"These Folks are Different"
The General's eyes widened slightly as he surveyed the Excelsior and its crew from his view screen. In front of them stood Sarek, looking calm and serene in his brown robe-like clothing with the official Federation emblem attached to the left side near the shoulder. The alien's eyes spoke of control and a fearsome, intelligence. Behind the General was another man, possibly an aide who was staring back at him as hard as the General knew he was doing.
"I am Ambassador Sarek of the United Federation of Planets," the regal-looking alien said. "We have come here on a most urgent mission. It concerns the war between your people and that of the Minbari Federation. The conflict here has spread into our territory and there has been massive loss of life. Our two governments are effectively in a state of war and we have come here to forge an alliance with the Earth Alliance and end this war."
A slow smile crept across his lips. Finally someone had decided to lift a finger and help them. The Vulcan had caught his attention but it was the mostly human crew who held it. Speculation ran rampant but he pushed those thoughts into the background and for a second, the General found himself in a daze. Then his eyes narrowed slightly. "How did this war spread to your territory? You have humans with you. Exactly where do you come from?" It was the first of a thousand questions he had.
"The Federation is some distance from here," Sarek responded easily. "Two escaping Earth Alliance vessels entered our space followed by two Minbari Tinashi class warships. We offered the two human vessels sanctuary and the Minbari immediately fired on Federation and Klingons ships. We returned fire and destroyed them."
There was an audible gasp that emanated from the EA crew listening in. The idea of two Minbari ships being destroyed at one time was something almost unheard of. And there was some skepticism about the validity of the story. "The Minbari are arrogant but I am surprised that they fired on you, being a foreign government."
"The Captain of the Federation starship was Human and apparently that was enough to begin hostilities."
"Do you mean to say that there is a colony of humans within your Federation?" the General probed, trying to find out a bit more information.
"No," Sarek answered. "A Federation colony consisting of Humans, Vulcans and other species was attacked and destroyed by a Minbari fleet. In our territory, Humanity itself is not confined to a group of colonies. They are one of the founding members of the Federation and consist or more than eighty billion individuals situated across dozens of worlds within and outside of the Federation. Your Earth is just one such world in which humanity occupies."
Leftcourt looked extremely skeptical. "Ambassador, forgive me, I but believe you are mistaken. There're not that many Humans in existence." He didn't want to call this person a liar but he couldn't see any way out of it.
"General, logic dictates that I could conceive of better statements if they were merely lies. Vulcans do not lie," he said so convincingly that Leftcourt believed him immediately. "I would prefer to continue our conversations in person."
Leftcourt had to decide quickly. EarthForce was clamoring for information about this new ship crewed filled with apparent Humans and aliens. Working together such as they appeared to be doing was completely contrary to everything he'd ever known. Yet this ship, its lines, its design was completely different from anything that he'd ever seen. Video had caught the explosion of two nuclear-tipped missiles failing to do anything more than provide a pretty lightshow near the hull of the alien starship. That intrigued him as much as their story had. How had they survived and what was that electronic blister surrounding their ship? And if what they were saying had even a grain of truth, then the implications were enormous. Normally he would be a lot more cautious with a first contact situation. However, Earth didn't have much time to be cautious. Therefore he would play the hand that was dealt.
"I would like that. I will shuttle over to your ship shortly."
"That will not be necessary. We have transporter technology. When your entourage is gathered together we will bring you to our ship."
Leftcourt was suspicious. "What is a transporter?"
"A device which breaks down your physical structure at the quantum level and reconstructs it in a different location."
The General felt his blood rushing to his feet. No way. "I think we would prefer to shuttle over."
Sarek was having none of it, much to the quiet amusement of the starship's crew. "If we are to develop a sense of trust, we 'will' transport you over. Gather your people and be ready in five minutes," said in a voice that brokered no argument.
Five minutes later a stone-faced Leftcourt and three aides had gathered onto the bridge of the Hyperion. "We're here," he said. This was a serious leap of faith here and he wanted his people and this alien crew to know it.
The Vulcan bowed and gave the order. "Energize."
((()))
A strangeness beyond anything he'd ever experienced engulfed him and
the world faded away to be almost instantly replaced with a new world.
A room he'd never seen before.
He was shaken. His aides were shaken as well but all seemed to be unharmed. It really was an amazing experience.
He almost fell as gravity slammed his body towards the floor. Those two experiences alone spoke of the sheer technological advances these people had achieved. Despite the imagined nausea that threatened to overwhelm him-there was no reason for it, just his mind rebelling at the trip-he and his group managed to walk away with dignity. There were three uniformed humans in front of him. One was an Oriental-he almost looked Japanese-standing in front of the others. His command presence was unmistakable.
"I'm Captain Sulu. Welcome to the Excelsior."
((()))
Now seated in a large conference room, the General and his people were
treated to an impromptu display. There were windows made of something
called transparent aluminum in which he could see his ships. It was a
stunning sight to see a Starfury come close enough to the
window-whatever, for him to actually see the pilot, who waved at him.
The room itself reminded him more of a space station than a spaceship.
And the aliens, different types; all dressed similarly and working
together with humans in such an easy manner did more to convince him
than anything else they could have told him. The comfort level was
amazing and the General felt a bit envious in this new environment.
"What little that I've seen of your ship is very impressive," Leftcourt said. "Ambassador, Captain Sulu. You have no idea how happy my people are that you have become to our aid. However, I find it rather hard to believe that you know what kind of war you're getting into. It would have been much safer if you had come in a battleship or a destroyer rather than this diplomatic carrier."
Captain Sulu merely smiled. The Vulcan ambassador merely nodded.
By now several other light vessels had joined the Excelsior and shuttles from EarthGov and EarthForce and within the hour the spacious room had become rather crowded. General Leftcourt got up to speak. Now everyone was quiet as he began to detail the history of the war.
"The Minbari are relentless and we have tried to communicate with them. We've even tried to surrender and they refused to answer our requests. They've butchered everything we've sent at them and other than a few suicide runs; we've been completely outclassed. Despite your technology, this ship, even with your fantastic shielding, will not be able to withstand a Minbari attack. If what you're saying is true you should prepare your people for the worst. They will come for you."
"The General is right in his assessment, Mr. Ambassador," said a woman who'd just entered the conference room.
"Madame President," someone whispered before she was formally introduced. She looked aged under the strain she was under.
Elisabeth Levy bowed formally to the Ambassador before shaking Captain Sulu's hand. Evidently someone had told her that the Vulcan didn't like to be touched. "Please don't misunderstand me," she said. "This vessel is remarkable and to receive help from anyone has been an answer to the dreams of everyone on Earth. But our military, with few exceptions hasn't been able to slow the Minbari down. You haven't seen a Minbari Sharlin slaughter EarthForce destroyers, killing everyone onboard. Thousand have died and other races have refused to help us out of fear of reprisal. This small ship would be hard-pressed to survive an attack by one of those monsters."
"Their largest warships are sixteen hundred meters long with weapons that can destroy anything that it comes in contact with. Only the Vorlon Empire is stronger," Leftcourt added solemnly.
Sarek's eyes seemed to pierce Levy's soul as he stared at her. With her strength, this woman reminded him of his wife. "The Federation colony of Regulus IV was destroyed. The reason why it was destroyed was because it was inhabited by twenty-eight million, mostly Human sentients."
There was a stunned silence. Twenty-eight million? So many humans? Where were these people located?
"The Minbari surprised attacked that colony with thirty war vessels. Twenty-one survived the attack. The others were destroyed. Another Minbari fleet also attacked elements of the Klingon Empire. They were able to succeed because of stealth and by attacks of relatively unprotected worlds. Their ships are impressive, but not invulnerable."
The President seemed surprised and still somewhat skeptical. "And how many ships did you lose defending yourselves against them?"
"We lost one cruiser and one space station, as you would understand the term." He heard several gasps and more than a few snorts of derision at his last statement. "Assumptions were the mistake of the Minbari. They believe that the destruction of Regulus represented the sum of Humanity in our portion of the galaxy. The Humans there are founding members of the Federation and have been at because for more than a hundred years. There has never been an attack of such magnitude in the collective history of the Federation."
"And where are you from?"
((()))
"Ambassador, may I answer that?" Yoriko Taganawa asked gently. Sarek bowed and stepped back, allowing the human to answer.
"I am Yoriko Taganawa, Third officer of the Hyperion Farlin. My ship was assigned to assist in the rescue the members of the Eighth colony space station. The Minbari destroyed the Dandridge and they destroyed the Rutledge. Only the civilian transport Springfieldand the Farlin managed to escape."
"And you're EarthForce?" That also came as a collective shock although Leftcourt had met her earlier. He had here checked out and Intel records had confirmed her identity earlier.
"Yes, Sir." She continued as the President gave her the go-ahead. "We fled into hyperspace to escape two the Tinashi cruisers that killed the others. We encountered a spatial anomaly in hyperspace, like a current within a river that pulled us along its wake for twenty-seven days at speeds we couldn't begin to calculate. We came out of what we're calling the hyper-channel and jumped into normal space. The Minbari had followed us but we ran into Federation and a race called the Klingons. The moment the Minbari saw that the Federation contained humans, they attacked." She smiled viciously. "They got their butts kicked hard. The Farlin was destroyed, but the surviving colonists are well. We were relocated some sixty-eight thousand light years, Madame President."
"I know it's hard to believe, but there is another Earth system-exactly like ours in what they call the Alpha quadrant. To say that their technology is advanced is understating it. They can detect and burn through Minbari stealth systems and the have the raw firepower to destroy them."
"The Minbari attacked us because they believed that they discovered group of humans originating from your world," The Vulcan stated. "They then attacked us because we are considered a potential threat, something that needed to be eliminated. They believed we were too far away to respond. They were in error."
Leftcourt could see the President swaying. "You do realize what you are saying, if true, will change the entire collective theories of life on Earth?" she said.
"Life is full of discovery," the Ambassador answered serenely. "This ship," he announced for all to hear, "is not a diplomatic carrier. The Excelsior is a battleship."
"And speaking of which, would you like a tour of the ship?" Captain Sulu asked.
((()))
When Commander John Sheridan, one of the true heroes in the Earth Alliance war, first looked at the warp engine, pulsating majestically like some sort of other-dimensional piston, he was filled with an excitement that he could barely contain. Relatively speaking their engine was tiny when compared to a Hyperion or Nova's colossal power-trains. But the power of this warp cell! Whoever these people were, they had some serious hardware. And they considered this little vessel a battleship. He wondered how this ship would really do against the Minbari. As they said, on both sides of the universe, 'talk was cheap'.
He and several others were touring along with a female member of the Psi-Corps, taking a quick tour of the Federation ship. The woman, clothed in black and wearing her gloves, typical of all teeps looked almost bored. Then, her entire posture chanced. Now she stared in wonder at the alien in front of her.
"You're a telepath," she said. "I can feel it."
"Yes," the engineer answered.
Sheridan tensed. This woman with the knots on her head was a telepath. Why did they allow telepaths on their ship without some type of identification? He stared openly as the two teeps spoke to one another. The other members of the tour group backed away a bit. He didn't move but he did continue to stare at the alien engineer. She was an exotic beauty; a species he'd never encountered before. She almost looked human, except for the unusual bone structure that accented her face. Her complexion exhibited a deep reddish hue and her hair was pure white. She carried herself like a coiled serpent, relaxed but deadly. She turned towards his direction and smiled.
He tensed. His thoughts were his own and what he was thinking now as not something he wanted others privy to. A Psi-Corps member would have never done that. There were laws.
"I don't like you reading my mind without any controls," he said out of reflex.
"And I don't like you looking at my cleavage," she responded coolly. "I know you like it. Shall I cut your eyes out?" she asked politely, in a somewhat amused manner. "We don't need organizations to 'control' us," the Federation engineer said. The idea seemed extremely distasteful to her. "Our people would never allow that and neither would the Federation. For your future information, several Federation species have varying degrees of telepathic senses. Everyone species is different. None are persecuted. Humans as a whole are mind-blind, but there are a few who have that sense. And some of the Human-Betazoid hybrids have it."
"Excuse me," Sheridan interrupted. "Hybrids, as in Humans mixed with another species?"
"Yes," she answered. "It's not all that uncommon. Ambassador Sarek's wife is human."
Sheridan thought that he should have felt as disgusted as the Psi-Corps member appeared to be. But he didn't. In fact, it intrigued him that they were so open with it. The Federation crew didn't seem to have any problems with teeps or intermarriage between species. This 'mixing' of the species indicated how different these people actually were.
This was going to be a very big shock to a whole lot of people.