No, I have not ceased writing my alternate universe Babylon 5 stories, and I would thank raymond0079 not to forget it. I've just been incredibly busy with the DIY needs at my new house, and it's taken a vast amount of my time so I haven't been able to write as much as I would've liked.
Anyway, enjoy.
The Beginning of the Age of Raiders.
"Anything from the probe?" Rawlings asked, glancing around the alien bridge; unlike the others of her crew, she was not bothered by the cramped confines.
When she had been younger, Rawlings had gone with her older brother (one of the millions murdered by the Minbari when they'd attacked the colony he had worked at as an agricultural specialist, who had gotten trapped) to see a preserved German U-Boat, saved from the Second World War.
When she had first seen the old fashioned and primitive submarine warship, Rawlings had wondered how the crew had been able to work in such a cramped, confined and uncomfortable space.
Rawlings had done her best not to remember her family over the last year; her parents, her brother and her two sisters had been massacred by the Narns when the filthy aliens had launched a devastating attack against their colony, and yet despite her best efforts, every time she moved about in this Dilgar ship - it was so different from the EA warships of the line she had crewed on before and after the Earth-Minbari war.
The attack ship while heavily armed and highly advanced, by Earth standards, and came equipped with its own jump engine, a rarity in a ship of this size was as uncomfortable as that German U-Boat.
Shifting about in her command chair while she was nestled on the alien bridge, Lieutenant Commander Amanda Rawlings did not take her eyes off of the screen. While many of the hieroglyphics were Dilgar in origin, there were enough translators of the now-extinct alien race onboard to take one look at the screens and then relay their meanings clearly.
Rawlings and her crew of sixty had been posted onboard the Dilgar attack ship - its official destination was war-glider, but she was thankful with the less provocative designation given to the ship, and her sister ships - had been despatched over a month ago on a seven-month mission in order to explore, map and document the Underspace network, establish beacons and send out probes in order to better map out the mysterious passages while they occasionally just went wherever they wanted at random and explored what was out there, just like several other scientists and explorers had done recently, while they tried to find new planets to colonise to make sure their people survived before the final plans were made. Rawlings hoped the President and the rest of the Senate ordered a return to Earth. Like so many other people, she despised the planet they'd settled on, just like all the other refugees who'd run from their worlds to avoid the onslaught of the Minbari.
Rawlings squirmed about in her command seat. It was like sitting on a pew, and after a while, it became incredibly uncomfortable. Dilgar culture, for you. The Dilgar were not as ostentatious as the Centauri, and it showed with their ships' internal decorations, which were brutally functional rather than gaudily decadent, like so many aspects of Centauri culture.
The Dilgar were simpler than the Centauri. They believed the best way for their warriors to fight and engage the enemy was to make their ships' few comforts as uncomfortable as possible. Unfortunately, creature comforts were hardly the most important thing to concern the remainder of the Alliance these days, especially when they had more important things to worry about.
When the secret Dilgar shipyard facility was found along with the fleets of Dilgar ships and fighters that had been left there instead of being taken to the frontline during the war the Dilgar had waged on the rest of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, it had solved so many logistical problems, and as more and more of the facility had been opened up in the last year, and more of the ships had been okayed to go by the engineers and scientists who went over every single ship to make sure there wasn't some unknown Dilgar booby-trap, the ships had been a godsend.
So many ships had been destroyed by the Minbari that what was left was simply hard-pressed to keep up with the demand for fuels and foodstuffs until the new settlements were in a better position to make their own.
And besides all of that, there was the concern they would sooner or later be found by their enemies, and they would not have enough ships to fight them off. They had no shipyards, no industrial facilities of any kind, but when they found the Dilgar facility and star charts of places stored in what was left of the Dilgar computer network showing the locations of Dilgar bases as well as a few shipyards only the Dilgar had known about, it offered up new hopes.
Granted, it would take months for the engineers and computer technicians to rework the Dilgar's computer systems and design Earth-style ships, although there were plans to use the advanced alien technologies to design and construct new ships instead. Rawlings knew that was a likelihood although she wasn't sure when it would happen. All she knew was, out there, discovered already thanks to the star charts (and more than a hint of well-deserved paranoia since the Dilgar had been an aggressive, technologically advanced race hellbent on smashing lives to dust so they could ensure their own survival while their home star was going to go nova, were not above leaving false trails which would lure the least prepared into a trap), were shipyards which could really help the Earth Alliance remnant rebuild before they made their next plans.
In the meantime, exploration of the Underspace was given one of the highest priorities. Already they had ventured into Abbai space and found a number of colony worlds isolated from the rest of their civilisation. Rawlings wasn't particularly sure how to feel about that; while she wanted the Centauri and the Narns and the Minbari to pay for their betrayal, Rawlings had no problem with the Abbai. They were pacifists. They'd been useless in the war, but she felt no malice towards them despite thinking of them as nothing more than disgusting cowards.
Sometimes she wondered what would have happened if the Earth Alliance hadn't gotten involved with the Dilgar war in order to make a presence in the galaxy, and open up stronger diplomatic connections which would have taken a long period of time to form without a war to make it possible. Would the Dilgar still exist? Would they have tried to conquer Earth? Luckily, they had never needed to answer those questions and their current situation was extremely difficult. They had also found a few corridors leading into Markab territory, but like with the other alien cultures they'd ventured near, the hyperspace storms were still keeping them locked up.
Whether by luck, fate, chance, whatever, no ship - as far as she was aware of, had gone anywhere near Minbari territory. But then they had found the planet they were studying now; according to their uploaded EA star charts, this planet had once been one of the Alliances' outlying colonies, but according to their intelligence it had been taken, snatched, or seized by the Narns.
"Yes, commander. The probe has just started transmitting," one of the crew replied, "we'll be getting its sensor data in a minute."
Rawlings nodded, tense. She had no idea what they would find, but she was already picturing the worst. "Put it up as soon as possible."
Bulging from the forward console was a large screen. It came on as soon as the computer, already programmed to show the probe's sensor data as it passed through the planet's atmosphere, came to life.
"The fucking bastards," somebody swore behind her. Rawlings did not say a word, did not berate the officer who'd sworn. She felt the same way when she took in the image on the screens.
On the screen was a concentration camp - Rawlings had no better way of describing the scene; there were huts or shacks reminiscent of the concentration camps constructed during the Second World War on Earth surrounded by high walls and fences guarded by Narns who were armed to the teeth. The people in the camp were humans. Rawlings and the rest of the bridge crew could see that thanks to the drone. The humans in the camp were bald - it was clear the Narn, for reasons they did not understand, had decided to shave off the heads of their victims.
Rawlings knew, despite the formerly good relations which the Narns, there had been some within the Narn Regime who had despised the humans for their outward appearance to the Centauri, but surely they hadn't done something like this for such a petty reason? The people on the screen filled her with horror, with rage. The people here were obviously being treated terribly by the Narn, their faces were drawn, gaunt with bags under their eyes. They looked tired, sickly. Some of them were hurt, with bruises around their faces and deep cuts in their skin. But that wasn't all. In the camp, several of the Narns were beating a number of humans. Finally, one of them took a knife from a sheath and plunged the blade into one of the humans, a boy who couldn't have been older than six. Why? Because they felt strong?
The idea sickened Rawlings, and she knew when word got back, hate towards aliens would just grow higher.
"Turn it off," Rawlings ordered darkly.
But the officers on the bridge were stunned by the scene; the Narn were clearly out of control, savagely attacking the innocent humans who were now living a life of hell.
"I said turn it off!" Rawlings shouted.
One of the officers jumped and turned it off.
"Those filthy spotted bastards. I'd like to tear one of those bastards to pieces!" Someone hissed.
"You'd have a hard time doing that; a Narn's several times stronger than us," Another crew member countered.
"Still like to do it."
"And we will," Rawlings said, a plan passing through her mind. It was risky and extremely dangerous, but if she pulled it off right it would be worth it. "Take us back to Underspace. Communications, prepare to send Gold Channel priority messages to some of our combat patrols in the Underspace. Make sure you send those clips from the drone as attachments."
The communications officer on duty cottoned on to what she had in mind along with the rest of the bridge crew. "Aye, captain," the communications officer replied.
"I want scans of the entire star system of the Narn patrol schedule, so by the time the patrol ships arrive, we're going to have a detailed plan of attack which will see the Narns regret what they've done," Rawlings went on.
X
Stephanie Porter held onto her small daughter while she sat in the doorway of one of the shacks, trying hard to keep the little girl from waking up and crying her eyes out while she tried to keep as low a profile as she could manage. Abby was particularly cranky this morning and her mother was desperately trying to stop the girl from making too much noise; the Narn who had already proven themselves to be nothing but brutal savages had already murdered a large number of her friends and family in the last few months ever since they had attacked the colony and claimed the damn planet for themselves and their precious Regime. At first, the Narns had just been content with enslaving the population after they'd wiped out a large chunk of the planet's original number of colonists to make their occupation easy, but then they had become more brutal and violent.
The Narns hadn't given a reason why, but word reached the ears of the prisoners and slaves who had once been free people in a colony of the Earth Alliance before the Earth-Minbari War had started the Narns were now cut off from their Regime because of how Earth had destroyed a large number of jump gates and hyperspace beacons, making space travel and navigation through hyperspace difficult to the point of being impossible.
When the human colonists heard what was going on, they were surprised Earth would even take such a step. Had Earth Gov suddenly taken leave of its senses? What were they trying to do, strand them here? Okay, they knew there was a chance they didn't know what was happening, but Stephanie wasn't entirely sure. But right now she was more frightened for her future as well as the future of her child. She had gotten pregnant last year, and she'd given birth to a healthy baby girl thanks to a few surviving doctors and nurses who were now doing their best to keep the surviving colonists as healthy as possible even though the Narn had gone out of their way to drive them all to a slow death.
Abby was so young, but what broke Stephanie's heart the most was her little girl would never experience freedom. True freedom. Instead, it appeared her daughter would spend the rest of her life in a prison camp that had once been an Earth colony. Stephanie was terrified for herself and for her child, and she knew that others in her position, teenagers who'd gotten together and gotten pregnant by accident because the Narn seemed determined to prove how good students they ironically were of the Centauri.
Like everyone in the Alliance, Stephanie knew of Narn history and knew how the Narn had been conquered and enslaved by the Centauri Republic a century ago, and how the Narns had been forced to endure a hundred years of brutal slavery, watching as their people were executed and beaten for the smallest of offences while their world's resources were stripped away from them. When the Narns had gone out into space thanks to leftover pieces of Centauri technology, they had taken a lot of rage with them and they had begun conquering whoever was in their way and enslaving them in exactly the same manner as the Centauri had with them.
The Narns said it was so they could become strong, but Stephanie was old enough to know and understand the Narns were the interstellar equivalent of abused children, lashing out at the world around them.
Have we become the same? Stephanie asked herself nervously as she held her daughter, hoping the Narns did not get it into their heads to do something to her child and feel good about it because they were the ones doing it. I mean, the Minbari have destroyed so much and we've lost so much, but are we going to become as bad as the Narns? I hope not. We're better than the Narn, but who's to say we wouldn't be worse than the Narns if the Centauri had invaded Earth shortly after first contact with them.
Stephanie wondered if the Centauri were proud deep down of what they had done; the Narns had once been a peace-loving, spiritual culture before their world was seized and made a part of the Centauri Republic, and while they still had those traits - the Centauri couldn't have destroyed them completely - they had now become a race of barbaric slavers who had no problems beating up anyone. What made it worse was the Narns had shown their savagery for having no reason for what they did. What terrified her the most, and what kept her awake at nights, was the fear the Narns guarding this filthy camp, would turn around and murder her baby for some kind of sick sport.
Stephanie sighed and after carefully adjusting her hold on her daughter, she ran a hand over her head. She winced as she felt the bald skin of her scalp. She genuinely did not understand why the Narns had taken to shaving the heads of their prisoners, it was beyond her, and she knew...
What was that?
Stephanie looked up into the sky and she couldn't believe it when she saw a large number of ships blotting out the sky like a swarm of giant wasps or hornets. What was going on?
"Get the slaves into the bunkers!" The call went out through the Narn compound while alarms blared around the place, and Stephanie stood up and left with the crowd, unwilling to fight; with her child in her arms, the last thing she wanted was to become a target when the Narn soldiers were going to become occupied.
Stephanie ignored the debate in the bunker, more interested in tending to Abby. However, she could not entirely tune all of it out of her mind.
"Do you think it's the Centauri?"
"Why the hell would the Centauri save us?"
"Yeah, right; the Centauri suddenly had a change of heart, their attitudes have changed overnight now they've discovered God. No, the Centauri would never help us."
"Do you think…it could be the Minbari?"
"Why didn't they level the planet from orbit?" Somebody else countered.
Stephanie closed her eyes. That would be like the Minbari, and she clutched Abby to her chest. Her daughter did not deserve this; it was bad enough being in this camp, but at least with the Narn on the ground she had some control over what was going on, but she couldn't swat Minbari cruisers out of orbit.
She tuned the rest of the conversation out of her mind. For all she cared, everyone else could have been background noise compared to her baby. Abby sobbed as the explosions took place around them, and she wasn't the only one crying; Stephanie was, too, and so were several dozen children crammed into the bunker as if the humans inside were like sardines in a can. The battle, the attack, whatever you called it outside seemed to last forever. The problem with being stuck on this planet, in this camp, in this bunker, was you lost all track of time.
The door opened making everyone tense. Two people stepped into the bunker. Stephanie gasped when she saw the duo wearing the blue naval uniforms of Earthforce.
"Anyone who wants to get out of here, follow us!"
There was a stampede out of the bunker.
X
When the Earth senate heard the news of the people trapped by the Narn and held as slaves, the uproar was only expected. The President immediately ordered the small fleet assembled by Lieutenant Commander Rawlings and commissioned a few more to travel through the galaxy and find worlds occupied by the Centauri and the Narn in order to see if there were other humans enslaved while at the same time they would explore the Underspace while seeking out new colonies for the influx of new people. The first mission was the start of an avalanche; once one planet was liberated, it did not take long for the small fleets of ships to find humans under the whip held by the Centauri as well as the Narn, and for nine months the humans went through the galaxy looking for these scattered pockets of prisoners.
And they found them.
Granted, the colonies they had at the moment were opening their arms to the refugees, mostly - there would always be those who were fundamentally selfish, but everyone understood why.
Resources were scarce, and even with the Dilgar ships liberated from the shipyard, shipping those resources was much harder.
But then the nightmare began.
People began to die.