The Last Harvest
Chapter Five
They had hardly had time to adjust to the huge interior of the TARDIS before the Doctor announced:
"We're here! I've put us in orbit, just out of phase so we can't be seen. I thought you'd want to have a look before we went in."
"Isn't that the Citadel?" Larsus asked. "It looks like the vids I've seen, but the arms were usually open."
"This is not the Citadel." Hawkeye said. "It is too small, though the design is similar."
"You're right." Shepard said. "That's Babylon Four."
"The battle station?" Benezia asked. "The one that vanished?"
"In about an hour from now, according to the records." The Doctor said. "I got a message from the Q - don't ask – saying I had to pick you up and bring you here and now. They said you'd know what to do."
Shepard nodded. "I do. There's a chamber in the centre of the main ring. If you scan the station, you'll know which one. Take us there, please."
The Doctor bent to the console for a moment, then gave Shepard a sharp, questioning look. Then she operated the controls.
The chamber was large, circular, and the walls were lined with unfamiliar tech. As the group left the TARDIS, the Doctor scanned around with a small device she produced from her pocket.
"This is TimeLord technology!" She exclaimed. "I even know who built it, because they signed it!"
"Who was it, then?" Jasmine asked.
"Me!" The Doctor told her. "But I don't remember doing it!"
"What does it do?" Ryan wanted to know.
"If I connect the TARDIS to it, it can take this whole station backward or forward in time, just once." The Doctor said. "Shepard, did you know about this?"
"Spoilers!" Shepard told her. The Doctors' eyes widened, then she nodded.
"Right, we'd better get started, then!" She said crisply. "Ryan, Graham, go and open the blue floor panel near the console. I'm going to need the grey, yellow and green cables. Just bring the loose ends out here. Jas, help me get the connection ports ready!"
At that moment, an alarm began to blare, and an artificial voice intoned: "Attention, attention! Auto-destruct sequence activated! All personnel report to evacuation stations! Detonation in fifteen, one-five, minutes!"
"So that's why the station was evacuated!" Shepard said. "I thought we'd have to do it!
"But this isn't right. Doctor, carry on! Oathblades, with me!"
As they moved out swiftly, Shepard explained. "It's standard practice to build an auto-destruct module into orbital facilities while they're under construction. It's so that if something goes south, you can break the thing up into smaller debris that will burn up in an atmosphere or do less damage when they hit. But when the main mass effect generators go online, the module should be disconnected and removed.
"For some reason, that hasn't happened here. Either that or someone's put a new one in!"
"Who'd do that?" Benezia asked. "HYDRA?"
Shepard shook his head. "HYDRA, Cerberus holdouts, Reaper cultists, batarian or vorcha terrorists. Maybe even a hanar with a grudge -the jellyfish can do strange things sometimes. With any luck, we'll find out when we get there!"
Feneris, who had point, was the first to encounter the enemy. He rounded a corner to see a figure in black raising a weapon. Feneris dropped, firing as he did so. His opponents' shot went over him, but his own burst didn't miss.
"Nice!" Shepard commented, as he disposed of a second hostile with a burst from his assault rifle. "You're almost as good as Thane!"
"An undeserved but welcome compliment, Commander." Feneris observed.
"Is that an old N7 Valkyrie?" Larsus asked, looking at Shepards' rifle.
"Yeah." Shepard replied. "Best rifle I ever had. Found it lying around on Omega, of all places!"
"Hmm." Larsus nodded. "Nice design, but N7 use the Azrael now."
"I may be getting old," Shepard observed, "but I find the Azrael a little too heavy for quick aiming."
"Not you, the armour." Seera said. "Better servos in the new N7 suits."
"Well, at least we know who the opposition is." Benezia remarked. "These guys are drakh!"
"Thought the drakh were all gone?" Drokk said.
"We've travelled back in time, remember?" Feneris told him.
"Crap!" The krogan retorted. "Let's find a fight before I get a migraine!"
That wasn't far to seek. The room the drakh sentries had been guarding was B4s' CIC, and there were another twenty or so drakh in there. Shepard and Drokk immediately launched a frontal attack, flanked by Larsus and Seera. Hawkeye scuttled up the wall like some metal insect, found a perch and began methodically blowing drakh brains out. Benezia and Feneris held the rear, each using their particular abilities to guard the backs of, and create openings for, the heavy hitters.
It was a merry little scrap, while it lasted, and Benezia, despite some initial concern, was proud to see that her father had lost none of his fighting edge! Rather, he had put his Oathblades to shame in terms of his situational awareness and lethal aim!
As the last drakh fell, Shepard barked. "Feneris, get on the destruct!"
The drell darted over to the main console, where something that clearly didn't belong had been mounted and was flashing a countdown. A few minutes brisk work with his omni-tool, and the device went dark.
"Done!" He said. "It's inactive. I'll disconnect and remove it."
"Good job, everyone." Shepard said. "You might make Truesworn yet. Maybe in ten years or so!"
"You're not so bad yourself, for an old guy!" Larsus commented.
"He ain't that old!" Drokk pointed out.
Benezia chuckled. It was easy to forget -because he didn't make a thing of it – that Drokk was by far the oldest of the squad. Then again, at 200 he was a mere stripling in krogan terms!
Shepard moved over to the comms board. "Doctor, how are you doing down there?"
"All ready, Shepard." Was the reply. "When do you want us to go?"
"Two days after you picked us up, 14:25 GTC. Give or take ten minutes. Then come to CIC, we need to talk."
"Yes, we do!" The Doctor said. "See you soon."
"Right!" Shepard said. "Let's get busy, people! We have to get CIC up and running, fast!"
"There aren't enough of us to run this place, Dad!" Benezia said.
"If we get it right, there will be." Shepard promised. "Listen, this station was built to defend Babylon Five. It's four times bigger than the civilian station, and mounts some serious weaponry.
"It was also meant to be the docking station for the military and the command centre for Council fleets. When it disappeared, they had to do some shuffling around with Babylon Five, but it still doesn't have a fraction of the firepower of this place!"
"But we're the ones making it disappear!" Seera noted. "Why not just leave it?"
"Best way to keep it safe." Drokk pointed out. "The drakh have already tried to destroy it. The shadows, HYDRA, all kinds of people would have been trying to wreck it or take over it. This way, we've got it all new and shiny! No viruses, no budget cuts or sloppy maintenance, no infiltrators in the crew. Right, Shepard?"
"Got it in one, Oathblade!" Shepard replied.
But Benezia, who knew her father, thought: He's holding something back. That's not like him. This may be worse than we thought!
Then the timeshift was done, and they were looking out at a very different scene.
Close by, in a matching orbit, was Babylon Five -apparently undamaged. Stationed near it was the B5 Defence Fleet. On the flank of that fleet was another flotilla, this time of asari ships.
Further away, closing into a massive phalanx, was the shadow fleet. At a glance, their numbers seemed to just about equal those of the massed Council fleets, but the space between the two sides was littered with debris and burning wrecks, most of them shadow.
"Dammit, we're late!" Benezia growled.
"No." Shepard said. "We're just in time. Are comms online?"
"Ready to go!" Seera confirmed.
"Get me the Warsworn fleet." Shepard ordered. "They should be one relay out."
"Got them." Seera reported. "Patching you through to Commander Lawson."
"Miranda? It's me." Shepard said. "You should have your orders by now. Mission is a go!"
"Acknowledged." Came the reply. "Moving out!"
It was then that the Doctor and her group arrived.
"Benezia, take over here." Shepard said, then drew the Doctor aside. You must have guessed by now that I'm doing what you told me to do." He said.
"Not exactly." She replied. "You're doing what I'm going to tell you to do, only I'm going to tell you to do it…when?"
"About thirty years ago, in the Overlook on Kronos Station." Shepard said. "I'd just got back from a very long journey that I'm still not sure I didn't dream, and was just starting the Warsworn up. You told me about the tech you'd built into the B4 station, when and where I was to meet you and the date you were supposed to take me to. You also said that when I met up with you, you wouldn't remember any of this and I wasn't to tell you until now. No spoilers, you said. Act as if we've never met."
"You almost managed it." She said. "But you're a terrible liar. That's another way you remind me of the Brigadier."
"The Brigadier?" Shepard asked.
"An old friend." She said. "You'd have liked him. He'd have liked you, for that matter."
"If you say so." Shepard said. "But now things are going to get messy, so you and your friends should leave. You'd be fine, I guess, but your friends are civilians, and I don't want them…."
"Dad, we've got a problem!" Benezia interrupted. "Our fleet is being attacked. By vorlons!"
"Dammit!" Shepard said. "Can they hold out?"
"Not sure. I don't think so!" She said. "Larsus, have we got anything that can fire?"
"Not from here." The turian said. "If I can get to one of the firing stations, maybe. But I'd need at least ten minutes to bring the gun online on my own. Maybe five if Feneris comes with me?"
"Too long!" Benezia gritted.
"Wait!" This was Graham. "Who are those other ships? The ones that look like angel fish?"
"Minbari!" Benezia said. "It looks like…."
"I'm getting chatter between our ships and the minbari." Seera reported. "They've been asked to cover us! There are more than enough to them to see off the vorlons!"
"Right!" Shepard snapped. "Get the docking bays open! This is an Invasion Drill, but for real, now, so stay at your stations. We need this place fully operational before the rest of the vorlon fleet gets here!"
He turned back to the Doctor. "Time for you to go, I think." He said.
"Well, I don't!" She replied tartly. "If you think I'm going to let hundreds of people be killed without even trying to prevent it…"
"That's not your place, Doctor!" This was a new voice. It belonged to a tall, unusually beautiful, asari in an elaborate uniform who had simply appeared nearby.
"Q." The Doctor said. "It was you who told me where and when to meet Shepard. How did you know?"
"Lorien, of course." Q replied sourly. "He's still pulling the strings! But you and I have to stay here, Doctor, to bear witness.
"Soon, both the shadows and the vorlons will be in the same place, at the same time, after millennia of avoiding each other. That was our fault, the fault of the Q. We intervened when we shouldn't have done, and this is the outcome."
The Doctor nodded. "I know. My people are responsible as well. We knew what the Leviathans' 'solution' would lead to, we could see it. We could have told them, stopped them, made them try another way. But we aren't supposed to interfere, are we? No, TimeLords watch, and record, and observe while other people die."
"And so we are here." Q replied. "To represent our peoples at the fruition of what our action and your inaction has set in motion."
It was to the credit of all concerned that the unexpected arrival of the shadow fleet in the Serpent Nebula did not create a panic. There was a certain amount of scurrying about as civilians were evacuated to shelters and soldiers reported to duty positions, but no panic, no casualties and no looting. Though the latter might have been due to the heavy BSec presence on the streets. Commander Garibaldi was not a man to overlook details.
The Council were in B5s CIC -a high, vaulted room that had originally been intended for ceremonies, but which had been requisitioned by the military after the loss of Babylon Four. Admiral Sheridan and Colonel Sinclair were already there.
"I need full cover on the docks." Sinclair was saying. "That's the only area they'll be able to board in force. But I want units on the maintenance airlocks as well. They may try to get infiltration squads in through them.
"Get the StarFuries out there. I want them covering the docks, the locks and the turrets. Tell them to watch out for kamikaze attacks."
He turned to the Council. "Thank God Wrex brought those krogan reinforcements. I've got enough people to cover all the likely invasion points now, and still have BSec in reserve."
Sheridan was in conference with Admiral Moreau.
"You've got the field command, Joker." He was saying. "I'll co-ordinate from here. What's your strategy?"
"All our ships have the geth shielding now." Joker said. "That means they can't spot us until we're on top of them. I'm having the dreadnoughts and cruisers hold position in front of the station and bombard with long-range weapons. I'm sending the destroyers, frigates, corvettes and fighters forward. Shadow weapons aren't as effective against smaller craft -they need their targets to stand still. So I'm going to send the light ships in to mix it up. The destroyers can stay out of the furball, but the small ships can tie shadow heavies up enough for them to get a clear shot.
"Wait till the defence fleet are fully engaged, then send the asari in on the flank. Keep the minbari back in case any of the shadows break off and run straight for the station."
Jokers' plan worked as he had hoped. Though few of the smaller ships had the firepower to destroy shadow capital vessels, they could maul them severely, leaving them easy targets for the waiting destroyers. The constant stream of flak from the distant heavies was less effective on individual ships, but did serve to weaken shields and breach hulls, softening the larger shadow ships up.
The fast attack made by the asari on the flank, while not decisive, was also effective. The asari had fewer light vessels, but more dreadnoughts and battlecruisers. Their concentrated volleys of heavy fire wrought havoc among the already-occupied shadows.
Joker paced around the CIC of the Synthesis. He was an Admiral, frail in health and no longer young, but his pilots' heart was longing to be out there, at the controls of a frigate, doing what he was born to do.
Then what he had feared, happened.
"Conn, sensors! Sir, four shadow cruisers have broken away from the main fleet! Parabolic course for the station. They'll flank our heavies, sir."
"No time to reposition, they are moving too fast." EDI informed him. "Admiral Sheridan has ordered the minbari into position, but it is unlikely they will be able to prevent a suicide attack."
"Shit!" Joker stormed. Then the Synthesis AI, which had so far been concentrating on ships' operations, stated.
"This vessel is capable of intercepting the attack. Our variable-geometry mass effect generators and multi-vector thrusters allow the Synthesis speed and manoeuvrability approximating that of a frigate. However, our current pilot trained on dreadnoughts, and is unlikely to possess the skills necessary to take advantage of this."
"So we need a frigate pilot!" Joker said sourly.
"We have one." EDI said. "Jeff, you have been itching to fly in combat again since we appropriated the Normandy. Go and do what you do better than anyone!"
She turned to the CIC and announced "Vice-Admiral has the conn!"
Joker looked at her for a moment, then bolted for the cockpit.
His entrance was less than quiet, and the grizzled veteran in the pilots' seat was more than a little surprised when Joker barked. "You're relieved!" But he vacated the seat without comment -he knew who his CO was. The young asari ensign in the co-pilot seat looked questioningly at Joker.
"Stay put!" He told her. "Watch and learn!"
EDI's voice came over the speakers. "Attention crew. Brace for high acceleration and extreme manoeuvres!"
"Reconfiguring control interface!" The AI said.
Joker gave a ferocious grin, then his fingers began to dance over the controls. He was where he belonged.
The Synthesis shot out of her position in the phalanx at an acute angle and a velocity that only the mass effect made possible. At high speed, she bore down on the shadow cruisers. They were in a diamond formation and the lead ship fired its beam, arcing it down toward the Synthesis.
Joker did not deviate from his course. Instead he tipped the ship over through ninety degrees so that the beam slipped past her belly with metres to spare.
"Main guns, fire!" EDI commanded.
The Synthesis' main armament was a bow-mounted cluster of no less than six Thanix-S super cannon. Firing simultaneously, they reduced the shadow cruiser to a cloud of fragments through which the ship sailed as Joker righted her, then took her over and past the rear-guard cruiser.
"How we holding up?" He asked.
"No damage." EDI reported. "You have spilled some coffee." There was a retch and splatter from somewhere nearby. "You have also spilled a number of the crew."
Joker grinned, and then the pain hit him like a red-hot iron spike hammered through his chest. He couldn't breathe, his vision swam and his hands wouldn't work. Not now! He thought desperately. He forced himself to turn his head, to speak to the ensign. But with the quick intuition of her people, she had grasped what she needed to.
"I have the ship." She told him. "Hang in there!"
Through waves of pain, Joker still felt a surge of pride as she went to work. Spinning the ship round on its own axis, she took it toward the two shadow vessels which had turned to meet the threat.
"Missiles away!" EDI announced. Twenty-four nuclear-tipped warheads travelling at near-light speed. Twenty-four direct hits. Two cruisers destroyed. Without a pause, the young asari opened the throttle wide as she chased the final cruiser, which was speeding toward B5 at its own top speed.
The adage about a stern chase being a long chase was disproved here. Within moments, EDI ordered: "Target coming alongside. Port batteries, fire as your guns bear!"
The side batteries of the Synthesis were not as powerful as the bow cluster, but the old-fashioned broadside was enough to leave the shadow vessel adrift and aflame. Joker heard the ensign speaking urgently to someone, then EDI was there.
"Jeff? Jeff!" There was real distress in her usually even tones. She was an AI in a synthetic body, he knew that, but he loved her anyway and he knew she loved him.
"It's OK." He managed to whisper. "We always knew this was gonna happen. At least I'm going out on a high."
His body was too frail to support a synthetic heart, or even survive the transplant surgery. Any attempt at CPR, they both knew, would shatter his brittle ribs and be instantly fatal. Even the stress of defibrillation would cause more harm than good.
"Thirty years longer than the docs gave me when I was a kid." He murmured. "Seventy with you, babe. Gotta be good!"
"Better than good." She told him softly. "Are you in pain?"
"Not anymore." He said. "Just tired. So tired. Love you, babe."
"I love you too." She said.
He stared up through the transparent roof of the cockpit at the stars. He'd lived the best days of his life among them, and now….
EDI gently closed Jokers' eyes. She looked up into the tearful face of the ensign. Gatera was her name, EDI recalled, Gatera K'lina.
"I'm so sorry!" Gatera was saying. "I just thought he'd been taken ill, and there was so much to do…!"
"You did what he wanted you to do, Ensign." EDI said gently. "What he expected of you. I knew when you took over. I know my husbands' touch on a ship. You have the same dash and courage, but you lack his sureness, his faith in the ship. Such things come with time, and the right ship.
"For now, Acting Lieutenant K'Lina, you are the pilot of this vessel!"
EDI turned and lifted Jokers' body effortlessly. "I will take him to Med-Bay for now. When the time comes, Gatera, we will mourn him together with his other friends."
As she walked through the ship, with crew members standing to attention and saluting as she passed, EDI nevertheless carried on with her duties. The news that the shadow ships were disengaging and regrouping came as no surprise. The Allied fleets had made them pay three for one in destroyed or crippled ships, and the enemy had lost their numerical advantage.
"Fall back to the heavies!" She commanded. "Form up with the asari and minbari fleets. The shadows will be making a final run at Babylon 5."
Then the report came in of the reappearance of Babylon Four. Oh, Shepard, she thought, I do not want to bring you this news, my friend!
The sudden reappearance of a space station supposedly lost decades ago is enough to put anyone off their stroke. Sheridan was no exception, but he recovered quickly.
"Get me some scans!" He barked. "If that thing is operational, and the enemy have control of it, we're dead!"
The report came back fast. "Admiral, the main power grid and mass effect generators are online, as is the CIC, but everything else is still offline."
"Most of the primary systems hadn't yet been brought online when the station vanished." Tali observed. "It's in almost the exact same state it was on that day, apart from the CIC."
"What the Hell is it doing here?" Sheridan demanded.
"Sir, a fleet has just come through the relay! Fifty troop transports and a handful of warships! They're signalling us!"
"Patch it through."
"Admiral Sheridan, this is Commander Lawson of the Warsworn. We have come to help. It is imperative that we reach Babylon Four, but we are under attack! Can you assist?"
"Sir, they are being attacked. A squadron, maybe two, of vorlon craft, mainly frigate-class."
"Thank you." Sheridan said. "Commander Lawson, I'm not a fan of mercs, but right now I need all the help I can get! Hang tight, I'll get you some support. Sheridan out.
"Babylon command to minbari fleet, get the vorlons off those Warsworn transports!"
The relatively small vorlon force gave ground rapidly before the heavily-armed minbari destroyers and cruisers. With a brief but sincere message of thanks, Miranda followed the troopships to the newly-arrived station and docked there.
"Admiral, Babylon Four is now coming online!" The Sensor Chief reported. "The station should be fully operational in less than thirty minutes."
"It better be!" Sheridan said. "The mass relay just lit up like a Christmas Tree!"
There was complete silence in the CIC as everyone watched the mighty vorlon fleet come through the relay and form up.