brennen
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lurkers-guide



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


								<P>

								In hyperspace, a probe is destroyed by passing fighters. Shortly

								thereafter, Capt. Lochley is awakened by a call from Lt. Corwin,

								telling her of the probe's destruction. "Is it them?" she asks, but

								the probe was destroyed too quickly to give much information. She gets up and

								goes to C&amp;C.


								<P>

								When she gets there she informs the command crew that this is probably

								the scouting party they've been warned about. A large hostile force is

								looking for likely invasion prospects, and Lochley expects them to

								attack Babylon 5. She hopes to convince them that the station is more

								trouble than is worth, to save themselves from a difficult battle

								later on.


								<P>

								She orders that a lifepod be made ready for Sheridan and Delenn.

								Although Corwin assures her neither one will agree to leave the

								station, she vows to knock them unconscious herself if necessary to

								get them into the pod. Finally, she orders a stand-by Red Alert.


								<P>

								In Blue Sector, Bo and Mack, two maintenance workers, hear about the

								Alert as they finish working on the tubes behind a wall. Later, as Bo

								sweeps the floor with a piece of equipment and Mack works on a

								computer terminal, they overhear Lochley and Sheridan as they walk by

								arguing. Lochley wants Sheridan and Delenn in the lifepod, or at the

								very least to know where they are at all times. With all the

								White Stars away, this will give her one less thing to worry about, and

								allow her to do her job of protecting the station. At first Sheridan

								will have none of it, but finally agrees to do what he can after

								grudgingly admitting he would be doing the same thing in Lochley's

								position.


								<P>

								As they both leave on a lift, Mack and Bo comment on their approval of

								Sheridan's hands-on approach to everything. They like the fact that he

								is always down in the trenches, with everyone else. He is a good man,

								they both agree.


								<P>

								Later, their lunch is interrupted by a full blown Red Alert, as the

								scoutships activate the Jumpgate, and Mack and Bo are called for some

								service calls. Mack goes to C&amp;C, and Bo goes to MedLab.


								<P>

								In MedLab, Franklin is organizing his team to deal with the wounded,

								and asks Bo to look at the console on the IsoLab. It is only giving

								them access to standard atmospheres, and he needs to be able to ask

								for anything on the fly, in case they need some strange atmosphere to

								treat the invaders. As Bo works on the console, he asks Franklin why

								he bothers getting ready to heal the invaders, rather than just

								letting them die. By way of explanation, Franklin relates that his

								father once got caught in the middle of a civil war of mid-range

								colonies. The <i>Ares</i>, on which he was XO, crashed, and two months

								later, when the Earth forces retook the base, his father and two other

								injured soldiers were found alive. The Doctor at the base had taken

								care of them despite the objections from his CO, because he believed

								life was sacred. It was then, Franklin says, that he decided to become

								a doctor, and it is why he will try to save anyone, regardless of

								sides.


								<P>

								"So... what happened to the doctor that helped your dad?" asks

								Bo. "Shot and killed by his own men," replies Franklin quietly. "They

								said he was a traitor." Bo then finishes the work on the IsoLab console.


								<P>

								In C&amp;C, the secondary targetting console is on the blink, and Mack

								gets to work on it as the crew prepares for the three scoutships, which

								come in firing. Starfuries and the defense grid get two of the scouts,

								but in the meantime the aliens scan the station and try to access the

								codes for the defense grid. As the third scoutship is about to escape,

								Mack gets the secondaries back on line, which destroy the last alien

								ship. Lochley is relieved, and goes to talk to Garibaldi.


								<P>

								Mack joins Bo, who is now working on a deck in Blue Sector. Mack says

								he likes the new captain and is glad she's on their side. Bo replies

								that the rumors are she fought on the side of President Clark during

								the Civil War, but Mack dismisses his concerns. Many people were on

								the other side, he says, and one shouldn't listen to rumors

								anyway. As Bo finishes the work, they are called to fix a problem in

								Brown sector. They get in the lift, and are later joined by Lochley

								and Garibaldi.


								<P>

								Lochley and Garibaldi are arguing. Lochley is demanding to know why

								Garibaldi didn't tell her the aliens could download the tactical

								codes, but Garibaldi claims he is innocent. The Gaim didn't say

								anything, and he didn't think to ask. Lochley angrily tells him that

								it is his job to think of quesitons like that, and demands he go back

								to the Gaim and ask all the questions he didn't think of in the first

								place. With the assault fleet on its way, she wants a fighting chance

								of surviving the next 12 hours. Lochley and Garibaldi get off, and

								Mack and Bo go on their way.


								<P>

								After Mack and Bo finish fixing the problem in Brown sector, they are

								ordered to the Sanctuary to prepare it for a religious ceremony, as

								Lochley announces over the monitors that the first wing of the attack

								is coming through the jump gate.


								<P>

								From the sanctuary, Bo and Mack can see the firefight and explosions

								outside the station: a red explosion for human pilots blowing up,

								green for the invaders. Eventually, a lone White Star arrives and joins

								the fight, and Mack and Bo note a breaching pod closing in on the

								station. All personnel are ordered to the shelters. The station is

								being boarded.


								<P>

								Bo and Mack are on their way to the shelter, but the lift shorts out

								and stops. When they force the doors open, they find

								themselves in the middle of a firefight in Brown sector between the

								invading aliens and Zack's security forces. Zack orders them out and

								covers them, and they stumble into Byron's telepaths.


								<P>

								Byron assures them they are safe, and advises them to stay until

								the fight is done. Mack and Bo eventually figure out these people are

								the recently arrived telepaths, and when the fight dies down they get

								up to leave. Bo expresses his desire to be out in space fighting

								alongside the starfury pilots, and Byron uses his telepathic ability

								to make him believe he is, for a few seconds. Bo silently thanks him

								as they leave.


								<P>

								In the shelter, they overhear Londo and G'Kar. Londo is complaining

								about the situation, but G'Kar is quite calm. G'Kar practically grew

								up in shelters such as this, escaping from Centauri bombardment of the

								Narn cities, so he feels quite at home. Londo complains that the

								White Stars aren't there to protect them, and G'Kar reminds him they

								are coming back from guarding the Imphili homeworld (<a

								href="../guide/091.html">"The Paragon of Animals"</a>). They both

								leave to "see how things are out there," as the second wave of

								invaders comes through.


								<P>

								One of the invading ships is damaged and crashes onto the station,

								making a sizeable hole in the hull. As maintenance bots put out the

								resulting fires on the outside, all maintenance personnel are called

								to Red One to deal with the fires on the deck burning through the

								hull.


								<P>

								As Mack and Bo are going there, they pass Sheridan and

								Delenn. Sheridan insists Delenn should get on the lifepod, but she

								refuses. Sheridan enlists Bo and Mack to escort her to the

								pod. "Look," says Sheridan to Delenn, "with luck the rest of the White Stars

								will get here on time and we won't even need the pods." "But what if

								we do?" asks Delenn. "What if the station falls?" "Then, as you said

								to me once," replies Sheridan, "I'll see you again in a place where no

								shadows fall" (<a href="../guide/040.html">"Confessions and

								Lamentations"</a>). They kiss and Sheridan leaves Delenn in Mack and

								Bo's care.


								<P>

								Before they get to the pods, however, Delenn asks them their

								names. Delenn also asks what would happen to a lifepod if, shortly

								after launch, the equipment were accidentally smashed from the

								inside. Mack and Bo agree it would either crash on Epislon 3, or

								explode. Delenn then makes it plain that if she is put in a lifepod

								and forced to watch the station fall, her pod would suffer such an

								accident. "The President is right, ma'am," argues Bo. "It's not safe

								here for either one of you." "I know," replies Delenn. "But it is home

								for both of us." Mack and Bo let her depart, and she smiles at them

								before leaving.


								<P>

								The station shudders and Mack looks through a porthole

								and yells in triumph. "The cavalry is here!" he says. The White Stars

								have arrived at last.


								<P>

								With help from the White Stars, the fighting is soon over, and Mack and

								Bo get back to work. The shelter is a mess, and according to Bo there

								is a lot of work to do: a damaged hull to repair, garbage to be picked

								up, debris to be cleaned up from space surrounding the station,

								and airlocks to fix in Brown Level. "Typical," complains Mack. "They

								call all the shots, they get all the glory, we clean up the mess."


								<P>

								Then they see dozens of bodies lying still on the deck, draped in

								sheets. Dr. Franklin is going over them one by one, closing their

								eyes, making notes, and finally pulling the sheet over their

								heads. "Well," says Bo somberly, "maybe not <i>all</i> the mess."


								<P>

								As the cleanup continues, Mack and Bo are working on C&amp;C and

								overhear Corwin reporting to Lochley that not a single alien made it

								back to report on Babylon 5. Lochley is pleased, and does not expect

								them to try again.


								<P>

								"Captain, ehr... Captain Lochley!" yells Mack suddenly. The Command

								Deck falls into an expecting silence, as Mack continues lamely. "Well,

								Captain, ah, I know you're new here and all and, ah, I just wanted to

								say, you're okay in my book, ma'am." "Thank you," says Lochley

								sincerely, smiling widely. Mack goes back to work.


								<P>

								Later that day, Mack and Bo are on their way to lunch when they pass

								Sheridan and Delenn, walking hand in hand, in a corridor. "Hello Mack,

								Bo," she greets them by name as they walk by.


								<P>

								"Bo?" "Yeah?" "She remembered my name." "<i>Our</i> names." "I think

								I'm in love..." "She's married!" "We'll work something out."