First of all, its commentary time:

Reikson: Yes I've seen the B5 tech site. Some of it I am using as a reference. I am not taking every thing though at face value. But it is a very useful site.

Sean Mulligan: Wolf 359 is in Alliance hands but they abandoned it to return to Earth. Lack (loss) of resources and many civilians to consider.

Papa Wheelie: Yes, more Kirk and company coming up. Not in the next chapter though and you'll see why as another author jumps in and throws in his two cents.

Worker 72: Keep watching. Murphy's Law is evil and it's about to raise its ugly head against the Alliance. Death-Walker's name has been surfacing more and more. If she does her thing, how will the allies respond? And I am not even discussing Genesis here… no Genesis on Minbar rearranging everything as it were.

S: The lost of the jump gate will affect the entire system. Some of it is being felt in this chapter. However although the lost of a jump gate causes major headaches, not everyone gets lost. There are serious navigational problems when something like this happens. Sheridan destroyed the Markab gate and the system took time to realign itself. But it did so. More or should I say 'stuff' on the Ashen is coming up. They have been coming since the Vorlons became aware that the Federation was planning a major war the Minbari. This was planned the minute the Metrons told the Vorlons to back off.

The Vorlons knew that the situation was about to turn into for quite a while and they also knew what outcome would be. Kosh's people are walking a thin line here that they have not yet crossed. Believe me when I say that they are waiting for the Feds to make a legit mistake so that they can claim that they were wronged and legally enter the war and stomp the allied forces. The Metrons are watching carefully. Again more on this later.

The Federation will not use cloaking devices, especially in this war. This is a political conflict as well as a military war. The Federation's reputation is on the line and the use of a cloaking device would not be beneficial to federation interests. The Feds have been meeting with the other races and have tried to be above board in everything that they have done. It is felt that cloaked fed ships would harm relations in the area rather than help. Any hint of impropriety is being frowned on by Starfleet and the Fed political structure. Hence, no cloaks. And they really don't need them against the Minbari. (The Ashen however…)

Without further ado, I present Mr. Ash Broomstick's addition to 'A Thin Veneer'. He was gracious enough to do this for me and I am extremely grateful. This would have been an independent story but I have integrated it into the main story itself. I know you will enjoy it. Of course it's going to generate comments concerning Earth Force and the Minbari in general. That is being dealt with even now. We will have the Minbari point of view coming up in a big way as this chapter and RenS' chapter (next) details the Human point of view of the aftermath of the Minbari's attack on Earth.

Have fun. Thank you very much Ash. You can see his work in 'Consequences of Actions' located on this site.

Chapter 38

Ash's Broomstick Presents:

"Aftermath"

The Hyperion EA ship Menelaus-

Proxima Relief Force 30 Minutes Post Battle:

A trio of jump points opened into the Sol system turning a small section of the sky blue as they opened to their full size. A dozen flashes brought forth a small force of EarthForce ships at full burn trying to make it into the system before the Minbari could wipe their brethren out. What they saw before them was nothing short of terrifying."

"We almost didn't make it! Scanners, what the hell happened here?"

"The jump gate is gone, destroyed. There's nothing but debris left. Navigation is screwed up everywhere. If it wasn't for us being so close to the Mars beacon…"

At the forefront of the thirty Earth Alliance ships a Hyperion cruiser scanned looking for targets anywhere in the area, weapons ready and fighters launching the cruiser was ready for anything. Behind her and to the flanks Novas, Hyperions, and Avenger carriers spewed out their own fighters and started scans; their systems lit up across the board. They were getting accurate readings. All they needed was a target.

"They destroyed the gate? Not even the Minbari would have done that," the Captain said. "What are the scans telling us?"

"Sir, I'm not reading much, but there's no fighting going on out here, nothing at all."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Sir. I'm not reading any Minbari ships or weapons fire, but I'm reading debris, a hell of a lot of it as well."

"Let me see it."

On the screen in front of the Commander a scan from the external camera showed them the real state of the space around them.

"Allah watch upon us all," the Executive Officer spoke in a hushed whisper.

"What ARE we reading?"

"All kinds of stuff, Sir. There's debris from EarthForce ships, bodies everywhere, fuel cells, reactor cores. We must have close to a thousand dead ships out there," he added quietly.

"A thousand?"

"Yes, Sir; possibly more, possibly less. We can't see the entire battlefield; it's just too big and too cluttered."

"Tell me some good news, please."

"I'm not sure, Sir" he responded. "There seems to be something out there, it's not our hull material though, it…. it reads as Minbari hull armour!"

"Minbari armour?"

"Yes Sir. I'm reading a lot of it all across the system, dozens of hulks possibly dozens more damaged. It looks like most were stopped before they passed Mars, some must have jumped behind and hit the moon. But Sir, there's just so much. Wait a second; I'm also reading debris from Federation ships; spilt fuel and several intact reactor pods. I think it's their drive fuel."

"They use a matter antimatter explosion power reactor to power their ships right?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Tag them; we need to warn anyone else that sees them."

"Aye, Sir."

"Communications, find anyone to talk to…."

"Sir?" the Comms Officer spoke up. "We're being hailed; it's one of the Federation ships."

"Onscreen."

On the window in front of the Captain, a view of one of the Federation's combat heavy ships, a Soyuz or Miranda if he remembered it correctly, floated in front of him. He wasn't completely versed of the configuration types and the two were very similar looking. The ship turned in space coming up side by side to the EarthForce cruiser; the cruiser flashed its running lights in greeting.

"This is the USS Roanoke to EarthForce vessels, please come in."

"This is Captain Mackenzie of the EAS Menelaus, we read you Roanoke."

"Sorry you're a bit late Captain. The Minbari bugged out about twenty or thirty minutes earlier."

"How bad was it, Captain?"

"Bad enough. We were hit hard and badly by the Minbari's front line forces."

"What's the count?"

"I'm sorry Captain, but the Majority of EarthForce ships in this sector are all but destroyed. We've some survivors and some of the ships are salvageable but not many. Some are just too badly damaged."

An explosion to the side of the ship lit up the entire area causing damaged ships and debris to shift in space as a damaged Sharlin class ship's reactor core overloaded and exploded. Two of the damaged Nova dreadnaughts were caught in the explosion and follow suit. The tension on the bridges of all the ships increased as they realised the full scope of the losses garnered by EarthForce, even the damage to the Minbari ships seemed to pale in comparison.

"Tell me we did some damage." Even as he said it he understood how desperate his voice had seemed.

A grim smile formed on the face of the Federation Captain. "Hell yes, they got what was coming alright. Over four hundred warships were destroyed or severely damaged. And in excess of ten thousand troops have been killed, or captured."

"The dead got their revenge. Good."

"The few surviving ships are helping to tow the crippled and damaged ships out of the zone Captain. They could do with assistance from your task force."

"Of course. How bad were you all hit?"

"It was pretty bad. They targeted us with most of their biggest and most powerful ships; it was close, in fact, too damn close."

"Where are the surviving ships?"

"Most are assembled in Earth orbit just in case something comes up. Our own ships are running search and rescue operations across the system. We'll escort you into the sector. Just be careful there are a lot of ships still leaking around here and a lot of expended and unexploded ordinance floating around."

"We've seen a few hulks of your ships. We read a few antimatter storage tanks floating around."

"We'll look after that, Captain."

"They were brave crews. I know that given the chance those still alive would thank you and your people for what they have done. Thank you."

"You are very welcome. I know some of us wish we could do more."

Alliance Earth Orbit: Same time:

The scenes around the home world of the Earth Alliance were much like that of the rest of the system. All around the orbit of the planet; cracked and melted metal and crystalline hulls from EarthForce ships, Minbari cruisers and both Alliance and a couple of the Klingon weapons satellites lay in ruins, their shattered hulls falling into the atmosphere. The few ships capable of movement from any of the four races in the battle had begun to congregate near Earth itself in an attempt to sort some form of order from their losses. Two dozen Starfleet ships watched over the few surviving Klingon warships and EarthForce ships as the more mobile fleet units brought crippled and damaged ships back from the battlefield. As was expected in any real space battle, most of the ships had been destroyed as crippling damage had caused ships to implode or shred themselves as atmospheric pressure changed in an instant as the ships twisted and broke apart from the strains of combat. The worst part however was the total lack of living survivors, only a few compartments un-breached or cut away from the main ship carried survivors. From almost a thousand ships less than three thousand men and women could be said to be 'survivors'.

Even now, ships from all areas of the system were approaching those few ships with survivors aboard. Transporters from the Federation ships beamed Humans and non-Humans alike to their medical bays and those infirmaries of the Alliance ships that had recently arrived in the system.

The majority of the ships now congregated had casualties from their own ships as well as those transported aboard by the Federation vessels. Hundreds had already arrived with many more still incoming. Every ship was swamped as the wounded and dying were found aboard many ships in the system. However, only two of the Federation ships were discounted from the number as they were inundated with injured from some of the numerous Minbari ships of the fleet. Hundreds of the aliens had survived injured or trapped aboard their ships as the Minbari fleet had turned tail and run from the vengeful Human Alliance.

USS Majestic located at Lagrange Point Four:

The cargo bays and medical wards of the modified Miranda were packed with all sorts of medical instruments, diagnostic machines and medical staff from all sides of the Federation. In repose the entire ship was filled with crippled, injured and dying Minbari warriors, hundreds of warriors both male and female lay strewn around the makeshift medical bays and infirmaries.

The view was grim; missing limbs, damaged bodies, cracked heads and missing bone crests made the visage a dark one indeed. Doctors and nurses ran around trying to save anyone they could, even with their much more advanced medical techniques and xenobiological training the Starfleet medical staff were overwhelmed by the unknown biology of the Minbari. Many Minbari patients were lost because of their unfamiliar anatomy and physiology. But many more were surviving than normally would have.

"Who's in charge here?" demanded a voice from the side. A stern-looking General stood inside the entrance to the room, his disgust at the fact the Federation medical personnel were treating their blood enemies evident on his craggy face.

"I am, Dr M'benga Starfleet Medical Corps." 'Great another one of the bigoted morons from EarthForce Command.'

"I've got someone to help you, guards bring him here."

The two burly EarthForce guards bustled in a tall, dark- skin man into the room. His defiant stance against the EarthForce crew was obvious; his EarthForce uniform had the single red bar of the EarthForce Medical Division. The man's head was still held high even with his uniform and face slightly crumpled and dirty. This was someone M'benga could well respect.

"Doctor M'benga, Dr Steven Franklin. Take him and we're leaving."

The General threw a look of hatred and disgust at the tall doctor before leaving the way he came in.

"Dr Franklin?" the other dark skinned man looked at the officer. "How can you help us?"

"A few years ago I treated several Minbari personnel from one of their scout ships. I was unable to save them but I took scans of their bodies and DNA and managed to figure out most of their bodily functions. Some made no sense in regard to the rest of their bodies but I found out what everything was."

"Did you keep any records?"

"Yes. But I refused to allow them into EarthForce hands for use in making biological weapons."

"Why?"

"Because I'm a doctor, and that's explanation enough."

"Good answer. Anything you can tell us would be of use."

"I destroyed my records Doctor; it'll only be what I can remember."

"That's good enough, son."

-+-

All across the system more and more ships were tractored, searched and abandoned as fewer survivors were found and more casualties discovered. The few dozen squadrons of fighters still intact were patrolling the debris field protecting the civilian and military ships attempting the rescue of those ship's crews that the Federation ships couldn't get to for one reason or another. Yet more ships were dispatched across the system to the bases hit by the Minbari on the myriad of moons in the system. While the weapons and defences of the Federation had turned back the attack the strain and concussive damage of the weapons had crippled many of those bases.

Still more civilian ships poured into the system to help their beleaguered comrades from both the military and civilian fleets of the Earth Alliance. Freighters, tankers, anything that could move were pressed into service to clear the place of the biggest sections of ships and retrieved life pods. Humanity had held against the Minbari and now was weighing the losses against their entire race. No matter whom they were or where they were from, Humanity was pulling together to save those people that were willing to give their lives to hold the line against the Minbari hordes and their conquest of eradication against the Human race.

Centauri Royal Ship Tuscano:

Earth orbit

"Ambassador Mollari?" the ship's Captain asked.

The Ambassador just nodded, propriety be damned.

Narn Warship T'Nardra:

Lunar orbit

"Ambassador Ko'Dath?"

"Captain, launch everything. They deserve the help we can give them."

Abbai Consular ship Duramai:

Mid Lunar Orbit

"Loremistress Kalika?"

"They once did what they could for our people; maybe a small token can be done in return. Release the shuttles. Do what we can."

From the hulls of the three neutral warships in orbit of Earth and its single moon, a half dozen shuttles launched and headed towards the massed incoming forces holding the meagre number of survivors from the battle. For the first time non-Alliance and non-Federation ships willingly assisted the survivors recovered their casualties from a field of battle against the Minbari.

-+-

On the heels of the other power's ships came more and more. From Io, from Europa, the mines of Neptune, the shipyards of Titan, from the defence posts of Luna and even from the Neutral planet of Mars, many hundreds of shuttles launched into space to take those that they could from the fleet to their own planet-bound facilities to help the wounded and hurt that the ships in orbit just could not handle.

However, one group commandeered by the Federation forces to assist their own depleted ranks were used for something much different. In orbit of the Moon and in the space between the planets crippled, but very much intact Minbari warships spun in place. Their systems and crew were in much the same condition – dead. Tractor beams and grapples linked Federation starships and Alliance tugs to the Sharlin, Tinashi, two Morshin patrol ships, and Liandra frigates both intact and shattered hulks would be of immense value to the Intel sides of both the EA and the Alliance forces.

The few salvageable ships were removed from the battlefields surrounding Earth and the lunar orbits while others were merely destroyed by the Federation's phaser banks, the torpedoes being too powerful for a mere clean-up job as it were. The salvage of the rest of the system would have to wait until the reinforcements from the rest of the Alliance came through, which would happen in about the days according to reports coming from Central command.

Those ships unable to be moved were destroyed by the defence satellites and ground based cannons on the Moon's surface. Dozens of phasers lanced out and cut the ships into pieces while a few torpedoes vaporised more of the smaller debris away from the more crowded and sensitive area. Intact and recoverable bodies were sifted out by transported for burial by the Alliance and the Federation.

It was disturbingly obvious however that most of the Alliance and Federation warships were beyond salvage and their only use would be as raw materials for rebuilding other ships and the damaged bases. Too many ships had been lost, just far too many.

Titan Base Command:

Sol System:

To say that the assault on the Titan base had gone well for the Alliance that day would be understatement. The trap for the Minbari had been set well in advance of the attack and had gone off superbly for the Alliance forces. However even with the Federation Marines, the EarthForce GROPOs and the shielding that had been included in the defences the local area was heavily damaged and entire sections of the base and the surrounding areas had been reduced to rubble and burnt away. Civilians had been killed, not by collateral damage, but because of purposeful, cold-blooded murder.

More and more Minbari warriors had orbit-dropped, attempting to take the base by force even with many of their ships blown out of the sky on the drop. Hundreds of Minbari troops were killed in the decent or even when the Federation's troops had ambushed entire contingents on the surface of the moon.

With the retreat of the last of the remaining Minbari forces, the remaining Minbari had been considered free game for the Earth Alliance Humans and their Federation allies. As such without reinforcements from the ships above and air superiority once again handed to the Alliance forces by retreat the massed forces of the Alliance had been able to reinforce their men. The Federation ships had managed to reinforce their troops quickly with the use of transporters and shuttles, the numbers dropped in were so vast that they were able to easily overwhelm and kill or capture most of the remaining Minbari warriors on the surface of Titan and inside the base itself.

The very few survivors were rounded up and beamed into a holding cell at the other side of the complex by the Federation starships in orbit. Only a few dozen survivors now stood or lay in the sealed chamber.

No doors, no windows and the very smallest of air circulation equipment meant that the Minbari would not be able to escape from the building unless allowed to by the orbiting starships. The Minbari were separated into smaller sections by portable force fields installed by the Starfleet engineers for just this eventuality. More so, a strip of the building was separated by duranium and transparent aluminium partitions allowing the Alliance Guards and Federation personnel to watch over the Minbari as necessary.

It was into this area that a trio of Federation and Alliance Officers were transported by the small Federation Oberth that was the primary watchdog vessel for the system, it's powerful science based sensor array allowing them to watch for any anomalies that may be in the area such as the vain attempts by the enemy to hide from their sensors. More and more there were concerns that the enigmatic race called the Vorlons were in the area, possibly even helping the Minbari given their rumoured close-knit relationship. No one was sure if that relationship was real or how close it really was but, the rumours had been consistently mentioned by many races and the Federation was sensitive about the situation. The ranking Federation officer of the three turned the thick glass-like metal from it's opaque colouring to crystal clear letting them see through to the Minbari prisoners and allowing them to see the Alliance members.

"We currently have sixty three healthy Minbari here." The Commander said. "Others are currently in holding cells on the moons, and aboard some of the larger fleet ships or aboard the medical cruisers. We've separated what we believe to be the officers from the other ranks."

"Humans," one of the Minbari said in his own language, the others looked up. "Those weak Humans and their lapdogs deserve what will come to them," the warrior muttered with absolute conviction.

"Would you deserve what you have coming to you then?" one of the Humans said over the intercom, the words coming out in perfect Minbari, looking at them, the Human in an Earth Alliance uniform sneered at them. "Another attack by your crippled naval forces or perhaps the attempted murder of another planet that has nothing to do with the war, bringing more people into the war against you?"

"Human, you dare talk to us your superiors?" His voice was strong but there was an undercurrent of fear pervasive in his speech.

"I dare talk to an anal retentive and moronic race that has nothing better to do than bully and kill races that don't bow down to them, or may have made a mistake or two against them. I dare talk back to a murderous and evil race that would care nothing for anyone including themselves."

"Speak with care, Human…" another Minbari snarled.

"Shut up Minbari I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to your incompetent commander over there. We're well aware of your rank Alyt, and that you were one of the ship commanders attacking this base. Well we know how useless your people are when any fair fight comes along against you."

"You will all be…"

"What Minbari? 'Wiped out?' The Minbari will 'have vengeance'? You had your chance when we were alone fighting you. That is over. Your people retreated leaving the remains of some of your best ships. We've been able to fight back against you effectively now this time and we'll do so again and again. We'll keep fighting until your people know what it's like to be on the edge of oblivion."

"A Human could not understand…"

"Then you care to enlighten us?"

"Colonel, please calm down," the third member of the party spoke up. "Alyt My name is Alexander Williams. I'm a Doctor aboard one of the Federation ships."

"Are we supposed to be impressed Doctor?" The title 'doctor' came out as a sneer from the mouth of the prisoner.

"Not really Alyt. I'm here to make sure that all of your people are in good health and do not require medical assistance."

"We will look after our own, Human," the loudmouthed Minbari said.

"This matters little." said one of the others, "You will not hold us here and you will get nothing out of us."

The Minbari grasped his own hand and snapped his wrist, the other Minbari instantly realising what their comrade was doing sat, in silence and waited for the end.

"That won't work, Warrior," said the Starfleet Commander, an Andorian with a scar down crossing his eye. "We detected the bomb inside your body and deactivated it via transport filters; the trigger is useless, as you have just found out."

Transporter? Those matter energy devises! They had used it on him and he hadn't even noticed! There would be no honourable death now. "Barbarians, you are all little but barbarians," he blurted out.

"You're the ones whom are trying to commit terrorist actions while imprisoned here. These actions don't make you seem much like the enlightened people that you claim to be, Minbari." the Starfleet Commander responded.

"You Humans do not understand."

"Understand what?" he asked. "Understand that you've decided to go to war with a species that could not hope to defend themselves so you could feel oh so big and powerful. Now that someone is fighting back that can defeat your proudest ships with impunity, you are frothing at the mouth."

"You shall pay for your insolent attitude."

"No Minbari. We won't pay for anything. We have fought against races a hell of a lot more powerful than you and your kind. We've held them back."

The Andorian glared through the transparency. "We've fought races that have ships that can wipe out entire planets in hours and we've stopped them. We've maintained the Federation and the peace for more than a hundred years using those ships up there and we were outnumbered and out-gunned."

The other Starfleet officer spoke up. "We've had the chance to wipe out entire races and destroy their worlds. We have had conflicts and we defended ourselves; but we have never even imagined murdering countless millions for one mistake, Minbari."

"The Humans attacked us without provocation, murdered our leader and they will pay the price and any one who helps them."

"Like your people just did?"

"You're comparing yourselves to us? We are nothing alike."

"You claim that you are nothing like us. You know, you're right. Your people murdered millions that have nothing to do with this war, a colony that was nothing more than a science outpost with minimal defences. There were families there, children, visitors, and sentients from races who had the opportunity to travel through space for the very first time. There were representatives from all over the Federation there. The Klingons had established one of the first real communities in our space. And everyone was safe until you murdering cowards came. If I were to compare you to anything then it would be more like scavengers than intelligent beings."

"You impertinent…"

"Calm down Minbari. You came to our homes and attacked us and we fought back and pushed your ships away. We're ready to defend to the last man, woman and child, any attack that comes our way from your fleet," the Commander snarled back. "We're able to fight back now."

"Maybe then the death of my fellow citizens located on Regulus will have gained some form of peace after their cold blooded and inhumane murders at the hands of a disgusting and parasitic little life form known as the Minbari," the Federation Officer said added.

The Federation Officer man laid a hand on the Andorian's arm. "It matters little Minbari. The entire naval forces of your people are not enough to stand up against us. They will be destroyed, piece by piece, if we have to. You will all be able to see it first hand."

The Colonel looked down at the Minbari from his position, his face set as stone. "If we have to, we will destroy your ships, your stations and your colonies. We will cripple your people as you have tried to do to us. And we can and will do this if we have to. We don't want to destroy your entire race Minbari but if we have to we will."

"You will not."

"Really? And why not?" asked the Colonel.

"We are Minbari."

"That's it? 'We are Minbari'. That's all you have to say?"

"It has been enough for a thousand years and it is enough now Human. If we are seriously threatened, the Vorlons will certainly take vengeance upon your people. They will not allow us to fall. We are the first line of defence against the coming darkness." He looked at the Humans and aliens. "And I see the darkness is already here."

So the Vorlons were somehow involved. "It may have been enough when you were fighting races that couldn't stop you," he said ignoring the Vorlon connection for now. "But now things are much different. Your reputation means nothing at all to our people and we are capable of stopping your people. And we will do so."

The EarthForce Colonel approached the thick clear transparent aluminium barrier that separated them from the Minbari and knocked on the partition. His face was grim and his voice dropped.

"We're sending you and most of your troops to prison. One of your ships will be made ready to go and your weakest and lowest ranking warriors will be sent back to your people with a message. We are coming Minbari and that, just like you, there is now very little you can do to stop us." The EarthForce officer approached the divide "You will watch as we destroy every one of your people that come up against us. You will know that you are all responsible for the destruction of every Minbari in space or on a planet, then one day you will all be gone and on that day we will have your vengeance."

The Federation officers, appalled by the Earth Force officer's statements, glared at them but said nothing.

"Williams to Transporter Control, three to beam out."

"Look upon my works ye mighty and despair," the Colonel said to the Minbari. "I have become Death destroyer of worlds and I say that we will destroy your worlds and we will have our vengeance."

They faded out of sight as the Federation transporters whipped them away and back to the main sections of the base far away from what had become a temporary prison complex.

Next: ISN commentary-The Earth Minbari war and its ramifications for the Future featuring an indepth interview with Ambassador Sarek of the United Federation of Planets