brennen
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lurkers-guide



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


								<p>

								A hopeful crowd has gathered in the Zocalo, eager to see the first ISN

								broadcast since transmissions broke off violently after the imposition

								of martial law a few weeks earlier.  However, even Ivanova is

								disheartened by the anchor's bold-faced lie that the final broadcast

								had been made by alien-backed saboteurs attempting to overthrow Earth

								Gov.


								<p>

								Captain Sheridan is busy checking out one of the new fighters from the

								Churchill when a distress call is logged.  It is from a lone black Star

								Fury, painted with an enormous Omega, and bearing the station's

								favorite Psi Cop, Mr. Bester.  Keeping carefully out of telepathic

								scanning range the Captain asks Bester why he shouldn't just kill him

								on the spot.  Curiousity? Bester suggests.  When there's no reply he

								prompts impatiently, "Captain?" but finds the response: "I'm thinking

								it over," rather unsettling.


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								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/gkar-demand.jpeg" alt="">

								A frustrated G'Kar catches Ivanova in a corridor.  He has fulfilled his

								part of the bargain he made with Sheridan by having his Narns assist

								with station security and even defense, and he demands that he now be

								allowed to join the alliance Sheridan and the rest have formed.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=160 height=120 src="/lurk/gif/058/bester.jpeg" alt="">

								Stepping onboard the station, Bester is amused to find himself greeted

								by a team of armed guards.  Meanwhile the command staff watch him

								suspiciously on a closed circuit TV and debate whether to drug him up,

								lock him up or give him a chance to explain.  Privately, Sheridan

								manages to convince a reluctant Ivanova to be the first to meet him

								since her latent ability will allow her to detect a scan.  She greets

								the Psi Cop in his cell with icy demeanor.  Bester's idle needling

								about her hatred for the Corps brings her to flash point faster than he

								could have estimated, and earns him a resounding slap when he mentions

								her mother.


								<p>

								But it brings him to his point.  "The enemy of my enemy is my friend,"

								he remarks.  He has found out about the Shadows and their influence

								over President Clark and the Psi Corps, and he doesn't like it.  They

								interfere with his plans for a future when humans are ruled by

								telepaths.  He has come to Babylon 5 to find someone who hates Shadows

								as much as he, because he thinks he knows a way to damage them.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/sheridan-delenn.jpeg" alt="">

								Sheridan and Delenn discuss G'Kar's demand.  They both realize that

								bringing G'Kar into their circle means they must own up to the fact

								that they knew that he was right about the ancient enemy's return and

								let his world be conquered by this enemy and the Centauri rather than

								reveal their knowledge.  Over Sheridan's objections the Minbari

								Ambassador insists that it is her responsibility to tell G'Kar the

								truth now since it was she who insisted that the secret be kept.


								<p>

								Bester tells the gathered officers that a ship bearing weapons

								components for the Shadows is en route to the Rim and needs to be

								seized.  He explains that he can pinpoint the ship's location in

								hyperspace by homing in on the thought waves of the occupants.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/chair.jpeg" alt="">

								"Try not to drool on the controls," Sheridan mutters as Bester admires

								the White Star's bridge.  The instant the Captain leaves his seat,

								Bester hops on, only to be booted out an instant later and ignored by

								Lennier when he tries to give an order.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/admission.jpeg" alt="">

								Her head bowed, Delenn admits to the Grey Council's knowledge of the

								Shadows and their alliance with the Centauri.  If they had spoken out,

								she explains, the Shadows would have acted openly and would have

								annihilated the Narns rather than simply allowing the Centauri to seize

								their homeworld.  Instead of millions dying, billions would have died --

								whole planets, she gasps, horrified.


								<p>

								"If I had learned this as my world was being bombed by the Centauri, I

								would have killed you instantly," G'Kar hisses.  "You understand that,

								do you not?"  Then he repeats the line from his Vorlon-inspired vision,

								"'Some must be sacrificed if all are to be saved.'...Now I understand

								that is as much about how we got here, as where we are going.  I think

								that one sentence is the greatest burden I have ever known."  He admits

								that if it were not for the Grey Council's inaction, his people would

								be a dead race.


								<p>

								As tears slide down her face Delenn says, "You have come a long way,

								G'Kar.  Further than I could have guessed," and she welcomes him into

								the War Council, only hoping that he can forgive her someday.


								<p>

								"Perhaps, but not today," he utters.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/tractor.jpeg" alt="">

								The White Star knocks out the last of the Shadow fighters protecting

								the transport and grabs it as an enormous Shadow ship looms out of

								hyperspace. Lennier announces its presence, but the ship breaks off,

								and Bester has a strange look on his face.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/frozen.jpeg" alt="">

								The transport is carrying a cargo of human telepaths in cryogenic

								suspension.  The pilots are an unknown alien species who have committed

								suicide rather than be captured.  When Sheridan demands to know why

								Bester didn't tell them about the cargo, Bester admits that he knew

								Babylon 5 probably wouldn't expend any effort to save telepaths.


								<p>

								When Franklin unfreezes one, he notices that she seems to have cyberweb

								implants.  He takes her ID bracelet to Bester, who condescendingly

								begins to explain that she is a "blip" who refused to join the Psi

								Corps.  Suddenly his face grows numb.  He must see her immediately.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/wired.jpeg" alt="">

								She has other plans, however.  By the time Garibaldi, Franklin and

								Bester arrive at medlab, she has wrapped herself into an intricate

								cocoon of wiring and is interfacing with the station electronics.  She

								wants to be free of the pain she's in, but the commands in her head

								which tell her to attack the Psi Corps, are too powerful.  As the

								doctor knocks her out, she asks Bester, "Al, what have they done to

								me?"  and sends him images of her ordeal: alien brain surgery and

								Shadow vessels.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/lover.jpeg" alt="">

								She knows him because she is the love of Bester's life, and carrying

								their child.  The Shadows were intending to plug these telepaths into

								their newborn ships.  If Bester hated the Shadows before, now he wants to

								destroy them.  For saving her life, he pledges his support to B5's

								war before leaving the station.


								<br clear=all>

								<p>

								<img align=right width=128 height=96 src="/lurk/gif/058/book.jpeg" alt="">

								The recent events have reminded Garibaldi of something.  Turning to the

								Book of G'Quan, he finds it, and calls an immediate meeting of the War

								Council in their new command center.  It appears that all of the Narn

								telepaths were killed by the Shadows a thousand years ago, because the

								Shadows using the planet as a base in their last war feared them.  The

								Council members instantly realize that this might be why the Shadow

								ship didn't attack the White Star with Bester aboard, because maybe

								telepaths constitute a threat, and are therefore perhaps a weapon against

								the Shadows.  It's just in time, Ivanova reports, because the Shadows have

								just begun attacking Rim worlds openly.