From: Jen Funk <scababe@dnaco.net>
Subject: Moments of Infinite Clarity:  part one
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 14:53:59 +0000

This is my first attempt at fanfic or writing in general, please write
me with opinions! It is also a rough first draft... please keep that in
mind. Part two should cme soon... week or so, but I need feedback first.

This falls someplace in the middle of season four, after Steven and
Marcus first went to mars, no spoilers...

Susan and Marcus mainly, go figure!

Jen Funk
scababe@dnaco.net
http://www.dnaco.net/~scababe go to my "Touched by a Ranger" section to
see me Meet Jason Carter.


-----------------------

His blue eyes strained in the blackness as he frantically spun around to
spy the almost pitch black docking bay. He quickly squeezed sideways
into a small deep hollow beside the docking bay doors, it was the only
place to hide. It was too obvious. He had no choice. It was barely as
wide as he was, and his ribs rubbed uncomfortably against the walls. 
	His chest attempted to heave as he tried to quiet his labored
breathing. They were coming. He could hear them, now just two or three
corridors away. He felt blood pour down his cheek from the cut above his
eye.        
	He took his free hand and pushed back his long hair so he would
be able to see clearly when the time came and backed in even tighter. He
thanked Valen that the Rangers wore dark colors, and not all those
peacokish colors the religious caste adorned. They couldv'e have spotted
him in a blackhole in all those pinks and blues. Then he'd be taunted,
teased, and poked with sticks in rude places while they shot him to tiny
pieces. 
	Last time he saw there were 10 EA officers, but they'd had more
than enough time to call in more reinforcements and secure all
directions and entrances. They had him he knew, it was just a question
now of when. Of all the decks to get trapped in, a empty loading bay
that had been closed due to the diminished import trading because of the
Earth/Resistance disputes. Oh why did it have to be this one? He'd talk
to Susan later about her destination choices later. If he ever got out
of here alive. 
	They had chased him 3 decks and down a service corridor crawlway
where he lost footing, slipped on the ladder down, and fell square on
his shoulder into a line of storage containers at the bottom hitting his
head in the process. Ow. "Your usual grace and finese, Marcus" he cursed
himself silently. His brother William was laughing at him somewhere. He
hoped he didn't meet him soon.
	Even he knew he couldn't take on 10 EA security officers with a
broken arm - which was screaming in pain.. He could feel it throbbing in
his brain trying to push out all his other thoughts. He held it closer
to his chest and squeezed in even tighter, if that was possible. He
started a minbari meditation excerise to calm his mind and free him from
the pain. And to wait. Wasn't working. He still tried.
	He was now back about 5 feet deep, and at the end of the
cubbyhole. At least it made it harder for them to pull out his dead body
he pondered. Make them work for it, maybe even do the first bit of
thinking they'd done in years.  
	You really need two hands to handle the minbari pike, with one
arm you looked like a drunken fool flailing a marching baton about. Sure
they
toaught you fight that way in ranger training, but you never expected to
have to try it. He hoped he still could. He briefly flashed on of
clubbing them to death with his disembodied arm, but thought he'd pass
out before he could take out even two of them. Then he'd be armless,
under arrest and unconsious. Not his idea of a fun day. What a time is
was to despise the crudeness of ppgs. He wished he'd brought it, go
guess the one time he doesn't and he gets discovered and called a "Alien
Influenced Infiltrater". 
	He was 10 decks from his ship and 30 minutes until they took off
- without him. They said they would not wait. The drazi never lie and
were always punctual. He now hated that normally admirable trait.
	He heard the muffled voices come around the corner, and opening
doors. The bay flooded with light from the corridor. Marcus tried to
shrink back farther.
	"This is the last place Commander. We've secured the rest of the
entire deck, no place else for the little rat to run. He's here.
Somewhere."    
	"Well, get to work Lieutentant. Bring him to my office when you
have him. My ass is in a sling if we loose him. And so is yours."
	"Yes Sir." He heard two set of footsteps walking out the now
closing bay doors. Then silence. Too silent.

Marcus's heart started beating so hard he was sure they could hear it.
He placed is hand on his compacted pike. Like he had a choice, it was
the pike, or gouge thier eyes out with his ranger pin...that would be
just plain disrespectful to Valen. Did they call him "little"?

It sounded like they wanted him alive though. That was at least hopeful. 


Two weeks previously Ivanova had been disturbed in her quarters by her
door chime. Well not  disturbed, distracted from brooding again
actually. For once she didn’t mind the intrusion into her personal time.
Until the door opened and Marcus Cole walked in the door.
	
	"Hello Darling!" He said standing there with the biggest grin.
"First off, I had nothing to do with it, OK? Please remember that when
you are strangling the life out of me." and handed her a data pad. "From
our fearless leader." he turned and walked out the door, "See you at
14.00 hours, dear!" he waved from the hall as the door closed.
	She stared at the empty place Marcus had stood, more befuddled
than usual by his cornball behavior. He never ceased to amaze her at his
absoulute lack of mental displine. She shook her head, sighed and
pressed the on button on the datapad.

	"5, 4, 3, 2, one" said Sherdian looking at his time window and
without turning to look at the door said "Welcome Commander!" as Ivanova
flew into the war room in a rage.
	"You can’t be serious!" she skidded to a halt behind Delenn’s
chair throwing her compad on the table. Sherdidan turned slowly. "Yes I
am
	She was stunned "But, me... him... HIM... can’t I just go alone?
This is outrageous John! I can’t. I WON’T!"
	Sheridan shook his head "Yes, you will. Those are your orders
Commander." His tone softened "Susan, they’d be expecting a single
member operating secretly on recon, but a team right out in the open
behaving normally, they wouldn’t have clue in thier heads about. I
already said that in the mission notes..." he then smiled "Don’t you
read my memos?" he smiled that million credit Sheridan smile that always
managed to convince her into doing anything, except it didn’t work this
time. It only made her madder.
	"It’s not like we’re asking you to date Bester or even talk to
him, it’s really not that big a deal."
	She was shaking violently, and then noticed that Marcus was
standing in the room in the back corner amused, he smiled "Stephen’s
hurt naturally, but he understands how these things happen... you
home-wrecker you."
	"OOOH!" she growled stamping her foot leaving the room.
	"Marcus..." John shook his head chuckling "Your’e playing with
fire there. I hope you know what your’e doing."
	"And to think I left my husband for her!" Marcus exclaimed
increduously.
	"Marcus." Delenn warned calmly "be nice to her, she’s had a hard
day." she smiled in her subtle minbari way.
	

Ivanova sat on the small ship they’d aqurired tapping her foot
impatiently for the last three hours while growling under her breath and
occiasionally throwing little bits of cabin debris like nuts, bolts and
pens at Marcus.
	"Ironically, this is exactly how I thought marriage would be..."
he quipped after ducking the latest volley. "A dream come true for me."
Ivanova shoot him a look of pure ice.
	"Oh really, Susan. Arranged marriages are customary in almost
all cultures, in time we’ll-"
	"You’ll be screaming out in mortal pain wishing out loud to
die." she said without a single inflection. He gulped nervously.
	"Ah. Well, let me go check those long range scanners..." He
turned his chair and tapped a couple controls "I mean they’re on
auto-run, you know modern technology, always needs adusting for no
appeirant reason.." he babbled.
	After a few minutes "I don’t know about you, but this is going
to be a
breeze of a mission, compared to ome of my others, a simple pick up and
run, it’s going to be like a vacation. I haven’t had a vacation in
years. Alright, ever. So, there’s something new in this for all of us!
See?"
	She turned her head and just coldly stared at him "Why are you
like this?  You are so damned annoying! You have the mental displine of
a three year old! Why can’t you ever see the risks or be serious. Just
once!"
	"Takes the fun out of things." He said matter of factly "I was
serious for a long time. Buisness, buisness, business - it was boring
quite honestly."
	"What did you do before joining the Ranger’s
	"I owned the mining colony, actually. Cole Mining Company, fancy
that.
My parents left it to me when they died.  We mined q-45, until the
shadows came." his voice was now quite melancholy. "And everything I
had, or thought I was, was destroyed in one blast. My life,  my job, my
brother... a friend." He closed his eyes and deeply inhaled "I was a
desk bound workaholic with no life whatsoever, bound by my dedication to
my family’s honor, and was miserable bastard to everyone. But I’m better
now." he said smiling weakly to stop the line the discussion.
	She hadn’t known that he had been in EA, this surprised her, she
couldn’t imagine him saluting anyone. "Oh, I’d love to see you serious,
just once." she said in her typical sarcasm.
	"I hope you never do." he said sullenly looking at her. Ivanova
caught her breath, this hit her to the bone. He was really dark person
inside, she hadn't realized the depth of his turmoil before, She could
feel it. It was pure sadness. She almost did a double take, was that a
tear in his eye?
	"Anyway, we’ve got a dozen more hours until we get to the
shuttle on Io. Go sleep. I’ll hold down the fort here." His voice was
totally quiet and shaky now. Susan wished she hadn’t asked.
	Susan sighed not wishing to depress him anymore, which she
hadn’t intended to to begin with. "Alright, no fighting from me." she
grabbed her sleeping pad from the storage bin and headed to the back of
the ship.
	Marcus quickly wiped his eye as soon as she closed the cabin
door. "Thank Valen, he whispered, "that the old Marcus is dead."

They stood in line at the the customs line into Mars. Marcus grabbed her
hand gently, she angrily squeezed it hard enough to make him wince. He
calmly smiled leaned over and kissed her temple whispering "Its
allright,Lydia, we’ll be out of here in no time." he said subltly
reminding  this was business. He had changed into a green shirt and
black slacks on the ship. Ivanova was shocked how different he looked
out of his ranger uniform. She did'nt think he had any other clothes.
	They handed thier identicards to the officer. The security
officer  ran them through them the scanner and looked them over "Lydia
Crossin, and James Temple?"
	 "Yes!" Marcus said cheerfully pulling up Ivanova’s hand across
his chest holding it firmly. She smiled and nodded.
	He looked at his terminal "Reason for Entering Mars?
	"Getting Married!" Marcus said giving Ivanova a kiss on her
forehead and looked at her adorngly, Ivanova played along and stroked
his beard, laughing a bit, while stepping hard on his foot. Marcus
yanked his foot away.
	"On Mars? Don’t you guys watch ISN? Its’ not exactly a haven
here right now."
	"Yes, we know, but she has a sick aunt in the colony that
couldn’t travel, and may not last much longer, so we’re getting married
here. But, we’ll be honeymooning on earth. I hear since the Martial law
the planet is the safest it’s been in eons." he said so smoothly Ivanova
almost believed it herself.
	The guard glanced at their cards again and smiling, handed them
back.
"You two have a great life."
	"We will, thanks." Marcus said taking them back and led Susan
down the hall.
	Once out of eyeshot, she elbowed him firmly in the ribs "That’s
for kissing me."
	"OOF!" he grunted still walking. "If you didn’t notice LYDIA,
our cards didn’t go through. He was pumping us for info to see if he
wanted to bother investigating us. Luckily he believed me, wanna slug me
again? Go ahead. I’m beginning to think you don’t like me, But I just
saved outr asses."
	"Didn’t go through? What?" she asked trying to look happy,
	"Don’t worry, I’ll call Sheridan and get the rangers fix the
problem as soon as we get to our room. Just don't kill me before we get
there, ok?"
	They reached it about 5am earth standard time, they were
exhausted. The room had one bed. Susan stood there staring at it. One. 
	Marcus came up behind her and dropped the bags on the floor.
"What were you expecting in a honeymoon suite? Twin Beds? A rollout?" he
said laughing. "Don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the floor, with some of the
places I’ve holed up, this will be a joy." He started unrolling a thin
foam pad by the foot of the bed.
	"No," she said as marcus snapped his head up in dismay "We don’t
want a maid telling someone your’e  on the floor. You take the right
side. Touch me and die." 
	Marcus slid the pad under the bed "You sure know how to take the
fun out of sleepovers." he mumbled just loud eniough for her to hear.
She chuckled to herself. It was funny. 


Susan Ivanova paced in front of the Drazi trading ship's loading doors.
She looked at her timewindow for the 32nd time. 32. She counted. He was
late. Very late. Marcus was never late. He was always early, annoyingly
so. Irritatingly so. Something was wrong. Very Wrong. Her Russian
instincts always knew the feeling of doom. This felt like armeggeddon.
enough had gone wrong in this supposed "simple" mission. If they all
survived, she’d see someone paid for it.
	The Drazi captain joined her side. "We must leave." He said 
sternly
	"Your rendevouz is waiting for you. 3 days will be tough as it
is to make it on time. We have no more time to wait for the Ranger." He
eyes said more than he spoke. He was scared and wanted the hell out.
	Ivanova paced in front of the Drazi trading ship's loading
doors. She looked at her timewindow for the 32nd time. 32. She counted.
He was late. Very late. Marcus was never late. He was always early,
annoyingly so. Irritatingly so. Something was wrong. Very Wrong. Her
Russian instincts always knew the feeling of doom. This felt like
armeggeddon.
	Enough had gone wrong in this supposed "simple" mission. If they
all survived, she’d see someone paid for it dearly.
     The Drazi captain joined her side. "We must leave." He said 
sternly "Your rendevouz is waiting for you. 3 days will be tough as it
is to make it on time. We have no more time to wait for the Ranger." He
eyes said more than he spoke. He was scared and wanted the hell out.
     Ivanova nodded. He was right, they had to go. The mission could not
be sacrificed for a single member. Something had happened she was sure,
but if she knew Marcus. He was amazingly resourceful. He'd find his way
back to Babylon 5. She was sure of it. She placed her hand on the wall
to support her as she stepped over the threshold into the entry to the
ship. 
     "SUSAN!" Marcus' voice screamed into her brain. She froze, shaking.
It was loud, very loud. "HELP ME!" Her heart raced. How did he know? How
long had he known? What else did he know? She closed her eyes trying to
concentrate on him despite her fears about him entering her thoughts.
Focus damn it! she screamed at herself, FOCUS! She could see him. Level
13, he was on level 13! But where... A coffin? What? She unholstered her
gun. "Ngrash! I need some of your men, if you can spare them, there's a
problem." She turned and headed full bore for the nearest lifttube.
Hoping deep inside it wasn't already too late.



END OF PAR ONE PART TWO COMING SOON
please send me opinons!!!
scababe@dnaco.net