Disclaimer: The universe of Babylon 5 belongs to Babylon Productions. The world of the Highlander belongs to CBS TV Distribution but the words of the story are mine.
AU: General Susan Ivanova finally died and died happy until she suddenly woke up and was young again. Something had gone terribly wrong. 'No, not again,' But the truth stared back at her. Now she has to find out why and return to a familiar place. The year now is 2260 the place Babylon 5.
Chapter 1
No, not again...
It was late evening in the manor. General Susan Ivanova, hero of the Shadow War and many others lay on her death-bed. Her daughter, adopted that is, stood by her side holding her by the hand. It has been twenty-five years since the passing of President John Sheridan. It was her time now. She was old and near the end of her life cycle but she happily welcomed death as for her life has been longer than anyone could have imagined.
"Mother," Her daughter gently called her.
Susan's eyes flickered open. She feebly raised her hand to caress her daughter's cheek.
"My…sweet," The words came out difficultly and in the form of a loud hoarse whisper.
"I'm here, Mother."
"I...trust...you...to...carry...out...my...torch." Susan whispered focusing on each word. "The...rangers...they...must...live...on...and carry on...their...sacred...duty."
"I shall see to it, Mother." Her daughter smiled and tears ran freely down her cheek. The monitor over her mother's head showed her life signs failing.
"I...love...yo..."
The last words faded with her voice. Susan Ivanova breathed her last breath and her eyes closed. Iliana Ivanova sobbed freely. She caressed her mother's face. "I love you too, Mother." She put her head on her chest. How long she stayed this she did not know.
Sometime later, she stood up and asked the people to carry out her mother and prepare her for the funeral. Her mother wanted to be among the stars. She used to tell her 'from the stars we came and to the stars we shall return.' And this, her wish, she will get.
The pod ready, Iliana stood above the coffin and placed the star of the Rangers on her mother's chest. She bent down and kissed her on the forehead. She put in a few red roses and then whispered. "We will find a way to wake him up. I love you, Mother so much." She then closed the hatch and stood watch.
"From the stars we came and to the stars we shall return." She said as the coffin left for the Earth's sun. Tears ran freely on her cheeks until the little coffin flew into the sun. "Goodbye Mother may the light of the eternal shine upon you."
The coffin flew straight for the Earth's sun and entered the coronal sphere and then stopped before a small black ship. The coffin entered inside and ship entered hyperspace. The coffin's hatch opened.
Susan Ivanova was at peace. Suddenly air-filled her lungs and she bolted upwards. Her eyes flickered open. "Oh," She exclaimed. Her eyes needed to time to adjust to the dimness around her. "If this is heaven it is pretty bleak."
The first odd thing she sensed was her body. She felt it alive and vigorous. She frowned. She clearly remembered being frail and tired but not now. Perhaps in heavens all the ugliness of old age goes away.
She left the coffin and stood up. She stretched and felt her joints crack with joy. The next thing was her hair. It was no longer grey but her usual brown and curly. She passed her hands through her body. It felt younger much younger. This was good. Heavens so far looks good, she thought.
It was then she sensed the vibrations of the floor. This was odd. She did not think the ground in heavens vibrated. Still surrounded by perpetual darkness she tried to feel her way around and soon she found something solid. It was a wall, a metal wall. That was definitely weird and got weirder when an aperture appeared.
The sudden light blinded her. It was oddly reddish. Was she in heavens or hell or perhaps both? She crossed the threshold and had hard time believing her eyes. She recognized the reddish light. It was hyperspace seen through the front window. And it hit her. She was inside a ship moving through hyperspace though she had never seen a ship moving this fast before.
"What?" She exclaimed and looked for the controls. She found none. This is definitely very weird as all ships have controls even the dullest ones. "What's going on?" This will not be the first time she would ask that.
The ship continued uninterrupted its voyage through hyperspace. Susan stayed in the cockpit of the ship. She did try to find if it had more rooms but even if it did it was in perpetual darkness. She wondered what her heading is. Sometime later, the ship emerged from hyperspace.
She recognized the area at once. It was the Epsilon 3 system where humanity's greatest achievement once was – Babylon 5. Today there was no need for it but back then it was the beacon of hope, hope for a better future. She had many fond memories of the place.
The ship stayed for a long time. Susan had the impression it waited for something though she could not tell what and as she could not do anything else she waited as well. Minutes seemed to merge into hours and hours into days. She did feel hungry at some point a painful reminder she was still alive. Food and water appeared out of nowhere.
She thought about it and it was weird. She clearly remembered dying but now she was hungry and thirsty and these states seem only when one is alive and not dead. But then again they know nothing of the afterlife and it is possible there the ghosts or souls have to eat and drink as well or so she hoped.
She did die and died happily. Whatever she set in her life she achieved. She left her adopted daughter to carry on. She was certain she would carry on and carry on well. And though adopted in Susan's mind there was no difference. Iliana took on all her traits and became an accomplished person. And Susan supported her through all her decisions. She made her very proud.
All her other friends have gone beyond the veil: Mr. Garibaldi, Dr. Franklin, G'Kar, and Molari. Only Delenn still carried on but then again Minbari do live long, longer than humans or at least most of them. She was the only left.
A sudden long forgotten feeling coerced through her body and she became apprehensive at once looking for the source of the disturbance. It was a feeling that signals the presence of another, another like her. But it can't be it simply can't.
Across the view screen, another ship had appeared. It approached and touched hers. They were now nose to nose. She saw a figure on other side. She sensed his presence.
"No, not again," Susan exclaimed exasperated but the truth stared back at her. A sword flew in the figure's hand. Susan closed her eyes. "I'm dead, dammit. I died according to all rules. You can't do this to me." She shouted at the universe but only silence replied.
The ships began to merge and Susan instinctively stepped back. The two cockpits became one. The figure had stayed in its place waiting for the inevitable meet. The light of the sword shone creepily in the new cockpit.
"I'm not going down this road again." She said moving backwards into the perpetual darkness hoping to evade the figure. For a moment she lost him out of sight but when the figure stepped into the room the lights came to life.
The figured belonged to a man. He was in his thirties with vivid dark green eyes. His dress code did not match her century. It belonged to a time long ago. It was a long travelling cloak and purplish robes.
"I will not go down this road again."
"But you will, Katherine."
All colours faded from Susan's face. It was a name she had not used for over two and half centuries.
"Take my head and..."
"No," The man shook his head. "I have not come for your head." And he sheathed the sword.
Susan stared at this man. She had never seen him before and yet he knew her. He knew her real name – Katherine. "Who are you?"
The man smiled. "We have never met before. There was never any need. Do you recall the day, the day all immortals got the chance, the second chance?"
"Second chance, what are you talking about?" Susan exclaimed. Her thoughts raced and suddenly the memory popped in. It was a very long time ago. Over two centuries ago, the noblest of all immortals Duncan McLeod tapped into the source of immortality. It gave him the ability to have children something before denied to them.
Nonetheless, they stayed immortal or so. They all had a longer life span than the rest of the humans but still they could grow old and die. And it was then she realized that a part of her life may have been a lie.
"No," The man shook head. "Not everything in this past life was a lie."
"What do you mean?" She did not understand him.
"It is not the first time you died since that day." He replied mysteriously. What did he mean she wondered? "You came to life in your mother's wound like any other human but you are not one of them you never were. Everything you remember about your childhood is real and it did happen but your soul is not human."
"I don't understand."
"Immortals received a gift unlike any other but they were not freed of their immortality. Unlike the humans, they keep coming back. Your soul carries the knowledge of all your life times. The humans had a name – genetic memory in our case it is soul memory. Katherine, you have been born about six times since that day like any other normal human and if you focus you can remember each of those life times."
"NO!" Susan shouted and thrust head. And as she said it, the memories came in uninvited flooding her mind. She saw all her lives since that day, the day of the gift. She also remembered her births, all of them. And the knowledge was fading away every time she was no longer a baby. "No," She clutched her fists while sinking to the floor.
"I'm sorry for the rude awakening."
"What do you want of me?" Susan asked after a while. Her cheeks dried after the tears fell.
"Something had gone terribly wrong."
"Gee, I noticed."
"You don't understand." He shook head. "When you died and your body reached the sun and fell in, something altered the past. I have brought you here and preserved us in what I suppose I could call a pocket universe unaffected by the changes in the timeline. It is here you have the strongest connection to your past life."
"What altered...altered what?"
"I don't know. I wish I did. But this past life you know better, better than anyone, better than me. You have to find out what happened and corrected it. The established chain of events is no more. You must restore them or at least reach the same outcome otherwise everything you have worked for in that past life time would have never happened."
"I will be human again at the very least or...?" She looked at him.
He shook head again. "I'm sorry no, not this time. You are immortal and immortal you shall stay. Remember we are in a pocket universe..."
"...Unaffected by the changes in the timeline." She finished his sentence. Her eyes closed with frustration. She opened them again and exhaled. "Where is the timeline altered?"
"At a familiar time for you, the year is 2260 the place well I did not bring here by chance..."
"Babylon 5."
"Yes," He nodded. "When you go there you will become again Commander Susan Ivanova. All the moments leading to that point however different you will remember as though, you have been there from the getgo. Find the source of the alteration and prevent it."
"I thought you said it has already happened."
"Time mechanics are difficult for everyone. You will arrive at a time before the alteration. You have one chance to fix it and um...I wish it ended there."
"What do you mean?" Susan frowned.
"You are immortal."
"Other immortals,"
"Sadly yes,"
"You want me to find whatever this is and in the meantime dodge other immortals and well the sacred rule, and rolling heads, and swords, and hide all this from my friends?"
"That sounds about right." He smiled. "Being immortal again carries a certain responsibility and you can't bend rules without paying the price. The universe is balance."
"Right,"
"The immortals have always been there, Susan. It is just in the past like you they have lost the ability to sense one another. But someone cheated and created an alteration to established events thus creating a new timeline with new rules. I can't stop this unless you find the source and neutralize it so time can return to normal the way it is supposed to be."
Susan sighed deeply. "Alright, I'll try to find this source and take care of it."
"That a girl,"
"But you still haven't answered my question – who are you?"
"Is this your price?"
Susan eyed him for a moment. She knew he did not mean it the way it sounded. "Yes."
"Very well," He said and cut the distance between them. He bent down and whispered something in her ear.
Susan stepped back and stared at him. "How's that possible? I saw in the court you were hu..."
"All in good time, Katherina," He put a finger on her lips. "Here take this. It will help you in your quest." And he handed her a crystal.
"What is this?"
"Information and instructions,"
"Thanks,"
"Good luck, Commander Susan Ivanova!" And with that he disappeared. The ship's controls appeared out of nowhere and the ship headed straight for the sun. It did not go in but rather it took on a slingshot manoeuvre around it. And so it began... When the ship emerged on the other side, Susan saw a familiar shape – Babylon 5.
To be continued...
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