“Delenn, Sheridan is a… clever man. I am sure he…”

“No. I know it. They have him. The Enemy has him!”

“Susan…” Sheridan rasped. He could feel his ribs grating at his lungs. His strenuous fight with Kalain had tired him and now all of this, a stray PPG blast, his two visions of Anna – one of marrying her, the other of killing her – he was feeling sick and disorientated and tired.

And he was staring at a woman he knew well, or thought he did, but Susan Ivanova had never looked like this.

Her right eye was simply a mass of scar tissue, scratched and torn, an old wound by the look of it. There were deep scars riven down the right side of her face, tearing her mouth and twisting it into a permanent sneer. Her hair was cut very short and there were patches on her skull where it was not growing at all.

“Susan… what happened to you?”

She seemed surprised. “You don’t… of course you don’t. What year is this?”

What year? Sheridan blinked and tried to rise to his feet. He failed and fell back. Susan merely watched him, the sole emotion on her face one of curiosity. Year? What year was it?

“Fifty-eight,” he rasped. “Twenty-two fifty-eight.”

“Of course,” she breathed. “The Epsilon Three mission. I don’t remember hearing about this, but it looks like your mastery with the vague reports came to the fore again… That means… that means we didn’t win, but…” There was a buzzing noise that grated into Sheridan’s ears and he threw up his hands to cover them.

“No!” Susan snapped. “We will win. It’ll be simple enough. We’ll use him as bait. All we have to do is kill one man, and then it’ll all be over, before it ever began. I know what I’m doing, trust me.”

Was she talking to him or to someone else? He tried to listen, but he couldn’t quite hear what she was saying. This didn’t make sense. None of this made sense.

Anna…

His head slumped and he fell into unconsciousness.

“Any news on the others?” Sinclair asked. He was resting against the wall. His new biology was still causing him problems. He hadn’t been a Minbari long enough to adapt properly. Well, he hadn’t been a Minbari physically long enough. Spiritually, he’d always been Minbari.

“No, no,” Zathras replied. “No word. Could be alive, could be dead, could be worse. The Enemy is here.”

“I wish… I wish…”

“If wishes were fishes, there would be no room in the sea for water,” Zathras said, and smiled. “That human saying. Zathras learn that saying. Is good saying. There no water on Zathras’ home, though. No fishes either, but is still good saying.”

“We have to help Sheridan.”

“No,” Delenn whispered, and Sinclair looked at her. It was… surprising to see her again, after so long. She had not changed yet, and he had not known her as a full Minbari, but she had been one of his closest allies and deepest friends. He hoped she had survived the attack on Epsilon 3. “It is a trap,” she said slowly. “They want to kill you, Holy One. We cannot let that happen.”

Despite himself, Sinclair chuckled. “Holy One? You’ve never stood on formality with me before, Delenn. My name is Jeffrey. I’d appreciate it if you could use it.”

“Jeffrey?” She seemed to find the name difficult, but then she nodded. “Very well… Jeffrey, but it is still a trap.”

“I know,” he said softly. “I know, but as a very wise and beautiful woman once told me, I have a destiny, and I know that my destiny will not allow me to die here.” He grinned. “Besides, I have a little… help.”

And she understood. “Kosh,” she whispered. “His name is Kosh.”

“Destiny. The Minbari talk about it all the time. Destiny and purpose. So what was my destiny then? I could have stood where you stand now. I could have helped build this place, helped run it. I could have worn your uniform, stood in your place, and for what? So that I could die here, like you. So that they could come for me like they did for my mother and my father.

“The Psi Corps and the Minbari. Each as bad as the other. The one took my mother, the other my father and brother. My mother was the only person who ever loved me for who I was. Do you know what that was like? My father never cared! My brother… They took her away from me!

“And now this. Look at me, John. You don’t find me beautiful now, do you? You did once, I remember. But not any more, no not any more. You did this to me. It may not have been your hand that did it, but it was your finger on the trigger and your hand on the dagger.

“Why couldn’t you have answered differently? If only… if only you’d said something different. Why couldn’t you have wanted money or power like normal people. Then you’d have been worthless to us, and we’d have left you alone, and you’d have died in that prison. But no, you had to answer, didn’t you? All that revenge, and all that anger and hatred comes out, and you damned us all.

“It was just an accident for me, you see. I crashed on their planet. It was an accident and when they asked me what I wanted, I wasn’t thinking. I was hurt, and they promised to help me, and I listened and I answered. But you… they call you a nexus. Everything turns around you, and you led us to this. Do you think I wanted this? Do you? No. What we’ve become, and what you’ve done… you led us to it all.

“But it won’t matter, John. You see, this can all be over. They’ll come for you. I know they will… because you’re important. You’re also easy for me to track. I implanted a tracking system inside your body… oh, a long time ago now. And it still works. Say what you like about my… friends… at least they know how to build things that work.

“And they’ll come for you. They’ll have to, and we’ll kill him. We’ll kill Valen and we’ll change history, and we’ll win. No Minbari, no Battle of the Line. None of it will ever have happened. We’ll be free to build our own destiny again, right from scratch, and this time… this time it’ll all be better.

“And I’ll be free.”

Sheridan raised his eyes dully. He’d had another two flashes, one of the time when Elizabeth had been born and the other of when she had died. He was tired and hurt and grieving, and barely listening. He looked up.

“You can’t see it now,” Susan said. “But that doesn’t matter. They trust me now, even when they aren’t around. I have a Keeper, you see.

“We all have our Keepers.”

Commander David Corwin was pacing up and down the docking bays. He was the only person here now. The security guards had been sent back to their respective places and the medical staff were treating Mr. Allan. Any complications or messages from the Captain, and Lieutenant Franklin would link him from the bridge.

He doubted there would be any messages from the Captain though. The tachyon emissions that were surrounding Babylon 4 made any form of communication impossible, although the first message had got through easily enough…

Corwin was not paranoid. Paranoid people only think everyone is out to get them. Corwin knew people were out to get him. Well, he knew people were out to get the Captain, and that more or less amounted to the same thing.

His link activated. It was Dr. Kyle. “Mr. Allan is doing fine now, Commander. He’s asking to return to the docking bay.”

“Not necessary, thank you, Doctor. The fewer people here the better.”

“Commander, I think this is an unwise action and a risk to your health.” Corwin could practically see the stern, disapproving anger in Kyle’s face. He was, after all, old enough to be Corwin’s father by quite a way.

“Doctor, trust me, I…” He started. “It’s coming back.”

“Commander, this…”

“I know what I’m doing, Doctor. Corwin out.” He deactivated the link and faced the blue space-suited figure who appeared out of nowhere in front of him.