- "I still remember, even now, the moment when it *all* began to go wrong..."

                - Captain Bethany Tikopai (ret) as quoted in Michelle Yanwar's
                "Hopelessless and Despair: Rebels, Generals and
                Prophets, 2258-2269"

* * *

        The dream spoke to her of futures and pasts, of lives and deaths - of lost causes and final hopes. The voice spoke to her of beliefs and idealogies, of wars and peace - and of family. "You will remember this moment," the voice in the dream promised her, its accent crisp and tone precise, "And despair."

* * *

        Earth Alliance Warlock Class Destroyer *De'Molay* -- Hyperspace, down-gradient from Mars - 11:45 hrs, EST - Dec 4th, 2267.

        Commander Paul Telluride had always, and perhaps foolishly, believed that this day would never come - but come it had, just the same. He'd argued with her about the meaning of the order, of course - but the only thing she'd done was smile sadly, reach over to the shelf at her bedside, and take down her antique copy of Tolkien's 'Return of the King'. And then the Captain had quoted him a passage from that book, quite close to the end, it had been.

        "My unexpected journey..." she'd whispered. "There and back again - and what happened after. Susan and I spoke about this once, Paul, after everything we went through together - and she reminded me that nothing good ever lasts forever."

        "Damnit, Captain... that isn't fair. This is *your* ship, you wrote the book on her - there isn't another officer in Earthforce gifted or capable enough to command her..."

        "In that you are wrong, Commander - there *is* another... and he's standing in front of me."

        Telluride allowed himself a resigned chuckle as he arrived at the door leading to the captain's ready room - "There and back again, huh?" he muttered. "Well, Hell - 'what came after' just about killed us - but somehow we made it, Cap - even now I'm not quite sure *how*..."

        The door opened.

* * *

        "I think you know how, Paul." Bethany Tikopai told her exec, as she emerged from her inner sanctum to stand at his side. She'd heard him, of course, courtesy of the surveilance bugs Jaiena had installed for her in the hallway outside her quarters, years before - bugs that had proven themselves useful at the best *and* worst of times. "It all comes down to having the right friends, in the right places... at the best possible times."

        "Suppose I can't argue with that." Telluride conceded with a shrug - he knew about the bugs as well, of course, and so said nothing on that matter. "And now..."

        "And now, something tells me it's time to dance our last little dance."

        "Don't you think we might be reading a little too much between the lines on this one?" the *De'Molay*'s exec tried again, as the two arrived on the bridge they'd commanded from for six years now. "After all, we needed to come back to Mars for resupply anyways..."

        "No, Commander..." Bethany firmly replied, as she settled into the now friendly, well worn leather of her captain's chair. "I don't. They're reeling me in, whether I like it or not - and the days are long past now when I could just jump for the Rim and to hell with the consequences."

        "I see." Telluride cleared his throat. "In that case - Commander Piesch?"

        "We've arrived at the final translation point for Mars orbital insertion, sir." confirmed the *De'Molay*'s recently promoted operations officer, Lieutenant Commander Malcolm Piesch. "Standing by on your final orders, Captain."

        "Then let's not disappoint them, shall we?" Bethany replied. "Activate jump engines - Mr. McClelland?"

        "Ready or not, boys and girls..." the helmsman drawled, "Here we come!" And go they did, as the massive black bulk of the one-of-a-kind destroyer transitioned into Martian orbit, not far from the spot where President Sheridan and his fleet had emerged, years before. "Do you think they noticed?"

        "Message incoming from General Shakotu, Captain." Piesch reported, his tone somber. "Your ears only."

        Bethany grimaced - and then it was the warning from the dream returned to her.

        <You will remember this moment - and despair.>

* * *

        Hyperspace - approximately three jumps from Babylon 5. 12:10 hrs, EST.

        The readouts told him everything he needed to know... and on this occasion, none of the news was good. Nicholas Dawson cursed softly as he turned to face his captain - no, he mentally corrected himself, he supposed he'd have to start thinking of her by her Ranger rank sooner rather than later - the *Val'na* wasn't going to like this at all. "All right, Nicholas - is the situation as bad as the expression on your face says it is?"

        "Let's start with 'not good' and go downhill from there, shall we?" he admitted. "I haven't a clue what caused the overload in the transport's drive systems, but as of right this instant we don't have anything more useful than maneuvering thrusters. And more importantly, we've lost our beacon lock on the gate. In short..."

        "Let me see if I've got this straight," Julia finished for him, her expression now just as serious as his, "This is like the 'Cortez' incident - except in our case, no one knows we're in trouble... yet."

        "Exactly." Nicholas shook his head wearily before making for the small tool kit that was stored in the back of the transport. "It's not the end of the world, though. As near as I can tell our distress signal is fully operational, and we've got enough power to hold our position... at least until either *I* fix the problem or the navigational autorepair systems kick in."

        "Which they haven't yet... right?"

        "Right."

        Julia let out a curse, at which Nicholas grinned from his position half way into the control panel. "Damnit, why did the Ranger conference at B5 have to end early? As long as we're not late returning to the rendezvous point, Klairika and the rest aren't going to come looking for us..."

* * *

        Nearby.

        "What have you found?"

        "It appears to be a faint distress signal, Warleader - and not exceptionally far off the beacon path."

        Warleader Na'Zan of the Narn Regime narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he considered the matter at hand. Na'Zan had not risen to his present position as commander of the new-generation dreadnought *Tu'Fahr* without taking a certain amount of chances - the question was... "Is the signal recognizably Alliance in nature?"

        Na'Zan's First nodded his head sharply. "Indeed - not only is the signal Alliance in nature... it also appears to be *Anla'shok* in nature as well."

        Na'Zan nodded his head briskly at that news. "So. In that case, our course is clear - prepare to alter our heading to intercept the source of the signal."

        "At once, Warleader!"

        "And one other thing..."

        "Warleader?"

        "Perhaps we should summon our *honored guest* to the bridge - he does, after all, have some small experience with these matters."

* * *

        And a little farther away...

        "How much longer must we wait in this godforsaken place? The girl and her engineer are stranded, without power - it would be simple to move in and take them as prisoners..."

        "Ah - and you would be so quick as to reveal our presence to them, would you? His son you may be, Mordechai, but do not presume to think that gives you the authority to dictate our course in this matter. As I have said before, and as Haaker has told you personally, our goal for now is to... observe the Observer, one might say - not to swoop in and make her our captive! She may be in trouble for *now*, yes - but this year has proven again and again that Tikopai leads a charmed life."

        The young man named Mordechai smiled up at his guardian - a smile that was very nearly a snarl. "Then perhaps someone should find some sorcery to break that charm."

        "And perhaps that time is coming sooner than you think." the guardian reminded him. "The Others have warned us that a movement is beginning, a movement that we must see through to the end in order to achieve total victory. But before we act, we must wait on the Anla'shok to play their part... and most especially on Tikopai's actions. What she does in the next few days will determine all that will follow."

        "Why can you not make yourself more plain? My father..."

        "Will reveal his intent to you soon enough. Ah - there we are. Someone has responded to the changeling's distress call..."

* * *

        "Well I will be a..."

        "Is it a ship?" Julia asked, her expression brightening. Nicholas nodded, his grin no smaller - he'd been hoping someone would respond to their hail, but not *this* soon! "Well, well... looks like *someone*' heard our distress signal - now are they..."

        "Signal incoming." the engineer reported. "It's..." Rather abruptly, Nicholas' eyebrows rose in surprise. "What the Hell are *they* doing all the way out here?"

        "Let me hear it." Julia commanded. And a moment later, a voice filled the air around her - a very *familiar* voice.

        "Attention, attention, unknown Ranger vessel - this is the Narn Regime dreadnought *Tu'Fahr* - if you are able, please respond..."

        "G'Kael?" Julia blurted out, "Is that you?"

        There was a moment's silence, and then a dry chuckle emerged from the speakers. "Well, well - Miss Tikopai. You're a little far from your flock."

        "Just a little, yeah." She ruefully admitted, as the massive red and black bulk of the Narn dreadnought emerged from the hyperspace mists and bore down on them. "I'll explain everything, but first..."

        "You need a lift?" G'Kael inquired. "Your humble servant lives but to serve - please stand by."

        "Humble?" Julia exclaimed, as the transmission ended. "Since when has *he* been..."

        "We're not going to regret this, are we?"

        "Regret? Ah, well... G'Kael's an old friend of William and Jennifer from the Shadow War days..."

        Nicholas winced. "Yep - we are *definitely* going to regret this."

* * *

        And much farther away...

        "Regret?" Galen muttered, his eyes intent upon the two figures in his globe. "You may believe you understand the meaning of regret... but you do not, Nicholas Dawson... and neither does she. Not yet, in any case."

        Not yet - but very soon, they would all understand. Very soon, the change in the pattern Galen had been waiting for would come to pass.

        Whether or not Matthew and young Tikopai would survive that change, however, was another question... entirely.

* * *

        [Cue Dramatic Music]

        KLAIRIKA ALIDIAE
        We are the Watchers...

        [Klairika standing on the bridge of the SHARD OF NIGHT, an image of the EXCALIBUR hanging in the air in
        front of her.]

        SHEYNELL KEYNES
        We are the Warriors.

        [Images: Sheynell at the tactical station, the battlecruiser firing its main gun and destroying a Drakh capital ship]

        LARIEKEN
        We are the Guardians...

        [Image: Larieken defending his Captain against Z'shailyl attackers, warrior pike in hand]

        VEYSHAHK
        We are the Healers.

        [Image: Veyshahk at his desk in MedSection, an image of the Drakh virus on his computer screen.]

        DASOURI and NICHOLAS DAWSON
        We are the exiles...

        [Image: Nicholas in Engineering, Dasouri at the helm of the SHARD]

        JULIA TIKOPAI
        And I am the Seeker.

        [Image: Julia's face, lit by candles, the stars of the Galaxy beyond]

        KLAIRIKA ALIDIAE
        We are the Rangers of the SHARD OF NIGHT, in this, the Earth Year 2267.

        [Image: The SHARD OF NIGHT enters, from the left...]

        JULIA TIKOPAI
        This is our story.

        [... before engaging darklight mode, and going into hyperspace.]

* * *

STAR AND CIRCLE:
“THE SEEKER’S FIRE”

* * *

‘STAR AND CIRCLE’ created by David Goldingay
<dgolding@connect.ab.ca>

* * *

Legal Disclaimer:

BABYLON 5, CRUSADE and all characters and situations thereof are the creations and copyrighted property of J. Michael Straczynski and Babylonian Productions, "BUREAU 13" the copyrighted property of Tritac Games (1983). All other characters and situations on this site are the copyrighted property (1997-2001] of David G. Goldingay. These non-profit creations are for the purposes of private entertainment only. Original characters and situations are copyright of the author.

* * *

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