"Five things which never happened to Elizabeth Lochley": Thing 2
Title: "Five things which never happened to Elizabeth Lochley"
Author:natoth
Pairing Starring: Elizabeth Lochley,G'Kar, Zack Allen, Lyta Alexander
Rating: PG/PG-13
From author: The first part you can find here. Also remember, it was thing which never happened to Lochley ^_^
2262
Lochley draw a deep breath, unable to avert her eyes from a small package with white powder.
“I shouldn’t yield to the temptation, I shouldn’t lose control so easily,” - she repeated this in her mind, but felt she was losing the battle.
All the latest events pushed her to this step, slowly but surely. Continuous friction with Mr. Garibaldi, who apparently decided to turn her life on the station into absolute hell; this idiotic stubbornness of Sheridan, who shifted all the troubles with telepaths on her… why the hell did she agree to his proposal?! She knew nothing worthwhile would come of it, didn’t she?
There’s been only one thing that saved her up to now: walking in Down Below. It was G’Kar who tossed her the idea; he seemed to be the only person on the station, whom she could talk to easily.
Down Below was an exotic and rather dangerous place. When Lochley got there for the first time, she just couldn’t believe her eyes. She found herself in quite a different world, which didn’t care for you unless you started to reshape it to your taste.
Lochley liked to wander there watching the local dwellers, buying local food, sometimes rather exotic. Probably it was the only place where she could be herself for some time. Lochley put on her ordinary clothes: worn jeans and a shapeless-looking shirt. No one could recognize the Captain that way.
Of course, conflict situations appeared from time to time: once or twice local criminals tried to attack her. They were merely testing and probing the stranger. She fought back recollecting her past street life, and her Academy years were not lost on her as well. Nobody bothered her from then on.
Usually she simply walked there, bought her favorite hot-dog (what in fact it was made of was not her concern), from time to time she dropped in some snack-bar. But this time… this time the past reminded her of itself again.
Lochley looked at the package with powder once more. Why did she buy it from that guy? She gave herself a word, didn’t she?.. She tried to keep such promises. Although the situation on the station was awful, she didn’t even look at strong drinks or… or…
Lochley touched the package. That was not a common drug. She ought to contact Zack and give orders to search through the Down Below to find that guy.
But Lochley had no desire to do it at that very moment. Moreover, she didn’t want to see anyone at all.
Dust. The guy said that was Dust in the package: the most destructive of all drugs, the most unusual and the most… dangerous of them. Drug dealers didn’t like to get involved with it, because apart from troubles with the police they automatically attracted attention of the Psi Corps. No one wanted to wake a sleeping dragon…
Lochley heard a lot of interesting stories about the effects of this powder. As if Dust turned anyone into a telepath, though for a short time.
Telepaths. She felt headache again. Why did she let Sheridan admit them to the station? Their leader, Byron, arose more and more suspicion in her.
She took the package.
I wonder, what is it like - reading somebody else’s thoughts? Lochley winced. Even without being a telepath she could constantly feel hostility from many Babylon 5 crew members. She was still an alien here, although several months had passed.
Her subordinates treated her coldly and politely. They kept seniority.
Only Garibaldi didn't keep his feelings to himself. To be honest, she got dead tired of him.
She sighed, opened the package and poured several grains to her palm.
" I should contact Zack," - she thought looking at the tiny white crystals.
Then she imagined the inevitable wasting of time on the investigation. Zack would ask in that naive manner of his: where did she take that? What should she answer? A parcel from home? She didn't feel like revealing her secrets to these people at the moment.
No, she wouldn't contact the security chief. Again, he was still loyal to Garibaldi.
Her hands habitually reached out for the package.
"I'll only try... when will such an occasion serve again?»
* * *
...The world acquired an interesting look. Lochley smiled, feeling the familiar fit of energy.
"That's all, you shouldn't have been afraid," - she smiled to herself in her mind. "That's only a quarter of a dose... Nothing special happened... On the other hand... the soul lightened up at once!» The world around her suddenly filled with barely audible voices, as if a radio was working somewhere nearby. The voices were indistinct and very unobtrusive. Something like a Chinese torture with water - you can't get rid of this continuous dripping on your brain... and you get slowly mad...
Lochley shook her head and stood up. The co-ordination was slightly affected, but she quickly adapted herself to the new sensations.
The voices kept whispering something in her head, something obscure.
Lochley smiled again and left her quarters.
«Self-control is above all» - she kept reminding herself.
Soon she started meeting people. Then the voices became louder, she could even make out separate words from time to time. Lochley risked listening to them more carefully, but felt no particular effect. It seemed, the dose was really very small.
She reached C&C. Everything was in its right place as usual. It was not her watch at the moment, and Corwin was in charge.
He fixed his eyes on her, when she entered.
“ What's happened, Captain?” - he asked straightening at attention.
Lochley tensed. Hmm… what does this fellow think of her? Come on...
The background noise became louder, and then she heard Corwin's voice, just separate words that sounded in her head:
Everything seems fine... the ships come by schedule... why the hell has she come?.. She doesn't trust me... made this pony-tail again, like Ivanova used to... why is she always trying to look like Ivanova?!
Lochley recoiled abruptly, then smiled:
“It's all right, lieutenant. I was just passing by. Go on with your work.”
Corwin nodded. Lochley left C&C.
She knew that the whole crew was constantly comparing her to the former first officer. If she'd foreseen this, she would never have accepted Sheridan's offer.
Lochley wandered about the station occasionally catching the thoughts of the passers-by.
It even proved to be funny.
“Captain!” - she heard someone's voice behind her. First she didn't react taking it for the background.
Turning around she saw ambassador G'Kar.
“ We had a meeting appointed, remember? - said the ambassador coming nearer. - But you didn't show up, so I set off searching for you... if it's not convenient now... We could postpone it... though...”
He broke off noticing an odd expression on the Captain's face.
“Are you feeling unwell, Captain?” - he asked agitatedly.
“ No... I'm fine...” - Lochley did her best to step aside from him. She had no wish to read the Narn's thoughts, but they simply rushed into her mind. And what she saw was terrible... She wanted to cry out.
“I suppose... You are right... We'd better postpone the meeting...”
She wouldn't bear it any longer... she'd cry out with all her might right now.
“ Excuse me, ambassador...” - she forced these words clasping her head, then left hurriedly.
G'Kar looked after her perplexedly and shrugged his shoulders.
Sweating with horror Lochley pressed her back to the wall.
"That should be enough for today, - she thought, - I'd better stay in my quarters until it's over..." Her link beeped. The sound caused a new fit of headache.
“Captain Lochley, we've got a little problem here, - that was Zack's slightly hoarse voice, - Could you come to the Customs?”
Lochley felt she was growing mad.
“ I...” - she squeezed, realizing that she wouldn't manage to stand all those voices any more...
“Another group of telepaths has arrived. They demand Byron. What should I do with them? No documents, as usual. - Zack continued. - Captain, if you want to know my opinion...”
Lochley pressed a button breaking the connection. Then she switched off the link and shoved it into her pocket.
She closed her eyes tight. Then shook her head and made an attempt to pull herself together.
Lochley approached her quarters and took out her ID ready to insert it into the lock.
“Captain Lochley, I've found you at last!” - she heard a familiar voice behind her.
She turned round and met eyes with Lyta.
“ Byron and me wanted to talk to you about the newly arrived telepaths, - Lyta said. - Mr. Allen stopped them at the Customs, but we...”
Lochley looked into her eyes.
Lyta started and squinted.
Lochley tensed, almost automatically.
Bright light spread before her eyes all of a sudden. Then she heard a quiet singing and saw an obscure figure in a shining halo...
And then everything faded out.
Lochley had a sensation of falling... falling from an enormous height...
* * *
She cried and sat up in her bed abruptly. She broke into cold sweat.
Lochley sat for some time, trying to make sense of the happenings.
"It's just a dream... a nightmare ..." - she muttered to herself, wiping her wet face.
She dreamed rather seldom. Usually she just fell dead asleep.
But this time everything was different. She could remember the dream with the smallest detail... only the last event was covered with haze.
She had an awful headache.
Lochley looked at her watch. It was morning already, so it was no sense going to sleep again. She wouldn't be able to, anyway.
Unable to overcome those obtrusive thoughts, Lochley searched her quarters thoroughly, trying to find the package with Dust. But it wasn't seen anywhere.
“A dream! - she whispered with relief. - What a fool I am!”
Then she tried to reach for her link... and was surprised not to find it on its usual place.
She turned the whole room upside down, but in the end found the link in the pocket of her uniform.
Lochley broke into cold sweat again.
A dream?! She switched on the link. It began to squeak at once.
“Lochley listening...” - she said, squeezing it in her hand.
“Captain Lochley, we've got a little problem here, - that was Zack's slightly hoarse voice, - Could you come to the Customs?..”
Author:natoth
Pairing Starring: Elizabeth Lochley,G'Kar, Zack Allen, Lyta Alexander
Rating: PG/PG-13
From author: The first part you can find here. Also remember, it was thing which never happened to Lochley ^_^
2262
Lochley draw a deep breath, unable to avert her eyes from a small package with white powder.
“I shouldn’t yield to the temptation, I shouldn’t lose control so easily,” - she repeated this in her mind, but felt she was losing the battle.
All the latest events pushed her to this step, slowly but surely. Continuous friction with Mr. Garibaldi, who apparently decided to turn her life on the station into absolute hell; this idiotic stubbornness of Sheridan, who shifted all the troubles with telepaths on her… why the hell did she agree to his proposal?! She knew nothing worthwhile would come of it, didn’t she?
There’s been only one thing that saved her up to now: walking in Down Below. It was G’Kar who tossed her the idea; he seemed to be the only person on the station, whom she could talk to easily.
Down Below was an exotic and rather dangerous place. When Lochley got there for the first time, she just couldn’t believe her eyes. She found herself in quite a different world, which didn’t care for you unless you started to reshape it to your taste.
Lochley liked to wander there watching the local dwellers, buying local food, sometimes rather exotic. Probably it was the only place where she could be herself for some time. Lochley put on her ordinary clothes: worn jeans and a shapeless-looking shirt. No one could recognize the Captain that way.
Of course, conflict situations appeared from time to time: once or twice local criminals tried to attack her. They were merely testing and probing the stranger. She fought back recollecting her past street life, and her Academy years were not lost on her as well. Nobody bothered her from then on.
Usually she simply walked there, bought her favorite hot-dog (what in fact it was made of was not her concern), from time to time she dropped in some snack-bar. But this time… this time the past reminded her of itself again.
Lochley looked at the package with powder once more. Why did she buy it from that guy? She gave herself a word, didn’t she?.. She tried to keep such promises. Although the situation on the station was awful, she didn’t even look at strong drinks or… or…
Lochley touched the package. That was not a common drug. She ought to contact Zack and give orders to search through the Down Below to find that guy.
But Lochley had no desire to do it at that very moment. Moreover, she didn’t want to see anyone at all.
Dust. The guy said that was Dust in the package: the most destructive of all drugs, the most unusual and the most… dangerous of them. Drug dealers didn’t like to get involved with it, because apart from troubles with the police they automatically attracted attention of the Psi Corps. No one wanted to wake a sleeping dragon…
Lochley heard a lot of interesting stories about the effects of this powder. As if Dust turned anyone into a telepath, though for a short time.
Telepaths. She felt headache again. Why did she let Sheridan admit them to the station? Their leader, Byron, arose more and more suspicion in her.
She took the package.
I wonder, what is it like - reading somebody else’s thoughts? Lochley winced. Even without being a telepath she could constantly feel hostility from many Babylon 5 crew members. She was still an alien here, although several months had passed.
Her subordinates treated her coldly and politely. They kept seniority.
Only Garibaldi didn't keep his feelings to himself. To be honest, she got dead tired of him.
She sighed, opened the package and poured several grains to her palm.
" I should contact Zack," - she thought looking at the tiny white crystals.
Then she imagined the inevitable wasting of time on the investigation. Zack would ask in that naive manner of his: where did she take that? What should she answer? A parcel from home? She didn't feel like revealing her secrets to these people at the moment.
No, she wouldn't contact the security chief. Again, he was still loyal to Garibaldi.
Her hands habitually reached out for the package.
"I'll only try... when will such an occasion serve again?»
* * *
...The world acquired an interesting look. Lochley smiled, feeling the familiar fit of energy.
"That's all, you shouldn't have been afraid," - she smiled to herself in her mind. "That's only a quarter of a dose... Nothing special happened... On the other hand... the soul lightened up at once!» The world around her suddenly filled with barely audible voices, as if a radio was working somewhere nearby. The voices were indistinct and very unobtrusive. Something like a Chinese torture with water - you can't get rid of this continuous dripping on your brain... and you get slowly mad...
Lochley shook her head and stood up. The co-ordination was slightly affected, but she quickly adapted herself to the new sensations.
The voices kept whispering something in her head, something obscure.
Lochley smiled again and left her quarters.
«Self-control is above all» - she kept reminding herself.
Soon she started meeting people. Then the voices became louder, she could even make out separate words from time to time. Lochley risked listening to them more carefully, but felt no particular effect. It seemed, the dose was really very small.
She reached C&C. Everything was in its right place as usual. It was not her watch at the moment, and Corwin was in charge.
He fixed his eyes on her, when she entered.
“ What's happened, Captain?” - he asked straightening at attention.
Lochley tensed. Hmm… what does this fellow think of her? Come on...
The background noise became louder, and then she heard Corwin's voice, just separate words that sounded in her head:
Everything seems fine... the ships come by schedule... why the hell has she come?.. She doesn't trust me... made this pony-tail again, like Ivanova used to... why is she always trying to look like Ivanova?!
Lochley recoiled abruptly, then smiled:
“It's all right, lieutenant. I was just passing by. Go on with your work.”
Corwin nodded. Lochley left C&C.
She knew that the whole crew was constantly comparing her to the former first officer. If she'd foreseen this, she would never have accepted Sheridan's offer.
Lochley wandered about the station occasionally catching the thoughts of the passers-by.
It even proved to be funny.
“Captain!” - she heard someone's voice behind her. First she didn't react taking it for the background.
Turning around she saw ambassador G'Kar.
“ We had a meeting appointed, remember? - said the ambassador coming nearer. - But you didn't show up, so I set off searching for you... if it's not convenient now... We could postpone it... though...”
He broke off noticing an odd expression on the Captain's face.
“Are you feeling unwell, Captain?” - he asked agitatedly.
“ No... I'm fine...” - Lochley did her best to step aside from him. She had no wish to read the Narn's thoughts, but they simply rushed into her mind. And what she saw was terrible... She wanted to cry out.
“I suppose... You are right... We'd better postpone the meeting...”
She wouldn't bear it any longer... she'd cry out with all her might right now.
“ Excuse me, ambassador...” - she forced these words clasping her head, then left hurriedly.
G'Kar looked after her perplexedly and shrugged his shoulders.
Sweating with horror Lochley pressed her back to the wall.
"That should be enough for today, - she thought, - I'd better stay in my quarters until it's over..." Her link beeped. The sound caused a new fit of headache.
“Captain Lochley, we've got a little problem here, - that was Zack's slightly hoarse voice, - Could you come to the Customs?”
Lochley felt she was growing mad.
“ I...” - she squeezed, realizing that she wouldn't manage to stand all those voices any more...
“Another group of telepaths has arrived. They demand Byron. What should I do with them? No documents, as usual. - Zack continued. - Captain, if you want to know my opinion...”
Lochley pressed a button breaking the connection. Then she switched off the link and shoved it into her pocket.
She closed her eyes tight. Then shook her head and made an attempt to pull herself together.
Lochley approached her quarters and took out her ID ready to insert it into the lock.
“Captain Lochley, I've found you at last!” - she heard a familiar voice behind her.
She turned round and met eyes with Lyta.
“ Byron and me wanted to talk to you about the newly arrived telepaths, - Lyta said. - Mr. Allen stopped them at the Customs, but we...”
Lochley looked into her eyes.
Lyta started and squinted.
Lochley tensed, almost automatically.
Bright light spread before her eyes all of a sudden. Then she heard a quiet singing and saw an obscure figure in a shining halo...
And then everything faded out.
Lochley had a sensation of falling... falling from an enormous height...
* * *
She cried and sat up in her bed abruptly. She broke into cold sweat.
Lochley sat for some time, trying to make sense of the happenings.
"It's just a dream... a nightmare ..." - she muttered to herself, wiping her wet face.
She dreamed rather seldom. Usually she just fell dead asleep.
But this time everything was different. She could remember the dream with the smallest detail... only the last event was covered with haze.
She had an awful headache.
Lochley looked at her watch. It was morning already, so it was no sense going to sleep again. She wouldn't be able to, anyway.
Unable to overcome those obtrusive thoughts, Lochley searched her quarters thoroughly, trying to find the package with Dust. But it wasn't seen anywhere.
“A dream! - she whispered with relief. - What a fool I am!”
Then she tried to reach for her link... and was surprised not to find it on its usual place.
She turned the whole room upside down, but in the end found the link in the pocket of her uniform.
Lochley broke into cold sweat again.
A dream?! She switched on the link. It began to squeak at once.
“Lochley listening...” - she said, squeezing it in her hand.
“Captain Lochley, we've got a little problem here, - that was Zack's slightly hoarse voice, - Could you come to the Customs?..”