Chapter 10

Bridge of TCS Mastiff, 0620: Admiral Douglas came onto the bridge, and proceeded to his command chair. He looked at Captain Tate,

"Well Leroy, are we set to jump?"

Captain Tate handed him a printout, "I thought it would be best to jump in this order Admiral, at these intervals."

The Admiral looked at the printout, "Mastiff and James Carter at 0630, Manila and New Delphi at 0634, Bull Run and New Hope at 0638, Normandy and Constantinople at 0642. Followed by the other ships at one minute intervals."

The Admiral just nodded his head, "Good job Leroy. Any problems tying the Nav systems together?"

"No sir, but we did do a little reinforcing on the New Hope last night."

The Admiral looked at Commander Langford for a moment and signaled her to come over.

"When we arrive in the Beta Durani/ Sirius system, I want you to work with Mr. Laqua in finding the jump points in the system."

"Yes sir, will we need to upgrade his gear sir?"

"I'm not sure, give it a once over and make any upgrades you deem necessary."

"Yes sir."

"Comm., I want to talk to Captain Santiago, and when I'm done, I'll want a fleet wide."

"Aye sir."

The Admiral was soon looking at Captain Santiago. "Well Captain, are your ships and crews ready?"

"As ready as we can make them Admiral."

The Admiral could see that he was nervous, "Relax Captain, we do this all the time. It may be a little bumpy, but I think you'll like it."

"If you say so Admiral." the Admiral looked at the comm. tech, and then at his nod, he spoke to the fleet.

"This is Admiral Douglas, all ships have been given final instructions. Verify all Nav patches and standby for Jump," then the Admiral ended the comm.

"Helm, proceed with jump."

The helmsman started activating his controls. "Speed to one half."

Both the Mastiff and the James Carter started to move forward. "Activating jump drive."

The area of space in front of them flared a bright white. "Jump interface in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." both ships seemed to touch the white area, and then disappear.

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Bridge of EA James Carter: Captain Santiago looked at the faces of his bridge crew. He could tell that they were just as nervous as he was.

"Relax people, remember, you signed up for an adventure. Well believe me, this is one of them."

He heard a few of his people chuckle, and he could tell they were relaxing a little. They all listened as the helmsman of the Mastiff spoke.

"Speed to one half." The James Carter jumped to almost full speed. Captain Santiago just thought, "This is one half for them?"

"Activating jump drive."

The bridge crew watched as space in front of them grew bright white. "Jump interface in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..." then everyone on the bridge, and all over the ship felt the pull of gravity on them, it wasn't to bad, only about two G's. What amazed the bridge crew was the view from their forward scanners. The stars around them seem to become white streaks, for about fifteen seconds. Then everything returned to normal. The James Carter was still slaved into the Mastiff, and the ship began to move away from the jump point.

Captain Santiago looked at his XO, "Confirm our location."

Commander Davidson was already checking their readouts, "We're in the Beta Durani system Captain."

Everyone on the bridge was duly impressed. The comm. tech was the first to speak. "Captain, we're being hailed by the EAS Nautilus sir."

"Let's hear it."

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Bridge of EAS Nautilus, 0629: Captain Phillips was in his chair, looking over the latest scan reports of the area. He turned to his XO,

"It seems that whatever we saw here the other day didn't leave a permanent trail. Although there is a slight residual energy left here."

"How do you want to list the Lt, Sir?"

"List him as missing in action for now."

"Yes sir."

The scan tech called out, "Captain, we're getting another energy spike, and it's a big one. At least 20 times higher than the previous one sir."

The Captain hit his comm. button, "All hands to battle stations, I repeat all hands to battle stations. This is not a drill."

The bridge crew saw the area of space in front of them begin to glow to a bright white. Then they saw two ships coming out of the brightened area, and soon the area of space went back to normal.

"Captain, the scans indicate that one of the ships is the EAS James Carter. The other is an unknown design sir."

"Comm., open a channel to the James Carter."

"Aye sir."

Captain Phillips looked at the comm. tech, which just nodded. "This is the Earth Alliance Nova Battle Cruiser Nautilus, to EAS James Carter. Do you copy?"

Captain Santiago could tell that his friend was on edge, by the sound of his voice.

"Is that you Tristin?"

Upon hearing his friend's voice, Captain Phillips relaxed a little.

"Do you need assistance?"

Captain Santiago knew what his friend meant.

"That's a negative, Nautilus. We're actually escorting some new allies to see the General."

"Roger that James Carter, please have them keep their weapons deactivated."

"That won't be a problem Nautilus. But we need to await the arrival of the rest of the ships."

"How many more ships, James Carter?"

"The three transports and seventeen others."

"Repeat that James Carter, did you say seventeen other ships?"

"Roger that Nautilus, seventeen ships. And by the way Tristin, I managed to pick up a Lt Mackenzie, he wouldn't happen to be one of yours now would he?"

Captain Phillips smiled a little, "Roger that Ricardo, he's one of mine. Hope he hasn't been to much trouble."

"No trouble at all, James Carter out."

"Roger that, we're standing by."

The captain looked at his XO, "Inform the base that we will be escorting in the James Carter and her transports, and eighteen new allies. Ask for additional escorts."

"Aye aye sir."

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Communications room Beta Durani system space docks: The technician read the decoded scramble message from the Nautilus, and just blinked, "Am I reading this right?"

He had the Nautilus resend their last message, and it came out the same. He now took the message to the OOD.

"Sir, you may want to see this."

The Major read the message, and just looked at the tech.

"This can't be right. Have them resend."

"I did sir, the message is correct."

Now the Major got on the channel to General Hague's office.

"I need to speak to the General."

The General was on the monitor a few seconds later, "What is it Major?"

"General Hague. We've just received a message from Nautilus. They are going to be escorting in the EAS James Carter, the transports and eighteen new allies sir. Captain Phillips is requesting additional ships for escort duty sir."

General Hague had known Tristin Phillips since before the Dilgar war; if he was asking for additional ships then he was serious. General Hague activated another monitor and studied it for a moment.

"Have the Beaumont group and the Ticonderoga group meet up with the Nautilus, for escort detail. And keep me informed."

"Yes General."

The monitor clicked off, and the Major looked at the Comm. tech.

"Well, you heard the General, get moving."

"Aye aye sir."

Within minutes, twenty EA ships were enroute to the Nautilus's position.

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Bridge of TCS Mastiff: By 0700, all of the ships had jumped into the system. The scanner tech called the Admiral.

"Sir, long range scans are showing two large groups of ships approaching. Their power signatures are consistent with EA ships sir."

"Roger that. Comm., have all ships stay at weapons down status. We don't want an incident."

"Aye sir."

Captain Tate looked at the Admiral, "Is that wise sir?"

"Leroy, if it were you or me out there, we would do the same thing."

Captain Tate shook his head silently, "Your right Luke, let's just hope that nobody gets trigger happy out there."

Now the Admiral had the comm. tech open a channel to the Nautilus.

"EAS Nautilus. This is Vice Admiral Douglas of the TCS Mastiff. Our ships are at stand down positions, awaiting escort to your base."

The Captain of the Nautilus came on the Line, "Roger that Admiral. Our ships are arriving for escort duty. Please set course for these coordinates."

"Roger Nautilus coordinates received and plotted."

Soon a fleet of over forty ships was enroute to the Beta Durani base.

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Command center Beta Durani Space dock: General Hague came into the command center, and the OOD met him.

"Sir, the Nautilus has sent us preliminary scans of the new ships."

"Show me their lead ship."

"Yes sir," and the Major pulled up the first set of data.

The General looked at the readout. "Over 700 meters, almost 100,000 metric tons. Over 900 life signs. Eight large turrets, at least twenty smaller turrets. And six large missile ports. Are these landing bays?"

"That's not all sir, look at their power level readings."

The General looked at the numbers, and then looked at them again.

"Are these right?"

"We believe so sir."

Now the General thought to himself, "Hell, even the Centauri don't have power readings that high."

The comm. tech spoke up, "General. I have a Vice Admiral Douglas on the line sir, he is inviting you and your command staff to meet with him on his ship, or he and his command staff could come here."

The Major looked at him, "Sir, I recommend that you have him come here sir. That way we can control the security arrangements."

"I agree Major. We'll meet with the Admiral here. I want security to be present, but not overwhelming, if you know what I mean."

The Major just nodded, "Yes sir."

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General Hague had the comm. tech open the signal to Admiral Douglas. The two men saw each other on their screens.

"Admiral Douglas, I'm General Hague. Welcome to the Beta Durani system."

"Thank you General. It's a pleasure to be here. I hope that we didn't cause to much of a fuss when we arrived."

"Oh no Admiral, we get visiting dignitaries here all the time. In fact, we just had a group of senators leave here this morning."

The Admiral could see from the look on the Generals face, that he was glad they were gone.

"Ah yes. Politicians, they can be so much, uh fun."

The General could see in the Admirals expression, that he didn't really care for politics either.

"It seems that we may have some common interests Admiral. As for you invitation, I must insist that you allow me to play host. After all, it is my base."

"Of course general. Would 1300 local time be convenient for you?"

"Yes it would Admiral. I look forward to meeting you. General Hague out."

The comm. signal ended. "Major, I want briefing room Beta set up by 1230 hours, and I want a full honor guard/escort in place when they land."

"Yes General, We'll be ready."

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Landing Bay 2 Beta Durani Space Dock: Admiral Douglas and his staff waited inside the shuttle, as the air recycled into the landing bay. Once it was clear, they saw two-dozen men and women forming two ranks just outside of their shuttle.

"An honor guard." he thought.

As the door of the shuttle opened, he stepped out, and the guards came to attention. The members of his staff followed him, and soon they were walking between the honor guards, toward General Hague, Captain Santiago and another man. When the two groups met, Captain Santiago made the formal introductions.

"Admiral Douglas, I would like to introduce General Hague."

The two men shook hands, and then General Hague introduced the other man.

"Admiral, this is Major Allen my chief of security."

The Admiral shook his hand. Next the Admiral introduced his people, Fleet Captain Tate, Fleet Marine CO Colonel Ellison head of security, Lt Commander Langford Tech division, and Commander (Dr.) Lloyd CMO. After the introductions, the group proceeded to an awaiting briefing room.

Once everyone was seated, Admiral Douglas was the first to speak.

"General Hague, I think that the easiest way for us to begin is for us to tell you about ourselves, and how we came to be here."

He and his staff spent the next hour telling the General and his staff, who they were, where they came from, and how they had arrived here through an unstable jump/wormhole. The Admiral also explained how they had found out about the current state of affairs that the Earth Alliance was going through. The General just sat through all of the explanations and stories quietly, and seem to be taking it all in. His security chief made an occasional smirk or harrumph, as if he didn't believe them.

Finally the General spoke, "Admiral, that is quite a story. And I feel inclined to believe you."

Major Allen interrupted, "Sir you can't honestly believe the load that they're shoveling."

The General just raised his hand, and the major stopped talking.

"As I was saying, I feel inclined to believe you for a few reasons. Our tech people have been scanning your ships as you know, and even the smaller ones have power levels that are way beyond anything we have. Also, I reviewed the reports of Captain Santiago and his CMO and his chief engineer. You obviously have equipment and techniques way beyond our current levels, but you also have non-human crewmembers. It's that last point that helps me to believe your story, humans and non-humans working together as a well-oiled crew. Because as much as I don't want to admit it, most commanders of EA ships would not have non human crew members."

The Admiral looked at the General, "General, I won't lie to you, we did have problems at first. But over time, and with mutual cooperation on both sides, our crews began working together as a unit. I hope that someday, your people will come to the same understanding."

The General smiled, "Perhaps in our children's lifetime Admiral or our grandchildren's."

Now the two men smiled at each other, they were each discovering that they had a few things in common.

"Now Admiral, as to the real reason you came to my station."

"Yes General, we wish to offer the services of my ships and crews to the Earth Alliance. We want to help end your war with the Minbari."

Major Allen spoke up, "The Minbari are a blood thirsty lot of barbarians, they have no compassion for any other race. They kill innocent women and children for God's sake."

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Colonel Ellison spoke up, "Major, have you ever dealt with true religious fanaticism before?"

"Well no, not really."

"Well I have, on my mother's home world. There was a small religious group that lived their entire lives following their holy scriptures. They didn't believe that humans and mopans should ever coexist together so they started a holy war which lasted five years. Many good people died in that war on both sides, but in the end we found a way to finally get along. I believe that that's the kind of situation you're dealing with now."

Major Allen looked at the colonel and sarcastically said, "So you're saying that we should just make nice with the Minbari, and they'll just let bygones be bygones."

Colonel Ellison snapped back quickly, "No major, you have to find something you have in common with them, and work from there."

The General and the Admiral could tell that their security chiefs were both getting a little hot under the collar, but it was Dr. Lloyd who broke the tension.

"Why don't you two just take it outside?"

Everyone just looked at her.

"Listen, I was there when Captain Santiago told us how your war got started. The way I see it, humans killed the Minbari's leader, a tragic mistake. But this hurt the Minbari, and they lashed out in anger, trying to hurt the ones who hurt them. Sounds a whole lot like a human response."

The General looked at her, "I didn't know you were a psychiatrist."

"I'm not, but I've been seeing the results of lashing out in anger for years. I believe that Colonel Ellison is right, you and the Minbari have to find something you have in common."

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The General looked at her for a moment, and then turned to the Admiral.

"Your people do like to speak their minds Admiral."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

"But Admiral, until we can find some common ground with the Minbari, how can you help us?"

"That's why Commander Langford is here. Commander." and the Admiral pointed at her. Commander Langford stood up.

"General. I've gone over some of the tech readouts of the James Carter, and a few of your other ships. I believe that there are several ways we can help you. But most of them will take your people a few years to implement."

"Is there anything that you can do for us any sooner?"

"Yes General, it's your scanners. I've looked at your scanner designs, and they are nearly identical to ours from just two hundred years ago. We can give you the designs to upgrade your scanners, so that they will be able to lock onto Minbari ships. And the design is easily adapted to your current scanners. It would take about a month to upgrade all of your ships."

The General couldn't help but smile, if his ships could target the Minbari at range, then perhaps they wouldn't lose as many ships in combat.

"Admiral Douglas, your people have offered the Earth Alliance and Earthforce a lot. But what do you want in return for your help."

"Just a few small things General. First, we need to update our star charts. Some of my people will be working on that, so if your people could let them do that. And we will probably need a place to use as a base of operations."

General Hague smiled, "If that's all you need, then on behalf of the Earth Alliance, and Earthforce, I accept your proposal. If you could have Commander Langford leave the designs for the upgrades, I'll have my tech people start on them right away. I believe that we have all of the needed materials here in Beta Durani to get started right away. And if you just let my Operations people know where your people will be working, I'll have the area's cleared for you."

The Admiral and the General just smiled ay each other, and the Admiral extended his hand. While they were shaking hands, the General spoke, "I believe this is the start of a great friendship Admiral."

And the Admiral replied quietly, so only the General could hear, "Only if the politicians don't muck it up."

The General didn't say a word, but his smile said volumes.