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Psi Corps Question: Who's in Charge?

Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

We may have discussed this a while back, but I didn't quite find anything. Here goes:

I haven't read all the short stories, Dell novels, comic books, etc. But -- We know from the Psi Corps trilogy that

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
Psi Corps was no longer being run for, of, and by the telepaths. In fact, over a course of many years, Psi Corps had become a tool of IPX, Corporate interests, President Clark, etc. Of course, this is the same cabal against which Sheridan revolts.

Bester was secretly fighting these people, and as the second book of the Psi Corps trilogy ended, he had just killed the Director of the Psi Corps (who was busy trying to kill Bester). At that point, Bester is just about off on his first trip to Babylon 5.

So, we see three three telepath crises developing.
1. Telepaths vrs. the Clark/IPX/Senate/Corporate managers who have taken over the Psi Corps.
2. Psi Corps vs. rogue telepaths (this is the telepath war we hear so much about).
3. Telepaths vrs. normals. This is something everyone fears; and which Bester (and William Edgars) are ultimately working toward.

My real question deals with #1. During Babylon 5, we see Bester fighting on the same side (sort of) as the B5 rebels. So, he hasn't completely beaten them (the "normals" running the Psi Corps) on his own by that point.

However, how much influence does Bester have within Psi Corps by that time, and by the time of the telepath war? Is his side winning the internal battle? Does his side win before the telepath wars starts?

We do know, that regardless of whether his people are in charge, the Psi Corps does lose the telepath war.

So, before the fall, how influential was Bester in the Psi Corps?
</font></td></tr></table>

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"What's up, Drakh?"

Michael Garibaldi

[This message has been edited by Mondo Londo (edited January 26, 2002).]
 
Re: Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

It's all spoilers.
smile.gif


<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>Bester was a very senior, and very successful, Psi Cop. This gave him influence, but not a great deal of formal power. I don't think that he had a very high rank in the command structure of the beauracracy, for instance. (Even in "The Corps is Mother" he is merely an instructor at the Psi Cop Academy, and reports to the man who runs it.)

The Clarke influence was as subversive within the Corps as it was in the rest of the goverment until after the declaration of martial law. So even here I'm not sure his people and the IPX/covert ops (Bureau 13) types were running the Corps. I think the represented a "Corps within the Corps" which accomplished its goals under cover of "legitimate" operations. Bester's group represented an alternative to these people, also operating without sanction, and in the shadows (so to speak.)

I'm sure that many of the Clarke people were exposed and removed shortly after Sheridan deposed Clarke, so they were probably much less of an issue by the time the Teep War finally errupted after Lyta's return in 2264. Bester's group was probably firmly in control by then even if he didn't formally take the top job available to a Teep at that point (Rembering that the director always has to be a "mundane")

So I suspect that the Corps was at least officially in the hands of the same director and the same officers who ran it before Clarke's coup during the timeframe of the series.</font></td></tr></table>

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
Re: Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
It's all spoilers.
smile.gif


<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>I'm sure that many of the Clarke people were exposed and removed shortly after Sheridan deposed Clarke, so they were probably much less of an issue by the time the Teep War finally errupted after Lyta's return in 2264. Bester's group was probably firmly in control by then even if he didn't formally take the top job available to a Teep at that point (Rembering that the director always has to be a "mundane")
</font></td></tr></table>


<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>Well the Director is always "supposed to be" a mundane. We know that Kevin Vacit wasn't, but 99.999% thought he was a mundane, and the 0.001% that knew differently, wasn't talking.</font></td></tr></table>




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KoshN
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Vorlon Empire

http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
Re: Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

Perhaps. But wasn't the whole point of the Psi Corps was to

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
Make sure there weren't any "secret" telepaths? Yes, I know Ivanova managed to slip through, but she never used her Psi -- and even if she did, she didn't have a lot of it.

</font></td></tr></table>

That being the case, how could there be

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
a secret telepath well placed enough to take control of the Psi Corps?
</font></td></tr></table>



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"What's up, Drakh?"

Michael Garibaldi
 
Re: Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mondo Londo:
Perhaps. But wasn't the whole point of the Psi Corps was to

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
Make sure there weren't any "secret" telepaths? Yes, I know Ivanova managed to slip through, but she never used her Psi -- and even if she did, she didn't have a lot of it.

</font></td></tr></table>

That being the case, how could there be

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
a secret telepath well placed enough to take control of the Psi Corps?
</font></td></tr></table>

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>




<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
if the person was inhabited by a bit of a Vorlon, like Vacit.
</font></td></tr></table>



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KoshN
-------------
Vorlon Empire

http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
Re: Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>
In practice the only way for kevin Vacit to remain undetected is if he constantly tansmitted a fake mundane brain signal. However, this was not mensioned in the book.
</font></td></tr></table>



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Andrew Swallow
 
Re: Psi Corps Question: Who\'s in Charge?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black>In practice the only way for kevin Vacit to remain undetected is if he constantly transmitted a fake mundane brain signal. However, this was not mensioned in the book. </font></td></tr></table>

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<table bgcolor=black><tr><td bgcolor=black><font size=1 color=white>Spoiler:</font></td></tr><tr><td><font size=2 color=black> Well, he could Also have gotten there by just slipping Fake records of his test for Telepath DNA into the records.
And, since he was a Very Powerful telepath, any telepath who peeked into his head would get an Instant set of false memories.
Once you have satisfied those two requirements, the "Purloined Letter" technique comes into play.
After all, why Run when you can hide in the one place No One would ever think to look for a rogue Telepath: PsyCorps headquarters in the Administration building.
His Telepathic abilities would also give him an unequaled advantage when it came to knowing Exactly what to do to get promoted.
</font></td></tr></table>



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Do not ascribe your own motivations to others:
At best, it will break your heart.
At worst, it will get you dead."
 

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