Rule number one...I strongly recommend that you go back to chapter 50!
It has been greatly expanded and is no longer a snippet but a full chapter in its own right.
Rule number 2. Please remember rule number 1..
Chapter 51
"Psychology 101 part 2B"
By
AlbertG, EdB, RenS, MattS,
And
Ash's Boomstick
USS Lee:
The USS Lee used her tractor beams to carefully position the crippled Mako behind her as she cautiously circled at warp two, closing in on the coordinated transmitted by the Gorns. Finally, the two ships dropped to sublight as the Mako's hull creaked alarmingly. No sooner had the stars outside her windows Doppler-shifted back to normal than the Lee began spewing tri-cobalt missiles in a seemingly random, but in actuality, carefully calculated pattern. As the weapons detonated, they set up destructive ripples in the space-time continuum that made hyperspace travel particularly hazardous, at least until the ripples subsided.
The Ashen ship Falling Curtain:
Shalytni Dai glared at the foreign ships that had humbled his Shuumtians. The one they'd struck appeared to be damaged worse than they first thought, and was no longer able to flee. That was good. The other vessel was attempting to protect its comrade, which was only proper. But defending the crippled ship meant that its speed and maneuverability would be useless. That was even better. It was not seemly for pride to affect his combat judgment, but the destruction wreaked on his brothers required that they be avenged.
"They are firing the hyperspace-disrupting weapons," his First reported.
"Drop us out of hyperspace well clear of them. We can close on regular gravitic drives. They will not run again," the Shalytni said. "What is our status?"
"Falling Curtain is damaged, but combat-effective. We've stabilized internal systems and patched the hull breaches."
"Good, we are please with this news" the Shalytni said, nodding. "All ships, exit hyperspace on my mark, target the undamaged foreign vessel and fire when we are at one-tenth light seconds. For the Light!"
USS Lee:
"Sir, three of those Tinashi just dropped out of hyperspace!"
"Position?" Captain Bien asked sharply.
"Three hundred thousand kilometers, dead ahead and closing rapidly," Lovar responded.
"All hands to battlestations! Where are you, S'Garak?" Bien muttered under his breath. It had been over twenty seconds since they dropped to sublight. He's said they would be…
Wait!
He said no less than fifteen seconds – but nothing about any time longer. Was that why the Gorn ship was circling the battlefield on a parabolic corkscrew, maintaining high warp, but not closing in too quickly?
"What is he playing at?" he muttered under his breath, watching the enemy ships close in on his command. Captain Silva had succumbed to his injuries an hour ago in sickbay, leaving Canoniza Bien with the sole responsibility for getting his people out of this meat-grinder. It would have been prudent to leave the Mako and save as many as he could, but no one would countenance such an order, even were he to give it.
"I'm picking up weapons charging," Lovar reported. "I estimate they will open fire within nine seconds."
"Full power to forward shields," Captain Bien snapped, even though he knew they wouldn't hold for long, not while he was towing the Mako. "Load photon torpedoes for narrow salvo, full yield. Release the Mako."
"Sir"? Even as tactical asked the question, he was already obeying the order.
"Do it," Bien said even though he saw the order being obeyed. "Target the Mako. We'll destroy her if necessary."
A bright flare of light temporarily overloaded the forward view-screen and Captain Bien braced himself for the fight. The Minbari were about to discover why they should fear the Federation.
GCF Fires of Regulus
"Captain, they are charging weapons," S'Tavak reported from the sensor station. It was somewhat unusual for a science officer to hold the position of second in command of a Gorn fleet vessel, but S'Tavak was by the most senior of the bridge crew. He was also a steadying influence to some of the younger hot bloods, S'Garak admitted. "Estimate they will achieve firing solutions in five microns," he quickly added.
"K'Zakkit, begin!" The Hunt-Leader barked.
The helm officer's clawed fingers danced over her reinforced workstation and S'Garak actually felt the deck shift under his clawed feet as the artificial gravity fluxed. On the tactical display, he saw them snap out of their pre-programmed course, flashing straight toward their destination in front of the Lee. No sooner did his mind register this fact than the Regulus had dropped out of warp, igniting a firestorm that obscured the forward view-screen as the bridge lights went out.
The Ashen ship Falling Curtain:
The main guns were already firing on their mission of vengeance when the First caught Shalytni Dai's attention. "We are picking up another vessel!" he shouted as the main weapons cycled.
"Location?" he snapped.
"Directly in front of us, Shalytni. It emerged between us and the foreign vessels!"
Dai stared at the coruscating storm of energy that marked the impact of their main beam weapons. All sign of the fugitive vessels was blotted from their sensors. Apparently this new vessel had suffered a catastrophic containment failure. A pity, actually. He'd have enjoyed taking some prisoners to question. "A noble, but futile gesture," he concluded aloud.
GCF Fires of Regulus
Multiple heavy Ashen beam weapons, some with bores measured in meters, struck the forward shields of the Gorn Dreadnought. The ravening energy discharges tore at the shields, disrupting the energy patterns and burning closer and closer toward the forward saucer and the stubby wings that spread beyond it. However, as quickly as the shields were being battered down, they were being reinforced by energy being dumped from the inertial compensators that were themselves trying to deal with a multiple-megakrolg starship dropping from warp nine to effectively stationary in less time than it took to give the command.
Commander S'Garta cursed his shell brother for the fourth time in as many heartbeats. He'd overridden nearly every energy conduit in the forward half of the ship to power this little stunt, coaxing the inertial dampeners (that were themselves a special oversized design implemented as part of the warp refits) into dumping the excess power into the shield, rather than venting it safely into space as was usually done. As it was, the forward shield generators were red-lined across the board. Ironically, the Minbari energy weapons were tearing away enough of the excess shield energy every second that it was actually making it easier to keep the whole system from exploding. But even if this worked, it didn't make the Hunt-Leader any less of a glory-seeking idiot.
Finally, the compensators had transferred all the excess energy and the reinforcement faded. The ship was buffeted as a few lesser beams struck, but the forward shields were still holding at nine-tenths optimal effect. Of course, he and his crew would be spending several shifts overhauling the shield generators after this little exhibition of S'Garak's. He deactivated the emergency override on the ship's power distribution network.
On the bridge, Hunt Leader S'Garak let out the breath he'd been holding when the lights came back on. "S'Tavak?" he asked.
"Sensors coming back online," he answered. "We have incoming missiles, closing at low fractions of lightspeed."
"S'Torik, place all phasers on rapid-pulse firing, point-defense posture. Task the rear batteries with protecting the Mako."
As the weapons officer did this, S'Garak turned to R'Kusot. "Hail the lead Minbari vessel."
Meanwhile the Mako was assisting in destroying the relatively slow-moving missiles.
After a moment, the communications officer looked up. "They are not responding, Hunt Leader."
"Very well," S'Garak replied, "use the frequency we received from the Federation briefing that will let us heterodyne over their internal communication systems."
When R'Kusot's hand signal indicated they were broadcasting, S'Garak began as speech he'd prepared after listening to the Mind-Hunter's words. "This is the Gorn Confederation Scout ship 'Fire'. Our scans indicate you have committed an unprovoked attack on Federation Vessels. Know that Federation starships are under the protection of the Gorn Confederacy, and any attempts to attack helpless mammals will be seen in an extremely unfavorable light. You have already made a futile, but nonetheless unwarranted attack upon this very ship. While such an act usually merits destruction, even from a mere scout ship, in light of your primitive technology and obvious ignorance, we will be willing to allow you to leave peacefully if you turn around immediately."
S'Garak made a hand gesture to R'Kusot to cease broadcasting.
The Ashen ship Falling Curtain:
Dai clenched his jaw in rage as he lowered his hands from his throbbing ears. "Any signs of weapons discharge from that ship?" he asked his First, raising his voice over the ringing in his own ears.
His First shook his head, wincing. "Just some weak beam discharges. If anything, they are even weaker than those of the Human ships. But their shields! That ship took almost the entire barrage from three Shuumtians and its shields appear to be unchanged."
"Yes," Dai said slowly. "We will continue the attack. It is as they said, only a scout ship. It may be heavily shielded, but I doubt it has the ability to hurt us. Close in and crush them."
GCF Fires of Regulus
"They are accelerating towards us. No change in bearing and their main weapons show signs of a recharging cycle," S'Tavak reported.
"S'Torik, charge the secondary plasma torpedoes!" S'Garak snapped. He'd had enough of this.
"Yes, Hunt Leader!" the weapons officer replied as he placed his fingers upon two rather large red buttons with an almost reverential air.
On the wingtips of the Dreadnought, a rather unusual demonstration of applied high-energy physics was taking place. A plasma torpedo bay didn't look much like a conventional torpedo bay. There were no airlocks, launching chambers, or stored munitions. Instead, three-quarters of the weapons bay was open to vacuum, lined with dense refractory alloys reinforced by magnetic shields and triply-redundant structural integrity fields.
There was no air within the bay, but an observer would see a ripple like a heat mirage appear as an immensely strong magnetic field curved into a sphere within the bay. Of course, a Humanoid observer would have immediately died as the intense field forcibly extracted any iron or ferrous alloys from their bodies and bloodstream. An instant later, the bay began to resemble one of the warmer sections of a sun as a shunt in the rear of the bay vented raw plasma from the warp core into the chamber.
The plasma flowed into the chamber for several seconds, until the magnetic sphere was holding as much as it could carry. At that point, a transporter/ replicator rig activated and a shielded guidance package appeared on the far side of the plasma-filled bubble. Magnetic taps extended into the plasma, energizing the seeker-head as it began generating its own spherical field, open at the far end. Specialized sensors homed in on the reflected scanner energy from the designated target and the primitive AI aboard the guidance package reported via subspace transmission that it had acquired the target.
"Torpedoes have lock, Captain," S'Torik reported.
"Let us educate these hatchlings about what happens when they pull the Rartok's tail," S'Garak snapped. "Fire!"
Within the torpedo bay, the outer half of the bay-generated magnetic field winked out. The ball of plasma, held together by the incomplete sphere generated by the seeker head, rocketed away from the Fires of Regulus at relativistic speeds, propelled by the jet of plasma leaking from the incomplete bubble. The seeker head, drawing energy from the plasma it confined, fired maneuvering thrusters to keep its apex pointed at the designated target. The containment field's plasma vent was located on the opposite side from the seeker head, so those maneuvers ensured that the torpedo closed on the target with an almost incomprehensible acceleration.
The startled Ashen only saw a flare of light from the wingtip of the strangely constructed scout ship. Then a small spark grew to a roaring ball of flames that detonated against the vessel's rudimentary shields.
The detonation of the seeker head ruptured the magnetic bubble while over ninety percent of the original contents were still inside. The gout of white-hot matter-on-the-brink-of-full-scale-energy-conversion ripped through the shields like they weren't even there, and an instant later turned the thick crystalline armor into high-velocity slag that ripped through the forward hull sections like paper.
Falling Curtain's other escort had half a second's warning as its squadron-mate imploded and its singularity detonated. It began to veer away from the deceptively small 'scout ship' as the other wingtip began to glow. In desperation, it fired every bearing weapon it carried at the glowing mote as it appeared and flashed toward the Ashen vessel. Missiles were far too slow to target it, and point-defense rounds seem to just be absorbed, but one battery of neutron beams got a lucky hit. The torpedo didn't detonate early, but the high-speed stream of neutrinos did disrupt the plasma containment, allowing some of the payload to leak out early. The venting of additional plasma did cause the torpedo to lurch off course, but the seeker head smoothly corrected for this, and detonated against the flanking shields. Hot plasma turned crystalline armor into free-form zero-gee sculpture tumbling through space, coincidentally savaging the ship and sending it tumbling.
Falling Curtain:
"Identify that weapon!" Dai shouted as he watched two Shuumtian swatted from the sky by a single weapons strike on each vessel...
"Unknown, sir," his First responded. "Some sort of guided plasma weapon is my best guess, but several orders of magnitude beyond anything we've seen before!"
"We will remove ourselves for the battlefield immediately," Shalytni Dai snapped to his crew. "The Humans can wait to die another time. We must bring word of these Gorn protectors to the Vorrin." As angry as the commander was, he was also elated. This really was the battle his people had waited for, for all of these years. These enemies were dangerous; as dangerous as the Vorrin had warned them about. The Shadows had chosen their thralls well. And the Ashen had terror weapons as well.
The damaged ship turned as sharply as it dared, aiming for a course that would allow it to slip around the damaged hyperspace boundary caused by the Human weapons. As they transitioned to hyperspace, Dai saw the strange three-lobed vessel moving toward the disabled Shuumtian. It is our hope these 'Gorns' are foolish enough to try and board an Ashen vessel," he whispered. "They will soon learn what kind of error they have made."
The damaged ship shuddered as it made the transition to hyperspace.
Becerra Alpha One:
The next morning, Reen was preparing to meet with the other ambassadors and plumb the Federationers and Klingons for more information. Perhaps he should have had the saucer captain send a commuter ship into the starbase for Reen's personal use. For now, he focused on his breakfast with the other Vree. They could have gone out and ate with other fascinating beings, but they knew that their form of nourishment disgusted most other races.
They were utterly shocked at the things that had occurred during communal sleep. Were the Minbari mad to have issued such a threat, thought Reen? Such actions served only to galvanize your enemies, not cow them, especially the Earthers. Even a smattering of their history would show that such actions only made the Humans angrier and very likely the Federation Humans were the same as their cousins, so they were making the entire situation worse.
The dark creature of legend was another shock, one which he was glad that he and his crew had missed. The Vree were well aware of the war against the Dark Ones a thousand cycles ago. The horror of those things…
But what it had said was even more frightening. The Vree had been well aware of the Great War a thousand years cycles ago. Now to see one of them in the flesh and know that it was so close was terrifying and none of the Vree could feel comfortable in the presence of such darkness. They were in the middle of deep conversation about the implications of what had been said by the First One when the world turned upside down.
The floor slipped a little beneath them. Reen staggered. Another Vree, having fallen to the floor, uttered an astonished cry, and the room moved again. Thural ran to the windows and seized the blinds open. He gasped at what he saw as did all the other Vree in the room.
Jumppoints filled the dark heavens and ships were pouring out of them, firing on the starbase and ships around it. They were very far away but that didn't matter. As they moved closer, the warships' appearance seemed superficially Minbari, but they were of a type Reen had never seen before. The smaller vessels were much more tapered, streamlined and faster than the Tinashi that they resembled. They reminded the Vree envoy of a dart used in Human games. The larger capital ships were more tapered and flattened than Tinashis, achieving the look of a shark on Earth or a jaki on Centauri Prime instead of the customary angelfish appearance of Minbari Sharlins.
One hundred thousand kilometers from the Becerra starbase, four jump points opened. Twenty Ashen ships-of-the-line shot out immediately, firing on the base using high yield nuclear missiles and enhanced neutron and fusion beam cannon. The crews on those ships had volunteered, fully expecting to die with their enemies, but they planned to take the station with them. Sixteen vessels attacked the station while the remainder attacked any and every ship in the surrounding area creating a diversion so that their brethren could complete their true objective.
Problems with the attack began immediately. Scanners had pinpointed the station's exact location and the vessels came in at maximum speed under the cover of hyperspace and their stealth. But the jump points refused to engage any closer to the station than a hundred thousand kilometres. Impossibly the alien creatures had produced some type of interdiction field that inhibited jump point formation. And with the first failure came detection. The vessels turned and jumped into normal space as close to their target as they could. They were almost a half light second distant – fourteen seconds away from their target when the first of three ships were cut apart by Klingon and Federation perimeter defensive light destroyers. Ashen armor and shields failed to protect the ships from multi-vectored attacks. None of the missiles got even close to their targets.
Two seconds later another vessel died in flames. The surviving twelve vessels attacked the station. Perimeter phasers neutralized all of the missiles before they could impact the station's shields. Neutron and fusion beams converged and impacted the station shields at a single point as they tried to penetrate. Station phaser beams speared three more ships; one detonated, taking another vessel already damaged beyond repair with it into oblivion.
Photon torpedoes from attacking starships quickly eliminated all but two Ashen warships. Those two were filled with crews that had died from radiation exposure and explosive decompressions. But they both continued on, one being cut apart into its component parts by phasers. The pieces of that ship and her still-intact sister slammed into the shields of Becerra Alpha One.
-+-
The walls and floor shook again as the light of weaponry splashes on the star base shields flashed through the windows. With a wail of terror, one of the Vree—Kredin, Reen thought—ran out of the quarters.
One of the smaller crystalline armored blue ships, by the erratic way it flew, was obviously controlled by a mostly dead crew. Nevertheless, its nose had been aimed straight at the star base, seemingly seeking the Vree themselves in their windows. Firing beams at the shields, the ship increased speed right at the star base.
A suicide run!
This must have been what caused the massive impact previously, they realized.
"Run!" Reen shouted.
The next explosion was more than motion: it was sound, too. A bass rumble, and the tenor of Vree shrieks. They instantly knew that somewhere close by, the star base suffered a massive impact. They instinctively knew that somewhere close by, at least one of the Minbari ships had crashed onto the very station. The possibility of a hull breach crossed their minds. However, their vantage point didn't allow them to see what really happened. One of the Ashen ships attempted to ram the star base, but the heavy shielding blocked it and caused it to detonate spectacularly. It wouldn't be long before the Vree realized the truth.
The crystalline-armored alien ships included vessels that were not part of the Alliance in the attack. One of them took a shot at the Vree battle saucer which was now maneuvering away from the scene while raining its own energy weapons at the offending ship in retaliation. The enemy vessel shrugged off Vree weapons' fire which was powerful enough to destroy smaller Shadow vessels, but was not able to do the same against Mirandas and D9s fire converging on them.
Madness!
This attack would provoke worlds not involved in the Alliance to retaliate for the deaths of their ships and representatives. But retaliate at whom? The Minbari, most likely, judging by the appearance of the enemy vessels.
-+-
The last of the Ashen warships, a Shuumtian-class warship roared out of its jump point. Looking like a heavily modified and tapered Tinashi, the Shuumtian evoked the feeling of an Earth hammerhead shark seeking its kill. It was only one of many sent to teach the Allies a lesson.
Federation fighters on point defense around the star base's midsection joined in the defenses against the intruders. One of them targeted the onrushing Shuumtian and fired.
The shielded Ashen ship was hit. Emerald beams lashed at the offending fighter, causing it to tumble off course, but not disabling it—it wasn't a priority for the Ashen onboard. It was interested only in keeping the defenders occupied for a few moments until the mission had been completed. An alien warship from a local race was firing wildly at it, its weapons not causing much damage. Again the commander was indifferent but what had captured his attention was the fate of his fellow warriors.
Stunned by the loss of so many of its fellow vessels being blown out of space so quickly, the warship veered sharply and headed for the imposing star base, taking hit after hit from the small fighters. Ignoring the wounding shots, the Shuumtian increased speed and opened up with all cannons firing. The emerald beams streaming out of its cannons seemed to be pulling the ship right at the Federation battle station instead of damaging the protective shields. Federation weapons were ripping the ships apart but that wasn't stopping the remains from continuing their same trajectory.
-+-
Onboard, an Ashen stood at the front bridge windows, watching the star base loom ever closer. The flashes and glow of weapons fire erupting all around the enemy station couldn't match the zealous gleam in the Ashen's eyes. The green glow of the neutron cannons directly above the bridge windows played on the golden tattoos writhing across a side of his face while the few gemstones grafted into the skin glittered almost as much as his eyes. The increasing frequency of shudders throughout his ship, indicating enemy focus on it, didn't even distract him. His only regret was that this war promised glorious war, even better than the Bu'Chhyya conflict; and he wouldn't be around to see it.
So be it. To the Ashen be the glory.
His eyes widened to take in the huge size of the star base and he whispered, "Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain…." The whisper rose to a scream as the starbase filled the broad ceiling-to-floor windows: "To bring the Light against the coming of Shadows—!"
He was dead before his ship had crossed the five hundred kilometer threshold. The ruined vessel continued its tumble towards Becerra Alpha One. The tips of the Shuumtian's long forward cannons touched a glowing energy barrier and crumpled. As the ship ran into the star base's planetary strength shields, it imitated the cannons' crumpling action, crashing, throwing off tiny glittering crystal shards into space amid fireballs billowing out of its body until finally a massive explosion bloomed, causing the shields to glow and shimmer furiously to the point of opacity. A moment later, the other half of the ruined vessel slammed itself into the star base's shields, dropping those forward shields by almost fifteen percent.
-+-
Another suicide run!
"Run!" Reen shouted. But they didn't run. They couldn't. Vree did not have the Human genes for fight or flight. Mainly because of this, they didn't understand battle or killing, but what they knew was quickness.
Precision.
This was what they used in the Great Trade War—called the Romeo and Juliet War by the Humans—and the Dilgar War.
Reen learned the fight or flight reflex from his associations with Earthers.
"Run!"
A Vree hunkered in a corner, babbling. Reen tried to grab him, but Wesut pulled away.
"Come with me!" Reen urged.
Wesut's small body shook. He had wrapped his arms around his knees, as if to make himself a smaller target. His mouth kept moving.
Reen left him.
Running through a corridor, he passed aliens both known and unknown, most of whom were in Starfleet uniforms. Some were clearly well trained as they moved with intent, while others looked for help or escape.
Chaos building upon chaos and madness because of this war. Chaos, he thought as he ran, chaos was going to kill him.
The world tumbled and whitewashed all around Reen.
-+-
As it happened, the Centauri transport carrying one Londo Mollari from the planet Earth had just received permission to jump into normal space. The journey had been somewhat long but it had given the Centauri some time to think on recent events. The Humans had actually survived the Minbari attack, something that, in his heart he still had trouble reconciling. The Earthers, and their cousins, and a few of their close friends had done what few others would have even considered. However that victory placed his people in a precarious position. Power was realigning itself throughout the entire quadrant and he was more than a bit concerned about where his people would end up. As fantastic as it was, he suspected that his people might have to wed themselves to the Earth Alliance and their friends from the other side of the galaxy.
The Emperor had agreed to allow this station within Centauri space but had not revealed to him why he had chosen this course of action. Having that station here was like having a target placed on one's forehead. Still, the Federation ships were powerful; perhaps a bit too powerful. If the Minbari lost and the Federation, and their Klingon allies decided to stay and pursue a more aggressive stance, who would be there to stop them?
That was his greatest fear.
The second greatest fear was the Narn presence at the station and in Centauri territory in general. Despite the Narn commentaries at Earth, it was crystal clear that they had more than just a passing interest in the Federation and the events of this war. The Narn G'Kar was especially irritating and his hatred as a leader in their government was almost legendary. Yet he was going to the Alpha Quadrant to – to do what? That is what he planned to find out.
Looking for the station as the transport exited hyperspace, Londo and the others saw a battle raging, explosions were all around the station and ships were dashing all around his transport.
"What's happening?" he yelled as soon as he made his way to the cockpit.
"We're in a middle of a war, Ambassador!" the pilot yelled back. "I can't get a lock on either the Earther colonial ships or who they're fighting. I think they have to be Minbari!"
"Of course they are," Londo snapped. "Who else would bother to attack the very place, at the very second when we just happen to come by to visit?"
"But I can't even get sensor information on that oversized station either. Their shields must be blocking our scans."
"Ambassador I am getting a very strange reading," the co-pilot said after a few seconds. Scanners registered some sort of tachyon wave heading towards the station. There were five different waves, but I have no idea what they were."
"Who cares? Just get us out of the line of fire!"
-+-
Captain Sheridan stood mute as no less than a dozen Minbari warships of unknown configuration tried to ram the star base. At least two of those vessels had crashed directly into the powerful shields protecting it. And the fact that they were still alive was a testimony as to how effective those shields were. The polarized plating installed on the Achilles was impressive, but the shields were something else.
The station had survived but John was seething. The Minbari had said forty-eight hours, yet here they were attacking this station less than twelve hours later, and trying their best to destroy it. These aliens were too unstable and nothing they said could be trusted. And that thought bothered him because the Minbari had let them go when they had caught him years earlier. They had kept their word and released him. But they hadn't seemed suicidal. These Minbari were different, more desperate. And that made him fear for Earth all that much more.
Minbar:
"You have been summoned the Grey Council to explain your action!" Cadroni was seething. There were times like this when his father's, Kadroni, retirement seemed very good right about now.
The Grey Council was furious. The attack on the station wasn't as much of a concern as was the timing and the disrespect that it represented by the Ashen. There was also the fact that the Ashen hadn't bother to inform the Minbari of this stunt. All Minbari warships heading towards the UFOP station had now been recalled away from it and diverted towards the Jericho system. The Minbari hadn't forgotten about that choke point, but the Courtor system had been lost. The Ashen's reckless attack would no doubt galvanize the enemy into staying, thus the entire plan had been ruined. Earthers resisted by instinct and the UFOPers Humans were no different. A less bloody outcome had been lost. In such a short time, the Ashen had shown themselves to be completely unpredictable and their attitudes was less than something to be desired.
The Ashen leader simply stood in their presence, amused by their emotional responses. This government lacked steel, something he resolved to correct in the near future. "The Federation starbase is a threat. We simply wanted to assess the level of the threat it represents."
"You violated the time period we'd given them. Your actions have destroyed our reputation with them!"
"We have obtained the information that we wanted," Sutain Larioha answered. "That assessment of the star base did not violate any concerns or promise you've made. The Ashen do not care about your reputations with lesser beings," he explained. "We do care about the results. Respect is meaningless unless it is combined with fear. Let them fear you; that is what is important. At this moment, they don't. We resolve to change that. We are giving you time so that your world can survive the coming darkness."
"Other than this, we've had peace with our neighbors for almost a thousand years. Now, your actions serve only to aggravate all of them. Their news transmissions show your vessels attacking ships of other governments."
"They were all targets," he answered. "The Shadow thing would have been a target if it had still been present."
Morann jumped in, trying to ease the escalating tensions between themselves and his people. "We appreciate your efforts, Sutain Larioha. Our concern is how these events will be interpreted by our own people. We wish to prosecute this war to its proper ending but we have no wish to destroy what we are to achieve our aims."
"Satai Morann," acknowledged Larioha. "Every action that we have done is so that your people can remain what they are. The Federation of Planets, or UFOP as you so callously call them, will never surrender. If they leave, then we can be assured that they will one day return to seek vengeance. Your attempts to break the Earthers will are pathetic. You will never be able to control them; you lack true commitment. It is best to kill them all right now while the opportunity presents itself. You know we are correct. Ignore your simplistic ultimatum which presents to the enemy more weakness than strength, and strike when your ships are ready."
Without another word, he left the council.
Satai Morann spoke. "They're fanatics. They will pull everyone into this war!"
"I agree," said Satai Delenn. "We must put a stop to this now while we can."
"With respect, I, however disagree," responded Branmer. "We've needed a victory and with our brethren we can achieve a significant one. They failed to destroy the station and that should humble them somewhat. But the essence of what he has said is true. Our previous efforts to destroy the Earther home world was a failure, but it was the right thing to do. The loss of so many of our people has galvanized them into action. That and the image of the Shadow openly mocking us have made the people's support for this war that much stronger. And we have something that we didn't have before; the option to win by force of arms. With Aalaan's fleet joining the forces to be arrayed against the Jericho system, the UFOP will be too spread out to do much more than defend their different protectorates. Our ships are still in position to destroy the Earther colonies. We could do so with minimal casualties, if we use other means at our disposal" he added slowly.
"No," Delenn yelled. "We must not we can not allow such weapons to be used."
"We may not have a choice, Delenn," Satai Hedronn stated. "If the Ashen use biological weapons, we may have little choice but to follow their example."
"Did you not hear the words of Admiral Kirk?" Cadroni asked. "Those weapons will make this war that much worse."
"How can it be any worse?" snapped Morann. "We are losing!" There he had said what all of them feared to speak out loud. "If we use the weapons suggested by our guest, then this war will be over in weeks."
"You're asking us to lower ourselves to the level of that murderer," Delenn countered. "I will not allow it! Dukhat would never approve of using such hideous weapons of mass destruction. And what if the Federation Earthers decide to use biological weapons of their own as Admiral Kirk implied?"
"Their medical and biological technology can't be advanced enough to neutralize our weapons – if we deploy them first," Branmer announced. "We must do everything in our power to bring this war to a satisfactory conclusion as soon as possible."
"Branmer, you know nothing of their advances," Delenn said. "Their medical technology may be as advanced as everything else they have. Your blind hatred will destroy us all. I will not sanction use of biological weapons created by a monster."
"And again I ask, what if the Ashen choose to use such weapons first? Will we separate ourselves from them?" He glared at each and every one of the council members. "With them is the assurance of victory. Without them we will lose. So we must decide what we are going to do if they start using biologics. Will we hide or strike with everything we have to ensure the survival of our people?"
"There are some things we should not do," Delenn said warily. "This is one of them. We shall request that the Ashen refrain from using biological weapons unless first attacked by them. If we have evidence that we have been attacked by biological weapons, then we will unleash the armageddon weapons on them all. And Valen help us."
"And what if the Ashen ignore our 'request'?"
"Then, we will remind the why we are Minbari and they, merely Ashen."
-+-
Laruiha was met by to of his Generals as he headed towards his command vessel. They passed dozens of Minbari warriors, some of which were mesmerized by the Ashen. Those warriors could be useful he thought. He could see that they were as strong as their Ashen counterparts and was pleased by it.
"How did the meeting go?" Shalytni Leader Junui asked. It had been his honor to command the Ashen destroyer clan for the last twenty years. Those warriors would do anything, kill anyone, even commit suicide when asked; anything to please their leaders. They were the root of the Ashen ground units.
"We are most unhappy at the weakness of the Grey Council. They were united when this war first began, but now as the true face of the enemy has been exposed, they falter in the faith."
"They've been exposed to too much peace, for far too long," Shalytni Arshu surmised. The older Ashen controlled the Ashen Elite force. The shock troops were the best Ashen had to offer. They followed the ground unit's code of honor, but they were too valuable to allow for simple suicide. "Why have the Vorlons allowed this?"
"We do not know, but we know the Vorlons did what they believe wise and we will not dishonor their trust," Larioha responded. "But their leadership is weak; something we must attend to after we eliminate the Earther Alliance creatures. The warriors have some honor but the workers and religious castes should not have been allowed direct leadership in matters of this war. The female, Delenn has fire and passion for one so young. It is a shame that she was not born a warrior. But that is of no importance now. Are we ready?"
"We have everything in place for the initial assault. Our other ships will arrive shortly after operations are complete. Our ships are re-enforcing the Minbari borders and filling in the gaps. The destroyers are being made ready for the enemy station."
"In good time," their leader said. "Initiate the attack now. I want to see how long these creatures last against a full assault from real warriors. It appears that our brethren are not as forthcoming as we would like concerning their technological secrets. I do agree with this policy. Therefore we will acquire our own. If there are any Federation or Klingon ships in the area, they are to be given highest priority. Take biological specimens, living if possible, for our scientists. Strip their ships and computers of all available information if there are any remains."
"We are at your service as always, Sutain. Death to the agents of darkness."
"Yes," he answered. They walk in Shadows; we stride in the Light. Let them burn."
Proxima System:
"Proxima Three, an Ashen class Two-type planet founded by Earth Alliance is the first of two planets located in the Proxima system that has the ability to sustain Human life. This is without doubt the largest Human population bar Earth, in the quadrant. The second Human habitation is Proxima Four. There are a series of domed cities several which are completed, with three more under construction."
"Defenses."
"Scouts have identified twenty-five Earther dreadnoughts and forty cruisers in system, fifteen in hyperspace three minutes out system."
"Sir, we identify sixty-three smaller warships of various configurations. They have large numbers of fighters."
"They are of no importance. How many of the dark ones?"
"Three ships as far as we can ascertain. Two of the Klingon large types and one Federation standard cruiser. We have fifteen ships tasked for each one. What of the non-combatants?"
"What use have We for them? Remove them from this existence. When the others find out, they will hate us all the more. They are too passionate. They will make mistakes."
Shalytni Tavasci nodded. "We are in position?" he asked.
"As you ordered, so We are."
"Begin."
-+-
"We getting jump point formation all over the place, Sir!"
"How many?" As pale-faced General Sheppard screamed.
"The whole area is lighting up! Three hundred, correction seven hundred two! Something's coming through but scanners can't lock on. Our perimeter ships are engaging. The new scanners are working but our ships are being cut apart! They're too many of them, over a thousand capitals!"
"Minbari," he hissed. "Order all fighter squadrons to activate and engage. Activate all defensive satellites and transmit everything to EarthForce, now!"
"The Klingons and the Barnes are engaging. All ships responding. The Courageous is gone. We just lost the Ratsome. The entire first, second and third wildweasel Olympus squadrons had just been destroyed!"
"Sir, the G.O.D.s over Proxima Three and Four just went active!"
"My God in heaven!"
TBC
That's enough for a couple of weeks! Now I must get back to AIB. Must break ATV thought mode... Must break it now...
