Boojilon 5 (Season 4, Episode 1)
Garibaldi jumped in surprise as a large, glittering tree suddenly sprung up out of the floor. The thousand or so bulbs seemed bright, but once the star on top lit up the whole room glowed. Garibaldi staggered back for a moment then looked below the tree. His eyes adjusted, he could see tons of presents. He approached them in awe. Attached to one of the tree's branches was a note from Neil:"To : All the FollowersMerry Christmas from Neil"Garibaldi checked his watch."A little too late, Neil." He sighed. Sadly, he flipped a switch and the large tree sank once again into the floor. "Maybe after we get back to our own time we'll be able to celebrate. But for now, there's too much work to do."He walked on, down the Pulsar's main corridor, and entered the science lab. There was Barista and Wicket, staring into microscopes. "Learn anything new?""Yeah." Barista said. "We need Lorien.""Oh well." Garibaldi sighed again."By the way Mr. Garibaldi, you look good in red.""It WAS white."Garibaldi was about to leave when an alarm started blaring. "Patch me through to C&C." Wicket typed something and a screen popped up. Apparently, the suits had finally figured out where the Pulsar was, and a few fighters had left the defense cloud of Boojilon to launch an attack. "Don't bother the others. I'll handle this."Garibaldi was inside a starfury two minutes later, buzzing the outer hull. After the situation was pretty much cleaned up, he turned to dock when he saw a familiar wave in space. He sent a message to the cloaked Shadow vessel, putting it into autopilot and telling it to lead some of the Suit ships away from Boojilon."Maybe we can get the Anti-Followers all into one place." Garibaldi said to himself. "By giving them nowhere else to go." He laughed as the Particle Pulse Cannons of his fury destroyed suit C&C. Suits Heavy Cruisers moved to engage, but little by little Boojilon got smaller as deck after deck was breeched by blue plasma.
"Lorien......Lindaru.......good to see you."
"You to Jim. But there's no time for that now lindaru and I are going to get you out of here before my twin gets back."
They un locked Jim from magnetic containment and began runing tward the docking bay.
"Lorien......have you noticed something weird."
"Like what."
"Like we seem to be the only people on the station."
"Yeah.... quick let's take a detour for C&C."
a few minutes later they arived at a large door depicting the anti-booji they walked through it to find the impromtu C&C the suits set up after the first one blew up with the anti-garibaldi.
"Okay starting internal scanners.......Just us and ..... Neiron, why can't he just die. Oh well he won't be out of the sewage levels for days. wait picking up other life signs....very faint level 6. I think we found the anti-anti-followers."
"That's great!!! but where did all the suits go."
"Opening system Logs.....They all left 20 minutes ago in there ships.... All heading toward....wait I know those coordinates. My god they were all heading to the Pulsar."
"Quick we have to get to the ship."
"No wait accessing main directory prepulsion. Gravitron fold drive. Engage."
The entier back of the planitoid opened up and began firing ion boosters.
"We should be at the pulsar in 2 hours which should be just enogh time to wake the anti-anti follow--"
"Okay I'm waking up niel's clone. aftre that we should only have ten or so followers."
"Thank Booji. Feels like we've been at this for days. :)" replied lindaru.
"Lorien."
"Yes Jim."
"I thought you'd be intrested in knowing that in about 5 minutes we'll be reaching the pulsar."
"Okay. I'l head up to C&C and start up the
defence grid."
************
"The suit ships are closing on parimiter shadow
ships falling left and right."
"Wait picking up one ship in gravitron space make that two....no three."
"Starting hyperspace scan."
"The first ship is.......you're not gonna belive this It's Boojilon. THe second is definately suit controlled but I can't make out the siloute."
"It's drooping out of the rift....... MY GOD!!!!!!! A vorlon planet killer. And it's definetly suit controlled Look."
The followers all looked tward the panet killer
to see what Barista couldn't help but stare at a giant black bucket symbol
on the side of the planet killer.
************
"Droping out of the rift lorien."
"good."
"Incoming communica from the planet killer."
"Put it thogh."
"Hello Neirol. We were told that all the suits had left the station but we appritiate the help."
"You we're told the truth. Fire the zero point cannon. The front bay of the station became lit with a light brighter than a star and shot out a beam destroying thousands of suit ships before hiting the planet killer.
"open channel to pulsar."
"Opened."
"hello everyone. Mr garibaldi I sugest you and I trade places we can both blow things up much better on the oposing craft. By the way I'll be sending a few guests with me. Namely the anti-anti-followers."
"Very good work Lorien. Very Very good work."
"Lorien the beam is dieing down and.......My God it's still there the planet killer's still there."
"The last ship is droping out of the rift.....What the hell is that. It looks kind of like the pulsar."
"That's because it is."
"What Lorien.... How the pulsar is over there."
"Yes well I suppose The best term would be the pulsar 2. You see I Made the pulsar fully organic so that as it battles over time the whole ship evolves into new forms with new systems. The question is.... who's piloting it."
"Hello lorien."
"Who is that."
"It's comming from the pulsar two it overroad our transmition to the pusar."
"to awnser you're question.... I'm you. Twenty years from now.... and don't worry. I'm on your side.
snjfaplsk'dnflkasdfnsafpiwej
The Star Fury's radar screen looked like a checkerboard. Pulsars, Boojilons, planet killers, madness. Garibaldi just sat quietly. The ships moved, but not in an advancing or retreating motion, just weak circles.
"Um...." Garibaldi decided that it was beyond making sense, and tore off towards the planet killer. Braving the heat just outside the right rear exhaust port, he scanned the ship quickly. Suits, plenty of them.
Suddenly an alarm sounded. Core heat started climbing. The exhaust port began glowing deep red and the currents became visible. Quickly Garibaldi spun the Fury away and backed off, letting the ship cool before attempting to move again. As he replaced melted systems the glow from the planet killer's front end signaled that it was charging.
"Lorien...look out!" A huge beam of plasma shot out of the ship, directly for Pulsar 1. Simultaneously a fighter-sized pod was launched from Pulsar 2. The pod intercepted the beam just before it hit the Pulsar, deflecting the energy into a Suit Heavy Cruiser, which was instantly destroyed.
Both Pulsars wasted no time in returning fire, and several hundred cannons opened up all at once. Garibaldi quickly retreated as the planet killer was ripped into clouds of shrapnel.
"Mr. Garibaldi..." crackled the com system. "Proceed to the Pulsar's docking bay."
Garibaldi looked from one ship to the next. "Which one?"
The whole ship shook, and Garibaldi hit the floor with a loud thump. Groaning, he rolled onto his back. After several minutes of recovering he got up and started down the corridor. Rubbing his side, he came upon Lindaru and Jim. They stood staring a a hole in the floor. The whole room was burnt black.
"What happened?" Garibaldi managed weakly.
"Lorien was just greeting the other Lorien," Lindaru sobbed. "Then they shook hands and BLAMO. Poor Lorien..."
Garibaldi stared at the crater for a moment and then shrugged. "Well it won't be too hard to find him again, there seems to be a ton of them running around here." Garibaldi motioned for Lindaru and Jim to follow him. They came into a room filled with followers, including Lindaru, Lorien, Jim, Kat....everyone according to last count.
"Wow! You did a great job!"
"Yeah, *sniff* but we're still short a Garibaldi and now a Lorien. But it's too late to worry about that. We have to act soon."
"Right." Garibaldi nodded, then grabbed an intercom microphone. "Attention: all double followers. Use the shuttles in Docking Bay 4 to get to the other Pulsar. From there go to Za'had'um and meet up with Morden. She'll help you get situated in the new timeline. Good luck."
After a heart-warming goodbye scene the last of the converted anti-anti-followers were gone. The remaining trio continued to C&C, where they found another Lorien looked at the controls.
"Sure brings back memories." Sighed the Lorien.
"Though I must say these controls look so mid-evil. What was I thinking?"
"Booji." Garibaldi said to air. "Please do that thing you do."
Suddenly a glowing, trasparent hand came out of nowhere and smacked Lorien right across the head. Lorien looked around then turned to the others.
"Hi guys, what happened? Last I remember I was with..."
"Nevermind. Set us on a course for the planetoid. It should still be where we left it back in Sector 45."
"But what about the other followers that are still on Boojilon?"
"Well..." Garibaldi said. "Security Chief Jones
and the others that weren't on the Pulsar belong in this timeline. The
rest of them should have evacuated by now...we'll give them 20 minutes,
then we've got to go. It's finally time for us to use Gwyn's device."
Barista looked out the pulsar windows in the break room. They were finally going to leave this time line. A knot turned in her stomach. "What do you think the new time line will be like?"
Wicket was busy writing musical notes on a piece of paper. "It will be terrific. You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"
Barista shook her head. "No . . . I just . . . well . . . I had always dreamed what it would be like to live in another time but never dreamed it was possible."
*****
Lindaru suppressed the tears as the other pulsar
pulled away with her newly grown up babies on it. They belonged in this
time line and she reminded herself that her little babies would be just
as she had left them when they returned home. "Jim, do you think things
will be quite
different when we return?"
Jim had been meditating and using the console computer to figure things out as Lorien prepared the coordinates for the return trip and to link up to Gwyn's device. "Yes."
Lindaru brightened. "Everything will be back to peace and harmony, and our little girls will be innocent to the evil Suit future? We followers can live happily ever after? Is that what you believe?"
Jim never turned his face piece. "No."
Lindaru looked frustrated. "What do you think will become of it all?" She tensed. "Are you saying that things will be an upward battle like they were before?"
Jim punched in a couple of numbers. "No."
"Then what are you saying?" Lindaru focused sternly on him.
"I may be able to eat cheesecake again."
With that, he waddled out of C&C.
"Alright, everyone stabalizing timestream......"
"Focusing.... in on the time You left." repleid the other lorien."
"finnalizing spacial co-ordinates."
"Alright.....now it's time for our final goodbye. i must lead the anti-anti followers. evolve the pular to a pulsar II like this."
"Good bye lorien II."
..........
"Lorien II has left."
"good, open temporal rift."
The pulsar traveled through the rift. That's when
the anymolies started to occur. The pulsar became smaller and even more
powerful. Jim found he could eat cheesecake, And an even
stranger change was taking place involving lorien.
"we're coming out of the rift lorien.........Lorien."
Garibaldi walked over to Lorien and took his pulse.....He was dead.
"contact boojilon."
"It's not there."
"Scan epsilon grid."
"Babylon 5 isn't there either."
"Earth."
"Gone......completly....all I can find are two shadow planet killers and a vorlon one."
"Minbar."
"It's there, space is bending around it, but the only transmition is from a fleet of ships. Putting it through."
"This is the war cruiser charlain. we are requesting all available ships. to come to our aid. In a little over 8 standard hours a shadow planet killer will reach minbar. We need more time to avacuate."
"Charlain.. this is experimental craft pulsar II. where is the whitestar fleet."
"Whitestar..........what is a whitestar fleet."
"Imbicile let me speak to Deleen."
"The girl who died with ducat when we met the Humans. What does she have to do with this."
"Deleen's dead...... well that explains the lack
of boojilon and Babylon and the destruction of earth. but why is lorien
dead......No time for that now set a course for minbar. It may
be our home for a while."
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"Flarnstar . . ." Lindaru stood quietly in her quarters. Flarnstar looked up.
"I'm not feeling too well. Can it wait?" Flarnstar held her head with one hand and her stomach with the other. "This time rift travel is really hard on me."
"I wish it could wait. Earth is gone as is Boojilon in this new place. We are going to have to land on Minbar. We will need a spokesperson to represent us. I hereby name you Ambassador to Minbar."
Flarnstar swallowed hard. This would be a tall
order given her current load of duties but she would measure up to it proudly
and with honor. "I shall do what I can."
Neil stood at the airlock behind Flarn and Lindaru. He couldn't wait to go outside into the fresh Minbar air "I've always wanted to go to Minbar, but never had the time, they say it's beautifull"
The roaring landing engines faded into silence, they had touched solid ground. "Computer, open airlock" Lindaru said, and at her command the airlock hissed and slowly opened
Neil enthousiasm turned into shock at the sight of the once gracious planet. The crystaline builings of minbar were shattered, and an the horizon large plumes of smoke made their way into a grey atmospere
A lonely and exhausted Minbari ranger greeted
them "Welcome to Minbar, and welcome to the city of sorrows"
Jim watched out of a port window at the city they had landed in. Barista and Wicket looked curiously at it.
"What is this place? I saw pictures of Minbar when we were in school and it never looked like this!" cried Barista.
Wicket looked at the coordinates on the console. "It is most definitely Minbar, but you are right. It never looked like this pile of ruins. What happened?"
Jim lowered his face piece and remained silent. Even now the piece of cheesecake in front of him did not interest him in the least. "It is because of us."
"What do you mean *because of us*?" Garibaldi queried.
Jim kept his face lowered. "We have disturbed the time line once again."
Spoofoo anxious to see around his mother standing
in the doorway, noticed one building off in the distance that remained
intact. It had an odd shield shaped logo on the top of the building and
if he could remember his human English alphabet correctly, it appeared
the letters were "W.B."
"No..." Garibaldi gasped involuntarily the second he caught glimpse of the building.
The Ranger, upon seeing the group's disturbed faces, turned to look in the same firection. "Ah...the Suits. They were the first Human ambassadors ever to set foot on Minbar."
"But what about Babylon 5...Jeffrey Sinclair...the whole war?!" Flarnstar rambled.
"What war?"
"The war between Humans and Minbari that resulted when Humans attacked and killed Dukhat, and I guess Delenn too..."
"There was never war between humans and Minbari. True, we prepared to strike vengance against the powerful human and Centauri combine, but are thirst for blood was quelled by the suits. They came here and taught us English, and advanced are system of commerce far beyond its previous level. Humans are indeed the second half of Minbari souls."
"How do you know that?!" Lindaru demanded, shocked. The Ranger pulled a red lunchbox from his cloak. On it was the inscription "We are the better half, too." above a picture of the Warner Brothers. Garibaldi struck it from his hand in frustration. The Ranger looked surprised.
"No war," Flarnstar said slowly, "no need for babylon. Without Delenn or Babylon the White Star fleet was never built, and the Shadows and Vorlons war unchecked."
"We have White Stars." said the Ranger. "We buy them from the suits. Without the suits we would not have been able to protect our world this long."
"No babylon," Flarnstar continued, "no boojilon. No booji. No followers. I doubt any of us in this timeline have survived the war without Booji's guidance."
"That's it!" Garibaldi slapped his forehead. "The Anti-Booji must have followed us through the rift!
There was nothing to stop him...though he could have gotten lost in the time/space currents and popped out earlier than we did."
"No," Lindaru looked around. "The Anti-Booji was far too powerful. It would have done much more without a Booji to stop it. If it is true, then the Anti-Booji must have been seriously weakened by the time travel. He couldn't have done much more than give the suits some good advice on the future."
"That'd be more than enough for them. We have to kill the Anti-Booji before this gets any worse."
"Garibaldi wait," Flarnstar pleaded. "First things first. This timeline will still exist, just like the other one and our own. We have to repair our damage or all this will still be conquered, with or without the Anti-Booji."
"You're right." Garibaldi thought for a moment. "I'll take a group into that building over there to look for info on the Anti-Booji's location. Everyone else should get the Pulsar into orbit and hold off the Shadows and Vorlons."
"Sounds good." The three followers and the Ranger ran into the Pulsar and prepared for a battle on two fronts. As Lindaru passed the kitchen, she noticed Jim sitting beside a very large cheesecake. "Oh Jim...I'm sure we'll figure out what killed Lorien and fix it."
"No..." Jim said. "I was just thinking...about what Lorien and us did in the other timeline...I think we are passing up a great opportunity."
"What's that."
"If we can convert the Anti-Booji instead of destroying him, this timeline may start seeing the light, rebuilding."
"But a real Booji wouldn't have any followers in this timeline."
"If you can get me to Vorlon," Jim said with utter
certainty, "I'll change that."
A forlorn figure sat on the edge of a large boulder.
He scratched at his dark beard as he stared up at the sky and lost himself in thought.
It wasn't often that he got any time to himself. The Vorlons were always ordering him to do this and that.
"Take my encounter suit to the Dry Particle Cleaners!"
"Pass me the Dictionary of Obscure and Nonsensical Vorlon Phrases!" His work was never done. And it was amazing the way these demi-gods could speak in sentences when they knew that outsiders couldn't hear them.
Maybe there was a chance that one day he would get away from this awful place. Travel the universe. Make a real difference. Fight against evil. Save the galaxy even.
But of course there was absolutely no chance of that ever happening. No, the truth was that he was stuck here and he might as well get used to the fact.
"Hey you, polish my illusory halo. And jump to it!"
*sigh*
Entilzha looked sadly at the view of the destroyed city, and sighed. Lindaru, Barista, Wicket and a few others had left with Jim to Vorlon in the hopes of converting the Vorlons a few houres ago, without delay, but to help with Lorien. Everyone looked very sad as Lorien was putted in the cryotube. "It's just for a little while" everybody said to each other. "Jim will get followers, and we'll convert the Anti-Booji, and finish this once and for all". Now, Entilzha was walking her Goks out. They seemed very sad at first, but it is their homeworld and they were happy to see it, even like this. After a little while they spread alround. Entil wasn't worried, since most of them knew the place, and no one will suspect Goks on Minbar. The airlock hissed behind Entil's back. She turned, and Ranger1138 stood there, looking at the ruinings. "Well, this is some bloody mess" He said. "I thought you were sitting in at the meeting to help figure out a strategy to do something about the Vorlons and Shadowes, untill we do someting about the Anti Booji, before Minbar falls". "Just taking a break. I need a little air. Besides, It's been quiet a while since i've been here" Ranger replied, looking at the view. "It seemed better then, though." Entil looked at the ruins, and laughed bitterly. "Yes, that's defanently true. I just hope we can fix this mess, somehow." Just then, a Ranger that had a little 'WB' pin with the write 'seniur appointed WB Ranger' Came near. He noticed Ranger1138 and asked:
"Where's your WB logo pin&lunchbox, Ranger? You know the law." Ranger took out his Denn'bok, and was about to say something as Entil'zha stopped him and whispered 'We're not supposed to draw attention, remember? we can't let the suits know we're here!We need to stay calm if we are to convert the Anti-Booji! opening a war wit the suits isn't helping to that, we need to get the off guard to increase the odds." Ranger1138 lowered his Denn'bok, but didn't take his eyes off the WBRanger, eyed his polyester uniform, and grawled. The WBranger's eyes narrowed in suspition. Ranger said to Entil. "Well, i'd better get back. The others need me". Then, he turned his back and left, mumbling something about 'suits', 'Den'cha' and 'revenge'. Then, he entered the Pulsar. When Entil looked back, the WBranger was gone. She turned to her buisness, such as finding Gok litter, as it was nearly over. She won't let the suits bother her. A while later, Ranger went out again, to help find a little Gok that got lost, because it was born in the temple and didn't know Minbar. Entil seemd quiet worried so he went to help, since he knew Minbar very well, and even on the current situation. As he searched between the chrystaline ruinings, he heard PPG's charging and Denn'boks drawn out. He turned, and saw the Seniur WBranger from before standing there. Other WBrangers came out from the Shadowes, surrounding Ranger. In the falling Darkness, something moved between the rubble. A little Gok was seemed running in the direction of the Pulsar....
HAIL BOOJI!!!!! "On Minbar, we have Goks"
"How many more hours to Vorlon space?" Barista inquired, getting restless. It was difficult to practice her dance moves on the Star Fury because it bounced a lot.
Jim replied, "roughly three more."
Wicket shrugged. "I swear everything is in threes!"
Suddenly a huge ship appeared in front of them.
"Open a channel," Jim commanded and
Lindaru hurried to do so.
"Zog!" a mask hovered holographically before them. Barista whispered to Wicket that it reminded her of something from the pre-Columbian era of human history. Wicket thought it reminded her more of something from African history.
Jim brightened. "Zog!" he responded back.
Immediately the mask disappeared and the
ship moved out of their path.
Once the ship was well out of the way, Jim continued on their current course settings. "What was that all about? What is *zog*?" Lindaru asked.
"Allow me to translate literally," Jim responded. *Zog* in First One language means *password*. I happen to know that the password is *password*, therefore I responded *zog*."
"ZOG!" came from behind them. They all turned in shock and surprise.
Spoofoo giggled as that had been one of the first words he had ever learned.
"How did you--," Lindaru asked. Spoofoo giggled again and put down his toy saucer.
Jim turned and wheezed. "Looks like I get babysitting
detail everywhere I go."
Entilza disappeared over the hill, gok in hand. Garibaldi followed, discovering with a jolt the steep incline of the hill. Sliding to the ground, he patted the thick red dust from his combat armor and followed the running Entilza.
Then the gok miowed and jumped from Entilza's hands. It sifted through a pile of rocks and retrieved a crumpled piece of metal. On close examination, Entilza concluded it was Ranger's Denn'bok. Leading away from the site were several sets of tracks and signs of struggle. There was no doubt the tracks converged on the WB building.
"Don't worry, we'll be careful. Identify, then fire." Garibaldi reassured. "But we have to start off sooner than planned. There's no telling what surprises this timeline has."
Entilza nodded, then suddenly had an idea. "Take this gok. It's seen the WBRangers that got Ranger...it might be able to pick them out of the crowds." Garibaldi hesitated, but gave in and put the gok into his armored backpack.
Garibaldi tapped his throat-mike. "Alpha-team, prepare for entry."
The gok miowed goodbye, unafraid.
Jim sat down and pondered the cycle of death.
First him now Lorien. But there may be no way to rescure lorien from permanate
deat
Gwyn sat in the diaplated minbari temple, children
clustered around her. "...and then, the little starship that could pulled
away from the magnetic field of the planet, and shot into
space, ready to deliver his cargo! And from that
moment on, he was never afraid to try anything, becuase he knew that no
matter how difficult the task, you can do anything if you put your mind
to it!"
"Tell us another!" the children pleaded. Gwyn glanced up at the sky, where an evening sun was visible through the dust. "It will have to wait," she said regretfully. "It's late, you must all be getting home," she urged gently. The children shuffled off, and a voice spoke sloftly from the shadows.
"Some of them don't have homes to go to."
"I know, Rathenn," Gwyn replied as she watched them go. "And when I speak to them of Minbar, as it was, as I know...knew...it, they think that is a stroy too."
"Then it that story which needs to be told most. It is the stories of history which are most important, for from them we learn about our future."
"It's a heavy burden."
"But you bear it well. Good night, Storyteller."
Rathenn turned, and Gwyn was left standing alone in the temple, the evening
sun streaking through the cyrstalline dust.
"Are you going to take me up on my dinner invitation?" Critty asked as he shut down his computer and cleaned off his desk.
"Bo and I are rather busy tonight. We have a Board meeting to attend." Bailin straightened out her polyester skirt and jacket. "How about Sunday?"
"Sunday, then. Goodnight." Critty picked up his attache case where the W.B. had been covered over by a penguin sticker and left.
Bailin looked up at the digital calendar clock high on the wall. Bo should be here with Gigi soon unless Gigi had more takes to film in the current movie she is starring in. She wandered over to the window and stared into the distance. What the heck was that? It looked like some type of space ship parked in the dust. She was broken out of her wonderings as Gigi yipped once and snuggled her ankle for attention. "Ready. Lets go home," said Bo, tool box in hand.
*****
"Spoofoo is settled in for his nap," replied Lindaru. "Were you able to get ahold of Flarnstar so she did not wonder where he is?"
"No." Jim stood as still as a cliff. "We are too far away. We approach Vorlon space now."
Vorlon home world had a dusky glow to it like smoldering embers. Despite the apparent heat it was giving off, Jim and Lindaru felt a chill. "This place looks like Minbar!"
"I know." Jim turned. "It is too late to back out now. They know we are here."
Jim set the coordinates and controls to begin
landing. "You three had better get into your space suits."
Why is Minbar so desolate? What have the Suits done in this time line? Has another time line truly been distorted? Is there hope for Lorien? Read on in Episode 2.