Lyta Alexander was just one more link in his heavy chains of hatred, and he was mortally afraid of ever letting her find this out, knowing that if he did so he would expose his true self to her, and that she would turn from him, and he would lose the greatest – and only – light of his life.

And so he waited. Marcus hated waiting, but more than anything else, he hated himself for being in the this situation in the first place.

One more link on a very big chain.

“Welcome to the world, Satai Delenn. Out of the darkness and into the light.”

Susan could feel Delenn’s eyes on her – the eyes that could blaze with an intensity and a fury as passionate and as hot as the stars. Instead, all she saw now were the empty, haunted eyes of a child.

She had no knowledge of what the chrysalis had been doing to Delenn – a complete genetic alteration, or simply an outward transformation? Would it have changed her to a full human, a half-human, or something else? And what had been the result of Susan shattering the chrysalis sooner than it would naturally have opened?

She did not know, but then she did not care either. All she had to do was kill Delenn and her problems would be over. Sheridan would have no focus for his quest against the Shadows, and with the happiness of a renewed relationship with Anna he would have no need to continue. But as she raised her pike – the very one that Delenn had once wielded – she seemed to hesitate.

Delenn was lying out on the floor, completely naked, obviously racked by pain, as helpless as a child, and with a look in her eyes that said that, mentally, she might be nothing else.

Susan looked at her with a slow eye. Delenn’s bone crest was still there, only a little smaller than before, but it was cracked down the middle, where there was a growth of hair, long and black. Her ears were still in the normal Minbari place – a little lower than human ears – but the bone crest above them was higher. Her head and body were slimmer, and more human-looking, but her eyes… her eyes were those of a child.

And then Delenn blinked slowly, and she whispered one word, half as though it were a link to her past, and half as though it was a toy she had just found.

“Shadows.”

The Shadows behind Susan had evidently decided that if their emissary would not act, then they would. They scuttled forward, approaching Delenn. Susan took a step back, and was content to watch.

Had Delenn felt like this as her fleets destroyed Earth? Had she been content simply to watch, as a child was killed by adults who knew best?

Delenn saw the things advancing on her, and her eyes widened in a gesture of childish curiosity, but then… a legacy of something left in her mind woke up, and started.

She rolled away from the Shadows, back towards the broken husk of the chrysalis. She reached out and rested on it for support. Its touch seemed to revitalise her, although only a little.

Susan started and slumped, silently screaming as a burst of pain tore into her skull. “Oh no,” she whispered. “Oh no, not again. Not… again.”

She recognised a telepath’s presence when she felt one.

And so, it appeared, did Delenn. She raised her head slowly, curiously, hesitantly, out of hope – or pain?

“We don’t have… time…” Susan rasped, holding both hands against her skull. “Kill her… now.”

The Shadows were only too happy to comply.

It had been three words which had alerted Lyta Alexander to the danger. Three words spoken – although she hadn’t known so then – at the time when Susan Ivanova had taken the shuttle up to the Babylon. Three words spoken by the voice in her mind that was called Kosh.

She needs you.

Lyta needed no clarification as to who the ‘she’ was. For months now she had been feeling a connection to Satai Delenn – ever since she had first mind-scanned her. Something profound had passed between the two of them – two somethings in fact. The first was a sense of understanding and connection. The second was Kosh.

Lyta had been sensing a general fear of doom all day. She had not seen Marcus in five days, although her thoughts had rarely been away from him. She had dreamed dark dreams of Proxima being engulfed by a black cloud, and of Susan Ivanova standing watching as it happened. She had been irritated and afraid and cranky all day.

And now this.

Immediately, she had tried to link someone on board the Babylon – she had recoiled slightly at the thought of contacting Captain Sheridan, and so had tried Commander Corwin. He had listened politely, but had replied that Delenn was being guarded by two of the Babylon’s best Security personnel with orders to let absolutely no one in until the Captain returned. It wasn’t that he didn’t take her seriously, just that he was very busy. Where Captain Sheridan was, she had no idea, and she didn’t exactly care.

That left Chief Security Officer Allan, who had also listened politely and had told her he would look into the matter.

That should have satisfied her. The Babylon was, after all, their domain, not hers. She had only even been there once before, after all. But still… Kosh’s presence was still lingering at the forefront of her mind, and so she made for the shuttle bays.

As it had been for Susan, getting a shuttle up to the Babylon was simple. Lyta’s rank might not have been as high as Susan’s, but she was able to feign a request from Commander Corwin to arrive at the spaceship. She had been met by Mr. Allan at the docking bays. He had tried to tell her that everything was fine, and that he had checked out the area, and that no one had gone in or out of the room in a while.

She might have believed him, but then Kosh’s voice screamed at her.

Touched!

Theoretically it was possible for a telepath literally to change someone’s mind. Lyta had seen this done on a few occasions – during her internship with the Psi Cops. Altering a person’s opinions, beliefs and even memories was a favourite trick of the Psi Cops, but it had never been something she had dared to do for herself. She had made small attempts in this field, but only rarely and usually to get something she wanted – such as past the security guards to go and see Marcus – but she knew this was important, and, acting on fear and concern, she had changed Zack’s mind.

“Yes, of course,” he said. “I’d be happy to.”

And he had taken her towards Delenn’s quarters. Lyta should not have been able to do this – Zack’s normal psyche should have returned after a few minutes at most – but he had kept up with her, as her heart beat faster and faster with each moment. She could feel Delenn’s fear, but there was something else in Delenn’s mind. She was not exactly sure what was happening to Delenn, but she could feel her pain.

Her first sight upon arriving at Delenn’s quarters was the two dead guards outside the door. Both were covered in blood – one had had his chest smashed open, and the other had been ripped apart. Zack had merely stared, but Lyta had started, losing her telepathic control over him. She didn’t care. She saw the blood, and she saw the bodies and she could see the taint of Shadows.

She darted into the room, and saw the whole grim tableau in one scene. Delenn cowering, Susan standing, and… two creatures from her worst nightmare. Susan started and staggered back, panic verging on terror in her expression. The… things (the things that were causing Kosh’s voice to scream in her mind) also turned and backed away. Delenn looked up slowly.

Susan sprang forward with her pike, lunging at Lyta, who ducked out of the way. Lyta, acting on instinct – or perhaps the Vorlon was doing all the acting for her – lashed out with a burst of telepathic pain. Susan screamed, far greater and far louder than would have been expected from such a short burst, and staggered out of the way, pushing past Lyta and scrambling from the room. Lyta looked round for the two creatures, but they had just vanished, as if they had never been. Reaching out tentatively with her mind, she recoiled as she felt the touch of something so… ancient and alien and awesomely powerful that she felt sick and weak and she had to fall to her knees.