Writer's note - credit's due where it's due... a few of the concepts used in S&C 117 are partly based on the 'Heritage Universe' concept by Charles Sheffield -- if any of you have read that series, you may be able to guess where I'm going with this one. Otherwise known as -- what if one of the First Ones races had a gift for 'civil' engineering? <g>

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        "And so, the moment came when he asked me to do what had never been done before... to walk in the shadows, to fight our where and when we could. And as many of you know... I said yes to his proposition, of course. If only I had known what was to come, I might never have agreed -- might never have taken on the command that changed my life... and a million others besides..."

        - an excerpt from the words spoken by Julia Tikopai at her ascendance to become a member of the Anla'shok High Council in Tuzanor, Minbar -- Mid-August 2293

* * *

        "The commissioning of the *Night's Dagger* and her sister warships is only helping our missions, both primary AND secondary -- by taking some of the pressure off of us, by letting us go to wander among the worlds of the Rim and away from the *Excalibur* for a time, we are only increasing the chance of finding a cure for the Drakh Plague..."

        - From the first officer's log of the *Shard of Night* - Late October, 2267.

* * *

        In between the darkness and the light, in that place where the shadows dwelt, the captain of the Interstellar Alliance warship 'Shard of Night' was having a dream -- a particularly vivid one... which was, all things considered, nothing new for her. What *was* new was that this one wasn't nearly so understandable as usual... while Galen was nowhere to be seen, either.

        She was, as near as she could tell, standing on the top of a enormous cliff -- a cliff off of which waterfalls poured, waterfalls that made proud Gajn'Darahl in Tuzanor look like a trickle by comparison. While off to one side was a city, proud in its time and obviously very beautiful at one point -- a city now long gone to ruin. A place that looked to have been attacked from above... bombarded from orbit, perhaps? The sun was rising behind her, and the wind was cold. Julia gathered her Ranger robes more tightly around herself -- what was going on here? "Is anybody here?" she yelled. "Can anyone hear me?"

        "*Observer*." She whirled, and let out a cry of frustration -- it couldn't be... but it was. Again. "Kosh?... but how -- you're..."

        "*Yes. This place -- a reflection... a memory. As we are. Remember.*"

        "What do you mean... a reflection?"

        "*It is a possibility -- a reflection of what is, and what may be... in between the known, and the possible.*"

        "Whose reflection? Mine?" Silence. "Why mine?"

        "*The universe understands.*" the memory of Kosh told her. "*As will you... *if* you survive.*" And then the Vorlon looked upwards, and so did she... to see the sky shatter, as an ominous vibration began to shake the landscape. Julia began to scream...

        As the vibration faded into her bedside comm-chime -- and the beating of her own heart -- the dream fading away even as she tried to grasp it. The only things she could remember this time were his words... and the sound of the water pouring off the cliff. Julia muttered a choice swear word she learned in the Okanagan Valley back on Earth during her pre-teen years... rolled over and passed her hand over the 'accept' crystal built into her bedside panel. "Larieken..." she managed, "My clock is telling me that it's four o'clock in the morning, Ship's Time. Does this qualify as an emergency?""

        "While he is here, Val'na... Larieken did not send the signal to wake you up... I did." Julia's eyes widened then as a holoimage sphere unwound to show the bridge of the *Shard* -- a sphere that showed not only Larieken... but her first officer, as well. "Something, as you would say... would appear to be 'up'."

        "Okay -- start explaining while *I* start dressing."

        "Approximately two hours after the beginning of the nightwatch," the Minbari began, "The outermost portions of our sensor network began to pick up a modulated beacon signal, coming from the direction of the Galactic Rim. From a region of space, as a matter of fact, which has long been presumed to contain no life or inhabitable worlds."

        "That idea went right out... the 'window', I believe it is you would say?..." Klairika added, "When we found the jumpgate."

        Julia frowned -- she didn't have to look at a starchart to know where they were - in a 'void' region between two of the galactic spiral arms, where stars were, to put it mildly... few and far between. "Is it active?"

        "The beacon signal that drew us to this place is active... else we would not have found the gate. The gate itself, however... is not."

        Julia's hands paused as she reached for her tunic. "An inactive jumpgate? Forgive me for pointing out the obvious... but how old would the gate have to be for this to be the case?"

        "*Very* old, indeed." Larieken said, as Julia finished putting on her tunic and left her quarters at a run. "Some of my people have estimated it would take on the order of millions of years for this to come to pass -- as well you know, numerous other ancient-tech gates in the explored regions are used even to this day. And one other thing... the gate seems to have *five* elements."

        "F...five?" Julia managed, as she reached the nearest entrance to the 'Shard's transport tube system and all but leapt inside the car as the door opened. "Ah, doesn't that violate some rule or other of jumpgate construction?"

        "Maybe they wanted a backup element to the gate, or something." Sheynell commented from off camera. "Which might make sense, if the race that built this gate were among the *first* to learn the use of the technology."

        "Perhaps." Larieken allowed. "One thing we should consider, given the circumstances... is that perhaps we should investigate the system the gate used to open onto. If this system is one controlled by a member race of the First Ones order -- we may even find something to aid us in the battle against the Shadow nanoplague."

        "Woah, not so fast." Sheynell countered. "To start with, *maybe* we should send in a probe or two through a jump point, first. I'll be the first to admit that this ship's got one hell of a point defense system, but there's always a chance there's something in that system waiting for jumpouts just like ours."

        "She does have a good point." Klairika conceded. "Some of the First Ones, the Vorlons for instance, were notorious for not wishing their home systems investigated by the Younger Races."

        Julia nodded, remembering a story her mother had told her a few years back, about what had happened to Captain Ivanova and her crew when *they'd* investigated a Vorlon system during the first cruise of the 'Saint-Germain'. "Agreed. Even though they're probably not there any longer, we should still treat this as a potential first contact situation. Hell, for all we know, this race could have been a former ally of the Shadows... and their systems may be primed to fire on any vessel containing *Vorlon* technology."

        "Can we at least get a signal from our probes through the jumpgate once we've sent them in?" Julia asked, as she arrived on the bridge and ran past several of the more junior Rangers on station to join the conversation in person.

        "I think so." Sheynell replied. "To know for sure, though, we should probably bring Nicholas in on this."

        "Is he awake yet?"

        "Not that I am aware of." Klairika replied. "He is, after all, the only department head on this vessel that is not a Ranger..."

* * *

        At that very moment, as it turned out, the 'Shard of Night's chief engineer was far from asleep, and slowly approaching the point where the tempation to drink would start to become paramount. Dawson ground his teeth together, however, and turned his thoughts firmly away from that escape route. He'd known this day was coming, of course, ever since his father had contacted him in the spring... had known that the damn plague had started attacking his sister Marie almost before anyone else on the planet. Had known that once she went, other members of his family would be sure to follow. While a few months back, he'd asked his parents to send word via Minbar when her time was drawing near... and almost twelve hours ago, that message had arrived.

        The message that had told him Marie now had no more than twenty four hours to live.

        Nicholas glanced down, and noticed that his hands were trembling. Over the course of their mission, he'd managed to visit Marie a half dozen times using the VR trick that he and the other engineers onboard had figured out... and the last time had been only five weeks ago. By that point, the disease attacking her nervous system had cut down her periods of awareness to no more than about six hours a day... but he'd gone to see her, just the same. Because he'd promised, damnit... and with family, he'd never broken his promises.

        And now he had to go to see her again. One last time -- before it was too late.

* * *

        "Jump point open." Klairika reported, as Julia leant forward in her chair, eager to see what lay beyond the portal. "Probes away -- that's it, they're in."

        "Have they come under attack?"

        "Not yet." Sheynell said, her eyes upon the tactical data being relayed by the probes. "There doesn't seem to be any active defences in the system -- while the ancient gate's in orbit around the fourth planet in the... system..."

        "Sheynell... what is it?"

        "See for yourself." the telepath managed - and Julia rose to her feet as the image of the ancient world beyond the gate shimmered into view in front of her, unable to believe what she was seeing...

        A world that seemed to be cocooned by metal... like a fly in a spider's web.

* * *

        [Cue Dramatic Music]

        KLAIRIKA ALIDIAE
        We are the Watchers...

        [Klairika standing on the bridge of the SHARD OF NIGHT, an image of the EXCALIBUR hanging in the air in
        front of her.]

        SHEYNELL KEYNES
        We are the Warriors.

        [Images: Sheynell at the tactical station, the battlecruiser firing its main gun and destroying a Drakh capital ship]

        LARIEKEN
        We are the Guardians...

        [Image: Larieken defending his Captain against Z'shailyl attackers, warrior pike in hand]

        VEYSHAHK
        We are the Healers.

        [Image: Veyshahk at his desk in MedSection, an image of the Drakh virus on his computer screen.]

        DASOURI and NICHOLAS DAWSON
        We are the exiles...

        [Image: Nicholas in Engineering, Dasouri at the helm of the SHARD]

        JULIA TIKOPAI
        And I am the Seeker.

        [Image: Julia's face, lit by candles, the stars of the Galaxy beyond]

        KLAIRIKA ALIDIAE
        We are the Rangers of the SHARD OF NIGHT, in this, the Earth Year 2267.

        [Image: The SHARD OF NIGHT enters, from the left...]

        JULIA TIKOPAI
        This is our story.

        [... before engaging darklight mode, and going into hyperspace.]

* * *

STAR AND CIRCLE:
“THE SEEKER’S FIRE”

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‘STAR AND CIRCLE’ created by David Goldingay
<dgolding@connect.ab.ca>

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Legal Disclaimer:

BABYLON 5, CRUSADE and all characters and situations thereof are the creations and copyrighted property of J. Michael Straczynski and Babylonian Productions, "BUREAU 13" the copyrighted property of Tritac Games (1983). All other characters and situations on this site are the copyrighted property (1997-2000] of David G. Goldingay. These non-profit creations are for the purposes of private entertainment only. Original characters and situations are copyright of the author.


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