"I've got the file," Susan said. "And I think we've got a problem. Ms Vincent is a diplomatic nightmare just waiting to happen."
"How bad?" Sheridan asked.
"Sixty-seven confirmed kills across three separate ground campaigns," the Lieutenant Commander said. "Including a lot of command staff officers and two Alyts. They had an Alyt assigned solely to tracking down and killing her. The Minbari call her 'Stalking Cat' she has something similar to your fanclub, with the added bonus that she'd be considered an assassin by our own people."
"Well, the Minbari certainly know she's here," Sheridan said. "And we've only heard rumblings. That'll get worse when word gets to their government in general, more than just someone we suspect to be Grey Counsel."
"I'd say to try to keep it to yourself if we didn't already know that they know," Ivanova said. "In this case..."
"I'll go to Ambassador Delenn and handle it," Sheridan said. "In the mean time, I have something else in mind for you."
"Sir?" Ivanova asked.
"Remember that report you gave me on the Drazi situation?" Sheridan said.
"Well, yes," Ivanova said. "They've been a worsening nuisance for a couple of days now."
"I want you to resolve the issue," Sheridan said. "I think it's time for you to learn the fine art of diplomacy."
"Sir?" she said.
"It is time you took on the responsibilities that come with your promotion," Sheridan noted.
"But sir, I...promotion?" she asked.
"Yes, I just finished putting the paperwork through," Sheridan noted. "Commander Susan Ivanova."
"Commander?" Susan spluttered.
"Yes," Sheridan said with a smile. "And now if you can handle some of the smaller diplomatic concerns and leave be free to handle the larger concerns..."
"Oh, right! Yes, of course, sir!" Susan said crisply as Sheridan left the room.
Her smile lasted until she considered the "Drazi situation": every Drazi in the station had split into two groups and were regularly beating the hell out of each other to determine a superior side.
****
Garibaldi sat quietly in his room thinking things through.
That girl, Vivian, had recognized him. In and of itself this wasn't much, but Ms Vincent had said something about a "rat" in the bowels of the ship. And he'd heard of Rally Vincent during the Earth-Minbari war.
She'd been sort of a gropos legend after a few of her escapades, stuff that was supposed to be classified but ended up common rumor and gossip anyway. He'd run across her name more than once as a Mars cop too.
Everybody thought she was dead at the end until she ended up found in a wreck of a pirate ship playing some sort of Centauri board game with a Minbari who'd been likewise stranded.
Now, Rally Vincent had the resources to set up a deep space message burst. She was one of the better known legitimate arms dealers, and had a rep as a bounty hunter and investigator.
Of course, she and her kids hadn't been on the station when he'd been shot, but there was a definite explanation there.
"How could someone see something that happened when they weren't here," he considered quietly. "And what would make them want to go a roundabout way to handle it?"
The answer was very clear and moderately uncomfortable.
"Telepath," he said grimly. "Trying to stay out of Psi-Corp's line of sight."
He stretched and considered things carefully. There was no way he was going to turn a fifteen year old girl over to Psi-Corps. Especially not when they were trying to do the right thing and stop a corrupt cop.
"Guess this is a case of one of those things that I can't tell myself," he said simply.
****
Rally frowned as she walked into the clinic and saw the man in charge.
Dr Stephen Franklin, the CMO of the station, was running this free clinic. That made her more than a little...cautious, but what she'd heard said this clinic was a safe place to go to get medical care without getting official reports sent back to the wrong people.
She trusted Becky on this information, especially given what she'd charged for it. So I guess it was a time for a bit of a leap of faith.
The woman looked back toward Shanti and Vivi and nodded.
"Let's try this," she said.
"Are you sure?" Vivi asked with narrowed eyes. "I thought he was in Medlab up above."
"He was," Rally said. "Handle a couple of things, see if you get any flashes. This is supposed to be some sort of telepath underground, so there should be some sign of that."
"Right," Vivian said. "Touchy feely, I go."
"I know you don't like to touch things, Vivi," Rally said, turning toward and cupping a hand over the side of the girl's face. "And I don't like that you need to...but, it doesn't change things."
"Can I do anything?" Shanti asked.
"Try not to break any arms while we're here?" Vivi said in response, driving her sister into a fume.
"Be nice, Little Girl," Rally said playfully before turning toward the clinic and heading forward.
"Okay," Franklin was saying. "This shouldn't be too serious, I'm going to give you an anti-biotic and you'll need to take it for about a week and a half."
Rally waited until the current patient was finished with to introduce herself, watching as Vivi meandered about the room, fiddling with things. The girl flinched a couple of times, but eventually she gave Rally a subtle nod.
"Excuse me," Rally said, stepping forward.
Stephen turned to look at her and blinked.
"Miss Vincent," he said in surprise. "What are you doing down here?"
"My girls and I need a medical check-up," she said firmly.
"You can do that up in medlab," Franklin said suspiciously. "Or are you trying to avoid some payment?"
"No, I'm willing to pay," Rally said. "But, I heard that records were...somewhat less official here."
Franklin crossed his arms and looked around carefully.
"And who told you that?" he asked.
"I have the word from a Dr. Beckett in Proxima III," Rally answered.
"Telepaths?" Franklin asked under his breath.
"It's complicated," Rally said. "But I'd like there to be a limit as to how much information is available with these two."
"All right," Franklin said. "Let's see what we've got."
He turned to the two girls and smiled in a friendly tone.
"So, I'm Dr. Franklin," he said. "And you are?"
"I'm Shanti," the girl with the longer hair said with a bright smile. "That's Vivian over there."
Shanti pointed to Vivian and then shook hands vigorously with Stephen as her sister came over. Vivian waved and held back closer to Rally, putting a stick of gum into her mouth.
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(Posted Mon, 03 May 2010 04:16)
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