name = ppg burns
email = hale@lgu.ac.uk
title = rebirth
warnings = none: no sex and minimal 'bad language'
story = This is my first piece of fanfic. i tried to post it twice before but the
1st time my computer and the second time the comp lab closed before i had
a chance to finish sending(i don't know if it's been received so i'm 
sending it again)! 
disclaimer: b5 and all characters belong to jms, i'm only borrowing them
and you can have 'em back when i'm done. no profit, prestige, whatever- 
don't sue me.
this is set after season 4 and contains ickle teeny spoilers for season 5.
so i'll put a spoiler warning in just in case.
any comments are welcome but keep clean an' tidy an' kind- my poor little
ego couldn't cope otherwise!
enough jabbering, on with the story....oh and part 2 will follow as soon 
as i see this part in the list. Ps. these (( )) are thought or telepathy
indicators.
S
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REBIRTH:PART ONE

When zack arrived in Garibaldi's quarters, a case of beer tucked under his
arm, Sheridan and franklin were already there, hunched over a small table
playing cards. Their host was busy in the kitchen, tipping popcorn into a
huge bowl.
"Hey, she let you out for the evening then..." he paused in the doorway 
and grinned at the President of the Interstellar Alliance.
"Thankyou Zack, my wife is busy with Lennier at the moment and i thought 
i'd get out before they started some ancient minbari ceremony again! 
Besides, i wanted to see what was going on in the world- if thats okay 
with you of course..." Sheridan grinned back
"Little bit of male bonding huh? I fold." Franklin chuckled, throwing his
cards down in disgust. "I swear i'm jinxed. And you..." he gestured at a 
very smug looking sheridan, "Are a shark."
"Give up Stephen, you won't get anywhere. He can't die and he can't lose 
at cards, it's as simple as that! its a little known side-effect of falling
into 2 mile pits on strange alien planets!" Garibaldi made hie way back to
the table, popcorn in hand. He sat down and picked up his cards, "Wait a
minute, these aren't my cards...one of you's been messin' with these..."
"Michael, when are you going to learn to lose gracefully?" Sheridan reached
for the popcorn, Garibaldi moved the bowl out of his reach.
"The day *you* learn to win gracefully and play by the rules..."
Zack scratched his head, "New game anybody? an' a new subject too..." The 
rest nodded in agreement.
"So how's my replacement doing then?" Sheridan picked up the pack and began 
to shuffle. "As easy-going,liberal-minded and good-natured as me?"
Garibaldi half choked on the popcorn he was shovelling into his mouth, "Ahem,
captain Lockley is about as easy-going,liberal-minded and good-natured as
Ivanova on a bad day. I'm just glad *I* don't have to work with her." He
looked meaningfully at Franklin and Zack.
"Ah come on Chief...here, quit hoggin' that..." Zack reached for the bowl in
Garibaldi's hand but only succeeded in grabbing a small handful of it's 
contents before it was snatched away again. Rolling his eyes he continued,
"she's not that bad, she's just lettin' everybody know who's boss."
"Zack's right," Franklin agreed, also reaching for the bowl which, by now,
Garbaldi was hugging to him like a baby."Y'know she's fine when you get to
know her...It must have been hard for her coming here- don't forget she was 
on the other side during the fighting with earth. And now she's got to earn
the respect and trust of people who not long ago saw her as the enemy. 
Also, you and Ivanova are a pretty tough act to follow." This last part of
his spiel was directed at Sheridan.
"Oh no, i agree with you Stephen. I just think Michael's getting a little
steamed up over this topic. Anything you wanna get off your chest, Mr
Garibaldi?" he smirked and nudged the other two under the table.
"Ah c'mon..." Garibaldi groaned. "Subect change: have any of you heard from
Susan recently?" the mood of everyone at the table darkened slightly as 
they all shook their heads dolefully, Sheridan for one was worried: since
his former E.O had left for earth after marcus' death, she'd barely been
heard of.
"You really that worried?" Zack opened a beer bottle on the edge of the
table and took a quick swig.
"Well she was a mess when she left, physically and emotionally." Franklin 
reasoned, looking up briefly from the cards in his hands. "It knocked her
for six, what he did...not to mention his reasons for doing so..."
Sheridan nodded slowly and added, "I think staying out of contact is just
her way of coping."
"What, by pretending we don't exist, that none of this ever happened?" Zack
was incredulous.
"Maybe," Garibaldi opened a bottle of soda, spilling most of it's contents
over the floor. "Look at it this way, everyone she's ever been close to 
has let her down or left her in some way; an' then this guy she's come to
rely an' trust in a very short space of time-"
"Two years, that's a short time?" Zack interupted, his voice high-pitched
with disbelief.
"For Ivanova, yes. Anyway," he loooked briefly at his cards and scowled at
Sheridan for giving him another lousy hand. "He's beenat her side through
the break from and fighting with earth; john's adventures on Z'ha'Dum, and
all the rest of that crap and suddenly he goes an' dies on her!"
"You can't deny it, she's been through it alright." Sheridan sighed, "I
just hope she doesn't stay away for ever, and that one day, when she feels
ready, that she'll come back to us. Hell, if she even just went back to
work..." 
"She still on extended leave?" Franklin picked up a card and glanced at it
before putting it back, face down on a pile on the table.
"Last i heard. She told me before she left she was going to visit her
parents' grave, and then, who know's what." Sheridan answered.
"It must be what six, seven years since she was last on earth...Going that
long without dirt under your feet, sky over head, rain, wind-"
Garibaldi's musings were interupted by Franklin, "Traffic,pollution,psi
corp...sorry." he looked sheepish and let his friend finish.
"It's enough to force anyone to take some time out, just to take stock."
"Well, wherever she is, our thoughts are with her." Sheridan summarised.
The rest murmured in agreement.
"Now *Mr* Garibaldi, will you please share that. Haven't you eaten today?"


St. Petersberg, Earth.
Ivanova stepped out of the graveyard and onto the street. She'd been there
everyday for over a week now. Somehow it was the only place she could think
straight. Dressed all in black, her eyes red raw from crying and her
expression that of someone lost in thought, she fitted in perfectly with
the gloomy winter surroundings. Out of nowhere a figure appeared, running
straight into her. Susan reached out to stop it, restraining the creature
by the wrists and ordering it to stop struggling. It was a girl, aged in 
her late teens. She was a little smaller than susan, slight, with dark,
messy, chinlength hair, dark eyes and whiter-than-white skin. Ivanova
looked briefly over the girl's shoulder and spotted two figures closing in,
moving swftly through the crowds- psi corp. Without thinking she turned and
ducked back into the graveyard, taking her captive with her. Quickly she
scanned the area and realised there was no obvious way out.
((Now what...))
Wordlessly the girl tugged Ivanova into the church.
"No, it's no use hiding, they can track your thoughts." Susan tried to keep
her rising panic out of her voice. The waif just pulled her down between
the pews.
"It's okay, they won't find us." her accent was english, although slightly
different to marcus' from what susan could remember- rougher, coarser 
somehow. the psi cops passed by a hairs breadth from their hiding place, 
and eventually left. Ivanova stared at the girl in amazement,
"How did...? why didn't...?"
"Magic!" the girl smiled conspiratorially and introduced herself as Maggie.
"You're english."
"Are you asking me, or telling me?"
"How long have you been running from them?"
"About an hour. But i've been on the run for about 5 years now. This is 
the closest they've come to finding me in all that time."
"Wait a minute..."
"I'm a very strong telepath, stronger than any psi cop anyway. I've been
a teep and a teek since i was born- rated about P12: genetic pairing's a
wonderful thing! The corp made some 'modifications' for want of a better 
word. After one particularly heavy dose of drug therapy, deep scans and
varios other nasties, they thought i was braindead like all the others 
they'd done it to. Pretty much left me to rot. I escaped before they had
a chance to realise their tinkering had paid off. I can block any psi cop-
they can't *find* my thoughts, let alone *scan* them. I'm almost like a
ghost."
"Oh boy...they've probably gone now, we should get out of here too."
Maggie paused for a second, cocking her ear as if listening for something
then agreed, "Yeah, you're right. They're heading back toward the market
place. We should find somewhere equally crowded- my little trick works
better that way. It'll be easier for me to hide you as well that way. Why
did you help me anyway? Most people turn blips in...they're terrified of 
us."
Ivanova explained that since her mother and several of her friends had 
been telepaths, she knew better than most what the corp was really like.
As they wandered back through the heaving streets she also found herself
trying to think of ways of getting her young charge off of earth.
    Two days later ivanova had secured Maggie fake papers and ID, plus a 
ticket onboard the Asimov, destination- Babylon 5.
"You're not coming with me?"
"No, i'm not really up to going back there just yet..."
"How come?"
"I don't really want to talk about it. But you'll be fine;: they'll take
care of you- they're good people. You know the drill, right?"
"Yeah, yeah, as soon as i get there i find some bloke called Garibaldi; i 
do as i'm told and i don't give him any aggro!"
"Good. Just make sure you know your alias. Your first name's the same, but
everything else is different."
Maggie studied the ID card in her hand, ((Margaret yuck!)) "Maggie Cole, 
that's me! Did you pull that name out of the air or what?"
Ivanova smiled to herself, "Something like that. Cole was the name of a 
friend of mine."
"Was? They're dead now? What a wonderful omen!"
Susan felt her eyes misting over and concentrated very closely on the zip 
of her jacket, "Actually,it's a very good omen. If it weren't for him I'd 
be dead."
    An hour later, Ivanova was seeing her new friend off.
"Got everything?"
"Yup."
"You've taken the-"
"Yes, for the umpteenth time, i've taken the travel sickness tablets. I'll 
be fine.*I'm* more concerned about *you*...you just helped a telepath to 
escape, it's only a matter of time before they find you. I know you're a 
telepath, it won't take them long to work it out...i can't hide you if i'm 
not here."
"I'll be fine. Besides,i'm latent, there's not much they can do."
"Don't be so sure. And you're not as latent as you think!"
"But i'm-"
"They're here..."
"What, are you sure?"
"Yep. i can keep the shutters up for a while but we have to get out of 
here...too late, they know we're here...Susan, they *know* about you..."
"Oh hell, we've got to get you to that transport..."
"Susan, think hum-drum things."
"What?"
"Just do it! Must get some postcards and some stamps of course..."
"Oh i get it."Ivanova started trying to think similar thoughts to those of 
the travellers that milled around them as they hurried through the port,
trying hard not to attract too much attention. They reached the Asimov just
as it was about to leave. The psi cops were close behind and with their prey
now in sight, one of them pulled out a ppg aiming it a Ivanova. Maggie whirled
around and pulled the older woman behind her. The ppg fired and stopped 
short, bouncing off some invisible barrier.
"Come on, you can't stay here." the barrier between hunters and hunted 
remained in place and the psi cops could only look on helplessly as their
quarry boarded the waiting ship.
"What about security, Maggie i don't have a ticket or anything..."
"Stowaway then!"
    The journey to B5 passed without incident as the two fugitives stayed
out of sight below decks for most of the time. Ivanova whiled away the 
time telling Maggie about her time on the station: the shadow war, the 
break with earth and so on. Speaking for the first time about what had
happened there served to bring the events of the past 2 years to the 
forefront of Susan's mind, and later on while maggie slept,curled tight in
a ball, with her head resting on her rucksack and red-socked feet in 
Ivanova's lap, She found herself thinking more and more about Marcus- more
than she had ever dared to before.
((Just another example of the famous Ivanova luck: anyonr who cares about
me, or professes to, ends up leaving me, one way or another. Sure i liked 
him...was attracted to him- whatever, but he was hardly my type and it 
would never have worked. Still it would have been nice to know either way.
I'd even gotten to thinking that maybe, once the war with earth was over, i 
might, possibly have done something about it... ah hell, who am i kidding,
if he were still alive,i'd still be running away. And he'd still be 
driving me nuts with his incessant talking...right now though,more than
anything, i wish he was here...))
    Maggie's fidgeting told her impromptu footrest that she was starting 
to wake up.
"Morning" Ivanova smiled down at the sleepy-eyed girl, "I think we'll be
docking soon. Although,i don't know how i'll get through without travel
papers or anything..."
"I thought you knew these people." Maggie sat up, rubbing her eyes and
pulled her boots on clumsily.
"I do but there's new captain now and things may be a little different."
"I could cause a diversion so you can get through and find someone you
know well enough to trust."
"Diversion?"
"I don't know: scream bloody murder, nick someone's wallet, start a small
fire- all of the above..."
"Okay, okay, just nothing major..."

Zack was on port detail. It was boring but it made a nice change from 
being stuck in the stationhouse, drowning under a mountain of paperwork.
"Have your passes ready please. Thankyou. Thankyou. Thankyou. Thanky-"
Out of nowhere an alarm sounded. People started rushing out into the 
station, a few were screaming. Zack quickly made his way through the
screaming throng- he could see smoke!

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