ForevaXena's FanFic . . .

Babylon Five:  The Kelly Leick Chronicles
Part Three:  The Black Fox

by Daniel Stevens

DISCLAIMER:  This story is based upon the Book Series 'The Psi Corps Trilogy', by J. Gregory Keyes, which is itself based upon the TV Series 'Babylon 5', by J. Michael Straczynski, which is property of Babylonian Productions and Time-Warner.  It is especially based upon the second book of the series, titled 'Deadly Relations'.  No copyright infringement is intended.

SYNOPSIS:  This story takes place in 2204, and is about the supreme test of Jenny Winters' bond with Kelly Leick.  In it, Jenny has been abducted by the Resistance, who want her to rejoin them - and betray Kelly.


SPECIAL NOTE:  The dedication to Hudson Leick in the first story, titled 'Jenny Winters and the Psi Cop' applies to the entire series, whether it is included in each specific story or not.

Late summer, 2204.

Jenny Winters is just coming to.  She looks around, to see herself in the middle of a poorly lit room, seated in an uncomfortable chair.  Her arms are in a position that is equally uncomfortable, behind her back.  She tries to move them, without any success.  Clearly, she is bound.  Most probably with service grade handcuffs.  A harsh, glaring light suddenly shines right in her eyes.  These blips had obviously seen way too many Cold War era cloak and dagger vids.

Closing her eyes, she begins to cast about her, as Kelly had taught her to do.  None of the several minds she touches is the least bit familiar... No, strike that!  One is all too familiar!  And that one is approaching her location rapidly!

When the door opens, her eyes confirm what her psi had already told her.  She sees a tall man, with dark blonde hair that is now starting to go gray, enter the room, with a rather rough looking woman.  Both are dressed in dark camouflage uniforms.  One-offs of standard issue Earthforce Ground Pounder fatigues.  The woman is unknown to Jenny, but the man she immediately recognizes as none other than...

"The Black Fox.  Stephen Walters.", in a tone of voice that could freeze the sun.

"Hello, Jenny.  I'm glad you remember me.  It's been quite some time, after all.  Fifteen years, to be exact."

"You look good, for a man who's been dead for twelve years.", in the same coldly hostile voice.

"Thanks."  Then, "I trust you're reasonably comfortable?"

"I've been through worse."

"Are you referring to Mr. Farber, or Psi Corps?"

"Mr. Walters, you must know that this won't work.  That you have, in fact, only succeeded in bringing down a world of hurt on yourself and your fellow blips."

"Ah, yes.  I had heard that some Psi Cop had taken my place in your estimation.  Oh, well.  Things can change - and change back."

Suddenly, Mr. Walters hits Jenny with a hard scan.  She just barely gets her best blocks up in time to blunt it.  The contest of wills goes on for a minute or two.  Then, just as Jenny's blocks are about ready to give way, the Black Fox stops.

"Very good, Jenny.  I didn't know you had it in you."

"I think you'll find that I'm full of surprises."

"I'm sure you are."

Then, he turns to the fatigue clad woman who is standing next to him, with a Naga 9mm slug thrower in her belt holster.

"See to it that her every need is provided for - and that she doesn't try anything cute.  We'll continue this later."

"Yes, Sir."

With that, the Black Fox leaves, and the door is shut.

********************

The MetaPol Precinct Station in Athens, Greece, is quite the busy place right now.  It's chief, Captain Kelly Leick, is beside herself with rage and worry.

"You mean to tell me that Jenny's been missing for six hours, and I'm only learning of it *now*?!  Of all the..!"

"Ma'am, we had to make sure first, before putting her name on the rogue list."

Kelly comes shooting out of her chair, her brown eyes blazing with fury.

"YOU TAKE HER NAME OFF THAT LIST *NOW*!!!"  A moment later, "If she's gone, then she was abducted!  She did not go of her own free will!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"As of now, this precinct is on full alert!  I will *personally* take charge of tearing this city, and this whole country apart if necessary, until I find her!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Okay, then, *move* it!"

As the other Psi Cop leaves her office, to fully mobilize the Precinct, Kelly takes out her suit of light body armor, checks it, and puts it on.  She then checks her two side arms - a Naga 9mm slug thrower, and one of those new-fangled Phased Plasma Guns.  She then stuffs a switchblade in her right boot.  Finally, she retrieves an Uzi submachine gun, and five spare clips, and a belt of tear gas grenades.

'Here comes trouble!'

********************

An hour later, Kelly and a bloodhound unit are at the place where Jenny had been seen last.  The Psi Cop removes her gloves, and casts about for any mental signatures she can use.  She doesn't take long to filter out her own troops, and the plethora of normals who had been in the area in the last seven hours, to pick up Jenny's trail.

'This way.'

They follow the trail to a taverna in the Plaka district, where several other telepathic minds had joined Jenny.  Almost immediately, Kelly picks up the scent of fear coming off of her best friend, and of grim determination from the others.

'I *knew* it!'  Then, "This way.  And spread out."

********************

That night, in Piraeus, the Psi Cops are converging on an abandoned warehouse.  With them is the attached bloodhound unit.  Kelly casts about again, and finds Jenny's mind.  She is trying to sleep, but is in some discomfort.  A quick long range scan tells the Psi Cop that she had gotten there in time.  Jenny seems to be all right, but is quite worried about several things.

'Will Kelly be all right?  Will she get here before they move me out tomorrow morning?  Will she believe me if I try to tell her that I had not gone rogue?  How long can I hold out, before the Black Fox finally succeeds in brainwashing me into going rogue for real?'

She also picks up a mental signature from Jenny.  The Black Fox is here!  Or at least was, very recently!

Kelly sends Jenny a quick message, via p'talk.

'Bo Peep is here!  Hang on!'

Then, the Psi Cop hears her communicator activate.

"Sheep Dog to Bo Peep.  Sheep Dog to Bo Peep.  We're in position. Ready to pounce.  Over."

That means that the other Psi Cops in her Precinct, and the full strength of her attached bloodhound unit, have every possible exit covered.

"Okay, Sheep Dog, we pounce in two minutes.  But remember to check your targets.  One of our lost sheep is in there, too, and I want her back in one piece.  Over."

"Wilco, and out."

********************

Two or three minutes later, Jenny is awakened by the sound of small arms fire.  Obviously, the cavalry is here.  Jenny now remembers what she had thought was a dream, but realizes now had been nothing of the kind.  She starts mind screaming, 'Here!  Kelly, I'm in here!', hoping that Kelly will pick it up over the din of machine gun and other weapons fire, and the mind screams of the wounded and dying.

Then, the door opens.  The woman who the Black Fox had put in charge of Jenny comes in, and draws her pistol.  She aims it at Jenny's face.  Jenny closes her eyes.

Suddenly, Jenny hears the sound, not of a Naga 9mm going off at point blank range, but of an Uzi doing so, on full auto.  She opens her eyes, to see her would-be executioner pitch forward onto the floor, her upper back turned into hamburger.  Standing in the door now is...

"Kelly!"

The Psi Cop rushes forward, searches the body for something, and finds what she is looking for.  A moment later, she has Jenny free of the handcuffs that had held her in the chair.  The two women hug fiercely, as Kelly puts her Uzi on the floor.

"Kelly, I knew you'd come!"

'Jen, are you all right?'

"Not really.  Please?  Scan me?  Now?"

'Jen are you sure?'

"Please, Kelly!  You must!  For me, and for yourself!"

After a moment, hesitantly, 'Okay, I'll do it.  For you.'

Kelly now removes a glove, and places her bare hand to Jenny's forehead.  She then begins, very gently.  As expected, Jenny makes no attempt to block, so that Kelly runs into no more than the residual resistance that even the most willing and cooperative subject has no control over.

Soon, Kelly is as deep into Jenny's mind as the day the former blip had been caught, some fifteen years before.  She sees the clear signature of the Black Fox, and of his attempts to turn Jenny back to the Resistance.  And the telltale signs of Jenny's best blocks being pounded at quite brutally, and almost giving way.

'That *bastard*!'

In that moment, Kelly Leick's intentions towards Stephen Walters change.  She had hoped to take him alive, and see him answer for his betrayal of Psi Corps.  Now, the Psi Cop wants to be the one to *personally* pull the trigger on him.  *No* one mind-rapes Jenny, and gets away with it!  Not while Kelly Leick is on their trail!

Kelly also picks up some other mental signatures from this terrible day, and a request from Jenny.

'Kelly, please clean me up?'

With a warmly affectionate smile, 'Sure thing, Jen.'  She knows exactly what Jenny Winters means by 'clean me up'.

With that, Kelly begins to erase the mental fingerprints she has already found from her best friend's mind, while relocating them to her own, for future reference.  Very soon, she feels Jenny's mental perception of being cleaned up. That all would be well now.

Just then, one of the bloodhounds appears at the door.  He starts to speak, but then thinks better of it.  He is soon joined by another Psi Cop.  Kelly can hear the hound tell the Psi Cop that she is busy, and does *not* want to be disturbed.

"Okay.  I'll wait.", is the reply of Officer Tumegai.  Good cop, that one.  Maybe it's that Tartar blood of hers.

********************

The next morning, at the local Psi Corps Medical Facility.  Jenny is once more in a hospital bed, this time eating a full course breakfast.  Kelly is standing over the bed, acting more like a nurse than a Psi Cop.

"Kelly, I'm going to be all right!  Thanks to you.", with a tender smile.

'That's the best news I could have gotten today.'

"I'm just sorry that Walters got away.  Again."

'It's all right, Jen.  We'll catch him, sooner or later. He just better hope that *I'm* not the one who takes him down!  Not after what he did to you!'

"And to think I once had a crush on him!"

'Jen, you were only a kid at the time, and he had taken you out of an absolutely horrible situation. It's quite understandable.'

"But he actually tried to use that to turn me against you!"

'I know.'

Just then, another Psi Cop arrives at the door.  It is Officer Tumegai.

"Ms. Leick, it's just been confirmed.  Stephen Walters got out just fifteen minutes before we hit the place.  The two blips we caught and scanned confirmed that he had been quite frustrated by his failure to turn Ms. Winters on his first try, and that he had left instructions that she be taken out in the morning, before dawn, to Mumbai, in India."

"Of course he'd go to India.  There's still some sympathy for rogues there."  Then, "Call Teeptown, and let them know what we know and suspect.  Tell them that it's my guess that Walters just might turn up in India.  Though I'd bet a hundred credits he'll go nowhere near Mumbai now."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The other Psi Cop leaves.  Kelly turns her attention back to Jenny.

'Jen, you just rest up now.  And don't worry.  I'm sure that, based upon the evidence, the Review Board will clear you of any wrongdoing in this incident.'

"Thanks, Kelly."

With that, Jenny Winters turns over, to get some sleep.  Kelly Leick sit down in one of the chairs in the room, and begins going over the official report on the raid.

********************

Soon after, a medium height woman of African background, whom Kelly recognizes as Doctor Bonny M'Lila, comes into the room.  She checks Jenny's vital signs, both physical and mental.  Then, she turns to Kelly Leick with a smile.

"Don't worry, Captain Leick.  She'll be as good as new in no time."

"Thanks, Doctor."

Doctor M'Lila now leaves, to check her other patients.

********************

Some days later, the Review Board does convene, to consider the case involving Ms. Jenny Winters.  Everyone there is in full dress uniform.

As Kelly had expected, the case proves to be pretty open and shut. Jenny had been kidnapped by the Resistance.  They had tried to make her turn blip again, without any success.  In fact, it had been due to the incident, and Jenny's conduct in it, that the Resistance Cell in Athens, Greece had been shut down.  Jenny had done her best to lead the Psi Cops right to them without them knowing it.  And she had been successful.  It had been just blind chance and rotten luck that the Black Fox had gotten away again.

"Ms.Jenny Winters, you will now stand, to ear the findings of this Review Board."

Jenny does so, accompanied by Kelly.

"It is the finding of this Review Board that Ms. Jenny Winters conducted herself in a very heroic and professional manner during her hours of captivity, and that, as a result, her abduction by the Resistance led directly to a major blow being dealt to their organization.  It is therefore our unanimous recommendation that Ms. Winters be restored to duty, effective immediately, and that an official commendation be placed in her record.  We also support Ms. Leick's request that Ms. Winters be awarded the Gold Shield, Second Class for her conduct in the above mentioned incident, which was in the best traditions of Psi Corps."  Then, "These proceedings are closed."  The gavel comes down.

As the formalities conclude, Kelly gives her best friend a big hug, as the MetaPol Officer who had read out the findings and recommendations comes down from the platform where the Review Board had been seated, behind a big table.

"Congratulations, Ms. Winters.  Not many people would have done as well as you did, under the circumstances."

"It wasn't much, Sir.  I had a promise to keep, to Kelly, from fourteen years ago.  That's all there was to it."

"I see.  Well, in any case, congratulations again."

"Thanks, Sir."

"By the way, in case you're interested, my name is Mr. Sandoval Bey."

"Pleased to meet you.", as Jenny shakes his hand.

Mr. Sandoval Bey moves on.  Kelly turns her attention once more to Jenny.

'Jen, I must say that you certainly did keep that promise you just referred to, and then some.'

"Kelly, even if they had finally succeeded in turning me rogue again, I wouldn't have gone down without a fight."

'I know.  And quite frankly, I didn't think for an instant that they would succeed.  I was more concerned about finding you dead or mindfragged.'

"Better that than betraying you.", with a grim look on her face.

'Thanks, Jen.  And now, I believe that I owe you dinner.  At the Dolphin Restaurant.'

"Itea?"

'Where else?'

"Lead on, Kelly.  Especially since I'm in the mood for some of that scrumptious custard pie you didn't tell me about when we went there for my graduation."

'You're *never* going to let me live that down, are you?'

"Nope."

With that, the two women leave the auditorium, laughing.

Continued in "Flight Of The *Asura*"

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