lurkers-guide/synops/020

<p>  We join Sinclair and Garibaldi in the dining hall.  They are soon
joined by a very tired Ivanova, who was awakened one hour early by C&C
after mysterious tachyon emissions were discovered in sector 14, three hours away 
from Babylon 5.  Though Ivanova believed the emissions were just routine, she 
authorized Alpha VII, a Starfury, to investigate the problem.
<p>  Alpha VII contacts Babylon 5 when it enters sector 14, and the pilot
reports an increase in tachyon emissions.  Though he doesn't see anything when 
he first arrives, the sensors register something, and he sees a large object
materializing.  By the time he figures out what it is, it is too late.  "No!  
That's not possible!  That can't be, it just can't be!"  His last words fade 
into an agonizing scream as the Starfury is engulfed in blinding white light.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/apparition.gif"> A startling apparition.
<p>
Ivanova calls Commander Sinclair after the pilot's last message.  She is 
unable to contact the pilot on any open frequencies, but is still receiving 
the Starfury's homing beacon.  According to the beacon, the ship is returning
to Babylon 5 and will be there in one hour and fifteen minutes.  Ivanova also 
reports that more bursts of tachyon emissions are occurring, and that one 
occurred when she lost contact with the fury's pilot.  Sinclair tells Ivanova 
to make sure that Dr. Franklin is ready at MedLab in case there are any 
injuries that need to be tended to.
<p>  Meanwhile, Ambassador Delenn, in a 
Minbari ship, departs from Babylon 5.  Though Babylon Control asks her if she 
wants someone to pilot the ship for her, she declines.  "Some things one must 
do alone," she explains just before she enters the jumpgate.
<p>  Soon after, Alpha VII returns into scanner range.  Alpha VII approaches
the station, but does not enter the docking bay.  A scan of the ship reveals
that there is no structural damage and that hull integrity is okay, but there 
are no life signs.  Soon after, Garibaldi returns to Sinclair and Ivanova with 
Dr. Franklin's report.  "There was no damage to the body, no shock, no trauma.  
Everything points to death by natural causes."  Though things seem ordinary at 
this point, when Garibaldi explains that the pilot, who just turned thirty 
years old, died of old age, Sinclair and Ivanova are understandably puzzled.  
"His internal organs are like those of a man three times his age," Garibaldi 
reports.  Ivanova recommends that they send a team to investigate, in case 
there is a hazard to navigation, but Sinclair declines.  "Not yet," he says.  
"Not until we have a better idea what we are facing.  Meanwhile, I want all 
traffic routed clear of sector 14.  Michael, I want that ship examined with a 
fine-tooth comb.  Something fatal happened out there.  I want to know what."
<p>  As Delenn reaches her destination, Sinclair, Ivanova, and Garibaldi 
discover another portion of the mystery.  Garibaldi, after a thorough search 
of Alpha VII, finds the buckle off the pilot's safety harness.  Scratched into 
the surface of the buckle is "B4."  Ivanova speculates that "B4" stands for
Babylon 4, the previous Babylon station that disappeared in sector 14 four
years previous.  Sinclair reports that the tachyon emissions from that
sector were coming from the same place that Babylon 4 disappeared.  The
discussion is interrupted by communication from C&C, declaring that
the station is receiving a distress signal from sector 14.  "I thought I
ordered all ships to stay clear of that area," says Sinclair.  The technician from C&C
affirms his orders, but then identifies the signal as coming from
Babylon 4.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/delenn-wait.gif"> Delenn waits.
<p>  After the three arrive at C&C, Sinclair doesn't reply to the 
signal but instead orders Ivanova to retrieve the secure code of Babylon 4 
from the station archives.  "Ever since the war, every Earth Force command and 
control center was configured to broadcast its ID code on a subchannel," 
explains Sinclair.  Garibaldi adds that the reason for it was to prevent 
counterfeit orders.  Ivanova brings up the signal and it matches perfectly to 
the one being broadcast from sector 14.  Sinclair orders the transmission to 
be patched through.  "Earth station Babylon 4 requesting help.  We need 
assistance," says the man on the other end.  Sinclair responds, and the
commander on the other end explains that they are caught in a flux with only 
30% of their power and their escape ships damaged.  They request help from 
Babylon 5 to evacuate their skeleton crew of 1200-1300.  The commander of 
Babylon 4 looks nervous and begins muttering strangely.  "Oh God.  It's 
starting again.  It's starting again," he says just as the communication is 
cut off.  Ivanova notices that the date stamp on the message is four 
years out of date.
<p>  Though Garibaldi has a difficult time believing the station is Babylon 4, 
Sinclair prepares a fighter escort with an evacuation
fleet to sector 14, determined to find Babylon 4.  Sinclair makes a speech to 
the pilots of the ships warning them of the dangers and the previous death of 
the pilot of Alpha VII.  Though he offers them a chance to withdraw because of 
the danger, no one does, and soon the fleet is sent off into space.  Sinclair 
wants to learn the truth about Babylon 4, but also wants to take no chances.  
"If you don't hear from us in eight hours, notify Earth Central, but do not 
send additional ships," he tells Ivanova.
<p>  Meanwhile, Delenn reaches her destination, a gigantic ship, not unlike 
the one from Sinclair's memory of the Battle of the Line (cf.
<a href="/lurk/guide/008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars"</a>.)
She boards the ship and is taken into a great chamber by a
hooded Minbari.  When she enters, she addresses the eight hooded figures
around her, each of which is standing in an individual pool of light.
"Summoned, I come," she intones.  "In Valen's name, I take the place that has 
been prepared for me.  I am Grey.  I stand between the candle and the star.
We are Grey.  We stand between the darkness and the light."  She is
welcomed back by the council, but wonders why she has been recalled.
<p>  "It has been ten cycles," explains one member of the Grey Council, "since 
Dukhat has left this world to take his place with Valen and the nine who were.  
Ten cycles since our people have had a leader.  The time of mourning is 
complete.  We must now choose another."  Another member of the council,
the one who visited her on the station earlier, (cf.
<a href="/lurk/guide/008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars"</a>)
explains that they have spent much time deciding who the next leader should 
be, and that they have decided upon Delenn as the leader because she has seen 
the most, and knows the most about the universe and other species.  Delenn
doesn't want to accept the position because she believes that her work on 
Babylon 5 has not been finished.  She worries about a prophecy, but is assured 
by the council that it will take care of itself, and that an appropriate 
replacement will be selected for her aboard Babylon 5, and that her work there 
is concluded.
<p>  The fleet from Babylon 5 arrives in sector 14 to the sight they didn't
really expect to see:  Babylon 4.  Though tachyon emissions are still present,
Sinclair orders the rest of the fleet to approach the station.  They encounter
a distortion field near the station where tachyon emissions increase by 50%.  
Sinclair orders the fleet to remain back while he and Garibaldi investigate.  
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/approach.gif"> Approaching Babylon 4.
<p>
After docking, they are assaulted and shot at in the otherwise empty docking 
bay.  "Monsters!  I'll stop you!" shouts the assailant.  "I know where you 
are!  I see you!  You think I can't?  I've gotta get off this station.  Come 
on, show yourselves!"  While Sinclair diverts his fire, Garibaldi sneaks up on 
the assailant from behind and captures him.  The commander of Babylon 4 then 
arrives to take custody of the assailant, who keeps insisting that he must be 
taken off of the station.  After the three officers indentify themselves, 
Sinclair explains that they are from Babylon 5 and the year 2258.  "We have to 
hurry.  We have to get everyone off the station," says Major Krantz, the 
commander of Babylon 4.  He is interrupted, however, by a flash of light that 
engulfs the station.
<p>  Suddenly, Sinclair finds himself elsewhere in the midst of total chaos.
"Commander, they burned through levels seven and eight.  Can't stop them.
They're everywhere!" shouts Garibaldi, there with him, who is wielding an extremely
large weapon, firing at a wall being cut through from the other side.  "I 
rigged the fusion reactors for the time I'm done," Garibaldi says.  "Get 
going, I'll hold them as long as I can.  Jeff, it's okay.  I finally 
understand.  This is the moment I was born for!"  Garibaldi pushes Sinclair 
into the crowd which carries him away, despite his protests, just as the wall 
collapses.  Garibaldi and those under his command fire madly at the hole.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/garibaldi.gif"> Garibaldi opens fire.
<p>
Another white flash occurs, and Sinclair finds himself back in his own time, 
aboard Babylon 4.  Sinclair, very confused, asks Krantz to what happened.  
"It's different for everyone.  A flash.  Forward.  Backward.  All of us.  The 
entire station.  We've become unstuck in time, Commander.  That's why we have 
to get out of here.  Quickly!"
<p>  Back on the Minbari ship, Delenn is afraid of accepting the position of
leader.  "I cannot do it," she says.  "I cannot accept the calling."  She is
told by another councilmember that no one has ever refused the position when
offered it.  Though Delenn yearns to accept the leadership of the council, her 
heart tells her that she must remain with Babylon 5 and that she has a part to 
play in the change that is coming.  She wants to reconvene the Council to
speak to them, something that has never been done.  The other councilmember warns 
her that it might be a bad time, and that she must be aware of the 
consequences.  She understands, and the council is reconvened.
<p>  As the evacuation of Babylon 4 continues, Major Krantz explains the
problems they're having with Babylon 4 and the tachyon emissions and
time distortions.  "It started 24 hours after the station went operational.
We began noticing discrepencies in the time track system.  We thought it was
a computer glitch.  Then all hell broke loose."  Sinclair asks if anything
else unusual has happened, and Krantz replies by introducing him to a strange 
being called Zathras.  "We don't know how he got aboard, where he came from, 
or what race he is.  I've never seen an alien like him before," Krantz 
says, and describes how Zathras suddenly appeared with a flash in the conference room.  
When Sinclair enters, Zathras stands and stares intently at Sinclair, then 
shakes his head.  "Not The One.  Not The One..."
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/zathras.gif"> Zathras sees Sinclair.
<p>
Zathras babbles that he does 
as he is told.  "The One is hurt.  Must find.  Zathras must find.  Help."  
When asked why he is there, Zathras responds by saying that he was told the 
biggest of all the Babylon stations was needed.  Zathras is afraid to tell for 
fear that he will not be able to finish his mission, but explains further
after being threatened by Garibaldi:
<p>  "Great war.  Terrible war.  Much killings.  Everyone fighting.  A great 
darkness.  It is the end of everything.  Zathras warn, but no, no one listen 
to poor Zathras, no.  Great war.  But, great hope of peace.  Need place.  
Place to gather, to fight to organize...to help save galaxy on the side of 
light.  So they tell me.  Must have.  Or it is the end of all.  The One leads 
us.  The One tells us to go, we go.  We live for The One.  We would die for 
The One.  We pull this place through time to save us all."
<p>
When asked where
he comes from, Zathras says he came from his year of 4993, but does not know
what year that is in Earth time.  An officer appears and says, "Major, it's
back."  Zathras, Sinclair, Garibaldi, and Krantz run out of the room to see a
figure in a blue space suit.  The figure is having considerable trouble
breathing, and is flickering, as if in and out of time.  Zathras is in awe.
"It is The One," he says.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/one.gif"> The One.
<p>  The figure in the space suit is apparently in great pain, but Zathras
explains that The One will sacrifice himself for others and that he stopped
the taking of Babylon 4 to let its crew evacuate.  Sinclair approaches The
One, who reaches out his hand to him.  When Sinclair touches the gloved hand,
a great shock sends him flying backward.  While Krantz and Garibaldi tend
to Sinclair, Zathras runs to The One and hands him a small device.  "Zathras
fixed," says Zathras.  "Take!  Hurry!"  The One then vanishes completely, and
Zathras tries to run away, but is captured before he can escape.  "You must
leave now.  Finished we are," Zathras warns Sinclair.  "There is no more time.
Leave or be trapped here forever!"  Sinclair orders Garibaldi to assist
in evacuation.
<p>  Aboard the Minbari ship, Delenn addresses the Grey Council.  "This 
Council stopped the war against the humans because of prophecy, because Valen 
said that humans, some among them, had a destiny, which we could not interfere 
with.  It was my place to study them...to determine if the prophecy was 
correct.  I have not yet finished that task."  Another councilmember tells her 
that he believes that the prophecy refers to others, but Delenn does not 
believe it.  The councilmember does not understand Delenn's attraction toward 
humans, but Delenn explains that "they do not seek conformity.  They do not 
surrender.  Out of their differences comes symmetry.  Their unique capacity 
to fight against impossible odds.  Hurt them, they only come back stronger.  
The passions we deplore have taken them to their place in the stars, and will 
propel them to a great destiny.  Their only weakness is that they do not 
recognize their own greatness.  They forget they have come to this place 
through two million years of evolution, struggle, and blood.  They are better 
than they think and nobler than they know.  They carry within them the 
capacity to walk among the stars as giants.  They are the future.  We have 
much to learn from them."  The council cannot understand why she should stay 
with the humans, but Delenn believes it is the calling of her heart.  Delenn 
is warned that if she leaves the council, she may lose her position within it 
and may become outcast.  She is also warned that should she leave, the council 
may become divided.  She understands, and says that she must do what she 
believes is right.  The council votes on whether or not to honor Delenn's 
request.  The vote ends in Delenn's favor, and the council withdraws its 
decision and sends Delenn away so they may select another leader.
<p>  While Garibaldi oversees the evacuation of Babylon 4, Major Krantz and
Sinclair interrogate Zathras further.  They demand to know what Zathras gave
to The One.  He explains to them that it was a "time stablilizer.  Help
survive when make next time jump."  Sinclair then realizes that Alpha VII was
caught in the time distortion and killed by it.  Zathras gave his only time
stabilizer to The One.  He says that when the station jumps, he will die, but
that he will probably be remembered for his sacrifice.  Krantz threatens to 
remove him from the station, but Zathras also claims that if he leaves the 
station, he will die as well, though he does not want to.
<p>  The station shakes again, and Garibaldi reports that tachyon emissions 
have increased greatly.  There is another flash, and this time Garibaldi finds 
himself in the past, at the moment when Lise decided that she could not live 
with him anymore.  He wants to try to change things, but is too disoriented by 
the experience, and events happen much as they did before.  After she leaves, 
Garibaldi finds himself back on Babylon 4.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/lise.gif"> Lise says goodbye.
<p>
Sinclair contacts Garibaldi, who 
says he wants to leave the station as soon as possible.  Major Krantz agrees 
with Garibaldi, and insists that Zathras be taken with them when they leave 
the station.  "For the next fifteen minutes," Krantz tells Sinclair, "this is 
still my command.  I'm going to have to answer for this station, and I want 
proof to go with it.  Alive or dead, he's the only proof I've got.  And he's 
going with us."  Sinclair, Krantz, and Zathras, led by two security officers,
attempt to leave the station, but it begins shaking again, and Zathras is 
caught, trapped beneath fallen debris.  Krantz and the guards run away, afraid 
for their lives, but Sinclair stays behind, trying to help Zathras.  "Leave 
me," Zathras cries.  "You must listen to Zathras.  You have a destiny.  Go.  
Please.  Go for Zathras."  Though he doesn't understand, Sinclair runs away 
and meets up with Garibaldi, who escorts him off the station.
<p>  The station continues to break apart, and as it does so, The One returns 
to the station to retrieve Zathras.  Sinclair and Garibaldi escape in their 
ship just as the distortion field goes off the scale and Babylon 4 begins to 
disappear again.  The One walks out of a chamber into another room.  "Time
distortion repaired," intones a computer voice.  "Present time atmosphere now
breathable."  The One removes his helmet, revealing an older, and somewhat
injured Sinclair.  "I tried," the older Sinclair says.  "I tried to warn them.
But it all happened...just the way I remember it."  A hand in a red dress
reaches up an touches him on the shoulder.  "I know," says a woman's exotic
voice, a voice that sounds suspiciously like Delenn's.
"It's time.  We have to go.  They're waiting for us."  Sinclair and
the woman leave.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/oldsinclair.gif"> Comforting Sinclair.
<p>  Sinclair and Garibaldi from the present return to Babylon 5 and speculate 
along the way on what they had just experienced.  "Do you think that bit was 
true," asks Garibaldi.  "About a great war and Babylon 4 being a great base 
for somebody to try to bring peace to the galaxy?"  Commander Sinclair doesn't 
know.  "But if it is true," he says, "I wish them luck.  The station was built 
to create peace.  Maybe now it'll do so in a way nobody ever expected.  But 
it's still on the same mission."  They fly off back toward Babylon 5.
<p>  Not long after, Delenn prepares to leave the great Minbari ship.  On her 
way, she meets up with a member of the Grey Council.  He hopes to see her
again, but Delenn believes that she will never see the inside of the Council
Chamber again.  The councilmember doesn't know, but before she leaves, he 
presents her with a gift, wrapped in a cloth.  It is the Triluminary, a 
transparent triangle with metal edges.  She doesn't want to accept it, but he 
assures her it will not be missed for a time because there are two others.  
"These are curious times," he tells her before she leaves.  "I feel a great 
change in my bones.  A new beginning, an end, I cannot say.  We are surrounded 
by signs and portents, and I feel a darkness pressing.  If ever you have need 
of me, I am here."  She wraps the triluminary back in its cloth and 
returns to Babylon 5.
<p>
<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/triluminary.gif"> Delenn receives the
triluminary.
<p>  On the station, Sinclair talks to Ivanova about what happened.  She
expresses her regret about not being able to see Babylon 4, but Sinclair
counters that they don't know where, or when, it was being taken.  It
might pop up again some day.  He recalls Garibaldi's comparison of Babylon 4
and the Flying Dutchman -- a sailing ship, he explains to Ivanova, that
vanished, only to appear again and again over the ages.  "Did the Flying
Dutchman ever make it home?" asks Ivanova.
<p>  "No," answers Sinclair.

<h5>Synopsis written by Matthew Murray &lt;i9717029@unicorn.it.wsu.edu&gt;</h5>