By: Shadow Chaser
Author's Notes:
I fell in love with Babylon 5 as I was entering my eighth grade year around 1998, when the fifth season was playing. There I discovered a world of mystery, intrigue, with characters that were flawed and unique in their own way. One particular character(s) that caught my eye was the Shadows. I immediately liked them, and another that caught my eye, though not on the TV show, only in books, was Captain Sheridan's son, David. I had a fan fic planned a while back, but never got past the planning stage, but with the advent of Legend of the Rangers, I'm glad to present my fanfic to the community. Babylon 5 and all characters do not belong to me, they belong to J. Michael Strazynski; I am not making a profit out of this. I hope you enjoy my offering to the B5 community.
Important Notes:
I've determined that at the year 2281 David is roughly 18-19 years old in human terms. In Minbari terms, that is around 20-21 years (give or take a few, I think). I am assuming that David joined Ranger training at a young age, but hasn't really done any extensive training before and during his little episode with the Drakh Keeper.
Story:
Chapter 1 – Sleeping in Light Location: Fringes of Drazi Space, aboard the Furies-class ISA ship JunonAnother blast rocked the ship violently and David Sheridan quickly grabbed onto the side control panel of his ship, the Junon to stop himself from falling to the metal deck. It was supposed to be a mock battle, his instructor and captain, Rendelli, had ordered him to take command, to test out what he had been training for. After all, per his instructor's strict words was the fact that he was a newbie second in command and his "wings haven't been flown in the storm" yet, so to speak.
The Junon was one of the first of its kind, of the new Furies-class ships. It was integrated with both Minbari and leftover Vorlon technology. Although, the Humans had designed its interior, using its aggressive targeting system and defense capabilities, the ship didn't look as bad as some of the other joint Human-Minbari ships that were designed. In fact, the ship was very sleek and streamlined – but not as beautiful as the legendary White Stars of the Shadow War he thought to himself as he glanced over to the weapons officer aboard the ship. "Mensan! Where are those weapons?!"
"Damage to the external systems. Elisa is working on the conversions. She's taken most of the power that has been damaged and is rerouting them," the Minbari weapons officer Mensan, a part of the Night Winds clan of the Warrior caste replied a bit curtly as another blast to their hull rocked the ship even further.
David bit his lip and looked around, trying to reorganize his thoughts. He glanced to his second-in-command also his good friend, Talenn who was sitting at the navigational controls, a bubble of the controls engulfing him. So far he knew that their enemy were Raiders, but these Raiders had packed quite a punch and now they were trying to stop the last of them from reaching their base and alerting the others that the Anla'shok knew they were in Drazi space.
His ship's weapons were nearly useless and he had to rely on the Weapons Interfacial System where one trained Ranger was to become the ship's weapons, using physical strength to fire off lasers and missiles. It was a crude system and used up a lot of the Ranger's energy, but it would have to do for now. He considered letting his instructor, who was watching the whole proceeding from the back of the command station, take over, but then it would be foolish to do so.
David had wanted command of a ship ever since he had begun training with the Anla'shok, bypassing his little episode with a Drakh Keeper that attached itself onto him, and now was his time to prove to his instructor that he was worthy of commanding a ship, any ship. To let his instructor, the harsh and unbendable Rendelli, see that he was going to give up was unfathomable. Besides, he didn't feel that it was a lost cause yet…he hoped…
"I want Elisa, in weapons, to shoot the engines. We'll board the Raiders if we have to, but pour everything we have into the engines and comm system. Ret'hsa! Jammers?" he barked a command at his communications technician.
"Holding, sir. We're getting some interference rays, but nothing that is of the worry," Ret'hsa, a female Narn who was one of the newest recruits, but proved herself to be very fluent in many languages, spoke from her bubble encased station.
"Navigation, I want you to keep that ship in our sights. Don't even think of letting it go. I want-" a sudden scream tore through the ship and David winced, then staggered underneath a tremendous explosion. "That wasn't the Raiders…" he muttered as he picked himself from the floor, his eyes blinking in light of the smoke that had filled the bridge.
"What happened?!" he shouted, as he tried to see through the smoke. He felt as if his lungs were dry and it was getting harder and harder to breathe.
"Damage, to engine navigational controls," Talenn spoke quietly from his bubble station, but his voice was one of urgency and David faced him. He saw that the Minbari had a gash on the side of his head, near his left ear, the blood flowing freely, but his body language told one of calm and rational thinking.
"Do we have weapons?" a new voice spoke up and David felt his heart sink. When Rendelli spoke up, he knew that he had failed in his first command, and with Raider ships…he hadn't acted fast enough.
"No, Shok'Na," Talenn replied, pressing a few buttons above him in the bubble which was flickering, "Weapons…weapons…have been destroyed. I fear that Elisa Donohue has been killed when the interface system was destroyed."
David stiffened slightly at the death of a fellow Ranger. He had known the fiery petite blonde who had so dedicated her life to the causes of the Rangers and of the Interstellar Alliance. She had originally grown up on Mars, and was very young when the Civil War had struck Earth. Now…with his indecision, he was responsible for the death of a good Ranger.
"Shok'Na," he rose up from his seat and was surprised to find himself bleeding from a shrapnel cut that had embedded itself to his side.
"Stay where you are Shok'Nali Sheridan. The battle isn't over yet," Rendelli ordered gruffly and moved to where the communications station was, carefully placing Ret'hsa's body to the side and activating the bubble around him.
"Status, Engine Control!" David spoke over a direct comm link to the engine room, praying that someone in there was still alive.
"We've got minor fires here, but nothing we can handle. Jump engines have been knocked out, but we are repairing them as fast as we can," one of the engine room crew reported back and David couldn't place the voice. That must have meant that the head of the engine room was dead or incapacitated.
"Engine Control, hurry with the jump engines," he turned to Rendelli, "what's status of communications?"
"In-ship is functional, but our long range has been knocked out. We cannot get a message to the nearest colony if we could. Short range is working fine, but the approximations to the nearest ship aren't too far. We can only communicate with another ship if they are right along side us," Rendelli replied, and stared at him with eyes that still held a calculated measure of a captain testing his second-in-command. "Your orders, Shok'Nali?"
"Talenn, what's the status of weapons?" David ignored Rendelli's question and frowned as he stared through the clearing smoke.
"I have already told you David-"
"I know that the Interfacial System has been destroyed…but do we have any different kind of weapons, anything at all. Including rocks or stones if you please," he snapped at his friend, his patience wearing thin.
"We have rocks from the meditation room, if you want to stone the Raiders to death," Talenn muttered none too loudly, but David heard him just about the same as his hearing was as good as a Minbari, given his genetic lineage. "We have some nuclear weapons-"
"Good," David jumped out of his seat, ignoring the fiery pain to his wound and turned to Rendelli, "Shok'Na, I'll need you to take command. I have an idea that I don't know if it will work or not."
"David, what are you-" Rendelli started, but David brushed past him and was out of the command bridge before the Minbari could finish his sentence.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Talenn wondered, staring at the door his friend had just exited through.
"He is, after all, the son of Entil'zha Sheridan, the Starkiller…so it may be true that the Human saying of 'Like father, like son' goes hand in hand," Rendelli replied, then took a seat that David had vacated and put a channel to the engine room.
"Engine, we will need faster repairs."
* * *
David ran down the various corridors of the Junon, weaving in and out of the wounded carrying wounded and Healers tending to the dead or dying. He reached the aft section of the ship and clambered down a ladder that lead to the escape pods and escape hatches. Landing to the ground with a slight jarring thump, he suppressed a wince as his wound protested against the harsh treatment he was giving it. Turning around, he narrowed his eyes, as he knew what he was looking for but could not find it…
There…there it was. David headed to what looked to be a simple panel in the wall and pressed his hand against a part of the panel. "David A. Sheridan, Shok'Nali of the Junon. Entil'zha veni, in Valen's name. Password, Blade Bale-fire Two-Two Niner," he spoke calmly to the panel and it suddenly hissed open, revealing two thermonuclear disks and a small hand-held keypad.
He knew that his father had tried this on a Minbari cruiser, the Black Star back during the Earth-Minbari War and he knew that it was one of their last hopes if the Raiders weren't to escape. But there was one slight problem…there wasn't an asteroid field or debris filled area to plant the thermonuclear device and lure in the lone Raider ship back to destroy them. He knew that the Raider ship was still out there, judging by what his controls told him, but he couldn't be too sure.
"So, I have the thermo nuke…the keypad…but nothing to attach it on," he muttered wirily to himself as he took the nuke-disc carefully out. He didn't really know how to handle one of these things, but he was thankful that his Uncle Mike had taught him long ago about devices such as this. At least I know how to program it…he thought silently; maybe I could attach it to this ship and just blow all of us sky high. You know…live for the One, die for the One…
He quirked a small smile as he knew that he would be living and dying for his father, who was the One, the Entil'zha…it was ironic. "I don't think Rendelli would be too happy to die by nuclear explosion…" he muttered to himself as he turned from closing the panel tightly and frowned as his eyes scanned the interior of the escape bay…
A suddenly idea struck him and he grinned wolfishly staring from the nuke to the escape pods. It was perfect.
* * *
"This is Engine Control, jump engines are online, we can jump anytime," a voice from the engine room crackled through the comm unit and Rendelli nodded and was about to reply when a gasp came from Talenn.
"Shok'Na! All escape pods are launching! With life signs in them!" he exclaimed and Rendelli turned, his eyes wide.
"What?! By whose authorization?" he asked.
"Mine, Shok'Na," David's voice said from the door to the Command Bridge and Rendelli turned around to face the Human…no, he couldn't call what David was because he was essentially half Human half Minbari, a spawn of sorts in his own opinion, but he kept a respect for David Sheridan not because of his parents, but because of David's abilities. But that still didn't warrant the fact that the escape pods had been launched without most of the crew escaping on them…
"What did you do, David Sheridan," Rendelli rounded from his seat and towards the Human-Minbari spawn who had the nerve to look smug in the middle of the crisis.
"Just wait a few minutes Shok'Na Rendelli," Sheridan replied a bit too calmly.
"Sir! The Raider ship, it's back! And it has…picked up the life pods," Talenn's voice dropped to a whisper as he hastily breathed a quick prayer in Valen's name to protect those aboard the pods.
"You! Just sacrificed some of the crew for what? Is this your weapon?!" Rendelli didn't know whether or not to kill the impudent spawn right then and there.
"Talenn, have all the pods been captured?" David was still way too calm about this whole thing and Rendelli knew that the rest of the surviving crew was staring at the two of them, wondering if he was going to kill the spawn or let this action continue.
"Mensan, any weapons at all?" he asked the weapons officer, his voice breaking towards pleading as he knew that if the Warrior caste found out about this incident, they would laugh him straight out of the Anla'shok.
"No weapons, sir," Mensan replied just as Talenn nodded a yes to David's question.
"Good," David replied and held up a keypad, "good to have life pods on a ship. He pressed a button on the keypad and Rendelli threw an arm up to protect his sensitive eyes from the glare of a thermonuclear bomb going off inside a Raider ship. "Talenn, open a jump point. Our mission here has been completed," David ordered and Talenn complied.
David turned to him and Rendelli blinked as he stared at his second-in-command, one who had never commanded a battle or a ship, just destroy a Raider ship in spectacular fashion. "Well, Shok'Na, may we talk about my orders in battle, now?"
Rendelli nodded, unable to say anything and gestured with his hand to go out of the Command Bridge and to one of the conference rooms aboard the ship. David obliged and walked out and he followed, shaking his head. David Sheridan was in ways, a lot like his father.
* * *
Location: Enroute to Minbari Homeworld, Minbar – HyperspaceDavid Sheridan sat in a cross-legged position, his hands resting on his lap, eyes closed and breathing slowly. Meditation in front of a Triluminary helped calm his mind, body, and soul as he recalled the last few hours' events. Rendelli had at first been furious with him, but then after an hour of arguing with him had grudgingly admitted that it was a good tactic, though foolish one at times. Rendelli had then told him to see a Healer and to get some rest before they arrived back on Minbari, ready to report to the Grey Council and Entil'zha. He knew that he had been sitting on his haunches for at least four hours, but he didn't feel the slightest discomfort as he was already used to this, being trained into him by his mother. During the four-hour period he had felt something pass through his mind, something warm yet sad, but dismissed it.
Inwardly, he smiled as images of his mother rose to the surface of his mind. He missed her very much and hadn't seen either of his parents for roughly a year. Training with the Rangers kept him from his home, but he knew that his mother and father kept him in their thoughts every day. And with his mother being President of the Interstellar Alliance she was very busy with her work on keeping treaties, meeting with diplomatic officials, and whatever the galaxy had to throw at the ISA, he rarely even spent time with her.
He let out another slow breath and cleared his mind, letting it wander… "Hello Talenn," he greeted his long time friend as the door to his quarters aboard the Junon hissed open. His mind could sort of sense who was coming in or going out, but David knew that had had not even one remote chance of being a telepath…it was just in his genetics that he was able to pinpoint those he knew the best. "You are troubled, my friend," he said neutrally, not opening his eyes as he kept his mind clear of thoughts. The same presence of sadness started to creep up again and he knew that there was something wrong.
"David," Talenn's voice cracked slightly and David mentally raised an eyebrow. This was something new, as he knew that the Minbari never broke down or anything. Talenn always kept his composure during the worst times and worst battles.
"David," Talenn started again but hesitated, "David…we've just gotten word that the Entil'zha has died…David, your father has died."
David Sheridan opened his eyes to see the Triluminary in front of him glow brightly and he felt a tear roll slowly down his cheek, only to be pulled away by the Triluminary's glow and the object flared brightly once before fading.
It was then that tears started to fall silently from his face as he stared at the Triluminary.
* * *
Author's Notes:
Done. I started to write this in February after the Legend of the Rangers premiere, but got sidetracked. Now finished…with the first chapter! Shadow Chaser signing off…6/6/02. ^_^x