I had a busy weekend of doing mighty battle of a nephew's birthday. They ruled us all and had a good time but I was tuckered out. Anyway, back to Babylon 5 and the Doctor!

Things are reaching an impasse for the 2 Timelords. By their own rules, they need to keep contamination to a minimum, especially as they seem to be in a political and wartime powder keg on Babylon 5.


Talia has recovered and by quick slight of move, the Doctor had Kosh take her as the first human representative to the Vorlon. Meanwhile, K-9 has made contact and has now received instruction on what to do with those trying to enter the TARDIS.


Brown Sector, Level 18

Mr Morden was feeling left out these days. His Masters still used him, but their focus has almost completely shifted from any advance of their agenda on Babylon 5 to the 2 newcomers. Mollari was even working to get an update on what they were doing.

He worried if it was just the 4 that were with him, but then another had arrived. The quick noises had not been angry but almost anxious.

He wiped his brow as he watched them work on seemingly fragile blue wooden doors that refused to yield. He did not understand what there was to fear, let alone how this shed refused to open to any Shadow technology.

He felt a breeze on his dark hair as a sound began to become audible. The loose trash and other light items also began to blow away from the box as the Shadows quickly backed off.

Morden felt his jaw drop as the box seemed to fade from existence and leave no trace behind.


The TARDIS

K-9 was concentrating for all he was worth. The reconfiguration of the TARDIS console had been difficult without the Master or Mistress, but he was now fulfilling his orders and it all seemed on course.

He wagged his tail, but quickly focused on his task. Unlike his Master, he could only use the explicit instructions and not improvise. The TARDIS moved in the vortex to where the Doctor had ordered him to move it.


Alien Sector, Kosh's Quarters

Kosh was becoming used to Romana being with him. She had a quick grasp of the situation on Babylon 5 and the delicate nature of what they were trying to achieve. She was also clearly the more innocent of the 2.

He recognized the many battle scars on the elder Timelord. For all the Doctor seemed a buffoon, Kosh caught him at times looking at the crowd or when thinking and the Vorlon felt a shiver pass through him.

Neither had known about the Enemy or the Vorlons. He now knew that the circle had indeed brought them, but they understood the importance of it.

"Clearly this interface is showing more than the Babylon 5 database," The blonde head of hair was currently draped on the viewer he had brought from home. The Valen-Sinclair had remarked on it.

She seemed to be looking at a particular aspect and she had quickly found the way to get at the internal parts.

The fact he had grown it ages ago did not seem to phase either Timelord.

"Got it! The Doctor will find this useful, may we borrow it?" She had a slight discoloration from the fluids inside the frame, but Kosh felt nothing but trust. The ancient encounter was very different, but the Vorlon felt the equivalent of a smile.

"Open the path with the key." The translator at times could use very ancient sayings to convey his words, but the Timelords heard it all.

The bright smile was followed by the peep of someone at the door. The expected appointment had come. Kosh was not looking forward to more confrontation, but a request by the Timelords was not to be ignored.


Mr Bester did not like being here. He would not surrender however. Homeworld had basically left him a narrow wiggle room to stay involved, and honestly, the Psi Corp wanted to watch as well.

The fact that one of the new aliens was there did not bother him. Of the 2, the female seemed less bothersome.

The breather was not on her he noticed, but she seemed to be taking rather deep breaths as well. This was something not in the file, but that data was being compiled.

"Thank you for seeing me Ambassador." Bester felt a brush against his shields. The Corp suspected the Vorlon of being telepaths of fearsome power, but they had yet to let one close like they planned to with Ms. Winters.

His clenched fist ached at that humiliation of only a few days gone.

The Commander had basically been laughing at him, he could almost hear it, but dared not in the presence of so many non-human telepaths.

He noted that the Ambassador had not spoken, the single green iris narrowed and widened slowly looking at him. He did not feel like he was being taken seriously. He was tired of this dance.

"We all know why I am here. The Psi Corp is not willing to let a P5 be handed over to the Vorlon unsupervised. I have been authorized to be a witness to her treatment." He affected the small smile he used to seem personable. It usually did not quite work for these moments, but it did wonders in interrogation.

The woman seemed to pocket some glowing piece of technology and produce a kerchief to wipe something off her face. Bester really looked at her. She seemed more approachable to the mundanes he was sure, but to him, she was just as painful to sense as the man.

Their minds were the most alien thing about them. The Doctor especially seemed to hide a lot behind that buffoonish smile and ridiculous outfit.

"You seek to learn without paying the price." The sudden words from the Vorlon caught him off guard and Bester would swear the woman smirked into her kerchief. She put the white cloth in to her front pocket and donned a breather as he had one on as well.

"I am not sure what you mean?" For once, Bester was being completely honest. At the best of times, the Vorlon have flustered translators from all the governments. The Minbari might have a better grasp, but they were not sharing obviously.

The Vorlon closed his iris and went silent.

Bester felt a vein tick on his temple but then he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Out of instinct he knocked it aside but found surprising strength holding it.

"You need to let this go. The Doctor and Kosh know you want the secret to the shields we built for Talia and that the Psi Corp is worried about what we saw in her mind." Bester looked up into her dark eyes and backed away.

Gone was the slight slip of a girl that had simply seemed to fade into the background, now there was something old and powerful looking at him. The mind burned like a thousand stars and his shields trembled.

For the first time in decades, Bester felt real fear. Here was a being that he could neither control nor understand. A being that could break him with a thought. What were these people and why were they interfering with his telepaths?!

"Go, now." The Vorlon was looking again and this time he truly felt the pressure on his shields. Bester nodded curtly and left the room while still keeping his dignity.


Babylon 5 - Meeting room 7

Londo felt his head throbbing after only a few minutes. The extremely tall and giant toothed smiling man was staring at him. Attempts to talk had been shushed while the man then insisted on offering something called jelly babes or some sweet.

Vir was happily trying a handful but quietly.

"This is really quite fascinating. I wonder what causes this?" The curly haired man moved slowly around Londo as he sat in the chair at the meeting table. It had taken considerable effort and not a little favors owed to get this meeting and he was being treated like a dancer on the stage of his favorite bar.

"If we could—" Again the man waved his open hand and made shushing noises.

"Now, now, this is intensely interesting. I think I remember something like this when I was at the Academy." The man then seemed to be searching his many pockets for something. "Now where did I put that? I know Mr Garibaldi gave it back to me. I am always misplacing things." The man smiled almost insanely happy.

Vir nodded with his own smile. He seemed to be enjoying himself just fine. Londo was about to thrust up out of his chair when a strange noise began to fill the air. It sounded like a great beast was roaring its death rattle, or a Narn opera, about the same to Londo.

He and Vir stared as a blue shed of some kind appeared in a corner of the room. Before he could so much as twitch his maned head to ask, the doors opened inward and a rectangular metal thing rolled out at an annoyingly high pitch.

"Ah K-9! Right on time, well done!" The Doctor whisked around the table and patted the thing on the head as little dishes whirred back and forth.

"Most satisfactory Master. Please note the console has a warning on it to be looked over." The Doctor nodded and smiled as he waved right at Londo. He watch the impossibly tall man disappear inside the shed, but the door was open. What was he doing in there?

Londo stood up and Vir followed him towards the open door.

"Please do not approach, I am fully armed and will stun you." A small profusion extended from the little metal thing and Londo felt it was actually serious.

"Great Maker! This is ridiculous, I made this meeting to see this man and he looks at me like a piece of meat!" Londo flared his hands and began pacing wondering what the man was doing just inside that tiny space.

After a few minutes, the man emerged with a piece of equipment that could not have possibly fit inside! It was a large box with many switches and buttons with a large oval display in the middle.

The Doctor was sternly looking it over and frowning.

"Dear, dear. It would seem we can't leave quite yet." The Doctor looked up and seemed to look very sadly at Londo.

"May I speak now?" Londo felt a disquiet just now, but his patience was long since worn out.

A quick nod and Londo was about to launch into his questions when the other alien came in.

"Sorry I am late I was just—" The woman froze in surprise and then smiled at the metal thing again.

"Well done K-9, good dog!" The little machine began to move a long antenna quickly back and forth in clear joy.

"Ah Romana, good, please double check my work as I talk with this interesting man!" Well at least the man had decent eyes.

They traded and Londo sat down with the Doctor.

"Now then, what is it you are doing here on Babylon 5 and why are you fiddling with that device here?" It was not strictly part of what he wanted to know, but only a fool passes on a chance at information.

"Ah well, it would seem that what started as a small anomaly has now turned into a rather serious issue. You are a time sensitive so surely you must feel a bit of it, but it is rather weak. Likely you only can see a serious event or 2 of your future, but I am afraid that unless Romana and I can solve this issue, this station may be gone and half the galaxy with it." The man dropped this bomb as he began to play with some kind of toy on a string that moved up and down to the twitch of his arm.

"Doctor, how can this be?" The shock in the woman's voice was clear and Londo felt a weight of dread settle over him. The same feeling he had been having every night since the duel.

"My best guess Romana is we changed the course of history too much, or we overlooked something. The real question is, can we fix this or will this entire place be pulled into the implosion that is quietly building?" The 2 seemed to forget Londo and Vir were there.

The quick look back at him dispelled that.

"My good man, you don't happen to know of any extremely advanced technology on the world below? I should point out I am on something of a deadline." The reference was not lost on Londo, he had been down there after all, but no one could go.

"It would be best if I consulted my government on this delicate matter—" The Doctor grabbed his arm in a grip like steel. A Narn might have been able to break free, but not a Centauri.

'Excellent idea, while we are at it, we could have that meeting you wanted." The Doctor was moving towards the shed again with Londo in tow.

"Doctor, is that wise?" The woman's questions seemed laced with some mirth but she was hauling the device.

"Not likely, but we are short on time. This gentleman has either been near a temporal event or is one, either way he knows about the planet. Take that to Kosh and monitor the build up. I will use the TARDIS to reach you." They were almost to the shed when the Doctor suddenly turned to Londo.

"I am so sorry, I am the Doctor and you are?" Great Maker this man was infuriating.

"I am Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centaur Republic and—" Londo never got to finish as he was pushed inside the shed. "Great Maker!"


The Doctor smiled at the Centauri's reaction. A weak temporal field was around that man and it was interesting. It clearly was not stable, but it had been tweaked by something. He turned back to his companion and the clearly worried aide.

"Romana, take K-9 with you, we need to fix this quickly and then trace the events to see how we can fix this. The First Law of Time has not been violated yet but it might need to be in this case. Be ready." The grim visage of Romana was no doubt mirrored on his own.

It was highly dangerous to meet yourself as a Timelord, but if that is what it took, they were authorized to do so. The analysis of local Time had been frightening for the Doctor. It was as if everything was hinging on a single choice and down one path the galaxy continued and down the other, there was just nothing.

If they had caused this, they had to stop it and Babylon 5 did not have sufficient technology.

"Pleasure meeting you as well…uh…sir." The Doctor winked and whisked back into the TARDIS. Nearly 2 weeks away and it felt good. The Randomizer was indeed dark as intended for now. He was flicking the controls for the coordinates of what he and Romana had found deep beneath the surface but then he looked up to see Londo staring at the control room.

He waited, it usually took a bit, but the man was a bit prideful.

"I have gone mad, this cannot be. Great Maker how is this bigger on the inside?!" The Doctor laughed outright.

"I would not worry too much about that Ambassador, after all, we are about to go to the planet below." He pulled the lever and the rotor began to move as the TARDIS dematerialized from Babylon 5.