Crossing Time-The Invasion

by Freline

After the Liandra has been put out of service, David is given a new ship with a much larger crew. During a routine mission, they are caught by an unknown force that throws them over 250 years into the past. They are forced to land on a planet with the strangest creatures they have ever seen and are soon involved in a war they know nothing about.

David and Sarah turned the corner and looked at their new ship for the first time. It was a much bigger copy of the Liandra, who had been put out of service three days ago, she had almost fallen apart after they had returned from their last mission. Entil-Zha Delenn personally had named it "Dukhat" after her old mentor, whose death had been the start of the Human-Minbari war. It was huge, even bigger than the "Valen" had been.

They approached the ramp in the moment Dulann started walking down, holding a list of possible crew members in one hand. His expression told David that his best friend did not approve of his request to add as many candidates from the different species currently training as Rangers, but he did not say anything about it. David turned his attention towards the list and sighed. It had about two thousand names on it, everyone with a detailed report on his or her speciality. He would need the entire day to choose.

He reached his final decision shortly after it had gotten dark. A fifth of the crew would be Humans and Minbari, the rest Centauri, Narn, Drazi, Abbai, Yolu and Brakiri. He had even thought about adding one or two pak-ma-ra, but Dulann and Sarah had strongly protested, they did not want carrion eaters on the same ship they would be on, so he dropped the idea, although he felt sorry for them.

In a way, their treatment by the other races reminded him of his own past, spent by going from planet to planet, taking every job available, never staying in one place for very long, trying to run away from the memory of his dead parents, brother and sister, who had been killed in an attack by the raiders. David had been almost eighteen at that time, so he took a job as mechanic on the first ship he could find.

He shook his head. It was no use thinking about the past, since he was hoping to start a family with Sarah one day. He had not asked her yet, but they had started dating each other over a year ago and recently she had begun looking at him like she was expecting him to ask her to marry him. At first she only did when she thought he was not looking, but after Dulann and Firell started a relationship she had begun to become more obvious.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he noticed the Entil-Zha only after she was two steps in front of him. Beside her was another Minbari he did not recognize. They stopped next to him and the Entil-Zha asked him to come to the Council building this evening to hand in the crew list and to receive his first mission.