As Doctor Franklin continue to talk on his link, your nerves are at there ends. You’ve suffered through the Minbari occupation and now this. What is going to happen to you? You don’t want to stick around to find out. You stayed put last time and look where it got you…transformed and threaten with genetic mutations and a surprise that you’ll find out in one month from now. No, you are not going to stay around just to endure the same occupation. As you move away quietly, you see that Dr. Franklin is distracted with his speech and this is when you make you escape quietly.
Like a mouse, you scamper out of the med lab and find yourself in the hallway. Acting as if you belonged, you walk down the corridor in hoping that you may be able to come up with an idea. You think your situation over and over but can’t see no way of escape. You come up with a daring escape…you must get back to the cargo bay and get back onto the Churchill and from there, launch into space via using one of the starfury’s. Pass the docking bay crew you manage to smuggle yourself onto your ship and like lightening, move quickly to the launching bay. You know once you enter space, you’ll need to disengage our engines or the radars will detect your vessel and once you are in space…then what? Where do you go, you barely know what sector of space you’re in.
To the launching bay, you take minimal previsions and load them into the starfury. Once you know that oxygen and fuel are at 100 percent, you disengage the grapple and let speed of the moving ship carry you on out of the badly damaged vessel. Outside of the Churchill, you watch as the Armageddon and your ship, the Churchill pull away in this sector of space.
Without firing a thruster, without turning on systems, you watch your only chance of survival drift away knowing by now that the crew of the Armageddon will be searching for you. As the ship drifts out of sensor range, you decide to turn on all systems and figure out where in hell are you. As your star charts flicker one by one on your screen, the charts finally are able to locate you…you are in the heart of Sector 14…there is not a planet in sight for at least two light years in any direction.
It would appear that you’ve made a fatal error in choosing to leave. Yes, there would have been plenty of questions to answer, but at least you would know that you would live whereas out here, in the vastness of space, you have only sixteen hours of breathable oxygen before all the oxygen turns into carbon dioxide.
You begin planning your route; there is an old jumpgate here, only about two hour’s flight. Once in hyperspace, it will take fourteen hours to arrive at the closes planet named Epsilon…a barren, dead world in neutral space…but it’s the only place you can go…and nevertheless…who really knows what is at Epsilon…maybe there is air on the planet, but nevertheless, anything is better then dying out here.
With the starfury if full burn, you stare out in the cold darkness of space…the place looks so barren, but to think that somewhere out there, there are aliens like the Minbari, even our trading partners like the Centauri and Narn’s…space isn’t so dead…but it sure looks like it.
Only one hour until you reach the jumpgate, your eyes seem to be playing tricks for as you stare ahead, the veil of stars seems to shimmer, move in a wavy pattern. You look out your port holes on the side of the fury and notice that the stars aren’t moving; only the ones in front of you are dancing. You rub your eyes, you can’t understand what could be doing this, but you have no choice, you have to go through for you can’t afford to take any detours for you predict that you’ll have only about ten minutes before the oxygen levels are at zero, and it will take eight minutes at full burn just to arrive in the atmosphere of Epsilon.
As the event horizon approaches, you scan the space with your troubled eyes, looking at the space all around you shimmer and move. As a warning alarm sounds off, you look forward to see what appears to be a lightening storm in space. This lightening only is contained inside the event horizon as your ship is only moments from hitting the horizon.
With a heavy thud, the starfury hits the wall, but seems to seep through as if moving through molasses. The brightness of this unconformity is blinding so you shield your eyes until the lights lowers and the violent shaking stops. As you lower your arm you look out at a normal space and in the distance you can see the jumpgate…you’ve made it…now comes the tricky part.
As you activate the gate, you punch up the calling card for the gate and like a swirling tornado, the stars and space are pulled inward as the fabric of space in made thin enough for you to travel from normal space to hyperspace. As you enter the swirling vortex, the vortex closes in behind you and now you have fourteen hours before you have to leave hyperspace. As you program the computer, you set the proximity alarm and set another alarm to awake you five minutes before you are required to jump into regular space.
As you lay back, you close your eyes, and for once, you are able to get some well deserved sleep. As the ship races forward, another ship is following you…outside radar detection.
Thirteen hours and fifty-five minutes later the alarms sounds off. You jump as if you were shot. Calming down, you notice that the oxygen levels are dangerously low…almost unbearable, like having you lungs squeezed out of you mouth. As the computer states that your jump is coming up, you speak hoarsely. “Jump…to normal…space, scan planet…for air.”
“Affirmative.” responds the computer. “Warning, pilots’ oxygen supply is critically low…estimated fourteen minutes of oxygen left.”
As the minutes count down, the burning in your chest increases with every passing minute. You look forward as the violent, red lighting storm is sucked forward as the fabrics of space are pulled apart. The red glow of hyperspace opens up to the blackness of space…but as you look forward, you see something off in the distance.
Floating near the orbit of Epsilon is a five mile long space station with Minbari war vessels, and two Earth destroyers surrounded by ten, maybe twenty alien ships you’ve never seen before.
A voice fills your capsule as you are addressed, “This is Babylon 5 control to starfury pilot, identify yourself.”
In your mind, you can’t understand why a Minbari and Earth vessel are doing here in neutral space…from the last time you remembered; the Minbari was Earth’s sworn enemy. You press the com to communicate with this station. “This is the navigator of the USS-EAF Churchill…I am out of oxygen and seeking humanitarian aide.”
Inside the observation dome, formally called C & C, which is short for Command & Control, stations Commander, Susan Ivanova looks over your vessels make and model and sure enough the numbers match that of the vessel Churchill. Susan raises her hand to her lips as she presses her link to call her CEO, Captain John J. Sheridan. “Captain this is C&C…ah…can you come over here, you are going to want to see this.”
“I’ll be there in a minute…Sheridan out.”
As Captain John J. Sheridan enters the observation dome, Susan Ivanova turns to address him, “Ah good Captain, you’ve got to see this…we had a starfury pilot just arrive.”
The captain looks a wee-bit taken back, “Commander, there are over forty starfury pilots on board!”
Susan nods agreeing, “Yes, I know that, but this starfury is catalogued to the Churchill.”
“Churchill?” asks John, a bit thrown back by the name, “Wasn’t that one of the ships found by the Armageddon?”
“Yes…when the Armageddon found her, she was taken on board by the Minbari Cruiser Fa’nak, an experimental cruiser that was genetically engineering humans to become Minbari. Delenn said that the ship and its crew were all out of contact when they discovered Sinclair at the Battle of the Line. Earth dispatched twelve ships to hunt down the Fa’nak and they tried to take out her engines, but missed and in result blew up the ship.”
John looks outside at the starfury, “Could be a stolen vessel?”
Susan sighs out loud, “That’s the problem captain…the logs on board the ship say that the vessel is running as if it were 2247…that is thirteen years since this ship was been recharged and reoxygnated.”
David Corwin interrupts Susan, “Commander, the pilot states that he has only two minutes of oxygen.”
Both Susan and John rush back to the console, Susan chimes into your vessel, “This is C&C, can you navigate into the docking bay?”
You try to respond, but all the oxygen as made your ability to communicate zilch, as you look out, your eyes tear up as the lack of oxygen begins to kill you. As you gasp, you feel a burning sensation in your throat. The pain is worse then choking on no air. As you grasp your neck, you can feel what appears to be gills pulsating, pulling in carbon dioxide and using it to oxygenate your blood. As your breathing normalizes you look at yourself in the reflection of the glass to see three pulsating gills on either side of your neck.
You continue to stare at the gills until a heavy jolt snaps you back into reality. As your starfury is being pulled into Babylon 5, you marvel at the craftsmanship of this station, but know that if the Minbari are running this station, your moment of life is soon to be over.
As the ship stops moving, you notice that you are being moved into one of the docking bays. With a final jolt, the movement stops. Looking around, you see no one yet, but know that they will be here soon. As you slip on a earth force jacket, and take your PPG and as you pop the hatch, all the carbon dioxide rushes out. You cough just a bit as your gills shut down and you lungs take over. It’s not a smooth transition, but it works. As you look at yourself in the reflection of glass, you see that your newly formed appendages aren’t fading away, so you take a towel and wrap in around your neck.
As you here the running of shoes, you quickly turn around with your PPG drawled and aimed to fire, but as you see humans, you hold your aim.
“Drop the weapon!” orders one of the aliens.
“Not as long as you have yours aimed at me!” you reply “I saw to enemy vessels parked outside…if you are prisoners, we can over take them.”
A man with a clean cut haircut, shaven and stern face addresses you, “Take over who?”
“The Minbari of course.” You study the gentleman’s uniform to see that you are addressing an officer. You keep your gun aimed, but speak less harshly, “Are you in charge here sir?”
“I am, and I’d appreciate if you lower your gun.” asks the captain, whom is the clean cut man. “You have no need to be afraid; we think that you are a bit confused although.”
“Confused?” you ask. “I’m totally sane…harboring the enemy here.”
The captain stalls for a second, “The enemy? Are you referring to the Minbari?”
“Yes of course, where have you’ve been?” you ask.
“What year do you think it is?” asks the captain, wanting to believe you might not be just crazy.
“2247, I served on the USS-EAF Churchill. Captured by the Minbari, genetically tested by the Minbari…I watched as the ship, and my crew was vaporized when the ship blew up.”
The captain nod, “For your information, the year is 2260; the Minbari war has been over for thirteen years. The Minbari and we are allies; we solved our differences in 2247 at the dawn of the Battle of the Line.”
You stand there, completely lost for words, “Thirteen year?” The captain nods, “And this place, who owns it?”
“Earth does, but we’re more like diplomacy of peace.”
“And you, you’re the governor of this place?”
The captain nods once again, seeing that these questions are all backing up on one another. “Yes, this place is called Babylon 5.”
You lower your PPG knowing that you’ve missed the end of the war by thirteenth year, but you still can’t fathom how time went by so quickly. “I don’t understand…how can it be 2260, just sixteen hours ago it was 2247!”
The captain walks over to you and looks over you, “I honestly don’t know, but I’ll have the doctor look over you…Doctor Franklin.”
As you look up, you notice the same black doctor who treated you on the Armageddon. As he looks at you, his memory is jogged by your presence, a face he would never forget for you disappearance was the best day and worse day of his life. The good doctor stares at you and the captain notices this odd behavior. “Doctor? Stephen!”
“Sorry…sorry captain thought I remember seeing this individual from somewhere.” says Dr. Franklin, acting a bit forgetful.
“Are you sure?”asks the captain.
“Yeah, it must have been awhile.”
The captain looks at you then Franklin, “Well run her down to Med-Lab for a full medical check up. I’ll call Mr. Garibaldi and let him know of our guess.”
Both the captain and the doctor smile as the captain walks off, leaving you in the care of Doctor Franklin. Once again, you both walk down the hall to Med-Lab, but Franklin no longer is acting as if he has amnesia. “I remember seeing you thirteen years ago on the Armageddon, you were there!”
You nod, “Yes, my ship was grappled and I was taken to Med-Lab for a full medical check up…”
“Which was about the time you disappeared,” Franklin ushers you into Med-Lab, to Exam 3, “And about the time I was disciplined for my part in loosing you. But I only was able to keep my job because…” Franklin stops and looks around to see if anyone was listening, “because you were neither Human nor Minbari…more like a hybrid of Minbari, fish, Vorlon, and a series of other mutations.”
“Yes…I got that all to well when I was held captive one board the alien vessel. The Minbari conducted somewhere between five major test and a series of minor test. They were trying to bridge the species, but I never got that meaning until just now.”
“What I want to know is why you left?” asks Franklin, still watching for eavesdroppers.
“I honestly don’t know…afraid I guess…now, now I am afraid for real.” You say, feeling your gills rub against the towel.
“Why?” asks Dr. Franklin, really tense and almost ready to jump. As you unravel the towel around your neck, you expose the mucus covered, slimy, gooey gills that continue to pulsate on your neck. “Oh…wow!” is all Franklin can say as he looks at the pulsating slits. “Do they hurt?”
“Just a bit…it’s strange although, the Minbari told me that these changes would not all happen at once…one by one, these transformation would occur until I’ve completed all of my transformations.” You hear someone coming and quickly cover your neck with the ooze-covered towel.
“Hay doc, is this her?” asks a stocky man in a grey uniform with a hairline slowly retreating in the front.
“Oh hi Mr. Garibaldi,” Dr. Franklin stands up, “Yep, this is her.” Doctor Franklin walks over, and hovers over you, he speaks quietly enough for you to hear, “I need you to remove the towel.”
“Not with him around!” you says as you point as Mr. Garibaldi, who sends a shiver down your spine…now only if you knew that this guy is possibly the second most protective person on this stations with Ambassador Delenn being the first.
Franklin looks at Garibaldi, “Can we have some privacy Michael.” Asks Franklin is a soft tone of voice.
“Yeah, no problem.” He replies as he steps back outside.
“Dr. Franklin helps take off the mucus covered towel. “You need to keep this clean; it will become infected if too much mucus builds up.” Franklin looks at the design and marvels on how this complex organ has adapted to make you’re breathing much easier. “When did these actually come in?”
“When I had no oxygen left in my starfury, these popped out and I was soon able to breathe the carbon dioxide.” You turn to look over al the glass to stare at these alien organs pulsating on your neck. “Could you remove them doctor?”
Dr. Franklin looks at the gills and sees how they are built over the main arteries. “I could, but in doing so, you would probably die.”
“Oh…well, thank you for your honesty doctor.” You pause to think, “May I ask you a question doctor.” The doctor simply nods his head, “Are the Minbari really our friends now, or was the captain just telling me that so I not feel afraid?”
Franklin looks at you for a moment and looks at his computer, “The Minbari have there trust and distrust. The Religious and Worker Caste trust us humans while the Warrior Caste has a potent distrust for the Human species, but then so do parts of our own government, so overall, we can live in peace, but respect one another’s differences.”
“Oh…wow, that was so beautifully stated, but if you saw what I saw, you’d have a different feeling about the Minbari species…”
“What exactly,” begins Dr. Franklin, taking interest in talking with you, “did the Minbari do to you?”
You take a moment to think about the question, “I honestly don’t know…most of there test were mind games while the rest was actually genetic testing. All I know was that they were willing to let me escape for I was the most capable subject…that I don’t fully understand.”
“Well, maybe you will, but until then, I’d suggest you’d get plenty of rest and nourishment. And if I were you…try to get out amongst the other races…mainly the Minbari and learn what you can…maybe you’ll find your answers out there…I surely do.” Dr. Franklin walks outside to fetch Mr. Garibaldi. “This is our Security Chief Michael Garibaldi; he’ll take you to your quarters.”
“Thank you.” You say as you walk with the security chief. As the chief takes you to your room, he shows you how to use the Bab-com unit to call for help, order food, and get into contact with anyone on the station, he then informs that the cost of living and nourishment will be coming out of a trust fund for at least two months, then it wall soon be taken out of your own finances.
As Mr. Garibaldi leaves, you look around your new room and after approving the bathroom, bedroom, dining and kitchen, you see this place as being a pretty nice place with one serious flaw…no windows…no wind…no sound of birds or smell of cut grass…of course you can program the computer to make bird noises, but it’s not the same…maybe two months will be enough time for you to settle your arrangements and fully retire for Earthforce.
As you lay on you bed and are just about to close your eyes, there comes a sound that rings from the door. You look around for a device to see who it is, but find none except for a voice activated intercom. “Who is it?” you ask, not really expecting company.
“Ambassador Delenn, may I come in?” says the voice.
You stand there, Ambassador Delenn, you don’t know any ambassador, but then you are new here…maybe she is the ambassador to Earth, checking up on one of her citizens that has been presumed dead for the past thirteen year. Do you let this ambassador in or not?