Part Four:~~~.
SEVENTEEN HOURS after the announcement of a PsiCorp ship on approach, Bester was admitted into the Senior Officer Room."Mister Garibaldi, Commander Ivanova, Doctor Franklin," Bester said, naming the officers who were here. "And where is Captain Sheridan?"
"The Captain's busy," Ivanova said curtly. Sheridan was still sleeping, catching up on all the sleep that he'd been missing lately; eat and sleep, and repeat; to heal his body from the rut it'd fallen into. "You said you had something to tell us. So either you start talking, or you walk back to Earth."
Bester pretended to consider those options. "Decisions, decisions. Not easy, I can assure you.
"I trust the news has reached even here of the attack on PsiCorp property on the outer colonies?" Bester asked, indicating which option he'd chosen.
"Grafitti, stones, the odd wall knocked down," Garibaldi said, summarizing what the news reports had said had happened.
"The released reports greatly understate the severity of the damage inflicted," Bester said.
"Then why don't you enlighten us," Ivanova said.
"Okay," Bester agreed to. "In truth, every one of the PsiCorps facilities has been destroyed. All of them, except the ones on Earth itself."
Everyone else in the room was quiet, digesting that information; Garibaldi had a wicked grin on his face. "And while he hasn't yet disbanded the Corps," Bester said, "President Clark's already cut the budget availiable to PsiCorps by 90%. He claims that it's a result of the loss of all our non-Earth facilities."
"Which you aren't buying into," Franklin asked.
"A cut of 10, even 20%, fine; under the circumstances on their own, I'd agree with this policy."
" 'On their own'?" Ivanova asked.
"Yes. You see, I've gleaned bits of an admittedly rather worrying information. It would seem that President Clarke's found himself some rather mysterious allies. Allies who've started *something* -- and even I couldn't find out anything further about it or them."
"And how did you get that much intel?" Garibaldi asked.
"I'm a - telepath," Bester said in that voice of his. "You can figure it out."
Ivanova snorted. "So now you've come crawling to us, your last, best hope for your survival."
Bester smiled; not a Morden-like smile. "You do know what people say about self-importance, Commander, don't you? In any event, we do have one other option."
"What's that?" Garibaldi asked.
Though he considered not telling them, he opted for honesty...for now: "We've also begun arming the Mars Resistance," Bester said.
"Covertly of course,"
Bester pointed to him. "On the dot, Mr. Garibaldi."
"And when Earthdome notices all the PsiCorps weaponry in the hands of the Resistance?" Franklin asked.
"I've already mentioned to you of the budget cuts."
"Nice. Anytime anybody accuses you, you can just say that you can't afford enough security for your armory," Garibaldi said. "You keep plausible deniablity, and Mars gets a backer with their hands in a lot of cookie jars."
Bester clapped. "Very, very good. I clearly made the right decision in coming here."
"We haven't agreed with you yet," Ivanova said, hoping to burst his bubble.
Bester shrugged, then spread his arms out to the sides. "Take all the time you think you have. I can wait." He paused, hesitating. "In the meantime, am I to get any quarters during my stay here?"
Ivanova mumbled something.
.~~.
AN HOUR LATER, Lyta was on the run. She was being chased by a contingent of Babylon Five security personnel; they'd spotted her, matched her to a description given, and called in to report it. Then they'd started after her.Lyta stopped running right by a split in the corridor, as another corridor merged with it at that point. She was out of breath. And she was also ready to try something.
There were two major types of telepathy:
Communication, one mind to another mind. --Hello-- There were other types, rarer, harder to find in a population.Control, one mind over another mind. ^Move^
Lyta considered simply making the suggestion --I am not here, I am not here-- but decided against it. When being pursued, it was better to force people not to see her: ^I am not here! I am not here!^ She stood against the wall, and broadcast that one controlling message.
A Drazi stepped to one side without knowing why; thinking that it was in control of that decision, even if only on a subconcious level.
It took a few minutes of broadcasting, since the security forces wanted to make sure Lyta wasn't hiding somewhere in the area. Had it not been for the enhancements the Shadows had given her, Lyta doubted she could hold the commanding-controlling message for this long.
Once the security personnel had gone past, Lyta stopped broadcasting, and started to walk in the other direction; calmly, confidently. Nothing could get to her.
Except the Vorlon.
Morden had told her that a year ago: _"Don't try using your enhancements against the Vorlons; at least not yet."_
Vorlons. The enemy.
Lyta was grateful that she'd been kept from touching the filthy body of that Kosh, back when she'd been asked to scan it.
"Miss Alexander," Bester said, breaking through her thoughts. He was right in front of her, waiting patiently. "So good to see you again."
"Mister Bester," Lyta said neutrally. Try as she might, she couldn't even put up a fake smile at him. So she tried to make him ^not^see^ her.
Bester's face had a brief tic. "Impressive," he said conversationally. "But you forget little things like ratings."
Now the smile rose up. Lyta's smile, picked up from Morden himself.
"Remember, Lyta, the Corps is mother, the Corps is father."
"In that case, Mr. Bester," Lyta said, "I'm happy to say that I've been adopted by another family."
"Really?" he asked, interested. "Is that so?" Lyta kept quiet. "Anyone I know?"
"I doubt it." The strain of trying to impose a command on Bester's mind was starting to hurt.
So Lyta mentally looked about, and found a Twalalotch approaching. Twalalotch resembled overweight and armor-skinned Pak'ma'ra, and their poor reflexes didn't allow for sudden shifts. No quick "sorry" dodges out of one's way.
Lyta pulled the approaching one towards her and Bester, while keeping up the attempt on Bester's mind. Bester was successfully resisting her, she knew, and she had to keep him from piercing her own mind, from entering her thoughts.
The Twalalotch barged between the two of them, forcing Bester to break mental contact and to physically back up. By the time the pudgy alien had passed, Lyta was nowhere to be seen.
She'd blended into the crowd. Faded out of sight.
Bester breathed a frustrated sigh, and headed to the quarters he'd been assigned. No luck on the first try; the next would be better.
.~~.
AT THE SAME TIME, in the Vorlon docking bay, Kosh Naranek had come down here to greet the organic ship & resident/passenger -- another Kosh, naturally. This one would replace Kosh Naranek should anything befall Kosh Naranek.Out of the organic ship came the other Kosh.
The vodor plates on the encounter suit fronts lit up and made various sounds, with no translations into alien languages. Information was being relayed; from Kosh Naranek about the progress made by 'sheridan' in training; and from the other Kosh about a potentially valuable find.
A telepathic human, one which humans refered to as 'byron'.
.~~.
AT THE SAME TIME, Zack was off-duty and watching Lyta just standing there. He hadn't been affected by the broadcast because it'd been directed at people running at her. He was just standing here, having just bought some lunch down on this floor.And just when Zack'd been about to cross the corridor and cut her off, to try talking to her, Bester had shown up. So Zack had hung back, only walking when Lyta made her escape, thanks to that Twalolotch passer-by.
Lyta knew someone was following her. And she waited a few dozen meters of walking in the crowd before she reached out, *taptap*ing with her mind to see who was following her -- no matter what the species, she'd learned that almost everyone kept their names on the edges of their minds. That was why telepaths could learn someone's name before anything else. Because it was There.
Zack.
He was trailing her. Lyta ducked into a side corridor that had only a few people in it, and those few were widely scattered. She hid in a cast shadow, and waited for Zack to walk by before stepping back out. "Looking for me?"
To his credit, Zack didn't jump six feet up, or wet himself, or do some other fear response. He just turned around, smiling a Hello to her.
"What do you want?" Lyta asked.
"Why do you keep asking me that?" Zack asked in reply.
Lyta almost said 'because you haven't answered it yet' but didn't say so. "Because you were following me." Zack shrugged. "I just wanted to be sure you were okay?"
"Really?"
"Sure. I saw that guy -" Bester, "-harassing you, so I came by..."
Lyta smiled; not a Morden-like one this time. "Thanks," she said genuinely.
"Not a problem.
"So, you have any idea why you were being chased?" He knew why; he wanted to see if she knew...and if she'd lie.
Lyta thought fast. The officers hadn't been plain-clothes, they'd been fully uniformed; thus claiming one of the DownBelow gangs was out of the question. "Maybe they confused me with someone else. Or maybe someone's trying to frame me." _Note to self," Lyta said to herself, _see if our Associates have any spares of those things that got Captain Sinclair in so much trouble with Kosh's attempted assassination._
Zack watched her facial features, saw what he expected to see. "I'll see what I can find out, okay?" he offered helpfully. "We'll get the matter cleared up."
Another smile in return. Remembering how uncomfortable he'd been when she'd been addressing him by his first name in his quarters, "Well, thank you, Mr. All-"
"Call me Zack; please."
"Thanks, Zack."
.~~.