To raw666:
The first reason Desolas is thinking Shanxi is Humanity's homeworld is hubris. The Turians are presuming this because all the other races they had found that had just started exploring the relay network were very young races. Almost, if not all, had only one world at that point. Second, the lack of most standard mass effect-based technology. You see, the Turians live in a universe where anyone who doesn't have eezo cores, kinetic barriers, etc, are certainly new players who don't know of the wider galaxy that awaits them. It is as if a US Navy aircraft carrier found an old galleon going around. The first impression would be that it is primitive and weak. Then it starts shooting with a weapon you have never seen. You would assume it has this one weapon that is unknown but, overall, it is still primitive. The third factor is that, alongside all those assumptions, the Turian sensors aren't as advanced as the B5 races or Humanity. They haven't scanned the planet properly yet to find that it lacks the population and large urban centers typical to a homeworld. Besides, any world that gives such a huge blow to a large Turian fleet can't possibly be only a tiny colony (at least, not in their worldview).
To Blackholelord:
Well, about the shields, I kinda evened the scale a little. As much as I like Humanity curb-stomping its enemies, it wouldn't be very fun. Their enemies need to be able to hurt them. My explanation is this: ST and B5 ships use mostly energy weapons. This means their ships are designed to resist energy weapons. ME ships use mostly kinetic weapons. This means their ships are designed to resist kinetic weapons. As such, I made them particularly vulnerable to the other. Energy weapons are devastating against ME ships, and kinetic weapons against B5 ships. About the Human ships, their shields are not as effective against kinetic weapons as they are against energy. Also, despite the hardness of their tritanium-duranium hull, they have very little armor and depend too much on their structural integrity fields. So, basically, I scaled the power levels somewhat. Also, remember that it was more than 300 Turian warships against 3 Human ships, one small station, and a bunch of small platforms. And the Turians still bled like hell!
To Mark1:
I understand, but the thing is that I don't like doing time lapses in-text. It doesn't feel right to have, say, Sinclair here and then write 'one hour later' to have him there. I did it once or twice in chapter 13 when there was no other way around it and it annoyed the hell out of me.
To Guest (1):
About Sinclair acting against his orders when they go against his convictions, that is not out of character, so I'm following through it. He did the same during the Ragesh 3 crisis when he told Ivanova that he was ordered to vote against sanctions but since he "wasn't there to tell her that" before leaving to fight the raiders, she only knew that he wanted to vote for sanctions. Now, about the Adeptus and Cadmus issue, if you read it again, you will see that he never said he wouldn't trust a politician with this information. He said he would think twice before doing so. Simply because he knew the political class was already infiltrated. He decided to wait until he has more concrete proof or until he can find someone powerful enough that he thinks is trustworthy. That seems pretty reasonable to me. If you find out that there is a conspiracy within your organization, you won't report it to the first official in the organization you find.
To proll:
Actually, they do make decisions there. The USF, the Centauri, the Narn, and the Minbari signed a treaty, and the League adhered to it. As powerful as the USF is, it can't decide for the other races, even if they have the power to do so, for the simple reason that their morals don't allow it. Remember, despite the Earth Alliance taste you can see in their xenophobia (as in distrust of alien influence, not actual hatred), political intrigue, and self-aggrandizing attitudes, they still have much of Star Trek's Humanity. They live in paradise, so they dislike conflict to a passion. They believe in freedom and have their own version of the prime directive. Remember what Sinclair said. The Babylon System was put in place not only to promote diplomacy and peace but as a self-imposed set of limits, 'checks and balances' to keep the USF from interfering too much on other peoples. It is the only thing that keeps the other races asleep at night. The knowledge that the USF will follow those rules because that is what they believe is right. Now, if they start disregarding those rules (by, e.g., overriding the Dilgar constitution that they helped draft themselves, or by deciding on Jha'dur's fate against the wishes of the other races in such an important matter that concerns all), then the other races will panic. That is also the reason why the League sent a fleet. As Ambassador Kalika said, no nation can survive if it lets other nations dictate on them. She knew they can't win against the USF, but she also knew that public opinion matters (that's why she called the press) and that Starfleet don't want to be forced to shoot. It was the way she found for the League nations to assert themselves. Again. Some chauvinistic attitudes don't mean the entire civilization is based on chauvinism. And about the "holding the Dilgar and the Narn by their balls" part, well, they don't do it because not doing it the right thing to do. Humanity didn't let the Dilgar live or helped the Narn terraform their world because they wanted something in return (at least, not primarily). They did because they could and because it was right. If you see a homeless person asking for some food, will you give it to them because you can and it is right or because you want to hold power over them? Now, many people within the USF do want to hold power over the metaphorical homeless person and some of these people do have power within the USF but, again, that is not the primary goal with the USF.
To AscendedHumanity:
Well, like I explained prior, benefitted from some artistic license here and there. The battle couldn't just be completely one-sided, so I rigged the game for Starfleet (no shields, no polarized hull, and no integrity field at first, and then overwhelming numeric disadvantage in the second battle). But I also decided that Mass Effect ships must be able to at least hurt Star Trek ships. Now, I can explain that a little. You see, though the energy output of a ME kinetic weapon is less than of a, say, B5 energy weapon, the type of energy matters. So, basically, USF ships are (as I think Star Trek ships are) more vulnerable to kinetic attacks (think highly advanced and adaptable Replicators from Stargate, who shrug off Asgard plasma beams, crumbling under Tau'ri machinegun fire).
To Guest (2):
They won't roll over to anyone. But they won't just massacre an entire civilization because of what happened in a single lightly-populated world. Humanity is very jealous of its own technology. If you think there is something they believe as fanatically as any religious bigot, it is that their technology must be protected. Also, as I made clear in the previous chapter, I needed to give the Turians a chance to at least hurt Starfleet, so I decided to use Mass Effect's own handwavium (element zero) in its favor. It is already established in Horizonverse cannon that mass effect fields interfere to a certain level with Human subspace-based technology. That is why the USS Saxony and the USS Starkiller had to deactivate their shields and structural integrity fields and de-polarize their hull plating before traveling through the relay and why they couldn't re-activate them before it cooled down or they put some distance from it. They can't detect ships traveling through a relay before it arrives, and kinetic barriers mess with the locking sensors needed to use the teleporter. Those weaknesses were devised by me to even the scale a little bit. This is the way I found to make the Turians and the rest of Mass Effect races at least relevant when fighting Humanity. About their jamming working against Starfleet. You need to remember that the Turians had destroyed the subspace transceiver just as they arrived. Mass Relays act as communication buoys that transmit at faster than light speeds to all the non-dormant relays in the network and to the comm buoys built within the clusters. However, they can only receive and transmit conventional radio, which is limited to lightspeed. That is why Starfleet builds subspace transceivers close to the relays, to prevent time lag. The transceiver receives faster than light communication signal from throughout the system as well as deep space, converts it to radio and re-transmits it to the relay, which transmits it at FTL speeds through their micro-massless corridors, and a second subspace transceiver receives it as radio at the other side and re-transmits it as subspace signal, saving very precious time. There would still be a time lag, but it would only be seconds instead of hours. So, since the transceiver was destroyed, Starbase Sagres could only transmit conventional radio, which could be and was being jammed by the Turians. If it had used subspace, the relay wouldn't be able to pick it, there would be no other inhabited star system in the cluster to listen to it, and it would take years for it to reach the Exodus Cluster, even more to Earth. The Turians got lucky by destroying the transceiver and limiting the Sagres to radio-only communication.
To Blaze1992:
I feel that too, bro. I wish I could categorize this story as a Star Trek/Babylon 5/Mass Effect crossover, but the site only allows for two franchises. I put it in the Mass Effect/Babylon 5 section because, despite the protagonists (Humanity) being largely Star Trek-y, the rest of the universe is overwhelmingly B5 and ME.
To kitsune of darkfire and mr guy:
I do think ST tech is way superior too, though I can't make it too one-sided. That is why I devised those weaknesses Starfleet is facing when fighting an eezo-based foe. Basically, Starfleet had many things against it in those two battles. It was overwhelmingly outnumbered, it was caught by surprise, mass effect fields interfere with some subspace-based technologies, and last but not least, Turian weapons cause mostly kinetic impact. I always had the impression that the amount of energy released is not the only factor in a weapon, but the kind of energy too. Phasers (depending on their phase-settings) are very low energy, but cause great damage through nucleogenic disaggregation. Lasers inflict almost no kinetic impact but are heavy on heat damage. Humanity had yet to encounter a civilization that focuses on kinetic weapons when everyone else used directed-energy weapons. So, basically, despite the low energy output of a mass accelerator, Starfleet ships are particularly weaker to them.
To George Cristian810:
Well, thank you for the feedback (as distasteful as it may be). ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To Guest (3) and (4):
The more of the Atlanti will be showed, but they will be more endgame.
No, I have not given up yet.
Chapter 14
"Metal and Fire"
Deep space, approximately 2000 light-years from the Sol System
It had taken them what would amount for three Earth months to arrive here. The Vorlon would know it. He had been following them since they left the world known as Jericho. The younglings couldn't detect his ship, as it should be. They were advanced, yes, too advanced. But their knowledge of jumpspace was still limited. The Vorlons knew that the deeper the layer they remained in, the more difficult it would be for the Humans to detect them and so, deeper they went.
Those younglings were spreading fast, the Vorlon thought to himself. Too fast. This was the edge of space known to them, yet it was farther than any other youngling from their region of space has ever gone.
They were just standing there, scanning the device, wise enough to keep a good distance. He knew they should. Since the destruction of the so hated Atlanti, his own people have coveted it.
The Vorlon remembered. His link to his people's shared memories brought him back to that time. In a revery, he saw a mighty Vorlon fleet exiting hyperspace. The ring could be seen at distance. It was a marvel, indeed.
He still remembered how it happened, how they found about it. More than a million years ago, his people had been fighting the biggest abomination they have ever met. The other elders didn't notice. It was a time of isolation and inwardness. The First Ones would sometimes not contact each other whatsoever for millennia. In the meantime, the Vorlons fought within the vastness of their empire. It took thousands of years and the death of a large part of their population, but they won. They pushed The Devouring Ones back into the gate. An unexpected twist, however, came when they ventured out of their territory again. Their neighbors, the Atlanti, had vastly receded their territory. Their population overwhelmingly reduced. The sentient races within their territory and around it vanished without a trace. Lying at the center of their territory, a ring already in the process of being dismantled.
It was a weapon. Powerful and dreadful.
The Vorlons took advantage of the Atlanti newfound weakness. They waged war against the self-righteous humanoids. It took a million years. Even weakened to such extent they were still an enemy to be wary of. Until they finally faltered.
Centuries after defeating their enemy and eradicating them from the galaxy, the Vorlons encountered another one.
Another Ring of Might.
That is how his people called it. A marvel of technology like nothing the Vorlons had ever seem. It was bigger than the one that the Atlanti used before, the one they dismantled millennia ago, but it was visibly the same type of weapon. The Vorlons wanted it, as did the other elder races. So, they sent a fleet to capture the structure.
It was a failure.
A tragedy.
The Vorlon saw through his eyes as the memory unfolded in his mind. Hundreds of Vorlon ships emerged from hyperspace and headed to the ring. Their scans were being blocked and as they approached the structure, their ships could sense its weapon systems activating.
They were hailed.
"Attention, Vorlon ships!" The thing said. "I'm Ascendant Keeper, Atlanti ancilla of the class Contending Warden, number 18867-7. You are trespassing into the orbital space of this installation. I ask politely that you leave."
"Blasphemous thing!" The High Vorlon in the biggest dreadnought shouted at the AI. "You dare to make demands to the Lords of Order!? The ones who vanquished your masters!?"
"I dare to ask politely," the thing responded mockingly, with the characteristic organic-like personality which was common to Atlanti AIs, a piece of metal pretending to have a soul. "Any further advancement will be met with swift hostility."
Ignoring the Warden's warning, the fleet strode forward.
And they were met with death and tragedy.
Thousands of small squid-like, yellow-glowing dots came out of the ring, flying towards them in a stream, like a swarm. The Vorlons knew this weapon, and they feared it. They fired at the incoming drones, which evaded most of the Vorlon fire. In a matter of moments after their launching, the stream of glowing drones divided into several smaller streams that slammed into the Vorlon vessels, bypassing the defense screens, burning through the organic armor like butter, and finally coming out at the other side just to turn around and fly into the ships violently one more time.
The memory ended there. There was nothing more to see.
He ordered his ships to direct its senses back at the Human ships. They were still there, scanning the Ring from distance. Strangely enough, the Warden has not yet contacted any of them. The Vorlon decided against scanning their ships more actively as to not reveal his position.
Since he already had the information he came for, the Vorlon directed his ship through the eddies of jumpspace back to where it came from.
Babylon 5
VIP Observation Hall
Looking through the very wide transparinum window in front of her, Delenn was lost in her thoughts. All around, throughout this huge hall, ambassadors, diplomats, and authorities gathered. They chatted, they ate, and they waited.
It was a very special occasion. For the first time, Babylon 5 would be visited by a leader of one of Humanity's 27 federated-worlds. Like everything Human, they were very excited to meet them.
"Delenn," Satai Coplann of the Warrior Caste called her attention as he approached. She nodded in recognition and saw as Satai Varenn of the Worker Caste approached just behind.
They were here for the reception. Commander Sinclair had told her that this leader represented one of the Human peoples that valued combat the most. A people of warriors. The Council, curious, sent Coplann. Varenn, as usual, was here to fill the Worker Caste quota. The other guests, however, would not know that, of course. To them, Delenn was only an ambassador and the other two, diplomatic aides from their homeworld.
"Dear Guests," Commander Sinclair's voice sounded through the hall. "I've been informed that it is time. We invite you all to the main window for the arrival."
People gathered close to the window as Delenn looked intently to space outside. In her opinion, warp could not ever match the elegance and beauty of hyperspace. Its sudden stretch-in and -out in a streak of light couldn't compare to the fibonaccian symmetry of a jump point's vortex. The streaming star-like effect of relativistic particles reacting against the warp field had nothing on the ocean-like vastness and color of jumpspace. Still, she could not ever hinder her awed expression when she saw a Human ship entering or leaving warp.
The ability to explore every system. To bypass the inherent limitations of jumpspace...
Her thoughts were interrupted by a flash and, in a streak of blue-ish light, it deposited a ship in the space above. In a way, it was as if the ship had stretched into existence from nowhere like a rubber-band.
"Beautiful," she heard Varenn murmur, making Delenn look at the ship with more attention.
It was different from anything Human she had seen before. Not the standard saucer-nacelle combination. The ship did not seem to be particularly big. About two thirds the length of a Tinashi. It had the shape of a primitive aquatic vessel, a longboat or a skiff, with a large protrusion on the top of the aft section. It was built in shiny golden- and bronze-colored metal, with serpentine details in relief that formed symbols and shapes unknown to her. At both sides of the aft section, hand fan-like metallic wings started to retract.
"Warp wings," Varenn said, turning his eyes to her. "I have read about them. Those Asgardian ships use a totally different system to achieve warp speeds. The elegance! The ingenuity! It is fascinating!"
"It is unintelligent," Coplann said, his distaste visible. "Why have such different, probably incompatible systems in the first place?"
"Tradition," Delenn replied. "Something that we, like them, are not unmindful to. For what I have seen so far, Humans are very proud of their cultural diversity and even prouder of the uniqueness of their many peoples."
Coplann said nothing. He hadn't necessarily wanted to be here. But the Council had a point. For what they could gather, those Asgardians were the more warrior-like culture among the USF member-worlds, even if too traditional in their ways. It was a chance to see another, different side of Humanity.
"Look," they heard Ambassador Mollari of the Centauri Republic point at the entrance.
A red carpet was rolled on the floor and a group of Humans marched inline into the hall, positioning themselves at both sides of the carpet. Coplann's eyes widened, as did Delenn's and Varenn's. They had never seen Humans in such attire. They were dressed in golden-bronze metallic armor, a helmet with what looked like twin horns in the front covered their heads, a red cloak falling down from their shoulders. They carried a golden-bronze spear in one hand and a round shield of the same material in the other, a sword visibly attached to their waist.
The warriors lifted up their spears until they touched the colleague's in front, forming a tunnel. One of them announced:
"His Royal Majesty, Axel II of House Svendsen, King of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms of Yggdrasil, All-Father of the Aesir People, Supreme Commander of the Valhallan Guard."
After the presentation, a visibly older Human walked in. He was probably around one-hundred and forty of age, as his hair and thick beard were starting to become greyish. It was visible, though, that he was still in his prime physically. He was tall and muscled, his expression regal and authoritative. He wore a similar armor to the warriors beside him, if more ornate. His red cloak was more voluminous, velvet-like, his helmet had a pair of stylized metallic wings on the sides adding to the two long horns, and he carried a long, ornate golden spear with a big head with three sharp tips. It wasn't something a Minbari would see every day.
Everyone bowed to him respectfully and some ambassadors went to talk present themselves.
"Well," Varenn said. "Very exotic, wouldn't you say?"
"And the primitive weapons!" Coplann commented "Ceremonial, for sure. They have no place in modern warfare. Those are Humanity's most warrior-like culture?"
"You are being spiteful," Delenn replied. "Remember that our warriors themselves make use of weapons that may look primitive."
"But they are Minbari!"
"And that makes them better and, somehow, immune to a plasma gun to the head right?" She asked, surprising herself by a touch of sarcasm in her voice that, she acknowledged, she got from the Humans. "How different are their swords and shields from your denn'bok."
Coplann remained silent, to which Delenn sighed.
"Our pride will be our undoing," she said. "Ten years passed since our humiliating defeat to them and you still have not learned. I understand you. I do. Every fiber of my being fights when I try to force myself past those preconceived notions of superiority."
She turned her eyes back at the Humans that just arrived, the eagerness to learn more shining on her eyes, making Coplann think if this energy represented what will guide his people to the future.
"Well," he acknowledged. "Looks can be deceiving."
"If there is one thing that we learned!" Varenn commented with a short, dry laugh. "For what I could read, their entire population has some level of military or combat training, even if basic. That is the most warrior-like you will find in Human society, but we are talking about three billion people here. They were fearless warriors during the colonial wars and this defines them to this day. It is difficult to keep a warrior ethos within a society as peaceful as the USF, but those Asgardians are traditionalists..."
Coplann scoffed.
"As for the weapons," Varenn continued. "Truly not so primitive as they look."
Now, that caught Coplann's interest, and Varenn noticed that.
"All their weapons are retractable for better storage. The metallic shields can deflect phaser fire and absorb a very high amount of kinetic impact. When still, the spears and swords appear normal, but when brandished they glow white and can even cut through hard metal! They can even act as ranged weapons, firing like phaser rifles. I have searched the Starnet and watched many videos of Asgardians fighting with those weapons. They are very capable."
Coplann frowned, not saying anything. He could see Ambassador Mollari talking to this Human king, since bowing their heads so low for some monarch must come easy to a Centauri.
It wasn't long before he saw himself beside his colleagues approaching the Human.
"Ambassador Delenn and her aides Varenn and Coplann of the Minbari, Your Majesty," King Axel's aide presented them.
"Your Majesty. It is an honor," Delenn said, bowing her head slightly to the Human, an act that couldn't do less than annoy Coplann.
"The honor is mine, Ambassador," the King replied. "It is the efforts of the Minbari Federation which, alongside the USF, maintain the peace in the galaxy. And I'm well aware that you are a big part of this effort."
She smiled as he turned to Coplann.
"You have the eyes of a warrior," he says. "You must be from the warrior caste."
This surprises Coplann, who just nods in confirmation.
"I see my instincts aren't wearing off with age. I think you can relate. We are both cultures of warriors who have no war to fight. Peace is good, certainly, and we will always strive to keep it. But it can soften a nation's heart."
"Precisely," Coplann said, the Human's words surprisingly matching the thoughts of many among his caste, he included.
King Axel's aide came to him speaking on his ear. The Human bowed to the Satais and walked away to speak with Commander Sinclair.
"As I said," Varenn broke the silence. "Exotic."
Horse Head Nebula
Orbit of Shanxi
Desolas Arterius was definitely not a happy Turian.
In the last hours, they have been running a full topographical scanning of the planet. He remembers when it used to take weeks instead of hours to complete those assignments. Of course, over the past years, Turian technology has improved significantly. They were still behind the Asari and the Salarians but the gap was becoming narrower. That is something Desolas is proud of. The fact that they were catching up.
They had deployed more than one hundred radar-emitting micro-satellites, which formed an orbital grid around the planet, gathering high-resolution topographical and biological data. After landing troops, it would double as a global positioning system, as well as surveillance and communications apparatus.
To say this new technology was the girl of the eye of the Turian civilization would be an understatement. It was one area in which they had gained an edge over the other Council races, all thanks to this new development.
Still, Desolas was not a happy Turian, thanks mostly to what he was listening to now.
"Couldn't it be some mistake to our scans?" He asked.
"No, sir," his chief sensors officer, Vlavius, replied. "I am very certain that this is not their homeworld."
He pointed at the holographic display of the planet below that hovered between them.
"See those red dots?" Vlavius pointed out, to which Desolas nodded. "They are areas confirmed to be inhabited agglomerations. They are somewhat spread throughout the planet, but still very sparse. Visual and heat scanning confirmed that those are cities. However, the rest of the planet is mostly covered by sea, forest, or other seemingly untouched natural biomes. The heat signatures and life-signs indicate a population of only three and a half million."
"Couldn't there be underground complexes down there that we are unaware of?" Trallus asked. "They may be a subterranean civilization and those agglomerations above ground just a small part of their infrastructure."
"Unlikely," Vlavius replied. "The sensor array we deployed is designed for geological scanning too, as a means to discover new mineral deposits. We couldn't detect any significant underground galleries unless those Humons built them far too deep for us to detect. Besides, from what we have seen, they don't look like they evolved for subterranean environments unless we take their soft skins as an indication of that. But it would only account for evolving in a planet very susceptible to radiation from its sun, which is not the case here. That can only mean one of two things. Either they are a civilization bordering on extinction or-"
"This is not their homeworld," Desolas concluded.
"A colony," Trallus said, incredulous. "If this is just a colony and we lost so many ships already..."
"Then, it makes it of paramount importance that we subjugate this world quick," Desolas concluded. "We must retrieve their databases, take prisoners, analyze their technology. All we can do to amount the most information we can about them."
He leaned onto the displays.
"We were able to jam their radio before it could reach the relay and no comm-buoys have been detected yet. They are cut down from their brethren for now."
"The interrogation of the ones in the brig should be intensified, as to extract any more needed information."
Desolas nodded, to which Trallus responded and left the command center.
"It seems here they don't have any fortifications around their settlements," he noted. "We shall proceed with a light bombardment of those cities as to weaken their defenses."
"Bombard a garden world?" One of his officers questioned. "Sir, that is-"
"I know Citadel law quite well, lieutenant." Desolas interrupted. "But we are dealing with an unknown species capable of great damage. Let legislation to the Council and real problems to us. Besides, if this planet is as lightly inhabited as it seems, we should be able to shoot at their main population centers without damaging the ecosystem too much.
He turned back at the tactical officers.
"First, we will bombard some of the planet to scare them. Focus especially on those visible hangars here," he pointed on the holographic projection. "Those things here, they look like shuttles. I want them destroyed and their air power crushed. Then, fighter wings and drones will be deployed to test their remaining airpower and guarantee air superiority. You will deploy the heavier artillery on the outskirts of the cities, surround them with a barrage of fire."
"The urban environment will make it more troublesome to secure, a perfect ambush zone," Major Glodius said. "I recommend heavy use of drones for reconnaissance."
Desolas nodded.
"The lighter tanks will enter first, clearing the terrain for the infantry. One drone wing will clear the rooftops from any hostile that can attack at distance, the rest will accompany the infantry and clear the terrain before them. I want prisoners and all devices that seem important, gathering further information on those Humans' technology, charts, and military structure is of paramount importance. The engineering and medical divisions will be put behind the artillery. The prisoners will be concentrated there in camps for triage. Capturing the military and civilian leadership is a priority. They likely have access to high-level information."
"Doctrine assumes they will be gathered to a single place, highly defended. Our scans showed a number of interconnected metallic structures buried under this mountain close to the largest settlement," Vlavius assessed. "The location is perfect for a fortified defense."
"Good," Desolas expressed proudly. "We shall crush those Humans and show them why we are the most powerful military force in the galaxy."
Babylon 5
Alien Sector
Epstein Square:
The sound of the denn'bok clashing against the normal pike was music to Coplann's ears. Looking at the warrior caste residents of Babylon 5 engaging their fellows he brought from Minbar in friendly combat and not lacking in any respect filled his heart with pride.
He had feared that his people would be ensnared under Human influence and become soft. His fears are proven to be unfounded. Minbari culture and pride were just too strong for it to be diluted within this 'mixed' society. They still gathered in this park regularly to train and to show the younger races their fire.
Coplann couldn't deny that the youngest were the ones more susceptible to Human influence, be it from here in Babylon 5 or their embassy in Yedor. They are becoming more outspoken, more doubtful of traditions that served them for a thousand years, and eager for more openness and change.
Yes, they were influenced, but they didn't lose their Minbari fire. Coplann could see it now. He saw the young Minbari fighting one of the warriors under his command, Dahkenn, a F'hursna, a master of the denn'bok.
The youngling one lost, as it was supposed to happen. But Coplann couldn't ignore his technique and his fire. He fought like a true Minbari warrior, but with a flavor of foreign technique and movement that Coplann just couldn't recognize. It was something that tempered his soul like hot metal, making it tougher. And if it came from the Humans, Coplann was starting not to care.
He was brought back from his thoughts when he heard the commotion when he turned to see who had joined the circle.
"The boy moves like a capoerista," King Axel commented, earning the nods of his guards.
Well, this seems to corroborate his thoughts, Coplann thought to himself somewhat annoyed. He looked at the Human. He was not using the armor he had before, nor the helmet, nor the cape. Now he was wearing bronze leather upper clothing with dark golden metallic details, leather trousers, and boots. His guards were wearing no cape or helmet either, though they still wore a lighter armor than before.
"I would have never thought that I would see Minbari using such characteristic Human movements," the Human monarch laughed, then turned to Coplann, "That is cultural exchange!"
Coplann said nothing.
"Talking about cultural exchange," the Human monarch continued, "what about friendly sparring between two warriors from different cultures?"
"Manan-shah is for Minbari-"
Coplann raised his hand, making the Minbari who replied shut his mouth.
"That could be most enlightening," Coplann said. "Besides, we seem to be disregarding tradition for practicality more and more these days."
He looked at the Asgardian king.
"One duel. Dahkenn against a warrior of your choosing. One of your guards, I am most curious about Asgardian warriors."
"Alright," King Axel said, eyes fiercely looking at Coplann. "Eren will fight your chosen."
Coplann saw as one of the guards, a slender, golden-haired one, stepped in.
"Your denn'bok against our spear," King Axel said, turning to his warrior. "The spear only, no flare-brandishing, no firing the spear at your opponent, no piercing or slashing him. This is a friendly spar."
The Human, Eren, nodded to his king and went into the circle. Coplann turned to Dahkenn, who did the same. On the other side, Coplann could see the youngling who fought him before looking at the master, his eyes gleaming with something that made Coplann surprisingly well.
"What do you mean by flare-brandishing?" Coplann decided to ask the Human monarch beside him.
The two warriors positioned themselves at the center of the circle. The clash could be heard for miles as they leaped into battle
"I know that a normal blade couldn't cut through something as strong as a denn'bok," the Human replied, surprising Coplann for knowing that. "Primitive weapons have no place in modern combat, you know that and I know that. But those are no primitive weapons and of that, we are both very aware."
Coplann saw as the Human known as Eren evaded a devastating attack from Dahkenn swiftly and counterattacked, just to be blocked by the Minbari's denn'bok.
"Flare-brandishing," King Axel continued, "is what makes Asgardian weapons uniquely powerful. It combines Human ability with the power of a lightning bolt. If Eren were using flare-brandishing, your warrior and his denn'bok would have already been cut in half."
Coplann's attention was brought back to the circle as he heard a loud thud. What he saw was the surprised faces of the Minbari present as the Human, no, as the warrior Eren stood over Dahkenn with the head of his spear on the Minbari neck.
"But it is only due against enemies," the King continued, smiling, as Coplann looked at him with a stunned expression. "And you are no such thing. Not anymore"
Eren lifted his spear, which retracted back to a small cylinder that he pinned to his waist. Dahkenn did the same to his denn'bok and the Human extended his arm for him. Surprisingly to Coplann, Dahkenn took it, holding the arm of his opponent to stand up in a show of respect that could be the biggest show of Human-Minbari comradery Coplann has ever seen. On the opposite side of the circle, he saw the same youngling as before, expecting disappointment, Coplann was surprised to see the same admiration still gleaming on his eyes. If towards the masterful Dahkenn or this Human who just bested him, Coplann couldn't identify. To be honest, he wasn't sure he wanted to.
Those were times of change, indeed.
"You know," King Axel got his attention again after everyone had gone and only they and the ones accompanying them remained. "I've been thinking for a while if you could not send a request of mine back to the Grey Council."
Coplann was alarmed for an instant. Did this man know his true identity? Then he calmed down, reasoning to himself that from this Human's point of view, he was a high ranking Minbari government official and probably had some access to the Council.
He nodded.
"Well," King Axel continued. "I have been very interested in your fighting styles and philosophies. This sparring was exhilarating and brought me to think of what we could learn with each other."
Coplann looked confused.
"I propose a warrior exchange program," he finally said. "I would send some of mine to Minbar to learn your ways and you would send some to Asgard to learn ours. It would be a very enriching experience for both of our peoples."
Coplann was stunned. That proposal was... unexpected. He did not know what to say.
"I would like to participate... if the Council decides for this exchange," Dahkenn stepped in to the surprise of Coplann before he could muster an answer.
"Well," Coplann said before turning back to Axel. The Minbari were always so sure of themselves, so inward-looking, and the Asgardians seemed so similar... As such, to understand not only this king and his people but the Minbari and Coplann himself, he asked:
"Why have you brought this idea to me? Why the interest in us?"
This Human king looked at the vastness of space way beyond the park, the city, and the station with sad, longing eyes.
"There was a time when I would have never thought of such thing," he answered with a dry laugh. "A time when I could not think of anything new that we had to learn nor anything old that we had to let go."
He turned back to Coplann, his eyes gleaming as they bore into the Minbari's soul.
"It took my son from me," he continued. "He was a free spirit, ever-changing, ever-moving, and I tried to trap him and shape him to the form I wanted. He ended up leaving anyway despite all my efforts, and it has been ten years that I don't see or speak to him."
Coplann was stunned.
"I'm just... making an effort to learn what he was trying to teach me. And maybe, in the future, I will see him again."
Was this what he saw in that young Minbari from before? Coplann thought to himself. The willingness of the young to change, to evolve? Where they really that stagnant, that comfortable that they couldn't notice it? Were the eyes of the young free from the mists that cover the eyes of their elders?
Coplann did not know the answer, but for the first time, he was not afraid to find out.
His thoughts were interrupted as a young Human dressed as one of the king's guards came running.
"Your Majesty, we have urgent news! Your presence is required," he reported with clear urgency in his voice.
King Axel sighed.
"We, in that case, will we discuss my proposal later?" He as he turned to Coplann.
The Minbari nodded in agreement and looked at the Human as he went into the golden car parked by the sidewalk and flew away.
About his previous concerns...
Those were times of change indeed.
Shanxi
City of Chang'an
The heat was just too much.
Most personnel had already been evacuated either by teleportation or escape pods. Running through the corridors of the Sagres, the man could see the klaxons firing red alert.
He was sweating hard. He helped the last group of crewmen to the teleport room before tapping on one of the many consoles on the wall outside. It showed the temperatures rising rapidly, plasma containment had failed and the superhot ionizing gas was leaking from the conduits all around the station.
The man cursed as he ran back through the corridor, seeing his dear friend and colleague lying on the ground in pain, not able to bring herself up. The station shook violently, throwing him a few meters into the wall, making him wince in pain. He quickly grabbed the guardrail as the bulkhead was ripped open, exposing the corridor to open space for a second and sucking his friend out before the safety force field sealed it. He tried to stand up, falling back with a stab of pain.
He cursed. His leg was definitely broken, if not his pelvis too. He let out a cry of anger and pain, his senses starting to numb and his consciousness starting to falter when he felt a familiar tingle accompanying by the familiar chiming sound and sparkles of blue light.
The man shot up from where he was laying down. He looked around to the dozens of medbeds around, all of them occupied.
Doctors and nurses were busy, running around with drugs and various medical devices. But the room surely did not look like a regular medbay or even a civilian hospital.
"Arjun!" The man's head turned to where he heard someone call his name.
"Thank God, you are ok!" The woman said as she runs to his direction, trapping him in a bear hug.
"Samira," he said. "What happened? Where are we?"
"The aliens destroyed the starbase. The ships we had and the defense platforms, all destroyed. We are-"
Their heads turned up as the ground trembled violently, Arjun's questioning eyes locking onto Samira's.
"They are bombarding the planet," she answered. "Most of the population was evacuated underground but we still lost many lives. We helped gather our medical operations here in the underground stories of the medical center."
"What about the Prefect?"
"They evacuated the highest-ranking officers and civilian personnel to the Nanto Mountain," she answered. "Arj, you are now-"
"I see that Captain Varma is awake and well, Lieutenant Al-Jameel," a new voice said, whom Arjun knew to be Commodore Leonhardt Weber.
"Captain?" Arjun asked.
"We lost many people during the initial attack, and more with the bombardments," he answered. "You have been promoted and we will be moved to the Nanto Base to help command the defense operations, Captain Arjun Varma."
"Luckily, it seems that the aliens cannot detect our subspace communications," Samira said. "However, we know that they destroyed the subspace transceiver and blocked radio before we could send Starfleet a coherent message. We are on our own for now."
Arjun closed his eyes in contemplation of the situation. He breathed and stood up.
"What are my orders, Commodore?"
"For now, to be briefed on the situation and wait," he answered, turning to Samira.
"Have you analyzed the data the Sagres was able to send us before blowing up?" He asked as they got out of the hall into a different, smaller room full of consoles and some officers. Certainly a temporary working station.
"Yes, sir," she said, showing in her hand a padd that Arjun hadn't noticed. "And I already sent it to the Nanto Base."
She put the padd on the table in front of them, which produced a myriad of holograms, certainly getting the information from the padd.
"Their ships are very unusual. They are powered by fusion, though the means by which they achieve it are unknown to us. It is known that they have powerful element zero cores. Their ships are heavily armored, with an ablative layer of denser than usual tungsten-based alloy over a layer of, again unusually dense, evenly-blended titanium-based alloy."
"This is a race that makes extensive use of mass effect fields," Commodore Weber concluded. "They must have mastered the manipulation of mass as a metallurgical tool to make such unusual alloys."
"Precisely," Samira said. "Besides armor, they use repulsive mass effect fields that act as barriers of sorts, like our shields. However, they seem to be useless against energy weapons, which makes sense given their seeming lack of powerful weapons of this kind. Our phasers can bypass those kinetic shields like they are not there. Torpedoes will be blocked and explode on impact, but the shields will do nothing to defend from the shockwave."
She tapped the padd, changing the hologram in front of them.
"Here, they seem to make use of three different weapon types. The lasers are extremely accurate but remarkably weak to the standard of any energy weapon we know, not a threat to us-"
The ground shook again, they looked up for a second before turning back to the hologram.
"Well," Samira continued. "Their second weapon is a mass accelerator of some kind. Never seen a thing like this, nor a race that uses kinetic weapons as their main offensive tools. We were able to assess that it uses mass effect to lower the mass of its ammo and shoot it at a fraction of lightspeed. As the metallic slug leaves the mass effect field, its mass is reestablished but its speed remains the same. The bigger ship right there, which we are designating a dreadnought, has a main weapon about 800 meters long and fires 20 kg slugs at 1.3% the speed of light every two seconds."
"That would make it about 38 kilotons of energy," Arjun said to himself. "Not much but still a blow if we consider that it is kinetic impact that we are talking about, not heat or other exotic effects."
Commodore Weber nodded.
"Our shields can take a huge deal of shit," he said. "But kinetic damage is particularly tricky."
"That will be a problem if they land troops," Arjun said. "If they mostly don't use energy weapons in space, on ship-scaled weapons, I find it unlikely that they would have miniaturized energy weapon technology to use in ground combat. Eezo-based mass accelerators, on the other hand..."
"In theory, easier to miniaturize," the Commodore concluded. "We will have to warn our combatants to be extra cautious with their shields, then. Armor may be a better defense to them."
Samira nodded.
"Still, it is the last weapon type we are more wary of," she continued, showing a recording of a shot that ripped open part of the Sagres and bringing Arjun a sad feeling. "This is some kind of torpedo that is very effective against our vessels, especially if they are unshielded. It creates overlapping and unstable mass effect fields that warp space-time in the targeted location, the asymmetrical mass changes cause the target to rip itself apart. You could say it is like a less powerful but more practical version of the Minbari tactic of opening jump points over enemy ships. We still have no defense against this torpedo if it manages to hit us."
"What has been their movements since the battle?" Arjun asked.
"They deployed an array of micro-satellites around the planet," Samira said, showing it in the hologram. "Without our space-based sensors, we had a hard time detecting them until they started emitting radio signals. We assume it to be a primitive radio-based sensor array to map the planet. Since we haven't detected any subspace- or tachyon-based signal from the satellites or between the ships since their arrival, we believe that their communications and sensors are limited to commonspace radio and, thus, to lightspeed."
She tapped the padd again, changing the hologram to show a projection of Shanxi.
"The red dots are all of our hangars and airstrips," Samira explained. "We didn't even have the time to get any of our shuttles before the aliens made fire rain from the heavens. We are effectively crippled in this sense. They have space and air superiority. Fighter wings and what we believe to be bombers have been seen flying over the main settlements for the last hours now."
"They are probing us, testing our response to assess if we still have any airpower," Arjun concluded.
"That means they plan to land troops," Commodore Weber said. "They wouldn't go to this extreme if they just wanted to use their space superiority to bombard us to the stone age or keep us under siege forever. It means we can at least resist them."
Arjun nodded.
"We must mount a coherent defense to resist them until Starfleet arrives with reinforcements. We have no way to hit them in space or in the sky, but we can deny them the ground for as long as we need to."
"We are almost certain that they can't detect subspace transmissions," Samira said. "At least we will be able to communicate easily with other units around the planet to coordinate our defenses."
"We still do have some armored vehicles and dozens of thousands of tactical gear to equip our ground assault units," Arjun said, as he had worked with the armories on the planet before being transferred to the Sagres. "We even have some armored vehicles. And our combatant units are spread throughout the planet. I suggest we coordinate with the remaining personnel in Pinghai, Konoha, Alicante, and Shen'hu."
"Most of the highest-ranking officers died on the Sagres," Commodore Weber explained as he pointed at Arjun. "You and I and the ones in Nanto are the highest command personnel on the planet now. Lieutenant Al-Jameel, what about the civilians?"
"Well, most of the planet's population is made of civilians, but the proportion of Starfleet personnel is rather high..." she sighed. "We could contact the other twelve settlements. We were able to shelter a large number of civilians underground, but many were lost in the process, especially during the bombardment. Some are probably still there, having taken shelter in their own basements just to find wreckage if they go out. The ones that lived in the rural areas around the cities could not be evacuated in time, especially if we consider that the aliens seemed keen on leveling the terrain around the cities."
Commander Weber sighed.
"Our main energy lines are destroyed," Samira continued. "The shelters have their own spare generators, but they will not last long. Replicator use is restricted and the people will have to live on rations for a time."
"Then we must get to Nanto as soon as possible," Commander Weber said. "As soon as they stabilize their energy supply, we will be beamed there to integrate the command operations."
The ground and walls trembled again.
"Let's slow them down the most we can," the Commodore said.
United Systems Federation
Earth, Sol System
Paris:
"Starfleet Command, this is Captain Zayd Yaqub of Starbase Sagres, orbiting the Shanxi colony. We are under attack! I repeat we are under attack! The aggressors are an unknown race that came through the Shanxi-Theta Relay. They use mass effect-based technology. I repeat, they use mass effect-"
"This is the last transmissions we have from the Horse Head Nebula," Admiral Rogers said.
He looks around the room. They are sitting around a big oval table. Some of them were not actually here, of course, communicating through holographic projections. But one would not know the difference, especially with the loud thuds of Admiral Jakande banging the table with rage.
Admirals Hackett, Nohara, Drescher, Prado, and Yang were present too, though not as loud. President Luis Santiago, as well as his vice, Morgan Clark, and Minister of Defense, Vasily Cristov.
"As you can see by the images the Sagres sent us before the transceiver was destroyed," Admiral Rogers continued," a large number of ships came through the relay and attacked Shanxi. We presume those are the builders of the relay network and, as such, very powerful aliens."
"Shanxi is now cut out from the rest of the USF," Captain Lang, who has been helping him, continued. "Our forces in the Exodus Cluster were already ordered to form a perimeter around the primary relay in case those aliens try to breach from Horse Head Nebula."
"What about the defenses in Shanxi?" President Santiago asked, with Vice-President Clark silent, like a shadow beside him.
"It has five ships, the Okinawa, the Positano, the Huangdi, the Starkiller, and the Saxony."
"As in the Saxony that is captained by that Asgardian prince?" Admiral Jakande asked, to which Lang nodded in agreement. "Shit. That will be a problem."
"We will deal with Asgardian royalty later," Admiral Nohara said. "I see here that they had only those ships, one station and a handful of orbital defense platforms."
Captain Lang nodded
"What about ground?" Admiral Drescher asked.
"It is a mostly Starfleet-run colony, populated by Starfleet personnel, their families, and other civilians," Captain Lang answered. "As such, they have a rather high number of skilled combatants, engineers, scientists, and medical personnel. Most of their firepower is concentrated in orbit, but they still have access to some ground combat gear such as armored vehicles, armor, rifles, and personal shields, enough to support fifty-thousand ground combat personnel."
"There is also the Nanto Base," Admiral Rogers added. "A bunker under a mountain. If they manage to evacuate the civilians to the underground shelters and rally their leadership in the base, they may manage to hold off the invaders until we get there."
"If those aliens are able to pass through the space defenses, they could land troops. Who knows what they could do to our people there? We are talking about unknowns here, we need to organize a task force with urgency."
"That may be trickier than saying" Rogers stated. "We must gather a sizeable force to fight off those aliens, I'm talking something like two hundred, maybe three hundred ships. And if they really intend to invade the planet, we have to prepare for ground combat, gather the manpower, the vehicles, the equipment…"
"How long will it take?" President Santiago asked.
"Well, accounting for travel time within the Crescent to gather our forces by Mordor and to arrive on Shanxi, I would say between two and three weeks."
"That is too much time, Admiral," the President stated, "My people are dying there and who knows the kind of atrocities they may be put under by-"
They were interrupted by the comms officer.
"I'm sorry, Mr. President, Admirals," he apologized. "But I have, huh, Your Majesty, the King of Asgard online."
They heard a dry laugh
"Should have anticipated it," Admiral Jakande said.
"Alright," President Santiago said. "I will have him at my office and we all meet again-"
"Uh, sir?" The comms officer called again. "When I said online, I meant Holochannel 01, as in the same the Admirals are using. He wants to be a part of this meeting and said that the Valhallan Guard can provide space and ground support to the task force we are planning to gather and that he can deploy his resources quicker than Starfleet."
"Well, the Valhalan Guard doesn't have plenty of ships but their ground combat assets are quite sizeable," Admiral Rogers explained to President Santiago. "And they are concentrated mostly in a single system. It would be easy and quick to form an Asgardian legion to complement our forces."
"If they can add more to our operation in less time we could divide our efforts into two waves, by sending them and the forces we have at hand first, then we may be able to cut our arrival time to only one week," Admiral Drescher concluded
"Uh... Well, put him through then," the President ordered and sat back on his chair.
"The thing I'm dying to know is," Admiral Hackett said, breaking the silence. "How the hell did he know?"
A/N: Those are the Chinese and Japanese written names of the cities in Shanxi I named.
平海 - Pinghai
深湖 - Shen'hu
木の葉 - Konoha