Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 13:59:02 -0600 (CST) From: Richard Hazlewood To: Creative Babylon5 Subject: STORY: The Only One 1/4 Hi All, Well, putting my money where my mouth is, I am now posting my own story from spring break.... ========================================================================= DISCLAIMER: This story is copyrighted (1995) by Richard Hazlewood. All rights reserved. Electronic transfer and storage is permitted. Just don't make any money off of it (yeah right). NOTICE: This story takes place early in the THIRD season of Babylon 5. (I know, quite a risk with half of the second season still to be aired...) ============================================================== The Only One By Richard Hazlewood TEASER: Commander Susan Ivanova bounced off the padded wall and shot across the playing field after the glowing blue sphere. Security Lieutenant Michael Garibaldi tried to intercept her, but was not able to catch her quick-moving form. Twisting in mid-air, Susan intercepted the ball and slapped it towards the far wall where the goal was outlined in red. The reaction from her throw propelled her into Garibaldi and they ended up in a tangled mass against the far wall. The ball flew unerringly towards the goal and the ring began flashing signalling ascore. "Six to one Michael, do you give up yet?" Susan could not hide the humor in her voice as she extricated herself from her friend. "How about one more try?" Michael said between deep breaths. "You really are a glutton aren't you? OK, but suckers walk." Michael sighed, pushed himself off of the wall and headed for the goal. Just as he reached into the net for the ball, his commlink beeped. Glancing over to Susan, he noticed that she too had received the message. "Talk to me." He said quickly into the unit attached to the back of his hand. "Chief, Commander, the liner Heinlein has just come through the Jump Gate. The first shuttle will be in docking bay seven in half an hour." Almost together they replied, "Acknowledged." Glancing quickly at Susan at the far end of the ellipsoidal playing field, Michael noticed that she was grinning and already headed for the exit. As a parting shot, she said, "Come on slowpoke. If you don't hurry you won't have time for a shower before the shuttle gets here. And wouldn't that be a wonderful welcome home?" Laughing to himself, Michael pushed off from the wall, the ball forgotten in his haste to catch up. Twenty-five minutes later, Ivanova and Garibaldi arrived at bay seven. The shuttle from the Heinlein was just docking. Impatiently, they waited for the tedious procedure to be completed. Finally, the hatch opened and passengers, mostly Minbari, began walking down the ramp, up to the security station. They waited. Eventually, a slender man with prematurely greying brown hair emerged and made his way slowly up to security. Garibaldi stepped forward and embraced the older man. "Jeff! God it's good to see you!" Somewhat awkwardly, the man returned the embrace. As he tried to hand the security guard his ID card, Garibaldi brushed it away. "Don't bother *Ambassador Sinclair* everyone here knows who you are." Looking at the guard helplessly, Jeff Sinclair let his friend lead him away from security and towards Ivanova. "Lieuten... Uhm, Commander. It's very good..." "Oh shut up and give me a HUG!" Susan exclaimed, grabbing her old friend. "Well, I don't....." Jeff tried again. "You do now!" came the quick reply from Susan, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Suddenly serious, Sinclair said, "Michael, Susan, I'm not sure why I came. I just felt that I HAD to be here." "Later." Garibaldi answered with the same seriousness. "Let's get you settled first. Captain Sheridan is dying to meet you." Relenting, Sinclair allowed himself to be guided out of the docking area and into the once familiar corridors of Babylon 5. Introduction (Voice of Ambassador G'Kar) The Babylon project was a dream given form. 250,000 beings in a station five miles long located in Neutral Space. It was the Third Age of Mankind. The Great War was spreading across the galaxy. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. A shining beacon in space, all alone in the night. Conceived in peace, it had become our only refuge. It was our last, best hope of peace. It is the Earth year 2260. The name of the place is Babylon 5. ACT I In the command and control center of Babylon 5, Captain John Sheridan paced around the bridge. He faced the return of Ambassador Sinclair with some very mixed feelings. Sheridan was no stranger to taking over for another commanding officer, he had done it and had it done to him numerous times, it was having that CO return that was the hard part. Sheridan had a lot of respect for Sinclair. The fine crew on B5 were perhaps the best example of what kind of leader Sinclair was. But it was what Sinclair had done AFTER Babylon 5 that told the real story. Sinclair had done something that perhaps no other person could have been able to do. He had succeeded in uniting Minbari and Humans, at least some of them. United them to fight against the spreading darkness of the Centauri and their 'allies'. Using the Minbari belief that Sinclair and other humans shared the same souls, he had been able to convince a great number of Minbari and Humans to follow his banner. In effect, he had his own army fighting in a war that neither the Minbari Grey Council nor the Earth Alliance President seemed to want to become involved in. Even after the events on the Narn Homeworld, the other major governments did nothing. Doing nothing was something that a military man like Sheridan could not understand. Thanks to the secret shipments to the Narn that he and Delenn had started almost a year ago, tens of thousands of Narn civilians had been saved. The War had claimed billions, of course, but Sheridan had to believe that he was helping. He had to believe that. Returning his attention to the control board, he noticed that the Heinlein had begun off-loading passengers. 'Better get down there' he thought to himself. Turning to the dark-skinned man beside him, he said, "Major Atombe, I am going to see Ambassador Sinclair. You have the watch." With that, Sheridan quickly exited C-in-C and headed for Sinclair's assigned quarters. Moving slowly through the corridors of Blue Sector, Garibaldi, Ivanova and Sinclair conversed quietly, catching up on each others lives. They had not seen Sinclair for over a year. Official reports from Minbar had left little room for personal messages. They had a lot of catching up to do. As they were passing through the Zocalo, Sinclair stopped suddenly and began looking around. "What is it Jeff?" Garibaldi asked, his hand on his PPG, glancing at the crowd. Sinclair ignored his friend. Instead, his shifting gaze settled on a woman seated at one of the many tables in the area. The woman was also staring at Sinclair. Slowly, the woman nodded her head, almost as if in acknowledgement. With a slight smile, she got up and quickly left the area. Shaking himself slightly, Sinclair looked over at Garibaldi, "Whaa?...Oh, sorry Michael. I thought I recognized someone for a minute. I must have been mistaken." To Ivanova, "What were you saying about the Lumati?" Unconvinced by Sinclair's brush-off, Garibaldi looked once more down the corridor where the mysterious woman had recently disappeared. Garibaldi reluctantly returned his attention to Sinclair as Ivanova finished relating the events around the signing of the treaty with the Lumati. As they continued along the Zocalo, the lights dimmed and flickered. Sinclair took on a vacant, almost listening expression. After several minutes, the flickering stopped. Almost immediately Garibaldi's commlink beeped. With a quiet "excuse me" he stepped away and spoke softly into his link. After a quick conversation, he returned to his friends and said, "Sorry Jeff, duty calls." Turning to Ivanova, "Looks like our 'friend' has struck again. Downbelow." "Damn!" Came the heartfelt reply. "You get down there. Let me know if there is anything more." Garibaldi quickly left the Zocalo, speaking into his commlink as he went. Ivanova turned to Sinclair with a forced smile, "Just another day at the office." Responding to Sinclair's questioning look, she replied, "For the last couple of weeks, we have had what appears to be a serial killer on our hands. Four people have turned up dead. In each case there were signs of a major struggle and the victim's body had been mutilated. There have also been some pretty serious power surges at about the same times, in about the same areas as the killings, but we haven't figured out the connection yet." Sinclair didn't seemed to be only half listening, but before Ivanova could ask about it they had arrived at his assigned quarters. Waiting at the door was Sheridan, and all further discussion of the killer had to be delayed for the necessary introductions. Minbari Ambassador Delenn straightened her red dress and checked her hair one last time in the Earther mirror in her quarters. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and moved quickly out of the Green sector and into the neighboring Blue sector. Doctor Stephen Franklin examined the lasted victim of the serial killer in MedLab-1. Beside him, Garibaldi looked on. Moving his scanner over the corpse, Franklin made several notes in his log and then turned to the silent security chief. "Just like the others. Same M.O. and there are absolutely no signs of any other injuries. No scars, no marks of any kind on the body. "I just don't get it! No one goes through there entire life without a single scar! No one! Now we have five people like that. Nothing else in common, just no other marks on the body and dead. I just don't get it!" Garibaldi tried to calm his friend, but he too had no answers. The killer seemed to strike randomly. None of the victims had anything in common. One had been on board since the station was commissioned, two had been on board the station for several months, one had arrived last week, the last victim had just come in yesterday. Two were women. One was Chinese, one African, one Indian and two European. Nothing in common. There just wasn't a pattern there to find. But Garibaldi knew that that was NOT the case. There was always a pattern, he just hadn't figured it out yet, but he would. Delenn moved down the corridor of Blue sector and pressed the wall unit outside of Sinclair's quarters. The door opened and she stepped in quickly. When Delenn entered the room, Sinclair quickly rose from the couch where he had been stretched out and said, "Old friend! So good to see you again." Stopping in front of her, Sinclair gently reached out and touched Delenn's chest with the palm of his right hand, inclining his head slightly. Smiling at this traditional Minbari greeting of close friends, Delenn in turn touched Sinclair's chest and nodded her head. "You have learned many of our customs while staying on our planet Shi'Satai." "Delenn, please, call me Jeff. If anyone here has earned that right, you have." After a short pause, "What did you call me? 'Shi'Satai'? I don't believe I have ever heard that word before, what does it mean?" Delenn said softly, "Jeff, I will explain." After they had taken seats across from each other on the couch, Delenn continued, "Jeff, it is time that you learned the REST of the story about why we Minbari surrendered at the Battle of the Line..." Down in the docking area, a shuttle was off-loading passengers. A tall, slim man with long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail emerged from the shuttle and moved quickly through security. After passing the security check, the man moved on the Zocalo area. Once there, he ordered a drink, sat down at a table and waited. Garibaldi was going over his notes on the serial killer in his office when he received a call from C-and-C. "Chief, there has been another power surge. In the Zocalo area this time. One of the rented rooms." Garibaldi was out of his chair and headed down the corridor before the message could even be completed. Arriving at the designated room, Garibaldi met several other security people getting ready to enter the room. Taking immediate charge, he said, "OK, Lou you take the right. Zach, you have the left. I have the middle. Marshall, you get the door. One. Two. Three. GO!" The three guards burst through the door and quickly spread through the room. There precautions were unnecessary however, since the room was empty. The small room had been almost completely destroyed. All of the glass in the room had been shattered. All of the electrical appliances and outlets had exploded. The holo-vid had warped and the melted remains had oozed down the wall. All of the furniture was overturned and there were definite signs of a struggle visible through the debris. There were slash marks in the couch and gouges in the walls and doorways. On the floor near the door to the restroom, a body. Going over to the body, Garibaldi immediately recognized the woman that Sinclair had been looking at earlier in the Zocalo bar. Her body had been mutilated just like the others, her severed head was against the nearby wall. This time however, there was some physical evidence available. Beside the mystery woman's body, an ancient sword lay in two pieces. Virtually Yours, Richard Hazlewood RHAZLWD@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU Do not assume malice when stupidity will suffice. -Flame War Comment =========================================================================