Sleeping With The Enemy
by Allenna Sinclair
Prologue: The LiesHere's the first part of my Neroon story. The main part of it is set in 2262 on B5. Most of the timeline and events don't hold strictly to jms's vision (Neroon isn't dead for one thing). The Heroine, Hailey is the niece of the man who ordered the first shot be fired on the Minbari.
2242: A week after the first shot of the E-M War; outside Dublin, Ireland.
(Note the spelling errors in young Hailey's speech is purposeful)
"Humans have a phrase: 'What is past is prologue.' Minbari also have a phrase: 'What is past is also sometimes future.' " --Delenn, Z'ha'dum
"Uncle --- ?", The little girl looked up at the man standing before her.
"What's wong--where Da 'n Mum?"
The man kneeled down before the four year old and placed his hands on her
small shoulders. He had a choice: damn himself and tell the truth or be damned
and lie.
"I don't know how to tell you this sunshine........something bad happened
and --," his voice faltered.
"What uncle--what sumting hapined?" Clear amber eyes looked at him.
So innocent--did she really need to know the truth? To know what kind of man
her hero uncle was? Could this small angel handle the truth?
"Your mother and father are dead, baby," he told her plainly.
The girl looked puzzled...she was too young to understand concepts like death
but understood the word meant something bad.
"What's dead, uncle?" She asked, clutching a brown teddy bear.
"They went to heaven ----,"he hugged her tight, "They didn't want to though,
honey."
The meaning hit the little girl and she clung to her uncle, tears began to
flow from her eyes.
"Why'd they go then?"
"Our ship was attacked--by a race called the Minbari--"
"But why- ," the little girl sobbed, "Why they take my Mum n Da? Why?"
"They just attacked--I'm so sorry--so sorry--", hatred bulit up in him.
Both at the mysterious Minbari and at himself.
"I hate 'em!", the little girl cried hardly knowing what the words meant.
Her still developing empathic abilities latched on to her uncle's strongest
emotion: hate and made it her own. He held her as she cried, hating himself for lying to the one person who
would have forgiven him.
18 years later
The young woman stood in the doorway of her Uncle's study, gazing at her
Uncle in indecision. Her Uncle called her away from college for Holiday break
early. Strangely enough he always seemed to call her home at the same as the
Psi tests. But this was not what was troubling her. She pulled on one of her
straw hued pigtails.
"Uncle?"
"Yes, Hailey?", he looked at his 22 year old niece. She was so pretty, but
she would never come close to the radiance of her long dead mother -- as he
often told her.
"Uncle--I've heard people talking lately---," she hesitated, sitting down on
the piano bench.
"About what?", he went back to reading his book.
"About what happened 20 years ago---they've been saying that maybe the
Minbari didn't fire first--that--," she said slowly, looking at him closely.
Ellihah froze and looked at her. Oh God----.
"That what--Hailey?"
"That you lied--," she whispered.
"Hailey--," he took her by the shoulders "They fired first---I was
there--don't you believe me? They're the enemy!"
"I guess so--it's just that--"
He lifted her chin. "Would I lie to you? Your my world, Hailey--you mean
everything to me--I would never lie to you."
She hugged him, and nodded. "I know--I know."
"Never, EVER forget they're the enemy, Hailey! They're monsters, murders!
They not civilized like us, they're animals. They killed your parents
without a second though! You can't trust them!"
The lie was so much easier now. But what he didn't know was that lie was one
day going to come back to haunt him and Hailey.
"Always remember .. they're the enemy. Never --EVER TRUST the Minbari. No
matter what....no matter what!"
A lie that would tear them apart and destroy more than one life.
Chapter One: A Book By Its Cover
'Be brave. Even if you're not, pretend to be. No one can tell the
difference.'
"Jimmy is married and lives down south," a sweet soprano drifting out into
the hall from a nearby bar.
A hooded figure paused and turned his head towards the siren's song. After a
moment he walked toward the bar, which in gaudy letters proclaimed its self
as the Mirage. Entering the bar, the figure stood hidden by the shadows
gazing at the source of the enchanting voice.
"He'll say I don't know why we met, the simple truth is always the best,
C'est la vie -- what's done is done, and there's somebody for everyone-," her
voice quivered with emotion. "Jimmy has debts and Jimmy has ties, that he
can't get out from under, if you look far enough into his eyes --," the
singer's fingers skillfully strummed a guitar.
Neroon was amazed that such a voice could come from a human female.
Especially one that looked so young--she couldn't be more than eighteen, if
even that! He couldn't believe that the voice that drawn him to this--this
place was possessed by such a creature. Such a gift was wasted on the stupid
chit.
"It'll rock you just like thunder
The singer's eyes met Neroon from across the darkened room. Her eyes burned
into his, bright beacons in a place of shadows.
Jimmy broke locks and Jimmy broke bolts
Just to get himself out from under
When you feel like you're lying in a prison cell
It'll kind of make you wonder
He'll say it's destiny we met
The simple truth is always the best
Don't you see what's done is done
And there's somebody for everyone..."
"He'll say you get just what you get
As the song ended, demands arose from the patrons for more music and the
young woman was forced to obey. Neroon almost pitied her--she was oblivious
tired and had probably been on stage all night. Then again the stupid
creature probably didn't know any better.
Neroon told himself he'd stay for only one more song, as he had better
things to do than listen to a human sing. Then another and another and
another, until Neroon realized he'd been there almost three hours. The young
woman on stage curtsied and walked gracefully off the stage into the back,
holding her guitar by the neck.
Another woman came up on stage, much older than the first. Gray streaked
this female's hair.
The simple truth is always the best
Don't you see what's done is done?
And there's somebody for everyone"
"Thanks Hailey--you did great kid! Anyone who'd like to hear and see our
Hailey again, please come on back tomorrow night at nine. She'll be back up
here singing and playing her heart out for you great folks!"
'That woman is a very good liar,' Hailey thought smiling slightly over Abby,
the blind woman was manager of the bar. She shrugged a black cloak on over
her skimpy black dress and grabbed her purse, slinging the guitar across her
back. After saying her good-byes, the young woman known as Hailey Calei
Kuffs walked towards the door. Ignoring the vulgar comments and lewd looks,
Hailey made her way through the maze of tables. As she walked out the door
she noticed a tall cloaked figure watching her from a short distance away.
Hailey looked the figure over and tried to do a surface scan with her weak
telepathic powers. She could only pick up that the figure was alien and
meant her no harm. She recognized the figure now, it had been there the
whole evening, watching her. Something about his mind was intensely familiar.
Curious.
Hailey was too tired to think anymore on the subject and left the bar. She
headed wearily towards the lift, unaware that she was being followed. She
entered the lift and said her floor. Before the doors could close the figure
from the bar slid in, his hood now down. Hailey was strangely, not surprised
to see he was Minbari. Hailey shifted uncomfortably and inched away from the man. Neroon observed
her actions with a small smile. Humans -- they were all the same.
"Which floor?" She asked him, out of the blue.Neroon turned his head towards her, a little surprised she had the courage
to talk to him. When he didn't respond, she looked at him strangely and asked
again.
<"Which floor, sir?">, she said in perfect Vik, the only form of Minbari she
knew. Neroon's mouth almost fell open in shock. This human spoke Minbari? And Vik
at that?
<"I will decide once I arrive there, human.">, he said coldly.
"Suit yourself," she said, with a small shrug of her shoulders. She forced
herself to look away from his enthralling cinnamon hued eyes.Neroon gazed at her a moment more before speaking again. Maybe there was a little more to this female than meets the eye.
"Your singing was very -- satisfactory -- for a human," he said.
"And you have a way of making a person extremely nervous, Minbari!" She bit
back. She was annoyed that this Minbari had chosen her to harass.
"Do I make you nervous, human?" he asked hovering over her.
"No, but you made a whole lotta other people nervous. You scared away half
the business tonight!!" No Minbari was gonna try and put her in her place!
This one had to be one of the warriors, for she'd met some of the religious
and worker types and as a rule they were pretty nice.
"That must have been a great loss to you!" he growled. Neroon had seen the
dress she'd been wearing on stage and had a few ideas of what she did OFF
stage. Hailey understood his meaning entirely. Her amber eyes whirled in anger as
she glared up at him. If had been a human male she'd of smacked him.
"Tell me just how many credits did you lose out on this evening?" Neroon
leered at her. "I assume you usually do not go home unescorted."
"How dare you -- !" Her hand flew on its own accord to strike him. Her eyes
seemed to turn to flames.
Neroon caught her wrist and bent it back painfully. Hailey flinched in agony
as his massive hand almost crushed the delicate bones.
"You forget yourself, HUMAN!" Neroon roared, pushing her away, clamping down
on his anger. Hailey glared angrily at him, mumbling Irish curses under her breath. Her
uncle was right, these -- these monsters were animals! Or at least the
warriors were, she conceded, unwilling to damn the entire race.The lift slowed and came to a stop announcing it was Hailey's floor. Hailey didn't notice, she was to busy trying to control her rage. She rubbed her
throbbing wrist gently, ignoring the damage his hand had left.
Neroon was taken aback for a moment by the fury in her ethereal amber eyes.
He would have laughed out loud but felt that the human female wouldn't have
appreciated it. Not that he really cared. She wasn't afraid of him. That was an odd thing even among his own. Females
of his own race too often seemed frightened by him. But not this creature. He
would have to think on this.
"I believe we have reached your floor," his tone was more respectful now.
Hailey blinked and saw that he was correct. She nodded at Neroon and left
the lift. As the doors closed behind her she heard the Minbari call after
her.
<"Until tomorrow night, Hailey.">
Hailey turned but the doors were already shut. She stared at the lift door
for several moments before heading to her quarters. Arrogant, rude, self-centered, heathen!! That's what that -- that Minbari
was! He made it sound like he was doing her a favor by talking to her! Hailey
could forgive many things, but excessive pride and ignorance was not among
them!
Still there was something in his eyes.....
-- continued in chapter two --