Disclaimer: Babylon5 is not mine. I own only the OC.

A/N: Blatant AU

Warnings: SLASH/YAOI, in future chapters mentions of torture and (not graphic) NCS, a lot of swearing too.

Big thank you to Stephanie for the beta.

Chapter 4: Remember the Fear

Lennier was not a malicious person and to get him angry was a feat worth mentioning. And right now the usually mellow minbari was very angry and confused even scared though he didn`t want to admit it to himself. He was angry at Marcus who he had considered a very close acquaintance if not perhaps not a close friend.

Both he and Marcus had many things in common. Their love for their respective works: Lennier as Delenn's aide and Marcus as a respected ranger.  They both had unrequited love interests: Lennier loved Delenn with his whole heart and Marcus loved Susan. And they both would have died to protect Delenn.

But now Lennier was not sure about the last point and that made him angry. Marcus had been cold to his beloved Delenn and that was not an easy thing to understand because it did not make any sense. Marcus had fought Denn Sha to protect Delenn's life from that bastard Neroon and his superior Shakiri, who had given the order to stop Delenn at any means necessary. And now... well now Marcus behaved like Delenn was the plague itself or like she was below him and that did not sit well with Lennier.

Lennier knew that Marcus had loved Delenn like a mentor before the silence and now he didn't like the changes he saw in the ranger towards the female. There was no hint of love left, only hate, disgust and rage. He didn't understand the change because he didn't see any cause for it. Delenn hadn't sent Marcus to any missions, nor ordered to do something unethical before the silence, so there should not be any reasons for such behaviour from the favoured ranger of the Anla Shoc.

Still, the behaviour was there and that scared Lennier to his core because Marcus could be dangerous. He could do something drastic towards Delenn. After all they were now in same territory namely Babylon5 and not a lot of space was between Delenn and Marcus. The ranger plainly hated Delenn, everyone could see that and it would be unreasonable to think that such hate would not call for some evil deeds. Marcus was a skilled spy and it would be no hardship for him to break into Delenn's rooms and hurt her or --even worse-- kill her.

So Lennier was worried and angry. Worried because his beloved was in danger, angry because the danger came from the last person Lennier thought would ever turn against Delenn. Lennier did not like to be frightened. The last time he was so scared was in the Earth-Minbari war when all Minbari hated and feared the name of Earth Protector Ash and his Blessed Triad. Even now eight years after the war the names of Ash and his triad were feared and cursed by all Minbari. Though with the fear was mixed some gruding respect from the warrior caste because to be honest Ash and his Triad were geniuses in warfare strategy.Everyone on Minbar knew when the war was going on that humans would lose. Not because of their lack of skill --as was the widely spread opinion-- but because of their lack of technology.

When the war began all minabri were sure that it would be over in two weeks, if not sooner. They were confident that the Humans didn't stand a chance and that no lives would be lost on their own side. The reasoning was good. How could humans win when they were behind about three thousand years in technology? It was also a widely known fact by all races that humans hadn't been in a space war before. Yes, they had some ships but they didn't have the experience nor the knowledge how to fight in space. And how could such puny creatures know anything about fighting? So it was simple logic that the Minbari wold just go and take over, in Human terms 'veni vidi vici'. Easy...

But in reality the Minbari were proven wrong. Very wrong. When the war began it was not over in two weeks as was the plan, but it lasted for over a year and a half. Not that the Humans had a chance to win, no , with their technology it was just not possible. Still, during the war, the Minbari soon understood if the Humans would have been a little more advanced, the outcome would not have been so sure. The Minbari also understood that Humans could fight really well and the reason for that was their military leadership.

Namely one Earth Protector Ash and his Blessed Triad. Four warfare geniuses who were the first persons in a long time to make the Minbari feel real fear for themselves.

When the Minbari made their first frontal assault, they were quite surprised in their discovery that Humans just didn't give up or that they were not that easy to kill like they thought it would be. Their strategy was new to the Minbari and superior to other races they had fought with before. The ideas the Humans used were weird, sometimes even absurd but most of the times they worked. The Minbari had to work very hard for every inch of new territory because humans fought them with teeth and nails.

Which surprised the Minbari the most was the fact that there were losses on both sides. Big losses. For every twenty Humans one Minbari would die. And when taking into account the fact that births on Minbar had decreased in the last centuries that was not a good thing. Humans were like ants, there was so many of them. Kill hundred and another hundred would take their place. The Minbari didn't have the luxury nor reserves to waste their soldiers' lives like that.

The last war with even bigger losses, was the Shadow War before the coming of Valen. And now some puny creatures who had been in space less than three centuries, who hadn't even fought in space before, killed Minbari in amounts that should not have been possible --with their lack of knowledge and experience-- was astonishing.

And kill they did, with tricks and cunning and sometimes it seemed with sheer luck. All Minbari still remembered the day when during one of their assults all their fleet ships stopped working because Ash and his Triad had somehow spread a computer virus called 'Sleeping Beauty' on their warships. It locked their weapons and all navigations systems, an the Humans just would have had to chose a ship to fire at. Luckily the Humans weren't able to destroy any ships before help came. So officially no Minbari died in that encouter. What the wider public (namely Humans and all the other races) did not know was that the virus also shut down the lifesupport on the ships and many Minbari died from the lack of  air before help arrived. The virus was signed by Earth Protector Ash and the Blessed Triad. That was the first of several similar incidents. Soon these names were feared and hated by all Minbari.

Another day in their history that all Minbari remembered was when they discovered that one of their warrior clans was almost entirely extinguished. 80% of the clan was wiped out with poison. How the poison was delivered into the barracks and battleships or how it was given to the entire clan at the same time  was still an unknown fact. When the problem was discovered it was already too late to save most of the warriors and only 20% survived. Again a signature was found. Again it was signed by Earth Protector Ash and the Blessed Triad. The fact that the wiped out clan was the most fanatic one about the war did not go unnoticed by the Minbari. This incident was also unknown to the wider public.

Soon the names Ash, Silver, Golden and Bronze were curses used in Minbari. They were feared and hated by the entire race but also respected because none had ever given such vicious blows to the Minbari defense before.

What caused a lot of panic on Minbar was the fact that no-one knew who these four guys were, what they looked like, where their headquarters were. It was a logical conclusion that these were not their real names but pseudonyms used for their work. The only facts known about the Earth military leaders was that they were the brains behind Human defense and that they led the human spaceships. Everything else was a guess. It made the Minbari angry that they could not kill the leaders and have an easy victory.

Still the Minbari were sure that they would win the war but the costs would be higher than they thought they would be. The Minbari could not give up, their honor demanded it. Humans had killed Dukhat, one of their greatest leaders born on Minbar after Valen, and his loss had to be paid for with blood... human blood. The loss of Dukhat and other Minbari warriors was a bitter pill to swallow but still the outcome was a sure thing. Humans just didn't have the technology to resist for much longer. When finally the war seemed to near its end with the Minbari winning, another tragedy struck and at the same time a surprise was discovered.

The tragedy was, when John Sheridan destroyed the battleship called Blackstar. It was supposed to be invincible. Minbari just couldn't understand how this pathetic race could cause them so much mourning. Minbari mad with grief increased their attacks. The victory was almost reached, it was only a matter of days now when the Humans would be wiped out entirely, the defence of their planet breached. So the Grey Council decided to take one specimen and look into its mind to see what these were made from, what made them tick.

What they discovered shocked and surprised them. That would be the great surprise. When the Grey Council took Jeffrey Sinclair as their toy for mindgames they were not expecting to find  Valens soul  in Human body. But that just was what happened. That meant that some humans had Minbari souls among them. When they saw that they were killing the other half of themselves the horror was unimaginable. Minbari do not kill Minbari. This was one of their greatest rules in their society but now they had broken it. Humans were not Minbari in body but in soul and so the entire race of Minbari had sinned against their main rule of life. The war had to be stopped immediately and a hasty peace agreement was made. The Babylon project was started.

Still the war had caused a lot of damage and hate was not an easy thing to overcome on both sides. Bitterness and losses were in everyones' minds but it was time to try to move on. Minbari from the religious caste were the ones who embraced their newfound human brothers the easiest, the worker caste did not know what to think and were divided in their opinion but the warrior caste did not accept the news well. They were the ones with the biggest losses and the deaths of loved ones were not easily forgiven or forgotten.

Peace came after Earth goverment and Earths military agreed to it. Protector Ash and his Triad was never heard of again --the four dissapeared into thin air. The Minbari found Valen again and knew with it that the Shadows were coming back and therefor knew that the Shadows were coming back and started to prepare for the second Shadow war.

Lennier rememberd the fear that engulfed everything during the Earth-Minbari war and now he feared like that again and he didn't like it at all. He had hoped the war would be the last time in his life when he would feel such a terror again but it seemed as if the universe had different thoughts about it. He led Marcus and his escorts to the rangers new rooms while pondering over what to do about his fear for Delenn's safety. Things could not stay like that.

Finally they reached the doors. Lennier typed in the password and entered with Marcus and his escorts in tow. "Well, this would be your living place Marcus. I do hope you like them," Lennier said calmly.

Marcus just stood in the middle of the rooms and didn't give a sign if he was listening at all to what was said to him. He waited until his escorts put his bags down, bowed to him and went out of his quarters. Lennier stayed behind and so Marcus looked at him expectantly.

Finally Delenn's aid said:" Right now your door password is 'welcome home'. You can change it. Since you still are the offical ranger of Babylon5, the Anla Shoc expects you to come to the weekly meetings. After every two weeks you will go and visit Dr Stephen Franklin and he looks you over. That would be all. Have a nice evening." That said, Lennier turned around and also left the rooms to go back to Delenn.

Marcus stood like a statue in the middle of his rooms for quite some time. After a while he slowly walked to his computer and changed all passwords for his living place. Then he walked into the kitchen space and looked it over with a critical eye afterward did the same thing with bathroom. Finally after looking over the living room he stepped into the bedroom and suddenly stopped when he saw the Minbari sleeping platform. He growled and went back into the bathroom, took a towel, wetted it and went with a purposeful stride back towards his bed. He used the wet rag to get his sleeping place vertical while still growling. Suddenly the growling stopped when he noticed the flower arrangement on his bedroom dresser. In a vase there were three entwined roses: one white, one yellow and one red. Around the vase on the dresser black rose petals were scattered. After seeing this Marcus smiled. Things were finally looking up to him.

TBC...