From ravensteel@usa.pipeline.com Sun Aug 4 01:07:25 1996 Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 14:40:16 GMT From: Les McBride Reply-To: b5-creative@lists.best.com To: b5-creative@lists.best.com Subject: "Anniversary", Take Two Thanks for the comments! Even before I got them, my husband had complained about something (fixed as subtly as possible without ruining the mood) and I found some holes to plug. So at 4am, I fixed it. Some spoilers for _Severed Dreams_, possibly some hints at _War Without End_. _Babylon 5_, the technology, the original setting, and most of the characters belong to J. Michael Strazynski, PTEN, and Warner Brothers (and the Warner sister), and will be surrendered to them upon request. Everything else is MINE. ***************************************************************************** All right, here we go again with Mk II of "Anniversary" by Leslie C. McBride Someone in the crowded concourse caught her eye. she thought. She glanced through the passenger manifest. There was no one else it could be. Oh, that made her feel old. She wasn't surprised she hadn't seen him before: she'd spent most of the voyage holed up in her cabin. It was safer that way. In the years since the Great War, the few remaining Shadows had gone into hiding, but not before planting Keepers on likely people all over the known galaxy. There had always been a few, but the number had gone up sharply. The Keepers had one thought in their tiny little brains: Kill. Kill anyone who had taken part in the War, who had destroyed their masters. Now the Keepers preferred a certain type of person, that, at least in humans, tended to the bureaucracy, which still functioned more by name and number than any other form of identification. So many of the more prominent members of the Army of Light changed their names and dropped out of public view. This lesson, like most learned from the Shadows, came the hard way. She had been one of the most visible, and now worked to find everyone who had a Keeper, working mostly out of Minbar. There, at least, she was nearly safe. But she'd had to leave, just this once, for this, even if it meant her death. She went up behind him, laid a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and whirled, landing about five feet away, ready to fight. Then he saw who it was. "Ma'am! I'm sorry...." He had that haunted, hunted looked too many of the children of the War grew up with. Then he composed himself and gave her a respectable Minbari bow. "Respects, madame." "It's all right... I just forgot your name." He smiled, but it disappeared too quickly. "Eldwin. Garvey. It was the only way... Dad wanted to use one of the Names, but that would've been too dangerous. But he wanted to honor one somehow. It means `old friend'." She nodded. To spot any of the veterans these days, you needed to know a lot about languages and word meanings. "What about the last name he gave you?" "`Rough peace'." She snorted. "He was right about that." Then she smiled, sadly. "Do you know, you are just your father's age when he met Jeff? Do you know how old that makes me feel?" But she didn't look hardly a day over that herself. The Minbari have ways. Barring anything unnatural, she'd probably live as long as one of them. He blushed a little. "And that face. Surprised it hasn't gotten you into trouble yet. You even got his hair." He smoothed it self-consciously. It was hard to start losing one's hair so young. They joined the debarkation line. "Tell me what happened." He shrugged, trying to act like it didn't bother him. He failed miserably. "You know he opened that restaurant he always wanted, on Proxima? Routine health inspection, but it was some of *them*. They went back after closing with reinforcements. He always knew that's how he would die, after that timeflash didn't come true. I think he knew it was coming, though. He'd started to tell me things, details he'd never talked about before, things that need to be passed on. That's why I'm here." "You miss him." "Of course. But I know where he is. He's finally at peace." He reached for his traveling papers. As his Minbari cloak swirled aside -- nothing unusual in that, a lot of humans wore them now -- she caught a glimpse of something. "You must have a death wish to wear that." He shrugged. "Had to. Dad isn't here." "Then we're both crazy. I'm reading the names tomorrow." If this was it, then fine. She wanted to rest, and maybe -- just maybe -- she'd finally done enough. They entered the station, and there, checking travel papers, looking for all the world like he'd never left, was Zack Allen. The years hadn't been as kind to him as some others, but he was where he belonged, and he sounded contented as he ordered people around. He'd gotten a little thicker, and he was sitting on a stool, where he once would've done anything to stand. When they reached his post, without any word between them, they folded their arms and glowered at him. He realized the line wasn't moving and he looked up, to holler at someone. And stopped. Turned pale. "Chief?" Then he looked again, and growled. "Al! Stop it! You know I hate it when you do that." "I know. That's why I do it." Zack reached out to ruffle his hair, turned it into a fierce hug. "How's my favorite un-nephew? Figured you might be coming. Lemme look at you. I always told him he didn't have a son, he had a clone." Then he looked at the other person. "Com... Ma'am. I didn't expect you." "What, and miss all the fun? Good to see you, Mister Allen." "And you. I don't know who else is coming. There's not many of us left." "I know." He tried to sound a little more cheerful. "If you'd like, I go offshift at 1800. I'd like to buy both of you dinner." She smiled a little. "I would like that." ***** "... Yes, ma'am. Dad made me do a hitch in the military. Said it'd teach me discipline." They were strolling through the corridors, looking at everything. "I wish you would call me Susan. It's been so long since I've heard my own name...." "Yes, ma'am... Susan. That's not easy. Dad probably would've made me call you `Aunt Susan'." "Ick." They were silent for a few minutes. "Your father was my best friend," she finally said. "He always knew when I needed a shoulder, or an ear; when I needed to cry, or laugh. Even when I didn't know myself." He listened intently, hands clasped behind his back as they walked. When it became obvious she wasn't going to add any more, he spoke. "He was the best dad any kid could've wished for, and he had the time to spend with me. He did the accounts and the shopping in the morning, then opened for lunch, but closed again until dinner. That meant he could pick me up at school, and usually a crowd of my friends, too, and we'd go for ice cream, or to the park, or the exploratorium, or just watch some of his old vids. Their parents never had to worry where their kids were, and it usually helped them out. This was during and after the Troubles. A lot of the kids had lost one or the other of their parents. They had a place to go after school, and usually were fed before being taken home. Food was expensive then, and that helped, too." He stopped, then continued, more quietly and thoughtfully. "I know he went a little crazy, after the War." "I think we all did. You helped him find his sanity." "And what about you?" She looked at the deck. "I don't believe time heals all wounds, but it makes most of them easier to deal with." She looked at him, smiling a little. "You know he started helping me after you left home." He nodded. "He was always writing me, telling me what was up. You were a good friend to him, too. He always worried about you most of all, that you were lonely." "Nah. Just homesick mostly. What are you doing now? You didn't stay in the military." "Nope. David and I and some other young people went to Isil'Zha for training. You did know David stayed with us during the Troubles? He's almost a brother." He sighed, thinking. "The Satai and Ranger One decided there needed to be something new. What the Satai represented to Minbar, and the Kha'Ri to the Narns from the last war, we are to this. We are Rememberers. Nothing from the War will be forgotten, none of the people who gave their lives will ever be forgotten." "Do you think it will prevent another war?" "No. But we'll be ready. I Remember my father: who he was to his friends, to himself, what he did, what he said. He will live, and can help in the next war. We all spent some time with Draal and the Great Machine, and we talk to anyone who knew them that we can. Everyone from the War will have one." "What does it take to Remember?" "A good memory, a strong voice, a deep heart. Dad gave me all of those. And he taught me how to cook, how to fight -- or not, and how to be a friend." He stopped, looked at her. "Who do you want to Remember you? I'll do it, if you like." "What? I don't know. I don't... I didn't do enough, didn't believe...." "Your actions didn't require belief. If Jeffrey, or the General, or my dad asked you to do something, even if you thought they were stark raving looney, you would do it, based on friendship and loyalty. `Opinion doesn't enter into it. What is, is'." "Is it allowed?" He shrugged. "David will Remember his father when the time comes." He clenched his teeth. "We don't think it will be long. It was a blow to him when... but when Dad died...." He shook his head, looked at the ceiling. She thought. "Would there be enough room in your head for two of us?" "I think my father would be honored to share the space with you." She turned her head to the side, looking at him. "Have you ever met the General?" "Never once. I met Stephen once when I was very small. You. Zack, obviously. And I know the Satai and Ranger One. But David's parents... it was always too dangerous, or they were away or something." He shook his head sadly. "I haven't seen Ranger One for years. How is he?" "Well enough. He said he would be here, though he still tries to avoid ceremonies." ***** They stood before the gathering -- larger than she had expected -- on the Observation Deck, both in uniforms not seen for years. "... We are gathered here today to honor their memories and their names." They turned (it showed he had been in the military, and had paid attention) to face the port. She began to read the names. She had almost forgotten how many.... Her voice broke when she saw a ship pass by outside. Eldwin picked the recitation up smoothly. "... Franklin, Stephen. Garibaldi, Michael. Keffer, Warren...." At about "M" she could continue. "From the stars we came, to the stars we return, from now until the end of time." They turned back around. Eldwin spoke. "We are here today, on the anniversary of a momentous occasion. Fifty years ago today, Babylon 5 seceded from Earth. Thus began open warfare against the Shadows. The War was long and bitter. But all of you here are proof that we succeeded, for now. I say to you: Never Forget. And I say to any who hear me who have succumbed to darkness: You Cannot Touch Us. You can destroy our mortal flesh, but our souls are our own, and they are *free*. I stand before you today with this face and with this voice to remind you of the terrible price that freedom exacted. Not all named died in the War, but they were yet killed by the ancient Enemy, as surely as if they had been shot down over Z'Ha'Dum. If you forget, then all their sacrifices were for nothing. But the children of the War will remind you of all who have gone on before." He bowed his head a moment, then looked up again, to the back of the assembly. "I speak for Michael Garibaldi, that his name might not be forgotten. He spoke to me of the beginning of the War. `The day we seceded from Earth, we all thought we were fighting a war on two fronts, a fool's war. We all prayed that's what we were doing, because we hadn't yet let ourselves to consider that it might be one war with two faces. That even home wasn't safe anymore'." When he said this, his whole being changed, posture, voice, everything. He *became* his father. He held the eyes of a man in the very back of the hall, who suddenly needed the wall to support him. "My father spoke these words to me before he died, that we should remember not only fell deeds, but have true understanding of the people who did them." He saluted and fell back a pace. Only he knew he wasn't saluting the whole assembly. A voice broke the silence that followed, a voice filled with pain and sorrow, but still strong. "I speak for G'Kar of the Kha'Ri, that his name will not be forgotten!" Heads began turning. Gasps of "The General" were heard from everywhere. An old man, gaunt and pale, walked amid the assembly to the port with a still-firm step as he spoke. He reached the front as he finished, and turned to stand proudly on Susan's left. He wore the uniform, too. She was nearly in shock at his appearance, but then she shook herself, squared her shoulders. She lifted her chin slightly to speak. "I speak for David Corwin, that his name might not be forgotten..." Ranger One stood when she was done, went to stand at the General's left. His hair, still long, was pure white, but he'd given up on a beard long ago, because it wouldn't grow right on one side anymore. When he folded his hands in front of him, one could see part of one of them was missing. "I speak for Stephen Franklin, that his name might not be forgotten..." The Satai was next, but was content to stand in the assembly. The Minbari was scarred on the same side as Ranger One, and part of the bone crest was missing. "I speak for Jeffery Sinclair, that his name should not be forgotten..." On and on this went until nearly everyone who had been named had someone to speak for him or her. All were silent in reverence for a few moments after the rememberences. Then there was one more. In the very front, someone rose, hooded and cloaked. Slim hands reached up to lay back the hood. A thin, handsome face with clear eyes was revealed. He bowed deeply to the four in front of the port. A small crest peeked out of his hair as he did so. The General nodded at him, trying to hide a smile. His voice was calm as he began to speak. "I speak for Satai Delenn, that her name might not be forgotten...." ***** -------------------------------------------------------------------- Leslie C. McBride ravensteel@usa.pipeline.com -------------------------------------------------------------------- Because peace is sometimes another word for surrender. --------------------------------------------------------------------