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Thanks everyone for the support you are giving me. It's helping me write more and more everyday.

Hopefully in the upcoming chapters, questions that were raised would have been fixed like Relvain Jenafuse's comments on some problems should start to solve themselves with the other chapters as I have thought of ways to repair things I have accidentally missed.

Technology for the hyperspace cities should be explained in these chapters as well as other future developments.

madeye harry's question about having depth to characters is something I'm learning to do and add to the story, let me know if it goes pair shaped ;)

As for Sable Cold's question, that should have been solved as I deleted the offending text from the story, thanks for pointing it out to me.

Well, enjoy this next batch.

Shane

Chapter 19 (The President)

Standing at the boardroom window, the president gazed at the metropolis that was under her control, her empire. She had been president during the Earth/Minbari war and had guided the human race painfully to where it stood today. Without her leadership, everything would have collapsed into chaos and the human race might not have survived.

Dapper and distinguished, the president wore her impeccable historic black suit with a dark red blouse that heightened her grandmotherly persona. Her ginger hair was always kept at the same style throughout the years, as a symbol of her determination. She wanted to use her image as a figurehead for every human still alive.

But the president was not a vain woman. She'd seen the Earth destroyed and the countless attacks on human colonies and ships. She wanted revenge just as much as the next person.

While her assistant droned status reports and complaints at her, she stood with her hands behind her back, studying the portraits of all the hyperspace cities that spanned the course of years.

The portrayal of the cities represented the greatest achievements for mankind and a constant reminder of the darkness the Minbari had forced on the human race. The cities lifted the human race back into the light and provided a home. As a sign of success, the president always kept up-to-date pictures in her boardroom.

Three days ago, a new portrait had been delivered to the room and had personally seen it installed in its permanent place on the wall. Like all the images before it, this picture added proof that human strength would live on, no matter what stood in its way.

She looked at the first picture that showed the very first Babylon station. It was a prototype and the very first attempt at human ingenuity to house the largest human drifter-colony safely. Next came four more of the stations that were needed to house the ever-growing human population. She remembered giving the first approval to build the stations. It had seemed the only feasible idea at the time. Humanity had been living in star ships and poorly constructed colonies that were constantly invaded and destroyed. Within months of the project's announcement, hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life had descended on the construction site and helped to build the very first Babylon station. Babylon 1.

Then after the initial success, the rest of the stations came online at rapid pace. Citizens began to live on the other stations before they were even constructed. Such a monumental achievement the president could feel proud of.

However, it was not all successful. Babylon 4 had disappeared when a strange anomaly hit it, killing many of the inhabitants in that event. Thankfully most of the population had escaped. But the tragedy did not end there.

She strolled over to the last Babylon station portrait, Babylon 5. Then the assistant interrupted her train of thought.

She stared at the magnificent blue space station as the assistant enlightened her.

"According to the latest reports from Dr. Vance Hendricks, the artefacts he found on Ikarra 7 have brought up a wealth of data. We predict that we should be able to graft the organic technology onto the human clones for the perfect weapon." The assistant moved a few devices -the size of a cigarette lighter- until he found the one he wanted. He pressed the activation button and the device opened up into a holographic screen.

The assistant continued. "If our calculations are correct we could have twenty warriors at our disposal. But we do not know their initial behaviour and some scientists are concerned about the… 'control' mechanism."

The president wasn't troubled, but preoccupied. It's a small issue. Surelythe scientists can easily overcome this. "Don't worry about it. The scientists know what they are doing. I suggest activating the warriors once they are transported to a Minbari colony. Then we can study the results from orbit."

The President strolled along the boardroom wall until she came to the first hyperspace city. Then all the memories of the Babylon stations' destruction flooded back. Out of nowhere the Minbari swarmed in and destroyed everything. Millions of humans died, homes lost. All within one year after the stations were completed. It had been a disaster for the human race. She had seen it all. She cried back then, but not anymore. She vowed to do the same to the Minbari.

The city wasn't much to look at, just a large lump of metal in the sea of red, but it housed over three million people all-clamouring for life. It had been the first city residing in hyperspace, drifting off the hyperspace beacons for added security.

This had been the moment the Vanguards were discovered. A group of humans who flew their custom-made ships in the depths of hyperspace to escape the Minbari or any other race. They had finally joined the struggle, offering their services to keep the very first city safe in the deepest reaches of hyperspace. It was a unified encounter that benefited everyone and the Vanguards soon became the most respected group of humans ever to exist.

Another portrait showed the construction of a more advanced city. This time it resembled an egg with a glass dome constructed to house open space such as trees, buildings and parks. After the success of the first city, the president saw no reason not to allocate people and resources to build a better city. The ideas that flooded the designers ranged from plant life parks to outside buildings, something that impressed the president profoundly.

Then she looked at the next city that hanged on the wall, the city that would change the way humans lived forever. Constructed entirely from new technology, it boasted shield devices and new defensive weapons. A scientist named Jun Cho had developed an engine core that would channel the hyperspace partials and transfer them into energy to power the gigantic shield that replaced the fragile glass domes. The engine core also channelled huge amounts of power to the new alien weapons. She did not understand the concept, but she was glad to be part of it.

While the human population of Earth had been scattered along the stars, the president sent teams of rescuers to search for humans and bring them back. It had turned out to be an overwhelming success and before long, the city began to expand. The president had decided to build the human capital city.

She stopped in front of the portrait of her own city, Casabianca. It was the biggest city the humans had ever built. The centre of the city spanned fifteen miles, which branched out into independent domed structures that housed manufacturing complexes and farmland. Millions of people had helped build the metropolis and it soon became the inspiration to construct smaller cities out in plane space.

All of this was done for the good of mankind, and she was proud of her people.

Then she looked at the newest portraits that were completed, sent from the Batastar Asteroid Complex of the two newest cities. The two new advanced cities would ease the overpopulation strain and offer new homes to the thousands of humans who desperately need the shelter. The president felt like a saint, bringing the human race home to live safely in the depths of hyperspace. Now their efforts could be focused on the Minbari.

The assistant's voice changed into a shy tone. "Forgive me Madam President, I have some information you should know. Are you listening to me?"

She turned and smiled. "Don't worry. I know about the alien gate and its technology. So you are saying there is not much left to study."

The assistant, who sat at the highly polished table, shuffled his projection devices until he found the correct one and activated it. The holographic projection opened into the middle of the table along the surface.

An image of an ancient device that was shaped as a 'T' came into focus.

"This device has proven its worth. Since the Vanguards found it in hyperspace nearly eight years ago we have jumped ahead in technology further than anyone. But it can only be powered by Jun Cho's power plant, which will only work in hyperspace. We don't have the technology to produce that kind of power in normal space. A major set back."

The president sat at the table, examining the device. She clearly remembered her first sight of this thing. It had been found deep in hyperspace and the scientist who discovered it had believed it opened a doorway to thirdspace. But psychological problems had begun to develop in the city, and it wasn't long until all hell broke loose. She remembered very it well.

With the civilians under some kind of mind control, officials forced the city out into normal space and teams of dedicated people took the artefact apart to find the source of the disturbance.

Once the components were destroyed, they jumped back into hyperspace and thousands of scientists descended on the gate and dismantled it, using the technology to their own advantage.

Shield technology was the biggest breakthrough, and with Jun Cho's power plant, they had all the energy it needed. Cities could be built with less material and the shield itself could be used to filter the light rays from hyperspace to add a more Earthly feel. Next came the powerful blast weapons and advanced utilities that allowed them to recycle almost everything, from asteroids to any alien ship. They had it all.

"I believe Jun Cho has developed some kind of capacitor that can store vast amounts of power capable of powering a shield on a star ship for a short period of time. I believe that will give a small advantage for our new warriors?" The president handed a data crystal over to her assistant. "Make sure the research division gets this. I want to strike at the Minbari as soon as possible. The combination of those clone warriors and Jun Cho's capacitor might offer us a chance."

She dismissed her assistant and approached the boardroom window. The magnificent view of the Casabianca was below her feet. She smiled. The metropolis was marvellous.