Chapter 13
In the Hot Seat
The same time that Delenn shuttled over to B5, Captain Charlotte Clark, commander of the EAS Papros, exited the Epsilon jump gate just behind the EAS Charon. Commercial and military chatter dramatically increased as her ship eased into its assigned parking space. No doubt they were looking at her modified Omega-X and were suitably impressed. As they should be. Designed to be an intermediary step between what was gleaned from an unearth shadow mother vessel and EarthForce's own knowledge, it radiated power and a dark beauty that had to be the envy of everyone who saw it. It was a definite step up from anything currently possessed by Earth's military and was powerful enough to take on and destroy any two Omegas in the fleet with power to spare.
As powerful as it was however, she had no intentions of flaunting her ship too much. The two Minbari Sharlins were scanning her heavily and although their gun ports weren't open, she and her crew were anxious. They hadn't expected the Minbari to be there.
To her left was the Ambassador, a smallish ship really, and from the readings, unquestionably a powerhouse in its own right. She would have to strike first and strike hard if her cousin's order was to be implemented.
But Clark hadn't accounted for the Minbari ships next to her. Or, maybe he did.
The President was her cousin, but that wouldn't stop him from having her killed if it were convenient for him. She knew where a lot of the skeletons were and just maybe he wanted her eliminated.
It was a classic case where one little deed got her punished. When he 'suggested' that she receive the captaincy over some of the more qualified applicants, she had been ecstatic, but at the time she had been completely unaware of the prices she would have to pay. The name Clark had put fear in many of her associates; ones that bitterly resented her status now. She tried to make the best of it, however things were stacked up against her. She fought hard and overcame more than a few obstacles thrown her way, but all that was lost when Clark publicly announced their relationship to the world. That lead to another quickie promotion and the position she enjoyed-as much as she could-of having the only fully crewed, fully functional, Omega-X class destroyer. One of the many privileges given her was that she could name her ship, a gift from her cousin-as long as it was Greek-based. She didn't want go for one of the Greek deities. Instead she chose something else.
To everyone though, she represented Clark's official spy and Charlotte hated him for it. Charlotte also found herself playing along with him, getting her hands dirty in the process. However, she like everyone else knew that this wasn't success. It was enslavement and now her cousin expected her to kill loyal members of EarthForce, because he couldn't trust them. If and when she did it, whether she survived or not, the name Clark would forever be associated with the word 'butchery'. She felt trapped. There was no way out of it.
"Captain." It was her scanner Officer. "Several ships just appeared in normal space vectoring towards the station, moving very fast. There was no jump point opening that we could detect. Silhouettes identified. It's the Enterprise and two of Sheridan's support ships. They're coming in close to light speed," the scanners officer said with a touch of awe. By now, everyone knew of the fantastic speeds that these ships were capable of. But seeing it first hand and knowing that the crew wasn't going splat inside was another matter.
Inwardly, she cursed. The odds of being blown into small particles increased with each second. The data-scans identified the Enterprise and two of Sheridan's White Stars using that insanely alien star drive. Rumor was that now both warp and hyperspace drives were being used to achieve speeds previously unimaginable. Proxima III was almost a week away from Epsilon. Yet, here they were. It was a good excuse to keep from being killed.
"Power down all systems," she ordered. "We're going to be here for a while."
"B5 is hailing us."
Patch it through," she ordered.
"Patching, Captain."
***
Equally surprising was that fact that she was invited to attend this conference. Quickly agreeing, and shuttling over, she now found herself in the middle of a large number of representatives ranging from Human to Minbari. Just about every species she could think of was here in this room. In the corner, she saw her intended target General Brindley and Captain Anderson deep in conversation with, Captain Hiroshi and Commander Ivanova of Babylon Five, and the infamous Captain Garrett. Everyone from Delenn to Picard was there. A few moments later, she was shocked to see another Federation Captain, Sisko if she remembered the name correctly, enter the room with two very large wild-haired, knot-headed aliens who's demeanor suggested that they were hoping for a fight to break out. They were no doubt serious brawlers, in some ways, her kind of people.
She almost laughed. What her cousin wouldn't give to have a small tactical nuke placed somewhere in this room right now!
It was standing room only, and of course, she was one of those who didn't have a seat, but she didn't mind. Sitting was the least of her concerns. Maybe she was paranoid, but it seemed that everyone was looking at her.
"Captain Clark," General Brindley acknowledged, as she stood at attention. "Thanks for the escort," the General stated. There was something in his eyes...
He knew! Or at least the man suspected. And so did Anderson. With that realization, the shame came crashing down. She never wanted to be an assassin slated to die for her idiot cousin.
Further thoughts were pushed behind her as Captain Sheridan began to speak.
To the representatives here," he started. Thank you for coming." His voice was strained and he seemed somehow older than the last vids had portrayed him.
"I've called you here to discuss events concerning this war that has seemed to taken another one of the twist and turns. Eight days ago, the Drakh race, with whom we have been at war with, disappeared, and apparently retreated back to Shadow territories for no apparent reason. That has left the Centauri in a vulnerable position and they are pulling back, forming more defensive lines deeper in their territories."
He continued. "This is all good and well, as the fighting has slowed for now. What we didn't know was the reason why. And then we found out. Ambassador Mollari of the Centauri Republic was found adrift, barely alive." There were disappointed grunts and several other sounds of disgust at the noise that Sheridan tactfully ignored. "He," Sheridan said, "was unable to speak. But Londo did have a diary of where he was and what he had been doing. What was recorded on those pages are the reason we are here today. From his diary and through independent confirmation, we have reason to believe that the Shadows are in the middle of a major battle with a race that may be more powerful and more deadly than they are."
Of course the people erupted with the news, most of the excited that the Shadows were getting what they deserved. Some however, were more frightened. Sheridan waited a moment for things to die down and then he continued.
"We believe the Drakh and the others under the Shadows are fighting this new enemy. Now, these aliens are not the benevolent beings that some of us are hoping for. They represent a threat that we have never before experienced. The Vorlons fought them once and they barely survived the encounter. Now they are back and with the Vorlons gone and the Shadows under siege, we will not be able to stop them from overwhelming us as we are right now. We are divided and concerned about our petty differences and internal squabbles. But I believe that it's time that we grow up. Therefore, I take this stand now, between the light and the approaching darkness against this new threat. I do not take this lightly and I don't expect you to follow or believe anything that I have just said."
"Therefore, it is my intention to send an expedition to Z'ha'dum to get an accurate assessment of the situation. I will send a White Star there and if what we suspect is true then we'll have definite proof and can respond accordingly. But at the same time, I don't want you to take my word for it, so I am asking that each government here send a representative with them to see for themselves if this is the threat we believe it is."
The place erupted and again Sheridan waited for them to calm down so he could continue. "In order to ensure the safety of those who wish to go, I have asked that the Federation starship USS Ambassador travel there also as its heavy escort. On that ship, the representatives will be able to assess the threat for themselves. The Minbari have also volunteered for escort duty, insuring the safety of all concerned."
***
Before she was consciously aware of it, Charlotte was next to Sheridan offering the services of her vessel for additional escort service. This was her chance to see first hand what was going on. If the shadows were in trouble, then all bets with her cousin were off and she would be able to shake off his ever-tightening leash. She knew Clark's mentality quite well. If something was up, and he did lose his dark allies, then her cousin would freeze up and do something drastic.
That subsequent action would put him at further odds against EarthForce and his other so-called allies in the ministries of Peace and Justices. Besides, her ship was the flagship of EarthForce now (to her, the resistance Omegas, modified by the Federation technology didn't count) and if they ran into trouble she would prove its worth.
Captain Sheridan winced at her name and she quickly confirmed that she was indeed related to the President, but that he had nothing to do with this voluntary action. She was upfront with him and Sheridan reluctantly acquiesced, even while Brindley shot daggers at him for doing so.
Delenn was even less happy. Her Shadow wannabe destroyer caused an almost instinctual hatred among the Minbari, and several other races. However for once, her name actually became an asset for her she was allowed to accompany them. Excited, she rushed back to her ship to prepare, anxious to prove that her ship was the equal to any other ship be it Federation or Minbari. She finally had a real mission. Besides it was going to be a long trip and it would give her some badly needed time to think and come up with a plan.
***
"You're grounded, Commander Ivanova," an angry Sheridan said to an equally angry Second-in-command. Unto further notice you will not command any vessel we have until you get it together. Your recklessness almost cost you and your crew their lives."
Picard said he wouldn't say anything, the liar! She instantly regretted her accusations but at the same time, she was surprised and disappointed that Captain Picard had informed her Captain of their talks.
"I've had a chance to do a fast review of the Proxima III battle and to put it bluntly, I didn't like what I saw. White Star Two almost got its butt handed to itself at least twice. You had no regard for the others in your squad, Commander. You opened holes that could have easily allowed the enemy to exploit for all it was worth."
"Sir," she answered stiffly. "There were openings that the others didn't see and as Commander, I chose to take advantage of them. Aggressiveness in conflict is sometimes necessary and I felt it was the correct thing to do under the circumstances."
"You thought wrong. Ivanova. I received reports from two Captains who were mighty pissed off at what they considered amateur tactics from one of my best officers. That makes me look bad, and I don't need this, especially right now when our people are scared to death! They're afraid that if the war ends we'll be right back where we started from with EarthForce breathing down our necks!" Slowly, much to her relief, he began to calm down. "I don't want to lose you, Susan. You did this before and I let it go, but not this time. If you want to command, then you have to re-earn it. When this mission is over and we find out exactly what's going on out there, We will have another talk. Then I will see..."
"Picard had no right-"
"Captain Picard didn't say anything to me about you," Sheridan retorted, trying to force his way past her anger with some of his own. "What does that tell you?"
Unable to do anything else, she simply stood at attention. She promised herself that she wouldn't allow the tear to drop. She also promised to try not to hit anything when Sheridan excused her.
***
Enterprise-D:
Captains Picard, Sisko, Koral, Garrett, along with the command officers of all three Federation ships and K'mpec's Honor sat at the table as a united group for the first time. It was truly a historic occasion, especially considering the fact that the humans and Klingons weren't trying to kill one another, the thought not even crossing their minds now. The upcoming mission was important, however that had to a back seat to what they were discussing now.
"As I reported earlier," Benjamin started, "I have come to the conclusion that we can't go back. This does not mean that we cannot find a way home, but to do so would cause our extinction if we could. The 'other' me that I spoke with and the alien with him, made that abundantly clear. We are temporal fragments or copies if you will, identical in every way to our original counterparts, created the instant we entered the temporal field that brought us here. When we entered the temporal-spatial field, our reality which had already been damaged fractured further and the possibilities of what we might have been became the reality of what we are. In the process, our own quantum specific reality has locked us out. The quantum temporal universe we originated from does not exist, even though the original quantum universe does. That means that there are two of us. If we return, then our universe will correct the mistake-us-and we will be re-absorbed in favor of our original counterparts. And the process will not be pleasant."
"So you are saying that we are not real," Worf stated. He didn't like the sound of that.
"No," Sisko corrected. "I am saying that we are real, but we cannot go back to our quantum home universe. If we had the means, we could travel to any other reality but our own point of origin."
"That is not acceptable, Captain Sisko," Picard said. "We do not belong here. But you are asking us to give up trying to return home. Do you that believe these aliens spoke the truth?"
"Yes," Ben responded with absolute conviction. "My counterpart warned me not to come back unless I wanted to become one with him. The aliens want him to be whole and I was that missing piece."
"Then why didn't they contact others of us," Rachel asked. "Surely they could have."
"Yes," he confirmed. "But they were interested in me only. The rest of us were not their concern." Only the Sisko fragment he thought. "We are causalities of a temporal cold war going on in our universe that is now having repercussions in other universes as well. There is another group that suffered the same fate as we have."
"How do you know?"
"I was told of them and we were able to find them. I attempted contact with them but the reception was not positive," he said, putting it mildly.
"These people are from another quantum reality, quite different from ours. Their technology is less advanced than ours in some ways, but roughly equal to or even more advanced in others, than the Earth of this universe. They felt very uncomfortable with Captain Sisko speaking to them," Doctor Troi said. "Like us, they are unsure of everything and far more isolated and alone than we are. I suspect that there were other reasons also." The rest she left unsaid.
"What do you mean others?" For a second Captain Garrett had an impossible vision of meeting her counterpart, a duplicate of herself. For her, that would have been utterly fascinating, if not aggravating. She found it amusing that she really could wind up talking to herself.
"First contact didn't go as well as we hoped," Dr. Troi added, confirming what Captain Sisko had just said. "They were naturally frightened by their circumstances and the fact that the Yeager was far larger and more advanced than anything they've encountered originating from a human society. They had intentions of heading to Earth. Captain Sisko told them of the situation as stated in our report. However they were very apprehensive and elected to continue on their journey towards Earth. The presence of Captain Sisko seemed only to increase their distress."
"They locked weapons on us, to be precise," Ben added. He had the look of a man completely frustrated with the whole situation. "In order to alleviate some of the tension, we sent them all of our data and left the area. I believe that either you or Captain Picard might have been better candidates for this particular first contact."
"They seemed surprised to see Captain Sisko commanding the Yeager."
"Why is that?" asked a perplexed Picard. A second later, he frowned. "We're making assumptions here on very little evidence."
"Yes, Captain. We know nothing about their planet's culture we are making assumptions about," Deanna answered. "However, when we contact them again, both we and they'll have a stronger basis to act upon."
"Well," Picard said, looking at Captain Sisko. "They had better adjust to the reality or they will have a difficult time in this universe."
The conversation lingered on for several more minutes.
"Next on the agenda is the efficiency rating and tactical reports on the Drakh and Centauri warships. And we need to determine what adjustments are needed with the resistance EAS ships in light of that information."
Captain Garrett," Geordie said. "Before we get to that, there's something you should know. The EAS has incorporated polarized plating into their smaller gunships."
"What?"
"And that's not all," he continued. "Somehow they've developed a primitive first generation phase cannon. It corresponds exactly with the same level of technology that has been incorporated the Star Furies. But at the same time, they are independent designs, made up from their own components."
"Somehow they've acquired the plans."
'That's my bet," Geordi answered. "But, this isn't something they cobbled together. It took some time to create those designs from scratch. The technology is an EarthForce analog."
"Geordi is correct," Data added. The plating on the gunboats is inferior to that which is found on the Thunderbolt Starfuries modified by us. But they are superior to anything previously developed by EarthForce vessels. That is the reason as to why several ships survived the Drakh weapons strikes while others of the same configuration did not."
"Captains, the gunboats were only one thing that has improved," Geordie continued. "The heavy weapon on the Nova class vessel was powerful enough that a direct hit could have hurt us."
"What type of weapon was it?" Sisko asked.
"Basically it's a modified plasma cannon, but its' calibration was attuned specifically to a shield frequency harmonic of eight-seven-two-one-three-six-seven. Sir, we have used that frequency for our shields," he explained. "Somehow they knew exactly what it was, but they didn't know that we rotate the frequencies as a matter of course."
That was a serious security breech and Tasha was not happy about it at all. "There's no way," she hotly insisted. "No unauthorized personnel have entered the engine room or security would have picked it up."
You're right," said Geordi. "We've only done three full frequency ritations since we've been here. The only possibility that a breech could have occurred was when we were attacked by the Shadow vessel. The other two times, there were no outside personnel onboard. Besides, the shield frequency monitoring system is located in a secured area of engineering. And I refuse to believe that one of our people would have sold the information to EarthForce."
"I believe that I know what happened," Deanna said suddenly. "Things that didn't make sense earlier, suddenly clicked. "During the fight with the Shadows, Bester and Janice were onboard. Due to the tension onboard, it is quite possible that he was able to pick out the number from someone in engineering."
"Garrett was confused. "I thought the human telepaths here required line-of-sight."
"They are," Deanna confirmed. "However, if the 'background intensity' was high enough, a trained telepath might have been able to pick put the necessary information without performing an active scan that would have been picked up by the guard."
"Retribution," Picard mused. "If should see him again, I believe that I shall have another talk with him."
"He's on the planet with a lot of Psi-Corps and telepathic refugees," Commander Castillo supplied helpfully.
"Good." Not only did he endanger members of my crew, but now my ship. This man must be made aware that I am not to be trifled. This ends now," Picard raged. "When the meeting is adjourned, I want to speak to Draal."
"Now, as you are aware," Garret began, changing the subject, "I have passed the relevant data concerning our briefing with Lyta Alexander, Ambassador Kosh and Mr. Draal. Whoever these new beings are, they seem to be very aggressive, far more so than anything we've encountered since we've been here. That they are aggressive is not in doubt. But our information source is..."
Sisko's eyebrows rose and did Captain Koral's. "You don't believe their story."
"The bottom line answer to that statement is no," said Captain Garrett. "Guinan doesn't believe him either, at least not completely. The story had several questionable, shall we say, holes in it. But they all, without exception, took what was said at face value. Delenn didn't question it, neither did Captain Sheridan. What was interesting was that none of the B5ers who heard it, ever even questioned its truthfulness.
"I'm beginning to understand, Captain," Castillo murmured after a few seconds thought. "How could the other side have a interdimensional doorway prepared and opened, on the possibility that someone in another universe might open their own door to come through one day?"
"Exactly. Then there is the fact that people in this part of the universe have been genetically altered to positively accept anything Vorlon. It probably didn't even occur to them to question Lyta's and Kosh's story. And that brings up another point," she added. "Why is it that everybody uses only jumpgate technology? Warp drive was never developed, transwarp drive was never thought of and even variations of hyperspace FTL techniques have never been experimented with. I think something is wrong with that. From the Vorlons to the Shadows to EarthForce as long as anyone can remember, jump space is the only game in town."
"You bring up a very valid point, Ma'am," Castillo replied. "Even during the war, there were several different approaches considered besides warp travel. We were always trying to break the warp ten barrier, even in our time. If the races have been around for so long, why is it that only jump space is being used?"
"Yes," said Geordi, jumping in. "We've been here only six months and already we're figuring out how to integrate subspace technology with hyperspace. We're opening up entirely new fields in hyperspace and subspace physics. But they haven't made any significant advances since the Centauri gave them jumpgate technology, what 200 years ago? In fact, when we first went to them with the project, they insisted that it wouldn't work. Only when we actually started making progress did their attitudes change. It was like a light just suddenly kicked in. But it's not just the Earth people, but all of the races we've encountered, even the Minbari. It's as though there's some type of block preventing them from experimenting with different ways of supraliminal travel."
"That's the question, Lieutenant Commander," Picard said. "Maybe there is a blockage, placed by the Vorlons. It is possible that the didn't want advances in faster-than-light other than what was already developed."
"I wonder why?"
"This is all conjecture," Garrett announced. "But it is something that we can look into in the future. Discretely."
***
That's it folks until February 2004. I will pick it up from right here. One of the things I didn't think about but seems to be true is that these two stories takes place in one year of the life of B5.