President G'Kar of the Interstellar Alliance arrives aboard the Excalibur and is greeted by Gideon and company.  He promises to speak with Gideon in private shortly, but first he wishes to meet with Neroon.  The two old warhorses find a quiet corner and speak in hushed tones for some time.

On Mars, Garibaldi gathers a team of corporate infiltrators to go after the Pro-Zeta Corporation--to find clear evidence from that company's private records that can prove their guilt in poisoning so many on Mars.  He guarantees each of them a sizeable payment if they can find definitive evidence against the company's leaders.  Then Garibaldi himself dons a PPG and a fedora and goes to work on the case.

Talia Winters arrives on Babylon 5 and requests a meeting with Captain Ivanova.  Ivanova is of course reluctant at first to meet with her, given their history, but Talia convinces her that things are very different now.  The two meet, and Ivanova learns of Talia's situation:  she's being torn apart by two conflicting personalities, and someone must remove the telepathic blocks in Talia's mind so that her true personality can be fully restored and become permanent again.  Ivanova promises to help her any way she can, and then suggests she go and see Michael Garibaldi on Mars, who probably has greater resources for this sort of operation, and besides, has plenty of reason to wish to find Bester himself.

Aboard Excalibur, Marcus decides to spare himself a continued headache by stopping his studying of Forrell's hit-list.  He diverts himself by returning to his investigations of what happened to Delenn.  As he gathers his latest--admittedly sparse--findings, and prepares to send them off to the only other person still actively searching for her, he discovers something shocking:  the answer to his previous mystery.  He figures out what these various Minbari on Forrell's list have in common.  He races to tell Neroon, only to find that G'Kar has just dispatched Neroon on another mission.

Captain Gideon reluctantly contacts EarthForce, who have been waiting to hear back from him.  Before they can order him again to return the Excalibur to Mars, President G'Kar leans into the picture, next to Gideon.  He explains that, as president of the ISA, he has specific need of the Excalibur and has not come all this way simply to be flown to Mars, of all places.  The EarthForce officials are furious, but they have little choice but to agree, for now.  Excalibur is turned over to the ISA for temporary duty.

"That won't hold them for long," Gideon tells G'Kar afterward.  "Some tough decisions have to be made soon."

G'Kar describes to Gideon another time when such decisions had to be made.  "It worked out for Sheridan and the others that time, Captain-- I'm sure you will make it work out this time."

"I'm not John Sheridan," Gideon points out.  

"True," G'Kar agrees, "but perhaps he is no Matthew Gideon, either.  The universe offers us a relatively small number of opportunities to do truly great things, Captain.  To reveal the true patterns of our souls.  We must seize these opportunities when they come along."

After G'Kar leaves, Gideon sits and thinks on all he's learned so far, and begins to draw up his plans.

DarkCrusade is the Crusade Alternate Universe story--
the complete, five-year Crusade saga, following one slight change in 2261, "the year everything changed."
Story, design, and layout by Van Allen Plexico. Send correspondence and comments to vplexico@bellsouth.net
Babylon 5 and Crusade created by J. Michael Straczynski and property of Warner Communications.