Chapter 21

Bridge of TCS Bull Run: Captain Grove sat and looked at the planet below him and a chill ran up his spine. He turned to his XO, "You know Ian, it's just like Edding IV at home, cold and desolate."

Commander Wesley looked at him, "I take it you did your arctic survival on Edding IV."

The captain smiled, "Yeah, the worst 3 weeks of my cadet life." The commander smiled, "Mine to sir."

Both of them chuckled a little. The sensor tech spoke up, "Sir we have an energy spike consistent with a jump point formation."

"Let me see it." the tech hit a few switches, and the screen showed a jump point forming, and soon the bridge crew saw a Narn vessel coming out of hyperspace.

"Open a channel to them."

"Aye aye sir."

"This is the Captain Grove of the TCS Bull Run, welcome to the Edding system."

A Narn officer's face appeared, "Thank you Captain. I am Captain G'Lon of the NSS HagVarn. I hope your journey was a peaceful one."

Captain Grove smiled, "Yeah it was, was yours?"

"One of the quietest trips we've had in a while Captain. We're launching the shuttle now."

..
Captain Grove saw an EA shuttle take off from the Narn ship, and head to the planet. "We wish them luck Captain."

"So do we Captain G'Lon, so do we."

The channel closed, and the two ships pulled into parallel orbits above the planet. Lt Commander Sinclair stepped onto the bridge with Major Halko, and the Captain looked at them, "So Commander how did you enjoy your flight?"

The Commander looked at him, "It was incredible, you weren't kidding about your fighters."

About 5 minutes later a jump point formed and a smaller ship appeared. Captain Grove looked at the sensor tech, "Sir, the energy signature is Minbari. Scans show only 2 life signs aboard. They are hailing us sir, audio only."

"Let's hear it."

"This is transport Bright Moon. We are here for meeting with Earth Humans."

"This is the TCS Bull Run. The contact team is already on the planet. We will send you their coordinates."

"We thank you."

The Minbari ship received the coordinates, and entered a landing pattern. Captain grove turned to his XO, "Keep your fingers crossed Ian."

"I already have sir." and he held up his hand to show the Captain.

..
Surface of Edding IV: The shuttle set down close to the old base, and Commander Sheridan and the others quickly made their way to the only visible building. They got the door open, and looked around. "We've got to find the main power switch, and let's hope the solar batteries are still working."

They searched and found the power switch, and Commander Sheridan hit it. They were relieved to hear the hum of the lights as they came on, followed by the slight buzzing of the heaters as they activated. "It should warm up pretty quick now. Stephan, why don't you check the perimeter and make sure we're alone."

"Yes sir, commander." and Dr. Franklin stepped outside. As he walked around the building, he saw a strange ship. It looked like it was made of some sort of crystal, but before he could do anything, he saw an older Minbari man. The old man was holding a gun, and was pointing it at him.

"Up hands put."

Dr. Franklin did as he was told, and the man gestured for him to go back into the building. As he opened the door, Mr. G'Kar turned and was about to say something when he saw that the Dr. had his hands up. Then both he and Commander Sheridan saw the older Minbari behind the Dr. and the gun in the Minbari mans hand. After he closed the door, Lennon looked at them, and then the gun in his hand. He pointed it away from them, "For protection, only. You Sheridan?"

"Yes I'm Commander Sheridan, and you are?"

"I am Anla-shok Na Lennon." and he bowed slightly. G'Kar's comm. device beeped and as he answered it he heard Captain G'Lon start to say something, and then the signal ended.

..
High orbit Edding IV: The sensor tech called to the captain, "Sir we have another energy spike, another jump point is forming."

The monitor activated, and Captain Grove saw an unknown ship coming out of the jump point. Commander Sinclair looked at the ship, "That's a Centauri Cruiser."

The ship immediately began to fire at the Narn ship. "Shields to full. Battle stations."

The alarms were ringing throughout the ship, and the shields were charging up to full as the Narn ship began to break apart from the assault. The Centauri ship now fired at the Bull Run. Their first volley hit the ship, but their shields held. The XO shouted out, "Some form of plasma beam sir, Shields holding at 68 percent."

The Captain started shouting orders, "Helm, bring us about, Emergency speed. Tactical, fire as she comes to bear."

The ship was turning now and the Centauri ship was still firing at them. "Shield holding at 56 percent."

The tactical officer didn't wait for any target lock, and fired all of the main guns manually. The blasts ripped deep into the Centauri ship, and then the crew of the Bull Run saw the secondary explosions racking the Centauri cruiser. As the Bull Run swung around for another pass, the Cruiser was trying to turn as well. Sinclair looked at Captain Grove, "Aim at the wings, it's where their main propulsion systems are."

"Tactical, target their wings and lay into them."

"Yes sir."

..
The next volley ripped the unusual looking wings off of the ship, and this caused even more secondary explosions. Soon the ship was breaking apart, and the crew of the Bull Run saw escape pods coming off of the ship. In less than a minute the ship blew, and the explosion took out most of the escape pods as well.

The Captain stood up, "Launch all S+R shuttles. Lets see if we can find anybody still alive. And open a channel to the planet, lets make sure they're ok."

Commander Sheridan's voice came in over the comm. link. "Captain, what's happening up there?"

"We had an uninvited guest commander, I'm sorry to say they took out the HagVarn. But we stopped them from taking us out. We have S+R searching for any survivors. Commander, I think it might be safer if you continued your discussions on the Bull Run."

"I'll get back to you on that captain. Sheridan out."

The Captain looked at Sinclair, "Well it is his show."

"Yes sir."

..
Bridge of CRN Cruiser Asheval: Captain Kalebar was anxiously waiting, and the Helmsman turned to him, "We've reached the coordinates sir."

The Captain smiled, "Good, jump to normal space."

As the ship was coming out of hyperspace, his XO shouted, "Sir we have 2 ships, a Narn Cruiser, and an unknown ship."

The Captain looked at him, "Target the Narn's and fire."

The plasma cannons fired, and ripped deeply into the Narn ship, and it began to break apart. The bridge crew cheered, but the Captain was looking at his XO, "Target the other ship and fire."

Smiling, his XO aimed and fired. Then a look of shock was on his face, "Sir, weapons fire had no affect."

The Captain looked puzzled, "What."

"Our plasma beams seemed to be absorbed sir."

"Continue firing."

"Yes sir."

Now the other ship was moving, and the captain saw that they were bringing their guns to bear. Then the first blasts hit his ship. The captain, his XO, and his bridge crew never knew what hit them. The blast of energy struck the ship and Captain Kalebar for the briefest of milliseconds saw a bright light, then he saw nothing ever again.

..
On the auxiliary bridge, Dashar Cotto was watching the battle that was taking place. He smiled as the Narn ship began to break apart, but then he saw that their attacks were doing nothing to this new ship. A heavy hit rocked the ship, and Dashar saw that the bridge feed was gone. He turned to the Aux. Helmsman, "Get us out of here."

"I'm trying sir, but the ship is barely responding."

Dashar felt several secondary explosions, and watched as the power levels of the ship were dropping. As he watched, the Engineering feeds began to spike, and he then ordered the crew to abandon ship. He and the auxiliary bridge crew barely made it away from the ship before it blew. Now they floated among the debris, praying to the great Maker to save them.

..
Surface of Edding IV: The four of them listened to Captain Groves report, and then Sheridan looked at Lennon. "Did you know anything about this?"

Lennon looked at him, "I am just as surprised as you commander. But your man Captain Grove makes a wise choice. Maybe we should meet up there."

Then Lennon turned to G'Kar, "I am sorry for your comrades."

G'Kar thanked him, and then started to say a silent prayer. Commander Sheridan looked at Lennon, "Maybe your right, we'll take our shuttle."

Lennon nodded his head and took out a device, and the others looked at him. "Communication only." they just nodded.

"This is Lennon, there has been trouble in orbit. We are going up to the human's ship to continue the meeting. Follow and land there."

"Yes sir."

Lennon put away the device, and looked at Sheridan, "Shall we go?"

They left the building and headed for the EA shuttle. Soon both ships were approaching the Bull Run and they saw the debris scattered around the area, and the S+R shuttles. Both ships touched down in the landing bay, and were met by a Human and a Minbari.

..
Landing bay Alpha TCS Bull Run: When he heard from Commander Sheridan, the Captain sent for Nosann, and had him meet him in the landing bay. As they awaited the ships from the surface, he filled Nosann in on what had happened. "Have you found any survivors Captain?"

"Yes, a few Narn escape pods, and a few from the Centauri ship. I'll have the ships with the Narns land here, and the others will go to landing bay beta."

"A wise precaution Captain."

"That's what I thought Nosann."

Soon the EA shuttle and the Minbari ship were landing, and both men walked toward the shuttle as it touched down. When Nosann saw the older Minbari man step off the shuttle, he bowed deeply, and held the bow for some time. When he straightened up the old Minbari came up and hugged him.

"Nosann praises to Valen your alive. It is good to see you old friend."

"It is good to see you as well Lennon. I had no idea the council would send you."

"Who better my old friend? Now how many of you are still alive?"

Nosann looked at Lennon, "At least 70 of us."

"70, that's impossible, there were only 20 of you on board."

"No Lennon only I and 9 others survived. But there are 60 other survivors of the battle here as well. The humans rescued them and have been taking care of all of us."

The two of them realized that the others were staring at them, and then they realized they had not been speaking English.

..
Lennon turned to them, "I am sorry, I thought my friend had died, and in my excitement I forgot to speak in English."

Captain Grove smiled, "That's understandable sir. I'm Captain Jeffery Grove. Welcome to the TCS Bull Run."

"Thank you Captain."

Now Lennon turned to Commander Sheridan, "My friend tells me that there are Minbari warriors on this ship, is that true?"

Commander Sheridan smiled now, "Yes Mr. Lennon, it is. Our leader, President Levy thought that as a sign of our good intentions, we should return the Minbari warriors we rescued after the battle of Beta Durani."

Lennon looked at him, "I have heard her speak before, a very wise woman."

He bowed to the commander, "On behalf of the Minbari people I thank you for this gesture of your good intentions."

Captain Grove realized that the shuttles would be landing soon, "Maybe we should continue this discussion in one of our conference rooms, the flight deck will be getting busy soon."

All of them agreed, and soon they and the Minbari pilot were headed for a conference room.

..
As they were walking across the flight deck, Nosann saw Megan and started to walk over to her. "Megan, there is someone I think you should meet."

Megan looked at her crew chief, and she nodded, so Megan wiped off her hands and went with Nosann. As they walked toward the group, Nosann told her, "Megan this is Anla-shok Na Lennon, the leader of the Rangers."

When they neared the group, the others stopped and looked at this girl. She bowed and spoke, "Anla-shok Na Lennon. It is an honor."

Then she ended her bow. Lennon was slightly surprised, for this human girl had greeted him properly in the Minbari religious caste language, but he bowed to her.

Then he looked at Nosann, "And who is this beautiful woman Nosann?"

"Lennon, this is Megan Daniels she is my friend."

Lennon felt that by the look Nosann had given him, that there was more to this story, but he said nothing. His friend would tell him in time.

"Miss Daniels I insist that you join us."

Megan looked at her Captain, and he nodded. Now they all headed for the conference room. When they arrived, Captain Grove had safe beverages brought in for everyone.

..
Conference room six TCS Bull Run: The meeting started with Megan looking at everyone, and finally she asked Commander Sheridan how the war started. He told her how the Earthforce flight of ships had found the Minbari group of ships and had been trying to scan their ships. Even though the captain had been under orders to avoid contact. He told her how their scanners were virtually useless against the Minbari ships, and how the captain had tried to communicate with the Minbari ships. The scans from the Minbari ships were disrupting most of the systems on his ships, and then when the Minbari ships came at them with their gun ports open, the Earth captain, in fear for the lives of his crews, ordered the ships of the group to fire.

Now Megan looked at Lennon, "Is this how the Minbari see it?"

Lennon smiled; he liked what this young woman was doing. "I am sorry to say, but yes, that is about how it happened."

"So the Minbari ships did come at the earth ships with their gun ports open?"

Lennon nodded his head, "It is the tradition of the warrior caste to approach with gun ports open, to show that they approach as equals."

Lt Commander Sinclair looked at him, "And the system disruptions?"

Lennon looked at him, "I am sad to say, that the Captain of the ship had the crew use maximum scanners on your ships. That was what most likely caused the disruptions."

Now everyone just looked down at the table.

..
Captain Grove looked at Commander Sheridan, "May I Commander?"

"Of course Captain."

He stood up and looked at everyone present. "I know that I'm a stranger to your conflict, but I'm not a stranger to war. From everything I have been able to find out about your war, it seems as if it was a series of mistakes on both sides that started it. From the cockiness of an Earthforce Captain to the unknown customs of the Minbari warrior cast. These things and others culminated into a shooting war, that I don't think either side really wants."

Now the Captain smiled, "But the fact that both sides are here now is a good sign. It means that both of you are willing to try and work things out peacefully."

Lennon looked at Captain Grove and the others, "He is right, this war is wrong, and we need to work together to end it. From what my friend Nosann said, you have been taking care of our people you rescued. This is something that my people must be made aware of, and I will see that they are told. Captain, I would like to contact my people to arrange for my fellow Minbari to be sent home."

"Of course Mr. Lennon, our communications people are available to assist you."

"My thanks Captain."

..
Now Lennon looked at the others, "What about the group that attacked all of us?"

Commander Sinclair looked at him, "They were Centauri, I think we should question the prisoners to find out what we can before we start another 'incident'."

Lennon nodded, "That would be wise, we should have as much information as possible before anyone acts."

G'Kar stomped his hand on the table, "No, we should just shoot them all, and then Earth and Minbar should annihilate their worlds."

Lennon looked at him, "I know why you feel that way Mr. G'Kar, but if we did that, we would be no better than the Cenaturi. The Commander is correct, let us interrogate the Centauri survivors, and then proceed from there."

Lennon stood and looked at everyone, "We have started off well here, I hope that this leads to a new and peaceful future for all of our peoples."

He picked up his glass, "I believe that you on earth have a custom that you use before starting a new venture. A toast, I believe you call it."

The others stood and picked up their glasses. Lennon raised his glass, " Do Isealzah."

The others looked at Nosann, " The Future."

The rest of them raised their glasses, "Do Isealzah."