Dark_RP

The news channels buzz with speculation of the recent death of Earth alliance president Santiago. Clark has been sworn in, promising to continue Satiago's polices although some are speculating that Clark will take the opportunity to push through some more hard line polices Santiago would not have go for. Elsewhere in the galaxy tensions between the Narn and the Centauri are diminishing as memories of Raghesh 3 fade. However, there has been much increased raider activity especially along the new Minbari Federation trade routes.

All Alone in the Night

The Horizon and it crew arrive at the human colony of Beta 9 after their brief excursion to the rim. IPX officials debrief the expedition please with the discover of a world rich in Quantium-40 and intrigued by the bio-hazardous mould native to the world. IPX pays out for the contracts made back on Babylon 5 and promises to have funding for a new expedition soon. Those recruited on Babylon 5: Jill the wandering human with many secrets, Nakir the Brakiri businessman, J'Kruse the Narn security officer, Seth a strange human that seems to have spent a lot of time with the Minbari religious caste and Professor Vance the IPX xenoarchologist given given tickets to return to Babylon 5 aboard the cruise liner Robinson . Kadren the Minbari warrior looking for redemption decides to stay on Beta 9 and explore the human colony before returning to B5.

The "Robinson" is a slow old Bradbury-class luxury liner which meanders through the human colonies before reaching the Epsilon Iridani system and Babylon 5. The liner is not particularly full and the passengers wander freely about the ship, getting together for intense games of squash (The Prof quickly becomes squash champion aboard the liner) and drinking Jovian sunspots and the finest Centauri Bravari in the main bar. One evening, about a day and a half from Babylon 5, after a long drunken debate at the bar the five passengers from the Horizon retire to their quarters. They are awoken by alarms and voices crying 'Abandon Ship! Abandon Ship!'

It was over as quickly as it began. Awoken by the blaring of a Klaxon and the shaking of the liner as it accelerated wildly in hyperspace. (Those familiar with space travel know that violent manoeuvre's in the hyperspace dimension are extremely risky and could mean being lost in hyperspace forever). The ship is rocked by more explosions, as the Robinson seems to be under attack by an unknown enemy. Grinding noises and the whistling sound of decompression indicate that the hull is breached and the ship is doomed. The passengers rush to find safety aboard one of the few escape pods, but they have either already jettisoned or the route is blocked by sealed pressure doors. The five passengers from the Horizon find them selves together in the shuttle bay where a stewardess is herding passengers onto a short range transport shuttle. They all rush aboard, Nakir and Professor Vance leap into the cockpit and the shuttle launches just in time as the liner's fusion reactor explodes. The shock waves accelerate the shuttle at high G making those aboard black out for a moment. As the survivors recover the shuttle is eerily silent after the noise and chaos of the Robinson.

Apart from the five companions there are eight other survivors:

1. The Stewardess "Janine Lockwood" who guided everybody aboard the shuttle, she seems shaken and clueless as to what should be done.
2. An unknown paranoid looking woman in a business suit, keeping to herself and everyone seems happy to leave her like that.
3. A young teenage boy "Twitch" cowering towards the back of the shuttle, who Jill quickly befriends and comforts
4/5. A father and daughter Al and Kate Thomasson comforting each other (Jill had seen these two fighting and arguing publicly back aboard the Robinson)
6. An old Centauri "Calan Orestres" lies across two seats moaning in pain, Seth attending him trying to see what is wrong
7. A second Centauri Balthus Kodiro stands around seemingly lost without his servants
8. Finally a hulking Narn Du'Stal sits in meditation a Ka'toc strapped to his back.



Vance and Nakir sit in the cockpit with Janine trying to assess the situation, scans show nothing left of the Robinson and no sign of any other survivors and it is not clear if any distress signals made it out. Nakir does successful manage to keep a lock on the jump gate beacon and sets the shuttle on a heading that will reach the gate in 48 hours. However, the professor notices a red light on the environmental controls, there is only enough oxygen to last them 30 hours! Meanwhile Seth attends to the old Centauri Calan, the old man thinks he is dying saying he has seen it in his vision and Seth tries to comfort him but lacks knowledge of Centauri physiology to be able to make a diagnosis. He decides to get the other Centauri Balthus to help but he tells her that he does really care and is more concerned about when they will get back to Babylon 5 so that he can demand recompense from the Robinsons owners. Eventually Seth at least gets him to agree to keep an eye on the old man. J'Kruse befriends Du'Stal discovering he is in training as a warrior and was on his way to meet J'kar on B5. Jill also finds herself comforting the young boy Twitch, she tries to link telepathically to calm the scared and frightened boy and is surprised to discover that he also is telepathic. He realises that she is not human and this comforts him rather than scares him and he begins to rant about how this is all his fault! He ran away, they were after him! The Psi Corps are all around!

Vance and Nakri emerge from the cockpit announcing the problems they face in reaching B5, J'Kruse suggests that he may increase the engine speed if he has a bit of a tinker and heads to the engines, Al Thomasson also steps forwards he is a environmental engineer and may have some luck improving the carbon scrubbers and extending the life support systems. Seth agrees to help him building makeshift scrubbers from what materials he can find. The survivors get to work and the life support situation seems to be resolved with only a minor conflict between Du'Stal and Balthus. However, as J'Kruse is making alterations to the engines he hears noises down below in the cargo hold. Investigation by J'Kruse and Lawrence Vance find a stowaway Pak'ma'ra but his translator is broken so he cannot communicate. The two decide to leave him alone and let B5 officials sort him out when and if they finally reach the station.

The old Centauri Calan groans, with a massive effort he raises himself into a sitting position calling over Seth and telling him to gather the five companions. The group huddle around him, his voice is a death rattle and his skin is as pale as his white Centauri crest. He waves away the petulant Balthus who stalks away muttering under his breath. The other shuttle passengers look over in interest as Calan whispers his secrets.

"The Centauri have a gift. Some of us... can foresee the moment of our death. I have faced death ... many times on many worlds... but I never saw my own passing... until I came aboard the Robinson"

"I foresaw this. You all around me. The vision .. came to me at last... This... is good... it means I... can trust you."

"There is a safety deposit box... on Babylon 5. In the assayers office. Number 23. The ..... code .... is 5332.... purple. You must take the contents....to...Mollari...the ambassador"

"Tell him... Calan Orestes sent you. Tell him................cuckoo...!!"

With a sign Calan slips away leaving the five in stunned silence. The group return to matters at hand and after a few more hours Nakir and the Professor detect ships approaching, a wing of star furies sent from Babylon 5. The survivors of the Robinson are rescued.

Babylon 5

Everyone is escorted to the Med Lab whether they want to go or not. After a full medical check up they are told that security will be there soon to ask some questions. Jill sits with Twitch who's paranoia is reaching new heights now they are aboard Babylon 5 he sees everyone as agents of the Psi Corps. Eventually the doctors have to sedate him to calm him down. Nakir sneaks out the door heading for the assayers office but the others spot him and quickly follow. They don't get far down the corridor when a security detachment approaches from the other direction. The five survivors are escorted to red sector and the security office where acting security chief Jack Thorn questions them in a comfortable interview room. Thorn asks detailed questions about what happened and also about the other survivors he thinks at least one is not who they appear to be. As the group are dismissed the station vibrates and the lights flicker a message comes over a security officers link outside the security centre "Explosion in Docking Bay 4!!" where the shuttle was docked!

Suddenly the five faces of the group are up on the station monitors security wants them arrested. Not wanting any trouble the group turn back and hand themselves over to Thorn at the security centre. This time they are taken to holding cells, and interrogated about what the old Centauri Calan told them before he died. Jill scans Thorn as he questions them and although not able to penetrate deeply she does find that this investigation is on the orders of a Mr Jones and is not official. Using her mind she convinces him that there is no reason to hold them. Thorn reluctantly lets them go...

The group race through the station to the assayers office Nakir leading the way. The assayers office is not far, upon arrival there are two men sat at one of the tables in the reception area deep in conversation. Nakir is first to arrive and walks straight to the main counter where another Brakiri Poldak is waiting. Nakir asks him to fetch box number 23 and he heads to the vault as the others arrive following Nakir. Poldak returns with a large sealed metal box and places it on the counter plugging a keypad into the box lid. Nakir begins to enter the code to open the box when Poldak suddenly collapses to the floor with a dart in his neck. The two men sat at the table are standing pointing guns at the group demanding they hand over the box. J'Kruse acts first grabbing the nearest man and wrestling with him. Nakir dives to safety with the box over the counter and Jill uses her mind to disable the other attacker. Possibly giving away her telepathic ability to any onlookers. Alarms are already sounding as Nakir finishes opening the box removing several documents, a PPG, a mixture of identicards, a wallet filled with various currencies, and a small black holocube.

The group quickly flee the assayers office and head straight to green sector to find Ambassador Mollari. Vir answers the door and after a brief exchange lets them in. The ambassador is slightly drunk and at first does not know what the odd group of Narn Brakiri and Humans are talking about. But as soon at Vance explains the about Calan and gives the "Cuckoo" call sign Londo suddenly becomes very interested. They hand over the documents about 20 pages of strange cipher and one page which is seemingly a poem written by Calan himself. London also takes the holocube and activates it: The cube displays a scene set outside of the Centauri embassy on earth, depicting the assassination of Psi Corps founder Senator Lee Crawford by a rouge telepath in 2161. London is very pleased that the documents reached him but is also very concerned and after stating that he will reward them all even the Narn for their part he hurries off to gather the Babylon 5 Council.

The group leave Londos quarters and Jill heads to Med lab to find Twitch. Twitch is in a state when she arrives apparently a Psi Corp agent was here in the Med lab.