Part VI
Into the Night
"The Interstellar Alliance has declared a state of
emergency and has advised that all non essential space travel be suspended
throughout the theatre of war.
Drakh and Vyron ships continue to attack civilian
shipping routes as they advance though ISA space. ISA President Delenn
has appealed for calm as the enemy fleets rampage thought the sector.
"Estimates on the death toll range from 5 to 6000
with nearly 10000 injured...."
"ISN off," Captain Fisher ordered. Several
days had gone by since the Battle of Orion VII, the first and only victory
they ISA had had so far. A dozen other battles just like it had played
out over the sector. Hit and run strikes playing to the fears of
those attacked by overwhelming them with raw firepower.
The EAS Damocles meandered into orbit. Even
though he knew he should be happy he felt a weight pressing down on his
gut. Sure he had saved Orion VII and rescued his wife but Fisher
was uncertain what reaction his superiors would have to his actions.
"Captain," a voice from the small hand link said,
"Your shuttle is ready to convey you to Earth."
"Thank you Leuitantant," Fisher responded,
"I'll be right there."
In all the years that Fisher had served in Earthforce
he had never seen Headquarters in so much chaos. Officers and their
aids running around holding important documents or relaying special orders.
Politicians stood in the various offices demanding this or that loudly
and often incoherently.
Fisher tried hard to ignore all the commotion as
he pushed his way through to the office of General John Raindeck.
As he entered the outer office he was suprised to
see that the chaos which reigned throughout the building was nowhere to
be found inside Raindeck's office. On his personal secretary and
a few aids stood inside the large room.
"I'm here to see the General," Fisher said to the
young secretary.
"Of course Captain," she told him, "He has been
expecting you."
Fisher gathered himself together with a deep breath
and entered the main office. He strode in with a confidence he did
not particularly feel.
"Ah Captain welcome." General Raindeck said with
a smile, "I hope the rest of your trip was uneventful."
The unexpectedness of the greeting broke Fishers
step and he found himself faltering toward the desk.
"Yes sir," Fisher told him," Very uneventful."
"Please sit down Captain."
Fisher sat slowly but did not take his eyes of the
old general.
"It seems you are a very fortunate man Captain,"
Raindeck began, "I was ready to tear your head off before you helped save
Orion and I still should for disobeying my order to return to Earth immediately,
but under the circumstances I'll let that go to."
"Thank you sir," was all Fisher could think to say.
"I have a new mission for you Captain, a dangerous
very mission."
"The Damocles is ready for anything sir."
"I thought you might say that," Raindeck said.
He looked away from Fisher for a moment.
"Captain you will lead a task force that will attack
a known Drakh base in the Alpha Puria star system. You will destroy
that base and return to Earth space. All tactical data is in this
data file." Raindeck held out the data crystal to Fisher who took
it.
"How many ships in the task force?" Fisher asked.
"Eight ships, three Warlocks and five Omegas.
There will also be a small reserve force waiting in hyperspace including
three Omegas and two of the newly updated Hyperion class cruisers."
"When do we go?"
"You will leave immediately for your staging area
in the Epsilon Eridani system. Your task force will gather there.
I'm leaving the finer details of the planning up to you Captain but I want
that base destroyed."
"Yes sir, I understand sir."
"Good then return to your ship Captain. Good
luck."
Raindeck extended his hand to Fisher. Fisher
took it and they shook hands firmly. Fisher thought he caught a glint
of something almost sad in the eyes of the older man but in passed to quickly
to be certain so Fisher quickly dismissed it.
"Thank you General," Fisher said, "We'll get it
done."
With that Fisher turned and left Raindeck behind.
Delenn sat alone in her private apartment in the
ISA main complex on Minbar. The rooms had seemed so large after John
had died but on this day they seemed small enough to smother her.
It was not not often that she held official meetings in these rooms but
Delenn felt she need something other then the cold faces of Ambassadors
looking at her. The hope that the familiar surroundings would calm
her nerves soon proved pointless.
"Ranger One, your report please," Delenn said.
"Of course," Ivanova said, "The Whitestar fleet
has been supporting the battle lines throughout the Alliance. The
enemy seems content to strike random targets and is making itself difficult
to trace. We haven't been able to pin down any bases or forward installations
as yet," Ivanova paused for a moment, "We also require more haste in the
building of the new Victory Class Destroyers. The handful we have
in service will not be enough to spearhead the ISA war effort."
"We don't need the Victory's to spearhead the war,"
Ambassador Na'Toth, "We do need a genuine victory. We cannot allow
ourselves to remain on the defensive, we should strike back at the Vyron
immediately."
"How do propose to strike when you have no target
to strike against?" the new Centuari Special Envoy, Koman Deragio, said,
"Really Madam President what we should do is draw the enemy into a trap
and destroy them."
"The Drakh haven't moved this openly since they
attacked Earth," Ivanova rejoined, "They won't be easily drawn into a trap."
"Then we must give them something worth attacking,"
Deragio told them.
"Such as?" Ivanova asked.
"Your Victory construction yards," Deragio said
quietly.
Ivanova nearly spat the coffee she was drinking
all over Delenn at that. "Are you insane?" she asked, "Those ships
are vital to the continuation of the Rangers and the Alliance."
"I am not suggesting that you allow the Drakh to
destroy them only to let them believe they have the opportunity to do so,"
Deragio clarified.
"And when the Drakh come?" Delenn asked.
"We destroy them." Deragio answered.
"Your Majesty, " Secretary Fulano said, "Admiral
Billanii to see you."
"Send him in," Vir said.
The Admiral entered the court of the Centauri Emperor
with a confident stride and gave his ruler a shallow bow.
"Your Highness," Billanii began, "I have reviewed
the planetary defenses and have found them lacking. I believe I can
correct the errors quickly with your permission."
Vir simply smiled at the Admiral as he began pacing
around the room.
"There are inherent weaknesses to our ship deployment
and our ground based defenses do not cover enough territory," Billanii
added.
Vir quietly approached the Admiral and began to
slowly circle him.
Billanii began to fill with fear and apprehension
as he continued, "I believe that is we deploy several hundred orbital mines
we can fill in the gaps."
Vir came to a stop directly in front of the Admiral.
In the Emperor's eyes there was a look of cold fire that silenced Billanii.
"Your ship sent a transmission into deep space after
I ordered you here. The signal was heavily encrypted but not with
any Centauri military codes. Nor was the transmission directed at
any Centauri ship or installation. After some time the transmission
analyzed and partially decrypted. The data was scrambled and very
little was recovered. After the Glory returned here I had the message
logs analyzed and I was informed that several messages had been beamed
to that same point. The logs had then been deleted but my people
are quite adept at retrieving such things."
Billanii face began to turn pale as the Emperor
revealed these things to him. Soon the Admirals eyes began to bulge
out of his head until he was afraid they might fall out onto the floor.
"I have also realized that you have been involved
in all of the recent escalation's in the conflict," Vir continued, "So
that leaves me to wonder just how long you have been working with the Drakh
and why you would betray your own people to their worst enemy?"
Admiral Tardan Billanii stood dumbfounded at the
Emperor's revelations. Billanii stood stiffly until the Emperor turned
his back and signaled his guards to remove the traitor. With the
Emperor's back turned he lunged at the Emperor grabbing him in a choke
hold. Vir was powerless to fight back as the Admiral held his arm
around his neck. Billanii however did not see the guardsman that
shot him in the back dropping him dead to the floor.
"Remove it," Vir said, "and let us begin anew."
The Earth Alliance Ship Damocles entered the Epsilon
Eridani system and took up an orbital position around the planet.
Already in orbit around the planet were the other ships assigned to the
task force. Captain Fisher stood silent looking at the place where
Babylon 5 had once been. Only three years ago he remembered he had
thought about how wonderful it would be to be part of the legend of the
station but now only some small pieces of debris still orbited the planet
from the once great place.
"We are receiving a transmission from the EAS Starfire,"
Cmdr. Cone said.
"Thank you Commander, put it through," Fisher responded.
"Damocles this is Captain Anthony Karanja of the
Starfire," the voice came over the ships speakers, "the task force is gathered
and ready for hyperspace on your command."
"Thank you Captain," Fisher said, "Where are our
support ships?"
"Different rendezvous point sir."
"Very good. Prepare to transit to hyperspace.
Jump," Fisher ordered.
The Alpha Puria system was only a three day jump
from the Epsilon Eridani system. In that time the crew of the Damocles
worked feverously to prepare the ship for battle. Captain Fisher
ordered that all systems be checked out before the battle, he did not want
any suprises aboard his ship. Similar preparations were being made
on the other seven ships in Fisher's command.
All to soon the hour of battle approached.
"All system check out ready Captain," Cmdr. Cone
reported, "The ship is ready for battle."
"Very good, all system ready, all hands battle stations.
Contact the rest of the task force have them prepare to jump on my mark,"
Fisher ordered.
"All ships check in ready sir."
"Jump."
Hyperspace open before them as the fleet poured
back into realspace. The Damocles took the lead as the task force
formed around them.
"Scan the area for Drakh or Vyron ships Lt. Cordane."
Fisher said.
"There is nothing on the scanners sir," Cordane
reported.
"Let me see that," Cone said walking over to the
weapons officer, "He's right there is no base Captain."
"Launch fighters," Fisher ordered, "Have all the
other ships do the same."
Space in front of the Earth ships opened as Fisher
finished his sentence and over a dozen Drakh cruisers raced out of hyperspace.
"It's a trap," Fisher said quietly.
The Drakh fleet began to move into positions all
around the Earth Force vessels. Not one opened fire as the ship maneuvered
themselves around the battle field. Warleader Dorack had wished it
so.
Dorack was pleased to see that the Damocles was
among the ships drawn into this little ambush. Since the death of
his son, Kor'Van and the his own defeat at Orion Dorack had been consumed
with hatred for the Damocles and its crew.
General Raindeck has done well, Dorack thought,
revenge is now mine.
Space was thick with fighters as the two fleets launched
their full complements of fighters. Thunderbolts and Cobra fighters
danced around the Earthforce ships while the Drakh Raiders hung back and
remained near their motherships.
"The final count is fourteen Drakh cruisers Captain,"
Lt. Cordane reported.
"Thank you Lt.," Fisher said, "Communications any
luck getting through to our support ships?"
"No sir," the Comm. Officer reported.
"Very well. We'll have to fight our way out
I guess," Fisher told them, "lock all weapons an the Drakh vessels and
open fire on my command. Get me the rest of the fleet."
The Comm station signaled readiness and Fisher began
to speak, "All craft prepare to open fire, don't attempt to engage just
form up on the Damocles and punch a hole through the Drakh lines.
Once clear go to hyperspace immediately. Good luck."
The silence lasted a moment longer though it seemed
to the crew of the Damocles to last a lifetime.
"Fire," Fisher ordered knowing it could be the last
order he would ever give.
