There are Always Shadows
Christina fmlyhntr@sunset.net
PG

Another in my series of vignettes centered arount the season 3 episode, War Without End.

I've wondered why Jeff Sinclair didn't send more of a message to Garibaldi during War Without End. What if he had, but it wasn't delivered until later. (Early 5th season).

JMS, Warner Brothers, and Del Rey Books own the rights to the various aspects of the B5 Universe. I'm just visiting.



Zack stared at the envelope he'd found minutes earlier in his sock drawer he'd been cleaning. Damn, how could he have forgotten.

Looking at it brought back the memory of its delivery a day after Garibaldi had disappeared in the Shadow ship...Then the war had rather disrupted their lives--both wars actually.

He could justify forgetting about the letter--it wasn't very remarkable--it didn't look very important--just very very old. The printed block letters almost made it look like a ransom note. He took a deep breath. Michael was probably in his office--or out irritating the new Captain. "Better late than never," Zack said quietly as he grabbed his jacket.

#
#

"Hey, chief?" Zack said as he peered around the door. "You in?"

Garibaldi looked up from the report. "For you, of course. There was an attack near the Pakmara border."

Zack almost smiled. "I didn't know the Pakmara had anything worth stealing."

"No, and I doubt the intention was to get rid of them. What did you need?"

Zack hesitated slightly, then pulled the letter out of his pocket. "I'm sorry...It was delivered soon after you...disappeared, and well...I forgot about it..."

Michael reached out a hand and took the offered letter. "Minbari paper. Looks old." He stared at it for a second. "Put it in a safe place?"

Zack allowed himself to laugh. "Yes. I'm sorry..."

Garibaldi held up a hand. "Don't worry about it...It's from a friend. A 'very' old friend." He continued to stare at it. Zack was curious at just what this letter was, but he'd known Garibaldi too long to ask. He quietly slipped out. Anyway he did have that minor problem in Brown Sector to deal with.

#

Michael barely noticed as Zack left as he picked up a small knife and slit the envelope.

*Hello, old friend...*

Michael looked up from the paper and stared at the walls as he remembered that day almost a year and a half ago when Jeffrey Sinclair had not returned from Babylon 4. The whole thing had seemed preposterous. He'd come to accept Jeff's 'death', but he had never really been convinced of this Valen thing. Though he did understand Delenn's request that the story was not for general knowledge. He looked down at the letter again and studied the careful script.

*Hello, old friend,

I will have been gone only a short while when you get this, but the time between us is immense. I'm sure Delenn and Sheridan explained to you what happened. But I also know you well enough to know you want to know why.

You once told me it is easy to find something to die for. On Minbar I found something to live for. But knowing the future does not make it easier--if anything it makes it more difficult. Knowing I had something to live for, but not knowing if I wanted the 'future I had found' was difficult. Then I received that letter--from me but written in the past. All I had written was, "it is all true--what you know will happen."

I do have regrets...I want to warn Dukhat or Delenn and avoid the War. But Kosh says I can't--that would change history. Actually he said, "Babylon 5 is the past and the future." He means that without the Babylon stations, there would have been no station to bring here.

Did you defeat the Shadows? Kosh refuses to give me a straight answer. He said, "There are always shadows." Typical Vorlon.*

Garibaldi smiled then frowned. His friend had been spared the knowledge of the Vorlons' betrayal of the galaxy. And the devastation of the civil wars on Earth and Minbar. He glanced at the Pakmara report then back at the letter.

It wasn't every day one received a letter from 1000 years ago. He continued to read.

*Not much is known on the life of Valen. I saw to that. As I've grown older, I've become more reclusive: seeing only friends and family. Yes, Valen did have descendants. I have two children. Their looks betray their human ancestry--and I worry how they will be treated when I die. They may be the children of Valen--but the Minbari are still wary of non-Minbari. Though I know they eventually forget that Valen had a non-Minbari wife.


Jeffrey Sinclair
Valen (written in Minbari script).*

Michael stared at the letter for several minutes until the incessant beeping of his link interrupted him.