Chapter 68

Authors note: I know it has been awhile since I posted anything. But My family has had several crisis's in the past 12 months. The story isn't dead, just a little under the weather. I will be posying more chapters. So please enjoy this little tidbit.

Earth Alliance Senate Over-Site Committee for the Babylon Project. Chairwoman Senator Michelle Deveroux presiding.

Closed door session official testimony on the disappearance of the Babylon 4 Space Station:

Senators present: Chairwoman Michelle Deveroux, Maxwell Holstein, Teresa Singh, Renaldo Domingo, and Stephen Clark.

Witnesses present are Mr. L Douglas, Commander P Walisek.

Legal Counsel present Mrs. T Smith Esq.

Senator Deveroux; "Mr. Douglas, we wish to thank you and Commander Walisek for appearing here today. To answer some questions that have arisen during our investigation of the disappearance of the Babylon 4 Station."

Mr. Douglas; "Our pleasure Senator"

Senator Deveroux; "What can you tell this committee about the disappearance of the Babylon 4 station?"

Mr. Douglas; "Personally not too much Senator. I can show you the sensor logs of our ships that were there and the sensor logs of our remaining satellites. Commander Walisek can probably tell you more, as she was the senior officer present there and was in command of the security detail."

Senator Singh; "If I may interrupt Madam Chairwoman"

Senator Deveroux; "Of course Senator."

Senator Singh; "Commander Walisek. Can you tell this committee what exactly happened to the Babylon 4 Station?"

Commander Walisek; "No madam Senator, I can't. What I can do is tell you what I remember from that day and the actions I took on that day."

Senator Singh; "I see. Then please continue."

Commander Walisek; "Yes ma'am. It was shortly into 1st watch and I was reviewing the sensor logs of the ships from the previous shift. I had called for a captains meeting to go over the flight plans, because Major Brown had informed me that the weapons systems were now up and functioning. He was planning a live fire exercise for later in the day, so I wanted to let the ships know which area's to stay out of. It was just after 0800 when there was a massive EM burst on the far side of the Babylon 4 Station. The blast hit our ships and we had to reboot several systems. This took a few minutes and when we were up I hailed Babylon 4. There was no response, so I ordered the Stingray to do a fly by and if needed, to dock with the station and render assistance."

Senator Singh; "And did your ship dock with the station?"

Commander Walisek; "No ma'am they did not. Because it was then that we detected the unknown bogey on our mid-range scanners. We tried to hail them, but they didn't respond. So I ordered the ships to attempt to make contact. But the unknown ship began to move away, so I ordered half the group to move after the bogey and the rest to begin sensor sweeps of the area to look for other bogeys."

Senator Singh; "Did you find any other ships Commander?"

Commander Walisek; "No ma'am we did not. It was very shortly after we started doing sensor sweeps that we picked up a massive Tachyon spike and the Station then shimmered and disappeared."

Senator Singh; "And what happened to the bogey you were following?"

Commander Walisek; "It vanished ma'am. One second the ships were closing in and then it was just gone."

Senator Clark; "Madam Chairwoman, may I ask a few questions of the witnesses?"

Senator Deveroux; "The chair recognizes Senator Clark."

Senator Clark; "Thank you Madam Chairwoman. Now Mr. Douglas, is it not true that your ships were there when the Babylon 4 station disappeared?"

Mr. Douglas; "Yes Senator."

Senator Clark; "So why is it that they did nothing to prevent it from happening?"

Mr. Douglas; "Excuse me Senator?"

Senator Clark, "You heard me sir. Why didn't any of your people try to stop the station from disappearing?"

Mr. Douglas; "If you weren't listening sir, Commander Walisek just explained what happened. Everything was fine until there was a massive EM burst on the far-side of the station. A burst which my people believe was an explosion of a large fusion device. The burst was strong enough to burn out over a fourth of our satellites and cause disruptions on most of our ships. Then as Commander Walisek was trying to assess the situation, an unknown vessel was detected on mid-range sensors. As they tried to contact the vessel, it sped away from them and refused to make any form of contact. It was while the corvettes were trying to catch this vessel, that there was a massive Tachyon spike and the Babylon 4 station disappeared."

Senator Clark; "Is that what really happened sir?"

Mr. Douglas; "Excuse me sir?"

Senator Clark, "Our investigators spoke to your people. They also reviewed the data from all of your sensor logs. Your crews all said the same things that you just did, almost as if they had rehearsed it. Is that what this is, a rehearsed answer?"

Mr. Douglas; "No Senator, it's just the truth."

Senator Clark; "Well sir, if it's the truth, then why did your people refuse to be scanned to assure us they were telling the truth."

Mrs. Smith; "If I may Madam Chairwoman."

Senator Deveroux; "You may Mrs. Smith."

Mrs. Smith; "My clients personnel didn't refuse Senator Clark. They agreed to be scanned. They only asked that division M telepaths be present along with your Psi Corps telepaths. From what my clients people tell me, it was your investigators that nixed that idea."

Senator Deveroux; "Is this true Senator Clark? Did they agree to be scanned? Because the report I was given states that they flatly refused to be scanned."

Senator Clark; "I uh, I am unsure Madam Chairwoman."

Mr. Douglas; "Madam Chairwoman. My people are still not used to the idea of telepaths. But we are trying to keep an open mind. That was one of the reasons we began our division M. Is it such a terrible idea that my people would want someone there who was on their side?"

Senator Clark; "That is not the procedure sir. When your people were told that, they refused to be scanned."

Mrs. Smith; "But wasn't their refusal conditional Senator? Did they not say that when you allowed them to have division M telepaths present, they would submit to being scanned?"

Senator Deveroux; "I don't see why the investigators would not allow the Confed personnel to have an independent telepath present?"

Senator Clark; "That is not the procedure Madam Chairwoman. The Psi Corps has been a part of our investigation teams for over twenty years now. Their accuracy has never been questioned before."

Senator Deveroux; "I'm not questioning the accuracy of any telepath Senator Clark. I'm only asking why this one request could not be met."

Senator Clark; "I'm unsure Madam Chairwoman."

Senator Deveroux; "That is a matter for another time then. As for now, we have other concerns before this committee that we must address. Mr. Douglas. Commander Walisek stated that there was a massive EM burst. Is it possible that the burst was one of the Fusion generators on the Babylon 4 station exploding?"

Mr. Douglas; "From the sensor logs we have available Madam Chairwoman; I do not believe it was."

(He loads a crystal in the data port in front of himself. The wall monitor activates) "As you can clearly see Madam Chairwoman. The station was there before the burst and again after the burst. And although the station was not responding to hails, there was no damage visible from the exterior of the station. If one of the fusion generators had blown ma'am. There would have been considerable damage and debris visible."

Senator Clark; "So you admit that after the burst, your ships were able to see the station?"

Mr. Douglas; "Yes Senator."

Senator Clark; "And the station was not communicating with them."

Mr. Douglas; "That's correct Senator."

Senator Clark; "So why didn't your people go and check on the station?"

Mr. Douglas; "Actually Senator. As Commander Walisek has told this committee, she ordered the Corvette Stingray to visually check out the station and to try to set up communications with them. But she recalled the Stingray when the unidentified bogey appeared."

Senator Clark; "Ah yes, the unidentified bogey. A very convenient excuse sir."

Mr. Douglas; "It's not an excuse Mr. Clark, it's a fact."

Senator Clark; "It's Senator Clark, not Mr. Clark."

Mr. Douglas; "My apologies sir."

Senator Clark; "As for your bogey, it seems that it showed up at a most fortuitous time."

Mr. Douglas; "I'm afraid I don't follow you sir."

Senator Clark; "It just seems that this bogey showed up at just the right time for you. It allows your people to look like they had nothing to do with the stations disappearance."

Mrs. Smith; "I'm sorry, but is there a question anywhere in there Senator Clark?"

Senator Clark; "Isn't this "bogey" something made up by your people sir? To help cover their incompetence. I don't believe that this "bogey" was even there. I think you and your people just made up this phantom."

Mrs. Smith; "Madam Chairwoman. I must protest the badgering nature of Senator Clark's accusation. I am advising my clients to say nothing further until there is either a formal reprimand made against Senator Clark for his actions. Or a formal apology made by Senator Clark to my clients."

Senator Deveroux; "It seems that tempers are a bit elevated. Perhaps we should take a break for a short period. The committee will reconvene in two hours."

As the people got up to leave, Senator Deveroux looked at Senator Clark. He knew they were going to talk about this matter.

Senator Deveroux's private office 10 minutes later:

"I can't believe you Stephen. Are you trying to foul things up?"

Senator Clark just looked at her, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Senator Deveroux just glared at him. "You know exactly what I mean Stephen. First your people do everything they can to anger the only witness's to the station disappearing. They then nearly lose all of the data from the confed ships and satellites. It was a good thing that Mr. Douglas's people are more competent than your investigators. Now you are badgering the only people who know what happened, and you don't even seem to care about it."

Senator Clark was fuming on the inside, but on the outside he was calm. "Now Michelle. My people were not the ones who are at fault. It's these confed people. They refuse to answer questions like any good Earth Alliance citizen should."

"Stephen, you're forgetting something. They aren't earth alliance citizens. They're Vegan citizens."

"As if that should make a difference. And as for the missing data, the crystals were lost in transit. No one knows what happened to the originals. I still think it was very "convenient" for Mr. Douglas, that his people had duplicates already made. And did you hear how he just insulted me? He's so arrogant."

Senator Deveroux just looked at him, "Did you ever spend any time in the military Stephen?"

He just looked at her and shook his head. "Well Stephen, if you had, you would know that redundancy is the norm for the military. Each system has a backup system, and some of the backups have a backup. So no it doesn't surprise me that they had the data duplicated. As for your investigators, would it have broken some mythical golden rule to let the Confed people have their own telepaths there during the investigation?"

"As I said Michelle, the Psi corp has had members on our investigative teams since just before the Dilgar war. Now this upstart wants to go and change things."

"Be that as it may Stephen. I think that having independent telepaths present would keep your own telepaths honest and on their toes."

Stephen just looked at her, "They are not my telepaths Michelle. They are registered Psi Corp personnel."

"As you say, that is something we will have to discuss another time. Now as for your badgering of Mr. Douglas. It will stop immediately and you will need to apologize to them, so we can continue our investigations."

Senator Clark just glared at her, but Michelle was ready for him. "Well it's either apologize to him, or I'll let the president know that it was you that derailed the investigations. If she thinks that you're trying to pull something to advance your career with. Well you can forget any kind of backing from the party. She'll see to that."

Stephen Clark knew she was right, that bitch Levy would more than happily kill his political career. Hell, she would probably smile while she twisted the blade into his back. "Alright, I'll apologize, but it doesn't mean that I think that he's innocent. I know he had something to do with this. And someday I'll prove it."

Two hours later:

Senator Deveroux; "This committee is called to order. Senator Clark."

Senator Clark; "Yes Madam Chairwoman. Mr. Douglas I apologies to you and Commander Walisek for my accusations. Now may we continue?"

Mr. Douglas; "Thank you Senator."

Senator Holstein; "If I may Madam Chairwoman?"

Senator Deveroux; "The chair recognizes Senator Holstein."

Senator Holstein; "Thank you Madam Chairwoman. Mr. Douglas, you mentioned earlier an unidentified bogey was detected by your people."

Mr. Douglas,; "Yes Senator."

Senator Holstein; "What steps have been taken to identify this ship?"

Mr. Douglas; "As I was told by our Earth force liaison. Discreet inquiries were made to the League of Non Aligned Worlds, the Narn, the Centauri, and even the Minbari. But so far no one has been able to identify the vessel."

Senator Holstein; "And have your people done anything to try to identify this ship?"

Mr. Douglas; "No Senator they have not."

Senator Holstein; "Why not sir?"

Mr. Douglas; "Your investigators told us not to sir."

Senator Holstein; "Why would they do that?"

Mr. Douglas; "I don't know Senator. But when the head of our Security division offered the services of his department. Your senior investigator told him to quote, "Keep your thick headed goons away from our investigators." unquote."

Senator Holstein; "And what did your man say to the senior investigator?"

Mr. Douglas; "I don't think that what Mr. Ellison's response was would be appropriate to be replied here Senator. Mr. Ellison can be very colorful in his responses."

Senator Clark; "May I interrupt Senator?"

Senator Holstein; "If you must Senator Clark."

Senator Clark; "Mr. Douglas. Isn't it true that your man assaulted the lead investigator in your presence?"

Mr. Douglas; "Now Senator. Assault is such an ugly word. I'd say that they had a difference of opinion on the investigatory skills of your lead investigator."

One month prior. Office of Lucas Douglas Chairman/CEO of Confed Corporation.

Luke was sitting behind his desk. He was watching the two men in front of his desk metaphorically bump heads. The men are Major Charles Windham of Earth force and William "Stanley" Ellison head of Confed corporation's security division. They had been slowly raising their voices in their conversations. Finally the Major said the wrong thing and Mr. Ellison grabbed him by the neck with both hands and raised him almost 10 cm off the floor.

"How dare you call my people thick headed goons, you pencil dicked little dweeb."

The Major replied with a horse whisper, "You're choking me."

Stanley smiled, "No I'm not. If I were choking you, you'd already be dead. But if you want me to."

Luke was tempted to let him, but the Major was technically an ally. "STANLEY."

"Yes sir?"

"Please put the little dweeb down. Gently please."

"Yes sir." and he dropped the Major.

"Major, please forgive Mr. Ellison. He's very proud and protective of his people. As I'm sure you are of yours."

"He was choking me."

Luke just slowly shook his head, "No Major. If he had been choking you, we wouldn't be talking right now."

The Major looked at him and realized it was his word against theirs, so he dropped it for now. "Yes sir. I would appreciate you making your people available for questioning. And please have all other materials ready for my investigating teams."

Luke just nodded, "Of course Major. Just let Mr. Ellison know where and when you wish to talk to our people."

The Major nodded, "Thank you." and then left the office.

Once the door was closed, Luke looked at Stanley. "Please don't do that again."

"I'm sorry sir. But when he called my people..."

Luke stopped him by raising his hand, "Oh I don't mean you grabbing him. Hell I wanted to choke the little shit myself. No Stanley, I mean making me decide if it is worth it to kill a little shit like that or not."

Stanley smiled, "Yes sir. It won't happen again."

"See that it doesn't." They looked at each other for almost three full seconds before they started laughing. Luke walked over to the mini bar and poured some soft drinks. He gave a juice to Stanley. "Did you go through all of the sensor logs yet?"

"Just about sir. Most are blank before and after the EM Burst, but we found something on two of them that wasn't on the others. We followed your orders and put the satellites in question on the destroyed list. The only copies of their logs are on the crystals in your safe. The satellites themselves have been destroyed. I think you might find the review of the logs quite interesting sir."

"I'll go over them later. Now what about our personnel who were injured?"

"Most were minor injuries sir, but one of the telepaths on the Manta Ray has been unconscious since the incident. Mr. Mason has his best people trying to reach her. But he says it's something he and his people have never seen before. He said that every time they try to enter her mind, something forces them out. It's almost like her mind is out of phase with the rest of her. He's asking if we could perhaps ask the Minbari for help."

"I see. Have Tony ask Dr. Massalon to contact her home world for some assistance. The Minbari have had telepaths a lot longer than Earth, so they may have seen something like this before."

"Yes sir."

After Stanley left, Luke activated the privacy fields in his office. He took the log crystals out and put them into a multi-player. He then watched the data and Stanley was right. He was watching a familiar looking ship flying toward the B-4 station, chasing smaller unknown ships. He watched as the ship fired at and destroyed the smaller ships and what appeared to be a large device. He watched as the device went off, destroying most of the satellites in the area, and causing this one to reboot. The second playback was from a satellite that had rebooted. It showed the ship again. Only now it was docked to the B-4 Station. The ship was still attached to the station, up until it disappeared. Luke encrypted and copied the data onto another crystal. He placed the originals in a DNA Locked container. He then typed a number into his keypad. A short while later, there was a flashing on the key pad. He pressed a hidden button and a hidden door opened. There was a Minbari man standing there. He entered the office and bowed. Luke bowed in return then extended his hand, which the young man shook. "Hello Mr. Larsal."

"Hello sir. I came as soon as I received your signal."

Luke handed him the crystal he had made. "I think Lennon will want to see this as soon as possible."

Mr. Larsal took the crystal and hid it within his robes. "I will see that he gets it as soon as possible."

As he turned to leave, he stopped and turned back around. "Sir may I ask you something personal?"

"Of course."

"Why do you help us? After all, you and your people are not from here. So why?"

Luke reached over and picked up a 3D player. He activated it, and the image was Terry and the boys. "For them. They're my heart and my future here. Given a choice of the light or the dark for them to live in. I'll choose the light every time."

The Minbari man nodded and almost smiled. For he too had children back on Minbar and they were why he was doing this as well. "Perhaps Elder Vassaras was right. Humans and Minbari maybe Kindred souls."

"Perhaps we are Mr. Larsal, perhaps we are."

Senate Hearing Chamber:

Senator Clark; "A difference of opinion that led your man to try to kill the lead investigator."

Mr. Douglas; "No senator. If Mr. Ellison had wanted to kill your lead investigator, then he would already be dead. But since he isn't dead, Mr. Ellison didn't try to kill him."

Senator Deveroux; "Senator Clark, I believe that what was said between the two men is not truly Germaine to our investigation here today. Now Mr. Douglas, I see that there was a casualty listed. May we know what happened?"

Mr. Douglas; "Of course Senator, one of the crew of the Manta Ray was rendered unconscious by the tachyon burst. We have been trying to get her condition treated."

Senator Singh; "And what is her condition?"

Mr. Douglas; "Well Senator, she's been in a comatose state since the incident occurred. Our people have been unable to help her."

Senator Singh; "Why is that?"

Mr. Douglas; "Well Senator, Crewmen Williams is a low level telepath and for some reason her mind has pretty much closed itself off from everything. Our Division M telepaths haven't been able to help her, so we are contacting other groups who may be able to help her. We are hopeful that she will be able to make a full recovery."

The senators asked more questions for the next two hours, and afterward they would send their report to the president.