No Beast so Fierce.
Chapter 3
By Verbosity
Disclaimer: I own neither set of characters and I do not make profit from this little literary exercise.
Rating: PG 13 Category: Crossover. Babylon 5/ Star Trek: Enterprise.
Jon, Malcolm, Trip, T'Pol and Hoshi were gathered around the display table at the rear of the bridge.
The doors to the bridge hissed open and Travis darted through. "Sorry, sir."
Jon nodded and turned his attention to Malcolm. "Alright, Malcolm. Tell us what's going on."
"The communication channels are extremely busy, so we've managed to accumulate a fair amount of data." He tapped a few buttons on the console and brought up a picture on the display. "Thanks to several general broadcasts we have fair idea of the borders and the major races in this area. The Centauri, Narn, something called the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, the Minbari and Humans."
Jon pointed to a blank section of the chart. "What's that?"
"Something referred to as the Vorlon Empire."
"Where in there?" Trip asked. "That's a lot of space."
"Ah," Malcolm hesitated. "All of it, sir."
Everyone stared at him. "All of it?"
"Yes, sir."
That's gotta be a hundreds of light-years across-"
"It extends off the chart."
Trip looked at the chart, then at Malcolm, and then back at the chart. "Please tell me that they're not the one's Earth is havin' problems with."
"No," Malcolm said. Reaching out he narrowed the focus of the chart. "That would be the Minbari. Which by most accounts is almost as bad. The Minbari are one of the older races in the area. They've apparently been in space for more than a thousand years. We haven't been able to nail down exactly how long. But considering Humans have been in space less than three hundred years."
Jon stopped him. "Three hundred?"
Hoshi said, "Yes, sir. The year in this universe is 2247."
"Dimensional travel and time travel," Trip said. "Great."
Jon looked at T'Pol. She was staring at the chart and he could sense her mind turning over the new information.
"Sir, the Minbari are much more advanced than Earth." He paused and then started again. "Apparently the problem happened during first contact. An Earth ship opened fire on a Minbari vessel."
Jon grimaced at the thought; first contact situations were touchy at best, but he'd managed to avoid shooting anyone. So far.
Malcolm went on. "The Minbari went berserk and, moving inward, began to systematically eliminate human colonies. They may have had some justification at first, sir. But all this is now is slaughter. Considering the technology differences. Well, it's like us trying to fight the Vulcans. And, unfortunately," he tapped a point on the screen. "This is where we are."
The point was in Minbari space. Not within light-years of any systems, but well within their claimed territory.
"And, if a Minbari ship were to come across us," Travis asked. "Then they'd shoot first and ask questions later?"
Malcolm nodded. "That's what it looks like Ensign."
"Malcolm," Jon said. "What does the technological situation look like? Who are we ahead of, who are we behind?"
"It's a little hard to tell from news reports and broadcasts sir, but I'd have to say we're ahead of Earth, in spite of their time advantage. But, I believe we're behind the Minbari. As to the other races, I don't have enough information to tell. Technology levels seem to vary pretty widely."
Jon stood silently staring down at the star chart. Command school had never included a situation quite like this. He looked back up and moved his gaze from face to face. They looked back at him with varying expressions. This was his crew; whatever else was happening out there his first priority was them.
"All right people. Here's what we're going to do. Malcolm, Hoshi, keep gathering information. Malcolm, I want tactical analysis. Hoshi, compile information on the various races. Trip, when are those long range sensors back online?"
"Should be tomorrow."
"Good. Up to this point you've been doing repairs." Jon looked from Trip to T'Pol. "Can we upgrade our systems from the Shirasna? Not just repair but bring them up to a Vulcan grade of operation?"
The two exchanged a look.
Trip said, "From what I've seen so far? More or less."
"Without a Vulcan technology base to support them many of the systems would not operate as efficiently," T'Pol said. "And there are systems that would not be compatible with ours. But they would be considerably more effective than Human."
"Any improvement is good. Get to it."
* * *
Jon looked over the reports. T'Pol's constant presence in his mind was a muted hum. It had been getting easier, over the last two weeks. Part of it was that he was just getting used to it, his mind was settling into shape around hers. But he'd also been utilizing the management techniques she'd shown him. Meditation was quite a departure from his normal routine.
Trip and T'Pol had been working extravagantly, with engineering shifts around the clock. According to their latest report they had upgraded the warp core and, in fact, the entire warp system. Trip was betting they could top warp six point three. The enhanced reactor meant more power available for other systems, which was good, because the modified phasers were power hogs, to say nothing of the enhanced hull plating. The plating utilized so much power that it couldn't be run at maximum while the warp drive was engaged. But even at a lower power level it was still stronger that the original system. They'd used some of the Shirasna's force field generators to reinforce the plating after concluding that generating full deflector shields was beyond the power range of the Enterprise's reactors.
The long-range sensors had revealed a wealth of information. The Minbari had a large Federation, filled with multiple colony worlds and even some other races here and there. Their interstellar drive was based upon hyperspace. At least that's what the broadcasts said. The Enterprises sensors lost track of their ships as soon as they entered those energy vortices. The method of travel bypassed normal space entirely, rather than modifying it as warp drive did. Due to the distances involved the sensors, even enhanced as they were, were unable to resolve much about the Minbari's ships and technology.
The door chime sounded and pulled his attention away from the screen.
"Enter."
Trip stepped through the door. "Capt'n, we're about ready to test the warp drive."
"Good. I'd like to start moving within the week."
"I'm pretty sure we can manage that."
Seeing the expression on Trips face he asked, "Is there something else?"
"Yeah," Trip's voce was tinged with excitement as he said, "Looking over the Vulcan systems something I had been working on earlier came to mind. You know the cloaking device on the Suliban cell ship?"
He felt his eyebrows shoot up. "Can you get that to work?"
"Not exactly. With some materials from the Vulcan ship I can put together a sorta partial version. More like a stealth field than a cloaking device. We wouldn't be invisible but, to active sensors we would simply be a hole in space, much harder to target. No energy emissions, nada."
Jon thought about it for a few seconds and then asked, "It wouldn't detract from the essential projects?"
"Not a bit. I just have to set up the field generator. And the energy requirement is minimal; depending on how it works out it could actually be a net energy generator. I could probably hook it in with the same circuit as life support."
"Do it. Like I said before, any advantage is good."
* * *
T'Pol walked through the echoing corridors of the Shirasna. The ship was little more than a collection of parts; the Enterprise engineering teams having stripped away everything they could use. The corridors were empty now, the teams having returned to the Enterprise, their tasks complete.
She stopped in front of the cargo bay doors and, reaching out, keyed the lock. The doors pulled open and ice-cold air rolled over her. The lights turned on as she stepped forward, the doors closing behind her, illuminating the rows of still figures that were laid out with careful precision.
Her people.
Two hundred and forty six Vulcans who would never return to their home, their katra's consigned to the winds.
"Ke'l ta'reh selya, Sulaya."
Her words echoed in the bay and fell into silence in the shadowed corners. The stillness stretched on and she found herself irrationally reluctant to leave, the shades in this room were her only connection to home. To leave would be to be alone in this universe, a single Vulcan without a people.
The bond tugged at her. Pulling her away from her dead kinsmen, back toward life. Captain Archer. Jonathan. The being she was now joined to, weather she wished or not.
The doors opened again her, but she didn't need to look. Strange. She hadn't sensed that he was on the ship.
The Captain stepped up beside her. He stood in silence for long seconds, his gaze moving over the forms that occupied the floor. After a moment he spoke softly, saying, "The charges have been set. Everything is ready."
She nodded.
He was quiet for another moment, she could feel his sympathy, then he said, "Take as long as you need." He stepped away and left the room.
* * *
The view screen sowed the Shirasna floating at rest as Enterprise moved away. Jon knew the screens around the ship were showing the same view.
Malcolm suddenly spoke up from his station. "Five thousand kilometers, sir."
Jon nodded, acknowledging that. Taking a deep breath he hit the general address button on the com and began to speak. "Humans have thought many things of the Vulcans over the century we have known them. We have, at times thought that they were irritating or condescending, at times we have thought that they were holding us back." He turned his head to look at T'pol as she sat at her station regarding him. "But one thing we have never doubted, is their good will. They are a people concerned with the good of others. Caught up in our emotion over them we often forgot that they never had to help us. They never had to assist us in pulling out of the chaos and destruction of the Third World War. They never had to introduce us to the many races that lived in the universe around us. But they did. And they continued to try and watch over us, to keep us from harm, even as we stepped out into that universe.
He paused her for a long moment and looked at the Shirasna drifting in space. "The crew of the Shirasna is dead. In circumstances neither we nor they could control. But even in death they have helped us. So let us honor that assistance. By surviving, by living to find a way home, and taking their memory back to their people."
He fully faced the screen and stood at attention, the bridge crew followed his example. He regarded the ship on the screen for a long moment and then said, "T'Pol."
His sense of her was muted, her emotions carefully suppressed. She said, "Mr. Reed, fire."
The single photon torpedo streaked outward. It impacted the hull of the Shirasna in precisely the planned spot, as it bloomed into eye-searing brilliance the planted internal charges detonated and the ship dissolved into an expanding fireball.
Jon remained at attention until all that remained was bits of debris and traces of plasma then he turned back to his crew and said, "All right people. Let get on our way."
* * *
Jon stared out the porthole at the illusory streaking of the stars. It gave a feeling of swift motion to the ship that, even at the multiples of light it was traveling, was relatively stationary with respect to those distant lights. Taking his gaze from the distance he focused on the curve of the hull. The normal gray tones were gone, replaced with a dark charcoal color. It wasn't paint, exactly, it was a part of the hull plating upgrades that Trip and T'Pol had come up with. It was a conduction material that had been magnetically worked into the hull surface. It helped to contain the fields created by the new generator integrated into the hull plating. The result was a force field that was contained within the physical structure of the plating itself. It was a fair bit stronger than the standard polarized plating.
They had not had the opportunity to repaint the numerical designation and name of the ship on the hull. At the moment it was devoid of any markings. He was debating keeping it that way for now. Given their situation he felt it might be best to remain unidentified by anyone who came across them, human or otherwise, at least until they were certain of their relations. But he knew they would have to get help from someone eventually.
His attention was drawn to T'Pol. Her mind had become abruptly focused, as if she were concentrating intently upon something. He had been able to deal with her presence on a day-to-day basis, but whenever there was some shift in her mental state he found his attention drawn to it.
He'd inquired if she experienced something similar. She told him that, yes, she did, but that the Vulcan brain was functionally different and was able to multi-task much more easily. So it wasn't distracting in the same manner to her as it was to him. However, what did disrupt her equilibrium were his emotions. She had been trained all her life to control hers but he hadn't, and now she had to deal with his while having no control over them. It was a situation, she'd confessed, that she often found uncomfortable.
He sighed, turning away from the view port. They were having to learn to live with each other. She was doing a lot of extra meditating. Meditations he was having to learn.
Something had been nagging him about her behavior recently. Her response to him had changed subtly. He was still trying to figure exactly what it was, but it was definitely there. Just not in public. In view of the crew she didn't give a single indication that the bond existed.
She had said something about instincts involved in the formation of the bond, but she hadn't been specific. He'd have to talk to her about it again soon.
He suddenly realized that her attention had turned to him. That was something he'd been coming to recognize of late; her mind felt subtly different when it was focused on him.
A moment later the com sounded, "T'Pol to Archer."
He answered it. "Archer here."
"Captain, would you come to the bridge?"
"I'll be right there."
He exited the office, stepping out onto the bridge. T'Pol rose from the central chair and said, "We are passing within a light-year of one of the Minbari's colonies. We are, by all indications well out of their sensor range, but close enough for us to obtain high-resolution subspace scans."
"Will they pick it up?"
She indicated negative. "I do not believe so. Or at most they will detect a small non-localized energy surge of indeterminate origin. Without knowledge of subspace science and technology they should be unable to ascertain what it is or where it is coming from."
He glanced over to Malcolm who was waiting expectantly. "Do it."
Malcolm turned his attention to the console, and as Jon took his seat T'Pol returned to the science station and began to analyze the readings herself.
He waited quietly as his two officers scanned and analyzed. As the minutes passed he got to his feet and began to pace around the bridge. Stopping by Hoshi he asked, "What kind of communications are you picking up?"
She looked up at him saying, "Basic chatter mostly. I've been working out their language structures. They've got several."
"The three castes you mentioned in your report?"
"Even more languages than that sir, but those are the main three used. Most of the traffic I can hear is in one of the three."
"That you can pick up?"
"Well, the tachyon bursts are pretty directional, so were probably not picking up a lot of them. And then there are the military communications. Those are encrypted. Malcolm and I haven't been able to crack them. We- whoa!"
He started at her exclamation. "What?"
He hand was holding her earpiece firmly against her ear as she said, "There's been a sudden burst of encrypted traffic."
T'Pol, suddenly, spoke. "I am picking up the formation of a spatial anomaly in the inner solar system. It appears to be what they term a "jump point". I am putting it on screen."
Jon turned toward the view screen. The system wasn't actually in visual range, but the computer could approximate images from the sensor readings.
A circular rift had formed in space, a couple thousand meters across, and as they watched ships began to emerge.
"Good lord," Malcolm said. "Those are monsters."
The ships emerging from the rift were titanic, multiple vessels more than fifteen hundred meters long. The single largest vessel was in the center of the group, surrounded by four slightly smaller ones of the same design. Other smaller ships accompanied the larger vessels, probably support ships of some kind.
"They look like angelfish," Travis said.
Hoshi glanced at him from her station and said, "Judging from the previous transmissions these are Sharlin class war cruisers. But the one in the middle looks like it has several differences."
Jon looked away from the screen and said, "Malcolm, T'Pol see what you can pick up about them. I want to know their capabilities: defense, weapons, propulsion, everything. And Malcolm, compare it to the data you've already put together from the broadcasts."
"Aye, Sir."
Chapter 3
By Verbosity
Disclaimer: I own neither set of characters and I do not make profit from this little literary exercise.
Rating: PG 13 Category: Crossover. Babylon 5/ Star Trek: Enterprise.
Jon, Malcolm, Trip, T'Pol and Hoshi were gathered around the display table at the rear of the bridge.
The doors to the bridge hissed open and Travis darted through. "Sorry, sir."
Jon nodded and turned his attention to Malcolm. "Alright, Malcolm. Tell us what's going on."
"The communication channels are extremely busy, so we've managed to accumulate a fair amount of data." He tapped a few buttons on the console and brought up a picture on the display. "Thanks to several general broadcasts we have fair idea of the borders and the major races in this area. The Centauri, Narn, something called the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, the Minbari and Humans."
Jon pointed to a blank section of the chart. "What's that?"
"Something referred to as the Vorlon Empire."
"Where in there?" Trip asked. "That's a lot of space."
"Ah," Malcolm hesitated. "All of it, sir."
Everyone stared at him. "All of it?"
"Yes, sir."
That's gotta be a hundreds of light-years across-"
"It extends off the chart."
Trip looked at the chart, then at Malcolm, and then back at the chart. "Please tell me that they're not the one's Earth is havin' problems with."
"No," Malcolm said. Reaching out he narrowed the focus of the chart. "That would be the Minbari. Which by most accounts is almost as bad. The Minbari are one of the older races in the area. They've apparently been in space for more than a thousand years. We haven't been able to nail down exactly how long. But considering Humans have been in space less than three hundred years."
Jon stopped him. "Three hundred?"
Hoshi said, "Yes, sir. The year in this universe is 2247."
"Dimensional travel and time travel," Trip said. "Great."
Jon looked at T'Pol. She was staring at the chart and he could sense her mind turning over the new information.
"Sir, the Minbari are much more advanced than Earth." He paused and then started again. "Apparently the problem happened during first contact. An Earth ship opened fire on a Minbari vessel."
Jon grimaced at the thought; first contact situations were touchy at best, but he'd managed to avoid shooting anyone. So far.
Malcolm went on. "The Minbari went berserk and, moving inward, began to systematically eliminate human colonies. They may have had some justification at first, sir. But all this is now is slaughter. Considering the technology differences. Well, it's like us trying to fight the Vulcans. And, unfortunately," he tapped a point on the screen. "This is where we are."
The point was in Minbari space. Not within light-years of any systems, but well within their claimed territory.
"And, if a Minbari ship were to come across us," Travis asked. "Then they'd shoot first and ask questions later?"
Malcolm nodded. "That's what it looks like Ensign."
"Malcolm," Jon said. "What does the technological situation look like? Who are we ahead of, who are we behind?"
"It's a little hard to tell from news reports and broadcasts sir, but I'd have to say we're ahead of Earth, in spite of their time advantage. But, I believe we're behind the Minbari. As to the other races, I don't have enough information to tell. Technology levels seem to vary pretty widely."
Jon stood silently staring down at the star chart. Command school had never included a situation quite like this. He looked back up and moved his gaze from face to face. They looked back at him with varying expressions. This was his crew; whatever else was happening out there his first priority was them.
"All right people. Here's what we're going to do. Malcolm, Hoshi, keep gathering information. Malcolm, I want tactical analysis. Hoshi, compile information on the various races. Trip, when are those long range sensors back online?"
"Should be tomorrow."
"Good. Up to this point you've been doing repairs." Jon looked from Trip to T'Pol. "Can we upgrade our systems from the Shirasna? Not just repair but bring them up to a Vulcan grade of operation?"
The two exchanged a look.
Trip said, "From what I've seen so far? More or less."
"Without a Vulcan technology base to support them many of the systems would not operate as efficiently," T'Pol said. "And there are systems that would not be compatible with ours. But they would be considerably more effective than Human."
"Any improvement is good. Get to it."
* * *
Jon looked over the reports. T'Pol's constant presence in his mind was a muted hum. It had been getting easier, over the last two weeks. Part of it was that he was just getting used to it, his mind was settling into shape around hers. But he'd also been utilizing the management techniques she'd shown him. Meditation was quite a departure from his normal routine.
Trip and T'Pol had been working extravagantly, with engineering shifts around the clock. According to their latest report they had upgraded the warp core and, in fact, the entire warp system. Trip was betting they could top warp six point three. The enhanced reactor meant more power available for other systems, which was good, because the modified phasers were power hogs, to say nothing of the enhanced hull plating. The plating utilized so much power that it couldn't be run at maximum while the warp drive was engaged. But even at a lower power level it was still stronger that the original system. They'd used some of the Shirasna's force field generators to reinforce the plating after concluding that generating full deflector shields was beyond the power range of the Enterprise's reactors.
The long-range sensors had revealed a wealth of information. The Minbari had a large Federation, filled with multiple colony worlds and even some other races here and there. Their interstellar drive was based upon hyperspace. At least that's what the broadcasts said. The Enterprises sensors lost track of their ships as soon as they entered those energy vortices. The method of travel bypassed normal space entirely, rather than modifying it as warp drive did. Due to the distances involved the sensors, even enhanced as they were, were unable to resolve much about the Minbari's ships and technology.
The door chime sounded and pulled his attention away from the screen.
"Enter."
Trip stepped through the door. "Capt'n, we're about ready to test the warp drive."
"Good. I'd like to start moving within the week."
"I'm pretty sure we can manage that."
Seeing the expression on Trips face he asked, "Is there something else?"
"Yeah," Trip's voce was tinged with excitement as he said, "Looking over the Vulcan systems something I had been working on earlier came to mind. You know the cloaking device on the Suliban cell ship?"
He felt his eyebrows shoot up. "Can you get that to work?"
"Not exactly. With some materials from the Vulcan ship I can put together a sorta partial version. More like a stealth field than a cloaking device. We wouldn't be invisible but, to active sensors we would simply be a hole in space, much harder to target. No energy emissions, nada."
Jon thought about it for a few seconds and then asked, "It wouldn't detract from the essential projects?"
"Not a bit. I just have to set up the field generator. And the energy requirement is minimal; depending on how it works out it could actually be a net energy generator. I could probably hook it in with the same circuit as life support."
"Do it. Like I said before, any advantage is good."
* * *
T'Pol walked through the echoing corridors of the Shirasna. The ship was little more than a collection of parts; the Enterprise engineering teams having stripped away everything they could use. The corridors were empty now, the teams having returned to the Enterprise, their tasks complete.
She stopped in front of the cargo bay doors and, reaching out, keyed the lock. The doors pulled open and ice-cold air rolled over her. The lights turned on as she stepped forward, the doors closing behind her, illuminating the rows of still figures that were laid out with careful precision.
Her people.
Two hundred and forty six Vulcans who would never return to their home, their katra's consigned to the winds.
"Ke'l ta'reh selya, Sulaya."
Her words echoed in the bay and fell into silence in the shadowed corners. The stillness stretched on and she found herself irrationally reluctant to leave, the shades in this room were her only connection to home. To leave would be to be alone in this universe, a single Vulcan without a people.
The bond tugged at her. Pulling her away from her dead kinsmen, back toward life. Captain Archer. Jonathan. The being she was now joined to, weather she wished or not.
The doors opened again her, but she didn't need to look. Strange. She hadn't sensed that he was on the ship.
The Captain stepped up beside her. He stood in silence for long seconds, his gaze moving over the forms that occupied the floor. After a moment he spoke softly, saying, "The charges have been set. Everything is ready."
She nodded.
He was quiet for another moment, she could feel his sympathy, then he said, "Take as long as you need." He stepped away and left the room.
* * *
The view screen sowed the Shirasna floating at rest as Enterprise moved away. Jon knew the screens around the ship were showing the same view.
Malcolm suddenly spoke up from his station. "Five thousand kilometers, sir."
Jon nodded, acknowledging that. Taking a deep breath he hit the general address button on the com and began to speak. "Humans have thought many things of the Vulcans over the century we have known them. We have, at times thought that they were irritating or condescending, at times we have thought that they were holding us back." He turned his head to look at T'pol as she sat at her station regarding him. "But one thing we have never doubted, is their good will. They are a people concerned with the good of others. Caught up in our emotion over them we often forgot that they never had to help us. They never had to assist us in pulling out of the chaos and destruction of the Third World War. They never had to introduce us to the many races that lived in the universe around us. But they did. And they continued to try and watch over us, to keep us from harm, even as we stepped out into that universe.
He paused her for a long moment and looked at the Shirasna drifting in space. "The crew of the Shirasna is dead. In circumstances neither we nor they could control. But even in death they have helped us. So let us honor that assistance. By surviving, by living to find a way home, and taking their memory back to their people."
He fully faced the screen and stood at attention, the bridge crew followed his example. He regarded the ship on the screen for a long moment and then said, "T'Pol."
His sense of her was muted, her emotions carefully suppressed. She said, "Mr. Reed, fire."
The single photon torpedo streaked outward. It impacted the hull of the Shirasna in precisely the planned spot, as it bloomed into eye-searing brilliance the planted internal charges detonated and the ship dissolved into an expanding fireball.
Jon remained at attention until all that remained was bits of debris and traces of plasma then he turned back to his crew and said, "All right people. Let get on our way."
* * *
Jon stared out the porthole at the illusory streaking of the stars. It gave a feeling of swift motion to the ship that, even at the multiples of light it was traveling, was relatively stationary with respect to those distant lights. Taking his gaze from the distance he focused on the curve of the hull. The normal gray tones were gone, replaced with a dark charcoal color. It wasn't paint, exactly, it was a part of the hull plating upgrades that Trip and T'Pol had come up with. It was a conduction material that had been magnetically worked into the hull surface. It helped to contain the fields created by the new generator integrated into the hull plating. The result was a force field that was contained within the physical structure of the plating itself. It was a fair bit stronger than the standard polarized plating.
They had not had the opportunity to repaint the numerical designation and name of the ship on the hull. At the moment it was devoid of any markings. He was debating keeping it that way for now. Given their situation he felt it might be best to remain unidentified by anyone who came across them, human or otherwise, at least until they were certain of their relations. But he knew they would have to get help from someone eventually.
His attention was drawn to T'Pol. Her mind had become abruptly focused, as if she were concentrating intently upon something. He had been able to deal with her presence on a day-to-day basis, but whenever there was some shift in her mental state he found his attention drawn to it.
He'd inquired if she experienced something similar. She told him that, yes, she did, but that the Vulcan brain was functionally different and was able to multi-task much more easily. So it wasn't distracting in the same manner to her as it was to him. However, what did disrupt her equilibrium were his emotions. She had been trained all her life to control hers but he hadn't, and now she had to deal with his while having no control over them. It was a situation, she'd confessed, that she often found uncomfortable.
He sighed, turning away from the view port. They were having to learn to live with each other. She was doing a lot of extra meditating. Meditations he was having to learn.
Something had been nagging him about her behavior recently. Her response to him had changed subtly. He was still trying to figure exactly what it was, but it was definitely there. Just not in public. In view of the crew she didn't give a single indication that the bond existed.
She had said something about instincts involved in the formation of the bond, but she hadn't been specific. He'd have to talk to her about it again soon.
He suddenly realized that her attention had turned to him. That was something he'd been coming to recognize of late; her mind felt subtly different when it was focused on him.
A moment later the com sounded, "T'Pol to Archer."
He answered it. "Archer here."
"Captain, would you come to the bridge?"
"I'll be right there."
He exited the office, stepping out onto the bridge. T'Pol rose from the central chair and said, "We are passing within a light-year of one of the Minbari's colonies. We are, by all indications well out of their sensor range, but close enough for us to obtain high-resolution subspace scans."
"Will they pick it up?"
She indicated negative. "I do not believe so. Or at most they will detect a small non-localized energy surge of indeterminate origin. Without knowledge of subspace science and technology they should be unable to ascertain what it is or where it is coming from."
He glanced over to Malcolm who was waiting expectantly. "Do it."
Malcolm turned his attention to the console, and as Jon took his seat T'Pol returned to the science station and began to analyze the readings herself.
He waited quietly as his two officers scanned and analyzed. As the minutes passed he got to his feet and began to pace around the bridge. Stopping by Hoshi he asked, "What kind of communications are you picking up?"
She looked up at him saying, "Basic chatter mostly. I've been working out their language structures. They've got several."
"The three castes you mentioned in your report?"
"Even more languages than that sir, but those are the main three used. Most of the traffic I can hear is in one of the three."
"That you can pick up?"
"Well, the tachyon bursts are pretty directional, so were probably not picking up a lot of them. And then there are the military communications. Those are encrypted. Malcolm and I haven't been able to crack them. We- whoa!"
He started at her exclamation. "What?"
He hand was holding her earpiece firmly against her ear as she said, "There's been a sudden burst of encrypted traffic."
T'Pol, suddenly, spoke. "I am picking up the formation of a spatial anomaly in the inner solar system. It appears to be what they term a "jump point". I am putting it on screen."
Jon turned toward the view screen. The system wasn't actually in visual range, but the computer could approximate images from the sensor readings.
A circular rift had formed in space, a couple thousand meters across, and as they watched ships began to emerge.
"Good lord," Malcolm said. "Those are monsters."
The ships emerging from the rift were titanic, multiple vessels more than fifteen hundred meters long. The single largest vessel was in the center of the group, surrounded by four slightly smaller ones of the same design. Other smaller ships accompanied the larger vessels, probably support ships of some kind.
"They look like angelfish," Travis said.
Hoshi glanced at him from her station and said, "Judging from the previous transmissions these are Sharlin class war cruisers. But the one in the middle looks like it has several differences."
Jon looked away from the screen and said, "Malcolm, T'Pol see what you can pick up about them. I want to know their capabilities: defense, weapons, propulsion, everything. And Malcolm, compare it to the data you've already put together from the broadcasts."
"Aye, Sir."
