General Hague entered. Sheridan faced him, standing precisely to attention. The general walked around him slowly, while Sheridan kept his eyes directed firmly forward. The general looked tired, however. Sheridan doubted he had been sleeping well. Few people seemed to these days.

“Well, Captain?” Hague asked.

“General?” Sheridan kept his tone neutral. He knew he had little to explain or to apologise for, whatever was happening to him.

“Don’t put on that tone with me! I want to know just what you think you’ve been doing up there! Just because you’ve spent so long living above us, that does not mean you aren’t answerable to us! What has been going on, Captain?”

Sheridan swallowed. “Permission to speak freely, sir?”

“That’s never stopped you before.”

“I have done nothing to explain away, General. Everything that I have done has been for the good of humanity.”

“That’s exactly what Ambassador Ivanova has said.”

“She’s lying, sir.” Ambassador? He didn’t like the sound of that.

“She isn’t the one with a… a freak on her spaceship. A freak in the presence of two dead bodies. What happened?”

“Satai Delenn entered the chrysalis with my express approval and consent, sir. I believed it represented the best future for our people. I also believe that Lieutenant Ivanova – ” he was damned if he was going to call her Ambassador “ – killed my guards in an attempt to kill Delenn.”

“Why did you not explain this… chrysalis transformation to the Resistance Government? Why did you not seek our approval and consent?”

“Freely, sir?” Hague nodded angrily. “I believe that Lieutenant Ivanova has suborned certain members on the Government, sir. I believe that she intends to use the Resistance Government and all of humanity to fulfill her own aims and those of her allies. Delenn is more aware of these Shadows than I am, and she believes that her transformation would counter any influence the Shadows might have, and that she may be able to sway members of the Grey Council to end this war and to abort any attack here, sir.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight, Captain. You have taken a maximum security prisoner from our Detention Centre and up to your ship. You have denied us access to question her. You have opposed humanity’s legitimate and recognised allies. You have given a prisoner a chance to undergo a transformation, the results of which you did not fully know at the time, all on her say-so.

“Why in hell’s name do you believe a single word that Minbari bitch tells you? You more than anyone else should know how much they can be trusted, and that is not at all. After what they did to Earth, to Mars, at the Line, at Orion… to your daughter! No, Captain, all your information on this comes from the word of one Minbari. I am hesitant to mention the word treason, Captain, but I cannot believe that you fell for her charms. You have always been too smart for that. What was it, Captain? What did she offer you?”

“General, I resent that accusation. Everything that I have done…”

“Has been on the word of one Minbari! Or is there more? Can any others confirm your story? Name them, and I shall seek them out. Is there anyone who will back you up?”

Sheridan remained silent. There was G’Kar, of course, but mentioning his name would risk exposing his entire operation, and the Great Machine. He did not entirely agree with G’Kar, but he would not betray the Narn. Besides, that would only call his own involvement into question. His report on the Epsilon 3 incident had been a masterpiece of misinformation and obfuscation. Revealing the full truth now would only harm him further.

“I see,” Hague snapped. “At the moment, Mr. Welles is doing everything he can to break apart that Minbari bitch and get out anything he can. When he’s finished, or when time runs out for us all, she’ll be executed. Publicly, in as messy and unpleasant a fashion as can be found. If it weren’t for oxygen problems, she’d probably be burned at the stake. And after that, if there’s anything left of us after the Minbari have come, then you will be court-martialled and executed as a traitor to your race.

“I’m sorry to see it come to this, Captain, but you’ve left us no choice.”

“Ivanova’s left you no choice,” Sheridan responded. “Don’t listen to her, General. She’s lying. She’s been lying about everything, right from the beginning.”

“I’m not listening to this. I’ll be going, Captain, but try and think about this. What is Anna going to say when she discovers the truth?”

The General left, and Sheridan stared at the door. What was Anna going to say when she discovered the truth? What was he going to say when he discovered the truth about her?

Had she betrayed him? He didn’t like to ask that question, because he didn’t like the only answer he could find.

Mr. Welles had taken time to think, constantly running Miss Alexander’s suggestions and accusations over and over in his mind. The more he thought about them, the more sense they made. He had been experiencing suspicions for some time about humanity’s new allies, but he had put them down to his permanent sense of paranoia, and resolved merely to keep an eye on Miss Ivanova and learn as much about her as he could. Once he had learned about the Babylon 2 mission from General Hague and from General Franklin’s records, he had put his suspicions aside. Miss Ivanova’s story checked out, and he felt – along with everyone else – some sense of euphoria at the thought that humanity was no longer alone.

This recent incident had caused all his old suspicions to rise up again.

Miss Alexander had gone, pleading fatigue. He had been suspicious, but he wanted to put some of these ideas to Satai Delenn herself. If she and Miss Alexander were lying, then he would soon find out.

The first sign that something was wrong was when he arrived at her cell. There was no guard outside. There had always been someone on duty, either inside or outside. Usually there were both. He hesitated and drew his PPG slowly. He opened the door.

The sight of blood had never shocked him before – no one who had lived through the attack on Mars could ever be squeamish again – but what he saw on arrival shocked even him.

Cutter was laid out on the floor. Welles was unable to detect a cause of death from simple viewing, although it seemed likely that he had been strangled. There were deep scratches down his face, and his uniform was dishevelled.

Looking up, he saw Satai Delenn sitting calmly in her seat. She had evidently not tried to escape – she couldn’t have opened the door anyway. There were scratches and marks on her face, and her clothes – a makeshift medical gown – had been torn. Her eyes were red, and as she looked at him he could see that the child-like innocence that had marked them was gone.

“You,” he whispered, lost for words for the first time in his life. “You… did this?”

“He tried to hurt me,” she said. Had he been feeling normal, Welles would have identified every nuance and sign in her tone of voice, to see whether she was the child she had been before, or the dignified priestess he had known earlier. But he was not feeling normal, and he did not care.

“He tried to hurt me.”

Welles had known about Cutter’s somewhat… undiscriminating sexual preferences, but he still trusted the man. Cutter had always done his job well, had always served Earth and humanity, had always been loyal and dutiful.

And here he was, one more victim of the Minbari.

“One more,” he whispered. “One more.” Never taking his eyes off Delenn, he bent down and closed Cutter’s eyes. There were deep nail marks across one of them.

“How many more, then?” he said, speaking as much to himself as to the woman before him. “Just how many more?! In God’s name, where will you stop?”

He had not realised he was still holding his PPG until he was pointing it at her, both hands trembling, the merest fraction of a second from shooting her down in cold blood, from killing her the way she had killed Cutter, and everyone on Earth, and all the dreams of humanity.