Visits to Earth
Susan Ivanova quickly dressed after getting up early the next morning. She did take the time for a long shower. While she was one of the lucky ones on B5 (being a member of the command staff) and had access to water showers and not vibe showers, there was still the need to watch the consumption.
And so showering as long as she liked was a distinct luxury.
General Hague had linked in early as well. She was to present her report to the President, the full Joint Chiefs, and all of their aides at 10:00. Included in the meeting would be one of the leaders of the Psi-Corp and an aide.
The Auror and Slayer that had come with her would also be available for witness testimony, as would the four people who had come with them to help deliver the gold.
And so she found herself in a conference room in Earth Dome, waiting for the President to arrive. The doors opened and the President entered. One of the officers called out, "Attention."
The Military members moved to attention and the President walked over to the table and said, "Please, be seated." She sat down herself. Soon everyone was in place. "So, we are here for a briefing from someone who has actually been on hand for this conflict."
General Hague replied, "Yes, Ma'am. Commander Ivanova has agreed to give a detailed report and to tell us what they have learned." He turned to Ivanova. "Commander?"
"Yes, sir." She looked at the President mostly but addressed the room as a whole.
"Over the last several months, there have been odd occurrences happening in various places. Reports of a hidden enemy who was moving behind the scenes. Random attacks. And there have also been changes in the behaviours of different governments within the League of Non-Aligned worlds.
"The Centauri, whom we all know up until 2 years ago were fairly self-involved, suddenly were far more interested in reclaiming past glories. The former Emperor died and almost immediately the tension between Centauri and Narn escalated to war. Now, this could have been just a violent faction of Centauri taking power, but some of the things that occurred were accomplished with far more power and skill than the Centauri had previously demonstrated.
"As you may remember, Earth decided to stay out of it as we declared it not our concern. There were efforts to settle it peacefully – but each one of these efforts was thwarted. Also, the previous Administration seemed to be directing us to become less and less effective in our efforts at creating a peace." There were several in the room who shifted uncomfortably.
"About a month ago, Earth Dome reported concerns that they had to deal with and called in many resources that had previously been on the station. Also, Senators who had previously concerned themselves with what happened suddenly had little interest in what was going on. We noticed and were a little concerned but we also were allowed to do our jobs with a lot less political interference.
"Also, different conflicts had escalated among the League worlds and more reports of these ugly black ships amongst the conflicts increased. Suddenly, the Minbari and Vorlon delegations were recalled back to their home systems regarding local concerns – or so we were told. The truth is that the Vorlons and Minbari began reorganizing to fight these Shadows.
"And then the Centauri Ambassador was also called back. Babylon 5 was left with no members of the Advisory Committee on station except then-Commander Sinclair. The League has a vote in the Babylon 5 council – but it is one vote. And with only Earth having another vote, the Council was left with nothing to do.
"Suddenly, we noticed we were being jammed. Babylon 5 space was now filled with these nightmarish ships we had been hearing about and we were suddenly under attack. We held them off as best we could while implementing emergency evacuation. In a way, it was good that the Advisory Council members had gone as quite a number of humans and aliens returned to their origin points as there was nothing being done. Still, there were tens of thousands of people left.
"The invaders, these Shadows, seemed to invade from the rear of the station. They burned entrances after the defense grid was overwhelmed and most bridge staff had been killed in the attack – only I and another bridge officer remained.
"Commander Sinclair and Michael Garibaldi were on the front lines either evacuating or providing defense for the fleeing people. In desperation, even though much of our calls were blocked, I still put out a distress call to anyone who could hear me. Also, unknown to me but not surprisingly, Mr. Garibaldi followed Commander Sinclair's order to prepare a surprise for the attacking aliens. It was obvious that all those on the station would be either gone or killed – and Commander Sinclair did not want to leave Babylon 5 as a resource for these aliens to use. And so Mr. Garibaldi rigged the fusion reactor to below as soon as the last of those who could be gotten out where away. I will admit – it was all rather hopeless.
"Suddenly, it all changed." Everyone noticed Ivanova's bleak demeanour change to one that was more calmed and settled.
In the midst of my attempts to get word out, suddenly the comm. system was hijacked by Mr. Garibaldi and out of every speaker and on every channel there was suddenly music."
Ivanova gave a smile with a far-off look. "I had never heard music like that before. It was filled with hope and joy and resolve and all the positive emotions you could imagine. And I noticed a curious thing: Every invading ship was suddenly sluggish – as though this music interfered with them somehow. I and Lt. Corwin managed to patch up the defense grid and, with the formerly overwhelming enemy suddenly less invincible, our counterattacks suddenly were more effective. It was obvious that some of the invaders had cut off their comm. systems, but even these attackers seemed less than they were. And we began to win. However, it was still quite an invading force and the sudden momentum hadn't guaranteed anything. And then, the music stopped for a moment."
She looked around. "I played a recording of it. Without whomever was directing it, the music was just that: Music. And it was more like bird trills than anything else. And while there was still some confusion in the enemy, they had been getting the upper hand back.
"And then out of a nowhere a ship that we had never seen appeared. Out of this ship flew several fighters. And this new ship, a capital ship which looks like an old pyramid with a metal skirt around it, and the fighters that looked more like birds attacked our invaders. I also started receiving reports of a bunch of arrivals from nowhere who were attacking and helping to overcome the invaders.
"While many Star Furies had been destroyed and many had left as escort, there were a few more still around. With the sudden reinforcement, I was able to reorganize the defense and, in conjunction with these unknown allies, I was able to repel the invading ships.
"Also, Commander Sinclair, who had already been fighting, coordinated with whomever had shown up and, regardless of however they had shown up, he started to win the battle on the ground – or through the decks anyway.
"The new arrivals had also brought food and medical personnel and our wounded and other personnel were able to catch a breath, get patched up, and get some food, before returning to the fight.
"And while it took a while longer, eventually, the invasion had been thwarted. Almost immediately the new arrivals helped to start the cleanup. They assisted with repairs, they helped heal the injured, they helped recover the dead, and they held feed everyone. It was – in a word – magnificent.
"As soon as things had calmed down, Sinclair messaged Earth Dome regarding the invasion but that further information would be coming." She paused. "It is kind of strange that there were no Earth Force ships dispatched. That should have clued us in. But we were just happy we had survived.
"Also, as soon as things had settled down enough, the Commander met with the leaders of those who had come to help up." She glanced around, knowing how much rumours of what she was about to say had been dismissed. "The reinforcements that arrived were not from our local space – or even this local dimension. We were being assisted by dimensional travelers."
General Hague asked skeptically, "How much do you actually believe that?"
Ivanova snorted and then immediately apologized. "I am sorry for sounding dismissive. But the things that these people could do was what I or any Human would call 'Magic.' You saw me arrive with the payment for Epsilon 4. Is the ship that I arrived in large enough to move that much gold and silver? Also, the music that I said sounded like bird trills? It was actually the first arrival turning into a phoenix and what we heard was phoenix song."
The room was incredulous. Ivanova was not changing her story though.
"Might I suggest taking a report on what it looked like – without speculation on what it actually is? We had people with strange powers, women with the strength of several men, small warriors calling themselves Goblins, small servant creatures that look like imps who served food and help clean. Babylon 5 was returned to operation after having been extremely damaged just days earlier. All we knew is: These are not people from Earth – at least not our Earth.
"Anyway, before we could report this fully, the President had his little faux-pas where the man who represented the Shadows was upbraiding him for the failure. And you all know what happened here as a result."
There were nods all around.
"We also found that these new arrivals had come for one reason only: To repay a debt."
Hague asked, "What debt and to who?"
"The first arrival is what looks to be a man – though he can do things that no Human can do – and the people he brought are from a world where he had saved them. Saved their whole people." She looked at the Psi-Corp rep. "On their planet, they had people with the strange abilities and they had normals. And due to mistakes on both sides, the normals were slaughtering them. The religious among the normals, however, sheltered them. And then they were led out like Moses leading people to Canaan and Pharaoh's armies being prevented from following – though there was not the actual killing involved. They were led to a new world, the First World in their dimension, and they were given a place. And while the normal government knew about them, there was no conflict. Anyway, with this Marek saving thousands and thousands of them they were perfectly willing to come when he called."
President Luchenko asked, "And what does this Marek get out of this?"
Ivanova looked at the President and said, "Nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Not one thing. He is entirely self sufficient and uninterested in personal gain. He can move from dimension to dimension at will. He is all but invulnerable. He has access to the wealth of nations in one dimension which he uses to assist in his activities in other places. And, from everything I've seen and everything I've heard, his motives are completely altruistic. And he is not trying to take over. He isn't ordering anything – he actually listens to what is asked and provides if he can. He went and got the Vorlons and Minbari to come back because they were fighting the Shadows as well. This allowed Admiral Sinclair to ally Earth with the Minbari and Vorlons against these Shadows. And it's a good thing too – the Minbari knew things that we didn't."
"What did they know?" General Leftcourt asked.
"These Shadows have been coming out and fighting every thousand or few thousand years. Starting up wars. Causing mass extinctions. They just want to create war. They think they are helping evolution by allowing the weak to be destroyed. The Vorlons are as old as the Shadows and they believe in promoting cooperation. The Vorlons and Shadows are both manipulative – but they also are zealots. From this we have gathered that winning won't be a matter of peace treaties. It will be a matter of killing as many of the enemy as we can and forcing them to withdraw. Unfortunately, we also found that Earth is responsible for this current wave of attacks."
There was immediate protest. "How? How are we responsible?"
Susan sighed. "Has anyone identified the voice of the man that Clarke was talking to? The Morden character?"
The Head of Earth Force Security replied, "No. We've tried. But we have nothing."
"Well, sir, I can tell you who it is. It is Mr. Morden – no first name on record – was a crew member on the Icarus. The Icarus, under charter from Interplanetary Expeditions and funded by Earth Alliance, landed on a dead world where rumours placed an ancient civilization. They were there looking for technology for Earth. And they work up the Shadows who were in hibernation. The crew was killed – or converted. Or they serve willingly, like Morden. Vice-Admiral Sheridan's wife was on the Icarus – and he wants to see them all dead. Luckily, he isn't on a revenge kick. He just wants justice for her murderers – she wouldn't be the type to follow these Shadows and even if she is somehow alive he is certain that she's been programmed to follow them. He considers her dead regardless – and I served under him on IO and know how much he loved her.
"These Shadows might not think they are evil – but they stand for everything that a civil society frowns on. It's like they are a race of sociopaths. They think they are well-meaning – but are willing to do everything, kill anyone, destroy any society, to ensure that their vision wins out. They would kill everyone within 100 light years and chalk it up to them just being evolutionary dead ends and be satisfied." She sighed. "And the strongest race, the Vorlons, seem to want us to figure out how to deal with such things ourselves."
She looked around. "Anyway, last week Bester showed up – a Psi-Cop. He had information that someone was sending something to the Shadows to aid them. We arranged a mission to stop the delivery of whatever was being sent to them. Our missionw as successful. We found that what was being sent to the Shadows were telepaths that had been altered for their ships."
"Why would they need telepaths?" the Psi-Corp rep asked.
"Because the Shadow vessels, according to what we have learned, are particularly susceptible to telepathic interference because their capital ships are in a way alive – and mindless. They need a sentient mind to operate. We think they were trying to prevent that from having telepaths as the beings who would merge with their ships – telepaths who could protect themselves. The ones we've got were brainwashed, given implants, and now instinctively will merge with technology as available. We are working on overcoming it using what Dr. Franklin knows as well as the mediwitches and mediwizards that the wizards who came to help us brought. Dr. Franklin reports that what we know alone will not be enough to overcome what's been done to them – removing the implants will kill them."
"Where did these telepaths come from?" the Psi-Corp rep's aide asked.
"According to Bester, they were blips. Or at least that's what we have from the identity bracelets they had on. They were being delivered in cryo-statis."
Suddenly one of the people running equipment called out, "There's a priority message on the Gold Channels from Babylon 5 for the Joint Chiefs."
Hague looked to Luchenko, who nodded. "Put it through."
One of the screens lit up and Admiral Sinclair was shown. "Admiral. What can we do for you?"
Sinclair noted exactly who was in the meeting. "Hello, Madam President. Hello, Sirs. I am reporting that the Destroyer group that we sent as a decoy encountered a Shadow group. They attempted to ambush them."
"What happened?" Hague asked.
Sinclair provided a verbal report and sent a copy of the file that Sheridan had sent him.
"So the Omegas were effective," he said.
"Well, we had to use the mine launchers. And one of the Omegas was lost – we are arranging for salvage. The other ships will make Earth in about 12 hours and need to go to the drydocks for repairs. The telepaths our allies lent us – one of whom was lost – were effective. Mr. Bester was very effective as well. We're going to need telepaths – and soon. Or we don't have a chance. General? I'm not a politician. I'm a man who is prosecuting a war against an enemy who is stronger and who has more ships. I need ever advantage I can get. I think we will need to get Senate approval to modify the rules and allow telepaths to serve – as long as they follow certain rules. We can't afford to ignore this."
The Psi-Corp rep said, "I don't like the idea of my people being put into harms way."
Sinclair replied, "Mr. Bester also objected. It's a choice between Human telepaths – or us putting alien telepaths on Earth ships. You are human too as are your people. This isn't a war about politics. This is a war for survival – including yours."
Hague cut in. "We will take this up over the next few days. That's not something that's going to be decided in a split instant. But I am happy to hear that we were successful in taking down the enemy. Commander Ivanova can have a couple days while she's on Earth and then we will send her back with our decision and other things with Vice-Admiral Sheridan, or the ship she came in on. Regardless, we appreciate your report."
"Thank you, General. Thank you, Madam President"
"Hague off." The image cut off. He turned to look at the others around the table. "So, according to what we have learned, we need the telepaths. Yet our rules prohibit it. What are we going to do?"
Ivanova motioned and she was allowed to speak. "I am not a member of the Joint Chiefs. This is not a decision for me. I am on the front lines and I will do as my superiors order. You have the reports that I turned over before the meeting began. I will say that while I do not like the Psi-Corps, my disagreement is with the organization and not telepaths. How could I hate them? My mother was one. But I do have one more thing that I need to turn over."
Luchenko was curious, "And what is that, Commander?"
"In addition to coordinating the Fleet elements involved and negotiating with the other races, Admiral Sinclair has actively also been working on getting more information on the technologies our allies use. In exchange for what we might consider everyday and very common technology as well as very easily obtained specs on simple ships as well as weapons of various types, the Tau'ri have provided two pieces of technology."
She pulled a data crystal from her pocket and laid it on the table. "This data crystal includes everything the Tau'ri have on their communication systems. Unlike most races, their stellar comm does not depend on tachyon relays – they can broadcast to almost anywhere in the galaxy instantly dependant only on the power put behind the broadcast."
There were murmurs of shock and surprise. The Research and Development staff member was suddenly extremely interested.
Ivanova pulled another data crystal out and put it on the desk. "This crystal includes their gravity generators and their sublight engines. This includes, of course, how to dampen the inertia changes from rapid acceleration and deceleration."
And with that, the room was completely stunned.
"Admiral Sinclair plans or working on getting the tech they have for interstellar speeds, their sensor technology, and how to create force field generators. Although, I am told, that force field generation is closely related to the gravity generators so we might not need that actually."
She put her hand on the two crystals and pushed them over to General Hague. "They are secured with standard Earth Force protocols and are keyed to your security authorization. I am told that the Goblins helped broker this – in the interest of future relations. Once the Tau-ri are taken back, they will be gone. But the Goblins will have the ability to get messages through and to transport things – how that will be done we have no idea and the Goblins aren't saying. However, them leaving will not close the door to our access – as long as we stay on good terms with the Goblins."
She sighed and considered her next delivery. She pulled out two data crystals. One she pushed toward General Hague and the other she pushed toward the Psi Corp rep. "Amongst the Wizards, they have people who have the ability to read minds. And while it is unknown as to whether this information is useful or not, it was provided freely by Harry Potter, who goes by the title of Supreme Mugwump of the Wizards Council. Among their people it is illegal for those with the ability to read mind deliberately, though there are allowances made for unintentional scanning. However, many members of their people – especially those who have positions of importance – learn how to protect their minds from external influence or those attempting to illegally scan them. They call it occlumency. Mr. Potter asked me to deliver a copy to the Psi-Corp and to my superiors." Susan saw the man's face take on a calculating look.
She added, "I was also told to tell you that this information will be being provided freely to any and all who ask – of any race. At least once the Shadows are defeated. He's already taken steps to ensure it happens even if they leave this dimension before that event. Mr. Potter, himself, is skilled at both the ability to read minds and the ability to protect his own mind – he thinks it is common sense. He sees no reason why we should treat those who have the ability differently or force them to live separately. They use such scans only rarely because there is too much room for abuse. But while they heavily regulate who can learn to read minds, they refuse to do anything to prevent people from learning how to protect themselves from it – or how to detect a mental scan. Just so you know."
Susan, personally amused, saw the Psi-Corp rep torn between extreme interest in what was being presented and extreme anger at how it would be given to everyone. She kind of enjoyed that.
She looked at General Hague. "I believe that concludes my verbal report as well as the deliveries I was assigned to make."
General Hague nodded. He passed the crystals off to one of his aides. :Very good. What questions do we have for the Commander before I dismiss her?"
There were quite a few questions. The Slayer and the Auror were also called in to corroborate some of it. However, by 12:00, the reports had been fully delivered.
Ivanova waited around near Earth Dome for the rest of the day in case she was needed. This allowed her to reach Vice Admiral Sheridan when he brought the destroyer group in system.
The two days following includes trips to St. Petersberg, London, and Scotland. She went with the Goblins. They found no evidence of the local Earth having a magical population. Though there were signs that there used to be unicorns and other magical creatures in Scotland near where Hogwarts would have been in their own dimension, but there was no sign of any currently living magical creatures. All the signs were very old.
They had been provided transport by Earth Dome as diplomatic visitors. The appreciated that.
The Earth Senate had quickly ratified the agreements that had been made between Earth and the Goblins about Epsilon 4 – name to be given by the Goblins later. There had also been a meet and greet with the Goblins and several high level members of Earth Gov including the President with footage appearing on ISN.
General Hague finally had a few things for the Commander to deliver to Babylon 5. Included were several telepaths who were already cleared for military work.
There was a heated debate behind closed doors about the issue and it wouldn't be resolved quickly. However, quite a number of telepaths were actually interested – they didn't really like being forced to live separately. Bester, as soon as he arrived, just added heat to the fire.
Along with the Human telepaths, the Minbari telepaths that had been on the destroyers would also travel back on the Al'Kesh.
Vice Admiral Sheridan would start back a few days after – as soon as emergency repairs were completed on the Agamemnon and the Agrippa. The Hyperion would stay in the Sol system.
Commander Ivanova with guests arrived back six days after they had left to a large kerfluffle. The reports regarding the battle between the Omegas and the Shadows had been leaked and every race had an opinion, either good or bad or both. And they were loud about giving them.
Sinclair's relief at seeing her was almost amusing – if it wasn't so damn serious.