From: Becki H Blumer <beckihblumer@fuse.net>
Subject: Fan Fiction Submission: "Before the Winds: Travis"
Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 14:54:44 +0000

"Before the Winds: Travis" by Meredith D. Holt.

Yo,
 This is the third story in my five story series. It's the prequel to
"On Winds of Time", telling how the lives of Aleia, Eleen, Wesly, and
Anakin were before they jumped forward in time. If you like it, let me
know, if you don't, let me know. E-mail me at beckihblumer@fuse.net and
visit my web site at http://expage.com/page/meredithb5 . I'm rather
proud of it. Anyway, catch you on the flip side.

    Love Always,
     Meredith D. Holt

Legal Disclaimer: All power and glory to JMS. All complaints and
lawsuits to my attorney. WB and PTEN finance the thing.

Personal Disclaimer: I am twisted. You've been warned, I hope you have
insurance.

        Before the Winds: Travis
      By Meredith D. Holt
     beckihblumer@fuse.net


Cincinnati, Ohio- Summer 1998

 It was dark in the basement of the three story house with the red front
door, that sat on Austin Lane. The only light came from five portable
lamps that had been set up in a rather cluttered area. There were
beakers full of blue things, and tanks full of worms, frogs, lizards,
and other slimy creatures. It was clearly a laboratory. One of the walls
was plastered with newspaper clippings about scientific discoveries and
technological advances. It was near this wall that a young boy, who was
about nine, was tinkering with a shiny blue metallic piece. His name was
Travis Wesly Cox, and he was working on a time portal. As his brown eyes
registered annoyance, he called out;
"Suzie, Sylvia! Come over here and give me a hand!" A tan girl with blue
hair looked up from the computer screen, and another girl, with tan skin
and brown hair stopped feeding the animals in the cages and both rushed
to his side. Travis' assistants were his creation, merely illusions, but
they served his purpose. He began instructing them on how he needed
their help. Travis left them briefly to find a stone he needed for the
focusing crystal. He didn't have one! "Great, just great!" he said
aloud.
"What is great?" Suzie asked.
"Nothing, watch the lab, I have to go do something." Travis told them
and picked up the phone. Dialing a number, he waited for some one to
pick up.
"Hello?" a young voice asked.
"Andrew? It's Travis, grab your bike, I want you and Craig to get over
here."
"Why, what are we doing?" another voice intruded. It was Craig.
"We're going to see Shenna." was all Travis revealed. With that, he hung
up. After changing out of his lab coat, and grabbing some things to
shove in his back pack, Travis ran outside, where Andrew and Craig were
already waiting.

 The dirt bikes the three boys rode bounded over the grassy hill. At the
top, Travis and Andrew paused, waiting for Craig. Travis studied his
companion, and noticed Andrew had a scratch on his left cheek. Probably
from another fight, the boy had a tendency to get into those.
Andrew Oglas was a fair haired boy with blue eyes and a crooked smile.
Craig looked about the same, a younger version of his older brother,
with brown eyes and a wide, gap toothed grin. Craig finally reached the
top, and the boys rode down the hill, speeding past the golf course and
into the woods. The winding path was a bit hard to navigate, but the
effort would be worth it.
"Yahoo!" Travis yelled and his bike sped down a huge hill and all the
way up to the top with out stopping. Finally, the boys reached a place,
deep in the woods, where a creek cut through. It was there that they
dumped their bikes by what looked like a pile of barbed wire. But on
second glance, one could see that it was more. It was a short fence,
that went all around a small shack. It was a run down old place, with
tattered pieces of cloth covering the two visible windows. There were a
few tangled rose bushes that had been arranged in an attempt at a
garden. Travis walked up to the rickety door and knocked. No answer.
With a curt nod, he went around the side of the shack and the boys
followed him. As they rounded the back, he saw her. Shenna Harper was a
slight, eleven year old girl, with a long mop of white/blonde hair and
clear blue eyes. Knee deep in the murky, polluted water of the creek,
the girl was wearing a tattered pink dress that looked like she'd
patched it up herself. She was dunking other clothes in the creek, as if
trying to wash them, then hanging them on the sewer drain.
"Shenna!" Travis called out, and the pert child looked up.
"Travis, nice of you to visit." Shenna said as she waded her way out of
the creek. You wouldn't have been able to tell by looking at her, but
Shenna Harper was the daughter of a well to do jeweler. Unfortunately,
her father was a work alcoholic and her mother was an alcoholic, so
Shenna spent most of her time in the woods. But every kid under
seventeen knew that if you wanted gemstones or jewelry and not have to
pay much for it, Shenna's was the place. Sneaky as a rat, Shenna stole
some of her father's stock and hid it at her shack. Without a word,
Shenna walked back into the house with the boys.
"What do you need, Travis Cox?" she asked.
"A sapphire, river smoothed, a star one perhaps. Its going to be the
focusing lense in my time machine." he informed her.
"Whatever." she said as she rummaged around in the back. Finally, she
pulled out a hand full of gems and walked back to Travis. She dumped
them on the table. With a tan finger, Travis indicated the largest of
the gems. "It's gonna cost ya." Shenna said. He nodded, pulling a bottle
of perfume and a length of emerald fabric from his back pack.
"Done." she grabbed them from him and put them in a box. Travis took the
gem and shoved it in his pocket.
"What about my other order?" he asked the slight girl.
"Oh, that." Shenna rummaged around some more and handed him a locket,
that had been made into a button. Inside were two pictures, one of Suzie
and one of Sylvia.
"Thanks, Shenna." he said.
"Anytime, handsome." Shenna gave him a kiss on the cheek. And then she
was gone.

-------

Main dome Mars colony- 2247

 Wes took another dirty dish out of the cart and dunked it in the sink.
A bus boy came in with another cart full of dirty dishes. Involuntarily,
he groaned. At ten, it was illegal for him to be working, but he had to
any way, if he wanted to help Elly and Aleia get food on the table. For
the billionth time, he wished he was home, researching frog bladders or
something with Suzie and Sylvia. As he dried a glass, Wesly G.
Holt-stargate, aka. Travis Wesly Cox, fingered the locket/button on his
undershirt. Inside were the pictures of his illusionary assistants. He
sure missed them. Hours passed as he dried dish after dish after dish.
Finally, Eleen came up behind him.
"Hey, bugger," she said, 'It's time to go." He dried his hands and gave
her a hug. He loved Elly, as a sister. She really wasn't his sister, but
she treated him well, just like his real sister, Aleia did. He grabbed
his coat and walked out the door of the 'Paradise Dinner' with Eleen.
She stood before him as he caught up, framed in the Martian sunset that
filtered through the dome. It highlighted her red hair and green eyes,
even though she had on that ugly maroon uniform. "Race you home!" she
yelled. Travis smiled and ran to catch up.
"Hey, wait up!" he cried and followed his sister down the hill and
towards the apartment. Inside he knew Aleia and Anakin would have their
meager dinner on the table, but right now, he was consumed with the
thought of victory. And they raced on.

--------

Babylon 5, 2260 (shortly after the episode Severed Dreams)

 There, in the tiny coffin, lay the son he'd never know, the son who had
never drawn a breath, or opened his eyes to the world. Wesly
Holt-stargate choked back a sob. His wife, Janice Lynn, came up beside
him, her green eyes holding tears. She wore a simple black dress, and he
his dress uniform. His whole family, biological and surrogate, was here.
Delenn came and handed him a charm. She said it was for the boy, a
Minbari death token, something to guide the soul. Mutely he nodded, his
eyes thanking her as he could not. With a deft hand he placed it around
the child's neck. The baby had been still-born, killed when a
nuightwatchie took a shock stick to Janice. Wesly's niece, Sofie, stood
by the coffin, her tears spilling on the cushiony satin. The child had
been there when he'd been born. She'd felt his dead mind first. As one
by one, his family came by to offer condolences. Eleen and her husband,
Stephen Franklin, Anakin and his fiancee, Gerra, Janice's sister Alyssa.
His surrogate family came by as well. Out of the corner of his eye,
Wesly saw his sister, standing alone, all dressed in black. behind her,
her husband Lennier stood a discreet distance away.
"Aleia?" he said softly. He knew his sister blamed herself. For their
time jump, for everything. He opened his arms in a hug, and she gave him
one.
"It's all my fault, Lil brother." she said.
"No it's not, Big Sis, not it's not." Wes told her sincerely.
"Then who's is it?" Aleia looked up at him.
"Mine." Wesly softly said, reaching inside his uniform and pulling
something hard. A thread broke and he brought out a small locket/button.
He'd kept it all those years. He opened it, gazing on the facesof Suzie
and Sylvia, before closing it. With a heavy heart, Wesly reached into
the coffin and placed the locket in one of his son's small, balled
fists. Then they all steped back. It was time to launch the coffin into
the sun.
"Watch over him, Sylvia. Please, Suzie?" For a moment you could almost
see Travis Cox standing there, and not Wesly Holt-stargate. And then it
was gone. Then, it was gone.

{END}