Note: the three chapters 30-32 were originally a single chapter and should really be considered as such. I separated them to give you a bit more plus it also gave me a bit of time to edit it the way I wanted. Plus this is the holidays and I have made it a tradition to always give a bit more during this time as a way of saying thanks to all of those who have read and loved-or hated-this long, long story.

Thank you again and have a wonderful holiday.

Now, some answers. Dear Sapfire DreamZ: I am sorry to hear your comment. I would like to know what you didn't like about so when you get a chance please let me know so I can either argue or agree with your reasons. Hope to hear from ya.

Ilpopi: How about now?

JonnyG: Guinan and Kosh have been having regular and intense conversations since the first part 'A Universe of Change' began. She is responsible for saving his life. He is also aware of who and what she really is. Plus she listens and he's actually talked to her. In many ways she is becoming a mediator between the younger races and himself and she doesn't take any crap from him. Guinan is something that Kosh does not have-a real non Vorlon friend. She also respects him and he has freely reciprocated. Originally I had planned to write this story from Guinan's and Sisko's point of view. That's changed somewhat but part of that is still with me.

Without further ado-on with the story and happy holidays.

Chapter 32

Boiling Kettle

The Armageddon Conflict- part 8

As one might have expected, word spread across the station at the speed of light. No one knew exactly how the coordinates leaked out but there were several ships already there to see this strange duel between what were considered two of the most powerful races in the quadrant. EarthForce ships were there; the Centauri ship that carried Londo was there as well. Menroi's Sharlin was present and in a stance of stunned defiance, he had offered to be Garrett's second.

The Grey Council was there and stood silent, lost in the moment, terrified by whichever way this match would turn out. Other ships attended, too. Kosh was there, and Guinan was with him on his shuttle. Evidently his ship had taken a liking to her. But all of them were at a safe distance from area zero.

USS Voyager:

If there had been any doubt in his mind, it had been erased forever the moment Colonel Griffin completed transport onto this Federation ship called Voyager. The transport had felt somehow smoother and as he gaped at the bridge, he knew that things he knew to be true had been forever altered. The casual mix of Human and alien crew, the layout of the bridge and a lot of small things quite clearly showed that this vessel was far in advance of the Ambassador and even the Enterprise. The crew had gawked back at him, confirming the fact that he did look like the famous Captain Kirk of their universe. It hadn't been a simple fabrication on Garrett's part.

He didn't come here to gape like some floundering fish out of water. He needed to speak to the Admiral and the Captain. They needed information from an independent source. The first thing however was that the Admiral had insisted on treating some of the injuries he'd sustained in the battle. Never one for doctors, he reluctantly complied.

-And was very glad he did.

The medical facility on the ship was a wonder. And the holographic doctor was something he wished every ship in EarthForce had. All of his minor injuries had been treated and even the micro-malignancy he didn't even know he had had been eliminated. His slowly failing eyesight had been corrected in a matter of moments. His vision was at least twenty-twenty now and corrected surgery hadn't even been needed.

And now the formidable resources of their medical expertise had been at the disposal of the foremost doctors on Earth. The planet was quarantined but Voyager's transporters had beamed down some amazing (and easy to use!) equipment to help find the plague vector. Without it, that elusive vector could have remained unidentified for months; on this issue every single doctor and researcher had agreed on. He still smiled a bit hysterically when he had observed the Earth Alliance researchers drooling over a molecular-electron microscope imaging system. They were offering enough for it, to allow the Doctor to buy his own country. He would have enjoyed their groveling much more if the situation hadn't been so dire.

This plague was unlike any plague ever to hit Earth and the fact that the vector had been so hard to find had given the doctors on Voyager the first clues as to what it was. The holographic Doctor's (a wonder in a storm of wonders) investigations led him to culprit within the first twenty-four hours.

Looking like a cross between miniature circuit and a sixteen-legged tick with dozens of visual receptors, it swam from cell to cell, burrowing into its victim and multiplied every nine hours infecting new cells. It was a nanite, a microscopic machine as small as a viral particle. It invaded the Human host and hid within the structures of the mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum of the T-lymphocytic white cells circulating throughout the body. Griffin had seen the vector and that vision had stayed with him in his nightmares.

xxx

But Federation nanite technology was advanced to an amazing degree. The Doctor, his staff, and several of the EarthDome scientists were busy comparing something called Borg-derived-nanites to the Shadow plague. Twice the Doctor had modified them to combat the Shadow counterparts. The results so far were only moderately encouraging. The two micro-machine species hated each other (that was the best way he could describe their actions as they literally attacked one another as soon as they came in close proximity to one another).

The first result was the reproductive, exponential explosion of Shadow nanites to combat their enemy. The Borg nanites lost that one. In the second test, the larger Borg nanites won the struggle but disrupted every cell involved, the perfect example of saving the patient while killing him in the process.

EarthDome Doctor James Kenwright came up with an intriguing idea to simply have the Borg nanites dissociate their Shadow counterparts, analyzed the remains and transmit the information back to the researchers for more detailed analysis. Several hours later, the programming was completed and the Borg medical nanites were let loose.

They went after their targets with a vengeance, assimilating and tearing apart the Shadow plague. Information was flowing nicely and from that data, the researchers discovered that a specific, coded signal could effectively inactive the tiny machines thereby simultaneously terminating the across the globe. That was good news.

But there was an unforeseen problem.

The Shadow nanites now felt threatened and transmitted their distress quite loudly to any others of their kind for within a three A.U. radius. Six hours later, a collected call for assistance from every single nanite on Earth to their creators was sent through hyperspace and no one recognized the scream for what it was. The signal was picked up by their masters. The Shadow force proceeded to head directly to Earth. Their plans were in jeopardy and they had no intentions of allow their plans to fall apart now, not when they were so close to striking a possibly fatal blow against the Sinhindrea.

Jumpspace:

Rannaonn was pleased that the Ambassador was at the desired coordinates according to his tactical data. He had expected nothing less from the overly proud, loud-mouthed, insulting Human female Captain. She must have been mad to suggest this infantile contest between the two of them. It would have been so much simpler and safer for her to have simply acquiesced to his demands. But no, she had to insult him. For that reason, she was about to learn a lesson that her Earth Alliance relatives hadn't impressed upon her. The Minbari were not to be trifled with, especially when it came to the survival of their people. This was a lesson that apparently needed repeating to these creatures.

'Blood of Saints' was nothing less than a bloodied Sharlin war machine. It had survived seven major conflicts, remaining unscathed until this last encounter with the Sinhindrea. That fight had very clearly impressed upon him the need to improve the protection on their vessels. Without them, the Sinhindrea warships had the edge. He wanted, no; he required the Federation shielding knowledge if the warrior caste were to do their jobs.

Humans were not a species he had great love for and the fact that these newly discovered, colonials upstarts possessed such advances galled him to no end. How they had produced such devices was beyond him. The vermin had been in space a little more than three hundred years and even after the war, they continued to spread like a pestilence across the galaxy. Simply put, they needed to remember their place in the scheme of the universe.

It was time. This would be the example. There was no personal animosity to these Humans, but none of them, wherever they came from had the right to speak to the Minbari as she had. Younger species needed to know their places least their better stomped on their more harshly than he planned to. The colonials might as well learn this small lesson now, rather than have the lesson their original world had endured the hard way.

Using the coordinates supplied by his Nial fighters already in the area, his Sharlin exited jumpspace from behind and almost on top of the small vessel, firing his main guns at full power, neatly bracketing the ship with his four neutron fusion cannons, followed by his ship's four fusion canons. Beams of energy, each equaling the explosive power of nearly forty megatons per second, speared towards the ship. Three of the beams solidly slammed into the ship before it suddenly accelerated, at almost impossible speed, to avoid the full brunt of the attack. The vessel had shuddered visibly from the attack, but it was still moved easily and therefore it had escaped terminal injury. He was begrudgingly impressed, since any other ship would have been a shattered piece of flotsam after a hit like that.

The vessel fired back once, twice and he almost laughed at the futility that Garrett must have been feeling-until collision alarms began blaring. A third hit from the Ambassador shook Blood of Saints' to its core. Surprised at the amount of damage coming from the reports, he ordered full evasive before he could get hit once more.

"Report," he demanded to his equally surprised First Officer who was no longer so comfortable with the idea that this exercise was a foregone conclusion.

"They can target us sir with no problems. Decks seven through eleven were hit," he gasped. "Our gravitic defense grid did nothing to stop their weapons from hurting us. Re-enforced armor was completely burned away at the point of impact. Secondary hull suffered minor damage. Three of our anti-fighter gun mounts have been destroyed."

"Is our disruption generator working?" he yelled over the increasing din. The ship shock again, harder this time.

"It is functioning. But they're still tracking us," he answered, anger boiling away his usually cool demeanor. "We've managed to disrupt their sensors twice, but they've re-acquired us in a matter of seconds. Their energy beams are completely unknown to us."

So, it was true. The Federation ships had no trouble whatsoever in tracking Minbari ships whether in stealth mode or not. So, this was not going to be easy-so much the better. "All tubes set for auto-tracking and fire highest yield missiles."

Twelve missiles erupted from four missile tubes raced towards their intended target, but didn't come anywhere close to hitting the fast moving vessel that was now turning to make a second high-speed pass. Once more, he cursed the ship's incredible speed as his gunners desperately tried to hit the rapidly approaching ship. All of them were clean misses. His targeting systems were too slow he bitterly concluded, and only by bracketing the ship as his gunners were now doing could he hope to get in a lucky hit.

Blood of Saints' threw out enough offensive firepower to destroy a dozen vessels. He almost cheered when two of the beams managed to brush the Ambassador's shields for a half second. Elated, he almost sagged in relief as the ship was knocked off course, but it was sufficient enough to stop it from gutting his ship with those phaser beam weapons. Fresh alarms assaulted his ears. Two of the main guns were damaged and a drive fin had been completely sliced off. What in Valen's name were those beams made of? His ship responded sluggishly now as it fought to maneuver while crippled. That woman had forced him into a defensive battle now. A couple of decks had been exposed to vacuum and he was still having trouble properly tracking the enemy.

The human vessel was moving off now, possibly damaged from that last strike. Seeing his target's error, he quickly ordered every weapon available to fire; then cursed soundly as the ship changed trajectory almost on a whim. It was a clean miss and now the thing was coming back. They were almost in weapons range again.

"Sir, we have a communication from Captain Garrett,"

His mouth turned into a hideous frown. She was calling to gloat. He just knew it.

He absolutely was right.

"Alyt Rannaonn," she announced coldly, in a haughty that made him want to kill her slowly instead of quickly. "Your superior attitude has led you to assume several things that is about to get your ship blown out of the stars. The first was that we couldn't detect your position in hyperspace. Our sensors tracked every movement you made. We allowed you to hit us using that sneak-up-from-behind ambush style of attacking. You did achieve first strike and I'll give you credit. That was a little bit of pride on my part. But your second mistake was to assume that you couldn't be touched. Your third mistake was that you didn't believe we could really hurt you." She looked at him carefully as he struggled to keep his face as neutral as possible. "You didn't read Menroi's reports did you?"

Eyes narrowing into slits, he discovered he was unable to respond. This couldn't be happening to him!

"Next," she continued. "I just wanted to let you know that you're within our weapons range. Got anything to say? No?"

"In Valen's name," he screamed at the crew. "Destroy that woman!"

"Not what I was hoping for," she smirked. "Time for round two." She casually stuck her finger in the air in a somewhat insulting mannerism. "Photon torpedoes-fire!"

Slit-like eyes now bulged outward as four glowing, pulsating globe-like objects, came tearing across space straight at his ship. Defensive batteries were already firing everything they had before he could even give the command. By some miracle the third missile was hit and it exploded some thousand kilometers forward. The second missile exploded ten kilometers aft and rocked his ship off its already shaky trajectory. Missiles one and four detonated five kilometers port and aft. The last thing he remembered was painfully slamming into a bulkhead, smoke filling his once immaculate bridge…

xxx

He was alive.

He had to be-because everything hurt too much. A moan, to his left and another, to his right. He took a breath and nearly doubled over in agony-multiple ribs broken he realized.

-Also a broken arm and leg, in three places.

But the deepest wound of all was that none of his fellow warrior caste would come to his ship's aid.

He could barely breathe let alone talk-but where was he? This wasn't his bridge.

"Welcome aboard the USS Ambassador, Alyt Rannaonn."

That voice! It was her. He was a captive, at the mercy of a Human! It was unthinkable. He prayed Death would come for him soon. Humans were known to exact vengeance when a Minbari was helpless.

"Normally I hate to see someone in as much pain as you're in," Captain Garrett said. "But it seems like pain and suffering is the only things you understand. Therefore, since I have a captive audience, I have decided that it's time for a little lecture."

He understood all right. She planned to torture him with her voice before she killed him.

"You're alive right now because I want you alive," she started. "Unlike you, I do not derive my pleasure from killing. You would have killed us without a second's thought. I chose a different path and decided that you should live, fool that I am. Let me tell you something. My ship had you targeted the instant your jump point formed and my weapons could have blown you from space before you could have even finished your transition. The mistake I made was in hoping that you wouldn't attack the moment that you exited. You were trying for an easy victory against an enemy you underestimated, a good tactic if it had worked.

"As I've said, I could have destroyed you at anytime. Your defenses are meaningless to someone who has subspace scanners. The Ambassador is a battleship in every since of the word and I could have taken out two of your behemoths before you even knew I was there. You're on this ship because of our transporters and my good will. I could have beamed aboard a bomb big enough to vaporize your ship into its component atoms and you would have never known. I could have placed it in your fresher, which as I come to think of it would have made an interesting splash, but I chose not to. I could have gutted your ship in the same spot and ruptured your singularity power source, but I didn't. As strange as it may be to you, I have respect for life. I won't take it unless I am forced to. Charity and mercy is something I value that is evidently a trait the Minbari warrior caste has forgotten about.

"Understand this. My ship can handle any ship you can throw against me. The Enterprise is far more powerful than the Ambassador, Alyt Rannaonn," she said giving him his honorific. "Look what happened to her! Two Sinhindrea almost picked her apart! From what I understand, Voyager could take us both, and the Yeager and a sizeable portion of Earth Force and 'they're' scared of the Sinhindrea. The Vorlons are gone, the Shadows defeated and we're-all of us are next."

He didn't want to, but he couldn't help but hear what she was saying and ever so slowly, the anger faded. Instead he chose to hate the correctness of her words.

"This battle was an exercise in stupidity," she continued. "When I look at you, a member of the proud Minbari, I see the personification of the word fool. You believe that since you've been out here for a thousand years, that you're the oldest and therefore the best. That is provincial thinking at its worst. Several of the Federation's core members have been in space for more than a thousand years. The Vulcan's over a thousand and the Andorians, too. Guinan's people have been out here almost two thousand; the Klingons, around a thousand. Humans have only been out three-hundred and fifty or so years. We're the new kids as compared to some of the others. But we're moving further all of the time, expanding for all we're worth.

"Now, let's look at it from the Minbari point of view. You've hidden in your space, safe in the knowledge that you were supreme of all of the younger races and in order to celebrate your superiority complex. Your ships mimic organic vessels so that everyone will know that you're well on your way to being the first of the new group of 'First Ones'. And your people have no idea why the Vorlons have herded you and the rest of the aliens in that direction and you didn't care, either. You call yourselves free, but you are slaves to the will of aliens who have genetically altered you to see them as god-like beings instead of what they truly are. You did all of the fighting and the Vorlons and Shadows simply watched the slaughter and calculated the odds. Entire races vanished in what amounted to a game of 'who's right'.

"The Minbari are so rigid and structured that you're losing you ability to reproduce. Oh, yes," she said as he managed to look up at her with a hint of surprise. "Worker Caste bonds with Worker caste, Warrior to warrior with few exceptions. It's called inbreeding and I know you know this but you can't stop because it would damage your society. Suicide is preferred rather than social change. You're providing your own extinction agenda.

"You claim to be an older race, but it's time to grow up," she whispered, "If you don't, the universe will leave you behind. Now, I'm going to heal your sorry butt and those of your crew that will accept it; then you people and we are going to have a long talk after I beam you back to your people."

Beamed? The Minbari Captain blanched at the thought of using the transporter again. He cursed himself once more for showing weakness, no doubt brought on by his weakness and injuries.

The woman must have seen his weakness because her eyes betrayed her amusement. "Don't worry," she told him. "Transporters have been in use for over three hundred years and there are rumors that a scientist on-my world-discovered the technology even earlier, in the late twentieth century. It was one of the earlier experiments you understand. He used himself as a test subject, but when he transported himself, a small flying insect accompanied him without his knowledge. The result was-unfortunate," she explained nostalgically. "We learned a lot from that mistake. So don't worry," Garrett intoned. "You will be safe and secure when we take you apart at the quantum level and put you back together again. And I promise you that you won't grow wings, or feel the urge to eat garbage," she added with more than a bit of malice. Then she whispered words that were so soft that even he couldn't fully hear them. But he thought they were 'help me' but he wasn't sure.

Alyt Rannaonn shivered and it had nothing to do with the pain.

EarthSpace:

The Earth alliance destroyer Armitage with its fighter wing escort had just completed its second circuit of their assigned patrol area. Since the civil war was over and Earth was poisoned, dozens of alien vessels were entering the system. Every single one of them were offering their medical expertise and of course, wanting to see the Federation med tech in action. That was a bizarre change in Earth's status. The Clark regime had insisted that aliens were the enemy and here they were offering their help in solving one of the greatest crises in Earth's history despite Humanity's recent, 'official stance' of prejudice against everyone. Strange times indeed.

Startled by the sudden noise behind him, he quickly turned to see the Communication's Officer literally screaming at navigations to jump immediately.

The Captain was aware that the woman would have never insisted on such an action unless there was something horribly wrong. Armitage jumped even as the Captain demanded answers.

"Priority one order, Sir" came the hasty reply. "Several unidentified warships entered the system between Jupiter and Mars near the belt, alarms kicked in across the entire sector. We've been ordered to immediately repel the invaders."

What is going on? He thought as he furiously gave orders to jump at the Mars beacon. The Drakh were back once again was his first thought. His first observation as they entered normal space was an Omega being incinerated. His second observation included six other Omegas simultaneously firing at the bogie closest to him and swarms of StarFuries vectoring in to add to the firepower. The third thing he saw was three more of those monstrous ships coming in at an angle towards Mars while the first ship stood alone, taking everything the EarthForce ships had to deliver and then some. Smaller alien ships engaged the StarFuries while the Sharlin-sized warship returned fire…

"Fire on that ship. Repeat, fire on that ship-

"-Oh, my God!"

USS Voyager:

"Red alert! Admiral to the Bridge! Captain to the bridge!"

Chakotay reached the bridge first. "Report, Mister Tuvok," he ordered.

"Scanners have just recorded a non-jump point hyperspace transition event near the Mars belt. Six warships and fourteen support ships have. Energy readings are consistent with Sinhindrea profiles," he said in a slightly heightened voice that betrayed his concern. "We're being scanned. They're trying to probe our computers."

"Keep them out."

"Affirmative. Defensive protocols are functioning. But, they are aware that we are here."

Captain Chakotay's face hardened. "Lieutenant, break orbit. All pilots to their fighters."

xxx

Previous reports were confirmed. Human taste originated from here. Mind flesh of this species permeated the entire system. The Clovien hunters had mind-scented the prey that had eluded them for over three time periods. Their scent matched perfectly with those that had mined the gateway to Home. The Clovien were trapped here, incomplete. The enemy technology was a threat. Quelling of this species with the force available might be difficult, but essential to the survival of the colony.

They would rip out the necessary data from the sHp'kU-minds and take the information and free the gate. If that proved unfeasible then the threat vessel was to be destroyed along with all life forms inhabiting the planet.

Two of the Clovien hunters separated and prepared themselves for the incoming enemy...

(TBC)

Next: 'A Universe of change'

Everybody's mad and mixing it up as the Sinhindrea make their first definitive moves against Earth. Why is everything happening here? The answers coming up as the Klingons get together with Babylon Five and everyone has to decide whether they will work together to survive. Meanwhile the Sinhindrea decide the best defense is a strong offense and Earth is number one on their list of things to do. And pray tell, who's fault is that?

Poor Earth Alliance.