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								<h3>Synopsis by Arturo Magidin (magidin@math.berkeley.edu)</h3>


								<P>

								The alliance fleet is in hyperspace. Aboard a Minbari heavy cruiser,

								Marcus keeps watch over Ivanova. Delenn walks in, and tells him the

								transport to take Ivanova back to Babylon 5 has arrived. Marcus argues

								that she would want to be at the battle, and since she is dying there

								is nothing else to do for her. Delenn disagrees: they can make Ivanova

								comfortable in her last hours, and see to her needs, but not in the

								fleet. Marcus holds Ivanova's hand in his, and leaves without a

								word. Delenn also leaves, as two Minbari prepare to take Ivanova away.


								<P>

								At the Mars Resistance HQ, final preparations are underway. Number One

								arrives with an Earth Force officer, who will help smuggle the frozen

								telepaths onto the destroyers orbiting Mars. It will be tricky, but

								she'll try to make it work. Meanwhile, Garibaldi leads a small team scouting a

								supply base on the surface. They are two hours away. They begin to

								approach as shuttles leave the base to supply dozens of Earth Alliance

								Destroyers.


								<P>

								At a bunker on the perimeter of the base, an Earth Force officer asks

								for a status report. With Sheridan's imminent attack, they expect the

								Mars Resistance to take advantage of the confusion and attack. As the

								officer attempts to contact another station, an NCO pulls out a

								breather mask. The officer is getting no reponse. "What is wrong with

								Bravo?" he asks. The NCO puts the breather mask on, pulls out a gun, and

								answers: "Same thing that is wrong here." At that moment, the door to

								the bunker opens; with the atmosphere thinning, the attacking forces

								easily overpower the Earth Force personnel. The attacking forces

								include Number One, Garibaldi, Franklin and Lyta. The NCO indicates

								there was no opportunity to warn the base: the Resistance now controls

								the perimeter. Franklin puts a device on Lyta's head and starts

								working on it.


								<P>

								Aboard the Agamemnon, Sheridan gives the attack fleet their final

								instructions. In order to attack Earth, they must take out the bases

								on Mars first; otherwise, they would expose their flank and end up

								fighting on two fronts. The Earth Destroyers and White Stars will lead

								the assault, and the League ships are to provide support and establish

								a perimeter, but they are not to engage unless fired upon first.


								<P>

								Aboard the Apollo, leading the Earth Force destroyer group, General

								Lefcourt is in command. He has been called to replace the Apollo's

								captain because Lefcourt is a soldier of the old school: he does not

								take arms against his own government, no matter how justified he may

								feel. And because he taught Sheridan at the Academy, and knows how

								Sheridan thinks. Now he has to kill him, and everyone around

								him. "It's a terrible day," he tells the Captain. "I wish to hell I had

								never lived to see it."


								<P>

								Lefcourt is informed the hyperspace probes have picked up

								something, but decides to wait in normal space for Sheridan. No

								engagement in hyperspace has ever been anything but a disaster for

								both sides, and Sheridan will come out sooner or later.


								<P>

								On the Mars surface, Franklin finishes adjusting the implants on

								Lyta's head. She has to go outside to make contact; it will be really

								difficult because of the distance, she says. She leaves the bunker,

								and Garibaldi sends a final message to the fleet. Everything is ready.


								<P>

								Aboard a White Star, Marcus seems thoughtful. "You are thinking about

								Ivanova again." says Lennier. Marcus is indeed thinking about her, and

								how she is probably better off on Babylon 5, where there may be

								something they can do for her. Lennier advises him not to get his

								hopes up, but Marcus ignores him. Marcus has called Dr. Hobbs on

								Babylon 5. In all this time, he reasons, they must have come up with

								something to deal with near death conditions. "No." replies

								Lennier. "There is nothing <i>usable</i> on Babylon 5." Marcus asks

								what he means, but before Lennier can clarify, Garibaldi's message

								comes through.


								<P>

								In the bunker, Garibaldi tells everyone to get ready. He's given the

								fleet information accurate to within a few feet, which will enable the

								White Stars to jump from hyperspace inside the atmosphere. A White

								Star jumps in and starts attacking the base, helped by the Resistance

								which is using the perimeter weapons.


								<P>

								Gen. Lefcourt is informed that the Resistance has attacked four bases

								on Mars, and Sheridan's fleet is attacking a fifth. But Lefcourt does

								not want to be planetbound, unable to maneuver in the gravity well,

								and orders the fleet to stay in formation. He is curious,

								though. Sheridan wouldn't go on the offensive without an ace in the

								hole. What is it?


								<P>

								Meanwhile, Lyta starts contacting the frozen telepaths, now aboard the

								Earth destroyers. As Franklin explains, they are aboard 30 of the

								destroyers. They will awaken, merge with the computer systems and

								render the destroyers useless. They are being used as weapons, he

								admits, but they <i>are</i> weapons. He cannot remove the implants

								without the resources of Earth; if the Alliance doesn't win, the

								telepaths are dead anyway. And each destroyer has 1000 people on

								board. If they do not have to destroy the ships, they are risking

								thirty lives to save thirty thousand.


								<P>

								Aboard the destroyers, the telepaths awake slowly, as Lyta

								concentrates.


								<P>

								Sheridan's fleet jumps into normal space close to Mars, as Lefcourt

								expected. But before he can give any orders, the Apollo's systems

								begin to fail. Almost all of the destroyers report similar

								problems. In fact, all but 10 of the destroyers are out of

								commission. Sheridan orders a White Star squadron to open fire on

								them, targetting engines and weapons. Disable them, don't destroy

								them, he instructs. The squadron quickly accomplishes this.


								<P>

								Aboard the Apollo, a security detail finds the shadow-modified

								telepath and opens fire. Meanwhile, Sheridan is ready to

								proceed. Human and Minbari forces are to jump to Earth, while the

								rest of the League ships stay behind to keep an eye on the disabled

								destroyers. Marcus rejoins the fleet, but leaves Lennier in command as

								he goes to his quarters. He orders a search of Babylon 5 records

								relating to death, terminal illness, and extreme measures.

								<P>


								Marcus soon receives the results, and finds a reference to the alien

								healing device (<a href="/lurk/guide/021.html">"The Quality of

								Mercy."</a>) He orders a shuttle to be made ready.


								<P>

								Aboard the Apollo, they have figured out the problem and eliminated

								the telepath, but most systems are still down; they have no engines,

								and no communications with the other ships, so they cannot let them

								know what they found out. Gen. Lefcourt angrily orders engineering to

								get the ship under control ASAP.


								<P>

								Lennier arrives at Delenn's ship. He has been tricked by Marcus into

								leaving Marcus' White Star. Marcus breaks formation and leaves. Delenn

								contacts Sheridan to let him know. They figure he is on route to

								Babylon 5, but they cannot contact the station: as soon as they got

								inside Mars orbit they hit the jammers. They are too close to turn

								back, and there is nothing to do but continue ahead.


								<P>

								The fleet jumps to normal space, and Sheridan talks to the people of

								Earth. He encourages those in the government who were afraid to speak

								up to help place President Clark under arrest, to disband Nightwatch,

								and to return the government to the hands of the people.

								As he does so, Clark writes in his office, the planetary

								defense grid comes online, and a group of armed security officers

								escort a woman down a hallway.


								<P>

								Sheridan continues: "This is not the voice of treason. These are

								your sons, your daughters, whose loyalties have never wavered; whose

								belief in this Alliance has forced us to take extraordinary means. For

								justice, for peace, for the future... we have come home."


								<P>

								President Clark hears people outside his office, and he types a final

								command for the defense grid. He takes a gun, and shoots himself in

								the head. The woman and the security detail break into the office to

								find Clark dead and a note on his desk. The note contains the

								phrase "The ascension of the ordinary man" over and over, with certain

								letters circled. The letters spell out "Scorched Earth."


								<P>

								As the fleet continues its attack on the defense platforms, the woman,

								who is Senator Crosby, contacts Sheridan and tells him of the death of

								Clark and his message. He has ordered the defense grid to fire on

								Earth, and they cannot override the command. In ten minutes, it will

								fire and level 40% of the surface.


								<P>

								"Delenn, we need you," says Sheridan. "We are there," she replies. The

								combined human and Minbari forces attack the defense platforms,

								destroying them one by one as Minbari and human pilots give their

								lives in the process.


								<P>

								The Agamemnon is hit several times by missiles, as the race to destroy

								the platforms continues. The Agamemnon is hit again, and is now heavily

								damaged and unable to fire. The nearest platform is about to fire, and

								no other ship is in range. Sheridan gives the order to ram the

								platform in a suicide run.


								<P>

								But before they can hit the platform, the Apollo comes out of

								hyperspace. "We have monitored the situation. Hold on to your hats,"

								says Gen. Lefcourt as he fires and destroys the last platform. The

								Agamemnon emerges from the fireball, still in one piece.


								<P>

								"You'll have to stand before a board of inquiry on this one, Sheridan,"

								says Lefcourt. "Still, welcome home, John. Welcome home."


								<P>

								After the battle, Sheridan is wanted in EarthDome. Franklin is heading

								to Babylon 5, hoping to stop Marcus, and Delenn has some business to

								attend to.


								<P>

								In an ISN special report, the reporter last seen on the air when ISN

								was taken over by forces loyal to Pres. Clark

								(<a href="/lurk/guide/054.html">"Severed Dreams"</a>) is overcome with

								emotion as she welcomes back their viewers and reports on the events

								of the past hours, alluding as well to her imprisonment and those of

								other colleagues.


								<P>

								Meanwhile Franklin continues to try to contact Babylon 5. He reviews

								the logs that Marcus downloaded, in which Franklin mentions the alien

								healing device and indicates that to save someone from fatal illness,

								the other person connected to the machine must die.


								<P>

								Aboard Babylon 5, in MedLab, a guard lies unconscious on the floor. Marcus

								has connected himself and Ivanova to the healing device. As he loses

								consciousness next to her, Marcus whispers: "I love you."