Will Wright: Thank you for your comments and you have touched on something concerning Picard and Doctor Crusher that needs to be addressed. I should have gotten back to you on this earlier and I didn't so I will address your comments this situation now. This is not a negative response in any way but a clarification of the AUOC universe.

You said: Now to the criticism: I wholly dislike the depiction of Picard & Crusher acting as Nazi officers. It is commented that the Federation is supposed to be better than Earth Alliance a) because it obeys its own rules and b) because, within the federation, telepathy isn't seen with prejudice, but rather as an extra sense.

Well…Jean Luc Picard that you've read here is not the same as the one we all know and love. His entire life history, experiences, and combat are forged in a 22 year war with the Klingons. The Federation was losing, the situation was extremely bad and the things you've seen Picard do here are a reflection of that. Nazi? No. Cold-blooded – absolutely. Lots of bad things happened and this Picard is reflecting the consequences of those events. As I've stated before he could have had Bester executed and not blinked an eye. None of them would, not counting Rachel who's from a reality that is identical to the OTL just an earlier time frame. Bester threatened the Enterprise by revealing sensitive information Earth Alliance would have used against her. I have written certain things here specifically to remind people of the differences. But even with the reality changed as it is the Federation does not have a problem with telepathy. They do have a problem with Psi-Corps and anyone who tried (tries) to take over or endanger their small fleet. The B5 verse are known for their thieving ways when it comes to technology and Picard and crew will have none of that.

When you have a chance read 'The Best of both Universes' by Janusi. In his story there are similar actions especially near the beginning of the civil war and the battle for B5. In his Federation which close to the OTL his captain does one thing. In mine Picard kills the ship that attacks his with nuclear weapons. That difference is the focal point of what the Picard is and what the OTL aspires to. Under Picard's orders, Crusher specially and permanently removed his telepathy and that of a few others. These people will not lose any sleep over it. They are not the types that will keep an enemy at their backs. Garrett on the other hand is an older version of the Federation and has been somewhat shocked by the changes she's seen in this new TNG Federation. It isn't her time line and she does not have anything to compare it to. Also Janeway is from a third timeline related to the OTL values that we know. So there we have it-three universes of the same group of people who have the same roots but went in different directions.

Are these Federation people acting like Earth Alliance? I don't think so. They are acting like a stranded military organization located in the middle of hostile territory. So in some ways yes, what you are seeing with Picard is being done on purpose. Sisko as well.

Please note that I am using earth units such as seconds, months, and distance.

Chapter 14

Foothold:

Phoenix Rising

"Part Two"

Four thousand Minbari warriors jammed into the province under the command of Shai Alyt Na Moyvnn. A base of operations was being set up less than a kilometer outside the city. Reports were spotty but communications were being restored by way of short ranged equipment. The temporary command center, a commandeered multifunctional entertainment center and the surrounding structures, were rapidly filling up with soldiers and equipment.

"Reports are still coming in, Shai Alyt," Rii Mytarin said. "We're starting to surround Rav'al. By daybreak we should have almost thirty thousand warriors ready to engage the enemy. More are on their way. Missile batteries and mobile energy weapons are being positioned now and will be ready to engage when our warriors attack."

The Commander nodded but was not happy. "We're not going to attack just yet, we need time. And we need to consolidate our forces here and coordinate the attacks with our ships." He didn't state the rest which was obvious. If they attacked now, the enemy ships would obliterate them from orbit. And what little information that had gotten through indicated that the space forces were having a very bad time of it up there.

"Our air defenses are ready to back us up when you give the order."

"Good," he said while continuing to study the reports.

It was fortunate that many of the smaller bases hadn't been hit as of yet. He praised the universe because that meant that they didn't have detailed surveys of Minbar or most of the military bases would have been destroyed outright. It was already bad enough as communications had been almost completely wiped out. Several food distribution centers, farmland areas, and major power plants had been struck from orbit as well, but most of the cities had been spared so far.

His main concern was that Minbar had never suffered an attack of this magnitude before and many of these young warriors had no experience with ground combat. Veterans from the Earth Minbari war would be desperately needed and used to keep his people alive and fighting. But again, many of them were on the ships still pursuing the Drakh. He was sure they were being recalled back but how far they had traveled and how long it would take to reach home was something he couldn't guess at. He did know that there would be a massive retaliatory response as soon as the fleet got organized and that was the time when he wanted to attack. But without communications, he had no idea when that would be. So he would have to hold out as long as possible and pray that the enemy didn't start their assault.

"But only about one third of the troops will have neutron rifles," his Rii continued. "The rest will have to use standard armaments. Armored divisions will start arriving within the hour."

Again Moyvnn nodded. The armor divisions were one of the few good things that the military had going for them. Those types of systems used to be ignored, almost sneered at until the Minbari war of retribution against Earthers. Earther ships were inferior, but in terms of ingenuity and deviousness and possessed of some sort of crazed inspiration, their ground forces were certainly not. Tanks and smaller armored vehicles supported by light airships came as a very unwelcome surprise to Minbari ground forces. Thousands of Minbari that should not have died lost their lives in those battles. The Minbari still won but those battles showed an inherent weakness in tactics and deployments among his people.

Minbari armor, although outfitted with more powerful guns and crystalline shell armor still had taken a serious beating. Tactics had been almost non-existent during those times and served to justify the war even more in the eyes of the ground commanders. Coordinated Earther attacks humiliated the Minbar armored divisions and their commanders; something they were still smarting about. The Commander however took it in stride. Being bloodied as they were had been an excellent, if humiliating lesson that helped to focus the ground activities which had always taken a back seat to the space forces. Best of all those forces hadn't been deployed in large numbers with the navy. Crystalis Infantry Fighting vehicles and the Star Rider Assault Transport tanks were the mainstays of the Minbari land defenses in this sector. To his delight there were several newly designed prototype mobile weapons that would added their firepower to what he already had. Every little would help in this coming battle.

The Commander headed towards the windows pointed towards where the enemy was located. The glow was still there but diminishing rapidly. Small drone ships not much larger than glitter fliers dutifully continued taking images of the drop site and transmitted the data back to the command centers. Turning he headed back towards the main command center. Surrounding him were all of his aides, Shai Alyts, Alyts, sub-commanders and Rii officers.

Rii Deosat: "the mountain is completely destroyed; however our drones are showing that something is growing in its place."

That statement had sent a chill down his spine. "Specify," Moyvnn ordered. "What is growing there?"

"Unknown, but the tremors that we're experiencing, their point of origin is located there. The structures are about twenty meters high and growing at a constants rate of one meter per minute. There are at least forty individual structures that we can observe. There may be more."

"Status of the ship?"

"Status is unchanged. Temperature in the area is approximately two thousand degrees, but falling rapidly. Within that plasma sphere, we can see that the ship is open and we can detect individual movement, and equipment being off loaded. Our drones can't get much closer without burning up. We estimated that over two thousand individual life forms are already off loaded."

'The vessel is five kilometers long and three wide. And that ship could hold tens of thousands or more of those creatures and their equipment, surviving inside the middle of that firestorm' he thought. 'How are they doing that?'

"Curse Shakiri for attacking these aliens before we were ready!" he said loudly enough for everyone to hear. Some of the Star Riders glared at him but said nothing. "He didn't even send an after action report to the warrior castes. We have no idea what type of weapons we're facing. We can only hope that the Grey Council's ship escaped before it was attacked."

At that comment many of the Star Riders relaxed. The Grey Council was the executive seat of government. They would rally the people when the time came and everyone knew that they would move Minbar itself to save their home.

Rii Mytarin was not one of those comforted. "These are First Ones," he whispered.

"So what?" snapped Moyvnn. "They are here uninvited and we will impress that fact upon them. Shai Ytan, speculate as to how they are unloading with all of that heat. They must be affected by it. Does that suggest that they may be affected by cold?"

Shai Ytan, member of the Worker Caste thought about the question for a moment. In fact, this had occupied his mind for a while now. He was one of those who had attended the classes at B5 and now his mind was racing. "I don't believe that they are sensitive to cold. It has to be some sort of shield protecting them from that plasma. I remember speaking to some of the Earthers at B5 who were attacked by these creatures. They claimed that the fighters had shields and it required multiple hits to shatter them and destroy the ship. I believe it required ten to twelve hits from their standard Starfuries to kill one. I have no reason to doubt this, therefore if we take this to the next logical step then their individual troops and certainly their mobile units will be similarly equipped. We also believed that it takes approximately eight to twelve seconds of continuous fire from a Sharlin's main guns to break through a Starfleeter shields and that was before they upgraded." Those words caused a wave of whispers and hostile looks among some of the warriors. "I must assume that we will have to battle against shielded units and therefore our losses will be high. As to their weapons, only the plasma and beams have been seen so far. We know that Shakiri's battle fleet had been boarded by the enemy but as to what kind of weapons they used hasn't been reported to us. But there were rumors of the creatures using bio-based weapons.

Those words came as sobering thoughts to the entire command.

"Order all of the civilians to leave the area as soon as possible. Impress upon them the seriousness of the situation. Have them move as far and as fast as possible. This land is about to become a killing ground."

Halfway around the world he assumed that Shai Alyt Na Ocuann-Ddasi was preparing a similar response with the other ship. Sporadic reports from the second front indicated that the growth rate of whatever the Sinhindrea were growing had developed even faster in the water rich environment where that ship had chosen to land. His counterpart might be forced to start the battle before either one of them were ready.

"Continue the deployments," he ordered. "Hurry."

Babylon Five:

"Have you discovered what's happening on Minbar?" Sheridan asked of his wife. Delenn was always a strong woman but she'd never be a good poker player. She wore her emotions on her sleeve. And when she was angry, everybody around her knew it.

"The reports are coming in. Minbar has been invaded," she said, shocking her husband, Michael, Susan and several of the Minbari in the room. "The dark ones have attacked our world in force. Our forces are gathering themselves, preparing to take back the home world."

Sheridan turned dark. "What's the condition on Minbar?"

"We don't know," she confessed. "None of the scout ships that have dared to enter the system have survived to report. But we don't know the condition of the people."

"Our world will be avenged for having been polluted by those creatures," Shakiri growled. He was raging, barely able to breathe. "I will go there now and lead the fight myself. I have had experience with them and I know how they fight. I…"

"No," Delenn hissed. "You will stay here. There are others who will fight for our world."

"Delenn, you can't order me to remain here if I choose to leave," he retorted. "I am the leader of the Star Riders…"

"You imprisoned the Grey Council, the leaders of our world because of your own vile dreams of conquest and glory. You are no leader, Shakiri! You are something worse! Didn't you think I wouldn't find out?"

"They are weak! We should have never allowed the Religious and Worker castes to usurp the rightful authority of the Warriors."

As he ranted he moved closer to her, immediately prompting Sheridan to step in front of her, followed by Garibaldi and flanked by Shai Alyts Aalaan and Menroi.

"Shakiri!"

He looked around, caught himself and backed off. "I apologize," he added softly. "I," he fought for the words. "I have not been myself lately."

"There is no excuse for becoming a traitor to your people," Menroi said. "You would destroy our people with your ambitions and your desire for power. You never listen and now you stand here claiming to be strong. But you are compromised by the very enemy that you seek to fight. You are weak!"

Shakiri was trapped. He knew that the truth would come out eventually, but this was too soon. He had been compromised by this enemy but that was no excuse. Now he thought hard, trying to salvage the situation. Menroi, known to be one of the most loyal of Minbari, despite being pro-Earther and pro-Federation openly defied his Leader. Here Menroi was, berating him someone that he should kiss the feet of. "Yes, I am weak," he admitted trying to defuse the situation somewhat. "But everything I've done has been for the good of our people."

"Including putting your own government under house arrest?" snapped an irate Sheridan.

"Have a care, Starkiller." he looked at John with sheer loathing. This much hated Human was married to Dukhat's successor something he could barely abide. It was an insult to everything he knew. If Delenn wanted true power she should have bonded herself to the Star Riders. Together the two of them would have set the destiny of Minbar on the path of glory for the next thousand years, but instead, she married this Earther rot, something that ate at him. "My respect for Delenn does not extend to you, you pathetic creature."

The Captain's face was taunt, his jaw clenched. He edged closer to the Minbari and seemed ready to hit him right then and there. "Shakiri, I don't care whether you respect me or not. You don't like my marriage?" he yelled. "Get over it! The Grey Council is heading for Babylon Five right now and from all reports, they've got at least two enemy ships on their tail. They're firing some sort of charges into jump space trying to slow them down."

Shakiri's rages were legendary and when John violated his personal space, Aalaan and Menroi were ready to intervene. However, his rage vanished as the truth of the word sank in. They knew everything.

No, not everything, not yet. "How did you get this information? How many escorts does the Valen'tha have?"

"Two Liandras, one of which transmitted the data of the attack on Minbar. Their information has been confirmed from several independent sources. Apparently Minbar is being jammed. There are four Sharlins, two of them Quillua class, and one Tinashi."

Why are they coming to Babylon Five?" asked Shakiri hot-temperately.

"Why?" asked John as if Shakiri didn't know which obviously, he didn't. "The enemy has destroyed every vessel they've went up against. He glared at Shakiri. "Remember your attack near Z'ha'dum?"

Shakiri's jaw twitched.

"They're coming here because Babylon Five and its forces may be able to protect them," Delenn said. "They are leading them away from our colonies and protectorate worlds as they prepare themselves for battle giving us time to strike back."

"Delenn, I swear on my mother's grave that I will do everything to help my people and my world. I will give my life to so."

"Good," Delenn announced. "I may hold you to that oath."

"If anyone is interested," Garibaldi interjected, "we have about eight days to get ready."

"John," Delenn asked causing her husband to look at her. "I wish to make an official request."

"Yes, Delenn what is it?"

I would like to use two of the Whitestars, one to be sent to intercept the Valen'tha and the other to survey the situation at Minbar and relay a message to the people there. I would also ask the Federation if we may use of their probes to act as a subspace communications relay."

"Officially, yes you can use the Whitestars and I'll talk to Picard and Garrett about the use of the probe but I don't foresee any problems. And I'm sure Susan and Hiroshi will love the trips," he added with a hint of amusement. It'll take a Whitestar four hours to get to Minbar at warp one in jump space."

"Then Neroon will stay here and prepare. I will go and make that assessment. I'll contact you when we get there."

Minbar:

Dravanlpore Province

Rii-nan'shok Donaan, the fifteen warriors and workers under his command, Challaon Alyt Winiann , two of his technicians his family and their families were crammed inside the small transport that was fleeing from Dravanlpore Province for all its worth. They were headed for Jewyan Province some one thousand kilometers distant. The precious subspace communications system was secured safely by Winiann who refused to allow anyone else to touch it.

They weren't the only ones relocating, either. The influx of troops was the final wakeup call for the last stubborn people in the province to pack up and go. People were evacuating the entire region, heading away from the still glowing remains of Mount Rav'al. Thousands upon thousands of Minbari crowded the already choked roads leading away from the province trying to get away by any means possible. Packed-to-the-brim air transports lifted off, carrying passengers out of the area. But there were still many people fleeing by land vehicles and by foot. Entire family clans were gathered together in small caravans, moving as quickly as they could. However as thousands were leaving, thousands of others were coming in. More and more warriors and heavy equipment were pouring into the area now and assisting in the evacuation.

Chi Draconis system

There was the usual explosion of light, the classic ripping in the fabric of space and time, and Whitestar Three under the command of Captain Sandra Hiroshi exited hyperspace about a half light year from Minbar. A quick scan revealed a huge concentration of Minbari warships gathered. There were just under three hundred capital ships in combat mode. Shagottis, Sharlins, Tinashis, two dozen newly minted Whitestars, supported by Tigara attack cruisers, older style Troligan armored cruisers, and hundreds of Leshaths and Nials were pointing at the enemy, forming up ready to take their world back. By the end of the next four days, there would be another three hundred heavy warships available for the counterattack.

Ambassador Delenn stood next to the Human Captain drinking in the sight of so many of her people prepared to go into battle. It was exhilarating and frightening at the same time as it brought back memories best forgotten for now. As of this moment, she was proud to see her people resolute and strong in the face of such adversity.

The B5 Whitestar approached the fleet at point zero point five of light speed.

A Sharlin and two Whitestars came at an intercept vector. "Whitestar, identify yourself," a voice demanded in perfect Vik. The voice wasn't hostile, tense yes, but the words were spoken more as if he were doing his duty as the recognized an ally when he saw one. It was also full of static since the Sinhindrea were still flooding the sector with interference.

"This is WhiteStar Three under the command of Captain Hiroshi of Babylon Five. I am Delenn, and I am here," she answered in perfect Adrenato.

"Please repeat your response."

"I am Delenn," she repeated. "I am here."

Whomever it was, heard the transmission clearly this time and his excitement showed through the response. "Satai Delenn," he said almost reverently using her honorific even though she was not truly a part of the Grey Council. "Praise Valen! But you should not be here. The Grey Council is already heading away from home. We need them and you safe away from this."

"Who am I speaking to?" she demanded. She was angered by the apparent desire to keep her away from the people during such a time.

Another voice interrupted. "Satai Delenn, I am Shai Alyt Haran. Forgive my subordinate. His only concern is for you, but he is right. You should not be here. The people need to know that the leadership is safe and prepared to act if we fail."

"I have never been one to hide as other fought and died. I am Minbari. I am Satai, one who broke the council and remade it again. Your concern is noted and greatly appreciated, but I am here now."

There as a second's delay. "Welcome Satai Delenn. Rendezvous with the Santyom'la. We will be waiting for you."

"I will be there."

Dravanlpore Province

The collective nervousness of Shai Alyt Na Moyvnn's staff was becoming more noticeable with each passing hour as dawn approached. Even Moyvnn was tense almost jumpy and he was unsure as to why. Nervousness was never part of his personality. There had been sporadic reports of a couple of seasoned warriors having panic attacks. One warrior committed suicide, using his personal knife to slit his own throat. The slow increase of the numbers of these small, seemingly random incidents was causing the command staff to become concerned. They were losing control of morale before the battle even started and that did seem unusual at the least. The answer came soon enough.

Imunyann, one of the command staff nearly fainted; his eyes were watery and he was mumbling to himself. He was taken to the infirmary however, two hours later he was up insisting that he speak with the Shai Alyt Na. A message was sent, Moyvnn read it and paled. He and several of his staff literally surrounded the young Minbari.

"Shai Alyt leader," Imunyann acknowledged. "I can feel them. Waves of telepathic thoughts, in unison, all focused on one purpose. They are sending waves of raw, intense fear. Once I understood what I was feeling I had to tell you. They are trying to break our will to fight before it begins."

Other telepaths soon confirmed what Imunyann had told them. The word spread, that the Sinhindrea were trying to incite fear among the warriors. Once aware, the majority were able to resist with an anger and determination that surprised them all.