"STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
EPISODE FOURTEEN: "CRIMES OF ASSOCIATION"
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(disclaimers and associated descriptions in overture)
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<<Act Four>>
The Tower of the Council, Tuzanor, Minbar -- Midday, local time. August 12th, 2267.
Her face set in a scowl, Jennifer Westcastle strode down the corridor towards her husband's office, even as more junior Rangers hastily moved out of the way of the human female who was one of their finest instructors. As all knew, it was not wise to anger the Rimstalker's wife even on the *best* of days -- and ever since Sheynell Keynes had gone missing... "The High Councillor summons you to his office at all speed, he said." she muttered, as the door leading to her destination came into view. "But does he tell me what this is all about? Hell, no! When I get a hold of Shival, I'm going to do several things to him, and none of them are going to be..." Which was when she passed through the portal, and saw who was standing there, and her mouth fell wide open in surprise. "Pleasant?"
The last time she'd seen this woman had been before Bester and his Psi Corps had torn them apart -- and ever since that day, Jennifer had honestly believed she would never see her again. Would never get the chance to say... "Brianna..." Jennifer haltingly began, as the red-haired telepath moved towards her, her face streaked with tears, "Is it..."
"Really me?" Brianna nodded, and without another word, the two women came together in a tight embrace, a sight that William observed from his position on the desk, smiling a wider smile than she'd seen on his face since the Drakh had unleashed their plague on Earth, months before. "Does that answer your question?"
"Oh yes! Oh... damn!" And that, of course, was when she started to cry, as well -- and it was a few minutes then before either of them could talk again. "You came back to us -- you *finally* came back to us!"
"I did." Brianna solemnly acknowledged.
"But what you said..."
"Was the wrong thing to say at the worst possible time." the other woman replied. "As I've been telling William in the last few minutes, a long time ago a man taught me that running away from my fears wasn't going to solve any of my problems -- except that what happened during the Telepath War..."
"Took a lot out of you." Jennie thoughtfully observed. "And after Lyta Alexander died, you fell again for a while, until you could find a new foundation to stand on, and another cause to fight for. Then, and only then, were you ready to come home."
"I wasn't sure that this place would ever be a home for me again," Brianna replied, her voice trembling, "But a short time ago, the man I mentioned before -- he and I spoke to one another again, and I decided... I decided that I was tired of being alone -- tired of being afraid... and oh so *very* tired of running. So I came -- and now I'm here, there's something I have to do before anything else. One of us in grave danger, and very soon more of us may die, unless I act."
"You're talking about Sheynell Keynes, of course."
"She is, indeed." William said, his expression now grave. "As all of us know, sooner rather than later Julia and her team are going to find the telepath hideout -- and there's every chance that they'll force Metois and Cattrall to do something... undesirable. Brianna's offered to go to Chayankeer and help sort out our little problem."
"And afterwards?" Jennifer challenged.
A small smile crept onto Brianna's face, and both Jennifer and William felt their spirits rise as their telepath friend carefully pinned her long-unworn Ranger badge onto the grey cloak she was wearing. "Afterwards, there will be all the time in the world to heal our wounds. All the time in the *world*."
* * *
Refuge Vi'weyr, Chayankeer -- mid-morning, local time.
The sound of brisk footsteps was what caught her attention -- and then when she saw the expression on the face of the Storm Dancer that had come to meet them, Julia knew in an instant that a breakthrough of sorts had finally been made. The warrior, of course, went to Miyonn to start with to explain what the others had found -- and then the elder nodded his thanks and came to join her on Vi'weyr's outer balcony, his expression grave, yet pleased. "So..." she asked, setting down the cup of tea that one of the refuge inhabitants had brought to her a few minutes before, "The idea that Larieken had, to scan Chayankeer from orbit looking for stealthed heat signatures where there shouldn't be any..."
"Was the correct suggestion to make, of course." Miyonn told her. "Your operations officer has aided our cause greatly -- this does not surprise you, does it?"
"No..." she acknowledged with a smile, "He's done so *much* for me in the past five years -- I'm not sure if I'll ever find a way to repay him."
"You will... eventually." Miyonn suggested. "As long as the mission that President Sheridan has assigned to you and the others continues, your dance with shadows will continue, as well -- a dance that will eventually place you in greater danger than you have faced to this point, unlikely though that may seem to you at this time. And there *will* come a day when the debt will be paid -- how this will happen, of course, I cannot say."
Miyonn's expression hardened then, however. "But now, on to other matters -- it appears as if our orbital personnel have located the hidden refuge in our midst -- it is time for us to make our final advance upon the stronghold of those who have kidnapped your officer. The infiltration and assault will not be an easy one... and although we have several telepaths aiding us in this struggle..."
"The telepaths we're facing are still stronger." Julia replied with a shiver. "Two determined P12's... but if we don't make the attempt..."
"Your friend will never be freed." Miyonn agreed, as he gestured in the direction of Vi'weyr's landing pad. While after a momentary hesitation, Julia followed in his footsteps.
* * *
She knew already what question they would ask next -- what it was they wanted to know above anything and everything else. Where was the man she'd served, the war criminal Alfred Bester? Where was he hiding, what was he doing? Did she know where he was...
<You know where he is, don't you?> Viyana suggested, her tone steeped in malice. <It is useless to resist us -- tell us where he is, and we may yet be lenient.>
<I've told you everything I know!> she insisted. <Please don't...>
<Please?> Viyana replied with a laugh. <My goodness -- you mean you actually understand the meaning of that word now? Well, well... I guess the Rangers are good for something else then zipping around in those White Stars of theirs... or, for that matter, sneaking around in this stealth battlecruiser you serve on. But where were we?... ah yes. I'm *so* sorry, Sheynell... but I simply don't believe you. You served Bester for too long to break this easily -- you're still hiding something from us, and I mean to find out WHAT.>
And even as she began to scream out a denial, the other telepath struck, and once again Sheynell was sucked back into what had been...
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"What do you mean, you're not coming with me?"
"I'm sorry, Sheynell..." Bester replied, "Sorry I can't come with you... sorry that you've made up your mind about what you want to do, and where you want to go, to try and help our people... to try and save as much of the family as you can in the time remaining to us. But I'm not changing my mind -- this, as the saying goes, is where the road divides.... but perhaps it's enough that there's one of us to travel on each branch -- and maybe we'll both be able to make a difference, in the long run."
Her eyes widened -- was he going to say... Bester shook his head, and she lowered in head in resignation. There would be no apologies -- that wasn't his way, and there'd been a time when it hadn’t been *her* way as well... but now? Now, she wasn't so sure any more -- the only thing she was sure about, though, was that she was going to try and help out at the headquarters complex -- a building full of telepaths that were, if their sources were accurate, about to die. "Then I suppose this is..."
"The end of the line?" Bester's mouth quirked into a faint smile. "I suppose you could be right..."
"Except..."
"Except I've learned to *never* say never -- be seeing you, Sheynell." And then, he was gone.
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"Damnit!" Viyana whispered, as Cattrall hovered in the background, his expression perturbed. "That tells us exactly *nothing* we didn't know before -- it would appear that the little witch was actually telling us the truth about Bester... they parted ways just before the attack that destroyed one of the Psi Corps' largest bases... and it was just after that attack that Bester vanished from our sight... and hasn't been seen since."
"An attack that, I will remind you, Keynes somehow survived, without singing a thread of her hair." Cattrall replied. "I don't know about you, Viyana, but I'm still really interested in learning how she survived the destruction of that place, when so many other telepaths died. And who it was that turned her away from the Corps at last, fully and completely... and towards the Rangers."
Viyana nodded, and lowered her bare hand back towards the face of the woman who'd once been her finest friend. "And you're going to tell us the answer to that question, Sheynell..." she muttered. "Aren't you?"
* * *
"What has happened here?" "Who has done this to us?"
The red-haired woman turned towards her with a curious smile on her face, while other telepaths rushed by them on both sides. "You know the answer to that question -- the serpent has many heads... cut off one, and many more arise. Bester never learned that lesson, you know -- as much as he tried to prove otherwise, he never learned a damn thing. And now it's too late for him, Sheynell; too late for so many of us.
But not too late for you."
"No!" She strode forward, and seized the other woman's gloved hand in her own. "He sent me on ahead to contact you and the others... you can't ask me to leave! I am an officer of the Corps, my place is here, fighting to protect his telepaths!"
"*His* telepaths? They were never his telepaths, Sheynell, and now the others have come to destroy those he holds dear. You will leave this place... *now*."
"You dare to give an order to me?"
"WE dare, yes." was the reply, and involuntarily, she found that she'd retreated a step... for the woman's eyes had glowed, if only for a moment. "You will leave this place, before it it too late. Your future is not here."
"Who are you?" she gasped out. "*What* are you?"
"A dream; a possibility... a means to an end." the red-haired woman half-turned away, then. "We are done with you, and with this place. Face your destiny now, or not at all..."
* * *
Viyana cried out -- and would have fallen if Cattrall hadn't chosen that moment to step forward to support her. "What happened?" he exclaimed. "What did you see?"
"Oh my *God*..." she managed after a long moment, "So it *was* true. Alexander wasn't the only one who served them..."
"What the Hell are you talking about..." Cattrall's eyes widened and then he swore as Viyana relayed what she'd drawn out of Keynes' mind -- and then he nodded. "So -- Tolmanes served the Vorlons, as well. And even then, long after Sheridan banished them..."
"The walking time bombs they built continued to tick." Viyana replied. "And as we both know, the biggest problem with ticking bombs is that sooner or later... there's always a *boom*."
Which was, of course, when the entire refuge... shuddered -- violently enough, as a matter of fact, to throw both telepaths to the floor. "Oh Hell!" Cattrall managed, "They've found us!"
Viyana's gaze darted over towards the reclined, once again unconscious figure of Sheynell Keynes -- and in that moment, she decided what it was she was going to do. "There was always the chance this was going to happen, Edward -- and now it's time for us to leave. You remember the techniques we have to use to deal with the Minbari and their telepaths, of course?"
Cattrall grinned as he saw the determination in his partner's eyes, even as he swung their prisoner over his shoulders yet again. "Of course I do -- if we play this one right..."
"They won't even see us..."
* * *
"It is," Miyonn admitted to Julia as his Storm Dancer warriors closed their perimeter around the once-hidden and secret refuge, "A well constructed and hidden place -- but in the end, the actions of the agents we sought revealed it to our eyes."
"And now?"
"And now, it is time for us to end this." another voice said. Julia froze -- that voice, she *knew* that voice... had never expected to hear it again in her lifetime. She slowly began to turn around -- "Brianna?"
"Julia." The telepath replied with a small nod, as all around them, Miyonn's warriors cried out -- for from their perspective, the grey cloaked woman had not been standing where she *was* standing a moment before. "So -- William did tell me that you'd grown since the last time we served together, on White Star 4... over four years ago, now?"
She wanted to laugh -- and also to weep... but there were other things to say, and other things to attend to, first. "You don't mean in height, do you?"
"You know that I don't." Brianna replied, as she gently slung her arm around Julia's shoulder. "And please believe me when I say that now we're going to rescue your friend from those who've captured her."
Julia managed a nod, as together, she and Brianna advanced on the entrance of the refuge, while Miyonn's Storm Dancer warriors slowly brought up the rear. "Now that you're here..." she managed, "I can believe in miracles."
Which was when Brianna swung her head around to face the doorway -- and Julia suddenly backed away, as anger and deterimation suddenly appeared in her eyes. "Going somewhere, are you? I think *not*."
A shimmer of pain passed through Julia's mind... followed immediately by a loud thump -- and then the sound of two voices, crying out in pain, and her eyes widened as the air in the refuge entrance suddenly seemed to *twist*... and two individuals in black and grey suddenly appeared -- a man and a younger woman, both of whom seemed to be having great difficulty in staying on their feet. As well as the seemingly unconscious figure laid out on the ground behind them...
Miyonn barked a command, and in an instant a full squad of Storm Dancer warriors swarmed forward to surround that figure, while Brianna stood her ground in front of the telepaths responsible for the whole affair. "Edward -- Viyana. You didn't really think you were going to get away with this, did you?"
"You *traitor*!" Viyana Metois managed, her eyes black with rage. "You don't know what it is you've done this day!"
"A traitor, am I?" Brianna replied with a mirthless smile, as the two telepaths were taken into custody. "But to which cause?"
"Brianna..." Cattrall implored, "Remember who it is you serve!"
"I have never forgotten, even though it looks as if you *may* have." Brianna said, and Cattrall's face fell as she sent a powerful glyph into his mind. "I am a Ranger.
I live for the One -- I would *die* for the One. And now that we've cleared that up... I think there's someone who would like a word with both of you -- in person."
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Tuzanor, Minbar -- later that same afternoon.
"So..." William inquired, as Julia and Jennifer sat at their leisure in his office. "What's the verdict?"
"As near as Vahzil can tell, she's going to be fine." Julia replied. "The thing is, even though Metois hated her because she used to serve Bester... both she and her partner made sure not to hurt her too badly, for the simple reason that they wanted to take her back to the Earth Alliance and throw her in the deepest, darkest hole they could find..."
"An outcome which," William replied, "I can all but guarantee will never come to pass. I've spoken to our legal representatives, and they've assured me that since Anla'shok Keynes asked for and received ISA citizenship during the Telepath War, the rules and regulations of the Bureau don't apply to her... and that because of these special circumstances, no extraditions will be allowed -- period." The High Councillor's gaze shifted to the door, then, as it opened and another figure stepped into the office. "They also noted that this also applies to one *other* individual, as well."
"So, Brianna..." Julia asked, as the other Ranger came forward to stand by her friends, "What do you think will happen to those Bureau agents?"
"There was a time," Brianna replied, "When the Psi Corps tried to program its members into believing they were part of a family -- what Viyana Metois and her partner forgot, however, was that there's more than one family in the galaxy... and that it's not a good idea to make those 'families' angry."
"Translation..." William noted, "We beat them at their own game with a... little bit of help. And now..."
"And now," Brianna confided, "I think a stiff lecture will be the *least* of their concerns..."
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The vista was the same -- but everything had changed, as the Director of the Bureau of Telepathic Integration read the message one of his assistants had brought to him...
And began to laugh.
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To be concluded...
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