From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukMon Jul 3 21:41:56 1995 Date: Wed, 5 P E G A S U S M a i l 2000 22:58:54 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@best.com To: b5-creative@best.com Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) Part 1 Ummm, this seems to have got lost from the first time I posted it so here it is again. Apologies if this is now turning up twice for some folks... Any questions/comments then let me know... Nick ********************************************************************** PURSUIT A Babylon 5/Blake's 7 crossover story by Nick Barlow ********************************************************************** This story takes place in the third season of Blake's 7 (after The Harvest of Kairos) and the second season of Babylon 5 (after The Coming of Shadows). PART 1 Liberator rocked as another neutron blast hit the front shields. "Avon, we don't stand a chance!" Tarrant screamed As always, Avon remained calm and collected. Seemingly oblivious to the disturbance around him, he walked down to the front of the flight deck and inserted the activation key into Orac. The computer sprang into life, lights flashing within it's transparent casing. "Avon, we're being attacked by four Pursuit Ships with no way out. It's probably Jarvik looking to get his revenge after Kairos so this is no time to have a little chat with Orac." said Vila, with a hint of desperation in his voice. Avon ignored him. "Orac, compute a course to evade the Pursuit Ships." There was a pause before the reply. "Such a course is not possible. Given the attack vectors of the Pursuit Ships, the gravitational influence of the nearby star and planets and the current depleted states of Liberator's energy banks there is no way to evade the Pursuit Ships." Avon pulled the key from it's slot and stared blankly ahead. Another shot rocked the ship. ----- Sometimes, Susan Ivanova hated her job. Times like these were one of them. A horde of transports waiting to complete their journey to B5, another horde onboard B5 waiting to leave and the jump gate out of operation. This was not a good day. "How long till Jump gate recaalibration is complete?" she asked, hoping for a good answer. "A few nminutes, Commander." came the reply from one of the Command and Control Techs. "Test activation beginning now." She watched through the viewing port at the "front" of C & C, her eyes tracking the usual flaring of the jump gate before the actual gate itself appeared, swirling out of nothing. Instead of a ship appearing through it, though, it remained there, silent and empty, while the Techs carried out tests to ensure that the Jump gate operations were working normally and safely before reopening the gate for traffic to approach Babylon 5. ----- "What the hell is that?" asked Tarrant incredulously. "Zen, analyse it." The forward screen showed a swirling form appearing. Strange colours flowed through it and it seemed to centre on a central hole that seemed not to belong to the space around it. "No information is available. Formation is unknown and not recorded in data banks." Avon slipped the key back into Orac. "Orac," he said through gritted teeth, "do you have any data on whatever it is that is ahead of us?" The computer was silent for a moment. "I can give no fixed data on it." "Great," interrupted Vila, "If even Orac knows nothing we're really in trouble." Orac continued, oblivious to Vila. "However, I can find historical records that seem to refer to something similar to this anomaly. Fascinating." "We don't have time for the history lesson, Orac. Just tell us." said Tarrant. Orac almost sounded irritated. "The formation is characteristic of a method of travel known as Jump Gates. They were used for a time before Faster than Light travel was invented. It really is a most fascinating occurence." "Orac," asked Dayna, who had left her console to walk down to the front, "could this provide a method of travel away from the Pursuit Ships?" "Now I know you're mad." said Vila, fatalistically. ----- Suddenly, C&C burst into action. "Status report!" Ivanova shouted. "Jump Gate is not closing after recalibration! Jump systems report serious malfunctions." _Great_, she thought, "Continue attempts to close the gate. Do whatever you have to do." She raised her hand to her face, bringing her link to her mouth. "Ivanova to Sheridan." "Sheridan. Talk to me." came the slightly delayed and sleepy reply. "Captain, we have a problem with the Jump Gate recalibration." "On my way." ----- Another blast rocked Liberator. "Damage levels reaching critical point." boomed Zen. "Orac," asked Avon, "Can we pass through this Jump Gate and survive." "That information is not available until the manouevre has been attempted." "Brilliant," said Vila, "I could have told you that." "I say we try it." said Tarrant "We have nothing to lose." "I agree." said Dayna. Cally spoke next, breaking her silence, "I think we should try it." "Looks like we're outvoted whatever we say, Avon." said Vila "Might as well sit back and enjoy the ride." Avon stared hard at the image on the viewer before he spoke. "Zen, plot a course to the centre of there. Tarrant, pilot us in as quick as you can. Orac, monitor all that occurs to us in there." He strode quickly back to his seat, bracing himself for the beginning of the journey. "Do it!" ----- "What's happening?" asked Sheridan as he entered C&C, still buttoning up his jacket. "The Jump Gate won't close, Captain." said Ivanova "System malfunctions." "Damn." cursed Sheridan. "Any idea of the causes?" "We're working on it. It's been open for almost five minutes now, though, sir." Ivanova uttered a Russian expletive to herself. This was definitely _not_ a good start to the day. ----- Space seemed to fold in on itself. Liberator shuddered as it underwent pressures it had never been built to anticipate. Suddenly it stopped for a brief moment. "Zen," Tarrant asked, "where are we?" "Sensor indications are unclear." "What?" "It is impossible to give a position. Readings indicate that we are in an area of spatial anomaly." "That makes no sense." said Avon. "Orac. Analysis." "Readings from the sensors do not give any data that fits in with known spatial patterns." "We're still moving." said Tarrant. "Or, at least, something is moving around us." Suddenly, the buffering of the ship began again, but ended just as suddenly as it had started. "Zen, where are we now?" asked Avon. "Anomalous readings are no longer present. Orbit has been created near a small planet." "Let's see it." A planet appeared on the viewing screen. Their eyes, however, were drawn to another object situated between Liberator and the planet. A space station, larger than any they had ever seen. "What is _that_?" asked Vila. ----- "We've got something coming through the jumpgate!" screamed one of the Techs. "That's impossible. It's not centred on anywhere." Ivanova said incredulously. "What are it's readings?" "All unknowns." came the reply. "Coming through... now!" Sheridan and Ivanova both turned their attention to the gate. It flared up into more activity and then shut back down and off as a ship shot through unlike any they had ever seen. It was based around a central module, with three large modules of similar design ringing it making it looked unnecessarily streamlined. It was completely unfamiliar to both of them. "And I thought Vorlon ships were weird." said Sheridan, sounding slightly dumbfounded. "What is _that_?" To be Continued... _______________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |If you don't stand for something, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|You'll fall for anything... =============================================================== "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukWed Jul 5 17:28:03 1995 Date: Sat, 8 P E G A S U S M a i l 2000 00:35:10 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@best.com To: b5-creative@best.com Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) - Part 2 OK, here it is...Part 3 will follow in a few days. ****** Part 2 ****** Command and Control was almost totally silent. The only noises were the routine ones coming from the computers and processors that watched over Babylon 5. All the staff in C & C were doing their best to get a look at the strange ship that had just appeared through the jumpgate. Sheridan broke the silence and took control. "I want a full investigation of that ship. I need to know what it is and where it came from. Commander," he said, turning to Ivanova, "Try contacting it and see if you can get any response." He brought his link up to his face and spoke another order into that. "This is Sheridan. Zeta Wing, report for duty and prepare for immediate launch." The room immediately burst into activity as Sheridan gave his orders. Ivanova looked up at him. "Captain, we have three ships requesting permission to leave the station and use the jumpgate." "No." he replied, instantly. "Until we know what that ship is and where it came from, we have no idea whether the jump gate is working or not. We'll have to initiate some tests of the jumpgate to see if it's operating correctly. Until we know for sure, no ships are to depart Babylon 5 through it." ----- "This is Earth Alliance Station Babylon 5. Identify yourselves." Liberator's flight deck fell silent as the message came in. It was repeated steadily, almost metronomically. "Well," said Cally, "They appear to speak the same language. Zen, is there a visual component to the message?" "Confirmed." A female face appeared on the viewing screen. Interference broke the picture up slightly. "I think I'm in love." said Vila, looking at her. "Can't you improve the quality of the image, Zen?" "Transmission standard is not fully compatible." "I'll take that as a no, then. By the way, has any one ever heard of this "Earth Alliance"? Or has Servalan just gone and renamed the Federation for the hell of it?" There was another silence. Avon walked over to Orac. "Orac, do you have any records referring to an 'Earth Alliance'?" The computer was silent for a moment, lights flashing. "Negative. I can find no reference to any organisation called the 'Earth Alliance' in my databanks.' "None at all?" "That is what the word negative means." "Then just where the hell are we?" asked Tarrant. "You're the pilot," said Avon, "You should know that." "What about the message?" Cally asked. "What about it?" said Avon. "Are we going to reply to it?" "No. Not until we know what we're dealing with. Orac, can you get any information." "Information concerning what? You must be more specific in your requests." "That station. The "Earth Alliance". Anything that might help us." "I have been trying to obtain information of that nature since our arrival. However, the technological level here is so backward that it is not easy. I am having to adjust many of my internal processes to adapt." "How backward?" asked Avon, curiously. "Their systems do not appear to include any of the developments of the last few hundred years, including Tarriel Cells." Avon walked away, deep in thought. "Interesting. Very interesting." ----- "I repeat. This is Earth Alliance Station Babylon 5. Identify yourselves." Ivanova stood back from the console in front of her. "There's no response from it, Captain. I can't even tell if they're receiving the signal." Sheridan thought for a moment. "Do the jumpgate readings show anything?" "No, sir. We can't get any information on a point of origin from them." "I don't like this. Begin ananlysing that ship, I want it checked against the details of every race known. Launch Zeta Wing to investigate closer. I'll contact EarthDome to report and see if they know anything about this. Commander, open up a Gold Channel communication." "Yes, sir." One after another, the Starfuries of Zeta Wing launched, twisting in their bays before dropping out of Babylon 5 into the stars below. Once clear of the station they quickly gathered into formation and began moving slowly towards the strange ship poitioned near the jumpgate. "Zeta Wing. This is Babylon Control. You are to approach the unidentified ship slowly and at all times keeping a safe distance." "Confirmed, Babylon Control." The starfuries moved on, their pilots not quite compehending the sight before them. "This is Zeta leader. Lets keep this professional. It's just another job." Keffer's attempt to calm down the pilots was let down slightly by the apprehension obviously present in his voice. In front of them, slowly and steadily getting larger, the mysterious ship waited. ----- "Attention." Zen's voice boomed out, breaking the pensive silence on the flight deck. "Potentially hostile ships have been launched from the space station." "On screen." said Tarrant, moving back behind his console. A schematic display appeared on the main viewing screen showing the position of Liberator and the smaller ships heading straight at them. "There are nine of them." said Dayna, sounding slightly panicked, "They're moving slowly but they're on a direct course to intercept us." "Repair systems still haven't got over the damage we suffered in the attack from those Pursuit Ships." interjected Cally. "I didn't expect to be able to stand and fight them." said Tarrant, smiling slightly. "Zen, plot a course to move us away from that station and those ships but keep us within teleport range. Standard speed." "Confirmed." ----- Keffer couldn't believe what had just happened in front of him. The ship had seemingly started to move slightly and then simply disappeared right before his eyes. He checked the systems on his Starfury. All of them read that there was nothing there. "Babylon Control, did you just see that, or am I going mad?" Command and Control was silent as Keffer's message came in. Ivanova replied, breaking the silence. "Confirmed, Zeta leader. We're analysing readings now." "Unidentified ship in Sector 9!" "From a jumpgate?" Ivanova asked. "No, Commander. It just appeared there." "Let's see it." said Sheridan. An image quickly appeared on screen. The ship they had seen disappear a few moments before, but from a slightly different perspective. "My God." said Sheridan, "What is that ship powered by?" He paused for a moment. "Are there any jumpgate readings at all from where it left or where it arrived?" "No sir." "Then that ship is defying the laws of physics. Zeta Wing, return to Babylon 5." He turned away from the screen and faced the staff of Command and Control. "Keep that ship under constant watch. I want to be informed the moment anything happens. Begin testing the jumpgate so we can start moving transports out of here. Commander, keep trying to contact that ship. I want to know what it is and if there is anyone... or anything on it." He left and headed toward his office. ----- "It's just great, isn't it?" asked Vila. "We manage to find our way into somewhere without a Federation and even they seem to want to kill us. Maybe we ought to start getting the message sometime." He slumped back down in his chair, knowing that his comments would be ignored by everyone else. "Orac," said Avon, slipping the key in to activate the computer. Do you have any information yet on where we are?" "This is a most fascinating situation. Nothing that I analyse seems to have any relation to anything I have experienced before. I cannot yet begin to speculate as to where we are until I can fully analyse these anomalies." Angrily, Avon, pulled out Orac's key. Slowly, he looked up. "Does anyone have any suggestions?" "Suggestions for what?" asked Tarrant. "What we do now." To Be Continued... _______________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |If you don't stand for something, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|You'll fall for anything... =============================================================== "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukTue Jul 18 22:10:50 1995 Date: Sun, 16 P E G A S U S M a i l 2000 22:24:46 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@best.com To: b5-creative@best.com Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) Part 3 Here it is! ****** Part 3 ****** Sheridan had faced General Hague across a Gold Channel screen many times before but he'd never felt as weird as he did at that moment. "No, Captain," the General said, "I know nothing of any project involving ships like this. And I agree with you, it's design is strange. Beyond that, though, I'm more in the dark than you are on this." "Right," said Sheridan, after a pause, "I'll contact you if there are any developments." "Good." said Hague and his face disappeared to be replaced by a Babylon 5 logo on the screen. Sheridan turned away from the screen and sat down at his desk. The paperwork that awaited him there was of no interest to him at that moment. His mind was occupied solely by that strange ship waiting outside Babylon 5. He raised his hand up and activated the Link. "Sheridan to Ivanova. Anything happened?" "No sir." came the reply "The ship has remained in the same position since you left C&C. Jumpgate tests are progressing." The door sounded, informing him of a visitor. "Good. Keep me informed of anything that happens. Sheridan out." He lowered his hand. "Come in." The door opened, revealing Ambassador Kosh waiting behind it. Slowly, the Vorlon entered the room. Sheridan stood up and walked around his desk to stand in front of Kosh. "Ambassador." he said, trying to hide his shock, "This is a surprise." Kosh's headpiece swivelled to look at him. Musical noises arose from Kosh, noises that Sheridan knew would be translated into words for his benefit. "It is the Hour of Escape." Sheridan nodded, as always unsure of what Kosh meant. "Those who run bring danger to their hiding place." With that, the Vorlon turned and left the room. ----- "Well?" the flight deck was silent as Avon asked his question. Vila was slumped back in his seat seemingly uncaring as to what happened to them, Tarrant was staring intently at his console, attempting to work out what had happened to them while Cally and Dayna were sitting off to one side of the deck, separate from the others but as silent as them when it came to ideas. Avon slipped Orac's key back into it's slot. "Orac, report on our current situation." "I have managed to reconfigure my systems to enable a connection to these primitive systems to be made." "And?" "I cannot reconcile this data with any other I have accessed." Vila spoke, breaking the silence of the rest of the crew. "Well, if Orac can't tell us anything, we really are in trouble." "I did not say it was impossible for me to discover anything. Just that what I have found does not reconcile with existing data." "So, what have you found?" asked Dayna, standing up and walking over to where Avon stood over Orac. "We are currently near a space station named Babylon 5. It is part of the Earth Alliance." "We already know that." said Avon impatiently. "What else?" "We appear to have travelled through a Jumpgate which is the standard method of interstellar transport in this time. Jumpgates are -" Avon interrupted. "Wait. You said 'in this time'. What do you mean by that?" "The records I have been able to access indicate that the time is a year known in the prevalent dating system as 2259." "2259?" Dayna spoke each number individually, seemingly questioning each one. "I've never heard of a dating system like that. Or, at least, one that went that high." Silence from the rest of the crew confirmed that none of them had, either. "Orac, does that date convert into any we would recognise?" "Negative. The only similarity I can find in my data is an old Terran dating system from before the Federation. That system was in use for a considerable length of time and did reach numbers in that range." There was silence as the implications of what Orac had said sank in. Avon spoke first. "Orac, is it possible that we could have travelled in time?" Tarrant stood up behind his console. "Avon, that is not possible and you should know it." "Anything is possible. Orac?" "I cannot give a definite answer to that question due to insufficient data." ----- "Test drone ready for launch, Commander." "Prepare for jumpgate activation." said Ivanova, silently crossing her fingers. A small probe emerged from Babylon 5 and headed straight for the jumpgate. As it closed the distance to the gate, the gate flared into life and the probe disappeared into the swirl of the gate which quickly closed down behind it, closing the entrance to hyperspace. Again, C & C was in silence as the staff waited for the probe to send back information as to whether or not it had been successful in reaching it's destination. "Information coming in." said one of the Techs, the anticipation obvious in his voice. Almost everyone in C & C turned to look at her. their faces revealing their worry and hope. "Drone has emerged from hyperspace at the designated jump gate. Sequence complete." There was a small cheer in C & C before Ivanova restored order. "We have a backlog of ships wanting to arrive and leave, so lets get to it. Make sure all ships, incoming and outgoing are routed away from Sector 9 - I want nothing to go anywhere near that ship there until we know for sure what it is." The C & C crew moved back to their stations and began their routine work again. Ivanova raised her Link and spoke "Ivanova to Sheridan. The jumpgate is active again." "Good." came the reply, "I need to hold a meeting of the senior staff to discuss what we are going to do about that ship. Meet in my office in 30 minutes. I'll contact Mr Garibaldi and Dr Franklin." "I'll be there." said Ivanova. She closed her connection and went back to work. ----- "Zen, I want a full analysis of that," Tarrant paused as he tried to remember the name, "Jump gate. Could we use it to return to where we originated from?" "Confirmed." The 'lights' on the hexagonal screen that gave Zen an approximate location flashed briefly. "Analysis results are inconclusive." "Orac? Do your analyses of the space station' systems give us any information on this?" asked Dayna. "My investigations show that these systems require programming and activation from a central command point situated within the space station." "Could you override these systems?" "it is possible but difficult. As I have already said, these are very primitive systems and this makes them very incompatible with my processes. The necessary data for programming and activation of the jump gate is not available to me." Avon reached over and pulled out Orac's key, deactivating the computer. "That means we have only one option." he said. "We have to go there and try and find out just what is happening and then work out what we're going to do." "Go there? We don't even know anything about them!" Vila exclaimed. "Exactly. It's time to learn." ----- Ivanova, Franklin and Garibaldi sat around the table, facing Sheridan on the other side. "There are already rumours spreading throughout the station about strange ships doing strange things." said Garibaldi. "News spreads fast here." "And that means that it won't be long till I have every Ambassador on the station coming to visit me to ask about this ship." said Sheridan, exasperated. "I don't like things that can't be explained. Especially when they appear as the Narn and Centauri are busily killing each other." "We've run analyses through all our data banks." said Ivanova. "There's not a single match for it anywhere. All we can tell is that it appears to be machinery, rather than any sort of living technology like the Vorlons, though there appear to be no rotating parts." "So, no gravity then?" asked Franklin. "For all we know, Captain, this could be a whole new race with a whole new technology." "Exactly. I am treating this as a potential First Contact situation so all communication with that ship or any occupants is to be handled only by myself or Commander Ivanova, but given the fact that they haven't responded to any of our contacts that seems an unlikely eventuality. For now there is nothing we can do, except keep away from that ship until we know what it is." ----- Avon, Vila and Cally stood ready to go in Liberator's teleport bay. Dayna and Tarrant stood behind the teleport console with Orac situated on top of it. "Orac," Dayna asked, "Are you sure that the location is deserted?" "I am perfectly sure. Information from the systems on board the station indicate that the area in question is currently deserted but habitable by humans." "I just hope he's right." said Vila. "I don't fancy running straight into some Federation troopers." "Well, Vila, if what we've heard is correct, they'll be Earth Alliance troopers rather than Federation ones, so there's no worries for you there." said Tarrant, laughing slightly. "I feel so much safer now." "Co-ordinates set." said Dayna, looking up from the console. "Put us down." said Avon. Dayna slowly moved the switches on the teleport console, activating the process. Vila, Avon and Cally began to appear insubstantial and then their remaining images shimmered and disappeared. To be continued... _______________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |If you don't stand for something, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|You'll fall for anything... =============================================================== "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukThu Jul 20 21:19:07 1995 Date: Fri, 21 P E G A S U S M a i l 2000 23:47:51 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@best.com To: b5-creative@best.com Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) - Part 4 Well, here we go. As always, questions and comments are welcomed. ****** Part 4 ****** There was a sudden white light. The shape of human bodies could be seen in it for a brief moment and then all the light dissipated leaving Avon, Cally and Vila standing there, successfully teleported from Liberator. Quickly, their eyes scanned around where they had arrived, taking it in quickly. They had appeared in a small dark empty space. As far as they could see, there was nothing there except a small doorway leading out. Near there were sounds of machinery moving about but there were no human sounds anywhere in the vicinity. Cally raised her communicator bracelet and spoke. "Down and safe." "Well, I have to credit Orac for once." said Vila. "He got those co- ordinates right for us." Avon nodded almost imperceptibly and moved towards the doorway. Slowly, he looked around it, glancing up and down the corridor outside before moving back inside. "Well," he said, "There's no one out there either. Lets move." He moved out into the corridor, swiftly followed by Vila and Cally. Avon led the way as they walked along, looking all the time for some indication of their location. "This station is huge." said Cally as they walked. "We could be anywhere on it at the moment." "I know." said Avon. "So we keep moving until we know where we are." ----- For as long as he had been Centauri Ambassador to Babylon 5, the Casino had always been Londo Mollari's second home there. Until a short time ago, it had been just a place to relax in. Now, with his star rising in Centauri politics, he viewed it as a place to escape from the harassment of all the people who now wished to see him almost every moment of the day, regardless of what he wished to do with his time. Even in the casino he was not totally left alone, as Vir seemed to know when he was there and would track him down unerringly. He looked down and saw that his glass was empty. He shook it briefly and gained the attention of the human waitress who quickly came over and replaced it with a full glass. Slowly, he took a sip at his drink and wondered about which game to to stake his money on next. "Hello, Ambassador." said a voice from next to him. Londo turned slowly, recognising the voice and it's owner. "Mister Morden! What can I do for you on this fine day? A drink, perhaps?" Londo watched the subtle shake of the head that was almost a reproach. "My associates," Londo suppressed a shiver at the mention of that word, "and I have been watching your progress most intently, Ambassador." "Why, thank you." said Londo, wondering if it really was a complement. Something about Morden's manner always unsettled him. "My associates have noticed certain activities taking place near Babylon 5. I would be most grateful if you could inform me of anything that is going on." Londo paused for a moment. He could think of nothing going on around the station except for the rumours that were flying about some strange ship. "Of course." he said, eventually. "That is the way we always work, is it not? Now, a drink, Mister Morden?" Morden shook his head again and left. _That man is even more restrained than Garibaldi_ thought Londo, and went back to his drink. ----- "Commander, I think you better look at this." There was a sharp intake of breath across the whole of C&C. Commander Ivanova was obviously not in a good mood and the staff had seen many officers come out a lot worse after crossing the Commander in this sort of mood. "What is it?" "I've just picked up another strange reading. There was a high energy flaring in Sector 9 for a moment and then it went back to normal." "Sector 9? By the ship? Was it consistent with any sort of weapons fire?" "No, Commander. It was of far too brief a duration to be a weapon of any sort." "Has the ship moved at all?" "No. It's still in Sector 9." "Right." Ivanova paused, thinking over the information. "Log it and keep checking for any similar energy emissions. If you find one then notify me or the Captain immediately. Check the logs as well for any other anomalies and inform me if you find anything." "Yes, Commander." C&C returned to it's routine. ----- The corridor had widened out around them as they walked and now it had become long and tubular. They could begin to spot the curvature of the station as they walked along it. They walked carefully, their eyes slowly becoming accustomed to the gloom as they went along. Suddenly, Avon stopped and motioned to the other two to move over to the side. Quickly they did so and saw the reason for his actions. Two figures were heading down the corridor towards them. They watched silently as they emerged from the gloom slowly taking in all their physical details and then, as their vision improved they noticed that they were not humans approaching them. They were humanoid, but their heads were completely hairless and covered with leathery skin and a knobbled ridge along the middle. "What are they?" whispered Vila. "Quiet." said Cally. "They'll notice we don't belong here. I think we should move on and find out where they came from." Avon nodded and they walked on, passing the two figures who barely noticed them, engaged in their own conversation. Up ahead they could now see where they had come from. Another corridor crossed the one they were walking down and noises could be heard coming from it. "Right." said Avon, "That's where we've got to go. Whatever happens, don't draw attention to yourself. If we get separated then try and contact the others discreetly." Vila and Cally nodded and they continued down the corridor, pausing briefly before turning the corner. Once round it they could see where the noise was coming from. There were many people there, and many other things as well. Most of them were clustered in small groups, some talking, some arguing, some silent. The are they had come into was larger than the corridor and seemed to carry out no real purpose. It was large with various pillars and walls at seemingly random intervals. Within it they could see that, while humans seemed to be the majority, there were other creatures as well. Ones similar to those they had seen before were present but there were many others, none of which they had seen before anywhere. Slowly, the three of them separated and walked through the crowd, keeping the other two in vision as best as they could. Cally headed off in a slightly different direction from the other two, noticing a slight movement of people in that direction. As she rounded another seemingly pointless corner she saw it. Another corridor with more people. She looked over her shoulder and couldn't spot the other two. She started to raise her arm to speak into her communicator but realised that there were too many people around her for that. There was only one way to do it. Telepathically, she called out to them. ----- Garibaldi spotted her leaving just as he entered the Zocalo. Quickly, he hurried over to the exit she was walking through and approached her, trying to put on a casual air. He saw her look at him as he approached. "Mr Garibaldi, I do not need personal security provision from you." she said, walking away. "Well, Miss Winters," he said, smiling, "Protecting everyone on Babylon 5 is just part of my job." She looked back at him and was about to say something when she suddenly raised her hands to her head and closed her eyes. She moaned slightly, reflecting pain. "Miss Winters?" Garibaldi asked, anxiously, getting no reply. "Talia?" He watched her slowly open her eyes, and look at him. "What happened there?" "I'm not sure." she said, slowly regaining her composure. "I could sense another telepath for a moment. I could hear a voice calling in my mind, and then nothing." "Another telepath?" asked Garibaldi. "Here? I don't recall hearing anything about anyone from Psi Corps coming here." "I know. That's what makes it so strange. I haven't been informed either." She was speaking slowly now, as if she was thinking carefully while she spoke "But it didn't feel like a Psi Corps telepath. It was different to any other trace I've ever encountered." "So it was an alien then?" asked Garibaldi. "I don't know. It was just different. I should be alright now, Mr Garibaldi. Thank you for your concern." She walked off, leaving Garibaldi standing on his own again. He turned round and headed back for his office. ----- "Commander, I've found something." Ivanova turned away from her console. "What is it?" "I've just examined the logs and found another anomalous reading. It must have been missed during the panic over the jump gate. There was a tachyon surge at the same time that ship emerged through the jump gate." "Are you sure?" asked Ivanova incredulously. "A tachyon surge could explain a lot." "Yes. I've doubled checked the readings. It was definitely at the same time." Ivanova nodded and called one of the other officers over. "Take over. I'm going to see the Captain." ----- Garibaldi sat behind his desk in Security, checking over the logs of all the ships to have docked at Babylon 5 during the past few days. He knew it was a futile gesture. If a telepath had arrived officially recently then he and Talia would have both been informed about it as a matter of course. The one thing that confused him was her refusal to commit herself to what the other telepath had been. Even when he'd suggested an alien, she was non-committal. He stood up and decided it was time to take a walk around Downbelow and see if any of his informers had heard anything. He informed Zack and then headed out, pondering on what was happening. He idly wondered if the smuggling of rogue telepaths through Babylon 5 had resumed again. He heard that it had stopped around March but he had heard nothing recently to suggest it was starting again. He noted it down as another question for his informers and then walked on, wondering (as he had done so many times) where all this was leading. ----- "I think we're lost." said Vila. They had been walking for a while, now, all the time looking to go where the biggest numbers were, hoping that this would eventually lead them to something or somewhere where they could find out more about the place they were in. "Of course we're lost." said Avon. "We don't know a thing about this place." "There's something I've noticed." said Cally. "The areas we've been walking through have been looking smarter and smarter, as if more money had been spent on them. I think we're heading into more affluent areas of this station." "There's more people in uniform round here as well. We must have arrived in the Delta section." said Vila. Avon nodded. Suddenly, he change direction and walked over to the side of the passageway they were in towards a set of screens in the wall. Vila and Cally hurried after him while he simply stood there smiling. "This should tell us what we need." he said. _______________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |If you don't stand for something, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|You'll fall for anything... =============================================================== "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukWed Sep 20 22:07:40 1995 Date: Sun, 2 P E G A S U S M a i l 2000 08:17:59 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@best.com To: b5-creative@best.com Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) Part 5 OK folks, here it is. Quite a lot later than I thought but pressures of work have been getting to me...eeek! Three little points: 1) I've had to change the timeline so that the story now takes place after "Knives". You'll understand after you read the Ivanova/Sheridan conversation. 2) The Klute was in the Blake's 7 episode "Gambit". Basically, he was a chess-playing dwarf who challengers took on. If you won you made a lot of money, if you lost, you died. Vila and Avon (with a little assistance from Orac :)) managed to beat him. 3) For an idea of what the LIberator looks like I recently saw a B5 parallel (which is in here now). Basically, if you imagine the small Minbari fighters (as seen in And The Sky Full of Stars) on a larger scale with a Large Green Ball at the back... I think that helps :) Anyway, no more chat, on with the story. As always the usual stuff about questions and comments apply. (blah blah) ****** Part 5 ****** It didn't take Avon long to get an image of the station on the screen in front of them. Slowly, they looked at it, trying to take in it's immense size. While none of them were new to the idea of space stations, this one was larger by far than any they had ever seen, even Space Command. Now, though, they could see it clearly and work out just where they were and where they'd been. "We need to get information about this place to find out just where we are." said Avon, "We'll do that best if we separate. Cally, you head for this area, Vila you head here and I'll go here." He indicated areas on the screen to both of them. "Keep in contact when you can and head back to Liberator if there are any major problems." They both nodded and then the three of them separated. ----- Talia sat in her quarters, her eyes closed, thinking about the trace she had sensed earlier. It had been like no other mental trace she had encountered before. She was normally able to recognise where a trace had come from, which race the sender was, and even who the person was, if she knew them. That trace had been nothing like any of them though and it had been disturbing for her. It had seemed to come almost halfway between human and alien, part recognisable, part not. She could remember nothing like it in all her experience. She decided that there was only one way to solve this mystery and stood up, opening her eyes. She quickly checked her appointments and noted that she had the remainder of the day free. Quickly, she exited her quarters and headed for the Zocalo, paying only scant attention to what was going on around her and paying more attention to what she could see in her mind. ----- "A Tachyon surge?" asked Sheridan. "At the same time as the ship emerged from the gate?" "Yes, sir." said Ivanova. "It was only recently noticed because we were all too much concerned with...other matters rather than attending to the regular work of C & C." "That's alright, Susan. But I want to know why there was a surge at that moment and how that ship could be involved with it." "I have a theory about that. It could be connected with the incidents with Babylon 4 last year." She looked at Sheridan. "I'm aware of them. Go on." "Well, during the period when B4 reappeared, there were also high levels of tachyons, specifically in the area of Sector 14." "So, you think this ship may be similar to Babylon 4?" "The possibility exists. I think we'll need to examine Sector 9 for tachyon emissions." "Then do it. I'm going to go and see Ambassador Delenn. I feel that there's a similarity between that ship and Minbari ones. She may know something about it." Quickly, they both left Sheridan's office and headed their separate ways. ----- As he wandered through the seemingly endless corridors, Vila wondered what they did for money in this place. He had passed a whole host of places he'd have liked to visit but without any money he doubted that he'd be able to stay for long. Quietly, he cursed himself for not bringing along anything that he could have sold on to someone else and made himself some money to allow him to gamble with all the others around here. The games all seemed to be rather simple and, to his relief, he couldn't spot anything that looked even remotely like the Klute, even though some of the things that were walking round were definitely not human. Eventually, he found his way to what was definitely a casino of some sort. He stood for a while, simply watching the games as they were played, enjoying their simplicity as compared to the ones he had seen. Again, he cursed his lack of money, knowing that he could have made a lot here. Then, he had a brainwave. Quickly glancing round the room he found what he was looking for in the large, aristocratic figure standing somewhat unsteadily by one of the gaming tables. He waited for a moment before making a move, studying him carefully. The hair was the only disconcerting thing about his target. Rather than simply hanging casually, it shot up into the air from his head, making his appearance somewhat disturbing to Vila. However, as he began to walk towards him he heard his voice and recognised the language. _Well_, he thought, _I've seen some weird fashions in my time, so why get worried by this one_. Then, he was standing next to him. "Hello." he said. "Yes?" replied the target, somewhat slurred. "Not having much luck, are you?" Vila watched a scowl spread across the large face. "Maybe I can help you change that." ----- Garibaldi sat frustrated in the security office, looking at the numerous screens in the hope that they might provide him with some sort of information as to what was going on. Strange new ships appearing and then sitting doing nothing was a mystery and he couldn't stand mysteries. Especially ones he couldn't solve. When Talia Winter's mysterious trace was added to it, it made it a very annoying day for him. He'd already gone through the passenger manifests of recent arrivals twice, hoping to find some kind of sign as to what the mysterious trace was and who or what it may have come from. He was about to try it again knowing how useless it would be, given his lack of knowledge about Psis when he spotted something on one of the other monitors. It was showing a standard view of one of the central areas of the station, a mainly business area, just outside of Downbelow. The scene was almost perfectly normal, except for the figure standing away to one side, watching the comings and goings carefully while not moving himself. Garibaldi slowly magnified his image till it filled the screen and studied it carefully. He did not seem to look overly special but something about him commanded attention. Dressed mainly in black and with black hair, he appeared to be standing casually but even through the monitor system, Garibaldi could see the intensity and determination set in his face. Something intuitively told Garibaldi to check him out and he quickly ordered a computer match of the face to a record of people on the station. "No match identified." came the reply, a few moments later. "Repeat search. Include all persons departed within the last seven days." Garibaldi said, feeling a little perplexed. A longer pause than before. "No match identified." "Repeat search against Earth Alliance records of wanted criminals." Another pause. "No match identified." Garibaldi shot to his feet and moved to the screen, carefully noting the exact position of the mystery man. Then, he turned and left the room, raising his Link as he did so. "Garibaldi to Allen." "I'm here, Chief." "OK Zack, meet me in Red 19 as soon as you can. We've got a mystery man down there and I may need backup." "On my way." ----- Sheridan stood in Green Sector at the doorway to Delenn's quarters. After pressing the panel at the side of it and identifying himself he waited for a response. The door slid open to reveal Delenn sitting in front of a screen, obviously working. "Captain. What can I do for you?" she asked. "I apologise for disturbing you, Ambassador. However, we have a problem in Command and Control that I think you may be able to help us with." For a moment, her face looked shocked and then she composed herself. "Me help you, Captain? How?" Sheridan took a depp breath and explained the situation to her. Delenn listened intently and waited till he had finished before speaking. "I have heard nothing of any new ships being tested by the Minbari government. Is it possible for me to see this ship at all?" "Of course." he said, raising his Link. "Sheridan to C & C." Ivanova replied almost instantly. "C & C here." "Have there been any changes with the ship?" "No sir." "OK. Can you patch a picture of it through to Ambassador Delenn's quarters?" "Doing it now." Sheridan and Delenn watched in silence as the image appeared on her screen. Finally Sheridan spoke. "As you can see, there is a certain vague resemblance, between this and your ships, especially your 1- pilot fighters." Delenn nodded and then studied the image intently. "I understand. However, I have never seen a ship like this before. I will contact people within the Minbari government to see if they have any knowledge of this but I do not feel that they will say much even if they do know." "I understand. I felt that it was a long shot, anyway. I'll let you get back to your work." He turned and headed for the door. "Captain, wait. Have you spoken to Ambassador Kosh about this?" "No." Sheridan replied and paused while he thought of Kosh's strange words to him earlier. "Not yet." ----- "Another drink for my friend!" exclaimed Londo. "Well," said Vila, grinning, "I wouldn't say no." "Of course you won't! I haven't won this much in one session in years, my little friend. You really are a genius!" "Well, I don't like to boast, but..." "Of course, of course. Now tell me, why have I not seen you before in this casino? You could have won thousands and thousands by now." "I've only just arrived here." Vila replied, sipping at his drink, "And I dont have any spare money of my own so I thought I'd help someone else get some instead." "You have no money? A gambling genius like you?" Vila saw a strange look in his new friend's eyes. "Now you do." Vila watched dumbfounded as a stack of coins and gambling chips were pushed his way. "Here. Now you have some money. Now, have another drink and tell me about this system of yours..." ----- _______________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |I know I'm headed for the bottom, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|But I'm riding you all the way... =============================================================== "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukSun Nov 12 15:51:22 1995 Date: Tue, 25 P E G A S U S M a i l 2000 07:57:20 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@blob.best.net To: b5-creative@blob.best.net Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) - Part 6 And here we go again. The usual stuff about questions, comments, what to do with a stuffed llama etc apply... Enjoy! ****** Part 6 ****** Garibaldi arrived in Red 19 and quickly managed to identify his target before Zack even arrived. He walked casually round the area, keeping a surreptitious watch on his mystery man, trying not to make his presence too overtly known to him, knowing that if this mystery was a criminal, nothing would make him move faster than Security interest in him. The stranger didn't seem to have changed his position at all since Garibaldi had first seen him on the screens in the Security office. Garibaldi grimaced. Too much weird stuff had been happening on B5 recently for his liking and today had been no exception. Weird ships arriving, Talia picking up weird transmissions and now someon managing to get onto B5 without anyone noticing him. Garibaldi watched Zack arrive at the other end of the section from him and caught his eye. Idly, Garibaldi noted that Zack still wore his NightWatch armband, giving him a brief moment of displeasure with him. Quickly, he signalled first at the mystery man and then to Zack, calling him over to him. "Recognise him?" Garibaldi asked quickly. Zack paused for a moment, thinking. "Never seen him before, Chief." "I thought you hadn't. The computer system hasn't, either. According to every search I've had time to do, that guy just doesn't exist." "So, what do you want to do about him?" "I want you to keep watch on him discreetly. I need some time to do a full scale check on him. I want you to report to me, personally on anything that guy does." "Bit extreme, eh, Chief?" "I know, but I just have a strange feeling about this one." ----- Sheridan re-entered Command and Control, noting that it had now returned to it's usual state of what he thought of as "relaxed panic". Without knowledge of the new and mysterious ship currently positioned near B5, one would be hard pressed to note any difference in the activities of C & C. The backlog caused by the jumpgate's earlier failure had been completely cleared and now there was simply routine traffic passing in and out of Babylon 5 and the space around it. The only major worry for all of the crew now was keeping Narn and Centauri vessels apart from each other. "Captain." Ivanova said, turning from her viewport to face him. "It's still there." "I thought as much." he replied. "Have there been any changes in it's status." "No. It just seems to be sitting in the same point, not moving at all. We've tried contacting it in every language we can but there's still been no response." "Damn. News is starting to spread throughout the station about it." "I know. We're routing all the traffic away from that but they're all getting some sightings and scans of it. There's nothing we can do to stop that. Have any of the Ambassadors raised the matter with you yet?" "Not yet. I've only spoken to Delenn and she knows nothing about it. Last I saw, Londo was in the casino and I haven't seen G'Kar for over a day." "What about Ambassador Kosh?" "Well, he's just Kosh. If this ship has anything to do with the Vorlons then we'll find out soon enough." Again, he wondered why he had not told anyone of his brief encounter (meeting would have implied he knew what was going on) with Kosh earlier in the day. _Later_ he thought, _when I can work out what it was that he meant._ ----- "I don't like this at all." said Tarrant, pacing impatiently across Liberator's flight deck. "We've only heard from them briefly since they went down to that place. Anything could have happened to them." "Tarrant, you know the facts. Orac's already informed us that there are a quarter of a million people on that station. They need to find a private place to contact us and that's going to be hard with that many people around." She settled back in her chair and looked at the image on the viewscreen in front of them. "It looks like such a strange place." "I know." said Tarrant. "I don't think it's our place either. We need to find a way back to our own universe as soon as we can." "We could be safe here. Safer than we were with the Federation chasing us all the time." "We'd still be chased here. Look at that station - it _rotates_." "So?" "That's how they produce gravity on it. They don't have any artificial means to produce it. All their stardrives are infraluminal as well - that's why they use the gateway we came in by. Everybody who could get near us would be after what we've got." "We could always sell it to them. Think of the money it would make us." "That sounds like the sort of argument Vila would have made." Tarrant smiled and moved over to a seat. "I guess we just sit and wait for them to make contact, then." ----- Casually, Cally strolled through the people around her, trying not to look too startled by some of the ones she saw. An isolated upbringing on Auron was probably not the best way to get to know the diversity of the galaxy, she thought, but even during her travels on Liberator she hadn't seen species this diverse. However, something about this place made her feel at her most relaxed in years. After much thought on the subject she calculated it to be the general psychic background to the place. Ever since she had left Auron, life had seemed so much more colder and remote without the constant presence of others within her mind. Now, she could feel that presence again, but only slightly. She had rarely encountered others like her onboard Liberator but now it seemed that even though this was not Auron, she was among a fair-sized population of people with talents similar to hers. She wondered about whether attempting communication with anyone here would be a good idea. She longed for the mind to mind contact she had been without for so long but knew that it would be risky, especially as she was not meant to be alerting anyone here to her presence. But would one more alien voice among the multitude here reveal be noticed? She had turned this dilemma over and over in her head for almost all the time she had been in this place. It had been one of the reasons she had used her telepathy earlier to contact Avon and Vila, hoping that there would be someone else out there who would notice her. Finally, she made her decision. She slowly pulled herself out of the crowd surrounding her and moved into a smaller side corridor that, for the moment, was empty. She stood still for a moment, composing herself before sending out a simple message with her mind. It was a loose message, not fully formed, but it's meaning was clear. _Hello?_ ----- Talia suddenly stopped dead. The trace she had sensed before had returned and now seemed even stronger and more directed than before. It was almost as if the person who had sent it out wanted to be contactable by everyone and wasn't simply sending it to a particular person. She could even understand the message - it was a greeting, a psychic 'hello' looking for anyone out there. She concentrated for a moment and then thought back. _I'm here._ _Who? Where?_ came the reply. _My name is Talia. I'm in the Zocalo._ Then nothing. Garbled thoughts came back at her, reflecting the confusion her answers had given. Then, finally, a properly formed message came through. _What is this place?_ Talia paused before replying. Where was the place being talked about. She assumed that it was somewhere aboard the station but she had know idea who she was communicating with. The contact was definitely the strangest she had ever encountered, simultaneously making her think feel that she had encountered it before and never encountered it before. _Where are you? We need to meet._ _I don't know._ Genuine puzzlement. Not a lie at all. _Stay where you are. I'll come and find you._ She left the Zocalo, hoping that her instincts would help her track down this mysterious contact. ----- "Search complete. No match found." "That is impossible." Garibaldi said to the computer. "Confirm full check against all EA records present on Babylon 5." "Confirmed. All Earth Alliance records searched were searched. No match was found." Garibaldi turned to look at the screen that was showing Red 19. The mystery man had moved on now, but Garibaldi knew he could track him almost instantly with Zack on his tail. He decided on one more check before calling this guy in for questioning. "OK, check against Babylon 5 surveillance archives. At what point was this person first recorded by security cameras." Another pause. "First recorded sighting was at 0832 today." "Show the picture and give location." "Red 47." An image appeared on his screen, replacing the live feed from Red 19. The mystery man, caught during a routine sweep, using a public computer system in Red 47. Garibaldi looked at the picture checking the scene. "There are no sightings earlier than 0832?" "Negative. First sighting is 0832." Garibaldi sat back and raised his link. "Garibaldi to Allen." "I'm here, chief." "Still following our little mystery man?" "Yeah. I'm in Red 23 at the moment. He just seems to be walking through, not doing anything." "OK. I want you to pull him in. If he's got an Identicard then I want you to get hold of it. I've checked all the records we have available and that guy just doesn't exist on any of them. What's more, he's only been on this station since 0832 today and has gone nowhere near any registered arrival points. I'll send some support to help with the pickup." "OK, chief. You're the boss." "Yeah, I know." He smiled. "Garibaldi out." ----- It was easy for Zack to catch up to the stranger, given that he was only casually strolling through the sector. Outstretching an arm, he placed it on the man's shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. As he stopped, he turned round to face Zack, his face not registering any concern. "Excuse me, sir. We're having to carry out routine checks in this area. May I please see your identicard?" The man froze. It was only for a moment but Zack spotted his hesitation and uncertainty. "I'm afraid I dont have it on me at the moment." "Then can you tell me where it is at the moment?" Another hesitation, but this time it was too long to be disguised. "Perhaps you'd like to come with me then, sir. The Chief of Security has some questions for you." While still holding the shoulder firmly, he used his other hand to quickly draw his PPG from it's holster. Before anything else could happen two more Security agents appeared. "OK guys, take him up to a holding cell. I'll call the Chief." "Allen to Garibaldi. We've got him." To be continued... _______________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |I know that this is vitriol, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|No solution, spleen-venting, ----------------------------|But I feel better having screamed, Alive in the superunknown...|Don't you? - "Ignoreland" - REM =============================================================== "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.ukTue Jan 9 20:23:01 1996 Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 18:48:04 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow Reply to: b5-creative@blob.best.net To: b5-creative@blob.best.net, b5-creative@blob.best.net Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) - Part 7 OK folks, here we go with Part 7. Sorry that it's taken so long but pressures of work etc have prevented me doin as much work as I would like. Anyway, here it is, questions, comments etc to the list and if you want any of the previous parts then please ask and I'll send em to you. ****** Part 7 ****** Avon sat unmoving in the small room they had locked him in. He'd taken it all in very quickly as they'd led him into it and had no need to walk around and give them something to look at. He could easily calculate where there were surveillance cameras keeping a watch on him and occasionally glanced in their direction, wondering whether he was being watched at that moment. Inwardly, he cursed himself for being so stupid as to be tracked down by the security agents of this place. He'd realised too late that his actions would have seemed suspicious to anyone looking for suspicious movements and the security agents they had here were obviously good at their jobs. He hoped that Vila and Cally had managed to keep moving, getting themselves away from any prying eyes. He knew that his first priority was to get out of here. Although this place seemed to be an entirely different way of life to the one he knew, there was no time for wonderment and exploration. They had come to this place to find a way to leave and get back out. As he sat in the small room, he replayed all the events that had happened and knew that this was not the same place they had left, chased by Pursuit Ships. Too many aliens, too different technology. His brief use of the computer system had shown him how primitive the resources were here. Suddenly, a new thought entered his head. _I could make a fortune here._ He smiled and continued thinking his way out of the room. ----- Vila was drunk. He'd had that feling far too many times to be able to ignore it when it happened to him. However, this time, he didn't care. There was no one around to criticize him for it at the moment and besides, it would be rude not to be in this company. They had finished playing in the casino a short while ago when the management informed them that it might be in their best interests to stop playing. Vila had heard a lot of requests like that in his time and anyway, they had won enough to make them not really care, anyway.  He took stock of the scene around him. They'd moved on to another, more private, bar with various dancing girls performing on a stage. Vila assumed they were girls anyway. Despite his drunkeness, he could still work out that there were many races and species there he had never seen before at all. However, if this was important, then it's importance was lost on Vila. He noticed that Londo, his new friend, was obviously a man of some importance here. He'd already noticed the respect the staff of the bar had treated him with and he thought, though wasn't sure, that someone had referred to him as "Ambassador". Vila shrugged off the thought and returned to the much easier task of drinking and listening to the tales his new friend was telling. "So, we surround the planet with Heavy Crusisers and then wait for the Narns to come and attack us. And like the idiots all Narns are, they did!" Vila smiled, hoping he was able to give the right reaction to the story through his befuddled senses. "And what happened then?" he asked, wanting to take the pressure off himself to comment. "What do you think?" Londo made a gesture with his hands to indicate an explosion. "Boom! They were gone. Oh, if only all of life was that easy. Anyway, my stories must be boring you, my little friend. It is no way to thank someone who helped me so much at the gambling tables today. You must tell me how you manage to be so successful." "Oh, it's just because I'm lucky." he replied. "There's nothing special about it, really." "So, how much longer will you be aboard Babylon 5 for, my friend? I could use your help again." Vila shrugged his shoulders. "It's not up to me how long we stay here. There are various things that need to be done before we can leave." Londo looked puzzled for a moment. "Well, my friend, if I can help you in any way then do not hesitate to ask me." Vila smiled. "I may just do that." ----- Cally leaned back against the wall and breathed deeply, her mind racing. She had found another telepath here, but at what cost? She knew that they were not meant to be advertising their presence he re but the relief she had felt at properly communicating with someone after all that silent time had been too big to deny herself the pleasure communicating with another had been. Now, though, she w ondered whether it had been worth it. Talia (the name she had picked up) was coming towards her position, tracking her down. For all the pleasure contact had been, she wasn't sure if the questions a stranger in this place would receive were worth it. Her brief experience of it had showed her that this was not the universe she and the rest of Liberator's crew were used to. Species completely unlike any she had ever seen wandered the corridors of this station, seeming completely at ease to be there. That had convinced her that this place was different. No one was at ease, anywhere in th e Federation. It was impossible to be - you were either too drugged or too scared to be relaxed. _Are you still there?_ It was her, Talia, again. Cally could tell that she was getting closer and closer to her as her mind became clearer to her as they 'talked' to each other., Cally thought for a while before replying, keeping her mind as silent as possible while she decided whether or not to continue this communication. Finally her loneliness won out and she responded. _I'm waiting here. You're getting nearer, I can tell._ ----- Talia stopped for a moment to check where she was before continuing. She could tell she had come into Red sector and a further glance at the nearest wall confirmed that she was on level 3. Again sh e pondered on who she was talking to. The voice in her head was one of the strangest she had ever encountered. It felt like a human trace but one that had never been trained. It was both relaxed a nd rough-edged at the same time, as if she had been using her talents all her life, but never being formally trained in them. Idly, she wondered if the underground railroad had begun routing through B5 again, but she dismissed the thought. This was not a rogue telepath. This was something entirely different. _I'm near you. Can you tell me anything about where you are?_ _It's a corridor, long and quite quiet. There's a continuous red stripe on the wall._ Talia smiled to herself. Now she knew she was very close. _Is there anything else? Any numbers on the wall or anything you can spot?_ _Yes. I can see a 6 on one of the walls._ Talia looked around her and spotted a lift near her. _OK, I'll be with you very soon. Hold on._ ----- Garibaldi didn't like prisoners who didn't talk and this latest one was even worse than the rest. Normally, he would have some information on them, a name at least, but this one was a complete blank . All they had was the fact that this man didnt legally exist anywhere in the Earth Alliance. That, in itself was something special and Garibaldi decided to bring the Captain in on this. He had a feeling that this might be more than an internal B5 matter anyway. "Garibaldi to Sheridan." "Sheridan here." "Captain, I've got a prisoner down here I think you ought to know about." "Who is it?" "That's jut the problem. As far as we can tell he isn't anybody. He has no identicard and we cant find any record of him anywhere in any EA files." There was a pause. "I'm on my way." ----- It only took him a short while to get to the Security office. He entered and saw Garibaldi sitting in his usual chair, keeping an eye on the multitude of screens that filled the wall. "Captain." said Garibaldi, rising out of his chair. "Didn't take you long to get here." Sheridan smiled briefly. "So, where is he?" "We've got him in aholding cell right now. We spotted him earlier in Red Sector, hanging around and looking very suspicious. Me and Zack pulled him in and found that he didn't have an identicard an d when we scanned the databases we found absolutely nothing on him. The guy just doesn't exist." "So, how did he get onto the station?" "That's another mystery. I scanned the camera records and the earliest I can find him is at 0832 this morning. The computer is currently checking everything from the arrivals hall. It's already wo rked back two weeks and found nothing." "This shouldn't be happening." "That's what I would have said. But it is." "OK, I want you to keep checking up on this guy. Track down every piece of camera footage we have with him on and see if he has contact with anyone else. If he does then track them down and find out all you can. There's too much going on around here already without people who dont exist running round the station as well." Garibaldi nodded as Sheridan turned and left the room. ----- Avon slowly rose from his chair and paced around the room he had been locked in. In the time he'd been sitting down he'd managed to identify the security devices located throughout the room. Carefu ly, he'd plotted the amount of the room they covered with their scan. He'd carefully calculated his movements to make them look as random as possible. He had no desire to be on film as he used his communication bracelet to Liberator. They hadn't even bothered looking at it as they'd brought him in, only concerned with whether or not he had an identicard, whatever one of those was. Slowly, casually he moved to where the cameras couldn't see him and quickly raised the communication bracelet. "This is Avon to Liberator. Prepare to transport on my signal." He knew that any comm unication had to be short. He didn't want to leave too many traces of communication on any audio recording of the room. He lowered his hand and continued pacing as he waited for a response. "Ready." Tarrant's voice. He continued pacing, waiting until he could get out of the camera's range and leave no trace. "Now." His body began fading until he was no more than a shimmering image and then disappeared. The cell was empty. ----- "Another energy pulse!" Ivanova quicly left her position at the observation window and moved to the tech's position, looking over her shoulder at the scanning screen. "It's definitely from the unknown?" she asked. "No question. Nothing anywhere near it." "OK, compare it to the previous data." She paused to raise her link. "Ivanova to Sheridan. It's active again." On the screen the tech had called up the data from the previous scanning of the unknown ship. "Almost exactly the same as the previous pulses, Commander. Still no movement from it." "OK, keep tracking it. Inform me the moment it does anything." ----- Garibaldi looked up from the computer screen to the display screens on the wall. He paused for a moment, not quite sure that his sight was correct. "Scan cell 7 for lifeforms." "None present." "Damn!" He raised his link. "Garibaldi to security. Holding cell 7, now! We have an escape, repeat, we have an escape. Garibaldi to Sheridan." "Sheridan here." "We've got a problem. Looks like our mystery man has escaped." ----- To be continued.... ________________________________________________________________ Nick Barlow |I cant save you, I cant save you, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk|But if you dont blame me, ----------------------------|______ Then I wont blame you.... All the way mad, all the way hyped!|- The Wonder Stuff ================================================================ "Kryten, it's too early in the morning for this Star Trek crap" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk Tue Apr 2 02:09:08 1996 Date: Mon, 1 Apr 1996 13:00:16 GMT0BST From: Nick Barlow To: b5-creative@lists1.best.com Subject: Pursuit (B5/B7) Part 8 And I bet you thought that this was never going to come...well it has at last. All usual disclaimers etc apply. Part 8 ******* "OK, I want you to investigate the power surge and try and work out just what it was for and whether it constitutes a threat in any way to the station. I'll be with Mr Garibaldi - contact me if anything else happens." Ivanova nodded. "Yes, sir." She watched as Sheridan hurried from C & C and headed for Security. "OK, lets get moving, people." ----- "You are quite sure of this?" "Our research into this area has been quite detailed, Ambassador. >From the information you have given us, this would appear to fit all of the criteria we established." "So, you will come to Babylon 5?" "I do not appear to have any choice in the matter. This matter requires urgent investigation. I shall leave immediately. Expect me within a day." "I shall await your arrival." After the usual formalities, the link to Minbar was switched off. Delenn turned to Lennier. "Make preparations for Terron's arrival here. It will be a very important visit." Lennier bowed and left the room. _If he is right_, thought Delenn, _it may be one of the most important visits the station will ever have._ ----- "Impossible." said Garibaldi. "Absolutely impossible. He obviously isn't in the cell anymore, yet your saying that no exits were opened?" "That's what all the records say, sir. The only way computer records of this nature can be changed is with the authority of command level personnel." "Right, I want a full study of the audio and video from the room. There has to be some indication of how he left there." "Is this the cell, Mr Garibaldi?" Garibaldi quickly turned to see Captain Sheridan standing behind him. _Damn_, he thought, _I should have noticed him arrive._ "Yes, sir. We've examined it fully - there's no structural way he could have escaped from there and all the computer records say that the door was not opened at any time in the last 90 minutes." Sheridan stepped over the threshold and into the room. "We're conducting a full analysis of the audio and video records from the room now." On that, his Link came into action. "Garibaldi. What is it?" "We've found something on the recordings. He began moving around the room at approximately 1358. We then have something on the audio track that's too faint to be picked up exactly but it sounds as though he's speaking to someone. There are no further traces after 1401 and the alert as to his disappearance was sounded at 1404.^B "Around 1400?" asked Sheridan, raising his own Link. "Sheridan to Ivanova." "Ivanova here." "What timing do you have for the last energy pulse from our 'visitor'?" There was a pause. "1400." "And the first?" "0812." "OK, 1400 and 0812. Keep examining them and let me know the moment you get something. Sheridan out." Garibaldi had finished his own conversation now and looked at the Captain. "Those times are too close. Our first sighting is at 0832 and our last is just before 1400." "It could just be a coincidence." Sheridan stated. "There are no coincidences in this job." ----- Talia stepped out from the lift and into Red 6. She glanced around and noted that while there were some people there it was not overly busy. _I'm on the same level as you_ she thought, _where are you?_ _I see you_ came the reply, _here I am_. Talia looked up and realized that her mystery contact was right ahead of her. A tall woman, with long curly brown hair. At first sight, she didn't appear to be a telepath - no gloves, no Psi Corps badge. There was no doubt, though, that this was the person she had been communicating with. Up close, the sheer difference of her mind was incredible to Talia. She presumed that it was because of a human form, matched to an almost alien mind. _Where are you from?_ thought Talia. _Not here_ came the reply. _Are you a rogue telepath?_ Talia thought. _No. Not really. This is not my normal place._ _What do you mean?_ _It's hard to explain. Do you have somewhere private we can go to? I'll explain there._ Suddenly, Talia was aware that they had both been standing still and staring intently at one another. If there was one way to get someone reported as a rogue telepath, this would be it. She spoke. "Come with me. We'll go to my quarters." She walked over and joined her in the lift. "OK. My name is Cally." ----- "Got it." "What?" asked Sheridan. They were back in the Security Office now and Garibaldi had been hunched over a computer since they arrived there. "Some kind of power surge recorded in the cell just before our mystery man disappeared." "What from?" "I cant tell. None of the electrical devices in the room seem to have any faults that would have caused it. I think our friend caused it in some way." "Do you have a decent analysis of the surge?" "Best I could get, anyway." "OK, prepare to transfer a copy of it to C & C." Sheridan pressed a few buttons and Ivanova's image appeared on one of the wall screens. "Captain?" "I want a comparison of the energy pulses we recorded earlier with this one Mr Garibaldi just recorded. Transferring now." There was a pause as Ivanova turned away from the screen and gave some orders to the Techs around her. Then after she went silent, obviously listening to a respons she turned back to the screen. "It matches. Lower power level, but a pretty close match.^B "OK, prepare to transmit to the ship again. I'm coming bak to C & C. Sheridan out." He turned to Garibaldi. "Somehow, our mystery man and that ship are connected. Did he seem to understand you when you spoke to him?" "Yeah, and he spoke to Zack when he brought him in as well." "Good, now we know he can understand us. And if he is connected to them then they should be able to understand us as well." He got out of his seat and left the room. ----- "You took a huge risk there, Avon." "It was necessary, Tarrant. I'd lost contact with Vila and Cally and been captured by some thug in a uniform. It would only have been a matter of time before they realised that this bracelet wasn't just for decoration. They're backward, but that doesn't make them stupid." "What now then?" "We find Vila and Cally and try and get them off there and see what they've found out. We have to find out everything about that place that we can." "So we can get back to where we came from." It was almost a statement, but still sounded like a question. Slowly, Avon nodded. "Probably." ----- The door slid shut behind Talia as she followed Cally into the room. "Please, sit down and relax." She watched as she slowly walked over to an armchair and eased herself into it. Talia walked over to the side of the room. "Do you want a drink of anything?" Cally nodded. "Whatever you have, yes." Slowly, Talia removed her gloves and poured a couple of long, simple drinks. She carried them over and passed one to Cally, carefully ensuring their fingers didnt touch, before sitting down opposite her. Cally took a long pull at her drink. "That's good." she said, finally. "Thanks. It's my favourite." She paused. "Can I ask you a question?" Cally nodded. "You said this isn't your usual place. Where is? I've never felt a mind like yours." There was another silence. Then, a single word in Talia's mind. _Auron_. _Where is that?_ _Somewhere else. Do you want to see it?_ _Yes._ _Take my hand, then. I want to see your world as well._ Slowly, they both raised their hands and brought them together between them, their palms and fingers facing each other and then gradually touching each other. As they touched, their eyes closed. ----- "Jump point opening!" "Where?" asked Ivanova, her patience with this day clearly frayed already. "Sector 9. Very close to the unidentified ship." "What is it?" "Checking readings. It's Narn. Probably a Heavy Cruiser." "This is not what I need. Open communications." She paused, waiting for an image to appear on the screen in front of her. Suddenyl, it burst into life, showing a reptilian face. "This is the Narn ship Ja'Klon." "This is Babylon 5 Control. You are advised to stay away from Sector 9 until full safety has been established." "We are confident our weapons will give us adequate safety, Babylon 5. Ja'Klon out." The screen went dead. ----- Tarrant looked at the viewscreen. "Zen, what is that?" "Unknown." "He wont have any data on anything from here, Tarrant." Dayna said dismissively. "But it does look somewhat dangerous." "It's probably not connected with..." Avon paused, trying to remember the name, "Babylon 5. It looks to be based on a different design scheme. It's probably from another species." "Do you think it's hostile?" asked Tarrant. "That will depend." replied Avon. "On what?" "On whether we give them what they want. They've probably heard tales of a fast ship and want it's secret. And they're probably going to use those large weapons to get it if we dont give it to them." "Would telling them we dont know how it works do anything to stop them?" interjected Dayna. "I'd doubt it." said Avon. "Zen, take us away from that ship but keep us within teleport range of Babylon 5." There was a sudden lurch as Liberator moved again before settling back down. "Zen, show position." The viewscreen came into life showing yet another view of Babylon 5, the planet and various small specks around them that were obviously other ships. "Well, that should keep them away for now." Avon smiled. ----- "What the hell? Ivanova to Sheridan. It just moved again. A Narn ship showed up in Sector 9 and then the unidentified ship moved to Sector 3 quicker than you can blink." "OK, I'm on my way. Prepare to try and communicate with it again. I'll handle this myself this time." "Understood. C and C out." ----- ------------------------ Nick Barlow "You cant always get what you want, pl6a4bnb@swansea.ac.uk but if you try sometimes, ------------------------ you might just find, "If you dont stand for you get what you need..." something, you'll fall - Rolling Stones for anything..."