- Disclaimer: Any person seen or mentioned on Babylon 5 belongs to JMS, Babylonian productions etc. They aren't ours, we're just borrowing them for a while - but if they *had* been ours, you bet you would've seen some. . . let's call it *action* between our two favourite characters a looong time ago ! However, they aren't ours (though I suppose Camilla could scare Bruce Boxleitner into giving Sheridan to her, by threatening to give him *another* hug - right, Cam ???!), but everyone's allowed to dream ! This has been a snailmail project, I've written chapters 2, 4, 6 etc and Camilla has written 1, 3, 5 etc etc. There may be (ARE) some inconsistencies due to the fact that we hadn't made any plans for the story before we started writing it, we just let things happen. And this time, luckily, there didn't appear any lion ghosts or evil spirits or various death machines going crazy as the story progressed ! OK, I guess this is all I have to say, Camilla, wanna add something ? *****Magnhild****** (aka JULI, at least on the net) PS: Tracy Scoggins SUCKS, dear sweet JMS -why ? WHY ? WHY? (If the rumors on Sheridan and Elizabeth "Bitch" Lochley having been married are true, I swear to God, I'm flying over to the US to rip the Great Maker's lungs out, Ivanova style !)
You bet I want to add something! For those of you who like really naughty stories, I`m sorry, but there`s no sex in this story. (I`ll make it up to you some other time...) It`s plenty of romance though since both writers of this story simply love that, but we also wanted a PLOT! That`s why we all love the series, right? I`ll let you decide wheter it works out or not.. There might me some spelling mistakes - be gentle with us, we`re Norwegian (lame excuse, I know..) Comments, hatemails and such can me sendt to masandma@online.no. And about that *hug* threat - Magnhild, you know Sheridan is already mine, I`m just borrowing him to a certain other person right now...
Cam
PS: Let`s give Tracy a chance, everyone, huh? THE ENEMY WITHIN
WRITTEN BY MEG TORSKE & CAMILLA SANDMAN
(CHAPTER ONE)
It was night on the space station Babylon 5. Not that there is ever really night or day in space, the darkness surronds one everywhere. Still, it was night on Babylon 5. The nightlights were up, competing with the stars to fight the darkness. A fortress of light developed by the Earth Alliance in the hope of making peace. A place for humans as well as aliens, a place were differences could be sorted out and fully understood. Of the 250,000 inhabitans, almost everyone was asleep. A few lurkers stalked Down Below looking for food, others hurried toward bed. Another day had ended out in space, another day survived surronded by enemies outside - but also within. A small light was on in the Captain`s office. A desklight, giving barely enough light to fight off the nearest darkness. A light that created shadows playing in the corners. Captain John J. Sheridan tried not to look. He had had about enough of shadows for a lifetime. His head was swimming, his eyes closing every time he tried to think. It was about time to call it a night. Running a space station meant long days, and Sheridan had known this when he accepted the position. A great challange he could not turn down. But now... Sometimes he wished the day had more than 24 hours, and the hour more than 60 minutes.
He rubbed his cheeks, trying to wake himself up enough to go through the last reports.
«Should you not be in bed by now?» A soft voice from the door made him look up from his own thoughts.
«Maybe.» He turned the chair in the direction of the door.
«But so should you.»
Ambassador Delenn only smiled as an answer. She stood perfectly still in the door, almost hidden in shadows, and as usual he hadn`t heard her coming. Wearing a slink rope, and with her hair untied she was after human standars very beautiful. The external skull only made her slightly...exotic.
Her eyes met his.
«Maybe I can walk you to your quarters, Captain?» And this time he replied with a smile.
-------------------------------
Susan Ivonava looked out at the stars surronding the station with a worried look on her face. They were glittering toward her, giving bad signs about tomorrow. The Command & Control center, called C&C for short, was almost empty. She was the only one there at the moment, allowing her some time for herself. The window gave view to thousands of stars, reminding her of how unimportant she was.
And out there somewhere, not visible among the stars, she knew Earth was. A small blue planet which she hadn`t been on for over 6 years. A planet which considered her and her friends traitors. Her own people had become her enemy, while the enemy turned out to be an allied. Nothing was simple anymore!
With a slight sigh she turned and prepared to fall into her own damn bed and sleep for a very, very long time.
«Jumpgate activited.» The computer voice was emotionless, but it still made Ivonava react. There were no incoming ships scheduled to arrive now. Quickly, she looked at the console.
What she saw made her reach for the link.
«Oh, hell.»
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(CHAPTER TWO)
Another emergency. Another emergency ! That was just the one single thing in the entire universe Sheridan didn't need right now. What he wanted was simply some rest, a nice, comfortable bed, being with Delenn. . . Fat chance, he groaned. He walked into the conference chamber, angry, tired, and started speaking even before he saw who the persons there were.
"What is it this time, then ? I know there's always something going on here on this crazy space station, but can't I just get a few hours of sleep before the next crisis turns up ? What the. . ."
He broke himself off as he stared right into the face of the president of the Earth Alliance himself, Clark. For a brief second Sheridan's face showed the uttermost surprise, but he quickly straightened himself up and gained control of himself. His eyes met Ivanova's, she was standing behind the "president". Her expression clearly told Sheridan what she thought of this unsuspected guest.
"Mr President !" He didn't even try to hide the ironic tone in his voice, as if he made fun of the word "president". He continued:
"What a pleasant surprise ! If I may ask you, Sir, what are you doing here on Babylon 5 ? I didn't. . . " One of Clark's security guards interrupted him, bluntly, with a smile that gave Sheridan the creeps.
"This trip has been kept a secret, for security reasons. As you know, there are plenty of criminals out there who might be tempted to try to assassinate the president of the Earth Alliance - there have been a lot of . . . complications during the past few months."
That would be a very mild understatement, Sheridan thought. Hell had broken loose on Earth, and he was also fully aware of the fact that he was hardly Clark's favourite person right now. Well, the feeling was mutual. Babylon 5 was no longer Earth territory, and technically Clark was no longer his president. But he didn't know why Clark had come here yet, what his reasons for traveling to this outpost in the universe were, in a time where he literally was fighting wars on several fronts. This could turn out to be quite interesting. . .
"The reason why I've come here is that I needed to meet you personally, Captain Sheridan." Clarks' voice was hard, impersonal, yet convincing. He was very good at getting people where he wanted them to be, using everyone he found suitable for his own interests.
"I want you to reconsider your recent break with Earth."
There it was. Sheridan had suspected it, he had seen it coming. That had to be it, but he still didn't say anything, just stared the man he had used to call his president bluntly into his eyes. Clark obviously expected that this rebellion officer of his was going to say something, but Sheridan didn't. He had a strange look in his eyes, a look which made Clark feel a bit uneasy - a feeling he hid well, he didn't want to give Sheridan any kind of advantage. The president continued:
"You know - as well as I know - that breaking away from Earth was an. . . unconvenient thing to do. The effects this will have on your and the rest of your crew's carriers are enormous. But - " he started walking around in the room, studied a plant by the desk which he had never seen before. He could not, however, hide his surprise when the plant suddently sent out some. . . arms after him, as if it wanted to eat him alive or something. Alien, obviously. He quickly turned away from the plant as if nothing had ever happened, but Ivanova noticed that he gave the plant a terrified look as he walked over to the opposite part of the office. She laughed inside, knowing that this particular Sxali plant could be quite scary if you didn't already know that the "arms" simply tried to plant its seeds on everyone passing by it.
"But - I will be willing to forget that this has ever happened, if you immediatly rejoin with Earth. Without any conditions of any kind. This will be for the good of everyone involved, Captain. You won't be able to run this space station without the funding and resources from Earth. I strongly suggest that you think about this - it's our last offer." Clark hurried out of the room, without giving Sheridan or anyone else in the room the chance to speak. His guards followed him, leaving only Sheridan, Ivanova, Franklin and Zack Allan. None of them said anything, they were all stunned. Finally, Ivanova found the words to describe what they were all thinking -
"Well, I knew that guy was creepy, but I never imagined that he'd actually threat us like that. He must be really scared of something."
(CHAPTER THREE)
The silence settled for a while in Sheridan`s office again. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts, their own . . . fears. Breaking away from Earth hadn`t been easy, but they had done it anyway, because they hadn't had any other choice. Now it was as if all their doubts had returned, returned to haunt them in their sleep. After all, Earth was home. It was their own people they were turning against, the enemy was within their own race.
«We`re gonna turn him down, right?» It was Ivonava who finally broke the silence. Her face was worried, but hard. There was nothing in her voice that suggested any excitement over Clark`s offer. Even the plant had gone to sleep, it didn`t move at least.
«Of course. There`s too much at stake now. But he wouldn`t come here unless...»
«Unless what?»
«Unless he had an ace in the hole.» Sheridan`s reply was followed by a long, uneasy silence. Why would the President of the Earth Alliance risk coming here, knowing they could kill him? He had to have something more, but what? No one in the room had the answer, as a long night went toward day.
*******************
From behind Epsilon 3, the sun came up. Actually there were several suns surronding the station, but this one indicated that a new day had started on Babylon 5. A new day with new possibilities. But for Sheridan, this wasn`t a good day. Annoyed he pushed the doorbell the third time.
«Come on, Delenn, be home», he muttered to himself. But there was no reply, only the tingling sound of the bell. Great ! She wasn`t in! And right now when he needed her most. He needed to talk to her, hear her soft voice comfort him, touch her sweet face. . .
«If you are looking for Delenn, you will find her in the docking bay.»
As always, Lennier was calm and mild-speaking. Very . . . Minbari. Reserved, always there for Delenn, no ambitions but to serve her. Sometimes it made Sheridan wonder if. . . He shook his head, gave Lennier a short nodd and hurried toward the docking bay area. Lennier, standing in the hallway, watched him go with the same calmness as always.
*******************
Ivonava could feel the anger inside her. That bastard! That presidental sleezebag... He had the nerve to come here and just. . . Behave like that! Maybe the captain would allow him to have a little «accident»? Probably not, Sheridan wasn`t like that. Still, what he didn`t know wouldn`t hurt him...
«Commander, the Minbari ships are leaving!»
The lieutenant looked up at her with pure surprise in his face. The two Minbari ships were their only defense at the moment. They couldn`t leave, could they?
***********
Delenn stood alone in one of the docking bays, looking worried. Her brown hair was a bit untidy, and her eyes suggested that she hadn`t had much sleep lately.
«Delenn.» Sheridan couldn`t help but smile as he said it, even though the situation wasn`t much to smile of.
«John, listen...» Her voice was uncalm, but Sheridan was paying more attention to the Minbari pointing a PPG on her...
(CHAPTER FOUR)
"What. . . ." Sheridan went toward Delenn, slowly, with his hands in the air. He didn't want the minbari with the PPG to do anything stupid, and it actually seemed like he'd allow Sheridan to approach Delenn. She grabbed her fiancé's hand as soon as he got close enough, her eyes were wide with fear.
"Someone has betrayed us," she said. "I don't know who, or when, but we are in a lot of trouble. And I don't mean just the two of us - the whole galaxy might fall apart. Pres. . . ." The minbari with the PPG interrupted her. He said something in Minbari, which Sheridan didn't understand, but he could see of the expression in Delenn's face that whatever he was saying, neither of them was gonna like it. She swallowed hard, and then she translated:
"The Minbari ships who have protected Babylon 5 have gone home to Minbar." Sheridan gasped for air, he couldn't believe what he had just heard. The Minbari ships were GONE? Their main protection against an Earth attack ? What were they supposed to do now ? And . . . He suddenly remembered their unsuspected guest.
President Clark.
He had known it all along.
***************
Clark was in his quarters, driving his secretaries crazy. He had a zillion messages which were to be sent all over the galaxy, they were all just as important, and they were all secret. All the secretaries knew that annoying Clark was NOT a very good idea. And if you did, well . . . you would be unempoyed before you even had the chance to turn around. If you were lucky.
Susan Ivanova walked into his quarters. She wasn't exactly pleased to be there, and she did a very bad job of hiding it, too. She was secretly making a list of "100 delightfully bloody ways of assassinating President Clark" in her mind, and she had only gotten to #66 so far. She knew that it was a good way to release some of her tension, without actually hurting anyone - but she sure hoped that none of the secretaries of his were undercover telepaths !
"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about, Sir ?"
The president approached her, he was thinking of touching her shoulder, but quickly changed his mind when he saw the expression in her eyes. There was no way that he could get to this woman quickly - which was quite strange, because in his experience, there was hardly one single woman in the Earthforce who wasn't willing to sleep her way up in the chain of command. This woman despised him. He decided to get straight to the point, there was no use in covering what he was about to say in fancy, meaningless phrases.
"I am sure you have noticed that the Minbari ships who have been protecting B5 have left," he said, his voice was arrogant, like he already knew that he had won.
"In a few hours, several Earthforce ships will arrive in Babylon space. We are going to take back what is ours."
Susan was stunned. Why was he telling her this - now ? Didn't he know that they would just use the entire fleet of White Star ships to protect the station instead ?
"And don't even think about letting anyone know about this situation," Clark continued,
"I have spies everywhere. You won't, and *can't* know who you can trust. And - I have a couple of hostages. You will get them back safely - if you cooperate."
Ivanova was shocked, her mouth was dry, she simply didn't know what to say. Finally she was able to ask:
"Who ?"
"Captain Sheridan and Ambassador Delenn."
He turned away, it was clear that he wanted her to go. Then he said, slowly:
"I have Minbari spies, too. You won't be able to contact the White Star ships. Some of them are now under my direct command, the rest of them are without any radio contact at the moment. It seems as if they are having a jamming problem. Quite convenient, don't you agree ?"
While Susan hurried out of the room, she could feel his piercing eyes following her as she left. President Clark *had* had an ace in the hole when he came to B5 - and it seemed like he knew how to play it, too.