Chapter Sixteen: Ungrateful

The shadow lord was ecstatic at hearing the latest news. He hadn't expected the Centauri to so easily accept his assistance. As luck would have it, fate dealt them a bad hand and now their only hope of a reprieve lay with the Shadows. A Centauri fleet of twenty primus battle cruisers was on its way to a Shadow shipyard to be outfitted with Shadow tech. In the coming days there would be more ships and more transformations. War was inevitable and that made the Shadow lord giddy. Soon the Vorlons and their children would learn the error of their ways. Only the strong would survive the coming war to become even stronger only proving their point. Finally they, the masters of chaos, the lords of darkness, would be free to leave for the rim.

Captain Payne was tired of giving ultimatums but lately, that's what he found himself doing over and over again. He had finished dealing with the crazy Minbari but there were over forty vessels remaining. "To all vessels in the area, stop all action immediately. This is your last and only warning."

No more needed to be said. These diminutive ships had so effortlessly destroyed four Sharlins and nobody wanted a piece of them. Payne was more than happy with that. Too many lives had been lost today.

"This is Captain Payne to the lead Earth Force vessel. I want you out of this area. Now!" he emphasized.

"Captain Payne, this is General Braddock. This station legally belongs to Earth Force. You have no jurisdiction here. Please leave this area immediately."

"General Braddock, I don't think you understood me. That was not a request. I don't think you want to test my resolve."

"This is a travesty. This is an Earth station. You have no …"

Payne cut him off. "General Braddock, you have ten minutes. You can either leave under your own steam or I will do it for you. If I were you, I'd take the first option."

"Wait a minute Captain, that's not enough time. I have ships that have no power. How do you expect me to clear them out in that time," he struggled for time.

"You will evacuate those ships, transfer the personnel to the other ships and get the hell out of here."

"What about the ships?"

"General Braddock, don't try my patients." With that he terminated the line. Instead, he opened a new one to the station. "Babylon 5, this is Captain Payne of the Federation ship USS Baikonur. Please respond."

"Captain Payne, this is Lieutenant David Carlton. I am the officer in charge of the station. However, Captain Sandra Hiroshi is the senior-most officer here. She might not be reachable at the moment though. We lost all contact with her ship during the fight."

"I see. Lieutenant Carlton, we are here to lend assistance to you. What sort of aid do you need?"

"Anything you can give. We still have thousands of GROPOs fighting all over the station."

"What's that?"

"Ground pounders. Marines."

"I see. You might want to let them know that their support fleet is leaving without them in ten minutes. So unless they want to spend the rest of their lives in some holding cell, they might want to pack up and leave too."

"Thanks!"

"In the meantime, I will see what I can do to help Captain Hirsoshi."

"That would be greatly appreciated."

The ten-minute ultimatum came and went, but the Earth Force ships were still around. To their credit they were transferring crew from the disabled ships at a frenzied pace. Payne had deliberately given them such short notice and just to make sure they understood his resolve, the Federation ships hovered around, overseeing the whole operation. There was a similar frenzied activity onboard Babylon 5 itself. The GROPOs that had so effectively gained ground earlier were giving it up just as quickly; afraid their ride would leave without them. It was bittersweet for them though. They had put their lives at risk for every inch of the station and were not happy at having to give it up without a fight. They left many parting gifts in the form of booby traps. Finally after three hours, the last of them got on the freighter and departed.

Sandra Hiroshi couldn't believe her luck. Being snatched from the jaws of death was an extra ordinary thing even for someone with her experience. The wild roller coaster ride she had just been through was still heavy on her psyche as her shuttle touched down on the station. She was still weary about coming onboard but the Federation captain had convinced her that they had a cure for the plague ravaging the station. He had personally vouched for her safety and to prove his good faith had volunteered to meet her on the station. After such an offer, she really couldn't back down. After all, she was in charge here. With a final sigh, she stepped out onto the station to take command. She did it with an apprehensive breath as if to see if she could smell the foul air that was poisoning the station all around her.

Satisfied with her sniff test, she got down to business managing the massive cleanup and recovery effort. It engrossed her so completely, she forgot about the Federation captain until his shuttle docked. Just like their ships, the shuttle was clean and graceful. None of the normal noise and vibration associated with a regular shuttle, just a pair of glowing pods on the bottom on which it landed. A ramp at the rear opened up and the group of five people walked out. Hirsoshi noticed that all of them were humans unlike the mixed crew she had seen on the bridge before. She took it in stride and approached the group.

"Welcome aboard Babylon 5," she greeted them. "I'm Captain Sandra Hiroshi."

"Thomas Payne," Payne answered. "This is Commander Josephine Yara, my Executive Officer. Lieutenant Christopher Leon, the ship's councilor and ensign Singh and ensign Nguyen from security."

Hiroshi acknowledged all of them and finally turned back to the captain, "Captain Payne, I had assumed you would have a medical contingent with you."

"Ah yes, they will be here on the next shuttle. They had to get their equipment together."

"I see. In that case, shall we go to a conference room?"

"Please lead the way Captain. I'm sure you have lots of questions for me."

Ambassador Delen was still reeling from the events that had just taken place outside Babylon 5. She had been monitoring the comm. channels throughout the incident and was aware of the whole events as it unfolded but could not still bring herself to believe what had transpired. She was pacing the floor restlessly when her chamber door opened letting the form of ambassador Kosh glide through. She felt his presence immediately and turned around to greet him. "Ambassador Kosh, what brings you here?"

In his usual cryptic way, Kosh replied, "The circle has been broken. They must not be allowed to contaminate it any further."

Delen knew what he meant. It was those strange new Earth Force ships. Someone was helping them. It had to be the shadows. How dare Earth ally themselves with the shadows? Weren't they supposed to be her allies against the coming darkness?

"They must not be allowed to contaminate the circle," Kosh repeated as he glided out of her residence. Delen knew what had to be done. The Vorlons had spoken.

"Let me get this clear? You are actually humans from an alternate reality?" Hiroshi repeated it unable to grasp the idea. "And you accidentally transmitted this plague to us?"

"Yes, we unwittingly transmitted this virus to you. But we have a cure for it and Dr Sina is preparing it as we speak."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"Well, we will treat the infected people with an antiviral drug. The rest will be infected with a benign virus that has been genetically altered with the markers of the Marsis virus. Their bodies will learn to recognize the protein sequence and develop a natural immunity to it so the next time they get hit with the actual Marsis virus, they wont have any problem combating it."

"I see," she replied. "But what about the Earth Force personnel? Weren't they exposed to the same virus? This disease could wreck havoc back on Earth."

"Well ahead of you," Payne replied with a smile. "We have already take care of that."

Hiroshi was about to ask him how they did that when the Minbari Ambassador stormed into the meeting.

"Ambassador Delen, what are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here?" she was offended. "Let me ask you, what are they doing here?" she said pointing an accusing finger at the Federation crew. "Aren't you aware of what they just did?"

"Yes I am. They saved us from being killed by Earth Force."

Delen completely ignored that last statement. "They destroyed four Minbari ships," she spat out with venom in her voice. "They are nothing but minions of the shadows. They must be destroyed."

"Ambassador Delen, please calm down. They are not who you think they are," Hiroshi pleaded.

"Enough," Delen brushed her off. "Minbar has declared war against Earth Force. I suggest you get them off of this station immediately. I may not be able to stop some young warrior from blowing this station when they find out that you are sheltering them." With that she stormed out of the room.

Hirsoshi exchanged surprised looks with the Federation captain. The Minbari had clearly made up their mind. "I'm sorry Captain Payne, but you heard her. Even if I am inclined to believe you, I cannot have you here when the Minbari show up. My duty is to protect this station. I will have to ask you to leave immediately."

Payne understood what Hiroshi was going through. Even though she believed in their sincerity she had only one goal and that was the safety of the station. He could respect her for that. "I understand," he told her. "We will leave as soon as the doctor and his team can administer the cure. It shouldn't take more than an hour." With that, he and his team left the station. This certainly was a cold cold world. No matter which direction they turned, it gave them the same cold shoulder.