A Different Kind of Contact
Authors Note: This story is an AU Babylon 5/Robotech story. The idea came after I watched Babylon 5: In the Beginning again and refused to leave me alone so I thought what the hell and decided to write it out. I was originally planning for this to be a one shot story but Cyclone persuaded me that the idea was a bit too good for that so instead you have this short two shot story. Hope you all like it. My thanks to Cyclone for beta reading this fic.
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that I am about to mangle around for my own amusement. Sadly both Babylon Five and Robotech remain the properties of their original creators and I make no profit from their use so please keep the legal attack dogs – otherwise known as lawyers – firmly on a leash.
Part One
EAS Prometheus
July 23rd 2245
Commander Alan Chaffin frowned thoughtfully as he studied the readings that had just appeared on his sensor screen. The Prometheus and the other five ships of her small but powerful task force had just defolded and continued approaching the suspected borders of the Minbari Federation in normal space – as while they could scan normal space even while folded, scan resolution wasn't high enough to provide more than basic information about the normal three dimensional universe, certainly not enough to properly carry out their mission. Now, the long range scanners had picked up a group of ships just inside Minbari territory – a group of ships where there shouldn't be any as, according to the Centauri, this area was far outside Minbari beacon transfer points.
"Captain," he called out looking over his shoulder at the captain's station which, like on all EarthForce vessels – and like on the Robotech Defence Force vessels that had preceded them – was located at the back of the bridge and on a slightly elevated platform. It gave the commanding officer of a ship a view over the entire bridge and a clear line of sight to the bridge windows and holographic HUD. "Sensors are detecting a group of silhouettes on the edge of our range."
Captain Michael Jankowski blinked and raised an eyebrow at the report. "I thought this area was well outside Minbari transfer points," he commented, wondering what the ships – if they were ships – were doing here. Assuming the information the Centauri had forwarded to EarthForce Command was accurate; it wouldn't be the first time the flamboyantly dressed, peacock haired aliens had given them misleading information.
"It's supposed to be, sir," Chaffin confirmed.
"So, what are they doing here?" Michael muttered to himself before speaking more loudly. "Any sign they've detected us?"
"Negative, sir."
"So they're not looking for us," Michael mused thoughtfully. "How many ships are there, Commander?" he asked in a more normal tone.
"I can't be sure; the Minbari are operating a stealth system similar to our own, but from the gravitic emissions, I would say were looking at two or possibly three large capital vessels and a number of smaller support ships."
"Show me," Michael instructed. Immediately, a projector field activated, and a holographic screen coalesced into existence, showing a repeat of the scan data and the computer's interpretation of it. It was clear that the Minbari were running with an active stealth system similar – but not identical – to their own stealth technology. While theirs was based off the dimension shift technology the Haydonites had given them before their betrayal, the Minbari system seemed to use a gravitational lensing effect of some kind to distort scan data, a distortion that the computer was able to compensate for enough to get them somewhat clear readings of the group of ships.
"Hmm," he mused aloud. "What's their course and speed, Commander?"
"They appear to travelling at approximately point two c, sir. Course indicated that they're heading out of their territory into the unknown regions."
"Curious. According to the Centauri, the Minbari rarely leave their own space and never in such large numbers," Michael commented. "Can we follow them?"
"Yes, sir, we can. But sir, the Minbari will soon enter homing range of the closest tachyon beacon in this region. When that happens, they're sure to open a jump point and return to hyperspace. We'd have to open a jump point ourselves to continue pursuit."
Michael grimaced slightly at that. Like most humans, he hated going into the other space that the local races referred to as hyperspace, the ever shifting fields of red and black were extremely disorienting. It was why they tended to prefer to just space fold to their destinations, though they had acquired jump gate and, from there, jump engines from the Centauri, allowing the local races access to their space and trade routes. Still, something told him that they needed to follow the Minbari, that it was important that they do so.
"Then that's what we'll do," he said at last. "Communications, inform EarthForce Command of our situation and intention to pursue the Minbari ships. Then instruct all ships to transfer power from space fold drives to jump engines."
"Aye, sir," Lieutenant Kyle Preston acknowledged from communications before carrying out the instructions. "Sir, EarthForce Command acknowledges our intentions, and all ships report they're beginning power transfer from space fold generators to jump engines."
"Very well. Commander Chaffin, keep an eye on the Minbari. The moment they jump back into hyperspace, advise navigation so we can jump."
"Aye, sir."
For several more anxious minutes, they continued silently tailing the Minbari from a distance, keeping as close a watch as possible on their power emissions. Finally though, Chaffin noticed a change on his screens. "Sensors report increased tunnel particle emissions," he reported. "The Minbari are generating jump points."
"Very well. Navigation, activate forward jump engines."
"Aye, sir, jump engines online."
"Jump."
As the last syllable left his lips, Michael kept his eyes on the front of the bridge and the huge wraparound viewport that gave the bridge crew of every human starship a breath-taking view of the stars. He watched as flickering orange coloured energies formed into a glowing point of light that shot both into and at the same time not into the distance forming the glowing orange funnel of an outgoing jump point ahead of the mighty Hayes-class battlecruiser. In seconds, they were through the hyperspatial vortex and into the swirling red and black maelstrom of hyperspace, swirls that immediately started to give him a headache just looking at them.
"Operations, close all blast shields," he ordered after a moment.
"Aye, sir. Closing blast shields," operations responded immediately. Immediately, there came a pronounced whirring and grinding sound as heavy armoured shutters closed over the viewports, cutting off the view of the chaotic space outside the ship. He knew similar shutters would be closing over every single viewport and airlock door on the ship, cutting off the views of space the crew normally enjoyed. The blast shields were old technology, developed during and just after the Third Robotech War in response to the kamikaze bridge-ramming tactics the Regis's branch of the Invid had periodically employed.
While defence barrier technology – especially for the pinpoint barriers – had improved immensely since that time, their own knowledge of barrier tech having grown to the point where they now rivalled what the Robotech Masters had had, they'd not retired the blast shields. That decision by the shipwrights had proven wise during the Dilgar Intervention as, while the Dilgar capital ships had lacked the ability to effectively target their ships except at point blank range – on the rare occasion they survived long enough to get that close – it hadn't stopped their Thorun-class fighters from making attack runs at the bridge of human ships guided by nothing more than the good old mark one eyeball. Indeed, there had been a number of instances where the bridge crews would have been killed by Thorun plasma cannon and missile fire if not for the blast shields.
"Sir, all blast shields are closed and sealed," operations reported after a moment.
"Understood," Michael replied before looking back at Chaffin who seemed to be fidgeting slightly uncomfortably. "Are you alright, Commander?" he asked concerned.
"Yes, sir, I'm fine," Chaffin replied, blushing slightly embarrassed. "It's just this space feels…well…wrong."
"I understand," Michael answered, and he did. It was another reason why humans didn't generally like going into this particular hyperspace layer. The ambient energy fields tended to make those with Invid ancestry – like Chaffin – uncomfortable, with the degree of discomfort depending on how much Invid blood they had. For someone like Alan whose grandfather had been a human form Invid, it wasn't too bad – just a distracting feeling of wrongness and, in some individuals, vertigo – but for a first gen hybrid, it actually made them extremely physically ill, to the point where some had been known to lapse into comas. Nobody was quite sure why it happened, but the leading theory was that it had something to do with the protoculture they had in their blood and cells reacting to the energy fields, protoculture that naturally lacked the shielding around a ship's reflex power plants and protoculture storage matrices.
"Any sign of the Minbari?" he asked.
Alan Chaffin was grateful for the distraction. Sheesh, Dad wasn't kidding when he said this type of hyperspace was uncomfortable, he thought, even as he scanned his screens, looking for the gravitic wake trails being left by the Minbari ships, an orderly wake against the chaos of the space around them, thus it wasn't exactly easy to spot. After a long moment of searching, however, he found it.
"I've got them," he answered. "They're riding on the edge of the primary hyperspace beacon in this area. By my calculations, they'll reach their next inter-beacon transfer point in approximately four hours at their current speed."
"Understood. Maintain sensor contact," Michael ordered. "Keep feeding any changes in the Minbari course or speed to navigation. Navigation, continue pursuing the Minbari, but let's keep our distance. I doubt they'll be able to penetrate our stealth systems, but there's no point in risking it. If they do spot us, I want them to think we're just a gravitational echo."
"Aye, sir."
Four Hours Later
Z'ha'dum.
The very name of this place stinks of darkness, Satai Delenn thought as she stood with the rest of the Nine, watching the holographic display that had shimmered into existence around them – a display that made it look, and almost feel, like the members of the Grey Council were standing in the void of space instead of a chamber deep within the armoured bowels of the Valen'tha. Filling the display ahead of them was a dark and ancient world, a world whose surface had long since been stripped clean of all life. Now, it was a scorched, parched desert, covered with craters and deep canyons, all the result of multiple orbital bombardments over uncounted millennia.
All in all, it wasn't a pleasant planet to look at. And it was a planet the Valen'tha and her escorting cruiser, the Ingata, were rapidly approaching, having jumped back into normal space a few minutes out from the ancestral haunt of those who danced in the dark. In another few minutes, they would be close enough to begin running detailed scans of Z'ha'dum, searching for any sign that the prophecy given to the Minbari nearly a thousand years ago by the greatest of them to ever live, a Minbari not born of Minbari, Valen himself, before his disappearance and presumed death. The prophecy that the Shadows were returning and preparing once again to wage war against the forces of Light.
Watching the planet grow ever bigger on the display, Delenn would be lying if she said that she wasn't getting increasingly nervous about being in this place. A glance around showed her that the other members of the Grey Council were equally nervous beneath their hooded robes. Deep down in their very souls, they knew that, whether the Shadows were here or not, this was a dark place.
"Satai," a voice said from the hidden overhead speakers, the voice belonging to the Shai Alyt who commanded the ship. "We are now within scanning range of the planet."
"Very well," Dukhat replied from where he stood in the centre of the circle formed by the rest of the nine. "You may begin running scans of the planet."
"Yes, master."
"I very much doubt we will find anything," Satai Morann of the warrior caste Wind Swords clan said, slipping off his hood as tradition dictated he do as he addressed the council.
"We have yet to run our scans, Morann," Delenn replied slipping off her own hood. "It would be unwise to make such statements before we have more information."
"Delenn makes a good point," Dukhat agreed, giving Morann a firm look. "We will soon know one way or another if Valen's Prophecy is correct and the Shadows are beginning to return to this place."
Morann grimaced slightly, though his scepticism was understandable, but then, he was warrior caste, and as such, didn't believe in the prophecy and mysticism so beloved by the religious caste. As a warrior, he required physical, irrefutable proof instead of what he – like other warriors – considered to be blind faith.
He started to open his mouth to reply to both Dukhat and Delenn, but before he could speak, sudden alarms ran throughout the ship. "What's that?" he asked, scowling as he recognised a general alarm.
"Strange," Dukhat commented frowning. "Shai Alyt, what's going on?"
"Master, sensors are picking up a large number of jump points forming directly ahead of us. There are ships incoming, unknown configuration," the distant Shai Alyt responded a note of real concern in his voice.
"How many?" Dukhat demanded, focusing his attention on the holographic display as, ahead of them, directly between them and the planet, a number of blue jump point triggers flickered into existence before both collapsing and expanding into the familiar blue funnels of incoming jump points.
"Six," the Shai Alyt answered, "one of which is huge."
Dukhat frowned and kept his attention on the hologram as six ships emerged from the incoming jump points, and he felt his jaw drop open in shock at what he saw. All six ships were made of an odd honey-coloured metal that gleamed in an odd, opalescent way that made it look more like the hide of some kind of techno insect than the hull of a starship. All were odd vaguely organic shapes like Minbari ships, but whereas Minbari warships combined beauty and elegance with predatory fierceness, these things seemed to combine organic curves and lines in a way that screamed the dark and dangerous nature of the beings within. A dense cloud of odd dart-like fighters with a bizarre blue crystal at their tips buzzed around them in a tight escort formation.
What was especially shocking about them though was the sheer size of the ships. All of them were huge, longer by a considerable margin than even Shagotti-class war cruisers like the Valen'tha. But it was the giant ship in the centre of the formation that really grabbed attention, it was absolutely gigantic and seemed to more mobile space station that ship so great was its sheer vastness.
"Master we're being scanned," the Shai Alyt reported from the bridge sending a ripple of surprise through the nine as there were few races that possessed the ability to scan Minbari vessels.
Morann frowned. "Are our stealth systems working," he asked surprise, confusion and more than a little concern pulling at him. If these mysterious aliens could see through a system that had been thought perfect for generations then what else could they do?
"Diagnostics indicate they are working perfectly, Satai," the Shai Alyt responded then his voice turned from surprised confusion at the situation they found themselves in to alarm. "Master the alien ships are powering up their weapons and opening gun ports."
"How long until our jump engines are back online?" Dukhat asked. They were in a very disadvantageous position here; if the alien sensors could penetrate their stealth systems, then they'd be able to target them clearly. While both cruisers were hardly defenceless – they had gravitic defence fields to dissipate some weapons fire and then there was the dense polycrystalline armour covering much of the hull – they would not win a battle here. They were massively outnumbered, after all, and even if the alien weapons were inferior to their own – which wasn't a guarantee – numbers had a quality all its own. Defeat and destruction would be the only outcomes of a fight here.
"We are directing as much spare power as possible to them, but it will still be five minutes before they'll be recharged, Master," came the answer, the Shai Alyt's voice grim, recognising the situation they were in.
"Then we have no choice," Dukhat replied. "Prepare to engage the enemy. And Shai Alyt, have all our data records prepared for an emergency burst transmission to the Council of Caste Elders on Minbar. If we are defeated, our people will need to know what happened." So our people can prepare to deal with this enemy and their masters, he thought, already knowing that those ships had to belong to some of the Shadows' allies, some of their dark servants. He'd already known from the Vorlons that they'd begun gathering here at Z'ha'dum – and that the Shadows themselves couldn't be that far behind them – but it was still more than a little surprising, and concerning, that they'd been able to detect and react to their presence so quickly.
"It will be done," the Shai Alyt replied as alarms sounded on the bridge.
"Master, look," Delenn abruptly said, pointing to something that had caught her eye in another section of the holographic display. The display obediently focused on the object in question, and Dukhat followed where Delenn was pointing, scowling at the small group of ships that appeared there, ships that were all too familiar to the Minbari, ships that any Minbari ship – from any of the three castes – would immediately attack and destroy on sight alone.
"Soul Hunters," Dukhat growled softly.
"Soul Hunters come only where there will be great death," Delenn said, her words echoing ominously the thoughts of all in the room. However, before anyone could even think of a response, there came a deep rumbling boom that made the air itself vibrate and the deck rock slightly, but noticeably, beneath the feet of the nine. Simultaneously, light flared on the holographic display, causing it to automatically reset from the focus on the Soul Hunter ships to the other group of encroaching ships…
…just in time to see another sapphire blue energy beam lance towards them from one of the small capital ships. Again, the Valen'tha shuddered under enemy fire, though it was obvious that, for the moment at least, the cruiser's gravitic defence field was attenuating the blasts enough that the damage inflicted to the ship was minimal.
The same could not be said for the enemy, as both Minbari war cruisers returned fire with their primary cannons. Emerald green gravitic enhanced neutron beams blasted forth from the primary weapons fins on each of the flanks as well as just above the flight bay doors in the bow. The beams reached their unknown assailants almost immediately and cut right through the hull of two of the smaller ships, eviscerating the superstructure of both vessels with effortless ease and slicing apart the power cores of the unfortunate vessels, turning them into instant fireballs.
Battle was joined.
Despite being both startled and shaken by the effortless ease with which the Minbari infidels had blown two of their attack cruisers to plasma and dust, the Drakh were determined to continue with the engagement. Their masters were counting on them to protect Z'ha'dum from any who would try to harm the Shadows until the Time of Awakening had arrived – a time that was due soon, and the Minbari's presence here indicated that the Vorlons and their minions were well aware of it – and that was just what they were going to do.
Immediately, the dense cloud of raiders buzzing around the capital ships broke from their escort formation and began advancing upon both cruisers. Slender blue beams shot forth from their nose mounted weapons arrays to pepper both cruisers with dozens of blasts each. The sheer number of blasts overwhelmed the cruiser's gravitic shielding, so the full power of the last volleys slammed into the polycrystalline armour, armour which immediately functioned as it was designed to, refracting some of the energy of the blasts back out into space in a rainbow blaze of diffusion and absorbing the rest, leaving only the physical impact of the blasts to do any damage.
As both cruisers shuddered under the assault, the Minbari's escorting Niall fighters broke formation and moved to engage the Drakh raiders, their triple neutron cannon arrays blazing. Secondary fusion beam and electro pulse cannon arrays on the cruisers also opened up, burning dozens of raiders from the sky in mere moments, the briefest kiss by the advanced and powerful Minbari weaponry being all that was needed to rip the lightly armoured Drakh fighters apart. The Drakh raiders hit back brutally, burning nearly a dozen Nialls from the sky in moments, forcing the rest to take evasive action while continuing to engage them.
As the battle between the Minbari and Drakh fighters descended into an all-out, life or death dogfight, the three remaining Drakh heavy cruisers joined the battle. High powered dark blue quantum particle beams lancing out from their weapons arrays, slamming into both Minbari cruisers with white-hot force. The Minbari hit back immediately, emerald green neutron beams slashing deep, molten edged wounds in the hides of their enemies. Quantum beams hit back, all three Drakh cruisers changing tactics and concentrating all fire on the smaller of the two cruisers, Ingata, while peppering the Valen'tha with fire from their secondary pulse cannon arrays.
The Ingata shook violently under the heavy fire, polycrystalline armour melting and boiling away across large swaths of the hull as the beams swept over her. Angry and wounded, the Sharlin-class war cruiser hit back at her tormentors with everything she had, neutron cannons gutting one of the Drakh attack cruisers like it was a fish on a slab. The doomed vessel broke apart amidships before exploding as the power plant let go.
It was the Ingata's last act of defiance.
The two remaining attack cruisers fired their main beams at her again, the beams cutting through the cruiser's hull to eviscerate section after section across multiple decks as they burned their way towards the ship's core. Hull ruptured and burning, the Ingata began to veer wildly and tumble completely out of control. Small hatches all over her hull opened, and life pods began ejecting as the crew scrambled to evacuate the dying vessel, even as the first of the tiny three man pods pulled away from the cruiser, the Drakh – sensing blood in the water – fired upon the Ingata again, their beams slicing through to the artificial quantum singularity in the core of the once-mighty vessel's power plant, rupturing the containment fields with catastrophic results. Suddenly subjected to the tremendous pressure of normal space-time, the singularity, unable to sustain itself, winked out of existence, unleashing all of its pent up energy in a single cataclysmic burst of energy and hard radiation, turning the ship into a fireball.
The crews of the Drakh cruisers didn't have time to celebrate their victory.
Enraged by the destruction of the Ingata, a combined barrage of neutron and fusion beams from the staggering, but still fully functional and thus extremely dangerous, Valen'tha ripped into, then through, one of them, blowing the ship apart.
Grey Council Chamber
Minbari War Cruiser Valen'tha
The dull, thunderous rumbling filled the air, and the deck beneath the feet of the nine rocked again; the remaining enemy attack cruiser had slammed a high powered energy beam into the side of the ship. To a soul, the members of the Grey Council were incensed by this unprovoked attack upon them by whoever these mysterious aliens were; they were even more angered that the aliens had cost them their escort and that the hostiles fighters were really giving their Nialls a hard time.
Satisfaction gripped the assembled Satai as they watched the green beams of the Valen'tha's neutron cannons lance into the hull of their enemy, wounding it badly. A follow up volley of fusion beams gutted the ship, causing it to break into two and explode with the same finality as the blast that had claimed the Ingata.
"Now for the enemy flagship," Satai Morann commented to his fellows, his face and manner calm as his station demanded, while inwardly, a volcanic cauldron of rage boiled over the deaths of his fellow warriors on the Ingata.
"It might not be that easy, Morann. Look," Coplann said sounding grim. The Wind Sword Satai followed the direction the Star Rider was pointing in and went pale at what he saw. The massive enemy flagship was still there, but as he watched, four more attack cruisers and hundreds more fighters emerged from hatches on the massive vessel's sides.
An overwhelming force.
"In Valen's name," Morann breathed in a combination of shock, horror and dismay as it was obvious that this was a fight they couldn't win - not with only the Valen'tha and few Niall left. He watched with a profound sense of doom as the enemy cruisers pointed their bows - and the heavy cannons mounted there - at them…
...and fired.
The ship quaked throwing the nine off their feet to land hard on the deck. From all around, there came the shriek of metal rending and tearing mixing with the concussive rumbling of secondary internal explosions. The hologram flickered, dissolving for a moment before re-establishing itself… a second before the ship shuddered under another salvo of enemy fire, the force of the blasts lifting them all into the air where, for several agonising seconds, they remained suspended as artificial gravity flickered and died briefly before the emergency gravity generators automatically powered up.
Then... there was silence.
"Is everyone alright?" Dukhat asked, rising from a most undignified sprawl on the deck. Moving slightly, he extended a hand and helped Delenn to stand up.
"I am fine, Master," Delenn replied as the rest of the council also picked themselves up and voiced their own state. Amazingly, aside from a few bruises - and a lot of wounded pride - none of them were badly injured.
"Why have they ceased fire?" Satai Rathenn asked aloud. "We should be dead now."
"I would think that would be obvious even to a member of the Religious Caste, Rathenn," Morann replied. "Whoever they are, our enemy obviously intends to board us. Look." He pointed at the sputtering but still functioning holographic display, which now showed a number of pod-like objects coming towards them from the enemy flagship.
"Breaching pods," Dukhat said grimly.
"Precisely, Master," Morann confirmed.
"What do we do now?" Delenn asked, a cold knot of dread in her stomach as she observed the pods - no doubt filled with bloodthirsty servants of the darkness - growing ever closer to the Valen'tha.
"We cannot allow ourselves or this ship to fall into the hands of the Shadows' minions," Dukhat replied. "Therefore, we have no option. We must destroy this ship."
Silence greeted his words. Until, one by one, each Satai nodded his or her agreement with the motion, all beginning to mentally brace themselves to die, knowing in the process that they would deny their ancient enemy a major victory over the Minbari. With the uncalled vote unanimous, Dukhat started to open his mouth to give the distant bridge the order to begin the self-destruct sequence…
...only for no sound to emerge, as it was at that moment that the massive enemy flagship exploded.