<<ACT TWO>

        Brakos. Time indeterminate -- place indeterminate.

        This simply.. could not be real.

        The memory of her mother telling her what was about to happen to her had been very clear indeed... but seemed to be growing strangely fuzzier with time. And the rest, how the helmet had descended over her eyes as a sharp prick heralded a needle entering her arm... and then, the blackness that had followed. Shortly thereafter, she had awoken to find herself in this place. It could *not* be real. Klairika looked around the small chamber she was in, as much as her bonds would allow... at the studs on the wall around her... and she knew what came from those nodes... no! She had to focus... this could *not* be real.

        How long had she been in this place? Three cycles of darkness and light? Four? Longer? The light had come and gone in this place at least that many times now... or had it?

         "You will look at me when I am talking to you, miskaa`." the sinister, dark-cloaked raen-shahn informed her. "And perhaps we will make more progress in this session then in the last."

        "I will not talk to you -- I will not answer your questions!" she spat, her voice shakier then she remembered. Not real, not real, not real...

        "Who do you serve?" Silence -- the Brakiri's mouth twisted unpleasantly, and he touched the toggle in his hand -- electric fire spat, and despite her best intentions, Klairika cried out. "Who do you serve?"

        "The Anla'shok!"

        Pain... and this time, her cry was somewhat more like a shriek. "You are doing this to yourself, you know." she was informed. "How sad it is to see a true daughter of Brakos descended to this level... to serving the Minbari."

        "I serve the One!"

        Pain. "The Nei-leidrei commands that you serve the syndicate."

        "I will do... no such thing!"

        Pain. "You will. Hungry, are you?" the raen-shahn inquired, his tone now compassionate. "And thirsty, I imagine. If only you would turn aside from the path that leads to destruction... but you are stubborn, Klairika-miskaa`... too stubborn by far. Who do you serve?"


        July 14th, 2267 -- Brakiri corporate enclave Heiljamar.

        The rage she had felt at her daughter's return had passed now -- and to her surprise, Sionaya found herself wincing slightly as she entered Bahkmein's lab -- this, as she heard the cry of terror and pain emerging from the primary lab area beyond... a cry just as suddenly silenced. "Bahkmein!"

        "Ah. Nei-leidrei -- we had not... expected your return so soon."

        "I heard my daughter cry out upon entering your domain, Bahkmein -- I trust that you are making... significant progress?"

        "Ah, progress... yes, of course." the scientist replied, his voice steadying towards something resembling calm. "As I explained during your last visit, the interface sets being used by my project volunteers allow them to enter into the virtual environment your daughter was placed in shortly after she was brought here -- the interface is necessary, of course, because manipulation of the virtual environment is, ah, *necessary*, to produce the effects desired. The Verfahrin-B we have introduced into her bloodstream has confused her timesense to the point where she believes that over thirteen days have passed -- days in which she has been interrogated, subjected to suggestion, ah... we have had to punish her due to her... stubborness, but these events are decreasing with time. As we have expected, the time is drawing near when she will tell us everything we want to know -- when she will agree to our, ah, demands."

        "This does not make you happy, does it?" she asked him.

        "Happy, no -- I believe I made that *quite* clear in our last discussion. But this has been my life's work, continually threatened from the beginning!... and no one else in our society has come as far as I have. You will have what you want, while... I will have what I want."

        She nodded.

        Bahkmein grimly smiled, and then nodded in return. "In that case... when we are done with her, approximately a third of a day from now if all goes as...planned, she will be returned to you -- you will allow her to wake normally tomorrow, to believe that the nightmare is over -- I assure you, the effect this has had on her will be permanant. A reminder -- for the first little while after we are finished here, while the Verfahrin is washed out of her bloodstream, her temporal sense will continue to be... somewhat confused."

        "I will deal with this matter personally."

        "Of course. In that case, Nei-leidrei, I'm going to assume that Berane and his men will return to my lab to pick her up at the time I have indicated?"

        "I will arrange it."


        If Hell could be defined as a question, it was this one. And from that Hell, there was no escape... save one.

        "Who are you?"

        "No more pain... please!" she whispered, as she crouched on the floor, all energy gone, the clothes on her body now no more then rags. "I am..."

        {not real}

        "Who do you serve?"

        So many days... had many it had been?... she could not remember how many. Too many. They had threatened her, cajoled, promised -- she had resisted, but that resistance had been worn down, little by little. So hungry, she was... "Servant." she managed. "What you want to hear?"

        "Your past life..."

        {not real}

        "Lost. She will punish me for saying what was." Please, she whispered, no more *pain*.

        It was a vicious truth to accept -- but her people's way had always been a vicious way... and it had only become *more* vicious since she'd run away. So many days... and Julia had not come. "You will serve?"

        "I... will." But still, a part of her cried out that this was...

        {not real}

        "But what of your service to the Anla'shok? What of your vows?"

        "Lost now." she replied, her voice little more then a croak -- the ultimate betrayal, this was, but there was no way out, save this way. How easily they'd broken her... too easily? No! She could not... she had to say -- what they wanted her to say. "I am yours. I am hers."

        And then, a part of her, the larger part, said the expected words -- the words that would end the pain.

        "Do with me what you *will*!"

        The rest of her, however, went away to hide.


        "You are sure?" Bahkmein imperiously inquired, as his associate emerged from the virtual hell, and the prisoner that waited there.

        "Very sure." the other Brakiri replied. "We have broken her, aian-shan -- eighteen 'days' in virtual time it has taken us... but we have broken her at last.

        The procedure is complete."


        The probes slipped into the Brakiri system thorugh its primary jumpgate unnoticed, their stealth systems fully operational, and after momentary pauses to determine their exact spatial location, those three elements of the *Shard of Night*'s whisker system sped outwards across the void towards the massive gas giant planet that dominated the outer system -- their gravimetric drives allowing them to race across millions of kilometres in a matter of hours. While not quite so large as the world humans named 'Jupiter', the planet the Brakiri called 'Aklanas' was still quite active, its storm belts vividly yellow and ocher -- it's two innermost moons covered in sulphur and water volcanoes in response to the tides raised by their enormous parent. The probes ignored all of this, however, as they plunged past the broad rings and into the crazed cloudscape below -- deeper, deeper, looking for the thing their Ranger masters had commanded them to find.

        The search took *some* time, but finally, the probes sped through a discontinuity, and out into an enormous rift in the third layer below the cloud tops, a relatively clear gap more than a thousand kilometres across. While merely an eddy on the scale of the world itself, the gap was more then sufficient for what came next.


        "I cannot believe you're going to do this!" Araella flared, as she arrived on the *Shard*'s bridge. "Don't you know what happens when you open a jump point in a hydrogen rich atmosphere?"

        Julia sharply held back on the first reply that came to mind as she turned to face the intelligence operative -- starting a yelling match wasn't going to help, that was for sure. She took a deep breath. "Anla'shok Dechene -- recall that President Sheridan conducted a jump *out* of the Jovian atmosphere in the first White Star over seven years ago -- and yes, they set off an explosion in the atmosphere, but they made the jump without difficulty. Ranger technology has improved a great deal since then -- and the probes we've sent into the Aklanian atmosphere have found exactly what we're looking for."

        "And that would be... what, exactly?"

        She nodded in Larieken's direction, and after a moment, a three-dimenisonal slice of the gas giant shimmered into view in front of them -- a slice that showed the cloud-rift discovered by the probes. "Larieken has calculated that if we make a positional jump *into* this clear pocket, and then accelerate away at the best speed we can manage, we should be able to move clear of the area before the shock wave from the jump point reaches the denser hydrogen gas at the pocket perimeter."

        "We will," the Minbari added, "Still set off an explosion, of course, but the eruption will be much smaller, and deeper in the atmosphere, then the one that occured during the Jupiter incident. If all goes well, the Brakiri will not even notice."

        "This had better work." Dechene replied with a scowl. "Because if it doesn't..."

        "There isn't any other way we can get into the Brakiri system without them knowing about it." Julia reminded her. "We can't jump out into clear space -- so this is the only other option. Larieken!"

        "The probes are in position, and we are approaching the requisite hyperspace coordinates."

        "Then by all means, let's get this over with. Sheynell, bring our jump engines on line -- Dasouri, take us in!"

        Two simple commands -- but that was all that was required, as her crew smoothly moved into action. The telepath, who was acting as Julia's First until Klairika could be rescued, opened a jump point in front of them -- and a moment later the Drazi smoothly guided the battlecruiser through that aperture and out into an pocket of planetary atmosphere that crackled with the fire of their entry -- and even as she watched, the boundary of this region moved out towards the more volatile clouds at the perimeter of the pocket.

        "Dasouri..."

        "We leave!" the Drazi declared, and a moment later, the *Shard* passed through the shockwave and into the cloud deck beyond -- and a good thing that was, as seconds later -- a fireball lit up the hydrogren behind them.

        "There, you see?" Julia said, as she turned to face Dechene. "Nothing to worry about."

        "This time." Dechene muttered.


        Karea'niga tower had been built by her grandfather, more then seventy years before -- and even now, it was one of the tallest buildings on Brakos. One hundred and seventy-five levels of silicate and unbreakable glass, it towered over the other enclave buildings in Heiljamar, and from its topmost level, one could look across the sea of buildings below towards the icy, glacier covered teeth of the Rakshaa, far to the northeast. Ice in reality and ice in blood, the family retainers had been known to say from time to time... but only as was necessary. Sionaya turned away from the view, and silently checked the time -- any moment now, they would be arriving...

        At the far side of the stone floored, black and emerald walled office, the twin doors swung open to reveal two figures, both dressed in well cut, immaculate business attire -- the first, his expression superior but watchful, was Berane -- for the time being, watcher of the other individual approaching her great stone desk -- her daughter -- her face still pale and drawn after the ordeal she had gone through in the hands of Bahkmein and his people.

        Sionaya smiled as her daughter came to a halt in front of the desk, and went down on one knee before her. "Klairika -- we are pleased to see that you have survived your... ordeal, and sorry we are that you made this necessary -- but we believe you have now paid the price for your... transgressions. What think you on this matter?"

        "I have done... great wrong." the reply came -- Sionaya noted with interest the deep shakiness in her daughter's voice -- the convinction that had lived in that voice even two days ago was gone, now. "They... they told me that I had offended the ancestors, gone against the wishes of the Dead -- they told me that a lahk'vha spirit posing as my father had lead me astray during the Day of the Comet. I... I cursed them, I said things I should not have.

        They punished me." Klairika whispered. "For many days, they punished me, until I admitted the truth -- they were so *cruel*, mother!"

        "What do you remember of the time before?"

        Klairika frowned. "It is not as clear as it used to be -- I remember serving amongst the Anla'shok -- I remember fighting desperately to escape from Na raen-shahn Berane -- I remember doing..."

        "Great wrong."

        "Surely I have atoned for my crimes?"

        Sionaya nodded, as she kept a smile of pleasure hidden just out of sight. "You have atoned, my daughter."

        Klairika relaxed, though she did not rise. "Then I offer... apology to you, mother -- what I did was wrong, it was... unwise of me to turn away from the syndicate as I did -- can you forgive me?"

        "In time, if you serve us well, perhaps I shall. But your dedication to the syndicate and to the family must be unwavering from this moment forward. Do you understand?"

        "I *do*."

        "Then all is well, my daughter. Berane, take her from this place -- I must resume my work."

        "As you command, Nei-leidrei." Berane replied, as he moved forward to place his hand on her daughter's shoulder. "Come now, Klairika -- we must now discuss what to do with the remainder of the day -- I have much to show you..."

        A few moments passed, then -- and then Bahkmein and Kariena entered the office. The scientist was, of course, somewhat happier then he'd been the last time she'd seen him -- now that the procedure he'd put her daughter through was complete, he had every right to be pleased. "Nei-leidrei... I trust that all is well with your daughter?"

        "As well as can be expected." she replied. "As you had indicated, Klairika still appears... confused by what has been done to her, but the change is *most* noticable. With proper guidance, we believe that she will eventually become... something similar to that which was originally intended. You have done well, aian-shan -- we are pleased."

        "And you will allow us to begin work on the second generation models, then?"

        "We will. Would you care to estimate how long it will take for the first to be completed?"

        Bahkmein shrugged. "No more then seventeen tendays, if all goes as planned. It will, of course, take some time for us to complete the preliminary work, but we should be able to begin work on the fabricators in roughly six tendays at the very latest."

        "I will authorize an initial production run of three."

        "THREE?"

        "Three. We must be very careful, Bahkmein, not to let the secret of this device escape from our hands. For the time being, only your closest associates will be allowed to operate your creations -- and when the time comes for the other syndicates to purchase the devices, we will send your people to operate the machines for them. If we move too quickly, others will rush to take advantage of our mistakes... while the Chadi will, no doubt, be quick to organize strikes upon our positions, should we give them the opportunity."

        "I... understand."

        "Oh, and one other thing. I have decided to place Nei-lahl Kareina in charge of the project. Remember that you answer to her, Bahkmein... go over her head, and your project may yet suffer cancellation."

        "I understand."

        "This is well -- leave us now, Bahkmein." Now mildly perturbed, the scientist did as he was ordered. "Kareina."

        "Nei-leidrei."

        "If Bahkmein is killed by the Chadi, as seems likely, this project of his may yet fail -- and we have invested too much time and funds in this matter to let it all be destroyed so easily. Can you think of some way to preserve the project should he die?"

        "Of course." At which point, Kariena outlined to her syndicate leader the plan she'd come up with to do just that. "I have one other thing to say to you as this time, as well."

        "And that would be?"

        "Bahkmein has not told you the whole truth." the younger Brakiri replied.

        "There is a second machine."


        Deep in his own inner sanctum, Cho-nori was also reviewing the record of what had just occurred. Needless to say, the apparently successful reprogramming of the Anla'shok female did not give him much pleasure... although, at the same time, he suspected that not everything was as it seemed. His information merchants had given him a great deal of information about the Anla'shok since this had begun -- including a rather interesting report on how the Rangers were trained to resist procedures just like the one Sionaya Alidiae's rebel daughter had just gone through. That some of the Rangers, when tortured, had been known to 'compartmentalize' their minds -- and that the part of their mind that had 'escaped', as it was, had been known to break through the programming on occasion and restore the *original* personality.

        A curious notion, this was -- but for the time being, Cho-nori had no proof that the rebel daughter was capable of this feat -- everything that Bekas and his people had reported seemed to indicate that the change in Aian-shan Bahkmein's latest 'subject' had been... dramatic, and that the head of the Alidiae syndicate had authorized... further construction of the re-education devices.

        And that, as he and the other Chadi had already decided, could not be tolerated. The time to strike was coming very soon now... and now, it was time to contact one of his 'allies' among the Krona. Cho-nori entered a communications code known only to him and a select few others, and after a moment, the face of the Brakiri that ran the Lasharr Weapons Consortium appeared before him. "Nei-leidrei Takleiah." Cho-nori began, "I trust that all is well with you and your... family?"

        "Let us dispense with the pleasantries." the patriarch of the Lasharr family replied, his tone haughty. "There can be only one reason for this contact, Cho-nori, and now that your nightmare is about to come true, you and your accomplices are looking for help, is that it?"

        Cho-nori nodded. "It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Alidiaes have... perfected their re-education device. Needless to say, this doesn't make us happy."

        "While you assume that anything which increases the net income of the Alidiaes will make me unhappy as well, hmm? Well, in that you are correct, Cho-nori -- we have been waiting for an opportunity to strike at them and strike *hard* for some time now. We will help you, Chadi -- if your demand for weapons and personnel is reasonable, that is."

        Cho-nori smiled, and the sight was not a pleasant one.


        July 15th, 2267.

        For a wonder, everything had gone exactly as planned, and now, nine hours after they'd entered the system, the *Shard of Night* hung a little more then ten thousand kilometres above the surface of Brakos -- unseen, or so it coud be hoped -- especially given the number of warships they could see in Brakos nearspace. "And now we're here," Julia muttered, as she set her bag of gear down on the hanger bay floor, "The fun really gets started."

        "And just how are we supposed to find her, exactly?" Sheynell asked, as she sorted through her own gear nearby.

        "That, at least, isn't going to be too difficult." Araella informed them. "ISA Intelligence has a number of covert operatives in place on the surface of Brakos -- as soon as this crisis started, they began searching for your first officer. It took them a while, but eventually, one of their probes revealed that an Alidiae syndicate orbit-to-ground transport transported her from the Sarathas orbital direct to Heiljamar enclave almost three days ago."

        "And do they know," Azhahk Fenric calmly inquired, "What has happened to her since then?"

        "They have suspicions..." Dechene replied. "And none of them are good. In short, in looks as if the Alidiae syndicate is in the final stages of perfecting some sort of criminal re-education technology -- we have to expect that they've at interrogated her at the very least... or worse."

        "Klairika has one of the highest scores in interrogation resistance training our instructors in Tuzanor have ever seen." Julia reminded her.

        "That may be so," Dechene said, as the Rangers finishing packing up their gear and made their way over to the transport they would be using to descend to the surface... where Moreil was already waiting, his zei'taku pike in hand. "But just the same, I don't think we should expect her to be too cooperative when we finally do track her down."

        "That's," Sheynell frostily informed Dechene, "Where *I* come in."

        "Oh, here we go," Dechene muttered. "Let me guess -- someone in the Psi Corps taught you how to undo mental programming, right?"

        "As a matter of fact... yes" the telepath replied, her tone lofty. My... instructors were very thorough when it came to my instruction -- and one of the things they taught me was how to delicately manipulate the minds of non-telepathic humans."

        "Don't you mean 'mundanes'?."

        Sheynell's eyes flared with momentary anger at the barb, but after a moment, the telepath gathered her thoughts, and continued. "Just after we started this mission, Julia and the rest allowed me to conduct deep but *very* gentle scans of all the senior Rangers in the crew, herself included -- if Anla'shok Alidiae's mental pattern's been disturbed, which you seem to think is very likely, I should be able to restore the original pattern if I'm given enough time alone with her."

        "This I've got to see."

        "Enough arguing." Fenric suggested, as he came between the two women and gave each a *very* level stare. "As our Val'na has told us from time to time, now is the time to focus on the mission, and less on internal bickering between the mission personnel, yes?"

        "Agreed." Julia said, as she turned to face her just arrived operations officer. "Larieken, the ship's yours until we get back -- don't do anything I wouldn't."

        The Minbari laughed. "I shall show more restraint then *that*, Val'na. You do want a ship to come back to, don't you?"


        Lasharr-aai enclave -- Brakos.

        "How interesting," Takleiah muttered, as he looked *again* at the invitation that had arrived on his desk a short time before. "Marek, what can she be up to?"

        "A meal to celebrate her first-daughter's 'return to the place of power' it says," the Lasharr heir mused, his eyes narrow. "Many syndicate heads and their chosen successors have been invited to this feast, my father -- she is either bold, foolish or *both* at once to invite us to this... event, especially given the alliance we have just established with the Chadi Brotherhoods."

        "Ah, but consider *well* the meaning of this invitation," the wily elder Brakiri replied. "Sionaya Alidiae believes herself triumphant on every front that matters... but she does not know that we have established that alliance -- and for now, that is the way it must stay. We will, of course, give Cho-nori what it is he desires, and in short order, I expect that he and the other crime lords will attack. We will, however, attend this event."

        "We *will*?" the astounded Marek replied.

        "Indeed. If we can deny the Alidiaes the power and income derived from this... re-education device of theirs, if the information is destroyed and the creator is killed, we will be pleased. But at the same time, if we are to offer her aid against their assault in *person*..."

        "In exchange for what?" Marek exclaimed.

        Takleiah smiled. "Well, now that *is* the question, isn't it? The more desperate one is to escape one's fate, the more willing one is to do something previously... unacceptable. The alliance would almost certainly have to be sealed in the... usual fashion. And if Sionaya Alidiae was to... accidentally die thereafter, and her brother as well, who will be left to run her syndicate?"

        "You cannot be seriously suggesting that *I*..."

        "I *am* indeed." Takleiah replied, his eyes now hard as diamond. "Remember that their heirs are *both* females -- and as recent intelligence suggests, the mental stability of the firstborn daughter is not assured in the slightest, after the... procedure they've put her through.

        If this movement is played correctly," the magnate concluded, "We may even end up in charge of her syndicate."

        "I have always *wanted* my own seat in the Krona." Marek allowed.

        "Then it is decided." Takleiah replied, as he poured two measures of vintage pechain and raised his glass high. "Death to our enemies!"

        "Death to our enemies." his first-son replied. "Death to them all!"


        To be continued...


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