lurkers-guide/synops/070

<h3>Synopsis by Matthew Murray (n9641343@cc.wwu.edu)</h3>

<p>
Please Stand By<br>
Incoming Transmission

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/pkiller.jpeg">
The face of Commander Ivanova appears on the screen.  "We're
pre-empting your normal BabCom service to bring you another update on
the continuing crisis.  Two more deep-range planetary colonies have
been eliminated by Vorlon forces."  The image changes to that of the
Vorlon fleet.  "This footage was taken as the Vorlon fleet closed in on
Ventari III.  The ship eclipsing the local star is presumed to be their
main weapon, the planet-killer.
Below is a list of nearby colonies and League worlds which
are accepting refugees from Ventari III.  We will continue to update
this list as the situation changes.  If you are from the Ventari
system, you are asked not to return until authorized.  The local
jumpgate has been destroyed, and hyperspace traffic is creating a
hazard at the jump intersection.  Contact your ambassadors for
information on family members who may have escaped before the colony
was destroyed.  We're taking in refugees and escaping ships as fast as
we can, but our resources are almost maxed out.  We will repeat this
bulletin every twenty standard minutes until we receive new
information.  Once again, please remain calm.  Right now, our greatest
enemy is fear."

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/him.jpeg">
As the transmission breaks off, a woman tries to make her way through
the overcrowded docking bay, but is knocked down.  She begs someone to
help, but no one will even stop to look at her until someone reaches
his hand out toward her and helps her stand.  It is Sheridan, with
Lorien close behind.  Sheridan leads her to Zack, who is standing
nearby.  Sheridan and Lorien move away.  The woman asks Zack if it is
true that Sheridan came back from the dead, and Zack responds that he
isn't sure, but takes her off to contact her husband.

<p>
"You heard?"  Lorien asks, as he and Sheridan walk through the station.

<p>
"I heard," Sheridan responds.

<p>
"They need to believe."

<p>
"Not in me."

<p>
"You can't save them all."

<p>
"I can try."

<p>
"You'll fail."

<p>
"We'll see."

<p>
As Sheridan and Lorien walk away, the face of Ivanova, on a nearby
monitor, once again asks for everyone to remain calm.  "Right now, our
greatest enemy is fear." However, the Vorlon fleet, undaunted,
continues on its way.

<p>
Garibaldi is in his office, looking through securecam stills of the
docking bay.  Zack comes in, and asks Garibaldi how he is.  Garibaldi
says he's fine, but he'll be better once he gets back to work.  Zack
notices what Garibaldi is doing, and asks him why, since Franklin
wanted him to take it easy.  Garibaldi says if he doesn't do something,
he'll go crazy.  He explains that he is worried about Lorien--wherever
Sheridan is, Lorien is.  Zack says that it is probably because Lorien
saved Sheridan's life.  Zack
doesn't pretend to understand it, but is glad Sheridan made it back
alive.  He asks Garibaldi if he's sure he's okay, which annoys
Garibaldi.  Garibaldi asks Zack if he thinks he's lying about not
remembering what happened after his disappearance, and Zack insists
that nobody thinks Garibaldi is lying.
Garibaldi, however, is still upset that he's being kept at arm's length
while Sheridan, who went through similar circumstances, is welcomed
back.  Zack tells Garibaldi that
Franklin wants to do one more examination, but after that, he'll
be back on the job.  Zack begins to leave, but as he goes, Garibaldi
tells him that he feels Captain Sheridan is avoiding him, even though
they were on good terms when Garibaldi left.  Zack says he doesn't know
why, but is sure Sheridan has his reasons.  Garibaldi, taking this in, turns
back to the securecam still of Lorien.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/sendships.jpeg">
Londo enters the garden to find Emperor Cartagia waiting.  He is
staring up at the sky, and asks Londo what he sees.  Londo replies that
he only sees the stars, but a familiar voice from behind tells him he
isn't looking hard enough.  It is Morden, who tells Londo the Vorlons
are out there, and attacking the worlds which have been subjected to
Shadow influence.  Londo asks Cartagia if it's true, since he's heard
nothing about it, and Cartagia confirms that it is.  When Morden tells
Londo that, during the last war, they put ships on planets so that
their fleet could never be entirely destroyed, Londo asks Morden if the
ships will be leaving.  Morden says they won't, since he doesn't feel
that the Vorlons have the will to destroy a world as big as Centauri
Prime.  Londo tells Cartagia the ships must leave, but both he and
Morden agree they won't.  Morden says that, if the Vorlons meet up with
a Centauri fleet, and can see they are willing to oppose them, they
will ignore Centauri Prime and move on.  Morden then bids Londo goodnight,
and vanishes back the way he came.  Londo is outraged that
Cartagia would send Centauri ships to defend the Shadows, but Cartagia
says he has no intention of doing that.

<p>
Londo and Cartagia walk back into the palace, and Londo tells Cartagia
he is relieved that Cartagia won't send the Centauri ships.  Cartagia
says he reached Londo's conclusion as well, and that, when he realized
that, he learned that he liked Londo very much, since they think the
same way.  Because of this, Cartagia tells him, he shows Londo
something very few others have seen--his "shadow cabinet," his
collection of heads.  He says he was discussing the situation with them
earlier, and that one of them, a previous minister, got the idea to not
send out the Centauri ships.  Londo asks Cartagia if that means
Cartagia will ask the Shadows to leave, but no--Cartagia wants the
Vorlons to come so that the planet can become an inauguration pyre to
commemmorate Cartagia's ascension into godhood.  Cartagia reasons that,
when he becomes a god, his subjects will not be able to live without him,
therefore, if he takes them all with him, no one will be sad when he
dies.  "Don't send the ships," Cartagia tells Londo.  "Let them come!
Let it all end in fire!"

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/healthy.jpeg">
Franklin continues to examine Garibaldi in MedLab, one test of which
includes an examination of the back of Garibaldi's head to see if there
is any evidence of his being put in a Shadow ship.  Franklin tells
Garibaldi he's clean, but wonders what Garibaldi thinks happened.
Garibaldi says he thinks he was caught in the backwash when the
Shadows left the station's area.  Franklin says that Garibaldi is now
clear to go back to work, but a memory stirs in Garibaldi's head, which
stops him for a moment.  He agrees, and leaves.  Sheridan enters, and
asks Franklin if there are any results on his tests, and he and
Franklin both go off, as Ivanova appears again on the BabCom screen...

<p>
"This is a Command and Control update.  The safe haven for refugees on
Tizino Prime is no longer responding.  We believe they may have fallen
to the Vorlon advance, but we can't be sure for another--I guess--ten,
twelve hours?  Before they attack, the Vorlons blanket all frequencies
so no reports can get out.  There have been some changes to the list of
refugee stations.  We'll have that information for you shortly--we've
lost three of them.  All the governments in sector 57 have declared a
state of interplanetary emergency..." Reports coming in from survivors
indicate mass destruction on a planetary scale.  We continue to need
medical ships, transports, anything that can fly.  We're in special
need of atmosphere-capable shuttles to evacuate survivors from the
ground.  We'll rebroadcast this message in twenty standard minutes."

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/love.jpeg">
As the message ends, Delenn enters Sheridan's office where he has been
watching.  Sheridan says that there's something in Ivanova's voice
that he hasn't heard in the ten years he's known her--fear.  Ivanova is
afraid of what's happening.  Sheridan tells Delenn it's the first time
he's seen her alone since he got back.  Delenn says that's it been so
busy that it's understandable, but that she felt it was her fault that
he went to Z'ha'dum.  She tells him she feared that, even if he
came back, he would not forgive her, and she would lose him again.
Sheridan tries to tell her she did what she thought was right, but
Delenn knows it was no excuse.  She tells him she's sorry, but Sheridan
tells her that it was she that saved him when he fell at Z'ha'dum--it
was the memory of her that kept him going, and that she gave him the
reason he needed to come back.  "Could I love that much and not
forgive?" he asks her.  They embrace.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/ready.jpeg">
In the war room, Ivanova tells Zack, Franklin, and Garibaldi that the
station is up to its ears in ships of all kinds.  Franklin
understands, since MedLab is the same way.  Garibaldi tells them,
however, that they are going to have a much bigger problem on their
hands soon when all the survivors come to Babylon 5 looking for
someone--anyone--of their own races that survived the Vorlon onslaught.
Garibaldi knows there isn't a thing that can be done to stop it, and
the problem will get worse since they are already well over capacity.
Franklin suggests that they
shuttle as many people as they can to Epsilon III to keep the
population in check and when Sheridan comes into the room, he agrees.
Sheridan sits down and says they have an important problem-- Kosh.  As
long as he's there, they can't make a move without him knowing about
it.  Sheridan says that they don't know how telepathic the Vorlons are,
and Sheridan has kept Garibaldi out of the loop so that, in
case Kosh can read from a distance, he won't learn of their plans.
Sheridan tells Garibaldi he wants the Vorlon gone.  He wants to give
Kosh what he expects, so that they can do what they have to do.
Sheridan wants Garibaldi to take only a few people, and Garibaldi says
Kosh will wipe up the floor with them, a fact which Sheridan
understands only too well.  Garibaldi leaves to go assemble the team,
and Zack gets up to follow soon after.  Lyta and Lorien come into the
room and say that their part of the plan is ready.  Lorien tells
everyone that the Shadows could kill Kosh because they were both First Ones,
but that, when a Vorlon is enraged, its power is beyond human
comprehension.  Franklin asks what the plan is, and Sheridan tells them
all that as long as Kosh remains, billions of lives are at stake.  "So
we're going to take out the Vorlon... any way we can."

<p>
"This is Command and Control," Ivanova says on BabCom.  "We have
another update on the Vorlon attack fleet.  The Dura VII outpost has
fallen.  I Repeat, Dura VII has fallen.  All medical ships in the area
are being asked to help with the evacuation..."

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/faceoff.jpeg">
Garibaldi and his security team, wearing their oxygen masks, approach
Kosh's quarters, and ask to come in, but there is no response.
Garibaldi overrides the controls, and they all go in.  Garibaldi tells
Kosh that the Captain told them to ask Kosh to leave.  Kosh doesn't
respond.  Garibaldi says that the request is now an order, and that
they will escort Kosh to his ship.  The Vorlon has but one reply,
"No."  One of the officers tries to approach Kosh with his PPG, but a
blast from the Vorlon sends him against the wall.  The others fire at
the encounter suit, to no avail.  Kosh, fighting back, creates a
high-pitched noise which, after a few moments, shatters the glass on
the front of the teams' oxygen masks.  They run out of his quarters and
the alien sector, choking and gasping for air.  They know they didn't
do any good, but they sent the message that they are willing to fight
back.  Garibaldi hopes it's enough, and hopes that Sheridan knows what
he's doing.

<p>
Sheridan is in his quarters when he is informed that Londo is sending
him a message.  Londo asks Sheridan if the rumor about the Vorlons is
true, and Sheridan confirms that it is.  Londo asks how far the Vorlons
are from Centauri Prime, since that information is not widely
distributed on the planet.  Sheridan tells Londo it will be about a
week before they arrive.  Londo asks if Sheridan is doing anything
about it, and Sheridan says that, though they won't have anything in
place for a while, they are doing their best, but there are no
guarantees.  Londo wishes Sheridan good luck and signs off.

<p>
Lyta enters Kosh's quarters.  "I heard what happened," she tells him.
"I came to warn you.  Sheridan and the others are going to move against
you."

<p>
"It is done," Kosh replies.  "They are irrelevant."

<p>
"I know, I know they can't harm you, but I was thinking, it can't hurt
to have all the information you can about what's going on.  To protect
yourself and the cause."

<p>
"How?"

<p>
"I told you, I wasn't here when Ambassador Kosh died... I didn't have
any of his essence with me.  I thought he was gone.  But, for a while, I
suspected that someone else here had a piece of him.  I think I know
who it is, but I can't draw Kosh out of him... he won't let me."

<p>
"A human?"

<p>
"Yes."

<p>
"Imprisons one of us?"

<p>
"Yes."

<p>
"Intolerable!"

<p>
"If there is still a piece of him there, you can draw it out of him.
Use what it knows and take it back to Vorlon when this is all over.  I
cared about Kosh... I'd like to know he finally made it home."

<p>
"Show me."

<p>
"The guards..."

<p>
"They will not threaten us again.  Show me!"

<p>
Lyta and Kosh leave the quarters, and make their way through the alien
sector to the main part of the station.  Lyta leads him down a
corridor.  "It's this way," she tells the Vorlon.  "We have to hurry...
I think he might leave soon."

<p>
"Your thoughts are troubled," Kosh says, stopping.

<p>
"I'm worried about Kosh, that's all.  After everything we've been
through, I'd hate to lose the last of him now, and..."

<p>
"What are you hiding?"

<p>
"Nothing."

<p>
"Open your thoughts to me!"

<p>
"We don't have time for this..."

<p>
"Open..."  The eyepeiece on Kosh's encounter suit opens wide for a
moment, but it is too late... The plan has already begun.  Sheridan,
who was hiding nearby, yells at Lyta to get out of the way, which she
does.

<p>
Kosh, in the middle of the corridor, is suddenly bombarded with blasts
of electricity from several junction boxes, which hit the encounter
suit directly.  From other hiding places in the room, many more
security guards appear, each firing their PPG rifles directly at the
encounter suit.  Delenn appears while this is going on, and watches in
stunned silence.  The current continues unabated, the security officers
keep firing at the encounter suit for nearly a minute.  There is a
small explosion as the headpiece of Kosh's encounter suit shatters, and
a flurry of light emerges from within.  Kosh emerges from the encounter
suit, but he appears this time as an enormous, glowing, tentacled being
which begins flying around the room, attacking everything it can, and
firing energy bolts of its own.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/vorlon2.jpeg">
As the Vorlon goes on its rampage, one of the security officers near
Delenn falls, and she attempts to bring him to safety.  The current,
which exhausted itself shortly after Kosh was released, is no longer
effective, and Sheridan calls Ivanova for more, which she tries to give
him.  While she does so, she receives a message from someone in the
docking bay saying that the Vorlon's ship is going crazy, trying to
break away from the station.  She orders the ship to be cleared to
leave before it tears apart the station.  Meanwhile, the Vorlon sets
its sights on Delenn as she tries to drag the security officer away
from its wrath.  Sheridan sees this and jumps between them, but is
snared by a tentacle.  The Vorlon
ship clears the station, but Sheridan is caught.

<p>
Lorien, who has been observing,
nods to Sheridan.  "Now."  Sheridan manages to turn
around and face the Vorlon, and as he does so, an enormous golden
shape, bearing much resemblance to the other one, emerges from
Sheridan's chest, and locks onto the other one.  The two forms begin
fighting each other.  Delenn understands what has happened.

<p>
"It's Kosh... Kosh was inside him."

<p>
"Yes," Lorien tells her.  "The last of Kosh.  And some of him, and some
of me."

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/outside.jpeg">
The two Vorlons, still fighting, flow through the ceiling of the
section and move through the rest of the station, eventually emerging
and coalescing onto the Vorlon ship, which is making its way away
from the station.  As the two forms encompass the ship, it explodes as
well.  Then, all is quiet.

<p>
Delenn runs over to Sheridan, who lies crumpled on the floor.  Lorien
tells her that his life force must be replenished, and places his hand
on Sheridan's chest.  Lorien's hand glows, and Delenn asks if that is
how he brought him back at Z'ha'dum.  Lorien tells her that he gives of
himself to replenish Sheridan, for a little while.  Delenn asks how long,
but all Lorien tells her is, "Long enough."  Sheridan regains
conciousness, and Delenn holds him closely.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/narn.jpeg">
Londo waits nervously in Emperor Cartagia's throne room.  When Cartagia
arrives, annoyed at being summoned on such short notice, Londo tells
Cartagia that, while he thinks that the emperor's coming godhood is a
momentous event, he thinks that others should see his greatness.
Cartagia asks why they should care what others think, and Londo
explains that, after the fall of Centauri Prime, there will be no one
left to sing Cartagia's praises.  Once the Centauri are gone, there
will be no one left to remember him.  Londo says what he has in mind is
that, if G'Kar's trial and
execution were conducted on Narn instead, the whole planet would be
able to see Cartagia's greatness.  Londo convinces Cartagia that, if he
does this, his name will be remembered long after the fall of Centauri
Prime.  Though Cartagia is worried about the barbarism of the Narns,
Londo convinces him that gods should not be afraid.  Cartagia agrees
with Londo's plan, and sets it in motion.  Londo tells Cartagia that
he will go with him in order to personally end G'Kar's life.

<p>
Dozens of warships crowd around Babylon 5--Ivanova explains to Garibaldi
that Sheridan wants the biggest fleet in history to end the war.
Garibaldi asks what will happen if they win, since there is nowhere else
for them to go.  And, if they lose, that's the end.  "God, I thought I
was depressing," Ivanova says as she leaves C&amp;C, allowing Garibaldi to
ponder this on his own.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/070/ring.jpeg">
Delenn enters Sheridan's quarters to find him there with Lorien.
Sheridan says he has something to tell her that he feels she has a
right to know.  Lorien explains that, when Sheridan was dying on
Z'ha'dum, he did what he could to help.  He cannot prevent death, but
can extend and enhance life.  Sheridan tells
Delenn that Franklin's tests revealed an energy inside him, repairing
and sustaining him.  Lorien tells Delenn he did the best he could, but
that he could only give Sheridan back a portion of his life--twenty
years, barring further injury or illness.  Sheridan tries to convince
her that, though he'll only be living until his early 60s, it's a
decent life-span, but Delenn is taken aback, upset since she believed
she would have a much longer period to spend with him.  Lorien says
that, after twenty years, one day, Sheridan "will simply... stop."
Sheridan asks Lorien to give them a moment together, which he does.
Sheridan tells Delenn it's all right, and that he knew what he was
getting into--his shortened life is the price he had to pay.  Delenn,
however, isn't so sure--she feels like she is still losing him before
she should.  Sheridan tries to convince her that it's a long
time--twenty more years than he would have had otherwise.  He pulls a
small box out from a hiding place and hands it to her--he says he got
it in the Zocalo, and though it isn't what he had in mind, it's merely
a temporary engagement ring.  She clearly doesn't understand, and he
explains that the ring is given to a loved one as a down-payment for
another ring--the ring exchanged during a wedding ceremony.  Sheridan
tells her he wanted her to have it so that she would know that,
whatever time he has left, he wants to spend with her.  They kiss.

<p>
Londo arrives to find Cartagia and two guards looking after G'Kar.
Londo tells Cartagia that their people on Narn are ready for their
trip.  Cartagia pulls Londo aside and tells him that he doesn't like
the way G'Kar is looking at him.  He asks Londo for advice, but
Londo says that he is sure Cartagia will make an appropriate decision.
Londo leaves hurriedly, and Cartagia continues to ponder the problem.

<p>
"No, I don't care at all for the way he looks at me," Cartagia says to
himself.  He reaches his decision.  "Pluck out his eye!"

<p>
"Which one?" asks one of the guards.

<p>
"I don't know," Cartagia replies.  "It doesn't matter!"  He moves his
finger back and forth, trying to choose between the eyes, and he
settles on G'Kar's left eye.  "That one," Cartagia says, and he leaves,
smiling.  The two guards inside move closer to G'Kar, and as one of them
draws a knife, the cell door slams shut.