Episode 3 -- Final Stand

 

While flying to a location in Sector 7 where 300 people are in danger, the team encounters Soaron and forces him down. They're in a race against time to find the villagers before Soaron regenerates and attacks, but instead they meet Kasko, someone from Tank's past who was also genetically engineered at Babylon 5. Kasko issues an ultimatum: either Tank fights him according to the "street rules" (fight to the death) or he kills the villagers he holds hostage.

 

~*~*~*~*~

Hawk let the ladder down on the jumpship as soon as they touched down. "Okay, folks, welcome to the Passages!" He announced with a smile.

One by one, the women and children filed out of the ship and were met by Passages individuals who guided newcomers. They'd help them find the rest of their townspeople and reunite them.

Scout rubbed his hands together. "You know, since we're here, it wouldn't hurt to see if we can trade for a few supplies. Maybe we could get a few good memory chips and control modules --"

"And you can visit that young lady down in hydroponics," Hawk suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. "Patricia's her name, isn't it?"

"Jealous?"

"Me? Jealous? I'm old enough to be her father."

Jon listened to them joke back and forth, and then glanced back at Tank. He was less talkative than usual, his mind still on the fact that someone he knew and was engineered with had gone over the edge. Few of the genetically engineered ended up like Kasko, but it had happened in the past. The fear Tank had of it happening to him wasn't unfounded.

We are the product of our pasts yet our pasts do not dictate our futures.

Somewhere, Jon had read that. He didn't really remember where. He hadn't understood what it meant until he was older and saw the saying played out before his eyes in the form of his own team. Sometimes, it was a daunting thought to consider the differences in his team's background.

Tank had been genetically engineered in the Babylon 5 laboratory to be an elite soldier for whatever purpose the commanders saw fit. Whether it was for noble or nefarious purposes, the soldiers' expertise was sold to the highest bidder. Dread had made good use of the soldiers for a time, until the day the soldiers decided they'd had enough of being used and revolted. They destroyed the lab, wiped out the genetic information in the databanks, and destroyed any proof of their existence.

Tank had escaped and not looked back. He vowed he wouldn't sell his services any longer but fight for causes he believed in. Jon was incredibly grateful that Tank was on their side.

One fact that never ceased to amaze Jon was Tank's limitless patience. Genetic engineering included an enhanced ability to learn and retain hard facts. Tank's knowledge of history alone had helped keep everyone grounded in the fact that they were fighting to restore what was lost. He was also a great wealth of information for Jennifer as she learned all the things that she didn't learn in the Dread Youth.

Jennifer...

Lately, Jon's thoughts flowed more and more toward her. At times, he was almost preoccupied with her. He couldn't afford that, not and be an effective leader of the team. Even when they were in Sector 7, he ordered her out of the room so he could disarm the bomb because he couldn't bear the thought of her dying with him if it went off. He wanted her safe, out of the building.

He forced his mind back to the recent mission. Genetic engineering... Kasko had been vengeful, wanting to fight just for the sake of fighting whereas Tank used his skills to protect people. Jon would make a concerted effort to remind him of that.

"Hey," he listened but didn't look up as Jennifer sat down next to Tank. Sometimes, she could reach him when no one else could.

"Hi," Tank said, sitting back in his seat and staring at the console.

"You're not Kasko," she told him, going directly to the point.

"I could have been," he answered. "It would have been easy to ..."

"Just be angry and strike out at anyone and anything?"

Tank smiled. "You're turning my own argument against me."

"It does work every now and then," she smiled. "You know how angry I was when all of you found me. I just wanted to get even with Dread so badly for all the lies, for what he made us do, what he made me think, what he stole from me. I didn't care who got in the way. You were the one that told me I needed to be angry for a while, to work through it and then channel it so I could help others. You said that even though I was a youth leader, I wasn't like those youth leaders who ordered deaths and digitizations of entire towns. I cared, and that made me different. I wasn't going to let my past stop me from being a good person in the future. Remember?"

Sometimes, there was no arguing with her when she approached an opinion logically. Jon knew that.

"I did that. You did too. Kasko didn't, and it's not your fault what happened in that town. Kasko made his own choices."

Words that they had told her so long ago, she was now telling Tank.

"But if he went mad, then his choices were not of his own making," Tank countered. "The genetic engineering isn't perfect."

Jennifer countered his comment with "Nothing is; not even Dread's vision of the world with immortal minds in perfect metalloid bodies."

Jon had never truly appreciated the similarities between Tank and Jennifer's pasts. Sometimes, it was easier to fool himself into thinking that they all had mothers and fathers and good homes once.

He remained casually uninterested in the conversation, at least to the human eye. Jennifer knew what she was doing, and she was doing it well.

"The scientists tried to make us perfect soldiers. Perfect fighting machines in human form. We can take a lot of punishment and still not be put down." Then, Tank turned his chair toward her. "I've noticed you can take a hard punch and not get put down like someone else would. Would you care to explain how?"

"Dread Youth training. I was top of my class, every class," she smiled at him.

Just then, the banter between Hawk and Scout became a little more audible. "I'm suave, smooth, sophisticated, why wouldn't Patricia be interested in seeing me?"

"Sort of full of yourself, aren't you," Hawk's voice answered back. "Hey, Tank, can you explain to this over-inflated walking ego that --"

"Who's over-inflated?" Scout asked in mock protest.

Jon tried to keep a straight face. This team of his, they knew how to take care of each other. This action was perfect. Jennifer got him to think logically, now Hawk and Scout would get his mind on more pleasant things -- like picking on each other.

Jennifer patted Tank's shoulder. "I think you need to go save Scout from himself. I see rejection in his future."

With a smile but not a word, Tank stood and walked toward the ladder. "I think Patricia in hydroponics likes me better."

The three of them walked into the Passages, Scout laughingly protesting, Hawk jokingly picking at him, Tank keeping them from getting out of line.

Jon liked hearing it.

"Good job," he told Jennifer as they left the jumpship. "I think Tank needed to hear that."

"I've been where he is now. Sometimes, I even have to remind myself of those little speeches you guys gave me when I see what the Dread Youth do to people, that I might have been just like that if --"

"You were never like that," Jon told her. "Yes, you were angry, but you never lost your heart. If you had, then Sand Town wouldn't have hurt you as deeply as it did, and you wouldn't be here now."

He wanted to say 'with me,' but he couldn't. He was the captain, and they were fighting a war. There was no room for anything more.

The End