From: GrayCougar@aol.com
Subject: Repost: "Remembrance Day"
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 23:51:36 -0400 (EDT)

Hi all. This is a repost of the first story in a series. It's set in the
Babylon 5
universe a hundred years down the road. I'm not sure if it makes very much
sense, but the idea showed up in the back of my head one day and wouldn't
leave me alone until I sat down and typed it out. So here we go again...oh
yeah, Babylon 5 does not belong to me, nor do any of the characters from the
show that are mentioned or implied. I'm just borrowing them awhile.


REMEMBRANCE DAY


     "By the Power, the Name, and the Presence, and by the Light, we have
come to remember and honor our fallen dead..." Grandma's just starting her
Remembrance Day speech, the same one she gives to our family every year. But
this year's different. This year thousands and thousands of people are
listening to it with us. Some here in this sector of space, but most of them
are probably seeing it on their vids at home, lots of them probably wishing
they were actually here. 'Course, I didn't know I'd be here, either, until
about a week ago.

*****

     Everyone's been humming about this Remembrance Day celebration for ages.
Making speeches, showing  Tri-V documentaries and vid series 'bout the War
and all
that happened. Guess it's to be expected, it being the 100th anniversary o'
the beginning of the Great Peace and all, but it was starting to get to me,
seeing as I knew all the stories backwards and forwards, what with
great-grandma and great-grandpa having been involved in it from practically
the beginning all the way through to the very end. Those were always my
favorite stories when I was little, tales of adventures and great deeds, of
heroes and true loves. The stories were better than any of the other fairy
tales that all kids get told, because these stories actually happened to
Grandma's parents and their friends. It makes me mad to see how the
"official" versions sometimes get all twisted from the way they really were.

     Anyway, I had just gotten home from my best friend Sari's sixteenth
Naming Day celebration and was watching a vid-clip of some interviews of the
Thought-Camp survivors. It's amazing to think that before the scientific
advances we made during the Peace, even the youngest who lived through the
Camps would have died of old age years ago. Now our med tech lets people stay
active and healthy three quarters of the way to their second century. Still,
tech can't do everything. I was pulling the knots out of my hair by hand,
wishing there was an easier way to do *that* other than cutting it off--which
Mom keeps on threatening to do if I don't keep it from tangling around my
crest-bone--but I like it how it is, long and dark and curly, just like
great-grandma's in the old 2-D pictures of her. Just as I was getting the
last of them out, Mom comes into my room and I can tell something's up. Her
eyes are sparkling and there's this little smile on her lips, like there
always is when she has a secret she's dying to tell. So I sit up, all ears,
wonderin' what it could be, when she says the last thing I would've imagined.

     "We're going to the Monument."

********

     So that's how, three days later, I found myself on a ship headed for
where it all began and ended a hundred years ago. It turned out that the
Council of Planets had just asked Grandma to make the closing speech of the
Centennial Remembrance Day ceremony they were holding at the Monument. So all
of us--Grandma, Mom, Dad, and me--packed some travel bags and headed out.

      'Course, we never could have gotten seats on a commercial ship at this
late date, not with everyone who could going to see the ceremony, but we
didn't have to. Great-Aunt Susan rerouted one of the military couriers to
pick us up (she's not really related to us, but she's been aunt and
great-aunt to every one in the family, even Grandma). I guess being a
general and holding the Military seat on the Council has some perks. Not that
she ever wanted the rank or the position, even though the regens keep her as
strong and active now as she was in her fifties. She only accepted them
because she felt that as the last of the "Babylon-5 Five" still alive she had
the responsibility of making sure what happened back then never happened
again. The Council had originally asked her to speak at the ceremony, but she
wouldn't. I think Great-Aunt Susan still feels guilty that, a hundred years
ago, she lived when the others died. Not that it was her fault. There was
nothing she could have done. Nothing at all. And that's what hurts her the
most.

*********

     We came out of hyperspace with me pressing my nose against the view
ports, straining for my first actual sight of the Monument. The officers of
the courier had been nice enough, but absorbed with their duties, and after
two days in hyperspace I was itching for any change in the scenery. At first
all I saw was the planet with it's glittering ring of metal scraps that were
all that was left of the Light's greatest stronghold against the Shadows
after the Final Battle. But there was even less left of them. For a minute I
wondered where all the other ships bringin' people here had gotten to. The
courier's captain told us  later that they were all in parking vectors on the
other side of this system's star, to avoid the risk of damaging the Monument.

Then all the thoughts were pushed right out of my head as I saw it  
coming 'round the curve of the planet it orbited.

     It was huge, deep and dark as space itself, but it was a blackness that
seemed to shine from within. No nightmares or shadows could ever be that
color. Nobody knows quite what it's made of, this rectangle slab over a mile
long and half a mile thick. It was the last gift the Vorlons gave us before
they went away, with as little explanation of it as they ever gave about
anything. They just left it here, sang "For Remembrance", and disappeared.
But the words on the Monument--they were all ours. Inscribed into the surface
of the slab in the three major languages we had written--all of the species
together--an epitaph and a promise in letters carved feet deep into the
surface, big enough to be seen from space, lit up bright so that all who
passed by would read it and remember the lessons of the past and the price we
had paid. And seeing it for the first time with my own eyes, a strange
feeling came over me. I felt proud and awed and humble all at the same time.

*********

     It's ten minutes 'til the ceremonies begin and I'm all dressed
up--something I usually hate doing--ready to go. I'm gettin' real impatient
waiting for Mom and Dad to get here so we can get on the Tri-V link together.
Grandma's actually gone to where they're projecting the "room" the
proceeding's are gonna be held in. But then, Tri-V wasn't developed until Mom
was growing up, and Grandma's never been real comfortable with it--which is
kinda unusual since most people, especially kids my age, took to cyberspace
like a ch'rot to water. Anyway, Mom and Dad finally were ready, and with the
familiar Tri-V crackle-buzz we linked into the "room" they had designed for
the ceremony. And what a room it was!

     Even I was startled by the realism of the scenery. We were "standing" in
open space, along with a large crowd of people, right at the foot of the
Monument. Not the real Monument, of course, just an 3-D image of it, but it
was as knock-down stunning here as it had been just comin' out of hyperspace.
The black surface loomed above the podium set up at the Monument's base, the
words shining out over us.

     Then the speeches started. There were a few politicians there, trying to
get noticed, but mostly the speeches were by people who had actually lived
through the War and the chaotic years after it, or people like Grandma who
were the children of those who had died. So many people. Some speaking of
ideals and hopes for the future, some just tellin' their stories. Stories of
dark, terrible things, but with light in them as well. A whole group of
people from the Telepath's Guild came up, one after another, and simply said
"We remember." Nothing more, but all of them projecting remorse for what some
of their ancestors had done, and resolve and strength and hope as well. And
still more came, to tell about the things closest to their hearts, so that
it'd never be forgotten. About good times that came right along with the bad,
the small joys that were intertwined with the larger sorrows, and about the
light that never entirely went out. Some of it went right over my head,
feelings and thoughts that only someone who had passed through that
same fire could understand. Some of it, though, was painfully clear. And
still more came, 'til there wasn't a person in that room that hadn't been
touched in some way. Then Grandma got up and started to speak.

*******

     "...and though their souls long ago departed this plane for that place
past life where there is nothing but light, we continue to honor their
memories. Their actions and sacrifices are reminders to us that the price of
freedom is never too high, the obstacles never insurmountable.  By their
living and their dying, they have touched the lives of all who have come
since, ensuring we will never lack for Light, till Universe's end." 

     For a minute there's silence while Grandma leaves the stage. Then the
quiet's broken by a harsh sob. I look towards the sound, and for a minute I'm
speechless. The sobs are coming from where Great-Aunt Susan's sitting, still
stiff and proper with her silver hair pulled back and General's stripes on
her shoulder, while tears stream down her face. Then I see her eyes, grief
and loss written so plain in 'em, and suddenly my eyes aren't so dry anymore
either. For a second, I understand everything they were all trying to say
about the hopes and the sorrows, and the light that only shown the brighter
for all the darkness that surrounded it.

*******

     The jump-gate opens in front of our ship as we head  for home, all the
hustle and bustle done for another year. The stories and the memories put
away until next Remembrance Day, at least for most people. But not for me,
not this time. The things I felt, when I saw the Monument, and after
Grandma's speech, they're still with me. Maybe it's time to start thinking
about growing up. After all, Great-Aunt Susan isn't going to be around much
longer, despite all the med techs do. I'll miss her, but I know that she'll
be happier there with the rest of them then she's ever been on this side of
life for the last hundred years. And after she's dead, the Council's gonna
need someone to keep an eye on them, remind them that the old stories aren't
just stories, and what happened the last time we forgot.
     
     I take one last look back at the Monument, reading again the words
inscribed on its surface. Then the ship plunges into hyperspace and I look
ahead 
to the future as the Monument's message echoes quietly in the back of my
mind.


IN MEMORY OF THOSE WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES 
FIGHTING SHADOWS WITHOUT AND WITHIN
WE HAVE LEARNED THE LESSONS YOU DIED TO TEACH US.
WE WILL NOT FORGET AGAIN.


Fini.

Gray.

***********************
*"I to my perils      *
*Of cheat and charmer *
*Came clad in armor   *
*By stars benign.     *
*Hope lies to mortals *
*And most believe her,*
*But man's deceiver   *
*Was never mine."     *
*--A. E. Housman      *
***********************

From: GrayCougar@aol.com
Subject: Repost: "Letting Go"
Date: Tue, 8 Apr 1997 23:50:41 -0400 (EDT)

Hi all! Here's a story that takes place a while after the events in
"Remembrance Day." This story's told from the point of view of the same girl,
'though she's a good bit older, and while it isn't directly related to any of
the events in that story,  it would probably really help to have read it. 

Obligatory Disclaimers: I don't own anyone or anything is this story that you
recognize from the show. Please don't sue me.


LETTING GO


     "I'm sorry, General." The doctor in charge turned to me. The insignia on
his uniform, a Greek letter psi with a caduceus inlaid over it, told me he
was a mind-healer as well as a physician. "She's lapsed into a coma. Her body
seems to be fighting us." My mouth was dry as I looked down at the still body
of the woman who had influenced my life more than any other.

     Hardly noticing his presence, I inadvertently speak the words I'm
thinking. "I expect it is." The doctor's puzzled look drew a further
explanation from me. "You heal broken bodies and broken minds, doctor. But I
know of none who can heal broken hearts." I can tell he's still confused as I
turn back to the still form on the bed, but I have no more words for him.
Eventually  he withdraws, leaving me alone with her.

     "You can't leave me, Great-Aunt Susan. There's still so much for us to
do." Even as the words leave my mouth, I know they were spoken selfishly. The
woman they were spoken to had had no joy in living for more than a century
and a half. Duty alone had kept her alive. Duty, and responsibility.
Responsibility to the memory of her friends who had died, and the cause they
gave their lives for. Responsibility to my grandmother and all her
descendants, three generations of
women, because she had been Great-Grandmother's friend. 

     But duty and responsibility are cold comfort, and harsh things to build
a life around. And now she felt her job was done, that she could finally lay
this burden down. I knew all of this, yet I couldn't find it in myself to let
her go without asking her to stay. But, torn, I realized that it wasn't fair
to ask her to stay. So I sat by her bed in silence.

*******

     Hours passed, and finally I forced myself to leave her side for a
moment. I needed to find a vidcom and contact my staff. My poor aide T'Larl
was probably going out of her mind trying to reach me. I realized with a
guilty twinge that there was a Council meeting scheduled in a few hours. I
would have to call the President of the Council, tell her I wouldn't be able
to make it. Probably wouldn't look good for me to miss a session, since I was
only appointed to the Military Seat a few weeks ago, but right now I couldn't
care less about appearances.

     The doctor met me at the door. "I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but since
you're listed as one of the General's next of kin I felt you should know that
she left standing instructions that in the case of extended loss of
consciousness we were not to use life-support of any kind...and no
resuscitation is to be attempted if death should occur."

     "I understand." Yes. That's how she would have wanted it. But it hurts
to hear the words, to realize just how much of a burden this life has been to
her. I'm even more ashamed now of my earlier pleas.

*******

     
     I'm back at her bedside again. I wish Grandma and Mom were here, but
they were both on Minbar. Grandma had some business there, and Mom went to
visit some distant relatives in Great-Grandma's clan. Even if they had been
able to get immediate passage on the fastest ship available, they were still
days away. Days that the woman I sat beside didn't have.

     At least I don't have to worry about work. President Tagani was very
understanding. But, after all, they've known each other for years.
 Great-Aunt Susan held the Military Seat on the Council ever since it was
formed. She held that Seat right up until a few weeks ago, through all the
dark times and the struggle, until there was someone ready to take her place.
Me.      

     Damnit, I'm crying again, remembering the last time we talked. It was at
a joint
retirement/promotion party a few mutual acquaintances had thrown for us.
There had been a few grumbles about favoritism and such, but they had been
surprisingly few in number. Probably partially due to the fact that I have a
reputation as an excellent tactician (guess I inherited something from
Great-grandfather, as well as getting my looks from Great-grandmother.) 

     I had come mostly as a favor to an old classmate--I loathe formal
events--and I really didn't expect to see Great-Aunt there since she's even
more notorious for missing such things than I am. So I was pretty surprised
to see her show up at my side as the whole thing was winding down. I started
to say something, but the odd look on her face caused my voice to catch in my
throat, and she cut in before I could get a word out. 

     "Just listen to me for a minute, girl. You deserve this Seat, so don't
let anyone tell you otherwise. I've taught you everything I know, everything
you'll need. You're as ready for this as you'll ever be. It's up to you, now,
to keep them from forgetting everything we fought and died for. Don't ever
let them forget."

     And with that, she was gone, as if she'd never been there. How anyone
that old can move so fast I've never figured out. She just...vanished,
weaving in and out of the crowd, her step lighter than I'd ever seen it, her
words ringing in my ears. I swore then and there that I'd keep the charge she
laid on me. I'd make sure that the Council remembered the lessons of the
past. Remembered that their actions had consequences, that their freedom had
been paid for in blood, and must be protected at all costs.

*******

     The heart monitor's been goin' irregular for a couple minutes. There'd
be no help for it, no attempts to prolong the existence of an empty
shell--she'd seen to that. It wouldn't be long now. My sights getting blurry
again, tears streaming down my face, but I can't bring myself to care. I
remember all the times I've seen Great-Aunt Susan. All the time I was growing
up, she was always there in the background. Always alone. Even when she was
in the middle of a crowd, she
was alone.

     Suddenly, it clicked. That had been a difference about her at the
retirement party. The look in her eyes. She had still been distant, but the
look in her eyes was like she was almost home.

*******

     The monitor's beeps are even farther apart as I reach my hand to the
still face of the woman on the bed. I brush a strand of silver hair from her
closed eyes, and bend down to whisper a soft goodbye to the soul that had
long since departed this mortal shell. 
     
     "Good journey, Susan Ivanova. Give my love to Great-grandfather and
Great-
grandmother when you see them."

     The wail of a stopped heart filled the hospital room, but I'd swear that
a slight smile moved her lips and I knew that she'd heard me.


FINI.

Gray.

***********************
 *"I to my perils      *
 *Of cheat and charmer *
 *Came clad in armor   * 
*By stars benign.     * 
*Hope lies to mortals * 
*And most believe her,* 
*But man's deceiver   * 
*Was never mine."     * 
*--A. E. Housman      *
 ***********************

From: GrayCougar@aol.com
Subject: New: "Things Forgotten...And Remembered"
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 00:07:21 -0400 (EDT)

Hi everyone. This story is a sequel to "Remembrance Day" and "Letting Go."
I'm reposting them here because (in my opinion) they're fairly necessary to
the understanding of this story. Oh yeah, because "Remembrance Day" was
written way back when before even the beginning of the third season (you
remember, back when the Shadows were the bad guys and the Vorlons were the
good guys), all of these
stories are now very non-cannon. So, since I'm too lazy to edit them until
they can
fit with cannon, I'm declaring this series to be one of the many Alternate
Universes.

Disclaimers: Nothing in this story that refers to Babylon 5 belongs to me.
I'm just
playing with them for awhile. 


 THINGS FORGOTTEN...AND REMEMBERED

     Fools, all of them! Blind young fools! So caught up in their own
importance
they don't see what they're trying to do, what damage might result from what
they
propose.

*****

     "...You cannot make peace with the darkness! You cannot equivocate with
Shadows!" I stop for breath, momentarily at a loss for words. How could they
not
see that this proposal was the height of foolishness. Yes, we needed to
reduce the
government budget, but not by cutting the military's hunter expeditions that
searched out all of the remaining Shadow-servants, no matter how far they
fled or
where they hid.

     Taking advantage of my pause, the Minister of Finance leaps to his feet.
"General, with all due respect, I think you exaggerate. The war is over. It
was over
long ago. The Shadows were defeated, and now their servants are defeated as
well. You yourself commanded the fleet that destroyed their largest base
decades
ago. It is finished. We no longer need the exorbitant expense that these
"Shadow-hunting" patrols cost us..."

     His words fade into the background of my consciousness as I look around
myself at all the young faces in the Council room. When did they all get so
young?
What happened to all those who had grown up, like I did, in a time when raids
by
Shadow-servants were a real and dangerous possibility. These younglings who
now fill out the Council know of such times only as stories. I can
practically see
the thoughts running behind their eyes. "Crazy old woman...Paranoid....
Fanatic....Jumping at shadows..."

     As if from a distance I hear the President of the Council telling us to
adjourn for
the day, saying we'll finish this up tomorrow. I walk out of the Council
chambers
in a haze. The trip back to my residence passes in a blur, and I'm opening
the door
to my apartment practically before I even realize I'm home. My neighbor Tanya
meets me at the door, and I nod a distracted thank you to her before she
leaves,
heading back to her own apartment down the hall.

     "Grandma, Grandma! Tell us a story." My grandchildren's voices bring me
out
of my dark reverie. My daughter and her husband are both away, so I agreed to
watch the twins for the week. Shara and Jelann, two precocious
three-year-olds,
with a knack for getting into everything not bolted down. Already Shara is
beginning to take after Great-grandmother--dark hair and grey eyes tend to
run in
our family, even though my daughter is a golden blonde--while Jelann takes
more
after his father. You could almost think him pure Minbari, save for an odd
cast
about his eyes.

     "All right, my precious ones. What would you like to hear about?"

     "Tell us a story about adventure!" "Yeah, one with monsters!" "And
battles!"

     "Very well then. Come up here and sit on Grandma's lap, and I'll tell
you a
wonderful story, with all the things you asked for in it and more. And do you
know
the very best part? They all really happened, just the way I'll tell you."

     They scramble up on my lap, though my knees do give me a twinge. I'm
getting
too old for this. "Tell us! Tell us!"

     "Alright, listen closely now. It was the dawn of the third age of
mankind..."

*****

     "...And that is how my great-grandparents, your
great-great-great-grandparents, met, and fought, and turned back the Shadows,
so all of us who
came after them need never fear the dark again." As I finish the story, I
look down
at the two small burdens in my arms, now fast asleep. I look down at their
innocent
faces, faces that have never been afraid of shadows, and I remember something
I
learned long ago, something that I somehow forgot along the way. I remember
now why they had fought the darkness, my great-grandparents and their
friends.
Why I had spent my life fighting the Shadow servants that remained in the
galaxy.
For them. For the children, that they might grow up in a universe better and
brighter than the one we had known.

     Oh children, my grandchildren, thank you. Thank you for showing me again
the
truth I learned so long ago. For showing me, reminding me, what to tell the
Council, how to make them realize that though the war was won many years ago,
we can never surrender, never retreat from our vigilance against the darkness
in all
it's forms. Lest we loose all that others had bought for us with blood.

     I stand slowly, careful not to wake the children sleeping in my arms,
and carry
them into their room, gently tucking them into their beds. I kneel down
between
the beds, pulling their covers up over them and brushing Shara's bangs back
from
her forehead.

     "Sleep well, dearlings. Sleep well, and safe, and always sleep in the
light."

FINI

So what do you think? Should I continue filling out this character's history
(Hey,
maybe someday she'd even get a name) or should this be the end of her story?

Gray


***********************
*"I to my perils      *
*Of cheat and charmer *
*Came clad in armor   *
*By stars benign.     *
*Hope lies to mortals *
*And most believe her,*
*But man's deceiver   *
*Was never mine."     *
*--A. E. Housman      *
***********************