lurkers-guide/synops/086

<h3>Synopsis by Arturo Magidin (magidin@math.berkeley.edu)</h3>

<P>
The alliance fleet is in hyperspace. Aboard a Minbari heavy cruiser,
Marcus keeps watch over Ivanova. Delenn walks in, and tells him the
transport to take Ivanova back to Babylon 5 has arrived. Marcus argues
that she would want to be at the battle, and since she is dying there
is nothing else to do for her. Delenn disagrees: they can make Ivanova
comfortable in her last hours, and see to her needs, but not in the
fleet. Marcus holds Ivanova's hand in his, and leaves without a
word. Delenn also leaves, as two Minbari prepare to take Ivanova away.

<P>
At the Mars Resistance HQ, final preparations are underway. Number One
arrives with an Earth Force officer, who will help smuggle the frozen
telepaths onto the destroyers orbiting Mars. It will be tricky, but
she'll try to make it work. Meanwhile, Garibaldi leads a small team scouting a
supply base on the surface. They are two hours away. They begin to
approach as shuttles leave the base to supply dozens of Earth Alliance
Destroyers.

<P>
At a bunker on the perimeter of the base, an Earth Force officer asks
for a status report. With Sheridan's imminent attack, they expect the
Mars Resistance to take advantage of the confusion and attack. As the
officer attempts to contact another station, an NCO pulls out a
breather mask. The officer is getting no reponse. "What is wrong with
Bravo?" he asks. The NCO puts the breather mask on, pulls out a gun, and
answers: "Same thing that is wrong here." At that moment, the door to
the bunker opens; with the atmosphere thinning, the attacking forces
easily overpower the Earth Force personnel. The attacking forces
include Number One, Garibaldi, Franklin and Lyta. The NCO indicates
there was no opportunity to warn the base: the Resistance now controls
the perimeter. Franklin puts a device on Lyta's head and starts
working on it.

<P>
Aboard the Agamemnon, Sheridan gives the attack fleet their final
instructions. In order to attack Earth, they must take out the bases
on Mars first; otherwise, they would expose their flank and end up
fighting on two fronts. The Earth Destroyers and White Stars will lead
the assault, and the League ships are to provide support and establish
a perimeter, but they are not to engage unless fired upon first.

<P>
Aboard the Apollo, leading the Earth Force destroyer group, General
Lefcourt is in command. He has been called to replace the Apollo's
captain because Lefcourt is a soldier of the old school: he does not
take arms against his own government, no matter how justified he may
feel. And because he taught Sheridan at the Academy, and knows how
Sheridan thinks. Now he has to kill him, and everyone around
him. "It's a terrible day," he tells the Captain. "I wish to hell I had
never lived to see it."

<P>
Lefcourt is informed the hyperspace probes have picked up
something, but decides to wait in normal space for Sheridan. No
engagement in hyperspace has ever been anything but a disaster for
both sides, and Sheridan will come out sooner or later.

<P>
On the Mars surface, Franklin finishes adjusting the implants on
Lyta's head. She has to go outside to make contact; it will be really
difficult because of the distance, she says. She leaves the bunker,
and Garibaldi sends a final message to the fleet. Everything is ready.

<P>
Aboard a White Star, Marcus seems thoughtful. "You are thinking about
Ivanova again." says Lennier. Marcus is indeed thinking about her, and
how she is probably better off on Babylon 5, where there may be
something they can do for her. Lennier advises him not to get his
hopes up, but Marcus ignores him. Marcus has called Dr. Hobbs on
Babylon 5. In all this time, he reasons, they must have come up with
something to deal with near death conditions. "No." replies
Lennier. "There is nothing <i>usable</i> on Babylon 5." Marcus asks
what he means, but before Lennier can clarify, Garibaldi's message
comes through.

<P>
In the bunker, Garibaldi tells everyone to get ready. He's given the
fleet information accurate to within a few feet, which will enable the
White Stars to jump from hyperspace inside the atmosphere. A White
Star jumps in and starts attacking the base, helped by the Resistance
which is using the perimeter weapons.

<P>
Gen. Lefcourt is informed that the Resistance has attacked four bases
on Mars, and Sheridan's fleet is attacking a fifth. But Lefcourt does
not want to be planetbound, unable to maneuver in the gravity well,
and orders the fleet to stay in formation. He is curious,
though. Sheridan wouldn't go on the offensive without an ace in the
hole. What is it?

<P>
Meanwhile, Lyta starts contacting the frozen telepaths, now aboard the
Earth destroyers. As Franklin explains, they are aboard 30 of the
destroyers. They will awaken, merge with the computer systems and
render the destroyers useless. They are being used as weapons, he
admits, but they <i>are</i> weapons. He cannot remove the implants
without the resources of Earth; if the Alliance doesn't win, the
telepaths are dead anyway. And each destroyer has 1000 people on
board. If they do not have to destroy the ships, they are risking
thirty lives to save thirty thousand.

<P>
Aboard the destroyers, the telepaths awake slowly, as Lyta
concentrates.

<P>
Sheridan's fleet jumps into normal space close to Mars, as Lefcourt
expected. But before he can give any orders, the Apollo's systems
begin to fail. Almost all of the destroyers report similar
problems. In fact, all but 10 of the destroyers are out of
commission. Sheridan orders a White Star squadron to open fire on
them, targetting engines and weapons. Disable them, don't destroy
them, he instructs. The squadron quickly accomplishes this.

<P>
Aboard the Apollo, a security detail finds the shadow-modified
telepath and opens fire. Meanwhile, Sheridan is ready to
proceed. Human and Minbari forces are to jump to Earth, while the
rest of the League ships stay behind to keep an eye on the disabled
destroyers. Marcus rejoins the fleet, but leaves Lennier in command as
he goes to his quarters. He orders a search of Babylon 5 records
relating to death, terminal illness, and extreme measures.
<P>

Marcus soon receives the results, and finds a reference to the alien
healing device (<a href="/lurk/guide/021.html">"The Quality of
Mercy."</a>) He orders a shuttle to be made ready.

<P>
Aboard the Apollo, they have figured out the problem and eliminated
the telepath, but most systems are still down; they have no engines,
and no communications with the other ships, so they cannot let them
know what they found out. Gen. Lefcourt angrily orders engineering to
get the ship under control ASAP.

<P>
Lennier arrives at Delenn's ship. He has been tricked by Marcus into
leaving Marcus' White Star. Marcus breaks formation and leaves. Delenn
contacts Sheridan to let him know. They figure he is on route to
Babylon 5, but they cannot contact the station: as soon as they got
inside Mars orbit they hit the jammers. They are too close to turn
back, and there is nothing to do but continue ahead.

<P>
The fleet jumps to normal space, and Sheridan talks to the people of
Earth. He encourages those in the government who were afraid to speak
up to help place President Clark under arrest, to disband Nightwatch,
and to return the government to the hands of the people.
As he does so, Clark writes in his office, the planetary
defense grid comes online, and a group of armed security officers
escort a woman down a hallway.

<P>
Sheridan continues: "This is not the voice of treason. These are
your sons, your daughters, whose loyalties have never wavered; whose
belief in this Alliance has forced us to take extraordinary means. For
justice, for peace, for the future... we have come home."

<P>
President Clark hears people outside his office, and he types a final
command for the defense grid. He takes a gun, and shoots himself in
the head. The woman and the security detail break into the office to
find Clark dead and a note on his desk. The note contains the
phrase "The ascension of the ordinary man" over and over, with certain
letters circled. The letters spell out "Scorched Earth."

<P>
As the fleet continues its attack on the defense platforms, the woman,
who is Senator Crosby, contacts Sheridan and tells him of the death of
Clark and his message. He has ordered the defense grid to fire on
Earth, and they cannot override the command. In ten minutes, it will
fire and level 40% of the surface.

<P>
"Delenn, we need you," says Sheridan. "We are there," she replies. The
combined human and Minbari forces attack the defense platforms,
destroying them one by one as Minbari and human pilots give their
lives in the process.

<P>
The Agamemnon is hit several times by missiles, as the race to destroy
the platforms continues. The Agamemnon is hit again, and is now heavily
damaged and unable to fire. The nearest platform is about to fire, and
no other ship is in range. Sheridan gives the order to ram the
platform in a suicide run.

<P>
But before they can hit the platform, the Apollo comes out of
hyperspace. "We have monitored the situation. Hold on to your hats,"
says Gen. Lefcourt as he fires and destroys the last platform. The
Agamemnon emerges from the fireball, still in one piece.

<P>
"You'll have to stand before a board of inquiry on this one, Sheridan,"
says Lefcourt. "Still, welcome home, John. Welcome home."

<P>
After the battle, Sheridan is wanted in EarthDome. Franklin is heading
to Babylon 5, hoping to stop Marcus, and Delenn has some business to
attend to.

<P>
In an ISN special report, the reporter last seen on the air when ISN
was taken over by forces loyal to Pres. Clark
(<a href="/lurk/guide/054.html">"Severed Dreams"</a>) is overcome with
emotion as she welcomes back their viewers and reports on the events
of the past hours, alluding as well to her imprisonment and those of
other colleagues.

<P>
Meanwhile Franklin continues to try to contact Babylon 5. He reviews
the logs that Marcus downloaded, in which Franklin mentions the alien
healing device and indicates that to save someone from fatal illness,
the other person connected to the machine must die.

<P>
Aboard Babylon 5, in MedLab, a guard lies unconscious on the floor. Marcus
has connected himself and Ivanova to the healing device. As he loses
consciousness next to her, Marcus whispers: "I love you."