Greetings. This continues the epic saga begun in SHADE and SHADOW, the 2258 portion of the RIMSTALKER arc, which, for all intents and purposes, seeing how long the story ended up being, can be considered as an introduction...
PREVIOUSLY, IN RIMSTALKER I, SHADE AND SHADOW...
Lieutenant Commander William Westcastle considered himself an ordinary serving officer in Earthforce until his dreadnought, the ATLANTA, was attacked and almost destroyed by the Shadows. Rescued by John Sheridan's AGAMEMNON, Westcastle finds himself transferred to the rimfacing Earth colony of Nighthawk, where, after the inquiry on the disaster is complete, he is allowed to settle in, and develops a camraderie with the Nighthawk Starfury leader, Lieutenant Jennifer Clifford, and, to a lesser extent, the Station CO, Commander Walther Gideon.
All is not well, however, when Westcastle finds himself attacked once again by the Shadows, come in search of one of their ships and also serving another... Westcastle, Clifford and Gideon survive the attack with the aid of G'kael, a mysterious Narn serving unknown masters, and a unique alien by the name of..Zathras! Zathras explains that it is
Westcastle's destiny to be the "Stalker", and Clifford's to be the "Observer"...and soon enough, the pair determine the meaning of these mysterious references.
While is is Jennie's duty to dissapear, Westcastle and Gideon must, in the closing weeks of 2258, face up to the results of the Shadow attacks, which lead to them resigning from Earthforce and beginning the trek outwards to the edge of known human space to escape persecution at the hands of the conspiracy within Earth's government. Their first stop is at the transfer point at Io in the days around the New Year's turnover...where they meet up with Jennie, operating under a false identity...and in happenstance, witness the destruction of Earth Force One...and are so reminded that their destiny has been determined... their choices, not their own...
And now....their story continues...
RIMSTALKER: DESTINY'S CALL, PART 1
"EUPHRATES CALLING", ACT I
"The conspiracy of Light was our last, best hope for survival, a scattered linking of knowledge in a universe of darkness and betrayal, based across a hundred worlds, but focussed on its heart, a place of peace turned haven from war. It was the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind; the year the Shadows revealed their faces to us all. It was the Earth Year 2259...and we found ourselves drawn to the Heart of the Resistance...
The place named...*Babylon 5*."
From the notes of 'Captain' Jennifer Clifford, forever after known as the "Observer", from "Annotated Notes on the Last War of the Shadow" as published in the Earth Year 2290
* * *
Earth Station Io...the first week of January 2259...
The investigators swarmed over the wreckage orbiting Io, but they would be unable to determine anything more then was already known. An explosion had destroyed the personal ship of the President of the Earth Alliance; and the explosion, by all indicators available, appeared to be an accident. Vice President Clark, calling it "a great tragedy" but also lucky to be alive by the look of things, was well on his way to becoming the President of the Earth Alliance...and well on his way to putting his own stamp on the feel of that Alliance. Luis Santiago had in many respects been a smart man...but he had also managed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time when it came down to it, and had paid the price for that mistake.
The reaction to the disaster was immediate...frantic...and predictable. All the civilian freighters and merchantmen had tried to escape Earth system, and been blocked by several Omega class destroyers deployed from the Jovian Earthforce yards, until it became clear that the explosion HAD been an accident...apparently. No fingers could be pointed, no blame laid...and so, after more then fifty hours of blockading the gate, Earthforce was ordered to cease and desist...and a flood of ships subsequently escaped from Earth system.
Some would have to wait their turn...one being a tiny, antiquated freighter that went by the name of STARDANCER...
* * *
Jan 8, 2259....just off the primary Grid Epsilon jump beacon...0610 hrs, E.S.T...
The deep ruddy flashes and quantum irregularities of hyperspace flashed over Jennie's determined features. At last, at long last, she was approaching a place she had never been, never been assigned to, but had always wanted to visit. They were mere minutes from the jump beacon as it stood right now...and the delay at Io had in fact helped, since she had been able to get hold of a small but quite valuable cargo with the same destination the three crewmembers of the STARDANCER had wanted.
The explosion of Earth Force 1 had only, it seemed, catalyzed William and Walther's determination to get out of Earth system, and to get as far from Earth as possible while missing all the colonies and finding a place where deals crawled out of every corner left only one spot...Babylon 5.
Admitedly, they had another reason they wouldn't admit publicly. G'kael, in his parting comments, had hinted that if she ever got the chance, and was able to haul "your two companions by their ears" as the mysterious Narn had put it, that answers to some of their questions could be found at Babylon 5, if they perserved, and looked in the right places. The strange destinies that Zathras had informed them of rebounded in her mind....
Watcher...Observer, and Stalker....pursuer...finder of truths. It had taken a while to sink in, but here they were, away from Earth and all it stood for, away from her true identity, when it came down to it, all in aid of this mysterious "conspiracy" that G'kael and Zathras served...a stand in the fight against the proven deadliness of the Shadows and their spider-like warships and unknown, but probably horrific plans...
A beeping brought her back to reality, and she started. They were almost there. "William?"
"Right here.." Jennie turned, and smiled as the centre of her heart(or so it now seemed!) dark haired, tall and thin as a blade, and now bristly bearded William Westcastle came onto the bridge of the STARDANCER. "Walther's still asleep, I didn't think it would be that good an idea to disturb him. Are we nearly there??"
"You could say that..." she replied, as the beeping settled into a constant whine. "Thirty seconds to jump!"
William sighed, chuckled morbidly, and strapped himself into the copilot's seat beside her. "Just goes to show how my jump sense has been shot to hell by recent events. There was a time when I could *feel* we were about to jump in the ATLANTA..."
All of a sudden, hyperspace flared and twisted into a jump point ahead of the STARDANCER, and with the familiar, almost imagined roar, a twisted blue funnel leapt into being as they hurtled through the transition point. Within seconds, it seemed, the distant panorama of nebula filled space and a looming world expanded to real size...and then the gate was behind them. Ahead, against the ocher and yellow backdrop of the planet called Epsilon Three, a tiny, spinning, twinkling blue and silver world spun...an artificial world, but real just the same. Jennie smiled...and then, frowned.
"William...there's an Omega parked next to Babylon 5!"
"Ident...I'll be damned."
"AGAMEMNON...this is just too weird. Twice in three months we run into that ship."
"So the rumours were real, it seems. Commander Sinclair's been transferred... elsewhere."
"And...Captain Sheridan? The new commander?"
William smiled. "Precisely. This makes things...interesting."
Beneath Jennie's fingers, the comm system came online. "Babylon Control, this is Captain Zandar of the light freighter STARDANCER, requesting approach clearance."
"STARDANCER, this is Babylon Control. Whoever *that* was, he sounded... well, happy to be where he was, if occasionally bored with the routine! "We're dealing with two Narn heavy cargo haulers on their way into the docking bay right now, but you are cleared for initial approach. Note location of Destoyer AGAMEMNON on approach, do NOT deviate from your approach vector once assigned."
<beep> Lieutenant Junior Grade David Corwin turned and nodded politely as his superior, the sometimes caustic Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova, linked in to check on things. "Everything under control, Mr. Corwin?"
"Absolutely. We're just dealing with light traffic at the moment... freighters... haulers... no problems."
"Pray that continues, Mr. Corwin. We wouldn't, after all, want our new CO to think we can't handle...routine matters."
Corwin winced. "Understood, Commander." As the Commander cut the connection, Corwin turned and met the eyes of one of the techs in on deck, and nodded. He sure *hoped* that Captain Sheridan's arrival would put the Commander in a better mood...
* * *
Epsilon Three...The Great Machine...
"Ah...Zathras told, Zathras was...Stalker and Observer, they come. Zathras does not lie...Zathras does good?"
"Yes, yes, Zathras." Draal noted, nodding his head in half attentive politeness, one part of his mind on his companion, the rest, ranging with the Great Machine through the station far overhead, and out into the universe beyond. "We do what we must...when we must. Things are moving in ways we expected...to a certain degree, of course. The plans set in motion by your brothers will eventually produce the results we need."
"Yes, yes, Zathras told you this, he did..."
* * *
The gases of the Alien Sector slid around the encounter
suit of Vorlon Ambassador Kosh, but he thought not of them, or of his surroundings. His mind ranged freely, listening to the song...partly of the medium, partly of his companion and transport, docked in the primitive bay nearby. The ship, in its song, had told of the arrival of a certain human vessel. The eye of Kosh's encounter suit widened as he drifted down the corridor. All was proceeding according to plan...and yet...things could, as yet, go wrong. Kosh was unwilling to let *that* happen at this stage...Delenn had not yet emerged...and other events were far from complete.
It might even be necessary to take a greater hand in things relative to certain pieces in the game...but that was, as yet, far from certain...
* * *
"Welcome to Babylon 5." the security guard repeated.
"Welcome..." Walther muttered. "Welcome to the end of the Galaxy, you mean..." and jumped when William reached out, and grabbed his shoulder, whirling him about...and then Walther jumped again, to see the naked fury on Westcastle's face!
"Enough of this, in Valen's name!"
What...the Hell??
RIMSTALKER: DESTINY'S CALL, PART 1
"EUPHRATES CALLING", ACT II
**"I found it hard to believe what Lennier was telling us at first...but he seems very sincere about it...and eventually, the meaning of his words became all too clear, as well as Delenn's insistence that the Minbari would have to reunite with the other side of their soul to defeat the Great Enemy...or *enemies*, as it ended up being. Sinclair did what he had to do when the time was right, but he wasn't alone in that...which, for the sake of those of us that survived, was probably a good thing...**"
Comments attributed to John Sheridan, as published in Emile Gauthier's "John Sheridan: The Man, the Myth"
* * *
Chronicles Log, Entry I, Jan 8, 2259...(remembrances)
It wasn't Walther's fault, of course, but he certainly served as a catalyst to my actions and words that day. Ever since we left Earth Station Io, ever since Earth Force One had shattered itself in that infernal flower of death, Walther had been getting more and more depressed, and was beginning to display that to any and all he encountered.
What caused this?...very simple indeed. A combination of being shot at by an enemy he couldn't fight directly, becoming an accomplice to a plan he didn't fully believe in(although at the time he wasn't given any choice in the matter), and, despite having the situation explained to him by Zathras and G'kael, it seemed that Walther wasn't, as yet, tied to the same semi-mythical "destiny" that faced Jennie and I. He's the sort of person that will put the best face on things that he can, even when things turn for the worst, which they did, of course. And so, having faced the same personal disgrace of eviction from Earthforce and familial anger that I did, but not having anything to back him up other then following us, Mr. Gideon was acting like a ship without a rudder.
And then he managed to say the wrong thing at the wrong time when I suffered what amounted to the flashback from hell.
Let me clarify matters on this point. Back on the bridge of the ATLANTA, after the Shadows had virtually destroyed the ship and just about made me a dead man walking, I commented about hallucinating in what was then an injured, desperate, brain damaged state...saw things that didn't belong to my memories...visions of Earth that didn't EVEN fit with my homeworld's present condition. Afterwards, what with Bester and his associates poking around in my head, and facing duty at Nighthawk and the events that followed, I managed to put those desperate visions out of my mind. But Walther's comments on the entry promenade of Babylon 5 brought the visions back with a vengeance...
And more...
<Flash>
Laughing children under a blazing sky...glacier coated mountains under a brilliant yellow sun....
A raven haired young woman, diving into a glacially cold lake...knowing this first hand....the memory unknown, but true...
<Flash>
Ground vehicles...archaic ground vehicles, on calm, tree lined streets...and less calm...a jarring crash...blood....crazed glass angles...
<Flash>
Under a bowl of stars, the Galaxy a river of fire overhead...
And worse....far worse....
<Glitterflash>
Great fingers of crystal, against a different sky...a different sun...
I faced Walther, lost in the visions, but hearing him at the same time, and spoke words I had never used before. I do not blame him for his ashen faced response, I did not understand what was happening to me. More understandable was Jennie's response, as I slowly keeled over, falling to the deck...
* * *
Medlab...Jan 9th, Morning...
Jennie paced back and forth, as behind her, a grim faced Walther sat in silence. Not far away, William was laying unconscious, unchanged from his condition since he had passed out in the entry promenade. The things he had said...they just DIDN'T make sense!! In Valen's Name...that was a Minbari saying!
Just...too weird. William had been a cadet during the Minbari War. He might have heard the saying, read about it someplace...but to actually say it...it was wrong...it wasn't like him at all!
A clearing of throat disturbed her pacing. "Miss Zandar?"
"Yes?" It was the professional, short haired doctor who had admitted William... what was his name...Franklin?...yes, that was it. "How's he doing, Doctor?"
"Strange situation here, he just regained consciousness, and is asking for you. There doesn't seem to be really anything wrong with him, although his record seems to indicate he's been through some really close shaves with death and brain damage in the last six months...you have to understand, Miss Zandar, that that can affect a man, even after an apparently full recovery..."
"I know...he's told me about those. Can I see him, please?"
"Of course." All politeness, the doctor ushered her in, and she almost ran to William's bedside, where he now lay upright, a slight frown on his face...which vanished when she approached.
His hand reached out, and she took hold of it gratefully. "Damn it, Will!...don't do that to me...not now!"
"I didn't...mean to...I though that was all behind me...I guess I was wrong."
"What's behind you?"
"I'll talk about it later, okay? First, I want to get something *real* to eat, and then you get to show me where our quarters are..."
* * *
The Garden....2330 hrs, Jan 9th...
"Beautiful..." Jennie whispered, holding hard to William, as they looked up and around them at the vista of Babylon 5's interior. Shaded now to the twilight of the nightwatch, the tiny twinkling lights of buildings, light transports and the rest of the almost vertigo inducing interior of the Central Corridor, curved around the axis shuttle high overhead. A peaceful spot, this...and they had found it almost by accident! She swayed a little, and Will gripped her a little harder. It had been a long day...but she still had things to say...and ask.
"Walther didn't want to come??"
"No...he's still wrung out both by his depression and what happened to you. He decided that another good night's rest might help him get over things...plus, I don't think he really wants to face you right now."
"Not surprising, since he helped touch off another..flashback."
She raised one eyebrow. "Flashback?"
"I didn't tell you on Nighthawk. In fact, I thought it was a result of the...attack on the ATLANTA, a hallucination induced by what happened to us, out there. I guess I was wrong.
It's weird...it's almost like I have memories that don't belong to me...things I haven't done, places I've never been. I don't know what to make of it...not yet, and I don't want to read too much into it either. It could always have been caused by my fall and injuries when the attack happened."
"And it could ALSO be important, Will. You know what...you know who said, about where we've been, and where we're going. ANYTHING could be important."
"Maybe...we'll see." William sighed, and then gritted his teeth. "Okay, girl...off you go, before you fall asleep standing up."
"Are you coming?"
"Soon."
* * *
William sighed, and took a seat as Jennie vanished out the doorway. Secrets hid within secrets, and their path barely begun to what Zathras had indicated. What it all meant, he didn't want to know just yet...but the visions beckoned on the edge of memory, and refused to go away.
Enough. He had other things to deal with as well.
A movement behind him, and William turned, and nodded. "Sir. Thank you for coming."
* * *
A yawn escaped from Jennie's mouth as she moved down the corridor towards her quarters. She would have to be quiet when she entered...
The clink of a chain against the wall broke her reverie. She whirled, and almost snarled. Someone she had never expected to see again stood there...someone she had thought dead long since!
"Miss Zandar...or should I say the other name, and blow your cover to kingdom come??"
"Randar!"
Randar smiled, and tapped his eyepatch, then ran a gloved hand over the mask that covered the right side of his face, and laughed. "Change the hair, change the clothes, add a scar, but you can't change the person. I heard you died..surprising how often that turns out to be wrong, isn't it?"
"My Dad saw YOU *dead*, Randar! Dead and in vacuum!"
"He never checked, girl...a terminal error, I'm sure. I have friends in higher places then *you* know...they told me things...important things about you and your friends, and if you want to survive, you had better ante up to the bargain your Daddy and I made."
"That bargain ended in the chase that destroyed your ship, Randar!! I owe you *nothing*!"
Randar smiled, and tapped a signalcomm on his wrist. At both ends of the corridor, bullyboys like any of those Randar had hired over the years appeared. "Wrong answer, my dear. I will have what's mine...and if you spent it, then I will still have it...in blood, if necessary.