Comments | thefiringline: Mind War fic: Loss

selenak in thefiringline

Mind War fic: Loss

Mar 13, 2004 12:27

Title: Loss
Author: Selena
Rating: PG, I guess.
Word Count: 747
Spoilers: For Mind War, and for a fifth season character's existence. Some background from the novels, but you don't have to know them to understand this ( Read more... )

Comments 12

muffinmonster March 13 2004, 11:40:23 UTC

I've got to admit that I don't really remember Anne Mallory (ah, the shame!), but I enjoyed this gapfiller nevertheless :) And cudos for mentioning Sandoval Bey, I love(d) that character. I really need to write a fic about him someday...

no need to be ashamed... selenak March 13 2004, 16:22:24 UTC

...poor Anne only made a brief appearance, in the Beta chapter when he's meeting Lyta (as an intern) the first time and tracks down the serial killer. They are presented as being on a first-name basis, though, and he does call her a good cop, and says they worked together well before. I could have used an OC grieving for Kelsey, but why bother?

Sandoval Bey: oh, please, write a story! I loved him, too, and the relationship with Bester, and the utterly wrong lesson young Al drew from it when Bey died because that contributed to the tragedy of both characters.

(There is an AU for you: what would have happened if Sandoval Bey had not gotten killed?)

Re: no need to be ashamed... muffinmonster March 18 2004, 10:30:14 UTC

I'll definitely put the Sandoval Bey story on my to-do list *g* Not sure about that AU though; I'd say that the whole future (or present) of the Psi Corps would have been changed majorly (completely?) if he had lived (and continued to be Alfie's mentor)... Hmm, I guess that needs some more thinking. First I'll have to (finally!) finish my reply to the B5 - 5 things challenge *cough*

but Bester... selenak March 18 2004, 15:59:40 UTC

...is not the Psi Corps. So even if Sandoval Bey had continued to live and influence him, the Corps itself wouldn't have changed, unless you mean the two of them could reformed it from within.

For Bester personally, of course, the changes would have been enormous. Whether or not he would have reacted differently in the case of Elizabeth Montoya, I'm not sure of, but he would have at least confided into Bey with his dilemma. There definitely wouldn't have been any necroscans. Etc.

Thread 7

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Thanks! selenak March 14 2004, 06:21:00 UTC

And yes, that was the basic idea. Coupled with some inspiration from The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father, where you see the spouse of a killed instructor mourning and talking to Bester early on. (Actually, among other things, that last episode we see Bester in is the flip side of the first episode, in one regard, because there is the pattern - Bester followes an highly emotionally unstable Corps member, who snapped, to B5, and naturally leaves again at the end - only this time the narrative pov is on him, and remarks like the one from Zack when the later hears the hunted telepath has killed another member of Psi Corps - "And this is wrong because...?", are like a slap in the face if you've seen the grieving spouse first.

Of course, Bester's and Anne's perspective is anything but objective as well.

florastuart March 15 2004, 03:21:09 UTC

I haven't read the books, but I really liked this glimpse inside the Psi Corps. Bester's a great character, and we rarely get a sympathetic perspective on him from the show...I can imagine other loyal telepaths would see him very differently from how mundanes do. And Anne's feelings are very well-described. Great fic!

selenak March 15 2004, 06:06:50 UTC

Thank you. The books aside, we do have some TV canon examples of how (some) other loyal telepaths see him, in the fifth season episode, The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father, where he's shown comforting a bereft spouse, being respected by a collegue and downright hero-worshipped by two interns, among other things.

(Of course, there is also Lyta's assertion that if Psi Cops are trained to make other telepaths nervous, Bester makes other Psi Cops nervous, but she is not exactly an unprejudiced source. I assume the truth lies somewhere in between, as always.)

alexcat March 1 2009, 23:46:15 UTC

I have to admit I don't remeber Anne but I do like this very much. I am no fan of Teeps and sort of felt that they deserved anything that they got BUT your ficlet makes them all more human, err more mundane? Very well done!

selenak March 2 2009, 07:03:14 UTC

Anne is from the novels, and I must admit that after Centauri and Narn, Teeps are my favourites. (Not all of them, of course.) Glad you liked the story.