A/N: To avoid some confusion, I'm adding this note about the timeline involved with this portion of the chapter. What takes place here takes up from the moment Sheridan returned to B5 in chapter one up to when the Enterprise enters the wormhole from the ST side. If this note is confusing to some of you, I'm sorry. Now on with the next part of Chapter Three!

Chapter Three: Discovery, Part Two

B5: Medlab

Lyta Alexander awoke in Medlab to see the smiling face of Steven Franklin looking down at her. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'll be fine Dr. Franklin…" The enormity of what she had witnessed earlier struck her. "I've got to talk to Captain Sheridan! I've got to talk to him NOW!" Lyta sat up quickly and fell back into the bed with a whoosh. She felt quite weak. Something was beginning to happen to her, she could feel it. One of the Vorlon programs was doing something to her… changing her to deal with the problems ahead. She sank back into unconsciousness, the urgency of her plight clearly marked on her young face.

"I need a full med team over here STAT!" yelled Franklin as her vital signs began to fluctuate wildly. "Don't you die on me Lyta! Don't you die!"

Sheridan walked into the Medlab and moved over to Lyta's bed opposite Franklin as he took bio readings. "How is she Steven?"

"I'm not sure. She's stabilized for the moment, but she's changing in ways I don't understand. Her brain is being altered somehow. In most humans, we use about ten percent of our brain, Lyta's brain activity is approaching something closer to ninety percent and I can't stop it." replied Franklin.

Sheridan let out a low whistle. "Vorlons?"

Franklin looked up and nodded. "Vorlons."

"Will she die?"

"That's hard to say. I'm still running tests. I'll know more in an hour or so." replied Franklin.

Sheridan frowned. "Do what you can. Could you come up to my office when you get the results?"

Franklin nodded.

"I'll see you then." said Sheridan as he took one last look at Lyta. She'd saved their butts a few times now since they broke away from Earth. He hoped that these changes would help them in the coming days. With a final nod to Steven he headed for his office.

"Sheridan to C&C."

"C&C Go…" replied Ivanova.

"Susan, have Marcus meet me in my office in one hour." said Sheridan.

In C&C Ivanova frowned slightly. "I'll get right on it. Do you need for me to be there too?"

"Negative, I need you there to monitor things for the moment." replied Sheridan.

"Understood. C&C out." she said and cut the link.

Just over an hour later Franklin and Marcus walked into Sheridan's office and took seats opposite the captain's desk.

Sheridan finished reading a report from Whitestar Seventeen and looked up at them. "Thank you for coming. First, could you tell me anything new about Lyta Doctor?"

"Her condition is improving. If she continues on this trend, she should be waking up soon." reported Franklin. "All of her vitals are returning to normal. Except for the elevated brain activity, she's fine."

"Good. The reason I've called both of you here is because I need you to go to Mars for me. We've ignored Earth for too long. I'd go myself, but my face is on every wanted poster between here and Earth. Can you do it?" asked Sheridan.

Marcus and Franklin exchanged looks. "We'll have to take the long way round, say two weeks each way, there and back." said Marcus.

"I expected as much, but it can't be helped. Get going, and watch your backs. If Clark gets wind of this, all hell's going to break loose." said Sheridan.

"What about Lyta?" asked Franklin.

"You DO have a competent staff Steven. She'll be okay without you. I need you to let the Mars Resistance know that we haven't forgotten them and that we're coming to help, soon." replied Sheridan.

Franklin nodded reluctantly. He hated to leave Medlab at such a critical time, but Sheridan was right. They'd left the Earth question hanging for far too long. "I'll go pack."

"Pack lightly. We may need to move quickly once our trek begins." said Marcus knowingly.

Franklin and Marcus left the office to pack, while Sheridan stood up and walked over to the observation window. Looking out at the garden that populated the inside wall to the rotating sections of the station seemed to calm him sometimes. The last time he'd done it was during the ISN broadcast a couple weeks ago. The memory of what they said about his family home still burned hotly in his mind. Oh yes, Clark would pay Sheridan vowed quietly.

He glanced at his link and pondered what he should do about Delenn. He missed her strong resolve in times like these. Was she safe? Was she coming back soon? He hoped she was and finally went back to his never ending pile of reports.

Babylon 5: Down Below

In a particularly bad part of B5 a group of six figures sat around a dingy table. One feature of this particular room was the view port in the floor which, as it happened at the moment, was presenting the view of an angry reddish ball of energy.

"We may need to accelerate our program. With this new development, Clark will be wanting someone representing Earth's interests here." said one figure.

"What shall we move up?" asked another.

"We'll need to put our Garabaldi plan into action. If that fails, we'll kill Sheridan ourselves… when the time is right…" replied the first figure.

Smiles were shared around the table.

Minbar
Delenn and Lennier stepped out of the Dreaming Chamber with Calenn following.

"Lennier, I want you to go to the Grey Council's Archive Center. Find the scroll pertaining to the coming of Valen. I will wait here for you." ordered Delenn.

"It shall be done, Delenn." replied Lennier bowing respectfully. He quickly left the house of Mir and retrieved the record. When he came back his robes were slightly ruffled.

"I trust there were no problems getting the record?" asked Delenn.

"The Grey Council may be disbanded, but the guards still remain. They tried to stop me from removing the record… they will recover, in time." replied Lennier.

Delenn took the scroll from Lennier bowing her thanks and handed it to Calenn. "Here is the proof you require. I am a child of Valen, a Minbari not born of Minbari, a man we knew as Jeffery Sinclair who we sent back in time to fight the Shadows. When the war was over, Valen fled with his family from Minbar to avoid persecution by 'pure Minbari'. After a time, his children returned to Minbar and had children. Their children had children and on and on, down from the past to the present. You wanted a reason why I should be allowed to marry Sheridan, well there it is! I will leave you now."

Calenn jumped up. "Wait! Don't go! You can't leave me like this!"

"Why can I not?" asked Delenn. "You know the truth now. My blood is not pure Minbari, so my joining with Sheridan matters not in the slightest. How many generation of Minbari are children of Valen anyway?"

Calenn sank back onto the bench. "They cannot be counted…"

"You have your answer." Delenn said again and bowed one last time.

"Wait! Delenn please! There is another way. One that will preserve our people! If news of Valen's true origins and of what became of his progeny became public there could be bloodshed! You would be the death of your own family!" cried Calenn.

Delenn stopped and turned back to Calenn expectantly.

"In the ancient days of Minbar, when we still warred among ourselves, a sacrifice was sometimes offered to the victors to ease the transition from war to peace. The daughter of the fallen would be offered up to the victor's son as a testament of their loyalty to the winning side. We, …that is I can offer this as a reason to our people to explain your bonding to Sheridan… It is a great burden to bear I would imagine…"

Delenn smiled and nodded, bowed to Calenn and gestured for Lennier to follow her.

Calenn smiled weakly. He hoped this ploy worked. Not all Minbari would accept it on face value and those who didn't might prove to be the end for his people.

Outside her transport, Delenn found a human Ranger waiting for her. "Entil'Zha, my name is Errol. Things at Babylon 5 are heating up. Sheridan asked for me to report this to you."

Delenn nodded and smiled. "Then it is a good thing that I am returning there now. Tell me everything. Lennier, please ready the ship for flight."

Lennier bowed and went to the controls.

Shortly all three were on their way out of Tuzanor and heading for the local jumpgate. Lennier noticed two Sharlins coming out of hyperspace not far from the planet. He was extremely comforted to know that his homeworld was so aptly defended. A moment later he activated the jumpgate and set course for Babylon 5.

On the Sharlin Cruiser Orban'Zha, Shakiri observed Delenn's transport as it entered the jumpgate. "Prepare a transport. I wish to return home."

"At once, Shai Alyt, it shall be done." responded a young warrior.

Shakiri smiled. He would begin his cleansing of the homeworld soon. Only Warriors were fit to lead the Minbari people. He would begin with the casting out of the Religious Caste from Warrior Caste cities. Let them make their way as they may, he thought darkly.

B5: Three days later.

Sheridan waited at the docking terminal for Delenn's arrival. As she walked into view Sheridan's face lit up into a smile. "Hello Delenn."

Delenn smiled back and took Sheridan's offered arm. "John."

"I hope everything is fine at home for you?" asked Sheridan.

"Yes, things are fine for now, John. Has Lyta regained consciousness?" asked Delenn.

Sheridan nodded. "Dr. Hobbs just called me a few minutes ago. She would like for us to come down. She says Lyta is crawling up the walls… figuratively speaking of course…"

Delenn frowned at the last remark. Human humor was still hard for her to grasp. "Then we should go there now John, before she falls off a wall and injures herself further…" she said in a serious fashion. She hurried forward as they headed for the nearest transport tube.

Sheridan watched her back with a look of dismay on his face. Sometimes he just didn't know what to say to Delenn after remarks like that…

Dr. Hobbs looked up as they entered Medlab and smiled warmly. "Thank you for coming Captain, Ambassador. I don't know if I could have kept Ms. Alexander in here much longer if she hadn't overheard me call for you. She's quite adamant that she needs to see you right away."

Sheridan nodded. "I understand. Shall we?" he asked gesturing toward the main isolation bay.

The doctor led them into the room and began to take readings from Lyta as Sheridan and Delenn came in behind her.

Lyta opened her eyes as they stepped up to the bed she was lying on. They glowed a brilliant white in an almost blinding fashion. "Captain Sheridan, Delenn, good you've both come just in time."

Sheridan frowned as he glanced at Delenn and shared a look of pause between them. Looking back at Lyta he asked, "Just in time for what?"

"For a new beginning." replied Lyta. "The Multiverse is about to open up to us, but there are dangers that we must face and overcome before we'll be ready for it. What happened outside of the station with the Gate was not supposed to happen. The gate was supposed to blow up and seal the breach between realities, but instead the rift shifted to another reality, one that holds dangers as great as or greater than that of the Enemy you defeated."

"It sounds like we should try to find a way to close this rift. We have enough troubles here in our own universe without letting more in." said Sheridan.

"That may not be possible. The Vorlons feared that this might happen; as a result I was altered for this contingency. Long ago, when they were still trying to perfect the Gate, the Vorlons managed to open a breach to the reality that the rift is now focused on. They sent a small fleet into this new space to explore and were forced to retreat back to our own universe when they encountered a race far older than themselves." said Lyta.

"A race older than the Vorlons? Were they like Lorien?" asked Sheridan.

"They were much the same, but they were not interested in having the Vorlons 'visit' as they put it at the time. They 'escorted the Vorlon fleet back to the rift and sealed it. Since then, they have appeared in our own universe once. They went to Earth and did something to the local population of Humans and left. The Vorlons went to Earth to see what had been done and discovered that the humans of one continent had been altered on a genetic level. They studied these humans extensively and learned how to manipulate DNA and RNA strands in their subjects. They took this information and used it to change other races across the galaxy."

"So that's how they learned to make everyone see them as they wanted to be seen by the younger races. They learned it from this other race. Lyta, did this race have a name? Did they ever tell the Vorlons who they were?" asked Sheridan.

"They called themselves the Progenitors and they gave the Vorlons a small history lesson on their way back to the rift. Billions of years ago when their universe was young they explored their home galaxy and found it empty of any other intelligent life. A billion years passed and their race began to die. They were saddened that only their race would ever know the wonders of the universe and so they began to seed many worlds over vast distances of their home galaxy with the essence of life. As they watched and died those worlds blossomed and new forms of intelligent life began to emerge and explore. When the first of these new races discovered how to travel faster than light, the Progenitors withdrew from their home galaxy and set a barrier around it to protect their children." said Lyta.

"So these Progenitors could still be out there in their universe somewhere?" asked Delenn.

"It is possible. If Lorien were still here, he might be able to tell us. Since he isn't however, I must now fill his role of protector. The Vorlons and the Shadows, all of the First Ones are gone, but the Vorlons left me, so I could act as a guide if this occurred." replied Lyta. Her eyes dimmed slightly for a second. "Something is coming through the rift, something that may prove helpful Captain, for all of us."

Outside of the station the angry red mass churned itself into a vortex and spat out a ship.

In C&C, Ivanova ordered Corwin to lock the defense grid onto the ship as it seemed to drift towards them without power. She could see lights in some of the huge windows that seemed to be everywhere on the vessel, but that was all. She looked to be adrift.

Abruptly a set of thruster plumes became visible as the ship righted itself and came to a full stop not far from the station. "Open a channel to that ship." Ivanova ordered Corwin.

"No response commander. She may not be able to receive us." Corwin reported.

As they watched, the ship suddenly seemed to vanish for a few seconds and then reappeared. This happened for almost a minute before the ship finally vanished completely from sight and scanners.

"Where did it go? Corwin, see if you can find it again." Susan ordered.

After a few tense minutes Corwin reported. "I think I have it. Its only showing up as a sensor echo on our communications channels, but I could be wrong. I believe the ship's got some kind of invisibility cloak, but I think I can find it if I look hard enough using our Tachyon Communication Emitters on wide beam broadcast."

"Good work Corwin. How'd you come up with that?" Ivanova asked.

"It just seemed odd to me that the communications relay was still getting a sensor echo from the ship, even when it was doing that Houdini act. A steady sensor echo was present the whole time." replied Corwin.

Ivanova looked at his readings. "How far away is it from us now?"

"That's just it. She just disappeared from this type of scan too. Either they could adapt to it, or they're out of range of the emitters." he replied.

"Keep watching for it. I'll go have a talk with the captain about what we've seen." said Ivanova.

As she headed for the exit all she could think about was the ancient Russian proverb. If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong…

TBC in Chapter Four: First Contact