From mike.bell@pharoh.uu.holonet.net Wed Dec 25 01:14:01 1996 Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 22:27:55 GMT From: Mike Bell To: b5-creative@lists.best.com Subject: Final Hour - Chapter One "The Final Hour." Chapter 1 Ivanova stood at her post in C and C. It was quiet, too quiet, she though. As G'Kar had said weeks earlier, "The galaxy is holding it's breath." Now G'Kar was missing, the Captain and Mr. Garibaldi had returned, and the Vorlons were destroying entire planets at a time. No ships had entered B5 space in three days, since the all the ships in the war fleet had arrived. Close to 200 ships held their position outside the station. Drazi, Minbari, and a handful of other races patrolled the area awaiting a strike from either the Vorlon fleet or the Shadows. Everyone feared what was coming, but they tried to hide it and continue with their every-day duties. "Commander," an officer on the lower deck said, "we have received new information on the Vorlon fleet." At the same time, on the other side of the station, Marcus Cole sat waiting in a bar down below. Marcus had been here more times than he could remember, but it was never as quiet. The news of the Vorlon attacks had reached even the farthest corners of down below, and everyone knew that they probably didn't have much time left. A tall, muscular man walked up and sat down in the chair across from Marcus. "You're late." Marcus said. "I have the information on Citizen G'Kar you asked for. He was captured by the Centauri about two weeks ago, and was presented to Ambassador Molari as a gift from Emperor Cartagia. There has been word that he has already been tortured to death." "I should never have left him." Marcus mumbled to himself then turned his attention to the man across from him. "Thank you." He dropped a bag of coins on the table as he left. Marcus returned to his quarters and queried the data on all transports going to Centauri Prime. There was one transport leaving in two hours, and Marcus booked passage on it. His screen changed from the transports data to a picture of Ivanova's face. "Attention," she began, "this is Babylon 5 command and control. We have received new information on the Vorlon attack fleet. The colonies of Theta Prime and Zeta V have been destroyed and we have lost contact with the Drazi outpost on Gamma III. These latest attacks put the fleet only five days away from Centauri Prime. The colonies of Drazi Seven and Proxima Nine are now accepting survivors. We will repeat this message every 20 minutes. C and C out. The screen darkened. "...only five days from Centauri Prime." The words echoed in Marcus' head. He knew it would take one and a half days in transit to get to Centauri Prime, and once he got there, he had no idea when, or even if, a transport would be leaving Centauri Prime. Two hours later Marcus bordered the transport and left Babylon 5 space... || || || "A shining beacon in space... || || || all alone in the night" || || || || || || @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@=============== OO || || || /DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD\ /DDDDD\|| |OOOOOO=====HHHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD)===(DDDDDDD||} |OOOOOO=====HHHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD)===(DDDDDDD||} OO || || || \DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD/ \DDDDD/ || || || mBb 10/96 || || || || || || mike.bell@pharoh.uu.holonet.net || || ||