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- <h2><a name="OV">Overview</a></h2>
-
- This is a transcript of Sinclair's experience at the Battle of the Line,
- as pieced together from images evoked from the VR memory probe he
- underwent in <A HREF="008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars"</A>. There
- is a separate <A HREF="008.line.page.html">Guide page</A> devoted to the
- events recounted here. <P>
-
- Spoken lines are in <B>bold</B>. Editor's notes are <em>emphasized</em>.
- Discontinuities in the action are marked by horizontal dividers. <P>
-
- <HR>
-
- <B>Alpha-7: "Alpha-7 to Alpha leader, I'm hit!"</B><br>
- <B>Sinclair: "Pull out, pull out! Alpha-7!"</B> <P>
-
- A green energy beam just misses a lone Starfury, but second shot
- immediately destroys it. No enemy is yet visible. <P>
-
- <B>Mitchell: "He's gone. Picking up enemy transmissions."</B> <P>
-
- A squad of 20 Starfuries is moving through space, several seconds behind
- the one just lost. <em>(Only 14 are visible in the opening shot
- -ed.)</em> The Earth and Moon are visible in the distance. <P>
-
- <B>S: "Stay in formation. Hold the line; no one gets through, no
- matter what."</B><br>
- <B>M: "Understood. Alpha leader, you have a Minbari on your tail!"</B> <P>
-
- A trilaterally-symmetric fighter about the same size as a Starfury is
- close behind Sinclair. It fires about 12 green energy beams between and
- around his engine struts. <em>(The beams are tiny compared to the
- earlier laser fire from nowhere.)</em> All miss, and the fighter
- ceases fire, still in close pursuit. <P>
-
- <B>M: "I'm on him. Targeting fighter."</B> <P>
-
- One Starfury breaks formation to pursue the fighter, which appears to
- have chased Sinclair away from the rest. <P>
-
- <B>S: "No! Mitchell, stay in formation, it might be a...</B> [computer
- alarm] <B>Oh my god. It's a trap! Mitchell!"</B> <P>
-
- Minbari cruisers are present, engines off, positioned so that pilots
- have to look into the sun when approaching. Long booms extending in
- front of each cruiser are lasering ships in all directions. <P>
-
- <B>M: "I got a clear shot, I can take him, I can take him!"</B> <P>
-
- Mitchell is very close to a cruiser, and fires at least two cannon
- volleys. <P>
-
- <B>S: "Mitchell!!!"</B><br>
- <B>M: "I'm hit! Ejecting!"</B> <P>
-
- Mitchell braces for ejection, and the pilot pod launches just as an
- energy beam destroys his craft. Another immediately hits the pod. <P>
-
- <B>M:</B> [screams] <P>
-
- <A NAME="NL">Sinclair stares in shock</A> at an empty helmet floating
- by. Light from exploding Starfuries reflects off his visor, and his
- console reads Negative Lock. As Sinclair watches, cruiser fire
- demolishes his entire squad, one by one. Finally, one of his own engine
- struts is hit, but the beam only pokes a hole part way through. His
- ship tumbles. <P>
-
- <B>Computer: "Aft stabilizers hit. Weapons systems at zero. Defensive
- grid at zero. Power plant near critical mass. Minbari weapons systems
- locking on.</B> <P>
-
- Firing engines that kill his rotation, Sinclair careens toward the
- cruisers.
- <P>
-
- <B>Sinclair: "Not like this, not like this! If I'm going out I'm taking
- you bastards with me! Target main cruiser, set for full velocity ram,
- afterburners on my mark. Mark!"</B> <P>
-
- <A NAME="manip">The Starfury is shaking badly</A> from the acceleration.
- Two cruisers are visible, neither firing anymore. Just after a
- collision alert shows up on his console, a <A HREF="008.line.page.html#AN:3">
- wisp of smoke</A> descends onto Sinclair's helmet. A moment later, his
- expression goes from intense to agonized, and he throws his arms up in
- front of his face. Sparks fly around him, and the cockpit is covered in
- darkness <em>(presumably as the looming cruiser blocks the sun's
- light).</em> <P>
-
- Suddenly, a <B>red</B> beam from the cruiser's main weapons boom
- strikes, killing Sinclair's engines and his relative velocity. Four
- continuous silver beams from the cruiser body then lock on and pull him
- in. <P>
-
- <HR>
-
- Seen from above through a metal grating, silent Minbari warriors wheel a
- dazed Sinclair on a cart down a hallway. He is still in his flight suit
- but missing his helmet. <P>
-
- <B>S: "Why are you... doing this?"</B> <P>
-
- <HR>
-
- <A NAME="GC:1">Sinclair is standing in a dark open area</A>, in Earth
- Force uniform. Overhead spotlights blast on one by one around him,
- illuminating nine grey cloaked and hooded figures standing in a circle.
- The first bears an ornate staff with an inset <A HREF="008.html#WF:1">
- triangular talisman</A>. <P>
-
- <B>S: "What are you doing here?</B> [looks around] <B>"What do you
- want?"</B> <P>
-
- "What do you want" echoes around the chamber, the repetitions
- overlapping and varying in loudness. <em>(His first utterance, nearly as
- loud, did not echo at all.)</em> Sinclair whirls around, looking
- above him. The holder of the staff then levels it at him, firing a
- purple blast at his chest. Sinclair falls to the floor, stunned. <P>
-
- <em>(There are <A HREF="008.line.page.html#AN:4">good reasons</A> to believe
- that this is supposed to be an <A HREF="#GC:1">event</A> that he later
- remembers in more detail.)</em> <P>
-
- <HR>
-
- <A NAME="exam">Sinclair comes around</A> inside the circle of
- spotlights. He is standing, arms locked to the base of a great metal
- triangle suspended from above, stripped down to his undershirt and badly
- bruised about the head and shoulders. The nine grey figures are
- whispering in a tight group outside the circle behind his field of view.
- One of them approaches Sinclair and raises another <A HREF="008.html#WF:1">
- triangular talisman</A> in front of him. It glows strangely, but there
- is no other visible effect. As the figure recedes, Sinclair loses
- consciousness again. <P>
-
- <HR>
-
- <A NAME="GC:2">Sinclair is again standing free within the circle</A>,
- still stripped and battered. At once, the nine grey figures step up to
- their positions underneath the lights. <P>
-
- <B>S: "What do you want? Why are you doing this? Who are you?"</B> <P>
-
- He steps boldly up to one of the cloaked figures across from the
- staff-bearer and pulls back the hood. His eyes widen. It is Delenn,
- whom he knows ten years later as an ambassador and a friend. She is
- pale and expressionless, almost sinister. Just visible, low on her
- forehead, is the outline of a triangle. Its color resembles the
- washed-out purple of the fractal-like markings on her crown. <P>
-
- <B>S: "I know you. I know who you are. I KNOW you."</B> <P>
-
- The leader blasts him in the back with the staff again, and all is dark.
- <P>
-
- <HR>
- Compiled by Matthew Ryan <em>matt@uhs.uchicago.edu</em>
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