Persistence
By Texan - rrendon@yahoo.com


RATING: FR-T

WARNINGS: A few swear words, and a lot of combat related violence 

CATEGORY: Crossover. SG-1, Highlander, and Battlestar Galactica (the 
first series). Also, Babylon 5, Star Trek, Starship Troopers, and Space: 
Above and Beyond.

SPOILERS: Everything through Season 8 of SG-1. Highlander, all of the 
series. Some characters that died in the series, I've revived. Star Trek 
through Nemesis. Everything through the end of Voyager is fair game 
though. Babylon 5: most of season 3. Takes place during season 3 from 
Severed Dreams to A Late Delivery from Avalon. Starship Troopers, 
everything covered in the movie, including the attitudes.  Space: Above 
and Beyond: all of this series.  It was an excellent series, but the 
parts in here focus on the last few episodes, and what I think should 
have or might have happened. Battlestar Galactica, the entire series (NOT 
the 1980 fiasco!) and all of the books by Richard Hatch. Tom Clancy, 
everything through Rainbow Six/Executive Orders. 

TIME FRAME: Mentions of Season 8 of SG-1. Otherwise, 3 years or 3 months. 
The story explains more...

SUMMARY: Picks up where Patience left off. It would entirely helpful for 
you to read these stories in the order that they were written: 
Potentials, Patience, and Persistence.

DISCLAIMER: The characters in this story belong to their respective 
owners. I am not making any money off of this story. Stargate SG-1 
belongs to Gecko Productions. Highlander to Rysher Entertainment. Star 
Trek to Paramount. Babylon 5 to Babylonian Productions. StarShip Troopers 
to Robert Heinlein. Space: Above and Beyond to Hard Eight Productions.  
If I missed someone, I apologize.

DISCLAIMER: It's rather obvious. Neither Highlander, nor Battlestar 
Galactica, nor Stargate SG-1 belong to me. The first belongs to Panzer 
Davis and Rysher Entertainment. The second to Glen Larson (for the 
series) and Richard Hatch (for his excellent books). The last to Gecko 
Productions. Furthermore, the Governmental characters (i.e., the white 
house and cabinet members, and CIA, FBI, and Rainbow personnel) belong to 
Tom Clancy. The universe that is Babylon 5 was created by JMS and 
Babylonian Productions. Star Trek and the characters and places from that 
universe belong to Paramount and Gene Rodenberry. Starship Troopers and 
its characters belong to Robert Heinlein. Space: Above and Beyond, and 
it's characters belong to Fox Networks, and Hard Eight Productions.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is the third part of the Potentials story...the 
fourth part, the final one, is in the final stages of writing. Hopefully, 
it won't be as long as this beast of a chapter. If you wish to archive 
this story, please let me know.

I had not intended to have so much time elapse between updates, but a 
little thing called Writer's Block intervened. This story has been 
sitting on my computer since long before Part Two was uploaded, but it 
was incomplete. It's complete, at least as far as this chapter goes. From 
Patience, you'll recall a conversation between Tok'Ra and four other 
dimensional entities. Below, you'll find the completed dimensional 
voyages. 

Last notes for now:

Anonymous reviewer: I had wanted to post this as a Christmas gift to all 
of the loyal readers, but on Christmas Eve two things happened quite 
unexpectedly...(1) it snowed! The first time in record that south Texas 
has a White Christmas! And (2) the flu. I fell violently ill on the 24th 
and am only now just recovered enough to finally think straight enough to 
finish editing and post this beast.

This beast of a chapter has taken far too long to write and to proof-
read. The next, and final chapter, will not be as long. And hopefully, 
I'll actually remember to post it to this archive again!

I couldn't have written as much as I did without the help of a few web 
sites. The Lurker's Guide to Babylon5, Voltayre's Encyclopedia 
Xenobiologica, the Star Trek site, and Arduinna's Stargate site, a first 
draft script I found for Starship Troopers, and the Space Ready Deck. 
Without these all important resources for canonical information, the 
stories I've written would be next to impossible, as I am attempting to 
follow officially accepted canon as closely as possible.

There was a rumor on the net, some months ago, that Ecolea had departed 
our plane of existence. I try not to place stock in rumors, but since she 
has not answered any email and has not posted in months, added to the 
fact that her website is down, well. I'm dedicating this story to her, 
because without her writings, none of this would have been possible. If 
she has passed beyond, then the world is a bit sadder without her.


                         *******************

Persistence

Aboard Independence Station, the crowd looked on as the Halsey styled for 
a moment, before the large fore-mounted wormhole projectors activated. It 
was a new and untested technology, at least to them. It was a technology 
that the Ancients had first developed and deployed millennia ago. The 
projectors opened the wormhole and the Halsey moved through. It would not 
be an instantaneous journey, as the sheer mass involved and the amount of 
power necessary to open a stable wormhole were both immense. But within 
ten minutes, the Halsey would emerge at a predetermined spot in the Orion 
cluster, where the battlecruisers Houston and Moscow were waiting. The 
carriers were there to scout out the cluster and to lay down an early 
warning net of sensors.

Unfortunately, the Halsey did not emerge from the wormhole into the Orion 
cluster. Or rather, they did, but not in this universe.

And while they were in transit to Orion, something else, quite unexpected 
happened on Earth.

                         *******************

White House
Oval Office

The man walked in as if the mere act of walking into the Oval Office were 
the most natural thing in the world. The President was sitting at his 
desk speaking with his Chief of Staff, Arnold van Damm, seated in front 
of the desk.

"Senator Kinsey?!? You're supposed to be dead!"

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated, Mr. Ryan. I am quite 
alive as you can see. And you, sir, have no business sitting in that 
chair. I was very much against President Durling naming you as his Vice 
President, but I went along with it because he promised that you would 
serve out the remainder of the term and then fade away. Now I see that  
you have intentions to run for President in the next election and I, sir, 
will be running against you. You have left open that Pandora's Box called 
the Stargate and it has brought nothing but ill to this world. I'll see 
to it that no more funding is given to that project. That project must be 
closed! Furthermore, all these so-called immortals, are nothing but 
freaks of humanity and they should be rounded up and dissected so that no 
one but the United States can benefit from their gift!"

"That would be a bad move, Senator. A very bad move indeed."

"It is in the best interest of the US, Mr. Ryan."

"That's President Ryan, to you Senator."

"I don't know what your game is, Kinsey, but I'll do my best to see that 
the truth is heard, particularly the transcript of the trial of the 
Consortium members. You see, before his sentence was imposed, Mr. Spender 
named you as an accomplice to their actions. Senator Matheson is now 
serving his 'prison' term. NID has been disbanded. You have no associates 
left, Senator. Do the US a favor and fade into obscurity."

"No, Mr. Van Damm, I won't."

The Senator from Maryland left the way he came, out the main door. He 
walked out of the White House like he owned it, like it was his house and 
like he would be back for good. He had every intention of being named 
President. And if he had his way, it would be President for Life.

                         *******************

"Jack, he's gonna be trouble. We need to nip that in the bud."

"Yes. We do. But how?"

"Let me work on that."

                         *******************

AIS Strike Carrier Admiral Halsey
Main Bridge

The Halsey was nearing the end of the ten minute wormhole transit when 
alarms began blaring out on the bridge.

"Sir! We're registering an overload on the wormhole projectors!"

"Shut them down!"

"We don't know what effect that will have on our transit!"

"A risk we'll have to take. Better to be stranded between stars than to 
ride a wormhole until we run out of fuel. There's enough fuel in those 
wormhole projectors to last a decade!"

"Shunting power!"

The Halsey seemed to shudder for a brief moment before it was spat out of 
the wormhole at high velocity. The power shunt had directed the overload 
directly to the dimensional portal projectors, just as Tok'Ra had 
designed them to do so. 

"We're out!"

"Flight deck! Launch Ready CAP!"

"Damage report!"

"Sir, the power overload was shunted, but we can't identify the system it 
was shunted to. Engineering is working the problem."

"Sensors! Report!"

"Area is clear out to a distance of five light years. "

"Weps?"

"All weapons systems showing green. Force field projectors all show 
green, sir."

"Navigation?"

"Not picking up any beacons from any Combat Gates. Stellar charts put us 
about ten light years distant from Epsilon Eridani system. Sir, according 
to the charts, we should be very near Kelowna."

"How near?"

"Two light years, sir."

"Sensors. Launch three cloaked probes. One at the Kelownan system, one 
towards Epsilon, the other towards Earth. Let's get some long range 
sensors training while we figure out what went wrong with the power 
flow."

"Aye sir. Probes launching now."

Three probes left the Halsey in quick succession. They maneuvered for a 
few seconds to put them on a starting trajectory that would bring them to 
their targets. A second after their initial thrust maneuvers were 
complete, all three probes successfully cloaked and a second later, 
entered hyperspace. Because of the distances involved, Kelowna would be 
probed first, followed by Earth, then Epsilon. The sensors officer, Lt. 
Jameson, late of the Royal Navy, would monitor the probes for the 
duration of the exercise.

Without being told what to do, Major Carter was already working with the 
engineering crew to find the source of the problem. Minor injuries were 
being reported throughout the ship, but thankfully no casualties. While 
engineering worked the problem, others were taking the time to run 
drills. On the flight deck, Colonel O'Neill was directly the plane 
handlers to make ready for a combat launch. The hangars aboard the strike 
carriers had been designed to eject as many fighters at one time as was 
possible. In this case, that number was seventy-five. Each of the five 
primary hangar bays had fifteen launch catapults. The catapults were 
stacked three high and five across. Each bay could eject fifteen fighters 
at one time. O'Neill set up three bays with fighters and two with 
interceptors. A flight of bombers were standing by in one of the 
auxiliary bays as they were too large to launch out of the catapults. 

The battlecruisers had detached from their mounts and were preparing 
their own flights of fighters for launch. All in all, it was excellent 
training and it gave the squadron leaders and the two strike wing 
commanders the chance to see where the problems were so they could fix 
them. By the time the deck crews had gone through two sets of 'pretend' 
combat launches, their set up times had improved from thirty minutes at 
the onset, to ten minutes on the latest pass. Still, O'Neill would not be 
satisfied until they cut that number in half. 

On the Bridge, Lt. Jameson was seeing some startling information coming 
through from the three probes. 

"Sir? I have the probe data."

"Main screen. What am I looking at?"

"This is the data from Kelownan probe. But Kelowna isn't there. Where it 
should be, there is only an asteroid field."

"How is that possible? Are there any indications of weapons fire?"

"No sir. The damage appears to be at least a million years old. Almost as 
if the planet was torn apart before it could properly form."

"Not good. What else?"

"Switching to probe feed from Earth sir. But none of the landmarks are 
there."

"Where the hell is Independence Station? We only just left a little more 
than two hours ago?"

"Unknown sir. There's more. The main dome on Luna, the Colonial 
settlement on Mars. Both are gone, sir."

"Gone?! What do you mean, gone?!"

"Well, there are domes on Luna and Mars, but they're not the domes we 
know sir. There are a number of ships in the Sol system, but none are 
even remotely similar to the ships in our fleet, sir."

"That ship there. Lower left corner. Magnify."

"Aye sir. Looks like that says 'Agamemnon'."

"That's my read too. Rotating hull sections? They must not have 
artificial gravity. Any comms intercepted by the probe, Jameson?"

"Yes sir. Picking up something called Interstellar News. Martial law? 
Sir, it appears as though Earth has declared martial law at home and on 
her colonies? What the hell?"

"Continue to monitor. Show me Epsilon."

"Aye sir. Switching to Epsilon probe feed."

"Oh my, that's a big station!"

"Confirmed sir. Probe data indicate it is five miles long. The probe is 
also picking up a odd gate like device hanging in space near the station. 
Earth probe now picking up the same odd gate in that system near Io."

"Continue to monitor all probes. Pierson, you have the conn. I'll be in 
my office."

"Sure, Marius."

                         *******************

An hour later, Lieutenant Jameson was standing in his office, adjacent to 
the main bridge, to report his findings.

"Summarize it for me, Jameson."

"Sir. I've run every scan I can think of in the Kelownan system. The 
damage to the planet we know as Kelowna appears to be millions of years 
old. There is no evidence whatsoever that there was ever any life on 
Kelowna. The only good news I have to report is that the asteroid field 
is extremely rich in naquadah, trinium, naquadria, and tylium. This is by 
far the richest field I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. The field is 
a five minute hyperspace jump away sir, and within three days, we could 
have more than enough of those metals to build a dozen strike carriers."

"Well, that is something. What about Earth?"

"The news is not good at all there sir. I don't really know how to 
describe it sir, but none of what we knew is there. The probe picked up a 
signal from an atomic clock in the system and the year is 2260. Before 
you say anything, sir, it gets much better. Apparently the nations of 
Earth have banded together to form one planetary government, with elected 
representatives from each member country. There is one leader of Earth, a 
President Morgan Clark. Sir, it is my opinion, that the man in charge is 
playing with less than a full deck. There are dozens of news reports 
about how the alien influence is ruining Earth. There is an organization 
called Night Watch that sounds more like something out of Nazi Germany 
than anything modern. Clark has declared martial law and is actively 
hunting down anyone that speaks out against him. Earth has several off-
world colonies and one space station. There is something else sir. It 
appears as commercial advertisement, so I wouldn't put much stock into 
it, however, that it appears at all is what worries me."

"Spit it out, son."

"An advertisement on what to do should you suspect yourself or a friend 
is a psionic. There is an organization on Earth called Psi-Corps. Frankly 
sir, it scares the hell out of me, especially if someone can read my mind 
without my knowledge!"

"Continue to monitor Earth space and that station in Epsilon. I want to 
know what Earth does next and how that station responds. Dismissed."

"Aye sir."

                         *******************

Immortal Shipyards
Immortal Design Bureau
Office of Mitch Guerra

He was in shock. Hell, the whole staff at the IDB was in shock. The first 
strike carrier to set out from the shipyard and it disappears. No 
wreckage, no escape pods, no sign of anything at all. When the Halsey did 
not arrive on time, the Houston and the Moscow began searching along 
their projected course, with no results. Not that they found anything, it 
was the simple fact that they found absolutely nothing of the Halsey. 
That's what worried him.

This was his first opportunity in the last several hours, hell days 
actually,  to sit down. All of the staff at the IDB were looking over the 
last telemetry data received at Independence station before the Halsey 
had entered her wormhole. But they could see nothing wrong in the 
readings. As far as they knew, everything was working according to 
specifications. Guerra put his head in his hands for a moment. The shock 
of it still setting in. The man he had called friend was gone. 

He looked up after some time to realize that his computer screen was 
flashing 'new mail' at him. He hadn't noticed it before when he had 
walked in, and Mitch guessed that he must have been too shocked, too 
tired to notice.

"Mitch, if you're reading this, then Tok'Ra's plan worked and I'm very 
far away. He told me I could tell three people of his request to me and 
guess what old buddy, you're number three. It seems that a few million 
years ago, when the Ancients were first exploring the universe, they used 
slow ships; the kind we would still be using had we not learned how to 
use the Stargate. Tok'Ra told me they set up three research teams. One 
designed and developed the Stargate. Another created the means of 
hyperspace travel. The third team, that's the one that concerns us the 
most. Or rather, the one that concerns me the most. You see, that third 
team developed a way to travel between dimensions. Yeah, I did say 
dimensions.

Anyways, the Ancients did a lot of exploring. This was all back before 
they evolved and you know what? They found the universe to be a lonely 
place. So they used their dimensional portal and guess what? Other 
universes were also lonely places. But they found in four places, the 
potential for humanoid life that was similar to our own. Or their own. 
I'm still not sure which of our species Tok'Ra was referring to. In any 
case, the Ancients set up at least four outpost worlds, one in each of 
the four universes they wanted to keep an eye on. 

Over time, they gathered a lot of intelligence and they made a few 
friends as well. And in time, the Ancients evolved and left our plane of 
existence. Guess what? After they evolved, they couldn't be bothered to 
maintain those outpost worlds. The gateway between dimensions was shut 
down, and the outpost worlds were forgotten. Until recently that is. 
Someone out there reminded Tok'Ra of what they had done so long ago. 
Someone out there told Tok'Ra that other, less benevolent races had 
chanced upon those outpost worlds and were using the technology there to 
enslave their universes. Normally that wouldn't affect any of us here, 
but unless that tech is retrieved, the chances that those other races 
could develop the dimensional technology are pretty darn high. Tok'Ra 
can't do this himself. So he's sending me.

But I have a favor to ask. I don't know how long I'll be gone and I don't 
know if I'll make it back alive, though I certainly will try. The 
information I have given you, you must promise me right now that you will 
take it to the grave. Now, about that favor. You'll find an attachment to 
this voice mail file. It's a new ship design I came up with after 
watching the Asgard video of the Goa'uld battle. It's a rather narrow 
ship, maybe only a couple hundred meters wide and six or seven hundred 
meters long. The strike carriers are great and in theory, they'll allow 
us to launch waves of fighters at an oncoming enemy. The big guns and the 
missile launch tubes are the only real offensive weapons the ship has 
however. The same is true of the battlecruisers, though they carry a 
whole lot less fighters.

So I had in mind something that would travel with the strike carrier 
group. A support ship of sorts. Two very large turrets fore and two very 
large turrets aft. Not rail guns. Not pulsar guns. I want these guns to 
fire plasma projectiles. Large plasma projectiles. The design also has 
numerous missile launchers mounted on the ship. The inspiration for the 
design came from the US Navy's Iowa class and from the Russian Kirov 
class. Look at those two for more ideas. Long range fire is what I'm 
after. Get with your teams and get to work on these new ships. They could 
mean the difference between victory or defeat when we face the Cylon 
battle fleets. I was thinking along the lines of four or six to support 
each strike carrier. In any case, I know you'll do your best with this 
design. I'll see you when I see you. Luck."

Mitch had not expected that. Mail from Marco. He would keep the secret. 
He vowed that on his very soul. 

                         *******************

AIS Admiral Halsey
Kelowna System

The Halsey had been prowling the asteroid field for three days now. In 
three days they had filled the raw metals storage tanks to overflowing. 
News had continued to come in via the probes from Earth and from the 
space station, now called by it's name; Babylon 5. Just now, Marius was 
meeting with his senior officers and department heads in the officer's 
wardroom. Before he could say anything, however, he felt the tell tale 
tickle that signaled Tok'Ra's presence.

"Ok people, let's get down to business. I do believe Tok'Ra has something 
to say."

"I do Marius. I know that you have been monitoring Earth and the Babylon 
5 station for some days now. I know that many of you believe you have 
been cast into the far future. That is not correct. When your ship 
entered the wormhole, I directed my energies into a set of projectors 
mounted along the bow of this ship. These projectors allowed your ship to 
breach the barriers between dimensions. I do not wish to trifle with your 
lives, yet I must ask a dangerous favor from you and your ship mates. 
Before the Ancients evolved, we were exploring this universe that you now 
find yourselves in. This one and three others. Then we moved from this 
plane of existence and we chose to forget about our explorations. In 
doing so we left four outposts laden with a number of technologies. 
Technologies that could help in your coming war. But we left them. And 
others found them. Now, these others use our technologies to wage war. 
You must retrieve these technologies and set the balance again in these 
four universes. Until those four tasks are accomplished, the dimensional 
projectors will not allow you to return to your home universe.

You are quite alone out here. There are no Goa'uld. No Nox. No Asgard. 
You may find friends that can help you in the long term, but you will 
have to help them first. I will be around, from time to time, to offer my 
counsel to Marius. My first bit of advice is that you ally yourselves 
with Babylon 5. There you will find representatives of the two races the 
Ancients met long ago."

And with that, Tok'Ra ceased his speech and moved to a hover in the 
background.

                         *******************

"Well, I guess that explains what we thought was time travel."

"Sure seems that way, Major Carter."

"Did you know about this Adam?"

"No I did not. But I suspect Marius did."

"I did. You all may hate me for it. But I knew. I've known for a month 
now. So here's what we're going to do. You all are going to leave this 
room and talk to the crews under you. This will be the only time we'll 
take this as a vote. If your crews decide to honor Tok'Ra and his 
request, then we'll keep the info about us being from another dimension 
to ourselves. We'll make up a story to tell any we encounter. Go now, and 
discuss it amongst yourselves. I'll be in my quarters, awaiting your 
decision."

                         *******************

Marius' Living Quarters

"What if they decide against you Marius?"

"Then I will ask you to return them, to return this ship. I will do as 
you ask. I will take the Dallas and continue this journey."

"You are a most honorable man, Marius."

"Thank you father."

Marius busied himself, preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. 
He knew it would take time to brief everyone in on this situation. Time 
he may not have to spare, but it was the right thing to do. The odds were 
not in his favor. So he concentrated on what supplies he would need to 
turn the Dallas into a one man operation. And no matter how many times he 
tried to do just that, all the answers came up against him. Who could he 
count on to stay with him? No one. Sure, maybe his three bodyguards, but 
he wouldn't ask that of them. Who else? He honestly could not answer that 
question.

A span of several hours later, that question was answered for him. 
Continue the mission. Do what we must. Then get home and ensure the 
safety of Earth and her allies.

                         *******************

"Captain's on the bridge!"

"As you were. Mr. Jameson, your report."

"The Mars colony was bombed a few hours ago. Earth is getting very 
desperate to control it's off-world colonies. Forces were dispatched to 
Proxima and Orion to re-take those 'rebellious' colonies. It looks like 
they're leaving Babylon 5 for the end as it looks like Babylon 5 has some 
serious allies."

"Helm, plot a course for Babylon 5. All stations, this is the Captain. 
Set condition yellow. That is all."

                         *******************

Babylon 5
Command and Control Center

Outside the station, the former EA vessels Alexander and Churchill were 
the only two that made it on time. Any other 'rebellious' EA vessels 
would be unable to jump to the station in time to help them. Ambassador 
Delenn had left only an hour previously to try and talk the Grey Council 
and the rest of the Minbari into helping Babylon 5 stand against those 
influenced by the Shadows. Captain Sheridan was at his station in C&C 
while Commander Ivanova had opted to lead the station's Thunderbolt 
squadrons. Security was at it's highest level of alert and all were 
waiting. The anxious wait before a major battle. Ask any warrior and 
they'll tell you the wait is worse, far worse, than the fighting itself.

In his quarters, the Vorlon moved to the door. It was an unusual 
creature. Standing at somewhere between six and seven feet tall, the 
outer suit belied the power of the creature within. A long flowing robe 
covered what? No one knew the answer to that particular question. A set 
of shoulders and a simple pod in between the shoulders that held a single 
eye. A cyclopean eye. All the more with which to intimidate any one else 
but another Vorlon or possibly a Shadow. The Vorlon could feel the 
approach of the Ancient.

Elsewhere, the three Shadow agents felt the same. They chittered loudly 
to one another. Their human counterpart, Mr. Morden, had never seen them 
so upset. 

"Who comes?"

More squeaks and chitters.

"The Ancient? What do you mean?"

The chitters were angrier now.

"A first one?"

Long and drawn out squeaks and whistles.

"Not a first one? The First Teacher? The First Teacher comes?"

A single chitter.

"That can not be good."

The three Shadows agreed with their human counterpart though they did not 
give voice to the agreement. Amongst themselves, they were both anxious 
and overjoyed that the Ancient was returning. Perhaps now, the Vorlons 
would see just wrong they are.

Of course, the Vorlons on the Vorlon home world did not know that the 
Ancient had returned. Nor did the Shadows at Z'ha'dum. Only Kosh and the 
three Shadows knew. The others would know soon enough.

                         *******************

Command and Control

It was a sight that none in C&C would ever forget. The Vorlon Ambassador 
gliding into C&C. Captain Sheridan turned as Kosh entered. But before 
Sheridan could utter a single word, Kosh spoke.

"The Ancient. Comes. Now."

Sheridan could not begin to guess what that meant. In the three seconds 
that had elapsed since Ambassador Kosh spoke, the jump gate had activated 
and four EA destroyers came through the opening. 

"Babylon 5. You will power down your weapons and stand down. Or we will 
be forced to take the station by force and you, Captain Sheridan, will 
stand trial for treason. I'll give you two minutes to think about it."

                         *******************

AIS Halsey

The strike carrier came out of Hyperdrive just shy of the station. The 
ship was immense and the station and the EA destroyers both turned their 
attention to the incredibly huge vessel.

"Attention all vessels. This is the AIS strike carrier Admiral Halsey. 
Babylon 5 is under our protection. You will stand down or we will defend 
the station. You have one minute to comply."

                         *******************

B5 C&C

"...you have one minute to comply."

"Who the hell is that?" asked Captain Sheridan.

"The Ancient. Is. Here. The. First. Circle. Is complete." Responded Kosh.

                         *******************

EA vessel Clarkstown

"Target that ship. If it so much as twitches, I want it blown out of my 
space!"

"Targeting...unable to obtain target lock sir. Must be using some kind of 
stealth tech. Almost like the Minbari?"

"That looks like no Minbari warship I've ever seen. If it is Minbari, 
then it's a radical change from the types of ships we normally see from 
them. Deploy fighter squadrons. Weapons, do the best you can and fire at 
that monstrosity!"

                         *******************

AIS Halsey

"Shields are up and at full power sir!"

"Target those destroyers! Fire as they come to bear!"

The first strikes from the Clarkstown impacted on the shield surrounding 
the Halsey, illuminating the field. The weapons officers aboard the four 
EA vessels could do nothing but watch as their first missile strikes 
failed to hit anything at all. The forward laser batteries were firing 
constantly, but were having no effect at all, other than to illuminate 
the boundaries of whatever field the ship was using.

"No effect sir! They have some sort of shield protecting them!"

"Weapons officer! Target that vessel with four of our nuclear warheads!"

"Sir! The radiation will kill those on the station!"

"Fuck the station! Fire!"

Four missiles came out of the Clarkstown at high speed. Aboard the 
Halsey, the sensors officer raised a shout of alarm.

"Sir! Incoming missiles. Radiological warning! Scanners indicate nuclear 
yields on those missiles!"

"Weps! Target those incoming missiles and fire interceptors!"

"Firing interceptors!"

"Comms! Get our fighters away from here, full burn!"

"All fighter wings! The Halsey is under radiologic attack! Break now!"

Four missiles came in hot and true. The interceptors carried by the 
Halsey and all currently planned ships of her class were the same Surface 
to Air missiles carried on surface warships of Earth. Until now, they 
were untested in space. The first was intercepted a scant thousand meters 
from the outer force shield of the Halsey. Though Marco had theorized 
that his shields would withstand a nuclear explosion in close proximity, 
that theory had never been put to the test. Until now. The missiles used 
by the EA ships had been equipped with proximity sensors. The impact by 
the first of the interceptors had caused a premature detonation and the 
nuclear energies washed against the outer defense shield. A second impact 
closely followed the first and the combined energies of two five hundred 
kiloton warheads brought down the first shield. 

Unknown for the moment, an ancient power within the planet of Epsilon 3 
threw up an instantaneous shield around the Babylon 5 station, blocking 
the frenzied radiation that spewed forth from the nuclear warhead 
impacts. The instant the radiation had dissipated to more tolerable 
levels, the shield faded.

But the Halsey, like all of the other ships in the fleet, from fighters 
to shuttles, to the battlecruisers, had been designed with three layers 
of shields, each one more powerful than the previous one. The Captain on 
the Clarkstown had seen his first two missiles impact on the shields and 
seen no apparent damage to the ship, so he ordered another volley of four 
missiles fired.

The next two missiles of the original volley were absorbed by the second 
defense field, though the field itself was weakened by more than half. 
Then two more rockets came in and the second field fell. Now the only 
thing standing between the personnel aboard the Halsey and certain 
nuclear death was a last defensive field. And more missiles were 
incoming. With all the nuclear explosions, communications with the 
fighter wings was disrupted, but O'Neill, in one of the fighters, saw the 
defense fields fall and he ordered his nearest wingmen to follow him into 
the ship firing those nuclear weapons. 

Other fighters and bombers around them saw their actions and followed 
them in. Space was awash in waves of radiation emanating from the 
explosions on the Halsey, but the pilots who called that ship their home 
were angry. Angry that they might not have a home to return to. Angry 
enough to take on the four EA destroyers that were attacking them and the 
station. Fighters and interceptors swarmed over the four destroyers and 
their stings, though small, hurt the bigger ships. They cleared the way 
for the larger bombers to come in and launch their plasma bombs at the 
destroyers. 

Jack saw in his peripheral vision, one of the battlecruisers as its 
shields failed spectacularly. Just as more fighters were swarming over 
it, it made a short jump into hyperspace and emerged on the far side of 
the station, where two more of its sister ships were there to aid it.

And Jack saw more in the next few seconds than he would ever recall later 
in his life. A wing of bombers rushed at the Clarkstown and laid waste to 
her engines and weapons, then a final strike and the ship was shorn in 
two. Other bomber wings, seeing the tactics used by their fellow pilots, 
imitated them, and shortly, there were eight odd sized pieces of EA 
destroyers adrift in space. His mind processed only what he saw directly 
in front of him, and that was the 'enemy' fighter in his sights. It 
performed stunts and maneuvers he could not hope to imitate, but he 
didn't have to. He fired a pair of Venom missiles at the target, and they 
matched each turn and about face the target made before impacting the 
target and obliterating it. Behind him, on the Halsey, things were not 
fairing well.

"Sir! Shields down to eight percent! We can't take another hit like that 
last one!"

"Engineering! Channel all available power to the shields!"

"Nothing left to re-route!"

"Interceptors fired!" came the shout of a harried weapons officer.

Just seconds before the latest round of missiles impacted the ship, the 
helmsman saw what the Dallas had done and did the same thing. The wounded 
battlecruiser had jumped to hyperspace to avoid the fighters pursuing it 
and so he activated the Hyperdrive and jumped them two million kilometers 
to starboard, and the missiles missed!

"Who ordered that jump!?"

"Sir, I saw the Dallas do the same thing and figured it would work for 
us."

"Excellent thinking! You just saved our butts!" Mentally, Marius was 
telling himself that the helmsman deserved at the very least a promotion. 
But then he looked out at the view screen and saw four more EA destroyers 
making the jump into the system.

                         *******************

Indeed, four more Earth Alliance destroyers had made the transition from 
hyperspace into normal space. They had been sent as a sort of back-up 
force, in the long shot case that the first four destroyers would run 
into trouble, though the military had doubted that. Now, though, as the 
captain of one of the ships looked out and saw the other four destroyers, 
or rather he saw parts of them, he doubted that even his force would be 
enough to stop Sheridan. Of course, he didn't know about the Halsey.

"Attention Earth Alliance ships. Babylon 5 is under our protection. 
Vacate this area immediately or we will be forced to destroy you as 
well."

"Weps, bring the main guns on-line and target those new ships. Target 
engines and weapons emplacements first."

"Aye sir."

Whatever doubts the bridge crew had had about an Immortal being named 
Captain of the Halsey, even for the extended space trials, were gone, 
like a gossamer mist.

                         *******************

Aboard the newly arrived EA destroyer Olympic, the captain thought that 
an all out assault was his best option and the four destroyers turned as 
one to meet the very large ship to port. Fighters raced out from their 
mother ships and sped forward to intercept the Halsey. But the Halsey's 
fighters were already there, meeting them. In a battle that lasted only a 
few tens of seconds, the Halsey's fighters were victorious and the EA 
fighters, though more nimble, were no match for their heavier guns. Now, 
bright beams of phased plasma energies lanced out from the Halsey and 
struck true on the weapons emplacements of the new destroyers. These were 
followed by large naquadah encased rounds from the rail guns and a single 
conventional Shipwreck targeted at each destroyer. They had been de-
clawed in a decisive strike. The ranking Earth Force Captain gave the 
order, though it pained him to do so. Retreat. And while the ships were 
turning about preparing to enter hyperspace, everyone of their scanning 
beams was raking over the Halsey, taking in reams of data on the fighting 
capabilities of this ship. A moment later, they had safely entered 
hyperspace.

And just as the crews on the Halsey and aboard Babylon 5 were about to 
take a breath, four more jump points opened spewing forth four Minbari 
Ships of the Line, and a single White Star. On board the White Star, 
Delenn and the crew around her looked out onto the field of battle and 
saw nothing but destruction. They also saw a very large ship, nearly 
three-fifths the size of the station, waiting there, as if ready to 
pounce.

"Attention unidentified ship. I am Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari 
Federation. Stand down or we will be forced to fire on you."

"Ambassador, it is you who must stand down. Your ships are targeted and 
locked into our systems. We will fire and destroy you if you so much as 
twitch the wrong way."

Delenn looked to one side and confirmed that this new ship had them 
targeted and no matter what they tried, they could not break the 
targeting lock. 

In C&C, Sheridan looked out at the two sides and realized they meant to 
fire on one another.

"Delenn, Halsey. Stop! We're all on the same side!"

It was a desperate plea, shouted out by a man who had seen more deaths in 
the previous thirty minutes than he had seen during the entire Earth-
Minbari war.

"Halsey. Standing down."


"Captain Sheridan, are you sure of their intentions?"

"No Delenn, I'm not. But they did just save us all. I'll keep an open 
mind about it for now."

"As will I."


"Halsey to Station. We have a lot of pilots down and we're sure you do as 
well. We are launching Search and Rescue now."

                         *******************

Marius turned to one side and gave the order for the SAR squadrons to 
launch and pick up their pilots and any other pilots they happened to 
find. The medical deck was prepped to received an influx of wounded. Dr. 
Scully was expecting the worst to come through the doors of the med bays 
and so she made sure that all would be treated accordingly. The dozen 
sarcophagi they had on board, a gift from Lord Yu, were standing by to 
revive the newly dead and heal the most critical of cases. Asgard stasis 
pods were also standing by to stabilize those who could not immediately 
go into a sarcophagus. Elsewhere, five Tok'ra, who had volunteered to 
serve on this ship, were opening up their medical bags and withdrawing 
the Healing Devices. Though they would be unable to heal a fatal wound or 
even bring back the dead, they could stabilize those with serious wounds 
until more proper medical facilities could be gotten to. 

The hangar decks were awash with craft that were coming in from the 
fighting. Some were damaged beyond repair and as such they would be 
cannibalized for whatever spare parts they would yield. Others needed 
only minor repairs to be made flyable again. Though the vast majority of 
the squadrons had taken part in the fighting, a few had been left in 
reserve. Now, these reserve squadrons were launching and were flying 
cover for the SAR squadrons whose job it was to find and pick up the 
escape pods of dozens of fighters from the Halsey, and the suited pilots 
of the destroyed Starfury and Thunderbolt fighters. Shuttles were also 
launching to pick up the survivors in the ripped apart EA destroyers. 

Four of the battlecruisers were nudging the larger parts of the EA 
destroyers into a temporary holding area where it was thought by some of 
the engineers aboard the Halsey, that they could be repaired and pressed 
into service. The Dallas had been damaged in one of the nuclear 
explosions and had to be towed back to its docking port on the Halsey by 
the Kiev and the Ryan.

It was several hours before all of the escape pods had been located and 
the wounded treated. In one of the storage rooms aboard the Halsey, some 
five hundred Earth Alliance personnel were awaiting their fate. Many had 
been near death, only to be fully healed a short time after they were 
picked up. Their weapons had been stripped away from them, sure, but they 
were alive. It felt truly good to be alive just then.

                         *******************

Babylon 5
Command and Control

"AIS Halsey calling Babylon 5. We have a number of EA prisoners aboard. 
Frankly we're not sure where their loyalties lie. We'd like to hand them 
over to you and we'd like to meet you, if at all possible."

"Halsey. I am Captain John Sheridan of Babylon 5. You have clearance to 
land."

From the Halsey, a single Bulldog class attack shuttle emerged followed 
closely by a squadron of Icarus class fighters. These in turn were 
followed by a dozen shuttles carrying the rescued EA personnel. The 
fighters peeled out of formation with the attack shuttle and took up 
patrol routes that would lead them around the station and around the 
Halsey. The attack shuttle had been a very late addition to the Halsey 
and so there were only six of them aboard. From the outside, they looked 
like the Scorpion class bombers of the AIS fleet, but that's where the 
resemblance stopped. Within the Bulldog, was a crew compartment for 
thirty fast reaction troopers and their equipment. On this particular 
Bulldog, O'Neill and Teal'c were at the controls, with Carter and Methos 
at the single weapons station, and the sensors stations, respectively. 
Dr. Jackson had joined the First Contact team and was standing along side 
Fox Mulder. All were armed with zat guns. Marius had brought his three 
bodyguards along and while they carried zat guns, they also carried the 
new staff weapons that Hamza had crafted for them prior to their 
departure. The staffs each encased a single long blade of a trinium-
titanium alloy that could slice through a wall made of diamond, albeit 
very thin diamond, like a hot knife through butter. But to anyone 
looking, the staffs were just that, walking sticks. A last minute 
addition to the First Contact team had been D'Fir, one of the Tok'ra 
medics, on the chance that there would be wounded aboard the station.

The Bulldog made its approach and the pilots aboard followed the landing 
cues generated by the automated docking systems of Babylon 5 to a soft 
touch down not twelve feet away from a group of individuals. Landing 
struts deployed and the ship was down. Then a large hatch irised open on 
the side of the Bulldog and its occupants began coming out.

"Greetings. I am Fleet Admiral Marco Ramos of the Alliance of Independent 
Systems. With me here for this first contact occasion is Major Fox 
Mulder, our resident Ambassador. Dr. Daniel Jackson, his assistant and 
mission specialist."

And before Marco could complete his introductions, the Vorlon approached.

"To my left is...and what the hell are you?"

"Child of the Ancient. I am honored in your presence."

"Whoa. Hold on a second there. I'm not that old!"

                         *******************

Sheridan mumbled under his breath to Ivanova that the words spoken by 
Kosh were by far the most clear thing he'd ever heard a Vorlon say.

"Well, that just took the wind out of my introductions. But somehow, I 
don't think I am who you think I am."

"Are you a First One?"

"A first one what? What do you mean? Uhm, who?"

"Sorry. It's rare to hear more than a few words from a Vorlon. I'm 
Captain John Sheridan. This is Michael Garibaldi, Chief of Station 
Security. Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova, my second in command. Dr. Stephen 
Franklin, Chief Medical Officer. Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari 
Federation. And I believe you've already met Ambassador Kosh of the 
Vorlon Empire."

"Hello. Uhm, after that little bit with Kosh I'd rather hoped that not 
all of you would be the same. But first things first. Where should we 
direct the other shuttles to land? The ones with the EA personnel we 
rescued?"

"Susan, get C&C to handle that."

"Yes Captain."

"I'm afraid that you will have to surrender your weapons."

"Of course. But they only stun. And they are for our protection."

"Sorry. Station policy."

"Very well then. People, leave the Zats on the Bulldog."

"Captain Sheridan, may my three assistants and I carry our walking 
sticks? They are more an insignia of rank than actual weapons. Besides, 
I'm fairly certain that any weapons you have would severely negate the 
effectiveness of a walking staff."

"That will be permitted."

                         *******************

Elsewhere on the Station

Excited chitters and squeals.

"He's here?"

A single squeak.

"I must make plans to meet with the Ancient. He must be made to see that 
it is our forces that are in the right here, not the damned Vorlons."

A lot more chitters, more excited than before.

"Children of the Ancient? Is that good or bad?"

A non-committal squeak.

"Well, hell. If you don't know, then I guess I'm supposed to find out, 
right?"

There was no answering chitter or squeak.


A beeping screen caught his attention and he called it to open.

"Citizen G'Kar, the news of the Earth Alliance defeat has already reached 
us. Do whatever is necessary to obtain a sample of the technologies used 
by the new ship."

                         *******************

Another beeping screen elsewhere on the station.

"Ambassador Mollari! If the news of the Earth Alliance defeat is true, 
then we simply must have these new weapons! You will do everything 
possible to achieve that goal!"


Within the Vorlon ship, a single message was beamed out across the stars 
to the Vorlon home world. It simply said, 'The First Teacher, the Ancient 
has returned.'


The three Shadows joined as one and sent their own message. 'The Ancient 
is here. The First Teacher has returned to us. Now.'

                         *******************

Conference Room
Babylon 5

Two sets of humans walked in to a large conference room, and took seats 
at the table. Kyra and Reagan, two of Marius' guards took up station 
outside the door to the conference room, while Alison followed them in. 
When all were seated, she stood along the wall, behind Marius. And when 
all were seated, it was Marius who spoke first.

"Before we begin Captain, I am noticing that Mr. Garibaldi is looking 
rather piqued? Your injuries must pain you. My medic can attend to your 
injuries. I assure you that she will cause you no pain."

Dr. Franklin stepped forward to observe the medic and the healing device. 
He gave it a cursory scan, but could not read anything useful with his 
scanner. He gave the go ahead to allow the medic to treat Mr. Garibaldi.

D'Fir had been with the Tok'ra for a number of centuries, having been one 
of the last 'children' born to Egeria. Her current host was Tarissa, a 
female from Argos. Though the Tok'ra had no use for the medical sciences 
per se, there was a desperate need for  medical researchers. As 
D'Fir/Tarissa were the closest thing to a medical person, and with the 
Tok'ra Council all too aware of Anise's problems with the Tau'ri, she had 
been chosen for this mission. 

With the Healing Device in hand, D'Fir eyes began to glow as she took 
control from Tarissa. With some concentrated effort, the pain in 
Garibaldi's arm and leg dissipated and he rather quickly began flexing 
his arm and walking normally.

"Mr. Garibaldi. Your arm and leg have both been healed. But do try not to 
tax them much over the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. I and my 
host thank you for this opportunity to demonstrate our good will towards 
your people."

"You and your host? Admiral Ramos, what did she mean by that?"

"Captain. Medic D'Fir is of a race known as the Tok'ra. They are a 
blended race and they 'timeshare' their bodies. D'Fir is the symbiote 
half, Tarissa is the human half. This is but one of the many things you 
will learn about us. Though we had no intention of becoming involved in 
whatever troubles you have with the present Earth Government, we fear we 
are already inextricably involved. We were here to retrieve certain 
technologies left by our Ancient parents. Technologies, that most 
certainly are being used by the Vorlons and the race you call Shadows. A 
million years ago, those whom the Vorlon called the Ancients came to your 
part of the galaxy and established an outpost world from which they 
launched numerous scientific expeditions to study the local sentient 
life. Over the course of centuries, perhaps millennia, the outpost world 
was abandoned and forgotten and the technologies therein left for the two 
most promising races at the time. It was hoped that the automated 
defenses of the outpost world would be sufficient to ward off all. 

I have been told by an Ancient that the Vorlons and the Shadows are in 
possession of these technologies, that they have tragically misused them 
for their own twisted views of sentient life exploration. That they have 
manipulated the younger races in order to form stronger armies, so that 
they may battle by proxy. Do not deny this, Vorlon."

"We do not deny this. What was done was necessary."

"Necessary in whose eyes, Vorlon?"

"Necessary for THIS universe."

"A valid point, Vorlon. You see Captain, while we are genetically 
similar, you and I, we are not identical. Our vessel and the people 
aboard her, we come from Earth. Though it is perhaps an Earth that you 
would not expect. The Ancients came to this universe via a dimensional 
portal of their own creation. Tampering with the various dimensions is 
not recommended, even with the best of intentions. The reason they came 
here, was to seek out life similar enough to their own. They found, 
instead, the Vorlons and the Shadows, to which the Ancients became the 
First Teachers."

"An alternate universe Admiral Ramos? I find that hard to believe."

"It is true Captain. The universe from which we came, the Earth from 
which we came, well, there is no easy way to put this. The year we left 
on our journey, two weeks ago, was two thousand and three. The very early 
years of the twenty-first century. Pray tell, could your Earth of the 
same time have built a ship such as the Halsey?"

"No." there was a hint of defeat in Sheridan's voice.

"Now Captain. The Vorlon has called me the Ancient, but I am not. I am a 
child of the Ancients, but I am not old enough to be an Ancient. There 
is, however, an Ancient among us. Tok'Ra?"

Those who belonged to the universe of Babylon 5 had seen many strange 
types of aliens in their travels, but nothing in their collective 
experiences prepared them for the first sight of the Ancient. A golden 
glowing cloud of gas with sparkly particles flying in chaotic and 
eccentric orbits throughout the body of the cloud.

From the Vorlon, they saw what they did not expect to ever see, an 
Encounter Suit opening before them. The blue energy being within flew out 
of the suit to flit about the edge of the golden cloud. The blue cloud 
tried to merge with the golden cloud and was rebuffed and expelled 
violently to the far side of the room. Then the blue cloud withdrew and 
re-entered the Suit. The Vorlon spoke.

"Have I displeased you, Ancient One?"

"No my child, you have not. But you are not yet old enough to merge with 
me fully. To do so now would mean your complete annihilation. That is not 
something I wish."

                         *******************

Vorlon Home World

The message had been received by the Vorlon Ruling Council. The Ancient 
had returned. And it had gone to the human place called Babylon 5, as was 
foretold millennia past. The orders went quickly through the fleet. And 
very shortly after the message was acknowledged, the largest ever 
assembled Vorlon fleet entered hyperspace. Their destination? Babylon 5.

                         *******************

Z'ha'dum

The excited chitters and squeals could be heard throughout the numerous 
Shadow cities of Z'ha'dum. The Ancient One, the first teacher, had 
returned to their universe. By the time the Shadow Triad on Babylon 5 
received an acknowledgement of their message, a very large Shadow fleet 
had phased into hyperspace. Their destination the same as the Vorlons. 
Babylon 5.

                         *******************

Babylon 5
A day later

The initial meet and greet had gone well. Marius was now in temporary 
quarters in the Green section of Babylon 5; that area reserved for 
Ambassadors and VIPs. Major Mulder, acting as Ambassador, and Dr. 
Jackson, were both ensconced in meetings with some of the staff of 
Babylon 5.

Alison, one of the bodyguards assigned to Marius, was in the room with 
him, while Reagan and Kyra were standing just outside the door to their 
combined quarters. Alison was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, 
considering that Tok'Ra was in the room, speaking with Marius.

"My child. You must be very cautious in the days to come. I fear the 
Vorlons and the Shadows will both try to influence you to their cause. I 
have slightly altered your Quickening to allow you to perceive the 
Shadows, as they can shift their bodies out of phase with everything 
around you. You may or may not be able to see them directly, in their 
full form, unless you stare at one for some time, but you will be able to 
sense their presence, and you will be able to target them should that 
become necessary. I have granted you the ability to understand their 
speech directly, though it may be of some benefit to allow their human 
avatar the illusion that he is speaking for them."

"Father, I will do the right thing. I must."

"Do not be troubled, child. There are potential allies here for the fight 
at home, but you must seek and judge that on your own. My only concern 
here is that the more devastating technologies be removed from this 
universe. Anything beyond that, is entirely up to you."

"You're a lot of help."

"I can not be with you always. Some mistakes you must make on your own. I 
think I will go for now. There is someone I would like to see."

Tok'Ra vanished into the ether. Not vanished really, merely faded from 
sight. Where he was going or who he wanted to see in this universe were 
unknown to him. He paid little attention, when his guards shifted their 
stations, allowing Alison and Reagan to stand the watch outside, whilst 
Kyra came in for a quick bite to eat. 

Marius took the time, at last, to study the weapons that Hamza ibn 
Mohammed al Katib had wrought for him and his guards. It was a finely 
crafted staff of Lebanese cedar, with various verses from the Koran and 
the Catholic Bible carved into the wood. He knew not where the one phrase 
came from, whether the Koran or the Bible, but he saw the truth in it. 
'In Strength, there is Peace. In Peace, there is Unity. In Unity, there 
is Strength.' A bit of a circular argument, but sound nonetheless. Of 
course, the outside was merely a fa�ade for the inner weapon. The wooden 
staff housed a fine double edged blade, a full forty inches in length, 
made of an alloy of trinium and titanium. The handle of the sword was the 
top half of the staff, and had been wrapped in leather, so as to make for 
an easier grab of the weapon. The handle was of the blade was hollow, 
having a removable cap, not unlike the popular survival knives in various 
movies. But instead of the usual survival gear, the handle had several 
short lengths of detonating cord, which could be used to cut one's way 
out of a cell. There were two pairs of color-coded and quite small 
plastic-coated wooden capsules that must have been a bitch to carve, that 
contained a binary fire starting agent, for when one was stuck in the 
field with no matches. 

The staff itself was close to six feet in length. But the blade did not 
account for all of the interior space. Near the bottom of the staff, was 
a trio of hidden compartments, that could be opened only by twisting the 
bottom 'dial' into the correct combination. One compartment contained the 
usual survival gear that would be found in any survival type of knife. 
Another compartment had lock picking tools. The last compartment held a 
tube made of refined trinium, approximately six inches in length and half 
an inch in diameter. It was a pen-gun. Single shot only, with ten 
additional rounds in the compartment, in the fifty caliber Action Express 
variety. The rounds themselves were modified hollow points, that had been 
filled in with curare and sealed with a thin layer of lead. All in all, 
Hamza had done a fine job indeed. But before Marius could pull the blade 
and meditate upon it, there was a chime at the door, shortly followed by 
Reagan's announcement that a Mr. Morden wished to speak with him. Marius 
bade him enter and asked Kyra to step outside for the moment.

"Mr. Morden is it? How may I help you?"

"It is I who can help you, Child of the Ancients."

"I really wish people would stop calling me that. Speak plainly Mr. 
Morden. Call me Marco."

In the background, Marius could see the three Shadow creatures, or at 
least get a vague impression of them. He concentrated on Morden, but was 
looking slightly behind him, trying to get a better look at the Shadow. 
Two of the creatures were beside and slightly behind Morden, while the 
third was circling his quarters and examining his things.

"Very well. Marco. I am told that you are a descendant of a race called 
the Ancients. That they were the teachers to the Shadows and to the 
Vorlons. That they went beyond the rim untold millennia ago."

"Went beyond the rim? I'm not sure what that means. But I think what you 
are trying to say is that they evolved?"

"That would be one way of saying it, yes."

"Then yes. What you have been told is correct. The Ancients came to this 
galaxy, long ago seeking out life not unlike their own. They found the 
Shadows and the Vorlons and sought to enlighten them. To raise them up as 
they would eventually do to their children, to us. Your Shadows and the 
Vorlons were an experiment, you might say. To mold and shape those two 
races so that one day, in the fullness of time, those two races might 
mold and shape those races younger than they. It is my understanding, 
that these two elder races took it upon themselves to mold and shape the 
universe according to two different philosophies?"

"Different perhaps, but with the same goal in mind."

"Expansion through conquest and scientific advancement versus 
introspection and spiritual growth. The philosophies are quite diverse, 
but your goal is the same, advancement. A philosopher from my area of the 
galaxy calls it survival of the fittest. I wonder, do they younger races 
here realize just how much you are controlling them? Trying to shape them 
into what you deem the correct heir for your goals?"

"When the time is right, they will know."

"But not before. What the Ancients attempted with your two races, they 
accomplished with mine. In my own galaxy, the Ancients sired us, or 
created us, depending on which is more palatable to one's tastes. They 
took the knowledge of what they had attempted here and cast that into us. 
Along with a few other abilities. In the fullness of time, I too, may 
evolve into a being that you would term an Ancient. But I am not nearly 
old enough for that. In a few hundred thousand years perhaps I will be 
ready. 

This last was directed not at Morden, but at the Shadow next to him.

"Mr. Morden, if you would be so kind, one of your companions' is tickling 
my neck and it is not a feeling I enjoy. Yes. Do not seem so shocked, 
sir. I am, as you said, a Child of the Ancient. Did you not think I could 
sense your companions?"

"Their appearance does not bother you? I have known their appearance to 
be frightful to some of the other races on the station."

"Their appearance does not bother me. In my own galaxy there are far more 
sinister looking aliens. But that is a tale for another time. But I would 
imagine the appearance issue to be some sort of indoctrination handed 
down over the course of generations, no? But that is not the reason I am 
here."

This time, it was one of the Shadow Triad that spoke to Marius, not 
Morden. And all he heard was a series of long winded chitters, squeaks, 
and something resembling a high pitched whistle.

"I am here to reclaim certain technologies that both you and the Vorlons 
have seen fit to take from the outpost world we left behind. Two were 
taken by the Shadows. Three by the Vorlons. And I would guess that had 
you arrived prior to the Vorlons, you would have taken what they thought 
more important. The two devices you took, though you have turned them 
into machines of war, were designed to terraform worlds, not destroy 
them. You took a ship designed to terraform ice worlds into tropical 
worlds and turned it into a devastator of worlds. You took a nanocytic 
entity that the Ancients used to transform worlds with toxic environments 
to human compatible ones, and turned it into a plague dispersing agent 
that can wipe an entire sentient race from a planet. Such were not the 
intent of the original creations. You have manipulated those tools to 
your own devices and now, the entire galaxy may suffer for your 
arrogance. 

Go now, Shadow Triad, and think on what you have done. Before the day is 
out, I am certain I will have a private chat with Kosh, and he will learn 
the same from me. Think on what you have learned here this day. And think 
on what you will do in the future."

Marius hoped with all his being that he had done the right thing; taken 
the right stance with the Shadows. It seemed an instinct to be slightly 
aggressive with them, but he was unsure as to the outcome. Only time 
would tell if he had done the right thing. But he had no time to ponder 
the potential outcomes of his diatribe with the Shadows, for no sooner 
had they left, than the Vorlon came to him. The one thing he could say 
about this particular meeting, was that Kosh was accompanied by a  rather 
gorgeous female. Alien or not, Kosh had very good taste.

"Ambassador Kosh. Greetings. And who is your lovely companion?"

"She is of no import to these proceedings. She is here merely to 
ascertain your truthfulness."

"If she's a truth serum, then I definitely want to lie. What is your 
name, Miss?"

"Lyta Alexander. Commercial telepath, rating P5."

"I have no idea what your rating means, Ms. Alexander. My part of the 
universe doesn't know much about telepathy."

Lyta found that statement to be odd, considering that Kosh had professed 
to her the fact that this man was a child of an Ancient. Kosh had shown 
her through the Learning, the Vorlons history with the Ancients. 
Immortality certainly held a modest attraction for her. She attempted a 
surface scan and was rebuffed. It was unlike any other telepathic block 
she had ever experienced. Almost as if his mind were surrounded by the 
same type of light she experienced through the Learning. Now she put 
those Vorlon enhanced telepathic powers to the test, but still she could 
not penetrate through to his mind. Such was the power of an immortal 
mind.

"Ms. Alexander, if you're quite through in your attempts to scan me, we 
shall proceed."

She was in shock! Only another telepath could have felt her subtle 
surface scans, and only another trained like she was, enhanced by the 
Vorlons, could have detected her enhanced scan! But he had detected it 
all the same and had repelled her every attempt to penetrate his shields.

"Now then, Kosh. I must say, offhand, dealing with you will be a tad 
easier. I tend to like to put a name to the person with whom I am 
speaking. I certainly can not pronounce any name the Shadow Triad 
attempted to give me. My tongue and vocal cords do not work that way."

"The Shadows have come to see you?"

"Indeed they have. We had a rather involved conversation not more than 
twenty minutes ago regarding philosophy. Particularly yours and theirs 
and how you both tend to take advantage of the younger races in this part 
of the universe. You ask a question to all whom you encounter and it 
makes those whom you ask look inward to seek the answer. While that may 
be well and good, no civilization advances for long without expansion by 
conquest. You firmly believe that your philosophy is the right one for 
the younger races, yes? And the Shadows believe that theirs is also the 
right one. Now, all things being equal, both of you can't be right. But 
both of you can be wrong. But that is a discussion for another time. The 
reason we are here, is to retrieve technologies that you thought to take 
from our outpost world. Had the Shadows arrived prior to you, they would 
have seen what you saw; one of the Ancients using a dimensional portal.

You chose to take that portal, though we anticipated that you would find 
the device and shut it down. And thus while the portal was non-
operational, you willfully chose to examine it, to study it. I daresay, 
that it took us, the Ancients, a few millennia to perfect the device. 
Tell me you did not build such a device, or attempt to build such a 
device?"

"One mistake. Among so many mistakes. Set adrift in hyperspace. Our 
attempt to follow you failed. We nearly set loose upon this galaxy a 
plague the likes of which it would not have survived. We were very nearly 
destroyed by that which we very nearly released. We have never again 
sought to pursue any research along those matters."

"Yes, but then you did as the Shadows did, and took from us and 
perverted, those technologies that we had created to transform and 
terraform worlds for human inhabitation. You took those technologies and 
perverted them into weapons of war. Now I daresay, you attack any race 
that has been tainted by the Shadows, just as they attack any race that 
has been influenced by Vorlon wills. When will it end, Kosh? When will it 
end? No need to answer that, Kosh, as it was a rhetorical question."

"The Vorlon High Council will soon arrive."

"As will the Shadow High Council. And when they do, your kind must not 
initiate hostilities against them. To do so would jeopardize all that has 
been set in motion."

"We will not initiate hostilities."

"Very well, Kosh. I have given you much to think on, and both you and the 
Shadow Triad have given me much to contemplate. We will talk again soon, 
you and I. And the Ancients will be there as well."

"Admiral Ramos, a question if I may?"

"Of course, Ms. Alexander."

"How are you able to block my scans?"

"Perhaps you should ask me something simpler, like why do humans breathe 
oxygen instead of carbon dioxide? Or why are our bodies carbon based and 
not silicon based? But to answer your question, I do not know. Perhaps it 
is a function of my Quickening, one that none of my kind have yet 
discovered because telepaths have not come into existence in my galaxy. 
Who knows. What I do know is that you can not scan me, and I believe you 
would be unable to scan any other Child of the Ancients or the Ancients 
themselves either."

"You look human enough to me. How is it that you are a Child of the 
Ancients?"

"In this place, the Vorlons manipulated the genetic material of hundreds 
of races to create you, did they not? They wanted to create telepaths to 
use as weapons against their mortal enemies? Well, long ago, the Ancients 
created us for a similar purpose. To act as guardians and guides for the 
younger races. But we faltered along the way; we became involved in a 
deadly game of conquest with only one winner as the eventual goal. It was 
said that the winner of the Game would have dominion over all humanity 
and that could either have been very bad or very good, depending on the 
winner. An eternity of damnation or an eternity of paradise. 

But our Father-Creator has shown us the error of our ways and we have 
once again taken up the mantle for which we were created. In this place, 
the Vorlons created telepaths. In our place, the Ancients created 
Immortals. That is to say, we who were created, can not die."

"Immortal guides and guardians? I see the wisdom of that decision. Who 
better to help mortal man from repeating the mistakes of the past but 
someone who's lived that past and who remembers the consequences of those 
previous errors.. The Ancients were wise, indeed."

"No, Ms. Alexander. And yes. Their goals may be altruistic now, but at 
the time of creation, they wanted something baser, more primitive. They 
wanted children. Simple, isn't it?"

Marius realized at that moment that somewhere during his conversation 
with Lyta Alexander, Kosh had slipped out of the room and that his three 
guards were now listening in rapt attention to his commentary.

"So much of what you have said makes more sense now, Mr. President. The 
Council was indeed wise in choosing you to lead us. The Immortal 
community was most fortunate indeed that you were selected in the 
lottery."

"I have asked you repeatedly not to call me that. It's been quite a long 
time since I have had anything at all to do with politics. Though my own 
experience makes modern politicians appear to be children playing a game, 
I really had no desire to repeat it, Reagan."

"So the Chronicles were true in that respect? You were a Senator in 
Rome?"

"More than a mere Senator, my dear Kyra. I was Pro Consul. Gaius Marius. 
But that was long ago, and I have no desire to relive those days."

"You were alive during the days of the Roman Empire? Just how old are 
you?"

"Our history, Ms. Alexander, is apparently similar to yours. According to 
your calendar and ours, the term AD refers to the date of the Death of 
Christ. Using that mark, I was born approximately six centuries earlier."

"To have seen so much history! I can not begin to imagine all that you 
have seen!"

"Immortality is both a blessing and a curse, Ms. Alexander. I wish it on 
no one."

                         *******************

A few hours later, Marius and Alison were strolling through the Zocalo, 
examining the booths of various merchants and the wide array of wares 
available therein. His two other guards were there as well, mixed in with 
the crowd, at a discreet distance. As Marius looked up from examining 
some trivial artifact, he was startled to notice a rather large reptilian 
alien patiently examining him.

"Yes?"

"Forgive my intrusion, Admiral Ramos. I am Citizen G'Kar of the Narn."

"Ah yes. The Narn Regime. I have read some rather interesting historical 
reports on your people, Citizen G'Kar. I saw many instances where your 
conflict with the Centauri reminded me of certain conflicts in Earth 
history. Of course, I could also draw many inferences between the 
Centauri and a civilization in my past, but that would be unfair to 
either of those two. But obviously you do not wish to discuss history 
with me, so how might I be of service, Citizen G'Kar?"

"I bear a formal request from my government. The Narn Regime wishes to 
enter formal negotiations for some of your technology, in particular, 
your shield technology."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible. To grant you that tech, would be to 
upset the balance of power in this galaxy. It would give you an unfair 
advantage. Even with the best of intentions, it would not be right."

"I assure you Admiral, that the Narn could make a very lucrative offer."

"Perhaps. I shall have to discuss this with my government first. We will 
be in touch with you. That is all I can promise at this time."

"That is all we ask."

                         *******************

Elsewhere

"Lorien."

"Who is it that calls my name?"

"It is I, Tok'Ra."

"He who is against Ra. It has been a long time my friend."

"What is the passage of time to us who are outside its influence, 
Lorien?"

"You have passed Beyond?"

"Not exactly. I have moved on to a non-corporeal form, true, but I have 
not yet joined our brothers. There is still much to be done, Lorien."

"The Goa'uld?"

"We were betrayed. The Alliance has fallen apart. Only the Asgard still 
honor their promise to us."

"Betrayed?"

"My wife. She chose to blend with a Goa'uld symbiote. I thought it was of 
a like mind to my own. But it was not. She waited until my forces were 
ready to strike, then she launched an attack of her own and destroyed 
those forces. The Alliance tried to stem the tide of the Goa'uld 
expansion, and they have succeeded in some small degree, but not by 
much."

"I'm sorry."

"You could not have known. You chose to remain here. As I chose to remain 
there. While the others have left."

"But you have returned to this universe through the doorway?"

"Yes."

"I thought I felt a tremor in the continuum."

"Such as I hoped you would."

"But you did not come alone, did you?"

"No. Centuries after we left, we began an experiment. I stayed to oversee 
the fruits of that research."

"What experiments?"

"We learned nothing from the Progenitors. In the same way they played God 
by creating us and others like us in the multi-verse, we played God in 
our universe. We created life. Immortal life."

"Oh Tok'Ra. Tell me that your experiments were more fruitful than my 
own."

"They were, for a time. But like all good research, there were bad spots 
along the way. An influence outside the parameters of the experiment 
intervened. The results were centuries of combat between our various 
experiments. When things came to a head, I chose to intervene, to set 
them on their original path once again."

"What made you decide to intervene?"

"Ten thousand years ago, the Goa'uld came to our home world. They 
enslaved the native primitives."

"They dared enslave our Chosen race!?"

"They dared. But our own forces helped primitive man. And primitive man 
cast the Goa'uld off the planet and sealed the Gateway. Ten thousand 
years later, the Star Gate was reopened. And man began exploring his 
universe once again. They found it to be a place teeming with life not 
unlike their own. The opening of the Gate anew, brought my attention back 
to Earth. The inclusion of my son into that project, led to my 
intervention in the experiment."

"Your son? I did not know you had a son."

"He was the first to be created through our experiments. I took him as my 
son, and raised him as such. He was killed and buried under several tons 
of rock, when his mother, my wife, betrayed me. Buried for five thousand 
years before an earthquake unearthed him. He was quite insane at the 
time. It took another thousand years or so for him to regain some 
semblance of sanity. I can not begin to imagine how it must have been for 
him, beneath all that rock."

"That would not be a fate I would wish on anyone."

"True. Tell me Lorien, why did you choose to return all those millennia 
ago?"

"I found it necessary. These younger races, they needed a guiding hand."

"Yes and now those younger races are attempting to guide even younger 
races. And doing a poor job of it."

"Yes. It was a simple difference in philosophy. Order versus chaos. I 
brought that up once, long ago, to them. I do believe they've taken this 
whole argument a bit far however."

"I'll say. Out of curiosity, did you have anything to do with that 
monstrous machine beneath the surface of Epsilon Three?"

"Perhaps a little. The race that created that machine; I meant for them 
to be a counter-balance to the Vorlons and the Shadows. Never interfering 
directly, mind you, but nudging certain events along. The Machine is 
multi-dimensional and multi-temporal. It exists to regulate the flow of 
time. It can manipulate time. It is what the Vorlon Kosh used to contact 
you."

"That's a dangerous thing, Lorien."

"True. But it was necessary. And it will be necessary again. Fortunately, 
the race that created the Machine passed beyond long ago. The Machine is 
in the hands of a Minbari, I believe."

"I won't even ask how that happened."

"Will you be traveling with the Shadows to Babylon 5?"

"No. My time to leave has not arrived as yet. But soon. I am waiting for 
the One."

"Must be someone special, to make you want to wait all these years?"

"He is. He is the One that will return balance to the universe."

"I think I know who you mean. There is a strength about him that reminds 
me of  Cal'ad."

"He passed beyond?"

"Yes. A hundred thousand years past. He was probably the greatest of our 
kind."

"He was. Cal'ad sacrificed much for our kind."

"Without his sacrifices, the Alliance would never have been. All that we 
are and were and will be, would be impossible were it not for Cal'ad. If 
anyone was truly deserving of evolution, it was Cal'ad; the first 
Ancient. Son of the Progenitors, and father to us all."

"The One who comes. He will sacrifice everything for his cause. And 
though many can lay claim to that, it will be especially true of him. And 
so I must await his arrival."

                         *******************

A few days passed, and life returned to some remote semblance of order. 
Marius had returned to the Halsey to tackle the ever increasing mound of 
paperwork on his desk. He had been in his office for a few hours when the 
intercom rang.

"Yes?"

"Sir. Captain Sheridan is on the comm."

"Patch it through."

"Admiral Ramos?"

"Captain Sheridan. How might I be of assistance?"

"I wondered, sir, if the invitation to tour the Halsey is still open? I 
find myself with some spare time at the moment."

"Of course, Captain. Will it be just you for the tour?"

"No. I'd like to bring along Commander Ivanova, Dr. Franklin, and Chief 
Garibaldi."

"I see. Would it be asking too much Captain, if you could invite four 
others?"

"Which four did you have in mind?"

"Ambassador Delenn. Ambassador Mollari. Citizen G'Kar. And a 
representative from the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. If this is 
agreeable to you, then shall we say an hour from now?"

"I shall contact the others and see if they are available. But the rest 
of us will be over in an hour."

"Very well, Captain. I look forward to seeing you."


"Phillipson."

"Alex. Assemble your squad. Meet me on the hangar deck in forty-five 
minutes. We have some dignitaries coming over from the station and I want 
each of them assigned a guard."

"We'll be there."


Marius left his office and the paperwork behind to find Major Carter and 
Colonel O'Neill. He wanted them to be present when the station 
dignitaries came aboard. He was planning to ask Sheridan for a limited 
technology exchange. Carter had expressed an interest in obtaining the 
designs for the station and for the fusion reactors that powered the 
station while Jack had expressed interest in their fighters. But they 
also wanted the jump gate technology. The jump gates were similar in 
concept to the combat gates the Ancients had built so long ago, but 
instead of a controlled wormhole, these jump gates opened a portal into 
hyperspace. What limited scans and information they had pointed to the 
fact that hyperspace travel in this universe was slower, dramatically 
slower than wormhole travel. But the combat gates used a massive amount 
of naquadah in their construction and so new combat gate construction was 
barely possible with their existing stocks of the material. Perhaps a 
combination of the two technologies would enable them to link the wide 
areas of their home universe in a less expensive fashion. 

If the combination of technologies could be done, then the rapid 
expansion of Earth's influence could be accomplished much easier. There 
again, this universe had other techs that they wanted. Techs that could 
be used to fight the Goa'uld and their Cylon allies. Perhaps the Vorlons 
and the Shadows could be convinced to a technology exchange? Marius 
doubted the feasibility of such an endeavor, but vowed to ask Tok'Ra for 
his guidance on that particular problem. Certainly the organic armor 
technology used by both the Vorlons and the Shadows could come in handy 
in their home universe. But the cloaking tech used by the Shadows was far 
in advance of anything the Goa'uld might have used. And for this reason, 
it could be beneficial to make a deal with a Devil. But he had a feeling 
that they would ask for the shielding tech in return, and that tech 
alone, would upset the balance of power in this universe. 

An hour later, Marius found himself on the hangar deck with Major Carter 
and Colonel O'Neill at his side. Phillipson's honor guard stood by at 
attention, while the VIP's from the station came aboard.

"Honor guard! A-Ten-Shun!"

"Greetings Captain Sheridan. On behalf of myself and my crew, I bid you 
welcome to the AIS Admiral Halsey."

"Thank you for allowing us this visit, Admiral Ramos."

"The pleasure is ours, Captain Sheridan. If you would come with me, we'll 
get this tour underway."

                         *******************

Earth Dome
Office of President Morgan Clark

In truth, he did not believe that one ship could have destroyed four of 
his top destroyers. No matter what allies that bastard Sheridan had found 
himself, he could not stand up to the might of Earth Force and their new 
found Shadow allies. Which was the point of this meeting he had in a few 
minutes, with their Ambassador. The President had long ago been briefed 
in on the fact that the man known only as Justin and the other crew 
members of the ill-fated Icarus expedition had been declared dead. The 
fact that the same man listed in IPX records as dead now stood in his 
office was a matter left to the imaginations of others.

"Justin, you have heard of our little setback at Babylon 5?"

"I have Mr. President."

"Do your forces have any information they may be willing to share on this 
new ally of Sheridan?"

"Not at this time, sir."

"So you do have information? But you are unwilling to share it with an 
ally?"

"Yes. We do have information on the ship that came to Sheridan's aid. 
Whether that ship is an ally to Sheridan remains to be seen. And what 
little information we possess will not be shared at this time. Our 
scientists are still examining the information."

"You are refusing a request from Earth?"

"I'm afraid that at this time we must. I will say, however, that at the 
present time, there is a sizeable fleet bound for Babylon 5 space. A 
sizeable Shadow fleet."

"Are their intentions to destroy or capture the ship?"

"Neither. If that is all, sir?"

"Go."

Justin left, but he left Clark with more questions than answers. Answers 
that he needed desperately. 

                         *******************

Centauri Prime
Throne Room

"Ah Mr. Morden. So good of you to come and visit with us."

"It is always a pleasure Emperor Cartagia, to visit a world such as 
yours. May I ask why I was summoned?"

"We are curious  as to the nature of this one little ship that has caused 
the Earthers so much trouble at their station. Is it true that one ship 
destroyed eight of their Ships of the Line?"

"No, I do believe that was an exaggeration. The truth is that only four 
ships were destroyed, whilst the remaining four retreated."

"We thought as much. But do tell us about this shielding technology they 
possess. Is it true that they stopped a nuclear attack on their ship?"

"Yes. That much has been confirmed. The shields of that ship withstood 
ten direct impacts of weapons in the five megaton range."

"Marvelous! The Centauri simply must have that shielding technology! Do 
you think they would be amenable to trade?"

"That is always a possibility your Highness."

"Excellent! I shall order my military to seize that ship and to 'trade' 
for their technology with their lives!"

"That would not be wise, Highness."

"Not wise? Pray tell, why would it not be wise? It is, after all, what we 
want!"

"I am not a liberty to say Highness, other than at this moment, a battle 
fleet of our own is headed for Babylon 5. If your ships were to arrive 
before or after them, tensions might rise uncontrollably, Highness."

"Then we shall order those ships dispatched to Babylon 5 in support of 
your own, Mr. Morden. Leave us!"

"Your will, Excellency."

                         *******************

On Earth, Clark had reached the same conclusion, and for perhaps the same 
reason as the Centauri Emperor. The shielding technology was too good to 
let it slip into the hands of the Shadows. With such an advanced tech on 
their own ships, they would be unstoppable in the face of their allies 
and enemies. The orders were given. From Centauri space, a fleet of fifty 
ships, Vorchan and Primus class, departed Centauri space bound for 
Babylon 5. From Earth, a fleet of sixty ships, a mix of older Hyperions 
and Novas and the newer Omegas all set out for Babylon 5. 

One way or the other, the mystery ship at Babylon 5 would give up its 
secrets.

                         *******************

AIS Halsey
Bridge 

"Admiral's on Deck!"

"As you were. Now, my distinguished guests. This is the bridge of the 
Halsey. It is considered the primary or main bridge, but there are five 
redundant areas of the ship that can take control should the need arise. 
To the right and near the main screens are the science and navigation 
stations. To the left and near the main screens are the offensive and 
defensive weapons stations. In general terms, the offensive weapons of 
the Halsey are her long range laser cannons and her intermediate range 
rail drivers, along side the intermediate and short range missile racks. 
In defensive terms, there are laser batteries and interceptor missile 
racks. In the middle, and down near the view screens, are five stations; 
two for helm control, two for propulsion, and one for our shields. From 
this seat here, the current Watch Officer has a n excellent view of the 
various stations. The chair has a pair of multi-function displays that 
can show a smaller view of what ever the Officer wishes to view. For 
example, if the WO wants to look at a science screen, he or she, merely 
has to activate it on this panel to get all the details. 

Behind and to the right along the rear wall are the engineering stations, 
where the duty officer from our Engineering section can maintain the 
ship's power systems and main reactor plants. Behind and to the left 
along the rear wall are the medical and judicial stations. In times of 
emergency, the medical officer co-ordinates with the engineering officer 
to dispatch damage control teams and medical rescue teams. The Judicial 
officer is there to give interpretation to the laws and regulations that 
we have pledged adherence to, in the event that a situation is not clear 
on some point. It also gives the WO a glimpse into the morale of the ship 
and her crew. As any officer in any military ever in history can state, 
'Morale is a dangerous thing'."

"And how is the morale of your ship, Admiral?"

"I would venture to say that it is good, Ambassador Delenn, but it could 
do with shore leave, if that were possible."

"How large a crew do you have aboard the Halsey?"

"Approximately eight thousand four hundred crew."

"That is a very large number, Admiral Ramos. We could extend an 
invitation to you and your crew to visit the station for shore leave, but 
I'm afraid that all of you at once would severely tax the limits of Mr. 
Garibaldi and his security teams."

"I would not venture to ask for such a thing, Captain Sheridan, as that 
would leave no crew aboard the Halsey for even routine tasks, but perhaps 
on a rotational schedule, something on the order of two thousand at a 
time? I would even task additional security teams to assist your station 
in this matter."

"The guns your troops carry, slug throwers, would damage the station, so 
I'm afraid they'd have to be unarmed."

"Actually, Mr. Garibaldi, you bring up a very good point. It is true that 
our ground troops use what you call slug throwers. But our security 
personnel carry Intars. These are similar in nature to your PPG weaponry 
in that they emit a small particle of energy as a projectile. However, 
your PPG weapons can kill whereas our Intar weaponry stuns only. We use 
them as training weapons as they have the same weight as a standard 
weapon. They even get lighter as the clip is expended! But as they are 
designed for training, and as killing a soldier in training is not a good 
thing, the Intar is only capable of a stun effect."

"Stun only? That would've been nice when we were fighting off that 
breaching pod a week ago. Bet they'd be good for the occasional riot on 
the station too."

"Oh, for riot control we have something nice. Here, we call this a shock 
grenade. The nice thing is that it doesn't explode in the conventional 
sense. What that means is that no fragments go flying out of it when it 
detonates. Instead, it emits a loud sound and a brilliant flash of light. 
The combination of the two stuns any individuals within fifty feet of the 
epicenter and afterwards, you can pick up the shock grenade and recharge 
it for the next use. Remember to wear ear plugs and cover your eyes when 
you use one or you will be as unconscious as your intended targets."

"How long is the knock out effect?"

"That depends on the strength of the individual, but generally it can 
last up to six hours or as little as an hour as is the case with Jaffa. 
But there again, Jaffa warriors have a symbiote to assist them in 
recovering from the stun effects."

"For riot control in an enclosed area like the station, those two items 
are nice. Cap, we need to get us some of those!"

"Indeed Captain Sheridan, if you are amenable to the limited shore leave 
numbers I have suggested, I will lend to the station four Shore Patrol 
teams, armed with Intars and a limited number of Shock grenades. When the 
SP teams return to the Halsey, the weapons will remain on the station for 
your usage. Consider it a gift between friends."

"I think that will work out quite nicely, Admiral."

"Now, let us proceed with the tour. Next on our stop is the Forge deck, 
where we manufacture all of the items this ship uses. Except for major 
repairs that need to be accomplished in space dock, every Strike Carrier 
is capable of repairing itself and the equipment within. That is not to 
say that the outside armor is self-repairing. That would not be a factual 
statement. When in combat, any repairs to the outer hull are next to 
impossible, unless those damaged sections are available from within where 
we can place a temporary patch. When not in battle, we can send out 
larger repair crews to fix any damaged portions of the ship using hull 
material manufactured here on the Forge deck. This deck also allows us to 
build replacement fighters and armaments for those fighters. In effect, 
each Strike Carrier can, as long as supplies hold, replenish the weapons 
it expends in combat."

"Which explains why you have such a large crew. I mean, all those 
engineers and such building stuff."

"Actually Commander Ivanova, the Forge deck is largely automated. Ah, 
Chief Petrocelli, if you would be so kind as to demonstrate for us?"

"Sure thing Admiral. If you folks will gather in a bit closer, you'll see 
things a bit better. This here is the interface for Forge number six. I 
key in what we need, uhm Admiral?"

"Let's make it something simple, Chief. How about an M11 pistol with a 
dozen Intar clips?"

"Sounds like an easy task for my baby here sir. So here we go. Menu 
selection: weapon, infantry. Menu selection: handgun, M11. Menu 
selection: ammunition, Intar, 12 magazines. Now if you folks will look 
through the window there, you'll see the robots move to the storage area 
to extract the raw metals, then they pour those into the Forge where the 
real action takes place. Look up at the monitors here, it's kind of hard 
to tell, but what you're seeing is the creation engine at work. I don't 
know all the fancy-shmancy words for it, but what happens in there is 
that a bunch of really, really tiny robots put the raw stuff together and 
what comes out on this end is one M11 Compact pistol of the Intar 
variety. And here you are sir. Pistol is ready, complete with two clips. 
The others will be just a minute."

"A creation engine?"

"One of the devices that we utilize to create what we need. We can not 
create something from nothing. We need the raw materials for a gun before 
we can produce a gun. Or the raw materials for a fighter before we can 
produce said fighter. But it does give industry a whole new meaning. As 
long as there are templates for the Forge to follow, it can create almost 
anything."

"Do the metals and such need to be refined?"

"No Captain. Such is the beauty of the Forge. Raw 'stuff' for lack of a 
better word, goes in and finished product comes out."

"Amazing. Simply amazing. With something like that we can cut our 
dependence on off-station suppliers for a large part of our needs. Would 
you be willing to trade this technology?"

"Yes we would. But first, let us continue the tour. I'm certain there are 
any number of other 'wonders' we may have here that you would be 
interested in. Thanks for the demonstration Chief Petrocelli. Chief 
Garibaldi, here's your first Intar. Play nice with it, now. Next stop, 
the medical bay."


For his part, Michael Garibaldi looked at the weapon in his hands while 
he walked with the group. He had seen the industrial sized robot arms 
moving raw metal into the white hot forge, but he could not see with 
movement on the tiny robots that produced this weapon. The gun felt real 
enough. He had one just like it in his quarters. One that had been passed 
down from generation to generation in his family, along with a fair 
collection of other law enforcement weapons and articles. But just now, 
they were entering the one place he really did not like; medical.

"For this part of the tour, I'm going to turn you over to the very 
capable hands of Doctor Dana K. Scully, Chief Medical Officer aboard the 
Halsey."

"Thank you Admiral, and welcome to all of you. Now as medical bays go, 
this may not be state of the art in your terms, but to us it is quite 
advanced. We have eight operating theaters, and a bed facility for two 
hundred wounded. There are also additional emergency facilities 
throughout the ship that can house additional wounded that do not require 
as much care as this primary facility can provide. In the event of a 
large medical emergency where the number of critically wounded is higher 
than we can safely accommodate, there are one hundred stasis tubes where 
we can place the more critical cases. The stasis tubes are used only when 
the most urgent cases can not be immediately treated. Additionally, I 
have on my staff five Tok'ra medics who because of their unique 
physiology, can utilize the Healing Device to stabilize those with minor 
wounds or bone breaks. In the event of something more catastrophic, we 
utilize the sarcophagi located behind you. Yes, there is a significant 
resemblance to ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, however instead of these 
being grandiose coffins for the dead, these devices can completely heal a 
person, even bring them back from death. Unfortunately, prolonged usage 
of a sarcophagus leads to severe mental instability and for that reason 
alone we choose to use them only as a last resort."

"You can actually bring someone back from the dead?"

"Doctor Franklin, I presume? To answer your question, yes we can. 
Although it must be someone who has died very recently. Within ten 
minutes at the most, otherwise we face rather extreme brain damage that 
the sarcophagus would be unable to heal. I believe Dr. Jackson, of the 
First Contact team has used the device on three occasions where he had 
been killed. Also Colonel O'Neill, if I am not mistaken."

"You ain't mistaken Doc. I hate those things. If a man is supposed to 
die, then he should just die. The worst thing that can happen to a 
soldier is to die in combat and then wake up in one of those things. 
Gives me the creeps just remembering it."

"All that aside, the procedure is quite safe if used sparingly. Yes? You 
have a question, Ambassador?"

"Yes Doctor I do. I notice that these sarcophagi are very ornate, almost 
like something we Centauri would make, with lots of pretty designs laid 
in gold, yet the rest of the ship seems very utilitarian. Even your 
stasis tubes are of a scientific level that is far in advance of your 
medical science from what I can see."

"Very observant Ambassador Mollari. The stasis tubes were a gift from the 
Asgard, one of the member races of the Alliance. The sarcophagi were a 
gift from the Goa'uld Lord Yu as a token towards a more peaceful 
relationship with the Alliance."

"Admiral, who are these other races you mention?"

"All in good time friends. Let us continue this tour first, then we shall 
adjourn to a conference room for refreshments and a short question and 
answer session. Dr. Franklin, if you so wish, you can remain here and 
exchange notes as it were, with Dr. Scully?"

"I'd like that, if that's alright with you Captain."

"Please. Anything that can help us out with our situation."

"Well then, if Dr. Scully would be so kind as to escort her guest to the 
main conference room on the main deck when she's done here, then we shall 
continue."

"I'll get him there. It gives me a chance to exchange notes with him as 
well."

"Good. Next stop, the training rooms."

                         *******************

The tour continued at length for more than two standard hours until they 
at last came to the conference room to find Doctors Scully and Franklin 
exchanging notes on alien physiology in an excited manner. All of those 
assembled, from Sheridan and his command staff, to the Ambassadors and 
their aides, to the command staff and escorts of the Halsey were a bit 
tired from walking so much. The chairs were comfortable respites from 
their long walking tour of the ship. Mess stewards came in and laid out 
coffee and tea service for those present in the room, along with a 
selection of sandwiches for those who felt the need for sustenance. 

"Admiral Ramos, I am curious to know more about this Alliance you have 
mentioned on numerous occasions."

"Of course Captain. The Alliance of Independent Systems has at its core 
seven member systems or groups of systems: Kelowna, Colonial Mars, 
Immortal Luna, the Tau'ri, the Tollan, the Asgard, and the Ancients. Four 
of those races reside in the same system of planets; the Tau'ri, the 
Ancients, the Immortals, and the Colonials. Of the remaining three, 
Kelowna claims only one planet in its home system, while the Tollan can 
lay claim to one home world and six lesser colony worlds. Only the Asgard 
can lay claim to several hundred colony worlds in several hundred 
planetary systems. Of the AIS, only the Asgard and the Ancients were once 
a part of an older Alliance that served to protect the younger races from 
the Goa'uld. 

The Goa'uld are an old race. Well, that is, they can lay claim to 
thousands of years of recorded history. The Goa'uld are a race of 
parasitic creatures that inhabit hosts, generally human. They found the 
human body easy to manipulate and easy to control. They forcibly join 
with their host and carry out atrocities that even the worst creature in 
history would never dare to imagine. The Goa'uld have been responsible 
for the wholesale slaughter of untold trillions. They believe themselves 
to be Gods and they force their followers to worship them as such."

"Gods? Great Maker, these Goa'uld must be mad to think of themselves as 
such!"

"Tell me, Ambassador Mollari. If one of these Goa'uld appeared to your 
citizens and proclaimed himself a God, how would they react?"

"He would be killed! The lunacy of the idea would drive my people mad 
with blood lust!"

"And if this so called God happened to revive after being killed, would 
your people stop to listen, perhaps?"

"Revived? Ah yes, the sarcophagi you showed us earlier?"

"Yes, Ambassador. The Goa'uld use humans as hosts because our bodies are 
easily repaired and can be made by a sarcophagus to stay very young in 
appearance. The first of these Gods the Tau'ri encountered in their 
travels was Ra, the King of the Gods. He appeared to them to be only 
twenty human years of age, but in actuality he was over ten thousand 
years of age. As was mentioned earlier in out tour, repeated usage of the 
sarcophagus leads to severe mental instability. Can you imagine that 
after ten thousand years of usage that the being known as Ra was not 
mentally impaired? But he was killed. And the Tau'ri have been at war 
with the Goa'uld ever since."

"And you are of the Tau'ri?"

"No Citizen G'Kar, I am not. I am an Immortal. Dr. Scully there is of the 
Tau'ri. Colonel Starbuck, the head of our training program that you met 
earlier, is a Colonial, and Tok'Ra, whom you all have seen, is an 
Ancient."

"I see no difference between you and the very lovely Dr. Scully or with 
Col. Starbuck for that matter."

"The difference is not in our appearance, Captain Sheridan. The 
difference exists at a genetic level. The Colonials, the Tau'ri, and the 
Immortals all share the same genetic code, save for a few genetic 
sequences. For the Tau'ri and the Colonials, the differences are not 
genetic, but rather environmental, considering that the Colonials evolved 
in a far away part of the universe. That they are genetically identical 
tells me that the Universe often has a profound sense of humor.

Immortals, on the other hand, are not a creation of the universe, but 
rather are a creation of the Ancients. They manipulated the genetic code 
of the Tau'ri such that one in every hundred thousand Tau'ri women had 
the potential to bear an immortal offspring, but only if they had 'mated' 
with an immortal male. When the Tau'ri were young and not so numerous, 
Immortal births were decades, even centuries apart. But now that they are 
numerous indeed, the number of immortal births is rising. Any Tau'ri has 
the potential within their genetic code to become an immortal or to give 
birth to an immortal, but only an existing immortal can tell who will 
become another of our kind. We can sense those destined to become such. 
Yes. Become, for a Tau'ri must die before the immortality can come to the 
surface. Otherwise, the Tau'ri will continue to age as they normally 
would and eventually die of natural causes. The youngest immortal I have 
ever heard of was twelve human years when he crossed over. And he 
appeared to be only twelve at the time of his death though he was 
actually over nine hundred years of age. 

Imagine. Living forever and not aging. Some would think it a wondrous 
thing. And it can be. As Immortals we get to see the passing of history, 
even live it to some extent. But we can't have children. And all those 
mortals that we love will die eventually. You get to live forever, but 
everyone around you dies. Immortality is both a blessing and a curse."

"You mentioned others in your alliance."

"Yes, Dr. Franklin, three other races. The Kelownans and the Tollan are 
human, save for some minor genetic and environmental differences. The 
Asgard are not. In fact, the Vree that you are familiar with are probably 
the closest analog to the Asgard. Small in stature, gray skinned, and 
large solid black eyes. They are among the oldest races we have 
encountered in our travels. They are also a very benevolent race, and 
have for years acted to protect certain species in the universe. The 
Tau'ri are among those protected species."

"Admiral, you mentioned earlier an exchange of technologies?"

"Thank you G'Kar for bringing us back on point. Yes I did mention that. 
This is what I propose to each of you. Ambassadors, go back to your 
governments and share with them all that you have seen. Explain to them 
that we are open to the possibility of negotiations for certain of our 
technologies. Ask them what they would be willing to exchange for those 
items. Captain Sheridan, the same also applies to you, though I don't 
believe you will be speaking with your government on Earth. So look at 
what you have and what you would be willing to trade. I'm sure that this 
request of ours will take some time on the parts of your governments, so 
as soon as you are ready, leave a message on your BabCom system for me 
and I will detail our diplomatic section to attend those details. Now, 
friends, I will ask the Honor Guard to escort you back to the hangar bay 
and I will bid you good day."

                         *******************

It was true that the station had broken away from the Earth Government. 
Such was the reason that those eight destroyers had attempted to wrest 
control of the station from Sheridan. But not all of the Earthers had 
left the station. Before President Clark had declared martial law on 
Earth and her colonies, he had created a number of new Ministries, among 
them the Ministry for Peace. A branch of the agency, Nightwatch, had 
numerous members still aboard the station and they were actively planning 
for widespread chaos. In truth, they were little better than misguided 
terrorists.

The next day, the first two thousand crew of the Halsey began arriving on 
the station for a forty-eight hour liberty pass. Accompanying them were 
four squads of Shore Patrol, to assist the station with security duties. 
The SP squads were taking eight on and eight off shifts in pairs, so that 
they too would get some shore leave. It was a certain thing that whatever 
currency units each crewmember had on their person would not be accepted 
by the station vendors, as the exchange rates for such old and antiquated 
currency would not be in the best interest of the Halsey crews. So 
Pierson suggested that they take some gold out of stores and create a 
generic fleet currency unit that all crew could withdraw from their 
personal accounts. 

As per Marius' word, all of the SP personnel were armed with Intar stun 
weapons, and their commanding officers and unit sergeants additionally 
had been issued three Shock grenades apiece. Marius and his protective 
detail, along with Alex and Methos also went to the station with the 
first wave of liberty crews.

They were just leaving the arrivals area of the station when the shots 
rang out. What followed was sheer bedlam and chaos as humans and aliens 
alike scattered for cover. Alex and Methos both pulled Intar pistols from 
their belts, while Marius' protective detail took up guard positions with 
their staffs. More shots were heard and this time, the shots were coming 
in their direction. Alex dropped to the ground; severe plasma burns 
stitched  across his chest. Methos sighted in their attacker and let fly 
with a dozen shots from his Intar while Alison moved up to flank their 
attacker. With a shocked cry of pain, Methos fell writhing to the ground. 
Marius nudged Reagan to assist Alison while he and Kyra dove for cover 
behind some furniture in the embarkation area. 

A few more shots were heard and then a cry of pain as their attacker 
found himself face to face with the blade in Alison's staff. Reagan had 
cornered a second attacker that had apparently planned to back up the 
first, before he could fire. With their own blades drawn, Kyra and Marius 
moved up to confront their attackers. After a moment, station security 
and Halsey's SP's moved in to take custody of the two would be assassins. 
Marius heard someone behind him bellow for a med team and he moved to 
quash that.

"That won't be necessary Chief."

"You've got two wounded! One's bleeding badly and the other probably 
won't ever have kids again!"

"It is not necessary Chief. But if you insist, then I will take them to 
your Med Lab. Kyra, Reagan. Stay with the prisoners. Make sure no harm 
comes to them."

"As you will, Mr. President."

As Chief Garibaldi looked on, the two women in question sheathed their 
very nasty looking swords into their staves, and proceeded to follow his 
security team as they moved the prisoners to a holding cell. By the time 
he had turned back to the Admiral and his XO, their swords had also been 
sheathed.

"Just wooden staffs, eh?"

"They are now. Besides, Chief, with your plasma based weaponry, do you 
really think a sword would make much difference? Let alone a wooden 
staff?"

"That's besides the point. Why did she call you 'Mr. President'?"

"A slip of the tongue, nothing more. Now then, I believe you were 
insistent that we get these two to med lab?"

                         *******************

Security Control
Office of Chief Garibaldi

"Sorry John, but all they're willing to give is a name. No other 
identification. Zack made them to be Nightwatch. But beyond that, 
nothing."

"Damn it, Michael! I won't have Nightwatch or any other rogue Earth group 
attacking one of our guests!"

"My hands are tied, Captain. I can't even get them scanned without 
violating their rights!"

                         *******************

Marius had left Alex and Methos in Med Lab recovering from their bout of 
plasma fire and had walked into Security Control, catching the last 
sentence uttered by Chief Garibaldi.

"Perhaps, you can not violate their rights, Chief. But the attack was 
made on my person, and two of my crew are wounded, though they should be 
up and around in perhaps ten minutes, probably less. And suffice to say, 
Chief, I would not want to be in their shoes when Captain Pierson gets 
back on his feet. Those two in there, managed to piss off the eldest of 
my kind, and that is most definitely not a good thing."

"The two that were wounded are Immortals? Like you?"

"Yes Chief. Like me. In terms of age, I'm but a child compared to 
Pierson. After all, what is twenty-six hundred years compared to ten 
thousand."

"Ten thousand?" 

"Yes. Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'senior citizen' does it 
not?"

"And your other wounded Immortal? How old is he?"

"Between twenty-three and twenty-four hundred years. More than that, I 
can't say without giving away more than he would like."

"You may as well tell them, Mr. President."

"Alex. It is not my place to tell them what you wish to remain secret."

"Wait a minute. You said somewhere between twenty-three and twenty-four 
hundred years, right?"

"He did, Captain."

"And you came from 2003 in your calendar, right?"

"Correct again, Captain."

"So, adjusting for the difference in calendars, that would put 'Alex' 
here some time around the mid 350's BC. I knew you looked familiar!"

"By Jove, I think he's got it, Marius!"

"It would seem so, Alex. Chief Garibaldi, you look confused, but your 
Captain has deduced correctly. Lieutenant Alex Phillipson is indeed 
Alexander, son of Philip, of Macedonia."

"Michael, I think I need to sit down."

"Captain, I think someone needs to tell me who he is. Sorry, Admiral, but 
I've never been much on ancient history."

"Michael. He's the Great. Alexander the Great."

"I think I need to sit down now."

"And we would appreciate it, if you would not go around spreading his 
true identity? Are we in agreement Captain?"

"Yes. Admiral. We are. I'd ask for your autograph, but I don't think 
anyone would ever believe me."

"Hehehe. Probably not. Suffice to say that rumors of my death were 
greatly exaggerated."

"So it would seem. But back to the matter at hand, Chief. You say you can 
not scan the prisoners. I take it you mean a telepathic scan?"

"Correct. Telepathic scans without their consent are a violation of Earth 
and station laws."

"I see. What about a polygraph? Are the results admissible?"

"No. Polygraphs were proven unreliable back in the early 21st century."

"Hmm. Well, as they stand now, do you have enough to convict them of a 
crime?"

"Attempted murder. Plenty of witnesses for that. They'll get deported 
back to Earth."

"Well then, Chief. It seems we have nothing to lose and everything to 
gain by administering a polygraph."

"I just told you, a polygraph is unreliable. Lie detector tests are easy 
to beat."

"True. For the most part. Alex, contact the ship and ask the Duty Officer 
to have one of the Tok'ra bring over the Zatarc tester and a pair of 
memory recall devices. Also ask the DO to have Cassandra report to me as 
soon as possible."

"You got it, Mr. President!"

"Zatarc tester? And that's the second person that's called you 'Mr. 
President'! What gives?"

"Chief. Captain Sheridan. Currently I am serving as Admiral aboard the 
Halsey. That was meant only for the duration of trials for the Halsey. My 
real job, if you could call it that, is as President of the Immortal 
Council. Chosen by a lottery for a term of one century. Not a job I 
wanted, but one I am serving in to the best of my abilities. As to the 
Zatarc tester, well, that is our version of a polygraph. It makes it 
impossible to be deceitful because the machine recognizes the deceit. It 
causes some pain to the deceiver, but more to the point, the information 
is clearly displayed on a screen. Also, the memory recall device can be 
plugged into the Zatarc tester, and into a holographic display, so we can 
see the person's memories and judge them for ourselves."

"It's probably still not usable in any court, Captain."

"Probably not, Chief, but it may serve to tell us who was involved with 
this plot."

"And. And it will tell us if I was the intended victim."

"He has a point. If he was not the intended victim, then there may be 
other assassins on this station who will try again. Tell me, Captain 
Sheridan. Who else was in the embarkation area when we arrived?"

Sheridan started to speak, but the thought that he was speaking to a ten 
thousand year old man went through his head at that moment, making speech 
impractical. 

"Captain Sheridan?"

"I'm sorry. It's just that after what Admiral Ramos just told me, it 
seems strange to be speaking with someone who has seen so much history."

"I see. And did the Admiral fill you in on his history? Considering he 
filled you in on mine, I would think that would be fair."

"No. He said he's an immortal, but not anything of his history."

"Then Captain, allow me to properly introduce you to Gaius Marius the 
Younger, Pro Consul to Rome, and President of the Immortal Council."

"You left out something Adam. You forgot the Commander and General bit."

"Quite right. Gaius Marius the Younger, Proconsul of Rome. Commander of 
the Armies of the West, and General of the Prima Legions."

"Uhm."

"Of course, Adam left out the fact that he was the Memoriae to Caesar."

"Uhm."

It was all that he could say really. Here were two men in front of him 
that had been alive when Rome was the greatest power on Earth. Such 
history! To be able to have viewed all the events of the past as they 
unfolded! It was something that both he and Garibaldi were having a 
difficult time grasping.

"Captain, you may continue to address me as Admiral in public, but you 
may also call me Marius, as that is the name I am most comfortable with."

"There are so many things I would like to ask you."

"Captain, please remember that your Earth and my Earth are in different 
universes. There may be a significant amount of similarities, but I 
suspect there are also a significant amount of differences."

"Yes. Of course. You're quite right about that. The history I'm familiar 
with has us making first contact around 2151, not during the time of the 
Egyptian Empire. We also have no knowledge of this, what did you call it? 
Uhm, wormhole travel."

"Where we are from, first contact was announced by the President of the 
United States, John P. Ryan, early in 2003. Though the truth of that is 
that first contact happened sometime between 9000 and 8000 BC, when the 
Goa'uld came to Earth. But the gate they came through was sealed for 
millennia, and it was not until 1995 that we managed to re-open the 
Stargate and began traveling the universe. It wasn't until five years 
later, that we managed to build our own spacecraft and began traveling 
the universe by ship."

"The truth of the matter is Captain Sheridan, that you recognized the 
word Rome. That tells me that we have at least that in common. First 
Contact differs, but I would venture to say that other pivotal events are 
the same. Your Earth seems to be as prone to violence as our own. But 
here you had the Vorlons to influence you. We had the Ancients to 
influence us."

"Well said Adam."

"Perhaps with a more detailed examination of your history, we could see 
just how similar we are."

"Mr. Garibaldi can arrange for access to our historical records, if you 
like."

"That may be a good idea, Adam. It may help us in the upcoming 
negotiations."

                         *******************

It was while Garibaldi was attempting to access the B5 historical 
archives that he noticed the computer was acting strangely. With a heavy 
sigh and shudder he looked up to Sheridan with confusion in his eyes. It 
was at that precise moment that Alex and Cassandra walked in.

"Captain, looks like we have a problem."

"What prob... Uhm, Elizabeth?"

"I'm sorry? My name is Cassandra. You sent for me Marius?"

"You look exactly like Elizabeth. The resemblance is uncanny."

"Who is Elizabeth?" Asked by Cassandra, but in truth, the question was on 
everyone's mind.

"Someone I knew, once. Long ago. As far as I know she's aboard the 
Acheron."

"I see. If my presence disturbs you, then perhaps I should leave?"

"No. You look like her, but you aren't her."

Marius pulled Cassandra aside and explained the situation to her 
regarding the attempted assassination. She responded in the affirmative 
regarding his request to use the Voice on the prisoners in custody. 
Meanwhile, Garibaldi explained the computer problem to Sheridan. Both 
agreed to make that their top priority and to leave an observer with 
Marius and Cassandra. Garibaldi placed a BabCom call to Lyta Alexander. 
Ten minutes later, Cassandra entered the room where the prisoner was 
located while Marius, Lyta, and Garibaldi watched over a monitor.

"Hello Mr. Boggs. My name is Cassandra. You must tell me all that you 
know."

Cassandra's Voice was something that resonated deep within the man she 
was speaking to. Though he had been trained to resist telepathic 
interrogation, this was an interrogation of a different sort. The subtle 
intonations of Cassandra's voice made him extremely compliant. Outside 
the room, Lyta watched via the monitors. She could detect no overt 
telepathic means by which Cassandra used her voice. She used her Vorlon 
enhanced abilities, but could detect no telepathic transmissions 
emanating from Cassandra. It left her with many questions for Marius. 

"Tell me why you chose to target Admiral Ramos for assassination."

"Orders. I was ordered to by the Ministry of Peace and Justice, as they 
were so ordered by President Clark for the humiliating defeat of eight 
Earth Force Destroyers sent to recapture Babylon 5."

"This Ministry of Peace and Justice. Tell me more about them."

"The enforcement arm of the Ministry on Earth, her colonies, and the 
station is Nightwatch. They are charged with slowing and halting the 
influence of aliens on the people of Earth."

"Why is this influence a bad thing?"

"Earth must be purified. Earth belongs to Earthers. The Universe shall be 
ours and no other race shall have rule over us."

"Was Admiral Ramos you're only target?"

"No. He was a target of opportunity."

"Who was the primary target?"

"Delenn of Minbar. President Clark ordered her termination be carried out 
with extreme prejudice."

"Very good, Mr. Boggs. Did you act alone?"

"No. From the membership rolls of Nightwatch, I was able to recruit a 
sniper aboard the station. He had served Earth Force well during the 
Earth-Minbari war."

"How many members of Nightwatch are aboard the station?"

"I know of only fifty."

"How is the Nightwatch organized? What is your hierarchy?"

"Nightwatch is organized in public as a communal group. In private, the 
groups are called cells. Each cell leader is responsible for the 
recruitment of members for his cell. There are fifty cell leaders aboard 
Babylon 5."

"Are these fifty cell leaders the same fifty people you referred to early 
as members of Nightwatch?"

"Yes."

"Very good, Mr. Boggs. I will leave you now. You have been very helpful."


"Marius. He was very forthcoming."

"He was, wasn't he? Captain, you saw that she used no overt method to get 
the information from him. No drugs were used. Is the information obtained 
useful?"

"In a court, maybe. But we can use it to identify the Nightwatch members 
and round them up."

"All in all, a productive day, yes? Alex, be so kind as to inform the 
Duty Officer that we will not be needing the Zatarc tester. We have 
managed to obtain the information that was needed. After that, you're on 
your own for the rest of the liberty pass. You too, Adam. I think that I 
shall retire to my quarters aboard the station for a bit of rest before 
seeing more of your station, Captain."

"Very well. I will contact you as soon as we have our negotiations team 
ready."

"Excellent."

                         *******************

When Marius entered his quarters, he found one message waiting for him on 
the BabCom unit. A short one from Major Mulder. He read over the message 
and opened a channel to Major Mulder.

"Mulder. Ah, Marius. I heard there was a problem on the station. You seem 
to be ok?"

"I'm fine Mulder. As to your question on the technology trade guidelines? 
I think if we start with..."

And Marius continued at length for some minutes before closing the 
channel. Now that Mulder had his marching orders, he would get with his 
carefully chosen team to plan out their strategy for getting, as Marius 
had put it, 'the most bang for their limited buck'. Shortly after closing 
the channel, his door chimed and he bade the person at the door enter.

"Ms. Alexander! How pleasant to see you again. And so soon! How might I 
be of service?"

"While I was observing Cassandra, I used every method open to me to scan 
her telepathically, yet she never noticed I was doing this. You said all 
of your kind could not be scanned?"

"Were you able to see into her mind?"

"No. But she didn't detect my scans?"

"Odds are she did not. It is my understanding from her that using the 
Voice takes a lot out of her. As to how the Voice works, only she knows. 
As far as I know, she is the only one of our kind that possess that 
particular ability."

"I see. I was wondering, if perhaps you might join me for lunch? Or 
dinner?"

"Dinner would be nice. So would lunch for that matter. But if I had to 
choose then I would say dinner."

"Dinner it is. I'll pick you up here at say, nineteen hundred?"

"Excellent! I will await you at that time."

                         *******************

Earth Prime

It had been a month since the Halsey had disappeared at the onset of her 
space trials. A month in which other battlecruisers had been dispatched 
to aid the Moscow and the Houston in their fruitless search. At the end 
of that month, the Halsey was listed in the rolls simply as 'Lost, with 
All Hands'. As a replacement for the lost Halsey, the Immortal shipyards 
were planning to build another Strike Carrier, in addition to the four 
that were already in some stages of construction.

But the AIS Kuznetsov had been completed and was taking on supplies and 
personnel. The Nelson was undergoing final fittings, and the keels had 
been laid on the two remaining strike carriers; the Spruance and the 
Varyag. 

The Immortal Design Bureau, after much debate, drew up plans for a 
destroyer class vessel that would bristle with guns and have a small 
hangar that would be home to five shuttles. The shuttles would be of the 
same Bulldog class used on the Strike Carriers, but would be fixed for 
Search and Rescue. As a compromise to one adamant designer, the SAR 
Bulldogs would be equipped with limited defensive armament to assist in 
their primary mission. As Marius had envisioned the destroyer, so the IDB 
had laid out the plans. Four large caliber guns; two forward and two aft, 
multiple launchers for missiles and several dozen anti-fighter laser 
batteries. 

Over Mars, the Colonial Forge ships had churned out several hundred Viper 
class fighters and they were busily producing sections for three more new 
Battlestars. Because of the new Alliance, ships from various members 
worlds were beginning to appear in the Sol system, bringing their 
warriors to a central location so that the new fleets could be put 
together. Leaders of the various fleets had yet to be assigned, but the 
various races with their dissimilar methodology were already beginning to 
work together, after a fashion.

On Earth, Senator Kinsey was putting together a new Consortium. This one 
would not work with the Grays like its predecessor had, a fact that he 
had always found disgusting to his nature, but would in fact work to 
close Earth off; to isolate it from Alien influence. The Governor of his 
state had know that Kinsey had not been in the House when it was attacked 
and so he had not replaced him. He had appointed another man as the 
replacement for the other lost senator, but it was a man of Kinsey's 
choice. He was moving behind the scenes and would announce shortly his 
bid for the Presidency. Before he'd had only one goal. To stop the Star 
Gate program at all costs, or at the very least to have it moved to his 
control. Now he had another goal. He wanted the Presidency and he would 
stop at nothing to achieve his goals. 

He had searched and cajoled. He had bribed and blackmailed. So many petty 
bureaucrats just trying to protect their own fiefdoms within the 
governmental entity that is the United States of America! So many that he 
easily found a high ranking military officer that was able to give him 
what he wanted just to protect his pet project's budget for the coming 
year; a transcript of the Consortium Triad. Oddly, it did not include the 
sentencing phase of that particular miscarriage of justice, but he felt 
sure that they had been put to death. He ignored the fact that Tollana 
had no death penalty. With the old guard out of the way, he called upon 
certain individuals in the now defunct NID to serve on his new 
Consortium. He searched in vain for Alex Krycek, to determine why he had 
not carried out his orders regarding the termination of this so-called 
Immortal president, but he was unable to locate him. He had a final 
notification that Krycek had departed via the Kennedy space port bound 
for Luna, but there was no record of his arrival there. So odd, but it 
did not matter.

But he was pleased to learn that the AIS Halsey had been lost with all 
hands! In one fell swoop, he was rid of not only the Immortal President, 
but also of that meddling do-gooder team known as SG-1. Some days, it 
felt truly good to be alive. Today, with the news of the Halsey, was that 
day. And tomorrow, with the release to the media of his bid for the 
Presidency of the United States, would definitely be a most excellent 
day!

                         *******************

Babylon 5

Marius had a pleasant evening. He had left the vast piles of never ending 
paperwork behind on the Halsey. For the first time in a truly long time, 
he felt grateful to the Gods that had created him. It was a good time to 
be alive. He began to think on his long life. Had he not become an 
Immortal so long ago, his life would have ended on a forgotten 
battlefield. But he had transitioned to immortality. It was a state of 
life, a phase, that he had more often cursed than found to be a blessing. 
His father, or the man he thought of as his father, had been a great man 
in Rome. The truth of the matter was that Marius had been born long 
before his 'father' rose to power in Rome. Five hundred years old by the 
time he encountered the elder Marius. 

He had come to Marius' estate as a slave, and through his hard work and 
his gift of learning and understanding, had made an impression on the 
mortal Marius. So much so, that the mortal man elevated him from slave to 
adopted son, a practice nearly unheard of in that period of history. But 
the Elder Marius saw something in the young man that stood before him 
that no other had seen; a gift for strategy. It was something that the 
mortal Marius used often. Gaius Marius had adopted the young-ish looking 
immortal when he was but 28, and serving as a quaestor in Rome. When the 
elder Marius was appointed to the praetorship of distant Spain, the 
younger Marius followed him. Those were heady times, working with Marius 
and later with Sulla. He managed to convince Marius of the importance of 
using the common Roman man in her legions, making an army out of the 
people instead of the rich. It proved a worthy suggestion as it helped to 
reform Rome's armies. 

Later in his life, the elder Marius rose to Proconsul, as would his 
adopted son, Marius the Younger. In the fullness of time, Marius the 
Immortal rose to Consul first, then Proconsul, only to be betrayed by 
Caesar, his 'cousin' and his 'fathers' nephew.  For a time, he settled 
into an estate in Spain, before moving on to Europe and much later, the 
Americas. So much history he had seen, though as a part of it, he didn't 
recognize the events for what they were until much later. Had he not been 
what he was, he doubtless would have died unknown and alone, as he did 
not take his first wife until after he had left Rome. Now here he was, in 
another universe, exploring all that life had to offer him. Such irony. 
Take the meal a short while ago for instance. Would he ever have imagined 
such pleasant company? A beautiful woman with a sharp mind and an even 
sharper wit. Compared to the man he was so many centuries ago, Marius had 
grown and evolved. But enough of the retrospection. For now he had more 
serious concerns on his mind. He did not know if the passage of time in 
this universe was equivalent to the universe he hailed from. He was 
concerned over events at home. The Cylons were a serious threat on their 
own. Anubis was a serious threat on his own. Combined, the two were a 
deadly threat to the peace of his home universe. At the moment, they were 
evenly matched in terms of ship to ship firepower. The advantage, 
however, fell to the Cylon-Anubis alliance as they could call up more 
ships to battle than the combined might of Earth, Mars, and Luna. Perhaps 
Tok'Ra had an ulterior motive for allowing these cross-dimensional 
jaunts? For the sake of so many back home, Marius prayed that he did.

A week passed uneventfully on the station. Most of the crew had by now 
taken their turn at shore leave, and a firm schedule had been decided 
upon by all parties for the expected technology negotiations. But first, 
there would be one brief meeting with all parties where the Halsey 
negotiating team would show off their technologies. The team had argued 
and debated long and hard over which technologies they could trade that 
would not upset the delicate balance in this universe. But whether they 
chose tech mean for war or peace, the tech could be abused. They had no 
real control over the eventual end use of a particular item. So they 
chose items that would be more difficult to turn into weapons. At the 
very least, very serious thought would be required before turning any of 
these items into weapons of war.

Marius and Methos were in the Zen Garden aboard the station discussing 
this very issue when the Ranger Marcus appeared in their midst, with a 
man that both recognized from their past.

"Gentlemen, allow me to introduce Arthur of Camelot."

Methos and Marius both looked at the man more closely. Methos had known 
the man history called Arthur. He had known him late in Arthur's life, 
shortly before the good King passed on. Marius had known him when the 
King was young and still building his empire. Neither man recognized him 
as their King, but both could not mistake his sword, Excalibur. And both 
fell prostrate to the ground, swords drawn, but held in supplication.

"My Liege! My sword and my body are at your service!"

"Arise, kind sirs. I see no need for your swords or your bodies at this 
time, though the gesture is appreciated."

"Of course, sire. It has been a great many centuries since Camelot was in 
power. That you have returned now is a fortuitous sign!"

"Tell me thy names, that I might properly know thee?"

"My King, I am Adam, but thou knew me as Gawain."

"And I, my Liege, am Marco, but thou knew me as Geraint."

"My two friends! Geraint, tell me that thy armor is not as rusty as it 
once was?"

"I've had no call to wear that armor in many centuries, Sire."

                         *******************

While the man known as Arthur and Methos spoke, Marcus pulled Marius 
aside and spoke quietly with him.

"I had hoped that you two would not go on like that. I know that you are, 
shall we say, 'long lived' but I had hoped that you would not humor him 
so."

"Perhaps he is who he says he is. Though he does not appear to be the man 
in my memories of Arthur, his sword is unmistakably Excalibur. And who is 
to say he isn't Arthur?"

"But he isn't. He's listed in Earth Force records as David McIntyre. The 
DNA is a dead on match for him. He's a survivor of the Line."

"And so you believe he's had a bit of a break from reality? But then 
again, this is the time of a supposed great change in your universe. 
Perhaps he isn't who he claims to be, but then again, am I who I say I 
am?"

"Your argument is fair. I will take him from here. Perhaps there is 
someone on the station who can help him see the light?"

"The man that history calls Arthur. Well, I knew that man when he was 
young and when his kingdom was young. But there is no resemblance to this 
man here."

"And I knew him when he was old and his kingdom was old and dying. Yet 
there is no resemblance. He may not be Arthur, but if that is who he 
believes himself to be, who am I to judge? Marcus, he may not be Arthur. 
Hell, he may not be David McIntyre anymore either. Let him be Arthur 
until he decides who he is. If it makes life easier for him, then so be 
it."

"Well said, Adam. Let us continue our discussion. I am sure that Arthur 
is in good hands with Ranger Cole."

                         *******************

After their discussions had come to a close they had both agreed on a 
course of action. Methos went to see the Ambassador from Minbar with a 
request and an hour later, the battlecruiser AIS Los Angeles departed 
orbit bound for Minbar at high speed. They had decided that a practical 
demonstration of their technology would benefit all parties in the 
upcoming meeting. The next day the meeting began at nine in the morning. 
Sheridan and Ivanova were there representing Babylon 5, along with Delenn 
and Lenan of Minbar. Lenan was the Captain of the a Minbari cruiser that 
had arrived a few days previously and Delenn had asked him to attend this 
opening meeting as it promised to show off some items that would be of 
interest to the warrior caste. Londo Mollari, and his aide Vir, were 
there to represent the interests of the Centauri. Citizen G'Kar was 
present on behalf of the Narn. There were also various representatives of 
the League of Non-Aligned worlds present. Just when Sheridan was about to 
call the meeting to order, two more unexpected participants walked in; 
Kosh of the Vorlons and Mr. Morden on behalf of the Shadow Alliance.

"Mr. Morden, I do not believe you were invited to participate in this 
meeting?"

"Captain Sheridan. I requested his presence. The Shadow Alliance would be 
interested in some of the technologies we have to offer, and we, in turn, 
are interested in some of theirs. If there are no objections to his 
presence, then I request he be allowed to stay and listen."

"Are you sure of this Admiral Ramos?"

"It is a wise idea to see what we have to offer is it not?"

"It is. Then let us proceed. Admiral Ramos, you have the floor."

"Thank you Captain. Before we begin in earnest with the show and tell 
aspect of this presentation, I feel the need to explain a few things. 
First off is the fact that until fairly recently, our species has been 
traveling the universe via the Star Gate, or the Chaapa'ai as it is known 
in some languages. The Star Gate is a device that is composed of two 
concentric rings, one within another. An outer ring with nine lock 
positions and an inner ring where there are thirty-nine position 
indicators. As all of you may be aware, to travel to any point in space, 
you will need seven position indicators. Six to describe a destination 
and one to describe a point of origin. The Star Gate itself is made of a 
mineral we call Naquadah, which is a quartz-like element capable of 
controlling vast amounts of energy. When an energy source is directed to 
the Star Gate, and when seven of the nine chevrons are locked describing 
a path to a destination, the Naquadah takes the stored energy and uses it 
to create a stable wormhole between itself and another Star Gate at the 
destination. In order to travel anywhere, at least two operational gates 
must be used, otherwise the formation of the wormhole is impossible. To 
illustrate this point, and with the assistance of Delenn of Minbar, one 
of our ships, the AIS Los Angeles was dispatched to Minbar yesterday. A 
gate does not need to be on the surface of a target world, it need only 
be in orbit. We have plotted the course to Minbar using our positioning 
system and have a similar Gate equipped ship in orbit near Epsilon Three. 
Let us turn now to the monitors aboard the AIS Kiev."

All eyes in the room turned to a bank of monitors that had been placed 
along the far wall. They watched as a technician in the screen entered a 
series of co-ordinates, represented by strange looking symbols, into a 
computer keyboard. They watched, mesmerized, as the ring within a ring 
spun one way then another as the locks engaged the various positions 
indicators. Then, when all seven locks had been engaged, there was a rush 
of a liquid-like substance that formed a sideways whirlpool emanating 
from the ring device. When the whirlpool had subsided, the liquid 
collapsed onto itself forming and undulating pool of shining 'water'. The 
technician informed the Admiral that the wormhole had been established.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you see on the monitors is a stable wormhole 
that now exists between the Kiev and the Los Angeles. Two-way 
communication is possible via the Gate system, however, travel is only 
one way at a time. That is, because the Kiev 'dialed' the Los Angeles, a 
crew can be sent to the Los Angeles from the Kiev, but the reverse of 
that will not be true unless the Los Angeles 'dials' the Kiev. Unless I 
am mistaken, I believe the travel time via ship to Minbar from this 
location is three days? Am I correct, Ambassador Delenn?"

"You are correct, Admiral Ramos."

Admiral Ramos uttered a few words into the radio near him, and on the 
screen, those present in the room watched as five members of the crew of 
the Kiev walked into the shimmering pool of water. Shortly thereafter, 
the gate shut down, only to re-start as the Los Angeles began it's 
dialing procedure.

"What you have just witnessed is the near instantaneous travel of five 
crewmen to the Los Angeles. I say near instantaneous as it takes a few 
seconds to cross the vast distance between here and Minbar. Now, the Los 
Angeles is dialing into the Kiev, where a return crew of five will make 
the journey back here."

Sure enough, a new whirlpool had briefly formed on the screen before 
returning to its placid state. Shortly afterwards, five Minbari Rangers 
stepped through the gate to the Kiev.

"Some of you might have said that all of this was an elaborate trick, 
that the five men who left earlier had not in fact, gone anywhere. So it 
was decided that five men would go and that five Minbari Rangers would 
return, to show the capability of this system. Now we will show a 
different outcome."

On the screens, the Gate shut down, only to start turning again as a new 
incoming wormhole was being established. But instead of a placid 
shimmering pool of water, a metal shield irised into place over the pool, 
followed by several very audible thumps and the shutdown of the gate.

"What you just witnessed was one of the safety features we have built 
into the Gate. Whenever we travel through the gate system, we carry with 
us a device that sends a particular code to the receiving gate that 
indicates whether we are friend or not. If no signal is received after 
the formation of the wormhole, then the iris closes over the surface of 
the Gate. It leaves no room for an object to re-integrate into its normal 
form, and what happens is the 'thumping' noise you heard. This is how we 
prevent unauthorized usage of our gate system, and how we prevent an 
attack from coming through the gates to our home world. Now, please 
understand one very important item. Because of the co-ordinate system in 
use, and its inherent limitations, only one gate can be placed per 
planet. To overcome this limiting factor, we ship all cargo to one gate 
on a nearby world, while all passengers come through the main gate on our 
world."

So the last statement was a bit of a white lie. Odds were the inhabitants 
of this universe would never know the truth of that statement, or lack 
thereof.

"The incoming cargo is then shipped via shuttle to its final destination. 
As I stated earlier, it was until fairly recently that we utilized the 
gate system exclusively. Only within the last few years have we begun to 
build starships, and that is primarily because not all habitable worlds 
in our home galaxy have Star Gates.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is but one of the possible uses of Naquadah. 
Another usage is a generator. I am aware that most of your races utilize 
fusion or some form of it to produce power. However, as it the case with 
this station, the fusion reactors are generally rather large. This small 
box in front of me, measures one cubic meter. Yet, when combined with 
five others of the same size, it can provide all of the power this 
station would require. The Halsey uses a slight larger form of this 
generator,  measuring five cubic meters and set in redundant banks of 
eight, to provide power for the ship. These are but two of the 
technologies that we offer for trade. When you leave the chamber a short 
while from now, a series of papers will be handed out itemizing what we 
would like to trade for. Now, our next demonstration may shock some of 
you, but please bear with me."

Just as Admiral Ramos had finished his statement, the doors to the 
Conference room opened a pair of coffin-like devices were brought in into 
the room. One had a bubble of some transparent material over the top 
while the other was rather ornamental and inscribed with various odd 
looking symbols. It also appeared to be made of gold. That in of itself 
had the attention of the majority of the room. Shortly after the devices 
were brought in, Drs. Franklin and Scully came in with two more men in 
the ship uniform of the Halsey. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you are about to witness may sicken you, but 
I assure you that no harm whatsoever is intended. The two men you see 
before you are Lieutenant Robertson, formerly of SEAL Team six and 
presently attached to the Halsey's special operations section, and 
Kapitan Tretyego Ranga Ivanov, formerly of Spetsnaz Group Alpha and 
currently attached to the Marine Expeditionary Force aboard the Halsey. 
Gentlemen, you have been briefed on your assignment, yes?"

"Yes sir! And might we add that we are not looking forward to it sir!"

"No, I would imagine you are not. Now then, what Captain Pierson is 
holding is what we call a staff weapon. Its power core is a small amount 
of Naquadah, approximately fifteen grams of it. Before any of you get the 
wrong idea, the staff weapon is not something we are willing to trade. 
Its only reason for being here is for the purpose of this demonstration. 
It fires a small amount of plasma, along the same lines at the standard 
PPG used by Earth Force and other governments. However, the amount of 
plasma it fires and the temperature of the resulting plasma is sufficient 
to burn through flesh and kill most any target with one shot. Captain 
Pierson, if you will proceed."

Pierson leveled the staff weapon at Ivanov and fired one bolt. The plasma 
seared through the outer layers of his uniform and burned through his 
chest, cauterizing the blood vessels as it passed into his body and 
rupturing his heart. Ivanov was dead before he hit the floor. What 
resulted from the shot was pandemonium until Ramos could quiet the 
assembly.

"Doctors, would you examine the body?"

"No need for it. Anyone can see that this young man is dead. Probably 
dead before he hit the floor."

"Yes. Quite. Now, if you would please place him in the sarcophagus, we 
will move on to the second part of our demonstration. The weapon Captain 
Pierson is now holding is our standard weapon for all ground forces 
aboard the Halsey. It is what you would call a slug thrower. That is, it 
fires a metallic round by using a propellant charge. One shot, well 
placed, can kill most targets effectively. If you will proceed, sir."

Before any in the audience could protest the action, Pierson let lose 
several three round bursts at Robertson. His shots were designed not to 
kill, but to wound severely.

"Doctors, if you would?"

"That may have been a primitive weapon, Admiral, but it did enough damage 
to this man. Without immediate treatment, he will die."

"Of course. Place him into the stasis chamber. You will notice, that 
unlike the cryogenic chambers you use, this one is much smaller and much 
more portable. It uses a small anti-grav impeller to keep it afloat and 
to allow a single person to move it to any location. The anti-grav 
impellers are also powered by Naquadah. This demonstration was not so 
much of our killing powers or of our weapons technology, but rather of 
our healing technology."

He said nothing more for a few minutes, as if waiting for something to 
happen. Then it did. The lid of the sarcophagus opened up like two wings 
spreading for flight. Then a startled Ivanov sat up. After a few seconds 
of running his hands over his chest, he got up and out of the 
sarcophagus. Pierson and Scully moved Robertson from the stasis chamber 
directly into the sarcophagus and less than five minutes later the device 
opened again to reveal a completely healed Robertson.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you have witnessed here is the result of 
thousands of years of engineering. In the first case, a man who was dead 
by all measures your science can determine, was placed into the 
sarcophagus and healed and revived. Doctor Franklin, I am sure you will 
wish to examine both men to determine any ill effects of the device?"

"I definitely do want to examine them!"

"Good. I would have it no other way. On the modern battlefield, it is not 
always easy to get the wounded back to a place where your medical science 
can treat them. This is true of any civilization. However, the stasis 
chamber renders that argument moot. The stasis chambers can be used to 
keep the critically wounded stable until such time as your doctors can 
treat them, or in the event of catastrophic wounds, can place them into a 
sarcophagus for treatment. The sarcophagus can treat any type of wound, 
whether caused by a knife or PPG or slug thrower, or caused by some form 
of terminal illness such as cancer. But there is an unavoidable caveat to 
the device. Prolonged usage leads to mental instability and insanity. 
That level is not something we can pinpoint as it is based on an 
individualistic tolerance for the healing powers of the device. 

Another technology that we utilize is comparable to your own hyperspace 
method of travel. We too, use hyperspace, though it is as different to 
your own as night is to day. Using your technology, a ship creates an 
opening into the realm you call hyperspace, where distances are 
drastically shorter than in real space. Our method creates what is in 
effect a stable wormhole. However, unlike Gate based travel where the 
journey is nearly instantaneous, the sheer amount of energy required to 
create the ship sized wormhole necessitates the travel time be longer. 
For instance, the station is approximately 36 standard hyperspace hours 
from Earth, 44 standard hyperspace hours from Narn, and 48 standard 
hyperspace hours from Centauri Prime. Using our method of travel, those 
times would be cut to thirty minutes for Earth, and approximately forty-
five minutes to either Narn or Centauri Prime. The caveat to this is that 
in order to generate the stable wormhole of this size, a special form 
Naquadah is necessary, called Naquadria. Naquadria is inherently 
unstable, and any trip longer than two hundred light years necessitates 
that the ship making the journey periodically drop out of hyper space to 
allow the engine systems to cool. But other than that one minor detail, 
our version of hyper space travel is much faster than your own.

A way to offset this problem is to create what are essentially ship sized 
Gates, similar to your jump gates. In fact, it may be remotely possible 
to convert your existing jump gate system to ship Gates so that you can 
use the existing network of gates. Use of a Ship Gate allows the gate 
itself to create the stable wormhole over vast distances, thereby 
negating the installation of hyperspace window generators on your ships. 
This may allow you to circumvent the need for new ship designs. 

Now then, are there any questions over what we have shown you? If not, 
then I will turn this meeting back over to Captain Sheridan."

"Thank you Admiral, for that very interesting display of your technology. 
I'm sure that everyone in this room has much to contemplate before the 
first negotiations commence at zero nine hundred tomorrow. As such, this 
meeting is adjourned."

                         *******************

For the first time in several days, Marius returned to the Halsey to try 
and tackle the ever growing pile of paperwork on his desk. He had been at 
it for two hours when the chime sounded at the door to his office. With 
scarcely a look, he bade whoever it was to enter. 

"Major Carter? To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"I have that proposal ready for you sir."

"Refresh my memory. Which proposal?"

"The one to use the wreckage of the Earth Force destroyers?"

"Oh. That proposal. Alright then, lay it on me."

"Other than using them for spare parts, there's not much we can do with 
them. However, if you approve of this plan, then we would have something 
more substantial to trade to Babylon 5 for the tech we want. What I 
propose is to use the sheer amount of metal in those wrecks to build at 
least two modified Prometheus class battlecruisers for them. Modified in 
the sense that they would be home to their own Starfury fighters rather 
than to any of our fighters. With all the raw materials out there in 
orbit around the station, we can accomplish this rather quickly."

"That sounds like an excellent plan. How much time would you need and how 
large a construction team would you need?"

"How many ships are you planning on sir?"

"Let's call it two for now, with the option of two more, if the supplies 
are available."

"Well, if could borrow some of those maintenance bots the station uses 
for the task, I would say we could have at least one carrier done in say 
two weeks. Doubling the construction teams, we could possibly build two 
at once. But we would need to send a couple of our own carriers back to 
that asteroid field we first encountered to replenish our own stocks of 
naquadah and trinium. The amounts of naquadria necessary for the hyper 
drives is not enough in of itself to warrant another trip to the asteroid 
field, but as long as the carriers are already going there, it would not 
be a bad idea to obtain more. Back home, the only known source of 
naquadria is Kelowna."

"A valid point Major. Alright. Put together your teams. I'll arrange for 
the station to lend us say a dozen of their maintenance bots?"

"A dozen should be sufficient to the task sir."

"Very well then. Put together your lists and get them back to me by 
seventeen hundred today."

"Yes sir!"

                         *******************

True to her word, Carter had gotten the lists of personnel needed back to 
him an hour earlier than requested. Marius had put in a call to the 
station to request the loan of one dozen of the maintenance bots for a 
construction project and had been granted the usage of two dozen of the 
little flying bots, along with a small maintenance crew to oversee their 
usage. Carter assembled her teams, briefed them on their tasks, and they 
went right to work. Marius dispatched the Dallas, Tollana, Ryan, and 
Cydonia to the asteroid field with the express task of mining everything 
they could find and bring it back to the Halsey. The Dallas had been 
repaired fairly quickly after the encounter with the Earth Force 
destroyers some weeks ago and now her crew were aching to show off their 
battle tested skills. 

It had been a little over a month since they had arrived here. Marius 
wondered how things were going back home. He gave little thought that 
they would return safely. Tok'Ra had as much guaranteed that the majority 
of the crew of the Halsey would return safely. That he himself would 
return to his home, he thought not much about. If he had to die to ensure 
the safety of his people, his crew, then he would gladly do so, though he 
doubted he would die here and now. This universe may hold its own form of 
danger, but it paled in comparison to the threat of the Cylons and 
Anubis. He could hardly believe that there were any life forms in this 
universe, the universe of Babylon 5, that were bent on the total 
annihilation of all humanoid forms of life. Still, he supposed, the 
possibility did exist. He looked at the clock and wondered where he day 
had gone. In a few moments, he would be meeting with the tech 
negotiations team.

"Gentlemen, let's make this as brief as possible. It's been a long day, 
and frankly I could use a nice cold beer. So, Major Mulder, if you would 
start please."

"Sir. Our first meeting is with the Minbari. From them, we hope to gain 
three weapons technologies, their secret of stealth, their holographic 
display systems, and their ship building techniques. While they don't use 
a strictly organic armor for their ships, it is a close approximation and 
odds are Vorlon in origin. The armor structure of their ships appears 
crystalline in nature and can refract a fair portion of laser energies 
directed at it. It would make a fine addition to the hull of the Halsey 
and it made enable us to withstand several direct laser hits in the event 
our shields fail. In terms of weapons tech, we are asking them for their 
electro pulse guns, and their fusion and neutron cannons. The EP guns are 
a short range in nature and have an EMP effect on the target. That is to 
say, the 'projectiles' for want of a better word, of the EP guns cause 
electrical systems to go off-line for a short amount of time. That amount 
of time could be the difference in a battle."

"Very well. Dr. Jackson, what are your impressions of the Minbari? Will 
they be willing to trade these techs for what we have to offer?"

"I would say yes to that question. The Minbari are a very ancient race. 
According to their own history, they were building great cities when man 
was still moving about in nomadic tribes. They've been out in space at 
least eleven hundred years and are considered to be among the eldest of 
the younger races of this universe. Their society is broken down into 
three castes; warrior, worker, and religious. Their ruling council, what 
they call the Grey Council, is made up of nine members; three of each 
caste. There is also a leader who is chosen by the Council, but is not 
necessarily a member of the Council. The Grey Council does not have a 
governmental building on any world. They use a ship to move randomly from 
one colony to another so as to always appear where they are needed most. 
The honorific given to a Council member is Satai. From my research, I 
have learned that the identity of the Council members is not widely 
known. They rule from afar without the intervention of cult followings or 
the media. In some ways, I'd say that was better than our own form of 
government, but in others, well, there is always the possibility of odd 
rulings and laws. Their prime tenet is 'Understanding is not required, 
only obedience'."

"Very informative, Dr. Jackson. I look forward to your briefings over the 
next few days regarding the other races of this universe. Major Mulder, 
please stay for a moment. The rest of you may leave."

"You wished to see me sir?"

"Cut the sir crap, Mulder. I do not like titles. I use them, but I don't 
like them. In public call me sir or Admiral or even Mr. President. In 
private, you had damn well better call me Marius."

"Yes sir, uhm, I mean, Marius."

"Good. Now then, what I wanted to tell you is to hold off on the meeting 
with Sheridan until the end. Make sure it's the last meeting. I'm going 
to give them a little gift, that is, if Major Carter can work a miracle 
in the time required."

"Of course, Marius. I'll make sure they'll be the last set of 
negotiations. I expect each set of negotiations to last no more than two 
days. Three days tops. The Minbari are scheduled for tomorrow, followed 
by the Narn, the Centauri, and then the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. 
Odds are, probably the Vorlon and the Shadows at some point, unless you 
or Tok'Ra wish to handle those yourselves. Last will be Babylon 5. So 
maybe week at the earliest before we meet with Sheridan and his people. 
Possibly as long as two weeks. Will that be enough time?"

"Two weeks will be good, Mulder. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I'm certain 
that the fair Major Scully will be eager to see you. Go on, get out of 
here. Relax for awhile before your meeting tomorrow."

"Anything you say, Mr. President."

Marius went back over Major Carter's plan and saw that she had thought 
ahead in the matter of secrecy. The first thing they would construct 
would be an enclosure, to prevent curious eyes from observing the 
construction process. All in all, things were going quite well, as far as 
he was concerned.

                         *******************

Epsilon Three
Chamber of the Great Machine

After his visit with Lorien, Tok'Ra had traveled the stars, observing 
what had become of the many races the Ancient's had once taken an 
interest in. To his dismay, a number of them had gone the way of the Dodo 
bird, that is, they had become extinct. The Xon on the world called 
Centauri Prime had once held their interest but they were no more. 
Neither were the Dilgar. Or the Ikarrans. All had tremendous potential to 
become guardians for the younger races. But none had survived. Tok'Ra 
wondered if that were a good thing or not. He went to Orion VII to see a 
Flamebird as he had seen them once many centuries previously, but found 
none. So many things change with the passage of time, but he had not. 

His journey brought him back towards the Halsey when he felt the calling 
in his Quickening. He flew onwards to the third planet in this system and 
down into the depths of the world. Here he found a great chamber filled 
with vast amounts of machinery. Machines that he did not recognize. The 
thought of this piqued his curiosity and he was drawn further into the 
machinery until he came upon a chamber where he guessed the Heart of the 
Machine lay. Within the Heart he saw a Minbari. This startled him to no 
end, so much so that he momentarily phased into normal view. The Minbari 
within the Great Machine awoke and spoke.

"I believe the Vorlons are known for asking 'Who are you', but I believe 
my question shall be, what are you?"

"I am Tok'Ra. I am of the race you may know as the Ancients."

"The Great Machine knows you and therefore I, too, know you. You are of, 
what the creators of the Machine called, the First Teachers. The ones who 
came long ago to this universe to teach and to guide. The creators of the 
Machine learned much from your kind. They used their knowledge to create 
the Machine."

"Why did they create the Machine?"

"The creators of the Machine, they knew what you would do with the 
Shadows and the Vorlons. They had the gift of knowing the future and they 
built the Machine to serve as a counter-point to what they saw would 
become of the Vorlons and the Shadows. They did was what necessary to 
shape the outcome. But time is far from linear. It is always in motion, 
and to make a small change at one point can create ripples in the time 
stream that will have effects; long-lasting effects in the present, the 
past, and the future."

"An effect of some event tomorrow has an effect on yesterday? How is that 
possible?"

"Time, is not linear. It is a circle. Where you start on your journey is 
also where you end your journey. Though the players may be different, the 
circle remains. A thousand years ago, the Vorlons united some of the 
younger races and together, they fought the Shadows. Such was also the 
case a thousand years before that, and a thousand years before that as 
well. In each instance, the Shadows came, with their allies, to destroy 
the Vorlons and their allies. In each case, they were driven back to 
their world of origin,  Z'ha'dum. And yet each thousand years, they 
return, stronger than before. The Circle of time repeats itself. And now, 
the first circle has been completed. The First Teachers have returned to 
this place, as was foretold millennia ago."

"Does everyone in this place speak in terms of prophecies?"

"It is a shortcoming perhaps. But it serves to remind the younger races 
of what is to come. It would not be wise to tell those alive today of the 
events of tomorrow. Instead, through the influence of the Machine, the 
future is told in prophecy. This is how it has always been."

"Minbari, you are even more cryptic than the Vorlons."

"Perhaps I am Ancient One. But you have far to go in your journey yet. 
And though you may wish to do so, you will not pass beyond the rim. There 
is still One among you, that you must guide. You consider him a child, 
but he will be more than that. To the rest of your kind, those that have 
passed beyond, he will be the newness that you sought in your experiments 
so long ago. But, I have said enough for now. When the time comes, I will 
protect those aboard Babylon 5, as is my duty. And you, Ancient One, must 
do what you can to help young Marius to complete the new ships he now 
creates for Sheridan."

Draal had finished his long prepared speech and stepped back into the 
Heart of the Machine. There to watch over the universe and all its 
permutations of time and space. Tok'Ra, on the other hand, could do 
naught but stare at the Minbari and the warning he perceived in his 
diatribe. Perhaps it was not so much a warning as a blessing? It was 
impossible for him to decide. In all his travels and all his years in the 
universe, no, in the multi-verse, he had never come across one such as 
Draal and the Machine. It must be a tremendous responsibility, this 
watching over time and the multi-verse. Perhaps Lorien had been correct 
in his assessment. Perhaps the ones who created the Machine had been the 
Chosen of the Progenitors? He did not speculate further. 

Tok'Ra rose up from the planet and looked long into the realm of 
hyperspace. He could see, several light years from this place, six 
fleets. Six fleets that would soon converge on the space around the 
station. Six fleets that he hoped and prayed would not open fire on each 
other. As he floated into view of the station, he saw the enclosed space 
dock where the Tau'ri were busily constructing two of their 
battlecruisers. He perceived the design changes, those meant for 
Sheridan, those meant to house fighters of this universe. So he helped 
the project along some. With a slight manipulation of energies, vast 
sections of the ship came together. It startled the crews working on the 
ships, but one of them saw Tok'Ra hovering at the entrance to the 
enclosure and radioed the others to move out of the way. 

Panel by panel and deck by deck, the two ships took form. And when he was 
done, the ships were complete save for their innards. The engines were 
not there, nor were weapons or fighters, but Tok'Ra felt that he had done 
enough. The fleets in space were still a few days away. If the Tau'ri 
worked all of their shifts at the same time, they would finish the two 
carriers in time. Time. Though he existed outside its influence, not 
really aging, he was still keenly aware of its passage. Now he feared 
that there would not be enough time. Not enough time to do what was 
necessary. 

                         *******************

Admiral's Office
AIS Halsey
1430 hrs

"How did it go, Mulder?"

"Quite well actually. Things went along faster than we expected and we 
have concluded negotiations with the Minbari and with the Narn. From the 
Minbari, we will receive design specifications for their weaponry and 
stealth technology, along with their gravitic drive systems and their 
hull armor technology. In return, we have given them one set of working 
gates and a pair of DHDs from storage, along with the designs to build 
more and the designs for the ship gates. We gave them, also, one naquadah 
generator for them to experiment on, and the plans to build more. As a 
bonus, though it was something that we also wanted, they gave us their 
holographic technology and to you sir, they gave a warrior's fighting 
pike."

"That's mighty generous of them."

"There was one other thing they offered, but I had to turn them down. 
They offered to loan us two of their White Star cruisers, complete with 
crews, but as I had no idea how we could get the crews back to this 
place, I had to turn them down."

"Contact their Ambassador, and ask if the offer still stands. If it does, 
accept it. We have a way to return the crews, but not the ships. Ask 
Ambassador Delenn, if she would join me in my quarters later this evening 
so that I may explain to her just how we will return those crews. Ask 
her, to invite Lyta Alexander, as this will concern her as well."

"I'll see to it immediately. As for the Narn, sir. We gave them the same 
items. They, in return, gave us two dozen working energy mines and the 
plans to build more. They also gave us some captured Centauri weapons, 
like their main battle laser cannons. Though these we did not ask for, 
they gave us in any case. As Citizen G'Kar put it, 'you have given us so 
much and have asked for so little, that my government has authorized a 
few gifts.' After that he added the particle beam weapons plans that they 
use on their fighters. It appears to be the same type the Centauri use."

"Very well. What's next, Mulder?"

"The Centauri in the morning. Followed by the League Ambassadors. The 
League has chosen a Drazi, a Brakiri, and a Vree to represent their 
interests. Whatever comes out of the meeting, I will see to it that all 
of the other Ambassadors receive the same information, lest the 
'official' representatives hold anything back for themselves."

"Very well. Get some sleep Mulder. Please tell Ambassador Delenn, that I 
will be in my quarters on the station after nineteen hundred."

"I will, sir."

                         *******************

Shortly after Fox Mulder left the Admiral's office, Major Carter appeared 
to give her progress reports.

"Sir."

"At ease, Major. Your report, please?"

"Sir. A short wile ago, Tok'Ra appeared in the construction dock. I'm not 
sure how he did what he did, but save for engines, offensive and 
defensive systems and fighters, the pair of battlecruisers are nearly 
complete. The full hulls are in place complete with all interior decks 
and rooms. All we have to do now is place the engines and the defensive 
and offensive systems. I've contacted the Forge chiefs, and told them to 
start building those systems. We expect to have the first engines in 
place by twenty-two hundred this evening. After the engines are in place, 
we'll lay in the reactor systems and all of the other minor internal 
systems. Hopefully by noon tomorrow, when the Forge chiefs are through 
building the offensive weapons and with the fighters, we'll be able to 
install those final systems. Without Tok'Ra's help, we'd still be laying 
keels, sir. He's taken a good month off the construction time. It just 
makes me wonder if he knows something we don't."

"God, I hope not Major. I'm getting kinda tired of his surprises."

"Me too, sir."

"You realize, Major, that when all this is over, when we get back to 
where we are supposed to be, that I'll go back to being a Major the same 
as you? So, at least in private, cut the 'sir' please?"

"Yes of course, Mr. President."

"Hmmm, maybe I prefer Admiral to that. Actually, all I want is to take a 
small ship and see the galaxy for awhile. I didn't want to become Admiral 
anymore than I wanted to become President. I was quite content, Major, in 
my lab with my experiments. That is, until a certain Air Force Major and 
Colonel showed up in my office, where with Presidential authority, you 
got to see my work. I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have insisted 
on a flying post rather than a research post. Maybe if I had taken that 
route, I'd still be blissfully unaware of all that has happened."

"Knowing you, Marco, you'd probably have been chosen for the 1st SFW. 
You'd probably still be involved with the fight. I looked up your flying 
records from the first two world wars. With records like those, you would 
have been a cinch to get into that wing. And of course, you'd still be 
involved in the Game."

"Too true, Major. Perhaps then, it was a good thing you and the Colonel 
came into my life. In any case, do keep me apprised of the construction 
situation. I have the distinct feeling that Tok'Ra wanted those two ships 
ready a lot earlier for a reason. A reason that has me scared with the 
unknown."

"I will, Marco. If that's all, sir, I need to get back to my teams."

"That will be all Major. Dismissed."

                         *******************

Babylon 5
Green Sector
1930 hrs

Marco had thought long and hard during the afternoon after Mulder's 
report. What he was about to give Ambassador Delenn could be used for 
good or ill, but he hoped that in her capable hands, she would use it for 
good. The quantum mirror is what the Ancients created so long ago as a 
way to move through the barriers between dimensions. In this case, the 
mirror was locked in one destination, the Immortal colony on Luna. He had 
a few of these mirrors, in a special vault in his quarters, a gift from 
Tok'Ra who told him he might have need of them. Certainly he could see 
the need now, or was it some unknown desire causing him to give this out? 
He had learned long ago to go with his first guess in a situation. To 
second guess himself invited trouble he did not need. He looked to his 
watch and noted the time just as Kyra announced the arrival of Ambassador 
Delenn and Lyta Alexander.

"Ambassador, Ms. Alexander. Please come in. Have a seat. May I get you 
anything to drink? Tea perhaps?"

"Tea would be nice, thank you."

"Anything for you Ms. Alexander?"

"No thanks."

Marius busied himself preparing tea for himself and the Ambassador while 
pondering just how he was going to bring up this particular subject.

"Now then, I'm fairly certain you two are wondering why I have asked you 
over this evening. The first bit of business we must discuss involves you 
Ambassador, directly, and you, Ms. Alexander, indirectly. Major Mulder 
told me you offered us two of your White Star cruisers complete with 
crews, if we had a method of returning those crews, yes?"

"That was the offer I made. Do you have a way of returning those crews?"

"I do. Or rather, the Ancients do. Long ago, when the Ancients were 
beginning to explore the universe, they came upon a very real problem; 
their ships were slow and the universe was vast. So like any space 
fairing civilization, they set out to solve those problems. But instead 
of looking in only one possible direction, they examined three possible 
technologies. One of those technologies that resulted from their 
experiments was the Star Gate system, which, I believe, Major Mulder and 
his staff traded to you earlier this day. The second successful 
technology was the hyper drive system we use in all of our ships. It is 
similar in concept to your hyper space technology, except that we don't 
actually cross a dimensional barrier to enter hyperspace. Our engine 
technology works by creating a hole into subspace to circumvent the 
longer distances in normal space.

The final technology resulted in something like this mirror here. When 
activated, the mirror opens a gateway between realities. A normal quantum 
mirror has a number of controls that allows the potential traveler to 
examine a number of different realities prior to entering the gateway. 
This mirror, however, only goes to one other reality, and that is my home 
reality. I will leave this in you safe keeping Delenn of Mir, so that 
when the time comes, your crews may be returned to you safely. 

Now then, Ms. Alexander. The reason for your presence here. I am aware 
that telepaths were created by Vorlon manipulation of your genetic 
material. That you were created as a weapon in the upcoming fight against 
the Shadows. But what will you do when the fight is done? I have seen, 
with my own eyes, the distrust of others when seeing a telepath. Now, it 
may be true that not all telepaths, or teeps, as I believe you term them, 
are distrusted. But it seems to me that the distrust works both ways. 
Telepaths no more trust mundanes than normals trust telepaths. So here is 
an option for you, should the need arise. Go to Delenn, and ask her to 
use the mirror. 

You see, the mirror works both ways. Touching it here will 
instantaneously transport you to the Immortal colony on Luna in my 
reality. Touching the correct mirror there, will bring you here. There 
is, however, a major catch to this. If there exists a duplicate of you in 
your intended dimension, the two beings will begin to experience what we 
call entropic cascade failure. Two identical beings can not exist in the 
same reality at the same time. I do not believe the Minbari crews will 
experience this as we have no Minbari in my home reality. But you, Ms. 
Alexander, and any other telepaths that so desire, may travel to my 
reality. If you experience no systems of cascade failure after ninety-six 
hours, then you will be given provisional permission to stay on Luna. 
After a period of six weeks, the Immortal Council will meet to discuss 
your arrival and at that time will decide whether to grant citizenship of 
Luna. Understand this, in my reality there are no telepaths, or at least 
none of your strength. 

The Tau'ri are only now beginning to explore the wonders of the human 
mind. But as to the Immortal mind, we know almost nothing. As you have 
seen for yourself, it is next to impossible to read an Immortal's 
thoughts or sense their emotions, unless of course, we allow you to do 
so. But you personally, may or may not decide to go. That is entirely up 
to you. I am merely giving you the option of doing so."

                         *******************

Babylon 5
Command and Control
Three days later

Marius was in Command and Control to present a gift to Captain Sheridan 
and the forces of his resistance movement. Marius was certain that 
Sheridan suspected what the gift might be, but he was unsure if Sheridan 
knew or realized its full import. So now the two of them stood in front 
of the window looking on into space in front of the massive station known 
as Babylon 5.

"Captain, your friendly neighborhood Vorlon, Kosh, mentioned something to 
me once. And it took some time for what he said to become clear in my 
mind, but it did, eventually. I will say this, Vorlons are nothing if not 
obscure in their speech. It may be clear to them and it may serve their 
purpose to be vague to the younger races, but I find it easier to speak 
plainly. So let us speak plainly. In the past few minutes, two of three 
gifts have been delivered; one to your official office, and one to your 
residence. Kosh mentioned to me your fondness for oranges and the smell 
of orange blossoms. To this end, on behalf of myself and the crew of the 
Halsey, we have given to you two pairs of dwarf orange trees.

The remaining gift, is about to appear."

Marius spoke into the radio secured to his vest at about the level of his 
left shoulder. Seconds later he pointed to Sheridan and bade him look at 
the dock enclosure floating in front of and to one side of Babylon 5. As 
he stared at it, he saw the 'front' doors cycle open and the protective 
shields of the dock drop. A vessel began to come out of it, but when he 
looked more closely, this time on the view screen, he saw that it was in 
fact two vessels. These were of the smaller battlecruiser class of ship 
used by the AIS.

"Captain Sheridan, on behalf of the Alliance of Independent Systems, I 
present to you two vessels of the Prometheus class for your use. There 
have been some minor modifications made to these two ships. First and 
foremost, we have included the same type of weaponry found in the White 
Star class vessels. Secondly, the hangar bays have been reconfigured to 
support your shuttles and fighters instead of our shuttles and fighters. 
The ships utilize our form of supraluminal travel; the Hyperdrive. There 
is one sarcophagus aboard each ship and five stasis chambers as well. 
These technologies we have already given to you if only in the form of 
design specifications. 

Lastly, and this is for your ears only. If you choose to share this 
information, well, it will be entirely up to you. Both ships have been 
equipped with force shields, and each ship has a smaller version of the 
Halsey's forge deck, so at the very least you will be able to make more 
fighters and effect emergency repairs without the need for docks or 
stations. Additionally, the Prometheus class battlecruisers are 
atmospheric capable. That is, the ship can safely enter an atmosphere and 
land on a planet. Major Carter, who headed the engineering and 
construction teams, reported one extra that she included in the 
construction process. A partial-bay that will allow a White Star to dock 
with the carrier. The size of your White Stars is such that they are too 
big to dock with the carrier. So she has made something that resembles a 
mold, for lack of a better term, where a single White Star can dock into 
and transfers can be made more easily. The smaller White Star has to be 
docked in what is essentially an upside down position to facilitate a 
transfer point between the carrier and the White Star."

"Captain! Hyper space sensors indicate a large fleet preparing to enter 
Babylon 5 space!"

Lieutenant Corwin had no more finished uttering these words when a fleet 
of  Earth Force destroyers jumped into Babylon 5 space. A large fleet. 
But before anyone could utter another word, a second fleet jumped into B5 
space; a Centauri fleet. For an instant that felt like an eternity to all 
concerned, no one did anything. Then both fleets began launching 
fighters. Then, it was as if all hell had broken loose on B5.

"Mr. Corwin! Launch all fighters and have them hold near the station!"

"Yes Captain!"

"Well, Sheridan, it looks like this could be a bad situation for us all. 
We will, of course, do everything in our power to save B5."

"I think we're going to need a miracle."

"I think, Captain Sheridan, that miracles need to be our stock in trade 
this day."

As Marius finished his comments two more fleets jumped into B5 space. 

"Shit. I think I spoke too soon. Marius to Halsey!"

"Halsey here. O'Neill speaking, Marius. You see what we see?"

"Affirmative Colonel. How many of our crew are on the station?"

"Major Mulder and his team, yourself and your guards, and four hundred 
others on shore leave."

"Initiate recall for all personnel. Colonel, Jack, I think we should use 
the Asgard protocols for this one."

"Ya think? Ok. Stand ready."

"Admiral? What is the Asgard protocols you mentioned?"

"You'll see them in action in a bit here Sheridan."

And so saying, Marius felt himself ensconced in an Asgard transporter 
beam. A split second later he was standing on the bridge of the Halsey. 
Sheridan and the crew who had been a moment before looking at Admiral 
Ramos were shocked by the appearance of the white beam that surrounded 
the Admiral and whisked him away to someplace. It was something they had 
never imagined possible. Teleportation. In their wildest dreams, they had 
never imagined this. It was something the people from the Halsey had 
taken great care not to show to the inhabitants of this universe. But 
with fleets from Earth Force, the Centauri, the Vorlons, and the Shadows 
in B5 space, it was necessary.

                         *******************

AIS Halsey
Bridge

"Sensor officer, report!"

"Sir. Earth force vessels first. Twelve of their Omega class destroyers, 
six Hyperion class heavy cruisers, six Nova class dreadnoughts, and ten 
Olympus class corvettes. For the Centauri fleet, there are fifteen Primus 
class battle cruisers and twelve Vorchan class warships. There are 
approximately thirty-eight Vorlon vessels of various types and 
classifications unknown to us, and fifty-five Shadow vessels, also of 
various types and configurations. Both the Earth Force vessels and the 
Centauri ships have launched fighters, but they are holding near their 
respective ships. B5 has launched all of her fighters and those are 
holding near the station."

"All right people. Let's do this one by the numbers. Mr. Jameson, sound 
general quarters. Colonel O'Neill, might I suggest you get to the launch 
bays? I'm going to need a level head controlling the squadrons."

"On my way."

"Sir. Emergency beam-outs are completed. All personnel now back aboard 
the Halsey."

"Weps, shields to full and charge all weapons. Sensors, give me as much 
detailed information on those ships as possible. Find their weak spots 
and feed that to weps."

"Aye sir."

"Affirmative. Shields at full. All weapons charged and standing by."

"Flight bay reports ready to launch at will."

"Launch all squadrons, but keep them close to the Halsey. No one is to 
fire unless so ordered by either the Bridge or the wing commanders."

"Attention carrier vessel Halsey. This is General Lefcourt of Earth. You 
are ordered to stand to and prepare to be boarded. You have five minutes 
to comply."

"Attention vessel Halsey. I am Lord General Marrago of the Centauri 
fleet. You are ordered to stand down and prepare to be boarded. You have 
five minutes to comply."

Both messages were received simultaneously. And the response was just as 
quick, though it did not come from the Halsey.

"Human and Centauri ships. The Halsey is under our protection. Any 
attempt to board her will result in your complete and utter destruction."

"Where did that come from?"

"I believe it was the Vorlons, Admiral."

"And what are the Shadows doing?"

"Unknown sir."

"Centauri and Human vessels. The Ancient is under our protection. Do not 
harm the Ancient."

"I guess that answers my question. Comms, open a channel to all vessels 
and to the station."

"Channel open sir."

"Attention. This is Admiral Ramos aboard the AIS Halsey. For the moment, 
we have a stand off. The Halsey would be hard pressed to defend itself 
against thirty-four Earth Force ships. The same is true for the twenty-
seven Centauri vessels. But I have a feeling that even both of your 
fleets combined would not stand a chance against either the Vorlon fleet 
or the Shadow fleet. And possibly for the first time in the history of 
this universe, both the Vorlons and the Shadows are acting as allies in 
the defense of the Halsey. I propose the following. A representative from 
each fleet present to meet with the Ancient aboard Babylon 5. If this 
agreeable, then please signal your intent."

For several tense moments, no one spoke. General Lefcourt, aboard the EAS 
Midway, had never in his military career been faced with such a 
situation. Yes, he had fought in the Earth-Minbari war and before that in 
the Dilgar war. But on those occasions, the Centauri had not been an 
enemy. Had it just been his vessels against the Halsey, he was sure that 
Earth Force would win. But it wasn't just his force against the Halsey. 
In the span of the last few minutes, that plan had gone completely and 
utterly to hell. Oh well, he thought and remembered, no plan survives 
contact. It was one of the many unofficial rules of combat that were just 
as true now as they were when first written centuries before. 
Attributable to some grunt named Murphy as he recalled. He signaled to 
the Halsey his agreement of the meeting and a moment later he screamed as 
the Asgard transporter beam grabbed him and brought him to the station.

For his own part, Lord General Marrago had faced countless enemies and 
lived to tell the tale. He had thought it would be a simple thing; to 
take this ship and steal its secrets. But his fleet had jumped in a few 
tens of seconds behind an Earth fleet. They did not know, of course, of 
the presence of the Earth fleet. Seeing so many of the Earther's vessels 
in B5 space had, for a moment after they jumped in, startled him to his 
very core. But now, with both Vorlons and Shadows there to protect what 
they called the Ancient, he knew in both of his hearts that he could not 
win. So he would agree to this meeting. A few seconds after he sent his 
agreement to the meeting, he felt the Asgard beam grab him and he felt 
something he had not experienced since he was a child on the home world; 
fear and awe.

The Vorlons and Shadows were quick to agree to the meeting and they 
shortly found themselves in the grip of the Asgard transporter beam. A 
second later and they stood in the Council chambers within Babylon 5. 

Marius walked into the Council chambers with Sheridan, Delenn, Mollari, 
and G'Kar in tow. The Immortal Strike team was now standing guard in the 
corridors leading to the Council chamber. No one would interfere with 
this meeting.

"General Lefcourt. Lord General Marrago. I am Admiral, no, I will give 
you my true name. I am Gaius Marius, President of the Immortal Council 
and child of the Ancients. And while it may be a boon to your 
sensibilities to deal with me, this particular meeting is not about us, 
at least not entirely. We have in this room, representatives of the major 
players in this universe: the Centauri, the Humans, the Narn, and the 
Minbari. Of course, we also have the Shadows and the Vorlons. I would 
think, that everyone else in this room is considering this a once in a 
lifetime sort of event, to be in the room not only with a Shadow, but 
also with a Vorlon. And not just any Shadow or Vorlon. We have here with 
us the two rulers of those empires, and their appointed designates aboard 
the station. But as I already said, this meeting is not about the younger 
races, it is about the elder races and for that I have to turn over this 
meeting, for now, to Tok'Ra. For while I am a child of the Ancients, 
Tok'Ra is an Ancient."

"My thanks to you Marius. I can not recall ever being introduced in such 
a manner."

Lord General Marrago and General Lefcourt, had not previously been 
informed of the existence of the Ancients or their children. So the 
pronouncement by the man, this Gaius Marius, meant nothing to them, 
though the name did tweak a memory within General Lefcourt. And so when 
Tok'Ra appeared within the room, as a golden fog of a cloud, semi 
transparent and semi opaque, with particles of denser looking matter in 
eccentric orbits, well, it would be safe to say that both men considered 
themselves to be way in over their heads.

"Vorlon and Shadow. Shadow and Vorlon. You have come a long way since my 
people were last here. Has it been so long for you that you no longer 
remember what it is to be considered a younger race? In your time, when 
your races were young, there were the First Ones to follow, and there 
were us, the Ancients, the First Teachers, to learn from. But, it seems 
as though our methodology was in error, for you have greatly disappointed 
us, and that is something that we must strive to correct.

And if we had a few thousand years, we would do so, but that will not 
come to pass. I am of the race you called the Ancients. When the others 
of my kind were here among you, they saw in you great potential. 
Potential to lead the younger races who would follow you. Perhaps you 
would help them avoid the mistakes you made? But that is not important.

Over the course of centuries, my kind gradually left this place. In terms 
you would understand, they passed beyond the rim, which is a highly 
euphemistic way of saying that they evolved. I remained, as did one 
other. To finish what we started so long ago. But I did not remain here. 
I returned with the others to our home, and you, dear Vorlon, you chose 
to try and follow. Though we made sure that the technology for crossing 
the dimensional barrier was inactive, you chose to take it and study it. 
And what did your studies yield? Tell me Vorlon? Did you close the breach 
before you unleashed unto this universe a terror heretofore unseen? Don't 
bother answering as the question was rhetorical in nature.

And when all was said and done and the Ancients had left his place, you 
Vorlons, and you Shadows, came to our outpost world. You went there with 
the full intent of trying to stop us from leaving, but you were too late. 
Vorlon, you saw the device we used to cross the dimensional barrier and 
you took that, along with two other technologies. Technologies, I might 
add, that your Shadow counterparts also took from our outpost world. 
Technologies that we created to terraform worlds, you bastardized and 
corrupted into weapons. So, while I could ask you to return those 
weapons, I highly doubt that you will."

Tok'Ra paused for a moment, as if to catch his breath, and the Vorlon 
leader spoke; it's voice a pleasant sounding harmony of flutes and bells.

"Why did you leave us, so long ago? Perhaps it would have been different 
had you stayed."

"When we left, so long ago, you were already heading down that path that 
would divide your two races permanently. Already you were considering the 
philosophy that you would use to guide the younger races, that were just 
beginning to make their presence known. But as to why we left, that was a 
baser, more simplistic reason. In our home universe, we were in a war. A 
war, I might add, that wages to this day. We came  here, a quarter of a 
million years ago, and the next to the last of our kind left this place a 
mere fifteen thousand years ago. And even then we were fighting 
skirmishes with our enemy. And while you, as an elder race, gave your 
younger charges the option of advancement through introspection or 
advancement through strife and conquest, this other elder race in our 
home universe, saw all of the younger races as toys. They saw them as 
things to conquer and rule over, as objects to enslave. They certainly 
did not see them as equals. And they still do not see the Tau'ri as 
equals. The humanoids in our universe serve the enemy as foot soldiers in 
their armies, as slaves in their cities, as living incubators for more of 
their kind. Had they been able to travel to this place, I daresay, that 
both Vorlon and Shadow would have united to fight this enemy. For while 
you may be their elders, you do not seek to destroy them on a whim, nor 
do you seek to enslave them or force them to worship you, though that 
last part can be extensively debated, for I have seen the manipulations 
of their psyches to your benefit. They respond to you with either awe or 
fear, as you have conditioned them to respond, but, and I believe this 
sincerely, that is entirely different from treating them as slaves. For 
while they do look up to you in some degree, they also possess some 
extent of self direction. The Goa'uld of our universe do not allow this 
self-direction."

"First teacher, we would never believe ourselves to be so superior that 
we would make the younger ones worship us."

"I believe, for the first time, that I must agree with my Vorlon 
counterpart. We strove to do as your kind taught. We strove to guide the 
younger races to where they could take our place among the stars as we 
took over for the First Ones so long ago. We sought to guide and to 
teach, not to enslave and destroy."

"But there you failed Shadow. Yes, you did guide and yes you did teach. 
But you taught only your way of life, only your philosophy for 
advancement. And the Vorlons share this fault as they taught only their 
philosophy. But for any civilization to grow and mature into something 
that can be held up as an example to a younger race, there has to be 
compromise between the two divergent philosophies. Your races are 
powerful, but together, you could have been so much more to this place. 
Together, you could have been someone we, the Ancients, would have 
considered an equal. Apart, you are but one failure among so many of our 
failures."

The room was quiet for a time, perhaps two or three minutes, but it 
seemed like an eternity to those in the room, particularly those of the 
younger races. Never in their lives had they thought to speak to either a 
Vorlon or a Shadow in such a fashion. If the Vorlon encounter suit could 
show emotion, it would have flinched at the rebuke given by Tok'Ra. 
Sheridan could swear he did see the Shadow flinch when Tok'Ra called it a 
failure. He could almost imagine tears coming down the face of the 
Shadow. He had been on the receiving end of similar speeches when he was 
very young. This was the type of speech a father might give to his son. 
And when he looked at it closely, he guessed that's how Tok'Ra must be 
feeling, as a parent to the younger races, whether of this universe or 
not.

For her part, Delenn would have died of embarrassment for the way Tok'Ra 
spoke to the Vorlon High Chancellor, the leader of the Vorlon Empire. She 
cared not for the veiled and apparent insults leveled at the Shadow, as 
she had always considered the Shadows to be her enemy. But the Minbari 
had been around a long time, and had been associated with the Vorlons for 
most of that time, since at least the time of Valen, if not earlier. And 
so they, the Minbari, had learned over their close association to read 
the movements of the encounter suits. But even then, it was a risky 
thing, to presume to know the mind of a Vorlon. But just now she did 
presume to know, and that feeling was echoed by Draal, on the planet 
below, watching the events unfold on the station. Though no one could 
ever prove such in a court of law, the Vorlon had not only flinched, but 
he had nearly fainted from the sheer pain at the realization of what the 
being called Tok'Ra had just said.

G'Kar had always been a man of philosophy. Had he been born on Earth, 
odds are he would have been a new age Socrates or Plato. He was a 
philosopher to his very core, but that could have been a result of the 
Centauri occupation of his world. What else to do but sit and watch as so 
many of your fellow citizens are tortured or killed? What else to do but 
watch as your once bountiful forests are clear cut and their stumps 
destroyed? What else to do but watch as the mineral wealth of your world 
is strip-mined and the beautiful and life filled seas of your world are 
drained dry? What else indeed! He had joined the rebellion and they had 
eventually cast the Centauri off their world, but it was a stricken 
world. His experience had taught him many things, not the least of which 
was his outlook on life. He understood philosophy. But it is easy to 
philosophize when your race is among the most powerful, if not the most 
powerful, in the known universe. It is not easy, however, to learn how 
your fleet was destroyed by this supposedly all powerful race and to 
learn that your ancient enemy, that you have cast off your world, has 
come back, if only to enslave you once again. No, being in the presence 
of such greatness as was in this room; Sheridan and Delenn, the Vorlon 
leader and the Shadow leader, even the creature knows as Tok'Ra, such was 
enough to either drive one insane or drive one towards reflection. It was 
good that he was already driven towards reflection. 

Mollari, on the other hand, was not a man given to philosophizing, not 
unless he was drunk. But like any Centauri in recent history, he knew of 
the Vorlons. The fact that he, Londo Mollari, also personally knew of the 
Shadows was inconsequential. What mattered here was how Centauri Prime, 
and more importantly he, could benefit from all this angst thrown at both 
the Vorlons and the Shadows. The truth of the matter was simple. Tok'Ra, 
feeling his responsibilities of a parent, had returned to chastise his 
errant children. But when he left, to come back to where ever he claimed 
to be from, the two wayward children would go back to what they had been 
doing for millennia; guiding the younger races as they saw fit.

So while so many were having such divergent thoughts at the same time, 
the Vorlon and the Shadow were looking, first at one another, then at 
Tok'Ra, and then back and forth. Neither had been spoken to in such a 
fashion in much longer than they cared to admit. Before they could answer 
to the charges levied them by Tok'Ra, the being in question spoke again.

"I don't expect either of you to change your ways. That will come soon 
enough. And I don't expect either of you will cease to use the weapons 
that you claimed from us, however, I would like something in exchange for 
that which you have taken. Both of you took the same two technologies 
from us. I ask this, not on behalf of the Ancients, but on behalf of my 
Children and their protectorates. For you see, where we Ancients tried to 
adopt you and teach you our ways for dealing with younger races, we 
created life in our home universe and charge them with the protection and 
guidance of the younger races. And while your two races have been in what 
amounts to a Cold War for a thousand years, our younger races have been 
at war with or enslaved by the Goa'uld for at least ten thousand years. 
Frankly, they need every edge they can obtain if they are to rid my home 
galaxy of this scourge called the Goa'uld. So, without my telling you 
which technologies I wish to obtain, will you give them to me?"

"For the First Teacher, the Vorlons will give what is required."

"First Teacher, you honor us with your request. We will give what is 
necessary."

"Excellent! I venture to say that your organic ship technology is too far 
in advance of even my Children, but perhaps in a hundred thousand years, 
they may be ready for it. And if you decide to give that technology to 
me, I will hold it in trust for them until such time as I believe they 
are ready for it. But what will prove most useful to them is the armor 
your vessels use, particularly the self-healing abilities. And if you 
would be so kind as to each of you give your best beam weapon to my 
Children, then I will have to change my opinion of you. In coming 
together, for this task, to not only give the specifications and theory 
behind the weapons, but to install a pair of each weapon on the vessel 
Halsey, in coming together you will have reached the gestalt of our 
teachings. In working for a joint cause, perhaps not one of your own, but 
joint nonetheless, you will have finally taken those early teachings to 
heart, and you will have finally learned the ultimate lesson. So, what 
say you?"

"It will be done."

Both Vorlon and Shadow spoke at once. It was an occasion that, odds were, 
would not be repeated. At least not until the younger races stood up to 
their guides. But that was still in the future and for now, it was a 
different thing. Sheridan pulled Lefcourt aside and explained that 
Babylon 5 had negotiated for the technologies of the Ancients. He went on 
to state that Earth would receive those same technologies only after 
Clark was removed from office, but until such time as that happened, 
Lefcourt and his fellow Clark supporters could expect to see small but 
heavily armed ships holding the line against the dark. Mollari had sought 
out Marrago and had informed him of the successful negotiations that had 
secured several of the Ancients' technologies. That was an unknown fact 
to the Emperor and both saw that as a way to get around the Emperor's 
decree. Neither of the men had any desire to be executed by the Emperor, 
a man which they both believed to be quite insane.

                         *******************

A day later, both the EAS fleet and the Centauri fleet had left B5 space 
to return to their home space. Lefcourt had many things on his mind, not 
the least of which was a different perspective of President Clark. 
Marrago had in his hands one of the technologies that the Centauri 
Ambassador had bargained for. The rest would be presented to the 
Centaurum and to the Emperor just as soon as Mollari had tied up some 
loose ends on the station. Even the Narn, dreadful creatures that they 
were, had acted magnanimously toward him, though he guessed he deserved 
no such feelings. The fact that they too were possessed of the same 
technologies of the Ancients that all of the other major younger races 
now held custody of never entered his mind. 

The Vorlon and Shadow fleets had withdrawn as well, leaving three of each 
fleet behind, one vehicle housing their respective leadership, one escort 
vehicle, and one construction vehicle. The latter craft were responsible 
for constructing the pair of large beam weapons that they had agreed to 
give to the Halsey. It would be up to Major Carter and her engineering 
teams to figure out the appropriate interfaces and power systems. For 
now, and until such time as those interfaces and power systems were 
completed, the beam weapons were strapped and welded to the fore part of 
the Halsey's structure, just forward of what was considered the main 
bridge though in truth, Halsey had several bridge decks. 

A week past before the weapons were completed and then it came time to 
say their good-byes and farewells, though in retrospect, Marius had 
already done so. He had given the two Prometheus class battlecruisers to 
Sheridan in the hopes that he would assign one to Ivanova. Marius was 
aware that she had been tasked with finding the remaining First Ones for 
their upcoming fight and he was also aware that the power systems aboard 
the Prometheus were of an Ancient design. That is to say, the signature 
of the energy patterns emanated by the drive systems would cry out to any 
First One and convince them that this younger race should at the very 
least be listened to. Marius had left an eyes only coded message for 
Sheridan and Ivanova aboard the ships. What did those messages include? 
Simple really. The two battlecruisers, except for the fact they had 
Minbari weapons as their primary offensive batteries, were exact copies 
of their AIS counterparts. The same long and mid range torpedo and 
missile tubes were installed. The same gravimetric drives were installed. 
The same ring transport systems were installed. Each ship's medical bay 
had one sarcophagus and five stasis tubes. Marius had already briefed 
Sheridan on the other modifications, such as the inclusion of the force 
fields on these two ships. The last thing the message stated was the 
location of two additional dimensional mirrors, one on each ship, in an 
unused storage closet. The mirror should be used as a last resort escape 
device and it was tied directly to the ship. Should the ship be damaged 
and abandoned or damaged and captured, the mirror would self-destruct. It 
was a device of last resort, the ultimate escape pod.

"Halsey to Babylon 5. How copy over?"

"Reading you just fine. Traffic has been cleared for your requested 
departure point. There is an ancient Egyptian saying on my Earth, Halsey. 
'May God stand between you and evil in all the dark places you must 
walk.'"

"We have a similar phrase on our Earth. The only difference is in the 
first two words. Our phrase begins 'May the Gods.' Such a small 
difference between our universes. Ral tora ke, Captain Sheridan. Tak mal 
arik tiak."

The communication from the Halsey was cut and Sheridan looked at Ivanova 
each wondering what the final phrase had meant. But now they looked out 
at the Halsey as the massive ship styled and began to move away from the 
station. The earlier Vorlon and Shadow escorts had left the previous day 
and now with their work done for the moment, the Halsey too, was leaving. 
Sensors indicated the ship moving at better than eight-tenths that of 
light speed. Such an amazing drive system to move something that massive 
so easily. They watched now, from their long range ships, as the Halsey 
opened a wormhole and an instant later disappeared into it. They stared 
for several moments at the screen, thinking that perhaps they would 
return. To have such a ship at their side when they went to fight the 
Shadows would be a good thing. But that was not to be. Sheridan looked up 
from his musings to see Kosh standing beside him.

"Ambassador?"

"Ral tora ke, First Teacher. Tak mal arik tiak."

"What does that mean and in what language?"

"Ral tora ke. Good luck. Tak mal arik tiak. You will not be forgotten. It 
is the language of the enemy of the Ancients. The ancient circle is 
complete. What once was now has been. The new circle has been restored. 
All is as it should be once again."

The Vorlon walked off, leaving a much confused Sheridan and Ivanova in 
his wake.

"It looks like things are back to normal, Captain. Or at least, the 
Vorlon Ambassador is back to talking in riddles."

"Commander, as long as I live, I doubt I will ever understand the 
Vorlons."

                         *******************

Elsewhere on the station

"So is everything ok now?"

Squeaks and chitters. And something that sounds oddly like a wail.

"The First Teacher has left. Your prophecy has been fulfilled and it's 
back to business once again, right?"

This time there were no answering squeaks or chitters. This time, the 
Shadow Triad revealed itself and spoke plainly to Mr. Morden.

"Yes."

                         *******************

AIS Halsey

"Mr. Jameson, sensor report if you please."

"Sir, no traffic within ten light years of our target departure point. 
All systems show green across the board."

"Thank you Mr. Jameson. Engineering, are you ready?"

"Ready sir. Full power available as you need it."

"Very well then. Let's get this show on the road. Power up the 
dimensional projectors."

Those on the bridge looked out to the stars as the fore mounted 
dimensional projectors fired a stream of charged particles at the fabric 
of space opening what looked like a wormhole to those that had heard of 
one, but unlike a wormhole to those that knew what one should look like. 
Instead of the silvery watery surface of a standard wormhole, this one 
appeared red and angry, like a maelstrom out of the deepest and darkest 
pits of Hell. Then the ship entered it and all became white. 

They emerged into a field of nothingness. There was nothing in sight. No 
stars. No planets. No dust. Nothing.

"Sensors?"

"Nothing sir. Not a damned thing."

"Uhm, Tok'Ra?"

"Yes Marius. I have done this. There exists in the many dimensions 
something that you can refer to as 'null space'. It is a pocket dimension 
between dimensions, a sort of dimensional rest stop, as it were. Here, 
time has no meaning. By your measure, it will seem as though time has 
stood still. You can spend as much time here as you need, to integrate 
the Vorlon and Shadow weapons. You will need them where you are going. I 
suggest you also integrate the Minbari organo-metallic hull plating. It 
will give you an advantage where you are going. You have all the time 
world here. I said once before that the projectors have the power to open 
the dimensional barriers a total of eight times. This will allow you to 
rest between the most trying of missions and will allow you to integrate 
any new technologies you acquire into the Halsey."

                         *******************

Days passed becoming weeks. The Forge decks were busily churning out new 
hull plating for the Halsey, this based on the Minbari organo-metallic 
hulls used on their ships. The hulls had the ability to 'learn', that is 
if it took damage from a particular type of weapon, then after it 
repaired itself it would 'know' how to avoid more of the same type of 
damage. 

Major Carter learned that the power requirements for the Vorlon and 
Shadow beam weapons were beyond enormous and so she guessed that tying 
them into the ship's systems would be a bad thing. So she and her team 
designed a new generator deck and basically remodeled several sections of 
deck near where the weapons had been strapped and welded to the hull. 
Rather than make one large generator to power the four beam weapons, the 
engineering teams created one generator for each weapon and a pair of 
backup generators for each 'primary' generator. Her engineering teams 
designed and built the mounting brackets for the new beam weapons as 
well. Both the Vorlons and the Shadows had given to the Halsey one pair 
of their best beam weapons. Sheridan had called the Shadow weapon a 
Slicer beam and the Vorlon weapon a Grand Cannon. So Carter had decided 
that two new weapons stations would have to be built to specifically to 
control these weapons. 

As each weapon had its own power source, each one could be fired 
independently of the other. This meant for a new fire control system on 
the Bridge. Carter's engineering teams also designed and built a moveable 
mount for the beam weapons and the weapons could now be traversed across 
an arc of sixty degrees horizontally, and vertically of five degrees. And 
rather than join Slicer beam with Slicer beam, the team decided to pair 
Slicer beam with Grand cannon. It would make for a devastating one-two 
punch against any enemy.

It took the better part of three months, but in the end, all the time 
spent in null space had been worth it. Their stocks of naquadah and 
trinium had been depleted by a fourth and their supply of naquadria was 
down to half of what they had mined in the asteroid field near B5. But it 
had been worth it. The hull now sported new armored plating that was a 
last line of defense should the shields fail. Indeed the new armor 
plating was now evident on all of the battlecruisers as well as the 
majority of the fighter squadrons. It had been a long and arduous three 
months, but now, as Marius gave the order to proceed, he thought they 
were ready.

And before he could lift a finger, there was a flash of light on his 
Bridge and there suddenly stood a man before him. He appeared to be 
wearing some sort of red and black jumpsuit, possibly a uniform of some 
kind. 

"Should I even bother asking who you are?"

"That's not important young Ancient."

"Young Ancient? Isn't that an oxymoron?"

"And a sharp wit too! Oh you'll be much more fun than that dullard 
Picard. That man really has no sense of humor."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"I, mon Admiral, am Q."

"Q. Really? If you're Q, then where's M?"

"Ah, no, that would be the next dimension over."

"Ok, so you're Q and you have an odd sense of humor. Should I ask why 
you're here?"

"Very shortly you will be entering a region of space where there are 
several major powers. The United Federation of Planets. The Klingon 
Empire. The Romulan Empire. The Cardassian Union. The Dominion. There are 
others, but they are really of no consequence. Then there are the Borg."

"Borg? Sounds European."

"They are by no means, European. The Borg were once a humanoid race, but 
in their quest for perfection, their quest for evolution, they latched 
onto the idea that assimilation would make them better than what they 
were. Quite literally, they believe that the sum of the whole is greater 
than the sum of the individual parts. Their belief is in the Collective, 
and they are trying to create a perfect, master race."

"Sounds a bit like a mixture of Hitler and Stalin. The ideologies are 
nothing new to me, or to anyone on this ship for that matter. We will 
deal with it. Can you tell me what technology was stolen from the 
Ancient's outpost world?"

"They call it technology oh-one-seven-nine. They came upon the outpost 
world early in their explorations, and it has become the First World of 
the Collective. The device known as 0179 was recently unearthed from a 
cavern that had been flooded with molten rock at the time the Ancients 
left. They are making great strides towards deciphering this technology, 
but they have not as yet been successful. The tech? Oh yes, I didn't 
mention that did I? It is the cross dimensional mirror the Ancients used 
to come here so long ago. If the Borg are successful, they will spread 
across the many diverse universes and they will become an unstoppable 
plague. But they are also in possession of a technology they call oh-one-
seven-eight, and that is what you would call a Combat Gate. They are 
presently using the existing Gate network the Ancients laid down so long 
ago. They have built lower powered conduit openings, but the major hubs, 
or where several Gate pathways come together are left over from the time 
of the Ancients. I fear that they will eventually learn how to build 
their own hub control points and at that point, even the Q would be 
unable to stop them."

"Then we must stop them. And we must erase all knowledge of Tech-0179 and 
Tech-0178 from their collective consciousness. Tell me Q, you compared me 
to someone named Picard. Do I want to know about this Picard person?"

"Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the United Federation of Planets. The man has 
no sense of humor whatsoever. A real bore. The Federation has had a 
rather short but eventful history. Born out of the chaos that was this 
Earth's Third World War. They use teleportation tech like you drink 
water; that is to say, it's an accepted form of travel for them. I see 
that you have two forms of matter teleportation aboard your ship! 
Excellent! I think it will give them something to think about. Of course, 
the main thing for you to remember is that the Federation, for the most 
part, are somewhat arrogant. Once they establish that you are from 
another universe, they will try to assist you in your journey home. But 
they will not, ever, negotiate with you for their technology. They 
believe it better not to share their advanced tech with a 'lesser' race."

"Ya know, that sounds an awful lot like a certain Tollan I know. Any idea 
where we'll pop out?"

"I daresay, if Tok'Ra plans it correctly, you will 'pop-out' in the midst 
of a battle between the Federation and its allies and the Borg. The Borg 
have been trying, and failing, for a number of years to take Earth. With 
Earth in their firm control, the Federation would fall. But the one thing 
in your favor, Child of the Ancient, is that your Quickening will not 
allow you to be assimilated into the gestalt that is the Borg Collective. 
You are well prepared to face them in battle."

"Wait! One final question."

"Make it a quick one?"

"You mentioned the odds that we would appear in the midst of a battle 
between the Borg and the Federation and her allies. How can we assure the 
Federation and her allies that we mean them no harm?"

"Leave that to me."

And in a flash of light, the being called Q was gone. 

"Alright people, you heard the man. Odds are we'll be appearing in the 
middle of a battle zone, so let's do this by the numbers. Sensors, I'll 
want full scans just as soon as we're clear of the wormhole. Weps, I'll 
expect full shields and full charge to the weapons as soon as you're 
able. Engineering, full power as we need it. Medical bay, stand by for 
possible influx of casualties. Colonel O'Neill, as of right now, your new 
'flagship' is one of those two White Star heavy cruisers the Minbari gave 
to us. Teal'c will get the other one. Go down and get to know your crew, 
swap them out as necessary. Obviously I want you in a more protected ship 
in a firefight, and personally I can't think of a ship I'd rather take 
into battle than a White Star. It just sounds right, to me."

"Do I get to name it?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"How do you feel about the 'O'Neill'?"

"I can live with it. Go to your ship and start getting acquainted with 
it."

"Helm! Take us in to the vortex."


                         *******************
Elsewhere

There were a few very brief flashes of light and suddenly two people 
found themselves in some sort of pocket of space, surrounded by soothing 
warmth and pleasant sounds. The fact that both of them were in sleep 
wear, did not go unnoticed by either of them, or by their benefactor, Q.

"Q! I demand you return me to my quarters aboard the Enterprise at once!"

"Q, I had really thought you'd grow tired of wanting to see me in my 
sleep wear."

"Jean-Luc, Kathy. My two favorite Federation Captains. I'll make this 
brief as I'm sure you have far more pressing matters to attend to. 
Consider this a warning of things to come. The Borg are coming. In force. 
Sector zero-zero-one is where they will attack en masse. You have a few 
days to try and defend yourselves, but it may not be enough. Some friends 
of mine will appear. Try not to shoot at them. They really are on your 
side."

"How will we know who your so called friends are?"

"Ah, Jean-Luc, ever the doubter of my sincerity. I'll just say that the 
ship my comrades are on makes anything in the Federation look like a bath 
tub toy. That should be enough for you to not fire on them."

"Thank you Q."

"I wouldn't have warned you at all, but Q insisted that I warn his Aunt 
Kathy."

"Then thank young Q for me."

                         *******************

The Halsey emerged from the dimensional vortex just inside the orbit of 
Pluto and as soon as it had cleared the vortex, cloaking fields were 
switched on and the Halsey promptly phased out of normal space. This was 
a technology the Colonials had given them back when the first keel had 
been laid for the Immortal class Strike Carriers. The Quantum Shift 
Generator or QSG, phased a vessel slightly out of alignment with normal 
space. It allowed the vessel to be in effect invisible to the naked eye 
and to most sensors. 

"Sensors, report."

"Sir, we are just inside the orbit of Pluto. Long range sensors indicate 
a large mass of ships near Earth. Heavy weapons fire on long range 
scans."

"Good. Helm, plot a course into the system. Maintain cloaking status."

"Course plotted and laid in sir. Standing by to execute command."

"Stand by one. General Kassim?"

"Aye, Marius. I await your commands."

"I want you to pre-deploy your troopers to their Damage Control stations. 
Also, deploy one hundred troopers to each of the following areas: 
engineering, medical, bridge, weapons decks, flight bays. Station squads 
of troops through the rest of the ship at your discretion. For now, and 
until I or someone else in the chain of command relieves you, I want you 
and your command staff to report to the Intrusion Countermeasures Bridge. 
Take control there. Be prepared for hostile boarding actions. The enemy 
we are facing may teleport aboard with absolutely no notice. Our 
intelligence indicates that they are a highly adaptive cyber-organic 
species so your weapons may have a very limited effect on them, possibly 
only three or four shots each. Here's a typical image of our enemy. Pass 
that out to your troops and keep them on high alert. One more thing. May 
Allah keep you strong, my friend."

"As God wills, old friend."

"Helm, execute course change."

                         *******************

It didn't take long for the Halsey to traverse the distance to the inner 
system. The Helmsman had done an excellent job in creating the course and 
the bridge crew were treated to breath taking views of Jupiter and the 
Saturnine Rings and then there was the Asteroid Belt, and then they were 
in the inner system. Arrayed before them were so many different types of 
ships that is was nearly impossible to ascertain their number. They were 
pretty ships though. And they looked more like something one would expect 
in a cruise liner than in a warship. All of them did have what looked 
like openings for a hangar bay, but by the size of the openings, they 
guessed they were maybe for shuttles. Not for fighters.  For the moment, 
the Halsey would remain cloaked.

Aboard the Enterprise-E, Captain Jean-Luc Picard was busily trying to 
coordinate the Fleet into something that resembled less of a shambles 
than at present. Already a dozen small ships of the Oberth class had been 
destroyed, their hulls drifting in space. But they were not meant to 
fight off an enemy like the Borg. They had been designed as Science 
vessels, first and foremost and not as ships of war. When the Borg fleet 
arrived in Earth Space, Picard had sent them in first to probe the Borg 
vessels. They had fallen quickly. In previous encounters with the Borg, 
Starfleet had put up a large battle fleet against a single Borg cube. But 
this time, the Borg didn't send just one cube. Their new found method of 
travel, the Combat Gates liberated from a deserted world,  had enabled 
them to bring a large number of cubes to Earth Space. So while Jean-Luc 
Picard and the Federation might have only anticipated one cube or two at 
the most, the twelve that appeared were not expected. Nor were the Borg 
Queen's Diamond, or the Interceptors, and the four very large cubes that 
Starfleet was tentatively calling Tactical cubes as these had 
considerable more armor plating on them than the standard cube. 

In prior encounters that Borg had always announced their presence with 
what seemed to be a generic message about resistance being futile. This 
time, they had emerged from what the sensor officers were calling 
controlled wormholes and had promptly taken up position around the 
Queen's Diamond. Without so much as a 'by your leave' they had attacked 
en masse, obliterating the dozen smaller Oberth class science vessels 
before dividing up in to smaller attack groups and attacking the 
Federation fleet. With their destruction, the Federation Council put out 
an emergency call to all of their member worlds and their allies. This 
was not a small incursion by the Borg. This was a make or break situation 
for the Federation.

                         *******************

AIS Halsey
Main Bridge

The ship was as ready as it could possibly get. The battle before them 
loomed huge on the main viewer. From just inside the orbit of the 
asteroid belt, they detected the simultaneous destruction of several 
vessels. On the main view screen they saw the Borg, or what they were 
guessing were Borg, vessels appear. Various geometric shapes. Huge cubes. 
Smallish spheres. Diamonds. Rectangles. And then there were the really 
huge cubes. 

"Drop cloaking screens. Raise shields. Deploy battlecruisers."

"Cloaking fields dropped."

"Shields at full power."

"Separation complete. Battlecruisers taking up assigned stations."

"Deploy squadrons."

"Weps, bring up main guns. Full power to all weapons."

From the vast hangar decks of the Halsey, and from the smaller hangar 
decks of the battlecruisers, fighters, bombers, and interceptors shot out 
into space. The bombers and interceptors formed up around Teal'c's White 
Star, the Free Jaffa, while the fighters formed up around the O'Neill. 

Their appearance had not gone unnoticed by the Borg nor by the 
Federation. The Borg responded in their usual manner.

"WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND POWER DOWN YOUR WEAPONS. YOUR 
BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ASSIMILATED INTO OUR 
COLLECTIVE. SURRENDER YOURSELVES TO US. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

On the bridge of the Enterprise and on the bridge of the Voyager, as well 
as on most of the other ships of the Federation, the view of massive ship 
sitting there made some hold their breath and others begin to pray to 
whatever Gods they believed in. The reports came in quickly. The ship was 
three miles long and very heavily armed and armored. The eight smaller 
ships that had detached themselves from the mother vessel were similarly 
armored. The crews on various Federation bridges had witnessed the 
deployment of hundreds of fighters.

"Fighters, sir?"

"Looks like it, Will."

"You suppose those eight smaller ships are support for the mother ship?"

"That would be my guess."

"At the time I left the Collective, the Borg had no vessels of that type 
in their data stores."

"What do our scans show?"

"The hull is a combination of organic and metallic. Beyond that, I am 
unable to ascertain. Their shields are reflecting the majority of our 
sensors sweeps."

"A new player. What is your analysis?"

"Our sensor beams have been deflected. Preliminary analysis from visual 
observation indicates a high probability that the hull is an organic-
metallic combination. Shields are no match for our superior weapons."

"Borg vessel. This is AIS Strike Carrier Admiral Halsey. We will not 
surrender, ever. But you are welcome to try and assimilate us."

The fight was resumed between the Federation ships and the Borg cubes. 
The majority of the Cubes and their support ships were concentrating 
their fire on the Federation vessels. O'Neill and Teal'c took their 
squadrons to the aid of the Federation vessels and before long, space was 
awash with laser and phaser beams, and proton and quantum torpedoes and 
plasma bombs. The Borg Queen had drastically underestimated the Halsey 
and only sent a single Cube and two Spheres to face the Halsey and the 
smaller 'support' ships. She made the same incorrect assumption that 
Picard and his first officer had made; that the smaller vessels were 
strictly support vessels.

The battlecruisers separated into two groups of four and viciously 
attacked the Borg Spheres. For their part, the Borg vessels attempted to 
breach the protective force fields of the battlecruisers only to find 
that each shield vibrated at a different frequency and it took them some 
time to compensate for that factor. But by then, the combined firepower 
of the battlecruisers had destroyed one Borg vessel and had weakened 
another.  But that was a smaller battle compared to the one between the 
Cube and the Halsey. 

"Weps, fire full spread of Harpoons and Shipwrecks!"

"Firing missiles!"

"Damage control, report!"

"Minor damage to outer hull. Hull skin regenerating. Shields down by five 
percent."

"Sensors! Damage report on that Cube!"

"Preliminary indications are that the enemy vessel is capable of 
regenerating its damaged hull faster than we can damage it!"

"Damn it! Weps, bring all forward facing guns on-line and give me one 
full salvo!"

"Aye sir. Transferring power to main guns now. And firing!"

When the Halsey had begun her journey, the main guns consisted of 
Colonial pulse lasers, and Immortal rail guns. Those guns had been 
augmented when they were in Babylon 5 space with Minbari fusion and 
neutron cannons, Vree anti-matter cannons, Centauri particle beams, 
Vorlon Grand cannons, and Shadow Slicer beams. Because the Vorlon and 
Shadow weapons drew more power from the ship, those weapons were the last 
two pairs to fire. But the others hit the Borg Cube full force and 
brought down that ship's shields in a brilliant flash of light. In the 
next instant, the Vorlon and Shadow weapons fired, and space was lit up 
for light years around as the Borg Cube was instantly incinerated.

The Borg Queen was of a different mind now. She pulled the majority of 
her ships away from where they were in battle with the Federation and 
moved them to the large vessel that had just vaporized a Tactical Cube.

On dozens of Federation bridges, the crews looked on as a Borg Cube was 
converted to just so much space dust. In the next instant they stared at 
their view screens as the Borg fleet disengaged from battling them to 
move to the vessel that called itself Halsey. The move by the Borg had 
given them enough of a respite to move their more damaged ships back 
towards Earth where the Star bases in orbit there could assist them. The 
remaining ships advanced to engage the Borg again. 

Teal'c's squadrons had given just as much as they had taken from the 
Borg, trading three full wings of interceptors and one of bombers for a 
Borg Cube. O'Neill's squadrons, had taken a much higher casualty rate, 
and he ordered them to pull back to regroup. Teal'c also ordered his 
squadrons to pull back and regroup. Between the two of them, they would 
reorganize their squadrons to best assist the Halsey.

By now, the crew of the Halsey found themselves facing down six of the 
Cubes. Two remaining Cubes and a pair of Spheres had pulled back and were 
guarding their Queen. 

"Weps! All guns fire as they come to bear!"

"Aye sir!"

"Marius, message from the Kiev. The battlecruisers are moving at high 
speed to support the squadrons. They will be out of contact with the Borg 
for a bit."

"Tell the Kiev to pass this along to all battlecruisers. Re-arm all 
squadrons with stand-off weapons. As many as possible. Tell them to go 
after that group in the back. I think that Diamond shaped vessel is their 
leader's ship. Take out it's supporting vessels and capture the Diamond."

"Aye sir!"

"Engineering! More power to the shields!"

"Aye-aye, sir!"

                         *******************

Outside it was a battle meant for the amusement of the Gods. Beams of 
coherent light lanced out from one ship to another and where ever those 
beams touched, people died. Plasma bombs flew out from launchers only to 
impact harmlessly on Borg shields. Anti-matter cannons flashed 
incessantly delivering violent amounts of energy to the Borg shields. 
Neutron beams flashed orange and fusion beams flashed green, both 
bringing their deadly forms of coherent radiation at the Borg shields. 
Smaller particle beams fired continuously at the Borg vessels. All of 
these weapons firing in earnest to bring down the shields of the enemy 
vessels. And coming up from behind the Borg, the regrouped Federation 
warships, firing phased beams of light and projectiles that were almost 
too fast for the Mark One sensors aboard the Halsey to track. 

The space around the Halsey was awash with deadly and violent forms of 
energy. Had an unshielded person been in the immediate area, they would 
have died instantly from the intense radiation released by the various 
beam weapons. It was not a sight for the faint of heart. 

A few light minutes away, the eight battlecruisers were cycling the 
squadrons as fast as they were able to. Though only the Halsey could 
service the larger bombers, the battlecruisers were able to quickly 
service the fighters and interceptors. The fighters were loaded with two 
Harpoons and as many Venom missiles as they could safely carry. The 
interceptors were loaded only with the Venom missiles, as these craft 
were not designed to carry the large anti-ship missiles. If ever Marius 
had need for the battleship he had left for the IDB to build, it was now. 
They had a brief respite when another Borg Cube fell to the combined 
might of the Halsey's guns, and yet another respite when another two 
Cubes fell to the Federation vessels. Three Cubes still remained and to 
these the Halsey was pouring out vast amounts of missiles and rockets, 
along with every beam weapon they could bring to bear.

The battlecruisers had finished loading the remaining fighters and 
interceptors with whatever weapons they had in their own holds. As one 
unit, the smaller armada turned to make the short hyperspace jump to 
where the Borg Queen was watching the battle, safely, to her mind. As the 
Halsey and the Federation vessels turned to deal with the three remaining 
Cubes, the smaller AIS armada met and dealt with the Queen's support 
vessels; two Cubes and two Spheres. 

The battlecruisers had learned bitter lessons with their first engagement 
of this battle. The Tollana and Kelowna had been severely damaged and had 
limped off the field of battle, escorted by two squadrons of bombers. The 
bombers had depleted their stocks of plasma bombs, but still had smaller 
guns to protect the two wounded carriers. Four decks aboard the Kelowna 
were open to vacuum, the medical deck among them. As it was, the Tollana 
was towing the Kelowna away from the battle, though it too was severely 
damaged. 

The remaining cruisers now drove full bore at the two Spheres, while the 
remaining squadrons flew at high speed toward the remaining Cubes. It was 
over before it could truly begin. The Spheres fell to the repeated 
pounding of the smaller Vorlons cannons mounted on the cruisers. As the 
second and final Sphere was incinerated, the battleruisers turned to 
assist the squadrons in their dealings with the Cubes. For their part, 
the squadrons were fairing better in this engagement than they had in the 
last one. The pilots were a bit more familiar with their enemy than they 
had been the first time around and now the tactics used by the Borg 
worked against them. Fighters and interceptors weaved in and about the 
Cubes at high speed, always at high speed. The great speed of the smaller 
craft was their only major advantage. And they distracted the Cubes long 
enough to allow the remaining bombers to drop all of their loads at once 
on the two Cubes. Before the battlecruisers could open fire, the Cubes 
disappeared in twin flashes of intense light. Now, small rockets shot out 
from the ships and attached themselves to the Borg Diamond, ensnaring it 
with cables made of trinium.

The Halsey was not fairing well. The outer two shields had been 
destroyed, their generators melted to puddles of slag. The Borg had 
finally adapted to the Colonial heavy pulse lasers, and to the rail guns 
as their shields now deflected all attempts by the weapons to penetrate 
them. But the Federation were having some luck in that respect. Those 
aboard the Halsey watched as small saucer shaped ships flew at one of the 
three remaining Cubes firing some sort of pulse laser that sensors 
indicated were of enormous power. The repeated blows from these small 
saucer-like ships eventually wore through the shielding of the Borg Cube 
and it blew spectacularly; pieces of the ship pinging on the remaining 
Halsey shield. 

It seemed as though the larger remaining Federation ships took a lesson 
from their smaller brethren and poured beams of laser light at the 
shielding of the next Borg Cube in line. Several projectiles of pulsating 
light were ejected from one of the ships and these flew straight at the 
Cube at a high rate of speed, easily piercing the shields of the Cube and 
detonating deep within the vessel, exploding the ship from within. Halsey 
took advantage of the distraction caused by the Federation upon the final 
Cube and let fly with the Shadow slicer, cutting into the Borg Cube and 
ripping away great sections. A final shot by the Vorlon Grand cannon, 
obliterated what remained of the Cube.

"All sections, report!"

"Shields down to fifteen percent power. DC teams are working on 
additional field generators."

"The Borg Cube used some sort of beam weapon to cut through our remaining 
shield and into the hull. The hull is regenerating itself, however, decks 
twenty-eight through thirty-one, sections fifteen to thirty were opened 
to vacuum. Bulk head doors slammed down, but there are casualties."

"How many casualties?"

"Unknown at this time sir. We are working on those numbers, cross 
checking the duty rosters, to determine the losses. The infirmary is 
overflowing with wounded. They're putting the wounded in some of the 
smaller aid stations. All stasis pods are in use and the sarcophagi are 
at full capacity."

"Keep me informed."

"Aye sir."

"Sir, the Shadow and Vorlons weapons overheated with that final salvo. It 
will take some time to repair. The heavy pulse cannons are fully 
operational. We expended two hundred and thirty-three Harpoons and three-
hundred fifty-seven Shipwrecks. Rail guns are serviceable, but several 
laser batteries were destroyed and will need to be replaced."

"Assign Damage Control and Engineering teams to that. After the shields, 
weapons are the top priority."

"Aye sir!"

"Sir, report from the hangar deck. Sixty-two fighters, twenty-one 
interceptors, and sixteen bombers did not return. Search and Rescue is 
being launched now to look for escape pods. Also, the Kelowna and the 
Tollana took severe damage in the battle. The remaining battlecruisers 
are towing in a Borg vessel."

"Ye Gods! Yes! Launch all SAR craft at once! Get me full reports on 
damages suffered by the cruisers as soon as possible."

"Sir! Shield generators have failed out right! Overload in the secondary 
power buses."

"Sir, we are being hailed by a Federation vessel. It's an 'Admiral 
Janeway', sir."

"Main screen please."

"Viewer on."

"Attention unidentified vessel. On behalf of the Federation, I thank you 
for your timely assistance in dealing with the Borg. We see, however, 
that you have sustained damages. Do you require assistance?"

"Admiral Janeway. I am Admiral Ramos of the Alliance of Independent 
Systems strike carrier Halsey. At this time, we are launching search and 
rescue craft to look for downed pilots and escape pods. Any aid you can 
give on that matter will be greatly appreciated. We have large numbers of 
wounded and our shipboard medical facilities are overwhelmed. Any 
assistance with this matter will be of great value to our medical crews. 
Beyond that, we will be sending a strike team to the remaining Borg 
vessel to deal with the enemy therein."

"We will send over medical teams to assist you. Stand by to receive them. 
We should like to assist you in capturing the Queen's Diamond, if 
possible."

"So that's why the other ships tried to protect that Diamond! A Borg 
Queen. Interesting and interesting. You may participate in the 
interrogation of the Queen, if you so desire Admiral, however, you can be 
captured by the Borg. We, can not."

"Engineering to Bridge!"

"One moment, Admiral Janeway. Engineering, go ahead."

"Main engines are off-line! When the secondary power buses blew, they 
sent a wave of energy cascading through the power distribution system. 
We're going to need to completely rebuild the Hyperdrive systems."

"Understood. Get to work on that at once. Bring up the fusion reactors to 
provide emergency power to the ship. Helm, move us out of the way of 
traffic. Admiral Janeway? Is there someplace we can go to, to lick our 
wounds?"

"The Starbase in Earth orbit, sir. Do you require a tow?"

"I think we can get there. If we need a tow, we'll ask for one. Halsey 
out."

"Channel closed sir."

"Helm, move us toward that large station in Earth orbit. Steady as she 
goes."

"Aye sir!"

"Comms, get General Kassim and the strike team to the briefing room, 
ASAP!"

"Aye sir!"

"Alison, get your two cohorts and get to the briefing room, on the 
double!"

"On our way."

                         *******************

Briefing Room 1
30 minutes later

The only people in the room were the immortal members of the crew. Alex's 
strike team, General Kassim, Dana and Fox, Methos, Marius' bodyguard 
detail, and Marius himself. He looked at them all for a moment and prayed 
to whatever Gods he once believed in that Q was accurate in his 
intelligence, that the Borg could not assimilate an Immortal. Otherwise, 
the Borg would gain a power so immense as to be unstoppable.

"Alright, let's get this meeting underway. According to the Q entity, the 
Borg are unable to assimilate an Immortal, that our Quickening energies 
will instantly destroy the invading nanomachines they may inject into us. 
I don't know what that will feel like so in that respect I have no more 
information than you do. The Federation has identified the vessel we 
captured as belonging to the Borg Queen. From what Janeway said, the Borg 
Queen is their supreme leader, however, they do have other women, and 
I'll use the word women loosely, that can take the place of the Queen, 
should she fall in battle. Methos, as much as I'd like your sword arm 
with us on this battle, I think either you or I need to stay behind. So, 
flip a coin?"

"You go Marius. I will stay. I have no desire to face robots that want to 
assimilate me. As the eldest of our kind, I think I will exercise that 
privilege."

"Very well, old friend. That makes us an even twelve going to invade and 
capture a ship with, according to Federation intelligence, close to eight 
hundred crew. Make sure your swords are sharp. Take their heads and then 
zat them three times. Let's make sure none of them will ever get up again 
to assimilate anyone else. Dana, Fox, I know that you are new to this 
whole being an immortal thing, and that you really haven't had much time 
to practice your swordplay, so if I may suggest, that we put each of you 
onto a different team. You'll carry back-up swords for your designated 
team mates, and you'll be responsible for vaporizing the beheaded Borg. 
Is that alright with you?"

"We'd rather work together, Dana and I, but we understand the need for 
caution. As long as Dana agrees, then I agree as well."

"Excellent. I'm going to suggest we break up into groups of three. Go to 
your quarters and draw whatever weapons you feel most comfortable with. 
Then meet me at the Asgard transporters in one half hour. Methos, please 
stay for a moment?"

"Of course, Marius."

"Do your best to intimidate the Federation, yes? They seem arrogant to 
me. But maybe the first impression wasn't the best one? Also, assign 
someone to that dreaded of tasks, funeral duty. Have that person put 
together a list of the dead and we'll hold a brief ceremony at sunset 
tomorrow."

"A good idea. Give us time to publicly mourn our dead, and maybe show 
these Federation types that we are not as alien as they might think."

"Then you agree?"

"Yes. Watch your head, Marius."

"Always."

"Particularly since I have no desire whatsoever to be President of the 
Immortal Council."

"Smart ass."

"That's me. World's oldest smart ass."

                         *******************

Marius met the others thirty minutes later in the Asgard transporter 
room. He was carrying a short sword like the kind he carried long ago in 
the Army of Rome. But this sword had a blade of trinium reinforced 
titanium, the same as his backup weapon, the one made for him specially 
by Hamza. His two team mates for this little jaunt into enemy territory 
would be Nefertiri and Kassim. They stepped into position and the 
engineering officer moved the Asgard shells into the correct position to 
transfer them to the other ship. In a flash of bright white light, the 
three of them were gone. A moment later, another team of three would 
follow with each team being dispatched to a different part of the ship 
with orders to eventually meet in the Queen's chambers.

As they appeared on the Borg vessel, all three drew their swords. All 
three also had a pair of zat guns in holsters on each leg, and all three 
had backup swords across their backs. They expected to do much fighting 
and after some large number of fights, they had to expect their weapons 
to lose their edge. It would be something bad on their side as it would 
require much more strength to hack off a head with a dull blade. The ship 
was unlike anything they had expected. The chamber was open in the 
middle, with a great many catwalks all culminating in the same focal 
point, what Marius guessed to be the Queen's chambers. But to get there, 
they would have to fight their way through hundreds of Borg soldiers. 
Already he could see the first of many coming forward to meet them. It 
was Nefertiri who drew first blood with the quick slice at a Borg, taking 
its arm and a large portion of the shoulder. 

Before they had left, Marius had drawn from the quartermaster, a number 
of video cameras, that were small enough to be almost weightless, yet 
robust enough to stand up to almost any abuse. The cameras were attached 
to the tactical vests they each wore and so they were transmitting the 
scenes of fighting and blood and carnage back to the Halsey. But the 
tactical officer aboard the Enterprise, detected the video transmission 
and began watching it for a few moments before calling it to the 
attention of his captain.

"Sir, I am detecting a video transmission signal between the away parties 
of the vessel Halsey and the carrier."

"How many did they send to the Queen's Diamond?"

"I am detecting twelve individual signals."

"Main screen. Inform the fleet of the existence of the signals. Perhaps 
others will want to watch."

"Yes sir."

The main view screen on the Enterprise, like on many other ships of the 
Federation fleet, broke up into twelve images, each one fed by a video 
signal from the members of the Halsey's away party. They watched and 
looked on, some becoming sick at the wholesale slaughter of so many Borg 
drones, some admiring the fighting skills of these men and women who 
charged at the drones with only swords, hacking off limbs and heads 
before firing some form of electrical energy at the now dead drones and 
vaporizing the dead. It was a sight none had ever seen before and a sight 
none would likely never see again. There! One of the drones got close 
enough to inject one of away team members with its nano probes. But to 
their shock and amazement, the man fighting the drone simply shrugged it 
off and continued down the corridor. From the camera images of another 
near that man, they saw various Borg implants pop up from the skin of the 
man, only to be fried by some sort of electrical discharge emanating from 
the man's skin. The implant fell to the floor of the ship, useless and 
inert. 

Whoever these people were, thought Picard and Janeway, they could 
definitely fight. But the barbarity of the methods shocked both of them 
to their very cores. Aboard the Defiant, Commander Worf also looked on, 
but in admiration for their fighting skill. These people were fine 
warriors who most definitely understood the first rule of combat; never 
leave a live enemy behind you. But Picard had other thoughts. He saw 
these people as primitives. Their ship used some weapons that were 
exceedingly primitive and some that were very much in advance of anything 
the Federation had at its disposal. But that could be answered in any 
number of ways. They used one man fighter craft to engage the enemy, 
something the Federation had rarely and only recently done, though he did 
know of a few races that did use fighters. Their scans could not easily 
penetrate the hulls of those ships, but from what they could tell, they 
used some form of primitive fusion engines to power their vessels. 

Janeway saw all of that and more. She saw a race that had gone into space 
not for peaceful exploration, but for war. All of their vessels were 
designed for warfare, something she abhorred in the extreme. No wonder Q 
considered them friendly! They were as much barbarians as the Q were. How 
could she hope to ever call these people trust worthy. But for Seven of 
Nine, standing at the engineering station on the bridge, her viewpoint 
was different. The names displayed beneath the video footage indicated 
who's camera they were seeing. The one designated as Marius had stacked 
up a large number of kills and was leading his team directly to the 
chambers of the Queen. 

Aboard all of the ships in that section of space, the Federation vessels, 
the Halsey, and the now arriving Klingon and Vulcan ships, they watched 
as Marius and his team were the first to enter the chambers of the Borg 
Queen. The other teams were still fighting their way to the chamber. The 
Klingon and Vulcan vessels were few in number, as they were the closest 
to Earth when the signal for help was sent out by the Federation 
President.

"Greetings. Human. You should be proud of yourselves. You have killed so 
many of my Drones. I had not thought that possible."

"Who the fuck are you?"

"I am the Beginning. I am the End. I am what all creatures in the 
universe hope to become. I am the Borg. You are a strong and resilient 
representative of species 5618, a race I had thought to be weak. But join 
with me, and I will make you perfect."

"Perfect? What is perfection?"

"Immortality. Eternal life and eternal time with which to seek out 
perfection. You can become more than you are, Human. You can achieve 
perfection."

"Hate to break it to you, your Highness, but your scanners seem to be 
off. You keep calling us Human, and perhaps we once were. But no longer. 
We have moved on to that level you seek. You seek Perfection? You believe 
perfection to be Immortality? My dear woman, we are Immortal. We are 
already your vision of perfection. But I am far from perfect. I have many 
flaws."

"This can not be! You are a mere human! You can not be perfection!"

"Watch this, your highness."

Marius drew his sword across his chest, while Nefertiri and Kassim drew 
their own swords across their arms or legs. Deep cuts formed on their 
skins, their blood welling up and dripping on to the floor. But the Queen 
watched, as did hundreds of thousands of crews on the Federation and 
Klingon and Vulcan ships. They watched as arcs of electricity danced upon 
the chests and arms and legs of the first team to breach the Queen's 
chambers. They watched as the deep cuts, some deep enough to allow the 
bone to show through, healed before their astonished eyes. The arcs of 
electricity danced across their bodies, healing where it touched, and 
pulling the blood back within them.

"Mere trickery! You can not be perfection! Only the Borg can achieve 
this! Join with us or perish!"

"Enough of this word play, your Majesty. It is time for you to die. And 
when you are dead, we will take what we want from this ship, namely the 
location of your bases and your home worlds. We will go there and take 
what you have taken from us. And we will not be polite about it. We will 
do this by force of arms. You, my Queen, have taken technologies that did 
not belong to you. You took these things and you are trying to utilize 
them. And if you do so, this universe will never be safe from you. None 
of the universes will be safe from the disease that is the Borg."

"We have taken many such technologies. They were rightfully ours!"

"The properties of the Ancients were not yours to take. They belong to 
us. And now we want them returned."

"Ancients? You are not of species 5618. You are of species 003! You are 
the perfection we seek! At long last, we have found you! Join with me, 
join with the Borg, and all the myriad universes can be ours together!"

"I think not. I have no desire to rule, no desire to lead. I wish only 
peace and long life for my kind. But you have interfered with that 
desire. As such I must correct the mistake. Now, your crew are dead or 
will be shortly. You will surrender to us so that we may take what is 
rightfully ours."


"Captain, the amount of information present in their databanks would be 
of immense use to Starfleet!"

"I agree, Will. We must do what we can to take that information."


"Admiral Janeway, the information available to the Queen is immense. It 
would be of beneficial value to have that information in the hands of the 
Federation."

"On that we agree, Seven. But how to obtain it from these, what did he 
call themselves, Ancients?"

"If they are truly from Species 003, as the Queen has speculated, then 
they would be most formidable allies to the Federation. If they are not, 
and I do not see how they could be, then we must endeavor to obtain the 
information in any way possible."

"What do you know of Species 003, Seven?"

"As the numbering implies, they were the third species that the Borg 
attempted to assimilate. They were unsuccessful, however, as the species 
could not be assimilated. As a whole, the species vanished before any 
further attempts could be made to assimilate them. The Borg had only the 
word of other races as to the nature of Species 003. Immortals. All of 
their race were immortal. It became the quest that the Borg sought for so 
long. The Queens have always equated perfection with immortality."

"But what about those deep cuts with their weapons? Could that have been 
some sort of illusion?"

"There is not enough data to determine either way Admiral."

"Keep working on it."


"Well, your highness? Are you going to surrender?"

"The Borg do not surrender. A message has already been sent. More will 
come. You will be assimilated. The Alpha quadrant will be assimilated. I 
offer you one last chance to join with me, of your own free will."

"Free will. Interesting concept. It doesn't really exist. But it is a 
false belief that comforts us, doesn't it? I will not join with you."

And so saying, Marius pulled up his Zat gun and fired one burst into her. 
She had not anticipated the move and her shield, though active, was not 
effective. The Borg had not learned to adapt to the weapon. The Queen 
fell to her knees, the pain obvious to anyone with the gift of sight. He 
fired a second burst, and she collapsed to the floor, quite dead.

"Marius to Halsey. Get me a stasis pod!"

"On the way!"

                         *******************

The assembled Federation, Klingon, and Vulcan vessels watched, as a 
brilliant white light flashed into existence and when it had faded, a 
strange pod like device lay in its wake. The others picked up the Borg 
Queen and placed her into the stasis pod and a moment later, the white 
flash returned, only to show no pod where once it had stood. A quick scan 
determined it to be a teleportation beam of some kind, but one that was 
unknown to any of the inhabitants of the Alpha quadrant. Moments later, 
the last Borg drone had been beheaded and vaporized by the away teams 
from the Halsey. Shortly thereafter, large away parties began beaming 
over to the Borg vessel from the Halsey. All were well armed, but 
scanners indicated the weapons were projectile in nature. For some 
reason, their scanner failed to pick up the personal shields all were 
wearing.

Aboard the Federal vessel Bataan, various officers looked at one another 
and came up with a quick plan. They could take this vessel from these 
others, quickly and efficiently. Their weapons were no match for 
Federation phaser rifles, and the way they were milling about gave the 
impression that these were merely security guards of some lesser type, 
sent to watch over the ship as it was towed to the Halsey. The Bataan had 
not taken part in the battle as it was not a warship per se. Rather, it 
was a troop transport, a member of the Iwo Jima class, designed to 
teleport large boarding parties at a target. The Captain of the Bataan, 
signaled his intentions to the fleet commander, and was given the 
authorization to carry out her plans. The fleet commander went so far as 
to assign the Chosin and the Corregidor to the task as well. Moments 
later, the Federation marines began teleporting over to the Borg Diamond.

The first encounter was near the engineering spaces, where a guard 
detachment from the former 12th ACR was set up. They were there to 
protect the engineering teams that were pouring over the Borg systems, 
learning as they went. The Federation Marines came down the corridor, 
four abreast, firing their phaser rifles as they went along. For a brief 
moment, the guard detachment was stunned. To see any soldier walking in a 
line abreast was not only idiotic, but a death wish as well. Then they 
saw the weapons fired and felt the impacts on their shields. They thanked 
God and Allah for a moment, before picking up their own Intars and firing 
at the intruders. A radio operator behind them, was on his gear, sending 
out a warning to all other detachments that intruders were aboard.

For their part, the Federation Marines knew something was seriously 
wrong, when their weapons fired on heavy stun were not effective at all. 
A few managed to change the settings to their highest setting and even 
managed to get off one or two shots, before they realized it was all for 
naught. The force shields the others were wearing prevented those beams 
from spearing the person inside. Then they heard the sound that no 
Federation Marine had ever heard before, at least outside of a historical 
holopic. The sounds of projectile weapons fired on automatic. The first 
ranks of soldiers fell easily. 

Within minutes of receiving the intruder alert, other guard detachments 
had encountered and neutralized the invaders. More appeared and more were 
stunned into unconsciousness. The Halsey was informed and a moment later, 
a very angry Marius was ordering a communications channel opened to all 
of the Federation vessels in the area.

"Federation vessels. The men and women you sent to try and take the Borg 
ship from our custody have failed. They are now in our brig. But I do not 
understand why you have attempted to do this. Did we not help you turn 
back the assault against your home system? Did we not also suffer a great 
many wounded and dead because of this? Yet you boldly tried to take the 
ship from us. Well, you have failed. You must understand how this will be 
interpreted by our forces. We have understandably raised our alert level 
and all of our weapons systems are now painting your vessels with 
targeting beams. If you so much as fire a thruster, you will be 
destroyed."

"Admiral Ramos, I assure you that I did not give any such orders! I will 
find the people responsible for those orders and see that they are 
punished accordingly."

"See that you do, Admiral. In the meantime, we will keep your unconscious 
personnel in our brig. They had been disarmed and have been given POW 
uniforms. Whatever wounds they had have been fully treated. There were no 
casualties."

"I must thank you for that. You are far more civilized than I had 
thought."

"You and I, Admiral, we may look the same, but it is obvious we are not. 
Perhaps then we should begin anew? Someplace neutral I would assume?"

"I am more than willing to go over to your ship, provided I am allowed to 
bring some of my officers?"

"I think that will be acceptable. Pick your officers and stand by for 
transport, in say, ten minutes?"

"That will be fine. Janeway out."


"I know what you're thinking Chakotay. You want to come with me. And I 
want you there. Pick a few others to join us and include the Doctor if 
you will. I'd like him to check over their prisoners."

"A good idea, Admiral. Who do you think ordered the boarding action?"

"Tuvok, open a channel to the Enterprise."

"Channel open."

"Captain Picard?"

"Admiral Janeway. Is there something wrong?"

"Did you order a boarding action on the Borg Diamond?"

"I did. The weapons evidenced by the video transmissions from the Halsey 
away team indicated they were primitive in nature. Projectile weapons, if 
you can believe it."

"Actually, I can believe it. However, Admiral Ramos aboard the Halsey has 
informed me that all of the boarding parties were captured and are now be 
held as prisoners of war aboard the Halsey. I will be going to their ship 
shortly to negotiate for their release."

"That's impossible! They are primitives! How could they have captured 
over fifteen hundred Starfleet Marines?"

"Fifteen hundred?! Are you out of your mind, Picard?!"

"I did what was necessary for the good of the Federation. To give us an 
equal edge against the Borg, we must know everything about them!"

"And it never occurred to you to simply ask the Halsey?"

"Do you really believe they would have shared that knowledge with us?"

"It's irrelevant now. I will try to repair any diplomatic damage you 
might have caused with your unauthorized orders. Janeway out!"


"That woman does not understand the Borg the way I do, Number One. They 
will not give up simply because we destroyed the ships they sent here. 
They will keep coming and keep coming until they have either assimilated 
us all or destroyed us all. She can never understand the Borg they way I 
do! I have been Captain of the Federation's flagship a lot long than she 
has been in Starfleet, and that woman has the nerve to talk to me that 
way!"


"Halsey to Voyager. Are you and your party ready to transport over?"

"We are Admiral. If you will give us the coordinates, we will beam right 
over."

"Not necessary Admiral. We have a lock on you and your party now. Mr. 
Jameson, if you will, sir."

"Aye-aye Admiral."

The grip of the Asgard transporter beam took them by surprise. By 
comparison, their own teleporters seemed primitive in the way they 
disintegrated the body. It took longer, by their reckoning, than this 
unknown type of beam. From what they could tell of their journey, it 
appeared to be closer to whatever form of transport the Q used than 
anything like the Federation. Less than five seconds after the order had 
been given, Admiral Janeway and her party of six were standing in the 
Main Conference room aboard the Halsey.

"Admiral Janeway and party. Welcome to the AIS Admiral Halsey. On behalf 
of myself, my crew, and the Alliance, I bid you greetings on the hope 
that we may come to an amicable agreement concerning the events of this 
day."

"Admiral Ramos. Allow me to introduce the members of my party. This is 
Chakotay, Captain of Voyager. Commander Tuvok, his First Officer; Lt. 
Commander Belanna Paris, Chief Engineer; Lt. Commander Annika Hansen, 
Tactical Officer; Lt. Commander Tom Paris, Helm Officer; and our ship's 
Doctor."

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but I didn't catch your name?"

"He's just the Doctor."

"Ah, I see. Sort of like 'Who's on first', then?"

"I don't follow you?"

"Never mind. Doctor, I would guess that you are here to examine the POWs 
to ensure that they are in good condition, yes?"

"I am."

"Very well. Excuse me a moment while I call for a guide for you Doctor. 
Major Scully, please report to the Main Conference room. Major Mulder and 
Doctor Jackson, please report to the Main Conference room. Sierra Golf 
One, report to Main Conference room."

"Please, Admiral Janeway, have a seat. That extends to all of you. My 
command staff will be here shortly."

Five minutes later, they were ready to begin.

"Major Scully, while I think it would be beneficial to have you stay 
here, I would like for you to escort the Doctor to see the POWs. He will 
be examining them to verify their conditions. After which, feel free to 
give him a tour of our medical facilities."

"As you say, Marius. Doctor, if you would follow me?"

"Admiral Janeway, honored guests, allow me to present my staff. Colonel 
Jack O'Neill, commander of the Interceptor wings. Teal'c, commander of 
the Bomber wings. Major Samantha Carter, Chief Engineering Officer. Major 
Fox Mulder, Chief of the Diplomatic team. Doctor Daniel Jackson, Senior 
linguist and diplomat. My executive officer is not here as he is 
presently on the bridge overseeing our damage control efforts."

"Admiral Ramos, why did your CMO call you Marius?"

"Marius is the name I am most comfortable with as it is the name I have 
borne for millennia. But it will suffice to call me Admiral Ramos, if 
that is your wish."

"Millennia? How can that be?"

"The Borg Queen called me Species 003. I will assume from that comment 
that I or others like me have previously encountered the Borg. However, I 
believe she was referring to the race we call the Ancients. I am not an 
Ancient, though in time I may evolve to that level. Perhaps in another 
half million years or so. For now, I am quite content to live as a 
corporeal being. The Borg believe that immortality is perfection. That is 
as big a lie as ever I've heard. Immortality is far from perfection. The 
years get quite lonely. I've seen so many of my mortal friends and wives 
die from disease or old age or war, that I would gladly give up my 
immortality if only to be mortal for a moment or two."

"He is telling the truth, Admiral. My implants are indicating he is 
indeed a very young member of Species 003."

"But you look Human, Admiral Ramos?"

"And you find that puzzling? There is a truth in that appearance. Once, 
long ago, the Ancients were like us, or like you. They were human. 
Species 5618 in the terminology of the Borg. As time passed they grew. 
Their technology surpassed all in the known universe until they became as 
they are today. Immortal and non-corporeal. But while they could travel 
throughout the universe without the need for a ship, they found that 
universe to be a cold and lonely place. They had evolved to a higher 
plane, but they wanted something they could no longer have. They wanted 
children. We, immortals that is, were created in their image. We were 
created for a specific purpose. To live and grow, to serve and protect, 
to nurture and guide. To defend with every ounce of our being, the humans 
of our world."

"But that doesn't explain how you look like us?"

"I was getting to that. At the dawn of time, there was a single race in 
the known and unknown universe. The Progenitors. They grew and matured. 
They explored the universe around them and found it to be a lonely place. 
No life, on any world they encountered. Though it must be said that the 
worlds they encountered were at a stage where life could be planted. And 
this they did. The Ancients were created in their image, to watch over 
the universe and their creations when they at long last passed beyond the 
veil. Just as we were created to take over for the Ancients when they too 
passed beyond. And so my dear Admiral, we come to Earth, where the 
Progenitors saw a world capable of sustaining a life not unlike their 
own. It was there, that they created the Ancients. And it was there that 
the Ancients seeded the early oceans with what would evolve to become the 
Human race. So just as immortals were created in the image of the 
Ancients, and Ancients were created in the image of the Progenitors, so 
were you created in the image of both the Ancients and the Progenitors."

"Admiral, I believe Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D, on star date 
46731.5, came across a holographic message embedded in the genetic 
material of several Alpha Quadrant races. That message is available in 
our archives and I believe it verifies the Admiral's story."

"Excellent Seven. I shall have to peruse that archive when we return to 
Voyager."

"There is more, Admiral. My scans of these people indicates a different 
quantum signature. They are not from our quantum universe."

"Care to explain, Admiral Ramos?"

"Your crewmember is quite correct, Janeway. We are from a parallel 
universe. However, the history I gave you of the Progenitors is true for 
this universe as much for our own. The Ancients came here untold 
millennia ago to establish an outpost world from which to explore this 
universe. In time they left that world, vowing to return, when certain 
problems at home had been resolved. It is unfortunate that they did not 
return to this place. The Borg discovered that world and the systems on 
that world sent us a message. We are here to retrieve the technologies 
taken from the Ancient's outpost. If we need to destroy every last Borg 
in the universe to insure that they will never discover how to travel 
between quantum universes, then so be it. We have their Queen in our 
brig. We have engineering teams going over that ship out there. When our 
repairs have been completed and our dead buried and honored, we will take 
this fight to the Borg and we will take what is rightfully ours. If you 
wish to accompany us, you may do so."

"That may be an option for tomorrow, but for today, I think it best if we 
agree to a mutual exchange of trust?"

"You seem like a likeable person, Janeway. I think I shall trust you, for 
now. Perhaps it will work better this time. Major Carter, would you 
please escort their Engineering officer about the ship? Show her whatever 
she asks about."

"Aye sir. Commander Paris? If you will follow me?"

"Admiral, the name 'Marius' sounded Roman. Is it?"

"You have a perceptive mind, Janeway. In my universe, and two millennia 
ago, I was known as Gaius Marius, Pro Consul of the Roman Empire."

"Are there any others of your kind aboard this vessel?"

"Lt. Phillipson to the Conference room."

"You'll meet one in just a moment Admiral. Commander Paris? You are the 
helm officer for Voyager? Does that mean that you are also a pilot?"

"Actually Admiral, most Starfleet officers are pilots."

"Ah, I see. Do you fly fighters as well?"

"We have only recently begun to use one man craft the way you do, 
Admiral."

"A pity really. Col. O'Neill? Would you care to show Commander Paris 
around our flight deck? Maybe give him a hop in one of the fighters?"

"Yeah sure youbetcha! Come along Commander. I need some extra flight time 
anyway."

"Sir! Lieutenant Phillipson reporting as ordered sir!"

"At ease, Alex. Admiral Janeway, does your history have a young 
Macedonian Prince, son of King Philip of Macedonia?"

"You mean Alexander the Great? Yes. We do. A young man prized for his 
intellect and skill in battle."

"Then may I present you Alexander, son of Philip, of Macedonia."

It was the same when any Earth military member, with the clearance, first 
met Alex. Jaws dropping to the floor and dazed and confused looks on 
their faces as the implication of who the young impish looking fellow 
was. Standing at barely five feet tall, the man bore the scars of battles 
hard fought and won. He had fought long and hard before his first death, 
and the evidence was plain on his body. After a few moments, Janeway and 
her remaining officers recovered sufficiently to continue.

"I wonder how many others there are like him?"

"Not many. Immortals, by our very nature, are more prone to spectacular 
deaths, than mortals. It is a hard life we lead, but we survive and we 
grow, and our power grows as we age. That power is what separates us from 
mortals. It is what allows us to reject the Borg implants, and what 
allows us to heal any wound or any infection. It is, the very essence of 
our being."

"I would love to talk more with you about this, but first I must ask you 
to release the Federation POWs in your brig."

"Of course. Why don't we do this. Let us pair off, one of your officers 
to one of mine, and allow my officers to escort you around the ship, show 
you anything you wish to see. Teal'c, would you please escort their 
tactical officer about the ship? Dr. Jackson, please join them as well."

"Of course, Admiral Ramos. I shall be delighted to escort the tactical 
officer. If you would follow me please? Daniel Jackson, you will join 
us."

"Coming T."

"Major Mulder, why don't you take care of Captain Chakotay's tour, and I 
will escort the Admiral."

"Sure thing Marius."

"Alex, if you would, please show Commander Tuvok around the ship. Answer 
any questions he might have. If you can't answer them, find someone who 
can in each section."

"Yes, Mr. President."

                         *******************

Marco showed Janeway everything aboard the Halsey. They ran into other 
touring pairs here and there and each time Janeway asked her officers 
what they thought of this ship, the answer was different. She could see 
that for herself though. On the one hand, the ship seemed as if it were 
hurriedly built, yet some of the systems seemed as though the technology 
was very old and much in advance of their own. Despite all the medical 
technology, the Federation could not bring back anyone from the dead. Yet 
these people could. 

Starfleet vessels relied on a single force field of massive power. These 
people had three such fields surrounding their ship, each one on a vastly 
different frequency than the other with the inner shields more powerful 
than the outer shields. Starfleet relied on a single type of matter 
teleportation, whereas these people had two very different methods in 
use. The one they called the Asgard transporter had been the one she had 
been beamed aboard with. From her discussions with Admiral Ramos, it 
seemed that the Asgard beam was used for precision beaming while the 
other was used for beaming large numbers of ground troops into hostile 
areas, as the rings would serve to protect the personnel for a short 
moment after they reintegrated. She found that they used a number of 
different methods of achieving faster than light travel and foremost 
among these was something called a Hyperdrive. Using a Hyperdrive, the 
ship entered a tunnel in what could best be described as a parallel 
dimension called hyperspace, wherein distances between two points was 
vastly reduced. Apparently the laws of physics were not as stringent in 
hyperspace. 

The travel method that shocked her the most, however, was the Stargate. 
Not for ship travel, she learned, but for moving vast numbers of 
personnel and equipment across thousands or millions of light years of 
space almost instantaneously. Controlled wormholes. Starfleet had been 
researching wormhole technology for decades with little success of 
creating a controllable wormhole. But here these people used and accepted 
it as fact. They had a similar concept to the Stargate called a Combat 
Gate, that enabled ships such as the Halsey to traverse vast distances 
via a controlled wormhole as well. Because of the mass, she was told, the 
journey was not as instantaneous as with a Stargate. It could actually 
take ten minutes or so to cross a distance of a hundred million light 
years.

In terms of their weapons and computer technology, they were perhaps four 
hundred years behind the Federation. Even NX-01, Archer's famous first 
command, had better weapons and computers. The only weapons that might 
have given Starfleet pause were something the Admiral called a Grand 
Cannon and the Slicer beam. 

But it was the regenerative hull plating that made her sit up and take a 
real close look. The hull plating was semi-organic and semi-metallic. It 
could learn from any damage it took and if it received the same kind of 
weapons fire in the future, it would accept up to ninety percent of the 
energy from that weapon and channel it to shields or weapons, or whatever 
system need extra power. Ramos explained that the shields were the first 
line of defense against any attack, with the regenerative hull plating a 
second line of defense, laser ablative armor as a third line, and 
reactive hull plating as a final line of defense. 

All in all, Janeway thought, there is much we could learn from one 
another. But the Prime Directive must be obeyed! But did it apply to a 
race from an alternate universe? Starfleet had always believed that the 
Prime Directive applied to all equally, but in this case she was unsure. 
Could she afford to risk exchanging technology with them? Could Starfleet 
afford to pass up the chance to learn how to control a wormhole? Did 
bargaining for wormhole tech negate the Prime Directive? These were 
questions she did not have answers to. These were questions that Admiral 
Nechayev and the others within the fleet command structure would have to 
answer before any further steps could be taken. 

                         *******************

Observation Deck
AIS Halsey
Two days later

The men and women in the Observation lounge were in full dress uniform. 
The visiting dignitaries from the Federation, from the Klingon Empire, 
and from one of the Federation member worlds; Vulcan, were also in their 
equivalent of full dress uniform. Along one long window stood the members 
of Alex Phillipson's immortal strike team. Their uniforms reflected their 
age and their sabers were shined to perfection. It was a solemn day. They 
would be bidding a final farewell to the two hundred and thirty nine 
souls that had perished in the attack on the Borg. 

There were many who could not attend the ceremony, and many more who 
chose to honor their fallen comrades in different fashions. But in the 
end, it was all the same, whether a spoken word or a raised drink, it was 
all the same. A final farewell to honor those who had fallen in combat.

"Their guns, their lasers and plasma beams, are silent now, and the blood 
these honored soldiers shed has long since merged with the stellar medium 
from whence we came. They believed in something so precious, so perfect, 
that they were willing to die for it. They are gone now, but they will 
never be forgotten, so long as we remember them and their deeds. 

They were honorable men and women, these brave souls that fought for a 
people not unlike themselves. They fought so that those of us that remain 
could continue our mission, so that we could one day have the strength to 
defeat our enemies.  Our enemy has not forgotten us. While we explore 
other worlds and other galaxies, our enemy at home grows stronger. One 
day soon, they will come for us, and for our part, we had best be ready. 
When the Stargate was re-opened a decade ago, we found ourselves in a 
universe filled with worlds whose peoples were like us. Indeed, they are 
us, for the Goa'uld took their ancestors from our world, enslaved them, 
and brought them to thousands upon thousands of worlds. But ten thousands 
years ago, our ancestors rose up and threw the yoke of Goa'uld oppression 
from our backs. They cast the Goa'uld off our world, and that enabled us 
to live in seclusion from the universe, for ten thousand years.

Now, that we have returned to the universe, we must do for our brethren, 
what we did for ourselves so long ago. The Goa'uld must be cast off, 
their chains and their powers can no longer oppress us. For those that 
fell in battle a few short days ago, the chains that bound them here have 
gone. 

Eternal Father, King of birth, who did doth create the Heavens and the 
Earth, who bids the planets and the stars, their own appointed orbits 
run. O hear us when we seek thy grace, for those who soar and peril in 
outer space. Eternal rest grant unto them, oh Lord and let perpetual 
light shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of the faithful 
departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen."

The honor guard that was Phillipson's strike team turned as one and 
pulled their sabers as one. They held them in salute as the rocket 
launchers, beneath the observation deck, let fly one by one, the empty 
caskets that were mere symbols of the departed. Teal'c's bomber wings 
flew one escort for each casket as the caskets made their final journey 
into the center of the sun, while O'Neill's fighter wing flew the missing 
man formation for their missing comrades, with a single fighter pulling 
up and spiraling away from the flight as it passed in front of the 
Observation Deck.. Throughout the ship one could hear, the wailing of 
bagpipes as they played a soul rendering rendition of Amazing Grace. A 
final tribute to those who had left their mortal coil and passed beyond 
the veil.

"That was a very moving ceremony, Admiral Ramos. I must commend you on 
the precision of the honor guard, and of your flight crews. Pray tell, 
what was the formation your fighters flew?"

"That was the missing man formation, Admiral Nechayev.  It signals to 
those on the ground or aboard a ship, that losses were incurred during a 
recent battle by holding a place of honor for the missing comrades. The 
origins of that formation have been lost to history, but it is rumored to 
have been flown by British aviators during the First World War, when 
Manfred von Richthofen was interred."

"I find it utterly amazing that your own history and ours could be so 
similar yet also so different. That you and your people come from an 
alternate Earth is something our scientists have proven endlessly to us 
over the past few days. Simply put, your quantum signatures are not in 
sync with those of this universe. That proves to us the validity of your 
story. Yet I still find it amazing, especially since you are one of a 
handful of what you call Immortals. To have seen so much history is what 
amazes me so."

"Admiral Nakamura. The history that I have seen, well, when I saw what 
was happening it did not occur to me that it would become history. It is 
interesting to me to witness certain events and then to see what the 
historians make of those events. It is written that history is recorded 
by the victors, and that is certainly true. For instance, in a war on my 
Earth, sometime in the middle 1800's, there is a battle recorded by the 
winning side as a great victory against an overwhelming force for well 
trained soldiers. The losing side recorded that victory as a massacre to 
them. A senseless battle where hundreds of cadets at a military academy 
were slaughtered by the invading soldiers. The average age of the cadets 
was something like twelve or fourteen years of age, while the average age 
of the victorious soldier on the other side was something like thirty 
years of age. A hell of a difference in the way history is recorded 
simply because one side or the other won a war, don't you think?"

"Indeed. Such is often true. Tell us please, Admiral Ramos, what are your 
plans for the moment?"

"For the moment, Admiral Paris, our plans center on repairs. This ship 
can build all of the parts necessary to repair the other ships in our 
fleet and can build more fighters for our squadrons, but it will take us 
some time to train up more pilots for this mission. Once we've 
accomplished this, we will move off to attack the Borg wherever they may 
be."

"You plan to attack the Borg in their home systems?"

"That is exactly what we plan to do, Janeway.  They have items that 
rightfully belong to us. We plan on taking those items back, one way or 
another. But listen, while I have all of your attentions, might I make a 
comment on our recent misunderstandings?

Whether the orders to beam troops over to my ship were legitimate or not 
is a moot point at the moment. What matters to me is that had my troopers 
not been using stun weapons, odds are that many of your Federation 
Marines would be dead. Whoever taught them battle tactics should be taken 
out and publicly flogged!"

"Why would you say such a thing? From my reading of the after action 
reports of their various commanding officers, the did everything by the 
book!"

"Then, might I suggest Admiral Paris, that the book is in error here. My 
own troopers reported the actions of your Marines with disbelief. 
Marching up a corridor three or four abreast is a good way to get oneself 
killed in an awful hurry. Standing in front of a doorway as it opens is a 
certain way to get killed. If those are the tactics taught by your 
instructors at your academy, then I'd have to wonder just how you've won 
so many battles and wars."

"I sense a challenge here, Ramos. Perhaps you'd care to place a small 
wager on the outcome?"

"What did you have in mind, Paris?"

"A squad of say ten to twelve of your best troopers against a squad of 
the same size of my best Marines. I pick the time, you pick the place. 
Stun weapons only. Agreed?"

"That is agreeable. And to give you a fair shot at winning, I will not 
allow the Immortal strike team members to participate in this exercise. 
To do so would be unfair in the extreme."

"Nonsense, Ramos. I think Starfleet could agree to have one or two of 
your Immortals on your team. Shall we say a week?"

"Sounds fair to me, Paris. What is the wager, however?"

"Well, either way, we will be seeing one another at the negotiations 
table so that is not up for grabs. But, if the Starfleet team wins, then 
you will allow a large number of Federation and our allies ships to go 
with you when you go to fight the Borg. If your team wins, then you can 
ask one favor from Starfleet. That favor may include asking for one 
specific technology which we will grant you outright, regardless of the 
outcome of the negotiations. Agreed?"

"Agreed. Night attack alright with you?"

"That is agreeable. Are your people familiar with urban combat 
operations?"

"That is also agreeable. Night operations in an urban environment. Should 
I assume that this will take place in one of your holographic imaging 
chambers?"

"We have a ship that has several holographic decks that can be merged to 
provide a very large environment for this test. To make it fair to your 
people, I think we can allow them to move in, say, one day in advance and 
make the Federation team the aggressors."

"Fair enough, Admiral Paris. I'll contact you as soon as I have the team 
put together. Shall we agree to twelve members?"

"Agreed."

                         *******************

The next day, Admiral Ramos was in the main Conference room with the unit 
commanders of all of the special operations teams aboard the Halsey. 
British and Australian SAS, Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and a Russian 
Spetsnaz team were all aboard the Halsey, each eager to show the others 
of their small but aggressive club just who the better man was.

"Gentlemen, the reason I've called you here today is that our Federation 
hosts would like a demonstration of our battle prowess. They seem to 
think the actions taken by the security troops aboard the Halsey during 
the attempted invasion by Federation Marines were flukes. They seem to 
think their Marines are better than anything we can put up. So, they've 
agreed to a small challenge. Twelve of our best against twelve of their 
best. Night time operations in an urban combat environment. What I need 
from you is the name of one volunteer from each of your units, the very 
best your units have to offer. I'd like to see a composite team put 
together to kick their arrogant asses all over the sector. They've even 
agreed to give us a sporting chance by allowing our team to go in a day 
early and to play the defending team against their aggressor team. As an 
added bonus, they don't seem to think that the Immortals on this ship are 
anything to brag about. The only member of the team that I will assign is 
Lieutenant Phillipson, and only because his mind is a tactical database 
the likes of which none of us have ever seen."

"Admiral, while I was aware that Phillipson was an immortal, I am unaware 
of who exactly he was in history, though he does look very familiar."

"I'll allow Alex to answer your question Captain Duggray."

"I look familiar to you?"

"You do. You're an immortal so I'll venture to say I've seen you in one 
of my history books, though I can't place the face to the period in 
history."

"I'll give you a couple of clues. I was most famous approximately three 
hundred years before the birth of Christ in the country of Macedonia."

"Macedonia? Around 300 BC? Oh, that is so very familiar! But I can't seem 
to place it. Oh. I got it. Alexander the Great?"

"Should I have given you less of a hint?"

"You're Alexander the Great?"

"I am, Capt. Duggray. But more recently, I've been through basic training 
courtesy of the US Air Force. If you think basic training was bad for 
you, imagine it with a Drill Instructor that not only knows you're an 
Immortal, but also knows that no matter how hard he pushes you, you won't 
die permanently under his tutelage! With a dozen soldiers like him, I 
could have taken all of the known world when I was first alive. All I ask 
is that you do not reveal my true identity to any who don't need to know. 
I'd rather not have to deal with all the paparazzi when we return."

                         *******************

Within a few hours of the initial meeting, the special operations unit 
leaders had compiled a list of ten soldiers, drawn straws for the unit 
commander position, and had presented the list to Marius. Marius then had 
a chance to speak with the unit commander, one Major O'Connell of the 
SAS.

"So, Major, you have everything you need?"

"There are a few special items I'm having the Forge deck make up for us, 
but beyond that, yes, I do believe we have everything. And since they 
were dumb enough to believe we needed a day to familiarize ourselves with 
the terrain, then we'll take it. We'll set up defenses so thick with stun 
grenades and flash bangs, that they'll have no idea which way is up or 
down. I've got two snipers on my team and with a spotter assigned to each 
sniper, I think we can set up a nice kill zone for the Red team."

"Excellent work, Major! If there is anything you have need of, don't 
hesitate to ask!"

"Well sir, I was given the impression you might know where I could lay me 
hands on some rather old Scottish whiskey?"

"Win this for the Halsey and I'll give a case of that whiskey to each 
member of your team, and a dozen cases to you sir!"

"Well, with an enticing reward like that, sir, you can count on a 
victory!"

                         *******************

The Holoship was in orbit near the Halsey and on its decks was a re-
creation of a well known scene of urban combat from the Federation-
Dominion war, so recently won by the Federation. In the historical 
battle, the Federation had won easily, having out thought their Dominion 
opponents. But rather than Dominion soldiers here, the Halsey's elite 
unit would play their part. The Federation elite unit would make two very 
simple but devastating mistakes in this encounter. They considered their 
enemy to be the Dominion, not fellow humans, and they expected 24th 
century tactics, not 20th century. 

The Observation deck of the Holoship looked out over the vast imaging 
chambers of the ship. Monitors on the walls played images beamed from 
various cameras that had been pre-positioned to take advantage of the 
coming battle. The Federation had planned to use the images obtained as a 
training aid at their Academy, to show that the might of the Federation 
should never be underestimated. The Federation High Command was so sure 
of victory, that there was an advanced class from the Academy aboard the 
ship, observing the upcoming battle. Various instructors on tactics and 
infantry operations wee aboard as well, to watch the events. 

Marius and Captain Duggray watched as the Federation team broke up into 
four three-man teams and proceeded to enter the engagement area. The Fed 
teams advanced slowly, each providing cover fire for the other, but 
again, they were expecting a different set of tactics. Their first 
encounter of the engagement was with a set of well placed trip wires and 
motion sensor activated devices. In less than five seconds, the Fed team 
had been reduced by half, with one team stumbling into a set of trip 
wires with stun grenades and flash bangs on the ends, and the second Fed 
team walking into a claymore kill zone. For the purposes of the exercise, 
the claymores had been refitted with a two part stun effect; a high 
intensity flash, and an OC burst. The high intensity flash of light 
blinded the Fed team, as their eyes had adjusted to the low light 
conditions. As they grasped at their eyes, trying to rub away the bright 
spots, the second part of the claymore cocktail took effect and they were 
surrounded by a cloud of pepper gas. 

As the three man team lay writhing on the ground, sniper shots came from 
the distance and stunned the three with Intar shots. Other than the three 
sniper shots, not a single man on the Halsey team had yet fired their 
weapons. The six remaining Fed team members took a look at their stunned 
comrades and vowed to win the engagement. The split up again into pairs 
and proceeded to leap forward rather quickly, covering the terrain, but 
not seeing it. They fired indiscriminately at their surroundings, hoping 
for a lucky shot that would disable one of their opponents. They had no 
way of knowing that the pair of snipers and spotters were three 
kilometers away. They should have been aware, however, of the remaining 
opposition team units moving up behind them; units moving not on the 
ground, but via the burned out shells of buildings in the urban 
environment.

The Fed team paused for a moment, to take a good look at their 
surroundings. But it was a pause out in the open and not under any sort 
of cover. They still failed to realize that there were snipers on the 
opposition team. Two more of their members went down in quick succession, 
as the snipers had decided amongst themselves which man to target. The 
four remaining Federation Marines dropped to the ground as their comrades 
fell, sweeping the immediate area with their motion sensors and looking 
for targets. Their hand held scanners were of little use however, as they 
relied primarily on passive emissions. Knowing that they relied on such 
passive measures, the team from the Halsey were all wearing thermal 
covers that betrayed no heat around them, making them appear to be inert 
lumps of debris. That would prove a costly mistake for the four Marines. 
As they rose to a kneeling position in preparation to move out again, 
four shots rang out and the four remaining Marines fell to the ground. 
The encounter had lasted less than thirty minutes with no casualties for 
the Halsey team and complete loss of unit for the Federation team.


"I never would have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I 
thought our troops were better than this! I think they all need a 
refresher course in infantry tactics, especially since the best of them 
could not even cause so much as a single loss to your troops. I want to 
meet your troops, and ask them first hand what my own people did wrong. 
And I want my people there to hear their version of the events."

"Of course, Admiral Paris. Ensign, please inform Major O'Connell and his 
team that their presence is requested on the Observation deck."

"Aye sir!"


"Major O'Connell reporting as ordered sir!"

"Stand easy, Major. Admiral Paris and the rest of the Starfleet Command 
Staff would like to hear your version of the events."

"Aye sir! Admirals. If that was your best team, then they need to be sent 
back to basic training. Their mistakes were childish and their maneuvers 
were worse. Even though I'd read the after action reports made by the 
security forces of the Halsey, I still had a hard time believing that any 
unit would try to advance in a line abreast. Now that I've seen it with 
my own eyes, I wonder what and how you train your people to fight. Coming 
at an unknown enemy in line abreast formation is utterly stupid and a 
very quick way to get yourself killed. Had this been a real engagement 
with real live ammunition instead of Intars, you would be holding twelve 
very unnecessary funerals. You'll get more details in the after action 
reports from myself and my team, along with a critical analysis from Lt. 
Phillipson. You realize Admiral, that I had to stop Alex from laughing? 
He could not believe the tactics your people were using. Had they been 
more alert and aware of their environment, odds are good that you would 
not have lost half of your force in the trip wire and claymore kill 
zones. But they walked in boldly as if nothing would dare to attack them. 
Only once did they attempt to take any cover and that was after my 
snipers had taken out two more of your men."

"Where were your snipers anyway?"

"Positioned in buildings, about one hundred feet off the ground and about 
three  kilometers downrange from the outer ring of trip wires and 
claymores. As soon as your team hit that outer ring of traps, my team 
moved in to take position along their flanks and to their rear."

"May we assume that this Lieutenant Phillipson you mentioned was the 
Immortal assigned to your team?"

"That would be correct."

"And might we speak with him?"

"He's standing behind you, actually."

"You are Lt. Phillipson?"

"Reporting as ordered, sir!"

"You look very young to have all this experience your Admiral Ramos 
credits you with."

"Immortality can be awkward like that. I've heard of Immortals that were 
less than fifteen years of age when they transitioned to immortality. I 
was the ripe old age of twenty-four when I joined the immortal ranks. As 
they say, Admiral, appearances can be deceiving."

"Indeed. But while you may have lived a long and adventurous life, how 
can we be certain that your analysis of this engagement is worth anything 
beyond what Admiral Ramos claims it to be?"

"Because of who I was before I awoke into my immortality. I do not know 
how similar your history is to ours, but does the name Alexander of 
Macedonia mean anything to you?"

"He was son of King Philip of Macedonia. He was a great military leader 
for his time."

"It is the same in my world. Only I didn't die as the history books 
suggested I did. And I would have been much happier as a man of science 
and advanced education than as a warrior. But I was born into a time when 
the knowledge of warfare was more important that the knowledge of 
philosophy. And when my father was killed, I could do naught but take his 
place as the King of Macedonia."

                         *******************

A few days later, Marius was sitting in his office, going over the daily 
reports concerning the repairs to his fleet, when Major Carter entered 
his office.

"Good afternoon, Major Carter. How can I help you today?"

"Have you had a chance Marco, to go over the footage taken from our first 
encounter with the Borg?"

"Not really. I find I don't have much time anymore to do the things I 
used to like to do. Was there anything specific in the record that should 
catch my attention?"

"It took my staff and I a while to piece together the audio and video 
records of the engagement, to try and identify the types of weaponry used 
by the Federation and to catalog their effectiveness. One weapon in 
particular caught our attention and that is what they term a transphasic 
torpedo. We're not entirely sure how it works, but suffice to say, it 
emits a force field of sorts that phases it slightly out of our 
dimension, allowing it to pass through anything. They used it with 
remarkable accuracy against the Borg to the point where usually only one 
or two shots were required to destroy a Borg cube. My team guessed that 
the weapon phases out of our dimension just after launch and phases back 
in when it is inside of the target."

"Sounds like something we should ask them for during the negotiations 
next week."

"Actually sir, Major Mulder indicated to me that the odds of obtaining 
weapons technology from them is on the order of slim to none. They have 
something in effect called the Prime Directive that prohibits them from 
interfering in the natural progression of a civilization. How that 
applies to a civilization from another dimension like us, is anyone's 
guess."

"Wonderful. So they are like the Tollan?"

"That would be as good an approximation as any other. But there is 
something else you should be aware of, and that is that we really don't 
need their transphasic technology."

"But you just said..."

"Yes sir. But there again, a member of my staff pointed out the obvious 
to the rest of us. We already have transphasic technology is the form of 
the Colonial QSG. Applying that tech to our conventional missiles, we 
could have the equivalent type weapons in short order. They wouldn't be 
as fast, but then again, they wouldn't have to be."

"Excellent work Major! That will give us one hell of an advantage the 
next time we meet the Borg. And the item I'm working on might give us 
even more of an advantage. Please take a look at this design. It is for 
what I am tentatively calling a missile frigate. 

For the frigate, I've drawn up a design that is approximately one hundred 
and fifty meters in length, ten decks in height, and fifty meters wide. 
It's mostly all shields and engines so it'll be difficult to kill and 
fast moving. In terms of weaponry, I was thinking along the lines of 
strictly missile launchers, defensive laser turrets, and four big honking 
gun platforms.

Four main guns, either all the same, or a mix of the heavy weapons we 
currently field, and brimming with defensive laser turrets and short 
range anti-matter packet launchers. But I'll leave the final 
specifications to you and your staff. I'm not asking that you build a 
fleet of them either. I'd hate to put all our eggs in one basket as it 
were. But even a pair of them would be helpful in our next encounter with 
the Borg."

"I'll get my team working on this forthwith sir, but truthfully, we were 
already tossing around some ideas like these."

"Perfect! Then I'll let you get back to work, cause unfortunately, I have 
an ever growing pile of reports to fill out."

"Have fun, sir!"

"Out!"

                         *******************

Starfleet Headquarters
San Francisco, Earth

While Major Carter and Admiral Ramos conversed high above their heads, 
the highest ranking Admirals in Starfleet, along with a few invited 
guests, were meeting to discuss the upcoming negotiations with the Halsey 
fleet. The Federation had for decades sought a way to create a wormhole, 
but it was a technology that eluded them. Sure, they had a wormhole in 
the Bajoran system, but it was an artificial construct created by alien 
entities with ties to the Bajoran people. It was also, the only stable 
wormhole in the known space, or at least in the space known to the 
Federation and its allies. Still, if they could achieve the technological 
breakthrough required to create a stable wormhole at any given moment, it 
would mean that travel of any great distance would be nearly 
instantaneous. It was something they desperately wanted. Hell, it was 
something all of the major powers in the Alpha and Beta quadrants wanted, 
and something the remaining powers of the Gamma and Delta quadrants would 
want as well, not to mention the Borg either. 

And now it had fallen, almost literally, into the laps of the Federation. 
But to trade for that which they wanted so desperately would mean a 
violation of their own rules. In particular, it would mean a violation of 
the Prime Directive, that sacrosanct of Starfleet rules regarding the 
non-interference of another civilization. It was true that the Prime 
Directive generally referred to non-warp civilizations, and perhaps in 
that specificity they had an opt out for their rules. The civilization 
represented by the AIS Halsey was non-warp. Yet they had achieved other 
methods of faster than light travel. But the methods they used violated 
several laws of physics in this universe so as to make the Federation 
scientists wonder how they were viable. 

By all that they knew, warp travel was the only method of traveling at 
FTL speeds. The principle was simple. Encase a ship in a warp field 
bubble that allowed the ship to reduce its mass relative to the universe 
outside the bubble, therein defeating Einstein's principle of FTL or E=MC 
Squared, where the Energy required to achieve FTL travel was equal to the 
mass of the object times the square of the speed of light. As the mass 
increases, so does the energy required. So for an object with one 
kilogram of mass, the energy required to achieve FTL was X where X is an 
achievable amount of energy. But to understand what X means for an object 
the size of the Halsey, it would be equivalent to the amount of energy 
produced by Sol in a year, but used every second. It was a phenomenal 
number, and if these people had found a way around that, well, that would 
be something for the scientists among them to discuss and debate.

"But Jean-Luc, can we afford not to give them what they ask for in 
exchange for the knowledge of creating stable wormholes?"

"Frankly, Admiral Janeway, I do not see that we can afford to bend the 
rule of the Prime Directive on this one occasion. To do so, would bring 
up the eventuality of bending the rule in the future. We have succeeded 
in staying the course on so many occasions, Kirk notwithstanding, of not 
giving in to our desires. Admiral Kirk was a different man in a much 
different Starfleet. Archer was much the same, if I read early Starfleet 
history correctly. Archer, was the first to go out and explore new worlds 
and to contact new civilizations. He was followed in kind by Kirk, who 
led us to victory in so many engagements and wars. But that was an era 
that we are trying to forget. How can we face our descendants, knowing 
that we gave in to a baser desire?"

"While true that Kirk and Archer were different types of officers than 
what we have today, those were different times, Picard. Archer was from a 
Starfleet that predated the Federation. He didn't have the weight of 
hundreds of member worlds to back up his statements. Hell, even the 
Vulcan's were merely acquaintances at the time, not real allies. But Kirk 
was a man of a different sort. He was a leader at a time when the 
Federation was already in place. His exploits and his missions were what 
laid the foundations for so many treaties with so many civilizations. He 
did try to enforce the Prime Directive on several occasions, but it was a 
wilder galaxy then, and Federation and Starfleet technology was 
primitive, even by our standards. I doubt that either of those two men, 
if alive today, could become officers in our modern Starfleet. But they 
are not germane to our discussions, are they Picard?"

"No, Admiral Janeway, they are not. What is germane is our desire. Our 
desire to obtain a technology that I am beginning to wonder if we should 
want or not. To have that in control of the Federation only would make us 
the target of every spy in the known universe. Is that something we want? 
I should think not!"

"Please Jean-Luc, control yourself. The question we should be asking 
ourselves is what they will want in exchange for that technology, not 
whether we should obey the Prime Directive. I think, in this case, that 
the Prime Directive does not apply."

"Admiral Nechayev! How can you say that?"

"Admiral Paris. Think about it for a moment. What does our Prime 
Directive state? No Starfleet personnel or any Federation citizen or 
representative may interfere with the normal development of any alien 
civilization or culture or may give them any superior technology which 
that alien culture is incapable of handling wisely. We know that this 
applies to pre-warp civilizations equally as well with warp 
civilizations. But if we look at this matter closely, General Order 
Number One only refers specifically to warp or pre-warp cultures. That 
the culture represented by the Halsey uses an altogether different method 
of FTL travel might be the one way with which we can safely state that 
the Prime Directive does not apply."

"All this knowledge and you look for a loophole?"

"Q!"

"Hello Kathy. Young Q wanted me to say 'Hello' for him. But I see that 
nothing has changed with you Primitives! Still arguing over points of law 
that have no relevance to the universe at large. Do any of you realize 
what is at stake here? Do you? No? Then I will tell you! You see things 
in so few dimensions and you grasp so little, but the gist of the matter 
is life as you know it. 

Yes, the Borg are very bad. But you are very good! It is a battle that 
will always happen, no matter the universe. Good is always destined to 
battle evil; sometimes to win, and sometimes to lose. 

The Borg are the very antithesis of your Federation. You primitives have 
a unique ability to build communities and therein lies your strength! Yet 
you fail to realize that potential and that is a sad thing indeed. The 
Borg assimilate all they touch and those assimilated cultures have very 
little hope of ever returning to what they once were. But the culture 
represented by the Halsey is facing an enemy vastly different from the 
Borg. Their enemy doesn't want to assimilate them. No, their enemy wants 
to annihilate them! Their enemy has already achieved what the Borg so 
desperately want; perfection! Perfection via artificial sentient life. 
And if that weren't bad enough for them, the enemy of the Tau'ri has 
formed an alliance with the enemy of their Colonial brethren. The 
resulting alliance will overwhelm their defenses and will plunge their 
universe into an eternity of what you so naively call Hell. Slavery mixed 
with genocide versus assimilation. You tell me which of the two you would 
prefer? I can arrange for you to meet their enemy and knowing you 
primitives like I do, you'd probably extend a hand in peace and 
friendship rather than outright destroy them like you should!"

"Their fight is not our fight, Q! We have enough problems with the Borg 
and we don't need to add others!"

"Katie, Katie. I had so high hopes for you. Very well. Observe the 
screen! I will give you a glance into their universe, for it is within my 
power to do so, and you will see for yourselves what the threat to them 
is. You see before you two creatures, humanoid in appearance only. The 
one in the white robes calls himself Count Iblis, though he is known by 
many names, the most familiar to you would be Lucifer. The other calls 
himself Anubis.

Once, long ago, Anubis was a blended human. What the Tau'ri call a 
Goa'uld. But a thousand years ago, in their timeline, he was banished by 
his own kind for being too cruel and sadistic which is an ironic thing. 
The symbiote within the man attempted to ascend to the plane of the 
Ancients, but they rejected him as they sensed within him, the same type 
of evil they had sensed within Iblis hundreds of thousands of years ago. 
Now he maintains his shape through the usage of a primitive dimensional 
armor. He wears a long black cloak with a long hood that covers his face, 
though to look at his face would mean your death. He is the epitome of 
what you have in your historical archives of the Grim Reaper. Let us now 
listen in for a moment or two."

"Your new Kull warriors are quite effective, Lord Anubis. But with a 
little cybernetic manipulation, you could increase their potential as 
warriors a thousand fold. There would be no more need to force grow the 
bodies or to have your Queen sire symbiotes without their genetic memory. 
Together, we can build the perfect warrior and the primitive humans of 
Earth will be unable to stand against us!"

"You speak wisely, Iblis. I shall take your counsel under consideration. 
My Kull warriors are bred for strength and loyalty, not for their 
intelligence factors. Perhaps a blend of your Cylon technology with my 
Kull technology could yet give us the perfect soldier with which to 
conquer this universe once and for all. Then, and only then, can we 
continue this operation in all the limitless alternate universes with 
ease. No one will be able to withstand us! Now or ever!"

"And this, you see, is your greatest threat. Not just to your precious 
Federation, but to all life in this universe. What the Tau'ri are 
attempting to do, in their limited capacity, is to prevent Anubis and 
Iblis from coming here. If Anubis and Iblis become as powerful as they 
hope to be, then neither the Ancients nor the Q Continuum will be able to 
stop them. The combined powers of what you so euphemistically call evil 
would overwhelm all in their path. And frankly, I have no desire to 
repeat warfare the likes of which the Q are capable of, as I'm sure 
Admiral Janeway will attest to."

"Thank you Q. You've given us much to contemplate."

                         *******************

An hour afer the meeting on Earth, Picard and Janeway were standing in 
the Admiral's office aboard the Halsey.

"Please! Sit. May I offer you anything to drink? Coffee? Tea?"

"Coffee for me, would be nice."

"Tea for me. Earl Gray if you have it."

"Steward! Two coffees and one Earl Gray tea, please."

"Aye sir."

They chatted amiably for a bit and a few moments later the beverage 
service had been delivered. With a wave and a nod, Marius dismissed the 
Mess Steward and then they were able to get on with business.

"So, Captain. Admiral. I must admit I did not expect to see anyone from 
your Federation for at least a few days. I rather suspected you would 
need at least that long to formulate your plan for our proposed upcoming 
negotiations."

"Truthfully Admiral, I had hoped we would not enter into negotiations 
with you. Personally I find you to be a primitive example of an era in 
our own history that is best forgotten. But some matters have come to our 
attention, courtesy of the Q, and we find it is now in our best interest 
to assist you wherever possible."

"Captain Picard. I've really no idea why you have insisted on taking such 
a hostile approach towards us. But rather than dwell on that I would much 
rather like to know what the Q have told you to change your mind."

"Q showed us images from your universe. Here is the file. We'll give you 
a few moments to look it over."

Picard and Janeway were anxious to observe his reactions to the file. But 
he had a poker face that would put a Vulcan to shame. At least until the 
part about the new and improved Kull warrior came on. Then his face 
showed abject horror. After a moment he composed himself once again and 
turned his attention back to them.

"I see. This is not good news at all. We'd had only one encounter with 
the Kull warrior prior to our departure, and it was a formidable weapon 
of war. The assault team poured plasma fire, projectile fire, and high 
explosives onto the target and it merely shrugged them off as you or I 
would to a bothersome mosquito. The only advantage we had to date was 
that there were problems in gestating the humanoid hosts for the warrior 
parasite. These problems caused the host body to deteriorate over a short 
period of time. If, however, Anubis is successful in tying cybernetic 
technology to his warrior class, then I fear we will have a bold new 
enemy when we return home. An enemy against which we will be hard pressed 
to fight. May I keep this recording? I'd like my engineering and science 
teams to look over it and begin formulating tactics against it."

"Of course. That brings up the other issue we are here for. Fleet Command 
has decided to advise the Federation President in the affirmative in 
terms of a technology exchange. Quite frankly, the science of wormholes 
that you seem to take for granted is a sort of Holy Grail for us. Any 
information towards that end would be greatly appreciated."

"Any information we have on the subject, whether Stargate or Combat Gate 
related will be handed over freely. But as to which technologies we will 
ask for in return, frankly I'm unsure. Perhaps a comparison of all of our 
technologies is in order? I would gladly extend an invitation to any 
scientists or engineers of yours that wish to examine our ships in more 
detail."

"Very well then. There is one additional request we have. Some of the 
infantry instructors were aboard the Holoship when your team wiped out 
our team during the simulation. There has been a request forwarded by 
them to the head of Starfleet Academy to ascertain the possibility of a 
guest speaker or two for the upper class of cadets. The Admiral at the 
Academy requested the tactician for the exercise be allowed to speak to 
the cadets, but if any other of your Immortal crews wish to come along, 
then the offer is extended as well."

"I shall have to ask Alexander if he would like that honor. But I for 
one, would like a tour of your Academy, and perhaps I could be convinced 
to speak to a class or two. I shall have to ask my XO if he would be 
interested."

"Your Executive Officer is also Immortal?"

"Yes. All of the immortals on the ship, if you added our ages together, 
would not equal his. He is the eldest of our race and a direct descendant 
of the Ancients. The remainder of us are results of experiments conducted 
by the Ancients."

"And how does that feel, knowing you were created in a petri dish?"

"It feels good to be alive. I have seen so much history and so much 
death, that one would think mental defects might become a problem. And 
they are at times. I've seen generations come and go. I've seen the best 
and worst that humanity has to offer. There have been moments of 
excitement, moments of depression, moments of joy, and moments of 
sadness. But all in all Captain Picard, it has been a good life, and for 
that, I am grateful."

                         *******************

It was a week before the Forge Deck could begin building the necessary 
hull materials for a new class of ship that would now accompany the 
Halsey and her Prometheus class escorts on their mission. Major Carter's 
team had interfaced well with the Starfleet teams of engineers and 
scientists. An early result of that interaction was that the new 
gunboats, as they were being called, would have both hyper drives and the 
Federation Warp drives. For longer distances, the Hyperdrive had no 
equal. But for shorter distances, the warp drive was preferred as it was 
less energy intensive. 

For many of the Starfleet vessels, the warp engines provided the majority 
of power. However, the larger vessels also sported fusion generators that 
provided additional electrical power to the ships' systems. And while 
fusion generators can be quite powerful, they were also quite a bit 
larger than the Naquadah generators. This then became the first 
technological exchange between the Tau'ri and their Federation 
counterparts. 

The Federation Council had alerted it's member worlds that they would be 
launching an offensive against the Borg in their home sectors. Within 
days of this announcement being made, two battle groups appeared in 
Federation space; a Klingon group, and a Cardassian group. A similar 
group was expected from the Romulans, in an unprecedented act of 
understanding the common goal. The Romulan Empire, though not at all 
friendly with any of the other major powers of the Alpha Quadrant, all 
too well understood the implication of the Federation plan, and the 
consequences of its failure. The added bonus that the Borg were now in 
possession of very advanced technologies made all parties equally aware 
of the danger and the possible benefits to their own empires. 

Federation space in sector zero-zero-one became a sight that none could 
ever remember prior to this time. There was a complicated mixture of 
ships and crews in abundance. As things were progressing, there was a 
dire need for a face to face meeting between all interested parties. But 
since neither the Klingons, the Cardassians, or the Romulans could say 
anything about the Tau'ri, they acquiesced to a preliminary meeting 
aboard the Halsey. Only one representative from each empire would be 
allowed aboard the Halsey, and each was allowed one aide, though each 
pair would also be assigned one pair of Immortals as guards. But at last, 
the five major powers of the Alpha Quadrant and their new found Tau'ri 
guests were in one room. For the Halsey, Marius had asked Mulder to 
accompany him, as his psychological insights would serve him best. The 
Federation had chosen Admiral Janeway as their representative and she had 
in turn asked Seven of Nine to accompany her. The Klingons would be 
represented by Chancellor Martok, with Ambassador Worf as his aide. The 
Cardassians had sent Gul Tinkar along with an aide that was, according to 
the Federation, a member of their Obsidian Order. The Romulan Empire 
would be served by Admiral Sela, as the Emperor thought it best to have a 
half-Human/half-Romulan emissary to this most unusual meeting. She was 
joined by a member of the Tal Shiar as her aide. The Obsidian Order and 
the Tal Shiar were both intelligence organizations within their 
respective governments; both had the power to do as they pleased within 
their own empires.

                         *******************

Mulder look out at the sea of faces before him. He wondered, not for the 
first time, if Marius had placed too much faith in him for this crucial 
meeting. It was one thing, he thought to profile a human. Quite another 
altogether to profile an alien. As preparation for this meeting, he'd 
gone over the data that had been provided to his team by the Federation. 
He'd already guessed that even the Federation records were incomplete on 
the subject at hand, as even in his own universe, no one government could 
no absolutely everything about another government. He vowed to observe 
the initial greetings and the initial discussions quietly, to best gauge 
the responses of the others present.

For his part, Marius felt in over his head. But he felt a light tingling 
sensation and realized that Tok'Ra, whom he hadn't seen in quite a few 
days, and Q, were hovering in the background, unseen by anyone else in 
the room. It gave him a bit more confidence than he felt. As he began the 
introductions, he decided to introduce himself by his true name.

"Greetings to all. I am Admiral Gaius Marius Augustus, Commander of the 
AIS First fleet, President of the Immortal Council, and duly appointed 
representative of the Alliance of Independent Systems. My aide for these 
series of meetings if Major Fox Mulder, Chief of Diplomatic Relations. I 
bid you welcome to the AIS Halsey, and I hope that our time here will be 
productive."

"Greetings. I am Martok, Chancellor of the High Council of the Klingon 
Empire! My aide is Worf, son of Mogh."

"On behalf of the Cardassian Empire, I bid you all greetings. I am Gul 
Tinkar of the Cardassian Defense Forces. My aide is Tukat."

"Hello to all. I am Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Representative of the United 
Federation of Planets. My aide for these meetings will be Lieutenant 
Annika Hansen, formerly known as Seven of Nine, tertiary adjunct of Uni-
Matrix Zero-One. She is here to provide insight into the Borg 
Collective."

"I bring to you all greetings from the Romulan Emperor. I am Admiral 
Sela, Commander of the Praetorian Fleet. My aide is Commander Toreth."

"Admiral Sela, I find your references to an early Earth Empire most 
interesting. In particular, the words 'Centurion' and 'Praetorian'."

"My mother, told me of this, once, long ago. The similarities between the 
Romulan Empire and the Roman Empire of old Earth. Is this of what you 
speak?"

"It is. During the time of the Roman Empire, I was her Pro Consul, and 
General of the Prima Legion. I also served as Commander of the Praetorian 
Guard. Perhaps there are other similarities?"

"There may be. I shall have to ponder this development."

"Chancellor Martok, forgive my ignorance, but was it not explained that 
weapons would not be allowed?"

"I have no weapons!"

"Your knives are what I refer to. But if it makes you feel safer, you may 
keep them. Be aware, however, that the guards assigned to you are 
exceptional warriors. You and your aide may be stronger and bigger, but 
edged weapons have been in usage by Immortals since the beginning of our 
history. All of the Immortals assigned to you, have at least five hundred 
years experience with edged weapons and in warfare."

Each person at the table took Marius' statement differently. For Janeway, 
it was another example of how primitive these Tau'ri were. For Seven, the 
statement of longevity was met with awe, as these immortals were the 
Borg's definition of biological perfection. Martok and Worf both began to 
look upon these people as potential equals. Any race that used edged 
weapons would know the true meaning of what it was to be a warrior. The 
two Cardassians, on the other hand, saw the similarities between the 
Federation and these Tau'ri, between the Klingon warriors and these 
Immortal warriors, and between the Romulan Government, and this former 
Roman and thought with dismay that there were too many similarities for 
his tastes. There must be some common ground for us! For her part, Sela 
found herself in the middle of a riddle. Could there be any truth to the 
similarities between her government and this Roman empire of Old Earth? 
She had a feeling that she would be spending many hours learning about 
this Roman Empire. Toreth, on the other hand, had already read everything 
she possible could on the Roman Empire, and recognized the name 'Gaius 
Marius'. She would have an interesting report to make to the Senate this 
day.

"We have here a most unique opportunity, to put the fear of the Universe 
into the Borg. It is said, that the Borg fear no one or no thing. Your 
empires have fought several skirmishes with the Borg to this point. 
Whether you choose to join us in our offensive is irrelevant. The Halsey 
will be going to Borg space. We will be taking the battle to them. We 
will take back what is rightfully ours. The Borg can not be allowed to 
develop the technologies stolen from the Ancients. To do so would be 
allowing a plague to spring forth on the limitless dimensions of the 
universe. 

Do not take this lightly. You will be far from home and even further from 
your lines of supply. You must plan with great foresight and take into 
account every possible contingency. For our part, the Halsey was 
initially designed as a fleet support vessel. We can build every ship in 
our fleet up to the size of  the Halsey. Our squadrons of fighters and 
bombers have been rebuilt since our last encounter with the Borg. Our 
reserve pilots are getting as much training as we can give them, and we 
anticipate being at three-fourths of our previous strength by month's 
end. Additionally, we are transitioning a number of atmospheric pilots 
for space warfare, though that will take time that I feel we may not 
have."

"The Borg came here via some form of advanced transwarp portal system. 
How will you track them to their home sector?"

"An astute question, Lt. Hansen. What you call a transwarp portal is what 
the Ancients called a Combat Gate. This type of gate creates a stable 
mono-directional wormhole, which we can use to travel thousands of light 
years at a time. We suspect that the Borg made no changes to the original 
design of the Ancients. Using that as a premise, I instructed our 
navigational officer to send out a signal ping on all of the known 
Ancient control frequencies. The response was an affirmative one. 
Unbeknownst to any of you here, the Borg have constructed a vast network 
of Combat Gates, enabling them to appear in hundreds of systems with 
little or no warning. Because we also use the technology of the Ancients, 
our scanners can detect the approaching wormholes generated by the CG 
system. Since they use the CG system, a test was made of the Star Gate 
system as well. The only Gates that responded were those aboard our 
ships, the test gates we installed on Earth and on Vulcan, and one other 
Gate, which is on a planet near the furthest CG. 

Furthermore, early this morning, a single cloaked probe was launched 
along the CG network. We have confirmed that the planet with the SG on it 
is a Borg world. What I propose is the following. A multi-pronged attack, 
using troops sent via SG, troops beamed to the surface, and a fleet to 
engage the Borg in space."

"A bold plan worthy of a Klingon! Tell us more of this Star Gate 
technology."

"As I stated a moment ago, we set up two test gates for the Federation to 
examine. If you'll pay close attention to the screens in front of you, 
you'll see the Gates as they exist at this moment on Earth and on Vulcan. 
The wormhole created with this technology is both mono and uni-
directional. It is one way when troops or equipment are sent through. 
That is, if the Gate is opened on Earth with the intended destination 
being Vulcan, then any troops or equipment will go from Earth to Vulcan. 
To return, the Gate must be closed down and then re-opened from the 
Vulcan side. Audio and video signals, as they are already a form of light 
energy, can move in both directions at once.

To this end, we can, when in close proximity to the Borg world, open a 
wormhole between one of our ships and the Borg world. We can keep the 
wormhole open for thirty-eight minutes at any given time. This will allow 
us to send the initial troops and equipment to establish a foothold on 
that world. As soon as our troops on that side of the wormhole report 
their situation, we can send more troops and can continuously reinforce 
their position so long as we have the troops to do so. 

The moment we have established that foothold, the AIS Prometheus class 
battlecruisers will penetrate the atmosphere of that world to lend fire 
support and additional personnel and equipment to the fight. 
Simultaneously, the Halsey and the gunboats and fighter squadrons 
assigned to her will engage the Borg in Space around their world. I do 
not know that we will be able to reverse the Borgification of the 
inhabitants, but we will certainly attempt to take as many prisoners as 
we can for this purpose. Failing that, we will retrieve our personnel on 
the surface, and commence a planetary bombardment, to prevent the Borg 
from retaking our foothold. 

Once we have established and secured that position, we can begin 
receiving supplies via the SG and CG systems. Questions so far?"

"The Borg will resist your attempts to take one of the colony worlds. 
Have you any visual data from your probe?"

"Routing it to your screens now."

Janeway had known Seven for years, yet in all that time, she had never 
seen anything so scare her compatriot as the information on the screen.

"Lieutenant, since you are familiar with Borg vessels, perhaps you could 
describe for us what we are seeing?"

"Of course. In orbit about the planet are six Borg stations. I see dozens 
of Borg constructors, building a network of defensive satellites and long 
range detection arrays. Borg defensive satellites are of two varieties; 
disruptors and plasma torpedoes. Though they are small, each satellite is 
equipped with a shield system comparable to the Borg Cube. The shield 
frequencies rotate quickly and are set on random patterns, so that no two 
satellites will have the same shield frequency at the same time. 

There appears to be at least two of each assembly matrices in the system. 
The smaller pair of assembly matrices are utilized to build the smaller 
Borg vessels, such as the Interceptors and Assimilators. The larger 
assembly matrices are used almost exclusively to build Cubes, Tactical 
Cubes, and Diamonds. The Diamond shaped vessels are used exclusively by 
the Borg Queen and her potential replacements. From the visual telemetry 
of your probe, I count sixteen standard Cubes, twenty Tactical Cubes, and 
four each of the Fusion Cubes and Tactical Fusion Cubes. There are also 
hundreds of Interceptors and Assimilators in the sector. 

Though all Borg vessels are dangerous, the Assimilator is potentially the 
most dangerous type of craft. The Assimilation beam has the power to 
penetrate all of the known Alpha quadrant shielding systems and can 
quickly strip a ship of its crew and simultaneously beam back Borg 
replacements. In effect, the Assimilators are used to take over other 
vessels."

"What of the shields on the AIS vessels?"

"I have examined your shielding technology. Though primitive by Borg 
standards, the fact that you utilize triply redundant shields all on 
different rotating frequencies,  will prevent the Assimilation beam from 
penetrating your shields. Your organic hull technology also seems to be 
resistant to the Borg Carving beams, and this may prove a useful 
advantage."

"Excellent, Lieutenant. Any other questions? Gul Tinkar? You have a 
question?"

"I do. What is your time estimate for preparations?"

"Well, the longer we take to prepare, the better off we will be. But if 
we wait too long, the Borg will come here before we can go there. A wise 
man on my home world, once said, that to do battle in a far away place, 
you must travel to that battle with little or no supplies. You must 
appear to be stronger than you are. If we show up in that system with a 
supply convoy, the Borg will react in a predictable manner. That is to 
say, they will attack our convoy first, cutting us off from what they 
believe to be our supplies. However, our goal is not to fight a prolonged 
fight, but to take control of that system as quickly as possible. Once we 
establish our foothold in their space, we can strike outwards, taking one 
colony world or colony system at a time until we control a sizeable 
portion of their space. Then, and only then, can we entertain any 
suggestions for a truce, if the Borg so desire one. But as to a launch 
date for this mission, I would say at least three months before we can be 
ready to attack. Three months would enable our ground forces to learn to 
work with one another, to learn our mutual strengths and weaknesses, so 
that we may best compensate for each other. 

Do not misunderstand me. I fully intend for this to be a joint operation. 
I am told that Klingon warriors are fearsome ones, and the Romulans are 
very cunning and skilled at tactics. The Cardassians are skilled with 
intelligence gathering and are not above torturing a being for 
information. These things and more are important to the success of the 
mission. But herein lies the difficulty. Would a company of Klingon 
warriors take orders from a Romulan? Or a Cardassian? Or a Human for that 
matter? There is no need to answer at this time, Chancellor, as those 
were rhetorical questions. We have time enough, I pray, to answer those 
questions.  We have time enough to build not one but three fleets. And we 
have time enough to prepare."

"Why three fleets?"

"Simple really, Admiral Sela. One fleet shall remain here to prevent the 
Borg from doing what we are planning. One fleet shall engage the Borg, 
with a second fleet on standby near to the battle zone. The second fleet 
will be there to lend support should the first fleet be overwhelmed or 
suffer too many losses, but once they are called in it will be an all or 
nothing situation. If we fail there, there will be no falling back. The 
Borg will come here and it will be up to the fleet we leave behind to 
hold them at bay. If the third fleet fails, the Federation will fall. And 
if the Federation falls, it's a sure bet that the rest of you will fall 
as well.

Now, I've given you all much to think on. There are hundreds, if not 
thousands, of details to be worked out, and I will leave those details in 
the very capable hands of the AIS Diplomatic staff. Three months from now 
will be too late to develop a new plan."

                         *******************

The various members of the five represented governments went to their own 
ships, to contact their governments for guidance in this matter. All 
except Marius, who had no government to contact. 

For their part, Q and Tok'Ra felt the meeting had gone quite well. 

"Those are interesting children you have created Tok'Ra. Ambitious and 
bold. But the Borg population is vast. They will need everything in their 
arsenal just to secure a foothold."

"Of this I am well aware Q. But as you stated to the Federation so 
eloquently, to fail is to allow the Borg to solve the dimensional 
question. And to allow that sort of plague loose on the universe is not a 
good thing."

"As always, old friend, your gift for understatement is without equal!"

"Understatement or not Q, this is not a war of their making. I fear for 
my children. I must contemplate this situation. I must find a way to help 
them win this war. Surely there would be no harm in our talking? Perhaps, 
with a discussion, I can find a way to help them without fighting it for 
them?"

"There are always methods of war that are difficult to see. I will 
discuss this with the Continuum. Where will you be?"

"With my Children. As I should be."

                         *******************

Elsewhere on the Halsey, Marius kneeled alone and in the dark, praying to 
a God he wasn't sure existed. 'Am I doing the right thing?' he wondered. 
He prayed for Divine guidance.

Aboard the Federation Starship Voyager, Janeway was delivering her report 
to Fleet Command, while Seven of Nine pondered the question of biological 
perfection. The Borg's long stated goal for that was Immortality. 
Perfection. Immortality. Since leaving the Collective, she had not 
thought on that question, yet with it now staring her in the face, how 
could she not want it? If this race had achieved it, could she? Could the 
Borg? Could any species achieve biological perfection?

Chancellor Martok delivered his report to the Klingon High Council. He 
was enthusiastic for the coming war and his statements of the glorious 
cause were made with much vigor. Worf, on the other hand, had no real 
lust for war. He had seen it often enough and had fought the Borg and 
lived to tell the tale. But a skirmish with the Borg is a far different 
thing than taking the battle to them. Was this a good day to die?

Admiral Sela was preparing to make her report, thinking on the events of 
the meeting. Commander Toreth, however, was already speaking with the 
Emperor.

"I had not thought it possible, that a prophecy of the Old Ones could be 
realized. But he is the one foretold so long ago. Gaius Marius Augustus. 
My Emperor, it is right that we help him, to assure our rightful place in 
the universe!"

"I will go myself. I must see and meet this Roman for myself!"

Commander Toreth would wait for his arrival. 

Gul Tinkar was of a different mind. Since the fall of Cardassia Prime 
during the Dominion War, their infrastructure had been spread thin. Could 
Cardassia give what was needed? This he could not answer. But his aide 
saw it differently. Could they afford not to give what was needed? The 
new technologies to be found with the Borg Collective could elevate them 
to the power they once were! The Cardassian Council had to be made to see 
that so plainly evident truth!

                         *******************

On a distant world, called Ferenginar, the Grand Nagus learned of the 
meeting too late to attend. But they had the data from a spy probe of the 
tests of the Star Gate system between Earth and Vulcan. A transport 
system such as that could bring a fortune so vast as to be impossible to 
envision. Their best war vessels were no match for anything the four 
major powers possessed. But perhaps the Ferengi could persuade them to 
allow them to supply all that was needed? If they obtain the wormhole 
tech, any price in ships and supplies would be too little by comparison. 
But whom could he trust to negotiate on behalf of the Ferengi?


In a quadrant of space known to the Federation and her contemporaries as 
the Gamma Quadrant, a now healed raced of shape shifting aliens looked 
upon the data obtained from the Alpha quadrant. The Borg would eventually 
come for them, they knew. But could an old enemy be made to see reason in 
this situation? The Founders pondered this through the Great Link, hoping 
to reach a position from which they could argue favorably with the major 
powers of the Alpha Quadrant.


And back on Earth, in the universe and dimension from which the Halsey 
came, plans by a certain Senator were coming to fruition. He was poised 
to enter the race for President against the incumbent, John Patrick Ryan. 

"My fellow Americans. I have thought long and hard over the previous 
months and have come to the conclusion that our great nation can ill 
afford to be a part of this great alliance of alien worlds that President 
Ryan has engaged us in. As a member of the Senate Oversight Committee in 
charge of the Star Gate Program, I attempted on numerous occasions to 
have the program halted. Pandora's Box, that mythical place from which 
all the evils escaped, has been kept open. If we do not close it and cut 
ourselves off from the universe, we will find ourselves gone. Our new 
alliances with the people who call themselves Colonials and Immortals 
will bring naught but misfortune to all that we have worked so hard and 
so long to accomplish. For this reason, I am officially declaring my 
candidacy for the office of President of the United States of America. 
May God bless us all. Good night."

                         *******************

Two weeks had passed since the meeting of the major powers in the Alpha 
Quadrant. It was perhaps, the first time in Federation history, that all 
of the major powers of the Alpha Quadrant had been at such a meeting. 
Sure, there had been peace conferences and trade conferences, but those 
had been orchestrated by the diplomats. This meeting of the minds, had 
been for the military leadership. And it was the first time that they had 
met to discuss such a grand strategy; to destroy the Borg threat once and 
for all. 

The four major races had long ago abandoned the idea of using small one 
or two man fighter craft, but from the Tau'ri, they were learning the 
potential of the fighter once again. Of course, each race thought they 
could do better and each race was given the opportunity to prove itself 
in a test designed to bring about new fighter designs to the front. These 
new ideas were being cobbled together quickly just to be the first to 
field a prototype. In an era dominated by large vessels, the fighter was 
being reinvented.

Major Carter and her staff had finished the modeling of the new gunboats 
and were busily churning out hull sections for what was turning out to be 
a formidable little ship. Well, little in comparison to a Prometheus 
class ship. The finalized design called for three large gun platforms on 
'top' of the ship, and one on the 'bottom'. The gun platforms each had 
two massive gun barrels and were designed to fire a projectile that, with 
the assistance of the Federation, achieved a velocity of just over Warp 3 
(W3) soon after leaving the barrel. The projectile was made of a trinium-
titanium alloy that enclosed a naquadah enhanced Solonite warhead capable 
of delivering an explosive force equivalent to two megatons of TNT. But 
even with that, the warhead was small and each projectile measured only 
one foot in diameter by three feet in length, though the warhead itself 
was only a foot long. The added length encased the single warp drive unit 
that would accelerate the projectile to its target, and overload as the 
projectile hit its target. The amount of explosive added to the warhead 
was negligible in that the minute amount of antimatter that powered the 
warp drive was infinitesimally small.  

Major Carter's design team had also placed six torpedo launchers on the 
bow along with twelve torpedo launchers to either side of the vessel. The 
Federation engineers had added in strips of what they called Phasers to 
the periphery of the vessel, allowing it to fight off small vessels and 
incoming torpedoes. Sort of like a CIWS system aboard sea going vessels 
of the US Navy, but utilizing energy based weapons. The additional 
firepower meant that the vessel would be able to hold its own against the 
Goa'uld Udajeet fighters when they returned to their own universe. The 
best part was that the gunboat could aim its guns toward a planet to 
conduct bombardment of a target, so long as it was broadside to the 
planet. The new ships would also be home to four shuttles that were being 
designated exclusively for Search and Rescue missions, but would also 
carry a limited defensive armament. They had no name for the new class of 
ships as yet.

About the time that Carter and her team were beginning to lay down hull 
sections for the new ships, Doctor Helios of the Colonial contingent had 
gone to visit Marius with the design for a gun battery. He said that in 
the early days of the Cylon-Colonial war, the Colonies had field these 
automated gun batteries in orbit about their worlds. He had revisited the 
design and with modifications possible from technologies he now had 
access to, the gun batteries could act as small vessels. The top would 
have a dual turret for an energy weapon, while the bottom would field a 
dual launcher for naquadah enhanced Solonite missiles. The gun units were 
fully automated and no crew would be needed. He had gone so far as to 
included a self destruct mechanism on the platforms that would target the 
nearest enemy vessel and ram it, setting off whatever fuel remained 
aboard along with a Naquadah-Solonite charge. Each platform would have 
enough missiles for thirty-two shots, and enough power for the Vorlon 
style Grand Cannons to fire thirty shots. Marius approved the design, and 
because of their size, the new platforms could be churned out in vast 
numbers. 

It was shortly after that meeting with Dr. Helios, that Marius found 
himself caught up with the unending piles of paperwork on his desk. He 
looked up the shuttle schedule and saw that Alex's strike team was due to 
visit the Starfleet Academy and so he decided to tag along. It would give 
him a chance to get a better feel for these Federation humans and it 
would give him the opportunity to see Earth once again. It felt like 
years since he'd set foot on a planet and he wanted nothing more than to 
feel a solid ground beneath his feet.

With Methos in firm command of the ship, Marius went down via shuttle to 
the Federation landing facility in San Francisco. Except for the fact 
that the aircraft were really surface to orbit ships, and that there were 
aliens walking everywhere, the hustle and bustle of the docking facility 
could have been easily mistaken for any major airport on his world. There 
were still security checkpoints at or near the boarding areas, but there 
were also decontamination rooms near the arrivals stations. But there was 
something wrong with what he saw. Marius just could not stop feeling 
that. Most of the people he saw were wearing the uniform of Starfleet, 
though there were a smattering of civilians in the room. At least that 
was how Marius saw them, considering they were not wearing uniforms. He 
caught up with Alex and his team, and together they took a shuttle to the 
Academy, where they were met by what appeared to be a few cadets.

"Admiral Ramos?"

"That would be me. And you are?"

"Cadet Lieutenant Barnes, sir. The Admiral sends his regards and regrets 
that he was unable to meet you on such short notice. He stated that had 
you given more warning, perhaps even a few hours, he would have put 
together a more proper welcoming ceremony."

"Nonsense. I think this is more suitable. We don't want to disrupt your 
daily routine here after all."

"Very good sir. I will be your guide for your visit here. The others here 
will each take one of your party for their visit and we will meet back 
here at 1700 hours."

"Excellent! Lead on Cadet. Lead on."

                         *******************

If you'd seen one military academy, you've seen them all. Or university 
for that matter. Lecture halls, auditoriums, libraries, labs. It all ran 
together fairly quickly. He half listened as the Cadet Lieutenant 
described the functions of the various labs and classrooms. He saw 
firsthand, the training areas where cadets destined for the role of Fleet 
Marine were put through their paces. He shook his head as once again he 
saw the poor entry discipline exhibited by these cadets. Had no one ever 
come to the conclusion that standing in a doorway was a good way to get 
shot? Even though he had been a pilot for the last century, he had also 
served as an infantryman in earlier wars. Had he stood in a doorway to 
clear a room, his old DI would have shot him on the spot to teach him a 
lesson. The comparisons with his basic training regimens and with the one 
that these cadets were going through was like night and day. 

He flashed back for a moment to basic training at the onset of the Second 
World War and remembered his DI using live rounds to ensure the rookies 
under his tutelage kept their heads down. Ok, so these DI's were using 
energy weapons, and yes, an energy weapon at full power would vaporize a 
target. But setting them at such a low level such that a shot could be 
shrugged off was defeating the purpose. He was still shaking his head as 
he walked onto the training course and approached one of the DI's.

"Sir, what you are doing to these cadets, showing them the gentler side 
of warfare is cruel. The first time these cadets face down a barrage of 
weapons fire, they'll be lucky to come out alive!"

"And you are?"

"Admiral Marco Ramos, AIS Halsey."

"Ah yes. I've heard of you. Your team trounced the best men and women I'd 
ever trained. I think that fight was highly unfair."

"Unfair? In what way?"

"Your people come from a time when warfare is more of a professional 
pursuit, and less of an honorable one."

"You could not be that dense! Any of your students here, if put into 
battle, would die the quick death of the stupid! It takes a lot of smarts 
and common sense to survive on the battlefield. I can understand that 
since most of the major battles your Federation has fought recently have 
been ship against ship, but I'm sure there were some ground engagements. 
What rate of ground forces attrition do you find acceptable? What is the 
first duty of a ground pounder?"

"We find a rate of attrition of ten to fifteen percent acceptable in any 
ground engagement. And everyone knows that the first duty of the Fleet 
Marines is to die defending the Federation!"

"So out of one hundred Marines, you expect to lose fifteen soldiers? In a 
very short time, you'll have a fighting force that is not at all 
effective! And you're wrong sir. The first duty of any soldier is not to 
die for their country, but to make the enemy die for theirs!"

"Therein lies the difference between us, sir. Our troops are trained to 
fight honorably. Your soldiers are trained to fight professionally. That 
is, to use every dirty trick to make the enemy give up their lives. Your 
people are little more than barbarians. We do not condone that sort of 
fighting."

"Then I feel sorry for you, sir. You are destined to lose every member of 
this cadet class in a ground engagement. That is simply wrong."

Marius walked away wondering if such attitudes were the predominant one 
in the Federation. Surely the art of warfare could not have been 
forgotten so easily? Ok, so in their defense, they've fought more ship to 
ship battles than we have, well, at least in space. It does seem as if 
the role of the Fleet Marine is more designed for boarding party action 
than for ground engagements. Maybe a demonstration is in order? But what 
sort of demonstration? Then Marius hit on a nice solution that would give 
his ground pounders the training time and at the same time would enable 
these Federation types to see how our tactics work and how we can best 
integrate our commands. Because in the coming battles against the Borg, 
an integrated command structure has the best chance at survival.

                         *******************

"Admiral, there's an Admiral Ramos to see you. He does not have an 
appointment."

"Please, send the Admiral in."

Janeway's office was not at all what he had pictured in his mind. It was 
a not so balanced blend between comfort and utility, with comfort 
definitely coming out ahead of utility. There was a display to the left 
side of what Marius guessed to be various classes of Federation ships and 
shuttles. 

"Admiral Janeway. I apologize for not setting an appointment prior to my 
visit, but as I happened to be in the neighborhood, I thought I might 
stop by to visit for a bit."

"Not at all Admiral Ramos. You are more than welcome to visit anytime. 
Now then, is this purely a social call? Or do you have some business to 
discuss?"

"All business, I'm afraid."

"Continue."

"When the Halsey set out from its construction dock, a number of systems 
were untested. Since then, we've been cast into two different parallel 
universes, this being the second one. Our defensive systems have now been 
rather thoroughly tested under combat conditions, but there is one part 
that has not been tested and for this to occur, I feel that you, or 
rather, Star Fleet could be of some assistance."

"Continue."

"You may have noticed the two, for lack of a better term, outrigger pods 
mounted on either side of the Halsey. These are troop deployment pods. 
While they do not possess any engines capable of FTL speeds, they do have 
engine systems that will enable each pod to make a planetary landing. 
What I propose is that some area of land be loaned to us so that we may 
test these deployment pods. Furthermore, our ground forces could stand 
with some additional training. So perhaps we could accomplish a number of 
objectives here. If your Fleet Marines would care to act as defenders in 
this situation, then my troops will act as the aggressors. We'll conduct 
a planetary landing, under fire, and deploy our troops. Your people will 
defend a target and mine will do what is necessary to capture that 
target. In order to prevent needless casualties, I recommend both sides 
use only stun weapons."

"What will this accomplish?"

"It will give us the opportunity to iron out any bugs that may be present 
in our plans for planetary landings. It will give you the opportunity to 
see how effective, or ineffective, our ground pounders will be. And it 
will give us a starting point for integrating our commands for the coming 
battles with the Borg."

"Your idea has merit, Admiral. I will discuss this proposal with the 
Admiralty, and we'll have an answer for you in a few days. In the 
meantime, the design bureau has forwarded to me their plans for our new 
fighters. Two of these are simple modifications of existing craft, while 
the third is a new ship altogether. The first one is the Peregrine. This 
is a relatively small fighter designed to work in conjunction with the 
larger ships of the fleet. It came about as a result of the war with the 
Dominion and was designed to counter the Jem H'adar fighters. It carries 
a limited armament and a crew of two. It is capable of limited warp 
flight. The second is the Defiant class. Though it was designed for 
escort duty, it has become one of our more formidable warships. It 
carries a crew of fifty, two torpedo launchers and pulse phaser cannons. 
It is capable of high warp. These two ships together would form the bulk 
of our new proposed fighter squadrons, with the Peregrines acting as 
interdictors and the Defiant's acting as gunboats."

"Sounds like a workable concept. What about your third ship?"

"There is no designation as yet, but the early designs show it to be 
somewhere between the Peregrine and the Defiant in terms of size. It will 
have pulse phaser cannons like the Defiant, and two torpedo launchers. 
Estimated crew size of thirty. Instead of the standard complement of 
torpedoes, it will have only tri-cobalt weapons, designed for long range 
fire support or planetary bombardment."

"Interesting. Our own ideas of what constitutes fighters and gunboats are 
vastly different. Our carrier based construction docks are currently 
churning out hull sections for two new classes of vessels, Admiral. One 
is a gunboat. It will have four main guns, six forward facing torpedo 
launchers, and twelve missiles launchers to either side. We've added in 
an array of point defense weapons, ablative and regenerative armor, and 
our standard shielding package. It carries a crew of twelve. The second 
vessel is a mobile unmanned gun platform. The top portion of the platform 
has a single twin barrel turret, while the bottom portion has a single 
twin-armed launcher for missiles. There is a limited amount of point 
defense weapons aboard. They are QSG shielded and are designed to ram the 
nearest enemy target once their ordinance has been expended."

"QSG shielded?"

"A gift from our Colonial brethren. The QSG is a Quantum Shift Generator. 
It allows the vessel it is installed on to phase out of normal space, 
thereby allowing it to survive in combat for a longer period."

"Similar to a cloaking device?"

"Not really. A cloaking field hides the vessel. The QSG shifts the vessel 
out of phase. It is still visible, but nearly impossible to target or hit 
with any sort of normally phased weapon."

"Interesting. This has been a productive, if unexpected meeting, Admiral. 
I will meet with the Admiralty later this day and we will have an answer 
on your landing problem, within a few days."

                         *******************

A day later, Marius had not yet heard anything from Admiral Janeway, but 
he had pre-emptively briefed his ground force commanders and had ordered 
less than lethal munitions handed out to all ground units. It would be a 
grand thing to witness, both in space and on the ground. 

"Admiral, we have a Ferengi vessel requesting permission to land."

"Are we expecting any Ferengi vessels?"

"No sir. We've passed along an inquiry to the Star Base, but all they 
said was to watch them closely. They have a habit, apparently, of taking 
anything that's not nailed down."

"Great. Alien kleptomaniacs. That's all we need. Any identity on the 
Ferengi vessel or its occupants?"

"The vessel is the Acquisition, and the passenger that wishes to come 
aboard is identifying itself as the Grand Nagus."

"Sounds impressive, I think. Permission granted. Send a security detail 
to the hangar bay and have them escort the Grand Nagus to my conference 
room."

"Aye sir."

Marius stood in the conference room wondering if what Janeway had just 
told him of the Ferengi was entirely truthful. She had been surprised 
that the Grand Nagus himself was requesting permission to come aboard the 
Halsey. She warned Marius that the Ferengi were all about profit. Marius 
had thanked her and was now standing here, staring out at a pair of 
Prometheus class ships as they flew past.

"Welcome, Grand Nagus, to the AIS Halsey. I am Admiral Marius. Please, 
sit. Steward, bring in some refreshments please."

"Aye sir."

"You've an impressive ship, Admiral Marius. Very impressive. But let us 
get down to business. The Ferengi are aware of your planned move to 
invade Borg space. While our ships are designed more for commerce than 
for battle, we do have warships to offer you. For a price of course."

"Oh of course. But you didn't come all this way just to try and sell us a 
few warships, now did you?"

"You are a smart one, aren't you? Your statement has a definite ring of 
truth in it. I have heard that your FTL systems can allow your ships to 
cross thousands of light years of space in far less time than what is 
currently available. Is this true?"

"Warp drives are quite suitable for the short distances within each 
quadrant, however, our method of travel can allow us to cross from one 
quadrant to the next in mere hours, perhaps as long as days. I am told 
that the Federation starship Voyager found herself cast some seventy 
thousand light years from Earth, some years ago. They had anticipated a 
seventy year journey to get home, unless they found a few shortcuts along 
the way. The Halsey can make that journey in perhaps a little more than a 
week. I say a week, because we don't possess accurate star charts of the 
area we would need to transit. Without those charts, our ship could 
easily end up emerging from hyper space into the middle of a star. Not 
something I'd care to experience."

"A week? To cross seventy thousand light years? Amazing! Simply amazing! 
Tell me, would you be interested in licensing that technology to us?"

The Grand Nagus was thinking of all the far flung markets his people 
could have access to if he managed to get this new form of FTL. The 
potential for profit was something only an astronomer could appreciate, 
in terms of the large numbers.

"Anything is possible, sir. The question is, however, would you be 
willing to settle for non exclusive rights to this technology?"

"Do you mean you would also give this technology to the Federation?"

"Among others. On that point, there can be no compromise."

"I see. But the Ferengi Alliance would be able to utilize this method of 
FTL travel?"

"I don't any reason why not. But first, allow me to ask you a question?"

"By all means!"

"I'm assuming that your Alliance has star bases, yes?"

"We call them commerce trading stations, but yes."

"Very well. Commerce trading stations. These stations, what sort of 
recreational facilities would they have for a ship, say, like the 
Halsey?"

"Holo-decks, gaming rooms, bars. The standard fare available at any 
pleasure station."

"Excellent!"

"I sense an opportunity for profit."

"An astute observation, Grand Nagus. How quickly can your people assemble 
a trading station? A station that would have, in addition to the pleasure 
facilities, say a limited repair and refit capability for ships of 
various races?"

"A matter of a few weeks. Our ships and my people are quite adept at such 
construction."

"What about defensive and offensive capabilities for your stations?"

"Our weaponry is limited. We prefer to spend more on profit making items 
than on weapons."

"I see. That may indicate a problem for what I have in mind, however, it 
is easily overcome. What I propose is the following. A large fleet will 
be gathered here soon, to invade Borg space. Once we establish a foothold 
in Borg Space, I would like for your people to build a station there. The 
AIS will provide you with defensive gun and missile platforms to offset 
the weaponry of your station, but you must be able to supply the station 
quickly and efficiently. Does that present any problems for you?"

"The Ferengi Alliance has thousands of supply vessels, all of them armed, 
with which we could supply a far flung outpost."

"Because of the nature of this action, would it be possible to include 
limited manufacturing facilities in or near to the station? For the 
purposes of making replacement hull sections or weapons such as 
torpedoes?"

"This is also possible. However, unless we can locate a nearby source of 
raw ores for refinement, we will have to bring in all materiel by supply 
ship."

"Not a problem. The materials are available in that part of space. Here 
is a mineralogical analysis of the target sector. This next document is a 
limited analysis of the planets in the target system. All of them, are 
under control of the Borg, though only four of them have any sort of 
habitation evident."

"How were you able to obtain such detailed scans without Borg 
interference?"

"Our probe is still there, in hyperspace, shielded by a quantum shift 
generator which phases the probe out of normal space."

"And the Borg have not detected your probe?"

"Apparently not. So, Grand Nagus, is this preliminary deal acceptable to 
you?"

"It is. Most assuredly so!"

"Then, might I suggest that you round up the ships necessary to 
accomplish the construction of your commerce station, and what ever other 
ships you feel might be needed? Perhaps also, and this is just a 
suggestion, you might consider either purchasing or commissioning a 
number of ships to serve in the role of station defense?"

"You did say you would provide defensive platforms, yes?"

"Yes. Any ships you can provide would only serve to enhance the defense 
of the station. You must understand, that this will be an undertaking 
unlike any other. The combined powers of the Alpha quadrant, together 
with the Halsey and her support ships, will be taking the battle to the 
Borg, instead of letting the Borg come to us. I imagine the Borg will not 
like a large fleet of ships suddenly appearing in their space. I imagine, 
even after we take that first planetary system, that the Borg will do 
much to re-take that system."

"I see your point. Very well, I will see what is possible."

"Of course, Grand Nagus. Good day sir."

                         *******************

Two Days Later
AIS Halsey

"Admiral, there is an incoming message for you from Admiral Sela of the 
Romulan Empire."

"Put it through to my office, please."

"Aye sir."

"Admiral. I do hope I am not disturbing you?"

"Not at all Admiral Sela. To what do I owe the pleasure of your voice?"

"Our Praetor is here and wishes you to join him for discussions."

"Of course. If you give me the coordinates for transport, I will beam 
over shortly."

                         *******************

Marius quickly went to his quarters to change into his dress uniform, and 
began to walk out the door when he had a thought. 'Yes, that one will do 
nicely!' he spoke to himself.

Admiral Sela was waiting for Marius when there was an intense flash of 
brilliant white light and when it dissipated a second later, there stood 
Admiral Marius, resplendent in his dress uniform. 

"This way Admiral. The Praetor is most anxious to meet with you."

"After you, Admiral."

They entered a chamber in the central part of the ship that was round by 
design. There were several Romulans standing within, and for a single 
second, Marius felt himself transported into the past to a time when he 
had lived in Rome. It made him feel slightly giddy!

"My Praetor, may I present Admiral Gaius Marius Augustus, commander of 
the Alliance Carrier Halsey, and former Pro Consul of the Roman Empire."

"Greetings Admiral. I have been informed of the great similarities 
between our empire and an Earther Empire called Rome. Perhaps you would 
tell me the tale of its founding?"

"As you wish, Praetor. The story was told to me by the man whom I called 
Father, though he was not my birth parent. The city of Rome was founded 
in what my calendar indicates was 753 BC, or seven hundred and fifty 
three years before the birth of the Christ child. The city was founded by 
twin brothers, Romulus and Remus. The brothers had wanted to create a 
city, and both being of equal strength decided to count birds as they 
flew in the sky. The one with the largest count, would be able to name 
the city. Romulus won, and he dubbed the city Roma. But Remus grew 
jealous, and in a fit of rage, Romulus slew his brother. He served as the 
first emperor for many years before he was taken by the God of War during 
a storm."

"How curious. Our homeworld is Romulus, and within our home system lies a 
second planet, which we call Remus. Sela! Clear the room. I wish to speak 
with Pro Consul Marius alone."

                         *******************

It took the Admiralty at Starfleet nearly a week to agree to the proposed 
ground-based war games that had been put forth as an idea by Admiral 
Marius. The two 'teams' were rather different. One, the defending team, 
would be using energy based weapons. The aggressor team would be using 
projectile weapons with the MILES modifications. The defenders would be 
made to wear the MILES receiver units on their person which would reflect 
hits made by the aggressor team. It was an easy and effective compromise 
as the landing teams from the Halsey were already familiar with the MILES 
gear, but the defenders were not. The defenders, however, were intimately 
familiar with energy weapons and the stun settings therein, but the 
aggressors were not. The outcome of the dissimilar engagement would be 
that the Fleet Marines would become accustomed to the sound of projectile 
weapons as they were used on the battlefield, and the defenders would 
become acquainted with the effects of even a grazing shot from an energy 
weapon. 

A mock-up town was built to simulate the type of environment that would 
be encountered on a Borg world. From what Marius could see, the Fleet 
Marines were overly confident in their ability to render the Halsey 
landing pod a mission kill before it even made landfall. But it would not 
be that easy to kill. The Halsey landing pod would employ a few tactics 
that the Fleet Marines had not ever seen. 

When the time came to deploy the pod that would begin the exercise, 
Marius was with Admirals Janeway, Paris, and Nechayev aboard a Federation 
Danube class shuttle. At precisely zero-five-hundred hours, the training 
exercise commenced. Marius was providing a narrative for the Starfleet 
admirals.

"For the purpose of this exercise, it was agreed by both parties that the 
Defenders would not commence their attack until the deployment pod had 
entered the atmosphere. So let us watch as the pod begins its deployment 
and atmospheric insertion."

The shuttle stood off at a distance of ten kilometers from the Halsey, 
but they were enjoying close up feeds from a number of cameras and 
sensors. When the order was given to commence separation, a number of 
explosive bolts were fired, beginning the process. As the shuttle looked 
on, mooring clamps were released with small puffs of vented atmosphere. 
The starboard pod seemed to drop straight down for a few hundred meters, 
but that was actually a combination of the pod applying a negative thrust 
and the Halsey applying a positive thrust to gain separation from one 
another. 

The pod styled for a moment as it oriented itself with the planet below. 
A few seconds later, small thrusters moved it away from the Halsey. As 
soon as it had cleared the mother ship, larger engines at the rear of the 
pod engaged and the pod began a controlled descent into the atmosphere. 
The shuttle moved into the skies near the ground target to watch the 
controlled entry of the deployment pod. What Marius had not told the 
Admirals was that the pod commanders were under orders to engage the QSG 
shortly before atmospheric interface. With the pod shifted slightly out 
of phase and with minimal shielding, the defenders on the ground had no 
chance to hit the incoming vessel. 

The deployment pods had the same type of gravity drives that were present 
on all of the small support ships and fighters in the Halsey's inventory, 
and thus the landing went smoothly. When the pod was five meters above 
the ground, pitons were fired from several points along the hull, and the 
pod was winched into landing. At two meters above the surface, leveling 
struts deployed and the pod auto-leveled upon landing. The QSG was still 
on and repeated shots by what Admiral Paris called photon artillery had 
no effect as they simply passed through their target, exploding 
harmlessly beyond the deployment pod. 

As the pod's engines shut down, five things happened almost 
simultaneously. First, the QSG shut down, bringing the pod back into 
normal phase. Second, the shield generators became active, shielding the 
pod and the terrain all around the pod, out to a distance of three 
kilometers, and a height up to five kilometers. Third, ramps fell all 
along the hull and streams of men and vehicles began flowing out. Fourth, 
the top of the pod opened up like a clamshell, with overhangs forming 
where vehicles were taxied out and made ready to launch. The fifth and 
final stage of initial deployment was the launching of a SeaKing AEW 
helicopter and a pair of AV-8B Harrier jump jets to protect the helo. 

The ground troops did not have shields of their own, but the vehicles in 
their ranks, the M113A3 APCs had mobile shield emitters on them, and thus 
they were able to project five hundred meter shield bubbles where the 
troops could advance without fear of incoming fire. At this point in the 
opening stages of the engagement, the defenders were growing frustrated 
as their long range artillery was having little effect on the aggressors. 

The ground commander for the Aggressor team was a veteran of the US 
Army's National Training Center. He knew how best to place his limited 
armor to the best advantage. The twelve Stingray light tanks went forth, 
interspersed among the ground troops and the APCs. The eight Paladins 
moved out to positions behind the deployment pod, away from the views of 
the Defenders. With the capability of firing up to four rounds per minute 
at a maximum distance of thirty kilometers, these units would protect the 
advancing troops by laying down smoke rounds, followed by explosive 
rounds. For this training exercise, the explosive  rounds would be 
replaced by sound generators that would 'explode' on impact and emit a 
very short range multi-directional MILES laser beam. The idea was that 
artillery could cut the numbers of Defenders down to a reasonable number. 

As some ground units advanced faster than the shield equipped vehicles, 
they were disabled by incoming fire from the Defenders. Three tanks were 
disabled quickly when the lead tanks' shield generator failed, revealing 
all three tanks to enemy fire. But while the enemy was concentrating on 
the incoming ground troops, they were oblivious to the goings on at the 
deployment pod. The Paladins had moved into position and were sending 
their second of five smoke rounds towards the enemy. The MLRS had moved 
into position and were elevating their launcher units to engage the 
enemy. Before Admiral Nechayev could ask a question about the MLRS, the 
units fired their salvos and a few seconds later the rockets came into 
range over the target area, deploying their submunitions. Each rocket in 
the salvo carried six hundred and forty-four submunitions. With twelve 
rockets per salvo and eight MLRSs in the group, the effect was a little 
under sixty-two thousand sub munitions landing in a three kilometer 
square. Each submunition had a noise generator and a very short range 
multi-directional laser emitter to simulate a hit from an anti-personnel 
weapon of this caliber. 

The result of the first salvo was a decimation of the Defenders. In less 
than a minute, their strength had been cut in half. The Starfleet ground 
commander surrendered after the fourth missile salvo had left him with a 
fighting force of less than a hundred. The Aggressor teams had lost a 
total of three tanks and twenty-three soldiers when their APC had 
suffered a shield generator failure. But otherwise the Aggressor team was 
largely intact at a field strength of just over 3,300. The Defender team 
had gone from an initial five thousand Fleet Marines, to just under a 
hundred. All of this had occurred in under ten minutes. 

"Warfare is all about deception, Admirals. Your troops on the ground saw 
what we wanted them to see. Things that are, by your standards of 
technology, exceedingly primitive. They saw men with rifles, vehicles 
with projectile type cannons, and vehicles with rockets. They didn't 
anticipate that those very same vehicles could fire rounds that would be 
of benefit to both sides."

The three Admirals from Starfleet were still staring, dumbfounded at the 
scene below them. It was true that the Federation side had an advantage 
when it came to technology, but the Admirals had made the same mistake 
the commanders on the ground had made. They had underestimated the 
effectiveness of a primitive combat force.

"The initial rounds fired by the Paladins were smoke generators. Those 
work to screen from visual sight one side from another. The smoke is a 
visual tactic that has little if any effect on sensor technology. But 
while the smoke blew over your lines, the final rounds came in from the 
Paladins, exploding in their midst, and setting off the first of many of 
the MILES receiver units. Next, came the units with the Multiple Launch 
Rocket Systems, or MLRS. Those units are the ground commander's personal 
shotgun as they are an area ordinance. Each rocket launched from one of 
those units carries 644 sub-munitions, designed to either explode on 
contact with the ground, or remain dormant until stepped on, or to hit 
the ground and bounce back up into the air before exploding so as to 
maximize the area of effect. When you consider that each salvo from an 
MLRS consists of twelve rockets, and that there were eight launchers on 
that pod, well, your ground commander was faced with the sudden 
appearance of over sixty-one thousand bomblets over his troops. There was 
no where for them to hide. But that was only a small part of our 
deception.

You saw the deployment pod as it came down and landed. You saw how your 
artillery had no effect on it. Why you ask? Because the pod commander was 
under orders to complete the landing with the QSG engaged. That is, the 
pod was shifted out of phase and therefore your photon artillery, in 
normal phase, could not hit what wasn't there to hit. After landing, the 
first items to be deployed were pod based shield generators which protect 
an area around the pod in a radius of five kilometers. After that, the 
ground troops moved out with tanks and armored personal carriers, both of 
which had mobile shield generators set at five hundred meter radii. In 
short, Admirals, your people expected us to be primitive, which we are, 
but they failed to remember that even something as primitive as a spear 
can kill in the hands of a skilled hunter. In many ways, you remind me of 
the Goa'uld. You are just as arrogant as they are, and just as stunned 
when we primitives win. 

But, I fully realize that you are not the Goa'uld, and that you face an 
enemy that makes the Goa'uld appear as children bullying others on the 
playground. And if we are to persevere in the battle ahead, then we must 
work together as a team."

"On that note, we fully agree with you, Admiral Marius."

                         *******************

In the days after the war game had been completed, the defensive and 
offensive units assigned to the Halsey had taken a much needed shore 
leave. But while ground units and pilots shuttled back and forth between 
Earth and the Halsey, the Forge deck was busily churning out hull 
sections. Already two new gunboats had been completed and were moving 
about in the Sol system being put through their paces by their new crews. 
True to his description to Admiral Janeway, each gunboat carried a crew 
of twelve in what was a highly automated ship with several layers of 
redundant systems for the fire controls and targeting sensors. All that 
meant was that the little gunboats could take a large amount of damage 
and still be effective in battle. 

In of the lesser used shuttle bays aboard the Halsey, the engineers were 
busily  assembling a launching system for the new gun platforms. These 
were small units, no more that two meters long and wide and perhaps three 
meters thick. 

Marius had gone over the extensive information made available to him from 
the Intelligence Directorate of Starfleet and had discovered something it 
seemed the Feds had overlooked. Yes, they and the other major powers of 
the Alpha quadrant did already have small one or three man fighter craft, 
which they were busily updating for the coming exhibition to the Halsey, 
but they didn't have any dedicated carrier vessels. Their fighter 
squadrons were based on stations or on planets and that would be a major 
disadvantage in the coming fight, as the fighters would have neither a 
Starbase nor a planet to launch from. The Federation Peregrine class 
fighters measured in at just under thirty meters. He doubted that those 
fighters could easily fit into any of the shuttle bays found on Starfleet 
vessels. The early data on the Klingon entry was something altogether 
different. The Klingons were calling it a Targ class fighter, but 
Starfleet Intelligence was calling it a scaled down version of the B'Rel 
class scout ship. It was sixty meters long and sported a crew of fifteen. 
It was twice as wide as it was long and one and a half times high as its 
length. Marius wondered, not for the first time, if the powers in the 
Alpha quadrant could do anything small. The Romulans were bringing 
something referred to as a scout class ship by Starfleet Intelligence, 
that sported six disruptor cannons and two torpedo launchers, and, more 
importantly, could make planetary landings and carried fifteen to twenty 
ground troops. The Cardassians were sending something called a Hideki 
class patrol ship, which was, by far, the largest entry into to fighter 
array yet. It fielded four disruptors, one of something called a wave 
cannon and a single torpedo launcher. It also had a crew of thirty. 

But then when compared to the fighter designs the Halsey had picked up 
from Babylon 5, or the designs they already had with them, all of the 
designs fielded by the major races of the Alpha quadrant were huge! Even 
the prototype X-302 had been smaller than these ships these races were 
fielding. The largest fighter type ship in the Halsey's inventory was the 
modified Al'kesh bombers they used, but even those were only two or three 
times bigger than the Icarus class fighters. At only fifteen meters, the 
Icarus class was comparable in size to a Thunderbolt Starfury, for which 
they had designs. 

Marius thought on the matter for a few moments before pulling up the 
schematics for the Thunderbolt. With some minor modifications, he could 
present that fighter as a viable alternative to what these people were 
trying to develop. On first glance the Thunderbolt looked like a fighter, 
and it was a formidable one at that. It had a plasma pulse cannon that 
could deliver a punishing blow to any fighter and it had hardpoints for 
ten fusion missiles. 

But the armor was weak, and the engines even weaker, and it had no 
shielding or inertial dampener systems which meant it stood little chance 
against shielded fighters, and the pilot and gunner were at the mercy of 
higher gravity. So the first thing Marius changed was the power plant, 
replacing the fusion drive unit with the standard graviton system used on 
all ships in the AIS fleet. Second, the fusion batteries came out and 
were replaced with much smaller naquadah generators which improved the 
acceleration from one kilometer per second to five kilometers per second, 
and gave a faster recharge rate for the particle cannon that rode under 
the nose. So instead of taking fifteen seconds to recharge the cannon, it 
only took five  seconds. Additionally, because the fusion batteries had 
been replaced with the smaller generators, there was now room for storage 
capacitors which could store power for additional shots with the larger 
nose cannon and so in effect, the recharge rate was cut to two seconds 
between shots. 

The armor was changed next, replacing the standard titanium alloy with a 
trinium skeletal structure layered with the bio-metallic energy 
refractive hull armor now in use by the Halsey and her support fleet. Add 
to the mixture, the Ramos force shields and inertial dampeners, the 
fighter could now withstand a lot more abuse and perform maneuvers that 
would leave a normal Thunderbolt pilot plastered to the canopy like a 
squashed bug on a windshield. The hard points he changed very little, 
modifying them to accept the standard rails used for the missiles in 
their current inventory. With the design completed, he sent it down to 
the Forge deck and requested one be built as a test bed for further 
technologies. The Forge deck chief reported back that such a simple task 
could be done in twenty-four hours.

A day later the new fighter was complete and Marius was waiting on the 
hangar deck for Colonel O'Neill and Teal'c.

"Ah, Colonel, Teal'c. Good to see you. I trust all is proceeding apace 
with the training of the replacement pilots?"

"Yep. Last class is scheduled for dissimilar ACM today. After that, 
they'll be assigned to operational squadrons and we should finally be up 
to full strength again."

"Excellent! Well, the reason I asked you to join me was to present you 
with a little gift. This is a prototype fighter that combines tried and 
true technology of ours with tried and true tech from the folks at 
Babylon 5. She's got more powerful engines, stronger generators for 
weapons, an eighty-five megawatt plasma pulse cannon in the nose, a 
particle beam under the nose with an equivalent power at point of impact 
of just shy of 750 kilotons. She has shields like all of our other ships, 
and ten hardpoints for naquadah enhanced fusion missiles. There's room 
for a pilot and a gunner. Thought you two might like to take her for a 
ride."

"Sweet!"

"I thought as much. Go on. Get out there and put her through her paces!"

"Yeah sure youbetcha!"

Marius watched from the observation deck as the Thunderbolt took the 
active catapult and was rocketed into space. The new fighter seemed to 
perform well enough, and at the very least, Colonel O'Neill seemed to be 
having a lot of fun. He couldn't remember when the last time he had as 
much fun as just being able to go out for a quick spin in a fighter. The 
last time he could recall doing that was during the Second World War, 
when he'd been assigned to a fighter squadron in the Pacific. But even 
then, the flights were far from normal and safe. Too many mortal friends 
lost at the hands of the enemy. Marius shook off the flash back and 
wandered back to the Bridge. 

"Admiral's on deck!"

"As you were. Duty Officer, make your report."

"Sir. Forge deck reports completion of all replacement fighters and 
bombers. Repairs to all escort ships now completed. Six gunboats are now 
available for interdiction duty. Four dozen gun platforms are now 
available for rapid deployment. Engineering decks report all routine 
maintenance completed and full power available to all systems. Pod 
commanders report all personnel and equipment accounted for and locked 
down for next deployment. Navigation reports sensor pinging completed."

"Sensor pinging? What sensor pinging?"

"Sorry sir, Commander Pierson ordered it."

"Ordered what?"

"He ordered a sensor ping be sent out on all known frequencies of the 
Ancients. The pings revealed an extensive network of sub-space beacons 
marking entrance/exit positions for Combat Gates."

"How extensive?"

"After uploading Federation star maps into our navigational computers, we 
have identified one beacon in each planetary system known to any of the 
member races of the Federation. Additionally, there are hundreds of gates 
in the quadrants referred to as Gamma and Delta by the Federation."

"Anything else?"

"Yes sir. Using the frequencies provided to us by the Ancient Tok'Ra, we 
have been able to download the most recent sensor logs of the Gate 
network. Intelligence is going over those logs now and they expect to 
have a preliminary report available by eighteen hundred, sir."

"Very well, continue your report."

"Aye sir. Sensors report all clear. All defensive weapons systems fully 
operational and on stand-by mode. All offensive weapons are at ready 
alert status. There are two squadrons of Cobra interceptors on CAP, two 
more on ready alert, and two more on Alert-five."

"Conn, Sensors."

"Go ahead."

"Long range sub-space sensors are picking up a large fleet of ships 
headed this way. Silhouette matches those of Dominion ships, according to 
the Federation database."

"Comms, get me Admiral Janeway."

"Aye sir."

"Admiral Ramos? Is there a problem?"

"Maybe. Our long range sensors are picking up a large fleet headed this 
way. Using the ship recognition database you provided us with, we've 
identified the ships as Dominion battlecruisers, battleships, and strike 
fighters. We're estimating approximately twenty-three battleships, forty-
one battlecruisers, and several thousand strike fighters."

"We're supposed to have a truce with them. They shouldn't be this far 
into our space. Admiral, any assistance you could lend us would be 
appreciated. We're still making repairs to a large part of our fleet 
after our last encounter with the Borg."

"Will do Admiral. Halsey out."

"Duty officer!"

"Duty officer, aye sir!"

"Sound general quarters."

"Aye sir!"

"General quarters! General quarters! All hands man your battle stations!"

Around the ship, several things were happening at once. The fighters on 
CAP remained where they were, waiting for reinforcements before moving to 
intercept the incoming fleet. The ready alert and alert five aircraft 
launched, followed shortly by ninety percent of the fighter and bomber 
squadrons aboard the Halsey and her eight escorts. The five gunboats that 
were undergoing trials moved up to take flanking positions around the 
Halsey, bringing their guns to bear on the incoming fleet. And from one 
hangar bay, twenty-four gun platforms, half of their current inventory, 
were released and positioned in a spherical formation around the Halsey, 
that being the best formation to effectively cover the Halsey with 
overlapping fields of fire. 

Aboard one of the incoming battleships, two figures looked on at the long 
range sensor data. Both were of the race known as the Founders. One was 
in female form, the other in male form. It was evident that the unknown 
ship had detected them first. They had detected the sweeps of the long 
range sensor beams and they had determined that the beams were of a type 
not in use by the Federation. Their initial scans of the large vessel in 
Earth orbit indicated it was approximately forty-eight hundred meters 
long, or three times the length of their own battleship. But beyond the 
scans returned regarding overall size of the vessel, the other scans were 
meeting some sort of scattering field. Whatever technology this new race 
as represented by the large ship in Earth orbit possessed, it was so 
unlike Federation technology. In many ways, however, the ship and the 
smaller vessels that supported it seemed almost primitive. It was a 
strange juxtaposition of information coming in via the scans.

"Weyoun, transmit the message."

"As you wish, Founder."

"Bridge, comms. Receiving a message in the clear from the incoming 
fleet."

"Put it on the overhead."

"...For the Federation. We come to you in the spirit of peace. We wish no 
strife with you. We have heard of the recent attacks by the Borg and of 
your plans to take the battle to them. As the Borg have also been 
attacking our outlying colonies, we have sent this fleet here to Earth, 
to assist you in your efforts. We hope that this gesture will be received 
in the spirit in which it is made. This message is for..."

"Weps."

"Weapons aye, sir!"

"Weapons tight. Order all squadrons to remain at their present locations. 
Weapons tight. Comms, anything from the Federation?"

"Wait one, sir. Message coming sir. They are asking us to stand down for 
the moment."

"Acknowledge receipt. Weps, stand down from general quarters, but keep us 
ready to fight if need be."

"Aye sir."

                         *******************

In space, at the front of his attack squadrons, was Col. O'Neill in his 
Thunderbolt fighter. There had been no time to return to the ship to 
exchange this prototype fighter for his regular bird. But he liked this 
one a little more than his regular Icarus assignment. The response time 
seemed faster and the fighter seemed more nimble, but then again this 
fighter had been created by Humans, unlike the Goa'uld created Udajeet 
which the Icarus was based on. The fact that the Thunderbolt had bigger 
more powerful guns and a lot more hardpoints didn't factor into the 
equation, or so O'Neill kept telling Teal'c. When the order came to stand 
down, Jack was both disappointed and happy. He'd seen enough war to know 
that the ships facing them would kill a lot of his newly trained pilots. 
But he regretted not being able to take the Thunderbolt into combat. The 
next order from fleet command took him by surprise. A flyby of the 
incoming fleet. Fleet Intelligence, an oxymoron if ever he had heard one, 
wanted detailed scans of the Dominion fleet.

With Teal'c manning the sensor array, Jack brought the fighter around and 
made a short hyperspace jump to close with the alien fleet. The small 
strike fighters of the Dominion fleet did not move to intercept him and 
before he could really appreciate the beauty of the Dominion battleship, 
they'd made the jump back to the Halsey.

"Weyoun, do you have any information as to how that ship was able to 
close the distance so quickly? That did not look like a standard warp 
engine signature."

"No Founder, we do not as yet have the detailed analysis of the sensor 
logs. But this much we have learned from the quick examination of the 
sensor data. The hull of that small ship, we are surmising it to be a 
fighter, is bio-metallic in nature."

"A combination of biological and in-animate. How utterly unusual."

"Founder, we are receiving a message from the Federation. They are 
inviting us to join them in a conference aboard a vessel called the AIS 
Halsey."

"Send an acknowledgement and inform the Federation that we stand ready to 
join them."

"Of course. We live to serve the Founders."

This particular incarnation of Weyoun was the tenth one. The ninth had 
been lost when the cloning facilities in the Alpha quadrant had been 
destroyed by the Cardassians. Number Nine was in the process of animation 
when the cloning facilities were hit and destroyed. Number Ten, was 
brought on-line shortly thereafter, however Weyoun 10, was located in the 
Gamma quadrant, not the Alpha. But that was the end of the war with the 
Federation. And so Weyoun was relegated to the more normal roles the 
first clones in his line had previously occupied. 

But now they were in the Alpha quadrant, in Federation space, in the very 
sector where Starfleet itself was headquartered. The array of ships 
facing them was unlike any he had seen. Sure there were perhaps three 
hundred Starfleet vessels in the system, but those were dwarfed by the 
very large ship in orbit over the third planet. The Borg were just 
starting to make forays into Dominion space, deep within the Gamma 
quadrant. From what they had learned from the interrogation of a single 
Borg drone, Borg space encompassed nearly half of the territory within 
the Delta and Beta quadrants. The Dominion had already determined that 
even with every ship in the fleet attacking the Borg, the losses would be 
overwhelming, and the Borg would keep coming. So when the details of this 
pending invasion of Borg space were made known to them, it was decided 
that the ageless adage regarding the enemy of their enemy was true. 

                         *******************

AIS Halsey
Main Conference Room

The room had been rearranged for this meeting. There were perhaps two 
hundred or so races represented in the room. The majority were members of 
the Federation, but not all. The tables were circular and were arrayed in 
a step pattern. The representatives of the six major powers now present 
in the sector, sat at the lowermost table. The next four  tables up from 
there had the member races of the Federation. The last two ranks of 
tables were taken up by various functionaries and translators, diplomatic 
aides and security personnel. The Ferengi representative was at the 
second table, not a member of the Federation, but not a major power 
either. 

"Greetings to one and all. I am Marius, Admiral and Commander of the 
First strike fleet of the Alliance of Independent Systems. My flagship is 
the AIS Halsey. I have met some of you, but the majority of you I have 
not yet had the pleasure. 

The purpose of this meeting is to determine two things. First, to insure 
that we are in agreement over the proposed course of action. The action 
in question is whether or not to send a strike fleet into Borg space for 
a series of pre-emptive strikes. If we can drive the Borg out of the Beta 
quadrant, if we can turn them from offensive action to defensive action, 
if we can seize the primary colony worlds in the Beta quadrant, then we 
will be able to negotiate with them from a position of strength. Second, 
and this comes into play only if we decide the first condition in the 
affirmative, then we must decide how large a fleet to send. The first 
question I can not answer for you. That is something you must decide 
amongst yourselves. For this reason, I will leave the room to allow your 
discussions to proceed unimpeded by my presence. I will be in the 
practice room across the hallway. Please do let me know what you have 
decided."

And with that, Marius left the room. The sheer number of people present 
in the conference room promised that debate would be long. First he 
meditated. Then he drew his sword and began a series of katas designed to 
clear his mind.

Back in the conference room, Admiral Sela of the Romulan Star Empire was 
speaking.

"This war is as much our war as any of yours. These Borg have taken 
numerous Romulans in their incursions into this part of the galaxy. At 
this time, the Romulan Senate has empowered me to vote in the 
affirmative."

"In all my years as a Klingon, I never thought I would agree with a 
Romulan, but I find that I am in full agreement with Admiral Sela. The 
Borg have taken hundreds of Klingon warriors and condemned them to a fate 
worse than death; assimilation. We must make our stand here and now or 
there will be no one to face the hordes when they do come in force. The 
Klingon Empire stands with their ancient enemies, the Romulans, against 
this threat."

"I never thought I would see the day, when a Klingon like Chancellor 
Martok, would agree to work with a Romulan, with any Romulan. But these 
are strange times. Though our fleet is not what it once was, I have been 
authorized by my government to make the following statement. Either we 
stand together or we die separately. The Borg threat must be met as a 
united front. The Cardassian Union stands with the Romulans and the 
Klingons."

"You know who we are. The Founders. The leaders of the Dominion. Though 
we have not had the pleasure as yet to encounter the Borg in large 
numbers, that does not mean we have not encountered them at all. A few of 
their ships have breached our outer systems and they have laid waste to 
nearly a dozen colony worlds. Just a few years ago we were at war with 
the major powers of this quadrant. Now I am afraid. Afraid that we must 
stand with you or perish silently in the face of the Borg threat. The 
Dominion has sent this fleet here to this place to set it at your 
disposal. We will stand with you."

"The Federation has had numerous encounters with the Borg, and we have 
lost several hundred ships to their invasion forces. But no more. The 
Federation Council met yesterday to discuss this very issue and the 
outcome was unanimous. We will begin to mobilize several large fleets to 
take the battle to the Borg. We must either defeat them outright, or 
cripple them so that they will not be able to bother us for some time. 
The fleet shipyards at Utopia Planitia have received their orders. They 
are already hard at work building more ships for the fleet. We must stand 
together in unity to defeat this enemy."

"If I may be allowed to speak?"

"Please Grand Nagus, you have the floor."

"Thank you Admiral Nechayev. As many of you are aware, the Ferengi 
Alliance does not possess the power to meet the Borg and defeat them. Our 
ships are built for commerce, not for war. But we will support you fully 
in this enterprise. I have sent word to Ferenginar and a fleet of D'Kora 
class Marauders have departed Ferengi space. They are escorting a smaller 
fleet of construction vessels which when you have secured a foothold in 
Borg space, will be put to use constructing a station and a basic set of 
shipyard facilities for repair and rearmament of your ships. The 
Marauders are flying empty, and will take any supplies the races 
assembled here today deem necessary. This is our contribution to the 
effort. The Marauders will stay with the station and will serve as its 
defense. Admiral Marius has promised us additional support for assistance 
in defending the station."

                         *******************

It was a few more minutes before the discussions died down and someone 
was sent to the next room to fetch Marius. That someone happened to be 
Chancellor Martok. He came into the room but before he could speak, he 
saw something he did not expect. In all his years as a Klingon, Martok 
had seen various styles of fighting exhibited by Humans, some even with 
swords woven into the fighting, but never had he seen a Human wield a 
sword so expertly. Martok was hard pressed to tell where the sword ended 
and Marius began. Or vice versa. He watched mesmerized for a few moments 
before recalling why he was in the room.

"Admiral, we have reached a decision. We will fight."

"A wise choice, Chancellor Martok. The Borg must be put down."

"Few Humans have ever spoken or acted like you. Explain this."

"As you very well know, the Halsey and all who serve on her are not from 
this place, not from this universe. The Halsey started out with crew from 
three primary sources; Colonial, Immortal, and Tau'ri. In our universe, 
the various races among the stars  know my kind as the Tau'ri. The 
Ancients called us by this name. They created and left Guardians for us. 
We call these guardians, Immortals. I am of the Immortal race. We are 
rather long lived. I am not old by my race's standards, though I am old 
by yours at a mere twenty-six hundred years."

"Twenty-six hundred?! To have seen so much and fought so many glorious 
battles! It seems that perhaps you Immortals may have something in common 
with we Klingons. Come! Let us return to the conference room to plan out 
the most glorious of battles!"


"Admirals, distinguished guests. I am told you have decided in the 
affirmative on the first condition."

"That is correct."

"Very well. Now we must decide how large a fleet to send."

"Admiral to Bridge."

"Duty officer, aye sir."

"Please route real-time sensor data from the probe in Borg space to the 
conference room."

"Aye sir!"

The lights dimmed and a large holographic display became active. It 
surrounded the tables and everyone had a very clear picture of what they 
were to face in the coming weeks and months. 

"This is live, real-time imagery from our probe in Borg Space, in the 
system known as J25 to the Federation. There are seven planetary bodies 
in that system, but only four have any sort of habitation evident. Three 
are M-class and the last is L-class. There are two J-class worlds which 
the Borg are mining gases from. The last one is the furthest out from the 
system's star. It has been designated a Y-class, per Federation 
standards. The last planetary body is our initial target. Detailed 
mineralogical scans from the probe have revealed the presence of deep 
bands of numerous metals that we will need for the construction of 
additional ships and armaments. Though we do not use dilithium, the 
planet does have a significant deposit of this mineral. The minerals of 
importance to us are naquadah and trinium of which this planet also has 
significant deposits. 

From evidence gathered by the probe, it is apparent that the Borg have 
not detected its presence in the system. This could be for one of two 
reasons. First, the probe is located in hyperspace. Second, the probe is 
phase shifted out of normal space. Either way, the fleet will make the 
jump to a system sixty light years from J25. At that point, we will open 
a number of hyperspace portals such that the fleet can enter hyperspace. 
We will proceed through hyperspace to the target system and will emerge 
into normal space in the middle of the system. At that point, the Ferengi 
contingent will proceed to the Y-class planet to begin setting up the 
necessary facilities for the fleet, while the fleet itself will proceed 
into the system and attack the Borg. 

At that point our goal will be to destroy as much of the defensive 
systems as possible and to seize control of the four planets in question. 
The Borg will face an interesting surprise. They have at their disposal 
certain technologies stolen from the Ancients. Their transwarp corridors 
are one of these technologies, though the Ancients called that particular 
technology, the gate network. The Borg have not modified this technology. 
That is not their way. They assimilate, but they do not innovate. And we 
will use this against them.

Because we too use the technology of the Ancients, we have the ability to 
shut down their transwarp corridors. Thus, while they may be able to 
bring in reinforcements from nearby systems, they will not have access to 
their transwarp network. We, on the other hand, will have access to this 
network, and that will enable us to leapfrog some systems and advance 
deep into Borg held territory. But let us not talk too much on the battle 
as yet. We must discuss the relative strength and weaknesses of our 
various ships and how best to employ them. 

Now, for our part and in relation to our capital class ships, we have the 
Halsey and eight Prometheus class battlecruiser escorts. There are sixty-
eight hundred ground troopers aboard the Halsey, broken up into two 
units; a Marine Expeditionary unit, and an Armored Cavalry regiment. Both 
units have long and medium range artillery support and aircraft for close 
support of ground personnel. Each of the escorts has an additional sixty 
man unit for quick strikes. The battlecruisers have twelve each of the 
Icarus class attack fighters and Cobra class interceptors, along with two 
Bulldog class troop transports. In terms of long range weapons, each 
battlecruiser has a pair of launchers for the Harpoon class torpedo, a 
pair of heavy rail guns, and a pair of heavy plasma cannons. In terms of 
defensive weapons, each battlecruiser has twelve anti-fighter plasma 
cannon turrets, six electro pulse turrets, and eight anti-matter packet 
ejectors.

We have recently added to our inventory, a gun boat that fields four 
large cannons, and a total of thirty torpedo launchers for the Harpoon 
and Shipwreck class torpedoes. Additionally, we have begun to deploy 
anti-fighter gun platforms that field both a turret and a torpedo 
launcher. The AIS fleet now has ten of our gunboats and forty-eight 
platforms available as of this morning. In a week's time, we can double 
those numbers. We are also beginning production on anti-matter mines 
which our two Whitestar class frigates and our Gunboat class corvettes 
will be able to deploy.

Fighters. The Halsey has several hundred fighters at its disposal, 
including the Icarus and Cobra class, along with Al'kesh bombers and 
Bulldog troop transports. We have just recently built a new prototype 
fighter which is being tested as I speak. The armament on the Halsey 
includes Harpoon and Shipwreck class torpedoes, fusion, neutron, plasma, 
and particle beam cannons, and several hundred anti-fighter batteries of 
the types mentioned previously. The Halsey also has two grand cannons and 
two slicer cannons. These are fairly recent additions to our weapons 
suite and are quite powerful in their own right. Are there any questions 
so far? If not, I will turn this over to Admiral Nechayev."

"Thank you Marius. The Federation, as I'm sure you are all aware of, 
fields several dozen different classes of ships, ranging from purely 
exploration and science, to ships dedicated to warfare. While none of the 
following ship classes are set in stone, the suggestion is to field the 
following classes: Akira, Defiant, Galaxy, Intrepid, Nebula, Saber, and 
Steamrunner, with Sovereign class dreadnaughts as command and control 
vessels for our fleet. We will also be including a pair of Olympic class 
medical ships, and eight Norkova class long range transports that will be 
modified to act as motherships to the large Peregrine fighter contingent 
we are sending. The smallest caliber of phaser is the type VI as equipped 
on the Peregrines and the various shuttles of the fleet. The heaviest 
caliber are the type XII as found on the vast majority of the fleet. All 
ships, including the Peregrines, but not the Norkovas, will field photon 
torpedoes. The large capital vessels, will also field quantum torpedoes. 
The Sovereigns and the Steamrunners will have in addition to the two 
torpedo types already mentioned, transphasic and tri-cobalt torpedoes. 

The Akira class heavy cruiser will carry five hundred ground assault 
troops. The Galaxy class heavy cruiser can carry up to twenty-five 
hundred ground assault personnel. The Nebula class strike cruisers will 
be home to another fifteen hundred infantry. The Steamrunner class light 
cruisers will be the long range attack option for the fleet. For this 
mission, the scientific and diplomatic modules will be removed adding 
storage space for more torpedoes. 

Starfleet is also in the process of modifying several construction ships 
by adding heavier shields so that they may work in adverse conditions, 
and is also adding several repair vessels, that will be able to perform 
limited underway repairs to badly damaged ships. Four more Norkova class 
transports are also undergoing shield modification and transporter 
enhancement. These transports will carry the ground vehicles for the 
infantry personnel. This is what Starfleet will be bringing to the table, 
as it were. That is all we have at the moment. Admiral Sela? Care to 
proceed?"

"Thank you Admiral Nechayev. The vessel that will be made available to 
this endeavor is the D'Deridex class battleship. This the frontline ship 
type of the Romulan Star Empire. Each one carries seven hundred and fifty 
ground assault troops and a small compliment of ground assault vehicles. 
We do not have any small vessels of the type described by Admiral Marius 
as fighters, but we are interested in viewing the prototype fighter that 
he spoke of. If they are not too difficult to adapt to our personnel, 
then we would be able to field perhaps a thousand fighter pilots for this 
cause."

"Admiral Sela, the prototype fighter is a Thunderbolt class heavy 
fighter, with a two man crew; a pilot and a gunner."

"Then we will be able to provide you with one thousand crews for this 
fighter, provided it is adequate to the task."

"I'll be more than happy to show you the fighter after this meeting is 
done for the day."

"Very well. Chancellor Martok? I believe you are next sir."

"The Klingon Empire will be sending three basic ship types to this sector 
to add to the already growing fleet. The B'Rel class cruiser, the Vor'Cha 
class attack cruiser, and the Negh'Var class battleship. The Vor'Cha and 
the Negh'Var both have assault troops aboard. Two thousand for the 
Negh'Var and five hundred for the Vor'Cha. Our Imperial shipyards are in 
the process of modifying several old D-7 and D-5 class cruisers to serve 
as troop and equipment transports. We also do not field any fighters, but 
I am interested in viewing this prototype fighter you spoke of Marius. If 
it proves compatible with Klingon physiology, then we will add two 
thousand complete crews to the effort."

"On behalf of the Cardassian Union, I have been authorized to offer three 
ship classes for the coming battles. The Galor class destroyer with room 
for three hundred ground assault troops, and the Keldon class heavy 
cruiser with five hundred infantry. We will also include a small number 
of Hideki class patrol ships for long range scouting missions or system 
patrols. The Hideki class is not considered a capital ship, but it can be 
an effective anti-fighter platform. The Cardassian Union does not field 
any fighter type ships, and we unfortunately have only a limited number 
of trained crews we can add to the equation."

"The Dominion is pleased to offer twenty-one battlecruisers, forty-three 
battleships and four thousand attack fighters. In the coming weeks, if 
you so desire, we can bring in additional fleets or battlecruisers and 
battleships, but our remaining numbers of attack fighters are needed to 
patrol Dominion space and to protect against Borg incursions."

"Do the individual governments of the Federation member worlds wish to 
contribute any vessels or personnel?"

"The Bajoran government will contribute twenty-five assault ships, each 
with three hundred ground assault troops."

"The Talosian governing council will add twenty warships to the armada, 
to serve as station defense for the Ferengi station. We are unable to 
contribute more than this."

"The Angosian government regrets that we can not contribute any warships, 
however, we are fully prepared to call-up twenty thousand ground troops 
for this cause."

"Andoria will provide ground assault troops for the cause. We regret that 
we can not do more."

"Nausica will provide ground troops for the coming battle."

                         *******************

The numerous other members of the Federation all pledged additional ships 
or personnel, some both, some neither. The result was a fleet that 
numbered well over ten thousand ships. No one in the room could even 
begin to comprehend the logistical nightmare that was involved with such 
a large number. The first logical decision that was made in the aftermath 
of pledges of assistance was the division of ships into smaller fleets. 
Each fleet was composed of four task forces of two hundred and fifty 
ships each. This number did not include fighters or shuttles, though 
there would be numerous fighter squadrons assigned to each task force.

The initial plan called for the strike fleet centered around the Halsey 
and the Enterprise to lead the attack wave. The Halsey/Enterprise fleet 
would claim system J25. When that was done, the remaining nine fleets 
would jump in and begin claiming the systems around J25 to create a 
buffer zone against Borg reprisals. It was also decided to give each Borg 
system one opportunity to surrender. Tactically or strategically placed 
systems would be conquered. Systems that had nothing to offer would be 
bombarded from orbit. It was a cold decision, but a necessary one. Once 
the Halsey and her crews could be certain that the Borg would not use any 
of the stolen technologies, they would be free to leave this place and 
continue their journey. But that was a point in time far removed from the 
present.

The Romulans and the Klingons had both very much liked the little 
prototype fighter. But each wanted to make certain changes to the little 
ship. The Romulans had exchanged the pulse plasma cannon for a pulse 
disrupter cannon and the naquadah enhanced fusion missiles for a pair of 
micro photon torpedo launchers of the type employed by the Federation 
Peregrine fighters. The Klingons also changed out the pulse plasma cannon 
in favor of the pulse disrupter cannon, but left the naquadah enhanced 
fusion missile launchers alone. With minor changes made to the layout of 
the control systems, both fighter prototypes were subsequently accepted 
by both governments and production began in earnest at their own 
respective shipyards. Because the fighter was so small, the shipyards 
were able to turn them out in large enough quantities to allow the new 
fighter squadrons to train in them almost immediately. 

The Klingon Empire opted to convert a few existing Negh'Var class 
battleships into Kah'less class carriers instead of designing a new ship 
from scratch. The Romulans, however, decided to design a new carrier 
class vessel specifically for the new fighters. They named the new class 
Praetor.

Soon enough, the first three new fleets had been assembled and were ready 
to make the initial jump via combat gate to a system sixty light years 
from J25. It was a system unclaimed by any of the major powers. It had no 
habitable planets and was of no strategic importance other than serving 
as a jumping off point for the insertion into hyperspace. It had been 
decided to take all three existing fleets into hyperspace, though only 
one would make the transition into the target system. The remaining two 
fleets would wait in hyperspace on the chance they would be needed. The 
two Olympic class medical ships would wait with them.

                         *******************

Borg Space

There was a massive fleet in hyperspace. Three massive fleets actually. 
Each one composed of one thousand capital ships. Each fleet was in turn 
made up of four task forces, each one with an equal number of ships. Task 
force One-Alpha was centered around the AIS Halsey. Marius retained 
command of the Halsey and her support ships, but command of the task 
force had been given to Captain William Riker. Riker's flagship would be 
the newly commissioned Acheron, a Sovereign class vessel. Command of the 
First fleet had gone to Admiral Kathryn Janeway. The loose alliance of 
powers of the races aligned against the Borg had held a lottery of all 
things, to decide who would command what task forces and who would 
command which fleets. Riker had drawn the number One-A from a glass bowl, 
and so he assumed command of One-Alpha. Janeway had drawn the number One 
from a similar glass bowl and she had assumed the duties of Fleet 
Commander. Captain Jean-Luc Picard had drawn the number Three-Charlie, 
and would assume the command of task force Three-Charlie, in the Third 
Fleet. Chancellor Martok and Admiral Sela had drawn the numbers three and 
two, respectively.

By everything their sensors told them, the Borg were blissfully unaware 
of the fleet lurking in the reddish-blackish maelstrom of hyperspace. 
Perhaps it was something that the Borg had never encountered before or 
had never assimilated from another before. In any case, it was a decided 
tactical and strategic advantage to the fleet that possessed that 
particular technology. Seated in a chair behind and to the left of 
Marius, was the Borg Queen. She was surrounded by a six-layer multi-
frequency force field, which kept not just her person, but all 
transmissions emanating from her safely within the field bubble. In any 
case beyond the force field, there were jamming and dampening fields 
outside that initial field bubble. She would watch as her 'subjects' 
died. She would watch the end of the Borg.

"Comms, give me a fleet wide channel please."

"Line open, Admiral."

"Ships of the fleet. Here's a final bit of advice before we open the 
doorway. There is a legend among my people of a great soldier from an 
earlier war. He was known as Private Murphy. He was famous for the bits 
of advice he gave to other soldiers. The most critical thing to remember 
in the battle ahead is this: No plan of action will ever survive contact 
with the enemy, and all warfare is based on deception. But the most 
important thing I can tell you about Murphy is that he was both an 
optimist and a grunt.

In order to gain a bit of tactical advantage over our enemy, I recommend 
we launch all fighters now, and have them fly with us as we exit 
hyperspace. Instead of seeing a mere two hundred and fifty ships, the 
Borg will see a thousand or more ships entering their space. Remember our 
goals. If we can capture the shipyards intact, do so, but not at the 
expense of your lives. Capital ships; concentrate fire on the larger 
vessels of the Borg fleet. Fighters; go after the smaller ships and 
defense platforms. Don't concentrate on eliminating the enemy ships, but 
if you can remove some of their weapon emplacements, that will be good.

One final note. Today we begin a campaign that will demonstrate to one 
and all, that the descendants of the Progenitors can overcome their 
differences, that we can work together towards a common goal. The Borg 
will rue the day they decided to try and assimilate us. Thank you, and 
God speed."

"Duty Officer."

"Aye sir?"

"Sound general quarters."

"Aye sir!"

"General quarters, general quarters! All hands man you battle stations!"

"Sensors, as soon as we clear the jump point, I want constant active 
sweeps of the sector."

"Aye sir!"

"Navigation. Shut down the Combat Gate network. Only ships with 
authenticator transponders can use the gate network as of this moment."

"Aye sir! Sending changes now sir!"

"Weps, warm up all weapons. Load all phase shifted torpedoes. Nukes for 
long range, HE for medium and short range."

"Aye sir."

"Comms, get me Colonel O'Neill."

"Bridge, O'Neill."

"Colonel. Watch your six."

"You got that right!"

                         *******************

From the perspective of the Borg it was as if space opened up all around 
them. Blue spots formed all over their planetary system, followed nearly 
a second later by hundreds, perhaps tens of hundreds of ships of dozens 
of varieties. The Borg on duty in the sensor rooms sounded the alarm 
quickly but efficiently. Borg cubes of two types, standard and tactical 
advanced from their positions to meet the invaders head on. Dozens of 
Borg spheres and hundreds of interceptors left orbit of the nearby planet 
and formed up into small groups in support of the larger cubes.

"We are the Borg. Stand down your shields and your weapons. We will add 
your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance 
is futile. You will be assimilated."

"Attention Borg fleet. This is Admiral Kathryn Janeway. You have one 
opportunity to surrender unconditionally. You have thirty seconds to 
comply."

The Borg complied. They fired everything in their arsenal at the incoming 
fleet. The three Sovereigns of task force One-Alpha, each launched pairs 
of transphasic torpedoes targeting the larger Borg cubes, while the 
smaller Steamrunners began launching torpedoes at the planet below them. 
Fighters weaved between beams that had become so thick, it was almost 
possible to walk on them, if one were so inclined. Fighters and bombers 
made fast pass strafing runs at the numerous installations in the sector 
and one by one and three by three, weapon emplacements began to fall 
silent. 

The Steamrunners were having a limited success on the planet because of 
the high powered shield surrounding it. But the Nebula strike cruisers 
joined in the fray, targeting the shield generators with transphasic 
torpedoes and reducing the effective shield power to a mere fraction. 
Photon torpedoes began leaking through the shield, striking targets on 
the surface, and causing hundreds of secondary explosions.

The Borg were quickly becoming overwhelmed with the sheer amount of 
firepower targeting their system. A transmission was sent, and additional 
cubes from the nearby systems were dispatched. A second transmission was 
sent, and a larger Borg fleet assigned to the Core Worlds tried to open a 
transwarp portal with no success. The Combat Gate network, or transwarp 
network as the Borg called it, was inexplicably not responding to 
transmitted commands. At high warp, it would take this fleet, the nearest 
to the attacked system, the better part of two months to arrive.

As soon as Admiral Sela saw the Borg ships depart the nearby systems, she 
ordered her fleet to attack those systems. One task force went to each 
system and in a matter of a few hours, the systems that had been deprived 
of their defense forces, had been erased of the Borg. On the Bridge of 
the Halsey, one could almost imagine that the Borg Queen was crying. Her 
eyes appeared moist, but no tears fell. She was dismayed that her fellow 
Borg were so complacent. They had believed no humanoid power could ever 
mount so impressive a fleet and attack them in their own space. And she 
could do nothing to stop it.

These Immortals. Their own existence verified to her the idea of 
biological perfection. It was the goal the Borg had long sought. And now 
here it was for her to gaze upon, but not touch, not achieve. Could their 
own philosophy of perfection be so wrong?

But no. That was illogical to think that. The Borg had existed for 
centuries. They had always done what was in the best interests of all 
species. Bringing them closer to perfection. It was the right thing to 
do. Wasn't it?

More Borg cubes and spheres appeared in the sector, responding to the 
frenzied distress calls of so many Borg in the system. But they were just 
as quickly dealt with. Here and there, a Borg vessel managed to find the 
correct shield rotation frequency and in those cases, the Borg beam 
weapons sliced open ships like a white hot knife through butter. The 
smaller ships in the task force met their deaths in this fashion. Escape 
pods were mixed in with the debris in the system. Debris that would be 
put to good use rebuilding damaged ships.

"Weps, deploy landing pods. Take the planet below us. Signal the fleet of 
our intentions."

"Aye sir."

The deployment pods, both of them this time, were released from their 
mooring clamps and styled for a moment, before beginning their 
atmospheric insertions. Each pod was to land on opposite sides of the 
planet's one city, so as to catch the Borg in between in the jaws of a 
vise. It wasn't long, perhaps a few minutes, before the first pod was 
down and beginning to deploy its personnel and equipment. From above, the 
Al'kesh bombers came down into the skies of this M-class world and laid 
down heavy patterns of plasma bombs and of conventional high explosive 
bombs. 

The MLRS units moved out to a position a bare thirty kilometers from the 
city proper and began sending salvoes of rockets with their submunitions 
into the air. The Paladins moved up alongside the rocket units and began 
laying down a heavy cover of smoke and HE-frag shells along a five 
kilometer wide corridor that stretched for ten kilometers in either 
direction away from the city border. 

The Al'kesh bombers flew back to the Halsey, their ordinance expended. 
But they were quickly replaced by a combination of Harrier jump-jets and 
Apache Longbow helicopters providing close-in support for the advancing 
ground troops. It was the combination of arms and weapons types that 
confused the Borg on the ground. On the one hand, there were energy 
weapons, beams and bombs, and on the other there were projectile and 
chemically based weapons, bombs and bullets. Their personal force fields 
could adjust easily to the energy based weapons, but they were designed 
to prevent fast moving objects from penetrating. The bullets and bomb 
fragments coming at them were not fast moving. Well, they were, but when 
compared to a beam weapon, they were as slow as the tortoise is to the 
hare. But faster moving weapons are easily defeated with the shields. 
It's the slow but steady moving ones that do the most damage.

The orbital bombardment by the Steamrunners and Nebulas had been well 
placed and coordinated. The destruction was widespread, but affected the 
more critical systems. Groups of weapon emplacements had been vaporized. 
Shield generators destroyed. Hangars had been sealed and what looked like 
garages for ground attack vehicles, covered in debris.

It would take a week or two before all of the Borg drones could be 
rounded up and placed in specially rigged containment areas, each on the 
size of a regulation football field. As the containment areas were filled 
to capacity, an aerosolized version of the Borg nanites was sprayed into 
the air. The first of these modified nanites had been harvested from 
Seven of Nine. Starfleet engineers and medical scientists had worked 
minor miracles to reprogram the nanites. Then had come the task of 
replicating the new 'biological' agents for use in the field. Each ship 
in the fleet possessed enough of the new nanites to spray a planet the 
size of Jupiter. 

It was an ingenious reprogram. The nanites would invade the target body, 
in this case a Borg drone, and attack the nanites already present in the 
body. The attack was in the form of a small burst of EMP to neutralize 
the offending nanite, then a probe would insert itself and upload a new 
program into the nanite. The result was that even a dozen nanites in a 
target body could fairly quickly reprogram all of the existing nanites in 
the body. The program was a simple one. It ordered the nanites to 
withdraw all evidence of bio-mechanical implants and to use the newly 
freed materials to repair whatever damage had been done by the implants.

So when a containment field reached capacity, the new nanites were 
sprayed into the area. One by one, the Borg drones dropped where they 
stood. Their coloring slowly returned to normal and they fell into a deep 
healing sleep. As soon as the planet was deemed contained, the two 
Olympic class medical ships moved into orbit and began beaming up the 
former drones to numerous operating areas. Here, the final implants were 
removed and the drones returned to the surface. When the drones awoke, it 
was to a brand new existence. Some committed suicide, not being able to 
deal with the lack of others in their minds. Some, began the arduous task 
of creating a new life for themselves. Others wanted to join the fight, 
but the Alliance bade them only to provide repairs or new ships for the 
fleet. They asked them to create their own governments and to consider 
the threat of the Borg. It would be a slow process, but it was a 
necessary one.

At the end of three months, the difference in the sector was a noticeable 
one. System J25 had become a protectorate of the Federation. The systems 
immediately surrounding it had become protectorates of the Klingon 
Empire. Those systems around this next layer fell to the Romulan Star 
Empire to administer. The next concentric ring of systems became the 
domain of the Cardassian Union, and the one after that fell to the 
Dominion. And then the cycle repeated itself until at the end of three 
months, a sizeable dent had been made in the holdings of the Borg. But 
J25 was where it had all started and so it was the mostly heavily 
fortified. It was the location of several dozen shipyards that were 
watched over by a military station built by each of the major powers, a 
commerce station watched over by Talarian and Bajoran ships and by Tau'ri 
defense platforms. 

Task force One-Alpha, had jumped to a system far from J25, on the border 
between the Beta and Delta quadrants. Seven of Nine had identified this 
system as Planetary system ninety-two-sixteen. It was the home of a major 
transwarp hub, and the home to a Borg queen. The Borg had still not 
managed to adapt to the disabled transwarp network, though there was 
repeated evidence in the gate beacon logs of attempts to subvert the 
network. Commander Data himself had designed the new gate sequence 
algorithms. Unless the Borg were very lucky or extremely patient, Data 
theorized that it would take them several hundred years to break the ever 
changing encryption pattern. 

Task force One-Alpha had started out with two hundred and fifty ships. 
But now, with their seventh engagement looming, their strength had been 
cut down by a little more than half. Most of the Sabers and B'Rels were 
gone. Only one Hideki was left. In their most recent Borg encounter, the 
Hideki had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had been nearly 
shorn in two. 

But all in all, most of the Beta quadrant was no longer in Borg hands. 
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of worlds had been freed. The reprogrammed 
nanites had done their job and had fallen apart as per their revised 
command set instructions. In each former Borg drone, there was a small 
number that remained inactive but very much intact, ready to fight off 
new Borgification nanites. It was an imperfect process, but it worked. 
But now they were preparing to jump into a new system. The fleet was in 
hyperspace, that reddish-blackish maelstrom that allowed the fleet to 
hide from Borg sensors and jump in where they least expected it. 

"Sensor officer, give me a readout on what we can expect?"

"Aye sir. Looks like the Borg have this system  in their full control. I 
count three M Class worlds, all with a very substantial Borg population. 
There are six planets in this system. The remaining three are one L Class 
and two Y class. The majority of the population is situated on the M 
Class worlds, but the other three also have small populations. There 
appear to be mining communities on the L and Y class worlds. The Nexus is 
located between the second and third planets, at what we would call the 
L5 point out from the second world. I asked the navigation officer to 
ping the Nexus. It looks like this hub structure is a starting point for 
all of their transwarp portals in the Beta quadrant."

"Then we need to take that structure as intact as possible. Warp travel 
is well and good, but the Combat Gate network is infinitely faster. What 
sort of stationary platforms do they have in the system?"

"Still counting those sir. So far, we have cataloged and located over six 
hundred beam platforms and more than a thousand torpedo platforms, with 
the bulk of them, well over eighty percent, protecting the transwarp 
Nexus. We have counts on other craft, however, sir. Two hundred and 
twenty-three tactical cubes, over a thousand of the smaller Interceptors, 
and several hundred of something we haven't seen before. Funky looking 
ships, shaped kinda like a crooked 'L'."

"So, is anyone else thinking this is gonna be a tough nut to crack?"

"Amen to that, sir."

"Comms, get me the Acheron."

"On sir."

"Captain Riker. We have completed our preliminary scans of the system."

"As have we. The Borg seem to have a lot of ships in the system."

"It is my understanding, from Admiral Janeway and Seven of Nine, that 
this system is home to a Borg Queen."

"That is my understanding as well."

"I think, William, that we will be in need of more than just our task 
force. The Borg have not gained the ability to detect us in hyperspace as 
yet. So we will wait here for reinforcements. In the meantime, I think it 
is time we had a bit of a conversation with our resident Borg Queen."

"An interrogation?"

"No, a conversation I think. And I have the perfect person in mind for 
our side of the conversation. Would you like a feed routed to your ship?"

"Yes, that would be useful. I'll send word to Fleet Admiral Janeway that 
we are in need of reinforcements."

"Thank you Captain."

"Channel closed, sir."

"Thank you Comms. Get a hold of Major Mulder, and have him meet me in my 
office."

"Aye sir!"

"You wanted to see me Admiral?"

"I did Mulder. I find myself in need of your particular talents."

"I'm sure one of the psychiatric staff would be of more use to you."

"Smart ass. It's not for me. I want you to interview the Borg Queen."

"Interrogate?"

"No. Just a series of conversations. It's been my experience that a 
captive enemy tends to spill more if it's not an interrogation."

"Looking for anything in particular?"

"I'm not sure. The battles from here on in will be more intense. Anything 
we can do to offset that will be beneficial."

"Done. I'll head down there now."

                         *******************

Since her capture in Earth space, the Borg Queen had been a resident in 
the small auxiliary brig aboard the Halsey. They had not allowed her any 
sort of communication with the outside world, to the point of not even 
granting her access to ship board news services. Though it was difficult 
to ascertain whether she knew the Halsey had traveled deeper into Borg 
space or not, the general feeling among the senior officers of the fleet 
was that she was fully aware of the invasion forces and what they had 
accomplished, since watching the initial engagement at J25.

Major Fox Mulder walked into the auxiliary brig a bit unsure of his 
marching orders. It was one thing to interview criminals accused of 
multiple killings or the numerous sociopaths he had profiled as part of 
his tenure with the Behavioral Sciences Unit at the FBI. It was quite 
another to be sitting here to interview a person accused of genocide. For 
that's what the Borg were; genocidal killers of an order aspired to by 
the likes of Hitler. It was true that they didn't outright kill the 
species they invaded. They did something far worse that kill. They 
assimilated. And in doing that, they took away the inherent right to live 
life as the individual desired. They stripped away individuality, which 
to any humanoid creature was far worse than death. It was a living death. 

To the Borg queen, these creatures were small minded. The idea of 
individualism had long ago been stripped away from the Borg. They were 
the gestalt of what all humanoid creatures should strive to become. They 
were the embodiment of 'Carpe Diem'. They were the idea of perfection. 
But they regarded themselves as far from perfect. They strived to achieve 
biological and technological perfection. In all their travels, they had 
observed biological perfection only in the ruins of the Ancient's 
outpost, deep with the Delta quadrant. In the history written on the 
walls, they had learned about species zero-zero-three. They had learned 
of this species' immortality, and they had adopted that goal as their own 
vision of biological perfection, with the knowledge that one species had 
achieved that goal, they felt certain that it was possible for another 
species to achieve that goal. And so they had embarked on the journey to 
perfection, never realizing that the universe abhors perfection. One only 
has to look around themselves to see the imperfection that runs rampant 
in the environment. But for all their far reaching goals, in this area, 
the Borg were far from perfect.

                         *******************

"Hello. I am Major Fox Mulder. Uhm, I am unsure as to what to call you."

"Pitiful human. Must you use a designation for everything you see?"

"It does tend to make things easier to call a person by their name."

"I am a Borg Queen. The beginning and the end."

"The Borg assign designations, do they not?"

"This is correct."

"Then what is your designation?"

"I am a Borg Queen."

"I see. And if you should die, will there be another Borg Queen?"

"Yes. There must be continuity. There must be a clear line of 
leadership."

"Then you are the leader of the Borg?"

"You imply disparity where there is none."

"But you are the Queen of the Borg, yes?"

"Yes."

"Then you are their leader, at least to my understanding of such things."

"If you must use such small minded ideas to understand something that is 
inherently beyond you, human, then do so."

"As you wish, your Majesty."

"Are you here to interrogate me?"

"No. I am here because I am curious. Tell me of the Borg, of your 
history."

"You wish to understand the Borg, pitiful Human?"

"I wish it."

"The Borg are many thousands of years old. We have walked among the stars 
since before our written history began. One of our first exploration 
ships chanced upon a world populated by Species 003. It was our first 
encounter with perfection. The inhabitants of that world had long since 
left, but their writings spoke of their perfection. They had achieved 
biological and technological perfection. Their technical creations worked 
exactly as designed, and they were immortal, the very idea of biological 
perfection."

"So you believe that immortality is biological perfection?"

"Perfection of the biological entity would allow said entity to live 
thousands of years without fear of death or disease."

"And you believe that this Species 003 were biologically perfect?"

"Yes."

"We have accessed your archives. And what you have just told me is the 
same conclusion we reached based on the data available to us. Do the Borg 
have any other designation for Species 003?"

"No. We do not need designations, or names, as you refer to them. Our 
system of designations tell us all we need to know about a species or a 
technology."

"I see. So then, the fact that this particular species was designated 
zero-zero-three tells me that they were the third species you 
encountered. Would this be a fair assessment?"

"Yes."

"And had you encountered a thousand other species before zero-zero-three, 
then their designation would be much different, yes?"

"It would be numerically different, yes."

"And were any of that species still on that world when you found it?"

"No. Their writings told of a passing beyond. We determined that the 
species moved on from this part of the universe to another part. As they 
are immortal and can not die, we determined that it was a rather fanciful 
way of describing some type of mass migration."

"The Species you designated zero-zero-three, is one we know of as the 
Ancients. They are one and the same. And they did, in a sense, pass 
beyond. They evolved to a point where corporeal bodies were no longer of 
necessity. They exist now as only so much coherent energy. But not all of 
them evolved."

"Those that were imperfect did not achieve this new level of existence?"

"No. Only those that were old enough were able to evolve, to move on to 
the next level. But it takes hundreds of thousands of years to achieve 
that level of 'Ancientness'. I, for one, am looking forward to spending a 
few hundred thousand years in this body, exploring the universe and all 
that it has to offer."

"But you are not of Species 003. You are Human. You can not live for 
thousands of years. Your lifetime is a flicker of light in the grand 
scheme of the universe."

"I only appear Human. In point of fact, up until a year ago, I was 
completely Human. Now I am a member of the species you have designated 
zero-zero-three."

"Do you have control over the elements? Can you make your body re-grow 
missing parts?"

"Those abilities come with time, Your Highness."

"As fascinating as this dialogue has been, Human, it will soon come to an 
end. I know of your plans to invade Borg space. But you will fail."

"Look at the wall, Majesty. You will see a holographic representation of 
the known galaxy, including all the information we pulled from Borg 
archives. The area in red are current Borg holdings as of the time when 
your Diamond was captured."

"The area is vast, and will soon encompass the entire galaxy!"

"No. This was the area you knew, some months ago. This revised map is the 
area today. Note that the red Borg controlled areas have shrunk 
dramatically. The Beta quadrant is fully in the control of the alliance 
of Alpha quadrant powers."

The look on the face of the Borg Queen was definitely a Kodak (tm) 
moment. The sheer shock at being told that her people had lost an entire 
quadrant of the galaxy made her sit down and become quiet. Mulder took 
this as an end to the current conversation, and walked back to his office 
to write the first of what he felt would be many reports.

The Queen looked upon the revised map and wondered if it could possibly 
be so. Then she noticed what the Humans must also have noticed. Nexus 
three-five-eight. It lay ahead of the fleet of which she was a prisoner. 
Because it was one of seven central nexii, it had a transwarp portal that 
led directly to the First World of the Borg. 

It was not the world they had evolved on, this much was true, but it was 
the world they had assimilated as their own. Whatever ancient and long 
extinct empire had laid claim to that system had ringed it with defenses 
the Borg were unable to duplicate, but were able to control. The best 
thing had been the artificially controlled star at the center of that 
particular system. Whatever ancient technology had developed those 
control systems, they had enabled the star to remain a yellow sun for 
much longer than previously thought of. The control mechanisms constantly 
siphoned off helium and injected hydrogen to the star to maintain a 
constant balance. The process was self sustaining and the siphoned off 
helium underwent fission which created the very hydrogen the star needed 
to live. The ancient inhabitants of this system only had three worlds to 
call their own, but each was the size of five Jupiter class worlds. The 
defenses were self-repairing and self-replicating. The offensive 
platforms of the system were such that when it was first encountered, the 
Borg lost nearly five thousand tactical cubes before gaining control of 
the weapons systems in the system. 

The technology in that system had enabled the Borg to make quantum leaps 
forward and it began the long term philosophy of the pursuit of 
perfection through assimilation. But this Human that had interrogated 
her, was something of a conundrum. Outwardly he was far from perfect. If 
what he claimed were true, then he was a member of a race the Borg 
considered long since gone from this area of the universe. And the 
commander of this vessel had made similar claims. Could what the Human 
had claimed be true? That Species 003 had not moved on but evolved? She 
needed more data before she could reach a conclusion. But how could she 
obtain any relevant data from behind a force-field barricaded prison 
cell?

                         *******************

Somewhere in Hyperspace

Methos had the watch for this shift. He was going over the current loss 
reports. The Halsey had started out with a full compliment of attack 
squadrons, an armored cavalry regiment and a Marine expeditionary unit. 
Now, in the aftermath of their sixth engagement, with more than two dozen 
worlds liberated by them from the Borg, the levels of staffing in those 
units was reaching a dangerously low level. In their last battle with the 
Borg, the Halsey had relied more and more on automated systems. Unlike 
these Federation types, the Halsey was far from home. Staffing with new 
personnel was impossible for them. Even with staff borrowed from other 
ships in the fleet, and with personnel rescued from damaged and destroyed 
ships of the fleet, the Halsey was still running dangerously under-
manned. 

The arrival of seven Federation personnel transports with Task Force Two-
Alpha went unnoticed until the Commander of the newly arrived task force 
called the Halsey.

"Commander Methos, on behalf of Admiral Janeway, I have been authorized 
to offer the replacements aboard these transports to your vessel and your 
support ships. The Admiral is fully aware of the sacrifices made by your 
crews and is even more aware that no reinforcements from your home world 
are available. In the spirit cooperation and in the hope of continued 
success in our quest to liberate all these systems from the Borg, the 
Admiral is pleased to offer the men and women aboard these transports as 
replacements for your lost crews. To a man, all of them have volunteered 
to serve aboard the Halsey."

"Thank you and Admiral Janeway for the kind words, Captain Metzer. Please 
pull along side so that we may begin making personnel transfers."

"Of course, sir."

                         *******************

It was a Godsend, these new crew members. The Borg had long ago adapted 
to the standard tactics used by the Alpha quadrant powers and were 
adapting to the tactics used by the Halsey. But the one thing in favor of 
the fleets allied against the Borg is that reinforcements to the Borg 
were only available from nearby systems. They had not been able to 
circumvent the encryption put into place by the Allied powers onto the 
controls for the Combat Gate network, or what the Borg referred to as 
their Transwarp network. It was a sticky situation, trying to stay one 
step ahead of the Borg especially since the Borg had a nasty habit of 
adapting to what should be a losing scenario for them. 

It was, perhaps, time to change tactics. But if all warfare is based on 
deception, then maybe it was time to increase the amount of deception 
practiced by the Halsey and her support ships. To this end, the 
engineering teams under Major Carter had been working on something to 
deceive the enemy. It would buy them at most a few minutes in combat, and 
at worst, only seconds. It was a combination of technologies from three 
universes and it was something that the Borg might consider a new player 
on the battlefield. It wasn't a new class of ship, at least by AIS 
standards. In fact, it was a very old class. Cheops. The standard pyramid 
ship used by the Goa'uld for thousands of years. 

The latest arrivals from Allied space had brought to the Halsey not only 
replacement personnel, but also replenished their stocks of naquadah and 
trinium. Using those refilled storage pods, the AIS and Federation 
engineering teams had utilized the different types of replication 
technology at their disposal to quickly build up three pyramid ships. 
Unlike their Goa'uld counterparts, these ships were a combination of 
technologies from the Federation, Earth Force, and the AIS. 

Goa'uld vessels typically had one force field and several dozen weapons 
emplacements, with two shuttle bays for Al'kesh bombers and two hangar 
bays for Udajeet fighters along with room for a thousand ground troops. 
The first modification to the ship had been made in the engine room. 
Alongside the standard hyperspace window generator, the engineers had put 
down a pair of fusion generators, and a warp drive generator. The design 
teams then put another eight fusion generators scattered about the ship 
that could provide emergency power to the engines should the engineering 
sections be damaged. 

The next major modification came to the shielding system. Standard 
Goa'uld designs had one shield. Standard AIS ships had three shields. 
Federation ships used single shields on rotating frequencies and 
deployable armor in addition to the laser ablative armor on their hulls. 
So they started with laser ablative armor. Then they added the 
regenerative armor that had been used on Vorlon and Shadow ships for 
centuries. This they covered with two independent sets of deployable 
armor. And they topped it off with six sets of independent shields all on 
different frequency rotations. 

Then came the shuttle and hangar bays. The Thunderbolt fighter had become 
accepted to the various Alpha quadrant powers and these were placed in 
the fighter bays. Into the shuttle bays went the Federation Peregrine and 
Romulan Praetor class heavy fighters. The designers kept six Al'kesh 
bombers in each bay and these had been heavily modified such that the 
Klingon warriors assigned to those ships could use them easily. But even 
these fighters and the Al'kesh bombers had been modified to grant them 
better and more protection in the field. 

The Federation designers took a lesson from Species 4872 when it came to 
the weapons. The pyramid ship had four faces and each face had numerous 
gun emplacements. At the corners of each face their was a single Vorlon 
Grand cannon that could be fired independently of each other, or could be 
combined at a focal point into one massive beam. Each beam had the 
explosive power of a two gigaton explosive, but the combined beam output 
was on the order of eight gigatons of explosive power. The individual 
beams were of an equivalent power of the type XII main phaser used by the 
Sovereign class ships the Federation used. But if the Borg thought it 
could be easy to destroy the heavy weapons emplacements and thus negate 
the tri-focused beam, then they had failed to learn something very 
important in existence. 

It was something that appeared often enough in nature. A human being has 
two eyes, two ears, two lungs and two kidneys. Redundancy. It's evident 
in nature and it was a lesson the AIS engineers had taken to heart. Each 
lower corner emplacement had a maximum firing of one hundred and eighty 
degrees, but because there were adjoining guns at the corners, the guns 
were limited to ninety degree firing arcs. If a one corner gun fell, it 
could be replaced by the one adjacent to it. And if all of the corner 
guns fell, then the focal point beams could be made by other, less 
powerful guns of the pyramid. In that case, it took six working guns on 
the same side to generate the power output of the three combined heavy 
beams. But they also worked at lower power output with only three guns. 

Then there were the launcher emplacements for photon and quantum 
torpedoes, QSG equipped, naquadah enhanced Shipwrecks, and the Romulan 
plasma torpedoes. The sum result of their efforts was either a ship that 
would confuse the Borg, or a ship that the Borg would ignore until the 
right moment. The plan was to have the three Cheops class pyramid ships 
appear shortly after the battle was engaged with the Borg and to not join 
in at first. It was a deceptive tactic on the part of the Allied powers. 
Each of the Thunderbolt fighters would project a holographic image of an 
Udajeet fighter. Each of the Peregrines and Praetors would project images 
of Al'kesh bombers. To anyone from the universe of the AIS, it would 
appear to be a small Goa'uld attack force. 

To make the deception complete, all personnel on the pyramid ships wore a 
sensor scrambler on their person that would make it seem to the Borg that 
all aboard were of the joined nature of the Goa'uld. The 'leaders' of 
each ship, would speak with the modified vocal patterns of a symbiote 
controlled humanoid. One of the three leaders had even adopted the 
persona of a Goa'uld that was long dead in their own universe; Ra. Though 
the Borg would not know who this 'God' was or more precisely, where he 
was from, they would believe them to be a new player on the galactic 
block. And when that deception grew old and tired, the surviving pyramid 
ships would be remade into an Asgard cruiser. And each new deception 
would be calculated to make the Borg pause even if only just for an 
instant. And it was those single instants of pause that the Allied powers 
were looking for. For in that split second of indecision on the part of 
the Borg, the allies could strike hard and fast. And hopefully with all 
the combined seconds of indecision, the tide would completely turn in 
favor of the Alpha quadrant allies. 

But this next battle, the upcoming seventh engagement for the Halsey in 
as many months would mark a major turning point in the war. This next 
system was the control center for the Borg in the Beta quadrant. With it 
out of the way, the Beta quadrant would be effectively liberated of Borg 
presence, though there were still a few out of the way systems that would 
still be in Borg control. But with this nexus in Allied control, the 
allied powers could launch quick strikes into those systems and finally 
clear the Beta quadrant of Borg infestation. 

That would leave the Delta quadrant as the major stronghold of the Borg. 
True, there was a encroachment of Borg into the Gamma quadrant, but it 
was in the Delta quadrant where the Borg controlled nearly seventy-five 
percent of the quadrant. But that was a battle yet to happen. And there 
was a part of Marius and Methos and all of the others aboard the Halsey 
that hoped they wouldn't have to pursue the Borg to the very ends of the 
galaxy. 

For now, the fleet was assembled in hyperspace. It had taken a week to 
get all four task forces of the First Fleet together in one area. Third 
fleet was enroute but would take another day to arrive. The time to 
invade was designated and the fleet made its final preparations. The 
three Cheops class cruisers would remain in hyperspace and would jump in 
using their Hyperdrive engines ten minutes after the battle was engaged. 

"Sir, fleetcomm signal from the Acheron. They signal ready to jump to 
normal space."

"Very well. Acknowledge the signal. All stations, this is the Bridge. 
Prepare to jump to normal space. Mr. Jameson, sound general quarters and 
set condition red."

"Aye sir!"

"Jump...now!"

                         *******************

To a casual observer it seemed as if the heavens had opened up into a 
thousand thousand blue points. And each point was spewing into normal 
space dozens of ships, all firing at preset targets chosen when the fleet 
was still in hyperspace. In the first seconds of the engagement, more 
than a thousand defense platforms, of both the beam and launcher 
varieties, were destroyed. The Borg responded with their usual 
communication.

"UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS. YOU HAVE ENTERED BORG SPACE. STAND DOWN YOUR 
WEAPONS AND POWER DOWN YOUR SHIELDS. YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL 
DISTINCTIVENESSES WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU 
WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Ya know, you'd think that with so many of their systems now in our 
control they'd change their tune. Just once, I'd like to hear a different 
opening message."

"Amen to that, Jameson. Order the Lone Stars and the bombers to target 
their static weapon emplacements."

"Aye sir."

"Sir! Those new Borg ships are moving in! They have one of the Akira's in 
some kind of tractor beam! Comms from the Akira claim the Borg are 
beaming off the crew!"

"Damn it. Inform the fleet to target those new ships! Priority one!"

The Borg were losing more drones than ever before. This combined enemy 
had been able to do what no other single species had done before. They 
had actually made a serious dent in the amount of Borg drones available. 
So much so that the Borg had resurrected an older ship design with an 
older weapon. The Borg Assimilator vessel was designed to target wounded 
ships, lock on with a tractor beam, and beam massive numbers of alien 
crews to their ship where they would emerge into a nanite mist. The 
nanite were of the assimilation type. The assimilated crews would then be 
beamed back to other ships and the ships converted for Borg use. It was 
something the Allied powers could not allow. 

It was at this point that the three Cheops class cruisers emerged from 
the Transwarp conduit and into the system Their first broadcast was a 
standard Goa'uld greeting.

"I am Ra. King of the Gods. My brethren and I have heard the cries of one 
of our own and have come to free our Queen. Stay out of our way or feel 
our wrath!"

"Goa'uld vessel. This is the AIS Halsey. You can't have your queen. But 
you're welcome to try and take her!"

"Goa'uld kree!"

To the local Borg commander, it appeared as though these three new ships 
were intent on attacking the invasion forces. What they didn't see was 
that the approach vector these new ships were taking would place them at 
point blank range to the vanguard of the Borg fleet. But the Borg were 
ignoring the new ships for the moment and were content to sit back for a 
moment to regroup while these newcomers attacked their enemy. Apparently 
the Borg believed in the old Human adage about the enemy of one's enemy. 
The Borg even ignored, for the moment, the power buildup in what they 
determined to be weapons systems, as they believed those systems were 
targeted at the Allied invasionary ships. Indeed, the targeting scanners 
were locked on the allied fleet, but that was all a part of the 
deception. The guns were being directed optically, and not by the 
targeting scanners. 

When the three cruisers had closed to what they deemed as point blank 
range, the large tri-focused beams were released. The effect on the Borg 
ships was devastating. The beam from each ship was of sufficient power to 
pass through not one, not three, but five Borg cubes at once. In three 
single blasts from their main guns, the vanguard of the Borg fleet, the 
ships on the extreme pointy end, had been eviscerated. 

"Warfare is all about deception, eh Mr. Jameson? You think the Borg ever 
read Sun Tzu?"

"Somehow I doubt that sir. But it looks like they might be fast learners. 
Borg targeting scanners now attempting to lock on to the Cheops."

"Make sure that Colonel O'Neill and his attack cruisers return the favor. 
Those pyramids may be smaller than this ship, but it looks like the 
engineers did a really good job on them."

                         *******************

Deep within the complex that was this Borg transwarp nexus, a Borg Queen 
watched over the unfolding battle. The appearance of such a large fleet 
this deep into Borg space had been something of a shock, and the 
subsequent appearance out of some unknown form of transwarp conduit of 
three pyramidal shaped ships who led a successful attack against the most 
experienced of their tactical cubes was rather unexpected. But then 
again, her own promotion to Queen had been unexpected. She had been taken 
from the same world as the previous Queen. Indeed, all Borg Queens came 
from the same world. Whether that was a good thing or not depended on the 
viewpoint of the person asking themselves that very question. 

This particular Queen had been raised to her position following the loss 
of the Queen sent to the Alpha quadrant to assimilate the Federation home 
world. But that Queen had been lost along with all drones in her armada. 
Now it was her turn to oversee the empire that was feared throughout the 
four quadrants by all sentient beings. The mere presence of the Borg was 
enough to make even the strongest of species run away as fast as 
possible. Few dared to fight the Borg and those who did inevitably 
succumbed to the sheer numbers of Borg ships available. But this fleet of 
ships invading their space, this was something different. Other species 
had banded together against them in the past, but none had been able to 
adapt to the changing battlefield as effectively as these Federation 
ships. 

The sudden appearance of the pyramid ships and the new species calling 
themselves 'Goa'uld', had been an unexpected event. Their method of FTL 
travel was unknown and this was a not so pleasant event for the Borg who 
made it a near religion to know all scientific and technical knowledge in 
the known universe. Even more so was the new and different FTL method the 
Federation was using that enable them to appear and disappear from Borg 
sensors, much to the chagrin of the best analytical minds of the Borg 
Collective. Perhaps it was time to change tactics?

                         *******************

"Halsey to O'Neill. Go with phase two."

"Roger that."


Almost as one unit, the three Cheops cruisers pivoted on their axis and 
made a short hyperspace jump to the space immediately surrounding the 
Borg Nexus. The fighters and bombers that O'Neill had kept in reserve 
were now launched and immediately began making strafing runs at the 
periphery of the Nexus, slowly whittling away at the stations' defenses. 
The smaller guns on the cruisers were pounding away at the structural 
members of the station while low power shots from the tri-focus guns were 
vaporizing large sections of the station. Each cruiser was concentrating 
on a different part of the Nexus. 

The cruiser under Phillipson's command had drawn the task of capturing 
the transwarp hub complex. Each of the cruiser's were home to three 
thousand troopers in addition to the two full wings of fighters and one 
of bombers. But since there weren't that many available troopers aboard 
the Halsey, Federation Marines and Klingon Infantry were used to 
supplement the Halsey attack troops. But since Alexander was the senior 
special ops aboard the Halsey, by virtue of his long and historied 
military service, the majority of the troops under his command were also 
special operations types. One hundred of the men came from the ranks of 
Russian Spetsnaz. Another hundred came from the elite Second Ranger 
battalion. Four complete SEAL teams, and five hundred more from Army's 
elite Delta Force. These elite men and women were supported by two 
companies of Marines from the Halsey's MEU, and five companies each of 
Federation Marines and Klingon infantry. 

O'Neill's cruiser was busily pounding away at the Nexus, directing his 
fighter and bomber squadrons to the best of his ability. But it wasn't 
like a video game, where players could re-spawn. When a beam of coherent 
light touched one of his fighters, that pilot ceased to exist. No chance 
of having another life to continue 'playing' on. A person would have to 
be a robot to not feel the loss of each and every person under their 
command. Fortunately, O'Neill was no robot. Unfortunately he was human. 
And like a human he felt each and every loss. But like a good commander, 
he felt their loss not so much as death, but as a lessening of his 
projectable force. He would feel the deaths later when the battle was 
over. 

In addition to the crews of the fighters and bombers, he had an elite 
team of Quick Reaction Forces aboard his cruiser. The shield around the 
Borg Nexus was weakening with every hit from the tri-focus beams, even at 
low power. O'Neill was reticent about ordering a full power charge 
because the goal of this attack was to take the Nexus as intact as 
possible. The idea was to capture it and use it as a staging ground for 
the final push into the most heavily defended and populated regions of 
Borg controlled space. It was where all the fleets would come together to 
regroup and make repairs. It would be the last chance the people of the 
fleets would have at a little rest and relaxation before launching the 
final campaign.

A small portion of the shield fell and was brought back up within minutes 
by the Borg, but it was long enough to beam over a large contingent of 
O'Neill's QRF. The advantage of the ring transport system meant that the 
personnel being transported materialized and were ready to go before the 
shielded rings were retracted out. It gave the soldiers just a few extra 
seconds to target the oncoming Borg and hold the landing zone. The first 
troopers to beam over were tasked with holding the beam over point and 
this they did while coming under massive fire from the Borg drones. The 
Marines with the P90's and M16's laid down heavy fire mowing down the 
ranks of drones as they approached the intruders. Because so much lead 
was flying towards the drones, a goodly number of them fell dead before 
they managed to adapt their shields to disallow the passage of the slower 
moving projectiles. 

When the Marines saw that their fire was no longer having any effect, 
they thumbed the selector switch on their weapons and began pouring out 
plasma beams at the approaching enemy. By this point in time, the second, 
third, and fourth contingents had managed to ring over, adding their own 
beam weapons to the fray. 

At the transwarp hub complex, Alexander's SpecOps teams were making a 
good accounting of themselves, pushing far into the complex, though, in 
defense of the Borg, not many drones were stationed aboard the complex. 
Many of the systems were automated to the nth degree, and there was 
little call to have a large number of drones aboard the hub. It was a 
crucial oversight by the Borg thinking that the hub was too well defended 
by other systems to merit a large drone presence. 

On the remaining cruiser, Methos had a different task to the other two. 
Observations made by the numerous hyperspace probes situated in the 
system had revealed the presence of a large shipyard facility. Along with 
the other tasks of capturing the Nexus and the Hub, the shipyard was also 
a priority for capture. Methos' squadrons were supporting O'Neill's with 
the fight at the Nexus, but he had kept seven fighters in reserve to 
attack the shipyard and bring down its shields. As soon as the shields 
were down he began beaming over a capture crew of specialized troopers 
and combat engineers. 

Deep within the Nexus, in a heavily shielded room, the replacement Borg 
Queen looked upon the viewscreens of the battlefield and saw the 
unexpected; a loss. In the long and storied history of the Borg never had 
such a thing happened. Yes, there had been attacks upon lonely outposts, 
and yes there had been the attack some years previously by Voyager and 
Janeway on the minor hub facility in the Delta quadrant, but never had 
there been an all out assault on such a heavily fortified hub complex. 

And here it was happening. The word surrender was not often heard from a 
Borg drone and never from a Borg Queen. But this was an unusual time. 
Faced with the outright destruction of this major hub complex and the 
possibility that the fleet attacking them would have a clear and 
unfettered path to the First World of the Borg, the Queen ordered a 
retreat. The order went instantaneously to all remaining Borg vessels 
still in the system. As each ship received the command, it pivoted and 
turned away from the attacking ships and entered high warp a second 
later. Around the system, the attacking ships and the crews within were 
stunned into silence as they watched their enemy abandon the fight and 
run away. Probes were launched to follow them and those probes would 
follow until the defending fleet exited warp travel some sixteen hours 
later.

But for the moment, the crews of the Allied fleet were quiet. The enemy 
had fled. There were ships scattered throughout the system, some lifeless 
and some nearly so. The arduous task of rounding up the ships and 
treating the wounded began in earnest. On Riker's command ship, half the 
crew were dead and the ship was listing badly to starboard. The engine 
room had been hulled late in the fight and a junior engineer had only 
just managed to shut down the warp core before it breached. But there 
were many decks without life support, and without access to a shipyard, 
the Acheron would be out of the fight for months. 

The Halsey had suffered major damage during the fight when the Borg had 
gotten lucky with a rotating frequency torpedo that had managed to 
penetrate the triple redundant shields of the ship. It was a small 
projectile, compared to a standard Federation photon torpedo, but it had 
a large yield. Only the internal shields and blast doors had prevented 
the explosion from doing excessive damage. But the main hangar deck was 
out of action for now. The Cydonia needed a complete overhaul of the 
weapons arrays to replace the burnt out systems and melted plasma 
acceleration conduits, and the Ryan's engine pylons had been shorn off 
completely. 

The planets in the system were seeded with the de-Borgification nanovirus 
and within minutes of contact, the drones on those planets were falling 
to the ground as there implants fell out, burnt to a crisp from power 
overloads. 

The good news coming from Methos' cruiser was that the shipyards had been 
captured intact, complete with nearby storage yards filled with the raw 
materials necessary to build or repair starships. The SpecOps teams from 
Alex's cruiser had taken the transwarp hub complex with little loss of 
life, and O'Neill's QRF was in control of the major centers on the Nexus. 
The small isolated pockets of resistance would soon be flooded with an 
aerosolized version of the de-Borgification nanovirus. 

Overall, the loss of life among the Allied fleet was less than expected. 
It always pained Marius to hear the projections of the dead and the 
wounded. It was a necessary evil when planning an attack, but it was 
still a morbid practice. The fact that less people than expected died was 
something that befuddled the statisticians. To Marius, it was a Godsend. 
But it was still a bad thing to lose anyone in war. And the task of 
writing letters home to loved ones was never an easy thing. To explain 
how their son or daughter or husband or wife or brother or sister gave 
their life for something nearly impossible to explain to someone outside 
the military. Worse yet, they lost their lives fighting a war in a 
universe far removed from their own. 

With any loss of life in a war zone, the maintenance of moral was a 
dangerous issue. The system they were in was several weeks away at high 
warp from J25, where the Ferengi had been true to their word in 
establishing a rest and relaxation station. Out here on the leading edge 
of the war, there were no such facilities. The limited entertainment 
venues on the Halsey and on other ships in the Allied fleet were being 
stressed to their limit. And as a result, tensions were running high and 
fights were breaking out around the fleet. The reasons were always petty; 
perceived invasions of personal space, items misplaced reported as 
stolen. This rise in minor altercations is what brought both officers 
Roberts into Marius' office a day after the battle.

"Lieutenant Roberts. Commander Roberts. Is the crew keeping you busy 
enough?"

"Quite sir. There's been a sharp increase in minor crime over the past 
three months. Considering how far we are from a liberty port, I'd have to 
say that's the root cause of this increase."

"I see. What sort of minor crimes?"

"Mostly fights over some perceived infraction. It hasn't escalated beyond 
that, but there's no predicting if it will. It would help a lot sir, if 
the Halsey could make a liberty call sometime soon. We've got to get back 
to the JAG office, but here's the latest reports for your review sir."

"Thank you."

Marius looked over the reports and noticed the trend. It started a couple 
weeks after they left the station in J25, and was gradually escalating in 
severity. There were so many things left to do that his inbox had become 
an in file cabinet. The planets in the system had been secured by 
Federation troops because his own troop detachment had lost too many in 
previous months. Though it was painful to think on it, he recognized that 
the MEU and the ACR units were now at both less than half strength. It 
was an order that was easy to type up, this combining of the two units, 
but it was also something that he knew would be difficult to implement. 
The rivalry between the various branches of the US military was always a 
contentious thing. 

But as Marius was pondering the idea of turning the Halsey around to take 
a much needed break at the recreation station in J25, the sensor officer 
informed him that a large contingent of Ferengi ships had entered the 
system, under a request from Janeway to build another recreation station 
in this system. The Federation had sent to all of the liberated systems, 
First Contact teams to assist the local populations with their return to 
'normalcy'. The new station for this system, to be built by the Ferengi, 
would soon be joined by the various Allied powers as they took control of 
the Nexus and utilized the shipyards to effect the more pressing repair 
needs. It would take time, but for now, the Halsey would be on a lesser 
combat status. 

On the bridge as on the rest of the ship, the news of the minor stand 
down was received with whispers of gratitude. The stresses and strains of 
constant combat were taking a toll on the men and women assigned to the 
Halsey. Combined with the loss of life from the original crew and the 
constant terror of knowing that each ground or flight mission could be 
there last, the news of even a minor stand down, was welcome indeed. 

Marius put in orders with the Ferengi for enough supplies to replenish 
their fresh food stocks with enough to spare for a large scale 
celebration. Not a victory celebration for that was premature, but on 
their calendar and in their home universe, the day of giving thanks was 
approaching quickly. Though it was a holiday celebrated primarily by the 
United States, in this case, it seemed appropriate for all to celebrate a 
day of thanks. Thanks for being alive. Thanks for their survival. And 
thanks that the loss of life was not higher than it already was.

The ACR and the MEU were both at less than half strength in terms of 
personnel and thus Marius had ordered the two units melded into one 
combined forces unit. The equipment that had been common to both units 
prior to their joining were now stored aboard one pod with the excess 
vehicles and stores kept on the remaining pod. The original compliment of 
fighters had now been replaced almost exclusively by the Thunderbolt 
fighters, and the ever increasing numbers of Peregrines that had lost 
their own motherships. From the previous ranks of fighter pilots, only a 
few scores remained and they were still alive because they had best 
learned how to keep on fighting. 

From the little more than eight thousand crew members that had started 
this mission, perhaps four thousand were left. A fifty percent attrition 
rate would devastate any frontline unit from any world. But those were 
the numbers with which he was faced. By the time they were done with this 
damned mission of Tok'Ra's, Marius feared that the crew would be not 
enough to maintain fighting capacity. If only there was some way of 
taking his remaining crews out of danger.

It was movie night aboard the Halsey. Something that happened fairly 
regularly aboard the ship, but not so that anyone would notice. When most 
of the crews were on alert, the time taken out of their schedule for a 
movie was time badly spent, especially when tired crews could be sleeping 
or relaxing. But now with the majority of the crews on stand down, and 
only the fighter pilots still on what amounted to a DEFCON Three status, 
there was time enough to relax with a good book or a good movie. 

There were members of the non Tau'ri delegations aboard that had not 
experienced a movie the way a Tau'ri had, that is, in two dimensions 
only. The Colonials had had three dimensional technology for some time, 
and the Federation had utilized holographic technology for their 
recreational pursuits. The Paris couple was among those attending the 
movie night aboard the Halsey. Tom Paris had an affinity for all things 
from the twentieth century and his wife Belanna went along to make sure 
he stayed out of trouble. 

Marius was not among those watching the movies this night. Instead, he 
was looking over the damage sustained in their latest engagement. The 
Halsey was in need of a space dock to rebuild the destroyed engineering 
section and to replace the damaged hull plates. The Cydonia and the Ryan 
were in the same need, but for other reasons, just as severe. The hull of 
the Halsey had been breached! His ship. Well, his designs in any case. It 
hurt him. He wondered if this is what a parent felt like when their off-
spring fell and hurt themselves. Though he had raised several children in 
his lifetime, none were biologically his. At least none that he was aware 
of. Tok'Ra's revelation at the Gathering that Immortals could have 
children was still a sobering thought in his mind. 

A week went by before the former Borg shipyards had been reprogrammed 
sufficiently to build replacement hull sections, though they still had a 
definite Borg styling. The bad part of that reprogramming was that the 
Borg shipyards could only build the hull sections the Federation and its 
counterparts needed, but not the bio-metallic structures the Halsey and 
her escorts needed. Those still had to be grown in the Forge decks aboard 
the Halsey. At the moment, however, the Forge deck was churning out 
defense platforms to help secure the system from further incursions by 
the Borg. And there were still fighters patrolling the system, though 
according to the latest probe data, the Borg had not moved from the 
system they had traveled to. The speculation among the crews in the fleet 
was that the Borg were experiencing some form of confusion over their 
staggering losses and the capture of two of their Queens.

                         *******************

Brig
AIS Halsey

Major Mulder was returning for another session with the captive Borg 
Queen. Though now he had two Queens to observe. He wondered if either of 
the two captives knew of the other. If they didn't, he speculated the 
reaction would be severe.

"Good evening, your Highness. I trust all is well?"

"More 'conversations' human?"

"Yes. I found our last chat so enlightening that I felt I had to return 
for more insights. Your 'race' is a unique one. You are not one species, 
but many species. Whether you like it or not, the Collective and the 
Federation have much in common. The Federation is a conglomeration of 
many races, or many species, all of them working together towards a 
common set of goals. The Federation exists for mutual protection against 
aggressors, for scientific advancement and exploration, and for peaceful 
purposes. The Collective, on the other hand, while it is also a 
combination of many races, and while you do seem to have a common goal, 
it is not as enlightened as the Federation. You take what others have. 
You kill and murder to obtain those items you deem necessary to your 
goals. You don't negotiate. You don't bargain for those things."

"The Borg do not negotiate with anyone. We are the future of the 
universe. We strive to perfect ourselves. Species zero-zero-three is 
perfection in the biological sense. The android Data, of the Federation, 
is a close approximation of the Borg ideal of technological perfection. 
You, human, who claim to be a member of zero-zero-three should be fully 
aware of your potential. Yet you associate yourself with these flawed 
humans with their small minds. Tell me why. I want to understand this."

"The Ancients, those whom you call Species zero-zero-three, created us in 
their image. Not to rule, though we have. Not to dominate, though we 
have. We have been Generals, Emperors, Kings. We have been rogues, 
soldiers, and thieves. All of these we have been and more. We were 
created by the Ancients to serve as guardians, as teachers, but how could 
we possibly protect and serve if we had not ourselves been in their 
place? Why do we associate ourselves with, to use your words, these small 
minded humans? Because we are them. They are us."

"I do not understand."

"You may. With time. But on to the real reason I am here this afternoon. 
You are aware, no doubt, that we have made further incursions into your 
space?"

"I am aware of this."

"Are you aware that this ship is presently keeping station in the system 
you refer to as ninety-two-sixteen?"

"That is not possible. The system you have mentioned is one of the most 
heavily fortified systems in the Borg Collective. Such a thing is not 
possible."

"Perhaps. Would it surprise you to know that your fellow Borg fled the 
battle? That not only did we win the fight for this system, but that we 
captured the Nexus intact? And the shipyards. And the transwarp hub 
complex? And, more importantly, your successor?"

As Mulder uttered those last few words, the wall that had been to the 
first Borg Queen's left side withdrew from its place to reveal another 
cell. A cell with a Borg Queen. 

"My successor, I presume."

"She is that. Though aside from threats and as yet empty promises of 
retaliation, she has not been at all forthcoming in terms of 
conversation."

Mulder left the room and walked to the security office where he would 
observe the interactions, if any, between one Queen and another.

"The human said our drones fled the battle. Is this true?"

"It is."

"As a Borg Queen, you should ordered them to fight to the end. Our way is 
not to flee."

"You have been out of touch with the Collective. These human vermin have 
taken control of the entire Beta quadrant. Their allies have struck us in 
the Gamma quadrant, and pushed our borders back to the Delta quadrant. We 
are fighting a war on multiple fronts. They have taken thousands of our 
worlds and liberated uncountable billions of drones. We have had to 
resurrect an old ship design to offset our losses in drones."

"The Assimilator?"

"Correct."

"If that ship is once again in our ranks then I fear our losses must be 
severe."

"They are. I feel I must confess that we were not ready for this sort of 
response to your failed attempt to assimilate the Federation home world."

"Nor did I anticipate this sort of response. They have fought us before 
and they always seem to win, but on those earlier occasions, it was 
always only one cube sent to their space. My plan should have worked."

Mulder walked back into the brig at this point in the conversation. He 
was joined by Marius and Tok'Ra, who chose to remain invisible to the 
Borg for the moment.

"Your Highness, even you should realize that no battle plan survives the 
first moments of combat. You could have planned for years and 
choreographed the events to an ultimate precision, but it still would 
have done you no good."

"Admiral Marius. You have chosen to take over this interrogation from the 
one ho claims to be a member of Species zero-zero-three?"

"No. I am here merely as an observer. Have you explained to your fellow 
Regent, that myself and Major Mulder are members of the species you refer 
to as zero-zero-three?"

"No. It is an un-necessary falsehood."

"And what sort of evidence would you believe?"

                         *******************

"Admiral, Jameson."

"What is it, Mr. Jameson?"

"Sir, a report from the Federation engineering crew on the Nexus. This 
gate complex leads directly to what they are calling the First World of 
the Borg Collective."

"Excellent. Inform the fleet that this will be our next target."

"Aye sir. Jameson out."

                         *******************

"Tok'Ra? Do you recognize this planet?"

"Indeed I do, Marius. It is the world we established hundreds of 
thousands of years ago as our outpost world."

The two Borg Queens had looks on their faces that could be considered 
atypical for them. One of them, the one who had been in captivity the 
longest, looked on with awe, while the newer captive looked on in 
astonishment. Floating between Admiral Marius and Major Mulder was this 
gaseous golden cloud. It had no discernable form yet it spoke and when it 
spoke, there was a definite intelligence behind the voice. If this were a 
trick of holography perpetrated by these pitiful humans, then Bravo, for 
it was well done. But if it were not a trick?

"Marius, I think our guests are speechless."

"I do believe you are correct in that, Mulder. What do you think of the 
Borg, Tok'Ra?"

"They are primitive, Marius. True that they appear more advanced than the 
Tau'ri and the Federation, but by comparison to my fellow Ancients, they 
are as backwards as some of the races that your fellows in the SGC have 
encountered in their travels. They do not innovate. They assimilate. They 
are no more than thieves, Marius. You must go there. You must take back 
what is rightfully the property of the Ancients. As our inheritors, these 
things belong to you and to the other Immortals."

"Ironic isn't it your Highness? You think of the Federation and her 
allies as primitives, yet in the eyes of our creators, you, are the 
primitives. We will go to this First World and we will take what is 
rightfully ours. And there is nothing you can do to stop us."

With that, Marius and Mulder left the room while the gaseous entity that 
was Tok'Ra seemed to stare at the two Borg Queens before disappearing 
into nothingness.

The mold was set. The target was declared and the probes launched to that 
system. Early data indicated several thousand Borg cubes in the system, 
along with tens of thousands of defense platforms. More than ninety 
percent of those platforms were of Borg manufacture, but the remainder 
were responding to the sensor pinging. But there were other devices in 
the system responding to the pings as well. After a brief consultation 
with Tok'Ra, a plan began to take shape. He asked for a strategy planning 
session and for representatives from each of the races presently in the 
system.

It was a most unique meeting. Gul Tinkar of the Cardassian Empire. 
Chancellor Martok of the Klingon Empire. Admiral Sela of the Romulan 
Empire. Admiral Janeway of the Federation. Colonel Starbuck of Colonial 
Mars. Captain Phillipson of Immortal Luna. Shai Alyt Teraan of the 
Minbari. Theirs was an unenviable task; to create a strategy that would 
decimate the Borg in one final blow by taking from them the First World, 
the outpost of the Ancients.

"With an exact map of the local space, we can use a technique the Minbari 
mastered in warfare. The vortex created by a jump point can incinerate 
any ship that happens to be caught in it as it forms. With another ship 
sending coordinates, we can use this to a great effect."

"Excellent Teraan. We can use the ships already in the system to paint 
the targets to allow the ships still in hyperspace to jump in at the 
precise point."

"Paint the targets? How do you mean paint the targets, Alex?"

"My apologies, Tinkar. Painting the target means to illuminate it with a 
sensor beam. I propose to send in the Halsey first, with her cruiser 
escorts. Once they send the attack signal, the first ships will jump in 
from hyperspace, taking out the targeted ships. Then we'll turn the 
defense platforms against them and use them to take out as many ships or 
Borg platforms as possible."

"This sounds like the beginnings of a workable plan. But what of the 
other platforms found in the target system?"

"Ah yes. Those are hidden in small folds in what Tok'Ra calls dimensional 
space, but we believe them to be what the Federation calls subspace. 
These are not weapons platforms. They are repair and refueling stations 
that were once used by the Ancients to stage patrols in their system. We 
will use those platforms to stage one squadron per platform. It sounds 
like a small number of fighters, but there is a method to our madness.

Three fighters will be of the Icarus variety with the remainder of the 
squadron made up of Thunderbolts. The Thunderbolts will be there as 
escorts for the F-302s. Those Icarus fighters will be carrying four 
missiles, two per wing. Shipwreck missiles. SS-N-19s. Naquadah enhanced 
anti-matter warheads with an explosive equivalent of one gigaton. From 
the probe data we have identified several targets that if taken out in 
the first moments of battle will decide who wins and who gets 
assimilated. Our task, therefore, is to take out these targets as quickly 
as possible. There are four platforms where we will stage the attack 
squadrons."

While the meetings regarding strategy ran on and on, others were working 
hard to repair the damages done in the most recent battle. There were now 
three full fleets in the region, with two more on the way. 

                         *******************

Brig
AIS Halsey

There was no interrogator in the room, but the two Queens were monitored 
all the time. The Queen who had been in residence the longest had already 
come to a particular conclusion. The younger Queen would reach that 
conclusion in a few minutes. But it was the same conclusion that they 
reached. If they were to save the Collective to which they were 
responsible, then they would need to do something heretofore unthinkable. 
They would need to alter their way of thinking. But change is something 
that is difficult at best to achieve. Though neither of the two had ever 
heard of a Tau'ri by name of Machiavelli, they both recognized something 
fundamental, that there is nothing more difficult to accomplish, nor more 
dubious of success, nor more dangerous to achieve than to initiate a new 
order of things. Though perhaps they had already realized this evident 
truth. 

In any case, it would soon prove a moot point. The four special attack 
squadrons had launched four hours previously and were approaching a point 
one light-hour from the target using the combat gate network. From there, 
they would use borrowed Romulan cloaking devices to sneak into position 
on the platforms. The fleets were in hyperspace in the target system and 
were waiting for the Halsey to make her appearance. The Halsey and her 
escorts would paint as many targets as possible for the incoming fleet to 
destroy with the jump point vortices. But for this final mission in this 
universe, Marius agreed with Mulder. The two Borg Queens would be on the 
bridge.

"Welcome your Highnesses, welcome. I trust you understand the need for 
restraints to your persons whilst you are on my bridge?" 

"We would do no less, human."

"I'm glad you understand. Do you know where we are?"

"Your ship is in a transwarp conduit."

"Actually, what you call a transwarp conduit the Ancients called the Gate 
Network. Your Collective has taken the technologies from what you call 
the First World and perverted them. The Ancients came to this place 
hundreds of millennia ago to explore, but troubles in their home system 
forced them to leave here. Now, they have returned to reclaim what is 
rightfully theirs. And we will do so very, very soon."

"The Collective will not allow this to happen."

"Your collective will have no choice in the matter."

The view screens aboard the Halsey showed the conduit in all its ancient 
glory. The sensation of movement was almost negligable, yet the Halsey 
was traversing two hundred and fifty light years every minute. And as 
suddenly as their journey had begun, it was time.

"Admiral, we are approaching the exit point."

"Very well. Disengage Hyperdrive. All stations, this is the bridge. Red 
alert."

The Halsey emerged from the transwarp conduit in the middle of the system 
and Borg cubes, large and small, moved quickly to surround the vessel. 
The eight battlecruisers detached from the Halsey and took up escort 
positions. The two White Star heavy cruisers flew along side the Halsey, 
their weapons ready to incinerate any ship that came near. The Borg 
started things off with their standard greeting.

"UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS. YOU HAVE ENTERED BORG SPACE. STAND DOWN YOUR 
WEAPONS AND POWER DOWN YOUR SHIELDS. YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL 
DISTINCTIVENESSES WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU 
WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Borg vessels. Ya know, y'all really need to change your greeting. It can 
get quite old really fast. I have two people here who wish to say hello. 
Jameson, widen transmitted image."

The newly raised Borg Queen looked upon the image being transmitted from 
this large vessel in Borg space. Standing on either side of the inferior 
human were not one, but two Borg Queens. The one who had been sent to 
Federation space, and the one who had let system 9216 fall. This in of 
itself was an unexpected event. 

On the command deck of the Halsey, Marius gave the order for phase one of 
the attack. A signal was sent to the four squadrons on the periphery of 
the system, and they started their attack runs. And on the Halsey, her 
eight battlecruiser escorts and two heavy cruiser escorts, the targeting 
beams began painting the Borg vessels. The fighters would advance to a 
specific point and await the final go order, just as the ships waiting in 
hyperspace were awaiting their own go order.

"UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL. YOU WILL RELEASE THE QUEENS. DO THIS AND WE WILL 
ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE THIS SPACE UNMOLESTED."

"I'm afraid you still don't understand, Borg vessel. We have no desire to 
release these Queens to your custody. The planet below us is ours. We 
have come to reclaim what is ours. Surrender or be destroyed."

"The planet below is the First World. We will not surrender."

"Weps, send the control codes for the platforms."

"Tactical, deploy gun platforms. Stand by to deploy fighter squadrons."

"Mr. Jameson. Transmit go order to special attack squadrons. Time the 
detonations to coincide with special attack."

"Aye sir. Transmitting go codes now. Sensor officer, paint as many 
targets as possible. Order all escorts to comply."

"Affirmative."

From four positions in the system, the fighters launched the missiles.  
Forty-eight missiles were visible for a split second before they phase 
shifted. The F-302s, their ordinance expended, pulled about and made high 
speed runs to the Halsey, to re-arm and refuel. Just as the missiles 
impacted their targets, space around the Borg fleet opened up in dozens 
of blue portals. Where the vortices opened, Borg vessels were ravaged by 
unimaginable energies and ripped to shreds. 

The Borg Nexus behind the fleet and in stationary orbit over the planet 
flashed as twelve naquadah enhanced Shipwreck missiles impacted on the 
superstructure of the station. When the flash had subsided, the largest 
pieces of the Nexus could be measured in inches. At the Borg shipyards in 
orbit around the second moon nearest the planet, another twelve naquadah 
enhanced Shipwreck missiles impacted in a diagonal spread across the 
shipyard, with each explosion feeding into the next. When that subsided, 
the shipyards and the vessels they had been servicing, were no more. 

The remaining twenty-four missiles were targeted at the largest Borg 
cubes seen to date. They were, in the words of the elder Borg Queen on 
the Halsey, tactical fusion cubes, formed by the joining of eight 
standard tactical cubes. From the spy probes they had sent to the system 
weeks before, the Allied fleet had observed eight of these huge cubes. 
There were more in the system now than just eight, but that was beyond 
the control of the Allied fleet. Three missiles were targeted at each 
cube, with their aiming point set at what looked like docking points. The 
missiles began impacting their targets and their were bright flashes as 
naquadah mixed with anti-matter to fuel tremendous explosions. As the 
explosions subsided, the bridge crew of the Halsey sat in awe. The cubes 
had survived their encounter, but there were large portions vaporized by 
the missiles. 

Elsewhere, the defense platforms left by the Ancients had been subverted 
by the Halsey control codes and were turning their beam weapons against 
Borg controlled platforms. The defense platforms released by the Halsey 
began pouring out fire and torpedoes at a high rate of speed at the 
nearer targets. As soon as the munitions of each platform had been 
expended, those same platforms rammed into the nearest Borg vessel, 
expending what was left of their fuel in a fiery explosion. The Lonestars 
were turning their multiple torpedo launchers towards the bulk of the 
Borg fleet and firing four round groups of Harpoon missiles. They were 
also turning their heavy guns to bear on the larger Borg tactical cubes 
and pouring out a steady stream of phaser fire in a constantly rotating 
frequency. It was having a limited effect. 

The fusion cubes were now being painted by targeting beams from the 
Halsey and then space opened up again with several dozen more blue energy 
vortices. The combined effects from the missile strikes and the sheer 
amount of energy unleashed by the opening into hyperspace ripped into 
what was left of the fusion cubes, ripping them to shreds and spilling 
thousands of Borg drones into the cold hard vacuum of space. 

"ENOUGH! UNIDENTIFIED VESSELS. WE ARE STANDING DOWN OUR WEAPONS."

"Halsey to fleet. Stand down, but remain at red alert."

"Halsey to Borg Queen. What are your intentions?"

"VESSEL HALSEY. WE WISH TO UNDERSTAND YOUR CLAIM TO THIS SYSTEM. YOU WILL 
MEET WITH ME."

"Borg Queen. Lower your shields so that I might beam aboard. I will bring 
three aides with me."

"AGREED."

"Methos, you have the conn. Keep a target lock on myself and my team. 
Beam us out of there if things go to hell."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Marius."

"Ditto."

When the sensory officer confirmed the lowering of shields on the Queen's 
Diamond, the Halsey beamed over the away team. Marius was accompanied by 
Alison, Kyra, and Reagan. They stood behind him, swords drawn, in defense 
of their President. The Borg Queen, for her part, stood in front of 
Marius. Her own bodyguards surrounded them, weapons drawn in defense of 
their Queen.

"Explain your claim to this system."

"This system was home to the race you refer to as Species zero-zero-
three."

"That is correct."

"Among the technologies you have laid claim to that were on this world, 
are technologies zero-one-seven-eight and seven-nine."

"That is also correct."

"There are other technologies here that belonged to and were created by 
Species zero-zero-three."

"Correct."

"Do you agree that those items and that this world were the property of 
Species zero-zero-three?"

"They were. That species was no longer here when the Borg encountered 
this world. We laid claim to it after the defense platforms in this 
system destroyed several thousand exploratory cubes. Obviously the fact 
that this system was so well guarded intrigued the Collective and this 
world was taken.

"And if a member of Species zero-zero-three were to appear, would you 
concede that they would have a hereditary claim to this system."

"As all members of that race long ago left this system and moved on, the 
event you speak of is improbable."

"But if it were possible, would you concede the claim."

"No. But it would give that creature a position from which to bargain. 
You have no such claim."

"On the contrary, your Majesty, I do have such a claim. Myself and my 
three companions are members of Species zero-zero-three."

"Impossible! You are five-six-one-eight! You are Human! You can not be 
perfection. You are flawed!"

"You're right. I am flawed. I am far from perfect. But I am immortal."

"LIES! SEIZE THEM!"

Around the four person group that was Marius and his escorts, a gaseous 
cloud suddenly appeared. It was golden in color and it encompassed the 
four immortals, preventing the nearby Borg drones from reaching them.

"STOP! I will not permit you primitives to harm my children!"

"WHAT ARE YOU?"

"I am an Ancient. These are my children. You, Borg, are flawed creatures. 
You can never achieve what was a natural course of evolution for the 
Ancients. The First Ones, the Progenitors saw to this when they seeded 
the universe with their genetic code. The genetic predisposition towards 
immortality was removed from all of the genetic code they seeded here. 
Immortality is not achievable by you. Accept it. You strive for 
perfection in a universe where none exists. The only thing you have 
succeeded in doing is turning the Borg Collective into the most hated 
species in the universe. You are, in the words of one of my children, 
sociopaths. 

"YOU ARE NON-CORPOREAL. YOU HAVE NO NEED FOR THESE TECHNOLOGIES. WE HAVE 
NEED FOR THESE TECHNOLOGIES. THEY ENABLE US TO COME A STEP CLOSER TO OUR 
GOAL."

"You would deny my children these technologies which rightfully belong to 
them?"

"WE WILL CEDE ACCESS TO THESE TECHNOLOGIES ONLY TO A CORPOREAL EXAMPLE OF 
SPECIES ZERO-ZERO-THREE. WE WILL NEGOTIATE ONLY WITH A CORPOREAL ZERO-
ZERO-THREE."

Marius touched the link on the back of his wrist and called the Halsey.

"Methos,  I need you and Jack here. ASAP."

"We've been monitoring the channel. We're on our way."

                         *******************

On the bridge of the Federation Sovereign class Voyager-A, there was a 
brilliant flash of light. Before Captain Chakotay or anyone else on the 
bridge could react, Admiral Janeway had been grabbed by Q.

"Hello Kathy. I trust all is well?"

"I wondered when you would turn up Q."

"I am here on behalf of the Q Continuum. Now that the Ancient has 
revealed himself to the Borg, the Q will be stepping in to act as a 
neutral arbitrator."

"I didn't think the Q would ever intervene in the affairs of us lesser 
beings, Q."

"Because the Borg have taken technologies belonging to the Ancients, and 
because those technologies have enabled them to advance much further than 
they would have naturally, the Q have decided to intervene at this point 
in time."

Q snapped his fingers and the bridge of Voyager reappeared beneath 
Janeway's feet. Chakotay moved to her side as did Seven from the other 
side. The three of them were caught up in the next snap of Q's fingers. 
Another snap and O'Neill, Methos, and Marius disappeared from the Borg 
ship. Still another snap and the three Borg Queens disappeared from their 
positions on the Borg Diamond and on the bridge of the Halsey, only to 
reappear in a place unfamiliar to any of them.

Janeway was seated at a table, curved along the front, with Chakotay and 
Annika seated to either side and slightly behind her. At a table opposite 
her were the three Borg Queens. Between the two was a third table, also 
inwardly curved along the front where Colonel Jack O'Neill was seated 
with Methos and Marius seated to either side and slightly behind him. 
Opposite him sat Q on what looked like a throne.

"Greetings to one and all. I am Q. Do not bother attempting to contact 
your vessels. They will never notice you missing. This is a conveniently 
located parallel dimension suitable to our needs. Time here has no 
meaning. Though time may seem to move for you here, your comrades will 
not notice the passage of time. When this arbitrage is completed and you 
return to your respective domains, no time will have passed."

"WHAT IS THIS PLACE? WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT US HERE?"

"Borg Queen, obviously you were not paying attention. You have been 
brought here by the Continuum to settle this matter of stolen 
technologies."

"THOSE TECHNOLOGIES AND THIS WORLD ARE THE PROPERTY OF THE BORG 
COLLECTIVE. THERE IS NOTHING TO SETTLE. THE NON-CORPOREAL BEING THAT 
CLAIMS TO BE A MEMBER OF SPECIES ZERO-ZERO-THREE HAS NOT PRODUCED THE 
CORPOREAL MEMBER OF THEIR SPECIES AS WAS REQUESTED."

"They did. You just were not paying attention. Primitive race that you 
are, you claim to be seeking perfection. If there is anything perfect in 
this galaxy it is the Ancients. Flawed though they may be, they are what 
you seek. Yet it is the one thing you can never hope to achieve, 
biological perfection. The gene sequence that permits immortality has 
been stripped out of every species in the galaxy. The Progenitors saw to 
it that this be the case. The Ancients were informed of this, such was 
the reason they left here. The Q were informed of this, and for this 
reason we have endeavored to keep the status quo in terms of genetic 
development. But allow me some latitude to demonstrate for the parties to 
this case the three possibilities that exist as a result of your war."

It seemed as though a screen came up all around the four tables, but it 
could better be described as a holographic environment. The scene showed 
the planet below and the fleets in attendance. There was a flash of light 
near a Federation Steamrunner class starship as several pulsating beacons 
were ejected at a very high rate of speed. The pulsing beacons made 
straight for the planet where they entered the atmosphere in a 
discernable pattern before striking the ground and penetrating to some 
extreme depth and then exploding. The planet almost seemed to stop 
rotating for an instant before it bulged outward and exploded into 
countless thousands of fragments each no bigger than a standard 
basketball. 

The Borg reacted quickly to this attack and attacked all of the ships in 
the system. Blue vortices opened up, taking more and more Borg vessels, 
but the Borg had the numbers on their side. Here and there, they captured 
Federation vessels, turning these ships against others in the Allied 
fleet. The AIS strike carrier and her escorts were taking a beating. In a 
bright flash of an explosion, the shields surrounding the Halsey failed 
and the Borg poured dozens of torpedoes into the ship. Large chunks of 
the ship went flying off the Halsey even as her escorts rushed in to aid 
their stricken comrade. The first to go was the Cydonia, named for the 
plain on Mars where the Colonial colony had been established. The 
shockwave from the exploding liquid naquadah engine enveloped the 
O'Neill, a Whitestar class frigate, and six Borg Spheres that had been 
attacking the frigate. 

The Halsey was giving as much as it took. A lucky strike by a Borg 
torpedo launched from a captured Steamrunner, sliced the port deployment 
pod off the carrier at the docking ports, spilling atmosphere and 
soldiers into the cold hardness of space. An order was given, and the 
remaining ships of the Allied fleet escaped into hyperspace, with the 
Halsey buying time for the escaping fleet. Four battlecruisers and the 
remaining Whitestar made the jump taking what remained of the fighter 
squadrons. 

Marius, Methos, and O'Neill watched as the Borg regrouped and began 
pouring heavy laser fire into the Halsey and the three remaining escorts. 
One by one, the three escorts fell. The Halsey's outer armor had been 
stripped away and the Borg cubes were carving up the carrier like a 
butcher working on a side of beef. 

The next scene showed a vastly different Borg armada headed towards 
sector zero-zero-one. The Federation and her allies and what remained of 
the AIS fleet did their best to hold the line, but lost. The battle was 
short and quick, with Vorlon cannons and Shadow beams tearing into the 
allied fleet, ripping ships apart and devastating the defense fleet. 
Everywhere, there were QSG equipped torpedoes entering Allied ships and 
exploding them from within. In a time span of less than ten minutes, the 
Allied fleet lay in ruins, and the Borg were beaming down to the surface 
of the Earth. The scene advanced rather quickly at that point, showing 
the Borgification of Earth first, followed by the major then minor member 
worlds of the Federation.

With the Federation under their control, and the industrial resources of 
over a thousand new worlds at their disposal, the Borg advanced quickly, 
taking Romulus, Quo'nos, and Cardassia Prime. The Dominion put up a token 
resistance before the Borg incinerated the world where the Founders 
lived, turning them and the world into ash. The Borg were unstoppable. In 
less than two standard Earth years, the Borg had taken control of the 
entire Milky Way Galaxy using the transwarp network and hyperspace. 

Then came what neither the Tau'ri, the Federation, or the Q wanted. A 
Borg vessel using a dimensional gateway and establishing footholds in 
galaxies where there was no race of sufficient power to stop them. It was 
a future that made the Borg in the room drool with anticipation and made 
the other humans in the room sick with dread. The Continuum in general, 
felt nothing, but Q the Judge felt the distress emanated by his son as he 
watched 'Aunt Kathy' become a Borg.

"That is one possible future that can occur as a result of events at this 
temporal juncture. What follows is another."

It was an almost identical scene to the one before. A Steamrunner 
launching several torpedoes at the planet below and the subsequent 
explosion of said planet. The Borg attacked hard and fast, but lost the 
battle rather than winning it as they had in the previous event. The 
Allied fleet went on to win battle after battle and skirmish after 
skirmish, until the final Borg outpost had been obliterated. The Allied 
fleet returned home, battered, and smaller than when they had set out, 
but victorious. 

The Halsey had suffered such a high rate of personnel loss over the 
course of the four year war with the Borg, that it was almost entirely 
crewed by Federation personnel. When the Halsey p