lurkers-guide/synops/097

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

<P>
Whoever has been attacking Alliance cargo transports possesses daunting
resources. The strikes have been carried out against far flung shipping
lines with military precision and overwhelming force while leaving no
survivors and no incriminating wreckage and--unlike raiders--taking no
cargo. The Alliance leadership has 24 hours before it must inform the
member worlds of these findings. Sheridan orders the Rangers to patrol the
major routes, but without knowing the purpose of the attacks, he can guess
the disruption this is going to cause in the Alliance as the member races
all blame each other.

<P>
Minister Vitelli professes joy at Prime Minister Mollari's homecoming,
but in reality can't keep his eyes off the fearsome Narn at Mollari's side.
The court is even more unnerved when Mollari announces that G'Kar is his
bodyguard. 

<P>
Byron calls his telepaths together for a meeting and announces Lyta's
revelation about how the Vorlons created telepaths in order to use them as
weapons in the Shadow War. Since their purpose was to serve the others,
they deserve recompense in the form of a homeworld, he concludes, and
that's what he intends to demand from the Alliance.

<P>
Londo receives an old friend, Lord Jano, and their conversation quickly
turns to the Regent. He has been in seclusion for months, although he is
occasionally found doddering around the palace at night talking to himself
and always seeming to be on the verge of warning people about something
that he forgets before he can divulge. Londo is surprised to hear that the
Regent is usually drunk at these times since the Regent had always flouted
convention by his sobriety. 

<P>
Jano is worried by other oddities. Recently the Regent has made many
innocuous-seeming matters top secret, such as fleet status and production
figures for raw materials. 

<P>
When Lord Jano returns to his rooms he finds the Regent sitting there in
the dark. The Regent reminisces about Jano's boyhood and then fondly says,
"If it were my decision, I would never let anyone hurt you." Jano smiles
condescendingly as the Regent says woefully, "But it's not my decision, you
see." A look of horror crosses Jano's face before he is flung across the
room. 

<P>
As the Alliance ambassadors depart the council for their quarters and
offices, each one of them is tailed closely by a telepath. Then Byron goes
to visit Garibaldi. 

<P>
The next day in court, Lord Vitelli informs Londo that the Regent is not
well enough to meet with him. Londo then sends Vitelli to investigate Lord
Jano's absence before being confronted by Lord Vole who criticizes Londo
for bringing G'Kar. To prove the Narn's barbarian nature, Lord Vole
introduces the guard who electrowhipped G'Kar for Cartagia's pleasure.
Handing G'Kar the whip, Vole grants him permission to do as he likes to the
guard. A flash of anger flares in G'Kar's eyes, but Cartagia is dead and
the guard was not responsible. Dropping the whip at Lord Vole's feet G'Kar
reminds him that more pain is caused by the mouth than by the hand or the
heart. 

<P>
Lord Vitelli rushes Londo to Lord Jano's chamber where Jano's body hangs
by the neck. Both Londo and G'Kar are certain that it was not suicide.

<P>
Byron asks Garibaldi's permission to address the full Alliance Council, but
declines to explain why, so Garibaldi refuses. Byron plucks the shipping
reports from Garibaldi's mind and says that his information about the
crisis effects all the member worlds and therefore should be delivered to
them all at once lest they doubt its accuracy. 

<P>
Byron gets his chance, and as Lyta hands out reports detailing how the
Vorlons created telepaths, he explains his real purpose in coming before
the Council. Angry at being deceived, Sheridan calls Byron out of order,
causing Byron to play his trump card. He announces that the telepaths who
have been trailing the ambassadors have discovered all of their secrets,
and if his demands are not met, he will reveal everything that has been
discovered. 

<P>
Sheridan's fury is nothing next to Garibaldi's. Only Delenn is open minded
enough to wonder if the telepaths haven't been abused and mistreated enough
to deserve what they are asking for and points out the similarities between
the telepaths' case and the one which caused Sheridan to launch a civil war.

<P>
Lord Vitelli invites the Prime Minister to a meeting with the Regent. As
Londo and G'Kar tread uneasily through the midnight corridors, they hear
footsteps and the snick of a sword being bared. G'Kar turns to grapple with
two assassins and a dropgate falls, separating him from Mollari. 

<P>
Lord Vole is waiting in the next room. He throws a dagger which halts
inches from Mollari's breast and hovers an instant before flying back and
sinking into his own heart. Too stunned to react, Londo peers around and
sees an alien in the shadows with great glowing red eyes. The dropgate
rises again just as G'Kar squeezes the life out of the second Centauri
assassin. Leaving the bodies littering the floor they hurry back to their
chambers.

<P>
One of the telepaths has broken Byron's orders to stay put by venturing out
to find supplies. He is set upon by Drazi. When the others feel it, some
can't help but rush to defend him. Byron is distraught. He knows that the
violence is ruining their chances of success. 

<P>
Sheridan's exhaustion is palpable as he sits in the empty council room.
Zack enters on behalf of Captain Lochley to request Sheridan's permission
to arrest the telepaths. Although he is half inclined to agree with Delenn,
Sheridan feels that he can't do anything for the telepaths until they are
in custody, and so he removes his protection of them.

<P>
Byron knows the attack will begin soon. When he announces that they will
close off the access points and remain peacefully under siege until they
are too weak to prevent their own arrest, there is a rebellion by some of
the others who find this approach too passive. They would rather fight with
the secrets and weapons they have stolen. "Is there not one of you who
understands?" Byron shouts in exasperation, and vows to stay despite what
any of his followers do.

<P>
Lord Vitelli professes his gladness that Mollari has survived and stammers
his innocence in the attack. Londo sees a hand beckoning from behind a
drape and follows to find the Regent giggling madly in the throne room. He
tells Mollari that he's glad they got there in time to save him, although it
wasn't really him who saved Mollari, it was them. They are Cartagia's
legacy, he continues, and they like Mollari. When Molari asks who "they"
are, the Regent shushes him worriedly. "You will be Emperor soon," he says.
When Mollari agrees, a terribly mournful look transfixes the Regent's face.
"I'm so sorry." 

<P>
They have a message for Mollari, he continues. He must stop making inquiries
about supplies and ships. "You will understand it all soon," the Regent says.

<P>
When Mollari says he wants to understand it now, the Regent exclaims "No! No
you don't! If you have ever believed me before, Londo, believe me now. You
still have time. Enjoy it! Run in the sunlight! Eat! Laugh!" Suddenly
spooked he whispers, "Like a fool. You have so little time." Another
mercurial change descends upon him and he violently shoos Londo from the
room promising him one more conversation before the end. 

<P>
Londo leaves more bewildered than he arrived. The poor Regent turns to face
a bug-eyed monster and is instantly punished for his loose tongue. His
protests are ignored as his keeper strangles him.

<P>
Sleepless, Londo tells G'Kar that they must leave as soon as possible.  The
palace frightens him, and he wonders aloud "what could they be doing with
our ships." 

<P>
Somewhere in space an unarmed transport is destroyed by a Centauri battleship.

<P>
Zack's voice on the PA interrupts a tender moment between Lyta and Byron.
He orders them to remove the barriers they have erected and surrender, and
begs Lyta to come out. Lyta won't leave, but Byron tells her that he will
ask her later to leave him and makes her promise to do it.