From andeagle@execpc.comWed Sep 20 01:08:11 1995 Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 22:47:33 -0500 (CDT) From: Andy Eagleson Reply to: b5-creative@best.com To: b5-creative@best.com Subject: A SHADOW IN THE DARKNESS PART I This is my second attempt to make a good story. This one is completly different than my other one. Basicaly Unification was an attempt to get my feet wet. This story will probably never happen, however I think it would be cool if it did... On a side note I have decided to COMPLETELY rewrite Unification becasue I had read it over and discovered how bad it really was ( Or not up to my standards ). So stand by for the NEW part one soon... ( Or later )... OH yes... I WANT CRITISISM. ANYTHING YOU CAN THROW AT ME. I NEED IT. I CRAVE IT. I DEPEND ON IT. BE RUTHLESS BE AGRESSIVE. HAVE NO CONCEARN FOR MY FEELINGS. Thats all +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ |||||||||||||||||||| A SHADOW IN THE DARKNESS |||||||||||||||||||| +------------------+ +------------------+ |||||||||||||||||||| Written by Andrew L Eagleson |||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||| |||||||||||||||||||| +------------------+----------------------------------+------------------+ I Hope my title sign doesn't get messed up. PREFACE: It loomed in the darkness waiting. Waiting for the right time. The right time to begin its mission. The mission it once had a long time ago. The mission it had come to enjoy. The mission it had come to take pride in. The mission of glory it once held. Its masters had called upon it once again to serve them towards the mission. The destiny they all have in common. And now it waiting to once ?? again take *prise* in the mission. The mission of destiny. PART ONE: The captain was quite pleased with himself. You could tell by the way he turned his flat face into a smiling one. He knew he had won. But did the others know. They continued playing as now the cards were all handed out. The comander looked at his hand and so did the petty officer each glowering over the other persons face to find some sign of giving somthing away. Each of them hiding there cards so as to not give any vital information away. Each of them a little nervous but dare not showing it as so not to alert anyone. But the captain knew he had won. It was inevidable. He had lost all evening and know it had to be his turn and finally he had a descent hand. A great hand in fact. All the other officers started to discard there cards so they could collect new ones. You could here them say there numbers goign around the console as they recollected new cards. But the captain was sure he had one. "I will start with 10" said his second officer. And they all out the money in. The captain with a little but of confidence this time. "I will see your ten and raise you 20" the Executive Officer replaied and again they all out there money in. Now it was the Captains turn. He didn't know what he wanted to bet. If he bet to much they might think he has a good hand but if they bet to little he won't win anything and God knows this wasn't a hand he wanted to waist. "I will see your 20 and raise you" he paused,"30". He thought thirty seemed a resonable amount. Its a little higher than he usaully did but not so high as to alert attention. Finally the petty officer said," I will see all of your bets and raise it 100". The all were a little stuned at that. 100 was a lot to raise it but since the petty officer had one all evening it would seem that he yet had another good hand. They all grumbled except for the captain who knew he had the hand that would beat him. "I fold" the comander said before he even bet. He put his cards down on the table and relaxed into his sit a little less nervous. The captain liked this because it meant that there was one less person to deal with and only four more to go. The captain spoke,"Your turn Comander Shadem". The Comander looked at his cards and then looked at everyone else. he finally spoke,"I will see his 100 and raise it another hundred". This time they all gasped. Even the captain was getting a little nervous. It was now back to the second officer. He was looking around the room peircing into everyones eyes trying to find some weakness to exploit. But he found none. Everyone had hardest of faces. The most expressionless tones. No one flinched even an inch. "I will take your 100 and raise it" he paused and looked at his pile,"300". Everyone allmost freaked out. This was getting to be the highest pot all evening. But they all reluctantly put there money in. It came to the Exec. He had a confident look on his face. An allmost evil grin."I will see your 300 and raise you" he paused for a long time. Just for the effect of it. And then calmly said,"500". After the shock of 500. 300 seemed trivial to them. And now the captain looked real nervous. "I fold" said the comander as he counted his loses. The captain looked at his cards. He had the hand that that would win. He was sure of it. Or at least he thought he was. "I will see your ebt and raise it 100" he said. They all again put there money in. "Mr. Grimson it your turn" said the 2nd ifficer to the petty officer. "Okay lets see now" he said in a confident tone. He was the only person here who could afford to lose this match. So he of course would probleby put some ridiculously high bet in. He continued," how about we raise it by 500 again". This was becoming very tense. The stakes were very high now and they all wanted to win. Now it was back to the second officer. He was allways one for getting business done quick," enough of this. Lets nock out the pansies I will see your 100 and raise you 1000". Everyone was shocked. 1000 was almost never beted unless someone had a good hand. "Well Comander Bracle" Mr. Grimson said," we are getting a little impatiant aren't we". He knew this anoyed Mr. Bracle. He could see the anger in his face. Then he stoped right there havng acomplished his mission. "I fold" said executive officer Rightman. He was one for gambling but he also knew when to quite and keep at least some of his paycheck. "Captain its your turn" said Comander Bracle. The captain turned a sly look glarring into his oponets eyes. And then formed the words ans poke,"I call". Mr. Grimson was the first to put his cards down. And he did it in a whip confident that he was victor. But Mr Bracle had more slowly handed his cards down and a smile arose across his face. The captain hesitated. And then ever so slowly put his cards down forming an expression of happyness across his face. The other two officers peared at the cards and then one sighed. "Dammit" the captain swore and put his cards in order. "Face it captain your no match for me" Mr. Bracle replied. And then he got up and went over to a console to check up on things. "Well I guess I will leave before more of my crew own my check" the Captain said as he left the table and went over to the command center. "Awww common captain. You also have much more paycheck to lose than we do" Mr. Bracle said as he punched somthing in on the keypad grining almost like an Idiot. "Well if the captain is going to cop out on us than I suppose I should go to" Mr. Rightman said humorously. And he walked over to his console and sat down in it "No respect from my officers" grumbled the captain as he walked over to the display screen and looked at it. He was a small man. About 5'10 in hieght. A bit of a build but also a little chubby. HE had brownish hair and a clean shaven face. Mr. Rightman the executive offcer was another story. He was humungous. About 6'8. He had a huge build and black hair. He had a beard that looked huskey. Mr. Bracle was the Second in command. He was medium in height and had a semi large build but he also had a little gut. His grey hair showed his age real well. Comander Sheilden was was in charge of the Marines security detachment. Hi counterpart Sargent Forke was hated poker games so he wasnt there. "What are ETA with the proper corrdinates for the hyperspace jump" asked Comander Rightman. "About 2 hours" came a reply from somwhere in the command center. "Comander Rightman if ou will so kind as to take command while I go count my loses" said the Captain. Rightman smiled to the captain and the captain left the area. Followed by Mr. Grimson who had to get backon duty. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * He was a small tall figure standing in the shadows of the hallway. HIs face was hard and scared by battle. His hair was silver and his build muscular. He had scars all over his arms and on his hand. He legs were thick and bulky and his posture pefect. Then another dark figure appeared. This on much small and leaner. Much less muscular. He was dressed in a black blue suit and black dress shoes. His face was much smaller and more cunning. His smile much eviler. "Mr. Morden" the tall dark figure said in a low whispery voice,"nice of you to come. Do you have what I need?" he asked. "Of course. Me and my ascosiates have provided the nessecary equipment you require to complete your task". He said this whispering and almost laughing. "I hope it was no trouble to get the equipment on the station, after all I would hate to think I would be discovered now" the tall dark figure replied walking to the other side of the corridor. "No trouble at all. My ascoiciats are most cunning at his kind of work". The tall man made a quick glance at Morden. "Yes they do seem to be able to do those things quite easily don't they" the tall man said confidently with a bit of curiosity in his voice. "Well they have there ways and now you can do what your plan requires of you. And now lets discuss payment shall we?". This time the tall figure glared at Morden almost peicing him with his eyes. "We have allready discussed that Mr. Morden" he said in an angry tone. "Of course we have and I don't plan to change our agrement. I just wanted to know when I can expect it?" Mr. Morden said. "What on those damn Video records that you need so bad anyways?" the Tall figure said. "Let just say it has some incriminating evidence and leave it at that". Mr. Morden said obviously hiding the truth. "Incriminating evidence. Would you care to be more specific" the Tall figure asked? "No not really" Morden said. "Well I don't care. As long as I have my equipment I'm happy. However I don't know how long it will take to hack into the security files. It does have a Captains security lock" he said rather coldly. "Well please inform me of when you will be able to get them" Morden said uneasily. "You will get you records" said the tall figure a little anoyed. "That all that I ask" Morden said. He then pulled out a data crystal and handed it to the dark figure. "This is the information you will need to know in order to recieve your equipment" Morden said rather happy evil tone. "Your equipment is coming in on an Earth Force vessel Agomemnon" he said again with a slight cringe to him. "Fine fine" the tall figure said impatiently,"You can expect your records as soon as I can get them". "Excellent. A pleasure doing business with you" Morden replied and then started back down the hallway into the darkness and then dissa[[earing alltogether. And soon the tall figure went the other way in the same manner. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * "Captain" the helmsman said,"we are apraoching coordinates for jumpgate activation". As he pushed some buttons on his console double checking to make sure he didn't make a mistake. "Lock on to jumpaget signal" said comander Rightman,"and then imform Captain Dekson" he ordered. "Eye sir" the helmsman responded. He went over to the ComNet Console and punched up the captains quarters and then paged him. And waited for a response. "Captain Dekson here what is it?" he paused and waited. "Captain we are aproaching the Jumpgate coordinets for Babylon 5. Please come to the bridge" the helmsman responded. "I am on my my" Dekson responded and then the link closed. The helmsman got up and went over back by his station. Pretty soon he will have a lot to do. He got into his seat and started to make computations for jumpgate and docking. "What is are ETA to jumpgate helmsman?" Comander Rightman asked politly. "14 Minuets sir" the helmsman responded. And continued his computations. "Lt. Barcles have you located the Jumpgate Signal yet" Rightman inquired. "No Sir" he responded in a not so confident tine. "Lt. how do you expect us to find the jumpgate unless you lock on to it?" he asked a little anoyyed. "I know sir. I am working on it. It will have the coordinets well before we have to jump" he responded nervously. Comander Rightman was anoyyed. This new Naviagtion officer had turned out to be one of the worste he had ever had. He continuely screwed up and messed up and scrwed up some more. They got where they were going fine but Comander Rightman prefered that they got there without trouble. You heard footstpes coming down the corridor towards the command center and then into it. "Ahh Captain we are about 10 mins away from the Jump Gate. We are currently looking for the Lock on signal but Mr. Barcles assure me that we will have the coordinates Before we need to jump" He said to the Captain who seemed to luagh a little bit inside but he held it down. "Lock Signal Located. Locking on to signal" Lt. Bracles voice sounded from the bridge. "About time Luetenet whats are ETA" he asked firmly. "4 Mineuts till breakign and then 3 till jump" he responed and and then went back to his work. "Put me through on the ship ComNet" comander Rightman said as the captain went over to his seat and buckled in. "Attention all decks. Four Minuets to Breaking Manuever and jump. All hands to duty stations. All off duty personal take apropaite messures" he said then punched his the keypad to shut of the ComNet link. He heard several people move on the bridge and he knew several more were moving to there quarters. Most of them would get there in time. Some would have to settle for strapping themselves into one of the G-forces chairs located throughout the ship. Deceleration was always the fun part of this but also the most stressful. "1 Minuet to Deceleration" came a voice from the bridge. They all started to strap themselves into there respective chairs. And then braced. "30 secs to deceleration" the same voice said. "Helmsman you have engine control" Captain Dekson said. Then about 10 secs later you could here a moanong sound as the engines started to work. It grew louder and louder as time passed htne it hit its loudest. They all felt the pressure of the deceleration as the ship decreases its speed greatly. All there faces seemed a little longer as the straps dug into there skin. "30 Secs until engine shutdown" came another voice from the bridge. Decelerations generaly didn't take very long but they always seemed to last forever. "10 secs until engine shut down a voice shouted" and then the whining started to decrease until you couldn't here it anymore. And then the Comand center was quit. "Prepare for JumpGate activation" the captain ordered. And they all again braced for the jolt that always acompanied a jump. Ahead of the ship you say a becone and then you saw an expanding swirl of what looked like clouds but wasn't as dull. "Jumpaget Activated sir" a voice said. And they all braced. A fews seconds later they all felt a large jolt that shook the enitre ship and its contents but after that they began to unbuckle themselves. And move around. "OPen frequencies" ordered the Captain. he looked towards his view screen and the face of a women appeared. She was beautiful with long blackish brown hair and brown eyes. "This is comander Susan Ivonova of Babylon 5 over" she said. "This is Captain Dekson of the Earth Force Vessel Agamemnon. We request permision to come a long side> Over" he responded. "Permision granted. And welcome to Babylon 5" she then looked as though she punched a button and the conection was closed. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Captain Sheridan was walking down the corridor towards the docking bay. he was eager to see his old ship again. He didn't get a chance to see it the last time it was alongside the station because it had to rush of somehwere. He had heard rumors about it. The new Captain Dekson and how he so experlty handled the Deleran trade situation. And not to mention how he saved Sheridan from the Strieb aliens. He aparenlty is turning out to be a good replacment for the captain. He turn the corner and went towards the door and it opened up in front of him. He rounded the corner just in time to see the shuttle door open and Susan and Garibaldi waiting. He saw all of them plus a new face which he assumed was Captain Dekson. To his right was Comander Rightman his old Executive officer and to his left was Comander Bracle. Comander Rightman had changed his hair since last time they had seen eachother. He had cut it short instead of the long hair he usauly had. But Comander Bracle seemed the same to him. "I am Captain Remroy Dekson. PErmision to come aboard". Said the Captain. "Permision granted" answered Sheridan with a slight smile on his face. "May I introduce my staff. Comander Susan Ivonova my Executive officer and Chief Garibaldi my Chief Security Officer" the captain replied. "I believe you know my staff captain" Dekson replied and turned towards the hallway. "Captain if you will acompany me I believe a brief tour would be in order" Shridan spoke up with again that same smile on his face. Susan noticed it and thought that one day she would tear off that smile. "Thankyou Captain" Dekson replied. Sheridan motioned them towards the hallway and trailed behind them while the Docking crews prepared to park the ship in its storage spot. As they walked out they failed to notice the tall dark figure standing in the backround with a smile on his face. TO BE CONTINUED...