Shadows of the Past by Justin

Rating: PG-13
Uber Setting: Babylon 5
Disclaimer: Willow & Tara and a lot of the other characters from this story belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Babylon 5 was created by J. Michael Straczynski.
Distribution: Through the Looking Glass http://alia.customer.netspace.net.au/glass.htm
The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Anyone can take it, just let me know.
Feedback: Yes please!
Author's Notes: This story is set in the year 2267, two years after the Drakh released their plague on the Earth.
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Summary: A young techno mage and a telepath race to solve a mystery that threatens the galaxy.

The IPX exploration vehicle Columbus was, like most Earth ships, ugly. However that didn't stop it from being able to do its job, which was placing long range communications buoys, which enabled IPX's deep space probes to communicate with their base. On board Captain Ramsay did some checks before saying to his partner, "We're almost at the coordinates."

The other man, James started flicking some switches on the control panel. "Getting buoy ready to launch."

"Okay launch on my..." The captain stopped as an alarm sounded. "There's another ship approaching."

Ramsay grinned at this, "So are we. Okay I'm getting the telemetry on the ship." When the data came up he thought it must be mistaken, so he redid the scan. It came back with the same results. "That isn't possible."

Willow activated the comm system, "Thank you Babylon Control." She activated the docking systems then went back to the book she had been reading. She was so engrossed in the book that she almost didn't notice the fact that the ship had docked. Sighing she put the book down and left the ship. The docking bay was just as she had pictured it. It was full of people of various races bustling about, either heading in or out of the station. Willow made her way to one of the bored looking guards and handed over her ID.

As the guard put the ID into her scanner she said, "Are you here for business or pleasure?"

Willow smiled, in what she hoped was a friendly fashion, "A little from column A, a little from column B."

"Oh, well I've been spending a lot of time traveling around alien worlds, getting a bit of culture. Not that humans aren't cultured, but I just mean I wanted see other cultures, so I've been spending a lot of time traveling around alien worlds, exploring and stuff and what was the question again?"

A short distance away a man was watching the exchange from the shadows. Activating his com unit he raised it to his mouth and said, "This is Warren, the target has been sighted."

Tara was walking down a corridor of an IPX building. There were people going either way, but they didn't seem to notice her. Tara stopped as she recognized the woman up ahead. "Mom?"

Not seeming to hear her the woman said to the man she was walking with, "So what's this job again?"

"Oh, one of the archeologists wants me to look at some artifact she's found." He glanced at his computer pad before saying, "Anna Sheridan. Apparently this artifact has some organic components and she thinks I might be able to find something out about it."

Tara suddenly realized where she was, when she was. Running forwards she shouted, "Mom, you've got to stop him. That artifact is a weapon. Mom, Mom!" Tara stopped as she realized that everyone had disappeared. Then she heard a strange buzzing sound. Looking round she tried to work out where it was coming from. "Hello, is there anyone there?" The buzzing stopped, but was replaced by a loud screaming sound. Tara held her head and cried with pain.

Tara woke up with a gasp. Looking round she saw she was on a shuttle. The woman sitting next to her looked over and asked, "Are you okay dear? You seemed to be having a bad dream."

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks." Tara tried to work out why she was having that dream again. Several years ago she had been attacked and had been in a coma for a couple of years. After waking up she had had that dream quite often, but it had faded away and she hadn't had it again until now.

Warren turned a corner and gave a small gasp of horror as he realized that Willow had disappeared. He ran down to the next intersection and tried to see which way she had gone. He stopped as a voice said, "Are you looking for me?" Warren turned to see Willow watching him with a bemused expression on her face. She raised her hand to give a small wave before saying, "Hi."

Warren fired the PPG. Willow waved her hand and the PPG blast was deflected into the wall. "What the hell are you?"

Instead of answering Willow disappeared. Warren jumped as a voice from behind him said, "I'm complicated." Spinning round he found Willow standing there. "So did you miss out on muggers' school. Do they have a mugger's school? If they do then the do you know what the first lesson should be? Don't try to mug a techno mage." Warren's eyes grew as a ball of fire formed in her hand. He screamed with terror as she threw it at him. Only stopping as it passed straight through him.

"It was just a hologram," he said, as he laughed with relief. That relief faded when he saw that Willow had disappeared again. As he made his way back to his quarters he said to himself, "I have got to get that technology."

Reaching her quarters Tara threw her bag down and sat down on her bed. It was a rather nice quarters, even if it was rather small. Actually it looked like pretty much every other quarters she'd stayed in. A large down side to being a commercial telepath was the amount of travel it involved. Even more so since the psycorp had been disbanded. Sighing Tara reached into her bag and got her computer out so she could look at her schedule. IPX was hiring and they wanted her to help with the interviews. Tara put the computer away again. She knew the drill pretty well, she would use her telepathic powers to help them build up a psychological profile for the candidates. Tara wondered why she had become a commercial teep. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy the, just at times she wished she could do something more worthwhile with her abilities.

As soon as Willow got to her quarters she placed a call to Earth. As the image of her old friend Xander Harris appeared on the screen she said, "Hi Xander."

For a moment Xander didn't say anything, not seeming to be able to believe who he was seeing. "My god, Willow. Is that really you?"

Xander still didn't look as if he believed who he was talking to, "Where have you been all this time?"

Xander gave a small smile, "I'm dying but aside from that I've got no complaints." Seeing Willow frown he went on, "Sorry that was a bad joke."

"Yeah, pretty much. She was on Mars when... when it happened, so... well the distance is causing a strain."

"Hey, what are you sorry about? I mean they've still got three years to find a cure."

Willow nodded, trying to keep back the tears she could feel coming. A part of her wished that she hadn't made this call.

"They're going to find a cure, so there's no reason to start worrying. Pretty soon you'll be able to come to Earth and we'll be able to go to the Bronze and work on getting you a girlfriend."

"Bye." As Xander's face disappeared from the screen Willow started crying, thinking that she might never see her friend again.

Tessa Holloran, the head of intelligence for the Interstellar Alliance, switched off her computer and sat back in her chair with a groan. When she had given up her position in the Mars government seven years ago she had hoped that being head of intelligence would involve less paperwork. The opposite had turned out to be the case and with each passing year the amount of paperwork seemed to increase. She was tempted to go back to the Mars government. Actually she was really tempted to restart the Mars resistance. Since Mars had been made independent she wasn't sure what she'd be resisting again but knew she'd be able to come up with something. Putting these thoughts aside Tessa looked at her schedule. She noticed that in the following days she'd be holding meetings the ambassador for some of the smaller governments. She had put it out of her mind because she never enjoyed this. Partly due to the fact that she'd have to work with a telepath, something that she was always wary of. Turning her computer back on she asked for a list of telepaths on the station. Most of them were busy but there was one who was available, a Tara Maclay.

Hyperspace was a vast expanse of energy. Filled with shifting currents and eddies which would, if it weren't for the beacons places at strategic points, make it impossible to navigate. The Earth force ship Callisto was currently traveling through it. In the cockpit Buffy Summers flicked a couple of switches and said, "Can't this heap go any faster?"

Graham turned to the man next to him and asked, "Hey, how does Buffy screw in a light bulb?"

"You know I could have been assigned to the Excalibur," Buffy complained, "But nooo, I had to end up here with you two jokers."

Buffy sighed, "Do you know where we are? I mean if we were to leave hyperspace?"

"So?" Graham asked, "The Shadows left years ago, and Z'Ha Dum is just rubble now."

"Remember how I said the Shadows had left?" Graham said, "It seems no one told this one."

Buffy looked back through the rear porthole and saw the black form of a Shadow vessel.

"Have they come back," Buffy finished. "Come on we've got to get back, warn the others." She quickly activated the port engines, dodging a laser blast from the approaching ship.

Tara got back to her quarters and gave a groan of frustration. She had gotten to the meeting only to be told that the interviews had been rescheduled and that she wouldn't be needed. The whole trip to Babylon 5 had been a waste of time. She smiled a little as it occurred to her that it needn't be a total waste, after all Babylon 5 was supposed to have a lot of interesting shops. She was just about to leave when the com unit started sounding. Tara was tempted to ignore it, but instead decided to answer.

"I'm Tessa Holloran, I'm in charge of intelligence for the Interstellar Alliance. I'm calling you regarding a job opening."

"That's correct, I have a meeting now, can you be at my office in, say, an hour?"

"Certainly." As the screen went blank Tara decided she still had time to do a bit of shopping.

Willow was wondering absently round the shops. So far she hadn't found anything that interested her. All she had to show for her trip was the attempted mugging from the day before. Willow was just picking up a trinket when she spotted a woman haggling with one of the vendors. It wasn't just that this woman was the most beautiful that Willow had ever seen that made Willow stop, but somehow she felt a connection with her. Willow watched as the woman finished the transaction and started to leave.

"Uh no." Willow put the trinket down and started after the woman. She went round of a corner but there was no sign of the woman. She hurried to the next turning and going round, she almost ran into the woman, who was waiting there for her.

Willow shrugged, "I just wanted to get your name, and maybe ask you out on a date."

For a moment it didn't seem as though the woman was going to answer, but, just as the doors were closing she said, "Tara Maclay."

After leaving her purchases back in her room Tara went to her meeting with Tessa Holloran. All the while she couldn't stop thinking about the woman who had come after her. A part of her was flattered that such an attractive woman would be interested in her, but most of her couldn't understand the reason for the interest. She suspected that it was all an elaborate joke, or maybe something worse.

When Tara arrived at Tessa's office she was reading a report. She motioned for Tara to sit down, then went back to the report. Tara sat down and waited nervously for Tessa to finish with the report. After what seemed like an eternity Tessa finally put the report down and looked at Tara. She stared at Tara a few moments before saying, "As part of my work it's necessary to do considerable work with the ambassadors on this station. Negotiating access for the rangers to their space and also to any information they might have."

"I thought everyone agreed to cooperate fully with the Alliance when they joined up."

"I see you've been following the news. Well while what you say is true for the major members, some of the smaller members have demanded the right to renegotiate the terms every couple of years. It helps them to feel more important."

"Good guess. The work isn't too hard, you being there is really just a formality. Most people know it's in their best interests to deal honestly with the Alliance."

"Yes, I looked at your record. So will you be able to start the day after tomorrow?"

Tara walked through the Zocholo, making her way to one of the restaurants. Her mind still on the meeting. She was pleased about this opportunity since it meant her trip out to Babylon 5 wasn't completely wasted, and also it would help her get work in the future. Being only a P3 meant she had trouble getting work sometimes. Tara was so preoccupied that she didn't notice the man coming the other way and she knocked his shoulder. She turned to apologize when she sensed that he was worried about something. Something that was happening at the rim.

"That's okay," Tara replied with a smile. As she turned to walk away she overheard a word in his mind, "Z'Ha Dum"

Warren returned to his quarters in a growing state of panic. Soon his employers would be contacting him to find out what happened with the Rosenberg girl. He had a feeling that saying that he didn't know she was a techno mage would do him much good. He was still trying to figure out how to buy himself some time when noticed that there was a message waiting for him. Playing it he saw it was a text message saying, "Have you checked your bank account lately?" Not sure what was going on he did so. He started to feel ill as he saw that all his money had been transferred to various charities. He saw there was another message. This one said, "Do not interfere with wizards, for their ways are subtle and they are quick to anger."

As Warren worked out what was going on he hit the control panel, "That Bitch. Oh, she's going to pay for this, she's going to..." He stopped as the computer told him there was a call coming in.

As soon as Tara received her work schedule she went over it, seeing what sort of people she would be meeting and working out a strategy for dealing with them. Not being a very strong telepath meant that Tara had to rely on her other senses more than others in order to do her work. Fortunately she was much better at reading physical signs than other telepaths, particularly when dealing with aliens, which would be useful with this job. Tara soon realized that she would be busy. She had never realized just how many races there were connected with the Alliance, all of whom would have to be met and negotiated with. After going over the list a couple of times Tara decided that she wanted to get out to relax a while. She liked to spend time away from other people where she could be alone with her own thoughts. Tara had heard rumors that the station's first commanding officer had had a Zen garden built. Deciding to find out if this was true Tara went to a terminal and accessed the information services.

A short time later Tara was sitting in the Zen garden, her eyes closed, listening to the water running. After she had been sitting there a few minutes she sensed someone approaching. Opening her eyes she saw that her was a Mimbari. Bowing he said, "I apologize for disturbing you, I did not think anyone would be here."

Sitting near her the Mimbari said, "You know it was Commander Sinclair who had this garden built."

"He said it was for Zen skinny dipping, that you could think about doing it, but not actually do it. I never quite understood that,"

"We've crossed swords in the past. I thought he was just another human, it was only too late that I realized that maybe that wasn't such a bad thing." He started to rise but stopped saying, "I didn't catch your name."

After spending the afternoon There Tara decided it was time to get back to her own quarters.

When she got back she was surprised to see someone leaning against the wall next to her door. As the figure moved away from the wall she realized that it was Willow. "Are you still following me?" Tara asked.

Willow smiled weakly, "Of course I was only in the area after hacking the station computers to find where your quarters were and then catching the shuttle here."

"Um, maybe, a little. You see I'm not very good at this whole meeting people thing and when I saw you I knew I had to get to know you better."

Tara could relate to this, she had the same problem. She wondered if she would have the courage to do what Willow was. That still left one problem, "But why me? There's nothing special about me."

Tara looked uncertain at this, "The hotness that is me?" Tara knew that this had to be a joke of some sort, but she couldn't sense any dishonesty from the other woman. Finally she decided to take a chance that this was for real, "I believe that you said something about a date?"

"Oh yeah, how about tomorrow night? I promise if it doesn't work out then I'll stop following you."

Willow nodded and walked away. Tara was just going into her room when she heard Willow shouting, "Woohoo!"

Tara's first day was a lot less interesting than she had expected. As Tessa had predicted these meetings were mainly a formality, and they all seemed to go the same way. First the ambassador made lots of demands, designed to make themselves feel important. Tessa would then negotiate with them on the demands until they came up with a compromise which seemed to be giving the ambassador everything they wanted, but in fact didn't give them anything. In all these meetings Tara didn't sense any particular dishonesty from them, nothing more than was normal for a diplomatic meeting.

This all changed with the last ambassador. From the beginning the meeting was different. Rather than making demands he seemed anxious to give Tessa everything she wanted. Tara got the feeling he was hiding something, that he wanted the meeting to be over as soon as possible in order to avoid them finding something out. Being careful to not scan more than just his surface thoughts she saw his thoughts were constantly on a sector of space, Alpheratz. Tessa was finishing up so Tara said, "I've got one question, tell me about Alpheratz?" That brought everything to the surface. Tessa was giving her a questioning look so she explained, "Something happened there and he's worried that if the Alliance finds out then his people will get into trouble."

"They'll get into more trouble if we have to find out by ourselves, and we will find out."

The ambassador looked nervous for a moment before saying, "We found an asteroid there. Scans showed that there was technology, very advanced, very old technology just below the surface, but we didn't have the resources to get at it. Then a business man from earth approached us, offering to buy the asteroid. We couldn't do anything with it so we agreed. His people put some engines on it and took it through a jump point."

Willow sat at her table fiddling with the napkin and trying to stop herself from looking at the time. She was sitting in one of the best restaurants in the station but she had barely noticed this. When she had first arrived she had been too excited about the prospective date and then, as time had gone on she had grown more and more certain that she had been stood up. To take her mind off of it Willow turned to the television above the bar. A reporter was saying, "There have been numerous reports of sightings of a ship which appears to be a Shadow vessel. At the moment the Alliance are saying it is too early to draw any conclusions."

Willow turned away from the screen and let herself check the time. She was just starting to think she should go when she spotted Tara standing at the entrance looking round. Willow stood up and waved to her. Smiling Tara walked over to her table.

"I'm kind of between jobs. Which isn't entirely true since that implies that I had a job at some point, which I haven't. Anyway I spent the last few years traveling round the rim. I came back to catch up with my friends. Well friend. His name's Xander Harris, we've known each other since we were kids."

"We were never close, I mean they were both always afraid of mom and me because of the," Tara pointed at her head, "telepath thing, but you know, they're still family."

"That sounds like a good idea, though what?" Tara thought about it then said, "I know why don't you tell me about your adventures on the rim, I bet you saw lots of cool stuff."

Willow hesitated a moment. She didn't like telling people about her abilities as a techno mage, as she felt as though she was bragging. However she realized that she wanted to tell Tara the truth. "Well I was exploring one of the planets when one of the navigational systems failed, sending me into a decaying orbit with no way to control the ship."

"What happened?" Tara asked, feeling worried, even though she knew that Willow would escape.

"I was just about to give up hope when another ship arrived and towed me away, they took me to their home world."

Tara had been about to take a drink and almost dropped her glass at this, "You?"

"It's just, well you're not what I expected. I always thought that they were, well, pompous and cryptic."

"Well a lot are, though they like to think of themselves as being deep and meaningful. Well I guess I am..." Willow stopped at the sound of a PPG charging.

Willow's chair fell backwards as she shot up out of it, preparing to use her magic against the attacker. She stopped short when she saw he was wearing an Earth force uniform. The sound of a second, then third PPG charging also caused her to pause.

"What's going on?" Tara asked, her gaze shifting between Willow and the three men surrounding her.

"I wish I knew." Willow's face scrunched up in confusion. Turning to one of the men still aiming their weapons at her she said, "Well?"

"You're under arrest." He indicated with his PPG that she should raise her hands.

The man laughed at this, "You have to ask? Put your hands out." He stepped forward and as Willow extended her arms he slipped a set of cuffs round her wrists. "Come on."

"Willow?" Tara asked, Tara's mind raced as she went over all the possible explanations for this.

Trying to remain calm Willow said, "Um, I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding."

Tara called after them, "I know someone who may be able to help. I'll go see her."

Off in the corner of the room a figure watched this with some interest. As soon as they had all gone he got up and hurried out of the restaurant. Reaching his quarters he placed a priority call to Minbar. When a Minbari appeared on the screen he said, "This is ranger Ellison, I need to speak to Delenn urgently."

While he was waiting Ellison got a small metal triangle out of his jacket and placed it carefully on his desk. A moment later a Minbari female appeared on the screen. She looked like any other Minbari save for having long dark hair, a memento of her decision to become partly human in an effort to help bridge the two races. "What have you found?" She asked.

"I followed the two subjects and used the triluminary on them. They are the ones that Valen wrote about."

"There are others interested in Ms Rosenberg. She's just been arrested by security personnel. I fear that it is a set up."

Willow was shoved into a cell. "Hey, there's no need to be so rude." Turning to the man who was watching the proceedings she asked, "Are you in charge?"

Willow was starting to get fed up of people telling her she had to know why she was being treated this way, when it ought to be obvious that she didn't. "Look, just humor me."

"There are several warrants for your arrest from all over the galaxy, everything from smuggling to murder. The warrants said that you're extremely dangerous."

Willow took a step back, raising her hands, an innocent expression on her face. "Me? I'm not doing anything."

Tessa looked up as her door chime sounded, "Come in." Seeing who it was she said, "Tara, what can I do for you?"

Tara took a moment to catch her breath. She had run all the way to Tessa's quarters. When she had gathered herself she said, "I need to ask you a favor, a really really big favor."

"The Alliance yes, but this station is run by Earth Force. You'd need to speak to either lieutenant Allen, or Captain Lochley."

Tara found Captain Lochley in her office. "I wasn't expecting to find you still working."

"Maclay. I just thought you might like to know that you've got a techno mage in your cells."

"Right. Look, I don't know what you're..." Captain Lochley stopped as her communicator sounded, "Can you excuse me a moment."

A few moments later, Captain Lochley came out saying, "Maybe you were right. Come on, let's go and see Zack."

"You know it would have been a lot easier if you'd just told us you were a techno mage."

"Well that stunt you pulled with your ship was a bit of a give away, plus your girlfriend told us."

"I have to say I'm a little surprised by the idea of a techno mage having a girlfriend."

Willow smiled, "Then where did you think that little techno mages came from? did you think that the stork brought them, or I know, maybe we're grown in tanks."

Lochley frowned, Willow didn't seem at all like any of the descriptions she had heard. "You don't talk like one either."

Willow drew herself up to her full height and said in an ominous tone, which she'd been practicing for years, "There are things in there which you are not ready to see."

"Okay you can go for now. Just don't leave the station, at least while we check into things."

As Willow reached the door Lochley said, "You really have friends in high places."

"Oh that's nice of her." Willow said as she tried to place the name. As she realized who Lochley meant Willow stopped a moment, "You mean the Delenn?"

Tara waited outside the cells for Willow to come out. Seeing that Willow had been released she walked over saying, "Are you okay?"

Tara smiled and as they started towards Tara's quarters she said, "I had a good time tonight, I mean before security turned up."

"I'd love to. Though you do realize that it's your turn to get arrested, don't you?"

"Oh yes, I know that. Since I've been here." Willow glanced about, looking a bit nervous, "Do you think it'd be okay for me to kiss you?"

Tara was woken up by her com system beeping. Looking at her clock she saw it was still early in the morning. Getting up she walked over to it grumbling all the way. Seeing who it was she couldn't help smiling, "Faith."

Tara nodded, "You do know there's a time difference between Minbar and Babylon 5?"

"The only time you seem to call me is when you're trying to fix me up with someone."

"That is so not true. I just called to catch up what's been happening. Now maybe I do know a cute ranger who I think would be..."

"You are?" Faith looked doubtful for a moment, as Tara had never seemed interested in dating before. Recovering from the surprise she grinned and said, "I mean, hey that's great. Who's the lucky girl?"

"Well, way to go Tara. Listen why don't I let you get back to bed and I'll call you at a more sociable hour so you can tell me all about her."

Tara turned and started back towards her bed, only to stop as she noticed for the first time, that there was writing on the walls. The same four words repeated over and over again.

Tara sat still staring at the writing, trying to discern some meaning to it. It was written all over her wall in different sizes. At first she had thought that someone had broken into her quarters in order to write it, but had soon realized that it was her own writing. Tara wasn't sure whether that was better or worse. The problem was she had no idea what the expression, I am the machine meant or what would have possessed her to write it all over her walls. Deciding that deciphering the phrase should be her first course of action Tara tuned on her terminal and began a search for that phrase. The realizing that she had to get to work soon Tara went to have a sonic shower.

Standing in the shower, the sound waves gently massaging her it occurred to Tara that she could ask Willow about this. Then she wasn't sure about that, not knowing how to broach the subject. She could hardly say, "Oh and I've been writing strange messages on my wall in my sleep. More wine dear?" She hardly knew Willow and a part of her urged her to be cautious despite, or maybe because of, the strong feelings she had for her. Deciding to not say anything till she knew more Tara got out of the shower and got ready for work.

Tara was walking through the crowds to work she got the impression that a woman who was approaching her was staring at her. She was a medium sized woman with short red hair. She looked a little bit like Willow except she had a much more intense expression. Not recognizing the woman Tara decided she must be imagining it. However, as the woman got closer, Tara became certain she was staring at her. As they passed each other the other woman turned her head to keep Tara in view. Tara tried to not show any reaction as she continued past the other woman. After getting a few steps she spun round, but the other woman had vanished.

Tara was still trying to figure out why she had provoked the woman's attention when she heard a faint musical sound, followed by a deep melodic voice saying, "You have been touched by darkness." Tara spun round trying to see who had spoken, but no ones seemed to be paying any attention to her. Unnerved by the whole experience Tara continued on to the lifts. It was only as she boarded one that she realized that the woman had been wearing a psycorp badge, something that Tara hadn't seen since the psycorp had been disbanded following the telepath war.

Willow was getting ready for her date with Tara trying to decide what top to wear when she suddenly had an idea. She started for the door and had almost left her quarters when she remembered that she hadn't put a top on. Grabbing the first one that came to hand she quickly put it on and left.

Willow quickly made her way to the nearest flower shop where she bought a large bouquet. As she was heading back when she noticed a paper vending station so she picked up a copy of the Galaxy Today. She glanced at the headlines as she walked back. The first one to jump out at her was one saying, "Is the plague real?" It was about a politician claiming that Sheridan had been brainwashed into hating humanity by the Minbari which was why he had turned against the duly elected president. Willow snorted at this as Clarke had only become president after Santiago had been assassinated. Reading on she saw that this politician was claiming that Sheridan had invented the plague in order to further punish humanity by trapping humanity on Earth. Reaching her quarters Willow threw the paper down on a table in disgust and went back to getting ready.

Tara sat at her table at the restaurant waiting for Willow to arrive. Anyone observing her would have thought that she was completely cool and collected, not seeing the anxiety and worry she was keeping hidden beneath the surface and which was growing as each minute passed.

"Hi, sorry I'm late," Willow's voice came from behind her, making her jump. As Willow walked round the table and took her seat she went on, "One of the transport tubes broke down."

"That's okay." Tara reached across the table and put her hand on Willow's, stroking it gently.

"So, uh, how's working for the Alliance?" Willow suddenly found it hard to concentrate on what she was saying.

"It's not as interesting as I thought it'd be. It's pretty much like all the other commercial work I do. What about you, have you been looking for a job? Or do you need one?"

"I have been. Before I went off to find myself I was contacted by IMX. I'm getting in touch with them to see if they're still interested."

Willow was so focused on the feeling she was getting from her contact with Tara that for a moment she didn't understand, "Did I what?"

They paused from their discussion as the waiter came to get their order. When he'd gone Tara asked, "So have you always lived on Earth?"

Willow nodded, "I was born and grew up there. A small town in America called Sunnydale."

"Oh I was born on Mars, but we moved to Earth when I was five. I lived there till I was eighteen then I went to college at Proxima Centauri."

"Sorry, that didn't really tell you much. I guess they're how you'd imagine them. Very peaceful, serene. At least the religious caste are. They're the ones I met mainly."

"Sorry, I was just thinking that my dad will like you, even though you're not Jewish."

"Oh." For a moment Tara wasn't sure what to say to that, "Well I'd like to say my dad would like you..." Tara looked sheepish a moment, "But it'd be a lie."

"I'm not up to his standards?" Willow sounded as though she didn't think such a thing was possible.

This surprised Willow, "What? Doesn't he know it's the twenty third century?" Then realizing that that sounded rude she went on, "Sorry, I shouldn't judge."

"No, you're right. He is stuck back in the twenty first century. I'm sure my mum would have liked you."

Having finished the meal they asked for the bill to be brought over. As Tara reached to take it Willow stopped her saying, "nuh huh, it's my turn to pay, you paid last time."

"Entertainment?" Willow said, not understanding. When she realized what Tara was talking about she said, "Oh that's nice, make fun of one of the most embarrassing experiences I've had... this week."

As they walked away from the restaurant Willow took Tara's hand and said, "I had a really good time."

Tara didn't look sure about this. She had the strange feeling that Willow didn't cook much. "You cook?"

Willow's face fell at this, "Not as such no. The last time I tried to cook, my mentor thought that I was trying to create a sentient life form."

"Then I've got a better idea. How about you come round my quarters and I cook something."

"Willow!" Tara said, as she saw two men approaching, neither looking very friendly. As they raised PPGs Willow waved her hand toward them and they were both thrown back. They hit the wall of the corridor and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Now that was just plain rude," Willow said in an angry tone, "I mean here we are having a conversation..."

Sensing a third person behind her Tara spun around. Grabbing the club he had raised she hit him with the heel of her hand in his chest, then in his face, knocking him out.

"Wow!" Willow said looking at the unconscious figure, "I mean, wow. Where did you learn to do that?"

"I've got a friend who's a ranger." Tara shrugged, "She taught me some Minbari fighting techniques, she even showed me how to use one of those," Tara shook her hand, "staff things."

"Cool." Willow looked around their attackers, who were starting to come to, "Maybe we better get going." As they made their way to Tara's quarters Willow said, "You know this station is certainly living up to it's reputation for being interesting. I mean I've only been here a few days and I've been arrested once and attacked twice."

"Oh yeah, shortly after I arrived. Some cretin by the name of Warren Mears. Well I showed him, I hexed him."

"Well maybe I broke into his bank account and donated his money to various good causes. I thought it was a fitting punishment for his life of crime."

"It could be. I'll look into it." Seeing they were at Tara's quarters Willow said, "Well here we are. You know I'm looking forward to seeing inside there, tomorrow."

Tara pulled Willow close and kissed her. After a while, as they moved apart she said, "Definitely good strange."

"Well that's okay then. So see you tomorrow." Willow kissed Tara before starting down the corridor, stopping at the end to turn back and wave.

After they'd finished speaking to an ambassador Tara said to Tessa, "Can I ask you something?"

Tara hesitated a moment. She had wanted to ask about this for a while but had been too nervous. She wasn't sure she wanted to now, but she had committed herself. "The other day someone bumped into me and I accidentally read them. I didn't get much, just a word."

Tessa tensed a little at this. Over time she had almost overcome her distrust of telepaths, but still didn't like the idea of one 'accidentally' reading someone. Hiding this she said, "Go on."

"There's not much more that I can tell you. We know the Shadows left a lot of their technology behind when they left."

Tara considered this, "Like the planet killer the Drakh used to try to destroy the Earth."

Tessa nodded, "Exactly. At the moment we're working on the assumption this ship is just another bit of tech that got left behind."

"Well the Kalarian ambassador said that there was very old technology in the asteroid they sold to Neotech, could that be where the Shadow vessel came from?"

Tessa nodded, "It's possible. I've got some people looking into what Neotech did with the asteroid. If it is connected they should find out."

Willow made her way through the section of the station known as down below, looking round warily. Having been attacked twice already made her rather paranoid. Even though she knew that she could take care of herself Willow wasn't going to let her guard down. Then she saw what she was looking for, one of the men who had attacked her selling a stim pack to a lurker. She walked over to them then, seeing that he hadn't noticed her, she cleared her throat. As the man turned to her Willow said, "Hi."

The man turned a corner, his breath ragged and came to a screeching halt. The thing that had made him stop was a large spider blocking the passageway.

"There, that wasn't so hard." Willow snapped her fingers and the spider vanished. Turning she walked away. When she'd gone the man fainted.

Once she was back in her quarters Tara decided to do some investigating. Remembering the woman who had been staring at her, wondering if she knew something. The fact that the woman was obviously a telepath that made tracking her down easier. Using the clearance she had been granted as a result of her work with the Alliance Tara accessed the database of files that had been taken from the psycorp and entered a description of the woman she was interested in. As she waited for the search to complete Tara wondered about the way that the woman had been wearing the Psycorp badge. It was possible that the woman was just feeling nostalgic, which was something she could understand. The time after her mother had died had been very difficult for Tara. Her father hadn't been interested in raising her and during that time Tara had grown to understand the Psycorp mantra, "the corps is mother, the corps is father." Then during the telepath war the extent of the corruption within the higher ranks of the corps had been revealed. The illegal experiments which had been performed on both telepaths and normals and much worse. Yet, despite all that had come out, Tara still found herself, at times, missing the sense of security that came with being a member of the corps.

Tara was brought out of her thoughts by the computer telling her it had finished its search. Scanning the list one name jumped out at her, Lyta Alexander. That was a name which was known to most telepaths, since she had been the one who had started the telepath war. However the fact that she had died during that war meant she couldn't be the mystery woman. Still, feeling curious, Tara looked at her file. Her mouth hung open in shock as she saw Lyta's picture. She was the woman that Tara had seen. The obvious explanation was that she hadn't died as had been believed, but the problem with that was how was she able to wander round Babylon 5 without attracting attention?

Willow sat in her quarters, fuming over the fact that Warren had had the nerve to attack her for a second time, trying to think of a suitable punishment. While most her thoughts were focused on this her mind was also working on another avenue. It occurred to her that the fact that Warren had attacked her twice suggested that this was more than just a simple mugging. That someone had paid him to attack her. Willow immediately access her ships computer and began gathering all the information she could on Warren. She was shocked to find that Warren was working for a company called Neotech. Shocked since her father was one of the directors of that company.

Willow arrived at Tara's quarters a couple of minutes early with a bunch of flowers.

"Thanks," Grinning Tara went to put them in some water. "Dinner will be just a few minutes, make yourself comfortable."

"You know just before I left, I made dinner for Xander and his fiancée, Anya. I followed all the instructions, yet somehow I managed to set the cooking unit on fire."

"Yeah, it was pretty embarrassing," Willow said, smiling slightly. After a moment she said, "Well go on then."

"I guess that'd be while I was on Minbar. I was invited to one of their ritual meals and I..."

Willow had just taken a drink and had to swallow quickly to avoid spitting it everywhere, "You what?"

"I fell asleep." Seeing the way Willow was looking at her she said, "You see what happens is you take a bite then you meditate for a couple of minutes, take another bite and then meditate again and so on. This goes on for hours, I don't see how you can not fall asleep at some point."

"Yes but mine was just amongst friends, you almost caused an interstellar incident."

"You mean that my faux pas could have restarted the Earth Minbari war? That would have been... bad."

Tara shrugged, "My powers have improved, but I haven't gotten round to getting checked again."

"Neither did I. It was strange. A few years ago I was mugged and was in a coma for a couple of years. When I woke up my abilities had improved."

"Yeah, that and there are these scars I've got on the back of my neck. I got them somehow as a result of the attack."

Tara frowned, wondering why Willow sounded so nervous. She nodded and picking up her glass Willow walked round to look. Tara lifted her hair up so that Willow could see. There was a smash as Willow's glass hit the ground.

"Calm down?" Tara was pacing back and forth across the room, making Willow a little dizzy. "Okay, first you tell me I wasn't mugged but was actually abducted by people from the government and that while I was unconscious, I had some alien gizmo stuck in my neck so that I could be used as the control unit for some alien space ship. Now you're telling me to calm down?"

"You think?" Tara stopped as Willow looked away from her. Kneeling down beside her, she said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take it out on you. It's just as you said, it's a shock."

"It's okay. I can understand you being upset, I mean I would be if the same thing had been done to me." Willow paused to consider what she had just said, "Except it had, so I guess I mean if it hadn't been done voluntarily I'd be just as upset as you are."

"Well not exactly the same thing. Look." Willow started to turn around but stopped, "You better not tell anyone what I'm about to show you, especially not any other techno mages."

As Tara began to recover from her shock she felt the playfulness which had been growing round Willow start to return. "Will you get thrown out of the magic circle if they find out?"

"Something like that." Willow turned around and lifted her head up. The scarring was different from that on Tara's neck, but there were similarities. "This is how we do our 'magic'," Willow explained.

Willow shook her head. Reaching up to touch the back of Tara's neck she said, "It came from the same place as your implant."

"Well you see I had this theory that technology is only as good or bad as the people using it. Now the techno mages have this technology but they're too busy hiding. I had this idea that I could use the technology to start helping people. I think I was probably very naïve at the time, but I still think I can do some good."

"Yes, but at the moment that plan is just catch up with my friends and then come up with a plan for galactic domination." Willow looked shocked, "Oops, I've said too much."

Leaning closer she whispered, "Well if you do take over the galaxy, then I get to be your consort, right?"

Going to her computer console Willow brought up a list of files. Reading one she said, "It was nine years ago, that they intercepted a ship heading to Z'Ha Dum. It had two hundred telepaths on board, all who had been altered to be used in Shadow Vessels."

"Why weren't we told? I mean after the telepath war we found out so much about what the psycorp had been up to but we never heard anything about this."

"I guess because the connection between Earth Gov and the Shadows went a lot deeper than just the psycorp."

"Maybe..." Tara stopped as a video started playing. It showed a woman, there were cables linking her to the stations computers. "What's this?"

"It says that when they revived one of the telepaths she immediately attached herself to the stations systems and began trying to take control of them."

Willow took her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. Tara smiled, appreciating the gesture.

Tara explained about the writing she had seen on her wall. "Was it some sort of hold over from the modifications? But if they were removed, why am I still being affected by it?"

"I don't know. There are some files about the procedure to treat you. But the security on these than the others. I could probably open them but it'll take time, especially if I don't want to tip anyone off."

Yawning Willow said, "I should probably get back to my quarters. I can get started on accessing those files first thing tomorrow."

Willow was just starting to go to sleep when she was woken by Tara asking, "So what do they want?"

Willow smiled, "I think you've got it the wrong way around, generally they ask other people that."

"Yes, but surely they must have some motive other than just causing mayhem for the sake of it."

Willow nodded, "Okay, you see the thing is, both the Vorlons and the Shadows have this idealized view of how the universe works, or at least how they think it should work. Basically what they both want is to force that view on every one else."

"Well the Vorlon believe that strength comes from order while the Shadows believe that strength comes from conflict."

"Yeah but they're both to stuck in their own viewpoint to even consider that. They'd rather just wipe out the others point of view."

"Well the Vorlons have spent a long time trying to convince everyone that it is, and that they're the good guys, but, well, they were the first to start using planet killers."

"Then the Vorlon won't be far behind, and the whole thing will start up all over again."

"Well so far only one ship has been sighted, it could just be something that was left behind. I mean we know they left one of their planet killers behind, so who knows how much technology is still out there."

Warren was distracted from his work by the door chime. "Yes, what is it?" he demanded in an irritable voice. He soon regretted this when the door opened and Arnold Thomas, his contact within Neotech, entered.

"We have something that will help you." He threw Warren a small black box, "Use this when you next get a chance to capture her."

"Why didn't you give me this before? You didn't know she was a technomage, did you?"

"So you don't know every..." Warren stopped as he heard a strange buzzing sound round Arnold.

"You should know this is your last chance. Fail this time and we will find another way for you to make yourself useful. A way which I guarantee you won't enjoy." He turned to leave. He stopped in the doorway as the buzzing sound occurred again. Turning he said, "Oh one more thing, Rosenberg is traveling with a telepath. Ensure that she dies."

Tara was woken up by her link beeping. With a groan she reached over to pick it up. Sticking it to her hand she hit the button saying, "Maclay here."

Tara glanced over at the woman sleeping next to her and smiling answered, "She's with me."

Willow groaned before muttering, "Well whatever it is it'd better be something important, like the universe is about to end."

When they got to the control room Captain Lochley and Zack were waiting there for them.

"Thank you both for coming. This is a transmission we received from a distant mining colony." She hit a button and a image of a space station appeared on the screen. For a while nothing happened, then a the spidery form of a Shadow Vessel rippled into view, then another, then a third. After a few seconds there were five Shadow Vessels on the screen. A squadron of fighters approached them but they were soon destroyed. The Shadow Vessels then turned towards the station.

"No, I didn't mean... Really, ten thousand? That's terrible." Willow took a moment to collect her thoughts, "I mean the Shadows don't fight like this. Usually they use other races. When they do attack they destroy the target quickly then leave, they don't let themselves get filmed like this."

"Maybe since the Vorlon aren't around they think they can attack more openly," Tara suggested.

"Well anyway, this is now more than just one ship," Captain Lochley said, "At the moment Tessa is talking to the president."

"Actually I just finished talking to him," Tessa said as she approached them, "He's going to send a White Star to investigate the matter."

"I'm going to be overseeing the investigation. I'd like the two of you to accompany me." When Willow and Tara both agreed she said, "Excellent, well the ship will be here to pick us up early tomorrow."

Willow was starting to leave when Zack called her over, "Ms Rosenberg, I wanted to let you know that we got in touch which the colonies that had warrants out for your arrest and found that they have no record of those warrants. We're still looking for an explanation as to what happened."

"I think that goes without saying. I'd like to apologize for the inconvenience it caused."

While Willow was talking to Zack, Tara approached Tessa saying, "There was something I wanted to talk to you about before we go."

"Have you heard of a telepath called Lyta Alexander?" She was surprised to see Tessa smile at this, "What?"

"I met her a couple of times. When she first escaped from the psycorp she took refuge with the Mars resistance, then during the civil war she was with the group that Sheridan sent to Mars to coordinate our efforts against President Clarke. We didn't always get on but I was sorry to hear of her death. Why do you ask?"

"No, that's not possible. She died during the telepath war. There's no way it could have been..."

"Unless, it could have been someone who looked like her," Tessa went on, "maybe as a result of surgery or a clone, or it might even have been someone in a chameleon web."

"There are elements within the Earth gov who are trying to disrupt the alliance."

"That's the least of it. I've been keeping an eye on them, and I suspect that they're being supported by high ranking members of the psycorp."

Tara nodded. Seeing that Willow had finished with Zack she moved to catch up with her.

After leaving C&C Willow and Tara split up to go their quarters. Tara quickly put some clothes in a bag and then set off for Willow's quarters. In her hurry she almost bumped into a young man who was coming the other way.

The young man smiled in a pleasant fashion then asked, "Ms Maclay? I was just coming to see you."

For some reason the young man seemed to find that comment amusing. "That's what I was going to ask you."

Two rangers, Lenny and Karl, were hurrying to the docking bay when Lenny stopped saying, "I think I just need to visit the little rangers room."

Lenny quickly entered the cubicles. He had just entered one of the cubicles and lowered his trousers when he heard a PPG being charged.

Tara caught up with Willow as she was boarding the White Star Thirty two. They were met by a Minbari Ranger who bowed and said, "I have been instructed to guide you to your quarters on board the ship."

"So all the White stars are just called White star and then a number?" Willow asked, while they made their way to their quarters.

"It doesn't seem very imaginative, I was expecting the Minbari to have fancy names for their... And what is up with the bed?" The last was said as they entered their room and Willow saw the bed which, along with Minbari tradition, was at a thirty degree angle.

"Didn't you know Minbari think that sleeping horizontally is bad for you? As in dying in your sleep bad for you."

"Yeah, I knew that. The thing is, we're not Minbari." Willow turned around, "See no bone coming out of the back of my head."

Tara couldn't help grinning at this, "I think all humans react this way at first, but it isn't too hard to get used to."

"Yes, When I visited Minbar. I guarantee you'll get used to it," Tara smiled at Willow, "Besides if you fall, I'll catch you."

Willow glanced out the porthole saying, "I think we should be getting there around about..." Willow watched the jump point forming round the ship, "now."

Willow's answer was cut off by the door chime. Willow went to answer it finding a human ranger there. He bowed and said, "Halloran has asked for you to come to the tactical room."

After they had been following the ranger a while Tara asked, "So where are we going exactly?" She didn't know where the tactical room was but she had the feeling that they weren't heading there.

"I'm afraid that you're not going anywhere." Suddenly the rangers appearance completely changed.

"What have you done with... uh..." Willow stopped as she realized she didn't know the ranger's name.

"I'm afraid he was late getting to the ship. So late that from now on we'll have to call him the late Lenny Lenardson." Warren pulled a small box from his pocket and hit the button on it. Willow screamed with pain, falling to the floor.

"Stop it!" Tara said, stepping towards him. She stopped as he leveled a PPG at her.

On the bridge one of the Minbari at the controls turned saying, "Ms Holloran, we've picked up PPG fire on deck three."

"On their way." A moment later the Minbari added, "An escape pod has just launched."

Warren threw Willow into a cell and then activated the bars. Waking up Willow raced at the bars, stopping herself just before she hit them. Looking at Warren she asked, "What have you done with Tara?"

Willow felt a moment of rage and was about to hurl herself at Warren when she realized that she could sense Tara, sense the fact that she was still alive. Calming a little she asked, "What do you want with me?"

"Your father? Ah I thought that name was familiar." Warren shrugged, "How should I know if he's involved, my work for Neotech, is strictly freelance." He pressed a couple of buttons on the cell controls, "Well they should be here soon to pick you up, you can ask them then."

When Warren had gone Willow began looking for some way to get out of the cell. A quick test told her that she wouldn't be able to get through the bars, so she looked for another way. Some examination showed that the cell had been added recently. Moving round the cell, using the senses she'd gained from her implants Willow was able to detect how power was being fed into the cell. It was then a simple matter for her disconnect the power. She heard a click telling her that the bars had unlocked. Pulling them open she quickly scrambled out before the power resumed, causing the bars to close behind her.

Willow found Warren in a large chamber. For a moment her attention was distracted by another presence within the chamber, a dormant shadow vessel.

Willow stared at it a few moments before saying, "I've seen videos of these things but you have too see one up close to get an idea of just how ugly they are."

Warren sneered at Willow, "Idiot, do you have no idea of how much power it contains?"

"Yeah, brilliant." Willow yawned, "I am overwhelmed by a feeling of not caring."

"To think I was impressed by your tricks, but this is real technology." Warren indicated the Shadow Vessel, "This is real power." Turning away he went on, "You know they're right, the weak must perish, so that the strong can prosper."

"I've got a better idea," Willow said. "How about the strong perish, so that the weak can prosper?"

"Oh yes, these friends of yours, are they coming in a new style Omega Class destroyer, or maybe a Minbari warship or a Narn battle cruiser? No? Then what are they going to do about the Whitestar waiting nearby?"

"What are you..." Willow stopped as she saw where he was looking, "You have got to be kidding me."

"Stop you idiot, you don't know what it will do..." Willow stopped as a part of the ship opened up and Warren ran in. Her head was filled with a loud screaming sound. She raised her hands to her ears, even though she knew the sound was just in her head. A moment later the Shadow vessel took off and started into space.

Tessa turned to the door as Tara entered the bridge. "Are you okay? I heard you'd been shot."

Tara nodded, "I was able to telepathically move his aim, it was only a glancing hit."

Tessa's gaze moved to Tara's arm which was in a sling, "Shouldn't you be in the medical bay?"

"I'd rather be here. He took Willow with him when he left." Everyone was momentarily overcome as they heard a loud screaming in their heads. As they recovered Tara asked, "What the hell was that?"

"I'm not entirely certain," Tessa said, "But I think that was a Shadow vessel activating."

The White star dodged as the Shadow vessel fired at it. "Something's wrong," Tessa said, "They're supposed to be a lot more impressive than that."

Tara thought about the information Willow had found about her implants, how they were necessary for someone to be able to fully control a Shadow Vessel. "If the person controlling it hadn't been prepared then that'd explain why it's shooting so badly." Then Tara realized what she was saying, that it had to be either Willow or Warren controlling it. She started to panic a moment till she realized that she could sense Willow on the planet surface. "I guess this is why you wanted me along." She turned towards the viewer, concentrating on the Shadow Vessel. Focused on trying to find the mind that was controlling it. She struggled to get a hold of it with her mind and to freeze it. Tara collapsed as her mind was flooded with images of death and pain.

Tessa moved to catch hold of Tara. Turning to the gunner she said, "Are the primary weapons ready?"

The Shadow Vessel shuddered as the White Star opened fire upon it. After a minute it began to break apart, it's limbs breaking into pieces.

As the shuttle settled down on the surface a door swung downwards and a pair of men moved down it. Into the small building. Going through into the first room they found Willow sitting cross legged on the floor.

Once the shuttle had returned to the White star Willow and Tara went to a meeting with Tessa.

"They cleared the place out pretty thoroughly," Tessa said when she met up with Willow and Tara.

"Since we can assume it wasn't left behind by accident, did they intend for him to use it?"

"I take it he didn't know the affect it would have on him." Seeing that neither Willow or Tara understood she went on, "President Sheridan once told me that his second wife, Anna," Tessa noticed Tara tense slightly at the name, but didn't comment on it, "was put into one of those ships. When she was taken out again her personality had been totally destroyed."

"That's something else I wanted to talk to you about. Tara remember I said that recently elements within Earth gov have been causing trouble for the alliance. They've started using the presence of these Shadow Vessels, and this attack for their cause.

"The person making the most noise is a senator Morganson." Tessa stopped a moment, a scowl on her face.

"He used to be high up in the Clarke Administration, on Mars. When Clarke was overthrown, amnesty was offered to everyone who hadn't committed any specific crimes. Morganson had done some terrible things while on Mars, but we could never prove it. So I've been keeping a close eye on him, looking for evidence. One thing I found was his largest backer is a company called Neotech."

"So Neotech get hold of a load of surplus Shadow tech and go on the rampage. Then their favorite politician starts using these attacks to further his cause," Tara summarized, "Is that it? Is Neotech just using the technology to help this Morganson?"

As Willow and Tara headed back to their quarters Willow said, "Warren said he tried to kill you."

Tara smiled, trying to not let her nervousness show, "And I was thinking that I managed to cover it up."

Tara paused a moment, trying to work out how to put this. Finally she decided the best way was to just say it and get it over with. "She killed my mother."

"Not intentionally. What happened was she accidentally activated an artifact which she had found on a dig. It turned out to be a weapon, an anti telepath weapon. It killed most telepaths within a five mile radius."

Zack entered his security code into the door panel. As the door slid open he drew his PPG and started in to the room, followed by another security guard. He noticed a beeping sound from near the door. Looking round he saw it was from a small device attached to the wall. The beeping was growing faster and more urgent.

Turning Zack grabbed the other guard and threw them both out of the room. A moment later there was an explosion and the room was filled with flames.

Tara woke up with a jerk. She had had a dream about her meeting in the Zen garden. Getting out of bed, Tara went over to the ships computer. After the dream she had a feeling that wasn't just a chance encounter. Tara switched on the computer and started a search. Muttering to herself, "What was his name again?" Then to the computer she said, "Search for a minbari called Neroon." After a few moments a match came up. As she read it she felt herself go numb. "Why do I keep seeing dead people?" Tara asked herself.

Willow and Tara lay in bed together. Tara having her arm over Willow, since Willow was still convinced that she was going to slide out at any moment. "So any ideas about what we're going to do next?" Willow asked Tara, "I mean we got nothing from the asteroid and Warren's room didn't turn up anything."

"I guess Tessa is going to have her people checking out Neotech," Tara answered, turning a little so that she could face Willow.

Willow shot up, "Neotech, of course." Rolling off the bed Willow walked over to a terminal grumbling to herself, "I am so stupid to not think of this."

Pausing briefly Willow turned to answer, "I can access my dad's account on their systems, check them out."

Tara got up and walked over. As she watched Willow working it occurred to her that it might cause problems if anyone noticed that Willow's father was checking into his company's activities. "He won't get in any trouble will he?"

"Well I don't think that I'll find a memo entitled, 'our plans for galactic domination.' but if I look at their shipping manifests and personnel files I can see where they're active at the moment. By comparing that with their public reports..."

Once they had found a few places to check Willow shut down her access to the Neotech systems. Copying the data to a data rod she said, "We should get this straight to Tessa."

"Well not straight to her," Tara said, smiling slightly. Willow turned to her, looking confused. "Shouldn't we get dressed first?"

Once they were dressed they hurried to Tessa's office. As they went in they noticed she had several screens showing information. Her attention was focused on one of them. Sitting down they waited for her to finish.

"Willow found a few places where they're active, but trying to keep that activity secret," Tara said.

"Well that secrecy could just be to keep competitors from knowing what they're doing," Tessa pointed out.

Tessa brought up the data on a screen and glancing at it said, "We're checking out these places al..." She stopped a moment then said, "Except these two."

Willow flashed Tara a smile. "Didn't you know about their operations there?" Willow asked, her voice innocent.

"No we didn't. Well we can take the White star to check them out." Tessa frowned, wondering how they'd missed these two sites,

"Or maybe you can check one of the sites, and we can take my ship to check the other," Willow suggested.

Tessa stared at Willow a while, not seeming to believe what she had just heard, "You're kidding, right?"

"I mean we know that they're after you, are you really suggesting blithely going to one of their bases, alone."

"Anyway we wouldn't do anything silly," Willow went on, "Just get in there, take a quick scan of the system and then leave without being noticed."

"I always am," Willow answered, thinking, 'Except for those times that I'm not.'

Once they had left Tessa Willow went to the docking bay to get her ship ready, while Tara went to their quarters to pack some things.

Once Tara had gotten everything she walked to the docking bay. She found Willow in her ship, checking the systems.

Tara was a bit shocked by the question, there had never been any question in her mind about her going, "What? Don't you want me to come?"

"Well yes, but Tesa's right, it will be dangerous. I mean I'll be careful, but..."

As the ship passed through hyperspace, Willow looked at a control, "Should be a couple of hours till we get there."

"There's something I need to talk to you about, but I'm worried you might think I'm crazy."

"I know I can, but even I think it sounds insane. You see I've been seeing dead people."

Willow didn't say anything for a few moments, "Uh, that isn't what I was expecting."

Tara nodded. "It started shortly after I arrived at Babylon 5. I was sitting in the Zen garden when I was approached by a Mimbari, Neroon."

"Later I saw Lyta Alexander. At the same time I heard a voice that sounded like a Vorlon."

"Yeah," Willow said as she opened up a jump point and guided the ship through it. "Let's try to take a look and get out before..." She was interrupted by a loud screaming which cut through their minds, "That happens."

Tara turned to look at the approaching Shadow Vessel, which had appeared in between them and the jump point which they had just left, "There's only one."

"Well you just need to slow it down, let us get far enough away to open up another jump point."

"Okay." Tara turned to the Shadow vessel and concentrated on it. As before she caught hold of it's mind and tried to hold it still, but then everything went wrong. Tara felt a sharp pain at the front of her head, as if there were something drilling through her forehead. She tried to break her connection with the Shadow vessel, but it kept hold of her mind. The pain grew steadily till, Crying out, Tara fell to the floor.

Willow quickly moved to catch Tara, "Tara, what is it?" She tried to comfort Tara while mentally controlling the ship. The ship shuddered as a shot from the Shadow vessel grazed its engines. Willow put more power into the main engines. She was relieved to see she was starting to pull ahead, but that relief ended as she mentally checked the ships status and saw that with the damage to the engines the Shadow vessel would soon catch up. Gazing down at Tara, Willow quickly made up her mind about what she had to do and she programmed a set of instructions into the ships computer. She gently set Tara down on the floor, then kissed her forehead.

Getting up Willow walked over to the escape pod, "Goodbye Tara." With that she hit the eject button. Willow watched from the escape pod as her ship opened up a jump point and entered hyper space. She turned her attention to the shadow vessel as it changed it's course to approach her. "I guess I'll get some answers now."

Tara stood at her parent's desk, staring at the coin lying on. She was concentrating on it, trying to move it with her thoughts. Unfortunately the coin was refusing to cooperate, remaining resolutely in place. After trying for half an hour Tara decided that she didn't have any telekenetic ability. Sighing she picked up the coin and put it away. She jumped as she heard a knock at the door.

Going to answer it she found it was David Barries, a member of the psycorp who sometimes worked with her mother.

Tara nodded, and led him in. As she did so she noticed how he seemed tense and upset about something. "Something's happened," Tara said, "something to mom."

Turning round David took a breath to gather his nerves, then said, "I'm sorry, there's been an accident."

As Tara woke up she could see the white star through the view port of the ship. The ship seemed to be heading towards it under automatic control. As Tara tried to work out how they'd gotten back there she said, "Willow, we're back at..." Tara stopped as she realized that Willow wasn't around. "Willow?" As the ship docked with the White star, Tara searched through it, but couldn't find any sign of Willow.

When the ship had docked Tara left it, finding Tessa waiting in the docking bay. "Tara are you okay? We detected damage to your engines."

"We were attacked by a Shadow vessel. I tried to stop it like before, but something went wrong, it was able to fight back." Tara thought back to the attack, trying to piece together what had happened. Her brow furrowed as she said, "I guess I passed out. When I woke up the ship was approaching the Whitestar."

Willow opened her eyes to find herself in a darkened room, with the only illumination being a lamp above her head.

"Ah Ms Rosenberg," He said, his tone pleasant, "I'm glad to see that you're awake."

Willow stared at him, she knew she'd seen him somewhere. Then it came back to her. She had seen him when she had visited her father at work, "I know you. You work for Neotech."

"I know what you're up to. Using the Shadow attacks, you're trying to reduce the trust in the Alliance."

"Well Sheridan and Dellen have been telling everyone that the Shadows are gone, this shows what there word is worth."

"During the last war, the Shadows started to spread their forces out, so they wouldn't be vulnerable to a single attack. It seems that there was some sort of accident, resulting in the Shadows on that asteroid being put into stasis. So when the Shadows left, they were left behind. When we revived them, they were confused, disoriented, unhappy at being cut off from their kin. They were quite amiable to carry out our plan."

"They have some notion that you're important. It seemed a small matter to help them in this. You know it's all your father's fault."

"My father?" Willow started to feel ill at the thought that her father might somehow be behind this.

"If he hadn't been constantly boasting about how special you are, we would never have worked out you were the one they were looking for."

"Like I said it's such a small thing, given all the help they've given us, and they're too weakened to do it themselves."

"You like that don't you. An ancient race, dependant on you for help. Must make you feel like such a big man."

Willow laughed, "Just how stupid are you? They're using you the same way they use everyone else, by giving you what you want."

Tara had just made it to the door when a loud screaming sounded in her mind. After taking a moment to recover Tara started again, but stopped with a feeling that something was missing. Tara almost fell as she realized what it was. "Willow's gone."

Tara stood by her mothers bed, watching her mother breathing. "It looks like she's just sleeping."

Tara nodded. She had always had a stronger connection with her mother than with most people, which allowed them to talk inside each other's minds without much effort. Now all she could sense from her mother was a constant, repetitive pulsing sound. "Like a machine," Tara whispered.

"Are you sure this was such a great idea?" Willow asked, for what was probably the hundredth time. Xander had persuaded her to go with him on a hiking expedition, through a local desert. This had been fine till they had somehow gotten separated from the others, and then quickly gotten lost. Willow wiped her brow, she couldn't believe how hot it had gotten.

"Look, how about coming up with some suggestions rather than just complaining," Xander snapped.

Willow opened her flask and tried to take a drink. She threw it to the ground as she found that it was empty. Turning to Xander she said, "Hey it wasn't my idea to..." Willow stopped as she lost her footing, slipping down an embankment, As she fell she wondered why she hadn't seen it there. Willow grabbed at the ground, trying to slow her descent. It didn't work as her fingers just slipped through the soil. She hit the ground hard, her leg twisting under her.

"I think so." Willow tried to stand up, crying out as there was a burst of pain in her ankle, "I think I twisted my ankle."

"Wait there," Xander called starting to sound frantic. He disappeared from the edge for a moment, before coming back and calling, "I'll get help."

"Xander, wait! Xander!" There was no answer. "How is he going to get help if he doesn't know where he is?" Willow asked herself. She watched the top of the bank, but there was no sign of the young man.

Tara reached the bridge just as the White star exited hyperspace and entered normal space. "I assume that you heard that," Tessa said, turning to greet Tara.

Tara couldn't speak. She just nodded, still feeling numb from what had happened.

"So far we haven't picked up any ships approaching us, but we're going to have to be careful."

"Can... Can I talk to you?" Tara struggled to ask. She kept telling herself that she couldn't fall apart until she'd found a way to help Willow.

"Sure." As Tessa led her into the office she said, "I've been in touch with Sheridan. The Excalibur is on route to help us, though it's still some distance away. He estimates it'll be..."

It took Tessa a few moments to work out what Tara meant, "Surely you don't mean..."

"I..." Tara stopped, not sure how to explain the connection to Willow. "I just know."

Tara closed her eyes a moment, trying to gather her resolve, telling herself she'd been expecting this. "Has anyone ever tried?"

"Good point, no they haven't. There have been cases of people who had been mind wiped through other ways, and their original personality restored. I suggest you look in Babylon 5's databases for any information."

"There's one other thing. You said the Shadow Vessel fought back, when you tried to stop it?"

"Well several years ago Psycorp tried to ship a number of telepaths to the Shadows to use as controllers for their ships."

"Yes, I... You think that's what happened? The controller was a telepath, so they were able to fight back."

"It seems the most logical reason. After all this is the first time this has happened. It means we won't be able to use you if we do encounter any more Shadow Vessels."

Tara nodded, they both knew that in a straight fight they didn't stand much of a chance. "I'll go and get started."

As time passed, with no sign of Xander, Willow tried standing again. She was surprised to find there was no pain in her ankle. A part of her knew that she ought to stay put, that it was her best change to be found, but she sensed that she need to get moving. As she started walking a breeze began to pick up. It started to get cold as the wind grew and as it began to get dark. Looking up Willow saw something moving in front of the sun, blocking it out. Then it began to move away again and the sky grew light again. Shivering, despite the returning heat, Willow continued walking.

Getting to her quarters Tara accessed Babylon 5's databases. Once she had access she said, "I want a list of anyone who's personality has been erased, and later on restored."

Tara was sitting meditating when the computer beeped to tell her it had finished it's search. Going over she saw there was only two results. The first was a woman called Talia Winters. She had been an unwitting part of a psycorp experiment. They had implanted a second personality within her psyche which would act as a spy. When she received the correct mental command the second personality had taken over, destroying her original one. Tara read that a few years later her original personality had been restored using a recording which had been made by the Vorlon ambassador Kosh.

The second was a serial killer, called the Black Rose. He had been sentenced to death of personality and had been mind wiped. However that punishment hadn't satisfied the families of his victims. They had hunted him down and had used a Centauri telepath to undo the mind wipe, before killing him.

Sitting back Tara thought about what she had found out. In both cases there had been a recording of the persons original personality, which had been used to help restore it. Tara started to lose hope, knowing that she didn't have one for Willow. Then it occurred to her that she might not need one.

Willow hadn't gotten far when she heard a strange sound behind her. Turning she saw a patch of darkness. Then Willow realized it wasn't just darkness, but emptiness, a spot where the universe had disappeared. Black tendrils grew out from the darkness, spreading towards her. Willow didn't know what would happen if they caught her, but she knew it wouldn't be good. Turning Willow started running as fast as she could.

Tessa hurried to the bridge. "Oh damn," She said, seeing a pair of Shadow Vessels on the screen. "how many?"

"Opening jump point." The particle tunnel surrounding the jump point opened up in front of them and the Whitestar began to move down it towards the singularity that would take it through into hyperspace.

"They missed," the pilot said. No sooner had he said this than the jump point began to change color.

"They weren't aiming at us," Tessa said, "Turn us around, full power to the engines."

The white stars engines turned it round, then the main engines fired, taking it out of the jump point, which had started to collapse. As the jump point collapsed the particle tunnel that surrounded it fell inwards catching the back of the white star, sending it spinning out of control.

"How bad is it?" Tessa asked as soon as they had managed to get the ship under control.

Willow looked over her shoulder. The emptiness wasn't slowing at all. She had a few seconds before it reached her. Turning back to the cliff Willow heard a voice in her head, "If you fall, I'll catch you." Willow took a moment to prepare herself then started running. Willow's legs burned as she pressed herself to run faster and faster, trying to keep clear of the emptiness. Then her foot hit the edge of the cliff and she propelled herself over, into the abyss.

Tara reached her mind out to each shadow vessel in turn being careful to withdraw as soon as she felt it starting to react. As she scanned the third ship a smile of recognition formed on her face.

One moment Willow was falling, wondering how long it would take her to hit something, or even if she would hit anything The next she was floating still. After a moments thought she realized something was holding her up. Looking up Willow knew what it was. "Tara," She whispered.

For a moment Willow couldn't think of anything to say. Finally she said, "That's... not good."

One the bridge of the Whitestar one the pilot said, "One of the ships is firing."

"Everyone brace for..." Tessa stopped as she saw that the Shadow Vessel wasn't aiming at them. It's energy beam went through one of the other Shadow vessels, slicing it in two. The other two stopped and hung motionless for a moment. Tessa got the impression that they weren't used to one of their own attacking them. Not wanting to wait round to see what would happen Tessa said, "Use whatever engines we have left to get us the hell out of here."

The ship began moving away from the battle as quickly as possible, though not quickly enough for Tessa's liking.

Tessa watched as the renegade Shadow vessel destroyed the other two. It turned and headed towards the planet. Tessa sighed with relief.

Tara hurried to her case and opening it up pulled out a short metal rod. "Thanks Faith," She whispered as she slipped it into her pocket. She left the room. Technicians were hurrying about, moving to repair the damage to the ship. Tara hurried to the docking bay. Hoping it would work Tara placed her hand against the control panel. She was a little surprised as the door opened. Going in she said to herself, "Well I guess that was the easy part, how do I control this thing?"

As Tara sat down in the cockpit and started looking over the controls she was surprised when some of them started to light up. She was even more surprised when a voice said, "Welcome aboard Ms Maclay."

"I'm afraid I'm rarely able to figure out what Ms Rosenberg is thinking, or if she even does think at all."

As the ship was heading towards the Shadow Vessel Tara asked, "Why haven't you spoken before?"

"I communicate with Ms Rosenberg through her neural interface. I must admit that I find this form of communication to be... quaint."

As she approached the Shadow vessel she saw a small capsule being fired from it. The vessel then turned and headed towards the sun. As the ship moved up alongside the capsule the computer said, "One more thing, if you ever hurt Ms Rosenberg then at the first opportunity I will space you."

"I'll keep that in mind." Seeing that the capsule was being brought on board Tara got up and raced to the hold. As she got their she found a large black, oblong object with veins running along it's surface. The object opened up and Willow stumbled out. Falling into Tara's arms she started sobbing.

"I found you," Tara said, "I'll always find you." After they had been holding each other for a while Tara said, "We better get back to the Whitestar."

Tara frowned, "I know you want to stop the people behind this, but don't you think we've been through enough?"

"She picked up something from the Shadow vessel, now she's heading to the planet surface."

"Dammit, does she have a death wish?" When no one answered, She went on, "Okay what about the Shadow vessel?"

"Okay then send some fighters to the surface, see if we can stop Tara getting in too much..."

A technician turned and said, "Ms Halloran, there's a jump point forming. It's big."

"How big?" Tessa had the feeling that, given how her luck was going, it'd probably turn out to be a planet killer.

"That big," The tech said as the jump point appeared. A moment later a ship started to emerge from it.

"So what's the plan?" Tara asked as they approached the planet, "Since I'm guess they're not going to let us walk in and get the information we need."

"That probably would be expecting too much," Willow agreed, "Also sneaking in isn't really an option since they're probably already tacking us. So I guess the plan is we hope they still want me alive and don't shoot the ship down and after that... we'll have to see how it goes. Thanks."

"I was just telling Ms Rosenberg that there is only one ship on the planet and only minimal life signs," The ship said.

"I'm guessing that in order to avoid attracting attention to the base it'll only have a minimal staff, which will make things easier."

As Willow set the ship down she said, "Now that was easy, though the guards outside might not be."

Tara nodded, she shook the small rod she was holding and it extended into a long staff, "We'll have to hurry." Tara started moving as the doors were still opening. Coming out she caught one of the guards round the head before he could react. Another began to reach for his gun, but Tara was already moving towards him. Swinging her pike she caught him across the stomach, knocking him out. The third moved back, pulling his gun out. He aimed the PPG, but before he could fire Tara swung her staff round catching him across the arm, making him drop the PPG. He moved back pulling out a shock stick. He swung at Tara a couple of times, but she was always able to move out of the way. After a wild swing put him off balance, Tara swung the pike along the ground, knocking him over, She then knocked him out. Turning she saw that Willow had dealt with the other guard.

"It's hard to fight someone who knows what you're going to do before you do it," Tara said, tapping her forehead.

Tara nodded, looking round for any guards. A moment later the door opened. "So what are we looking for?" Tara asked.

"Somewhere where I can access there databases or, better yet, someone in charge."

"It's not that large a place, how long could it take?" Walking down the hallway Willow stopped at a doorway saying, "There's a terminal in here."

They went into a small office. There was a desk with a computer terminal at one end. Willow sat down at it and started working at it. After a few moments she said, "I think that I've... oh dear."

"They were cleverer than I thought. I've set off a silent alarm. I'll just... No good," Willow got up saying, "We better get out of here."

Tara stepped back into the hallway, looking for guards. No sooner had she stepped out of the room when the door slammed down behind her. Spinning round she hit the door, "Willow!"

Two guards walked slowly down a corridor, neither seeming to be in much of a hurry. "So what do you think it is?"

"But they lost contact with the people at the landing field. I bet we've got an intruder."

"They'll be sealed in the room, so no..." He stopped as Tara appeared in front of them, coming out from another passage.

Tara stopped in order to get her bearings. The good news was she had lost the two guards, the bad news was she had lost herself in the process. 'Willow?' Tara thought, wondering if they still had the connection.

Concentrating a moment Tara worked out the way she'd have to go to get to Willow. There was a conference room which she worked out she needed to go through. She walked into the room and stopped a moment. She had been sure that she had sensed someone in there. Not seeing anyone Tara continued towards the next door.

The guard watched as Tara entered the room, starting to move forwards. He stopped as she hesitated. Had she seen him? Wearing a black light suit that shouldn't have been possible, but if he had been moving too fast she might have noticed something. Then Tara continued on, apparently unaware of his presence. When she was close enough he ran forwards, swinging his baton at her head, only to find she had her moved her fighting pike in the way. Tara spun towards him, twirling the pike round she forced him back. He tried to fight back, all the while he trying to work out how she could see him. Not only that but she seemed to know where he was going to hit before he moved. Then he saw it, her eyes were closed. He bumped against a desk, and while he was distracted Tara hit him in the chest, and then round the head.

Opening her eyes Tara leant down to remove the hood from her opponent. As the black light suit deactivated he appeared on the floor. "Must be some sort of camouflage," Tara mused, "Too bad you were fighting someone who doesn't just see with her eyes."

Tara dropped to the floor just before bolt of plasma went past where she'd just been. Rolling towards the gunman Tara rose, swinging her pike, knocking the PPG out of his hands. She then swung it into his stomach, and then brought it down over his back. Tara then left the room, keeping her senses tuned for any other attackers.

Willow stepped through the door to find the man who had interrogate her their. "There you are," She said, "So are you going to cooperate?"

"We're already growing more. Besides here's the reason." As he said this another door opened and Tara came in. The man put a small cylindrical object on the desk, "Tara, do you recognize this?"

"It's the same device that killed your mother." Arnold smiled pleasantly as he turned to Willow, "You see unless you want me to activate this device and turn her into a vegetable, then I suggest you do what I say."

Willow started to approach the desk. Tara tried to work out a way out of this. Then she remembered the dreams she'd been having about her mother's death. One of her mother's colleagues had been hired to investigate the device, which is what had set it off. She sent a telepathic message to Willow, "He's bluffing. He needs a telepath to activate it."

Willow didn't seem to have heard, as she kept moving towards Arnold. As she reached the desk he said, "Very good."

Willow punched him in the face, sending him flying backwards into his chair, "You're all unconscious." Turning Willow held her hand moaning, "Ow!"

Taking Willow's hand she kissed it gently before saying, "We need to get out of here."

They were starting towards the door when Tara stopped them, "Willow there's something in the room."

There was a faint buzzing sound and then a large, black, six legged creature appeared. There was a small ball of energy forming between it's front limbs.

"Get down!" A voice shouted from behind them. A moment later a stream of plasma shots fired over them, into the Shadow. The creature writhed in pain for a few moments, before collapsing to the floor. Standing Willow started to move towards it, but stopped when she smelt something burning.

"I'd stay back if I was you, they don't like people messing about with their bodies."

They turned to see a bald headed man, who was wearing a flack jacket and carrying a plasma cannon. Putting the cannon down on the desk he said, "Man I really hate those things."

"So what exactly is the president of Edgar Industries doing out here?" Willow asked.

"Like I said I really hate those things. Let's just say we've had a few run ins in the past. So when I heard there was a chance for a little pay back. I grabbed a BFG and then got a ship out to meet the Excalibur."

Tara turned to give Willow a questioning look. Willow mouthed, ‘Big Fucking Gun." She then asked Garibaldi, "The Excalibur, it's here?"

"In orbit at the moment. You know if you want to come up for a tour of the ship I'm sure Gideon won't mind. I could show you both my second favorite thing in the galaxy."

As they walked towards the exit Willow put her arm round Tara whispering, "I'd much rather spend tonight seeing my favorite thing in the galaxy."

Garibaldi led them out of the room into another one, where a pair of rangers were waiting. Garibaldi said to them, "I want you to guard the prisoner."

Garibaldi turned back to Willow and Tara, "Now we should see about getting you both out of..."

"We need to go this way," Tara said. Without waiting for any argument she started moving, with Willow following a short distance behind.

After going down a couple of corridors they came to a large chamber. It was filled with large glass pods containing small black shapes. Some were tiny and barely formed whilst others were starting to resemble small shadow vessels.

"A nursery," Tara answered, as she walked through the room, not paying much attention to the pods.

"It gets worse." Tara led them to a door at the end of the chamber, going through they came to a balcony running around an even larger cavern which extended a long way above and below them. In the middle there was a black mass which had pipes running to it from the walls.

"Good, I think we're going to need it." Willow turned to Tara, who was looking at the ship with an expression of horror, "Come on, we need to get out of here."

As they got close to the docking bay they came across the Rangers carrying a stretcher, which had a body bag on it.

When they got to the docking bay Garibaldi took a Starfury up to the Excalibur, whilst Willow and Tara took Willow's ship up to the Whitestar. They were greeted by Tessa as soon as they boarded, "I hear you had an interesting encounter."

"Yeah, that planet killer gave me the creeps." Willow shuddered, "After having being inside one of their command ships I don't want to go anywhere near that thing."

"Actually I was referring to my predecessor. Well that planet killer is something we will have to deal with. I wonder if Neotech would actually have used it."

While they were talking they made their way to the bridge. As they arrived someone said, "Everyone's been evacuated from the surface and the Excalibur is in position."

Beams of light fired from the tips of the Excalibur's three wings, they converged at the front of the ship where they merged to form one beam which fired down at the planet. They could see a burst of light where the beam hit the surface.

"This has been quite a week," Willow said as they returned to their quarters, "I mean I came back from the rim I thought I'd just catch up with my friends and then see if my dad could help me get a job somewhere. I never expected to get caught up in an interstellar conspiracy and be fighting an ancient alien race."

"You think you've got it bad, I thought I was just going to Babylon 5 I thought it'd just be to act as an intermediary for some boring business deal, not that I'd be doing any of those things." Tara smiled, "Of course I also didn't know that I'd meet the love of my life."

"That is a plus," Willow said. Then frowning she asked, "You do mean me, right?"

"Well as long as nothing goes wrong, things should be a lot more peaceful now." Seeing the look of horror on Tara's face she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sure we'll be able to handle it. Speaking of which I couldn't help notice you're pretty good in a fight. I mean those three guards didn't really stand a chance."

"Oh well there's a reason for that. You remember I said I was mugged, or at least I thought that I had been."

"Well after I woke up, I became rather paranoid. I was afraid to leave my apartment, afraid that it'd happen again. After a couple of weeks though I realized it was silly to keep hiding from the world and I needed to deal with my fears. So I started taking self defense lessens. That was where I met Faith. She helped me with my training and after she became a ranger she showed me some Mimbari techniques."

"Such as how to use one of those fighting sticks. She sounds like a good friend."

Tara nodded, "Yes. I mean she can be a bit... aggressive for some people but she's a good person."

Early the next day Tessa, Willow and Tara took a shuttle across to the Excalibur. As captain Gideon greeted them Willow asked, "Is Galen on board?"

Gideon shook his head, "He left a couple of weeks ago. We haven't had any word from him since then."

Captain Gideon led them into the briefing room. Once in their he said, "Investigators have spoken to a number of people from Neotech. Several directors have confessed to being involved. They all say the same thing, they were working alone and Morganson had nothing to do with it."

"I've had some people keeping an eye on him since I took over from you, the problem is he's very good at getting people to take the blame for him."

"He's an ideologue," Willow said. As everyone turned to her she went on, "They're not taking the fall for him, they're doing it for the ideals he espouses."

"We can question the people who confessed, see if there's any other facilities."

"I'm not so much worried about any trial as I am that they'll show up one day with a couple of fully formed planet killers."

"So there's just the question of why they were so interested in Willow," Tessa said.

"The people we questioned about it all say it was just a private thing between Birkins and his compatriots," Garibaldi answered.

"So he took it to the grave with him. Maybe that's why he tried to get away, he was worried what would happen if he told us anything so he forced them to kill him."

After they'd taken the shuttle back to the Whitestar Tessa said to Tara, "Can I have a word with you?"

She stopped as a ranger approached them saying, "There's a call from the president, for Miss Rosenberg."

For a moment Willow didn't know what to say. Finally she said, "Right, I'll take it now."

Tara followed Tessa into her office then waited as Tessa went through some papers. Finally she looked up, "You were taking quite a risk today. Both when you went after that Shadow vessel, and then when you went to the planet rather than returning here."

"Well we wanted to get there, before they could destroy the tech. Willow... We thought we could use it to help find a cure for the plague."

"Yes well the Whitestar was damaged and... it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Ah that defense. Do you know G'kar?" Seeing Tara didn't understand she went on, "It doesn't matter. The thing is you'll need to learn to think more about these things if you want to work for me full time."

Tara considered this a moment, "So the whole you telling me off thing was just your way of offering me a job?"

"That's nothing, you should see how I treat my ex-boyfriends. So what do you say?"

When Tara got to their quarters she asked Willow, "So what did the president want?"

"That's great." Tara started, stopping as she realized that he might want Willow to be working on Minbar, or possibly the Excalibur, "Uh, where will you be working?"

"Well they said I can work anywhere, but they'd prefer me to work from Babylon 5. What about you, what are your plans?"

"There's the matter of living arrangements," Tara went on, "It's probably a bit early to be living together, it's only been a couple of weeks."

"Is that all? It seems like longer. You're right. That would be a big step. Though we will be living together, we'll be on the same station."

After getting back to the station Tara went back to her quarters to pick up some things. She was on the way when she heard a voice in her head, "You think this is all over, but the truth is, it's only just beginning."

Spinning round she saw a man staring at her. He had long hair and an intense expression. Turning he walked away.

When Tara reached Willow's quarters Willow greeted her by asking, "Do you know what happened to Babylon Four?"

For a moment Tara was a bit taken aback by the question. She answered, "It disappeared soon after it was brought online. No one know what happened to it."

"Actually it was sent a thousand years back in time to be used by the Minbari as a base in a previous Shadow war."

"You're probably wondering how that's relevant. Well some sort of temporal disturbance was left behind afterwards. Lately they've been picking up tachyon emissions from it. They seem to coincide with when you've been seeing dead people."

"I'm not sure, I mean these people are interacting with you. There are philosophies which say that people leave traces of themselves behind wherever they go. Maybe these tachyon emissions are letting you interact with these traces."

"Well I figured that. I mean we don't know why the Shadows and everyone else is so interested in us."

"I've been thinking about that, I think they knew they'd have to put me in one of their ships, do the whole mind wipe thing to get me to cooperate. I think they also knew that you'd be able to save me."

"Well we don't really have enough to go on at the moment. Maybe we should leave discussing this till we know what we're discussing."

Willow nodded, "True." She smiled, "Actually I know a more pressing subject. It's my birthday next week."

"I guess it'll be time for the yearly call from my parents. I'd like to tell them about you, that we're an item."

As Tara got into bed next to Willow her mind went back to what Willow had just said. Trying to work out what to get Willow for her birthday. A smile formed on her face as she thought of something. The only problem was, how was she going to get Strawberries delivered to Babylon Five?

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Shadows of the Past

by Justin

Copyright © 2006

msparshatt@gmail.com