From: The Dark Lord of Nightmares Subject: The Changing Tides 4/10 Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 21:01:13 -0800 This is the first of two stories that cover the beginning of the Babylon 5 play-by-email RPG Omega Fleet. If you are interested in joining the game, check out the site at: http://omegafleet.cjb.net The Changing Tides by Mike Bell and April Oglesbee Chapter 4 - Far beyond the tenth and last planet in the Rigelian system, a jump point formed and opened. A large point of black formed at the apex of the swirling mass of blue then enlarged as it sped forward out of the jump point into the hull of a Centauri Primus Battlecruiser which continued at a slower speed as it left the doorway into hyperspace to close behind it. From this far out of the system, the star Rigel appeared only slightly larger and brighter than any other star on the black backdrop of space. Ahead of the Centauri cruiser was a small orb of black that was the dark side of the small, uninhabited Rigel, it almost looked like someone had taken a pair of scissors and cut out a perfectly round hole in the tapestry of stars. The intruding ship was not new by any means. Its hull was scarred from uncountable battles and entire sections had been removed. Most of the weapons systems were cannibalized or destroyed beyond repair. If this ship ever saw another battle again it would be supremely lucky, and even more lucky if it survived that battle. * * * 2nd. Lt. Jeff Hanson graduated top of his class at the Earth Force Academy. He specialized in tactical defensive weaponry systems and had hoped that because of his excellent grades he would be posted to a starship or maybe space station, but no, he was posted to a boring position in the backwaters of the Earth Alliance - primary defense grid monitor for Rigel VIII and her moon. He was a night watchman who spent all his time staring at a holographic map of a planet where nothing ever happened. Tonight was normal. He came on at 2100 hours, relieving his supervisor, then grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down in front of the holographic display in the center of the room. A couple of ships - merchants, traders, and so forth - were in orbit around the planet, nothing special, and handful of small personal transports were coming or going. It looked as if tonight was going to be boring, just like the last three-hundred and forty nine, according to his count, nights he had spent working, but looks were deceiving. At 2345 hours Jeff was sleepily watching the news on ISN. Tonight's big story was EA research budget cuts, so mostly he dozed off, then woke up abruptly only to fall asleep again a couple seconds later. He was dozing off when the intruder alarm on his supervisor's station went off. The defense grid control center was protected at night by a level 4 force field on all levels and not by armed guards, which, if there was a problem, were summoned by the automated security systems and could be at the center in less than 3 minutes. Startled and half asleep, Jeff ran over to the station opposite his own. On the display were the words "Security Breech Detected" flashing in red while the shrill alarm rang throughout the center, giving Jeff the beginnings of a slight headache. Without hesitation he inputted his CO's command override code he had hacked from the computer system the night before, into the keypad and the alarm stopped. The security doors at the other end of the facility opened and eight men in plain clothing came in. Six of them carried PPG rifles with regular PPG pistols in holsters at their sides and the other two, equipment. They were Human, both in outward appearance and in biological characteristics, but they were something else: Telepaths. Dressed in plain clothes that looked almost tourist-like you could not tell them apart from any civilian on the planet. Three of them were bald, or almost bald, older men. One had long, brown hair down to his shoulders and looked no more than nineteen. And the last, the leader, was a tall, skinny man with his hair colored white. "Was the signal transmitted?" The leader asked. "Parts of it. I overrode the alarm before most of it could be transmitted." Answered Jeff with a hint of fear in his voice. The tall man motioned to the younger Teep who walked past Jeff without noticing him, sat down at the CO's station, and went to work. Jeff ignored him since whatever he was doing did not interest him, only one thing did. "When do I get my money?" "When we get through here without being killed, and when I say 'we,' Mr. Hanson, I include you in that as well." * * * It was a cold night but Allyson McGregor only wore a pair of shorts and a light sweatshirt as she jogged along the beach. It wasn't hard keeping the cold from bothering her, merely mind over body, which for her was not hard and in fact was something she had excelled at since the Psi Corps had taken - no, brought, she kept having to correct herself - her to Mars. She could remember spending endless nights alone in the dark bedrooms of the corps halls shivering even though everyone around her was sweating, her mind intensifying the emotional feeling that she was cold and alone, millions of miles away from the place where she was born. After jogging for 5 miles down the beach her legs finally became too tired to go on so she sat down in the sand and watched the crimson sunset over the ocean in the east. It looked almost the same as the pictures of sunsets on Earth that she had seen, but to her this was far better. Though she could not remember much of Earth or her biological parents, the Corps took care of that with conditioning at her young age, she could still remember the day she left. It was stuck in her mind as clear as if she was watching a vid of it, no matter how hard she tried she could never forget... * * * "Allyson McGregor?" A huge hulk of a man leaned down to stare icily into her eyes. The little Ally trembled, but nodded. She'd been called out of her kindergarten class to the principal's office. She had wanted to finish her picture, but they had made her come. "It's time for you to come home Allyson." The man's deep voice seemed to vibrate through the room. "But school's not over yet. My mommy is supposed to pick me up." "You're going to your real, new home now Allyson. It's where you belong. The Psi Corps is your father and mother now." "But I don't want to go." Tears started to stream down her face. "What about my mommy and daddy? I want my mommy!" Allyson wailed. "The corps is your only family now Allyson. Come along." Allyson felt herself grow cold. Someone was holding her still, but she was walking. How could she be held still and move? She didn't understand. She was scared. The man was taking her somewhere she didn't want to go. It was dark and cold in the ship. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. The man wouldn't let her. She knew he was the one who wouldn't let her cry. She looked out of the door as it closed. She wanted to scream and run off of the horrible ship, but she couldn't. She couldn't...she could only be cold...she could only see darkness... * * * Allyson did not know how much time had past, only that now the sun was fully set and darkness had descended upon the beach when she awoke. There was still a touch of light blue on the eastern horizon, but the stars were already starting the come out above her head and she could no longer see the water, only a sea of darkness with the occasional star over where the horizon should be. She sighed, shivered, and then got to her feet. As she started back up the beach towards her parked hover car, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned her head to the right and looked out over the ocean to a falling star slowly streaking through the night sky. At first Allyson was about to turn away, but then she saw another and another, then half a dozen streaking all in the same direction: New Houston. An instant after they disappeared below the horizon there was a string of flares of blinding light then a deep rumble in the distance which increased as it got closer and shook the ground, like a powerful earthquake, knocking Allyson off her feet. The wind picked up from the north, the direction of the explosions and New Houston, and blew sand into her eyes. Reflexively she shielded her face against the barrage of sand and turned away toward the ocean to see another barrage of falling stars heading in the opposite direction of the last toward the capital city, Riandria. From: The Dark Lord of Nightmares Subject: The Changing Tides 5/10 Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2000 21:02:08 -0800 This is the first of two stories that cover the beginning of the Babylon 5 play-by-email RPG Omega Fleet. If you are interested in joining the game, check out the site at: http://omegafleet.cjb.net The Changing Tides by Mike Bell and April Oglesbee Chapter 5 - "How the hell did Telepaths get their hands on Centauri and Narn ships and mass drivers?" President John J. Sheridan of the Interstellar Alliance said to his Chief of Alliance Intelligence, Teresa Halloran, over the StellarCom system in Sheridan's office on Minbar. "We're still trying to figure that out, Mr. President." She said from across the light years of distance between Minbar and her office on Babylon 5. "The best we can figure out is they bought the weapons off the black markets, it would've cost them but they could've gotten the ships and weapons they used since the Centauri have sold quite a lot of their older ships for money and the Narns'll just about sell to anyone." Sheridan leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Any word yet on casualties?" "Nothing confirmed, but it's going to number in the millions, and there's no way we can get medical ships in to help since they've setup a blockade." Sheridan nodded. "Keep me informed, Teresa. Sheridan out." The screen changed from her face to the ISA logo. Once again alone and with no interruptions, Sheridan picked up the preliminary report from the Rigel system he had been given an hour earlier by an aide. He'd read it several times over now and each time it had said the same thing. twenty eight Centauri cruisers and fifty three Narn ships, all complete with a complement of fighters, jumped into the Rigel system dangerously close to Rigel VIII itself. The ships quickly eliminated any other ships in orbit and landed ground troops, taking over what was left of tthe planet in less than seven hours. Since hours before a Centauri Primus Battle cruiser had entered orbit around the planet and obliterated many of the largest cities with mass drivers, they did not have much resistance. Once word of the incident reached the ISA, a group of renegade Telepaths claimed responsibility in a text-only message to ISN. The message itself closed with the words "remember Byron." As soon as Sheridan saw this for the first time he closed his eyes and sighed, admitting to himself the terrible mistake he had made a year earlier by allowing a group of Telepaths sanctuary on Babylon 5. Byron himself had become a martyr for his people, as he probably knew he would become before he killed himself. He had given Telepaths something they needed: a reason to fight, and kill, and die. Over the past 50 years everything had come to a boiling point, then erupted with Byron and his people's suicide on Babylon 5. Since then everything had gone to hell and it was only a matter of time before a full war broke out Sheridan was sure. * * * Commodore Willis was going in and out of sleep when the monitor on the other side of his bed blinked on with the face of Commander Roberts. "Commodore?" He called out into his CO's darkened quarters. He hated to wake him, but the news he felt the news he brought was more important than sleep. "Commodore?" He said, raising his voice a little higher. When this time he didn't get an answer he used the atmospheric controls from the bridge to turn the lights up in Willis' room. Roberts watched as his CO sat straight up in bed and groggily stared toward the computer screen. "What's going on?" Willis demanded. "I apologize for waking you, sir, but I there's something you should know." * * * "At 0800 Earth Standard Time this morning," the ISN news anchor said without remorse, "General William Marx announced that all contact with the EAS Hayward was lost. The Explorer-class ship was launched under the command of Captain Rena Wallace eleven months ago on a mission to map the outer rim sectors of grids Delta and Beta. Currently the Hayward is missing and feared destroyed, so a rescue operation is not currently planned." The screen in Willis' quarters flashed off, then back on again and started repeating the same broadcast. Willis himself sat and stared emotionless at the screen while the broadcast replayed for the twentieth time. The fear and the pain has not subsided on bit, in fact they increased each time the message replayed and Rena's picture was played in a box next to the newswoman's head. He closed his eyes, trying to escape. * * * A beautiful spring day in April, everything seemed surreal to Willis. He actually stood in a garden of flowers blooming in such abundance, he felt as though he'd wandered into a green house. A thick heady perfume of lilacs lazily swirled with the slight breeze Willis half expected soft, classical music to be playing someplace it was so perfect. Willis wasn't quite sure why he'd decided to wander to the gardens during his break in between seminars, but he decided that he liked it. The sheer beauty of everything around him stunned his senses into letting go of any pretenses or stress he may have suffered from the annual Earth Force Conference. He usually didn't bother with the nonsense of it all, but this time he had felt compelled to come. Whatever the reason, he was only mildly irritated by the hoard of pompous asses he'd met. Yet he felt like something was still waiting for him. The sound of angry voices distracted his relaxed mind. Annoyed, Willis decided to discover the problem and eliminate it for his peace of mind. He wandered further into the garden until the voices became so loud he very much wanted to strangle someone for the headache he was developing. However, the thought of strangling the neck he came upon was not as appealing as the thought of stroking it. A striking young woman with flashing blue eyes and long black hair was arguing fiercely with a tall blonde man. She looked as though she were going to leap at him any moment and bash the man's head in. Willis thought she looked beautiful. "I swear to God Justin, if you don't get out your stuff out of my room, I will kill you. I told you a long time ago, I have no interest in you and I never will. How the hell did you get the key to my room anyway?" Her voice had become low and husky with anger. "Oh come on Rena. You've never even given me a chance. You really should just accept that you're in love with me." Justin's whiny voice pleaded. The woman's mouth dropped open. "My God man...how can anyone be so dense and still keep his head from falling off his shoulders?! I said no! And I mean no! Now get your stuff the hell out of my room or I swear death will be the least of your fears." Her voice had practically become a growl. Willis had decided to intervene on the lady's behalf, but never had the chance. Justin had grabbed for her, his hand very slightly touching her waist. Rena had shrieked in fury and kneed the poor idiot in the stomach, causing him to drop to his knees. She had then begun to walk away from the wheezing man when he'd grabbed her ankle, tripping her enough so that she had begun to fall forward at an alarming speed. Willis was there. He grabbed her by the shoulders and set her back on her feet. The surprise in Rena's blue eyes lit a flame within Willis' soul. They seemed to drown within the depths of each other for what seemed an eternity. The wonderment had been broken by the whining and irritating antics of a certain idiot. Thoroughly disgusted with "Justin" by now, Willis tore his gaze away from Rena's. He leaned down toward the sad excuse for a man and lifted him up by his shirt collar. "You will remove your property from the lady's room. You will leave your key in her room as well. You will also apologize and never come near her again unless she deems you worthy to. Is that clear?" The cold and deadly intent of Mike's eyes staring into his, very nearly undid Justin. He barely had blood enough left in his head to nod a yes. Mike let the man go and nodded. then turned back to the now subdued Rena. "How very heroic, Mr...?" She smiled lopsidedly at him and raised one black eyebrow. His heart must have stopped. "Willis. But called me Mike." "Will do, Mike. My name is Rena Wallace, the owner of an unfortunate fate." Her eyes flashed with a hint of irritation that made the flame within Mike to grow a little more. "I hardly think you the owner of an unfortunate fate, Rena." Of their own accord, words seemed to pour from his mouth. "I never knew I would meet such an extraordinary woman here. I feel as though I've met you before." Rena didn't think, just started talking. "Well maybe we have met before. There's a story from somewhere or another that says that everyone's soul is spread about the universe in little pieces. When the person finds them, they feel a little more complete. But the story says that sometimes, the pieces get mixed up, and someone else gets another person piece and vice versa. So a little bit of someone is a part of you." Rena realized what she had said, then suddenly blushed. "I...uh...I fear I've gone off the deep end today." Mike felt a grin creep onto his face. "Maybe going off the deep end is a good thing. At least you've got company. I seem to have followed you in." Rena smiled brightly at him. "Would you like to have lunch with me, Mike?" "There's nothing I'd like more." The two wandered out of the gardens. Somehow Rena's arm had found its way around Mike's. * * * When Mike opened his eyes again the ISN story was still playing, and would play over and over again until he told the computer to stop. Somehow he knew that she was still alive and he knew what he had to do.