Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews, sorry I haven't updated for so long,
due to a lot of exams. But I'll try to do better in the future, I promise.
Until then, here's Chapter 5.
Chapter 5 - Concerto for silence
Somewhere on the route "Minbar-Earth", time unknown
It was silent. Only a tiny chirp dared to radiate from the console as Michael kept scanning the dusty remains of what once had been a White Star, although they all knew it was useless. While the two other life pods had gotten out in time, the last one probably hadn't even made it off the ship. Michael had tried to hail it for almost two hours now without response; neither had he found any lifesigns nor any piece of metal that was big enough to be taken for a ship. He knew as well as the others that it was time to give up hope and simply accept the facts but a look in Nathan's eyes kept him from saying it out loud.
It took seven hours of complete silence until a Narn freighter came for help. They picked up the stranded, scanned for survivors and left for the nearest checkpoint.
***
Headache! He slowly tried to move but his head didn't agree. He felt as if he was going to throw up as he gradually inspected his battered body. On right hand between the thumb and the index finger he actually found a place that didn't hurt. As he now was aware of his physical status he moved on to his mental. How did he end up here? Where was "here"? Accompanied by the aching of his bones he sat up and inspected his surroundings. He was lying on some kind of bunk. The room was dark but he could make out some shadows on the walls; monstrous giants that glared furiously at him. As his eyes got used to the darkness he noticed that the entire room was filled with junk piled up against the walls. These were made, as he noticed touching them slightly with a finger, of some greasy, dirty metal, like tin.
The room had no window, so he had no idea where he was, except for the noises. The floor was grumbling under him like a muttering old man. It reminded him of something. A ship. He was on a ship. Suddenly he remembered something and the images made his head spin. The White Star! It exploded.but he didn't remember how. How had he gotten off? He couldn't recall getting to any life pod. Maybe he was dead and this was hell. Dead again. - Susan! He slowly recollected all memories. Susan! She had to be here too.
"Susan!" he called out in the darkness. "Susan can you hear me?"
t took a few minutes for him to realize that she wasn't in the room so he staggered himself up and started looking for a door. Soon he found one, it was open. With a sigh he left the room.
***
"So what do we do now?" Garibaldi asked.
"We continue." John replied.
"Shouldn't we better go home?" They were still on the Narn freighter but had been told that they would arrive at the check point in an hour.
"Home? My home is Earth. I don't know about you."
"You heard what they said on ISN."
Indeed he had heard. As they had put on the screen a little while ago a brutal scenario had been acted out in front of their eyes. The main streets on Geneva were unrecognizable. What had seemed as a small demonstration involving a few hundred had now developed into a well organized riot with hundreds of thousands on the streets fighting, throwing stones, smashing windows and faces and setting various things on fire such as banners, cars, and houses.
"Well, that's more the reason to go, isn't it?"
"I'm just concerned for your security."
"Don't, I'm a big boy, Michael. I'm going. You can all decide for yourself."
"Where would we go anyway?"
"I know a place where we would be rather safe; from there we can do whatever we want. I know the way, I can guide you." Nathan had said nothing since the explosion and even now he seemed unaware of the others.
"Don't you think you'd be safer somewhere else?" Stephen asked worriedly but gained no response.
***
Marcus had figured out that he was on some kind of ship although it seemed rather strange. The piles of litter followed the corridors he walked and he felt queasy looking at the ceiling where broken pipes covered in dirt stuck out exhaling strange smells. Lightning was provided by naked lamps, of a style he had seen last in a museum and the motor that moaned from below reminded him of a cranky lawnmower.
Rounding a corner he suddenly saw someone.
"Wait! Hey! Hello!"
The man turned around, a human in his mid forties, with an appearance that reminded Marcus of a cube or maybe a coffin. "Oh, I see you're awake! How nice. I was just checking up the other one. Feeling well, are we?"
The man's strange and sudden joviality startled the Ranger. "Oh, I am George, if you're asking. Or trying to, I see. Hahaha. Who are you, handsome boy? Always nice to see new faces, especially if they are like yours. That doesn't happen very often up here. But I guess you can figure that out by yourself."
"The other?"
"Yep, the other one we picked up. Cute girl, still asleep, but very likeable."
"Can I see her?"
"Sure. Come here with me, I'll show you to her. But then you have to go and see Mommy."
He followed George through the maze of corridors. The ship appeared to be a lot larger than he first had anticipated.
"Mommy?"
"She's in control of the Golden Knight."
"This ship?"
"Of course. So here we are. She needed a little more attention than you, she appears to have a broken arm. Besides Mommy didn't want you two to do anything nasty if she left you both in the same room."
"Nasty?"
"Yes, Mommy knows about these things. Boy, you are not very chatty, are you?" He opened another door and there in complete darkness he found her, lying on a bunk bed similar to his. When the faint rays of light from the corridors touched her he jumped back. Bruises covered her face and her arms, her clothes were a little torn. Her left arm was bandaged.
"Looks as if you got yourselves into a real fight." George added to the picture.
"Susan?" Marcus chose to ignore George and knelt before her.
"Marcus?" She stirred and looked at him groggily.
"I'm here." He gave her a comforting smile. "And won't go away."
***
While the Minbari crew had returned to Minbar the others arrived in Geneva late in the evening. It was fall and icy rain forced its way down on the capital. G'Kar knew he had to stay alert but he was tired. They had slept almost nothing since they arrived. He glanced at his companions only to see exhausted, serious faces. All of them had been in critical situations before and knew when to show emotions and when not to, but it was obvious to everyone that they suffered. They spoke rarely to each other and Nathan hadn't said two sentences since the explosion. He didn't eat and moved as if he was sleepwalking and at times it seemed to G'Kar as if he wasn't aware of his surroundings at all. It worried him and the others since they were dependent on him. A guide who didn't know where he was obviously wasn't a very good guide.
"Are you okay?" Michael asked cautiously as he approached Nathan.
"Yeah, I'm perfect! Just perfect, couldn't be better!" Shrugging he revised his sarcastic answer. "It doesn't matter how I am."
"Oh, it does, trust me. We have no idea about what we're up against here, and I want my men to be fighting their best."
"Your men?"
"I'm sorry about Susan, you have no idea how much she meant to me. But we can't think about that now. Now the only thing that counts is that we did our best and we'll do it in the future. We'll have time for thinking later."
"Do we? Is it really that simple? Did we do our best?"
"Don't you think this is hard for me, too?"
"I lost the love of my life! If I had surrendered to this guy on the White Star this would never had happened! She would be alive and that is really the only thing that matters to me. Now she's gone, and I didn't even have the chance to apologize. And when you come here babbling about your men and all you seem to forget that you lost a damn good one in favor for me."
"I don't think you would have achieved anything by letting yourself killed. It wouldn't have helped us or Susan."
Nathan waited for more to come but apparently the silence had heard about the conversation and quickly quieted the whole thing down.
"I'm going to look for a communicator. My daughter is on Mars and I want to make sure she's ok."
Although Nathan was under shock he chose his routes well. They traveled only through the suburbs and avoided any bigger streets. On the Narn freighter they had heard that the situation in the center of the city had become increasingly aggressive. Out of town an almost spooky silence ruled the streets. No one was outside; in some of the houses light was on, but mostly it was dark and grey everywhere. Still Garibaldi couldn't help feeling that they were followed. He didn't know why nor where this suspicion was based upon but it increased every minute.
***
As soon as Susan had opened her eyes fully, George told them that it was time to meet Mommy. Again they followed him through endless corridors until they came to another door. It was a little bigger and looked even more used than the rest.
"What is this place?" a confused Susan asked looking at the heaps lying around her.
Strange machinery, broken old equipment, rusty metal, dusty books, half finished paintings, wrecked sculptures and even a few ancient TV s amongst many cut-off cables, all filled up the rooms, the corridors and even the bridge, as they noticed entering it.
"Welcome to the Golden Knight." The raspy voice belonged to a very small elderly woman.
"Mommy!" George announced proudly.
Mommy was in her sixties or seventies, her age was hard to define due to the many wrinkles covering her round face, the heavy makeup that went in pinks and greens and the colored, blond hair that she had put up into two pigtails. Behind her stood a huge, slim Drazi, that had to bend his head slightly to fit into the room. Otherwise neither Susan nor Marcus had seen anyone on the ship.
"I am Lucy, captain of this institution, this is Yum-Yum" she pointed at the Drazi "or Teddy as George prefers to call him. He doesn't speak, but he does smile. He's stupid, so you can do whatever you prefer with him. If you want to call him something else then that's fine, too. You've already met my little boy."
"Pleased to meet you," Susan stammered a little startled by these people. "I am Susan Ivanova, captain from Earth Force. And this is Marcus Cole."
Suddenly Lucy's friendly appearance changed.
"Hmpf, Earth Force. And he's not your hubby. I see. Well, well."
"I'm sorry. I don't understand."
"You're married. You have a wedding ring. I checked it out while ago while you slept. And here you are with someone else; I see, I see. You ran off with him, didn't you? Left your poor husband somewhere while you're here having fun. I don't like people like you. Please go, leave my ship. I won't support amoral actions like these."
"Go where?" Marcus asked, just to realize that sensible answers where an unknown rarity on the Golden Knight.
"No, it's not like that!"
"No?"
Susan gazed at Marcus, who replied with a defeated look. She had a feeling that telling the truth; that they had traveled with the President, but that an assassin came on board and blew up the ship; wouldn't have any positive effect on this woman. And he had a feeling that this would take a very long time.
***
"It's close now. A few minutes more, that's all." Nathan said. He hadn't found a computer and couldn't wait to come to the cottage to call Sarah.
"Wait, I hear something." They stopped and Garibaldi took up his PPG.
"I would suggest that you drop it." stated a calm male voice from behind. He was holding a weapon himself pointing it at them in true gangster style. Behind him several other men arrived with threatening approach.
"Well.?"
With a clunk Michael dropped the PPG on the ground. And again his gut feeling made itself noticeable. He didn't know why but he was afraid.
***
That's it for now. Please review, you'd make me so happy!!! ;) /bumble-bee- free
Chapter 5 - Concerto for silence
Somewhere on the route "Minbar-Earth", time unknown
It was silent. Only a tiny chirp dared to radiate from the console as Michael kept scanning the dusty remains of what once had been a White Star, although they all knew it was useless. While the two other life pods had gotten out in time, the last one probably hadn't even made it off the ship. Michael had tried to hail it for almost two hours now without response; neither had he found any lifesigns nor any piece of metal that was big enough to be taken for a ship. He knew as well as the others that it was time to give up hope and simply accept the facts but a look in Nathan's eyes kept him from saying it out loud.
It took seven hours of complete silence until a Narn freighter came for help. They picked up the stranded, scanned for survivors and left for the nearest checkpoint.
***
Headache! He slowly tried to move but his head didn't agree. He felt as if he was going to throw up as he gradually inspected his battered body. On right hand between the thumb and the index finger he actually found a place that didn't hurt. As he now was aware of his physical status he moved on to his mental. How did he end up here? Where was "here"? Accompanied by the aching of his bones he sat up and inspected his surroundings. He was lying on some kind of bunk. The room was dark but he could make out some shadows on the walls; monstrous giants that glared furiously at him. As his eyes got used to the darkness he noticed that the entire room was filled with junk piled up against the walls. These were made, as he noticed touching them slightly with a finger, of some greasy, dirty metal, like tin.
The room had no window, so he had no idea where he was, except for the noises. The floor was grumbling under him like a muttering old man. It reminded him of something. A ship. He was on a ship. Suddenly he remembered something and the images made his head spin. The White Star! It exploded.but he didn't remember how. How had he gotten off? He couldn't recall getting to any life pod. Maybe he was dead and this was hell. Dead again. - Susan! He slowly recollected all memories. Susan! She had to be here too.
"Susan!" he called out in the darkness. "Susan can you hear me?"
t took a few minutes for him to realize that she wasn't in the room so he staggered himself up and started looking for a door. Soon he found one, it was open. With a sigh he left the room.
***
"So what do we do now?" Garibaldi asked.
"We continue." John replied.
"Shouldn't we better go home?" They were still on the Narn freighter but had been told that they would arrive at the check point in an hour.
"Home? My home is Earth. I don't know about you."
"You heard what they said on ISN."
Indeed he had heard. As they had put on the screen a little while ago a brutal scenario had been acted out in front of their eyes. The main streets on Geneva were unrecognizable. What had seemed as a small demonstration involving a few hundred had now developed into a well organized riot with hundreds of thousands on the streets fighting, throwing stones, smashing windows and faces and setting various things on fire such as banners, cars, and houses.
"Well, that's more the reason to go, isn't it?"
"I'm just concerned for your security."
"Don't, I'm a big boy, Michael. I'm going. You can all decide for yourself."
"Where would we go anyway?"
"I know a place where we would be rather safe; from there we can do whatever we want. I know the way, I can guide you." Nathan had said nothing since the explosion and even now he seemed unaware of the others.
"Don't you think you'd be safer somewhere else?" Stephen asked worriedly but gained no response.
***
Marcus had figured out that he was on some kind of ship although it seemed rather strange. The piles of litter followed the corridors he walked and he felt queasy looking at the ceiling where broken pipes covered in dirt stuck out exhaling strange smells. Lightning was provided by naked lamps, of a style he had seen last in a museum and the motor that moaned from below reminded him of a cranky lawnmower.
Rounding a corner he suddenly saw someone.
"Wait! Hey! Hello!"
The man turned around, a human in his mid forties, with an appearance that reminded Marcus of a cube or maybe a coffin. "Oh, I see you're awake! How nice. I was just checking up the other one. Feeling well, are we?"
The man's strange and sudden joviality startled the Ranger. "Oh, I am George, if you're asking. Or trying to, I see. Hahaha. Who are you, handsome boy? Always nice to see new faces, especially if they are like yours. That doesn't happen very often up here. But I guess you can figure that out by yourself."
"The other?"
"Yep, the other one we picked up. Cute girl, still asleep, but very likeable."
"Can I see her?"
"Sure. Come here with me, I'll show you to her. But then you have to go and see Mommy."
He followed George through the maze of corridors. The ship appeared to be a lot larger than he first had anticipated.
"Mommy?"
"She's in control of the Golden Knight."
"This ship?"
"Of course. So here we are. She needed a little more attention than you, she appears to have a broken arm. Besides Mommy didn't want you two to do anything nasty if she left you both in the same room."
"Nasty?"
"Yes, Mommy knows about these things. Boy, you are not very chatty, are you?" He opened another door and there in complete darkness he found her, lying on a bunk bed similar to his. When the faint rays of light from the corridors touched her he jumped back. Bruises covered her face and her arms, her clothes were a little torn. Her left arm was bandaged.
"Looks as if you got yourselves into a real fight." George added to the picture.
"Susan?" Marcus chose to ignore George and knelt before her.
"Marcus?" She stirred and looked at him groggily.
"I'm here." He gave her a comforting smile. "And won't go away."
***
While the Minbari crew had returned to Minbar the others arrived in Geneva late in the evening. It was fall and icy rain forced its way down on the capital. G'Kar knew he had to stay alert but he was tired. They had slept almost nothing since they arrived. He glanced at his companions only to see exhausted, serious faces. All of them had been in critical situations before and knew when to show emotions and when not to, but it was obvious to everyone that they suffered. They spoke rarely to each other and Nathan hadn't said two sentences since the explosion. He didn't eat and moved as if he was sleepwalking and at times it seemed to G'Kar as if he wasn't aware of his surroundings at all. It worried him and the others since they were dependent on him. A guide who didn't know where he was obviously wasn't a very good guide.
"Are you okay?" Michael asked cautiously as he approached Nathan.
"Yeah, I'm perfect! Just perfect, couldn't be better!" Shrugging he revised his sarcastic answer. "It doesn't matter how I am."
"Oh, it does, trust me. We have no idea about what we're up against here, and I want my men to be fighting their best."
"Your men?"
"I'm sorry about Susan, you have no idea how much she meant to me. But we can't think about that now. Now the only thing that counts is that we did our best and we'll do it in the future. We'll have time for thinking later."
"Do we? Is it really that simple? Did we do our best?"
"Don't you think this is hard for me, too?"
"I lost the love of my life! If I had surrendered to this guy on the White Star this would never had happened! She would be alive and that is really the only thing that matters to me. Now she's gone, and I didn't even have the chance to apologize. And when you come here babbling about your men and all you seem to forget that you lost a damn good one in favor for me."
"I don't think you would have achieved anything by letting yourself killed. It wouldn't have helped us or Susan."
Nathan waited for more to come but apparently the silence had heard about the conversation and quickly quieted the whole thing down.
"I'm going to look for a communicator. My daughter is on Mars and I want to make sure she's ok."
Although Nathan was under shock he chose his routes well. They traveled only through the suburbs and avoided any bigger streets. On the Narn freighter they had heard that the situation in the center of the city had become increasingly aggressive. Out of town an almost spooky silence ruled the streets. No one was outside; in some of the houses light was on, but mostly it was dark and grey everywhere. Still Garibaldi couldn't help feeling that they were followed. He didn't know why nor where this suspicion was based upon but it increased every minute.
***
As soon as Susan had opened her eyes fully, George told them that it was time to meet Mommy. Again they followed him through endless corridors until they came to another door. It was a little bigger and looked even more used than the rest.
"What is this place?" a confused Susan asked looking at the heaps lying around her.
Strange machinery, broken old equipment, rusty metal, dusty books, half finished paintings, wrecked sculptures and even a few ancient TV s amongst many cut-off cables, all filled up the rooms, the corridors and even the bridge, as they noticed entering it.
"Welcome to the Golden Knight." The raspy voice belonged to a very small elderly woman.
"Mommy!" George announced proudly.
Mommy was in her sixties or seventies, her age was hard to define due to the many wrinkles covering her round face, the heavy makeup that went in pinks and greens and the colored, blond hair that she had put up into two pigtails. Behind her stood a huge, slim Drazi, that had to bend his head slightly to fit into the room. Otherwise neither Susan nor Marcus had seen anyone on the ship.
"I am Lucy, captain of this institution, this is Yum-Yum" she pointed at the Drazi "or Teddy as George prefers to call him. He doesn't speak, but he does smile. He's stupid, so you can do whatever you prefer with him. If you want to call him something else then that's fine, too. You've already met my little boy."
"Pleased to meet you," Susan stammered a little startled by these people. "I am Susan Ivanova, captain from Earth Force. And this is Marcus Cole."
Suddenly Lucy's friendly appearance changed.
"Hmpf, Earth Force. And he's not your hubby. I see. Well, well."
"I'm sorry. I don't understand."
"You're married. You have a wedding ring. I checked it out while ago while you slept. And here you are with someone else; I see, I see. You ran off with him, didn't you? Left your poor husband somewhere while you're here having fun. I don't like people like you. Please go, leave my ship. I won't support amoral actions like these."
"Go where?" Marcus asked, just to realize that sensible answers where an unknown rarity on the Golden Knight.
"No, it's not like that!"
"No?"
Susan gazed at Marcus, who replied with a defeated look. She had a feeling that telling the truth; that they had traveled with the President, but that an assassin came on board and blew up the ship; wouldn't have any positive effect on this woman. And he had a feeling that this would take a very long time.
***
"It's close now. A few minutes more, that's all." Nathan said. He hadn't found a computer and couldn't wait to come to the cottage to call Sarah.
"Wait, I hear something." They stopped and Garibaldi took up his PPG.
"I would suggest that you drop it." stated a calm male voice from behind. He was holding a weapon himself pointing it at them in true gangster style. Behind him several other men arrived with threatening approach.
"Well.?"
With a clunk Michael dropped the PPG on the ground. And again his gut feeling made itself noticeable. He didn't know why but he was afraid.
***
That's it for now. Please review, you'd make me so happy!!! ;) /bumble-bee- free
