From: Penny Horwitz Subject: A Gathering of Forces [4/?] Date: Tue, 17 Feb 1998 11:51:00 -0600 Chapter Two: Roads Not Taken A Gathering of Forces Part 4 of ? By Penny Horwitz Standard Disclaimers: My chess pieces are in slightly different positions, but they're still close enough to Joe's to cause legal discomfort if I don't add this in. These were originally Joe's toys. I'm warping them, but it's all in fun and nothing about monetary gain. Marcus entered the air lock that separated the Alien Sector from the Earth standard atmosphere with a large amount of trepidation. For one, it meant he had to meet with the very mysterious Ambassador Kosh, and secondly, he had to wear a breather to do it. He hated breathers with a passion, not only were they blastedly uncomfortable, but the damn things evoked extremely unpleasant childhood memories. Every time he put one on he couldn't help but flashback to when Will had tried to smother him with a pillow when he was eight. The way the mask pressed against his face terrified him more than anything he'd ever experienced. Luckily he didn't need to wear breathers all that often, and the helmets on the flight suits were large enough that they didn't cause the same effect. Finally he reached out and took the breather from the rack and placed it over his face. The moment of panic came and went, and when he had finally collected himself, Marcus deactivated the lock and entered the methane section of the Alien sector. The billows of gas gathered around him as he headed straight for Kosh's quarters, thankful they were so near the entrance. For his own part, Marcus had always thought there should be a sign over this section saying "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here," for this place was his worst nightmare of hell. It was dark and the clouds obscured his vision. All it lacked were the flame spouts of old Hollywood's image of Hades, but that was about it. And when the door to Kosh's quarters opened without him using the door chime, Marcus knew he was in trouble. Carefully he stepped inside, surveying his surroundings. There was nothing he recognized as furniture. The Vorlon's environmental suit lumbered out from behind a divider. , Marcus thought as the monstrous form moved towards him, He filed the information away for later as the suit came to a halt. It's 'head' nodded to him in recognition, yet the ambassador said nothing. "Hello, Ambassador. I came as soon as I could." Cole winced at how tinny his voice sounded through the breather. The suit's head cocked sideways, and the optic sensor opened slightly to emit a strange green light, but still it stood silent. None of this was making Marcus happy. He had other things to do, chief among them was finding Ambassador G'Kar and the real bastards behind the Mollari assassination attempt. This was a major waste of time. "Ambassador, if there isn't anything I can do for you..." "It is time." The synthetic male voice issued from the translator. "Time? Time for what?" Marcus was having a major case of deja vu. Where the hell had he heard that voice before? This was getting a little out of his league. Marcus was just a fighter jock at heart, a profession that did not prepare one for having disjointed conversations with mysterious Vorlons. "You will know... In time." As the last words faded the door hissed open. Marcus knew it was time to go while the getting was good. He said his good-byes to Kosh and left. As soon as the airlock gave him the green light he tore off the mask, and hit his link. "C&C, Lieutenant Guerra." "Rafe, it's Cole. I just came down with a severe headache, and I'm going to my quarters to take something so I'll be a little late for my shift." Guerra's voice sounded slightly amused. "Didn't you just go talk to Ambassador Kosh?" "Where do you think I got the headache from in the first place?" Marcus muttered, "Cole out." _______________ Garibaldi was ready to beat his head against the screen. He had gone over the tapes of the hallway outside Mollari's quarters at the time of the attack, and had found no way of confirming the kid's suspicions that it wasn't G'Kar. A gloved hand set a steaming cup of coffee in front of him. He looked up to see Bester shaking his head. "You work too hard sometimes, Mike. I swear you're going to be the death of me." His second sat down in the chair beside him. "I take it no joy, right." "Damn straight, but if you look at every twentieth frame it forms a porno," he muttered as he sipped his coffee. "That's it, Mike. Move over." Bester sat down and began to rewind the tape. "I'll look this over, while you get some sack time. Do you remember the last time you saw a bed?" "Sorta. I think maybe 24 hours ago, but I'm not sure." He accepted Al's glare gracefully, and began to move to the door when his link went off. "Garibaldi." "Uh, Chief?" Officer Welch's voice held a strange note. "I'm in Red Five, you might want to get down here." Mike and Al exchanged wry looks. "No rest for the wicked, I guess." Garibaldi sighed. He turned back to his link. "Lou, be right there," he said and strode out the door. ____________ Marcus put the book down on the coffee table with a sigh. It had just not been his day, first the meeting with Kosh, then two consecutive shifts in C&C to cover for Sheridan as he tried to prepare for the station's opening ceremonies, that is if they could open the station with the recent situation. The novel wasn't helping either. It just reminded him of what he lacked in life. "Why can't I meet a nice woman like you?" He glared at the book. Honor Harrington, now there was someone he'd hit it off with. He despaired at ever finding anyone like her. "Lovely, this is not what I needed today," He mused as he walked to the bathroom. The last woman with whom he had had a meaningful relationship had been his cat, Waldo. Damn, he was pathetic. He gave up for the night and began to prepare for bed. He felt his body begin to finally wind down from the day's stresses, and he knew as soon as his head hit the pillow he was going to be dead to the world. He pulled off his shirt, link, and sweats, dove into the bed, and buried himself under his blankets. Within five minutes, Marcus had drifted into the first stage of sleep. *BEEP*BEEP* "No... No..." He pulled his face up from the nice soft pillow and glared at the link. "Bloody damn thing, why can't you leave me alone!!" *BEEP*BEEP* was the tiny machine's only response. The commander rolled his eyes, debating if his PPG could take care of the problem once and for all, but he realized that Earthgov would probably make him pay to replace it. "Cole here." He managed to mutter into the infernal device. "Commander," It was, of course, Garibaldi. "The command staff is meeting in the conference room." The Chief paused and when he spoke again, it was in wry appreciation. "It seems you were right, Marcus. Good work." _____________ John was looking over reports of the new evidence, when Marcus entered the room. The Captain glanced up and saw that his XO looked like hell. The long black hair that Marcus usually kept pulled back in a regulation band hung around a face made even more pale by both exhaustion and the dark beard. Sheridan was concerned, but he knew Marcus well enough to know he'd bounce back quickly. Garibaldi, too, noticed the Commander's exhaustion. Unlike John, he took delight in rubbing it in. "You look like something the cat dragged in." "Thank you, Mr. Garibaldi. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate links? They're like bloody leashes but worse." Michael grinned and gave no quarter. "If you think that's bad, wait till you get a girlfriend." John stepped in before the fireworks really got started. "I'm sorry about waking you, Marcus, but Franklin's found something strange. He said he'd be up here as soon as he finished the autopsy." "Autopsy? What's going on here?" "We found two bodies in one of the guest quarters down in Red sector. Franklin's finishing up the reports now," Garibaldi supplied. "And the two of you dragged me out of bed because...?" "I didn't think they were related to the attack on Londo at first even though they had a similar MO. One of them was an arms dealer by the name of Varner; the other was an EE tech," The chief explained. "But then Al turned up some secure cam footage that was rather interesting." He punched in commands from his link and the monitor began to play out a scene of a tech walking down a hallway. "This was taken by secure cam thetaG45," Garibaldi narrated. "The technician has been identified as Harold McKeys, the same tech we just pulled out of Red Sector. Now keep watching; this is where it gets interesting." Just as Garibaldi spoke the monitor registered a change in cameras to secure cam thetaG46. Tech McKeys was no longer walking down the hall, but G'Kar was. "Franklin was able to give me a time of death pretty quickly. McKeys was dead when this was taken." "Then what are we dealing with, Mr. Garibaldi?" Sheridan asked, "Are you telling me we have someone on the station who can look like anybody?" "I don't know, Captain. I just don't know." --