16:30 hours. Earth standard time. Liza was an half an hour late. He knew she was trying to phsych him out, unbalance him, keep him off kilter. She loved to mess with people's minds, he thought. No pun intended.
      He sighed and shifted position, leaning against an empty crate left in the bay. He knew Sheridan and his people were sequestered around the room in various forms of camouflage, behind crates and boxes, and some on the catwalk overhead, hidden in shadow. None dared to talk, as Liza could be on her way, and nearby.
      That woman! He should've run long ago. Sometimes he couldn't make up his mind which was worse. Being in the Corp or being married to a crazy woman. She was certifiable and he wasn't the only one who had complained of her to the powers that be. Unfortunately, she was a favorite among certain officials in the Corp, her "success" rate in her cases as a Cop gave them reason to smile. They didn't care HOW she did it, as long as she kept it up. It gave him great guilt at times, but now and then, when he allowed himself to think about it, he was almost glad his (he refused to think of it as "their") son had died so soon after birth.
      There was only a life of misery and control in store for him in the Corp, and goodness knows what having Liza for a mother would have done to the boy. It was better he had died. He heaved a silent sigh. It was also better that Celeste was gone now and not around to see this present mess. Their daughter was in great jeopardy and all because of his carelessness. He had underestimated Liza and it might cause Jessie her life.
      What became of him was no longer important. All he wanted now was for Jessie to live her life free of the Corp. These people had promised to help her no matter what the outcome of today's impending confrontation. Sheridan had given his word. And though it had been hard to come by the last twenty years, Edward still had trust, and he put it in Sheridan now.
      He scanned his eyes around the bay. He could've sworn he heard something. Off to the left. He nodded his head in that direction, an officer confirmed with a wave it had been heard by them also. Then the officer quickly concealed herself again as the noise grew closer. The grating over an air shaft near the floor rattled for a moment and then fell to the floor. A human form was pushed out quickly, onto the floor of the bay. Edward immediately saw the red hair. Jessie! He made a move towards the girl , but was brought up short by the sight of a PPG, Psi-Cop issue, appearing in the grate hole.
      "Stop right there, Edward!" An all too familiar voice materialized out of the darkness inside. " You come any closer and you won't be a father much longer."
      He backed off.
      "Very good. I'm coming out now. I have no qualms about making myself a widow either, so I suggest you keep a good distance." Gradually, an arm followed the pistol holding hand, followed by the rest of Liza.
      She crawled over to Jessie, still bound at the arms, and dragged her up with her, to a standing position.
      Edward made a small but intensely furious noise when he got a good look at Jessie's face as her head was snapped back by Liza's rough handling. She had a large, good sized, grossly colored bruise across the side of her face, dried blood around the edge of her mouth, and numerous scratches. Her hair was in complete disarray and her eyes were glazed over as if she'd been drugged. And though she had a blanket draped around her, Jessie was still wearing only a hospital gown, and was barefoot.
      "What have you done to her,Liza??!! My God, I'll kill you!!!" He clenched his fists in rage.
      Over in a dark corner Zack also was completely infuriated and heart sick at the sight of Jessie. He had been telling himself all along that she would be alright. He wanted to pound his fist against the wall.
      "Kill me, my love?" Liza snorted. "I think not. You don't have the stomach for that. You never have.
      That's why I've always been in good favor with the Corp and you haven't. You haven't got the nerve to carry out what needs to be done. In the Corp, or out of it. Unless , of course, there was that one time, hmmmm? Our son?" She shot daggers at him with her eyes. "You remember that, don't you? True, I wouldn't have thought you had it in you, but who else had so much reason to kill him?"
      "You're crazy, Liza. A bona fide nuthouse candidate! The boy experienced crib death and you know it. He was my son! I could never have killed my own son, even if you were his mother. " Edward glanced at Jessie.
      She stood there, stock still, not even trembling. She seemed to be experiencing shock.
      "Let her go Liza. I'm not asking, I'm telling you. Let her go, and I'll go back with you to the Corp. That was the deal."
      "Oh no Edward. That was your propos made by proxy. It was that Alexander woman wasn't it? The Vorlon science experiment? Very clever of you. I couldn't read her for truthfulness at all. And she was awfully strong to send to me across the station." She laughed offhandedly. "You know, maybe I should just forget you both, and go after her instead. I'd probably be promoted for bringing that one in."
      She smiled at him. "Another time perhaps. Now,as I was saying, that was your deal. I only agreed to meet you to discuss it. Well, as far as I'm concerned we just did and........." she leveled the gun at him, "I've decided I don't like that deal. You have two choices Edward. Either A: You come with me now and we all three go back home, or B: You resist or try and pull some stupid stunt that only gets your daughter or yourself killed. The only way I would go home empty handed is if I had to kill you both. Our superiors would rather I brought you both back alive. It would be such a waste to kill you, but I have the option to do so if I deem it necessary." She waved the gun at him. "Go ahead, take a few minutes to decide. I've got some time."
      He looked at Liza carefully. She was serious. She'd do it. Most likely, she had had every intention of killing Jessie. An eye for an eye. She thinks I killed her child so she's going to take mine.
      "You won't get away with it. Sheridan and his people, they'll never let you get off this station if you kill either of us."
      Her eyes widened. "The Renegade Captain and his Nefarious Crew? You think I'm afraid of THEM?" She hooted thru her laughter,"What could they possibly do? Throw me in the brig? You and I know the Corp wouldn't allow me to stay there for long. In the end, I'd be more trouble for them than I'm worth. I bet the last thing they want right now is another visit from their good friends at the Corp. And even if the Corp didn't come and get me, so what? You think I really care? I'd finally be even for everything you've done to me."
      "Done to you! That's funny Liza. The only thing I ever did to you was try to cut you out of my life!
      It was no secret that I didn't love you. I told you the day we were married that I wanted nothing to do with you, ever. The Corp said they didn't care about our personal life as long as we provided them with at least one child. So help me God, I did that. Against all my better judgement, but I just wanted you out.
      And yes, he died. From natural causes. And you were left barren afterwards. Well, I feel sorry for you Liza but that had nothing to do with me. And it had nothing to do with Jessie. Now you let her go, and take me back instead. That should make you happy. I assume I'll be "adjusted". I'll wind up the perfect husband for you. I think that's worth letting her go."
      "Well, I don't! I want to hurt you. I want to see you suffer! See how you react to YOUR child being taken from you!"
      "Where have you been !?! My child, my WIFE, were both taken from me twenty years ago!"
      He ignored the gun and walked towards her."You think it's possible to make me suffer any more than I already have?"
      She pressed the gun to Jessie's temple. Jessie still seemed oblivious to everything that was happening. Liza challenged him with a look to keep moving towards her. Edward stopped about 5 feet in front of them. "Yes, I think it's possible," she said. "All I have to do is pull the trigger."
      Edward tried to think clearly thru his rage. He knew now that one way or the other, sooner or later, she was going to kill Jessie. And it was going to be sooner if he didn't stop provoking her.
      He remembered that he was supposed to get her away from Jessie so the cavalry could ride in. Then he wiped that away quickly, before she could pick up on it, in case she was scanning. He decided to distract her with more talk.
      He held his hand up to indicate he was not going to move. Then he met her gaze.
      "I'm curious. How did you find out about all this. And when?"
      Her eyes narrowed slightly. He was up to something, but she decided to play along.
      "About your little family?," she answered, indicating Jessie witha slight wave of her other hand."Obviously, I knew about Celeste. You never let me forget she'd been your wife,did you? I never quite believed that you had no contact with her whatsoever. I assumed you would try to find her someday, if you didn't already know where she was. I applaud you Edward, you kept a good secret for almost 2 decades. I tried to probe you numerous times but I never found anything. I asked the Corp once to deep scan you but they said it was immaterial and unecessary, that even if you did have contact with her, you'd never get away from them.
      I let it go, just keeping an eye out for trouble. Then about a month ago, you seemed terribly agitated. I went into your office one night 2 weeks ago to check around and I got into your communications records.
      Seemed you had uploaded numerous data crystals to New Orleans in a very short amount of time. Being curious, I investigated. I went there and found nothing but a storefront. I got ahold of your landlord and he refused to talk about you, so I scanned him. I learned you had hired him to send data to and from Proxima 3 at certain intervals, and to be most discreet. He didn't know what the data was, but apparently you had just released his services, telling him he was no longer needed. So, I started investigating what could be of interest to you on Proxima 3. I talked to the private courier service who's name I'd gotten from your guy. All they knew was your data was sent to the same woman every time. Very beautiful, I was told. And she had a daughter. That was it. I knew it then, why all the secrecy.
      You didn't want us coming after your daughter. I informed our superiors as to what I'd learned and they informed me you hadn't shown up for work yesterday and was still missing. Then we got the word from police on Proxima that Celeste was dead and your daughter had left on a transport headed for Mars. I went to Mars to see if I could pick up your trail. When I asked around, I was told Jessie's transport had been rerouted to Babylon 5 due to mechanical problems. I figured a golden oppurtuniy was at hand. I get to her first, and flush you out. And it worked, didn't it?" She fairly beamed. She looked at him trimphantly.
      So triumphantly, in fact, she was distracted for a split second and lowered her gun. That was all Edward needed. He charged her, covering the distance between them in nothing flat. She screamed in fury, and attempted to fire at him, but he got there first and knocked her hand away. She held onto the gun, but the shot burst a crate wide open , revealing an officer.
      "NO!" Liza was livid. "You won't beat me! I'll shoot her, damn YOU!" She whipped around frantically, searching for Jessie.
<      Edward attacked her again, attempting to grab the gun. Sheridan and the strike team burst forth but could not shoot for fear of hitting Edward.
      Zack went to Jessie immediately and cut her bonds. She appeared to awaken from the trance she had been in. She quickly looked from Zack to her father , saw him grappling with Liza, and screamed. "Daddy!"
      Edward whipped his head around at the sound of his daughter's voice. A reflex that cost him his life.
      Liza gained control of the gun and fired into his chest.
      He reached for Jessie as he fell, but he was dead before he hit the ground.
      "DADDY! NO!" She shrieked and, without warning, pulled free of Zack's grasp and ran towards her father's lifeless body.
      Zack reached for her and yelled, "Jessie! Stop! Get out of the way!" D'Amico had trained her gun on Liza and had been about to fire but Jessie blocked the shot. Liza grabbed the girl by the arm as she passed and pulled her against herself.
      "Drop your weapons! I swear I'll kill her!" Liza was wild-eyed and breathing heavily.
      Sheridan ordered everyone to hold their fire, but they had encircled her and Jessie and Edward's body by then. "You've got nowhere to go," said Sheridan, his pistol raised. "You will not be harmed if you give up the girl. Release her and we'll take you into custody."
      "She's mine! Lawfully she belongs to the Corp and you know it. There's nothing you can do, Captain, except let me take the girl and go. You can't keep me here!" She shook with rage.
      "You just shot and killed an unarmed man. Lawfully I CAN keep you, telepath or no. Don't make this any worse for yourself."
      "He's dead from his own stupidity! I was attacked. Your bargaining tactics leave something to be desired, Captain. I'm leaving and that's all there is to it."
      Liza closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could. One by one the officers and Sheridan started wincing and holding their hands up to their heads as flashes of pain shot through them.
      Liza spoke smugly, "Welcome to the world of a P12 telepath, boys and girls." She held onto Jessie tightly and made her way cautiously towards an opening made by the incapacitated guards.
      Zack fought the intruding pain with all his might. He knew Jessie's life depended on it. He saw Liza making her move and put out a hand to attempt to stop her. "You're not going anywhere with her, "he gasped. Liza turned her attention fully on the Security Chief. He winced as his pain almost doubled in intensity.
      "Nice try, Chief, but your girlfriend belongs to me now." Liza moved farther out towards the edge of the circle.
      Jessie desperately looked into Zack's eyes as she struggled . She felt herself sharing his pain. It cut her to the core and awakened something deep inside herself. Other than her parents, this was the first person who knew about her abilities and truly cared for her . She had lost both her parents now and was about to lose Zack too if she didn't do something fast.
      All her fear melted and transformed into blind fury. She had the ability to protect him , if she could only harness the power she knew she possessed. Almost on instinct, she acted and built a protective wall between Zack and Liza. The suddeness of the interruption of power backfired upon Liza. She screamed and held up her arms as to deflect the onslaught of pain. Jessie, now free from her grasp, faced Liza and projected everything she had at her with all her might. The woman screamed again as she was bombarded with the full force of Jessie's rage. Sheridan and the others, now free from Liza's hold, looked upon the scene, astonished. A few minutes before, this girl who was overpowering a Psi-Cop hadn't looked like she could wrestle an Icarian flea. Now she had this madwoman on her knees.
      Just at that moment, while they were still gathering their senses, Lyta Alexander came racing into the bay.
      She skidded to a halt at the scene before her.
      "You've got to stop her! The strain could kill her! I've seen it happen. She isn't trained to handle this!"
      Zack turned towards Lyta,panicked. "Why don't YOU do something?"
      "I CAN'T! I already tried! Her abilities are terribly erratic. I'm afraid if I interrupt her I might hurt her even more!" Meanwhile Liza was on the floor now, too pain wracked to even scream anymore, only able to get out a few pitiful mewling noises. And Jessie stood over her with a look of pure, white hot fury. Then they noticed the trails of blood trickling down her face from her nose.
      "Jessie, stop it!" yelled Zack. "You're hurting yourself! Please!"
      She heard him as if from far away, only a small part of her mind registering his words. The rest was focused on the woman in front of her, the woman who had beaten and abused her, the woman who had just taken her father away from her. She didn't even know how she was doing what she was doing. It felt like animal instinct. Protect yourself and your loved ones. Then she remembered who she'd been trying to protect.
      "Zack?" she whispered.

      Zack looked relieved and reached for her."Yes. Stop now."
      "Zack, I'm scared, I.......I can't stop." She trembled visibly.
      "Yes you can. Just let go. Let go of her, she can't hurt you anymore." He went and stood next to her. "Just let her go."
      "I'm trying, Zack." She was still staring at Liza.
      Zack came around and stood in front of her breaking her line of sight. "You can stop. It's okay." He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, cradling her head, shushing and soothing her like a newborn.
      "Zack?" she whispered with effort. "What?," he answered gently. She grasped his hand. "It hurts." she said simply. And she felt her mind give, releasing Liza.
      She went frighteningly limp, almost collapsing to the floor. Zack swept her up instantly. "Jessie?" He shook her, scared.       "Jessie! Oh c'mon...don't do this to me now! Answer me dammit!" There was no verbal response from the young woman. She had nothing left, everything she'd been thru had taken it all away.
      She opened her eyes and gazed at Zack , trying to impart what she felt for him and that she was grateful he had tried to help her. With effort she raised her hand to his cheek,and gave a small sigh. Then she quietly let go, with a fleeting thought that now she and her parents might be reunited, and be happy together.
      Zack, tears welling up in his eyes, looked pleadingly at Lyta. The woman, feeling grief of her own for the girl , shook her head at him ,confirming his fear, and turned away. Trembling,he sank to the floor of the bay ,wiping the mixture of blood and tears from Jessie's face with his hand. Grieving for her and for himself, he gently rocked her body back and forth,burying his face in her hair.
      Sheridan and the other officers moved in on Liza. "Better call Franklin and get someone up here on the double, she doesn't look good." The Captain didn't look like he was all that upset about it. He took Liza's gun and handed it to Ramirez.
      "I want this for evidence, in the case of her prosecution for Mr. Forrester's death. Something tells me that may never happen though, once Psi Corp gets wind of this." He sighed.
      Psi-Corp was going to be the death of him yet.

       
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