Corwin looked up from the display he'd been studying and approached them.

"Sir," he began, "Omega Squadron was out on patrol. Everything was going fine until we lost contact with Omega 4."

"What's the rest of the squadron's status?"

"No problems."

Susan bent over a console and pressed a button.

"Omega 4 do you read me? This is Babylon control to Omega 4. Do you copy?" When there was no reply she changed tactics. "Omega Leader, this is Command and Control. What's going on out there?"

The worried face of lieutenant Janice Turner appeared on the screen.

"Babylon Control, we have a problem out here. We still can't get a channel open with Omega 4. I'm keeping line of sight on him, and he appears to be out of control - he's all over the place. I'd say he lost navigation, but since communications are out as well, it must have been a massive systems failure."

Susan glanced up at Corwin, who nodded his agreement at the pilot's assessment. One small part of her mind registered the fact that Marcus was close by. He was standing quietly out of the way, not interfering with operations, merely observing and not making a nuisance of himself. She was reminded fleetingly of all the times they'd faced crises together. And though when she thought about it later it surprised her, she realised that his presence was causing her none of the usual discomfort. The part of her brain that was concentrating on the matter at hand snapped into focus.

"I want a White Star over there now," she ordered Corwin, who moved rapidly to comply, "Tell them to grapple on and stabilise the Fury's trajectory."

She didn't need to add that with the erratic nature of Omega 4's current flight path, this would be virtually impossible. The staff in C&C were already well aware of the fact. She continued unabated.

"Communications: I don't care how you do it, I want to speak with the pilot. Morse code, carrier pigeons, whatever. Just get me a channel."

She moved over to the observation window, and looked out to were a number of bright flashes against the starry backdrop pinpointed Omega Squadron's location.

"I remember that day. That was the day that Lieutenant Somers died," Sheridan broke into Susan's narrative soberly.

Susan nodded.

"Yes, it all happened so fast. White Star 43 was on it's way out to the squadron when Omega 4's engines blew. Turned out later we were right - total systems failure. Could have been prevented too - it was a combination of shoddy repairs on the Fury during the war, when everyone was hard pressed to keep things running, and too much risk-taking by the pilot."

She shook her head, still remembering the incident vividly. Even after all this time she still managed to take the unnecessary death personally.

"Well I remember it too, but what does it have to do with the story?" Garibaldi spoke up.

"It's not so much that, as what happened afterwards," Marcus replied with a smile.

"Do you want to tell this bit?" Susan asked mildly, but her eyes were pleading.

"If you like," Marcus replied lightly, but he knew Susan definitely wouldn't want to relate this part to the others. She still felt embarrassed whenever she remembered what happened that day.

Marcus followed her as she left C&C. She realised this upon reaching her office, and she swung on him, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Is there something I can help you with, Marcus?" she said, her voice clenched under tight control.

He hesitated slightly before answering.

"You know, you shouldn't blame yourself. There was nothing more you could have done."

"That's all nice and easy for you to say. You aren't responsible for these people. What do you expect me to do? Just accept that a 27 year old man died because of a computer glitch?"

She moved restlessly as she talked, finally coming to a halt behind her desk. She dropped into the chair and passed one hand over her face.

"God, that should never have happened. You know I saw Somers the other day with some friends in Earharts. They drank a toast to surviving the war, and to those that didn't. I guess he didn't expect to die out on routine patrol," she spat bitterly.

Marcus wasn't sure what to say to comfort her. But he guessed correctly that she wouldn't appreciate any hollow platitudes from him.

"Will you try and contact the family?" he finally asked.

She looked grim before answering.

"I'll give it a try once the official report comes in later. But I don't know how successful I'll be - Earth is such a mess right now, and the colonies aren't much better. Then again, he may not have had any family. There's certainly enough of that going around lately."

He recognised the bitterness and morbidity for what they were - signs that she was working herself into a very bad mood. One that could last days if not weeks. He determined to snap her out of it before she became overly entrenched in dark vibes. He decided only the direct approach would work.

"Do you have anything pressing to attend to right now?" he asked.

She was immediately suspicious.

"Why?" she replied cautiously, the usual feelings of discomfort beginning to show themselves.

"Well, you look like you could do with something to take your mind off things, and I just happen to know the perfect remedy for such a situation."

"What is it?" she demanded bluntly.

"Well come on, I'll show you," he motioned for her to rise and follow him.

She didn't move, deliberating whether or not to go with him. She was feeling rather strange. While part of her couldn't help but wonder what Marcus wanted from her; the part of her that had just watched a young man die a pointless death just wanted to get away from being Captain, if only for a little while. This feeling was such that it far outweighed the guilt, discomfort and animosity she usually directed at Marcus, and so with a shrug she stood and they left her office together.

end part three

go to part 4

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