others. Delenn could of course do that with ease, but she was not here. 'We cannot blame them for their fears. They wish to remain neutral.'
Delenn had always seemed convinced that there could be no neutrality in this war, whatever people sought. G'Kael desperately hoped she was wrong.
'They are cowards,' affirmed Vizhak, Taan Churok's fellow Drazi on the Council. 'But they are insignificant in the larger scheme of things. The raids continue. Have all our ships been given telepaths?'
G'Kael stiffened in his chair, and made a point of listening to this intently. For some reason telepaths were a serious threat to the Shadows, and Delenn wanted every ship in the Alliance fleet to have at least one telepath aboard. This was difficult to manage, at best. Narns had no telepaths, and the Kha'Ri dearly wanted a way to create some genetically. Rumour had it that G'Kar had been working on such a project for some time.
'Mr. Bester is dead,' replied another voice, one G'Kael did not recognise. Turning, he saw a human dressed in a strange military uniform that was unfamiliar to him. 'The Shadows have taken Sanctuary. Therefore there will be no telepaths from him.'
Ah, yes. He knew who this was now. Major Krantz, a servant of some human individual named Bester, who was apparently high-ranking in the human telepathic organisation, the Psi Corps. He and the Alliance had had some sort of deal, but now it appeared that this Bester was dead.
Hadn't there been some scandal concerning this Major Krantz? He struggled to remember. There had been a meeting, shortly after his arrival here. Krantz had been.... detained, or arrested, or something. He had been all but forgotten in the aftermath of the battle, and no decision had been taken as to his fate. By the time the Alliance had got around to it, they had lost all contact with Bester. Krantz was therefore here by default, not a member of the Council, but pressed into serving on one of the capital ships.
An aide came forward and whispered to Lethke quietly for a few moments. The Brakiri listened intently, nodded, and rose from his chair. In the midst of another argument between Vizhak and the Abbai representative, Ambassador Kalika, about the provision of telepaths, no one noticed Lethke's departure.
They all noticed when he returned, however, a minute or so later. He tapped on the table gently for a few moments until the conversation died, and everyone looked up at him.
'I have just received a transmission from a ship approaching here,' he said. 'We have.... a most renowned visitor who wishes to make our acquaintance.'
'We'll be at Z'ha'dum soon,' the Captain said. 'I'm not sure what to expect when we get there, but.... We'll have to be ready.'
He looked firmly at Lyta, who met his gaze. She then seemed to recoil from it, and looked down at the table.
The Captain, Lyta and Corwin were in the ready room, a place Sheridan and Corwin knew well enough. The upgrade had virtually left this place alone, which was just as well.
'I'll do what I can,' Lyta replied numbly. 'But I can't hold off the entire Shadow fleet.'
'You won't have to,' the Captain promised her. 'I don't think you'll even need to use your powers.... not if this works out right, anyway. You're more of a deterrent than anything else.'
The old Lyta might have come up with a sarcastic retort to that, Corwin thought. The Lyta in front of him did not. In fact, she didn't say anything. She had changed a lot recently. She had been almost invisible for so long, ever since the Vorlon Ambassador had arrived, and then she had come along on the mission a few weeks ago. She had hardly spoken then either.
And then Corwin suddenly realised something. The Captain was so.... confident. Something just did not feel right here.
'What if we do get opposition?' Corwin asked. 'I mean.... how exactly are we going to handle this? For that matter, what are we even going to do when we get there?'
'Get Delenn back,' came the solemn reply.
'What? Are we just going to ask them to hand her back?'
'Something like that. Look.... David. I realise I haven't been in the driver's seat for a while, and I know you've got used to running the place while I've been.... ill. And I know that you've got too much experience to be running around as second. It doesn't matter anyway, once this is over and we get back to Kazomi Seven, you'll get your own ship to command. You've more than earned one.'
'I.... thanks. Where would we get...? It doesn't matter, but....'
The Captain interrupted him. 'But I need someone I can trust as my second here. This is.... important. I know it must look so selfish, threatening myself and my crew just to get my girlfriend back.... but I have to.'
'I'm not criticising you. No one is. The Alliance needs Delenn. We all do.'
The Captain smiled. 'Yes.... we all do.' He paused, then continued. 'The thing is, I've got a plan. I can't explain it to anyone now. You just have to trust me. That's all I'm asking. If it goes right.... and I hope it does, we won't have to fight anyone. We'll just get Delenn back, and head to Kazomi Seven, and we'll get on with finishing the whole damned war.
'Are you with me?'
'You know I am.'
The Captain visibly relaxed, nodding. 'Good. Thank you, David. I'll need you.... I'll need you a great deal. Now, I'd better go off and talk to Ko'Dath. She and her Narn Bat Squad may need to be ready, just in case something does go wrong.'
He left the room, and Lyta immediately followed him. Her movements were stiff and awkward, almost like a wooden puppet. Corwin looked at them both thoughtfully, then rose to his feet and followed them out.
He might not entirely know what was going on here, but he did know that the Captain was trusting him, and he was determined not to let him down.
It was dark, but then it had always been dark, and in all the many years since he had last been here, he knew that would not have changed.
Dexter Smith, former Captain of humanity's flagship and currently wanted for first degree murder (or if he wasn't yet, then he soon would be) crept into the dark tunnel, dropping down the foot or so to the floor. There had been security fencing around the building, but it had been full of holes. The authorities had obviously been relying on the 'Danger. Unstable Building. Do Not Enter.' sign to deter people coming here. Stupid, they might as well have put up a sign saying 'Fine Place For Kids to Come and Explore'.
He didn't know if the kids did come here these days. He and his brother had, frequently, and the place hadn't even been fenced off then. There had been all sorts of theories as to what this building had actually been before it had been turned into a fun place for kids to come and explore. A house that had once belonged to a serial killer. A place cursed by some alien race who had once lived here. A halfway house for the telepath underground railroad.
Smith had later found out that the building had just been a factory which had had to close down and which no one had wanted to buy. It was funny, but that had never been one of anyone's theories when they were children.
But whatever the building was now, or had been, it was also a perfect place to hide.
Here he could think, set up some plans, and find out if Trace was actually going to pressure Bo into calling this a full-fledged murder and not self-defence. He would soon find out either way.
He banged his head on the ceiling and swore to himself. Surely the place hadn't been this small last time?
He had gone straight from Bo's to his apartment, grabbing what spare clothes and loose change he could. There were still some areas of Sector 301 where it was advisable to deal with actual currency rather than a credit chip, and plenty of people only too willing to do so. He had also made sure to grab his private citizen's PPG. He had a feeling he might be needing it.
And if there was a warrant put out on him for first degree murder, what then? There were ways out of 301, he knew. Some of them might have changed now, but it was still possible he could find a way to 303, and then head up to Main Dome. He supposed he had some friends there somewhere, people from whom he could try to get help. Maybe he could even report Allan's corruption.
He chuckled dryly to himself. A wide range of airy-fairy solutions that would never get him anywhere. The
