“Valen guard your souls.”

Sheridan spun to face her. Without thinking, without anger or hatred, with just a cold, solid finality, he struck her in the face. Her hands restrained, she fell backwards on to the rubble. Sheridan had drawn his PPG, again without thinking, and he was pointing it at her. There was a buzz as it charged. It was the long second again, an eternity of time where all that mattered was the look in her eyes. Like a startled child who has lost her innocence.

Disgusted, although whether with himself or with her he did not know, Sheridan replaced his PPG. “Death’s too easy for you,” he spat. “Come on. Bring Warren’s body back to the shuttle. He deserves a decent send-off at least.”

And they left Vega 7 behind them, a dead world filled with only the dead and the memories of the living.

Dr. Hernandez was running scared. She’d failed. Dr. Kyle had spotted her, and now they were looking for her. Security. Why? Didn’t they understand? The Minbari bitch shouldn’t be allowed to live. She should have been left to rot, just like everyone on Earth, just like Maya’s husband, just like her son.

But Dr. Hernandez had a friend, a friend who’d explained everything, who’d talked it over with her, who’d made her understand, who’d told her what she’d needed to do.

“Are you there?” Maya panted. This was where she’d been told she would be safe. This was where her friend had said she would meet her. Everything would be all right now. “Are you here?”

“I’m here,” said a soft voice.

“I… I got caught. Security’s looking for me. But why? She deserves to die, right? You told me that. She deserves to die. Why are they hunting me because I did what I had to?”

“You failed. I need that Minbari bitch dead. She knows who I am, what I am. You failed, and you’ll draw attention to me. I can’t allow that.”

“You… you’re scaring me.”

“Good.” A soft motion, a dull thud, and Dr. Maya Hernandez was dead before she’d had a chance to understand what was happening to her. Susan Ivanova compressed her Minbari fighting pike and stepped out of the shadows. So… one attempt had failed. It wasn’t the end of the world. She had time.

Time enough to see that Minbari whore dead.

“From the stars we came, and to the stars we shall return. From now until the end of time.”

Sheridan finished the ritual eulogy and stared at the blank viewscreen, blank because the external cameras weren’t working. They should have been in the Observation Dome, but it was still damaged. This was unfair. Keffer deserved a better send-off than this. Not even any time to give him a Starfury escort. This was not fair.

He looked away from the blank screen to the others on the bridge. Franklin was quiet, bitter anger in his eyes. Sometimes the man still thought like a doctor. Corwin looked uncomfortable. Connally was not around, probably drinking a toast to Keffer’s memory. And Delenn… were those genuine tears in her eyes, or simply a result of the bruise he had given her?

“How long until jump engines are back on line, Mr. Corwin?”

“A good half hour or so, I’m afraid. They’re shot to hell.”

Sheridan nodded soberly and then Delenn spoke up. “Captain, please, you must listen to me. My people would never do something like this. It was another race, an older race. Your companion is a part of them. They are evil, dark and terrible. We call them…”

“Shut up! I don’t care what you call them, but Susan’s told me all about them. I know about your little vendetta. I don’t know why it started, and I don’t care. All I know is that for the first time in fourteen years, we aren’t alone any longer.”

“Captain, please, listen to me!”

“Do I have to gag you? You’re here because I want to keep you where I can see you, because I need you alive, but when the day comes when that doesn’t apply, I’ll volunteer to be the one who presses the button that sends you out into space.”

“I will face death, but not before I have spoken…”

Sheridan drew his PPG and pointed it directly at her. She met his eyes with cold indifference, but there was a dark pleading at their centre. He regretted his words the instant they left his mouth, but it would do no good now. “How you face death doesn’t concern me. Now shut up or I will have you gagged.”

“Captain!” Franklin spoke up suddenly. “Two jump points opening right on top of us!”

“Aw, hell! Minbari. Begin evasive manoeuvres, David. Launch Starfuries and get those jump engines back on line ASAP. How could they find us here? We’re behind a moon for God’s sake.”

“No idea, Captain,” Corwin said. “They’re hailing us.”

Sheridan gritted his teeth and looked at Delenn. She was staring at the floor. “On screen. Maybe we can talk our way out of this one.”

A Minbari face appeared on the viewscreen. She did not bother with introductions. “You have Satai Delenn. You will turn her over to us and surrender yourselves immediately.”

“Do the words ’not a hope in hell’ ring a bell? We’ve got the upper hand here. You can’t fire on us and risk killing your precious Satai Delenn, can you?” The viewscreen went blank. “Can they?”

“They are warrior caste, Captain,” Delenn said suddenly. “My death, especially where you could be blamed for it, would suit them only too well.”

“Politics. Great! David?”

“I’m doing what I can, sir. I… wait… another jump point opening.”

Sheridan leapt to his feet. “There must be something we can do.”

“I… oh my God,” Franklin whispered. “Both Minbari ships have been destroyed. I… there’s something out there, but… I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“That’s impossible. Nothing’s that strong or that fast. Try to hail them.”

“Trying, sir. Trying and failing. They’ve gone.”

“Nothing’s that fast. They’d need to give their jump engines a chance to cool down a little first. Who the hell were they? Did the external cameras pick up anything?”

“Negative, sir,” David replied. “They’re all still off-line, and we didn’t have time to launch any Starfuries. Whatever that thing was, nobody saw it.”

Sheridan sat back down. “What could it have been?”

“One of my friends, Captain.” It was Susan, walking casually on to the bridge and smiling. “Our friends, I should say. I thought we might be in a little danger here, so I asked them to come in and help us out.”

“That was one of our friends? Two Minbari cruisers in ten seconds?”

“If need be. They’re on our side now, Captain. They can’t help often, but when they can, they will.”

Sheridan looked around at his bridge crew, seeing the awe on their faces. Awe and something he’d doubted he would ever see again.

Hope.

“It looks as if things are finally going our way. After fourteen years, things are finally going our way!” He let out a laugh, and then the whole bridge was laughing and smiling and cheering. One grain of hope in a decade of despair.

The whole bridge… except one.

“Well, Satai Delenn,” he said smugly. “It looks as if we aren’t alone any more. I don’t know who these allies are, but at least they’re willing to fight, which is more than the Narns will. What do you think about that, eh, Satai Delenn? What do you think about that?”

She looked at him, her face very pale. There was fear in her eyes. “I think that we are all doomed, Captain.” She lowered her head.

“Valen help us, I think that we are all doomed.”