From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE
Date: Sat, 22 May 1999 01:52:36

"We are the Watchers on the nightmarch.

We are the Warriors in the breach.

We are the Healers who cannot fail. 

We are the Walkers on worlds unseen.

We are the Believers, for no one else will.

We are the Exiles, who cannot lose hope.

We are the Rangers.  The last hope of Earth?

				* * *

This is *our* story."

				* * *

STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE: Episode I.  'The Darkest Road'.  Coming
to a computer screen near you in two week's time...

->dgolding@connect.ab.ca




From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE, EPISODE I. <OVERTURE>
Date: Mon, 31 May 1999 21:36:52

	Ahem.  Picking up from where I left off, some time before writing about
the adventures of a certain Mr. Bester and his latest, greatest
(deadliest?) assistant, back to the future we go...

	It was a morning of wonder, a morning of beginnings, and of endings.  Of
comings together, and partings, as well.  

	For a select few, life will go downhill from there...

				* * *

	<<OVERTURE>>

	"In the beginnning, there was the word.

	And the word was...CHAOS.

	Chaos comes in many manifestations, and even with the Shadows and their
weapons of war banished, we found lurking in other shadows the pretenders
to their throne.  Rise up to attack those they saw as *responsible*, they
did...but with my aid, Sheridan was able to stop them from destroying the
Earth.

	But not without price.  A price I had not wanted my race to pay.  A price
that no one should *ever* have to pay.

	Earth now lies under sentence of death, and time is running out.  For this
reason, and others, I have chosen to ally myself with the crew of the Earth
Alliance destroyer EXCALIBUR...because unless we act, unless *I* act, every
living creature on Earth will be dead, five years for now.

	And those that caused this, those pretenders to the throne that the
Shadows left behind?  The Drakh are still at large.  What we cannot allow
ourselves to forget is that they continue to exist as a race... and that
despite the defeat they were handed by Sheridan, they have not changed and
never will.
 
	Until the end, that is.  But what end that will be has yet to be
determined.  Having destroyed the only shipyard capable of building vessels
like the EXCALIBUR, they grow bold, and believe that with due dilengence,
victory can still be theirs.

	What the Drakh are about to find out, however, is that even shadows can be
stalked.

	The Seeker has been loosed upon an nearly unsuspecting galaxy.  And none
of us who are involved will be able to escape her touch."

				* * *

	The edge of Vree territory.  

	The signs told the story, as always they did.  A bridge twisted, flames
and smoke flickering among dead bodies floating through the air.  A single
hand slowly pushed its way out from beneath a pile of wreckage, and the
hand's owner eventually appeared.  Zenaknon was his name, and like all
Vree, he was slight in stature and gray of skin, but that grey was covered
in blood, now, and the large expressive black eyes of his kind were dulled
by pain.  

	Zenaknon knew that his time was coming soon, knew it in the hiss of air
slowly escaping to space, in the jagged tumble of the proud vessel once
commanded by his Chythrei.  But before that time arrived, before he went to
walk amidst the Halls of the Night, there was a final duty to be performed.
 Slowly, very slowly, the Vree pulled himself over to the station set aside
for such duties, when the end drew near.  He was the last survivor of the
bridge crew, and this duty fell to him now.

	"I speak, to those who will listen, to those who will discover this
recording.  They came upon us unawares, and attacked without mercy.  We had
done nothing to them and their kind, but still, they destroyed us, killed
my shipmates, stopped our passage.  I have...I have heard that the
heartworld of the humans, that place that my forebears visited, so long ago
*and* more recently, was poisoned by these creatures.  If so, they have
committed a great crime, and now..." 

	Zenaknon paused, then, as a wave of dizziness struck him.  It would not be
long, now.  "Now, they have committed...another.  They must be stopped, in
what they attempt.  Be warned...

	Beware the Drakh.  But stop them...someone must.  Before it is too late
for us *all*."

	Zenaknon slumped then, as the blood loss became too much, as the air
became too thin.  He did not rise again.

				* * *

	Through the long darkness, the Vekh'shivalht named Palakz walked, his
expression bitter as he thought back on recent events.  Many of his Order
had died attacking the Primeworld of the humans, a great many indeed.  The
accursed Sheridan, the shak'vez who had already caused his kind so much
pain, had guided two great dagger-shaped starships against them, and these
two spears had struck deeply into the heart of the weapon they had
resurrected, with the help of their followers.

	'Fists of Darkness' his kind had named them, when first the Nak'laht had
built them for the Dark Ones, so long ago.  Five there had been to begin
with, but gradually, over time, that number had diminished.  In the
previous cycle of Chaos and Order, two had been destroyed in one fell blow.
 And then, when *that* human had resurrected the First One and banished his
Masters beyond the Galactic Rim, the Dark Ones had taken two with them,
leaving behind the only one they could not resurrect.

	In recent history, however, the hopes of the Sha'drakh had been reinvested
when the greatest Nak'laht of this age had found a way to activate the
Fist, and brought it under their command!  Threaten the renegade Z'shailyl
with it, they had, and brought them back into the fold.  It was then,
Palakz remembered, after the test at the place named Daltron 7, after the
first encounter with the human daggerships, that the Sha'drakh had
commanded the Fist and its escort warships turned towards the nestworld of
the humans...the world they called (unimaginatively, in his opinion) Earth.

	The Drakh scowled deeply, as he strode towards the bridge of his command.
That of course, was where it had all began to go wrong.  Even with the
added backup of the bioplague the loyalist Z'shailyl had helped to recover
for them, the plague they had eventually chosen to spray into the human
world's atmosphere, the loss had been enormous.  The Fist had been
destroyed...he had not believed that any of the humans had possessed that
order of sio'nah!...but he had watched it happen, had watched the crew of
that human warship sacrifice themselves so that the Fist might be
destroyed.  Sacrificed themselves so that their world could be saved.

	Palakh twisted his mouth into a laugh at that thought, of course.  Soon
enough, the world named Earth by some, and something else by most others,
would be denied to the humans, despite the sacrifice of the daggership and
its crew.  Soon enough, the billions of teeming creatures on that cursed
sphere would shudder and be destroyed by the teeming plague toxins within
them.

	It was apt, he supposed, that since his kind had been denied the
opportunity to shatter that world asunder, that it should be denied
forevermore to the race that called it home.

	For now, though, there were other matters to attend to, and other roles to
fulfill.  The Sha'drakh had commanded the spreading of Chaos, and this
order he would not ignore.  Would not ignore the honour of working in
*their* memory, yet again.

	The doors snapped cleanly aside, as always they did, as he reached the end
of the corridor, and stepped onto the bridge of his warship.  Instantly,
all conversation halted, and without pause, more then a dozen sets of
narrowed eyes focused on their master and leader.  Palakz allowed himself a
small smile, at that.  Even now, after the failure at Earth, after the loss
of his commanders and of the Fist, the obedience was still there.  The
*belief* was still there.

	"Raeznon!" he barked. "Our status?"

	"All proceeds as planned." his Vaarliht replied, her eyes gleaming within
their deep, shadowed eyesockets.  "The strike missions are progressing
admirably, and between the destruction of the daggership construction yard
and our continuing series of strike missions against the worlds of the
Alliance, our war of revenge progresses apace."

	"Yes." Palakz noted with a ominous frown.  "I have seen this also, my
Vaarliht.  With the accursed ships of the Rangers scattered far and wide,
and the single surviving daggership of the humans sent out on its futile
quest, the primitive fleets of the Alliance Worlds are ours to ravage.  And
yet..."

	"I sense doubt in you, Vekh'shivalht Palakz..." Raeznon clincily noted,
her eyes icy.  "Do you choose to share your thoughts with one as lowly as I?"

	Palakz grunted, and cast a long gaze around his dark, smoothly operating
command-bridge before replying.  "This is not *his* way to rely solely on
the more primitive fleets of the Alliance.  For the longest of time, the
shak'vez Sheridan has worked hand in hand with the *Minbari*, and used
their technology of war to his advantage.

	But now...now, Raeznon, now he sends his White Star Fleet and his greatest
weapon of war away from us, and leaves his heartworlds...unprotected?  It
is not like him to make this kind of tactical error, not like him at all.

	What he is up to?" Palakz mused, his expression dark. "What are we missing?"

				* * *

	Interstellar Alliance Battlecruiser SHARD OF NIGHT.  The outer fringes of
Minbari Space.  

	A shimmer of chimes sung through the darkness around the candles, while
the walls appeared to be open to the darkness beyond in every direction.
Behind the black-robed figure knelt in the center of the room, the
brilliant belt of the Milky way shone as it always had, in her experience.
>From out here, on the runs between transfer gates, it all looked so
peaceful, but that was, of course, a deception.

	There was no peace among those stars, now, and perhaps there never would
be. No matter how hard they tried, the periods of peace were always
shattered by war, by races responding to wrongs both perceived and
imagined.  One such race had struck at her homeworld all too recently, and
now she walked with her followers as a shadow between those stars, a shadow
that no one, most *especially* not the enemies of her people, was meant to
see.

	With the fluid grace that had come to her since she had aligned herself
with the order named Anla'shok seven years before, she rose to her feet,
pausing briefly to sweep her long, nearly black hair back away from her
face, before cupping her hands around the candleflames.  The light
reflected off of dark brown eyes that had seen too much; in those eyes, she
knew, both pain and joy could often be seen in equal measure.  Joy felt at
the victories the Rangers had already attained, but also pain because of
what she had already faced in the name of the One...and more pain still,
because of the sentence of death now hanging over most of humanity, after
the assault the Drakh had conducted in Earthspace, seven days before, an
assault that had ended with that race spraying countless tons of plague
toxin into Earth's atmosphere.

	Her eyes hardened at that point.  Somewhere out in this darkness, the
EXCALIBUR had already begun the hunt for the cure to that disease, a hunt
that had to succeed.  And if Captain Gideon, Galen and the rest of the
destroyer's crew were to to succeed, they would, from time to time, need
protection...

	She had sworn to John Sheridan that she and her crew would fulfill that
duty, and also conduct their own hunt for the cure, at the same time.  They
were Rangers, and she was their Val'na.  And as the President had told her
before she had left Minbar, failure was not an option to be considered.

	A shimmer out of the corner of her eye warned her that her time of
meditation and contemplation was coming to an end, and Julia turned to
witness the brilliance of a hologram piercing the darkness of her chambers.
 An image appeared, an image of a bridge and its crew hard at work, even at
this late hour.  An image of one she had been given cause to call friend.

	The Minbari in the image was neither stern nor placid, but was, in her
opinion, the ideal mix of all possible worlds, and for now, sat calmly in
her own chair of command.  "Anla'shok Larieken." she began, a slight smile
coming to her face.  "You have something to report?"

	"Something, indeed." her closest friend in the Rangers replied, his
expression quite serious.  "A message from Minbar has reached us.  It is
President Sheridan."

	A stab of cold passed through her, then, and also, a touch of anger.  They
were less then a day out from that world, and already the President was
checking up on her?  Admittedly, the President *was* one of the few who
knew how to get a hold of her, and also possessed the right to do so when
he felt like it...but every time she spoke to someone outside, there was a
chance that the Drakh would find out the SHARD existed.  And this was a
danger she would not accept too often.  

	"And our good leader wishes what, exactly?"

	The Minbari shrugged.  "He would not say, only that the matter was urgent,
and for now, was only to be discussed with you."

	"I see." Pausing to wrap a thicker cloak around her, a cloak emblazoned
both with the sign of the Anla'shok and also the Circle and the Star, she
nodded resignedly.  "You may put him thorugh to my quarters, then, Larieken."

	"It shall be as you say.  Val'na."  Larieken bowed respectfully, even as
his image faded away.  "I pray that the news is not too disturbing."

	That she would find out what this was all about was quite clear, of
course, as another larger image rippled down into the air in front of her:
larger then life, as usual, and frowning, which wasn't anything new for
him, either!  "Mr. President," she began, "From your expression, can I
assume we should skip the preliminary greetings and 'how are you doing's'
and come straight to the point?"

	"A fair analysis of the current situation, Captain, yes.  And while I
didn't believe it would happen this quickly, the current situation out on
the Alliance frontier has given me a reason to make a slight addition to
your orders, far sooner then I might have believed."

	"Mr. President; you're not saying what I'm thinking you're saying, are you?"

	"Not quite, no.  Your prime mission has not changed, Captain, and in fact,
just as soon as this little side jaunt is finished, you and your crew are
to continue your pursuit of the EXCALIBUR exactly as we previously
discussed.  For now, though, there are more critical concerns.

	A little more then a week ago, the surviving squadrons of the Drakh fleet
that attacked Earth destroyed the only shipyard in the Alliance capable of
building EXCALIBUR-class destroyers.  Those squadrons have since gone on to
attack fleet units in both the Brakiri and Vree spheres of influence."

	Julia let out a long breath.  So that was what he wanted her to do...fair
enough.  "I understand, sir.  So, without making things too obvious, you
want me and my crew to teach them a lesson they won't soon forget?"

	The President nodded.  "Exactly.  It's my belief that the Drakh believe us
unprotected and vulnerable now that the EXCALIBUR and the White Star Fleet
have begun their hunt for the cure.  They must be taught otherwise,
Captain, and that's where you and your command come into the equation.

	Can I count on you to get the job done?"

	She didn't even pause, of course...William, Jennifer and all the rest had
taught her that when the commanders called, it was a Ranger's duty to get
the job done and ask questions later, and this was, after all, part of the
SHARD's job description: to take on the Drakh and the other enemies of the
Alliance, without anyone seeing them coming.  "Until we try this for the
first time," she mused, "We won't know whether it's going to work or not,
now will we?"

	Sheridan nodded.  "Makes for one hell of a test case though, doesn't it,
Captain?"

	She smiled.  "Sometimes, Mr. President, that's the only way of doing
things, and I have, after all, been taught by my peers to take on six
impossible tasks before breakfast without asking twice.  SHARD OF NIGHT
*out*."

				* * *

	Tuzanor.  Moments later.

	"You know what?" John Sheridan warned the figure reclining on the
windowsill of his office, "The mouth on that young woman's going to get her
in trouble, someday."

	William Westcastle leant forward into the light, and laughed. "And you
don't think this hasn't happened already?"

	Sheridan cast a baleful glance in the direction of his Ranger friend.
"Now how did I *know* you were going to say that?"

				* * *

	To be continued in Act I of "The Darkest Road", coming sometime in the
next week!

	->Homepage: "Destiny's Cry" at
http://www.connect.ab.ca/~dgolding/index.htm	

	->And member of the VS6 'alliance', whose homepage is located at
 http://www.darkthunder.com/b5vs6.  Watch for Episode VI, coming 
	  soon...



From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE, EPISODE I, ACT I
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 1999 23:32:16

		   "STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"

	<<ACT ONE>>

	"Before humanity went to the stars, great empires rose and fell on the
continents north of Earth's equator...and in that age, an age when Vorlons
still walked among us, some of the people would look upon the coming of
this month with abject dread.  Dark January they called it: the killing
month.  

	The month of ice.  The month of death.

	Out in the hinterlands, the people would sometimes have to walk a long and
dark road before coming to shelter, and every once in a while, the storms
would come without warning, and their loved ones did despair, knowing in
their hearts that the road had claimed their fathers and brothers.  And
they knew, then, that they would never see them again, this side of the Veil.

	The centuries may have passed us by, but the story stays the same.  In
this, the first month of the Earth Year 2267, we walk a darker road then I
could have conceived of, when first I danced with shadows..."

				* * *

	Interstellar Alliance Battlecruiser SHARD OF NIGHT.  In hyperspace,
enroute to Vree border.

	"We all knew that this moment was going to arrive sooner or later..."
Julia began, her voice ringing across the silent interior of the conference
chamber, as the bloody light of hyperspace danced behind her.  "We knew
that a time would come when we would be commanded to engage the Drakh.
That moment has come sooner then I might have liked."

	At the far end of the table, Nicholas Dawson rose to his feet, an
expression of open disbelief on his face.  "That, Captain, would appear to
be the understatement of the year, in my opinion!  We've only just
launched, and already, Sheridan wants us to engage the enemy?"

	Without hesitation, Klairika Alidiae, Julia's often taciturn first
officer, leapt into the fray.  "I will remind you, Mr. Dawson," the Brakiri
icily noted, "That this is *part* of our job description.  We are Rangers,
and if we've been tasked with engaging the Drakh, this we must do, without
hesitation or questions!"

	"I agree." Larieken added a moment later, his expression stern.  "What we
must remember is that the Drakh were once allies of the Shadows, and that
they were certainly trained by them for many thousands of years.  If we do
not begin to deal with them *now*, they will grow ever more bold..."

	"And," Sheynell Keynes, the SHARD's tactical officer, noted, "The time may
even come when they will see their defeat at Earth as only a minor setback.
Nicholas, we can't allow that to happen; the Drakh must be made to realize
that victory cannot come without price.  They chose to destroy the only
shipyard capable of building destroyers like the EXCALIBUR; they have not,
as yet *paid* the price for that victory."

	"And yet," Larieken warned, "Part of what Mr. Dawson says does ring true.
This will be our first major engagement as a crew, and we must be careful
not to make mistakes that our enemies can take advantage of."

	"Do not believe that this will happen." the SHARD's helmsman, Dasouri,
declared.  "We who know each other have already worked together, we who
have not see what is, and become the same.  In the terms of my kind, Val'na
Tikopai is our Huntleader.  We hunt for the enemy, hunt for destroyers of
life, seek out creatures of chaos who would kill us in turn, if they could.
 We will succeed; I know this to be true."

	"Brave words...!" Nicholas replied, his voice and face somber. "I mean,
it's great to be part of a team and all, but the thing you all have to
remember is that while the SHARD's one hell of a ship, she's never been
invincible and never will be.  We're only *one* command in a sea of hostile
enemies, and there's a Hell of a lot of Drakh still out there.  And
sometimes, things can go wrong just by making mistakes."

	"Would you care to be a little more specific, Mr. Dawson?" Julia inquired,
her eyes narrowed.

	"A little more then six months before the Drakh attacked Earth," the
engineer told the Rangers, "We discovered there's a minor, but
*uncorrectable* fault in the ship's systems.  Nothing that can't be
avoided, of course, once you all know it exists, and this isn't really that
much of a surprise, given the prototypical nature of your command..."

	Julia cleared her throat.  Pointedly.

	"Ah, getting to the point now, yes I am..." Nicholas muttered.  "Anla'shok
Keynes...a word to the wise: don't *ever* fire the main and secondary
batteries at the same time.  Pulse cannons and main gun, no problem...just
*not* the secondaries."

	"And...why might that be, Mr. Dawson?"

	"The only time we've ever tried, the energy backlash just about fried all
of our weapons control systems.  Lesaki and I managed to get everything
back under control just before the weapons grid reactor controls
fused...but it's not something I want to repeat any time soon, if that's
okay with you?"

	"And if such a thing *were* to happen..." Sheynell inquired, her face
concerned, "Just how hard would it be for the Minbari to replace the burnt
out systems?"

	"Well..." Nicholas mused, "Given the amount of resources that were tied
into building the SHARD, and the polite complaining I overheard by the time
she was finished..."

	"The message we are looking for," Veyshahk noted, "Is, as the humans say,
'better safe then sorry', which is for the best, in my opinion.  As
Engineer Dawson just said, we are not invincible, and when we fight...some
among us *always* get hurt."  

	Silence reigned for a moment, but then Julia sighed, before rising to her
feet.  "The question of the moment is, will the Drakh give us that much
leeway?"

	No one had an answer for that question.  The answer would come soon
enough, however, and it would not be one that any in the room would like.

				* * *

	The Lower Decks...

	In this chamber, darkness reigned, in more ways then one.  In the middle
of the floor, a single pool of light illuminated the figure knelt there.
The man's hands were clenched tightly around the warrior pike he had earned
honourably, a weapon he had found cause to use in battle during his service
of the past six years.  The tension was for a reason, however; when peace
could not be found, there were always reasons why that was so.

	Abruptly, the door to the chamber slid open, revealing a shadow against
the light beyond.  The man turned, saw who the new visitor was, and nodded
his head fractionally.  He had known that when the SHARD's chief engineer
had requested a human contingent for his department before they had left
Minbar, that this had always been possible...and there he was.  "I thought
you would come, once you found out that I was aboard.  It's been a long
time though, hasn't it?"

	"Long enough; it's good to see you though, too, I will admit.  Now, let us
come to the reason you've invited me here."

	"As you wish."  The Ranger retracted his pike, before rising to his feet.
"You would say that there is one among us who should not be doing what he
is doing.  And while I must stay within my code in this, I understand your,
shall we say, 'dislike' of his kind, after what happened to Rakele four
years ago..."

	"'Dislike' doesn't even begin to cover it!" the engineer heatedly replied,
his eyes flashing an incontravertible challenge.  "Rakele saved my life
more then once during my youth out in the colonies, and yours as well, when
it comes down to it!  And then, when things looked like they were getting
good, he ended up being in the *wrong* place at the wrong time.

	Then *they* came."

	"What happened?" the Ranger quietly inquired.  "By the time the conflict
occured, I was already serving as I do now..."

	"He and his trading freighter were at one of the outlier Alliance colonies
when a squadron of Drazi warships came out of the jump gate and attacked
the whole orbital region, and then the colony itself.  Sure, Sheridan told
us all later that part of their military got 'out of control', but that
doesn't excuse the crime that was committed.  They killed our friend, just
because he was IN the way...and now, I find one of them here, dressed as
you do, and having the audacity to claim he follows the 'ways of peace and
the great G'kar?

	I don't believe it!" the engineer heatedly exclaimed.  "I can't.  And I
won't work alongside him on this command.  I just...can't."

	"Do not say you plan to kill him..." the Ranger warned.  "I will not allow
that to happen.  Even though he may be Drazi, he is also Anla'shok..."

	"Ah, ah...none of that, my *friend*.  You do remember the blood oath we
hold together, don't you?  The one we share with Rakele?"  The Ranger
nodded a moment later, a bit resignedly, and the other sighed.  "Still...I
suppose I'll have to accept the choices you've made in the end...but the
Drazi's got to go!"

	"If we sufficiently humiliate him," the Ranger said, trying for a
compromise, "If he makes a mistake large enough for the Captain to banish
him from her side, will that be enough for you?"

	The engineer's mouth flashed into a nasty grin.  "It might.  Are you gonna
help me?"

	The Ranger scowled.  "I hold oaths both to you and to the Anla'shok, and
even after all we have been through, my oaths to that organization are the
stronger of the two.  I cannot help you, but I will say nothing of this to
the others, so that you may...implement your plan.  And I will hold my
silence, as long as your 'solution' is not, I will remind you, a lethal one."

	"That's not good enough!"

	"It will have to do."  The Ranger's eyes narrowed, then.  "Do not presume
to press me on this matter...you have been warned.  There are some things
even *I* will not do for you, any longer."

	Anger briefly coloured the other's face for a moment, but then faded, and
the engineer nodded, if a bit angrily.  "So be it.  I will remember this,
however...and in the end, there may be a reckoning."

	"We shall see." the Ranger noted.

	"We shall indeed!" was the engineer's final, parting comment, as he swept
out of the chamber.

				* * *  

	Elsewhere...

	"What is this that you are saying?" the Sha'drakh demanded, as Palakz
gazed irritably up at the larger-then-life image of the Council member most
responsible for giving *his* part of the armada guidance.  "Rare this
is..." the elder Drakh hissed, "That my Zau Vekh'shivalht shows himself to
be doubtful!...and well this is, Palakz, at the same time.  For if I had
seen this sooner, I would never have chosen you to ascend to your present
position in as little time as you have!"

	"And yet!" Palakz replied, as nearby, Raeznon bared her teeth at the tone
in her elder-partner's voice, "I see the danger, even if *you* and yours do
not!  You say that the shak'vez has made another critical error, and that
our pursuit of vengeance must not be abated.  I do not disagree with
you...all that we are saying is that it cannot be that simple.  The
information our emissaries and spies have passed to us since first we
encountered Sheridan indicates that he is possessed of a devious mind, and
should be watched closely.  This scattering of his forces cannot be what it
seems..."

	"`Ka'vajh!" At that barked command, Palakz immediately stiffened into a
posture of obedience.  "I will hear *no* more of this!" the Sha'drakh
announced, his expression stern and forbidding.  "The shak'vez has
committed himself to a path he cannot escape from, and the Dark Ones be
willing, we will now take advantage of this error.

	Sheridan's Ranger allies have scattered themselves far and wide searching
for a cure to the Dark One's gift..." At that, the Sha'drakh's mouth
twisted into an amused smile.  "And I have even received word that his
daggership, EXCALIBUR, is even now is being engaged by the forces commanded
by one of your fellow Vekh'shivalht.

	The time to act is *now*, Palakz.  All of Sheridan's forces are now
occupied...there cannot be a better time to continue our assaults then now.
 You will gather your forces, both seen and unseen, and prepare to attack
the human colony named...

	Sinzar."

	Palakz bowed, the inclination exactly what expected between Vekh' shivalht
and Sha'drakh...and no more.  "It shall be as you say, Most High. The Dark
Ones be with us."  The Sha'drakh nodded, his expression one of dismissal,
and the image faded.

	"You do not agree with his assessment of this situation." his Vaarliht
stated, and Palakz turned, his expression growing noticeably less bitter,
as he allowed Raeznon to approach the place-of-command that was his.  "I do
not blame you for that response, but the Council does not see what we see.
The Council only sees the path of Vengeance *that* one laid out before
them, when he banished the Dark Ones from our sight.

	Palakz snarled, before whispering the following, so the crew would not
hear.  "The Call for Vengeance rang loud among our people when the Dark
Ones left us." he confided, as his Favored Claw drew near, her eyes bright
with interest as she chose to hear his words.  "Strong we were, when we
moved against Mollari and his people.  But now, there are some Sha'drakh
who walk through mists between the Lying Worlds, their jnn'dan no better
then blinded!"

	Raeznon drew back, and quickly drew a sign of protection through the air
in between them, as she sensed the rebellious fury in her elder-partner, a
fury only just held in check by loyalty to the cause, and to the memory of
the Dark Ones; their Masters, now lost to them forever, along with their
home.  "It is...well, my Vekh'shivalht, that the others did not hear you
say this."

	"This is not for their ears, not yet, and probably not ever."  Palakz spat
another curse, before lowering himself into his seat-of-command.
"Nevertheless, for now, we will follow the orders of our Sha'drakh.  We
will attack the human colony, engage their forces, and continue the war of
vengeance they have commanded."

	"And if you are right, and he is wrong?"

	To that, Palakz gave no reply, and Raeznon shuddered briefly, before
returning to her own duties.	
	
				* * *

	Commander's Personal Log, Earthforce Omega Class Destroyer CIRCE.

	To the heart of our souls, they struck, and in a way that none of us were
expecting.  We were all so focused on the deathcloud and their fleet,
intent on what the President was telling us.  There was a time, not so long
ago, when I followed John Sheridan in a different war, listened to the
voice of the woman who stood by his side, a woman who is, even now, someone
I have the grace to call friend.

	Followed him I did, right into the heart of the cloud with comrades dying
all around us.  We followed him and his, the CIRCE right on the heels of
the EXCALIBUR, flying into the heart of the storm.  We helped to clear the
way, but even we could do nothing when it came time to do the impossible.

	I can still see it even now, and can imagine the words that Captain
Anderson must have spoke, before the end.  I nearly cried, to see such a
great ship die...but felt glad at the same time, when the sacrifice that he
and his crew made allowed that horrible Shadow weapon to be destroyed.

	Nearly we did not escape, but run before the proverbial hounds of Hell we
did, regardless, as the great fist of the Shadow array closed behind us,
and vanished in a hail of flame...

	And for a moment, I thought we'd actually won.  For a moment, I considered
it possible that the Drakh had actually been defeated in their aims.

	And then I learned the truth, and finally I *did* cry, but only when there
was one there to see.  And now I, like so many others in Earthforce, like
so many of my fellow soldiers who were not on Earth with their loved ones
to see that horrid pall descend...now I go in search of the instigators,
even as the EXCALIBUR and the forces of the Alliance go in search of the cure.

	I go to punish the Drakh.  And by God...I am not alone.

				* * *

	Alone against the night, three tiny Drakh scouts pushed their way through
the emptiness.  Silent they were, and hard to find...

	But not impossible.

	In a moment measured in futility, the Drakh ships turned to run, as a
great ripping crackle flared into existence in front of them, and almost
instantly thereafter sprang out into a flaring white and blue vortex...one
of the enormous wormholes between realspace and hyperspace known to all
races in the local galactic region as jump points.

	Out of this vortex sprang half a dozen squadrons of the Earth two-seater
fighters known as Thunderbolts, and the pilots of those squadrons set
themselves upon the hapless Drakh without pause.  Two of those ships died
almost immediately, but the third had proven itself just a little quicker
then its cousins.

	Not that this saved it, of course.  For the Earth-fighters were not alone,
as a great ruby thread of radiation sprang out from the a gray hammerhead
starship that emerged from the still-open jump point, and nailed the
scoutship head-on, destroying it instantly.  And the starship was not
alone, either, as over two dozen more warships, a combination of heavy
destroyers and lighter escorts, followed their flagship out of the point
even as a tiny stealthed-black transport maneuvered to rendezvous with the
flagship.

	A warship that possessed the name 'CIRCE' emblazoned boldly upon its
side...a warship that commanded Alpha Group of the Earthforce Fourth Fleet.

	Orion Command.

				* * *

	"Target destroyed, Captain." Commander Winslow Dahle reported, his deep
voice steady, and ebony face stern.  "The fighter screen took care of the
rest, as you expected."

	Captain Elaine ap Glydden rose to her feet at that point, her short bob of
black hair brushed neatly back above Gaelicly-fair skin and her vivid,
jade-coloured eyes, and eventually allowed herself a smile.  "We jumped out
on that trio without giving them a chance to warn their comrades,
Commander, which is the third time we've managed to surprise them, but
that's not going to last. Eventually, we're going to run into their main
force again, however, and when that happens..."

	"We will beat the pants off of them, Captain." Daele assured his CO.  

	Captain ap Glydden frowned.  "Commander...don't forget that the Drakh were
allies of the Shadows.  Besides that deathcloud, they're sure to have other
examples of Shadowtech lying around to use as weapons of last resort.  We
have to be careful..."

	"But thorough, at the same time." Daele finsihed up for her.  "Your orders?"

	"Send out the patrols, Commander.  The destroyers CHIMAERA and DAEDALUS
should be sufficient to distribute them...but tell them to be careful.  We
want to find out where the Drakh armada is hiding, and getting themselves
killed will not help our cause, any."

	"Heard and understood, Captain." Commander Daele concluded.  As he turned
away, Elaine slowly sat back down in her chair, and let out a long sigh.
She was, even after their early successes, having a hard time believing
that meeting up with the Drakh main force was going to be this
easy...pursuit actions never *were*.

	Something was going to go wrong...it always did.

	The question was, would she be ready for that moment when it came?
Elaine's eyes hardened; she would have to be, that's all there was to it.
No other option was acceptable.

				* * *

	Elsewhere...but nearby.  AND unseen.

	"A very pretty formation, Captain.  Does Captain ap Glydden know what
she's getting herself into?"

	"Oh yes, Commander...she knows what she's getting herself into.  It's
getting *out* that she should be more concerned about, in my opinion."

	"That's where we come in, I suppose."  Resignedly said, but with an amused
overtone.

	"You have to ask?"

				* * *

	The edge of Vree Space.

	"Jump!" Julia commanded, and with a barely-felt shudder, the SHARD OF
NIGHT transitioned back into normal space-time.  "Engage darklight mode!"

	Behind and above her Val'na, Klairika nodded, and passed one hand above a
tall violet and gray crystal near the center of her board.  "Enabled."

	Over at the tactical station, Sheynell allowed herself a smile, even as
she raised her blocks a tad higher to cut out the increased level of
tension in the normal-minds around her.  From what Nicholas had told her
about the ship, the exterior skin of the battlecruiser had, with Julia's
command, faded from its normal dark gray-and-silver to midnight
invisibility, emitting nothing and absorbing every wavelength of
electromagnetic energy known to Minbari science.

	Now, no one could see them unless they wanted to be seen. And for now,
they did *not* want to be seen.

	"There it is." Larieken announced, and Sheynell half-turned, as a hovering
image of a wrecked Vree warship suddenly sprang into view in the
holographic imager that dominated the bridge behind her.  "As you see, the
whisker array found this wreck, even when the Vree themselves could not."

	Sheynell shuddered.  The Drakh had done this, of course.  And all those
loyal Vree had been consigned to the abyss.  Into the ice of space...

	And then she gasped, as a stab of that self-same ice passed through her
mind.  She had opened herself up involuntarily, if only for a second, but
the sense of ice had not come from outside the ship.

	But inside, instead.

				* * *

	To be continued...


From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: "THE SEEKER'S FIRE"; EPISODE I, ACT IIA
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 12:41:39

   		"STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"

	<<ACT TWO:I>>

	The edge of Vree Space.

	For the longest of time, the shattered Vree battle saucer tumbled through
the night alone, the latest victim of the Drakh scourge that had now moved
on to attract the attention of other warriors and other starship
commands...including Matthew Gideon's EXCALIBUR. And then, rather suddenly,
it wasn't, as a very special warship emerged from hyperspace and faded from
sight, its skin blending into the endless night around it as an outcast's
hand engaged the Vorlon-based stealth technology laced through its outer skin.

	A few moments passed, moments in which the crew of the new arrival made
their preparations to investigate the wreck.  And then, without any
warning, the skin of the ship smoothly pulled apart into two egress points
near the port and starboard secondary batteries, and a small transport
emerged, followed quickly by a fighter, both of which slowly and carefully
made their way over to the wreck.  The pilots of those craft had been sent
to find a very specific object, and once that object was found, suspicions
could be proven, reinforcing a decision that had already been made.

	And soon enough, both arrived at their destination, latched onto it, and
after another moment's pause, the pilots made their way inside.

				* * *

	Azhahk Fenric shook his head in exasperation, as together with the junior
Ranger Operations Officer Larieken had assigned to him, he moved down the
steeply curved, tilted corridor of the Vree warship towards whatever
remained of its bridge, a task that wasn't made any easier by the wreck's
two-axis tumble.

	Despite the rubble and bodies floating in their way, he had no trouble
navigating his way through the interior, of course.  From the beginning,
Azhahk had chosen to memorize the deck plans of as many Alliance warships
as he could manage, just for this reason.  Too many times in the past
decade, it had been the job of Rangers to help rescue crews from wrecks
like this one...or, to reclaim bodies from places where no one else could
walk.

	Or *should*.

	And recordings, of course.  Which was, this day, the reason *Iltrakar*
Larieken had sent him over here with his...companion.  Azhahk sighed, then;
it wasn't his place to complain, for it was the duty of senior crew to help
train the younger and more inexperienced...and that described Anla'shok
Courtney Ellis right down to the roots of her unruly cap of blonde hair.

	At the top of her cadre right from the beginning, Courtney had come
straight out of graduation parade at Tuzanor almost two weeks before, and
had immediately been hustled onto a shuttle enroute to the SHARD OF NIGHT.
There hadn't even been time for her to say goodbye to her parents and
brother, who had come to Minbar to see her graduation parade...and now, it
was all too likely she wouldn't see them again for months, if not years!

	Azhahk's mouth tightened, then.  All things considered, it had been luck
that had brought the Ellis family to the Minbari homeworld at that time and
for that reason.  Courtney's parents had managed to miss the Drakh attack
on Earth, and as such, were part of the small percentage of humanity that
did *not* have the plague at the moment.  His parents had also been lucky;
they'd been on Luna visiting with some of his extended clan when the attack
had occured.  But so many *other* relatives back on the harsh shores of the
Arabian Gulf had not been so lucky.

	Too many, and the clock was ticking.  First, however, there was a need to
find the remaining units of the fleet that had done this to Earth. The
Drakh had started the war, but now it was the task of Earthforce and the
Rangers to finish it. 

	Decisively, if possible.

	Azhahk shook himself out of his reverie, then, as just ahead of him,
Courtney Ellis entered the bridge and promptly shuddered, a shudder he
could see even through her pressure suit, as she saw the dozen or so
frozen, drifting dead Vree in the dark and silent chamber.  

	"While you may not think this, at the moment." he firmly informed her,
"You *will* survive this experience, I assure you."

	"You make it sound so easy." his companion shakily replied, as she turned
to meet his gaze, her eyes showing some small fear.  "I've never seen so
many bodies in one place before..."

	"Do not complain." he warned her, as he made his way around the completely
destroyed captain's station towards the goal at hand. "It was you,
Anla'shok Ellis, who chose to follow the call of your heart and come to
Tuzanor to become one of us.  It was you who decided to dance the dance of
honour with Sech Westcastle and her mentor, F'hursna Sech Durhan to earn
your warrior pike, and *you* who chose to become the best of your group at
what we do.  The Entil'zha notices such things...and as such, joined you
with the rest of Val'na Tikopai's crew on this...mission of ours.

	If you had not wanted to face your fears, you would have done none of
these things.  Do I, or do I not, speak the truth on this matter?"

	"You've been hanging around the Minbari too much..." Ellis observed, her
eyes narrow.  "Like them, you seem to have turned the use of the cold truth
into an art form."	

	Azhahk shrugged, as he reached down around the Vree body slumped at the
bridge point he had been looking for.  "Perhaps some of their ways have
rubbed off on me in the time I have been a Ranger.  When you serve at their
side for as long as I have, their ways become our ways."

	"I'll believe *that* when it happens." the younger woman muttered.

	Azhahk laughed.  "Have it your way, then.  You will learn the truth of our
path, in due course."

	"Look, have you found it yet?"

	"Of course." he replied, lifting up the message crystal between thumb and
finger for her to see, before gently squeezing the comm toggle switch on
the left palm of his pressure suit.  "Anla'shok Fenric to SHARD OF NIGHT."

	"Your report, Mr. Fenric?" the voice of his Captain returned down the
link...cool and composed, as seemed to be the norm for her.

	"We've managed to locate the crystal, and are now ready to download its
contents.  Although, I must admit, I have no doubt as to who the
perpetrators were."

	"The more evidence we can collect, the better.  Sooner or later, the Drakh
*will* be brought to heel, and if we can bring their leaders before a war
crimes tribunal..."

	Azhahk snorted; now *that* was a big if.  "As you say, Captain.
Downloading now."

				* * *

	"We're only a handful of kilometres away from them..." Julia mused, as she
casually reclined in her chair and watched the small Vree squadron
clustered around the wreck. "And they can't see us at all...or at least,
that's what we should hope!"

	"And well it is that they cannot." Klairika critically observed.  "In the
orientation it now possesses, the whisker array gave us very little warning
of the imminent jumpout of the Vree saucers and their command ship."

	"Don't blame the system, ladies..." Dawson retorted from the engineering
station, in between his XO and the holographic imager that filled the
center of the bridge's rear hemisphere.  "Without a nearby jumpgate to
bounce messages off of, we're limited by how much information we can pass
between the realspace and hyperspace elements of the grid until the tachyon
relay link kicks in on the nearest gate ...which should be any time now.
And in any case, we were never really in danger of being discovered, now
were we?"

	"Engineer Dawson is correct in his assessment." Larieken added a moment
later, as he finished a background check on the whisker net and turned to
face his superiors.  "When the Vree arrived, Ms. Ellis and her craft had
already entered the hangar, and Mr. Fenric was able to engage his fighter's
darklight mode without any difficulty as the Vree jump point opened."

	"Still..." Julia added, "If we'd only been a *little* slower, the Vree
would have found Fenric and his companion aboard their wrecked saucer, and
I don't think I want to have anyone finding ouut that we exist that easily,
especially the Vree.  The Drakh have spies everywhere..."

	"Although it is unlikely that there are Vree among them." Klairika said.
"The Conglomerate took losses in the Shadow War comparable to those in my
people's navy, and the Vree have long memories for such things."

	"While we..." Dawson added caustically, "Have longer memories of the Vree."

	"Mr. Dawson...they did apologize for that, you know.  Numerous times, I
might add."  At that point, Klairika's board chimed at her, and the Brakiri
glanced down, and allowed herself a small smile.  "Ah.  At last!  Val'na,
we have now established a tachyon link with the nearest transfer gate.  The
hyperspace whiskers are downloading their reports...now."

	"Show me." Julia commanded, as she straightened in her seat; now, they
would finally be able to learn what the current 'big' picture was.  "Let's
see what the Drakh are up to."

	A holographic bubble sprang into being in front of them, and rapidly
expanded to depict the zones of influence of all the major Alliance races,
as well as some of the 'fringe' zones within the former Vorlon and Shadow
territories, together with the sectors toward the 'Rim' of known space.  A
moment later, the major ship battlegroup locations shimmered into view as
well, including the brilliant red icon depicting the present location of
the EXCALIBUR.

	"As you can see," Klairika continued, "The Drakh seem to have pulled back
from their hit and run strikes along the Alliance member borders, and have
consolidated most of their remaining field strength into several
battlegroups.  The group that we observed approaching the EXCALIBUR would
appear to have been destroyed...as you noted previously, a small group, and
not worth our attention.

	Another squadron appears to have concealed itself...'gone to ground', as
you would say, Val'na.  The third group, however, *is* something to be
concerned about.  It is now moving back towards Earth-controlled space, and
within another twelve standard hours, will be nearing the Rimward-facing
colonies of the Earth Alliance, one of which they will, no doubt, attack."

	"Do they not realize that the Earth military is waiting for them to try
just such a thing?" Larieken incredulously inquired.  "While they do not
have our advantage in observation, the outer commands will no doubt have
dispersed spyships far and wide, waiting for the Drakh to appear.  And as
soon as they do so, the human capital ships will descend..."

	Julia shook her head, her dark eyes full of both exhaustion and the
occasional flash of unwanted wisdom.  "I don't think it's quite that
simple, Larieken.  The group we can *see* is probably acting as bait for
the Earthforce commands.  And once they engage, that stealthed Drakh group
might jump on them from behind..."

	"And Earthforce, at this moment, cannot afford to take further losses,
given the number of destroyers they lost at Earth."  Klairika pointed out.
"Drakh vessels, both light and capital, are both more maneuverable then
most human destroyer-class capital ships and more heavily armed for their
size, which is, I will note, a liability your engineers have *yet* to
correct."

	"We're working on it, damnit." Dawson growled from the back.  "Just give
us a little *more* time."

	"We don't have time, and neither do they.  Klairika...the status of the
Vree, if you please?"

	"They would appear to have secured the wreck beneath the attending capital
ship...their group is beginning to move off, and should be jumping shortly."

	"Then we should do the same.  We've got the information we came here for,
now it's time for us to go and pay the Drakh a visit, I think."

	"Of course." Klairika dryly replied.  "And our destination?"

	"Best guess for Drakh group Three's intercept point with the nearest large
Earthforce battlegroup.  I want to be there *ahead* of the Drakh, by the
way.  And just in case we were wrong about them not having any more of this
plague..."

	Klairika nodded, briefly checked on the locations of the Earthforce units
in the projected image, and then crisply issued an order to the Minbari at
the helm.  "I understand; we will be getting underway shortly.  *You*,
also, should be getting underway, to somewhere other then here.  You've now
been on the bridge for a shift and a half..."

	"Hmm." she muttered, as she rose to her feet and stretched, even as the
SHARD swept away from the Vree, unnoticed.  "Has it been that long,
already? How time flies when you're having fun."

	"You will have to explain to me," Klairika noted in passing, as Julia left
the bridge, "Just how it is your word 'fun' seems to have so many different
definitions."

				* * *

	Quarters Deck...a short time later.

	Smiling a smile that was almost a snarl, the engineer began giving the
maintenence panel in front of him a short but critical sequence of
commands, a sequence given to him by his associates, and approved of by
his...other associates.  His friend had not responded as he had hoped, and
a message needed to be sent, both in Rakele's memory and also for *other*
reasons.  Reasons only he needed to know.

	Dawson had, the engineer decided, shown how foolish he was when he had
allowed him to come on board.  But then, he'd been all alone with the
Minbari for a time, hadn't he?  And besides the Rangers aboard, had wanted
some 'friendly' faces around, friendly being human.

	The engineer had, of course, passed muster.  His record had seemed
exemplary, but the truth was not always what it seemed.  And there were
things about the SHARD OF NIGHT he knew, courtesy of his new associates;
things that Dawson would learn only when it was too late.

	For now, though, before the mission progressed any further, it was time to
deal with the Drazi.  And despite what his 'friend' had said, and what he
had said in reply, the engineer had decided to do it *his* way.  The spoken
sequence now complete, the engineer added one more sentence...the critical
one, all things considered.

	A sentence that drove deep into the heart of the ship's environmental
grid, rewriting one very critical part of its programming...and also
commanded control of several other, almost as critical functions, in
relation to his intended target.

				* * *		

	Deep in thought, Sheynell wandered the midships corridors of the SHARD,
and tried to figure out what it was she had felt when they had jumped out
on the Vree wreck...and also, to figure out *why* she'd opened herself up
like that, when she had.

	It had been *years* since she'd been so careless.  Years she'd spent
honing herself into a icy, emotionless blade beneath Bester...and then
unlearning most of what she'd learned, first at Tuzanor and then working
beneath Montoya.  And yet...most things she had done in her life,
especially with her telepathy, had been for good reasons!

	And she had caught something, after all.  Something potentially troubling;
something that she wasn't willing to discuss with the rest until she had
more proof.  During that moment of openness, she'd sensed a wrongness
aboard, a icy mind at odds with the rest of the crew.  And unless she was
completely out to lunch, unlikely after what she'd been through to reach
this point, the owner of that mind intended ill towards at least one and
possibly more members of the crew.  And now, despite many line-of-sight
surface scans during her wandering, it was obvious that he'd gone to ground.

	Suddenly somber, she shook her head irritably; only now did she realize
which parts of her had grown soft since she'd claimed sanctuary with the
Alliance.  The officer of the Corps she had been would have latched onto
that mind and seized it without the slightest hesitation.

	The question was, could she take the best elements of her training and use
it to track this ill-intentioned crewmember down, before he could unleash
his intent?

	It was then, of course, that a sudden spasm of mental fear reached her
from nearby, and her musings forgotten, Sheynell sprang into a run, almost
knocking down a pair of off-duty junior personnel in her haste.  Damn it
all!...but she *had* hesitated, hadn't she?  And now, if what she was
sensing was the truth, she had hesitated too long.

	Because it looked like the mysterious someone had already made his first
move...
	
				* * *

	For a time, he had slept, and then he had meditated...and now, it was time
to begin his shift.  Dasouri allowed himself to smile grimly as he gazed
out on the shimmering wrack of hyperspace.  Before he had gone off duty,
they had been in the early stages of approaching a wrecked Vree
battlesaucer.  Evidently the Val'na had found what she wanted, and they
were now enroute... elsewhere.

	Undoubtedly, they would meet up with the Drakh in due course.  Again,
Dasouri sighed, before gritting his teeth.  Again, he considered the
relative conundrum of fighting as a Ranger to help bring peace to his
people.  It was something he had yet to resolve in his mind, even after he
had spoken to the doctor about it, some hours before their departure from
Minbar.  Something that was...

	Wait.  He rose to his feet, sensing a wrongness around him.  What was
going on?  What was...

	Suddenly, his vision shimmered, and Dasouri realized, both in amazement
and near-horror, that the air in his quarters was starting to become quite
unbreathable, and drew in a last lungful of more-or-less good air before
things got any worse.  Why hadn't he noticed this earlier?  Dasouri
realized, belatedly, that he already knew the answer to that question.
He'd allowed himself to be distracted by pointless retreading of the path
already travelled, yet again.

	And now *this* had happened.  There was no time to waste; precious seconds
were passing, and the reserve of clean air within his lungs was becoming
ever more depleted, but even so, he found it impossible not to debate the
points at hand.  Engineer Dawson had assured him that the ship's
environmental systems were more advanced then almost any other ship in
existence.  Why, then, was the oxygen in this chamber rapidly being
replaced with something apparently far more deadly?

	No matter, he told himself, as he tapped at the door override, not, for
the moment, wishing to speak for fear of inhaling more of the noxious
poison that the quarter's atmosphere had become.  Once he was outside, he
would track Dawson down, and resolve the problem to his satisfaction...

	And felt a stab of fear pass through him, when absolutely nothing
happened, and another when he realized the comm systems were also
nonfunctional. Dasouri sank to the floor then, his vision becoming ever
more blurry, and came to the conclusion that this could not simply be an
accident of some sort.  Someone aboard the SHARD OF NIGHT meant him
ill...someone with sufficient engineering qualifications to poison his air,
lock the door to his quarters, and make communication to the rest of the
ship impossible.

	All without warning the other engineers that something was not *right*.

	Which implied a conspiracy at the highest level.  And also implied that
unless someone came to see him in the next several minutes, the air in his
lungs would run out.

	And he would then be quite dead.

	Wait.  Dasouri's brow furrowed, and a glimmer of hope began to form.
There was an admittedly slim chance that the telepath, Sheynell Keynes, had
detected his problem.  Very slim, all things considered...but it was all
the hope he had.

	Focusing his mind, he then thought, as hard as he could, the only word
that mattered...

				* * *

	Even had she *not* used the computer to trace the fastest path to
Dasouri's quarters, Sheynell knew that she could have reached his door
almost as quickly in any case, given the bright beacon of the Drazi's fear
against the general mental background around her.  And as she came to a
halt, it was clear there was no time to waste, no time at all.  Bright in
his mind was the knowledge of being trapped in an area with no oxygen, and
having no means of escape and no communication with the outside world...

	At which point, Dasouri's mind suddenly shimmered, and a single word
emerged onto the surface, a word she could easily detect at this range.  A
word obviously intended for her.

	<HELP>

	"Computer!" she crisply proclaimed.  "This is Anla'shok Keynes; override
and open the door to Dasouri's quarters!"

	"Your command password is required for entry into personal space." the
ship's computer informed her.

	"Understood.  *Dark Angel*." she whispered, so only the computer could
hear.  The door sprang open, and she turned away involuntarily, as a wave
of noxious fumes quite obviously having nothing to do with air emerged from
Dasouri's quarters to be whisked away, followed promptly by the Drazi
himself, who drew in a deep and obviously needed lungful of oxygen before
collapsing at her feet, which then drew the attention of the handful of
crew who happened to be nearby.

	"Anla'shok Keynes!" the nearest, a Minbari, began, as he arrived at a run,
several more Rangers close behind. "Can we aid you?"

	"You can." she replied, casting a quick glance down at the unconscious,
but otherwise unharmed Drazi at her feet.  "Take him to Physician
Veyshahk's domain, and I shall join you there shortly."

	The Minbari nodded tersely, his nose wrinkled at the remnant foulness of
what had emerged from the rooms in front of him.  "It shall be as you say."

	And then, even as the Minbari and his companions departed at a run,
Dasouri slung between their arms, Sheynell cautiously stuck her head
into the place where this had all began, and her mouth tightened.

	For the air, as far as she could tell...was now *quite* breathable, indeed.

				* * *

	Medical Section; a short time later.

	"Mr. Dawson!" Julia exclaimed, as she slowly paced back and forth in front
of her sullen chief engineer, "One of my senior staff was nearly, as far I
can determine, poisoned in his own quarters.  Do not *presume* to tell me
that this is impossible, because unless Sheynell are lying to us, and
Dasouri managed to poison himself somehow, it did happen!"

	Dawson took a deep breath, and forced himself to calm down a little.
"Okay...maybe I didn't phrase that as good as I could have.  Captain, all
I'm trying to say is this: when Varsak designed this ship, he put so many
redundancies into the system that something like this should have been
detected almost immediately!"

	"And yet, it quite *obviously* was not." Sheynell cut in, as a short
distance away, a grim-faced Veyshahk tended to the still unconscious
Dasouri.  "Not only was the air in his quarters being rapidly replaced by
something quite lethal when I rescued him, but his door had been locked,
*and* communication to the rest of the ship overriden.  If I hadn't been in
the area and detected his distress..."

	"The end result would have been, shall we say, unpleasant." Veyshahk
finished for her.  "If his exposure to the toxins had been even a little
longer, he would not now be recovering in this facility...he would,
instead, be *dead*."

	"Mr. Dawson." Julia ground out, her face, Nicholas noted, now
*dangerously* icy.  "I will be plain with you; it is quite clear to me that
there's someone aboard this ship who was responsible for this act of
cruelty and ill intent towards one of *my* Rangers...a saboteur, if you
will.  It is also obvious that this individual would appear to have some
small knowledge of the ship's systems, for he or she could not have done
this to Dasouri, otherwise.

	Your task is as follows: you are to find and elliminate this individual's
access to the computer system, and then, the means by which this was
brought about.  And having done that, you will then assist my tactical
officer and her staff in locating and detaining the one who has done this.

	We have only just begun this mission...and to have disaster strike so
openly, so early in its progression, is unacceptable and will *not* be
tolerated.  Do I make myself absolutely, crystal clear, Mr. Dawson?"

	He straightened to attention at that point, a position he remembered all
too well from his days of serving beneath Varsak.  "You do...Captain."

	"Saying the words and proving them true are two different things." she
warned him, the flame of her anger still held in check, for the time being.
 "I want results."

	"We'll find him, Captain." he promised.  "Have no doubt of that."

	"You'd better." 

	And with that said, his captain left the room, and Nicholas expelled a
sigh of relief before turning towards a still-serious Sheynell.  "Damn!" he
began.  "For a moment there, I thought she was going to take my hide off!"

	"She still might." the telepath mused, "If you fail in the task she has
given you."

	"There's some days, you know..." he muttered, "When I don't know if taking
this job was such a hot idea."

	"Nicholas..." Sheynell told him, "The moment will come when you realize
the choice you made was the correct one."

	"I think I'm going to need some proof on that score." he sourly replied.

	"You'll get it." she told him, as they left med-section, and continued
down the corridor together.  "Sooner then you may believe...or like."

				* * *

From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE, EPISODE I, ACT IIB
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 12:43:10

		  "STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"

	<<ACT TWO:II>>	

	Sinzar system.  Earthforce Destroyer HELENA.

	Even after all the days since it had happened, Captain Randall Carpenter,
like so many other commanders now exiled from his family, his love and
everyone he knew, could not escape from the thoughts that haunted him...the
'what if's' that controlled his every waking moment.  What if they had
turned away from their ordered patrol sooner then they had?  What if he had
pushed harder to reach Earthspace?  Could he have made a difference?

	The questions were easy to produce, but the answers were now forever
denied to him.  Again and again, Carpenter's thoughts had strayed to the
moment when the HELENA had jumped into Earthspace and passed through the
shattered rubble the Drakh had left behind them, and he and his crew had
beheld the Earth shrouded in a dark pall of death.  It was then of course,
that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both infected and otherwise, had passed on
the order to pursue the Drakh and make them pay for what had happened both
to humanity and to the Earth.

	Now, Earthforce battlegroups patrolled the outer ranges hunting for the
Drakh, and every once in a while, or so he had heard, they had managed to
find a few of the enemy.  Sometimes those stragglers had been easy to kill,
and other times, they had fought like demons, managing to destroy human
ships far larger then their own.

	But as of yet, they hadn't managed to track down whatever remained of
their main force, despite some dedicated searching on the part of some of
the fleet captains.  Carpenter didn't believe that the Drakh had committed
their entire main force to the attack, and thus, the wait continued for the
enemy to make their next move.

	And then, quite suddenly, the wait was over, and the time to act had come,
as the familiar warning chime of a jump surge rang through his bridge.

	"Commander!" he barked out, turning to face the woman who had served at
his side for the past eight years, through thick and thin.  "Is it them?"

	Commander Michelle Anleiah nodded, her face showing the worry that most of
his crew felt...even himself.  "Yes, sir.  There's a medium sized Drakh
fleet carrier emerging from hyperspace beyond Sinzar's outer moon."  She
paused for a moment, and then, her eyes hardened.  "They've launched
half-a-dozen recon vessels.  Those will be in range in twenty-one minutes.
Mark."

	"Bring us to battle stations, then, Commander, and prepare to accelerate
to pursuit speed." he ordered. "That's the largest recon force we've seen
since the battle for Earth, and at least part of their main force may be
close behind.  Get our Thunderbolt squadrons in space, and get me a link to
Captain ap Glydden."

	"Launching now, sir.  And as for the link, coming online...

	Now."

				* * *

	EAS CIRCE, enroute to Sinzar.

	"It would appear," Elaine mused, as Commander Daele stood at her right
elbow, awaiting the command he knew would come, "That our intelligence
reports were right for once.  The Drakh seem to be in the process of
committing part of their main force to an attack against another of our
holdings."

	"That would seem to be the case, yes." Daele rumbled, his face stern.
"And as the reports suggested, Sinzar is that target.  Perhaps they believe
it unprotected, since we only have one destroyer on station...perhaps they
think to emulate what the Minbari did to that colony during our war with
them, more then twenty years ago. In any case, Captain, that line of
thinking will be their undoing, this day."

	"That's what I'd like to think, Winslow, yes.  We'll allow the Drakh
commander to get close enough to the colony that he's committed to the
path...and then, we'll jump on them from behind, and engage their commander
on two fronts."

	"An admirable plan, Captain." Daele noted.  "Let's just hope there are no
other surprises waiting in store for us."

				* * *

	Drakh main battlegroup, fifteen minutes from jumpout.

	"The advance group begs leave to report, Vekh'shivalht," Raeznon informed
her captain, "That one human destroyer is present at the human world Sinzar."

	"One..." Palakz mused, the claws of his left hand tightened into a fist.
"Curious, that is.  Have the humans lost so many ships at Earth that they
can only afford minimal protection at their outer holdings?  If so, our
victory will be swift and complete.  But if not..."

	"I, too, have noted the possibility that this may be a trap set by the
humans." Raeznon darkly noted.  "They, like some of our leaders, now also
feel the need for revenge.  We must be careful..."

	Palakz hissed, and Raeznon fell silent.  "Be careful what you say, my
Vaarliht!  It is sometimes difficult to tell how much we are valued by the
Sha'drakh, and watchers may be everywhere...even here, on our
command-bridge.  I lead this force, and act on the orders passed down from
our Council...and yet, sometimes it is unclear who are the players and who
are the pawns in this game we play with the enemy.  And do we pursue this
war at the expense of our race's continued existence?"

	"I do not know the answers to your questions," Raeznon admitted.  "But
perhaps we will discover those answers in due course."

	Palakz nodded at her answer, his expression forbidding.  "Perhaps.  In any
case, our task is clear for the moment, Raeznon.  The human world awaits,
and the battle before us.

	Let us embrace it."

				* * *

	To be continued...


	
From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: "THE SEEKER'S FIRE"  EPISODE I, ACT III
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 00:26:56

		  "STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"

	<<ACT THREE>>

	ISAS SHARD OF NIGHT, near Langrange Point between Sinzar and its primary
satellite.

	"You slept, I trust?" Klairika inquired, as her captain arrived on the
bridge, her black-and-silver Ranger uniform now overlaid by the
thigh-length charcoal and silver-trimmed cloak that was hers to wear as
commander of the SHARD, when she saw fit, that was.

	"No more then you, and no less." she informed the Brakiri, sinking into
the captain's chair with a frown and a blink, as Klairika moved away to her
own station behind.  "And not enough...I'm sure you understand the reasons
why.  This is going to be the first time we've taken this ship into battle;
the first time *any* Ranger has ordered the use of an arsenal this big."

	"It's a great responsibility, I will admit." her first officer admitted.
"But a necessary one.   And it seems likely we're about to teach our
enemies a lesson similar to the one taught by those we have been ordered to
protect."

	"You have more details on the battle they conducted with the EXCALIBUR,
then?"

	"Indeed.  After the Drakh attacked Captain Gideon's ship, we received a
more detailed report of that battle from the pair of remote sensors that
Larieken assigned to chase the EXCALIBUR...and Gideon's response to their
attack was no different then the one you plan...perhaps even a little
*calmer*, shall we say.  Three Drakh medium carriers attacked them, and
with the aid of his crew, Gideon was able to defeat the enemy soundly,
destroying them all.  We must now stand by the side of the humans defending
Sinzar, and do the same."

	"Your arguments have merit." she responded, a small smile coming onto her
face, "As always.  For now, though, I find myself a little out of date with
respect to what the Drakh are up to, and what forces stand ready to defeat
their aims.  Is there any chance you can correct this?"

	Klairika nodded.  "A short time ago, a single Drakh carrier entered Sinzar
system and launched a squadron of recon vessels; we entered the system in
the shadow of their point, thus concealing ourselves from the Earthforce
ship already on station, and hopefully confusing the Drakh sensors, as
well.  Just afterwards, those vessels came within firing range of the
destroyer and its fighter squadrons before retreating..."

	"That's curious behaviour for Drakh." she muttered.

	"Perhaps only intelligent, instead.  The first units of the Drakh main
force we detected approaching Sinzar will shortly be making their
transition to normal space...while an Earthforce battlegroup consisting of
almost a dozen Omega Class Destroyers and an equal number of smaller escort
vessels will arrive soon thereafter.  The advance group may choose to exit
the field of battle during the chaos that will result when those two groups
engage."

	"So.  Sinzar nearspace is about to become a killing zone, then."

	"Unless we intervene, that is." Larieken pointed out, from his station on
the other side of the bridge.

	"And that we shall.  Klairika...since this is going to be the first
*major* test of our stealth capabilities, I want you to keep the drive
shields tight the whole time we're in there and the Drakh in between us and
the Earth destroyers...just in case."

	"Understood."

	"Tactical." Julia continued, turning her attention to Warren Holm,
Sheynell's tall, short-bearded second at that station, "When the Drakh jump
in, you're going to be the main player in this party we're about to
crash...are you ready to do what we have to?"

	"I am." Holm replied with a nod, his face steady, his voice stern.  "The
Drakh are shortly about to realize their day's just became a *whole* lot
worse."

	Everyone fell quiet, then, mentally readying themselves for the trial
ahead as the background thrum of the SHARD's main drive began to grow
louder, the secondary reactors running up to full power in preparation for
the conflict to come.  And then, rather suddenly, Larieken was standing at
her side...as always, her confidant. "The battle draws near," the Minbari
observed, "And yet, I sense that you still have your attention on other
matters.  Is this wise?"

	She shook her head, almost regretfully.  "I wish I could focus completely
on the Drakh problem, Larieken...but I can't.  The saboteur's going to
surface again sooner rather then later, I think...and what if he moves
during the battle and manages to upset or destroy something critical, or
reveal our presence both to the enemy and to the Earth military?   He
*must* know how important this first battle is to the crew, and if
something goes wrong..."

	"Remember that Sheynell is a better hunter then any other member of your
senior staff." the Minbari reminded her.  "If anyone can find the saboteur,
it is her.  And when matters become difficult, as no doubt they will,
Engineer Dawson will be there to assist her in detaining our 'unpleasant'
guest."

	"She should have been here on the bridge for this battle!" she insisted.
"Both her *and* Dasouri should have been here."

	"We have trusted someone we should not have." was Larieken's final
comment, as he moved back towards his own station.  "We can only hope that
we have already paid the price for that mistake."

	To that, Julia did not...no, *could* not reply.

				* * *
	
	Below...in the brig.

	In the saboteur's first movement, a locked door had been revealed, a door
behind which her target was hidden.  It had not taken too long to sift
through the surface thoughts of the crew, looking for...abnormalities,
worries where there should be none, thoughts that strayed where thoughts
weren't meant to go.  And while the individual sitting in front of her
wasn't the main target, he was a *beginning*, a key to be used in unlocking
that door.  

	Sheynell smiled, then.  The time had come, yet again, to play the game; a
game she hadn't played for a very long time, and for very good reasons.  A
game that Alfred Bester had taught her to play, in some great detail.  The
game was the means by which her former master had hurt or killed a great
many people in his time; a time before the world had changed and the Psi
Corps had been shattered.  A time before the shadows that still haunted her
had receded beyond the visible horizon.

	And while the rules that Bester had followed had now been replaced with
something far more honourable, the game remained the same, and always would...

	"Look!" Damon Jeffries began again, his face agitated, "I said it before,
and I'll say it again, I don't know what you're talking about!  I don't
have a clue who this saboteur you're searching for is, and I don't know
where he's hiding, even if he *is* hiding!  For all you know, he could even
be right out in plain sight, working at the Captain's side, right?  This
crew is still in its formative stages, and we don't even really know each
other well, just yet..."

	"Mr. Jeffries." she coolly intruded, taking slow, measured steps around
his chair, her long blonde braid shimmering behind her, "While all of this
may be true, we all wear masks...and the masks we wear always have
cracks...cracks that *I've* been trained to exploit."

	"You can't do that, you know." Jeffries informed her, a trifle smugly.
"You're a telepath...don't you have to follow the rules?"

	"Oh, really?" She leant down towards him, allowing a vicious smile to come
onto her face.  "And pray tell, what rules would *those* be?  I left the
Psi Corps of my own free will to become a Ranger, and now, Mr. Jeffries, I
do what I do because I MUST.  Because there's a man on this ship who nearly
killed someone good and decent, someone who's dedicated himself to changing
the history of his race for the better.  

	This man must be stopped, Mr. Jeffries, and so, now we've concluded the
necessary preliminaries, I have a few questions to ask you...questions you
*will* answer."  

	She allowed her gaze to harden, then.  "Who are you?"

	"What?" her target exclaimed.

	"Answer the question!"
	
	"Damon Jeffries, Anla'shok!"

	"What do you want?"

	"To help protect the EXCALIBUR, and find a cure for the plague...before it
kills those I know, and those I love."

	"How very admirable." she whispered, leaning down to fix him with the gaze
*he* had taught her, so long ago now, it seemed.  "Who do you serve?"

	"The One.  Are we coming to the point any time soon?"

	And then...the kicker.  "As you wish.  *Who are your friends*?"

	Surprise flashed to the surface of his mind, then, and with barely a
pause, she stepped in behind that surprise to drew out a mental 'file' that
wasn't even all that deeply buried...but then again, secrets were *seldom*
as deeply buried as most people believed.  The probe she used was both
gentle enough to not inflict lasting harm, and sharp enough that he *knew*
what was going on...a finesse she had learned the hard way, over the past
decade.

	"I didn't want to do it that way..." she told him, as Jeffries' hands went
taut with shock at her touch, "But you didn't give me any choice, now did
you?  You see, I knew almost before you walked in the door that you were
the one our saboteur contacted after we left Minbar...and your response in
the here-and-now confirms all of my suspicions.  You are a friend of his,
and even though you were smart enough to refuse his initial advances, you
should have still come to one of of us with this information...immediately!
 That you did not, says *much*."

	"You're seeing this...the wrong way." Jeffries croaked, still trying to
defend himself.  "He's not out to get us, he only...wanted the Drazi out of
the way."

	"That is, you know," she mused, "A curious way of defining *murder*, Mr.
Jeffries.  You are Anla'shok...and I do NOT count keeping your silence as a
defence!"  
  
	"But, I tried to get him not to..."

	"Enough!" she interrupted, her voice fierce with necessary anger.  "I'm
not the one you have to convince...your captain, the next Ranger to step
through this door, will be, however!  Consider carefully how you will
explain this divided loyalty to Val'na Tikopai, Mr. Jeffries.

	Very carefully.  And if you present your case well enough, perhaps she
will be merciful."

	"I...I understand." the downcast Jeffries finalized, after another moment
of internal struggle.

	"Do you really?" she finalized.  "I guess we'll just have to see, now
won't we?"  She stepped out of the brig, then, leaving the now-despondent
Ranger behind her.

	"I trust..." Dawson inquired, as Sheynell emerged into the corridor and
secured the door behind her, "That you didn't damage him *too* much?"

	"He's going to have a Hell of a headache tomorrow...and while I doubt that
Jeffries will enjoy the tongue-lashing Klairika and Julia will give him
after all of this is over, he'll survive, and maybe even learn something
from the experience.  But enough about him, for the moment; if we move
quickly enough, we may actually be able to deal with this problem of ours
before the source suspects we're coming after him."

	A short time later, they arrived at Dawson's office, and after the door
closed, and she ordered the ship's computer to erect a privacy 'net' around
the room, the conversation continued.  "Okay..." Dawson began.  "Now how
about some details?" 

	She nodded briskly, and began to reveal the secret she'd sifted from Damon
Jeffries' mind.  "Nicholas, the saboteur's a human named Rohan Klavait, one
of the new additions to your staff that we picked up on Minbar.  He and
Jeffries once shared a friend named Vicenz Rakele, a man who had the bad
luck of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Rakele ended up being
killed by the Drazi in the fall of 2263..."

	Dawson whistled.  "While I'll be damned.  So *that's* why he attacked
Dasouri!  It was revenge, plain and simple!"

	"That might explain part of this puzzle, but not all of it, I'm afraid.
Just how was he able to manipulate the engineering systems of the SHARD so
easily?  Klavait's supposed to be a novice assistant, Nicholas!...he
shouldn't have been able to mess with advanced Minbari tech that easily.
Something's going on here that we need to find the answer to, and quickly,
before Klavait does something a little more drastic then taking revenge for
the death of his friend!"

	"You'll get no arguments from me on that score." Dawson replied, as he
glanced briefly down at his deskpad to check out the duty roster.  "The
question is, how do we nail this guy without tipping him off that we're
after him, while making damn sure he's in good enough condition to answer
our questions afterwards?  He's on duty in engineering right now,
Sheynell...and if things go badly, there's always the chance he could
damage something critical, right in the middle of this big battle with the
Drakh that our Captain's taking us into *any* time now.

	So how do we pull this off?" he asked her.

	"I have a few ideas." she told him.  
	
	"They go like this."

				* * *

	Sinzar.  The Northern hemisphere, Erenn Planitia.  Maigleith Town.

	When mankind had first come to Sinzar, drawn by the ample supplies of ore
the planet contained, the more curious-minded of the explorers had decided
to name its great plains and deserts after the realms inhabited by those
mythical warriors of Irish lore, the Sidhe.  And when the first colonists
had built their compounds on the edge of the desert sea those explorers had
named Maigleith, their stand between water and sky began, as they began to
pay the price in heat and wind endured, for the wealth they extracted from
beneath their world's ruddy sands.

	Others, of course, later suggested that mankind had overreached itself by
coming to this place.  During the War that had begun when the military had
killed their great leader Dukhat, the Minbari had brought their fleets to
Sinzar and savaged it before moving on to other targets and other battles.
Later on, during the Earth Civil War, great pieces of the heavy cruiser
AKAGI, a Loyalist ship that had been shattered in a fierce battle with
rebel forces, had fallen out of orbit to gouge great craters in the
mountains north of Maigleith, gouges that could still be seen today, even
after the haz-mat teams had done their work.  

	And now, as he stood beneath the sunset skies of an alien world, on this
day so soon after the tragedy at Earth, Shiall McNaughton thought how sad
it was that another battle was about to be fought in the skies of his
world.  Would it never end?  Would the world his parents had come to never
know peace?

	Who the winner of this battle would be was surely in doubt as well, as
always seemed to be the case.  Shiall had heard the reports of how many
Earth destroyers had been been crippled or blown to bits when the Drakh had
brought their weapons of war into Earth's skies...and now, if rumours were
to be believed, the same was about to happen here.  His friends had darkly
spoken of only a single Earthforce destroyer in high orbit, facing the
approach of the alien fleet that was surely coming to wreak havoc on them
all.  He knew damn well that one wasn't enough, given the Drakh's
reputation...and yet, surely the generals and captains knew what was going
on.  Surely they could do something?

	Shiall's eyes narrowed beneath his fuzz of blonde spiky hair, then.  Maybe
they were setting a trap for the baddies.  Maybe...

	It was *then*, of course, that a twinned spark of light warned him that
the light show was about to begin, and he raised his eyes to the sky and
grimly nodded, as the by-now familiar blue swirl of a jump point sprang
into being above and beyond Fairther Moon's thin evening crescent.

	The Drakh had come.  Now the dying would begin in earnest.

				* * *

	In ordered yet menacing progression, the seven fleet carriers of Palakz's
core assault group emerged from hyperspace, and immediately spread out to
begin their approach to the planet in front of them.  Almost immediately,
Raeznon barked a command, and after a brief return acknowlegement from the
warrior commander on the belly of his warship, the tiny, maneuverable and
*well* armed attackships began to detach and move away from the carriers,
quickly forming up into clouds of moving death.  Palakz knew that some of
his warriors would inevitably die in the performance of their tasks...but
the warriors accepted this as inevitable.  To protect their leaders and
captains, and above all, to *fight* in the memory of the Dark Ones, to
continue their work, was all the reward they usually needed.

	But enough of such thoughts, for the time being.  For now, there was an
offensive to conduct.  "Raeznon..." he inquired, casting a sharp glance in
his Favored Claw's direction, "Does the tactical situation remain as before?"

	"There are, as of yet, no noticable changes." his Vaarliht reported, a
moment later.  "Our advance group has engaged the human fightercraft and
suffered minimal losses...while the human destroyer is well out of the
gravity above the planetary defense grid, and will shortly be coming under
attack by the lead elements of our attackship groups."

	"As it *should* be.  Prepare to..."  At that moment, the harsh glissade of
an enemy transmission sounded through the command-bridge, and Palakz rose
to his feet and whirled towards Aeillok, his Speaker-between.  "The
transmission!" he snarled.  "What was the destination, and who was the
sender?"

	"The human destroyer has just sent a message into hyperspace." Aeillok
replied, after a moment's examination of the transmission.  "They are
requesting assisstance, Vekh'shivalht.  As you suspected they would, once
we had arrived."

	Palakz paused for a moment, and then inclined his head in acknowledgement.
 "As we thought, then.  The battle is about to become...more interesting."

	A moment passed, and then, the expected harsh chime of jump warning
sounded, and Raeznon nodded, her sharp teeth now bared.  "Indeed!  Three
jump points forming...both near to the planet, and also behind us."

	"Vessel types?" he inquired, even as the by-now familiar shapes of Earth
warships began to darken the skies around them.

	"Destroyers of nominal human class, lesser escorts and fightercraft."

	"Number?"

	"Almost five hands of warships." her reply came, a moment later.  "They
challenge us..."

	"So be it...our target has not changed, however."  Palakz sank back into
his seat-of-command, his decision made.  "As soon as the enemy behind us
draws close enough, you will summon our reserves from hyperspace, Raeznon.
At the same time you are doing this, the lead elements are to locate the
weakest part of the enemy's planetary defence line, break through it, and
move on to bombard the human holdings below.  Is this clear?" 

	Raeznon merely inclined her head at this, even as the moment of battle's
beginning drew closer.  While it now seemed likely they would be unable to
take this world, the humans would pay dearly to stop them, as they had at
Earth.  Eventually, he would give the order to retreat, but only once the
human's greatest holdings, and as large a portion of their fleet as could
be managed, was damaged beyond repair.

	And who knew what could result?  If this was done enough times, perhaps
the humans, what little remained of them after the plague had finished its
work, could yet be conquered!

	Nevertheless, even after all had been examined and accepted as fact, a
doubt still remained in his heart, the faint belief that all was not as it
seemed.  It did not seem possible that the shak'vez Sheridan had shown all
of his secrets, quite yet.  He still believed there was a fezah't stone on
the board he had not yet seen.

	Now, however, was not the time for deliberation.  He and his command were
bound to the path, for good or ill.  And *now*, only now, as battle was
joined, would he find out whether he was right or not about his...concerns.

	"Vekh'shivalht Palakz." Raeznon proclaimed.  "It *begins*."

	A beginning, it was.  But moments later, the tide of battle would turn,
heralding the very thing that Palakz had been worried would involve itself
from the start.

	The unknown.

				* * *

	Between the two just-engaged juggernauts of the Drakh and human forces,
the SHARD moved as if a shadow in the darkness...but a shadow created with
the help of light.  Julia smiled at that thought, but true it was.  A
balance between order and chaos, they could be, if they played the game
right.  And a Seeker of truths, Galen had called her, when in her sleep he
had summoned her to his side to reveal what might be.  But on this day, in
this place, she knew only one truth, however.

	That the Drakh had to be stopped, and that she had to help her fellow
humans to *live*.  And for that to occur, something had to happen,
something very important.  And a command had to be given, as well.  And
after that command was issued, there could be no turning back.

	"Val'na."  Klairika announced, her face grim above the flickering light of
her station's crystalline controls. "We have reached attack velocity, and
now stand within range of the rearmost Drakh fleet carrier.  All weapons
are fully charged, and I can detect no damage or problems with the hull.
We are as ready for this battle as we will *ever* be."

	She nodded, briefly meeting the gaze of every Ranger on the bridge before
saying what had to be said...what was necessary.  "Mr. Holm," she began,
"Bring all weapons to bear on that Drakh carrier.  And helm?...prepare
evasive maneuvers to avoid the smaller Drakh ships we will shortly be
encountering, as well as *any* of the Earthforce units who may be in the
area."

	"Ready." the Rangers at both stations announced, a moment later, as the
Drakh cruiser grew large in front of them.

	"Mr. Fenric."

	A hologram sprang into view in front of her, of the fighter squadron
commander already in his cockpit, ready to go.  "Captain...your orders?"

	"Make ready to launch your squadron and engage the enemy."  What more
needed to be said?  "Mr. Holm..." she softly concluded, "You may open fire...

	At your discretion."

				* * *
				
	To be continued...in the rather (um) *explosive* 4th act of THE DARKEST
ROAD, coming soon...

	->dgolding@connect.ab.ca
	->http://www.connect.ab.ca/~dgolding/index.htm
	
			
From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: "THE SEEKER'S FIRE", EPISODE I, ACT IVA
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 23:46:33

 		"STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"


	<<ACT FOUR:I>>

	Sinzar high orbit.  Some moments before the beginning of the battle.

	"All right, Randall.." Elaine began, as the CIRCE emerged out of
hyperspace, sixteen other destroyers and cruisers right behind it, "What do
we have, here?"  

	She could have found out the answer from Commander Daele, of course...but
Randall Carpenter and his crew were probably feeling just a little bit edgy
by now, and as battlegroup commander, it was her job to raise the morale of
Carpenter and his crew, and this she could accomplish simply by *asking*
questions.

	"Seven fleet carriers, a combination of their medium and heavy class
capital ships, emerged from hyperspace just before you did, Captain."
Carpenter reported, his expression tense. "They've already launched a
serious number of those light cruiser-class warships they carry aboard, and
those are headed inbound towards our fighter screen, estimating contact in
six minutes...mark!   Suggest that if you're planning on doing something,
it had better be soon."

	"Stand by." she replied, taking a brief moment to nod in the direction of
her Exec, who immediately began issuing combat orders, his deep voice crisp
and decisive.  "Help's on the way." she told Carptenter, as rather
abruptly, Daele brought her command to combat acceleration, and the distant
multiple shudders from the fighter bay told her the Thunderbolts were on
their way, as well.  

	"We're launching our fighter screen now, and will shortly be moving most
of those squadrons into close proximity with the advance Drakh fleet units.
 The two destroyer groups under my command are also moving to engage their
motherships, while Captain Richter of the HECATE will bring his group in
from behind."

	"Understood." Carpenter noted, as he turned aside for a moment to issue an
order of his own.  "Closing the pincers...let's hope it works.  We'll be
joining your battleline shortly, CIRCE.  HELENA out."

	A few minutes passed, then: minutes in which the two unstopable forces
drew closer together...but finally, the moment came, as it always did.
"Range to target?" she inquired, as the hundreds of fighters moving ahead
of the destroyers on point began to split apart into seperate flights,
vectoring towards the nearest Drakh targets.

	"Nine hundred kilometers, and closing." Daele rumbled.  "Seven hundred.
Five hundred.  Drakh forces are locking their weapons on our fighter
groups, our people are doing the same.  Three hundred...the Drakh have
opened fire!"

	"This is Fleet Command to all destroyers!" Elaine ordered, as the multiple
flashes of fighter-to-Drakh weapons exchange began to fill the skies of
Sinzar.  "Engage the enemy closely!"

	It was then, even as the flash of close-range weapons fire began to fill
space between her capital ships and the Drakh main force...even as long
ruddy tracers of light and flashes of plasma began to reach out towards the
enemy, that a *far* brighter flash of light illuminated the battlefield.

	"What the *HELL*?" Daele exclaimed, and Elaine whirled, to see shock
emblazoned on his face.

				* * *

	On the far side of the battlefield, the rearmost Drakh carrier calmly
moved on towards its ultimate goal...the bombardment of the human colony
ahead. The Zau Vekh'shivalht had issued his orders, and all but a handful
of the carrier's protective light cruisers had retreated behind their
mothership to deal with the Earther secondary force approaching from the rear.

	This was the last mistake that warship's commander would *ever* make, as
behind his carrier, a swift midnight shadow moved against the stars...a
shadow quickly moving itself into firing position...

	A moment later, the SHARD OF NIGHT revealed itself briefly as its main gun
engaged, followed quickly by the five sets of forward and engine-mounted
pulse cannon it shared with its White Star predecessors...but after the
initial seconds of engagement, that light was absorbed by the hull, and
faded from sight.  To those few watchers who were actually paying
attention, and more would do so in the minutes to come, it was almost as if
the focused energies produced by those weapons were emerging from nowhere.

	The pulse cannon bursts were the first to reach the hull of the Drakh
carrier, beginning the job of rending its hull asunder.  A job that was
completed a moment later, as the four hooked Vorlontech tines on the prow
of the SHARD finished focusing the main gun's powerful energies in front of
the battlecruiser's nose...and then, rather suddenly, a long, rippling
blast of directed white-hot plasma struck against the side of the Drakh
capital ship.

	Before very nearly tearing it in two.

				* * *

	In the first moment after the main gun had fired, something akin to
incomprehending awe filled Julia's mind...and then, fear followed it.  For
the first time, she realized *exactly* what Varsak had done in designing
and building this ship.  For the first time, she knew what President
Sheridan had committed himself to, when he had given her command of the SHARD.

	And lastly, she finally understood *why* Rahkeel had responded the way he
had, when the President had told the Minbari who would be replacing him in
the battlecruiser's captain's chair.

	And then, the moment passed, and here-and-now became far more important,
as the SHARD passed rapidly through the spray of molten metal spewing out
of the heart of the Drakh carrier, and moved back into the darkness.  

	"Target...destroyed." Klairika reported, her face showing almost as much
shock at what had just happened as she had just felt.  "Anla'shok Fenric
and his squadron are away, Val'na.  The Drakh, for the moment, appear to be
disoriented by our sudden attack..."

	"So I note!  Time to recharge of main battery?" she inquired, a little
shakily, as Holm and the secondary gunners at the front of the bridge tore
into a small squadron of Drakh cruisers with the two secondary batteries
that had whirled back towards their carriers to try and figure out what was
going on.

	"Eighty seconds." Klairika reported.

	"Bring us to bear on the next nearest carrier, make ready to take her out.
 We've only just *begun* to crash this party."

				* * *

	EAS CIRCE.

	"What's going on?" Elaine demanded, as the space between the CIRCE and the
Drakh filled the signs of death...as the Drakh cruisers drew close enough
for the pulse cannon and main batteries of her destroyer to open fire on
that enemy, and for them to do the same.

	"The rearmost Drakh carrier just...exploded." Daele replied, an almost
bemused expression on his face.  "Whatever hit it was a *single*-strike
weapon, Captain...but the volley was sufficient to completely destroy the
target!"

	"Well I will be *damned*!" she exclaimed, as a stray Drakh energy bolt
struck through their defences, and the CIRCE shuddered beneath her feet.
"It would appear, Commander, that someone's decided to enter into this
engagement on our side!"

	"But where are they, then?" Daele exclaimed.  "Our sensors show nothing!"

				* * *

	On the Drakh command ship, Palakz found himself listening to two very
disagreeable things at once.  The first, of course, was his Vaarliht
explaining, in exacting terms, how one of his fleet carriers had just been
shattered into very tiny pieces by an energy weapon stronger then anything
in either his *or* the human arsenal.  And the other thing, was a
shimmering chime-warning he had not thought to hear in this place.

	The warning that spoke of Vorlon weapons technology being used, nearby.
The last time he had heard that tone, it had been when the Fleet had been
engaging Sheridan's daggerships, in orbit around Earth...

	His teeth bared, Palakz whirled to face Raeznon.  "So!  The humans have
recruited a new ally, have they?  An ally using *Vorlon* technology to
strike against us.  Aeillok!"

	"Vekh'zha!" the comm-Drakh hissed.

	"Establish a communications link with our reserve force in hyperspace, and
summon them to this place to guard our flank.  After you do this, you will
then establish a link with the Sha'drakh, our leader!"

	And even as the words were spoken, the human ally revealed itself again,
and another of his carriers died.  "Take us out of the main battle line..."
he ordered.  "Make ready to rendezvous with reinforcements!"

				* * *

	"Did you catch it that time?" Elaine demanded, as Daele bent over his
situation board.  

	"Affirmative.  But Captain...damnit, you have to see it to believe it!"

	Elaine left her seat, and moved to stand at Daele's side.  "Show me."

	And show her, Daele did...but what he was showing her didn't make things
any clearer.  On the screen, she saw an image of the Drakh ship that just
been destroyed...and then, the by-now familiar white flame of light emerged
from the night beyond, and tore it asunder.  

	"It's almost as if the blast's coming out of *nowhere*!" Daele exclaimed.
"No one has stealth-tech that good, not even the Minbari!"
	
	"No one until now, that is." she replied, her voice razor-sharp.
"Commander, it looks like the rules have just changed again, and for the
moment, I am not about to argue..."   She winced then, however, as on one
of the bridge observation screens, a Drakh cruiser was winged by a fusion
laser blast, and, spinning out of control, collided with the side of the
nearby destroyer DAEDALUS... Captain Shantei Atura's command.

	"That..."

	"Was a critical hit, I'm afraid." Daele replied, as they both watched the
DAEDALUS fall out of the formation, its main drive silenced, fires burning
both on the habitat section and along the main axis of the destroyer, as
well.  "Reports coming in; Captain Atura has ordered the evacuation of her
command, and only just in time, it looks like..."

	They both looked away, then, as the DAEDALUS suddenly exploded, and winced
again, as the unwelcome chime of jump warning rang through the bridge.
"More Drakh." she stated; not a question, but a fact.

	Daele nodded, as the jump point faded from sight, and the new arrivals
joined their comrades.  "More Drakh.  Three carriers, inbound...they're
already launching their cruisers.  Do we continue this?"

	She nodded resolutely.  "We have to hold the line, Commander!  I will NOT
let those bastards have Sinzar!"

				* * *

	The bridge of the SHARD.	
			
	"One of the Drakh capital ships has left their line-of-battle..." Klairika
reported, even as Holm opened fire on another Drakh carrier with the
secondaries, tearing great fragments of hull off and opening the ship's
interior to space, and Fenric and his fighter group further damaged the
listing Drakh vessel.  "It's looping around behind the newly arrived
reinforcements."

	"Could they have seen us?" Julia inquired, dread possibilities whirling
through her mind.

	"I do not believe so." Larieken interjected, even as space around the
SHARD filled with blue fire from Drakh cruisers returned to try and locate
their new enemy.  "Instead, I would surmise *that* carrier is the flagship
of their armada...and the commander is protecting himself from the new
threat we represent."

	It was at that moment that the tiny, sometimes frighteningly fast Drakh
escort cruisers got lucky, and the artificial gravity system shuddered for
a moment as over half a dozen of the enemy managed to score hits on the
hull simultaneously, nearly throwing many of the standing crew off their
feet.  "Damage report!"

	"Damage is...negligible." Klairika replied a moment later, a slight smile
on her face as the helmsman moved the SHARD clear of their opponents, and
accelerated towards the newly arrived reinforcements.  "Much of the energy
from those strikes was absorbed or reflected by the hull, Val'na, and the
little damage we *did* receive is already been repaired."

	"A promise Varsak managed to keep." she noted.  "And while the Drakh are
Shadow servants, luckily they don't have anything closely equivalent to our
main battery in strength or configuration. Shift our assault onto the newly
arrived Drakh vessels...we *have* to keep them away from the Earth fleet.
And see if you can get us through to target their flagship, somehow!"

	"An understandable wish." Larieken said, his face grim. "If unlikely,
given the number of Drakh vessels between us and that command.  Also, four
of the Earth heavy warships have now either been disabled or destroyed, and
many of their fighters, while the rest would appear to have suffered damage
ranging from minor to significant, even though they possess numerical
advantage over their foe.  And if the Drakh break through, and manage to
destroy the planetary defense network..."

	"Let's just hope the Drakh don't have any more reinforcements coming." she
replied, as the SHARD sliced across the distance between the main
battleline and the approaching reinforcements.  "We're only one ship...and
we can't destroy this fleet all by ourselves!"

	The battle continued.  While elsewhere in the ship, another movement of
fire and shadow , briefly forgotten in the fracas, was also approaching its
ultimate end. 

				* * *

	Rear mid-decks.  Engineering.  

	For the moment, the crisis appeared to have passed, and Nicholas briefly
ran his eyes over the SHARD's realtime operating stats before turning to
meet the gaze of his primary assistant, the Minbari named Lesaki.
Receiving an understanding nod in response, he then glanced over at the
lanky, brown-haired figure of Rohan Klavait, standing steady at his station
near #2 Auxillary Reactor.  That power plant was now feeling the strain, as
the Captain had already fired the main battery twice in the last ten
minutes, and if he read the stat board correctly, would shortly be using it
again when they ran into the second wave of Drakh ships approaching Sinzar.

	This was, however, the moment that he and Sheynell had chosen to spring
the trap on Klavait.  Even as he moved away from the stat board and Lesaki
took his place, Nicholas knew that a summons had been sent to the man, and
that one of his stand-by crew was already moving to take the Scandanavian's
place at Reactor Two Control.  Now, the question was, how would Klavait
respond to being summoned away from his post in the middle of a battle?  

	He smiled; if the testimony that Damon Jeffries had 'given' to Sheynell
was accurate, he knew exactly how Klavait would respond.  Given that he'd
tried to kill Dasouri and then hidden it from all but his friend and
(luckily) one other prying mind, Klavait would probably, even if he *could*
get the man into his office, be overly defensive and argumentative, and
would likely attempt to deny everything.  And then, he would probably try
to escape, take control of part of the ship.

	As he moved to stand behind his desk, and the pair of Rangers sent down by
Sheynell to aid in this affair appeared at his door, Nicholas considered
how they were ready for *that* possibility, as well.  He'd been busy in the
time since the Captain had given him his present duty...and if Klavait
turned away or managed to escape from his office somehow, he would
eventually find out that his access-line into the computer system had been
elliminated.  And then, of course, the *other* part of the trap could be
sprung.

	The important part.
	
				* * *  

	His heart thumping wildly, Rohan Klavait approached the door that lead to
the office of his Chief, thinking of worst possible scenarios.  He hadn't
heard from Damon since before the battle had begun, and worst of all, the
Drazi had survived, saved by Tikopai's telepathic tactical officer.  Now
she, he considered, was the strangest of all the senior Rangers aboard, and
kept her secrets locked up tight...so tight, even *he* hadn't been able to
open her files.

	And while he didn't know how strong she was, Klavait knew that she was
dangerous, and also, an obstacle to his plans.  But then, he smiled.  *He*
was dangerous as well, but in a different way.  The ones who had met with
him before he'd left Minbar to come here had told him *many* useful things
about the SHARD, and given him a few...gifts to make things a little
easier.  He'd already used one of those gifts in the failed attempt to kill
the Drazi, and if the Chief accused him, he'd escape, and move on from
there.  Hell, he knew enough about the SHARD now to make things *very*
difficult for the Captain, when the time came.  Enough to make them take
him to the dropoff point his associates had told him about.

	And then, he rounded the corner, and came face-to-face with the two
Rangers standing outside the Chief's door, met their gazes and that of the
Chief in his office, just beyond...and saw in their eyes that they
*knew*...that they were planning on drawing him into a trap, and then
confronting him with their version of the 'truth'.  Well damn them, *and*
their truths...he would have none of it!

	Klavait turned, and began to run.  Behind him, he could hear the Rangers
coming in pursuit...well, he didn't have to stand for that, either.
Barking out a set of commands to the computer, Klavait turned off down a
side corridor, even as the the pursuing Rangers ran straight into the
firewall descending between them and their quarry...the firewall *he* had
ordered to descend.  Klavait allowed himself to relax a little, then, as he
continued the work of isolating himself from the rest of the ship, dropping
down firewalls all around the little bolthole he'd worked himself into.
Try to trap him, would they?  Klavait laughed.  They might have broken his
cover wide open, but the worst was yet to come!

				* * *

	Behind their fleeing 'quarry', the two Rangers paused, nodded at one
another as the firewall swiftly raised back up out of sight, and then
turned away to meet the cool gaze of their just-arrived superior officer.

	"Thank you, gentlemen..." Sheynell told them both.  "I think *I'll* take
it from here."

				* * *

	
	The Drakh flagship.

	"What is this you are saying?" Palakh exclaimed, as the seemingly amused
face of the Sha'drakh looked down upon him.  "Are you saying that this
battle was only a test?"

	"That is...one way of putting it, yes." the Elder mused.  "We needed to
learn exactly what strengths remained to the humans, and to what lengths
they would go in protecting their worlds, after so many of their primitive
warships were destroyed at Earth, during the battle where we lost the Fist."

	"I *see*." Palakz spat.  "You however, do not, my leader!  The evidence,
it must be examined more closely!  Our forces have encountered an unknown
force here at the human world Sinzar, a force that has already destroyed
two of my carriers, and badly damaged another.  Even with the addition of
my reinforcements, our advance has ground to a halt, trapped in between the
primitive but numerically *superior* humans, and this unknown attacker
savaging our flanks!"

	"I would hear more of this at a later date." the Sha'drakh commanded, his
gaze forceful, and eyes narrowed.  "For now, however, Palakz, be at peace!
We have learned much this day...learned how far the humans will go in the
face of adversity, and learned of the existence of a new enemy, an enemy we
will watch carefully for, in the times to come.  Another of our
battlegroups will shortly be jumping into the area to cover your retreat."

	"I *thank* you for that consideration." Palakz intoned, as behind him,
Raeznon grimaced at the tone in her elder-partner's voice.  "What are left
of my forces are disengaging *now*."

				* * *

	EAS CIRCE.

	"Oh, Hell!" Daele exclaimed, even as Elaine's ship shuddered violently
from a new volley of Drakh hits, and the centrifuge paused briefly,
throwing everyone on the bridge off-kilter...while another of the Drakh
carriers, this time in the first set of reinforcements, expanded into a
fireball, the latest target of their mysterious hidden 'friend'.  "I think
we've got a problem, Captain.  We've got *four* jump points opening behind
the Drakh lines, in between us and HECATE's battlegroup."  A moment later,
he confirmed her worst fear.  "More Drakh entering the system...the
remnants of the first group are pulling back to join them."

	Elaine blinked, then, and sighed.  "How many?"

	"Looks like eleven more of their capital ships, accompanied by at least
three hundred light cruisers."  Daele met her gaze levelly, then.
"Captain, I beg leave to reveal a somewhat nasty truth to you.  While we've
been aided in this battle by our unseen friend out there, every one of our
ships has taken varying degrees of damage in this battle, and we've now
lost three destroyers and four cruisers to the Drakh attack.  If those new
arrivals decide to join the fray, we're in deep trouble."

	"As I told you before, Commander," she began, "We have to..."

	"Captain!" her comm officer began, his voice almost...excited.  "Message
incoming!"

	"Who is it from?" she exclaimed.

	"On screen."

	And Elaine began to smile, as the face of one of her oldest friends
appeared on the wallscreen.  "Captain ap Glydden." Captain Bethany Tikopai
began. "You look like you could use a little help...stand by, we're on our
way in."

				* * *

	Almost before he'd begun, Klavait realized it had all just been another
ruse.  Dawson had *let* him get in here, away from the rest of the crew,
and then had cut off his access to the computer systems.  And now, his back
to the wall, knife in hand, he heard the footsteps approaching, and knew
the end had come.

	The end, however, wasn't at all what he had been expecting, as a fairly
tall, blonde-haired woman rounded the corner.  Klavait snarled even as he
felt her eyes calmly meet his, and the awesome power behind those eyes
begin to shatter the surface of his mind...and began to use the only
defense he knew.

	His opponent laughed.  "Rhymes won't help you, you know.  I've been
trained by the best, in my time, and the best showed me how to use *every*
trick in the book, and plenty of those your friends didn't tell you about."

	"I...won't..."

	"Oh, but you WILL." the telepath replied, her eyes now icy with
concentration and only-just controlled anger.  "You see, Mr. Klavait, I'm a
P12...high end, and you're a normal.  And since you chose to threaten both
one of my fellow Rangers, and also this ship, as well, I cannot allow there
to even *be* a contest between us."

	"But..." 

	"Your friend also thought to throw the rule book at me, and I explained to
him, at some length, why that wouldn't help him.  You are no different.
Now then, Mr. Klavait, I'm going to ask you some questions, questions you
will answer, or I might tear your mind apart to get the answers, a process
you won't enjoy, I assure you.  To begin: *Who* do you serve?"

	Klavait screamed, then, as a dagger of pain flashed across his synapses,
and he sank down into darkness.

				* * *

	The remnants of Palakh's force had only just met up with their leader and
half of the just-arrived battlegroup when something completely unexpected
occured.  Both the Vekh'shivalht and his Favored Claw started, as the
jump-in signal sounded yet again.  "What *now*?" he exclaimed, as a single
new jump point twisted open.

	'What now' revealed itself to them both a moment later, and Palakz whirled
to meet Raeznon's now openly *concerned* gaze.  "We jump *now*!" he
commanded.  "Before all is lost!"

				* * *

	<continued next part>


From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: "THE SEEKER"S FIRE", EPISODE I, ACT IVB
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 1999 23:48:14
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

		"STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"

	<<ACT FOUR:II>>	

	Palakz's concern was shared by many other Drakh captains in that instant,
as the just-opened jump point flared, and a dead-black Earthforce warship
dropped into the system firing as it came, the jade-white plasma streams of
its twinned forward batteries tearing into the newly arrived Drakh forces,
the multiple turrets of its anti-ship needlers turning to acquire the
smaller Drakh cruisers.  They had not thought to encounter one of those
ships here, so rare were they rumoured to be...but if one of Earthforce's
most valued commands had come to this place to join the line of defence,
were those rumours true?

	In any case, before the retreat was even begun, two more Drakh capital
ships died, and no few of the light cruisers as well, before the ominous,
mile and a half long form of the Warlock Class Destroyer DE'MOLAY turned
away from the enemy, its job done, to meet the now-stationary battleline of
the Earth forces around Sinzar.

				* * *

	The bridge of the SHARD OF NIGHT.

	"Our presence here," Klairika noted, as a suddenly pale-faced Julia turned
to face her, "Would no longer seem to be required."

	"Absolutely...the case." she quickly admitted, her voice still catching
with the surprise she'd felt at the entry of her mother's Warlock destroyer
into the system. "That's my mother's ship, after all!"

	Behind her, Larieken laughed.  "Please, let me recall a comment you made
to me offhand when meet we first did meet, during the last days of the
Shadow War..."

	"Don't you *dare*!"

	"But I must!" the Minbari replied, humour lacing his tone.  "Now how did
it go?  Ah yes: 'Perhaps there will come a day when I and my mother shall
meet in the night as equals.  Perhaps I will even be commanding a White
Star of my very own.'"

	"I was younger, then." she shot back, casting a somewhat sour gaze in the
Minbari's direction.  "Things change...lives change."  It was then she
realized another sound, an *unusual* sound, could be heard above the faint
chiming of the bridge instruments.  A kind of...whining.

	"What *is* that?"

	"Interesting." Klairika reported, a moment later.  "It would appear that
the Vorlon components of this vessel are, how shall I say
it?...*responding* to the latest arrival, somehow.  I know not why..."

	"I *do*." Julia ruthlessly replied.  "And that response, Klairika, is why
we must recover our fighter group and make ready to jump, before my mother
realizes HER ship is also capable of responding to ours!"

	"How?"

	"A history lesson it is, then, my Na'lai!" she continued.  "A lesson
suggesting sadness, a reflection of a tale of two warships; a tale I cannot
reveal just yet, if at all.  And as to why that is, I swore a solemn vow to
my mother that I would not talk of it unless the reason was pressing, after
she told me *some* of what happened to her and Captain Ivanova, five years
ago.

	But this, I will tell you.  The DE'MOLAY, my mother's ship, the Warlock
Class Destroyer that just arrived to break the backs of the Drakh and force
them out of Sinzar System...that destroyer contains *Shadow* technology,
Klairika.  Now, do you understand my concern?"

	"Now that you speak of this," the Brakiri admitted, after a moment's
thought, "Some small memory of the rumours surrounding those times returns
to me, something that was on the newslink at the time?  No!...it matters
not, I do understand your need for secrecy, and the meaning of vows, and
finally, the concern you have.  If our organic technology responds to
theirs..."

	"Theirs may also respond to ours." Larieken finished for her.  "Exactly."

	"Getting underway NOW."

	It was then, of course, that a faint chime rang through the bridge, and
the main bridge holocurtain rippled down to reveal the grim features of
Sheynell, with Nicholas standing beside her.  "Val'na Tikopai." her
tactical officer began, her voice and form *very* proper.  "I beg leave to
report that the man who tried to kill Anla'shok Dasouri has been captured,
and is presently being detained in the brig."

	She let out a long breath...well, at least ONE worry was done away with.
"Well done, both of you...but especially *you*, Mr. Dawson.  That's one
problem, at least, that don't longer have to deal with, any longer."

	"I'm not so sure."

	"What do you mean?" Julia inquired.

	Sheynell's lips tightened with frustration.  "Let's get out of here,
first, so you can get off the bridge.  Then I'll tell you what I've
discovered."

				* * * 

	It was only just, Captain Bethany Tikopai considered, that she had decided
to shadow Elaine ap Glydden's battlegroup on its way here to Sinzar.  Like
so many other Earth captains, she hadn't made it to Earth in time to join
the battle, and almost immediately afterwards, the Chiefs of Staff had
ordered her to protect the elements of the Fourth Fleet under Elaine's
command.  And while her friend's destroyer force seemed to have been
sufficient to break the back of the first Drakh force to invade the system,
the far larger group that had just arrived would have probably taken out
many of the Omegas in Elaine's battleline, damaged as they were.

	Now, however, what remained of the Drakh fleet, still a fairly impressive
warfleet, all things considered, was beginning to jump...and even as her
command passed unheeded through the rubble left behind by the
just-concluded battle, the rest began to move towards the opening jump
points, apparently with some haste.

	It was nice, she supposed, to have a reputation.  Although the truth of
where that reputation had come from was something she *still* didn't like
to look at too closely.

	"We would have appeared," Commander Paul Telluride noted, "To have arrived
at an oppurtune moment, Captain."

	"But, of course!" she replied, turning towards the now oh-so familiar spot
her exec held on the DE'MOLAY's gray-shadowed bridge.  First Deitrich
Alwhin, gone on to his own command these past two years, and now Paul.
"I've noticed, over the years, that there always seems to be a moment in
every battle where one can jump in with numerically superior forces..."

	"Or, in our case, technologically superior?" Telluride inquired.

	"...and force the enemy to run for it."  Bethany turned her thoughts away
from *that* line of thought, too, and back to the matter at hand.
"Commander, re-establish a line of communication with the CIRCE."

	"Already taken care of, Captain." Commander Telluride assured her.

	"Captain Tikopai..." Elaine ap Glydden began, as she appeared on the
screen, "So just how long *were* you trailing behind us in that
black-hulled monster of yours?"

	"Long enough to tell that we made the right choice in following you." she
replied.  "Although, it sure looks like you didn't need my help until right
near the end of the battle..."

	"Actually," the other captain admitted, "If we hadn't had some help during
the early stages, things might not have gone as easily as they did."

	"Help?" Bethany inquired, a frown of inquiry now creaing her brow.

	"Help.  Right after we engaged the Drakh, some kind of ship we couldn't
see also engaged the Drakh forces, and promptly began blowing their capital
ships out of space, one after the other.  Of the seven 'our' side managed
to destroy, only three of them were *entirely* taken out by my destroyer
groups, Bethany.  The rest...the rest were destroyed by this other ship,
one neither us nor the Drakh could see, given the degree of surprise they
showed after whatever-it-was started to attack."

	"Captain!" Commander Telluride exclaimed, "A jump point just opened and
closed on the far side of Sinzar's outer moon.  Looks like *something* just
left the system."

	"Can I we leave this conversation for some other time, Captain?" Bethany
asked her friend.

	Elaine ap Glydden nodded, with a slight smile thrown in for good measure.
"Of course.  I can already see the gleam of needed pursuit in your
eyes...Captain.  If anyone can find a ship that can't be seen, it's you."

	"The question I have for you, though, Commander," Bethany inquired of her
exec, as the transmission ended, "Is can we?"

	"Believe it or not," Paul Telluride admitted, "I think we can.  But not
for the reasons you might, well, suspect.  It's got to do with, ah..."

	"Oh my God." Bethany muttered, falling back into her chair.  "You're not
trying to tell me what I *think* you're trying to tell me, are you?"

	"I'm afraid so." Telluride finished.  "It's another one of *those*
situations.  The sensors are showing a trail...I'm damned if I know HOW
we're picking up the signature for the trail, but it's showing up on the
sensors all the same."

	"So be it, Commander." Bethany wearily concluded.  "I'm not going to
argue.  Even though we've got a lot of bad memories associated with it, the
DE'MOLAY's Shadowtech has saved our butt more times then I care to remember
in the past five years...so let's not complain.  Just follow the trail, Paul.

	Just follow the trail."

				* * *

	To be concluded, in the envoi of THE DARKEST ROAD, coming Friday!

	->dgolding@connect.ab.ca
	->http://www.connect.ab.ca/~dgolding/index.htm

	

	From: dgolding@connect.ab.ca
Subject: STAR AND CIRCLE: "THE SEEKER'S FIRE", EPISODE I: ENVOI
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 23:37:48

		"STAR AND CIRCLE: THE SEEKER'S FIRE"
			      EPISODE ONE
		          "THE DARKEST ROAD"

	<<ENVOI>>	

	His gaze dark and brooding, Palakz sat in his seat-of-command and looked
out upon the shimmering veil of hyperspace, the nearer forms of his fellow
Vekh'shivalht's carriers against the L'shaai`z backdrop.  Most of them were
unharmed, of course, so little time had they spent at Sinzar... while his
forces, on the other hand, had been broken and shattered.  Out of of the
ten warships he had ordered into the battle, only three had survived, his
included, and over three quarters of his cruisers had been destroyed, their
valuable warrior crews lost, during the engagement.

	The humans, he grudgingly admitted, had fought well protecting their
colony world.  But even so, they would not have done as well as they had if
not their unseen and unknown ally had joined them against his Order.
*Still* that bothered him, how a warship of his enemies (for enemies they
had to be, to attack him and his) could hide itself so completely, and
strike his junior commanders without warning!

	A test, the Sha'drakh had called it, a ploy to draw out the human forces,
to see what resources the enemies of the Drakh could draw upon.  A test it
had been, but not the one his Elder had intended.  *He* had been tested to
the utmost, and had been forced into ordering a retreat before any of his
followers... a rare way of thinking for his kind, to be sure, but the
correct choice to make at that moment.

	Now, he knew the hidden enemy existed, and Palakz realized what it was he
had to do.  This new threat had to be dealt with swiftly, for not only did
the hidden ship clearly use Vorlon weapons technology, it also managed to
emulate the banished warships of his former Masters in their stealth and
guile.  

	Palakz smiled viciously, then, as a new thought came to him.  Born of both
darkness and light, this new enemy was... and thus, an abomination that had
to be destroyed, if his fellow Drakh were to succeed in their plans.

	"Your thoughts run deep." Raeznon noted, from behind.  "Having passed
through the trial just concluded at your side, as is proper, will you share
those thoughts with me?"

	He turned towards her, the smile still in place.  So be it; the conspiracy
could begin here, with one who was closer to him then any other Drakh.  Now
that the path had revealed itself to him, this was where the strike back
against his hidden enemies would begin.  He would first recruit those he
trusted, and then, the Dark Ones willing, perhaps more.

	"We will return to our Place of Power, my Vaarliht," he informed her, "To
repair and rearm our forces, and draw more warriors to our side from the
other Orders, those that wish..a *special* challenge.

	And then, Raeznon," he concluded, "The hunt will begin."

				* * *

	The SHARD OF NIGHT.  Uninhabited system, approximately 30 light years from
Sinzar.  The brig.

	"I do not like what it is that I hear." Julia declared, as she slowly
paced back and forth in front of Nicholas and Sheynell.  "What you are
saying, it implies a conspiracy of the highest level!"

	"Yes." the telepath replied, her gaze steady.  "It does.  But what I have
discovered cannot be denied or ignored.  The moment I tried to touch
Klavait's mind to try and find out who had sent him on this mission of
sabotage, he began to convulse, and I called Veyshahk to send aid.
Anla'shok Nividia arrived soon thereafter, but it was already too late by
that point."

	"Between our examinations of the patient, both physically and
telepathically," Taylene Nividia clinicly noted, "We were able to deduce
that the seizure was a result of a telepathic command planted in Klavait's
mind before he joined us.  Much of his recent memory seems to have been
erased; he does not recall how he came aboard, *nor* any of the time since
then."

	"And most importantly, from my point of view," Sheynell added, "Whatever
information he learned about us and this command has also been erased by
the  command planted in his mind.  A command planted by a telepath who
wasn't human, as far as I can tell."

	"Which implies," Julia concluded, "That Mr. Klavait encountered certain,
shall we say, 'allies' on Minbar, allies who knew a great deal about the
inner workings of the SHARD OF NIGHT...Minbari, I would say.  Mr. Dawson,
would you care to share any light on who these shadowy opponents might be?"

	"Could be anyone." the engineer replied with a shrug.  "There were a lot
of Minbari that weren't happy about Sheridan giving you command of this
ship, Captain...and plenty of those are Warrior Caste, some of which
haven't changed their way of thinking about us since the Earth-Minbari War
ended.

	And then, there's Alit Rahkeel, isn't there?  I can't help but think,
Captain, that he might be one of the ones who set up Klavait as a worm in
our dark little apple.  And that sooner or later, Rahkeel will come back to
haunt us with another plot of some sort..."

	Whatever she had been about to say in response was interrupted at that
point by a long chime-alert that sounded at that point, an alert they all
already recognized quite well.

	Battle stations.

	"Klairika!" Julia exclaimed.  "What's going on?"

	Almost instantly, the ship's computer called a hologram into being
depicting the bridge of the SHARD, and the now-deadly serious Brakiri who
presently commanded in that place.  "Val'na..." her first officer began.
"I believe that you and Anla'shok Keynes should join us on the bridge.

	We have a problem."

				* * *

	By the time she reached the bridge, Julia already had a fairly good idea
of what was going on, since the computer had been more then willing to give
her a view of the space around her command enroute.  And one, specific,
*recent* addition to that area of vacuum that was causing the present concern.

	As she rounded the curve of the bridge, she saw that Dasouri had, at last,
returned to his station as well, having been released by the doctor on his
own recognizance, having returned, more or less, to normal.  Not that this
was a surprise, of course; the Drazi had long been known for having strong
temprements...

	For now, though, she needed to focus.  There were other, far more
*critical* matters to deal with, for the moment.

	"I was afraid this was going to happen," she informed her first officer.
"And the moment the DE'MOLAY entered Sinzar system, I knew she'd find a way
to follow me."

	"Just out of curiousity," Larieken inquired, "If you don't mind me asking,
that is... just how long *has* it been since you and your mother have met
face to face?"

	"Three and a half years since the last time; I've been busy, and so has
she.  For now though, we've got a problem.  The core of President
Sheridan's orders revolves around our secretive nature, and if our cover
gets blown, the Drakh are soon going to figure out where we are, and then
we'll have whole battlefleets dogging our every move!"

	"Nevertheless," Klairika informed her, "I fear that we are about to
discover who it is we can trust with our secret.  Your mother is just
beginning to issue a message to the system-at-large..."

	She curtly nodded, settling deeper into her chair.  "Show me."

	The holo-curtain rippled down, then, and Julia sighed when she saw her
mother's image.  Her hair was touched more with silver now then the last
time they'd been together, and the lines on her face a trifle deeper... but
her voice?  Her voice had not changed in the slightest.

	"This is Captain Bethany Tikopai of the Earth Alliance Warlock Class
Destroyer DE'MOLAY to unknown alien warship that joined the Earth forces in
the defence of Sinzar.  I regret to inform you that the advanced sensors
package aboard my command was able to track your vessel to this place; I'm
sorry if this compromises your need for security, but *my* need to discover
the nature of those who aided us this day is equally strong.  Please
understand that we mean you no harm; we only wish to talk to you...to find
out why you attacked the Drakh when you did, and if we can, perhaps,
establish some sort of permanant alliance."

	Julia watched her mother's gaze harden, then, however.  "You must also
understand, however, that if you decide to open a jump point and attempt to
escape, we will follow you until you give us an answer, or introduce us to
someone who will.  It is my opinion that the only way you and yours can
maintain your secrecy is if you *talk* to us, and bring this matter to a
reasonable conclusion.

	I and my crew only wish to *learn* who you are, and why you helped us...
that is all.  

	I await your reply."

	"What we are we going to do?" Klarika asked her, as the message ended.
"Admittedly, she *is* your mother..."

	"But all the same," Larieken warned, "There is a chance that there may be
a spy within her crew, someone who will report our nature and presence to
the Drakh.  Do we dare take this chance?"

	She took in a deep breath, then, on one hand fearing that very outcome,
but on the other, also feeling the need to speak to someone dear to her,
someone who had so often been seperated from her, not only by distance, but
by career choice as well. 

	She smiled.  "Do we dare take this chance, did you say?  Yes, Larieken, I
think we can indeed.  My mother and her crew have been through a lot
together over the past five years on the DE'MOLAY; not only do they trust
each other, they've all got their own fair share of secrets to keep
already, what's one more?"

	"Val'na." Sheynell noted, her gaze icy.  "Be *very* sure that this is the
right thing to do.  Once we take this step, there is no going back."

	"No.  There isn't, but my mind's made up." Julia straightened in her seat,
then.  "Na'lai Alidiae."

	"Command me." Klairika said.

	"Prepare to disengage darklight mode, open comm channel with the DE'MOLAY."

	"Ready." Klairika reported, a moment later.

	"Hello, Mother..." she began.  

	"We need to *talk*."

				* * *

	NEXT TIME: The crews of the SHARD and the DE'MOLAY must band together to
defend themselves against a common enemy when a rogue Z'shailyl arrives
looking for help, followed by hunters of his own kind, loyal to the Drakh.
At the same time this is going on, an aspect of the battlecruiser's Vorlon
technology gives Julia a rather *nasty* blast from the past, revealing
secrets both dark and unbidden...and the long arm of Kosh, reaching out
from beyond the grave.

	"HER MOTHER'S DAUGHTER", the 2nd episode of "THE SEEKER'S FIRE".

	Coming soon...

	->dgolding@connect.ab.ca
	->http://www.connect.ab.ca/~dgolding/index.htm