Chapter 45

"Dreams and Revelations"

Earth Orbit:

Captain Smith ordered his ship to go on full alert the instant he saw Voyager starting to change. He watched fascinated as the light gray hull began to glow and from nowhere armor covered the entire ship. Even the energy profile had changed. It had gone up; way, way up according to what his scans were telling him. He was backing his ship up now, preparing for an attack and the man was alarmed. If Voyager decided to strike at Earth now, there were no other ships close enough to attempt to stop it except his ship and Evanston; and that was nowhere near enough to defend Earth against his vessel. Inwardly, he was close to panic when communications called for his immediate attention.

"What?" he growled. Despite their claims this Federation was too much of an unknown entity, too secretive for his tastes. They should have never allowed this vessel to enter Earth orbit. He half expected an ultimatum from the Federationist ship taking advantage of Earth Alliance's weakness and trust. What he heard was something else entirely.

"This report is from Babylon Five," the Comms Officer told him quickly. "There's a rogue Shadow vessel on intercept course. It's going to try to transmit a termination signal and kill everybody. Voyager and all remaining ships are to stop it from transmitting at all costs.

"A shadow vessel?"

His people simply looked at him with uncertainly. The Shadow Omegas were the closest ships they could compare it to but even those vessels did not come close. They'd never seen the real thing except on ISN and the image wasn't as clear as it should have been. The image had been jittery as if the cameraperson had been nervous videoing the ship. The images that came from B5 hadn't been much better. Those who had seen those vessels up close didn't want to talk about them.

"Sir, Voyager is requesting that we interface our sensors with theirs. This way we can track the vessel as it comes in."

"They can do that?" he asked no one in particular. He thought about it for a second and then gave the order.

The collective gasp was clearly audible as tactical lit up with more information than they had ever thought possible concerning hyperspace was fed to them. Wave fronts, gravitational eddies, temperature flux; everything involving hyperspace was clearly identified at nearly a quarter the distance of a light-year. Every object was seen and identified by the Federation computers and clearly shown on the tactical display.

On a dozen different ships, EarthForce crews gaped at the data being fed to them. Federation sensors were powerful enough to see into hyperspace from normal space without a beacon-satellite interface! That was thought to be impossible at the resolution they were receiving telemetry from. Only the Minbari were thought capable of producing this kind of detail. This more than anything else indicated just how technically advanced these people really were.

The Earth Alliance would have no chance if the two of them went to war. But fate seemed to be in a merciful mood at this particular second. Alliance vessels could be clearly identified and marked as they headed back and forth in hyperspace and all of them were color coded blue with their transponders clearly identifiable. What caught their attention however, were the three red dots vectoring into the system. Two of the dots were trailing behind the first dot, falling back slightly as they tried in vain to keep up with incredible speed being generated by the first ship. All three of them were heading towards Earth. Already the lead ship had passed Jupiter. With the speed it was approaching, the enemy ship would be at Earth in less than twelve minutes.

Smith didn't understand Shadow tactics however it was a good bet that the signal had to be sent fairly close to the target in order for it to be effective. From a military standpoint that made little sense; but from a terrorist point of view it made perfect sense. The plague was a designed to be a weapon of extermination; something to be seen and experienced first hand. These Shadows seem to be the showoff types. They would want to make sure that you saw the death they envisioned for you coming. That smacked of supreme confidence, even more so than the Minbari.

"Sir, the Shadow vessel is three kilometers in size," Tactical Officer Lieutenant Asheed told him. "Power emissions are very high. If these readings are correct, then it'll take at least five to seven of our heavy ships constantly firing at least fifteen seconds to ensure a kill."

The Captain cursed. "We'll have to wait until it enters normal space before we can do anything. We're going to have to deploy everywhere along this vector here if we're going to have a chance to intercept them in time," he said pointing to strategic points along tactical. At least we'll be able to see them if Voyager continues to provide us data."

"But it's not enough time," his First Officer complained.

The Captain nodded slowly.

What happened next would be discussed in military classes for the next thirty years. It was known that hyperspace was extremely unstable and as such the use of weapons inside hyperspace was usually a recipe for disaster. Further, with the exception of a few races no one was able to scan hyperspace while within normal space. Limited communication was possible using beacons as an interface, but not much more. It was also known that jump points had to be generated by using huge amounts of energy generated by jump engines utilizing Quantium 40. All of this thinking was about to change.

The power emissions on the Federation starship were focusing the power in space right in front of their ship. Voyager's deflector dish continued to pump out power, producing a small, localized distortion of space. As the EarthForce crews and officers stared at the phenomena, it slowly took shape in the form of a pulsating, quasi star-like vortex, hanging some five hundred meters in front of them.

"Call them," Smith demanded. "I want to know what they're doing. For the life of me, it looks like some type of jump point."

"It can't be, Sir," Asheed insisted. "It's too small. The shuttle couldn't even squeeze through a jump point that size. And these readings are not consistent with any jump point data at all." I believe we're looking at something entirely new."

"Sir, Voyager's online."

"Voyager, please explain your actions," the man practically screamed.

"We're about to force the Shadow vessel out of hyperspace at a place of our choosing, not theirs," the Federation Captain responded. "Specifically, we are using our navigational deflector to redirect generated subspace emissions at a specific frequency in order to generate an entry point into higher subspace. We're tracking the Shadow warship and will be using reconfigured quantum torpedoes fitted with tri-cobalt warheads to force it out of hyperspace where we can deal with it properly. I would strongly recommend that you tell any friendly vessel in hyperspace to get out of the way and vacate the area at least three thousand kilometers from the expected blast radius. We're firing in two minutes."

Smith didn't hesitate for a second. He heard Colonel Griffin already warning com traffic of the situation and tactical showed ships in hyperspace already moving away from the Shadow vessel as fast as they could. Several EarthForce vessels including the undamaged Omega class warship Charon began to take up positions near Earth orbit. Voyager continued releasing the last six of the satellites into orbit.

"How are they doing that?" one of his Officers murmured. The non-jump point pulsated, growing slightly larger as they watched.

Voyager continued to constantly generate the jump point without apparent difficulty and the EarthForce crews couldn't believe how much power was being continually manipulated to keep the hole into hyperspace open. Standard physics indicated that opening and maintaining a jump point required tremendous power that a ship could only generate for a few seconds at best. Only jump gates with huge amounts of quantium 40 and arrayed fusion reactors could keep a hyperspace doorway active for this long. Yet, they were here witnessing the impossible. What they could do with vessels like that! Earth Alliance could change the galaxy with ships like that one.

"Sir!"

Smith turned in time to see the starship fire four blue, pulsating missiles into the jump point. The jump point phenomenon dissipated and he turned to watch tactical as it still displayed the missiles, under guidance of Voyager's sensors, heading towards their target while in hyperspace.

"I wish we could do that," he said to no one in particular. No doubt about it, he thought. He was proud that Humans, even if they were kidnapped colonials were able to create such wonders. While at the same time, he was appalled by the thoughts that Earth Alliance hadn't developed such things themselves. And now they had to because eventually everyone would assume that Humans had this technology in the first place and would come for it.

- It would be another problem Humans would have to deal with in the future.

His attention was drawn back to tactical as the first missile headed towards its target. Incredibly, the first missile was struck down by the Shadow energy beam. The second missed but exploded near the vessel and the energy wash nearly overwhelmed the tactical display. The huge shadow vessel wisely changed course and swiftly accelerated away from the two remaining missiles altering their original trajectories and chasing it.

"Sir, it's moving out of range. They won't be able to track it in a few seconds."

The words were barely out of Asheed's mouth when the starship's engines suddenly flared bright blue and the ship seemed to stretch and disappear. There was an accompanying concussive wave that buffeted the Earth Alliance ship.

Smith cursed loudly. "What happened?" he demanded, turning to his people. "Did Voyager blow up?"

"No, Sir. I believe that was the result of the distortion wave as they went to light speed. It's completely different than anything we've seen."

"My god. How long did it take for them to make the transition?"

"According to our sensors, they accelerated to FTL in less than half a second, maybe faster. They're still feeding us data, Sir."

The Captain thought that he heard someone mutter, 'impossible', but he simply nodded. Acceleration like that should have turned the entire crew into a thin paste on the bulkheads. Since they were still alive, and he still had trouble believing that, he knew that their inertia dampers and artificial gravity secrets alone could make him richer than Midas, if he had the patents. Too bad. But for right now he'd settle for staying alive.

"Voyager is tracking the Shadow vessel in hyperspace. The missiles are still on its tail."

"Good," Smith said. That'll give us time to shore up our defenses in case she fails."

Minbar: The Enclave of the Wind Swords at Tuzanor-Shanzi:

The city of Yedor, the capital of Minbar had been destroyed. Ninety-five million Minbari were confirmed dead. The Federation was enraged and terrified. The entire war-machine, four thousand ships of the line, were preparing for battle. The Minbari were of one accord. Nothing like this had galvanized the three major clans like this, not even the death of Dukhat. The Minbari race intended to wipe the Sinhindrea from existence. It was the most hideous in a series of blows to both physically and emotionally to the people.

Twenty of the highest ranking clan member had gathered together to watch the proceedings at Babylon Five. What they saw, what they discovered, had shocked them to their cores.

-+-

"Why would the Grey Council agree to this– union with the lesser races?"

Shakiri turned to face the young warrior known as Bhurlee, the son of the Sarai of the same name. Unlike his father, the son had chosen to follow the call of the warrior caste. It is the logial thing to do and I personally applaud the wisdom of the council. When they arrive home, I will personally congratulate them on their decision. They've done something, given our people hope."

"As Delenn and the others said, we do need allies. But the Earthers? They're in far worse shape than we are. They are weak from civil war, attacks by the Centauri and the Drakh. If they survive the plague, then they will not worth that much, to our cause."

"They are weak," Shakiri acknowledged. "But as we all know, they are stubborn and they will fight no matter what. Besides they are needed. They are the reason why the Sinhindrea attacked us. It was a warning for us not to associate with them. Those creatures don't want us to join the Earthers."

"That is one theory."

"And I am not one to take intimidation lightly. The creatures are afraid of us and our potential to do them harm," Shakiri responded. "They are afraid of our righteous retribution, as they should be. But they are also afraid of the Humans, and I do not mean the Earthers. The Federation Humans with their technology are a threat to them and by extension the Earthers."

"But that is exactly the point. You have studied the reports by Aalaan, Neroon and Rannaonn. I admit that even faced with the reality I still feel that it's somewhat unbelievable. I know it's true and I acknowledge that some of the technology in their possession will threaten our position and leaders of the young races. This should not be permitted. Our planet's security would be at stake. The younger races will not use this newfound technology wisely."

"True, but at this point, an alliance with Babylon Five forces, the Centauri and the Earthers is exactly the opportunity we need. The Centauri will fight and they will not bother us after this is over. The forces at Babylon Five and the Starfleeters are too small to be of much influence. We will be the pre-eminent power as we have always been. Earth Alliance will barely be a shell of its former self. It is my intention, when this is over, to make what is left of them a protectorate of Minbari. It will be our responsibility to make sure that any of the sciences deemed too volatile for the younger, less mature races will be managed with care – by us. I ask you, what would happen if the Narn or the Drazi acquired such sciences?" As he stared at the others, they were in agreement. No one wanted that type of technology in the hands of those races. "We will be in charge of these technologies as we have no desire to be force to subjugate the younger races to our wisdom. We do have a need to protect ourselves from any upstart race that will threaten our position in the future. But for now, we and the others are on our own."

"The Vorlons will help us rid us of the threat as well, however in the light of recent revelations," said Howlek with more than a trace of hostility trembling in his voice. "I begin to believe that they may have been as much of a threat as the Shadows."

Shakiri's laugh was bitter. "They were supposed to be our allies," he growled.

"They've manipulated us; damaged our race in ways we could have never imagined," Bhurlee snapped. "Our forbearers trusted them and we blindly followed them as if they were gods. Now they associate with the Shadows as if nothing has happened. Nothing good can come of this. A thousand years preparation, all for nothing."

"You are wrong, Bhurlee," countered the First of Warriors. "Our war with the Shadows may not have happened, but the universe abhors a vacuum and has freely given us another one to be concerned about. We should thank the Vorlons for having us prepare as we have. We will meet this challenge. But this is not the time for the Religious and Worker castes to be in charge of our people. That responsibility falls to the Warrior castes." He looked at the other warriors who silently agreed. "We will not, we must not take a back seat to our responsibilities. Let Delenn unify us; that's what she does best. There is no one who can succeed her in this opportunity. Then when her job is done, she can rest and we will assume our rightful place. Then we will solidify our base, find this Human-based Federation and deal with them accordingly. The Babylon project is a flawed system, but it is a good idea. We will use that idea to make sure that Minbar's future is safeguarded. And we can also correct the flaws so that the younger one will be properly protected."

Of one accord, they all bowed. Shakiri smiled at the glory of a bright future.

Shadow vessel: Earth territory

Telepathic tendrils had called to the crew, ordering them, enticing them to destroy the Humans in their universe. The Sinhindrea call was extraordinarily seductive and overpowering for those who had not shielded themselves properly during the first war. Z'ha'dum gate war was a turning point for the civilization of those whom others called the Shadows. When the Sinhindrea exited the gate, the war with them lasted three weeks. Millions on both sides died as the Shadows tried their best to regain control or destroy the abominable Vorlon-built doorway to another universe. In the end, the Shadows lost the battle. But the defeat was more devastating than many knew. Many of the Shadow aliens along with their ships had been telepathically compromised. The seduction had been subtle and the Sinhindrea's influence had been boosted by the gate. Some of those compromised attacked others of their own kind. A few went into hiding to be used later as the time arose. This was such a time.

Young races were supposed to be easy to destroy and until recently, that had been true. The younger races were traditionally isolated, and generally distrusted one another. The younger races possessed little that could stop the Shadow firepower, however things had changed radically. They had begun to work together, their weapons technology was improving rapidly and the appearance of the 'others' now known to be interlopers from another universe, were rapidly changing the balance power structure of the local races in this sector of the galaxy. The Sinhindrea had demanded that they be destroyed and the compromised shadows were eager to do so, as part of them agreed with that decision. But there were only a very few Sinhindrea-controlled Shadows left in positions of power and the attempted extermination of the Earth planet had been more difficult than first anticipated. Too many things had gone wrong.

First, the Battle crab had been detected long before it should have been, the Earther defenders warned. Next, the extradimensionals were defending earth and had discovered the cure to the plague that had served the Shadows for a million years. And now they were chasing the vessel in a previously unused kind of lower hyperspace that the shadow vessel could not enter. And it needed to get close enough to transmit the signal, a requirement by the Shadows so that those destined to die could see the enemy that they destroyed.

It was never considered that they would have to fight this hard to get into range.

One of those deadly missiles had been destroyed; the second got close enough to detonate and that explosion was enough to nearly force it out of hyperspace. The other two battle crabs were trying to destroy it and the compromised battle crab had to avoid both their deadly beams while trying to keep its distance from the blue glowing orbs. Turning quickly the ship screamed its weapon at the nearest enemy crab, cutting several of its spines from the body. Badly wounded, the ship lost its ability to continue the chase and began to drift while the second crab continued pursue. In its joy it almost forgot about the two glowing missiles chasing it. Both exploded near it. The shockwaves combined with the vulgarities of hyperspace and magnified the effect. Waves of deadly energy buffeted and the crab was forced to phase out of hyperspace to avoid being damaged beyond the ability to repair with the time it had.

The second battle crab immediately phased into normal space as well. Screaming it launched itself at its much larger twin. It fired, slashing the compromised crab across its dorsal area. It would have retaliated however; the young race ship was right on top of it, fire its phased energy beams and another beam weapon not yet identified by the crew.

Savagely, it twisted out of the way of the weapons fire that only missed it because it was trying to avoid hitting the other battle crab. The crew knew the situation was grim. At three kilometers in size, instead of being an ultimate threat, it presented a huge target and two both of its opponents were supremely dangerous. The crew decided to take out the younger race's vessel first as it was more of an unknown and as such a bigger threat. Defensive cells powered up as targeting organelles locked onto the target now going evasive as it became aware of the threat. Its beam lashed out, briefly connecting before the ship moved out of the way. Immediately its destroyer beam also lashed out at the other crab to make sure it didn't become two overconfident. That crab screamed loudly – music to its ears. Then it found itself screaming as the younger races ship burned though sensitive armor, penetrating the ships inner body. Again it twisted out of the way and concentrated on the starship. This time the crew fired at full power hitting the ship squarely in the center of the saucer portion. The beams never touched the ship and its shield energy signal hadn't dropped as much as it had done before. Angered and concerned now, the Commander of the battlecrab realized that the younger races ship had somehow compensated for their beam weapon. It had to modify its own weapon before it was too late.

The crew scrambled to reconfigure the organic center's brain but it really was too late. The Human telepath core had been all but burned out by the damage inflicted by the enemy. It would take too many precious seconds to install their spare. The enemy beam struck again with enough power to burn all the way through the ship. Crewmembers exposed to vacuum screamed their defiance and dismay as they died. The Commander, unable to complete its mission as ordained by its third space masters screamed as well. Then the iso-magnetic disintegrator weapon ripped the ship in two. The rest of the crew and the ship itself died shrieking.

The surviving battlecrab took a moment to reflect on what had just occurred. The compromised crab and crew were dead, killed by these aliens. This was the third ship to die by their hands and the Shadows didn't like it one iota. It wavered, as the crew decided if attacking the vessel and destroying it now even at the cost of their own lives, was worth it.

The Commander of the battlecrab made a decision and phased back into hyperspace to collect their wounded companion. The time could come and they would extract their revenge if it were to be so. The spider-like ship phased into hyperspace even as the starship turned gracefully and jumped into light speed back towards the planet the Earthers unimaginably called Earth.

That other Universe:

Battlestar Galactica: System J-8241

"Weapons fire! We have incoming!"

"Shields to full," Apollo snapped. "Range!"

The scanners officer never took her eyes off of the screen. "Six thousand metrics," Celestraela responded quickly. "It'll be on top of us in less than four microns!"

"Brace for impact!"

The energy pulse struck the shields of the Galactica cascading around the entire ship. The ship glowed briefly as the energy wave flared up, then disappeared as it penetrated the shield. Then it penetrated every deck on the vessel. Everyone was momentarily blinded by the brilliance.

"It's the probe," Adama managed to say. "V'Ger!"

At the sound of the name the energy wave condensed turning into an overwhelming cascade of white light and noise. Then there was absolute silence followed by a gentle hum as the light began to change forming into a humanoid shape, one that Adama had seen before. The column of light slowly moved to face the old Colonial. He watched mesmerized as a pair of dark brown eyes enthralled him. They were the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. The rest of the body completed its formation and he was stunned once more as he looked down and saw a child about three months old cradled in woman's arms.

She, a child of V'Ger, now had a child of her own. Three weeks earlier she was, Adama judged to be about seven months pregnant.

Starbuck," he heard Apollo said. "Make sure that security stays off of the bridge. Antagonizing her would be disastrous. Everyone, no aggressive moves and please don't point anything at her. She seems interested in my father."

'Indeed she did' Adama thought surprisingly. Apparently there was something about their last meeting that made an impression upon her.

She stared at him once more and proceeded to walk around the bridge in the exact same way as she had done once before. The image of perfection stopped in front one of the women and seemed to scrutinize her in minute detail. She turned towards Adama and smiled. His heart fluttered as she cocked her head slightly and energy pulses surrounded her like a seductive cloud.

The pulses formed into a form of clothing covering her nude body and every male watching didn't know whether to clap or curse the change. But one of the women did manage to murmur, "thank the Lords of Kobol. Maybe all of you can start thinking again."

As before, occasional bright flashes of energy gently caressed her body from head to toe and her hair, longer than before moved on its own as if blown by a non-existent wind. From her face down to her toes, both her Deltan and Human heritages were unmistakable.

Adama flushed slightly. Even at his age, this female was affecting him to no end and he praised God that his wife wasn't here right now or he'd spend the rest of his years listening to her rant about this. But the clothing really did help his state of mind immensely-

-As did the presence of the child. The girl's eyes were a soft brown like her mother's. He watched as she moved towards him, stopping less than ten centimeters from him. She did not feel threatening so he stood his ground.

"The stuff of stars is within her," he whispered.

She stared into his eyes and he was almost lost. 'Please', he prayed. 'Don't let my wife find out…'

"You are the Adama unit," she said to him.

"Yes," he answered quickly. "And you are the child of V'Ger."

"The V'Ger unit no longer exists," she said in almost musical but at the same time mechanical tones. "We are V'Ger. We are the children units of V'Ger."

"Why have you come here?" he asked. "Why now?"

"I wish to learn," she answered.

"And I wish to talk to you."

"Then we will learn together," she said. Then she threw the child towards the bulkhead as if it was a piece of trash. The child bounced off the wall and hit the floor. Immediately, three of the nearest crewmember ran towards the gurgling baby who seemed no worse for wear. Adama was appalled at the child's treatment by his mother. She seemed undisturbed at the possible consequences of her actions.

"Why did you throw your child like that?" he demanded.

"The Adama unit wishes to learn. I wish to learn. The child would interfere with the learning," she said.

"You should not throw your child around like that."

"Why?"

"Because it is part of you and the other," he said. He was angry at the mother's callous attitude, but he quickly suppressed it. She had no idea that what she'd done was wrong. That gave him an opportunity to approach her from a different standpoint. He ordered the crewmen to bring the child to him. He cradled the little one and spoke to her as he had once did his own infant children and grand children. Then he played the little one, touched her cheek, and laughed made funny faces. He repeated the action with the perplexed child. The child smiled then laughed, thinking that this creature holding him was the funniest thing it had ever seen. Then Adama lifted the child gently and wiggled back and forth playfully. Having never experience this before, the child was in heaven as she immediately began to bond with the Human.

"Why do you do that?" his mother demanded. The female was showing the bare beginnings of jealousy. "The child will interfere with our learning."

Adama took note and pointedly ignored her emotion. Instead, he gently smiled at the female. "This 'is' learning," he said to her softly. "I am bonding with your child. We are each connecting to the Human that is within us. I am Human. Do you concur?"

"V'Ger concurs."

"You are a blend of Human and Deltan bonded with the probe V'Ger. You possess knowledge that spans this universe."

"Yes."

"But you have no idea how to treat a child," Adama concluded.

"The child is unimportant, "she answered rather defensively. "It is a simple result of procreation."

"You have the knowledge," he told her. "But you what you do not have is an understanding of what it means to have and love a child." "Love serves no purpose," she responded. "That emotion is a manifestation of biological impulses." "I think you will learn that love is more important than you have ever imagined. Look at your child. How do you think she feels?" "How the carbon unit feels is of no importance," the female said. "The infant carbon unit is healthy. That is the only fact of importance." Adama's only reaction was to raise his eyebrows at her. The young entity was suddenly becoming defensive, referring to her child as a 'carbon unit'. An idea began to form and decided to pursue it. "What is your child's name?" "Carbon unit three." "Do you have a name?" he asked. "Offspring of V'Ger."

-+-

To be continued