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139 lines
6.1 KiB
139 lines
6.1 KiB
Against the Odds
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[1][ISMAP]-[2][Home]
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[3]
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### GUIDE ### [4][Index] [5][Previous] [6][Next]
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Overview
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Garibaldi experiences an alien encounter chillingly similar to what
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he went through years ago on Mars, when he first met former Babylon
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5 commander Jeffrey Sinclair.
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Issue 6 (July 1995)
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Setting: Before [7]"The Coming of Shadows"
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Writer: Tim DeHaas
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Premise: J. Michael Straczynski
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Penciller: John Ridgway
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Inker: C-S. Hampton
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_________________________________________________________________
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Synopsis
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Garibaldi and Keffer climb out of the crashed ship and leave quickly,
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in case their attacker comes looking for them. Garibaldi makes certain
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to set the ship to self-destruct. As they walk away, Garibaldi
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mentions that he's seen a ship like the attacker's before. Years ago,
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on Mars...
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Two young officers, Foster and Sanchez, waited for Lt. Commander
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Sinclair and Garibaldi in the Mars spaceport. Garibaldi turned out to
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be unconscious in the passenger compartment of his ship; Sinclair woke
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him and tossed him to Foster and Sanchez to sober up. "Earthforce may
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have given me this make-work mission to keep me out of the way,"
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Sinclair said, "but by God, I _will_ accomplish it."
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Much later, Garibaldi flew Sinclair and the two others over the
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surface of Mars, searching for something. Garibaldi notes that
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Sinclair wasn't what he expected -- after what he'd heard about
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Sinclair being a hero of the Battle of the Line, he hadn't expected
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someone stiffer than a corpse. Sinclair refused to tell Garibaldi what
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they were looking for, and even filed fake flight plans so nobody else
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would know where they were.
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On the fifth day of searching, the ship's navigational systems and
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inertial dampers suddenly went offline. Garibaldi managed to crashland
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the ship, wrecking it, without killing everyone -- but Sanchez' leg
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was broken, and Foster didn't survive. Sanchez clearly blamed
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Garibaldi.
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Sinclair and Garibaldi went to get help, a fifty-mile trek across the
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surface. They weren't far when Sanchez linked in to report that all
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the ship's systems had suddenly started working again -- evidence that
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Garibaldi wasn't at fault after all. Sanchez picked up a dust storm on
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the ship's scanners; Sinclair and Garibaldi sought cover.
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Keffer and Garibaldi reach the top of a large rock formation
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overlooking the crash site. From that high vantage point, Keffer can
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see what looks like a small Centauri settlement in the distance. But
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Garibaldi's attention is elsewhere: the Shadow ship has landed next to
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the crash site, and humanoid figures have emerged, examining what
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little remains of the wreckage. "Did you see something like that on
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Mars?" Keffer asks, staring down at the Shadow ship. "That and
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_more_," Garibaldi answers, face full of fear. He says there's no hope
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of a rescue, because he didn't tell anyone where he was going.
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On the ground, the remains of the crashed ship suddenly vanish without
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a trace, as does the impact ditch. "They're getting rid of the
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evidence," Garibaldi says. "They don't want anyone to know they were
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here."
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The figures seem to decide that someone survived the crash, and head
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purposefully toward the rock formation. "Let's get the hell out of
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here!" says Garibaldi as he and Keffer scramble down the other side of
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the formation.
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Backplot
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* Earthforce used to give Sinclair busywork missions to keep him out
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of the way, suggesting he was something of a troublemaker.
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* Garibaldi has seen a Shadow ship, if only a small one, on Mars.
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Unanswered Questions
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* Who are the beings on the Shadow ship?
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* What was Sinclair supposed to be searching for?
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* What else did Garibaldi see on Mars?
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* What caused Garibaldi's ship to malfunction years ago?
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* Does whatever Garibaldi saw mean that the Shadows have been active
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for many years? (See also episode [8]"In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum")
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Analysis
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* If Sinclair and Gariabldi found a Shadow ship on Mars, and
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especially if they were able to destroy it somehow, that might
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explain why the Shadows haven't attacked any human ships in the
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series so far (as of [9]"Knives.")
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* Of course, there's no evidence that Garibaldi saw a _functioning_
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Shadow ship on Mars; maybe he and Sinclair found an ancient crash
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site, the occupants long since dead or vanished -- which would
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have given Garibaldi the opportunity to explore inside. That may
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even have been what Sinclair was sent to look for.
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Notes
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* Keffer has also seen a Shadow ship before, in [10]"A Distant
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Star," though it was a large cruiser rather than the smaller
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variety in this story.
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jms speaks
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* Issues 6-9 of the B5 comic from DC will focus on how Sinclair and
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Garibaldi met and formed their friendship.
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(This is based on a premise from me, so it's canon.)
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[16][Next]
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Last update: October 30, 1996
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References
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1. file://localhost/cgi-bin/imagemap/titlebar
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2. LYNXIMGMAP:file://localhost/lurk/maps/maps.html#titlebar
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3. file://localhost/lurk/gif/comic/006.jpg
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4. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/comic/index.html
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5. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/comic/005.html
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6. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/comic/007.html
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7. file://localhost/lurk/guide/031.html
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8. file://localhost/lurk/guide/038.html
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9. file://localhost/lurk/guide/039.html
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10. file://localhost/lurk/guide/026.html
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11. file://localhost/lurk/lurker.html
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12. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/comic/006.html#TOP
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13. file://localhost/cgi-bin/uncgi/lgmail
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14. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/episodes.php
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15. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/comic/005.html
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16. file://localhost/home/woodstock/hyperion/docs/lurk/comic/007.html
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