Babylon 5 Fanfiction - Mars Rising - (part 6)
Disclaimer: Babylon 5 belongs to the Great Maker, JMS, I'm just playing in the sandbox a while. No copyright infringement is intended and no money was made from this. Any similarity to any other story not my own is coincidence.
Title: Mars Rising
Genre: Babylon 5 fanfic; AU; Drama/melodrama
Rating: PG-13; rated for swearing, violence/torture
Timeline: After the end of the 5 season, but before "Sleeping in Light," shortly after they have begun to set up the Alliance and before the birth of John and Delenn's son.
Author's Notes: This is one of my only attempts at something with a plot, so to speak, or drama, so... *grin* There are also probably bits and pieces of inspiration from various sources and the Minbari language is a mix of "canon" and what sounded right to my ear. It is the last old B5 fanfic I have left to archive.
Story breaks are indicated by boldface and ellipses. I've also split it up to make the post a bit more manageable.
It Begins
On the Maria
The Plot Thickens
Negotiations
Captured
John woke painfully on his third morning being held captive with a cracked a dry mouth and an aching skull. Grimly, he lifted his head at the sound of the far door opening and closing behind three men. One, the slender man that seemed to be this group's leader, sang softly as he entered, "We will come together in a better place than this..."
"I've asked them to hold you, Mr. President, may I suggest that you don't struggle, it'll only cause you more pain than need be," the leader said, ending his song, and stepping aside as his two large companions approached the chair where Sheridan was tied.
Sheridan twisted as the two large men approached, trying to avoid their restraining hands. The larger of the two grinned, his teeth very white in his pock marked face. Casually, he grabbed John's arm and wrenched his shoulder out of place. John bit back a cry of pain.
"As I told you Mr. Sheridan, let's not make this any more painful than need be," the other telepath said.
Once the two larger men had John restrained, the third telepath walked over, and John noticed that he was carrying a needle carefully in his right hand. The telepath's eyes followed to where John was looking and said, "We're curious Mr. President. Having been touched by the Vorlons, we cannot reach into your mind easily. Perhaps with this, we will be able to. The Psi Corps is very good at making all sorts of drugs. They experiment on blips and others you see, and quite conveniently for us, we have ways of obtaining the results sometimes. Now, hold still," and before John could struggle, the talkative telepath had injected the contents of the needle in John's right arm. Once he was done, he reached into a pocket on the inside of his jacket, withdrawing a small object. Almost casually, he tossed the object, the picture of Delenn that John had carried from Minbar, on John's lap. Then he and his companions stepped back.
"Very pretty, Sheridan. It would be a shame if she was to become a widow so soon into her marriage. Or worse," the leading telepath said, "if something were to happen to her during your time here on Mars."
Even if he had wanted to respond, John was prevented from doing so by the burning sensation that had begun to radiate from the puncture wound of the needle The burning traveled up his arm, then began to spread through his body, working its way through his bloodstream. Dimly, he felt a slight pressure in his mind that quickly slipped away.
"Damn," his main captor swore. "Well, it seems that we can rule that one out as a possibility. Never fear, Mr. President, there are others to try. Of course, we'll have to wait for that one to clear from your bloodstream. See you in a few hours then," and he and his companions left the room.
John felt the burning increase, as if his very veins were on fire. His stomach suddenly cramped, and even tied, John's body tried to curl in around its pain. When he shifted, his dislocated shoulder flared into a bright almost intolerable agony. The pain continued to increase, burning through his system, and his body writhed, sending the picture of Delenn falling to the floor with a small thud.
"Delenn," he gasped, then mercifully, passed out...
"John," Delenn gasped, waking in the cool Minbari night. A dreadful feeling of distress filled her as she sat up trembling in bed. Her hands rested lightly on her swollen belly, feeling the distress of her unborn child as well, as the baby kicked fiercely within her. She tried to slow the rapid beating of her heart, attempting to reach a state of peace. After several moments, her heart was no longer racing, though the terrible sense of pain still filled her.
Delenn rose and wrapped a robe about herself and made her way to the comm screen in the office area of the presidential quarters. With an outward seeming of calm, she requested a connection to the offices of E'da Se'k Taloryn. After a short wait, the elder Minbari appeared on the screen.
Attempting to maintain her outward seeming of calm, Delenn bowed respectfully to the E'da Se'k of the Anla'shok assigned to Mars. The elder Minbari returned her bow and spoke quietly, "Entilza Delenn."
"What has happened E'da Se'k Taloryn?" Delenn asked simply.
For a brief moment, Talonryn felt the urge to protect the woman on the screen before him. She had been the one to give his life purpose once more after the Earth-Minbari war had taken everything from him, even his anger and need for vengeance, by introducing him to the then unacknowledged Anla'shok. She had allowed him to find a new meaning and honor to his life when he had felt those things slipping from him. He did not want to see her harmed in any way.
Taloryn looked to his honored leader and said, "Anla'shok couriers have been dispatched to Minbari to report on the events occurring on Mars."
Delenn was quiet, considering this, knowing that whatever had happened was something that would shake the Alliance, hence the use of couriers and not this form of communication. On a deeper level, she knew that something was terribly wrong with John, and she felt a pain as if her heart were shattering.
"The delegations from the Mars government and Earth continue to negotiate the terms of Mars independence," Taloryn spoke quietly.
"Thank you, E'da Se'k Taloryn," and Delenn bowed simply to the man on the screen before her.
Talonryn returned Delenn's bow and said, "Entilza Delenn," watching as the comm screen went blank as the Entilza of the Anla'shok ended the communication. He gave a deep heartfelt sigh and went to prepare Ms. Halloran for the arrival of the Entilza on Mars...
Major Harrison waited patiently in the back of the Drazi shop. The Drazi himself lay dead a few feet away. Jeremy looked with disgust a moment at the dead alien before he spat on the body and walked over to sit on some closed crates. Intelligence given to him by Earth First had shown that the Drazi was secretly supplying telepaths with weapons. It served Earth First's purposes for this mission well. "Stupid bastard," Jeremy muttered.
After a few minutes, Jeremy found himself becoming quietly angry. "Where are they?" he thought with some impatience. The longer he waited, the harder he would find it to complete this part of the mission. He respected both of the officers that served under him. He did not really want to do this.
"Enough," he cursed his weakness silently.
Finally, he heard what he had been waiting for, and he allowed an icy calm to encompass him.
"Sir?" Lieutenant McDonald said as he entered the small back room looking for his commanding officer. Neither he nor Lieutenant Enriquez even blinked at the sight of the dead Drazi. If anything, there were brief pleased looks for the death of the alien before both men turned to their commanding officer. As each turned to face his CO, their pleased looks were quickly changed to ones of surprise. But even those looks were quickly gone as Major Harrison shot them both square in the chest with the Drazi PPG.
Both bodies hit the floor heavily, coming to rest not far from the body of the Drazi weapons dealer. Jeremy stepped over and carefully placed data crystals detailing involvement with the activities of the rouge telepaths on each of his officers' bodies.
"I'm sorry gentlemen. But be assured, your deaths will serve a purpose. They will serve the cause of Earth."
Calmly, Jeremy walked away and out of the back of the shop, never noticing the drifter settled in the alleyway...
"Are you certain that you want to do this, Joseph? Blue Melange can cause irreversible damage to a telepath," John heard dimly from where he slumped in his chair.
"I know what I'm doing, and I can't ask anyone else to do this, even if I wanted to. It's my idea, so it has to be my responsibility," a deep male voice answered the woman.
"Joseph, why do this?" The woman's voice held a sincere note of concern for the other telepath in it.
"Because Kate, I think that we're going to have to kill him. Its been six days, and still no word from the Alliance except sending Rangers to try to ambush our people. It's likely that they will refuse to accede to our demands. And if that's the case, we need to learn what we can now, so we have some more to fight with."
"He knows where Lyta is?" Kate asked, referring to one of the things that the Red Hand, their Cell, wanted to know.
"He knows, he was there when she left Babylon 5. And this is the only way, the other drugs are ineffective, and it doesn't appear that he's going to break to torture. Besides, those Rangers are getting closer to finding us, not to mention that damn Mr. Garbaldi's people."
"But Joseph, Blue Melange? Please, I'm asking you to reconsider," a deep silence followed before the woman identified as Kate spoke again, "what if something happens, Joseph? As you said, he's been touched by the Vorlons, what if with the Melange..." her voice trailed off.
"Kate," the man's voice began.
"We need you, Joseph, " Kate said simply.
Silence fell as the two telepaths returned to speaking mind to mind. After several moments of only hearing his ragged breathing loud in his ears, John heard steps leaving the room. A door opened and closed as Kate left, and John felt, more than heard, Joseph's heavy steps moving toward him.
"Mr. Sheridan, believe it or not, I had hoped that it would not come to this," Joseph spoke quietly.
John coughed raggedly.
"Your government refuses to acknowledge our request, meaning that you no longer serve any purpose for us other than information." Suddenly, Joseph blew a bright powder into John's face, causing him to cough and inhale. "A crude method I admit, but effective enough." Suddenly, John heard the sound of a Minbari fighting pike being extended a few seconds before he felt the blow on his shoulder.
"Pain increases the effects and makes things happen faster," Joseph explained, as if he somehow thought it was necessary. "Let's get this over shall we," he said, and hit John in the chest, breaking a rib...
On to Part 7 ---->
Title: Mars Rising
Genre: Babylon 5 fanfic; AU; Drama/melodrama
Rating: PG-13; rated for swearing, violence/torture
Timeline: After the end of the 5 season, but before "Sleeping in Light," shortly after they have begun to set up the Alliance and before the birth of John and Delenn's son.
Author's Notes: This is one of my only attempts at something with a plot, so to speak, or drama, so... *grin* There are also probably bits and pieces of inspiration from various sources and the Minbari language is a mix of "canon" and what sounded right to my ear. It is the last old B5 fanfic I have left to archive.
Story breaks are indicated by boldface and ellipses. I've also split it up to make the post a bit more manageable.
It Begins
On the Maria
The Plot Thickens
Negotiations
Captured
John woke painfully on his third morning being held captive with a cracked a dry mouth and an aching skull. Grimly, he lifted his head at the sound of the far door opening and closing behind three men. One, the slender man that seemed to be this group's leader, sang softly as he entered, "We will come together in a better place than this..."
"I've asked them to hold you, Mr. President, may I suggest that you don't struggle, it'll only cause you more pain than need be," the leader said, ending his song, and stepping aside as his two large companions approached the chair where Sheridan was tied.
Sheridan twisted as the two large men approached, trying to avoid their restraining hands. The larger of the two grinned, his teeth very white in his pock marked face. Casually, he grabbed John's arm and wrenched his shoulder out of place. John bit back a cry of pain.
"As I told you Mr. Sheridan, let's not make this any more painful than need be," the other telepath said.
Once the two larger men had John restrained, the third telepath walked over, and John noticed that he was carrying a needle carefully in his right hand. The telepath's eyes followed to where John was looking and said, "We're curious Mr. President. Having been touched by the Vorlons, we cannot reach into your mind easily. Perhaps with this, we will be able to. The Psi Corps is very good at making all sorts of drugs. They experiment on blips and others you see, and quite conveniently for us, we have ways of obtaining the results sometimes. Now, hold still," and before John could struggle, the talkative telepath had injected the contents of the needle in John's right arm. Once he was done, he reached into a pocket on the inside of his jacket, withdrawing a small object. Almost casually, he tossed the object, the picture of Delenn that John had carried from Minbar, on John's lap. Then he and his companions stepped back.
"Very pretty, Sheridan. It would be a shame if she was to become a widow so soon into her marriage. Or worse," the leading telepath said, "if something were to happen to her during your time here on Mars."
Even if he had wanted to respond, John was prevented from doing so by the burning sensation that had begun to radiate from the puncture wound of the needle The burning traveled up his arm, then began to spread through his body, working its way through his bloodstream. Dimly, he felt a slight pressure in his mind that quickly slipped away.
"Damn," his main captor swore. "Well, it seems that we can rule that one out as a possibility. Never fear, Mr. President, there are others to try. Of course, we'll have to wait for that one to clear from your bloodstream. See you in a few hours then," and he and his companions left the room.
John felt the burning increase, as if his very veins were on fire. His stomach suddenly cramped, and even tied, John's body tried to curl in around its pain. When he shifted, his dislocated shoulder flared into a bright almost intolerable agony. The pain continued to increase, burning through his system, and his body writhed, sending the picture of Delenn falling to the floor with a small thud.
"Delenn," he gasped, then mercifully, passed out...
"John," Delenn gasped, waking in the cool Minbari night. A dreadful feeling of distress filled her as she sat up trembling in bed. Her hands rested lightly on her swollen belly, feeling the distress of her unborn child as well, as the baby kicked fiercely within her. She tried to slow the rapid beating of her heart, attempting to reach a state of peace. After several moments, her heart was no longer racing, though the terrible sense of pain still filled her.
Delenn rose and wrapped a robe about herself and made her way to the comm screen in the office area of the presidential quarters. With an outward seeming of calm, she requested a connection to the offices of E'da Se'k Taloryn. After a short wait, the elder Minbari appeared on the screen.
Attempting to maintain her outward seeming of calm, Delenn bowed respectfully to the E'da Se'k of the Anla'shok assigned to Mars. The elder Minbari returned her bow and spoke quietly, "Entilza Delenn."
"What has happened E'da Se'k Taloryn?" Delenn asked simply.
For a brief moment, Talonryn felt the urge to protect the woman on the screen before him. She had been the one to give his life purpose once more after the Earth-Minbari war had taken everything from him, even his anger and need for vengeance, by introducing him to the then unacknowledged Anla'shok. She had allowed him to find a new meaning and honor to his life when he had felt those things slipping from him. He did not want to see her harmed in any way.
Taloryn looked to his honored leader and said, "Anla'shok couriers have been dispatched to Minbari to report on the events occurring on Mars."
Delenn was quiet, considering this, knowing that whatever had happened was something that would shake the Alliance, hence the use of couriers and not this form of communication. On a deeper level, she knew that something was terribly wrong with John, and she felt a pain as if her heart were shattering.
"The delegations from the Mars government and Earth continue to negotiate the terms of Mars independence," Taloryn spoke quietly.
"Thank you, E'da Se'k Taloryn," and Delenn bowed simply to the man on the screen before her.
Talonryn returned Delenn's bow and said, "Entilza Delenn," watching as the comm screen went blank as the Entilza of the Anla'shok ended the communication. He gave a deep heartfelt sigh and went to prepare Ms. Halloran for the arrival of the Entilza on Mars...
Major Harrison waited patiently in the back of the Drazi shop. The Drazi himself lay dead a few feet away. Jeremy looked with disgust a moment at the dead alien before he spat on the body and walked over to sit on some closed crates. Intelligence given to him by Earth First had shown that the Drazi was secretly supplying telepaths with weapons. It served Earth First's purposes for this mission well. "Stupid bastard," Jeremy muttered.
After a few minutes, Jeremy found himself becoming quietly angry. "Where are they?" he thought with some impatience. The longer he waited, the harder he would find it to complete this part of the mission. He respected both of the officers that served under him. He did not really want to do this.
"Enough," he cursed his weakness silently.
Finally, he heard what he had been waiting for, and he allowed an icy calm to encompass him.
"Sir?" Lieutenant McDonald said as he entered the small back room looking for his commanding officer. Neither he nor Lieutenant Enriquez even blinked at the sight of the dead Drazi. If anything, there were brief pleased looks for the death of the alien before both men turned to their commanding officer. As each turned to face his CO, their pleased looks were quickly changed to ones of surprise. But even those looks were quickly gone as Major Harrison shot them both square in the chest with the Drazi PPG.
Both bodies hit the floor heavily, coming to rest not far from the body of the Drazi weapons dealer. Jeremy stepped over and carefully placed data crystals detailing involvement with the activities of the rouge telepaths on each of his officers' bodies.
"I'm sorry gentlemen. But be assured, your deaths will serve a purpose. They will serve the cause of Earth."
Calmly, Jeremy walked away and out of the back of the shop, never noticing the drifter settled in the alleyway...
"Are you certain that you want to do this, Joseph? Blue Melange can cause irreversible damage to a telepath," John heard dimly from where he slumped in his chair.
"I know what I'm doing, and I can't ask anyone else to do this, even if I wanted to. It's my idea, so it has to be my responsibility," a deep male voice answered the woman.
"Joseph, why do this?" The woman's voice held a sincere note of concern for the other telepath in it.
"Because Kate, I think that we're going to have to kill him. Its been six days, and still no word from the Alliance except sending Rangers to try to ambush our people. It's likely that they will refuse to accede to our demands. And if that's the case, we need to learn what we can now, so we have some more to fight with."
"He knows where Lyta is?" Kate asked, referring to one of the things that the Red Hand, their Cell, wanted to know.
"He knows, he was there when she left Babylon 5. And this is the only way, the other drugs are ineffective, and it doesn't appear that he's going to break to torture. Besides, those Rangers are getting closer to finding us, not to mention that damn Mr. Garbaldi's people."
"But Joseph, Blue Melange? Please, I'm asking you to reconsider," a deep silence followed before the woman identified as Kate spoke again, "what if something happens, Joseph? As you said, he's been touched by the Vorlons, what if with the Melange..." her voice trailed off.
"Kate," the man's voice began.
"We need you, Joseph, " Kate said simply.
Silence fell as the two telepaths returned to speaking mind to mind. After several moments of only hearing his ragged breathing loud in his ears, John heard steps leaving the room. A door opened and closed as Kate left, and John felt, more than heard, Joseph's heavy steps moving toward him.
"Mr. Sheridan, believe it or not, I had hoped that it would not come to this," Joseph spoke quietly.
John coughed raggedly.
"Your government refuses to acknowledge our request, meaning that you no longer serve any purpose for us other than information." Suddenly, Joseph blew a bright powder into John's face, causing him to cough and inhale. "A crude method I admit, but effective enough." Suddenly, John heard the sound of a Minbari fighting pike being extended a few seconds before he felt the blow on his shoulder.
"Pain increases the effects and makes things happen faster," Joseph explained, as if he somehow thought it was necessary. "Let's get this over shall we," he said, and hit John in the chest, breaking a rib...
On to Part 7 ---->