From b5-creative-errors@lists.best.com Mon Sep 29 05:30:48 1997 Received: from proxy1.ba.best.com (root@proxy1.ba.best.com [206.184.139.12]) by shellx.best.com (8.8.6/8.8.3) with ESMTP id FAA02156; Mon, 29 Sep 1997 05:30:47 -0700 (PDT) From: b5-creative-errors@lists.best.com Received: from lists1.best.com (lists1.best.com [206.86.8.15]) by proxy1.ba.best.com (8.8.7/8.8.BEST) with ESMTP id FAA08995; Mon, 29 Sep 1997 05:29:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from daemon@localhost) by lists1.best.com (8.8.5/8.7.3) id CAA24068 for b5-creative-errors@lists.best.com; Mon, 29 Sep 1997 02:35:26 -0700 (PDT) Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 02:35:26 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199709290935.CAA24068@lists1.best.com> Subject: Digest b5-creative.v001.n492 BestServHost: lists.best.com Sender: b5-creative-errors@lists.best.com Errors-To: b5-creative-errors@lists.best.com To: b5-creative@lists.best.com Status: RO -------------- BEGIN b5-creative.v001.n492 -------------- 001 - "G.D.Williams" Subject: What Has Gone Before, Part 1 of 2 Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 11:52:29 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Hi people. I hope everyone had a good summer. For those of you who don't know me, I'm the one who was bombarding the mailing list with my parallel universe stories back in the Spring. After a forced absence, I'm back with the second phase of stories. To make things a little easier for those who haven't read Phase 1 - overall title A Dark, Distorted Mirror - I prepared a synopsis of what's happened so far. But even those of you who have read the earlier stories may find things in here of interest. You never know... Feedback is very welcome and should be sent to: LWA97GDW@Sheffield.ac.uk. (Note new address.) I will hopefully be shortly getting the post that was left for me over the summer, and will reply to it as soon as I can. Spoiler Warning: None as such, but I am taking elements from all aspects of the B5 universe and there may be unintentional spoilers of particular revelations you may not have seen yet. This part does contain a Spoiler for "Atonement." You may also prefer to read the stories themselves rather than just the synopsis. They should all be available on archive. Legal Disclaimer: B5 and all related characters are owned by JMS and / or Warner Bros. I am making no money out of writing this and am doing so purely for pleasure. Personal Disclaimer: I am a hopeless romantic, but I am not a very nice hopeless romantic. Don't say you weren't warned. * * * * * What Has Gone Before, Part 1 of 2 [AT] [AC] by Gareth Williams, LWA97GDW@Sheffield.ac.uk "There are beings in the universe much older than any of our races. Once, long ago, they walked among the stars like giants - vast and timeless - taught the younger races, explored beyond the Rim, created vast empires. But to all things there is an end. Slowly, over a million years, the First Ones went away. . Some passed beyond the stars, never to return. Some simply disappeared... "Not all the First Ones have gone away. A few remained, hidden or asleep, waiting for the day when they may be needed - when the Shadows come again..." So ran the Minbari legend, and histories, and prophecies. A thousand years ago, the Shadows attempted to rise in power, but they moved too quickly. An alliance was formed against them, consisting of the Vorlons, a few remaining First Ones, the Minbari and others... At a time when defeat seemed inevitable, the Minbari were saved by Valen, and the great battle station he brought for their use. Valen brought not only victory for the Minbari and their allies, but he brought them peace as well. He equalised the three castes, formed the Grey Council and ended centuries of in-fighting. Before he left, passing beyond, and into legend, he also left his prophecies, of the time when the Shadows would come again, and of how the Minbari would need to unite with the other half of their soul to combat this Ancient Enemy. Over the years, the Minbari read and memorised Valen's prophecies, preparing themselves for the day when they would come to pass. That day is now, in the Earth year 2258, but the Minbari are not ready. They have even been touched by the Darkness they sought to oppose, and their own deeds may be responsible for the victory of that very same Darkness. The Earth / Minbari War It began over ten years before, when the Minbari first made contact with a race called humans. These humans were young, ambitious and powerful, and already making friends among the Centauri and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. The Minbari leader Dukhat had been observing these humans for some time and had passed his curiosity onto his aide, and later a member of the Grey Council, Delenn. When the first contact came, there was a misunderstanding, and a terrible tragedy. Mistaking the Minbari gesture of welcome as a threat, the humans opened fire upon the Grey Council. Dukhat and others were killed and the remaining members of the Council, divided over future action, turned to Delenn for the casting vote. In one moment of rage and grief, she began the terrible war. The humans were outmatched from the start. None of their allies were willing to lend any military aid and the Minbari, fuelled by grief and madness, were over a thousand years technologically in advance. Their one moment of hope came when Captain John Sheridan of the Babylon, managed to destroy the Minbari flagship by trickery. The Minbari were incensed by what they saw as his `dishonourable' victory and took to calling him StarKiller. Not that it mattered either way... The Minbari tore through Earth's solar system and contemptuously ignored the human colonies on Io and Mars, making for Earth itself. Many of the human ships were caught out by this sudden surge towards the homeworld and were unable to make it back in time, including Sheridan's Babylon. In a desperate move, the Earth Government ordered as many ships as possible thrown up around Earth in a futile bid to halt the Minbari advance. It was called the Line, and it failed. The Minbari fleet, led by Shai Alyt Branmer and his lieutenants, Neroon and Sinoval, smashed through the Line as though it were made of paper. Somewhere, something went wrong. History rewrote itself, God blinked... the reason doesn't matter. One man who unknowingly held the knowledge that would end the war, Jeffrey Sinclair, attempted to ram a Minbari ship after witnessing the annhiliation of his squadron. He blacked out, and vanished from history. The Minbari tore through the Line and proceded to reduce Earth to slag and rubble, wiping out the entire centre for the hopes and dreams of the human race. A few tried to escape in those last, desperate hours, but no survivors were recorded. The Minbari's blood lust did not end with Earth, as they then turned to Mars, where many members of the Earth Government had fled to hide in exile. But as they reached Mars, so did other ships - all the ships who had been too late to join the Line, but who knew what had happened to their homeworld. The leader of these ships was Captain Sheridan and his Babylon. Many tried to analyse the reasons for Sheridan's success at the Battle of Mars, hoping it could reveal a weakness against the Minbari. There was no great secret, however. Sheridan and the Babylon simply became a force of nature during that battle, driving the Minbari back and daring to assault the very Grey Council itself. Sheridan's attack left two members dead and three more crippled. Eventually however, he knew that he could not win. Sheridan's attack had bought enough time for refugees to flee the red planet. One of those refugees was a young man named David Corwin, who was taken aboard the Babylon during the battle, and who managed to make his way to the bridge, even taking over for a part of the battle. The pitiful remains of the Earth Alliance fleet managed to escape Mars, but the Minbari, further incensed by more death, proceded, in a display of childish spite, to do to Mars what they had done to Earth. And they discovered something shocking. Buried beneath the Martian soil was a ship belonging to the Ancient Enemy. When it was revealed to the surface, a signal went out. Acting in panic and madness, the Minbari destroyed the ship, but were left with the question: had there been anyone to hear that signal? And thus began their preparations for the Great War which was surely coming. The Formation of the Rangers Firstly, the Minbari had to replace the slain members of their Grey Council. For the religious caste, there came Lennann, chosen at the behest of Delenn. For the warrior caste, there came Sinoval. He was a young man, powerful, skilled and ambitious. Branmer and Neroon both recognised the spark of greatness within him, but it was greatness marred by a fatal pride and confidence. In his youth, Sinoval had seen a vision of Valen in the Dreaming, a vision that prophecied he would fulfill a great destiny, a destiny he intended to achieve. After the Battle of Mars, it suited the Minbari to believe that perhaps the Enemy was not such a threat after all. Perhaps no one had been able to hear the signal. Perhaps re-forming the Rangers would be premature. Perhaps Valen's prophecies were not yet being fulfilled. Humanity was smashed, Dukhat had been avenged. There was no need to worry. A few months later, their complacency was finished. A second Shadow ship was uncovered, on the moon Ganymede. This time, the Grey Council elected to wait and see if anything came to answer the signal. A ship did, a ship belonging to the Ancient Enemy. The Minbari tried to oppose it, but they were as outclassed as were the humans. Four Minbari cruisers were destroyed and both Shadow ships escaped. A loss, certainly, but the Minbari now knew for certain: The Enemy had revived. Still fuelled by the madness of the war, the Grey Council formed the Rangers, consisting almost solely of the warrior caste, and led by Branmer, the greatest of Minbari generals and a man with one foot in both the warrior and the religious caste. Sinoval did not join the Rangers, but he was content to watch. Sinoval had greater concerns, and greater secrets. The Dilgar warlord and scientist Jha'Dur, called DeathWalker, had been given sanctuary by his clan, the Wind Swords, after the defeat of the Dilgar by the humans. As time passed all who knew of this died, and Sinoval was left sole bearer of this terrifying secret. His arrogance, however, meant that he tried to use her knowledge for his own aims, while she was of course, doing the same. Branmer did well, and his aide Neroon seemed a certain successor to him. For a while, the humans were forgotten, but they certainly did not forget the Minbari. Human Re-Settlement In the aftermath of the war, humanity tried to rebuild and consolidate their defences. A few colonies still survived, but they knew that they needed allies. The Centauri were weak and cowardly, and had no wish to antagonise the Minbari. The Non-Aligned Worlds were bitterly divided and too weak. The Narns, however, were strong. Moving quickly, the Narns began to take over the surviving human colonies. Most were mining colonies or scientific outposts, but the expanding Narn machine engulfed them greedily. Humanity did not like the situation, but it was a choice between the Narns or the Minbari, which was no choice at all. The Narn government - the kHa'Ri - eventually agreed to protect the survivors of humanity, but at considerable cost - an extortionate proportion of all incomes, taxes and the unlimited aid of humanity's fleet, such as it was. With no choice, humanity accepted, and set up a Resistance Government on Orion 7. Still, the immediate few years after the Line were largely marked by relief. Humanity was still alive, they had powerful protectors, the Minbari seemed to have ceased their assault. Perhaps they had found their respite. It was during this time that Captain John Sheridan married his girlfriend Anna, and within a few years, they had a daughter, Elizabeth. It was also during this time that Corwin, rising fast in Sheridan's wake, met an ambitious, haunted lieutenant named Susan Ivanova, and they fell in love. It was not to last. The Narn / Centauri War Conflict between the Narns and the Centauri was always going to be more a matter of when rather than if. Narns had long memories and many of them had lived through the brutal occupation of their homeworld. Having driven the Centauri away and taken to the stars, the Narns were thirsting for revenge. Bolstered by their new acquisitions from humanity, and observing the Centauri Republic slowly collapsing into decadence, political games and apathy, the Narns launched their counterstrike, demanding help from their new allies - the humans. At first, the Centauri were being driven back, out matched and outclassed. A few lucky victories, however, showed them that there was potential here for victory. Emperor Turhan died during the second year of the war, and with his death, a new faction emerged in Centauri power politics. Consisting of an ambitious trio of nobles - Londo Mollari, Forwerd Refa and Urza Jaddo - and swearing loyalty to the new Emperor - Turhan's son, Marrit - they began to turn Centauri fortunes around. The mighty Narn war machine was showed to be not so mighty after all, and had it not been for Captain Sheridan's - somewhat forced - interference the Narns could easily have found themselves defeated and occupied again. As it was, the war simply ended. There was no peace treaty, no armistice, simply a mutual pulling back and rest, ready for another attempt. There was, however, one very significant event during the dying days of the war that was to change the history of both peoples. Launching a desperate attack, a Narn force - led by the great leader G'Kar - attacked the Centauri supply centre at Gorash 7 - a place where Londo Mollari was visiting on a diplomatic mission. The attack was a failure, but the Narns did achieve some damage. Events transpired that Londo and G'Kar were trapped together in one of the planet's desolate mountain ranges. Londo recognised G'Kar from a vision of his death - strangled by the Narn on the steps of the Imperial Throne. It did look as if the vision would come true twenty years early, when a huge, black ship flew by overhead. Londo had dreamed of this as well, and was surprised when G'Kar revealed he knew what that ship was. The Ancient Enemy spoken of by the prophet G'Quan, had returned. Trapped and alone, G'Kar relayed to Londo everything that he knew of the enemy - their brief occupation of the Narn homeworld a thousand years before, their annhiliation of all the Narn telepaths, G'Quan's writings about them. By the time each was rescued, they had sworn an unspoken pact to prepare for the coming of this Enemy - and to fight them. Delenn, Sinoval and Neroon As time passed, the Grey Council began to change. Over half of their number had been inducted into the Council since the beginning of the war. A newer, fresher series of beliefs were coming to the fore. Some of the older members, especially Hedronn of the workers, tried to maintain the path of Dukhat's day, but he was in the minority, as others from Dukhat's time either retired, such as Jenimer, or sunk into obscurity, such as Matohk. It soon began obvious that the Council was polarising around Sinoval and Delenn. Many remembered that Delenn had been Dukhat's aide, and his chosen successor, but there were some who argued that Dukhat's ways had been wrong - that with the Enemy returning the Minbari needed to forcibly stake their claim as leaders of the younger races, and backed Sinoval. There was still plenty of time before the period of mourning for Dukhat was over, but it was a situation that would only worsen with time. Delenn's path was soon entwined with that of another, however - Alyt Neroon, aide to Branmer and one of the most prominent Rangers. During the early days of the Narn / Centauri War there was a small handful of Centauri fanatics who hoped to arrange an alliance with the Minbari, by turning the Minbari's by now famous anger against the Narns. Delenn would be kidnapped, killed and this blamed on the Narns. The Rangers managed to learn about this plan, and Neroon was responsible for foiling it. As he worked with Delenn on this, the two found themselves in a deep attatchment, that eventually grew into love. Delenn was increasingly torn in several directions - her duty to the Council, her love for Neroon, her duty to her clan, and her search through Valen's prophecies. Ever since the attack on Earth, she had experienced the nagging feeling that something had gone wrong somewhere and that she had to find out what. Prompted by curious and nonsensical remarks from the Vorlon ambassador to Minbar, she continued her search and steadily, involuntarily, relinquished power in the Council to Sinoval. The Babylon Project Humanity was not standing still throughout all of this. It took them a while to settle and rebuild, but with the aid of the Narns, they managed to go someway towards rebuilding their prior status. Sheridan's actions during the Narn / Centauri War had brought a new awareness to humanity's position and the Resistance Government began to pave the way for a possible strike back against the Minbari. This would be long and difficult, but the Resistance Government began to initiate the Babylon Project - a series of highly secret, confidential missions that would, eventually, restore humanity to greatness. The second such mission involved a number of manned missions to desolate planets out on the Rim, hoping to find items of alien technology - or better yet allies. Plans were drawn up and assistance provided by the mysterious Psi Cop Alfred Bester, who ran a hidden Psi Corps colony which had somehow escaped the attention of both Minbari and Narn, or so everyone thought. One of the volunteers for this mission was Lieutenant Susan Ivanova. She embarked on the Babylon 2 mission and did not return. The exact circumstances of what happened to her were not revealed until some years later, but it became known that she found a planet called Z'Ha'Dum, and the beings who inhabited it. The Babylon 2 mission was a partial success, however, as was the Babylon 3 mission. The Resistance Government began the commencement of the Babylon 4 mission - the construction of a heavily armed, secret and powerful space station, located deep in hidden space - a base of operations for a counterattack against the Minbari. Sheridan and the Babylon scouted out prospective sites and the most likely location was an apparently long deserted planet in the Epsilon Iridani system - a planet called Euphrates. Plans were drawn up, resources purchased and arranged and building was all set to begin, when the fates of Minbari and human became intertwined once again. The Fall of Orion The Minbari had temporarily forgotten about humanity - at least, most of them had. Sinoval had never forgotten Sheridan's attack over Mars, and his aide Kalain still remembered his shame as he sat back, terrified as Sheridan made that attack. For the most part however, the Grey Council were concerned with the threat of the Shadows and left humanity alone. That came to an abrupt end. A number of Rangers were pursuing leads on Shadow activity when they stumbled into space controlled by humanity. Terrified of another attack, the human ships opened fire once again. The Rangers' garbled reports alerted Branmer and the Grey Council of what was happening and Kalain, the nearest Minbari captain in the area, took decisive action, bringing his fleet into the Orion system. The battle was as short and as decisive as had been the Battle of the Line. Had it not been for the return of the Babylon - out arranging the Babylon 4 mission - Orion 7 could easily have gone the same way as Earth. As it was, Kalain eventually pulled back, ordered by a Grey Council who had other and greater things to worry about, but he had done enough. Orion 7 was in ruins and humanity had to pull back to their last surviving independant colony - Proxima 3. Humanity's space fleet had been decimated, and countless thousands killed - including Captain Sheridan's daughter Elizabeth. Sheridan reacted to this with a cold fury, and buried himself in his work, concentrating the holding the redrawn lines of defence and supervising the transportation of the refugees to Proxima. His wife Anna, left alone, crawled into a bottle and stayed there. The Babylon 4 mission and any hope of fighting back against the Minbari had been shattered and humanity had to concentrate on rebuilding once again. The new Resistance Government formed at Proxima - consisting of President Marie Crane, Vice President Morgan Clark, General William Hague, General Laurel Takashima and Mister Welles, Head of Security and Information - declared that simply feeding and looking after humanity would now be their priority concern. The heart had gone out of humanity with the fall of Orion, and several of their leaders, Generals Franklin and Netter and Captains Maynard and Hiroshi all dead. The Rise of the New Rangers and The Fall of the Old G'Kar had not been idle since the end of the Narn / Centauri War. He had returned to the Narn homeworld and resigned from the kHa'Ri, dropping out of public sight. With his aide Ta'lon at his side, he set up a shrine to G'Quan high in the isolated G'Khorazhar Mountains, from where he would begin the formation of his own Rangers. He made contact with a number of people who respected and admired him, or who owed him favours - including Councillor Na'toth, Minister Londo Mollari and others, including a Vorlon who appeared at the shrine mysteriously one day. No one knew what he and G'Kar said to each other, but from then on, the Vorlon would rarely be far away. The fate of the true Rangers, however, was not as promising. Branmer was an old man, and dying. His aide Neroon secretly doubted his ability to lead the Rangers, not feeling that he was the right person. Neroon's crisis of faith came to a head when he was sent on a mission towards the Rim, a mission to obtain certain artefacts used by the Shadows. Ta'lon had been sent on that same mission and the two crossed when Neroon was attacked by a Shadow Warrior servant of the Enemy. He would have died had not Ta'lon killed the Warrior and helped heal Neroon. Afterwards, Neroon and Ta'lon talked and Neroon realised where his place lay - at G'Kar's side - but he was still torn by other loyalties. Neroon returned to Minbar for a meeting with Branmer, to whom he explained his feelings and what he had learned. Branmer urged Neroon to follow his heart, and was happy that there were others fighting for the cause he fought for. Neroon then went to Delenn and told her of what had happened. Although she loved him, she realised that their destinies lay in different directions and they parted sorrowfully. A few months later, Branmer died, leaving no clear successor. Neroon was gone and none of the other Rangers were competent, willing or able to lead. The Minbari Rangers declined, while G'Kar's grew. The Chaos on Centauri Prime The Centauri had been revitalised by their survival and success during their war with the Narns but the aftermath of the war revealed the very same cracks that had almost torn their society apart before the war. The new Emperor, Marrit, was a young man and competent enough, but he lacked the majesty and authority of his predecessors. Meanwhile the alliance of three that had forged this new state soon began to break apart. Londo Mollari was becoming engrossed by his other concerns in allying himself with G'Kar. So much so that he missed a great deal of what was happening on his doorstep. Urza Jaddo, a war hero and respected diplomat was elevated to the position of First Minister, and Forwerd Refa took exception to this. He, perhaps bolstered by the ambition of his wife, Lady Elrisia, began assembling a new power base, one that owed nothing to the Emperor or the Centarum. Eventually, and just in time, Urza found out about this and brought Londo's attention back to the present. The two of them confronted Refa and broke apart much of his power base. They were left with a quandry however. Refa was too powerful a person to be charged and executed, and he still had many allies on Centauri Prime. Therefore, Londo and Urza `promoted' him to the position of Centauri Ambassador to Minbar, a position with little authority and less power, as the Minbari were loth to listen to the Centauri on matters of any importance whatsoever. Londo and G'Kar had other reasons for this appointment, however. G'Kar needed information on the Grey Council's actions. Refa would be ideally placed to gather such information and so they needed someone close to Refa. Thus, before Refa left, Londo arranged for his attache - a young, nervous man named Vir Cotto. Londo had been observing Vir for some time and had decided that he was appropriate. Vir was thus inducted into the Circle of Light and went to Minbar with Refa, the latter privately believing that Vir's appointment was an off-handed insult. All the relevant sides were preparing their forces and setting up their allies in a very cold war - a war that became much hotter in the year 2258 - when the Shadows made their first decisive move. --------------- MESSAGE b5-creative.v001.n492.2 --------------- From: "G.D.Williams" Subject: What Has Gone Before, Part 2 of 2 Date: Sun, 28 Sep 1997 12:28:26 +0100 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: Quoted-printable The second part of my synopsis. Disclaimers etc. as Part 1 What Has Gone Before, Part 2 of 2 [AT] [AC] by Gareth Williams, LWA97GDW@Sheffield.ac.uk Chapter One - A Dark, Distorted Mirror During all this time DeathWalker had been growing in power and knowledge on Minbar. She had certainly become aware of the Shadows and although she was not one of their agents , she was more than willing to work with them in the pursuit of a mutual goal - the transformation of humanity into something akin to her own race, the Dilgar. She thus arranged for a large payment to rech Councillor Du=92Rog of the kHa=92Ri, payment that would assure certain orders were made. When Captain Sheridan pulled his Babylon into the Narn run human mining colony at Vega 7, the Narn Administrator Na=92Far alerted the Minbari and arranged for Sheridan=92s capture. The Babylon was forced to flee before the sudden arrival of a Minbari ship, which took Sheridan back to Minbar. There he was presented before the Grey Council and as she saw Sheridan face off against Sinoval, Satai Delenn was struck by an awesome revelation - what she believed to be the answer of Valen=92s mystery about =93the other half of our soul...=94 Buying time to investigate this, she had Sheridan sent to a cell on the planet itself, only serving to help DeathWalker. Managing to twist Sinoval=92s poliical power for her own ends, she arranged for a guest to visit Captain Sheridan. Said guest was Susan Ivanova, who asked him the simple question, =93What do you want?=94 Suitably pleased by his answer, she helped him escape, DeathWalker having assured that no guards were around. DeathWalker=92s plan worked even better than she had expected. During their escape, Sheridan and Ivanova ran into Delenn - on her way to test her beliefs about Sheridan=92s soul with a Triluminary. Delenn was struck down and captured, Sheridan recognising her value both as a hostage and as a source of information, over Ivanova=92s suggestions to kill her. Almost absently, Ivanova took Delenn=92s fighting pike, and Sheridan the Triluminary. Returning to the Babylon, Sheridan=92s immediate reaction was to go back to Vega 7 and discover the reason behind his betrayal there. Unfortunately he was not able to. Unknown to almost everyone, Vega 7 was the site of a long buried Shadow vessel, a vessel which had been awoken by mining operations. Another Shadow ship came to free it and the entire colony was destroyed. There were only a handful of survivors, including Marcus Cole, a miner and a drunkard who had seen his brother die in the attack and who was determined to avenge his death. From the garbled, dying words of Administrator Na=92Far, Sheridan assumed that the Minbari were responsible for the attack - an assumption =91proven=92 by the presence of two Minbari cruisers sent to re-capture Sheridan. Both ships were destroyed however by a Shadow ship - humanity=92s new allies. For the first time in years, humanity could hope for the future... For DeathWalker and the Shadows events had gone even better than planned. Sheridan now had even more reason to hate the Minbari and even more reason to embrace the Shadows. Delenn was removed from the political scene in Minbar and it was simple for Sinoval to claim that she had gone with Sheridan willingly, even helped him escape... There was still resistance to Sinoval, but it would be a transitory thing now that his greatest opponent was removed. Chapter Two - Heeding The Warning The Resistance Government greeted news of this new race with cautious optimism and set about establishing the nature of these new allies, as well as just how much information Delenn possessed. Head of Security and Information, Mister Welles began an intense interrogation of Delenn, using psychological techniques, torture and frequent mind-scans performed by telepath Lyta Alexander to uncover as much information as he could. Captain Sheridan meanwhile was, as always, uncomfortable on Proxima and he wanted to take off again as soon as possible. His next destination was the Narn homeworld where he would ostensibly try and persuade the kHa=92Ri that the Minbari had been responsible for the attack on Vega 7, and actually try and discover which one of the kHa=92Ri had given the order to have him captured. Sheridan had time for an awkward meeting with his by now estranged wife Anna and for a meeting with the Resistance Government. He was somewhat unhappy when both Marcus and Ivanova insisted on going with him. Sheridan was unsure of what to make of Ivanova and asked David Corwin - now Commander of the Babylon - about her. Corwin revealed that Ivanova had been avoiding him ever since her return, apparently from the dead. G=92Kar, meanwhile had been conducting his own investigation into Sheridan=92s betrayal and was concerned when he received word of Sheridan=92s arrival on Narn, not knowing where Sheridan would stand when the Shadows made their inevitable move. He instructed Na=92toth, Ta=92lon and Neroon to keep an eye on Sheridan. The kHa=92Ri were less than receptive to Sheridan=92s tales of what had happened on Vega 7, preferring to believe that the Centauri were responsible. A stray mention of the Enemy, echoing Delenn=92s frequent and largely ignored warnings, piqued Sheridan=92s interest however and Na=92toth was forced to play her hand by inviting him for a meeting. Tension on both sides was high, and eventually there was a fight between Sheridan and Marcus against Ta=92lon, Neroon and Na=92toth. Sheridan and Marcus were beaten unconscious and Na=92toth arranged for Neroon and Ta=92lon to take the two of them to G=92Kar=92s shrine, not knowing that Ivanova had planted a tracer on Sheridan and was able to follow them to G=92Kar, hoping to eliminate a problem they had had for quite some time. The Dark Soldier that the Shadows hoped would do this failed - killed by Sheridan, Ta=92lon and Neroon - but not before leaving G=92Kar close to death. The nameless Vorlon managed to heal G=92Kar but spoke of a price to be paid. While G=92Kar lay recovering, Sheridan talked to Neroon and learned something about the Great War and about the Shadows, but a =91rescue=92 attempt by Ivanova pulled him and Marcus away. Both Sheridan and Marcus began to experience doubts about humanity=92s new allies, but were unsure of how to express them. Meanwhile, back on Proxima, Delenn was still undergoing torture at the hands of Mister Welles. Delirious, she experienced a vision of Valen, as she had while she was a child. It was from this vision that she reached the realisation that Valen had been human. It was also during this torture that something profound passed between Delenn and Lyta Alexander. In mysterious circumstances, a Vorlon had placed a part of itself within Delenn. During Delenn=92s torture, that part passed from Delenn into Lyta, creating a strong bond between the two. Na=92toth=92s investigations had discovered Du=92Rog=92s complicity in hav= ing Sheridan betrayed and she arranged to have him quietly poisoned. The kHa=92Ri, however, refused to believe that the Minbari were responsible for the Vega 7 attack and Sheridan left Narn without their alliance, but with concerns about the Shadows. Several months later, G=92Kar was met by a mysterious alien called Zathras, who spoke about a Great Machine and about his destiny... Chapter Three - Warrior Souls His concerns growing, Sheridan found himself growing closer to Delenn, who explained to him her beliefs about Minbari and human souls. Sheridan did not believe this, but found himself unwilling to let her brutal torture continue, and so he brought her up to the Babylon, ostensibly on reasons of security, but in reality for reasons he could not begin to voice... Meanwhile Lyta was plagued with dreams and of a Vorlon voice that spoke in the back of her mind. She managed to ignore these long enough to pursue Marcus and form the hesitant beginnings of a romantic involvement with him, gently probing his mind and discovering the sheer depths of anger and self-hatred within him. Chapter Four - To Hear The Machine Shortly after his recovery, G=92Kar arrived on Proxima 3 with Zathras, his agents managing to make his arrival unnoticed. He met up with Sheridan and spoke to him of the Great Machine, vital to the destiny of both of them and crucial to the side of light in the Great War. Sheridan was ambivalent about this, but was surprised when Ivanova revealed that she knew about the Great Machine as well and that her information had alerted the Resistance Government to the technology on Euphrates. They ordered Sheridan to lay claim to the planet, not knowing that others had done the same. The current keeper of the Machine - Varn - had sent out many of the alien race who took care of the Machine, including Zathras=92 brother, Mathras, who had gone to the Minbari and to Delenn=92s old teacher Draal. Sinoval also knew the potential within the Machine, and he ordered Kalain to seize control of the planet. Ivanova had deeper control over the Resistance Government than was apparent. Hague, Takashima and Crane she dismissed as nonentities, but Clark posed a serious problem. Him he was determined to control, and with a Keeper, she did so. Lyta was not so easily controlled, however. Her telepathic powers were raging out of control and Susan, who was a low-level telepath herself, found herself increasingly afraid of Lyta and wary around her, a fear that was easily built into a terrible hatred. Sheridan and Kalain met again over Euphrates, but their ships were unable to fight, due to Varn=92s intervention. At his request Sheridan, G=92Kar, Zathras, Mathras, Draal and Kalain ventured down into the Heart of the Machine to hear Varn=92s words. Varn was dying however, and his control of the Machine was limited, and old tensions were too strong. Sheridan and Kalain began to fight, as did the Trigati and the Babylon. G=92Kar and Draal hoped to end the fighting, and Draal was on the verge of replacing Varn in the Machine when he was struck down by a stray PPG blast from Sheridan, leaving G=92Kar no choice. He entered the Machine and tore the warring parties apart, ordering them to leave. When they were ready to fight the Darkness, then they could return, but not before. Kalain had now worked past his fear of Sheridan and the Babylon, and he returned to Minbar filled with determination to one day bring them down. Sheridan however, soon found himself with other concerns - the sudden appearance above the planet of the never built space station Babylon 4. Chapter Five - The Shadow of Her Past, The Illusion of His Future Babylon 4 had been sent back in time from some unspecified point in the future, carrying on it a number of unusual passengers. The first was Valen - going back in time to meet his destiny - and with him were a Vorlon named Kosh and an older, bitter, scarred Susan Ivanova, determined to save her present by destroying the past, killing Valen before he could ever go back in time. There was at least one other, however, a mysterious space suited figure who was picked up adrift by the Babylon. Commander Corwin met and recognised this figure and gave him or her whatever unknown assistance was necessary. A message was sent to the Babylon, asking for Sheridan and Delenn to come over. Puzzled and intrigued, the two did so, only to be ambushed in the docking bays by Ivanova and a number of Shadows. Sheridan and Delenn were separated - Sheridan captured by Ivanova and Delenn saved by Valen, who tried to explain something of what was happening to Delenn. Both Sheridan and Delenn also had flashes, forwards and backwards in time - Sheridan of killing his wife Anna and Delenn of standing by Sheridan=92s grave on a devastated Minbar, where she was physically changed. Ivanova tried to use Sheridan to lure Valen into a trap, but an unexpected sacrifice by Kosh destroyed the Shadows and left Susan catatonic. Valen completed his journey into the past, and left Delenn with the certainty of what she was about to do. She and Sheridan talked over what they had seen and they brought Marcus and Corwin into their knowledge, beginning their own conspiracy against the Shadows. Chapter Six - The Bester of Both Worlds Sheridan=92s first action against the Shadows was to have Ivanova watched. To this end, he had Marcus made her bodyguard, so that he could keep track of her actions. Ivanova knew this was why Marcus had been assigned to her and she began to take steps to counter them - starting by seducing him. Lyta, meanwhile was growing increasingly concerned about Marcus, as well as worried by the depths of her feelings for him. Tensions on Proxima 3 intensified when Alfred Bester announced that he would be arriving - both to meet Ivanova and to mind-scan Delenn. The Resistance Government owed him a great deal and could not help but agree to his requests. Ivanova, however, had no intention of letting him near her. Clearly terrified, she made some excuses to the Resistance Government and Clark, still under her control, admitted that she need not see Bester. Sheridan and Delenn had a similar problem. Delenn was in the process of building the chrysalis machine to effect the transformation that she had seen in her future. Afraid that this would be uncovered, she and Sheridan plotted to keep Bester from her. Using a Minbari mind trick, Sheridan managed to obscure his thoughts, enabling him to threaten Bester to leave Delenn alone. Or so he thought. In reality Bester had worked past the mental walls and had scanned Sheridan - his real reason for coming to Proxima. What he uncovered in Sheridan=92s mind confirmed some information he had been given by an unknown source, and bore out his unknown intentions. Chapter Seven - Transformations With the period of mourning for Dukhat finally over, the election of his replacement was being decided in the Grey Council. Sinoval was the likely choice but he faced opposition from Hedronn, Lennann and Rathenn, concerned about Delenn. Sinoval agreed to obtain proof about Delenn=92s status and he arranged for Ambassador Refa to make a state visit to Proxima - ostensibly to continue working on a peace treaty between human and Centauri, begun by Londo on G=92Kar=92s request, but secretly to provide some evidence of Delenn that would enable Sinoval to be elected Holy One. Delenn meanwhile was nearing the completion of her chrysalis machine. Doubtful about her destiny, she talked to Sheridan and finally decided to enter the machine. She was not the only one for whom plans were proceeding. Ivanova knew that the first major action of this new Shadow War would have to come soon and she needed to be rid of Delenn - and her information. She had become friends with Sheridan=92s estranged wife Anna and hoped to force the two of them back together - both to get Sheridan away from Delenn=92s side and for more altruistic reasons. She had her chance when Sheridan was summoned before the Resistance Government for a meeting with Ambassador Refa. After the meeting Ivanova arranged for Anna to meet up with her husband and the two of them managed a brief reconciliation, Sheridan figuring that Corwin would inform him if anything went wrong. Something was going wrong. Working with the Head of Security aboard the Babylon, Zack Allen, Ivanova managed to have Marcus arrested and therefore placed out of the way, before heading up to the Babylon itself. Zack arranged easy access for her to Delenn=92s chambers, where Ivanova killed the two Security guards there and broke Delenn free from the chrysalis, intending on killing her. She was interrupted by Lyta however. Lyta had sensed great danger to Delenn through the psychic connection they shared and she came to the Babylon. Maddened by Lyta=92s telepathic - and Vorlon - induced - attack, Ivanova fled, and returned to the surface with Zack=92s help. She had already managed a great deal however. Delenn=92s emergence from the chrysalis had been premature and her biology was dangerously unstable. Her mental condition was also affected - Delenn had been reduced to the mind of a child. Acting quickly, Ivanova managed to give a highly interpretive account of events on board the Babylon to the Resistance Government, claiming that Delenn had murdered the guards and absorbed their DNA. President Crane was ill and without her, Clark was able to order Sheridan, Corwin and Delenn brought before him. Sheridan had been with Anna and was surprised to be brought before the Resistance Government and even more surprised when he saw what had happened to Delenn. Clark ordered him and Corwin arrested, and gave Welles complete control over uncovering the truth. Welles began by questioning the crew of the Babylon and putting Delenn to a second brutal question. Lyta was brought in to mind-scan Delenn and their bond awoke something within Delenn. She was further awoken when she was forced to defend herself from rape at the hands of one of Welles=92 Security guards, killing him. Watching all this was Vir, Refa=92s attache. He was unable to contact either G=92Kar or Londo, but he knew that he had to do something. First of all he contacted Lyta and then, with her help and a Changeling Net, he managed to free Delenn, Sheridan and Corwin, helping them get to the Babylon. Lyta refused to go with him, distrustful of Sheridan and wanting to find Marcus. She was later betrayed by Zack and given over to Welles and Clark. Fleeing on the Babylon, Sheridan was startled to find Anna on board - having come to look for him. He was suspicious of her, unable to believe that their brief reconciliation had been out of love - as it had been. In a tense stand-off he shot and killed her. He had no time to grieve however, as Ivanova had sent a Shadow ship in pursuit of them. The Babylon was saved when the Shadow vessel mysteriously veered away after contact with another ship - the Ozymandias, an EarthForce destroyed captained by Ari Ben Zayn and telepath Harriman Gray. Both worked for Bester, who wanted to talk with Sheridan. Refa returned to Minbar with two very interesting pieces of evidence. One was the sight of a half-human Delenn with Sheridan and the other was of Ivanova with a Shadow. Sinoval used these to maintain that Delenn was with the humans willingly and that she was even allied with the Enemy. Faced with this, the Grey Council declared her Zha=92valen - or outcast - and named Sinoval the Holy One. Meanwhile, on Centauri Prime, Londo was targetted by a number of assassination attempts. All were foiled, some by visiting keela poet Shaal Lennier, another agent of G=92Kar=92s. Others were not so lucky however. First Minister Urza Jaddo was killed in an =91accident=92 and a puppet of Elrisia=92s moved into place. Lady Elrisia meanwhile later announced her engagement to Emperor Marrit, who dissolved her marriage to Refa. Tensions between Centauri and Narn were growing elsewhere and, perhaps under Elrisia=92s influence, Marrit declared war on the Narns. Chapter Eight - The Other Half of My Soul At last given the destiny he had always believed to be his, Sinoval began the final assault on Proxima 3. Content in his new position, Sinoval broke all ties with DeathWalker as he attempted to launch the Minbari on the path of their destiny. One particular Minbari were finding her destiny less than pleasant. Tests run on Delenn revealed that her genetic structure was dangerously unstable as a result of her forced removal from the chrysalis. Her mind may be hers once more, but her body would one day kill her. And that day would probably be sooner rather than later. Sheridan meanwhile was tormented by grief for Anna, but he managed to put this side in confronting Bester, who presented him with a new ship - the Parmenion - before returning the Babylon to Proxima - cutting Sheridan away from ties to his past. When bester learned of the Minbari assault on Proxima, he dispatched Sheridan's Parmenion and Ben Zayn's Ozymandias to what would be the Battle of the Second Line. Others were being drawn into the maelstrom however. Londo was finding himself increasingly drawn in by the chaos on Centauri Prime, and he found himself meeting a strange human named Morden, accused of murdering prophetess Lady Morella. After an unsatisfcatory meeting - from Londo's viewpoint at least - Morden vanished. As did Londo. After yet another assassination attempt, Londo agreed to the suggestions of his wife Timov. Pretending to be dead, he could better observe matters on Centauri Prime by going directly to G'Kar's side. He hitched a journey to Epsilon 3 on the Valerius - a warship commanded by his nephew Carn. After a skirmish with a Narn cruiser under the command of WarLeader Na'kal, however, both ships were ordered by G'Kar to Proxima - to fight the coming Darkness. The Battle of the Second Line was a disaster for the Minbari. The Shadows knew they were coming and cut their fleet to shreds, with not a little help. DeathWalker finally set her plan in motion. Drugging Hedronn with alcohol, she arranged for him to massacre all the other members of the Grey Council - with only Sinoval and Kalain being absent. She also arranged for Ambassador Refa to record this, and disseminate this information back on Minbar. The Minbari fleet were discovering some very strange allies, however. Sheridan was most surprised to find that Bester's orders were to oppose the Shadows, and with the help of the telepath aboard the Parmenion - Alisa Beldon - the pitiful collection of ships in the Army of Light managed to hold off the Shadows. A greater surprise was the actions of the Babylon - returned to Proxima 3 and under the command of General Takashima. She too was fighting the Shadows. Delenn had her own plans however. Needing to confront the Grey Council to reveal to them the link between Minbari and human, she made her presence known to the Minbari and arranged for a task force to board the Parmenion. Things did not go as planned. Although she was taken from the human ship, so was Sheridan. Neither was she taken before the Grey Council. She was Zha'valen - an outcast, and no Minbari could look at her. Even her attempts to warn her clan failed, leaving her more alone than ever. She was not alone though. She had Sheridan, and he had her, although neither of them recognised it then. Delenn tried to make her way to the Grey Council chambers, to talk to them personally, only to find them all dead, with DeathWalker standing over her triumph. Delenn fought the Dilgar and, despite her weakness, won. She refused to kill her foe however, but Sinoval did not. He was too late for his people though. His fleet was in ruins and they were unable to escape. But then came help. The Vorlons. There was another battle being fought on the surface of Proxima 3 - smaller perhaps, but no less significant. Susan Ivanova was trying to convince Marcus of her love for him - something she attempted by killing Lyta Alexander. Marcus rejected Susan and he and Lyta fought her and her Shadow allies, managing to kill the Shadows. Tragically however, Marcus died in the fight, sacrificing himself to save Lyta. Following his death, Lyta and Susan clashed, leaving both injured but alive. Lyta managed to escape, taking a shuttle to the Parmenion. Susan was left in a pool of blood, mortally injured, but still just hanging on to life. The sudden arrival of the Vorlons allowed the tattered remnants of the Minbari to escape. Their work done, the Shadows disappeared, as did the forces of the Circle of Light - but they were not unscathed either. Na'kal sacrificed him ship to save the Valerius. Alisa Beldon had died from exhaustion following her efforts in blocking the Shadow ships. And something important had died within Lyta and Delenn as well. The battle was over, but there was still much to do. Sheridan confronted Bester, and learned the truth of his relationship with G'Kar. The Narn provided Bester with the resources he needed to run Sanctuary. The telepath provided G'Kar with the telepathic DNA he needed to create the telepaths to fight the Shadows. Elsewhere, Susan Ivanova was kept alive in a coma. Clark assumed the position of President from the ill Marie Crane. Delenn collapsed, her genetic instability perhaps finally claiming her. Neroon died, falling bravely on a Ranger mission. Emperor Marrit was assassinated just before Lord Refa made his return to Centauri Prime. Londo had a second meeting with the mysterious Mister Morden. And Sinoval... he was left raging at the vision of Valen he had seen many years before, wondering if his great destiny was to lead the Minbari to their destruction. Next: ...And What Is Yet To Come Hints for the future, and memories of the past. The new Shadow Ambassador arrives on Proxima 3. G'Kar and Bester plan for the future. Sinoval takes a new path in his destiny. There is chaos on Minbar. And on Z'Ha'Dum, something is moving... --------------- END b5-creative.v001.n492 ---------------