A/N: I just realized that the timeline I built had some inconsistencies. I will be updating it while posting new chapters to make it more accurate. So I decided to anticipate the Human-Minbari contact, as well as the discovery of Mass Effect. I will also try to maintain the temporal paradox that related to Valen.

Well, enjoy.

Chapter 4

"Discoveries"

Year 2516

Minbari Federation
Minbar
City of Yedor, Capital of Minbar

Lenonn hadn't slept well in the previous nights. He was the Anla'Shok'Na, his duty was to ensure the safety of the Minbari people and guarantee their readiness to when the Dark Ones return, which according to Valen's prophecy would happen soon. Yet, now, a new issue rise on the horizon. For centuries the Minbari have isolated themselves, keeping their contact with the younger races the least they could. We have been ahead of them for a thousand years, we will still be for a thousand years to come. This is what most Minbari think and it is a mindset so engraved into their very identity that even Lenonn had difficult to believe otherwise. Not anymore.

For the last cycles, the little contact they had with the younger races was enough to raise his concerns. Rumors from alien traders and some sporadic alien diplomatic missions flooded Lenonn with reports from Anla'Shok from all over Minbari space. Rumors about a new race that claimed the Atlanti Crescent as their place of origin, with technology beyond anything they've ever seen. Lenonn dismissed the rumors as that, rumors only. Regardless, he sent his rangers to gather information on the Humans with the Centauri, the Narn, and the League races.

The report he received afterward just seemed plain false. No race should have this kind of technology, and yet different sources from different races just gave similar pieces of information. But what surprised him the most was that the report said the Humans were capable of detecting their intel ship, which has much of its power used to power a powerful stealth field! The ship was not only detected easily but the Humans hailed them too, locking on the ship as they probably saw their silence as a threat. His surprised intelligence team was just taken out of their stupor when they saw that the Humans locked on them, choosing to depart the system immediately. That made Lenonn worried. In less than a day he was the giving all the information he had to the first member of the Nine he could arrange a meeting with, Satai Coplann.

"This is impossible," he said after reading the report. "My time is precious, Lenonn. To waste it is a disrespect not only to myself but to the Grey Council as a whole."

"Satai," Lenonn asked calmly. "What is it that you say is impossible?"

"Everything," Satai Coplann snapped at him, looking at the report one more time. "Energy shields better than the Abbai's? Teleportation better than the Vree's? Antimatter reactors better than the Centauri's? Fully functional artificial gravity even in small shuttles? Energy weapons unrecognizable to our sensors? That is not only impossible but blatantly false! To think that the Anla'Shok, once the pride of Valen, have fallen so far..."

"You offend me and all the ones who have sworn an oath to protect Minbar, Satai Coplann," Lenonn said with a calm yet dangerous tone. "Our information is legitimate."

"Asking around the younger races is far from a reliable source. Lenonn, we are the most advanced among the younger races-"

"And yet these Humans were capable of locking into a Minbari intel-ship with its stealth field at maximum."

"Your subordinates probably were just incompetent and forgot to activate the field. No younger race can lock through our stealth systems."

"I believe we are falling behind, Satai. If a younger race can develop such technologies, then maybe it can go against us. If they can, then we will worth nothing when we fight the Shadows."

"Again with this? We are the best among them. The Vorlons told us this, they told us that we will be the first of a new group of First Ones. Our superiority is not only our doing but a gift from them and denying our superiority is denying them," he sighed. "Lenonn, if there is one thing I know, it is that if something is impossible to Minbari knowledge, it is either the doing of First Ones, either impossible. Those Humans are surely no First Ones, therefore your report is wrong."

Satai Morann turned around and walked away from Lenonn, the latter stood there in silence. Such arrogance. And it was widespread.

On the way back to the Anla'Shok Temple, he could not help but think about what Satai Coplann had said about the Anla'Shok. They had fallen so far indeed, but not the way he thinks. Their importance went down to nothing over the centuries. Many Minbari, including Coplann and others among the Nine, don't believe in Valen's prophecies. The Anla'Shok themselves were now made up of old, tired men and the Council had not dissolved them only due to respect to Valen's memory. Their arrogance, their comfort in being the most advanced among the younger races move them now.

After the incident with the intel ship, the Humans tried to contact the Minbari on several times asking for the opening of diplomatic relations with them. The Grey Council, of course, ignored their requests.

However, everything came back with the Dilgar War. The Dilgar had been wreaking havoc over the League races for months when a transmission from the Crescent was received by every government in known space, including the Minbari. The Humans had declared war on the Dilgar to force them to stop their atrocities. A noble act, he might add. And while the Grey Council ignored it as 'issues of lesser races', Lenonn knew the Minbari would need all the help for when the Shadows come.

Lenonn sighed, looking at the waterfalls out his window, Yedor as shinning and as beautiful as ever. The Anla'Shok were the only ones with their attention on the Shadows. Their people would need it.

United Systems Federation
Valinoran Fellowship
Valinor
City of Númenor

Beautifully, the sun rose in the sky of Númenor. The capital of Valinor was not as big as some cities throughout the USF, but it was as imposing as any other. For what Londo Mollari has learned so far, the Valinorans were a serene people who enjoyed serenity. Only half of their population of 2,5 billion lived in cities, as most of them had not more than one hundred thousand inhabitants. The Valinorans thrived in small villages in beautiful plains and hills or close to woodlands. With three million people, Númenor was only so big to their standards because it was their capital. The city looked like it was grown through the waterfalls. It had many trees and green areas, terraces, waterfalls, and canals. As many of this planet's trees were high, thick and very resistant, the Valinorans have built platforms and buildings around them, adding to the odd cityscape. Londo could see that the Valinorans liked curves, instead of straight lines, with very naturalistic and rich decorations, elegant and graceful.

Londo was amazed by such beauty. He has been in Human space for almost three months, so far. Before Emperor Turhan's rise to the throne, the Centauri Republic had been extremely cautious in engaging in formal diplomatic relations with the Humans, isolating itself, preparing for a series of expansionist campaigns. Turhan's decision of aborting such plans was met with raised eyebrows from much of the Centaurum, and Londo himself. Now he understands. Seeing the news about the Dilgar, he could see the Republic in the same situation had it followed the previous plan and allied them, the Centauri would be a Human protectorate and Centauri Prime an occupied world. The Emperor decided that, as the appointed liaison to the United Systems Federation, Londo should have a tour through all of the USF's twenty-seven member-planets.

He had already visited five, not counting Valinor. Asgard was a beauty with its golden towers and snowy peaks but too cold to his taste. Thermidor was a tropical paradise that reminded him of the island of Selini in Centauri Prime with its turquoise beaches and white sand, Londo loved to spend the holidays in the island when he was just a boy and Thermidor just brought back these memories from his childhood. Celestis was too odd to be true, and he heard it isn't the only one. Aquaria was the same, with its worldwide ocean and sparkling underwater cities. Eldaron was almost as cold as Asgard, while its cities featured organic-shaped metallic towers. This world was the oddest in some ways. It looked less advanced, more provincial. Yet, Londo noticed that its people enjoyed the same technological advancement just like all the other Humans he had seen.

The car he was in was flying rather slowly. Londo had ordered it to. He wanted to see the city as he had yet another hour before his flight to the next planet, Cortesa. Earth, the Human homeworld, would the last stop, but Londo was unhurried. He was enjoying the trip. The varied Human architectures and cultures were not the only things he liked. As he already knew, their technology was amazing, to say the least, but only now could he experience it properly. The replicators were a wonder and he had missed that since the first contact with the USS Santos-Dumont. The human economy was too egalitarian to his taste, but it looked like it worked. Technology allowed them to give a very comfortable life even to the lowborn and it probably devalued the privilege of being born in the aristocracy.

Londo tapped the small screen at the door, and holographic screen appearing in front of him.

"...voted for lending the League races a number of industrial replicators to help them rebuild after the hardship of Dilgar invasion. Also, according to the President of the Parliament, Anée Eko-5, the efforts to pacify Omelos are showing the expected results. The provisory government installed after the deposition of Jha'dur and the Treaty of Immata declared that they are ready to form a constituent assembly and draft a new Dilgar constitution. Meanwhile, the USF and the Dilgar Provisory Government are rushing with their efforts to evacuate Omelos and nearby planets and facilities to a new planet the USF terraformed especially for them. Omelos' sun is expected to go supernova in the next year, and by then..."

Londo was not surprised by the news. Any other race would have let the Dilgar go extinct, the wisest decision, he might add. But not those Humans, they decided for saving them, even antagonizing some of their allies from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Their society was too soft, preaching about 'rules of engagement' and 'human rights'. They were powerful and advanced, he had no doubt, but soft still. For five hundred years they lived isolated, protected inside the Crescent, they don't know what lies in the darkest corners of space. Their morals would be the end of them. He only hoped that, by then, the Centauri would have been largely benefited by their technology. To acquire it would be his first priority.

United Systems Federation
Orbit of Mordor
Mordor Station:

Lucas Monteiro was amazed by the view. Out the window, he could see the light emanating from the planet below. Mordor's magma seas flowed in all directions, merging molten metal and rock in an amalgam of black, orange, yellow and red. He had been given the command of the Vesta-class USS Tupan about four years ago and, while he had already gotten used to his new position as captain, he missed the crew of the Santos-Dumont.

For more than fifteen years, Starfleet has been exploring the space around the Crescent, its new unofficial motto being 'to boldly go where no man has gone before'. It was a beautiful ideal and he liked what Starfleet was becoming. During the last two hundred years, Starfleet was responsible for defense and scientific research, but exploration was very restricted because of the Act of Isolation, which dates back the time when Earth still had the other Human worlds on a leash. He understands why this isolation was necessary, they time to mature before venturing the universe, to build a stable and prosperous interstellar nation, but now it was time to go see what the universe had to offer.

He had been exploring for years now when Starfleet Command called him back. He and three more ships were assigned to Mordor to help Captain Dmitri Volkov with a research project.

Lucas got his attention back to the conference table. He could see captains and officers from all the three ships called to Mordor Station, as well as the station's chief staff, by the table. At the center, a holographic projection appeared, rotating slowly. Lucas couldn't define what was it. The object was made of two long curved metal arms surrounding a set of revolving, gyroscopic rings that contained an odd blue-glowing core of some kind.

"What is it that you're showing us," Lucas asked, confused.

"We don't know either," said Captain Volkov. "As you all know, since our first venture beyond the Crescent, Starfleet has been studying the nature and properties of Jumpspace. The nature of the Crescent in jumpsace, the way it behaves compared to subspace, all of that. Our studies have been quite enriching and, sometime after the Battle of Tyree, we had gained enough knowledge to adjust our subspace sensors to allow us to scan jumpspace from commonspace and vice-versa. The specifications were distributed to all the fleet and now all of our ships can scan jumpsace."

He paused

"But there is a catch. Jumpscace is a dimension divided into many layers one deeper than the other. The deeper the layer, the harder it is to scan it. We already can scan deeper than any race could travel through, but there will always be a deeper layer, a blind spot in our security, and the prospects of some race traveling through it. Therefore, we decided to keep pushing our limits, that's how we discovered this," he pointed the hologram. "The object is fifteen kilometers long and the rotating glowing orb is a reactor run by element zero."

"Element zero?" asked Captain Anna Mormont, of the USS Crete. She looked at the others. "I've read about it. A report about traces of a rare material of atomic number zero found on Mordor. This 'element zero', as they called it, has the odd property of releasing dark energy which can be manipulated into a field that can raise or lower the mass of an object."

"Exactly, Captain Mormont. However the traces we found were very scarce, we were able to create a replicator template by analyzing the material's quantum structure. Since then, we have been running experiments by using replicated eezo, that's the nickname we gave it," he explained after seeing Lucas raising his eyebrow.

"And then you discovered an 'eezo'-run reactor in jumpspace just over the same planet where you discovered traces of the element," said Lucas. "What's its function? Is it a weapon?"

"We don't think so," one of the station's science officers stood up. She ran her fingers over the hologram. "See the elongated structures? Our analyses indicate that they function by directing the mass-distorting field forward in a funnel-shaped mass-less corridor."

"Just like the subspace funnels that we use to increase the effective range of our energy weapons. That would theoretically allow a ship to travel almost instantaneously through the corridor to its ending point," Captain Volkov completed.

"And that is...?"

"That is our question," said Captain Volkov. "It doesn't look like it was designed to work in jumpsace, so we presume its proper place is in commonspace. Our sensors indicate that it is old, as in millions of years old. We believe that the mass relay, as we called it, connects to one or more of the same artifacts and that it's part of an ancient transit network.

"And you want us to explore through this 'relay'," said Captain Jackson Hart, of the USS Curie.

"Exactly. The relay was already taken out of jumpspace. It is anchored to its place to the subatomic level, but we were able to tractor it to an uninhabited system for safety reasons. So far our efforts to activate it were useless. We expect you to help us figure it out.

United Systems Federation
Novan Ecumene
Nova Prime

To say that Londo Mollari was enjoying his tour in Human space would be an understatement. On Cortesa, one of the most beautiful planets he has ever seen, his staff basically had to force him to enter the ship and go to the next planet. He just loved every aspect of the planet and didn't want to go. Cortesa was comparable to Centauri Prime in a way, looking like the seat of a powerful monarch with its beautiful beige buildings with turquoise domes, as well as wide gardens and amazing waterfalls and canals.

While the elevator moved up the highest tower he has ever seen with amazing speed, Londo looked out the transparent wall that allowed him to see the whole city. Nova Prime was not a Human world he liked. Too much colorful lights, metal, and glass. No, not glass. Transparinum, they called it. Some kind of transparent metal that, according to the Humans, is harder than diamond and is used on their ships' windows.

He looked back to the city. The towers went high enough to cut through the clouds, the flying traffic running busy in between on several different levels. It was almost dusk and he could see the gas giant Nova Prime orbits, Nyx, occupying a large portion of the sky.

The elevator stopped, opening its door. Londo entered the room, an office. By the desk sat Admiral Martin, frowning as he looked at some screen. He looked up.

"Ah, Mr. Mollari," he said, standing up to shake his hand. "It is good you came. Please sit. Are you enjoying the tour so far?"

"Be sure I am, Admiral. Your planets are as beautiful as they are diverse."

"I am happy you are appreciating our culture."

"It's a pleasure," he paused. "Now, Admiral. Perhaps you could tell me why have you arranged for this meeting."

Admiral Martin nodded. He tapped a screen on his desk and a holographic star map appeared over it.

"Well. Following our victory against the Dilgar, we've taken advantage of the goodwill of other worlds to expand peacefully. We've made trade deals with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Most of the races have been very receptive to our advances, others downright hostile. But a few are still a mystery to us," he looked up directly into Londo's eyes. "What do you know about a race called Minbari."

Londo's smile fell slowly from his face.

"Well, we had some dealings with them in the past, but nothing in recent years. Why?" he answered uncomfortably.

"After our declaration of war against the Dilgar, we communicated our decision to all known governments, including the Minbari. Their answer was only silence. But that's not all, just before and during the war, we came across small crystalline ships spying on us. When we hailed them, they just departed the system with no explanation. We followed those ships until they reached Minbari space, what just proved their identity," he paused. "We are thinking about sending an expedition to their borders to see if they pose a threat to us. We understand that fully a third of their population is dedicated to warfare."

"Well, they have a warrior caste," Londo said, forcing a smile. "Not exactly the same thing, huh?"

"Semantics. We want to know all we can about them."

"I can give you the information, Admiral. But I advise you not to send an expedition. It could be perceived as a threat."

"Are they so dangerous?"

"Yes, Admiral, they are. You are very advanced, but the Minbari are one of the oldest space-faring races. Even at the height of the Centauri Republic, when we were expanding in all directions, we never opposed the Minbari. If you do not bother them, they will not bother you."

Admiral Martin leaned in his chair, thinking.

"We don't plan on bothering anyone, Mollari. We've already tried to open relations with them and they refused. All we want is information on them so we will be prepared if they try something."

Londo sighed.

"Very well, Admiral. You'll have the information you want. Use it wisely."

United Systems Federation
Tulok System

From the window of the Captain's ready room, Captain Lucas Monteiro looked at the mass relay far from his ship. It was beautifully built with its gleaming metal, rotating rings, and pulsating blue eezo core. He understands why Captain Volkov chose this system to bring the relay to. Tulok System was the first star system outside the Crescent claimed by the USF. The system itself had no value, no planets, no asteroid belt, no important jump route, only a star, and a jumpgate. As if to prove its uselessness, all foreign powers recognized Human claims almost immediately.

Claiming Tulok was more of a symbolic act than a practical one. It symbolized the end of Human isolation. The USF found use to it, though. With the system came its jumpgate, and Starfleet has been using it to conduct experiments to further Human understanding of jumpspace.

The relay's rings started to rotate faster, launching the probe forward at unimaginable speeds in a streak of blue light. That was the fourth probe. Anna theorized that the relay reacted to the presence of an eezo core, she was right. However, they needed some kind of binary base activation code. After hours of research, his and Captain Mormont's team were able to crack the code and activate the relay. Too easily, if he may say so.

Since then they had been sending probes and scanning the nearby systems the other side of the gateway. The relay leads to a large and uninhabited cluster of stars, full of potentially colonizable planets. After the sixth probe, they decided to try something different.

"As much as we know, the eezo core don't see to be much compatible with our subspace based technology. We think that if we program our deflector dishes to mimic the energy signature of an eezo core, maybe we could travel through the relay without eezo," said Captain Mormont's chief science officer.

They tried it. They sent three probes modified by adding a deflector dish. The research team celebrating when the probes were launched forward in a streak of blue.

Lucas was drag back to his thoughts. They were discovering new ways to fly here. He looked at the jumpgate far from his ship. It was an odd way of traveling through the stars and yet the oddest thing about it was its universality. All races Humanity has known so far used jumpspace and hadn't conceived any alternative. Humans, on the other hand, had experimented and tested with dozens of different methods of interstellar travel and, while most were dead ends, Humanity excelled in this area, developing warp and folded space drives, transwarp, quantum slipstream, and even temporal displacement drives, and he also heard about tests with warp travel in jumpspace. Now they discovered this new 'mass effect' drive. Meanwhile no different development among the other races. Odd, indeed.

He entered the bridge, his crew working around him as efficient as ever.

"We are ready, sir," Leo Jenkins, his science officer, said with unsuppressed excitement.

"Good. Marina, take us to the position."

"Aye, sir."

The USS Tupan moved to the mass relay, followed by the Curie and the Crete.

"Jenkins, prepare eezo signal."

"Ready, sir."

Lucas smiled. That is what he was looking for.

"Activate the relay."

"Sending false eezo signal. Activating relay. Sending activation code."

The rings around the relay's glowing eezo core started to rotate faster, launching the three Starfleet vessels to where no man has gone before.

Narn Regime
Narn
G'Kamazad, Capital of Narn

For the first time in his entire life, Citizen G'Kar saw the stars in the sky of his home planet. Joyful, he drank a big gulp from the bottle of Ryddi on the tale he was sat by. Human terraforming technologies were marvels, to say the least. For the last two years, their devices have been detecting and teleporting dust particles and pollutants out of the atmosphere and water bodies and using them to replicate new substances so needed by the Narn's biosphere. They were filling the atmosphere with water particles, to balance the planet's water cycle and converting the desert-turned woodlands into woodlands again.

G'Kar watched in joy as his people filled the streets, trading and working, and for the first time, G'Kar felt true hope. The Centauri let his world almost barren. The Narn had to live in the underground or in buildings with air filters. The outside was just too polluted to walk through.

Not anymore.

He was overjoyed by the course of things, seven years was a short time and yet Ambassador Zheng said that the terraforming process will likely take that amount of time. Surprisingly, two years ago she told him that if there weren't people on the planet they could terraform it into a paradise in days by using something she called 'genesis'. He didn't believe her then. He is not so sure now. If the Humans truly had such technology, he was glad they were helping them and not conquering them as the Centauri did.

G'Kar laughed. The Humans looked so much like the Centauri and yet so different. His thoughts turned to his people's traditional enemy. Since Turhan became emperor, the Centauri Republic has shown a far more humble, diplomatic approach. He wasn't fooled, though. The Centauri were probably just wanting to improve relations with the Humans, after seeing what they did for Narn and the League. The Centauri are a treacherous people, they come with a smile and a knife hidden in their mouth. The Narn Regime will be ready when they show their true colors.

"G'Vek, bring me one more bottle of your best Ryddi," G'Kar spoke loudly to the bar's owner.

The same way as the stars of Narn's sky, hope sparkled in the hearts of his people.

Minbari Federation
Orbit of Minbar
Valen'Tha:

Delenn still couldn't believe in it. She was at the Council Chambers among the Nine, the highest position a Minbari could ever dream to be. And yet here she was, with her grey hood covering her face. She wasn't formally a member of the Grey Council yet, but she would be soon. And she owed this to Dukhat. He was the best of them, the greatest Minbari since Valen, and yet he saw something in her that even herself couldn't see.

Anla'Shok'Na Lenonn was at the chambers too, speaking to the Council, trying to convince them to prepare for the return of the Shadows, as well as to open communication with the Humans. Satai Coplann of the Warrior Caste was the most vocal against this. 'If the Vorlons don't see the danger, maybe the danger does not exist,' he said to Lenonn, going against his idea of trying to contact the Vorlons and finding proof that the Shadows returned.

"Master," Delenn said, surprising even herself. "If I may. There may be a way to give the others the proof that they require."

"Delenn is not formally a part of this Council," said Coplann. "Now she stands here for Satai Cadronni, she has not yet undergone the ritual. It is inappropriate for her to speak."

Dukhat smirked, eyebrows raised.

"I have never yet known the truth or Delenn to speak only when it is appropriate," he, chuckling before he nodded to her. "Go on, Delenn."

She breathed.

"Valen's said that the Shadows would first return to their homeworld of Z'ha'dum before moving against us. So why not send an expedition to Z'ha'dum to determine if they have indeed returned?"

"The warrior cast will be no part of this," Coplann said. "Our forces are needed here to protect the homeworld. Besides, the journey is long and difficult. Other expeditions have found that the area around Z'ha'dum is mined with traps and ancient defense systems. Other races have moved in, claiming it as their own."

"So you believe it is too dangerous to the warrior caste to go," Dukhat said sternly, but one could see the joke behind it.

Coplann looked at him, stern.

"The warrior caste fears nothing. But it is a waste of our time. Further, if the Council endorses such an expedition, it will cause unnecessary panic among our people."

"I agree," Dukhat said. "So they will not have to go."

"Thank you," Coplann said.

"We will go" Dukhat affirmed.

"What? But Master-"

"We are the ones who must decide how much support to give the Anla'Shok. We can rely on the reports of others, or we can see it for ourselves. My whole life I've heard of Z'ha'dum in whispers, at legends. I think I'd like to see it at once before I die. Wouldn't you, Delenn?"

"Yes, Master."

"Then we will go. We'll take only a feel support vessels sworn to secrecy to avoid the panic Coplann fears. And we'll travel indirectly, stopping at various outposts before we are ready for the final jump. It is an elegant and simple solution, Coplann. Thank you for giving it to me."

Coplann just looked at Dukhat with no joy on his face. Finally, he nodded.

A/N (2): As you may have noticed, I've based many Human worlds on various franchises of films, books, and series. Asgard, that I've already shown you, is based on Marvel Cinematic Universe's Asgard, with their golden towers and cold weather as well as the Viking-like design of its defense force ships. The Virtuan digital world is based on Tron. Aquaria's cities are based on Gungan and Mon Calamari cities from Star Wars. Eldaron is basically Alderaan from Star Wars, as well as Cortesa is based on Naboo. As for Valinor, a planet with a very Middle-Earth-like climate and mostly Elven based architecture, imagine Rivendell-like architecture scaled up and you get Valinor's. Nova Prime is a very urbanized planet, with dense cities and high towers.