The Lady of Downbelow
a.k.a. "Not My Babylon Circus, Not My Downbelow Monkeys"
+++++PART+06+++++
November 29, 2257
"I think that's him." Sinclair used his chin to point.
Indeed, the tall male walking toward them matched the picture they had been provided. Shaggy brown hair and laughing blue eyes, with a large boyish smile, his features were distinctive. His stride was smooth as he approached. He immediately held out his hand as he introduced himself. "Boe Harker, advisor for Nova Morganson." Both men got the impression that Harker was propositioning them, but neither commented, choosing to ignore the tonal innuendo instead.
"Jeffrey Sinclair, commander of Babylon 5."
"Michael Garibaldi, chief of security."
"Very nice to meet you both." Harker looked around, then faced them with a raised eyebrow. "Where's Nova?"
Garibaldi said conversationally, "Didn't Jeff mention that we can't reliably find Morganson?" And he had tried! It was swiftly becoming his new mission: find where Nova Morganson and her people went when they weren't in Brown-12. "Unless it's noon or evening, we can't find her."
Harker grinned, "So she doesn't know I'm coming."
It wasn't a question, but Sinclair answered anyway, "We haven't had a chance to tell her, no."
"Ha! That'll be fun."
Michael blinked at the reaction. "You know Morganson?"
"Her and Smith. That's why they sent me."
"Who is Smith?"
"Nova's adoptive father. One of his more common aliases is Doctor John Smith."
"Seriously?"
Harker shrugged, "Personally, I think he finds it funny. That or it's a habit. If everyone knows John Smith is bogus, they don't bother looking further."
Sinclair nodded. It did make a small kind of sense. "Well Mr. Harker, we've set you up in Blue Sector—"
"No," he interrupted firmly, no room for argument. "Either I'm staying with Nova, or I'm leaving."
"Mr. Harker—"
He again interjected, this time grimly, "Look, Commander. I'm only here because of her. If she needs me, I'll be staying. If she doesn't, I've got other places to be."
"Aren't you here to act as an advisor? How can you advise if you aren't staying?" Garibaldi asked grimly.
Harker smirked, "Dealing with Nova and the Doctor is easy: do what they tell you and stay out of their way." He tapped his chin mock-thoughtfully. "Try not to draw their attention." He gave a sharp nod. "There, you've been advised."
Garibaldi and Sinclair looked at him. "That's all?"
Harker nodded. "Pretty much."
The head of security shook his head, "Who is she? What's their species? Why is she here? What—"
"You don't seem to understand how advising works," he was back to being grim. "I advise you on how to interact with her. I do NOT tell her secrets." Then yet another boyish smile. "Not that she has that many secrets. The woman is a terrible liar and she knows it, so usually doesn't bother trying. Just ask her, she'll probably tell you." He rubbed his hands together. "Now! Let's go find her."
"When we can find her, she's in Brown-12," Sinclair gestured toward the left. "I'll show you the way."
The three men made their way down to Brown-12 with not much more conversation beyond 'this is a nice station', 'thank you', and other standard niceties. When they reached the large area, just as clean and straightened as Garibaldi remembered, Harker looked around. While there were several groups of people around, none were Morganson. Instead of being disheartened, Harker cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs, "HEY STARSHINE!" He paused, waiting for a reply.
Harker certainly got attention from those loitering in Brown-12, but it was bored curiosity rather than hostility. Garibaldi knew that if Boe had yelled 'Lady' instead, those barely interested now would quickly change to a laser-focused open aggression.
"STARDUST!" Another pause. "STARBUCK!"
"Jack!" the voice came from their left. And there she was, hair tousled and breathing slightly hard, as if she had run. She ran forward the last few steps, where he caught and lifted her; spinning them both in a circle before letting her drop down to the floor.
Now came the expressions of ready violence, both Earth Alliance officers noted. However, they also saw that the aggression was radically tempered. Not only had the observers noticed Harker's attention to their Lady, but they also were aware of her reaction to him.
Harker's smile matched her own. "Nice to see you again, Starbutt."
Nova rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "You know I hate those stupid nicknames."
The pair obviously knew each other well enough to treat one another like long lost family; a teasing brotherly greeting and tolerated habitual response. This restrained the Brown-12 onlookers more than anything Garibaldi himself could do. In fact, invoking his authority as a security operative would no doubt have made the situation worse; giving viewers an excuse to 'defend' their Lady.
This further evidence of the Lady of Downbelow's own version of 'security' worried Garibaldi…especially since he was almost 100% positive she did not request it, and (given what he already knew of her personality) probably was not even aware of its existence. Such potential violence needed to be tempered, and the only thing holding these people back was the Lady herself. Yet, if she was not aware of it, then she could not direct them.
Harker's smile was more genuine now than when he had first arrived. "But they always get your attention." He hugged her again before stepping back. "So how are you, Starshine?"
She gave a soft laugh, shaking her head. "How long's it been for you?"
"Hmmm…'bout a buck-fifty, give or take. You?"
"Seventy-ish."
They grinned at each other for several seconds. "Lady?" They all looked over to see a little face filled with uncertainty. "Who is he, Lady?"
" 'Lady'?" Harker raised an eyebrow.
Nova smiled at the child and held out a hand. "Charlie, come meet a very good friend of mine." She tucked the girl into her arms and faced Harker. "Charlie, this is—"
"Boe Harker," he smiled brilliantly.
Nova blinked at that bit of information, but didn't pause long. "Boe and I have been friends ever since I was a little girl."
Garibaldi twitched at her hesitation, realizing that 'Boe Harker' was an alias. Then he remembered that she called him 'Jack', and there was that small bit of information on her file contact list…
It looked like Boe Harker was Jack Harkness.
+++B5+++
"What are you doing here, Jack?" Nova asked. The four of them were in a small alcove off the main hall.
"I'm here because these guys," he pointed over his shoulder with a thumb, "asked for help dealing with you."
She laughed. "And what did you tell them?"
"The standard," his own voice filled with humor. Then he sobered a bit. "Why are YOU here, No'? They said you've been here over a year. Why so long? Where's the Doc?"
She shook her head. "It's not like you're thinking. Nothing's wrong."
"Okaaay," he drawled. "Then why are you here?"
"I'm graduating," she grinned. "This is my final project." While Gallifrey no longer existed, the records and materials were still available via the TARDIS library. She'd been doing self-study of the Academy's curriculum for a long time.
"What?" His mouth hung open. "You're graduating? That's fantastic!" He hugged her. Then he pulled back and tilted his head quizzically. "Your graduation project is…here?" he gestured to their surroundings.
"Well, not HERE-here. Not Brown-12. Babylon 5."
Sinclair and Garibaldi stiffened, but both were ignored.
"The whole station?" Jack asked in confusion.
She grimaced. "Well, no, not really. This is just as close as I could get until it's closer."
He blinked. "What?"
Nova let out a small huff. "There's a large fixed point near here. My graduation project is to make sure it all goes according to plan. Lots of the elements that are needed are on B5, or close by. People and materials."
"Ah," he nodded. "You've been here a year though. How close is it?"
She grimaced again. "Not nearly as close as I thought. Probably another two or three years." A huff. "I oopsed on the timing."
"Downcheck."
"Yeah," she groused. "Though it's not like he can always land when he wants!"
Harker gave a low amused whistle, remembering countless times they had crashed or been off by several decades or centuries. "Sooo, where's the Doc?"
"It's my final project. All my decisions, start to finish. He's hanging out in the Vortex, just in case, but otherwise…" she shrugged. "It's all me."
"…Guess I probably shouldn't stay, then."
"As much as I love having you around, no. I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "I understand, Starlight, don't worry. Just promise me you'll come visit when you're all graduated. We'll party for a week!"
She laughed, nodding. "Promise."
He looked at the main thoroughfare that was barely in view. "So basically, you're doing all that," he gestured, "because you're bored."
"I prefer to think of it as occupying my time," she said primly, then ruined it by giggling. "And really, when Tabri gets bored, we end up fixing things that aren't broken. Setting up a medcenter, soup kitchen, and school are waaay more productive."
"School?" Garibaldi pounced on the word. He hadn't heard anything about a school.
"You're teaching?" Jack grinned.
"Yeah, there's a few groups of homeless kids. I do a little bit in the mornings with them."
"You, who are about to graduate," Jack's smile widened, "from the Academy of Gallifrey," his grin grew with each word, "are teaching twenty-third century kids?"
She rolled her eyes, "It's not like that."
"I'm sure."
"It isn't!"
"Uh huh." Nova stuck out her tongue at him, which made him laugh. "How old's the youngest?" he asked.
"Karianne just turned 9."
Jack nearly fell out of his chair, he was laughing so hard.
She crossed her arms defensively and pouted. "It's not THAT funny!"
"Yes / it / is," he managed between guffaws.
"What's the joke?" Sinclair couldn't help but ask.
Jack was still laughing. Between snorts, he tried to explain. "The joke is / is that when she / she gets done / with those kids / they'll know more / more than ANYONE / from ANY planet / EVER! Ahahahaha!" He had repeated several words around the cackles.
Sinclair and Garibaldi blinked in confusion. That brought up more questions than it answered. It seemed to be an ongoing theme with these two.
Nova rolled her eyes. "I am being VERY careful," she denied. "Complete with lesson plans and it's mostly practical knowledge anyway. My five littles helped me build a hydroponics garden, including the design and all the math beforehand. Danny was quite good at the geometry and Charlie caught onto the maintenance very quickly."
His chortles were finally subsiding, though his grin remained. "Starshine, when you finally leave, those kids will have the most thorough and off-the-wall education of anyone this generation, and you know it."
"Well, maybe…but it's good for them!"
Jack dissolved back into giggles. They all impatiently waited for him to sober. Doing so, he got onto a new topic, "Do any of these ambassadors know who you are?"
She snorted. "No, and you're not going to tell them."
"Awww, why not? It'd be funny to see them fall all over themselves."
Rolling eyes. "Because they'd fall all over themselves…or try to kill me. Or kidnap me to get to him. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I don't like repeats."
"Oh, I remember that!" He grinned, "Those idiots still hiding?"
She nodded. "Mmm. A few galaxies over, I think."
He laughed softly and she sighed. "I helped the Vorlon because no one else could, but I heard later that the doctor opened his armor anyway to confirm my results and a psionic scanned him to learn who poisoned him. They caught hell for it, but that's not the point." She shook her head. "If they are going to do all of that anyway, then why tell them?"
It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Because then they wouldn't second-guess you."
"They would, and you know it. Especially the humans. Besides, technically, I'm not supposed to interfere that way. It's not my area. That's for the Vorlons and Z'ha'di. Gallifrey was first and got the Vortex, because of the Untempered Schism, and they got guardianship of the Seconds."
"What about the others?"
"Others?"
"Other Firsts," he clarified.
"All the others are either extinct or left already." She let out a tired breath. "As far as I know, those're the only ones still around this galaxy." Another heavy sigh. "And you know that there's only the two of us left. One of the Seconds is going to have to step up to the plate eventually…"
He tilted his head. "I thought the schism was the only one of its kind, thus preventing others from evolving those characteristics."
Nova sighed again. "It is… But he's on his last generation…and I won't live forever."
Jack sobered and nodded. "No one does."
"No. No one does. Not even you."
It was a solemn thought, but he forced a smile anyway. "Still, you've got a long life ahead of you. Plenty of time to figure out a successor. Maybe one of the Centauri will have the knack for it."
She snorted. "The Centauri are still fighting amongst themselves and everyone else; they don't have the right temperament. No, if it would be any of the species currently on B5, it'd have to be a Minbari…they're the closest…but I'm not sure of even them." She sighed. "Maybe in a few millennia…"
"Either way, you've got the time to find the perfect one," he smirked at his own joke. "And hey, what's with all this 'Lady' stuff? You're supposed to choose your name after you graduate."
Nova grinned, glad to change the subject. "The kids started calling me that, then it caught on. No one's called me by name in months! I might be one of the few that gets assigned a name, rather than picking my own."
"It's better than Starbutt."
"EVERYTHING is better than that!"
09.27.2021
+++++B5+DW+B5+++++
Thanks so much to denise3 & BarbedCaress for being betas! Really appreciate it!
Please let me know what you think! This is my first B5 fic. I know its not perfect, but I've done my best. Reviews are love and remind me to keep writing!