Chapter 7

Main Briefing room TCS Mastiff: Admiral Douglas entered the room, and everyone came to attention. "At ease people."

As he took his seat, he looked at the men and women seated around the large table.

"In front of each of you is some Intel that you will all want to read. It concerns our current situation, and what we have learned from the four ships encountered by Commanders Blackwell and Provitt. You also have the transcript of my meeting with the Earthforce Captain of the James Carter. Please review them."

The Admiral sat quietly as his people looked at the documents. After 20 minutes, Captain Jakoub of the TCS Manila looked at him, "Are these reports accurate sir?"

"Yes Captain, from what we have been able to determine, we are no longer in our own universe. And the chances of us ever getting back to our own universe are virtually none. This leaves us with a few decisions to make. One, do we try to find a way back home. Two, do we offer our ships and technology to the people of Earth in this universe. Three, do we strike out on our own, and leave Earth to its fate. Since this is such a monumental decision, I want you people to hash it out."

The Admiral stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be back in half an hour to hear your recommendations."

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As the door closed, the rest of the Captains looked at Captain Tate. Captain Tate let them talk amongst themselves. Captain Grove of the TCS Bull Run spoke first. "Leroy, you've known the Admiral the longest, is he really serious?"

"About what Jeff?"

"We've read the transcripts, and we've read the report of the fight the Jason and Galahad experienced, and we read Commander Langford's report. Would the Admiral leave the Earth to be destroyed by these Minbari?"

Captain Tate looked at all of them, "The Admiral is worried about his own people right now, and how this is going to affect them. Is he worried about what might happen to the Earth, yes, but he's more worried about all of us first."

Commander Blackwell looked at everyone there. "I can tell you right now, the people of the Earth here, can't stand up to the Minbari on their own. Hell, they opened fire on Dawns ship just because the crew was human. We've all seen that kind of behavior before, the Kilrathi."

Commander Provitt of the Jason shook her head in agreement. "Tina's right, these Minbari are no better than the Kilrathi, they murdered over 6000 people in a defenseless transport for God's sake. If Tina's ship and mine hadn't been there, they would have killed the other 20,000 people in the other transports."

Captain Tate looked at all the other Captains now, "You know that it won't be an easy road we're about to start down."

All of the officers were shaking their heads. "Alright then, by a show of hands, those in favor of choice one?"

No one moved. "And choice two?" Everyone raised his or her hand.

"No need for choice three, alright then, I'll inform the Admiral." and he went to the door.

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As he left the room, Captain Tate saw the Admiral waiting just down the hallway. The Admiral looked at him, "Well?"

"It's unanimous sir. We help the Earth."

The Admiral nodded his head, and then went to the office where Captain Santiago was waiting.

"Captain, would you come with us?"

The three men went back to the conference room, and stepped inside. The Admiral and Captain Tate took their seats, and Captain Santiago took the seat next to Captain Tate.

The Admiral smiled, "Captain Tate has informed me of your decision, and I am proud of the choice you made."

He pointed toward Captain Santiago, "This is Captain Ricardo Santiago of the Earthforce ship James Carter. As the senior Earthforce officer in this system, he is their de-facto representative. I've asked him to be here, in case any of you have any questions."

Captain Santiago spoke now, "I'll try to answer any questions that you have, as far as I'm able."

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Captain Jakoub looked at Captain Santiago. "Captain, we've read about the earths current situation. Is it true that no other race is willing to help you in this situation?"

"Yes Captain, our allies in the League of non aligned worlds have all but disappeared, for fear of Minbari retaliation."

Now Captain Santiago smirked, "Even the great Centauri Republic is afraid to get involved."

Captain Motamba of the Normandy looked at him. "So the Minbari are the BMOC here, and nobody wants to get on their shit list."

"That's about it Captain."

Captain Nikos of the Perseus looked at him now, "Has the Earth Alliance had any victories?"

Captain Santiago looked at her. "There was one, A Commander Sheridan destroyed one of their flagships, and a few of their cruisers in the asteroid field between Jupiter and Mars. But exactly how, I'm not sure."

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Captain Grove was next. "Captain Santiago. We all saw how the Minbari left the system. What was that vortex that opened up?"

"Well Captain, we use hyperspace to travel between star systems. Most smaller ships use the jump gates, like the one your people found, but larger ships usually have their own jump engine."

Commander Provitt was next, "How does hyperspace travel work?"

"Well Commander, I can explain it like my Academy teacher explained it to me. Imagine that the universe is a giant ball. Normal space is the outside of the ball. Hyperspace is the inside of the ball. Now if you were to travel on the outside of the ball, it could take years, decades or centuries to get to another star system. But by going through hyperspace, the distance is vastly shorter, and the trip takes less time."

Commander Blackwell looked at him, "So how do you open these vortex's Captain?"

"The jump gates and our jump drives use an element called Quantium 40, we pass an electron stream through the material, and the particles that are released are then directed magnetically to an intersecting point. When the particles collide, the energy released opens the fabric of space, and an entry/exit point is formed."

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Now Commander Provitt looked at the Admiral, "Sir, will our jump drives work here?"

Admiral Douglas smiled, "As to whether or not our jump drives will work, Commander Ross can tell you that Jump travel as we know it does work. We just have to find the jump points."

Commander Ross just shook her head; "We located a jump point in this system as you know. We were able to send a probe through the jump point, and it scanned the system on the other side. We determined that the Beta Durani system is in fact the Sirius system. And we also picked up a pilot that passed through the jump point when our probe activated it to return." Commander Ross looked at Captain Santiago, "I'm afraid that the pilots ship didn't fair to well with the jump point though."

Captain Santiago looked at her, "And how is the pilot?"

"Aside from some bruises and scrapes, he's fine. My CMO says he can be released at any time, but she recommends he take it easy for a day or two."

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Now the Admiral turned to Captain Santiago. "Captain, before we make an official offer, we would like to get some information from you."

"What kind of information Admiral?"

"Well, your Lt Masterson seemed to react a little to the fact that we had non human crew members. Is that going to be a problem?"

"I won't lie to you Admiral, for most of my people, as long as they aren't Minbari, it isn't a problem. But there is a small minority of people that see aliens, any aliens as a threat. They believe that humans should come first at all times."

Captain Tate just shook his head; "We had the same problem when we first started exploring space. But fortunately, we got over it."

The Admiral looked at Captain Santiago, "Who would you recommend that we talk to about helping Earthforce Captain?"

"Well Admiral, I can think of a few people you could talk to, General's Hague, Leftcourt, or Franklin. Or you could make contact with Earth-dome itself."

Some of the Captains groaned, and Captain Grove spoke up. "You mean the politicians."

"Yes Captain, they are our elected government. But you have something working for you."

"And what would that be Captain?"

Captain Santiago just smiled, "Me. And the fact that my favorite uncle is the Vice-President."

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The Admiral looked at him, "Well Captain, let's just hold that card in reserve shall we. Besides, I think we would feel better dealing with the military for now."

"Of course Admiral."

"Is there anything else you think we should know about Captain?"

Captain Santiago now started to frown, and the others could tell that there was something he wanted to say.

Captain Tate looked at him, "What's wrong Captain?"

Now Captain Santiago looked around the room. "How much experience do you people have with Telepaths?"

The Admiral looked at him, "Not much really, I know the Black-Ops people toyed with the idea, but it's such a rare thing in humans, it never panned out. Why?"

"Well, we have an organization on Earth called the Psi-Corps. And a lot of people don't like them. Most of the officers I know don't trust them at all. If I know some of the people in Earth-Gov, like I do. They'll want to have all of your people scanned, to make sure that you're not holding out on them."

The Admiral looked at him, "Is there any way to identify a telepath?"

"Well, most of them wear the official Psi-Corps Badge, A Greek letter Psi symbol on a gold background."

"Thank you Captain, you've given us a lot to think about."

The Admiral looked at his people, "I'll make an official announcement to the fleet at 1500 today. Until then, not a word to anyone."

The Captains all nodded their heads. "Ok then people, dismissed."

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As they were starting to file out of the room, Captain Santiago touched Commander Ross's arm. "Commander Ross?"

"Yes Captain?"

"I believe that the Admiral wanted to arrange for Lt Mackenzie to be transferred to the James Carter. If you want, you can shuttle him over later today."

"Of course Captain, I think that he'll be more than happy to hear that sir."

"Why is that Commander?"

She just smiled now, "I think he still thinks he's a POW."

Captain Santiago smiled, "With our current state, can you blame him Commander."

"I guess not Captain. I'll have my people shuttle him over at 1300 hours."

"We'll be expecting him Commander."

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As the Commander was leaving, Captain Santiago looked at the Admiral. "Admiral, if it would be alright, I would like to check on my people in your sickbay."

"Of course Captain. Captain Tate."

"Yes Admiral."

"Would you see that the Captain is escorted to the sickbay?"

"Yes sir."

The two men left the briefing room, and Captain Tate went to the first Marine he saw.

"Corporal, please escort the Captain to the sickbay."

The corporal snapped to attention, "Sir, yes sir. If you'll follow me Captain."

As the corporal leads Captain Santiago down the hall, Captain Tate headed to the bridge.

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Sickbay Alpha TCS Mastiff: Having been on the security detail, the corporal knew to take the Captain to sickbay Alpha. When they arrived, he opened the door and had the Captain enter and then he waited outside of the sickbay door. As he entered the sickbay, Captain Santiago saw a lot of his people in the beds. This place was larger than some base hospitals he had seen, and he was more than a little impressed. He soon saw a familiar face, Petty Officer Theresa Charles. Her eyes had been flash burned by an exploding console, and Dr. Mitchell had informed him that her eyes had been completely destroyed. Normally this wouldn't have been a problem, with cybernetic replacements, but Petty Officer Charles was one of those rare people whose bodies rejected cybernetics. Now he walked up to her bed, and she heard his movements.

"Hello?"

"Hello Petty Officer, how are they treating you?"

She smiled, and he relaxed a little.

"Just beautifully Captain. Dr Lloyd says that I should be able to go back to work in about three weeks."

He looked a little worried; he wondered if they hadn't told her how bad her injuries were.

"That's good to hear. We all miss you on the Jimmy."

She smiled, "Don't worry sir, I'll be back at my post as soon as I can."

Captain Santiago heard someone coming up behind him. "Hello Captain. I hope your not trying to get Theresa back to work already."

He turned and saw Dr. Lloyd. "Ah, no doctor I'm just here to see how my people are doing. Uh where is Dr. Mitchell?"

"I had to order him to get some sleep. And I thought I was a workaholic."

He just laughed a little, "Well he is dedicated."

"That he is Captain."

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The Captain looked at Dr. Lloyd for a second, "Doctor, can I speak to you in private?"

"Of course Captain." and she lead him to her office.

When they entered, he saw that there were various charts and anatomical diagrams on the walls. As the door closed behind them, he looked at her.

"How can you fill her head with empty promises Doctor?"

"Excuse me Captain?"

"Dr. Mitchell told me how bad her injuries were, and that she couldn't use cybernetic eyes. So how can you tell her that she'll be back to work in 3 weeks?"

Now Dr Lloyd was starting to look very PO'd.

"Listen Captain, I don't make false promises to any of my patients. I told her it would be 3 weeks, because that's how long it will take for the optic nerve tissue to fully regenerate."

"What about her eyes doctor?"

"What about them, we put them in this morning."

Captain Santiago looked dumbfounded. "You did what?"

Doctor Lloyd started to smirk.

"What's so funny doctor?"

"It's your face, it's the same look Dr. Mitchell gave me when I told him that I was putting in her new eyes."

"But how doctor?"

"Let's just say that we've got a little more experience at combat wound care and organ replacements, shall we."

"So she isn't going to be blind?"

"I don't see why Captain, as long as she gets plenty of rest and follows her doctors orders."

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Captain Santiago now sat down in the chair in Dr Lloyd's office. "Doctor, can you forgive me for being an ass?"

Doctor Lloyd smiled, "Hey, you're a career officer. It's to be expected. Now if you want, I can take you around to see the rest of your people."

"I'd like that doctor. That way you can prevent me from making an ass of myself again."

"That would be my pleasure Captain."

After he had visited his people, Captain Santiago found the corporal still waiting for him outside of sickbay. The Corporal escorted him to the flight deck, and soon the Captain was on his way back to his ship. He was going to have good news for his crew, because Theresa was like a little sister to most of them. But he thought more about his log entry for today. He doubted that anyone who read it would ever believe it.