Hyperspace line of sight route to Minbar; Late October, 2265.
Minbari Transport VIRASH.
Captain Traveil of the Transport VIRASH was a practical man, he knew when danger was near. And because this was so, Traveil had been more then glad to leave the hyperspace wreckage field behind him. The feeling that someone, or some*thing* had been watching him and his crew during the rescue had been a stronger fear then anything he had known since the Shadow War.
Traveil shook his head somberly...whether or not there had been any basis to the feeling, he did not know...did not *want* to know. This, because of the tale told to them by the single survivor of that wreck, a powerful, still young human telepath named Sheynell Keynes...a tale that both beseeched in its intensity, and veiled from sight the things she hadn't wanted them to know.
Things that no one in his position should ever have to worry about; the movement of pieces on the playing field...murder and deception, and dark places hidden from sight... what appeared to be the death throes of something that, in his opinion, the humans *never* should have created in the first place.
These things had become clear to him during the duration of their conversation with the human...she had told them that things were *not* going well back in Earthspace for telepaths, at the moment. In fact, according to her story, there appeared to be some doubt as to whether the human Psi Corps would survive the present crisis, as it currently existed...a great doubt, indeed.
And then, as the upheaval of the Crisis had reached out even to her, Sheynell Keynes had decided to run, before things got any worse...before she lost her life as a result of the uniform she wore, the creed she had, before a certain moment, sworn to uphold.
And at that defining moment, valuing her life more then her position, Keynes had decided to part ways with the organization that had created her, trained her, fed her...and that organization had not wanted to let her go, not with what she knew, not with the amount of time they had invested in her. The Psi Corps, as far as she could tell, had sent pursuit after her, and they had destroyed the ship she had stolen...attacked her without mercy, and left her for dead.
And close to death, this young human now was, regardless of the vibrancy of her first encounter with him and his crew. Soon after their conversation had concluded, their guest had collapsed, and fallen into a shallow coma. His onboard healer had, unfortunately, been unable to determine the nature of the coma, beyond the evidence of internal injuries suffered during the mysterious attack that had destroyed her ship.
Before she fell into darkness, however, Sheynell Keynes had made it *quite* clear that upon their arrival at Minbar, if she was to survive, she wished to be placed in the care of the Rangers...and become a ward of the Alliance, if they would take her. Additionally, there was one Ranger in particular that she had been *most* insistent should know about the situation...and he had promised her, as she faded from the living world, that word would reach that Ranger, no matter how long it took.
The name of the Ranger?
Julia Tikopai.
* * *
White Star Four; the end of October...
"Summoned, I come..." Julia stated, as she strode onto the bridge, Larieken close behind. "What do you require of me, sir?"
"Interestingly enough..." Tashann replied, a curious expression on his face, "While the summons was mine to give, I am *not* the one who seeks you out this day, Julia...observe, and learn." The Sha'vei nodded to the operations officer on station, and that Ranger nodded in reply, causing the holographic viewing curtain to descend into view...revealing to Julia's astonished gaze a familiar personage...someone she hadn't seen in a very long time, because of her duties.
"Julia..." High Councillor William Westcastle began, his face grave behind its silver-dusted beard, "Thank you for your promptness...although I'm certain you won't like to hear what I have to tell you. I fear that I must, for a time, recall you from your duties at Tashann's side...a situation has arisen on Minbar that requires your presence here, in Tuzanor."
"Sir?"
"Several days ago, a civilian Minbari transport encountered the wrecked remains of an Earth Alliance shuttle on the border between Minbari and Human space...they managed to locate one survivor. That survivor is known to you...a young human telepath by the name of Sheynell Keynes."
Julia realized, almost distantly, that she had gasped out loud. "I see that you *do* remember her, then...that's going to make this job quite a bit easier."
"With all due respect...High Councillor. It is...difficult to *forget* the last encounter I had with Sheynell Keynes and her master."
Julia could feel Tashann's gaze boring into her, and turned to meet his penetrating gaze. "You have a question, sir?"
"If I am to let you leave my side, even for a short time..." Tashann replied, "It would be appropriate to know all there is to know about this matter."
"Sir..." Larieken interjected, "Allow me to explain. Slightly more then two standard years in the past, Anla'shok Tikopai, myself and a number of other Rangers were, by happenstance, on Babylon 5, and were able to help deal with a crisis that was besetting the station, at that time. An official of the Psi Corps familiar to us all named...Bester had arrived on the station to deal with an outbreak of terrorism caused by a cell of the organization known as the Byronites. At his side, almost, at that time, a fully authorized member of their police force herself, was a young, blonde-haired human female, cold of eye, and of seemingly similar persausions, named Sheynell Keynes...I have no doubt that this woman and the one the High Councillor describes are one and the same.
In any case, before the crisis was ended, Anla'shok Tikopai and I were called upon to help save Miss Keynes from her enemies, and were also able to teach her a valuable lesson, as a result. As a result of this encounter, Miss Keynes may have established somewhat of a rapport with Anla'shok Tikopai...perhaps history is about to be repeated?"
"Exactly." High Councillor Westcastle interjected. "While her condition, at the moment, is not good, the healers available to us here, both physical *and*, more importantly, mental, are working on her around the clock. Sooner or later, she will return to the waking world, and when that happens, Julia, I need you to be close to hand to help deal with her and her situation."
"I don't understand, sir!...we do have a history, as you've learned, but why me? Why is it *so* important for me to be near to her?"
"A very good question, with an even more interesting answer..." the High Councillor replied. "It all comes down to two things, in the end...before her collapse, Miss Keynes asked the captain who rescued her for sanctuary among the Rangers...why, I don't know yet, but I'm guessing we'll find out eventually. But more importantly, the other thing she told him was that there was ONE Ranger in the whole galaxy she especially wanted made of aware of this situation...spoke of that Ranger by name, as a matter of fact.
That Ranger is you, Julia. And because of the request, I need you on hand, here in Tuzanor, until her recovery is certain. For if Miss Keynes is looking for help from the Rangers, we need to know if she can give *us* help in return, and information, if possible..."
She could see where this was going, now. Julia sighed...it was necessary, but she didn't have to like it.
"...ever since the Telepath Crisis started back in Earthspace, information on the status of the telepaths both in the Psi Corps and rogue camps has been hard to come by. This might just be our ticket to that information... we can't afford to waste the chance."
She nodded curtly. "I understand, sir. You can count on me to help."
"That's all I ask...for now. Isil'zha veni..."
"In Valen's Name, we serve." the Rangers on bridge all sharply replied, and then, the image of their High Councillor faded from sight.
"Operations!" Tashann commanded, "You will set course for Minbar. Stand by on jump engines..."
"Ready!" the Operations Ranger replied.
"Proceed."
"You appear troubled..." Larieken inquired of Julia, as the White Star 4 got underway. "May I ask why?"
"I may have brought this on myself, Larieken. During the crisis, two years ago, I opened up to Sheynell more then I should have...and she did the same in return. Getting away from Bester for a little while may have cracked that awful Psi Corps shell she had, and let out a little of the person inside. And like I said before, I probably brought this situation on myself."
"How so?"
"When we parted ways, I told Sheynell that if things ever went bad for her back home, and if no one else would help her, that she could turn to the Rangers for help.”
"And to conclude that line of thought..." Larieken surmised, "When Miss Keynes finally *did* think to turn to the Rangers for assistance, your name would probably have been at the top of her list."
"Exactly."
* * *
Mid-November, 2265. Primary Care Facility, Tuzanor, Minbar.
For the first time in a long, long while, Sheynell was aware of something *other* then the screams in her mind...both hers, and others. The others had come, had tracked her down to hurt her, to make sure she wouldn't go over to the other side. She allowed herself to smile; that had never been the intent of her escape from the Corps; when things got as bad as they had, the only place she had wanted to go was away from it all...away from the madness, away from the mad dreams of grandeur that some of her fellow P12's had had.
It was all so ironic...there had been a time not so long ago when she would gladly have fallen into that dark pool with the rest of them...a time when she had followd her master and idol, Alfred Bester, like a good little telepath should.
Sheynell bit her lip, and fought down on the hurricane of emotions that threatened to swamp her. Slightly more then a year before, Bester had conferred upon her the right to do as he did...but she had passed all of his tests with 'flying colours', now, hadn't she? She had been stupid enough to believe in all the dogma...all because, like all the other good little telepaths, she had been brought up to believe in the dream of superiority that so many senior members of the Corps had...that they were better then everybody else; better then the rogues, better then the misfits, and *certainly* better then the mundanes.
Couldn't forget the mundanes, of course, now could she?
Nor the ones she had killed for Bester. Before.
She felt a tear trickle down one cheek, and onto the pillow beneath her head...it was almost sickening, the things she had done for him, and for the Corps. It had taken her a *very* long time to come to this realization; it wasn't until after she had become what Bester had wanted her to become, until after she had put on the black leather uniform that spoke, louder then words, the job she was expected to perform, that she had begun to slowly wake up to what was going on around her...the growing Crisis that had exploded in all its glory the previous year; a Crisis continuing even now.
In the end, she supposed that it had been Brianna that had started her on this road...Brianna Tolmanes, the mysterious telepath who had once been a Ranger herself, and fought at the side of Sheridan's forces to stop the mythical 'Shadows' from destroying everything and everybody. Even now, she wasn't sure she believed all the stories that Brianna had told her about that time period, but she believed *some* of it, because on two occasions, both by design, Brianna had opened up to her, revealing the secrets within her. The secrets left by her former masters, the Vorlons.
And so, she had begun to have doubts. And the more she did her job the way she was supposed to, rolling out the rote phrases that had been programmed into her over the past 13 years of her life within the Corps, the more the doubts pressured her. Until finally, Brianna had confronted her, and told her to get out while she still could; because if she stayed, Brianna had told her, Bester would, in the end, end up sacrificing her to ensure the success of his aims and ideals. And she was *damned*, the other telepath had told her, if she was going to let that happen to as a good person as Sheynell could become.
And so, she had run away. To start with, she had used her uniform and her status to pull the roadblocks out of the way, escaping from Earth System just ahead of the order forbidding that escape. And later on...she had no doubt that Bester had sent those agents after her to ensure that no one ever found out about the secrets she knew. Brianna, however, had taught her a few tricks for when that day had finally come...and she had *used* her gifts in ways the Corps had never taught her, to make her pursuers believe that they had succeeded in their mission.
Not that she had been able to completely escape from those ministrations...oh no. It seemed likely that sometime in the indeterminate period between her collapse in the hands of the Minbari crew, and her arrival in this place (wherever 'here' was.) she had drifted close to death. But maybe, just maybe, the Minbari captain Trevail had acceded to her request. Maybe, just maybe, they had taken her where she had wanted to go!
And her present location seemed to agree with all those hopes. The room she found herself in was remarkably spartan, but for a care facility, well laid out...far more so then was common in human facilities. The walls were curved and backlit, and there was a faint lavender tint to everything that was, no doubt, intended to calm the recepient of these quarters (she had to admit that it *was* working, after a fashion). Very slowly, fighting the almost terminal exhaustion she felt (how long had she been unconscious, anyways?) Sheynell got to her feet, and made her way slowly over to the nearby window...at which point she finally allowed herself to smile.
As far as she could see, great towers of crystal filled the night, glowing, majestic...alien; while overhead, two half-lit moons brightened the sky. She turned away from the window, and laughed...beyond all hope, she had finally made it to Minbar! She had managed to reach those people, above all others, that Brianna had said might be able to help her...if one could help a woman of Earth who was, for all intents and purposes, considered to be dead by most if not all of her peers.
And then the door opened behind her, and she whirled, her panic rising...who was...
"Peace!" the Minbari at the door stated, his arms spread wide, his smile a smile of welcome. "There is no need for concern, Sheynell Keynes of Earth. You are among friends here, in this house." The Minbari had a close-fitting gray tunic on, with a jade jewel on one breast...she almost laughed again, to see that jewel. He was a Ranger!
"You'll have to, ah, forgive my lapse! I'm not used to this, not used to the...freedom, Mr...?"
"I understand...and my name..." the Minbari replied, his expression still maddeningly calm, "Is Veyshahk, one time physician to the family Teleri, and now to the Anla'shok...what you would call the Rangers."
"Of course; I’m *very* pleased to meet you, Veyshahk. More pleased then you can possibly understand."
"Indeed..." Veyshahk murmured. "I have no doubt that I will learn the reason for your apparent sincerity in due course...but for now, Miss Keynes, I would suggest that you return to your bed...you are far from fully recovered." And as if waiting for that very sentence, she wobbled, and felt a wave of dizziness come upon her. "There, you see? While the greatest crisis may have passed you by, until your strength has fully returned, it is best not to take matters too far. And that will not happen until you have *eaten* something."
"How long?" she whispered, as she lay back down, almost bitterly. How *dare* her body let her down like this?
"I suspect that it will take three, perhaps even four of your weeks to fully recover the strength that you lost during your time of crisis..." Veyshahk replied, his face grave. "And you must understand!...it has already been *fourteen* of our days since your arrival on Minbar, and apart from brief periods of unresponsive lucidity in the past standard day, you have been unconscious for the remainder of that time."
She blinked, at that. Fourteen days? "How bad was the..."
"Bad enough. The internal injuries you suffered at the hands of your attackers were significant ones. But far worse were the *mental* injuries that they inflicted upon you. It took the concerted efforts of one of our best telepaths to help return your mental state to something resembling normality...although, I am afraid, there are some things you will have to do yourself, over the next little while to ensure a full recovery. For now, though, I will suggest that you avoid using your abilities, and until we are able to determine how bad things still are, it is best, as your kind says, to 'play it safe.'"
She sighed and nodded, when she heard those words. "Of course." It was then, quite naturally, that her stomach decided to complain. "Uh...you wouldn't happen to have some...oh, food around here somewhere, would you?"
Veyshahk laughed. "I'm sure that something can be arranged, Miss Keynes."
"Oh, and one more thing before you go..."
"Yes?"
"There isn't a Ranger named Julia Tikopai presently on Minbar, is there?"
"That will be revealed to you in due course, Miss Keynes." Veyshahk replied. "For now, though, I would suggest a light meal, and then some more rest...which will, no doubt, come upon you in any case once you have eaten."
Come to think of it, he was right, Sheynell realized...now that the initial adrenalin rush of reaching her destination had worn off, exhaustion was certainly becoming a noticable effect again. "I think you may be right, Veyshahk. You'd better get that food to me, soon; because if you don't hurry, I probably won't be awake to eat it!"
"It shall be as you say. I will have one of our attendants bring the meal to you promptly. Besides that, I see no reason why we cannot continue this conversation in the day. Valen watch over you this night, Miss Keynes; until I see you next, I bid you good evening." And with that said, Veyshahk bowed slightly towards her, opened the door, and slipped outside.
"You...don't say." she murmured, half in wonder. But greater wonders then she could believe, or understand, were still ahead of her.
* * *
What would later be seen as a portent for the future happened nearby, later that evening, as the evening flyer from Yedor arrived at the transport facility in Tuzanor. Traffic was light, and only a very small number of Minbari disembarked from the flyer. What *was* noticably different about this flight, however, was the final passenger who disembarked. The passenger paused for a moment, then, and gazed appreciatively up at the moon-dazzled sky overhead. This passenger was a Drazi, not as rare a sight in Tuzanor as before the arrival of the Interstellar Alliance headquarters, but less common then many of the other races who sent representatives here.
"It was a long trip, yes...but maybe, this thing that I do will matter as much I think it does..." Dasouri muttered to himself, before beginning to rummage through the travel bag slung over his shoulder. "Now the important question to have answered is this: how do I find the Ranger Compound?" The Drazi muttered expressively in his own tongue as he searched his way through his belongings. "Where *is* the datapad I bought on Babylon 5...ah!" Dasouri held the item in question aloft, a wide smile on his face.
It was time to begin what needed to be begun...
And though Dasouri did not know it, future generations of the Anla'shok would mark this night as a turning point, as the beginning of something greater then any one Drazi...
* * *
Continued in Part 3...
<Next time: While Sheynell and the Rangers come to an arrangement mutually beneficient to both parties, and Dasouri begins to work his way through Ranger training, the Drakh are up to no good at all, as the final countdown to doomsday continues...>