The Time Lord Empire.
Starkiller Returns.
Delenn and the rest of the Grey Council were waiting inside the suite the Time lords had put them in. It was a simple enough room, barely furnished with a nine seats arranged in a circle in a parody of the council chamber on the Valen'tha. There were nine separate rooms, clearly set aside for the members of the Minbari for sleep, and their beds were arranged in a traditional manner. Delenn was surprised the humans would go so far as to make them comfortable, and she and the rest of the Council couldn't help but feel there was a hidden motive, but Delenn was hopeful that this meant the humans were going to allow them to come into their culture. The importance of the souls was too important for the council to ignore. Some of the council were starting to become impatient with the Time lords, but the Time Lords had told them that there was a meeting with the Supreme Commander of their forces.
Delenn sat in a seat, watching as the rest of the council paced up and down the room, but she didn't interact with any of them, she was trying to appear as serene as possible. She had no idea whether this Supreme Commander was of the ilk that hated the Minbari or not, and she definitely wanted to appear as open as she could.
The door opened, and a tall human walked in. Delenn's eyes widened, she'd seen this man before, on the Valen'tha after Lenonn had been killed following that disastrous peace making mission, but where that man had been battered and bruised, this man was clean, self assured. He was also familiar to the Warrior caste, but they couldn't place him.
The Time lord bowed his head in greeting. " I'm John Sheridan, Supreme Commander of the Time lord fleets. I've been told -"
" Starkiller!" Neroon roared in fury, drawing his fighting pike and advancing on the Supreme Commander. " They insult us! You're the Starkiller!"
Sheridan did not move.
Neroon bellowed like an angry bull, and charged - only to find himself kicked against the far wall by a force of strength he couldn't combat. He hit the wall, and stars exploded in his mind. When Neroon had shaken his mind free, he looked up and saw the human give him a contemptuous look, if that was what it was, and he was holding his fighting pike in his hands!
The human held up both ends of the pike, and gritting his teeth, he pitted his more than human muscles against the metal-crystalline alloy composite of the pike, and he started to bend it. The human twisted the once formidable and once 200 year old Minbari fighting pike into a ring, then a knot, and then he threw it against the wall. It impacted with a clang.
The human stood there, gazing at the Minbari, who were looking at him with strangely expressionless but emotional faces. Sheridan scanned their surface thoughts, and sensed fear, apprehension, and a good dose of anger. " You don't seem to realise, we're not like the humans you slaughtered on a daily basis. We're genetically enhanced, we're stronger, faster, superior in every way to what we used to be, even superior than the Khanate. I can snap your necks before you all realised what I was doing." Sheridan bent down to look Neroon in the eyes. The Minbari was still shaken, but he was alive and conscious enough to hear and understand, " All of you, worthless, stupid, primitives experienced the Great Link. It's perpetually generated, we humans are feeling each other even now, and they know what you've just tried to do, seeing the event through my eyes. You're an embarrassment to evolution, you don't think, at all. Say you overpower me, what then? This room is made from non atomic matter and you would never be able to break free of the rooms defences, and the lock can be utilised by anyone, sealing you in without letting you out. What would you have done? Say you kill me, you seem to forget one important detail; you're on our home planet, and there are millions of Time lords out there between you and your ships. One order from the Council, and your crews will be executed, and you would be plugged into see their deaths, but you, you could be locked in here for eternity." Sheridan got up, and looked around the room. None of the Minbari moved. " This room is under constant surveilance, but you could never hope to stop it. Yes, I am the Starkiller, and I'm proud of it. I'm proud that I destroyed a murdering crew who would kill the crew of a disabled ship that used a cowardly tactic of opening a jump point right in the middle of a fleet of ships. Silence!" He said harshly when a few of the warriors protested, saying that the Black star was honourable. Sheridan didn't want to hear it.
" You're not honourable, nor are you special. You're just a jumped up minor species that the Vorlons picked out the gutter, gave you technology after a war, for a reward," Sheridan sneered. By now the Minbari were silent, and they didn't try to deny what Sheridan was saying, as it was the truth. The Vorlons had appeared, literally, before the Minbari, and helped them develop space travel. What the Minbari did not know was that the Vorlons had not, as the Minbari believed them to have done, given them the technology and science out of faith or of goodwill, like gods giving their children gifts for being good. The Time lords had found during their studies of Minbari-Vorlon history, that the Vorlons had telepathically mesmirised the Minbari so then they wouldn't destroy themselves. The Minbari were a younger version of the Vorlons, something the Vorlons had taken great pride in, but aside from a few exceptions, the Minbari were lazy. They didn't develop new technologies, prefering to stagnate their culture behind an air of superiority.
Sheridan left the room.
Delenn was walking through the gardens ajoining the compound, smelling each flower and admiring their fragrant perfumes and their appearance. A large ornamental pond and a white gravel stone slated pathway with a wooden swing seat lent the air of a serene garden with a calming atmosphere.
" Beautiful night isn't it?" A voice whispered behind Delenn, who jumped. She turned and saw the Time lady that had been sitting in on the council and shown those horendous images of the alternate Time lords. "Yes," Delenn agreed, recovering from the surprise of the Time lady's arrival. " It is." She agreed before looking closely at the Time lady's face. She didn't look happy, but since Delenn had spent so little time amongst humans it was hard for her to deduce what a human was feeling, or even thinking.
The Time lady's face was grim. " You really should keep your control, you Minbari. Losing your temper, especially with a war hero is a bad idea."
Delenn agreed with her, but she also agreed with the warrior caste. " You do not know, nor do you understand how Starkiller is reviled in our culture-"
The Time Lady interrupted her forcefully, " And you can't understand how much contempt we actually have for your people. You went to war over one man, one incident. Your people have been space faring for a thousand years, believe me, we know. We've seen your history play out. We watched as the Vorlons patted you on the collective bones and gave you the technology you use to this day. We find that to be lazy. When we fought your kind, no one helped us, we had to work on our own, and we became used to it, and when we found ourselves here in this galaxy, abandoned by all, we excelled. We had no one to teach us anything, and using our new found knowledge we built a powerful empire spanning time and space. Not bad, for brutal savages. That is what you call us, isn't it? You had better that attitude, if you wish to survive, because you've got quite a few enemies lined up to kill you. You have the New Earth Alliance, the Khanate, and the Shadows in your galaxy. But they pale in comparison with the alternate Time Lords.
" Don't expect much sympathy from the rest of us, Sheridan was well within his rights. Your member attacked him, are you going to say your worthless people expect the universe to revolve around you? Sheridan will meet you tomorrow in the council chamber with three others, and there will be armed guards there. Attack him, or say anything else, and we will kill the crews of your ships. Remember, this is our planet, your in our territory, and our technology is infinitely more superior than yours. Now."
The Time Lady turned around and left, leaving Delenn with her thoughts.
It had taken Delenn hours to make Neroon see that attacking the Time Lords would not get him anywhere, and when they heard what would happen to their fellow Minbari, held captive, their mood did not improve. Uncaring about how they were perceived, the Time lords transmatted the Grey Council in the High Council Chamber of the Time Lords.
Delenn looked around the room, and saw at once the Time Lady had been right; there were armoured soldiers here, and each of them armed with massive rifles, though whether they were plasma based Delenn couldn't say. The Minbari had been teleported into their seats, and the President said. " Now we're here, maybe we can work together as civilised races for a change."
