Chapter 3 – A Dream World

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John Sheridan looked over at Delenn as she pulled the covers up over her body.  He smiled and climbed under the covers with her.  She looked over at him and sighed.  She then shook her head and squinted her eyes.

"John, I was thinking...why did you trust Master Skywalker when he was going to scan you the other day?"

"You'll probably laugh at me, but a few weeks ago I had a weird dream, I didn't tell anyone, because it was so bizarre.  Well in the dream, there was a man, who at the time I did not recognize, but now, I realize that it was Luke.  Anyways, he was holding a Whitestar and a Shadow Mothership, one in each hand.  He looked up at me, smiled and crushed the Shadow vessel.  He then tossed the Whitestar into my hands and it turned into the Earth.  I passed it off as some crazy dream, but when Luke first appeared on the comm a few days ago, I knew that my dream had been a sign of the future.  I think that perhaps, Master Luke was sent here to save our Galaxy."

John looked up at Delenn and saw her smiling; she wrapped an arm around his body and pulled him closer.  They began to kiss and Delenn giggled as John ran his hand down her body.

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Luke Skywalker looked over at Mara as she pulled the covers up over her body.  He smiled as he used the force to pull the covers up and slid underneath them.  She looked over at him and sighed.  She then shook her head and closed her eyes in thought.  She opened her eyes and looked over at Luke with wonder in them.

"Luke, why did you trust Captain Sheridan the other day?  I noticed that you didn't try to read him through the force when he invited you onboard the station."

"Well...try not to laugh, but I had a vision a few weeks ago, it seemed like it was nothing, since it was so strange.  In the vision was a figure, one I now recognize to be John.  In the vision he was holding a Coralskipper in his right hand and an X-Wing in his left.  He made a fist with his right hand, crushing the skip.  Then he looked up, smiled and tossed the X-Wing into my hands.  When I caught it, I looked down and the ship had turned into Coruscant, the way it used to be, before the Vong.  I didn't mention it to you, since, well it seemed very strange and unreal, but once I saw his face, I knew it was a vision of the future.  I think that somehow, Captain Sheridan is going to save our galaxy from the Vong."

Luke looked up at Mara and saw her smiling, leaning on her elbow, listening contently.  She wrapped her arms around his body and pulled him closer, planting her lips on his.  She ran her hands through his semi-long silver-blonde hair, and giggled as he ran his hand down her thigh.

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Han looked over at Leia and kissed her as he got out of bed.  He walked over to the dresser and pulled on some boxers and pants.  He grabbed his tunic off the back of a chair and pulled it over his head. He looked back at Leia and walked out of the room.  He headed down the hall to the bar down a few levels.  He sat down at the bar next to a pretty female human with long brown hair, tied back in a pony tail.  She was wearing a black suit with grey trim.  He looked over at her as he ordered a drink.

"So, you work here?" Han asked the woman.

"Yes, you were one of the people that came with Luke Skywalker.  You're the Senator's husband aren't you?" the woman said.

"Han Solo..." he said.

"Susan Ivanova, nice to meet you," she replied.

"So, what do you do around here, that's a fancy uniform, I'm still trying to work out what all the insignia means."

"First of all, I'm part of the command crew.  And here, I'll show you what all the stuff means," she said. 

She pointed at the symbol on her left arm and said, "This just means that I work here on Babylon 5."

She then pointed to the symbol on her right arm and said, "This is the symbol of the Rangers, of which I am an honorary member."

She pointed at the bars on her shoulder, "This means I'm a Commander."

She smiled at him, "Took a while to get that second bar...Sorry, I'm boring you."

"No, no, go on," Han said to her.

"So, has anyone explained the Shadow War to you?" she asked him.

"Yeah, but just a little, all I know is that, they are the bad guys, and you...we are the good guys," he said as he laughed lightly to himself.

"Well, where should I start?  Okay it all began last year, when Ambassador G'Kar told John about an ancient enemy that was gathering at Z'ha'dum.  Nobody believed him, for a while, until a ship arrived at the station.  On board was a shadow itself, one that had snuck aboard the ship in secret and was released upon its arrival to B5."

Han nodded as he took in all of this information.  He looked down at his empty glass and ordered another round.

"We found and destroyed it, but we didn't really find out about the shadows for a couple of months, when they helped the Centauri invade Narn.  Delenn came forward and told the council about them, and how they had known about them for some time.  After a little while, President Clark began setting up programs on Earth to control the people.  He, we believe, is being controlled by the Shadows.  After he set up Nightwatch, he decided that he didn't want John in charge of Babylon 5 anymore, but John didn't like that idea, so he had B5 succeed from Earth Alliance."

"Please go on," Han responded.

"We have been separated for a few months now, and we have even discovered a small weakness that the shadows have.  It seems that their ships can be immobilized by a telepath relatively easily.  That is why John is so happy to see Luke and his students."

"I would bet, those guys never cease to amaze me, I mean it isn't easy living in a house surrounded by people levitating things around.  Both of my kids, plus my wife are powerful jedi, well Leia isn't officially a jedi, but she could be..."

"So, I heard that one of your friends has been here for a while, what a coincidence, huh?" Ivanova said to him.

"Yeah, my friend Chewbacca, he's been there for me for over 25 years, and then, bang, he's gone.  We all assumed he had died, but it seems that he was somehow sent here.  Yeah, what are the chances, good thing that annoying Threepio isn't here, or he'd probably give them to me."

"The odds of Chewbacca and you meeting in this galaxy on this ship one day after our arrival are approximately 1,786,473,319 to 1," said C-3PO from behind Han.

Han looked back and rolled his eyes as he saw Leia and the golden protocol droid standing there.  "Hey Leia, couldn't sleep either?"

"Nope, I felt you get up, and after a while I gave up just laying in bed.  And since I knew you just loved the company of Threepio here, I thought I'd bring him over so you too could have fun," she said while grinning widely, "now, let's go back to the room, we will talk about this later."

"See you later, Susan, nice meeting you," Han said as Leia grabbed his ear and pulled him off the bar-stool.

"Yeah, see you later, Han," Susan said as she looked at her glass.

She watched Han walk out of the bar and sighed, "Oh, Han, why do you have to be married...I really like you...Barkeep, can I get another round...I'm gonna need it."