brennen
/
lurkers-guide



								<p>  We join Sinclair and Garibaldi in the dining hall.  They are soon

								joined by a very tired Ivanova, who was awakened one hour early by C&C

								after mysterious tachyon emissions were discovered in sector 14, three hours away

								from Babylon 5.  Though Ivanova believed the emissions were just routine, she

								authorized Alpha VII, a Starfury, to investigate the problem.

								<p>  Alpha VII contacts Babylon 5 when it enters sector 14, and the pilot

								reports an increase in tachyon emissions.  Though he doesn't see anything when

								he first arrives, the sensors register something, and he sees a large object

								materializing.  By the time he figures out what it is, it is too late.  "No!

								That's not possible!  That can't be, it just can't be!"  His last words fade

								into an agonizing scream as the Starfury is engulfed in blinding white light.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/apparition.gif"> A startling apparition.

								<p>

								Ivanova calls Commander Sinclair after the pilot's last message.  She is

								unable to contact the pilot on any open frequencies, but is still receiving

								the Starfury's homing beacon.  According to the beacon, the ship is returning

								to Babylon 5 and will be there in one hour and fifteen minutes.  Ivanova also

								reports that more bursts of tachyon emissions are occurring, and that one

								occurred when she lost contact with the fury's pilot.  Sinclair tells Ivanova

								to make sure that Dr. Franklin is ready at MedLab in case there are any

								injuries that need to be tended to.

								<p>  Meanwhile, Ambassador Delenn, in a

								Minbari ship, departs from Babylon 5.  Though Babylon Control asks her if she

								wants someone to pilot the ship for her, she declines.  "Some things one must

								do alone," she explains just before she enters the jumpgate.

								<p>  Soon after, Alpha VII returns into scanner range.  Alpha VII approaches

								the station, but does not enter the docking bay.  A scan of the ship reveals

								that there is no structural damage and that hull integrity is okay, but there

								are no life signs.  Soon after, Garibaldi returns to Sinclair and Ivanova with

								Dr. Franklin's report.  "There was no damage to the body, no shock, no trauma.

								Everything points to death by natural causes."  Though things seem ordinary at

								this point, when Garibaldi explains that the pilot, who just turned thirty

								years old, died of old age, Sinclair and Ivanova are understandably puzzled.

								"His internal organs are like those of a man three times his age," Garibaldi

								reports.  Ivanova recommends that they send a team to investigate, in case

								there is a hazard to navigation, but Sinclair declines.  "Not yet," he says.

								"Not until we have a better idea what we are facing.  Meanwhile, I want all

								traffic routed clear of sector 14.  Michael, I want that ship examined with a

								fine-tooth comb.  Something fatal happened out there.  I want to know what."

								<p>  As Delenn reaches her destination, Sinclair, Ivanova, and Garibaldi

								discover another portion of the mystery.  Garibaldi, after a thorough search

								of Alpha VII, finds the buckle off the pilot's safety harness.  Scratched into

								the surface of the buckle is "B4."  Ivanova speculates that "B4" stands for

								Babylon 4, the previous Babylon station that disappeared in sector 14 four

								years previous.  Sinclair reports that the tachyon emissions from that

								sector were coming from the same place that Babylon 4 disappeared.  The

								discussion is interrupted by communication from C&C, declaring that

								the station is receiving a distress signal from sector 14.  "I thought I

								ordered all ships to stay clear of that area," says Sinclair.  The technician from C&C

								affirms his orders, but then identifies the signal as coming from

								Babylon 4.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/delenn-wait.gif"> Delenn waits.

								<p>  After the three arrive at C&C, Sinclair doesn't reply to the

								signal but instead orders Ivanova to retrieve the secure code of Babylon 4

								from the station archives.  "Ever since the war, every Earth Force command and

								control center was configured to broadcast its ID code on a subchannel,"

								explains Sinclair.  Garibaldi adds that the reason for it was to prevent

								counterfeit orders.  Ivanova brings up the signal and it matches perfectly to

								the one being broadcast from sector 14.  Sinclair orders the transmission to

								be patched through.  "Earth station Babylon 4 requesting help.  We need

								assistance," says the man on the other end.  Sinclair responds, and the

								commander on the other end explains that they are caught in a flux with only

								30% of their power and their escape ships damaged.  They request help from

								Babylon 5 to evacuate their skeleton crew of 1200-1300.  The commander of

								Babylon 4 looks nervous and begins muttering strangely.  "Oh God.  It's

								starting again.  It's starting again," he says just as the communication is

								cut off.  Ivanova notices that the date stamp on the message is four

								years out of date.

								<p>  Though Garibaldi has a difficult time believing the station is Babylon 4,

								Sinclair prepares a fighter escort with an evacuation

								fleet to sector 14, determined to find Babylon 4.  Sinclair makes a speech to

								the pilots of the ships warning them of the dangers and the previous death of

								the pilot of Alpha VII.  Though he offers them a chance to withdraw because of

								the danger, no one does, and soon the fleet is sent off into space.  Sinclair

								wants to learn the truth about Babylon 4, but also wants to take no chances.

								"If you don't hear from us in eight hours, notify Earth Central, but do not

								send additional ships," he tells Ivanova.

								<p>  Meanwhile, Delenn reaches her destination, a gigantic ship, not unlike

								the one from Sinclair's memory of the Battle of the Line (cf.

								<a href="/lurk/guide/008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars"</a>.)

								She boards the ship and is taken into a great chamber by a

								hooded Minbari.  When she enters, she addresses the eight hooded figures

								around her, each of which is standing in an individual pool of light.

								"Summoned, I come," she intones.  "In Valen's name, I take the place that has

								been prepared for me.  I am Grey.  I stand between the candle and the star.

								We are Grey.  We stand between the darkness and the light."  She is

								welcomed back by the council, but wonders why she has been recalled.

								<p>  "It has been ten cycles," explains one member of the Grey Council, "since

								Dukhat has left this world to take his place with Valen and the nine who were.

								Ten cycles since our people have had a leader.  The time of mourning is

								complete.  We must now choose another."  Another member of the council,

								the one who visited her on the station earlier, (cf.

								<a href="/lurk/guide/008.html">"And the Sky Full of Stars"</a>)

								explains that they have spent much time deciding who the next leader should

								be, and that they have decided upon Delenn as the leader because she has seen

								the most, and knows the most about the universe and other species.  Delenn

								doesn't want to accept the position because she believes that her work on

								Babylon 5 has not been finished.  She worries about a prophecy, but is assured

								by the council that it will take care of itself, and that an appropriate

								replacement will be selected for her aboard Babylon 5, and that her work there

								is concluded.

								<p>  The fleet from Babylon 5 arrives in sector 14 to the sight they didn't

								really expect to see:  Babylon 4.  Though tachyon emissions are still present,

								Sinclair orders the rest of the fleet to approach the station.  They encounter

								a distortion field near the station where tachyon emissions increase by 50%.

								Sinclair orders the fleet to remain back while he and Garibaldi investigate.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/approach.gif"> Approaching Babylon 4.

								<p>

								After docking, they are assaulted and shot at in the otherwise empty docking

								bay.  "Monsters!  I'll stop you!" shouts the assailant.  "I know where you

								are!  I see you!  You think I can't?  I've gotta get off this station.  Come

								on, show yourselves!"  While Sinclair diverts his fire, Garibaldi sneaks up on

								the assailant from behind and captures him.  The commander of Babylon 4 then

								arrives to take custody of the assailant, who keeps insisting that he must be

								taken off of the station.  After the three officers indentify themselves,

								Sinclair explains that they are from Babylon 5 and the year 2258.  "We have to

								hurry.  We have to get everyone off the station," says Major Krantz, the

								commander of Babylon 4.  He is interrupted, however, by a flash of light that

								engulfs the station.

								<p>  Suddenly, Sinclair finds himself elsewhere in the midst of total chaos.

								"Commander, they burned through levels seven and eight.  Can't stop them.

								They're everywhere!" shouts Garibaldi, there with him, who is wielding an extremely

								large weapon, firing at a wall being cut through from the other side.  "I

								rigged the fusion reactors for the time I'm done," Garibaldi says.  "Get

								going, I'll hold them as long as I can.  Jeff, it's okay.  I finally

								understand.  This is the moment I was born for!"  Garibaldi pushes Sinclair

								into the crowd which carries him away, despite his protests, just as the wall

								collapses.  Garibaldi and those under his command fire madly at the hole.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/garibaldi.gif"> Garibaldi opens fire.

								<p>

								Another white flash occurs, and Sinclair finds himself back in his own time,

								aboard Babylon 4.  Sinclair, very confused, asks Krantz to what happened.

								"It's different for everyone.  A flash.  Forward.  Backward.  All of us.  The

								entire station.  We've become unstuck in time, Commander.  That's why we have

								to get out of here.  Quickly!"

								<p>  Back on the Minbari ship, Delenn is afraid of accepting the position of

								leader.  "I cannot do it," she says.  "I cannot accept the calling."  She is

								told by another councilmember that no one has ever refused the position when

								offered it.  Though Delenn yearns to accept the leadership of the council, her

								heart tells her that she must remain with Babylon 5 and that she has a part to

								play in the change that is coming.  She wants to reconvene the Council to

								speak to them, something that has never been done.  The other councilmember warns

								her that it might be a bad time, and that she must be aware of the

								consequences.  She understands, and the council is reconvened.

								<p>  As the evacuation of Babylon 4 continues, Major Krantz explains the

								problems they're having with Babylon 4 and the tachyon emissions and

								time distortions.  "It started 24 hours after the station went operational.

								We began noticing discrepencies in the time track system.  We thought it was

								a computer glitch.  Then all hell broke loose."  Sinclair asks if anything

								else unusual has happened, and Krantz replies by introducing him to a strange

								being called Zathras.  "We don't know how he got aboard, where he came from,

								or what race he is.  I've never seen an alien like him before," Krantz

								says, and describes how Zathras suddenly appeared with a flash in the conference room.

								When Sinclair enters, Zathras stands and stares intently at Sinclair, then

								shakes his head.  "Not The One.  Not The One..."

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/zathras.gif"> Zathras sees Sinclair.

								<p>

								Zathras babbles that he does

								as he is told.  "The One is hurt.  Must find.  Zathras must find.  Help."

								When asked why he is there, Zathras responds by saying that he was told the

								biggest of all the Babylon stations was needed.  Zathras is afraid to tell for

								fear that he will not be able to finish his mission, but explains further

								after being threatened by Garibaldi:

								<p>  "Great war.  Terrible war.  Much killings.  Everyone fighting.  A great

								darkness.  It is the end of everything.  Zathras warn, but no, no one listen

								to poor Zathras, no.  Great war.  But, great hope of peace.  Need place.

								Place to gather, to fight to organize...to help save galaxy on the side of

								light.  So they tell me.  Must have.  Or it is the end of all.  The One leads

								us.  The One tells us to go, we go.  We live for The One.  We would die for

								The One.  We pull this place through time to save us all."

								<p>

								When asked where

								he comes from, Zathras says he came from his year of 4993, but does not know

								what year that is in Earth time.  An officer appears and says, "Major, it's

								back."  Zathras, Sinclair, Garibaldi, and Krantz run out of the room to see a

								figure in a blue space suit.  The figure is having considerable trouble

								breathing, and is flickering, as if in and out of time.  Zathras is in awe.

								"It is The One," he says.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/one.gif"> The One.

								<p>  The figure in the space suit is apparently in great pain, but Zathras

								explains that The One will sacrifice himself for others and that he stopped

								the taking of Babylon 4 to let its crew evacuate.  Sinclair approaches The

								One, who reaches out his hand to him.  When Sinclair touches the gloved hand,

								a great shock sends him flying backward.  While Krantz and Garibaldi tend

								to Sinclair, Zathras runs to The One and hands him a small device.  "Zathras

								fixed," says Zathras.  "Take!  Hurry!"  The One then vanishes completely, and

								Zathras tries to run away, but is captured before he can escape.  "You must

								leave now.  Finished we are," Zathras warns Sinclair.  "There is no more time.

								Leave or be trapped here forever!"  Sinclair orders Garibaldi to assist

								in evacuation.

								<p>  Aboard the Minbari ship, Delenn addresses the Grey Council.  "This

								Council stopped the war against the humans because of prophecy, because Valen

								said that humans, some among them, had a destiny, which we could not interfere

								with.  It was my place to study them...to determine if the prophecy was

								correct.  I have not yet finished that task."  Another councilmember tells her

								that he believes that the prophecy refers to others, but Delenn does not

								believe it.  The councilmember does not understand Delenn's attraction toward

								humans, but Delenn explains that "they do not seek conformity.  They do not

								surrender.  Out of their differences comes symmetry.  Their unique capacity

								to fight against impossible odds.  Hurt them, they only come back stronger.

								The passions we deplore have taken them to their place in the stars, and will

								propel them to a great destiny.  Their only weakness is that they do not

								recognize their own greatness.  They forget they have come to this place

								through two million years of evolution, struggle, and blood.  They are better

								than they think and nobler than they know.  They carry within them the

								capacity to walk among the stars as giants.  They are the future.  We have

								much to learn from them."  The council cannot understand why she should stay

								with the humans, but Delenn believes it is the calling of her heart.  Delenn

								is warned that if she leaves the council, she may lose her position within it

								and may become outcast.  She is also warned that should she leave, the council

								may become divided.  She understands, and says that she must do what she

								believes is right.  The council votes on whether or not to honor Delenn's

								request.  The vote ends in Delenn's favor, and the council withdraws its

								decision and sends Delenn away so they may select another leader.

								<p>  While Garibaldi oversees the evacuation of Babylon 4, Major Krantz and

								Sinclair interrogate Zathras further.  They demand to know what Zathras gave

								to The One.  He explains to them that it was a "time stablilizer.  Help

								survive when make next time jump."  Sinclair then realizes that Alpha VII was

								caught in the time distortion and killed by it.  Zathras gave his only time

								stabilizer to The One.  He says that when the station jumps, he will die, but

								that he will probably be remembered for his sacrifice.  Krantz threatens to

								remove him from the station, but Zathras also claims that if he leaves the

								station, he will die as well, though he does not want to.

								<p>  The station shakes again, and Garibaldi reports that tachyon emissions

								have increased greatly.  There is another flash, and this time Garibaldi finds

								himself in the past, at the moment when Lise decided that she could not live

								with him anymore.  He wants to try to change things, but is too disoriented by

								the experience, and events happen much as they did before.  After she leaves,

								Garibaldi finds himself back on Babylon 4.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/lise.gif"> Lise says goodbye.

								<p>

								Sinclair contacts Garibaldi, who

								says he wants to leave the station as soon as possible.  Major Krantz agrees

								with Garibaldi, and insists that Zathras be taken with them when they leave

								the station.  "For the next fifteen minutes," Krantz tells Sinclair, "this is

								still my command.  I'm going to have to answer for this station, and I want

								proof to go with it.  Alive or dead, he's the only proof I've got.  And he's

								going with us."  Sinclair, Krantz, and Zathras, led by two security officers,

								attempt to leave the station, but it begins shaking again, and Zathras is

								caught, trapped beneath fallen debris.  Krantz and the guards run away, afraid

								for their lives, but Sinclair stays behind, trying to help Zathras.  "Leave

								me," Zathras cries.  "You must listen to Zathras.  You have a destiny.  Go.

								Please.  Go for Zathras."  Though he doesn't understand, Sinclair runs away

								and meets up with Garibaldi, who escorts him off the station.

								<p>  The station continues to break apart, and as it does so, The One returns

								to the station to retrieve Zathras.  Sinclair and Garibaldi escape in their

								ship just as the distortion field goes off the scale and Babylon 4 begins to

								disappear again.  The One walks out of a chamber into another room.  "Time

								distortion repaired," intones a computer voice.  "Present time atmosphere now

								breathable."  The One removes his helmet, revealing an older, and somewhat

								injured Sinclair.  "I tried," the older Sinclair says.  "I tried to warn them.

								But it all happened...just the way I remember it."  A hand in a red dress

								reaches up an touches him on the shoulder.  "I know," says a woman's exotic

								voice, a voice that sounds suspiciously like Delenn's.

								"It's time.  We have to go.  They're waiting for us."  Sinclair and

								the woman leave.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/oldsinclair.gif"> Comforting Sinclair.

								<p>  Sinclair and Garibaldi from the present return to Babylon 5 and speculate

								along the way on what they had just experienced.  "Do you think that bit was

								true," asks Garibaldi.  "About a great war and Babylon 4 being a great base

								for somebody to try to bring peace to the galaxy?"  Commander Sinclair doesn't

								know.  "But if it is true," he says, "I wish them luck.  The station was built

								to create peace.  Maybe now it'll do so in a way nobody ever expected.  But

								it's still on the same mission."  They fly off back toward Babylon 5.

								<p>  Not long after, Delenn prepares to leave the great Minbari ship.  On her

								way, she meets up with a member of the Grey Council.  He hopes to see her

								again, but Delenn believes that she will never see the inside of the Council

								Chamber again.  The councilmember doesn't know, but before she leaves, he

								presents her with a gift, wrapped in a cloth.  It is the Triluminary, a

								transparent triangle with metal edges.  She doesn't want to accept it, but he

								assures her it will not be missed for a time because there are two others.

								"These are curious times," he tells her before she leaves.  "I feel a great

								change in my bones.  A new beginning, an end, I cannot say.  We are surrounded

								by signs and portents, and I feel a darkness pressing.  If ever you have need

								of me, I am here."  She wraps the triluminary back in its cloth and

								returns to Babylon 5.

								<p>

								<img align=middle src="/lurk/gif/020/triluminary.gif"> Delenn receives the

								triluminary.

								<p>  On the station, Sinclair talks to Ivanova about what happened.  She

								expresses her regret about not being able to see Babylon 4, but Sinclair

								counters that they don't know where, or when, it was being taken.  It

								might pop up again some day.  He recalls Garibaldi's comparison of Babylon 4

								and the Flying Dutchman -- a sailing ship, he explains to Ivanova, that

								vanished, only to appear again and again over the ages.  "Did the Flying

								Dutchman ever make it home?" asks Ivanova.

								<p>  "No," answers Sinclair.


								<h5>Synopsis written by Matthew Murray &lt;i9717029@unicorn.it.wsu.edu&gt;</h5>