Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
 
******************************

In the Stockton, noon, Saturday, 1 September 2266:

   Susan sat looking across the mess hall dining table at Major Brown and 
General Sanchez. Their arrival at the base airport, it was shared with the 
local civilians, had been uneventful. They had said nothing as her driver drove 
them to the mess hall. 

   Susan didn’t trust General Sanchez as far as she could throw him. He had 
headed up the board that tried its damnedest to hang her out to dry. He had 
been on duty during Clark’s regime. If he had brought his lapdog, Major Brown, 
with him, she felt she had even less reason to trust him. He was the EA head 
spook. They were the ‘black bag’ boys of the military. As far as she was 
concerned, they might as well be part of Psi Corps. She would bet good money 
that they had worked closely with the corps during Clark’s tenure.

   “What do you want to know about Lyta, General Sanchez?” asked Susan.

   “You have been involved with her on and off for quite a long period of time. 
I’m interested in just what she can do,” responded Sanchez.

   “You’ve seen the recordings made at Babylon 5 and you’ve seen the recordings 
made when the Zeus was attacked by the Drakh. What else do you think there is 
to tell?”

   “General Wayne, you know that Ms. Alexander was at Nevada Facility Number 
Four just a few seconds before it was destroyed,” said Major Brown.

   “Obviously, so do you, Major Brown. What’s your point?” asked Susan.

   “Do you also know that the device that destroyed it was a two megaton unit, 
yet it created damage one expects to see from a device almost fifteen times 
that powerful, but the radiation residue was measured at a level one would 
expect from a one megaton unit?” asked Brown.

   “No, I didn’t. I don’t see where this is going; so, I’d appreciate it if you 
could be a bit more enlightening.”

   Major Brown slid a photograph across the table. Susan looked at it. It 
appeared to be a photograph of a thin piece of some material that had been 
twisted and apparently molded back into itself. There was a standard credit 
card to give the object a size reference.

   “What is it, major, a piece of modern art?” asked Susan.

   “That’s what we’d like to know, General Wayne,” responded Brown.

   Susan looked at both men and wondered just what it was that they wanted.

   “Susan, the credit card is for size perspective. That object is some kind of 
metal that none of our lab boys have ever seen before. According to them, it 
can’t exist. Obviously, it does exist. Not so obvious from the picture is that 
it masses about twenty kilograms,” explained Sanchez.

   “You’re kidding. You have to be kidding. If it were solid uranium, it 
wouldn’t have half that much mass.”

   “We know that,” injected Brown. “We also know you can’t make a twenty-eight 
megaton device with the material out of a two megaton device, but someone did. 
We believe that’s what your friend managed to do.”

   “Let me guess. You want to know how she did it.”

   “It’s not funny, Susan,” said Sanchez.

   “I never thought that it was, general. I’ve seen Lyta do things that defy 
any logic or any science that you or I can understand. I can’t think of any way 
to prove it, though. I think your health would be better if you let it go. If 
she can do something like that, do you really want to irritate her?”

   “General Wayne, your friend could present a danger to the EA,” said Brown.

   Susan laughed at the remark. This brought nasty looks from both men. Susan 
told them about the accident on the Ares at Babylon 5 and what Lyta had done to 
save her crewmen. Then she said, “You can’t hurt her with any of the weapons in 
the EA arsenal. Even if she is a threat, this is one time you can’t do anything 
about it. I seriously doubt if she cares about the EA as long as it leaves her 
alone. Do yourselves a favor; forget about Lyta.”

   Sanchez didn’t like Susan’s responses, but he had learned enough to be 
fairly sure that Lyta Alexander was responsible for Nevada Facility Number four.

   “Is there anything else on your mind, General Sanchez?”

   “Should there be?” he inquired.

   “You were the one who wanted this meeting. It seems unlikely that this is 
all you want. If this was all you wanted, you could have asked me over a 
regular secure vid-phone circuit.”

   Sanchez and Brown tried to retain neutral expressions on their faces and did 
a good job of it, but Susan had lowered her mental shield the moment she had 
picked them up at the airport and she had been listening to their unguarded 
thoughts ever since. She was aware of their plans to kill her husband when his 
services were no longer required. She also knew that only Sanchez’s deep fear 
of Lyta Alexander had scotched the idea and that there were some agents that 
Sanchez’s man had not been able to identify that might act on their own accord. 
 
   “When were you going to tell me you intended to kill my husband when his 
present job is concluded?” demanded Susan.

   Both men looked stunned at her question. It took Sanchez almost a minute to 
respond; from his experience with Lyta Alexander on Babylon 5, he knew that 
Susan hadn’t had to scan them to get the information about what they had 
initially planned for her husband. That she knew brought his worst fears into 
his surface thoughts, which revealed that he was terrified of what Lyta might 
do if one of the ‘rogues’ managed to kill Charles in spite of his efforts to 
prevent it.

   “What makes you think we were planning to kill your husband?” asked Major 
Brown.

   Susan didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she carefully thought about what 
she would do to these men if anything happened to Charley.

   “I’m waiting for an answer to the Major’s question, Susan,” said Sanchez.

   Without any emotion in her voice, Susan replied, “After giving it some 
thought, I believe you still intend to kill my husband – just as soon as Major 
Brown can figure out how to shift the blame onto some other entity. If anything 
happens to Charley, I’ll hold you two personally responsible.”

   “Is that a threat, Susan? I don’t like your accusation,” said Sanchez in a 
barely controlled voice.

   “No, General Sanchez. It’s a solemn promise. You’re terrified of what Lyta 
can do to you. Believe me, what I can do is every bit as terrifying as anything 
she is likely to dream up. You have used my husband and now you want to kill 
him for security purposes,” she said, with a cold smile on her face.

   Sanchez tried to look insulted and started to bluster. He then remembered 
that she was a very powerful telepath. The expression on her face actually 
scared him. He realized that if her husband was killed, there would be nothing 
that could stop her from coming after those whom she held responsible and that 
would include him and Major Brown to start with. She had demonstrated in the 
past that she would stop at nothing to destroy anyone she perceived as an enemy 
or a threat, regardless of the repercussions to herself. The thought of Susan 
Ivanova-Wayne on the loose with murder or worse on her mind was almost as 
terrifying as the thought of having Lyta Alexander looking for him.

   “It’s true that’s what we originally planned, but we changed our minds. We 
have a problem. Major Brown has become aware of some rogue agents working for 
us, Susan. He’s working with another friend of mine to identify these agents 
and neutralize them. Your husband is under guard twenty-four/seven until we 
find them. I personally believe they may be members of a terrorist group 
calling themselves the ‘dead telepaths are good telepaths’ group. DTGT is their 
logo. They have been responsible for some gruesome murders of telepaths over 
the last year or so. They are being pursued by every major police organization 
in the EA.”

   Susan was painfully aware of the lie Sanchez was telling her, but she 
responded, “Let me get my hands on a few of them and I’ll make finding the rest 
of them easy.” 

   “That wouldn’t be legal, General Wayne,” observed Major Brown.

   “Last time I checked, Major Brown, neither is murdering telepaths. I don’t 
want to scan them. Just let me have them for an hour or so and they’ll tell you 
everything they’ve done all the way back to kindergarten.”

   “Just how would you manage that, General Wayne?” asked Brown.

   In response, Susan looked at him and concentrated for a moment. Major Brown 
visibly stiffened in his seat. A few seconds later, he appeared to relax again. 
The look Sanchez saw in Brown’s eyes was one of pure terror.

   “What’s wrong, major?” asked Sanchez.

   Major Brown looked at Sanchez, but didn’t immediately answer the question.

   Susan went back to eating her lunch. Through a mouthful of food she 
said, “Give him a few minutes to recover, general.”

   At her statement, Sanchez looked at Susan and asked, “What did you do to 
him?”

   “I gave him a few seconds of what I can do to make someone talk about 
anything you want to know.”

   Sanchez looked at Major Brown again. Brown slowly said, “I was on fire, 
general. I was on fire inside and out. I have no doubts that if she subjected 
me to that for a minute more than what she did, I’d gladly admit to anything 
you wanted me to and I’d tell you anything you wanted to know.”

   Sanchez looked at Susan again. She said, “You can torture someone 
physically, but there is a limit to how intense the pain can be without the 
subject either losing consciousness or dying on you. You can use drugs and they 
may or may not give you good information. “My way there is no limit to the 
intensity or type of pain the subject can experience; there is also no limit to 
the duration of the pain, and I can tell if what I hear is good information.”

   “She’s telling you the truth, general. I believe she could, quite literally, 
get a confession out of a rock,” said Brown.

   “I’ll contact you when we have a suspect, Susan,” said Sanchez.

   They finished their meal and Susan took Major Brown and General Sanchez back 
to the airport, She had made up her mind to get her husband off the planet at 
the first opportunity. She also decided that if anything happened to Charley, 
she would make Brown, Sanchez and anyone else she could identify as being even 
remotely involved regret that they had ever existed. It almost frightened her 
to think of what she could do with her psi abilities.

******************************

   On their plane, Sanchez and Brown discussed their meeting with Susan. One 
thing they were positive of was that the continuing good health of Charles 
Wayne was of the utmost importance, especially since it could and probably 
would directly impact on their continuing good health unless they could find 
some way to eliminate him without it being traced back to them. They didn’t 
know exactly how Lyta Alexander would react to Charles Wayne being killed. Then 
they realized that Susan would come after them no matter if they ‘shifted the 
blame for Charles’ death or not. She had been very clear on that matter. 

   “Should I find a way to deal with Mrs. Wayne, General Sanchez?” asked Major 
Brown.

   “What do you have in mind?”

   “Either an accident, or possibly something with the DTGT fingerprints on it.”

   Sanchez didn’t want to believe what he was hearing, but Susan knew what they 
had planned for her husband. As he and Major Brown had discussed, she would 
consider anything that happened to Charles the responsibility of his 
organization. He admired the woman, but first things first. He had to protect 
himself and his organization.

   “Do I want to know what you have planned?”

   “If you don’t know, you can’t make a slip.”

   “It just means that I’d best not get close to either Susan or her husband 
before you do your thing.”

   “Yes, sir. That’s exactly what it means.”

******************************

   Susan was in the ‘O’ Club practicing with the instruments that had been 
installed there for that purpose. It was 1430 hours when she received a call 
from Brad Gordon telling her that her ghostwriter, Elaine Perry, would be 
arriving at 1500 at the local airport. She continued practicing and thinking 
about the meeting with Sanchez and Brown. The bastards were planning to kill 
Charley. She had no doubts that they probably intended to kill her too. It 
would be the only way they could be sure she wouldn’t come after them when they 
finished killing her husband. Then and there she decided that the next time she 
saw Sanchez and/or Brown she would fix them up good. She only regretted that 
she hadn’t done it in the mess hall when she had the chance.

******************************

   Susan was comfortably seated in the overstuffed couch that was part of the 
furnishings in her suite’s front room. Elaine Perry was seated in a lounge 
chair. Nursing a glass of juice, Susan asked, “Where would you like to start 
Ms. Perry?”

   Elaine Perry, forty-eight years of age with brown hair, dressed in an 
everyday blouse and skirt of muted pastel colors and looking to be at least ten 
years younger than her actual age, replied, “I think I’d like to know more 
about your family life before you joined Earthforce. Your relationship with 
your parents and your brother interest me. I think it’s the key to really 
understanding your drive, as you got older. You have done some very remarkable 
things in your adult life, and I think my understanding of why will let me do a 
better job of presenting your adult life. This is assuming that you don’t mind 
talking about that period of your life. You were vague about it on the data 
crystals and there is almost nothing about you in the public records before you 
became involved in the overthrow of Clark’s regime.”

   Susan mulled over Perry’s request. She had bragged that this book would be 
warts and all. “If you had asked me this several years ago, I’d have told you 
to get stuffed. Since then, a friend of mine has helped me come to terms with 
my early life. Who and how will not be included in this book.  Where in my 
early life do you want to begin?”

******************************

   It was early evening and Susan was still telling Perry about her life before 
she had joined Earthforce. Looking at her watch, Susan asked, “If you don’t 
mind, we can continue this in the ‘O’ Club. They have a great steak and I’m 
hungry.”

*****************************

   After eating, Susan and Elaine spent an hour listening to the band that was 
playing in the club’s main bar-dancing area, before returning to Susan’s 
quarters.

******************************

   Elaine sat back down in the chair she had been occupying earlier in the 
evening. “Susan, I enjoyed the meal and the music. I’d like to hear the real 
story about the telepath you threw out the window on Io.”

   “There wasn’t much to it. I and my fellow squadron pilots had spent almost a 
solid week in our fighters on patrol looking for raiders.”

   Elaine had a questioning look on her face.

   “Let me explain. In those days it was common for several squadrons of 
fighters to be attached to a capital warship for short deployments. They would 
transport us to an area of pirate activity and leave us for up to a week at a 
time.”

   “You lived for a week in a fighter? How?”

   “Several days before we went on a mission they put us on a strict liquid 
diet. Just before we actually left they would subject us to the equivalent of 
four enemas over a space of four hours. Take my word for it our 
gastrointestinal tract was empty. Our suits were designed to allow for the 
collection of a certain amount of solid and liquid waste. Since we had no solid 
waste inside us to pass, the system could hold much more liquid waste. I’m not 
sure you want to know how that was processed. Needless to say, it allowed us to 
remain away from our mother ship for relatively long periods of time. Then 
during the deployment we were fed only a liquid diet that was very high in the 
nutrients needed to keep us functioning.”

   “Three days of purging your intestines and then seven more on patrol and 
your liquid waste was ‘processed’ onboard. Exactly what was it reprocessed 
for?”

   “It was processed and all the contaminates were removed; then it was 
combined with condensed liquid nutrients for our use.”

    “You drank your own reprocessed liquid waste! Jesus God Almighty, what kind 
of shape were you in when you returned?”

   “We all felt like hell. We had to be careful how much solid food we ate 
immediately after we returned. Too much and you could end up spending your down 
time in sickbay.”

   “You don’t mind if I include this in the book; do you?”

   “By all means include it. It’ll help take the glamour and shine off being a 
fighter pilot. As I was saying, we had just returned from an extended patrol. 
The last thing any of us wanted was to be bothered by outsiders, but the bar 
was an open bar; so, the manager couldn’t keep civilians out. My colleagues and 
I were sitting at a table nursing weak drinks and nibbling a few munchies. You 
didn’t want full strength drinks under those conditions. It could lead to a 
quick case of alcohol poisoning.”

   “I take it that this is leading up to the telepath incident.”

   “Yes.  As I was saying, my colleagues and I were sitting at a table nursing 
weakened drinks and nibbling some light munchies. This guy in a suit and gloves 
and sporting a Psi Corps emblem came over and asked if he could talk to me 
privately. I had no idea what he wanted, but I stepped away from our table and 
followed him over to the bar. He explained that he knew I was the ‘top gun’ in 
the squadrons stationed at Io. I thought he wanted to have sex or something. I 
was ready to kick his ass back to Earth if he even suggested it. What he wanted 
made me want to gag.”

   “What was that?”

   “He explained that he was willing to pay me to let him experience the 
firefights I had on my last mission. The filthy bastard was offering to pay me 
to let him scan my memories from my last mission. He might as well have asked 
me to let him pay me then let him rape me. I was a latent telepath. If I let 
him in my mind, I’d have found myself dragged in by the Psi Corps before I knew 
what hit me; so, I turned him down. Apparently, he wasn’t prepared to take no 
for an answer. I felt him try to scan me. I planted a spinning back kick in his 
solar plexus. Before he could even realize what had happened, I kicked him in 
the ribs a half-dozen times, smashed his face into my knee twice and battered 
his head with elbow strikes. While he staggered around, I took a running leap 
and planted both feet in the middle of his chest. I broke half his ribs and 
punctured both of his lungs. I finally picked him up off the floor and rushed 
him toward the windows. I threw him through one of them. He fell three floors 
and landed in the swimming pool. I was out of my mind. I was hoping the fall 
would finish him off, but Io has very light gravity; so, all I managed to do 
was break most the major bones in his body. I was trying my best to kill him. 
The only reasons I didn’t get arrested and tried was that I was the best pilot 
on Io and had made a large number of kills, and there was another telepath 
present, unknown to me, who testified to the guy’s attempt to illegally scan 
me. I don’t know who he was, but I owe him big time. I heard that the brass 
thought that the illegal scan might have triggered a fight for my life response 
in me that was beyond my control. Apparently, Psi Corps bought it.”

   “I did some research of my own, Susan. His name was Harriman Gray. He was a 
new commercial telepath who had just been assigned to Io.”

   “Then I owe him twice. That’s another story.”

   “I’d like to hear it.”

   Susan told her about the incident with Earthforce Colonel Ari Ben Zayn on 
Babylon 5. When she finished, she asked, “Are you planning to include this in 
the book?”

   “I’m not sure, Susan. Every one of these little stories tells me a bit more 
about you the person and what you were like at various periods in your career. 
I’d like to think that what I write is true to the people involved.”

   “Fair enough. What do you want to discuss next?”

   It was midnight when Susan suggested they call it a night. Elaine spent the 
night in the suite’s second bedroom

******************************

   It was 0600 hours on Sunday morning and Susan was in the gymnasium working 
out. Elaine Perry was watching. She observed that Susan trained very hard and 
was sweating profusely. She noted that Susan was extremely powerful physically 
for a woman, or for a man. She was going through motions with her fighting 
pike. She was very fast in addition to being exceptionally strong. While Susan 
finished her workout, Elaine tried to do a few pull-ups. The experience gave 
her immediate respect for Susan’s strength, because Susan had attached weights 
to her body before doing the same exercise.

   After Susan finished her shower, they headed to the mess hall for 
breakfast. “Do you want to tell me about your relationship with the Anla’shok 
member Marcus Cole? You covered that rather quickly on the data crystals.”

   Susan thought about the question as they made their way through the mess 
line. As they took seats at Susan’s table, she said, “Certainly. It’s a period 
of my life and a relationship that deserves to be discussed in depth. Let me 
get my drink.”

   It took them almost an hour and a half to work their way through a leisurely 
breakfast as Susan talked about Marcus, and Elaine asked numerous questions.
 
******************************

   It was 1600 hours when Susan accompanied Elaine to the airport to catch her 
return flight. “Susan there is one other question I have for now.”

   “What’s that, Elaine?”

   “Your sexual orientation.”

   Susan smiled at the woman’s discomfort at asking the question. “I’ve loved 
both men and women, Elaine. Which do I prefer? Neither really. When I’m in a 
relationship, the person I’m involved with is the only thing I’m interested in. 
When I was a very young and new pilot, I was a bit fast and loose. We all were. 
Every time we went out, there was an excellent possibility that we wouldn’t 
come back. That kind of lifestyle isn’t conducive to developing long-term 
interpersonal relationships. Now, I’m married to a telepath. I lost my first 
child and now I’m pregnant again. The only person in my life is my husband, 
until one of us gets killed or dies of natural causes.”

   “I thought it might be something like that. It’s always amazed me that when 
a football player scores with all the cheerleaders, they call him a real stud; 
when the cheerleader scores with all the members of the football team, she gets 
labeled as a slut. So much for equality.”

   “I see that you understand real life, Elaine. Take care until we get to talk 
again. I’m interested in seeing how you use the stuff we’ve already talked 
about.”

******************************

Monday, 10 September 2266:

   The duty security officer read the pass-down log and was reviewing the 
message board. “Harry, what’s this about the EA secret service coming here?”

   “I don’t know. It says that we will be working with them for the next week. 
I suppose that either the President or vice-president will be visiting here. 
Your guess is as good as mine.”

   Harry had hardly finished when a sharply dressed woman appearing to be in 
her late thirties walked into the duty office. “I’m Agent Francis Shaw. I’m 
looking for the base security officer.” She offered her identification for 
their inspection.

   Harry responded, “He gets in about 0800 hours, Agent Shaw. Would you care 
for a cup of coffee? You are welcome to wait in his office.

******************************

    Susan stopped in Mark Pearson’s doorway. “Colonel Pearson. Could I have a 
few minutes of your time in my office, such as it is?’

   Pearson followed into her office. She had coffee making and he hated to 
admit it, but it smelled better than his. “What can I do for you, General 
Wayne?”

   “I had a one-on-one with the JCS in Earthforce headquarters Saturday 
morning. They wanted a blueprint of how I’m going to handle the reorganization 
of this command and its subordinate commands.”

   At this, Pearson sat up a bit straighter in his seat and got ready to take 
notes. “You haven’t even had time to be completely briefed on the subordinate 
commands that make up this department and they expected you to have a blueprint 
ready to put into place. Not to be disrespectful, General Wayne, but that is 
flat out ludicrous.”

   “I told them as much, colonel. They weren’t too happy with my attitude.” 

   Pearson laughed. “I’d liked to have seen that. Just for amusement value if 
nothing else.”

   “I have a group of civilian civil service employees in mind for the first 
part of my plan. They will be tasked with reviewing the laws and directives 
this department uses for its marching orders. I know these people and trust 
them to be able to cut through the crap to the good stuff. They are going to 
need some professional legal counsel. I don’t know any good legal types for 
that kind of work. I’m hoping you either know someone who can handle that or 
someone who is trustworthy and knows someone who can find us whom we need.”

   “Give me your list. I’ll need to contact their present commands and see what 
can be done to get them assigned to us for temporary duty. It may take a bit 
longer to find trustworthy legal counsel. How are you going to keep the 
politicos out of this?”

   “I don’t owe any of them anything. I don’t really care whose toes I step on 
and there is no way they can apply pressure on me. Once I’m formally given this 
assignment by President Luchenko, the civilian sphere of influence is legally 
prevented from interfering. They have nothing that can be used to pressure me. 
If they think otherwise, I have a seventy million credit savings account that 
can be used to torpedo a political career.”

   “Seventy million?”

   “Give or take a few credits. If push comes to shove, I’ll resign and run 
against them. Odds are that I can bury them in an election.”

   “Give me a few days, General Wayne. I’ll give you answers as soon as I get 
them. Oh yes, I received an e-mail this morning. There is a familiarization 
class on the A-328B starting tomorrow morning. Colonel Stout wants to know if 
you can sit in on it?”

   “I’ll call him. Since you’re going to be busy on this task for a day or so, 
I might as well do it while I have the time.”

******************************

   Zaleski dropped in on Pearson about an hour after Susan gave him his 
tasking. Pearson explained what she had him doing. “Is there any problem, 
general?”

   “Not at all, Mark. I’m on the ROAD (retired on active duty) program for the 
remainder of this week. Funnel anything that needs to be done by me to her, 
starting now. She doesn’t officially relieve me until Friday morning, but I see 
no reason to not let her take the reins now. It’s time people got used to the 
idea that I’m as good as gone. Besides, the movers are picking up the last of 
my belongings today and the wife and I need to get checked into the ‘Q’ for the 
next three nights. I’m going to let Susan know she can move into her new 
quarters anytime after lunch. Her steward has almost everything ready to go, 
except for the bedroom. That’s not likely to take very long. That woman is 
super efficient and she knows how to handle personnel.”

   “It looks like life is going to get interesting a few days sooner than I 
thought.”

   Zaleski chuckled and left the room.

******************************

   “I’ll move in tomorrow, General Zaleski. It won’t take me but one trip to 
carry everything I have from the ‘Q’ to the house. I’ve always traveled light. 
Going from starship to starship will do that to you. Even as captain, I never 
had much in the way of extra space. Crew and officer comfort just don’t figure 
very highly on the importance scale when they are designing the damned things.”

   “That’s another reason I told you that you have quite a bit to learn about 
your new status. You still think like a starship captain. Your new quarters are 
probably larger than all the officers’ quarters on the Ares combined and your 
personal belongings are going to be moved this afternoon by Mary and a couple 
of her people. The ‘Q’ bill is being handled by housing. It’ll be paid out of 
your housing allowance. You get to sleep in a real house tonight, Susan.”

   “It’s going to take a lot of adjustment, sir. This is about as far from what 
I had when I was a young pilot as you can get and still be in the military. I 
haven’t slept in a real house since I left Earth almost two decades ago, not 
counting the hotels and apartments I’ve lived in for the last few months.”

   “I’m looking forward to reading your autobiography. I just hope the JCS 
doesn’t make you tone it down.”

   “They won’t, sir. There’s nothing classified going into it. Everything I put 
into it will be the truth and I can already tell you there are some people in 
high places who are going to be absolutely infuriated, including JCS and many 
members of the civilian leadership that they answer to.”

   “I want an autographed copy when you publish it. I think it’s sure to become 
a collector’s item.”

   “Not a problem, sir.”

   “One more thing. I told Colonel Pearson to funnel my paperwork and whatever 
in here to you for disposition. You relieve me officially Friday morning, but I 
see no reason why you shouldn’t take over the day-to-day drill now. Any 
objections?”

   “No sir.”

   A few minutes after Zaleski left her office, Susan walked out of her office 
and looked over the workers busy in their cubicles and then strolled over to 
look out of the front windows. She would have trouble describing the feelings 
she was having to anyone who had never held a command. Even if it wasn’t 
official for four and a half days, she was getting a feeling of awe at what she 
was about to undertake. There was a feeling of a massive weight settling down 
on her shoulders and feelings of doubt about her ability to succeed. It had 
been the same every time she had taken over a command, even if it was only a 
temporary assignment. It reminded her of the tremendous responsibility she had 
shouldered when Captain Sheridan had gone to Z’Ha’Dum, and again during the 
civil war when he had been captured by Clark’s forces. Then there was the Zeus 
and the Ares, but none of them seemed nearly as heavy as this one. She was 
going to have to do more delegating here than she had done in all of her past 
experiences combined. It occurred to her that she had an advantage this time. 
This time when she interviewed personnel, she would damned well know if they 
were being truthful. Between her psi abilities and what she had learned during 
the questioning of the people who tried to kill her in the recent past, getting 
rid of moles and other interlopers would be a piece of cake. Then again, 
knowing they were being interviewed by a telepath might well incline personnel 
to either tell the truth during their interview or not apply for a position in 
the first place.

******************************

Earthforce headquarters; Tuesday, 10 September 2266:

   It was 0830 and General Leftcourt was on his second cup of coffee of the 
morning. He was watching the video and listening to the audio being played from 
the data crystal that Susan had given him Saturday morning. 

   “She’s pretty good, general,” said Colonel Leonard Bradley, Leftcourt’s 
chief aide, from Leftcourt’s doorway.

   “How do you think she’ll play as the spokesperson in the new upcoming 
Earthforce recruitment commercials?”

   “Hard to say, general. She’s very photogenic and she has a voice that should 
make any red-blooded male drool.”

   Bradley took a seat on the couch on the left side of Leftcourt’s office.

   “I’ve heard a rumor, general. Is the President really going to attend 
General Wayne’s change of command?”

   “Her security personnel are already in Stockton. They’ll be working with 
Colonel Keller’s base security people. I understand they’re going to use a 
large aircraft hanger for the ceremony and the Officers’ Club for a reception. 
General Zaleski is going to have his retirement ceremony in the ‘O’ club just 
before the reception starts.”

   “Does General Wayne know the President is going to be there?”

   “She hasn’t been informed. We’re going to try to keep it under wraps until 
President Luchenko is actually on her way to Stockton. I figure someone on her 
staff will notify the press the day before. There’re going to be some senators 
and congressmen there too.”

   “General Wayne isn’t going to be too happy about that. She doesn’t exactly 
like politicians.”

   “Actually, Brad, the word I’d use to describe her feelings is ambivalent. 
She just doesn’t care about them one way or the other.”

   At that time, the Earthforce PAO, Jake Carns, came into the office. “You 
wanted to see me, general?”

   “Yes, Jake. President Luchenko’s going to attend Susan’s change of command 
ceremony. I want our people to be there answer any questions the press may have 
about anything. Also, Susan is due to appear in court in Atlanta, Georgia next 
Monday. I want you to make sure that when she arrives in Atlanta that she is 
met by a staff car complete with driver. I don’t care where you have to get it. 
Fly it in, if you have to.”

   “That could be expensive, general.”

   “She’s going to be wearing three stars when she goes into that courtroom, 
Jake. I don’t want her arriving by taxi. You make sure the press knows she is 
there to do her civic duty.”

   “Sir, you said three stars?”

   “Jake, I’m going to send a message to General Zaleski that’ll give him 
authority and orders to promote Susan to two stars tomorrow morning. President 
Luchenko is going to make a speech explaining why Susan’s position is being 
upgraded to three stars and she insists on pinning them on herself. I can’t 
swear to it, but I’m sure that Susan’s being Russian has something to do with 
it.”

   Carns and Bradley both looked at Leftcourt, confusion written all over their 
faces.

   “Me and the other JCS members had her in here Saturday morning and made her 
explain how she expects to reorganize her new command. She correctly noted that 
reorganizing her command would impact both positively and negatively on other 
commands. With that thought in mind, President Luchenko insists on Susan’s 
being able to stand eyeball-to-eyeball with the commanders of those other 
commands on an equal rank footing. After Susan finishes that, she’ll learn that 
the rank is going to be made permanent.”

   “There’s never been a brigadier general in the Earthforce who was less than 
forty years old, until she came along and you are elevating her to lieutenant 
general status. Aren’t some senior officers going to complain that this is 
ludicrous?” asked Jake.

   “They already have, Jake. They were told that they could live with it or 
retire – their choice. You don’t truly understand what we’re expecting her to 
do.”

   “No sir. I don’t. Would you be kind enough to enlighten me?”

   “Brad. Take Jake to a late breakfast and enlighten him.”

   “Come on, Jake. You’re going to love this.”
  
   Before Carns left he asked, “General, this is going to make General Wayne 
the most high profile telepath ever in the Earth Alliance. Don’t you think it 
will also make her an irresistible target for what’s left of the DTGT group?”

   “No, I hadn’t thought of that, Jake. It means we want even more security on 
that base than we had planned. I’ll notify their security people.”

******************************    

    Thirty minutes after leaving Leftcourt’s office, Jake Carns sat in the 
headquarters cafeteria looking across the table at Bradley. “You can’t be 
serious. There’s no way she can do that.”

   “I was at the briefing Saturday morning. I can assure that they are deadly 
serious about what they expect of her. That was after she told them exactly 
what she thought of them, and she did it in front of me, the other aides and 
some other staffers.”

   “I wouldn’t take on the job no matter how much they offered to pay me.”

   “She isn’t you. It’s going to be interesting to see how she handles the 
politicians and all the others who have their snouts in the trough.”

   “They expect her to close bases and cancel contracts; Jesus Christ himself 
couldn’t pull that off.”

   “We’ll see, Jake. We’ll see.”

******************************

Tuesday morning, 11 September 2266 in Stockton, California:

   Susan getting more worried about her husband’s safety, got up much earlier 
than she normally did. She immediately called General Leftcourt. It took only a 
couple of minutes for him to come online. Looking into the vid-phone display 
she said, “General, I have an urgent request.”

   “What is it?”

   “I want my husband to be present for my change of command. He has been 
working on a project for General Sanchez. I’m quite sure they’re finished with 
using his abilities.”

   “I’ll check on it for you, but I have no direct control over his projects.”

   “I insist that my husband be there, General Leftcourt. It is imperative.”

   Sensing something was wrong, Leftcourt asked, “Can you tell me what the 
problem is?”

   “Not over this circuit, general. I’ll be happy to tell you all about it, 
after I get my husband back. If I don’t, I’m going to become a very unhappy 
camper. I may even have to ask my friend Lyta to help me resolve it. I don’t 
think General Sanchez would appreciate that. Actually, I don’t think anyone in 
Earthforce intelligence would appreciate it.”

   Her statement was a thinly veiled threat, but she had been cagey about it. 
She hadn’t really threatened anyone. He knew from what he had learned when they 
had investigated the attack on the Zeus and how the ship had survived that Lyta 
Alexander could probably take Earthforce apart. If that wasn’t bad enough, 
there was what happened to the Drakh when they had attacked Babylon 5. Then 
there was the late base in Nevada. He didn’t want to think about what she might 
do to Sanchez and his people. 

******************************

   It was 0730 hours when Susan arrived in the training building classroom 
where the familiarization course was to be taught. She walked into the 
classroom wearing one of her sets of khaki. The other students present didn’t 
immediately recognize her uniform.

   The other students were trying to figure out who she was and what military 
organization she belonged to. They saw the star collar devices and knew she was 
a general. They just didn’t know whose. Colonel Stout walked in a few seconds 
after Susan did. “I see you gentlemen have met General Wayne. Friday she 
becomes our new commanding officer.”

   All the young men snapped to attention. “As you were, gents. I’m here for 
the class, same as you are. Good morning, Colonel Stout. General Zaleski handed 
me my new hat a few days early, unofficially; so, I may have to step out of 
class occasionally.”

   “Not a problem, General Wayne. Your past training and experience should 
allow you to get back up to speed long before any of these young men are ready 
for the trainer. I shouldn’t think you’ll need much more than a quick once over 
of the controls and safety features and procedures.”

   “Whatever it takes, Colonel.”

****************************** 

   Looking into the secure vid-phone display, Leftcourt said, “It isn’t open to 
discussion, Manuel. You just make damned sure that you get Charles Wayne to 
Stockton Friday morning and he had better be in excellent health. Am I making 
myself clear?”

   On Sanchez’s end, Major Brown, sitting out of range of the video pick-up, 
frowned as Leftcourt closed down any objections that General Sanchez raised. 
After the display went blank, Sanchez looked at Brown. “Make it happen just 
like he ordered, major.”

   “Sir. You know she’ll take custody of him when we get there and we’ll never 
see him again.”

   “Just what do you think our options are, major! He knows we have the man. I 
don’t know what else he knows, but it’s our royal asses if we underestimate 
him. He can make us both go away.”

   “I can have one of our independent contractors do it and we are off the 
hook.”

   “Major! You will have Charles Wayne on that base and turned over to General 
Wayne Friday morning or I will make you go away! The damned woman gave you the 
smallest sample of what she can do. Do you really want to end up like that for 
the rest of your friggin’ life! I damned surely don’t! It’s out of our hands.”

   “But, sir?”

   “Major, if anything happens to Charles Wayne, I will personally kill you in 
the most painful way I can imagine. Do you understand me?”

   Realizing that the argument was over, Major Brown wisely answered, “Yes, 
sir.” Wayne was going to escape and there was nothing he could about it, at 
least not if he wanted to live to see the coming weekend. His dedication to his 
job did not extend that far. 

******************************

   It was early afternoon when Zaleski received the message directing him to 
promote Susan to Major General. It was short and to the point. He called 
Colonel Pearson. “Mark, have someone hustle over to the uniform shop and buy a 
set of major general collar devices.”

   “Yes sir!” was the reply.

******************************

Wednesday morning in Stockton:

    Susan stuck her head into Pearson’s office. “Mark, I’ll be in my office for 
a few minutes before I go to class.”

   “General Zaleski said to tell you to stick around until he gets in, sir. He 
said it was important.”

   “Then, I’m going to make a small pot of coffee. Call me when he gets here. I 
don’t want to interfere with the class I’m in. the young pilots to be aren’t as 
well versed in flying as I am.”

   After she left, Pearson said to himself, “I don’t think anyone in Earthforce 
is as well versed as you are, general.”

******************************

   Susan’s phone rang. It was Pearson to inform her that General Zaleski had 
arrived and wanted her in the large meeting room.

   Susan walked into the meeting room. There ware a number of junior officers 
and a few older civilians already there. Zaleski motioned for her to join him 
at the end of the room where a podium sat.

   After she joined him, he said, “I know you are all curious as to why you are 
here. In case any of you don’t already know her, this is General Susan Ivanova-
Wayne. She is my relief. That will take place Friday morning at 1000 hours. We 
are here this morning because I have been authorized and ordered to execute her 
temporary promotion to major general. If things work out while she is here, it 
becomes permanent.”

   Susan stood at attention while Zaleski read the orders for her promotion. 
Then he pinned her new collar devices on her and shook her hand.

   “Starting tomorrow morning, Susan will be using my office, which becomes 
hers Friday. I’m going to be very scarce until time for my relief and 
retirement ceremony. If you have problems or questions, address them to her. 
You are all dismissed.”

   Pearson said, “Congratulations, General Wayne. The new hardware looks good 
on you.”

   “They feel very heavy, Mark, very heavy.”

******************************

   Susan walked into the classroom just five minutes late. She apologized. The 
instructor noticed the new collar devices, but said nothing except, “You 
haven’t missed anything, general. Ed was just finishing telling a lewd joke.

   “It seems that I always miss the good parts,” she responded.

   Her response elicited chuckles from her junior classmates.

******************************

Thursday morning, in a bunker somewhere on Earth:

   “Time to get up and at ‘em,” said an unidentified man to the man lying on 
the bed.

   Charles Wayne fought to open his eyes. He had been drugged and injected with 
the sleeper drug, which disabled his psi abilities. He didn’t know how long he 
had been ‘out’. It finally occurred to him that it must be time for them to 
kill him. He had been a fool to believe that they ever intended to pay the 
large amount of money that had been offered to him to help them on this 
project. He wondered if Susan would ever know what happened to him. He could 
only hope that his death was reported to Lyta. If it was, these bastards would 
rue the day they were born.

   “I said get up!”

   Charles finally managed to drag himself up to a sitting position. He knew 
there was no way he would be able to walk. They were going to have to drag him 
to wherever they intended to finish him off.

   Another man entered the room. “Get someone in here to help get him to the 
dispensary. We have to get the drugs out of his system before he gets turned 
over to her. If she learns about his being kept drugged someone will pay. I 
don’t want it to be me.

   Four hours after he had been awakened from the drug induced sleep; Charles 
Wayne became fully aware of his surroundings. The smell identified it as the 
facility dispensary. He couldn’t feel anyone’s thoughts; so, they had only 
counteracted the tranquilizers he had been given. His psi abilities were still 
disabled. He was wondering just what they had in mind when Major Brown walked 
into the room.

   “It looks like you’ll be going home after all, Mr. Wayne,” said Brown.

   “Who’s holding a gun at your head, major?”

   Brown didn’t answer.

   “It must be someone with a hell of a lot of horsepower. How high did Susan 
have to go to get someone to jerk yours and Sanchez’s chains? I damn well know 
you aren’t releasing me for fun and profit. Speaking of profit, I’m going to 
expect my contract price to be paid in full.”

   Brown still didn’t say anything. Sanchez walked into the room and stood 
behind and to the right of Brown. “Your things have been packed, Mr. Wayne. 
It’s time for you to return to civilization. As for what we owe you, it’ll be 
paid into your government’s account in your name before the month is out. I 
assume that will be satisfactory.”

   “It will, general.”

   “As for who jerked our chains, let’s just say that your wife has friends in 
high places.”

   Charles stood up. “I’m ready to go anytime you are.”

*****************************

Friday morning, Stockton, California:

   Susan, eating breakfast after a hard workout at the gym, was reading the 
printed schedule of events she had been given. For her, the prescribed uniform 
was dress whites with medals. She had heard that there was a team of Earth 
Alliance special security personnel on the base. If it was true, it could only 
mean that someone very important was going to be here. Rumor had it that 
President Luchenko was going to attend her change of command ceremony. She 
laughed to herself. Considering her relationship with the President, it wasn’t 
very damned likely. Besides, Zaleski would have clued her in if that were true.

   “May I sit down?”

   Susan looked up and into the face of someone she didn’t recognize. “Who 
might you be?”

   The woman holding a tray of food replied, “I’m Agent Francis Shaw. I work 
for EA security.”

   Susan motioned for her to be seated. Since Susan wasn’t in uniform she 
didn’t think Shaw knew who she was. She waited for Shaw to start the 
conversation.

   “Aren’t you even interested in why I chose to share your table?”

   “No.”

   It wasn’t the answer Shaw expected. “I’m part of the President’s advance 
security team.”

   “And... .”

   “That doesn’t interest you?”

   “No.”

   “You’re having a change of command today.”

   “Old news, Agent Shaw.”

   “You do know the President is going to attend the function, don’t you?”

   “I suppose I do now.”

   “Do you know why?”

   “Not a clue.”

   “You’re not an easy person to talk to.”

   “You seem to be doing okay.”

   “You don’t seem to be too enthusiastic that she is going to be here.”

   “Why should I? Let me answer that. The President and I can barely tolerate 
being in the same room together unless we have a referee present. I figure that 
she and any other politicians who are going to be here are here for publicity 
and photo opportunities.”

   “What makes you think so?”

   “Right now, Agent Shaw, I’m the highest profile ‘hero’ in the Earth 
Alliance. I’m aware of how popular I am with the general public. These 
political clowns want to be seen as being chummy with me. They hope it’ll 
translate into votes this coming election. I’d just soon they all, including 
President Luchenko, take a long vacation... long enough for me to grow old and 
gray without having to ever see any of them again.”

   Susan’s response caught Shaw by surprise. “I work pretty close with the 
President’s staff and inner circle. I have to in order to do my job. From what 
I’ve heard from them, she thinks pretty highly of you.”

   “I’ve been around her and some of her staffers in the very recent past. I 
don’t share your evaluation of the situation, but then I have an advantage over 
you.”

   “And that would be?”

   “I’m a telepath.”

   “Oh. I keep forgetting that telepaths don’t have to wear anything to 
distinguish them from everyone else anymore.”

   “Frustrating isn’t it, not being able to tell who we are by just looking at 
our clothing?”

   Shaw didn’t rise to the bait. “Not really. Since the Psi Corps fell there 
haven’t been any appreciable problems with the telepaths, at least not anymore 
than with any other group of people.”

   “In other words, the big bad telepath terror hasn’t manifested itself. 
Amazing, isn’t it. All they want is to live life without anyone persecuting 
them, grow up, get married, raise children – all the things all of us want to 
do. I say that because a few months ago, I had no psi abilities.”

   “I assume that’s why you said they in your last statement.

   Susan stood up to leave. “It’s been interesting meeting you, Agent Shaw.”

   Shaw watched Susan leave and wondered how someone could be so confident in 
themselves and so unimpressed by the prospect of sharing the stage with the 
President of the EA. Then again, Agent Shaw had never faced either the dangers 
or other trials and tribulations that Susan had, nor had she ever met and 
argued with the oldest and first being to ever live in the universe.

******************************

   It was 0815 hours when Susan returned home to get ready for the upcoming 
ceremony. As she drove up and parked, she noted a nondescript black sedan 
sitting in front of her quarters. As she approached the front walkway, two men 
got out of the back seat section of the sedan. One of them was a nondescript 
man and the other was her husband Charles.

   “Here he is, General Wayne, safe and sound,” said the man in a tight voice.

   Susan didn’t hesitate, she put her arms around her husband and looked over 
his shoulder at man. It only took a few moments to realize that Charles was 
recovering from being heavily drugged and that his psi abilities were non-
functional. The bastards had been injecting him with the sleeper drug.

   “You win for now, general,” said the man.

   Susan then did something she never thought she would do; she scanned him 
without his permission. It took less than a minute to see that he had no 
information except that Charles was to be arrested as soon as he and she 
returned home after the ceremonies were completed. She had expected something 
like this. She would have to get Charley off the planet. She had a plan.

   As soon as she entered her quarters she called the base communications 
center and requested a circuit with Whitestar 126, the one presently assigned 
to her by the IA and orbit above Stockton, California.

   Looking out of the vid-phone display, the Alyt Donivar inquired, “How may I 
be of service General Wayne?”

    #I have a problem, Alyt Donivar.# Susan then, speaking Minbari, explained 
her problem and what she hoped could be a solution.

   #Give me a few minutes, general. I need to clear this with Entil-zha Delenn.#

   Less than five minutes later, Alyt Donivar reported to Susan that Entil-zha 
Delenn agreed to her request.

   #Entil-zha Delenn said she will reroute a war cruiser that is on it’s way 
home to transport your husband to Minbar.#

   #Thank you, Alyt Donivar.#

******************************   

END PART 29

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