** "It was inevitable that the Shadows would begin to reclaim the buried vessels scattered all over the galaxy at the end of the last War, it was just a matter of WHEN.... the fate of several deep range mining installations and colonies were sealed during this stage of their operations. These movements, among others, greatly affected the actions of many important....including, Marcus Cole, William Westcastle, and..." **
Erica Travers, "Wars of Deception"
* * *
"The avalanche has begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
- remark attributed to Vorlon Ambassador Kosh Naranek during the
Earth Year 2258
* * *
Chronicles Log, Entry V, Oct 29, 2258..
I read up on the specs of both the Nighthawk system and colony, and silently shake my head again. The previous comments I made on the situation out here may have been overly optimistic. There's a better then average chance I was assigned here because EarthForce Command wasn't willing to spend the energy to put me elsewhere. This place is almost no better then the back end of beyond, as Jennie Clifford has put it...but the proximity to the Rim still gives me pause for thought.
No wonder Hawkdal wanted out of this place...
** PRIMARY OUTLINE: NIGHTHAWK MINING COLONY
*Primary class: G7
*Worlds of Interest: Nighthawk II, location of main colony site and surface mining concerns
*Nighthawk V, atmospheric mining concerns
*Established*: 3 Jun 2248
*Population*: 17,750 at last Census
*Economic Focus*: Mining operations, Class 1, 3, 5a, 7b, surface
and atmospheric
*Earthforce Presence*: Stations on surface in Colony Central,
Class 3 orbital gate control facility. Manned presence: 94
*Defence establishment*: 3 orbital Class 1 Phased Plasma arrays
*Transport/engagement establishment*: 3 Stnd orbital transport units, 6 ground to orbit transport units, 6 standard
format Starfury interception and patrol units
*Primary Role of Earthforce Personnel*: Gate Control, Raider Interdiction and system patrol,
Legal Enforcement Assistance as required **
What..fun.
* * *
*Second Interlude*...Early Nov, 2258...
"I had not assumed you would ever *lie* to me."
"I will assume you are referring, once again, to the Nighthawk situation."
"I would not have brought this matter up again if you had followed up on your claims. More then two weeks have passed since Westcastle was first interred and then assigned to Nighthawk Colony, and *nothing* has been done! The Joint Chiefs of Staff do not consider this a serious problem, and yet, while Westcastle has been interred out at the edge of known space, he has not as of yet been dealt with!"
"You over-concern yourself, as usual, about insignificant matters. At the time, I assured you that my associates would take care of the problem within the day, but one cannot do these sort of things in a hurry...hurrying at this point could be disastrous, as I'm sure you understand.
However...As I was saying, the process of taking *care* of that problem was begun when I promised. Stage One investigations concluded that Westcastle's memories of the 'event' are blurry and illdefined, and will continue to get worse as time progresses. Additionally, the report seems to indicate that his mental state has become somewhat... unbalanced."
"How is that revelant to the matter at hand?"
"Patience. He can hardly reveal any information that he has learnt about our activities, if any such exists. However, it is best to be sure, and so, my associates are preparing to proceed with Stage Two of the operation as we speak. This operation may allow us to deal with Mr. Westcastle permanantly, and, at the same time, provides us with an incentive to conduct a *minor* field test of the 'resources' available to my associates at this time.."
* * *
November 13, 2258...Nighthawk Orbital station shift turnover...1800 hrs, E.S.T.
I'm glad that's over and done with, Jennie told herself, as she slammed the locker and made her way off the fighter deck. I used to think that the patrols to the outer system were boring...now everyone's too high strung to be bored. Raiders and jump points and rumours, oh my...
Get a life, Jennie, she told herself, shuttling herself up the ladder grid...
And stopped herself just short of slamming into the feet of her CO...so tired, boy oh boy, do I ever need a good night's sleep..
"You look wrecked, Lieutenant...was it that bad out there?"
Sigh. "Bad isn't the right way of defining it. I don't know what to make of the situation out around the atmospheric mines at Loki, sir. On the surface, it seems that everything's okay, but some of the civ-side officials are insisting they're picking up signals out there...unauthorized signals. Everyone's getting uptight about that...but on top of everything else, there have also been rumours that someone or something's been jumping in and out on the edge of the system! Is there anything you can tell me about that, sir?"
Eyebrow inclined, Gideon motioned her to follow him. Oh that was smart, Jennie, she thought to herself, as they climbed up to the Operations Level of the station...now it's probably going to be hours before I get to bed...
"Take a seat, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir."
"All right...so what do we seem to have, here? Unauthorized signals, and something jumping in and then jumping out again. THAT implies a capital ship of some sort, heavy cruiser class at least. If we're talking raiders, that implies some heavy degrees of organization...."
"Sir?" Oh yeah, here it comes...Walther's got that 'can't possibly be true..' look on his face again... Jennie glanced across at the senior tech on the station, Beth Kircaldy, just in time to see her nod in agreement.
"How likely is this to be true? Not very likely, I'm guessing. You should remember that Commander Sinclair and his crew managed to more or less elliminate the Raider threat earlier this year near Babylon 5. Sure, everyone's jumpy, and there's plenty of rumours going around about weird things going on. But hey!...we're isolated, nearer to the Rim then just about any other colony in the Alliance, that's never done wonders for the nervousness level..."
Okay, that's enough. "I see, sir. Thank for clearing that up for me."
At that, of course, the Commander's eyebrows went full tilt...another thing she'd come to expect. "There's no need to be snarly, Lieutenant! If anything, we should check some of these rumours out a little more closely. I'll get the techs to prep the 'Furies for a full diagnostic sweep mission, and once you've had some sleep, I'll send you and your pilots out on a full patrol. OK?"
Yeah. Right. Whatever. I need some sleep...but first, I need to eat. Maybe William's around here somewhere...
It's been some time since my last entry, but on general principles, it felt like the time to write a few more things down. In the near month since my assignment as Operations Officer at Nighthawk, I've come to know a few people. My CO, the recently promoted *Commander* Walther Gideon, is, if anything, more condescending then I would like, Doctor Mariallah Quesotz, pleasant, if slightly distant, and many of the techs, such as Ray Bradley and Beth Kircaldy, friendly, but hey, they've been here *forever* (which tends to mean more then a year in this outfit) and so, I'm not part of the *club*, and besides, I'm an officer...
That leaves the pilots. As usual, they're the best of the bunch, and above all the rest is someone I'm honestly coming to like more then I should...Lieutenant Jennifer Clifford. It's always been my position never to get involved in things before I know people a little better, but this seems to be an unusual situation developing here. When I first woke up out of my coma, she was there almost immediately, and when Bester and his aide 'interviewed' me all those weeks ago, she was there as well, both worried and protective...I don't know what to make of that just yet.
At the moment, we're working what amounts to cross shifts, which means we don't get together as much as I'd like. She's coming off shift just as I'm going on.
Today, Jennie told me about her latest flight out to Loki, and the weird rumours that are springing up out there. It's weird, but it's almost like the nearer we get to the end of the year, the more things are going to Hell. This is all building towards something, I just don't know what yet...
Tomorrow, her squadron is going out on a full patrol, an apparently rare occurence around here, as most of the time they go out singly or in pairs at the most, that's how *exciting* things have been. Now, Commander Gideon sends them all out at once...unusual.
I think I'm going to have to stay awake tomorrow to see how this all plays out...
* * *
November 14, 2258...0930 hrs.
"Your shift is done, Lieutenant Commander." Gideon cautioned, as he came onto the Operations Level to find his Operations Officer still on duty. "It's hardly necessary for both of us to be on duty at the same time. I..."
"With all *due* respect, sir...this is an unusual situation for this system. All but one of our Furies are out at Loki trying to deduce whether or not these rumours are true. Lieutenant Clifford's squadron will be on location within the hour, and as Operations officer, it is within my mandate to continue duties during this situational crisis, sir."
Gideon sighed. Why did they give him all the serious ones?
"All right, Mr. Westcastle. Carry on."
* * *
Far beyond Nighthawk Central, Jennie's squadron raced through the darkness, as behind them, the ancient tri-pronged gate built by who KNEW what race rather abruptly went off line as the squadron passed out of sequence range. Interestingly enough, another of the ancient gates had been built in the L5 point in orbit around Nighthawk itself. That the race had been interested in the system enough to build *two* gates was reason enough for the Alliance to colonize the area. It *did* make patrols out to the refineries easy, of course...
With a brief thruster command, Jennie flipped her Fury to look back towards the sun. Off to their left, Loki's bulk filled the viewport, with the tiny glints of orbital refineries visible against the storm cells. Behind her, now, Loki VII, a brown and white criscrossed shattered ball of ice nearly three thousand kilometers across, slowly grew as the Starfuries gradually altered their orbit around the vast gas giant.
Okay, girl...play time's over.
"This is Alpha One. Commence sensor sweep, second rotation."
"Confirmed, Lieutenant." Rollie Thurlow, one of her more junior pilots, exclaimed, followed immediately by his cousin, Gordon. "I've got the signal loud and clear, now. Looks like those civvie mining techs weren't yanking our chains, after all!"
She sighed, and looked at her instruments again. Such a typical comment *that* was from one of the Thurlows. A signal it was, but the strangest she had just about *ever* seen. Fainter then was nominal, on a band that *no one* used, and there didn't seem to be any useful information contained in the signal. However, it was apparent, as the mining officials had excitedly transmitted last night, that the signal had gone from indistinct and omnidirectional in the last hour to its current, faint, but steady...and *very* directional in nature. The signal was *definitely* being transmitted out towards the Rim...but to *what*? and Why?
"True enough, I guess. Okay, this is what it seems we're dealing with...Refineries 1 and 2 are on this side of Loki right now, they've managed to triangulate the signal to a 1000 square kilometer piece of VII's southern highland. We know where we're going, so let's find that source. Rollie, Hawkins, retrograde your orbits relative to the rest of us around VII, everyone else, with me!"
They may have been glib, but her people were well trained. Without the slightest pause, Rollie Thurlow and Hawkins peeled away to pass over VII's north pole, while the rest of the squadron vectored in on the search area from the other direction, decreasing their altitude the whole time.
Just over an hour went by while the squadron vectored in on the signal source. If something had jumped in and crashed, it was being awfully quiet, Jennie reasoned. It just didn't make sense...if it had been an Earth ship, there would have been all sorts of transponders squawking...that left the other option..that it was alien in origin.
And those were never very much fun to deal with at all.
Beneath them, at an altitude of less then ten kilometers, a fresh rift in VII's surface rotated into view over the viciously curved horizon of the moon. Instruments seemed to indicate that the source of the signal was coming from that rift...ah Hell, if they fell into there, we'll never get them out...
"Zoom imagers on standby..." she commanded, as the squadron began to pass over the rift. "Triangulate, and enhance!" At that, she glanced down at her display...
And life as she had known it changed...forever.
Sticking out of the side of the rift, slightly more then a kilometer below the surface, and almost completely encrusted in ice..there was...how could it be described? An almost crab-like object halfway out of the ice, completely black, incised into the riftwall at over a sixty degree angle! What the hell was that thing? She did a brief calculation, and whistled. If the other side of that thing was the same shape as the part revealed, it was way over a kilometer across...
And then, suddenly...everything, quite literally went to Hell.
RIMSTALKER: SHADE AND SHADOW, PART 3
"DESCENT OF DEMONS", ACT II
** ..."did they do it on purpose? Of course they did, not that I knew the specifics of the situation until much later. The myth that they killed everyone and didn't let anyone escape was partially a false one, but the facts were in short supply, at that point in our engagement with the Enemy. Believing things that weren't true and assuming truths that were falsehoods happened enough in any case..."
Capt Jennie Clifford(ret): "Storm Crossing: The Shadow War, and other Responsibilities"
* * *
We serve the Machine.
We are the Machine.
We *kill* for the Machine.
The OTHERS order us...find the Machine.
Interference is unacceptable...destroy the Newcomers, sow the seeds.
All but the one who will pave our way, despite all...and another.
It is the way...of the Machine...so do we obey...so do we serve.
* * *
Nov 14, 2258...1041 E.S.T...in Loki VII orbit...
Two things happened in quick succession, then, in a time frame she would later try to estimate...and fail.
One: Above and behind them, silouetted against the darkness of space, a barely seen shadow moved against the darkness. There was no time to respond, at first...as the nightmare resolved itself with a violet beam of deathly intent...and a deathly blast of sound blasted through her mind...
A moment of fugue. <no leave me alone>
Two: Six dark shimmers came into being above Loki's surface, something she wouldn't be able to confirm until running back over her 'Fury's log tapes later on. Shimmers that abruptly resolved into tiny, urchinlike spacecraft...no, that was too literal, these were weapons of *Destruction* Seconds after that, the two refineries on Loki's sunward face dissolved into fireballs...
<Unfair. Unfair of you to curse us. Death, death is here>
No time to scream, no time to even breathe. Above her, the fighters of the Thurlow cousins dissolved in a shower of debris and sparks...they were both doomed and lucky enough, it seemed, to be the first ones to go. Now the scream came, long and hard, in voice as well as mind, as that horrifying, knife of destruction swept down to incise the fighters of her other two pilots...paused for the barest of milliseconds, and then (inevitably so) swung towards HER...
<...who art in Heaven...>
No break of thought, no break of action. Without even thinking, she reached up...pulled down the ejection handle, closed her eyes tightly(while still screaming) and waited to die...
And was utterly surprised to find that she hadn't, in fact, suffered that fate...and opened her eyes.
"Oh God!" That was a mistake. Covering half of the slowly tumbling view was the ship that had caused all that carnage...all that death...a core of darkness and silvery, shimmery arms or legs sticking out in a dozen parallel geometric directions. It screamed in her mind...swept by...and vanished from sight.
"Nooo..." How dare *you* do this thing, demon that you are!..to kill my pilots, to *murder* my FRIENDS..and leave me to live? Are you that hypocritical...
Stop it, Jennie...you're...losing it.
Too late...I've already...lost it.
The tumble of the fighter escape pod gradually brought the still shrinking, still shattered sphere of Loki VII into sight. Silouetted against it, shrinking now to something she could cover with one hand, the demon creature shrank towards the surface...and then she understood...not a wreck....maybe not even a SHIP...
Those things...the way they screamed...my GOD, were THEY ALIVE?
You will have to forgive my inaccuracies if any exist, but I'm writing this from a time more then two weeks past the dates in question above, and where we are now, I have a moment to pause, and reflect on what has happened. The Commander and myself will be put to the question soon enough, I'm afraid, and we will have to see what happens after that.
Walther and I barely had time afterwards to think on what we did during those moments of perfect horror and chaos. It was the beginning of the end, or, if you like to think of it in such terms, the end of the beginning. My month of limbo between the attack on the ATLANTA and the attack at Nighthawk was spent in ignorance of what was really going on, and the shield of Earthforce was used as a leaf against the burning flame. Then again, I had no idea what was about to happen any more then the rest of us. It wouldn't have any difference, I guess...if we had known, we were still outgunned by a million to one.
The first warning we had that something was wrong out at Loki was Jennie's sudden outburst of what amounted to shock after they located the source of the signal on Loki VII. True enough, at the time, it was an immense shock to realize that there was an enormous alien vessel buried on one of the ice moons of Nighthawk system, but what a horrible fate, to be out there when the masters of that ship came to reclaim it...and, apparently, to try and murder someone..
Most probably me. I'll explain my reasoning behind this observation in due course.
Seconds later, both the tracking relays on the Loki refineries and from the 'Fury squadron failed, all in the space of about twenty seconds, we guessed. The last thing we heard was Jennie beginning to scream...
And then, the Enemy decided it was our turn...
* * *
"What the *hell* is going on, out there!" Gideon exclaimed, as the entire Operations crew fell silent at the cut off scream that had just emerged over the link to their squadron.
"I can...hazard a guess..." Gideon turned his head sharply towards his Operations Officer, who had risen from his station. "That thing they got an image of, sir..buried in the ice...just before everything got cut off, they relayed those last images through the gate relays. It looked...wrong. Maybe the owners came back for it."
Gideon barked his usual laugh...best to try and keep things calm..we don't need to panic here. "How likely is that, Mr. Westcastle?"
"With all due RESPECT, sir...would Lieutenant Clifford SCREAM for any reason less serious then that?"
Well..Hell. What was he supposed to do?
And then had his decision made for him, as the station abruptly shuddered, and every imager on the spaceward side flared an awesome, deathly, violet...
* * *
You will have to forgive Walther's interruption, he spent about ten minutes describing his point of view during the end of our innocence. In any case, now that we know a little bit more about how they operate courtesy of our new friends, it was clear enough why they did what they did when they did it. Not only did they destroy every human facility and craft in Loki orbit in a matter of seconds on the way to reclaiming their lost ship, they also appeared over Nighthawk for far less then a minute, and fired a clear broadside burst straight through the center of the station while traffic was at a complete minimum within the area. We never saw them at all, we were too busy trying to survive, while the surface personnel only saw Nighthawk station flare like a nova, and then break up. They never saw the attackers, either...but that's a story for later.
I do, however, digress somewhat. The attack, when it happened, cut our station neatly in half, with the mainline of the blast passing neatly through the deck below us...a degree higher in altitude, and I wouldn't be telling this tale as I am. Whether Fate has had a hand in this is something I'm not going to even touch.
However the intentions, Walther and I were both less then four feet away from one of the exterior Emergency Escape Pods when the attack happened. While a hurricane of air rushed down the ladderwell, carrying the screaming but doomed Beth Kircaldy with it, among others, I leapt across the deck through the faltering microgravity, slammed into my surprised-as-Hell-that-this-was-actually-happening CO, hit the toggle for the escape pod just as we reached the wall, and tumbling end over end, we fell into it together...and scant seconds after that, ejected from Nighthawk station as it broke up on its way to the terminal death that awaited it below.
This was, of course, the second time I'd faced having my assignment blown out from under me by the same opponents in a month, in fact, the one month ANNIVERSARY of the ATLANTA's destruction. Not that I was paying too much attention at the time. Too many people close to me have died during that time period...I can only thank certain 'friends' I now possess that the most important one did not...
* * *
November 14, 2258...1716 E.S.T, in low orbit around Loki VII..
She didn't want to remember how the nightmares had risen from the moon below, twin demons of destruction with their cloud of protection, and then had abruptly faded from sight between the moon and its primary. Not a jump point, just...gone. Gone without a trace, as quickly as they had come. All around her, tiny flecks of metal rode in orbit, the tumble unending. It was clear enough that her orbit was dropping, and equally clear that no one would be coming to save her...not now. It was all too likely those things had attacked insystem as well...
Damnit...why had they let her live? And was the point of that living, when so many others had died with such ease? The screech of her emergency broadcast beacon mocked her, less then silently. If *those things* had destroyed Nighthawk as well, was there anyone down there(Oh William...!) still alive?
Suddenly, a flash out of the corner of her eye broke her out of her reverie, and as the tumble of her pod slowly bought the gate into view, the tines focused their energies at the heart, and a point began to form...
"Hope or Death..." she whispered, as the vortex yawned wide, "Hear me please!...whoever you are!"
With a snap, the ship sprang into the system. Solid it seemed...dependable...and, quite obviously...
Narn.
I'll be..damned.
The Narn corvette-class ship(if that's what it was, it seemed to share many of the design characteristics of their *monstrous* heavy cruisers) almost immediately vectored towards her beacon, not surprising, given that it seemed she was the only human alive within twenty million kilometers...
There was a crackle, and then.."Earthforce Pilot at beacon source!" a clipped voice announced, "This is the armed merchantman 'N'Blis'. If you can respond to our transmission, please do so at once!.."
You..bet. "This is..Lieutenant Clifford, Earthforce, Narn ship. By *God*, how the..."
"Allow me the honour of introducing myself." the voice added, as her pod was, in due course, eclipsed by the two hundred fifty meter or so long red and black triangle of the Narn 'merchantman'. "I am G'kael, formerly of the...well, never mind that!...now master of the 'N'Blis'. I, my crew, and our companion detected the disturbance in this system some hours ago, and decided to investigate the matter. Perhaps the fates serve you this day, Lieutenant...it seems you will survive, when all others have died."
You have...no idea, she quietly chanted, as, above her, spacesuited and jetpacked Narns began to quietly handle her pod. A grave-faced, elderly Narn saluted her through the cracked and shattered viewport of the 'Fury, it seemed only fair to respond in kind...
Shaken, stirred, but living, she was in due course brought into the N'blis's cargo hold. Eventually, as the area pressurized, she stretched, her muscles burning, and emerged with the help of those same crewmen who had helped bring her in, to meet with the party now approaching the pod.
Among the Narns, and next to a tall, well dressed Narn who was probably G'kael, was a short, stooped, but quizzical alien in what seemed to be a FUR coat. And as she swayed on the deck, helmet in hand, it was *he* who spoke first, not G'Kael.
"Tck, tck, tck. We have found you, yes." The alien smiled up at her, an all too lopsided grin. "Watcher. Server. Zathras told, Zathras was...so Zathras do. This we have done, Zathras always do what he is told."
"Wha..who..."
G'kael smiled. "Have patience, Lieutenant. Zathras will explain."
"Yes, yes..listen, will explain. Zathras say, go from Great Machine, before place above complete, do what must be done. Zathras meet Great Leader, find Stalker, find Observer, but great Task is only BEGUN. You have...a DESTINY. Zathras HONOURED to meet the Observer."
What the Hell was...this? "Wha..Observer? Of What?"
"Great Enemy return, this you know. Great darkness, Zathras told this, Zathras was."
"Great...enemy? Forgive..me, this has been one HELL of a day so far. Those... spider things..."
G'kael nodded. "Precisely, Lieutenant. It is best to skirt their full attentions for now, and so, we hide...we are far from ready to engage them, and it will be at least several years before that becomes a reality. Now, the time has come, we have been told, to begin certain things, set in motion certain plans. In the words of another...it HAS BEGUN."
Terrific, she thought, as she ever...so...slowly passed out. And I thought life was so..simple....
* * *
November 15th, 2258. Nighthawk surface...
"Interference is clearing, Doctor." the technician announced.
Finally. Mariallah Quesotz shuddered out a deep breath. Whatever attacked them had for SOME reason spared the colony itself..but the silence from space above mocked that thought. Neither the station in orbit (which they had seen explode over eight hours before) or any of the facilities at Loki responded to comm. And with all the orbital staff either dead or missing, that left her in charge...
"Thank you. Let's see if there's any Earthforce ships in the area, for starters...."
RIMSTALKER: SHADE AND SHADOW, PART 3
"DESCENT OF DEMONS", ACT III
** "..the argument about the extent of the Narn intelligence services and the resources they possessed is still being argued about to this day. That their military was decimated in the first phase of the Great War is undeniable. That prototypes of their heavy cruiser fleet units existed is harder to determine..." **
G.R. Cormack, "Dust in Winter: A history of the Narn-Centauri Conflicts"
* * *
Chronicles Log, Entry VIII, November 15, 2258(remembrances)
Walther and I were having difficulty sleeping when we left behind what happened to be the second worst day of my life to date. The orbit of our escape pod had been taking us slowly but surely outwards towards Falcon, Nighthawk's single, large moon, with no hope of signalling for any help, since the emergency transmitter for the pod was damaged beyond use when we ejected from the station during the attack over twelve hours earlier. The shock was wearing off, and it was increasingly evident that the air and emergency supplies in the pod would be insufficient to keep us alive long enough for anyone to find us...two days or so more, and that would be it.
A bad situation, in retrospect...luck, at the time, I thought, would be the only way for us to get out of this one.
From what little I could see of the lower orbits around Nighthawk itself, there were a number of small freighters that had jumped in since the station's destruction that were trying to determine what the Hell had happened. Good luck to them...the only people who had survived the attack were in a tiny, beaconless pod more then fifty thousand kilometres above them. I placed little hope in any of them finding us, when, all of a sudden, I noticed the Gate coming online again...
And everything changed.
* * *
November 15th, 2258...0040 hrs, local time...
"We are clear of the gate, Shipleader. System traffic is minimal, however, we are being hailed by the surface colony comm facility."
"Ignore them for now, G'nahl." G'kael crisply replied, as he and the N'blis's crewleader lead Jennie onto the *apparently* well equipped bridge of the small starship.
"Understood."
"Zathras..." the Narn commander inquired, turning to the still, to Jennie, curious and mysterious alien companion of the Narns. "Any ideas?"
"Tck. Tck. Not good, but not surprise, Zathras say. Zathras told, Stalker will survive, but if we not find...then not good, tck...Zathras know this. Look up...there, away from world. You will find."
"G'kael..." she whispered, leaning on the bridge rail, as the tall Narn took the Commander's chair, "I just *don't* understand what this means. This Zathras character, he knows things he couldn't possibly know. And that's if anyone survived the attack of those..."
"Shadows." G'kael replied, turning towards her. "Lieutenant, you must learn to accept that this has happened. None of what has occured in this place was illusion, as I'm sure you'll agree. We are lucky enough to have Zathras available to help in our search...it should be enough that you accept he knows things you do not...and not worry as much about where the information comes from."
Damn. He's right, though. If the mess below us is any indication, those..Shadows sliced Nighthawk Station like a tin can. But why? The reasoning is clear enough where I was...but there's *nothing* here to attract their attention..
A beep distracted her, then. "Shipleader?"
"N'rothak!" G'kael barked out, rising from his chair. "Do you have them?"
"Possibly. Magnetic range sounding has located an object in high orbit... correlating back...yes, Shipleader, it is obvious that the object originated from the station location...approximately fourteen human standard hours ago."
"That is it, then. Control, triangulate on the object, and bring us alongside. Pray that we have been fast enough, Zathras...for if we were not.."
Zathras tck-ed and shook his head sadly.
* * *
Chronicles Log, Entry VII(cot'd), November 15, 2258...(remembrances)
It was far beyond surprise that drew me to watch as the just arrived Narn vessel rose from the gate towards us, and then, quite abruptly, headed straight for our location, as if they knew where we had been all along. It was only a matter of time until they came alongside the pod and drew us into their cargo bay. Walther didn't believe it, and I was coming close. Twice in a month I had survived mysterious attacks by dark, unseen forces, and come out of those attacks alive and whole to tell the tale. Would my luck hold out if this were to happen again?
I was not willing to make that bet. Needless to say, we were happy to see the Narns set us into their cargo bay alive and intact...*I* was happy, and almost shocked, to see a badly damaged escape pod from a Starfury in the same bay(the Narns, it seemed, had been out at Loki already...) and the party that showed up to cut us out of our tiny prison contained a member I though dead.
And my response went far beyond happiness, eventually.
But for the time being, Shipleader G'kael and another individual I'll be talking about in due course were more then content to let the three of us sleep it off for a little while...
* * *
November 15th, 2258, 0130 hrs..Nighthawk surface...
"A mystery?" Mariallah exclaimed, throwing up her hands. "Mr. Robinson, I am tired of mysteries!"
"Yes, Ma'am...I understand that. That Narn vessel jumped into the system, went sniffing out towards Falcon moon, found whatever they were looking for, and before we could interdict or any of the ships in orbit could intercept, they jumped again..."
"Terrific." she muttered, holding her head. "Barely any contact with Earth, the nearest capital ships over 24 hours away, and a Narn pocket *something* sneaking around with no one able to stop them..."
God...too *many* hours awake and counting...I need some sleep *badly*...
* * *
November 15th...1900 hrs, Loki orbit...
"It's here that it happened..." Jennie whispered, as, behind her, William leant the wall, expression dark and inscrutable. "The Shadow...ship was buried on that moon, and we were, all of us, in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
"Jennie...stop it." She turned, to have William suddenly take her hands in his. "Isn't it enough that we've...I've survived at least two attacks by those things...and that they failed? We've captured a great victory here...the victory of coming out of this with our lives intact, and finding assistance where we *least* expected it."
You just keep on talking, Will; I wanted you out of your shell, and it looks like I might have succeeded...
"You're...right, I guess. There isn't any point of going back over this scene of defeat. But now what happens to us?"
"Now what, *indeed*.." G'kael interrupted, as he entered the quarters. "I trust that you and the Lieutenant Commander have had the requisite amount of rest and recovery...and that you have eaten well?"
"Eaten is a better way of putting it,...ah, G'kael...and I’ve yet to have thanked you for what you have done for us here. But...I remind you, also, that Lieutenant Clifford and I are both answerable to the Earth Alliance as officers of its military, and our disappearance will leave many questions unanswered."
G'kael cut in sharply. "Enough! You must address the matter at hand, Lieutenant Commander; if *I* must force you to face it, then I must! You cannot be allowed to forget what has been done to you, to hide behind your words. The young Lieutenant has accepted most of what has occured here, now you must go beyond partialities to do the same. At this time, I will ask you to join us in the wardroom. Commander Gideon and Zathras are discussing some matters, and Zathras has asked that you join them; he has things to..tell you."
"Come on..." she insisted, tugging the now apparently reluctant William behind her. "Let's get this over with...it's time we made up our mind about what we have to do here."
* * *
Chronicles Log, Interlude...
Did I do it on purpose? Absolutely, and I won't apologize for it, either, although I eventually had to find time to apologize to G'kael. The attack by the greatest menace our race was ever to face in that Age only helped to further the process...
* * *
"Ahh...at last, Zathras told, Zathras was, that you would come. Great Honour to meet. Zathras know you, know what you have done, and do."
"Does he...always talk like this?"
G'kael nodded, and across the table, Gideon sighed, threw up his hands, and nodded also. "I'm afraid so, Lieuteanant Commander...but Zathras gets the point across of what must be said when it is important...and this may be the most important decision of your life.
Zathras nodded impatiently. "Yes...important, Zathras say. Zathras tell tale too many times, no one *ever* listen to Zathras all at same time...tck, tck..get to point, Zathras will. Great Enemy return, this you know, this Observer know, also..."
"Ummm...Observer?"
Jennie tapped him on the shoulder. "That...would be me, or so Zathras has been implying since G'kael and his crew rescued me on the far side of Loki two days ago."
"Why?"
"I'm not...quite sure yet, Will..but I've noticed you have a habit of writing things down when the going gets tough.."
"Yess..?"
"Well...I didn't clue in at first to what Zathras was saying either, but I have my own habit, although rarely practiced since I got into Earthforce. I don't write things down as in a diary per se...but...I COLLECT writings of important events...the whole mess of the war with the Minbari...when Babylon 5 went on line...I'm sure you get the idea."
"So he calls you the Observer...you Observe...okay, Jennie, but what's the point?"
"Hhahm, much apologies, but Observer tells tale too well, Zathras is getting to point. You have great task ahead of you, great chase of the truth, events to do, events to make, this Zathras know."
"But..."
G'kael cleared his throat. "I will put it plainly, Lieutenant Commander; if you will forgive me for being blunt. Slightly more then a human month ago, you and your dead comrades, may G'quan watch over them all, encountered the Shadows on the Rim. Now, the Shadows come to the world you have been assigned to to reclaim their ship...but intentionally divert one of their vessels to attack a station that means little or nothing to them. What were their aims in this, do you think?"
"I have...no idea."
No..of course you do not, which is good for the time being. It is enough for you to know that the forces I work with are trying to KEEP the secret of the Shadows for the time being. The Shadows have tried to kill you, but their plans are as yet unfinalized, and we do not believe that they will move in such a dramatic fashion again until they are well along the path they have set for themselves.
This implies...that certain things we know of the Enemy have not changed. If you keep yourself in a low profile and do not actively work to antagonize them, they will forget you, for a time. This allows *you* to deal with another problem that we will shortly be discussing, and then...in due course, when EVERYONE is ready to move, *then* we will be working to get their attention again...but NOT until that point is reached, however long it takes.
Do you understand my words, Westcastle?"
* * *
Chronicles Log, Interlude.
I must admit, in hindsight, that the plan worked. But when I said yes to G'kael and Zathras, it seemed that I had no idea what I was going to be getting myself into.
A secret project of enviable designs, with unknown masters and unknown goals...far *more* mysterious then Captain Sheridan's 'Omega Naught' group...a group that I may be using in due course to fulfill certain other goals...but we'll have to see how that goes. G'kael said that eventually I would get the chance to stalk those that tried to kill me...involve myself in the struggle that is to come. We'll just have to see, on that score.
Neither Walther nor I like it one bit, but we accepted that decision, and the choice, as being for the best.
Zathras called Jennie the Observer, and me the Stalker. Walther he left alone, unnamed...and he's a little concerned about that, I guess. As for I, I'm still working out in my mind what those titles mean, it's going to take a while even if everything goes well. But we made our decison...
And now just *look* at the result!
* * *
"Okay, so let me see if I've got this right, G'kael. The Commander and I will be dropped in the outer reaches of the inner system in our pod, with a *slightly* working transmitter that will eventually attract the attention of those below... *we* have to deal with the repercussions of the Shadow attack, deal with EarthForce on the matter, while at the same time keeping the secrets we've discovered here..."
"Precisely, Lieutenant Commander. I did not say it would be easy, but it needs to be done...and Zathras possesses certain instruments that can produce temporary signal blocks in your brains until your dealings with EarthGov are concluded, you will know the information, but you will be unable to convince YOURSELVES to reveal it...a most important distinction, as I'm sure you'll agree. It may be that portions of your government deal with the Shadows, but we cannot confirm this as fact. Be careful in your movements, and you will survive to confront them and their minions...when the time is right."
"I wish you didn't have to go..." came a murmur, and he turned, to see Jennie leaning against the doorway behind. "I..follow G'kael's reasoning for what has to be done, but I don't like it. It isn't fair that you and Walther should have to face Earthforce, and that I have to hide until it's over. I...envy you the task ahead, Will..."
"Envy? I wouldn't put it that way, Jen, and I don't like that we...NO, I have to act like you're dead until this is over. Zathras and G'kael are asking us to *lie* to our own superior officers. I think you know what the result will be."
"Yeah...pretty obvious, eventually. How about this, then...G'kael seems to think it will take at least five of our weeks for you and Walther to get through the grinder and out the other side. I'm giving you an incentive to make it, though. If you can manage, and I'm damn sure you can, I'll be waiting for you at Mandrag's Grill on the Concourse Level at the Transfer Point at Io on New Year's Eve. That gives us plenty of time to get done what has to be done, but there's...something happening between us...I'm not quite sure *what* just yet, though!"
Mandrag's. I'll be damned...she likes her food *wild* apparently...
On an impulse, he reached out quickly, took hold of her hand, and gently kissed it...and grinned as her face coloured. "A date it is, then."
Behind them, Gideon cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Commander..."
"William...please."
Gideon grinned. Apparently, his thinking on a great many things had changed due to the events just past. Maybe, when all this was over, he would have left his condescending period behind him..."William...it's time we were going."
* * *
Nov 16th, 2258...morning...
"Deploy screen!" Captain Dexter Smith barked, as his command, the EarthForce Omega Class Destoyer AGRIPPA, jumped into Nighthawk system. "From what we can tell, someone or something attacked this colony not too long ago, and they might *still* be here."
"Fighters away, sir." his exec, Commander Carlion Melande, announced from the status station. "Defense grid online, ready to fire. Main batteries online...ready to fire."
"Excellent. Get me a contact to the surface, Commander, and at the same time, get the comm techs to get a hold of all the ships currently in orbit. Let's try and get a hold on what the situation is, here, as soon as possible!"
"Yes, sir." A brief pause. "Contact to colony achieved."
"Captain Smith?"
"Good day...Doctor Quesotz?"
"Yes, sir. We're *very* happy to see you here, sir!"
"I imagine that you are, Doctor. From what we've heard, you've gone through a trying time here. Looks like a particularly bad band of raiders hit you, although we'll have to do some checking to be sure."
"Yes, sir. I think you should know, sir, that twice in the time since the attack, what appears to have been a Narn pocket warship jumped in and out of the area. The ships in orbit at the time were unable to determine what the Narn vessel was up to..but they were able to confirm that it seemed military in nature."
"I see..thank you for that information, Doctor. I assure you that if the Narns appear again, they won't be able to dance around in our space *quite* so easily. And once we know more, we'll be getting back to you."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Very good. AGRIPPA out."
"Captain?"
"Yes, Commander?"
"Captain, a very faint signal has just started up about 120,000 kilometres this side of Falcon. It...appears to be Earthforce in nature, sir."
Smith snorted. "Slipshod work...although these colonial types are probably shaking in their boots after that attack, I suppose we can't blame them. Very well, vector Alphas One and Four towards the source...let's see what we've got out there."
"Yes, sir."
* * *
"Do you think they've noticed us, William?"
"I don't think I'm going to take that bet, Walther."
* * *
Next: The Final part of SHADE AND SHADOW: THE END OF HISTORY!
Secrecy! Betrayal! Disguise! 2258 goes out with a bang as Westcastle and Gideon face Earthforce Investigation, and Jennie does her best to deal with being dead!