From: creative-archive@anxst.com Subject: A Simple Mission Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 17:26:45 -0700 (PDT) name = Katie Enterkin email = KaEnterkin@aol.com title = A Simple Mission story = A SIMPLE MISSION by Katherine Enterkin (KaEnterkin@aol.com) Okay, I give up. I tried e-mailing this to b5-creatrive@lists.best.com twice with the same answer that that was not a correct address. So, here it goes, typed into the net. This is the second part of a story I started earlier under the title of "Courier Mission". I have changed the title to "A Simple Mission." I am also sending out the first part again which is the introduction. The narrator changes from first person to third person. Somewhere near the end it changes back to first person. Hopefully I will be sending out the Second and Third parts in a few weeks or less. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed the other stories on this list for the past two months. This is my first Babylon 5 story. Any comments or constructive criticism is welcome and wanted. If it stinks tell me, but tell me why it does, because there is nothing worse than getting no comments and leaving my overactive imagination to run wild (But a warning, if someone sends me an e-mail message saying that this SUXXXXXX with no reason why it does so, I begin to doubt the brain power of such person.). If you love it please tell me, I really want to know. Oh well, enough of my mindless ramblings for now. DISCLAIMER Viaborg owns...oops, sorry, wrong disclaimer ... Lets try that again ... PTEN, Babylonian Productions, and JMS own Babylon 5 and all characters save two. Anessa Baldwin and Leonard Pettis are of my own creation. This is for my own enjoyment, and I certainly don't expect to earn any money from it. Minor Spoilers for Book 9: To Dream in the City of Sorrows T U Z A N O R ***** INTRODUCTION The message had come in about thirty standard minutes ago. It was short, to the point, and from my former superior. "Meet me, my office, 1100 hours." The message was not unusual in itself, had it come six months ago, but now I am a teacher, not a field agent. Oh sure, our organization has teachers too, although it may seem strange. We have almost everything, teachers, warriors, commanders, pilots, spies, couriers, doctors, cooks, musicians, anything but lawyers. Those we don't have. And yes, I am a trained field agent, but for the past six months, I have been a teacher. So, the question remains, why am I here? I stood facing my old mentor and friend, a man with a small body and large mind. I noticed that he had grown smaller with age, or had my perception of him changed. Three years ago he seemed to me a towering giant, unstoppable by even the greatest of forces. But no longer. "Nessa, we need you for a job." Short, to the point, just like the message. No frills, never any frills. "Care to elaborate on that, sir?" Probably not, but it never hurts to ask. "Nessa, you know the rules. I know that you've been busy with Andrew for the past couple of months, and I wouldn't have asked you, but this mission is of the utmost importance. You are one of the few people that I can trust to do this." Well, he knows me well. Flattery will get him anywhere. I don't know what possessed me to do it. Maybe it was a sense of loyalty, or friendship, or just plain stupidity. Ask me in a few years, and I may have an answer for you. "All right. I'll do it. Now what is it that I'm suppose to do?" He picked something up from the desk, and palmed it before I could determine what it was. "We need you to deliver something to Babylon 5." Aye, there's the rub. Babylon 5 is closed. "Your contact will meet you in the section known as down below." "How will I know my contact?" "Don't worry about that. They will know you." He placed his hands on my arms, and turned me around. I felt something slip into the bun in my hair, he released me and I turned back to him. "And the pass phrase that my contact will give me." "Go ahead." That was the permission I was waiting for. I stared briefly into his eyes, and was rewarded with the phrase. ***** Well is it worth continuing? ***** Part 1 Zack Allan, the chief of security on Babylon 5, was walking through the Zocalo when someone caught his eye. A young lady, not more than 25, with an unrefined British accent was having a disagreement with one of the vendors. Several other people had gathered around, and were beginning to harass her. "Great." he thought to himself, "it's almost time to get off, and now this. How did the Chief put up with it for so long?" Hoping to end the argument before it became more heated, he walked over to the crowd. "All I want is a cup'o'tea. That's all." she protested. "Yeah right. And just how do you expect to pay for it." the vendor said. "People like you should stay where you belong in Downbelow." a voice cried out. Zack could see what the people meant. The woman was dressed in dirty, torn clothing, and he could see that she had not bathed in several weeks. She was thin, almost too thin to be healthy. She did, in fact, look like a lurker from Downbelow. "So what's a lurker doing on the Zocalo?" he thought to himself. Addressing the small crowd, he said, "Okay everybody, break it up. Show's over. Leave the lady alone." "Lady, look buddy, she's no lady." a different voice said. "That doesn't matter. All of you are harassing a person in a public place. It's part of my job to stop that. So just break it up before I have to call in more security, and you all end up locked up." "Oh, I'm just so scared." A Narn in the crowd finally decided that the whole affair wasn't worth the trouble. "He is the head of Security. Maybe we should let him handle it." "If Security would do their jobs right, there wouldn't be a Downbelow for lurkers. Hell, there wouldn't be any lurkers." the first man argued. While the two were arguing over station security, Leonard Pettis, one of the men in the crowd was thinking to himself, "Damn just what I needed. I'll have to find another way to get to her. I can't do anything with Allen around." Pettis slipped a small needle into the folds of his clothing and slipped away from the crowd and into a back corridor. Zack was beginning to activate the link on the back of his hand when the group began to disperse, leaving only the woman and the vendor. "Now, how do you expect to pay for that tea?" the man asked "What tea, I aven't had any tea. You wouldn't sell me any." "You couldn't have paid for it if I had." "I'd pay for it." "Hey, you two stop it. This is going to cause another mob scene." Zack was becoming tired of the situation. It was in fact time to get off. "I'll buy her tea." Zack handed the vendor his credit chit as the lady took her cup and began to sip her tea. "Thank you sir." she said before she disappeared into the corridors leading to Downbelow. ***** Pettis punched the code to the door to his temporary quarters. "Did you find her?" a voice asked. "I found someone that could have been her. But she looked and sounded different." "Kill her?" "Couldn't. She was in an argument with a vendor in the Zocalo. A mob formed and I was going to inject the poison there." "What happened. I don't tolerate many failures." "Zack Allen showed up. Besides, it may not have been her." "Has she made contact yet?" "No. She wouldn't still be on the station if she had." "Where is she now?" "Downbelow." "Find her." he said simply. ***** A Lone figure slipped into the corner of a bar in Downbelow. The bartender walked over to her and said, "What d'you want?" "Doesn't matter. Whatever you've got." she answered. "Stupid Baldwin, just plain stupid." she thought to herself. "You've been teaching so long that you forgot how to actually do anything. Jeez, you almost blew your cover up there on the Zocalo." "Here's your drink. It's just a beer. Didn't figure you'd want anything strange." she handed the bartender her credit chit as he put down her drink. She watched him as he walked over to the terminal to transfer the credits from her account. As she sat watching the bartender, another person entered the bar behind her. Leonard Pettis took a seat at the other end of the bar. He was seated so that he could see her clearly, but a column in the bar obscured her view of him. Nessa Baldwin began to scan the room with her eyes. Over in the corner of the bar she saw a vaguely farmiliar figure. "Now where do I know that man from?" she asked herself. "If I could only scan him." she mused. Since she could not see him clearly a line of sight scan would be impossible, and there were too many other people in the room to do a surface scan. There would be no way for her to distinguish him from the other people in the bar, even for a P10 such as herself. She doubted that even the PsiCop, Bester that she had heard of, could do it. Leonard Pettis was not having a good day. He had been hired to find one of the most elusive people he had ever dealt with, Anessa Baldwin. He felt a mild sort of professional courtesy toward her. They were, in fact, in the same sort of business, both P10 telepaths, both highly trained professionals. However, he almost regretted, they always found themselves working at cross purposes. He'd almost enjoy working with her, but now he had to kill her. Nothing personal mind you, just business. "A shame really." he thought, "Such a waste of talent." "What can I get for ya." the barman asked his new customer. "Well, I don't need a drink, but there is something you can do for me." "Depends, what?" the bartender asked Pettis suspiciously. "Nothing major. See the woman down at the end of the bar?" "Sure." the barman nodded in her direction. "The lurker." "That's her. Next drink she orders, bring it to me first. There'd be a decent tip in it for you. Never mind why." "Look, buddy, as long as the tip's enough, I won't care why." "Good." "Now where've I seen him before." she was still trying to place the man at the end of the bar when she finished her drink. The barkeep walked over to her as she placed her empty glass down. "Get you another?" "No. I was leaving." Worrying that his tip was about to walk out the door, he thought quickly, "Reason I asked, you sort of look like you need it. Second one's on the house." he said. "More like on the guy at the end of the bar." he added silently. She hesitated for a moment but decided a lurker would never turn down a free drink said, "All right." The barman walked over to pour her drink, but took a trip to the other end of the bar to refill another drink first, or so she thought. He put her drink down in front of Pettis, blocking it from her view with his body and began to pour another drink for a customer. Taking the opportunity presented to him, Pettis slipped a capsule into her drink. The barman whispered to him, "She didn't want another drink. Figured you'd pay for it. Told her it was on the house." "Smart move." he acknowledged. He placed a few credits on the bar, real credits not from a chit, just enough to pay for the drink and leave a sizable tip. The barman took the credits and turned to deliver the drink. "Now there's someone who doesn't want to be found." he thought. He delivered the drink to the woman, and moved to help some other customers. When he looked back to where the man had been sitting, he found that the seat was empty. ***** "Well," the man asked, "did you find her?" "Yes I did." "Did you kill her." "I put a fast acting poison into her drink. About now she should be feeling a bit light-headed." "What if she goes to Medlab." "It'd blow her cover. She's too professional for that. As long as she's in Downbelow posing as a lurker, she'd never go for treatment. Even if it meant her life." "Someone could find her." "Not likely. No one pays attention to lurkers. They're nobody people." "Good. You'll find a ticket off the station in your quarters, along with you're fee." "It's been good working with you sir." Leonard Pettis watched as his former employer boarded a shuttle off of Babylon 5. He then left to collect his ticket, his fee, and to return the lock code for his temporary quarters. In a back corridor of Downbelow, Anessa Baldwin was beginning to feel the effects of the poison from her drink. She lay down on a bed of sheets on the floor and closed her eyes, hoping that sleep would clear her head. "What was that drink I had?" she thought. "Have to ask the bartender later." At the same time, Leonard Pettis watched Babylon 5 disappear into the distance as his shuttle neared the jump gate that would deliver him back home. For a brief moment he felt a pang of regret for the now lost colleague that his poison was slowly killing. ***** From: KaEnterkin@aol.com Subject: "A Simple Mission" 2/3 Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 11:46:12 -0400 (EDT) This takes place some time during season 4 sometime when both Delenn and John are on the station, and Zack Allen is head of security. Otherwise, no specific time frame. Well, as promised, here are parts 2 and 3 of "A Simple Mission" For those of you who may not remember, Part 1 introduced Anessa Baldwin, a telepath sent to Babylon 5. She was poisoned by another telepath Leonard Pettis who escaped the station. If you missed it and can't find it, just e-mail me at KaEnterkin@aol.com. A note for those of you, who like me do not know (I only found out recently), a denn'bok is a Menbari fighting pike. Disclaimer: Warner Brothers, PTEN, and JMS own these characters save for one. Anessa Baldwin is of my own creation. I do this for simple enjoyment, my own and that of my readers. --Katie Enterkin Very minor Spoilers for Book 9: To Dream in the City of Sorrows I'm not even sure if they qualify, but I just wanted to be safe. Found I couldn't write this without putting some things from the book in here. T U Z A N O R Part 2 of 3 Lennier usually liked his position as the aide to the Menbari ambassador to Babylon 5, but not when he was downbelow. Dressed in a hooded robe with the hood shading his face he looked like a member of the former Gray Council. If anything were to happen to him he no one would ever know why he had been in downbelow. Delenn hadn't asked him to go downbelow and did not even know that he was there, but he was there for her. Every thing he did was for her. He turned into a side corridor. The only other figure there was lying in a bed of dirty rags. "Dream in the city of sorrows." he called in Adronato. "Tuzanor." she thought. "City of sorrows. Tuzanor." she laughed a short laugh. "I live there. Boring. very boring place. Lot of Menbari. Always boring." Seeing no response from the figure he called again. "Dream in the city of sorrows." "Talk about one track minds. That all he can say?" the room was spinning around her. "Dream in the city...wait. The package. Something about the package. What was I suppose to do with it." She reached under the braid in her hair and pulled out a small container that had been attached to it near the base of her scalp. Lennier took the item from her and walked back into the main corridor. "Sir," he addressed one of the lurkers. "Ain't nobody called me that b'fore. What?" "Do you know where the free clinic is located?" "Yup." "Good. There is someone in that corridor," he motioned toward the corridor he had just left, "that needs to be taken there. Could you do that? I can pay you if necessary." "Sure. I can do that. But don't worry about payin'. I wouldn't leave someone lying around sick like that." "Thank you." ***** "It just might be a quiet day." Stephen Franklin thought as he arrived at his clinic in downbelow. For the past week the clinic had been flooded with patients, but today the room was empty, save for one of his volunteers. "Been like this all day?" he asked. "Sure has. It's nice for a change." the woman replied. "Wish it was like this all the time." "Well then we wouldn't have anything to..." "Hey, I need some help." a man walked into the room carrying a woman's limp form in his arms. Stephen rushed over to him and helped to set the woman down. "What happened to her?" "Don't know. She was like this when I found her." "Okay, let's get her on the table." the two men picked her up and carried her to the examination table. Placing her on it Stephen looked up at the man. "You said you found her like this?" "Sure did." "Do you know her name?" "Nope. Never saw her before. Can I go?" "You don't know anything at all about her?" "Can't say as I do." "Okay. You can go now." "Thanks." the man answered as he left the clinic. "Cyn," Stephen began by addressing the volunteer, "help me get this blanket off her." Carefully they began to remove the worn blanket from the unconscious woman. Stephen was struggling with one end of the blanket. "I can't seem to get this from under her." "Want me to roll her on her side?" Cynthia asked as a ripping sound reached her ears. "I don't think that'll be necessary." he answered her, holding up the now torn corner. From within the folds of the cloth, a cylindrical object fell to the floor. "What the..." looking down at the floor he continued, "Now where did that go?" "What was it?" "I'm not sure. Did you see where it went?" "No. Wait here it is." She bent over and picked the object from the floor. Holding it up for him she asked, "Doctor, I've never seen anything like this before. Do you know what it is?" "Yes. I do." came the surprised response. "Help me get the rest of this blanket off her. I need to see if she has something else with her." "All right. But what are you looking for?" "A broach." "A broach? What sort of a broach?" "You've seen Marcus Cole haven't you?" "Sure, I think so. Tall long hair, beard, English accent, wears a cloak with a blue pin on it." "That's him. I'm looking for a broach like the one he wears." "Then this is what you're looking for." she held the pin up for him. "I found it just before the blanket tore and put it aside. I didn't think much about it." "That's what I'm looking for. Call Medlab and have them send someone down here for her. I've got to call Captain Sheridan." ***** "And you said that she's a Ranger?" Sheridan asked. "Looks like it. I'm moving her to Medlab to run some tests." "Any idea what happened?" "None yet, but it looks like she's been poisoned." "All right. I'll let Delenn know, and keep me informed." Sheridan said and cut the transmission. ***** "Stephen," Ambassador Delenn began as she walked into Medlab. "John tells me that one of my Rangers may be in here." "Yes, she's in here. Do you think that you could give me her name? I need it to look up her medical history." "Possibly. If not, I can find it for you." Delenn walked over to the woman on the table. "Oh dear." she said upon seeing her. "Do you know her?" "Yes, her name is Anessa Baldwin. But I thought that she was teaching on Minbar. She stopped doing courier work when her nephew, Andrew, came to live with her. How is she?" "Alive. She hasn't regained consciousness yet. Occasionally she will wake up enough to move a little. I think that she may be slightly delusional. But, I think that she'll be fine when she wakes up." "That is good to hear. I trust that you will inform me of any change in her condition." "Absolutely." "Good." Delenn started to walk out of Medlab. She stopped at the door and looked back at Dr. Franklin. "Oh, you need not worry about her expenses, I will take care of anything she may need." ***** "What the...oh shit." I thought to myself. "I blew my cover." Of that I had no doubts. I awoke to find myself in a bed. Not just some dirty worn blankets on the floor, but a real bed. I didn't know how I had gotten there, just that I was there, and that my stomach felt like I had eaten too much Centauri food. I looked around a bit and saw a man sitting at a desk. "Where am I?" I called to him. As he walked to me I could see that he was a fairly nice looking man with light brown skin age first guess mid-thirties. Best guess at occupation, doctor. Not a hard assumption to make, he was wearing a medical uniform. "Well, look who decided to rejoin the living. How are you feeling Anessa?" Anessa, he called me Anessa. Well that confirmed it, I had blown my cover, and now I was in Medlab on Babylon 5. Assuming that I was still on Babylon 5. "Terrible. Where am I?" "Medlab." "Medlab where?" I had to know. If I was on Babylon 5 I was safe, otherwise...Well, I didn't want to think about the other alternatives. "You're still on Babylon 5 if that's what you want to know." "It is." Relief. The other place I could have been was Earth, or an EA ship. And that would have meant Psi-Corps. Not a pleasant alternative. "I'll contact Ambassador Delenn and let her know that you are awake." "No!" I practically shouted at him. Okay, so it was a bit rude. "I don't want to see her." I couldn't. Not now, not later, never. The realization hit me, I could never go back. ***** From: KaEnterkin@aol.com Subject: "A Simple Mission" 3/3 Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 11:52:29 -0400 (EDT) Okay, this is part 3. Since I sent out 2 and 3 at the same time, I'm sure you have part 2. You do have part 2, don't you? :-) Send any comments, questions, or requests for part 1 to KaEnterkin@aol.com. --Katie Enterkin Disclaimer: I claim nothing but Anessa Baldwin. The other characters are property of JMS, PTEN, WB, and for all I know WGN, TBS, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN, ESPN, CNN, and any other initialed station. Very Minor Spoilers for B5 Book 9-To Dream in the City of Sorrows. Not sure I need the warning, but just in case: T U Z A N O R ***** Part 3 of 3 The door chime sounded in Marcus Cole's quarters. "Yes?" he asked. "Marcus, it's me, Nessa." "Well, hello. Please do come in." he said as the door opened. "It's been a while hasn't it." "Yes it has." "A lot of things change over time don't they. Although, I wasn't aware that accents were one of them. I think I like it. Never pictured you with an English accent though." She gave a dry laugh and dropped her accent. "Well, I have to retain some sort of cover you know. I can't just announce 'Here I am. Anessa Baldwin, Ranger.' " "No don't suppose you could." "So Marcus, mind if I ask why you asked me here?" "What, can't old friends get together just to talk?" he teased. "Not when one of them is you, Marcus. You've never been one for idle gossip." "Things do change." He was teasing again and she knew it. "Marcus." she said sternly. "Sorry. Old habits you know. Would you like a cup of tea? It might help you to relax." he suggested. He had noticed that she was very tense for some reason. "Sure. I'd love some. Thanks." "You're welcome." he said as she took the cup from him. Seating himself in the chair facing her he began, "Anessa, what's wrong?" She could hear the concern evident in his voice, but chose to ignore it. "Nothing's wrong. Why do you ask." "Look Nessa. Try to tell that to someone who hasn't known you for two years." "Marcus. I'd rather not talk about it." she said a bit sharply. "Right. Time to change the subject." he thought. "So, how's your nephew? Andrew isn't it?" She smiled at this. Her first real smile since she woke up in Medlab. "Yes, it's Andrew. He's fine. Growing fast. Of course they all do at that age don't they." He smiled at this statement. "Yes I suppose they do. I remember when...well, I do know that they grow up fast." She realized he was avoiding talking about his brother, William, just as she was avoiding talking about work. For the next couple of hours they talked about old friends, but never anything substantial. Marcus knew she would eventually say what was bothering her, he just had to give her time. She had finished her third cup of tea in two hours, when she finally found the courage to say it. "Marcus, I'm leaving the Rangers." "I know." "You knew?" "Well, not knew, just not very surprised. You won't talk about why you're here on Babylon 5, you won't see Entil'zha, and you're avoiding talking about work in general." "That obvious." "Yes. Look, Nessa, I won't try to talk you out of this. Knowing you, you won't change your mind." "Marcus, try selling that to someone who'll buy it. Because I'm not." "Nessa, you're one of the best Rangers there is. No matter what you may think right now, you're valuable to us. Why?" "Doesn't matter why. I just am." "You really should think about this." "I have. Marcus, I haven't thought about anything else for the past five days." "Where will you go?" She hesitated a moment before answering. "I don't really know. I can't go to Earth, not with Clark in power, and besides Psi-Corps would find me there. Certainly not back to PsiCorps. I can't go to Mars, it's too close to Earth. Proxima is controlled by Clark. I couldn't go back to Minbar except to pick up Andrew. The Narns are a bit monastic for my taste, and I wouldn't even consider Centauri Prime. I don't know. Maybe I could live with the Drazi or Gaim for a while." "You could stay here, you know. On the station." he offered. "No." she answered quickly. "I couldn't be anywhere that would remind me of the Rangers. Besides, I might run into Entil'zha. I don't know that I could handle that." "She would respect your decision you know." "That's not the point. I couldn't handle it. Not after leaving the Rangers." she answered. "Marcus, will you do me a favor." "Of course. Anything for an old friend." "I'd like you to return these to the Rangers. I've no right to have them. And, don't tell Entil'zha about this till I'm gone." she handed him two objects wrapped in brown paper. She walked over to the door and heard him say one last thing as the door opened. "Anessa, if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me." "Thanks Marcus. You're a good friend." she answered as the door closed behind her. Unwrapping the packages she had handed to him, Marcus Cole was not surprised to find a Minbari fighting pike in one, and a broach with a blue stone surrounded by human and Menbari figures in the other. ***** Marcus Cole was caught between two aspects of friendship, a promise, and the knowledge that keeping that promise would hurt the person he promised. His decision had been easy to make. "So, she has decided to leave the Rangers." Delenn asked him. "Yes. She has." "And do you not respect this decision, Marcus?" "No. I don't. I don't think she wants to leave. I think that she will regret this eventually." "Then it was made hastily." "I think it was." he answered. "Entil'zha, she refuses to see you." "I know." "She really should." "Marcus," a grin began to spread across her face, "are you suggesting that we detain her before she leaves?" "Now, would I do something like that?" he asked with feigned innocence. "Yes I think you would." *****- She was standing in the line to board the ships leaving Babylon 5 with her ticket in hand. She approached the customs officer and handed him her identicard, fake but a good one. "Well Mrs. Taliaffero, everything seems to be in order." "Toliver." she corrected. "Ma'am?" he questioned. "It's spelled Taliaffero, but it's pronounced Toliver. At least it is in Atlanta." "Sorry Mrs. Toliver. As I was saying, everything seems to be in order here." "Well that's a relief, after all the trouble I went through trying to even get on this station. I'd certainly hate for it to be trouble to get off." "I'm sure it won't be ma'am. But, we've been doing spot checks on all outgoing passengers, and when I put you're identicard in the slot, the computer decided that you'd be checked. Sorry for the inconvenience." "Oh, that's no trouble at all." she said. "Something's not right here Baldwin." she thought to herself. "If you'd just step into this room right over here, someone will be with you shortly." ***** I was waiting in the room that the customs officer had indicated. I knew that something was slightly off due to his unusual behavior. Space stations don't routinely inspect civilians leaving. Then, there was the fact that the room was empty save for myself. I began to search for a way out. One doesn't become a Ranger by being sloppy. I was facing the back wall when I heard the door dilate. I turned to face the person who I had assumed to be my interrogator. Much to my amazement I saw the dignified form of Minbari Ambassador Delenn. "Entil'zha." I thought. Old habits die hard. Collecting myself I bowed respectfully in the Minbari fashion in which I had been trained. "Entil'zha, respects." I said, dropping any pretense of an accent I may have been using among strangers. "Good evening Anessa. How are you?" "I am well. I must admit, Entil'zha, that I wasn't expecting you. I had asked not to see you." "I know." she answered. "Marcus told me that he had seen you." It was a simple statement, but she made it sound like a question. "Yes. I saw him." Damn it. I asked him not to talk to her about our conversation. I hadn't wanted to face her. Cowardice I know, and certainly not befitting a Ranger, but I hadn't expected to be one for much longer. "He told me that you wished to leave the Rangers." Again a question, not a statement. She always did have a way of doing that. "Yes, I do." "May I ask why?" "I failed. I didn't complete my mission. I'm not fit to be a Ranger. I failed the Rangers, I failed my friends, I.." It had to be said, but I didn't know how. It was what I felt, "I..I failed you, Entil'zha. I failed you." "Why do you think you failed? Did Marcus not tell you." She seemed genuinely confused. Apparently Marcus had kept some of our conversation confidential. Just not the important parts. "What did Marcus not tell me?" Please Entil'zha, I must know. Even if I'm not to be a Ranger again. Despite my words to the contrary, I didn't really want to leave the Rangers. After I escaped the PsiCorps the Rangers had become my family. "The corps if father, the corps is mother" had given way to "We live for the one. We die for the one." Without the Rangers my nephew would be the only family I had left. But I could not, and would not stay with people I felt I had failed. They deserved better than me. "You did not fail us." she answered. Unbelieving, I exclaimed, "Entil'zha? I did. It was a simple courier mission." once I had started, I could not stop until the words had all been said. "Just a simple mission. All I had to do was deliver a small container to a contact, who would give me a code word. Then I was to slip off the station, no one would know I had been here. Simple. I could have done it last year. But not now. I screwed up. I went up to the Zocalo for a cup of tea. I caused a scene and blew my cover. I was poisoned, never met my contact, and when I woke up in Medlab, the container was gone. Just gone. Dr. Franklin never saw it. All I can assume is that whoever poisoned me took it while I was delirious. Stupid, just stupid." As the tears began to roll down my face all I found I could say was, "I'm sorry. Entil'zha, I'm so sorry." She walked over to me, and in a motherly fashion took me into her arms. For several minutes we stood there in silence as I cried on her shoulder. As I began to collect myself I pulled away from her. She looked at me compassionately, and said, "You haven't failed. I have the data crystal that was in the container. It is in my quarters." It took several seconds for this information to sink in. I would never have believed it had anyone but Entil'zha told me. I could scarcely believe it as it was. I certainly never would have believed it had Marcus told me. "But, that's not..." "Possible? Do you know how you were found and taken to Medlab?" "No. I just assumed that someone had seen a violently ill lurker and carried them to the clinic. When Dr. Franklin found my broach and pike he transferred me to Medlab. Why?" I knew there had to be a purpose to that question. Entil'zha did not ask useless questions. "Lennier, my aide, found you." "But my contact?" What had happened to my contact. As if in answer to my thoughts, I heard a voice behind me. "Dream in the city of sorrows." it said in the dialect of the Minbari religious caste. The code phrase I was to be given by my contact. To the Minbari people it meant to dream of a brighter future, to the Rangers it meant more as our training ground was just outside of the city of Sorrows, Tuzanor. It was believed to be Valen's favorite city on Minbar. I turned to look at the man I now knew to be my contact on Babylon 5. "Lennier," Delenn began, "I would like you to meet Anessa Baldwin." I bowed to the aide in greeting. He respectfully returned it. "You were quite ill when I found you," he began to explain, "but still conscious." "You were my contact." "Yes. I gave you the pass phrase, you handed me the container with the data crystal and then lost consciousness." "I don't, I just don't remember that." Not surprising really, I wasn't very lucid while I was sick. I began to think about what I was being told by Lennier, I suddenly realized something, "Then you were the one to take me to the clinic." "I asked someone to call Dr. Franklin and told him that someone was very ill in Downbelow." "And to think all this time. If I'd only known." "Then you still intend to leave the Rangers." Delenn asked me. "I don't know Entil'zha, I don't know." "Marcus gave me these. He said that you asked that they be returned to the Rangers." she held in her hands my denn'bok and my broach. "I will leave them here. You may leave with them, or without them. I will respect your decision. Marcus will come back after you have left, and return them to me should you choose to leave." Upon saying this, she placed the items on a table and left the room with her aide following her. I picked up my bags and began to walk to the door. A remembered phrase came to mind. "I am a Ranger. We walk in the dark places no other will enter. We stand on the bridge and no one may pass. We live for the One. We die for the One." I held back a tear as I walked quickly over to my denn'bok and broach. I picked up the pike and slipped it into a pocket. As I pinned the broach onto my clothing I whispered, "In Valen's name."