PART 2 - Tools of Dishonor
by Sunraven, June, 2001
This was Terra's first look at her fellow clan member since Ledann's funeral, and as he and Delenn approached the shuttle, her heart clenched. He was dressed in the brown and cream robes of a high ranking Religious Caste military leader, and looked ever so handsome. He wasn't tall, about 5'9 or so, with a strong square chin, a stocky athletic body, and gentle hazel eyes. On their own volition, tears sprung to her eyes.
Neroon, standing next to her, must have seen her eyes start to water. "What is it, Terra? Are you well?"
She looked up at him briefly, and wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve. "I'm fine, Neroon. It's just that he looks so much like Ledann, that seeing him clenched my heart a bit, is all. At the funeral I broke into tears whenever I saw him. The poor man, every time I see him I start crying."
"I'm sure that he understands." He answered gently. Deep inside his heart, it was like a knife turned and cut deeply at this sign of how much Terra had cared for her dead husband. But it was to me she gave her heart. He kept her strong, but it is me she loved!
Delenn and Lenann came up to them. The priest gave Neroon a stony look, but made the proper (to the exact millimeter) bow of respect. "Satai Neroon."
"Delenn." Never one to mince words, he jumped right in. "Terra informed me that you requested that Fleet Captain Lenann come along as her escort. Of course, it is not necessary as I will be there to protect her."
He turned to Lenann. "Hello Lenann, it is good to see you again. I am sorry that you had to make this long journey for no purpose."
"Excuse me, Satai Neroon." Delenn said in her best high-priest-to-lowly-acolyte voice. "Terra is Religious Caste, and as such, it would be improper for her to be escorted by a Warrior Caste, even one who is a member of the Gray Council." The and who stole my position was left unsaid, but for an empath of Terra's strength, the fire of emotions between the two of them was strong enough to fry flarn. She could feel herself already starting to sweat as the temperature near them began to rise..
"Fleet Captain Lenann has volunteered to act as her escort, since he is also from the Diun clan. To comply with tradition, it will be so."
Terra could feel Neroon's anger start up at this blatant disrespect. Before he could open his mouth and turn the tense undercurrents into out-and-out war, she jumped in, "Delenn, as usual, you are very wise. And Satai Neroon is also correct that I need no other bodyguard with him around, as he is more than competent to protect me." She turned towards him and bowed. "So I propose a compromise. Fleet Captain Lenann shall come along as my escort, as required by Religious Caste traditions, and Satai Neroon shall come along as my protector. How is that?"
The two combatants didn't like this win-win situation, since they both wanted a me-win-you-lose resolution, but they really couldn't say anything to countermand her comment.
Terra smiled. "Good. Now I see that all of my equipment has been packed, and my personal bags as well. I suggest that we get going so that we won't miss our rendezvous with the Ingata." She turned to Delenn, put her hand out in the greeting of one good friend to another. "Wish us luck, my friend."
"May Valen and luck be with you on your journey, Terra." Said Delenn, her face softening as she returned the gesture.
Terra and her two escorts went inside the shuttle.
Neroon looked at Lenann, a superior smirk on his face. "You had better strap in tight, Fleet Captain, as the ride on a Warrior Caste shuttle is less smooth than the ride on one of your pretty little Religious Caste ships."
Oh, brother, the testosterone is already starting to flow. This is going to be a very long trip.
Lenann smiled at Neroon. "Why, I expected to be the one to fly the shuttle, Satai Neroon. It would be unseemly for a member of the Gray Council to do it while there is a subordinate to take the task."
He smoothly moved to the pilot's chair, sat down, and strapped himself in. The priest turned back to Neroon and said, "You and Terra should strap yourselves in, Satai. This is a Warrior Caste shuttle, after all." The shit-eating grin he flashed caused Neroon to bristle in his armor like a black porcupine. But the Satai had been neatly outmaneuvered, and he knew it. It would be beneath his newly ranking dignity to rip the Fleet Captain out of the seat, straps and all, and stuff him down an airlock, no matter how much he wanted to do it.
Neroon didn't have to like it, however. For the first hour out from Babylon 5 he sulked. Finally, Terra decided that she didn't want to put up with his glowering and gloom for the entire eight hour journey, so she unstrapped herself, turned to him, and whispered in his ear, "Give him a few more hours, then tell him you'll relieve him. He'll let you take the helm."
He turned to her and glared at her for good measure, then nodded. Then he went back into his sullen silence again.
Neroon is a lousy loser in a lot of ways. He absolutely hated not to win. Terra sighed. He was going to be useless as a companion.
She got up and walked over to Lenann. "How is Sherrisa, Lenann?"
He glanced at her then back at the controls, which needed constant monitoring in a ship that small. "She is fine, Terra. She is recovering well from Ledann's loss. Though she misses your presence on Halanthe, I think."
"I miss her as well. Once this is over, maybe I will go and visit Halanthe. I've been away long enough for the memories to become old friends, rather than recent pain. At least they do until I see your face again. Then it all comes rushing back."
"I miss him as well." The Minbari answered quietly, and she could feel his pain. He really did miss Ledann. The two of them, though with very different personalities, had been very close in childhood. If Lenann had been other than the good man that he was, he may have felt justified to hate Terra for being the cause of his cousin's fate. But that feeling had never come into her relationship with any of her close clan members, for which she was eternally grateful.
"Terra! Attend me." Neroon's imperious command broke into their discussion.
She turned to glare at the Satai, then turned back to Lenann and leaned down and murmured to him, "Let him have the helm in a few hours. That should make him happy, and will give us some time to get reacquainted."
He nodded, smiling again.
She went back to Neroon's side.
"Please don't order me around like that again, Neroon. I am not your aide or your servant." She said to him through clenched teeth, surprising him with her vehemence. She also picked up Lenann's shock at her disrespect to the Gray Council member. Well, he was going to be in for a powerful surprise if he was going to spend any time with them. Terra would treat Neroon the same as she always had in private, just to keep his already overinflated ego from floating away like a helium balloon.
"I .. I merely wanted to discuss some concerns the Gray Council has regarding this illness on Korun."
"I'm here. Discuss it."
"From the description of the symptoms and the biochemical changes, some of the Council are suspecting that this illness sounds a lot like a biochemical warfare agent."
"On what do they base this judgement? I wasn't aware that there were any trained biochemists on the Council."
"Well, there aren't, but there are, as you know, several experienced warriors on the Gray Council, and it is their, äour feeling that this illness that is affecting the population of a major warship-building world is a little too convenient to be natural."
"Yes, there are four of you now on the Council, and so now you have taken it upon yourselves to not only unbalance the Gray Council, but to also start making diagnoses without the proper training about illnesses on planets thousands of light years away. Why didn't you send in your warrior caste biochemists if you were so sure it is manufactured?"
"I am not going to discuss this any more with you if you are going to continue being so disrespectful. You are a constant source of annoyance to me!"
Terra could feel Lenann listening with ears wide open, probably shocked that Neroon had taken this abuse from her so quietly (for him). "Fine. Then, since my sleep was so rudely interrupted last night, I think I will try to take a short nap."
She willed herself into a trance that filtered out the emotions from the two other people in the shuttle. Damn Neroon, he is getting so full of himself. I'm definitely going to have to think of a way to take him down a peg or two on this trip. In private, of course.
Terra came back to the surface hearing two voices talking. She partially opened her eyes and saw Neroon standing next to Lenann chatting with him. Then she heard her name, and perked her ears to hear better.
"The Council was split on sending Terra to Korun. The other three Warrior Caste didn't want her to go, because they still see her as an outworlder."
"But the Gray Council ratified her adoption into my clan, Neroon. That decision cannot be questioned after it was made and ratified by my caste elders, and the ceremony held. What is done cannot be undone. She has done nothing but good for our people, and the Diun clan is proud to have her as a member. My clan would challenge anyone who says otherwise to the Denn-sha if they tried to denounce her."
"So I have been informed." The Warrior Caste said dryly. "Yes, the Council did ratify the decision, and they can't outwardly denounce it, without much dishonor. But my fellow caste members were outvoted by the rest of the Council then, and they still resent it. Delenn and Relinn pushed it through with the strength of their political powers and their personalities. They have done that many times in the past, it would seem."
"Did you vote for Terra to go, Neroon, or with the rest of your caste?" Lenann asked.
"Of course I voted for her to go. My fellow caste members are not very happy with me over it, because mine was the deciding vote, but it was the logical thing to do. We don't have any Minbar-born scientists who are as experienced in this type of illness as she is. The idea of biochemical warfare is so repugnant to our people that few physicians wish to study the subject. We were lucky to have her, or else we might have been forced to go outside of Minbar to get the expertise we needed. That would have been a grave loss of face for us. But I wonder if I have done her a favor, or instead put her into harm's way, Lenann. My concern is for her safety. Shakiri hates her more than anything else in this existence, especially after the Trigati incident. If he could find a way to remove her from this life, I would not put him past even sending assassins to make sure it got done. It is difficult for me to admit it, but with her being on the Ingata, she is at triple risk. Two years ago I would have sworn to every one of Ingata's crew's loyalty to me. But now, I don't know any more. That is why I insisted on coming as well."
"That was wise, I think. If anyone can keep the crew of the Ingata loyal, it is you. Even if only in Branmer's memory. Between the two of us, we will keep her safe, brother. Though I must admit that I don't remember her being quite so, uh, spirited."
At Lenann's address of Neroon as "brother" Terra started. He used the informal address of one person to another who had undergone the Ranh'Derhorh ceremony together. I'll have to finagle the story of that out of one of them. Imagine, a Warrior Caste and a Religious Caste swearing Ranh'Derhorh! Amazing!
Neroon's rich chuckle brought Terra's attention back to the two men. "Yes, she is spirited. She has been like that since I've known her, all the way back to the peace talks. It is extremely irritating to me, but I don't believe I would want her to be any other way. Satai Relinn thinks that Terra has his wife Sador's soul. He has informed me that Sador was very spirited as well."
"Sador the painter?"
"Yes. Didn't you notice that Terra wears Sador's Globe? She never takes it off." Neroon continued, oblivious to Lenann's interest in how the Warrior Caste would know Terra never took the globe off.
Terra felt the priest's curiosity strongly, and groaned inside.
"It was given to her by Relinn when they first met. He explained that the globe recognized it's original owner's soul as soon as Terra picked it up. Branmer and many others were extremely angered when they saw it go into the hands of a Human. You know, if Relinn had been about forty cycles younger, your Ledann would have had some competition for the hand of our fair physician. He has loved her greatly since the peace talks, and she cares deeply for him as well."
"She certainly seems to have that affect on our people, brother. Delenn cares for and admires her a great deal, and my mother Sherissa loves her as a daughter. When Ledann first announced to me that he was getting close with a Human, I couldn't believe it, even of him, who had always been a little odd. But when I met her for the first time, I could see why. She truly does seem to have a Minbari soul. But her Human-ness is very appealing as well. I am constantly surprised by what she will do. She can adhere to tradition as precisely as the most fanatical of my caste if it suits her to do so, then she will do something, something that if a Minbari did the same thing would result in their complete dishonor, and no one will even think twice."
"I know what you mean. Branmer told me once that if anyone else did the things she did, he would have killed them. She does have a way about her."
It was time to stop this talking about her. Terra started moving around, making waking up noises. She stretched, yawned, and looked at the two men. "How long did I sleep?"
"About 1.5 standard hours." Lenann answered. "You must have been very tired." He didn't miss the flush of red that crossed Neroon's face at his comment, and put it aside for later contemplation. "I was just going to hand the helm over to Satai Neroon." He unstrapped the seatbelts and got up, motioning for Neroon to take the seat. Neroon did so, and Lenann came back to where she was sitting and sat down next to her.
They chatted about the clan, and about the ship that he was the Captain of, the Torkul, about Ledann, and other things. Terra hadn't enjoyed as good a gossip session in months. She figured that it was inevitable that she should find this man very attractive. But she needed to remind herself that he wasn't her husband. And of course, there was Neroon back in the picture now.
After about three and a half hours, Neroon told them both to strap themselves in tightly, as they were approaching the Ingata.
He was radiating anticipation and pleasure, so much so that Terra asked suspiciously, "What are you up to, Neroon?"
"I am going to show you and Lenann and the crew of the Ingata how to skin dance with a shuttle!"
Lenann looked at the warrior in surprise. "Are you mad, Neroon? You can't skin dance with a shuttle!"
"It is reassuring that you didn't learn all our tricks, Fleet Captain. Neroon to Ingata."
A very homely Warrior Caste male's face came on the screen. It was Terra's old opponent, Shai Alyt Branmer's second aide, Chakur. "Satai Neroon. You have made good speed. The third docking bay is ready for your arrival, and we are honored to have you with us again."
Neroon replied enigmatically, "You might not be so happy to see me in a few minutes, Chakur. Out." Then he increased the speed of the shuttle to maximum.
The next few minutes seemed to Terra as though they lasted for hours. Neroon had that shuttle maneuvering in ways that she was sure it wasn't designed for. He twisted, turned, swooped and came into collision range of the Ingata to fly under the huge war cruiser's external sensors over an over again. The artificial gravity of the shuttle went out several times, and Terra was terrified that she would throw up her rebellious stomach and it would float all over the ship. She managed to dampen the nausea through sheer force of will, but felt much better when Lenann put his arm around her shoulders in response to her fears. Once the Ingata realized what Neroon was doing, they did their best to target their closed gunports on the shuttle, but to no avail. Once the shuttle was targeted, Neroon would just swoop into another skin dance and was gone from the sensors again.
"Do not worry, Terra," Lenann whispered in order not to ruin Neroon's concentration, excitement and pleasure radiating off of him. "He was the best student in the entire history of the academy in skin dancing. No one could even come close to beating him. No one can beat him still, I think. We are in no danger." He still kept his arm around her, and she had to admit that it felt like coming home, he was so like his cousin.
Sure enough, Neroon did finish up by hovering the shuttle over docking bay three, and sliding her in smoothly to her temporary home. They had arrived on the Ingata safely.
Neroon turned around after the shuttle was landed, and saw that Lenann still had his arm around Terra's shoulders, looking for all the world like he was enjoying it. He glared at them both, and said, "If you two are quite finished with what you were doing, we should be going. Or should I leave you here in the shuttle for privacy for a few minutes?"
Lenann's arm dropped from around her and he flushed red as a beet. Terra undid her straps, stood up shakily, and said sweetly, all big blue-green eyes and sweet smile, "Is that all the time you would need, Satai Neroon? Only a few minutes?" She glanced down his body insolently. "I guess the rumors I've heard about certain Warrior Caste talents have been greatly exaggerated." Lenann's shock shot out from behind her, but she could no more have resisted the insult than she could become Minbari born of Minbari.
The funny thing was, Neroon knew that she knew darned well that he took much longer than a few minutes, which made Terra's words sting all the more. If Lenann had not been there, he probably would have grabbed her and given her a good shake to vent his annoyance. But since they were not alone, he just swallowed it, vowing to get her back as soon as an opportunity arose.
Part 3 - a nasty welcome on the Ingata