Potential

by Texan

What happens when SG1, with resident Immortals, meet up with the Battlestar Galactica? A war that could span the universe

5. Persistence, Pt 1

Persistence

Part 3 of the Potentials Series

Dedicated to Ecolea, for without her Changing of the Guard series, none of this would have been possible.

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Part I

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Aboard Independence Station, the crowd looked on as the Halsey styled for a moment, before the large fore-mounted wormhole projectors activated. It was a new and untested technology, at least to them. It was a technology that the Ancients had first developed and deployed millennia ago. The projectors opened the wormhole and the Halsey moved through. It would not be an instantaneous journey, as the sheer mass involved and the amount of power necessary to open a stable wormhole were both immense. But within ten minutes, the Halsey would emerge at a predetermined spot in the Orion cluster, where the battlecruisers Houston and Moscow were waiting. The cruisers were there to scout out the cluster and to lay down an early

warning net of sensors.

Unfortunately, the Halsey did not emerge from the wormhole into the Orion cluster. Or rather, they did, but not in this universe.

And while they were in transit to Orion, something else quite unexpected happened on Earth.

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White House

Oval Office

The man walked in as if the mere act of walking into the Oval Office were the most natural thing in the world. The President was sitting at his desk speaking with his Chief of Staff, Arnold van Damm, seated in front of the desk.

"Senator Kinsey? You're supposed to be dead!"

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, Mr. Ryan. I am quite alive as you can see. And you, sir, have no business sitting in that chair. I was very much against President Durling naming you as his Vice President, but I went along with it because he promised that you would serve out the remainder of the term and then fade away. Now I see that you have intentions to run for President in the next election and I, sir, will be running against you. You have left open that Pandora's Box called the Stargate and it has brought nothing but ill to this world. I'll see to it that no more funding is given to that project. That project must be closed! Furthermore, all these so-called Immortals, are nothing but freaks of humanity and they should be rounded up and dissected so that no one but the United States can benefit from their gift!"

"That would be a bad move, Senator. A very bad move indeed."

"It is in the best interest of the US, Mr. Ryan."

"That's President Ryan to you, Senator."

"I don't know what your game is, Kinsey, but I'll do my best to see that the truth is heard, particularly the transcript of the trial of the Consortium members. You see, before his sentence was imposed, Mr. Spender named you as an accomplice to their actions. Senator Matheson is now serving his 'prison' term. NID has been disbanded. You have no associates left, Senator. Do the US a favor and fade into obscurity."

"No, Mr. Van Damm, I won't."

The Senator from Maryland left the way he came, out the main door. He walked out of the White House like he owned it, like it was his house and like he would be back for good. He had every intention of being named President. And if he had his way, it would be President for Life.

"Jack, he's gonna be trouble. We need to nip that in the bud."

"Yes. We do. But how?"

"Let me work on that."

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AIS Strike Carrier Admiral Halsey

Main Bridge

Journey Day 1

The Halsey was nearing the end of the ten minute wormhole transit when alarms began blaring out on the bridge.

"Sir! We're registering an overload on the wormhole projectors!"

"Shut them down!"

"We don't know what effect that will have on our transit!"

"A risk we'll have to take. Better to be stranded between stars than to ride a wormhole until we run out of fuel. There's enough fuel in those wormhole projectors to last a decade!"

"Shunting power!"

The Halsey seemed to shudder for a brief moment before it was spat out of the wormhole at high velocity. The power shunt had directed the overload directly to the dimensional portal projectors, just as Tok'Ra had designed them to do so.

"We're out!"

"Flight deck! Launch Ready CAP!"

"Damage report!"

"Sir, the power overload was shunted, but we can't identify the system it was shunted to. Engineering is working the problem."

"Sensors! Report!"

"Area is clear out to a distance of five light years. "

"Weps?"

"All weapons systems showing green. Force field projectors all show green, sir."

"Navigation?"

"Not picking up any beacons from any Combat Gates. Stellar charts put us about ten light years distant from Epsilon Eridani system. Sir, according to the charts, we should be very near Kelowna."

"How near?"

"Two light years, sir."

"Sensors. Launch three cloaked probes. One at the Kelownan system, one towards Epsilon, the other towards Earth. Let's get some long range sensors training while we figure out what went wrong with the power flow."

"Aye sir. Probes launching now."

Three probes left the Halsey in quick succession. They maneuvered for a few seconds to put them on a starting trajectory that would bring them to their targets. A second after their initial thrust maneuvers were complete, all three probes successfully cloaked and a second later, entered hyperspace. Because of the distances involved, Kelowna would be probed first, followed by Earth, then Epsilon. The sensors officer, Lt. Jameson, late of the Royal Navy, would monitor the probes for the duration of the exercise.

Without being told what to do, Major Carter was already working with the engineering crew to find the source of the problem. Minor injuries were being reported throughout the ship, but thankfully no casualties. While engineering worked the problem, others were taking the time to run drills. On the flight deck, Colonel O'Neill was directing the plane handlers to make ready for a combat launch. The hangars aboard the strike carriers had been designed to eject as many fighters at one time as was possible. In this case, that number was ninety. Each of the five primary hangar bays had eighteen launch catapults. The catapults were stacked three high and six across. Each bay could eject eighteen fighters at one time. O'Neill set up three bays with fighters and two with interceptors. A flight of bombers were standing by in one of the auxiliary bays as they were too large to launch out of the catapults.

The battlecruisers had detached from their mounts and were preparing their own flights of fighters for launch. All in all, it was excellent training and it gave the squadron leaders and the two strike wing commanders the chance to see where the problems were so they could fix them. By the time the deck crews had gone through two sets of 'pretend' combat launches, their set up times had improved from thirty minutes at the onset, to ten minutes on the latest pass. Still, O'Neill would not be satisfied until they cut that number in half.

On the Bridge, Lt. Jameson was seeing some startling information coming through from the three probes.

"Sir? I have the probe data."

"Main screen. What am I looking at?"

"This is the data from Kelownan probe. But Kelowna isn't there. Where it should be, there is only an asteroid field."

"How is that possible? Are there any indications of weapons fire?"

"No sir. The damage appears to be at least a million years old. Almost as if the planet was torn apart before it could properly form."

"Not good. What else?"

"Switching to probe feed from Earth sir. But none of the landmarks are there."

"Where the hell is Independence Station? We only just left a little more than two hours ago?"

"Unknown sir. There's more. The main dome on Luna, the Colonial settlement on Mars. Both are gone, sir."

"Gone! What do you mean, gone!"

"Well, there are domes on Luna and Mars, but they're not the domes we know sir. There are a number of ships in the Sol system, but none are even remotely similar to the ships in our fleet, sir."

"That ship there. Lower left corner. Magnify."

"Aye sir. Looks like that says 'Agamemnon'."

"That's my read too. Rotating hull sections? They must not have artificial gravity. Any comms intercepted by the probe, Jameson?"

"Yes sir. Picking up something called Interstellar News. Martial law? Sir, it appears as though Earth has declared martial law at home and on her colonies? What the hell?"

"Continue to monitor. Show me Epsilon."

"Aye sir. Switching to Epsilon probe feed."

"Oh my, that's a big station!"

"Confirmed sir. Probe data indicate it is five miles long. The probe is also picking up an odd gate-like device hanging in space near the station. Earth probe now picking up the same odd gate in that system near Io."

"Continue to monitor all probes. Pierson, you have the Conn. I'll be in my office."

"Sure, Marius."

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An hour later, Lieutenant Jameson was standing in his office, adjacent to the main bridge, to report his findings.

"Summarize it for me, Jameson."

"Sir. I've run every scan I can think of in the Kelownan system. The damage to the planet we know as Kelowna appears to be millions of years old. There is no evidence whatsoever that there was ever any life on Kelowna. The only good news I have to report is that the asteroid field is extremely rich in naquadah, trinium, naquadria, and tylium. This is by far the richest field I've ever had the pleasure of seeing, not that I've seen very many. The field is a five minute hyperspace jump away sir, and within three days, we could have more than enough of those metals to build a dozen strike carriers."

"Well, that is something. What about Earth?"

"The news is not good at all there sir. I don't really know how to describe it sir, but none of what we knew is there. The probe picked up a signal from an atomic clock in the system and the year is 2260. Before you say anything, sir, it gets much worse. Apparently the nations of Earth have banded together to form one planetary government, with elected representatives from each member country. There is one leader of Earth, a President Morgan Clark. Sir, it is my opinion that the man in charge is playing with less than a full deck. There are dozens of news reports about how the alien influence is ruining Earth. There is an organization called Night Watch that sounds more like something out of Nazi Germany than anything modern. Clark has declared martial law and is actively hunting down anyone that speaks out against him. Earth has several off-world colonies and one space station. There is something else sir. It appears as commercial advertisement, so normally, I wouldn't put much stock into it, however, that it appears at all is what worries me."

"Spit it out, son."

"An advertisement on what to do should you suspect yourself or a friend is a psionic. There is an organization on Earth called Psi-Corps. Frankly sir, it scares the hell out of me, especially if someone can read my mind without my knowledge!"

"Continue to monitor Earth space and that station in Epsilon. I want to know what Earth does next and how that station responds. Dismissed."

"Aye sir."

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Immortal Shipyards

Immortal Design Bureau

Office of Mitch Guerra

He was in shock. Hell, the whole staff at the IDB was in shock. The first strike carrier to set out from the shipyard and it disappears. No wreckage, no escape pods, no sign of anything at all. When the Halsey did not arrive on time, the Houston and the Moscow began searching along their projected course, with no results. Not that they found anything, it was the simple fact that they found absolutely nothing of the Halsey. That's what worried him.

This was his first opportunity in the last several hours, hell days actually, to sit down. All of the staff at the IDB were looking over the last telemetry data received at Independence Station before the Halsey had entered her wormhole. But they could see nothing wrong in the readings. As far as they knew, everything was working according to specifications. Guerra put his head in his hands for a moment. The shock of it still setting in. The man he had called friend was gone.

He looked up after some time to realize that his computer screen was flashing 'new mail' at him. He hadn't noticed it before when he had walked in, and Mitch guessed that he must have been too shocked, too tired to notice.

"Mitch, if you're reading this, then Tok'Ra's plan worked and I'm very far away. He told me I could tell three people of his request to me and guess what old buddy, you're number three. It seems that a few million years ago, when the Ancients were first exploring the universe, they used slow ships; the kind we would still be using had we not learned how to use the Stargate. Tok'Ra told me they set up three research teams. One designed and developed the Stargate. Another created the means of hyperspace travel. The third team, that's the one that concerns us the most. Or rather, the one that concerns me the most. You see, that third team developed a way to travel between dimensions. Yeah, I did say dimensions.

"Anyways, the Ancients did a lot of exploring. This was all back before they evolved and you know what? They found the universe to be a lonely place. So they used their dimensional portal and guess what? Other universes were also lonely places. But they found in four places, the potential for humanoid life that was similar to our own. Or their own. I'm still not sure which of our species Tok'Ra was referring to. In any case, the Ancients set up at least four outpost worlds, one in each of the four universes they wanted to keep an eye on.

"Over time, they gathered a lot of intelligence and they made a few friends as well. And in time, the Ancients evolved and left our plane of existence. Guess what? After they evolved, they couldn't be bothered to maintain those outpost worlds. The gateway between dimensions was shut down, and the outpost worlds were forgotten. Until recently that is. Someone out there reminded Tok'Ra of what they had done so long ago. Someone out there told Tok'Ra that other, less benevolent races had chanced upon those outpost worlds and were using the technology there to enslave their universes. Normally that wouldn't affect any of us here, but unless that tech is retrieved, the chances that those other races could develop the dimensional technology are pretty darn high. Tok'Ra can't do this himself. So he's sending me.

"But I have a favor to ask. I don't know how long I'll be gone and I don't know if I'll make it back alive, though I certainly will try. The information I have given you, you must promise me right now that you will take it to the grave. Now, about that favor. You'll find an attachment to this voice mail file. It's a new ship design I came up with after watching the Asgard video of the Goa'uld battle. It's a rather narrow ship, maybe only a couple hundred meters wide and six or seven hundred meters long. The strike carriers are great and in theory, they'll allow us to launch waves of fighters at an oncoming enemy. The big guns and the missile launch tubes are the only real offensive weapons the ship has however. The same is true of the battlecruisers, though they carry a whole lot less fighters.

"So I had in mind something that would travel with the strike carrier group. A support ship of sorts. Two very large turrets fore and two very large turrets aft. Not rail guns. Not pulsar guns. I want these guns to fire plasma projectiles. Large plasma projectiles. The design also has numerous missile launchers mounted on the ship. The inspiration for the design came from the US Navy's Iowa class and from the Russian Kirov class. Look at those two for more ideas. Long range fire is what I'm after. Get with your teams and get to work on these new ships. They could mean the difference between victory or defeat when we face the Cylon battle fleets. I was thinking along the lines of four or six to support each strike carrier. In any case, I know you'll do your best with this design. I'll see you when I see you. Luck."

Mitch had not expected that. Mail from Marco. He would keep the secret. He vowed that on his very soul.

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AIS Admiral Halsey

Kelowna System

Journey Day 4

The Halsey had been prowling the asteroid field for three days now. In three days they had filled the raw metals storage tanks to overflowing. News had continued to come in via the probes from Earth and from the space station, now called by its name; Babylon 5. Just now, Marius was meeting with his senior officers and department heads in the officer's wardroom. Before he could say anything, however, he felt the tell tale tickle that signaled Tok'Ra's presence.

"Ok people, let's get down to business. I do believe Tok'Ra has something to say."

"I do Marius. I know that you have been monitoring Earth and the Babylon 5 station for some days now. I know that many of you believe you have been cast into the far future. That is not correct. When your ship entered the wormhole, I directed my energies into a set of projectors mounted along the bow of this ship. These projectors allowed your ship to breach the barriers between dimensions. I do not wish to trifle with your lives, yet I must ask a dangerous favor from you and your ship mates. Before the Ancients evolved, we were exploring this universe that you now find yourselves in. Then we moved from this plane of existence and we chose to forget about our explorations. In doing so we left numerous outposts laden with a number of technologies. Technologies that could help in your coming war. But we left them. And others found them. Now, these others use our technologies to wage war. You must retrieve these technologies and set the balance again in these four universes. Until those four tasks are accomplished, the dimensional projectors will not allow you to return to your home universe.

"You are quite alone out here. There are no Goa'uld. No Nox. No Asgard. You may find friends that can help you in the long term, but you will have to help them first. I will be around, from time to time, to offer my counsel to Marius. My first bit of advice is that you ally yourselves with Babylon 5. There you will find representatives of the two races the Ancients met long ago."

And with that, Tok'Ra ceased his speech and moved to a hover in the background.

"Well, I guess that explains what we thought was time travel."

"Sure seems that way, Major Carter."

"Did you know about this Adam?"

"No I did not. But I suspect Marius did."

"I did. You all may hate me for it. But I knew. I've known for a month now. So here's what we're going to do. You all are going to leave this room and talk to the crews under you. This will be the only time we'll take this as a vote. If your crews decide to honor Tok'Ra and his request, then we'll keep the info about us being from another dimension to ourselves. We'll make up a story to tell any we encounter. Go now, and discuss it amongst yourselves. I'll be in my quarters, awaiting your decision."

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Marius' Living Quarters

"What if they decide against you Marius?"

"Then I will ask you to return them, to return this ship. I will do as you ask. I will take the Dallas and continue this journey."

"You are a most honorable man, Marius."

"Thank you father."

Marius busied himself, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. He knew it would take time to brief everyone in on this situation. Time he may not have to spare, but it was the right thing to do. The odds were not in his favor. So he concentrated on what supplies he would need to turn the Dallas into a one man operation. And no matter how many times he tried to do just that, all the answers came up against him. Who could he count on to stay with him? No one. Sure, maybe his three bodyguards, but he wouldn't ask that of them. Who else? He honestly could not answer that question.

A span of several hours later, that question was answered for him. Continue the mission. Do what we must. Then get home and ensure the safety of Earth and her allies.

"Admiral's on the bridge!"

"As you were. Mr. Jameson, your report."

"The Mars colony was bombed a few hours ago. Earth is getting very desperate to control its off-world colonies. Forces were dispatched to Proxima and Orion to re-take those 'rebellious' colonies. It looks like they're leaving Babylon 5 for the end as it looks like Babylon 5 has some serious allies."

"Helm, plot a course for Babylon 5. All stations, this is the Admiral. Set condition yellow. That is all."

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Babylon 5

Command and Control Center

Outside the station, the former EA vessels Alexander and Churchill were the only two that made it on time. Any other 'rebellious' EA vessels would be unable to jump to the station in time to help them. Ambassador Delenn had left only an hour previously to try and talk the Grey Council and the rest of the Minbari into helping Babylon 5 stand against those influenced by the Shadows. Captain Sheridan was at his station in C&C while Commander Ivanova had opted to lead the station's Thunderbolt squadrons. Security was at its highest level of alert and all were waiting. The anxious wait before a major battle. Ask any warrior and they'll tell you the wait is worse, far worse, than the fighting itself.

In his quarters, the Vorlon moved to the door. It was an unusual creature. Standing at somewhere between six and seven feet tall, the outer suit belied the power of the creature within. A long flowing robe covered what? No one knew the answer to that particular question. A set of shoulders and a simple pod in between the shoulders that held a single eye. A cyclopean eye. All the more with which to intimidate any one else but another Vorlon or possibly a Shadow. The Vorlon could feel the approach of the Ancient.

Elsewhere, the three Shadow agents felt the same. They chittered loudly to one another. Their human counterpart, Mr. Morden, had never seen them so upset.

"Who comes?"

More squeaks and chitters.

"The Ancient? What do you mean?"

The chitters were angrier now.

"A first one?"

Long and drawn out squeaks and whistles.

"Not a first one? The First Teacher? The First Teacher comes?"

A single chitter.

"That can not be good."

The three Shadows agreed with their human counterpart though they did not give voice to the agreement. Amongst themselves, they were both anxious and overjoyed that the Ancient was returning. Perhaps now, the Vorlons would see just wrong they are.

Of course, the Vorlons on the Vorlon home world did not know that the Ancient had returned. Nor did the Shadows at Z'ha'dum. Only Kosh and the three Shadows knew. The others would know soon enough.

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Command and Control

It was a sight that none in C&C would ever forget. The Vorlon Ambassador gliding into C&C. Captain Sheridan turned as Kosh entered. But before Sheridan could utter a single word, Kosh spoke.

"The Ancient. Comes. Now."

Sheridan could not begin to guess what that meant. In the three seconds that had elapsed since Ambassador Kosh spoke, the jump gate had activated and four EA destroyers came through the opening.

"Babylon 5. You will power down your weapons and stand down. Or we will be forced to take the station by force and you, Captain Sheridan, will stand trial for treason. I'll give you two minutes to think about it."

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AIS Halsey

The strike carrier came out of hyperspace just shy of the station. The ship was immense and the station and the EA destroyers both turned their attention to the incredibly huge vessel.

"Attention all vessels. This is the AIS strike carrier Admiral Halsey. Babylon 5 is under our protection. You will stand down or we will defend the station. You have one minute to comply."

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B5 C&C

"…you have one minute to comply."

"Who the hell is that?" asked Captain Sheridan.

"The Ancient. Is. Here. The. First. Circle. Is complete." Responded Kosh.

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EA vessel Clarkstown

"Target that ship. If it so much as twitches, I want it blown out of my space!"

"Targeting…unable to obtain target lock sir. Must be using some kind of stealth tech. Almost like the Minbari?"

"That looks like no Minbari warship I've ever seen. If it is Minbari, then it's a radical change from the types of ships we normally see from them. Deploy fighter squadrons. Weapons, do the best you can and fire at that monstrosity!"

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AIS Halsey

"Shields are up and at full power sir!"

"Target those destroyers! Fire as they come to bear!"

The first strikes from the Clarkstown impacted on the shield surrounding the Halsey, illuminating the field. The weapons officers aboard the four EA vessels could do nothing but watch as their first missile strikes failed to hit anything at all. The forward laser batteries were firing constantly, but were having no effect at all, other than to illuminate the boundaries of whatever field the ship was using.

"No effect sir! They have some sort of shield protecting them!"

"Weapons officer! Target that vessel with four of our nuclear warheads!"

"Sir! The radiation will kill those on the station!"

"Fuck the station! Fire!"

Four missiles came out of the Clarkstown at high speed. Aboard the Halsey, the sensors officer raised a shout of alarm.

"Sir! Incoming missiles. Radiological warning! Scanners indicate nuclear yields on those missiles!"

"Weps! Target those incoming missiles and fire Standards!"

"Firing Standards!"

"Comms! Get our fighters away from here, full burn!"

"All fighter wings! The Halsey is under radiologic attack! Break now!"

Four missiles came in hot and true. The Standards carried by the Halsey and all currently planned ships of her class were the same Surface to Air missiles carried on surface warships of Earth. Until now, they were untested in space. The first was intercepted a scant thousand meters from the outer force shield of the Halsey. Though Marco had theorized that his shields would withstand a nuclear explosion in close proximity, that theory had never been put to the test. Until now. The missiles used by the EA ships had been equipped with proximity sensors. The impact by the first of the interceptors had caused a premature detonation and the nuclear energies washed against the outer defense shield. A second impact closely followed the first and the combined energies of two five hundred kiloton warheads brought down the first shield.

Unknown for the moment, an ancient power within the planet of Epsilon 3 threw up an instantaneous shield around the Babylon 5 station, blocking the frenzied radiation that spewed forth from the nuclear warhead impacts. The instant the radiation had dissipated to more tolerable levels, the shield faded.

But the Halsey, like all of the other ships in the fleet, from fighters to shuttles to the battlecruisers, had been designed with three layers of shields, each one more powerful than the previous one. The captain on the Clarkstown had seen his first two missiles impact on the shields and seen no apparent damage to the ship, so he ordered another volley of four missiles fired.

The next two missiles of the original volley were absorbed by the second defense field, though the field itself was weakened by more than half. Then two more rockets came in and the second field fell. Now the only thing standing between the personnel aboard the Halsey and certain nuclear death was a last defensive field. And more missiles were incoming. With all the nuclear explosions, communications with the fighter wings was disrupted, but O'Neill, in one of the fighters, saw the defense fields fall and he ordered his nearest wingmen to follow him into the ship firing those nuclear weapons.

Other fighters and bombers around them saw their actions and followed them in. Space was awash in waves of radiation emanating from the explosions on the Halsey, but the pilots who called that ship their home were angry. Angry that they might not have a home to return to. Angry enough to take on the four EA destroyers that were attacking them and the station. Fighters and interceptors swarmed over the four destroyers and their stings, though small, hurt the bigger ships. They cleared the way for the larger bombers to come in and launch their plasma bombs at the destroyers.

Jack saw in his peripheral vision one of the battlecruisers as its shields failed spectacularly. Just as more fighters were swarming over it, it made a short jump into hyperspace and emerged on the far side of the station, where two more of its sister ships were there to aid it.

And Jack saw more in the next few seconds than he would ever recall later in his life. A wing of bombers rushed at the Clarkstown and laid waste to her engines and weapons, then a final strike and the ship was shorn in two. Other bomber wings, seeing the tactics used by their fellow pilots, imitated them, and shortly, there were eight odd sized pieces of EA destroyers adrift in space. His mind processed only what he saw directly in front of him, and that was the 'enemy' fighter in his sights. It performed stunts and maneuvers he could not hope to imitate, but he didn't have to. He fired a pair of Venom missiles at the target, and they matched each turn and about face the target made before impacting the target and obliterating it. Behind him, on the Halsey, things were not fairing well.

"Sir! Shields down to eight percent! We can't take another hit like that last one!"

"Engineering! Channel all available power to the shields!"

"Nothing left to re-route!"

"Standards away!" came the shout of a harried weapons officer.

Just seconds before the latest round of missiles impacted the ship, the helmsman saw what the Dallas had done and did the same thing. The wounded battlecruiser had jumped to hyperspace to avoid the fighters pursuing it and so he activated the Hyperdrive and jumped them two million kilometers to starboard, and the missiles missed!

"Who ordered that jump?"

"Sir, I saw the Dallas do the same thing and figured it would work for us."

"Excellent thinking! You just saved our butts!" Mentally, Marius was telling himself that the helmsman deserved at the very least a promotion. But then he looked out at the view screen and saw four more EA destroyers making the jump into the system.

Indeed, four more Earth Alliance destroyers had made the transition from hyperspace into normal space. They had been sent as a sort of back-up force, in the long shot case that the first four destroyers would run into trouble, though the military had doubted that. Now, though, as the captain of one of the ships looked out and saw the other four destroyers, or rather he saw parts of them, he doubted that even his force would be enough to stop Sheridan. Of course, he didn't know about the Halsey.

"Attention Earth Alliance ships. Babylon 5 is under our protection. Vacate this area immediately or we will be forced to destroy you as well."

"Weps, bring the main guns on-line and target those new ships. Target engines and weapons emplacements first."

"Aye sir."

Whatever doubts the bridge crew had had about an Immortal being named Captain of the Halsey, even for the extended space trials, were gone, like a gossamer mist.

Aboard the newly arrived EA destroyer Olympic, the captain thought that an all-out assault was his best option and the four destroyers turned as one to meet the very large ship to port. Fighters raced out from their mother ships and sped forward to intercept the Halsey. But the Halsey's fighters were already there, meeting them. In a battle that lasted only a few tens of seconds, the Halsey's fighters were victorious and the EA fighters, though more nimble, were no match for their heavier guns. Now, bright beams of plasma energies lanced out from the Halsey and struck true on the weapons emplacements of the new destroyers. These were followed by large naquadah encased rounds from the rail guns and a single conventional Shipwreck targeted at each destroyer. They had been de-clawed in a decisive strike. The ranking Earth Force Captain gave the order, though it pained him to do so. Retreat. And while the ships were turning about preparing to enter hyperspace, everyone of their scanning beams was raking over the Halsey, taking in reams of data on the fighting capabilities of this ship. A moment later, they had safely entered hyperspace.

And just as the crews on the Halsey and aboard Babylon 5 were about to take a breath, four more jump points opened, spewing forth four Minbari Ships of the Line and a single WhiteStar. On board the WhiteStar, Delenn and the crew around her looked out onto the field of battle and saw nothing but destruction. They also saw a very large ship, nearly three-fifths the size of the station, waiting there, as if ready to pounce.

"Attention unidentified ship. I am Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari Federation. Stand down or we will be forced to fire on you."

"Ambassador, it is you who must stand down. Your ships are targeted and locked into our systems. We will fire and destroy you if you so much as breathe too loudly."

Delenn looked to one side and confirmed that this new ship had them targeted and no matter what they tried, they could not break the targeting lock.

In C&C, Sheridan looked out at the two sides and realized they meant to fire on one another.

"Delenn, Halsey. Stop! We're all on the same side!"

It was a desperate plea, shouted out by a man who had seen more deaths in the previous thirty minutes than he had seen during the entire Earth-Minbari war.

"Halsey. Standing down."

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"Captain Sheridan, are you sure of their intentions?"

"No Delenn, I'm not. But they did just save us all. I'll keep an open mind about it for now."

"As will I."

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"Halsey to Station. We have a lot of pilots down and we're sure you do as well. We are launching Search and Rescue now."

Marius turned to one side and gave the order for the SAR squadrons to launch and pick up their pilots and any other pilots they happened to find. The medical deck was prepped to received an influx of wounded. Dr. Scully was expecting the worst to come through the doors of the med bays and so she made sure that all would be treated accordingly. The dozen sarcophagi they had on board, a gift from Lord Yu, were standing by to revive the newly dead and heal the most critical of cases. Asgard stasis pods were also standing by to stabilize those who could not immediately go into a sarcophagus. Elsewhere, five Tok'ra, who had volunteered to serve on this ship, were opening up their medical bags and withdrawing the Healing Devices. Though they would be unable to heal a fatal wound or even bring back the dead, they could stabilize those with serious wounds until more proper medical facilities could be gotten to.

The hangar decks were awash with craft that were coming in from the fighting. Some were damaged beyond repair and as such they would be cannibalized for whatever spare parts they would yield. Others needed only minor repairs to be made flyable again. Though the vast majority of the squadrons had taken part in the fighting, a few had been left in reserve. Now, these reserve squadrons were launching and were flying cover for the SAR squadrons whose job it was to find and pick up the escape pods of dozens of fighters from the Halsey, and the suited pilots of the destroyed Starfury and Thunderbolt fighters. Shuttles were also launching to pick up the survivors in the ripped apart EA destroyers.

Four of the battlecruisers were nudging the larger parts of the EA destroyers into a temporary holding area where it was thought by some of the engineers aboard the Halsey, that they could be repaired and pressed into service. The Dallas had been damaged in one of the nuclear explosions and had to be towed back to its docking port on the Halsey by the Kiev and the Ryan.

It was several hours before all of the escape pods had been located and the wounded treated. In one of the storage rooms aboard the Halsey, some five hundred Earth Alliance personnel were awaiting their fate. Many had been near death, only to be fully healed a short time after they were picked up. Their weapons had been stripped away from them, sure, but they were alive. It felt truly good to be alive just then.

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Babylon 5

Command and Control

"AIS Halsey calling Babylon 5. We have a number of EA prisoners aboard. Frankly we're not sure where their loyalties lie. We'd like to hand them over to you and we'd like to meet you, if at all possible."

"Halsey. I am Captain John Sheridan of Babylon 5. You have clearance to land."

From the Halsey, a single Bulldog class attack Tel'tac emerged followed closely by a squadron of Mustang class fighters. These in turn were followed by a dozen Tel'tacs carrying the rescued EA personnel. The fighters peeled out of formation with the Bulldog and took up patrol routes that would lead them around the station and around the Halsey. The attack shuttle had been a very late addition to the Halsey and so there were only six of them aboard. From the outside, they looked like the standard Tel'tac, but that's where the resemblance stopped. Within the Bulldog, was a crew compartment for thirty fast reaction troopers and their equipment, while on the exterior there were four large rail guns, and retractable missile launchers underneath. On this particular Bulldog, O'Neill and Teal'c were at the controls, with Carter and Methos at the single weapons station, and the sensors stations, respectively. Dr. Jackson had joined the First Contact team and was standing along side Fox Mulder. All were armed with zat guns. Marius had brought his three bodyguards along and while they carried zat guns, they also carried the new staff weapons that Hamza had crafted for them prior to their departure. The staffs each encased a single long blade of a trinium-titanium alloy that could slice through a wall made of diamond, albeit very thin diamond, like a hot knife through butter. But to anyone looking, the staffs were just that, walking sticks. A last minute addition to the First Contact team had been D'Fir, one of the Tok'ra medics, on the chance that there would be wounded aboard the station.

The Bulldog made its approach and the pilots aboard followed the landing cues generated by the automated docking systems of Babylon 5 to a soft touch down not twelve feet away from a group of individuals. Landing struts deployed and the ship was down. Then a large hatch irised open on the side of the Bulldog and its occupants began coming out.

"Greetings. I am Fleet Admiral Marco Ramos of the Alliance of Independent Systems. With me here for this first contact occasion is Major Fox Mulder, our resident Ambassador. Dr. Daniel Jackson, his assistant and mission specialist."

Before Marco could complete his introductions, the Vorlon approached.

"To my left is…and what the hell are you?"

"Child of the Ancient. I am honored in your presence."

"Whoa. Hold on a second there. I'm not that old!"

Sheridan mumbled under his breath to Ivanova that the words spoken by Kosh were by far the most clear thing he'd ever heard a Vorlon say.

"Well, that just took the wind out of my introductions. But somehow, I don't think I am who you think I am."

"Are you a First One?"

"A first one what? What do you mean? Uhm, who's on first?"

"Sorry. It's rare to hear more than a few words from a Vorlon. I'm Captain John Sheridan. This is Michael Garibaldi, Chief of Station Security. Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova, my second in command. Dr. Stephen Franklin, Chief Medical Officer. Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari Federation. And I believe you've already met Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlon Empire."

"Hello. Uhm, after that little bit with Kosh I'd rather hoped that not all of you would be the same. But first things first. Where should we direct the other shuttles to land? The ones with the EA personnel we rescued?"

"Susan, get C&C to handle that."

"Yes Captain."

"I'm afraid that you will have to surrender your weapons."

"Of course. But they only stun. And they are for our protection."

"Sorry. Station policy."

"Very well then. People, leave the Zats on the Bulldog."

"Captain Sheridan, may my three assistants and I carry our walking sticks? They are more an insignia of rank than actual weapons. Besides, I'm fairly certain that any weapons you have would severely negate the effectiveness of a walking staff."

"That will be permitted."

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Elsewhere on the Station

Excited chitters and squeals.

"He's here?"

A single squeak.

"I must make plans to meet with the Ancient. He must be made to see that it is our forces that are in the right here, not the damned Vorlons."

A lot more chitters, more excited than before.

"Children of the Ancient? Is that good or bad?"

A non-committal squeak.

"Well, hell. If you don't know, then I guess I'm supposed to find out, right?"

There was no answering chitter or squeak.

A beeping screen caught his attention and he called it to open.

"Citizen G'Kar, the news of the Earth Alliance defeat has already reached us. Do whatever is necessary to obtain a sample of the technologies used by the new ship."

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Another beeping screen elsewhere on the station.

"Ambassador Mollari! If the news of the Earth Alliance defeat is true, then we simply must have these new weapons! You will do everything possible to achieve that goal!"

Within the Vorlon ship, a single message was beamed out across the stars to the Vorlon home world. It simply said, 'The First Teacher, the Ancient has returned.'

The three Shadows joined as one and sent their own message. 'The Ancient is here. The First Teacher has returned to us. Now.'

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Conference Room

Babylon 5

Journey Day 6

Two sets of humans walked in to a large conference room, and took seats at the table. Kyra and Reagan, two of Marius' guards took up station outside the door to the conference room, while Alison followed them in. When all were seated, she stood along the wall behind Marius. And when all were seated, it was Marius who spoke first.

"Before we begin Captain, I am noticing that Mr. Garibaldi is looking rather piqued? Your injuries must pain you. My medic can attend to your injuries. I assure you that she will cause you no pain."

Dr. Franklin stepped forward to observe the medic and the healing device. He gave it a cursory scan, but could not read anything useful with his scanner. He gave the go ahead to allow the medic to treat Mr. Garibaldi.

D'Fir had been with the Tok'ra for a number of centuries, having been one of the last 'children' born to Egeria. Her current host was Tarissa, a female from Argos. Though the Tok'ra had no use for the medical sciences per se, there was a desperate need for medical researchers. As D'Fir/Tarissa were the closest thing to a medical person, and with the Tok'ra Council all too aware of Anise's problems with the Tau'ri, she had been chosen for this mission.

With the Healing Device in hand, D'Fir eyes began to glow as she took control from Tarissa. With some concentrated effort, the pain in Garibaldi's arm and leg dissipated and he rather quickly began flexing his arm and walking normally.

"Mr. Garibaldi. Your arm and leg have both been healed. But do try not to tax them much over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. I and my host thank you for this opportunity to demonstrate our good will towards your people."

"You and your host? Admiral Ramos, what did she mean by that?"

"Captain. Medic D'Fir is of a race known as the Tok'ra. They are a blended race and they 'timeshare' their bodies. D'Fir is the symbiote half, Tarissa is the human half. This is but one of the many things you will learn about us. Though we had no intention of becoming involved in whatever troubles you have with the present Earth Government, we fear we are already inextricably involved. We were sent here to retrieve certain technologies left by our Ancient parents. Technologies, that most certainly are being used by the Vorlons and the race you call Shadows. A million years ago, those whom the Vorlon called the Ancients came to your part of the galaxy and established an outpost world from which they launched numerous scientific expeditions to study the local sentient life. Over the course of centuries, perhaps millennia, the outpost world was abandoned and forgotten and the technologies therein left for the two most promising races at the time. It was hoped that the automated defenses of the outpost world would be sufficient to ward off all.

"I have been told by an Ancient that the Vorlons and the Shadows are in possession of these technologies, that they have tragically misused them for their own twisted views of sentient life exploration. That they have manipulated the younger races in order to form stronger armies, so that they may battle by proxy. Do not deny this, Vorlon."

"We do not deny this. What was done was necessary."

"Necessary in whose eyes, Vorlon?"

"Necessary for this universe."

"A valid point, Vorlon. You see Captain, while we are genetically similar, you and I, we are not identical. Our vessel and the people aboard her, we come from Earth. Though it is perhaps an Earth that you would not expect. The Ancients came to this universe via a dimensional portal of their own creation. Tampering with the various dimensions is not recommended, even with the best of intentions. The reason they came here, was to seek out life similar enough to their own. They found, instead, the Vorlons and the Shadows, to which the Ancients became the First Teachers."

"An alternate universe Admiral Ramos? I find that hard to believe."

"It is true Captain. The universe from which we came, the Earth from which we came, well, there is no easy way to put this. The year we left on our journey, two weeks ago, was two thousand and three. The very early years of the twenty-first century. Pray tell, could your Earth of the same time have built a ship such as the Halsey?"

"No." there was a hint of defeat in Sheridan's voice.

"Now Captain. The Vorlon has called me the Ancient, but I am not. I am a child of the Ancients, but I am not old enough to be an Ancient. There is, however, an Ancient among us. Tok'Ra?"

Those who belonged to the universe of Babylon 5 had seen many strange types of aliens in their travels, but nothing in their collective experiences prepared them for the first sight of the Ancient. A golden glowing cloud of gas with sparkly particles flying in chaotic and eccentric orbits throughout the body of the cloud.

From the Vorlon, they saw what they did not expect to ever see, an Encounter Suit opening before them. The blue energy being within flew out of the suit to flit about the edge of the golden cloud. The blue cloud tried to merge with the golden cloud and was rebuffed and expelled violently to the far side of the room. Then the blue cloud withdrew and re-entered the Suit. The Vorlon spoke.

"Have I displeased you, Ancient One?"

"No my child, you have not. But you are not yet old enough to merge with me fully. To do so now would mean your complete annihilation. That is not something I wish."

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Vorlon Home World

The message had been received by the Vorlon Ruling Council. The Ancient had returned. And it had gone to the human place called Babylon 5, as was foretold millennia past. The orders went quickly through the fleet. And very shortly after the message was acknowledged, the largest ever assembled Vorlon fleet entered hyperspace. Their destination? Babylon 5

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Z'ha'dum

The excited chitters and squeals could be heard throughout the numerous Shadow cities of Z'ha'dum. The Ancient One, the first teacher, had returned to their universe. By the time the Shadow Triad on Babylon 5 received an acknowledgement of their message, a very large Shadow fleet had phased into hyperspace. Their destination the same as the Vorlons. Babylon 5.

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Babylon 5

Journey Day 7

The initial meet and greet had gone well. Marius was now in temporary quarters in the Green section of Babylon 5; that area reserved for Ambassadors and VIPs. Major Mulder, acting as Ambassador, and Dr. Jackson, were both ensconced in meetings with some of the staff of Babylon 5.

Alison, one of the bodyguards assigned to Marius, was in the room with him, while Reagan and Kyra were standing just outside the door to their combined quarters. Alison was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, considering that Tok'Ra was in the room, speaking with Marius.

"My child. You must be very cautious in the days to come. I fear the Vorlons and the Shadows will both try to influence you to their cause. I have slightly altered your Quickening to allow you to perceive the Shadows, as they can shift their bodies out of phase with everything around you. You may or may not be able to see them directly, in their full form, unless you stare at one for some time, but you will be able to sense their presence, and you will be able to target them should that become necessary. I have granted you the ability to understand their speech directly, though it may be of some benefit to allow their human avatar the illusion that he is speaking for them."

"Father, I will do the right thing. I must."

"Do not be troubled, child. There are potential allies here for the fight at home, but you must seek and judge that on your own. My only concern here is that the more devastating technologies be removed from this universe. Anything beyond that, is entirely up to you."

"You're a lot of help."

"I can not be with you always. Some mistakes you must make on your own. I think I will go for now. There is someone I would like to see."

Tok'Ra vanished into the ether. Not vanished really, merely faded from sight. Where he was going or who he wanted to see in this universe were unknown to him. He paid little attention, when his guards shifted their stations, allowing Alison and Reagan to stand the watch outside, whilst Kyra came in for a quick bite to eat.

Marius took the time, at last, to study the weapons that Hamza ibn Mohammed al Katib had wrought for him and his guards. It was a finely crafted staff of Lebanese cedar, with various verses from the Koran and the Christian Bible carved into the wood. He knew not where the one phrase came from, whether the Koran or the Bible, but he saw the truth in it. 'In strength, there is peace. In peace, there is unity. In Unity, there is strength.' A bit of a circular argument, but sound nonetheless. Of course, the outside was merely a façade for the inner weapon. The wooden staff housed a fine double edged blade, a full forty inches in length, made of an alloy of trinium and titanium. The handle of the sword was the top half of the staff, and had been wrapped in leather, so as to make for an easier grab of the weapon. The handle was of the blade was hollow, having a removable cap, not unlike the popular survival knives in various movies. But instead of the usual survival gear, the handle had several short lengths of detonating cord, which could be used to cut one's way out of a cell. There were two pairs of color-coded and quite small plastic-coated wooden capsules that must have been a bitch to carve, that contained a binary fire starting agent, for when one was stuck in the field with no matches.

The staff itself was close to six feet in length. But the blade did not account for all of the interior space. Near the bottom of the staff, was a trio of hidden compartments, that could be opened only by twisting the bottom 'dial' into the correct combination. One compartment contained the usual survival gear that would be found in any survival type of knife. Another compartment had lock picking tools. The last compartment held a tube made of refined trinium, approximately six inches in length and half an inch in diameter. It was a pen-gun. Single shot only, with ten additional rounds in the compartment, in the fifty caliber Action Express variety. The rounds themselves were modified hollow points, that had been filled in with curare and sealed with a thin layer of lead. All in all, Hamza had done a fine job indeed. But before Marius could pull the blade and meditate upon it, there was a chime at the door, shortly followed by Reagan's announcement that a Mr. Morden wished to speak with him. Marius bade him enter and asked Kyra to step outside for the moment.

"Mr. Morden is it? How may I help you?"

"It is I who can help you, Child of the Ancients."

"I really wish people would stop calling me that. Speak plainly Mr. Morden. Call me Marco."

In the background, Marius could see the three Shadow creatures, or at least get a vague impression of them. He concentrated on Morden, but was looking slightly behind him, trying to get a better look at the Shadow. Two of the creatures were beside and slightly behind Morden, while the third was circling his quarters and examining his things.

"Very well. Marco. I am told that you are a descendant of a race called the Ancients. That they were the teachers to the Shadows and to the Vorlons. That they went beyond the rim untold millennia ago."

"Went beyond the rim? I'm not sure what that means. But I think what you are trying to say is that they evolved?"

"That would be one way of saying it, yes."

"Then yes. What you have been told is correct. The Ancients came to this galaxy, long ago seeking out life not unlike their own. They found the Shadows and the Vorlons and sought to enlighten them. To raise them up as they would eventually do to their children, to us. Your Shadows and the Vorlons were an experiment, you might say. To mold and shape those two races so that one day, in the fullness of time, those two races might mold and shape those races younger than they. It is my understanding, that these two elder races took it upon themselves to mold and shape the universe according to two different philosophies?"

"Different perhaps, but with the same goal in mind."

"Expansion through conquest and scientific advancement versus introspection and spiritual growth. Order versus chaos. Forceful conquest versus peaceful expansion. The philosophies are quite diverse, but your goal is the same, advancement. A philosopher from my area of the galaxy calls it survival of the fittest. I wonder, do the younger races here realize just how much you are controlling them? Trying to shape them into what you deem the correct heir for your goals?"

"When the time is right, they will know."

"But not before. What the Ancients attempted with your two races, they accomplished with mine. In my own galaxy, the Ancients sired us, or created us, depending on which is more palatable to one's tastes. They took the knowledge of what they had attempted here and cast that into us. Along with a few other abilities. In the fullness of time, I too, may evolve into a being that you would term an Ancient. But I am not nearly old enough for that. In a few hundred thousand years perhaps I will be ready."

This last was directed not at Morden, but at the Shadow next to him.

"Mr. Morden, if you would be so kind, one of your companions' is tickling my neck and it is not a feeling I enjoy. Yes. Do not seem so shocked, sir. I am, as you said, a Child of the Ancient. Did you not think I could sense your companions?"

"Their appearance does not bother you? I have known their appearance to be frightful to most of the other races on the station."

"Their appearance does not bother me. In my own galaxy there are far more sinister looking aliens. But that is a tale for another time. But I would imagine the appearance issue to be some sort of indoctrination handed down over the course of generations, no? But that is not the reason I am here."

This time, it was one of the Shadow Triad that spoke to Marius, not Morden. And all he heard was a series of long winded chitters, squeaks, and something resembling a high pitched whistle.

"I am here to reclaim certain technologies that both you and the Vorlons have seen fit to take from the outpost world we left behind. Two were taken by the Shadows. Three by the Vorlons. And I would guess that had you arrived prior to the Vorlons, you would have taken what they thought more important. The two devices you took, though you have turned them into machines of war, were designed to terraform worlds, not destroy them. You took a ship designed to terraform ice worlds into tropical worlds and turned it into a devastator of worlds. You took a nanocytic entity that the Ancients used to transform worlds with toxic environments to human compatible ones, and turned it into a plague dispersing agent that can wipe an entire sentient race from a planet. Such were not the intent of the original creations. You have manipulated those tools to your own devices and now, the entire galaxy may suffer for your arrogance.

"Go now, Shadow Triad, and think on what you have done. Before the day is out, I am certain I will have a private chat with Kosh, and he will learn the same from me. Think on what you have learned here this day. And think on what you will do in the future."

Marius hoped with all his being that he had done the right thing; taken the right stance with the Shadows. It seemed an instinct to be slightly aggressive with them, but he was unsure as to the outcome. Only time would tell if he had done the right thing. But he had no time to ponder the potential outcomes of his diatribe with the Shadows, for no sooner had they left, than the Vorlon came to him. The one thing he could say about this particular meeting, was that Kosh was accompanied by a rather gorgeous female. Alien or not, Kosh had very good taste.

"Ambassador Kosh. Greetings. And who is your lovely companion?"

"She is of no import to these proceedings. She is here merely to ascertain your truthfulness."

"If she's a truth serum, then I definitely want to lie. What is your name, Miss?"

"Lyta Alexander. Commercial telepath, rating P5."

"I have no idea what your rating means, Ms. Alexander. My part of the universe doesn't know much about telepathy."

Lyta found that statement to be odd, considering that Kosh had professed to her the fact that this man was a child of an Ancient. Kosh had shown her through the Learning, the Vorlons history with the Ancients. Immortality certainly held a modest attraction for her. She attempted a surface scan and was rebuffed. It was unlike any other telepathic block she had ever experienced. Almost as if his mind were surrounded by the same type of light she experienced through the Learning. Now she put those Vorlon enhanced telepathic powers to the test, but still she could not penetrate through to his mind. Such was the power of an Immortal mind.

"Ms. Alexander, if you're quite through in your attempts to scan me, we shall proceed."

She was in shock! Only another telepath could have felt her subtle surface scans, and only another trained like she was, enhanced by the Vorlons, could have detected her enhanced scan! But he had detected it all the same and had repelled her every attempt to penetrate his shields.

"Now then, Kosh. I must say, offhand, dealing with you will be a tad easier. I tend to like to put a name to the person with whom I am speaking. I certainly can not pronounce any name the Shadow Triad attempted to give me. My tongue and vocal cords do not work that way."

"The Shadows have come to see you?"

"Indeed they have. We had a rather involved conversation not more than twenty minutes ago regarding philosophy. Particularly yours and theirs and how you both tend to take advantage of the younger races in this part of the universe. You ask a question to all whom you encounter and it makes those whom you ask look inward to seek the answer. While that may be well and good, no civilization advances for long without expansion by conquest. You firmly believe that your philosophy is the right one for the younger races, yes? And the Shadows believe that theirs is also the right one. Now, all things being equal, both of you can't be right. But both of you can be wrong. But that is a discussion for another time. The reason we are here, is to retrieve technologies that you thought to take from their outpost world. Had the Shadows arrived prior to you, they would have seen what you saw; one of the Ancients using a dimensional portal.

"You chose to take that portal, though they anticipated that you would find the device and shut it down. And thus while the portal was non-operational, you willfully chose to examine it, to study it. I daresay, that it took my 'parents', the Ancients, a few millennia to perfect the device. Tell me you did not build such a device, or attempt to build such a device?"

"One mistake. Among so many mistakes. Set adrift in hyperspace. Our attempt to follow you failed. We nearly set loose upon this galaxy a plague the likes of which it would not have survived. We were very nearly destroyed by that which we very nearly released. We have never again sought to pursue any research along those matters."

"Yes, but then you did as the Shadows did, and took from them and perverted, those technologies that they had created to transform and terraform worlds for human inhabitation. You took those technologies and perverted them into weapons of war. Now I daresay, you attack any race that has been tainted by the Shadows, just as they attack any race that has been influenced by Vorlon wills. When will it end, Kosh? When will it end? No need to answer that, Kosh, as it was a rhetorical question."

"The Vorlon High Council will soon arrive."

"As will the Shadow High Council. And when they do, your kind must not initiate hostilities against them. To do so would jeopardize all that has been set in motion."

"We will not initiate hostilities."

"Very well, Kosh. I have given you much to think on, and both you and the Shadow Triad have given me much to contemplate. We will talk again soon, you and I. And the Ancients will be there as well."

"Admiral Ramos, a question if I may?"

"Of course, Ms. Alexander."

"How are you able to block my scans?"

"Perhaps you should ask me something simpler, like why do humans breathe oxygen instead of carbon dioxide? Or why are our bodies carbon based and not silicon based? But to answer your question, I do not know. Perhaps it is a function of my Quickening, one that none of my kind have yet discovered because telepaths have not come into existence in my galaxy. Who knows. What I do know is that you can not scan me, and I believe you would be unable to scan any other Child of the Ancients or the Ancients themselves either."

"You look human enough to me. How is it that you are a Child of the Ancients?"

"In this place, the Vorlons manipulated the genetic material of hundreds of races to create you, did they not? They wanted to create telepaths to use as weapons against their mortal enemies? Well, long ago, the Ancients created us for a similar purpose. To act as guardians and guides for the younger races. But we faltered along the way; we became involved in a deadly game of conquest with only one winner as the eventual goal. It was said that the winner of the Game would have dominion over all humanity and that could either have been very bad or very good, depending on the winner. An eternity of damnation or an eternity of paradise.

"But our Father-Creator has shown us the error of our ways and we have once again taken up the mantle for which we were created. In this place, the Vorlons created telepaths. In our place, the Ancients created Immortals. That is to say, we who were created, can not die."

"Immortal guides and guardians? I see the wisdom of that decision. Who better to help mortal man from repeating the mistakes of the past but someone who's lived that past and who remembers the consequences of those previous errors.. The Ancients were wise, indeed."

"No, Ms. Alexander. And yes. Their goals may be altruistic now, but at the time of creation, they wanted something baser, more primitive. They wanted children. Simple, isn't it?"

Marius realized at that moment that somewhere during his conversation with Lyta Alexander, Kosh had slipped out of the room and that his three guards were now listening in rapt attention to his commentary.

"So much of what you have said makes more sense now, Mr. President. The Council was indeed wise in choosing you to lead us. The Immortal community was most fortunate indeed that you were selected in the lottery."

"I have asked you repeatedly not to call me that. It's been quite a long time since I have had anything at all to do with politics. Though my own experience makes modern politicians appear to be children playing a game, I really had no desire to repeat it, Reagan."

"So the Chronicles were true in that respect? You were a Senator in Rome?"

"More than a mere Senator, my dear Kyra. I was Pro Consul. Gaius Marius. But that was long ago, and I have no desire to relive those days."

"You were alive during the days of the Roman Empire? Just how old are you?"

"Our history, Ms. Alexander, is apparently similar to yours. According to your calendar and ours, the term AD refers to the date of the Death of Christ. Using that mark, I was born approximately six centuries earlier."

"To have seen so much history! I can not begin to imagine all that you have seen!"

"Immortality is both a blessing and a curse, Ms. Alexander. I wish it on no one."

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A few hours later, Marius and Alison were strolling through the Zocalo, examining the booths of various merchants and the wide array of wares available therein. His two other guards were there as well, mixed in with the crowd, at a discreet distance. As Marius looked up from examining some trivial artifact, he was startled to notice a rather large reptilian alien patiently examining him.

"Yes?"

"Forgive my intrusion, Admiral Ramos. I am Citizen G'Kar of the Narn."

"Ah yes. The Narn Regime. I have read some rather interesting historical reports on your people, Citizen G'Kar. I saw many instances where your conflict with the Centauri reminded me of certain conflicts in Earth history. Of course, I could also draw many inferences between the Centauri and a civilization in my past, but that would be unfair to either of those two. But obviously you do not wish to discuss history with me, so how might I be of service, Citizen G'Kar?"

"I bear a formal request from my government. The Narn Regime wishes to enter formal negotiations for some of your technology, in particular, your shield technology."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. To grant you that tech, would be to upset the balance of power in this galaxy. It would give you an unfair advantage. Even with the best of intentions, it would not be right."

"I assure you Admiral, that the Narn could make a very lucrative offer."

"Perhaps. I shall have to discuss this with my government first. We will be in touch with you. That is all I can promise at this time."

"That is all we ask."

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Elsewhere

"Lorien."

"Who is it that calls my name?"

"It is I, Tok'Ra."

"He who is against Ra. It has been a long time my friend."

"What is the passage of time to us who are outside its influence, Lorien?"

"You have passed Beyond?"

"Not exactly. I have moved on to a non-corporeal form, true, but I have not yet joined our brothers. There is still much to do, Lorien."

"The Goa'uld?"

"We were betrayed. The Alliance has fallen apart. Only the Asgard still honor their promise to us."

"Betrayed?"

"My wife. She chose to blend with a Goa'uld symbiote. I thought it was of a like mind to my own. But it was not. She waited until my forces were ready to strike, then she launched an attack of her own and destroyed those forces. The Alliance tried to stem the tide of the Goa'uld expansion, and they have succeeded in some small degree, but not by much."

"I'm sorry."

"You could not have known. You chose to remain here. As I chose to remain there. While the others have left."

"But you have returned to this universe through the doorway?"

"Yes."

"I thought I felt a tremor in the continuum."

"Such as I hoped you would."

"But you did not come alone, did you?"

"No. Centuries after we left, we began an experiment. I stayed to oversee the fruits of that research."

"What experiments?"

"We learned nothing from the Progenitors. In the same way they played God by creating us and others like us in the multi-verse, we played God in our universe. We created life. Immortal life."

"Oh Tok'Ra. Tell me that your experiments were more fruitful than my own."

"They were, for a time. But like all good research, there were bad spots along the way. An influence outside the parameters of the experiment intervened. The results were centuries of combat between our various experiments. When things came to a head, I chose to intervene, to set them on their original path once again."

"What made you decide to intervene?"

"Ten thousand years ago, the Goa'uld came to our home world. They enslaved the native primitives."

"They dared enslave our Chosen race?"

"They dared. But our own forces helped primitive man. And primitive man cast the Goa'uld off the planet and sealed the Gateway. Ten thousand years later, the Stargate was reopened. And man began exploring his universe once again. They found it to be a place teeming with life not unlike their own. The opening of the Gate anew, brought my attention back to Earth. The inclusion of my son into that project, led to my intervention in the experiment."

"Your son? I did not know you had a son."

"He was the first to be created through our experiments. I took him as my son, and raised him as such. He was killed and buried under several tons of rock, when his mother, my wife, betrayed me. Buried for five thousand years before an earthquake unearthed him. He was quite insane at the time. It took another thousand years or so for him to regain some semblance of sanity. I can not begin to imagine how it must have been for him, beneath all that rock."

"That would not be a fate I would wish on anyone."

"True. Tell me Lorien, why did you choose to remain behind all those millennia ago?"

"I found it necessary. These younger races, they needed a guiding hand."

"Yes and now those younger races are attempting to guide even younger races. And doing a poor job of it."

"Yes. It was a simple difference in philosophy. Order versus chaos. I brought that up once, long ago, to them. I do believe they've taken this whole argument a bit far however."

"I'll say. Out of curiosity, did you have anything to do with that monstrous machine beneath the surface of Epsilon Three?"

"Perhaps a little. The race that created that machine; I meant for them to be a counter-balance to the Vorlons and the Shadows. Never interfering directly, mind you, but nudging certain events along. The Machine is multi-dimensional and multi-temporal. It exists to regulate the flow of time. It can manipulate time. It is what the Vorlon Kosh used to contact you."

"That's a dangerous thing, Lorien."

"True. But it was necessary. And it will be necessary again. Fortunately, the race that created the Machine passed beyond long ago. The Machine is in the hands of a Minbari, I believe."

"I won't even ask how that happened."

"Will you be traveling with the Shadows to Babylon 5?"

"No. My time to leave has not arrived as yet. But soon. I am waiting for the One."

"Must be someone special, to make you want to wait all these years?"

"He is. He is the One that will return balance to the universe."

"I think I know who you mean. There is a strength about him that reminds me of Cal'ad."

"He passed beyond?"

"Yes. He evolved into one like me. A hundred thousand years past. He was probably the greatest of our kind."

"He was. Cal'ad sacrificed much for our kind."

"Without his sacrifices, the Alliance would never have been. All that we are and were and will be, would be impossible were it not for Cal'ad. If anyone was truly deserving of evolution, it was Cal'ad; the first Ancient. Son of the Progenitors, and father to us all."

"The One who comes. He will sacrifice everything for his cause. And though many can lay claim to that, it will be especially true of him. And so I must await his arrival."

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A few days passed, and life returned to some remote semblance of order. Marius had returned to the Halsey to tackle the ever-increasing mound of paperwork on his desk. He had been in his office for a few hours when the intercom rang.

"Yes?"

"Sir. Captain Sheridan is on the comm."

"Patch it through."

"Admiral Ramos?"

"Captain Sheridan. How might I be of assistance?"

"I wondered, sir, if the invitation to tour the Halsey is still open? I find myself with some spare time at the moment."

"Of course, Captain. Will it be just you for the tour?"

"No. I'd like to bring along Commander Ivanova, Dr. Franklin, and Chief Garibaldi."

"I see. Would it be asking too much Captain, if you could invite four others?"

"Which four did you have in mind?"

"Ambassador Delenn. Ambassador Mollari. Citizen G'Kar. And a representative from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. If this is agreeable to you, then shall we say an hour from now?"

"I shall contact the others and see if they are available. But the rest of us will be over in an hour."

"Very well, Captain. I look forward to seeing you."

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"Phillipson."

"Alex. Assemble your squad. Meet me on the hangar deck in forty-five minutes. We have some dignitaries coming over from the station and I want each of them assigned a guard."

"We'll be there."

Marius left his office and the paperwork behind to find Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill. He wanted them to be present when the station dignitaries came aboard. He was planning to ask Sheridan for a limited technology exchange. Carter had expressed an interest in obtaining the designs for the station and for the fusion reactors that powered the station while Jack had expressed interest in their fighters. But they also wanted the jump gate technology. The jump gates were similar in concept to the combat gates the Ancients had built so long ago, but instead of a controlled wormhole, these jump gates opened a portal into hyperspace. What limited scans and information they had pointed to the fact that hyperspace travel in this universe was slower, dramatically slower than wormhole travel. But the combat gates used a massive amount of naquadah in their construction and so new combat gate construction was barely possible with their existing stocks of the material. Perhaps a combination of the two technologies would enable them to link the wide areas of their home universe in a less expensive fashion.

If the combination of technologies could be done, then the rapid expansion of Earth's influence could be accomplished much easier. There again, this universe had other techs that they wanted. Techs that could be used to fight the Goa'uld and their Cylon allies. Perhaps the Vorlons and the Shadows could be convinced to a technology exchange? Marius doubted the feasibility of such an endeavor, but vowed to ask Tok'Ra for his guidance on that particular problem. Certainly the organic armor technology used by both the Vorlons and the Shadows could come in handy in their home universe. But the cloaking tech used by the Shadows was far in advance of anything the Goa'uld might have used. And for this reason, it could be beneficial to make a deal with a Devil. But he had a feeling that they would ask for the shielding tech in return, and that tech alone, would upset the balance of power in this universe.

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An hour later, Marius found himself on the hangar deck with Major Carter and Colonel O'Neill at his side. Phillipson's honor guard stood by at attention, while the VIP's from the station came aboard.

"Honor guard! A-Ten-Shun!"

"Greetings Captain Sheridan. On behalf of myself and my crew, I bid you welcome to the AIS Admiral Halsey."

"Thank you for allowing us this visit, Admiral Ramos."

"The pleasure is ours, Captain Sheridan. If you would come with me, we'll get this tour underway."

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Earth Dome

Office of President Morgan Clark

Journey Day 16

In truth, he did not believe that one ship could have destroyed four of his top destroyers. No matter what allies that bastard Sheridan had found himself, he could not stand up to the might of Earth Force and their new found Shadow allies. Which was the point of this meeting he had in a few minutes, with their Ambassador. The President had long ago been briefed in on the fact that the man known only as Justin and the other crew members of the ill-fated Icarus expedition had been declared dead. The fact that the same man listed in IPX records as dead now stood in his office was a matter left to the imaginations of others.

"Justin, you have heard of our little setback at Babylon 5?"

"I have Mr. President."

"Do your forces have any information they may be willing to share on this new ally of Sheridan?"

"Not at this time, sir."

"So you do have information? But you are unwilling to share it with an ally?"

"Yes. We do have information on the ship that came to Sheridan's aid. Whether that ship is an ally to Sheridan remains to be seen. And what little information we possess will not be shared at this time. Our scientists are still examining the information."

"You are refusing a request from Earth?"

"I'm afraid that at this time we must. I will say, however, that at the present time, there is a sizeable fleet bound for Babylon 5 space. A sizeable Shadow fleet."

"Are their intentions to destroy or capture the ship?"

"Neither. If that is all, sir?"

"Go."

Justin left, but he left Clark with more questions than answers. Answers that he needed desperately.

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Centauri Prime

Throne Room

"Ah Mr. Morden. So good of you to come and visit with us."

"It is always a pleasure Emperor Cartagia, to visit a world such as yours. May I ask why I was summoned?"

"We are curious as to the nature of this one little ship that has caused the Earthers so much trouble at their station. Is it true that one ship destroyed eight of their Ships of the Line?"

"No, I do believe that was an exaggeration. The truth is that only four ships were destroyed, whilst the remaining four retreated."

"We thought as much. But do tell us about this shielding technology they possess. Is it true that they stopped a nuclear attack on their ship?"

"Yes. That much has been confirmed. The shields of that ship withstood ten direct impacts of weapons in the five megaton range."

"Marvelous! The Centauri simply must have that shielding technology! Do you think they would be amenable to trade?"

"That is always a possibility your Highness."

"Excellent! I shall order my military to seize that ship and to 'trade' for their technology with their lives!"

"That would not be wise, Highness."

"Not wise? Pray tell, why would it not be wise? It is, after all, what we want!"

"I am not a liberty to say Highness, other than at this moment, a battle fleet of our own is headed for Babylon 5. If your ships were to arrive before or after them, tensions might rise uncontrollably, Highness."

"Then we shall order those ships dispatched to Babylon 5 in support of your own, Mr. Morden. Leave us!"

"Your will, Excellency."

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On Earth, Clark had reached the same conclusion, and for perhaps the same reason as the Centauri Emperor. The shielding technology was too good to let it slip only into the hands of the Shadows. With such an advanced tech on their own ships, they would be unstoppable in the face of their allies and enemies. The orders were given. From Centauri space, a fleet of fifty ships, Vorchan and Primus class, departed Centauri space bound for Babylon 5. From Earth, a fleet of sixty ships, a mix of older Hyperions and Novas and the newer Omegas all set out for Babylon 5.

One way or the other, the mystery ship at Babylon 5 would give up its secrets.

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AIS Halsey

Bridge

"Admiral's on Deck!"

"As you were. Now, my distinguished guests. This is the bridge of the Halsey. It is considered the primary or main bridge, but there are five redundant areas of the ship that can take control should the need arise. To the right and near the main screens are the science and navigation stations. To the left and near the main screens are the offensive and defensive weapons stations. In general terms, the offensive weapons of the Halsey are her long range laser cannons and her intermediate range rail drivers, along side the intermediate and short range missile racks. In defensive terms, there are laser batteries, rail gun turrets, and interceptor missile racks. In the middle, and down near the view screens, are five stations; two for helm control, two for propulsion, and one for our shields. From this seat here, the current Watch Officer has an excellent view of the various stations. The chair has a pair of multi-function displays that can show a smaller view of what ever the Officer wishes to view. For example, if the WO wants to look at a science screen, he or she, merely has to activate it on this panel to get all the details.

"Behind and to the right along the rear wall are the engineering stations, where the duty officer from our Engineering section can maintain the ship's power systems and main reactor plants. Behind and to the left along the rear wall are the medical and judicial stations. In times of emergency, the medical officer co-ordinates with the engineering officer to dispatch damage control teams and medical rescue teams. The Judicial officer is there to give interpretation to the laws and regulations that we have pledged adherence to, in the event that a situation is not clear on some point. It also gives the WO a glimpse into the morale of the ship and her crew. As any officer in any military ever in history can state, 'Morale is a dangerous thing'."

"And how is the morale of your ship, Admiral?"

"I would venture to say that it is good, Ambassador Delenn, but it could do with shore leave, if that were possible."

"How large a crew do you have aboard the Halsey?"

"Approximately eight thousand four hundred crew."

"That is a very large number, Admiral Ramos. We could extend an invitation to you and your crew to visit the station for shore leave, but I'm afraid that all of you at once would severely tax the limits of Mr. Garibaldi and his security teams."

"I would not venture to ask for such a thing, Captain Sheridan, as that would leave no crew aboard the Halsey for even routine tasks, but perhaps on a rotational schedule, something on the order of two thousand at a time? I would even task additional security teams to assist your station in this matter."

"The guns your troops carry, slug throwers, would damage the station, so I'm afraid they'd have to be unarmed."

"Actually, Mr. Garibaldi, you bring up a very good point. It is true that our ground troops use what you call slug throwers. But our security personnel carry Intars. These are similar in nature to your PPG weaponry in that they emit a small particle of energy as a projectile. However, your PPG weapons can kill whereas our Intar weaponry stuns only. We use them as training weapons as they have the same weight as a standard weapon. They even get lighter as the clip is expended! But as they are designed for training, and as killing a soldier in training is not a good thing, the Intar is only capable of a stun effect."

"Stun only? That would've been nice when we were fighting off that breaching pod a week ago. Bet they'd be good for the occasional riot on the station too."

"Oh, for riot control we have something nice. Here, we call this a shock grenade. The nice thing is that it doesn't explode in the conventional sense. What that means is that no fragments go flying out of it when it detonates. Instead, it emits a loud sound and a brilliant flash of light. The combination of the two stuns any individuals within fifty feet of the epicenter and afterwards, you can pick up the shock grenade and recharge it for the next use. Remember to wear ear plugs and cover your eyes when you use one or you will be as unconscious as your intended targets."

"How long is the knock out effect?"

"That depends on the strength of the individual, but generally it can last up to six hours or as little as an hour as is the case with Jaffa. But there again, Jaffa warriors have a symbiote to assist them in recovering from the stun effects."

"For riot control in an enclosed area like the station, those two items are nice. Cap, we need to get us some of those!"

"Indeed Captain Sheridan, if you are amenable to the limited shore leave numbers I have suggested, I will lend to the station four Shore Patrol teams, armed with Intars and a limited number of Shock grenades. When the SP teams return to the Halsey, the weapons will remain on the station for your usage. Consider it a gift between friends."

"I think that will work out quite nicely, Admiral."

"Now, let us proceed with the tour. Next on our stop is the Forge deck, where we manufacture all of the items this ship uses. Except for major repairs that need to be accomplished in space dock, every Strike Carrier is capable of repairing itself and the equipment within. That is not to say that the outside armor is self-repairing. That would not be a factual statement. When in combat, any repairs to the outer hull are next to impossible, unless those damaged sections are available from within where we can place a temporary patch. When not in battle, we can send out larger repair crews to fix any damaged portions of the ship using hull material manufactured here on the Forge deck. This deck also allows us to build replacement fighters and armaments for those fighters. In effect, each Strike Carrier can, as long as supplies hold, replenish the weapons it expends in combat."

"Which explains why you have such a large crew. I mean, all those engineers and such building stuff."

"Actually Commander Ivanova, the Forge deck is largely automated. Ah, Chief Petrocelli, if you would be so kind as to demonstrate for us?"

"Sure thing Admiral. If you folks will gather in a bit closer, you'll see things a bit better. This here is the interface for Forge number six. I key in what we need, uhm Admiral?"

"Let's make it something simple, Chief. How about an M11 pistol with a dozen Intar clips?"

"Sounds like an easy task for my baby here sir. So here we go. Menu selection: weapon, infantry. Menu selection: handgun, M11. Menu selection: ammunition, Intar, 12 magazines. Now if you folks will look through the window there, you'll see the robots move to the storage area to extract the raw metals, then they pour those into the Forge where the real action takes place. Look up at the monitors here, it's kind of hard to tell, but what you're seeing is the creation engine at work. I don't know all the fancy-shmancy words for it, but what happens in there is that a bunch of really, really tiny robots put the raw stuff together and what comes out on this end is one M11 Compact pistol of the Intar variety. And here you are sir. Pistol is ready, complete with two clips. The others will be just a minute."

"A creation engine?"

"One of the devices that we utilize to create what we need. We can not create something from nothing. We need the raw materials for a gun before we can produce a gun. Or the raw materials for a fighter before we can produce said fighter. But it does give industry a whole new meaning. As long as there are templates for the Forge to follow, it can create almost anything."

"Do the metals and such need to be refined?"

"No Captain. Such is the beauty of the Forge. Raw 'stuff' for lack of a better word, goes in and finished product comes out."

"Amazing. Simply amazing. With something like that we can cut our dependence on off-station suppliers for a large part of our needs. Would you be willing to trade this technology?"

"Yes we would. But first, let us continue the tour. I'm certain there are any number of other 'wonders' we may have here that you would be interested in. Thanks for the demonstration Chief Petrocelli. Chief Garibaldi, here's your first Intar. Play nice with it, now. Next stop, the medical bay."

For his part, Michael Garibaldi looked at the weapon in his hands while he walked with the group. He had seen the industrial sized robot arms moving raw metal into the white hot forge, but he could not see with movement on the tiny robots that produced this weapon. The gun felt real enough. He had one just like it in his quarters. One that had been passed down from generation to generation in his family, along with a fair collection of other law enforcement weapons and articles. But just now, they were entering the one place he really did not like; medical.

"For this part of the tour, I'm going to turn you over to the very capable hands of Doctor Dana K. Scully, Chief Medical officer aboard the Halsey."

"Thank you Admiral, and welcome to all of you. Now, as medical bays go, this may not be state of the art in your terms, but to us it is quite advanced. We have eight operating theaters, and a bed facility for two hundred wounded. There are also additional emergency facilities throughout the ship that can house additional wounded that do not require as much care as this primary facility can provide. In the event of a large medical emergency where the number of critically wounded is higher than we can safely accommodate, there are one hundred stasis tubes where we can place the more critical cases. The stasis tubes are used only when the most urgent cases can not be immediately treated. Additionally, I have on my staff five Tok'ra medics who, because of their unique physiology, can utilize the Healing Device to stabilize those with minor wounds or bone breaks. In the event of something more catastrophic, we utilize the sarcophagi located behind you. Yes, there is a significant resemblance to ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, however instead of these being grandiose coffins for the dead, these devices can completely heal a person, even bring them back from death. Unfortunately, prolonged usage of a sarcophagus leads to severe mental instability and for that reason alone we choose to use them only as a last resort."

"You can actually bring someone back from the dead?"

"Doctor Franklin, I presume? To answer your question, yes we can. Although it must be someone who has died very recently. Within ten minutes at the most, otherwise we face rather extreme brain damage that the sarcophagus would be unable to heal. I believe Dr. Jackson, of the First Contact team, has used the device on three occasions where he had been killed. Also Colonel O'Neill, if I am not mistaken."

"You ain't mistaken Doc. I hate those things. If a man is supposed to die, then he should just die. The worst thing that can happen to a soldier is to die in combat and then wake up in one of those things. Gives me the creeps just remembering it."

"All that aside, the procedure is quite safe if used sparingly. Yes? You have a question, Ambassador?"

"Yes Doctor I do. I notice that these sarcophagi are very ornate, almost like something we Centauri would make, with lots of pretty designs laid in gold, yet the rest of the ship seems very utilitarian. Even your stasis tubes are of a scientific level that is far in advance of your medical science from what I can see."

"Very observant Ambassador Mollari. The stasis tubes were a gift from the Asgard, one of the member races of the Alliance. The sarcophagi were a gift from the Goa'uld Lord Yu as a token towards a more peaceful relationship with the Alliance."

"Admiral, who are these other races you mention?"

"All in good time friends. Let us continue this tour first, then we shall adjourn to a conference room for refreshments and a short question and answer session. Dr. Franklin, if you so wish, you can remain here and exchange notes as it were, with Dr. Scully?"

"I'd like that, if that's alright with you Captain."

"Please. Anything that can help us out with our situation."

"Well then, if Dr. Scully would be so kind as to escort her guest to the main conference room on the main deck when she's done here, then we shall continue."

"I'll get him there. It gives me a chance to exchange notes with him as well."

"Good. Next stop, the training rooms."

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The tour continued at length for more than two standard hours until they at last came to the conference room to find Doctors Scully and Franklin exchanging notes on alien physiology in an excited manner. All of those assembled, from Sheridan and his command staff, to the Ambassadors and their aides, to the command staff and escorts of the Halsey were a bit tired from walking so much. The chairs were comfortable respites from their long walking tour of the ship. Mess stewards came in and laid out coffee and tea service for those present in the room, along with a selection of sandwiches for those who felt the need for sustenance.

"Admiral Ramos, I am curious to know more about this Alliance you have mentioned on numerous occasions."

"Of course Captain. The Alliance of Independent Systems has, at its core, seven member systems or groups of systems: Kelowna, Colonial Mars, Immortal Luna, Humans (or the Tau'ri as we are known), the Tollan, the Asgard, and the Ancients. Four of those races reside in one system of planets; the Tau'ri, the Ancients, the Immortals, and the Colonials. Of the remaining three, Kelowna claims only one planet in its home system, while the Tollan can lay claim to one home world and six lesser colony worlds. Only the Asgard can lay claim to several hundred colony worlds in several hundred planetary systems. Of the AIS, only the Asgard and the Ancients were once a part of an older Alliance that served to protect the younger races from the Goa'uld.

"The Goa'uld are an old race. Well, that is, they can lay claim to hundreds of thousands of years of recorded history. The Goa'uld are a race of parasitic creatures that inhabit hosts, generally human. They found the human body easy to manipulate and easy to control. They forcibly join with their host and carry out atrocities that even the worst creature in history would never dare to imagine. The Goa'uld have been responsible for the wholesale slaughter of untold trillions. They believe themselves to be Gods and they force their followers to worship them as such."

"Gods? Great Maker, these Goa'uld must be mad to think of themselves as such!"

"Tell me, Ambassador Mollari. If one of these Goa'uld appeared to your citizens and proclaimed himself a God, how would they react?"

"He would be killed! The lunacy of the idea would drive my people mad with blood lust!"

"And if this so called God happened to revive after being killed, would your people stop to listen, perhaps?"

"Revived? Ah yes, the sarcophagi you showed us earlier?"

"Yes, Ambassador. The Goa'uld use humans as hosts because our bodies are easily repaired and can be made by a sarcophagus to stay very young in appearance. The first of these Gods the Tau'ri encountered in their travels was Ra, the King of the Gods. He appeared to them to be only twenty human years of age, but in actuality he was over ten thousand years of age. As was mentioned earlier in out tour, repeated usage of the sarcophagus leads to severe mental instability. Can you imagine that after ten thousand years of usage that the being known as Ra was not mentally impaired? But he was killed. And the Tau'ri have been at war with the Goa'uld ever since."

"And you are of the Tau'ri?"

"No Citizen G'Kar, I am not. I am an Immortal. Dr. Scully there is of the Tau'ri. Colonel Starbuck, the head of our training program that you met earlier, is a Colonial, and Tok'Ra, whom you all have seen, is an Ancient."

"I see no difference between you and the very lovely Dr. Scully or with Colonel Starbuck for that matter."

"The difference is not in our appearance, Captain Sheridan. The difference exists at a genetic level. The Colonials, the Tau'ri, and the Immortals all share the same genetic code, save for a few genetic sequences. For the Tau'ri and the Colonials, the differences are not genetic, but rather environmental, considering that the Colonials evolved in a far away part of the universe. That they are genetically identical tells me that the Universe often has a profound sense of humor.

"Immortals, on the other hand, are not a creation of the universe, but rather are a creation of the Ancients. They manipulated the genetic code of the Tau'ri such that one in every hundred thousand Tau'ri women had the potential to bear an Immortal offspring, but only if they had 'mated' with an Immortal male. When the Tau'ri were young and not so numerous, Immortal births were decades, even centuries apart. But now that they are numerous indeed, the number of Immortal births is rising. Any Tau'ri has the potential within their genetic code to become an Immortal or to give birth to an Immortal, but only an existing Immortal can tell who will become another of our kind. We can sense those destined to become such. Yes. Become, for a Tau'ri must die before the Immortality can come to the surface. Otherwise, the Tau'ri will continue to age as they normally would and eventually die of natural causes. The youngest Immortal I have ever heard of was twelve human years when he crossed over. And he appeared to be only twelve at the time of his death though he was actually over nine hundred years of age.

"Imagine. Living forever and not aging. Some would think it a wondrous thing. And it can be. As Immortals we get to see the passing of history, even live it to some extent. But we can't have children. And all those mortals that we love will die eventually. You get to live forever, but everyone around you dies. Immortality is both a blessing and a curse."

"You mentioned others in your alliance."

"Yes, Dr. Franklin, three other races. The Kelownans and the Tollan are human, save for some minor genetic and environmental differences. The Asgard are not. In fact, the Vree that you are familiar with are probably the closest analogy to the Asgard. Small in stature, gray skinned, and large solid black eyes. They are among the oldest races we have encountered in our travels. They are also a very benevolent race, and have for years acted to protect certain species in the universe. The Tau'ri are among those protected species."

"Admiral, you mentioned earlier an exchange of technologies?"

"Thank you G'Kar for bringing us back on point. Yes I did mention that. This is what I propose to each of you. Ambassadors, go back to your governments and share with them all that you have seen. Explain to them that we are open to the possibility of negotiations for certain of our technologies. Ask them what they would be willing to exchange for those items. Captain Sheridan, the same also applies to you, though I don't believe you will be speaking with your government on Earth. So look at what you have and what you would be willing to trade. I'm sure that this request of ours will take some time on the parts of your governments, so as soon as you are ready, leave a message on your BabCom system for me and I will detail our diplomatic section to attend those details. Now, friends, I will ask the Honor Guard to escort you back to the hangar bay and I will bid you good day."

It was true that the station had broken away from the Earth Government. Such was the reason that those eight destroyers had attempted to wrest control of the station from Sheridan. But not all of the Earthers had left the station. Before President Clark had declared martial law on Earth and her colonies, he had created a number of new Ministries, among them the Ministry for Peace. A branch of the agency, Nightwatch, had numerous members still aboard the station and they were actively planning for widespread chaos. In truth, they were little better than misguided terrorists.

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The next day, the first two thousand crew of the Halsey began arriving on the station for a forty-eight hour liberty pass. Accompanying them were four squads of Shore Patrol, to assist the station with security duties. The SP squads were taking eight-on and eight-off shifts in pairs, so that they too would get some shore leave. It was a certain thing that whatever currency units each crewmember had on their person would not be accepted by the station vendors, as the exchange rates for such old and antiquated currency would not be in the best interest of the Halsey crews. So Pierson suggested that they take some gold out of stores and create a generic fleet currency unit that all crew could withdraw from their personal accounts.

As per Marius' word, all of the SP personnel were armed with Intar stun weapons, and their commanding officers and unit sergeants additionally had been issued three Shock grenades apiece. Marius and his protective detail, along with Alex and Methos also went to the station with the first wave of liberty crews.

They were just leaving the arrivals area of the station when the shots rang out. What followed was sheer bedlam and chaos as humans and aliens alike scattered for cover. Alex and Methos both pulled Intar pistols from their belts, while Marius' protective detail took up guard positions with their staffs. More shots were heard and this time, the shots were coming in their direction. Alex dropped to the ground; severe plasma burns stitched across his chest. Methos sighted in their attacker and let fly with a dozen shots from his Intar while Alison moved up to flank their attacker. With a shocked cry of pain, Methos fell writhing to the ground. Marius nudged Reagan to assist Alison while he and Kyra dove for cover behind some furniture in the embarkation area.

A few more shots were heard and then a cry of pain as their attacker found himself face to face with the blade in Alison's staff. Reagan had cornered a second attacker that had apparently planned to back up the first, before he could fire. With their own blades drawn, Kyra and Marius moved up to confront their attackers. After a moment, station security and Halsey's SPs moved in to take custody of the two would be assassins. Marius heard someone behind him bellow for a med team and he moved to quash that.

"That won't be necessary Chief."

"You've got two wounded! One's bleeding badly and the other probably won't ever have kids again!"

"It is not necessary Chief. But if you insist, then I will take them to your Med Lab. Kyra, Reagan. Stay with the prisoners. Make sure no harm comes to them."

"As you will, Mr. President."

As Chief Garibaldi looked on, the two women in question sheathed their very nasty looking swords into their staves, and proceeded to follow his security team as they moved the prisoners to a holding cell. By the time he had turned back to the Admiral and his XO, their swords had also been sheathed.

"Just wooden staffs, eh?"

"They are now. Besides, Chief, with your plasma based weaponry, do you really think a sword would make much difference? Let alone a wooden staff?"

"That's besides the point. Why did she call you 'Mr. President'?"

"A slip of the tongue, nothing more. Now then, I believe you were insistent that we get these two to med lab?"

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Security Control

Office of Chief Garibaldi

"Sorry John, but all they're willing to give is a name. No other identification. Zack made them to be Nightwatch. But beyond that, nothing."

"Damn it, Michael! I won't have Nightwatch or any other rogue Earth group attacking one of our guests!"

"My hands are tied, Captain. I can't even get them scanned without violating their rights!"

Marius had left Alex and Methos in Med Lab recovering from their bout of plasma fire and had walked into Security Control, catching the last sentence uttered by Chief Garibaldi.

"Perhaps, you can not violate their rights, Chief. But the attack was made on my person, and two of my crew are wounded, though they should be up and around in perhaps ten minutes, probably less. And suffice to say, Chief, I would not want to be in their shoes when Captain Pierson gets back on his feet. Those two in there managed to piss off the eldest of my kind, and that is most definitely not a good thing."

"The two that were wounded are Immortals? Like you?"

"Yes Chief. Like me. In terms of age, I'm a five year old compared to Pierson. After all, what is twenty-six hundred years compared to ten thousand."

"Ten thousand?"

"Yes. Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'senior citizen' does it not?"

"And your other wounded Immortal? How old is he?"

"Between twenty-three and twenty-four hundred years. More than that, I can't say without giving away more than he would like."

"You may as well tell them, Mr. President."

"Alex. It is not my place to tell them what you wish to remain secret."

"Wait a minute. You said somewhere between twenty-three and twenty-four hundred years, right?"

"He did, Captain."

"And you came from 2003 in your calendar, right?"

"Correct again, Captain."

"So, adjusting for the difference in calendars, that would put 'Alex' here some time around the mid 350's BC. I knew you looked familiar!"

"By Jove, I think he's got it, Marius!"

"It would seem so, Alex. Chief Garibaldi, you look confused, but your Captain has deduced correctly. Lieutenant Alex Phillipson is indeed Alexander, son of Philip, of Macedonia."

"Michael, I think I need to sit down."

"Captain, I think someone needs to tell me who he is. Sorry, Admiral, but I've never been much on ancient history."

"Michael. He's the Great. Alexander the Great."

"I….think I need to sit down now."

"And we would appreciate it if you would not go around spreading his true identity? Are we in agreement Captain?"

"Yes. Admiral. We are. I'd ask for your autograph, but I don't think anyone would ever believe me."

"Hehehe. Probably not. Suffice to say that rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated."

"So it would seem. But back to the matter at hand, Chief. You say you can not scan the prisoners. I take it you mean a telepathic scan?"

"Correct. Telepathic scans without their consent are a violation of Earth and station laws."

"I see. What about a polygraph? Are the results admissible?"

"No. Polygraphs were proven unreliable back in the early 21st century."

"Hmm. Well, as they stand now, do you have enough to convict them of a crime?"

"Attempted murder. Plenty of witnesses for that. They'll get deported back to Earth."

"Well then, Chief. It seems we have nothing to lose and everything to gain by administering a polygraph."

"I just told you, a polygraph is unreliable. Lie detector tests are easy to beat."

"True. For the most part. Alex, contact the ship and ask the Duty Officer to have one of the Tok'ra bring over the Zatarc tester and a pair of memory recall devices. Also ask the DO to have Cassandra report to me as soon as possible."

"You got it, Mr. President!"

----------------------------------------

"Zatarc tester? And that's the second person that's called you 'Mr. President'! What gives?"

"Chief. Captain Sheridan. Currently I am serving as Admiral aboard the Halsey. That was meant only for the duration of trials for the Halsey. My real job, if you could call it that, is as President of the Immortal Council. Chosen by a lottery for a term of one century. Not a job I wanted, but one I am serving in to the best of my abilities. As to the Zatarc tester, well, that is our version of a polygraph. It makes it impossible to be deceitful because the machine recognizes the deceit. It causes some pain to the deceiver, but more to the point, the information is clearly displayed on a screen. Also, the memory recall device can be plugged into the Zatarc tester, and into a holographic display, so we can see the person's memories and judge them for ourselves."

"It's probably still not usable in any court, Captain."

"Probably not, Chief, but it may serve to tell us who was involved with this plot."

"And, more to the point, it will tell us if I was the intended victim."

"He has a point. If he was not the intended victim, then there may be other assassins on this station who will try again. Tell me, Captain Sheridan. Who else was in the embarkation area when we arrived?"

Sheridan started to speak, but the thought that he was speaking to a ten thousand year old man went through his head at that moment, making speech impractical.

"Captain Sheridan?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that after what Admiral Ramos just told me, it seems strange to be speaking with someone who has seen so much history."

"I see. And did the Admiral fill you in on his history? Considering he filled you in on mine, I would think that would be fair."

"No. He said he's an Immortal, but not anything of his history."

"Then Captain, allow me to properly introduce you to Gaius Marius the Younger, Pro Consul to Rome, and President of the Immortal Council."

"Uhm. I think I need a drink."

"You left out something Adam. You forgot the Commander and General bit."

"Quite right. Gaius Marius the Younger, Proconsul of Rome. Commander of the Armies of the West, and General of the Prima Legions."

"Make that a bottle."

"Of course, Adam left out the fact that he was the Memoriae to Caesar, and that he spent about a thousand years or so riding around with a band of ruffians calling themselves the Four Horsemen."

"Uhm. Forget the bottle, just leave me the keg."

It was all that he could say really. Here were two men in front of him that had been alive when Rome was the greatest power on Earth. Such history! To be able to have all the events of the past as they unfolded! It was something that both he and Garibaldi were having a difficult time grasping.

"Captain, you may continue to address me as Admiral in public, but you may also call me Marius, as that is the name I am most comfortable with."

"There are so many things I would like to ask you."

"Captain, please remember that your Earth and my Earth are in different universes. There may be a significant amount of similarities, but I suspect there are also a significant amount of differences."

"Yes. Of course. You're quite right about that. The history I'm familiar with has us making first contact around 2151, not during the time of the Egyptian Empire. We also have no knowledge of this, what did you call it? Uhm…wormhole travel."

"Where we are from, first contact was announced by the President of the United States, John P. Ryan, early in 2003. Though the truth of that is that first contact happened sometime between 9000 and 8000 BC, when the Goa'uld came to Earth. But the gate they came through was sealed for millennia, and it was not until 1995 that we managed to re-open the Stargate and began traveling the universe. It wasn't until five years later that we managed to build our own spacecraft and began traveling the universe by ship."

"The truth of the matter is Captain Sheridan, that you recognized the word Rome. That tells me that we have at least that in common. First Contact differs, but I would venture to say that other pivotal events are the same. Your Earth seems to be as prone to violence as our own. But here you had the Vorlons to influence you. We had the Ancients to influence us."

"Well said Adam."

"Perhaps with a more detailed examination of your history, we could see just how similar we are."

"Mr. Garibaldi can arrange for access to our historical records, if you like."

"That may be a good idea, Adam. It may help us in the upcoming negotiations."

It was while Garibaldi was attempting to access the B5 historical archives that he noticed the computer was acting strangely. With a heavy sigh and shudder he looked up to Sheridan with confusion in his eyes. It was at that precise moment that Alex and Cassandra walked in.

"Captain, looks like we have a problem."

"What prob… Uhm, Elizabeth?"

"I'm sorry? My name is Cassandra. You sent for me Marius?"

"You look exactly like Elizabeth. The resemblance is uncanny."

"Who is Elizabeth?" Asked by Cassandra, but in truth, the question was on everyone's mind.

"Someone I knew, once. Long ago. As far as I know she's aboard the Acheron."

"I see. If my presence disturbs you, then perhaps I should leave?"

"No. You look like her, but you aren't her."

Marius pulled Cassandra aside and explained the situation to her regarding the attempted assassination. She responded in the affirmative regarding his request to use the Voice on the prisoners in custody. Meanwhile, Garibaldi explained the computer problem to Sheridan. Both agreed to make that their top priority and to leave an observer with Marius and Cassandra. Garibaldi placed a BabCom call to Lyta Alexander. D'fir arrived with two SPs carrying the Zatarc machine. He would remain behind to run the tests. Armed guards, under Garibaldi's watchful eyes walked in and attached two small metal disks to the temple of each man, then walked away. Both men were still handcuffed, but were seated in chairs. Ten minutes later, Cassandra entered the room where the prisoner was located while Marius, Lyta, and Garibaldi watched over a monitor.

"Hello Mr. Boggs. My name is Cassandra. You must tell me all that you know."

Cassandra's Voice was something that resonated deep within the man she was speaking to. Though he had been trained to resist telepathic interrogation, this was an interrogation of a different sort. The subtle intonations of Cassandra's voice made him extremely compliant. Outside the room, Lyta watched via the monitors. She could detect no overt telepathic means by which Cassandra used her voice. She used her Vorlon enhanced abilities, but could detect no telepathic transmissions emanating from Cassandra. It left her with many questions for Marius. D'fir watched the readings on the tester and saw that for the moment, the man was unwilling or unable to lie.

"Tell me why you chose to target Admiral Ramos for assassination."

"Orders. I was ordered to by the Ministry of Peace and Justice, as they were so ordered by President Clark for the humiliating defeat of eight Earth Force Destroyers sent to recapture Babylon 5."

"This Ministry of Peace and Justice. Tell me more about them."

"The arm of the Ministry on the station is Nightwatch. They are charged with slowing and halting the influence of aliens on the people of Earth."

"Why is this influence a bad thing?"

"Earth must be purified. Earth belongs to Earthers. The Universe shall be ours and no other race shall have rule over us."

"Was Admiral Ramos you're only target?"

"No. He was a target of opportunity."

"Who was the primary target?"

"Delenn of Minbar. President Clark ordered her termination be carried out with extreme prejudice."

"Very good, Mr. Boggs. Did you act alone?"

"No. From the membership rolls of Nightwatch, I was able to recruit a sniper aboard the station. He had served Earth Force well during the Earth-Minbari war."

"How many members of Nightwatch are aboard the station?"

"I know of only fifty."

"How is the Nightwatch organized? What is your hierarchy?"

"Nightwatch is organized in public as a communal group. In private, the groups are called cells. Each cell leader is responsible for the recruitment of members for his cell. There are fifty cell leaders aboard Babylon 5."

"Are these fifty cell leaders the same fifty people you referred to early as members of Nightwatch?"

As he spoke the words, images flashed on a nearby screen of the cell leaders in question. Among the images were the official Earth representative from the Ministry of Peace. It had been he who had given the order to assassinate Delenn of Minbar.

"Yes."

"Very good, Mr. Boggs. I will leave you now. You have been very helpful."

----------------------------------------

"Marius. He was very forthcoming."

"He was, wasn't he? Captain, you saw that she used no overt method to get the information from him. No drugs were used. Is the information obtained useful?"

"In a court, maybe. But we can use it to identify the Nightwatch members and round them up."

"All in all, a productive day, yes? Looks like we have managed to obtain the information that was needed. Alex, Adam, you're on your own for the rest of the liberty pass. You too, Cassandra. I think that I shall retire to my quarters aboard the station for a bit of rest before seeing more of your station, Captain."

"Very well. I will contact you as soon as we have our negotiations team ready."

"Excellent."

----------------------------------------

When Marius entered his quarters, he found one message waiting for him on the BabCom unit. A short one from Major Mulder. He read over the message and opened a channel to Major Mulder.

"Mulder. Ah, Marius. I heard there was a problem on the station. You seem to be ok?"

"I'm fine Mulder. As to your question on the technology trade guidelines? I think if we start with…"

And Marius continued at length for some minutes before closing the channel. Now that Mulder had his marching orders, he would get with his carefully chosen team to plan out their strategy for getting, as Marius had put it, 'the most bang for their limited buck'. Shortly after closing the channel, his door chimed and he bade the person at the door enter.

"Ms. Alexander! How pleasant to see you again. And so soon! How might I be of service?"

"While I was observing Cassandra, I used every method open to me to scan her telepathically, yet she never noticed I was doing this. You said all of your kind could not be scanned?"

"Were you able to see into her mind?"

"No. But she didn't detect my scans?"

"Odds are she did not. It is my understanding from her that using the Voice takes a lot out of her. As to how the Voice works, only she knows. As far as I know, she is the only one of our kind that possess that particular ability."

"I see. I was wondering, if perhaps you might join me for lunch? Or dinner?"

"Dinner would be nice. So would lunch for that matter. But if I had to choose then I would say dinner."

"Dinner it is. I'll pick you up here at say, nineteen hundred?"

"Excellent! I will await you at that time."

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Earth Prime

It had been a month since the Halsey had disappeared at the onset of her space trials. A month in which other battlecruisers had been dispatched to aid the Moscow and the Houston in their fruitless search. At the end of that month, the Halsey was listed in the rolls simply as 'Lost, with All Hands'. As a replacement for the lost Halsey, the Immortal shipyards were planning to build another Strike Carrier.

The AIS Kuznetsov had been completed and was taking on supplies and personnel. The Nelson was undergoing final fittings, and the keels had been laid on the two remaining strike carriers; the Spruance and the Varyag.

The Immortal Design Bureau, after much debate, drew up plans for a battleship class vessel that would bristle with guns and have a small hangar that would be home to five shuttles. The shuttles would be of the same Bulldog class used on the Strike Carriers, but would be fixed for Search and Rescue. As a compromise to one adamant designer, the SAR Bulldogs would be equipped with limited defensive armament to assist in their primary mission. As Marius had envisioned the battleship, so the IDB had laid out the plans. Four large caliber guns; two for and two aft, multiple launchers for missiles and several dozen anti-fighter laser batteries.

Over Mars, the Colonial Forge ships had churned out several hundred Viper class fighters and they were busily producing sections for three more new Battlestars. Because of the new Alliance, ships from various members' worlds were beginning to appear in the Sol system, bringing their warriors to a central location so that the new fleets could be put together. Leaders of the various fleets had yet to be assigned, but the various races with their dissimilar methodology were already beginning to work together, after a fashion.

On Earth, Senator Kinsey was putting together a new Consortium. This one would not work with the Grays like its predecessor had, a fact that he had always found disgusting to his nature, but would in fact work to close Earth off; to isolate it from alien influence. The Governor of his state had known that Kinsey had not been in the House when it was attacked and so he had not replaced him. He had appointed another man as the replacement for the other lost senator, but it was a man of Kinsey's choice. He was moving behind the scenes and would shortly announce his bid for the Presidency. Before he'd had only one goal. To stop the Stargate program at all costs, or at the very least to have it moved to his control. Now he had another goal. He wanted the Presidency and he would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

He had searched and cajoled. He had bribed and blackmailed. So many petty bureaucrats just trying to protect their own fiefdoms within the governmental entity that is the United States of America! So many that he easily found a high ranking military officer that was able to give him what he wanted just to protect his pet project's budget for the coming year; a transcript of the Consortium Triad. Oddly, it did not include the sentencing phase of that particular miscarriage of justice, but he felt sure that they had been put to death. He ignored the fact that Tollana had no death penalty. With the old guard out of the way, he called upon certain individuals in the now defunct NID to serve on his new Consortium. He searched in vain for Alex Krycek, to determine why he had not carried out his orders regarding the termination of this so-called Immortal president, but he was unable to locate him. He had a final notification that Krycek had departed via the Kennedy space port bound for Luna, but there was no record of his arrival there. So odd, but it did not matter.

But he was pleased to learn that the AIS Halsey had been lost with all hands! In one fell swoop, he was rid of not only the Immortal President, but also of that meddling do-gooder team known as SG-1. Some days, it felt truly good to be alive. Today, with the news of the Halsey, was that day.

And tomorrow, with the release to the media of his bid for the Presidency of the United States, would definitely be a most excellent day!

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Babylon 5

Journey Day 18

Marius had a pleasant evening. He had left the vast piles of never ending paperwork behind on the Halsey. For the first time in a truly long time, he felt grateful to the Gods that had created him. It was a good time to be alive. He began to think on his long life. Had he not become an Immortal so long ago, his life would have ended on a forgotten battlefield. But he had transitioned to Immortality. It was a state of life, a phase, that he had more often cursed than found to be a blessing. His father, or the man he thought of as his father, had been a great man in Rome. The truth of the matter was that Marius had been born long before his 'father' rose to power in Rome. Five hundred years old by the time he encountered the elder Marius.

He had come to Marius' estate as a slave, and through his hard work and his gift of learning and understanding, had made an impression on the mortal Marius. So much so, that the mortal man elevated him from slave to adopted son, a practice nearly unheard of in that period of history. But the Elder Marius saw something in the young man that stood before him that no other had seen; a gift for strategy. It was something that the mortal Marius used often. Gaius Marius had adopted the young-ish looking Immortal when he was but 28, and serving as a quaestor in Rome. When the elder Marius was appointed to the praetorship of distant Spain, the younger Marius followed him. Those were heady times, working with Marius and later with Sulla. He managed to convince Marius of the importance of using the common Roman man in her legions, making an army out of the people instead of the rich. It proved a worthy suggestion as it helped to reform Rome's armies.

Later in his life, the elder Marius rose to Proconsul, as would his adopted son, Marius the Younger. In the fullness of time, Marius the Immortal rose to Consul first, then Proconsul, only to be betrayed by Caesar, his 'cousin' and his 'fathers' nephew. For a time, he settled into an estate in Spain, before moving on to Europe and much later, the Americas. So much history he had seen, though as a part of it, he didn't recognize the events for what they were until much later. Had he not been what he was, he doubtless would have died unknown and alone, as he did not take his first wife until after he had left Rome.

Now, here he was, in another universe, exploring all that life had to offer him. Such irony. Take the meal a short while ago for instance. Would he ever have imagined such pleasant company? A beautiful woman with a sharp mind and an even sharper wit. Compared to the man he was so many centuries ago, Marius had grown and evolved. But enough of the retrospection. For now he had more serious concerns on his mind. He did not know if the passage of time in this universe was equivalent to the universe he hailed from. He was concerned over events at home. The Cylons were a serious threat on their own. Anubis was a serious threat on his own. Combined, the two were a deadly threat to the peace of his home universe. At the moment, they were evenly matched in terms of ship to ship firepower. The advantage, however, fell to the Cylon-Anubis alliance as they could call up more ships to battle than the combined might of Earth, Mars, and Luna. Perhaps Tok'Ra had an ulterior motive for allowing these cross-dimensional jaunts? For the sake of so many back home, Marius prayed that he did.

A week passed uneventfully on the station. Most of the crew had by now taken their turn at shore leave, and a firm schedule had been decided upon by all parties for the expected technology negotiations. But first, there would be one brief meeting with all parties where the Halsey negotiating team would show off their technologies. The team had argued and debated long and hard over which technologies they could trade that would not upset the delicate balance in this universe. But whether they chose tech meant for war or peace, the tech could be abused. They had no real control over the eventual end use of a particular item. So they chose items that would be more difficult to turn into weapons. At the very least, very serious thought would be required before turning any of these items into weapons of war.

Marius and Methos were in the Zen Garden aboard the station discussing this very issue when the Ranger Marcus appeared in their midst, with a man who carried a sword that both recognized from their past.

"Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Arthur of Camelot."

Methos and Marius both looked at the man more closely. Methos had known the man history called Arthur. He had known him late in Arthur's life, shortly before the good King passed on. Marius had known him when the King was young and still building his empire. Neither man recognized him as their King, but both could not mistake his sword, Excalibur. And both fell prostrate to the ground, swords drawn, but held in supplication.

"My Liege! My sword and my body are at your service!"

"Arise, kind sirs. I see no need for your swords or your bodies at this time, though the gesture is appreciated."

"Of course, sire. It has been a great many centuries since Camelot was in power. That you have returned now is a fortuitous sign!"

"Tell me thy names, that I might properly know thee?"

"My King, I am Adam, but thou knew me as Gawain."

"And I, my Liege, am Marco, but thou knew me as Geraint."

"My two friends! Geraint, tell me that thy armor is not as rusty as it once was?"

"I've no call to wear that armor in many centuries, Sire."

While the man known as Arthur and Methos spoke, Marcus pulled Marius aside and spoke quietly with him.

"I had hoped that you two would not go on like that. I know that you are, shall we say, 'long lived' but I had hoped that you would not humor him so."

"Perhaps he is who he says he is. Though he does not appear to be the man in my memories of Arthur, his sword is unmistakably Excalibur. And who is to say he isn't Arthur?"

"But he isn't. He's listed in Earth Force records as David McIntyre. The DNA is a dead on match for him. He's a survivor of the Line."

"And so you believe he's had a bit of a break from reality? But then again, this is the time of a supposed great change in your universe. Perhaps he isn't who he claims to be, but then again, am I who I say I am?"

"Your argument is fair. I will take him from here. Perhaps there is someone on the station who can help him see the light?"

"The man that history calls Arthur. Well, I knew that man when he was young and when his kingdom was young. But there is no resemblance to this man here."

"And I knew him when he was old and his kingdom was old and dying. Yet there is no resemblance. He may not be Arthur, but if that is who he believes himself to be, who am I to judge? Marcus, he may not be Arthur. Hell, he may not be David McIntyre anymore either. Let him be Arthur until he decides who he is. If it makes life easier for him, then so be it."

"Well said, Adam. Let us continue our discussion. I am sure that Arthur is in good hands with Ranger Cole."

After their discussions had come to a close they had both agreed on a course of action. Methos went to see the Ambassador from Minbar with a request and an hour later, the battlecruiser AIS Los Angeles departed orbit bound for Minbar at high speed. They had decided that a practical demonstration of their technology would benefit all parties in the upcoming meeting.

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Journey Day 27

The next day the meeting began at nine in the morning. Sheridan and Ivanova were there representing Babylon 5, along with Delenn and Lennan of Minbar. Lennan was the captain of the a Minbari cruiser that had arrived a few days previously and Delenn had asked him to attend this opening meeting as it promised to show off some items that would be of interest to the warrior caste. Londo Mollari, and his aide Vir, were there to represent the interests of the Centauri. Citizen G'Kar was present on behalf of the Narn. There were also various representatives of the League of Non-Aligned worlds present. Just when Sheridan was about to call the meeting to order, two more unexpected participants walked in; Kosh of the Vorlons and Mr. Morden on behalf of the Shadow Alliance.

"Mr. Morden, I do not believe you were invited to participate in this meeting?"

"Captain Sheridan. I requested his presence. The Shadow Alliance would be interested in some of the technologies we have to offer, and we, in turn, are interested in some of theirs. If there are no objections to his presence, then I request he be allowed to stay and listen."

"Are you sure of this Admiral Ramos?"

"It is a wise idea to see what we have to offer is it not?"

"It is. Then let us proceed. Admiral Ramos, you have the floor."

"Thank you Captain. Before we begin in earnest with the show and tell aspect of this presentation, I feel the need to explain a few things. First off is the fact that until fairly recently, our species has been traveling the universe via the Stargate, or the Chaapa'ai as it is known in some languages. The Stargate is a device that is composed of two concentric rings, one within another. An outer ring with nine lockable positions and an inner ring where there are thirty-nine position indicators. As all of you may be aware, to travel to any point in space, you will need seven position indicators. Six to describe a destination and one to describe a point of origin.

"The Stargate itself is made of a mineral we call Naquadah, which is a quartz-like element capable of controlling vast amounts of energy. When an energy source is directed to the Stargate, and when seven of the nine chevrons are locked describing a path to a destination, the Naquadah takes the stored energy and uses it to create a stable wormhole between itself and another Stargate at the destination. In order to travel anywhere, at least two operational gates must be used, otherwise the formation of the wormhole is impossible. To illustrate this point, and with the assistance of Delenn of Minbar, one of our ships, the AIS Los Angeles was dispatched to Minbar yesterday. A gate does not need to be on the surface of a target world; it need only be in orbit. We have plotted the course to Minbar using our positioning system and have a similar Gate equipped ship in orbit near Epsilon Three. Let us turn now to the monitors aboard the AIS Kiev."

All eyes in the room turned to a bank of monitors that had been placed along the far wall. They watched as a technician in the screen entered a series of co-ordinates, represented by strange looking symbols, into a computer keyboard. They watched, mesmerized, as the ring within a ring spun one way then another as the locks engaged the various positions indicators. Then, when all seven locks had been engaged, there was a rush of a liquid-like substance that formed a sideways whirlpool emanating from the ring device. When the whirlpool had subsided, the liquid collapsed onto itself forming an undulating pool of shining 'water'. The technician informed the Admiral that the wormhole had been established.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you see on the monitors is a stable wormhole that now exists between the Kiev and the Los Angeles. Two-way communication is possible via the Gate system, however, travel is only one way at a time. That is, because the Kiev 'dialed' the Los Angeles, a crew can be sent to the Los Angeles from the Kiev, but the reverse of that will not be true unless the Los Angeles 'dials' the Kiev. Unless I am mistaken, I believe the travel time via ship to Minbar from this location is three days? Am I correct, Ambassador Delenn?"

"You are correct, Admiral Ramos."

Admiral Ramos uttered a few words into the radio near him, and on the screen, those present in the room watched as five members of the crew of the Kiev walked into the shimmering pool of water. Shortly thereafter, the gate shut down, only to re-start as the Los Angeles began its dialing procedure.

"What you have just witnessed is the near instantaneous travel of five crewmen to the Los Angeles. I say near instantaneous as it takes a few seconds to cross the vast distance between here and Minbar. Now, the Los Angeles is dialing into the Kiev, where a return crew of five will make the journey back here."

Sure enough, a new whirlpool had briefly formed on the screen before returning to its placid state. Shortly afterwards, five Minbari Rangers stepped through the gate to the Kiev.

"Some of you might have said that all of this was an elaborate trick, that the five men who left earlier had not in fact, gone anywhere. So it was decided that five men would go and that five Minbari Rangers would return, to show the capability of this system. Now we will show a different outcome."

On the screens, the Gate shut down, only to start turning again as a new incoming wormhole was being established. But instead of a placid shimmering pool of water, a metal shield irised into place over the pool, followed by several very audible thumps and the shutdown of the gate.

"What you just witnessed was one of the safety features we have built into the Gate. Whenever we travel through the gate system, we carry with us a device that sends a particular code to the receiving gate that indicates whether we are friend or not. If no signal is received after the formation of the wormhole, then the iris closes over the surface of the Gate. It leaves no room for an object to re-integrate into its normal form, and what happens is the 'thumping' noise you heard. This is how we prevent unauthorized usage of our gate system, and how we prevent an attack from coming through the gates to our home world. Now, please understand one very important item. Because of the co-ordinate system in use, and its inherent limitations, only one gate can be placed per planet. To overcome this limiting factor, we ship all cargo to one gate on a nearby world, while all passengers come through the main gate on our world."

So the last statement was a bit of a white lie. Odds were the inhabitants of this universe would never know the truth of that statement, or lack thereof.

"The incoming cargo is then shipped via shuttle to its final destination. As I stated earlier, it was until fairly recently that we utilized the gate system exclusively. Only within the last few years have we begun to build starships, and that is primarily because not all habitable worlds in our home galaxy have Stargates.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is but one of the possible uses of naquadah. Another usage is a generator. I am aware that most of your races utilize fusion or some form of it to produce power. However, as it the case with this station, the fusion reactors are generally rather large. This small box in front of me, measures one cubic meter. Yet, when combined with five others of the same size, it can provide all of the power this station would require. The Halsey uses a slight larger form of this generator, measuring five cubic meters and set in redundant banks of eight, to provide power for the ship. These are but two of the technologies that we offer for trade. When you leave the chamber a short while from now, a series of papers will be handed out itemizing what we would like to trade for. Now, our next demonstration may shock some of you, but please bear with me."

Just as Admiral Ramos had finished his statement, the doors to the Conference room opened a pair of coffin-like devices were brought in into the room. One had a bubble of some transparent material over the top while the other was rather ornamental and inscribed with various odd looking symbols. It also appeared to be made of gold. That in of itself had the attention of the majority of the room. Shortly after the devices were brought in, Drs. Franklin and Scully came in with two more men in the ship uniform of the Halsey.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to witness may sicken you, but I assure you that no harm whatsoever is intended. The two men you see before you are Lieutenant Robertson, formerly of SEAL Team Six and presently attached to the Halsey's special operations section, and Kapitan Tretyego Ranga Ivanov, formerly of Spetsnaz Group Alpha and currently attached to the Marine Expeditionary Force aboard the Halsey. Gentlemen, you have been briefed on your assignment, yes?"

"Yes sir! And might we add that we are not looking forward to it, sir!"

"No, I would imagine you are not. Now then, what Captain Pierson is holding is what we call a staff weapon. Its power core is a small amount of naquadah, approximately fifteen grams of it. Before any of you get the wrong idea, the staff weapon is not something we are willing to trade. Its only reason for being here is for the purpose of this demonstration. It fires a small amount of plasma, along the same lines as the standard PPG used by Earth Force and other governments. However, the amount of plasma it fires and the temperature of the resulting plasma is sufficient to burn through flesh and kill most any target with one shot. Captain Pierson, if you will proceed."

Pierson leveled the staff weapon at Ivanov and fired one bolt. The plasma seared through the outer layers of his uniform and burned through his chest, cauterizing the blood vessels as it passed into his body and rupturing his heart. Ivanov was dead before he hit the floor. What resulted from the shot was pandemonium until Ramos could quiet the assembly.

"Doctors, would you examine the body?"

"No need for it. Anyone can see that this young man is dead. Probably dead before he hit the floor."

"Yes. Quite. Now, if you would please place him in the sarcophagus, we will move on to the second part of our demonstration. The weapon Captain Pierson is now holding is our standard weapon for all ground forces aboard the Halsey. It is what you would call a slug thrower. That is, it fires a metallic round by using a propellant charge. One shot, well placed, can kill most targets effectively. If you will proceed, sir."

Before any in the audience could protest the action, Pierson let lose several three round bursts at Robertson. His shots were designed not to kill, but to wound severely.

"Doctors, if you would?"

"That may have been a primitive weapon, Admiral, but it did enough damage to this man. Without immediate treatment, he will die."

"Of course. Place him into the stasis chamber. You will notice, that unlike the cryogenic chambers you use, this one is much smaller and much more portable. It uses a small anti-grav impeller to keep it afloat and to allow a single person to move it to any location. The anti-grav impellers are also powered by naquadah. This demonstration was not so much of our killing powers or of our weapons technology, but rather of our healing technology."

He said nothing more for a few minutes, as if waiting for something to happen. Then it did. The lid of the sarcophagus opened up like two wings spreading for flight. Then a startled Ivanov sat up. After a few seconds of running his hands over his chest, he got up and out of the sarcophagus. Pierson and Scully moved Robertson from the stasis chamber directly into the sarcophagus and less than five minutes later the device opened again to reveal a completely healed Robertson.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you have witnessed here is the result of thousands of years of engineering. In the first case, a man who was dead by all measures your science can determine, was placed into the sarcophagus and healed and revived. Doctor Franklin, I am sure you will wish to examine both men to determine any ill effects of the device?"

"I definitely do want to examine them!"

"Good. I would have it no other way. On the modern battlefield, it is not always easy to get the wounded back to a place where your medical science can treat them. This is true of any civilization. However, the stasis chamber renders that argument moot. The stasis chambers can be used to keep the critically wounded stable until such time as your doctors can treat them, or in the event of catastrophic wounds, can place them into a sarcophagus for treatment. The sarcophagus can treat any type of wound, whether caused by a knife or PPG or slug thrower, or caused by some form of terminal illness such as cancer. But there is an unavoidable caveat to the device. Prolonged usage leads to mental instability and insanity. That level is not something we can pinpoint as it is based on an individualistic tolerance for the healing powers of the device.

"Another technology that we utilize is comparable to your own hyperspace method of travel. We too, use hyperspace, though it is as different to your own as night is to day. Using your technology, a ship creates an opening into the realm you call hyperspace, where distances are drastically shorter than in real space. Our method creates what is in effect a stable wormhole. However, unlike Gate based travel where the journey is nearly instantaneous, the sheer amount of energy required to create the ship sized wormhole necessitates the travel time be longer. For instance, the station is approximately 36 standard hyperspace hours from Earth, 44 standard hyperspace hours from Narn, and 48 standard hyperspace hours from Centauri Prime.

"Using our method of travel, those times would be cut to thirty minutes for Earth, and approximately forty-five minutes to either Narn or Centauri Prime. The caveat to this is that in order to generate the stable wormhole of this size, a special form naquadah is necessary called Naquadria. Naquadria is inherently unstable, and any trip longer than two thousand light years necessitates that the ship making the journey periodically drop out of hyperspace to allow the engine systems to cool. But other than that one minor detail, our version of hyperspace travel is much faster than your own.

"A way to offset this problem is to create what are essentially ship sized gates, similar to your jump gates. In fact, it may be remotely possible to convert your existing jump gate system to ship gates so that you can use the existing network of gates. Use of a ShipGate allows the gate itself to create the stable wormhole over vast distances, thereby negating the installation of hyperspace window generators on your ships. This may allow you to circumvent the need for new ship designs.

"Now then, are there any questions over what we have shown you? If not, then I will turn this meeting back over to Captain Sheridan."

"Thank you Admiral, for that very interesting display of your technology. I'm sure that everyone in this room has much to contemplate before the first negotiations commence at zero nine hundred tomorrow. As such, this meeting is adjourned."

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For the first time in several days, Marius returned to the Halsey to try and tackle the ever growing pile of paperwork on his desk. He had been at it for two hours when the chime sounded at the door to his office. With scarcely a look, he bade whoever it was to enter.

"Major Carter? To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"I have that proposal ready for you sir."

"Refresh my memory. Which proposal?"

"The one to use the wreckage of the Earth Force destroyers?"

"Oh. That proposal. Alright then, lay it on me."

"With the assistance of Commander Ivanova of Babylon 5, we have managed to identify the types of ships that make up the wreckage. None of the vessels are intact enough to just repair, but using bits and pieces in the debris field, we can re-create two Omega-class destroyers, an Olympus-class corvette, and most of one Hyperion-class heavy cruiser. I say most of the vessel because the engines were too damaged to repair. The rest of the wreckage, well other than using them for spare parts, there's not much we can do with them.

"However, if you approve of this plan, then we would have something more substantial to trade to Babylon 5 for the tech we want. What I propose is to use the sheer amount of metal in those wrecks to build at least two modified Prometheus-class battlecruisers for them. Modified in the sense that they would be home to their own Starfury fighters rather than to any of our fighters. With all the raw materials out there in orbit around the station, we can accomplish this rather quickly."

"That sounds like an excellent plan. How much time would you need and how large a construction team would you need?"

"How many ships are you planning on sir?"

"Let's call it two for now, with the option of two more, if the supplies are available."

"Well, if could borrow some of those maintenance bots the station uses for the task, I would say we could have at least one cruiser done in say two weeks. Doubling the construction teams, we could possibly build two at once. But we would need to send a couple of our own cruisers back to the asteroid field we first encountered to replenish our own stocks of naquadah and trinium. The amounts of naquadria necessary for the hyperdrives is not enough in of itself to warrant another trip to the asteroid field, but as long as the cruisers are already going there, it would not be a bad idea to obtain more. Back home, the only known source of naquadria is Kelowna."

"A valid point Major. Alright. Put together your teams. I'll arrange for the station to lend us say a dozen of their maintenance bots?"

"A dozen should be sufficient to the task sir."

"Very well then. Put together your lists and get them back to me by seventeen hundred today."

"Yes sir!"

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True to her word, Carter had gotten the lists of personnel needed back to him an hour earlier than requested. Marius had put in a call to the station to request the loan of twelve of the maintenance bots for a construction project and had been granted the usage of twenty-four of the little flying bots, along with a small maintenance crew to oversee their usage. Carter assembled her teams, briefed them on their tasks, and they went right to work. Marius dispatched the Dallas, Tollana, Ryan, and Cydonia to the asteroid field with the express task of mining everything they could find and bringing it back to the Halsey. The Dallas had been repaired fairly quickly after the encounter with the Earth Force destroyers some weeks ago and now her crew were aching to show off their battle tested skills.

It had been a little less than a month since they had arrived here. Marius wondered how things were going back home. He gave little thought that they would return safely. Tok'Ra had as much guaranteed that the majority of the crew of the Halsey would return safely. That he himself would return to his home, he thought not much about. If he had to die to ensure the safety of his people, his crew, then he would gladly do so, though he doubted he would die here and now. This universe may hold its own form of danger, but it paled in comparison to the threat of the Cylons and Anubis. He could hardly believe that there were any life forms in this universe, the universe of Babylon 5, that were bent on the total annihilation of all humanoid forms of life. Still, he supposed, the possibility did exist. He looked at the clock and wondered where he day had gone. In a few moments, he would be meeting with the tech negotiations team.

"Gentlemen, let's make this as brief as possible. It's been a long day, and frankly I could use a nice cold beer. So, Major Mulder, if you would start please."

"Sir. Our first meeting is with the Minbari. From them, we hope to gain three weapons technologies, their secret of stealth, their holographic display systems, and their ship building techniques. While they don't use a strictly organic armor for their ships, it is a close approximation and odds are pretty darn good, that said armor is Vorlon in origin. The armor structure of their ships appears crystalline in nature and can refract a fair portion of laser energies directed at it. It would make a fine addition to the hull of the Halsey and it would enable us to withstand several direct laser hits in the event our shields fail. In terms of weapons tech, we are asking them for their electro pulse guns, and their fusion and neutron cannons. The EP guns are a short range in nature and have an EMP effect on the target. That is to say, the 'projectiles' for want of a better word, of the EP guns cause electrical systems to go off-line for a short amount of time. That amount of time could be the difference in a battle."

"Very well. Dr. Jackson, what are your impressions of the Minbari? Will they be willing to trade these techs for what we have to offer?"

"I would say yes to that question. The Minbari are a very ancient race. According to their own history, they were building great cities when man was still moving about in nomadic tribes. They've been out in space at least eleven hundred years and are considered to be among the eldest of the younger races of this universe. Their society is broken down into three castes; warrior, worker, and religious. Their ruling council, what they call the Grey Council, is made up of nine members; three of each caste. There is also a leader who is chosen by the Council, but is not necessarily a member of the Council. The Grey Council does not have a governmental building on any world. They use a ship to move randomly from one colony to another so as to always appear where they are needed most. The honorific given to a Council member is Satai. From my research, I have learned that the identity of the Council members is not widely known. They rule from afar without the intervention of cult followings or the media. In some ways, I'd say that was better than our own form of government, but in others, well, there is always the possibility of odd rulings and laws. Their prime tenet is 'Understanding is not required, only obedience'."

"Very informative, Dr. Jackson. I look forward to your briefings over the next few days regarding the other races of this universe. Major Mulder, please stay for a moment. The rest of you may leave."

"You wished to see me sir?"

"Cut the sir crap, Mulder. I do not like titles. I use them, but I don't like them. In public call me sir or Admiral or even Mr. President. In private, you had damn well better call me Marius."

"Yes sir, uhm, I mean, Marius."

"Good. Now then, what I wanted to tell you is to hold off on the meeting with Sheridan until the end. Make sure it's the last meeting. I'm going to give them a little gift, that is, if Major Carter can work a miracle in the time required."

"Of course, Marius. I'll make sure they'll be the last set of negotiations. I expect each set of negotiations to last no more than two days. Three days tops. The Minbari are scheduled for tomorrow, followed by the Narn, the Centauri, and then the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. Odds are, probably the Vorlon and the Shadows at some point, unless you or Tok'Ra wish to handle those yourselves. Last will be Babylon 5. So maybe a week at the earliest before we meet with Sheridan and his people. Possibly as long as two weeks. Will that be enough time?"

"Two weeks will be good, Mulder. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I'm certain that the fair Major Scully will be eager to see you. Go on, get out of here. Relax for awhile before your meeting tomorrow."

"Anything you say, Mr. President."

Marius went back over Major Carter's plan and saw that she had thought ahead in the matter of secrecy. The first thing they would construct would be an enclosure, to prevent curious eyes from observing the construction process. All in all, things were going quite well, as far as he was concerned.

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Epsilon Three

Chamber of the Great Machine

After his visit with Lorien, Tok'Ra had traveled the stars, observing what had become of the many races the Ancient's had once taken an interest in. To his dismay, a number of them had gone the way of the Dodo bird, that is, they had become extinct. The Xon on the world called Centauri Prime had once held their interest but they were no more. Neither were the Dilgar. Or the Ikarrans. All had tremendous potential to become guardians for the younger races. But none had survived. Tok'Ra wondered if that were a good thing or not. He went to Orion VII to see a Flamebird as he had seen them once many millennia previously, but found none. So many things change with the passage of time, but he had not.

His journey brought him back towards the Halsey when he felt the calling in his Quickening. He flew onwards to the third planet in this system and down into the depths of the world. Here he found a great chamber filled with vast amounts of machinery. Machines that he did not recognize. The thought of this piqued his curiosity and he was drawn further into the machinery until he came upon a chamber where he guessed the Heart of the Machine lay. Within the Heart he saw a Minbari. This startled him to no end, so much so that he momentarily phased into normal view. The Minbari within the Great Machine awoke and spoke.

"I believe the Vorlons are known for asking 'Who are you', but I believe my question shall be, what are you?"

"I am Tok'Ra. I am of the race you may know as the Ancients."

"The Great Machine knows you and therefore I, too, know you. You are of what the creators of the Machine called the First Teachers. The ones who came long ago to this universe to teach and to guide. The creators of the Machine learned much from your kind. They used their knowledge to create the Machine."

"Why did they create the Machine?"

"The creators of the Machine, they knew what you would do with the Shadows and the Vorlons. They had the gift of knowing the future and they built the Machine to serve as a counter-point to what they saw would become of the Vorlons and the Shadows. They did was what necessary to shape the outcome. Time is far from linear. It is always in motion, and to make a small change at one point can create ripples in the time stream that will have effects; long-lasting effects in the present, the past, and the future."

"An effect of some event tomorrow has an effect on yesterday? How is that possible?"

"Time is not linear. It is a circle. Where you start on your journey is also where you end your journey. Though the players may be different, the circle remains. A thousand years ago, the Vorlons united some of the younger races and together, they fought the Shadows. Such was also the case a thousand years before that, and a thousand years before that as well. In each instance, the Shadows came, with their allies, to destroy the Vorlons and their allies. In each case, they were driven back to their world of origin, Z'ha'dum. And yet each thousand years, they return, stronger than before. The Circle of time repeats itself. And now, the first circle has been completed. The First Teachers have returned to this place, as was foretold millennia ago."

"Does everyone in this place speak in terms of prophecies?"

"It is a shortcoming perhaps. But it serves to remind the younger races of what is to come. It would not be wise to tell those alive today of the events of tomorrow. Instead, through the influence of the Machine, the future is told in prophecy. This is how it has always been."

"Minbari, you are even more cryptic than the Vorlons."

"Perhaps I am Ancient One. But you have far to go in your journey yet. And though you may wish to do so, you will not pass beyond the rim. There is still One among you that you must guide. You consider him a child, but he will be more than that. To the rest of your kind, those that have passed beyond, he will be the newness that you sought in your experiments so long ago. But, I have said enough for now. When the time comes, I will protect those aboard Babylon 5, as is my duty. And you, Ancient One, must do what you can to help young Marius to complete the new ships he now creates for Sheridan."

Draal had finished his long prepared speech and stepped back into the Heart of the Machine. There to watch over the universe and all its permutations of time and space. Tok'Ra, on the other hand, could do naught but stare at the Minbari and the warning he perceived in his diatribe. Perhaps it was not so much a warning as a blessing? It was impossible for him to decide. In all his travels and all his years in the universe, no, in the multi-verse, he had never come across one such as Draal and the Machine. It must be a tremendous responsibility, this watching over time and the multi-verse. Perhaps Lorien had been correct in his assessment. Perhaps the ones who created the Machine had been the Chosen of the Progenitors? He did not speculate further.

Tok'Ra rose up from the planet and looked long into the realm of hyperspace. He could see, several light years from this place, six fleets. Six fleets that would soon converge on the space around the station. Six fleets that he hoped and prayed would not open fire on each other. As he floated into view of the station, he saw the enclosed space dock where the Tau'ri were busily constructing two of their battlecruisers, and rebuilding four other ships. He perceived the design changes, those meant for Sheridan, those meant to house fighters of this universe. So he helped the project along some. With a slight manipulation of energies, vast sections of the ship came together. It startled the crews working on the ships, but one of them saw Tok'Ra hovering at the entrance to the enclosure and radioed the others to move out of the way.

Panel by panel and deck by deck, the ships took form. And when he was done, the ships were complete save for their innards. The engines were not there, nor were weapons or fighters, but Tok'Ra felt that he had done enough. The fleets in space were still a few days away. If the Tau'ri worked all of their shifts at the same time, they would finish the two cruisers in time.

Time. Though he existed outside its influence, not really aging, he was still keenly aware of its passage. Now he feared that there would not be enough time. Not enough time to do what was necessary.

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Admiral's Office

AIS Halsey

1430 hrs

Journey Day 35

"How did it go, Mulder?"

"Quite well actually. Things went along faster than we expected and we have concluded negotiations with the Minbari and with the Narn. From the Minbari, we will receive design specifications for their weaponry and stealth technology, along with their gravitic drive systems and their hull armor technology. In return, we have given them one set of working gates and a pair of DHDs from storage, along with the designs to build more and the designs for the ShipGates. We gave them, also, one naquadah generator for them to experiment on, and the plans to build more. As a bonus, though it was something that we also wanted, they gave us their holographic technology and to you sir, they gave a warrior's fighting pike. There are several additional pikes, one for each Immortal aboard the Halsey."

"That's mighty generous of them."

"There was one other thing they offered, but I had to turn them down. They offered to loan us two of their WhiteStar cruisers, complete with crews, but as I had no idea how we could get the crews back to this place, I had to turn them down."

"Contact their Ambassador, and ask if the offer still stands. If it does, accept it. We have a way to return the crews, but not the ships. Ask Ambassador Delenn if she would join me in my quarters later this evening so that I may explain to her just how we will return those crews. Ask her to invite Lyta Alexander, as this will concern her as well."

"I'll see to it immediately. As for the Narn, sir. We gave them the same items. They, in return, gave us two dozen working energy mines and the plans to build more. They also gave us some captured Centauri weapons, like their main battle laser cannons. Though these we did not ask for, they gave us in any case. As Citizen G'Kar put it, 'you have given us so much and have asked for so little that my government has authorized a few gifts.' After that he added the particle beam weapons plans that they use on their fighters. It appears to be the same type the Centauri use."

"Very well. What's next, Mulder?"

"The Centauri in the morning. Followed by the League Ambassadors. The League has chosen a Drazi, a Brakiri, and a Vree to represent their interests. Whatever comes out of the meeting, I will see to it that all of the other Ambassadors receive the same information, lest the 'official' representatives hold anything back for themselves."

"Very well. Get some sleep Mulder. Please tell Ambassador Delenn that I will be in my quarters on the station after nineteen hundred."

"I will, sir."

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Shortly after Fox Mulder left the Admiral's office, Major Carter appeared to give her progress reports.

"Sir."

"At ease, Major. Your report, please?"

"Sir. A short while ago, Tok'Ra appeared in the construction dock. I'm not sure how he did what he did, but save for engines, offensive and defensive systems and fighters, the pair of battlecruisers are nearly complete, along with the other four ships we were rebuilding from the debris. The full hulls are in place complete with all interior decks and rooms. All we have to do now is place the engines and the defensive and offensive systems. I've contacted the Forge chiefs, and told them to start building those systems. We expect to have the first engines in place by twenty-two hundred this evening. After the engines are in place, we'll lay in the reactor systems and all of the other minor internal systems. Hopefully by noon tomorrow, when the Forge chiefs are through building the offensive weapons and with the fighters, we'll be able to install those final systems. Without Tok'Ra's help, we'd still be laying keels, sir. He's taken a good month off the construction time. It just makes me wonder if he knows something we don't."

"God, I hope not Major. I'm getting kinda tired of his surprises."

"Me too, sir."

"You realize, Major, that when all this is over, when we get back to where we are supposed to be, that I'll go back to being a Major the same as you? So, at least in private, cut the 'sir' please?"

"Yes of course, Mr. President."

"Hmmm, maybe I prefer Admiral to that. Actually, all I want is to take a small ship and see the galaxy for awhile. I didn't want to become Admiral anymore than I wanted to become President. I was quite content, Major, in my lab with my experiments. That is, until a certain Air Force Major and Colonel showed up in my office, where with Presidential authority, you got to see my work. I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have insisted on a flying post rather than a research post. Maybe if I had taken that route, I'd still be blissfully unaware of all that has happened."

"Knowing you, Marco, you'd probably have been chosen for the 1st SFW. You'd probably still be involved with the fight. I looked up your flying records from the first two world wars. With records like those, you would have been a cinch to get into that wing. And of course, you'd still be involved in the Game."

"Too true, Major. Perhaps then, it was a good thing you and the Colonel came into my life. In any case, do keep me apprised of the construction situation. I have the distinct feeling that Tok'Ra wanted those ships ready a lot earlier for a reason. A reason that has me scared with the unknown."

"I will, Marco. If that's all, sir, I need to get back to my teams."

"That will be all Major. Dismissed."

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Babylon 5

Green Sector

1930 hrs

Marco had thought long and hard during the afternoon after Mulder's report. What he was about to give Ambassador Delenn could be used for good or ill, but he hoped that in her capable hands, she would use it for good. The quantum mirror is what the Ancients created so long ago as a way to move through the barriers between dimensions. In this case, the mirror was locked in one destination, the Immortal colony on Luna. He had a few of these mirrors, in a special vault in his quarters, a gift from Tok'Ra who told him he might have need of them. Certainly he could see the need now, or was it some unknown desire causing him to give this out? He had learned long ago to go with his first guess in a situation. To second guess himself invited trouble he did not need. He looked to his watch and noted the time just as Kyra announced the arrival of Ambassador Delenn and Lyta Alexander.

"Ambassador, Ms. Alexander. Please come in. Have a seat. May I get you anything to drink? Tea perhaps?"

"Tea would be nice, thank you."

"Anything for you Ms. Alexander?"

"No thanks."

Marius busied himself preparing tea for himself and the Ambassador while pondering just how he was going to bring up this particular subject.

"Now then, I'm fairly certain you two are wondering why I have asked you over this evening. The first bit of business we must discuss involves you Ambassador, directly, and you, Ms. Alexander, indirectly. Major Mulder told me you offered us two of your WhiteStar cruisers complete with crews, if we had a method of returning those crews, yes?"

"That was the offer I made. Do you have a way of returning those crews?"

"I do. Or rather, the Ancients do. Long ago, when the Ancients were beginning to explore the universe, they came upon a very real problem; their ships were slow and the universe was vast. So like any space fairing civilization, they set out to solve those problems. But instead of looking in only one possible direction, they examined three possible technologies. One of those technologies that resulted from their experiments was the Stargate system, which, I believe, Major Mulder and his staff traded to you earlier this day. The second successful technology was the hyperspace gate generator drive system we use in all of our ships. It is similar in concept to your hyperspace technology, except that we don't actually cross a dimensional barrier to enter hyperspace. Our engine technology works by creating a hole into subspace to circumvent the longer distances in normal space.

"The final technology resulted in something like this mirror here. When activated, the mirror opens a gateway between realities. A normal quantum mirror has a number of controls that allows the potential traveler to examine a number of different realities prior to entering the gateway. This mirror, however, only goes to one other reality, and that is my home reality. I will leave this in you safe keeping Delenn of Mir, so that when the time comes, your crews may be returned to you safely.

"Now then, Ms. Alexander. The reason for your presence here. I am aware that telepaths were created by Vorlon manipulation of your genetic material. That you were created as a weapon in the upcoming fight against the Shadows. But what will you do when the fight is done? I have seen, with my own eyes, the distrust of others when seeing a telepath. Now, it may be true that not all telepaths, or teeps, as I believe you term them, are distrusted. But it seems to me that the distrust works both ways. Telepaths no more trust mundanes than normals trust teeps. So here is an option for you, should the need arise. Go to Delenn, and ask her to use the mirror.

"You see, the mirror works both ways. Touching it here will instantaneously transport you to the Immortal colony on Luna in my reality. Touching the correct mirror there will bring you here. There is, however, a major catch to this. If there exists a duplicate of you in your intended dimension, the two beings will begin to experience what we call entropic cascade failure. Two identical beings can not exist in the same reality at the same time. I do not believe the Minbari crews will experience this as we have no Minbari in my home reality. But you, Ms. Alexander, and any other telepaths that so desire, may travel to my reality. If you experience no symptoms of cascade failure after ninety-six hours, then you will be given provisional permission to stay on Luna. After a period of six weeks, the Immortal Council will meet to discuss your arrival and at that time will decide whether to grant citizenship of Luna. Understand this, in my reality there are no telepaths, or at least none of your strength.

"The Tau'ri are only now beginning to explore the wonders of the human mind. But as to the Immortal mind, we know almost nothing. As you have seen for yourself, it is next to impossible to read an Immortal's thoughts or sense their emotions, unless of course, we allow you to do so. But you personally, may or may not decide to go. That is entirely up to you. I am merely giving you the option of doing so."

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Babylon 5

Command and Control

Journey Day 45

Marius was in Command and Control to present a gift to Captain Sheridan and the forces of his resistance movement. Marius was certain that Sheridan suspected what the gift might be, but he was unsure if Sheridan knew or realized its full import. So now the two of them stood in front of the window looking on into space in front of the massive station known as Babylon 5.

"Captain, your friendly neighborhood Vorlon, Kosh, mentioned something to me once. And it took some time for what he said to become clear in my mind, but it did, eventually. I will say this, Vorlons are nothing if not obscure in their speech. It may be clear to them and it may serve their purpose to be vague to the younger races, but I find it easier to speak plainly. So let us speak plainly. In the past few minutes, two of three gifts have been delivered; one to your official office, and one to your residence. Kosh mentioned to me your fondness for oranges and the smell of orange blossoms. To this end, on behalf of myself and the crew of the Halsey, we have given to you two pairs of dwarf orange trees.

"The remaining gift is about to appear."

Marius spoke into the radio secured to his vest at about the level of his left shoulder. Seconds later he pointed to Sheridan and bade him look at the dock enclosure floating in front of and to one side of Babylon 5. As he stared at it, he saw the 'front' doors cycle open and the protective shields of the dock drop. A vessel began to come out of it, but when he looked more closely, this time on the view screen, he saw that it was in fact two vessels. These were of the smaller battlecruiser class of ship used by the AIS.

"Captain Sheridan, on behalf of the Alliance of Independent Systems, I present to you two vessels of the Prometheus-class for your use. There have been some minor modifications made to these two ships. First and foremost, we have included the same type of weaponry found in the WhiteStar-class vessels. Secondly, the hangar bays have been reconfigured to support your shuttles and fighters instead of our shuttles and fighters. The ships utilize our form of supra-luminal travel; the Hyperspace Window Generator. There is one sarcophagus aboard each ship along with five stasis chambers. These technologies we have already given to you if only in the form of design specifications.

"Lastly, and this is for your ears only. If you choose to share this information, well, it will be entirely up to you. Both ships have been equipped with force shields, and each ship has a smaller version of the Halsey's forge deck, so at the very least you will be able to make more fighters and effect emergency repairs without the need for docks or stations. Additionally, the Prometheus-class battlecruisers are atmospheric capable. That is, the ship can safely enter an atmosphere and land on a planet. Major Carter, who headed the engineering and construction teams, reported one extra that she included in the construction process. A partial-bay that will allow a WhiteStar to dock with the carrier. The size of your WhiteStars is such that they are too big to dock with the carrier. So she has made something that resembles a mold, for lack of a better term, where a single WhiteStar can dock into and transfers can be made more easily. The smaller WhiteStar has to be docked in what is essentially an upside down position to facilitate a transfer point between the carrier and the WhiteStar."

"Captain! Hyperspace sensors indicate a large fleet preparing to enter Babylon 5 space!"

Lieutenant Corwin had no more finished uttering these words when a fleet of Earth Force destroyers jumped into Babylon 5 space. A large fleet. But before anyone could utter another word, a second fleet jumped into B5 space; a Centauri fleet. For an instant that felt like an eternity to all concerned, no one did anything. Then both fleets began launching fighters. Then, it was as if all hell had broken loose on B5.

"Mr. Corwin! Launch all fighters and have them hold near the station!"

"Yes Captain!"

"Well, Sheridan, it looks like this could be a bad situation for us all. We will, of course, do everything in our power to save B5."

"I think we're going to need a miracle."

"I think, Captain Sheridan, that miracles need to be our stock in trade this day."

As Marius finished his comments two more fleets jumped into B5 space.

"Shit. I think I spoke too soon. Marius to Halsey!"

"Halsey here. O'Neill speaking, Marco. You see what we see?"

"Affirmative Colonel. How many of our crew are on the station?"

"Major Mulder and his team, yourself and your guards, and four hundred others on shore leave."

"Initiate recall for all personnel. Colonel, Jack, I think we should use the Asgard protocols for this one."

"Ya think? Ok. Stand ready."

"Admiral? What are the Asgard protocols you mentioned?"

"You'll see them in action in a bit here Sheridan."

And so saying, Marius felt himself ensconced in an Asgard transporter beam. A split second later he was standing on the bridge of the Halsey. Sheridan and the crew who had been a moment before looking at Admiral Ramos were shocked by the appearance of the white beam that surrounded the Admiral and whisked him away to someplace. It was something they had never imagined possible. Teleportation. In their wildest dreams, they had never imagined this. It was something the people from the Halsey had taken great care not to show to the inhabitants of this universe. But with fleets from Earth Force, the Centauri, the Vorlons, and the Shadows in B5 space, it was necessary.

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AIS Halsey

Bridge

"Sensor officer, report!"

"Sir. Earth force vessels first. Twelve of their Omega-class destroyers, six Hyperion-class heavy cruisers, six Nova-class dreadnoughts, and ten Olympus-class corvettes. For the Centauri fleet, there are fifteen Primus-class battle cruisers and twelve Vorchan-class warships. There are approximately thirty-eight Vorlon vessels of various types and classifications unknown to us, and fifty-five Shadow vessels, also of various types and configurations. Both the Earth Force vessels and the Centauri ships have launched fighters, but they are holding near their respective ships. B5 has launched all of her fighters and those are holding near the station."

"All right people. Let's do this one by the numbers. Mr. Jameson, sound general quarters. Colonel O'Neill, might I suggest you get to the launch bays? I'm going to need a level head controlling the squadrons."

"On my way."

"Sir. Emergency beam-outs are completed. All personnel now back aboard the Halsey."

"Weps, shields to full and charge all weapons. Sensors, give me as much detailed information on those ships as possible. Find their weak spots and feed that to Weps."

"Aye sir."

"Affirmative. Shields at full. All weapons charged and standing by."

"Flight bay reports ready to launch at will."

"Launch all squadrons, but keep them close to the Halsey. No one is to fire unless so ordered by either the Bridge or the wing commanders."

"Attention carrier vessel Halsey. This is General Lefcourt of Earth. You are ordered to stand to and prepare to be boarded. You have five minutes to comply."

"Attention vessel Halsey. I am Lord General Marrago of the Centauri fleet. You are ordered to stand down and prepare to be boarded. You have five minutes to comply."

Both messages were received simultaneously. And the response was just as quick, though it did not come from the Halsey.

"Human and Centauri ships. The Halsey is under our protection. Any attempt to board her will result in your complete and utter destruction."

"Where did that come from?"

"I believe it was the Vorlons, Admiral."

"And what are the Shadows doing?"

"Unknown sir."

"Centauri and Human vessels. The Ancient is under our protection. Do not harm the Ancient."

"I guess that answers my question. Comms, open a channel to all vessels and to the station."

"Channel open sir."

"Attention. This is Admiral Ramos aboard the AIS Halsey. For the moment, we have a stand off. The Halsey would be hard pressed to defend itself against thirty-four Earth Force ships. The same is true for the twenty-seven Centauri vessels. But I have a feeling that even both of your fleets combined would not stand a chance against either the Vorlon fleet or the Shadow fleet. And possibly for the first time in the history of this universe, both the Vorlons and the Shadows are acting as allies. I propose the following. A representative from each fleet present to meet with the Ancient aboard Babylon 5. If this agreeable, then please signal your intent."

For several tense moments, no one spoke. General Lefcourt, aboard the EAS Midway, had never in his military career been faced with such a situation. Yes, he had fought in the Earth-Minbari war and before that in the Dilgar war. But on those occasions, the Centauri had not been an enemy. Had it just been his vessels against the Halsey, he was sure that Earth Force would win. But it wasn't just his force against the Halsey. In the span of the last few minutes, that plan had gone completely and utterly to hell. Oh well, he thought and remembered, no plan survives contact. It was one of the many unofficial rules of combat that were just as true now as they were when first written centuries before. Attributable to some grunt named Murphy as he recalled. He signaled to the Halsey his agreement of the meeting and a moment later he screamed as the Asgard transporter beam grabbed him and brought him to the station.

For his own part, Lord General Marrago had faced countless enemies and lived to tell the tale. He had thought it would be a simple thing; to take this ship and steal its secrets. But his fleet had jumped in a few tens of seconds behind an Earth fleet. The did not know, of course, of the presence of the Earth fleet. Seeing so many of the Earther's vessels in B5 space had, for a moment after they jumped in, startled him to his very core. But now, with both Vorlons and Shadows there to protect what they called the Ancient, he knew in both of his hearts that he could not win. So he would agree to this meeting. A few seconds after he sent his agreement to the meeting, he felt the Asgard beam grab him and he felt something he had not experienced since he was a child on the home world; fear and awe.

The Vorlons and Shadows were quick to agree to the meeting and they shortly found themselves in the grip of the Asgard transporter beam. A second later and they stood in the Council chambers within Babylon 5.

Marius walked into the Council chambers with Sheridan, Delenn, Mollari, and G'Kar in tow. The Immortal Strike team was now standing guard in the corridors leading to the Council chamber. No one would interfere with this meeting.

"General Lefcourt. Lord General Marrago. I am Admiral, no, I will give you my true name. I am Gaius Marius Augustus, President of the Immortal Council and child of the Ancients. And while it may be a boon to your sensibilities to deal with me, this particular meeting is not about us, at least not entirely. We have in this room, representatives of the major players in this universe: the Centauri, the Humans, the Narn, and the Minbari. Of course, we also have the Shadows and the Vorlons. I would think, that everyone else in this room is considering this a once in a lifetime sort of event, to be in the room not only with a Shadow, but also with a Vorlon. And not just any Shadow or Vorlon. We have here with us the two rulers of those empires, and their appointed designates aboard the station. But as I already said, this meeting is not about the younger races, it is about the elder races and for that I have to turn over this meeting, for now, to Tok'Ra. For while I am a child of the Ancients, Tok'Ra is an Ancient."

"My thanks to you Marius. I can not recall ever being introduced in such a manner."

Lord General Marrago and General Lefcourt, had not previously been informed of the existence of the Ancients or their children. So the pronouncement by the man, this Gaius Marius, meant nothing to them, though the name did tweak a memory within General Lefcourt. And so when Tok'Ra appeared within the room, as a golden fog of a cloud, semi transparent and semi opaque, with particles of denser looking matter in eccentric orbits, well, it would be safe to say that both men considered themselves to be way in over their heads.

"Vorlon and Shadow. Shadow and Vorlon. You have come a long way since my people were last here. Has it been so long for you that you no longer remember what it is to be considered a younger race? In your time, when your races were young, there were the First Ones to follow, and there were us, the Ancients, the First Teachers, to learn from. But, it seems as though our methodology was in error, for you have greatly disappointed us, and that is something that we must strive to correct.

"And if we had a few thousand years, we would do so, but that will not come to pass. I am of the race you called the Ancients. When the others of my kind were here among you, they saw in you great potential. Potential to lead the younger races who would follow you. Perhaps you would help them avoid the mistakes you made? But that is not important.

"Over the course of centuries, my kind gradually left this place. In terms you would understand, they passed beyond the rim, which is a highly eccentric way of saying that they evolved. I remained, as did one other. To finish what we started so long ago. But I did not remain here. I returned with the others to our home, and you, dear Vorlon, you chose to try and follow. Though we made sure that the technology for crossing the dimensional barrier was inert, you chose to take it and study it. And what did your studies yield? Tell me Vorlon? Did you close the breach before you unleashed unto this universe a terror heretofore unseen? Don't bother answering as the question was rhetorical in nature.

"And when all was said and done and the Ancients had left his place, you Vorlons, and you Shadows, came to our outpost world. You went there with the full intent of trying to stop us from leaving, but you were too late. Vorlon, you saw the device we used to cross the dimensional barrier and you took that, along with two other technologies. Technologies, I might add, that your Shadow counterparts also took from our outpost world. Technologies that we created to terraform worlds, you bastardized and corrupted into weapons. So, while I could ask you to stop using those technologies, I highly doubt that you will."

Tok'Ra paused for a moment, as if to catch his breath, and the Vorlon leader spoke; its voice a pleasant sounding harmony of flutes and bells.

"Why did you leave us, so long ago? Perhaps it would have been different had you stayed."

"We left. It was not anything that you did. We left to counter an enemy that was beginning to take a foothold in our home space. In that respect, we, the Ancients, failed miserably. The war against this enemy is ongoing still, though we Ancients do not fight in it. The responsibility of protecting the younger races has fallen to our Children. When we left, so long ago, you were already heading down the path that would divide your two races permanently. Already you were considering the philosophy that you would use to guide the younger races that were just beginning to make their presence known. We came here, a quarter of a million years ago, and the next to the last of our kind left this place a mere fifteen thousand years ago. And even then we were fighting skirmishes with our enemy.

"And while you, as an elder race, gave your younger charges the option of advancement through introspection or advancement through strife and conquest, this other elder race in our home universe saw all of the younger races as toys. They saw them as things to conquer and rule over, as objects to enslave. They certainly did not see them as equals. And they still do not see the Tau'ri as equals. The humanoids in our universe serve the enemy as foot soldiers in their armies, as slaves in their cities, as living incubators for more of their kind. Had they been able to travel to this place, I daresay, that both Vorlon and Shadow would have united to fight this enemy. For while you may be their elders, you do not seek to destroy them on a whim, nor do you seek to enslave them or force them to worship you, though that last part can be extensively debated, for I have seen the manipulations of their psyches to your benefit. They respond to you with either awe or fear, as you have conditioned them to respond, but, and I believe this sincerely, that is entirely different from treating them as slaves. For while they do look up to you in some degree, they also possess some extent of self direction. The Goa'uld of our universe do not allow this self-direction."

"First Teacher, we would never believe ourselves to be so superior that we would make the younger ones worship us."

"I believe, for the first time, that I must agree with my Vorlon counterpart. We strove to do as your kind taught. We strove to guide the younger races to where they could take our place among the stars as we took over for the First Ones so long ago. We sought to guide and to teach, not to enslave and destroy."

"But there you failed Shadow. Yes, you did guide and yes, you did teach. But you taught only your way of life, only your philosophy for advancement. And the Vorlons share this fault as they taught only their philosophy. But for any civilization to grow and mature into something that can be held up as an example to a younger race, there has to be compromise between the two divergent philosophies. Your races are powerful, but together, you could have been so much more to this place. Together, you could have been someone we, the Ancients, would have considered an equal. Apart, you are but one more failure among so many of our failures."

The room was quiet for a time, perhaps two or three minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to those in the room, particularly those of the younger races. Never in their lives had they thought to speak to either a Vorlon or a Shadow in such a fashion. If the Vorlon encounter suit could show emotion, it would have flinched at the rebuke given by Tok'Ra. Sheridan could swear he did see the Shadow flinch when Tok'Ra called it a failure. He could almost imagine tears coming down the face of the Shadow. He had been on the receiving end of similar speeches when he was very young. This was the type of speech a father might give to his son. And when he looked at it closely, he guessed that's how Tok'Ra must be feeling, as a parent to the younger races, whether of this universe or not.

For her part, Delenn would have died of embarrassment for the way Tok'Ra spoke to the Vorlon High Chancellor, the leader of the Vorlon Empire. She cared not for the veiled and apparent insults leveled at the Shadow, as she had always considered the Shadows to be her enemy. But the Minbari had been around a long time, and had been associated with the Vorlons for most of that time, since at least the time of Valen, if not earlier. And so they, the Minbari, had learned over their close association to read the movements of the encounter suits. But even then, it was a risky thing, to presume to know the mind of a Vorlon. But just now she did presume to know, and that feeling was echoed by Draal, on the planet below, watching the events unfold on the station. Though no one could ever prove such in a court of law, the Vorlon had not only flinched, but he had nearly fainted from the sheer pain at the realization of what the First Teacher had just said.

G'Kar had always been a man of philosophy. Had he been born on Earth, odds are he would have been a new age Socrates or Plato. He was a philosopher to his very core, but that could have been a result of the Centauri occupation of his world. What else to do but sit and watch as so many of your fellow citizens are tortured or killed? What else to do but watch as your once bountiful forests are clear cut and their stumps destroyed? What else to do but watch as the mineral wealth of your world is strip-mined and the beautiful and life filled seas of your world are drained dry? What else indeed! He had joined the rebellion and they had eventually cast the Centauri off their world, but it was a stricken world. His experience had taught him many things, not the least of which was his outlook on life. He understood philosophy. But it is easy to philosophize when your race is among the most powerful, if not the most powerful, in the known universe. It is not easy, however, to learn how your fleet was destroyed by this supposedly all powerful race and to learn that your ancient enemy, that you have cast off your world, has come back, if only to enslave you once again. No, being in the presence of such greatness as was in this room; Sheridan and Delenn, the Vorlon leader and the Shadow leader, even the creature known as Tok'Ra, such was enough to either drive one insane or drive one towards reflection. It was good that he was already driven towards reflection.

Mollari, on the other hand, was not a man given to philosophizing, not unless he was drunk. But like any Centauri in recent history, he knew of the Vorlons. The fact that he, Londo Mollari, also personally knew of the Shadows was inconsequential. What mattered here was how Centauri Prime, and more importantly how he, could benefit from all this angst thrown at both the Vorlons and the Shadows. The truth of the matter was simple. Tok'Ra, feeling his responsibilities of a parent, had returned to chastise his errant children. But when he left, to go back to where ever he claimed to be from, the two wayward children would go back to what they had been doing for millennia; guiding the younger races as they saw fit.

So while so many were having such divergent thoughts at the same time, the Vorlon and the Shadow were looking, first at one another, then at Tok'Ra, and then back and forth. Neither had been spoken to in such a fashion in much longer than they cared to admit. Before they could answer to the charges levied them by Tok'Ra, the being in question spoke again.

"I don't expect either of you to change your ways. That will come soon enough. And I don't expect either of you will cease to use the weapons that you claimed from us, however, I would like something in exchange for that which you have taken. Both of you took the same two technologies from us. I ask this, not on behalf of the Ancients, but on behalf of my Children and their protectorates. For you see, where we Ancients tried to adopt you and teach you our ways for dealing with younger races, we created life in our home universe and charged them with the protection and guidance of the younger races. And while your two races have been in what amounts to a Cold War for a thousand years, our younger races have been at war with or enslaved by the Goa'uld for at least ten thousand years. Frankly, they need every edge they can obtain if they are to rid my home galaxy of this scourge called the Goa'uld. So, without my telling you which technologies I wish to obtain, will you give them to me?"

"For the First Teacher, the Vorlons will give all that is asked."

"First Teacher, you honor us with your request. We will give what is asked."

"Excellent! I venture to say that your organic ship technology is too far in advance of even my Children, but perhaps in a hundred thousand years, they may be ready for it. And if you decide to give that technology to me, I will hold it in trust for them until such time as I believe they are ready for it. But what will prove most useful to them is the armor your vessels use, particularly the self-healing abilities. And if you would be so kind as to each of you give your best beam weapon to my Children, then I will have to change my opinion of you. In coming together for this task, to not only give the specifications and theory behind the weapons, but to install a pair of each weapon on the vessel Halsey, in coming together you will have reached the gestalt of our teachings. In working for a joint cause, perhaps not one of your own, but joint nonetheless, you will have finally taken those early teachings to heart, and you will have finally learned the ultimate lesson. So, what say you?"

"It will be done."

Both Vorlon and Shadow spoke at once. It was an occasion that, odds were, would not be repeated. At least not until the younger races stood up to their guides. But that was still in the future and for now, it was a different thing. Sheridan pulled Lefcourt aside and explained that Babylon 5 had negotiated for the technologies of the Ancients. He went on to state that Earth would receive those same technologies only after Clark was removed from office, but until such time as that happened, Lefcourt and his fellow Clark supporters could expect to see small but heavily armed ships holding the line against the dark. Mollari had sought out Marrago and had informed him of the successful negotiations that had secured several of the Ancients' technologies. That was an unknown fact to the Emperor and both saw that as a way to get around the Emperor's decree. Neither of the men had any desire to be executed by the Emperor, a man which they both believed to be quite insane.

After Tok'Ra was done with both the Vorlon High Chancellor and the Shadow leader, those two were beamed back to their respective ships and Tok'Ra faded from view. The lesser races gathered in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief. Marco took the opportunity to speak.

"Well, I think that went well. It's rather difficult to tell actually. I still haven't learned how to read the various movements of the Vorlon encounter suit, and I doubt I will ever understand the myriad eye expressions of a Shadow, and I haven't been around Tok'Ra long enough to read the patterns in his cloud. So, if neither the Vorlon nor the Shadow fleet opens fired on anyone else in the next few minutes, then I'd have to say we came out of that pretty well."

Those in the room paused for a moment, as if listening for weapons fire.

"Well, I didn't hear anything. I hope that's a good sign. I'm going to assume for a moment, that Ambassador Mollari and Captain Sheridan have told the two naval leaders in this room that they were quite successful in negotiating several new technologies from us. Am I correct?"

"You don't miss much Admiral."

"You are correct."

"Well, I am wondering at the moment if you would be amenable to re-opening negotiations for the moment?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, considering that we plan to spend a bit more time here integrating these new weapons systems into the Halsey, I propose to use our Forge Decks to build a few things for your governments, and in return I'd like one additional item from your governments, if you are able to provide that.

"For the Centauri, we will produce one full wing of your standard Sentri fighters, with two minor modifications; trinium armor and naquadah generators. While trinium is a rare metal in our home system, it is rather abundant here, if you know what you are looking for. The replacement of the standard three and a quarter centimeter thick armor with an equivalent layer of trinium makes your Sentri fighter able to withstand several direct energy blasts. The naquadah generators, these you already have the plans for, will boost the duration of your fighters by four times their current amount. In return, we would like either one Vorchan or one Primus class vessel, and, if at all possible, a number of what you call blockade mines, so that we may study a working example in addition to examining the schematics that we have previously negotiated for.

"For Babylon 5, while we realize that you do not speak for the Earth Alliance, Captain Sheridan, we are willing to make a few additional trades with you. We will take all of your Thunderbolt fighters aboard and replace their standard micro-fusion reactors with naquadah generators. Additionally, the four primary plasma pulse cannons will be swapped out with the standard multi-barreled rail guns that our own fighters use. Lastly, we will convert the hard points to our standard and equip your station with enough missiles to see your fighter squadrons through several dozen engagements. The missile I am speaking of is the SIM-182 Venom, with a range of one hundred and twenty kilometers. Replacing the plasma pulse cannons with the rail guns frees up the necessary power to fire the heavy particle beam at a faster and heavier rate of fire to the equivalent of six pulses per second.

"In return for these modifications, we request the remaining amount of debris in the system, left over from the battle with the EA forces when we first arrived. Also, we'd like a few working maintenance bots, and three working Construction Fury's to study.

"If the Representative of the Earth Alliance is willing, we will give to them, what has already been given to the station in terms of medical technologies, in exchange for any one of your ships out there, or for one of your long range tender ships. I believe they are Cotton-class?"

Marco moved away at that point, to allow the various persons in the room to discuss the little speech he'd just made. In one corner of the room, Sheridan was showing Lefcourt the imagery recorded the day of the 'show and tell' presentation on the medical technology. And in another corner of the room, Ambassador Mollari was doing his best to convince Lord General Marrago that parting with one small ship would more than offset the price these humans were willing to pay. The modifications alone to their Sentri fighters would mean that they could taken on even Minbari fighters and come out alive. After a short discussion that threatened to become rather heated, Ambassador Mollari informed Marco that the Centauri answer would be forthcoming shortly. The two Centauri men left the room at that point.

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An hour later, Marco was called to the quarters of Ambassador Mollari.

"Ambassador. Lord General. Have you had time to discuss my proposals?"

"We have Admiral. Marrago has graciously consented to trading one of his Vorchan cruisers, though he can not offer you any of his crews."

"That is quite acceptable, Ambassador. I will order my crews to begin production on the updated Sentri fighters immediately."

While Marco spoke with the Halsey, Marrago bade the others good day and went out for a much needed drink in private. When Marco was done, Londo Mollari asked him a rather serious question.

"Admiral, where ever it is that you are going, is there any hope of return? What I mean to say is, if I were to send someone with you, dare I hope to ever see them again?"

"There is hope of return Ambassador. That hope lies with Delenn of Minbar, for she alone has been entrusted with the knowledge of the method of dimensional travel. Why do you ask?"

"I, well, I have a nephew. Carn Mollari. My future is a dark one. I am well aware of that. But if I can spare him this pain, perhaps he can return in due time to resurrect what is left of the Centauri Empire, and if not, then perhaps he can begin anew in your home universe?"

"One man can not start a colony by himself, Londo. Surely you are aware of this?"

"I am. The Vorchan can hold a crew of eighty. Even that is not enough to start a colony. But I have contacts on the Home World. There are many Centauri, male and female, with no family ties, that would give anything for a chance to start anew some place else. There is one person, a woman, who is very dear to my hearts. I fear that she may be used against me. She was due to arrive on the station in a few weeks, but I will ask her to come now. I will find you a crew for the Vorchan, and I will find you as many colonists as is necessary. Give me a number, Admiral?"

"We can safely carry perhaps a few hundred, no more than a thousand. That should be enough, no?"

"More than enough. I will work as quickly as possible. Call it five days from now?"

"Five days Ambassador. I can delay our departure that much. Perhaps six days. And now, Londo, I have many details to attend to. I must bid you good day."

"Good day, Admiral."

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One Hour Later

Private Quarters of John Sheridan

Marius had hoped he hadn't pushed things too much with his requests, but already the Centauri had given him one of their ships. He hoped that General Lefcourt would do something along similar lines.

"Captain Sheridan. You wished to see me?"

"Before I say anything else, I wanted to thank you for the gift of the orange trees. Both my quarters and my office have never smelled better. Now, about the request you made to Lefcourt, I must confess that I didn't expect it. But after I showed him the video of the demonstration you gave, and after his CMO had a chance to speak with my CMO, well, he was pretty agreeable to almost anything at that point. But still, the last thing I expected him to give up was a Nova-class Dreadnought! Even if it is one of the oldest ships in the Earth Alliance Navy. He said his CMO told him the schematics to the stasis pod alone were worth the cost of a Nova. Lefcourt balked at that supposition, but his CMO went on to state that a working stasis pod would be worth a Nova or three. Now mind you, I didn't show them the sarcophagus, but the stasis pod alone was enough to make their mouths water.

"So Lefcourt sweetened the deal. He threw in a Cotton-class tender, and I gave him two more stasis pods. Unfortunately, the pods I gave him were the ones on the station, so if you could replace those for me?"

"You're a tough bargainer. I'll order my ship to transfer over an even dozen pods. So, tell me about my new ships?"

"The Nova-class is among the oldest still serving ships in the Earth Alliance. It first entered service in the 2220's, and its kind saw action against the Dilgar and against the Minbari. It has twenty-two heavy twin plasma cannons, six heavy particle beams and two missile launchers. In contrast, the Cotton-class has almost no armament, and is designed to support the fleet vessels in deep space. It has four medium duty dual pulse cannons, and fourteen light pulse cannons, designed more for anti-fighter duties than for fighting other ships. I would not recommend leaving this vessel unguarded at any time. The Cottons can bring up to three Novas alongside at any given moment and re-supply all three in under twenty four hours. The Cotton has a crew of 35, versus a crew of 250 for the Nova, but where the Nova has hangars and troop berthing spaces, the Cotton has twice the mass and twice the internal volume of a Nova."

"Like I said, Captain, you are one hell of a bargainer. I thank you for the additions to my fleet."

"Well, I'm not as good as all that, Admiral. General Lefcourt insisted on keeping the supplies aboard the Cotton, and all of the weapons, fighter and other equipment aboard the Nova."

"Oh I think I can find something to put in there."

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A day later, both the EAS fleet and the Centauri fleet had left B5 space to return to their home space. Lefcourt had many things on his mind, not the least of which was a different perspective of President Clark. Marrago had in his hands one of the technologies that the Centauri Ambassador had bargained for. The rest would be presented to the Centaurum and to the Emperor just as soon as Mollari had tied up some loose ends on the station. Even the Narn, dreadful creatures that they were, had acted magnanimously toward him, though he guessed he deserved no such feelings. The fact that they too were possessed of the same technologies of the Ancients that all of the other major younger races now held custody of never entered his mind.

The Vorlon and Shadow fleets had withdrawn as well, leaving three of each fleet behind, one vehicle housing their respective leadership, one escort vehicle, and one construction vehicle. The latter craft were responsible for constructing the pair of large beam weapons that they had agreed to give to the Halsey. It would be up to Major Carter and her engineering teams to figure out the appropriate interfaces and power systems. For now, and until such time as those interfaces and power systems were completed, the beam weapons were strapped and welded to the fore part of the Halsey's structure, just forward of what was considered the main bridge, though in truth, Halsey had several bridge decks.

A week passed before the weapons were completed and then it came time to say their good-byes and farewells, though in retrospect, Marius had already done so. He had given the two Prometheus class battlecruisers to Sheridan in the hopes that he would assign one to Ivanova. Marius was aware that she had been tasked with finding the remaining First Ones for their upcoming fight and he was also aware that the power systems aboard the Prometheus were of an Ancient design. That is to say, the signature of the energy patterns emanated by the drive systems would cry out to any First One and convince them that this younger race should at the very least be listened to. Marius had left an eyes only coded message for Sheridan and Ivanova aboard the ships. What did those messages include? Simple really.

The two battlecruisers, except for the fact they had Minbari weapons as their primary offensive batteries, were exact copies of their AIS counterparts. The same long and mid range torpedo and missile tubes were installed. The same gravimetric drives were installed. The same ring transport systems were installed. Each ship's medical bay had one sarcophagus and five stasis tubes. Marius had already briefed Sheridan on the other modifications, such as the inclusion of the force fields on these two ships. The last thing the message stated was the location of two additional dimensional mirrors, one on each ship, in an unused storage closet. The mirror should be used as a last resort escape device and it was tied directly to the ship. Should the ship be damaged and abandoned or damaged and captured, the mirror would self-destruct. It was a device of last resort, the ultimate escape pod.

In the week that construction had been ongoing, the eight escort battlecruisers had made the journey to the asteroid field of Kelowna more than a dozen times, filling the holds of the AIS Nightingale, the Cotton-class tender, to capacity. The Nova had been named the AIS Normandy, but the two WhiteStar-class heavy cruisers were as yet without proper names. The weapons systems of the Normandy had been replaced by Goa'uld plasma cannons, Colonial pulsars, and Tau'ri rail guns. A full compliment of Starfury fighters had been built, along with all of the orbit-to-ground shuttles that such vessels normally carried. Major Carter's engineering teams went so far as to add several dozen turrets that would house SIM-182 Venom missiles, so that both the Nova and the Cotton would have a larger anti-fighter capability.

The lighter caliber weapons were removed from the Nightingale, and replaced with heavier duty rail guns. Both the Nova and the Cotton also got shield generators added to their arsenal of defensive measures.

The two WhiteStars retained their weaponry, but were given the Ramos force shields to bolster their defenses.

The Centauri Vorchan-class attack cruiser, the Centaurum, also underwent a quick and dirty upgrade of its systems. Naquadah generators were added to the ion cannons already in place, increasing their power by two orders of magnitude. The sixteen twin particle arrays that were used as anti-fighter defenses were augmented by small caliber rail guns and Venom missile turrets. Twelve missile launchers were reduced in number to eight to add room for four additional mine launchers. Ambassador Mollari had been true to his word, and the day before they were to depart, a full crew of ninety Centauri Naval personnel had arrived at B5, along with sixteen hundred Centauri colonists. Carn Mollari, with a hasty promotion to Captain, was given command of the Centaurum.

Major Carter and her engineering teams had worked wonders on the destroyed remains of the Earth Force ships that had attacked Babylon 5 when they had first arrived in B5 space. From the debris scavenged, two Omega-class destroyers, and one Hyperion-class heavy cruiser had been built. A smaller Olympus-class corvette had been scrapped to provide the metals necessary to complete the Hyperion. One of the Omegas was christened the Scylla, the other, the Charybdis. The Hyperion was christened as the Bellerophon. Gone were the rotating sections on the two Omegas. The use of gravimetric engines negated the need for rotational sections. With the three ships now entering service in the Alliance fleet, and with the massive amounts of berthing spaces now available on the three ships, the Centauri colonists were transferred to the Charybdis.

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Journey Day 53

"Halsey to Babylon 5. How copy over?"

"Reading you just fine. Traffic has been cleared for your requested departure point. There is an ancient Egyptian saying on my Earth, Halsey. 'May God stand between you and evil in all the dark places you must walk.'"

"We have a similar phrase on our Earth. The only difference is in the first two words. Our phrase begins 'May the Gods.' Such a small difference between our universes. Aveo amacuse, Captain Sheridan. Noo ani anqueetus."

The communication from the Halsey was cut and Sheridan looked at Ivanova each wondering what the final phrase had meant. But now they looked out at the Halsey as the massive ship styled and began to move away from the station. The earlier Vorlon and Shadow escorts had left the previous day and now with their work done for the moment, the Halsey too, was leaving. Sensors indicated the ship moving at better than eight-tenths that of light speed. Such an amazing drive system to move something that massive so easily. They watched now, from their long range ships, as the Halsey opened a wormhole and an instant later disappeared into it. They stared for several moments at the screen, thinking that perhaps they would return. To have such a ship at their side when they went to fight the Shadows would be a good thing. But that was not to be. Sheridan looked up from his musings to see Kosh standing beside him.

"Ambassador?"

"Aveo amacuse, First Teacher."

"What does that mean and in what language?"

"Aveo amacuse. Good bye. Noo ani anqueetus. We are the Ancients. It is the language of the Ancients. The ancient circle is complete. What once was, now has been. The new circle has been restored. All is as it should be once again."

The Vorlon walked off, leaving a much confused Sheridan and Ivanova in his wake.

"It looks like things are back to normal, Captain. Or at least, the Vorlon Ambassador is back to talking in riddles."

"Commander, as long as I live, I doubt I will ever understand the Vorlons."

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Elsewhere on the station

"So is everything ok now?"

Squeaks and chitters. And something that sounded oddly like a wail.

"The First Teacher has left. Your prophecy has been fulfilled and it's back to business once again, right?"

This time there were no answering squeaks or chitters. This time, the Shadow Triad revealed itself and spoke plainly to Mr. Morden.

"Yes."

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AIS Halsey

"Mr. Jameson, sensor report if you please."

"Sir, no traffic within ten light years of our target departure point. All systems show green across the board."

"Thank you Mr. Jameson. Engineering, are you ready?"

"Ready sir. Full power available as you need it."

"Very well then. Let's get this show on the road. Power up the dimensional projectors."

Those on the bridge looked out to the stars as the fore mounted dimensional projectors fired a stream of charged particles at the fabric of space opening what looked like a wormhole to those that had heard of one, but unlike a wormhole to those that knew what one should look like. Instead of the silvery watery surface of a standard wormhole, this one appeared red and angry, like a maelstrom out of Hell. Then the ship entered it and all became white.

They emerged into a field of nothingness. There was nothing in sight. No stars. No planets. No dust. Nothing.

"Sensors?"

"Nothing sir. Not a damned thing."

"Uhm, Tok'Ra?"

"Yes Marius. I have done this. There exists in the many dimensions something that you can refer to as 'null space'. It is a pocket dimension between dimensions, a sort of dimensional rest stop, as it were. Here, time has no meaning. By your measure, it will seem as though time has stood still. You can spend as much time here as you need, to integrate the Vorlon and Shadow weapons. You will need them where you are going. I suggest you also integrate the Minbari crystalline hull plating. It will give you an advantage where you are going. You have all the time in the world here. I said once before that the projectors have the power to open the dimensional barriers a total of eight times. This will allow you to rest between the most trying of missions and will allow you to integrate any new technologies you acquire into the Halsey."

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Days passed becoming weeks. The Forge decks were busily churning out new hull plating for the Halsey, this based on the Minbari energy-refractive crystalline hulls used on their ships. The hulls had the ability to 'learn', that is if it took damage from a particular type of weapon, then after it repaired itself it would 'know' how to avoid more of the same type of damage.

Major Carter learned that the power requirements for the Vorlon and Shadow beam weapons were beyond enormous and she guessed that tying them into the ship's systems would be a bad thing. So she and her team designed a new generator deck and basically remodeled several sections of deck near where the weapons had been strapped and welded to the hull. Rather than make one large generator to power the four beam weapons, the engineering teams created one generator for each weapon and a pair of backup generators for each 'primary' generator. Her engineering teams designed and built the mounting brackets for the new beam weapons as well. Both the Vorlons and the Shadows had given to the Halsey one pair of their best beam weapons. Sheridan had called the Shadow weapon a Slicer beam and the Vorlon weapon a Grand Cannon. So Carter had decided that two new weapons stations would have some degree of control over the weapons.

As each weapon had its own power source, each one could be fired independently of the other. This meant for a new fire control system on the Bridge. Carter's engineering teams also designed and built a moveable mount for the beam weapons and the weapons could now be traversed across an arc of sixty degrees horizontally, and vertically of five degrees. And rather than join Slicer beam with Slicer beam, the team decided to pair Slicer beam with Grand cannon. It would make for a devastating one-two punch against any enemy.

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