Things are, as a matter of course, beginning to come to a climax point, both in pace and in arc resolution, in the world of the Rimstalker. Just like another writer we are all familiar with, it is growing near to the time where setting up and setting up eventually must be paid off. In the six chapters now remaining to THE RIDERS ON THE STORM, I fully intend to wrap up and or finish a good number of my story threads; there’s an end coming, after all, an end that will be more or less coincident with the airing of SLEEPING IN LIGHT (there will be a Rimstalker V, but it will, it all respects, be the denouement to this epic.)
And when the story is told, it is my hope, that in the end, the telling will have been worth it, as my characters, so to speak, take their bows, and wander off into that proverbial sunset.
*Most* of them, anyways; that is all I will say, for now...although an element introduced here should be sufficient to give you a clue or two.
RIMSTALKER: THE RIDERS ON THE STORM; PART 13
"BLOOD AND RED SAND" ACT I OF II
**"The trip that Westcastle and his very small, very covert team made to Mars at the end of July 2261 to rescue their lost comrade was, in many respects, one of the only truly great errors that the honoured Ranger commander ever made in his career, for it began the inevitable process that too often, takes hold of any great organization; if I may paraphrase, things fell apart, and the center, in the end, did not hold..."**
- From "Holding the Line: a History of the Army of Light"
* * *
The second week of July, 2261.
It was, on Earth, an unseen action, but unseen actions sometimes are taken for very important reasons. In the tumultous records of Earth Central, a vessel that did not, in truth, even exist, was brought into being, a vessel called upon to observe the outer system for the Earth Alliance Planetary Resources Agency. And while it was true that the majority of finds had long ago been mined, removed and used, there was always the off chance that a new find would be made, and even in this time of tyranny, that freedom was accepted, if looked upon with ridicule.
That very ridicule, however, caused many members of the Ministry of Peace to laugh, shake their heads, look the other way, and forget about the matter, having more important concerns to attend to. This was the key, of course, and in this case, it would allow an all too important infiltration to occur.
* * *
Epsilon Three.
With hand raised to shield her face from the blast, Julia watched from a place of safety as the ground to orbit shuttle that Marcus had used to bring her down to Epsilon Three rose off the otherwise empty pad, and vanished from sight, on its way back out into the massive crack in the surface of the world. It was apparent, from the remarks the Ranger had made on the way down from Babylon 5, that he had been instructed to part ways with her once the duty of transfer had been completed; but if this was so, how was she to determine where she should go, in this labyrinth?
With a sigh, she turned from the landing pads, and began to walk, her pace measured and sure. As a trainee among the Rangers, she *had*, of course, been made privy to the knowledge that the planet the station orbitted was laced, through and through, with great fusion reactors; these served to power a 'Great Machine', a device that, through the agencies of its controller, had the ability to both look far into space, and, possibly, into *time*, as well. Even Draal, her occasional mentor, had stated that he, the heart of the Machine, did not, in fact, know all that it was capable of...
Now, the problem was, how was she to find him?
"Ah..." a low, toothy voice announced with relish, and she whirled, to see a small, slightly hunched figure approach, his face lined, but wide of smile, and wearing an astonishing array of clothing, among which was what appeared to be a fur coat of sorts... "There you are; Zathras was sent, yes, to meet you, so Promise of Future would not get lost in Great Machine; very bad, that would be."
She smiled, a little; Jennifer had, from time to time, related to her the tale of how she had met *this* individual for the first time; and now, apparently, it was finally going to be her turn. "Zathras, it's a honour to meet you, finally; William and Jennifer have both spoken highly of you, to me."
"Ah! So, Stalker and Watcher still following destiny, Zathras not surprised; pleased, yes, but surprised, no. But, Zathras, this day, is focussed on other tasks, other problems. Draal send Zathras, through maze of Great Machine, to find Promise of Future; *you* are promise of Future, otherwise Draal would not be interested in you so much, Zathras know this to be fact, yes..."
A thrill of anxiety and anticipation ran through her at that statement; Zathras, in his bewildering style of speaking, had referred to her as the 'Promise of Future'; but what this meant was, as yet, unclear. Jennifer had also been fairly clear on the matter that while talking to Zathras, it was best to listen carefully, as Zathras tended to let slip information on matters that had not, as yet, come to pass.
"Lead on then, Zathras...and I shall follow."
This, of course, came from the paradox of being a guardian to a machine that could sense and interpret currents in the streams of tachyons that were, as had been proven, moving from the future and into the past. The rift that her former mentor, Jeffrey Sinclair, had used to take Babylon 4 into the past, to a point in time where he had written her that all-important letter, was a reflection of those tachyon streams. But she saw other reflections, quite clearly, in the gleam of amusement and anticipation in Zathras's eyes, and then looked down, to find herself crossing a thin catwalk, over an immense shaft dropping down below her, seemingly without end, into the core of Epsilon 3.
And wondered whether she should be intrigued, or scared out of her wits...
Zathras tutted then, perhaps impatiently, but who could blame him? In some respects, she might be a gawking newcomer, but the rest awaited.
* * *
Mars. Syria Planum; Psi Corps facility.
Two figures met in passing in a shadowed hallway, and paused to talk.
"There are some days, Al, when it just astonishes me how many different matters and threads of importance you are able to keep track of; and how, in the end, the Corps, and our telepaths, are always served first..."
A brief returning smile was given. "It comes with the territory; from the beginning, I’ve found it best to keep my finger on the pulse of events, and gently pull a string here, to create an effect there. Some things are harder to see then others, but all the movements result in what I want and need. In the end, I always win, as does the Corps. This you have come to accept..."
"But what of this rogue you have bowed down to deal with? While I find it fascinating she was exposed to many of the same elements that our fellow experiment, Lyta Alexander, was subjected to, at the same time, I find it difficult to understand why we should not simply reprogram her, and put her to work as a loyal member of the Corps."
A chuckle, and shake of head. "Now, *that* comment, I find surprising! Such a direct manipulation would greatly decrease her value to us; Miss Tolmanes is, believe it or not, far more valuable to us as what she now represents; a target to draw in the other element I have wished to reunite with, for some years now."
"A mundane; what possible interest could you have in a mundane?"
"This mundane has, believe it or not, been a key element in all that which has come to pass; while Sheridan and the rest moved in the spotlight, so to speak, this man worked behind the scenes, to help bring about many of the events that Sheridan has taken credit for; an enviable record. But like Sheridan, the time is coming when we must work to rein his ambitions in a little, to turn some of his energies aside; for if he rises too far, he could, in times to come, threaten us; this cannot be allowed."
"I understand; but what of Tolmanes? As near as I have been able to determine, she possesses at least a P11 qualification, possibly P12, it is difficult to be sure; we cannot allow such a valuable resource to be wasted."
"No...of course not, but Tolmanes is loyal to the Minbari organization known as the Rangers, and also to Westcastle, the man I previously mentioned. A method must be found to break those loyalties in such a way that she will willingly, I say again, *willingly*, turn herself over to us."
"You can do this for us?" Disbelievingly.
"Yes; it won't be easy, of course, but when have you known me to not enjoy a challenge?"
A laugh. "I understand; very well, Al, we will talk again, but for now, I must bid you good day."
* * *
Another meeting...
"Viyana, I have heard that there's a very powerful blip captured in the dome; I think I want to go and *confront* her. I'm strong enough, I've heard that she's only rated as a P10 or 11."
"I don't think this is a very good idea, Sheynell, and especially not without telling the Seniors."
"To Hell with the what the Seniors think, Viyana! We're *both* going to be Psi Cops eventually, all powerful, all knowing, and all doing! If you tell the watcher you'll relieve him for a while, as part of your extracurricular training, I can go talk to her, without the Seniors finding out what we've done... it ought to be *fascinating*, don't you agree?"
* * *
Outside the window, the colour of the Martian sky was the colour of blood, diluted beneath the rising rays of the distant sun. Brianna rested one ungloved hand against the glass, and imagined she could feel the chill leeching through, robbing the heat from her bones. The question was, how long would she have to stay in what, while it was comfortable, with bed, and network services to receive the broadcasts and electronic dispatches from ISN and some of the other news services, was still, in the end, a cell?
William was coming for her, this she knew; and there was absolutely no way of letting him know he was walking right into a trap set for him by this Mr. Bester, no way at all. She ran one hand through her short bob of hair, only now starting to grow back in after the humiliation Ulkesh had imposed on her earlier in the year, and asked herself, again, the all important question; why was Bester doing this?
Behind her, the door opened, and then closed, and she turned, mouth half opened with a sharp comment, expecting to see Bester, when she realized it wasn't, and shut her mouth again. Instead of the short, sardonic Psi Cop, a tall, thin, sharp faced girl stood there, all in black, with the sigil of the Psi Corps cleanly visible on her right breast. In Valen's Name, could it be so? It was, she could see it in this girl's eyes; no more then sixteen or seventeen years old, if looks could be appreciated, and already, her soul had been stolen from her.
"So; you're the one..." the girl sadly commented, shaking her head. "I refused to believe in what I had heard, so I came to see myself, to hear you say it. One of us, and you've bowed to serving a mundane...no, a whole *series* of them. You don't understand, do you? No, I can see you don't, you weren't brought up as one of us, you couldn't possibly understand; but you will."
She laughed. "So complacent, so sure of yourself, aren't you? So sure that what you believe is right, Miss...?"
"My name is Sheynell Keynes..." the girl coldly replied. "I am a P12, and as such, my duties as a Psi Cop, once I have concluded my training, will, as a matter of course, revolve around the hunting and retrieval of blips such as yourself, Miss Tolmanes. And as for what I believe, we of the Psi Corps know much more then you could possibly comprehend; nothing you've done, and nowhere you have been in the service of those Mundane Rangers, has given you this understanding."
Brianna shook her head disbelievingly; what an infantile little brat this girl was; so much power, and so little understanding. "Is that what you think...Sheynell? Such a pretty name, that is, but I suppose you don't understand that power, either."
At that, superiority faded away, just, in fact, the response she had been looking for, as the young Psi Corps telepath strode forward angrily.. "How *dare* you say such things to me? I could have you thrown out of this dome, to die on those red sands outside, and there would be nothing you could do to counter my say as a high ranking prospective officer in the Psi Corps. At the top of your mind, Miss Tolmanes, I see you believe you can teach me something...I dare you to prove that improbable claim!"
She bowed her head, and nodded; this was, in the end, the way it had to be. Reaching inside of herself, she touched on the center that the Vorlons had left behind, when they had gone beyond the Rim. "As you wish, then, young servant of darkness; learn what was, what is, and what may yet be, at our hands.
LEARN." She whipped her head up, and watched the young woman recoil slightly; reflected in that shocked, fearful gaze she saw the dark pools of her eyes, and smiled; reached out, and briefly silenced the watching mind of the girl's companion, touched the girl's mind to its core, and opened the floodgates of memory.
* * *
"What happened in there?" Viyana demanded, as Sheynell emerged from the cell, her eyes wide, and stride unsteady. "I blinked for a moment, and you were turning to run!"
"I'm not sure." Sheynell replied, her gaze a little wild. "I saw images; of battles, and ancient places..."
"If the Seniors find out we did this, we will be so very dead."
Sheynell turned in mid stride, and fixed her friend with a sharp gaze. "We have to keep this a secret, Viyana...there isn't any other option I can see; I still want to be a Psi Cop, do you?"
After a moment, Viyana nodded, and the pact was sealed.
And a fate determined.
* * *
The Heart of the Great Machine.
"So!" Draal proclaimed, as he slowly detached himself from the locus behind him. "It's about time you came to see me in person, young Julia, about time *indeed*. I don't doubt that we will have a great many interesting conversations in the time ahead of us, until you feel the call of your heart, to once more stride forth on your path towards becoming a Ranger. But that time is not now..."
All during Draal's welcoming tirade, Julia walked ever so slowly towards the heart of the Great Machine, her curiousity enormous. From here, Draal had observed all the events that had unfolded under the control of John Sheridan, William, and so many others, and had been wise enough to restrain himself from adding the full power of the Great Machine to the conflict; a wise decision, and a difficult one...for she understood that Draal had been as a mentor to Delenn, and from time to time, her Entil'zha had been placed in mortal danger...
And yet, Draal had not acted; if he had, any aid given might have been more of a hindrance then a help; as a result of the shying away, her Entil'zha had become stronger, and would, if all went well, become stronger still, in the years and decades still to come.
And would she stand by her side in the times ahead, as William and Jennifer did now? What would be her destiny? Zathras had told her that she was the 'promise' of the future still to be, but what did that mean? What *could* it mean?
Finally, she got up the gumption to pop the only question that seemed to matter. "Do you mind if I...?"
Draal snorted, scowled, and then sighed. "If I had my way, my girl, the answer would be no!...but Zathras, whom you have already met, *insisted* that it had to happen! This was why I detached myself from the Great Machine and placed it, shall we say, on standby for a while; it does not need me all the time, and occasionally, someone comes to us who needs it more, if only for a moment. Commander Ivanova was one such...and now, the boon is yours, for a short time. I have, at Zathras's impetus, requested *it* to accept you, for a time; that time is now."
"What do I..."
Draal laid a comforting hand upon her shoulder, as she reached out a hand, and touched the seemingly innocent contact point within the structure; one of two. "Turn around, my dear, and lean back a little, yes, that's it; you already have hold of the one contact, now reach out your hand, and..."
In the instant her other hand made contact, is was as if a mild electric shock passed through her, from head to toe, and without volition, she relaxed, her eyes widening. "I have it, I think..."
"Indeed you do!" Draal replied, his brow furrowed in interest. "Very interesting, indeed! The good Commander took a great deal longer to relax to this point then you have; very well, the Machine is waiting for you, it will not guide, only help; you must provide the impetus for that which you seek."
There was only one thing that came to mind, at that point, and as she floated away, the awe inspiring buzz of the Great Machine all around her, she acted on that thought.
<The Promise; tell me of the Promise.>
* * *
Another time, another age.
A cave glittered with the light of a tall candle, and revealed the figures of two Minbari; one young, and one aged and wise. "Master!" the Younger declared, "I still do not understand the reasoning behind this act!"
The Elder chuckled, and nodded. "I know, but you must accept that this is so; as Valen, may he now ever rest in the Light to which we watched him go, showed us, there will come a time, a thousand years from now, when what we have moved to create will be needed again, and will move forth to its ultimate destiny in the war against the Darkness. But beyond that, and more personally, I aided Valen in a special service, a task I now, must pass onto you. The line must be protected, from elder to younger, down the generations, until what is Protected shall be needed."
"The letters."
"Indeed, that is so; the three letters I helped Valen to seal away from the world, in his name; the letters to *Jeffrey David Sinclair*, to *Delenn*, and last, and most interesting, for I saw the sadness and hope in his eyes when he watched that letter sealed away, the letter for *Julia Tikopai*. Who these beings are, and what they will do, and how the great Valen knew of them, is a mystery we will never now be able to fathom the answer to; even the language two of them are written in is unknown to us!...but there is one last task you must undertake for me, before I pass beyond the Veil, a task that Valen, himself, requested that I undertake."
With hand firm, the Elder withdrew his warrior pike from the folds of his robe, and with near reverence, closed it. "It must be buried here, and now; there will come a time, or so I believe, when the one for which it is next intended will come to learn of this location. Valen implied, in one of his final conversations with me, that it would help to guide its next owner towards a destiny that none of us could truly understand. I chose to agree with that determination; this wish, at least, I can grant, for I have so very little time left to me, now..."
The Younger nodded. "It shall be as you say, in his name."
* * *
With a faint cry of surprise, Julia fell out of the Great Machine, and with a snort of surprise, Draal moved to shore her up. "My goodness!...it has been only a moment, Julia! What did you see?"
She looked up at the Minbari, her hands still trembling, and smiled. "A boon; a vision; a dream...and an answer."
Draal sighed. "Well, I see that the lessons in mysteries that your Entil'zha has helped to teach the Rangers have rolled have even reached you...but should I be surprised? No."
"Forgive me, Draal!..but it was surprising." Best to be vague for now, Julia.
"Most things that the Machine shows me are surprising, yes...but I do understand, however. I must assume that you are going to want to rush off somewhere, and do something, because of what It showed you, however..."
"Soon." she whispered, half to herself, still almost lost in the vision the Machine had shown her, somehow, from a thousand years in the past (was that before the time in which it had been constructed? She couldn't remember). Not right now, but *soon*.
* * *
The third week of July, 2261.
Amidst the tail end of a major Earthforce exercise in the outer worlds territory, a number of jumpouts by a single Earthforce destroyer went almost unnoticed. Brief electronic investigations revealed the destroyer to be the EAS HELENA, a member of the exercise intended to act as a stealthed, hard to find target.
That *two* of those jumpouts were not made by the HELENA at all would have raised the eyebrows, and the ire, of many officers at the top of the chain of command. And on the second jump out, a small, barely noticeable transport detached from the destroyer in question, and began to move inwards, out of the practice zone. This, too, was noted, as the return of a prospector expedition out of the farther reaches of Earth System. The commander of the ship was chided, somewhat harshly, for straying into a practice zone, and then, because no other problems could be discovered, the matter was dropped.
Letting the three members of that crew prepare to move on their *true* reasons for coming back close to home.
* * *
"Well..." Colvhar muttered, as the distant gleam of Red Mars came into view, "That was fairly painless."
"That was the easy part." William, who had, as part of his disguise, moved to grow back his beard, at least temporarily, looked into the distance with a certain amount of loathing. "And now, we pass the kilometers by, and pray that we can arrive in time to do something about Brianna's situation."
Talion, watching silently from the corner of the cockpit, could not help but note the growing number of silvery threads in William's once jet-black beard. His commander had aged, before his eyes, in the past year; how much more could the Rimstalker lose, before this was all over?
Part of the answer to that question waited for them on that tiny red gleam still ahead, and Talion knew, in his bones, that none of them would like what they would find there.
Not one little bit.
* * *
To be continued...
RIMSTALKER: THE RIDERS ON THE STORM; PART 13
"BLOOD AND RED SAND" ACT II OF II
**"It was only after a great many years had passed, when the time of the Final Gathering drew near, that William drew me aside, and told the story of what happened on Mars. And only then, did I finally understand the meaning of what I had seen, that summer of 2261; how my husband, so full of belief in himself and what he did, could have returned, his eyes haunted by something he refused to tell me of, something that *all* those who followed him to Mars likewise kept silent about. It was terrifying, it was manipulation on the grandest scale, and the worst thing about the entire situation is that, to this date, I still don’t know if Bester did the same to me, at the time.
Because we were both there, that day so long ago, on a lost world, in another age; back where it all began..."
- From "Annontated Notes on the Last War of the Shadow" as published by Jennifer Clifford-Westcastle in the Earth Year 2290, under her maiden name
* * *
Log of Anla'shok Lakotal Julia Tikopai;
July 22nd, 2261.
I am in a quandary; a quandary I don't know how to escape from.
But if I am to resolve this conflict, perhaps it is best to go over things as they *were*.
During my moment in communion with the Great Machine, it showed me a vision of two Minbari warriors, one old and wise, the other young and eager, and the burial of the Elder's warrior pike, a task commanded, or so it seemed to me, by Valen *himself*. The Elder had spoken of 'another' who would come to learn of the location for that weapon, in the years to come, and become the next owner of the pike, as a result of that knowledge.
More frightening, in my opinion, the knowledge that the pike is, in part, meant to guide that owner into an unknowable, and possibly dangerous future; a future in which that owner would be placed in repeated, and possibly perilous danger.
And most terrifying of all, it seems certain that the 'owner' the elder referred to is almost certainly me.
This, of course, is something I couldn’t tell Jennifer and Marcus, when they came back down from the station to pick me up, thirty six hours after my arrival in the Great Machine. Draal was unhappy to see me go, so soon, but Zathras explained the situation to him, in that peculiar fashion of his, and the reasoning was prudent.
"She feels the *call*." he said; "Call of design, call of destiny, call of fate; this all Zathras forsaw, and told you, Draal, Zathras did, many things, this included. She must go, to follow the call, to fulfill what must be."
Jennifer, of course, was astute enough to see something in my eyes, and later on, cornered me on the matter. And for the first time in our relationship, I was forced to keep something important from her. I have to, there doesn't seem any other option, for if the Council finds out about this, they would almost certainly not let me keep the pike, even if I am lucky enough to find it.
And so, I now come back to the quandary part; it seems certain that the pike is buried somewhere on Minbar, and the impression I received was that the cave in the vision was somewhere near Tuzanor. But Minbar is currently embroiled in a civil war between the castes, and our Entil'zha has thrust herself into the heart of this conflict. As a result, many of the Rangers on the station and in the White Star Fleet are quite unhappy at the moment. I am *beyond* unhappy, however; I think the Great Machine did something to me, somehow; for the need to begin the hunt for this lost treasure grows in me, day by day, and the time may soon come, where that need will overcome better judgement...
* * *
Mars.
With eyes narrow, William cast his gaze up to the dome overhead as he, Colvhar and Talion made their way into one of the residential wings, and then, upon the security and Nightwatch noncoms that were, as in all domes and settlements 'liberated' by the forces of President Clark, on overly active patrol since Mars had attempted to secede from the Earth Alliance, the previous year.
Luckily, the false alias they had constructed for themselves had passed inspection easily, thus far; Captain Tikopai's crew had arranged to load some processed ores and strange ices into the cargo hold of the small freighter they had piloted in from Jovian space, and using the credit from those resources, the three Rangers had faded, quite invisibly, into one of the darker cracks of Martian Society.
The three paused at the entry to a residence, and Talion, with seeming long practice, brought his knuckle up to the door, and rapped out a short, complicated drum code on the door. The door opened a crack, revealing a suspicious eye, and then all the way...
"I honestly never believed that I would see you again, brother..." the tall, slightly stocky, blonde haired man in the door declared, a smile on his face. "Between your departure for Minbar, and then Earthgov trying its damnest to nail the coffin lid shut over the entire planet...."
"We have our ways." Talion replied, and then the two brothers briefly embraced, before everyone moved into the residence, and the door was well secured. "Let me introduce you; Shiane, these are my good friends Colvhar and William...gentlemen, this is my brother, Shiane Quintara."
"Ah, yes." Shiane declared, his gaze suddenly sneaky. "It's indeed an honour, to finally meet one of the commanders of the White Star Fleet...an honour, indeed. Come in gentlemen...you are welcome, in my house."
William and Colvhar exchanged a long, curious glance, before returning their gaze to meet Talion's waiting smile. "No need to be confused, sir; my brother and I have, through the work of the few contacts brave enough to reenter Earthspace after the establishment of Martial Law, resumed contact in the last six months. Shiane knows most of what happened outside Earth system in the last year."
"And a rightly astonishing tale it is!" Shiane resumed. "But let me come straight to the point, Sha'vei William Westcastle; since this is your rescue mission, and my brother and your other companion seem to just be along for the ride, so to speak. A number of days ago, a group of Psi Corps officials passed through a nearby transfer point on their way to the base in Syria Planum; fairly nearby, as I'm sure you understand, we see a great many telepaths around here, because of that base. However, Talion managed to pass on the description of the Ranger you're searching for; their prisoner and your missing Ranger seemed to be one and the same."
"Then let me come straight to the point, as well..." William declared, his gaze firm. "You’re quite right in your assumption of our presence here; the goal of the mission is to, if possible, break into the base at Syria Planum, locate our comrade, Brianna Tolmanes, and depart with all expediency. The rebel units within Earthforce are, to a certain degree, working coincident with this operation; if all goes well, we'll be away from Mars before the Psi Corps knows what's happened to it."
"If 'all goes well' is the key here, I'm afraid." Shiane replied, somewhat regretfully. "That base is one of their most critical nervepoints, and most of the time, they keep it locked up, stock and barrel. *However*, that does not mean it is impervious to covert infiltration!"
"Oh?"
"The Martian Resistance has, during its investigations of the facilities all over Mars, mapped out as much of the Martian underground tunnel networks as is possible; and as far as we've been able to determine, since an experimental electronic surveillance AI one of our techs developed was, to our great surprise, able to break into the fringes of their network recently, the Ranger telepath you’re searching for is being kept in a small residential dome near the edge of the Syria Planum base. Beneath this dome is an abandoned tunnel leading to a buried bunker of sorts, about six kilometers to the south. We're *guessing* dates from when the Psi Corps built the base...there may be very few that know about it, even among their telepaths."
"I find this suspicious, sir..." Colvhar put in, his expression forbidding. "Suspicious indeed, that a 'unknown' tunnel should be attached to this dome."
"I understand your concerns, Colvhar..." William replied, "But it seems highly unlikely, to me, that the Psi Corps would be interested in setting a trap for us...we're only 'mundanes', after all...why would they want us? Their mode of operation is more likely to be focussed on breaking her loyalties to the Rangers, and to Valen's Name; but she's strong, Colvhar... they may have great difficulty doing that. And because that's so, for now, I'm going to assume we'll have the element of surprise on our side."
"But once they know we're there, sir, we're going to have to move *very* quickly."
"Agreed..." Shiane concluded. "And that's where the Resistance comes into the equation..."
* * *
Syria Planum Base.
It was, according to the room chronometer, 17:00 hours Earth Standard Time (not that this matched up with the current position of the sun in the sky, by any means) , and as such, she turned her attention away from the ISN feed, and rose to approach the door. The three meals she received each day in this prison came like clockwork, and admittedly, she *was* hungry. She had been ready for every meal, since she had pulled that trick with the young telepath, two days ago.
And then, to her astonishment, the door opened, and Bester entered, carrying two glasses accompanied by a pitcher of what appeared to be juice of some kind, with another telepath behind, carrying a tray with two meals on it. She rose to her feet angrily, but came to a halt as the Psi Cop set the two cups down on the dining table, and raised a finger, smiled, and shook his head.
"Good afternoon, Miss Tolmanes. If you wouldn't mind, I'd appreciate it if you'd refrain from leaping at me just yet. You see, it's the dinner hour, and the matters we have to discuss are best discussed calmly, over a good meal; and for Mars, I assure you, this *is* a good meal, certainly better then those your jailers have been feeding you just lately..."
"Is this a peace offering I see, Mr. Bester? Because if it is, you're going to have to argue long and hard to prove your case."
"But of course." With a gesture, Bester indicated the seat, and Brianna took it suspiciously, watching as the other telepath poured her a drink, and then one for himself, before sitting down and commencing to eat his meal. After a pause, she did the same; it didn't seem likely, this time, that the meal would be drugged, and that, to no great surprise, ended up being exactly the case.
And then, after a time, Bester laid down his knife and fork, and began to speak again...
"Now that we've eaten, there's a matter we need to discuss; a quite critical matter, I'm afraid. As you now know, I've allowed certain members of the local planetary Resistance to know of your location...and with three members of your Ranger organization, including William Westcastle, recently arrived on Mars, they are, as we speak, planning a strike against this facility, with those Rangers in charge of the operation. The goal, as you no doubt realize, to free you, and escape back towards Babylon 5."
"That you know this is about to occur only serves to reinforce my opinion of the situation, Mr. Bester; you've drawn William in, and now you wish to trap him, for reasons I haven't been able to determine. Why shouldn't I warn him that it's a trap, the instant they arrive?"
Bester sighed melodramatically. "I assure you, Miss Tolmanes, that would not be in your best interests. While all you say is true, there's an option I think you must take, an option that will, in due course, allow both you *and* your rescuers to leave this place, and if you wish, return to Babylon 5, at least for the time being."
"I don't know you well, yet, Mr. Bester, but I've always been able to smell CONDITIONS coming from a light year away."
"Just so; but as things stand, it's either that, or a return to what you endured upon your arrival here; in my opinion, this outcome is a far more pleasant one."
"We'll see; state your terms."
"The terms are simple, and to the point. Since we know that a Ranger team, among them your former commander, is coming here to rescue you, we could, quite simply, arrange to kill them all, and thereby forbid your escape, could we not?"
A sick horror had filled her at Bester's words, and what he clearly intended. "You bastard! You're trying to blackmail me!"
"Some would define it so, yes; now, do you want them to live, or die? It's your choice."
The next moment seemed to be the longest in her life; how dare he place this decision, upon her? But there seemed very little choice in the matter; if she said no, Bester could have William and his team destroyed, long before they reached her. She sighed, and met Bester's mocking smile. "Live."
"Excellent; I knew you would see it, my way, in the end. Very well, then; this, then, is the way things must be...while your rescuers will be allowed to reach you, I must, for the sake of appearances, arrange to have them briefly captured, for I've heard a great many things about Westcastle's adventures in recent years; I should like to meet him again."
"What do you mean, *again*??"
"Didn't he tell you?" Bester inquired, a mock look of surprise coming onto his face. "A long time ago, back at the beginning of this whole business, Westcastle and I crossed paths on a world now destroyed; ask his wife when next you see her, Miss Tolmanes...she will be able to prove my claim."
"I will, Mr. Bester...have no doubt of that. But as you were saying?";
"Ah, yes. Thereafter, the guards at the supposedly 'secret' tunnel your friends will use to reach this place will be strategically withdrawn from their positions, and I will arrange to have the local forces sent to deal with a 'pressing' emergency, elsewhere...and you will be allowed to leave, with your Ranger friends. However, there is one other, small condition."
"Which is?" This, she suspected, was the key one, despite Bester's wording.
"I give you only to the end of next year, Miss Tolmanes, to wrap up your affairs with the Rangers. I don't much care how you do this, only that it must be so; I will have you as a member of the Corps, as one of *my* telepaths, and nothing else. And, I must have your word on this, here and now, or, I'm afraid, I will be forced to change my mind, in reference to the continued survival of Westcastle and his Ranger team."
So. That was, in the end, what it came down to; either she left the Rangers for good, and all of her friends, or William and his team would die, at Bester's hands! But what choice was there? She couldn't bear to allow those murders to happen, and she couldn't kill herself, either; neither Bester nor the Vorlon programming still within her left that option as a viable one.
"I'm waiting, Miss Tolmanes..." Bester reminded her. "Which way will it be?"
"If the price I pay...is the continued survival of the man who saved my life, when no other could, then that is a price I must pay, Mr. Bester. You knew I wouldn't make another choice even before you set me up, didn't you?"
Bester merely nodded.
"Then as you said, no later then the end of December, 2262, I will part ways with the Rangers, in a manner of my choosing, and come to you, as a (say it, so he may live) loyal servant of the Corps. This I swear...for I can't allow the man who saved me, the man named Rimstalker, by some, to be murdered in cold blood...I simply cannot."
Bester rose, and nodded, his sympathy blatantly false. "I'm sorry it had to be this way, Miss Tolmanes, truly sorry. But the Corps is mother, and the Corps is father, and I am the Corps' loyal servant, in all things. The deals I made with you, I made for the sake of the Corps, and while I'm certain it will be difficult for you, at first, you'll manage; the alternatives are, as you've indicated, not ones you wish to take.
Now, there are other matters I must attend to...and while we'll see each other again once more, before you leave, after that...*well*, I look forward to seeing you, at the end of next year."
Bester opened the door, and smiled at her one last time. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Tolmanes." And then he was gone, leaving her to her sorrow. So callous he was, and also the universe, to place this weight upon her. A bitter pill to swallow.
Bitter, indeed.
* * *
Hyperspace.
The rippling black and red clouds of hyperspace parted, revealing a single Earthforce heavy cruiser; not that this was anything remarkable; indeed, this particular cruiser, the CASCADE, was well on its way back towards the heart of Earthspace, after a particularly long patrol out beyond the Alliance Mid-range colonies.
What *was* unusual was the approach of another capital ship out of the ruddy darkness, a destroyer. In different circumstances, this might have been seen as an attack, but no alarm was sounded as the much larger warship fell in beside the CASCADE. And after a short time, a shuttle emerged from the belly of the cruiser, and made its way over to the destroyer...
* * *
"You know," Captain Adam Paradis declared, his expression secretive and amused. "If the Chiefs of Staff knew we were having this meeting, I and my exec would likely be shot on sight."
Bethany nodded solemnly. "No doubt you would, Adam; but I'm glad to see you've turned to our side, even though I won't, and can't, expect your mutiny from the Loyalist camp, not yet, anyways."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Hear me out, Adam. A short time ago, an associate of mine took a small team to Mars to rescue a comrade of his. Three days from now, if everything works out accordingly, they're going to be ready to escape; I need a ship to be there, when that happens, and I'll give you the code you'll need to respond to their pickup call, and the appropriate frequency to listen and transmit on."
"I can see, Bethany, that you'd like to take the NIOBE into Mars orbit...but you can't, not yet, anyway. No worries, the crew of the CASCADE have been waiting to mutiny from under Clark's heel for some time now. The least we can do is carry out this favour for you, before we jump to join your fleet."
"Thank you, Adam!...you've no idea how much this means to me."
"Well, Bethany...I'm sure I'll find a way for you to pay me back in due course...say, after Clark is booted out."
Bethany sighed. "I'll add you to the list."
* * *
Beneath the sands of Mars.
Well before they'd reached the tube transfer point closest to the Syria Planum Base, Shiane had taken them out into a small, local station, and, after contacting the local member of the Resistance, had arranged to 'hire' a surface vehicle. For hours, then, they had crawled across the surface of Mars, thorough the daytime hours, the following night, and well into the next day, before they had arrived at a barely seen door in the side of a hill...into which they'd travelled. Within the tunnel, the air was stale, and dank, not surprising for a bunker/tunnel combination abandoned for had probably been decades. Breaking out lights, they had began to walk; and now, *at last*, they were drawing near to their final destination.
William placed one hand against the door, as Shiane inserted a codepicking device into the door lock. "I'm going to ask you again, Shiane; you're *sure* that what you're doing, won't raise any alarms?"
Talion cast him a single, disgusted glance, while the elder Quintara chuckled, and continue to pick the lock. "I've been doing this for a very long time, William; as near as I can determine, as soon as we're through this door, we should, if the information we have is accurate, be able to come out into the dome more or less undetected. And if the AI did the job we asked it to, then our task will only be easier."
"You'd better hope there aren't any high-powered telepaths out there..." Colvhar tersely interjected. "If there are, they could make us shoot *ourselves*, instead of them, if they wanted to."
"We'll have to take that chance." William replied. "I've come this far, I'm not about to give up now. And once we reach Brianna, there's a fair chance she'll be able to protect us, somewhat..."
At that, the door clicked open, and without another word, the small party of Rangers and Resistance moved through, and into the vestibule beyond. Soon enough, they came to a ladder heading upwards, and slowly, and without sound, they ascended, one by one, Talion first. The young Ranger quickly ran a microwelder around the sealed manhole at the top of the ladder, and stuck his head out into an astonishingly quiet hallway. Even more astonishingly, the lights were flickering intermittently, and the shrill whine of a siren was sounding in the distance.
Shiane stuck his head out behind his brother, and grinned, before whispering, "I told you it would work; the AI raised a false alarm; *most* of the guards should be gone. And, it looks like the dome's surveillance system is down, as well."
"Too good to be true...but why argue with providence?" With that said, the team moved down the hallway, their senses at full alert. Hardly any of the rooms they passed were occupied, but there were a fair number, none the less. And then, they paused, as a guard passed; a low powered telepath, but one, never the less. In the Psi Corps, it seemed that the truly low powered ratings got the 'grunt' jobs. And as long as they were silent...
With a single motion, William strode up, and wrapped a choke hold around the guard's neck, who grunted in surprise. "Now..." he whispered in the guard's ear, "I'm going to guess that you're the only guard left in this part of the dome, since the rest were called away suddenly, to deal with a supposed Resistance 'attack' nearby; unfortunately, as I have to inform you, there is no such attack."
"You won't get away with this." the telepath replied.
"I'm afraid that we will; your friends are too far away to warn, and I'm guessing that you're only a P3 or P4 at the most; certainly a member of the Corps, but ah well, we're not here to talk to you. You're going to take us to a room...a room that contains a friend of ours."
The guard laughed. "So...you're Rangers, are you? We've been expecting an attempt like this; but I must admit, we weren't expecting you to call our bluff like that. How did you manage to patch that false report into our system, by the way?"
"That's for us to know, and you to guess at; for right now, though, talking's over; my friend there is holding a rather light and very deadly weapon in the palm of his hand, and it just might spring open by mistake, and break several of your ribs, for starters, if you start being obstinate; for now, take us to Brianna Tolmanes' cell."
"I think not."
William sighed, and with a single movement, Colvhar opened his pike, and knocked the guard unconscious; this was a state that would, all being well, last for at least fifteen minutes. Then, the team was on the move, yet again, and soon enough, they found the guard station. Shiane spent all of three minutes breaking into the room database, and several minutes after that, the lockpick was working on the door that lead, all being well, to Brianna.
After a short time, the lock fell to Shiane's attentions, and the door sprang open, revealing darkness within. The three Rangers stepped into the quarters behind the Resistance operative, and halted; for it appeared there was no one within! "Where is she?" Talion whispered, his eyes wide. To come so far, now would they face this fate, to find their information false?
Not quite, but the reality wasn't pleasant, either, as the lights in the quarters suddenly sprang to full intensity, and the four men came swiftly together, their hearts pumping.
"Did you call up the lights?" Colvhar demanded. Everyone shook their heads. "In Valen's Name!...if none of us did, then who did?"
"I'm afraid, gentlemen, that the answer to that question will not be one you will enjoy." a voice announced, and William grimaced...he *knew* that voice. All around them, men and women flickered into view, dressed in black and gray, their gazes mocking and sinister, and at the heart of the congregation, Brianna stood, together with a short, dark haired man, the source of that voice. "Bester!"
The Psi Cop bowed. "Swift as always, Mr. Westcastle; I see that time has not dulled your memories of our last encounter. Unfortunately, you're mundanes, and in a room full of telepaths, the outcome was, I'm afraid, decided long before you entered this dome."
William closed his eyes, and gritted his teeth; they had taken the chance, and hoped that the AI Shiane's accomplice had put into the network would have done its job, and that the tunnel was *indeed* forgotten.
Neither of these seemed to be the case, however. "You have me at a disadvantage, Mr. Bester; a quite serious one. Your move."
"Quite true, I'm afraid." Bester gestured, and all too quickly, the group of harsh faced telepaths surrounded them.
"Just out of interest, exactly how did you pull that trick off?"
Bester shrugged. "A simple task; my telepaths merely worked together to convince you and your comrades that none of us were here; you looked past us, and saw the room beyond; in your mind's eye, we weren't here at all...until I decided otherwise."
"Right. So, now you've sprung your trap...what do you intend?"
"I can be merciful, Mr. Westcastle, merciful indeed, for I have very little time, and a great many places to be in the near future...so let me be brief. Miss Tolmanes's destiny is no longer with your Rangers, but with the Corps; she is a telepath, and due to certain intervention by other parties, a rather strong one. This is a resource I cannot ignore, and as such, here she will remain, until she makes the correct choice."
William met Brianna's gaze, and saw the darkness there; she nodded, and his heart sank. "It's so *hard*, William, to resist them, and everyday, it gets harder; you shouldn't have come."
"And since that's true." Bester concluded, his smile triumphant, "I invite you to turn away, and leave this place. One chance, and one chance only, will I give, and if you decline, then dear Miss Tolmanes will, unfortunately, be present to witness your deaths, here and now."
"Please, William..." Brianna begged, her eyes full of something he could not read. "I'm glad you made the attempt, but Bester knew you were coming long before you started the trip from Babylon 5! Leave, now, while you still have the chance!"
William cast his gaze across the waiting group of Psi Corps telepaths, and sighed. Impossible odds: if they tried to fight, it would, in all likelihood, be over in an instant. "I'm sorry, Brianna; I had to try and rescue you, after the history we've had together..."
Brianna nodded regretfully. "I know, and I do thank you for trying, William, but there comes a time when life is more important then going out on the line, and this is one of those times. I'm asking you again, to turn your back on me, and walk away. Go back to Jennifer, back to your life, back to the Fleet. *They* still need you, William; I won't let you waste your life, because of what's happened to me."
He briefly met the eyes of all those who had followed him here, and saw the hurt and disappointment in those eyes. For the first time in as long as he could remember, the gamble had failed. But there had always been that chance, in all the things he had done, on all the roads he had travelled, and so, he turned back towards his friend, one last time, and bowed. "Farewell, then. And if I do not see you again in this life..."
Brianna nodded, a small smile on her face. "I will see again, both of you, in the place where no shadows fall."
At that, he spun on one heel, his companions falling in beside him, but as he had worried, that was not the end of it.
The worst was, in fact, still to come.
"Ah!" Bester sighed melodramatically. "How touching; but I suppose that I shouldn't have expected anything else from the Rangers; for you, it seems that even saying *goodbye* is a ceremony."
He spun again, his face now black with anger. "You have blocked my path, telepath; but do not *presume* to insult what I am!"
"Presume?" Bester shot back, his tone amused. "And how should *that* be an insult, when you don't even know what it is that you *are*, and why you have done what you did?"
""What?"
"Please...let me explain. I will take you back in time to the last meeting we had together, on the world named Nighthawk, a world now destroyed, a time in which your judgement stood unclouded by all that the Minbari later imposed upon you. You remember that meeting, don't you?"
He nodded angrily. "Yes, quite well; what, exactly, is your point?"
"Well..." Bester replied, with a shrug, "I'm afraid, Mr. Westcastle, that I'm going to have to burst your balloon of self-confidence a little bit; you see, I've learned to be quite good at keeping things to myself, things that I don't think others should know. But from time to time, even *I* change my mind, occasionally; this is one of those times.
And since you're so interested in the truth, I've decided that's it's finally time, shall we say, that you learned the *rest* of the story of what happened that day.
Now where shall I begin?" Bester mused.
* * *
To be continued!
"Next time: After Bester tells William something rather astonishing, a chance arises for the Rangers and their goal to make an escape; but will Brianna take the chance, and trust in the bargain that Bester and her have made? Meanwhile, as the Civil War on Minbar comes to its searing end, Julia convinces Jennifer that she should accompany Tashann and his command yet again, for they have been summoned to Minbar by Delenn herself. The reason for this, of course, she does not say...the first half of "Beliefs and Silver Fire" the next part of "Riders", coming soon.