Chapter 4, Part 4: The chains of Enslavement
The combined Vorlon and Minbari fleet returned to normal space in perfect battle formation. To the shock of their fleet crews, the Human forces had forced them both to come out of hyperspace at the verge of the weapons' effective range. They also had some time to travel in normal space to reach the nearest Human outpost.
Aboard the Troy class Battle Complex, all the alarms started to go off as the hyper range sensors picked up the enemy fleet coming out of hyperspace at extreme range. Automated announcements were going off, telling everyone to report to their battle duty stations and make ready for battle. Claxons were sounding.
"Will someone please turn those off or at least turn them to mute? We still have to give out orders to people" ordered Admiral Branko Irons, annoyed. Branko glanced at a screen at his side, checking some data that had just flashed on the screen. Admiral Irons brought himself ready to make his next big speech; probably the greatest of his career. Everyone, please calm yourselves down. There is no need to panic. We have every thing under control. Launch all alert ready warships and defense craft. I want a full perimeter set within fifteen minutes. Have all hyperspace vortex jammers brought online. Go to maximum strength and activate the cloak. Launch all the drone fighters and have the automated ship yards brought online and start producing new drone fighters. I want to scare them off a bit to allow us to spread our ships forward. Fire all hyper Particle cannons. That will increase range and strength. We might get lucky and take a few of them out" the admiral ordered into the intercom system. "Everyone, what we do now will save the rest of our expedition to this galaxy. If these double damned Minbari and Vorlon wish to wipe us out then they're going to be in for a major shock to their systems, so make ready everyone. We can't afford to lose lives. This is no drill. Communications officer, inform our hyperspace battle stations to make ready for guests and charge our screens to full. Increase our shield strengths to maximum and deploy all hyperspace scouts. It's time to scare these life forms to death."
Everyone on the bridge started to cheer and nod with approval. From the back of the bridge was heard the voice of Commodore Franklin Dobbs.
"Admiral, we may have another problem. They're moving at a much slower speed than the other Minbari and Vorlon units. They read as very heavily modified Minbari warcruisers. Their weapons systems have some form of ancient weapons. They have some escorts of unknown origin and they are manned by non- Minbari. I've done a scan of the life forms. The computer has identified them as the Takâcha."
"Then, Commodore Dobbs, we'd better see what they want and if they wish us harm. Send a message to Central Command and inform them of these ships. I don't want to be caught off guard" answered Admiral Irons.
Fleet Admiral Irons, who appeared to be a forty five year old White Human of German decent, was in fact an immortal Human of some advanced age, having lived through all of Earth's wars. He led the invasion of one of the main Centauri systems in a hit and run mission, taking no losses. In all the combat missions Branko had commanded, he had never lost even a single ship to the enemy. Branko knew he was going to lose lives this time, but the only thing he was concerned about was just how many he was going to lose.
"Com Officer, open up the intercom system again and put it fleet wide and to our hyperspace guards as well." He waited until the com officer complied swiftly, and then spoke into the intercom. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it's been my greatest honor serving with each and every one of you. However, it's my sad duty to say that this will not be like any other battle we have fought. We all must see and know that we might lose a few of our brave men and women over the next few days. If that does happen, I say now that our losses will not go un-avenged. We will win and we will take prisoners this day. I'm going to read our orders now so we all know what to do in case our Command and Control is lost during the battle."
Admiral Irons walked away from the intercom system and walked to his desk,unlocked the orders from his desk and returned to the intercom system, looking proud in his white uniform, which was a gift from His Royal Highness, King Antony Himself. The white uniform indicated that they had the full support of King Antony and was a reward only given to the very few honored officers in the Navy.
Admiral Irons coughed to clear his throat and started to speak again.
"My fellow officers and friends, we have served through so much in our lives; some longer than others. To my good and wise friend, Fleet Admiral Branko Irons: I have placed you in control of the first of the Troy stations in the hope that if anyone can stop the hordes coming, it's you my friend. I need you to attack every last ship that enters your system. However I don't want them destroyed. Just target their engines and disable their combat capabilities. Make sure you board their ships when possible and when you engage them, make sure the marines have the new personal defense shield units up so it will be strong enough to stop even a Vorlon from touching them. I need the Vorlons and Minbari captured. I know they wish to hunt us down like animals. Your orders are to survive this at all costs. You will have reserves close by in other staging areas and from friends that you haven't seen yet. Don't waste the chances you will have. Send for them upon seeing them. They will stay in hyperspace and search for extra unknown support vessels and they will engage them on sight. They have their own orders. If it's not too much to ask, I would love for research and development to gather intelligence on their ships for future catalogue. Your main orders are to keep the losses to a minimum. Because I'm not there in person, I can't give you a battle plan, but I know you have already run every possible scenario possible to see the outcome of this. Look to the Takâcha. They will do you honorable service. They bring a warrior from the days of the last Great War. This warrior is to be fully trusted. He was betrayed by everyone, including me, at least that is what I've been told by the Kirishic Lords. However, they failed to tell me how I personally failed him before they left to travel again. They have a more aggressive stance to life than others, but they follow the teachings of this warrior. I believe Princess Tzu-Yung Khan has the command of her own ship. Unleash her Takacha and she will unleash their fully combined might on your enemies. Keep your weapons satellites at their extreme range to help protect the station. Cloak all vital satellites like the Hyperspace Vortex jammers and run them at full power. I want to say one last thing, people. I wish I was there, because I truly wish I could be there to slap the overconfident the grins off the Vorlons faces, if they have them. You don't have me, but you have the very best of my trained people waiting the word to come to your aid. That ends His Highnesses message. We can't and won't let him down" finished Irons.
"Sir, we have an incoming message from Princess Tzu-Yung. She claims to have received a time delayed message from His Majesty. He has requested her to head here at top speed on board her new personal defense ship. She's sent us on a sub channel a layout of the EAS Hand of Khan. That's a Battleship version of the Storm Harpanguer."
"Thank you, Lieutenant Commander Pain. Transfer those specs to my personal computer. I'll have a look at them in a few minutes. Communications officer, open a secure channel to the Reserve groups EAS Von-der-tan, EAS Princess Tzu-Yung Khan and EAS Storm Harpanguer. Let me know when or if we hear back from them. If you don't, send this covert message: The in-laws have arrived and we don't have enough beds for them to stay in."
Meanwhile, aboard the Vorlon Command Cruiser, Zaquash was getting rather impatient with the lack of sensor information.
"Computer, if we launch all our fighters forward and lose them all, how long would it take to grow new fighters for our forces?"
"We can give birth to up to seven more full squadrons before we would need to feed."
That made Zaquash launch them forward. Even if they destroyed the odd one, they wouldn't be able to destroy them all. Soon all the Vorlon fighters were in hyperspace, trying to scan ahead, only to find that they were blind to all things, with the exception of the flow of energy in hyperspace.
"Ship, go ahead and start your fighter birthing program now and inform our other ships to do the same. We need as many biological ships as we can send forward to weaken the Humans before we arrive. Zaquash to other Dreadnoughts: launch your fighters now and have your ships start to grow new fighters as well now. We can't look weak to the Minbari. I only wonder now if we should have asked the Oreeni to come as well. They have treaties with the Minbari."
Umtash entered the bridge, glanced at Zaquash, and started to head towards him.
"Your emotions have gotten the better of you, and yes, we should have brought the Oreeni. They too would have seen the true nature of Vorlons. We haven't brought enough fighters to support this type of fighting. We will have to reduce speed to help the ships feed. My reasons are, as ever, for our safety. If we reduce speed and instruct the ships to feed, the ships will propagate faster. By the time we reach our jump location, we will have a fresh batch ready to launch during the fight."
"That's very wise, Umtash. Ship, please make that happen and inform the fleet to do the same. We will launch the next lot of fighters before we return to normal space. Then launch the third batch of fighters and that will give us over all victory in the fight. The children of Vorlon will live and go on forever" Stated Zaquash more to himself than to any other Vorlon.
In total two thousand Vorlon fighters moved through hyperspace. They were all feeding on the energies of hyperspace, making sure they had enough energy for the fight ahead of them. They could sense something strange as the gravity fields in hyperspace and normal space seemed out of alignment. However their sensors couldn't detect anything to explain why this was the case. They grouped together to form a massive jump point.
"All hands, their scout wave is incoming! I repeat their scout ships are incoming! Bring the jammers to full power and set the jump point to a location that takes it further away from Troy Alpha Two" ordered Irons.
"There is a jump point forming in sector five, sir" announced the sensor officer.
"This is Captain Brown to the Yorktown: lock all weapons on the incoming ships and show them what a Griffon class battleship can do." With gun ports all over the place they had weapons for every type of action, especially anti fighter missions.
The Yorktown started to close the gap on the vortex as it started to open. Alpha Troy One started to lay down fire as soon as the first wave of fighters started coming through. The black background of space was lighting up every few seconds with fresh explosions coming from the Vorlon Fighters. That's when the Vorlons got their second surprise. The Yorktown opened fire and took out about two hundred drones in their first salvo.
Admiral Irons was watching the fire fight.
"It's time to send in the drones. Let's give them something to write home about and increase defensive fire around the Yorktown. Inform the Warlocks to move forward now to help protect the Yorktown's flanks from grouped attacks. Start firing missiles and anti graviton torpedoes. I don't want them getting too close."
The Vorlon fighters started to swarm onto the nearest vessels; one of them being the Yorktown.
"Damn, people! Increase energy to the anti fighter weapons and make sure we have reserve power tied into the main shields. We won't survive long if the shields go" Ordered Captain Hondo. "Launch the drone fighters and stand by for manned fighter launchers as well. If these bugs want to fight, then they're going to get one. Where in God's name is our flank screen? They should be here by now."
The powerful squid- like fighter weapons were hitting the extremely powerful energy shields of the Yorktown. The sheer amount of anti fighter weapons firing back from the Yorktown was beyond description. Every ugly squid-like ship was being hit by pulse and beam weapons of different colors and strength. The squid fighters that were attacking the Yorktown started burning up. With the arrival of the EAS Hornet, EAS Exeter, EAS Liverpool and EAS Iowa all four were of the Warlock class destroyers.
The Vorlon squid fighters switched their attack patterns from single fighters to grouped attacks that made it even easier for the warships to take them down. After a few minutes of warships taking the fight to the squids, the Earth drone fighters moved in for the kill, now seeing how they worked and what was best to take them out.
"Sir, the Vorlon fighters have tried to open a jump point two times now and they have failed. Each time they try and fail, they put more power in their jump engines. We have also picked up a transmission from the Vorlons to their main group" announced the sensor officer.
"Well, people, don't just sit there. Get our fighters into those squids before they find a way to get out and fully warn the others about just what we have. Com officer, did the Vorlon signals get through the jammers?" asked Irons in a concerned tone.
"Negative, sir. The hyperspace probes picked up no form of signal but their jammers are running at full power as well" replied the Com Officer, who was now starting to show signs of stress.
The Vorlon fighters were now down to just under a hundred in number, and still they hadn't got close enough to a ship or station to cause any form of damage. Still, they tried to increase speed to dodge the weapons fire that was coming their way, which was too great for them to evade.
The last few Vorlon fighters that were now nicknamed the squids started to group together and then they set a ramming course for the Yorktown. The EAS Iowa, a Warlock destroyer, was finding it hard to keep them back. The EAS Hornet moved in closer to support the Yorktown with their anti fighter defenses and finished off the remaining Vorlon squid fighters.
"Irons to all ships: cease fire and bring the remains aboard the transports. Get those transports out of this system and under heavy escort within fifteen minutes. We are on the clock now. We estimate that it took those fighters nearly twenty minutes to arrive in this system from the time they left their staging area, so move it now. Crew, we have time to run and grab a fast shower and a change of clothes. The Command and control is starting to smell more like a gym than a military command post. All senior officers may go now, but make sure you have filled your replacements in. I'll wait for my seconds to get themselves sorted as we have a long wait. First group, you have thirty minutes to be back. Let's get going." Irons noticed that he was dripping with sweat and realized how bad he was stinking.
The holographic display system came to life and standing on the Command deck were Marshalls Von-der-tan and Trance. Both of them smiled at him.
"Great job, Branko. You certainly showed those fighters what it meant to be hit by a wall made from energy weapon fire" complimented Trance. "We've got a bet going, so tell us at what point you will have the command and control staff relieved to get freshened up."
"It was great fun seeing those squids getting smashed to pieces, even though they take a bigger kicking than the Shadow fighters and they have a better weapon system too. I've already started to rotate my command staff so they can get freshened up" Replied Irons.
"People, we have a job to do. How much notice do you have on the enemy location and them hitting you again?" asked Yetta in a very concerned tone. "On a side note, Trance, you owe me some credits now" teased Yetta.
"We will have twenty three minutes notice, but they haven't entered hyperspace yet and that concerns me. If I had lost transmission with two thousand fighters, I would certainly want to know why, unless they had another force that we hadn't come in contact with yet. That means they have to be in hyperspace at some point, watching and learning from everyone" explained Irons.
"We have more than enough probes in the area. Those squids, as you call them, were smaller than what their main ships were, so I would hope we should be able to see them. Our scanners had the same problem with the Shadow fighters in hyperspace, but we could see their main ships with no problem. In this case, we have their liability in the form of the Minbari as we know they haven't returned to hyperspace yet" stated Yetta. "Trance, what would you do? I don't want to weaken our stand here just in case that is true and they need more than what we can handle. I think it's time to have the reserves brought closer to this area and we know the Passatwar have nearly two decimator fleets in hyperspace searching for possible reinforcements for the Vorlons."
"Sir, sorry for interrupting you, but the enemy fleet has just opened hyperspace windows and all ships have entered hyperspace. They are heading this way. The ETA is twenty three minutes, give or take a few seconds" announced the sensor officer.
"Sound general quarters. All hands, battle stations! Repeat, battle stations!" Irons calmed himself a bit and smiled wanly. "Sorry I didn't have time to shower and change clothes."
"Well Admiral, I didn't want to mention it, but you do look a bit sweaty" smiled Yetta. Trance and Yetta both closed channels before Irons had a chance to reply.
Meanwhile, aboard, the Drakh fleet command ship, the aliens were watching the findings via long range probes that were left behind by their absent masters.
"My friends, do you all see what this brings us? The enemy is attacking our enemies as well, but we can't allow them to survive. We will jump into the battle in the closing moments. That will catch every one of them off balance enough for us to claim victory and get the answers the Master wants and needs" said Klapno.
"I don't wish to seem weak in my thoughts, but will we be able to defeat the winner of the battle? We all know that the number of Vorlon ships alone is a massive threat and could easily wipe us out. We must time this action to the second" injected the Battle master of the Stribe forces.
Just at that second, the view screen lit up and then suddenly went dark. Everyone in the meeting starting trying to look for another feed channel from their master's many probes. They lay low in hyperspace, marking their route.
"This is Councillor Klapno, supreme fleet commander. Launch some unmanned Darts forward in hyperspace to probe the areas in front of us. I want to know what destroyed our master's probes ahead of us. If the Darts find out what it is and it's an enemy force, they have orders to engage them at will. However, they must send the information they have gathered to us first" demanded Klapno. He was dressed like all the servants of the Shadows: in dark grey and black shrouds that had the ability to hide one person from another, making them invisible whenever the wearer wished to be unseen.
"Be at rest, Councilor. The probe Darts have launched. We will soon see what is out there. We have completed the reserve ships the War council has asked for. When the ships have been fully manned, they will launch and we will start producing extra ships."
"Your work is advancing as we planned, Layanto. We won't need more cruisers or carriers, although I believe we will need more Darts. So keep them coming and the masters will be pleased with you and your work that you have done in their name" stated the head of the council.
Layanto bowed his head in acknowledgment and respect.
"If my work helps speed up our victory, then the gods will shine on me one day."
Princess Tzu Yung Khan was sitting on the bridge in the command chair aboard the EAS Hand of Khan; Earths newest class of battleship. The Princess was wearing a long gold tunic; a female version of what the male EA Naval officers wear. She had her hair dyed light brown. It was tied back with a silk head scarf, with gold and diamond hair pins in to help keep her tresses out of her eyes.
Commander Jones sat at his sensor station to the right of the Princess. He was mesmerized by her beauty and never took his eyes off the reflection. All the time he thought how lucky Marshall Trance was to be married to her.
"Commander Jones, what's on the sensors? Do you think it's best that we deploy probes? We know the Takacha will be along this heading, but there's a lot of space out there to cover. I need some options" said Princess Khan with a warm smile on her face, for she picked up on the stray thoughts around her about her husband being so lucky.
"Sir, I don't think we need to deploy probes. We have something coming on our sensors and it's huge. There are a lot of support craft accompanying it. Readings have it loaded with weapons and the computer says they are of Earth origin. That we can't understand, as it's registering an unknown design. There are some strange readings. The sensors have confirmed that whatever it is, it's either about a thousand years old or our dating system is screwy. Some of the readings indicate that they couldn't exist yet" stated Commander Jones.
Everyone on the bridge stopped what they were doing and started staring at Commander Jones, thinking he had lost his mind.
"David, come on. That can't be right. That's impossible. When was the last time you had the sensors checked for problems?" asked Captain Lindsey Tate, dressed in her black uniform with a gold leather belt that had two side holsters as standard. One holster carried the standard issue PPG pistol while the other carried a micro particle pistol that could kill a Shadow with a single shot.
"Captain, I've just run a full diagnostic of the sensors and they have come back clean, running at ninety-nine point eight efficiency. I can make out the size of the massive ship. It's no wonder sensors picked it up so soon. Ma'am, it's over eleven hundred kilometers in length and just over four hundred and fifty kilometers wide and deep. I can say they have a full weapons lock on us, but their weapons haven't charged" announced Jones.
Everyone on the bridge rushed to see the sensor readings for themselves, while Princess Khan sat in her command chair laughing.
"Ma'am, what's so funny? Why are you laughing? Can you read them this far out?" asked Lindsey.
"Yes, Lindsey. I can read them from here and they are mystified as to why we are here and why we were searching for them. One of their crew is relaying my questions to them. These are the people we were sent to search for. We can move in closer to their fleet. Helm, please increase speed to maximum. I want us there ASAP. They want to know if we can help the one that was once called Valen. He was once human. He is no longer fully human. He's been transformed into a Minbari. They mean us no harm as long as we can help their leader. He goes by his Earth name of General Sinclair" stated Princess Khan.
"Commander Graham, please open a channel to the Tidestone System. I want and need answers and I need my Father."
Commander Henry Graham wore a standard Blue naval uniform. It had a golden belt with twin sidearm holsters as well, but in his case, he carried two mini particle cannon pistols. His hair was cut in a buzz cut and his hair color was ash blond.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am. There is heavy jamming in between our location and the Tidestone complex. It is making it impossible at the moment to get through to them."
"OK. We'd better open a channel to the Takâcha to see what they're after."
The Takâcha commander opened the channel and greeted the Princess in perfect English. He was a bipedal insectoid with green skin and bulbous green eyes. His head sloped back with a visible brain coated in skin. He had a stubby nose with inflamed nostrils. On the sides of his mouth was a pair of scary-looking mandibles. His and his crew's clothes were all the same; green jackets with gold collars and green trousers with brown belts.
"Greetings Earth Ship. You are a long way from home. You have traveled far like us. We seek a way to make amends to the Zâondar, whom we protect."
An Earth Style Station started to appear behind the task group. "Don't be alarmed, humans. This in your tongue is called Babylon 4, the Minbari Hybrid war ship made by many Ancients for the crimes done by the Vorlons and Minbari. Both have been modified to help make amends to the Zâondar."
"We would like to meet Zâondar. We want to try and make an alliance with you all. We need your help. The Vorlons and Minbari are heading our way, but we have just found out that there is another enemy force in the area. We don't know what is coming, but we have picked up weapons fire some time ago of Drakh origin with another design of weapon being fired" said the Princess
"The Zâondar came looking for us to say they were sorry. We listened and heard the truth. The Zâondar told us to bring him here, as we would be needed now for the greater good. What Zâondar says we the Takâcha do, without hesitation. We are loyal to Zâondar. You will need to have medical people there when you speak to Zâondar or have a strong mind walker with you. On Ende X'Ton many Narn mind walkers lost the last of their kind. We the Takâcha saved them when Zâondar told us to save them" stated Ramde Zarwin.
"Then I would like to meet face to face to seek out a way to help everyone and to get the best results all around. There might be something we could trade. If not trade, we could offer you a place to call home and stay to protect Zâondar, if he wishes to remain with us."
"For the pain and anguish that both the Vorlons and Minbari have done to him, he will stay. So shall we stay. We will learn much from our human friends, and you can learn from us. Make ready to come aboard in twenty of your minutes. Inform us when you're ready to travel to us."
"Computer, transfer all medical information on hybrid humans to sickbay and inform Captain Jessica Marple that she has a medical mystery to solve. I want her best people on it."
"Data secure. Message ready to play… time delayed message from His Majesty, King Antony" stated the computer.
"Computer, play message from my uncle the King."
"Voice print confirmed, Princess Tzu Yung Khan. Message plays as is."
"My dearest Niece, I wish I could have trained you better for this day. Long ago, when I was first crowned King, I was visited by beings we now call Guardians. They sent me back in time to a great war nearly 900 years in the past. There I was met by a hybrid human, who went by the name of General Sinclair. He's from our distant future; from a time after a war with the Minbari. I couldn't do anything to stop the war. For all I knew, it would start a war that wasn't meant to be. However, now that I know what has happened to him, I can't stop it from happening in the future either, so this is now a fixed point in history and we can't tamper with it. He told me what had been done to him. During the Minbari war, his ship was attacked and boarded. Most of the crew were slain by the Minbari. Something was different with Sinclair. The Minbari leader brought his pet on board to mind wipe him. His pet was called a Nakaâleen feeder. They feed on brain waves. After they feed, they leave a person completely mind wiped. The Minbari Shai Alyt mind-wiped a telepath to fully reprogram him to be loyal to the Minbari, in the hopes that he could feed information back to the Minbari warrior caste. After that, he became their pawn and they used him after the war. That is where the Guardians got fuzzy with the information they provided… something about keeping the timeline correct. All the medical information I have on Minbari/Human hybrids has been unlocked for the chief medical officer and her chosen aides for this mission. Niece, I wish you well and do not fail. Use the station to help in your fight." The message ended and faded away.
"Typical, Uncle. I have questions and you have to be elsewhere, but thank you for giving us the heads up on this. Scan for anything that might pose hostile to us."
The Drakh Darts zoomed off from the main Mother ship at a very high speed. They were advancing on the lost sensor probes of their Shadow master. One of the probes exploded in a bright light. The others started to move in on the lost probe's location when their sensors picked up a ship that dwarfed the Drakh mother ships.
Aboard the Vorlon last prototype super weapon ship in hyperspace was the ship's commander Hatshan, a low level Vorlon but a high ranking military specialist.
"Fire the lightning cannons on those Drakh Darts. They can not leave this location alive. Start jamming their signals. They can't be allowed to inform the others of this weapon of last resort. Order the Dreadnoughts to engage them and follow them back to their base of operations and eliminate them all" ordered Hatshan, who was Zaquash's great grandson. Hatshan wore a different color Vorlon encounter suit. His was of red, green and yellow markings, showing he was a high ranking special project specialist in the Vorlon military.
The command deck of the Last Weapon was huge; like nothing seen before. The command deck stretched some six hundred meters in width and one hundred meters in length. There were organic stations scattered all over the bridge and each station was manned by a floating Vorlon in their true form. To the side of each Vorlon stood an environmental suit, in case the Minbari were forced to take passage aboard the vessel. The walls of the command deck were like all things Vorlon; they looked organic in nature. Some had brown and white colors while others were green and purple.
The ship was angry at the thought of a race of Shadow Thralls daring to attack the Universe's ultimate weapon of mass destruction. With each hit it took, it became more and more angry. This caused the rate of weapon fire coming from the behemoth to increase, making the small, agile and nimble Dart Fighters to lose their effectiveness. With the Darts starting to lose cohesion, they were finally destroyed. They had no time to make an escape.
The Drakh Fleet council was watching their Fighters getting destroyed one by one.
"This can't be happening, councillor Klapno! Your Dart Fighters should be able to take down a Vorlon Warship" said Strenokil, as he slammed his fist on the table in frustration.
"Yes, we saw the same footage as you did. I still can't believe the Vorlons have such a large ship being in this area at the same time as their fleet marches on the Humans. The only thing I can think of is that their fleet is a decoy that is going to clean up the Human bases to their rear area first" Replied Klapno.
"That doesn't matter, for we have to stop that and the Humans" stated Zamoret
"We have to make sure these pesky Humans can find a way to defeat that behemoth or we will be forced to engage it. I don't think after witnessing what we just did that we would have enough ships to do it. However, in time, we might just have the numbers now that our mother ships are now producing Dart Fighters only. Give us five days and we could take it down." replied Klapno, rising to his feet as he made that proud and powerful statement.
Princess Tzu Yung and her royal guards had just landed in the hangar bay of the Ende X'Ton as she looked around. She could see human markings and the Earth Alliance symbol for the Black Guard.
"Delegation, I should remind everyone that we are here to find allies and to search out the one in my uncle's message, General Sinclair."
The doors opened and in walked Ramde Zarwin.
"Greetings, my Human friends. I never knew until this day if Zâondar was insane or if his stories were true. He told me how he looked before the Minbari had altered him through pain and cell regeneration methods. What they did was considered by us to be torture, but enough of that. Princess, I will take you to his sleeping chamber. May I ask a question? Is it true that your species have a lot of high level telepaths and your royal family levels are even higher?"
"Yes, it's all true, and I can sense the Narn Telepaths from here. I can also sense the pain the General is in, even though he is asleep, or should I say in a coma. I must agree that would be the best thing as the flashes I'm getting now from him are unreal, but I will sort them out so he can do his job."
They walked in silence through the corridors. The walls all had various artworks and writings on them. Each corridor that brought them closer to Zâondar's resting location, the wall art turned to writing on top of writing. One word, Zâondar, was repeated over and over again.
They all entered a room that had candles burning all over the place. The smell of smoke and candle wax hit as soon as the door opened to let them all enter. There in the centre of the room was a clear glass cabinet and inside it stood a motionless Minbari with a pole at one side and a hand gun at the other. He wore a long black jacket that had shoulder pads that had spikes on them. His trousers were made of the same material and had the same color. He wore black boots. Zarwin moved over to a control panel and looked around.
"Make sure you are ready to calm him down. He will start to scream and he may even try to rip off his own face as it reminds him of what they did to him" Princess Tzu Yung Khan looked at Zarwin and nodded to let him know she was ready.
Within seconds of the sleeping unit being turned off, Zâondar sat up screaming.
"Why have you awakened me? Just look at what the Minbari and Vorlons have done to me! I did their work then they turned on me and my family. Just look at me! I'm no longer Human. I'm a creature to be hated!" Zaondar moved his hands to his face and started to dig his finger nails into it.
"Now General Sinclair, is that the way you treat a member of the royal household? I'm so ashamed of you." Before Her Highness had a chance to finish, Sinclair spun around and looked and realized he was in a room with Humans once again.
"Princess Tzu Yung Khan you see what they have done to me. Please forgive me of the crimes I have committed against our Alliance. I had no control of my own body."
"Jeff, it's OK. I understand that you had no control over yourself. I can see that and you must now forget what they have done to you for now, until we can heal your mind and body at the same time. We need your help and that of your allies as well."
"Your Highness, you have no need to ask for my help. My guards and I stand ready to help. Which force would you like me to move onto? Would it be the main Vorlon and Minbari fleet, The Vorlon super weapon ship and its escort or would you like us to engage the Drakh Alliance fleet for you?" Sinclair looked at Zarwin. "Zarwin, my old friend, is the Valen ready for combat and has the armor finally grown in place? What about the main weapon? Does it work?" asked Sinclair.
"Yes Zâondar… I mean Valen… no I mean Sinclair. Your ship stands ready and what you call Babylon 4 stands ready for combat one last time. If she is lost today, then she will have given shelter to so many. We could never repay that kind of honor. Ende X'Ton will not be easily destroyed, even in its present condition. She is very powerful. I hope the ship yards have the ships I had built for us finished. Princess, Earth is using MK6 warships at the moment. Am I correct?"
"Yes, General. We are introducing the MK6 warships now. Why? Is that a problem for you?" asked Her Highness.
"It's not a problem for me and you; just for the ones that wish us harm. Babylon 4 is fitted with large scale ship yards and it should be full with MK6 warships of every type in service now or I hope it's MK6 vessels I had started to build for today."
"Jeff, it looks like you're in control for now. I hope the mental blocks we all placed deep in your mind will keep you focused on the goal you want. You can tell us what you want at the end of this. All you need to know is that you will only head back to Earth if you wish to head back, and that goes for you too, Zarwin and your other guests as well. Then I think we should get to our chosen vessels and stand by to send who or what we meet to the depths of madness from where you came back to us from."
Twenty minutes later, the Royal Transport was docking once again aboard the Hand of Khan.
"It looks like we have a lot of work to get ready for. Everyone to your duty stations. I've got to head to my quarters to see what's happening."
Meanwhile Admiral Irons was starting to do his clock watching thing once again.
"People, have we located them yet?"
"Negative sir, but we have got automated probes all the way to their jump location and we have sensor readings coming from normal space. They haven't jumped as of yet. That must have been some form of decoy to see what we would do" replied Commodore Williams.
"Sir, we have a video feed coming in from the Hyperspace probes. They have readings on several hundred jump points forming and vessels entering hyperspace. There was a flash of light and the probe that was transmitting went dead. It looks like the baby squids have bigger brothers and sisters and they have something even bigger but there's only fifty of them. I hope that won't be much of a problem."
"Ma'am, we are picking up the Earth location signal from the Hand of Khan. It's slightly to port and it won't create a major change in course."
"Thank you, David. We'd better hail them and find out what Her Highness is doing this close to the battle lines."
"Commodore Susan Storm of the EAS Harpanguer, please respond. Repeat please respond. This is Her Royal Highness, Princess Tzu Yung Khan."
"Open a channel to her, please." As the communications officer complied, Susan spoke into the grid. "Yes, your Highness, I'm here. How can I help? I was just about to hail you. We are approximately thirty minutes away at present speed, but we can get there earlier if you need us to."
"I understand that you were sent to engage the Drakh Alliance fleet. Is that correct?"
Susan just nodded in agreement while the Princess continued.
"Well my dear Susan, I think we are going to come with you, or I should say we will arrive there just after you do. All we ask is to please leave some for us; don't destroy everything. We have orders for some of the ships back home."
"Understood, Your Highness. We will obey your orders."
The Drakh alliance fleet was fast running out of time. Babylon 4, Takâcha escort and the Hand of Khan were on a semi intercept course. Unbeknownst to both sides, the advantage quickly faded away and spelled complete and utter destruction for the Drakh.
Meanwhile, the last five minutes aboard the Troy Alpha Two was full of panic. Officers were shouting over the voices of others and all the time each and every one of them asked the same question: "Shouldn't they have come within range of our mid range or even short range hyperspace probes by now?"
"Com, open a channel to our hyperspace Guard Battle Stations and invite them to launch as many extra probes as they can and send them in all directions. Then open another channel and find out if we could open multiple jump points to launch hyperspace sensor probes. We need this intelligence, people. Send that information to the department heads" ordered Irons in a worried tone.
Irons was starting to sweat. That was something of a nervous thing that made him want the answers faster than they were coming his way. He glanced across to the digital wall clock that was now flashing 10 minutes and 13 seconds.
"Until we find these ships, I don't want to call in our reserves, so each of you keep your eyes on the sensors. As of now this is a no noise zone, except for vital information. Follow your training. We will find those vermin somehow."
Meanwhile aboard the Storm Harpanguer, Commodore Susan Storm was looking rather stressed. She had gone over the data in her head and she knew Irons should have heard something by now.
"Ma'am, one of our probes has just picked up extreme energy weapon discharge in hyperspace. Sensors show two types of weapons fire and one was of Drakh origin" announced Commander Ian Brown as he was sitting at one of the auxiliary sensor stations.
Susan spun around and looked at Ian with venom in her eyes.
"Repeat what you just said, mister, and make ready to launch more probes in that direction."
"Ma'am it's confirmed. It's Drakh weapons fire and the computer has also confirmed via the Kirishic Lords' data file that it's Vorlon weapon fire."
"Can this day get any worse than what it is already? We don't just have the Vorlons and Minbari on our tails. We also have the Drakh and whatever else they have brought with them."
Susan didn't have a chance to continue as Commander Brown's screens started to flash, and then the screens went blank.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry to bring yet further bad news, but our day just got a lot bigger and far more complicated than we thought ever possible. I'm putting the image and data on the main screen for you to see now."
Susan turned to look at the screen just like everyone else on the bridge. They all froze in horror at what they saw in front of them. What was on the screen was the Vorlon Last Weapon and its escort of fifty Dreadnoughts. There were smaller craft swarming around all the warships.
"Get me that stuffed shirt Royal Highness on the line, and don't repeat what I've just said."
"Susan, what's up my dear?"
"I just want to ask if you searching for an oversized Vorlon killing machine. If you are, we have found it and we are moving in now to attack it. I just hope we can do something to it."
"Can you kill it? That's the question, and if not, don't be a martyr and take them all on by yourself. We are now four minutes away from you."
Susan came out from her shock very fast.
"Com, open a secure channel to Marshall Von-der-tan and send all this information with it."
A few minutes later both marshalls Von-der-tan and Trance were on screen.
"Well, Susan, it looks like when you go fishing you like to catch something big. On a more serious note, what do we have that can engage that behemoth and those Dreadnoughts?" asked Trance in a worried tone.
"I do have an idea on that front." said Susan. "If my math skills are spot on, and they rarely aren't, we should have some sister ships of the Storm Harpanguer around and under trials by now. Also, we have the very effective Victory class heavy frigates, the Colonel Sheridan class heavy cruisers and the Bismarck class battleships. Those are just from my very own task force. I do think we can destroy those ships and, if we are extremely fortunate, we might capture a few of them and exploit them. I would also request that Fleet Battle Group Delta move in with us so they can have the honor of hunting down the Drakh forces. They should be close by to reinforce my operation if it's needed. We also have the Takâcha and their fleet of goodies and your very lovely wife as well. I'll fill you in on that when we all get back, so keep the doors open for us and the coffee pot hot. We will be needing it."
"Susan, that's ambitious, and I know you have some mighty followers back home. I won't say yes or no until I know what we fully have at this moment in time. I would rather have the Storm Harpanguer class to aid in the fight with the combined Vorlon and Minbari fleets, but at the same time, if that arrives during the battle, we would lose as I would dare place a wager that it could over power our vortex jammers."
Susan looked to her right, making sure that her orders were being carried out to the letter so she had the information before she started up again.
"I'm sorry for that, but looks like you're wrong Susan. You missed the Monitor variant of the Victory class frigate. It has a single super fusion beam that has enough destructive power to crack a small moon. I will give you the mission, Susan, even if we only have five of the Monitor class. Use them as you see best, but don't fail us. I've just handed you all of our latest ships" stated Yetta as she saluted and closed her channel.
Trance looked on in dismay at how their plans were being torn apart.
"No matter, Susan. We both wish you all the best and great fishing. Bring me back that big bad catch so we can study it. It's so I can work through the pain in my rear they've just caused us all." Marshall Trance saluted and smiled and the channel closed.
Yetta was looking at the screen, waiting for Trance to come on line.
"I'm back, Yetta and can I ask how in God's name did you know that big fish was out there? We just heard about it from Susan. For some strange reason, you had us working in those ships for that mission."
"You should ask His Majesty those questions, not me. He might not be here, but by God, I'm following his instructions on ship production to the letter and I'm not altering it now. He never said how he knew, but he knew that we would have a Drakh Alliance fleet out there too. Our orders, as always, are to capture the mother ships so we can convert them into usable mobile ship yards and to send them back to a certain system back home."
"Yetta, I knew they were there. I was told not to reveal that information to anyone, including you, and that came directly from His Majesty. However, within my promotion orders came along the technical readouts of the Drakh Mother ships and how to disable them to shut down life-support, weapons, engines and jump drives primary and secondary systems too. He said he's studied them for years and knows everything about them and how to reprogram them too."
"I bet he didn't say how to do that, did he? If I'm right, that means he will be coming to visit us soon and with what and when I have no idea. Now let's get back to the major problems at hand. All we have to do is engage the Vorlon fleet… that is when they decide to show themselves" stated Trance with serious concerns about what he probably hadn't been told.
Meanwhile, admiral Irons was starting to lose his patience.
"Sir, we have made several attempts at opening hyperspace vortex openings from hyperspace. The jammers have stopped them from forming, but our sensors still can't see what's trying to enter the system."
"Irons to all ships: they have arrived and slightly ahead of time. Fleet wide red alert. Energize all weapons and bring the defense shields to full power and bring secondary, auxiliary and reserve generators online now. Launch all alert ready fighters and bombers. Stand by for further orders." Instructed Irons in his calm battle- ready tone.
"The next time they try to open them, let them in, but in the prearranged location. Fire all missiles from the defense satellites on those co-ordinates now. Allow them to enter the most densely filled area with spatial mines and then detonate them. Make sure the missiles arrive ten seconds after that. Stand by with spatial torpedoes as well. They will launch after the first wave of missiles have detonated" ordered Admiral Irons.
"Sir, all missiles are ripple firing. We will have all missiles in the target zone in forty-five seconds" reported Jessica Holmes, the Troy Alpha Two weapons officer. She had her hair tied back in military fashion, and wore the standard blue naval uniform. Her command bar was that of a lieutenant commander, but she had just been promoted before the Vorlons left their staging ground, so she never hand a chance to change them yet.
"The jump point is forming and the fighters are coming out. Both Minbari and Vorlon fighters are being detected" said a male voice. There was a bright flash of light and the automatic solar screen came online, blacking out the window of the command deck.
"Report!" shouted Irons.
"The first wave of enemy craft has been neutralized and they are now probing for another point to enter the system. I can also report we have located them. They're in some kind of higher state in hyperspace and our sensors were being fooled by it, but they won't be any more, sir" reported Jessica.
"This time, let them probe and enter the system, but at the extreme range of our weapons. As soon as the vortexes open up, fire at them with quantum gravimetric torpedoes. I don't want them to have a chance. I want them exterminated!"
"We have a problem. There is a single vortex opening on top of the station. If we fire torpedoes in it, the shock wave will hit us" announced Captain Sarah Steins, a young African officer who was amazed at her sudden rise through the ranks.
Jessica jumped up and looked at the screen.
"Computer, fire all quantum cannons into the vortex and stand by all particle cannons."
Before Jessica could give another order, seven Sharlin class war cruisers emerged from hyperspace and immediately started to fire on the Troy complex. To the Minbari's horror, their weapons fire was not getting through the Earth defense shields.
Seven more Sharlin class war cruisers entered the open vortex and they ran straight into the quantum cannons and particle cannons' fire that destroyed them all straight away.
"This is Irons. They're firing some kind of neutron based weapons at us, so let's return the compliment and fire all neutron cannons and guns."
"Master, our weapons are having no effect against their shields. What orders do you have for us?"
"Alyt Menrom to squadron: break off and fire all weapons! Maybe one of us will do some form of damage."
Before the Seven Sharlin class could move away, the human station started firing their neutron cannons. They cut through the Minbari shields like a knife through butter. They were hitting the Minbari ship with such strength that all seven vessels only lasted in combat forty-five seconds.
Shai Alyt Branshan stood frozen in astonishment and dismay that his first two waves of ships and been destroyed and half of his fleets fighter wiped out as well.
"I want answers! Get me everything our sensors told us and make a request to the Vorlons to send the next wave of ships. We will support them with six squadrons of war cruisers and all our remaining fighters as well."
"Master, we have no more fighters. We sent all that we had, just like the Vorlons."
"What have we let ourselves into? Stand by to send all remaining ships if this probe mission fails. Can the Vorlons open another Vortex right on top of them again?" asked Branshan anxiously.
"Master, the Vorlons claim the Humans may have strengthened up the jamming barrier. The next wave will have to move further away from their position then all remaining units will converge on them all at once" answered Alyt Draglom, the senior fleet com officer.
"Sir it appears that the Minbari shield system is rather obsolete compared to ours. I had an idea that it was like it was in the Centauri system. When they used it, only our neutron weapons could damage them. No matter the strength of the neutron cannons they went through it easily, but the Centauri couldn't fire themselves."
"That's a great idea. Inform the fleet. When firing on Minbari ships, only fire with neutron based weapons as they will go straight through their shields. Yes, I'm fully aware that our other weapons would punch a hole in their shields as well. I just want to make it look like lucky hits. Keep the faster charged weapons for the Vorlons and keep the fighters out on patrol" ordered Irons.
Zaquash gasped in amazement that a young race could destroy not one but fourteen Minbari war cruisers with such ease.
"How long until we have more fighters? Our Minbari children lost their fighters and we lost our second wave of fighters. Can we engage them without fighters?"
"Yes, Great One. We can fight them and destroy them without the need for support craft. We just need to find a way to get past their vortex jamming system" replied one of the Vorlons monitoring the growth of the fighters.
Umtash floated onto the bridge and offered Zaquash a way to try to win the war. Umtash feared becoming a slave to the humans, but for different reasons than Zaquash.
"Zaquash, open a jump point and fire all main guns to clear a path. Then move through and start firing on the humans. I still say we should have left the humans alone and yes I know we won't win as it's written in history and history can't be rewritten to suit the outcome of just one people."
"No, that will waste time and I want them ready for the last weapon ship to arrive. When it does, it will blast away these human bugs and we will put them in their rightful place as toys of the Vorlons. We will follow the Minbari plan and use your very own plan as well. Launch the newly birthed fighters from a third location while all remaining ships will create a fourth location and move through it. The assault fire distraction force will follow the forth group ships into normal space and we will gain control of the battle from normal space. Is there any problem with my orders?" Demanded Zaquash, but no one dared to answer.
"Zaquash, the humans have made it impossible to communicate with the others, but the last time they spoke, they said Drakh fighters had attacked them and they were moving to locate their command ships" stated an unnamed Vorlon, who knew deep down they were making a dreadful mistake that would cost many more lives.
"Phase one, now launch the second wave of probes and stand by assault fire mission. Launch all newly birthed fighters and stand by for phase three" ordered Zaquash.
"Jump points are forming at the edge of the Troy Complex jammers, sir" announced the sensor officer with a nervous tone to her voice.
"Did you say they opened it up themselves or did we redirect them to that position?" asked Irons.
"They opened it themselves, sir."
"All outer satellites, fire on those ships when they come to bear. Repeat fire as they do. Stay sharp, people. If you see a jump point forming, don't wait for orders. Just fire every torpedo we have."
Irons glanced down and saw two new jump points forming and torpedoes were being fired on both sets of Vortexes.
The second scout group hadn't even fully crossed the vortex horizon when they were being hit with particle cannons. The Vorlon heavy cruisers suffered the same fate as their escorting Minbari warships, but they took several hits to destroy them. That brief fire fight cost the lives of the crews of three Earth Alliance Frigates that were out of place and were hit by the Vorlons' heavy weapons. The weapons fire from the vortex caught another thirty eight ships off guard, but luckily they were only crippled.
The Troy complex was taking some rather serious hits from the Vorlon cruisers, who decided to fire from Hyperspace in the hopes they could bring it down. That vortex didn't last long as the torpedoes were traveling through the vortex and detonating in the hyperspace bubble. With so many torpedo explosions coming through, a shock wave traveled back through the vortex, damaging a further two hundred and nine Earth class ships of different designs, also causing some damage to the Troy complex shields, dropping them to forty-three percent of maximum strength.
The Next Vortex window started to open up straight away as the last remaining fighters came through into normal space.
The Vorlon Squid Fighters and arrived in one of the massive staging areas for Earth's drone fighters. Both forces started to dance around each other. Every now and then there was an explosion of an Earth fighter, but within seconds, three or four Vorlon Squids would explode. That dance of the fighters was in the odds of Earth as there were over two hundred thousand drones in that area, giving the Earth Fighters an incredible advantage. That was fast proving the down fall of the Vorlons.
By the time Zaquash and Branshan had both rallied their forces and jumped out of their protected bubbles, they tried opening vortexes to different locations, but no matter where they tried, they all seemed to gather in one location.
"How can these primitive apes have such technology? That technology, until now, belonged to the Kirishic Lords. All weapons, fire! We will destroy them one ship at a time if we must, but we will destroy them."
All of a sudden thousands upon thousands of particle cannons fired in a sweeping motion to cripple as many enemy ships as they could in reaction to the Vorlons firing on the Yorktown and her escorts and destroying them all.
About five kilometers behind, the Enemy fleet opened up two more Vortexes and this time the EAS Von-der-tan and the EAS Tzu Yung Khan both merged into normal space.
The Particle cannon strike crippled all of the remaining Minbari Ships and destroyed all the remaining Vorlon heavy and light cruisers, leaving just three undamaged Vorlon Dreadnoughts. The other forty that were in normal space were crippled and adrift. The remaining seven dreadnoughts had been destroyed before they had a chance to escape their protective bubble. It became their prison in the end and then finally their tomb.
It was a well planned strike from both the EAS Von-der-tan and EAS Tzu Yung Khan. They linked their systems with the Troy complex, just in time to watch the three Vorlon cruisers fire once again and this time against the Troy complex. All the Earth Fire linked energy dampening cannons and neural inhibitor cannons fired. Each one fired on a different ship. They caused a pulse wave effect that drained the remaining dreadnoughts of power and crippled the Vorlons aboard and those floating in space.
"Marshal Von-der-tan to all ships: start a rescue mission and keep the Vorlons on their own for security risk assessment. Send the injured Vorlon and Minbari to high security med lab facilities. Send out life boats and rescue craft to our own damaged and destroyed vessels."
"Trance, this is Admiral Irons. Damage report, please."
"Marshal Trance, we have some serious damage. That attack of theirs burnt out most of our defense grid so we can't handle another attack at the present. We have damage control parties out doing what they can. Most of our hangar bays and ship slips bay doors have been jammed in the closed setting. I've been informed it will take about five to six weeks to fully repair all the damage if not longer."
"Well, the only thing I can say to is you did it, Admiral. You really didn't fall for their tricks. I'm glad we placed you at the right place at the right time again."
"Helm, full power to engines now. We have to make sure we don't get hit again. Stay in tight against the Drakh cruiser and break fire. All forward particle cannons at the closest Vorlon Dreadnought" ordered Commodore Storm.
"Storm, this is Sinclair. Don't stay in so close to the Drakh. They will turn on us soon enough."
The EAS Tzu Yung Khan was loaded with fifty forward and aft facing twin heavy particle cannon turrets. Princess Tzu Yung Khan started to smile and laugh.
"I can see why my uncle loves wars and fighting. It's such an adrenaline rush. Helm, slow us down and increase power to shields. I want time to target our next strike. Our next victims this time won't know what hit them. Run the particle cannons at full strength and fire. Helm, increase speed and roll us to starboard hard to port and kill them."
The Takâcha were tearing the Drakh Alliance to bits, knowing full well that Earth wanted to study as much of the alien ships as possible. Babylon Four moved into the battle. Babylon Four started to open fire at slow speeds at first; then as they got closer, they were firing in solid walls of energy weapon fire. Ramde Zarwin started to laugh.
"Ende Xâ'Ton may be old, but she can still fight like the first day she came to us carrying Zâondar."
"Bring the tractor beams up to full power and fire EMP cannons at all Drakh mother ships. Fire now before they have a chance to move away. Then target the Stribe and Vorlon surviving ships with neural dissipater cannons."
"Zarwin, look at those three ships. They dance and shoot like they live to fight. At the speed they are killing the enemy, our own forces will not even be needed" stated Darwin's second in command
The Drakh started to realize that the Humans were going to win and they had already lost seventy three of their mother ships. The Drakh fleet was starting to lose their grip on their ship commanders.
When the Vorlon super weapon exploded, the remaining Vorlon ships stopped firing and started to drift. Knowing the fate of the other Vorlons, they decided to surrender. The Vorlons' last act of aggression was to destroy the Drakh mother ship that held their Alliance fleet council leaders. That forced the Drakh Alliance to fully surrender as well.
"People get those Vorlons aboard Babylon 4 before they realize what's happened and they've lost" ordered Sinclair.
"Princess Tzu Yung Khan to Marshall Trance: come in my husband. We have found both Vorlon and Drakh Alliance fleets and they have both been neutralized. Only three ships engaged until our big surprise showed herself and helped bring down the Vorlon super weapon. We do have plenty of debris to figure out what it could do. Hope you didn't get injured. We will head to you very soon. Expect us when we arrive and make sure Earth has been informed that all is well."
"My dearest, I'm glad you're safe. We are in the clean up stages here. Your father wishes you to contact him. He didn't realize you were commanding a war ship in battle. The main questions are how are the prisoners doing and will Sinclair be able to make a full recovery?"
It was five weeks later and still the Vorlons were unconscious. The Minbari had heard that Valen had returned to pay them back for the crimes they did to him. Each and every Minbari slowly started to feel grief for the action that their clans had done to him. He saved everyone from the hands of the Shadows, and when he could do no more they turned on him and his family, killing his wife and several of their children. The loyal and faithful were themselves betrayed, and they lost great power. The faithful few protected Valen's remaining family and they fled to the Takacha.
Sinclair woke up in med lab in cold sweats, screaming out the name of his dead wife and his dead children.
"Please, I know I wanted to be made human again, but I think staying as I am will give us power over these Minbari as they will try and atone for the crimes done to me. It's a very long story and not even the Grey Council was told it all." Sinclair made himself more comfortable and closed his eyes to clear stray thoughts and emotions from his mind.
"I remember all what they did to me. They trained me how to fight and to show no fear to combine all the traits that were needed. The Vorlons had modified the Nakaleen feeder. Before I was given to that "pet", I was given over to an Abbott that read my mind and recorded everything. That is how I'm the way I am now. Not all Vorlons are nasty. Some are kind but others have only hatred of the younger races in their hearts. I think I've drifted off subject, so you will have to ask me something. But first, Marshall Von-der-tan, why do I think I know you and you looked after me?"
"Well, Jeff, in another life I did look after you and so did several others; especially when we learned the truth. We did what we could, but we couldn't do more in case it altered the future" replied Yetta.
"How is that even possible that you could do that, Marshall? However, what I really want to know is now that my anger has finally subsided, what will happen to the Vorlons, the Minbari survivors and the Drakh Alliance survivors?"
"Well Jeff, you wanted to be in charge of them. Chose their fate and be careful, as many things in life have a high price; some you can never see until it's too late to fix them."
Jeff looked at the Marshall with a strange sense of awe about her.
"Personally, they wanted to enslave humanity. Why don't we teach them what it means to be slaves?"
"Yes, for some, the rest will have to prove themselves. I say put them through a courtroom to see what lies and truth we can shake loose. Zaquash might even be brave enough to say why he hated humans so much. I tried to warn of this action years ago, but he never listened. In my time this battle is common knowledge. His Majesty King Antony wanted Earth to know what happened and to the Minbari as well. When or if the Vorlons leave the Galaxy, they will come to collect those here. In time, the Minbari will have to be allowed to return to their home world" explained Sinclair.
"If that is what you want, then so be it" replied Yetta.
"There is one other thing. I wish to remain Minbari so I can keep the others in line and when they go back I will take them back and then return here. As I know deep down I will never see Earth again as a human but through the eyes of Valen I can travel there."
"You're still as wise as you have always been, Sinclair. Now go and look into this and make ready the trial of the Vorlons and Minbari."
WITH GREAT THANKS TO MY BETA READER SUSAN HILTON FOR HER HARD WORK TO BRING THE BETA EDITION TO EVERYONE.
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