The Time Lord Empire.
The Battle across Space.
Ultimately the plan to contact the Host Time Lord worlds failed, though whether or not because the alternates had conquered them themselves, or because they were ignoring the Time Lords in need no one knew. If ordinary humans had heard about the failure for allies to come to their aid they would've been disheartened, but with the Time Lords it was only a matter to shrug off. The Host was only a contingency plan and not one to play with, but their aid would've helped them enormously.
For himself Sheridan was disappointed by the failure, but in some ways it was perhaps a good thing because it would attract the alternates attention off their reality, and on to those with little in the way of defence. As far as Sheridan and the others knew the alternates didn't know anything about the Host, but if they did they were in trouble.
Meanwhile he was taking his time going through the reports coming through. The beauty of TARDISes was they didn't need supplies, but they did need temporal energy, and there was the possibility the alternates could head for Earth. The time vortex and the Time's Eyes were controlled from Earth in this universe like it was in their own.
The TARDISes of Sheridan's reality were holding the lines, in the past and in the future, and preventing the enemy time machines the opportunity to fight back and move beyond a few years or months in either direction. Sheridan had a plan to get rid of the alternates time machines and starships heading their way, but so far the information he needed was dangerous, and it was taking forever to arrive. He cursed the lack of speed in his subordinates, but he knew it wasn't their fault when they were busy risking their lives. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement approach him. At first he thought it might be a member of his people, but he soon realised it wasn't. The lack of telepathic contact and the lack of aura telling him who it was, was a giveaway.
A Minbari.
Sheridan closed his eyes to relax himself. Fifty centuries coupled with the thirty before his genetic enhancement had done wonders for Sheridan, it had made him physically stronger mentally and physically, but time and development had given him a wisdom augmented by his time as a father and grandfather many times over. It had also taught him patience, but the Minbari were already making him question the wisdom of the council. The President and the council had come up with a plan to make it known to the Milky way its previous actions were not to be tolerated. It would also be the opportunity needed to deal with the First Ones. The Vorlons and the Shadows had fought each other for aeons, and the Time Lords had watched from afar as a race they had the barest dealings with fight against another race they had had no idea even existed, over a war of ideology. The humans had watched in horror as the realisation was made that the whole reason entire worlds and races died out and others took their places, aided by genetic tampering by the Vorlons to fill the gap. It was a galaxy sized game of chess.
The Time Lords had been prepared to show the galaxy the Multiverse window, an artificial rift in space/time which would show the Vorlons and the Shadows the hubris of their wars. To show them the realities where their conflict destroyed and destroyed, races were rendered extinct and others took their place. It was hoped the Vorlons and the Shadows would take the window's views as gospel and they would simply leave. If they had showed such a device to the younger races like the Centauri or even the Narns to show the two belligerent races what their mutual hatred could lead to, it might make things worse. Some of the Time Lord philosophers had even glimpsed into their own history, back before they'd achieved space flight and later mastery of time and space, and they had wondered what life would've been like if the wars before - World War 1 and 2, the American war of Independence, the Franco-Prussian war had never happened because of what might occur in different realities.
The same question had been applied to wars such as the Dilgar and Earth-Minbari wars. Sheridan knew some of them who watched what was in the window would not believe it, but others might have.
It didn't matter in the long run.
Delenn watched as the Time Lords worked hurriedly but calmly through the room, amazed by their diligence. If only they would help them banish the Shadows, but it was clear that to the Time Lords the Shadows were nothing more than pests. She and the rest of the Minbari council kept out of the way. There was nothing they could do; the humans were rushing about with different plans, reports, and proposals beyond the comprehension of the Minbari, and besides that the humans themselves didn't want them anywhere near their charts.
" Commander Sheridan," a voice called out. Delenn saw a human face appear on a wall screen. A female Time Lord. Delenn noticed she looked exhausted, but her eyes were strongly keeping her upright and alert.
" Go ahead," Sheridan said. " State your report."
" Sir, we are materialising on Earth," the female replied. " We have the attero frequency of the alternate's time ships and FTL drives."
Sheridan brightened considerably, and the stress on his face faded away into nothing. " That's great!" He said. " Get it here quick, and we can proceed with the attero plan."
Delenn walked over, followed closely by Neroon. " What is the Attero plan?"
Sheridan ignored her. " Prepare the attero computer," he ordered a small group of Time Lord technicians. " As soon as the frequencies have been programmed in, activate it. I want to see as many of their ships destroyed or immobilised."
There were immediate protests. " We will need to test the computer to ensure there is no rejection, sir," one technician protested.
" The explosions might cause damage to space-time-"
" We'll worry about that later. I am authorising this action as Supreme Commander of the fleet. I am sure the council would agree with me," Sheridan replied, cutting through the protests. " In the meantime carry out my orders," Sheridan ordered with finality before he moved away, but Neroon moved fast. He grabbed the Commander by the arm but not enough to hurt him. Sheridan swung round at once, furious. " What is the attero plan?" Neroon asked before the human could lash out at him.
Sheridan calmed down at the question. " Every race in the Milky way galaxy uses hyperspace to travel, using the same principles to move in and out of hyperspace by jump points, but every race has their own design, their own frequency.
" The attero plan takes advantage of that weakness. It broadcasts a localised interference into the universe, and it causes ships entering or exiting FTL to self destruct. That's the simplest explanation, and we've learnt the frequency used by the alternates, and now we're going to implement it. Now, if you don't mind letting me go, I need to get to my ship."
Neroon let go of Sheridan. The Time Lord commander stared at him for a moment before he left the room. He headed for the transmat bay when the President's voice came over to him telepathically.
" I understand you are implementing the Attero plan, and you told the Minbari what it was."
It wasn't a question.
Sheridan nodded though the president couldn't see it as he could sense it. " Yes. It's the only way to slow them down short of sending more of our ships. Besides that our TARDISes need to be supported. They're needed to fight the main fleet, but the enemy TARDISes are slowing them down and confining them to fight in the past and the future. They are needed here, in this time."
" I agree with you, Supreme Commander," the President replied. Sheridan noticed the way the President had mentally said his rank, it was a reminder that Sheridan didn't have overall authority above that of the council. " Just like I agree with you we need the attero plan."
" Then why-"
" Does it matter?" The President asked. " What are your plans now?"
Pleased the President was not angry with him, Sheridan related his plan. He told the President he was going to transport to his ship to take command of the fleet as he could do more with them than he could down here. The President understood that part, but it didn't mean he had to like it. He was always secure when it came to Sheridan's ideas and plans and counterplans.
" What about the rift?"
" We can't get to it," Sheridan replied. " The alternates have literally barricaded it. The only way to get in is to destroy the fleet, and then try and capture one of their time machines so we can destroy their time vortex."
The President's eyes widened. The only way to destroy a TARDIS and take down the universe with it was to materialise inside the Time's Eye chamber, a pocket universe held on Earth to rein control of the vortex to the Time Lords. Naturally there were less riskier ways of destroying the vortex, but using a TARDIS was a good way, especially in this case.
They couldn't use one of their own, as the destruction could irreversibly damage their own vortex, and the Time Lords were not going to risk that.
Sheridan transported up to his ship, stepping onto the bridge and heading to the command chair. " Report," he snapped out, taking his seat before accessing the ships computer.
" The attero device is online," one of the crew reported. " Reports are coming in of destruction to the majority of the enemy fleet. Our TARDISes are reporting communication contact sent over the temporal ether to their time vessels, ordering for help. They're coming this way."
Sheridan nodded. Good. " What about the rest of their fleet?" he asked.
The bridge crew as one felt the officer's aura became grimmer. " Sir," he licked his lips. " The fleets presently in other galaxies are being called here as well, the majority of them are being destroyed by the attero device, but their TARDISes..."
" Are heading here," Sheridan completed grimly. He didn't hear the officers reply, he just sat back in his chair and closed his eyes to think properly. What was he going to do to deal with this situation? Conventional starships were one thing but War TARDISes were something else. All Time Lord vessels had the power to move through time and space, it was part of their prowess.
But TARDISes were designed to move through time and space freely, unlike conventional ships which could only jump. Sheridan hadn't been looking forwards to the prospect of fighting them, where was the fun in fighting a ship which could jump through time and space like a kangaroo hops on land to, and rain down hell on Earth before the battle even started. It was a good thing the Temporal shielding in place prevented that sort of attack, but it would be close.
Realising the crew were awaiting his orders when he felt the questioning of the ambient telepathic field on the bridge, Sheridan opened his eyes to regard them.
" Advise the War TARDISes to maintain their position in vulnerable areas," he began, " but instruct the rest to come here at once. We'll need temporal disruptors on this occasion. Charge the temporal core to power our shields, and whilst you're at it make sure the scanners are in place for the Tempus-Attero device to be prepared to accept the frequency of the enemy time machines," Sheridan instructed, eyes going from one officer to the next to better gauge their reaction to that order.
The bridge crew weren't that surprised. The Attero device was only good against conventional ships, and it had been present for centuries as a contingency plan against any race stupid enough to attack the Time Lords. But for years many had protested about its existence, saying they didn't need it.
The threat of the Alternates, people who were mirror doubles of themselves, doubles who were violent and evil who had travelled down a path they could have easily gone down, a path of anger, fear, resentment, and bitterness after losing so many people to the Minbari. Matters were made worse when it was discovered the Alternates knew of their existence, and were horrified by how they were perceived as weak and callow in comparison to themselves. And they were trying to get through into their reality, so plans and strategies for dealing with them should they enter their reality should their efforts to prevent them from breaking through were brought into place, and one of their first ideas was to destroy an old TARDIS model with the Attero device. Every TARDIS had a unique frequency, like a starship had a unique energy output depending on its size and technology. It was hoped the Attero device could destroy a TARDIS as easily as it could conventional ships.
It didn't work.
TARDISes were completely different compared to conventional ships, but the problem was clear. If the alternates did get through then they would almost certainly send that section of their fleet, as they believed having a TARDIS on their side was the way to victory. They even ignored the fact their enemy fleet had TARDISes of their own. They even ignored the fact there were ways of crippling, disabling, or even destroying TARDISes, and the Tempus-Attero device was the key.
Unlike its counterpart, the Tempus-Attero device didn't just broadcast a form of interference to destroy a TARDIS, no it acted like a magnet, and prevented the TARDIS from journeying to any other point of time, and since the alternates used a machine form of TARDIS the vulnerabilities were more easy to deal with, but the interference they broadcasted affected the temporal core until it became unstable, and caused an explosion. The damage to space/time was possibly going to be immense, but the Time Lords could work on it.
In the Temporal operations room on Earth, the President was standing over the table, watching as the 3d holograms showed the progress of the multitude of battles taking place through time and space. It was almost beyond comprehension to think of war across the centuries, but for the people on both Earths, genetically engineered to mentally overcome the paradoxical nature of time travel, it was no more confounding than conventional space warfare.
The Time Lords had never needed to fight a war in the Andromeda galaxy on this magnitude; how could they when there were no other races with their power and superiority over time travel? Who would want to fight an enemy with far greater power, and could conceivably wipe them out without the race knowing the joys of walking upright, or establishing a civilisation?
The President was well aware of the presence of the Minbari Grey council nearby, looking out of their depth. It was a mistake to bring them here, but there was a silver lining to having them here, maybe them being here to witness the way their former victims could handle powerful enemies would make them see the human race were still on top of the game.
It made no difference.
" How many alternate ships have been destroyed by the attero device?" one of the councilors asked.
One of the operations technicians, a girl with her hair in a bun, her face pale on the grey uniform she was wearing. " We're still getting reports from the time battles," she replied, " all commanders in the fleet have been notified about the attero device, and are on full alert to see if the device has any side effects."
The President nodded. " Good, very good. Maintain scans. Do you have any other news on the anomaly?"
The technician sighed, but she covered it up but the President gently put a hand on her arm. " It's alright. We're all tired," he said soothingly to comfort the girl, " you can sigh as much as you want."
Delenn, and the other Minbari, noticed the Time Lady look more flustered than she had before, but she pushed that aside. " The alternates are still using it, but no more ships or their form of time machine are coming through. They haven't moved from their positions, sir."
" Surely that's good news," Coplann commented, drawing the Time Lord's attention back on them for a change. The Minbari were pleased by that, until the Time Lords robotically turned away from them. " Well, isn't it?" the warrior asked.
The President sighed. " The alternates have despatched their fleets and armies throughout the galaxy, but the largest group of them are actually still guarding the anomaly, and they will provide the largest resistance."
" The alternates know about the attero device," the Time Lady technician used her leader's statement as permission to explain. " They have one of their own, in their own universe. They can't bring it through, because if they did then they would destroy their own ships by passing through the anomaly. The anomaly is essentially a corridor, if there's any instability it would destroy both universes. That's why they haven't moved. Space and time is too fragile at the moment, if there's any kind of explosion, the anomaly would be destroyed on both sides, and we will cease to exist."
" Except your people," one of the Minbari said snidely.
The Time Lords sneered at the Minbari. " We have portals to prevent our races' extinction, yes. But we would prefer not to use them."
Sheridan sat calmly on the bridge of his ship as they shunted out of the wormhole, followed closely by other ships in formation. All around, Sheridan could see the other wormholes appearing in a perfect ring. They were in the sector where the anomaly was located, and it had been a fight to get through. Thanks to the attero device, Earth was more or less safe, giving them the time they needed to prevent more of this from taking place whilst a smaller fleet maintained a protection detail on the homeplanet.
Sheridan turned his head around, " Activate the chronon loop. Maintain safety distance."
In space the alternate Time Lord fleet started their sublight engines, and began their course towards the Time Lord ships. The lenses of their beam and energy weapon banks were fully powered, and ready, and their missile tubes were poised and ready for the coming battle.
Unlike the Time Lords of the reality they'd invaded, these ships used basic sublight technology whilst the Time Lords used space warping in their technology to move through space. The alternates hadn't made the effort to truly master the science despite them being more advanced than any of the races they'd conquered.
It was a weakness the Time Lords had no trouble exploiting. Generated between the number of ships in the area, they created a ring of pure time energy that had a magnetic effect on the temporal energy that powered the alternate's ships. The alternates may have called it cheating, but seriously, who was going to give a damn? Within seconds of deployment, the enemy Time Lord ships caught in the trap were instantly running out power, but it was more severe for their TARDISes, as they used more temporal energy than their larger counterparts, and so they lost power more quickly.
The Prime Time Lords waited for a few minutes before they opened fire, not with energy weapons, or any kind of temporal weapon as they would lose power under the chronon loop, but with drone missiles that exploded with the same power as a supernova. Propelled by space warping engines to provide momentum, and a bit more explosive force by kinetic energy, the swarm of missiles targeted the alternate TARDISes. Unprotected by their energy grids, the outer shells made contact with warping missiles which exploded with the same energy output of a supernova.
No contest.
Sheridan watched with satisfaction as the alternate TARDISes exploded in bright plumes of light and debris, the outer shells popping the interior dimensions like a balloon being pricked by a pin. He watched coldly as, without prompting from him, the TARDISes were destroyed with no way for their occupants to survive or escape. With no power to work with, the alternates would be killed in the blasts.
The ironic problem was, he reflected grimly as the last of the TARDISes were destroyed, a TARDIS is easy to destroy with one blast, but a capital ship, fragile in construction, was only destroyable with more than one explosion.
" Open fire on the capital ships," he ordered, " target their missile silos, and their engines."
Sheridan watched as the missiles streaked through space, carrying their deadly cargos, made contact on the hulls of the alternate fleets. The explosions tore through the defenceless ships like a blowtorch through butter. Despite the knowledge and satisfaction their deadly enemy's stronghold and most highly defended strategic point, he couldn't help but feel a bit of shame for the way he'd gone about this important victory.
But he shook it off.
If there was one thing the Minbari war had drummed into the human psyche was that war in space could be deceptive, dirty, and spiteful. The Minbari had used stealth technology to protect their ships, and to aid in their advance onto human territory, using their fusion and neutron beams to shred ships, and just basically steam rolling over all in their path.
The centuries of them being in this galaxy, coupled with their power, had given the human race a fresher perspective over war. There was no sense letting the enemy use an advantage when you had your own, if you had it, use it.
Shrugging, Sheridan just sat back in his seat, and reviewed tactical data from the rest of the fleet. Hmm, looks like the alternates heading for Earth had been destroyed.
The President and the councilors watched with satisfaction as the reports came through along with visual data of the alternates heading for Earth had been destroyed. Like Sheridan, the force that encountered it had used a chronon loop, and like Sheridan the President felt a momentary, but in his case, a hereditary trait of humanity to be disgusted by not fighting a fair fight, but it was pushed aside by the knowledge it had to happen.
The young Time Lady came to stand by his side. " Sir, the anomaly is ours."
The President turned to face her. " Excellent. Advise Commander Sheridan we will be preparing the next phase."
The Minbari delegation had been pushed aside by the Time Lords as the hours had passed, and the battles had carried through in the favor of the Time Lords, and they'd been ignored by everyone in the room ever since. It was galling for the prideful species, but it was even worse for those who were leaders of the most powerful of the younger races in the Milky way. As a result, the nine were used to being respected and feared by all, Minbari and the other races in the galaxy.
But the Time Lords didn't show the Minbari leaders any respect whatsoever, they only spoke to them when it suited them. Delenn wasn't surprised, unlike the other eight members of the council, she could see with her own eyes her people had caused scars on this great race which were still present. The Time Lords may say they were above the pain and grief the Minbari had inflicted on them, but Delenn knew better. She could see the Time Lords had a deep rooted loathing for her people, and it made her sad.
She didn't notice the young Time Lady looking her way until she felt something brush against her natural psychic barriers, and she automatically homed in on the source.
Come over to this side of the room, the voice of the Time Lady echoed in her head. Delenn had to hide her reaction, but she did as she was told, and went over to her.
" I heard your thoughts," the Time Lady said without preamble. Delenn wasn't sure if she should be angry or unnerved by how easily the Time Lady had peered into her mind.
" I didn't peer into your mind," the Time Lady reassured her. " Your mind was so noisy the others heard it too, but I'm the only one to actually speak to you. I've never spoken to a Minbari before."
" The others know?" Delenn asked casting a nervous look around the room. The Time Lady shook her head. " Of course the others know, we're all linked. They know what I'm doing speaking to you, and they approve."
" Why are you speaking to me, no one else here is?"
" True enough," the Time Lady said amiably enough, " but look at it from our perspective. Yes, there is some hurt for what your people did to us five thousand years ago, for us. That's a long time to nurse a grudge. A human expression," she added when she saw Delenn's puzzlement over the expression.
" So many of our people died," the Time Lady continued. " But our people survived, time travel helped save us, but we still couldn't get over it; being sent back through time, forced to develop on our own to survive. But we did it. Our people have better things to do than speak to you when our own counterparts are attacking us."
Something occurred to Delenn at that point. " Do you ever think about what your counterpart is doing?" It felt so odd for Delenn to imagine alternate realities despite Minbari knowledge, but her time with these people had changed that.
The Time Lady looked away, but Delenn could see tears sparkling in her eyes. " My counterpart is a psychopath, a version of me which may have happened," she turned back, and tears were falling silently. " I cannot imagine the kind of life she has led, but its a bad one for me, and a good one for her."
Delenn wished she had never spoken. The images she was getting of this girl's counterpart were too hideous to contemplate. She looked at the Time Lady, who seemed to have read her thoughts again.
Her face was one of agreement.
