lurkers-guide/synops/077

<h3>Synopsis by Katrina Glerum (kat@midwinter.com)</h3>

<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/codeword.jpeg">
Commander Ivanova finds the Captain scowling at another ISN broadcast
"reporting on" the mistreatment of humans aboard Babylon 5.  From the
tone they figure it is only a matter of time before Earth attacks the
station again, but this time as part of a "rescue mission."   Just then
a more welcome message is logged from Franklin on Mars.

<p>
The meeting with the leaders of the resistance is ready to begin as
soon as everyone arrives.  Franklin and Marcus' mission to Mars is well-timed.
Number One of the Mars Resistance estimates that Earth Force
will have captured and subdued all of Mars within a few months.  But
she warns that some of her allies are more dangerous than she is.  No
sooner are the words spoken than Marcus rushes in exclaiming that their
hotel has just been bombed and 10 civilians killed.  Number One departs
in a fury.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/report.jpeg">
These are not the only unprovoked attacks baffling the Army of Light.
A visiting Minbari, Forell, tells
Delenn of raiders destroying transports and ships along the
borders of various peoples dependent on the Minbari for their
protection.  Even more disturbing is the news that the warrior caste
refuses to protect these allies now that the Grey Council has been
broken.

<p>
Delenn finds Sheridan in C&amp;C and explains that she needs to take a
flight of White Stars out to determine who is attacking their allies.
He balks at her personal involvement until she reminds him not to
forget who she was, and who she is and what she can do.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/tensecs.jpeg">
Number One angrily accosts Philippe, an Earth resistance leader, for
bombing the hotel without her authorization.  What he does on Earth is
his business.  What he does on Mars is her responsibility, and she will
gut him if he forgets that again.

<p>
ISN is still replaying the story of Sheridan suffering from Minbari War
Syndrome, when a new idea strikes the Captain.  He can't wait for
morning, and instead runs off to roust Ivanova from her bed and drag
her into the War Room.  "I've been here before," she reminds him,
bleary eyed and unkempt.  So he begins to explain.

<p>
"You have a face people trust,"  he says.  When she was giving status
reports during the war, she provided everyone with solid,
reliable information.  Now it's time to do it again, he says, but on a larger
scale.  This time, the War Room will become the Voice of the
Resistance, broadcasting live to ships, to colonies, and to Earth,
competing directly with ISN for ownership of the truth.

<p>
As he exits with brisk enthusiasm, he tells her to go back to bed,
leaving her muttering more empty threats against his safety.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/bridge.jpeg">
The White Stars speed through hyperspace.  Delenn asks Forell
how bad things are back home.  The Grey Council held their society
together.  Now the castes are at odds again.  He tells her how the
warrior caste forced all members of the religious caste out of a
certain city in the midst of polar wastelands.  Most of them died of
exposure and starvation.  His family was among them.  Although the
warrior caste stopped short of actually killing Minbari with their own
hands, there are few who wouldn't call them murderers for this action.

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<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/meeting.jpeg">
With the resistance leaders all assembled, Franklin begins his appeal.
Sheridan is offering an alliance.  He will support their cause actively
if they will fight with him to overturn President Clark.  If they will
carry out any order coming from Babylon 5 no matter how strange, then
when it is all done, he promises that Mars will have its freedom.  But,
Franklin adds angrily, this means no more terrorist attacks against
civilians.

<p>
The White Stars pop out of hyperspace and find a distress signal being
send out by a dying Pak'ma'ra.  They reach the site only to find a
fleet of unknown ships.  Delenn is ready for first contact this time
and opens a channel.  When ships identify themselves as Drakh, Lennier
is alarmed to discover that they speak Minbari.  This could only occur
if this were not true first contact.

<p>
It is instantly apparent who has talked to the Drakh before when Forell
pulls a weapon on Delenn and tells her that he has brought her here to
listen to their message.

<p>
Number One grants the B5 duo her grudging approval, before catching
Franklin out as a liar.  There is no way Sheridan could have sent the
message to stop terrorist bombing because news of these attacks isn't
getting off of Mars.  Sheepishly Franklin admits that he just threw
that in to help her.

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<p>
<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/passion.jpeg">
As soon as she leaves, Marcus starts pestering the Doctor about his new
love.  Franklin denies it until she walks back in and invites him to
dinner.  (Marcus she assigns to guard duty.)  "Touch passion, Stephen,"
Marcus advises.  "Don't walk away when it calls you by name."

<p>
The White Stars follow the Drakh to their mother ship and Delenn allows
an emissary on board.  Dark and deadly, the Drakh hisses, shudders and
trembles its way to the bridge.

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<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/drakh.jpeg">
Forell explains that the religious caste needs allies in order to
defend themselves against the warrior caste.  In exchange for some
deserted worlds along their border, these Drakh will help the religious
caste in the looming civil war.  The Drakh want peace, he argues.  They
only want a home.

<p>
"Because they have just lost their home," Lennier finishes, mouthing
"Z'ha'dum" to Delenn.

<p>
Forell admits that he couldn't have hurt Delenn, but he needed to show
her that here they had a way to be the "salvation of their people."

<p>
Delenn tells the creature that she will return in a week with an
answer.  "You will not regret this, Delenn," Forell says.  The Drakh
stops and hisses with recognition, "Delenn!" before departing.

<p>
She realizes her mortal danger at that instant.  Now that these Drakh
know her, she tells Forell, they will take revenge for her part in the Shadow
war.  The White Star fleet is surrounded and stationary.  There is no time to
escape by jump point or by fleeing.  So instead, she orders Lennier to fly
straight at the mother ship, "skin dancing" along its hull until they have
built up enough speed to escape through jump points.  In the process, White
Star 16 is destroyed.

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<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/staying.jpeg">
Forell has been struck by a falling beam and is fatally wounded.  With his
final words he begs Delenn's forgiveness.  "No.  I am sorry, Forell.  I
should never have been away this long," she utters as his body is
carried away.

<p>
Safe in hyperspace, Lennier begins to set a course for Babylon 5, but
now with blood in her eye Delenn overrides him and orders the White
Stars to attack.  The angry, attacking White Stars make short work of
most of the Drakh fighters, and as the mother ship races for the local
jump gate, Delenn's flagship beats her there and fires through her hull
from stem to stern.

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<img align=right width=128 height=96 alt="" src="/lurk/gif/077/warroom.jpeg">
Upon her return Delenn finds Sheridan in the revamped War Room.
Apparently there have been more sightings of the Drakh in other areas.
But that isn't the only bad news she brings him.  "The caste system is
falling apart," she says.  She must go to try and save her people from
the ravages of civil war, and attempt to rebuild the Grey Council.
Sheridan is unhappy to hear these words.  But she comforts him, arguing
that humans form communities which are more powerful than the
individuals were before.  This is humanity's strength, and also what makes
them dangerous.  Since his return from Z'ha'dum, the Captain has been
trying to pretend that he hasn't changed.  But he has.  And now in
order to fight the battles ahead and rebuild what has been destroyed he
needs to be dangerous.  With her gone, she knows that he will be able
to do that.

<p>
Far away on Mars, a lonely Ranger sits on guard duty, listening
to a woman's voice gasping Stephen's name.

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