Peace and War

Part IV 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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War

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Surrounded once again by an absolute white nothingness, a complete void of anything corporeal or otherwise, the fleet prepared to make the final jump back to their home universe. But this time it was different. Their missions, the tasks that Tok'Ra had set out for them, were completed. Now, when they jumped again, it would be the jump that would take them home. Three years spent jumping from universe to universe, fighting wars for others. Three years in which the crew of the Halsey and her support fleet had become as a family. The crews were now, without a doubt, the most experienced space fairing soldiers Earth possessed. But Tok'Ra assured them he would manipulate time one final time in their favor, and when they returned only three months would have passed.

The inter-dimensional projectors which Tok'Ra had placed onto the Halsey now had only enough power to make one final jump. And when the jump was completed, the projectors would dissolve into nothingness, being drained of all their energy. It was the ultimate safeguard.

"Mr. Jameson, what's the first thing you want to do when you get home?"

"I've in mind a good steak and a tall pint of ale, sir. And you, sir?"

"A cow or two, a few casks of beer, and lots and lots of rest and relaxation, not necessarily in that order."

"Aye-aye, sir. Fleet reports ready to jump at your command, sir."

"Jump!"

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They hadn't jumped into their home system. That would have been far too easy. Tok'Ra wanted to give them time to marshal their new fleet and to allow them to prepare the way home.

"Mr. Jameson, where are we?"

"Looks like just outside of the Sol System, approximately sixteen light years. Your orders, sir?"

"Deploy the fleet."

"Deploy fleet, aye sir!"

The AIS Admiral Halsey stood proud and defiant at the center of the fleet, her eight Prometheus-class battlecruiser escorts arrayed around her. On the far sides of the central fleet stood the four Hyperion-class heavy cruisers, with their own Defiant heavy escorts around them. The two Nova-class dreadnoughts flanked the left and right of the fleet, surrounded by the Olympus-class corvettes. Behind the Halsey was the Douglas Munro; a vessel that all of the remaining ground forces of the strike fleet now called home. She, in turn, was surrounded by the six Jeep-class light escort carriers. Interspersed among the heavier fleet vessels were the few Peregrine-class gunboats they'd managed to produce, the Kennedy-class carrier John F. Kennedy, and the two Whitestars, the O'Neill, and the Free Jaffa. Bringing up the rear were the fleet support vessels. Four anti-fighter flak ships, eight missile corvettes, two tenders, six colony ships and eight freighters. The small support fleet was surrounded by ten Danube-class scouts. It made for a formidable picture as it cruised through space.

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Independence Station

Earth Orbit

Graveyard shift. A person could really hate the third shift aboard a space station. Nothing ever happened on the third watch. There might be a little activity in the shipyard above Luna, or maybe some minor maintenance of Vipers at Phobos, but usually there was nothing. Hell, even the Asgard liked to come during the first two shifts. Maybe they realized no one important would be awake at the moment? Hell, who knew. All that Sensor Operator Second-class Smythson knew was that nothing ever happened on his watch. Until now, that is. He wondered for a split second how long the light on his panel had been blinking red for his attention.

"Sir, Smythson at the long range panel sir. I have a contact, correction, multiple contacts, approximately sixteen light years out from Sol on an incoming vector."

The Duty Officer duly routed Smythson's panel information to the central panel in the Sensor Center, where all of the duty section could examine the information. There was no IFF at this distance as the interrogator aboard the Indy had gone down a few hours before. Maintenance was working on it, but it would be some hours before they could trace and isolate the problem. He looked at the list of ships available in the system. AIS Kuznetsov was in dry-dock undergoing an upgrade to the hyperdrive. CFS Galactica was also in dry-dock at Deimos undergoing a complete refit. That left the new Battlestar, due to come out of space dock at the beginning of first watch, and two Prometheus-class battlecruisers that had just returned from shakedown cruises. Acting on his own initiative, Ensign Anderson placed his key into the alert panel before him and pressed the revealed red button.

Instantly after pressing the button, klaxons began sounding at the Luna Control Center, the Colonial Command Center, the SGC, and the primary control center aboard the Independence. Watch and duty officers immediately called him to find out the emergency, to which he dutifully passed along the sensory panel information they had picked up.

Responding to the alert klaxon, the Perseus and the Raleigh, both Prometheus-class battlecruisers, were quick to contact Independence Control for updates.

"Indy Control, Raleigh. What's the scoop?"

"Unknown contacts, sixteen light years out. IFF interrogator on Indy is down for maintenance. What's your status?"

"One training squadron aboard. Awaiting supplies for next mission."

"Roger that. Break. Perseus, do you copy?"

"Copy Indy Control. Be aware hyperdrive is presently down for maintenance. Sub-light drives available, but at this distance, we'd hate to try an intercept. Our squadron is available for inner-system defense. We are preparing to depart to allow our weapons to defend the station."

"Affirmative. I show green on the airlocks. You are cleared to disengage. Break. Raleigh, be advised Perseus is down with engineering casualty. We will check with Luna and Mars for available interdiction craft."

"Affirmative Indy Control. Raleigh requesting permission to depart."

"Permission granted. Hold at L4 for word on reinforcements."

"Understood."

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"Lunar Control, Independence Station here. What is your available status?"

"Colonial Fleet Ship Battlestar Caprica is taking on supplies and personnel at this time. Estimated departure space dock twelve hours. Alliance vessel Battleship IDBX-1, scheduled to depart space dock two weeks. Presently only armed shuttles available for interdiction duties, and we are launching those shuttles now. Three shuttles on Earth. Radioing our team there to launch immediately. Be advised, ion cannons are on-line and fully operational."

"Understood Lunar Control. Please direct shuttles to Earth orbit to serve as defensive line."

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"Colonial Command, Independence Control. Please update available ship status?"

"CFS Battlestar Daedalus available in all respects. Galactica undergoing refit. Caprica estimated in-service time now at twelve hours."

"Where are Galactica's fighter squadrons?"

"Launching at this time from Deimos."

"Understood. Colonial Command, be aware that at this time, USAF Raleigh is available for escort duty. USAF Perseus available only for inner system defense. Luna Command presently has twelve armed shuttles available for inner system defense, including three on Earth."

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AIS Admiral Halsey

The time had come for them to part ways with their extra crew. Sitting in space in front of the Halsey was the Defiant-class heavy escort that had been given to Shai Alyt Teraan of the Minbari and his crew.

"It has been an honor and a pleasure to fight alongside you Minbari. Our fight is not your fight. You have many at home who await your return. All we ask is that the gifts we have given to you be presented to Delenn and Sheridan. They will know what is best for those items. Good luck, and may Valen guide you and protect you in all the dark places you must walk."

"For a Human, you are more honorable than I would have expected. Perhaps if the Earthers of our universe could have been like you and yours, we could have avoided the long fight between our peoples. Valen walk with you."

The Defiant moved out to a distance of five thousand meters from the Halsey. Tok'Ra approached the heavy escort and encompassed it within his Quickening. The space around the Defiant grew in intensity and a flash later, the Defiant was gone, returned to the universe that had Babylon 5 as a focal point.

Next came the second modified Defiant. The Peregrine gunboats flew around it, as if bidding it farewell, before returning to their stations surrounding the fleet.

"Pilot Ibanez. You have learned all that we can possibly teach you. Use your knowledge well. Lieutenant Rico, Corporal Flores. Captain Phillipson tells me that you have learned all he can teach. That you have absorbed all of his lessons and strategies. Teal'c praises your skills and wishes you honor and luck in your future battles with the Arachnids. The heavy escort we have given to you has been slightly modified for your exclusive use. Ibanez, you can control the entire ship from the central console. Rico, this ship has had a larger crew deck added to it. Ibanez can teleport you down to any target and pick you up just as fast. The weapons in her armory should enable you to defeat your enemies once and for all. May the Fates protect you and watch over you where ever you must walk."

"Halsey. Please pass along our thanks to Captain Phillipson, Colonel Starbuck, Major Carter, Teal'c, and Colonel O'Neill, for all the hours spent training us. We have become better equipped to deal with the enemies to the Terran Federation because of you. We will pass along our skills and hope that no harm will come to our world, so long as we live. Thank you, again."

The escort moved out to the same space recently vacated by the other escort. Tok'Ra approached this smaller ship and enveloped it with his Quickening, and a flash of golden light later, the vessel had vanished.

"Mr. Jameson, what is our status?"

"All ships report ready to jump."

"Very well, Mr. Jameson. Give the order to jump."

"Aye sir. All ships, Halsey control. Jump. Now!"

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Three months. Three years. Three months they had been gone from this universe. Three years they'd spent aboard ship. The Halsey was due for refit in a bad way. All of the emergency repairs and upgrades they'd made along the way were beginning to wear on a hull not designed for those advanced systems. And even with a full compliment of Construction Furys and Work Bees working full out, the best estimate Major Carter could give on a complete refit was still more than a month. Marius hoped that the shipyards at Luna had at least completed the next strike carrier or two. When they left the system, AIS Kuznetsov had been two weeks from completion. The next three vessels had already been named, though when the Halsey had departed Independence, only their keels had been laid down. The Spruance would follow the Kuznetsov, then the Nelson, and the Bismarck. As anxious to get home as he was, he was certainly not looking forward to taking up desk duty again. Perhaps when all of this was over, he'd outfit a nice little ship and take a slow leisurely cruise through Alliance-held territory.

"Sir, navigation reports we are within the system now. Just passing the Lunar Interdiction Zone."

"Thank you Mr. Jameson. All ships, prepare to jump to normal space."

Space seemed to blossom inward in a spiral of mottled blues and blacks. There were perhaps an even dozen of these openings in the fabric of space. To those ships in the system, it seemed as if one massive ship appeared from the central blue vortex, followed closely by other ships from the other vortices.

"Independence Control. Independence Control. This is the AIS Admiral Halsey. Rumors of our deaths have been greatly exaggerated. Permission to approach Independence station."

"Permission is…granted. Welcome home, Halsey. Welcome home."

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"Mr. Jameson, put us in a parking orbit."

"Aye sir."

"Comms, get me a conference call with the SGC, Lunar Control, Independence Station, and Colonial Control. Route it through to my office when ready."

"Affirmative sir."

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A few minutes later

Admiral's Office

"Before y'all begin asking me questions, let me just say a few things first. Little did we know, when we started our maiden voyage three months ago, that Tok'Ra had in mind some tasks for us. Three months have passed locally, but for those of us aboard the Halsey, it's been three years. In three years, we've lost approximately one half of our effective fighting force. We've had to train replacement pilots and infantry personnel. We also made a few friends out there, and brought back a few goodies that will make even the Asgard salivate. Now then, your questions please?"

"Please identify for us, the new ships in your fleet?"

"Of course, Commander Apollo. The two pairs of long ships on either side of our fleet are Hyperion-class Heavy Cruisers. The Hyperion has one launch bay for fighters and shuttles. At any given moment, it has eight Aurora-class Starfury fighters ready to launch, with an additional eight that can be made ready to launch inside of fifteen minutes. The two long vessels on each of the outer flanks are Nova-class Dreadnoughts, each one with an Aurora fighter compliment of thirty-six. The four saucer-like vessels are Defiant-class Heavy Escorts. They may be small ships, but they pack one hell of an impressive array of weaponry, from beam weapons to missiles and torpedoes. Next are the eight Peregrine-class Heavy Gunboats. With a crew of five each, they act as command and control units for our fighter squadrons. They can refuel our fighters, extending their range, and have more powerful sensors. In one sense, they are an AWACS platform, yet they are fully capable of defending themselves and acting as offensive fire platforms. The one shaped like a giant 'plus' sign is a Vorchan-class Heavy Cruiser. It has no hangar bays, but it does have numerous beam and missile emplacements. The long ones with the fighters mounted externally…those are Jeep-class Light Escort Carriers. Each one has eighteen Thunderbolt fighter-bombers attached along the exterior of the vessel. The smaller box shaped ships are Olympus-class Corvettes. Again, no fighter bays, but their role is more for escort and system patrol than anything else. The next large vessel is an Honor-class Troop Carrier. It has enough room aboard to carry four thousand ground assault troopers, and can deploy those troops via fifty drop ships. The vessel also has launch bays where our remaining Mustangs are housed.

"The secondary fleet, our support fleet, is built around the Kennedy-class Carrier. That carrier has room aboard for six thousand personnel, though at the moment, we have a small skeleton crew running her. She also has a flight deck capable of support two hundred and fifty six aircraft of various configurations. That carrier is escorted by our two fleet tenders, six colony ships, eight freighters, and ten long range attack scouts.

"The last two ships are WhiteStar-class Frigates. Though significantly smaller than the Hyperion-class, they are the equal to any ship in our fleet, except the Halsey herself, in terms of sheer raw firepower. However, because of their smaller size, only two fighters can be launched at any time, with another single fighter ready to launch inside of fifteen minutes. Those two ships have a crew of forty, and can carry sixty infantry troops, with their equipment, into battle. Unlike our other larger vessels, a Whitestar can fly inside a planetary atmosphere and land on the surface to discharge the troops and equipment, then act as close support for those troopers."

"Very impressive. You said also you'd lost half of your ship's compliment. How?"

"By getting involved, General Hammond, in a war we had no wish to participate in, against an enemy even more insidious than the Goa'uld. We have thirty-six hundred bodies in cold storage aboard the Halsey. The rest, I'm afraid, were killed with weapons that vaporized them instantly. And before the various nations of Earth begin to quibble over paying the personnel aboard the Halsey three years worth of back pay, please rest assured that the Immortal Council will take care of that issue."

"I also want to inform you that we have some additions to our crew from one of the places we traveled to. Thirty-two Klingons and an equal number of Betazeds joined us. The Klingons are a formidable race of warriors, the smallest of which stands at five and a half feet tall. Two of our British personnel got married along the way. SAS Sergeant-Major Robert McShane married Morga, daughter of Torla of the House of Koteth. Her family wished to join her on our journey. The war we were engaged in had all but wiped out her family, and they chose to join us completely. Morga's cousin, Koth serves as Captain of the AIS Lexington, one of our Hyperions.

"Robert's cousin, Douglas McShane, a Color-Sergeant with a Scottish detachment aboard the Halsey, also married. His wife is Triessa of Betazed. She is of the Eighth House, one of the ruling families on Betazed. An equal number of her family joined the Halsey. Six of them, in addition to Triessa, are serving as medical personnel aboard the Halsey. You see, gentlemen, all of the inhabitants of Betazed are telepathic. The added medical personnel, doctors all of them, also serve as counselors for our crews. Along with these Klingons and Betazeds, we also have over three thousand Borg aboard."

"It is good to have you back, Mr. President. I was really beginning to hate your job."

"Marcus Constantine. I'm not sure I want my old job back. I rather like it here aboard ship."

"No! You are needed here Mr. President. I'll gladly take over your duties as Fleet Admiral."

"I'm sure you will, Marcus. In any case, I have a few details to attend to, before the Halsey goes in for refit. Three years without a space dock can wreak havoc on a ship's systems. And there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of upgrades that we need to pass along to the other ships of our burgeoning fleet. Vastly improved armor and weapons, new life support systems, new computer systems. All in all, gentlemen, the technology now aboard the Halsey will bring Earth, Luna, and Mars very rapidly perhaps three to five hundred years ahead technologically from where we are now."

"I look forward to your report, Admiral."

"And you shall have it soon, General. Commander Apollo, your man Starbuck is rather anxious to return to your service. He'll be leading back the remaining Vipers in our squadrons, and he'll be in a Thunderbolt Starfury. He'll also have the design schematics for these fighters with him, along with the modifications needed if you wish to employ them on your Battlestars. Indy Control, how many fighter berths do you have available?"

"All of them. We have yet to receive our fighter squadrons."

"Excellent. For the time being, while Halsey is in refit, our fighters will need a home base to fly from. We have sixteen squadrons at the moment, that's four times your normal capacity I believe, but we can base some of them on Mars, Earth, or Luna. What we'll do is send four squadrons to Indy, and three each to Mars, Luna, and Earth. Also, and only with the permission of Colonial Command and the various Earth Governments, we have a number of orbital defense satellites that we can begin launching immediately. The completed grid has sixty satellites in a three layered constellation approximately ten thousand kilometers above the surface. The satellites have a single neutron beam cannon, three type-VIII pulse phase cannons, forty Venom anti-fighter missiles, forty anti-ship plasma torpedoes, and a half dozen short range flak cannons that serve only to protect the platform. As President of the Immortal Council, I'm ordering their immediate deployment around Luna. We can deploy them around Earth and Mars as soon as we get the word to do so."

"We will consider this as well, Marius. Please forward your report as soon as you are able."

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Two weeks later

Offices of the Immortal Council

Dome Ryan, Luna

Paperwork. Mounds and mounds of paperwork. It seemed his leaving the Halsey had done nothing to diminish the sheer amounts of paperwork generated by a fledgling government. Marius had hoped that Marcus or one of the others on the Council could have helped him with these issues, but as with all things, these were best dealt with by someone with the authority to do so. In other words, they were paying him back big time for disappearing for three months. Or was that three years? It sure as heck felt like three years to him. To be told that the Halsey had been officially listed as missing for only three months made him think that Tok'Ra had a wicked sense of humor.

Of their dimensional travels, Marius most enjoyed the time spent on Babylon 5, that space station that he thought of as a beacon of a hope in a dark universe. Compared to those Starfleeters, the folks at B5 were better acquainted with the twists of fate the universe tends to throw at one. Though the journeys were dimensional in nature, it could also be said, since there was an element of temporal displacement as well, that each of those places the Halsey visited could be a possible future for his universe.

To Marius, it seemed that folks like John Sheridan and Michael Garibaldi were more real than their counterparts like Jean-Luc Picard and Kathryn Janeway. For all their 'advancements', the people of the United Federation of Planets had forgotten what it meant to be truly human. Yes, true, they'd had an atomic war, but less than a hundred years afterwards, some guy named Cochrane had created the first warp drive, breaking the supposedly unbreakable speed of light. There was something strange about that whole scenario, and Marius couldn't for the life of him put his finger on it.

The technological progression of the Earth Alliance, however, seemed about right. It was the same with the Terran Federation, and the Earth united under the United Nations. Their technological prowess was on a par with their own. But those Starfleeters seemed to take one too many things for granted as far as he was concerned. In too many respects, especially when it came to weapons tech, they were so like the Tollan it wasn't funny. What Marius found ironic was that while Janeway and her precious Federation had their Prime Directive, the Ferengi did not. They gladly traded all of their technology databases in exchange for that liquid stuff they called latinum. But hey, who was he to complain? They'd fulfilled the number one standing order of the SGC; the retrieval of advanced technologies that would help Earth in the fight against the Goa'uld.

In that respect, the mission of the Halsey had been an out and out success. The main problem now wasn't so much as building a ship, but as in deciding which ships to build. On their journey, they'd built only what they could when they'd had access to a space dock. But now that they were back home, and with some extra capacity now available in the orbital shipyards, Marius wanted to take advantage of the situation. Ships like the Halsey had originally been conceived of as a long range support vessel, hence the Forge deck.

Thus the first thing that Marius ordered done was the installation of the dozen or so industrial replicators, they'd purchased from the Ferengi. These were put to use immediately building the squadrons of Thunderbolts that the AIS would now use as its frontline fighter. Despite the fact that the Thunderbolt and the F-302 were approximately the same size, the Thunderbolt had a lot of equipment packed into it already.

There was just no room left within the small ship for the hyperspace window generator that the 302s used. So it was decided to keep the 302s operational for now, until such time as a new Thunderbolt could be designed that could generate its own hyperspace window.

Marius was just beginning to pick up the next report on his desk when his door chimed.

"Come in."

"Mr. President."

"Ah, Mako. How goes the duty of Luna's First Protector?"

"All is not well, Mr. President. I have just today received a rather interesting report from Protector Sheridan."

"He is the one you appointed to serve as Protector for our embassies, yes?"

"Correct. His report, if I may, Mr. President."

"Mako, please, at least in the confines of this office, I am Marius, or Marco if you prefer."

"Of course, Marius. Protector Sheridan was contacted in his room just a few days ago. Contacted by one Alex Krycek with information regarding the recent spate of beheadings on Earth."

"Krycek, eh? I'm sure Mulder will be all too happy to learn that he is still in the picture."

"Yes, I've read Major Mulder's reports regarding the Consortium. In any case, it seems Mr. Krycek had some rather interesting information for Sheridan. Though he had no physical evidence to prove his story, it seems that Senator Robert Kinsey is behind this whole mess."

"The same Senator Kinsey who is running for President?"

"The one and the same."

"I see. Well, give Protector Sheridan any and all support he needs to resolve this issue as soon as possible. I'll see if I can defuse Kinsey a bit, or at the very least, side-track him with other issues."

"Of course, Mr. President."

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An Hour Later

Luna

Within Luna, in the Main Dome, in a closet in the Office of the President, a light flashed once, and a woman appeared. A light flashed again and this time two people appeared; a man and a woman. The first woman was unique in this universe. She was of a singular beauty, with eyes that could pierce a man's soul. She wore her hair long but there was a skeletal structure of some type that protruded from her head. The second woman had dark eyes and auburn hair. She and the man with her radiated a type of power that was almost impossible to perceive, yet it was also almost impossible to deny. One of them moved away from the device they had touched and interrupted a sensor beam. The tripped sensor sent an immediate signal to the President of the Immortal Council, who happened at that particular moment to be in the Council Chambers as the other Immortals debated some new rule for non-Immortals on Luna.

Marius reached for the pager that he and all of the leadership and command staff now wore. He hated the damn things, but they were becoming a necessary evil. The code displayed on it was one he had programmed in when he had first returned from the dimensional travels, but it was also one he had rather hoped he'd never see. To see it this soon, well, he wondered what was going on in that place. He made a motion with his hand and called for attention.

"As it is coming on towards the lunch hour, perhaps we should adjourn for now and spend some time to ponder these new regulations. While yes, our nation is still small and in its infancy, we do not wish to alienate the other major powers in this system. There must be a better solution than to curtail all migration to here. We shall take this matter up again this afternoon."

Marius tossed his pager at Marcus. Marcus raised an eyebrow, but looked at the message displayed thereon. He had been fully briefed on all that Marius had done in the other dimensions. To see a code 7-R, displayed on the small device could only mean one thing. They had visitors, through the mirror. After a moment's hesitation, Marcus also brought along Nefertiri, whom he had personally briefed on the meaning behind '7-R'.

Marius, with Marcus and Nefertiri in tow, walked into his office to find two people whom he had thought never to see again, and a stranger whom he'd never met before.

Delenn looked at Marius with a twinkle in her eyes. This was a man whom she had met some three years earlier in her time, before the Shadow War, and before the Earth civil war. He had not changed, but a voice in her mind reminded her of his Immortality. The two others with him were a mystery to her, but she guessed at their Immortality as well. Marius had told her the mirror would be in his office, and as he was the leader of these Immortals, it only made sense that he would have others of his kind around him.

"Ambassador Delenn of Minbar. Ms. Lyta Alexander. I must say, you certainly have a proper sense of timing. Had you not appeared when you did, I dare say I would have been bored to tears listening to the Council squabble over something even more mundane. But I forget my manners. Allow me to present Marcus Constantine and Nefertiri. Marcus serves as operational commander for all Lunar forces, and Nefertiri is a Presidential Advisor."

"It is an honor and a pleasure to see you again Marius. As your President has so well remembered, I am Delenn of Minbar, though I am no longer an Ambassador for my people. Ms. Lyta Alexander, and her companion Byron. We have come through the mirror with a request. John sends his regards, and regrets that he could not accompany us this time.

"As you are aware, Marius, Miss Alexander and others like her are telepaths. They came to the Interstellar Alliance seeking a world to call their own, but, whatever world we may give them, they would always be hunted by the Psi Corps. Lyta suggested the mirror, which, to be perfectly honest, I had forgotten all about."

"I see. How many refugees are we talking about here?"

"There are a few dozen telepaths now hiding on Babylon 5, with more and more arriving every day. The Psi Corps have sent teams of blood hounds to track them down and return them forcibly to the fold."

"Though I came from a time when slavery was commonplace, it is a practice I abhor. On my authority, they can stay here if they wish. But you must understand what our situation is before you begin to send anyone through the mirror. The Alliance is presently involved in a war that stretches across our galaxy. To date, we have not yet fully engaged the enemy. But where you had Vorlons seeking to create order and Shadows seeking to create chaos, we have Anubis and the Cylons. Anubis is a Goa'uld, a race of parasitic aliens that prefer human hosts. The human body is utterly subjugated by the parasite, but the human mind lives on and bears witness to all the atrocities the body carries out in the name of the Goa'uld. These aliens fancy themselves as Gods. They came to a primitive Earth ten thousand years ago and took advantage of the primitive peoples there. They adopted the personas of the many Gods worshipped at the time, and enslaved whole tribes and nations in their name. Earth has been at war with the Goa'uld for some ten years now. There is much more to this story, but I'm only trying to give you an idea of what is here.

"Our other enemy is a race of cybernetic creatures called the Cylons. They don't have a God Complex. They want one simple thing. The complete and utter extermination of all life unlike their own in the universe.

The Human Race in general has been at war with the Goa'uld for close on ten thousand years, ever since we kicked them off our home world. But our ancestors buried the Gate that allowed them to travel to our world, and it remained buried until 1928 when an archaeological expedition to the Giza Plateau uncovered it. It took almost seventy years for us to decipher its secrets and to re-awaken the Goa'uld to our presence. Now, our two enemies have formed an alliance. They have one goal in mind, and that is the extermination of all humanoid life.

"The other thing I must tell you is as you recall, when we first met, we had no telepaths among us. That has now changed. The majority of the telepaths among us are in the medical sciences, though one serves as the executive officer aboard the John F. Kennedy, which is a President-class Carrier. Psi Corps trained you to be the living version of a truth serum, but you don't have to be that here. All I ask is that you take some time to get acclimated to your new environs before choosing a profession. You will be given citizenship in the Immortal Confederation."

"How do we know you won't try to enslave us or turn us into weapons?"

"The truth is, you don't know that. None of us here will open our minds to you unless you ask nicely first. The fact is that the contents of our minds would overwhelm your senses. Yes, you've been in the minds of many mortals, Mr. Byron. But you've never been in the mind of an Immortal. By the standards of our race, the three of us here are among the elders of our kind, having lived well past the age of one thousand years. Those of us over a thousand years in age are considered to be the more stable of our kind. Do you realize what I'm saying, sir? Inside my own mind are close to twenty-six hundred years of memories. Miss Alexander can tell you what it is like to touch the mind of an Immortal. Can't you?"

"You have no reason to trust him, Byron. But I do trust him. The Vorlons created us, our kind, telepaths. But the Vorlons looked up to you as something better than they. Even the Shadows did the same."

Byron's eyes went wide at that comment. Vorlons and Shadows looked up to this man?

"No, Miss Alexander. It was not me they looked up to. It was Tok'Ra, our father-creator, the one whom both the Vorlons and the Shadows called the First Teacher. The Goa'uld whom we fight, Anubis, was once a creature like Tok'Ra. But Anubis did things that were abhorrent to the very nature of the Ancients and so they cast him out from their domain. Unfortunately, he did not return all the way to our plane of existence and he is trapped somewhere between. He can however, affect things on our plane. He wants us, all of us, to bow down to him, to serve him. You asked me how you can be sure we won't enslave you? It's not us you have to worry about Byron. It's the Goa'uld. For if we lose this war, they will certainly take your kind as hosts. You have a gift of telepathy, but the Goa'uld will open your gifts to telekinesis, and the universe will be forever changed."

"I was a Psi Cop in the Corps. Is there a place for me?"

"There is. I will introduce you to Mako, Luna's First Protector. I'm sure he will find a place for you in the Protectorate Division. In fact, if you are interested in starting right away, there is a problem on Earth. There is a conspiracy there against Immortals and Colonials specifically, and against all alien life in general. The man who would become President is advocating an isolationist policy. That is something that no one on Earth truly wants, but it is something that may come to pass. As I speak, one of our Protectors is down on Earth trying to get to the bottom of the conspiracy and trying to bring the men responsible for sixteen deaths to justice. A telepathic scan probably wouldn't hold up in court, but we have no laws against it. I was going to send one of our Betazed telepaths there, but as a person with law enforcement experience, you may be better suited to this particular case."

"The Protector on Earth, is he also a man with law enforcement experience?"

"Yes. Jacob Sheridan has been a Texas Ranger since the middle 1800's. Luna's First Protector was formerly a US Marshall, and had served in that capacity since the Agency's inception in 1789. But there are so few Immortals that have served in law enforcement capacities that at the moment, those are the only two with any sort of background in the law. Something we hope to change eventually."

"I shall help you this one time. Then I will evaluate my options."

"Fair enough, Byron. Actually, more than fair. Do you have any other skills where we might be able to place you?"

"I'm well rated in a Starfury fighter. Almost all Psi Cops are."

"Excellent! If you do not wish to stay in our Protectorate section, then a position at the Lunar Academy is available to you as well."

"Marius, you mentioned Betazed telepaths. Are they human?"

"Yes, Miss Alexander, they are. Betazed is a member world in the United Federation of Planets, one of the universes we traveled to after yours. They are completely humanoid, with a few minor differences in terms of organ placement. To put it in terms you might better understand, they are to us as the Centauri are to you. But with one small detail of a difference. All of the inhabitants on Betazed, all six billion, are telepathic."

"Oh my."

"I had a feeling you might say that. So, are we in agreement? You may come here if you wish. You must settle on Luna first and learn our ways, but afterwards you will be free to emigrate to any Alliance world of your choosing."

"How many member races are there in this Alliance?"

"There are seven permanent members on the ruling council, and several dozen associate members. They are, in no particular order, the Tau'ri, Colonial Mars, Immortal Luna, the Asgard, the Nox, the Furlings, and the Tollan. One of our first associate worlds is Kelowna, which on a scale of development is at a point equivalent to early 20th century Earth. Just so you know, the Tau'ri is how the rest of the galaxy refer to the inhabitants of Earth."

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

1700 Hours EST

Luna

Office of the President

Two things weighed heavily on his mind; the conversation earlier with Mako, and the appearance at this time of Delenn, Lyta, and Byron. One more thing to add to the list of problems. But first, and foremost, there was Senator Robert Kinsey of Maryland.

Another thing to add to his ever growing list of worries. For a man who wants to be President of the United States, this Kinsey fellow sure was in all the bad stuff up to the very ends of what little hair he has. Perhaps it was time to lend his support to Jack Ryan? Lend his support openly, as it were. Marius spent a few minutes on the intercom speaking with the shipyard director asking for a few special cargo shuttles and was told that design, being as simple as it was as it had no weapons, could be ready in a few days time. That would give him time to get his other gifts ready for the President and for the United States. Gifts that would hopefully take some of the wind out of Kinsey's sails.

He spent another few minutes talking with Mitch Guerra, the head of the design bureau, asking him whether they could convert one of the soon-to-be-finished Prometheus-class battlecruisers into a hospital ship, or whether Mitch preferred to build something from scratch. There was a design in the Halsey's database of a Starfleet medical ship, but Marius was unsure if that would work for them or not. Mitch assured him that the Starfleet ship would work just as easily as converting a battlecruiser to their needs. He pointed out that it would be easier to build the medical ship from the ground up than to convert a Prometheus ship to the task. Marius left him to the job, and asked his aide to arrange a meeting with President Ryan for that evening. Marius also passed along a request from Colonel O'Neill for construction of a prototype SA-43 Hammerhead single seat fighter. Apparently he'd been impressed by the fighters the 58th flew. He spent the next two hours in his office, tweaking the medical hologram program to resemble something less arrogant than it was.

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

1900 hours, EST

White House, Oval Office

The transporter beam left him just outside the Oval Office where he was expected by the Secret Service. Traveling by transporter was so much easier than coming here by shuttle, especially since the new shuttle designs they'd brought back were still days away from being implemented.

Marius raised his arms so that the Secret Service could search him quickly. He did it as a courtesy to them, as generally speaking the leader of another national government would not be subjected to this type of search. But some small boxes had materialized along side him. These were gifts for the President and the people of the United States, he explained.

One of the agents showed him into the Oval Office. Jack Ryan was sitting at his desk, looking probably like Marius had looked some hours ago, frustrated by the sheer amounts of papers that needed his signature.

"Mr. President."

"Mr. President."

"Maybe before one of us gets confused, we should switch to first names?"

"Works for me, Marius. You know, you had me worried when you disappeared like you did. I thought I'd finally met someone who understands just how frustrating this job can be, then you go off and vanish! I've read your reports. I guess you had a lot of fun out there?"

"Probably more than I should admit to Jack. But before I get to the gifts I brought back for you, I have some rather interesting news. Is there anyway you could get Mr. Van Damm, and I think also Director Murray. It will concern them both, eventually."

"Ellen, would you get Director Murray on the phone for me? And ask Arnie to come in here for a bit."

"Of course Mr. President."

A few minutes later, the phone call to Director Dan Murray of the FBI had been re-routed to the President's desk, and Arnold van Damm was seated in the office across from Marius.

"Mr. President."

"Dan. I've got Arnie and President Marius in the office with me. Marius claims to have some information that is of interest to you and me and Arnie. Go ahead Marius."

"Mr. Murray. You are aware of the recent rash of beheadings around the country, yes?"

"Yes. The FBI is coordinating with your man Sheridan. I believe they picked up a man in Dallas before he could kill another person."

"Yes. My Chief Protector Mako made his report to me earlier today. He also gave me a nice little tidbit of information that I feel compelled to pass along. Do you recall, Mr. Murray, the testimony of Agent Mulder in relation to a man named Krycek?"

"Yes I do."

"It seems Mr. Krycek visited Protector Sheridan to pass along some information regarding the string of brutal beheadings. While we may have gotten lucky once before and decapitated, as it were, the Consortium leadership, it seems new players and a new leader has sprung up in place of the old. Krycek told Sheridan, though he had no proof to offer, that a new player, once considered a minor minion, has now taken over the leadership duties as the head of the Consortium. He has ordered men to stage these beheadings in order to cast the blame on Immortals, or hunters of Immortals. It is an attempt to drive the American people, and to a lesser extent the people of the world, into a panic over our presence amongst you. I am told that this one man is in a position of power in your government, though again we have as yet no proof against him. Though I would imagine that he as yet does not control all of the former foot soldiers of the Consortium, he is making a bold play to bring that power under his control. Mr. Murray, Mr. President, we must move quickly to put this man out of business. Unfortunately, neither I nor any other Immortal can interfere with this situation as it may end up proving this man's cause to the people of this country."

"Who is this man?"

"Mr. Van Damm, the man in question is Senator Robert Kinsey. I believe he is also running for President, yes?"

"Kinsey! That sonofabitch!"

"Calm down Jack. This actually helps us to defuse him before he gains any more momentum in the polls."

"How so Arnie?"

"I can see why Immortals should not be the ones to capture him. The FBI needs to work closely with their man to bring this new Consortium to justice before they establish themselves too deeply. It took Agent Mulder and his partner far too long to bring down the last group, even though they had no real help from the government until the end. No, we need to attack this problem head on and I mean now, Jack."

"Dan. I want you to work with this Protector Sheridan. Give him all the resources he needs to bring this new Consortium down. Maybe we can bring that shadow group down once and for all."

"President Marius, where is Sheridan at the moment?"

"Mako indicated that his team had just captured one of the alleged Consortium foot soldiers in Dallas, before he could behead his latest victim. I imagine he's still in that area."

"Good. I'm going to ask Pat O'Day to meet with him. Pat is one of the FBI's roving inspectors."

"I think I'll ask Mary-Pat if we can borrow Clark for a bit. Between the three of them working on this case, they should have it wrapped up in no time."

"My thanks to you Mr. President, Director Murray. Personally, I have no wish whatsoever for a man like Kinsey to become President."

"Get back to me Dan, when you have something new on this case."

"Will do. Bye now."

Marius stood up for a moment to retrieve the boxes he'd brought with him.

"Arnie, I think you're going to like what I have in these boxes. Jack, uhm don't take this wrong way, but is your wife in the Residence?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I'd like a doctor's perspective when I give you this next gift. Maybe, if he's available, your Surgeon-General as well."

"Arnie, see if you can get Dr. Alexandre over here as quietly as possible, ok?"

"I'll get on it. Ellen!"

"Jack, I'm afraid that whether your wife or Dr. Alexandre are cleared to hear about my adventures or not, that I'm going to have to tell them at least a little of what happened to us so they can understand where these gifts came from and how to best use them."

"Well, your mission is classified, but with so many of your crew back on Earth now, I don't guess that it will stay that way for long. So tell them what you have to, but not everything if you can help it."

"I'll do my best, Jack."

Thirty minutes of chit-chat about his adventures later, Dr. Alexandre and Cathy Ryan walked into the Oval Office.

"Cathy? You remember President Marius? Dr. Alexandre, this is Marius, President of the Immortal Council."

"Dr. Ryan, a pleasure to see you again. Dr. Alexandre, a pleasure to meet you sir."

"Is there an emergency, Mr. President?"

"Nothing like that, Dr. Alexandre. Marius was just about to reveal a few gifts for us and he requested yours and Cathy's presence."

"I'm sure you two are aware that I was aboard the Halsey when she disappeared, yes? Good. It doesn't matter how the three months missing was explained in the press. It's simply not true. First of all, while we were only gone three months by your reckoning, by those of us aboard the Halsey, a little over three years passed. Tok'Ra, the Ancient, had a few errands for us to do for him. Our journey took us to a number of different places, but only two are critically important to what I am about to divulge. The first dimension we visited, and I do mean dimension, was similar enough to our own. Tok'Ra had us dimension hopping for awhile, trying to finish up some long overdue business of the Ancients. In any case, the first place we visited was similar enough to our own. It was a universe of the year 2260. Seeing as they were almost three hundred years ahead of us, one would think they would be definitively more advanced than us. And in many respects, they were. But where most authors like to paint the future as shiny and rosy and Utopian-like, this future was dark and dismal. They even had a version there of Kinsey, who went from being a Senator to Vice-President. He became the President of the Earth Alliance after he assassinated his predecessor. But that's beside the point.

"On these sets of digital discs, are the full medical knowledge base of that universe. You won't unfortunately, find a cure for the common cold in there, nor for all forms of cancer, but you will find cures for a few of our more troublesome diseases. AIDS and SARS come to mind.

"The rest of my gifts to you come from the second universe we visited. Again, it was quite a bit ahead of us, both chronologically, and technologically. It was the waning years of the twenty-fourth century for that Earth, and it was the dream of all those writers I mentioned before. Bright and shiny and rosy and almost a paradise. But before you begin to wonder how they did that, let me just say that while they did have a President of a United Earth, the form of government was something akin to communism, though they didn't call it that. Call it communism with a middle class. Everyone worked for the state and the state provided everything. Hell, Jack, they'd even done away with money on Earth. I just can't imagine a society where no one gets paid for what they do!

"But I digress. Dr. Ryan, this is for you, and this is for you Dr. Alexandre. The device you are holding in your hand is called a Medical Tricorder. It's a hand held sensing device, that when tied into a computer, can be used to diagnose problems in a patient. The device has a detachable medical sensor that you run over the patient's body. The results will display on the unit, or it can be routed to a computer or both. I've taken the liberty of providing two laptop computers that incorporate the program that accepts data from these devices.

"This next item, and I'll use that word very loosely, is, well, it's hard to explain. Let me show you."

Marius stood up and held a small device at around shoulder height in mid-air. He pushed a couple of buttons on the front pad of the device and a woman appeared!

"President Marius. Is there an emergency that requires my services?"

"No Doctor. I am merely showing you off, as it were. Allow me to make some introductions. The man seated behind the desk is Jack Ryan, President of the United States. The man in the chair there is Arnold van Damm, President Ryan's Chief of Staff. This lovely lady is Dr. Caroline Ryan, wife to the President, and a professor of ophthalmological surgery. This is Dr. Pierre Alexandre, Surgeon General of the United States and a specialist of infectious diseases. Lady and gentlemen, may I present Doctor Hansen."

"Mr. President. Doctors. How may I be of service?"

"Annika, explain to these good people your function, if you will."

"Of course. I am an emergency medical hologram. My core programming has access to a library of medical techniques and knowledge that spans the entire history of the Federation and of all of the member races of the Federation. This knowledge has been further augmented by the medical data of the Borg. I have been programmed also to teach, to share this information with you Dr. Ryan, and with you Dr. Alexandre. Tell me, Dr. Ryan, as a surgeon of ophthalmology, is it currently possible to give a blind person the ability to see?"

"No, it is not."

"Using an ocular implant, that can now be possible. I will teach you how to employ this technology so that you may give others the gift of sight. And you, Dr. Alexandre, I am told are seeking cures for certain virii that plague human kind of this world. Specifically, Marius has informed me of the AIDS and Ebola families of virii. The research that I have access to, tells me that it was a vaccine for the Ebola virus that led to a vaccine for the AIDS virus. Both diseases are tied to one another, as it was discovered in the years before the third world war, that both reside in the same host animal."

"What! Oh my. It would explain so much though!"

"I take it you two doctors like my present to you?"

"If what she says is true, then the ability to give sight to sightless eyes makes whatever you endured on your journey worth it!"

"I would like to speak at length with Doctor Hansen."

"As would I."

"Of course. Please feel free to do so The Immortal Council has recognized her medical qualifications and if not here then she is considered a qualified and licensed physician on Luna. But remember the limitations of your emitter, Annika. It will need to recharge once per day."

"Of course, Mr. President."

Why don't you two follow me? We'll go to my office to talk."

After the three doctors had left the room, Jack spoke a bit.

"Any more gifts in there?"

"Just one Mr. President. And it is one the Immortal Council will be asking for a patent of tomorrow. Hopefully, it will be approved. After which, we will begin sales of them. But you and Arnie will have the first units. This is a portable food replicator. It's a small device really, even with the power and nutrient packs. I'm going to advise you to not smell the nutrient pack, as it's really not at all pleasant. The ingredients are tasteless protein sequences in a liquid mix of various nutrients laced with vitamins and minerals. Any commercial food company in the US can produce this once we share the recipe with them. It's what the device does with that pack, that will amaze you. So, either of you two gentlemen hungry? Perhaps, something to drink?"

"I've been craving a good Reuben sandwich all day, just haven't had the time to get to the deli. And fries of course!"

"Of course Arnie! Jack?"

"Oh maybe a decent Philly? With fries also."

"You want coffee with that?"

"Yes."

"Sure."

"Computer, one Reuben sandwich, on rye with Russian dressing and a side order of steak fries. One Philly steak sandwich on a hoagie, with a side order of seasoned fries. One cheeseburger sub, with a side of potato skins. Two coffees, black, with sugar and cream on the side. One raktajeeno, full size, and two raktajeenos, sample size."

"What are you going on about…"

Neither Arnie nor Ryan spoke for a few seconds as they watched food and drinks materialize out of thin air. Marius played waiter and passed out their food and drinks, though he was waiting for their expressions for their first taste of the Klingon coffee.

"How do you like the food?"

"You'll tell us how this is done?"

"If you tell me how you like the food?"

"I think this Reuben is about the best thing I've tasted in a long while."

"Same goes for this Philly. And the fries are the perfect balance of crispiness and softness. So what is this thing?"

"This is a food replicator. As long as the power pack is charged, and the nutrient pack is available, it will create anything you ask of it. From the most complex meals, to the simple staple foods. And just between us, if the nutrient packs aren't available, one can easily substitute just about any green leaf type plant. I could walk out those doors, grab some grass, and feed it to this thing, and it will put out something simple. The nutrient packs enable it to produce the more complex meals. All this means, is that this is a practicable way to end hunger in the world."

"Do you realize what you've just said?"

"Yes sir, I do. But I have a few other things I'd like to discuss with you and Arnie, if I may?"

"A cure for AIDS, a way to end world hunger. What's next up your sleeve?"

"I know that there are recorders in this room. In every room for that matter. Would it be possible to turn them off for just a few minutes?"

Jack stared at the man, his eyes hard for an instant as he contemplated the request.

"Andrea, do as the man says. Five minutes, no more."

"But Mr. President?"

"Please. I trust him."

"Very well, Mr. President."

She'd do as he asked, but she wouldn't like it. And in any case, there was always one recorder that couldn't be turned off, no matter the reason.

"I thank you for that Jack. What I'm about to say, I'd like kept between the three of us for the moment. Frankly, Jack, I'm worried about Kinsey. I know of him from his exploits in trying to shut down the SGC and in trying to move the SGC to NID control. A man like him, in charge of all the technologies now at our disposal, would be a very bad thing for the universe in general, and for Earth in particular. Can you imagine that he wouldn't use our advanced technologies to enforce his will on other nations of Earth? I don't want to risk that. So, as soon as you're ready, I'll stand by your side in a joint press conference as we announce the gifts I've already mentioned. You can point to these items as proof that our alliance is a good one. Kinsey would have the US isolate itself from the universe. Regardless of what has happened in the past, the Goa'uld will not be appeased by our simply burying the gate. They want us destroyed. They want our planet gone from the stars.

"That said, in the coming weeks, I'll join you often for joint conferences as I offer the US and the world a few other devices. The first will be a cold fusion reactor, which will give an average of ten to twenty percent more power per unit, than the current standard fission-based reactor. The plus side is that no harmful radiation is produced which means no harmful wastes to bury. We won't give you that technology outright. We will however, lease the units to you at a reasonable yearly fee. We'll also invite your scientists up to Luna, where we will be establishing an instructional facility, so that Earth scientists can learn how to build these reactors.

"After that, we'll give you something that will soon become a common item on Luna, and we hope on Mars as well. Here's a prototype of the personal identification card for Earth. Notice it's blue, as compared to Lunar gray and Martian red. The cards can be voice imprinted, DNA coded, password encrypted, and even retina coded to a specific user. They can be used for identification purposes, as a license of any kind or of multiple kinds. They can store a person's entire medical history. They can even be used as a passport. The small screen on the face of the card can be used to show multiple images of the card bearer to insure that the bearer is whomever they say they are. It can even project a small holographic and three dimensional image so that a security officer can see the entire person as it were. For the purpose of securing our borders, it's quite an ingenious little device. And since it can be encoded to hold multiple credit card accounts, and multiple bank account numbers, I think that it could replace a lot of excess baggage that we tend to carry around in our wallets.

"The Immortal Council has also approved a number of ventures into Earth and Martian markets for a new type of computer system, which we will sell at a very low price. I do have a responsibility to keep the Immortal Council in the black, you know. In any case, the new computer systems will utilize crystals for data storage. The crystals can be encoded in all of the same ways as the PIC, but will store approximately five hundred thousand terabytes of information at a transfer rate of fifty gigabytes per millisecond.

"Now as you are aware, the shipyards at Luna and Mars are currently producing ships for our combined navies. We are in the process of adding two more shipyards at the primary Lunar facility. They will be smaller than normal. One will be set to produce fighter craft, for eventual delivery first to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and second to those member nations that these five agree to. The third shipyard will begin production of a commercial class of ship. It will have enough room to store up to sixty cubic meters of cargo. We will not give it any major armaments, but, it will have several low powered lasers and a number of external grappling claws. In this way, the ship can be used by entrepreneurs to mine asteroids and bring the raw ore back to a station for sale or processing. These will be relatively small ships at some sixty meters in length, and a minimum crew of three, though it would probably benefit whoever owns such a ship to have a larger crew.

"The instructional facility on Luna will train pilots, navigators, and engineers for service to anyone owning one of these ships. All trainees will receive additional instruction in first aid, and the use of the mining lasers and grappler claws. If anything, Jack, it will give a chance to all of those unemployed in the US.

For corporate clients, those with substantially deeper pockets that wish to explore beyond just the asteroid belt or the planets in this system, we will offer a slightly larger class of ship. The Star-class long range scout will be approximately ninety meters in length with a primary crew of seven and a secondary compliment of thirty to forty. We plan to outfit them with two small short range shuttles, an even half-dozen unmanned aerial recon vehicles (UAV), and two heavily modified APC type vehicles. I would suggest that any company wishing to purchase one of these ships recruit a diplomat to serve aboard them. We don't want any problems when it comes to dealing with other races, especially since we do plan to place light weapons onto the scouts.

"This next items, a derivative of the Ancient's military technologies, are the System Gates. As soon as we've beaten Anubis and his allies back to give us some breathing room, the Alliance will begin reactivating the 'Gates in nearby planetary systems. Each commercial and military vessel will be assigned a gate use code, which will allow us to track which vessels are in which system. Military ships don't have to use the 'Gates as they will have their own FTL drives. Commercial ships, however, will be made to use the Gate System.

"Lastly, the engineering staff on Luna is currently building a new reactor to power all of our needs. It is called a quantum singularity reactor, though reactor might be an inappropriate term. The good thing is that we can feed it garbage, literally garbage, and it will produce energy for us. It works by creating an artificial black hole that will accept any form of matter and convert it to energy. The conversion process uses one hundred percent of the matter to create an equal amount of energy. One of the by-products of this type of reactor is anti-matter, which we will use for the warheads of the torpedoes used by the fleet. Of course, the best part is best for everyone at the moment. Mr. President, the Immortal Council wishes to buy all of the nuclear waste currently in US inventories. After that, we will begin purchasing the garbage produced by your biggest cities first. Anything that currently gets buried in landfills, we will use as fuel for the reactor. I think, that idea, in of itself, will brighten the days of a lot of environmentalists."

"That's, uhm, that's..."

"Record this moment, Jack. Arnie is speechless."

"Never thought I'd see the day, Arnie, where you have nothing to say."

"You do realize, Jack, that Marius just fulfilled a dream of almost everyone on Earth?"

"How so?"

"After millennia of occupying only one world, we now have the ability to explore other places, to plant colonies on other worlds, to expand beyond this one little ball of dirt, and to take our rightful place out among the stars."

"Never figured you for a philosopher Arnie."

"I've always been one. Can't survive in the business of politics without having some sort of philosophy to fall back on."

"Too true. So how should we play this Arnie?"

"I think we should bring Marius down in a couple days, by shuttle into Andrews, just like any other foreign dignitary. Then we'll hold 'high-level' trade talks, after which we hold a press conference outside where you, Jack, will announce the successful completion of trade talks with the Immortal Council. The thing for the blind should lead off the announcement, then the device for world hunger, and maybe the fusion reactor. Finish it off with the AIDS cure. I'll bet that your approval will jump at least twenty points, and that Kinsey's will drop by at least as many.

"Then, in a week or two, you and Marius can hold another conference, announcing the opening of the Lunar University, and the offering of private vessels for sale to entrepreneurs. Which, by the way, you never did say just how much these are going to cost."

"Well, the corporate model is going to cost around ten grand, and thirty with weapons. The individual model will sell for around a thousand. You do realize, gentlemen, that just one full cargo load of raw ore, will pay off the debt of the owners of the ships? Further more, if an individual doesn't have a grand for the ship, we'll provide them with one, after they complete training, and after they agree to give us their first two full cargo loads of raw ore. And though a lot of companies will probably opt to save twenty grand and not arm their ships, if they want to purchase gate activation codes, we'll only sell them armed ships."

"Damned reasonable, I'd say Jack."

"Very damned reasonable Marius. Anything else up your sleeves?"

"One final thing, Jack. All the traveling we did, we met a number of races that were both more advanced and less advanced than us in some respects. The Halsey may have started out with the F-302 fighters for her squadrons, but we've since upgraded in the field to the SA-32A Thunderbolt Starfury. I've ordered a prototype of a new fighter built, one that the military of that particular universe called an SA-43 Hammerhead. It's a single seat air and space superiority fighter. As soon as the prototype is unveiled to the world, we're going to offer it to the various militaries of Earth. In fact, if they accept it, it will be a fighter that can be produced here on Earth, perhaps as a joint venture between the various defense contractors around the globe."

"It's a fighter then?"

"Actually it's a multi-role aircraft, sir. Fighter, interceptor, attack, bomber, search and rescue, even a scout. The main armament is a nose mounted gimballed rail gun, and an aft turret designed to auto-track and engage any fighter stupid enough to get on its six. Since it has hard-points for six externally mounted missiles, bomb racks, or equipment pods, it makes it an attractive package for the various militaries, or at least we think so. In any case, if the governments go for it, it will bring a substantial amount of employment to some sectors, and will allow us to introduce the manufacturing sectors to the wonders of industrial replicators."

The three men chatted for awhile longer, then broke up to close the day. Jack Ryan had agreed to a reception to be held the next evening to honor some of the men and women who had served aboard the Halsey and her fleet. Marius took a transporter back to Luna to get a much-needed few hours of sleep. He awoke after several hours feeling somewhat refreshed. The first thing he did was to check the status of the shipyards. The hull work on the Halsey was nearing completion, and new hull armor sections were being laid as quickly as they came out of production onto the Kuznetsov and the Galactica. As soon as those three vessels were finished, the new hull armor would be placed over existing armor on the Daedalus and the Caprica. The next two strike carriers, the Nelson and the Spruance were still under construction and would receive only the updated armor.

It was the internal updates that were getting bogged down. The replicator 'farm' on Luna was operating at full capacity, building duotronic systems and all of the associated infrastructure, but as it was, only the ships of the Halsey task force sported the new systems, though the Raleigh and the Perseus were almost finished in that respect. There were enough fighters presently in the system such that any attackers could be held at bay until the bigger ships could enter the fray. For the time being, it was felt best by the Alliance and the three in-system members to keep their ships at home.

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

Annapolis, Maryland

Home of Margaret Scully

Having finally finished all of their paperwork and reports, Mulder and Scully had opted to travel to Earth to close out their accounts and take care of other business. Both would be tendering their official resignations to the FBI come morning, but for now, Scully really just wanted to see her mother. She also wanted to announce her upcoming marriage to Mulder. Scully rang the doorbell fully expecting her mother to answer, but her sister-in-law answered instead.

"Tara!"

"Dana! Come in! Hello Mr. Mulder."

"Tara? Where's mom?"

"Your mom and Bill went out to the store. They should be back shortly. Are you all done with your latest assignment?"

"Assignment?"

"Yeah. Mom said you and your partner were out on assignment somewhere. She didn't know where. At least that's what your boss told your mom."

"Really. Hmm. Ok. Well, why don't we wait for mom and Bill before I bring up the news we have? I'd rather only tell it once. In the meantime, how's my favorite nephew doing?"

The two women talked for about half an hour before the front door opened again to the sounds of Margaret Scully and William Jr. coming into the front room.

"Dana! When did you get back into town?"

"Hi Mom! I missed you! Hi Billy!"

"Dana, when did you get back into town?"

"Mulder and I flew in about two hours ago. We're only going to be in town about a week."

"Another assignment? So soon?"

"I think you all had better sit down for this."

"Dana? What's wrong?"

"Nothing Mom. Mulder and I have some news we want to share with everyone. But first, I want to know who told you we were out on assignment?"

"I tried to call you several weeks ago and when I couldn't find you, I called your boss, AD Skinner. He said you were out on an assignment and couldn't be reached."

"Well, I guess the part about not be reachable was true. But let me ask you for an opinion? What do you think about the existence of alien life now? Especially in light of President Ryan's disclosure some months ago?"

"Well they're certainly not the little green men from Mars we've come to expect from your partner, Dana."

"Gee thanks Bill."

"Shut up Mulder. If it weren't for you, Dana would be in a normal job, not traipsing after you all over the country!"

"Billy, if it weren't for Mulder, I wouldn't have had the opportunity I had about three months ago."

"What kind of opportunity, Dana?"

"For the last three months, I have been serving as Chief Medical Officer aboard the AIS Halsey. Mulder was also aboard as Chief of the Diplomatic Section."

"The Halsey? The Alliance carrier that went missing for three months? That Halsey?"

"Yes, Mom, that Halsey. Apparently we performed well enough to be asked to stay on with the Alliance. Both Mulder and I will be moving up to Luna in a couple of weeks, after we've taken care of business down here. I've been offered the post of Chief of Medical Research on Luna, and I've accepted. Mulder will be going into a teaching position at the Alliance Academy, helping the new recruits adapt to life with multiple species. We've both also been seconded to the Alliance Protectorate Bureau."

"So you're going to be working with these aliens, Dana?"

"Bill. These so-called aliens are very similar to you and me. Well, with the exception of the Asgard. Even the Klingons are more humanoid than the Asgard."

"Are you telling us that you've met these aliens?"

"Met them. Served alongside them. Fought alongside them."

Mulder's cell phone rang and he moved off to take the call. He came back a couple of minutes later.

"Who was it Mulder?"

"That was Marius, Scully, informing me of an attendance required formal reception tomorrow evening at the White House. He said your family was also invited."

"Oh."

"The White House, Dana?"

"Who's Marius?"

"Yes, Mom. The White House. Billy, Marius is President of the Immortal Council."

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

Next Evening

1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Dana had promised to pick up her mother at her home, so that they could all ride together to the event. Mulder was driving and fidgeting over his collar. The formal dress uniforms of the Alliance had no neckties, much to his relief, but the collars were a different matter as they were stiff from lack of use. It was a uniform of midnight blue, with rank insignia on the shoulders and unit insignia on the left arm. The flag-patch of the Alliance rode gracefully on his right arm. A red sash made of silk was tied about his waste under a belt of leather to which a sword would be attached. He drove without the sword for the moment, as it was most uncomfortable.

Both he and Dana had only just returned from the Embassy where their uniforms had been sent to. After borrowing a room in which to change, the two of them had borrowed an Embassy vehicle, a Ford Expedition, to make the short drive to Annapolis to pick up Scully's family. Margaret Scully thought that both Dana and Fox made an impressive pair in their formal uniforms. Bill Scully, however, took more than a few minutes to get used to the idea of his 'little' sister in uniform. As they pulled into the parking area at the White House, they saw an ISSAPC parked at the far end. Apparently Marius and company had already arrived. Entrance to the structure was easy enough, and their first task was to get through the receiving line. At the head of the line was Jack Ryan, President of the United States. Next to him, his wife. Next to her, Vice-President Jackson and his wife.

"Mr. President."

"Major Scully. Welcome to the White House."

"Thank you sir. May I present, sir, my mother, Margaret Scully, and my brother and his wife, William and Tara Scully."

"A pleasure to meet you Commander Scully. You must be very proud of your sister."

"To be honest sir, I had no idea she'd joined the military."

There was a sit down dinner for the guests during which there were a few short speeches by the four heads of state in the room; the US, Immortal Luna, the UK, and Russia.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States."

"Please, keep your seats. I promise to keep this as short as possible, and I'm sure you'll be grateful.

"There are many things I would like to say this evening, but those things would best be served in a more political arena. You are not here to hear me make political promises. We're all here tonight to pay our respects to two people, to congratulate them and to thank them for the tireless years of dedication to duty and hard work that resulted in the downfall of an organization that was bent on overthrowing the numerous governments of our planet.

"In 1986, Fox William Mulder joined the FBI. He had a degree in psychology from Oxford University and because of that degree he was put to work profiling serial killers and other such criminals. By the end of 1991, Agent Mulder had been assigned to a section of the FBI known as the Paranormal Division. His mandate? To answer the unanswerable. Even then, at the very beginning, there were hints of a massive conspiracy that stretched across national borders. It took him more than a decade to bring those responsible to justice. He is a man that never tires of the pursuit of the truth.

"He had help in his endeavor from another FBI agent. Dr. Dana Katherine Scully joined the Paranormal Division in 1992. She was assigned to give a scientific credence to Agent Mulder's work. Clinically trained as a forensic pathologist, she was well-equipped to give alternative scientific explanations to the many odd subjects of their cases, from mutations found in human subjects, to mutations in non-human subjects.

"Though many of their fellow agents often outright laughed at their combined pursuit of the truth to the Conspiracy, laughing because Mulder believed in alien life, they never wavered from their pursuit of that truth.

"Now we know that aliens do indeed exist. The proof of the Conspiracy that sought to undermine the governments of the world came to light eventually. The proof that there are things on this world and on other worlds that defy explanation. Because neither Agent Mulder nor Agent Scully ever backed down from their pursuit of knowledge, they should be honored.

"Both of these fine people have given more for the cause of truth than they should have. We should have believed them when they told us of the Conspiracy. We should have believed them when they said aliens do indeed exist. But we didn't. Not at first in any case.

"If you would join me up here, I have a little something for you.

"Fox William Mulder, for you unending pursuit of knowledge and truth in the face of so many obstacles, I present you with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"Dana Katherine Scully, for your endless pursuit of truth and knowledge, for your heroism in the wake of experiments conducted on your person by this Conspiracy, I award you the Presidential Medal of Valor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for these two fine examples of humanity!"

Dana's mother beamed with pride at the award her daughter had just been given by President Jack Ryan. Neither Dana nor Fox knew why they had been invited to this evening's festivities, just that they had been asked to attend. The next to speak was Marius.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the Immortal Council."

"Good evening to one and all. Several months ago, I asked an energetic pair of Federal agents to join me on the maiden voyage of the Admiral Halsey, not because I thought they would be honored by the invitation, but because I felt they would bring a unique combination of talents and skill to a fine ship.

"As you know, the Halsey was declared missing for a period of some three months. But time, and indeed the universe, is a fickle thing. Three months passed here on Earth, but to those of us on the Halsey, more than three years went by. Both of these fine agents came aboard the Halsey with the rank of Major in the Alliance Military. Dr. Scully became our Chief Medical Officer, and Agent Mulder became the head of our Diplomatic Corps aboard the Halsey. Little did we know what we were destined to encounter in all the myriad places in the universe.

"Without Major Mulder's attention to detail, I daresay, we would have come back all but empty handed from our trials. We encountered so many different life forms and so many different governments, that without his keen insight into the base workings of the mind, we would have all been lost, long ago.

"Major Fox W. Mulder, for your fortitude in dealing with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, with the Minbari Federation, the Narn Kah'Ri, the Centauri Imperial Government, and the Independent Babylon Station, for obtaining for the Alliance so many new technologies and treasures to behold, I present you with the Alliance Sash of Diplomatic Service.

"Major Fox W. Mulder, for your courage in the face of overwhelming numbers during the Battle for the Diamond, for your dedication to freedom for all species, I present you with the Alliance Sash of Distinguished Service, and the Alliance Dagger for Exemplary Service.

"Major Dana K. Scully, for your courage in the face of overwhelming odds during the Battle for the Diamond, for your unflappable bed-side manner during the battle at J25, and for your determination to free an enslaved species, the Alliance Sash of Distinguished Service, and the Alliance Staff of Valor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause if you please?"

After the presentations, there were cocktails while the guests in attendance mixed and mingled. Marius approached his two favorite Majors.

"Major Scully. Major Mulder. I'll bet you didn't expect these awards?"

"Nope!"

"I didn't expect anything like this at all, Admiral. Allow me to introduce you to my mother, Margaret Scully. And my brother and his wife, William and Tara."

"A pleasure Mrs. Scully. You must be very proud of your daughter."

"I am. Though I certainly didn't expect anything like this!"

"I've offered to Dana, and she has accepted, the position of Chief of Medical Research. The position would require her to relocate to Luna, and I know that this would be something of an inconvenience for you, so if you would want to, there is enough room on Luna for you as well."

"Mr. President, I, I. I don't know what to say."

"There's no need to give an answer now, Ma'am. The offer stands."

"Thank you sir."

"Please, call me Marco. Every time someone calls me Mr. President, I'm looking over my shoulder for Jack Ryan."

"Mr. President, why did my sister address you as Admiral?"

"Commander Scully I presume? Yes? Good. I serve as an Admiral for the Alliance. I was commander of the Halsey Battle Group for her maiden voyage. For the moment, I am content to stick to a desk job, but given a chance, I will gladly take the helm of any of our ships. Do you also serve on a ship?"

"Executive Office of the USS Nicholas."

"That's a Perry-class frigate, if I'm not mistaken."

"You're not."

"You know, Commander, the Alliance has a desperate need for well trained bridge officers. At the moment, we have far more ships than we have command personnel for. Would you be interested in command of an Alliance vessel?"

"What about my status in the US Navy?"

"Well, we do have an exchange program in place, but commanding a space going vessel versus a sea going vessel, while similar in style, is still a vastly different thing."

"I see. And what sort of vessels does the Alliance field?"

"Do you prefer a small vessel or a large one?"

"Something comparable to my current assignment."

"Perry class vessels have what? Three hundred personnel or so?"

"That's about right. Less than 15 are officers with the rest being enlisted ranks."

"A comparable ship crew-wise would be the Prometheus-class battlecruisers, but in terms of fire-power, I'd have to say our new Shark-class destroyer escorts are the ticket for you. A crew of five officers and fifteen enlisted. But you can make your own choice in terms of ship and crew if you decide to accept the offer."

"And what of my family?"

"If you want to move them to Luna, well, housing is at a premium at the moment, until the new domes open. But once they do, you can move your family up there with you. The Main Dome houses all of the administrative offices. Dome Ryan has the housing sectors, leisure sectors, and education sectors. We're in the process of selecting new areas for dome construction. Luna is growing at the speed of light, and we just don't have the capacity at the moment to house everyone who wants to emigrate there. But how's this for an offer? Why don't you and your family come up to Luna to take a look around. See the facilities for yourself. Then, if you'd like, I'll give you a tour of our shipyards, and any and all vessels you'd care to see. If you like a particular ship, we could take a hop around the solar system and you can be better informed for a possible change of station?"

"It's a good offer Bill. You should think about it. Mulder and I are going to be Earth-side for another week or so, before going back to Luna. You could always come with us at that point."

"Just me? Or Tara and the kids too?"

"All of you. Mom too if she wants."

"Let me think about it. Talk to Tara some. I'll let you know Dana."

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

"Trying to steal more of our Naval officers, Marco?"

"Trying to build up a navy, Jack."

"I can understand that. Join me outside for a bit of fresh air?"

"Of course."

Four men went outside, and Jack Ryan made certain that no one would bother them for awhile. The Secret Service would make sure of that.

"Jack? I have a feeling you brought me out here for something in particular."

"Just because I asked these other two gentlemen to join us? Ok, you got me there. Tell me Marco, how desperate is the Alliance for trained personnel?"

"We have far more ships than we have trained personnel to man them. When the Halsey went out on her maiden voyage, we borrowed almost all of our people from Earth. Now that we're back, a big percentage of those have rotated back Earth-side to their regular duties. We have troop carriers without troops. We have fighters without pilots. We have ships with no crews. At the moment, all of the ships in the Alliance fleet are operating at the bare minimum of staff levels, even with automation to the maximum level. But shy of openly recruiting those personnel from Earth or Mars or the other members of the Alliance, well, we're at a loss to do much for the moment."

"Which is why you were trying to recruit that Naval officer in there?"

"Well, that and the fact that Major Scully had expressed an interest in having all of her family on Luna."

"Once upon a time, the Russian navy was a force to be reckoned with. At the height of the Cold War, our Navy was among the top of its class. These days, it's all we can do as a country to keep even a fourth of our fleet operational. Too many of our military personnel have been subjected to reductions in force. The changeover to a capitalistic society has not been an easy one, and I daresay it will not be easy on my administration for some time to come. There are too many former Generals and Admirals who would like nothing better than to return to the days of old, when our military budget was more than half of the country's total budget. Our engineers and scientists are still known in the world for their earlier accomplishments, but with no budget to pursue new technologies, well, Russia faces a hard road ahead. Neither my country nor the United States can afford to field the militaries we once did. Today's battlefields are made more for surgical strike type units than raw firepower, though when necessary, we can deliver that as well."

"Well, speaking hypothetically here, how's this? Let's say that the Immortal Shipyards sub-contracts out some of our more pressing build orders? Say, for instance, the fighter contracts? If, for instance, we were to arrange for the US, the UK, and Russia to each build one type of fighter, that would bring funds into your countries, and it would encourage innovation. Once you become 'adept' at building the frontline fighters that the Alliance fields, we could begin talking about building other vessels, like the ISSAPC that my party came down in."

"Which fighters are we speaking of, hypothetically?"

"The Hammerhead, the Mustang, and the Thunderbolt. These three are fairly simple and straightforward in their construction, and all are capable of flight within an atmosphere. To pose a further idea, perhaps your three nations could create an agreement to share these new construction technologies. Since the shipyards on Luna could be freed from building fighters, we could then concentrate on building the capital ships. Some of the designs we have are easy to build, some are not.

"At the moment, gentlemen, we have a need for about one thousand bridge and command personnel. I'm talking officers here, not enlisted ratings. The fleet does not include the few Prometheus class battlecruisers that we've built for the SGC, or the six colony ships we have as well. Those colony ships, by the way, will be used to help Earth set up colonies on some of the nearer stars. Each of those ships can carry up to five hundred colonists and all the equipment needed to setup the basic facilities.

"Now, I've looked extensively at the SGC's database of Gate equipped worlds, and oddly enough, the stars nearest to our own, say within a radius of seventy-five light years, don't have any worlds with Gates listed. Whether those stars don't have planets, or don't have planets capable of supporting life as we know it remains to be seen. The sooner we start other colonies, the better we'll be able to handle any major catastrophe here at home. Less chance of our entire species being wiped out too."

"Too true."

"You are fairly quiet, Your Highness."

"I've been asked by my government to field a question to you. The British Government would like to have a few vessels built for us, but we've seen what it cost the US to build even one Prometheus vessel, and quite frankly, it's thought that such an expenditure would not be at all well received by our citizens."

"I can allay that fear, sir. It cost the USAF a lot of money to build one Prometheus. True. However, the first ship of any new class of vessel is always the most expensive and most time consuming to build. There is the fact that until recently, whatever trinium and naquadah stocks that were available were in short supply. Our mining operations of the asteroid belt have resulted in tremendous stockpiles of other metals, which we can utilize to build these vessels. Our travels resulted in new technologies for creating alloys of certain metals that greatly increase the strength factor of those same metals. But as to your cost question, because of the advanced replicator farms that we're now using for construction, cost is minimal. Tell me sir, what is your government interested in purchasing?"

"I'm not certain of the specific vessels my government has in mind at the moment. But let's say hypothetically, that we wished to field a small task force. Carrier optional task force."

"Ok. Off the top of my head, since you don't want a large carrier, how about a number of escort carriers? Say for instance, our Jeep-class light carrier? It has a minimal crew and carries one full squadron of fighters. Depending on what you envision as the goal of your new fleet, a decent all around package would be either a Hyperion or a Nova as a command vessel, maybe four Defiant-class heavy escorts, and four Jeeps. Maybe also a Cotton-class tender UNREP ship for your small fleet? Add in the fighters, shuttles, and troop drop ships that go with those vessels of course."

"Right. Of course. So how much would all this cost my government?"

"The latest numbers I've seen indicate that one of your sea-going carriers costs some three-and-a-half to four billion pounds to build. Is this an accurate statement?"

"That's just the construction cost of the ship itself. But yes, it's fairly accurate."

"Ok. If your government were to offer to us all the crews that would man those ships, we would train them for you on our existing ships. Bring them up to speed, as it were. At the end of one duty tour, say nine to twelve months, we would return those now experienced crews to you, along with the small task force I just mentioned. Gentlemen, if the Immortal Council were to bring to Earth, the total amount of gold that has been mined and refined from the asteroid belt, it would drop the street price from $470 per ounce to $4.70 per ounce. Hell, we found one asteroid in particular, it was maybe six hundred feet wide, that was hollow inside. So we sent in a probe to see what was inside. Gentlemen, it was a geode. A diamond geode. This is not something one could measure in carats, but in tons. Luna has no need for your money, but we do have a serious need for personnel, and for a few other commodities."

"What sort of commodities?"

"Believe it or not, Jack, but the simple things, like seed stocks, and livestock. We have a committee looking at the smaller craters near to our primary domes, to examine the feasibility of covering those craters with domes to expand our housing areas, and to create a farm-like environment."

"It sounds as if you have very ambitious plans for Luna."

"It may never be Earth-like, but we're going to try to make it the best home possible."

"This offer you are making to the British. Does that also apply to the other governments as well?"

"We plan on making the same offer to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. These are heady times my friends. Two years ago, had any of you imagined it would be possible to travel to other stars, to plant colonies on those stars? Probably not. But the fact is, we can do that now. The universe itself is in our grasp, but only if we do things the right way, the peaceful way."

"Peace is always the best option, but first we have to finish this war against the Goa'uld and the Cylons."

"So very true, Mr. President."

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

Inside the White House

That same time

"How's Charlie doing, Mom?"

"He's teaching. He accepted a position at the Naval Academy. Teaching history I believe."

"Good for him. So what do you think? Do you want to move to Luna with me?"

"Oh I don't know Dana. It's so far away."

"Not all that far. Thirty minutes by shuttle. Less than that even."

"You are going to be staying on Luna? Not going off on some ship again?"

"I've had enough duty on a ship. I want to do research now. No more cutting up dead bodies."

"I'll think about it."

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

At the SGC, after a week's vacation by SG-1, Tok'Ra had held true to his promise in revealing the whereabouts of an Ancient outpost to Dr. Jackson. He'd only needed to give him a few clues, before Jackson had worked out the rest on his own. SG-13 were now off-world, visiting P3X-666 in an attempt to find any clues to help defeat the Goa'uld. But nothing ever goes as smoothly as planned for any SG team, and it seems thirteen might have been an unlucky number choice as they came under attack. SG-1, SG-3, and SG-IST2 were sent in as backup to retrieve SG-13.

During the firefight that ensued, Dr. Janet Fraiser was shot by a staff weapon. She fell over instantly unconscious. Tok'ra medic D'Fir saw her fall and reacted quickly to her wounds. D'Fir was still with the SGC until the Tok'ra Council requested her return. D'Fir used the hand device to revive Janet and to stabilize her until they could take her back through the gate. While there were casualties, the timely intervention by D'Fir saved the life of Janet Fraiser.

A week after that fateful Stargate mission, where the CMO had nearly lost her life, a group of engineers and scientists from NASA, the European Space Agency, the Russian Space Agency, the Chinese Space Agency, and the Japanese Space Agency were on Luna for a meeting. With them, were also their government counterparts, empowered to negotiate for technologies on behalf of their various governments.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming here today. I know that with the appearance of our Colonial brethren and with the advanced technologies displayed by the US Air Force among others, your agencies are now at a disadvantage. Today, the Immortal Council has authorized me to extend to your agencies and governments, as a courtesy, the use of several shuttles, transports, and construction vehicles. If you look to the main screen, the first vehicle is an ISSCV, or Inter-Stellar Space Cargo Vehicle. It is a surface to orbit vehicle capable of carrying a cargo box that is fifteen meters long, by five meters wide, by five meters in height. Additionally, the ISSCV can take cargo from an orbital platform across the relatively short distances within a planetary system, but due to its nature can not cross the vast inter-planetary distances on its own. The advantage here is that base unit of the ISSCV is also the same one used for the APC version, to transport troops and military equipment from a carrier to the ground.

"Once in space, we have the Builder-class Construction Fury, which is based on the same type of construction as our premier frontline fighter, the SA-23E Aurora. The Construction Fury's can move cargo, assemble stations, and perform any other tasks that are currently performed by your astronauts wearing only space suits. The advantage here is obviously more protection against solar radiation and debris in orbit.

"Next is a vessel, that while smaller than the two previous vessels, is more adaptable to various situations. It can be used to ferry equipment or cargo, perform repairs, or even just to examine the surface structure of a vessel or station. We're calling it a Worker Bee, because it has so many uses and because it's so small, and also because we've painted them the brightest yellow we could find so we can easily spot them in the darkness of space.

"With so many world governments now wanting to put up stations for research or commerce or recreation and whatnot, the need for your agencies is growing. Combined in this room is the brain trust that has taken men from Earth to the Moon, sent probes to the major planets in our solar system, and launched probes that are now traveling out among the stars. The Immortal Council felt it was high time we gave something back. Each government represented here will get twenty-five ISSCVs, along with fifty Builders and one hundred Worker Bees. You could pool your resources and build your stations faster, or you can do everything alone. Your choice.

"One last thing. As you are aware, the Immortal Shipyards will shortly begin construction on Bird-class commercial transports, and Star-class commercial scouts. If your governments wish, we can provide two of each of these to you for larger cargo jobs or for longer duration scout missions.

"That is all I have for the moment. Questions?"

"Mr. President. I am Mikhail Gudonov, aide to President Roshenko. Just how much will these new vessels cost us?"

"Ah, you are curious as to the 'catch' as it were. Well, in real dollars, I'm told the Shuttle that NASA has used for so many years cost an average of two point one billion dollars to build. Giving you a fleet of twenty-five similar vessels, would bankrupt most nations. So, rather than charge you an exorbitant amount, we, the Council, request a favor from each of your governments. As you know, we are attempting to become more self sufficient on Luna. The Council today approved a major construction project for Beaumont Crater. A shield will be put into place allowing our crews to work in light environmental suits in order that they build a dome over the entire crater. The shield will remain in place over the dome and eventually, just underneath the dome to provide an extra level of security. This crater will become home to our farmlands so that we might cultivate crops with any surpluses shipped back to Earth.

"But lunar soil is hardly conducive to growing anything. So what we would like from you, in exchange for providing the new equipment to your governments, is one trip from each of your governments using all of the ISSCVs at your disposal, ferrying soil suitable for the growth and cultivation of crops. Additionally, we request seed stocks to start our crops. Is this too much to ask of you?"

The various representatives stared at one another before giving their agreement. They did not want to look the gift horse in the mouth.

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

In the weeks that followed, SG teams went off-world almost continuously, acting as messengers in some cases for the Alliance members, and locating worlds free of Goa'uld influence where off-world facilities could be established. On Earth, the race for the Presidency heated up. Kinsey and Ryan were scheduled to meet in their first debate with interplanetary implications. It would be the first time ever that a televised debate would be deliberately broadcast to other planets.

It was a standard debate format with first one candidate, then the other, answering a list of prepared questions, asked by a moderator. At the end of this first debate, time permitting, three people who had been 'randomly' chosen, would be allowed to ask a pre-screened question to the candidates, and both would be given ninety seconds to respond.

Kinsey was already on the record as wanting to shut down what he called a 'Pandora's Box'. Ryan, on the other hand, kept pointing to all the good things that had come to Earth and the United States as a result of the Stargate. Kinsey pointed to the fact that the US military had acted recklessly and Ryan pointed to the fact that the US Military had initiated contact with advanced races that were even now helping improve life on Earth. Their jabs and punches went back and forth, Kinsey blaming Ryan for everything wrong with the country, and Ryan calmly explaining why things were they way they were. Then it came down to the final three questions, asked by three 'randomly' selected members of the audience. Unbeknownst to Kinsey, two of the three had been purposefully pre-selected and given pre-written questions by Arnie van Damm.

"Senator Kinsey. My name is Ronald Stackmoore of Maryland. Tell me sir, if elected, will you honor the treaties signed under President Ryan's administration with the Immortals, the Colonials, and the other aliens?"

"I will honor them to a point. Sure, there is some good that has come from these treaties, but the overall picture is bleak. Our being a party to the Alliance means loosing our independence. Neither the United States in particular nor the Earth in general, I believe, is ready to give up the sense of freedom that our ancestors fought so hard to achieve."

"Mr. President, you have ninety seconds to respond."

"Thank you. The treaties worked out by the diplomatic teams of the United States have proven to be a boon for our economy. Using technology from the Alliance, we've managed to offer a blind person their sight; we've begun production on a cure for so many suffering from AIDS, and production on a vaccination against the virus that causes this dreadful disease. We've been offered trade deals that would allow the US to produce cheap and clean electrical power, and a new job market that we can export our citizens to. And of course, there are at present a dozen or so American companies producing the new personal food replicators that hold the promise of an end to world hunger."

"Mr. President. I am Sean Connors of Illinois. Tell me sir, given the recent attacks on the United States by terrorists using aircraft and biological weapons, what is your opinion of the current state of Earth?"

"I think it's time the people of Earth grew into their own and realized that there is a great big universe out there. Our destiny lies as much here on Earth as it does in the stars. Our ancestors came to the Americas and explored its lands because that need for exploration, for seeing new places, exists in us all. If we can manage to overcome our differences with one another, then we will be in the best position to expand quickly. Each and every culture on this planet can contribute something towards that end. But first, we have a war to win. And while it may not be entirely of our making, the goal is basic survival. Our brethren have come across the sea of stars to find sanctuary with us. They have, unfortunately, been pursued by an enemy that wants to extinguish all human life. This cybernetic enemy is attempting to do to the entire Human species, what we stopped Hitler from doing to the Jewish people.

"Senator Kinsey, you have ninety seconds to respond."

"We have enough problems here on Earth without inviting the troubles of other races. The God I believe in will not allow His children to fade from His great plan."

"Senator Kinsey. I'm Caitlin O'Shannessy, Sheriff of Pope County, Texas. Why did you send killers into our communities to behead innocent men and women?"

"I beg your pardon! I've done no such thing!"

"I have proof of this, Senator. Undeniable proof of your orders as given to fifteen men. Orders to travel to different cities to execute innocent citizens, so that we citizens would have a fear of Immortals and of Colonials."

"I have done no such thing! How dare you accuse me of murder!"

Behind the two men on the stage at the American University in Washington, DC, a number of men and women in suits had appeared. All wore badges, and it did appear as though all were armed.

"Senator Kinsey. Good evening. I'm Inspector Patrick O'Day of the FBI. You sir, are under arrest."

"On what charge?"

"Conspiracy to commit murder. Conspiracy to kidnap citizens of the United States, of Immortal Luna, and of Colonial Mars. Conspiracy to defraud the people of the United States. Treason against the United States. You have the right to remain silent. If you choose to give up that right, note that anything you say can and will be used against you. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you can not afford an attorney, one will be appointed by the courts. Do you understand these rights as I have explained them to you?"

"You can't do this! Do you realize who I am? I will be President! Get away from me! You can't do this to me!"

Kinsey struggled against the men on the stage for all of about ten seconds, before he was knocked to the ground and cuffed. A moment later he was led away by Inspector O'Day. At his arraignment the next day, Kinsey pled not guilty to all of the charges, but behaved in such a manner that the judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the Senator.

At the same time, the Senate was meeting in a hastily called emergency session. All senators, save Kinsey, were in attendance. The FBI presented their evidence to the Senate, and in a historically significant unanimous vote, they passed a measure that would strip Senator Kinsey of his elected office and all of his privileges. Furthermore, a second measure was voted on and approved and it called for the Governor of Maryland to immediately act so as to officially declare the senatorial seat of Maryland vacant, and to appoint a new Senator to replace Kinsey as soon as possible.

The headlines around the US the next day all showed the same picture of the former Senator Kinsey being led out of a courthouse in Washington, DC, in a straight jacket. And with the elections to be held in less than a month's time, Jack Ryan was all but assured of victory. The citizens of the United States could tolerate many faults in the men they elected to the Presidency, but treason was not one of them. Nor was murder. The trial of Senator Kinsey occupied the headlines in the weeks before and after the election. Though he never admitted his culpability, he was eventually sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a total of thirty-one times. More than half of those sentences had been for the murders he'd ordered. Two of those sentences had been for the conspiracy to defraud charges, and the final sentence handed down had been in response to the charge of treason. Though the jury could have given him a death sentence for the treason charge alone, they elected to keep him alive and in prison, so that he could suffer for all the harm he caused.

With the Senator out of the way, the newly re-born Consortium faltered again. And when it arose yet again out of the ashes, Alex Krycek was at its helm, guiding them into a galactic class intelligence gathering operation that would support the Alliance.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm breaking the story here into two sections. The next 'chapter' is the story of Senator Kinsey. When that wraps up, the final chapter will be the continuation of this story.

END OF NOTE