checkpoint doors. Along the walls they were safe from immediate burning, but the blast wave caught them with enough strength to knock them all over.

For several seconds Robert thought he was going to black out. His head was spinning wildly and his body ached. He could faintly hear something over the roar that had overwhelmed his ears and left them ringing. Only as his vision cleared could he see Meridina looking at him, calling his name. Robert!, she shouted in his mind.

I'm alive. He checked on King. The blast had knocked her out cold for the moment, but he could feel the life within her, and there was no sense that she was wounded. So is King.

Jarod and I are fine, Lucy added mentally.

Orombi is as well.

With that confirmed, they all looked toward the direction of the core. Fire suppression systems were kicking in and the distant drizzling sound of flame-retardant foam being sprayed over the core's access area was audible.

Robert swallowed. "This has gone beyond spying," he said. "Someone with links to the Gersallian government just set off a bomb in Defense Command."

"Yes." King was frowning. "Clearly to prevent us from gaining access to their data hacking device." King gave him a somber look before looking to Meridina. "I'm sorry Commander. But the way things are going, we may very well be looking at the end of your species' membership in the Alliance."

Meridina reacted to that news mutely, and only Robert and Lucy could feel the raw frustration surging within her. Everything she'd fought and sacrificed for was at risking of falling apart before her very eyes.




Across the Columbia and along the west bank of the Willamette, the city of Portland shined like a jewel in the lengthening sunset. Holographic signs advertised and announced everything from products to news; in the streets and in pre-programmed aerial lanes vehicles moved, carrying people from work to home or from home to work or any other location.

In the old Northwest Quarter, one dwelling in particular had quite a number of residents. On all relevant records, the home had been rented by the Gersallian Interdependency's Interspecies Cultural Exchange Directorate. The neighbors had little to say of the occupants; they were friendly to neighbors, but seemed distant, which would have been strange indeed if the neighbors knew which organization that rented the house.

Inside there were a dozen Gersallians. A few had military backgrounds. All had been training for some time for what was to come, and all were dedicated to the cause of the Interdependency… or rather, the Interdependency as they saw it. A Gersallian Interdependency that was free and independent of the quarrelling, unbalanced Human societies it had mistakenly bound itself to.

Most of those in the home were in the basement. Sound-proofing and passive jamming fields ensured privacy for the training they underwent there. At some expense, a holographic chamber had been placed into the basement, so large that it nearly took up the entire floor. Reassembling it had been the work of a week for the occupants.

On the inside, they had completed another practice run using the information given. This one had ended like many of those in the recent couple of weeks; victory, with the armed men and women standing among the carnage and destruction of what had been a holographic recreation of the Alliance Senate chamber. The holographic visages of dead Senators and officials abounded everywhere.

One of the leaders pulled off his combat helmet. "The attack was a success. End simulation."

"Kalnat." Another of his men pulled off a helmet. "Should we not practice extraction?"

"Extraction will come in one of two ways, my friends." Kalnat looked at them in one sweep of his head. "We will either be capable of activating the transporters, or we will not. That is the truth of the matter. By the time we finish this work, there will be no escape if the transporters fail."

The second man nodded. So too did the others.

"We will make one more…"

Before Kalnat could finish, a door appeared in the nearby wall. A woman in a blue robe over light purple vest and dark blue leggings stepped in. She was shaved bald, and her blue eyes looked to Kalnat intensely. "Our time has come," she said.

Kalnat looked to her. "What has happened?"

"The device was found. Our source in the Senate says we can delay no longer." The bald woman looked over them all. "We must now show our devotion to our people. A Senate meeting will be called for tomorrow morning to discuss what has happened. That is when we will strike."

"If the device was found, then security will be…"

"Our source will deal with security," the woman said. "We will do the rest."

"Yes, we will. May Swenya and our ancestors forgive us for what we must do," Kalnat answered.

"Indeed." She turned and left.

The woman walked up to the ground floor, then to her small, spartanly-furnished second floor. Her computer systems turned on and she immediately accessed the communications links that had been so carefully established in the prior months.

Within minutes a face appeared on the screen, with a moderately-sized beard and a bald head like her own. "You caught me in a meeting," said Mastrash Goras, of the Order of Swenya. "What is it, Italarai?"

"Our listening device was found. The charge went off as planned, but our source says we must hurry. We launch the operation tomorrow."

"I see." Goras nodded stiffly. "Then I can only wish the best to you. You and the Dissenters carry the hopes of our future with you, Italarai. Know that, even if your conscious is troubled by your duty."

"I know," Italarai answered. She nodded. "Mi rake sa sweyvra iso, Mastrash. I could not have asked for a finer teacher."

"You have been a devoted and marvelous student, Italarai. I hope to see you again. Mi rake sa swevyra iso."




The tension in the Defense Committee was undeniable. Robert left it to King to give the report on their findings, including the offsite video backups. His ears were still ringing from the blast. But it wasn't just that which made him feel like he had to sit down.

The bomb had killed Orombi's team. The guards at the midway checkpoint had been critically injured. The damage to the core had been substantial as well and Tower 4 had been abandoned for the time being while experts analyzed the damage and made sure that the structure was sound.

And now he was presenting evidence that this had been done by one of their own. An investigation into whether the Nazis had expectations of the Alliance's raiding plans had led them straight to findings that could rip the Alliance apart.

"And you are certain of this?", asked Minister Hawthorne.

"We are, sir," King replied. "Captain Dale and I have signed off on the findings. While we cannot be sure what data was leaked due to the destruction of the spying device, it is clear that a major security breach could have easily leaked our plans to the Reich. The method by which this communication could have been made is still undetermined."

"And it was agents of the Gersallian Interdependency who committed this act?", Pensley asked.

"I object to that!" The male Dorei Senator - Hipathi - stood to his feet with his pale purple skin turning dark purple around his cheeks. "This is not proof that the Gersallian government has done anything!"

Pensley smirked with immense self-satisfaction. "I hear the voice of the Dorei Senator, but I hear the words of the Gersallians who are his puppet-masters."

Hipathi's face turned an even deeper purple. Before he could bark out a retort, Hawthorne's gavel rapped. "You are both out of order!", Hawthorne shouted. When both sat, still glaring at each other, Hawthorne returned his attention to King and Robert. "The device, you say that the video record shows it as a Gersallian one?"

"It does, sir," King said.

"How did you make this identification, Commander?", asked Councilman Palas. The Gersallian legislature's voice was hoarse. His expression was drawn and pale.

"Commander Meridina provided the identification, Honored Councilman." King turned to face him. "She stated that it is a device made by the Interdependency Defense Forces, and that it has been provided in the past to members of the Order of Swenya for use in the field."

Palas looked at Meridina. She seemed almost in her own world. Robert could feel the anguish and uncertainty she felt, and now horror that her own people might have caused the deaths of Alliance personnel.

Hawthorne and Davies exchanged intrigued looks. Robert kept himself from scowling.

"These are grave accusations," Sriroj said. The Thai woman's eyes went to the Defense Minister. "I would move that an investigation be ordered into the possible Gersallian involvement."

"Assuming this isn't some false flag." Zoral sat up in his chair and triggered his own recorder and microphone with the movement. "There are factions that would attempt such a thing to turn us against each other."

"And yet the investigators' own video proof shows that the saboteur used mental powers, just as the Order of Swenya does," Davies retorted. "All of this evidence is pointing in that direction."

"We both know that the Gersallian Order of Swenya is not the only source of such beings, Admiral," Zoral retorted. "The intruder could have been a Betazed. But you don't see me rushing to accuse the Federation, do you?"

"How would a Federation officer have gotten their hands on such sensitive Gersallian equipment, Councilman?" Pensley shook his head. "I know how much you Sirians love the Gersallians, but this is really too much. In time you'll be as beholden to them as the Dorei are. And before the honored Defense Minister calls us to order, I have my own proposal to add to the Honorable Senator Sriroj's." Pensley looked over the others, and especially at the Senators assembled from the External Affairs Committee. "I move that the Defense Committee formally endorse resuming the peace initiative with the Reich. It's clear we have to clean up our own house before we can even begin to consider a permanent arrangement in S4W8."

"I object!", General Gulinev snarled. "We cannot make peace with fascists!"

"It is not your place to object to a political consideration, General!", Pensley shot back.

"Order!" Hawthorne slammed his gavel. "There will be order in the Committee!" With swiftness the voices and shouts died down.

As the voices died down, the Sergeant-at-Arms approached Hawthorne and whispered into his ear. "Very well," he said. "Bring her in."

Robert and the others looked back to see the doors open to admit a new arrival. The Chinese woman in question was reserved in her attire, a full-sleeved gray suit and loose gray trousers with gold-colored embroidery on the sleeves and cuffs. Her dark hair was pulled back into an austere bun, the temples already graying, and her face was thin.

A very bad feeling came over him at seeing her.

"Senator Kiang," said Minister Hawthorne. "Thank you for joining us."

"Minister." Kiang nodded. "I have come to inform you that the Senate has voted to hold a full session in the morning on this situation."

Sriroj gave her peer a look of irritation. "I was not aware the Senate was voting on the subject."

"Nor were any others here," Kiang said. "But Senate President Akreet agreed to the session and held a virtual meeting of the majority of the Senators. The vote for a session was approved. And the Defense Committee has been requested to observe and participate as is deemed necessary."

"Very well." Sriroj was clearly unhappy.

"Then I take it the Senate is assuming control over the investigation?", Hawthorne asked.

"Oversight, yes. But I believe it acceptable for your team to continue their work," Kiang said. "Although some considerations may be necessary given the evidence. Among the legislation being proposed would be a ban on permitting members of certain 'orders' from serving in the Alliance services."

Robert could sense Lucy's surge of anger at that. He knew she could feel his. Within a second he was on his feet, looking at Kiang. "You're talking about banning Commander Meridina and her peers," he said.

"Captain, you have no place to join this conversation!", Hawthorne barked.

Robert bit down on his lip at that.

"I would be happy to help direct such legislation through the Council," said Pensley, who was almost purring with delight. "I have long waited for the Senate to realize the dangers facing the Alliance from the inside."

"Do not mistake our purpose," Kiang said. "We have many considerations for how to deal with the recent difficulties. The investigation into Gersallian responsibility for the security breach, and for this bombing, is just one element. That is why we wish the Defense Committee's presence."

Robert could feel the satisfaction oozing from Hawthorne and Davies. Maran's face remained a stone mask.

"Then, in light of this, I will adjourn the Committee for the evening. We will reconvene tomorrow morning. Before we adjourn, however…" Hawthorne looked back to Robert. The pleasure was eminent in his face. "It is clear, Captain Dale, that your services with this investigation are no longer necessary. Nor are they desired. You and your officers are hereby relieved from those duties and you are dismissed. Commander King, you may assign a new team as you like."

Maran frowned at Hawthorne. But he did nothing. Given the way things had gone, he could do nothing.

"We are all hereby adjourned." With a last rap of the gavel, the session ended and the Committee began to file out the nearby doors. With a gesture, Davies summoned Commander King. She took one last look at them before joining him through a side door.

"Robert, you can't let them do this," Lucy said. Beside her, Meridina looked and felt miserable. "This is the opening they've been waiting for!"

"There's not anything we can do," Jarod replied on Robert's behalf. "Maran's known for cooperation with the Order of Swenya, so this makes it impossible for him to act."

"So Meridina's going to be kicked out of the Stellar Navy over this?" Lucy shook her head. "That's ridiculous! And that device doesn't prove anything. There are other life force users out there, they could have swiped it!"

"It's not about what is true," Robert mumbled. "It's about what fits everyone's expectations." As he said that he looked to Kiang, who was exiting with other Senators from the two observing delegations. "And you heard Pensley. There are probably more like him. They have it out for the Gersallians. Maybe over last year, or maybe over other things. This gives them a chance to vent about it."

"There has to be something we can do," Lucy insisted. "Because look at them. Hawthorne and Davies are so paranoid about Meridina they don't care about anything else."

Robert considered that. "There's only one thing I can do." He stood up a the room finished clearing. "I'll meet you at the shuttle bay. If nothing comes of this we'll just have to get a flight back to the Aurora."

The others nodded in reply as they stood, even Meridina. They left together.



When they got to the shuttle bay, at the very top of the central building, Jarod went off to find a flight officer and a shuttle that would be available. Lucy and Meridina waited outside of the chamber. "Maybe it's what Zoral said." Lucy put a hand on Meridina's arm while she stared blankly at the window. Night was falling in Portland and the red and orange rays of sunset were coming over the hills to the west, on the opposite side of the Columbia River. It was a lovely sight, but it was also not the focus of Lucy's attention.

Lucy felt the fear and despair inside of her mentor and it made her heart sink. Those emotions would only make things worse for Meridina and her struggles with the darkness that Amaunet's possession had left her with.

"I wish it were true," Meridina said. "But a part of me… it is as if my swevyra itself can feel that it is true. That one of my own was responsible."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite." Meridina shook her head. "I… I can't understand it. Why would any of them do something like that? Even my father, even Goras, would not…"

"There might be another explanation. Maybe one of your Knights went rogue and fell to darkness? They could be working for the Nazis, or whoever is spying for them."

"If so, then they have done us a great harm, Lucy. Great harm indeed." Meridina shook her head. Tears had appeared in her eyes. "They are destroying everything that we have aspired to build. The future itself is at threat because of them, the victory of Light, everything I've sacrificed for…"

"The what?", Lucy asked. "What are you talking about?"

Meridina bowed her head. "There are some things I have not told you, Lucy, because it was not the right time. Perhaps, now, it shall never be."

Lucy's curiosity piqued. But she also trusted Meridina enough to let the curiosity pass. "It's up to you on how much you tell me. I would like to know."

"Perhaps… in time. When this is over."

"Now all we can do is hope Robert comes up with something."

"Indeed."




Robert made a beeline toward Admiral Maran's office. But he did not stop there.

A couple of turns down further corridors brought him to his destination. Beside the door was the sign with the name of the office's occupant.

Admiral William Davies - Vice CNO

Robert keyed the door and opened. An older woman, of about forty with a Mediterranean complexion and dark hair, was sitting in the next room at one desk, her rank insignia that of a Captain, while a younger Caucasian woman in her early twenties with a yeoman's rating insignia on her collar was at the desk beside the door. Both looked up. "Sir?", the yeoman asked. "How can I help you?"

"I'm Captain Robert Dale and I need to speak to Admiral Davies," he said.

"He is currently occupied in a meeting," the yeoman replied. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait."

"No, yeoman, he will not," said the Captain. Her accent was Spanish, or maybe Portuguese. "I'm Captain Benedita Soveral, the Admiral's senior aide. And I can tell you that he is not interested in speaking with you."

"I need to talk with him about the investigation," Robert said.

"You have been removed from that investigation, Captain Dale." The way she spoke made it clear she didn't think he deserved the equal rank to her. "Commander King will share anything of interest. Now, the Admiral has had a very long day and isn't up to whatever complaint you wish to subject him to."

"I'll let him decide that."

"It's my job to decide," Captain Soveral declared. "And if you don't leave I will call…"

The door to the inner office opened. Commander King stepped out with Admiral Davies at the door behind her. Both looked at Robert. King nodded to him, gave him a polite, "Captain Dale", and went on out.

Davies and Robert exchanged looks. "I can give you a few minutes, Captain," he said, withdrawing into the office. Robert followed before the door closed.

Davies' office was more furnished than Maran. Old holopics and normal 2D print pictures adorned shelves. A large model of an Earth Confederacy dreadnought was prominent on one wall.

"Well, Captain, I don't have a lot of time with the Senate session coming in the morning." Davies took his chair behind his desk and looked to him. Even as he did, he was typing something onto his systems. Behind Davies and through the secured window Robert could make out the city lights of Portland in the distance, a lovely view if not for the circumstances before him. "What do you want?"

"Admiral, I'd like to continue being part of the investigation."

"That is not possible, Captain," Davies announced. "And given what Commander King's debriefing stated, you know why."

"She told us about what happened last year, yes. The Gersallians threatened to leave the Alliance if the Defense Committee removed us from the Aurora."

"And the Senate knows it, as does everyone on the Committee," Davies said. "They know you're not an unbiased observer in this, Captain. You have strong reason, very strong reason, to see the Gersallian involvement in this scandal hushed up."

"But that's not what I want," Robert insisted. "Whoever did the crime has to face punishment, regardless of their species."

"What you want, Captain, is irrelevant. You're off the investigation. As far as I'm concerned, you should be going back to that starship that you can't seem to keep out of the repair yards." Davies put his hands on the table. "If things play out the way they're going, hopefully that won't be happening again either."

Robert ignored the remark, even as he sensed what it entailed. He had another card to play. "You don't think it's suspicious that Senator Kiang is the one who's initiating this Senate meeting? That she's the one who just so happens to be ready to put this entire thing in the open?"

:"Suspicious? No, I'm damn grateful. She was working with the Gersallians last year. It seems it only took thousands of dead Alliance personnel to make her see that mistake."

"And you didn't read the report from DS9?", Robert asked. "We had Dominion sabotage completely shut down the station, and we never found out why. The summit had to be the target."

"Your own report said that Commander Kane secured the Senator."

"After several minutes of blackout, sir," Robert said. "That's more than enough time for a Changeling to act."

Davies met him eye to eye. "I see. So that's what you're going to argue. That Senator Kiang is doing this because it's not her, she's been replaced by a Changeling."

"I think we need to look into it," Robert said. "We still don't know how any defense plans could be sent to the Nazis."

"Commander King will undoubtedly turn up the cause," Davies said. "As for the failed summit, I have indeed read the report, and my conclusion is that the incident is far more easily explained by the presence of a centuries-old Asari serial killer being able to hack into the atrocious computer security of that decrepit old Cardassian station. Calling it a Dominion operation when we had no indication of Dominion involvement in the situation is foolish."

"Jarod's report on the virus used on DS9 says otherwise."

"Commander Jarod's report simply specified that the attack vectors were similar. Not that they were the same." Davies put his hands together on the desk. The gesture briefly dismissed his hardlight keyboard. "This seems to me to be nothing more than the desperate flailing of a partisan for the Gersallians and the Order of Swenya. Frankly, you should have followed your mentor's example, Captain, and kept you mouth shut, because there's nothing that you can do or say to cover up the fact that your Gersallian friends have been caught red-handed engaging in espionage against the Alliance military. And if I have my way, the Gersallians are going to outlaw that damn Order or be driven out of this Alliance. And if that costs us a third of our memberships, that's fine by me, because we'll be a better and safer organization without them."

Robert looked across the desk at Davies with near-incomprehension. He understood that Davies had suspicions of the Gersallians, but this was taking that even further. "Can't you see what you're doing, Admiral?", he asked. "All of this paranoia and suspicion is going to destroy the Alliance!"

"I'm well aware of what can or can't destroy this Alliance, Captain," Davies retorted. He started typing again. "And it seems to me that you've already picked your side on that matter with what you've become." Before Robert could ask what he meant, Davies smirked at him. "Oh, I know what you are, Captain. I read the report on Gamma Piratus. You've become one of them."

"If you mean I found out I've got these life force powers, yes," Robert said. "It let me save the lives of my colleagues and stop the Nazis from taking over the Facility."

"Oh, I'm sure it did," Davies said. There was a dangerous glistening in his dark blue eyes. "But that's the problem. Powers, things like that, are a threat to the liberties of the Alliance and its people. That blast tonight proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind. One saboteur, one, waltzed right through all of our security by mentally dominating our people. I shudder to think of what entire organizations of them can do. Because when you think about the number of people they can dominate and the power they can wield, and how many of them there are, you realize that nobody is safe from them. They could seize control of our government with ease. They've already done it with the Gersallians and the Dorei. And when you realize that, a good man comes to only one conclusion." Davies stood and leaned across his desk, drawing closer to Robert. "The Order of Swenya, and the Crimson Brotherhood and the Silver Moon and all of those other Dorei organizations, are grave and terrible threats to the citizenry of the Alliance. And I am going to neutralize those threats to preserve the sacred liberties of every member of this Alliance."

The sheer vitriol and disgust coming off of Davies was almost putrid. There was no disguising what was within him: fear, and with that and being driven by it, was hate. Hate for anyone who could wield power over him. Who could turn his mind against him. The sheer horror of that thought of violation had hardened Davies' opinions on the matter.

It was with frustration that Robert brought his hands up in a gesture of disbelief. "How can you be so close-minded… this is what the Nazis want! And the Dominion, and the Batarians, and all the other tyrants and dictatorships that stand to benefit from the Alliance collapsing! They want us at each other's throats!"

"The meta-powered beings of the Multiverse are greater threats to this Alliance than any of those forces you just mentioned," Davies retorted. "I want the Nazi Reich gone too, but not at the cost of my freedom of thought. If I had to choose, I'd gladly be supporting Pensley's peace broadcasts if it meant saving the Alliance from your friends.""

"People with these abilities aren't threats to you," Robert insisted. "It doesn't work that way!"

"So you say. But I have little reason to trust you." Davies was still oozing vitriol, and it was joined by intense satisfaction. He took his seat again and resumed typing. "Now, you've said your peace, Captain, and I have work to do. I suggest you return to your ship. Your part is done and you are dismissed."

Robert's first desire was to plead for time, to persuade Davies he was wrong. But there was no mistaking that oily, dark feeling he was getting from Davies. There would be no persuading him with talk. Davies was convinced of a threat, and now he had evidence that his suspicions were correct. And that was all there was to it. Dejected, Robert began to walk toward the door to leave.

One last thought came to him. He turned briefly. "Admiral, if you're so worried about people with life force powers being able to take over minds, why did you let me come in here alone?"

Davies looked up from his desk and smirked. "Captain Soveral has been monitoring us. I've been keeping in touch with her the whole time. At the first sign of you using your powers against me, she was going to fry your brains out with a microwave pulse rifle. Now, as I said, you are dismissed."

Robert blinked and opened the door. Captain Soveral was indeed standing on the other end. A black-painted rifle with an emitter at the firing end was in her arms. She smirked at him. "The yeomen has a weapon as well."

She did indeed. Also pointed at Robert.

"I've also alerted security to send a sweep our way. So I don't suggest you try anything, Captain, if you want to live." Soveral tilted her head to the door. "You may go."

Robert nodded. The paranoia and fear oozing from Soveral was just as bad as that from Davies. He almost got the sense that she wanted him to "try" something, just so she would have an excuse to shoot him.

He didn't give her the chance. He went for the door.




When he arrived at the shuttle bay, Robert found the others waiting. "How did it go?", Lucy asked.

"Davies thinks he's won," Robert sighed. "He's… poisoned by hate and fear about us. He thinks we're out to use our powers to dominate the minds of the government and rule the Alliance like.. I don't know, some clique of super-powered beings."

"He thinks we are like the Brotherhood of Kohbal," Meridina said. "Darkness does manifest as desire to rule and to dominate."

"Either way, he's enthusiastic about tomorrow. He's convinced that he's got the smoking gun he was looking for. And he doesn't care at all about the issue with Kiang."

"Is there anything more we can do?", Jarod asked.

"I… I don't know," Robert said. "Admiral Maran's helpless. Depending on how things go tomorrow, President Morgan might even be forced to re-assign him. And I'm not sure the President can do anything. Not with the bomb, I mean."

"Then it may be over," Meridina said quietly. "Maybe it has been for nothing…"

Lucy gave Meridina a worried look. "We should go back," she said. "We're all exhausted."

"I have a shuttle ready," Jarod said.

"And a pilot?"

"Oh, no pilot." Jarod smirked. "I gave some advice that was helpful and the assigned pilot signed off for the day. The flight control officer's agreed to let me pilot the shuttle back. I'll have a couple of the flight crew fly it back in the morning."

"Then let's go," Robert sighed. "After the day we've had, I just want to collapse in bed."





"It's that device, isn't it?", Lucy asked, as she approached Meridina's quarters alongside her mentor. "That's what's bothering you."

"It is more than the device," Meridina said. "I cannot get the feeling out of my being that everything is going wrong. Something is going to happen. And because of the darkness infesting Admiral Davies, we can do nothing about it."

Lucy had to admit she felt apprehensive too. Like something terrible was about to happen. But she couldn't place it, not exactly. "What do you think will happen?"

"Destruction. Death. Slaughter. And from it more." Meridina's blue eyes hazed with doubt. "But the darkness within me… I can't be sure if what I'm seeing will come to pass or if it is a reflection of what is inside. If I'm distorting my sight with the darkness within me."

"Maybe not, but we can't take that chance." Lucy frowned. "Let's get some sleep first? Then maybe in the morning we can figure something out."




The day had been a blur of paperwork and quick meeting for Julia. That had been a benefit, if only to keep her from facing the twisted up feelings inside.

But once she was trying to sleep, that benefit went away. She couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed while her mind continued to run the images in her head. The tactical reports that Robert and Locarno had filed, and Zack's, had made the progress of the battle clear. She kept thinking of the things she would have done had she been there, advising Robert, and how that might have changed the battle. Maybe they could have saved more ships… no, certainly they would have. Maybe even the Themistocles.

It seemed like she had finally settled into sleep.

Suddenly her multi-device went off. She sat up and opened her eyes. The drydock was gone, replaced by burning ships and energy weapons fire raining down on the ship. Her eyes widened and Julia sprinted off to the bridge, still in her nightgown. The cyan-toned garment was hardly fitting for duty, but she had to get to the bridge, she had to be there! They needed her!

She about jumped into the lift and shouted "Bridge!" It started lifting her up while the ship rocked beneath her. The journey kept going. Far longer than it should have. "Go faster!", she demanded. "Faster!"

"Unable to comply. Lift car already at maximum safe velocity."

A long growl of frustration answered it. "Get me there you stupid…!"

Finally, after even more time, the door opened. Julia rushed out onto the burning bridge as the vessel rocked around her. On the viewscreen a Nazi dreadnought was pumping super-disruptor blasts into the Aurora. "I'm here! What's happening?"

"You abandoned us."

The voice was Cat's. But off. Julia turned toward Sensors.

Cat's blackened corpse was laid against it. Her head lolled, lifeless, to the side. But the mouth still moved. "You abandoned us, Julia."

"Why?", another voice asked. Angela was sprawled out on the floor nearby, half of her body ablaze and her eyes staring dully upward. "Why weren't you here?"

Julia's breath quickened. She looked around in a panic. Barnes stared at her, a blackened corpse at Engineering. "You should've been here!", he accused.

"You left us to die," agreed the slumped corpse of Nicholas Locarno. He was in her chair.

"We needed you and you abandoned us." That was from Robert. Julia, trembling in disbelief and fear, rounded the side of the command area to go toward her seat and his. He was laid back in it, arms dangling to either side, a disruptor burn between his lifeless eyes.

Leo was on the ground nearby, a medical case in his hand opened and its contents strewn about. Even as he didn't look toward her, his mouth moved. "You weren't here."

"You weren't here!"

"Ye weren't at yer post!"

After the accusations from Zack and Scotty, Julia started to turn, trying to follow the voices, until she found herself in engineering. Not on the Aurora, but on the Koenig.

Karen Derbely, in hospital gown and wrapped in bandages, was standing beside the plasma coolant conduit. "Look at what happened to me," she said, her voice scratchy and strange. "Because you weren't here, because you weren't here!"

Behind Derbely the conduit splintered. Julia screamed as the coolant rushed like an ocean wave and washed over her, cooking her to…

Julia sat up, a scream still in her throat, and again was in the quiet darkness of her quarters. Once the scream stopped the only sound was the heaving of her breath. She looked out the window and saw nothing. She'd set her windows to tint mode.

It was a dream. It was all a dream.

The time said 0250. That made Julia groan as she slid out of bed. Her blue sleeping gown had a coat of sweat now. And her mind… her mind was in such agitation that she knew she wouldn't be falling asleep soon.

Her first act was to assume a ready stance and to begin the slow movements of a t'ai chi routine. If it worked she'd be able to get some sleep soon. All she had to do was let her mind calm down.

It didn't.




The dreams came back for Robert that night. The broken, twisted remnants of a city stretched before him, shadowy figures dancing just out of range of the light, and beyond a single light pierced the sky. A loud noise, like a trumpet horn sounded through the Devil's synthesizer, rattled his bones.

And then there was a scream. He turned. Julia was strapped into a chair of some sort, with something braced around her head while her bare wrists were covered in straps, while SS men stood nearby at controls. Her face contorted into agony and she cried out. Fassbinder, the SS man killed at the Gamma Piratus Facility, was standing beside her smirking as he looked to Robert. He started to open his mouth.

But then he was gone. Robert stood in a room with men in SS uniforms strewn everywhere, already dead or unconscious. Winds whipped around him like he was standing near a tornado. He looked up and saw a young woman in a tattered vest and suit, both red with gold or yellow trim, standing on a raised dais. The winds whipped around her. When she opened her eyes, they glowed with pure energy. Robert raised his arms in self-defense…

....and then he was somewhere new. To his surprise, it was the Senate chamber of the Alliance. And it looked like a war zone, with work stations still sparking while the dead bodies of gunmen and Senators and others were strewn about. "This is all your fault!", screamed a voice. Robert turned and found Admiral Davies over the dead body of Commander King. "I'm going to destroy everything you cherish!", he vowed. "I will not let you win!"

And he could imagine it, in a flurry of horrible images, a host of Alliance fleets destroying one another accompanied by the Alliance flag being torn in half. When the destruction ended he looked up.

It was New Liberty that was burning. Beth and her wife were among the dead at his feet, and on the Government Building, a Nazi swastika fluttered triumphantly in the flame-swept winds consuming the Colony. A wolf howled in the background. And then he heard the door chime and…

….and Robert was awake, sitting up in bed, while the door chime went off in the main living area. He looked over and saw he was alone. Angela had gone to bed in her quarters when he hadn't returned. He took the time to pull on a pair of knee-length shorts before stumbling to the door and opening it.

Julia was standing in the doorway with reddened eyes. She'd pulled a baby blue bathrobe over the emerald nightgown she'd changed into. "Hey," she said. "Are you…?"

"Angel's not here," he replied. His eyes felt heavy, but after that dream he knew he'd be awake for a while. "Come in."

Julia stepped into his quarters. "Do you want to have a coffee?", she asked. "It looks like we're not getting any sleep."

"Let's give it half an hour, the last thing I need is for the caffeine to keep me up when I could fall asleep again." He went to his replicator. "You?"

"If you're not having any, I won't."

"Okay then. I'll get us some tea then." He looked back to his machine. "Brown tea, unsweetened, warm. Two mugs, standard servings." Light coalesced as the atoms were moved about, forming the requested containers and beverages. He picked them up and brought them over to the couch, where he handed one to Julia. He stepped beside her and sat to her right, at the edge of the couch. "So, here we are," he said.

"Looking like two insomniacs fresh out of bed," Julia added, smirking.

Robert looked down, as if just noticing he was shirtless. "Ah, yeah."

"At least it's an enjoyable view," Julia added in a teasing tone.

"Right." Robert sipped at the tea. It wouldn't wake him up like coffee. If anything, he hoped that it would soothe enough that he would go back to sleep. "So… bad dreams?"

"You've got those life force powers, that's cheating," Julia answered. She took another sip.

"Too true." Robert sighed. "And they're part of the problem. I take it you heard?"

"I did." Julia shook her head. "Someone's already let it slip that a Gersallian was behind it, and that it might be the Order."

"Davies. Preparing the way for his grand plan to crush the Orders or drive the Gersallians and Dorei out of the Alliance." Robert shook his head. "The man was ready to have me shot tonight over these powers."

"You're joking."

"I'm not." Robert sipped at his tea again. "And what about you? What caused your bad dream?"

Julia took a quiet sip first. "I… it's probably this… twistiness I feel inside."

"From not being there?"

"Yeah."

Robert shook his head. "But you can't blame yourself…"

"I know, Rob." Julia's voice was laced with irritation. "I know that. Rationally. Nobody can blame me for not being there. You don't, Zack doesn't, Maran doesn't…"

"But you do."

"Yes." She nodded. "Yes, I do, and I shouldn't, but I Goddamned do." She put her left arm on her left thigh and used the hand to prop her head up, half covering her face in the process. "It's like there's this part of me that refuses to accept any reason for it. It's mad as hell I wasn't there and it's making me suffer for it."

"Sometimes our head and our heart aren't in the same place," Robert sighed. "I'm sorry that it's making you feel that way."

"Well, nothing you can do about my psyche." Julia moved her head to take another drink. "So is this it? I mean… is this thing going to blow up?"

"Senator Kiang called for a Senate session tomorrow. The Defense Committee will produce the relevant evidence." Robert shook his head. "Maran's helpless. Morgan can't do anything about it. Whoever did this, whether they're Gersallian or not, made a mess of things. We lost lives tonight."

"Right." Julia nodded, but her eyes were dark. "You think this will go that far?"

"I think the Alliance is about to fall apart." Robert's expression was dark. "And I think that it might be the Dominion's fault."

"Kiang." Julia nodded. "Kane did say he didn't get in to see her right away."

"Could be nothing."

"Or it could be that she was replaced by a Changeling."

"Right." Robert pondered that. "So, how do we convince anyone? After tomorrow it'll be too late. The news will go out what happened and the Gersallians' role in the Alliance will be destroyed."

"Except the evidence isn't one hundred percent," Julia noted. "So all of the people who like the Gersallians will see it as Hawthorne and Davies stretching the evidence to justify a bigoted agenda."

"And all the while, Pensley will be in the Council, pushing the anti-war agenda."

"As if the Nazis will make peace and keep it." Julia rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, but that's not stopping him. And he'll get Tetzel's Senator to agree with him, and they'll push to resume their peace proposal broadcasts to…"

After a moment, Julia looked at Robert, who stared dully ahead. "Robby?"

"Resume peace broadcasts," Robert murmured. "He said he wanted to resume them."

"Okay?"

"Which means that they've already been made before," Robert said.

"Right." Julia shook her head. "But what…" She stopped. Her eyes widened.

"The broadcasts. That's how." Robert sat up and went over to his desk. "Computer, open priority channel, full encryption, authorization code Dale Juliet Zulu Romeo Three Five Six."

"Please specify recipient."

Robert leaned over it. Julia stepped up beside him. "Commander Elizabeth King."

"Locating specified recipient. Standby."

"Why King?", Julia asked.

"Because Maran can't do anything about it now, and Davies would literally take the Devil's word over mine right now."

"And King won't? She's his spy, remember?"

Robert shook his head. "True, but she puts her duty before her prejudices."

"Ah." Julia sighed. "Well, I'll leave you to it."

Robert stopped leaning over his desk and looked over to Julia. "Hey, Julie?" He put a hand on her arm as a gesture of support. "I know that this isn't something you just get over. All I can say is… I trust you. I trust you more than I trust myself, and if you're not here for a crisis, I'll always know it's for a good reason. I know you won't abandon us, okay?"

Julia responded with a faint smile. "Thanks," she said. "I'm hoping that helps."

"Me too." Robert looked back to his desk monitor.

A moment later King appeared. The background seemed to be that of an apartment bedroom. The call had roused her from bed, so King was in a conservatively-made night-robe. A bright, shiny pink robe, but a normal one still.

"I guess she doesn't sleep in her uniform," Julia mumbled to herself, so low even Robert barely made out what she said.

"Captain." King was clearly irritated, and just as clearly dedicated to hiding it. "I suppose you have a good reason for waking me at this ungodly hour?"

"Commander, Pensley talked about resuming peace broadcasts to the Reich," Robert said. "So there have already been broadcasts, right?"

"I believe so. I'll have to check the logs."

"I think that's how our plans were passed on to the enemy."

King frowned at that. "How? Those messages were vetted by the Intelligence Office and the Command Staff."

"Maybe not in the actual message. But someone, our spy for instance, may have been able to add the data if they got access. A subchannel or something. Something most people wouldn't see unless they knew what to look for."

King considered that. "It's possible. Although if true, the consequences are horrifying."

"What do you mean?"

"As I said, those messages were carefully vetted up to the moment of transmission. For any additional data to be included in the package would have required the highest accesses. I'm not even sure the technicians themselves could do it and not be noticed, only someone with access to the actual message and related data before its transmission."

"Like?"

King thought for a moment. "The Senators on the External Affairs Committee."

Robert frowned. "Kiang."

King's jaw clenched. "I'll make inquiries. Please meet me tomorrow morning in the Rose Garden. Go ahead and bring the others."

"We'll be there," Robert pledged. "Dale out."

[Shroom Man 777]

Uh oh.

[Shroom Man 777]

I really like King and always did. Her duty-ness and competentness and rationality and such.

And you're getting better at this political thriller stuff. Not that you weren't doing it well previously... but this one, you're revisiting things but with HIGHER STAKES.

And Davies. Man. What a psycho. I dig it. I like the insight onto how his essence as a powertripping authoritarian control freak (which has its uses in the military) made him snap over the issue of Life Force users and psionics - an existentially anathemic concept to him.

I hope that other non-Gersallian societies in the Alliance, ones with their own psionic phenomena, can weigh in to some degree and add their two-cents and try to dispel the paranoia... even if they fail to do so.

[Steve]

Italarai and Kalnat had roused everyone that morning for a final layout of the plan. One of their number, Seqen, was doing his part already by preparing their transportation. Infiltration would mean staying out of sight; the day was warm and it would be impossible to justify wearing the heavy clothing that might have obscured their weapons to the eyes of others. Instead they would carry them in packs and duffelbags, made so that they would look like tourists if spotted inside the Senate.

With one careful look Italarai noted their nervousness. She could feel their fear. That deep down, despite their devotion, they still did not want to die. She understood it, and indeed, she didn't feel bad about it either. To follow a cause to the final end was always difficult.

"We will not die if it can be avoided," she stated. "The Interdependency will need us in the coming days. Our attack may very well provoke war. But without it, our people will be conquered from within, and we will become nothing but puppets to the Humans and their Alliance."

The heads at the table nodded grimly.

The door opened. Seqen stepped in. "The truck is ready," he said.

"Then we leave immediately," Kalnat said. "For the people of Gersal."

"For the people of Gersal," the others echoed.




With the light of the sun and the growing warmth of the day, the Rose Garden looked particularly tranquil when they arrived to meet King. She was near a public meal replicator kiosk with a mostly-finished breakfast before her. "I was afraid you wouldn't arrive," she said as Robert sat down. Lucy, Meridina, and Jarod all brought up seats.

"We had a few difficulties getting the carpool at Command to let me use a vehicle," Robert said. "I had to go to General Gulinev's chief of staff to get them to cooperate."

"Yes, that would be Admiral Davies," she said. "He contacted me this morning with the suspicion you would try to intervene."

"He's taking this way too far."

"He is frightened of the powers you wield. I admit I'm not pleased with the prospect either." King sipped at her coffee. "The difference is, I know that you're not the kind of man to use them just to get your own way. And if you and Meridina were committed to covering up this incident, you wouldn't have identified the device in question so readily. Davies and his inner circle know you only as a brash radical assigned to a command above your station and with the power to compel them mentally."

"I don't think I could compel a cat to bat yarn with these powers, honestly. But that's not what we're here for."

"Indeed not." King frowned. "I've been up all night attempting to decipher the peace initiative broadcasts that were sent."

"You didn't find anything?"

"No. But that's not surprising, as my access has been restricted by Senate order. All I could access was a basic copy of the planned message and the raw data on the transmission itself, since it was sent through Stellar Navy channels." King held up one of the digital pads in front of her. "But I can't see what was actually sent."

"I would think Davies would back you in getting to review them."

"He can't on his authority. The President can, but without probable cause I can't go to him. The Senate would be in an uproar." King shook her head. "Hypothesis aside, we have no actual proof that the plans were transmitted inside of the peace offers. Without that proof, nobody will let us have the access we need."

"Maybe we don't need the actual transmission," Jarod said. "May I?"

King nodded and handed him the digital pad. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm examining the transmission data. How much raw data was used, for instance. A simple message, even as an official communication, wouldn't be above a certain size." Jarod examined the contents of the screen. Robert could only imagine the way that his mind was running, quickly analyzing what was before him in such a way that he was nearly putting himself into the shoes of the saboteur. "So I'm comparing the message that was planned to the volume of data that was actually sent." After a few more seconds Jarod smirked. "There you are," he murmured.

"Commander?" King looked at him intently.

"Each transmission is at least three percent larger than it should be with this message."

"What if someone made last minute alterations?", Lucy asked.

"Then they would be defying the Senate's explicit instructions," King answered. "What could be sent within that margin? The size of the message isn't that great, there's no way the plans could be mixed in."

"Not in one message." Jarod showed a pleased smirk. "But what if each specific transmission had a different piece? I mean, presumably the message was transmitted repeatedly over a few days, right?"

"Correct."

"Then maybe the system was set to transmit the data piece by piece with every individual transmission of the peace message," Jarod said. "The Nazis, by analyzing the message, realize it contains something extra, and after several transmissions our spy has introduced himself, or herself, and sent them the plans they took."

"A plausible explanation," King said. "I might be able to present this to the Senate."

Robert nodded. But he was already thinking of something else. "We need to be in the Senate."

King gave him a look. "I'm already putting my career at risk talking to you, Captain, I lack any authority to get you into the Senate. And why would you want to be there?"

"Because I think something's going to happen today," Robert said. "I don't have any physical evidence for this, just my instinct and my power. I think whoever was behind that spying device is going to strike again. And maybe at the Senate itself."

King pondered that. "You sound convinced, Captain. But should you be so certain of it?"

"I'm as certain of it as I was certain that I needed to go down to the Facility at Gamma Piratus," he replied.

For a moment King said nothing. She was weighing that thought in her head. "If you hadn't gone down, the SS would have taken control of the Facility."

Robert nodded but said nothing. The others remained quiet as well.

After another period of thought King sighed. "I'm going to get court-martialed for this, I suspect," she muttered. "But I think I can get you in." She checked her multidevice. "And we'd better hurry, the session will start soon."

"We won't be able to take weapons into the Senate," Robert noted.

"No, we won't." King frowned. "And we will be scanned for weapons before we go in."

"So we'll have to be unarmed?", Lucy asked. "What good will that do if there's an attack?"

"We will manage, Lieutenant."

King heard Meridina's words, but she was clearly suspicious of them. She said nothing, however. Robert got the feeling she knew what Meridina was getting at and didn't want to even think what she was thinking. "Alright, let's get going," she said. "I'll meet you at the aircar garage beside the Senate."

Only after King walked away did Robert give Meridina a leery look. "The lakesh won't show up on a scanner, will it?"

"No. We craft them to evade the sort of scanning that finds weapons."

"Right." Jarod sighed. "So we're going to smuggle two swords into the Senate Chamber. And to think I just got out of a cell."

"Hopefully we will not need them," Meridina said.

Robert frowned at the thought. This was the kind of thing that would further set off Davies' paranoia. But they needed to be ready to fight off anyone attacking the Senate, and that meant having at least something for self-defense. It was a risk he would need to take. "I don't want to keep Commander King waiting," he said. "Let's get going."




Long ago, the area had been a residential neighborhood joined by the railroads that connected Portland to the rest of North America. Eventually the area had torn away by the conflicts and social dislocations that the Earth of the Federated Stars had known in the time between the 21st and 27th Centuries, becoming open land.

Then the Alliance had been formed, and at the proposal of various authorities, the regions of the Northern half of Portland that had undergone this change had been handed over to the new United Alliance of Systems to be their capitol complex. The various government offices were to be housed in structures that, with 27th Century industrial technology, were ready within months of the announcement. The former Portland International Airport had been converted into a Spaceport for the increased off-planet traffic of the Alliance. Defense Command had, over the course of ten months, arisen in its place between the Columbia and Lake Vancouver.

Council Hall was another such structure. It was two buildings joined by a central covered courtyard area, the northern building belonging to the Alliance Council and the southern building belonging to the Alliance Senate. The flag of the Alliance flew over both structures, each designed with elegant square marble columns along the exterior and in the light shades that all of the contributing cultures agreed would work. To a Human eye there was something slightly off about the structure. The dome over the covered courtyard was carved in the Gersallian style, a polished and gleaming glass exterior with a smooth, pyramidal-shape at the top, while the layers beneath it contained eaves that gave it the appearance of a pagoda, but with strong upward slants at the ends of the eaves as favored by the Alakin. The Dorei had contributed the internal halls and how they were laid out, made to resemble the Legislative Hall of the Dorei Federation in the capital city of Darnis on Doreia. The marble exterior reflected Western architecture while the Eastern influences showed in the eave overhang. The smaller domes above each structure were done in the styles prominent in the Indian subcontinent, the internal courtyard was adorned on the inside and outside by Arabic art (the designers had even worked calligraphy, denoting Arabic phrases about the strength of alliance, into the art itself).

As with most bicameral systems, the lower house was truly representative (albeit at a rate of about twenty billion citizens per Council Representative) with a large chamber that would house up to seven hundred legislators if the time came, while the upper house held three members per Alliance member state. One Senator was elected democratically by the citizens of a member state, one elected by the national legislature, or equivalent body, of the state in question, and the final Senator appointed by the Head of State of the member state. These representative policies left the Alliance Council, currently, with three hundred and seventy Councilmembers and eighty-seven Senators, all to represent the roughly seven and a half trillion beings that resided in the Allied Systems.

And Robert knew that he was about to possibly decide the fates of those seven trillion something people. Their livelihoods, freedoms and liberties, their very lives, could be lost if this went bad.

This is when Julie would remind me that this is why we get paid the big bucks now, he mused as King led them through one of the non-public entrances to the Senate, located along the north side of the building. Not that we're millionaires…

They were met by security almost immediately. "They're with me," King said.

The Human guard who accepted her identification nodded in reply. He was Caucasian, with pale blond hair barely visible under his protective cap and dark brown eyes. When he spoke to say, "Please come forward for the security scan," it was with a Norwegian accent. Nearby his companion, a man with a dark complexion and features that Robert thought looked Indian, remained at the ready with his pulse pistol holstered.

Robert was scanned and cleared. Jarod came next. That left Meridina and Lucy. Robert forced his face to become a mask of non-emotion as they were scanned. It seemed for a moment like the man was taking an overlong interest in Lucy. He waved the scanner over her again, as if looking for something…

Lucy scowled. And Robert, for his part, felt guilty at the relief as he sensed what was in the Norwegian's head. It was a petty abuse of power, but he was doing the second scan just to have an excuse to look over Lucy again. He waved her through. Meridina didn't get quite the same scrutiny and went through as well. King led them down the hall.

Once they were out of earshot, Robert looked to King. "That guard should probably get talked to."

"Unfortunately, Captain, I have no standing for it," she answered. "Otherwise I would have already reported his conduct. Perhaps I'll have to go to Colonel Agarwal, she will be most interested I'm sure. But that is a matter for another time." King looked to her multidevice. "The session should be starting any moment. I will be called in shortly."

"Jarod and I can present the evidence with you and answer questions," Robert said. "It might be best of Lucy and Meridina remained outside the Chamber at first."

"Agreed." For a moment King was in thought. "I take it that Senator Kiang is at the top of the suspect list?"

"You read the report from DS9?"

"I did." King nodded. "I also find it more likely that the Asari was responsible. It doesn't pay to underestimate beings who have lived for so long, I think. But I won't dismiss your concern out of hand. 33LA has already proven the destruction a Changeling can cause and the extent to which it can hide from us. The prospect of the Chairwoman of the Senate External Affairs Committee being replaced by one…" King shook her head. "It is possible Admiral Davies has identified the wrong existential threat to our way of life."

"I don't blame him for being worried about mental powers," Robert said. "Honestly I'm scared of what they can do too."

"I've already been on the receiving end of them," Jarod added.

"We both were, I recall," King noted. "Venir was an eye-opener."

"Let's just hope Davies understands he's worried about the wrong threat, then," Robert sighed.

At that moment King's multidevice went off. She breathed in as if to steel herself. "I've been summoned," she said. "Let's go."

As they continued on, Robert contemplated the feelings he was sensing from her. King was afraid. Not of him or Meridina so much as she was her own "side" in this. Admiral Davies and Minister Hawthorne would, indeed, be furious at her for involving him again. She was putting a lifetime of work on the line for this. It was humbling to realize he'd won that much trust from her.

Robert also felt guilty. He'd been brusque with her when she left the Aurora with her ship. Indeed, his entire crew had been more than ready to see her go and to never see her again. Now he saw how unfair that was. He hadn't quite forgiven the spying, no, but as they marched on to the moment of decision before the Senate, he found he respected King more than he ever had before.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sense of uncertainty from Meridina. He looked back to her. "Are you okay?"

"I am," she said. "I thought I sensed something, that's all."

"It felt like a presence to me," Lucy said. "But maybe it was just my nervousness."

"Maybe, or maybe not."

They nodded at his remark. "We shall be prepared either way," Meridina pledged.




The Dissenters' cargo truck was moving toward the Council Hall loading entrance, along the eastern side of the building, when Italarai felt it. The presences were vibrant and active to the senses of her swevyra, three in total, although one was not so strong as to feel like a threat. Knowing that such presences meant those who were capable with their life energies, it meant a complication for Italarai in that they might sense her use of her powers. "There are swevyra'se present in the area. I will be sensed," she murmured to Kalnat.

"Then we go to the alternative," he murmured back. He went to the front of the cargo area and pulled open the slide to speak to Seqen. "Are we ready?"

"I'm pulling up now," Seqen said.

"Italarai cannot help us. It will have to be you."

He could hear the uncertainty in Seqen's voice when the reply came. "For Gersal."

The truck pulled up to the forcefield gate at the building exterior. A Human man, light-skinned with a bit of a tan, met them, wearing the green and black uniform of a Council Hall Security Officer. "ID and authorization," he said. "What's your purpose?"

"I am picking up items at the request of Senator Gilnatan." Seqen handed him the ID, provided by the Interspecies Cultural Exchange Directorate, and the authorization order provided by their Senate contact. He forced his nervousness down into his belly, knowing the slightest suspicion would force him to use lethal means. And out here, in broad daylight, anyone could spot them. The entire mission could fail at this moment.

When the guard handed him back both items, Seqen breathed a sigh of relief that a last moment constricting of his throat made into an apparent grunt of acceptance. The guard pressed a key and the forcefield disappeared. Seqen gently tapped the accelerator pedal and moved the truck into the gate. A ramp down led them into the basement level loading docks.

They were now on the clock. Their logged arrival wouldn't immediately engender suspicion - at least not if their source had been accurate - but given enough time, their failure to depart would be noticed. Transport vehicles weren't supposed to stay for long after all, and they still had to deal with the mandatory security inspection. And Italarai could not manipulate their minds now, so he would have to deal with them quietly.

The truck came to a stop near one of the loading areas. Seqen stepped out of his truck while, in the back, Kalran looked to his technician, Laras. The bearded, tan-skinned Gersallian was looking over a display. "I've used the codes provided to patch into the feed for Senate security," he said. "Our contact came through. The security grid in the Senate Chamber is stuck into a loop. As far as their minders are concerned, everything is reading fine."

Kalran nodded. As he did, he heard Seqen speaking with the inspectors. "Activate personal cloaks," he instructed. Everyone, within a second of one another, triggered the personal cloaks they were carrying on their belts. The cloaks only had a few minutes' worth of charge given their power demands - the superior Darglan-technology personal cloaks had not been available for use when the operation was planned - and this was to be their main use in the plan; get them into the Senate.

Once the inspectors opened the back, they reached for their scanners as they climbed in. Kalran waited patiently and quietly to see if they detected the hidden transporter pad under the sensor-absorbent material laid into the truck's rear bed. If they found it, then he would have to kill them here and now, and it made their escape even more complicated. Perhaps even impossible. But if they didn't…

After several tense moments, the two seemed satisfied by the results and left the back of the truck. Seqen thanked them. Behind Seqen, the others moved to the rear doors and quietly lowered themselves to the asphalt of the loading dock. "Swenya be with you," Seqen muttered, knowing Kalran and the others would hear. "Mi rake sa swevyra iso."

The strike team, with the batteries on their personal cloaks winding down, moved swiftly to the stairwell door. Their contact's authorization code let them into the stairwell and they ascended it, as rapidly as possible, as they bore down on their target.

They just had to get to the Senate Chamber undetected. Then surprise would be theirs.




The entrance King chose to enter was the southern one. They came through the door into a space between the raised seating area of the Senate. The carpet was emerald bordered by blue, and the wood paneling was done in one of the Dorei styles - Robert wasn't familiar with it - while ahead the overhead lights were made out as electric light chandeliers. Multiple desks were laid out and a Senator sat in each, although they only became visible as the party got to the end of the entrance way and to what proved to be the middle tier of the seating area. Above them were seats, and below them were more.

Down, in the "pit" at the middle of the Senate, space had been set aside for the Defense Committee to sit. The quarters for them were cramped, with little room between each seat due to the confined space of the pit area. At the south end of the pit was a podium, presumably for any guests to address the Senate if requested.

While the Senate was a circular chamber, the northern quarter of it was taken up by a series of raised platforms. The lowest platform had the Party Leaders. There were six recognizable political parties of Alliance-wide popularity, and from what Robert had learned of Senate practice, these six parties were recognized at this platform level by having their leaders in the Senate sit there. Given there were only 29 member states of the Alliance, Robert found it odd that there were that many political factions of that size. I guess I'm used to Republicans and Democrats being it, he used. Sometimes it was odd that there were still bits and pieces of his pre-Facility life that persisted in this age.

The second tier was for the President of the Senate, currently an Alakin Senator named Akreet, with green and yellow feathering around his head. The Sergeant-at-Arms had a place there as well, as did the Secretary of the Senate.

The uppermost tier was where President Morgan was sitting, flanked by a couple of his staff. None of the Cabinet were present today save Hawthorne.

Heads turned toward them as they approached the back of the middle tier. By the time they reached the lower tier and King was facing the Defense Committee, standing at attention beside the podium - she had openly avoided standing there - everyone in the Senate was looking their way. Robert glanced toward one of the lower tier seats to find that was where Senator Kiang was sitting. He still felt nothing quite out of the ordinary about her, but with all of the other emotions in the room - and they were starting to run high - he couldn't focus on her with any accuracy.

Robert could feel Davies' disbelief and anger. Hawthorne had clearer control of his emotions. He was more curious than anything. And Maran… Robert tried not to give even the slightest grin at the flicker of hope he felt within his mentor's being. Or at Zoral's clear amusement.

"If it pleases the Senate," Hawthorne began, "this is Commander Elizabeth King, tasked by the Defense Committee to look into the Gersallian attack and the security breach at Defense Command."

Akreet gave a tilt of his head, an Alakin head gesture indicating acceptance. "You may proceed." At that, King went to the podium facing northward. Robert and Jarod took up positions beside her.

"Commander." Hawthorne smiled, but it was brittle. "I see you have brought Captain Dale and Commander Jarod with you. I trust they are relevant to your report?"

"Yes," she said. "In keeping with your orders from last night, I requested they attend to my investigation as members of my team."

"This is outrageous conduct!", Pensley shouted. "Captain Dale and his officers were expressly removed from…"

From the Senate desks came a roar of indignation and a babble of voices in various languages and accents. "Order!", was the usual shout, along with a few "Sit down!"s and one "The Councilman has no leave to speak!"

"The Senate calls the Honored Councilman to order," Akreet declared. He smacked a gavel to his podium. "He may only speak when prompted by myself or the Defense Committee Chairman, as he is well aware."

Pensley's face was going purple by the end of the rebuke, but he obeyed.

"And what prompted you to make this decision despite the clear wishes of the Defense Committee, Commander?", Hawthorne asked. There was a dangerous tone to his voice.

"Captain Dale was kind enough to share his insights into the security breach investigation," King explained. "He proposed a method for our war plans to be transmitted to the Nazi Reich that I thought credible. Upon further investigation, I have determined that his proposal was not just credible, but accurate."

Hawthorne nodded his head once. "And that method would be?"

Commander King held up her digital pad. "The data was transmitted in installments within the peace initiative broadcasts the Senate sent to the Nazi German Reich at the end of March."

Several voices in the Senate broke out in a furor. Pensley's anger and disbelief overwhelmed Robert's feelings of the others. He stood and glared to Hawthorne, who nodded. "This is a travesty!", he shouted. "This is a fraud. Commander King, either by her own will or at the will of another, has aligned herself with the militant radicals who dragged us into the war in the first place! This is nothing more than an attempt to block all prospects of peace!"

"I'm afraid not, Councilman," King answered. "The evidence speaks for itself. The transmissions sent to the Reich contained at least three percent more data than the message approved by the Senate mandated. That is above the margins of a few simple edits."

Some Senators cried out in disbelief, others in anger. Pensley looked to one of their number, who was identified by the holographic nameplate as Kita Marswell, Senator of the Tetzelian Republic. The dark-haired woman stood. "I move that the Senate declare this line of questioning out of order. This claimed proof has no weight to it. A few percentage points of an error?"

"The Tetzelian Senator displays her ignorance on behalf of her dear Councilman Pensley," one accented voice proclaimed. It was a Human Senator in the middle tier, Senator Benjamin Hadley of the Procyon Association. "Those of us who understand subspace communications are well aware that the claimed percentage is peculiar. I move that the Senate President order the release of transmitted data. Then we can judge for ourselves."

Senator Kiang rose. "The Senator from Procyon has a point, but this is a matter for the External Affairs Committee. I move that we adjourn and allow the Committee to deliberate this evidence in the presence of the Defense Committee. After all…" Kiang eyed King and Robert together. "...only a Senator of the Committee could have changed the data between its approval and transmission."

If Kiang was a Changeling spy… Robert felt she was a damn good one.

Because if so, her words had a calculated effect. More and more Senators were shouting, furious or disbelieving or mortified at the idea that one of the ten Senators assigned to External Affairs could be a traitor.

As the turmoil reached its fifth second, Pensley was glaring hatred at Robert. "This is a conspiracy!", he screamed. He pointed his finger at them. "A conspiracy against peace and against the Alliance by radicals and their Gersallian masters!" Robert could hear the enraged man's screamed words, but he wondered if many others could given the Senate was devolving into a heated argument. The rapping of a gavel told him Akreet was trying to restore order. Given the disbelief and fury in the room, this clearly wouldn't come immediately.

"Oh no," he breathed, looking to Jarod.

Jarod looked back. "What?"

"This is what she wanted," he said back. "The Changeling wants this disorder."

"Why?"

"To delay the Senate. To keep it deliberating, and in turmoil," Robert said, even as Akreet's gavel pounding grew louder. Above him, President Morgan gazed at the disorder that had gripped the Alliance Senate with eyes full of shame. This was supposed to be the orderly body that debated with calm, but the tempers and emotions that the crisis had spurred was taking hold even here.

"Whatever's going to happen, it's going to happen at any…"

The gunfire erupted before Robert could finish his sentence.

[Shroom Man 777]

I wonder what technobabble explanation explains the different "present" time of the different verses? Why's Rob's and others' verses in the 21st century, others in the 25th century, S0-T5 in the who-knows-whath millenium (10th milennium I'd wager, or at least 5000AD minimum...), why others are in the 25th century, etc.

And... why not have a 'verse where Earth is pre-20th century and still using steam engines, but the Alliance makes contact with non-human civilizations that are quite advanced... and they join the Alliance but it gets awkward because the humanity of that era is obviously still not ready for First Contact and Earth is understandably made into a no-go zone.

And... why not have certain alien species' recur across the multi-verse, including entirely human-less verses? Though no one has specified that Alakin do or don't come from a human-less or human-ful verse... or verses.

I demand the richest being in the multiverse to be an Alakin quintillionaire named Scrouj Maqdac.

Also, post-Nazi villains idea: Strogg from Quake! And interceding in the Alliance-Browncoat war in Firefly! Or a SECOND Alliance-Browncoat war due to the events in Serenity...

[Steve]

I wonder what technobabble explanation explains the different "present" time of the different verses? Why's Rob's and others' verses in the 21st century, others in the 25th century, S0-T5 in the who-knows-whath millenium (10th milennium I'd wager, or at least 5000AD minimum...), why others are in the 25th century, etc.

I haven't decided on one. There are theories in-universe, so to speak, usually that Big Bangs happen all the time, or alternatively that there was one massive Big Bang that started the entire Multiverse, but that it "pulsed" in such a way that a bunch of universes were spawned at different times.

And... why not have a 'verse where Earth is pre-20th century and still using steam engines, but the Alliance makes contact with non-human civilizations that are quite advanced... and they join the Alliance but it gets awkward because the humanity of that era is obviously still not ready for First Contact and Earth is understandably made into a no-go zone.

My listing actually includes a universe that is labeled "18th Century???", and don't forget C1P2, a 19th Century Earth that was officially off-limits until Hawk and his band came along to blow the shit out of them. Hell, even Jarod's world has contact banneed under limitations law.

And... why not have certain alien species' recur across the multi-verse, including entirely human-less verses? Though no one has specified that Alakin do or don't come from a human-less or human-ful verse... or verses.

It's certainly something to consider, I'll grant.

I demand the richest being in the multiverse to be an Alakin quintillionaire named Scrouj Maqdac.

It took me just a moment, mostly because I thought you'd made an anagram name or reversed spelling. But I get that reference now.

Also, post-Nazi villains idea: Strogg from Quake! And interceding in the Alliance-Browncoat war in Firefly! Or a SECOND Alliance-Browncoat war due to the events in Serenity...

Firefly is on the list of potential UotWs.