The Babylon Project
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"You're everything your father wasn't. You have passion, kindness, love, honesty."

Monkey's last message to Fiona


Fiona Dexter, born Fiona Davion and renamed Fiona Temple after adoption, was the illegitimate daughter of Psi Corps Director Kevin Vacit and MRA agent Ninon Davion. Raised by her adoptive grandfather Monkey she would go on to lead the Telepath Resistance and marry Matthew Dexter with whom she had a son Stephen Kevin Dexter, better known as the Psi Cop and war criminal Alfred Bester.[1]

History[]

Early Life[]

Born in 2161, not long before the founding of the Psi Corps, Fiona's mother Ninon Davion was a Psi Corps agent (formerly MRA) who had been having a secret affair with Kevin Vacit. Though Ninon would marry another man - a union arranged by the MRA - she remained loyal to Vacit and was one of only a very small handful of people to know of his true status as a telepath.

When Fiona was only two months old Ninon was killed in the line of duty. Vacit, now the Director of Psi Corps following Lee Crawford's assassination, chose to hand Fiona over to his old mentor Jack O'Hannlon in order to save her from some of the harsher changes her knew Psi Corps would have to undergo in the next few years. O'Hannlon, "Monkey" as he preferred to be called (Grandpa Monkey to Fiona) agreed and took Fiona in, raising her within the Telepath Resistance, travelling all over the world, moving and sometimes running from one place to another in locals as far apart as Andorra, Alaska, Tokyo, Singapore, New York, Mexico City and lake Tasik Chini near Kuantan, always staying at least one step ahead of Psi Corps. Given the education of a true freedom fighter and living under numerous aliases, Fiona was taught from an early age that Psi Corps were the enemy and symbolised the enslavement of their kind. She also learnt how to do tactical support work, building bombs, map work, comms and all the other things a good resistance fighter needs to know. However, Monkey was always careful to keep her away from the front lines, never allowing her to be the one to plant her bombs or go on the steal-and-runs asserting that her training was for emergencies only.

Freedom Fighter[]

In 2180, while in Kuantan, Malaysia, Fiona was at home alone a call came in to rescue a young telepath boy from a tenement building. Seizing an opportunity to get her hands dirty while Monkey was out, Fiona took off and managed to get the boy back, though as it turned out the Psi Cops had already gotten to him and had followed Fiona back to the safe house. Monkey, by now over 90 years old, ordered her to take the boy and keep running while he stayed behind to deal with the Psi Cops. She had managed to bare get down the street when the blast knocked her off her scooter, breaking her leg.

When she came to she found herself locked in a coffin-like sensory deprivation box, unable to sense or touch any other minds. While inside, unseen Psi Cops would periodically attempt scan her for information, trying to break her will. It was almost working when she finally came in contact with the mind of Matthew Dexter, a fellow prisoner in similar circumstances. The two found strength in each other's presence and managed to resist the constant interrogations.

After hearing of his mentor's death and his daughter's incarceration, Kevin Vacit sent in former Earthforce officer and undercover Psi Corps operative Stephen Walters to break her out of the Psi Corps re-education camp in Kuala Lumpur, on the pretence that she would be more use to the Corps outside with him close to her as a mole.

Fiona was eventually taken out of the box at put among the rest of the prison population. Though she was unable to find Matthew, she was quickly befriended by Stephen Walters who saved her from a beating at the hands of one of the mundane guards. Eventually Fiona was ushered into the office of Psi Cop Teal-Montoya, who again tried to convince her to join the Corps, emphasising that as a fellow P12 she would be quite valuable in breeding stronger telepaths. When she refuses Teal-Montoya says that she will have a P12 child, whether she chooses to or not and attempts to force himself on her. Just then, Teal-Montoya is taken down by a nerve toxin dart thrown by Walters. The two then find Matthew Dexter and use Teal-Montoya's clearance to steal a Corps helicopter and escape.

After a short flight they land in the jungle and meet up with an Orang Ash patrol lead by Helang who help them get up river to a small kampung while using their captured Psi Corp helicopter to divert their pursuers. While at the village Helang checks a link and finds the usual connection in Singapore wouldn't fly for another week or so Dexter suggested they take refuge in Brother Justin's monastic sanctuary, located about two hours away.

After they arrive, Brother William gives Fiona a recording left there long ago by Monkey, to be played by her in the event of his death. The message tells Fiona a little of her father and where she can find all the information she'd need if she chooses the become the new leader of the resistance including the cells and their contacts and the underground railroad routes.

Fiona and Matthew Dexter eventually married, becoming the de-facto leaders of the Resistance. They both disappeared from the resistance for a short while, to have their child, in safety. The resistance begins to take drastic action during this time, partaking in civilian attacks, which Fiona and Matthew would not have approved of.

During the purges in late 2189, the Psi Corps decimated the resistance and Stephen's parents were killed. She died in sight of the Sulu Sea.

Legacy[]

In 2281, in the wake of the Telepath War and the dissolution of Psi Corps, the new Psionic Monitoring Commission replaced Teeptown's old damaged statue to William Karges with a new bronze memorial featuring Fiona, Matthew and their "lost son" Stephen, as a symbol of hope and a reminder of the sacrificed made in the name of freedom. Alfred Bester watches the dedication ceremony from his cell, knowing he was the only person left who knew what had happened to that baby and amused by the irony. That night, the 91 year-old hated war criminal finally passed away in his sleep, found the next morning with his left fist free and unclenched for the first time in decades.

References[]

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