AbyssalDaemon said:
DhampyrX2 said:
Just a thought, but given that Asgadians look like humans, is it possible for the Minbari to assume that they ARE altered humans?� Imagine Loki going to them as an emissary to end the conflicts only for them to insult him AND accuse him of being human.
It's true what they say about assuming.� You make an ass of you and me.
Humanoid looking aliens aren't exactly a new thing in Babylon 5, and given both Loki tendency to be somewhat showy and rather large differences between asgardians/frost giants when compared to humans it's possible but not really likely unless he intentionally sets things up to prolong the conflict.
And it's not at all like Loki to troll someone for shits and giggles. Never mind a group that he feels has a false sense of superiority.
To say that the appearance from thin air of a strangely armored man in a horned helmet in the middle of a meeting of the Minbari Grey Council was a shock would be an understatement. Although the fact that none of the guards reacted to his appearance, for they seemed to have been frozen in time for the duration of his visit, would disturb them more when they had time to ponder it.
"Who are you?" Satai Delenn asked of the green and gold clad figure that had appeared before the Grey Council as Satai Coplann, barked, "What do you want?"
"I would think that you would be so tired of those questions at this point. Then again I suppose they are the crux of what you have been training yourselves for," Loki mused to himself with a devilish smirk.
"I beg your pardon?" Delenn replied in confusion.
"As well you should, mortal, but that is neither here nor there. As for who I am? I am Loki Odinson of Asgard and I have been asked by my king Odin the Allfather to attempt to speak with you and your council about your recent activities against Midgard," Loki smoothly responded.
"Midgard? We have never heard of a planet called Midgard," Satai Morann said with a look of confusion.
"Ah, yes. The local savages chose to rename it long ago when our more ardent followers chose to... 'enlighten' themselves. In the modern vernacular the natives are calling it Earth. As if naming it after dirt is somehow more civilized," Loki replied with a shrug.
"You are one of the Earthers?" Satai Morann demanded with a scowl.
Loki's own scowl is return made the temperature appear to drop significantly as he icily replied, "No. I am no more a human than you and your people are Vorlons. And you would do well to remember your manners when addressing someone older than your entire pitiful civilization, mortal."
"I'm afraid we do not understand your meaning then, Loki Odinson," Delenn interjected if only to move along the purpose of the strange visit from the even stranger visitor. Besides, there was something particularly off-putting about the creature before them. A sense of thinly hidden danger and barely-restrained power that made Delenn want to cut this visit as short as she could.
"Yes, well, understanding things has always been difficult for the younger races," Loki sniffed disdainfully. Honestly, Thor or Sif should have been sent to deal with these fools. No matter how silver Loki's tongue might be it's not like these self-important apes would care. Besides, Sif could bond with their women over being bald.
"Younger races. Do you mean to say you are one of the First Ones?" Delenn asked with wide eyes.
"That is what some of you have called us. Not that it matters. Power isn't always about who is born first. Usually, it's more about who is left standing at the end," Loki purred.
"Then the Earthers have nothing to worry about as they will not be standing much longer," Satai Neroon shot back.
"Ah, yes. That is what drew me here, isn't it? I suppose I should get to the point. Odin Allfather has sent me to inform you that Midgard, as one of the Nine Realms, had called out to Asgard to beg for deliverance from their foolish actions as they did in times of old. Although the Allfather understands that you have been wronged he has still been moved by their plight and sent me, his devoted son, to broker a peace between your races," Loki recited with a bored look.
"Peace? With them? They murdered Dukhat! Their only peace will be the peace of the grave," insisted Satai Morann.
"And you took your revenge a thousandfold for their abject stupidity. Frankly I agree that they needed to be punished some and taken down several pegs. You have done so. You have proven your strength through war, now it is time to show your wisdom and compassion through peace," Loki shot back.
"The vote was cast. We will destroy them all. It is a holy war and can not be stopped," Satai Codroni responded. "The Earthers killed the best of us. Now they must deal with the consequences."
Allfather above, they sound worse than me when I was amusing myself taunting Thor on Midgard a couple of hundred years ago. Could they be any more arrogant? Loki thought to himself with a derisive snort. "Tread carefully when you make statements like that, Codroni of Minbar. Faith can become a double edged blade," Loki warned.
"What do you mean?" Delenn asked with a look of curiosity in spite of herself.
"Faith can become the last refuge of the desperate. Take the Midgardians, for example. Did you know that once, many many centuries ago, they worshiped my people as gods? They were little more than savages playing with crude steel weapons and wooden spears then. Now, all these lifetimes later, and despite their advances in technology they have reverted to calling out to whatever deity would listen to save them as they face certain doom. Imagine the shock of the skeptical when someone answered," Loki replied with a leer.
"You mean to tell us that you will defend the Earthers?" Delenn whispered as she caught on to what Loki was implying.
"Whatever else they may be, the people of Midgard are one of the Nine Realms. They have been under our stewardship when they needed to be just as you were on the Vorlon leash. I give you fair warning to consider your path. You will find that we are far more willing to look after our pets than the Vorlons have been. Do keep that in mind," Loki said with a dark chuckle before fading away from sight.
The disquieting alarm his visit prompted was such that it was nearly fifteen minutes before the Grey Council collected itself enough to rise into an uproar at the security breach and begin to look for all they could on a race know as the Asgarders.
Sadly, none of them immediately thought to send a transmission about the visit to Vorlon space to get the input of their own patron First Ones. If they had, much unpleasantness might have been avoided.