Rangers Redux (fiction)

Re: Hints?

Yay!!! More Redux! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: Hints?

More Redux, yes, but I still don't see it. The pieces are there, but I can't add it up to get the big picture. Lennier sees it; Channe sees it, but I don't get it.

Damn my poor jigsaw puzzle skills.

Re: Hints?

im tempted to read your fanfic channe, but is there any chance you could have Antony make a part for you on the wbeiste or something, where you can put it all together?

i mean im real late to Redux, and i would have to go over all posts looking for the next paragraphs of your story. not to sound ungrateful, but i think it would be so much better. specially since everyone seems to be loving it. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Hints?

Of course Channe sees it, she's the one writing the story! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Re: Hints?

I've become aware in the past few weeks that the Redux thread has become large, unmanageable, and rather annoying - to myself and to my readers. In fact, it's turning people like you OFF from reading the entire thing, simply because it's becoming so monstrous to wade through.

At this point, though, my options are limited. Last time I checked, Antony was, understandably, not too keen on sponsoring a lot of fanfiction due to circumstances beyond his control (and doors that would be opened that might make life difficult for him). My current webhost is driving me up a wall because neither they nor I can figure out why my connection intermittently goes down for hours at a time - or why I can't connect to the FTP server (all of which has nothing to do with you, tygirwulf) to update a thing.

And I hate free webhosts. Pop-up ads are evil.

I do, however, want you to read Redux from the beginning, if you can. I try to connect back to and build upon previous material as much as possible (which is why the thread is also annoying for me, because trying to confirm a particular fact I wrote in August can get quite dicey and time-consuming).

Either way, everyone, stick with me. No matter what happens - if Redux gets an archive site or not - I will still be posting new here at B5TV.com, because this is where the "series" had its genesis. And, of course, if Antony *wanted* to give Redux a hand... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

This takes us back to the present for a little bit. I'm repeating the last present-time entry as a reminder of where we are, because finding it is going to be nasty for the rest of you.

--
Sarah scanned the flimsy once more, and locked eyes with Malcolm. "These are Mars-engineered tunnels," she muttered, held up the flimsy, pointing to three points on the diagram. "Right here, under the main science building, connecting the building with the core housing. The girders are similar, the angles - makes sense, considering that Beta Durani's a Marslike world..."

Na'feel snorted. "They're hardly that," she said, staring at Sarah. "They can't be. Nobody would be that stupid as to design Mars-efficient tunnels through a computer core like that. If there was a crash, you'd kill everyone before you could get to the manually reboot. Mars tunnels are a warren by necessity - "

Dulann met Martel's smug gaze and raised his eyebrows once.

Sarah shook her head. "Mars-efficient," she said. "I grew up in 'em. I could tell you the specs from a mile away."

Martel cleared his throat, cutting off the engineer before she could swear at his weapons tech. "Na'feel, what can you tell me about the other tunnels?"

Na'feel cast a glance down to the flimsy, and back up at Martel. "Standard mineshafts. Nothing special. They look like Q-40 easies to me."

Sarah coughed.

Na'feel plowed merrily on, ignoring what she obviously considered the weapons officer's attempt to stifle her thought processs. "Which is equally as stupid, considering that Q-40 easies aren't usually stable enough to reach a dig as far underground as the Beta Durani 7."

Sarah looked slightly green, but said nothing.

"Interplanetary Expeditions," said Malcolm, jumping on the end of Na'feel's statement, "was first on the scene. A year and a half ago, actually, Beta Durani 7 was considered nothing more than an old Sanaan settlement. IPX applied for the right permits, which the Alliance granted, hired contractors, including Nixiam Industries - " he continued, staring straight at Martel " - for the construction of transit shafts down to the dig site."

"They couldn't have recieved a permit for something like this," Na'feel groused, waving the flimsy. "This isn't code."

"No," admitted Malcolm. "The copies that were filed with the Alliance Office of Antiquities show Q-40 easies drilled to 300 kalu, which, Captain Martel will agree with me, is stable."

Martel gave a small nod.

"So where are these from?" Na'feel nearly howled, taking an almost personal offense, as she usually did, to works of bad engineering.

Malcolm adopted a death's-head grin - the kind Martel saw only when he was about to win.

"Interesting question, Na," he said. The engineer bristled. "Alliance Office of Antiquities is the answer."
--

Malcolm raised his hand, forestalling Na'feel's inevitable protest. Sarah sank back against the wall, her arms crossed and a sour look on her face. Martel was impassive, his eyes trained on the intelligence officer.

"The colony - and it's not much of a colony, because no one lived there but the miners and their families - was founded just after the formation of the Alliance under a joint license, with IPX, the newly-founded IA Office of Antiquities, and the Oxford University Exobiology Commission as signatories. This is common knowledge, right here." He waved a flimsy, and continued on.

"This kind of underground dig is huge and risky. It requires a significant financial investment - among other commitments. A similar dig on Mutara failed to find investors for years - over ten years."

Kitaro had given up on standing. He was sitting, cross-legged, at the back of the room. "But you just said that IPX, the IA, and Oxford signed up right away."

"Yes, I did," Malcolm said, nodding. "So the dig goes on for a few years. Because the IA's involved, the dig has to pass inspection per code B-A15 in the Antiquities Rules passed at the first Convenal -" here, he passed around a second set of flimsies - "and it did so on the first try. However, the second try - "

"You're unbelievable, Malcolm," muttered Na'feel under her breath.

Martel folded his hands, looking quite smug.

"The second try - the dig failed inspection two months before the Liandra's first mission. The IA threatened to pull out. But IPX records show that, more than any other current archaeological dig, the site at Beta Durani 7 was turning out Sanaan artifacts in what was one of the grandest civilizations of First Ones we'd ever seen - and that's a direct quote from Prof. Peter Mackey, the Oxford professor in charge of the site audits. Two months later, we escort a number of thick-headed diplomats to the colony for a security conference, and everything is basically blown to hell by a race we've never even heard of."

He fell silent. Sarah coughed. Kitaro nodded. Na'feel looked like she had a headache.

"If you don't like learning about the facts of the mission, Na'feel," Martel said calmly, "perhaps you'd like to stay behind while Walker does the on-site computer work."

Na'feel's head bobbed up and down. "No, Captain."

"So, we have a number of questions," Malcolm finished.

Ooooh, more Redux!

I have an idea! Everyone on this board should pay Channe, where she can quit her job and concentrate all her time on Redux!
I've never been a big fan of fanfic (note, I'm not insulting anyone's fanfic, I've just never been that interesting in fanfiction in general before), but yours Channe is truly amazing!

*blushes*

---

"So, let me get this straight," Sarah said, tapping her feet impatiently. "An otherwise unimportant archaeological dig was fast-tracked into existence, rushed through or otherwise ignored by the proper permiting agencies, built so rapidly that they had to install extra-long Q-40 easies to access it instead of something far safer, using a company who had proven human rights violations..." she trailed off, looking at Martel, who was grimly tapping a stylus on his knuckles.

"They weren't hiding something, were they?" Kitaro asked, softly.

Martel nodded, cleared his throat, and leaned back in his chair. "We've been assigned the task of getting into the BD7 mainframe, which is still operational in a safety vault a few miles below the surface of the colony, which was, as Malcolm thankfully pointed out, pretty much blown to hell. The Ranger Council believes that the files that sparked the original security conference are still viable and on that planet."

Martel scanned his crew. Kitaro looked slightly bemused, while Na'feel smoldered - remind me why I asked for her? - and Sarah stood, as usual, like a statue. Malcolm smirked.

"The computer core is located here." he continued, calling up the plans handed to him only fifteen minutes earlier by the Drazi teacher. "We'll have to access the site through the Q-40 easies leading down to the main floor of the dig, and from there move into the access tunnels."

Na'feel scowled. "That," she pronounced, "will not be simple. The integrity of those tunnels has to be close to zero from the orbital bombardment and the fact that nobody's been around to shore them up. We'll be crushed."

Martel grinned. "Can't have that happen until we get the files out. Na'feel, the mainframe's an old '59 Cyrus Magdalena - think you'll have trouble?"

The Narn shook her head. "No," she said.

Silence passed through the room.

"You can't tell us what's so important, sir?" Kitaro asked.

Martel shook his head, paused, and then changed the display. Behind him, the pyramid he had been shown by G'Kar burst into existence, orange light caressing its edges.

"This," he said. "Get to work."

You may want to check out this excerpt from Gus Morgan Laverty's 2298 essay "Soulshadows: A Recent History of The Anla'shok." It's really, really enlightening.

-- --

No one denied, when the deaths were finally tallied, that it was the Anla'shok that suffered the most from Shadow War losses. The exponential growth that occurred between 2257 and 2259 under Sinclair provided the Rangers for the most part not with experienced fighters, but with eager young Earthers and Minbari who may or may not have had a military background. These completely green recruits were put through the Anla'shok version of a 'crash course' in Minbari belief and Ranger fighting technique and sent out with older, more experienced Minbari men and women at the helm - a good number of whom were active Rangers under Lenonn during the Earth-Minbari War.

Even though a cooperative venture with the Religious Caste and the Anla'shok constructed for the gung-ho fighting force 124 top-of-the-line Whitestar-class vessels, at the end of the Shadow War the Anla'shok had lost most of its experienced officers and half of its fleet in battles for Sector 83, the Dengarda Cluster, and the mining planet Nesma. Just over a year later, Earth Alliance pundits predicted that the Anla'shok had lost so much in resources and manpower that the organization would fall apart within a few weeks.

By the time the Shadows had been driven out of known space, the Rangers -- while nowhere near braindeath -- were sorely limping. Stories like that of the Enfalli became common in the waning days of the Shadow War: ships left port with a full complement and Lenonn-era commanding officers, and limped back to Tuzanor after the fighting was over, bodies piled up in the hallways, the ranking officer a third-rank weapons tech.

Had it not been for the Shadow War -- or had he been enlisted in a more traditional military -- David Martel would have been no more than, perhaps, another fighter pilot, or, perhaps, lieutenant corporal, had he enlisted in Earthforce instead of the Rangers. As it was, five years after the end of the Shadow War, Martel was ascending to the captaincy of the attack ship Liandra -- a 20-year-old vessel whose repair record was so bad any other normal military would have given it over for scrap parts years ago.

It is important to know that Martel was not a prodigy, nor the Rangers' favored son -- he was an ordinary man in an extraordinary situation, as were the rest of those serving on the Liandra, a crew which included such now-historical names as Sarah Cantrell and Dulann of Chu'domo.

There are those historians who do not like to point the finger at Martel, and criticize me for calling him the father of the modern Anla'shok. Martel's Enfalli transgression and the following crises are well-known to my readers, so I shouldn't waste more time explaining that. But, although I do not believe that Martel was the only one who felt the way he did, I do believe that he was the only one with enough guts to speak out - and the only one who could have, at that point in time, carried out the missions that he did.

I have seen many scholars debate the role of the Liandra in the recent history of the Rangers, but I have never heard a single one expound the philosophy that I will give you now: that...

--

(oops, that's really all the time I have for transcription. Oh well. Too bad. You can catch the original texts of Soulshadows on the Pace University library hypernets. It's there somewhere. Ciao!)

Wow. I finally got caught up with Ranger Redux. This is very good stuff, especially for something written mostly on the fly.

Chalk up one more poster waiting for the next installment on the edge of his seat.

One minor continuity observation on the following passage (page 5 of the thread):
This would be the first time in the Liandra's history under Martel that the guest quarters hosted a real guest - previously, it had served as a Moebian-flu quarantine room, a storage room for the crew retooling the lighting fixtures in the crew barracks across the hall, Sarah's favorite place to nap, a third cargo bay, and brig (Ok, ok, Martel found himself thinking, maybe THAT little incident with the Psi-Cop counted, but...)

Since LotR takes place a year after the Corps is disbanded, there could not have been a psi cop onboard, unless whatever group replaced the psi cops used the same name. I suppose that's a bit nit-picky and probably below concern, but I just figured I'd point it out.

Tibbs

Thanks for reading. If you're on the edge of your seat, then I'm doing my job correctly.

Please revise that sentence to read:

"Ok, ok, Martel found himself thinking, maybe THAT little incident with the former Psi-Cop counted, but..."

NOTHING is below concern in Redux. I put that there for a reason. I'll explain my "on-the-fly foundation blocks" later, but for now I think you'd all rather find out what happens next. Besides, once I get the next few entries down, it'll be easier to explain.

So, on with the story we go...

I have been reading, but quit commenting because you aid the thread is getting too big.

Don't quit writing redux cause I am really enjoying it.

I know there hasn't been a Redux episode lately, but I've had an excuse -- I have been creating a readable archive for this rather large thread.

I've also been worldbuilding. This is the very rough draft of part of the new content on the site, but I thought you'd want a taste of what you're in for when the site goes live. This is NOT canon, by the way... not remotely.

There's a fact in here that sort of explains something one character said in the pilot that is becoming a recurring issue in Redux. See if you can spot it.

READ THIS AGAIN IF YOU ALREADY DID - IT'S BEEN EDITED SOME AT THE BOTTOM.

--

The Big Picture

The Interstellar Alliance itself exists to regulate trade and conflict within interstellar civilizations. It leaves local government to the local government, and instead aims on keeping the peace between those local governments.

The Interstellar Alliance is headed by the President. He is titular commander of the Anla'shok, but can only give military orders to Anla'shok Na. He also serves as moderator of the Alliance Congress and has limited veto power over Congress resolutions. He dictates overall Alliance philosophy but does not directly control local governments. In short, he's a little less than the President of the United States and a little more than a figurehead. The president is currently John Sheridan.

The Anla'shok military leader is called Anla'shok Na. She commands the Rangers in realtime. She can act on a limited basis without Congressional resolutions or Presidential approval in certain situations, although this is still a very grey area in IA legislation. At certain times, Anla'shok Na can also be Entil'zha ("the one"), a title given only to the Anla'shok spiritual leader. This has been granted twice in the history of the Rangers: once, to their founder, Valen, and to the current Anla'shok Na, Delenn.

The Alliance Congress replaces the League of Non-Aligned Worlds and the Babylon 5 Security Council. The Alliance Congress does not replace nor control local governments, but instead deals with resolutions monitoring interstellar trade and interstellar conflict. It is mostly informed by the Rangers.

The Anla'shok, or the Rangers, are the military force of the Alliance. Members of the Alliance sign an agreement that allows the Anla'shok to patrol throughout their space freely, listening, watching, and keeping the peace. They cannot get involved in a declared war without a Congressional resolution and/or a Presidential directive, depending on the situation (see S5 Centauri conflict for how this works), in order to keep themselves non-partisan and neutral. They report to the Alliance Congress.

The Rangers

Founded by the folk hero Valen during the first Shadow War, the Rangers are a religio-military (for lack of a better English word) organization devoted to keeping the peace -- in short, they're warrior monks.

It is commonly held that you cannot 'create' a Ranger if one doesn't already exist; the group's philosophy isn't for everyone, nor can many -- especially humans from progressive settlements, Centauri, and most Drazi castes -- get over societal predelictions to truly be able to live the First Vow, which is the heart of all Anla'shok activity.

The First Vow, of course, is "we live for the One, we die for the One," which is a modern sloganeered corruption of the ancient Minbari phrase na'ch na entil'zha sila kas'rac, ce'ch na entil'zha sila ras'rac (translated into English as "I am sworn to the One, and I will serve the One with my life and with my death"). Ranger philosophy surrounds the concept of never surrendering to an enemy, and pursuing justice at any cost.

The Rangers are commanded by Anla'shok Na, or, in English, Ranger One. Anla'shok Na has final and ultimate command of every individual who swears the First Vow. She is *not* the One, but is representative of and speaks for the One. Because of this, the Rangers do not swear to live and die for *her,* but for what she represents -- and thus follow her orders as if she were the One, waiting and anticipating the arrival of the One.

Occasionally, Anla'shok Na will also be Entil'zha -- The One. In this case, the Rangers swear their First Vow directly to Entil'zha's person, and when they say "we live for the One, we die for the One," they mean "we live for Delenn, we die for Delenn." This has only happened twice in Anla'shok history, and both during times of crisis; Valen, during the First Shadow War, was called "Entil'zha," as was Delenn during the Second Shadow War.

The Ranger Council governs individual Rangers, serves as a judicial body, and is a processing center for the orders of Anla'shok Na. It is headed by Anla'shok Dur, or "first among equals."

Ordinary Rangers under Anla'shok Na are all considered to be the same rank, which is confusing for many Humans. The strict strata of Earthforce does not exist within the Rangers, nor do the looser Minbari warrior caste designations of Alyt and Shai Alyt (barring the honorific "sech"). This makes Sindell, one of the oldest Anla'shok, technically equal in rank to the greenest rookie. That would be in a perfect world -- but, as it is, a different "ranking" system is employed in the Rangers' strict meritocracy.

When deployed on-ship, the vessel's captain adopts the mantle of Anla'shok Na, and the first officer plays the role of Anla'shok Dur. Under no circumstances are the individual Rangers to look at their captain as if she were Entil'zha.

(snip! rest snipped! I thought of something better and I have to get you to come to the site somehow...)

I can't wait till the site goes up!

I don't see the meaning yet but I am on pins and needles waiting .

One by one, Martel's crew filed out -- with the exception of Sarah, who stood stock-still in the center of the room. The edges of her mouth twisted into a regretful smile as she watched David lean back in his chair again and regard her quizzically.

"Right," he said, almost under his breath. "I'm not very good at mindreading, so you'd better just tell me outright."

"I don't like the mission," she said, clasping her hands behind her back.

Martel shrugged. "Too bad. Welcome to peacetime."

"No," she said, far more quietly. "This mission is out of our scope. We probably have the expertise between us to get out alive, but the Sulana has a corps of engineers specializing in underground tunnelling. We may have decently experienced computer people, but Whitestar 35 has the front-line information intelligence unit."

Martel nodded, his face set in a line.

"We're an attack ship," she said, walking up to his desk and snatching the pen he held in his right hand. "An escort vessel. All we have is an angry Narn on the verge of apoplexy, a smelly Drazi on the brink of a heart attack, and a crew of Rangers whose speciality is space combat, if they have a speciality at all."

Martel blinked innocently. He carefully extricated the pen from his weapons officer's grasp and placed it back on the table, folding his hands in front of him. "And prior experience with the Hand," he finished, "in case they feel like joining the party."

Sarah paced from one end of the tiny office to the other. "It doesn't feel right."

"Whether or not the shoe fits, it's what we'll be doing," Martel said.

Sarah stopped, turned, and regarded Martel with her customary faint distaste. "This isn't like you, David. You usually smell a rat from light-years away. And there is definitely a rat in the workings with this one."

"The possibility had crossed my mind," Martel answered, mildly.

Sarah's mouth opened helplessly like a beached fish. "So you're aware we're being screwed."

He grinned. "It's getting to be a familiar feeling."

"Who was it? Mural?"

"I don't think so," Martel said, shaking his head. "Mural's only influence is with Sindell, and Sindell's one of our defenders. I'm not too sure about Loren, though, and Shann has always considered me to be of less importance than an amoeba."

Sarah took this information in, and shook her head silently.

"Like it or not, it's our mission," he said. "I intend to do it and get out alive."

Sarah dropped her head a bit, and rubbed her temples. "I'm going to take a goddamn shower. Dismissed, sir?"

He nodded. Her mouth formed a thin line as she turned on one heel to exit the room, the doors closing quickly after her. Martel, left alone in a silent, windowless room, plod through the dig's floor plan, making note of the colony's series of network nodes, communications infrastructure, and wondering if all of Tannier's old group were as snot-faced as Mural was.

He had been tracing comlines on newly-printed flimsies for at least fifteen minutes when Firell rang for him.

"Ranger Singh is asking to see you," the calm-voiced Minbari said, her vowels perfectly and completely formed as she took her time relaying the message. "Should I have Nereen bring her up?"

Channe, since I can't even imagine how burnt out you must be from Redeux, I'm going to attempt some uplifting words:

In-friggin'-credible. Holy Moses, Channe, do you have any idea how long you've been doing this? I looked back to the 1st page, and can you believe this page started at the beginnning of June? That's 10 months. Most people get bored reading my fanfics in 10 minutes. But, you, you've taken characters JMS has hardly used, and successfully tinkered with them for nearly a year!

I bet you're tired as Hell of this, but don't quit. 10 months into the story, and as your recent posting proved, your writting still rocks.

10 months, and we're just approaching the second commercial break.

Maybe a little mockery will inspire her. :devil: