Chapter 22

TCS Bull Run: After the first meeting, everyone felt that there was a real chance to end the war, and now the representatives were taking a break. Nosann and Lennon were walking to the holding area, with Megan Daniels. Lennon asked Megan, "Where did you learn our language Miss Daniels?"

"From Nosann, he's been teaching me the Minbari religious caste language, while I've been helping him with his English."

"You speak it well Miss Daniels."

"Thank you Anla-shok Na Lennon."

"Please call me Lennon, I hate formal titles."

She smiled at him, "Alright Lennon, but only if you call me Megan."

Lennon smiled, "That would be a pleasure."

Now he turned serious, "So why is it that you are helping Nosann and the other Minbari?"

He could see the moisture forming in her eyes as she thought of the answer, but it was Nosann who answered. "She helps me, so I may be a better protector for her."

Lennon looked at his old friend, "Why have you chosen to be her protector?"

"To repay a debt of honor. Her brother saved my life at the cost of his own. He was her protector, so I have taken that role onto myself."

Lennon looked at them for a moment. "Your brother, a human, gave his life to save a Minbari?"

Megan just nodded her head. Lennon saw that she was about to cry, and he put his hands on her shoulders. "Then your brother was truly a great soul. If you ever need anything from the Minbari, then you just need to ask."

Megan looked at him, "I wish to be Anla-shok."

Lennon and Nosann looked at her, Lennon spoke softly, "Then you shall be an anla-shok. When we return to Minbar, you will accompany us."

Megan bowed to Lennon, and then the three of them proceeded to the holding area.

..
When Lennon entered the holding area, all of the Minbari saw him and bowed. The most senior Minbari, Alyt Dosamar came up and bowed again. "I am Alyt Dosamar of the Soul of Minbar. We are honored by the presence of the Anla-shok Na. We welcome you to our quarters such as they are."

"I thank you Alyt Dosamar, how have you all been treated?"

Lennon saw that the Alyt was trying to find the right words. "We have been treated far better than we ever expected to be treated. Although we are confined, the humans have treated our sick and injured, and they provide us with safe food and beverages. They have even rigged proper sleeping cots for us."

Lennon walked around the room as she talked, then he spoke loud enough for all to hear. "I am arranging for your safe return to Minbar. You must tell everyone of the way that the humans treated you. There will be some who don't believe you, but you must make them know the truth."

All of the Minbari bowed again and Alyt Dosamar spoke for them, "We will tell everyone how the humans have treated us, this we swear in Valen's name."

All of them spoke in unison, "In Valen's name."

Lennon nodded and smiled, he turned to Nosann and Megan, "Come, I have a call to make." and they proceeded to the guest quarters he had been assigned. As they walked, Nosann told Lennon the story of how Captain Daniels had saved his life, and what the humans did after that.

..
Sick bay Alpha TCS Bull Run: Captain Grove and G'Kar were looking in on the injured Narns, and G'Kar had a sad look in his eyes. They ran into the CMO and the Captain asked how the Narns were doing.

"Some good, some not so good. I'm just glad that Stephan was here, he knows more about their anatomy and physiology than the rest of us."

Both of them nodded and let the doc get back to what he was doing. They found Captain G'Lon on one of the gurneys, and he had several bandages on his chest and face.

"Captain G'Lon, I'm glad you survived."

G'Lon smiled weakly, "As am I Captain. How many did you save?"

"We only found 30 of your crew so far, but we're still searching."

"And the Centauri?"

"About 20 so far."

"What will you do with them?"

"We plan to interrogate them, and then proceed from there."

G'Lon nodded his head, "I understand. What of the mission?"

Captain Grove smiled, "It seems to be going better than expected. But you don't need to worry about that for now. You need to rest and heal."

Before they left, Captain Grove turned back and looked at G'Lon, "Try not to get on the Doc's bad side, he can be a mean SOB if you tick him off."

G'Lon smiled, "I will try to stay on his good side then."

..
Sinclair's Guest quarters TCS Bull Run: Commander Sheridan had asked for a secure line to Beta Durani, and was now looking at General Hague. "So Commander how has your meeting gone so far?"

"Well General, except for the Centauri showing up and nearly blowing everyone to hell, it's going pretty good so far."

"The Centauri, what the hell are they doing there?"

Commander Sheridan rubbed his neck, and looked at the General, "I don't know sir, but they opened fire on the HagVarn and the Bull Run. The HagVarn was destroyed, but the Bull Run took out the Centauri. The XO and Lt Commander Sinclair are interrogating the Centauri as we speak."

"Keep me informed as to what they find out Commander."

"Yes sir I will. But I need you to send a signal to General Leftcourt and the President. Tell them that the Minbari are for real. And they want to end this war as much as we do."

"Of course Commander, I'll speak to them as soon as I can. With any luck we can set up full negotiations with the Minbari in a week."

"Thank you General. Sinclair out."

..
Lennon's Guest quarters TCS Bull Run: Lennon waited for the signal to clear, and then he saw the face of Delenn. "Lennon how has your meeting with the humans gone so far?"

"Far better than we could have hoped Delenn. The humans have done things that will surprise most of the people of Minbar."

Delenn looked slightly confused, "What have they done Lennon?"

Lennon smiled at her, "They have sent all of the Minbari that they rescued after the battle of Beta Durani. They wish to send them back to the Minbari people as a gesture of their good intentions."

"How many are they sending back Lennon?"

"Sadly Delenn it is only 70. But they have treated them well; they cared for the wounded, made sure our people were safe and well fed. And there is more I have to tell you."

"What else do you have to tell me Lennon?"

"One of my anla-shok, Nosann, has become the protector of a human woman."

Delenn looked somewhat surprised by that statement."Why would he do that Lennon?"

"Her brother gave his life to save Anla-shok Nosann's life."

Delenn looked at him now, "You're saying that a human gave his life to save a Minbari?"

"Yes Delenn, I am. But that is not all. After this happened, the humans put the human who had shot at Nosann on trial, and found him guilty. He is now to be jailed for the next 25 years."

Delenn looked surprised, "Do you believe this story Lennon?"

"Yes I do. So much so, that when she asked me, I agreed to allow her to train as an anla-shok."

"You know Lennon, some in the warrior caste will oppose your decision."

"Let them Delenn. I know it is the right thing to do. Besides the warrior caste and I have never really seen things the same way."

"I bow to your wisdom Lennon."

"Thank you Delenn, but now we must get our people home and start to truly negotiate with the humans. I would like for the gray council to send a ship to this system to pick up our people and to bring a real negotiating team here. But the ship captain must be told that they must enter the system with their weapons systems powered down, and their gun ports closed. We don't want a repeat of the action that helped to start this war."

"We will send a ship and negotiators right away my old friend."

"Thank you Delenn."

..
Interrogation room 2 TCS Bull Run: Lt Commander Sinclair and Commander Ian Wesley were looking at the Centauri officer chained to the chair.

"Why did your Captain fire on the Narns and this ship?"

The Centauri just looked at Commander Wesley, and then said nothing. It had been going like this for the last 2 hours, and both men knew that they were getting nowhere. Commander Wesley got an idea, and he tapped Sinclair on the shoulder. They stepped out of the room, and Ian looked at him.

"Listen I have a radical idea, but it might work. I say we ask Mr. G'Kar to help us out a little."

"I don't know Commander, there's a lot of bad blood between the Narn and the Centauri."

Ian smiled, "I know."

..
Commander Wesley called the captain and told him of his idea. The Captain was a little worried at first, but the Commander assured him that they could pull it off. He agreed, and soon he and Mr. G'kar were outside of the interrogation room, and Commander Wesley was explaining his idea to Mr. G'Kar.

..
Dashar Cotto was sitting and waiting for the next round of questioning. These humans just had no clue as to how to properly interrogate a prisoner. He was about to laugh, when the door opened and a Narn walked in carrying a large case. The Narn said nothing to him, but he proceeded to a table behind Dashar. Dashar could hear the Narn setting metal objects on the table. Every once in a while the Narn would chuckle to himself, and say things like, "Now this one should really hurt, or I hope you have a high pain threshold."

From the sound of joy in his voice, the Narn actually seemed happy to be here, Dashar was starting to sweat visibly. The door opened and the two humans returned. Commander Wesley looked at him, "I was hoping that we wouldn't have to do this, but you leave us no choice."

Dashar saw the worried looks on their faces.

"This gentleman is from the Narn, and in their recent troubles with the Centauri, he was an information gatherer. But he only got his information from Centauri prisoners."

Commander Sinclair looked at him, "Do you have any next of kin we can contact, and so we know where to send the remains?"

The Narn spoke now, "Commander I told you, not all of them died, one of them survived."

Dashar swallowed, "I'll tell you what you want to know, just keep him away from me."

"Why did your ship attack our ships?"

"We were sent orders to stop an arms deal between the Narns and the Humans."

"Who sent you these orders?"

"I don't know, someone in the Intelligence Division."

"Who was it?"

Dashar heard the sound of something like a drill behind him, "I don't know, the Captain received the orders personally. He didn't tell us who sent them. He only told us that we were to stop the arms deal at any cost."

Both commander Wesley and Sinclair saw the fear in his eyes, and knew he was telling the truth.

..
Conference Room six TCS Bull Run: The delegates had gathered the following morning to talk some more. Lennon looked at G'Kar, "How are your people doing?"

"Most are doing well, thanks to Dr. Franklin."

Lennon looked at Captain Grove, "And the Centauri, did they say why they attacked us?"

"Yes, they thought they were stopping an arms deal between the Narns and the Earth. Most of the prisoners didn't know why they were there, but one of the prisoners was an officer, who was commanding their auxiliary bridge. He was the only one who knew why they were really there. He said their orders came from someone in Centauri Intelligence, but he didn't know who."

Lennon nodded, "This war is nothing but mistakes on all sides. Even those not involved directly are making terrible mistakes."

..
Now he looked at Commander Sinclair, "I have been told that a human, a Captain Daniels was killed when he saved a Minbari. Is this true Commander?"

"Yes it is."

"I have also been told that your people put the man who caused Captain Daniels death on trial."

"Yes Mr. Lennon we did. Though most of us would have preferred that he be charged with murder, when the evidence was reviewed the Magistrate determined that the appropriate charge was manslaughter, not murder."

"What has happened to this man Commander?"

"He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison."

Lennon nodded, "Another casualty of this stupid war. But still some good will come from this."

He turned to Captain Grove, "Miss Daniels has asked me if she may train to be an anla-shok. I have agreed. But since she is a member of your crew, I must ask for your permission for her to go."

Captain Grove looked a little shocked, but then he smiled. "If it's what she wants, then she has my permission."

Lennon smiled, "Good, now let us talk about starting formal negotiations to end this terrible war."