Unification: Civil War III Chapter Four

There were many raised voices at the emergency meeting of the Free Federation council. The problem that Spock had was that all of these voices tried to speak at once. Each had their own point of view about the current situation. Each wanted to be heard, but all at the same time. Finally, Spock had had enough.

"Gentlemen, please! We will accomplish nothing if we continue in this fashion. Please, speak one at a time."

"It's obvious we have one huge problem!" said Admiral Potter. "You don't need to be an Einstein to see that we have a spy, a saboteur on board the station!"

"But are they Free Federation or Rebel Alliance?" asked Duncan. "Or a Changeling, perhaps?"

"I say we postpone these talks until we find out who it is!" said Potter. "For all we know it could be someone seated here at this table!"

"It is obvious that the Imperials know of these talks," said Spock. "So postponing, even cancelling them would be the thing that they desire most. We would be playing right into their hands."

"I agree," said Duncan. "The talks should continue."

"I agree also."

They all turned around to see who it was who had just entered the room. They soon saw Connor MacCleod and Lyta Alexander standing before them.

"Gentlemen, we may have something to go on."

 

Performing post-mortems was the main thing Katherine Pulaski hated most about her job. As a doctor, she had sworn an oath to protect all life. She had lost count of the number of post-mortems she had had to perform since the docking bay bombing. She was thankful that the Free Federation now boasted many fine surgeons, which eased her current burden.

With them, they had reached the conclusion that many of the victims had died as a result of their injuries, which were caused by the explosion. But she was soon to make a shocking discovery. It was getting late, and she was carrying out the post-mortem on one of the Rebel Alliance delegates, a Corellian.

What grabbed her attention was a particular injury to the man's right arm. It looked as if his arm had taken the full brunt of the explosion. But then she made her discovery, and contacted Spock almost instantly. It wasn't long before the Vulcan was standing in the lab with her.

"I assume you have found something out of the ordinary, Doctor," Spock said.

"And quite disturbing. Take a look at this."

Pulaski handed Spock a small package. Spock examined it closely.

"It appears, Doctor, that you have accomplished something the security teams have not. You have found the explosive. Where was it?"

"Inside this Corellian's arm!"

"Inside the arm?"

"Look at this scan. It shows that the explosion emanated from this man's arm, and blew outwards. It was as if he willingly sacrificed himself in the explosion."

"Doctor, this news is quite... disturbing. Can I trust you not to reveal this to anyone, not even your own staff?"

"Of course you can."

 

Duncan sat in his office, examining the small item Spock had just given him.

"I know that the Romulans and the Klingons have used similar devices in the past, most notably during the Klingon civil war, but this seems far more powerful."

"It was in the arm of a Rebel Alliance delegate," said Spock. "We cannot assume we don't have a spy on our side. I just got Sevrina's preliminary scanning report. There was an unknown signal detected by the internal sensors, just seconds before the blast. So far, we haven't been able to determine what it was."

"Captain Watt says he saw a suspicious figure before he became unconscious, with some sort of device. This could have been a remote control of some sort."

"It could have. I'm not ruling anything out just yet. But what we must also not rule out is that Bester was right. One of the Babylon 5 delegates here is also a spy. I think we should let Lyta carry out her mission."

"Reluctantly, I must agree. She could start at the reception tomorrow night. All of the Babylon 5 staff should be in attendance."

 

With many fine gowns laid out on her bed, for the first time in her life, Mara Jade did not know what to wear for the forthcoming reception. She tried on gown after gown, yet somehow, none of them seemed quite right. As she went through this exercise, she had no idea she was being watched from within her own quarters.

She got the fright of her life when she was once again before the shadowy figure, the figure who refused to show themselves.

"The first stage of the plan has been completed, Mara."

"So what does this have to do with me? I'm not part of this plan!"

"Oh, but you are, Mara! A very important part! You must know every one of our moves. We do not want any harm to come to you. Your future is valuable to us. The second stage will begin shortly."

And once again, before Mara could do anything, the stranger was gone. She could ask no questions, because there was no one there to answer them. She did, however, know what she had to do.