Title: Jumping at Shadows (7/?)
Author: Cyclone
Feedback: Please be gentle.
Distribution: Gimme credit and a link.
Rating: Nothing worse than on the shows, except maybe language.
Spoilers: After the end of one and before the beginning of the other.
Disclaimer: The characters depicted herein belong to other people. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Summary: First contact between the United Earth Alliance and the Minbari Federation goes horribly wrong.
Author's Note: Consider this a sort of AU to The Thin Grey Line. Not exactly, as I've changed how some of the technology interacts, but sort of.
October 29, 2245
Minbari space
The patrol along the spinward border of the Minbari Federation had been reinforced. Half a dozen Sharlin war cruisers now cruised along where before a single cruiser or a handful of Tinashi war frigates would have been deemed enough. The losses as Nochtal and Jericho had reverberated throughout the entire Federation, especially the Warrior Caste. Though the total losses were insignificant in comparison to their fleets, that they had suffered such losses with those odds shook them to the core.
The humans were dangerous, and now, every Minbari knew it. They had not faced a threat this great in nearly a thousand years.
While not exactly happy with her assignment, Alyt Iridenn of the war cruiser Alachai was content. The war turned an otherwise minor task into one critical for her people's security, and it was an honor to serve.
"Alyt, reading jump points forming!"
"Lock it down, Radienn," Iridenn ordered. "What are we facing?"
"Unknown, sensors aren't detecting anything," Radienn reported. "Bringing up visual now."
The command chamber vanished as the holographic display appeared. Iridenn watched the jump points as the ships emerged. One was a huge, blocky black slab of alloy and cannons, ugly and simple in design, but no less intimidating for it. Five others were smaller ships, cruisers which, though equally simplistic in structure, lacked the raw, almost unfinished look of the massive dreadnought.
This would be a difficult battle, but if they could knock the dreadnought out early... She opened her mouth to give the order when Radienn called out again, "Another jump point, to our rear!"
Iridenn spun to examine the part of the holographic display behind her. Nosing out of the jump point was another dreadnought. She turned forward again, noting the cruisers' dispersed formation even as the dreadnought bore down on them on what was presumably a full burn. The humans had them pinned; their jump drives were cold, and they would not be able to escape in normal space without at least one exchange of fire at close range.
Fortunately, escape was not her plan.
"All ships, converge," she ordered. "We'll target the dreadnought ahead of us first."
"We still cannot achieve a target lock, Alyt."
"Then aim down the gun barrels," she retorted. "Our gunners have eyes, do they not? If they can see it, they can shoot it." Admittedly, the accuracy at this range would be very poor, even with a target that size. It would take a prodigious amount of luck to score a hit on visuals until they got closer to the enemy... much closer. Of course, if they didn't even try, the odds went from slim to none.
October 29, 2245
UES Prometheus: Bridge
"They're firing blindly, Captain," Alan reported. "Looks like they're panicking."
"No," Michael murmured, shaking his head. "If they were panicking, they'd be running. They've got enough room to maneuver; they could easily make a run for it and suffer only one pass, and that's assuming their jump drives aren't running hot. They know we outgun them, so they're trying for a lucky shot to even the odds before we close."
Michael Jankowski was a bold officer, intuitive and capable in combat situations. He had initiative and was willing to take risks, something which, while praised, sometimes backfired. He knew he had been overconfident and overeager in the first mission that started this war, had forgotten that Shadow cloaks weren't perfect. It was a mistake that had cost over a thousand good men and women their lives, and he still hadn't forgiven himself for it.
"All ships... launch fighters."
October 29, 2245
Minbari space
Over seventy veritech fighters cruised out in formation toward the Minbari patrol from the six Earth ships ahead of them, and about twice as many Nials deployed to greet them. Behind the Minbari ships, the Emerson's two squadrons kept close, guarding their mothership's flanks.
"All right, boys and girls," murmured the new CAG. Cmdr Angela "Seraph" Sterling was a legend and had been specifically selected to command the fighter group for this mission. "Looks like we've got ourselves a pretty even fight. What say we tip the odds in our favor? All fighters, engage Shadow Volley."
As the two fighter groups neared gun range, the veritechs suddenly transformed, going to guardian mode and swinging their main thrusters forward, rapidly decelerating. The Minbari fighter pilots redoubled their acceleration, not seeing the shadowy objects detach from the veritech fighters. Suddenly, the veritechs transformed again and rocketed past the Nials, cannons blazing with suppressive fire. Taking advantage of their gravitic drives, the Minbari spun and fired on the passing veritechs, which in turn went to battloid mode and returned fire.
Then the Switchblade missiles left by the veritechs ignited their rocket motors and began plowing the Nials from behind. Each Shadowfury had deployed half a dozen missiles, two to three for each Nial. Dozens struck home and detonated before the Minbari pilots even realized the threat, and more as they began to maneuver.
October 29, 2245
Alachai: Command chamber
"In Valen's name!" Iridenn swore. "Status?"
"We've lost over half our fighters," Radienn reported.
Her lips tightened to a thin line. That had been a clever bit of trickery.
"Alyt," Radienn said, "what do we do now?"
"We fight and die as warriors," she declared. "Helm, all ahead emergency power. Divert all remaining power except emergency life support to weapons, continuous fire."
October 29, 2245
UES Prometheus: Bridge
Michael leaned forward as the Minbari ships increased their acceleration and rate of fire. Unless the Minbari were far more advanced than EarthForce believed, they had to be red-lining their engines and weapons at this point. "'Into the valley of death rode the six hundred,'" he murmured.
"Sir?"
"It's a suicide run," he clarified. "They don't stand a chance, and they know it, so they're just trying to take as many of us with them as they can." Unless, of course, they were faking it. He considered his options at this point. So far, they had so little intel on the Minbari, it was aggravating. They'd only stumbled across this patrol by sheer chance. "Weps, fire to disable. Comms, relay same to all ships."
October 29, 2245
Minbari space
The five Hyperion-class heavy cruisers were each a match for any of the six Sharlin war cruisers they faced. The Emerson was out of range to engage, but with the Hades accompanying them, the numerical odds were still even. The actual odds... were considerably different.
The Nova-class dreadnought was one of the most powerful ships in known space. Although dwarfed by the largest Zentraedi ships, Tirolian motherships, and Earth's own SDFs, the Nova-class - designed to carry as many cannons on its hull as feasibly possible - still easily outgunned its Centauri, Narn, and League counterparts, and against a lighter ship like the Sharlin, it was no contest. The Hades and Emerson were both post-refit designs, eschewing the synchro cannons for additional double-barreled particle beam/laser turrets.
Particle lasers raked across the war cruisers, burning and melting through crystalline armor, carving through weapon mounts and gravitic drive fins alike.
October 29, 2245
Alachai: Command chamber
Iridenn stumbled and grabbed her console as the artificial gravity flickered. "Damage report!"
"We've lost the dorsal drive fin, Alyt," Radienn reported. "We've gone ballistic."
"Keep firing!" she ordered.
Another explosion thumped in some distant part of the ship, and the artificial gravity flicked again. One of the overhead beams dislodged and swung down, impacting the Alyt on the back of her head. Had she been human, the blow would have killed her instantly. As it was, she felt only a flash of pain, followed by darkness.
November 2, 2245
Valen'zha: Command chamber
Toroon studied the data from the reconnaissance flight. The colony of Deneb was well-defended, with an extensive network of orbital defense stations. However, as he had suspected, there were few warships in the Deneb system; most of the ships present appeared to be freighters or passenger craft, with limited armaments. There was also a curiously large gap in the orbital defense grid over the main colony. It appeared it was there to minimize the risk of collision from the traffic to and from the planet, but his instinct told him there was another reason.
He was not inclined to ignore his instinct.
"We will strike, now," he declared, a plan in mind.
November 2, 2245
Deneb Orbital Defense Station Qixi: Watch station
1Lt Eric Henn was leaning back in boredom when his console chirped suddenly. He sat up and checked the sensor board, and his eyes widened. He hollered, "Commander, we've got multiple jump points opening within the defense grid!"
The lieutenant commander froze in indecision for a long moment. As the standing watch officer, he was was responsible for the station at this moment. After a moment's hesitation, he barked out, "Battle stations, condition one!"
The alert spread throughout the orbital defense grid in seconds. Pilots scrambled to their fighters, secondary weapon systems began powering up, and tactical computers tagged the ships emerging from the jump points as hostile. The space stations began reorienting themselves to bring their main weapons in line as the Minbari ships emerged from the jump points, neutron lasers and fusion cannons blazing. From the surface below, a handful of surface-to-orbit missiles thundered into the sky, only to be swat down by defensive fire. Veritechs launched from space stations and surface facilities alike in ones and twos, chasing down the Minbari ships and strafing them even as they jumped out.
All told, the attack lasted less than twenty minutes.
Date unknown
Location unknown
Alyt Iridenn's head swam as she clawed her way back to consciousness. There was a bright light above her that burned her eyes, and she heard... something.
"...stage fright, go 'way. This is my big day..."
The voice - and the melody behind it - was low and tinny, as if from a very small speaker that was too far away. She tried to reach up to rub her eyes, but found her arms restrained. Her eyes snapped open.
"Sorry about the restraints." The voice was male, unfamiliar, and speaking in Interlac. "A necessary precaution, considering." The figure held a straw to her lips. "Here, drink. You're probably dehydrated."
She grudgingly accepted the water. After several swallows, she asked, "Where is my crew?"
"Your crew can wait," the man - a human - said. "You have a concussion, and I'm not letting you out of that bed until I'm sure you're not going to bleed to death from a brain hemorrhage or some other internal injury or die from some cross-species infection."
"You cannot keep me here," she snarled.
"I can and will."
"Your leader-"
"-must defer to me in medical emergencies where someone's life is in danger," he interrupted. "In this case, that's you. Now just relax and be still, or I will sedate you."
The Alyt had not been spoken to like that in many, many years, and it offended her. She did, however, do as she was told. Healers could be... touchy... when ignored.
November 5, 2245
Deneb Council Hall: Situation room
Governor Aaron Schmidt of Deneb Colony waited patiently while the Gold Channel connection was routed through Earthdome.
"How bad is it, Governor?" FAdm Lefcourt asked without preamble once his image appeared on-screen. When the attack had first struck three days ago, Earthdome had been notified immediately. This would be the first coherent report he'd be able to make since the Minbari left.
"Could be worse, Admiral, but not by much," the governor answered. "The Minbari jumped in right in our lines, and they somehow knew to avoid the grand cannon's clear fire field. We couldn't fire without killing our own people. Civilian casualties were light, but they could have slaughtered us easily. As it is, a quarter of our orbital defense grid is offline, and we barely touched them."
"Understood, Governor. Latest report from the reinforcements on the way indicate they should be arriving within the next day or so."
"Thank you, Admiral. I'll sleep a lot better once they're here."
November 8, 2245
UES Prometheus: Brig
Michael Jankowski mused thoughtfully as he and the Minbari captain stared at each other. Dr. Colson's report had been quite illuminating; superficial differences aside, it seemed the Minbari were almost human. They weren't as close as the Tirolians and Zentraedi had been, but they were actually closer than, say, the Invid or Centauri. Biochemically, they were indistinguishable, which meant that Minbari rations could be raided for his own personnel, extending their operational time.
He had received word before leaving Alliance space that a Minbari prisoner had been captured, but security protocols on this operation demanded that, barring emergencies, they would remain cut off from Earth for the duration of the mission except for prescheduled resupply rendezvous and encrypted, one-way burst fold comm transmissions to update High Command on his mission status.
"I don't have the facilities to keep prisoners long term or return you to Alliance space for detainment," he said, breaking the silence. "Fortunately, I have a solution."
"So," Alyt Iridenn responded scornfully, "you have healed us only to kill us, then?"
"Not quite the direction I was going, no," Michael said wryly. "One of your ships was only minimally damaged, and I've had work crews on it for the past week now, but I don't have the personnel to spare for a prize crew. It won't be fast, but life support should hold, and you should eventually be able to get your comm systems working again to call for a rescue."
The dawning realization and confusion on the Minbari's face brightened up his whole day. "Why?" she demanded. "Why would you do this?"
"Because we believe in sapient rights, basic civility, and common decency," he said. Rare as it was, they were ideals which had earned humanity victory time and time again, and he wasn't about to abandon them now.
"But our people are at war."
"That doesn't mean we have to become savages," Michael countered. "There is, however, one condition."
November 8, 2245
UES Prometheus: Observation deck
The Prometheus's captain and XO watched as the final repairs were made on captured Minbari vessel.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Skipper?" Alan asked hesitantly. "Letting them go?"
"No," Michael admitted, "but it's a time-honored classic, and it's worked for Earth longer than anything else. They were given access to music and movies while we detained them, right?"
"Yes, sir."
Michael gave a short, sharp nod. "Good. Before they leave, make sure we 'accidentally' leave a few data crystals on their ship with whatever type of music and movies were most popular with them."
"Aye, sir. And the bodies?"
"Ours, we'll take care of once they're away," Michael said. There had been a few casualties among the veritech pilots, unfortunately. "As for theirs, prepare them for transport. They've requested that they be allowed to take them home for the appropriate funerary rites."
Author's Postscript:
I have a couple of questions for those readers suggesting tactics by which EarthForce could counter Minbari stealth. First, why exactly do you think this EarthForce would be capable of coming up with tactics that the OTL EarthForce couldn't think of? And we can infer just how effective those tactics were: not at all. Second, even if any of these myriad suggestions work, why exactly do you think the Minbari would be incapable of thinking of those very same tactics themselves?
If anyone here is under greater pressure to come up with new and innovative tactics that their OTL counterparts never tried in the OTL Earth-Minbari War, it would be the Minbari, not EarthForce. So, thanks for all the suggestions. You just gave the Minbari more tricks to use.