Here are a couple of fragmentary scenes that were cut from Requiem for a Lensman. In both cases I toyed with the idea of using them as the seeds for separate stories, but in neither case did that turn out to be necessary. Between the released form of Requiem and the coverage these events got in Correspondence, it's not really something that needs a lot more exposure (beyond what it will inevitably get when the time comes to tell it from the other side in flashback form, sometime in New Frontier, if all goes well).The first would have gone in before the scene in Truss and Nanami's office on B6. There's nothing wrong with it, but I cut it because I wanted to do the reveal on board the Valiant, so that the first time the readers knew what was going on, they were finding out at the same time as Kaitlyn and the gang. It's supposed to be their story, after all.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2409
2:19 AM
IPS CHALLENGER, PATROLLING EPSILON ERIDANI SYSTEM Suddenly, Gryphon was awake, and he wasn't entirely sure why.
He lurched up on one elbow, looking around in puzzlement, but
there was nothing to see; his stateroom was pitch-dark. Down at the
foot of the bed, Wolfgang stirred, his Lens gleaming in the dark as he
sat up.
"(Did you hear that too?)" Gryphon asked the Lensbeagle
softly.
"Wha?" a voice replied - not that of the dog, naturally,
though Gryphon's puzzled, sleep-fogged mind momentarily entertained
the idea. If Wolfgang had a voice, though, he tended to doubt it
would sound like that. It wouldn't've come from right next to him,
anyway, with the dog down at the foot of the bed.
A soft nightlight, built into the bulkhead by the head of the
bed, came on a moment later. It revealed the speaker, a pretty young
woman with mussed black hair, chalk-white skin, and a black spot
around one sleepy eye.
One of the lesser-known members of what Gryphon sometimes
jokingly referred to as the "grave feminine conspiracy" that
occasionally seemed to surround him, Beatrice Watanabe, the Expert of
Justice called Domino, had just stopped by on a whim to see him for a
couple of days. She liked to do that from time to time; their
physical relationship was no more serious than that, and sometimes a
good deal less.
Their friendship, however, was not, and there was real concern
on her face as she saw the pensive, vaguely unsettled look on his
face. "Hey," she said, putting a hand on his forearm. "What's the
matter?"
The First Lensman frowned. "I'm not sure, Bea," he murmured.
"I feel... strange."
A second later, the doorchime sounded. Gryphon sat up,
feeling his unidentifiable foreboding getting deeper, and said, "Yes?"
The door slid open, casting a faint rectangle of light across
the floor from the night-dim corridor and silhouetting a slim shape in
the gloom.
"Admiral?"
"What is it?"
"You'd better come to the bridge, sir."
"Five minutes ago we lost contact with the Z'ha'dum
expedition," Worlds Welfare Work Association Chief Wilton Goulet
informed Gryphon from the Challenger's main viewer, less than 30
seconds later. "Lt. Morden's last transmission was incomplete, but it
sounded like they were under attack, enemy unknown. Then we lost the
signal, carrier and all. We're not even hearing the ship's
transponder."
Gryphon seemed calm, considering; the only outward sign of
agitation he showed, sitting in his conn, was a slow tapping of the
vambrace computer on his right forearm against the arm of the chair.
He regarded Goulet for a few seconds, seemingly lost in thought, and
then said in a tone which conveyed nothing so much as a sense of great
surprise,
"I can't raise Kei either."
Goulet blinked. "You can't?" he blurted. "But you - "
Gryphon nodded. "Exactly," he said. Then he got up from the
conn and said in a brisker tone, "We'll check it out. Thanks for
letting us know so promptly."
Goulet would probably have liked to discuss matters further,
but the First Lensman was in no mood to discuss anything as he strode
through the corridors of his flagship with his yeoman trotting at his
side.
"Who have we got on SA1 or equivalent here at Bajor?" he asked.
"No other Experts in the system," Lu replied, not needing to
consult the datapad she carried. "Master Windu is at Babylon 6; so is
Jean. Do you want them for the first team?"
"Yes. Nobody else?"
Lu shook her head. "Everybody else is either on assignment or
in New Avalon."
"Start rousting them," Gryphon said. " Call everyone on the A
list and get them headed out there as fast as they can travel. The
special list too. There's a good chance we four will be getting in
over our heads."
"Maybe I should go with you," she suggested, but he shook his
head.
"I need you here," he said. "You'll be my proxy in the
command structure while I'm occupied out there."
There was a soft, indistinct noise, and abruptly there were
three of Lu, all still trotting to keep up with the Chief.
"At least take -one- of me," said the one whose eyes were both
amber.
Gryphon shook his head again. "Too dangerous."
"I was trained for Tac Div," Luornu shot back. "I can take
care of myself. You'll need me out there to coordinate everything."
The First Lensman paused, looking into her angry amber eyes;
then he relented, cracking the first faint hint of a smile she'd seen
on him since going to rouse him for Goulet's call.
He sighed. "God knows how I'll ever explain it to you if I
get you killed," he said. "OK, suit up. Full HEV. We don't know
what we're going to run into out there."
Amber Lu grinned, saluted, and ran to get the appropriate
equipment.
Gryphon turned to the other two, who he identified by the
mental labels "Purple" and "Middle".
"Look," he said, "don't worry. I'll look after her. You.
However that works."
Middle chuckled. "I've worked for you -three years-," she
observed, "and you still don't know the forms of address for when I'm
triplicated."
Gryphon gave her a put-upon look. "There is," he said, "a
shocking dearth of reference material."
Luornu knew he was kidding with her to keep his mind off what
was happening, and she appreciated that.
The second would have gone between the last Valiant scene and the end titles. I like it - it gives some more screen time to a couple of characters we don't see much of (the Windu brothers) and introduces two new characters - but it was clearly heading somewhere that had nothing to do with Requiem, and broke up the flow between the movement's dénouement (particularly the scene at Mathews Memorial) and the post-credits epilogue, so I reluctantly 86ed it.
MONDAY, JULY 20, 2409
NAR SHADDAA, OUTER RIM TERRITORIES The crowd at Reelo's was pretty thin that night, and the few
regulars who were hanging around that particular member of Nar
Shaddaa's burgeoning fraternity of scuzzy bars were giving the back
corner booth a wide berth. The denizens of this particular corner of
the Vertical City knew there was no percentage in tangling with a Jedi
Master, and on this particular afternoon there were -two- of them in
that booth.
Both were dark-skinned, completely bald humans, within a few
years of each other in age. One was slightly taller than the other,
the other slightly wider, but they bore a distinct resemblance all the
same - and well they should, since they were brothers.
For all that, there were marked contrasts between the brothers
Windu, too. Morpheus, the elder, was impeccably dressed in a
custom-tailored dark suit that had cost him hundreds of credits,
including a royal-purple vest and a steel-grey silk tie. His black
overcoat of krayt dragon hide lay neatly folded on the seat beside
him.
Morpheus regarded his younger brother Mace through mirrored
pince-nez with a small, indulgent smile, took a sip of his tea, and
said, "You aren't getting enough rest."
"The galaxy's like that sometimes," Mace Windu replied, and he
did indeed sound tired. The younger Jedi Master, in contrast to his
elder brother, wore the simple, traditional robes of his order,
adorned himself with no jewelry or shades, and was drinking water.
"At any rate, to answer your question," said Morpheus, "no, I
didn't sense anything unusual in the Force last Wednesday. At least,
not until the agitation of the news started sweeping through the Jedi
who knew her."
Mace sighed, nodding resignedly. It had been the answer he
expected, but not the one he wanted. It seemed impossible to him that
one of the top Experts of Justice, one of the founders, could be
eliminated without the thing that did it making at least a ripple in
the Force, but none of the Jedi Mace had tracked down so far had felt
a thing.
"Of course," said Morpheus, "we'll keep our eyes and ears
open. One picks up all sorts of interesting information out here on
the Rim."
"All right. If you hear anything, let us know."
Morpheus nodded graciously. "Of course," he repeated.
They sat in silence for a moment; then Mace started to get
up.
"Going so soon?" Morpheus asked. "We see each other, what,
twice a year? We might as well at least talk for a while."
Mace looked mildly puzzled, as though the concept of social
interaction hadn't occurred to him. Then he sat back down and folded
his hands in front of him.
"All right," he said. "How's your new padawan coming along?"
In an alley behind the bar, two equally contrasting people
were waiting, a pastime for which some are better suited than others.
One was a young man dressed, like Mace Windu, in the robes of
a Jedi Knight, though his were of a somewhat darker color than the
Jedi Master's. He had a short ruff of thick brown hair and intense
eyes, and moved with the contained grace of an athlete as he walked
from the bar's back door to the Dumpster and back - not exactly
pacing, but not immobile, either.
The other was a woman of about the same age, dressed so
differently that it hardly seemed possible they could know each other,
let alone be there together. Her slim body was wrapped up tightly in
black plastic from neck to toes, complete with gloves which lacked
pinky and index fingers. She stood leaning against the foamcrete wall
next to the doorway, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded across
her chest, the tails of her black PVC trenchcoat hanging down behind
her.
She leaned and watched the man in Jedi robes not-quite-pace, a
slight smile on her rather narrow face, then reached under her coat,
drew out a metal cylinder about eighteen inches long, and balanced it
on the open palm of her left hand. It sat there inert for a moment,
studded with controls and vanes, a dark opening at each end. Then it
levitated to about an inch above her hand and started slowly spinning.
The man in Jedi robes saw this when he turned around again,
stopped not-quite-pacing, and chuckled.
"Are ye tha' bored, Trinity?" he asked in a thick Scots burr.
Trinity stopped spinning her lightsaber and let it drop back
into her hand. "Just practicing my fine telekinesis," she replied
with an ironic smile. "Why would I be bored, Ray? Morpheus has only
left me standing around in this alley for - " She checked her watch.
" - an hour and ten minutes now."
Ray laughed. "Aye, I know wha' ye mean," he said. "It's one
o' their standard tricks, though, innit? Master Mace once left me
hangin' round the roof of an apartment buildin' in New Glasgow for two
days. Apparently jus' tae see if I'd really hang round tha' long
wi'ou' runnin' off in search o' adventure."
It was Trinity's turn to laugh. "Lucky for me, Morpheus
doesn't believe in that kind of lesson," she said. "I'm still working
on the whole 'patience and serenity' thing," she admitted, flipping
the saber body over her hand and catching it again.
"Aye, well, who isn't?" Ray asked rhetorically. He tilted his
head. "Is tha' a double saber?"
Trinity nodded. "Uh-huh. I just finished it. Haven't even
used it in a real fight yet."
"Sweet," said Ray appreciatively. "I've seen 'em before, bu'
never in action. Always wanted tae try i'. I did some staff fightin'
back in me kung fu days."
Trinity arched an eyebrow. "Kung fu days?" she said.
"I was the planet'ry Wu Shu champ o' New Caledonia before I
heard th' call o'th' Force," Ray explained.
Trinity nodded, impressed. "I know some Wing Chun and some
kempo - Morpheus knows all kinds of martial arts, and he's taught me
bits and pieces along with my Jedi training."
"Versatile fella, Master Morpheus," said Ray with an
appreciative nod. "Although he does tend tae, eh... go on a bi'."
Trinity chuckled. "Sometimes," she allowed.
Ray would later make his first appearance instead in the Mini-Story Wish You Were Here. We still haven't actually seen Trinity, but she's out there. These sequences were cut for pacing and flow, and the events they depict can still be assumed to have happened.
--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.