"STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
EPISODE NINE: "THE WOLVES OF THE DEEP"
(disclaimers and associated descriptions in overture)
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<<ENVOI>>
June 13th, 2267 -- enroute in hyperspace.
"If you do not mind me asking," Klairika inquired, as she stuck her head through the door of Julia's ready room to find her captain paused thoughtfully in mid-dictation, "How goes your report to the President and the Entil'zha on what we have discovered?"
"Slowly, if you must know." she muttered, pausing to take a sip of the hot tea sitting close by her elbow as the Brakiri came in and took a seat. "We learned a lot more in this encounter with the Fen then Captain Gideon and his crew did in theirs -- we've encountered the creatures that prey upon them, for one thing.. and we've also learned that hyperspace is a far stranger place then any of us could possibly have imagined, as well."
"It is fair to compare this situation with some of the histories of your race that I have been studying in the recent past -- in the early days of travel upon your world, was it not true that the humans who sailed upon the seas of Earth were at first afraid to travel beyond sight of the land? -- afraid of the storms, and of the creatures that lurked beneath the waves? They were frightened of what they did not know and what they could not see -- and some of them died because of those fears..."
"But in the end," she finished, "The bravest of those explorers forced themselves to go beyond the fear... and as a result, the world, and later on, the galaxy, was opened up before them."
"Indeed."
"The pathfinders." Julia concluded. "Well, if you look in the book for our job description, I'm pretty sure you'll find that word in there somewhere. As for what I think should be done... it's my hope that the President and his Advisory Council will keep the news of the sanctuary at the heart of the Perseus Rift a closely guarded secret for the time being... especially since Sheynell helped us prove that the Fen are probably just as intelligent as us, in their own way..."
"Which means, capable of making mistakes..." Klairika drolly added, "Just like the rest of us."
Both women laughed. "Though hopefully not so many from now on."
"One would hope *not*. And what of the eaters?"
"Well... hopefully my report will help convince our leaders that continuing to conduct a search among the worlds in the Rift will only mean more encounters with them... and I think that's something we should try to avoid, at least for the short term. It's a big galaxy, after all -- there's plenty of other places to search for the ancient ruins that might contain the cure we're looking for."
"Very big." Klairika regretfully confirmed, "And the clock, as your people have been known to say from time to time, is 'ticking'."
Julia sighed and nodded, before turning off her desk computer and rising to her feet. "Speaking of which... how long until that Minbari cruiser rendezvous with us?"
"Alyt Berrain assured me that he and his crew would be at the rendezvous point on schedule, just over six standard hours from now..."
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Wrapped in a simple robe of black, Sheynell sat at her desk, and continued to write the letter she'd been working on for some time now... almost from the day she'd become Anla'shok, as a matter of fact -- a letter that would, in the end, in *some* form, eventually reach the niece she'd never even met... a birth she learned about during her time in the Corps. Cordelia... the eldest daughter of her brother and his wife... someone else she knew of only from the picture she'd obtained through... unofficial channels. She shook her head sadly at that thought -- she did not even know how her brother had changed in the nearly two decades since she had seen him last. This would have to be remedied in time... but that time was not yet. For now, there were the words... the meanings, and the hidden truths to address.
'And on that day, another veil was cast aside,' she wrote. 'Another fear banished -- for that day, we established an alliance with the very thing that so many humans have feared since first we came into this place between the stars. Where once Shadows walked, now one may find a race that drifts upon the currents of hyperspace, a race ever watchful for the predators that would do them harm. They have learned of a way to talk to us... and perhaps in time, Cordelia, they will return to aid us again. It's a long shot, a hope you might say... but as long as this goes on, as long as the people of the Earth stand under the shadow of death, as long as the crew of the EXCALIBUR and the rest of us are searching for a cure to the Drakh plague...
We're going to need all the hope we can find.'
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<!You remember...!> the bold youngster inquired to his fellow-Fen, as the flock moved through hyperspace, <!Remember what we have to do?!>
They remembered... they knew. Soon enough, the youngsters would become seniors and then elders in their own right -- soon enough, if all went well and they did not fall to the teeth of the eaters, they would be leading the flock in its travels.
They remembered the promise... and if the Singer called, the youngsters had decided they would give their aid -- and maybe she would help in their struggle with the eaters, if trouble once again arose.
Maybe, in time, the Singer would even tell them what it was she was hunting for.
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