brennen
/
lurkers-guide



								<h3>Synopsis by Matthew Murray (mmurray@wsu.edu)</h3>


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/indict.jpeg" alt="">

								Sheridan approaches a store owner who is having an argument with a

								member of the Night Watch.  The member of Night Watch says that the

								store owner, who has been hanging signs expressing his negative

								feelings about President Clark, is committing acts of sedition.

								Sheridan tries to calm him down, and says that the shopkeeper has a right to his

								opinion.  He warns the Night Watch officer that, if such harassment happens

								again, the responsible party will be disciplined.


								<p>

								Ivanova arrives in Garibaldi's office to receive a message from the

								PsiCop Bester, who will be arriving on Babylon 5 in seven hours.  He

								claims that there is an individual on board who may be a danger to the

								station, Earth, and the PsiCorps.  Garibaldi tells her that he thinks

								this visit, like Bester's others, is merely a ploy to check up on them.  It

								turns out that Bester's concerns may be justified, for a crazed man,

								shouting, "The mountain is falling on me," is attacking people elsewhere on

								the station.


								<p>

								Sheridan warns the other members of the Babylon 5 war council that

								Bester will soon be on the station.  He tells them that, with the

								current state of the station and everything that has been going on,

								they can't afford to be scanned by Bester, who might not obey PsiCorps

								regulations.  Garibaldi suggests killing him if he learns too much, but

								Sheridan won't hear of it.  Delenn tells everyone that, although risky,

								there may be an alternative to violence.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/vir.jpeg" alt="">

								Vir arrives off a transport to meet Londo in the docking bay.  After

								exchanging a few pleasantries, Londo asks Vir to tell him everything

								about his trip.


								<p>

								Dr. Franklin, in MedLab, is treating the man who had the crazed fits

								earlier when a nurse comes in with one of his victims, who nearly died

								in avalanche several months earlier.  Since the crazed man had been

								shouting about a mountain falling on him, Dr. Franklin asks him to be

								tested for traces of Dust.


								<p>

								When Bester's transport arrives at the station, Ivanova orders everyone

								off the command deck so that she can perform a maintenance routine, but

								she has other ideas in mind.  "They don't know you, your kind, the way

								I do," she says to herself.  "They don't understand, they think it's

								some kind of a joke.  But nothing works with you people.  Nothing but

								force.  Computer, activate forward defense grid.  We can't risk

								throwing it all away, not because of you.  I've been saying it for

								weeks now... The defense grid's been acting funny.  Defense grid,

								prepare to fire.  Fire!"


								<p>

								"Belay that order," shouts Sheridan, who entered unbeknownst to Ivanova.

								He manages to convince her that this would be throwing away her career,

								and that she would become exactly what she hates most.  He

								deactivates the defense grid and tells the computer to begin docking

								manuevers.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=160 height=120 src="/lurk/gif/050/throw.jpeg" alt="">

								After his ship docks, Bester comes aboard the station, and is taken to

								Sheridan's office, where Sheridan and the others are waiting, each with

								a Minbari standing by them.  Sheridan introduces them as Minbari

								telepaths, who he has brought to level the playing field.  He tells

								Bester that he doesn't trust him, and blames him for what happened with

								Talia Winters.  Bester tries to bait Garibaldi on that topic, but isn't

								successful.  Ivanova explains

								that, while a human telepath couldn't block a PsiCop's scan, a group of

								Minbari telepaths can.  Franklin gives him the choice of either

								taking the sleeper drugs to suppress his telepathic abilities, or to

								put up with the Minbari telepaths.  Bester chooses to submit to an

								injection of sleepers.<br clear=all>


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/surprise.jpeg" alt="">

								Londo, Vir, Delenn, Lennier, and the Drazi ambassador and his aide are

								meeting together to try to solve the dispute between the Centauri and

								the Drazi.  Londo explains that the Centauri Republic wants a buffer

								zone of seven planets, which is five more than he originally wanted.

								This angers the Drazi ambassador, but Londo is unwilling to say

								anymore, and tells the Drazi ambassador that, if he isn't careful, what

								happened to the Narn homeworld might happen to the Drazi homeworld as

								well.  Londo and the Drazi leave, leaving Vir alone with Delenn and

								Lennier.  He thanks them for supporting his visit to Minbar, and

								suggests that Londo might do well to visit as well.  Delenn and Lennier

								are unsure that that would help, but Vir insists that he knows there is

								more to Londo than meets the eye.


								<p>

								Bester explains to the command staff that he has come aboard the

								station to find one of the main distributors of Dust, a drug which

								allows the user to activate his or her latent telepathic gene, allowing

								them to invade others' minds, living their life for several hours.  It

								is highly addictive, and more is required each time to achieve the

								affect.  When a telepath is read by someone using Dust, he almost never

								recovers.  Bester explains that he believes that the seller wants to

								sell the Dust to alien governments to use as a weapon, and that that is

								what the Corps is worried about.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/deal.jpeg" alt="">

								G'Kar tells Lindstrom, the Dust dealer, that their agreement called for

								no selling of Dust while he was delivering it to G'Kar.  G'Kar promises

								to pay him, when he learns that it works as advertised.  Lindstrom

								presents G'Kar with a small packet of Dust, which G'Kar explains he wants

								to use as a weapon.  Lindstrom tells him that the drug was designed for

								human telepaths, and might not work on the Narn, whose telepaths and

								their families had been exterminated many generations earlier.  G'Kar

								tells Lindstrom they will continue business after the Dust has been

								tested, but Lindstrom warns him that it

								could be dangerous.  G'Kar doesn't care, and sends him on his way.


								<p>

								Garibaldi and Bester are walking together through a crowded area.  Bester

								explains that he wishes to protect Earth just as Garibaldi wishes to

								protect Babylon 5.  Bester says it is his job to protect the human race

								from threats that only the Corps can stop.  He says they may be the only

								chance that the human race has for survival.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/mollari.jpeg" alt="">

								G'Kar sits crumpled on the floor of his quarters, the empty Dust packet

								sitting nearby.  He croaks out the word "Mollari," and leaves his

								quarters.  He sees and hears the world around him differently while he

								is under the effects of the drug, picking up the stray thoughts of

								those that walk by him, and he is scarcely able to control their effect

								on him.  But, he does manage to make his way through the station

								slowly, toward his destination.


								<p>

								Garibaldi and Bester are interrogating one of the more powerful members

								of Babylon 5's underground about what he knows about the Dust dealer.

								When the man, Ashi, claims he doesn't know anything, Bester says that

								he's lying, explaining that strong emotions cause him to blurt out

								things like that sometimes, though the information can't be used officially.

								Ashi explains that he was approached by a man with numerous crates of Dust,

								but that he wouldn't help handle them.  He tells Garibaldi that the man has

								quarters in Red Sector, that he is using the assumed name Morgenstern,

								and that he has a shipment coming in this afternoon.  Garibaldi sends

								the man away with two other security officers, and then asks Bester how

								he was able to read the man's thoughts.  Bester explains that his

								uniform gives him a power over others -- whether or not he can read their

								thoughts, they believe he can.  Garibaldi accuses him of using it

								merely for intimidation, but Bester is quick to point out to Garibaldi

								that his uniform, too, can be used for that purpose.


								<p>

								Londo tells Vir that the report he is planning to send to the Centarum

								is not appropriate, and that it demonstrates great political naivete.

								Vir tries to explain his point of view, but Londo will not listen to

								anything he has to say, only allowing Vir to leave in his explanation

								of Minbari spirituality.  Londo's door chimes, and Vir goes to

								answer it, but is accosted and rendered unconcious by G'Kar, who then

								enters Londo's quarters, a look of fire in his eyes.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/stakeout.jpeg" alt="">

								Garibaldi and Bester hide behind a large crate in a storage room,

								hoping that they will be able to catch the dealer and the evidence all

								at the same time, according to due process, which Garibaldi accuses

								Bester of ignoring all too frequently.  Several men enter the room, and

								begin their dealings for the Dust.  Garibaldi speaks into his link

								quickly, and a shrill siren fills the room, dropping all of the men to

								their knees, while Garibaldi confiscates the Dust.  Several other

								security officers enter and cart off the men involved in the deal.


								<p>

								Londo, bleeding and unable to move, finds G'Kar standing over him, and

								tries to make an offer to him.  G'Kar, still under the effects of the

								Dust, takes a trip into the depths of Londo's mind...


								<p>

								...He finds himself seeing Londo being assigned to Babylon 5, and

								learns that Londo

								was appointed to his position of Ambassador only because there was no

								one else who wanted it.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/inside.jpeg" alt="">

								G'Kar takes great pleasure, while inside Londo's head, in tormenting him

								about this fact.  Londo begs G'Kar to leave his mind, but G'Kar refuses,

								demanding that Londo show him all of the secrets he has been holding

								in.  He delves further into Londo's mind...


								<p>

								...This time seeing the meeting Londo had with Morden in the garden

								just before President Santiago's death.


								<p>

								G'Kar reacts very strongly to this, finally learning that it was

								Londo who was behind the plight of the Narn.  G'Kar demands to know who he

								was working with, but Londo refuses to tell him.  Infuriated, G'Kar rips the

								information he wants from his mind.  The resulting montage of images is

								so strong that it thrusts him out of Londo's mind, and into his own...

								<br clear=all>


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/dad.jpeg" alt="">

								...G'Kar finds himself back on the Narn homeworld, many years earlier,

								witnessing the death of his father.  His father asks him to honor his name

								right before he dies.  The image ends, and G'Kar hears a voice.  He turns

								around...


								<p>

								...To find an old Narn standing before him.  The old Narn tells G'Kar

								that both the

								Narn and the Centauri are a dying people, and that they cannot simply

								fight forever, until both races have been exterminated.  Once that

								happens, there can be no winners or losers.  G'Kar says that he made a

								promise to his father to honor his father's name, but the old Narn asks

								him to reexamine how he should go about that.  He tells G'Kar that, if

								they are a dying race, they should die with honor, and no longer devote

								their life to fighting and hatred.  "We are fighting to save one

								another.  And some of us must be sacrificed," he tells G'Kar, "if all

								are to be saved.  Because if we fail in this, then none of us will be

								saved, and the Narn will be only a memory."  The old Narn vanishes, but

								G'Kar is not alone for long...


								<p>

								...A strange voice fills his thoughts.  "You have the opportunity, here

								and now, to choose.

								To become something greater and nobler and more difficult than you have

								been before.  The universe does not offer such chances often, G'Kar."


								<p>

								"Why now?"  G'Kar asks.  "Why not earlier?  All this time... Where have

								you been?"


								<p>

								"I have always been here," the voice replies.  G'Kar finally sees its

								source as the sound of flapping wings fills his mind.  G'Kar spins

								around to see the white, glowing figure of G'Lan rise up and fly into the

								distance.


								<p>

								Once G'Lan has vanished, G'Kar can only sit and sob, with the

								unconcious Londo nearby.  Neither of them notice another visitor, Kosh,

								who soon takes his leave.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/bruised.jpeg" alt="">

								While Vir visits Londo, who is just regaining conciousness in MedLab,

								G'Kar faces the ombuds who is presiding over the hearing where he is being

								tried for his crimes.  After G'Kar pleads guilty, Sheridan tries to

								convince the ombuds that G'Kar's actions were caused by the Dust, and

								therefore, not his fault.  She disagrees, saying that the fact that he went

								to Londo's quarters, constitutes premeditation.  She sentences him to a

								term of no less than 60 days in the station's prison facilities.

								Garibaldi approaches G'Kar and offers him the Book of G'Quan, which

								G'Kar had loaned him, but G'Kar asks him to keep it, since he himself

								is now "somewhat closer to the source."


								<p>

								After being released from MedLab, Londo and Vir speak of the last few

								days' events, but Vir explains that he must leave that night.  Londo

								tells him that he should never allow the Centauri government to make a

								joke of him or his work.  Vir promises that he won't.


								<p>

								Garibaldi escorts Bester to the docking bay, and though Bester has enjoyed

								working with Garibaldi, the feeling isn't mutual.  When another PsiCop

								arrives for Bester, Garibaldi makes a hasty exit.  As they walk away,

								Bester says that he knew the original purpose of Dust, to create

								telepaths from those without latent skill, would never work, but that

								at least he has retrieved it; it's back among humans, where it belongs.


								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/050/prison.jpeg" alt="">

								G'Kar sits alone in his prison cell, quietly thinking, and remembering

								the words he heard the old Narn speak to him, while under the effect of

								the Dust.  "We are fighting to save one another.  And some of us must

								be sacrificed, if all are to be saved."

								<br clear=all>