lurkers-guide/novels/002

<p><strong>Written by Lois Tilton</strong><br>
Released: April 10, 1995<br>
ISBN: 0-440-22058-0 (US)<br>
ISBN: 0-7522-0649-4 (UK)<br>
Setting: Mid-2259, between
<a href="/lurk/guide/031.html">"The Coming of Shadows"</a>
and
<a href="/lurk/guide/033.html">"All Alone in the Night."</a>

<br clear>

<blockquote>
<p><i>Ivanova is implicated in a murderous plot to steal supplies of a
strategically important raw material.</i>
</blockquote>

<p>
Reader reviews, and online ordering, can be found at
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0440220580/thelurkersguidet">Amazon.com</a>.

<p>
<hr>
<p>

<h2><a name="BC">Back Cover</a></h2>

<H3 align="center">Friends Like These</H3>

<p>He came to Babylon 5 from out of Commander Susan Ivanova's past.
His cryptic, urgent message asked for an immediate meeting, but when
Ivanova arrived to meet her old friend, Ortega was dead -- murdered --
and the word from Mars Colony was that the man had been a terrorist.

<H3 align="center">Accusations</H3>

<p>Dealing with an outbreak of hijacked shipments of morbidium ingots,
Ivanova is caught by surprise when EA investigators accuse her of
being in league with Ortega, then strip her of her command and
threaten Security Chief Garibaldi as well.  Now the once and future
Babylon 5 loyalists must unravel a mystery of corruption and murder.
Fail, and the price will be their careers, or their lives....

<h2><a name="SY">Synopsis</a></h2>

<p>The scene opens on a busy day at C&amp;C as Commander Susan Ivanova
is monitoring the station's traffic lanes.  The screens highlight a
single crippled cargo vessel with failed stabilizers.  She orders the
Centauri transport to cut its engines and not to attempt to land under
its own power.  Ivanova orders some shuttles to tow the vessel into
the docking bay and consequently must divert traffic to nearby lanes
to leave plenty of room for the shuttles to grapple the freighter.  As
the shuttles grapple on, Communications reports that an "urgent and
personal" message has arrived for her.  Because it is tagged personal
she chooses not to view it immediately.

<p>Aside from a tense moment when Narn fighter leaves its assigned
lane to cut off the Centauri ship's path, the procedure is both
uneventful and tedious.  Once the situation is fully resolved, Ivanova
returns control to the technicians and queries the computer about the
message.  The sender is reported simply as "J.D."  She figures out
that it is from J.D. Ortega, her former flight instructor who had
chosen to leave Earthforce and go back to Mars to work in the mines.
Finally she views the message:

<blockquote>
<p><i>"Susan, I am in trouble.  They say you're Number Two here on
this station.  I don't know anyone else who might be able to help.
There's something I have to tell you.  Please, meet me in the Alpha
Wing ready room at 20:00 hours."</i>
</blockquote>

<p>After nearly two hours of waiting, she finally asks the computer
about J.D.'s arrival on the station.  The computer responds that
although there have been eight Ortegas arriving on the station since
it first came on line, none of them have had the initials J.D.  After
doing some more queries about the origin of the message she asks for a
search of all files containing the name "J.D. Ortega", to which the
computer responds that it has found a restricted file.

<p>The computer responds to her executive officer password and the
screen is replaced by an image of his face, along with a fugitive
alert listing him as a suspected terrorist.  Ivanova contacts
Garibaldi and, upon mention of the name, he asks her to meet him in
Security Central.  After explaining that she and J.D. hadn't seen each
other or corresponded save holiday greetings since her first posting
on Io, she insists that she still can't imagine him having been
involved in any sort of terrorism or conspiracy.

<p>A distress signal is received on Babylon 5 and Sheridan orders
Ivanova to scramble Alpha Wing to protect the transport.
Unfortunately, the transport is unarmed and the ETA to the transport's
last position is nearly 3 hours.  The fighter wing arrives, and
long-range scans detect several raiders along with a larger ship.
Ivanova splits her squadron in an attempt to cut the raiders off at
the jump gate while also sending some fighters in towards the raiders
and the transport ship.  Combat ensues, and in the end two raiders
collide, taking the jump gate off-line until repairs can be made.  The
transport's crew is dead and its hull is ripped open.

<p>Back on the station, J.D. Ortega's body is found in the flight
lockers belonging to Alpha Squadron.  Dr. Franklin is called in to do
the autopsy.  He uses a compound to relieve rigor mortis, and with
some new techniques, he is able to determine that Ortega was murdered
around 20:00 hours and that the cause of death was a particularly
unusual and hard to detect poison, chloro-quasi-dianimidine.  The
poison had been directly injected into the blood stream.

<p>Garibaldi had previously asked Talia Winters to scan the workers
who had found the body.  The workers agreed and she performed the
scans, to discover that they had told the truth and knew nothing about
the origin of the body.  Garibaldi insists on having Ivanova give a
positive identification of the body, which she provides.  He also
shows her a message that was found on the floor of the briefing room,
presumably from Ortega to Ivanova.  It reads:

<blockquote>
<p><i>S I -- hardwired</i>
</blockquote>

<p>They agree that "SI" probably stands for Susan Ivanova, but for the
life of her Ivanova can not make sense of the word "hardwired".
Sheridan offers to take Ivanova to breakfast, and she accepts.  It
turns out that the attacked transport was carrying a strategic metal
called "Morbidium" which is vital for the production of phased plasma
weapons.  It is a material that has its price and trade strictly
controlled by Earth Alliance, and consequently has a high black market
value.

<p>Ivanova notices that since they were cut off severely last year,
raids seem to be on the rise.  She decides to hunt for a pattern to
the raids and receives Sheridan's approval.  Because of the broken
jumpgate, C &amp; C is hectic and Ivanova does not find time to
investigate while on duty.

<p>Later that evening Ivanova begins sifting through the data.  After
several blind paths she finally tracks down a correlation: the
increase in raids has occurred on transports out of Marsport, and
further, all of them were carrying strategic metals.  Worst of all,
they were successful raids.  The next morning Ivanova explains her
findings to Garibaldi and he warns her to be careful of stepping on
toes.

<p>Their breakfast is interrupted by a call from Sheridan to Garibaldi
asking him to come to his office.  Sheridan orders Garibaldi to
terminate his investigation into Ortega's death and prepare to turn
over all files related to the matter to a special investigator from
Earth Central.

<p>Garibaldi watches the arrival of the transport and the disembarking
of the special investigators.  The investigators promptly arrive in
Security and demand that he turn over his files, records and
passwords.  The investigators are led by Commander Wallace and his two
assistants, Lieutenants Miyoshi and Khatib.

<p>Garibaldi leaves them to their work, which includes taking some of
his guards under their control and establishing their own lock-up
facility and interrogation rooms.  He goes Downbelow where he searches
for leads from sources such as Mort the Ear and an old friend, Nick
Patinos, who is from Mars.  Neither is able to offer him any useful
information.

<p>Commander Ivanova is interviewed by Lieutenant Miyoshi who causes
her to lose her temper after he insinuates that she destroyed the
cards and letters of holiday greetings from Ortega to conceal her
involvement with a terrorist.  Miyoshi then makes a point of the fact
that Ivanova waited so long after the arranged meeting time to contact
anyone, and that she was unaware of the security notice about Ortega.
He also points out that nobody but Ivanova saw the person leaving the
area as she entered the ready room.  Miyoshi also makes a point of
wanting her to figure out the meaning of the note, and finally
dismisses her.

<p>Garibaldi discovers that Wallace has locked out files on some
people, including Patinos, and goes to Sheridan to complain.  Sheridan
orders Wallace to release all files not directly related to the Ortega
case and orders Garibaldi to steer clear of the Ortega case.  Wallace
then insists that Ivanova be put on restricted duties or arrested.
Sheridan eventually relents, placing her on restricted duties.

<p>Prior to this point, Ivanova had had an unblemished career record.
Sheridan was aware that this flag in her file might ruin her chances
of ever having a command of her own, but he also felt that it was
better than having Wallace go over his head and perhaps having Ivanova
arrested or even shipped back to Earth.

<p>Garibaldi then goes back Downbelow only to discover that Mort has
disappeared from the station.  A comm link message informs him that
part of a second body, a foot, was discovered in the in the recycling
facilities.  They are able to identify the DNA pattern as belonging to
Fengshi Yang, who had allegedly already departed -- less one foot?
Garibaldi carefully informs his next in command, Lieutenant Torres,
that she is to investigate this matter and that there is no connection
to the Ortega case, if she knows what he means.

<p>Garibaldi returns to pump Nick for information, but his friend is
even more tightly clammed up.  Garibaldi does learn that people are
being deported off the station -- presumably by Wallace and his
assistants.  Further, he finds out that a telepath is being used to
scan the people being questioned.

<p>Garibaldi makes a point of sitting down with Winters and prying
information out of her about whether Wallace is using her services.
She eventually acknowledges that he is, and Garibaldi points out that
the people she is scanning probably haven't really consented.  Later,
Winters visits Sheridan and explains that the people aren't actually
consenting.  He informs her that he will talk to Wallace, but
ultimately it is a matter between her and Psi Corps.  Sheridan
contacts Wallace and a heated discussion takes place in which Wallace
refuses to budge, and Sheridan informs him that he will contact Earth
Central about Wallace's conduct.

<p>When Winters arrives at the interrogation room, Miyoshi is waiting
and complains about her lateness.  Miyoshi then informs her that she
will confine herself exclusively to their needs.  Miyoshi then pulls
out a viewer card and hands it to Winters.  In her hand, a glowing Psi
takes holographic form (<em>cf.</em> <a
href="/lurk/guide/006.html">"Mind War"</a>), and she feels a message
force itself into her mind:

<blockquote>
<p><i>Obey.  No questions.  Obey.</i>
</blockquote>

<p>Meanwhile, Ivanova reports for duty, and Sheridan puts her in
charge of escorting transports in an attempt to reduce raider attacks,
and to give her something useful to do.

<p>Garibaldi has kept all of the information about Yang's death out of
the computer to avoid prying by Wallace, and promises Ivanova he will
continue looking into things.  Sheridan calls Garibaldi to view a high
priority message direct from Admiral Wilson of the Office of the Joint
Chiefs, informing Sheridan that he is to give Wallace every degree of
cooperation with regard to the investigation.

<p>Garibaldi finds himself called to the Casino to break up a fight
between patrons that is breaking down along human-alien lines,
concerning cheating.  An alien has accused a human of cheating, and
the human has accused the alien of being a telepath.  Telepaths are,
of course, banned from gambling (<em>cf.</em> <a
href="/lurk/novels/001.html">"Voices"</a>).  Garibaldi ascertains that
the human was cheating, and with Winters' help discerns that the alien
is a telepath as well.  With the fight broken up he turns his
attention to the human who confesses without too much effort.  The
gambler also recognizes Yang's picture and explains that he was an
enforcer for AreTech Mining.  Garibaldi convinces the man to leave the
station quietly.

<p>Another day, and Ivanova finds herself back on escort duty once
again.  This time the ship <i>Kobold</i> is helped by them.  They
escort the ship all the way from the jump gate back to the station.
Ivanova notices that the pilot seemed to be expecting a raid and the
pilot agrees to discuss the matter further once back at the station.
Raiders do attempt to get her to pull her squadron off escort, but she
doesn't fall for it and the <i>Kobold</i> has a smooth escort all the
way to Babylon 5.

<p>Garibaldi goes back Downbelow to meet with someone, a meeting
arranged by Patinos.  The man does not recognize the picture of Yang,
and Garibaldi wanders off realizing he has hit a dead end.  He doesn't
notice the man come up from behind, who then whacks him with shock
sticks.  When he awakes he is trapped in a locker, and he fights
frantically to attract attention.

<p>Lieutenant Torres decides to contact Sheridan when she realizes
that Garibaldi is missing, and she explains the investigation that is
going on.  After Garibaldi is found and brought to Medlab, Wallace
enters, rather aggressively, against the wishes of Franklin and a
tech.  Garibaldi mentions Yang's name to Wallace and realizes that,
when he claims not to recognize the name, he is probably lying, but
having said he didn't know the person, Wallace is forced by Sheridan
to leave.  Sheridan insists that this time things are going to be done
his way, and that he will bring in Garibaldi's contact.

<p>The <i>Kobold</i>'s pilot, Mr. Pal, insists upon buying dinner for
Ivanova as a thank-you gesture.  He explains that they were expecting
an attack, and that he thought that her ships might have been raiders
until they identified themselves.  Pal is on the union's central
committee and he explains that when he left Marsport, their demands
for better protection were still being studied.  Ivanova explains,
mindful of the trouble she is already in, some of her findings from
her earlier computer analysis.  Pal explains that they have started to
think that Earth Central has a reason to be looking the other way.
Pal also explains that they have started to wonder what they are
really carrying morbidium, or perhaps just "slag", worthless mass.

<p>The union thinks the plan would be to ship the rigidly
price-controlled item and have it raided, then resell the product on
the black market while also taking the insurance money.  Or perhaps
for each cargo there might be two ships: one for which they collect
the insured value, and the other, which goes to the black market.  In
other words, pay raiders to attack ships carrying slag.  Pal offers to
have the insurance agent tell Ivanova the results of opening the
crates at the final destination.

<p>Later, Ivanova turns in response to her name being shouted across
the Zocalo by a young businesswoman approaching.  Luz Espada of the
Universal Underwriters Corporation introduces herself and offers to
buy Ivanova coffee.  The two sit down to talk.  Ivanova once again
explains the results of her computer analysis of the raids, and Espada
explains that her company has begun to reach a similar conclusion.
She explains that ships and cargoes are generally separately insured,
by different companies, and so it could take some time before losses
would be noticed.  Espada is able to provide some of the information
about insurance companies that the computer couldn't provide Ivanova
earlier.  It turns out that shipments from AreTech Consolidated Mining
Corporation of Mars -- headquartered on Earth -- have been the targets
of a high proportion of raider attacks.

<p>Their discussion is interrupted when Ivanova receives a request
from Security to arrive at Docking Bay 18, where the <i>Kobold</i> is
docked, to help with an incident.  Torres explains the situation to
Ivanova: Khatib has orders from Wallace to search the <i>Kobold</i>'s
cargo and the crew is refusing, claiming that someone arrested their
pilot.  Torres explains that Security does not have the pilot and that
Khatib has ordered the security squads under his control to use force,
but they won't without confirmation from Babylon command.  The captain
is unavailable, making Torres the highest-ranking officer.

<p>Ivanova talks with the members of the crew and convinces them to
just leave unless Pal is returned, and only to agree to a search if it
can be observed.  They resist initially, but after convincing them
that she will do everything to get him free and that the station will
not stop the launch, they agree to the bluff.  Ivanova explains the
deal to Khatib, who rebuffs it but eventually realizes he will need to
relent when C &amp; C refuses to take his order to stop the launch of
the ship.

<p>Pal is returned, drugged, and the cargo is searched.  The cargo is
in fact real morbidium ingots.  Ivanova also realizes that the reason
for interrogating Pal is that they wanted to see if she had passed
information to him, information from Ortega.

<p>Garibaldi finds out that Patinos is being held, on Sheridan's
orders, and goes to him.  Patinos explains that he had Garibaldi
attacked.  Garibaldi gets the name of the attacker and tries to track
the man down, but his quarters are empty.  Meanwhile he tries to track
down information about Yang on Mars, and discovers that the records
are now classified -- as of just hours after he told Wallace that he
was investigating Yang's death.  Garibaldi is certain that he has
Wallace caught in a lie now.  Garibaldi finds out from Patinos that
the name of the attacker was really Josef Nagy, and he sets out to
find the man before Wallace can.

<p>Ivanova is again on escort duty and this time they receive a
distress call from the transport <i>Duster</i>.  They intercept the
raiders before they have a chance to destroy the transport and even
manage to capture one of the raiders alive.  In the process, one of
Ivanova's squad members is killed.  Ivanova allows another pilot to
fly her Starfury; the <i>Duster</i> takes the damaged Starfury on
board along with Ivanova, so she is able to question the raider.

<p>Meanwhile, back on the station, Garibaldi stops the launch of a
ship and manages to search, finding Nagy aboard.  Garibaldi questions
Nagy about Free Mars, Yang, and Ortega.  The questioning is
interrupted by the discovery of Khatib's body.

<p>Upon questioning her prisoner, Ivanova discovers that AreTech has
been selling out information about its shipments to the raiders
directly from their office on Mars.

<p>Wallace attempts to interfere in the investigation of the murder of
Khatib but Garibaldi gets microfilms off the body and away from
Wallace.  Franklin locks the films inside the biohazard area.  This
results in the rather funny situation of Wallace being knocked out by
the biohazard security system when he later tries to go back and get
access to the films.

<p>Meanwhile, a near riot has erupted on the station as people were
complaining of lock-ups of hundreds of people by Wallace and Miyoshi.
Sheridan orders the guards back under his command and has the
prisoners released.

<p>Wallace and Miyoshi are arrested for complicity in Yang's murder,
and Ivanova returns, with the connection to AreTech Mining becoming
clearer and clearer.  (Ortega had worked for AreTech.)

<p>Sheridan has contact with the Joint Chiefs again.  Admiral Wilson
reveals that the problem involving AreTech was quite real and that
Wallace was a special investigator for them.  He also explains that
there will be no reprimand for Sheridan or his staff, but stops short
of reinstating Ivanova, saying her case will be reviewed, eventually.

<p>As if realizing the depths of her plight, Ivanova finally decides
to turn to Talia Winters for assistance.  The two return to Winters's
quarters, and a deep scan is performed on Ivanova.  The scan reveals
that Ortega had a view that a pilot and their Starfury should be
"hardwired together", so to speak, and Ivanova realizes that this
means that the information is on her Starfury.

<p>Ivanova boards her Starfury and queries for a file by keyword
"J.D."  A file is produced and she downloads it onto a data crystal.
As she leaves the ship, she is knocked to the floor.  Miyoshi has
attacked her and has taken the data crystal from her.  The two become
engaged in combat, with Miyoshi clearly trying to kill Ivanova.

<p>Winters gets onto the communicator with Garibaldi and warns him
that she thinks Ivanova is in danger; Garibaldi reacts.  The security
officer that comes upon Miyoshi attacking Ivanova is forced to kill
Miyoshi.  The data crystal is removed from Miyoshi's pocket and the
scene shifts to Sick Bay where Ivanova is recovering, and Sheridan,
Garibaldi and Franklin are examining the data crystal.  Ivanova comes
to, and insists on seeing the contents of the crystal, too..

<p>Computer analysis reveals that it is a description of a new atom,
number 156, supermorbidium.  Its chemical properties are such that it
will be a potent portion of a weapon system.  Sheridan and Ivanova
contact the Joint Chiefs in private with information about recovery of
the plans.

<p>The novel ends with Ivanova back at her station and things
returning back to normal.

<H2><A NAME="UQ">Unanswered Questions</A></H2>

<ul>
  <li>Why is G'Kar's picture on the cover when he plays no role in the
      novel?  (See
      <a href="#NO:cover">Notes</a>)

  <li>Why is none of the information about the somewhat warmer
      relationship between Ivanova and Talia included in this book?
      Specifically, why do they both still seem to be acting like they
      did in
      <a href="/lurk/guide/001.html">"Midnight on the Firing
      Line"</a>?

  <li>Was Ortega a traitor or a hero of sorts in trying to hide the
      information about supermorbidium?

  <li>How do the events of this novel fit into the conspiracy
      discussed by General Hague in
      <a href="/lurk/guide/033.html">"All Alone in the Night"</a>?

  <li>Is Ivanova's record spotless again?

  <li>Was Miyoshi a telepath in disguise?  If not, how did the card
      send a message to Winters?  Either way, what is the level of Psi
      Corps's involvement in this whole conspiracy -- just the
      military telepaths, or are the Psi Cops involved in some way as
      well?  How did Miyoshi manage to remain or get back onto the
      station after presumably being forced to leave with Wallace?

  <li>Are the Joint Chiefs involved in the conspiracy or are they
      really trying to investigate the extent of corruption?

</ul>

<H2><A NAME="AN">Analysis</A></H2>

<ul>

  <li>This book is a lot like a cross between
      <a href="/lurk/guide/016.html">"Eyes"</a> and
      <a href="/lurk/guide/035.html">"Hunter, Prey"</a>.  You have the
      interrogation of senior officers aspect &agrave; la "Eyes" and
      the conspiracy aspects &agrave; la "Hunter, Prey". If we are to
      understand the events of this novel as describing a facet of the
      conspiracy General Hague was concerned about, then we are left
      with two possible interpretations about the Joint Chiefs.  One
      is that the Joint Chiefs are working with General Hague to
      uncover corruption and the high placed leak is somewhere else in
      Earth Central, perhaps in President Clark's office.
      Alternately, we can see this as showing that the corruption goes
      to the highest ranks of Earthforce, and that Sheridan and
      company (<em>cf.</em>
      <a href="/lurk/guide/033.html">"All Alone in the Night"</a>)
      certainly will have their hands full in trying to put a stop to
      the conspiracy.

  <li>Now that Ivanova has been scanned -- deep scanned, in fact -- it
      would seem to put rest to the notion that she might be a
      telepath trying to avoid detection from Psi Corps.  On the other
      hand, if we take into account some of what we have learned about
      Winters in
      <a href="/lurk/novels/001.html">"Voices"</a> and
      <a href="/lurk/guide/030.html">"A Race Through Dark Places"</a>,
      it is possible that she and Ivanova have developed a close bond
      of shared secrets; consequently, even if Winters discovered that
      Ivanova was a telepath, it might not get reported to Psi Corps.

  <li>Things between Earth and Mars seem to be getting steadily worse.

</ul>

<H2><A NAME="NO">Notes</A></H2>

<ul>

   <li><a name="NO:cover">According to Lois Tilton on GEnie,</a> the
       cover art was a sample submitted by the artist when Dell was
       looking for someone to draw the novel covers; they decided not
       to waste money having four covers drawn up and just use it on
       an actual book.  <cite>Accusations</cite> got stuck with it.

</ul>

<h2><a name="JS">The Author Speaks</a></h2>

<hr>

<p>Written by Erik Oliver &lt;oliver@dolphin.upenn.edu&gt;.